VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -------------***------------- TRAN THI MY LINH STUDENTS’ AND LECTURERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF IDIOMS TEACHING AND LEARNING IN SPEAKING SKILL FOR FRESHMEN AT FOE, HNUE Nhận thức của sinh viên và giảng viên về việc giảng dạy thành ngữ trong kĩ năng nói cho sinh viên năm nhất khoa Tiếng Anh, trường Đại học Sư phạm Hà Nội M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi, April 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION…. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES…. Aims of the study….
Methods of the study…. Scope of the study…. 5 PART II: DEVELOPMENT. 6 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW….
Idioms: Definitions and Types………. The Roles of Idiomatic Competence in Language Acquisition…. The Relationship between Idioms and Speaking Skill…. Issues in Teaching Idioms.
Idiom-Related Research in Language Teaching and Learning. Data collection instruments. Reasons for choosing survey questionnaires…. Description of survey questionnaires…….
Reasons for choosing interview……. 28 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Description of interview…………. Data collection procedure.
31 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Data collected from survey questionnaire………. The situation of teaching and learning idioms……. Lecturers’ and student’s self-evaluations on the effectiveness of their idioms teaching and learning…………….
Data collected from interview………. The teaching and learning of idioms………. The importance of idioms learning and teaching………. Ways of learning and teaching idioms.
Challenges in teaching and learning idioms …. Evaluations on the effectiveness of idioms teaching and learning. Shortage in teaching and learning idioms…. Summary of the findings…….
57 PART III: CONCLUSION. Recommendations for lecturers and students. Some suggested activities for idioms teaching to promote speaking Skill. Limitations of the study…….
Recommendation for further study……… .I APPENDIX 1: Survey questionnaire 1 (for students)… .I APPENDIX 1A: English version………… .I APPENDIX 1B: Vietnamese version…. VI APPENDIX 2: Survey questionnaire 2 (for lecturers)…. XI APPENDIX 3: Interview questions…. XVI LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Students’ and Lecturers’ Perceptions of Idioms Teaching and Learning Skill for Freshmen at FOE, HNUE” is the result of my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any universities or other institutions.
Tran Thi My Linh Hanoi, 2018 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I am indebted to my supervisor Prof. Hoang Van Van, for his wholehearted assistance. Without his guidance, invaluable suggestions, comments, advice, and corrections, this thesis would have been possible. My special thanks also go to many lecturers and students at Faculty of English, Hanoi University of Education for their enthusiastic cooperation during the collection of data for this thesis.
I am grateful to all authors of books listed in the biography, whose ideas are good references for me to conduct and develop this research. Last but not least, I owe my deepest gratitude to my colleagues in Faculty of English, and my family for encouragement, and support during the process of completing this graduation paper. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This study investigated the situation of teaching and learning idioms in developing speaking skill for freshmen and explored the difficulties encountered by the lecturers and students while teaching and learning idioms, and the strategies employed while processing the idioms at Faculty of English, Hanoi National University of Education in Vietnam – a foreign language context. It also examined the evaluation of the idiom teaching process in two language classes for freshmen and provided some suggested solutions to the teaching of idioms to increase students’ motivation and involvement in learning English idioms particularly in developing their speaking skill.
The data were collected though survey questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The analysis revealed that lecturers and students at the university achieved effectiveness in idioms teaching and learning in some ways. Both of them believed that students are motivated, felt relaxed, confident, and actively participated in idioms learning activities in this foreign language context. The findings also revealed that students demonstrated the process in idiom comprehension as well as in idiom production through the evidences in the comprehension of idiomatic phrases.
The results indicated significant effects of the context in idiom learning and implied that idiom learning should be received more attention in EFL learning contexts. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FOE : Faculty of English HNUE : Hanoi National University of Education C1 : Advanced level (proficient user) CEFR : Common European Framework of Reference SA : Strongly agree A : Agree N : Neutral D : Disagree SD : Strongly disagree iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: The Importance of Idioms in Speaking Skill (Students' opinions). 33 Figure 2: The Importance of Idioms in Speaking Skill (Lecturers' opinions). 34 Figure 3: Teaching Idioms at University for Freshmen (Students' opinions).
34 Figure 4: Teaching Idioms at University for Freshmen (Lecturers' opinions). 35 Figure 5: Time Using for Teaching Idioms (Students' opinions). 35 Figure 6: Sources and teaching/learning material for idioms. 44 Figure 7: Lecturers’ and students’ general evaluation of idiom teaching and learning.
45 Table 1: Criteria for Selecting Idioms for Teaching. 36 Table 2: Teaching approaches……. 37 Table 3: Lecturers’ opinion on teaching methods. 40 Table 4: Students’ opinion on teaching methods.
Idiom- related activities……. Lecturers’ and students’ evaluation of idioms teaching and learning in detail………. 46 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Wishing that the apprehension of a nation’s language thoroughly and master English well when studying it is the desire of many people.
