CC BY
39Вестник «Орлеу»-!^
Ж.Л. Амирхамзина,
студентка 4 курса филологического факультета, специальности «Иностранный язык: два иностранных языка», КГПИ, город Костанай
He?i)?i свздер: идиома, елец, энии, влецдi тыцдау, свздт, таисырма, апробация, сабац.
Ключевые слова: идиома, иесня, певец, прослушивание песни, словарь, упражнение, аппробация, урок.
Keywords: an idiom, a song, a singer, listening to the song, vocabulary, an exercise, approbation, a lesson.
TEACHING IDIOMS THROUGH LISTENING TO ENGLISH CONTEMPORARY SONGS
Ацдатпа
Макал ада идиомалардьщ жалпы сипаттамалары жэне эдюнамалыктындау непздер1 уипн мшдеттерц сондай-ак, олардьщ оку процесшдеп карым-каты-насы жэне рел1 сипатталады. Макала, сондай-ак; жагдай сипаттамасы жэне практикальщ окыту ке-зещнде журпзшген процесш, апробациялау бар. Сондай-ак, фразеологизмдердщ кундылыктарын тус1ну жэне ездерш сактау уипн букш жуйесшщ улпсшен жаттыгулар жэне олардьщ тшмдшгшщ дэлелдемелер1 усынган. Осы жаттыгу нэтижесшде егжей-тегжейлi талдау жузеге асырылды жэне процесс сипаттамасы мен усынымдар бершдг Аннотация
В статье рассмотрены общие характеристики идиом и методологические основы заданий для аудирования, а также их взаимосвязь и роль в учебном процессе. Описаны условия и процесс апробации, которые проводились в период производственной практики. Также, приведен пример из всей системы упражнений для понимания значения и запоминания самих идиом и представлены доказательства их эффективности. Для упражнения дан подробный анализ описания процесса и результата данного упражнения, также даны рекомендации.
Annotation
In the article, general characteristics of idioms and
methodological basis of listening activities, as well as ^
their interrelation and role in the educational process are §
considered. Also, there is the description of conditions ^
and process of approbation, which was carried out $
during the field trip practice. Also, there is an example p£
from all system of exercises for understanding the О
idioms' meaning and better remembering them and ¿J
the evidence of its effectiveness. For exercise, there is щ
detailed analysis of its procedure and analysis of its q
results, also recommendations. fb
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Englishhas longacquired the status ofthe languageof g international communication, so a goodproficiency
in the language is necessaryincontemporary world, g
However, theability to express yourself is not X
just the ability to speak fluently. Speechshould be S brightand imaginative, and it is required to have
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an activevocabulary at least a smallamountof originalmeans of expression: phrase logical units, sayings,proverbs and idioms.
The vocabulary ofany language,among other things,contains setexpressions in speech.
Englishis not an exception: as oneof the most ancientlinguistic formationswith a long historyof developmentand a richvocabulary,itoutstands exceptionally with an unusual variety of grammatical andlexical units.
This researchsets thegoalto teach children to the idioms in popular songs by Taylor Swift "Shake it off" and "Bad Blood", songs by Lady Gaga "Star struck", "Alienated" and " Wonderful" and Ed Sheeran's song "Thinking out loud". The theme of investigation is considered to be current, because recently linguists have paid attention to those characteristics of the language connected with specific aspects of the inner world of an individual. In order to make language more vivid and meaningful, idioms are very often used in conversational and written language, in mass media, and political speeches. Also, songs are one of the best kinds of entertainment, which contains a lot of beautiful words combined with melodies that can last for hundreds of years without decreasing its value and its popularity. This is an attemptto givea list ofidiomatic expressionsandsimilaritiesamong them, whichare most often foundin speechof native speakers.
The modern education system, implementation of innovative forms and methods of education set more requirements to a person and professional competence of teachers.
There is no adequate legislative base and financial and moral incentive scheme for encouragement of teacher's labor[l, 18].
