Students' Understanding of IronyChung, Hye-seungIrony is frequently used as an indirect expression in daily verbal or written communications. Irony has various pragmatic functions, and people require a high level of linguistic skill, reasonable thinking, analytical ability to use and understand ironical expressions. The purpose of this study is to examine development in students' understanding of irony.An assessment scale was developed to measure understanding of irony among elementary and secondary school students. A total of 847 students were recruited from 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th grades. Based on the results of the study, students' understanding of irony increased with age. Second grade students' understanding was rather unstable but 4th grade students and older graders understood irony completely. This finding was consistent with the results of earlier studies. There was statistically significant difference in the levels of understanding between male and female students. But both male and female students showed increased levels of understanding as they aged. The differences in levels of understanding of irony between male and female students might have stemmed from linguistic ability. However, the study suggests that male and female students may be affected differently by social and cultural factors. At the same time, male and female student can be different in commanding language and accepting irony. There were no differences in students' understanding of forms of irony (verbal or written ironies). But there were differences in students' understanding of characters of irony. It was found that children had more difficulty understanding ironical compliment than understanding ironical criticism. This finding can be explained as a kind of learning effects. That is, students are more accustomed to ironical criticism than ironical compliment.