Abstract:

“Idiom” is a ubiquitous part of the English language which appears to be problematic for L2 learners to comprehend and to produce. A miscellany of reasons can ignite this conundrum; their figurative meanings for instance, but principally lack of practical methodology in this field has made them exhausting rather than exhilarating. As teachers it behooves us to create interesting, engaging, and motivating conditions for learners both inside and outside the ecology of classroom and to vivify creative spirit in them. The present study is a phenomenological and ontological research which suggests a new way of teaching idioms via poetry-oriented tasks including versification, visualization, re-idiomatization, jigsaw and developing idiomatic thinking with regard to holism, ethics and aesthetics of language to enhance learners’ idiomatic competence. Perusing a cornucopia of English idioms, the researchers could thematize a bank of 3940 idiomatic expressions according to business, clothes, color, biota species and their rights, etc. and find many examples in diverse contexts. It is assumed that this classification will pave the way for learners and acquaint them with cultures as well. In sum, the exigencies of the era we live in prompt us to adopt more democratic modes in pedagogy which in this case may be achieved by ushering learners to an amalgamation of poeticity and idiomaticity. It needs to be mentioned that this study is a work in progress; i.e. the ontological phase of the research should be entwined with an experimental phase to verify its teachability through a treatment-laden stage.

Keywords:

Teaching, idioms, poetry, “idiomatic competence”, versification, holism.