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The Comprehension Of Metaphor By Preschool Children: Implications For A Theory Of Lexicon, Barbara Pearson
The Comprehension Of Metaphor By Preschool Children: Implications For A Theory Of Lexicon, Barbara Pearson
Barbara Zurer Pearson
Comprehension of metaphor in preschoolers was studied through an elicited repetition task. Subjects were 52 children ages 3;0 to 5;2. Repetition performance on metaphors was compared to repetitions of semantically well-formed literal sentences as well as semantically anomalous sentences, all matched for length, vocabulary and sentence structure. Accuracy on literal and metaphoric stimuli were comparable and both were significantly better than performance on anomalous sentences. There were no effects for age or sex. It was shown that the metaphors were not semantically anomalous to the children and that they were processed on a par with literal language. The argument is …
Dialect-Neutral Indices Of Narrative Cohesion And Evaluation, Frances Burns, Peter A. De Villiers, Barbara Zurer Pearson, Tempii Champion
Dialect-Neutral Indices Of Narrative Cohesion And Evaluation, Frances Burns, Peter A. De Villiers, Barbara Zurer Pearson, Tempii Champion
Barbara Zurer Pearson
Purpose: This study compares the development of essential elements of narrative skill in children from African American English (AAE)- and general American English (GAE)-speaking communities using an innovative elicitation and evaluation paradigm. The measures include: 1) reference contrasting, 2) temporal expressions, 3) mental state descriptions, and 4) understanding of behavior based on false belief. Method: Participants were 291 AAE speakers and 238 GAE speakers, 4 to 9 years of age. Approximately one-third of both dialect groups were identified as language impaired. Children generated two stories based on short picture sequences. Their stories were coded for the four key indices of …