32 b
The Eternal City : Rome
e.g. The Eternal City has become one of the most visit destinations for
tourists around the world. c
The Third World : developing countries which are not politically aligned
to either the East or the West
e.g. Since the Second World War, Indonesia has belonged to the Third World
.
4. Theories on Processing the Meanings of Idioms
a. Influencing Factors in Comprehending Idioms
Since English idiom is one of the most difficult parts of English language, it needs more effort for non-native English speakers to learn them. For native
English speakers, acquaring the fixed meanings of idioms is not a big problem because they are already accustomed to the idiomatic expressions, but for non-
native English speakers, especially ELESP students, they need some strategies to help them to reveal the intended meanings. Therefore, the researcher presents
discussion on three major factors which should be considered in comprehending idioms because the success of learning idioms will be affected by these three
aspects; namely transparency, familiarity, and context.
1 Transparency
The first factor is related to the trasparency of idioms. Moreno n.d., p. 394 defines transparency as degree in which the meanings of idioms can be
determined by the information offered by the idioms to help the hearers or the interlocutors to acquire the intended meanings. The more transparent the idioms
33 are, the more accessible for people to reveal the actual meanings of idioms. The
amount of information in the idioms actually can tell people the intended meanings. Hence, the degree of transparency will determine how people may
access the literal meanings of idioms, as in: xvii.
Zee breaks his father’s heart when she failed the examination.
xviii.
We are all in the same boat, so don’t take all the responsibilities by
yourself. xix.
Stop beating around the bush. You can directly tell me if you
don’t want to help me. Those three examples show how the degree of transparency will help
people to acquire the meanings of idioms. In the first example, it is possible to guess the meaning when people know the meaning of each individual word which
composes the idiom. The words can be associated with the whole meaning of the idiom. In this case, the meaning of
break one’s heart can be hurting one’s
feeling. Hence, people can draw conclusion from the associated meaning that the idiom actually expresses making someone disappointed.
However, the process will be different when people try to acquire the
meaning of the second example. In, in the same boat, the meaning is not as
transparent as in the first example. Although it is a bit difficult compared to the first example, the information in the idiom can still help people to process the
meaning. If it is examined clearly, there is one literal word that actually tells the meaning
– the word same. By using this word, people can associate the meaning of the word same with the word boat. Therefore, people might be able to guess
34 that the meaning is in the same position. The amount of information can tell
people the meaning behind the words which compose the idiom. The last example is the most difficult idiom because the meaning is hard to
be processed due to the very low degree of transparency. In beat around the bush
, it is impossible to use the information in the idiom to get the meaning
because it tells nothing. There is no relation between beat around the bush and
avoid giving direct answer. For that reason, degree of transparency is one of the essential factors in comprehending idioms. At last, Moreno n.d., p. 405 states
that the mutual relation between processing the meanings of idioms and the degree of transparency are not merely about finding alternative ways to find the
meanings of idioms, but how people may able to reveal the meanings based on the information given by the idioms.
Rohani, Ketabi, and Tavakoli 2012, p. 105 have their own explanation on the degree of transparency; they point out that the degree of transparency of
certain idioms will match with the images or pictures when people try to depict
the idioms. They use the example of go by the book which has high transparency
because it implies the literal meaning – follow the instruction on the book directly
and can be easily associated by the non-literal meaning or the connotative meaning - to follow the rules or regulations. In conclusion, it can be stated that
degree or transparency is about how literal meaning and non-literal meaning can be used to reveal the meanings of idioms Rohani, Ketabi, Tavakoli, 2012, p.
105.
35 2
Familiarity Another important factor in understanding idioms is familiarity which has
strong relation with the occurrence of idioms in a language. Rohani, Ketabi, and Tavakoli 2012, p. 105 claim that the meaning of familiarity is about the
frequency of the existence of idioms in a certain language. The degree of familiarity will influence people in understanding the meanings of idioms. When
certain idioms have high degree of familiarity, it will be easier for people to process the meanings and vice versa when certain idioms have low degree of
familiarity, it will be rather difficult for people to digest the meanings because how they will process the meanings when they have never heard the idioms.
The following are the examples of some familiar idioms: xx.
When you have many things to do, just take things easy.
xxi.
You can access the information from this website 247.
xxii.
I usually read novel to kill the time.
The three examples are familiar idioms which are usually used by people in their daily conversations, especially by native speakers of English. Although not all of
them have high degree of transparency, they do have high degree of familiarity. Perhaps, almost all people know the meanings of these idioms because they are
accustomed to using or to hearing them. The degree of familiarity will help people to learn the meanings of idioms Rohani, Ketabi, Tavakoli, 2012, p. 105.
