Complex dynamic systems (CDS) theory offers a powerful metaphorical model of applied linguistic processes, allowing holistic descriptions of situated phenomena, and addressing the connectedness and change that often characterise issues in our field. A recent study of Kenyan conflict transformation illustrates application of a CDS perspective. Key…

When parents and teachers help gifted kids use the metaphor "learning through different lenses," amazing things happen: Horizons open up. Ideas are focused. Thoughts are magnified and clarified. They see the big picture. Metaphoric thinking offers new and exciting ways to see the world. Viewing the world through different lenses provides…

This paper seeks to elaborate on the notion of "grammatical metaphor" intended by M. A. K. Halliday (1983) in his Functional Systemic Linguistics (FSL). "Metaphor" in linguistic parlance is "a process of mapping between two different conceptual domains--the source domain and the target domain". Halliday draws on this…

With the advent of digital technologies, a new adventure began. How the world works has changed, and we cannot go back. Digitally savvy children born in the digital age (i.e., DigiKids) are interacting with and responding to rich, curatable multimodal communications as part of their daily-lived experience. For DigiKids, traditional text-based…

Drawing from the research methods of three distinct literacy studies, in this piece, we highlight the visualisation approaches integral to our enquiry processes as researchers working to make sense of literacy and learning. We aim to encourage, provoke even, a conversation about visualisation processes in literacy research by sharing the…

Building on both cognitive semantics and enactivist approaches to cognition, we explore the concept of enactive metaphor and its implications for learning. Enactive approaches to cognition involve the idea that online sensory-motor and affective processes shape the way the perceiver-thinker experiences the world and interacts with others.…

The article is a response to this journal's call for papers on metaphors for teaching, and also draws from a previous publication in which Kent Eilers developed a methodology for teaching global theologies. In this methodology, the ultimate goal was the development of "hermeneutical dispositions of empathy, hospitality, and receptivity toward…

The role of analogies and metaphors has played a significant part in the work on teaching and learning science. This commentary discusses three papers from this current issue that cover a wide range of studies in the spirit of conceptual metaphors--ranging from a study somewhat similar to "classical" conceptual change, to a teacher…

Picture a group of classroom teachers gathered around a table late one afternoon discussing the results of the statewide writing assessment, the returned scored papers scattered across the table top. This article details research exploring which rhetorical elements are associated with statewide assessment scores and considers the role and…

Embracing "metaphor as method" (Prendergast, 2005; see also Prendergast, 2006a, 2006b, 2008a), which I suggest is a key characteristic of thinking poetically and doing poetic inquiry, is the process conveyed in this suite of found poems. The investigation began with a cross-disciplinary scholarly database search on the term "education as art" that…

Undergraduates of the University of Economics in Bratislava need to receive decent economic and legal education to be able to work successfully in different areas of the national economy and in the management structures of all levels. The previous research has shown that Slovakia follows a significant negative trend with performance in reading.…

The focus of this dissertation is an analysis of how two pre-service mentor teachers described and practiced good mentoring. The mentor teachers were associated with the English language teacher education program at Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal. The findings suggest that good mentoring practice required a complex set of skills and…

Neuro-realism is a widely cited concept describing a textual phenomenon in popular science news wherein brain research uncritically validates or invalidates the "realness" of particular beliefs or practices. Currently, no research on neuro-realism examines the variable rhetorical roles of such statements, that is, how they support…

This article analyses the public responses in China to Shanghai's performance in the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Based on data obtained from media accounts and other materials published between 2013 and 2016, the research findings show that the responses in China are generally reflective, measured and self-critical.…

Using the Pacific metaphor of the vaka, va'a, waka [canoe] this review considers the journey of Pasifika early childhood education (ECE) in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past decade. The discussion covers three major areas within the Pasifika sector: the need to celebrate the strong heritage and resilience of Pacific early childhood educators and…