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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

THE VERBAL UNDERSTANDING OF PROVERBS

BY SIXTH GRADE PUPILS

by

DIANA KATHLEEN ORTON

A THESIS

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE

OF MASTER OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

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EDMONTON, ALBERTA

APRIL, 1966

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UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

The undersigned certify that they have read, and recommend

to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis

entitled, "The Verbal Understanding of Proverbs by Sixth Grade

Pupils," submitted by Diana Kathleen Orton in partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education.

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the ability of sixth grade pupils to

interpret proverbial statements presented on four different proverbs

tests.

Subjects were enrolled in six elementary schools in the city of

Edmonton. One sixth grade class from each school was used, and all

the students in these six classes constituted the total sample. On

the bases of intelligence and sex, a stratified random sample was

chosen for the purpose of examining pupil responses to different types

of tests. The random sample was divided into three groups: Group A,

Group B, and Group C, each containing an equal representation of males

and females and an equal representation of high, average, and low intel¬

ligence .

A group multiple-choice test, Test I, was given to the total sample

Test II, an oral multi pie -choice test, was administered individually to

Group A, and Test III, a written subjective test, was administered as

a group test to Group B. The members of Group C were given Test IV, an

oral subjective test.

The pupils' interpretations of the proverbs on each test were con¬

sidered in terms of their degree of abstractness or concreteness. The

two multi pie -choice tests had one response which was considered the best

abstract interpretation of a proverb, one which was the best concrete

interpretation, and two which were unrelated responses. The abstractnes

or concreteness of the interpretations on the two subjective tests was

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determined according to a five-point scale, ranging from four points

for an abstract response to zero points for an unrelated response. For

each test a student received an abstract subscore, a concrete subscore,

and a total score, which consisted of the abstract and concrete sub¬

scores combined.

A statistical analysis of the abstractness and concreteness of

the children's interpretations of proverbs revealed a significant dif¬

ference. The children were able to interpret more proverbs abstractly

than concretely on all four proverbs tests.

The t-values and mean scores computed for those children who

took both the group test. Test I, and an oral or written test indicated

that the children had difficulty making both written and oral explana¬

tions of proverbs. Furthermore, these t-values demonstrated that there

was a difference between children's ability to select abstract inter¬

pretations from multiple-choice answers and their ability to provide

their own original interpretations. Test means showed that the pupils

found proverbial interpretation easier on objective tests than on

subjective tests.

Differences in intellectual ability and proverb interpretation

were not significant. There appeared to be no direct relationship

between intelligence and ability to interpret proverbs. Sex difference

in proverbial interpretation were nonexistent, except on the group

multiple-choice test, Test I, on which the girls scored significantly

better than the boys.

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Because of the scarcity of studies dealing with proverb inter¬

pretation by elementary grade children it was suggested that similar

studies be conducted, using chronological age and socio-economic

background as additional variables. In order to determine the grade

level at which concrete interpretation begins to change to abstract

interpretation it was also recommended that a study similar to this

one be extended to include fourth and fifth grade pupils as well as

sixth grade pupils.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express ray sincerest gratitude to

Dr. Marion D. Jenkinson for her continual aid and encouragement in

the completion of this thesis. I would also like to express my

thanks to Professor Dorothy M. Lampard, Dr. W. B. Dockrell, and

Professor N. Purvis, the other members of my committee for their

helpful suggestions and recommendations. I am especially grateful

to my Mother, who provided extra encouragement when I needed it most.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE PROBLEM. 1

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM . 3

DEFINITION OF TERMS. 3

HYPOTHESES . 4

PLAN OF THE RESEARCH. 5

II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE. 7

MULTIPLE AND IMPLIED WORD MEANINGS . 7

CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT WORD MEANINGS . 9

INTERPRETATION OF PROVERBS BY ADULTS . 13

INTERPRETATION OF PROVERBS BY CHILDREN . 15

SUMMARY. 18

III. THE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN. 19

SAMPLE. 19

THE TESTING INSTRUMENTS . 20

CONSTRUCTION OF THE TESTS. 21

ADMINISTRATION OF THE TESTS. 22

SCORING OF THE TESTS. 23

THE PILOT STUDY. 25

TREATMENT OF THE DATA. 26

IV. SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS. 28

DIFFERENCES IN ABSTRACTNESS AND CONCRETENESS

OF PROVERBIAL INTERPRETATIONS . 28

ABSTRACTNESS AND CONCRETENESS OF GROUP RESPONSES 29

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DIFFERENCES IN ORAL AND WRITTEN INTERPRETATIONS

OF PROVERBS. 35

DIFFERENCES IN OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE

INTERPRETATIONS OF PROVERBS . 47

INTELLIGENCE AND INTERPRETATION OF PROVERBS . 52

SEX DIFFERENCES IN INTERPRETATION OF PROVERBS . 56

SUMMARY. 63

V. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . 65

CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY. 65

LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY. 68

IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY. 70

BIBLIOGRAPHY . 72

APPENDIX 74

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE PAGE

I. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE SUBSCORES

OF GROUP RESPONSES ON TESTS I - IV. 30

II. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE SUBSCORES

OF BOYS' RESPONSES AND OF GIRLS' RESPONSES ON

TESTS I - IV. 33

III. ORAL AND WRITTEN TESTS: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TOTAL

SCORES ON TESTS I AND II, TESTS I AND III, AND

TESTS I AND IV. 37

IV. ORAL AND WRITTEN TESTS: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ABSTRACT

SUBSCORES ON TESTS I AND II, TESTS I AND III, AND

TESTS I AND IV. 41

V. ORAL AND WRITTEN TESTS: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONCRETE

SUBSCORES ON TESTS I AND II, TESTS I AND III, AND

TESTS I AND IV. 44

VI. OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE TESTS: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN

TOTAL SCORES, ABSTRACT SUBSCORES, AND CONCRETE

SUBSCORES OF GROUP C ON TESTS I AND IV. 49

VII. OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE TESTS: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN

TOTAL SCORES, ABSTRACT SUBSCORES, AND CONCRETE

SUBSCORES ON GROUP C ON TESTS I AND IV. 51

VIII. DIFFERENCES IN ABILITY OF BOYS AND GIRLS OF SIMILAR

INTELLIGENCE TO INTERPRET PROVERBS . 53

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IX. DIFFERENCES IN INTERPRETATION OF PROVERBS BY BOYS

OF DIFFERING INTELLECTUAL ABILITY AND BY GIRLS

OF DIFFERING INTELLECTUAL ABILITY . 55

X. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEANS OF TOTAL SCORES OF BOYS

AND GIRLS ON TESTS I - IV. 57

XI. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEANS OF ABSTRACT SUBSCORES OF

BOYS AND GIRLS ON TESTS I - IV. 60

XII. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEANS OF CONCRETE SUBSCORES OF

BOYS AND GIRLS ON TESTS I - IV. 62

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CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM

One of the critical obstacles confronting the developing reader

as he progresses toward maturity in reading comprehension is mastery of

the techniques for interpreting figures of speech and other non-literal

expressions, such as proverbs. Lack of facility in understanding these

expressions frequently may impede interpretations on all levels of

reading. Usually, it is the verbal concepts formed from words, rather

than the words in isolation, which present difficult in interpretation.

In order to interpret these verbal concepts a child must be able to

make and apply generalizations.

There are varying opinions with regard to children's ability to

make and apply generalizations. Many authorities affirm that the young

child tends to perceive words as concrete ideas and does not generalize.

They conclude that instruction which demands this ability would be futile

for children in the elementary (grades four to six) and primary grades

1 2 (grades one to three). Investigations by Watts and Piaget gave authorata-

tive support to this conclusion. Those who advocate this view suggest

control of abstract concepts in textbooks similar to that exercised over

the vocabulary burden of textbooks.

^A. F. Watts, The Language and Mental Development of Children

(Toronto: George G. Harrap and Co., Ltd., 1944). Chapter X.

2 Jean Piaget, The Language and Thought of the Child (New York:

Harcourt and Brace, Co., 1926). 240.

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On the other hand, there are others who warn against over¬

simplification, triviality, and meagreness in children's reading matter.

They maintain that children show evidence of the capacity to generalize

3 from early childhood. Russell criticized the overstressing of the

importance of stages in thinking. He was especially critical of making

a rather distinct break at 11 years, this being a break in prelogical

4 thinking versus reasoning. Both Russell and Dewey asserted that the

young child possessed the ability to generalize from the concrete to

the abstract as well as an adolescent or adult, even though a child and

an adult do not arrive at the same generalities.

Interpretation of proverbs and other figurative expressions depends

a great deal upon an individual's ability to understand and generalize

about his culture, since proverbs originate largely from cultural and

linguistic influences. If children really do possess the capacity to

generalize, as Russell and Dewey have stated, then instruction in

generalizing from the concrete to the abstract should be given in order

to alleviate some of the difficulties that young readers have in inter¬

preting verbal concepts formed from proverbs and other figurative expres¬

sions .

3 David H. Russell, Children's Thinking (Toronto:

1956). Chapter V.

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4 John Dewey, How We Think (Boston: Heath and Company, 1910).

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The children of today are often characterized as being more

"sophisticated" than those of ten or fifteen years ago. This

characteristic can be attributed partly to the variety and the quality

of the educational and cultural opportunities which today's youngsters

have and partly to the more advanced language development which grows

out of these opportunities. If this trait of sophistication is actually

present, it seems probable that one of the areas in which it would be

reflected is that of children's interpretative ability of written and

oral proverbs. This sophistication should allow them to discriminate,

abstract, and generalize about proverbs at an earlier level than did

the children of fifteen years ago. However, there is no evidence for

this assumption because no recent study of children's interpretation of

proverbs could be found. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to

investigate sixth grade pupils' ability to interpret oral and written

proverbial statements.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

For the purposes of this study the following definitions will apply.

Proverb. A non-literal expression which conveys a piece of

practical wisdom and which has been passed down through the ages will

be referred to as a proverb.

Proverbial Statement. This term will be used synonymously with

the term "proverb".

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Abstract Response. A response will be considered abstract if it

represents a conversion of the symbols of a proverb into an abstraction.

Concrete Response. A response will be considered concrete if it

represents a strictly literal interpretation of the symbols of a

proverb.

Abstract Subscore. This term will refer to the score obtained

by totalling those responses which represent a conversion of the literal

interpretation of a proverb into an abstraction.

Concrete Subscore. This term will refer to the score obtained by

totalling those responses which represent a strictly literal interpreta¬

tion of a proverb and which appear to stem from concrete experiences.

Subjective Response. A response will be considered subjective if

it appears to be existing only as conceived in a child's own mind.

Objective Response. A response will be considered objective if

it is chosen from the answers provided on a multiple-choice test.

Intelligence. This term will refer to the raw scores obtained by

the children in this study on a standardized intelligence test with no

adjustment made for the differences in the chronological ages of the

children.

HYPOTHESES

The following hypotheses will be tested in this study.

1. There is no significant difference in children's ability to

provide abstract rather than concrete interpretations of proverbs.

