本論文主要探討臺灣兒童如何理解中文成語：從語義透明度(semantic transparency)、結構對稱性(structural symmetry)以及語境效應(context effect)的角度切入，研究以上三項因素在成語習得過程的影響。本研究的受試者為國小二、四、六年級學齡兒童（共六十位）及成人對照組（共二十位），分別進行兩階段測驗：第一階段，受試者在無語境的情況下詮釋成語，他們須從字面義和象徵義中作選擇；第二階段，受試者在故事和插圖中詮釋成語。研究成果，如下：
（一） 在兒童的成語理解發展中，語境效應的助益最大，其次為對稱結構，語義透明度則未達顯著。
（二）語境效應能提昇兒童的成語理解能力，但故事和插圖的益處會因年歲增長而降低。
（三）就結構而言，對稱成語（如：風花雪月）比不對稱的成語（如：天馬行空）更容易為兒童所理解。對稱結構的效益會隨年齡增長而逐漸顯現。
（四）語義透明度的作用並不明顯，實際上，兒童對語義透明和不透明成語的理解不相上下（如：口是心非、開門見山）；但語義透明度和結構對稱性的交互作用卻能深度影響兒童的成語理解。
綜上所述，本研究建構一個三階段的成語理解發展模式，以此說明兒童於各階段的成語理解能力。

This cross-sectional study collected data of children at ages 7, 9, and 11 to simulate the developmental process of comprehension of Chinese quadra-syllabic idioms (chengyu 成語 or QIEs). The study examined how semantic transparency, structural symmetry, and contextual support interact and take effect on QIE acquisition. The tested idioms were accordingly categorized into four types as transparent versus opaque and symmetric versus asymmetric idioms (i.e., TS, TA, OS, OA types), and then tested successively out of and in
context. The contextual support included both short stories and pictures. Children chose between QIEs’ literal and figurative interpretations for comprehension check in the two tasks. The major findings are as below:
1. During the process of children’s QIE comprehension, contextual support played the most influential role, followed by structural symmetry, and the least by semantic transparency with insignificant main effect.
2. The children understood Chinese idioms more easily in context than in isolation; their comprehension depended less on contextual support as they grew up.
3. The children understood symmetric idioms more easily than asymmetric ones; their comprehension depended more on symmetric structures as their age increased.
4. The child participants understood transparent and opaque idioms fairly, for the main effect of semantic transparency was overridden by its interaction with structural symmetry.
A 3-stage developmental process of QIE comprehension was proposed to describe children’s performance at each stage.

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