Middle School Students’ Metaphorical Perceptions of the Concept of Poetry

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INTRODUCTION
Texts are used in Turkish lessons in order to acquire basic language skills.In the selection of these texts in Turkish textbooks, some issues specified in the Turkish Language Teaching Program prepared by the Ministry of National Education are taken into consideration.Accordingly, the texts in the textbooks are identified as "Informative Texts", "Narrative Texts" and "Poetry".It is stated that the texts to be selected from these types should be distributed to the themes in a balanced way.Some of these type of texts can be included in primary school, some in secondary school, and some in both primary and secondary school levels.
It is seen that "poetry", one of the type of text in question, is included in Turkish textbooks taught at both primary and secondary school levels.Therefore, it is understood that poetry is used in Turkish language teaching from an early age.It has been determined that teaching with poetry increases way to mean something other than what is accepted".In addition, it is seen that concepts such as metaphor, metonymy, allegory, metaphorical transfer, metaphorisation, and coherence are also used as equivalents to the word metaphor in Turkish (Uğur, 2003;Kıran & Kıran, 2006;Saban, 2008;Aksan, 2006;Onan, 2011).Demirci (2016) states that the existence of binary structures between which a weak or strong similarity can be established is sufficient for the realization of a metaphor.In the metaphorical studies conducted in our country on many different concepts, it is generally seen that a conclusion is tried to be reached by comparing a concept to another concept and justifying it.Thus, information can be obtained about how other concepts can be used to reach a concept, how an individual conceptualizes a subject, how he/ she makes associations between concepts, and how concepts are symbolized by the individual (Demirci, 2016;Tiryaki & Demir, 2016;Demir, 2017).
Metaphors are used in many fields from literature to philosophy, anatomy to psychology, semantics to linguistics (Demir & Karakaş Yıldırım, 2019).Metaphors, which are frequently used in the field of education, are recognized as very important auxiliary elements (Demirci, 2016).Because metaphors are seen as versatile expression elements while preparing the ground for permanent learning, and it is seen that metaphors have been used as an element of expression and teaching in traditional Turkish pedagogy for centuries (Demir & Karakaş Yıldırım, 2016).
It is seen that many studies have been conducted in the field of education to determine the metaphorical perceptions of students, thus their metaphorical perceptions about various concepts have been determined.For example, Ertürk (2017) conducted a study to determine the metaphorical perceptions of primary school students about the concept of "teacher".In the study, it was seen that the metaphors were collected in five categories as "source of knowledge", "guide", "compassion indicator", "nurturer-shaper" and "leader".Again, Akpolat (2021) analyzed the metaphors produced by students in his study on the metaphorical perceptions of secondary school students about distance education by dividing them into ten different conceptual categories and concluded that male and female students differed from each other in these categories.It is also possible to see that various metaphorical studies have been conducted on basic language skills and Turkish lesson.Erdoğan and Erdoğan (2013) identified 14 different metaphors in their study to determine the perceptions of 5 th grade students towards writing.In the metaphor study conducted for the Turkish course, Yenici (2021) determined that both positive and negative metaphors were produced about the Turkish course, but positive metaphors about the course were more common.Yenici grouped the metaphors under 17 categories and compared the results of the study with other metaphor studies on Turkish lesson.Taşgın et al. (2018) conducted a metaphorical study to determine the perceptions of secondary school students about "Turkish lesson" and "Turkish