THÀNH NGỮ sử DỤNG TRONG SÁCH GIÁO TRÌNH MARKET LEADER

Idiom is an important part of communication. However, sometimes idioms cause trouble because the native speakers of English do not selfrecognize that the expressions the idioms they are using are special and unfamiliar to the nonnative speakers. For this reason, it is extremely important for students to learn to hear, and understand the idioms in natural contexts, specially the business contexts. Market Leader series are a useful source of idioms for students. In order to raise the understanding of idioms and to build up the habit of using idioms, the research study the idioms in business uses in the Market Leader books (Intermediate and Upper Intermediate) written by David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Ken and published by Pearson Longman in 2006. In the research, the types of idioms commonly used in the business contexts, and in which business contexts idioms are used the most are investigated. The research also looks at how the double major students at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education are learning idioms in the Market Leader course books by using a survey questionnaire. Carried out in the form of a case study of idioms in use and incorporated with a survey questionnaire, the research concludes that all the types of idioms are used in the business contexts and idioms are used at higher density in business conversations than in economics and business text formats (news and articles). Another important finding is that the double major students at the Faculty of English Teacher Education are quite aware of the importance of idioms in business uses and they are applying different techniques in learning idioms.

Idiom is an important part of communication However, sometimes idioms cause trouble because the native speakers of English do not self-recognize that the expressions - the idioms - they are using are special and unfamiliar to the nonnative speakers For this reason, it is extremely important for students to learn

to hear, and understand the idioms in natural contexts, specially the business contexts Market Leader series are a useful source of idioms for students In order

to raise the understanding of idioms and to build up the habit of using idioms, the research study the idioms in business uses in the Market Leader books (Intermediate and Upper Intermediate) written by David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Ken and published by Pearson Longman in 2006 In the research, the types

of idioms commonly used in the business contexts, and in which business contexts idioms are used the most are investigated The research also looks at how the double major students at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education are learning idioms in the Market Leader course books by using a survey questionnaire Carried out in the form of a case study of idioms in use and incorporated with a survey questionnaire, the research concludes that all the types

of idioms are used in the business contexts and idioms are used at higher density

in business conversations than in economics and business text formats (news and articles) Another important finding is that the double major students at the Faculty

of English Teacher Education are quite aware of the importance of idioms in business uses and they are applying different techniques in learning idioms

TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……….i

ABSTRACT……….ii

LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES……….iii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION……… 1

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study………1

1.2 Objectives of the study……… 2

1.3 Significance of the study………3

1.4 Scope of the study………… ………3

1.5 Organization of the study……… 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW……… 5

2.1 Definitions of idioms……….5

2.2 Characteristics of idioms……… 5

2.2.1 Semantic characteristics……… 5

2.2.2 Structural characteristics……….6

2.3 Types of idioms……… 7

2.4 Functions of idioms……… 8

2.4.1 Idioms function as pragmatic and referential……….8

2.4.2 Idioms facilitate communication………9

2.4.3 Idioms convey speaker’s commitment and evaluation……….10

2.4.4 Idioms support communication organization and textual coherence………11

2.5 Idioms in use………14

2.5.1 The use of idioms in American English and British English………14

2.5.2 Stylistic and cultural value of idiomatic expression……….15

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY……… 16

3.1 Research method……… 16

3.2 Research setting……… 16

3.3 Data collection process………17

3.4 Data analysis………17

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION……… 19

4.1 The types of idioms exploited in the Market Leader course books……….19

4.2 The contexts where the idioms are presented……… 21

4.3 Actual situation of learning idioms of the senior double students at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education - ULIS – VNU……… 26

4.3.1 General understanding about learners’ autonomy and business idioms learning……… 26

4.3.2 Characteristics of the students as autonomous learners……… 32

4.3.3 The facilitation of the teachers in fostering learners’ autonomy in business idioms learning……… 33

4.3.4 Techniques utilized by students to self-study business idioms………35

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS……….38

5.1 Major finding of the research……… 38

5.2 Pedagogical implications……….39

5.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research……….39

REFERENCES……… 41

APPENDICES………43 APPENDIX A: THE BUSINESS IDIOMS USED IN THE MARKET LEADER BOOK (INTERMEDIATE)

