ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 12, Issue 3, October 2024 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 1159 INVESTIGATING THE USE AND SEMANTIC INTERPRETATION OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE IN EFL STUDENTS’ LITERARY WORK Sudar English Language Education, Teacher Training and Education Faculty, Universitas Muhammadiyah Purworejo, Indonesia Email: sudarbintang@umpwr.ac.id APA Citation: Sudar. (2024). Investigating the use and semantic interpretation of figurative language in EFL students’ literary work. English Review: Journal of English Education, 12(3), 1159-1168. https://doi.org/10.25134/ erjee.v12i3.10367 Received: 25-06-2024 Accepted: 24-08-2024 Published: 30-10-2024 INTRODUCTION Figurative language is one of a tool of communication, both written and spoken. Then, researcher would like describe the philosophy of figurative language described by previous experts. Monny (2023), Santika et al. (2023), they argued that figurative language is a language which used to develop and enrich the meaning of literary work. Furthermore, Hartman and Paradise, (2020), they described in their study that figurative language can be interpreted from semantic perspective. They argued that figurative language was able to produce the meaning based on semantics theories. Afifah, et al. (2022), Mustikawati, at al. (2023), Yuliana, et al. (2022), they argued that figurative language was able to be used in any fields of language discussions. Further, figurative language was necessary to be learned not only in the term of literary appreciation but also in the other fields of human activities; such as; politics, business, culture, and also in education. Fatimah, et al. (2020), Bagul, et al. (2023), they described that figurative language can be used in the teaching learning process by lecturers and students. They mentioned and investigated that there were eight types of figurative language such as; rhetoric, simile, metonymy, personification, repetition, paradox, metaphor, and litotes. Furthermore, Iswahyuni, et al. (2024), Khairunnisa, et al. (2022), Mentari (2023), they sated that figurative language was usually used in short story and novel. They found that there were some types of figurative language namely; personification, metaphor, hyperbole, and simile. Among of these figurative languages, hyperbole figurative language was mostly used by students in writing their short story. Manurung et al. (2020), they described that figurative language was also written in the printed media. For example, their research finding was about the using of figurative language in the Jakarta Post newspaper. They argued that figurative language written in the media to express ideas, thought, feelings, based on the context of situation and the context of language use. Maulidia, (2022), she described that figurative meaning was an aesthetical language; it was written by any authors that they wanted to share their ideas by using figurative language. Further, Nera et al. (2024), they described that figurative language was also written in the movie. They stated that figurative languages used in the movie were more complicated. Harun et al. (2020), they explained that figurative language was an effective tool of communication in the society. It can be used Abstract: This study aims to investigate the dominant types of figurative language found in the students ‘literary works. There were two types of dominant figurative language namely; hyperbole and personification. Furthermore, this study was also to describe the meaning of figurative language from semantics’ interpretation. This is descriptive qualitative research. The scenario of taking the data were as follow; first, researcher took the data from the literary classroom. Second, researcher identify figurative language taken from student’s literary work. Third, interpreting the data based on figurative language theory and the semantics theory. Researcher used the theory of figurative language written by Fatimah, et al. (2020) and the theory of meaning in semantics developed by Umagandhi, et al. (2017). Research findings stated there were six types of figurative language written by students in their literary works. Then, the dominant of figurative language written by students was hyperbole figurative and personification. Further, there were four types of semantics meaning written by students, such as; connotative, affective, reflected, and associative. Affective semantic meaning was the dominant meaning written in the students’ literary work. Affective meaning was found in the Personification figurative language. Further, Figurative languages and their semantics meaning were meaningful for learning and empowering students’ linguistics’ competences. Particularly it is in semantics discussion. Keywords: figurative language, EFL student, literary work, semantic perspective Sudar Investigating the use and semantic interpretation of figurative language in EFL students’ literary work 1160 to solve the problem related the society complicated, even it can be used to minimize the conflict interest in the social communication. Furthermore, Mukti, et al. (2022), they explained that figurative languages of dialogue in movies were more dynamic. The speakers of figurative language in the movie were able to variety of tone of speech. Furthermore, they said that figurative language written in English songs was interested for EFL learners. The example of figurative language used in the Song lyrics was investigated by , Frida, et al. (2022), Pardede et al. (2023), Fatikha et al. (2022), Natsir et al. (2022), Simarmata, et al. (2021), Simatupang and Supri, (2022), Wibawa, et al. (2020), They investigated the use of figurative of language written in the English song lyrics. Their research findings explained that, there were some figurative languages in English Song lyrics; such