A study on english idioms of education with reference to the vietnamese equivalents

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS OF EDUCATION WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH VỀ GIÁO DỤC TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT) ĐẶNG THU TRANG Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Văn Thanh Hanoi, 2017 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS OF EDUCATION WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH VỀ GIÁO DỤC TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT) submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2017 Đặng Thu Trang Approved by SUPERVISOR Assoc Prof Dr Lê Văn Thanh Date:…………………… ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to those who have contributed to this thesis and proud to acknowledge their help I would like first and foremost to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Thanh, for his inspiring and invaluable guidance, advice, encouragement and everything that I learnt from him throughout my work Without him this thesis would not have been possible My sincere thanks also go to all lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at Hanoi Open University for their useful lectures, assistance and enthusiasm during my course Last but not least, special acknowledgement is also given to my lecturers at National College for Education for their precious knowledge, useful lectures in linguistics, which lay the foundation for this study There are many others I should mention here, people who helped me along the way and provided me support Listing all of them would fill a book itself, so I merely will have to limit myself to a few words: I thank you ALL! Đặng Thu Trang ABSTRACT This study focused on English idioms of education with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents Through their syntactic and semantic features, we find out the similarities and differences between English idioms of education and Vietnamese ones under the light of contrastive analysis and cross-cultural perspective Data used for analysis in this study were mainly collected through dictionaries and the internet Through analysis of forms of idioms of education in English and Vietnamese, it is deduced that idioms are really important in communication Idioms are used to express ideas in figurative styles They bring the vividness and richness to the speakers' speeches This is the reason why the more skillfully a person uses idioms in his conversations, the more effectively he can establish his communicative relationship The findings of the thesis illustrate some implications for teachers, learners of English and translators from the use of linguistic features of idioms of education in English and focus on the meanings of the English idioms of education and a comparative analysis with Vietnamese ones Hopefully, the study may help learners, teachers, and translators of English avoid difficulties in realizing and translating English idioms into Vietnamese and vice versa TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methods of the study 10 1.5 Scope of the study 10 1.6 Significance of the study 10 1.7 Design of the study 11 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 12 2.1 Previous studies 12 2.2 Overview of theory of phrase structure 13 2.2.1 Phrase structure 13 2.2.1.1 Adjective phrases 13 2.2.1.2 Noun phrases 15 2.2.1.3 Verb Phrases and Phrasal Verbs 16 2.2.1.4 Prepositional phrases 17 2.3 An overview of idiom 18 2.3.1 Definitions of idioms 18 2.3.2 Concept of education 20 2.3.3 Types of idioms 21 2.3.4 Main features of idioms 22 2.3.4.1 Syntactic features 22 2.3.4.2 Semantic features 23 2.4 Summary of the chapter 25 CHAPTER III: ENGLISH IDIOMS OF EDUCATION WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 26 3.1 Syntactic features of English idioms of education with reference to theirVietnamese equivalents 26 3.1.1 Idioms of Education in the form of VerbPhraseStructure 26 3.1.2 Idioms of Education in the form ofNounPhraseStructure 29 3.1.3 Idioms of Education in the form of Adjective Phrase Structure 32 3.1.4 Idioms of Education in the form of Prepositional Phrase Structure 34 3.2 Semantic features of English idioms of education with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents 36 3.2.1 Relationship between Teachers and Learners 36 3.2.2 School and Class 38 3.2.3 Examinations 39 3.2.4 Methods/ Ways of Teaching andLearning 41 3.2.5 Learners' Personalities/Appearance 42 3.2.6 Level of education 44 3.3 Comparison between English Idioms of Education with Vietnamese ones 46 3.3.1 In terms of syntactic features 46 3.3.2 In terms of semantic features 47 3.4 Summary of the chapter 48 CHAPTER IV: APPLICATIONS FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS FROM THE USE OF LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS OF EDUCATION 50 