“Metaphors we learn by”: teaching essay structure and argumentation through conceptual metaphors

ABSTRACT

In this study, we used Conceptual Metaphor Theory (henceforth CMT) for the benefit of English for Academic Purposes’ teaching and learning. CMT underpins how in metaphorical expressions, one concept is understood in terms of another. We argue that CMT can help students understand and master argumentation skills and essay structure, although there is little research on this topic. In this research, we focus on two metaphors: Arguments Are Buildings and writing is cooking, eating, digesting. The study was conducted through workshops for students of EAP using either Legos or cooking props to help them link the metaphors to their writing skills. After the workshops, students wrote an essay which was marked in accordance with the International English Language Testing System’s specification and compared to their average writing score throughout the semester. Findings show that students who took part in the workshops obtained a higher grade, particularly students who attended the workshop on the metaphor writing is cooking, eating, digesting.

KEYWORDS:

• English for academic purposes
• metaphor studie
• pedagogical stylistic
• essay structure
• teaching and learning

Introduction

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) - “the teaching of English with the specific aim of helping learners to study, conduct research or teach in that language – is an international activity of tremendous scope” (Flowerdew and Peacock 2001, 8). Many universities have resources allocated to EAP to support international students for whom English is an additional language (EAL students) as well as L1 students of English. Indeed, as Bourdieu, Passeron, and Saint Martin (1994, 8) explain, “academic language is a dead language […] and is no one’s mother tongue. […] As such, it is very unequally distant from the languages actually spoken by the different social classes”. This means that the aim of EAP is to allow any students (L1 speaker of English or not) to understand and practice academic language and processes.

Academic English Skills (AES) is a course provided by many education providers such as Study Group, who work with universities to support international students with their progression pathways. AES is a precursor course to that of EAP as it focuses on four key skills students will need in their studies and will build on in EAP sessions: reading, speaking, writing, listening. AES should not be understood to englobe general English language, as this is not the case: it develops students’ critical reading, thinking and argumentation skills, as well as their academic writing style.

In this paper, we argue that there is limited research in stylistics and metaphor studies looking at specific metaphors for the teaching of EAP (or AES), particularly students’ writing skills. Thus, our research questions are:

• RQ1: What stylistic tools or concepts can be used for the teaching of EAP or more generally English writing?

• RQ2: How can stylistics help students improve their writing skills?

• RQ3: What is the impact of using metaphors for the teaching of structure to (international) students?

To answer these questions, we first provide a brief literature review of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and a summary of key studies in stylistic and metaphor research on EAP. We then present our study’s methodology and findings. Finally, a discussion of our findings in greater context is provided.

Literature review

This section aims to provide a brief explanation of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, as well as a short overview of stylistic and metaphor research focusing on EAP. We do not attempt to weigh in on the debates or critiques of EAP writing strategies and assessments made by scholars such as Britton (1982), Robertson (1988), Widdowson (1994), or Adams (2014), amongst others. As practitioners, we have no control over our assessments (type, topics, how they are marked, how they take place) nor the content of what we teach (argumentation, academic writing, essay structure are topics we must cover a certain way), and this is decided centrally by our provider (Study Group). We focus on what we can change to help our students: our methods for teaching topics we are instructed to teach such as argumentation and essay structure. We choose to use our own expertise (here stylistics) to help our students in their learning, which is why our literature is centred around the use of stylistics for EAP teaching.

Conceptual metaphor theory: an overview

Metaphor studies is prominent in the field of linguistic (more particularly stylistics). One of the key theories in metaphor research is Conceptual Metaphor Theory (hereafter CMT). In Metaphors We Live By, Lakoff and Johnson (1980) explore how linguistic and cognition principles can be associated to observe the conceptual aspects of metaphors. Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 153) claim that “metaphor is primarily a matter of thought and action and only derivatively a matter of language”, meaning that despite metaphors being verbal phenomena, they are equally thought processes and thus can shape our world perception, and CMT helps understand this phenomenon.

CMT has a basic principle that one concept is understood in terms of another (Kövecses 2002, 6; Lakoff and Johnson 1980, 5). These concepts are known as “conceptual domains” and are mental processes. Following this theory, the “target domain” (typically more abstract) is understood in terms of the “source domain” (typically more concrete), and the systematic correspondence between those domains (the metaphor) is known as the “cross-domain mapping” (Kövecses 2002, 6; Lakoff and Johnson 1980, 250). The correspondence between the domains can be labelled as a is b, a being the target domain, and b being the source domain. For example, in the phrases “they are at a crossroads in their relationship”, “this relationship is not going anywhere”, or “they’re in a dead-end relationship”, the concept of love is the target domain (suggested by the term “relationship”), and it is understood through the idea of a journey (expressed through the terms “going anywhere”, “dead-end”, and “crossroads”), which is the source domain. As such, the cross-domain mapping generated is love is a journey. Indeed, there is no way of testing that we all feel love the same way as each other, rendering love a subjective, unique, and abstract emotion. On the other hand, a journey can be experienced universally, rendering it concrete. In the example provided, three different phrases share the same metaphorical mapping of love is a journey, meaning that this is a “master metaphor” (Kövecses 2008, 382).