metaphors, hyperboles, similes, euphemisms, and personifications. They described that figurative languages were commonly used in the English song lyric. They stated that figurative language written in the song lyrics was effective away of communication. It was supported by Putri, et al. (2022), they explained that the popular literary work and it was practical for teaching English for EFL learners was English song. Then, Beltrama (2020), he argued that meaning in semantics was necessary to be investigated. He described that there was one of meaning that popularly used to interpret the meaning in any language uses. His research discussion stated that there were three types methods used in the semantics discussion, namely; formal, experimental and computational. Nonye (2022), she described the role of context in investigating the meaning of words from semantic perspective. She argued that the context of language used has high influences to determining the meaning of word. She stated that the meaning of words should related to the place and the time of using words. Reyes, et al. (2022), they argued that literal language and figurative language were different. They said that literal meaning was a meaning that directly used by speaker to interpret a certain word. On the other side, they said that figurative language was language which had an implicit meaning. Ferguson (2024), he described that figurative language had many functions in the communication among of the language users. He stated that there were some functions of figurative language namely; softening messages, enhancing politeness, and conveying criticism. Talking about meaning in semantics, it was described by Leech, (1981) cited in Yunira, et al. (2020), they described that there were seven semantics meaning such as; conceptual, connotative, collocative, reflective, affective, social, and thematic. Kasma et al. (2021), they investigated the using of figurative language written in CCN news headline. They said that there were four types of figurative language used in CNN news headlines. They were such as; metonymy, simile, hyperbole, and metaphor. Semantically, there were three types of meanings, namely; conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, and social meaning. Furthermore, Kasimov, et al. (2022), He stated that figurative language was able to make readers or listeners in the communication to be more peaceful. The speakers and readers of a language were able to make their psychological intimacy. It meant that figurative language was able to create a harmony among of language users, both spoken and written language. Then, Nurbaini et al. (2024), Indarti et al. (2023), and Madjid (2021), they argued that a language was as a tool of communication and also for expressing feelings of the speakers. Because of this, they explained that figurative language was one of effective away of communication to avoid the conflict and to create critical thinking among of the language users. They investigated the figurative language used in the Robert Frost Poem and novel. It meant that they analyzed the using of figurative language written in the poem and novel. Their research findings revealed that there were more less than seven types of figurative language used in the poem and novel such as; metaphor, personification, symbol, hyperbole, imagery, paradoxes, and irony. Researcher assumed that EFL students write the figurative languages in their short story were more colorful. The using of figurative language was also suggested by Nafilah and Rustandi, (2023), Eragamreddy, (2024), they described that the use of figurative language in the poems has poetic meaning. It meant that figurative language has aesthetics meanings. Further, the understanding the hidden meaning in the poems was needed by any English language learners. The hidden meaning written in figurative language was interested to be investigated. Then, their research findings stated that there were some figurative languages used in the William Shakespeare’s poems, such as; personification, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, metonymy, and litotes. Furthermore Nainggolan, et al. (2021), they described that figurative language also can be used in the real speech. For example; they investigated the figurative language used by Joe Biden Speech. It was a strategy how the speaker to make his speech ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 12, Issue 3, October 2024 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 1161 smoothly understandable and it sounded peaceful in the audience mentality. The figurative language used by Joe Biden in his speech were such as; metaphor, personification, hyperbole, simile, and litotes. Among of these, metaphor was mostly used by Joe Biden in delivering his speech. It meant that Joe Biden would like to compare something with others. Then, Kocak and Atalik, (2024), described that figurative language was able to influence the behavior of language use. They proved their ideas in their research finding about the using of figurative language through media social (Facebook). Then, Pafitri and Nasir, (2023). They described that figurative language was also written in the short story. The figurative languages written in the short story have many types and have many meanings. Furthermore, the use of figurative language also used in the English text book, it was like studied by Ketaren, et al. (2021), they argued that figurative language was also possible written in the English text book. They described that figurative language was also possible written in the English text book as a material of teaching learning. Their research focused on investigating the types and the meaning of figurative language. Then, Pertiwi and Handayani (2023), they described the using of figurative language in YouTube. It was used by YouTuber, in their communication with their