A Research On English—Chinese Idioms Comprehension Model And Strategy Application

In this study, the theoretical framework is based on the theory of cognitive linguistics and the study method is based on a psycholinguistic experimental method, English and Chinese idioms' comprehension process is conducted in a comprehensive systematic empirical research way and is intended to be constituted for idioms comprehension model.In order to understand the idiom comprehension process, this study firstly the influence of English and Chinese idioms comprehension evaluation.In English idiom comprehension factors assessment, based on native English idioms,192 English idioms were chosen for learners to evaluate English idiom familiarity, semantic transparency, literality rating,decomposability and idioms predictability. This ratings is more comprehensive, systematic analysis of the factors influencing idiom comprehension than before.SPSS statistic method was used to analyze the data, carried on the correlation analysis, the study of evaluation result and native English evaluation results are consistent, that native speakers of English idioms understanding model is also applicable to the English idiom comprehension for second language learners. At the same time the literality ratings and other factors correlation analysis showed a significant correlation.In addition to the five factors ratings mentioned above, English idioms semantic transparency and context effects are also examined. The results this study's semantic transparency evaluation and native English idiom semantic transparency were compared. The results show that the native English idiom comprehension model is also applicable to the second language idiom comprehension. Contextual effect test results found that idiom comprehension in context is better than that without context.Secondly, because Chinese idioms include proverbs, sayings etc.which cover with a large variety of items, in order to conduct the comparative research,Chinese four-letter idioms are examined.The three influencing factors of the Chinese idiom comprehension—the idiom familiarity, literality and semantic transparency are evaluated in the process of research. The results showed that the literal meaning was significantly related to the other two factors. And then it indicates that the literal meaning in the idiom comprehension plays a vital role, and because of this, English and Chinese idiom comprehension processes can be compared with.Different research methods were adopted due to two different language idioms comprehension research process. "Think—aloud" was used in the comprehension of Chinese idioms on line. The results show that the idiom familiarity and other factors, literal salient meaning, metaphorical mechanism and the semantic implication plays an indispensable role in Chinese idiom comprehension process. Cross modeling method in psychological linguistics was adopted in English idioms comprehension process through the reaction time.The results show that idioms decomposability, literal salient meaning and metaphorical mechanism plays a key role in the idioms online comprehension process.Based on comparative study of English and Chinese idioms comprehension processes, and due to the similarities and differences of this English and Chinese idioms comprehension, a general idioms understanding pattern is proposed namely English-Chinese idiom comprehension model. In this overall framework, English-Chinese idiom comprehension model is derived from the framework respectively.In order to further prove the correctness of English idioms understanding process, learners were asked to evaluate their application of strategies during the idiom comprehension. According to the data,the results indicate that the learners can understand the figurative meaning of the idioms by literal salient meaning and the use of cognitive strategies and so on, it turns out to prove the feasibility of the idiom comprehension mode.