Play and metaphor in clinical supervision: keeping creativity alive

This article explores the use of play and metaphor in clinical supervision. The intention is not to attempt to cover the whole area of play, or the use of metaphor in clinical supervision, but rather to highlight particular aspects of their respective roles in the service of learning about therapeutic work. The relevance of the arts - especially the visual arts - in relation to this is also discussed. A number of brief clinical vignettes are included by way of illustration. All names, and some identifying details, have been changed to preserve confidentiality. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Evaluating musical software using conceptual metaphors

An open challenge for interaction designers is to find ways of designing software to enhance the ability of novices to perform tasks that normally require specialized domain expertise. This challenge is particularly demanding in areas such as music analysis, where complex, abstract, domain-specific concepts and notations occur. One promising theoretical foundation for this work involves the identification of conceptual metaphors and image schemas, found by analyzing discourse. This kind of analysis has already been applied, with some success, both to musical concepts and, separately, to user interface design. The present work appears to be the first to combine these hitherto distinct bodies of research, with the aim of devising a general method for improving user interfaces for music. Some areas where this may require extensions to existing method are noted. This paper presents the results of an exploratory evaluation of Harmony Space, a tool for playing, analysing and learning about harmony. The evaluation uses conceptual metaphors and image schemas elicited from the dialogues of experienced musicians discussing the harmonic progressions in a piece of music. Examples of where the user interface supports the conceptual metaphors, and where support could be improved, are discussed. The potential use of audio output to support conceptual metaphors and image schemas is considered

Analysis of conceptual metaphors to improve music software: the role of prior experience in inclusive music interaction

An open challenge for interaction designers is to find ways of designing software solutions capable of enhancing the ability of users with differing levels of knowledge and capabilities to perform tasks that normally require specialised domain expertise. This challenge is particularly demanding in areas such as music analysis, where complex, abstract, domain-specific concepts and notations occur. One promising theoretical foundation for this work involves the identification of what are assumed to be conceptual metaphors and image schemas. These constructs are grounded in prior sensory-motor experiences of space, force, orientation and interactions with other bodies and are identified through analysing discourse. These theories have already been applied with some success both to musical concepts and, separately, to user interface design with the intention of creating more intuitive designs through exploiting these prior sensory-motor experiences. However, the present work appears to be the first to combine these hitherto distinct bodies of research. We hypothesise that if we can identify the conceptual metaphors and image schemas used by musical experts to structure their understanding of music, we can utilise this information to develop a general theoretical framework to aid designers in systematically improving their designs, providing a foundation for inclusive music interaction design and thus opening up software normally restricted to domain experts to a wider and more varied user population. A possible methodology for the development of such a framework is discussed along with details of a study to apply the conceptual metaphors and image schemas used by a small group of experienced musicians to an evaluation of Harmony Space

Teaching and learning verb-particle constructions in EFL: a comparasion between memorization and the cognitive-linguistic approach

Verb-particle constructions (VPCs) have traditionally been considered a difficult area when learning English as a foreign language, and the traditional teaching method based on memorization has been questioned in recent years. Many researchers have proposed alternative methods grounded on cognitive linguistics, which have been proved more effective. The aim of the present study is to test this effectiveness comparing both approaches dealing with Spanish as first language and English as second language. Contrary to the proposed hypotheses, the results show that the memorization of VPCs is more practical than the cognitive-linguistic approach. However, many factors may have influenced these results, such as the time elapsed between the instruction and the test performance. Memorization seems to work better in the short term, while the cognitive- linguistic approach may be more helpful towards a retention of VPCs in the long term.Las construcciones verbales con partícula han sido consideradas tradicionalmente un área difícil en el aprendizaje del inglés como lengua extranjera, y el método tradicional de enseñanza basado en la memorización ha sido cuestionado en los últimos años. Muchos investigadores han propuesto métodos alternativos basados en la lingüística cognitiva, que han demostrado ser más efectivos. El objetivo del presente estudio es poner a prueba esta eficacia comparando ambos enfoques abordando el español como primera lengua y el inglés como segunda lengua. En contra de las hipótesis propuestas, los resultados demuestran que la memorización de las construcciones verbales con partícula es más práctica que el enfoque cognitivista. Sin embargo, muchos factores pueden haber influido en estos resultados, como el tiempo transcurrido entre la instrucción y la realización de la prueba. La memorización parece funcionar mejor a corto plazo, mientras que el enfoque cognitivista podría ser más útil en la retención de las construcciones verbales con partícula a largo plazo.Departamento de Filología InglesaGrado en Estudios Inglese

