VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ KIM OANH IDIOMS DENOTING “INTELLIGENCE AND UNDERSTANDING” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS AND TEACHING IMPLICATIONS PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU VÀ GỢI Ý GIẢNG DẠY CÁC THÀNH NGỮ CHỈ SỰ THÔNG MINH HIỂU BIẾT TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Linguistics Code : 60 22 02 01 HANOI – 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ KIM OANH IDIOMS DENOTING “INTELLIGENCE AND UNDERSTANDING” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS AND TEACHING IMPLICATIONS PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU VÀ GỢI Ý GIẢNG DẠY CÁC THÀNH NGỮ CHỈ SỰ THÔNG MINH HIỂU BIẾT TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Linguistics Code : 60 22 02 01 Supervisor : Nguyễn Huy Kỷ, Ph. HANOI – 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, Nguyễn Thị Kim Oanh, hereby certify that the thesis entitled Idioms denoting “Intelligence and understanding” in English and Vietnamese: A contrastive analysis and teaching implication is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at VNU University of Languages and International Studies. Hanoi, July, 2014 Nguyễn Thị Kim Oanh i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Apart from the efforts of myself, the success of any study depends largely on the encouragement and guidelines of many others. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion of this MA thesis.
I would like to show my greatest appreciation to Dr. Nguyễn Huy Kỷ for his valuable instructions, critical but constructive criticisms, his share of personal experience and expertise. I also would like to send my sincere thanks to all the teachers in M.A course at VNU University of Languages and International Studies for their training and their assistance that has helped me to complete this thesis. Last but not least, my profound thanks and deep gratitude go to my family and my friends for their valuable support and encouragement.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT Although great attention has been paid to idioms by researchers and linguists in Vietnam as well as in the world, there has been no study conducted on idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in English and Vietnamese. This is the reason for the author‟s choice of the study. This thesis has two major purposes: (1) to find out not only the syntactic but also semantic similarities as well as differences in the idioms of this type in English and Vietnamese, and (2) to give some teaching implications for teachers English. In order to fulfill the objectives of the study, contrastive analysis method was used.
Moreover, 50 English and 50 Vietnamese idioms were collected various sources, mainly from dictionaries. They were then carefully analyzed with the main focus on their syntactic and semantic features. The results of the analysis mentioned above shows that although the idioms under investigation share some similarities, they have notable and interesting differences in terms of their syntactic features especially with regard to their clause and phrase patterns as well as their semantic ones. The study suggests that the above-mentioned idioms in English are more difficult to learn than their Vietnamese counterparts.
Therefore, more attention should be paid to the teaching of these idioms, especially to such factors as the number of idioms, student level and frequency of practice. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration. iii Table of contents. iv PART A: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale of the study. Objectives of the study. Significance of the study. Scope of the study.
Organization of the study. 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Previous studies related to the research. The author's framework.
Definitions of idioms. Definition of idioms denoting intelligence and understanding. Distinctive features of English idioms. Syntactic features of English idioms.
Semantic features of English idioms. Cultural features of English idioms. Distinction between idioms, metaphors, proverbs and fixed expressions. Idioms and Metaphors.
Idioms and Proverbs. Idioms and Fixed Expressions. 16 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY. Data collections instruments.
Data analysis techniques. Data analysis procedure. 19 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Syntactic features of English idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in contrastive analysis with Vietnamese counterparts.
Structural features of English idioms denoting intelligences and understanding. English idioms denoting intelligences and understanding have clause patterns. English idioms denoting intelligence and understanding have phrase patterns. An English – Vietnamese contrasting of syntactic features of idioms denoting intelligence and understanding.
Semantic features of English idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in contrasting with Vietnamese counterparts. Semantic features in idioms denoting intelligence and understanding .An English – Vietnamese contrasting of semantic features of idioms denoting intelligence and understanding. 38 CHAPTER 4: TEACHING IMPLICATIONS. Number of idioms.
39 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further study. II vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale of the study English is a language particularly rich in idioms - those modes of expression peculiar to a language (or dialect) which frequently defy logical and grammatical rules. Without idioms English would lose much of its variety and humor both in speech and writing. However, the background and etymological origins of most idioms are at best obscure. There are many students who have the chance to travel abroad and when these students were in the United States, they experienced many difficulties because they did not understand the meaning of many idioms that native speakers used in their daily conversations.
