Examining the Use of Proverbs in Teaching English as Second Language: An Implication for Secondary School Principals in Nigeria (original) (raw)
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A Proverb Learned is a Proverb Earned: Proverb Instruction in EFL Classrooms
Eurasian journal of applied linguistics, 2019
This study aims to reveal the situation about proverb instruction in EFL classrooms by seeking future English teachers' opinions. It is based on the argument that proverbs are an important part of cultural references, figurative, functional and formulaic language; thereby, they lend themselves well to enhancing communicative competence. This study investigates what EFL student-teachers think and feel about English proverb instruction, how they conceptualize proverbs, how they define their knowledge and use of English proverbs, and what they think about the extent to which their English teachers and coursebooks at high school taught English proverbs. In doing so, a questionnaire was designed and administered to freshman EFL student-teachers and semi-structured interviews were conducted with volunteers. The findings revealed that despite those student-teachers' positive attitudes towards proverb instruction, they did not view their knowledge of English proverbs as well as the teaching of proverbs by their English teachers and coursebooks at high school sufficient enough. Furthermore, traditional definitions were reflected in the participants' conceptualization of proverbs. The study has important implications for curriculum and syllabus design in which knowledge of phraseology in general and proverbs in particular should be incorporated as an important component of learners' language competence.
Emerging from the experiences of a specific society, proverbs commonly mirror certain cultural signs of the traditions, beliefs, and values of that society. This appears as one of the ways of teaching the target culture through building intercultural connections in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. Correspondingly, this study reserves two aims: First, to investigate the perceptions of Turkish EFL teachers on teaching English proverbs for intercultural relations and the frequency of using English proverbs in EFL classes and second, to examine the ideas of English native-speaker language teachers residing in Turkey about the intercultural role of learning and using proverbs in learning Turkish. To that end, 65 English teachers participated in a likert-scale pattern of two questionnaires and 4 native English lecturers were e-mail interviewed. The data collected from the participants is analysed and described related to the qualitative and quantitative research procedure of the instruments. The study revealed that for culture teaching in EFL classes, teachers favoured teaching proverbs and they believed that teaching proverbs was effective in improving learners' language skills, grammar and vocabulary learning in learning an L2. As a second finding, native English lecturers were also positive towards learning Turkish proverbs as cultural connectors. Hence, the study accentuates the realization that proverbs can be effectively employed in teaching culture and evoking cultural relations between native language and the target language, plus in improving L2 skills and studies.
A proverb in need is a proverb indeed: Proverbs, textbooks and communicative language ability
South African Journal of Education, 2020
In the study reported here we focus on proverbs in English Language Teaching (ELT) coursebooks and how the pithy structure and the "wisdom"-loaded content of proverbs can contribute to the development of foreign language learners' communicative competence as defined by Bachman (1990). We discuss how the most frequently used coursebooks in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL) were identified through a questionnaire administered to 127 first and fourthyear EFL pre-service teachers. We also show how these popular coursebooks were scrutinised for the inclusion and presentation of proverbs by using content analysis and an analysis form to uncover (1) the number of the proverbs incorporated, (2) whether or not the presentation of the proverbs in the coursebooks would foster the development of the competencies identified by Bachman (1990), and (3) whether they were among the most known and frequently used proverbs in present-day English (i.e., currency). The findings reveal a number of problems related to the frequency and currency of the included proverbs, and to the adequacy of the presentation of the proverbs in the examined coursebooks to help students i develop their communicative competence.
RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, 2021
Emerging from the experiences of a specific society, proverbs commonly mirror certain cultural signs of the traditions, beliefs, and values of that society. This appears as one of the ways of teaching the target culture through building intercultural connections in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. Correspondingly, this study reserves two aims: First, to investigate the perceptions of Turkish EFL teachers on teaching English proverbs for intercultural relations and the frequency of using English proverbs in EFL classes and second, to examine the ideas of English native-speaker language teachers residing in Turkey about the intercultural role of learning and using proverbs in learning Turkish. To that end, 65 English teachers participated in a likert-scale pattern of two questionnaires and 4 native English lecturers were e-mail interviewed. The data collected from the participants is analysed and described related to the qualitative and quantitative research procedure of the instruments. The study revealed that for culture teaching in EFL classes, teachers favoured teaching proverbs and they believed that teaching proverbs was effective in improving learners' language skills, grammar and vocabulary learning in learning an L2. As a second finding, native English lecturers were also positive towards learning Turkish proverbs as cultural connectors. Hence, the study accentuates the realization that proverbs can be effectively employed in teaching culture and evoking cultural relations between native language and the target language, plus in improving L2 skills and studies.