4.1 Survey questionnaires 50 4.1.1 Subjects 50 4.1.2 Questionnaires 50 4.1.3 Procedure 50 4.2 Common factors hindering the students’s participation in speaking English idioms 51 4.2.1 Students’ perception of learning speaking English idioms 51 4.2.2 Learner’s factor that hinder the students’ participation in speaking English idioms 52 4.3 Suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms of education 61 4.3.1 Suggestions for learning English idioms of education 61 4.3.2 Suggestions for teaching English idioms of education 62 4.4 Summary of the chapter 64 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 66 5.1 Recapitulation of the study 66 5.2 Concluding remarks 66 5.3 Limitation of the study 67 5.4 Recommendations/Suggestions for further study 68 REFERENCES 69 APPENDIXES 73 Appendix 1A: List of English idioms of education 73 Appendix 1B: List of Vietnamese idioms of education 79 Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students 83 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study English plays an important role in our lives English may be a foreign language, but it is international in its significance The importance of English language in our lives is that it is spoken, read or understood in most parts of the world Thanks to this language, we can belong to the whole world as well as to our own country, and especially using idioms is very important in every day communication for the following reasons Firstly, idioms play an important part in a language both in written and spoken forms Using idioms in communication is the most effective and interesting way because they contain not only the literal meanings but the figurative and expressive meanings as well They are an integral part of a language and they make the language more beautiful and more dynamic In English, the demand for using idioms is becoming higher because it is taught, learned, and communicated worldwide Secondly, idioms give us many difficulties in communication Although idioms help speakers and writers communicate more successfully and make languages more interesting, they are not easy at all to master and use idioms appropriately Listeners and readers also find it really hard to understand idioms because their meanings cannot often be deduced from the individual components Idioms are used both in written and spoken language to emphasize meaning and make our observation, judgment and explanations more lively and interesting, so they have aesthetic function In other words, they are really useful tools for communicating a great deal of meaning in just a few words For example, to indicate the favourite pupil of the teacher, the English people are likely to say "to be a/ the teacher's pet" or to indicate a person who succeeds easily, with very high marks or grades, they would like to say "pass with flying colours" When we praise a pupil who passes examinations and comes first in the test, the Vietnamese say "cá chép hóa rồng" We are attracted by the question how and why idioms differ from each other between English and Vietnamese in case of idioms of education Moreover, as an English teacher, I find that students of English only tend to use non-idiomatic ways to express their ideas There are few students using idioms in their speaking and writing It means students of English miss the chance to reach the highest effect in communication in general and in communication with foreigners in particular If they try consciously to fill their speech and writing with idioms, the effect will probably be improved Lastly, I am interested in the way English and Vietnamese people use idioms to satisfy their own need in daily communication Here and there, there are several studies on idioms with certain linguistic units However, in range of Open University, there is no study on English idioms of education Thus, the topic “A study on English idioms of education with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents”, is chosen for my thesis Hopefully, the result of the study will be useful for learners of English and contribute a small part into the teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam and for people who are interested in idioms in both English and Vietnamese 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study The aims of the study: This study aims to find out the linguistic features of English and Vietnamese idioms of education in order to help Vietnamese learners of English to study and use the idioms effectively The objectives of the study: To point out the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms of education and their Vietnamese equivalents To compare between English with Vietnamese idioms of education with regard to syntactic and semantic features To provide some suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms from the use of linguistic features of English idioms of education 1.3 Research questions What are the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms of education and their Vietnamese equivalents? What are the similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms of education? What are the possible applications for teachers and learners of English in the process of teaching and learning idioms of education? 