2. There is no significant difference between children's oral

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and written explanations of proverbs.

3. There is no significant difference between the abstractness

and concreteness of children's subjective and objective responses to

proverbs.

4. There is no significant difference between children of high,

average, and low intelligence in their ability to interpret proverbs.

5. There is no significant difference between the test scores

of males and females in their ability to interpret proverbs.

PLAN OF THE RESEARCH

In this study an attempt will be made to investigate sixth grade

pupils' ability to interpret abstract oral and written expressions as

represented by proverbial statements. Differences in ability to inter¬

pret abstract rather than concrete meanings of words, differences in

ability to explain word meanings in oral and written language, and

differences in ability to provide subjective and objective interpreta¬

tions of words will be considered.

It is proposed to conduct the investigation in six elementary

schools located in Edmonton. One sixth grade class from each school

will be used for the study. All the pupils in these six classes will

comprise the total sample. From this total sample, a random sample

of seventy-two pupils will be selected on the bases of intelligence

and sex. The random sample will be divided into three equal groups:

Group A, Group B, and Group C. Each group will contain an equal

.

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representation of males and females and each will have an equal repre¬

sentation of children with high, average, and low intelligence.

The four tests to be used in this study are adaptations from

three different sources. Test I, a silent reading multiple-choice test,

will be given as a group test to the total sample. Test II, an oral

multiple-choice test, will be administered individually to the members

in Group A of the random sample. The members of Group B will be given

Test III, a written subjective test. Test IV, an oral subjective test,

will be administered individually to the individuals in Group C.

The results of the tests will be collected, organized and scored

by the investigator. The two subjective tests will also be scored by

two judges in order to determine if any bias of the investigator has

influenced the scoring. All the test results will be subjected to

statistical treatment and then analyzed by the investigator.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Systematic directed instruction is needed to attain the types of

"higher literacy" reading skills demanded in the various interpreta¬

tions of our language. "Higher literacy" skills in reading refer to

"a level of verbal development in which a virtual dialogue can transpire

between reader and author because the reader has maximum facility in

comprehending the author's purpose, mood, and ideas.One of the

qualities needed to reach a level of mature and sophisticated verbal

development is flexibility in the interpretation of figurative

expressions, i.e., figures of speech, proverbs, idioms, etc. This

quality is necessary because many of our writings cannot be understood

unless the individual brings to them a background of experience and

knowledge in dealing with this type of interpretation. But, despite

the importance of this type of interpretative skill, there is a paucity

of research dealing either directly or indirectly with it.

MULTIPLE AND IMPLIED WORD MEANINGS

More than ten years ago Knipp predicted, "eventually publishers

or authors may supply lists of words with their varying meanings on

their respective pages as they now furnish lists of new terms in each

^Eunice S. Newton, "Figurative Language: An Achilles Heel in

Reading Comprehension," Journal of Reading, VIII (October, 1964) 66.

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book." This prediction was based on research which she carried out

with elementary pupils in order to investigate their understanding of

language concepts. Children's responses on matching and completion-

type tests showed that they (1) do not comprehend general terms they

meet in textbooks; (2) cannot write their own definitions as easily

as they can match definitions given; (3) do not understand shifts in

meaning, especially in figurative language; (4) need broader knowledge

of words in all phases of study; and (5) need different types of tests

to test understandings of semantic variations.

3 Watts tested a large number of children with forty questions

about common words. For each question, three sentences containing the

same word were provided. In each sentence the word had a different

connotation. The children were asked to mark the sentence in which the

word had been used with its first, literal, original, and proper meaning.

The aim of the test was to discover what general factors influenced

children in making their judgments. The results demonstrated that what

children understood by the first, proper, original, or literal meaning

of a word was the most familiar or commonest use of it. Furthermore,

when children were uncertain they tended to associate the literal with

the concrete.

2 Helen B. Knipp, "The Development of Thinking and of Concepts,"

Elementary English, XXVIII (April, 1951), 297.

3 A. F. Watts, The Language and Mental Development of Children

(Toronto: George G. Harrap and Co., Ltd., 1944), 199.

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CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT WORD MEANINGS

Several studies have pointed out the difficulties which children

have in interpeting the abstract meanings of figurative language.

In an effort to determine the extent to which children understood

figurative language which occurred in elementary history textbooks, Flaua/

tested 30 fourth, 33 fifth, and 31 sixth grade pupils. The investigator

chose test items which he felt elementary grade pupils would be unlikely

to comprehend. These items or figures of speech were presented in con¬

text and followed by five multiple-choice sentences, one of which gave

the correct interpretation. Personal interviews were held after the

written test in order to judge each pupil's understanding of the items

he missed. The results of the combined grades were: 59.5 per cent

accuracy in understanding of similes, 66.2 per cent accuracy in under¬

standing of personification, and 75.5 per cent accuracy in understanding

of metaphors. An increase in written test scores was noticeable at each

ascending grade level. The fourth grade students showed the greatest

increase of understandings in the interview over the written test. The

sixth grade pupils showed the least. Flaum concluded that the groups,

as a whole, did not have a high degree of understanding of the figures of

speech on which they were tested.

Comprehension of figurative language encountered in basal readers

4 Lawrence S. Flaum. "A Study of the Understanding Which Fourth,

Fifth, and Sixth Grade Pupils in the Elementary School of Crawfrod,

Nebraska, Have for Figures of Speech Which Appear in Basic History

Textbooks Used in Each of Those Grades," (Colorado State College of

Education, Greeley, Colorado, Division of Education, August, 1945).

Field Study Number 1.

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and geography textbooks was measured by Homes. Twenty-six fifth grade

children were tested individually by personal interview over 140 fig¬

urative expressions. These expressions were used in a series of tests

which were administered over a period of seven months. Some of the

conclusions mentioned by Holmes were: (1) students develop different

understandings of the same term even in the same class and under the

same teacher; (2) students understand figurative expressions in basal

readers better than those found in geography texts; and (3) students

possess a great number of misconceptions of figurative language.

Looby tried to discover the extent to which children understood

certain figurative and non-figurative words and phrases in literature.

Seventy-seven sixth grade children were tested on the interpretation

of a reading selection. The children received no specific instruction

on the verbal concepts which the selection contained. From her study

Looby concluded that children appear to infer meaning from context,

although such inferences are often incorrect. Moreover, the pupils

seemed to be unconscious of their inaccuracies. She further concluded

that concepts, which could be easily understood, may have their meanings

obscured by odd or unfamiliar wording or phrasing (e.g., figurative

language) used in certain literary selections contained in readers.

Elizabeth Ann Holmes, "Children's Knowledge of Figurative

Language," (unpublished Master's thesis. The University of Oklahoma,

Norman, 1959).

£

Ruth Looby, "Understandings Children Derive from Their Reading,"

Elementary English Review, XVI (February, 1939), 58-62.

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As a result, Looby felt that certain selections included in readers

are too difficult for sixth grade pupils to comprehend fully.

In an early study (1926) Ayer^ pointed out the difficulties of

some figurative concepts by employing thirty-five paragraphs taken

from several fifth grade history books. These selections were given

to 77 fifth grade and 64 seventh grade pupils in a controlled test

situation. The pupils were asked to paraphrase the paragraphs. The

fifth grade pupils paraphrased 23 per cent correctly and the seventh

grade, 32.7 per cent. In analyzing the responses which were one hundred

per cent incorrect, Ayer found that in 43 per cent of the cases the

pupils apparently made use of cues. Cheerful or depressing language

tended to furnish wrong cues as did other elements within the paragraphs.

A study which has contributed a great deal to the understanding

of elementary children's ability to interpret figurative language was

g conducted by Groesbeck in 1961. She measured the ability of third,

fourth, and fifth grade pupils to transfer skills of interpretation of

figurative language which had been deliberately taught in a number of

training lessons. She also determined the nature and extent of figura¬

tive language occurring in textbooks comprising two series of third,

fourth, and fifth grade readers and one series of third, fourth, and

^Adelaide M. Ayer, Some Difficulties in Elementary School History

(New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1926), 35-42.

g Hulda G. Groesbeck, "The Comprehension of Figurative Language

by Elementary Children: A Study in Transfer," (unpublished Doctoral

Dissertation, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, 1961).

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fifth grade social studies textbooks.

Pre-tests were administered to all third, fourth, and fifth

grade pupils used in the study in order to determine their initial

status in the following variables: reading level, vocabulary level,

mental ability, and knowledge of figurative language. During a five

week period the experimental groups were given instruction twice

weekly in the interpretation of figurative language. Four weeks after

the completion of these lessons, post-tests on the interpretation of

figurative language were administered to the control and experimental

groups. The tests consisted of figurative expressions taken from

basal readers and social studies textbooks used by the children in this

experiment. The purpose of the post-tests was to measure the applica¬

tion by the experimental groups of skills and attitudes acquired in

their training to the interpretation of other figurative expressions.

The results showed that pupils who received training made highly

significant gains over the control groups on the post-test scores.

Children who had not received training showed a pattern of achievement

on the post-test in figurative language commensurate with their per¬

formance on the pre-experimental tests.

Groesbeck concluded that her study presented evidence that third,

fourth, and fifth grade pupils have the ability to profit from training

in the comprehension of figurative language. She based her conclusion

on the fact that the figurative expressions presented during the training

sessions were used only to illustrate rules and principles of inter¬

pretation and were not included in the post-tests for which measurements

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of comparison were obtained. Furthermore, she suggested that the

significant difference between the post-test scores of the control and

experimental groups seemed to provide strong support for the conclusions

of some researchers that elementary children have the ability to genera¬

lize from the concrete to the abstract and to apply these generalizations

to later learning.

It is interesting and disturbing to note that, as early as 1926,

investigators were pointing out children's misconceptions of figurative

expressions and that most of the studies between 1926 and 1961 were

basically repetitions and verifications of Ayer's study. Not until

Groesbeck's study was there any apparent effort to discover if children

could understand figurative concepts when they were given instruction

in this type of interpetation. The results of Groesbeck's study

showed that children who received training in figurative language

interpretation were capable of transferring this interpretative ability.

This finding indicates that children have been, for years, unnecessarily

confused by figurative concepts that could have possibly been clarified

by instruction in their interpretation.

INTERPRETATION OF PROVERBS BY ADULTS

Research in the area of proverb interpretation by adults indicates

that proverbs have been generally used as a tool for evaluating the

mental processes of adults.

The beginning of proverb studies occurred in 1906 when a German,

Finckh, published his research concerning the use of proverbs in the

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14

intelligence testing of adults. In a 1907 article dealing with the

problem of studying the thinking process Buhler pointed out the value

of proverbs, stating that they were interesting as well as demanding

of all one's psychic energy. In 1920, Achilles used familiar and un¬

familiar proverbs in memory studies. However, Benjamin's list of pro¬

verbs, which was published in 1942, provided the real impetus to the

9 pse of proverbs in psychiatric evaluation.

