Nonliteral Language Used in the Classroom
Jenna Szybowicz, M.S. CF-SLP
Lynn Calvert, M.A. CCC-SLP
Rebecca Throneburg, Ph.D, CCC-SLP
Eastern Illinois University
Nonliteral Language
Participants
Approximately 60% of a child’s time is spent listening in a classroom,
with 2/3 of that time listening to a teacher. Teachers use explanatory
language as their core teaching method to introduce new material, which
often includes literal and nonliteral language.
24 certified elementary classroom teachers
12 primary cross-categorical classroom teachers
12 regular education teachers
4 first grade, 4 second grade, and 4 third grade teachers
What is Nonliteral Language?
Measuring Teacher Language in Classroom
Nonliteral language is an entire expression that is stored in the brain as a
single word that is learned and is not separated into different parts or
different literal meanings (Norbury, 2004). The literature has identified
many types of nonliteral language, with the following four most agreed
upon by researchers:
Metaphors: describing an object by calling it a different object
Similes: similar to metaphors; however uses like or as to
make a
comparison
Proverbs: short sayings that are used to advice, comment, or interpret
behaviors
Idioms: Kerbal and Grunwell (1997) identified idioms as short multi-word
expressions in which the idiom cannot be deduced from the primary
meaning of each individual word in the expression
Recording
Subjects were given a voice recorder to place near them when teaching the class
Researcher sat in the back of the classroom and had no interaction with the children or
teachers
Teachers were recorded for 2-3 hours during math and language arts lessons
Transcription
Language samples were transcribed using Systematic Analysis of Language Transcriptions
(SALT)
 Transcribed using communication units (CU). A CU was defined as an independent clause
and all of the clauses that modify it (Kaderavek, 2011).
400 communication units were obtained per teacher with minimally 100 CUs from each
lesson
Coding
Online dictionary provided by Makkai, Boatner, and Gates was used to identify the idioms
present in the samples.
An idiom was defined as an expression [phrase] in which the idiom cannot be deduced
from the primary meaning of each individual word in the expression (Kerbel & Grunwell,
1997).
Idioms were coded with a n when used in a nonliteral sesne and the student could not
interpret the phrase literally (put your thinking cap on).
Idioms were coded with a l when the phrase was presented in a literal sense- Ex. Raise
your hand-raise your hand upward (literal) rather than a helping hand (nonliteral)
There are many dimensions in describing an idiom:
Familiarity: how often an individual is exposed to an idiom
Transparency: Ability to interpret. Idioms that are easy to interpret are
transparent (my lips are sealed). Opaque idioms are more difficult to
interpret the meaning of the expression (face the music).
Syntactic Complexity: Clausal-noun+verb (Kick the bucket); Phrasal
(hang on, work out, salt and pepper hair)
Past Research
 Limited studies looked at idiom use in the classroom and if there were
different amounts used as grade level varied. Each of the studies used
different definitions of idioms
Evan-Brouhard (1992): reported on nonliteral language used by 1 third
grade teacher; no significant change in idiom use
Newton (1985): assessed idioms used by regular educators, hearing
impaired classrooms-oral only vs. total communication through activities
and books that included an abundance of idioms.
Lazar et. al., (1989): researched nonliteral language in regular education
kindergarten through eighth grade. Idiom use increased with grade level
Kerbel & Grunwell (1997): Most comparable to the current study. Studied
the use of idioms by teachers in language unit (special education) and
mainstream classrooms. Results found language unit teachers use fewer
idioms than mainstream teachers. The study counted idioms by minutes
and there were limited subjects
Purpose
Purpose of the current study was to evaluate if there was a significant
difference in the amount of idioms used by teachers in regular and special
education classroom teachers.
Results: Frequency of Idiom Production
Data Analysis
Mean number of idioms per CU for each teacher
Mean number of nonliteral and literal
T-test used to find significant difference between groups in idiom use
 Idioms were marked common when used more than 10 times. Idioms were marked
uncommon when used 9 times or less.
8,258 communication units were transcribed
Uncommon Idioms
Frequency
9
8
Keep Track; Move on
Fill in; Go up; Mix up
7
All the way; Eyes up; Hands down; Hold up; Just a minute; In order; Put back; Tune into; Give me a two
Frequency
75+
50-75
6
Find out; Way to go; Hurry up; Inside your head; Put up; Push up; Sound out
5
Come on; Eyes on; Go on; Just a second; Stick up
4
Come over; Give me five; Gone up; On top; Show up; Sit on; Stand up
3
Stuck in your brain; Take a minute; Pass out; Put under; Sit in; Slow down; Stretch that; Take a break;
Take off; Work out
Come back; Come down; Drag out; Filling up her bucket; Follow up; Give back; Go along; Hands on;
Hands in; Hands up; Hang out; Head down; Inside your mind; Look over; In a minute; Just a moment;
Pick up; Put over; Right away; One second; Sort out; Split up; Stay with me; Stay in; Stick together;
Thumbs down
2
1
On the ball; Brain freeze; Break it down; Break up; Bucket feel full; Call on; Put your thinking cap on;
Catch on; Double check; Check up; Clear up; Come in; That’s my cold talking; Dawned on me; Where
are my math detectives; Dress up; Dry up; Good eye; Eyes off; End up; Fall behind; So far; Fill out; Fill
up; Finish up; Go with the flow; Full house; Go around; Go off; Go down; Go straight; Hands off; Hand
in; Hang tight; Hang on; Geometry hat on; We got to hightail it; High five; Keep on your toes; Keep it
up; You are killing me; Knock it off; Made out; Wait a minute; Open up; Pull that up; Running out of
room; Two seconds; Any second; For a second; Set up; Settle down; Slip out of mind; Stick out; Take
down; Thinks up; Time out; Touch up; Turn this off; Up to you; Brain working; Work on; Wheels
turning; World of knowledge; Wrap it up
Common Idioms
Going to (499)
Put on (58); Raise your hand (49); Put in (48)
12 regular education teachers produced a total of 785 idiomatic phrases
12 special education teachers produced a total of 611 idiomatic phrases
Mean number produced by regular ed was 22 compared to 18 for special ed.
True nonliteral idioms were only produced in 5-7% of utterances
Results: Diversity of Idiom Production
Regular
Education
Teachers
Cross-Category
Teachers
Mean Number Mean Total
of Different
Number of
Idioms
Idioms
Type-Token
Idiom
Diversity Ratio
M= 22.67
Range 14-30
M= 65.42
Range 44-93
M=.36
Range .23-61
M= 18.17
Range 14-23
M= 50.92
Range 33-72
M=.38
Range .21-.53
Conclusions
Teacher idiom production was similar in comparison to past research
Many studies have looked at comprehention of idioms. At the preschool level, children cannot
interpret multiple meaning expressions without proper exposure (Nippold, 1991). Depends heavily
on physical aspects of the word (transparency). At the school age level, comprehension depends
on context. Age and familiarity of idioms are important factors. Idioms comprehension is not fully
developed until 18 years of age.
References
25-50
Go ahead (33); Here we go (33); Kind of (30);
Go over (25)
10-25
Come up (23); Figure it out (20); Hold on (20);
Look up (20); In the middle (20); Put down
(20); Sit down (18); Pay attention (17); Sit up
(15) up (14); Take out (14); Put away (13);
Count on it (12); Going on (11); Use a quiet
hand (11); Thumbs up (11); Make up (10)
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