1.4 Methods of the study In order to achieve the aims given, the major method to be employed in the study is a descriptive one The descriptive method is used to describe in details the syntactic and semantic features through the examples of idioms of education collected from reference books, stories, novels, dictionaries and Internet websites Moreover, analysis method is used to point out the similarities or differences between English idioms of education and Vietnamese ones Also, the survey method is done to recognize most difficulties of students when they learn idioms This can surely help teachers anticipate problems in the lessons and seek the possible solutions to solve these problems Therefore, the considerations, remarks, consumptions, comments and conclusions in the thesis are mainly based on data analysis A number of data relating to idioms of education in both English and Vietnamese publications are collected from textbooks, short stories, books on English and Vietnamese languages.Data collected will then be analyzed in order to find out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms of education 1.5 Scope of the study • In this study, semantic and syntactic features of idioms of educationin both English and Vietnamese are extensively discussed • The study focuses only on English idioms of education are analyzed with reference to their equivalents in Vietnamese • The English and Vietnamese idioms in this study are collected from dictionaries and the Internet; therefore this research may not cover all idioms of education 1.6 Significance of the study The study will be able to provide useful knowledge to enable better use of idioms of education in English and Vietnamese The findings of the study can be the potential source for the teaching and learning English and Vietnamese in particular as foreign languages 10 34 Palmer, F.R (1990), Semantic, Cambridge UniversityPress 35 Randolph Quirk and Greenbaum(1976), A University Grammar of English, Cambridge University Press 36 Seidl, J & Mc Mordie, W (1988), English Idioms, OxfordUniversity Press 37 Siefring, J UniversityPress (2005), The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, Cambridge 38 Swick,E.(1999),AmericanIdiomsandSomePhrasesJustforFun,Barron's Educational Series 39 Teachers and Researchers from Cambridge University (1999), Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms, Cambridge University Press 40 Võ Thị Kim Loan (2009), Linguistic Features of English and Vietnamese Idiomatic Noun Phrases, M.A Thesis, The University of Danang VIETNAMESE 41 Phạm Văn Bình (1986), Thành Ngữ Tục Ngữ Tiếng Anh, Nxb Văn hố thơng tin HàNội 42 Đỗ Hữu Châu (1981), Từ vựng ngữ nghĩa Tiếng Việt, Nxb.Giáodục 43 Nguyễn Lực, Lương Văn Đang (1978), Thành ngữ tiếng Việt, Nxb Khoa học xã hội, Hà Nội 44 ĐặngHồngChương(2007),TừđiểnthànhngữtụcngữViệtNam, Nxb Văn hóa Thơng tin 45 Nguyễn Lực, Lương Văn Đang (1978), Thành ngữ tiếng Việt,Nxb Khoa học xã hội, Hà Nội 46 ĐinhNgọcHải,ThànhngữtiếngAnhvàcáchdùng,Nxb.Vănhóa thơngtin 47 Hoàng Văn Hành (2002), Kể chuyện Thành ngữ - Tục ngữ, Nxb Văn hóaSài Gòn 48 Hồng Văn Hành (2008), Thành ngữ học Tiếng Việt, Nxb Khoahọc xãhội 71 49 Vũ Dung, Vũ Thúy Anh Vũ Quang Hào (1995), Từ điển thànhngữ tục ngữ Việt Nam, Nxb Văn hóa HàNội 50 Trần Vũ Khanh (2002), Từ điển thành ngữ Anh-Việt, Nxb.Thanhniên 51 Hoàng Tuyết Minh (2014), Phép so sánh tu từ ngang Tiếng Anh, Nxb Giáo dục 52 Hoàng Tuyết Minh (2014), 523 Thành ngữ so sánh ngang Anh-Việt, Nxb Giáo dục 53 Đái Xuân Ninh (1978), Hoạt động từ tiếng Việt, Nxb Khoahọcxã hội, HàNội 54 Hoàng Phê (1997), Từ Điển Tiếng Việt, Nxb ĐàNẵng 55 BùiPhụng(1997),Từđiểnthànhngữ-tụcngữViệt- Anh,Nxb Văn hóa Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh 56 Bùi Phụng (2006), Từ điển tiếng lóng thành ngữ thông tục Mỹ - Việt, Nxb Văn Hố SàiGòn 57 Lã Thành (1995), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Anh-Việt, Văn hố thơng tin HàNội 58 Trung tâm biên soạn dịch thuật sách Sài Gòn (2004), Từ điển thành ngữ Anh Anh - Việt, NXB Tổng hợp TPHCM 59 Lê Tuyên & Đặng Phúc Khởi (1987), Đối chiếu thành ngữ so sánh Việt - Anh, Luận văn cử nhân, Đại học Sư phạm Ngoại ngữ ĐàNẵng 60 Nguyễn Như Ý, Nguyễn Văn Khang &Phan Xuân Thành (1993), Từ điển thành ngữ Việt Nam, Nxb Văn hố thơng tin HàNội INTERNET 61 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simile (April 25,2011) 62 http://www.oxford dictionary of English idioms.com (January 28,2011) 72 APPENDIXES Appendix 1A: List of English idioms of