Use and acquisition of idiomatic expressions in referring by native and non‐native speakers

1997 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Bortfeld ◽  
Susan E. Brennan
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions

Construction of online practice tests to check the acquisition of idiomatic expressions with colours

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanya Ivanova ◽  
◽  
Gergana Petkova
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Test Construction ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Practice Tests ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
Knowledge Of Learners ◽  
Selection Of

Idioms are metaphorical expressions that cannot be translated literally. They are widely used in English because they make everyday speech more interesting and entertaining for native speakers. It is assumed that there are about twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions in English and one of the most common thematic areas for idioms is colour. Idiomatic expressions are a fun way to enhance the vocabulary and cultural knowledge of learners of English. However, mastering these expressions cause difficulties for students not only because their meaning is not deductible from the meanings of the words comprising it, but also due to the different meaning of colours in the cultures around the world. For instance, purple is usually connected with aristocracy, affluence, and piousness across the globe but in Thailand and Brazil it is the colour of bereavement. In this article we have described an approach to check the acquisition of idiomatic expressions and facilitate their long-term retention by using online practice tests. These tests are designed by the teacher and taken by students on their personal computers or mobile phones at their own convenience. Furthermore, specifically developed criteria for test construction are listed together with typical test questions based on them. Examples of test items are presented to illustrate the process of test creation. Finally, an appendix of a selection of the most widely used idiomatic expressions with colours is compiled.

scholarly journals Ratings of Affective and Non-Affective Aspects of German Idioms in Second Language Processing

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-42
Author(s):  
Teodor Petrič
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Language Technology ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions

AbstractIn this paper psycholinguistic and emotional properties of 619 German idiomatic expressions are explored. The list of idiomatic expressions has been adapted from Citron et al. (2015), who have used it with German native speakers. In our study the same idioms were evaluated by Slovene learners of German as a foreign language. Our participants rated each idiom for emotional valence, emotional arousal, familiarity, concreteness, ambiguity (literality), semantic transparency and figurativeness. They also had the task to describe the meaning of the German idioms and to rate their confidence about the attributed meaning. The aims of our study were (1) to provide descriptive norms for psycholinguistic and affective properties of a large set of idioms in German as a second language, (2) to explore the relationships between psycholinguistic and affective properties of idioms in German as a second language, and (3) to compare the ratings of the German native speakers studied in Citron et al. (2015) with the ratings of the Slovene second language learners from our study. On one hand, the results of the Slovene participants show many similarities with those of of the German native speakers, on the other hand, they show a slight positivity bias and slightly shallower emotional processing of the German idioms. Our study provides data that could be useful for future studies investigating the role of affect in figurative language in a second language setting (methodology, translation science, language technology).

scholarly journals On the Analysis of Youth Slang as one of the Subsystems of Modern Russian and English Languages

2019 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 00090
Author(s):  
Svetlana Sheshukova ◽  
Svetlana Lapitskaja ◽  
Elena Proudchenko
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Study Materials ◽  
Language Class ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Modern Russian

Slang is an essential element of culture. Learning a foreign language is inextricably linked with the study of the culture of native speakers. Teaching slang, idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs in foreign language classes contributes to the students' vocabulary, understanding informal speech patterns found in media texts and everyday communication with native speakers, developing speaking and listening skills. As a rule, at a foreign language class, students improve their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills through various study materials. Even with these skills, you can fail to communicate with native speakers, read magazines, watch television programmes and travel to foreign countries. The paper discusses the possibility of teaching slang, idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs in a foreign language class at a technical university. To substantiate the need to study slang, idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs, the authors attempted to find out how the youth slang is formed and the reasons for its functioning. Youth slang in modern Russian and English languages has been compared and analyzed.

scholarly journals 136 COMPOSITIONALITY/NON-COMPOSITIONALITY OF IDIOMS: NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS’ CONSTRAINTS TO COMPREHENSION

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Yvonne Pedria Velasco
Keyword(s):  
Group Performance ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
College Freshman ◽  
Statistical Relationship ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Idiom Comprehension ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Sample Test ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

