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Proverb comprehension in context: a developmental study with children and adolescents
M A Nippold1, S A Martin, B J Erskine
1Department of Speech Pathology-Audiology, University of Oregon, Eugene 97403.
Journal of Speech and Hearing Research
|March 1, 1988
Summary
Fourth graders can understand proverbs with context, contrary to prior beliefs. Proverb comprehension skills improve through eighth grade and link to analogical reasoning abilities.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Previous research suggested proverb comprehension is largely literal before adolescence.
- Limited data exists on language development in preadolescent and adolescent years.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate fourth graders' proverb comprehension abilities.
- To examine the developmental trajectory of proverb comprehension through eighth grade.
- To explore the relationship between proverb comprehension and analogical reasoning.
Main Methods:
- A proverb comprehension task was administered to fourth graders.
- The task included contextual information and a multiple-choice format.
- Performance was correlated with a perceptual analogical reasoning task.
Main Results:
- Fourth graders demonstrated strong performance on the proverb comprehension task.
- Proverb comprehension skills showed steady improvement up to the eighth grade.
- Performance on the proverb task was significantly correlated with analogical reasoning.
Conclusions:
- Contextual information and multiple-choice formats support preadolescent proverb comprehension.
- Proverb comprehension develops throughout preadolescence and adolescence.
- Findings have implications for assessing language comprehension deficits in young individuals.