APPENDIX B: THE BUSINESS IDIOMS USED IN THE MARKET LEADER BOOK (UPPER INTERMEDIATE)

APPENDIX C: STUDENTS’ SURVEY QUESTIONAIZE (ENGLISH VERSION) APPENDIX D: ROAD RAGERS IN THE SKY

LIST OF FIGURES

1 Distribution of the three types of idioms in

2 The number of types of contexts that the

business idioms appear

23

3 The distribution of idioms in the contexts 24

4 Opinions of double major students in ULIS,

VNU about teaching and learning idioms in

the business contexts

7 Students’ opinions about the idioms considered worth learning 30

8 Students’ opinions about the idioms in the Market Leader course books 30

9 Students’ main problem in learning idioms

10 Activities teachers normally do in the class

11 Students’ opinions about rich idioms learning materials 35

12 Activities students do when learning idioms 36

13 The ways to help students remember idioms 37

LIST OF TABLES

1 Characteristics of the students as

autonomous learners

32

2 Facilitation of the teachers in fostering

learners’ autonomy in business idioms

learning

33

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This initial chapter outlines the research problem and rationale for the study together with its methodology, the scope and the significance of the paper Particularly, it is in this chapter that three research questions are identified to serve as guidelines for the whole study Finally, the chapter concludes with a sketch of the organization of the paper to orientate the readers throughout the paper.

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

As a senior double major student of English and Economics, I find much pleasure when reading books written in English about economic and business issues The Market Leader course books are in that nature interesting and useful; and the idioms exploited therein make them even more appealing and motivating to us Although there are some papers of previous researchers studying the topic of idioms, they only give the general knowledge about idioms To make the researches about idioms a little more practical to the students, especially the ULIS double major students, I want to focus on the idioms in use in the Market Leader course books (Intermediate and Upper Intermediate) written by David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Ken and published by Pearson Longman in 2006

In my point of view, the idioms used in Market Leader books are interesting and useful They can deliver exactly what the speakers want to say in the shortest way However, for non-native learners, sometimes it is difficult to recognize and understand them There is very often no way of guessing the meaning of an idiom simply by looking at the individual words it contains For example, you may know

the words get and goat; however, you wonder what the meaning of the sentence You get my goat! is In fact, it has little chance of guessing, out of context, that it means You irritate me! For this reason, I hope this study is a useful material that may be of assistance to the double major students and teachers.

Moreover, idioms have practical meaning in business sector As a double major student, I usually read newspapers and articles about economic and business issues and I realize that there are huge amount of idioms used in them Knowledge of business idioms is a means that help me understand more and thus gain more

What are idioms? What are their characteristics? How can we use them and in what contexts we should you them? When should we use them? What are the features of the idioms in Market Leader books? What are the benefits of using idioms in special cases? These questions give me more grounds for my choice of this topic

1.2 Objectives of the study

The aim of this paper is to explore the idioms in the Market Leader course books (Intermediate and Upper Intermediate) written by David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Ken and published by Pearson Longman in 2006

Specially, this paper focuses on answering the following questions:

- What types of idioms are exploited in the Market Leader course books?

- In what contexts are these idioms presented?

- How are those idioms learned by the double major students at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education - University of Languages and International Studies - VNU?

1.3 Significance of the study

With this study, the researcher expects to gain insights into the idioms used in the Market Leader books It focuses on the classification of idioms and the contexts they appears At the same time, the ways that the double major students are learning idioms are discussed

Once completed, the research would serve as reference for double major students

It will help them understand more about the meanings and the ways of using idioms in the business situations

1.4 Scope of the study

Within the framework of a graduation paper, and due to the limited time, I have no ambitions to cover all the matters but focus on analyzing idioms used in Market Leader books (Intermediate and Upper Intermediate) written by David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Ken and published in 2006 These course books are used by the third-year double-major students in the University of Language and International Studies - VNU

1.5 Organization of the study

The study consists of five chapters as follows

Chapter I (Introduction) highlights statement of the problem and the rationale, objectives, significance, scope and organization of the study

Chapter II (Literature review) provides the theoretical framework of the study, including discussion of the key terms and issues

Chapter III (Methodology) describes the way the research is conducted, including the research setting, participants, instruments of data collection as well as the procedure employed to carry out data analysis.

