A CASE STUDY OF SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS AT SECONDARY LEVEL STUDENTS

Mr.LakhyajitChiring

A CASE STUDY OF SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS AT SECONDARY LEVEL STUDENTS

ABSTRACT

This paper is prepared with a noble objective to examine syntactic features of English idioms at secondary level students of four different schools (twoAssamese mediumandtwoEnglishmedium)atSadiyaSub-Divisiontoexplorethecapabilityoftheminidentifyingandwritingthemeaningsoftheidioms.Theresearchertook atotalof120studentsonselectionbasisfromfourschools.Theclassesrangedfromseventhstandardtotenthstandard.Thesampleofthestudywassuch30students fromclassseventh,30fromclasseighth,30fromclassninthand30fromtenthstandard.Allstudentswererandomlyselectedfromeachclass.Theresearcherwiththe helpofdatacollected,triestopresentthedifferentlevelsofunderstandingindifferentclassesofdifferentschools.Theknowledgelevelofidentifyingandwritingthe meaningsoftheidiomsisalsoshowninascendingwayinthecaseofeveryclassofdifferentschools.

KEYWORDS:Idioms,language,learning,syntactic,secondaryschoollevel,idiomaticusage.

1.INTRODUCTION:

Everylanguageintheworldhasitsownuniquecollectionofphrasesandusual sayings.Theseexpressionsaregenerallycalledidiomsandtheseidiomsexpress somefigurativemeaningsapartfromliteralmeaning.Idiomsareveryimportant oressentialforeverybodywhowantstheirEnglishsoundmorenativelike.So,it isagoodideatomastertheidiomaticexpressions.AccordingtoJenniferSeidle &W Mcmordie(1),“Idiomsarenotaseparatepartofthelanguage,whichone canchooseeithertouseortoomit,buttheyareessentialpartofthevocabularyof English”.Also,hementionedthat“Itisimportanttorealizethatidiomsarenot colloquialexpressionsasmanypeoplebelieve,theyappearinformalstyleandin slang,thelanguageofShakespeareandBible”.Idiomsareinfluencedbytheculture,learningtheidiomsofalanguagecanbeveryinterestingandenlightening. In our daily life, in order to express ourselves more effectively and clearly, we almostresorttoidioms.IdiomsandphrasesareapoeticpartoftheEnglishlanguage. People use idioms and phrases to make their language more expressive and more poetic. Idioms are generally used to express the contained meaning therein.Likewise,sometimesidiomsandphrasescanbeveryusefulininterpretingthemeaningcomparedtothefigurativemeaning.Theymakethereadergrasp with a poetic touch to the writing. After all, idioms are the amalgamation of words that convey a separate meaning altogether According to Philip Johnson Laird,1993,“Ifnaturallanguagehadbeendesignedbyalogician,Idiomswould notexist”.“Itisdifficulttospeakspontaneouslywithoutlapsingintoidiomatic usage”.Itisalsowellnoticedthatidiomshavearemarkableroleinaforeignlanguage (F.L.) as in the mother tongue (M.T.). The learners of foreign language parallellylearnthevocabularyofthetargetlanguage,thegrammaticalstructure and idioms with a view to integrating into the culture of the foreign language. Similarly, idioms play an important role for language, reading and social communication,somewritersuseidiomsto“addcolour”totheirwriting.Incorporatingidiomsintoone’sisaneffectivewaytomakeone’sworkmorecreative.As Englishlanguageisrichinidioms.Thelearnersshouldlearnasmanyidiomsas onecanlearn.AccordingtoBall,“TheF.L.studentwantstoknowwhichidioms touseinagivensituation.Healsowantstoavoidthepitfallsofvulgar,inappropriateandincongruousidioms.Inshort,hewantsbothinformationandguidance. AswellashewantsthesenotonlytoassisthiminspeakingEnglishbutalsoin understandingit.Itfollows,therefore,thatsomeoftheidiomshelearnswillbe foruseinconversation,othersforrecognitionpurposes.