Stylistics, metaphor studies, and English language teaching

In recent years there has been a growing focus on metaphor studies in educational settings, particularly for adult learners. This section provides a brief overview of studies pertinent to our research; for a more detailed overview see Littlemore (2016). Low, Littlemore, and Koester's (2008) small-scale study looks broadly at the occurrence and application of metaphor in lectures in order to build a workable framework for analysing metaphor use generally in lectures. Most studies, however, do not focus on educators’ metaphorical language, but on the role metaphors play in learning and students’ experience. Indeed, according to Petrie and Oshlag (2002), using metaphor can help re-engage students who have lost interest because it enables them to relate what they are learning to their own experiences. Additionally, Littlemore (2004) argues that emphasising metaphor in the context of EAP can help students improve their critical thinking abilities. Thirty students studying a British university’s International Development MBA programme in Public Service Administration were divided into a control group and an experimental group. In a broad “critical thinking” session, both teams took part. The experimental group had a “metaphoric awareness-raising” session, whereas the control group did not. Findings showed that the group which had attended the “metaphoric awareness-raising” session showed more critical thinking skills.

Other studies explore how stylistic principles other than metaphor can be used in educational settings. For instance, Marr (2019) outlines how successful paraphrasing can be achieved by first year university students working in English as an additional language using Halliday’s (2009) approach of Grammatical Metaphor, focusing specifically on ideas and their logical relations (known within Systemic Functional Linguistics as the ideational metafunction). More recently, Bridle and McIntyre (2022) conducted a study featuring a brief course created to give students the tools they need to independently research style and identify variation using corpus stylistics concepts. To determine the norms connected to an academic register, students completed a series of worksheets using the British National Corpus (BNC). Personal pronouns, contractions, beginning coordinating conjunctions, absolute referents, and slang/informal/idiomatic terms were the main topics of the tasks. The BNC was then used as support for the students’ preparation of a brief research paper. The authors suggest that over a brief course and with little training, controlled use of the BNC interface and foregrounding concepts were helpful in helping students recognise fundamental patterns of proper language use.

Overall, pedagogical stylistics is a subfield of stylistics dedicated to its role in education (see Cushing 2018, 2019; Giovanelli 2010, 2014, 2016, 2020; Mason and Giovanelli 2017; Zacharias 2020), but as the focus has so far been on secondary school education, there is limited research on using stylistics for EAP teaching and learning. Moreover, despite the variety of studies on the use of metaphors in education, there is equally little research on the use of specific metaphors for the purpose of teaching writing skills, which is the aim of our study. It is noteworthy that the principles we discuss in this paper can equally be applied to secondary school teaching and learning. However, because of our professional background and the lack of research linking stylistics and EAP, this is the focus of this study.

A study of using CMT to teach EAP

In this section, we provide the context in which our study was conducted. We describe our methodology and rationale for our approach, and present our findings. Limitations are discussed throughout for the sake of transparency, and to offer a reflection on our work.

Context of study

This study was developed as a response to a Needs Analysis questionnaire we conducted as part of our teaching practice in the English Department at the University of Huddersfield’s International Study Centre. We teach Academic English Skills to international students in Foundation Year, Year 1, as well as Pre-Master students. Our cohort included students of varied age, nationalities, and cultural backgrounds. To help us design seminars based on our students’ needs, we conducted a Needs Analysis questionnaire asking students how well they could do specific tasks in each of the four skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) they would be assessed on throughout the course. Out of 103 students, only 12.6% (13 students) stated that they could write an essay “well”. Similarly, 18.4% (19 students) reported that they organise and plan for the writing process “well”. This means that over 70% of students did not feel confident organising or writing an essay.

To help our students, we decided to draw on CMT to teach them how to organise and write an essay using concepts they were already familiar with, regardless of their varied experiences, backgrounds, and cultures. To achieve this, we led workshops using two metaphors: the known metaphor ARGUMENTS ARE BUILDINGS (linked to THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS, see Kövecses 2002, 5; Lakoff and Johnson 1980, 54), and the more novel metaphor we labelled WRITING IS COOKING, EATING, DIGESTING. The metaphor ARGUMENTS ARE BUILDINGS is grounded in the English language, for instance: “to build an argument/a case”, “to put/piece an idea together”, “this argument is the foundation of my thesis”, or “this idea is the last brick in my argument”. On the other hand, to label the metaphor writing is cooking, eating, digesting, we drew on Nuttall and Harrison’s (2020) research on reader reviews of Twilight on Goodreads featuring the metaphors reading is eating and reading choking/regurgitating. The reader reviews conveyed their opinion of the novel (written work) through metaphors linked to food. Thus, we decided to reverse the idea by generating the metaphor writing is cooking, eating, digesting for the academic writing process, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Associated concepts showing the link between the target domain writing and the source domain COOKING, EATING, DIGESTING.

