SOME METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH IDIOMS FOR NON ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT LAM SON GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL

The current situation of teaching and learning English at Lam Son Gifted High School 6 2.3.. Some tips and techniques of teaching idioms for high school students 6 2.3.2.. Combination of

TABLE OF CONTENTS Part 1: INTRODUCTION

Part 2: DEVELOPMENT

2.2 The current situation of teaching and learning English at Lam

Son Gifted High School

6

2.3 Some tips and techniques of teaching idioms for high school

students

6

2.3.2 Effective Activities for Teaching English Idioms 7

2.3.2.3 Combination of pictures and dialogues 9

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ

TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN LAM SƠN

***

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

SOME METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH IDIOMS FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT LAM SON

GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL

Người thực hiện: Bùi Thị Bạch Tuyết Chức vụ: Giáo viên

Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT chuyên Lam Sơn SKKN môn: Tiếng Anh

THANH HOÁ NĂM 2019

1.1 Rationale 1

Part 2: DEVELOPMENT

2.2 The current situation of teaching and learning English at Lam

Son Gifted High School

6

2.3 Some tips and techniques of teaching idioms for high school

students

6

2.3.2 Effective Activities for Teaching English Idioms 7

2.3.2.3 Combination of pictures and dialogues 9

1.1 Rationale of the study

Teaching and learning English in Vietnam as a foreign language has beenencountering controversial social reactions when students are said not to be able

English It is claimed that students even cannot purposively speak one or twocorrect sentences in English for their communicative intention Some studentswith good English grammar and vocabulary think that they can communicate inEnglish However, they still fail to communicate when they discover that thelanguage English speakers actually talk to them is different from what they havebeen taught.

On the one hand, this may come from the teaching methodology In thepast foreign language teachers just focused on grammar and writing Speakingand listening received inadequate attention; therefore, students did not havechance to speak and to express their ideas in English Later, in the 2000s Englishstarted to be taught in light of the skill-based teaching approach Students have,consequently, learnt four skills separately, that is, speaking, listening, readingand writing In spite of the advantages of this approach, the biggest drawback isthe undervaluation of word power such as fixed phrases, formulaic expressionsbecause of the heavy emphasis on skills

On the other hand, this crucial problem may come from the lack ofidiomatic phrases in teaching and learning English whereas idiomaticexpressions are of great popularity in English in use Copper (1998) indicatesthat 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

However, students and teachers tend to traditionally avoid idiomaticexpressions in English This prevents students from the exposure to multi-wordunits in English Thus, students cannot profoundly understand thecommunicative meanings of multi-word units in the right context Researchers

in language acquisition such as Wray (2000), Joyce & Burns (1998) emphasizethat mastery of idiomatic language is one significant indicator of successfullanguage acquisition In fact, idiomatic competence is one of the criteria forIELTS speaking assessment In the IELTS speaking band descriptors, uses ofidiomatic vocabulary and collocation are mentioned as indicators for the use oflexical resource in bands 7, 8 and 9

At Lam Son Gifted High School, English is a compulsory subject in thecurriculum and it is considered as a major subject for the high school examination

It is taught with the purpose that students have some basic knowledge of English

in order to communicate and to use it as a key to science and technology.Moreover, most teachers expect their students to speak English fluently andnaturally like native speakers and their aim is to help them pass the nationalexamination with flying colors.Those are the reasons that inspire me with the

desire to write: ‘‘Some methods of teaching English idioms for Non-English major students at Lam Son Gifted High School, Thanh Hoa.’’

1.2 Aims of the study:

This study is aimed to:

- Provide teachers some helpful tips and techniques of teaching Englishidioms in their classes

- Help students easily remember English idioms.

