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Teaching Idioms
Abstract
ABSTRACT Since idioms are figurative expressions that do not mean what they literally state and since they are so frequently encountered in both oral and written discourse, comprehending and producing idioms present language learners with a special vocabulary learning problem. Idiom acquisition research, however, has uncovered a number of findings that have pedagogical implications for idiom instruction. This article summarizes these research findings and presents the language teacher with a systematic plan for teaching idioms to native language learners, bilingual students, and foreign language learners.
... A broader range of interesting teaching strategies is much needed to promote proficiency in African languages. The Setswana idioms in picture form programme has exposed a new field that needs to be explored further, following the examples set by researchers such as Liu (2008), Gibbs (1987) and Cooper (1998). It is hoped that the Setswana idioms in picture form programme has given impetus to such research. ...
Teachers need creative strategies and techniques when teaching idioms in Setswana. However, they do not know what idioms are nor are they aware that through idioms cultural heritage can be preserved and that idioms can be taught as part of imaginative language, especially in Grade 3. As a result, teachers and learners in Grade 3 Setswana classes lack the understanding of the role of idioms and language proficiency in using and writing idioms. The aim of this paper was to show how intervention could help teachers with new strategies for teaching idioms. Constructivism and the five subtheories of decoding idioms were used (Liu 2008). The project consisted of two research-based phases and the findings showed that teachers can now use their own initiative and creativity in language teaching and the learners learned and retained the idioms they have learnt.
This research aims to classify the form and meaning of idiomatic expressions in the American Sitcom entitled “Fresh Off the Boat”. This research focus on seasons 5 and 6 that released on 2019 and 2020. The data of this research is in the form of utterances which contains idiomatic expressions uttered by three main characters, Eddie Huang, Louis Huang, and Jessica Huang. The researcher uses descriptive qualitative method to analyze the research finding. From those series, there are 93 idiomatic expressions based on theory proposed by Adam Makkai, they are 21 Phrasal Verb Idioms, 50 Tournure Idioms, 1 Irreversible Binomial Idiom, 18 Phrasal Compound Idioms, and 3 Incorporating Verb Idioms. From those data, the researcher compares the lexical and contextual meaning of idiomatic expressions in the utterances. Based on the research’s finding, several idiomatic expressions have the same lexical and contextual meaning. However, the contextual meaning dominated the meaning of idiomatic expressions in this series because an idiomatic expression cannot be seen lexically or based on the dictionary meaning. It should be seen based on the context of the idiomatic expression is used because sometimes, it carried figurative meaning. Keywords: idiom; form of idiomatic expressions; meaning of idiomatic expression.
How do people understand figurative speech in a foreign language? What strategies do they use? By means of an online questionnaire, this study investigated to what extent contextual information and transfer play a role in the interpretation of idioms in a second language, controlling for familiarity. Sixty-one native speakers of Dutch were asked to guess the correct interpretation of English idioms with and without a Dutch equivalent, presented with and without context, out of four answer options. The results showed that correctly interpreting an idiom depends on both the presence of context and the possibility of transfer. More correct interpretations were given when an idiom was presented in a context, but only for English idioms without an equivalent in the native language. English idioms with an equivalent in Dutch, often rated as familiar, were mostly understood correctly. We interpret this result as the involvement of transfer from the native language.
In this study, the effects of the conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) on the teaching of orientation idioms was investigated. The study was designed as an action research project and was conducted with 45 B2 level students from 21 countries who were native speakers of 10 different languages. The students were learning Turkish to pursue the undergraduate degrees in Turkish universities. The students were learning and using Turkish for their daily interactions with Turkish people but continued to use their native languages in their closely knit communities. Thus, they formed good examples of true bilingual individuals. At the planning stage of the study, the orientation idioms in the Turkish as a foreign language course books were identified to be used in the teaching activities during the study and a list of orientation idioms was prepared. The students were asked to write the meanings of those idioms and use each one in a sentence to determine whether they had already learned those idioms. The orientation idioms in the B2 level course books were taught through activities based on CMT. At the end of the study, the students were asked to write the meanings of the idioms and use each one in a sentence once again. Pre‐ and poststudy mean scores of the students' performances were compared. It was determined that the implementation based on CMT developed the students' ability to learn metaphors and use them contextually appropriately. Furthermore, it was observed that the teaching activities based on the theory made it easier for the students to learn the idioms and increased their retention in the students' minds. It was also observed that the students had developed the skills of guessing the meanings of new orientation idioms from the contexts they were used in and using them more easily. Learners who attend a foreign language course aim to learn the lexis and grammar of that language and develop their basic language skills. Does this mean that idioms which are among the essential elements of any language are taught at a satisfactory level to learners? Can learners be taught a strategy that would enable them to guess the meanings of unknown idioms in the contexts they are used? This article presents the results of a study that developed activities to teach idioms that contained orientation metaphors and incorporated them into a language program.