Writing Process	Cooking, Eating, Digesting Process
Reading and gathering information from sources	Gathering the ingredients for mise-en-place
Following the essay structure - one element at a time	Following the instructions on the recipe - one ingredient at a time
Adding the different elements to write our essay	Adding the different elements in our pot
Presenting information from one source and putting it into our own words to avoid plagiarism (paraphrase)	Mashing one ingredient (use the entire ingredient but served differently)
Extracting some information from one source and putting it into our own words to avoid plagiarism (summary)	Juicing one ingredient, only keeping the juice, not the fibre
Extracting some information from multiple sources and putting it into our own words to avoid plagiarism (synthesis)	Juicing multiple ingredients together, only keeping the juice, not the fibre
If we follow the essay structure, our argument is convincing to others – they can accept it	If we follow the recipe, our meal is tasty to others – they can digest it (example of metaphorical expressions: “this does/not sit well with me”, “this is shit”)

We chose those two metaphors because of the universal quality they have of a step-by-step process. Indeed, as we teach international students, it was essential for us to use concepts that would be recognised and understood worldwide, as it is the case with buildings (of any nature) and food. The step-by-step process behind each metaphor (piece by piece a building is constructed; ingredient or instruction at a time, a recipe is followed) allowed us to develop students’ skills and confidence in doing a task they had disclosed not performing well at through a notion they see daily and are familiar with. Selected activities for those workshops can be found in Appendices 1 and 2 and could be adapted for differentiation or for secondary education teaching, which we encourage.

We conducted our workshops in June 2022 at the University of Huddersfield. In the following section, we describe each of the workshops conducted and our methodology to observe their efficiency.

Methodology

The study had 44 foundation students (44 = 100%) taking part in workshops. We organised the students into three groups:

• Group 1: students wrote an essay but did not participate in a workshop.

• Group 2: Students participated in a workshop using the arguments are building metaphor and wrote an essay after the workshop.

• Group 3: Students participated in a workshop using the writing is cooking, eating, digesting metaphor and wrote an essay after the workshop.

Students were numbered (to maintain anonymity): the first number indicates which group the students were in and the second shows which number they are within that group (allocated at random). For example, student 3.4 was the fourth student in group 3.

We selected students based on their average writing grade because we wanted to have a balance in the three groups. Table 2 below summarises the mix of students in each group:

Table 2. Mix of students in each group of study based on mean writing grades.

Mean writing grade in %	Number of students in Group 1	Number of students in Group 2	Number of students in Group 3	Total
>30	2	2	1	5
30s	4	1	3	8
40s	1	3	3	7
50s	5	5	3	13
60s	4	3	4	11
Total	16	14	14	44

We conducted the workshops during the academic year. Each lasted 3h30min including a break. The groups were kept in their original English classes because of timetabling constraints. This is why the mean grade average is not always evenly spread. For instance, group 1 contains four students with a mean writing grade between 30% and 39%, group 3 contains three students in that category, whereas group 2 only has one student in that category. To remedy this limitation, we included in group 1 only one student with a mean writing grade between 40% and 49%, and three in groups 2 and 3. The grade needed to pass the course being 50%, overall, our sample is balanced overall, despite the limitations discussed.

All students were given the same essay title: “In 2020, New Zealand legalised medical assisted suicide (euthanasia), which faced critics and debates. To what extent do you agree that providing a medically assisted end of life can be beneficial to terminally ill patients?” Similarly to their end of semester writing exam, they were given an academic text (here Dugdale, Lerner, and Callahan 2019) to help them write their 250 words (minimum) essays in 1h15min (15 min to read, 1 h to plan and write). We compared the students’ writing to their average writing grade throughout the semester, and for qualitative comparison in their writing we looked at the writing mock exam they completed in class three weeks prior to the workshops taking place. The essay topic for this writing mock exam was “Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of vegetarianism’s impact on human health, the environment, and animal welfare”, and they were also provided with an academic text (here, Arora et al. 2017).

The essays were marked following Study Group’s marking criteria, which mirror the scoring strategy of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). The key marking criteria for the writing exams are:

• Task achievement

• Organisation

• Language content (lexis and syntax)

• Academic convention (register and use of sources)

For the sake of objectivity, we asked teachers who did not know the purpose of the workshops in our department to mark the essays; we then moderated their marking. We required all students to write on the same topic because we did not want the difference in topics to present a difference in grades; some students might be more at ease with one subject than with another, and we wanted to stay fair and objective. Furthermore, this replicates the conditions in which students would be writing their actual exams. However, there is a limitation stemming from this choice that ought to be declared: the workshops did not take place on the same days, and thus students had the potential to share the essay topic with each other. Although this is unlikely because the different groups did not know the others, and we did not tell them other groups were doing similar workshops, this is nonetheless a limitation. A way to remedy this could be to run the workshops at the same time, though this was not feasible in our study owing to timetable constraints.

