Image and Transparency: An Alternative Approach to L2 Acquisition of Idiomatic Expressions

• Main Authors: Jia-yi Lin, 林佳儀
• Other Authors: Ai-li Hsin
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/59180979238092562045

博士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 101 === The fact that idioms are conventionalized expressions determined by the culture and the time when the expressions were formed means that they can appear rather irregular to language learners who are not familiar with the culture. In fact, irregularity in idioms can make L2 acquisition of idiomatic expressions rather challenging, and it can also make idioms be perceived differently by L2 learners. Based on the Model of Dual Idiom Representation (Abel, 2003), two experiments were conducted in this dissertation to explore ways to approach irregularity and transparency in idioms. In the first experiment, the mnemonic effect of three different ways to present idioms were compared to see if the approach that involves both the lexical and the conceptual levels of representation would provide better memory support for the learning of irregular idioms such as colour idioms. In the second experiment, participants’ transparency judgements of idioms under four different conditions were compared to find out whether transparency judgements can be influenced. The results showed that presenting idioms with relevant visual images and a brief verbal explanation facilitated the retention of idioms better than verbatim repetition approach and organized lexis approach. As to factors that can affect participants’ transparency judgements, the results showed that there was no significant difference in participants’ transparency judgements whether the meaning of the idioms was presented in L1 or L2. However, participants’ transparency judgements of idioms went up significantly after they were asked to choose an appropriate idiom to complete sentences. A close examination of the idioms and the transparency ratings participants gave them found that participants’ transparency judgements can be derived from the internal and external semantic compatibility of the idioms. The results of the two experiments suggest that involving both the lexical and the conceptual levels of representation can be an effective way to tackle irregularity in idiomatic expressions, and that transparency assumptions cannot be reduced to either learners’ subjective perceptions of idioms or the features inherent in idioms, rather they are about the interaction between the learners and the expressions.