Writing in English as an Additional Language at Key Stage 2

Writing in English as an Additional Language at Key Stage 2 70
frequency. Table 10 and Figure 18 show how many metaphors and similes were used,
on average, by those writers who used figurative language.
Average no of
instances per story
(N=70)
EAL 3 EAL 4 EAL 5 EMT 3 EMT 4 EMT 5
1.5 3.0 5.4 2.4 3.5 4.4
Table 9 The mean number of metaphors and similes per story (N=70)
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
EAL3 EAL4 EAL5 EMT3 EMT4 EMT5
Figure 18 The mean number of instances per story in which figurative language was used
(N=70)
6.3.4 Animal metaphors and similes
It was noticeable that many instances of figurative language (14%) involved animals,
used to describe Characters, e.g. eyes like a cat’s, and to describe the queue rushing
into the shop shown in the third storyboard picture:
the children rushed in like if loads of elephants saw one little rat (EMT 3)
the children ran into the entrance like a group of cheetahs (EAL 4)
The proportion of animal metaphors and similes to the total numbers varied by level.
EAL use of animal metaphor increased with level, whereas EMT writing showed the
opposite trend, with level 3 using much more than levels 4 and 5 (Table 11)
Animal metaphors and
similes as percentage
of all figurative
language
EAL 3 EAL 4 EAL 5 EMT 3 EMT 4 EMT 5
0 10.7 19.7 26.3 12.5 7.1
Table 10 Animal metaphors and similes as % of all figurative language
When we look at the use of animal metaphors and similes per story (Figure 19), the
highest frequency is in stories by EAL learners achieving level 5.