The purpose of this study was to determine whether the reading comprehension of deaf and hearing subjects was affected by the presence of idiomatic language in passages.The Test Of Idioms was constructed to determine the effect of idiomatic language on reading comprehension. It consisted of twelve passages. The four forms differed in the presence or absence of idiomatic language. The Test Of Idioms was evaluated by three judges. Form A and Form D were piloted to standardize the directions for administration and to assess the reliability of the instrument. The reliability for Form A was .93 and .89 for Form D.The subjects in this study were 54 students at the Indiana School for the Deaf who were prelingually, profoundly deaf and had no other handicapping conditions. The hearing subjects consisted of 91 students from the New Castle Community School System who were in grades three or four, had never been retained and had no handicapping conditions. Both deaf and hearing subjects were randomly assigned to take one of the four forms of the Test Of Idioms.The following results were obtained. The deaf subjects did not differ significantly across groups in their ability to comprehend passages with varying levels of idiomatic language. The hearing subjects did not differ significantly across groups in their ability to comprehend passages containing varying levels of idiomatic language. In addition, within groups the deaf and hearing subjects did not differ in their comprehension of passages as a function of the ability or inability to define the idioms contained in the passages.The findings of the study were interpreted to mean that when idioms are embedded in passages where sufficient contextual support is available and extraneous factors are controlled, comprehension is not impaired for deaf or hearing subjects. In addition ability to define an idiom is not an accurate predictor of comprehension ability for reading materials containing idiomatic language.

Although it is generally accepted that L2 learners of English need to gain a good grasp of idioms, the teaching and learning of idioms in L2 is no easy task. One of the reasons is that idioms are enormous in number. The Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary (2002) lists over 6,000 idioms which are of contemporary, everyday, use. Another reason is that a considerable number of idioms are figurative in nature---that is, their overall meaning cannot be obtained by simply adding up the literal meanings of the components involved. Added and related to these factors is the fact that the traditional vocabulary listing method adopted in most ESL/EFL textbooks presents each idiom entry and its meaning in such a way that the choice of each single word in the idiom seems random, and the overall figurative meaning deriving from the combination of the constituent words appears inexplicable. Taken together, these factors make idioms one of the most difficult aspects of L2 teaching and learning. / Idioms, which are a type of phraseological unit and are largely figurative in nature, are pervasive and ubiquitous in human language. A significant part of L1 everyday linguistic repertoire is formed by idioms and idiom-like constructions. In fact, the level of command of idioms serves as an important indicator of L2 proficiency. In other words, fluent and native-like language, a concern particularly for many advanced L2 learners, entails a good mastery of idioms. / In the light of the above problems, the present study, founded on Cognitive Linguistics (CL), aims to shed light on a more effective and manageable teaching and learning of L2 idioms by examining the CL theoretical assumptions compatible with L2 pedagogy. The CL feature which possesses the greatest potential for complementing language pedagogy is the notion of 'motivation.' In other words, the author explores, on the one hand, the potential of CL notions such as metaphor and metonymy for providing motivation for L2 idiom pedagogy, and, on the other, the potential of the above notions for comparing L1 and L2 idioms both linguistically and conceptually. Such a linguistic and conceptual comparative analysis of L1 and L2 idioms enables us to anticipate the possible difficulties encountered by L2 learners in learning idioms. / There are three methodologically independent but theoretically coherent research components in the present study. Study One is the elicitation of the body-part idioms in English (L2) and Cantonese (L1). Nine body parts are involved: head, eye/eyes, face, mouth, hand/hands, heart, foot/feet, body and bones. There is an examination of the underlying cognitive motivation (i.e. pure metaphor, pure metonymy, metaphor and metonymy) of each of the elicited idioms in both languages. Study Two is the think-aloud experiment which aims at eliciting from a group of Cantonese advanced L2 learners of English the mental images they produce in response to the English body-part idioms. These mental images should provide insight into the conceptual and linguistic similarities and differences between idioms in the two languages. Study Three is the experimental study. This aims at testing empirically the pedagogical soundness of teaching English idioms using conceptual metaphor and metonymy as well as an English-Cantonese idiom comparison. A total number of 106 Cantonese advanced L2 learners of English majoring in English were invited to participate in the experiment. They were divided into three groups, each of which was treated with a particular L2 idiom learning method. Experimental results show that students receiving the method involving conceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy and a cross-linguistic comparison (i.e. the '3Cs' method) outperformed students in the other two groups, thus implying the pedagogical soundness of the 3Cs method in enhancing L2 idiom teaching and learning. / Leung, Chung Hong. / Adviser: Peter Crisp. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-09, Section: A, page: . / Thesis submitted in: November 2008. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 351-363). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