Both workshops 1 and 2 used a hands-on approach involving students using Lego blocks, building cut outs; or recipe cards, and ingredients cards. Both workshops also followed a similar structure although the tasks varied to best fit the metaphors used. Appendix 1 provides selected activities for workshop 1 on arguments are buildings, and Appendix 2 provides selected activities workshop 2 on writing is cooking, eating, digesting. Appendices 3 to 5 showcase examples of students’ work during the workshops. Our hypotheses for this study were:

• H1: there will be an improvement in students’ score for essay writing after attending the workshops.

• H2: students that did not attend the workshop will score lower for the same essay than the students who attend the workshop did.

Overall, students were engaged in each workshop and showed interest in hands-on task using the Lego blocks and ingredient handouts.

Findings

Table 3 below shows the mean grades before and after the workshops for each group, as well as the difference between the scores.

Table 3. Comparison of students’ mean grade before and after workshops, differentiated by groups.

	Mean grade before workshop	Mean essay grade during study	Difference between grade before and after workshop	Difference between grade before and after workshop
Group 1	42.3%	47.7%	+5.4%	+5.4%
Group 2	45.4%	56.9%	+11.5%	+10.5%
Group 3	52.3%	61.8%	+9.5%

Group 1 had a mean writing grade before our study of 42.3%, and the average after the workshops was 47.7%. This means that, although this group did not take part in a workshop prior to writing the essay used for comparison, group 1 still increased their average writing grade by 5.4%. This is likely because students had classes between their end of semester exams, their latest writing task, and the study. They would have received feedback from their tutors on their exams or tasks done in class, thus naturally improving their skills. Group 2 had a mean writing grade before the study of 45.4%, and of 56.9% after the workshops, showing a difference of+11.5%. This is significant because it shows that, compared to group 1, who showed a natural progression of 5.4%, group 2’s progression score had more than doubled that of group 1’s. This indicated that potentially the workshop on the known metaphor arguments are buildings was able to bolster students’ writing abilities. Group 3 had a mean writing grade before the study of 52.3%, and of 61.8% after the workshops, showing a difference of + 9.5%. Similarly to group 2, group 3’s results indicate that that the workshop on the novel metaphor writing is cooking, eating, digesting is likely to have impacted students’ writing performance, in addition to their natural progression.

Overall, when comparing the scores of students who did the workshops (group 2 and 3 combined), their mean difference between before and after the workshop is of+10.5%, which is almost twice as much as group 1. One can argue that the original gap in performance between the groups could query the results presented above. However, since every group was composed of a mix of students as balanced as possible (for our centre), we do not believe this to be the case. Additionally, as each group improved their mean grade and we looked at the difference of grades in percentages as opposed to the scores themselves, the gap in score would not be significant.

Tables 4 below provide samples of students’ writing categorised by essay sections (introduction, main body paragraphs, conclusion). We compare students’ writing from their mock writing exam (on vegetarianism) to the essay they wrote as part of the workshop (on euthanasia). Table 5 illustrates a similar comparison, categorised by the three main components stressed during the workshops: use of topic sentences, use of thesis statement (both of which are accounted for in the “organisation” criterion of the marking scheme), and use of sources to including evidence (accounted for in the “academic convention” criterion of the marking scheme). The students’ language was not altered or rectified; the spelling and punctuation is also their own.

Table 4. Comparison of students’ writing before and after workshop categorised by essay sections.

