Idiom Comprehension using Multimodal Teaching Approach among Zanzibar University Students

The present study aims at investigating idiom comprehension through multimodal teaching approach among Zanzibar University students. The participants of the study were 120 male and female students and selected randomly. All of the students speak Swahili as their first language. The participants enrolled in a 3-year English program at the Department of Languages, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Zanzibar University, divided into two groups, the control and experimental groups. There were 60 students in each group with an age range between 20 to 30. Both groups were presented with the same twenty English idioms through different methods. The control group was advised to review the list of idioms using a traditional method, while the experimental group was presented with the idioms using a multimodal teaching approach. An idiom comprehension test was administered to both groups. The results showed that from a comparative t-test indicated that the students taught idioms comprehension using multimodal method had recorded a higher mean score (37.7) as compared to the use of a traditional method of teaching of idioms (25.55). This implies that to increase EFL/ESL students’ proficiency in idiom comprehension, teachers should implement more multimodal activities in the classroom so that the students will have better opportunities in comprehending and applying idioms. The study provides pedagogical suggestions for using a multimodal approach to teaching English idioms.

Effects of aging and noncanonical form presentation on idiom processing: Evidence from eye tracking

Comprehending idioms (e.g., bite the bullet) requires that people appreciate their figurative meanings while suppressing literal interpretations of the phrase. While much is known about idioms, an open question is how healthy aging and noncanonical form presentation affect idiom comprehension when the task is to read sentences silently for comprehension. Here, younger and older adults read sentences containing idioms or literal phrases, while we monitored their eye movements. Idioms were presented in a canonical or a noncanonical form (e.g., bite the iron bullet). To assess whether people integrate figurative or literal interpretations of idioms, a disambiguating region that was figuratively or literally biased followed the idiom in each sentence. During early stages of reading, older adults showed facilitation for canonical idioms, suggesting a greater sensitivity to stored idiomatic forms. During later stages of reading, older adults showed slower reading times when canonical idioms were biased toward their literal interpretation, suggesting they were more likely to interpret idioms figuratively on the first pass. In contrast, noncanonical form presentation slowed comprehension of figurative meanings comparably in younger and older participants. We conclude that idioms may be more strongly entrenched in older adults, and that noncanonical form presentation slows comprehension of figurative meanings.

Where Culture and Metaphor Meet: Metaphoric Awareness in Comprehension of Culturally-Specific Idioms

The goal of the present study is to investigate whether the comprehension of oligosemic, i.e. culturally-specific (CS) idioms is raised with awareness of underlying conceptual metaphors (CMs) as seems to be the case with idioms motivated by metaphors (CM idioms). An experimental study was conducted involving the metaphor-aware Experimental group and the Control group which was unaware of the existence of CMs. Metaphoric awareness was achieved through brief 15 minute-long lessons on metaphor and underlying motivation. The Control participants were given general information on figurative language in order to ensure equality of input. The instrument containing 35 items was administered to both groups whereas the Experimental group was also provided the underlying CM motivation. An ANOVA test for repeated measures was used to compare CM data to CS data. There was a statistically significant effect of motivation on idiom comprehension, F(1,77)=67.203, p=.000 which suggests that CM idioms are better understood than CS idioms. The t-test results for the CS idioms indicate there is a significant difference between the Control and the Experimental group when it comes to the comprehension of CS idioms in favor of the Experimental participants; it seems the comprehension of CS idioms is raised with metaphoric awareness.