Many practical applications of metaphors are based on the idea that they are static TARGET IS SOURCE structures that support unidirectional meaning transfer for various purposes. Examples include ...healthcare and education where metaphors build cognitive and communicative bridges between the abstract and concrete. However, real-world metaphor use is often more dynamic than static, raising the question of how practical applications could benefit from a more correspondingly dynamic perspective. Drawing upon learning models that view learner output as creative transformations of input, this article introduces a "target-to-source transformation" approach that (i) initially frames concepts unfamiliar to novice learners as metaphorical targets as per received wisdom, but after some time, and (ii) invites learners to transform these targets into source domains for new target domains of their choosing. A pilot implementation is reported in the context of a statistics course, in particular the concept of regression analysis, for humanities students. Examples of transformed metaphors include different aspects of regression as sources for creative targets like "arranging a meeting time for friends," "finding a life partner," and "fortune-telling." Analysis of these examples suggests that the approach creates a sense of pedagogical consistency, allows students to exercise creativity, and gives teachers novel insights into their level of understanding. Points for critical reflection will also be raised for future development of the approach, including the need to consider oft-overlooked metalinguistic attitudes held by laypersons toward metaphors.
Data analytics and programming skills are increasingly important in the humanities, especially in disciplines like linguistics due to the rapid growth of natural language processing (NLP) ...technologies. However, attitudes and perceptions of students as novice learners, and the attendant pedagogical implications, remain underexplored. This article reports a combined SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) and survey analysis of how postgraduate linguistics students reflect on internal qualities and external circumstances that affect their learning. SWOT is a popular self-reflective strategic planning tool by organizations. An innovative approach was used to classify students into four SWOT-defined learner dispositions (SO, ST, WO, and WT) based on their relative emphasis on strengths versus weaknesses, and opportunities versus threats. Scores on a modified Mathematics Attitude Survey measuring self-rated ABILITY, INTEREST, UTILITY, and PERSONAL GROWTH were then compared across these dispositions. Results reveal (i) some unexpected and interesting strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats, (ii) perceived internal traits (strengths/weaknesses) play a greater role than external traits (opportunities/threats) in shaping students’ attitudes, (iii) a paradox where more confident students tend to be less interested, and vice-versa. Pedagogical implications arising from the results are discussed with an eye on enhancing the teaching of data analytics and programming skills to this target population.
Metaphors are well-known tools for teaching statistics to novices. However, educators might overlook metaphor theoretical developments that offer nuanced and testable perspectives on their ...pedagogical applications. This article introduces the notion of metaphor types-"correspondence" (CO) and "class inclusion" (CI)-as different strategic ways of presenting metaphors and reports an experimental study on their effectiveness in teaching basic regression to language and communication majors. Briefly, CO emphasizes systematic links while CI emphasizes holistic perceptions of similarity between the source and target of a metaphor. Both competency and attitudinal measures were compared in view of the latter's importance as intended outcomes of the typical introductory course. The results show that while CO outperformed CI in assessments of manual calculations (e.g., SST/SSR/SSE/R
2
), CI outperformed CO in essay assessments requiring elaboration of general conceptual understanding. CI was also linked to more positive perceptions of the practical utility of regression analysis and its contribution to personal growth. Correlations between performance and attitudes were stronger in CO than CI, which further suggests CO's greater perceived resemblance to a "rote learning" approach. The attendant implications are discussed in the growing context of general statistics education for nonstatistics majors. Directions for further research are suggested.
Previous studies have examined WATER metaphors in different discourses, yet there has been limited focus on understanding the functions of these metaphors in constructing discourses. To address this ...research gap, the present paper utilised the metaphor identification procedure developed by the Pragglejaz Group and the Weak Differentiating Model to investigate WATER metaphors in the Coronavirus Corpus. The study reveals that WATER metaphors can be used flexibly for multiple purposes. These include explaining the many pandemic stages, describing the occurrence and performance of the pandemic, explaining how COVID-19 affects human life, rallying the public to take precautions against contagion, and communicating risk. This research highlights the diverse functions that WATER metaphors served in conveying intricate information and influencing public perceptions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interpersonal synchrony is the alignment of responses between social interactants, and is linked to positive outcomes including cooperative behavior, affiliation, and compassion in different social ...contexts. Language is noted as a key aspect of interpersonal synchrony, but different strands of existing work on linguistic (a)synchrony tends to be methodologically polarized. We introduce a more complementary approach to model linguistic (a)synchrony that is applicable across different interactional contexts, using psychotherapy talk as a case study. We define linguistic synchrony as similarity between linguistic choices that reflect therapists and clients' socio-psychological stances. Our approach involves (i) computing linguistic variables per session, (ii) k-means cluster analysis to derive a global synchrony measure per dyad, and (iii) qualitative analysis of sample extracts from each dyad. This is demonstrated on sample dyads from psychoanalysis, cognitive-behavioral, and humanistic therapy. The resulting synchrony measures reflect the general philosophy of these therapy types, while further qualitative analyses reveal how (a)synchrony is contextually co-constructed. Our approach provides a systematic and replicable tool for research and self-reflection in psychotherapy and other types of purposive dialogic interaction, on more representative and limited datasets alike.