To maximize the advantages of virtual learning, the present study highlights the potential for Internet meme design and creation in English language learning (ELL) courses as an innovative activity that raises student agency, increases multimodal literacy, inculcates intercultural communication, and teaches idiomatic expression. Memes resonate a multimodal feedback loop of popular culture. In the context of language education, multimodal literacy is a necessity for 21st-century education because the affordances of digital learning platforms present the world told alongside the world shown. While some studies feature the usefulness of memes in English as a foreign language (EFL) learning, none have underscored meme creation as a learning activity. To demonstrate the activity in situ, a vignette at two Korean universities features two instructors who ask their respective students (N = 49) to design one meme using an idiom discovered in their ELL materials from a prescribed list, then asks: 1) What common power relations and ideologies emerge in the multimodal discourse of the collected pool of student “idiomemes”? 2) What do the findings tell us about student attitudes and engagement with the activity? 3) What do the findings tell us about the importance of multimodal discourse in EFL learning? Using a multimodal critical discourse analysis of the student-created Internet memes, the findings reveal that students chose culturally familiar images to complete the assignment, suggesting that their engagement and understanding of multimodal, English discourse increases commensurately with content intuitive to their culture. The implications suggest that empowering students with a measure of agency in expressing culturally relevant, multimodal discourse in ELL course content increases their engagement in virtual classrooms. Designing idiomemes, as a virtual learning activity, is further explored as a curricular augmentation that increases the value of a student's language-learning investment.
The present study aimed at exploring the level of idiomatic expressions mastery, the strategies for understanding them, the obstacles, English skills and functional English that the students of Hospitality and Tourism Institutes need. The study applied mixed-methods. Data were collected with Needs-analysis, Document, Test, and Interview analyzed with descriptive statistics and qualitative. It indicates that the mastery of idiomatic expressions mastery of the students of Hospitality and Tourism is “Low”, no idiomatic expressions teaching, lack familiarity with strategies for understanding idiomatic expressions, the priority English skills include Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Reading; and the primary Functional English needed are General Conversations, Providing Services, Giving information Offering Help and Asking for Co-operation. Therefore, the Hospitality and Tourism educations should improve the quality of the English language teaching.
This study examined the impact that metaphorical pictures and semantic transparency had on meaning recall of English idioms for L2 learners. Twenty-seven idioms of differing semantic transparency (low, mid, and high) were selected and two types of pictures were drawn for each idiom. One picture type was a literal only representation while the other was a literal+figurative representation. These idioms and picture conditions (no picture, literal only, and literal+figurative) were counterbalanced and presented to student participants (n=64) via a PowerPoint input treatment. The delayed posttests measured meaning recall of the idioms’ L1 paraphrased meaning. The data showed that in absolute terms, literal-figurative pictures promoted better retention of meaning at all levels of transparency, but this finding was most robust for high-transparency idioms. However, a number of pictures, especially those with metonymical elements, led to overspecification, which has wider implications for pictorial input in general.
The second chapter is dedicated to explaining the theoretical and conceptual fundamentals of innovation and performance management. Firstly, the terms ‘innovation’ and ‘innovation process’ will be defined, the overall innovation process illustrated, and an overall innovation model covering all relevant process steps proposed. Secondly, we turn to performance management, both of input, output, and processes generating those outcomes. Finally, decision management as part of performance management will be defined in particular, and organisational justice theories explained, both for their content and for their relevance to innovation management. This chapter ends with a conclusion of the main findings.
This study aims to investigate difficulties face Saudi EFL students in learning and understanding English idioms, and examines the strategies they utilize to understand idioms. The subjects were 85 male and female Saudi English major university students at the Department of English in Aljouf University. Two data collection instruments, questionnaire, semi-structured interview were employed as well as the Nation’s Vocabulary Level Test to measure the students’ language proficiency level. The results showed that students have difficulty to understand idiomatic expressions. Moreover, the findings revealed that most frequently used strategies were guessing the meaning of idioms from context, predicting the meaning of idioms, and figuring out an idiom from an equivalent one in their mother language. Furthermore, the results illustrated that low-proficiency students face more difficulties than high-proficiency students, though the differences were not significant. The results also showed that, the greater the vocabulary knowledge, the greater the use of idiom-learning strategies, especially for idioms that require a wider knowledge in vocabulary. This study concludes with teaching implications and recommendation for further research in learning and understanding idiomatic expressions.