teacher" and divided the metaphors about these concepts into 14 categories.In the study, it was observed that the most frequently produced metaphor for the concept of "Turkish teacher" was the "mother" metaphor, and the most frequently produced metaphor for the concept of "Turkish lesson" was the "sun" metaphor.In addition, it was concluded that generally positive metaphors were produced about "Turkish teacher" and "Turkish lesson".In another similar study, it was tried to determine the metaphors of both secondary school students and prospective Turkish teachers about "Turkish lesson" and "Turkish teacher".In this study conducted by Keray Dinçel and Yılmaz (2018), it was seen that many metaphors were produced and it was concluded that the number of metaphors produced by both secondary school students and prospective Turkish teachers were close to each other.In addition, it was determined that Turkish teacher candidates were more dominant in some categories.In a study on reading skill, which is one of the basic language skills, students' metaphorical perceptions of the concept of "book" and "reading" were investigated (Akbulut et al., 2017).In this study, it was concluded that there was a difference in metaphors for the concepts of "book" and "reading" according to gender, and it was determined that as the socio-economic level increased, metaphors about reading became negative.Negative metaphors increased as the class level increased.In a metaphorical study on speaking skill, which is one of the basic language skills, Özkan (2016) stated that students produced 132 metaphors on the subject, divided these metaphors into 6 common themes and stated that he did not find any negative elements in any of the valid metaphors.
In the literature review, it was seen that another issue that researchers have focused on is perceptions and metaphors about the concept of "poetry".Uçan Eke (2017), in his study investigating the metaphorical perceptions of Turkish Language and Literature department students towards the concept of poetry, concluded that students' metaphorical perceptions differed as a result of their four-year education.It was determined that especially the senior students tried to concretize the concept of poetry, and it was found that the concept of poetry was attributed an importance in general.Karakaya (2018) tried to determine the level of understanding and perception of different types of poems by students in the 12-14 age group, and as a result of the study, he determined that the perception of poetry in the age group in question did not change according to age and gender, except for some items.In another study conducted by Karakaya (2019), it was determined that 4 th grade primary school students perceived poetry better than 2 nd grade students and that poetry teaching was effective in perceiving poetry.
In the literature, it is possible to find many studies to determine perceptions and metaphors about poetry, basic language skills, Turkish lesson and Turkish grammar (Uçan Eke, 2017;Bozpolat, 2015;Bahadır, 2020;Erol & Kaya, 2020).However, no study has been found to determine the metaphorical perceptions of secondary school students about the poetry type of text, which is emphasized in the Turkish Lesson Teaching Programme.It is known that poetry, in which emotions rather than ideas are at the forefront, has a more complex structure than other text types.It is very important to determine the perceptions of students about this text type and to determine what this type of text means to them in terms of guiding the relevant stakeholders in the studies to be carried out with students.For this reason, it is thought that this study will contribute to the literature and fill a gap in the field.
The aim of this study is to determine the perceptions of secondary school students about the concept of poetry through metaphors.In line with this purpose, the following questions were sought to be answered: 1.What are the metaphors produced by secondary school students about the concept of "poetry"?2. Under which conceptual categories can the metaphors produced by the students be categorized in terms of their common characteristics?

