Abstract

The ability to understand and use both literal and non-literal meaning of a language is the base for effective and successful communication. Idioms, the essence of a language, possess a unique linguistic function, and a qualified English major in China is supposed to master. However, because of idioms’ opaque property, idiom comprehension gets rather difficult for ESLs. Hence, idiom teaching to some extent is marginalized in China. This thesis is an empirical study on the role that contextual variation and familiarity play in English majors’ idiom comprehension.
The major findings are as follows: 1) Familiarity does affect participants’ idiom comprehension. High-familiarity idioms get the greatest accuracy in all conditions. While in moderate- and low-familiarity idioms understanding the performance was not stable and the differences were not that apparent; 2) Context does influence people’s process of idiom interpretation. But not all contextual cues facilitate the understanding of idioms. Only the effective cues are the most important context. Any confusing and excessive contexts may cause the failure of the correct idiom interpretation. That’s the possible reason why in the verification task idiom comprehension got the greatest accuracy. However, if the amount of confusing cues is the same, more contextual support is helpful for idiom understanding; 3) Little attention is paid to the current English idioms in China. The current and mostly-adopted idiom teaching approach is old-fashioned semantic translation. The study has proved that Chinese idiom teaching methodology could be applied to English idiom teaching.
Based on the above findings, some pedagogical implications are discussed. 

Key words：Idiom compression; context; familiarity; idiom teaching; empirical study    

摘要

有效的英语交流需要语言使用者对直白和比喻义的语言都能有很好的理解和使用能力。英语习语是语言的精华所在，具有独特的语言功能。一个合格的英语专业学生应该对这种语言又很好的驾驭能力，然而习语由于其本身隐喻特征，使得习语的理解有一定难度，也因如此，习语教学在中国也没有得到相应的重视和发展。本文通过实证研究调查了不同熟悉度习语以及语境对中国英语专业学生习语理解的影响。主要发现有以下几点：1）熟悉度会影响习语理解，无论语境多少，高熟悉度的习语最容易正确理解；然而中等熟悉度和低熟悉度的习语都不如高熟悉度习语容易理解，但是中等熟悉度和低熟悉度的习语对受试者的影响区别不大，不是很明显；2）语境也会影响习语理解，但是并不是所有的语境都会有助于习语理解，只有有效的语境才有帮助。过多或者困惑性的语境往往会导致对习语的错误理解。在没有困惑语境的情况下，语境越多，越有利于习语的正确解读；3）在中国，英语习语教学没有收到足够的重视，如今许多英语老师采取的习语教学法还是非常过时的意思讲解；本研究证实了在英语习语教学中融入中文习语教学法的有效性。
基于上述发现，本文最后对习语的教学提出了一些建议。

关键词：习语理解；语境；熟悉度；习语教学；实证研究