Chapter IV (Findings and discussion) presents, analyses and discusses the results that the researcher found out from the collected data This chapter also gives answer to the three research questions

Chapter V (Conclusion) summarizes the key points, states the limitations and suggests further studies

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is presented in order to establish the theoretical framework for the researcher’s investigation Firstly, it deals with the conceptual aspects of idiom Secondly, it provides characteristics of idioms Then types and functions of them are listed Furthermore, it mentions idioms in use in American English and British English Finally, it mentions the stylistic and cultural value of idioms.

2.1 Definitions of idioms

The most fundamental definition of idiom is from Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary (1995): “Idiom is a phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit.”

“An idiom is a sequence of words which has a different meaning as a group from the meaning it would have if you understood each word separately Idioms add color to the language, helping us to emphasize meaning and to make our observations, judgments, and explanations lively and interesting They are also very useful tools for communicating a great deal of meaning in just a few words.” (Longman American Idioms Dictionary – 1999)

According to Jon Wright, an idiom is an expression with two features The first is that idiom fixed and recognized by native speakers You cannot make up your own The second is that idiom uses language in a non-literal – metaphor – way

2.2 Characteristics of idioms

2.2.1 Semantic characteristics

Idioms are more metaphorical than literal According to Kunin (1983:54), “the meaning of an idiom is either partly or completely different from the meaning of all components.”

In some cases, it is easy to guess the meaning of an idiom from the meaning of their components For example, the idiom “Easier said than done” means

“Something that you say when something seems like a good idea but it would be difficult to do”

In other cases, it is impossible to know because the meaning of the idiom is totally different from the meaning of each word For example, “To beat about the bush” means “To avoid talking about a difficult or embarrassing subject because you are worried about upsetting the person you are talking to” Even if they are put in a specific context, it is also difficult to understand if we do not have knowledge of the field

The nuances of idioms are complicated They can have positive, negative and neutral meanings (positive is largest number) so it is important to study the meanings and their components

An idiom is a group of at least two words with constant structure That means we can neither add nor omit any component It is also impossible to change its word orders, apart from accepted variants Anschushia (1985:197,188) claims that one important feature of idioms which make them different from free expressions is that they have fixed structure In particular, we cannot substitute their component For example, although “dog” and “puppy” are synonyms, it is impossible to substitute “dog” in the idiom “a dog in the manger” by “puppy” Moreover, we cannot add any component to idioms For example in the idiom “a man of the world”, we cannot add “old” to it Another impossible thing is change grammatical form of them One cannot use the plural form of “man” instead of its singular form

“man” in “man to man” In addition, one cannot use the singular form of “marine” instead of its plural form “marines” in “tell that to the marines” It is also unable to change the word orders of idioms (“open” and “shut” cannot change theirs position in “open and shut”.)

2.3 Type of idioms

Fernando (1996, p.35) distinguishes three sub-classes of idioms The first one is pure idiom Fernando defines pure idiom as ‘a type of conventionalized, non-literal multiword expression’ (Fernando, 1996, p.36) Pure idiom is always non-literal, however they may be either invariable or may have little variation In addition, idiom said to be opaque (Fernando, 1996, p.32) For example, pure idiom

“to spill the beans” has nothing to do with the beans

The second are semi-idiom Semi-idiom said to have one or more literal constituents and one with non-literal sub sense Therefore, this type of idiom is considered partially opaque (Fernando, 1996, p.60) For example, “foot the bill” which means ‘pay’ is semi-idiom

The last one is literal idiom This sub-class of idiom is either invariable or allows little variation In addition, literal idiom is considered to be transparent as they can

be interpreted on the basis of their parts For example, “of course”, in any case, means for certain

2.4 Functions of idioms

2.4.1 Idioms function as pragmatic and referential

Newmark (1988, p.104), who considers idiom as an “extended” metaphor, claims, that it has two main functions: pragmatic and referential The pragmatic function is

to appeal to the senses, to interest, to surprise, to delight According to Newmark, the first function is called cognitive, while the other is aesthetic English idioms are considered to be figurative and, as Jakaitien (1980) claims, expressiveness of idioms is considered to be the most important function The referential function is

‘to describe a mental process or state, a concept, a person, an object, a quality or

an action more comprehensively and concisely than is possible in literal or physical language’ (Newmark, 1988, p.104)