Since the beginning of 2022, the Hong Kong government has imposed strict social distancing measures and changed its stance on various regional policies with the aim to contain the so-called 'fifth ...wave' of COVID-19. In these pandemic and 'infodemic' times filled with uncertainty and fear, Hong Kong netizens used local online discussion forums as a resource to establish an innovative form of 'helping network.' This study is based on 230 posts from a popular local online discussion forum 'LIHKG' in February 2022 when the pandemic was regarded as most critical by the Department of Health. Speech Acts theoretic approach was adopted to explore how forum users employed speech acts to perform various communicative practices such as expressing concerns, asking for information, and engaging with others in a CMC environment amid a global health crisis. Representatives were found to be the most dominant text-based speech acts, followed by directives, expressives and commissives. Speech acts provide forum users a context in which emoji usage occurs. Forum users not only make use of words to 'do' things in the online self-help forum, but they also employ emojis to either supplement or complement speech acts. This study also shows that emojis perform multiple functions in the discussion posts and argues that they do not merely function as emotion indicators of their textual company, but also carry significant pragmatic meanings by illustrating how they can also carry illocutionary force and in some cases, even alter the illocutionary force of their preceding texts. The findings of this study enhance our understanding of how forum users communicate via verbal and nonverbal means within the underexplored 'helping domain' of online discussion forums. It also suggests that online discussion forum interactions need to be approached differently than other better understood alternatives.
Although there has been an increasing number of studies investigating media representations of the COVID-19 outbreak around the world, less international attention has been given to Chinese media ...outlets' coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak than that of their western counterparts. This study employs corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis to investigate how China is linguistically represented in a state-run English-language news media. The analysis reveals that China is respectively represented as a victim, a fighter, and a cooperative/supportive country with ideological implications for global solidarity and humanitarianism. This study sheds light on the effective use of discursive strategies in promoting international cooperation and building a national image amid a global health crisis. The value of using corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis to examine national image is also highlighted.
While clinical diagnosis of mental health issues focuses on factual details represented by literal language (e.g., the onset and process of the triggering event and duration of symptom), the ...relationship between metaphorical language and psychopathological experiences remains an intriguing question. Focusing on psychological trauma triggered by the 2019-2020 Hong Kong social unrest, this study explored the correlations between trauma victims' quantitative metaphor usage patterns and their experience of specific Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) symptoms.
Forty-six individuals with trauma exposure within 28 days were recruited through convenience sampling. Each completed a 20- to 30-minute semi-structured interview and filled out the Chinese version of the Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire (SASRQ; 1). Metaphors in the interviews were identified using the discourse dynamic approach (2), and clinically interesting categories related to trauma and emotion expression, as revealed by previous literature, were sorted out. Standardized frequencies of the categories were correlated with participants' SASRQ scores of five major ASD symptoms, and the correlational patterns were interpreted from a discourse analytic perspective.
The study reveals how metaphor usage patterns can reflect the speakers' differentiated experiences of psychopathological symptoms. Compared with individuals who experienced less trauma, those more disturbed by the re-experiencing symptom were more inclined to use emotion-related metaphors and to metaphorize about the self and the self-society relationship. Individuals who experienced more severe anxiety and hyperarousal showed a heightened awareness of self-related issues and diminished attention to others. Those who suffered from more severe impairment in functioning produced more metaphors in the negative valence. Dissociation and avoidance, which were less experientially salient and intense than the others, were not significantly correlated with metaphor usage patterns.
This study establishes symptom-level metaphor usage patterns as a previously overlooked but interesting avenue in trauma evaluation, treatment, and research. While the study is confined to a single context, it nevertheless reveals the potential for metaphor research findings to be incorporated as useful materials in psychology education and therapist training.
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