Idiomaticity has long been an area of intense research around the world. To date, many empirical findings have been disclosed and even more definitions and experimental tasks proposed. Yet little research accounts for the effect idiomatic tasks have on participants’ overall performance. The present qualitative study asserts that different experimental tasks and idiom sub-types have different effects on the comprehension/production of second language idioms and, furthermore, that qualitative data, combined with quantitative data, can supplement and complete more fully a researcher’s understanding of a particular issue under investigation than quantitative data alone. Pedagogical implications are discussed and future research directions explored.
Idioms, an indispensable part of English vocabulary acquisition, play an important role in second language learning. Mobile learning has broken through the constraints of time, space in learning. The present study explored the effectiveness of English idiom instructing and learning based on one form of mobile learning- SMS (Short Message Service). Compared with context-based approach and self-study approach, SMS-based approach was more effective in teaching English idioms for non-English majors in China. The findings of the study showed that students who regularly received short mini-lessons of English idioms via SMS on their mobile phones were more interested in learning and gained more in acquiring English idioms than their peers on pamphlets or context.
The present study aimed at investigating the impact of textual enhancement on the comprehension of transparent and opaque English idioms among Spanish lower-intermediate students studying English as a foreign language. Two short texts including visually enhanced idioms (i.e., they were underlined) were designed for the Experimental Group, and the Control Group received an unenhanced version of the texts. The results reveal that textual enhancement made transparent idioms salient enough for them to have an impact on comprehension; however, underlining had a poorer effect on comprehension as far as opaque idioms are concerned. In addition, we aimed at examining the effect of textual enhancement on the noticing of idioms. Findings show that it did not have a positive effect on recognition of idioms, since the Control Group outperformed the Experimental Group in the multiple-choice task.
This study investigates how Yemeni EFL undergraduates recognize, comprehend, and use English idioms. It attempts to find out the link between English proficiency and idiomatic competence of a sample of 63 sophomores recruited from the Department of English at the Faculty of Education, Taiz University. Three idiom tests and a questionnaire were used to answer three research questions: a) To what extent are Yemeni EFL undergraduates able to process English idioms? b) What strategies do they use to learn idioms? c) What challenges do they encounter in acquiring idiomatic expressions? Findings of the study show that high-scoring students in the idiom tests outperformed their low-scoring counterparts in achievement tests of listening and speaking skills. The study highlighted some major challenges that face Yemeni EFL learners and the strategies they tend to use in order to tackle those challenges. Some implications and recommendations were suggested accordingly.
Learning idioms in a foreign language in which there are numerous problems in exposing the learners to authentic situations has faced many pedagogical difficulties. Many researchers (Gibbs, 1992: Honeck, 1997: Simpson & Mendi, 2003) have tried to know more about the process of idiom learning and the effect of mother tongue on understanding idioms, because idioms are among the difficult areas of learning a foreign or second language. This study was an attempt to examine the impact of applying movie clips including idioms on the quality of idiom learning. To this end, 100 gifted high school students, aged between 16 and 18 were selected. Then, an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was administered to select 60 intermediate students. Due to the matched-pair technique, they were divided into two equal experimental and control groups. In order to find out whether the students have any prior knowledge about the new idioms, a pre-test including an idiom multiple choice test was used. The control group was taught 30 idioms conventionally using synonyms and antonyms. The experimental group received the treatment and the idioms were taught using movie clips. After 10 weeks an idiom multiple choice test based on the materials taught was administered to both groups. Then, 60 students and 10 high school English teachers completed an attitudinal questionnaire reflecting their attitudes towards learning idioms through the suggested way. The statistical analyses of the collected data showed that there was a significant difference between the obtained means of the two groups, meaning that, the experimental group outperformed the control one. Therefore, teachers, students, test makers, test designers, and materials developers should consider the effectiveness of using movie clips and films in L2 idiom learning/teaching.
