Idiom understanding in Australian youth: a cross-cultural comparison.
In this developmental study, idiom understanding was examined in Australian students from Grades 5 and 8 (n = 50 per group; mean ages = 10.7 and 13.8, respectively). Twenty-four idioms with familiarity ratings ranging from high to low (as judged by Australian adolescents) were each presented in a brief story context. The students read each story and selected the best interpretation of the idiom from a set of four answer choices. Results indicated that performance on the task improved as a function of increasing grade level and that idiom familiarity was significantly correlated to idiom understanding for both groups of students. These results, which were consistent with a previous study of American students of comparable educational levels (Nippold & Taylor, 1995), provide further support for the "language experience" hypothesis of figurative language development. In replicating the previous developmental study, evidence of external validity is provided.
Nippold
M A
MA
University of Oregon Eugene, USA. nippold@oregon.uoregon.edu
Taylor
C L
CL
Baker
J M
JM
D000293:Adolescent; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D013067:Speech Perception; D014481:United States