METHODOLOGY Research Model
This study, which aims to determine the perceptions of secondary school students about the concept of "poetry" through metaphors, was conducted using phenomenology, one of the qualitative research designs.Phenomenological studies focus on how a phenomenon is perceived, interpreted, described and remembered by individuals (Patton, 2002).Again, in these studies, it is aimed to determine the experiences and perceptions of individuals about a phenomenon directly through individuals' own sentences (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2016).In this study, the phenomenological design was preferred since it was aimed to determine the perceptions of secondary school students towards the concept of "poetry" and the meanings they attributed to these perceptions.

The Study Group
In the study, 193 secondary school students studying in a state school were determined as the study group.While determining the study group, the convenience sampling method was used by taking into consideration time, transportation, cost, easier and more efficient study opportunity, etc.The answers given to the interview form by 45 students participating in the study were considered invalid and excluded from the analysis due to reasons such as not producing any metaphor, not justifying the metaphor produced or not establishing a meaning between the metaphor produced and its justification.After the aforementioned students were excluded, the research continued with 148 participants.The distribution of the participants according to gender and grades is reflected in Table 1.

Data Collection and Analysis
In order to determine the metaphorical perceptions of the participants about the concept of "poetry", a form consisting of two parts was given to them.In the first part of the form, demographic information of the participants (gender, class level, etc.) was asked, and in the second part, they were asked to complete the sentence, "Poetry is like … because …".The participants were given 30 minutes to complete this statement; during this time, it was stated that they should focus on only one metaphor, and that they should put the reasons for choosing this metaphor on a solid logical ground after the metaphor was determined.
In such studies where metaphor is used to determine the perceptions of the participants, the word "like" is used to reveal the relationship between the subject of the metaphor and its source more clearly.With the word "because", the participants are asked to provide a logical basis for the metaphors they have identified (Saban, 2009).
The responses of the students to the form were analyzed and it was seen that some of the statements in the forms were not understandable or not read.Individual interviews were conducted with the relevant students in order to clarify these expressions that were not understood or read, and the data obtained were tried to be clarified.
The data obtained from the research were analyzed by content analysis method.The aim of content analysis is to reach concepts and relationships that will explain the data obtained.In this type of analysis, similar data are collected under various concepts and themes, explained and interpreted in a way that the reader can understand (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2016).In this study, in which the perceptions of secondary school students were tried to be determined through metaphors, the above-mentioned process was followed, and the following five stages were followed respectively, taking into account Saban's (2009) study on the subject while analyzing the data: • Selecting: At this stage, the metaphors produced by 193 participants and the reasons for preferring these metaphors were analyzed one by one, and 45 responses that were found to be incomplete were eliminated.Forms that were left blank, included only the metaphor or did not have any meaningful relationship between the metaphor and its justification were subjected to the selecting process, and the research was conducted on the remaining 148 forms at the end of this process.and categorized by one researcher were asked to be coded and categorized independently by the other researcher.As a result of this process, it was seen that the two coders differed from each other on the placement of 4 metaphors.As a result of the calculation made with Miles and Hubarmann's (1994) formula, "Reliability = Agreement/(Agreement + Disagreement)×100", it was seen that the agreement between the coders was above the minimum level (80%) and was calculated as 92%.
• Transferring the Data to the Computer Environment: At this stage, the metaphors obtained and the categories in which these metaphors were placed were transferred to the computer environment together with their frequency values and percentage ratios.

FINDINGS
In this section, the metaphors created by secondary school students, the concept categories in which these metaphors are included and sample participant expressions belonging to the metaphors in the categories are presented.All metaphors produced by the students are presented in Table 2.
The 8 categories in which the metaphors produced by the participant students were placed are listed from the highest to the lowest number of metaphors.1. Metaphors based on the idea that poetry is pleasurable/satisfying Table 3. Metaphors Formed by the Participants Based on the Idea that Poetry is Pleasurable/Satisfying According to Table 3, 22 (14.9%)participants produced 13 different metaphors based on the idea that poetry is "pleasurable and satisfying".When the frequency distributions of the metaphors under this category were analyzed, it was seen that "food", "fire" and "flower bouquet" metaphors were the most frequently used metaphors and 5 th grade students were more dominant in perceiving poetry as pleasurable and satisfying.The metaphors produced by some students based on the idea that poetry is pleasurable and satisfying and their justifications are given below: Poetry is like food.

Metaphors created based on the width of the subject and rich content of the poem
When Table 4 is analyzed, it is seen that 20 (13.5%) students produced 10 different metaphors by taking into account the "subject breadth and rich content" of the poem.When the frequency distributions of the metaphors produced were analyzed, "world", "bird" and "sea" were the most frequently produced metaphors.It was determined that 6 th and 8 th grade students perceived poetry as a medium in which every subject can be covered and it is possible to talk about everything in terms of subject breadth and rich content.The reasoned metaphors produced by some students under this category are given below: Poetry is like the world.Because just as in the world, there is everything from seven to seventy.5, 38 (25.7%) students produced 9 different metaphors based on the idea that poetry "makes us experience and reflect different emotions".When the metaphors produced were analyzed, it was seen that "emotion", "life" and "cloud" metaphors were produced more frequently than other metaphors.The 5 th and 8 th grade students perceived poetry as a field that experiences and reflects many emotions and focused on this aspect of poetry.The statements of some students on the subject are given below: Poetry  ) students produced 8 different metaphors based on the idea that poetry is "therapeutic/calming".When the frequency distributions of the metaphors produced were analyzed, it was seen that "medicine", "mother" and "friend" metaphors were produced more frequently.Grade 5 students focused on the aspect of poetry that treats emotions, calms and soothes people; they perceived it mostly with this feature.The metaphors produced by some participant students under this category and their justifications are given below: Poetry is like medicine.Because it is a cure for people's troubles, an ointment for their wounds, and a friend for their loneliness.Maybe it is not the medicine we will drink when we are really sick, but when our soul is sick, it may be the only thing that is best for us.

