The use of english idioms related to parts of human body by the third year students at faculty of english, hanoi open university

Hanoi Open University
Faculty of English

GRADUATION THESIS
B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH

The Use of English Idioms Related to Parts of Human Body by the ThirdYear Students at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University

Supervisor : Nguyen Thi Thuy Hong, M.A
Student : Dang Thuy Duong
Date of birth : 7/5/1993
Course : K18A4 (2011-2015)

Hanoi- 2015

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DECLARATION
Title: The Use of English Idioms Related to Parts of Human Body by the
Third-Year

Students

at

Faculty

of

English,

Hanoi

Open

University(Graduation Paper submitted in Partial Fulfillment for B.A Degree
in English)

I certify that no part of this thesis has been reproduced by me from any other
person’s work without acknowledgement and this thesis is completely written
by me under strict guidance of my supervisor.

Hanoi, 4 May 2015

Student

Supervisor

Dang They Duong

Nguyen This They Hong

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to say that I am grateful to my supervisor, Ms. Nguyen
Thi Thuy Hong for her wholehearted instruction, supply of useful reference
books and correction of my mistakes in this thesis.

I also would like to thank all of the teachers at Faculty of English,
Hanoi Open University for their guidance for four years.
I wish to express my great thanks to my family for their encouragement
and moral support, which give me more motivation not only during four years
but also the process of writing the thesis.
Last but not least, I would be really thankful to my friends who
ususally stay by my side to support me.

Hanoi, March 2015
Dang Thuy Duong

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FOE: Faculty of English
HOU: Hanoi Open University
IELTS: International English Language Testing System
Sb: somebody
Sth: something

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TABLE OF CONTENT
Acknowledgements
Part1 Introduction...........................................................................................7
1. Rationale.................................................................................................7
2. Aims and Scope of the Study.................................................................8

3. Methods of the Study..............................................................................8
4. Design of the Study.................................................................................9
Part 2. Development......................................................................................10
Chapter 1. Literature Review of Idioms.........................................................10
1.1. Definition of Idiom...................................................................................10
1.2. Uses of Idioms..........................................................................................11
1.3. Scope uses of idioms...............................................................................13
1.4. Idioms and their Style Markers................................................................14
1.5. Features of Body Parts Idioms.................................................................17
1.6. Strategies of Interpreting Idioms..............................................................18
Chapter 2. The Study.......................................................................................21
2.1. Introduction..............................................................................................21
2.2. Methodology and Procedures...................................................................21
2.2.1. Subject...................................................................................................21
2.2.2. Research method used...........................................................................22
2.2.3. Procedures.............................................................................................22
2.2.4. Data analysis..........................................................................................22
2.2.4.1. The survey questionnaire ...................................................................22
2.2.4.1.1. Exercise One....................................................................................22
2.2.4.1.2. Exercise Two...................................................................................24
2.3. The findings..............................................................................................26
2.3.1. Misusing words.....................................................................................26
2.3.2. Wrong word form..................................................................................27
2.3.3. Word omission......................................................................................28
5


2.3.4. Literal matching....................................................................................27
2.3.5. Wrong types of phrases….....................................................................29
2.4. Summary..................................................................................................29

Chapter 3. Conclusion and recommendations for better uses of English idioms
related to parts of human body........................................................................30
3.1. Introduction..............................................................................................30
3.2. Some causes of making mistakes in acquiring English idioms related to
parts of human body........................................................................................30
3.2.1. Causes of the mistakes..........................................................................30
3.2.2. Mistakes caused by logical thought.......................................................30
3.2.3. Mistakes caused by cultural behaviour.................................................30
3.2.4. Mistakes caused by carelessness...........................................................30
3.3. Recommendations for an effective avoidance of the errors....................31
3.3.1. Recommendations for teaching English idioms related to parts of
human body.....................................................................................................31
3.3.2. Recommendations for learning English idioms related to parts of
human body.....................................................................................................33
3.4. Summary..................................................................................................34
Part 3. Conclusion...........................................................................................35
References.......................................................................................................36
Appendix...................................................................... …….........................38
Answer keys....................................................................................................40

