3.1.1. Data collected from survey questionnaire
3.1.1.1. The situation of teaching and learning idioms
To begin with, when students were asked about the importance of idioms, especially in developing speaking skill, similar to the students thought idioms were important, 33% of them found idioms were quite important. Besides, the data showed that 30% of them thought idioms were very important and some of them choose it were unimportant (about 4%).
30,00%
33,00%
33,00%
4,00%
Figure 1: The Importance of Idioms in Speaking Skill (Students' opinions)
Very important Important Quite important Unimportant
On the other hand, in the viewpoints of lecturers, most of them (60%) believed that idioms is important and some of them stood on two different sides that idioms were very important and quite important (20% for each options).
Specially, none of them thought that idioms were not important.
However, the majority of students and lecturers supported the main argument that idioms were important in English usage, particularly in speaking skill.
In the second question, it can be seen a slight difference in students’ opinions when 66% of them said that they had been taught idioms at FOE, HNUE, while 34% of them said the opposite. When the students were required to give the reasons why they claimed that they had not been taught idioms at university, they
20%
60%
20%
0%
Figure 2: The Importance of Idioms in Speaking Skill (Lecturers' opinions)
Very important Important Quite important Unimportant
66,00%
34,00%
Figure 3: Teaching Idioms at University for Freshmen (Students' opinions)
Yes No
provided the information which lecturers just introduced some limited idioms appear in the reading texts or some lists of glossaries and they opined it was not teaching idioms.
However, the findings also revealed that the lecturers in the interview asserted that they had been taught idioms for freshmen at FOE, HNUE before (100%).
Although it tends to have a slight difference between students’ and lecturers’
opinion, the majority of them are confirmed that they had been taught and learned idioms.
In terms of time used for teaching idioms in a lesson, the data illustrated the majority of students confirmed that they had been taught idioms about 10 minutes (86%). The rest of them said that about 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and over
100%
0%
Figure 4: Teaching Idioms at University for Freshmen (Lecturers' opinions)
Yes No
86,00%
10,00% 2,00% 2,00%
Figure 5: Time Using for Teaching Idioms (Students' opinions)
About 10 minutes About 15 minutes About 20 minutes Over 20 minutes
20 minutes were the time their lecturers used to teach idioms (10%, 2%, 2%
respectively). In the same vein, 100% of the lecturers said that they utilized about 10 minutes to teach idioms in a lesson. Moreover, they provided more details that the time for each lesson at class was limited, so they did not have much time to teach or to prepare idioms.
Regarding the situation of teaching and learning idioms, the study continued on the criteria that the lecturers bear in mind for idiom selections, teaching methods and idiom – related activities that were employed.
Table 1. Criteria for Selecting Idioms for Teaching
Number Criteria Students Lecturers
Number Percentage Number Percentage 1 Relevance
to the contents of the lessons
18 38% 7 70%
2 Frequency in use
12 25% 4 40%
3 Cultural suitability
5 11% 2 20%
4 Being up to date
0 0% 0 0%
5 Fitting
students’
language level
13 27% 10 100%
6 Others 0 0% 0 0%
Although there was a slight difference in priority among the criteria, lecturers and students both take into consideration such criteria as relevance to the contents of the lessons (70% and 38%, respectively), fitting students’ language level (27% for students and 100% for teachers), and frequency in use (25% and
40%). Lecturers showed great concern about their students’ English level (100%) and relevance to the contents of the lessons (70%), as the same with students that were more interested in two criteria. Some of the students concerned about cultural suitability for choosing idioms for teaching (11%) while more lecturers bear in mind about it (20%). This data was also illustrated in the theory of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) proposed by Vygosky (1978) that understanding students’ English level, or locating their exact ZPD, will suggest proper assistance to students’ learning. The attention to the most frequent idioms was also recommended by Zyzik (2009). Zyzik proposed that idioms should be selected by the frequency of occurrence or the familiarity (2009). These criteria assist the lecturers in including many frequently used idioms and leaving out some seldom used ones. Lecturers and students may consult the study of idiom frequency of occurrence by Liu (2003) and Grant (2007) when selecting idioms for their students.
In terms of an idioms-related teaching approach, “How did you/your lecturers teach idioms?”, idioms were taught and introduced in either listening activities or reading activities. Idioms were introduced in speaking activities and were also taught in integrated-skill activities that also involved in listening and reading skills.
