The Relationship between Working Memory and Metaphor Comprehension in School-Age Children with Specific Language Impairments

학령기 단순언어장애아동의 작업기억과 은유 이해능력 간의 관계: 언어성 및 비언어성 과제를 중심으로

배경 및 목적: 본 연구에서는 단순언어장애아동 및 일반아동을 대상으로 작업기억 능력과 은유 이해능력을 비교하고, 작업기억 능력과 은유 이해능력 간의 관련성을 살펴보고자 하였다. 방법: 본 연구에서는 초등학교 4-6학년에 재학 중인 10-12세 단순언어장애 15명, 일반 15명, 총 30명을 대상으로 작업기억 과제(문장기억폭, 매트릭스)와 은유 과제(은유문장, 은유광고)를 실시하고, 이원혼합분산분석(two-way mixed ANOVA) 및 Pearson 적률상관계수를 구하였다. 결과: 작업기억 과제(문장기억폭, 매트릭스)에서 두 집단 간 유의한 차이가 있었고, 과제 간 유의한 차이를 보였다. 은유 과제(은유문장, 은유광고)에서 두 집단 간 유의한 차이를 보였다. 단순언어장애 아동은 은유 과제 간 유의한 상관을 보였고, 일반아동은 작업기억 과제(문장기억폭)와 은유 과제(은유문장, 은유광고) 간 유의한 상관을 보였으며, 은유 과제 간에도 유의한 상관을 보였다. 논의 및 결론: 단순언어장애아동은 일반아동과 비교해 작업기억 능력과 은유 이해능력 모두에서 어려움을 보였다. 비록 단순언어장애아동이 작업기억 능력과 은유 이해능력 사이에 유의한 상관을 보이지는 않았지만, 두 집단이 작업기억 능력에 차이를 보인다는 결과는 단순언어장애아동이 보이는 언어적 결함이 작업기억과 관련이 있을 수 있다는 점을 시사한다.

Objectives: The present study investigated the relationship between working memory and metaphor comprehension in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typical development (TD). Methods: A total of 30 children between 10 to 12 years old, 15 children with SLI and 15 children with TD participated in the study. The experiments consisted of two working memory tasks (Competing Language Processing Task [CLPT] and Matrix) and two metaphor comprehension tasks (sentence and advertisement). Performance on the two working memory tasks and two metaphor comprehension tasks were analyzed by using two-way mixed ANOVA and correlational analyses. Results: Results were summarized as follows: There were significant differences between the groups on working memory tasks (CLPT and Matrix), and metaphor tasks (sentence and advertisement), showing that the SLI group had lower accuracy than TD group. There was a significant difference within conditions in which verbal working memory task performance had lower accuracy than the nonverbal working memory task. The correlational analyses were significant between metaphor tasks (sentence and advertisement) for both groups. However, correlational analyses among working memory tasks (CLPT), and metaphor tasks (sentence and advertisement) were significant for children with TD but not for children with SLI. Conclusion: The study results indicate that children with SLI have more difficulties in working memory and metaphor comprehension then children with TD. Although the working memory ability and metaphor comprehension ability were not significantly correlated for children with SLI, the differences between two groups of working memory abilities showed that difficulties in the metaphor comprehension for children with SLI may be involved with working memory difficulties.