Since 1942 many psychiatrists have developed their own lists of

proverbs as a means of gathering data on the intellectual functioning

of their patients. But, it was not until 1956 that these psychiatrists

could accurately interpret a person's performance on the proverbs for

the lists lacked objective methods of scoring, parallel forms of equal

difficulty, and normative data on a standard population. In 1956

Gorham^ reported on a test which he had developed to meet these de¬

ficiencies.

9 Donald R. Gorham, "Verbal Abstraction in Psychiatric Illness:

Assay of Impairment Utilizing Proverbs," A Paper Presented at the 16th

International Congress of Psychology (Bonn, Germany, August, 1960), 1-2,

citing J. Finckh, "Zur Frage Der Intelligenzprufung," Zentralblatt fur

Nerveheifkunde, XVII (1906), 945-957; Karl Buhler, "Tatsachen und Probleme

zu Einer Psych logie der Denkvorgange," Archives of Gestalt Psychology; IX

(1907), 297-365; E. M. Achilles, "Experimental Studies in Recall and

Recognition," Archives of Psychology, XLIV (1920), 1-80; J. D. Benjamin,

"A Method for Distinguishing and Evaluating Formal Thinking Disorders in

Schizophrenia," Language and Thought in Schizophrenia, J. S. Kasanin, Editor,

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1944), 65-90.

■^Donald R. Gorham, "A Proverbs Test for Clinical and Experimental

Use," Psychological Reports Monograph Supplement, No. 1 (1956), 1-12.

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Gorham's Proverbs Test consisted of three parallel forms of a

clinical test with an objective method of scoring, including norms

for normals and schizophrenics. Each of the parallel forms contained

twelve proverbs arranged in order of difficulty. The subjects were to

write out the meanings of the proverbs. An abstract score on these

forms of the test was secured by rating answers according to a sample

series of answers provided for each proverb.

A multiple-choice form of Gorham's test made group administra¬

tion possible. This form consisted of forty proverbs. Each proverb

was followed by four answers. The subjects were to choose the answer

which best explained what the proverb meant. An abstract score was

composed of the total number of abstract responses. A concrete score

consisted of the number of items chosen from eighteen concrete answers.

The results of Gorham's test demonstrated that either form of

the test, the subjective written form or the objective multiple-choice

form, would differentiate a normal and chronic schizophrenic population

at a high level of statistical significance.

INTERPRETATION OF PROVERBS BY CHILDREN

In the specific area of proverbial interpretation by elementary

grade children little research has been carried out.

One study which dealt with a developmental analysis of proverb

interpretation used sixty-four children from 7 to 12 years of age.

The children were asked to give the meanings of seven proverbs. The

same proverbs were also presented to thirty adults between the ages

of 14 and 67 years. Part of the purpose of this study by Richardson

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and Church was to clarify shifts in cognitive functioning that take

place in the course of human development.

The results of the investigation demonstrated that very few

children gave correct meanings for the proverbs. The younger children

tended not to define but rather to describe a particular, such as "It

means that the cloud's dark" for "Every cloud has a silver lining."

There were significant improvements with age along all dimensions of

the study except the one termed "Physiognomic-articulated". This term

referred to interpretations in which meanings were dominated by a

single word or tone or by concepts clearly alien to the terms of the

proverb. The children's superiority in this dimension was attributed

to the absence of metaphorical implications in their explanations. In

only two cases did children ask for clarification of a particular term.

The children were, for the most part, unaware of their faulty inter¬

pretations although many terms were unknown to them. Also, it was noted

that all concrete forms of responses found in children occurred, although

with decreased frequency, in adults.

12 Watts presented children of eleven years and upwards with 50

proverbs and idiomatic phrases. He asked the children to match each one

of the proverbs and phrases with one of four statements that followed

it. An analysis of the results of this test showed that, when in doubt,

11Claudia Richardson and Joseph Church, "A Developmental Analysis

of Proverb Interpretations," Journal of Genetic Psychology, XLIV

(June, 1959), 169-179.

12 Watts, o£. cit., 214-216.

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17

the children selected the literal meaning.

13 In 1923 Piaget referred to the use of proverbs for the study

of the development of language and thought in children. He presented

an unidentified number of proverbs to a child. Then he presented

twelve sentences expressed in a distinct and new manner the same ideas

as were expressed in the proverbs. The children, who were between the

ages of nine and eleven, were asked to read the proverbs and to find the

sentences which had the same meanings as the proverbs. The results

indicated that, in the majority of cases, the children did not under¬

stand the proverbs in the least. Nevertheless, the children thought

they had understood them and asked for no supplementary explanation of

the literal or the abstract meanings of the proverbs. Piaget reasoned

that the children's misconceptions of the proverbs were due to the

phenomena of verbal syncretism, that is, syncretism in their verbal

intelligence, and that these phenomena have a general bearing upon the

whole verbal understanding of the child, especially upon those thoughts

that are separated from immediate observation. It was his conviction

that, in daily life, the child often hears phrases, thinks he understands

them, and assimilates them in his own way, distorting them as much as he

did the proverbs. Consequently, the tendency to distort or misinterpret

proverbs is, according to Piaget, a characteristic of the verbal under¬

standing of children between the ages of nine and eleven.

13 Jean Piaget, The Language and Thought of the Child (New York:

Harcourt and Brace, Co., 1926). Chapter IV.

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SUMMARY

The studies reviewed indicate that research in interpretation

of figurative expressions has been a neglected area. Although pro¬

verbial interpretation has been employed for many years in the mental

evaluation of adults, very little experimentation has been conducted

with children's interpretations, except for the studies by Piaget and

Watts. This lack of research in proverbial interpretation by elementary

grade students points out the need for further investigation in this

area, especially in relation to the level of children's verbal under¬

standing of the abstract meanings of words.

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CHAPTER III

THE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

This chapter will discuss the method of obtaining the sample,

the construction and administration of the testing instruments, the

scoring of the test items, the pilot study, and the treatment of the

data.

SAMPLE

The population consisted of all the sixth grade students who

were attending the Edmonton Public Schools during the 1964-65 school

year. For the purposes of this experiment, the sample was selected

from six schools: Athlone, Belgravia, Crestwood, Glenora, Kensington,

and Scott Robertson. One grade six class was chosen from each school

and all of the children in each class, who were present on the first

day of testing, were used. A total of 173 pupils was contained in the

six classrooms.

A number was assigned to each of the 173 students in the sample.

With the aid of a table of random numbers a random sample of seventy-

two pupils was selected on the bases of sex and intelligence. These

seventy-two pupils were divided into three equal subgroups: Group A,

Group B, and Group C. Each subgroup contained twenty-four children:

twelve boys and twelve girls. Within each subgroup there were four

boys and four girls of high intelligence, four boys and four girls of

average intelligence, and four boys and four girls of low intelligence.

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20

Consequently, there was an equal representation of sex and intellectual

ability in each subgroup.

Originally, it had been decided by the investigator to eliminate

from the study any children who had repeated a grade. However, this

decision was abandoned when it became evident that there would not

be enough students of low intellectual ability for the subgroups if

the repeaters were eliminated.

THE TESTING INSTRUMENTS

In reviewing various tests used in previous experiments dealing

with proverbs, the published tests of Watts and Gorham were most

helpful in preparing the instruments used in this study to measure

children's verbal understanding of proverbial statements. In addition,

suggestions for suitable directions to use in the administration of the

instruments were gained from an unpublished proverbs test employed in a

study by Dr. M, D. Jenkinson of the University of Alberta. Proverbial

statements were chosen for interpretation because educators and psycholo¬

gists consider them to be excellent measures of an individual's ability

to generalize from the concrete to the abstract.

Different types of tests were used in this study in order to

determine if there would be any difference in children's responses on

objective tests and subjective tests. Also, two of the tests used were

oral, one was written, and one was multiple-choice. This arrangement

was set up to determine any difference in children's ability to interpret

what they hear, what they write, and what they read.

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21

CONSTRUCTION OF THE TESTS

Test I. This test was designed to examine children's ability to

interpret abstract material which they encounter in silent reading.

For this purpose a multiple-choice test of twenty-five proverbs was

constructed. Each proverb was followed by four responses. Each group

of four responses included one response which represented the best

abstract meaning of the proverb and one response which represented the

best concrete (or literal) meaning of the proverb. The remaining two

responses were unrelated to the interpretation of the proverb.

Test II. The purpose of this test was to gain some insight into

children's ability to interpret and explain orally abstract material

which they hear. This was a multiple-choice test composed of ten

proverbs. None of these proverbs appeared in Test I. As with Test I,

each proverb had four responses. The responses included one abstract

meaning, one concrete meaning, and two unrelated responses.

Test III. This test was constructed to examine a student's

written ability to formulate original, abstract interpretations of

proverbs when no given responses were provided. The test consisted

of the same ten proverbial statements used in Test II, but no given

responses were provided for each proverb.

Test IV. This test was constructed to examine a pupil's oral

ability to formulate original abstract interpretations of proverbs when

no given responses were provided. The same ten proverbial statements

used in Tests n and III were also employed in this test. As with

Test III, no given responses were provided for each proverb.

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22

Copies of the tests are in the Appendix.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE TESTS

The instruments used in this study consisted of the four tests

described above. Test I was a multiple-choice test of twenty-five

proverbs which was administered as a group test to all the children

in the total sample. The students read each proverb and its four

responses silently and then underlined the response which they thought

represented the best interpretation of the proverb.

Test II was an oral multiple-choice test of ten proverbs which

was administered individually to all the children in Group A. The

investigator read each proverb and its four responses to the individual

pupil. The pupil listened to the proverb and the responses and then

told the investigator which response represented the correct interpre¬

tation of the proverb and why he thought it did so.

Test III was a written subjective test of ten proverbs which was

administered by the classroom teachers as a group test to the children

in Group B. For this test pupils were required to read each proverb

silently and then to express in writing the meaning of the proverb.

Test IV was an oral subjective test of ten proverbs which was

administered individually to all the children in Group C. Each of the

proverbs was read one at a time to the student. The student asked to

explain orally what he believed the proverb meant and why he believed

this.

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During the week following the administration of Test I, the

investigator administered the two oral tests. Test II and IV, to the

children who had been randomly selected to take these tests. These

tests were given individually in a secluded room, free of interruptions.

Once the testing had begun it continued in sequence from the first

proverb through the tenth proverb. Students were allowed plenty of

time to think about their answers and were encouraged to respond when

they encountered difficulty in interpretation. The actual testing

required from ten to twenty minutes per student. Both of these tests

were taped on a tape recorded. The taped data were transcribed before

they were scored.

On the same day that the investigator administered Tests II and

IV, the classroom teachers administered Test III to the children who

had been randomly selected to take it.

SCORING OF THE TESTS

At the conclusion of the testing all the tests were hand marked.