General characteristics of idioms
Idioms are found in every language and learning them is an important aspect of mastery of language. The English language is no exception as it contains a large number of idioms, which are extensively used. However, because of their rigid structure and quite unpredictable meaning, idioms are often considered difficult to learn. S. Kenesbayev defines an idiom as words collocated together happen to become fossilized, becoming fixed over time. These collocation words commonly used in a group change the definition of each of the words that exist. As an expression, the word-group becomes a team, so to speak. That is, the collocated
words develop a specialized meaning as a whole and an idiom is born. An idiom is a group of words in which the meaning of this group is different than what would be expected. If the actual words of an idiom were understood as they appear, the entire meaning would be changed and the group of words would make no sense in its context as if it was understood as to be an idiom. When a person uses an idiom, the listener might take the actual meaning wrong if he or she has not heard this figure of speech before. In someone's native language, idioms may be a natural part of speaking. Thus an idiom is not really considered to be set in a language. They are more in one's culture. Idioms are mostly for just one language. In some cases, when an idiom is translated into another language the meaning of the idiom is changed or does not make any sense as it once did in another language. Idioms are probably the hardest thing for a person to learn in the process of learning a new language. This is because most people grow up using idioms as if their true meanings actually make sense. In the English expression "to kick the bucket", for example, a listener knowing only the meaning of kick and bucket would be unable to deduce the expression's actual meaning, which is to die. Although it can refer literally to the act of striking a specific bucket with a foot, native speakers rarely use it that way. Another kind of idiom is the use of a single word to have multiple meanings, sometimes at the same time, and sometimes one meaning to be discerned from context. This can be seen in the (mostly uninflected) English language in polysemy, the common use of the same word for an ability, for those engaged in it, the product, place, or time of an activity, and sometimes for a verb [2, 89]. Idioms tend to confuse those not already familiar with them; students of a new language must learn its idiomatic expressions the way they learn its other vocabulary. Many natural language words have idiomatic origins, but have been sufficiently assimilated so that their figurative senses have been lost. An idiom is generally a colloquial metaphor - term which requires some foundational knowledge, information, or experience, to use only within a culture where parties must have common reference.
Methodological basis for listening activities
According to R. A. Gilman "Listening is an important communication competence that includes complex cognitive processes like
Вестник «Орлеу»-!^
understanding and interpreting messages, affective processes like being motivated to pay attention, and behavioral processes like responding with both verbal and nonverbal feedback" . In other words, to be an effective listener, the listener has to take into consideration what he or she is thinking about the communication being received, what he or she is feeling about the communication and also the context of the conversation, and what he or she will do in the process and as a result of the communication.
Listening in process of study has the following five characteristics:
1. While some of the things which we listen to are rehearsed, e.g. radio news, television news and shows, movies, theatre, and some formal lectures, most of the time during an average day we listen to people speaking spontaneously and informally without rehearsing what they are going to say ahead of time [3,56].
2. The context of listening is usually known in real life. In other words, we know the relationship between the listener and the speaker. Therefore, the situation helps us to predict what we are going to hear.
3. Most of the time we can see the person we are listening to. This means we can see their facial expressions, gestures and other body language as well as the surrounding environment, which is relevant when, for example, people point at objects or in certain directions. These visual clues help us understand and predict what we hear. Of course there are situations where we cannot see the speaker, such as when we listen to the radio or use the telephone [4, 45].
4. Most of the listening in daily life allows the listener to respond to the speaker, such as in a conversation. This means we can interrupt the speakers and ask for repetition or clarification.
5. In most cases, the speaker is talking directly to the listener, so he or she can adjust the way of speaking according to the listener's reactions. For example, if the listener indicates that he or she does not understand what is being said, the speaker may rephrase or elaborate [5,76].
Description of conditions and process of approbation
This sub-chapter consists of exercises which will help teachers to teach idioms through listening to English contemporary songs.
The approbation was carried out in the
Zatobolskaya gymnasium school № 3 in 9 "G" grade. The school was opened in 1972, and in 2013 it became gymnasium. Nowadays there are 1023 children.
The 9 "G" grade includes 18 students. The level of language is almost the same (excellent and good), about a pre-intermediate level.
There are 9 pupils in the group, all of them are on one level, they are high motivated and want to learn languages. Every pupil understands that English language will help them in the future. The atmosphere in the class is good, pupils are friendly and kind to each other. During the practice pupils were active and responsible. They really were interested in studying, they asked questions when they did not understand some tasks or rules. Pupils always tried to do all exercises without mistakes. The students study English according to the book "Choices for Kazakhstan pre-intermediate students' book".
