Three idiom pairs were analysed in order to identify which conceptual motivation, in the form of metaphors, metonymies, embodied motivations and conventional knowledge, were present. Each pair had one Swedish- and one English idiom. They had a similar semantic meaning and they both contained a lexical word for a body part – but not the same body part. The aim was to find out how the idioms could have a similar semantic meaning without having the same structure and the same words. The aim was the research questions were answered by analysing the idiom pairs from a cognitive linguistic perspective. The result of the study showed there are cognitive and conceptual motivations for the underlying process, which makes people understand the idioms in a similar way. The reason for why the Swedish and the English idioms used different words for body parts seems to have been the notion of embodiment and of cultural and conventional knowledge. The different words for the body parts did not seem to affect the semantic similarity of the idiom pair.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Esta pesquisa tem como objeto de estudo a compreensÃo das expressÃes idiomÃticas em lÃngua materna, visando ao aprimoramento no reconhecimento do sentido das EIs atravÃs do contexto do texto. Com bases teÃricas que congregam a Fraseologia e a PsicolinguÃstica, o presente trabalho tem cunho metodolÃgico experimental. Para a geraÃÃo de dados, ela se utilizou da pesquisa-aÃÃo, atravÃs da aplicaÃÃo de uma sequÃncia didÃtica adaptada de Dolz, Noverraz & Schneuwly (2004), em uma turma do sÃtimo ano do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola pÃblica municipal de Fortaleza, com um teste diagnÃstico aplicado antes dos mÃdulos da SD e um teste avaliativo, aplicado no final. AlÃm disso, a pesquisa utilizou uma turma controle em que foram aplicados somente os testes, para que os dados coletados nas duas turmas pudessem ser comparados. As atividades constaram de textos projetados em slides em que eram destacadas expressÃes idiomÃticas cujo sentido poderia ser reconhecido pelo contexto. Assim, o professor incentivou a ativaÃÃo do conhecimento prÃvio dos alunos, a prediÃÃo e a inferenciaÃÃo para que eles pudessem compreender melhor o significado da EI. Como resultados, a pesquisa demonstrou que as estratÃgias de leitura podem ser uma ferramenta muito importante para a desautomatizaÃÃo do processo de apreensÃo do sentido das expressÃes idiomÃticas, alÃm de ampliar as habilidades de leitura dos alunos de uma maneira participativa e reflexiva.

Orientador: Matilde Virginia Ricardi Scaramucci / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T23:37:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lisboa_MariaFernandaGrosso_M.pdf: 15476854 bytes, checksum: b466c0ce72a204e65d4543831400af43 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Esta pesquisa, de natureza etnográfica, teve por objetivo caracterizar o processo avaliativo em LE em uma escola de idiomas no interior de São Paulo. Para tanto, investigaram-se as concepções de linguagem, ensino, aprendizagem e avaliação que norteiam a prática dos professores envolvidos ¿ um professor de inglês e a pesquisadora ¿ nos papéis de professora de espanhol e de aluna de inglês, sendo a pesquisadora aluna desse professor no grupo de inglês pesquisado. A partir da observação das aulas de seu professor de inglês e de suas experiências como aluna desse grupo, a pesquisadora encontra subsídios para o desenvolvimento de uma reflexão sobre a sua própria prática como professora de espanhol. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas com os sujeitos, questionários, gravação em áudio das aulas e diários escritos pela pesquisadora após as aulas. A análise dos dados foi baseada nos estudos sobre competência comunicativa e abordagem comunicativa (Canale & Swain, 1980;1983; Almeida Filho, 1986, 1987,1993, 1999; Savignon, 1991, entre outros) e nas teorias sobre avaliação em LE (Scaramucci, 1997,1999, 2000, 2000/2001; Rolim, 1998; Avelar, 2001; Caldas, 2001; Batista, 2004).Os resultados da análise apontam para um descompasso entre o discurso dos professores envolvidos, os quais declaram adotar uma abordagem comunicativa e uma avaliação coerente com essa abordagem. Suas práticas em sala de aula, entretanto, revelam grandes equívocos em relação ao que seja um curso de línguas comunicativo e uma avaliação compatível com essa abordagem. A avaliação ainda é predominantemente somativa, visando à nota e à aprovação. A avaliação formativa declarada pelos professores é praticamente inexistente no contexto. Os alunos apresentam, na maioria dos casos, uma concepção de avaliação reducionista, relacionando diretamente avaliar a fazer uma prova. Implicações para a formação do professor de língua estrangeira são apresentadas / Abstract: This research of ethnographical nature had the objective of characterizing the evaluative process in a foreign language in a school of idioms of the countryside of Sao Paulo state. For so, it was investigated the conceptions of language, teaching, learning and evaluation which lead the involving teacher¿s experiment ¿ an English teacher and he researcher ¿ in the roles of a Spanish teacher and an English student being the researcher a student of this teacher in the focused English group. Having the classes (giving by this teacher) and the researcher experiments (from this group) as a starting point, the researcher found allowance for developing a reflection about her own practices as a Spanish teacher. The data were collected throughout interviews with the subjects, questionnaires, class recording and daily reporters written by the researchers¿ right after the classes. Data analysis was based on the studies about communicative competence and communicative approach (Canale & Swain, 1980, 1983; Almeida Filho, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1999; Savignon, 1991, among others) and on the theories about foreign language evaluation (Scaramucci, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2000/2001; Rolim, 1998; Avelar, 2001; Caldas, 2001;Batista, 2004). The results of the analysis show an irregularity between a coherent evaluation and the involved teacher¿s discourse which theoretically claim they adopt a communicative approach. Their experiments in the classroom, meanwhile, indicate many misunderstandings based on what is supposed to be a communicative language course and on a compatible evaluation within this approach. The evaluation is predominantly traditional, aiming only the grades and the approval. Continuous evaluation asserted by the teachers is inexistent in this context. Students declare, in most of the cases, a reductionist evaluation conception, connecting evaluating to doing a test. Foreign language teacher training implications are showed. / Mestrado / Lingua Estrangeira / Mestre em Linguística Aplicada

