DOCUMENT RESUME ED 341 985 CS 213 146 AUTHOR Pugh, sharon L.; And Others TITLE Bridging. A Teacher's Guide to Metaphorical Thinking. INSTITUTION ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, Bloomington, IN.; National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, Ill. SPONS AGENCY Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC. REPORT NO ISBN-0-8141-0384-7 PUB DATE 92 CONTRACT RI88062001 NOTE 154p. AVAILABLE FROM National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 Kenyon Rd., Urbana, IL 61801 (Stock No. 03847-3050: $8.50 members, $11.50 nonmembers); ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, Indiana University, Smith Research-Center, Suite 150, 2805 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47408-2698 ($11.50 plus $3.00 postage/handling). PUB TYPE Guides - Classroom Use - Teacning Guides (For Teacher) (052) -- Information Analyses - ERIC Clearinghouse Products (071) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC07 Plvs Postage. DESCRIPTORS Class Activities; Critical Thinking; Cultural Context; Elementary Secondary Education; Language Arts; "Metaphors; Theory Practice Relationship; Thinking Skills IDENTIFIERS "Metaphorical Thought ABSTRACT This book provides material and ideas for bringing metaphorical thinking into the classt-oom in the context of language discussions. It is organized to link the conceptual with the concrete, integrating teaching ideas with discuss:.ons concerning the various roles that metaphorical tYinking plays in human understanding and communications. The book's first part, "The Nature of Metaphors and Metaphorical Thinking," discusses metaphorical thinking, how metaphors work, and the kinds of comparison involved in metaphorical thinking. The second part, "Personal and Cultural Aspects of Metaphors," deals with metaphors and self-awareness, metaphors and the enabling process, and extending self to cultural awareness. The book's third part, "Critical Aspects of Metaphorical Thinking," discusses metaphor, language, and thought; metaphors in critical reading and thinking; and metaphors and creativity. The fourth section, "A Resource Section for Using Metaphors in the Classroom," deals with strategies for metaphorical teaching, metaphors that help in teaching reading, and the importance of metaphors across content areas. A brief "Conclusion," a 27-item selected and annotated bibliography of books on metaphors and language, and a list of 170 references conclude the document. SR) h. 4, LMIIL 123 1034:95 ru, Ipz U10 my" Z.13 330 Z0 mm0-- li-I)' /tut144:11 .14Iti tau &SS P119 dig tit. I 1,_ ..,,sae . I.,pitasssaa 114%,.., *4 es Xli a I tP. 40 a I., 1 pilaf -10 I p. PE 04 trio I 64 , 1 II 1 :14;s slirsosss I i is t%) -.. s, I .. 1.II alll 0.011411 rsty fetStal,411 --3.4 .. 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Pugh Indiana University Jean Wolph Hicks University of Louisville Marcia Davis Indiana University Tonya Venstra Indiana University National Council of Teachers of English 1111 Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801 ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills Indiana University, Smith Research Center, Suite 150 2805 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47408-2698 Permissions acknowledgments appear on page 150. NCTE Editorial Board: Richard Abrahamson, Celia Genishi, Joyce Kinkead, Louise Wetherbee Phelps, Gladys V. Veidemanis, Charles Suhor, ex officio, Michael Spooner, ex officio Manuscript Editor: Jane M. Curran Production Editor: Rona S. Smith Cover Design: Victoria Martin Pohlmann Interior Design: Doug Burnett NCTE Stock Number 03847-3050 Published 1992 by the National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801, and the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, Indiana University, Smith Research Center, Suite 150, 2805 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47408- 2698. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. This publication was prepared with partial funding from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract no. R188062001. Contractors undertaking such projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their judgment in professional and technical matters. Points of view or opin- ions, however, do not necessarily represent the official view or opinions of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bridging : a teacher's guide to metaphorical thinking / Sharon L. Pugh fet at.] p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ). ISBN 0-8141-0384-7 1. MetaphorStudy and teaching.2. Language and languages Study and teaching.3. Thought and thinking.I. Pugh, Sharon L. P301.5.M48875 1992 418'.0071'2dc20 91-39841 CIP V Contents Introduction vii I. The Nature of Metaphors and Metaphorical Thinking 1. Metaphorical Thinking 2 2. How Metaphors Work 9 3. Kinds of Comparison Involved in Metaphorical Thinking 15 II. Personal and Cultural Aspects of Metaphors 4. Metaphors and Self-Awareness 32 5. Metaphors and the Enabling Process 41 6. Extending Self to Cultural Awareness 49 III. Critical Aspects of Metaphorical Thinking 7. Metaphor, Language, and Thought 68 8. Metaphors in Critical Reading and Thinking 78 9. Metaphors and Creativity 93 IV. A Resource Section for Using Metaphors in the Classroom 10. Strategies for Metaphorical Teaching 102 11. Metaphors That Help in Teaching Reading 112 12. Importance of Metaphors across Content Areas 119 V. Conclusion and References Conclusion 130 A Selected and Annotated Bibliography of Books On Metaphor and Language 132 References 139 Authors 149 5 vii Introduction In choosing the title for this book, wedeliberately selected one of the most pervasive metaphors in the English language, the idea of "bridge." To name just a few of its associations, a bridge can imply passage, connection, cohesion, branching, support, strengthening, opportunity, and freedom. It can also imply vulnera- bility, destructibility, and danger. The ambiguity of the basic meta- phor, perhaps, is what keeps it alive after many centuries of lin- guistic service. It is what makes it an effective metaphor for learning, which is an adventure with its attendant risks. Bridges unite separate individuals and groups, but they may also be passageways of intrusion and attack. They allow us to venture out into the world, but they may lure us too far. Since they are physical structures, usually built by humans, they become functional only after a lot of work and expense, and then they are subject to human error. Bridges may be burned, too, and then we may find ourselves stranded. The image of a bridge, however, is predominantly a positive one. In this book a bridge, or as we prefer to say,"bridging," connotes discovery progress, enlightenment, and the expansionof understanding and experience, not to mention novelty, delight, and change. For us, bridging is a metaphor for striking out beyond the confines of any given state of knowledge into the new territory beyond. We believe that learning is an adventure in which the gains far surpass the risks. As teachers of English, we had another reason for liking the metaphor "bridge." It is an Anglo-Saxon word with a venerable history reaching back through Middle and Old English into the Germanic protclanguages, where, Eric Partridge informs us, it origi- nally meant "brow," that section of our faces that spans our noses and connects our eyes (1959). So bridge is itself a metaphor based on a part of the human form; thus, as GeorgeLakoff and Mark Johnson have put it, "bridge" is a metaphor we live by, one of those so fundamentally embedded in our physical experience that it is probably a cognitive universal across human cultures (1980). In this book we hope to build a solid and useful bridge between theory and practice. We have concentrated on providing material and ideas for bringing metaphorical thinking into the classroom in the context of language discussions. We intend our account to be interesting without being too technical. We are more viii Introduction c mcerned with the dynamics of metaphorical thinking than with its mechanisms, and we believe that most teachers who savor the richness and surprise of the English language will want to share the wealth with their students. Our book, therefore, is not a defini- tive account of our subject for scholars, but a heuristic foray into the wit, art, and genius of the language through which we think about our world and know it. We have organized the book to link the conceptual with the concrete. Teaching ideas are integrated with discussions concerning the various roles that metaphorical thinking plays in human under- standing and communications. Part I is about the nature of meta- phors, here construed broadly to include all kinds of imaginative comparisons, and at out what we mean by the term metaphorical thinking. Part II concerns the personal and cultural aspects of meta- phorstheir affective sideshowing how they are deeply embed- ded in our sense of who we are as individuals and as groups.