Study, study, study

In The Republic Plato makes a strong attack against the language used in dramatic poetry. He believes the arts should be banished, and tries to convince his audience of this by emphasizing the negative implications he believes figurative language has. Plato begins by stating how dramatic poets do not really know what they are talking about; “poetry of that sort seems to be injurious to minds which do not possess the antidote in a knowledge of its real nature” (Plato, 324). Then, Plato continues on to explain that because such artists do not create a representation of true knowledge, what they do should not be taken seriously because there is no knowledge of great value. The discovery of truth can only be found through reason, not poetry, or any other art form.

Plato begins his appeal against the arts by defining the different Forms, ‘Form’ meaning the essential properties in an idea which constitute an object, such as a bed or a table. The maker of these ideas of beds and tables is God; such work is a “product of divine workmanship” (Plato, 326). Then, craftsmen (such as carpenters) create imitations, of namely beds and tables. These imitations made by the craftsmen are second-removed imitations from the truth. What the craftsmen make are not the Form or essential nature of Bed, but rather only a particular bed; craftsmen do not create the reality, but only resemble it (Plato, 326). Then, there are imitators who represent the products of the craftsmen. Like a painter, these imitators create only an image of these objects, a representation that is a long way from reality. The artist “knows nothing of the reality, but only the appearance” (Plato, 331). This is because the artist has the lowest level of experience, and therefore only grasps a small part of any object. Overall, the artist does not have the correct belief of the essential form, and therefore the artist’s representation holds no value.

Thinking back to the dramatic poet, a poet is believed to have the lowest level of experience and knowledge. The writer who uses metaphor and similes to articulate an idea is the furthest removed from grasping the truth of an object. The user is the one who knows the most about the performance of something he uses, and it is the user who can report on an object’s good or bad qualities to the maker (Plato, 332). Then the maker has the next highest level of knowledge, because he understands the use for which something is made or designed by nature (Plato, 332). The poets are ignorant and only makers of images. They do not know the truth about the original topics about which they speak of, and this creates problems, specifically psychological problems.

Plato addresses the problems the arts create and makes three main arguments against the arts, specifically dramatic poetry: The arts do not provide any knowledge or value, the arts undermine thinking, and the arts undermine the development of good character.

First, art, specifically poetry, does not provide any knowledge or value because it is so far from the truth of reality. Instead of benefiting one, it actually can cause harm in that it can create illusions. Plato makes the analogy of how an object seen in the distance does not look the same size as the same object close at hand (Plato, 334). The eyes are vulnerable to having tricks played upon them, and for this reason the work of the artist cannot be trusted as possibly providing useful insight.

Next, representational art moves away from the truth, and instead evokes strong emotions. There is a quarrel between reason and emotion, especially in the case of human suffering, specifically a parent’s loss of a child. A good person would not allow himself to be seen when in pain because he would be ashamed to make a scene. He suppresses his impulses, allowing for reason to decide what the right move to make is (Plato, 336). Art makes humans want to create a split between thinking and feeling, but Plato believes one cannot separate these two entities. Instead of acting impulsively on emotions, one must maintain a calm and wise mentality. It is only with a harmonic soul that one can clearly see the truth and act rationally. For this reason, Plato believes strongly that education should be about developing, not about expressing.

Lastly, Plato extends his argument against dramatic poetry further to say that by “encouraging the sympathetic indulgence of emotions which we are ashamed to give way to in our lives” one undermines character (Plato, 337). Art has the capability of evoking strong emotions, and it is possible for these emotions to have a strong affect on the viewer; “to enter into another’s feelings must have an effect on our own” (Plato, 338). These emotions people are exposed to could cause one to acquire personality traits which are diminishing to character. “Poetic representation of love and anger and all those desires and feelings of pleasure or pain which accompany our every action” have the potential to cause a loss of control (Plato, 338).

Plato makes these arguments in attempt to make one aware of the danger the human soul is put in when exposed to art, in particular dramatic poetry. It is his concern that humanity will not lend an ear and learn to distinguish truth from reality.

However, while Plato’s argument against the arts, more narrowly figurative language, may be thorough and sound convincing in some ways, there is more to figurative language than its use as an ornamental/aesthetic device. Figurative language, specifically metaphor, has particular positive roles in human development.

The use of language, specifically analogies and metaphor, is intelligible and comprehensible; metaphor helps to bridge the gap between people of different backgrounds, because it allows for ideas to be communicated in a way anyone can understand. Metaphor ultimately communicates feelings and experiences in a way which cannot be expressed in literal terms. Through this communication, metaphor fosters feelings of universality. Metaphor is relevant to every aspect of the human condition, and therefore should be regarded as valuable in society. Humanity depends on social harmony and understanding to function and live well, and metaphor has the ability to unite people with one another.

Language is a significant part of childhood development for numerous reasons, specifically figurative language. Figurative language provides one with intuitive knowledge, the kind of knowledge that is not obtained by standard logical reasoning. This form of “artistry consists in having an idea worth expressing, the imaginative ability needed to conceive of how, the technical skills needed to work effectively with some material, and the sensibilities needed to make the delicate adjustments that will give the forms the moving qualities that the best of them possess.”[1] This form of knowledge is important to each individual, and children should be exposed to this experience in the educational setting. First, figurative language, specifically metaphor, helps to stimulate the imagination; secondly, one’s ability to construct metaphors enhances strong communication skills; and lastly, learning to develop this craft teaches important life skills, especially critical thinking and problem solving.