The two multiple-choice tests, Test I and Test II, were scored in an

identical manner. If a pupil selected the response which represented

the abstract meaning of the proverb, he received two points. For

selecting the concrete meaning he received one point and for selecting

either of the two unrelated responses he received zero points. Each

pupil received an abstract subscore which was compiled by totaling

the number of points he received by selecting the abstract meanings of

the proverbs. Each pupil also received a concrete subscore which was

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24

compiled by totaling the number of points he received by selecting

the concrete meanings of the proverbs. A pupil's abstract subscore

and concrete subscore were combined to determine the pupil's total

score. Both the subscores and the total scores for these two tests

were proportioned on the base of 100 to allow for easier interpretation

of test results. The scores were proportioned by using the following

formula:

Pupil's Score 100 - X -

Number of Total x

Possible Points on Test

The scoring for the two subjective tests, Tests III and IV, was

based on a five-point scale: 4 points for an abstract response, 3 points

for a slightly abstract response, 2 points for a slightly concrete

response, 1 point for a concrete response, and 0 points for an unre¬

lated response. This scale was set up after it became evident that it

would be impossible to score the responses on these two subjective tests

in the same manner as the responses on the two objective tests, Test I

and II, were scored. Each oral or written response on the two subjective

tests was evaluated in terms of its degree of abstractness or concrete¬

ness and then assigned a value in accordance with the scale. In order

to make certain that no bias on the part of the investigator had entered

into and influenced the scoring, two judges were asked to score a sampling

of Tests III and IV. A Kendall Coefficient of Concordance was computed

to determine the agreement among the two judges and the investigator.

The degree of agreement was .864.

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As with Tests I and II, each pupil who took Test III or Test IV

received both an abstract subscore and a concrete subscore which were

combined to constitute the pupil's total score. Subscores and total

scores were proportioned on the base of 100 according to the formula

mentioned above.

THE PILOT STUDY

In April, 1965, a pilot study was conducted in order to note any

revisions in the construction, administration, or scoring of the tests

to be used in the experimental study. Six students from one sixth grade

class at Garneau Elementary School were chosen by their classroom teacher

to form the sample for the pilot study. There was an equal representa¬

tion of boys and girls as well as an equal representation of intellectual

ability: one boy and girl of high intelligence, one boy and girl of

average intelligence, and one boy and girl of low intelligence.

The test administration was identical to that planned for the

experimental study. First, Test I was given to the total sample of six

children. Next, the children were divided into three equal groups:

Group A, Group B, and Group C, according to the arbitrary decision of

the investigator. Then Test II was administered to Group A, Test III

to Group B, and Test IV to Group C.

The specific purpose of the pilot study was to gain some insight

into the effectiveness of the testing instruments and procedures.

The results indicated that, with the exception of the children of low

intellectual ability, the sixth grade pupils in the pilot study

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26

appeared capable of interpreting the abstract meanings of the proverbs

However, the results of Tests II, III, and IV pointed out that none of

these children performed as well on the oral tests as they did on the

written test or on the group multiple-choice test. Furthermore, the

degree of their interpretations seemed to be positively related to

their intelligence. Also, the results of Test I showed that, in general,

the girls were more capable than the boys in interpreting the abstract

meanings of proverbs

As a result of this pilot study, some revisions were made in the

test items and the system of scoring described earlier in the chapter

was devised for scoring the subjective tests.

TREATMENT OF THE DATA

All the data gathered for the individual subjects in this study

were punched on IBM cards. Each card denoted an individual's sex,

his intellectual level (high, average, or low), his scores on Test I

(the test which was administered to the total sample), and his scores

on one of the other three tests, if he was a member of the random

sample.

These data were analyzed according to the following statistical

methods.

1. Means, standard deviations, and Pearson product-moment

correlation coefficients were computed for the abstract and concrete

subscores on all four tests in the study. Using these three measures

and a variation of the formula for calculating the difference between

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27

two means for correlated samples (Ferguson, 1959, p. 140), the investi¬

gator computed the difference between the abstract and concrete means

for each test.

2. Means, standard deviations, and Pearson product-moment corre¬

lation coefficients were also computed for the total scores on all four

tests in the study. Using these three measures plus the measures

obtained for the abstract and concrete subscores on all tests, the

investigator employed a variation of the formula for calculating the

difference between two means for correlated samples in order to note

differences between oral and written interpretations of proverbs and

between objective and subjective interpretations of proverbs.

3. The Mann-Whitney U Test was used to determine the differences

in proverbial interpretation by children of similar and of differing

intellectual abilities. This nonparametric test was employed because

of the small size of the groups to be compared. Level of significance

was set at .05.

4. To determine sex differences in the ability to interpret

proverbs, t-tests were applied. The differences obtained were not

considered significant unless the t-values were at the .05 or .01

levels of significance.

The major part of the statistical computation was done at the

University of Alberta Computing Centre.

The results of the analyses of the data are summarized in the

next chapter.

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v!<

CHAPTER IV

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS

This chapter contains a summary of the findings. These findings

will be analyzed according to the following headings: differences in

abstractness and concreteness of proverbial interpretations, differences

in written and oral interpretations of proverbs, differences in objective

and subjective interpretations of proverbs, sex differences in inter¬

pretation of proverbs, and intelligence and interpretation of proverbs.

DIFFERENCES IN ABSTRACTNESS AND CONCRETENESS

OF PROVERBIAL INTERPRETATIONS

The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate children's

ability to interpret proverbs. It was hypothesized by the investigator

that a reasonable indication of a child's ability to interpret proverbs

would be a significant difference between his abstract and concrete

subscores on the proverbs test which he took, since this difference

would be indicative of his ability to generalize from the concrete to

the abstract. With this aim in mind, the group means and standard

deviations for the abstract and concrete subscores on each test were

computed. Also, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were

obtained for the abstract and concrete subscores. These three measures

(group means, standard deviations, and correlation coefficients) were

used in a variation of the formula for computing the significance of

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29

the difference between two means for correlated samples (Ferguson,

1959, p. 140). This formula was employed because the abstract and

concrete subscore means being compared on each test were those obtained

for the same children in each group.

ABSTRACTNESS AND CONCRETENESS OF GROUP RESPONSES

For each test, Test I, II, III, and IV, t-tests were applied to

determine significant differences between the means of the abstract

and concrete subscores of the group as a whole. It can be seen from

Table I that the t-values obtained for each one of these tests was sig¬

nificant. In fact, the differences between the abstract and concrete

means for Tests I, II, and IV were significant at the .001 level.

The very high level of significance of difference between the means

of both Test I and Test II may have resulted from the character of the

tests. Both were multiple-choice tests, requiring the pupils to select

abstract interpretations of proverbs from provided responses. It

appears that interpretations of this sort were not as difficult to make

as interpretations of a creative nature, which required the children

to think of original interpretations.

Test II tested the groups' ability to formulate their own inter¬

pretations. Table I shows that the t-value of 2.67 represented a

significant difference, at the .05 level, between the abstract mean of

23.25 and the concrete mean of 11.38, although both means were low.

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Test IV was also a subjective test, but the obtained t-value of

4.22 was significant at the .001 level. This subjective test was oral,

whereas Test III was written.

Boys. Also, t-tests were applied to test the significance of

differences in the means of the abstract and concrete subscores for

the boys as a separate group and the girls as a separate group. The

results showed that for Test I there was a very significant differ¬

ence between the two means for the group of eighty-nine boys who took

the test. The t-value of 21.72 was highly significant at the .001

level of significance. Table II provides the means for this test and

shows that the boys' abstract mean of 66.52 was much higher than their

concrete mean of 6.83.

For Test II, a high significant difference, at the .001 level,

was obtained for the mean abstract and concrete subscores. The sub¬

scores of 53.33 (abstract) and 12.92 (concrete) indicate that the

boys selected the abstract meanings of the proverbs more often than

they selected the concrete meanings, when these were presented orally.

The t-value of .70 obtained for the difference between the boys'

abstract and concrete means of Test III showed that there was no

significant difference between these means. When unaided by multiple-

choice answers, the boys were not significantly more capable of

explaining proverbs in an abstract manner than in a concrete manner.

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32

In fact, both mean subscores were low for this test. These results

showed that the boys explained many of the proverbs incorrectly.

As Table II indicates, the t-tests employed to test the signifi¬

cant difference between the mean abstract and concrete subscores of

the boys who took Test IV showed that there was a significant difference

at the .05 level. The subscore means of 26.25 (abstract) and 11.08

(concrete) showed that this difference favored the abstract interpreta¬

tions, even though both abstract and concrete means were quite low for

this test.

Girls. The girls' performance on Test I resulted in a t-value of

28.09 with a .001 level of significance for the difference between the

girls' abstract and concrete means. The mean subscores of 73.48

(abstract) and 5.23 (concrete) show that the girls chose many more

abstract interpretations than concrete ones.

On Test II, the girls also achieved subscores which resulted in

a highly significant difference at the .001 level. Again, this dif¬

ference favored the abstract subscores.

The t-value of 2.50 obtained for the difference between the

girls' abstract and concrete means on Test III indicated that there

was a significant difference in the subscores, at the .05 level. It

can be seen from Table II that more abstract explanations than concrete

ones were given by the girls who took this test. However, neither the

abstract mean of 28.08 nor the concrete mean of 9.17 were very high,

indicating that there were many incorrect responses on this test.

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The t-test used to test for the significant difference between the

subscores of the girls who took Test IV revealed there was no signifi¬

cant difference. An examination of Table II will reveal that both sub¬

score means were low although the abstract mean of 20.25 was slightly

higher, but not significantly higher, than the concrete mean of 11.67.

Again, these means indicate that there were many incorrect interpreta¬

tions .

Summary

The t-values computed in determining significant differences

between the abstractness and the concreteness of children's inter¬

pretations, as measured by differences in abstract and concrete sub¬

score means, indicated that the entire group as well as the separate

sex groups interpreted a significantly greater number of proverbs

abstractly than concretely. In fact, the differences between the

group abstract and concrete means on Test I and Test II were highly

significant at the .001 level, indicating that the children had little

difficulty in selecting the abstract interpretation of proverbs when

the interpretations were presented within a given number of responses.

Differences at the .001 level were also obtained by both the boys and

the girls on Tests I and II.

The difference obtained between Group B's abstract and concrete

means for Test III was also significant but at a lower level of signi¬

ficance than the level obtained for Tests I and II means. The lower

level of significance for Test III may be due to the fact that the

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35

structure of this test required the children not only to formulate

their own interpretations but also to express these interpretations

in writing.

The structure of Test IV was similar to that of Test III in that

the children also had to make up their own interpretations. However,

they were required to express their interpretations orally. A dif¬

ference, at the .001 level of significance, between the abstract and

concrete means of Test IV suggested that when children had to express

original interpretations they were more able to express them abstractly

in oral language than in written language.

DIFFERENCES IN ORAL AND WRITTEN INTERPRETATIONS OF PROVERBS

The random sample used in this study consisted of three sub¬

groups: A, B, and C. In addition to taking the group multiple-

choice test. Test I, which was administered to all members of the

total sample, each subgroup took another test. Group A took Test II,

an oral multiple-choice test. Group B took Test III, a written sub¬

jective test, and Group C took Test IV, an oral subjective test.

For the children in these subgroups, t-values were obtained for

the difference between their scores on the group test, Test I, and

their scores on the particular oral or written test which they took.

A variation of the formula for computing the difference between two

means for correlated samples (Ferguson, 1959, p. 140) was employed

to secure these t-values.

