Idioms: in the world, the classroom
and English as a Lingua Franca
What isEnglish as a Lingua
Franca?
‘English when it used as a contact language between people from different languages (including native English speakers)’ (Jenkins, 2014: 24).
EFL
L1 ESL
E L F
What is the place of idiomaticity
in English as a Lingua
Franca?
idiomatic usage, slang, phrasal verbs, puns, proverbs, cultural allusions and the like...as far as ELF is concerned, this sort of knowledge of the English language is ‘irrelevant’(Jenkins, 2000: 220).
What do we mean by idiomaticity?
‘an idiom is a combination of two or more words which function as a unit of meaning’.
She turned on me
A different kettle of _____
(to be) glad to see the _____ of (someone)
To put your ______ in it
She turned on me
A different kettle of fish
(to be) glad to see the back of (someone)
To put your foot in it
What can happen to idioms in
the classroom?
I learnt how to make Turkish coffee easily, but Italian espresso was a completely different kettle of fishes.
??
Mrs Johnson said she was glad to see Pablo’s back
??
Raffaella was having an argument with her sister when she suddenly turned me on
??
I’d forgotten that Mrs Matthews’ sister died last week, so whenI asked who the photograph was of, I really put my foot on it.
??
Why is idiomaticity important?
Idiomaticity = fluency (?)
tested
??
Idiomaticity embodies
shared knowledgeand
culture
What happens when shared knowledge
and shared culture are absent?
‘unilateral idiomaticity’
situations in ELF when
Rafael Benitez: ex-manager of Liverpool football club
Journalist: Rafa, you seemed to be under the cosh a little bit, didn't you?
??
Rafa Benitez: Yes, I thought we played very good football and we pressed and pressed them and did well to convert our chances.
Two Can and must
play at the idiom game
Benitez:Some people cannot see a priest on a mountain of sugar
??
Benitez:We have a saying in Spanish: White liquid in a bottle has to be milk
??
‘These idioms involve both the influence of the speakers’ first language and the desire to accommodate towards an interlocutor to enhance understanding’
(Jenkins, 2014: 34)
What can we do with idiomaticity in the ELF classroom?
Teaching and testing
Shuttling between varieties…
EFL
L1 ESL
E L F
We have to move from an either/or orientation in the testing debate to a both and more perspective
Canagarajah, 2006: 233-239
Posing the options as either ‘native English norms’ or ‘new Englishes norms’ is misleading – a proficient speaker of English in the postmodern world needs both.That is, the ability to negotiate varieties…
Canagarajah, 2006: 233-239
In the classroom: principles
Encourage intercultural understanding and accommodation
Aim for comfortable intelligibility
‘noticing’ activities translationparaphrase
contrastive idiomaticitysongspoems
newspaperspodcasts
the internetset up interactive contexts
idioms in discourse
In the classroom: practice
EFL
L1 ESL
E L F
‘ELF: a jointly-performed dance’
(Aston, 1993: 228)