The T-Word Phenomenon: Analyzing Pre-Service Teachers’ Technology Metaphors Through Feenberg’s Critical Theory

This study investigates pre-service teachers’ conceptual understanding of technology by employing Feenberg’s Critical Theory of Technology as a theoretical framework. Since the 1960s, the field of educational technology has been troubled by widespread misconceptions of technology, leading to its reduction to mere tools and devices. This problem facilitated the commodification of education and evolved into what is referred to in this paper as the “T-word phenomenon.” Using a systematic metaphor analysis methodology, responses from 706 pre-service teachers who completed the prompt “Technology is like ____, because ____.” were examined. The analysis revealed eight distinct clusters of metaphorical conceptualizations, ranging from instrumentalist views of technology as neutral tools to deterministic perspectives on technology. Notably, participants displayed tendencies to anthropomorphize technology as an autonomous agent with its own development trajectory, or to reduce it to its most visible manifestations, such as information technology products and services. Cluster analysis demonstrated strong associations between positive sentiments and marketing jargon, as well as technological determinism and negative sentiments. The findings suggest that pre-service teachers often oscillate between Feenbergian instrumentalist and substantivist positions, frequently embodying problematic forms of technological determinism and reification that may hinder their ability to foster critical technological literacy among their students. These results carry significant implications for teacher education programs, highlighting the need for more robust approaches to developing technological literacy that go beyond mere technical competence to include a critical understanding of the societal implications of technologies.