A Study On English Idiom Learning Techniques By College Students

Idioms are a special form of language, they are fixed expressions, whose meaning cannot always be readily derived from the usual meaning of its constituent elements. Both English and Chinese are languages abundant in idioms. Idioms are especially expressive. Proper use of idioms enables a speaker to express himself in a vivid, concise or humorous way. Thus a good command of L2 idioms is an important sign of proficiency of advanced L2 learners. Though important, idioms constitute a weak point for L2 learners. When encountering idioms in reading or writing, the majority of students resort to an avoidance strategy.This paper is mainly divided into three parts. The first part gives a brief literature review of the relationship between culture and idioms; this includes the definition and classification of idioms. Furthermore, the differences and similarities of English and Chinese idioms are described from a cultural perspective. The second part describes a research questionnaire on the learning strategy of English idioms and the analysis of the data. The third part describes the reasons Chinese university students misunderstand English idioms. Finally, some suggestions and implications for teaching English idioms are given. It is proposed that EFL learners should makeefforts to build up cultural awareness and get more knowledge of the relevant culture of the target language, including history, religion, customs and geography.