On Idioms And English Language Learning

Several decades ago, linguists and educators around the world began to realize the importance of culture in foreign languages learning. More and more linguists and experts have devoted their efforts to the study of language and culture. The results of their researches show that there is a close relationship between language and culture, understanding the culture of the target language will improve the FLL learners' learning. Idioms have profound cultural connotations and distinct cultural characteristics of the nation. English idioms learning will help the ELL learners understand the cultural connotations of English idioms and the cultural background and the modes of thinking of the English people, thereby idioms learning will enhance their English learning.This paper intends to investigate the influence of idioms learning on ELL from the angle of culture and language within the framework of second language acquisition. The purpose of this thesis is to verify the two hypotheses: 1) Idioms learning will promote the ELL learners' understanding of the cultural connotations of the English language. 2) Idioms learning will arouse the ELL learners' interest and motivation; idioms learning will improve the learners' learning attitude and help the learners develop their personality thus it will improve their learning. However, empirical researches in this area are relatively rare.Chapter One is the introduction of the paper. Chapter Two describes the definition, taxonomy, origin and functions of idioms. Chapter Three analyzes the relationship between idioms learning and ELL on the basis language and culture. Chapter Four states explicitly the relative theories of the research: the acculturation theory, the Affective Filter Hypothesis and the factors influencing foreign language teaching and learning. Chapter Five introduces the purpose of the research, the methods used in the research (questionnaire, interview, test, etc.) and the procedure of the research. Chapter Six analyzes the experimental data and verifies the hypotheses. Chapter Seven ends the whole study with findings (fruits and limitations) and pedagogical implications. The major conclusions obtained from the present investigation are: 1) Idioms learning will promote the ELL learners' understanding of the cultural connotations of the English language. 2) Idioms learning will arouse the ELL learners' interest and motivation; idioms learning will improve the learners' learning attitude and help the learners develop their personality thus it will improve their learning.