To reach these aims, they are not allowed to ignore their learning language’s idioms that are defined by Palmer as expressions whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meaning of its parts. In terms of language, an idiom is a combination of words that are taken from the general vocabulary of each language. Idioms are considered an interesting and popular phenomenon of every language. According to D’Angelo Bromley (1984), idioms exist in all languages and “enjoy widespread use among speakers of every language the world over” (p.
English is one of the most idiomatic languages in the world, containing thousands of idiomatic expressions that are rife in everyday speech. While it is like the grease that makes language flow, it also presents an extra obstacle to both students and English teachers. Nowadays, English has been widely used in Vietnam and it is also a compulsory subject in all schools, colleges and universities. Teaching and learning English in Vietnam as a foreign language has encountered controversial social reactions when students are said to be unable to competently communicate in English after their six or seven years of studying it (Tran, 2012).
Some of them are good at grammar and vocabulary, yet they are still unable to communicate in English. They still fail to communicate when they discover that what English language speakers actually talk to them is different from what they have been taught. On the one hand, English idiomatic expressions are of great popularity in English in use. Copper (1998) indicates that an English native speaker uses about 20 million idioms in his or her lifetime of 60 years.
These impressive statistics illustrate the undeniable significant role of idiomatic phrases in daily language use. Cornell (1999), in effect, postulated that whether in linguistics or language acquisition, idioms have always been a necessary part of the study of language. Bromley (1984) stated that idioms enjoy widespread utilization among speakers of every language all over the world. Familiarity with the idioms commonly used 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com in everyday language can be a great asset to learners in acquiring a new language (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999).
Yorio (1989) noted that it appears that whereas fluency is possible without grammatical accuracy, idiomaticity is not. Fernando (1996) indicated that the sheer number of idioms and their high frequency in discourse make them an important aspect of vocabulary acquisition and language learning in general. These impressive statistics illustrate the undeniable significant role of idiomatic phrases in daily language use. Idioms, either in oral or written discourse, are often inevitable, which makes it a must in language programs to help students develop their communicative skills (http://www.
When a person learns idioms in English, she/he takes English out of its superficial printed form into the natural form, which helps the speaker use culture-oriented expressions more appropriately. Hence, both teaching and learning English as a second/foreign language should lend itself to such kind of colorful instructions (De Caro, 2009). Additionally, teaching methodology, especially in teaching English in Vietnam is still restrictive. In the past, English teachers just focused on grammar, vocabulary, reading, and writing while speaking and listening received inadequate attention; therefore, students did not have opportunity to speak and to express their ideas in English.
Later, in the 2000s English started to be taught in light of the skill-based teaching approach. Consequently, students have to learn four skills separately, that is, speaking, listening, reading and writing. In spite of the advantages of this approach, the biggest drawback is the undervaluation of word power such as fixed phrases, formulaic expressions because of the heavy emphasis on skills (Tran, 2012). On the other hand, Fernando (1996), Wray (2000), Schmitt (2000), and Simpson and Mendis (2003) maintained that a mastery of idioms is usually equated with native speaker fluency.
In fact, idiomatic competence is one of the criteria for IELTS speaking assessment. In the IELTS speaking band descriptors, uses of idiomatic vocabulary and collocation are mentioned as indicators for the use of lexical resource in bands 7, 8 and 9. All of the students including the first year 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com students (freshmen) in Faculty of English are expected to achieve advanced level (C1) in the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) or the equivalent after their graduation and speaking is one of the criteria they need to improve if they desire to gain the qualification. They represent the young generation of future teachers hoped to have the capacity of teaching English effectively; therefore, a strong knowledge of idioms will assist them to be better speakers in communication, particularly in English teaching.
However, idiom teaching, might have not received adequate attention in foreign language teaching contexts yet (Vasiljevic, 2011), especially in speaking. Teachers and students in Vietnam tend to avoid idiomatic expressions in English and few of them are aware of the roles of idioms in communicative competence (Tran, 2012). They may have confronted difficulties in choosing a suitable teaching method, selecting idioms, and explaining the use of an idiom in its appropriate contexts. Moreover, in Vietnam, language educators and researchers have done few studies of teaching idioms because this controversial issue has just received initial attention.
As categorized by Kachru (1985), few studies focusing on foreign language users have been conducted by foreign language researchers and teachers, who are in the expanding circle of English users. Obviously, the majority of language users nowadays are from this expanding circle. This is a gap in the literature especially when English is regarded “the world’s international language” (Richard, 2008, p. This study focused on idioms teaching in Vietnam, where English is taught as a foreign language, therefore, could fill in the gap in the literature on idioms teaching and learning research.
Additionally, for the students of English as a second or foreign language, learning to use idiomatic expressions correctly is an important aspect in the mastery of international English.