2.REVIEWOFLITERATURE:

English language contains at least 25000 idiomatic expressions (Idiomatic Expression2014).AsmentionedabovethatidiomsareapartoftheEnglishlanguageandplayapivotalroleonholdinganessentialpartoflanguage.Asaresult of which, many researchers have considered idioms very seriously as well as theyhavetakenupmanyfruitfulstudies.Englishidiomaticexpressionsareused both in formal and informal communications. It is observed that non-native speakers of English have been noticed unable of using idiomatic expressions. They lack the capability to use idiomatic expressions and to comprehend their meanings fully This presents a problematic situation in non-native speakers’ knowledgeandproficiencyoftheEnglishlanguageandisobservedagapintheir language learning process. Similarly, idiomatic expressions are defined as an expressionwhosemeaningsarenotinferredfromthemeaningsofthewordsthat makeitup.Ontheotherhand,itisalsodefinedasaphrase,wordoranexpression that has a figurative meaning traditionally understood by the native speakers whichmeaningisdifferentfromtheliteralmeaningoftheidiom.Inotherwords,

idiomshavehiddenmeaningapartfromexactmeaningthereof.Forexample,the idiomaticexpression“Litthesack”hasnothingtodowiththephysicalactionof hitting the sack with your hand, which is part of your body The idiom “to hit sack”means“togosleep”.Therefore,anidiomaticexpressioncarriesafigurativemeaning,ratherthanaliteralone.Anotherexampleis“toselllikehotcakes”, which also has nothing to do with the actual physical action of selling like hot cakes.Whatitactuallymeans“toselllikehotcakes”isto“sellquicklylikehot cakes”. So, if something sells like hot cakes it sells fast.As a result, idiomatic expressionsinlinguisticsaresaidtobefiguresofspeech.

Thus,forexample,theidiomaticexpression“togotothedogs”meanstobecome ruined or to change to a much worse condition. The idiomatic expression “to attend at the eleventh hour” means to be at the last possible moment for doing something. Another example of an idiomatic expression and how it carries a wholemeaningthatisdifferentfromtheliteralmeaningofitspartsis,“itisrainingcatsanddogs”whichmeansthatitisrainingheavily

Inlinguistics,idiomaticexpressionscarryarbitrarymeaningsalso.Itmeanswhat theymeanotherthancoincidence.However,itisfoundbyrecentresearchthat manyidiomsareexplainableandcarrynon-arbitrarymeanings.Recentresearch tellsusthatidiomsarenon-arbitraryfeaturesofalanguage.Idiomscan,without memorizingthembyheart,betaughtinasystematicway Inwhich/suchaway, idiomatic expressions become much easier to understand and remember Also, idiomaticexpressionsareusedinformalandinformalspeech.Theyarepartof thestandardbusiness,mediaandeverydaylife,talkingaboutwrittenorspoken English. Thus, non-native speakers of English should learn idiomatic expressionsinordertobeabletocommunicateeffectivelyandsoundmorenaturaland native like. It could be said that the more a non-native speaker is capable of understanding and using idiomatic expressions, the closer he or she is to the native proficiency of the English language (Teaching Idiomatic Expressions, 2015).

Furthermore,idiomaticexpressionsarefoundtobeculturebased.Thatis,idiomaticexpressionscarrywithinthenthehistory,heritage,cultureandcustomsofits nativeusers(Rizq,W.,2015).Itcanbesaidthatidiomsthatarederivedfromphysicalhumanexperiencesare,ingeneral,culturallyequal.Thatis,idiomsthatare basedonphysicalhumanexperiences,suchasangerbeingassociatedwithheat areeasiertorecognizeandunderstandbynon-natives.Duetothestrongsimilaritiesacrossdifferentculturesinbasicphysicalexperiencessuchasbeingsickor well,hotorcold,idiomsthatarederivedfromsuchimagesareoftenthesameand fairlyeasytounderstand(Boers,2008).However,idiomsthatarederivedfrom specificdomainsareusuallydifferentacrosscultures,becausethesedomainsare notequallyimportantacrosscultures.Forinstance,manyidiomaticexpressions intheEnglishlanguagearederivedfromseafaringcountry Englishlanguage,for example, has many idioms such as “neck and neck” meaning “it is hard to say whowillwin”,“winhandsdown”meaning“towineasily”,and“goofftherails” meaning “to go wrong or out of control”.These three idioms are derived from horse racing due to the popularity of horse racing as a sport in England. So, as mentioned,specificdomainsarenotequallysharedandarenotequallyimportant acrosscultures.Assuch,idiomsderivedfromsuchdomainsaremoredifficultto realizeandunderstandbynon-nativespeakersoftheEnglishlanguage.Unlike idiomsderivedfromphysicalexperienceswhichareuniversal.Ithasbeenfound thatidiomaticexpressionsthatarederivedfromspecificdomainsmaynotbecul-

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sadiya College,Affiliated to Dibrugarh University, Chapakhowa, Tinsukia,Assam, India.

turallysharedandthereforehardertograspandunderstand(Ibid).

