INCORPORATING A COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS APPROACH TO THE TEACHING OF A SELECTION OF FIGURATIVE IDIOMS IN EFL CONTEXT

Dzung Trung Dang

Abstract


Abstract: Prodromou (2003: 43) states that “the way for a student of English to become more fluent in the language is not only to have a good command of grammar and vocabulary but also a good command of the ‘idiom principle’ and there is “the need for idiomatic competence is precisely what linguists propose for the non-native speakerâ€. In addition, research shows that idioms are among the biggest challenge for EFL/ESL learners. The aim of this paper is to shed some light on ways to deal with a selection of figurative idioms by employing a CL perspective and to suggest some pedagogical implications. The paper attempts to examine a small number of Vietnamese EFL learners in the use of a non CL and a CL activity to evaluate its effectiveness and learning gains. The results could be used to further explore the use of CL to the teaching of idioms.

Key words: cognitive linguistics, figurative idioms, corpora 


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References


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