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THE USE OF ENGLISH IDIOMS RELATED TO PARTS OF HUMAN
BODY BY THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF
ENGLISH, HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

PART 1. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
It is a universal knowledge that English is one of the most widely used

languages in the world. Especially in Vietnam, English has been populazied
in schools, universities, companies and many other kinds of organizations.
Therefore, the majority of Vietnamese people learn this language to enlarge
their knowledge, to find a good job or to go abroad.
However, in English, besides four main skills, there are still a lot of
fields, for instance: idioms, proverbs, phrasal verbs, etc which confuse
learners of English because of their abstract meaning and usages. Only with
idioms, foreign learners encounter lots of forms and elements. As a result, it is
very difficult for anyone to master this language. Moreover, when speaking to
a English native, instead of using normal words, if someone uses as many
idioms as he can, his knowledge will be highly appreciated. Sometimes, these
special linguistic units could also be spoken in some international speaking
tests, such as IELTS, to bring more points to candidates. But choosing right
and suitable idioms according to situation always have the best effects.
Therefore, in the sphere of my thesis, I would like to mention and put forward
one small and modest part in English idioms, which is related to the parts of
human body appearing in daily communication of English people. Through
this study, I would like to help learners of English comprehend complicated
figurative meanings of English idioms related to parts of human body and
have a proper choice to use them in daily communication. Last but not least,
particularly, I would like to point out several ways to assist the third-year
students of English faculty at HOU to select English idioms related to parts of
7


human body for better communication. Hopefully, they can avoid mistakes
when they communicate with foreigners.
2.

Aims and Scope of the Study

Due to the limitation of time, space and sphere, this study cannot

present all categories of English idioms. In this study, I will only write about
the idioms concerning to parts of human body and their figurative meanings.
I decided to devote chapter One to introduce all aspects of those items,
including definitions, a great numbers of idioms and their meanings. In the
chapter Two, I will identify problems encountered by the learners of English
in general and by the third- year students of English Faculty at HOU in
particular and analyze all of the current situations relating to learning English
idioms related to parts of human body. Chapter Three- the last chapter will be
the conclusion for the study.

3.

Methods of the Study
To collect all data and information, which are neccesary for the study, I

have combined several methods to gain the maximum effect. In short, the two
main methods I applied are quantitative and qualitative.
Regarding quantitative research, I have studied many course books and
articles on idioms, which are related to my parts of human body.
As far as qualitative research is concerned, I have made a survey
questionnaire which includes 20 questions and delivered it to a group of 57
third-year students in the Faculty of English, HOU. This survey questionnaire
aimed at finding out some common errors in using idioms related to parts of
human body. By analyzing the results collected, the author generalizes the
common mistakes made by the third-year students of English, HOU. Basing
on the data collected, the study author could discover the causes leading to the
mistakes and suggest some recommendations to help the third- year students
of English at HOU to avoid them.

8


4.

Design of the Study
The study consists of three chapters, references and an appendix.

The study begins with the introduction which deals with the rationale, the
aims, the scope, and the methods of the study.
Chapter 1. Literature Review
In this chapter, I would like to put forward an overview of idiom definition
and main points of idioms related to parts of human body.
Chapter 2. The Study
This main chapter includes the following parts:
-

Methodology

-

Common errors made by the third-year students of English at HOU

when using English idioms related to parts of human body
-

Recommendations for teaching English idioms related to parts of

human body
-

Recommendations for learning English idioms related to parts of

human body

9


PART 2. DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1. Literature review of idioms
1.1.

