This paper reports on an investigation into the potential effects of the Symbol Literacy Approach (SLA) on the metaphorical reasoning of 25 five-year-old children attending a Maltese Catholic School. This was implemented via six pedagogical activities comprising the 'St. Michael Project', which sought to prompt the children's symbolic engagement…

The expanding field of affective neuroscience is redefining the role of emotions in cognition, reasoning, and judgment. This contradicts long-standing assumptions about cognition that consider emotions antithetical to learning. Emotions arose early in human brain development as essential to survival by directing the embodied brain toward…

In this paper we move from considering the chair as an (inanimate) object, to exploring its vitality through a more vibrant and active reading of this inescapable everyday item. We are inspired by feminist new materialism and how affect shapes our understanding of matter. Reading matter in this way surfaces our orientations toward everyday items…

Much of the language at academic conferences is purely metaphorical, so it is important to understand the cultural-historical significance of the metaphors used in constructing organizational gatherings, especially the metaphor invoked by the town hall meeting. Town halls/meetings were spaces where members gathered for democratic rule in a…

One of the main questions regarding Dutch primary education in our secularised and religiously diverse society--both with regards to public and religiously-affiliated schools--is how to get students acquainted with the symbolic language of religious and worldview-affiliated life narratives. Teaching literacy in symbolic language has become less…

This article draws upon my keynote address delivered at the 44th Oceania and Comparative and International Education Society (OCIES) Conference held at the University of Sydney. It examines how metaphors and other forms of symbolic language used to describe educational dilemmas shape the responses that are imaginable in addressing them. In…

Fox argues that the poetic function of language fulfils the human need to symbolise. Metaphor, simile and analogy provide examples of the ways in which symbolic language can be used creatively. The neural representations of these processes therefore provide a means to determine the neurological basis of creative language. Neuro-imaging has…

This paper explores how narrative and metaphor combine to articulate the moral and ideological message in a short story "The Fly" by Katherine Mansfield. The research addresses some of the most popular interpretations of the story that demonstrate its ambiguity and intertextual connections. The story metaphorical language is compared…

The author reviews "Symbolic Transformation: The Mind in Movement Through Culture and Society," an important first book in a new series that aimed at understanding the myriad ways "social representation processes operate in one's everyday feeling, thinking and acting." The book consists of a series of chapters brought together to develop a rich…

The purpose of this study was to explore the utility and application of the framing devices identified by Fairhurst (1993) and Fairhurst and Sarr (1996) in the college/university setting as evidenced through college/university presidents' speeches. Fifty-seven college/university presidents' speeches were collected from institution…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of symbolic expressions (e.g., "BTW," "LOL," "UR") in an SMS text messaging corpus consisting of over 10,000 text messages. More specifically, the purpose was to determine, not only how frequently these symbolic expressions are used, but how they are utilized in terms of the language functions…

Secondary student performance in the domain of reading has been a cause for concern for educators and scholars alike. To understand the demands placed on students we must first understand how reading changes within content areas and across grades. Furthermore, we must have an understanding of teachers' conceptions about the texts they teach. This…

Examples cited refute a generally accepted view that the origins of metaphors are arbitrary. To illustrate this point, examples are cited of how products of nature (curcubitic plants: melons, pumpkins) are used as references to people and their characteristics (hardiness, appearance, texture, inertness, reproductive and sexual connotations). In…

Challenges the contention of science that scientific language eliminates figurative language and, instead, demonstrates the relationship of metaphor, models, and analogy to scientific concepts. (AM)

Defines gastronomic reference, or mention of what public figures eat, as synecdoche. Illustrates how use of this rhetorical device contributed to public figures and public images in the 1980 presidential campaign. Argues that interest in gastronomic reference leads to a broader concern for how synecdoche functions in public discourse. (PD)