education A brick short of a load A cow college A diamond in the rough A doddle A for effort 10 11 12 A guinea pig A hard school A hard/ tough act to follow A mine of information A new boy A pep talk A place in the sun 13 14 15 16 A round diamond A second language A show of hands A straight answer 17 18 19 A walking dictionary A walking encyclopedia Above average 20 21 22 23 An object lesson An old boy Answer back As deaf as a post 24 25 26 As deaf as an adder As deaf as an beetle As easy as ABC 27 28 As easy as falling off a log As silly as a sheep 73 29 30 31 32 As stupid as a bull As stupid as a donkey As stupid as a goose As stupid as an owl 33 34 35 As thick as two short planks As wise as a serpent As wise as an owl 36 37 38 39 At her command At home Back to basics Be a bookworm 40 41 42 Be a copy cat Be a shining example/ light Be for the high jump 43 44 45 46 Be in a class of yours Below average Be second-rate Be slipping 47 48 49 Beyond/ outside your ken Blind as a beetle Blind somebody with science 50 51 52 53 Brainstorm something Burn the midnight oil Call the roll Cap and gown 54 55 56 Come unstruck Come/ get to grips with somebody/ something Compare notes 57 58 59 Cover a lot of ground Crack a book Crack out a paper 74 60 61 62 63 Cut class Cut your teeth on something Draw a blank Drop out of school 64 65 66 Eager beaver Get a first Get away with murder 67 68 69 70 Get credit for a course Get drift Get one’s sums right Get one’s tongue round 71 72 73 Get somebody/ something up as a bad job Get straight A’s Get throgh 74 75 76 77 Get your head down Goof off Give up as a bad job Give someone full marks for 78 79 80 Give someone no marks Give something a rest Give students/ teachers their head 81 82 83 84 Hang on somebody’s words Have one’s nose in a book Higher education Hit the books 85 86 87 Honor roll In a class of one’s own In loco parents 88 89 90 In rough In single file In/ out of practice 75 91 92 93 94 Ivy League Keep your nose to the grindstone Know one’s ABC Know your onions 95 96 97 Learn by heart Learn by rote Learn one’s lesson 98 99 100 101 Learn something off by heart Learn something parrot-fashion Leave somebody/ something standing Like priest, like people 102 Like teacher, like pupil 103 Make a mess 104 Make a pig’s ear (out) of something 105 106 107 108 Make the grade Murder a language Not have a prayer of something Not up to much 109 Nothing succeeds like success 110 Off by heart 111 Off campus 112 113 114 115 On campus On equal terms On the home straight/ stetch Over his head 116 Over the hump 117 Pass with flying colours 118 Pen in someone/ something 119 Pencil in someone/ something 120 Pick up a language 121 Pit your wits 76 122 123 124 125 Play hooky Play truant Practice makes perfect Praise something/ somebody to the skies 126 Pull out all the stops 127 Put pen to paper 128 Put somebody/ something to the test 129 130 131 132 Put your thinking cap on Put/ turn something to good account Read between the lines Read out loud 133 Read something into a document, letter 134 Read to oneself 135 Read though something 136 137 138 139 Repeat something parrot-fashion School of thought School someone in something Skip class 140 Slow on the uptake 141 Sort out/ seperate the man from the boy 142 Sweet blood 143 144 145 146 Take attendance Take the roll Talk like a book Teach an old dog new tricks 147 Teach school 148 Teacher’s pet 149 Tell tales out of school 150 Ten out of ten 151 The old school tie 152 The blind leading the blind 77 153 154 155 156 The old boy network The school of hard knocks The spooken/ written word Think the world of somebody/ something 157 University of life 158 Up to the much 159 Watch one’s mouth/ tongue 160 161 162 163 Well up on Wet behind the ears Wipe the slate clean Word for word 164 Work like a dog/ slave 165 Work your way through college 78 Appendix 1B: List of Vietnamese idioms of education Chuột bạch Từ điển sống Bách khoa toàn thư sống Như vịt nghe sấm Dễ bỡn/ Dễ ABC Dốt bò Dốt bò vực khơng thành Khôn chấy Mọt sách 10 Tấm gương sáng 11 Dốt đặc cán mai 12 Nắm ý 13 Học 14 Nghe nuốt lời 15 Học thuộc lòng 16 Học vẹt 17 Học vẹt 18 Thầy trò 19 Anh mù dạy anh lòa 20 Áo gấm làng 21 bán cháo phổi 22 Bán tự vi sư 23 Bảng vàng bia đá 24 Bảy mươi học bảy mươi mốt 25 Bất học vô thuật 26 Bia đá bảng vàng 27 Bõ cơng đèn sách 28 Cá chép hóa rồng 29 Cá hóa rồng 79 30 Cá vượt Vũ Mơn 31 Có cày có thóc, có học có chữ 32 Có cày có thóc, có học có chữ 33 Có chí nên 34 Có dốt nên khơn 35 Có học có khơn 36 Cơng thành danh toại 37 Chậm đến đâu, học lâu biết 38 Chiêu hiền đãi sĩ 39 Chó ơng thánh cắn chữ 40 Cửa Khổng sân Trình 41 Chữ gà bới 42 Chữ trấu nát 43 Chữ tác đánh chữ tộ 44 Chữ thầy trả thầy 45 Dài dòng văn tự 46 Dài lưng tốn vải 47 Dòng dõi thi thư 48 Dốt có 49 Dốt hay nói chữ 50 Dốt chó 51 Dùi mài kinh sử 52 Đa thư loạn mục 53 Đại đăng khoa 54 Đền ơn trả