<p>Informed by Jackendoff’s (1997) Representational Modularity (RM) Hypothesis which states that, similar to how people make sense of categories, they also systematically make sense of language. This study seeks to discover the way non-native speakers of English negotiate meaning when faced with idiomatic expressions that are modified either by a process of passivization or by a process of quantification; and whether idiom comprehension influence judgments of appropriateness of use of the modified expressions. Employing a researcher-made questionnaire that underwent content validity and reliability tests, the instrument was administered to four college freshman classes from four different higher education institutions. Findings reveal that a significant difference was found between group performance in the passivization and quantification tests through a one-sample test. However, an absence of a statistical relationship between the scores in the test and the participants’ judgment of appropriateness of use (spoken, written, spoken and written) was revealed by the statistical analysis.</p>

scholarly journals DEVELOPING ONLINE PRACTICE TESTS TO CHECK THE ACQUISITION OF IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS WITH ANIMALS

2020 ◽  
pp. 54-63
Author(s):  
Vanya Ivanova ◽  
Gergana Petkova
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Test Construction ◽  
Personal Computers ◽  
Practice Tests ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Typical Test

Idiomatic expressions, a large number of which refer to animals, are widely used in English since they tend to add color to the language and make everyday speech more interesting and exciting for native speakers. However, these expressions pose difficulties for learners of English as their meaning is not deductible from the meanings of the words comprising it. Furthermore, the meaning may not have any relation to the animals that they feature or there may not be a correspondence of similar expressions in the learners’ mother tongues. Therefore, strategies to facilitate learning are needed and some of them, which can help students remember idioms more easily, are described in this article. Emphasis is placed on online practice tests, which check the acquisition of idiomatic expressions and facilitate their longterm retention. Practice tests are designed by the teacher and done by students on their personal computers or mobile phones at their own convenience. Also, some criteria specifically developed to enhance test construction are listed together with typical test questions based on them. Examples of different tasks are presented to illustrate the process of test creation. Finally, an appendix of some of the most commonly used idiomatic expressions with animals is included.

scholarly journals SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF IDIOMATIC IN THE MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE MOVIE

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Anisa Alawiyyah ◽  
Ria Saparianingsih ◽  
Nadia Nurul Maulidiyah
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Descriptive Approach ◽  
The Impact

This research discussed the semiotic analysis of idiomatic expressions found in The Maze Runner: The Death Cure movie by Wess Ball and its impact on English. This research aimed to find idiomatic expressions revealed in the dialogue in the movie; to find the meaning of symbols contained idiomatic expressions in dialogues; to find the impact of semiotic analysis in idiomatic expressions found in movie. In this research, researchers used qualitative research in the type of content analysis using descriptive approach to help the analysis of the data that found in the movie. The researchers looked for idiomatic expressions in the movie and symbols of idiomatic expressions. Finally, researchers reveal the impact of semiotic analysis in idioms found in movie on English. From the results, there are 59 idiom expressions divided into lexemic and sememic idioms. From lexemic idiom found 37 phrasal verbs; 2 irreversible binomials; 10 phrasal compounds; and 1 incorporating verb. From the sememic idiom found 2 idioms of politeness; 1 idiom of detachment; 4 idioms of greeting; and 2 famous quotations idioms. There are 26 symbols from 59 idiom expression in the movie. Its effects on English make students more fluent in English and look like native speakers, add new vocabulary, make students aware of cultural differences in language, and know more about meaning.

scholarly journals Limon Creole Phrases: A Vehicle for Linguistic and Cultural Preservation

LETRAS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (58) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Ginneth Pizarro Chacón ◽  
Damaris Cordero Badilla
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Cultural Preservation ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Age Factor

