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The Proverbs In Education And Teaching
Languages
The Suitability of Using Proverbs in Teaching English
Language
By: Mahmoud E. Emran.
Abstract
Proverbs are mentioned when people communicate as they have been mentioned and used in
literature, drama, advertisements, etc. In addition to introducing variables related with
proverbs such as definition, their relationship with language formation, expressing ideas, and
making the speech more impressive, this research shows teachers and scholars the suitability
of using proverbs in teaching a language, especially the English language. Possible models of
using the proverbs in teaching vocabulary and structure in English language are given. Thus,
this study aims to prove that proverbs reflect the cultures of the societies and therefore they
can be used in teaching languages.
‫ك‬...‫ك ةماااتكا صاااتك ااادة متك يااا بلماتكرااا كاأليالك ا ااال امتك ا ن ااات ك‬.‫األمثاااتذكرااادة كناااتيتكنصااالمتك ا ااا كا صااات ك‬
‫ك‬
‫ك رااا كماااداكا إلمااا كلت إاااتراكم ااااكميااااتذكا م ا ااا ا كيا كا عاااهاكمإلاااتكمثااا كرإل ااااتك ن ااااتكمااا كر ااا‬.‫ا ااا ك‬
‫ا هاااااكو ر إااا ماتك همإلااات ك إلااا كا ااا عكاةثااا كم ااات تك لنماااتالكوات ااا كاىكا اااا ك همإلهمااا ك ا إلهمااات كمااال ك‬
‫ك قااالك ااالم ك متي اااتكمم مهااااك دااا بلاعك‬.‫م ئمااااكادااا بلاعكاألمثاااتذكرااا كرااال لكا هاااااكاع اااتكا هاااااكا مه اااا‬
‫كلماااتكاىك‬: ‫ك ةصااا كامااالدكلت مااال كمااا كماااداكا إلمااا‬.‫األمثاااتذكرااا كرااال لكا م ااا يا ك ر ة نااات كا هاااااكا مه اااا‬
‫األمثتذكرإل لك قتراكا مم مإلت ك ر قت الكر كرطن قتراتكرهمتياك كري بلعكر كرل لكا هاا؟‬
‫ك‬
The Aims of the Study
Along with the above-stated aims, this paper gives the general readers as well as scholars
an account of the suitability of using proverbs in English language teaching.
The Methodology
The researcher has adopted the narrated and analytical research procedure
because it comports with the purposes of the study.
This part deals with the description of the primary and secondary sources of data
such as books, field work including the respondents, institutions where the study
was conducted, the instruments used are data collection procedure, data
organization, and analysis.To have a historical account of the
suitability of
using proverbs in English language teaching, the researcher relies on the books
and documents available. This is also required for the historical background of
teaching English as a basic theme. In addition to the study and examination of
the books and documents from the library and the Internet that, some videos and
documentaries have also been watched and examined to have an over-all global
idea of the subject.
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Discussion
Initially, there is an important allusion; that the main point of this
article is to introduce to the reader the role of proverbs in education
and lore acquisition not to deal with the 'Paremiology" (the study of
proverbs).
Fig. 1 kill not the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Proverbs are not forgotten when people communicate. Writers and
authors also have never ignored the usage of proverbs when they
compose any literary piece of art. Proverb application is always
present in drama (comedy or tragedy), novels and short stories.
Proverbs have had a long and worth-mentioned history in the
classroom. This shows that there has been a strong relationship
between proverb and cultural and literary works. Moreover, in the
tenth century, proverbs were used in English as a method of teaching
some foreign languages like Latin.(M.C.Marcas2012).
This is also an evidence that proverbs were used
educationally. Consequently, what is a proverb?
conceptually,andlinguistically,
a proverb (from Latin: proverbium) is a simple and
concrete saying, popularly known and repeated and it
expresses a truth based on commonsense or the practical
experience of humanity.(Mieder2004) They are
often metaphorical.
Fig. 2. A proverb is a thoughtful saying.
Some scholars have defined the proverb:
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"A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth,
morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorisable form and
(Mieder 1985:119), also (Mieder 1993:24).
which is handed down from generation to generation."