The present study is a comparative investigation into the effect(s) of using animated versus static funny pictures on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ intake and retention of English idioms. The researchers intended to find out whether higher intake and longer retention of English idioms could be gained by using animated funny pictures or static funny ones. In so doing, 60 intermediate EFL learners attending Rasa Institute, Boukan, West Azerbaijan, were selected using Solutions Placement Test (SPT). First, they were randomized into an experimental group and a control one. Then each group was provided with 25 idioms which were not known even by one student. These idioms were presented over 5 sessions. For the experimental group, the idioms were presented through animated funny pictures associated with their Persian equivalents and sample sentences. And for the control group, the same idioms were offered through static funny pictures with Persian translation and sample sentences. After this five-session treatment, students’ intake and retention of the instructed idioms were tested using an immediate post-test and a delayed one. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 software. Results of Independent and Paired Samples t-tests showed that using animated funny pictures could enhance intermediate students’ intake and retention of idioms.
The current paper examines the discursive practices of one novice English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher ‘dealing with’ learners’ unexpected contributions in whole group classroom interactions during teacher- and learner-initiated sequences-of-talk. The study draws from two fields of research: classroom discourse studies investigating teachers addressing learner contributions in classroom interaction, and language teacher education research showing teacher expertise as a factor in the construction of classroom communication. Using conversation analytic methods, two initial practices emerged from the novice teacher’s video-recorded data: glossing over learner contributions and assuming the role of information provider. These practices are presented with a focus on the sequential environments in which they occur and the various interactional resources used to construct them. The paper concludes with a discussion of how these findings contribute to both the classroom discourse and language teacher education literatures.
This study investigated the situation of teaching and learning idioms at a university level in Vietnam, a foreign language context. It also examined the evaluation of the idiom teaching process in three language classes over a 15-week period for pre-service teachers of English. The data were collected though questionnaires, in-depth interviews and email guided reflective writing. The analysis revealed that teachers and students at the university achieved moderate effectiveness in idiom learning. Both teachers and students believed that students are motivated, felt relaxed and confident and actively participated in idioms learning activities in this foreign language context. The findings also revealed that students demonstrated the process in idiom comprehension as well as in idiom production though the evidences in the comprehension of idiomatic phrases are more evitable. The results indicated significant effects of the context in idiom learning when idioms were creatively used in integrated skill tasks. The findings also implied that idiom learning should receive more attention in EFL learning context.
The present study investigated the effect of using picture, Persian translation equivalent (L1), and English definition (L2) on the learning of 20 decomposable and nondecomposable idioms by 68 Iranian TEFL undergraduates. The focus was on learning both meaning as well as form of the idioms. The idioms were given to the participants to translate into Persian three weeks before the experiment to ensure the participants' unfamiliarity of the idioms. The idioms that were known even by one student were crossed out. Each group of the participants received the instruction in 3 sessions (about 7 idioms each session), and reviewed them in the fourth. The participants received 2 recognition tests (one on form and the other on meaning of the L2 idioms) in the form of multiple-choice in the fifth session, and the same recognition as well as 2 production tests in the form of fill-in-the-blanks 3 weeks later (first on form and then on meaning). The delayed posttests were given in 2 consecutive sessions: first, the production and then the recognition. The findings showed that the picture group outperformed the other groups in all situations. However, a significant outperformance of L1 group over L2 group was observed for decomposable idioms in the first posttest regarding form. The results suggest the pedagogical value of pictures for the teaching of meaning and form of decomposable idioms.
This study aimed to gauge the efficacy of three modes of instruction of English idioms, ie, Short Message Service (SMS)-based learning, contextual learning and self-study learning. More precisely, this study capitalized on the push aspect of SMS affordance to deliver bite-sized English idiom lessons on spaced intervals to the learners irrespective of the traditionally inherent problems in most teaching classrooms of English as a Foreign Language learning contexts and thus promote regular study. Students' perceptions and attitudes toward mobile learning and the application of SMS in teaching and learning English (idioms) were also sought by conducting a poststudy survey. Overall, the results revealed that students receiving short mini-lessons on their mobile phones via SMS were more enthusiastic and learned more than their counterparts on paper or contextual groups.
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This article examines the acquisition of Spanish idioms in a classroom setting that was supplemented with explicit instruction over a 10-week period. The research design manipulated two variables: prior lexical knowledge and idiom organization. Sixty-five second language (L2) learners completed pre- and posttests that measured their ability to recognize and produce the target idioms, as well as a vocabulary test to control for lexical knowledge. Participants in the experimental groups received contextualized idiom presentation that encouraged noticing, retrieving, and generating (Nation, 2001). The results indicate significant treatment effects, although no significant advantage was found for the thematic grouping of idioms. The results also show a significant effect for prior lexical knowledge on one of the dependent variables. These findings are discussed in relation to prior studies of idiom learning from a cognitive linguistics perspective (Boers et al., 2007) as well as psycholinguistic studies that emphasize the salience of literal meanings (Cieślicka, 2006).
