EFL LEARNERS'' PROCESSING OF UNKNOWN IDIOMS

• Main Authors: Lin Yueh-ping, 林月萍
• Other Authors: Fu Hsin-fang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/44240190472832050235

碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 92 === Summary The present study is to investigate how EFL learners attempt to derive the meanings of unknown idioms in context. More specifically, it aims to investigate EFL learners’ ability to make sense of the unknown idioms in context and the sources of knowledge and strategies when deciphering the meanings. The present study designs an Idiom Comprehension Test for 30 subjects to guess the meanings of unknown idioms. This test comprises 24 idiom items, incorporating into a one- or two- sentence context. And a think-aloud technique is used to categorize the strategies the subjects employ to decipher the meanings of the idioms. Three research questions are addressed in this study: 1. How will the subjects perform on the Idiom Comprehension Test (ICT)? 2. What strategies will the subjects employ to decipher the meanings of the unknown idioms in ICT? 3. How effective are patterns of these strategy uses in arriving at the correct meanings of the idioms? The results of the study in relation to these three research questions are as follows. The grand mean for the subjects’ performance on the ICT was 2.16, out of 3, and the compositionality of the idiom was not significantly correlated with the subjects’ performance on the item. Strategy GC was used most frequently in the test, followed by Strategy LM. This was also the case for both the decomposable and nondecomposable idioms. The strategy pattern of GC+LM was used most frequently to decipher the meanings of the idioms in the test. And this pattern was also most likely to lead to correct deciphering. Nonetheless, the good performers tended to use strategies more frequently than the poor performers, and the good performers had more tendency to incorporate BK into their strategy pattern than the poor performers did.