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  • 1.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Department of Linguistics, University of Göteborg, Sweden.
    A Study in Swedish Fear Vocabulary1980Report (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    I would like to begin this paper with a brief presentation of its main sections  and a short discussion of how they are interrelated. The first section consists of an analysis of the terms rädd (afraid), rädd för (afraid of). rädd att (afraid that) rädd för att (afraid that). räds (to be frightened) and rädsla (fear) as they appear in contexts taken from Press 65 and Press 76 Språkdata Gothenburg Univ. The aim of this analysis is to reveal the basic or common dimensions underlying these tenns. Af ter a rather detailed analysis of these cantexts where a num.her of ditnenslons are hypothesized I a discussionof the relationships between the various terms is taken up. This discussion centers mainly around the distinctions concerning Synonymy, Homonymy, Polysemy and Vagueness. Drawing upon the hypothesized dimensions underlying these terms a Folk Theory of Fear is outlined. The paper conc1udes with a presentation of a sernantic field of "fear" vocabl1lary in Swedish.

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  • 2.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
    Argumentation, Information and Interaction: Studies in Face-to-face Interactive Argumentation under Differing Turn-taking Conditions1989Book (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    This thesis is a study of argumentation in situations of face-to-face spoken interaction. The situations analyzed consist of a formal television debate, a semi-formal television interview, and an informal conversational discus¬sion. The investigation is based on an analysis of video recordings of the three situations.   The formal television debate and television interview were broadcast in Swedish television just prior to the national referendum on nuclear energy in March 1980. There were three policy lines in the referendum; Line I, which was clearly for the use of nuclear energy, Line III, which was clearly against nuclear energy, and Line II, which was somewhere in between.  The television debate was the only televised face-to-face confrontation between the policy lines during the referendum campaign. Prior to the television debate representatives from each of the policy lines were interviewed by a team of television reporters. The interview of the represen¬tatives for Line I has been selected for analysis in the thesis.  The conversational discussion was video-recorded in 1980 in connec¬tion with a research project investigating cultural aspects of perspectives on natural resources (cf. Allwood 1981) which was conducted at the Department of Linguistics at the University of Göteborg. The discussion was held between non-specialist adolescents on the topic of the possibility of combining nature and technology.  The three situations of argumentation constitute face-to-face interactive cases of what I will refer to as everyday argumentation. Everyday argumentation refers to argumentation concerning practical issues in law, politics, morals, economics, private and family affairs, medicine, the arts and sciences, etc., in other words, all types of argumentation except strictly theoretical logical or mathematical proofs or demonstrations.  The thesis is basically an attempt to answer the question of what people are doing in face-to-face interactive argumentation based on an analysis of examples selected from the three specific cases of the television debate, the television interview, and the conversational discussion. The answer proposed is that face-to-face interactive  argumentation can be view-ed as a type of collective information processing activity involving vocal and nonvocal information in search of a solution to a problem or an answer to a question. The problem solving or answer seeking activity is carried out interactively according to the turn-taking conditions that obtain for the different occasions of argumentation.

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  • 3.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication, Language and Culture. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
    Argumentation Structure, Semantic Content, and Gesture2011Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The theme of the paper is the relationship between gesture and argumentation structure and semantic content. An analysis is given of the relationship between speech and gesture that occurs in a video-recorded discussion among students of chemical biology and their supervisor where they are asked to describe what they experienced during a haptic laboratory exercise in protein ligand docking. The analysis focuses especially on the repeated use of speech together with gesture expressions, the repetition of gestures by the same and different speakers, sequences and transformations of gestures, the change in function of a gesture, and interactive gesturing.

  • 4.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication, Language and Culture. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
    Conceptual Diagrams of Unlimited Semiosis2011Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The paper consists of an investigation and discussion of attempts to draw diagrams of Peirce’s notion of unlimited semiosis. A recent attempt to conceptualize unlimited semiosis in terms of Representamen-Object-Interpretant found in Daniel Chandler’s popular Semiotics: The Basics is examined and criticized for an unnecessary multiplication of objects in the process of unlimited semiosis. An alternative strategy for diagrammatic representations in terms of Representamen-Object-Interpretant utilizing the notions of iconicity, indexicality, and symbolicity on different levels, without new objects, is proposed and explained.