Part of essay	Student number	Sample of students’ writing from mock writing exam before workshop	Sample of students’ writing from the workshop essay
Introduction	1.2	Vegetarians are people who choose not to consume animal meat products. Vegetarianism is a complex topic and has generated some debate: some researchers believe that being vegetarian has several benefits for our health and the environment, but others believe that these benefits do not outweigh the problems caused by vegetarianism. I agree with the first. First, I will discuss the benefits of being vegetarian for health concerns and then for the environment.	Euthanasia (legalized medical assisted suicide) is when physicians supports the patient in dying by giving them drugs/medications because they are terminally ill and going through lots of pain. This debatable topic has raised a lot of red flags for people and it has had a lot of people question, if physicians are supposed to practice that or not. This essay will therefore disagree to the statement of providing Euthanasia to terminally ill patients, it will also explore and discuss both sides of the argument.
	3.7	Vegetarianism has gained a lot of attention in recent years due to various factors such as health, environment, and ethical considerations. A vegetarian diet involves the exclusion of meat, fish, and poultry products, and instead, relies on plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, and nuts. In this essay I discuss the key aspect of vegetarianism.	Physician assistance in dying is a contentious topic that raises important questions about physicians’ roles. It occurs when a physician offers the essential means and knowledge to support a patient’s decision to terminate his or her life, according to the American Medical Association. The authors of this essay have differing perspectives on the ethics of aid in dying, thus the essay investigates the topic without taking sides. It covers vocabulary, the history of legality in the United States, proponents of assisted dying, and opponents.
Main bodyparagraph	1.6	Firstly, vegetarianism can have serious negative effects on human health. People who follow a vegetarian diet are at risk of developing nutritional deficiencies, particularly in protein, iron, and vitamin B12. This can lead to a number of health problems such as anemia, weak bones, and even cognitive decline. Additionally, a vegetarian diet can also increase the risk of developing certain types of cancers, such as colon cancer (Arora et al. 2017).	Firstly, society has to put rules for euthanasia, which means that not everyone can end his life because he wants to. The person has to have a physical reason and an unsupportable pain that cannot be cured. For example, having cancer at its high level. Euthanasia will be effective in that case as in the end this person is dying soon so that will be kind of mercy that not feeling too much pain before dying. However, mental health issues are not a reason to end the life as it can be cured (Callahan 2019).
	2.7	The vegetarian diet may be linked to decreased incidence of chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, according to a number of studies published in 2017. Compared to diets that include meat, vegetarian diet often contain less fat and more fibre, and vitamins, and minerals. It is important to remember, too, that vegetarins need to plan ahead to avoid any deficiencies.	Firstly, There has been a sharp rise in patients ending there life because of depression and anxiety that totally disobey the law of nature. Euthanizing patients just because of the physical pain is totally unacceptable. During 2014 to 2015 the rate of people getting tired of life and ending their life has been double (Dugdale, Lerner, and Callahan 2019). Scientist has always found the cures as they have found the covid-19. People suffering from depression are dying more than the people suffering from un treatable diseases. Although, It should be illegal as it is unacceptable to the law of nature.
Conclusion	1.8	In conclusion, vegetarianism is a poor lifestyle choice that can have serious negative consequences for both humans and animals. It can lead to nutritional deficiencies, environmental degradation, and animal cruelty. Therefore, it is important to consider the drawbacks before adopting a vegetarian lifestyle.	In conclusion, providing a medical assistance for suicide is not beneficial to refractory disease. Euthanasia can lead serious suicide contagion and create depression in serious illness. Although, it may help patients that have terminally ill health. This can cause other ethical issues. Life of human is precious, it should not be ended easily.
	2.10	Conclusion: Vegetarianism is beneficial in terms of the environment, health, and ethical considerations. However, some people may find it challenging to adopt a vegetarian diet due to habits of eating meat. Adopting a more plant-based diet can help reduce the demand for meat products and promote sustainable food systems.	In conclusion, this essay has argued that AID could be beneficial for people with life threatening illnesses. It was observed that euthanasia is important for patients with critical cases while considering the four fundamental principles. In the future, people could be more aware of medical assisted end of life and psychiatrists could take care of patients with depression more.

Table 5. Comparison of students’ writing before and after workshop categorised by key criteria taught in the workshops.

Criteria of comparison	Student number	Sample of students’ writing from mock writing exam	Sample of students’ writing from the workshop’s essay
Use of topic sentences (first sentence of a main body §)	1.2	So it is dificult to view vegetarians as healthy people, because they do not eat all the food.	Also there is a slippery slope once doctors are intrupted in hastening patient death they have allready slide down the slippery slope.
	1.6	Firstly, vegetarianism can have serious negative effects on human health.	It cannot be denied that before the introduction of medical assisted suicide, there were medical assisted suicides.
	2.2	It is also beneficial to not eating animls because it is healthier.	Secondly, the mental health should be consider before permit euthanasia.
	3.7	Nutrient deficiency is a drawback.	The first positive effect of euthanasia on terminally ill patients is reducing suffering of patients.
Use of a thesis statement	1.5	In this essay I talk about positive and negative of vegetariansm.	In this essay, it is going to talk about the benefits to the patients by using medical assisted suicide following by the downside of the method.
	2.8	I think that the negative effects of vegetarian are more important than the positive one.	This essay will argue that patients should be given the right of autonomy of ending their lives and getting relief of the illness which bis nit curable.
	3.14	Vegetarianism has more benefits than it has drawbacks.	This essay will discuss how this practice can be advantageous to some extent as well as the drawbacks of its implementation.
Including sources, using evidence	1.9	All animals are actually sentient beings who experience emotions like us (Arora et al. 2017). For this reason, a lot of people wouldn’t eat their pet, but they eat farm animals which is ironic.	[…] (Dugdale, Lerner, and Callahan 2019). Patients got consent, informed of the risk and benefit before apply healthcare treatment.
	2.9	A study by the Food and Agriculture Organization says that animal production means “18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire transportation sector”.	According to Dugdale, Lerner, and Callahan (2019) patients should have the right to make decision on their treatment or engage in any research experiment after consent is given at any critical health stage issue.
	2.11	12 studies by Dinu 2017 found that vegetarian diets can significantly lower the risk of heart disease by 25% and that vegetarians tend to have lower body mass index and lower blood pressure levels.	The state of Oregon recorded statistics between the years of 1998 and 2013 showed that the number of prescriptions written for euthanasia rose by 12.1%, in the following years of 2014 and 2015 this rate doubled.
	3.11	Vegetarian usually have reduced blood pressure which means that this diet can really reduce the risk of heart disease by 25%, according to (Dinu et al., 2017).	Over 70% of AID patients are elderly and depressed, being desperate towards their life would be enjoyable again (Dugdale, Lerner, and Callahan 2019).