Phrases and idiomatic expressions used in everyday speech in Limon Creole by a group of elderly people have been collected in the province of Limon, Costa Rica, to preserve those phrases as part of their legacy to future generations. Considering the age factor, the information was gathered by applying a questionnaire to 50 native speakers of Limon Creole. Recommendations are provided, based on the results of the study.Se recogen frases y expresiones idiomáticas del criollo limonense del habla cotidiana de un grupo de ancianos en la provincia de Limón, Costa Rica, con el fin de preservarlas como parte del patrimonio lingüístico regional. La información fue recolectada mediante un cuestionario a cincuenta informantes del criollo limonense, considerando el factor etario. Con base en los resultados del estudio se plantean recomendaciones pertinentes. 

scholarly journals Teaching Vocabulary with Graphic Novels

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmet Basal ◽  
Talat Aytan ◽  
Ibrahim Demir
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Computer Software ◽  
Graphic Novel ◽  
Academic English ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Quasi Experimental

<p>Mastery of idiomatic expressions by foreign language learners is often equated with the fluency of native speakers of that language. However, learning these idiomatic expressions is one of the significant problems experienced by learners. The present quasi-experimental study conducted over four weeks in the ELT department of a Turkish university aims to investigate the effectiveness of teaching idioms via graphic novels compared to teaching them via traditional activities. The most frequent and useful forty figurative idioms from the Michigan Academic English Spoken Corpus (MICASE) were used in a script and the script was converted to a graphic novel with the use of a computer software. The results revealed that participants in the experimental group who had learned idioms through the graphic novel performed significantly better on the post-test, indicating the efficiency of the graphic novel in vocabulary teaching. The study also offers recommendations for the use of graphic novels in the teaching of vocabulary.</p>

scholarly journals EKSPRESI IDIOMATIK DALAM LIRIK “NINE TRACK MIND” CHARLIE PUTH ALBUM 2016

MOTORIC ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-172
Author(s):  
Varia Virdania Virdaus
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Quantitative Method ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Idiomatic Expression ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
The Media ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Song Lyrics

Language is used for communication which allows people say things to each other and express their communicative needs. Language learners are aware that to understand the informal form of conversation used by native speakers of English, they need information and guidance to assist them in using the appropriate idioms in a given situation. English songs are one of the media of introducing and reviewing vocabulary, including idiomatic expressions. The purpose of this study is to find out and explain the meaning of idiomatic expressions in Charlie Puth’s song lyrics in album Nine Track Mind 2016. The type of data used in this study was a descriptive quantitative method because to the point out about collects, analysis, describes, identifies the idiomatic expression in Charlie Puth’s album, and to count of idiomatic expression.   Key Words: Idiom, Lyric, Charlie Puth, Nine Track Mind Album

scholarly journals EXPRESS: Individual Word Activation and Word Frequency Effects during the Processing of Opaque Idiomatic Expressions

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110479
Author(s):  
Ferdy Hubers ◽  
Catia Cucchiarini ◽  
Helmer Strik ◽  
Ton Dijkstra
Keyword(s):  
Target Word ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Inhibitory Effect ◽  
Primed Word ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Correct Target ◽  
Idiom Processing

Idiom processing studies have paid considerable attention to the relationship between idiomatic expressions as a whole and their constituent words. Although most research focused on the semantic properties of the constituent words, their orthographic form could also play a role in processing. To test this, we assessed both form and meaning activation of individual words during the processing of opaque idioms. In two primed word naming experiments, Dutch native speakers silently read sentences word by word and then named the last word of the sentence. This target word was embedded in either an idiomatic or a literal context, and was either expected/correct in this context (COR), or semantically related (REL) or unrelated (UNREL) to the expected word. The correct target word in the idiomatic context was always part of an opaque idiom. Faster naming latencies for the idiom-final noun than for the unrelated target in the idiomatic context indicated that the idiom was activated as a whole during processing. In addition, semantic facilitation was observed in the literal context (COR<REL<UNREL), but not in the idiomatic context (COR<REL=UNREL). This is evidence that the idiom-final noun was not activated at the meaning level of representation. However, an inhibitory effect of orthographic word frequency of the idiom-final noun indicated that the idiom-final noun was activated at the form level. These results provide evidence in favor of a hybrid model of idiom processing in which the individual words and the idiom as a whole interact on form and meaning levels of representation.

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