ABSTRACT
Language forms part of a society's value system and, therefore, it can be of interest how thoughts and meanings are created, constructed, and negotiated with the means of that language and its (often only implied) cultural background. In this chapter, the role of language and of the conceptualization of academic thoughts – specifically in the field of foreign language education – are foregrounded and discussed. The argumentation is founded on assertions of English as (academic) lingua franca and on the general role of metaphors and the processes of meaning-making. The guiding question provides the framework for discussing two juxtaposed sets of examples: How well do foreign language education and, particularly, TESOL scrutinize their own academic language patterns? How do technical and mechanical metaphors, on the one hand, and organic, ecological ones, on the other, both reflect the foreign language education's creed, convictions, and arguments?