Metaphors based on the idea that poetry is a source of life
According to Table 7, 34 (23%) students produced 6 different metaphors based on the idea that poetry is a "source of life".When the metaphors produced were analyzed, it was seen that the most frequently produced metaphors were "sun", "water" and "life" metaphors.It was determined that 5 th , 6 th , 7 th and 8 th grade students under this category perceived poetry as the source of life and focused on this aspect of poetry.The reasoned metaphors produced by some students are given below: Poetry is like the sun.Because when the sun shines, the leaves bloom and when the sun disappears, the leaves wither.Poetry is like rain.Because when it rains, everything comes to life and becomes green.Poetry also revitalizes our soul.
[S134] 6. Metaphors created based on the idea that poetry is a text waiting to be analyzed and discovered When Table 8 is analyzed, 5 (3.4%) students produced 4 different metaphors based on the idea that poetry is "a text waiting to be analyzed and discovered".The students under this category perceived poetry as a text that is waiting to be discovered and needs to be interpreted.It was observed that 5 th grade students did not produce any metaphor in this category.The reasoned metaphors of some students are given below: Poetry is like a treasure.Because the poet waits for the poem to be read, waits to discover its meaning.He waits for the poem to be found.
Poetry is like a key.Because poetry is closed like a key.We can open the closed meanings if we read poetry.
[S40] Poetry is like a puzzle.Because just as a puzzle is difficult to solve, so is a poem.You need to read and solve it. [S74] Poetry is like a cipher.Because poetry tells a lot of things.It is necessary to solve the poem like a cipher.It is necessary to reveal its meaning.
[S95] 7. Metaphors based on the idea that poetry is instructive and guiding According to Table 9, 6 (4%) students produced 2 different metaphors based on the idea that poetry is "instructive and guiding".Students in this category think that poetry teaches people many things and shows the right path.It was observed that 7 th grade students did not produce any metaphor under this category.The statements of some students on the subject are as follows: Poetry is like light.Because poetry is a light for some people and shows the way.

Metaphors based on the idea that poetry is unifying
When Table 10 is analyzed, 2 (1.3%) students produced the metaphor of "rope" based on the idea that poetry is "unifying".Students in this category perceive poetry as a type of text that brings people together and unites them with all their differences.It was observed that 6 th and 8 th grade students produced one metaphor under this category, while 5 th and 7 th grade students did not produce any