Thus,learningidiomaticexpressionsalsoteachesnon-nativespeakersofalanguagethecultureofitspeople(OvandoandCollier,1985).Asaresult,themore thelearnerofEnglishisawareofidiomsandtheirmeanings,thebetterknowledgethatlearnercarriesoftheEnglishculture.

3.RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY:

Thiscasestudyhasbasicallyaimedtoexaminesomestudentsofsecondarylevel fromtwo(2)Englishmediumschoolsandtwo(2)Assamesemediumschoolsof Sadiya Sub-Division, Tinsukia, Assam. The students were from Sadiya Govt. H.S.School,ChapakhowaTownHighSchool,VivekanandaKendraVidyalaya andSunriseAcademy Theresearchertookthestudentsfromstandardseventh, eighth,ninthandtenthrespectively Throughthisstudy,thecapabilityofthesecondary level students of above-mentioned schools was observed and listed to ascertainhowfartheyareabletoidentifyandknowthemeaningsofidioms.All studentsweregivenclassregardingidiomsanditsusageverycarefully

Inthestudyatotalof120studentsofsecondarylevelstudentsweretakenfrom four(4)schools,two(2)Assamesemediumandtwo(2)Englishmediumschools situated in Sadiya. The students for the study were taken very randomly from eachandeveryclasssuchas30fromstandardseventh,30fromstandardeighth, 30fromstandardninthand30fromstandardtenth.

Some questionnaires containing different types of sentences related to idioms thatarebeingusedinday-to-daylifeweredistributedamongthestudents.The questionnaires were prepared differently for different classes. Same questionnaire was not offered to all classes. As per guidance of the supervisor utmost effortandsinceritywasfollowedwithaviewtomeasuringtheactualdegreeof knowledge in the field of idioms. Even after giving some common idioms, the researcher chose some idioms or sentences from this site www.idiomconnection.comformaintainingthestandard.

Aftertheclasses,thequestionnairesweredistributedamongthestudentsofeach classandtheywereaskedtoidentifytheidiomsbyreadingattentivelyaswellas writethemeaningsoftheidioms.Strictnesswasfollowedbutsufficienttimewas given to complete the test.At the end of the test, the researcher analyzed and showedtheresultordataofthestudentsineachschoolalongwiththedataanalysis and percentage for the correct answers and incorrect answers of each and everyschool.Moreover,theresearcherprovidedcompletedataandinformation aboutthestudypreparingfour(4)tablesseparatelyforfour(4)schools.

4.FINDINGSANDDISCUSSION:

Thischaptershowsthefindingsforallstudentsofeachschoolandalsodiscusses theactualfindingsintheiranswersofthequestionnaires.Afewtablesareused for all students of each and every school for getting the results for each class. Afterwards,comparisonwasalsomadeamongthestudentsofeachclassaswell asamongthestudentsofeachschool.Similarly,eachtableshowsthelevelofthe studentsof4classesthenoverallcorrectanswers,incorrectanswers,percentage ofcorrectanswersforeachclass,percentageofincorrectanswersforeachclass andthetotalaswell.

ThestudentsofvernacularmediumschoolarenotabletoshowtheexpectedcorrectuseofidiominlowerclassesascomparedtothestudentsofEnglishmedium school.Theycanidentifytheidiominthesentencesbutarenotabletowritethe meaning correctly It is shown in the tables very distinctly Generally, “correct answers”arethecorrectusageofidiomsineachclassonthecontrary,incorrect answersshowedthewrongusageofeachclass.Likewise,thepercentageofcorrect answers denotes “the percentage of the correct answers” in each class, whereas, “the percentage of incorrect answers” means the total percentage of incorrectanswersofthestudentsineachclass.Attheend,theresearchershowed thetotalnumberofcorrectanswers,incorrectanswers,totalpercentageofcorrect and incorrect answers of all students separately Discussion was also done veryminutelysothateverythingtargetedmightbedisplayedwellandgenuinely

4.1. InvestigationofSadiyaGovt.H.S.Schoolstudents:

The researcher provided/set the first data of students from Sadiya Govt. H.S. School. The classes were seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth. The researcher first investigatedstandardseventhandfoundthatstudentswerenotwellacquainted withidiomsforwhichtheyshowedtheirlittleknowledgeinthecaseofidioms. Verydistinctly,theyfaceddifficultlyinidentifyingandwritingthemeaningsof theidioms.Asaresultofwhich,allanswerswerenotgivencorrectly Forexample,onestudentgot15outof30whichwasthehighestscore.Thelowestscoreof studentswas11outof30.Thepercentageofcorrectanswerswas49.4%whereas incorrectanswerswas50.6%.

Again,accordingtothedataofeighthclass,thestudentshadlittlemoreknowledgeincomparisonwiththatofstandardseventhabouttheidioms.Thescoresof thestudentswerealmostsame.Thehighestscorewas17outof30.Theyalsodid nothavemuchknowledgeinidentifyingandknowingthemeaningoftheidioms in the questionnaire. The highest score of the students of Sadiya Govt. H.S. Schoolwas17outof30butthelowestscoreofonestudentwas13outof30.Alittleprogresswasobservedasperthedata.So,thepercentageofcorrectanswers was53.4%aswellasthepercentageofincorrectanswerswas46.6%.

Next, the knowledge of the students in identifying the idioms and writing the meanings thereof was noticed in an ascending way by the researcher in class ninthofthesameschool.Intheinvestigationorstudy,thestudentsshowedsatisfactory performance. The highest score was 25 out of 30, whereas, the lowest scoreofthestudentswas22outof30.Inthisparticularstandard,mostofthestudentscouldidentifytheidiomsandknewmeaningsoftheidiomsaswell.Onlya fewstudentscouldnotidentifyanddidnotknowmeaningsoftheidiomsinthe study Thecorrectanswerswere285andincorrectanswers65.Thepercentageof correct answers was 78.4% and the percentage of incorrect answers showed 21.6%.

The students of standard tenth of the aforementioned school showed good and creditable knowledge about idioms. They could identify the idioms and knew meaningsoftheidiomsinabelievableway 272outof300questionswerecorrectwhereasonly28wereincorrectinthestudy Thehighestscoreofoneofthe studentswas28outof30.Likewise,thelowestscorewas08outof30.Thepercentageofcorrectanswerswas90.6%whilethepercentageofincorrectanswers was9.4%only

Accordingtothesefindingsandthedatacollectedfromaforementionedschool, thestudentsofstandardtenthareseniorstudentstothestudentsofstandardseventh,eighthandninth.Theresearchercansaythatthestudentsofclasstenthwere muchbetterthanthatofninth,eighthandseventhstandardinidentifyingandgivingthemeaningsoftheidioms.Thefollowingtableorgraphicalrepresentation (figure1)showstheperceptibleanddistinguishableresults.

Table1:DescriptionoftheResultsofSadiyaGovt.H.S.School

StudentsLevel Correct Answers Incorrect Answers Percentageof CorrectAnswers Percentageof IncorrectAnswers

