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WAYS OF TEACHING PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS Khakimova D.
Khakimova Durdona - Teacher, DEPARTMENT OF PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGES, ENGLISH
LANGUAGES FACULTY 3, UZBEKISTAN STATE WORLD LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY, TASHKENT, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: phraseology tends to reflect the correlation between language and culture. Therefore, the language user needs shared knowledge in order to be able to understand given units properly. The knowledge of connotative meanings of components enables the language user to decode modifications of canonical forms ofphraseological units as well as to create their own modifications.
Keywords: phraseological units, morphologic and positional variants, literal meaning, methods of teaching, natural approach.
Learning phraseological units is one of the most challenging tasks for English learners. Phraseological units quickly become confusing for a few reasons. Meaning can be changed by using phrasal verbs, just here: Run with the hare and hunt with haunts.
Positional or morphological changed variants in their structure: for example, positional: cross the t's and dot the I's = dot the I's and cross the t's, it is a boad as it's long = it is long as it's broad, off and on =on and off. Morphological: in deep water = in deep waters. Number of morphologic and positional variants does not have importance in English.
Phraseological units have literal meaning: To fight wind wills = lit to knock one's head against the wall. More recently, approaches have tended to group phraseological units into lexical sets. Break the ice - semantic meaning separate word 'break and ice', Pull somebody's leg - 'pull and leg'.
This gives us basic comparison how transforms in an active and passive construction in one phraseological unit. They can be in texts. Certain phraseological units of books have a great number of advantages [2]. The units are presented through text, which makes their meanings clearer, and students can also use co- text to work out the meanings. Such cognitive engagement may also make the exercise more memorable.
Learners generally move sensibly from recognition to production and there is usually a final exercise in which students get to personalize the phraseological units, by asking each other questions. However, again the potential for conclusion is high, when the lexical set contains words of different meaning .For instance students of mine had problems with the text about relationship. I found that words of different meanings, which is not related the text hesitate the learners.
A more natural approach perhaps, is to teach phraseological units as they occur in a text. Language is used in context and usually better learnt in context. In authentic texts the relationship between the words is often looser, thereby reducing the changes of confusion. Furthermore, texts are not weighted down by complex explanation or categorization, and thus more classroom time is devoted to authentic language use.
A possible approach is to underline in a text all the phraseological units which you wish students to notice .Then, in groups, ask them to try to divine their meanings. The students will thus be able to use co- text to help them. Guessing the new word's meaning from context is a key vocabulary learning skills and some scholars identify it as the one of three principal strategies for handling unknown vocabulary. Inferring from the context is a difficult task, yet, "The deeper the decisions a task forces upon a learner, the superior the retention and recall" [1].
The next step is to move from recognition to production. I do this by setting up a situation, and then asking students to make phraseological units their own by producing a text along similar lines to the original. Thus if the original text they read was an advertisement for a gym for example, then I ask them to write another advertisement for a gym, but this time aimed especially at their colleagues, or their classmates.
Some scholars emphasize the importance of learners finding meaningfulness for themselves in words and in relationship between words they encounter in texts. This personalization task will thus be more conducive to successful vocabulary learning [1]. Teachers must show the students that phraseological units or idioms are not impossible to learn. There are a few ways to do this. Here are some ideas for presenting and teaching phraseological units so that students are not overwhelmed and intimidated by them [2]:
1) Avoid presenting massive lists of phraseological units to students. It is too difficult to draw any correlations between their individual meanings and the real world when there are 20 to learn in one lesson. Keep lists short and simple.
2)Utilize John Asher's Total Physical Response method of teaching language by having students act out the phraseological units they are learning. Then students can use those idioms they acted out and instruct other students in the class to perform individual phraseological units as an exercise in using the phraseological units in a practical situation.
3) Teach phraseological units that are related by context and subject. This will better reinforce the usage of phrases. Students can remember a few idioms related to the topics of dating, more easily than they could if the phraseological units they learn were unrelated.
References
1. Maclin A. Reference guide to English: A handbook of English as a second language".
London, 1996.
2. Martin H. Manse A Dictionary of Contemporary Idioms. - London, Pan Books Ltd.
1983, 312 p.
