Idioms or collocation?

[Natalia.s]

Hi

In your opinion, what do you think would be more beneficial to teach international academic students, idioms or collocation? and why do you think that is?

Thank you

 

[Tarheel]

Hi

In your opinion, what do you think would be more beneficial to teach international academic students, idioms or collocation? and why do you think that is?

I think idioms are more fun.

 

[TheParser]

Hi

In your opinion

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

In my opinion, your international academic students would benefit more from idioms.

1. The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar (1994) by Sylvia Chalker and Edmund Weiner lists the following as idioms:

under the weather, for crying out loud, paint the town red, etc.

2. The same book gives some examples of collocation:

a. the foresight to do it. Not: the foresight of doing it.
b. break off an engagement. Not: discontinue an engagement.

3. That book reminds us that in "some cases there is no very clear distinction between idiom, collocation, and fixed phrase."

4. I think that idioms would really entertain -- and educate -- your students; collocation, on the other hand, might bore them to tears.

 

[Tarheel]

Re:

in your opinion

or

what do you think
​

In my opinion, you would save some time if you'd just pick one.

 

[emsr2d2]

I agree with the others that idioms are more fun. However, collocations are more useful in terms of your students constructing grammatically correct sentences and being able to speak/write without that common marker of being a non-native.

 

[analia93]

not a teacher

Both of them. But in think idioms is more important because it will help your students in paragraph, essays. Because when i was i high school, my teacher took 1 month and a half to teach me abt idioms. I had to learn by heart and be tested many times.

 

[BobK]

That way of teaching idioms used to be common. Believe it or not I (in England, in a class of native speakers) was exposed to that method (about 55 years ago ).

b