  • 5.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Linköping University, Department of Language and Culture.
    Courses of Development in Dialogue and Human Phenomenology2007In: Distributed Language Group Symposium,2007, 2007Conference paper (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    Abstract: Speakers in conversational discussions are often confronted with the task of formulating themselves unrehearsed. Speaker and listener cooperate to construct an interpretation of their experience of the world, their part in the world, and the world of experience within them, that can be evaluated by a listener as next speaker or by the very same speaker who was primarily responsible for the production of the formulation in the first instance. This process of local cooperative and mutual co-construction and evaluation of interpretations of experience I refer to as a course of development. In a course of development an interpretation of reality (social or otherwise) is interactively and rhetorically worked up and dialectically worked through for coherence, relevance, tenability, consequences, etc. Excerpts from conversational discussions are used to demonstrate the interactive rhetorical and dialectical work speakers and listeners carry out in an effort to make sense of their experience of the world and their relationship to the world and each other. Ways of talking are analysed as means of constructing restricted world-views that do not so much rely or depend on the grammar of the particular language as on the dialogical-dialectical work of the speakers and listeners. The notions of horizon, perspective, appresentation, and apperception developed by Husserl for the phenomenology of individual perception are generalized to incorporate the mutual and cooperative calibration of consciousness evidenced in a course of development in conversational discussion. Contributions to an on-going discussion are claimed to constitute -passing theories- (a la Davidson) actualized in real time in the talk where the Husserlian notions of horizon, perspective, etc. of individual subjective consciousness are in a sense turned inside out in the establishment and maintenance of inter-subjective consciousness in relation to the topics and the events under development in the conversation.

  • 6.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication, Language and Culture. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
    Language as reflective experience2010In: Semiotica, ISSN 0037-1998, E-ISSN 1613-3692, Vol. 2010, no 182, p. 215-228Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The article contains a concise presentation of a proposal for the explanation of the basic logical and conceptual structure of meaningful human experience as expressed in language. The core of the argument is that meaningful human experience is something that can only be derived from mutual interpersonal awareness. The article contains a proposal for a terminology for the conceptual details of the structure of inter-subjective experience and an attempt to base a command of natural language within this structure. The article ends with a discussion of the main thesis of the article as it relates to other recent approaches to the study of meaning in natural language.

  • 7.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication, Language and Culture. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
    Language, games, and minds2007In: Communication-Action-Meaning: A Festschrift to Jens Allwood / [ed] Elisabeth Ahlsén, Göteborg: Department of Linguistics, Göteborg University , 2007, 1, p. 83-94Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Language has often been compared to the game of Chess. In this article, I claim that a productive analogy for linguistic interaction would be the Asian board game GO. I further explore common aspects of language use and creative play that we find in improvised ensemble music-making.  What is said about language and games, and language and improvised music-making is then related to a discussion of linguistic interaction as constitutive of thought and mind.

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  • 8.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication, Language and Culture. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
    Making meaning together: A distributed story of speaking and thinking2010In: Language sciences (Oxford), ISSN 0388-0001, E-ISSN 1873-5746, Vol. 32, no 5, p. 528-535Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The relation of language to thought and mind is an ancient topic in linguistic theory. Normally language is related to thought in an individual mind. In this article, I explore the analogy between the dimensions and dynamics of individual perception as formulated by Husserl and the inter-individual perception and conceptualization found in everyday conversations.

    The notions of horizon, perspective, appresentation, and apperception developed by Husserl for the phenomenology of individual perception are generalized to incorporate the mutual and cooperative calibration of consciousness evidenced in conversational discussions where speakers cooperate to construct an interpretation and evaluation of their experience. This process of local cooperative and mutual co-construction and evaluation of interpretations of experience takes place in what is referred to here as a course of development. An extended excerpt from a conversational discussion is used to demonstrate the interactive dialogic and dialectical work speakers carry out in an effort to make sense of their experience of the world and their relationship to the world and each other. Ways of talking are analysed as means of constructing restricted folk-theoretic world-views that rely on the dialogic-dialectical work of the speakers. Contributions to an on-going discussion are claimed to constitute folk theories actualized in real time in the talk where Husserl’s notions of horizon, perspective, etc. of individual consciousness are given a distributed or shared interpretation in the establishment and maintenance of inter-individual consciousness in relation to the topics and events under development in the conversation.

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    FULLTEXT01
  • 9.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Department of Linguistics, University of Göteborg, Sweden.
    Swearing and the Expression of the Emotions1985In: Perspectives on Swearing / [ed] Lars-Gunnar Andersson and Richard Hirsch, Department of Linguistics, University of Göteborg , 1985, p. 61-80Chapter in book (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    Swearing is of ten defined as an expression of feelings and emotions. It is, however, not fulIy clear why we swear to express our feelings and emotions. This paper will try to east some light on some aspeets of this question. The first part of the paper will deal with the problem of what emotions there are and how they can be charaeterized.