Table 2. Teaching approaches
Number Approaches Students Lecturers
Number Percentage Number Percentage 1 Idioms were
taught separately in
idiom-focus activities
3 6% 0 0%
2 Idioms were 2 4% 2 20%
taught integrated with listening
activities 3 Idioms were
taught integrated with reading
activities
18 38% 6 60%
4 Idioms were taught integrated with speaking
activities
7 15% 4 40%
5 Idioms were taught in integrated- skill activities
26 50% 8 80%
It can be seen in Table 2 that idioms were taught and learnt much from reading activities (38% for students and 60% for lecturers ), which was the receptive skill (Harmer, 2001). In addition, the data indicated that idioms also were taught in listening activities (4% for students and 20% for teachers). These activities provided the input of the language for the students. It is likely that lecturers enabled students to lead to productive skills, which are speaking and writing.
Although these activities valuably helped students expose to the idiomatic language, they were not enough. Harmer (Ibid., p. 249, 2001) argues that students should participate in the activity “at the communicative end of the communication continuum”. Nada Salem Abisamra (1998) found that a strong knowledge of idioms will help students to be better speakers and negotiators and they will be in a much better position to take advantage of the opportunities that come their way. These impressive statistics illustrated the undeniable significant
role of idiomatic phrases in daily language use, especially in speaking skill to communicate with others. This means that language production should have a communicative purpose. There is a significant distinction between “knowledge about a language and skill in using it” (Bygate, 1987, p. 3). Therefore, if idioms just are presented in the listening and reading activities, students will not have many opportunities to put newly learnt idioms in practice. Thus, teaching idioms through speaking activities were played a vital role for the development of speaking skill, especially in communication. However, the collected data showed that 15% students and 40% lecturers affirmed that idioms were taught integrated with speaking activities (less than reading activities).
Also, there was a significant distinction between “knowledge about a language and skill in using it” (Bygate, 1987, p. 3). Therefore, if idioms just were presented in the listening and reading activities, students will not have many opportunities to put newly learnt idioms in practice.
The data in the questionnaire showed that 80% of the lecturers and 50% of the students thought they learnt idioms from integrated skill activities. The integrated skill approach, in which all the language skills are presented in the theme-based models or task-based instruction focusing on communicative purposes to help students to speak English communicatively (Oxford, 2001), has recently attracted a great level of interest. This approach not only helps students focus on language in use in its right contexts but also includes knowledge of vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar to support student learning. In this way, students can get “the benefit of practicing all the language skills in an integrated, natural, communicative way, even if one skill is the main focus of a given volume”
(Oxford, 2001, p. 18).
As it can be seen from Table 3 and Table 4, a variety of teaching activities were creatively designed and performed to help students learn idioms better. The percentage in Table 3 illustrated that the majority of teachers agreed that idioms were presented in a variety of ways (50%), whereas only 10% of them disagree.
Although the figures also showed 50% lecturers disagrees that idioms activities
were almost determined by the textbook, some of them strongly agree and agree with the statements (20% and 30% respectively). Subsequently, it was a slight difference between lecturers, particularly 40% of them strongly agree that different teaching aids were used to help ease the idioms learning process, while there were 30% lecturers neutral, 20% agree, and 10% disagree. Many scholars have supported the teacher-produced learning materials or teacher-adapted ones.
Block (1991) emphasizes the contextualization feature of the teacher-produced materials. Wu (2008) suggested some practical activities for teaching English idioms such as teaching English idioms in context, with rich illustration, group discussion, Readers Theater, retelling and rewriting, and dialogue writing and role-play. These materials also meet individual needs of learners. They may also fill in the gap between teaching context and course books.
Table 3. Lecturers’ opinion on teaching methods
Statements Lecturers
Strongly agree
Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree
1. Idioms were
presented in a variety of ways
20% 50% 20% 10% 0%
2. Idioms activities were almost determined by the textbook
20% 30% 0% 50% 0%
3. Different teaching aids were used to help ease the idioms learning process
40% 20% 30% 10% 0%
Table 4. Students’ opinion on teaching methods
Statements Students
Strongly agree
Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree
1. Idioms were
presented in a variety of ways
18% 33% 41% 8% 0%
2. Idioms activities were almost determined by the textbook
0% 31% 40% 29% 0%
3. Different teaching aids were used to help ease the idioms learning process
20% 41% 37% 2% 0%
On the other hand, 41% of the students choose neutral that idioms were presented in a variety of ways, while only 8% disagree. In contrast with lecturers, 29% of the students disagreed that idioms activities were almost determined by the textbook. The majority of them affirmed neutral with the statement. In addition, 41% of them thought that different teaching aids were used to help ease the idioms learning process, whereas only 2% disagree.