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar de que maneira o conhecimento/desconhecimento das expressões idiomáticas interfere na compreensão de textos que as utilizam como recurso para construção de sentidos. Tal investigação justifica-se pelo fato de os alunos da etapa inicial do Ensino Fundamental II (especificamente sexto ano) apresentarem dificuldades na leitura de textos que tenham tais expressões, já que essas unidades lexicais apresentam forte carga cultural, demandando que os usuários da língua empreendam conhecimentos lexicais e culturais para compreendê-las. Para o desenvolvimento desta pesquisa, elaboramos uma proposta de intervenção didática e a aplicamos aos alunos de duas turmas de sextos anos de uma escola municipal de cidade de São Paulo. Os resultados de tal intervenção forneceram-nos corpus para analisarmos o nível de conhecimento das expressões idiomáticas que os alunos apresentavam antes da intervenção didática, o percurso de desenvolvimento da competência lexical ao longo da produção das atividades e os resultados do trabalho após a etapa final da intervenção. A partir dos resultados obtidos, observamos que o ensino sistematizado do léxico é uma estratégia que acarreta consequências positivas tanto em relação à competência lexical quanto às competências leitora e discursiva. / The present work aims to analyze in which way idioms knowledge/ignorance interferes in the comprehension of texts that use them as a resource for the construction of meanings. This investigation is justified due to the fact that students of the initial stage of Elementary School II (specifically sixth year) present difficulties when reading texts that have such expressions, since these lexical units present a strong cultural background, demanding that the users of the language undertake lexical and cultural knowledge to understand them. For the development of this research, we elaborated a didactic intervention proposal and applied it to students from two sixth grade classes of a municipal school in the city of São Paulo. The results of such intervention provided us with corpus to analyze the level of knowledge of the idioms acknowledged by the students before the didactic intervention, the development of lexical competence throughout the production of the activities, and the results after the intervention final stage. From the results obtained, we observed that the systematized teaching of the lexicon is a strategy that has positive consequences both in relation to lexical competence and to the reading and discursive competences.

