Children's Interpretation and Appreciation of Similes

Abstract

MALGADY, ROBERT G. Children's Interpretation and Appreciation of Similes. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 1734-1738. Recent studies suggest that the skills necessary to use and understand nonliteral meaning may emerge earlier in the course of a child's cognitive development than previously supposed, but the ability to appreciate figurative language is tied to increased cognitive sophistication. In the present study, 30 males and 30 females ranging in age from 5 to 12 interpreted similes and then indicated their preference for each simile as a figure of speech. Results replicated previous findings. Kindergarten children were able to interpret figurative language; interpretive skill increased with age; but appreciation of figurative meaning appeared to require formal operational thinking. Children's figurative language capacity was correlated with verbal creativity, verbal IQ, reading comprehension, and academic performance ratings. Figurative language skills were most closely related to other measures of intellectual functioning during early adolescence.

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