A metaphorical advantage for bilingual children? Understanding figurative meaning by L2 and L3 EFL learners.
J Child Lang
; 51(2): 339-358, 2024 Mar.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36814400
ABSTRACT
This study compared school-aged monolingual and bilingual English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners in terms of understanding metaphors on recall, multiple-choice, and reasoning tasks. It also examined the relationship between cognitive capacity and understanding metaphors on different measures. A hundred and thirty Persian-Turkish early bilinguals and 122 monolingual Persian-speaking EFL learners took three different tests of metaphor comprehension and the Figural Intersections Test, a test of cognitive capacity. Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in terms of cognitive capacity and understanding metaphors on two of the tasks, though with a small effect size. Furthermore, there was a significant positive relationship between cognitive capacity and the scores on the multiple-choice and reasoning tests, but not the recall test. Results suggest that bilingual L3 learners have an edge in understanding metaphors, reflecting a cognitive advantage.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Metáfora
/
Multilinguismo
Limite:
Child
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article