Cronk and Schweigert find that familiarity has a strong effect on comprehending idioms cited by Kainulainen, 2006, p. 21. They argue that
familiar idioms which have high literalness will be easier to be understood than idioms which have low literalness. Unfamiliar idioms cause some problems in the
36 process of revealing the meanings. Moreover, unfamiliar idioms which are low in
literalness will affect the speed of the process in acquiring the meanings.
3 Context
The last main aspect affecting people’s understanding in acquiring the meanings of idioms is context. There is a great difference when people are
assigned to guess the meanings of idioms with and without contexts. People admit that it is easier for them to acquire the meanings when the idioms occur with
contexts because contexts can help them to guess and associate the meanings and the contexts. Rohani, Ketabi, and Tavakoli 2012, p. 105 say that idioms are
easier to comprehend when there is strong relation between the idioms and the contexts where they are used. Since the contexts might offer some information,
people are able to use the information to process the idioms. At least, they have some imaginations of what the context actually tells about.
Context is essential; it also has an important role especially when the idioms are neither familiar nor have low transparency Karuppali Bhat, n.d. p.
235. Rohani, Ketabi, and Tavakoli conducted a study to investigate the role of context in processing the meanings of idioms. The result was contexts, where the
idioms appeared, affected how the student tried to acquire the meanings of the English idioms.
b. Dual Coding Theory
Dual Coding Theory or usually called as DCT is a theory about processing language proposed by Paivio 1990, p. 53. Basically, this theory claims that in
human cognitive system, there is a system dealing with processing nonverbal
37 object and the other system dealing with verbal object language. Images or
pictures and verbal representation are two different objects which are processed by two different systems which are completing each other Ryu, Lai, Colaric,
Cawley, Aldag, 2000. The following figure illustrates how the two different objects are processed together:
Figure 2.3 Dual Coding Theory
There major steps are included in the sensory system process Sadoski Paivio, n.d., p. 10:
1 Representational Processing
Representational processing is the first step where logogens are activated. Logogens are closely related to verbal process. It refers to how people can access
or recognize words their appearance, sound, and meaning in writing or speech and try to relate the words to their mental dictionary because logogens basically
store information needed to retrieve a certain word being search for “Logogen
model,” 2013.
SENSORY SYSTEM
Imagens logogens
Representational connections
Referential connections
Verbal process
Nonverbal process
A s
s o
c i
a t
i v
e A
s s
o c
i a
t i
v e
38 This level only includes the process of recognizing word, whether it is
familiar or not, no further step such as comprehending the meaning. This activation or recognition depends on the individual itself. One person will have
different stimulus and experiences of the word. The concrete example is in the
process of reading text. When someone encounters a word baseball in a passage,
for instance, there will be some processes of recognition and it will be different from one individual to another individual due to the differences on their reading
ability, background knowledge, familiarities and so on.
The activation of visual logogens for the word baseball will include the
legibility of the word printed in the text and the context where the word occurs. If the visually recognition of the word is also familiar with the speech: the individual
are familiar with the word through his auditory system, then phonological logogens will also be activated quickly without any conscious attention. However,
if the individual is not familiar with the word, and both visual and phonological
logogens are low, then letter combination would be activated: base - ball.
However, if the word is familiar, the recognition process will be fast and involve
higher process: baseball bat.
2 Associative Processing
The second step is associating processing which includes the activation of the codes and meaningful comprehension. Meaningful associative processing will
include the activation of logogens at least in the morpheme level: for example, in this process, the individual will try to find the verbal association of a single word
in a given context. In the previous example, the word baseball game would
39
activate verbal association: such as hit, first base, advance runner. In this level,
meaning can be elaborated.
3 Referential Processing
In the last process – referential processing, it involves the activation
between the meaningful comprehension and the codes. In this level, both logogens and imagens it is related to non-verbal process. It is about how people can
recognize image or picture in their sensory system are activated and there is not a one-to-one referential correspondence. Some logogens might activate some
imagens or even no imagens at all. There is no rule which states that one logogen will activate an imagen. And in this way, the meaning of language can be defined
and elaborated. Further, it also provides more information to the interpretation: mental imagery has a useful role in making concrete picture to the meaning and
making sense of it. In conclusion, DCT is actually a theory which enables the process of both
verbal language and nonverbal system linguistic objects and events and it is also related to verbal and nonverbal codes: verbal codes
– spoken and written language; nonverbal
– imagery representation of non-verbal objects Zarei Rahimi, 2012, p. 21. By using the codes, the meanings of words can be revealed.
Therefore, according to Zhang, DCT will help the learners in comprehending idioms because the collaboration between verbal information and mental image in
the idioms will make the learner easier to acquire the intended meanings as cited in Zarei Rahimi, 2012, p. 21.
40 c.
