A conceitualização de educação à luz da Teoria dos Modelos Cognitivos Idealizados: percorrendo veredas entre mente e linguagem dos alunos da Educação Básica.

Abstract

This research aimed to analyze, through the structured principals of Idealized Cognitive Models Theory (LAKOFF, 1987), embodied, socio cognitive situated meanings attributed to the concept of EDUCATION by thirty-three final year high school students of a government school in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil, who participated of the research as unpaid volunteers. In order to achieve the mentioned aim, it was analyzed the responses provided by the students in answering two tasks – a questionnaire and a writing task aimed at eliciting data which allowed to explore the category prototypical nature and its metaphoric and metonymic extensions. The methodological approach follows the principals proposed by lakofian Cognitive Semantics which posits that people concepts are not arbitrary but emerge from the nature of their bodies in dynamic interactions with the ecological and social cultural world. The qualitative data analysis was supported by Lakoff’s (1987) Idealized Cognitive Models Theory (ICMT) and Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980/[2002]) Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). The texts produced by the participants made possible the analysis of the ORIGIN – TRAJECTORY – TARGET and CONTAINER image schemas in the structuring of the EDUCATION concept, the most salient proposition models (frame and scripts) to represent the school routine and the EDUCATION metaphors. The data gathered were organized in table and graphs in order to allow for comparisons between semantically close expressions and the distribution of the analyses about the EDUCATION concept structuring cognitive models. Such organization has also facilitated the metaphoric projections and their entailments. The most relevant metaphors were EDUCATION IS AN ACQUIRED, VALUABLE ASSET and EDUCATION IS A JOURNEY. The results obtained have also allowed to propose a radial category for the concept of EDUCATION as it emerges from embodied social culturally beliefs and values shared by the participants.