Overall, students in groups 2 and 3 improved the structure of their introduction, particularly signposting their thesis statement with phrases such as “this essay will argue” (student 2.8, Table 5) or “this essay will discuss” (student 3.14, Table 5). Some students in group 1 also signposted to an extent their thesis statement, though this was not always done skilfully, as shown by student 1.5 (Table 5). In terms of main body paragraph and use of topic sentences (including use of connectives), students in all three groups showed improvement, though students in group 2 used more connectives that showed sequencing of ideas and less repletion, which could be because the workshop they attended used the metaphor arguments are buildings and focused primarily on structure (see Appendix 1). For example, Table 4 shows that the three students’ (1.6, 2.7) use of topic sentences and connectives was to an extent of equal quality, though the quality of the argument and development of idea may differ. This is particularly obvious when topic sentences are looked at outside the context of the main body paragraphs, as shown in Table 5: student 1.2 shows limited improvement, student 1.6 shows some improvement, and students 2.2, 3.7 also show some structural improvement though the point made is clearer. Lastly, students from group 3 showed most improvement in their accurate use of academic sources as evidence to support their point (e.g. student 3.11, Table 5). This is not surprising, as the workshop they attended focused on the metaphor writing is cooking, eating, digesting, which not only focused on structure, but also discussed how to use sources as evidence in academic writing (i.e. paraphrase, quote, summary, synthesis – see Appendix 2). Overall, students from group 1 alluded to the text given but did not paraphrase its ideas correctly nor did they provide correct in-text citations (we use APA), as shown by student 1.9 in Table 5. Students from group 2 showed improvement, some with their in-text citation (e.g. student 2.9, Table 5). Whilst some others' in-text citations were not accurate, their understanding and summarising of the source text was conveyed more clearly (e.g. student 2.11, Table 5).

This section presented the study we conducted and our findings. In the next section, we provide a discussion based on our procedures and findings, highlighting their implications for EAP teaching and learning.

Discussion

The findings presented in section 3.3 convey that although students in group 3 who participated in workshop 2 on writing is eating, cooking, digesting had on average a higher score, students in group 2 whose workshop was on arguments are buildings had a higher progression score overall. This is likely because the metaphor ARGUMENTS ARE BUILDINGS is embedded in the English language and the workshop required students to physically build a Lego tower, an activity most people can picture, if they have not already done it as children. On the other hand, the metaphor writing is eating, cooking, digesting is more novel and the workshop drew on their knowledge of ingredients and cooking skills. Our students are international students living with their families who often leave home for the first time when they come to study with us; their knowledge of preparing food following a recipe may not be as engrained as that of building a tower.

Furthermore, both workshops underpinned essay structure and argumentation, and workshop 2 also helped students by including sources. Therefore, we looked how students performed in the marking criteria that specifically assess these skills: organisation and academic conventions, each scored out of 5 in our marking criteria. Students from group 3 who took part in workshop 2 scored higher in academic conventions criteria than those from group 2 (average 3.2/5 > 2.2/5). On the other hand, students from group 2 performed better at organisation than students from group 3 (average 3.9/5 > 2.8/5). This means that both workshops were efficient in their own way and could be used in the future to complement each other: workshop 1 to help students with organising their essays, and workshop 2 to reinforce structure knowledge as well as help students including academic sources in their writing.

It also shows that using hands on approaches and gamification strategies can benefit students. Indeed, Wessel-Powell, Buchholz, and Brownell (2019) point out that teachers should locate and adapt creative approaches to engage students beyond the restrictive limitations set by standardised curricula. According to Lewis et al. (2013, 7), “the goal of using games in any learning scenario, whether Civics or Social Studies, Math or Reading, is to engage the learner and provide them motivation to continue exploring the content in a meaningful way”. Thus, games and simulations can provide structured environments that guide students through exploration of content in a risk-free setting in which they solve problems and make logic-driven decisions (Gee 2010; Hicks 2015). Therefore, teachers of all levels value the educational potential of Lego and can effectively utilise the playfulness that bricks provide to the learning environment. For example, Warner (2016) describes attempts at using Lego to teach reading and writing (e.g. letter-building, word-building, counting syllables), literacy (e.g. storytelling, story starters, character creation, writing instructions), mathematics (number-building, calculations, multiplication tables, sorting), as well as computer science topics: animations, programming, computer coding.