Proverbs in Sekayu Language and Their Implication to English Language Teaching
2013
The main purposes of this study were to gather and classify the Sekayu proverbs based on types of proverbs and analyze the structural patterns and the messages found in them and in addition describe how they can be used as a comprehensible input and meaningful learning for the students who especially have the base Sekayu background in learning English.In collecting the data, the writer went through stages of documentary techniques. The result of the study showed that there were four types of proverbs in Sekayu language, namely true proverbs, phrasal proverbs, comparative proverbs, and idioms.The natives of Sekayu use proverbs to advice, prohibit, appreciate, and deride. Keywords: Proverbs, Sekayu Language, and ELT
Muallim Journal of Social Science and Humanities
The purpose of this research is to investigate the reason(s) for the failure of the usage of English proverbs among students in the English class, both at primary and secondary level. The results of the research is expected to revive the use of English proverbs in schools as they can be used as a pivotal tool in the teaching and learning of English language. This is a mixed method research utilizing both qualitative and quantitative research analysis techniques. Sample for the research were 100 students from primary and secondary schools (two urban and two rural schools) in Malaysia. Apart from students, 50 English teachers too were used to get their feedback on the teaching and learning of English proverbs. The research has positively answered the three Research Questions. The data collected clearly indicated that English proverbs were not popular among students and teachers. And the interview transcripts clearly showed that the reasons on why English proverbs were underused. The t...
Every nation’s oral literature has a rich collection of proverbs and both scientists and common people have accepted them as the valuable abstract of their lives. Having benefited from thousands of years of experiences, English language is replete with plenty of proverbs by which the Iranian ESL students can learn a lot about the beliefs and principle ideas of the English people. The current paper focuses on using English proverbs in teaching social and cultural beliefs of the English people to the ESL students in Iranian High schools. The library research has been used as the method in order to gathering necessary information about the English proverbs’ uses. The results show that using English proverbs in order to teach social and cultural beliefs to the Iranian high school students results in students’ learning a lot of valuable knowledge about the society and culture of the target language because of the nature of the proverbs such as being short, rhythmic and easy to learn.
Proverbs and Idioms: multilingual approach in language teaching, learning and documentation
2016
In reality, when two interlocutors cannot understand each other especially in the use of proverbs, the cultural context of which proverbs are a part tends to set limits as to what a native speaker with limited competence in a language faces, especially when the native speaker and a foreigner are engaged in a conversation. This paper reviews the semantic barrier in the Igbo lexicon which hinders the users of some social dialects from access to "knowledge categories" of the idiomatic and/proverbial expressions in their oral and, perhaps in written language as well. Also, it compares the ability of Igbo learners of French in rendering proverbs and idioms in target language (French) from the source language (Igbo) and the implication on achieving communicative competence in foreign language: especially as it involves communication among an exolingual group. Selected texts written by Igbo speaking undergraduates at the University of Lagos were analyzed based on linear model of communication (Shannon & Weaver) to find out the extent to which such semantic barrier can affect achieving communicative competence. The findings contribute to a better understanding of functional didactics as it affects developing curriculum for French for specific or university purposes. Résumé C'est l'identification d'une vérité morale et ensuite l'histoire qu'imagine un locuteur étranger pour illustrer la maxime ou la thèse. Cette vérité morale est basée sur la culture source en s'appuyant à des situations qui lui sont familiers et particuliers. On comprend dès lors que chaque fable possède ou attire un goût culturel appartenant à sa localité. Traduire une fable implique le déplacement d'une culture à une autre parce qu'elle est truquée des effets culturels. Les problèmes se multiplient quant il existe une grande différence entre les deux cultures en question comme dans le cas du français et l'igbo.
Using proverbs in teaching English to develop logical thinking of learners
2021
Learning a foreign language is not only about mastering grammatical features, writing, fluent speech, and reading, an important role is also played by the opportunity to get to know the history, traditions, and culture of the country of the given language. It's no secret that proverbs, sayings, and aphorisms, which are wisdom, the age-old value of the people, constitute an integral part of the spiritual culture of the language, therefore, their skillful use in a suitable situation makes speech richer and brighter
Educational significance of proverbs and issues of teaching it
2020
worked long and hard on this project without any compensation. Their only compensation will come from the publication of this study which we hope will answer some of the questions which they asked us. We want to particularly thank Leo Hill, attorney in Greenville, 'who made many worMwhile suggestions concerning this project and read the manuscript.