Definition of idiom
English conversation in human daily speech is full of expressions or

phrases that are so characteristic of the spoken and written language. These
phrases make the native speaker's language richly idiomatic and it will be a
matter of puzzle to many users and students of English. Here are some
quotations and definitions of English idioms concerning parts of human body:
Spear (1991) had a viewpoint as follow: “every language has some
phrases or sentences that cannot be understood literally. Even if we know the
meaning of all the words in a phrase and understand the grammar completely,
the meaning of the phrase may still be confusing. Many clichés, proverbs,
slang phrases, phrasal verbs and common sayings pose this kind of problem.
Phrases or sentences of this type are usually said to be idiomatic”
Manser had a similar point of view: “Until now, there is no complete
guide to the large number of phrases that are peculiar to everyday
conversation. Any idiom, whatever its types, is deceptive. Its real meaning is
not what it appears to be on the surface. Idioms provide an opaque connection

between the surface sense of the words and their real individual meaning”.
“Language is not merely a combination of words in the sense that by
collecting their total meanings the significance of the whole phrase can be
guessed. Idioms are also defined as fixed phrases, which contain a number of
words carrying a meaning that cannot be predicted and understood from the
meaning of its components. Idioms are very useful to the writers who want to
catch and use what the natives actually say. (Longman Dictionnary of Applied
Linguistics, 1985) For example, those who write cartoons, titles of books,
articles, programmers on televisions and radios find them quite adequate.
Those expressions can function as a single unit and their meaning cannot be
10


guessed from their separate parts. The meaning of the separate words is
different from the total meaning of the expression.
English idioms are considered as distinctive and colourful expressions,
which have no literal meaning. Linguistically speaking, English idioms are
defined as

''multi-word lexemes, whose meaning is not a compositional

function of the meaning of the component words'' (Arnold, 1995).
English idioms can be regarded as semi-fixed collocations that have
a metaphorical meaning which makes the writing very rich, colourful and
interesting. They are commonly used in English textbooks, movies, songs,
and in the titles of articles. That could be explained by the following example:
''He and his ex-wife finally buried the hatchet after years of fighting'', thus we
can see that the phrase buried the hatchet carries a metaphorical meaning
rather than a literal one.
English idioms convey a distinct meaning without the necessary

application of the grammatical rules, while the meaning that is carried by the
individual words of those idioms does not provide us with any clues to guess
the meaning of the whole idiom (URL:http:\\www.btinternet.com, 2003).
According to McCarthy M. & O'Dell, 2003, there are some
characteristics of idioms:
Firstly, English dioms related to parts of human body are used in telling
stories, in commenting, and when voicing opinions.
Secondly, English idioms related to parts of human body carry their
own meaning and explanation.
Thirdly, the main function of English idioms related to parts of human
body is to paraphrase what is going on and what is being said
Fourthly, English idioms related to parts of human body are very useful
and interesting in the texts of Horoscopes, because they carry more than one
meaning, so the readers interpret them in different ways.

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Fifthly, English idioms are a type of formulaic language. Formulaic
language consists of fixed expressions which you learn and understand as
units rather than as individual words.
Last but not least, English idioms are fixed combinations of words
whose meaning is often difficult to guess from the meaning of each individual
word. For example, if I say ‘I put my foot in it the other day at Linda’s house
– I asked her if she was going to marry Simon’, what does it mean? If you do
not know that “put your foot in it” means say something accidentally which
upsets or embarrasses someone, it is difficult to know exactly what the
sentence means. It has a non-literal or idiomatic meaning.
1.2.

Uses of Engling idioms
In daily life as well as academic situations, English idioms are

frequently used to express the speaker’s idea, opinion and viewpoint.
Especially, using idioms can even draw more attraction and make a talk more
fascinating than speaking normal words. Here are some examples of
meanings of idiom using, which are clearly presented in English Idioms in
Use Advanced of Felicity O’Dell and Michael McCarthy, 2003:
- To agree with a previous speaker, e.g.
A: Did you notice how Lisa started listening when you said her
name?
B: Yes, that certainly made her prick her ears up. [start listening
carefully]
- To comment people, e.g. Did you hear Tom has been invited for
dinner with the Prime Minister? He’s certainly gone up in the
world! [gained a better social position – or more money – than
before]
- To comment a situation, e.g. The new finance minister wants to
knock the economy into shape. [take action to get something into a
good condition]
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- To make an anecdote more interesting, e.g. It was just one disaster after
another today, a sort of domino effect. [when something, usually bad, happens
and causes a series of other things to happen]
- To catch the reader’s eye. Idioms – particularly those with strong images –
are often used in headlines, advertising slogans and the names of small
businesses. The writer may play with the idiom or make a pun (a joke
involving a play on words) in order to create a special effect, e.g. a debt of