This thesis is concerned with the connection between syntax and semantics regarding the construction of special meaning in English. To investigate this construction I have taken a selection of English idioms, modified them in structured ways and then presented them to a group of English mother tongue speakers to test whether, although modified, these idioms retain their idiomaticity. These modifications took the form of two specific operations, those of mobility and transferability (the latter operation was created for the purpose of this thesis). An idiom’s parts are considered mobile if its parts can undergo movement and retain an idiomatic reading. In this thesis, the movement operation that I was concerned with was passivisation. An idiom’s parts are considered transferable if one of its parts can be replaced (e.g. the verb with another verb or the object determiner phrase with another determiner phrase) and idiomaticity is retained. I hypothesise that whether an idiom’s parts are transferable and mobile is dependent on whether the idiom is compositional or not. I will discuss the above hypothesis against previous work of both Chomsky’s (1995) Minimalist Program and Jackendoff’s (1997) representational modularity. The results gained in this study show that idioms cannot be categorised neatly as compositional or non-compositional, but rather exist on a continuum of idiomaticity. On the one end of the continuum exist idioms that are completely inflexible and the rate of flexibility increases the further the continuum extends. Therefore on the one side of the scale is an idiom such as “trip the light fantastic” which is inflexible and on the other side is an idiom such as “I lift my hat to you” which is flexible but in restrained ways. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Research shows that L2 learners' communicative problems are often pragmatic in nature. Pragmatic competence has been defined as the ability to recognize the force and the intended meaning of an utterance by making judgments about its appropriateness (Thomas 1983). Studies on interlanguage pragmatics have provided evidence that conversational strategies differ cross-linguistically and cross-culturally. Also, recent studies on the way native and nonnative speakers of English comprehend and understand conversational implicatures (Bouton 1988, 1989, 1990) have revealed that non-native speakers of English do not interpret implicatures the way native speakers do and that this is due to cultural differences.This study investigated the way native speakers of Arabic and (American) English interpret and comprehend implicatures. It was hypothesized that, as a part of their communicative competence, the Arab speakers' ability to interpret implicatures in English may be influenced by four variables: 1) overall proficiency level in English (measured by standardized ESL tests); 2) length of exposure to American culture; 3) level of motivation to learn English andattitudes toward Americans and American culture; and 4) strategic interference due to the differences in pragmatic functions between Arabic and English.136 subjects (61 Arabs and 75 Americans) participated in this study, which employed three empirical instruments: 1) an implicature questionnaire designed in the form of a multiple-choice test to test the native and nonnative subjects' comprehension of implicatures; 2) a motivation/attitudes questionnaire to measure the non-native subjects' motivational levels for learning English and their attitudes towards American culture and people; and 3) the Michigan Proficiency Test, a standardized test of grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. In addition, a post-test interview was used to gather information from non-native speakers regarding the choices made on each implicature question.Statistical analyses of the results revealed significant differences between native and nonnative speakers in their comprehension and interpretation of implicatures. In a multiple-regression, length of stay was found to be a significant predictor of non-native speakers' comprehension of implicatures. / Department of English

"The object of this thesis is neither to uphold the sacred cows of traditionalist grammar nor to forge a way for a liberal philology. It does, however, examine "the kind of English that most people use most of the time," that is, the idiom of the language, and specifically the phrases and expressions that compose idioms."--1.

