Idioms teaching through the multiple pathways model

IDIOMS TEACHING THROUGH
THE MULTIPLE PATHWAYS
MODEL

1

Difficult to
acquire

Lack of a
relationship
Idioms are
linked to L2
culture
IDIOMS between their
linguistic and
their idiomatic
meanings

Needed for
exams

2

SUMMARY OF PRESENTATION
• Definition of idioms.
• The Idiom-meaning guessing method.
• The Multiple Pathways Model.
• Combining the Idiom-meaning guessing
method with the Multiple Pathways Model.

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DEFINITION OF IDIOMS
3 CHARACTERISTICS

1. Compositionality (the degree to which a lexical string
can be understood through the words that compose it)
2. Institutionalization (the extent to which idioms are
recognized idioms within a speech community)
3. Fixedness (the degree to which idioms allow
permutation, paradigmatic replacement or deletion of
items)

Grant and Bauer (2004:42)

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LITERAL FIGURATIVE
IDIOM
MEANING MEANING

KICK
THE
BUCKET

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4 CLUES TO RECOGNIZING
IDIOMS
1. They violate true conditions (it rains cats and
dogs)
2. They are sometimes not structurally correct
(blow somebody to kingdom come)
3. Some of them start with “like” (like water off a
duck‟s back)
4. They cannot be explained literally in the specific
context although they might also have a literal
meaning which makes sense in a different
context
Baker (1992:65)
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• Keeping someone at arm‟s length
DEGREE OF
IMAGEABILITY
• Passing the buck

DEGREE OF
TRANSPARENCY

• a conventional scene of one culture
CULTURE may not be so conventional in another

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THE IDIOM-MEANING GUESSING
METHOD
(Skoufaki’s study, 2006)
• adult Greek learners of English who were
university students preparing for the CPE
examination
• verbal protocols
• half of the students saw the idioms out of
context and the other half had them in context

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SKOUFAKI’S STUDY COMPARED TO
COOPER’S ONE
Strategies used by immigrants to
Strategies used by learners the USA originating from different
(Skoufaki) countries(Cooper, 1999)
1. aided by translation or the 1. guessing from context
individual meanings of
constituent words (Semantic 2. discussing and analyzing
meaning) the idiom
2. through forming a mental image 3. using the literal meaning
of the idiom (Mental image)
4. requesting information
3. guessing with the help of an L1
similar idiom (Greek idiom) 5. repeating or paraphrasing
4. by referring to background the idiom
knowledge including cultural 6. using background
knowledge (Encyclopedic knowledge
knowledge)
7. reference to an L1 idiom

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STRATEGIES THAT LEAD TO
STRATEGIES USED BY THE SUCCESSFUL
INTERPRETATION OF AN
LEARNERS IDIOM

1. guessing from context 1. guessing from context
2. discussing and analyzing 2. the usage of the literal
the idiom meaning of the idiom
3. using the literal meaning 3. the usage of background
4. requesting information knowledge
5. repeating or paraphrasing 4. reference to an L1 idiom
the idiom
6. using background
knowledge
7. reference to an L1 idiom

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CONCLUSIONS BY SKOUFAKI
AND COOPER
If teachers start using the Bearing in mind which
idiom-meaning guessing strategies are normally used
method, they will not need by learners and which ones
so much time to explain all lead to the successful
strategies for acquiring interpretation of the idiom,
idioms since the students teachers can train learners in
employ some of these the use of these strategies
strategies naturally with the ultimate goal of
learners actually becoming
able to implement them
without any assistance from
the teacher

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THE MULTIPLE PATHWAYS
MODEL

HOW THE BRAIN LEARNS
(Dr. Zadina, 2004)

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• The brain utilizes
multiple pathways to
fire the needed
neurons, and that
different brains will
utilize different
pathways

• Teachers, bearing in
mind that students
learn in many
different ways,
should show them
how they can
approach new
knowledge through
different pathways

15

PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING
COMPLYING WITH THE MULTIPLE
PATHWAYS MODEL
1. Making connections between new and existing
knowledge.
2. If one does not use the newly acquired
knowledge, he/she will lose it. Therefore, the
material must be important to the learner .
3. “Wiring” the knowledge after its “firing”. In
order for learners to activate the neuronal
networks repeatedly, the teachers must provide
them with appropriate tasks that allow them to
strengthen these networks.
Zadina, 2004
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TYING THESE PRINCIPLES TO
THE TEACHING OF IDIOMS
1. Using the strategy of cross-cultural and cross-
linguistic differences, which links prior knowledge to
new one.
2. Learners have to realize the essential role they play in
the language.
a) Learners can be shown how idioms reflect the L2 culture.
b) Employing different strategies for idioms learning will
enable learners to use the idioms in order not to “lose”
them.
3. Students cannot really produce idioms even if they
understand them (Prodromou, 2003). Therefore, actively
engaging them in the interpretation of idioms will lead
to better “firing” and ultimately “wiring”.
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THE PATHWAYS
1. SENSORY-MOTOR: the visual, the auditory
and the motor (i.e. speech and kinesthetic)
modalities.

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2. REWARD/SURVIVAL/PLEASURE
• The emotions through which the brain survives are
cognition, control, fear and pleasure.
• The entanglements of these four can be endless, and
they can be positive or negative for learning.
• The best way to promote positive entanglements is for
learners to feel they have control of their learning.
• This is achieved through active rather than passive
learning since the former is more pleasurable.
• To illustrate, what is quite pleasurable to the brain is
detecting patterns, so teachers can turn lessons into
“puzzles” that encourage students to figure out things
on their own rather than just memorizing rules, or in
this case idioms.