Sometimes there is a mingling between the definition of a proverb
and the definition of a proverbial expression. The difference is that
proverbs are unchangeable sentences while proverbial expressions
permit alterations to fit the grammar of thecontext. However, a
proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as
a wisdom.(G.Peter1994)
Grammatical Structure of Proverbs
Proverbs in different languages have been found with an extensive
diversity of grammatical structures.(Mieder 2001) In English, the
following structures patterns are found;
.
.
.
.
.
Imperative, negative Imperative, positive Parallel phrases Rhetorical question Declarative sentence -
Don't beat a dead horse.
Look before you leap.
Garbage in, garbage out.
Is the Pope Catholic?
Birds of a feather flock together.
Nevertheless, people will often cite only a part of a proverb to
originate an entire proverb, e.g. "All is fair" instead of "All is fair in
love and war", and "A rolling stone" for "A rolling stone gathers no
moss".
The grammar of proverbs is not always the typical grammar of the
spoken language, but elements are often moved around to achieve
rhyme or focus.
Proverbs and literature
Since literature is an implement
to serve the language and the
proverb is a practice of using the language, it is worthwhile to
mention a bit of the overlap between the proverb and literature.
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Many authors have used proverbs in their writings. Probably the
most famous user of proverbs in novels is J. R. R. Tolkien in his
"The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" series. Also, C. S. Lewis
created a dozen proverbs in The Horse and His Boy. These books are
notable for not only using proverbs as integral to the development of
the characters and the story line, but also for creating
proverbs.(D.Barajas2010)
Among medieval literary texts, Geoffrey Chaucer's "Troilus and
Criseyde" plays a special role because Chaucer's usage seems to
challenge the truth value of proverbs by exposing their
epistemological unreliability.
Proverbs (or fractions of them) have been the inspiration for titles of
books: "The Bigger they Come"
by Earle Stanley Gardner, and
"Birds of a Feather" (several books with this title), "Devil in the
Details" (multiple books with this title). Sometimes a title alludes to
a proverb, but does not actually quote it, such as "The Gift Horse's
Mouth" by Robert Campbell. Some stories have been written with a
proverb overtly as an opening, such as "A stitch in time saves nine."
at the beginning of "Kitty's Class Day", one of Louisa May Alcott's
Proverb Stories. Other times, a proverb appears at the end of a story,
summing up a moral to the story, frequently found in Aesop's Fables,
such as "Heaven helps those who help themselves." from Hercules
and the Wagoner.
Proverbs have also been used strategically by poets. Sometimes
proverbs (or portions of them or anti-proverbs) are used for titles,
such as "A Bird in the Bush" by Lord Kennet and his stepson Peter
Scott, and "The Blind Leading the Blind" by Lisa Mueller.
Sometimes, multiple proverbs are important parts of poems, such as
Paul Muldoon's "Symposium", which begins "You can lead a horse
to water but you can't make it hold its nose to the grindstone.", "Hunt
with the hounds." and "Every dog has a stitch in time.".
The Turkish (Libyan origin) poet Refiki wrote an entire poem by
stringing proverbs together, which has been translated into English
poetically yielding such verses as "Be watchful and be wary, / But
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seldom grant a boon; / The man who calls the piper / Will also call
the tune."
Some authors have used so many proverbs that there have been
entire books written cataloging their proverb usage, such as Charles
Dickens, (1812 – 1870) in some of his novels such as "Oliver Twist"
he used the proverb, "for Certes gold ne silver ben Nat". Agatha
Christie (1891 – 1976), in her fictions such as, " Spiders Web", she
used some proverbs,
such as, "The fly that has no one to advise it, follows the corpse into
the grave”, and "Elephants Never Forget" which was a title of one of
her works.
G. B. Shaw (1856-1950) used to originate proverbs
specially when he used his ironic style, in some of his novels and
plays such as, " Saint Joan", " Love Among the Artists". In "An
Unsocial Socialist", he used some proverbs like, "Better see rightly
on a pound a week than squint on a million."
Fig. 3. We may see proverbs in posters.
Proverbs in Language Teaching
Many educationists have tended to use the proverbs educationally
because the proverb has some motivated characteristics and wellbuilt construction like:
. Rhyme
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. Ellipsis
. Alliteration
. parallelism
. Metaphor
As
their
manners
of
metaphorical
application, simplicity and facility to be
memorised
easily
and
continuously,
proverbs are used widely in mimic
works, specially
Fig. 4. Proverb might be used in comic works.
in cartoons.
