An Assessment of Teaching Idioms at College Level
A Case Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21928/juhd.v5n3y2019.pp79-86Keywords:
Conceptual metaphor, Idiom, Traditional methodAbstract
The present study aims at investigating the presence of teaching idioms at English Department - College of Basic Education syllabi and the methods used in teaching idioms. A test, containing 45 idioms, was given to 40 fourth grade students to investigate their knowledge about idioms acquired through their learning at college. The researcher modified a test based on Vanderniet (2015) and Tran (2003), in which they have focused only on the most frequent idioms. The results of the syllabi analysis showed an unexpected result that only four hours are devoted to the teaching of idioms or any other figurative expressions throughout the whole four academic years at college. Teaching idioms is embedded within the syllabus of four coursebooks, which are: Communication (first grade), Communication (second grade), Culture (third grade) and Translation (third grade). The results of the test coincides with the lack of teaching idioms since, unfortunately, 21% of the students passed the test successfully. The neglect is due partly to the program designers who didn't pay attention to the teaching of the figurative language. Teachers also have a negative role in this avoidance and focusing on the other aspects of languages like grammar in teaching English language.
References
Boerger, M. A. (2005). Variations in figurative language use as a function of mode of communication. Journal ofPsycholinguistic Research, 34(1), 31–49.
Cakir, I. (2011). How do learners perceive idioms in EFL classes? Ekev Akademi Dergisi Yıl,15(47), 371-381,11p.
Chen, Y. C., & Lai, H. L. (2013). Teaching English idioms as metaphors through cognitive-oriented methods: A case in an EFL writing class. English Language Teaching, 6 (6), 13-20.
Chuang, Y. (2013). A study of the relationship between college EFL learners’ vocabulary size and idiomatic reading comprehension. NCUE Journal of Humanities, 7, 59-76.
Cooper, T. (1998). Teaching idioms. Foreign Language Annals, 31(2), 255-266.
Elkilic, G. (2008). Turkish students’ understanding of transparent and opaque idioms in English in reading as well as speaking. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 4,27-41.
Hinkel, E. (2017). Teaching idiomatic expressions and phrases : Insights and techniques. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research 5 (3), 45-59.
Idiom. Cambridge English Dictionary. Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/idiom, accessed December 25,2018.
Idiom. Oxford English Dictionary . Available at: https:// en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/idiom ,accessed December 23, 2018.
Irujo, S. (1986a). A piece of cake: / learning andteaching idioms. ELT Journal, 40(3), 236-242.
Jermoškin , S. (2017) .The Cognitive linguistic approach to teaching idioms: A case study with Estonian secondary school EFL Students (Master's thesis).Retrieved from
Kovacs, G. (2016). About the Definition, Classification, and Translation Strategies of Idioms. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, 8 (3), 85–101.
Kvetko, P. 2009. English lexicology in theory and practice. Trnava.
Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Li, X.(2010). Conceptual metaphor theory and teaching of English and Chinese idioms. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 1, 206-210.
Liu, D. (2003). The most frequently used spoken American English idioms: A corpus analysis and its implications. TESOL Quarterly, 37(4), 671-700.Available in:
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3588217.
Maisa, S and Karunakaran , T. (2013). Idioms and Importance of Teaching Idioms to ESL Students: A Study on Teacher Beliefs. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (AJHSS).1(1).
Rizq, W. M. (2015). Teaching English Idioms to L2 Learners: ESL Teachers’ Perspective. Culminating Projects in English , 19.
Tărcăoanu, M. C. (2012). Teaching and learning idioms in English (theoretical and practical considerations). Scientific Journal of Humanistic Studies, 4(7).
Tran, H. (2013). Figurative idiomatic competence: An analysis of EFL learners in Vietnam. Language Education in Asia, 4(1), 23-38
Vanderniet, H.K. (2015).Idioms as a Measure of Proficiency. All Theses and Dissertations 19. 5817.Retrieved from: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5817.
Wu, S. Y. (2008).Effective Activities for Teaching English Idioms to EFL Learners. The Internet TESL Journal ,Vol .XIV, Retrieved from : http://iteslj.org/