Furthermore, idioms may perform other functions in different discourse as in texts

or interactions It may convey thanks, apologies, agreements and greetings in interpersonal communication Moreover, it may include actions, situations, and emotions in their meaning In this case, Fernando (1996, pp.72-214), distinguishes three more functions that are performed by idioms: ideational, interpersonal and relational Idioms that have ideational function denote content which includes action (pull an invisible string), situation (to be under the thumb of one’s family), people and things (made rather a fool of myself) The second function is interpersonal that fulfills interactional function through apologies (I beg your pardon), greetings (good evening), directives (to put it straight), etc Finally, idioms with relational function are used to ensure cohesion and coherence of

discourse These are idioms that integrate information (on the one hand, on the other hand, in addition) and that sequence the information (in the first/second place) (Fernando, 1996, p.74)

2.4.2 Idioms facilitate communication

Becker (In: Wray 1998) made an observation that successful communication is often at odds with the production of novel utterances Idiomatic and formulaic language can provide a basis for an interweaving network for embedding novel proposition, which results in the fact that a lengthy utterance is likely to contain more prefabricated frames and routine structures Thus, one of the purposes of the use of formulaic and idiomatic structures is keeping the focus on formulation of one’s novel ideas while maintaining fluency through holistic retrieval of prefabricated complex structures from mental lexicon

As the introductory lines imply, one of the principal goals of using formulaic and idiomatic language is to facilitate communication in the sense that idiomatic and formulaic language based on holistic processing of phenomena came to be the preferred strategy for coping with a wide range of troubles that could arise in the course of language communication Where interaction fluency of processing complex utterances might be in danger, formulaic language is drawn upon to meet the communicational shortfall Wray (1998:47) argues that prefabricated and holistic units are functionally used as a “way of maximizing the processing space available for the novel referential and descriptive creativity that is unique to analytic language” It is simply a natural human tendency to economize the effort

of communication about recurrent human affairs through generation of stereotyped formulae and so avoid processing overload Wray & Perkins (2000:18) say also that formulaic recurrent phenomena had better suit to be communicated through idiomatic prefabricated language, because “a hearer is more likely to understand a

message if it is in a form he/she has heard before, and which he/she can process without recourse to full analytic decoding” Thus, it seems that we use routine sequences as a way of minimizing the risk of mismatch between our linguistic capabilities and the information to be expressed Similarly, Bolinger, Fillmore, Coulmas, or Sinclair propose that “we do not have to go through the labour of generating an utterance all the way out from ´S´ every time we want to say something” (Becker In: Wray 1998:63) In terms of keeping and enhancing fluency, Pawley (In: Skandera 2007) reports that some language learners attempt

to gain language command fluency in that they instinctively memorize larger language chunks, and among those also formulaic and idiomatic phrases that might be useful in particular contexts This phenomenon is not that illogical for one simple reason: idiomatic expressions or any other types of prefabricated speech structures enable the speakers to fix their attention to larger content units of the discourse In other words, if speakers were supposed to focus on individual words as they are pronounced one by one, the desired idiomatic fluency of a native-like speech would be endangered (Nattinger and DeCarrico In: Kavka 2003)

Concentration on larger (preferably holistically processed) meaning units makes it possible for language user to use larger language chunks to communicate recurrent stereotypes of everyday life without losing time with permanent re-formulation of linguistic material Instead, such units spare space for processing capacities for generation of completely novel analytic units describing new phenomena

2.4.3 Idioms convey speaker’s commitment and evaluation

“The words of a language often reflect no so much of the reality of the world, but the interest of people who speak it” (Palmer In: Baker 2006:18) In other words, idiomatic figures not only express factual meaning but also convey certain

evaluative aspect towards the relevant phenomenon Expressing ideas through idioms communicates an evaluation of the situation that the speaker refers to Miko (1989) says that the speaker puts him/herself into position of a judge of the situation Idiomatic expressions convey a sort of aphoristic truth about the referred affairs The speaker’s expressive commitment to the discussed matter via a figurative approximation with an emotional evaluative aspect of the phenomenon

is more than a mere stating about the matter of fact Similarly, Gibbs (In: Geeraerts

