EFL Teachers’ Perception about Metaphor-Based Teaching

Despite the myriad of research in the advantages of utilizing conceptual metaphor in teaching and learning languages, no research was conducted to survey the perception of teachers about metaphor-based teaching. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining how this innovative pedagogic application has been perceived and the extent to which it has been applied and received in the teachers’ community worldwide. A questionnaire was administered and collected date from 255 EFL teachers worldwide. The results show that conceptual fluency is perceived as the least important language aspect by teachers despite the very multitude of research that demonstrate its essentialness in attaining fluency. The correlation between the teachers’ years of experience and perception about teaching conceptual metaphor is statistically insignificant (r= 0.02, p= 0.72). The findings support the need to rethink teacher education, redirecting teachers’ further teaching efforts to integrating the overlooked role of metaphor-based teaching which is not wholly recognized in language classrooms.