The use of picture book -centered lessons to develop figurative language concepts in fifth grade students

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the use of picture books in a curriculum enhance learning. The advantage of using picture books in lessons has not been experimentally studied. The purpose of this quantitative experimental study was to examine the impact of picture book-centered lessons, designed to develop or strengthen an understanding of figurative language, on fifth grade student performance on hyperbole, metaphor, simile, and personification. Effectiveness of the picture book-centered lessons (Picture Books) on student learning of the targeted figurative language components was determined by comparing scores on the Figurative Language Interpretation Test (FLIT) (Palmer, 1991) with those from students who received lessons without picture books (No Picture Books). The sample consisted of nine fifth grade reading classes (N=154) from a school district in New England. Four female teachers each instructed at least one Picture Books class and one No Picture Books class. FLIT items for the four target components for the Picture Books and the No Picture Books groups were combined and analyzed, and analyzed separately using two-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with repeated measures on one variable. FLIT scores for the combined targeted figurative language components studied before the lessons and after the lessons were different depending upon whether or not the subjects received lessons with or without picture books. Only subjects who received lessons with picture books exhibited a significant increase in FLIT scores following the lessons, and their post-lesson scores were significantly higher than the scores for subjects who received lessons without picture books. Individual figurative language component analyses revealed that pre-lesson and post-lesson FLIT scores differed only for hyperbole, depending on whether the subjects received lessons with or without-picture books. No gender differences in mean pre-lesson FLIT scores were found for the combined figurative language targeted component scores or the individual target components. However, boys and girls appeared to respond differently to the figurative language lessons for some of the targeted figurative language component FLIT items. Boys exhibited a significant increase in combined component FLIT scores after receiving the lessons while girls did not show any overall change in FLIT performance for the combined components after receiving lessons.