Exploring Idiom Acquisition Pattern In Chinese EFL Learners--A Cross-sectional Study

Idioms constitute one of the most difficult areas of foreign language learning for both teachers and learners, and usually EFL learners with good English proficiency are quite incompetent in the mastery of idioms. Though researches on L2 vocabulary acquisition are abundant, researches on the specific multiword expression type-idiom in terms of L2 vocabulary acquisition are scarce. Little have we known about the idiom acquisition conditions as well as idiom acquisition patterns of EFL learners. In the present research, the author attempted to explore the EFL learners' acquisition pattern of English idioms in a cross-sectional approach.Based on the current theories of L2 vocabulary acquisition and idiom acquisition, a tentative conceptual framework was first established which identified four relevant factors- idiom class, knowledge type, frequency band and EFL learners of different proficiency levels, and the relationship among the factors.To explore the acquisition pattern of idiom knowledge across learners of different English proficiency, the data for this study were collected in three-month period from 98 undergraduate English majors representing three proficiency levels. They were tested on receptive and productive knowledge of idioms of three sub-classes in three frequency bands. The primary data consisted of two parts: participants' performance on a receptive idiom test, and participants' performance on a productive idiom test.Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the collected data yield the following aspects of major findings: (1) the acquisition pattern of idiom knowledge in general sense, i.e., considering three idiom classes as a whole; (2) the acquisition pattern of idiom knowledge considering different idiom classes; and (3) the acquisition pattern of idiom meaning and form in terms of the depth of idiomknowledge.The possible causes for the above findings were discussed from the perspectives of cognitive process involved in idiom acquisition and the learning environments characteristic of foreign language classroom setting, such as the differences of three idiom classes in cognitive process, the differences in the exposures of different idiom classes in the L2 classroom setting, and the differences between idiom input and output, etc. And finally recommendations are given for further research.