& Cuyckens 2007) states that speaking idiomatically conveys an interpretation and

evaluation of the situation that the speaker refers to Let us consider the idiom to skate on thin ice The idiom conveys in itself the experiential image of movement

on thin ice implying a dangerous situation The perception of danger is strengthened through specifying the movements as intensive movement of skating,

which increases the jeopardy of breaking the ice and drowning Everybody knows that walking on thin ice is dangerous, and performing any more intensive

movements on such a thin surface would be qualified (evaluated) as audacious

boldness of the person about which the speaker would expresses his/her attitude

2.4.4 Idioms support communication organization and textual coherence

“A traditional view of idioms and related speech formulas sees these phrases as bits and pieces of fossilized language […] speakers must learn by arbitrarily pairing each phrase to some non-literal meaning without any awareness of why these phrases mean what they do“ (Gibbs In: Geeraerts & Cuyckens 2007:697) Yet Gibbs (In: Geeraerts & Cuyckens 2007) also says that idiomatic expressions are not mere linguistic ornaments that facilitate social interaction, but they can be used also to enhance textual coherence and reflect fundamental patterns of human thought Idioms have two principal organizational functions in discourse

Firstly, Idioms signal topic transition in conversation Consider the following

example from a conversation between a daughter and her mother where they talked about the death of someone they both knew (adapted from Drew and Holt In: Gibbs In: Geeraerts & Cuyckens 2007:703):

Leslie: The vicar’s warden, anyways, he died suddenly this week, and he was still working.

Mum: Good grace.

Leslie: He was seventy-nine.

Mum: My word.

Leslie: Yes, he was.

Mum: You’ve got’s real workers down there.

Leslie: He was a, uh Yes Indeed, he was a buyer for the only horse hair factory left in England.

Mum: Good grace.

Leslie: He was their buyer So he had a good innings, didn’t he?

Mum: I should say so Yes Marvelous.

Leslie: Anyways, we had a very good evening on Saturday.

Through the phrase he had good innings, Leslie not only summarizes the

information from the prior turn, but she also refers to the whole topic of their conversation until that point Her description also confirms that we often refer to more abstract concepts through idioms rather than through ´single words´,

comparably with as if Leslie rather said only ´…he had a good life´ The idiom

thematically summarizes the information discussed in the conversation and indicates the point at which one topic is terminated and subsequently moved on to another one Idioms seem to be effective in terminating a topic because of their distinctive manner of substantiating abstract themes in concrete figures

Secondly, Idioms provide textual coherence Let us consider the example of using

the image of the proverb Don’t put the cart before the horse when talking about

British economic problems (from The Guardian of July 1990, as cited in Moon 1998:126 In: Gibbs In: Geeraerts & Cuyckens 2007:703-704):

To regard savings as the animating force in this scheme of things is to put the cart before the horse The horse is the growth of national income, propelled by the level of spending, the harness linking horse and cart the financial system, and bringing up the rear is the cart of saving The horse is larger the greater the level

of investment, and the larger the horse the larger the cart of savings it can

support

The author applies here the surface image of putting a horse before the cart to

draw out various entailments of the analogy between the proverb and the financial situation in England In this way, the author uses a common figurative expression and its parts to provide coherence to his complex argument about an abstract topic giving it tangible features

We can assume that the content of words can vary from one use to another Different word combinations can carry different amounts of semantic surplus resulting in a manifold variety of surplus functions that locutors can convey into communication through their particular choices of language means Paradoxically, more semantic surplus is conveyed by idiomatic combinations compared to literal ones In addition, this seems to be the reason why idiomatic expressions (often referred to as ´senseless´ combinations) make communication perfectly meaningful, easier, more appropriate and even faster Regardless of how this is possible, the attribute ´senseless´ seems to be apparent only Moreover, thanks to their underlying metaphorical concepts, such superficially ´senseless´ combinations (idioms) are often able to convey more meaning

Idioms are used in daily life A native English speaker may be not realize that he

or she is using it With them, using idioms is natural

2.5.1 The use of idioms in American English and British English

There are no radical differences in actual use The main differences are in the situations where idiomatic expressions are used There have been many studies recently on this subject American English adopts and creates new idioms at a much faster rate compared to British English In addition, the idioms of AmE origin tend to spread faster and further After it has first been established in the U.S., an American idiom may soon be found in other "variants" and dialects of English Nowadays new British idioms tend to stay on the British Isles and are rarely encountered in the U.S British idioms are actually more familiar to other Europeans or to the people of the British Commonwealth than to Americans, even though the language is same The reason for all these facts is that Britain is not the world power it used to be and it must be said that the U.S has taken the role of the leading nation in the development of language, media and popular culture Britain just does not have the magnitude of media influence that the United States controls