dishonour instead of the usual debt of honour. [a debt that you owe someone
for moral rather than financial reasons]
- To indicate membership of a particular group, e.g. surfers drop in on
someone, meaning to get on a wave another surfer is already on. This kind of
group- specific idiom is outside the focus of this book.
1.3. Scope use of English idioms
English idioms are seen and heard in all sorts of speaking and writing.
They are particularly common in everyday conversation and in popular
journalism. For example, they are often found in magazine horoscopes:
e.g. You’ll spend much of this week licking your wounds [trying to
recover from a bad experience],
English idioms are usually used in problem solving;
e.g. Do you think that my relationship has run its course? [come to a
natural end]
However, idioms are also used in more formal contexts, such as lectures,
academic essays and business reports,
e.g. It is hoped the regulations will open the door to better management.
[let something new start].
1.4.

Idioms and their “Style Markers”
The style marker is the sign by which we can distinguish the particular

type of idiom, whether the English idiom is informal, slang, formal, etc… For
example, we have informal everyday expressions, which have no style
13


marker; those types of English idioms should not be used in writing. They are
only used among friends. A slang, which is represented by a very informal

style, takes place among young group of people. We have also markers that
are represented by ill-formed phrases that are not accepted by the native
speakers who like to embrace nonstandard marker. There is also a literary
marker used in the writing of poetry. Some groups of English idioms are
treated as being old-fashioned, because they are not used in modern spoken
English, yet they are still being used by speakers. The last type of marker is
the one that indicates the country of the language (Manser: 1992).
Types of Idioms
Idioms are classified differently by different linguists: each one sees
idioms from his point of view. Others may add new types of idioms in terms
of different considerations. So the following number of types are defined and
classified by Spears, 1991.
- Cliché: It is a type that indicates an expression, which is used too
frequently. We should not use clichés in writing. It can also be defined as a
term that is used with conversations and with another language field. Clichés
may give the mood of the language user; they rarely have a distinct meaning.
We can examine cliché and know whether it is idiomatic or not. For example,
“a smash hit” (sell out) can not be predictable from its separate words, the
whole meaning of this idiom is completely different from its literal one.
- Proverb: A proverb refers to a fixed saying that is often quoted. We
can also consider it as a fixed phrase that has a metaphorical meaning, but at
the same time it offers wise knowledge about human life. It may include oldfashioned words, which make it hard to be understood.
Arnold suggests that they are commonly used in both spoken and
written English especially in the titles of books, movies, songs, and articles.
They can provide a good starting or concluding point in writing essays in
English. For example, ''Every storm cloud has a silver linning'' (every bad
14


situation has sth good). We can consider this proverb as idiomatic, because it

has a metaphorical meaning, which goes beyond its literal one (Arnold:
1995).
- Slang: Slangs refer to the terms that are recognized as casual or
playful. Idioms are yesterday's slang, and slang is tomorrow's idioms which
have through use and over time become acceptable to be used in the informal
language. Thus, we cannot use slang expressions in writing. For example, ''tip
someone off'' means “to give sb a hint”. We cannot use this idiom in writing
or in formal spoken English. This expression is idiomatic, because we cannot
guess its total meaning from its separate parts or words.
- Informal expressions: They refer to a very casual expressions that
are suitable to be spoken and not written (e.g. ''lock horns''- get into an
argument with someone). The suggested idiom can not be used in written or
in spoken English with someone who has a formal position. We can call it
idiomatic because we cannot know the meaning of the whole idiom from the
meaning of its individual words.
- Formal expressions : They are literally in origin and usually reserved
in writing. They are also found in conversations that take place among people
who share formal relationship (like student\teacher relationship). For
example, ''pave the way” (to prepare for sth or sb) this idiom can be used in
formal speech.
- Folksy: It refers to expressions which are rural, and old-fashioned.
They cannot be used in writing, e.g. ''pushing up daisies'' (to be dead). The
suggested metaphoric idiom contains a rural word (daisies), which makes the
term difficult to be understood.
- Phrasal Verbs: A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb plus an
adverb, like: 'make up', and 'put down'. We can know its possible idiomaticity
by putting those examples under specific exam. For example, we have the
verb 'make up' that has the meaning of the verb 'invent'. We can consider it as
15

