Reviewing Figurative Chunks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/shserj.2024.14Keywords:
Figurative Language, Chunks, Figurative Chunks, L2 Learner, Corpus LinguisticAbstract
In the field of second language learning, L2 learners always encounter situations where they can’t understand the meanings of sentences, although every word in the sentences is familiar to them. There are two known problems L2 learners of English have which exacerbates this, language fluency and native-like word selection (Pawley & Syder, 1983). This article summarizes the connotation of figurative chunks that can be considered as prefabricated strings of coherent or incoherent non-literal language structures that are stored in memory as a whole and extracted directly. By reviewing the concepts and classification of chunks and figurative language, combined with the research on the application of corpus linguistics, we can see that studying figurative chunks is necessary because figurative chunks are very common and occupy a very important place in English language use. The review of the literature indicates that there has been research into metaphors, idioms, and figurative language, but there has not been a lot of research that examines such language from the perspective of lexical chunks, and also very few studies combined pragmatics. L2 learners have great difficulties with comprehension and the use of figurative chunks. Translanguaging practices in teaching can help students develop effective learning strategies, which can improve their figurative chunks comprehension competence and communication skills.
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