Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
Volume:5 Issue: 3, Oct 2017

This article presents a rationale for making idioms and their use a mainstay of the second language (L2) curriculum. First, it offers a definition of the elusive term “idiom” as a point of departure for the ensuing discussion. Second, it offers five specific reasons why idiom instruction should be integrated into the L2 curriculum: here, it is argued that students’ knowledge of idioms needs to be anchored in language materials and situations that are both authentic and purposeful. It is further argued that requiring students to produce idioms in ways that native speakers use them enhances students’ mastery of them, facilitating the binding and mapping processes of idiom internalization. Finally, this article challenges the SLA profession to propose a systematic, theoretically informed program for developing idiomatic competence in L2 learners that is based on meaningful, authentic idiom use in the classroom and beyond.

This paper critically considers the implications of the growth of English-medium instruction (EMI) globally for idiomaticity in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). We first make the case for idiomaticity in English in terms of its contribution to language processing and use and regarding the challenges and affordances it presents to users of English as a second/additional language. We then compare the domains of ELF and EMI in order to pinpoint the similarities and differences between their characteristics, with specific reference to the role of idiomaticity. We argue that EMI prepares students for academic ELF, which is idiomatically distinct from academic L1-English and non-academic varieties of English; that the unidirectional nature of much EMI discourse has implications for ELF-specific idiomaticity; and that the large-scale, long-term language contact engendered by the growth of EMI denotes that an increasing number of L2-English users may be underprepared for a wealth of ELF events, particularly those which draw more substantively on idiomaticity or are themselves idiosyncratically idiomatic. We consider how EMI pedagogy might foster students’ idiomatic competence and creativity to take account of their ELF needs beyond the ivory tower.

Currently, a relatively large number of spoken and written conventionalized expressions have been collected, catalogued, and systematized. In language pedagogy, a clear implication is that teaching grammar and vocabulary is likely to be more complicated than working with syntactic rules and single-word items. Old and new insights associated with the sheer ubiquity of idiomatic constructions can present both challenges and opportunities, but it seems vital for teachers to be aware of and become familiar with these language units. This paper takes a look at a few historical perspectives and classifications of idiomatic phrases and expressions in English, as well as their uses in conversations, speaking, writing, and teaching. To extend this discussion, a few teaching activities and ideas can be further designed for learning and using idiomatic phrases in the classroom and beyond it. Because practically all idiomatic and conventionalized phrases are language and culture-specific, their instructional applications can contribute to learners’ strategic fluency development. In general terms, teaching idiomatic language components can lead to improvements in learners’ receptive and productive skills in various contexts.

Idioms feature prominently in daily communication. Accordingly, teaching and learning idioms should be a primary concern in language education, including English education. However, there is relatively little research on the role of formal instruction of idioms in developing idiomatic competence. This study investigated the instructional effects teaching idioms in four modes (short movie clip, sentence-use, definition, and role-play) had on learners’ idiomatic competence. An idioms test was distributed among 47 English language learners at two language institutes to establish their idiomatic knowledge prior to the experiment. One hundred idioms were taught to all participants in the course of one month. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the posttest results revealed significant differences among the four idiom-teaching modes. Discussions and pedagogical implications are provided in the paper.

The current study looks at whether bilinguals varying in language dominance show a processing advantage for idiomatic over non-idiomatic phrases and to what extent this effect is modulated by idiom transparency (i.e., the degree to which the idiom’s figurative meaning can be inferred from its literal analysis) and cross-language similarity (i.e., the extent to which an idiom has an identical translation equivalent in another language). An eye tracking experiment was conducted in which Spanish-English bilinguals were presented with literally plausible (i.e., idioms that can be interpreted both figuratively and literally) transparent (e.g., break the ice, where the figurative meaning can be deduced from analyzing the idiom literally) and opaque idioms (e.g., hit the sack, where the meaning cannot be inferred from idiom constituents). Idioms varied along the dimension of cross-language similarity, with half the idioms having word for word translation equivalents in English and Spanish and another half being different, that is, having no similar counterpart in another language. Each idiom was used either in its literal (e.g., get cold feet: become cold)or figurative meaning (e.g., get cold feet: become afraid). In control phrases the last word of the idiom was replaced by a carefully matched control (e.g., get cold hands). Reading measures (fixation count, first pass/gaze reading time and total reading time) revealed that cross-language similarity interacts in an important way with idiom transparency, such that opaque idioms were more difficult to process than transparent ones, and different transparent idioms took faster to process than similar transparent idioms. Results are discussed with regard to the holistic vs. compositional views of idiom storage and the role of activated L1 (first language) knowledge in the course of L2 (second language) figurative processing.

Employing a quasi-experimental design, this study examined the efficacy of humorous idiom video clips on the achievement of Iranian undergraduate students studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Forty humorous video clips from the English Idiom Series called “The Teacher” from the BBC website were used to teach 120 idioms to 61 undergraduate students at the University of Bojnord (UB). A 40-item idiom pretest was given to the experimental group (EG) and the control group (CG) while an independent-samples t-test was used to compare the means of these two groups based on posttest scores. A 15-item attitudinal questionnaire captured participants’ attitudes toward learning English idioms through video clips. The results indicate that there was a significant difference between the EG and CG mean scores: humorous video clips do facilitate EFL learners’ idioms achievement and learners exhibit a positive attitude toward their application in the classroom.

Pawley and Syder (1983) pointed out that idiomatic expressions can be discussed in terms of nativelike selection (NLS), which refers to the ability of the native speaker to express his/her intended meaning using an expression that is not only grammatical but also nativelike. In the current study, Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used to investigate the possible correlations between the variables of language contact (LC), language attitude (LA), and language motivation (LM) integrative (Int.M) and instrumental (Inst.M), age of L2 onset (AoO), and length of exposure to target language (LoE) and English bilinguals’ (EBs) knowledge of NLS in an international school—a semi-naturalistic setting. A possible correlation between EB’s NLS scores and their English academic performance (EAP) was examined as well. Moreover, multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate the factors predicting EB’s NLS knowledge. The participants were 281 high school students of mixed gender and ethnicity from an international school in the Philippines. Different questionnaires were used to collect data related to LC, LoE, AoA, LA, and LM. Data concerning NLS knowledge and EAP were gathered using a receptive NLS test together with a standardized English test. The results of the correlation analyses indicated that the variables of LC, LoE, Int.M, and AoO were significantly related to EBs’ knowledge of NLS. Moreover, a significant positive correlation was found between EB’s knowledge of NLS and their EAP. The results of regression analysis yet revealed that the variables of LC, LA, and Int.M predicted EB’s NLS knowledge. The findings provided pedagogical implications for those involved in EFL/ESL teaching, particularly in international schools.