Moallem University
Sabzevar Tarbiat
The Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences
Thesis Submitted in partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Art (M.A.) in Teaching
English as a Foreign Language
A Content Analysis of EFL Learners' Idiomatic
Language Use in Their Writing Assignments
Supervisor:
Dr. M Davoudi
Advisor:
Dr. S Ghaniabadi
By:
Asma Saadati Bidi
October 2011
In the name of God
A Content Analysis of EFL Learners' Idiomatic
Language Use in Their Writing Assignments
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Students in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts
(MA)
In
Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)
Sabzevar Tarbiat Moallem University
Department of English and Literature
By:
Asma Saadati Bidi
October 2011
I
To Mohammad Reza
My little, dear, darling son
II
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank many people for their assistance, support, and encouragement
during the time I was conducting the research.
I have to thank my supervisor, Dr. Davoudi, whose support, advice, and
encouragement had been the backbone of the research.
My thanks also go to my advisor, Dr. Ghaniabadi, for his attention to every details of
this work. I thank him very much.
I would like to thank my colleague and best friend, Miss Shadpour, for her help,
support, and enticement.
My special appreciation goes to my Father and Mother for their encouragement and
prayers. Their supports have helped to shape the person I am today. To the world,
they are just parents, but to me they are my world. I cannot find any words to
describe their unconditional support.
Heart-felt thanks are also due to my spouse, Hossien, whose support and
encouragement was the key to bright milestones during the programming and design
of this work. He gave me support in the ups and downs of the research and was
always at my side through thick and thin. I thank him for being such a wonderful
person in my life.
III
Abstract
Vocabulary is an important part of language. Without an extensive vocabulary,
learners often achieve less than their potential, but it does not mean that the more
words a learner knows, the larger is the learner's vocabulary knowledge. Knowing a
word involves knowing many things about the word. It means that for any word,
there is a range of other words that can co-occur with it. One important part of the
vocabulary learning is the meaning of phrases called idioms. Idiom is an important
aspect of language. EFL learners need the idiomatic knowledge for effective
communication. Idioms are the indication for being native of a language. This study
attempts to have a deeper understanding of idiom use by EFL learners. The
researcher chose 120 undergraduate EFL students at Sabzevar Tarbiat Moallem
University and Sabzevar Payam Noor University. They were juniors and seniors,
both male and female. They were asked to write a paragraph and use the idioms that
they have learned before as much as they can remember. Results of the study indicate
that the students use the idioms in their writings. It reveals that there is no significant
difference between males and females in the usage of idioms in their writings, but
comparison between juniors and seniors shows that juniors are better than seniors in
the usage of idioms. Findings of the study suggest the need for a broader view of
idiom knowledge and a pedagogical approach to the learning and teaching of this
aspect of L2.
Key Words: content analysis, EFL learner(s), idiom.
