Abstract

The comprehension, retention and production of idiomatic expressions is one of the most difficult areas of the lexicon for second language (L2) learners, even very advanced students, to master. This book investigates this under-researched and interesting aspect of language acquisition, shedding light on both conventional uses of idiomatic expressions as well as creative variant forms. The chapters in the book delve into different aspects of idiomatic mastery: students’ comprehension of canonically used idioms in both their first and second language; the effects of multimedia and visualization techniques on learners’ comprehension and retention of L2 idioms; students’ misinterpretations of L2 idioms; L2 learners’ comprehension of creative idiom variants and their use of idioms in free composition writing.

Monica Karlsson is Lecturer in English Linguistics and Didactics at Halmstad University, Sweden. She has been working in the field of second language acquisition for 20 years, focusing on the specific areas of grammar and vocabulary.

The book offers new and valuable insights into L2 learners' understanding, retrieval and use of idiomatic expressions. This is especially true as the studies included focus on previously largely neglected areas of investigation. It should therefore be a welcome addition to instructors and researchers alike working within this particular field.

Providing a comprehensive, exhaustive and authoritative overview of scholarly research on L2 learners’ acquisition, comprehension, retrieval and use of idiomatic expressions, this book also covers previously neglected areas of investigation. It is a must-have for applied linguists, psycholinguists, neurolinguists, practicing teachers, machine-translation researchers, cognitive psychologists, postgraduate and undergraduate students, and more.

Idiomatic expressions form one of the most difficult areas for language learners and cause problems even for advanced students. Monica Karlsson’s book is an important and longed-for contribution to the study of learners’ understanding, retention and production of idioms based on a number of experiments and learners’ free essay writing.