19

3. SOCIAL PATHWAY
• Students learn better by “doing” after they
have had a chance to watch others perform the
same activity (Modeling).

20

Another two interconnected
pathways: EMOTION and
ATTENTION
• “Emotion drives attention and attention drives
learning.” (Zadina, 2010)

Students who view learning in a positive way will
pay more attention, but also when teachers direct
students‟ attention to specific new knowledge, the
latter will be more favourably disposed towards
acquiring the specific new knowledge.
21

COMBINING THE IDIOM-
MEANING GUESSING METHOD
WITH THE MULTIPLE PATHWAYS
MODEL

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THE SENSORY-
MOTOR PATHWAY – MENTAL IMAGERY
VISUAL MODALITY STRATEGY

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• Teachers should try to turn ideas into images, or
ask the students to show their images of that idea.
• The visual should be tied together with the
auditory and the speech modalities, so that
students can also produce the things they see or
hear. B
E
C
A
U
S
E
students‟ attempts at deciphering the meaning of an
idiom will enhance retention and thus production.
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EXAMPLE 1
“TO POP THE QUESTION”
Literal meaning Figurative meaning

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EXAMPLE 2
“BE WAITING IN THE WINGS”
• Ready to enter a situation,
be brought to public
attention, or undertake a
role, position.
• There are five other
candidates waiting in the
wings for such a job.

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EXAMPLE 3
“STICKING ONE’S NOSE INTO SOMETHING”

• To interfere in someone
else's business
• Why do you always have to
stick your nose in?

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EXAMPLE 4
“JUMPED ON THE BANDWAGON”
• To support something that is
popular

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REWARD/SURVIVAL/ ENCYCLOPEDIC
PLEASURE KNOWLEDGE
PATHWAY (i.e.: CULTURE)

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• The fact that idioms mirror the culture of the
language can work as an incentive of
“survival”.
• In other words, teachers can make learners
realize that they should be able to understand
and produce idioms in order to communicate
with the native speakers of the language and
also immerse in the L2 culture

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WHAT THE TEACHER SHOULD
KNOW
1. An idiom is more likely to be correctly
understood if its metaphoric theme is
common between the idiom‟s culture and the
learners‟ one.
Example:
“Bite your tongue”

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2. There is some L1 negative transfer for idioms
with a common metaphoric theme.
Therefore, it would be better if teachers were
aware of cross-cultural as well as cross-
linguistic differences when teaching idioms.

Example:
“Break a leg”

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3. Some idioms are deeply rooted in the L2
culture and somewhat alien to the L1 culture.

Examples:
“Storm in a teacup”
“Penny for your thoughts”

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THE LEARN
SOCIAL BY
PATHWAY DOING

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SUGGESTIONS
• Learners can watch videos (thus also involving
the visual and auditory pathways) of real
conversations between native speakers to see how
and how often they use idioms in their speech.
• Then, they can act out the conversations as role
plays so that they can learn by “doing”.
• Students can be given different articles or other
kinds of formal or informal writings that include
idioms and be asked to produce such writings
themselves.
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CONCLUSION
• Suggest more effective ways of teaching idioms
by combining the idiom-meaning guessing
method with how the brain learns and especially
the Multiple Pathways Model.
• Promote their importance and usefulness as they
are among the linguistic aspects which are quite
common and reflect the L2 culture.
• Promote the active engagement of students in
their learning as this is an essential part of all
strategies for the acquisition of idioms.
36

REFERENCES
• Baker, M. (1992) In Other Words: A coursebook on translation. London: Routledge
• Boers, F. and Demecheleer, M. (2001) „Measuring the impact of cross-cultural differences on
learners‟ comprehension of imageable idioms‟. ELT Journal, Vol. 55/3: 255-262.
• Bortfeld, H. (2003) „Comprehending idioms cross-linguistically.‟ Experimental Psychology 50(3):
217-230.
• Cooper, T.C. (1999) „Processing of Idioms by L2 Learners of English.‟ TESOL Quarterly Vol. 33,
No. 2: 233-262.
• Glucksberg, S. (2001) Understanding figurative language: form metaphors to idioms. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
• Grant, L. and Bauer, L. (2004) „Criteria for redefining idioms: Are we barking up the wrong tree.‟
Applied Linguistics 25/1: 38-61.
• Prodromou L. (2003) “Idiomaticity and the non-native speaker.” English Today 74, Vol. 19, No. 2:
42-48.
• Skoufaki, S. (2006) Investigating L2 idiom instruction methods. Ph.D. dissertation, University of
Cambridge
• Smilkstein, R. (2009) Understanding how the brain naturally learns [online].
http://facweb.northseattle.edu/RSmilkstein/Teachingwiththebrain-basedNaturalHumanFACES.ppt [
• Zadina, J. (January 2010) Implications of neuroscience research for teaching foreign languages. ELT
News
• Zadina, J.N. (2004). Brain Research-Based Effectives Strategies to Enhance Learning and
Energize Instruction. A presentation at the U.S. Department of Education Office of English
Language Acquisition Summit Conference. Pubs.cde.ca.gov/tcsii/prolearningtoolkit/zadina1video
• Zull, J. (2002) The art of changing the brain: enriching teaching by exploring the biology of
learning. Virginia: Stylus Publishing, LLC.

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THANK YOU

frytzala@gmail.com

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Idioms teaching through the multiple pathways model

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