Qualls Constance Dean, O'Brien Rose M, Blood Gordon W, Hammer Carol Scheffner
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2003 Jan 1;34(1):69-79. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461(2003/007).
The paucity of data on idiom development in adolescents, particularly rural adolescents, limits the ability of speech-language pathologists and educators to test and teach idioms appropriately in this population. This study was designed to delineate the interrelationships between context, familiarity, and academic literacy relative to rural adolescents' idiom knowledge.
Ninety-five rural eighth graders (M age=13.4 years) were quasi-randomly assigned to complete the Idiom Comprehension Test (Qualls & Harris, 1999) in one of three contexts: idioms in a short story (n=25), idioms in isolation (n=32), and idioms in a verification task (n=38). For all conditions, the identical 24 idioms-8 each of high, moderate, and low familiarity (Nippold & Rudzinski, 1993)-were presented. For a subset (N=54) of the students, reading and language arts scores from the California Achievement Tests (5th ed., 1993), a standardized achievement test, were correlated with performance on the idiom test.
Performance in the story condition and on high-familiarity idioms showed the greatest accuracy. For the isolation and verification conditions, context interacted with familiarity. Associations existed between idiom performance and reading ability and idiom performance and language literacy, but only for the story and verification conditions. High-proficiency readers showed the greatest idiom accuracy.
The results support the notion that context facilitates idiom comprehension for rural adolescents, and that idiom testing should consider not only context, but idiom familiarity as well. Thus, local norms should be established. Findings also confirm that good readers are better at comprehending idioms, likely resulting from enriched vocabulary obtained through reading. These normative data indicate what might be expected when testing idiom knowledge in adolescents with language impairments.
关于青少年，尤其是农村青少年习语发展的数据匮乏，这限制了言语语言病理学家和教育工作者在这一人群中适当测试和教授习语的能力。本研究旨在描绘与农村青少年习语知识相关的语境、熟悉度和学术素养之间的相互关系。
95名农村八年级学生（平均年龄 = 13.4岁）被准随机分配在三种语境之一中完成习语理解测试（Qualls & Harris，1999）：短篇小说中的习语（n = 25）、孤立呈现的习语（n = 32）以及验证任务中的习语（n = 38）。在所有条件下，呈现相同的24个习语——高、中、低熟悉度的习语各8个（Nippold & Rudzinski，1993）。对于一部分学生（N = 54），将标准化成就测试《加利福尼亚成就测试》（第5版，1993）中的阅读和语言艺术分数与习语测试成绩进行关联。
故事语境和高熟悉度习语的表现准确性最高。在孤立呈现和验证条件下，语境与熟悉度存在交互作用。习语表现与阅读能力以及习语表现与语言素养之间存在关联，但仅在故事和验证条件下如此。高阅读水平的读者习语准确性最高。
结果支持这样的观点，即语境有助于农村青少年理解习语，并且习语测试不仅应考虑语境，还应考虑习语熟悉度。因此，应建立本地常模。研究结果还证实，优秀的读者更擅长理解习语，这可能是由于通过阅读获得了丰富的词汇。这些常模数据表明在测试有语言障碍的青少年的习语知识时可能会出现的情况。
