Understanding EFL Students’ Processing of Idiomatic Expressions Out of Context
Insights Gained From Think-Alouds
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21807063 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sameer S Aljabri (Umm al-Qura University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1907-1915 |
| Publication date | 2024-06-19 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Theory and Practice in Language Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1799-2591 • E-ISSN: 2053-0692 |
| Publisher | Academy Publication (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.17507/tpls.1406.32 |
| OpenAlex | W4399811831 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 11 |
The current study examines how EFL students confront the difficulty of comprehending English idioms without supportive context. It aims to study the online processing strategies Saudi EFL learners employ when giving the meaning of English idioms. The Idiom Recognition Test (IRT) and Think-aloud protocol were used to vary and measure the idiom's difficulty and to analyze the processing of the idiom immediately after visual perception. Twenty frequently used idioms representing formal and informal English were selected. They were of three types: English idioms, which have identical forms and meanings of Arabic equivalents; English idioms, which have similar forms and meanings of Arabic equivalents; and English idioms, which differ from Arabic idioms. Results showed that most of the participants had difficulty interpreting the English idioms. Moreover, participants most often drew on the literal meaning, using the compositional parts of the idiom. Referring to an L1 idiom was the second most successful strategy but the fourth most often employed out of the six strategies. The third most effective strategy was background knowledge, yet it was the least used overall. Consequently, the results support all the idiom processing models that emphasize the literal meaning over the figurative one
Linguistics · Computer Science · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · History · Philosophy · Psychology · Second Language Acquisition and Learning · Second Language Learning and Teaching
Formulaic Sequences
Afghan EFL students’ difficulties and strategies in learning and understanding English idioms
Literal vs. figurative language
English idioms in the first language and second language lexicon
Adding more fuel to the fire
Psycholinguistic techniques in second language acquisition research
Literal salience in on-line processing of idiomatic expressions by second language learners
Don't Put Your Leg in Your Mouth
Processing of Idioms by L2 Learners of English
Teaching Idioms
A cognitive-pragmatic approach to situation-bound utterances
| Highly cited | No |
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