Thinking about metaphor in terms of it serving as an aesthetic/ornamental device, one can think about the implications metaphor can have on a child’s imagination. Through the imagination children can stretch and explore; children can “learn to reach beyond one’s capacities, to explore playfully without a preconceived plan, and to embrace the opportunity to learn from mistakes and accidents.” [2] By using one’s imagination to then create metaphor is credited with having positive psychological effects. Kant, a well recognized philosopher articulates that a “productive” imagination brings sensation and understanding together, therein creating a “second nature out of the material supplied to it by actual nature.[3] To better understand these implications it is helpful to turn to Freud’s psychoanalytic studies. Freud claimed one who has creative insight has the ability to “objectify and universalize his fantasies in his artworks.”[4] This form of artistic expression surpasses anything that is seen or heard. The process is an attempt for the speaker to fulfill a desire, and works like this: While making art the artist knows he is in a fantasy world, but through art one is able to return to reality. The artist does this by first making the fantasy into a work of art by stripping the original fantasy of all its personal and egocentric qualities. Then, through elaboration, the artist’s fantasies are transformed into a new kind of reality. Finally, the last step in breaking down the barrier between the artist’s ego and those of others is an act of bribery. This pleasure yielding offer allows for release (Freud, p. 5-7). Art allows for the conveying of ideas, feelings, or personal meanings (Hetland, p.6). Developmental Psychologist Paul Harris has conducted studies that prove the development of one’s imagination is necessary for cognitive development and normal adult functioning.[5] It is necessary for young children to be given the opportunity, not only to think about pure fantasy, but to contemplate reality. Educational settings should strive to foster growth and learning, and the artistic experience has successfully demonstrated its achievement in providing growth and learning in the sensory, perceptual, and imaginative sense.

Secondly, figurative language, specifically the use of metaphors, allows one to learn how to better communicate with others. One person’s argument in support of this claim is Tolstoy. Tolstoy makes the argument that art is aesthetically valuable not because of the production of beauty, but because the emotional importance pivots on the value of communication-as-infection. Good metaphors cause the hearer to enter into a kind of relationship both with him who produced, or is communicating, the metaphor, and with all those who receive the same metaphoric idea.[6] Through this communication, metaphor fosters feelings of universality. When one communicates with others, one has the opportunity to learn from others as well as the chance to reflect internally. Humans as distinct individuals have personal preferences for things. Often these preferences can lead to criticism and judgment, but when strong communication skills are developed, individuals are able to reflect on their opinions in a constructive fashion, and from this, further their understanding of the world; By learning how to communicate effectively with others, one can learn to embrace problems of relevance within the world, and/or personal importance (Hetland, 6). Communication involves clarity, effectiveness, and poise that will only come with practice and it is for this reason that it is important such skills be instilled in educational institutes. Communication transforms consciousness into a public form, which is what representation is designed to do, and is necessary for individual growth (Eisner, 6-7). When children learn the importance and effectiveness of tone, body language, facial expressions, and other features of non-verbal language, children will gain an understanding of how to effectively develop into well-functioning human beings beyond the classroom. The relationship that forms through this social contribution and educational process allows for individuals to develop symbiotic relationships with others (Eisner, 7). Such various forms of communication allow for children to see the world in different ways. Such tropes are relevant to every aspect of the human condition; humanity depends on social harmony and understanding to function and live well, and metaphor has the ability to unite people with one another.

With these skills obtained, the individuals can begin to perceive and then produce aesthetic pieces with a purpose. Students are able to engage in forms of thinking that help them form connections between the form and content of metaphor. Related to the practice of problem solving, students obtain the knowledge of how to attack a problem from multiple perspectives. Metaphor is a stimulating and effective way of making students competent in exercising their logical thinking skills.

When thinking about the benefits that metaphor can provide, it is important to think about what the “outcomes” will be. It is important to take a look into the future and think about what skills are important for children to obtain in order for them to be successful in their adult years, and then think about ways in which educators can get their students to dive into their work, and increase concentration, which leads to an increase in success. Three things that are substantially important skills for children to obtain over the course of their educational years include the ability to develop their imagination, the ability to learn effective communication skills, and the ability to obtain problem solving skills. Language education allows for students to recognize what is “personal, distinctive, and even unique about themselves and their work” (Eisner, 44). Language education looks beyond what standardized tests articulate about an individual, and instead is about the creation of a “personal vision” (Eisner, 44). The classroom is demonstrated to provide a context in which students interact and in which mobility is possible (Eisner, 62). Through the use of metaphors, students are given the opportunity and the means to grow. Metaphors nourish the mind, and through achievement, students develop new attitudes and dispositions that will allow for them to continue learning throughout life (Eisner, 240).

[1] Eisner, Elliot W. The Arts and the Creation of Mind. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 200?  Print. Further reference to this text in parentheses (Eisner, p.#).

[2] Hetland, Louis, Ellen Winner, Shirley Veenema, Kimberly Sheridan. Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education. New York: Teachers College Press, 2007. Further reference to this text in parentheses (Hetland, p.#).

[3] Price, Harry Edward. Music Education Research: an Anthology from the Journal of Research in Music Education. Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference, 1998. Print. Further reference to this text in parentheses (Price, p.#).

[4] Ulman and Levy, eds. Art Therapy: Viewpoints. New York: Schocken Books. 1980. Further reference to this text in parentheses (Freud, p.#).

[5] Harris, Paul L. Hard Work for the Imagination. Play and development: Evolutionary, sociocultural, and functional perspectives. 205-225. Mahwah, NJ US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 2006.PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 22 Apr. 2011. Further reference to this text in parentheses (Harris, p.#).

[6] Tolstoy, L. What is Art. London: Penguin Books, 1995. Further reference to this text in parentheses (Tolstoy, p. #).

This is what happens when my students get a hold of my camera when they are on a field trip

In thinking about metaphors in the classroom, it is important to acknowledge how metaphors help shape behavior. Metaphors may create realities for us, especially social realities. A metaphor may thus be a guide for future action. Such actions will, of course, fit the metaphor. This will, in turn, reinforce the power of the metaphor to make experience coherent. In this sense metaphors can be self-fulfilling prophecies.[1] When a metaphor is stated, it is important to then unfold what is being implied, because if the wrong metaphor is used, perceptions can be directed in a way that then leads to unwanted behavioral responses.

