Idioms are a very important part of the English language: you are told that if you want to go far (succeed) you should pull your socks up (make a serious effort to improve your behaviour, the quality of your work, etc.) and use your grey matter (brain).1 Learning and translating idioms have always been very difficult for foreign language learners. The present paper explores some of the reasons why English idiomatic expressions are difficult to learn and translate. It is not the aim of this paper to attempt a comprehensive survey of the vast amount of material that has appeared on idioms in Adams and Kuder (1984), Alexander (1984), Dixon (1983), Kirkpatrick (2001), Langlotz (2006), McCarthy and O'Dell (2002), and Wray (2002), among others. The paper concentrates on idioms as a learning-translation problem; it makes no claim to be comprehensive or academically rigorous. Leech (1989) defines an idiom as follows: “An idiom is a group of two or more words which we have to treat as a unit in learning a language. We cannot arrive at the meaning of the idiom just by adding together the meanings of the words inside it. E.g.John and Mary usedto be hardup (='They had very little money'.)”(P.186) To be more exact, an idiom is a sequence of words which is semantically and syntactically restricted, so that they function as a single unit. From a semantic point of view, the meanings of the individual words cannot be summed to produce the meanings of the idiomatic expression as a whole. Thus, fly off the handle, which means lose one's temper, cannot be understood in terms of the meanings of fly, off, or handle. The idiom phrase hot air, which means empty or boastful talk, is neither hot nor air; with hot air we are dealing with a set phrase where the meaning cannot be suggested on the basis of the two constituent words. The idiomatic meaning of spill the beans in So who spilt the beans (=told the secret) about her affair with David? has nothing to do with beans or with spilling in its literal sense. The foreign-language learner is left trying to figure out where and how the beans were spilt. From a syntactic viewpoint, the constituent parts of an idiom often do not permit the usual variability they display in other contexts. The point to be emphasized here is this: most idioms do not lend themselves easily to manipulation by speakers and writers; they are invariable and must be learned as wholes, but concord ofnumber, person and gender in the idiom phrase is still necessary, i.e. the verbs must be put into the correct form, and pronouns must agree with their antecedents: I don't give a hoot for her opinion! 2 • She doesn't give a hoot for my opinion! etc.)║He won, but only by the skin of his teeth2• She won, but only by the skin of her teeth• Iwon, but only by the skin ofmy teeth,I had to run for the train, and caught it by the skin of myteeth, etc.║He kept pullingmy arm, throwing me off my balance 2 • She kept pulling his arm, throwing him off his balance • We kept pullingher arm, throwingher offher balance, etc.2 The present paper is divided into five parts, as follows: Part I: An Overview; PART II: Learner’s Difficulties with Idioms; PART III: Some Pedagogical recommendations and Suggestions about Idioms; Part IV: Activities to Practice Idiomatic Expressions; Part V: Summary and Conclusion.
(2)
(2)
Abstract
The research hypothesizes is that the external Environment
has the responsibility concerning decisions making and behavioral
upon industrial firms. It is, Furthermore, an attempt to review the
problem of closures of private industrial firms in the country, during
the period (1976-1985), i.e. prior to and during the Iraqian- Iranian
war.
The behavioral approach of industrial geography has been
adopted as a theoretical background and the statistical test has
been practiced for the applied purposes.
As result, the research comes out with suggestions,
depending upon previous trials in the field of direction and
formulation of the of the private industrial sector. The chief point
among th
Volleyball is one of the sports that require physical and skill abilities thus many teaching models appeared to teach these abilities like group investigation model. The research aimed at identifying the effect of group investigation model on learning underarm and overhead passing in volleyball. The researchers hypothesized statistical differences between pre and posttests in learning underarm and overhead passing in volleyball as well as differences in posttests of controlling and experimental groups in learning underarm and overhead passing in volleyball. The researcher used the experimental method on (30) second year female students of physical education and sport sciences college/ university of Baghdad. Group investigation model was app
... Show More
(1)
For over a decade, educational technology has been used sparingly in our schools and universities. Online training courses have been used since 2003 to fill the gaps in our learning system and to add extra program besides classroom learning. This paper aims to investigate the Iraqi EFL instructors’ participating in online training courses and its influence on the process of teaching and learning.
The sample of present study consists of 30 instructors from University of Baghdad. The questionnaire of sixteen items was constructed. After ensuring validity and reliability of questionnaire, it was applied on March 2013 and the result shows that most of instructors improve their teaching methods b
... Show Moreimportumt educational institution as (kindergartens) need teachers which qualified ownes modalities in their education for children , as Marzanu method in a way of learning and own methods of crisis management, because the teachers that own those styles of learning ginekindergarten children knowledge and the childrenIeaving based on theMeaing and knowledge and integration of their information, And teachers that earn methods of crisis management provide for the children of the kindergarten security within the educational institution which in turn affect the growth and development of the Child and then abilities, health physical, mental, psychological …etc.., The aims of the current research have identified to recognize: 1- the dimension
... Show MoreVictorian age is known as a time of perpetual change. It is a time of new industrialization, increased urbanization and new technology. Therefore, one of the strongest undercurrents of this is the position of women. Woman at that time was viewed as “an angel in the house” especially this who belongs to the upper-middle class. She is described in such term because she spends much time in her domestic domain. Therefore, she should be passive, obedient and dependent. Despite the Victorian society contains several classes; women are defined under two labels: the angel and the demon or the whore. The angel woman can be any woman from the lower middle class to the aristocracy, while the whore refers to any working class woman. The differen
... Show MoreThe current research aims to identify the problems and needs for both college of political science and college of engineering’s students. The sample was (100) male and female student. The results showed bunch of problems which could be organized descendingly, the scientific domain ranged between (2 - 2.42), the mean of the psychological domain was (2.85), the moral domain ranged between (2.2 – 2.28)m the problems of study earned (2.30), the material domain got (1.95), the medical and social domain obtained (1.925), and finally, the family domain received (1.887).
This study investigates the challenges encountered by first-grade intermediate students in learning the Arabic language. It aims to identify specific obstacles that hinder language acquisition and proficiency among this demographic. Through qualitative and quantitative methods, including surveys and interviews with students, teachers, and parents, the research highlights key issues such as limited vocabulary, difficulties in grammar, lack of engagement with the material, and inadequate teaching resources. The findings reveal a complex interplay between cognitive, social, and educational factors that contribute to these challenges. The study underscores the need for targeted interventions, such as enhanced pedagogical strategies and improved
... Show More