Abstract
<p>This study examined the effect of etymological elaboration, pictorial elucidation, and integration of these 2 strategies on idiom learning by L2 learners. A total number of 80 homogeneous intermediate learners studying English at 3 language institutes in Isfahan, Iran, were selected. The intermediate participants were selected as the result of administering an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) to them. Then, the participants were divided into 4 groups of equal size, that is, control, etymological, pictorial, and etymological/pictorial groups. Before the experiment, all the participants took a pretest to ensure their unfamiliarity with the idioms. The idioms that were known even by 1 participant were crossed out, and finally 30 idioms were chosen for instruction. Then, the experimental groups received their relevant treatments during 15 sessions, whereas the control group learners learned idioms through definitions and example sentences. After the implementation of the experiment, the 4 groups, once again, sat for a test (i.e., the immediate posttest) to see whether the treatments had improved idiom learning. Finally, the data were analyzed by an independent samples <em>t </em>test and one-way between-groups ANOVA. Results showed that all the 3 strategies significantly improved the participants’ idiom learning. Results also pointed to the fact that the etymological elaboration/pictorial elucidation strategy was the most effective strategy on idiom learning.</p>
Highlights
According to Hudson (1980) as well as Reisi Gahroei and Tabatabaei (2013), “language is at the center of human life and the ability to learn a language is among the greatest mental achievements of humankind” (p. 102)
This study examined the effect of etymological elaboration, pictorial elucidation, and integration of these 2 strategies on idiom learning by L2 learners
It could be inferred that the pictorial group (PG) learners outweighed the control group (CG) learners with regard to learning of idioms
Summary
According to Hudson (1980) as well as Reisi Gahroei and Tabatabaei (2013), “language is at the center of human life and the ability to learn a language is among the greatest mental achievements of humankind” (p. 102). According to Olivares-Cuhat (2010) and Horwitz (2008), learning an L2 depends on a series of factors, such as (a) cognitive factors (language aptitude, learning styles), (b) affective factors (attitudes, motivation, and anxiety), (c) metacognitive factors (use of language learning strategies), and (d) demographic factors. Use of language learning strategies is one of the important factors, which influences learning and is related to this study. According to Tabatabaei and Mirzaei (2014), “many teachers believe that different teaching methods play important roles in the quality of learning, especially learning a second or foreign language” Figurative language and idioms are important components of any language. Honeck (1997) points that figurative language is a language that means one thing literally but is taken to mean something different. An idiom has conventional meaning which cannot be realized through the meaning of its individual words (Gibbs, 1994)
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