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.
The present study discusses the problem based learning in Iraqi classroom. This method aims to involve all learners in collaborative activities and it is learner-centered method. To fulfill the aims and verify the hypothesis which reads as follow” It is hypothesized that there is no statistically significant differences between the achievements of Experimental group and control group”. Thirty learners are selected to be the sample of present study.Mann-Whitney Test for two independent samples is used to analysis the results. The analysis shows that experimental group’s members who are taught according to problem based learning gets higher scores than the control group’s members who are taught according to traditional method. This
... Show MoreThe present study discusses the problem based learning in Iraqi classroom. This method aims to involve all learners in collaborative activities and it is learner-centered method. To fulfill the aims and verify the hypothesis which reads as follow” It is hypothesized that there is no statistically significant differences between the achievements of Experimental group and control group”. Thirty learners are selected to be the sample of present study.Mann-Whitney Test for two independent samples is used to analysis the results. The analysis shows that experimental group’s members who are taught according to problem based learning gets higher scores than the control group’s members who are taught according to traditional method. This
... Show MoreThis 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 MoreIn this paper, an approximate solution of nonlinear two points boundary variational problem is presented. Boubaker polynomials have been utilized to reduce these problems into quadratic programming problem. The convergence of this polynomial has been verified; also different numerical examples were given to show the applicability and validity of this method.
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The 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).
The exegesis of the underpinnings adopted Isolationists to prove their beliefs, and a confirmation of their dogmatic ideas, as it depends mentality dimensions exegesis and logical cited as confirms Isolationists discharge verses Confusables in the Koran that are incompatible with their dogmatic origins. The interpretation of the text needs a deeper denote movement stresses the mind and influence in guiding the text by catalysing the mind to get to the diligence who leads to the desired meaning, and remains the owners of Justice and uniformity vision of creation the divine instantly or future. Isolationists exegesis who is based on reason and logic, who set off him for the disposal of verses and hadiths that phenomena indicate that God is
... Show MoreThe recent strategic thought requires research and study to indicate the banks
suitable which enable them to protect its location in the market and to face the
challenges that appeared in the 20 – first century.
The research aims at shedding light upon the effect of financial resources growth
strategic to a bank loan policy.
A questionnaire of ( 30 ) managers, with in different management levels , was
used.
In order to test hypotheses, the present research has relied upon ( Multiple
Regression ) to the influence being exerted at a level ranging between
(0.01,0.05,0.10) The analysis of hypotheses also started a number of
recommendation that might contribute in rising the standard of applying banking
Iraq
The research aims to identify the academic problems of family counseling diploma students at Saudi Universities. In addition, to identify the differences in these problems according to gender, marital status, place of study, academic specialization, and GPA. The sample consisted of (491) students. The researcher has used one questionnaire for academic problems prepared by the researcher. The research revealed the following results: There were academic problems among family counseling diploma students at Saudi Universities, the most problems were related to the systems and administrations of the university, then the field training, the buildings, classrooms and campus facilities, then the academic courses, after that the exams, then
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