18 expressed individually or by a single word but as a whole. Further, Carter 1998
explores more about idioms that can also be transformed or allow “structural
changes to its form ” as in “to drop a brick” = to make a mistake. In other
structural changes , it can be “he dropped a really enormous brick this time” or “a
brick has been dropped” p. 65. However, he asserts that not all idioms allow insertion and are structurally flexible because some of them are syntactically and
morphologically fixed. Carter 1998 “tentatively defined idioms as 1 non-
substitutable or fixed collocations, 2 usually more than single word units, 3 semantically opaque
” p. 66. Thus, he concludes idioms as fixed expression. The same idea goes the same with the definition of idiom by Cruse 1986
that idioms are “semantically peculiar” and traditionally, they are defined as
“expressions whose meaning cannot be inferred or deduced from the meaning of their parts or components Vizetelly Bekker, 1926
” or “an expression whose meaning cannot be accounted for as a compositional function of the meanings its
parts have when they are not parts of idioms” p. 37. Cruse 1986 tends to define an idiom according to the number of lexical constituent and its semantic
constituent. Cruse 1986 gives example as in “This will cook Arthur’s goose”. In
this example, it is shown that it “constitutes a minimal semantic constituent”
while “cook ___’s goose is therefore and idiom”. p. 37. In addition, Cruse 1986 interpret
s “any expression which is divisible into semantic constituent, even if one or more of these should turn out on further analysis
to be idioms” p. 37. The last, Fowler defines idiom as “a phrase where the words together have a very different
19 meaning from dictionary definition of the individual words” as cited in Caro,
2009, p. 127. c.
The classification of idioms Since English language has a wide range of idioms, some experts have
tried to classify idioms into some types. Gibbs 1987 generally classifies idioms into two kinds; transparent idioms and obscure idioms based on the
compositionality of idioms. The meaning of idioms can be predicted by the lexical items in transparent idioms; for example,
lay one’s cards on the table that means „to reveal the secret‟. However, the obscure idioms are contrary. They
convey obscure meaning between literal meaning and figurative meaning; for example, kick the bucket
meaning „to die‟ as cited in Hsu, n.d., p. 32. Further studies present the classification of idiom differently. Idioms can
be classified according to the pattern or idioms formation and the “the idiom-
creating events called naming” Hockett, 1958, pp. 310-311. The first is
Anaphoric substitutes in the types of idioms which are referred to the formation of new idioms, and the second is proper names.
Carter 1998 likely determines the types of idiom according to the fixedness of lexical patterns are. Accordingly, he classifies idioms into three types
such as compound idioms; for example, dead drunk, red tape, full idioms; for example, to rain cats and dogs, to be in the doghouse, to smell a rat, and semi-
idioms; for example, a fat salary, beefy-looking p. 67. Furthermore, according to Palmer 1981, there are many kinds of idioms
containing a verb and a noun as in spill the beans, fly off the handle, put on good
20 face, etc. Phrasal verbs are common type of idioms that are frequently used in
many contexts. They are combination of verb plus adverb, verb plus preposition, and also sequences of verb, adverb, and preposition; for instance, put down, give
in, look after, go for etc. In phrasal verbs, there are some types that are not idiomatic and thus have different degree of idiomaticity p. 80.
In accordance with idioms classification, idioms are classified according to the parts of speech that are used, situationtheme, categories, and comparison.
Seidl and McMordie 1980 specifically provide a wide range of idiom examples like with the combination of adjectives as in a dead language, a dead weight, to
leave someone for dead. And then with noun, as in to gain one’s end, to shoot a
line. Idioms with verb, as in to run a risk, to throw a stone. According to the categories, idioms can be colour idioms as in black magic. Animal idioms; to
bark up the wrong tree, to hold your horses. Parts of body; to foot the bill, to be at hand, to learn something by heart and many more.
B. Findings
In this section, the researcher presents the result or the answers of the research problem of this research. In previous section, the researcher presented
three major theories that are theories of idioms, vocabulary learning, and foreign language learning. This research focuses on the benefits of learning idioms for
English Language Education students. To support the findings, the researcher used the main theories taken from Thornburry 2002 about vocabulary learning,
the theory of lexical chunks from Nattinger and Carrico 1992, Thornburry 2002
21 as well as theory of fluency in English from Fillmore 1979 as cited from
Brumfitt 1984.
