Metáforas na rede: mapeamentos conceituais de estudantes universitários sobre aprendizagem de inglês

Abstract

According to Lakoff & Johnson (1980), human thought is governed by concepts and these are not just matters of the intellect. To the authors, our conceptual system is predominantly metaphorical and has a fundamental role in human construction of reality. In this way, metaphorsare part of our cognitive process and structure our thought. This M. A. thesis aimed at identifying metaphors about the English learning process generated by under graduate students of various courses at UFMG who were enrolled in an ESP online course. Learners were encouraged toexpress their conceptions in metaphors that, in a second moment, were divided into two large groups: Structural Metaphors and Image Schema Metaphors. Within each group, subcategories were created as a result of the analysis and contextual grouping of the metaphorical expressions.It is important to highlight that the groups emerged from the regularities in the learners conceptualizations and reflect how this population sees the English learning. The Conceptual Metaphor Theory (LAKOFF & JOHNSON, 1980) and the Conceptual Blending Theory (FAUCONNIER & TURNER, 2002) were used to analyze the metaphors. The former was used to analyze more basic metaphors and the latter was used to the extent that more complex metaphors were perceived. The analysis reveals that, in general, learners conceptualize the language as a facilitator agent, as something indispensable to their professional future an outstanding characteristic of this participants group. In addition, English is conceptualized by these subjects as an instrument of spatial locomotion and insertion in the world. It is through the language and its learning that they would be able to get into the world, discover a newworld, include themselves in the labor market, open doors and windows, find their ways, and fly.