ABSTRACT
Theory and research on the dynamics of instructional metaphors, analogies, and models, children's ability to comprehend figurative language, and the effectiveness of figurative devices as instructional tools are reviewed. There has been a great deal of research on the development of metaphoric abilities in children. Perkins pointed out that models of new subject matter are inherently ambiguous. Perkins suggested that instructional metaphors should be presented close to the beginning of a new body of information. Coming early in the learning process, a good metaphor will be useful at each subsequent step along the way. Ortony's 'inexpressibility' thesis suggests that metaphors often communicate things that cannot be communicated using literal language. For instance, the language we use to talk about psychological processes is primarily metaphorical. In order for metaphor to be an effective instructional tool, learners must be able to understand metaphors. In the case of normal adults, there is no doubt that they can.
