Metáforas en la escuela primaria: la competencia figurativa en la pedagogía, la didáctica y la evaluación

Recent studies on conceptions of figurative language among Colombian elementary school teachers concluded that they think that figurative language is a matter of rhetoric, that it implies complex psychological processing, that its value lies in the improvement of social relations rather than in its cognitive input, and that it is not a concern for elementary school. These beliefs seem highly controversial from the point of view of contemporary research on figurative language and its role in educational processes. We aim to challenge those beliefs by exposing relevant current knowledge about the figurative competence, showing its importance for pedagogy, didactics, and evaluation in educational contexts, and illustrating how the nonreflective use of figurative expressions in the classroom carries harmful effects on students.