A Metaphor Analysis of Elementary Student Teachers’ Conceptions of Teachers in Student- and Teacher-Centered Contexts

Abstract

Suggested Citation: Duru, S. (2015). A metaphor analysis of elementary student teachers' conceptions of teachers in student-and teacher-centered contexts, Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study was to explore elementary student teachers' beliefs and conceptions about teaching in the contexts of student-and teacher-centered educational perspectives.Method: This study employed qualitative research methodologies by asking 267 prospective teachers to provide a metaphor characterizing teachers. Both quantitative and qualitative data analyses were used for the study. Findings and results:The results of analysis represented 113 metaphors made by student teachers about teachers-for example, they are gardeners. Results of descriptive analysis show that of the 267 student teachers, 227 (85.7%) had teacher-centered beliefs, 11 (4.1%) had studentcentered beliefs, and 29 (10.1%) had mixed beliefs. The student teachers had no misconceptions about teacher-centeredness, meaning that all misconceptions and poorly structured beliefs were related to studentcenteredness. Conclusions and recommendations:The study showed that the teachercentered approach is quite common among student teachers in Turkey. As a result, teacher educators should provide various opportunities for and  Dr. Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey; sduru@pau.edu.tr 282Sibel Duru model student-centered approaches so that student teachers can critically examine their beliefs and realize other educational possibilities. Furthermore, most participants lacked a consistent cognitive structure about teaching, largely due to misconceptions related to guidance and active learning, which require more in-depth research. Student teachers also described teachers' and students' roles with stereotypical metaphors, including teachers as knowledge givers who know everything and teachers as social controllers who disseminate dominant cultural values. Acknowledging these misconceptions can allow teacher educators to better design courses, classroom discussions, and assignments to help student teachers develop new pedagogical knowledge and beliefs.

The Correlation of Perceptions of Professional Roles and Teacher Beliefs with the Quality of Teacher Interaction 

“…When we categorized the answers taking into account both the role of the teacher and the role of the pupil, we can conclude that the teachers in this sample are represented by a protector-traditional orientation. Some other researches that used metaphors indicate that the smallest percentage of teachers demonstrate constructivist beliefs (Duru, 2015;Martinez, Sauleda, & Huber, 2001). The metaphors for the role of pupils are classified into smaller categories compared to metaphors for the role of a teacher.…”

Estonian science teacher beliefs about competence-based science e-testing

“…Although teachers can simultaneously hold beliefs reflecting both, teacher-centered and student-centered approaches (Chen and Brown, 2016;Verjovsky and Waldegg, 2005), several studies, including studies carried out among Estonian science teachers, have found that teacher-centered approaches tend to dominate among teachers (Duru, 2015;Henno et al, 2017;Kask, 2009).…”

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“…Karabay (2016) suggests a metaphor study to investigate teachers' or prospective teachers' views about their teaching identities. Research on teacher identity construction through metaphor has been conducted by investigating prospective teachers (Mellado, Montaña, Luengo, and Bermejo, 2014;Duru, 2015;Arslana and Karatas, 2015;Karabay, 2016), novice teachers (Thomas and Beauchamp, 2011;Fisher-Ari and Lynch, 2015), head teachers (Argyropoulou and Hatira, 2014), and higher education teachers (Billot and King, 2015). Karabay (2016, p. 8) reveals categories of metaphors of the teacher's roles as knowledge providers, nurturers, instructors and directors, molders and formers, power indicators, and curers.…”