The Influence of L1 on Learning English Idioms.

Abstract

The main aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of L1 on learning English idioms. This study seeks to determine the extent to which EFL master stuents at Ibn Khaldoun University have mastered the English idioms, to find out the type of the English idioms which is easy for them to learn, and the type which is difficult for them, and to identify the cases of L1 interference. Data have been collected from 72 EFL master sudents who were asked to translate 27 idioms from Arabic into English. The idioms used in this study were classified into identical, similar, and different idioms. The results of the study revealed that English idioms are, to some extent, problematic to EFL master students who usually transfer linguistic elements from their L1 to English when they use English idioms. The results also revealed that identical idioms are easy for EFL master students to learn, while differnt idioms are difficult for them. The study ends with some recommendations.