Lakoff Teacher Self-Identification Process

Ever since Aristotle, people tended to treat metaphor predominantly as ornaments. However, this treatment has been challenged as people find that metaphor is an important linguistic device through which holistic experiences are effectively and vividly communicated without much elaboration (Ortony, 1975). What is crucial in metaphor is that it creates new meaning through the interaction of two different domains of meaning (Richards, 1936; Black, 1962). In other words, metaphor has productive power, connecting cognition and action.

Following the interactionist view on metaphor, Lakoff & Johson’s work (1980), which pays special attention to the sociological and cultural aspect of metaphor, has been especially influential. In the view of Lakoff

To provide a new approach, we propose that the teacher self-identification process is a metaphoric process. The corroboration of our proposal is found in the classic metaphors used to describe teachers: teacher as midwife, teacher as artist/scientist, teacher as technician, teacher as researcher.

In addition to the classic metaphors, the corroboration of our proposal that teacher identification process is a metaphorical one is also found in recent studies. Brown (2001) understood teacher as authority figure, leader, knower, director, manager, counselor and guide. Moreover, he also pushed the notion further to the emotional aspect and considered EFL teacher as friend, confidante, and parent. Scrivener (2002, P. 6) broadly grouped teachers into three types: the explainer, the involver and the enabler. He also puts forward the teacher’s role as “learner”, which suggests that teacher should keep on learning about language, about methodology, about people, about themselves and about life. Gu (1998) elaborated teacher as controller of everything that went on in the classroom, as manager who organized the activities, as assessor who gave feedback, advice, correction and grading, as participant (co-communicator) in organized activities such as debates and role plays. He also claimed that teacher should act as prompter who encouraged students to participate or made suggestions on how to proceed in an activity, as resource who provided students language and knowledge, and as instructor who taught the new language points and helped students develop their language