IV
Table of contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
I
II
Abstract
III
Table of contents
IV
Lists of tables
VI
List of symbols
VII
Chapters
1. Introduction
1.1 Preliminaries
2
1.2 Statement of the Problem
3
1.3 Significance of the Study
4
1.4 Objectives of the Study
4
1.5 Definition of Key Terms
5
1.6 Research Questions
5
1.7 Research Hypotheses
6
1.8 Limitations of the Study
6
2. Review of Related Literature
2.1 Introduction
8
2.2 What is an idiom?
8
2.3 Features of idioms
10
2.4 Types of idioms
16
2.5 Categories of idioms
16
2.5.1 Transparent idioms
17
2.5.2 Semi-transparent idioms
17
2.5.3 Semi-opaque idioms
17
2.5.4 Opaque idioms
17
2.6 Idioms & Phrasal verbs
17
2.7 Idioms & Collocations
18
2.8 Idioms & Metaphors
19
2.9 Idioms & Proverbs
21
2.10 Idioms & Slang
21
V
2.11 Previous Research on Idiom
22
3. Method
3.1 Participants
28
3.2 Sampling
28
3.3 Design
29
3.4 Instrument
29
3.5 Data Analysis
29
3.6 Procedure
30
4. Analysis of Results
4.1 Introduction
32
4.2 Results
32
5. Discussion
5.1 Introduction
52
5.2 Discussion and Conclusion
52
5.3 Implications and Applications of the Study
54
5.4 Suggestions for Further Research
55
References
56
Appendixes
63
Persian abstract
75
VI
List of Tables
Table 3. 1 Participants
28
Table 3. 2 Participants
28
Table 4. 1 Table of frequency for all participants' scores
32
Table 4. 2 Table of frequency for females' scores
35
Table 4. 3 Table of frequency for males' scores
37
Table 4. 4 Table of frequency for seniors' scores
38
Table 4. 5 Table of frequency for juniors' scores
40
Table 4. 6 Descriptive statistics for the scores of all participants
42
Table 4. 7 The frequency of used idioms in all participants'
Writings
42
Table 4. 8 Descriptive statistics for the scores of females
43
Table 4. 9 The frequency of used idioms in females' writings
44
Table 4. 10 Descriptive statistics for the scores of males
45
Table 4. 11 The frequency of used idioms in males' writings
45
Table 4. 12 Descriptive statistics for the scores of seniors
46
Table 4. 13 The frequency of used idioms in seniors' writings
47
Table 4. 14 Descriptive statistics for the scores of juniors
48
Table 4. 15 The frequency of used idioms in juniors' writings
48
Table 4. 16 Descriptive Statistics
49
Table 4. 17 t test for comparing means between males and females' groups
49
Table 4. 18 t test for comparing means between seniors and juniors' groups 50
VII
List of Symbols
x = scores of participants (the frequency of idioms in participants' writings)
x = mean of scores
V = variance = (x – x) ² / N
SD= standard deviation = √v
x1 = females' scores
x2 = males' scores
x3 = seniors' scores
x4 = juniors' scores
1
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
2
1.1 Preliminaries
In the past, vocabulary teaching and learning were often given little priority in
second language program, but recently there has been a renewed interest in the
nature of vocabulary (Richards & Renandya, 2002). Vocabulary is a core component
of language proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well learners speak,
listen, read, and write (ibid.). Without an extensive vocabulary, learners often
achieve less than their potential, but it does not mean that the more words a learner
knows, the larger is the learner's vocabulary knowledge. According to August, Carlo,
Dressler, & Snow (2005), knowing a word implies knowing many things about the
word, that is, one should know about the combinatory possibilities of a word. It
means that for any word, there is a range of other words that can co-occur or
collocate with it, and one important part of the collocational meaning is knowing the
meaning of phrases called idioms. This is one aspect of vocabulary knowledge that is
very important but has been largely ignored by the researchers.
What is an idiom? According to Webster's Dictionary, "An idiom is an
expression whose meaning cannot be predicted from the usual meanings of its
constituent elements". In other words, "Idioms are the conventionalized multiword
expressions which are often but not always non-literal" (Fernando, 2000, p.1).
Because the figurative meaning of idioms is unpredictable, the acquisition of idioms
is challenging not only by native and bilingual speakers but also by second language
learners (Cooper, 1999). "Nevertheless, idioms are so frequently used that an English
native speaker will produce around twenty million idioms in his/her lifetime or seven
thousand per week" (ibid.). Therefore, language learners are faced with the problem
of comprehending and producing idioms, and, in practice, if they want to see their
mastery in the second language, they should see how well they comprehend and
produce idioms in the everyday language (ibid.). So, idioms are the grease that
makes language flow. Because native speakers of every language use idioms all the
time, if L2 learners of languages cannot understand the idioms an interlocutor uses,
they will be embarrassed, confused, and frustrated, and in some cases, possible
misunderstanding can lead to disaster.
3
Ideally, vocabulary should not be learned in a vacuum, and this is especially
true for idioms. Idioms can be used in every place and time, that is, they are used in
speaking and writing and are part of the standard speech in business, education and
the media. So, because idioms are important as part of the shared knowledge among
English speakers, L2 learners are expected to know and use a variety of common
idioms.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The English language has many words that learning all of them will not be possible.
But a person who attempts to learn English as a second language should realize that
learning words needs learning many aspects of word meanings such as literal
meaning and figurative meaning. Idioms fall into this final category. Idioms are
figurative expressions that can often take both a literal and a figurative meaning
(Gibbs, 1989).
