Metaphors on "literature" by teachers-to-be graduates of Turkish language and literature departments

This study aims at analyzing metaphors on the concept of "literature" by graduates of Turkish Language and Literature Departments. Metaphor, the use of a word instead of another, as a language act is one of the basic concepts of literature. In this study, on the use of metaphors by teachers-to-be, qualitative research method has been applied. Sampling is made up of 77 teachers-to-be who attend to Başkent University, Master's Program Without a Thesis on Secondary Education Department. The participants, having been asked to complete the open ended expression: "literature is similar to.... because......", were informed that they could use more than one metaphor. Results indicate that metaphors used to define "literature" are of positive content; that some features of the concept are highligted; and that there may be gender differences in the choice of metaphors.