an idiomatic verb because the total meaning of 'make up' is different from the
meaning of the verb 'make' and the adverb 'up'. This phrasal verb is high in
the ladder of idiomaticity (Palmer: 1981).
- Partial Idioms: These are a type of idioms which appear when the
meaning of one of the words has its usual meaning, while the other has a
meaning that is peculiar or unusual to the particular sequence. For example,
the idiom “red hair” refers to hair, but not the red one in strict.
We have another partial English idiom like “make your bed” (to
restore/ rearrange your bed). This idiom can be used as a comic expression by
comedians when is said in a play. The reaction will bring a set of carpenter's
tools in order to produce a funny situation.
Some linguists try to classify English idioms in terms of colour,
number, animals, etc. In this paper, I would like to concentrate on English
idioms refering human body parts and their significance in language.

1.5.

Features of Body Parts Idioms
Idiomatic expressions in English can be diagnosed by some properties

that are extracted from its practical use in variable discourses. The features
that are set below are extracted from an anonymous writer in an article
labeled Anonymous. “Czech and English Idioms of Body Parts: A View from
Cognitive Semantics, English Language”:
+ English idioms are conventional. That means they are wellestablished style
+ English idioms have paradigmatic fixity. That means the individual
elements of idioms are unable to be substituted in the same place of its
context.
+ English idioms are transformationally anomalous. That means they

are a unique group of word that cannot be created according to a specific
pattern.
16


+ From the formal viewpoint, idioms have combinatory abilities that
are not identical with the combinatory abilities of a regular language.
+ From the semantic point of view, English idioms have no
compositional function. That means the total meaning of an idiom cannot be
predicted from the meaning of its individual parts.
+ English idioms have compositeness. That means an idiom is a
combination of two or more words which function as a unit of meaning and
that exactly what is called semantic unity.
+ English idioms have a special nature that makes them unique. That
means they are richer than the literal language in terms of their structure and
semantic features.
+ English idioms cause a high degree of disinformation potential. That
means the individual parts of idioms are polysemous and can be
misunderstood by the listener.
+ English idioms are institutionalized. That means they are
conventionalized and cannot be changed.

1.6.

Strategies of Interpreting Idioms
English idioms and their interpretations depend on a conceptual theory,

which is developed by the cognitive linguists who are concerned with the fact
that our thinking in idiom interpretation is metaphorical and that is reflected
in its use. The explanation of idioms are rendered in terms of three cognitive

strategies: conceptual metaphor, general conventional knowledge and
metonymies.
The general conventional knowledge refers to all the information that
people have about the world around them, it is somehow unconscious,
because people do not recall the general conventional knowledge when they
are speaking, thus the process is usually done unconsciously.

17


Conceptual metaphors and metonymies are the cognitive devices which
provide a link between the concrete knowledge of the world people hold in
their memory and the figurative meaning of a given idiom. That means, we
have an abstract area in our mind which needs to be brought into our everyday
use.
From the cognitive viewpoint, English idioms are considered as a
product of our conceptual system. English idioms are just expressions that
carry meanings which are different from the meaning of its individual parts,
but it comes from our general knowledge of the world that is embodied in our
conceptual system. That shows when a number of people share the same
experience in life or the same culture. Those who share the same stories,
traditions, and experiences can understand and interpret them easily rather
than those who are not native speaker. That is because people of the same
culture share the same images that are stored in their memory and that are
gathered through their life. Some linguists like Tylia, Bragina, and Oparina
suggest that culture is like a channel through which language is passed from
one community to another and that what is called ”cultural connotation”
().
English idioms seem to be difficult lexical items to interpret. However,
if we look at the conceptual metaphor which underlay idioms, we will be

much closer to understand them. It is indicated that conceptual thinking of
understanding idioms is like a vehicle which connects the literal meaning of
the words to their idiomatic meaning. Thus, with idioms that revolve round
"head", native speakers are able to infer the idiomatic meaning because they
subconsciously know what the word "head" means. Therefore, the process of
interpreting idioms is conducted successfully when the three cognitive
strategies, namely conventional knowledge, conceptual metaphors and
metonymies are at work. Learners of English can easily simplify most of the
inferences about the meaning of idiomatic expressions.
18