The study reported in this article investigated whether second language learners use knowledge of their first language to comprehend and produce idioms in the second language. Subjects were 12 Venezuelan advanced learners of English. Comprehension of 45 English idioms—15 identical in form and meaning to their Spanish equivalents, 15 similar to their Spanish equivalents, and 15 different from the corresponding Spanish idioms—was tested with a multiple-choice test and a definition test. Production of the same 45 idioms was tested with a discourse-completion test and a translation test. Results showed identical idioms were the easiest to comprehend and produce. Similar idioms were comprehended almost as well but showed interference from Spanish. Different idioms were the most difficult to comprehend and produce but showed less interference than similar idioms. Subjects used both inter- and intralingual strategies to produce idioms they did not know. Within each type, the idioms that were comprehended and produced most correctly were those which were frequently used and transparent and which had simple vocabulary and structure.
Two experiments are described in which reaction times for understanding target sentences or phrases in terms of a preceding context were measured. In Experiment 1, the target sentences followed either short or long contexts which induced either literal interpretations or metaphorical ones. Results indicated that only in the short context condition did subjects take significantly longer to understand metaphorical than literal targets. This interaction is explained in terms of the availability of appropriate schemata for interpreting the target. In Experiment 2, targets were phrases that could be given either an idiomatic or a literal interpretation. It was found that the comprehension of phrases receiving an idiomatic interpretation took no longer than the comprehension of those same phrases when given a literal interpretation, and there was some evidence that idiomatic interpretations were consistently faster. It is argued that both experiments can be accounted for in terms of contextually generated expectations. The processes required for the comprehension of figurative and literal uses of language seem to be essentially similar.
Some studies have shown that children tend to interpret figurative language literally. Our hypothesis is that they can reach an idiomatic competence if idioms are presented within a rich informational environment allowing children to grasp their figurative sense. First and third graders were presented with narratives biased both to the figurative meaning of idioms (experiment 1) and to the literal meaning (experiment 2) and then given a comprehension task. Experiment 3 was designed to investigate children's production of idioms as compared to the comprehension abilities explored in experiments 1 and 2. Results show that informative contexts can improve children's ability to perceive idiomatic meanings even at the age of seven; and that children are less able to produce idioms than to comprehend them. Generally results emphasize that children seem able to perceive that language can be both figurative and literal.
Idiom interpretation under two different presentation modes, Isolation and Context, was examined developmentally in 475 adolescents ages 14 through 17. Results demonstrated that accuracy was greater for idioms in Context than idioms in Isolation, and that accuracy for both presentation modes slowly improved during the target age range. However, even the oldest subjects had not yet mastered the task in either mode. Qualitative analysis indicated that No Response, Literal, and Unrelated error types were produced most often by the youngest subjects but tended to decrease as subject age increased. In general, more No Response, Literal, Related, and Unrelated error types were produced for idioms in Isolation than in Context, but more Restatement errors were produced for idioms in Context. It was also found that idiom interpretation was significantly correlated to specific measures of literacy in 16-year-olds.
The development of children’s ability to translate figurative speech was studied, using sentences containing metaphors, dual function words, and proverbs, as presented in classroom workbooks. One hundred twenty children from first, third, fifth, and seventh grades were asked to describe the meaning of each figurative word or phrase placed in context. Responses were scored on a four- point scale indicating the extent to which the child used a literal or figurative translation. Significant effects between grade levels and figurative conditions were found, indicating that the ability to translate figurative speech proceeds along a developmental hierarchy of language comprehension. The majority of third grade children were able to translate metaphors and dual function words into figurative language successfully. The ability to translate proverbs required a level of comprehension that does not appear in most children until seventh grade, as suggested by Piaget.
