L2 Learners' Recognition of Unfamiliar Idioms Composed of Familiar Words

Autor/in	Kim, Choonkyong
Titel	L2 Learners' Recognition of Unfamiliar Idioms Composed of Familiar Words
Quelle	In: Language Awareness, 25 (2016) 1-2, S.89-109 (21 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0965-8416
DOI	10.1080/09658416.2015.1122025
Schlagwörter	Second Language Learning; English (Second Language); College Students; Figurative Language; Familiarity; Vocabulary Development; Metalinguistics; Language Proficiency; Task Analysis; Recognition (Psychology); Word Recognition; Definitions; Student Attitudes; Language Processing; Foreign Students; Context Effect; Scores + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Zweitsprachenerwerb; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Collegestudent; Wortschatzarbeit; Metalanguage; Metasprache; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz; Aufgabenanalyse; Recognition; Wiedererkennen; Worterkennung; Begriffsbestimmung; Schülerverhalten; Sprachverarbeitung
Abstract	Most second language (L2) learners are aware of the importance of vocabulary, and this awareness usually directs their attention to learning new words. By contrast, learners do not often recognise unfamiliar idioms if all the compositional parts look familiar to them such as "turn the corner" or "carry the day." College-level ESL (English as a second language) learners (n = 52) at intermediate to advanced levels of proficiency participated in a series of metalinguistic tasks designed to examine their explicit recognition of unfamiliar idioms that may only look familiar because of their familiarity with the words in the idioms. Results show that L2 learners tend to recognise unfamiliar idioms with familiar components at a significantly lower rate than they recognise unfamiliar words such as "serendipitously" or "octogenarian." In addition, L2 learners' definitions of idioms indicated as familiar tend to be significantly lower in acceptability than their definitions of words indicated as familiar. It is argued that, if this pattern is repeated over time, the opportunities for learning these idioms incidentally might be reduced. It is suggested that learners need to become more aware of the common presence of these idioms in language, and that learners' continued awareness is key to sustained acquisition of these idioms. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01