Title He that would eat the kernel must crack the nut: older preschoolers’ ability to understand the moral idea of the proverb
Translation of Title Czym skorupka za młodu nasiąknie, tym na starośćtrąci: zdolność dzieci w wieku przedszkolnym do rozumienia moralnego przesłania przysłów.
Authors Bražienė, Nijolė ; Malinauskienė, Daiva ; Vaitkevičienė, Asta
DOI 10.12775/LE.2025.011
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Is Part of Labor et educatio.. Torun : Nicolaus Copernicus University. 2025, no. 13, p. 179-195.. ISSN 2353-4745. eISSN 2353-4745
Keywords [eng] older preschoolers ; understanding of proverbs ; metaphor ; reading to children
Abstract [eng] The aim of the research presented in the article is to find out how discussion of the text read helps older preschoolers understand the moral idea of the proverb. In combining the proverb with the content of the text being read, the study used dialogic reading of a literary work, when the child is included in the conversation. The children’s ability to understand the proverb was assessed twice – before reading when there is no context of the proverb and aft er reading when the context of using the proverb aft er thinking questions could already be clear to the children. In order to test the eff ect of reading on understanding the meaning of the proverb, a paired t-test was used to summarise the responses of the children participating in the study. Based on the results of the study, it can be stated that reading and discussing the story had an impact on the children’s ability to understand a proverb when its moral idea is understood directly: the results of the paired t-test revealed that aft er reading the story, the mean of the estimates of the correct interpretations of the proverb by children was higher (M = 1.23; SD = 1.129) than before reading (M = 0.79; SD = 0.932), and the diff erence in the means of the estimates of these responses was statistically signifi cant (p = 0.000). When assessing the ability to understand a proverb that is understood fi guratively, the results of the paired t-test showed that aft er reading the story, the mean of the estimates of the correct interpretations of the proverb by children was slightly higher (M = 0.65; SD = 0.859) than before reading (M = 0.53; SD = 0.731), however, this diff erence was not statistically signifi cant (p = 0.074).
Published Torun : Nicolaus Copernicus University
Type Journal article
Language English
Publication date 2025
CC license CC license description