Another factor that helps learners of English to understand and infer
idioms is ''context'' in the sense that the surrounding co-text has a strong effect
on what we think the word means. Context helps to interpret the meaning of
idiomatic phrases. We cannot infer the meaning of an idiom unless we know
the context by which we can comprehend the total meaning. Context is very
important for the interpretation of literal language and more important to
interpret idioms, which have figurative meaning. Palmer (1981: 43) argues
that misinformation and confusion often result from our inability to infer the
meanings of idioms, which are contextually misplaced.
English idioms have function in human discourse. English idioms focus
on the massage content including actions. English idioms are interactional
including greetings and farewells so that they can secure the cohesion of
discourse. The discoursal cohesion seems to rely semantically on idioms.
People use idiomatic expressions in order to express their opinions, feelings,
emotions, evaluation of events, agreement with or rejection of, other people's
statements. Those expressions also show whether this massage

can be

understood, and predicted or not. Although idioms behave as semantic units,
their syntactic behavior poses problems. Thus, the sentence "He kick the
bucketed yesterday" sounds awkward. Thus, the only correct form of past
tense is ''kicked the bucket'', so we cannot consider an idiom like a single
word

but

they

are

sequence

of

grammatical

words

(URL:

).
Syntactic Restrictions
There are some syntactic restrictions concerning the idioms, for
example, we cannot change the number of the nouns of English idioms that is
why we cannot say, ''spill the bean'' instead of ''spill the beans''. In addition,
we cannot give the comparative and superlative form of the adjectives in
idioms. Thus, we cannot say ''redder herring'' instead of ''red herring''. We

have some syntactic restrictions of English idioms we cannot passive some
19


idioms like ''the bucket was kicked''. Therefore, English idioms have some
restrictions in their uses. We rather use them as they are with stability and
fixity (Palmer, 1981:43).
Idioms and Culture
An English idiom is generally a colloquial metaphor. It is a term that
requires some foundational knowledge, information, or experience, to use
only within a culture where the insider parties must have common reference.
English idioms are not considered a part of the language, but rather a part of
the culture. As cultures are typically localized, English idioms are often not
useful outside of their local physical contexts. Thus, the insiders of a
community cannot decode idioms that are related to different linguistic
community. However, in spite of the gap that exists between cultures, some
idioms can be more universally used than others, and can be easily translated.
(Wikipedia, 2009). This fact of the cultural influence on guessing idioms.
Some linguists claim that idioms that are concerned with the human body
parts can be guessed more easily because human beings regardless of their
cultures are familiar with the functions of their body parts.

20


Chapter 2. THE STUDY
2.1. Introduction
Some theoretical backgrounds concerning English idioms, especially,
the ones related to parts of human body have been presented in the previous
chapters. This chapter will present some errors made by the third-year

students of English in HOU, the causes of the errors. Some suggestions to
avoid these errors will be proposed for more effective uses of English idioms
related to parts of human body.

2.2. Methodology and Procedures
2.2.1. The Subject
The fifty-seven students of the third-year studying at English
department, HOU. They are at the age of from 21 to 23. They have taken part
in the survey by doing a survey questionnaire on English idioms related to
parts of human body. The third - year students are chosen because they still
have just had a small access to English idioms and when encountering an
idiom, many of they still immediately think of the meaning of its individual
components. At the same time, they have some good experience in
Vietnamese idioms since it is their native language. In this case, the role of
cultural differences will be clear and their ability to guess and be familiar with
the body parts idioms can be tested. Thus, the students are exposed to a
collected data of twenty body parts idioms. The fifty-seven students are then
asked to do a small two-part test concerning English idioms related to parts of
human body. The survey questionnaire included the twenty sentences (See
Appendix).
The subject took an important role in doing the test including the two
exercises and helped the writer to collect the reliable results. The time for the
whole exercise is fourty-five minutes.