This section deals, first, with a comparison of Tests I and II,

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36

Tests I and IV, and Tests I and III, and second, with a general observa¬

tion of the performance of children on oral and written tests used in

this study.

Total Scores

Group. Table III indicates that the t-values of 1.01 obtained

for the difference in total scores for Tests I and II was not signi¬

ficant. The t-value and the mean scores of 72.75 for Test I, the group

multiple-choice test, and 69.38 for Test II, the oral multiple-choice

test, show that the children in Group A achieved reasonably well on

both tests. A t-test was also applied to the total scores for the

children in Group C, who took Test IV, the other oral test and Test I.

The resulting t-value of 10.86 showed that there was a significant

difference at the .001 level between the group's total scores on

Tests I and IV. The children performed better on Test I than on

Test IV, as shown in Table II.

In addition to the t-values obtained for Tests I and II and Tests I

and IV, t-values were also computed for the scores on Tests I and III;

the latter was a written subjective test. It can be seen from Table III

that the t-test applied to the total means of 76.42 for Test I and 34.63

for Test III shows that the group attained a higher total mean on the

group multiple-choice test than on the written test. This finding

indicates that the whole group, in general, was more able to interpret

proverbs on the group test than on the written test. It would appear

that the children found it easier to select abstract meanings from

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multiple-choice answers than to provide their own original ones.

Boys and Girls. Besides applying t-tests to the total scores for

the group, as a whole, t-tests were employed to indicate if there was

any significant difference between the total scores of the boys who

took Tests I and II and between the total scores of the boys who took

Tests I and IV. The results showed that there was no significant

difference between the total scores of Tests I and II. For Tests I

and IV, there was a significant difference as the total scores for

Test I were much higher than those for Test IV. Thus, the performance

of the boys on Test I did differ from their performance on Test IV,

the oral subjective test. As can be seen from Table III, the mean

total scores of 78.17 for Group C on Test I was better than their

respective total mean of 37.33 on Test IV.

The results of the t-test applied to the total scores for the

girls who were given Tests I and II indicated that the girls scored

well on both tests. The t-value of .533 was not significant. However,

the t-value of 9.43 obtained for the total scores on Tests I and IV

was significant at the .001 level. Therefore, it appears that the

girls who were given the two multiple-choice tests. Tests I and II,

did perform equally well on both tests. But, the girls who were given

the group multiple-choice test and the subjective oral test, Tests I

and IV, respectively, did not achieve as well on both. Rather, they

achieved higher scores on the group test than on the oral test, as is

illustrated by the mean total scores of 74.67 on Test I and 31.92 on

Test IV.

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39

The t-test applied to the total scores of the boys who were given

Tests I and III resulted in a significant difference at the .001 level.

The t-value of 6.36 obtained for the girls' total score on the same two

tests also yielded a .001 level of significance. These results and

the total means on Tests I and III indicate that both the boys and the

girls made higher scores on the group multiple-choice test than on the

written subjective test.

Abstract Subscores

Group. In order to detect any difference between the abstract

subscores on Test I and those subscores on an oral or written test,

t-tests were applied to the abstract subscores on Tests I and II,

Tests I and IV, and Tests I and III. As far as the total group com¬

pared with Group A were concerned, the t-value of 1.25 obtained for

the children who took Tests I and II was not significant. The mean

abstract subscores of 64.33 on Test I and 58.33 on Test II show that

this group chose slightly more than fifty per cent of the abstract

responses presented on these two tests. The t-value of 9.61 obtained

for the abstract subscores of Tests I and IV by Group C was signifi¬

cant at the .001 level. The abstract means of 67.75 for Test I and

27.74 for Test IV indicate that the children who took these two tests

attained higher abstract subscores on the group multiple-choice test

than on the oral test.

The t-value of 11.23 secured by Group B for the abstract sub¬

scores on Tests I and III was also signficant at the .001 level. This

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40

significant difference suggests that the group was generally less able

to interpret abstractly proverbs on the written test than on the group

multiple-choice test.

Boys. The t-tests that were computed for the abstract sub-scores

of boys who took both Test I and Test II pointed out that there was no

level of significance obtained for the results of these two tests. The

t-value of 7.65 obtained for Tests I and IV was significant at the

.001 level. It can be seen from the abstract means provided in Table IV

that the boys were generally more capable of interpreting the abstract

meanings of proverbs on the group multiple-choice test than on either

of the oral tests.

The t-value of 6.46 resulting from the t-test applied to the

boys' abstract subscores on Test I and Test III yielded a significance

at the .001 level. This t-value suggests that the boys were more

capable of interpreting abstractly the proverbs on the group test than

on the written test.

Girls. The t-test applied to the girls' scores for Tests I and

III also resulted in a significant difference. The t-value of 6.35

secured for their abstract subscores was significant at the .001 level.

Table IV shows that girls attained a higher abstract mean on the group

test than on the written one.

The t-value of 1.08 obtained for the abstract subscores of the

girls for Tests I and II indicated no significant difference. The sub¬

score means of 70.00 for Test I and 63.33 for Test II demonstrate that

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42

the girls were capable of selecting more than fifty per cent of the

abstract responses on the group multiple-choice test and on the oral

multiple-choice test. On the other hand, the t-value of 7.91 for the

abstract subscores on Tests I and IV was significant. Table IV shows

that the abstract mean of 67.00 on the group test was higher than the

mean of 20.25 on the oral test. This indicates that the girls were

more able to select abstract meanings from provided responses than

to create and explain orally their own interpretations. The inability

of the girls and boys in this study to make oral explanations of the

abstract meanings of proverbs on Test IV is demonstrated in the

following examples.

Proverb: DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER.

Response: "Well, it means some of the um...well, the name of the book may not be as good as the book so you should start reading it first."

Proverb: THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER IN THE OTHER FELLOW'S YARD.

Response: "Well, the people...well, they might take care of their lawn or their grass...and you may not."

Concrete Subscores

Group. The t-value of 3.65 obtained for the concrete subscores of

Group A, who took Tests I and II was significant at the .01 level. The

mean scores, which are illustrated in Table V, show that children were

included to select more concrete responses on the oral multiple-choice

test. Test II, than on the written multiple-choice test. Test I, although

the table also shows that the concrete means of 8.42 on Test I and 11.04

on Test II were low. The t-value of 5.06 secured for Tests I and IV

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was significant at the .001 level, even though the concrete means of

7.04 and 9.52 were low for both tests.

43

The t-test applied to the concrete subscores of the entire group

who took Tests I and III resulted in a .001 level of significance. The

concrete means of 6.50 for Test I and 11.38 for Test III indicate that

there was a tendency to interpret more proverbs concretely on the written

free-response test than on the oral multiple-choice test, although the

means were low for both tests. Some examples of the concrete, or lit¬

eral, interpretations that were written on Test III are presented below.

Proverb: DON'T CRY OVER SPILT MILK.

Response: You can get some more.

Proverb: ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

Response: Everything is good that ends good.

Proverb: A ROLLING STONE GATHERS NO MOSS.

Response: It is going too fast to gather moss.

Boys. The t-value of 3.52 obtained for the concrete subscores of

the boys who took Tests I and II indicated that there was a significant

difference between the subscores. The boys selected more concrete

responses on the oral multiple-choice test than on the written multiple-

choice test, as can be observed from the concrete means recorded in

Table V. However, these subscores are low. On Test I and IV there was

a significant difference at the .001 level between the concrete sub¬

scores of these two tests. This result and the concrete means of 5.33

on Test I and 11.08 on Test IV point out that the boys interpreted

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more proverbs, in a concrete manner, on the oral multiple-choice test

than on the written multiple-choice test.

The concrete subscores of the boys on Tests I and III showed no

significant difference. However, the boys scored low on their concrete

interpretations of proverbs on both tests as is pointed out by their

concrete means in Table V.

Girls. The t-tests applied to the concrete subscores of the girls

yielded no significant difference between Test I and Test II. The

t-value of .531 and the concrete means of 7.33 and 9.17 for Tests I and

II, respectively, demonstrate that the girls chose a similar number of

concrete responses on both tests. This was not true of the results for

Test I and IV. The t-value and the concrete means secured for these

two tests indicate that the girls interpreted proverbs more concretely

on the oral free-response test than on the group multiple-choice test.

On Tests I and III girls attained a significant difference at

the .001 level between their concrete subscores. The concrete means for

these two tests indicate that the girls made more concrete interpreta¬

tions on the written free-response test than on the oral multiple-choice

test.

General Observations About Oral and Written Tests

Since the same children did not take both the written and the oral

tests, no specific statements can be made regarding differences in

their results. However, an examination of the mean scores made by the

children who took the oral multiple-choice test. Test II, and the childre

who took either the oral subjective test. Test IV, or the written

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46

subjective test. Test III, suggests that the children who took the

oral multiple-choice test were more able to interpret proverbs abstractly

than the groups who took the other two tests. However, these higher

means for Test II may be due to the character of the test, which

allowed the children to select abstract interpretations from a number

of multi pie -choice answers. On this test, the children were often able

to select the abstract meaning of proverbs and, therefore, obtain a

relatively high score on the test. But, when asked to explain why

they chose these abstract meanings, they often appeared uncertain

about their reasons for the choice. Here are two examples of explana¬

tions given by children who had selected the abstract meaning of a

proverb on the oral multiple-choice test, Test II.

Proverb; A ROLLING STONE GATHERS NO MOSS.

Response: A person who doesn't settle down doesn't succeed in

doing much.

Explanation: "Well, uh, if the guy uh...if he just sits around

^ in his house, well, uh...and uh...he doesn't see

the world or anything he won't...he won't do very

much."

Proverb: BARKING DOGS SELDOM BITE.

Response: The one who talks the most often does the least.

Explanation: "Well, the one who talks the most does the least...

~ well, barking doegs bark the most. They don't bite.

It can be seen from Tables II to V that the various mean scores

for the other oral test. Test IV, and for the written test, Test III,

appear to be similar, in that, the scores are low for both tests.

These low scores may be due to the subjective nature of these tests,

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47

which required the children to formulate original interpretations for

the proverbs and to express these interpretations in oral or written

language.

It was often felt by the investigator that the children did under¬

stand the abstract meanings of the proverbs on Test III and IV but that

their interpretations were influenced by their inability to put their

thoughts into written or oral language. As a result, children scored

higher on the oral multiple-choice test than on either the subjective

written or the subjective oral test. However, the difficulties which

children demonstrated in explaining why they chose their responses on

the oral multiple-choice test suggests that there is no distinct dif¬

ference in children's ability to make oral and written interpretations

of proverbs. They seemed to have a great deal of difficulty with both

types of interpretations.

DIFFERENCES IN OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE

INTERPRETATIONS OF PROVERBS

In order to note any differences in children's ability to inter¬

pret proverbs on an objective test and a subjective test, t-values

were obtained for the children who took both an objective and a sub¬

jective test. In order to secure these t-values, a variation of the

formula for calculating the difference between two means for correlated

samples (Ferguson, 1959, p. 140) was used.