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
According to the Ministry of National Education Turkish Lesson Teaching Programme, poetry is among the text types that should be included in Turkish textbooks taught at all grade levels in both primary and secondary schools.
It is a positive approach to make use of poetry, which has an important place in increasing students' academic success (Akyol & Dikici, 2009) and ensuring their emotional development, in Turkish education.From this point of view, it is important to determine the meanings that students attribute to the concept of poetry and their perceptions about this concept in order to better understand the place of this type of text in education.
In this study, the perceptions of secondary school students about poetry were tried to be determined through metaphors.For this purpose, the participants were asked to complete the statement "Poetry is like … because …".When the data were analyzed, it was seen that the metaphors produced by 148 participants were valid.From the 148 valid metaphors, 52 different metaphors were reached.Then, these 52 different metaphors were divided into 8 categories and then the metaphors were analyzed according to the participants' grade levels.Based on this, it was concluded that the participants could associate the concept of poetry with very different concepts in their minds.In metaphor studies, based on the answers of individuals, it is tried to determine what they liken a concept to for what purpose (Yanarateş & Yılmaz, 2020).In this respect, this study is similar to previous metaphorical studies (Altun & Apaydın, 2013;Bektaş et al., 2014;Ekici, 2016;Ertürk, 2017;Limon & Durnalı, 2018;Demirbilek, 2021).
According to the results of the study, 25.7% (f=38) of the metaphors produced by the participants stated that poetry "makes them experience and reflect different emotions", 23% (f=34) stated that poetry is "a source of life", 14.9% (f=22) stated that poetry is "pleasurable/satisfying", 14.2% (f=21) stated that poetry is "therapeutic/calming,13, 5% (f=20) of them were based on the "width of the subject and rich content of the Poem", 4% (f=6) were based on the idea that poetry is "instructive and guiding", 3.4% (f=5) were based on the idea that poetry is "a text waiting to be analyzed and discovered", and 1.3% (f=2) were based on the idea that poetry is "unifying".When we look at the conceptual categories created based on the metaphors produced, it is seen that the participants are concentrated in the category where poetry is perceived as a concept that "experiences and reflects different emotions".This rate is the highest rate with 25.7%.When the grade levels of the participants in this category are analyzed, it is seen that 13 participants are in the 5 th grade, 7 participants are in the 6 th grade, 5 participants are in the 7 th grade, and 13 participants are in the 8 th grade.In this case, it is possible to say that 5 th and 8 th grade students are more dominant in terms of the number of metaphors produced under this category, and all grades are close to each other in terms of producing different metaphors.Immediately following this category is the category in which 23% of the participants perceived poetry as a «source of life».When this category is analyzed, all classes are close to each other in terms of both the number of participants and the number of different metaphors produced.When these two categories, which are formed by the participants who think that poetry is «pleasurable/satisfying» and the participants who think that poetry is «therapeutic/calming», are examined, it is possible to say that 5 th graders are more dominant.However, it is seen that all grade levels are close to each other in terms of producing different metaphors.When the category formed by the metaphors produced based on the «breadth of subject matter and rich content» of the poem is examined, it was determined that the 5 th graders were less in number and produced fewer metaphors than the other grades.In the other three categories with fewer participants, it is possible to say that 6 th and 8 th graders produced more metaphors.
When the results of the study are analyzed, it is understood that the participants did not produce a negative metaphor about "poetry".It is seen that the five most produced metaphors are "life", "emotion", "sun", "water" and "cloud" metaphors.All of these five metaphors are in the 25.7% and 23% categories in which the participants concentrated the most.This situation is important in terms of showing that the research has a consistency within itself.Another result determined in the research is that 77.03% of the participants produced concrete metaphors and 22.97% produced abstract metaphors.Considering the metaphors, 92.30% (f=48) of the 52 metaphors produced were concrete and 7.7% (f=4) were abstract.These results show that the participants produced more concrete metaphors.When the abstract metaphors produced by the participants are analyzed, it is seen that these metaphors are "life", "emotion", "love" and "imagination".It was determined that abstract metaphors were mostly produced by 7 th and 8 th grade students who stepped into the abstract operations period.
When the results of the study are analyzed by considering the diversity and difference of the categories and the relationship between the grade level, it is seen that the number and variety of metaphors produced in all 8 categories, in which 52 different metaphors are divided, are close to each other in all grade levels, and there is no significant concentration in any grade level.In this respect, it was understood that the result of the research did not overlap with a similar study (Uçan Eke, 2017).It is thought that the fact that the study groups of both studies were different from each other led to this result; in this study, the perceptions of secondary school students were collected while in Uçan Eke's study, the perceptions of university students were determined.
As a result, it was determined that the metaphors produced by secondary school students about the concept of "poetry" did not change and did not differ according to the grade level.It was determined that all of the students attributed positive meanings to poetry; no metaphor with a negative meaning was produced by the participants.These results support the idea that it is a necessary and correct approach to include poetry texts in Turkish textbooks taught in primary schools.In addition, it was observed that the majority of the students tried to explain the concept of "poetry" with concrete metaphors.Based on the students' explanations, it is possible to say that they attribute very different meanings to "poetry".In addition, it was determined that most of the students in all grade levels saw poetry as the interpreter of emotions and the source of life.
Based on the results of the research, it is suggested that Turkish textbooks include more poetry texts.As mentioned above, poetry helps students' development and gives them aesthetic pleasure and value.In studies comparing the mother tongue textbooks of Turkey and various countries, it has been found that poetry is less common in Turkish textbooks (Güleç & Demirtaş, 2012;Delican et al., 2023).It is of great importance that this situation should be taken into consideration in the process of updating the Turkish Curriculum and that students should be introduced to more poems.

