Analysing the elements of a scene – An integrative approach to metaphor identification in a naturalistic setting

Abstract This paper addresses the challenges of exploring metaphor use in a naturalistic environment. We employed an integrative approach to the analysis of metaphor in video-recorded classroom observations of a teacher lecturing on computer programming. The approach involved applying the Procedure for Identifying Metaphorical Scenes (PIMS) and the Metaphor Identification Guidelines for Gesture (MIG-G) both individually and jointly. Our analysis of the data shows that the teacher primarily uses metaphors that evoke experiences of manipulating physical objects while using his hands to add spatiality to these ‘objects’. Furthermore, it indicates that specific gestures may serve as ’anchoring-points’ for larger scenes, enabling the speaker to form a scene in which to place smaller concepts. Throughout the analysis, our integrative approach to metaphor analysis provided opportunities to both support and refute results from each of the procedures employed. Moreover, the PIMS procedure has both served as an efficient tool for identifying central concepts of a scene and a way to validate the results of the gesture analysis. We suggest that this integrative approach to metaphor may be used to provide clues about the embodied motivation of a metaphor at an individual level.