SeventhClass 148 152 49.4% 50.6%

EighthClass 160 140 53.4% 46.6%

NinthClass 185 115 61.6% 38.4%

TenthClass 272 28 90.6% 9.4% Total 765 435 63.7% 36.25%

Figure1:ThepercentageofcorrectanswersofSadiyaGovt.H.S. School

4.2. InvestigationofChapakhowaTownHighSchool:

Theresearcherverysincerelyranastudyamongthestudentsofdifferentclasses ofChapakhowaTownHighSchool.Thedatawascollectedfromclassseventh. Accordingtothestudy,inseventhstandardthehighestscorewas13.5outof30, whereas,thelowestscorewas9.5outof30.Thenumberofcorrectanswersofthe studentsinclassseventhwas145,whereas,thenumberofincorrectanswerswas 155.Thestudentswereveryrawinidentifyingandwritingthemeaningsofthe idioms. Many classes were required for their sufficient knowledge for idioms. Thepercentageofcorrectanswerswas48.3%,whilethepercentageofincorrect answerswas51.7%.Inthecaseofeighthstandard,theanswersofthestudents were almost same with that of seventh standard.Alittle difference was distinguishedbetweenthetwoclasses.Thehighestscorewas14.5outof30,whereas, thelowestscorewas10outof30.Thepercentageofcorrectanswerswas49% while the percentage of incorrect answers was 51%. The numbers of correct answersandincorrectanswerswere147and153respectively

Next, the researcher observed the degree of knowledge very minutely in class ninth.The students had better knowledge than that of seventh and eighth standard.Thehighestscorewas22.5outof30butthelowestscorewas16outof 30. Thepercentageofcorrectanswerswas55%,whereas,thepercentageofincorrectanswerswas45%.

Lastly,theresearcherwenttoexploretheperipheryofknowledgeinthefieldof idiomsandtheirmeanings.Itwasmarkedthatthestudentsoftenthstandardwere thebest.Thehighestscorewas26outof30andthelowestscorewas22outof30. Thepercentageofcorrectanswerswas74%.Likewise,thepercentageofincor-

rectanswerswas26%.Thefollowinggraphicalrepresentation(Figure2)shows themoreeasilydistinguishableresults.

Table2:DescriptionoftheResultsofChapakhowaTownHighSchool

StudentsLevel

Correct Answers Incorrect Answers Percentageof CorrectAnswers Percentageof IncorrectAnswers

SeventhClass 145 155 48.3% 51.7%

EighthClass 147 153 49% 51%

NinthClass 165 135 55% 45%

TenthClass 222 78 74% 26%

Total 679 521 56.58% 43.42%

Figure3:ThepercentageofcorrectanswersofSunriseAcademy

4.4. InvestigationofVivekanandaKendraVidyalaya:

Theresearchertriedtoexploretheknowledgeofthestudentsof1No.Shantipur VivekanandaKendraVidyalaya.Accordingtodata,thestudentsofclassseventh could not identify and pen the meaning of the idioms correctly.Theresearcher realizedonethingthatthestudentshadlittleknowledgeaboutidioms.Asaresult ofwhich,theydidnotanswerallthequestionsofthequestionnaire.Thehighest scoreofthestudentswas18outof30andthelowestscorewas11outof30.The totalofcorrectandincorrectanswerswas155and145outof300.Thepercentage of correct answers was 51.6% and the percentage of incorrect answers was 48.4%.

Figure2:ThepercentageofcorrectanswersofChapakhowaTown HighSchool

4.3.

InvestigationofSunriseAcademy:

The data was collected from 5 No. Shantipur SunriseAcademy As per data, it maybementionedthatthehighestscoreofthestudentswas26outof30andthe lowestscoreofthestudentswas14outof30.Studentswereabletoanswer165 out of 300 as correct answers as well as total 135 questions were answered as incorrectanswersinclassseventh.Itcansignificantlybementionedthatthepercentageofcorrectanswerswas55%andthepercentageofincorrectanswerswas 45%.Allstudentswerepartlyabletoidentifyandwritethemeaningsofidiomsin thecasestudy

Accordingly,theresearchertookthedatafromclasseighthbyinvestigatingthe studentsproperly Total178questionswereansweredascorrectanswers,onthe otherhand,only122questionswereansweredasincorrectanswers.Theactual percentage of correct answers was 59.3% while the percentage of incorrect answerswas40.7%.Thehighestscoreofthestudentswas25outof30butthe lowestscoreofthestudentswas18outof30.

After eighth standard, the researcher proceeded to class ninth. The students of classninthcouldidentifyandwritethemeaningsoftheidiomsmorethanseventh andeighthclass.Thescoreswerealsonoticeable.Thehighestscorewas26.5out of30andthelowestscorewas10outof30.Thetotalofcorrectanswerswas195 outof300andthepercentageofcorrectanswerswas65%whilethepercentage ofincorrectanswerswas35%.