In the previous chapter, we saw how “education is growth” illustrates how an educator plays the role of a gardener, and is responsibility for nurturing his/her students, the way a gardener would his/her plants. With the proper nutrients, students have the ability to grow into well-rounded, mature, and unique individuals. This metaphor contains within it a good belief about knowledge and the expected role of students. Nurturing and fostering life are at the heart of this metaphor.  It recognizes how students require the proper support and care in order to become enriched with knowledge and develop. “Effective teachers are like authoritative parents – they are warm, firm, and fair, and they have high expectations for student performance.”[2]

Now, we can look at a different metaphor, and look at how this one compares to “education is growth.” The metaphor, “education is production” became a conceptual framework during the industrial revolution in the United States. It provides reference to the roles, lexicon, and the actions and interactions of the nineteenth century business of production: the manager, the factory worker, the sorting machine. By the 1850s public discussion about educational policy illustrated the complete acceptance of the industrial model by educators.[3] Within this model, curriculum is “an assembly line down which students go,” and students themselves are “products to be molded, tested against common standards, and inspected carefully before being passed on to the next workbench for further processing.”[4] This concept of school led to “reductionistic, ‘parts-catalog’ approaches to teaching and learning.”[5] Both educators and the general public became obsessed with efficiency and scientific management, and embraced as well as idealized production as the model for education (Cook-Sather, p.44). However, I can think of many reasons why this is not a good model for education.

There are certainly benefits to good organization in the school environment, specifically in regards to social organization which takes into consideration five key aspects: 1) school and classroom size, 2) different approaches to age grouping and, in particular, how young adolescents should be grouped, 3) tracing, or the grouping of students in classes according to their academic abilities, 4) the ethnic composition of schools, and 5) public versus private schools (Steinberg, 2008, p.204). However, there are certain climates that are the best for enhancing student learning. Good schools have five characteristics: 1) They emphasize intellectual activities, 2) they have committed teachers who are given autonomy, 3) they monitor their own progress, 4) they are well integrated into their community, and 5) they have a high proportion of classrooms in which students are active participants in their education (Steinberg, 2008, p.229). Within the conceptual framework of education is production, teachers are considerably degraded. The structure for control aimed at efficiency is too intense. Teachers are given packaged curricula, readers, and textbooks, organized into tightly sequenced units and accompanied by teachers’ guides – forms of highly structured, step-by-step instructions. This type of system discourages creativity, critical thinking, or any kind of deviation from standardized manuals for learning (Cook-Sather, p.44). The teacher is also placed outside the system of learning, rather than inside; rather than being in charge of regulating the content and activities of the learner, the teacher is just a “manager” or “technician” in charge of implementing material that has already been established for the children to learn. “The school has been converted into the most dehumanizing institution that I have ever laid eyes upon, each child being treated as if he possessed a memory and the faculty of speech, but no individuality, no sensibilities, no soul.”[6] While there are modifications to this model, some being less drastic, overall, the meaningfulness of learning is lost when education is viewed as a means for production.

[1] Lakoff and Johnson

[2] Steinberg, 2008, p.204

[3] Cook-Sather,Education is Translation, p.43

[4] Schlechty, Schools, 42, 21.

[5] Stanley J. Zehm, “Deciding to Teach: Implications of a Self-Development Perspective,” in The Role of Self in Teacher Development, ed. Richard P. Lipka and Thomas M. Brinthaupt (New York: State University of New York Press, 1999), 43.

[6] Joseph Mayer Rice, The Public School System of the United States (New York: Century Company, 1893), 31.

Hume and Tea Time

The improvement of understanding is for two ends: first, our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver that knowledge to others. 

– John Locke

Education is a time for wonder and reflection, a time for creativity responsibility, problem-solving, and self-motivation. It is the role of the educator to ensure all students receive and understand the necessary skills for today’s competitive and complex world. For educators, to be able to achieve in preparing their students for life after school, it is first necessary to recognize the fact that “language is undoubtedly at the heart of learning”; “language has now replaced IQ as an explanation for social and education disadvantage.”[1] An educator plays an important role in a child’s development, and can significantly make a difference in the lives of children who come from poor families. Every child, with few exceptions, learns how to talk. However, the social and linguistic environments surrounding children as they begin to acquire language competence greatly differs cross-culturally. Educators need to recognize the role they play in bridging the gap between the use of language at home and in school. I believe literacy is one of the most important skills children need to learn in school in order to be successful in today’s developed world, and from this, I feel I can accurately state that skills in reading and writing are necessary for effective communication. This is where I believe the role of metaphor comes into play. The role of metaphor can be understood on two different levels: First, educators must recognize how metaphor helps to define one’s teaching philosophy. Metaphor helps to establish teacher-student relationships and helps in the organization of the classroom. Secondly, educators should recognize that metaphors are a powerful tool in linking unfamiliar ideas with the familiar. Analogies are an effective learning tool for reinforcing thinking skills and conceptual understanding. The in-depth analysis of metaphors’ role in students’ learning illustrates how metaphor is at the core of student achievement.

Before diving into discussion of metaphor, I think it is first important to provide some background information on what children come into the school system at a disadvantage. Studies done have shown that certain factors do not correlate with language learning. For example, race and gender do not affect a child’s ability to develop language and literacy skills. However, economic advantage plays a crucial role in children’s verbal communication development. The basic finding is this: Children growing up in less economically advantaged homes are exposed to a smaller vocabulary and have fewer interactions with people in comparison to more economically advantaged children. It is crucial for schools to provide an environment where children from all family backgrounds are exposed to rich language and exposed to the uses and functions of various prints. Children reared in poverty are exposed to fewer opportunities for experiences of many kinds, language just being one of them, and it takes this realization to understand why the education system needs to make an effort to help improve the language and cognitive performance of these less advantaged children.