followers. They found that there were twelve of figurative language used by Youtubers, such as; simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe, metonymy, symbol, allegory, paradox, overstatement, understatement, synecdoche, and irony. Based on this finding, the use of figurative language in the YouTube channel was more complicated. Then, another linguist, Ahmed Ado, (2023), he discussed the using of figurative language by court officials in Nigeria. He described that there were some figurative languages used by court official to addresses the actions of addresses in order to establish defenses. Atmaja, (2022), he investigated the using of figurative language used in the advertising in internet. His research findings revealed that, the slogan written in internet also used some figurative language such as; personification, metaphor, hyperbole, metonymy, simile, litotes, paradox, synecdoche, and symbols. Then, another linguist, Purba et al. (2022), they would like to explained that figurative language was also applicable in the advertisement of newspaper. It was used to promote the products of the industries. It was written in the form of slogan. Figurative languages used in the advertisement were such as; metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and symbol. Further, Chahboun, et al. (2021), they argued that figurative language was used in the interaction among of speakers, such as; irony, sarcasm, and idioms. It meant that figurative language was used independently in any context of language use. Leclercq and Satta, (2020) cited in Yadav et al, (2022), they argued that semantically, figurative language has two meanings they were literal and contextual meaning. Furthermore, Umagandhi and Vinothini (2017), they described that there were seven types of meanings in semantics, such as; connotative, social and affective, reflected and collective, associative, conceptual, and thematic meaning. The research questions of my research article were as the following; a. what are the types of figurative language written in short story, b, what is the dominant of figurative language written in short story? c. what are the meanings of figurative language written in short story by students? METHOD It is qualitative descriptive research. The research data is in the form of literary works (short story) written by EFL students. The unit of data analysis is figurative languages used in the EFL student’ literary works. The researcher was as the main instrument conducted an analysis of figurative language written in the EFL students’ literary works. Bogdan and Biklen (1992), cited in Creswell (2018) there were some techniques to collect the data in qualitative research. One of them was documentation which contain of figurative languages in the short story written by EFL students. There were two classes of literary works assignment. It contained forty-five students. Because of the time limitation, and to avoid the crowded discussion, researcher took twenty-three short stories randomly. To analyze the data, researcher used the theory of figurative language elaborated by Fatimah, et al. (2020). They described that there were eight types of figurative language such as; rhetoric, simile, metonymy, personification, repetition, paradox, metaphor, and litotes. Then, theory of meaning in semantics developed by Umagandhi and Vinothini, (2017), they explained that there were six types of meanings. Furthermore, the researcher conducted the following steps; such as; identifying the data, coding the data, analyzing and interpreting the data, and drawing conclusions and suggestions. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In this section, researcher would like to present the Sudar Investigating the use and semantic interpretation of figurative language in EFL students’ literary work 1162 research finding in form of tables. The tables were about types of figurative language, the dominant types of figurative language and the meaning of figurative language based on semantics’ interpretation. Table 1. The types of figurative language written in the students’ literary work, (short story) Fatimah, Amri, and Rusan, (2020) Types of Figurative language Number of phrases or clauses contain figurative language Examples Simile 75 clauses Rain lashed against the windowpane like a thousand tiny fists, She had faced the storm, and in a way, she had won, proving to herself that even a little girl with a book and a lamp could be a hero in her own right. Personific ation 123 clauses Taking a deep breath, Elara grabbed a kerosene lamp, the flickering flame casting a warm, wavering glow., The first rays of dawn peeked through the clouds, painting the sky with a palette of lavender and rose. Symbolism 5 clauses With his spirit not yet extinguished, he still tried to be strong and started to rise again to build his dreams from the bottom of the cliff., The last stand of the German army came to a futile end. Irony 11 clauses The injury to his back made it impossible for him to play baseball again, and he hadn't even started. Elara, exhausted but triumphant, surveyed the room. Metaphor 20 clauses As time wore on, Alex came to see the island not as a prison but as a sanctuary, a place of untamed beauty and endless possibility., Every note is a new chapter, and the guitar helps me express feelings and ideas. Hyperbole 125 Clauses Sarah, a young woman with a heart full of dreams and a spirit as resilient as the mighty oak, found herself facing the formidable challenge of her life. But Sarah was not one to surrender to despair. Figure 1. The graphic of dominant figurative language written by students in their writing short story. Table 2. The meaning of Figurative language written in the students’ literary work (short story) Umagand hi and Vinothini , (2017) types of meaning in Semantic s Number of figurative language based on meaning in Semantics Examples Connotati ve 76 Figurstive languages Smilie :sensitive issue Thousands of people packed the ballroom, like a sea of people whose thirst for knowledge was quenched Metaphor: sensitive issue Borobudur Temple is not just a tourist spot; for us, it is a spiritual experience that touches the soul. ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 12, Issue 3, October 2024 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 1163 Affective 166 Figurative languages Personification : (human characteristics) The first rays of dawn peeked through the clouds, painting the sky with a palette of lavender and rose. Associati ve 97 Figurative Language Hyperbole :to make over the meaning He tried to open his heart to find things he could do and try new things Reflected 7 Figurative Language Irony : opposite the real meaning; Elara, exhausted but triumphant, surveyed the room. It is like stated on the table 1. The six figurative languages were Simile, Personification, Symbolism, Irony, Metaphor, and Hyperbole written by students of English Education Program in Purworejo Muhammadiyah University. Students wrote short story as a part of their compulsory for completing their subject in literary appreciation subject. Students wrote their figurative language as an expression their ideas, feelings and thought. The highest figurative language written by students for expressing their ideas was “hyperbole”. They described that something happened seriously, then they used words in the clauses, with specific expression, for example; Smilie Figurative language: “Rain lashed against the windowpane like a thousand tiny fists,” Here the author of short story described that the rain was like a thousand tiny fist, it means that the rain was actually heavy rain. Further, it needs serious attention from the people in the society. Then, the word “a thousand tiny fist” made the readers of short story to be interested and they paid special attention to the meaning of the expression. The next example of figurative language was “personification”. This figurative language written by students in the short story; such as: “Taking a deep breath, Elara grabbed a kerosene lamp, the flickering flame casting a warm, wavering glow. The author of short story would like to tell to the readers of short story that the kerosene lamp was like human being behaviour. Kerosene lamp was able to flick to make the situation was being warm. The fact that being warming was usually made by human being not by the lamp. Further, the kerosene lamp was also to make the situation being wavering glow. It means that the author wanted the situation was being cheerful. Further, author of the short story would like to use the word” wavering glow’. It means that the author of short story would like to create the glory and pleasure. The fact that the lamp was not able to create a situation. Being able to create glory and being pleasure, situation was only able made bay human being. Further, kerosene lamp was like human being. On the other side, it was a lamp not a human being. The next example of figurative language was “Symbolism”. The author of short story would like to symbolize the phenomenon with something. The example was as the following: “The last stand of the German army came to a futile end.”. There was the word “stand” it refers to the group of armies coming from German. Here the author would like to make the word of army group replaced by the word” stand”. It made the readers of short story to be curious of knowing that word. Then they will be more peaceful for reading the word “stand” than the word” group”. Further example of figurative language was “Irony”. The example of Irony figurative language such as; “Elara, exhausted but triumphant, surveyed the room. The author of short story described that “Elara” the actor in the short story was very tired, on the other side, Elara was not tired. It was argued with the word “triumphant”. Elara was very success of her life. It expressed using the word triumphant. Such a meaning was included the Irony figurative language. The meaning that opposite the fact. Then, the next example of example of figurative language was “metaphor”. This figurative language means that the author would like to express something sensitive in the feeling of people in the society. It sounds something horror. The example of this figurative language; such as; “As time wore on, Alex came to see the island not as a prison but as a sanctuary, a place of untamed beauty and endless possibility.,”. The word “a sanctuary, a place untamed beauty, and the word” endless possibility” were the word have a sensitive meaning, even it has a horror meaning. It means that words were a place that made the people will be sad. They will enjoy because of that; it was a place for the prisoners. The word “untamed beauty,” it means that no beautifulness in the jail. Then the word “endless possibility” it means that there was no ended of the possibility needed by prisoners who lived in the jail. The last example of example of figurative language written by students in their short story was Smilie. The meaning of the Smilie means sensitive expression. It was look like metaphor. Smilie sound about surprising, on the other side, metaphor was close to a horror feeling. The Sudar Investigating the use and semantic interpretation of figurative language in EFL students’ literary work 1164 example of Smilie, such ac; “Rain lashed against the windowpane like a thousand tiny fists,” Her the author of short story would like to describe, why the rain was like “a thousand tiny fist”. What happened with the thousand tiny fists, this expression made the readers of short story was being wonder? Actually, the rain was very heavy, so it was regarded like a thousand of tiny fist which came to the window of a house. It was written in the table 2. Stated that there two types of dominant