Idioms are pervasive. It means that the speakers use them so frequent in their
everyday speech that most of the time they are unaware that they use idioms. Thus,
idioms can be used as an indicator to differentiate natives from non-natives. Students
of English who effectively communicate with idioms show a certain understanding
of the language. They understand and communicate on a deeper level of the
language. Therefore, understanding and use of idioms are very important for every
learner.
Since vocabulary and idioms are intertwined, L2 speakers can gain more
vocabulary knowledge through idioms and learn more about idioms from
vocabularies. Ideally, vocabulary should not be learned in a vacuum, and this is
especially true for idioms. But how can a learner have access to idioms? The learner
has many channels to know idioms. There are a variety of idiom dictionaries for
those who wish to learn more about idioms. Newspapers and magazines, radio
programs, television shows and films are also sources of idioms. Role-playing,
writing and interactive activities such as matching the parts of idioms are some
activities that can help L2 learners expand their knowledge and use of idioms.
4
However, knowing which idiom should be used where and when will come through
practice and time.
1.3 Significance of the Study
While the importance of vocabulary acquisition has been recognized for a long time
in Iran, vocabulary learning has often been limited to memorizing lists of words in
isolation. As a result, it is not uncommon that even at higher levels of proficiency,
students lack conciseness and precision of expression. Sometimes lack of collocation
and idiom knowledge leads to grammatical mistakes to the effect that students who
do not have enough knowledge about collocations and idioms should use longer
utterances for what they want to say whereas by the use of collocations and idioms
they can express precisely what they want to say in short utterances (Hill, 2000).
Furthermore, learners are often not aware that collocation and idiom knowledge is
important for their language learning. For many students, learning vocabulary simply
equals learning the meaning of new words (Woolard, 2000; Hill, 2000).
Hence, just memorizing lists of new English words with their equivalents in
native language is not useful. This study is going to investigate the knowledge and
use of collocational and idiomatic knowledge of EFL learners and their impact on
their vocabulary learning.
1.4 Objectives of the Study
This study aims to show that learning words that often appear together, especially
idioms, and their use in writing is very important. It intends to show that by
increasing the idiom knowledge, learners will increase their communicative
competence and all language skills, especially writing.
The current study specifically looks at the writing assignments of EFL Iranian
learners to investigate their use of idioms, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The
researcher wants to see whether EFL learners use the idioms in their writing
assignments. The study further intends to make a comparison between male and
female differences in knowledge and use of idioms. It means that it wants to see
which learners, males or females, use more idiomatic expressions in their writings.
5
Thus, the study will make a content analysis of the writings of EFL learners,
male and female and also junior and senior, which are assigned to them.
1.5 Definition of Key Terms
The terms in the title of this research are used with the following meanings:
Content analysis: It is a general term covering a variety of methods for
analyzing a discourse, message or document for varying themes, ideas, emotions,
opinions, etc. Most of such analyses consist of sophisticated counting schemes in
which the frequency of particular words, phrases, affective expressions and the like
are determined. The materials analyzed can be textbooks, newspapers, speeches,
television programs, advertisements, musical compositions, or any of a host of other
types of documents (Mousavi, 1999, p. 61).
EFL learner(s): EFL Learner is used to refer to anyone who has not yet
achieved native-like communicative competence in English, and as the word
suggests, they are learning English as a foreign language, rather than as a second
language (Brown, 2000, p. 193-194).
Idiom: An idiom is a conventionalized expression whose meaning cannot be
found out from the meaning of its parts, e.g. kick the bucket (Irujo, 1986b, p. 288).
1.6 Research Questions
In order to conduct the study in a rather well ordered way, the following research
questions are formed:
1. Do the EFL learners use the idiomatic expressions in their writing assignments?
2. Is there any difference between male and female students in their use of the
idiomatic expressions?
3. Is there any difference between junior and senior students in their use of idiomatic
expressions?
6
1.7 Research Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses (H0) may be posed as the major assumptions of the
study:
H0 (1): The EFL learners do not use the idiomatic expressions in their writing
assignments.
H0 (2): There is no difference between male and female students in their use of the
idiomatic expressions.
