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Understanding Figurative Language

Identifying figurative language is an objective in almost every English course in every grade.
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From  foundation to analysis of “Everyday Text”
Identifying figurative language is an objective in almost every English course in every grade. However, how frequently is the teacher able to stretch students beyond the levels of recall and identification and into analysis? Why did the author choose this type of figurative language? What makes this type of figurative language effective?
 
By searching for text outside of the fictional short story or novel, students are able to see how frequently they read figurative language each day. Our society is bombarded with advertising text everywhere – from internet pop-ups, to the back stops of baseball fields, to the scrolling marquee across the bottom of local news. The copy of advertising becomes a great resource for teaching the analysis of figurative language. 
 
Once a teacher introduces students to finding figurative language in advertising, students will be amazed at how often figurative language is used in their favorite magazines, radio and TV commercials, etc. With their interests heightened, the teacher has opened the door to the beginning of figurative language analysis. 
 
Strategies for Identifying and Analyzing the Use of Figurative Language
  • Creating the foundation. It is important to first pre-test students to determine which terms they know, which they have heard before, and which are completely new. Once this has been determined, review and/or introduce the following figurative language terms: alliteration, allusion, apostrophe, hyperbole, metaphor, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, personification, pun, simile.
  • Practicing for comprehension. To help students become more proficient with terms, teachers can introduce quick Concentration (aka Matching) games, which can be both fun and productive. Three levels add incentive for increasing skill:
    • Level I: Using blank note cards, write each term on a card and each definition on a card. Have a group of 3-4 students shuffle the cards and then place them face down (and spread out) on a table. Students take turns drawing two cards. The cards must match correctly (term & definition) in order for the student to keep the “match”.
    • Level II: Using blank note cards, write each term on a card and an example of each term on a card. Play the game the same way as in Level I.
    • Level III: Give students blank note cards. Have them write each term on a card and create an example of each term on another card. Play the game the same way as in Level I, only this time teams rotate the decks of cards that each student has made in order to view numerous examples.
  • Analyzing “everyday text.” In order to take figurative language to the analytical level, students must be given the opportunity to determine the reason for an author’s choice of figurative language and its effect on the audience.
  • Give students a variety of magazines from which to choose so that they may explore advertisements and cut them out.
  • Explain to students that figurative language is not just used in fictional text. In fact, it is used frequently in the copy of advertisements. Have students find a pre-determined number of examples of figurative language in the copy of advertising text. 
  • In order to fully analyze the figurative language, students must LIST them.
    • L - Label (What type of figurative language did you find?)
    • I  - Identify (Quote the actual figurative language written in the text.)
    • S - So what? (So what’s the big deal with this language?)
      • What makes this language effective in this ad?
      • Why not choose a different type of figurative language?/ Why wouldn’t something else work better?
      • Who is the intended audience?
      • What effect would this figurative language have on the audience?
      • Is this an appropriate effect?
      • What is the author’s overall purpose of this ad?
      • How does using the device help or hurt the author’s overall purpose?
    • T - Talk (Share your analysis with the others in the class in order to model analytical thinking.)
Supporting learning. Direct students to online games or Web sites that support their learning. For example, check out the Glencoe Literature Sounds Like Poetry game.
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