This study examined the frequency of occurrence of several types of multiple meaning expressions in the oral speech of teachers. Three types of lessons (math, language arts, and reading) taught by 2 different teachers at each grade level from kindergarten to grade 8 were studied. Thirty-six percent of all utterances contained at least one multiple meaning expression. Indirect requests occurred most frequently with 27% of all utterances being indirect. There was no statistically different frequency of use across grades or type of lesson. At least one idiom occurred in 11.5% of all utterances and idioms were used with increasing frequency as grade increased. Similes, metaphors, and irony occurred very rarely. Teachers should be made aware that multiple meaning expressions are commonly used and may be difficult for the language-impaired child to process. Further, treatment of the school-age language-impaired child might include emphasis on developing an understanding of multiple meaning expressions, particularly indirect requests and idiomatic expressions.
The question of whether people always analyze the literal meanings of idiomatic expressions, such as You can let the cat out of the bag, (meaning “You can reveal the secret”) was examined in two experiments. In Experiment 1 subjects read stories that ended with either literal or nonliteral uses of idomatic expressions. After reading each story, subjects made a sentence classification judgment for sentences that could be either a literal, nonliteral, or unrelated paraphrase of the last story sentence. Results indicated that subjects were primed on the nonliteral targets when they read idiomatic expressions, but were not primed on the literal targets. When subjects read literal uses of these expressions there was no priming on the literal targets. However, subjects’ responses to the nonliteral targets were facilitated. Experiment 2 showed that these results were due to the way people actually process idiomatic expressions and cannot be attributed to some idiosyncratic aspect of the procedure. These results suggest that people do not ordinarily process the complete literal or compositional interpretations of idioms. Moreover, the results confirm the idea that people are automatically biased toward interpreting literal uses of idiomatic expressions conventionally, as idioms, before deriving their intended literal meanings.
The relationships among the familiarity of an idiom's figurative meaning, the likelihood of its literal meaning (literalness), and its usage were explored. Previous research has been inconsistent in supporting any one model of idiom comprehension, although certain factors have been found to affect reading times of sentences containing idioms. Consistent with this research, familiarity was found to have a significant effect on reading times for sentences containing idioms. A significant new finding is that literalness affects reading times. Additionally, it was found that familiarity and literalness exert interactive effects, suggesting a common underlying mechanism. The results are interpreted as supporting a model of idiom comprehension in which a single phrase processor simultaneously computes figurative and literal meanings of idioms.
Advisor: Martin Sharp. Paper (M. Ed.)--Pennsylvania State University, Great Valley, 1995.
Idiomatic comprehension was studied in four groups of 20 subjects each, ages six, nine, and 12 years, and adult. Each subject was read 10 sentences which could be interpreted literally or idiomatically. Following each sentence, the subject chose the two pictures that were closest in meaning to the sentence heard. This procedure generated 800 pairs of selections for analysis. The results indicated a (1) significant difference between literal and idiomatic choices regardless of the subject's age or the voice of the sentence, (2) significant difference between literal and idiomatic choices as a function of age regardless of the voice of the sentence, and (3) significant voice-by-choice interaction indicating that voice affected the choice of literal or idiomatic picture representations.
This study examined the effect of two linguistic factors on children's understanding of idioms. Kindergarten, first, third and fourth graders listened to idiomatic expressions either alone or at the end of short story contexts. Their task was to explain verbally the intended meanings of these idioms and then to choose the correct idiomatic interpretations of these phrases. The results showed that in the presence of supporting context younger children (kindergarten and first graders) understood idioms that were syntactically frozen (e.g. turn back the clock) better than they did idioms which can be seen in a variety of syntactic forms (e.g. lay down the law). Older children (third and fourth graders) comprehended both kinds of idiom equally well. Moreover, with context, children at all grade levels were better at explaining the figurative meanings of idioms whose literal and idiomatic interpretations were closely related (e.g. hold your tongues) than they were at explaining idioms whose literal and figurative meanings were not closely related (e.g. beat around the bush). Without context there were few significant differences noted in children's understanding of the different kinds of idiom. The significance of these findings for developmental models of idiom comprehension is discussed.
This study explored the ability of elementary school age children to comprehend six idiomatic expressions. Eighty linguistically normal children, 20 from each of four different grade levels (kindergarten, second grade, fourth grade, and sixth grade) participated as subjects. All of the children completed a task designed to probe comprehension of specific idioms. A short story was presented, after which the subjects were required to identify events in the story, which were described using idiomatic phrases. When examined as a group, comprehension of the idioms studied improved with increasing age. However, when examined individually, performance was found to be highly variable from idiom to idiom. These results are discussed with regard to clinical implications in the assessment and management of language-disordered children.
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Some Difficulties Indian Children Encounter with Idioms in Reading
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