In the preceding section dealing with written and oral tests, the

various scores and t-values for Tests I and IV and Tests I and III were

discussed and summarized. These same t-values have application to

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48

this section, since Test I was an objective test and Tests III and IV

were subjective tests.

Tests I and IV. In brief, the t-values and the mean scores obtained

for Tests I and IV indicated that the groups, as a whole, performed

better on the objective test than on the subjective one.

The total mean scores and the t-values for the total scores

showed that both the boys and the girls achieved higher scores on the

objective test than on the subjective test. The t-values secured for

the boys' abstract subscores and for the girls' abstract subscores

yielded a similar difference at the .001 level.

The t-value obtained for the concrete subscores of the whole

group was significant, indicating that the children made more concrete

interpretations on one test than on the other. The subjective test.

Test IV, had the higher concrete mean, although the means for both

tests were low. Also, an examination of Table VI will reveal that both

boys and girls seemed to have interpreted more proverbs concretely on

the subjective test than on the objective one.

This brief review of the mean scores and the t-values obtained

for the whole group and for the separate sex groups appears to indicate

that, in general, the children who took Tests I and IV performed better

on the objective test. Test I, than on the subjective test. Test IV.

This finding indicates that these children were more able to interpret

the abstract meanings from multiple-choice responses. When the

children had to formulate their own original interpretations of proverbs,

as was the case on the subjective test, the children were less likely

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to interpret proverbs abstractly. Rather, they tended to interpret

them literally, or concretely, as is illustrated by the following

examples.

50

Proverb: DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY ARE HATCHED.

Response: "Don't be too sure of something. If you think you''re

going to get um...oh, about fifty chickens or some¬

thing and you go around telling everybody that you got

fifty chickens, then a few of them might die or some¬

thing and you'd have only a few."

Proverb: DON'T THROW GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD.

Response: "Well, um, maybe it means uh...well, if you throw

away your bad money and you still got your...and if...

if you spend your good money on the same thing, you're

just not getting anywhere."

Test I and III. The total scores and t-values obtained for the

total scores for Tests I and III suggested that, in general, the child¬

ren were more capable of interpreting proverbs on the objective test.

Test I, than on the subjective one. Test III.

There were significant differences obtained between the group's

abstract subscores and the separate sex groups' abstract subscores.

These differences seem to indicate that there were more abstract inter¬

pretations made on Test I than there were on Test III. Table VII shows

that the abstract means for the group, as a whole, and for the separate

sex groups were higher for the objective test. Test I, than for the

subjective one. Test III.

The t-values calculated for the concrete subscores on Tests I and

III were also significant, except for the t-value of 1.40 obtained for

the boys. The concrete means for the group and for the girls indicated

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that more concrete interpretations were given for the subjective test

than for the objective test, although these means were low.

INTELLIGENCE AND INTERPRETATION OF PROVERBS

Within the subgroups. A, B, and C, which took Tests II, III, and IV

respectively, there was an equal representation of intellectual ability.

Each subgroup contained four boys and four girls of high intelligence,

four boys and four girls of average intelligence, and four boys and four

girls of low intelligence. The results were examined in terms of total

intelligence level within each subgroup and then the effects of intelli¬

gence and sex were explored.

Interpretation by Children of Similar Intellectual Ability

In order to determine any significant differences in the interpreta¬

tion of proverbs by children within the same intellectual level the Mann-

Whitney U Test was applied. This nonparametric test was applied to the

total scores, the abstract subscores, and the concrete subscores of the

boys and girls of high intelligence, the boys and girls of average intel¬

ligence, and the boys and girls of low intelligence who took Test II,

III, or IV.

The U-values obtained for the total scores of children of similar

intelligence yielded probabilities which pointed out that there were no

significant differences in the interpretation of proverbs by these child¬

ren. Table VIII shows that this result was true for the total scores of

Tests II, III, and IV. This table also indicates that when the Mann-Whitney

U Test was applied to the abstract subscores and to the concrete subscores

of children of similar intelligence no significant differences were ob¬

served.

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Summary. The results of the significant differences secured for

the total scores and the abstract subscores for Test I and III and

for Tests I and IV provided some indication that the children in this

study were able to make a larger number of abstract interpretations

on the objective test, Test I, than on either subjective test, Test III

or Test IV. An examination of Tables VI and VII reveals that the

total and abstract means on the objective test were much higher than

those on the subjective tests.

Furthermore, the concrete means for the two subjective tests were

higher than those obtained for the objective test, illustrating that

the children were more inclined to revert to literal, or concrete,

interpretations of proverbs whenever they had to create their own

than when they were allowed to select the interpretations from multiple-

choice answers.

Differing Intellectual Ability. In an attempt to determine if

there would be any significant differences in interpretations by

children of differing intellectual ability, the Mann-Whitney U Test

was applied to the total scores of boys of high and average intelli¬

gence, boys of high and low intelligence, and boys of average and low

intelligence who took Test II, III, or IV. The same procedure was

carried out with the girls.

The probabilities listed in Table IX indicate that no significant

differences existed between the total scores of the various combina¬

tions of high-average, high-low, and average-low intellectual abilities

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56

of boys or girls, with the exception of a difference at the .05 level

of significance between the boys of high and low intelligence who took

Test III.

Table IX also reveals that there were no significant differences

between the abstract subscores, and between the concrete subscores of

the various combined intelligence groups who took Test II, III, or IV.

Summary. It can be observed from the probabilitites for the U-values

obtained for the total scores, the abstract subscores, and the concrete

subscores on Tests II,, III, and IV that children of similar intellectual

ability demonstrated no significant differences in their ability to

interpret proverbs. Furthermore, the results of the Mann-Whitney U

Tests which were applied to the scores of children of differing intel¬

lectual ability (high-average, high-low, and average-low) indicated

that, in general, there were no significant differences in the children's

interpretations. It would appear that there is no direct relationship

between intelligence and the ability to interpret proverbs, as measured

by Tests II, III, and IV.

SEX DIFFERENCES IN INTERPRETATION OF PROVERBS

In order to note any sex differences in the ability to interpret

proverbs, t-tests were applied to the means of the total scores, the

means of the abstract subscores, and the means of the concrete sub¬

scores for both sexes on Tests I, II, III, and IV. The results of the

t-test which were applied to test the differences between the means

of the various scores of both sexes are outlined in Tables X to XII.

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TABLE X

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEANS OF TOTAL SCORES

OF BOYS AND GIRLS ON TESTS I - IV

N Mean

Total Score

Test Boys Girls Boys Girls t

I 89 84 73.33 78.70 2.67* **

II 12 12 66.25 72.50 0.94

III 12 12 36.08 37.25 0.18

IV 12 12 37.33 31.92 0.88

* Significant at the .05 level.

** Significant at the .01 level.

l Sviaio <;»* ?KX ?o

58

Total Scores. The results of the t-test applied to the total mean

scores of both sexes on Test I showed that there was a .01 level of

significance for the difference between the total means. This difference

favored the girls.

On Test II, the t-value of .94 obtained for the difference in the

total scores of the twenty-four children who took the test was not sig¬

nificant. The total means of 66.25 for the boys and 72.50 for the

girls showed that both sexes correctly interpreted better than fifty

per cent of the proverbs on this test.

The results of the t-test applied to the total means for the

twenty-four children who took Test III indicated no significant dif¬

ference between the boys' scores and the girls' scores. An examina¬

tion of Table X indicates that the total means of 36.08 for the boys

and 37.25 for the girls were similar, although both means were low.

This finding indicates that neither sex was able to interpret fifty

per cent of the proverbs on this test.

The t-test applied to test the difference between the total

means of both sexes on Test IV demonstrated that there was no signifi¬

cant difference. Table X shows that the total means of 37.33 for the

boys and 31.92 for the girls were low. Although the girls' means for

the total scores on Tests II and III were slightly higher, but not

significantly higher, than the boys', the means for the total scores

on Test IV favored the boys.

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59

Abstract Subscores. In determining if there was any significant

difference between the means of the abstract subscores on Test I a

t-value of 2.48 was computed and resulted in a difference at the .05

level of significance. Although the abstract means for both sexes

were fairly high, as can be noticed in Table XI, the significant dif¬

ference between them favored the girls.

For Test II, a "t" of 2.07 was required for significance of dif¬

ference at the .05 level. Table XI shows that the "t" computed for the

difference between the abstract means of the boys and the girls who

took this test was 1.12 well below the required MtM. Therefore, the

difference between the means of 53.33 for the boys and 63.33 for the

girls was not significant, even though the girls' means was slightly

higher.

The t-test which was applied to test the difference between the

abstract means of both sexes on Test III resulted in no significant

difference. Table XI shows that the abstract means of 25.75 for the

boys and 28.08 for the girls were very low, indicating that neither

sex was very capable of explaining the abstract meanings of proverbs

on this test.

For the abstract subscores obtained on Test IV the boys' mean

was 26.25 and the girls' mean was 20.25. There was no significant

level of difference between the two means.

Concrete Subscores. The t-test applied to the concrete means

for both sexes on Test I resulted in no significant difference. It

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TABLE XI

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEANS OF ABSTRACT

OF BOYS AND GIRLS ON TESTS I -

SUBSCORES

IV

N Mean

Abstract Subscore

Test Boys Girls Boys Girls t

I 89 84 66.52 73.48 2.48* **

II 12 12 53.33 63.33 1.12

III 12 12 25.75 28.08 0.31

IV 12 12 26.25 20.25 0.81

* Significant at the .05 level.

** Significant at the .01 level.

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61

can be seen from Table XII that both the boys' and the girls' means

were low.

The t-value of 1.11 obtained for the difference between the mean

concrete subscores on Test II also was not significant. As with Test I,

the concrete means of 12.92 for the boys and 9.17 for the girls were

low for both sexes.

The results of the t-tests applied to both Test III and Test IV

indicated that there were no significant differences between the

concrete means on either of these tests. Both the boys and the girls

scores similarly low.

Summary. The results of the t-tests applied to the total means

obtained by both sexes on the various tests demonstrated that there

was a significant difference between the total means on the group

multiple-choice test, Test I. Although both boys and girls scored

reasonably well on this objective test, the difference indicated that

the girls in this study were able to select more correct interpreta¬

tions than the boys. On the other objective test, Test II, there was

no significant difference between the total means of the boys and

the girls. Both sexes achieved reasonably high scores.

The total means for the two subjective tests. Tests III and IV,

were low with no significant differences between the performances of

the boys and girls on either test.

There were no significant differences between the abstract means

for both sexes, except for the means obtained on Test I. Both the

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62

TABLE XII

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEANS OF CONCRETE

OF BOYS AND GIRLS ON TESTS I - SUBSCORES

IV

N Me

Concrete

an

Subscore

Test Boys Girls Boys Girls t

I 89 84 6.83 5.23 1.64

II 12 12 12.92 9.17 1.11

III 12 12 10.33 9.17 0.50

IV 12 12 11.08 11.67 0.29

* Significant at the .05 level.

