Modern methods of comparative study of Russian and English idioms when teaching English at a higher level

Бюллетень науки и практики / Bulletin of Science and Practice

UDC:811.111                                       

A good knowledge of a language, including English, is impossible without knowledge of its phraseology and idioms. Language, as a social phenomenon, is closely connected with the realities and traditions of the people-carrier. There is no doubt that all cultural and everyday events in the life of society are reflected in the language. Phraseology and idioms allows a deeper understanding of the history of the people, the specificity of its worldview, its picture of the world, which is actually built on the study of human perceptions of the world, the phenomena and objects of which are represented in human consciousness in the form of an internal image.

The word 'idiom' is a Greek term meaning 'own or 'peculiar.' An idiom is a figurative expression that can usually be interpreted literally but that takes a nonliteral meaning when used in a specific context. An idiom is a phrase, a set expression, the meaning of which cannot be understood literally, it is necessary to refer to its figurative meaning [1].

Many linguists would say that idioms are figures of speech that negate the principle of oppositionality. Which in turn means that idioms are words strung together that, over time, become entrenched in a figure of speech. These verbal expressions are at first usually used in groups, gradually changing the definitions of each of the constituents, forming one group of words that develops a particular meaning, thus creating an idiom.

In studying any period from the point of view of linguistic change, it is necessary to examine many individual examples to unravel the threads of development. Before describing in detail the development of the idiom of the eighteenth century, it may be observed that the vocabulary of that period is remarkable for the fact that a large number of new meanings for existing words appeared, rather than for the acquisition of entirely new words [2]. Some foreign words were borrowed, such as influenza, an Italian word meaning any epidemic, and chatter, a Portuguese word used for talking to natives on the coast of Africa. Some formations were made up from existing words, such as bicker . A few special forms were borrowed from proper names, such as napkin, borrowed from the name of a large haberdasher, early 18th century, or from the dialect, rag . However, many more words were used with a different meaning, usually more idiomatic and colloquial.

Later, at the end of the 19th century, literate people were able to recognize idioms that belong to the class of familial language in the modern language. The reason for the need for classification is very simple - the generation has changed, the language has undergone significant changes.

As mentioned above, idioms can be seen as mirrors of time periods and events that appeared at one time or another.

It should be noted that Shakespeare coined many idioms and expressions that are still used by native English speakers. In his tragic drama Othello, the "green-eyed monster" is first mentioned, alluding to the jealousy and betrayal at the center of the narrative, but instead of the expected toothy blue-green horror that appears in most people's imagination, the classicist actually used a cat that appeared to be playing with the food it caught.

English is not considered an "idiomatic language" for nothing - it is literally overloaded with established expressions, numerous proverbs, proverbs, sayings, proverbs and aphorisms [3].

Idioms are a rich linguistic and didactic material that increases students' interest in learning English, develops linguistic intuition, and lays the skill to think in linguistic concepts. The introduction of English idioms into the teaching process significantly enriches students' vocabulary, as well as arouses interest in the artistic possibilities of the language.

Teachers are challenged to increase student effectiveness and efficiency as well as student engagement and satisfaction with 21st century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and collaboration. As a result, they need to create a stimulating and effective learning environment. This creates a more positive attitude toward learning among students.

When teaching English idioms, this kind of innovative teaching becomes a necessity. Idioms are considered to be one of the most difficult and interesting parts of the English vocabulary. They can be culturally restricted, meaning that they can only be valid within a particular culture. Culture plays an important role in the process of idiom interpretation. Therefore, it requires the improvement of intercultural awareness and an open-minded understanding of the culture of the second language from different aspects.

Traditional idiom teaching methods focus on rote learning and memorization. They are timeconsuming because learners learn idioms individually without associating forms and meanings. It was felt that a flexible and dynamic approach to teaching English idioms was needed. Therefore, this paper attempts to provide a strategy for teaching and learning idioms in the EFL classroom. This strategy will help students develop their metaphorical competence while making the learning experience enjoyable. It can be a useful guideline for English language teachers in the improvement of their methodological strategies for the teaching of idiomatic expressions.

There are many exercises for learning idioms. They are divided into:

• 1.    Linguistic exercises. The purpose of these exercises is the student's mastery of the meaning of a linguistic form. This type of exercises is used at such stages of lexical skill formation as: presentation of a group of idioms; comparison of idioms in English and Russian; recognition, understanding and memorization of idioms. In English textbooks such types of language exercises are most often used: imitation, substitution, transformation and fill-in-the-blank exercises.

• 2.    Speaking exercises. These exercises serve to assimilate and memorize idioms. This type of exercises is divided into pre-speech and speech exercises. In pre-speech exercises, the student's choice of words is limited, and in speech exercises, the student decides which words to use [4].

Language exercises are the following types of exercises: listening to the dialog and highlighting the idioms sounded; comparing the proposed English idioms and their equivalents in Russian; substitution of missing components of idioms; replacement of expressions with synonymous idioms.

Pre-speech exercises include: translation and explanation of idioms; formation of phrases and sentences from the proposed set of words; use of the studied idioms in specific situations.

Further, at the final stage, we move on to speech exercises: students practice unprepared monologic and dialogic speech.

Speech exercises are divided into:

• 1.    Conditional-communicative exercises. Here there is a presentation of any situation and description of episodes or pictures using the studied idioms.

• 2.    Communicative exercises. These exercises can be represented by spontaneous, unprepared monologic or dialogic statements of pupils.

Having coped with such exercises, a pupil is able to describe his/her emotional and psychological state or thoughts in a more precise and expressive form with the help of idioms.

The formation of pronunciation skills is one of the main goals of the initial stage of foreign language learning. The use of stable combinations, proverbs and sayings is recommended for this purpose. They are easy to remember because of their clear rhythm and rhyme. When introducing, repeating and consolidating phonetic material, these stable word combinations can be used. It is also useful, in order to be immediately involved in the foreign language atmosphere of the lesson, to say phraseological phrases as phonetic exercises at the beginning of the lesson. This is a great way to get students excited about their work [5].

Traditionally, the teaching of idiomatic expressions has been neglected. Idiomatic expressions have been presented in isolation, as if they were an obscurity of the language. More recent materials illustrate idiomatic usage with cartoons, group them under themes (e.g., weather, food, colors, etc.), list them in vocabulary sections, accompany them with their literal paraphrase, or insert them into random sentences to provide contextual clues for their interpretation. Either way, however, students are not given the tools they need to come to terms with figurative usage; rather, they come to view English idioms as if they were the anomalous creations of a quirky people.

An important indicator of communicative competence in English is adequate knowledge and appropriate use of idioms in an EFL setting. Understanding and producing idiomatic expressions is part of figurative competence, which encompasses a set of skills such as decoding different (dominant, peripheral, polysemic) meanings of a word, suspending a literal-referential strategy, producing novel figurative expressions, and constructing a coherent semantic representation related to a given figurative expression.

In short, because idioms are by definition conventionalized expressions whose overall meaning cannot be determined from the meaning of their constituent parts, idioms are a notoriously difficult area of language learning and teaching. They are also culturally determined.