Metaphorical conceptualizations of an adult EFL learner: Where old concepts are impregnable

Abstract: This study tries to follow conceptualizations of an adult Persian EFL learner regarding his language teacher and his experiences of the language class in which he was attending. The focus of attention is on the metaphors he has been asked to produce every other session with the assumption that metaphors are not only essential for communicating abstract and difficult ideas, but also for talking about aspects of ordinary experience (Ortony, 1975). The results of this study reveal how this adult learner’s ways of looking at his teacher and his language learning did not change across time; an inflexibility which might be attributed to the ways in which his attitudes towards language and language learning had been shaped by the school system before attending the language class