To understand what creates this difference it helps to look into some studies that have been conducted: In 1995, Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley conducted a study on “ordinary families” and how they talk to their young children. The study focused specifically on how social interactions affect developmental growth. Evidence indicates that despite the strong efforts from preschool programs to equalize opportunity, children from less economically advantaged families fall behind their peers later in school. This is due to stunted vocabulary growth due to limited social interaction amongst parents and children in welfare families versus the amount of communication that takes place between parents and children of professional families.

A vocabulary, the stack of words (or signs) available to a person or a language community, comprises all the words a person knows, both those a person can understand and use appropriately. [2]  Words are added to the vocabulary through experiences. These experiences also allow for the refinement or elaboration of meanings of known words. A person’s vocabulary is something that continues to grow throughout life as an individual has new experiences and gains understanding. “The more often a child hears different words, the more varied are the associated experiences and the more the meanings of the words for the child come to match the range and nuances of the meanings of the words for the speaker and the culture” (Hart and Risley, 98). The vocabulary terms parents use when they interact with their children set the foundations for the complex concepts and relationships the children will be asked to understand later on. “Children’s experiences with language cannot be separated from their experiences with interaction because parent-child talk is saturated with affect” (Hart and Risley, 101). Characteristics of language, such as tone and sound patterns, are captured by children even before they begin using words. As children develop, the exposure they have had to language shapes their motivation to learn and use words.

Hart and Riley recognized that the vocabulary an individual has reflects their intellectual resources, and for this reason rather than using an IQ test as a measurement tool, they used vocabulary growth. The measurement of vocabulary growth versus the measure of intelligence with an IQ test is culturally unbiased, allows for the obtainment of repeated measures without the child memorizing test questions, and allows for testers to infer from the child’s use of a word in context what the child took to be the meaning of the word (Hart and Risley, 6).

Hart and Riley began their study by recording each month – for 2 ½ years – one full hour of every word spoken at home between parent and child in 42 families. These families had been categorized as professional working class or welfare families. Following the recording stage came years of coding and analyzing every utterance in the 1,318 transcripts. The data from successive observations were displayed for each child as a developmental trajectory, or a cumulative vocabulary growth curve (Hart and Risley, 7).

Findings showed that by age 3, the spoken vocabularies of the children from the professional families were larger than those of the parents in welfare families. For all 42 parents, the average number of utterances to the child per hour was 341 utterances. “The parents in the professional families addressed an average of 487 utterances to the child per hour in contrast to the average of 178 utterances addressed to the child by the parents in families on welfare, and the average of 301 utterances addressed to the child in the 23 working-class families” (Hart and Risley, 66). This is a difference of almost 300 words spoken per hour between professional and welfare parents. If this number is transferred into the number of words a child would hear per year, a child in a professional family would hear 11 million words; a child in a welfare family would only hear 3 million words.

Follow-up studies done age 9, show that children’s language experience is tightly linked to large differences in child outcomes. Vocabulary growth rates were strongly associated with rates of cognitive growth. This seemed to predict that in high school many children from impoverished families lack the necessary vocabulary to understand more advanced textbooks (Hart and Risley, 11). Hart and Risley realized the goal of their intervention needed to be changing the developmental trajectory; the rate at which welfare children added words to their dictionaries in daily use needed to be accelerated. Slow vocabulary growth rates are not due merely to the lack of extensive and varied experiences, but due to a lack of adult mediation.

For this reason, “the clear message here is that the welfare of poor children can only be served by enhancing the experiences they receive at home – by making the vocabulary and language they will need for expression and interpretation, in the wider contexts of their lives, available to them from those who are for them and also care about them” (Hart and Risley, xiii).

Hart and Risley calculated that in order for welfare children to receive language experience equal to that of working-class children, the welfare children would need to receive 63,000 words per week of additional language experience (Hart and Risley, 201). “Just to provide an average welfare child with an amount of weekly language experience equal to that of an average working-class child would require 41 hours per week of out-of-home experience as rich in words addressed to the child as that in an average professional home” (Hart and Risley, 201). What needs to be done to make this happen? A national commitment needs to be made to support and provide a voice to those who are left at a disadvantage.

However, for the purpose of this paper, I think it helps to focus on a more micro level, and to think about what strategies are effective and ineffective at helping to give these struggling children a boost within the classroom setting. This is where we need to look at the first metaphoric level – the first part of being a good teacher comes from recognizing the role metaphor plays in shaping one’s teaching philosophy. There are various metaphors often used when discussing education. A common metaphor that comes up is “education is growth.” Thinkers such as Rousseau and Herbart, argue that students need to be nurtured and given the opportunity to learn in their own ways at their own pace, and if given the proper sustenance, they will act morally according to their own free will.[3] This metaphor identifies how an educator can either help or hinder a child’s learning experience. An educator can think of him/herself as a gardener and his/her students can be thought of as plants. With sunlight, good soil, and water, seedlings will grow tall and strong and blossom into colorful flowers; with the right amount of instruction, advising, and encouragement, students will grow internally.

One metaphor that I created to use when thinking about education is “education is a ship”. If education is the ship, then the teacher is the wind and the students are the sails. This metaphor identifies how an educator has the power to direct a child’s learning, and with the right amount of positive reinforcement, the time a student spends in the classroom can be “smooth sailing”.

It helps to look at Psychologist Lev Vygotsky’s social learning theory to better understand how educator’s can help children’s learning and cognitive development. According to Vygotsky, the most important learning by the child occurs through social interaction with a skillful mentor. The mentor may model behaviors and/or provide verbal instructions for the child. The child seeks to understand the actions or instructions given, and then internalizes the information, using it to guide or regulate his/her own performance.[4] Vygotsky suggests that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent children develop with help from more skillful peers within the zone of proximal development. He believed when a student is at the zone of proximal development for a certain task, providing the appropriate amount of assistance, scaffolding, will give the student the necessary “boost” to achieve the task. The scaffolding can be removed once the student masters the task and can complete the task again on his/her own.[5]

As John Locke said, the human mind is a blank slate, and therefore educators furnish it with ideas to think on.[6] Humans are not born with full-fledged ideas in their heads, but rather slowly form them through the sensory input of the material world. In thinking about language, educators fill the minds of their students with the skills necessary to understand the structures of a text, assess the logic of an argument, and develop and awareness of how language is consciously deployed to achieve meaning and input.[7]

Now that we have established the role educators play in helping children develop, we can think about what strategies educators can use to help render the unfamiliar more familiar to their students.

