Idiomatic Errors Among English Learners
Rustaq College of Applied Science
Department of English Language & Literature (Dell)
Error Recognition & Correction
Course Code: ENSP 3228
An assignment on / Idiomatic expressions errors among Arab learners of English
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement of the Error Recognition & Correction Course
Prepared by/ Sara Salim Alhadhrami Submitted to / Mr. Holi Ibrahim Holi Ali 2012-2013 (Fall Semester) Word counts / 1650 words
Introduction This paper sheds light on the Idiomatic errors of Arab learners. First, idioms are one of the most important aspects in English. They are the most frequent and widely used in many situations, such as, daily conversation, meeting and written context. The definition of this aspect according to Kharma, Alhajjaj (1997)," An idiom is a fixed phrase, such as keep something under one's hat, whose meaning can't be predicated from a knowledge of the meaning of the individual words". So, an idiom is a group of words, in which has a different meaning from the meaning of the words taken individually or it could be a word, which its meaning is different from the dictionary meaning. This can make idioms hard for ESL students and learners to understand. Arab learners of English may have comprehension errors or misuse of idioms that will lead them to misunderstanding of native speakers. English idioms are more difficult to understand especially for non-native speakers as Arabic learners. Therefore, it should be corrected immediately in class in order to avoid feeling embarrassed when using them in daily situations or written context.
Sources of difficulty
Arab learners may face problems because of many factors such as the nature of idiom itself, it has special grammatical and semantic features. Thus, they may create special difficulties to foreign learners in general and Arabic learners in particular. Learners are unable to
Department of English Language & Literature (Dell)
Error Recognition & Correction
Course Code: ENSP 3228
An assignment on / Idiomatic expressions errors among Arab learners of English
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement of the Error Recognition & Correction Course
Prepared by/ Sara Salim Alhadhrami Submitted to / Mr. Holi Ibrahim Holi Ali 2012-2013 (Fall Semester) Word counts / 1650 words
Introduction This paper sheds light on the Idiomatic errors of Arab learners. First, idioms are one of the most important aspects in English. They are the most frequent and widely used in many situations, such as, daily conversation, meeting and written context. The definition of this aspect according to Kharma, Alhajjaj (1997)," An idiom is a fixed phrase, such as keep something under one's hat, whose meaning can't be predicated from a knowledge of the meaning of the individual words". So, an idiom is a group of words, in which has a different meaning from the meaning of the words taken individually or it could be a word, which its meaning is different from the dictionary meaning. This can make idioms hard for ESL students and learners to understand. Arab learners of English may have comprehension errors or misuse of idioms that will lead them to misunderstanding of native speakers. English idioms are more difficult to understand especially for non-native speakers as Arabic learners. Therefore, it should be corrected immediately in class in order to avoid feeling embarrassed when using them in daily situations or written context.
Sources of difficulty
Arab learners may face problems because of many factors such as the nature of idiom itself, it has special grammatical and semantic features. Thus, they may create special difficulties to foreign learners in general and Arabic learners in particular. Learners are unable to