International Journal of Humanities and Social Science

ISSN 2220-8488 (Print), 2221-0989 (Online) 10.30845/ijhss

English Idioms Errors Made by Jordanian EFL Undergraduate Students
Ghada Abdelmajid Alkarazoun

Abstract
This study investigated English idioms errors made by Jordanian EFL undergraduate students. The study also aimed to examine the areas of idioms where EFL learners scored the highest as well as the lowest and tackle their overall achievement in identifying meanings of idioms. The data of the study was collected through a test composed of (20) multiple choice items covering various areas of idiomatic expressions. The test was administered to a randomly selected sample consisting of (60) fourth-year EFL students (50 females, 10 males) in the Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Arts (FESA) in UNRWA University in Amman, Jordan. Results revealed that the EFL students got the highest scores in nouns related to key words with idiomatic uses, idioms with noun phrases, adjectives and nouns, idioms with keywords from special categories including food, and idioms with a comparison form. However, they got the lowest scores in idioms of pairs of nouns, adjectives and adverbs, and idioms with keywords from special categories including animals and body parts. Results also showed that that there are statistically significant differences in the EFL students’ achievement on all the domains of the test. However, the EFL students were of a low achievement in figuring out meanings of idioms. Correct answers were (490) representing (40.7%) of the total number of the answers. In light of these results, the researcher proposes a number of pedagogical recommendations related to teaching idioms and future research.

Full Text: PDF