Inclasstenth,theperformanceofthestudentswasexcellent.Almostfrom70to 80percentstudentswereabletoidentifyandpenthemeaningsoftheidiomsof thequestionnaireexcellently Thehighestscoreofthestudentswas28outof30 and the lowest score was 21 out of 30. The total of 225 correct answers were detected and its percentage was 75%. Similarly, the percentage of incorrect answerswas25%.Incomparisonwiththestudentsofvernacularmediumschool the students of English medium school were able to show their brilliancy or advancementofknowledge.Inthestudents’level,thetotalofpercentageofcorrectanswerswas63.58%.

Table3:DescriptionoftheResultsofSunriseAcademy

StudentsLevel

Correct Answers Incorrect Answers

Percentageof CorrectAnswers Percentageof IncorrectAnswers

SeventhClass 165 135 55% 45%

EighthClass 178 122 59.3% 40.7%

NinthClass 195 105 65% 35%

TenthClass 225 75 75% 25%

Total 763 437 63.58% 36.42%

But comparatively the students of class eighth were little more advanced than thatofclassseventh.Intheeyesoftheresearcher,thestudentsdidwellalotinthe study.The highest score of the students was 27 out of 30 as well as the lowest scorewas24outof30.Thepercentageofcorrectanswerswas66.6%andthepercentageofincorrectanswerswas33.4%.

Thestudentsoftheninthclassofthesameschoolhadknowledgeinascending wayabouttheidioms.Thedatamentionedinthetablereflectstherealpictureof thestudy Thestudentswereabletogive230correctanswersoutof300whichis excellent.Likewise,thepercentageofcorrectanswerswas76.6%,whereas,the percentage of incorrect answers was 23.4%. The highest score of the students was28outof30andthelowestscorewas24outof30.

Lastly,theresearchercollectedthedatafromtheinvestigationrunamongthestudentsofclasstenthof1No.ShantipurVivekanandaKendraVidyalaya.Thestudents of class tenth were extraordinarily brilliant and advanced. The highest scoreofthestudentswas29outof30,onlyonescorewasnotgained.Also,the lowestscorewas26outof30.Thestudentswereabletogive256answersascorrectonesthatisveryappreciable.Thepercentageofcorrectanswerswas85.3%, whereas,thepercentageofincorrectanswerswas14.7%.

Table4:DescriptionoftheResultsofVivekanandaKendraVidyalaya

StudentsLevel Correct Answers Incorrect Answers Percentageof CorrectAnswers Percentageof IncorrectAnswers

SeventhClass 155 145 51.6% 48.4%

EighthClass 200 100 66.6% 33.4%

NinthClass 230 70 76.6% 23.4% TenthClass 256 44 85.3% 14.7% Total 841 359 70.08% 29.92%

Figure4:ThepercentageofcorrectanswersofVivekanandaKendra Vidyalaya

5.ANALYSIS:

Intheanalyticalsection,itmustbeacknowledgedthatinthisstudytheresearcher has examined the syntactic features of English idioms at four secondary level

schools through a syntactic study of idioms. The researcher took four classes fromseventh-tenthineveryschool.Theresearcherhasundoubtedlybeheldsome obstaclesconfrontedbythestudentsinidentifyingandpenningthemeaningsof theidioms.Thoughtheproblemsandhindrancesarelesseninggraduallytowards theupperclasses,thestudentsgenerallyfacemaximumhindrancesinthelower standardssuchasseventh,eighthstandard.Butinstandardslikeninthandtenth up-to-the-markunderstandingandanalysisaredisplayedinidentifyingandwritingthemeaningsoftheidioms.

Itistruethatresearcherhasexperiencedthechangesoccurredindifferentschool levels.Differenttypesofpercentageofthecorrectanswershavebeenshownin accordance with data. Of course, increase of the percentage of correct answers hasbeenobservedasperthegrades.Itmight,forexample,bementionedthatthe percentage of correct answers of seventh class in Sadiya Govt H.S. School is 49.4%.Likewise,thepercentageofSunriseAcademyis55%andVivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya is 51.6%.Again, the percentage level of class eighth varies from that of class ninth in each and every school. The percentage of correct answers of Sadiya Govt. H.S. School was 53.4%, Chapakhowa Town High School was 49%, Sunrise Academy was 59% and Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalayawas66.6%.