[1] Romaine, 167

[2] Hart, Betty, and Todd R. Risley. Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Baltimore: P.H. Brookes, 1995. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Hart and Risley, p#).

[3] Cook-Sather, pp. 49-50

[4] http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

[5] http://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html

[6] Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book II Ch1

[7] CCSS

My Grandmothers Book Collection

We speak to be heard and need to be heard in order to be understood

~Roman Jakobson

Everyday references to communication are based on a ‘transmission’ model in which a sender transmits a message to a receiver – a formula that reduces meaning to explicit ‘content’ that resides within the text and is then delivered like a package.[1]This model allows for the conveyance of information through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information by way of speech, signals, writing, or forms of behavior. For the purpose of this chapter, we will focus solely on verbal communication. It is through this focus on verbal communication that one can understand the benefits of good communication. Good communication allows for the reduction of conflict, greater confidence and therein greater persuasiveness in the speaker, the building of stronger relationships, and allows one to discover new ideas.

Below, one can see Saussure’s model of oral communication. This linear transmission model exemplifies how the speaker’s role is ‘active’ and the listener’s role is ‘passive’ (Chandler, p.179). His model was based on the notion that comprehension on the part of the listener mirrors the speaker’s initial process of expressing a thought (Chandler, p.180).

Saussure’s Model of Oral Communication

In 1960, Roman Jakobson proposed another model of verbal communication, an interpersonal verbal communication model which moved beyond the basic transmission model of communication. He outlines what he considers the six ‘constitutive factors…in any act of verbal communication’:

 The addresser sends a message to the addressee. To be operative the message requires a context referred to (‘referent’ in another, somewhat ambivalent, nomenclature), seizable by the addressee, and either verbal or capable of being verbalized, a code fully, or at least partially, common to the addresser and addressee (or in other words, to the encoder and decoder of the message); and finally, a contact, a physical channel and psychological connection between the addresser and the addressee, enabling both of them to stay in communication.

                                                                                                            (Jakobson 1960, 353)

Jakobson established the principle that one cannot make sense of signs without relating them to relevant codes (Chandler, p.181).

Saussure’s model excludes reference to the social world. Jakobson’s model, on the other hand, acknowledges the importance of the context involved in speech events (Chandler, p.182). He recognized the importance of both ‘the place occupied by the given messages within the context of surrounding messages…and…the relation of the given message to the universe of discourse.’[2]

Now that we understand the processes of encoding and decoding and contexts are central features when it comes to the determination of meanings, one can get a better understanding of how to effectively communicate a thought or idea. In order to be successful, effective communication skills are important. They are important both in the work force and in day-to-day life.

First, good communication skills help in reducing conflict. This can be between a parent a child, boss and co-worker, or even a teacher and student. What is important to recognize is that this conflict typically comes from misunderstanding. Teachers often run into this problem when trying to communicate with young children. Shy students or young preschoolers in particular often struggle to communicate because of speech problems or other impairments. Teachers should spend time talking with each student individually for a few minutes each day. Simple conversations about the child’s pets or siblings can help the student to feel more comfortable and help him/her to develop a dialogue. It is also important for teachers to talk to students as a class when explaining projects, and a good idea to encourage students to raise their hands if they have any questions. In order for children to understand how to converse, they must practice two-way conversation. Then, it is also a good idea to have the child repeat the assigned task. This will ensure that the child has heard the teacher and that there is no confusion. When one becomes an effective communicator, one can resolve conflict and create harmony by bridging the communication gap.

Good communication also allows for an increase in confidence in the speaker, which in turn allows for the speaker to develop greater persuasiveness. When one communicates effectively in ways people instinctively understand, people are more likely to help and provide one with necessary resources. Communicating effectively not only includes audible and understandable verbal language, but it includes good posture and polish. Standing up straight when speaking and maintaining good eye contact with one’s audience, are crucial public speaking elements. In terms of polish, there are various factors that come into play. A talented speaker has a way with words, and knows how to engage his audience. For example, humor and anecdotes are creative qualities that will cause the speaker to stick out in the listeners’ minds.

Effective communication also allows for the building of stronger relationships, both in business and one’s personal life. One learns and understands exactly what people want and how one can give it to them; people begin to instinctively understand one another.

Lastly, good communication skills allows for the discovery of what people want and need. Once one knows what people want and need, one can then work towards helping to match these needs. Specifically in the business world, this allows for greater cooperative efforts.

[1] Daniel Chandler. The Basics.

[2] Jakobson 1968, 697).

Multi-Tasking at its Finest: Working on My Honors Project while Waiting for the Electoral Votes to Come In

A symbol, once in being, spreads among the peoples. In use and in experience, its meaning grows. Such words as force, law, wealth, marriage, bear for us very different meanings from those they bore to our barbarous ancestors (Charles Pierce)

Introduction

Now we are finally arriving at the core of this paper, where one will be able to gain an understanding of the motivations for metaphorical communication. By specifically focusing on the purpose conceptual metaphors serve in today’s society, one will also gain an understanding of how the mind and body, the physical and mental essences, work together to shape the way humans think and act. By the end of this second part one should have a full understanding of why communication could not stop at the basic level and the role metaphor plays in our human existence.