There is hardly a work of cartoons that do not
somewhere draw help from the proverbs.(Wolfgang1994)
This particularity has given the proverbs a significant role in
teaching a language through the situational procedures in everyday
language usage. However, as it is not easy for the children and young
learners to understand the intended and deep meanings of proverbs,
some educationists have avoided using proverbs in teaching during
the earlier stages of teaching, lore learning and language acquisition.
Relying on studying a great deal of English proverbs, the researcher
has compiled some proverbs that have a close relationship with
education and language tuition. Most of the following collection of
proverbs are English ones and they show the close relationship
between English Language and the social base between the culture
and its language. Here is a group of proverbs:
1- Learn a language, and you’ll avoid a war
2-If you want people to understand you, speak their language.
3-Those who know many languages live as many lives as the languages
they know.
4-Learn a new language and get anew soul.
5-To learn a language is to have one more window from which
to look at the world.
6-One who speaks only one language is one person, but one who
speaks two languages is two people.
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7-A new language is a new life.
8-With a language, you can go to Rome.
This group of proverbs has encouraged the researcher to study the
possibility of using the proverbs in teaching English language. As
proverbs are not limited to one side of life, they have been used to
cover all people's life activities, as the result of people's pondering
and crafting languages. Proverbs have been used in literature, films,
music,
cartoons,
religion,
drama,
psychology,
advertising,
conversation and in conservative language. Due to the head of the
English language tuition, the researcher focused and highlighted on
the usage of these constituents in teaching and learning English
Language. By studying some prepared materials before
for English language learning, the author has discovered that the
designers and creators of English language learning courses have not
ignored such aspects. For example;
Fig. 5. Using a picture instead of a word.
This illustration has been extracted from a text used in teaching and
learning vocabulary. The author has used the proverb without the
word which has been presented by a picture of an item, " an apple ".
In this contextualized text, the author has depended on the proverb in
memorising the word. The learner will see the picture, " apple" and
complete the proverb. Such a situation makes it is possible to use
proverbs in English language learning process.
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There is a widespread opinion that the
proverb plays an important role in language
teaching as a part of gaining cultural
knowledge, metaphorical understanding and
communicative competence.(Wolfgang1993)
Proverbs are a part of every language as Fig. 6. Proverbs can be used in cartoons.
well as every culture. Proverbs have been
used to spread knowledge, wisdom and
truthsabout life from ancient times until now. They have been
considered an important part of the fostering of children as they
signal moral values and exhort common behaviour. Proverbs belong
to the traditional verbal folklore genres and the wisdom of proverbs
has been a guide for people worldwide in their social interaction
throughout the ages. Proverbs are concise, easy to remember and
useful in every situation in life due to their content of everyday
experiences.
There is a general description of the proverb: “A proverb is a short,
generally known as the sentence of the folk which contains wisdom,
truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and
memorable form and it is handed down from generation to
generation”.
According to the paremiologist Wolfgang Mieder (2004), proverbs
have been used and should be used in teaching as didactic tools
because of their content of educational wisdom. When it comes to
foreign language learning, proverbs play a role in the teaching as a
part of cultural and metaphorical learning. Linguists also claim that
the use of proverbs in the teaching of English as a second or foreign
language is important for the learners’ ability to communicate
effectively.
The use of proverbs and its declining in the teaching of modern
languages has long been discussed.
Durbin Rowland (1926) points at
some arguments that the use of
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proverbs in language teaching is that proverbs “stick in the mind,
build up vocabulary and illustrate admirably the phraseology
and idiomatic expressions
Fig. 7. The proverb is a global language
.of the foreign tongue. It contributes
gradually to a surer feeling of the foreign language and proverbs
consume very little time.”
It has also been said that proverbs are not only melodic and witty,
possess rhythm and imagery; but also reflect “patterns of thought”.
As proverbs are universal, there are analogous proverbs in different
nations that have related cultural patterns. Proverbs are therefore
useful in the students’ discussions of cultural ideas when they
compare the proverbs’ equivalents in different languages. .(R.Durbin 1926)
The Suitability of Using Proverbs in Teaching English
Language
This section narrates the reasons for the suitability of using proverbs
in the teaching of the English Language.
