EDUCATION METAPHORS IN CHINESE COMMENCEMENT SPEECHESAND THE EFFECTS OF EDUCATION METAPHORSON CHINESE STUDENTS’ REASONING ON EDUCATION

Abstract

Education metaphors in Chinese Commencement Speeches play a crucial role in shaping the audience's understanding of education, influencing their reasoning and attitudes toward the elements of education. However, few studies gave priority to education metaphors and their effects on reasoning and decision-making processes in non-political contexts. This study analyzes a dataset of 100 commencement speeches delivered between 2013 and 2023 by presidents of China's top 10 universities, which are Peking University, Tsinghua University Zhejiang University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the University of Science and Technology of China, Nanjing University, Tongji University, Wuhan University, and Harbin Institute of Technology. Using Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as the theoretical foundation and the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) as the research method, its aim is to identify and categorize the education metaphors embedded in these speeches, thereby uncovering the conceptual frameworks that shape contemporary educational discourse in elite Chinese higher education. The study identified 13 main education metaphorical domains. The findings revealed 13 key conceptual metaphors related to education in Chinese graduation speeches and among them, three conceptual metaphors stood out as the most prominent: (1) EDUCATION IS CULTIVATION; (2) EDUCATION IS CONSTRUCTION; (3) EDUCATION IS WAR. These metaphors reflect Chinese education by emphasizing nurturing and patience (CULTIVATION), systematic knowledge building and policy-driven goals (CONSTRUCTION), and competitive challenges (WAR).This study further explored and examined how different metaphorical frames shape students’ reasoning on educational issues and guide their decisions on different coping strategies through a questionnaire-based experiment, with particular attention to gender and grade-level differences as key variables. The participant sample consisted primarily of first-year(freshmen) and fourth-year(senior) undergraduate students, including both male and female students, to examine how these social factors in gender and academic differences influence students’ reasoning and decision-making processes when addressing educational problems under different metaphorical frames. By analyzing and coding responses, the findings indicated that education metaphors play a significant role in reasoning, leading to differentiated perceptions and approaches to educational issues. Furthermore, the study revealed that gender and grade-level differences serve as moderating factors in metaphorical reasoning, affecting how students interpret education metaphors and apply them in decision-making. By mapping key education metaphors, it identified the conceptual frameworks that shape educational discourse. By demonstrating the effects of metaphorical framing, it showed how these metaphors influence students’ reasoning and decision-making processes. These findings contributed to deepening the understanding of the cognitive role of education metaphors and promoted the optimization of educational policies and teaching practices for Chinese higher education.

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