My mind became an eclipse: Incorporating metaphors in narrative writing effectively

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates what skills about writing narratives and metaphors are particularly challenging for the university students in an Intermediate English class. The research questions formulated for this study were: What happens when teachers incorporate metaphors when teaching writing at the college level? How can we incorporate the use of metaphors in a writing class at the college level? What are the pedagogical implications of teaching metaphors? In order to answer these three research questions, data was collected with the help of a preassessment, post-assessment, and student responses to open-ended questions. The results show that students struggled with writing narratives and metaphors and therefore needed practice within both. In accordance with these results, a thematic unit was designed to help students improve their writing narratives and metaphor skills.