Our study relates to the concept of gamification as the strategic application of game mechanics to improve an educational experience. The students practised skills, gained new perspectives, felt they were a part of the group - all of which aid memory, and ultimately learning. For our study, we surveyed students for feedback on the workshops, including students who only wrote the essay to ask them what they wish sessions on essay structure would include. Overall, 38 students (out of 44 = 86.4%) took part in the anonymous survey and all mentioned the idea of practical activities. Table 6 provides selected examples of students’ feedback. These comments clearly show that using a hands-on approach is not only beneficial to their engagement but also helps them process information in an alternative manner, thus resulting in a greater understanding of concepts taught.

Table 6. Selected examples of students’ feedback on the study.

Sample of examples of feedback given by students who took part in workshops (groups 2 and 3)

Sample of examples of feedback given by students who did not take part in workshops (groups 1)

“I loved that I was able to use my hands for something I would only use my head”. “It was nice to be able to actually build a tower instead of just talking about it”. “I think we all enjoyed how explicit it all was, it really was like following step by step instructions”. “It was helpful to see how everything fits together and in what order”. “I felt less overwhelmed by what we learned that I normally would feel, because I could physically see it with my eyes”.

“I wish some classes include activities that showed the theory in a different way. I sometimes think I understand in what order things go, but it’s all to abstract and I lo[o]se track!”. “I like when things are clear and in front of me and I can practice them with support, but that does not always happen in English classes”. “It would be nice if some lessons used examples for us to try and apply what we learn, like games almost”.

Finally, our results show that stylistic tools such as CMT are particularly well suited for the teaching and learning of EAP (or writing skills at secondary education level). Indeed, stylistics is concerned with language choices, and our students need to be able to make conscious choices when they write (e.g. have a clear thesis statement or topic sentences), as well as be able to recognise authorial choices when reading academic sources so that they can include those in their own writing. As such, it is not farfetched to view stylistics as inherently linked to EAP. In the case of CMT, because its premise resides in the notion that metaphors are part of our processing of the world around us, using them for teaching and learning is impactful: abstract concepts are understood though concrete ones. Akin to giving students examples or a practice exercise after teaching them a theory, conceptual metaphors allow for links to be created in students’ minds, especially in instances of cultural and linguistic differences. This means that stylistic tools such as CMT are not just for obscure academic analyses: they can be used in the classroom, and students can benefit from being introduced to those tools.

Concluding remarks

In this paper we have indicated that there is an evident gap in research in using stylistic tools for the purpose of EAP teaching and learning. We demonstrated that CMT as a stylistic framework is well suited to the teaching of EAP, particularly writing skills such as essay structure and argumentation, because it allows for abstract concepts to be understood though more concrete ones. The two metaphors we chose for our workshops (arguments are buildings and writing is cooking, eating, digesting) both follow a step-by-step process, akin to writing an essay (or an academic paper!) We chose those metaphors because the source domains can be globally pictured by most students, even when a cultural or language gap is present: most will be familiar with buildings and food preparation. The hands-on approach we adopted in our workshops allowed students to experiment and visually experience the metaphors we taught them, thus keeping the students engaged despite the length of the sessions.

Overall, our findings reveal that students who approached the writing process through metaphors scored higher when writing essays than students who had not, thus demonstrating that stylistic tools are not just theoretical or used to analyse language: they can equally be used for teaching and learning.

Finally, although the context of this study is the teaching of EAP, the principles we focused on (argumentation, essay structure, using sources) can to an extent be applied to secondary education. Therefore, further research could be conducted to adapt our materials (see Appendices 1 and 2) and materials for the benefits of teaching and learning in a secondary education context.¹

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the International Study Centre at the University of Huddersfield for their support and our students for taking part in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

Authors received no funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Kimberley Pager-McClymont

Kimberley Pager-McClymont is a researcher in Linguistics and Subject Coordinator in English for Academic Purposes at the University of Aberdeen’s International Study Centre. Kimberley’s PhD is in Stylistics from the University of Huddersfield. She focuses on metaphors research in education and literature. She is an Editor for the Journal of Languages, Texts, and Society and an Associate Editor for the Cambridge University Press Element Series in Cognitive Linguistics. She is also the Webmaster for the Poetics And Linguistics Association.

Evangelia Papathanasiou

Evangelia Papathanasiou has a PhD in Second Language Acquisition from the University of Sheffield, and she is the Head of English at the University of Huddersfield's International Study Centre. Her main research interests include Students' Needs Analysis and Writing in EAP.