They even felt embarrassed and frustrated because they could not understand the idioms they heard. A strong knowledge of idioms, therefore, will help students be better speakers and facilitate communication. The fact that a large number of idioms are frequently used in discourse makes them an important aspect of vocabulary. Nonetheless, their characteristic features cause many difficulties to learners of English.
First of all, idioms not only have brief and extraordinary forms, contain key words but also hold profound meanings. They manifest much what the speakers want to say and do not want to say in words. This means that the idioms can express speakers‟ viewpoints, feelings, attitudes and even personalities and culture is their ways of idioms usage. Secondly, idioms are based not only on several aspects of language such as semantics, syntax, phonetics and phonology, pragmatics but also on their flexibilities in language usage.
Moreover, they are the combination of culture, language usage and creative competence. They are everlasting and passed from generation to generation because of their own distinctive features. Therefore, learning idioms helps learners understand more about cultures, people, languages which they are studying. Idioms have attracted a number of researchers and linguists who have researched on idioms and the application in teaching and learning.
Such as" The 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Study of Idioms and its Application to ESL and Intercultural Communication"(Ito, Yoko, 1993). In the thesis the author made an attempt to investigate into English idioms from different aspects. However, there has been no study on idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in English and Vietnamese. This study is therefore conducted in order to fill the gap.
We hope that it will make contribution to improving learners‟ understanding and knowledge of this particular type of idioms and give some suggestions to their teaching and learning. Objectives of the study The study is carried out for the following objectives: First of all, the study tries to analyze and contrast idioms to detect some similarities, basic differences between idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in English and Vietnamese in terms of their syntactic and semantic features. Secondly, it presents some implications in teaching and learning English idioms denoting intelligence and understanding. Research questions The study attempts to answer the following questions: 1.
What are some similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in terms of syntactic and semantic features? 2. What are some teaching implications for using appropriate idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in teaching English? 4. Significance of the study Idioms are considered an interesting and popular phenomenon of every language. Thus, they play an important role in all languages in general, in both English and Vietnamese in particular.
They also add color to the language and make the communication more lively and interesting. Therefore, effective communication cannot be achieved successfully without idioms. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com This kind of study has significance not only for contrasting language in use, but also for teaching and learning of this type of idioms. It also contributes to the translation of the idioms from English into Vietnamese and vice-versa.
Scope of the study Due to the limited time, space and the author‟s ability, the present paper just analyzes and contrasts the idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in Vietnamese, English in terms of their syntactic and semantic features. Organization of the study The study consists of three parts with four chapters as follows: Part A (Introduction) is spared for the presentation of the rationale, objectives, significance, scope, and the structure of the study. Part B (Development) Chapter1 (Literature review) provides the necessary information about the theoretical background related to idioms. Chapter 2 (Methodology) provides information about the principles that govern the research and the methods to be employed.
Chapter 3 (Data analysis and discussion) presents the findings obtained and sound discussions on those findings. Chapter 4 (Some implications for teaching) will be presented. This subsection brings about the practical value to the thesis from which readers can, to different degrees, benefit. Part C (Conclusions) provides a recapitulation of the main issues and problems presented in the study and suggestions for further research have been supplied.
References Appendices 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Previous studies related to the research Idioms as an abstract field have drawn much attention from many linguists and scholars, and so far many studies of idioms from different angles have been done. First of all, the research by Ifill (2002), he has an attempt to analyze and seek the nature of idioms in studying in idiomatic structure. The researcher pointed out the importance of idioms in the natural language and its existence in the language system.
In particular, he analyzes and clarifies the structure of idioms such as case for the lexicon, the variability of idioms discussed shows is that all idioms have internal structure of some kind. This distinction dictates how the idioms are allowed to behave. Another notable researcher is Moreno (2003), who claimed that the meaning the speaker intends to convey by the use of an idiom is pragmatically (re)constructed on-line by relevance-driven inferential mechanisms which take as input a set of highly accessible encyclopedic assumptions from the concepts encoded by the idiom string and its constituent words. The amount of processing effort invested, and the depth of processing of the encoded concepts, is highly constrained at every stage by the search for an optimally relevant interpretation.
He added that in understanding idioms, conceptual adjustment takes place at word and phrase level that this model can account for why idioms often swing between literal and figurative meanings, and for why they often exhibit different degrees of flexibility and productivity in the flow of conversation. Another research on this theme was conducted by Doãn Ngọc Diệp (Unpublished M.