Generating guidelines for choosing appropriate metaphors in GUIs through the analysis of cross-cultural understanding of metaphorical icons: an explorative study with French and Turkish users on an e-learning site

This paper investigates the influence of culture on understanding metaphors in GUIs and aims to generate guidelines for choosing appropriate metaphors for users from different cultures. Considering the dual-coded structure of compound metaphorical icons – composed of two major units: image and label – this study evaluates the main hypothesis that understanding of graphical and textual elements of the metaphors differs due to real world and language experiences of the users. A study on a French e-learning site – based on a spatial ‘Campus’ metaphor – was conducted with sixty-eight Turkish and French students. The qualitative study applied a multi-method approach including data collection instruments like background and icon recognition questionnaires and interview. Findings suggest differences in understanding across the two cultural groups and provide an in-depth analysis on the process of cross-cultural understanding of metaphors by focusing on the metaphorical inconsistencies. Through this analysis, guidelines are proposed for choosing metaphors in GUIs.

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