Prompting language learners to guess the meaning of idioms: do wrong guesses linger?

Abstract

Studies have shown that informing language learners about the literal underpinning of idioms can help them to remember these expressions. It has also been suggested that prompting learners to guess the meaning of lexical items may be beneficial because it can pique their curiosity and promote cognitive engagement. In the case of idioms, the literal underpinnings can be used as hints to improve the chances of successful inferencing. Even so, some inaccurate inferencing remains inevitable. Hence, the question must be asked if wrong initial interpretations of idioms might interfere with later recall of their meanings. In this study, EFL learners (N = 25) were asked to guess the meaning of idioms first without and then with information about their literal underpinnings, after which the actual meanings were given. One week later, the learners were asked to recall the meanings of the idioms. Accurate recall was found more likely when guessing had been successful than when guesses had needed to be rectified. Moreover, almost half of the inaccurate responses closely resembled wrong guesses the participants had proffered the previous week, suggesting that giving learners the correct meaning after an inaccurate guess does not always replace the latter in memory.