The general field of interest for this study is the Swedish public’s level of awareness of non-literal and figurative language, such as idioms and metaphors, in English. The English language can be considered to be evolving into Sweden’s second language, since it is present in so much more than school, for example, on television, computers and radio. This study aims to gain an insight into the degree of understanding of common idiomatic expressions in popular English song lyrics by native Swedish speakers. University students were chosen as the sample group and twelve of them were asked to explain their understanding of selected English idioms which occur in songs with which they were likely to recognize. The results have then been analyzed and it was possible to establish the degrees of understanding, misunderstanding and failure to understand. Firstly, the participants have explained the expression out of context, and secondly they were asked to explain it in the context of the song. This was to see whether the expressions appear to have been easier to understand out of context or in context. Earlier research show difficulties in defining the term idiom, and in this survey the term idiomatic expression has been used and defined as a way of speaking or writing that does not make any literal sense, even though the expressions are used all the time and people familiar with the language generally recognize them and understand their meaning. Earlier research has facilitated the analysis by the use of terms, theories and definitions on various ways of understanding metaphors, metonymy and idioms, and how these might, or might not, differ between Swedish and English. The results of this survey show that most of the expressions appear to have been easier to explain and understand when seen and heard in the context of the song. Although, some expressions appear to have been very alien to the participants, which has resulted in misunderstandings and failure to understand both in and out of context of the song lyrics in question.

The purpose of this study is to analyse how three idioms, in English, French and Swedish, despite different lexical compositions are capable of conveying the same meaning. The idioms in question are a thorn in the side, une épine au pied/dans le pied and en nagel i ögat. This study is concerned with how different metaphorical images are used to express the same meaning. Furthermore, it examines what it is in the semantics of the lexical items that enables these idioms to express the same idiomatic meaning. Using a cognitive linguistic approach the analysis is conducted at a linguistic and a conceptual level. The analysis shows that these three different idioms are capable of conveying the same idiomatic meaning because they are motivated by the same conceptual metaphor.

The main objective of the present study is to investigate whether there is a difference in comprehension between two groups of Swedish L2 learners of English when they are faced with idioms in either a written context or in an audio-visual context. The investigation was performed at a Swedish upper secondary school. The subjects of the investigation are two different groups, where group 1 consists of 21 subjects and group 2 of 26 subjects. To one group, the idioms were presented in a written context, which is a transcribed version of the audio-visual context to which the second group was subjected. The results of the study are statistically confirmed, which means that they are generalizable to any two similar sets of students taking the same two tests and they show that there is a difference in comprehension for L2 learners if they are presented with idioms in an audio-visual context in comparison to when they are presented with a written context. This difference suggests that the comprehension of L2 idioms can be strengthened when the idioms are presented in an audio-visual context.

1 Abstract The topic of this thesis is Czech and Spanish phrasemes containing denominations of animals or parts of their bodies. Theoretical part of this thesis deals with delimitation of the concepts of phraseme, idiom etc., it describes the various attitudes to these issues in the Czech and Spanish field. The practical part, which is based on the theoretical premises, focuses on analysis of idiomatic expressions enlisted in a vocabulary attached to the thesis. The practical part further examines the vocabulary from different points of view, focuses on the extent of equivalency among individual idioms, frequency of use in particular languages, affiliation with the specific zoological categories and etymology of selected phrases. The target of this thesis is to identify both the differences and the similarities among the idioms.

Idioms are found in every language, and if one wants to master a language it is important to learn and be able to use idioms while communicating. The English language is no exception. As well as in other languages, idioms are used extensively in the English language. There is also a difference between a literal and an idiomatic meaning of a sentence. If one wants to understand different shades of meaning it is important to know the meaning of idiomatic expressions. For example, “break a leg” is an idiom used commonly when speaking. The literal meaning of the sentence would an instruction by the speaker telling someone to break a bone in their leg. However, the idiomatic meaning of this expression is: good luck and do your best. This idiomatic expression is often used among actors when they tell each other to “break a leg” before entering the stage to perform. Furthermore, computers have become an increasingly important and widely used medium of communication over the past two decades. Researchers have viewed this positively, and noted how it is especially helpful when it comes to language development. The aim of this study is to investigate whether playing computer games as a leisure activity improves the usage and knowledge of idioms among students in the secondary school. A total of 22 students participated in the study, 12 male students and 10 female students. The methodology is based on a quantitative method (Dörnyei 2007).  The data is collected with the help of questionnaires in which students had to answer questions about their video gaming habits and attitudes towards idioms. Apart from this, they then had to work with idiomatic expressions in three different ways to measure their knowledge of idioms. Even though the data collected is limited, some evidence was found which indicated that playing video games or online computer games does have a noticeable impact on the English language, regarding idioms. The observation measured the participants’ usage and knowledge of idioms. The main conclusion of the study is that video games and online games might influence the players’ language proficiency in a positive way with regards to idiomatic expressions. Moreover, most of the students state that they consider idiomatic expressions important, and that they are necessary to learn to acquire a more nuanced English language.

M.A. (African Languages) / Please refer to full text to view abstract