figurative language, namely; hyperbole and personification. The hyperbole figurative language was one hundred and twenty-five clauses written by students in their short story. Further, the second dominant figurative language was personification. It was one hundred and twenty-three clauses of personification figurative languages. Furthermore, in the previous studies only focused on describing the types of figurative languages. On the other sides, this paper was not only about the types and the dominant figurative languages written by students in their short story. It was also about the meaning of figurative languages written by students. Researcher investigated the meaning of figurative languages related the theory of semantics was written by Umagandhi and Vinothini, (2017). Based on the data analysis related to this theory, there were four meanings of figurative language written by students in short stories, such as; connotative, affective, reflected, and associative. The first was connotative, the connotative meaning was found in the Smilie and Metaphor figurative language. Smilie and Metaphor were talk about something sensitive. The example in the following clause of short story” Thousands of people packed the ballroom, like a sea of people whose thirst for knowledge was quenched”, the word “like a sea of people whose thirst for knowledge was quenched” it was an expression of sensitive issue; it made readers of short story to be wonder. That words made the readers to be curious to know the deep meaning of that expression. Further, the sensitive meaning was found in the metaphor figurative language. The example of sensitive meaning in metaphor is in the following expression, such as; “Borobudur Temple is not just a tourist spot; for us, it is a spiritual experience that touches the soul.”. Here the author of short story described that Borobudur was not only as a tourist destination. On the other side, Borobudur was as a spiritual experience that touching the soul. The word “a spiritual touching the soul”, it was a sensitive meaning. It has a sensitiveness effect to the people who focused on spiritual meditation. Further, Borobudur that fact was not only as a tourist destination but it was also as a religion meditation. Then second meaning of figurative language was Affective. The affective semantic meaning was found in the personification figurative language. The example of affective semantics meaning in the personification figurative language is as the following; “The first rays of dawn peeked through the clouds, painting the sky with a palette of lavender and rose”. The word the “first rays of dawn peeked through the cloud, painting the sky with a palette of lavender and rose”. This expression has deep human characteristics; the word “peeked through the cloud” it was an activity usually done by human being, but in this expression the activity was done by non-human life, it was “rays of dawn”. It was the lights in the early morning. Further, the word” painting the sky”. The word “painting” it was human activity, here the rays of dawn was as if painting the sky, it was like a human power. Further, the affective meaning will colourize the reader’s behaviour when they were reading personification figurative language. The third semantic meaning found in the figurative language was associative semantic meaning. The associative meaning was found in the hyperbole figurative language. Hyperbole means to make the meaning more than the fact. The example of associative semantic meaning in the hyperbole is the following; “He tried to open his heart to find things he could do and try new things”. The word “open his heart” was an associative meaning, it means that the author of short story argued that, a person who was able to do a new thing, she or he should work hard. The word “open his heart” it means that she or he should work seriously to face something new, further she or he was able to be success for completing new task. The last semantic meaning found in the figurative language was Reflected meaning. Reflected meaning was found in the Irony Figurative language. Irony means the contrary meaning from the fact. The contrary meaning semantically reflecting in the opposite meaning. The example of reflected meaning is as the following; “Elara, exhausted but triumphant, surveyed the room”. In the word of “exhausted but triumphant”. Here the author of expressing of being success, but she used the opposite meaning; she said that she was exhausted, but she was triumphant. It means that she was verry success, ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 12, Issue 3, October 2024 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 1165 the successfulness was replaced by the word triumphant preceded by the word exhausted. CONCLUSION A short story was as one of EFL assignment in completing their subjects, it was particularly the subject of literary appreciation. It was stated that figurative language has its own meanings. The meaning of figurative language was affected by the context of writing short story. EFL students of English Education Program were free to write their short story. Further, they were dependently to express their feelings, ideas, and thought. Then, there were six types of figurative languages written by EFL students in writing their short story, namely; Smilie, Personification, Hyperbole, Metaphor, Symbolism, and Irony. Then, the dominant types of figurative language written by students was hyperbole figurative and personification. Further, there four types of semantics meaning written by EFL students in their short story, such as; connotative, affective, reflected, and associative. Affective semantic meaning was the dominant meaning written in the students’ literary work (short story). Affective meaning was found in the Personification figurative language. 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