    The characterization will be presented in tenns of a conceptual model.This conceptual model gives us aninsight into the various dimensions. of anemotion as a psyho-social phenomenon. The latter part of the paper willbe devoted to a discussion of how the emotions are related to swearing.

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    Swearing and the Expression of the Emotions
  • 10.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Department of Language and Culture. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
    The Act of Speaking: Spoken Language and Gesture in the Determination of Definiteness of Intention1996In: Indexicality: Papers from the Symposium “Indexikalia Tecken”, University of Göteborg, November 1995 / [ed] Christiane Pankow, Göteborg: Department of Linguistics/Dept. of German ad Dutch, University of Göteborg , 1996, p. 14-30Conference paper (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    The roman rhetorical tradition acknowledged the importance of gesture and made the appropriate use of gesture an important part of the 'actio' of a speech. Quintillian devoted a large portion of one of the four books of his Institutio Oratoria to a discussion of the proper use of gesture by an orator. Mainstream modern linguistic theorizing has had a condescending or downright antagonistic attitude toward gesture. Due to a Cartesian dualistic bias where body and mind are strictly separated and to a concentration on the enterprise of accounting for linguistic competence rather than linguistic performance, gesture occurring in connection with spoken language has generally been ignored as irrelevant.

    This situation is however changing. Linguists are coming together with communication scientists, anthropologists, psychologists, and others to study the actual use of spoken language in a variety of everyday situational contexts. In this regard I would refer the reader to the excellent work being done by Charles and Marjorie Goodwin on the analysis of video recordings of language use in natural settings (cf. Goodwin & Goodwin 1992). Recent psychoIinguistic research shows that speech and gesture are probably neurophysiologically related (cf. McNeill 1992 and Feyereisen & de Lannoy1991).

    Most studies of the integration of gesture and speech have been 'syntactically' oriented, Le. determining the temporal order of occurrence of the gesture and the corresponding speech segments. Usually as a effort to investigate the process of speech production in relation to thought (cf. Feyereisen & de Lannoy 1991). McNeiIl (1992) has however started to move in a more semantic direction and has studied the use of illustrative and metaphoric 'imagistic' gestures in connection with speech.

    In contrast to Decartes, C.S. Peirce realized that knowledge or cognition has three basic semiotic dimensions; iconic, indexical, and symbolic. Peirce claimed that these three dimensions of cognition were grounded in intuitions of similarity, causality, contiguity in space-time and part-whole, and arbitrary conventional connections between objects (abstract or concrete) of attention. In a Peircian semiotics the iconic and indexical dimensions of signs are primarily non-verbal, the symbolic dimension is primarily verbal.

    The question to be addressed in this paper is how the non-vocal, non-verbal aspects of gestures are related to the vocal, verbal aspects of spoken language (speech). The relationship that will be explored and discussed is a semantic one. To this end I have turned to Arne Naess's (1953) Theory of Interpretation and Preciseness for inspiration. Naess's theory is meant to be a tool for semantic analysis of communicative language use either spoken or written. I am going to generalize Naess's semantic insights in a semiotic direction to cover both gesture and speech.

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    The Act of Speaking: Spoken Language and Gesture in the Determination of Definiteness of Intention
  • 11.
    Hirsch, Richard
    University of Göteborg.
    The Gestalt Hypothesis - On the form and meaning of gestures1993In: Semio Nordica, ISSN 1237-1750, Vol. 2, p. 17-33Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    A hypothesis is proposed that relates the fonn and meaning of gestures. The fonn of a gesture is characterized as belonging to a class of gestural gestalts. The class of gestural gestalts exbibits certain emotiv-conceptual qualities which serve as a bridge between the fonn and a class of meanings referred to as a semantic field. The hypothesis is explained and illustrated by means of a number of examples from a !arge Cross-cultural Gesture Corpus. The implications and consequences that the hypothesis has for international and intercultural communication are also discussed.

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    The Gestalt Hypothesis - On the form and meaning of gestures
  • 12.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication, Language and Culture. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
    The Hand is quicker than the Mind2009In: Studies in Language and Cognition, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing , 2009, 1, p. 454-467Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Meaning is often viewed as originating within an individual mind and then expressed by a combination of speech and gesture. In this article I present evidence from documented spontaneous interaction that supports the claim that speech and gesture should be viewed as complementary aspects of the on-going incremental determination of dialogic inter-subjective intentionality in communicative interaction. Speech and gesture relate brain with brain to enable meaning and mind. Embodied meaning is enacted through speech and gesture in interaction. Mind is viewed as embodied but distributed and emerges in the field created by interacting brains-and-bodies. An empirical research methodology for the study of speech and gesture in relation to mind and meaning in interaction is presented.