H0 (3): There is no difference between junior and senior students in their use of
idiomatic expressions.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
The researcher is fully aware that there are a number of possible shortcomings in this
research that are mostly attributed to the shortage of time. The researcher thinks that
if there was more time, the study would be deeper and more accurate. Another
limitation was related to the availability of participants. The participants of the study,
i.e. the accessible population, were just chosen from two universities in Sabzevar.
The subjects were limited to the English major students at Sabzevar Tarbiat Moallem
University and Sabzevar University of Payam Noor. Therefore, while the study
reveals some findings about the using of idioms in the writings of EFL learners, the
findings are better to be generalized with caution beyond the subjects of the present
study. Another limitation was that the subjects were only tested once on their
knowledge of English idioms; therefore, the results of the performance might be
called into question as to whether they truly indicate their real idiomatic competence
or not.
7
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED
LITERATURE
8
2.1 Introduction
In everyday conversations speakers rely heavily on preformatted utterances. They
talk about the skeletons in their neighbor's closet, about the new position they are
looking forward to, and they bet on a sandwich for that their colleague's new car cost
an arm and a leg. Such utterances are not new creations of the speakers themselves.
Instead, they are Fixed Expressions (cf. Sprenger, Levelt, & Kempen, 2004) that
belong to the conventional repertoire of the native speakers of a language. Both
meaning and form of these utterances are standardized, often allowing for only
minimal variation. Fixed expressions include varieties such as collocations, idioms,
metaphors, phrasal verbs, proverbs, and slang. Idioms are a particularly interesting
variant of fixed expressions.
2.2 What is an idiom?
In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary idiom is defined as "a phrase or sentence
whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must
be learnt as a whole unit". An idiom consists of a group of words which, as a whole,
has a different meaning from the meaning of the individual words it contains. Hence,
the meaning of the idiomatic expression is not the sum total of the words taken
individually. Accordingly, an idiom is learned and used as a single unit of language;
it should not be analyzed into its constituent elements. Idioms themselves are
sometimes referred to as 'fixed expressions' because in many cases the users should
not make linguistic changes such as adding or dropping words, replacing a word with
another, or changing the order of words. In some cases, slant lines and brackets are
used in dictionaries to indicate alternative words and words that can be left out
respectively (Cowie & Mackin, 1975; Seidl & McMordie, 1992; Shalati & Huda,
2000).
Some researchers believe that the word idiom is so vague a term that its
meaning is sometimes contradictory to each other in different contexts (Moon, 1998).
Some other researchers hold that the concept of idioms covers set phrases, proverbs,
formulaic phrases and even polysemes (Cooper, 1998; Katz & Postal, 1963).
However, others argue that idioms only refer to fixed and opaque or metaphorical
expressions such as kick the bucket, spill the beans (Moon, 1998). Different
9
researchers have defined idiom differently. For example, Fernando (2000, p. 1)
defines idioms as "conventionalized multiword expressions which are often but not
always non-literal". According to this definition, three features of idioms are
suggested, 1) compositeness: idioms are expressions combined with more than one
word, i.e., single words cannot be taken as idioms; 2) institutionalization: idioms are
conventionalized expressions and institutionalization is the end product of the
initially unplanned created expressions; and 3) opaque: its meaning cannot be
conjectured from its components, i.e., the meaning of idioms is non-literal. In other
words only those expressions which become conventionally fixed in a specific order
and lexical form or have only a restricted set of variants acquire the status of idioms
(Fernando, 2000).
Fernando (2000) classifies idioms into three categories based on its
opaqueness in meaning, 1) pure non-literal idioms, e.g., red herring spick and span;
seize/grasp the nettle; 2) semi-literal idioms, e.g., catch fire; foot the bill; blue
movie/story; 3) literal idioms, e.g., in sum; arm in arm; for example/instance.
Wei (1999, p. 63) presents a similar definition of idioms: "idioms refer to the
combination of words which are syntactically and lexically equivalent to one single
word structurally fixed with its meaning independent of the literal meaning of the
components". Thus, from Wei's point of view, there are four main features for
idioms, 1) opaque in meaning; 2) integrated in semantics; 3) frozen in syntax; and 4)
weak in collocation.