1.3 Scope of the study

The study concentrates on strategies and methods teachers use in idiomteaching The subjects of the study are students whose majors are Math,Chemistry and Physics in grade 12 ( 12T, 12F, 12H) at Lam Son Gifted highschool, Thanh Hoa

1.4 Methods of the study:

This study uses an action research as methodology Action researchprovides teachers with an opportunity to apply the findings of research to theirown situations and to adapt theory to practice It also involves teachers asparticipants in their own educational process, and helps them to develop acritical and reflective eye for their own instructional practices along with those

of their peers

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Literature review

2.1.1 Definition of Idioms:

Idioms belong to the category of nonliteral or figurative language that alsoincludes metaphors, similes and proverbs.There are many definitions available

for idioms In this study, an idiom, or idiomatic expression, according to the

Oxford English Dictionary, is a group of words whose meaning cannot bededuced from the individual words that form it In other words, idioms are

considered as fixed chunks with arbitrary meanings For example, the idiom kick the bucket cannot be interpreted by simply connecting the meanings of each

single word; learners who want to obtain the meaning of the idiom have to

memorize its corresponding figurative interpretation, which is to die Meanings

of idioms are arbitrary and thus unpredictable Even native speakers considerlearning and understanding idiomatic expressions difficult (Gibbs 1994), letalone language learners whose comprehension of idioms is blocked by theirlimited language proficiency and cultural immersion Idioms, therefore, havebeen considered an obstacle for learners However, idiomatic expressions areused so widely and commonly in spoken and written English that learners have

to prepare themselves to meet the challenge of learning and understanding them(Cooper 1999) Without a doubt, this presents language learners with a specialvocabulary-learning problem Thus, teaching idioms to learners is a necessaryelement in the field of EFL teaching

to peas which grow together in a pod "Light as a feather" and "busy as a bee"are two other examples of simile-based idiomatic expressions

- Phrasal verbs idioms

These idiomatic expressions function as verbs They usually contain one

or more individual verbs and prepositions that, when used together in a sentence,act as a single verb For example, the phrasal verb "to get away with" is used tomean "avoid punishment" as in the sentence, "She will get away with stealingthat car."

- Metaphorical idioms

The metaphorical idiom is a phrase that ordinarily designates one thing isinferred to another, making an implicit comparison (Tang, 2007).It comparestwo situations, objects or actions However, idioms based on metaphors do notuse the words "like" or "as" to connect the two ideas For example, a "carrot andstick method," is used to mean a method of coercion It compares the situation athand to the practice of luring stubborn horse or mule by dangling a carrot infront of him and prodding with a stick behind

- Aphorisms

Aphorisms are idiomatic expressions intended to convey wisdom ormorals They are also colloquially called "sayings," widely read books, famousspeeches or other texts They contain profound philosophical truths in short,easy-to-remember sentences.

- Cultural and Historical Idioms

These idiomatic expressions deal with landmark events and important historicalfigures They are therefore particular to certain cultures For example, in theUnited States, "John Hancock" means to provide a signature This expressionreferences one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock,whose signature is one of the largest and most distinct on the document Anotherexample is "Honest Abe." This idiom alludes to the fabled honesty of AbrahamLincoln, the 16th president of the United States

2.1.3 Methods of Teaching Idioms:

Since native speakers use numerous idioms during the course of everyday and since it is important to teach idioms to learners, teaching idiomsreceived much more attention recently and it becomes a topic in teaching ESLand EFL after it was a neglected topic It is important to have a clear view onhow to implement a methodology to teach idioms However, the argumentbetween the traditional method and the conceptual metaphors instruction on how

to teach idioms is not over

Teachers have a variety of methods to apply in their classes in order toteach idioms These teaching methods can be organized under two broadmethods The traditional method encourages teaching idioms explicitly incontext Or the conceptual metaphor method that teaches English idioms afterobtaining some knowledge of the terms The traditional method teaches idioms

in context, Liontas (2003) stated that the context can effectively facilitateunderstanding as well as learning and teaching of idioms and idiomaticexpressions Liontas’s study concluded that “the absence of context” createsobstacles “on learning and comprehending idioms” (p 288)