Metaphor and the Synchronization of Mind and Body

I think it helps to begin discussion with an explanation of what goes on inside each individual’s brain that allows for one to conceptualize in such an abstract manner. To understand what is going on it helps to look at a study done by the German-American psychologist Wolfgang Köhler in 1929. In 1929, Köhler demonstrated that the human brain is able to extract abstract properties from shapes and sounds.[1] When he showed islanders two shapes, one round and amoeboid and the other sharp and spiky, and then asked them to associate the words “takete” and “baluba” with the shapes, he discovered the majority of participants associated “takete” with the sharp, spiky shape and “baluba” with the round, amoeboid shape (Geary, 80). It is the instinctive ability to make associations like this that helps explain why metaphors typically “take the commonly shared world of physical sensation as their source and the private, abstract world of ideas, feelings, thoughts, and emotions as their target” (Geary, 82). For a further example, think about the words “light” and “dark” and how they affect one’s opinion when associated with someone’s personality: a sunny person is typically characterized as someone who is happy and cheerful. In contrast, someone who is gloomy is characterized as being sad and depressed. These types of metaphors begin to create consistent patterns. The words we use for everyday experiences, physical things, and sensations become used to describe abstract thoughts, feelings, emotions, and ideas (Geary, 78-79).

Conceptual Metaphor

There is such a close-knit relationship between human cognition and metaphor because mind and body are not separate metaphysical entities. For this reason, everything appears to come down to human reason and the duality between mind and body. Physical experience and perception are both basic and shared between humans and human mental states are less readily communicable than physical ones (Sweetser, 719). To better understand the synchronization of mind and body, it helps to unravel what conceptual metaphors are. Conceptual metaphors allow us to “conceptualize one domain of experience in terms of another” (Flesh, 91). Because of their literal, basic level- entailments, conceptual metaphors allow us to conceptualize and comprehend our experiences, and then communicate them.

Time

Take for example the abstract concept of time. Time is not a concept that can be conceptualized on its own terms; it must be conceptualized metaphorically. Think about how humans orient themselves in space and time. “The most basic metaphor for time has an observer at the present who is facing toward the future, with the past behind the observer” (Flesh, 140). From this conceptualization, humans can talk and reason about the here and now because the observer’s physical location serves as a reference point for the words preceding and following (Flesh, 143).

Argument is War

One commonly used conceptual metaphor is argument is war. “Words are weapons in this verbal combat: sharp-tongued people make cutting remarks, for example, and sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me seems to be a formulaic attempt to assert the metaphorical rather than literal status of such weapons.”[2]

Humans perceive and act in accordance with the metaphors. Continuing with the theme of argument is war, one can see the parallel made between combat and conversation; “one may verbally and psychologically, without physical intervention, push someone into something, drag someone unwillingly into a situation, pull someone out of trouble, give someone a (verbal) nudge (= a reminder) slap someone’s wrist (= reprove someone mildly), and so forth” (Sweetser, 718). Humans plan and use strategies in order to try and win verbal arguments. It is hard to imagine a culture where the metaphorical concept argument is war is not used to structure what humans do and how humans understand what they are doing when they argue; try and imagine a culture where no one ever wins or loses, where there is no sense of attacking or defending. These people would view arguing differently, if they even had a perception of argumentation at all. American culture has a form of discourse structured in terms of battle, and this discourse demonstrates how metaphors allow for the perception of one thing in terms of another. These conceptual arguments serve the purpose of shaping understanding; the construction of these arguments shows the connections between things that are and things that are not obvious by putting ideas together.

Summary

These various defining concepts (e.g. journeys, war, health, etc) emerge from the interactions between human beings, and the concept they metaphorically define (e.g. love) is understood in terms of interactional properties.[3] This identifies how metaphors are grounded in human interactions with the physical and cultural environment. Reason and concepts therefore are not transcendent – not utterly independent of the body (Flesh, 128). The traditional theory of metaphor, which has persisted for twenty-five hundred years in the philosophical and literary tradition, treats metaphor as irrelevant to fundamental questions about the nature of the world and knowledge of it, but these traditional views must be challenged.[4] Metaphors are imaginative and creative, but the irony is that they are necessary for the conceptualization of the real (Flesh, 14). Truth is always relative to a conceptual system that is defined by the metaphor (Lakoff, 3). Therefore, since the primary role of language is to express and communicate basic truths about the world, these metaphors are proven to be necessary.

[1] I Is An Other (Geary, 81)

[2] Sweetser, Eve E. English Metaphors for Language: Motivations, Conventions, and Creativity. Poetics Today 13.4 (1992): 705-24. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1773295gt;. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Sweetser, p.#).

[3] Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live by. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1980. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Lakoff, p.#).

[4] Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought. New York: Basic, 1999. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Flesh, p.#).

The Search for Peace

Symbols carry a life-enhancing ability, and when one is tuned in to what these symbols have to offer, the symbol becomes “pregnant with meaning” and shapes one’s reality

~ Anthony Stevens, Ariadne’s Clue: a Guide to the Symbols of Humankind

Non-Verbal Communication

The communicative function is a powerful one. It is not a simple, one layered, linear process. Humans in addition to communicating at the literal level, have the ability to transmit signals by means other than spoken or written words. They achieve this non-verbal communication through the use of facial expressions and bodily gestures, as well as through non-literal verbal extensions with a logical component, called tropes. [1] Human beings appear to unconsciously use these non-literal methods of communication. In many instances, it appears evident that the body communicates more strongly than the mind, without the mind even being aware of the body’s innate power over reason. Human societies need this form of communication in order to represent the ways things in the world are; communication in the non-literal sense is a process of rendering the unfamiliar more familiar.

There are various forms of non-verbal communication Some forms include: paralanguage, which refers to sounds that sometimes do not have a written form (e.g. uh-huh means Yes, or I am listening); kinesics, or body language (e.g. eye contact); proxemics, which refers to how humans organize space (e.g. the intimate distance for embracing, touching or whispering); haptics, which refers to the sense of touch (e.g. in Spain, people greet each other with two kisses on the cheek); chronemics, which refers to time (e.g. when in a relationship to say, I love you); and artifacts, or communication with objects (e.g. jewelry, bumper stickers, food, etc.) (Salzmann, insert page#).