  • 13.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Linköping University, Department of Language and Culture.
    The Hand is quicker than the Mind: On the relationship between Speech and Gesture, Meaning and Mind2007In: First SALC Conference,2007, 2007Conference paper (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    Abstract: The relationship of speech and gesture to meaning and mind has been viewed from various perspectives. In this paper I review some of these perspectives and conclude that speech and gesture should be viewed as complementary aspects of the on-going incremental determination of dialogic inter-subjective intentionality in communicative interaction. Speech and gesture relate brain with brain to enable meaning and mind. Life-world meaning is enacted through speech and gesture in interaction. Mind is viewed as embodied but distributed and as enacted in interaction. Mind and meaning reside in the field created by interacting brain-bodies. A multidisciplinary empirical research methodology for the study of speech and gesture in relation to mind and meaning in interaction is described and exemplified.

  • 14.
    Hirsch, Robert
    Department of Linguistics, University of Göteborg, Sweden.
    Taxonomies of Swearing1985In: Perspectives on Swearing / [ed] Lars-Gubbar Andersson and Richard Hirsch, University of Gothenburg, Dept. of Linguistics , 1985, p. 37-59Chapter in book (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    A study is made of the vocabulary in Modern English related to swearing.Based on this study of lexical material, a folk taxonomy and folk theory ofswearing is constructed for Angla-American culture. This folk taxonomyis compared with the more scholarly classification scheme of AshleyMontague. The study ends with a presentation of a new proposal for ataxonomy of swearing that will be used as a basis for a cross-culturalcomparative, study of swearing.

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    Taxonomies of Swearing
  • 15.
    Lindgren, Ida
    et al.
    Linköping University, The Institute of Technology. Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, Industrial ergonomics .
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Linköping University, Department of Language and Culture.
    Berggren, Peter
    Department of Command and Control Systems Swedish Defence Research Agency FOI.
    It takes three points to define a common ground: breathing apparatus fire-fighters' communication during rescue operations2007In: Journal of pragmatics : an interdisciplinary quarterly of language studies, ISSN 0165-2516, Vol. 39, no 9, p. 1482-1502Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This paper compares two styles of communication used by fire-fighters during breathing apparatus (BA) rescue operations. BA rescue is a risky business and while performing a BA rescue operation, effective communication is essential for the operation to be successful. This communication involves information sharing, coordination, safety, and so on. How this communication is supposed to be carried out is not regulated. To study the establishment and maintenance of common ground between fire-fighters, communication in two pairs of BA fire-fighters was analyzed. One pair did well, while the other performed less successfully. The pair that performed better communicated using a three-step procedure: step I was an informative utterance by speaker A; step II was a confirmation by speaker B of step I; and step III was an acknowledgment by speaker A of B's confirmation. The less successful pair seldom communicated using more than two steps.

  • 16.
    Rundgren, Carl-Johan
    et al.
    Stockholm University.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
    Chang Rundgren, Shu-Nu
    Karlstad University.
    Tibell, Lena
    Linköping University, Department of Science and Technology, Media and Information Technology. Linköping University, The Institute of Technology.
    Students’ Communicative Resources in Relation to Their Conceptual Understanding—The Role of Non-Conventionalized Expressions in Making Sense of Visualizations of Protein Function2012In: Research in science education, ISSN 0157-244X, E-ISSN 1573-1898, Vol. 42, no 5, p. 891-913Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This study examines how students explain their conceptual understanding of protein function using visualizations. Thirteen upper secondary students, four tertiary students (studying chemical biology), and two experts were interviewed in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were structured around 2D illustrations of proteins and an animated representation of water transport through a channel in the cell membrane. In the analysis of the transcripts, a score, based on the SOLO-taxonomy, was given to each student to indicate the conceptual depth achieved in their explanations. The use of scientific terms and non-conventionalized expressions in the students’ explanations were investigated based upon a semiotic approach. The results indicated that there was a positive relationship between use of scientific terms and level of education. However, there was no correlation between students’ use of scientific terms and conceptual depth. In the interviews, we found that non-conventionalized expressions were used by several participants to express conceptual understanding and played a role in making sense of the visualizations of protein function. Interestingly, also the experts made use of non-conventionalized expressions. The results of our study imply that more attention should be drawn to students’ use of scientific and non-conventionalized terms in relation to their conceptual understanding.