The growing diversity of the United States (US) population demands an equally diverse nursing workforce to meet its healthcare needs effectively. It is a priority to assist students who are English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) to succeed, not just to take care of ESOL and non-English-speaking clients but to add to the nursing workforce. ESOL nursing and client language barriers in healthcare are challenging, but one leading solution is to help ESOL nursing students succeed. For all nursing students to succeed, they must pass the National Council Licensure Examination - Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN), a multiple-choice high-stakes assessment offered only in English. The problem: ESOL nursing students, who are otherwise knowledgeable, often do poorly on such tests. The NCLEX-RN can be difficult for ESOL nursing students since their lack of proficiency in American English slows their ability to interpret words and phrases in written format. This hinders the student’s ability to understand the relevancy of the words and how the words combine to produce meaningful scenarios and discourse. If test writers removed slang and words with multiple meanings, ESOL nursing students might have greater success on high-stakes examinations, such as the NCLEX-RN. To find appropriate linguistically challenging questions, a search panel comprised of volunteering ESOL Associate Degree in Nursing graduates assembled relevant, challenging multiple-choice questions from high-stakes examination test banks. Each linguistically challenging question was categorized as containing idioms, unclear or unnecessary wording, or slang/difficult American English words. The researcher created a linguistically modified version by removing or replacing the problematic language identified by the search panel. An examination evaluation committee of experienced nursing instructors examined the linguistically modified questions to ensure that the true nursing clinical intention of the question had not been altered. This study used a convenience sample of ADN nursing students (N=169) who had completed Fundamentals of Nursing and Medical/Surgical Nursing 1. The research control group (n=85) received unmodified questions, whereas the experimental group (n=84) received linguistically modified questions. Examinations were distributed by alternating control and experimental examinations to each student. This dissertation presents three reports on the results of removing linguistic complexity from examination questions. The first report presented in Chapter 2 examines the question, "Does ESOL nursing students' performance on linguistically modified examinations differ from performance on unmodified examinations?" This report examined the differences in scores achieved on the experimental versus the control versions of the examination. Nursing students performed statistically better in the experimental group (M = 79.9, SD 7.48) than in the control group (M = 75.08, SD 10.51), t(151.8) = 2.973, p = .003. The second report, presented in Chapter 3, assesses if specific forms of American English adversely affect the performance of low-acculturated nursing students. This chapter presents an attempt to identify the possible effects of idioms, slang, or difficult vocabulary on the success of nursing students in high-stakes nursing examinations. Furthermore, this chapter compares which form of American English, idioms, slang, or difficult vocabulary is more difficult for low-acculturated nursing students. A mixed ANOVA using control versus experimental tests as the between variable and item category as the within variable showed that the group by item type interaction was nonsignificant (F (2, 56) = .016, p = .984), indicating that idioms, slang, and difficult vocabulary do not differ in the likelihood of leading students to select incorrect answers. The third report, in Chapter 4, presents an investigation of the effect of linguistic bias on ESOL nursing students' success. Chapter 4 presents analyses of pass rates on the unmodified examinations achieved by high-acculturated and low-acculturated nursing students. Chapter 4 also presents an examination of the impact of language acculturation on the pass rates on linguistically modified and unmodified nursing examinations based on modified NCLEX-style questions that remove linguistic biases. This chapter presents an investigation of whether low acculturated nursing students who take the linguistically modified nursing examination achieve higher pass rates than those who take the unmodified examination. Based on the results of the chi-square analysis, 35 (81.4%) of the 43 students in the low acculturation group received a passing grade on the modified (experimental) examination, compared to 12 (30.8%) of 39 students in this group passing the unmodified (control) examination. This difference was statistically significant, χ2(1) = 21.42, p = <.001. Results also showed that there is a relationship between high-stakes nursing examination questions containing idioms, slang, and unnecessary words and ESOL nursing student success. The study supported the impact of substituting idioms, slang, and unnecessary vocabulary with more standard English terms on students’ success on multiple choice high-stakes examinations. Although the results do not indicate that ESOL nursing students are more severely or directly affected by specific forms of American English, it does show that identifying these linguistic obstacles may help provide valuable information that may guide creators of high-stakes examinations in designing more bias-free examinations to assist ESOL nursing students succeed and enter the workforce.

This study measured the effect of mode of discourse and developmental factors on composition length, syntactic complexity, and sentence-production error rate in the writing of secondary school students. The study also included a descriptive analysis of syntactic and logical patterns found in the sentence production errors. The 297 students whose writing samples provided the data for this study were enrolled in grades 7, 9, and 11. The students were divided into low and high within-grade developmental groups. Each student wrote two compositions, one in the descriptive mode and one in the persuasive mode.

Many language instructors focus on vocabulary word by word, neglecting common phrases. The result is that English as a Second Language students do not learn to speak idiomatic English (i.e. they make collocation errors). This study of the English compositions of National Tainan Second Senior High School students in Taiwan examined collocation errors, categorizing them according to Benson, Benson and Ilson's Collocation Classification System. An examination was then made of the error types as correlated with general English proficiency.