Sixteen years after her father was killed by an IRA bomb, Jo Berry had her first conversation with the man responsible. She had made a long journey, 'walking the footsteps of the bombers' as she put it, determined not to give in to anger and revenge but to try to understand his motivations and perspective. Her preparedness to meet Pat Magee opened up a path to empathy that developed through their conversations over the following years. This book studies their growing understandings of each other by focusing on the rich networks of metaphors that appear in their conversations, and how these evolve in the process of reconciliation. The innovative research method, reported in a rigorous but accessible style, together with the rich and often poignant data, make this book a valuable addition to the study of metaphor and discourse. In uncovering the development of empathy between these two extraordinary people, Cameron illuminates the moral necessity, and the potential rewards, in trying to imagine the world and mind of the Other. Implications are drawn for how mediators in reconciliation contexts might make positive use of metaphor in supporting the dynamics of empathy.

Sixteen years after her father was killed by an IRA bomb, Jo Berry had her first conversation with the man responsible. She had made a long journey, 'walking the footsteps of the bombers' as she put it, determined not to give in to anger and revenge but to try to understand his motivations and perspective. Her preparedness to meet Pat Magee opened up a path to empathy that developed through their conversations over the following years. This book studies their growing understandings of each other by focusing on the rich networks of metaphors that appear in their conversations, and how these evolve in the process of reconciliation. The innovative research method, reported in a rigorous but accessible style, together with the rich and often poignant data, make this book a valuable addition to the study of metaphor and discourse. In uncovering the development of empathy between these two extraordinary people, Cameron illuminates the moral necessity, and the potential rewards, in trying to imagine the world and mind of the Other. Implications are drawn for how mediators in reconciliation contexts might make positive use of metaphor in supporting the dynamics of empathy.

Metaphor is recognised as an important way of thinking - constructing analogies and making connections between ideas - and an important way of using language - to explain abstract ideas or to find indirect but powerful ways of conveying feelings. By investigating people's use of metaphors, we can better understand their emotions, attitudes and conceptualisations, as individuals and as participants in social life. This book describes practice in the analysis of metaphor in real-world discourse. When real-world language use is taken as the site of metaphor study, researchers face methodological issues that have only recently begun to be addressed. The contributors to this volume have all had to find ways to deal with methodological issues in their own research and have developed techniques that are brought together here. Using as a basis the discourse dynamics approach to metaphor developed by the editor, the book explores links between theory and empirical investigation, exemplifies data analysis and discusses issues in research design and practice. Particular attention is paid to the processes of metaphor identification, categorisation and labelling, and to the use of corpus linguistic and other computer-assisted methods.

I thought I heard God's call. I was on the path to religious Brotherhood. Life was going smoothly, and then suddenly, I met Robert, a teen whose life was filled with trials never faced by people decades older. Yet he was the epitome of generosity and unconditional love. Little did I know the inspiration and complete change of direction that would result.

Metaphor is recognised as an important way of thinking - constructing analogies and making connections between ideas - and an important way of using language - to explain abstract ideas or to find indirect but powerful ways of conveying feelings. By investigating people's use of metaphors, we can better understand their emotions, attitudes and conceptualisations, as individuals and as participants in social life. This book describes practice in the analysis of metaphor in real-world discourse. When real-world language use is taken as the site of metaphor study, researchers face methodological issues that have only recently begun to be addressed. The contributors to this volume have all had to find ways to deal with methodological issues in their own research and have developed techniques that are brought together here. Using as a basis the discourse dynamics approach to metaphor developed by the editor, the book explores links between theory and empirical investigation, exemplifies data analysis and discusses issues in research design and practice. Particular attention is paid to the processes of metaphor identification, categorisation and labelling, and to the use of corpus linguistic and other computer-assisted methods.

Recent years have seen rapid growth in the numbers of children being taught foreign languages at younger ages. While course books aimed at young learners are appearing on the market, there is scant theoretical reference in the teacher education literature. This book is one of the few to develop readers' understanding of what happens in classrooms where children are being taught a foreign language. It will offer teachers and trainers a coherent theoretical framework to structure thinking about children's language learning. The book gives practical advice on how to analyse and evaluate classroom activities, language use and language development. Examples from classrooms in Europe and Asia will help bring alive the realities of working with young learners of English.

'Metaphor in Educational Discourse is a superb piece of applied linguistics research that integrates Vygotsky's theory of concepts with current work on metaphor into a coherent framework for investigating how teachers and learners negotiate figurative language in order to promote development in the classroom setting. In what is likely to become the standard for future studies in this area, Lynne Cameron meticulously demonstrates the central role of linguistic metaphors in classroom learning - designed to lead learners to a deeper understanding of complex mathematical and scientific concepts.' James P. Lantolf, Professor of Applied Linguistics, The Pennsylvania State University. This book reports research into metaphor in use with school students. The setting for the research is a UK school and the participants are around ten years old, with their first language well established but still developing concepts and understandings. Close examination of a corpus of classroom spoken discourse reveals how metaphor is employed by their teachers, not just in explaining ideas, but, in managing and mediating the activity of the classroom and the learning of the students. Particular issues discussed include: the problems of identifying metaphors in spoken discourse, the conventionalism of metaphors in the discourse of socio-cultural groups, and how a socio-cultural approach can account for systematicity in metaphor use.

Research into metaphor has become one of the fastest-growing and important areas of language research over the past twenty years, and metaphor is now recognized as central to language and language use. The implications of these findings are only just beginning to be felt in applied linguistics and this book conveys the excitement of metaphor study to a wider applied linguistic audience of researchers, trainers, program developers and postgraduate students.