2.5.2 Stylistic and cultural value of idiomatic expression

An idiomatic unit comes into existence from a figurative expression describing situations, phenomena, or human traits that usually exceed limits of neutral perceptions Referring to Miko (1989) and his view of idiom as an expressively more mouldable and more tangible expression than a literal naming unit, idiomatic images enable the speaker to cover sensitive pictures and phenomena hiding and mildening the unpleasant and undesired positions of everyday life expressed by linguistic means In other words, idiomatic units can grasp the meaning of complex positions of life in a more re-fined communicative manner Similarly,

Gibbs in his Idioms and formulaic language (In: Geeraerts & Cuyckens 2007)

reports that people use idioms (mostly with an underlying metaphorical concept)

to politely communicate subjective opinions and so in an indirect manner avoid responsibility for what is communicated For example, under the ´guise´ of an

objectively common physical situation of throwing in the towel we can indirectly communicate the negative act of giving up a fight Thus, we can use a figurative

image to represent the meaning proper of an expression

As to the cultural status of idiomatic expressions, this is reflected by the linguistic motivation that offers a deeper insight into the origin of the term and provides more complex information on cultural and historical status than literal single ´words´ do Idiom takes on an objective demonstration of the cultural origin

extra-of the expression Consider the example extra-of an idiomatic expression for an

intensive downpour in Slovak leje ako z krhly (literally: it is pouring like from a watering can) and in English it´s raining cats and dogs.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the way the research is conducted, including the research settings, participants, instruments of data collection as well as the procedure employed to carry out data analysis to complete the ultimate purpose – answer the following research questions:

i What types of idioms are exploited in the Market Leader course books?

ii In what contexts are these idioms presented?

iii How are idioms learned by the double major students at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education - University of Languages and International Studies - VNU?

3.1 Research method

The research was conducted in the form of a case study of idioms in use for several reasons Firstly, case study research excels at bringing us to an understanding of a complex issue which is already known through previous research The issue of the research hereof is idioms in use in the Market Leader course books Secondly, case study can extend experience and add strength to the studied issue through detailed contextual analysis (Yin, 1994:23) The analysis of the idioms in use in the business contexts will add more information for users, language learners and teachers of idioms in use in a particular context, which is business

3.2 Research setting

Since the research was conducted in the form of a case study of idioms, the setting

of the research is the use of the idioms in the Market Leader course books

(Intermediate and Upper Intermediate) written by David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Ken and published by Pearson Longman in 2006 Besides, a survey questionnaire is carried out in order to provide grounds for the findings of the case study

3.3 Data collection process

The process of data collection involved the collection of idioms in the two Market Leader course books of intermediate and upper-intermediate levels Besides, the research also involves the participation of 30 students learning double major at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education – ULIS, VNU through a survey questionnaire The questionnaire surveys as a tool of collecting data about the actual situation of learning the idioms provided in the Market Leader course books

at the Faculty Therefore, the steps of collecting data are:

Step 1: Collecting the idioms and the contexts where the idioms are used in the Market Leader course books

Step 2: Conducting the survey questionnaire

Step 3: Analyzing the data

Step 2: The idioms are studied in the particular contexts where they are present so as that conclusion about the use of idioms in the business contexts is disseminated

Step 3: Data collected from the survey questionnaire are processed qualitatively and quantitatively in the forms of tables, figures, and comments, which in turn provide grounds for the findings of the research about the actual situation of learning idioms of the third year double major students at the Faculty

of English Language Teacher Education – ULIS – VNU

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND FINDINGS

While the previous chapter elaborates on the methodology of the research, this chapter presents the results revealed through the analysis of the collected data It

is noteworthy that the findings will be considered with reference to the current literature, so as to reinforce the existing arguments or to underline new findings

on the research topic

4.1 The types of idioms exploited in the Market Leader course books

In Fernando’s point of view (1996, p.35), there are three sub-classes of idioms: pure idioms, semi idioms and literal idioms Pure idiom is ‘a type of conventionalized, non-literal multiword expression’ Semi-idiom said to have one

or more literal constituents and one with non-literal sub sense The last one, literal idiom is considered to be transparent as they can be interpreted on the basis of their parts

