Conceptualizing Language Learning Metaphors in the Saudi EFL Context: Practicality, Applicability & Appropriacy Mansoor S. Almalki* English Language Centre, Deanship of Supportive Studies, Taif University, Taif 21974, Saudi Arabia Corresponding Author: Mansoor S. Almalki, E-mail: msamalki@tu.edu.sa ABSTRACT This paper tries to investigate the trends about the use of metaphors in the Saudi EFL classrooms. The proper implementation of metaphors (i.e. instruction, acquisition, and socialization metaphors) by teachers can be a reason for boosting source in the interactional and instructional patterns of the Saudi EFL classrooms, and the signifcance of these metaphors at aforementioned settings was investigated in the present study. Focusing upon the perceptive design of the study, a survey was conducted to know the signifcance of the three metaphors in the interactional settings of the Saudi EFL classrooms. This study targeted Saudi EFL teachers’ attitudes towards the three delimited metaphors. The respondents consisted of 200 Saudi EFL teachers drawn from the English Language Centers of the Saudi Universities. A 22-item Likert-scale questionnaire was designed to know the opinions of Saudi EFL teachers about the dynamic use of metaphors in the context of the Saudi EFL classroom. The fndings of the study refected that the Saudi EFL teachers represented by the cohort of this study presented a mixed attitudes towards the utilization of the three delimited metaphors. The fndings show that a limited exposure of instructional metaphor may be one of the reasons of the poor performance of the Saudi EFL teachers. A limited exposure of acquisition metaphor may also be damaging the dynamics of teacher student interactional and instructional patterns inside the Saudi EFL classrooms. The fndings further show that the teachers’ imbalanced use of class time and hardly any reliance on the coordinated interaction might be due to the limited exposure to the latest techniques embedded in the socialization metaphor. Although policy makers do not acknowledge the fundamental role of metaphors into classroom pedagogies, the participant-teachers recommended professional use of all the metaphors to achieve prerequisite dynamics of the EFL classrooms by fully acknowledging the applicability, appropriateness, and practicality of all the variables of acquisition metaphor. Keywords: Metaphor Awareness, Saudi EFL Teachers, Instruction Metaphor, Acquisition Metaphor, Socialization Metaphor, Metaphoric Processing INTRODUCTION The signifcance of metaphor in language teaching and learning has been examined in second/foreign language learning. The application of metaphor in language teaching began approximately thirty years ago and it is situated in the cognitive linguistics paradigm (Danesi, 1986). The utiliza- tion of literature that investigates the relationship between metaphor and language learning has increased extensively, with most studies revolving around the conceptual role of metaphors. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) forwarded the Con- ceptual Metaphor Theory and asserted that metaphor is a matter of the mind, not an issue of language. According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p. 5) “ the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another”. Lakoff and Johnson’s theory offered a theoretical framework to study metaphorical language and thoughts in Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.6n.7p.277 all the disciplines (Gibbs, 2008). Lakoff and Johnson delin- eate (1980, p. 9) that “In all aspects of life, we defne our reality in terms of metaphors and then proceed to act on the basis of the met- aphors. We draw inferences, set goals, make commitments, and execute plans, all on the basis of how we in part struc- ture our experience, consciously and unconsciously, by means of metaphor” A great number of linguists and researchers in the disci- pline of language and linguistics are becoming interested in the metaphor, and anomalously powerful claims have been made about the infuence of metaphor in almost every aspect of language education. The use of the three metaphors of language learning as instruction, language learning as acqui- sition, and language learning as socialization represents a shift in ideology concerning the nature of language learning. Nonetheless, certain approaches to teaching and learning International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature E-ISSN: 2200-3452 & P-ISSN: 2200-3592 www.ijalel.aiac.org.au ARTICLE INFO Conficts of interest: None Funding: None Article history Received: June 04, 2017 Accepted: August 26, 2017 Published: December 01, 2017 Volume: 6 Issue: 7 Special Issue on Language & Literature Advance access: September 2017