nghĩa 55 Đi ngày đàng học sàng khôn 56 Đua dại tranh khôn 57 Gõ đầu trẻ 58 Học 59 Học hay cày giỏi 60 Học khôn đến chết, học nết đến già 80 61 Học biết mười 62 Học cuốc kêu mùa hè 63 Học gà đá vách 64 Học trước quên sau 65 Học thành danh lập 66 Học tài thi phận 67 Học thầy học bạn, vô vạn phong lưu 68 Học thầy không tày học bạn 69 Khổ học khổ luyện 70 Lừa thày phản bạn 71 Lười chảy thây 72 Lưu danh sử sách 73 Lưu danh thiên cổ 74 Miệng đọc tay viết 75 Một chữ bẻ đôi 76 Một chữ nên thầy 77 Nấu sử sôi kinh 78 Nước đổ đầu vịt 79 Nước đổ khoai 80 Nghịch quỷ sứ 81 Nhả ngọc phun châu 82 Ra rả cuốc kêu 83 Sách gối đầu giường 84 Sân Trình cửa Khổng 85 Tạc ghi lòng 86 Tài cao học rộng 87 Tầm chương trích cú 88 Tầm sư học đạo 89 Tôn sư trọng đạo 90 Thẹn đèn hổ lửa 91 Thi đua hai tốt 81 92 Thiên kinh vạn 93 Thuộc cháo chảy 94 Trượt vỏ chuối 95 Văn võ song toàn 96 Viết gà bới 97 Xếp bút nghiên 98 Vinh quy bái tổ 82 Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS The following questionnaire aims at figuring out problems encountered by non-major students of English at National College for Education in speaking English idioms to suggest ways to improve their ability in speaking English idioms Please answer the following questions as honestly as you can Thank you very much for your cooperation! Part 1: Answer the questions below Question Question Question Question Question Your gender is Answer A Female □ B Male □ How long have you been learning English? A years □ B years □ C 10 years □ D Others ( _ years) □ Your English is A Exellent □ B Good □ C Fair □ D Bad □ You find that speaking English idioms is A very important □ B important □ C a little important □ D not important □ On average, in a session, how many times did you participate in speaking English idioms in the lesson? 83 Question Questions A never speak □ B less than twice □ C or times □ D more than times □ You find your speaking class _ A very interesting □ B interesting □ C a little interesting □ D not intersting □ How much you like the topics given in Speaking term 1? A very much □ B much □ C not very much □ D little □ E very little □ Part 2: To what extent you agree with each of the following statements Please indicate your answer using the following five-point scale where: = Strongly agree = Disagree = Agree = Neither agree nor disagree = Extremely disagree Question I only like speaking English idioms with friends next to me or at the same table with me □ Question I like using English idioms to discuss about the topics I have already prepared at home □ Question 10 I only like speaking English idioms when appointed by the teacher □ Question 11 In the class, I only speak Engkish idioms when the teacher asks and I answer □ Question 12 I like speaking English idioms through speaking □ activities 84 Question13 I just practice speaking English idioms at home I speak English idioms whenever and wherever is possible Question 15 I really enjoy speaking English idioms in the classroom Question 16 In the classroom, I often take every opportunity to speak English idioms Questions 17 In the classroom, I often feel stress and nervous when the teacher asks me to speak English idioms Question 18 It’s important to me to speak English idioms better than other students in my class Question 19 In the classroom, I prefer listening to others speaking to speaking it my self Question 20 Speaking English idioms well is important because it is useful for my career Question 21 I like to practice in speaking idioms activities because it helps me to get good marks Question 22 I would be very proud of myself if I could speak English idioms well Question 23 I think I can’t learn English idioms well without speaking Question 24 I am not afraid of making mistakes while I am speaking English idioms Question 25 I like speaking English idioms in the class but I not know what to say Questions 26 I like using English idioms to discuss about the topics that I have already prepared at home Questions 27 I find the topics difficult and I have nothing to say Question 14 □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ Question 28 I am afraid of my pronunciation □ Question 29 I not have enough vocabularies to discuss the topics with my friends □ 85 ... from the use of linguistic features of idioms of education in English and focus on the meanings of the English idioms of education and a comparative analysis with Vietnamese ones Hopefully, the study. .. of English idioms of education 1.3 Research questions What are the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms of education and their Vietnamese equivalents? What are the similarities and... III: English idioms of education with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents 1)Syntactic features of English idioms of education with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents, 2) Semantic features