In the studied Market Leader books, all these three types were found

Regarding pure idioms, many interesting idioms are used in the books For example, “Put something in a nutshell” means “State something very concisely” It

is a pure idiom because “concise” is not related to the “nutshell” “Get the wrong end of the stick” which means “Do not understand a situation correctly” and “Beat about the bush” which means “Avoid talking about a difficult or embarrassing subject because you are worried about upsetting the person you are talking to” are others examples of this type of idiom One type of idiomatic expressions that is present in almost all the studied texts is phrasal verb, which is also considered pure idiom According to the collected data, pure idiom occupied the largest

percent of idioms used in the Market Leader books – 52% - of which phrasal verbs account for approximately 90%

Another type of idiom used in the Market Leader books is semi idioms An example of this type is “Throw good money after bad”, which means “Waste money by spending more money on something that you have already spent money

on and which is no good” Clearly, the idiom and its meaning have a close link with each other: the wrong way the user uses money after having bad lesson This type of idioms is found to account for 33% of all the idioms used in the business contexts in the studied course books

The last type, literal idioms, only accounted for 15% of idioms in the Market Leader books It is quite understandable because basing on the collected data, literal idiom is only a small part of idioms “Easier said than done” is another literal idiom used in the Market Leader books It means “Something that you say when something seems like a good idea but it would be difficult to do” The meaning is as transparent as the meaning of each word part of the idiom

Figure 1: Distribution of the three types of idioms in the studied course books

According to data collected from the Market Leader books, pure idioms outweighed semi idioms to be the most dominant type of idioms, which accounts for 52 % of all the idioms in use in the studied course books This type is followed

by semi idioms, which make up 33% of all Literal idioms account for the remaining 15% Appendix 1 and 2 give more information about the types of idioms, their meanings and their Vietnamese equivalents if any

4.2 The contexts where the idioms are presented

The researcher classified the business idioms in the Market Leader books into three contexts: newspaper and magazine articles, language focus activities, and business conversations (negotiation, brainstorming, meeting, etc.)

One of the most important materials for the reading part in the Market Leader books is the articles from the Financial Times and The Guardian The Financial

Times is one of the world’s leading business news and information press The Guardian is a daily newspaper published in England Other sources of the articles

used in the studied Market Leader course books were from The CEO Refresher and The Virginia Business Online.

One example is from Derek Brown The Guardian Road ragers in the sky (See

appendix 4) This was an article about the reason that made airline customers felt discomfortable and angry In this article, the author used five business idioms The first one is “coop up” which means “confine someone or something in a small place” The second is “in the case of” to imply in the matter of, in the instance of Another business idiom is “go crazy” with the meaning “become crazy, disoriented, or frustrated” Then, to describe something be destroyed or consumed

by fire, the author used “burn up” The last one was “in the front line of” to describe an important position where customers are likely to be criticized or

can describe a mental process, an action, etc more comprehensively and concisely than in literal language such as in the case of “go crazy”, it was a means to express emotion Business idioms in this article helped to convey the writer’s commitment and evaluation of the problem: being neutral

The authors used business idioms in the articles for several purposes First, it described a mental process or state, a concept, a person, an object, a quality or an action more comprehensively and concisely than is possible in literal or physical

language Second, idioms provided textual coherence It made the meanings of

words and expressions clear in the context they appeared

The second context is language focus activities, which contain such parts as

language review, vocabulary and discussion (start-up and case study) This type

of context had practical significance to students In some cases, the meaning of the idioms is given to students and they are required to do exercises (matching, filling

in the blank, etc.) The activities helped students remember the idioms better

The last type of context was conversations Typical forms of conversations are business contexts of negotiation, brainstorming, meeting, interview, and talking on the phone They contain a huge amount of idioms Here is an example of a conversation from the Upper Intermediate Market Leader book, p.159:

(I = Interviewer; AC = Agnes Chen)

I: What are the key factors to bear in mind when building a relationship?