•
Coding and Sample Metaphor Determination: At this stage, the metaphors were listed in alphabetical order;

Table 1 .
Gender and grade of the study group total of 52 metaphors were simply coded as life, rain, light, sun.Then, sample participant sentences representing each metaphor were determined.•Category Development: At this stage, the justifications of the metaphors obtained were examined and it was tried to determine the logical justifications on which the participants based the metaphors.From this point of view, the metaphors based on similar justifications were included in the same category and the categories were named by considering the participant expressions.Thus, 52 metaphors produced by 148 students were grouped under 8 categories.• Validity and Reliability: At this stage, the data coded a

Table 2 .
Metaphors produced by the study group Because just as we get full by eating food, we get full by reading poetry.[S8]Poetry is like fire.Because when one reads poetry, one's heart warms up and gets flavor.[S52] Poetry is like a bouquet of flowers.Because when you give a bouquet of flowers to both happy and sad people, they rejoice, and poetry is the same.Poetry is like a bouquet of flowers that makes people happy.[S65] Poetry is like mint.Because it sprinkles freshness to the lungs of people, makes people pour their hearts out, and distracts them from their troubles.[S84] Poetry is like a rose.Because it spreads odour around.Everything smells of roses.I experience these feelings when I read poetry.[S113]

Metaphors created based on the idea that poetry ex- periences and reflects different emotions
Poetry is like a tree.Because there are all kinds of fruits in the tree, and there are all kinds of subjects in the poem.You can write a poem on any subject you want or read it.[S69] Poetry is like nature.Because you can find whatever you are looking for in nature.You can find whatever you are looking for in poetry.[S139] 3.
According to Table

Table 3 .
Metaphors formed by the participants based on the idea that poetry is pleasurable/satisfying is like emotion.Because it expresses happiness, sadness and resentment.[S11] Poetry is like life.Because it has ups and downs like life, sometimes it makes us sad and sometimes it makes us happy.[S71]

Table 4 .
Metaphors created by the participants based on the width of the subject and rich content of the poem Poetry is like a friend.Because you tell your troubles, troubles, bad memories that you cannot tell anyone to your friend.He comforts you.Poetry is like that too, if we don't have a friend, if we are alone, we pour these troubles and troubles into poetry and relax.[S48] [S5] Poetry is like a mother.Because when I read poetry, I feel as if I am in my mother's arms.When I feel sad, I go to my mum and poetry is like that, it comforts me.[S34].

Table 5 .
Metaphors formed by the participants based on the idea that poetry experiences and reflects different emotions Everything in the world needs the sun.Poetry is like this.[S3]Poetry is like water.Because we cannot live without water.Poetry gives us the power to live.[S64]

Table 6 .
Metaphors created by the participants based on the idea that poetry is therapeutic/calmingPoetry is like life.Because it gives life to people, gives life, gives strength.I realize that I am alive when I read poetry.[S80]Poetry is like breath.Because most people feel themselves in the poem as if they breathe while reading poetry.[S112] [S12] Poetry is like light.Because sometimes people do not know what to do, poetry helps them, tells them what to do and illuminates their way.[S23] Poetry is like a teacher.Because it teaches us many things.The flight of birds, flowers and so on.The teacher also teaches us a lot.[S122]

Table 7 .
Metaphors formed by the participants based on the idea that poetry is a source of life

Table 8 .
Metaphors created by the participants based on the idea that poetry is a text waiting to be analyzed and discovered

Table 9 .
Metaphors created by the participants based on the idea that poetry is instructive and guiding

Table 10 .
Metaphors formed by the participants based on the idea that poetry is unifying