** Significant at the .01 level.

S,

63

boys' and the girls' abstract means were reasonably high on this test,

but the girls' was significantly higher than the boys', indicating

that the girls were able to choose more abstract meanings from the

multiple-choice answers on this test than were the boys.

No significant differences were obtained between the mean concrete

subscores on any of the four tests. An examination of Table XII shows

that both boys and girls scores low on concrete interpretations of

proverbs.

In general, it appears that boys and girls are similarly capable

of interpreting proverbs regardless of the type of tests used, although

the girls in this study did significantly better on the group mutliple-

choice test than did the boys.

SUMMARY

Sectional Summaries have been made for each of the sections which

were discussed on the preceding pages. The following summary is an

attempt to present a very brief review of the major findings of each

section.

1. Differences in Abstractness and Concreteness. There were

highly significant differences between the abstractness and concrete¬

ness of children's interpretations of proverbs. These differences

favored the abstract interpretations and were present on all the pro¬

verb tests used in this study, but were most obvious on the tests which

supplied multiple-choice answers.

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64

2. Differences in Oral and Written Interpretations. From general

observation and examination of written and oral respones and of test

scores, there appears to be little difference between children's

ability to interpret proverbs in oral and written language. Both types

of interpretation seemed to be very difficult for the children. As a

result, they often reverted to strictly literal interpretations of the

words within proverbs.

3. Differences in Objective and Subjective Interpretations. There

were significant differences in the children's performance on objective

and subjective tests. The children were more able to select abstract inter¬

pretations from a number of given responses than they were able to create

and express their own abstract interpretations. Difficulty in creating

original interpretations often resulted in literal interpretations.

4. Intelligence and Interpretations. There were significant dif¬

ferences between children of high, average, and low intelligence in their

interpretation of proverbs. Intellectual ability did not appear to be

directly related to interpretation of proverbs in this study.

5. Sex Differences in Interpretation. There were significant

differences between the ability of boys and girls in the interpretation

of proverbs. This, however, appeared to be evident on the total group

multiple-choice test. Both sexes were able to interpret proverbs more

abstractly than concretely. Also, both boys and girls performed better

on the objective group and oral tests than on the subjective written

and oral tests.

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.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This study attempted to investigate the ability of sixth grade

pupils to interpret oral and written proverbs. Certain hypotheses

were tested and statistical data support what appear to be valid

conclusions. Some implications and recommendations for teaching and

further research can be suggested from these conclusions.

CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY

Hypothesis I

There is no significant difference in children's ability

to provide abstract rather than concrete interpretations of

proverbs.

It can be concluded that there was a significant difference in

children's ability to provide abstract rather than concrete interpre¬

tations of proverbs, especially when the children were allowed to

choose the abstract interpretations from a number of given responses.

When children had to formulate their own original interpretations they

frequently appeared confused and tended to revert to a literal inter¬

pretation of the words. Nevertheless, the original interpretations,

which were given, were more often abstract than concrete. Therefore,

the findings of this study infer that sixth grade children do possess

some ability to convert the concrete symbols of figurative expressions,

such as proverbs, into abstractions.

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66

Hypothesis II

There, is no significant difference between children's oral

and written explanations of proverbs.

It would appear from the findings of this study that there were

no distinct differences between children's oral and written explana¬

tions of proverbs. The children seemed to find interpretations of

these types very difficult. However, it was impossible to determine

if this difficulty was due to their inability to understand the

abstract meanings of the proverbs or to their inability to express

these meanings in oral or written language. Regardless of the cause,

the result was that the children expressed themselves poorly when

providing either oral or written ex Pi anations. However, no conclusive

findings can be drawn regarding differences in children's oral and

written explanations of proverbs since the same groups of children

did not take both the oral and the written tests.

Hypothesis III

There is no significant difference between the abstractness

and concreteness of children's subjective and objective responses

to proverbs.

It. can be concluded from the t-values secured for the total scores,

the abstract subscores, and the concrete subscores, as well as from an

examination of the means of these scores, that the sixth grade children

in this study were, more able to interpret the proverbs on an objective

test than on a subjective test.

It appears from the consistently higher subscores and total scores

of Test I, the objective test, that children are more capable of

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67

converting the literal, or concrete, symbols of proverbs into abstract

interpretations when they are allowed to select the abstract meaning

from a number of given responses. When they have to create their own

interpretations, they often tend to provide a literal interpretation

of the words. The higher concrete means of the subjective tests

provide evidence that children often revert to the literal interpreta¬

tion of words when they are required to provide original interpreta¬

tions, regardless of whether the interpretations are oral or written.

Hypothesis IV

There is no significant difference between children of high, average, and low intelligence in their ability to interpret proverbs.

The findings suggest that there were not significant differences

between children of high, average, and low intelligence in their ability

to interpret proverbs. It would appear that the ability to interpret

proverbs, as presented in this study, is not directly related to

intelligence. However, the small size of the groups used to compare

the test scores of children of similar and differing intellectual levels

does not permit any conclusive findings to be drawn.

Hypothesis V

There is no significant difference between the test scores of

males and females in their ability to interpret proverbs.

According to the means of the various test scores and the t-tests

applied to them, it can be concluded that, in general, there was no

significant difference in the ability of the boys and girls in this

study to interpret proverbs. An examination of the various means of

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68

the four proverbs tests showed that many of the boys" and girls' means

were similar. The only significant differences obtained on any of the

tests were the ones between the total means and between the abstract

means on Test I. These differences favored the girls.

LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY

The conclusions of this study were governed by a number of

limitations resulting from the research design and choice of tests

used to carry out this investigation.

1. Many of the findings of this study were based on analyses of

the test scores of the three different subgroups: Group A, Group B,

and Group C. It is possible that the use of different children for

each subgroup may have introduced some biases into the findings.

However, efforts were made to minimize biases by providing equal

representation of males and females in each subgroup.

2. The findings dealing with intelligence and proverb inter¬

pretation must be interpreted with caution because of the small

number of children compared within each intellectual level.

3. The findings of this study cannot be related to the chrono¬

logical ages of the pupils involved. Although past studies of

children's interpretations of proverbs (e.g., Watts and Piaget)

considered chronological age as an important influencing factor on

their results, it was not considered as a variable in this present

study. For the purposes of this study, the investigator was concerned

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69

with the grade level at which proverbial statements could be inter¬

preted rather than with the chronological age at which they could

be interpreted.

4. The socio-economic background of the children in this study

was not considered. Consequently, the findings do not take into

consideration the possible influence which a child’s home background

and language experience might have on his interpretations of proverbs.

5. The intellectual levels of the children in the study were

based on the scores of a common intelligence test. The findings of

the study which pertain to intelligence are limited in that the

investigator had to establish arbitrarily the range of scores that

were to be included within each level of intelligence (high, average,

or low).

6. The findings are limited by the tests employed in the study.

Since the tests are not standardized, the findings resulting from

them cannot be generalized to all sixth grade populations.

7. The scoring procedures for the tests used in this study were

arbitrarily established by the investigator. The abstract and

concrete subscores of each child were based mainly on the investiga¬

tor's decisions as to which responses were abstract and which were

concrete. This imposed some limitations on the findings.

Conclusions drawn from this study must be considered in the light

of the above limitations.

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70

IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY

Implications for Teaching

1. This study tends to support the opinions of those researchers

who feel that elementary grade children are capable of interpreting

figurative expressions. Since it appears that sixth grade pupils are

able to interpret the abstract meanings of words, specific instruction

in interpretation of proverbs and other figurative expressions needs

to take place at this level. Skill in interpretation of this type

may aid the pupil in developing a higher level of comprehension of

written and oral language. It may prove particularly helpful in

developing maturity and excellence in reading comprehension.

2. The inference that ability to interpret proverbs is not

directly related to intelligence suggests that the majority of sixth

grade pupils, regardless of their intellectual ability, could receive

instruction in interpretation of this type, although the type and

amount of instruction may vary with the ability of children.

3. It seems apparent from the findings of this study that sixth

grade children need instruction and practice in expressing their

ideas in written and oral language. This was particularly evidenced

by the oral responses of the pupils. In the majority of the cases,

oral responses were neither coherent nor fluent.

Implications and Recommendations for Further Research

1. This study indicated that sixth grade pupils, on the whole,

were quite capable of interpreting the abstract meanings of proverbs.

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71

It may be possible, however, that children at a lower grade level are

also capable of this type of interpretation. It is recommended that a

similar study be conducted, using fourth and fifth grade pupils as

well as sixth grade pupils, in order to gain some insight regarding

the grade level at which children begin to generalize from the

concrete to the abstract.

2. It is possible that the socio-economic background of children

could affect their ability to interpret proverbs. It would seem that

children who hear figurative expressions at home would be able to

interpret proverbs more readily and accurately than those who hear

none. It is recommended that similar study be conducted, using socio¬

economic background in addition to sex and intelligence as variables

in the study.

3. The studies of proverbs conducted by Watts and Piaget indi¬

cated that proverbial interpretation was directly related to chronolo¬

gical age. The chronological ages of the children used in this study

were recorded, but they were not considered as a variable in the study.

Therefore, there is a need for a study similar to this one which will

employ chronological age as one of the variables.

x

4. Studies dealing with the interpretation of proverbs by

elementary grade children are extremely scarce. It is recommended that

more research studies be conducted in this area in order to provide a

better understanding of children's ability to make and apply interpreta¬

tions of the abstract meanings of words, and to provide teachers with

guidance in the instruction of this type of interpretation.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ayer, Adelaide M., Some Difficulties in Elementary School History.

New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1926.

Dewey, John, How We Think. Boston: Heath and Company, 1910.

Edwards, Allen L., Statistical Methods for the Behavioral Sciences.

New York: Rinehart and Company, Inc., 1958.

Ferguson, George A., Statistical Analysis in Psychology and Education.

Toronto: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1959.

Flaum, Lawrence S., "A Study of the Understanding Which Fourth, Fifth,

and Sixth Grade Pupils in the Elementary School of Crawford,

Nebraska, Have for Figures of Speech Which Appear in Basic History

Textbooks Used in Each of Those Grades," Division of Education,

Field Study No. 1. Greeley, Colorado: Colorado State College of

Education, August, 1945.

Gill, Naomi B., "Depth Reading II: The Figures," English Journal,

XLIII (September, 1954), 297-303.

Gorham, Donald R., "A Proverbs Test for Clinical and Experimental Use,"

Psychological Reports Monograph Supplement, No. 1 (1956), 1-12.

Gorham, Donald R., "Verbal Abstraction in Psychiatric Illness: Assay

Of Impairment Utilizing Proverbs." Unpublished paper presented at

the 16th International Congress of Psychology, Bonn, Germany,

August, 1960.

Gorham, Donald R., and Clyde M. Elmore, "Measuring the Impairment of

the Abstracting Function with the Proverbs Test," Journal of

Clinical Psychology, XIII (July, 1957), 263-266.

Groesbeck, Hulda G., "The Comprehension of Figurative Language by

Elementary Children: A Study in Transfer." Unpublished Doctor's

Dissertation, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, 1961.

