Analysis of Preschool Children’s Metaphorical Perceptions towards Foreign Language

The main purpose of the study is to examine the metaphorical perceptions of preschool children towards foreign language. Phenomenology design was used in the research. The study group consists of 195 preschool children receive foreign language education in preschool education institutions affiliated to Ankara Provincial Directorate of Family and Social Services during the 2022-2023 academic year. A metaphor survey using the prompt “Foreign language is like … because …” was conducted to collect the research data. A total of 32 invalid metaphors were excluded, and 163 valid metaphors were included in the analysis. Among these, 64 metaphors were produced by 4-year-old children, while 99 were produced by 5-year-olds. In terms of gender distribution, 83 metaphors were developed by boys and 80 by girls. The metaphors generated by the participants were categorized into two main groups: positive and negative. The positive metaphors were classified into 11 conceptual subcategories, including “Language,” “People and Characters,” “Actions,” “Country,” “Plants and Animals,” “Object,” “Foreigner,” “Activity,” “Numbers,” “Teacher,” and “City.” In contrast, the negative metaphors were grouped under four conceptual subcategories: “Language,” “Actions,” “Plants and Animals,” and “Foreigner.” Among all responses, “English” (f=21) was the most frequently produced metaphor; thus, the leading conceptual category was “Language”. Consequently, the study found that preschool children produced 147 positive and 16 negative metaphors regarding foreign languages. These findings suggest that the majority of preschool children hold positive perceptions of “foreign language”.