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 aim of this study is to compare the effects of three methods: problem-based learning (PBL), PBL with lecture method, and conventional teaching on the understanding of thermodynamics, group work and self-directed learning skills among physics undergraduates. The actual sample size comprises of 122 students, who were selected randomly from the Physics Department, College of Education in Iraq, for academic year 2011-2012. In this study, the pre and posttest were done and the instruments were administered to the students for data collection. Inferential statistics were employed to analyze data. The independent variables were the PBL, the PBL with lecture method, and the conventional teaching. Dependent variables of statistical analysis were
... Show More<p>There is an Increasing demand for the education in the field of E-learning specially the higher education, and to keep contiuity between the user and the course director in any place and time. This research presents a proposed and simulation multimedia network design for distance learning utilizing ATM technique. The propsed framework determines the principle of ATM technology and shows how multimedia can be integrated within E- learning conteext. The first part of this research presents a theoretical design for the Electricity Department, university of technology. The purpose is to illustrate the usage of the ATM and Multimedia in distance learning process. In addition, this research composes two entities: Software entity
... Show MoreThe issue of intellectual capital is a critical issue in the success and excellence of organizations, especially if it is linked to the management of customer experience, and because of the characteristic of the Iraqi environment, which affected all sectors, including the banking sector, it was important to discuss the types of intellectual capital and its relationship to the management of customer experience, especially when managers private banks, the importance of research lies in the linking of its variables to build the strategic capabilities of banks to achieve excellence and sustainability, it aims to diagnose the extent of interest in the types of intellectual capital and management of customer experience in the Iraqi ban
... Show MoreDialogue is one of the most important means of calling to the Creator, as it is one of the scientific and verbal activities carried out by a group of interlocutors to present ideas they believe in, and evidence and proofs that express their views and demonstrate the reason for their belief in them, In order to arrive at the truth or a radical solution to a specific problem, so the interlocutor should pay attention to this science, study it and its etiquette, because the purposeful dialogue requires that the funniest of them be the most knowledgeable and knowledgeable about the axis of the hadith, and the funniest must also be able to be convinced of the rule of difference of opinion that does not spoil the issue of friendly They must also c
... Show MoreBackground: The aims of this study were to evaluate the effect of implant site preparation in low-density bone using osseodensification method in terms of implant stability changes during the osseous healing period and peri-implant bone density using CBCT. Material and methods: This prospective observational clinical study included 24 patients who received 46 dental implants that were installed in low-density bone using the osseodensification method. CBCT was used to measure the bone density pre- and postoperatively and implant stability was measured using Periotest® immediately after implant insertion and then after 6 weeks and 12 weeks postoperatively. The data were analyzed using paired t-test and the probability value <0.05 was conside
... Show MoreThe finite element method has been used in this paper to investigate the behavior of precast reinforced concrete dapped-ends beams (DEBs) numerically. A parametric investigation was performed on an experimental specimen tested by a previous researcher to show the effect of numerous parameters on the strength and behavior of RC dapped-end beams. Reinforcement details and steel arrangement, the influence of concrete compressive strength, the effect of inclined load, and the effect of support settlement on the strength of dapped-ends beams are examples of such parameters. The results revealed that the dapped-end reinforcement arrangement greatly affects the behavior of dapped end beam. The failure load decreases by 25% when
... Show MoreThe aim of the study is to reveal the effect of the constructivist learning Model on the achievement and reflective thinking of the fifth grade literary Preparatory students in History subject. A random sample was chosen which consisted of 64 students divided into experimental and control groups, each group consisted of 32 students. The experimental group was taught via the constructivist learning model, and the control group was taught via the traditional method. The experiment was lasted for Eight weeks, each week taught two lessons. The researcher adopted the experimental design with partial control. The two groups were equalized statistically. The researcher used two instruments, the achievement test and the reflective thinking test.
... Show MoreThe aim of the study is to reveal the effect of the constructivist learning Model on the achievement and reflective thinking of the fifth grade literary Preparatory students in History subject. A random sample was chosen which consisted of 64 students divided into experimental and control groups, each group consisted of 32 students. The experimental group was taught via the constructivist learning model, and the control group was taught via the traditional method. The experiment was lasted for Eight weeks, each week taught two lessons. The researcher adopted the experimental design with partial control. The two groups were equalized statistically. The researcher used two instruments, the achievement test and the reflective thinking test.
... Show Moreملخص البحث
تبحث الدراسھ عن تنفیذ افضل لمفھوم التعلم مدى الحیاة كھیكل موجھ للسیاسة التربویة في العراق بشكل عام وفي
التعلیم العالي بشكل خاص. تحدد الدراسة استراتجیات التعلم مدى الحیاة وتناقش اھمیتھ وسماتھ الرئیسیة لتسھیل
الوصول الى فرص تعلم متمیز و ملائم لحاجات الطلبة مدى الحیاة، كما تناقش دور الجامعة في تحقیق ھذا الھدف.
In this paper , some of lexical stylistic , syntactical stylistic devices , and one phonetic stylistic device are going to be illustrated in the study of the aphorisms of “life and death” . These stylistic devices are parallelism , hyperbole , alliteration , meiosis , irony , oxymoron , cliché , litotes , metalepsis , and loose sentences. This paper aims at identifying the functions and the frequencies of these devices. These stylistic devices make one speech and writing more interesting and help to get the attention of readers/ listeners