Holmes, Elizabeth Ann, "Children's Knowledge of Figurative Language."

Unpublished Master's Thesis, The University of Oklahoma, Norman,

1959.

Knipp, Helen B., "The Development of Thinking and of Concepts,"

Elementary English, XXVIII (May, 1951), 290-297.

«,v idilA -ebxswba

Xof: UlH-waiDoM

lo O' r, " .c :»2 •».: Wj

•K‘ •; ■ • J; -i oi a j <*s*D /fa*. , bna

. API .lEfpA t/iOi3fiDubJ

ii $aJb&s* tilt;- « ' ,.a • .OB/ , ;i JO .<0 - t(^H I ( . 2) I : JX

•" ‘«*2 Vi* i >.r i.D i'i -,*r aeii >vo*< , * . J oe urdio©

, • j&'Ui ' “.5» :*! tsiXJ J 3i -..nj. ■- -pj. 0

X1'- : • : /•' lo © ' : . Hi >:> JBii6. r.fjla3 ;1: r .J.-fa

•J c , ^ t. lif0 ; » yjj »S6/JtflU i , 'Cll 3

a 3«Jf.TjsiH -iCl ®3fl3l •oj'a a'.,9i))Xirf0" ,aaA riledi.nl 1 ,»jo!oH

'

73

Looby, Ruth, "Understandings Children Derive from Their Reading,"

Elementary English Review, XVI (February, 1939), 58-62.

Newton, Eunice S., "Figurative Language: An Achilles Heel in Reading

Comprehension," Journal of Reading, VIII (October, 1964), 65-70.

Piaget, Jean, The Language and Thought of the Child. New York:

Harcourt and Brace, Company, 1926.

Richardson, Claudia, and Joseph Church, "A Developmental Analysis of

Proverb Interpretations," Journal of Genetic Psychology, XLIV

(June, 1959), 169-179.

Russell, David H., Children's Thinking. Toronto: Ginn and Company,

1956.

Siegel, Sidney, Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences.

Toronto: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1956.

Walpole, Hugh R., Semantics: The Nature of Words and Their Meanings.

New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1941.

Watts, A. F., The Language and Mental Development of Children. Toronto:

George G. Harrap and Company, Ltd., 1944.

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I

APPENDIX

■

75

TEST I

NAME

AGE

DIRECTIONS:

On the following pages there are 25 sentences written in capital

letters. Each capitalized sentence is followed by four other sentences.

One of these four: a, b, £, or d, has the same meaning or nearly the

same meaning as the capitalized sentence above it. Underline the

sentence in each group of four which you think has the same meaning or

nearly the same meaning as the capitalized sentence.

Here is one done for you:

DON'T CROSS THE BRIDGE UNTIL YOU GET TO IT.

a. The bridge is a long way off.

b. People won't like you if you are cross.

c. Don't worry about troubles until they come.

d. Don't be foolish.

1. A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE.

a. A girl who is speedy will do well.

b. Don't spend what you ought to put in the bank.

c. Troubles often build up if not taken care of at once.

d. One who sews carefully does the best work.

2. MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES.

a. A farmer likes bright weather for his harvests.

b. Choose an outdoor job if you can.

c. Be quick and alert. d. Do something when the time is right.

3. EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING.

a. A bright silk lining greatly improves a dark coat.

b. Above the clouds the stars shine brightly.

c. You will find a bright side to everything if you look for it.

d. Behind every dark cloud there are brighter ones.

4. ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD.

a. Brass buttons glitter brightly when they are cleaned. b. Everything that looks good isn't necessarily good. c. Don't waste your money on trashy things. d. Other things besides gold also glitter.

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76

5. ONE BIRD DOESN'T MAKE A SUMMER,

a. It takes more than one example to prove a rule. b. It takes different things to make up summer. c. It is impossible to control the weather. d. It takes a long time for time to pass.

6. A WATCHED POT NEVER BOILS.

a. It is sometimes tiring to get a meal ready. b. A pot doesn't boil when one is watching it. c. Time posses slowly when you are waiting for something to happen. d. When you put a pan on the fire don't leave it.

7. WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY THE MICE WILL PLAY.

a. Cats and mice do not play together. b. When authority is gone things will be done that shouldn't be done. c. When the danger is gone, the mice will play. d. A great many people do not like animals.

8. PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULDN'T THROW STONES.

a. Little children should not throw stones. b. Glass is very expensive to replace once it is broken. c. Make sure you are right before finding fault with others. d. If you have naughty children make them behave.

9. A BIRD IN THE HAND ID WORTH TWO IN THE BUSH.

a. A little which you are sure of is better than a lot which you may never get.

b. Ten dollars in your pocket is worth twenty dollars in the bank. c. Birds close at hand look better than at a distance. d. Better to live in a cottage than a mansion.

10. NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION

a. Necessity is like a mother, fond of looking after invention, her child.

b. When you must do something, you can do it. c. What a child needs it usually asks its mother for. d. Some men are so clever that they cannot help inventing things.

11. BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER.

a. Most people enjoy parties. b. Boys do not like playing with girls. c. A man is known by the friends he keeps. d. After shedding their old feather birds come together again.

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77

12. HALF A LOAF IS BETTER THAN NO BREAD.

a. Enough is as good as a feast. b. Half a loaf doesn't go very far. c. Bread should be eaten at every meal. d. Mother Hubbard usually had half a loaf.

13. ONE MAN'S MEAT IS ANOTHER MAN'S POISON

a. Shopkeepers often sell bad things. b. Beware of eating poisoned meat when dining with a stranger. c. Your liking a thing is no reason for thinking I shall like it. d. You may not like my way of cooking.

14. EXPERIENCE IS THE BEST TEACHER.

a. A teacher needs experience before he can teach well. b. Much can be learned from a man of wide experience. c. The best learning takes place in the classroom. d. The best way of learning is to do.

15. STILL WATER RUNS DEEP.

a. Quiet people are often more aware than we think they are. b. Deep streams usually run very slowly. c. A deep well is not easily disturbed. d. Empty pans make the most noise.

16. LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE,

a. Let those who don't wish to learn alone. b. Do not disturb things unnecessarily. c. Be kind to dumb animals. d. Play with your dog at the same time every day.

17. STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT.

a. Iron bends the best when hot. b. Strike at the time that is best. c. Iron with a hot iron, a cold one won't do. d. Do something when the time is right.

18. DOWN THE STREET OF BYE AND BYE ONE COMES TO THE HOUSE OF NEVER.

a. There are no houses on Bye Street. b. Don't postpone things or they will never be done. c. All streets are different. d. Walking down the street is an enjoyable experience.

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19. DON'T TRADE HORSES WHEN CROSSING A STREAM.

a. Don't change plans in the middle of doing something. b. Don't try to cheat anyone. c. Don't make animals or people mad when they are helping you. d. Don't change leaders in the middle of a stream.

20. THE SUN SHINES UPON ALL ALIKE.

a. Every day is sunny for someone. b. All people have the same chances. c. People that do the same thing are alike d. The sun shines on everybody.

21. IT NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS.

a. A little rain is as bad as a lot. b. When something goes wrong, everything does. c. Everything that happens is big, not little. d. It always rains hard.

22. THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING IS IN THE EATING.

a. Something is good only if it tastes good. b. You know pudding by eating it. c. You can't tell how good a thing is until you test it. d. Things often look good but aren't good.

23. EASY COME, EASY GO.

a. Always do things on time. b. Don't take everything seriously. c. What you get easily does not mean much to you. d. Most people do as they please and go as they please.

24. GREAT BODIES MOVE SLOWLY.

a. Size has nothing to do with what you make of yourself. b. The bigger you are the slower you are. c. Large things must be moved quickly. d. Great things are done little by little.

25. THE USED KEY IS ALWAYS BRIGHT.

a. The more often something is used the better it becomes. b. Something old is better than something new. c. The person who brags should have a reason. d. The key used the most doesn't get rusty.

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79

TEST II

DIRECTIONS:

I am going to read you some sentences. First, I will read you a sentence and then I'll read four explanations of it. You tell me which explanation tells what the sentence means. (When the answer has been chosen, ask the child why he has chosen that particular answer.)

1. BARKING DOGS SELDOM BITE.

a. Don't do all the talking. b. Barking dogs are too busy barking to bite. c. Barking dogs are friendly dogs. d. The one who talks most often does the least.

2. WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A WAY.

a. There is always a right way to do something. b. If you want to do something, you can find a way to do it. c. A person should be willing to do things. d. If one has determination, he will succeed.

3. DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER.

a. Most book covers are attractive. b. Read a book before you judge it. c. Don't look only at the surface of things. d. A nice cover doesn't make good reading.

4. A ROLLING STONE GATHERS NO MOSS.

a. A person who doesn't settle down doesn't succeed in doing much. b. If a person wishes to become rich, he should move about. c. Moss collects best on stones that remain in one place. d. Some people cannot sit still for a minute.

5. DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY ARE HATCHED.

a. Try not to be restless. b. A fool quickly loses his money. c. Don't draw any conclusions until you have studied all the results.

d. Some eggs may not hatch.

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80

6. THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER IN THE OTHER FELLOW'S YARD

a. b.

Don't stay in one place to do something. The other fellow works to keep his grass looking nice.

c. d.

Don't spend more money than you have. Every situation looks better than your own.

7. DON'T THROW GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD.

a. b.

Don't gamble with a cheater. When you've lost out in something, accept the fact.

c. d.

Don't spend money badly. Don't spend more than ten dollars at one time.

8. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

a. b.

Anything that is good remains good. Things usually turn out well in the end.

c. If something turns out right, then everything which happened before it is no longer important.

d. Don't start something and then not finish it.

9. DON'T CRY OVER SPLIT MILK.

a. b. c. d.

Don't be concerned about mistakes of the past. It won't do any good to cry about silly things. Stop crying and clean it up. It is better to laugh than to cry.

10. WORDS CUT MORE THAN SWORDS.

a. b.

There is nothing as bad as a bad word. Bad words can cause a person to get mad.

c. d.

Words cut the heart and swords cut the body. Be careful what you say.

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81

TEST III

NAME

AGE

DIRECTIONS:

Below are some sentences. Write what each sentence means in the space below it.

1* Barking dogs seldom bite.

2. Where there's a will, there's a way.

3. Don't judge a book by its cover.

4. A Rolling stone gathers no moss.

5. Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.

6. The grass is always greener in the other fellow's yard.

7. Don't throw good money after bad.

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8. All's well that ends well.

9. Don't cry over split milk.

10. Words cut more than swords.

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83

TEST IV

DIRECTIONS:

I am going to read you some sentences. I want you to tell me what you think each sentence means. (When the explanation has been given, ask the child why he thinks the sentence means what he has explained.)

1. Barking dogs seldom bite.

2. Where there's a will, there's a way.

3. Don't judge a book by its cover.

4. A rolling stone gathers no moss.

5. Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.

6. The grass is always greenet in the other fellow's yard.

7. Don't throw good money after bad.

8. All's well that ends well.

9. Don't cry over spilt milk.

10. Words cut more than swords.

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