The usage of proverbs in teaching English is suitable because:
1- It is considered that both the structure and the content of proverbs
are useful in ESL teaching especially when it comes to teaching
and understanding of culture as proverbs convey the values and
metaphors shared by a culture.
2- Proverbs are also useful in teaching the differences between
spoken and written language that they often confuses language
learners; they use conversational style when they write.
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3- Proverbs are one way to help the students to clarify the
distinction between oral and written English.
4- Proverbs are simple sayings which are used to show common
sense and popular wisdom. They are regarded generally as
informal rather than formal language.
5- They're mostly used in common everyday spoken language.
Fortunately proverbs (unlike phrasal verbs‫‏‬,
for example) can often be examined and have their meaning
,deduced.
6-It may take a little prompting by the teacher, but students should
.be able to work out the meaning of many of them.
7-Another useful aspect of proverbs is that they contain .
so-called "universal wisdom" and that the students' mother
tongue‫‏‬.ll have a very similar proverb'we .may
8-The language of proverbs is usually quite simple and it should . .
not take much for the class to paraphrase it.
9- Proverbs are used to give out words of wisdom because they
have been around for so long, and people generally use them
and accept them without thinking.
1o-Another useful exercise in class, especially with older students
.of having good English, is to question proverbs.
12- There is a possibility that proverbs reflect cultural values which
.may not necessarily apply where you are teaching, or perhaps
.
.show a blatant disregard for some aspect of life.
Not only the previous components make the proverbs suitable for
teaching English language, but there are also some other variables
that make the usage of proverbs in ESL teaching possible and
effective , because they:
1- are pithy,
2- are easy to learn,
3- are often rhythmical, and
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4- contain repetition
assonance.
manners
or
features
like
alliteration
and
Some scholars propose the use of proverbs in a range of areas within
language teaching: grammar and syntax, phonetics, vocabulary
development, culture, reading, speaking and writing. They state that
proverbs, besides being an important part of culture, also are an
important
tool
for
effective
communication
and
for
the
(Maracas 2012)
comprehension of different spoken and written discourses.
Fig. 8. " If you want people to understand you, speak their language."
Examples of Using Proverbs
in Teaching English Language Features
A. Vocabulary :
1. Absence
makes
the
grow fonder.
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2. Don't
judge
a
by its cover.
3. You can lead a to
4. You can't
5. The
water but you can't make it drink.
teach an
early
old
catches
the
new tricks.
.
B . Structure:
1. Better
2. Birds of
than never.
a feather
together.
The Major Findings of This Study
Proverbs are found to be given sufficient place in input provided for
learning in a language classroom or mostly used as time-filler.
This study has reached a few findings in the utilization of proverbs in
teaching the English language:
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1. Proverb can help produce language more fluently and naturally
which can in turn increase motivation.
2. It can prove a significant rhetorical force in various modes of
communication used by native speakers and not only in
friendly chat and powerful political speeches but also best in
English language teaching.
3. English proverbs are important in understanding cultural
differences and similarities.
4. Learning English proverbs is helpful in expressing oneself
using figurative language.
5. Proverbs also help develop effective communication skills:
5.a. Understanding and using proverbs improve listening
comprehension.
5.b. Knowing Proverbs will improve reading skills.
5.c. Proverbs knowledge improves writing skills where this.
6. Teachers are in support of the claims of paremiologists that the
learning of proverbs has a positive effect on the learning of
English in relation to the development of culture learning,
metaphorical understanding, and the development of effective
communicative skills.
Fig. 9. Better late than never
Recommendations
As an upshot of this study, recommendations are given to English
language teachers and educationists:
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1. English` proverbs are helpful in understanding English
language features.
2. English proverbs highlight and support teaching listening and
speaking in English language learning.
3. Proverbs should be dealt with in the course books that act asthe
main materials for English language teaching.
4. English proverbs should be a part of the English language
curriculum.
5. Course material writers and curriculum designers must give
emphasis to the use of proverbs in English language teaching.
Conclusions
The following conclusions have been derived from this study:
Proverbs provide an opportunity for students to be:
1. knowledgeable learners.
2. understanding of their values and those they share with others.
3. gainful insights as they discuss their experiences and work
out their understanding of proverb meanings.
4. usefuloftheir home culture to open awareness to school
improvement and practices.
5. improvementof thinking and writing skills in reciprocal
learning.
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