Metaphorical Perceptions of Preservice Social Studies Teachers About the Communication Skills

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the perceptions of preservice social studies teachers about communication; metaphors were employed to determine communication skill perceptions. In the study, a qualitative research method known as phenomenology design was employed. The study group included 127 preservice social studies teachers in various classes. In the study, metaphoric perceptions form was used to collect the data. The collected data were analysed with content analysis. The study findings demonstrated that preservice social studies teachers produced 36 valid metaphors in 7 different conceptual categories (a requirement, a nonverbal code system, a mutual process, a positive connotation, a unifying element, a dynamic phenomenon, communication as a method to reflect ideas). The total metaphor count and metaphor frequencies revealed that the highest number of metaphors was produced in the communications as a requirement category. The most repeated metaphor in this category was the requirement of water to sustain life. In this category, concepts such as blood, breathing, and oxygen, which are important for human life, were expressed as metaphors that represented communication skills.