IDIOM UNDERSTANDING IN YOUTH - FURTHER EXAMINATION OF FAMILIARITY ANDTRANSPARENCY

School-age children and adolescents (n = 150) enrolled in Grades 5, 8, and 11 were administered a forced choice task of idiom understanding that controlled for idiom familiarity and transparency. Performance on the task steadily improved during the targeted age range and was affe cted by the factors of interest: Idioms that were higher in familiarit y and transparency were easier for students to understand than those t hat were less familiar and more opaque. The results of this study prov ide further support for the language experience hypothesis of figurati ve language development and for the hypothesis that metalinguistic act ivity, which itself becomes more sophisticated during the achool-age a nd adolescent years, facilitates later language development. The study also suggests certain methodological implications for future research that examines the development of idiom understanding in youth.