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To get hold of the wrong end of the stick: reasons for poor idiom understanding in children with reading comprehension difficulties.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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To get hold of the wrong end of the stick: reasons for poor idiom understanding in children with reading comprehension difficulties. / Cain, Kate; Towse, Andrea S.
In: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, Vol. 51, No. 6, 12.2008, p. 1538-1549.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Cain, K & Towse, AS 2008, 'To get hold of the wrong end of the stick: reasons for poor idiom understanding in children with reading comprehension difficulties.', Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, vol. 51, no. 6, pp. 1538-1549. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2008/07-0269)

APA

Cain, K., & Towse, A. S. (2008). To get hold of the wrong end of the stick: reasons for poor idiom understanding in children with reading comprehension difficulties. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51(6), 1538-1549. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2008/07-0269)

Vancouver

Cain K, Towse AS. To get hold of the wrong end of the stick: reasons for poor idiom understanding in children with reading comprehension difficulties. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 2008 Dec;51(6):1538-1549. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2008/07-0269)

Author

Cain, Kate ; Towse, Andrea S. / To get hold of the wrong end of the stick : reasons for poor idiom understanding in children with reading comprehension difficulties. In: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 2008 ; Vol. 51, No. 6. pp. 1538-1549.

Bibtex

@article{0043d0a2f246423ea521838aa576a3c2,
title = "To get hold of the wrong end of the stick: reasons for poor idiom understanding in children with reading comprehension difficulties.",
abstract = "Purpose: The aim was to identify the source of idiom understanding difficulties in children with specific reading comprehension failure. Method: Two groups (Ns=15) of 9- to 10-year-olds participated. One group had age-appropriate word reading and reading comprehension; the other had age-appropriate word reading, but poor reading comprehension. Each child completed an independent assessment of semantic analysis skills and two multiple-choice assessments of idiom comprehension. In one, idiomatic phrases were embedded in supportive story contexts; in the other they were presented out of context. Performance on transparent idioms, which are amenable to interpretation by semantic analysis, and opaque idioms, which can only be interpreted by inference from context if the meaning is not known, was compared. Results: The groups demonstrated comparable semantic analysis skills and understanding of transparent idioms. Children with poor comprehension were impaired in the use of supportive context to aid their understanding of the opaque idioms. Conclusions: The study identifies poor inference from context as a source of the idiom understanding difficulties in children with poor reading comprehension; there was no evidence that poor semantic analysis skills contributed to their difficulties. Children with poor comprehension should be supported in the use of context to understand unfamiliar figurative language.",
keywords = "idioms, children, poor comprehension, inference, semantic analysis",
author = "Kate Cain and Towse, {Andrea S.}",
year = "2008",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1044/1092-4388(2008/07-0269)",
language = "English",
volume = "51",
pages = "1538--1549",
journal = "Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research",
issn = "1092-4388",
publisher = "American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)",
number = "6",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - To get hold of the wrong end of the stick

T2 - reasons for poor idiom understanding in children with reading comprehension difficulties.

AU - Cain, Kate

AU - Towse, Andrea S.

PY - 2008/12

Y1 - 2008/12

N2 - Purpose: The aim was to identify the source of idiom understanding difficulties in children with specific reading comprehension failure. Method: Two groups (Ns=15) of 9- to 10-year-olds participated. One group had age-appropriate word reading and reading comprehension; the other had age-appropriate word reading, but poor reading comprehension. Each child completed an independent assessment of semantic analysis skills and two multiple-choice assessments of idiom comprehension. In one, idiomatic phrases were embedded in supportive story contexts; in the other they were presented out of context. Performance on transparent idioms, which are amenable to interpretation by semantic analysis, and opaque idioms, which can only be interpreted by inference from context if the meaning is not known, was compared. Results: The groups demonstrated comparable semantic analysis skills and understanding of transparent idioms. Children with poor comprehension were impaired in the use of supportive context to aid their understanding of the opaque idioms. Conclusions: The study identifies poor inference from context as a source of the idiom understanding difficulties in children with poor reading comprehension; there was no evidence that poor semantic analysis skills contributed to their difficulties. Children with poor comprehension should be supported in the use of context to understand unfamiliar figurative language.

AB - Purpose: The aim was to identify the source of idiom understanding difficulties in children with specific reading comprehension failure. Method: Two groups (Ns=15) of 9- to 10-year-olds participated. One group had age-appropriate word reading and reading comprehension; the other had age-appropriate word reading, but poor reading comprehension. Each child completed an independent assessment of semantic analysis skills and two multiple-choice assessments of idiom comprehension. In one, idiomatic phrases were embedded in supportive story contexts; in the other they were presented out of context. Performance on transparent idioms, which are amenable to interpretation by semantic analysis, and opaque idioms, which can only be interpreted by inference from context if the meaning is not known, was compared. Results: The groups demonstrated comparable semantic analysis skills and understanding of transparent idioms. Children with poor comprehension were impaired in the use of supportive context to aid their understanding of the opaque idioms. Conclusions: The study identifies poor inference from context as a source of the idiom understanding difficulties in children with poor reading comprehension; there was no evidence that poor semantic analysis skills contributed to their difficulties. Children with poor comprehension should be supported in the use of context to understand unfamiliar figurative language.

KW - idioms

KW - children

KW - poor comprehension

KW - inference

KW - semantic analysis

U2 - 10.1044/1092-4388(2008/07-0269)

DO - 10.1044/1092-4388(2008/07-0269)

M3 - Journal article

VL - 51

SP - 1538

EP - 1549

JO - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

JF - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

SN - 1092-4388

IS - 6

ER -