The creativity in designing idiom-related activities was also illustrated in Table 5. The lecturers used a great number of activities, ranging from matching, idiom sharing to flash card activities and role-play. Matching, idioms sharing and role- play with idioms tend to be most frequently used. Idioms sharing were made students excited because students found it easier to remember and used these idioms than other idioms in the book. Role-play was also of interest, due to this activity, the students usually made a mini play with idioms they have learnt in the last lessons. The lecturers also commented that their plays in the semester were meaningful and interesting. The lecturers in the study attempted to apply
numerous techniques and skills in teaching vocabulary to deal with idioms. With their creativeness, these vocabulary teaching techniques were realized in integrated skills tasks, ranging from listening and reading activities to provide the input to speaking and listening to practice. In particular, idiom-related activities were effective in promoting the development of speaking skills through teaching idioms. As Zyzik (2009) guidelines it, idioms can be taught in either separate lessons or an integrated approach. Teaching idioms, as many scholars such as Cooper (1998), Lennon (1998), Zyzik and (2009) argue, should be contextualized and divided into two steps; that is, students’ awareness of idioms and student’s use and practice of idioms. The former step may happen in either reading or listening activities, and the latter one tend to incorporate in speaking and writing activities. The activities were designed to make students practice idioms (through speaking).
Using idioms in the right context is also lecturers’ concern. As Thornbury (2005) argued, contextual factors determine the selection of language we use to communicate. Without context, language is not fully understood. Idioms, similarly, contains themselves certain values of contextual dimensions. This or that idiom should be appropriate in a specific field, tenor and mode, the register of the utterance. In fact, in spoken language, contextual features are indispensable. Douglas (2004) and Nunan (1993) described that contextual features of spoken language consists of such elements as setting, participants, purposes, topical content, tone, language, norms of interaction. It may be argued that these elements are difficult to specifically describe in words in foreign language environment. Yet, it is easier to visualize these elements with a photo or a short video clip. Multimedia in this case will help students easily imagine the context. Therefore, lecturers and students can employ such teaching aids as authentic clips to contextualize the meaning and the use of idioms. However, the findings also reveal that board games, quizzes, word clouds and video watching are not frequently used. In question 13, when students were required to give some suggestions to improve idioms teaching and learning, many students suggest that it would be more effective if teachers used authentic videos to teach
idioms. Also students wanted to participate in games like board games, quizzes, and word clouds in their process of learning idioms. Tu, Thanh, Thuy, (students) stated that they “will be more motivated in learning idioms with games”.
Table 5. Idiom-related activities (Lecturers’ opinions)
Activities (times)
Teachers Students
>10 7-9 4-6 1-3 Not used >10 7-9 4-6 1-3 Not used
1. Story telling
0 0 1 6 3 0 0 2 14 25
2. Quizzes 0 1 0 2 7 0 1 4 31 11
3. Board games
0 0 0 1 9 0 0 0 11 37
4. Matching (idioms and meaning)
1 1 6 3 0 0 1 6 34 10
5. Word clouds
0 1 2 2 5 0 0 2 27 20
6. Dominos 0 0 0 2 8 0 0 0 14 38
7. Idiom sharing
0 4 2 3 1 0 4 21 16 7
8. Role play 0 1 6 2 1 0 10 10 23 5
9. Video watching
0 0 1 3 6 0 0 4 6 42
10. Flash card activities
1 0 3 4 2 0 0 5 28 16
11. Theatre playing
0 0 2 3 5 0 0 5 13 31
with idioms 12. Dialogue
writing
0 0 0 2 8 0 0 0 6 43
13.
Discussion
1 1 2 6 0 0 1 10 37 2
14. Idiom glossary
1 4 2 3 0 0 8 14 24 2
15. Other 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 42
Figure 6: Sources and teaching/learning material for idioms
Most of the teaching and learning materials were taken from the textbook, the Internet and referent books on idioms. While lecturers just focused on these three referential sources, students found idioms from other sources such as their teachers, TV shows, movies and songs. These were also useful sources of idioms that they should actively consider for their teaching. The majority of lecturers and students used idioms in the textbook to teach or learn idioms because of its
80%
50%
30%
40%
0%
60%
70%
5%
20%
10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Lecturers Students
application within the final exam at FOE. Another significant figure was that only 5% of the students learnt idioms from newspapers and magazines while these types of documents were authentic discourse. This may come from the fact that students in Vietnam did not have sufficient exposure to newspapers and magazines in English. Instead, they were more familiar with news, video clips and broadcasts on the Internet. As a result, 70% of the students and 50% of the lecturers informed that they found teaching and learning materials on idioms on the Internet. These figures tent to reflect the tendency of teaching and learning English in the Internet dominated age.