Understanding how time flies and what it means to be on cloud nine: English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners’ metaphor comprehension

Abstract

We explored the vocabulary and metaphor comprehension of learners of English as an additional language (EAL) in the first two years of UK primary school. EAL vocabulary knowledge is believed to be a crucial predictor of (reading) comprehension and educational attainment (Murphy, 2018). The vocabulary of five- to seven-year-old children with EAL was compared to that of English monolinguals (N = 80). Comprehension was assessed for both verbal (e.g., time flies) and nominal metaphors (be on cloud nine) of varying frequency. Results showed that children in year 2 (age six to seven years) had better comprehension than their younger (age five to six) peers, particularly for low-frequency metaphors. Children with EAL had weaker metaphor comprehension than their monolingual peers, particularly on a reasoning task. The results document how metaphor comprehension develops over the first critical years of schooling and indicates where learners with EAL differ from monolingual peers, thereby supporting targeted vocabulary teaching at primary schools.

Comprehension Monitoring during Reading: An Eye-tracking Study with Children Learning English as an Additional Language

“…Since EAL children's English proficiency is highly predictive of their educational success and personal well-being (Strand & Demie, 2005;Strand & Hessel, 2018;Whiteside, Gooch, & Norbury, 2017), it is important to understand these challenges. EAL learners often lag behind monolinguals in reading comprehension and this is linked to relative deficits in vocabulary size and depth, but not reading fluency (Bowyer-Crane, Fricke, Schaefer, Lervåg, & Hulme, 2017;D'Angiulli, Siegel, & Serra, 2001;Hessel & Murphy, 2019;Lesaux, Rupp, & Siegel, 2007;Spätgens & Schoonen, 2018;Spencer & Wagner, 2017;Verhoeven, 2000). There is some evidence that EAL learners are less adept at comprehension monitoring, that is, with checking and regulating their understanding when reading figurative and multi-word phrases (Burgoyne, Whiteley, & Hutchinson, 2013;Kan & Murphy, in press).…”

Effects of frequency and idiomaticity on second language reading comprehension in children with English as an additional language

“…Research on reading skills with EAL children (i.e., minority language children in English-speaking contexts) has consistently demonstrated that EAL children tend to have matched, or sometimes even superior skills in decoding, yet often have problems with reading comprehension. In other words, they have good single word reading accuracy but struggle to extract meaning from text, likely due to smaller English vocabulary (e.g., Bialystok, Luk, Peets, & Yang, 2010;Burgoyne, Kelly, Whiteley, & Spooner, 2009;Cameron, 2002;Hessel & Murphy, 2018;Hutchinson, Whiteley, Smith, & Connors, 2003;Mahon & Crutchley, 2006;Pearson, Fernandez, & Oller, 1993;Smith & Murphy, 2015).…”

“…A Language Background Questionnaire (LBQ), adapted from Beech and Keys (1997), was used to confirm language group status. This adapted LBQ has been used in a number of our studies (e.g., Hessel & Murphy, 2018;McKendry & Murphy, 2011;Smith & Murphy, 2015) and has been a reliable index of children's EAL status in the absence of administering an independent, objective measure of their home language proficiency. This would of course be the ideal but given the significant linguistic diversity in the EAL population in England, developing, finding and/or implementing tests of home language proficiency remains a serious challenge.…”

Comprehension monitoring during reading: an eye-tracking study with children learning English as an additional language (Corrected postprint)

“…Since EAL children's English proficiency is highly predictive of their educational success and personal well-being (Strand & Demie, 2005;Strand & Hessel, 2018;Whiteside, Gooch, & Norbury, 2017), it is important to understand these challenges. EAL learners often lag behind monolinguals in reading comprehension and this is linked to relative deficits in vocabulary size and depth, but not reading fluency (Bowyer-Crane, Fricke, Schaefer, Lervåg, & Hulme, 2017;D'Angiulli, Siegel, & Serra, 2001;Hessel & Murphy, 2019;Lesaux, Rupp, & Siegel, 2007;Spätgens & Schoonen, 2018;Spencer & Wagner, 2017;Verhoeven, 2000). There is some evidence that EAL learners are less adept at comprehension monitoring, that is, with checking and regulating their understanding when reading figurative and multi-word phrases (Burgoyne, Whiteley, & Hutchinson, 2013;Kan & Murphy, in press).…”