Listening and speaking skills, which are among the four basic language skills, are the comprehension and expression skills that we use most in daily life. Listening and speaking skills are of great importance to us in both daily and academic life as they are the basis of communication, perceiving the environment and self-expression. Listening and speaking skills are acquired and developed in a formal and conscious manner in formal Turkish education settings. Students’ perceptions of listening and speaking skills are very important for them to acquire and develop these language skills. One of the most effective techniques in revealing students' perceptions is metaphor. In this context, the purpose of the current study is to reveal the metaphorical perceptions of 8th grade students about listening and speaking skills. In the study, the phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research designs, was used. The study group consisted of 313 8th grade students attending 10 different public middle schools in Kars province and its districts and villages in the 2021-2022 school year. Data were collected by using a form prepared by the researcher and the collected data were analyzed with the content analysis technique. As a result of the research, it was determined that 263 metaphors were produced on listening skill and these metaphors were grouped under 18 categories. It was determined that 265 metaphors were produced on speaking skill and these metaphors were grouped under 18 categories. It was also determined that the participants produced 255 positive and 8 negative metaphors on listening skill, and 258 positive and 7 negative metaphors on speaking skill. In this context, it was concluded that most of the participants had positive perceptions of listening and speaking skills.
Listening, speaking, metaphor, 8th grade