Investigation of Turkish and Italian Students’ Perceptions of the Concept of "Mathematics Teacher" through Metaphor Analysis

Abstract

The main purpose of the present research is examining the Turkish and Italian students’ perceptions of the concept of
"mathematics teacher" through metaphors. The study group of the research consists of 167 Turkish and 112 Italian
students, the total of 279 students in the same age group. Students were asked to use another concept defining what
“mathematics teacher” meant for them and to explain why. For this purpose, the data of the research were collected
by each student’s completing the statement "A mathematics teacher is like ..., because …." Content analysis
technique was used to analyze and interpret the obtained data. According to the findings of the research, the students
developed a total of 255 valid metaphors. These metaphors are divided into 9 different conceptual categories
according to their common characteristics. According to the results of the analysis, Turkish students developed
metaphors on the didactic quality of mathematics teachers and Italian students developed metaphors about
personality traits of mathematics teachers. Additionally, Turkish male students developed metaphors about the fact
that mathematics teachers were their constant supporters. These findings are believed to have resulted from the
mathematics teaching styles of math teachers and the cultural factors.