Exploring EFL Learners' Metaphorical Conceptions of Language Learning: A Multimodal Analysis.

Area of Science:

• Second Language Acquisition
• Educational Psychology
• Multimodal Learning

Background:

• Traditional linguistic methods struggle to capture L2 learners' full experience of language learning.
• Visual and multimodal approaches offer promising alternatives for understanding learner perspectives.
• Metaphorical representations provide insights into learners' cognitive and affective states.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the visual and verbal metaphors Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners use to describe English language learning.
• To investigate the mental representations and belief systems underlying these metaphorical depictions.
• To analyze shared perspectives between verbal and non-verbal metaphorical expressions.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods approach was employed, utilizing both verbal (questionnaire) and non-verbal (drawings) data collection.
• Participants included 11 intermediate Iranian EFL learners.
• Multimodal analysis was used to examine drawings and written descriptions of English learning.

Main Results:

• Learners' verbal and visual metaphors showed consistent perspectives on English language learning.
• Metaphorical concepts revealed positive attitudes, enthusiasm, and a strong desire for learning.
• Dominant themes portrayed language learning as a joyful, dynamic, and individual discovery process.

Conclusions:

• Multimodal analysis effectively captures L2 learners' rich metaphorical understandings of language learning.
• The findings highlight the importance of acknowledging and integrating learners' positive affective states in pedagogy.
• Further research can explore diverse learner populations and pedagogical implications of multimodal metaphor analysis.