Effects of Explicitness on Children's Metaphor Comprehension

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1990

Department

Communication Studies

School

Communication

Abstract

This study tests the effects of explicitness on children's metaphor comprehension within a developmental stage framework. Specifically, children's comprehension of easy, moderately difficult, and difficult metaphors (implicit comparisons) and similes (explicit comparisons) is compared. The Age X Metaphor Difficulty interaction was significant, indicating that children progress through stages of metaphor comprehension that are a function of their age and of metaphor difficulty. The Metaphor Difficulty X Explicitness interaction was also significant, revealing that children provide more elaborate comprehension of easy similes than easy metaphors. The relationship between metaphor difficulty, age, and type of comprehension category constructed is discussed. Four explanations are posited to account for the failure of explicitness to facilitate comprehension of moderately difficult and difficult metaphors.

Publication Title

Metaphor and Symbolic Activity

Volume

5

Issue

1

First Page

1

Last Page

20

Link to Full Text

Find in your library

Share

COinS