The approbation took place two times a week in the period from the 16th of January till the 22nd of April, 2017.
Aims of approbation were:
To study out if our tasks for teaching idioms trough the song are appropriate for using at school;
To know how the exercises work in real condition.
Objectives of approbation were:
To try our exercises with real pupils in real
school;
To correct everything that does not work.
The process of approbation was based on the following algorithm.
Exercise 1: Pictionary. In this exercise the variant A chose a card, which the teacher had prepared, and tried to explain it without naming its name to the neighbor. The variant B guessed what idiom was on the picture;
Exercise 2: Dialogue. The students made up the dialogues after making some exercise with the new idiom;
Exercise 3: Make a cluster. The learners made the cluster by cooperating the relative themes;
Exercise 4: Finding the idiom in a dictionary. After listening, children should find the expressions, which look like idioms, and found them in the idioms' dictionary;
Exercise 5: Understand the context. After making some exercises with the song, pupils read
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the information about the meaning analysis of idioms (according to G. Leech) and gave meaning of underlined idioms;
Exercise 6: Speaking. In groups of 3 talk about heroes, using new idioms.
Exercise 7: Picture dictation. The teacher showed the pictures and the task of students is to write what is going on pictures with the usage if idioms.
Approbation was conducted during February and March 2017. Each lesson developed specific lexical competence, involving all students. Below, I gave as the example only oneexercise "Dialogue":
Dialogue
Theme: Relationship
Topic: Love or hate.
Level: pre-intermediate Age: 15-17
Aims:
to use idiomatic expressions in dialogues; to enrich pupils' vocabulary on the theme "Relationship";
Analysis of the procedure:
Students watched the video and guessed the song and the singer, but not it would be about.
Students were ready to work and be active participants. They followed all instructions and did the task with great interest. Firstly, they watched the abstract and give predictions, then listened and read the song. Then they tried give predictions about the meaning. After that, they found it in the dictionary and tried to explain it. After finding the right meaning, the students made up dialogues with it. All of the students took a part in the exercise.
While students are searching the right meaning in the dictionary and practise it in their dialogues, they will remember and understand it.
During the exercise, pupils were interested in doing that. All the children took active part in the exercise. Everything was passing in the positive way. Nobody refused doing the task. Everyone wanted to know more, to learn new information.
The time that was spent for this exercise was 14 minutes.
Comment and recommendation:
The students absolutely understood this task. They really enjoyed to listen to this contemporary song and did all exercises right.
The teacher can teach the new vocabulary using this song and text;
Analysis of the result:
We used video abstract to involve pupils to work. While watching this video they knew this singer and song, but they did not understood what it would be about. They found the idiom quickly without any problems, also they could find this idiom in the dictionary. While making up dialogue 6 from 9 pupils used the idiom in their speech. They understood the meaning and the translation of it. We can consider that we achieved the aim.
Idioms are important part of every language. They make a language sound very creative, and can also get others to think and figure out what the person who is using the idiom might mean. Using the literal language (as in saying things directly without any creativity) sounds very common, and it seems a bit boring when they are used in story books. Idioms in a context make the context seem very nice and creative.
It is now widely accepted that oral communication plays a vital role in second language teaching for it provides an exposure to language which is a fundamental requirement for the learner. Progress in listening guarantees a basis for development of other language skills.
I worked out my own system of exercises which taught students idiomatic expressions. These exercises will permit the pupils to understand the meaning and remember the idioms. The results of all exercises are considering being effective and productive. Most of them had the great result in practice, and only few had some little minuses, which we could improve.
REFERENCES
1. N.A. Nazarbaev, The State program of education development in the Republic of Kazakhstan. STATE PROGRAM OF EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT IN THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN FOR 2011-2020 (p. 11). Astana: AkOrda. Республики, M. o. (2010).
2. Holyhead C., English as a Global Language., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 101
3. Rosamund Moon - Fixed expressions and idioms in English, Oxford : Clarendon Press, 2010. - c.298
4. Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева O.B. Лексикология английского языка. - М.:Дрофа, 2010. -288 с.
5. L.R, Language Teaching. A scientific approach, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006, p. 239 p.