- Teaching English Idioms in Contexts

The role of context is central in language learning It’s common that EFLstudents don’t really understand the various meanings of new words in differentcontexts That’s why EFL students don’t know how to apply the words theyhave learned practically in various contexts It’s fundamental for teachers toprovide a rich context for students’ language learning and practice For instance,linguistic contextual information enhances adolescents’ interpretation of idioms(Nippold & Martin, 1989) The contextual cues surrounding a particular wordcan help readers get that’s meaning In contrast, context-reduced language will

be hard for readers to tolerate (Brown, 2001) Consequently, it’s more effectivefor EFL students to learn language in meaningful contexts than learn isolatedwords through memorization and drilling

- Teaching English Idioms with Rich Illustrations

Although there is lingering debate regarding the effect of visuals onreading comprehension, some researchers claim that reading materialsaccompanied by visuals will be more comprehensible For example, Scarcellaand Oxford (1992) stressed that teachers need to illustrate key vocabularyeffectively by showing pictures and diagrams so as to improve the ESL students’reading comprehension (p 107) Mayer (1999) found that words and picturespresented together helped students recall better than alone It is efficient toprovide interesting pictures to foster and reinforce vocabulary development.Consequently, visuals must be stimulating, interesting and motivating tostudents’ comprehension and retention of reading.

- Teaching English Idioms with Group Discussion

Students’ discussing what they read is a helpful strategy to increase theircomprehension Group talk can provide learners with rich opportunities toacquire social and linguistic knowledge necessary for understanding new textsthey encounter (Freeman & Freeman, 1994) Klingner & Vaughn (2000)stressed that ESL students engaging in collaborative talk during content reading,they assisted one another in understanding the meaning of challenging words,getting the main ideas, and answering questions about what they read As aresult, group discussion appears to be an effective technique to enhancestudents’ reading comprehension

- Teaching English Idioms with Readers Theater

Readers Theater has been viewed as an interesting and motivatingstrategy that can provide readers with a legitimate reason to reread text andfurther improve their word recognition, reading fluency and readingcomprehension Researchers claim that Readers Theater offers a way to improvefluency and enhance comprehension (Bafile, 2003) as well as to create interest

in and enthusiasm for learning (Ruddell, 1999) Even slow learners can benefitfrom Readers Theater because there is no memorization required and there is norisk for them at all Apparently, Readers Theater provides enough opportunityfor practice repeated reading in language learning This activity also enhancesinteraction opportunities with peers and makes the reading task more appealingthan learning alone

- Teaching English Idioms with Retelling and Rewriting

Retelling has been a good strategy to know how much students havelearned and to increase their comprehension Retelling activities can facilitatestudents’ reading retrieval because the activities can encourage students to try torecall Their recalling help teachers understand how much information theirstudents have obtained Older students can benefit from retelling stories because

it allows students to learn to organize and describe events, which enhancesreading comprehension (Brandi-Muller, 2005) In Brandi-Muller’s classroom,she found that her ELL students not only became more enthusiastic and willing

to take a chance and read aloud but also remembered the vocabulary better withthis method (Brandi-Muller, 2005) As a result, retelling activities can reinforceintegration of recentlyl earned reading

- Teaching English Idioms with Dialogue Writing and Role-Play

Dialogues can provide situations for students to practice ordinaryconversation and offer students ample practice with basic speaking skills incontext Firstly, dialogues can be viewed as short plays and used for students toact out rather than simply read aloud Moreover, the dialogues the students writefunction as basic communication at all levels (Scott & Ytreberg, 2000) Inaddition, putting pupils into pairs for the role-play in the daily dialogues is aneffective way of oral practice for various ages and levels (Scott & Ytreberg,2000) Nunan (2003) stressed that role-plays are also excellent activities forlearners’ speaking in the relatively safe environment of the classroom beforethey must do so in a real environment Therefore, dialogues offer studentsopportunities to act out and practice oral skill before encountering the realworld

2.2 The current situation of teaching and learning English at Lam Son Gifted High School.

At Lam Son Gifted High School, English is one of the compulsorysubjects in the curriculum and students have to pass the national examination bythe end of grade 12 to be qualified for the secondary school diploma