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  • 17.
    Rundgren, Carl-Johan
    et al.
    Linköping University, Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Learning, Aesthetics, Natural science. Linköping University, Faculty of Educational Sciences.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
    Tibell, Lena A. E.
    Linköping University, Department of Science and Technology, Visual Information Technology and Applications (VITA).
    Chang Rundgren, Shu-Nu
    Linköping University, Faculty of Educational Sciences. Linköping University, Department of Social and Welfare Studies.
    Help-words – a Creative Way of Making Sense of visualizations in molecular life science2010Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    When confronted with the representations and terms of science, students make meaning using the knowledge and language they possess. They make frequent use of conventional expressions, but they also use words that seemingly have no conventional meaning, here labelled help-words. This study explores the verbal resources upper secondary students use to make meaning of molecular life science. The paper gives a description of the phenomenon of non-conventionalised expressions, help-words, based on a study of 20 upper secondary students. The results indicate that help-words are meaningful in learning situations, especially in abstract disciplines such as molecular life science.

  • 18.
    Rundgren, Carl-Johan
    et al.
    Linköping University, Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Learning, Aesthetics, Natural science. Linköping University, Faculty of Educational Sciences.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
    Tibell, Lena A.E.
    Linköping University, Department of Science and Technology, Visual Information Technology and Applications (VITA). Linköping University, The Institute of Technology.
    Death of Metaphors in Life Science?: A study of upper secondary and tertiary students' use of metaphors and help-words in their meaning-making of scientific content.2009In: Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, E-ISSN 1609-4913, Vol. 10, no 3, p. Article 3-Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The study reported in this article investigated the use of metaphors by upper secondary and tertiary students while learning a specific content area in molecular life science, protein function. Terms and expressions in science can be used in such precise and general senses that they are totally dissociated from their metaphoric origins. Beginners in a scientific field, however, lack the experience of using a term of metaphorical origin in its domain-specific precise and general sense, and may therefore be more cognitively affected than the expert by the underlying metaphor. The study shows that beginners in the field of molecular life science use spontaneous metaphors and metaphors used in teaching in a way that demonstrates that they have difficulty using the proper scientific terminology. The results of this study indicate, among other things, that difficulties in science education may, to a large degree, be connected with problems of communicating the generality and precision of scientific terms and metaphors used in science. The article ends with a suggestion as how to enable students to move from general and vague metaphoric uses of scientific terms toward a more general and precise usage.

  • 19.
    Rundgren, Carl-Johan
    et al.
    Linköping University, Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Learning, Aesthetics, Natural science. Linköping University, Faculty of Educational Sciences.
    Hirsch, Richard
    Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication, Language and Culture.
    Tibell, Lena
    Linköping University, Department of Science and Technology, Visual Information Technology and Applications (VITA). Linköping University, Faculty of Educational Sciences.
    Chang Rundgren, Shu-Nu
    Linköping University, Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Learning, Aesthetics, Natural science. Linköping University, Faculty of Educational Sciences.
    Students’ Use of Terms and Conceptual Understanding inMaking Meaning of Visualizations of Protein Function2010Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Molecular life science has become one of the fastest-growing fields regarding scientific and technical innovation. Images, diagrams and other forms of visualizations are playing increasingly important roles in molecular life science research, teaching and learning. This study examines how upper secondary students interpret visualizations of protein function. Thirteen upper secondary students and four tertiary students (majoring in biochemistry) were interviewed in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were structured around two 2D illustrations of proteins and an animated representation of water molecules being transported through a channel in the cell membrane. In the analysis of the transcripts, a score, based on the SOLO-taxonomy, was developed to evaluate the depth of students’ conceptual understanding. Furthermore, the relative use of scientific terms, metaphors, deictic and non-conventionalized expressions in the students’ explanations was also disclosed. The results indicate that the beginner students frequently use metaphors which came from their school education or created by themselves, i.e. spontaneous metaphors. Students also make use of non-conventionalized expressions that seemingly have no meaning in relation to scientific concepts and processes. The results from this study indicated that there was no simple positive correlation between use of scientific terms and the depth of conceptual understanding. Interestingly, in the interviews, non-conventionalized expressions were used to express conceptual understanding and they play a role in the meaning-making of the students. Moreover, the results revealed that difficulties in science education may to a large degree be connected to the potential problems concerning communicating the precise and general nature of scientific terms.

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