How to Teach Phrasal Verbs Using Conceptual Metaphors

Although ubiquitous in the English language, phrasal verbs are one of the most difficult constructions for English language learners to learn, as their meanings have traditionally been regarded as arbitrary and chaotic. However, recent developments in cognitive linguistics have shed light onto schematic motivations of phrasal verb meanings and thus present a number of pedagogical applications. The purpose of this handbook is to provide English language teachers with a foundation in the theory and pedagogical approaches to teaching phrasal verbs, using a cognitive linguistic framework

Disciplining the body? Reflections on the cross disciplinary import of ‘embodied meaning’ into interaction design

The aim of this paper is above all critically to examine and clarify some of the negative implications that the idea of ‘embodied meaning’ has for the emergent field of interaction design research. Originally, the term ‘embodied meaning’ has been brought into HCI research from phenomenology and cognitive semantics in order to better understand how user’s experience of new technological systems relies to an increasing extent on full-body interaction. Embodied approaches to technology design could thus be found in Winograd & Flores (1986), Dourish (2001), Lund (2003), Klemmer, Hartman & Takayama (2006), Hornecker & Buur (2006), Hurtienne & Israel (2007) among others. However, fertile as this cross-disciplinary import may be, design research can generally be criticised for being ‘undisciplined’, because of its tendency merely to take over reductionist ideas of embodied meaning from those neighbouring disciplines without questioning the inherent limitations it thereby subscribe to. In this paper I focus on this reductionism and what it means for interaction design research. I start out by introducing the field of interaction design and two central research questions that it raises. This will serve as a prerequisite for understanding the overall intention of bringing the notion of ‘embodied meaning’ from cognitive semantics into design research. Narrowing my account down to the concepts of ‘image schemas’ and their ‘metaphorical extension’, I then explain in more detail what is reductionistic about the notion of embodied meaning. Having done so, I shed light on the consequences this reductionism might have for design research by examining a recently developed framework for intuitive user interaction along with two case examples. In so doing I sketch an alternative view of embodied meaning for interaction design research. Keywords: Interaction Design, Embodied Meaning, Tangible User Interaction, Design Theory, Cognitive Semiotics</p

Poetry's total scandal:Poets and postmen in Antonio Skármeta’s El cartero de Neruda

The argument put forward here takes Antonio Skármeta's short novel El cartero de Neruda (Con ardiente paciencia) as a theorization of the relationship between poetry and politics, by way of the concept-metaphors (Mieke Bal) that are deployed in the novel. Skármeta stages the public role of poetry through the telling of a story about the poet Pablo Neruda and his postman Mario Jiménez. The relationship between poetry and politics is analysed with reference to Hazard Adams' concept of «the offense of poetry» and Roland Barthes' reflections on the total scandal of language in his essay «Écrivains et écrivants» (1964), here adapted as «the total scandal of poetry». In contradistinction to Barthes, who argues that the total scandal of language is impossible because of the absorption of scandalous language by the literary institution, Skármeta's short novel suggests that the total scandal of poetry is indeed possible when, as in the case of Pablo Neruda, Mario Jiménez and Salvador Allende, poetry becomes a constitutive part of a political project, within which it functions as a reminder of dignity and as the touchstone for political integrity

Discourse metaphors: the link between figurative language and habitual analogies

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