From Cowie's (1981) point of view fixed expressions are called 'Multi Word
Units'. He distinguishes five types of Multi Word Units. These types are based on the
level of arbitrariness, restriction, and literal meaning vs. non-literal meaning
characteristic. However, these categories are not fixed in any sense, and, according to
Nesselhauf (2005) should be seen as a continuum. Cowie's (1981) classification of
Multi Word Units includes collocations (report a problem; seek medical attention),
idioms (kick the bucket; kick the habit), phrasal verbs (give up; go off), slang
expressions (pep talk), and proverbs (Better late than never).
11
Sinclair's (1991) classification of fixed expressions includes idioms, proverbs,
clichés, technical terms, jargon expressions and phrasal verbs. These lexical items
exhibit certain features; they have an unfixed degree, but they allow internal lexical,
syntactic and word order variation. In Sinclair's classification many words and
phrases show a tendency to strong collocations, to certain grammatical choices and
certain semantic environments. Moon (1997) argues that the class of the multi-word
combinations consists of compounds (dining-chair), phrasal verbs (come around),
idioms (kick the bucket), fixed phrases (how do you do) and prefarbs (I’m a great
believer in…).
Moon (1998) argues that idioms are part of a continuum which starts with
usual collocations, continues with stable or fixed collocations, metaphorical
collocations are following and the continuum ends with idioms.
For the word "idiom", different researchers have used different names. For
example, Carter (1998) uses the term fixed expressions, Moon (1997) picks up the
term multi-word items, Howarth (1998) uses the term phraseology, whereas
McCarthy (1998) prefers the traditional term idiom.
2.3 Features of idioms
Idioms (or idiomatic expressions) are fixed sequences of words or phrases with a
fixed meaning that is not composed of the literal meaning of the individual words
(Cipollone, Keiser, & Vasishth, 1998); e.g., to kick the bucket means ‗to die‘; to pull
someone’s leg means ‗to tease someone‘; He‘s in my bad books means ‗He‘s in
disfavor with me‘.
According to Long & Summers (1979), idioms usually have the following
characteristics:
1) Most idioms have only a non-literal or metaphorical meaning; i.e., one cannot
often discover their meanings by looking up the individual words in an ordinary
dictionary. e.g., The thieves took everything, so I was left really up a gum tree (=‗in
a difficult situation‘).
11
However, some idioms have both a literal and a non-literal meaning; e.g., He spilled
the beans can mean (a) literally: ‗He allowed the beans to get out of a container and
fall on the floor or other surface‘; (b) non-literally: ‗He revealed a secret‘.
2) Most idioms are more or less invariable or fixed both in wording and in certain
grammatical ways. That is to say, they function like lexical units or wholes. Because
of this:
a) Most idioms are invariant and must be learned as wholes, but the verbs must still
be put into the correct form, and pronouns must agree with their antecedents.
b) Many idioms have grammatical constraints. It should be said that I didn't sleep a
wink last night, but it cannot be said that I slept a wink. The right form is fed up with
something, but the form feed him up with the same thing is wrong.
c) The substitution of synonymous words into idioms is impossible. e.g., in the idiom
John gave up the ghost (= ‗John died‘), the word ghost cannot be replaced by
apparition and say John gave up the apparition; it would no longer mean ‗to die‘.
d) It is impossible to add up modifiers (e.g., adjectives and adverbs) into idioms. e.g.,
in the idiom He let the cat out of the sack (= ‗he revealed a secret‘), it is wrong to
say He let the black cat out of the sack; it is no longer considered an idiom.
e) Idioms cannot often be used in the passive. e.g., Mrs. Jones gave up the ghost
cannot be transformed into The ghost was given up by Mrs. Jones; it is no longer an
idiom.
f) Some idioms have slightly variant forms. e.g., the two forms of until kingdom
come or till kingdom come (=‗for a very long time in vain‘) is right as in You can
protest till kingdom come; however, no one will pay attention to you. Similarly, it is
right to say up to the/one’s ears/eyes/neck/eyeballs (= ‗wholly concerned with
something, esp. something troubling, work, business, or debt‘) as in The secretary is
up to her ears (in) addressing and stamping letters. Another example is to be in
someone’s good/bad books (= ‗to be in favor/disfavor with someone‘).
g) Most idioms are entered in dictionaries or the lexicon as single items of
vocabulary.
3) Most idioms belong to informal spoken or written language; therefore, they are
generally avoided in formal speech or writing.