Attheend,itmustbesuggestedthatutmosteffortmustbekepttowardshigher English level. The teachers concerned and the learners must be equally interested.Theteachersmustgettrainedtoframeactivitiesaccordingtotheneedof the allotted class.The researcher is of the opinion that keen observation by the teachershouldbemadewithaviewtoinculcatingtheneedtowardsthestudents sothattheymightbesuccessfulinreachingthetargetintheirlife.

REFERENCES:

I. Seidle,J.&Mcmordie,W (1988):EnglishIdioms;OxfordUniversityPress(p.9–13)

II. JohnsonLaird,P.N.(1993):InCristianaC.&PatriciaT (Eds.),(pp.VII-X)

III. Secord,W.A.&Wiig,E.H.(1993):InterpretingFigurativeLanguageExpressions(p. 1-51)

IV Al-Jahdali,N.A.M.(2010):IdiomsofBodyPartsintheHijaziDialectofArabic V Boers,F (2008):LanguageAwareness:UnderstandingIdiomsatwww.macmillandictionary.com

VI. Ovando,J.;Collier,V.(1985):BilingualandESLClassrooms;TeachinginMulticulturalContexts(NewYork:McGraw-Hill)

VII. Rizq,W (2015):TeachingEnglishIdiomstoL2Learners;ESLTeachers’Perspective (St.CloudStateUniversity)

VIII.“Idiom”inWikipediaWebsite(2022)athttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom

IX. “Idiomatic Expressions” in <ef.com> website (2022) at https://www.ef.com/wwen/ english-resources/english-idioms/

Thisway,themoreweseethepercentageofupperclasses,themorewenotice morepercentageineachclass.Theresearcherhappenstoviewthepercentageas 61.6%,55%,65%and76.6%forSadiyaGovt.H.S.School,ChapakhowaTown High School, Sunrise Academy and Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya respectively Ofalltheclasses,thepercentageofcorrectanswersinclasstenthinevery school has topped. The percentage of correct answers in Sadiya Govt. H.S. Schoolwas90.6%.ThepercentageofChapakhowaTownHighSchoolwas74%, inSunriseAcademywas75%andinVivekanandaKendraVidyalayawas85.3%.

The researcher has showed the data of four schools. Three schools follow the SEBAcurriculum and one school follow CBSE curriculum.The same process was followedincaseofthefourschools.Moreorless,thesameresultwasfound anditwasshowedwithreferencetoTable1,2,3&4.Theresearcherhasensured onethingthattheabilityofidentifyingandwritingthemeaningsoftheidioms certainlydependsontheknowledgelevelthatisprovedwiththehelpofthedata collectedfromfourdifferentschoolsofsecondarylevel.Itwasalsoobservedby theresearcherthatallteacherswerenotequallysuccessfulinofferingqualityeducationineveryschoolmainlyininculcatingsomegrammaticalmatterslikeidioms, phrases, syntax, pronunciation, spelling etc.The essential requirement of teachersmightnotbenoticedinallschools.Asaresultofwhich,theoutputof fourschoolsshowedvariedresults.

6.SUGGESTIONS:

Idiomsappearinalllanguagesprevailingintheworld.Havingmoreknowledge inidiomsmeanshavingmorefamiliaritywithEnglish.Idiomscanhelpimprove one'sconversationalskillsbecauseitshowsnativespeakersthatoneunderstands the cultural meaning and context behind the idiom one is using. Everybody shouldincreasethenumberofvocabularyandthataretobeusedinpracticalfield ofday-to-daylife.Peoplehavetousedifferenttypesofidiomsindifferentsituationsfacedbythem.Generally,thestudentsgetinnumerableidiomswhilereadingabookathomeoratlibrary Eachandeverybodymustnotedownalltheunfamiliaridioms,phrasesandwordsandthataretobeinculcatedwellandexercised inpracticallife.Englishlearningstudentsmustbeprovidedthemselveswithcurrently needed learning aids at the age of internet. If the internet is browsed concentratedly, it will be very beneficial and interesting for all learners. As because, the internet facility, now-a-days, makes the journey of learning much morepleasingandencouraging.