This document summarizes a study on Thai learners' ability to recognize idiomatic equivalents between Thai and English idioms. The study tested 31 advanced Thai English learners on their recognition of 14 common Thai-English idiom pairs. It found that the learners had low ability to recognize pragmatic congruency between the idioms, with uncertainty and inability to identify English counterparts. Common mistake categories identified included cross-linguistic influence, mismatches, alternative idioms, and meaning reversals. The study concludes with implications for educators, recommending techniques like gap-filling exercises and idiom games to help prevent learner mistakes and improve idiom mastery.

1. Payung Cedar
BY
Waratid Insorn
550132014

2. When a cat’s away the mice play
Monkey see, monkey do

3. Using idioms - an efficient way to improve effective business communication
L2 idioms are hard to master  most advanced L2 learners expect
to proficiently make use of them
This paper demonstrates
• problems Thai speakers learning English have confronted
• illustrates some solutions
The study shows that some learners are aware of L1-L2 semantically similar idioms
but most of them have difficulty supplying English idioms that are equivalent to
Thai idioms.
Abstract

4. Importance of the study and knowledge of idiom
to Thai speakers of English
Idioms  one of the most difficult aspects of language for learners in all
groups:
• L1 learners (e.g., Nippold, 1991; Gibbs, 1994)
• language-disordered learners (e.g., Nippold & Fey, 1983; Nippold, 1991)
• bilingual and second language learners
As Thiel (1979:23)
Lack of precise idiomatic usage  betray the foreign background
even of a speaker with an excellent grammatical knowledge,
vocabulary, and pronunciation
Most second language learners have a strong desire to master L2 idioms
 sound “natural” or non-foreign (Richards, 1996:32)

5. The major research questions
1. What do Thai-speaking learners of English recognize pragmatic
congruency between Thai idioms and English idioms?
2. What do they produce the corresponding English idioms?

6. Subjects
• 31 graduate students at universities in
Delaware, Massachusetts, South
Carolina, Wisconsin, and Washington
Thai students
• Stayed in the US. for 2.5 years at the time of data collection
• Received at least a bachelor’s degree
• Met their university’s entry requirements
• High TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score
the subjects obtained score ranged from 501- 630

7. All linguistic items selected for the study have pragmatic equivalents in
both Thai and English.
The choices given are “Yes,” “No,” and “Don’t know”
the subjects were also asked to supply a pragmatically corresponding
English example (if they knew of one) for each given Thai idiom
Fill in the questionnaire independently at their convenience without the
use of any linguistic tools
Materials
The questionnaire – 14 Thai idiomatic sayings in random order
Procedure

8. Thai expressions/idioms Yes No Don’t
know
If yes, supply one
1. hen5 kong1jak2 pen1 dok2bua1
see gear as lotus
2. luat3 khon3 kwa:2 na:m4
Blood thick more water

9. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
1. Where there’s a will there’s a way
14 Thai idiomatic
sayings
2. When in Rome do as the Romans do
3. Two heads are better than one
4. An apple falls not far from the tree
5. Blood is thicker than water
6. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure
7. When a cat’s away the mice play

10. 8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
8. Speech is silver, silence is golden
14 Thai idiomatic
sayings
9. Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes
straight to the bone.
10. Spare the rod, spoil the child
11. Preach to the choir
12. Wolf in sheep’s clothing
13. The way to a man’s heart is through his
stomach
14. Monkey see, monkey do

11. Table 1: Advanced EFL learners’ responses concerning the pragmatic congruency
between Thai and English idioms
Results
Research question 1: how effectively do advanced learners of English
recognize pragmatic congruency between Thai idioms and English idioms?

12. Figure 1 Percentage of EFL learners’ recognition of pragmatically congruent idioms
in Thai and English

13. Categories Wrong Answers
1.cross-linguistic influence Rat Mouse
when cat is away, the rat will play
2.mismatches Rome wasn’t built in a day

When in Rome do as the Romans do
3.alternatives of
pragmatically similar
idioms
Like father, like son and Like mother, like daughter
 The apple falls not far from the
tree.
used as pragmatic equivalents
4.paraphrases Success is contingent on hard work supplied

Where there’s a will there’s a way,
5.incomplete idioms Do as the Romans do

When in Rome do as the Romans do.
6.meaning reversal A pound of prevention worths an ounce of cure
Not fit into any category Don’t do what people told you to do
 Monkey see, Monkey do.
14 expressions: wrong / incomplete

14. Conclusions
The investigation showed that
the subjects graduate students at universities in the U.S.A.
• tended to have a very low ability to recognize pragmatic congruency
between Thai idioms and English idioms
• had uncertainty and inability to decide whether the Thai idioms had
counterparts in English

15. Implications
For Educators and L2 teachers  educate learners
• the nature of mistakes that learners’ made 6 categories
• how to prevent them
Georgia and Ioannis, 2008
1. gap-filling exercises
2. making sentences using idioms
3. telling stories based on pictures
4. retelling and add-on stories
5. idiom notebooks and flashcards
6. learning the origin of idioms
7. playing idiom games
Sample activities

16. References
Cedar, Payung (2008). Learners' Recognition of Thai English Idiom
Counterparts. The Linguistics Journal: 3(3), Pp.145-159.
Georgia and Galantomos (2008). Teaching idioms in a foreign language
context: preliminary comments on factors determining Greek idiom
instruction Metaphorik.de 15, Pp.7-26.