Contrastive Analysis Using the background knowledge of the first language to find the equality
or similarity in the mother tongue is one of strategies used by people to process the meanings of idioms. It happens because naturally, learning foreign language,
in this case, English, cannot be separated from the influence of the first language. They will influence each other in a certain way. A theory which discusses how
mother tongue affects foreign language in the learning process is Contrastive Analysis CA. James 1980, p. 8 points out that CA is about how first language
influences the way an individual learns foreign language. He emphasizes the definition
of CA on the students’ role. When a student learns a foreign language, he will use his background knowledge to help him to acquire the new language.
This claim is supported by Ellis 2004, p. 6, who argues that the differences andor the similarities between mother tongue and foreign language will interfere
one another and it will help the students to acquire the foreign language. Unconsciously, either the dissimilarities or the similarities will become the aid for
the students to understand the foreign language. It can be concluded that mother tongue can function either positively because it will result rapid and easy learning
or negatively because it will result errors. Realizing the role of CA in the learning process, it will be helpful for
language teachers to prepare some methods to help the students to master a new language. Fisiak 1981, p. 2 differentiates contrastive studies into two: theoretical
contrastive studies and applied contrastive studies. Theoretical contrastive studies are concerned with the differences and similarities among languages to offer
41 comparisons. On the other hand, applied contrastive studies deals with the results
of theoretical contrastive studies to provide a framework to offer any necessary information in teaching, bilingual analysis, translation and so on regarding how a
language influences and helps another language in the learning process. The mutual relation between the source language and the target can be depicted in the
following diagram Fisiak 1981, p. 77:
Figure 2.4 Relation between Source Language and Target Language
d. Translation
The next theory is about translation. Before it is discussed further, the first thing to bear in mind is people have to know what is being translated, in this case
the researcher talks about idioms. Idioms are often defined as phrases the meanings of which cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words which
construct the idioms. Hence, having understood the definition, it can be concluded that people have to avoid translating word-for-word when they are translating
idioms Newmark, 1981, p. 125. However, it is somehow difficult not to translate idioms word-for-word for EFL learners considering the difficulty of idioms,
although they know that it is not appropriate. One of the interviewees stated that sometimes he did direct translation to acquire the meanings of English idioms
because he did not have any idea what the idioms were about though he actually
Source Language
Interlanguage Target
Language
Transfer from SL
Strategies of Communication
Strategies of TL Learning
Transfer of Training from TL Overgeneralization of TL Rules
42 realized that using direct translation was not suitable to translate the meanings of
idioms. However, by doing so, he said that at least he could make up some interpretations based on the direct translation.
In translation, people know two different techniques, they are literal translation a word-for-word translation which sounds awkward and nonsense
and idiomatic translation a translation which tries to transfer the meanings of the source language to the target language in a natural way Larson, 1984, p. 10.
However, there is no truly literal translation or usually called as direct translation. Most of the translators actually try to modify the translation to make it sound
natural and acceptable in the target language, although the results still do not sound natural and have different sense in the target language Larson, 1984, p.
16. The following examples illustrate how the literal translation, modified literal translation and idiomatic translation occur:
xxiii. Source language
: kill two birds with one stone xxiv.
Literal translation : membunuh dua burung dengan sebuah batu
xxv. Modified LT
: mencapai dua tujuan sekaligus dalam satu tindakan
xxvi. Idiomatic translation : sekali mendayung dua tiga pulau terlampui
Every language has idioms and a literal word-for-word translation will not work. Although sometimes modified literal translation can be used, somehow the
sense created is different from the target language. The examples show the results clearly. In translating idioms, people will no longer talk about form which should
be kept but rather about how the meanings can be acquired. Although modified translation is a way better to translate idiomatic expressions, idiomatic translation
43 is the best way
– finding the equivalence in the target language to have the same sense and response Larson, 1984, p. 20.
There are three things which have to be considered in doing translation: 1 using natural language, 2 transferring as much as possible the meanings from the
source language the target language, and 3 evoking the same sense from the source language to the target language Larson, 1984, p. 6.
B. Theoretical Framework
In this chapter, the researcher will discuss the theories that will be used to answer the main problems in this study. There are two major questions arise
regarding the importance of mastering English idioms by ELESP students. 1.
What are the major strategies involved in processing the meanings of English idioms?
2. How effective do the strategies lead the semester four students of ELESP
to intended meanings? To answer the research questions, the researcher provides some theories related to
idioms. However, only some theories will be used as the main theories, and others will be used to support the major theories.
The first problem is about finding major strategies to process the intended meanings of English idioms. Theoretically, the answer to the question will be
some strategies which are often used by the students. Therefore, in an attempt to solve the first problem, the researcher uses theories in processing the meanings of
idioms, namely, the three influencing factors in comprehending idioms: transparency, familiarity, and context; DCT; CA; and also direct translation. They
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