Kinesics:

To begin to understand this non-literal sense of communication it helps to first analyze the role kinesics plays in human societies. This powerful form of communication involves body language, and the way this is used to portray moods and emotions. “Ritualized gestures – the bow, the shrug, the smile, the wink, the military salute, the pointed finger, the thumbed nose, sticking out the tongue, and so on – are not really nonverbal communication, because such gestures are just a substitute for the verbal meanings that are associated with them.”[2] However, there are many spontaneous gestures and actions that are unconscious, and communicate a great deal; sometimes what a person is saying unconsciously by his actions directly contradicts what he is saying consciously with his words (Clark, 57). The best way to understand how this form of non-verbal communication works is to think about how body language is interpreted when one goes into an interview. There are various types of body movement one can conduct, which can portray a person as confident or insecure, enthusiastic or lazy. For example, something as simple as a handshake with an interviewer says a lot. A good firm hand shake is associated with an open-minded, less neurotic and shy personality in comparison to a weak handshake.[3] Words prove to not be the only way to effectively communicate; body movement has interpretative meaning as well.

Tropes:

Now, looking beyond body language, it is important to also look at the use of tropes in human societies. Tropes include: metaphor, a literary figure of speech that uses and image, story or tangible object to represent a less tangible object or some intangible quality or idea (e.g. Life as journey: some of us travel hopefully, others seem to have no direction, many lose their way); simile, a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, using the words like or as (e.g. life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you are going to get); metonym, a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept (e.g. the white house stands for the president); synecdoche, a figure of speech in which a term denoting one thing is used to refer to a related thing (e.g. executives being referred to as suits), myth, a traditional or legendary story; and metamorphosis (abrupt change in an animal’s body structure through cell growth and differentiation).

Metaphor:

For the purpose of this paper, metaphor will be the main focus. While the other types of tropes play important roles in human communication, metaphors can be viewed as people’s primary mode of mental operation. This is because of the major role metaphor plays in human reason. “Reason is not disembodied, as the tradition has largely held, but arises from the nature of our brains, bodies, and bodily experience” and this reason is “not purely literal, but largely metaphorical and imaginative.”[4]  In the following chapters one will learn about the important role metaphor plays in shaping our understanding of every day experiences.  In order to demonstrate this importance, there will be a specific focus on conceptual metaphors. Conceptual metaphor, which refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another (e.g. understanding quantity in terms of directionality – “prices are rising”).[5] These metaphors not only shape human communication, but shape the way humans think and act. It is through these metaphors that we can talk about our every day experiences.

[1]  Salzmann, Zdenek. Language, Culture, [and] Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. Boulder: Westview, 1993. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Salzmann, p.#).

[2] Clark, Virginia P., Paul A. Eschholz, and Alfred F. Rosa. Language: Introductory Readings. New York: St. Martins, 1977. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Clark, p.#).

[3] LiveScience Staff. Firm Handshakes Help Land Jobs. Live Science. LiveScience.com, 6 May 2008. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. http://www.livescience.com/7487-firm-handshakes-land-jobs.htmlgt;. Further reference to this source in parentheses (LiveScience).

[4] Lakoff and Johnson. Philosophy in the Flesh. (4).

[5] Conceptual Metaphor. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_metaphorgt;. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Conceptual Metaphor).

Tabby Thinks Shes So Wise

When it was over, all I could think about was how this entire notion of oneself, what we are, is just this logical structure, a place to momentarily house all the abstractions. It was a time to become conscious, to give form and coherence to the mystery, and I had been a part of that. It was a gift. Life was raging all around me and every moment was magical. I loved all the people, dealing with all the contradictory impulses thats what I loved the most, connecting with the people. Looking back, thats all that really mattered.

 ~Quiet Woman at Restaurant, Waking Life

“Certain ways of speaking the same language may differentiate men from women, the young from the old, the poor from the rich, and the like.”[1] Benjamin Lee Whorf set forth a double principle to further explain: the principle of linguistic determinism (the way one thinks determines the language one speaks), and linguistic relativity (differences among languages must therefore be reflected in the different worldviews of speakers) (Salzmann, 54). Because the world can be seen through different lenses and interpreted in multiple ways, the people, gestures, and moments each individual experiences create one’s own reality.

“Language makes us free as individuals but chains us socially.”[2] The social rules of language often force human beings to respond in certain ways. Dell Hymes’ mnemonic device, S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G (for setting and scene, participants, ends, act sequence, key, instrumentalities, norms and genre) helps us look at the complexity of speech events (e.g. interview, telephone inquiry, dialogue, confession to a priest, etc.). His model enforces the notion that to speak a language correctly, not only does one need to learn its vocabulary and grammar, but one also needs to learn the context in which words are used; speech does not occur in a vacuum, but within a specific context.

“Setting refers to the time and place of a speech act and, in general, to the physical circumstances.”[3] Settings will vary from one instance to the next, even if the events are the same kind, but the variation has culturally recognized limits (Salzmann, 249). For example, asking a friend if he wants to go out for drinks after watching a baseball game on a Friday night is an appropriate invitation; however, inviting a friend to a bar during a church service is inappropriate. Hymes distinguishes between setting and scene by designating scene as the “psychological setting” (Hymes, 55-56). One can imagine the identical setting and participants, but completely different scenes: for example, the announcement of a co-workers pregnancy versus the announcement of a fatal accident in a conference room. Setting and scene demonstrate how the context of situation matters.

The next component, participants, includes not only the sender of a message and the receiver, but anyone who perceives the message (Salzmann, 248). The characteristics of the participants: age, gender, ethnic affiliation, relationship among participants, social status, degree to which they are acquainted, and other factors influence communication (Salzmann, 248). For example, the utterance, “There aren’t enough chairs” to one’s wife means ‘Wow! I am popular;’ but to a janitor it means, ‘Go get some more chairs’ (Clark, 277). To understand meaning requires knowledge of social statuses, privileges and duties of both speaker and listener.