AC: At the beginning of a relationship, it’s important to have clear objectives, so both of you know what you’re trying to achieve and deliver And then it’s a good idea to review your relationship from time to time to see if it’s still what you want Personally, I like to have as much face-to-face

contact as possible, so that you build a real relationship, that’s vital for building up trust I mean, most businesspeople will tell you, trust is the foundation of any effective business relationship So, you must do what you say you will do And you have to deliver And don’t promise more than you can do.

In this interviewing conversation, two idioms are found The first was “bear in mind” which means to remember a piece of information when you are making decisions or thinking about a matter The second idiom was “from time to time” which means the thing happens sometimes, but not regularly In this case, idiomatic expressions enable the speakers to pay their attention to certain content units of the discourse

The result is presented in Figure 2 and Figure 3

Figure 2: The number of types of contexts that the business idioms appear

The bar chart shows the number of articles in which idioms are used It can be seen from the figure that the number of articles is 26 articles of all 28 articles used

in the two studied course books This can be inferred that idioms are used in almost all articles written by native English authors The second type of context

where idioms are used is the language focus activities 63 activities are recorded with the use of idioms, 3 of which idioms are the “input” and “output” of the activities Such three activities teach idioms to learners We can conclude here that once again idioms are used in almost all situations in the two studied course books Present in the highest number is idioms in the conversations In almost all conversations (68 ones) idioms are found More importantly, idioms are found at highest density in the conversations as compared to the other types of contexts abovementioned

Figure 3: The distribution of idioms in the contexts

The pie chart describes the breakdown of types of contexts that the business idioms appear The largest number of idioms is found in the business conversations, which accounts for 45 percent of all the idioms used in the two studied course books Coming close to this number is 33 percent, which is the distribution of idioms found in the articles The last idioms used in the books are found in the language focus activities, which accounts for the last 22 percent

In communication, idioms may convey thanks, apologies, agreements and greetings; moreover, they may include actions, situations, and emotions in their meanings Besides, idioms may signal topic transition in conversations.

The data proved that business idioms are used more frequently in dialogue and communication than in textual formats It confirms one again the important of idioms in the business contexts Idioms are used in daily life A native English speaker may not realize that he or she is using them With them, using idioms is

natural As a result, recognizing business idioms and learning their meanings are

very important What the learners should do to raise their ability of learning business idioms? It is better to start by recognizing the appearance of idioms so their meanings will not be understood in the wrong way Idioms are recognizable

because the literal meaning might not make sense If someone says they will turn over a new leaf after getting into trouble, then we should not ask ourselves why

they are taking up gardening but assume that the phrase has an idiomatic meaning (to make a start on becoming a better person) Students should learn to hear, and understand the idioms in natural contexts because there is very often no way of guessing the meaning of an idiom simply by looking at the individual words it contains For example, you may know the words get and goat, and wonder why she doesn't understand the sentence You get my goat! In fact, it has little chance of

guessing, out of context, that it means You irritate me! In short, learning and practicing are the key factors.

Another matter is the way to use business idioms smartly It is not a simple task if you are not a native speaker To improve this skill, learners may use different sources of material to support learning and practicing with business idioms The Internet, the idiom books, the newspapers, etc are examples of useful sources Moreover, as a matter of time, some idioms turn out to be out of date For example, in 21st century England the only people who say that it is raining cats

and dogs are pensioners and language students A modern Englishman will more probably remark 'It's chucking down' So be careful and only use idioms when you

are certain of their meaning

In short, idioms are used at high density in different business contexts of whether a negotiation or a piece of economic news It is the task of the learners to understand and know how to use idioms effectively Actual situation of learning idioms by the third year double major students is studied in more details in the below part to figure out how their attitudes toward idioms learning are and what they are doing

to learn to use idioms

4.3 Actual situation of learning idioms of the senior double students at the

Faculty of English Language Teacher Education – ULIS - VNU

4.3.1 General understanding about learners’ autonomy and business idioms learning

The number of students involved in the research was 30 and their opinions about the matter of idioms introduced in the Market Leader books are not very disperse First of all, the researcher intends to elicit, to some extent, the characteristics of the students as autonomous learners, mostly from part 1 and part 2 of the questionnaire

Most of the students thought that teaching and learning idioms in the business contexts for double major students in ULIS, VNU is important 17% of them had point of view that it is very important and only 10% believed that it is not important at all (See Figure 4)