21


The study is carried out in order to find out some common mistakes
made by the third-year students of English at HOU when using idioms in the
process of communicating, writing essays or paragraphs in English.

2.2.2. Research method used
The method was mainly used in this chapter is to distribute the survey
questionnaire on English idioms related to parts of human body to fifty-seven
third-year students studying at FOE of HOU.
2.2.3. Procedures
To achieve the good results, the researcher followed the two following
steps.
Firstly, the students were given tests on the idioms related to parts of
human body. Each test was done by fifty-seven students on the same day
under the teacher’s observation. The results of this survey questionnaire
would show how students did the twenty questions of the test and what kinds
of mistakes they made.
Secondly, the researcher analized the data and pointed out some
common mistakes made by these students on the process of learning the
idioms related to parts of human body.
2.2.4. Data analysis
2.2.4.1. The survey questionnaire
The survey questionnaire includes the two exercises and each has
different ways of completion and purpose.
2.2.4.1.1. Exercise One
The exercise One required the students to fill in the blank to find out
how many students can properly meet the demands of exercise One and have
knowledge of English idioms related to many parts of human body.
Actually, the exercise One has ten questions, which are divided into
three group. The question number one, two, three and four related to the
upper part of human body. The next five questions related to the middle part
22


that are the question number five, six, seven, eight and nine and only the

question number ten related to the lower part (see Appendix).
The tables 1, 2 and 3 below presented the results of the questions of the
three groups respectively.
Table 1: the results of the questions related to the upper part of human
body
Question number

1

2

3

4

Number of students

6

36

15

21

Percentage

11%

63%

26%

37%

As you can see from the table above, the question number two has the
highest number of the students having the correct answer (36 students
accounting for 63%) while the question number one has the smallest number
of students having the right choice (6 students accounting for 11%).
Table 2: the results of the questions related to the middle part of human
body
Question number

5

6

7

8

9

Number of students

22

2

29

0

6

Percentage

39%

4%

51%

0%

11%

In the table above, the question nunber seven has the highest number of
students choosing correct answer (29 students accounting for 51%) while the
question number six has only two students, equivalent to 4% making the right
choice. No students gave out the correct answer for the question number
eight.

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Table 3: the results of the questions related to the lower part of human
body
Question number

10

Number of students

6

Percentage

11%

As mentioned above, in the exercise One, only the question number ten
is related to the lower part of human body. Truthfully, the number of students
who did this rightly is also low (6 students accounting for 11%).
2.2.4.1.2. Exercise Two
The exercise Two asks the students to match the phrases in the left
column with the idioms in the right column to create pairs of correct idioms
and their literal meanings. This exercise was given to find out how the
students know about English idioms related to parts of human body and match
the idioms with their right phrasal form. Similar to the analysis of the exercise
One, I also divide them into three groups, which are related to the upper,
middle and lower parts of human body. The question number one, two, three
and four will belong to group one which refers to the upper part of human
body. The question number five, six, seven will be put in group two that is
related to the middle part of human body. And the question number eight,
nine and ten will absolutely put in the group three related to the lower part of
human body.
The tables 4, 5 and 6 below show the results of the questions of three
groups respectively.

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Table 4: the results of the questions related to the upper part of human
body
Question number

1

2

3

4

Number of students

21

5

19

7

Percentage

37%

9%

34%

12%

As can be seen in the table, the question number one has the highest
number of students who made righr choice (21 students accounting for 37%),
the question number three is slightly less than the first (19 students accounting
for 34%) and the question number two has smallest number of students
choosing correct answer (5 students accounting for 9%).

Table 5: the results of the questions related to the middle part of human
body
Question number

5

6

7

Number of students

17

20

40

30%

35%

70%

Percentage

In the table above, the number of students making right choices for the
three questions are not very considerably different. Especially, the question
number seven has the highest number of students choosing correct answer (40
students accounting for 70%).
Table 6: the results of the questions related to the lower part of human
body
Question number

8

9

10

Number of students

12

7

46

21%

12%

81%

Percentage

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