Ends, the next component, is purpose of communicative behavior. “An individual may make an offer or a request, threaten or plead, praise or blame, invite or prohibit some action, reveal or try to conceal something” (Salzmann, 249). Often more times than not, one’s goal determines how one speaks and acts. For instance, if Jill wants Jack to attend a party with her, she might say to him, “Even Bob is going.” The presupposition is that if Bob is going, then everyone is going, and therefore the person being spoken to should go. The manipulation is held in the word, even (Clark, 286). Other forms of indirect request are used in giving compliments, commands, and asking questions (Clark, 279). The problem with indirect requests is that they are often misunderstood. If someone says, “would you mind closing the window,” one is not seeking a yes or no answer, but is rather asking the receiver to shut the window. Someone of a different culture may not understand similar discourse routines.

Act sequence refers to the form and order of an event. Religious ceremonies have a specific sequential order. For example, a typical Episcopal Church Service looks like this: when one enters the church, one is greeted by an usher and given a service bulletin; one then sits in a pew and waits for the service to begin; the service begins with everyone standing and singing a hymn (usually there will be a procession consisting of acolytes, the choir, and the clergy); the priest then begins with a collect (a special prayer); following the collect, everyone sits for the first reading, a psalm, and a second reading; then, everyone stands for a hymn, and the Gospel reading; next everyone sits for the priest’s sermon; after the sermon comes the Nicene Creed, prayers, confession, and the exchanging of peace; this is followed by the communion; after communion the celebrant and congregation say a prayer of thanksgiving, and everyone stands for a recessional hymn; then the service ends with a dismissal to which the congregation replies, “Thanks be to God”. Attention to sequential structure demonstrates how discourse is not a meaningless string of words, but rather is interactional, and has intentions and purpose.

Key, also sometimes called frame, refers to what the participants in a face-to-face interaction are doing when they speak (Sauzmann, 254). “Acts otherwise the same as regards setting participants, message form, and the like may differ in key as, e.g., between mock [and] serious or perfunctory [and] painstaking”(Salzmann, 252). When studying language discourse it is important to pay attention to who is directing the mood, and how the mood is being controlled. Some words carry strong, emotional and social values, and failure to recognize such connotations can lead to offensive misinterpretation.

Instrumentalities refers to agencies of speaking and consists both of channels (the transmission of speech: oral, written, telegraphic, semaphore, etc.) and forms of speech (Hymes, 58, 60). With regard to channels, one must further distinguish modes of use. Among the Ashanti, the acoustic channel is diverse: Twi is their verbal language, characterized by give distinctive tones; the ceremonial language priests and priestesses use is a sub-code that Ashanti laypeople cannot understand; the language of the ghosts, cooing noises, is intelligible only to unborn babies and toothless infants; drum code, horn code, and gong code are used to convey messages and signals; and whistling is recognized as being used by the forest fairies and monsters who instruct the Ashanti’s medicine men (Salzmann, 250). How something is being said is part of what is said.

Norms refers to the social rules that govern the event and the participants’ actions and reaction. Norms vary from culture to culture, and within a single society. If the society is socially or ethnically diversified, not all members are likely to use the same rules of interaction and the same norms of interpretation (Salzmann, 252). When norms are shared, there is less room for misinterpretation and tension among individuals. For example, in a study done at the University of Colorado among male students from Arabic-speaking countries and male students from the United States, Michael Watson and Theodore Graves (1966:976-979) found that “Arabs confronted each other more directly than Americans when conversing…They sat closer to each other…[and] were more likely to touch each other…They looked each other more squarely in the eye…and…conversed more loudly than Americans…Persons from the various Arab countries [appeared to] be more similar to each other than to any regional group of Americans” (Salzmann, 254). Due to the fact that American communicative behavior is different than that of various Arab countries, misinterpretation leads to misunderstanding

Lastly, Genre refers to the type of speech act or event. Members of a speech community recognize genres as having beginnings, middles, and ends, and as being patterned. For example, the end of a joke is the punch line, often a pun – typically this is a stupid response by one of the characters showing that the character is lacking in some basic social knowledge or one in which the social meaning of an utterance is ignored and its literal meaning is taken instead (Clark, 277). An old Beetle Bailey cartoon illustrates a clear example: Sarge says to Zero “The wastebasket is full.” Instead of emptying the basket, Zero responds “Even I can see that” (Clark, 277). This demonstrates how words can be taken at face value rather than their intended interpretation.

My Kantian Cat

For Hymes, speech cannot be separated from the sociological and cultural factors that help shape linguistic form and create meaning. Each person is the author of her own life; an author, when writing a piece of fiction, creates a narrative thread. Particular elements and techniques of writing lead the created characters to have certain experiences and commit certain acts. These narrative threads weave the characters’ individual world views (cultural norms) together and create the overall story. Does the author ever place herself in the story? The fact that the author stops to read her work before continuing on to further develop the plot line is enough evidence to say yes, the author is placing herself in this fictional life. These same techniques can be applied to one’s waking reality. The people, gestures, and moments an individual experiences on a daily basis make one’s life story and shape one’s language. The way one perceives and speaks about life and the way sequences of events play out works the same way an author perceives how his novel will develop. In both situations one is aware of reality because one has a consistent perspective.

[1] Salzmann, Zdenek. Language, Culture, [and] Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. Boulder: Westview, 1993. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Salzmann, p#).

[2] Clark, Virginia P., Paul A. Eschholz, and Alfred F. Rosa. Language: Introductory Readings. New York: St. Martins, 1977. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Clark, p#).

[3] Hymes, Dell H. Foundations in Sociolinguistics; an Ethnographic Approach. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1974. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Hymes, p#).

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