Metaphor in Professional Settings

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2025-2026/L_ETBACIW302

Course Objective

In this course, you will learn how to discuss current research on metaphor in different professional settings (such as e.g. health and education) in a critical and constructive fashion; you will learn how to analyze metaphorical language and its different manifestations and functions; you will apply different tools for metaphor analysis; and in the process, you will improve your skills in written and oral presentation in English. ObjectivesYou can identify, classify, and analyze metaphors, in different types of ‘real-world’ discourse taken from a range of professional settings, including their functions in a given discourse context.You can apply different research methods to investigate metaphors on both a linguistic and conceptual level. You understand how metaphors/metaphorical frames can influence how we think, write, talk, and act.You understand how metaphor functions as a powerful device in different professional contexts (e.g. education, health, politics, or the courtroom) and you examine its role in e.g. talking about complex or difficult topics, framing identity and personal experience, shaping public opinion, or reinforcing societal structures.You can summarize key topics of state-of-the-art research in the field and can critically evaluate research articles in the field.You can set up and carry out a small-scale study on metaphor in a professional setting of your own choice.You are able to present ideas in both oral and written mode.

Course Content

Course content: A metaphor is a figure of speech in which we conceive of an item from one (target) domain in terms of an item from another (source) domain. We know metaphor from literary texts, like Shakespeare’s sonnets (‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?), but metaphors are also crucial beyond literature. We use them as the major device to make sense of complex or abstract phenomena and to convey our everyday conceptual and emotional experiences. Most of us are unaware of the way our language system is filled with metaphorically used words (think about verbs and prepositions). At the same time, in many disciplines metaphor is used more deliberately for rhetorical or instructional purposes. For example, politicians talk about ‘going to war against’ the Corona epidemic; epidemiologists have framed it as a disaster (‘your house is on fire’) and its spread has been described as a ‘domino-effect’. Metaphorical language has the power to illuminate, but also to obscure a topic; it has the power to change the way we view the world. In this course, we will explore the use of metaphorical language and the different functions it has (e.g. to transfer knowledge, to create identity, to frame and envisage other realities) in different professional settings, such as health care (and illnesses), the courtroom, or education. Such awareness of metaphors and its functions provides you with a critical view on language use, its potential and pitfalls.

Teaching Methods

Course structure: Tutorial
- a reading list combined with assignments, individual/group contact moments with the instructor

Method of Assessment

Forms of assessment: a) Knowledge clip (30%) (Objectives 3,4,5,7) b) Proposal final paper (10%) (Objectives 6,7) c) Final paper (60%) (Objectives 1-7) d) Regular weekly assignments (Objectives 1-4) a-c: must be graded at least 5.5. d: pass/fail Anyone failing the course may resit only the portion(s) failed.

Literature

Readings: Journal articles and book chapters, which will be made available to students .

Target Audience

This tutorial is only open to third-year Students in the CIS track 'English Language and Communication Studies'

Custom Course Registration

This tutorial is only open to third-year Students in the CIS track 'English Language and Communication Studies'