Figurative Language: Deceitful Mirage or Sparkling Oasis for Reading?

• Published in: Language arts Vol. 53; no. 7; pp. 758 - 775
• Main Author: Turner, Thomas N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Urbana, Ill National Council of Teachers of English 01-10-1976
• Subjects: Children; Figurative language; Figures of speech; Horses; Language; Language comprehension; Mirages; Poetry; Reading materials; Slang; Theme: Language
• ISSN: 0360-9170; 1943-2402

Although children have considerable oral experience with figurative lang, they have difficulty with figurative language in reading materials. Three major reasons for this are: (1) understanding figurative lang requires more complex thinking than is needed for literal comprehension, (2) children are inexperienced with the abstractions involved, & (3) the figures of speech encountered in reading are usually different from those encountered in oral communication. Understanding figurative language is vital to achieving successful reading comprehension. Teachers need to draw special attention to figurative language to develop pupil awareness. Techniques for teacher use include: having children collect samples, playing nickname games, creating metaphors & similes, discussing proverbs, & examining poetry. J. Atkinson