Journey, Building and Container: Conceptual Metaphors of Learning in English-Language Pedagogical Discourse

This article analyses three dominant conceptual metaphors of learning in English-language pedagogical discourse: LEARNING IS A JOURNEY, KNOWLEDGE IS A BUILDING and THE MIND IS A CONTAINER. Drawing on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, it shows how each metaphor maps a concrete source domain onto the abstract process of learning, which aspects of learning it highlights and which it hides, and how it shapes teachers' beliefs and classroom practice. These three metaphors are contrasted with the growth, business and war metaphors, and the article concludes with recommendations for using metaphor awareness in teacher education and in teaching English as a foreign language.