Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi [H. U. Journal of Education] 28(1), 269-280 [2013] ÖĞRETMENLERİN ÖĞRENME YETERSİZLİĞİ OLAN ÖĞRENCİLERİ İLE İLGİLİ ALGILARININ METAFOR ANALİZİ YOLUYLA İNCELENMESİ A METAPHOR ANALYSIS OF TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES Nilüfer ÖZABACI * Bircan ERGÜN-BAŞAK ** ÖZ: Sınıf öğretmenlerinin öğrenme yetersizliği olan öğrencilere ilişkin algılarının metafor analizi ile incelendiği bu çalışma ile şu sorulara yanıt aranmıştır: 1. Sınıf öğretmenlerini öğrenme yetersizliği olan öğrencilerini tanımlarken kulandıkları metaforlar nelerdir? 2. Metaforlar öğretmenlerin cinsiyetlerine göre hangi kategoriler altında toplanmaktadır? Bu çalışma, 2007–2008 öğretim yılında ilköğretim okullarında görevli 171 ilkokul öğretmeniyle gerçekleştirilmiştir. Öğretmenlerin algılarını belirlemek için öğretmenlere “Öğrenme yetersizliği olan öğrenciler …….. gibidir. Çünkü ……..” yazılı bir ibare verilmiş ve tamamlamaları istenmiştir. Çalışmanın bulgularında öğretmenlerin 106 metafor ürettikleri ve bu metaforların sekiz kategori altında toplandığı görülmüştür. AnahtarSözcükler: Öğrenme yetersizliği, ilkokul öğretmeni, metafor analizi ABSTRACT: This study will attempt to demonstrate that the metaphors produced by teachers working with students with Learning Disability (LD) give clues about the teachers’ relationship with such students. Therefore, this research will investigate primary school teachers’ perceptions of students with LD using a metaphor analysis. In order to attain this gener al aim, the following questions are addressed; 1. What metaphors do the teachers use to describe the concept of the student with LD? 2. How are the conceptual categories distributed in terms of the teachers’ gender? It was conducted in the 2007-2008 academic year with 171 primary school teachers in Eskisehir, Turkey. In order to reveal the participant teachers’ perceptions of the students with LD, they were asked to complete the sentence “Children with LD are like …..… because ……..”. The 106 metaphors obtained and those were grouped into eight conceptual categories. Key Words: Metaphor, Learning Disabled, Teacher 1. INTRODUCTION A well known definition for learning disabilities (LD) can be as a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, speak, read, think, write, spell (Hallahan, Lloyd, Kaufman, Weiss & Martinez, 2005). Although the children with LD are not lazy or dump, they are often labeled with these attribute by their peers or teachers. Thus, the school years are the period during which they experience the most problems that effects their social and emotional development. During these years, the individuals’ feelings about themselves have a remarkable influence on their psychological wellbeing. It is generally stated that children who experience academic problems during their school years tend to have negative self-concepts and self-perceptions (Elbaum & Vaughn 2001). During the school years, in which academic improvement and personality development support one another, children with learning disabilities have difficulty in spelling, pronouncing the right sounds, forming words, constructing sentences, grammar knowledge, calculating and problem solving (Forman & Liberman, 1989). When these children realize that they are making little progress in their academic life, they come to dislike school. The academic failures they experience cause them to have low self-confidence. Furthermore, these children lose their confidence in their learning abilities during * Prof. Dr., Eskişehir Osmangazi Universty Faculty of Education Guidance and Counselling e-posta: niluferozabaci@hotmail.com ** Arş. Gör. Anadolu Üniversitesi Rehberlik ve Psikolojik Danışma ABD e-posta: bebasak@anadolu.edu.tr