“As a Social Studies Teacher Who am I?” Analyzing in Service Social Studies Teachers’ Perception of Social Studies Teacher Via Metaphors

The aim of this study was to explore in-service social studies teachers’ perception of their professional identity through analysis of metaphors. Data were gathered from 63 in-service social studies teachers. Participants were asked to complete the sentences in writing such as “The social studies teacher like... Because...” with metaphors * Dr., Dokuz Eylül Ü. Buca Eğt. Fak. Ġlköğretim Böl. Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmenliği ABD. El-mek: banu.culha@deu.edu.tr 822 Banu ÇULHA ÖZBAŞ Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 7/2 Spring 2012 they choose. Data were analyzed using qualitative (content and descriptive analysis) techniques. According to the results, 23 valid metaphors used by teachers were defined. These metaphors were grouped under 6 main categories. Namely; “social studies teacher as a guider”, “social studies teacher as a nurturer”, “social studies teacher as a transporter of unchangeable information”, “social studies teachers as a molder”, “social studies teacher as tools provider”, “social studies teacher as a community changer and an active participant of the community”. The research results showed that social studies teachers in this study used common teachers’ metaphors rather than specific metaphors to describe social studies teachers. Additionally, social studies teachers’ working experiences, gender, schools and departments they graduated and were determined as effective factors in their choose of metaphors.