Date of Award

1-1-2012

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Education Theory and Practice

Program

Curriculum and Instruction

Content Description

1 online resource (x, 230 pages) : PDF file, illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Carla J Meskill

Committee Members

Robert P Yagelski, Krassimira B Rangelova, Kristen C Wilcox

Keywords

culture, English language learners, etymological elaboration, idioms, teaching method, vocabulary, English language, Effective teaching, Education, Bilingual

Subject Categories

Education | Language and Literacy Education

Abstract

The prevalence of idioms in both spoken and written English makes learning to comprehend and produce them important for English language learners. It may be particularly important for preadolescent and adolescent learners to become proficient with idioms because of their need to fit in with peers and the frequency with which idioms occur in classroom communication and academic texts. Idioms pose difficulties for non-native speakers because of their nature as both formulaic and figurative language, their cultural specificity, and the fact that their figurative meaning cannot necessarily be determined from the literal meanings of the constituent words.

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