“Tieng Anh 12” textbook consists of sixteen units for two terms Eachunit focuses on four different language skills: reading, speaking, listening,writing and grammar but not much on English idioms, which are included in thenational English Test and the IELTS assessment It is very important to integratestudents in the four skills Moreover, they should combine idiom knowledge inthe four skills in order to get the best result

Traditional methods of teaching idioms focus on rote learning andmemorization They are time- and effort-consuming as learners picked upidioms discretely without associations between forms and meanings There hasbeen the need of a flexible and dynamic approach towards the teaching ofEnglish idioms Therefore, teachers should design various activities for students

to use with English idioms so that they can collaborate with peers and utilizeidioms in different contexts

2.3 Some tips and techniques of teaching idioms for high school students:

2.3.1 Four tips before teaching idioms:

* Amount: Not too many at once

Planning an idiom filled lesson may not be the best approach tointroducing this topic Idioms are complex and difficult not only to understandbut also to explain so consider introducing only a small number, maybe three orfive, at a time

You can do this by including them in your usual lessons This approach willgive you enough time to cover them thoroughly and allow students sufficientpractice time without overwhelming them

* Themes: Related to your topics

You can include idioms in your normal lessons by introducing themthematically If they are related to the topic you are studying, students will have

an easier time remembering them and will be familiar with the vocabulary youare using When talking about pets, for instance, you can introduce idioms such

as ‘work like a dog’ and ‘dog tired’ which are related to the topic and will give

students something to discuss What makes idioms so interesting is that they are

a unique combination of words that have completely different meanings fromthe individual words themselves

* Level: Intermediate+

Many teachers do not introduce idioms to students who are not at theadvanced level In some ways this seems like a good approach because idiomsare complex and have different meanings than their words alone suggest.However, Idioms do not have to be just for advanced students, you canintroduce them earlier as long as you choose ones that are appropriate for yourstudents Obviously, beginners may not have the vocabulary and comprehensionskills to learn certain idioms, however, intermediate students could definitelybenefit from learning about this aspect of the English language Using the twoexamples above, you can even discuss how these phrases may have beencreated

* Comprehension: Make sure they understand the individual words first

Students have to know or understand the individual words of an idiomsbefore understanding the idioms itself Avoid introducing idioms which use newvocabulary and be able to simplify the meaning of idioms You could say, forinstance, that ‘work like a dog’ means to work very hard Students will have toknow all the words you use in your explanation as well so use the simplestlanguage you can Even with advanced learners, simplifying idioms to theirbasic meanings make them easier to understand

Idioms may not be something you are prepared to introduce your studentsbut at some point in their studies, idioms will be important and you can givestudents a head start by getting them accustomed to these types of phrases early

on Just a handful each semester would be a good start

2.3.2 Effective Activities for Teaching English Idioms

2.3.2.1 Teaching idioms with pictures:

Provide a picture to explain the context This works best if you show animage that humorously illustrates the literal meaning of the idiom It will makestudents laugh, but also help them understand or guess what a phrasemeans Idioms are full of colorful imagery, perfect for a flashcard or photo.Show the picture to your students and have them guess the meaning of theidiom ( see figure 1, 2, 3)

From there, give examples of when you would use it and how the wordsand the actual meaning of the idiom are different

Figure 3: A flashcard: break the ice

2.3.2.2 Provide idioms in context:

Teachers should provide idioms in context so students can fullyunderstand the meaning Be sure to provide a sample conversation around it Forexample, take the following dialogue featuring the idiom “to be a chicken” when

at a local amusement park

Jack: Ooh, wow Look at that roller coaster, Jane! It goes upside-down!

Jane: My stomach aches just looking at it I will not ride that.

Jack: Ah, come on Don’t be a chicken!

2.3.2.3 Combination of pictures and dialogues

Students look at the picture and make an educated guess on what theidiom means and then let them search for the real meaning Students have towrite a conversation and use this idiom in it Have students explain the meaning

to the rest of the class and use the idiom in a short sample dialogue

Each pair stands before their classmates and acts out the conversation theywrote This way they not only practise using the idioms phrases, they hear otherexamples from classmates, other ways in which these idioms may be included inconversation

- To be broke

Figure 4: To be broke