Notes

1. A complete version of the lesson plans can be found here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:55a06531–6141-3d82-b128-57ed392fbf76

Appendix 1:

Selected activities for workshop 1, on arguments are buildings

Table

Topic
Using the metaphor arguments are buildings to teach essay structure and argumentation.
Time	Selected activities
10-15 min	Flipped learning of metaphor practice: Ask students to put their hand up if they love their best friend. Amongst the students, ask for 2 volunteers to explain how much they love their best friends (most of the time students use metaphors to express this emotion). The rest of the class then needs to determine how can we tell which of the 2 students love their best friends the most. They will realise that emotions being unique, abstract and personal, to explain them to others, we draw on metaphors.
5-10 min	Introduction to the metaphor arguments are buildings: 1. Explain the metaphor to students and show example as to how it is embedded in the English language (i.e. to build a case, a foundation of thesis). 2. Ask students: what is the link between arguments and buildings? how is it useful to compare them and why? 3. review that both concepts show a step-by-step process.
5-10 min	Lego block practice on argumentation: 1. Ask students to build a Lego tower with 3 blocks following this structure (colours can be changed): Argument in blue Counterargument in green Refutation in red 2. Show students an example of a correctly build tower with a blue block at bottom. Ask students: What would happen to the red and green if we try to remove the blue? What does this mean for our argument? 3. Class discussion: the red and green blocks would fall if the blue one was removed, showing that the blue block (meaning the argument) is the key block in the argumentation process → it is the foundation.
5-10 min	Lego block practice on essay structure: 1. Ask students to build a Lego tower with 3 blocks following this structure (colours can be changed): Introduction in green Main body in red Conclusion in blue 2. Show students an example of a correctly build tower with a green block at bottom. Ask students: What would happen to the red and blue if we try to remove the red? What does this mean for the introduction? Why? 3. Class discussion: the red and blue blocks would fall if the green one was removed, showing that the green block (meaning the introduction) is the key element of an essay structure → it is the foundation. The reason for this is that the introduction contains the thesis statement, the aim of the paper/essay.
15-20 min	Lego block practice on building a detailed essay structure: 1. Based on the revisions done so far, ask students to build a Lego tower representing the following structure: Introduction: Background information on the topic = white Thesis statement (our position) = red Route map (outline of key points) = blue Main body paragraph x2 Topic sentence = yellow Evidence (from academic sources) = green Concluding sentence (links ideas together) = grey Conclusion Restate the thesis statement = black Summary of key points made = yellow Prediction or recommendation = grey 2. Based on their tower, ask students to put the essay strips back in order and to either tape them to the Lego tower, or to tape them to a handout of a building shape. By doing so, students see that the key blocks (introduction) are the foundation of the building. 3. Show students the essay in order and a fully built tower. Answer any questions students may have.

Appendix 2:

Selected activities for workshop 2, on writing is cooking, eating, digesting

Table

Topic
Using the metaphor writing is cooking, eating, digesting to teach essay structure and argumentation.
Time	Selected activities
10 min	Introduction to the metaphor writing is cooking, eating, digesting: 1. Explain the metaphor to students and show the analogies (i.e. paraphrasing is like mashing, synthesising or summarising are like juicing, essay structure is like a recipe card, see Table 1). 2. Ask students: what is the link between writing an essay and preparing food? how is it useful to compare them and why? 3. Review that both concepts show a step-by-step process.
10 min	Practice on including sources in writing: 1. Provide students with 3 texts (1 is a summary, 1 a paraphrase, 1 a synthesis) and ask them to match them to the cooking images in the screen (mashing, juicing 1 or 2+ ingredients). They can discuss in groups. 2. Go through the answers as a class.
20 min	Practice on essay structure with recipe card: 1. Using the recipe card, ask students to match the ingredients to the essay elements: Introduction: Background information on the topic = spices Thesis statement (our position) = oil Route map (outline of key points) = bouillon broth Main body paragraph x2 Topic sentence = aubergine (cut in slices) Evidence (from academic sources) = tomato juice Concluding sentence (links ideas together) = courgette (cut in slices) Conclusion Restate the thesis statement = oil Summary of key points made = bouillon broth Prediction or recommendation = garnish This recipe makes a basic layered ratatouille. 2. Ask students to tape their ingredients to the pot handout → it will be bottom-up in the right order. 3. Ask students what happens if we remove the oil (meaning the thesis statement). Students should stay that every other elements will burn and stick, showing that the rest of the recipe/essay cannot work without it. 4. Ask student what kind of evidence will be in the essay since tomato juice is the ingredient → summary.
15-20 min	Practice on cooking a detailed essay structure: 1. Based on the previous task, ask students to put the essay strips back in order and to tape them to the handout of a pot shape. This consolidates their learning of essay structure and challenges them. 2. Show students the essay in order and a fully completed pot. Answer any questions students may have.

Appendix 3:

Example of students’ use of Lego blocks to mirror essay structure during workshop 1

Appendix 4:

Example of students’ essay reconstruction during workshop 1

Appendix 5:

Example of students’ reconstruction of essay using recipe during workshop 2