Towards Idiomatic Competence of Yemeni EFL Undergraduates

Abstract

Abstract-This study investigates how Yemeni EFL undergraduates recognize, comprehend, and use English idioms. It attempts to find out the link between English proficiency and idiomatic competence of a sample of 63 sophomores recruited from the Department of English at the Faculty of Education, Taiz University. Three idiom tests and a questionnaire were used to answer three research questions: a) To what extent are Yemeni EFL undergraduates able to process English idioms? b) What strategies do they use to learn idioms? c) What challenges do they encounter in acquiring idiomatic expressions? Findings of the study show that high-scoring students in the idiom tests outperformed their low-scoring counterparts in achievement tests of listening and speaking skills. The study highlighted some major challenges that face Yemeni EFL learners and the strategies they tend to use in order to tackle those challenges. Some implications and recommendations were suggested accordingly.

Strategies and Difficulties of Understanding English Idioms: A Case Study of Saudi University EFL Students

“…In other words, and to the best of the researcher's knowledge, there are no courses that are specially designed for learning idioms; instead, idioms might occasionally be explained in other courses. This result supports other researchers' findings that the majority of Arab English-language learners face hardship in acquiring, understanding, and using idioms (Al-Kadi, 2015;Saleh & Zakaria, 2013). Another difficulty could be ascribed to the lack of experience dealing with idioms as well as the lack of cultural background behind the idioms.…”

“…This means that the more idioms one knows, the more native-like one's English will sound. Additionally, by learning idioms, one accordingly learns about the culture of the community that speaks the language (Al-kadi, 2015).…”

“…The questionnaire was constructed based on a careful examination of previous questionnaires such as those of Rohani et al (2012), Saleh & Zakaria (2013), Angel (2014), Al-kadi (2015), and Al-Khawadeh et al (2016). The questionnaire for this study comprised three parts.…”

“…This is in line with Pimenova's (2011) findings that L2 idioms with no analogue in the mothertongue are more difficult to grasp and to use. Besides that, the responses indicated that idioms with unfamiliar words and those without context seem to be difficult (Al-Kadi, 2015;Saleh & Zakaria, 2013).…”

“…7, No. 3; and Al-Kadi (2015). The next most frequently used strategy was learning only idioms that have familiar words.…”