Abstract
Third and fifth grade children with and without learning disabilities participated in this study. Syntactically frozen and flexible idioms and transparent and opaque idioms were used as stimuli to examine the ability to identify the correct idiom and to explain idiom meanings. Grade and diagnostic category affected performance on the explanation task but not on the forced choice task. Idiom type was also a factor affecting comprehension and explanation. Literal responses occurred rarely and were more likely to occur on the forced choice task.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abrahamsen, E., & Sprouse, P. (1995). Fable comprehension by children with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 28(5), 302-308.
Ackerman, B. P. (1982). On comprehending idioms: Do children get the picture? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 33, 439-454.
Ammer, C. (1997). The American Dictionary of Idioms. New York: Houghton–Mifflin Company.
Baechle, C. L., & Lian, M. J. (1990). The effects of direct feedback and practice on metaphor performance in children with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 23, 451-455.
Blue, C. M. (1981). Types of utterances to avoid when speaking to language impaired children. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in the Schools, 12, 120-124.
Brown, L., Sherbenou, R. J., & Johnsen, S. K. (1990). Test of Nonverbal Intelligence: A Language free Measure of Cognitive Ability, 2nd ed.. Austin, TX: ProEd.
Cacciari, C., & Levorato, M. C. (1989). How children understand idioms in discourse. Journal of Child Language, 16, 387-405.
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M. (1981). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Fry, E. (1968). A readability formula that saves time. Journal of Reading, 11, 513-578.
Gibbs, R. W. (1987). Linguistic factors in children's understanding of idioms. Journal of Child Language, 14, 569-586.
Gibbs, R. W. (1991). Semantic analyzability in children's understanding of idioms. American Speech Language Hearing Association, 34, 613-620.
Gibbs, R. W., & Gonzales, G. P. (1985). Syntactic frozenness in processing and remembering idioms. Cognition, 20, 243-259.
Gibbs, R. W., Nayak, N. P., Bolton, J. L., & Keppel, M. E. (1989a). Speakers' assumptions about the lexical flexibility of idioms. Memory and Cognition, 17(1), 58-68.
Gibbs, R. W., Nayak, N. P., & Cutting, C. (1989b). How to kick the bucket and not decompose: Analyzability and idiom processing. Journal of Memory and Language, 28, 576-593.
Lee, R. F., & Kahmi, A. G. (1990). Metaphoric competence in children with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 23, 476-452.
Levorato, M. 1993. The acquisition of idioms and the development of figurative competence. In C. Cacciari, & P. Tabossi (Eds.), Idioms: Processing, Structure, and Interpretation (pp. 101-128). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Lutzer, V. D. (1988). Comprehension of proverbs by average children and children with learning disorders. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 21, 104-108.
Nippold, M. A. (1985). Comprehension of figurative language in youth. Topics in Language Disorders, 5, 1-20.
Nippold, M. A. (1991). Evaluating and enhancing idiom comprehension in language-disordered students. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in the Schools, 22, 100-106.
Nippold, M. A., & Martin, S. T. (1989). Idiom interpretation in isolation versus context: A developmental study with adolescents. Journal of Speech and Language Research, 32, 59-66.
Prinz, P. M. (1983). The development of idiomatic meaning in children. Language and Speech, 26, 2263-2272.
Seidenberg, P. L., & Bernstein, D. K. (1986). The comprehension of similes and metaphors by learning disabled and nonlearning disabled children. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in the Schools, 17, 219-229.
Secord, W., & Wiig, E. (1993). Interpreting figurative language expressions. Folia Folia Phoniatrics, 45, 1-9.
Wiig, E., & Secord, W. (1989). Test of Language Competence: Administration Manual. San Antonio, Texas: Psychological Corporation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Abrahamsen, E.P., Burke-Williams, D. Comprehension of Idioms by Children with Learning Disabilities: Metaphoric Transparency and Syntactic Frozenness. J Psycholinguist Res 33, 203–215 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOPR.0000027962.42590.60
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOPR.0000027962.42590.60