WHY ENGLISH IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS and APPLIED LINGUISTICS by Dan Jances Our English Language Is Contradictory. That's Why We
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WHY ENGLISH IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS By Dan Jances Our English language is contradictory. That's why we can turn lights off and on, but not out and in. That's why we can open up the floor, climb the walls, raise the roof, pick up the house, and bring down the house. Your house can burn up or down, and you fill in a form by filling out a form, in which you add up a column by adding them down, and your alarm clock goes off by going on, and you first chop a tree down and then chop it up. An idiom is a phrase where the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words, which can make idioms hard for ESL students and learners to understand. English is one of the most difficult languages to master on its own; however, it is more difficult when it comes to expressions, just as in any other language. Applied linguistics which is the interdisciplinary field of study that investigates identifies and offers solutions to language real life problems, academic fields and linguistics education has to do with English idiomatic expressions at the very same moment the speaker looks for ways to express himself. Words in English can be used in more ways than normally expected. Adding in words that sound similar, are spelled alike yet pronounced differently, and the varied meanings and uses for words that change frequently make it even worse. It's like trying to learn the rules, but the rules change constantly. All you need to know is that there’s loads of English expressions, sayings and small talk phrases that are typical for the English language only and that you need to know a good few of them to make your conversational English sound natural and also so that you can fully understand what other English speakers are communicating with you. THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS IN ‘APPLIED LINGUISTICS’ THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS IN ‘APPLIED LINGUISTICS’ LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS EXPRESIONES IDIOMATICAS EN ‘LINGUSTICA APPLICADA’ by Dan Janss Universidad La Gran Colombia Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación Centro de Idiomas Ediciones Grancolombianas Once again To my little girl Kathleen who has always been the source for these texts, here is a part of her advice as a testimony to the brilliance of the most influential and beautiful sunshine of my life. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, store in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Second Edition Presentación La Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad La Gran Colombia presenta a la comunidad académica el libro “Expresiones Idiomáticas en Inglés II”, escrito por Dan Janss, profesor del Centro de Idiomas y de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad. Esperamos que esta publicación se convierta en una útil herramienta de trabajo pedagógico al interior de las aulas y como instrumento de consulta en las bibliotecas de las personas que hablan o de quienes desean aprender el inglés. Con su publicación, además de lo anterior, queremos estimular la producción académica escrita por parte de los docentes y los estudiantes de nuestra Facultad. Ana Cecilia Osorio Cardona Decana Yadira Sanabria Mejía Director de Estudios Presentation The Faculty of Education from La Gran Colombia University presents, to the academic community, the book “English Idiomatic Expressions II”, written by Dan Janss, professor of the Language Centre and of the Faculty of Science of the University. We expect that this publication become a useful tool of pedagogic job to the interior of the classrooms and as an instrument of consultation in the library of the person that speaks or who desires to learn the English Language. With its publication, besides the previous comment we want to stimulate the written academic production of our Professors and Students from the Faculty of Education. Ana Cecilia Osorio Cardona Dean Yadira Sanabria Mejía Director of Studies FOREWORD “English Idiomatic Expressions” is about community, pedagogic, sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, social development and much more. It raises issues far beyond its over purpose: to explore a variety of such programs around the world, indirectly, and yet quite pointedly, Dan Janss calls our attention to the critical universal problem of our time: man’s search for his identity and purpose. A first language (also native language, arterial language, L1, mother tongue, or native tongue) is the language(s) a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity. In some countries, the terms native language or mother tongue refer to the language of one's ethnic group rather than one's first language. The term mother tongue should lead to a higher net efficiency of the employment of resources to provide more extensive practice and consolidation of new language items. Under these circumstances, there would be a significant welfare gain from the construction of some receptive skills necessary for successful communication. I would say it is in this framework created from the usage of ‘mother’ to mean foundation. By contrast, a second language is any language that one speaks other than one's first language. Second language A second language (L2) is any other language that must be faced in attempting to deal with how heavy our commitment to science should be. First language may not be your chief language, the one you use most or are most comfortable with. This is a most scientific procedure which is obvious. Nevertheless the first language may be lost through the process of language attrition when young children move by cause of immigration or adoption to a new language setting. What it is not obvious is what we should put it in its place. Here it would seem that we do need a good deal of research. It would appear impossible to compute the return on research funds invested in the past. Terminology Sometimes the term mother tongue or mother language is used for the language that a person learnt as a child at home (usually from their parents). Children growing up in bilingual homes can, according to this definition, have more than one mother tongue or native language. ‘’English Idiomatic Expressions’’ can help finding ways of copying with the complexity of our society. In the context of population censuses conducted on the Canadian population, Statistics Canada defines mother tongue as "the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the individual at the time of the census." It is quite possible that the first language learned is no longer a speaker's dominant language. This includes young immigrant children, whose families have moved to a new linguistic environment, as well as people who learned their mother tongue as a young child at home (rather than the language of the majority of the community), who may have lost, in part or in totality, the language they first acquired language addition. On multilinguality The Brazilian linguist Cleo Altenhofen considers the denomination "mother tongue" in its general usage to be imprecise and subject to various interpretations that are biased linguistically, especially with respect to bilingual children from ethnic minority groups. He cites his own experience as a bilingual speaker of Portuguese and Riograndenser Hunsrückisch, a German-rooted language brought to southern Brazil by the first German immigrants. In his case, like that of many children whose home language differs from the language of the environment (the 'official' language), it is debatable which language is one's 'mother tongue'. Many scholars have given definitions of 'mother tongue' through the years based on common usage, the emotional relation of the speaker towards the language, and even its dominance in relation to the environment. However, all of these criteria lack precision. Nevertheless ‘’English Idiomatic Expressions” would help with the incomprehensible nature of conflicting values, goals, beliefs, motivations, or methods of solution. Dan Janss THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS IN ‘APPLIED LINGUISTICS’ Introduction English Idiomatic Expressions is an integrated intensive course in English Idioms and expressions for teachers, adult and young adult advanced and intermediate students. It is designed for use with students who have already taken a basic elementary course in English. It covers structures and vocabulary and it gives realistic practice in the advanced and proficiency training courses, which need to be learned actively if a reasonable level of linguistic competence is to be attained. There are expressions in alphabetical order in this book. They will make it easier for you to deal with many situations in which you need to read, write, speak or listen to North American or British English including examples that serve a useful purpose in the learning sequence, even when the major aim is oral ability. The Feedback of the book provides varied practice and consolidation of new language items, involving meaningful exchanges which resemble real life communication to reinforce the students’ understanding of the topics, vocabulary and structures presented in the previous units. The material has been designed to help students, teachers and professors learn new language in the context or what they have already mastered, rather than in isolation. You will also find the text interesting and entertaining. Enjoy it. The author How to use this book English Idiomatic Expressions is the presentation of a learning strategy essential for academic success. Explanations are both through and easy to follow. The idioms are arranged alphabetically like a dictionary; if you want to know the meaning of one of them, look at the idiom and read the explanation and the example.