1. Enhancing Idiomatic Vocabulary on English Idioms
The significance of learning idiomatic vocabulary is based on British council that „language users are expected to use idiomatic vocabulary‟ as cited in
Tran, 2013, p. 24. Apart from it, there are many studies who have tried to classify idioms and their kinds into several types. Hence, the researcher would like to
discuss the classification or the categories of idioms based on the book of Advanced Vocabulary Idiom by Thomas 1989, Essential Idioms in English by
Dixon 1971, and English Idioms and How to Use them by Seidl and McMordie 1980. Based on those three books, the researcher has compiled the classification
of idioms into their categories. The classification is shown below:
Table 2.1 The Types of Idioms
No. Idioms
categoriestypes Note
Example
1 Animals Idioms
dog‟s life, guinea pig, puppy fat 2
Idioms of Body parts to let one‟s hair down, to be all ears
3 Idioms of colors
a red herring, to have green fingers 4
Food idioms butter-fingers, in a jam, full of beans
5 Idioms of Names
peeping Tom, smart Alec, Jack of all trades
6 Idioms of Numbers
catch 22 situation, one-armed bandit, 7
Idioms of time pressed for the time, its high time, to kill
time
8 Idioms of
comparisons with
adjectivesnoun as cool as cucumber, as gentle as a lamb
with verbs to work like a Trojan, to fight like cat
and dog 9
Idioms with adjectives
a dead-end job, a pretty kettle of fish 10
Idioms with nouns to drop someone a line, to make up ones
mind
22
11 Pairs of adjectives
few and far between 12
Pairs of nouns babes and sucklings
13 Adjective + noun
phrase a cat burglar, flying colors
14 Noun phrases
bags under the eyes 15
Adverbial phrases first and foremost
16 to be +
nounadjective phrase to be a party to something
17 to be + prepositional
phrase to be at daggers drawn
18 with common verbs
to break prison, to come clean 19
with less common verbs
to smell a rat, to stick around 20
Phrasal Verbs call off, to pick out, to keep off, to burn
down, turn up, get away, come around, set off, run out
21
with special situations
Banking the rate of interest
Business bad debts, to go bankrupt, on business,
Buying and selling
to be up for sale, to do a roaring trade Health, illness
to get over an illness, to pass away, to go on the sick
Holiday and Travel
a rubberneck, to travel light Motoring
to hog the road Politics and
government a back-bencher, the shadow-cabinet
Telephoning a party line, to ring someone up
Work and industrial
relations to make someone redundant, to give
someone the sack
Source: Thomas B. J., Advanced Vocabulary Idiom,; Dixon J. Robert, Essential Idioms in English; Seidl, J., McMordie W., English Idioms and How
to Use them .
From the table shown before, it is clear that idioms have a lot of variations. There are hundreds kinds of idioms that vary. Each idiom is used differently
according to the situation that happens. In another study, the classification of idioms is basically the same as explained before. According to Maisa and
23 Karunakaran 2013, the classification of idioms is defined according to the theme
and situations: 1.
Animals: don’t count your chicken, the black sheep of the family.
2. Idioms formed by rural life: eat like a horse, strike when the iron is hot,
put the cart before the house. 3.
Idioms affected by technology: I need to recharge my batteries. 4.
Idioms that come from the entertainment and sports world, for example, play the second fiddle, behind the scenes, etc.
5. Idioms in history and literature: sour grapes, the streets are paved with
gold, etc. 6.
Idioms from bible and Shakespeare‟s works such as ships that pass in the night, your pound of flesh, etc.
7. Idioms that show feelings and emotion: lose your bearings, in high spirits,
come out of your shell, etc. Idioms are often used by native speakers or foreign students Dixon, 1971
when communicating each other. In fact, it indicates that speaking with English idioms means that the speakers are able to use
“natural English” which is spoken in informal way and then creates a language more conversational Caro, 2009, p.
129. When speakers use idioms, it means that the communication sounds idiomatic, natural Dixon, 1971 and has variety Caro, 2009, p. 124. The wide
variety of idioms is used in many fields such as in mass media like newspaper and articles. In electronic media, idioms are used in some blogs and websites, and in
printed media such as textbook and newspaper headlines. Therefore, it indicates
24 that idioms are widely applied both in oral and in discourse Maisa
Karunakaran, 2013. In this research the researcher would like to answer the first benefit of
learning English idioms for English Language Education students. First of all, the researcher used the theories of vocabulary learning and lexical chunksapproach
as the base. The theory from Thornburry 2002 about lexical approach shows that the high frequency of words in the form of word combinations like chunks e.g.
idioms can improve vocabulary. While according to Curtain Dahlberg 2004 about foreign language learning that it can enhance the knowledge of structure
and vocabulary. David Wilkins, the linguist clarifies the significance of vocabulary in learning foreign language that by learning words and expressions,
the learners will improve their English Thornburry, 2002, p. 13. Further, the vocabulary knowledge can enhance other skills such as
reading and writing. The second theory is about lexical approach which points out that high frequency of words including the form of word combination like
chunks becomes the base of vocabulary learning Thornburry, 2002, p. 112. According to Thornburry 2002 lexical chunks have different types and degree of
„chunkiness‟ which also include idioms p. 115. Based on the theories mentioned, the researcher would like to give examples of idioms in written context based on
the table in the following page:
