Does knowledge of a word’s etymology help learners learn vocabulary?

Graduation Thesis

Presented to

the Faculty of the Department of

English Language and Literature

Notre Dame Seishin University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirement for the Degree

Bachelor of Arts

by

Kie Takahashi

2011

Contents

Abstract 1

Chapter One: Language learning

1.1 Introduction 2

1.2 Importance of vocabulary learning 3

1.2.1 What does it actually mean to know the vocabulary? 4

1.2.1.1 Receptive and productive knowledge 4

1.2.1.2 Item-system knowledge 7

1.2.2 What types of vocabulary are there? 7

1.2.2.1 Vocabulary 7

1.2.2.2 Words 8

1.2.2.3 Collocation 8

1.2.2.4 Phrasal verbs8

1.2.2.5 Idiom 9

1.2.3 What kind of difficulties do we face when we learn second language?

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1.2.3.1 Translation is not always exact 9

1.2.3.2 Cognitive load 10

1.2.3.3 Sound system is different 11

1.2.4 What strategies are there? 12

1.2.5 Other aspects of learning 12

1.2.5.1 Functions of memory 13

1.2.5.2. Affective dimension 14

1.2.5.3. Schema 14

1.3 What is etymology? 15

1.3.1 General idea 15

1.3.2 What was done with etymology? 16

1.4 Research Question 17

1.5 Conclusion 18

Chapter Two: The experiment

2.1 Introduction 19

2.2 The experiment 19

2.2.1 Introduction to the experiment 19

2.2.2 Method 20

1) Subjects 20

2) Test design – the experiment 20

3) Procedure 23

2.2.3 Results 23

2.3 Summary 25

Chapter Three: Discussion of the experiment

3.1 Introduction 26

3.2 Summary of the results 26

3.3 Discussion of the results 26

3.3.1 Test result 27

3.3.2 Interview 28

3.4 Implications 31

3.5. Limitations of the Experiments 31

3.6. Further research 32

3.7. Conclusion 32

References 34

Appendices 36

Abstract

English is thought to be a world language these days. In Japan, too, English

plays an important role. When we learn English, building vocabulary is the first thing

we should do because without vocabulary, nothing can be achieved. Though we know it

is important to build vocabulary, we sometimes feel it difficult.

The reason why we feel building English vocabulary is difficult is due to the

differences between Japanese and English. The grammatical system, pronunciation,

form, meaning are different from ours. If there are effective and better ways to learn

vocabulary, we may be motivated to learn more and with fun. In this paper, an

experiment was conducted to find out if learning with etymology would help learners

learn vocabulary better.

Phrase lists were handed to half of the learners, and phrase lists with their

etymologies were handed to the other. After memorizing those lists, tests were given to

see how many phrases they remember. The scores were compared to see if learning with

etymology helped learners learn better.

From the tests, no difference could be seen. However, from the interviews, all

the learners, whether they got high scores on the test or not, answered that learning

vocabulary with its etymology is impressive and fun.

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Chapter One Vocabulary Learning

1.1. Introduction Importance of second language learning

Due to globalization, English has become a world language. In many countries,

English is used as a communication tool. It is said that one-fifth of the people in the

world now use or have something to do with English. In Japan, too, English plays an

important role. We have many opportunities to use English. Though many Japanese do

not feel the immediate need of English, it actually is important to acquire it.

There are said to be two main purposes to learn English: for practical purposes

and educational purposes. The practical purpose is to use the knowledge in society, so it

includes speaking with people, writing to others, teaching the language to someone and

collecting information of the language and the culture. On the other hand, the

educational purpose has nothing directly to do with society, as fulfilling personal

interest is said to be the purpose. Examples are, reading foreign literature for fun, giving

satisfaction to intellectual curiosity, and widening the view of point by understanding

our own language through foreign language, and different culture and way of life.

The Japanese government has stressed the importance of the acquisition of

English, and now English is taught in all junior high schools, senior high schools, and

usually at least two years at university. Even in elementary school, the official

curriculum of English education is about to start in April 2011. Moreover, there are so

many language schools and various materials that we can take advantage of.

The circumstances in which we learn English in Japan seem ideal. Now we

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need to discuss what learners can do to take good use of this opportunity. We do know

that there is no royal road to the acquisition of the language, but there must be some

ways to make our learning easier. This is why, in this paper, we will mainly look at the

language learning, especially, learning with etymology. To understand language

acquisition better, ‘the importance of vocabulary learning, ‘the meaning of knowing

vocabulary’, ‘vocabulary types’, ‘learning strategies’, ‘other dimensions of learning’,

and ‘about etymology’ will be discussed in this chapter.

1.2. Importance of vocabulary learning

When we begin to learn English as a second language, there are some aspects

of the language we should learn, such as grammar, listening, reading, speaking, writing,

and so on. However, vocabulary is the base of all of those aspects. If we don’t have any

vocabulary, we cannot develop any of those skills. On the other hand, even if we don’t

know the grammar well, we can manage to tell people what our intentions are by saying

the vocabulary that we already know. The listener would understand what we mean. The

same thing can be said for reading. Only knowing grammatical rules doesn’t help us

understand what writers are saying. In such situations, we need vocabulary, too. Some

researchers claim the same kind of things.

“Vocabulary is much more important than grammar, by far, not

even close! You have to have a lot of words. If you have enough

words, you will speak.”(Kaufmann, 2006)

"Vocabulary is perhaps the most important component in L2

ability." (Folse, 2004)

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"While very little can be conveyed without grammar, nothing can

be conveyed without vocabulary." (Wilkins, 2004)

"Research has shown that a lack of vocabulary knowledge is the

largest obstacle for second-language readers to overcome."

(Huckin and Bloch, 2004)

"Nonnative speakers must have good reading skills if they expect

to have any chance of academic success. Numerous researchers

have shown the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and

reading ability." (Folse, 2004)

These help us understand that learning vocabulary is important for second language

acquisition.

1.2.1. What does it actually mean to know a word?

As we understand the importance of vocabulary learning, one question comes

up: “what does it mean to know the word?” To answer this question, we need to look at

the different aspects of ‘vocabulary’. There are two types of knowledge: receptive-

productive knowledge and item-system knowledge.

1.2.1.1. Receptive and productive knowledge

First, we will look into receptive-productive knowledge by looking at the table

below. (Nation, 2002)

Table 1. Receptive and Productive Aspects of Word Knowledge

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Form Spoken form

Written form

RPRP

What does the word sound like?How is the word pronounced?What does the word look like?How is the word written and spelled?

Position Grammatical patterns

Collocations

RP

RP

In what patterns does the word occur?In what patterns must we use the word?What words or types of words can be expected after the word?What words or types of words must we use with this word?

Function

Frequency

Appropriateness

RPRP

How common is the word?How often should the word be used?Where would we expect to meet this word?Where can this word be used?

Meaning

Concept

Associations

RP

R

P

What does the word mean?What word should be used to express this meaning? What other words does this word make us think of?What other words could we use instead of this one?

To understand Table 1 well, we need to look carefully at some examples of

each knowledge type. From Table 1, we can see that the receptive knowledge of the

word, for example, underdeveloped involves:

・being able to recognize the word when it is heard

・being familiar with its written form so that it is recognized when it is met in reading

・recognizing that it is made up of the parts under-, -develop-, and –ed and being able

to relate these parts to its meaning

・knowing that underdeveloped signals a particular meaning

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・knowing what the word means in the particular context in which it has just occurred

・knowing the concept behind the word which will allow understanding in a variety of

context

・knowing that there are related words like overdeveloped, backward and challenged

・being able to recognize that underdeveloped has been used correctly in the sentence

in which it has just occurred

・ being able to recognize that words such as territories and areas are typical

collocation

・knowing that underdeveloped is not an uncommon word and is not a pejorative word

From Table 1, we can see that the productive knowledge of the word,

underdeveloped, involves:

・being able to say it with correct pronunciation including stress

・being able to write it with correct spelling

・being able to construct it using the right word parts in their appropriate forms

・being able to produce the word to express the meaning ‘underdeveloped’

・being able to produce the word in different contexts to express the range of meanings

of underdeveloped

・being able to produce synonyms and opposites for underdeveloped

・being able to use the word correctly in an original sentence

・being able to produce words that commonly occur with it

・being able to decide to use or not use the word to suit the degree of formality of the

situation

This distinction of the two knowledge types shows that being able to use one’s

productive knowledge is harder than that of the receptive. This is because, for receptive

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knowledge, we only need to be familiar with the form and sound when we see or hear it.

On the other hand, however, for productive knowledge, we need to know the form and

sound to use it.

1.2.1.2. Item-system knowledge.

Item knowledge is what we can get by memorizing things. For example, we

can spell beautiful by practicing writing it many times to memorize. On the other hand,

system knowledge is the knowledge which enables us to associate the new vocabulary

with our previous knowledge. There are the affixation system, the sound system, the

spelling system, collocation, the grammatical system and lexical sets behind vocabulary,

and by learning those pragmatic knowledge, we can learn the vocabulary. For example,

if we know the word, accept, and the role of affixes, we can easily imagine the meaning

of, accepting, accepted, acceptable, and unacceptable.

1.2.2. What types of vocabulary are there?

What is vocabulary? What types of vocabulary are there? In this section, we

will see the detailed concept of ‘vocabulary’.

1.2.2.1. Vocabulary

First of all, a person’s vocabulary is defined as all the words that a person

knows or uses, all the words in a particular language, the words that people use when

they are talking about a particular subject, and a list of words with their meanings,

especially in a book for learning a foreign language in The Oxford Advanced Learner’s

Dictionary (2007). This means, vocabulary is not only what we know or use, but also all

the rest of words exist.

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1.2.2.2. Words

Word is defined in The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary as a single unit

of language which means something and which can be spoken or written. They are, for

example, tissue, play, usually, in, and however. Also, lunch box, and brunch (a made up

word: breakfast plus lunch) are words because they have a meaning in those forms. It

can be said, thus, a unit of language which native speaker can recognize is the word.

1.2.2.3. Collocation

Collocation is defined, again in The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, as

a combination of words in a language, that happens very often and more frequently than

would happen by chance. For example, if we want to make the sentence paraphrasing,

They will bring us our meals outside if weather is good enough, we can say Meals will

be served outside on the terrace, weather permitting, but we cannot say Meals will be

served outside the terrace, *weather allowing. Both of these sentences seem to have the

same meaning since permit and allow have very similar meanings. However, permitting

is correct in this sentence according to collocation.

1.2.2.4. Phrasal verbs

Phrasal verbs are a verb combined with an adverb or a preposition, or

sometimes both, to give a new meaning.

(Example 1) It is easy to guess the meaning because the verb and particle keep their

usual meaning.

sit down, stand up

(Example 2) These are hard to guess, so we need to learn.

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put up with = to tolerate

break out = to start suddenly

1.2.2.5. Idiom

Idioms are defined in The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary as a group of

word whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual word’, the kind of

language and grammar used by the particular people at a particular time or place, and

the style of writing, music, art, etc, that is typical of a particular person, group, period

or place. Some idioms are imaginative expressions such as proverbs and sayings;

Too many cooks spoil the broth. (If too many people are involved in something, it will

not be well done.) Other idioms are short expressions that are used for a particular

purpose: Get lost! (a rude way of saying ‘go away’). Many idioms, however, are not

transparent in this way. They are considered as idioms because their form is fixed: for

certain, and in any chance, for example.

1.2.3. What kind of difficulties do we face when we learn second language?

Now let us move on to actual vocabulary learning. There are big obstacles to

overcome: the difficulties of L2 learning. In this section, we will look at some

difficulties of learning.

1.2.3.1 Translation is not always exact.

It is often thought that translating L2 into L1 would be helpful when learning

L2. Translation is one of a number of means of conveying meaning and in general is no

better or worse than the use of pictures, real objects, definitions, L2 synonyms and so

on. However, when we use translation in learning L2, there is one thing that we need to

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remember: Japanese translations of English do not always show the exact concept of

English, for example, when we look into the bilingual dictionary to search for the

meaning of water, there is a Japanese translation written mizu. The problem lies there.

While English water actually includes hot and cold, Japanese mizu only means cold.

Another example is that when we use finger, though Japanese translation of the word is

yubi, which includes both hand and foot, we need to remember that English finger only

means finger of hand, and for foot, there is another word: toe. As I mentioned, Japanese

translation is not always the same as English. Without this knowledge, learners might

get confused with the differences. As for abstract words, Japanese use blue to express

the immaturity whereas green is used in English, also the color, blue, navy blue, and

green. On the other hand, when blue is used in English, it means depression, obscenity,

and excellence, and only means blue as for color.

1.2.3.2. Cognitive load

Cognitive load is a term that refers to the load on working memory during

instruction. (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_load) John (1988) says,

it is suggested that a major reason for the ineffectiveness of problem solving as a

learning device, is that the cognitive processes required by the two activities overlap

insufficiency, and that conventional problem solving in the form of means-ends

consequently unavailable for schema (see 1.2.5.3.) acquisition. This means, when it

makes learning hard or insufficient to try to memorize many things at one time.

1.2.3.3. Sound system is different

When learning English as an L2, the difference of the sound system would be

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another factor to make us upset. This is because, there are some sounds that we do not

actually use in our L1. The picture below shows the sounds that we do not have.

There are several unfamiliar sounds that don’t appear in the Japanese sound system,

and they are, f, v, th, r, l, ae. Also, almost all of the Japanese syllables finish with

vowels, so this again makes the pronunciation of English words difficult. When we

learn L2, we need to deal with these systems. When we want to read the sentence aloud,

for example, ‘What time is it?’, the English pronunciation is wattaim iz it?, but we tend

to pronounce it watto taimu izu itto?

In addition to the difficulties mentioned in this section, we need to keep in

mind that Japanese and English are in different language groups, so that these two are

totally different from each other. For example, grammatical system is different. When

we want to say I play tennis. In Japanese, the order is I tennis play. At the same time,

language is affected largely by its culture and the cultures are different too. Those

differences appear between the languages make our learning difficult.

1.2.4. What vocabulary learning strategies are there?

When we learn vocabulary, we use our own strategies, such as using word

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f v th r l ǽw

Japanese sounds

cards, learning in context, and so on. List below are some strategies (Schmitt, 1997).

・Analyze part of speech

・Analyze affixes and roots

・Analyze any available pictures or gestures

・Using bilingual dictionary

・Using monolingual dictionary

・Using word lists

・Using flash cards

・Associating words with the context

・Associating new words with already known

・Translating words into L1

・Studying and practicing meaning in a group

・Repeating words mentally

・Saying new word aloud when studying

・Using physical action when learning a word

・Using spaced word practice

1.2.5. Other Aspects of learning

We need to talk about some other aspects here when learning vocabulary, such

as functions of our memory, cognitive load, schema development, and multi-faceted

nature of language knowledge.

1.2.5.1. Functions of memory

The chart below shows how our memories work. (Robert, 1972)

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Three Functions of Memory

Permanent

Memory

Working

Memory

Sensory

Memory

Anderson (1995) describes sensory memory as follows: sensory memory is

capable of storing more or less complete records of what has been encountered for brief

periods of time, during which people can note relationships among the elements and

encode the elements in a more permanent memory. If the information in sensory

memory is not encoded in the brief time before it decays, it is lost. What subjects

encode depends on what they are paying attention to. The environment typically offers

much more information at one time than we can attend to and encode. Therefore, much

of what enters our sensory system results in no permanent record. (p. 22)

In order to encode our sensory memories in permanent memory, depth of

processing is thought to be important. Craik and Lockhart (1972) explain depth of

processing in of detail. Deep processing of information adds detail to our understanding

of information. For example, learners are processing information about vocabulary if

they try to identify the defining characteristics of the vocabulary. For this effective

processing of information, certain critical activities are said to be needed: the

information is processed multiple times, detail is added, and associations are made with

other information. We need to keep these in mind when learning vocabulary.

1.2.5.2. The Affective Dimension

There said to be three affective dimensions we need to keep in our minds when

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we learn something: Motivation, Self-Efficacy, and Anxiety. Let us look at how each

dimensions works.

Motivation

Motivation is the perceived ‘pay off’ for the learner’s investment of time,

energy, and effort. It has to do with why the learner is there in the first place and what

keeps him or her working. The motivation may be positive or it may be negative. There

are a lot of factors that bring learners to given learning setting and keep them there.

Self-Efficacy

Self-Efficacy is the degree to which the learner thinks he or she has the

capacity to cope with the learning challenge.

Anxiety

Anxiety relates to the response a student has to a perceived threat to his or her

sense of security or self-esteem. The threat may be direct, such as a bad grade on a test,

or more indirect, such as having to give up cherished beliefs about the uniqueness.

She says, learners’ feelings have as strong effect on learning success as their

styles and strategies.

1.2.5.3. Schema

Schema is network of knowledge. With schema, we can make new connection,

be provided place to store knowledge, and we can guess or predict from the connection.

The more experience we have, the stronger the network connections become. It is

important, thus, for us to experience it deeply. Also, rich experience from many sources

is needed to make the connection strong. Repeating, revising, and recycling our learning

are the must. If they are connected strongly, we will not forget them easily. Learning

words with etymology would be the one which make the connection strong. This is

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because, when we learn words, we usually translate them into our native languages, and

find the appropriate concepts to each. If we learn with etymology, that means we have

another connection to the words, and this will make learning better. Usually, etymology

is imaginable, so it likely to come into our mind.

1.3. What is etymology?

As mentioned above, there are a lot of strategies we can use when learning

English. In this paper, we would focus on the role of etymology in learning. Learning

would be easier if there are strong impression and interest in what we learn. Knowing a

word’s etymology means knowing the background of the vocabulary, and there are

stories which tell us how the expressions were come to use. Other strategies are useful

when we learn vocabulary, but some of them are hard to imagine or memorize by just

practicing them repeatedly. Learning with etymology is helpful in terms of its

impression.

1.3.1. General idea

First of all, we should define what etymology is. Basically, etymology always

meant something approximating to the paraphrase ‘original meaning, or use of a given

lexical unit or proper name’. However, the cultural implications of this lame descriptive

statement can be entirely different. The core meaning of a word can be imagined as

something wholly independent of the passage of time and endowed with magic messages

or mystic over tones (Malkiel, 1993). Etymology is the investigation of word histories.

For example, the expression throw down the glove means provoke someone. This

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expression comes from the Europe custom: knights used to throw their glove when they

challenged someone to a duel or fight. Like this expression, etymology has traditionally

been concerned most especially with those word histories in which the facts are not

certain, and where a hypothesis has to be constructed to account either for a few words’

origin or for a stage in its history. Etymology can be defined as the application, at the

level of an individual word, of methods and insights drawn from many different areas of

historical linguistics, in order to produce a coherent account of that word’s history.

1.3.2. What was done with etymology?

Pierson(1989) says that instruction in etymology, although at present neglected

in the second-language curriculum, could offer meaningful linguistic information and

principles to the intermediate/advanced second-language learner. Etymology has all the

attributes of what educational psychologists term meaningful learning. This is a type of

learning connected to prior learning, more highly retainable and generalizable, making

it superior to simple rote learning of vocabulary.

Bores, Demecheleer, and Eyckmans’ study estimated how far the proposed

pedagogical pathway can lead learners into the realm of L2 idioms. They described two

language-scale on-line experiments, targeting 400 English figurative idioms (including

both transparent and opaque idioms). The results revealed that

・a fair proportion of idioms are etymologically quite transparent to learners

・information about the origin of an idiom often enables learners to figure out their

idiomatic meaning independently

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・giving learners explanations about origin of etymology opaque idioms can have the

same mnemonic effect as applying this technique to transparent idioms.

They also emphasized the importance of three dimensions when learning

idioms, and they are:

(1) Degree of cognitive effort

(2) Likelihood of dual coding

(3) Affect (ex. Motivation)

1.4. Research Questions

From the study above, it can be said that learning etymology when we learn

idioms seems to be helpful because it can help learners to learn words more deeply than

just focusing only on meanings. In this paper, we will look at the following research

questions:

RQ1: Does etymology help second language learners learn vocabulary better?

RQ2: Is there a difference between receptive and productive scores?

RQ3: What is the effect on knowledge over time after learning words with their

etyomology?

1.5. Conclusion

In this chapter, we talked about language learning, mainly vocabulary learning.

To deepen the understanding of vocabulary learning, we first discussed the importance

of vocabulary learning, and found out that vocabulary is the base of all language

learning. Then, we looked at what it means to know a word. In that section, we

understand knowing a word means being able to use it in two ways; receptive and

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productive and in many different dimensions. At the same time, it means we have

understand the word’s item-system knowledge, too. In order to learn those, we found,

we may face difficulties. However, knowing what kind of difficulties are there would

help us avoid them. Lastly, we discussed the strategies for vocabulary learning, and

learning with etymology was focused on. We discovered the role of etymology and so in

Chapter Two, we will conduct an experiment to find out if learning a word’s etymology

helps vocabulary acquisition.

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Chapter Two: The experiment

2.1. Introduction

In Chapter One, we talked about vocabulary learning. We started the chapter by

discussing the importance of vocabulary learning when we start learning a second

language. Then, we looked at the types of vocabulary such as words, collocations and so

on. We also made it clear what ‘knowing a word’ actually meant. Then we looked at the

aspects of word knowledge such as knowledge of receptive and productive use, and

system-item knowledge as well. We also looked at some effective learning of

vocabulary, for example, list learning, contextual learning and so on. Another of these

was etymological knowledge and one question came up; does etymology help learners

learn words better? To answer this question, we will look at the comparison of the

scores after learning with or without etymological knowledge in this chapter.

2.2. The Experiment

2.2.1 Introduction to the experiment

We will look at one experiment with two different conditions in this chapter.

Two conditioned lists were made for this experiment; one was a phrase list of words,

and the other a phrase list of words with their etymologies. In a rotated design, the

subjects were required to memorize either of those first, and later with the other

condition. Five minutes were given to every subject to memorize them. After the

memorization, a post-test was given to check how much they remembered. After two

months, all the subjects were asked to take the same test again to see how many phrases

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they had retained. The results were analyzed and compared which of the two, learning

phrases only by themselves or with etymology, would help subjects learn better and

longer learning.

2.2.2 Method

1) Subjects

The experiment was given to 140 subjects. They were all 18-22 year old

females from first to fourth graders English majors at Notre Dame Seishin University in

Okayama, Japan who were randomly assigned to either of the two conditions. Some

subjects had studied abroad for a certain period and others didn’t have enough

confidence in their English. Even those who didn’t have confidence in their English

skills, had learned basic English knowledge in the first grade in Notre Dame Seishin

University English course. This means that they had been learning English grammar,

phonology, conversation and so on when they took the first test.

2) Test design (the experiment)

This experiment was made to find out if knowledge of etymology when they

learn a foreign language would help them learn better. The phrase lists and its

etymological meanings were found from an Internet site called ‘Eigo21’

(http://www.eigo21.com/index.shtml). 24 frequently used phrases were chosen so that

this experiment would also be meaningful to subjects. Learners were given one

conditioned paper each, ‘phrases only list’ or ‘phrases with their etymology’ on it. With

those lists, the Japanese meaning of the phrases and a sample sentence in which those

phrases were naturally used and their Japanese translation were shown. Here are some

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examples of the lists used for this experiment. For learners who learned without

etymology used the Condition I paper.

Condition I (without etymology) Worksheet A

1. as mad as a hatter=とても気が狂っている

He is as mad as a hatter. Sometimes I think he is actually crazy.(彼は、とても気が狂っている。たまに私は彼が頭がおかしいと思う。)

On the paper shown above, Condition I (without etymology), there are, as mentioned

above, English phrases and their translations in Japanese, and sample sentences and

their Japanese translations.

Condition II (Phrases with their etymology) Worksheet A2

1. as mad as a hatter=とても気が狂っている

不思議の国のアリスに出てくる‘いかれ帽子屋’が、もととなっている。いかれ帽子屋と同じくらい気

が狂っているということから、とても気が狂っているという意味に。

He is as mad as a hatter. Sometimes I think he is actually crazy.(彼は、とても気が狂っている。たまに私は彼が頭がおかしいと思う。)

On the paper shown above, Condition II (with etymology), there were, English phrases

and their translations in Japanese, sample sentences and their Japanese translations, and

etymologies of the phrases are listed as well.

Both conditions have two different lists, so there are lists called Condition I

(without etymology) Worksheet A, Condition I (without etymology) Worksheet B,

Condition II (with etymology) Worksheet A2, and Condition II (with etymology)

Worksheet B2.

Test for Worksheet A2

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A１．次のフレーズの意味を a)～g)から選びなさい。

　　① a white elephant ②look a gift in the mouth　　

　　③ sleeping policeman 　　　　 　④ split hairs　　

　　⑤ a storm in a teapot 　　　 　⑥ smoke and mirrors　　

⑦red herring

a)人を欺くもの　　　　b)人の注意をそらすもの　　　c)ケチをつける

d)道路の段差　　　　　e)維持費のかかって持て余すむもの　　　　

f)つまらないことで大騒ぎする　　g)細かいことを気にする

① 　　　　②　　　　③　　　　④　　　　⑤　　　　⑥　　　　⑦　　　　

２．次のフレーズの意味を書きなさい。

　　① wear pants　　 　　 （　　　　　　　　　）

　　② That takes the cake! （　　　　　　　　　）

　　③ have a chip on one’s shoulder （　　　　　　　　　）

　　④ as mad as a hatter （　　　　　　　　　）

　　⑤ go like clockwork 　　 　 （　　　　　　　　　）

As for the test shown above, there are only two different tests: test for learners

22

who learned from Worksheet A paper, and for who learned from Worksheet B. The

reason why there are two types of tests is because, learners took, for example,

Worksheet A test without etymological knowledge, and Worksheet B with etymological

knowledge. This table below was to ensure the experiment was a crossed design so

there would be no effect for the order the worksheets were given, nor for which list they

were given.

Table 2 Instruments for the experiment

Order I Order II Post test Delay test

Without etymology

Worksheet A Worksheet B Test A1, B1 Test A2, B2

With etymology

Worksheet A2 Worksheet B2 Test A1, B1 Test A2, B2

3) Procedure

All the subjects were asked to memorize 12 phrases from their given paper for

five minutes students were given post-tests in order to see how much they memorized.

Two months later, they were tested on the same (shuffled) contents to see how much

they remembered. Then, the scores in the two conditions, knowledge types and orders,

were compared.

2.2.3 Results

The data in Table 3 show the scores for the 140 subjects by order and list. No

significant differences were found for Order F = .01 p = .92 or List F = .35 p = .68

which shows that there is no difference between the order in which the tests were given.

Also there was no significant difference for two conditions on the receptive Test F=

23

1.81 p = .28 or the productive test F = 1.9 p = .12 which shows that condition type (with

or without etymological knowledge) did not affect the results. Details can be found in

Table 3.

Table 3: The mean scores by condition, vocabulary type and order

Average score for each group

List Orde

r

Receptive (max =

7) Productive (max = 5)

List only A 1 5.76 (1.55) 82.2% 3.43 (1.43) 68.6%

List + Etymology A 2 6.14 (1.44) 87.8% 3.77 (1.55) 75.4%

List only B 1 6.36 (1.17) 90.9% 2.97 (1.67) 59.4%

List + Etymology B 2 6.05 (1.47) 86.5% 4.08 (1.24) 81.6%

s.d.s in parenthesis

These data mean the addition of etymological information did not lead to better learning

with these phrases with these subjects. As expected there were significant differences

for the receptive and productive test scores with the receptive scores considerably

higher than the productive.

Delay data

The delay data indicate a large decline in scores over the eight weeks. The

receptive scores reduced to 2.73 (s.d. = 1.95) from 6.08 (s.d.=1.42) and to 0.53 (s.d =

0.87) from 3.57 (1.52). The delay data shows that there was a significant decline in

both the receptive t= 18.03 p <.001 and productive test scores t=25.14 p <.01 over

time. However, there was no significant difference between the two conditions at the

delay time either with the receptive data showing F=.21 p=.65 for order and F=.136

24

p=.71 for condition.

2.3 Summary

In this chapter, we conducted an experiment to answer the question; ‘Does

etymology help learners learn vocabulary better?’ We divided the subjects into two

groups. For one group, only the phrase list was given, and for the other, phrase list with

its etymology. In different conditions, they learned the same phrases, and the test scores

were compared. It seems the expected difference did not materialize. In Chapter Three,

we will discuss the results in detail.

25

Chapter Three Discussion of the experiment

3.1. Introduction

In Chapter Two, we conducted an experiment to see if etymological learning

helps learners learn vocabulary better. Two tests were taken by the subjects; after

remembering the given phrases and two months after the first test. The phrases to

remember were given in two conditions; just a phrase list or a phrase with etymology. In

this chapter, we will look into the result of the experiment and discuss it. What the

subjects thought of using etymology when learning vocabulary would be shown, too.

Also, we will look at the limitations of the experiment are, and suggest some further

research using etymology.

3.2 Summary of the results

From the experiment, no significant difference between the two conditions

(learning without etymology and learning with etymology) was able to be seen.

However, as expected, the experiment showed that subjects got higher scores on the

receptive test than the productive, and the score in the first tests were higher than the

second. As for the knowledge they acquired from the list, most of them were forgotten

in eight weeks.

3.3 Discussion of the results

Subjects were asked to take tests of what they memorized from the list with or

without etymology. The results of both scores were compared to find out if etymological

learning helped the subjects. Later, some subjects were asked to answer the interview

26

questions to find their learning style and the impression of etymological learning. Those

results would be discussed below.

3.3.1. Test result

There was no clear difference between the list learning only and learning with

etymology. In the Worksheet B, learning without etymology had higher score than

learning with etymology in receptive part. The scores were, 6.36 for the learning

without etymology and 6.05 with etymology. There was no difference between the two

in the delay test held eight weeks later, either. The scores were, 0.65 for learning

without etymology and 0.71 with etymology. From these results, learning etymology

when we learn vocabulary does not seem to make our learning easier. The subjects’

attitudes toward this experiment could be one factor of this result. From the data

discussed in Chapter One, affective dimension plays the important role when learning.

Also the worksheets might not have been interesting enough for both subjects, so the

way of introducing etymology can be another factor of this experiment. In the next

section, we will look at the interview of who took the tests.

Answers to the research questions

Research question 1 asked Does etymology help second language learners

learn vocabulary better? From the experiment, it seems learning with etymology did

not help learners learn vocabulary better than without it. However, from the interview, it

was found that learners like to have some impression over what they memorize, and

etymology can be one of them because they thought it fun and interesting to have

etymological knowledge when learning.

Research question 2 stated Is there a difference between receptive and

27

productive scores? It was found from the experiment that the score of receptive question

was higher than that of productive in both conditions (with or without etymology).

Learners, who learned vocabulary without etymology on Worksheet A, got 82.2%

correct in receptive question while 68.6% correct in productive. Learners, who learned

vocabulary with etymology on Worksheet A2, got 87.8% correct in receptive question

while 75.4% correct in productive. The difference appeared most in the tests of

Worksheet B, which was taken by who learned vocabulary without etymology. They got

90.9% correct in receptive question while 59.4% in productive. As mentioned in

Chapter One, it was clear that learning receptively was easier than learning

productively.

Research question 3 stated What is the effect on knowledge over time after

learning words with their etymology? It was found from the test that some learners

answered, in productive part of the question, from the etymological knowledge not from

actual meaning. For example, one learner answered that wear pants means masculinity,

which actually means take the leadership at home. In the Worksheet, the expression

wear pants was explained that in old Europe, men used to wear pants while women

skirt, and all of the time in those days, man was the rule of the family. From this

explanation, her impression of the meaning wear pants was man. Things like this

happened in other questions, too. Even they had only one chance to memorize

vocabulary, etymology gave learners some impression over the time.

3.3.2. Interviews

To understand how these subjects learn vocabulary and what they think of

learning vocabulary with etymology, some interviews were given.

28

(1) Condition one

These are the voices of who took the condition one test; learning vocabulary

from the phrase list only. They were asked to answer three questions; what strategies do

they usually use when learning vocabulary, how much time they usually spend to

memorize vocabulary, and how they feel about learning etymology when learning

vocabulary.

(i) The first person got 58% correct in the first test (three points in seven

receptive questions and four points in five productive questions), and 0% in the second.

She said she usually learns vocabulary by writing and pronouncing it at the same time

five to ten times. She does this in certain period. She feels that learning with etymology

helps to understand the meaning of the vocabulary.

(ii) The next person got 50% correct on the first test (three points each in

receptive and productive questions), and 25% on the second (three points only in

receptive questions). She said that she could remember the vocabulary unconsciously in

the context when it appears some times receptively. When she learns vocabulary in the

list, she memorizes ten pages of the list (about 70 vocabulary) for the first week and

then she adds next ten pages to the first one next week and repeats this again and again.

She always tries to begin from the first page. She has been remembering vocabulary in

this style since high school days when her teacher suggested this strategy to her. How

much time she takes to memorize the vocabulary depends on the impression it has on

her. When she feels the vocabulary is easy, she can usually memorize it at once, but at

29

the other time, it takes more than a week for her to memorize them. She strongly feels

the importance of etymology when learning vocabulary especially learning vocabulary

whose meaning cannot be easily imagined. For her, some impressions are needed when

learning vocabulary, if not, it would be forgotten easily. For example, when she sees the

visual material for learning vocabulary, she can memorize it easier than she sees it in the

list.

(2) Condition two

These below are the voices from those who learned vocabulary from the phrase

list with etymology. They were asked to answer three questions; what strategies do they

use when learning language?, how much time they take to memorize vocabulary? and

how they feel about learning vocabulary when learning vocabulary?

(i) The first person got 91% correct on the first test (seven points in seven

receptive questions and four in five productive questions), and 42% on the second (five

points in receptive). Usually, she tries to write the vocabulary that she wants to

remember many times when learning vocabulary. It usually takes five times for her to

acquire it. She thinks it is fun and impressive to learn vocabulary with etymology.

(ii) The next person got 100% correct on the first test. Then she got 80%

correct on the second (seven points in seven receptive questions and three points in five

productive questions.) She learns vocabulary by writing it repeatedly, filling the blank,

and associates new vocabulary with the previous knowledge. How much time she takes

to memorize the vocabulary depends on the difficulty of the vocabulary: when she feels

30

the vocabulary difficult, it takes longer to memorize. She practices the same vocabulary

every other day. She thinks that using etymology when learning is very impressive and

easier to memorize.

From those interviews, what we can find is that it takes some times to

memorize vocabulary and they all practice it repeatedly in a short span until they

acquire it. At the same time, for learners, something impressive when learning

vocabulary is preferable. Showing etymology can be one of those.

3.4. Implications

According to the test results, learning vocabulary with etymology does not

seem to help learning vocabulary. However, from the interview data, as we saw,

learning with etymology can be helpful when introducing vocabulary. Even those who

did not get high scores this time felt it was fun, impressive, interesting, and easy to learn

vocabulary with etymology. It seems that the hidden story behind each phrase makes

learning fun.

3.5. Limitations of the Experiment

There are several limitations to the experiment. There were only twelve phrases

for each test, we could not see the difference even in the first test. If there were, say,

twenty or thirty phrases, the results might have been different. This is because the more

we have to memorize, the weaker the impressions of each vocabulary would be. As

mentioned in Chapter One, there need to be some details to encode things into

permanent memory. In such a case, learning with etymology might have shown its

usefulness.

31

On the test paper, there were only phrases listed though they were given in

contextual examples when they memorize phrases. They might have gotten higher

scores if the test style was also in context. This is because we have more connections if

we memorize them in contexts than just in the list, and easier to recall the memory in

similar situations.

The subjects’ attitude toward the test seems one of the limitations, too. They

might have gotten tired at the time when they took test, or have no interest in the test.

This would be one limitation of the limitation.

3.6. Further research

The experiment conducted in this paper did not proved this, however, from the

interview we found that when learners cannot imagine the meaning of the vocabulary,

introducing its etymology would be helpful. Also, so as to make the memory clearer,

shortening the span of learning would be necessary, because it is natural for us to forget

things unless we meet them some times before we forget. Next time, it will be a good

idea to make the learner learn vocabulary with etymology repeatedly. From the

interview, it became clear that learners learn vocabulary many times until it is encoded

into the permanent memory. They will acquire them faster than learning it in list.

3.7. Conclusion

We looked at the importance of language learning at the beginning of this

thesis. Then, we learned how important it is to build vocabulary when we acquire

language. There are various kinds of vocabulary knowledge such as collocation, idioms,

and phrasal verbs, and these are useful if we know when learning vocabulary. In order

32

to acquire those, some strategies were shown, such as list learning, contextual learning,

and using flash cards.

In this paper, we focused mainly on learning with etymology. Etymology is the

study of the origins of words. And knowing etymology was thought to be very helpful

when learning vocabulary because it gives us clear image of the vocabulary, and such

image or connection is needed to put it into the permanent memory and requires a

deeper level of processing of word knowledge. To find out if etymology would help

learners learn vocabulary better, an experiment was conducted.

Learners were given tests to see how much they memorize after learning with

either a phrase list or a phrase list with etymology. The test scores were compared to see

which condition would work better on their memories. As a result, no clear difference

was seen. However, an interesting thing was found through interview done after test. All

interviewees, no matter which condition they had learned phrases, answered that

learning vocabulary with etymology is impressive, attractive and easier to put into their

memory. From these voices, we can understand etymology seems helpful when they

learn vocabulary even though the experiment did not show this directly.

33

References

Gairns, R. and Redman, S. 1986. Working With Words-A guide to teaching and learning

vocabulary. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

Huckin, T., Haynes, M., and Coady, J. 1992. Second Language Reading and Vocabulary

Leaning. Norwood, Ablex Publishing Corporation

Malkiel, Y. 1993 Etymology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

Nation, P. 1994. New Ways in Teaching Vocabulary. Alexandria, TESOL

Nation, P. 2002. Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge, Cambridge

University Press

Robert, J. 2004 Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement.

Alexandria, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development

Visnja Pavicic Takac. 2008. Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Foreign Language

Acquisition. Clevedon, Multilingual Matters

Wallace, B. and Schachter, J. 1996. Second Language Learning Contrastive Analysis,

Error Analysis, and Related Aspects. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press

34

太田雄三著 1995 年 「英語と日本人」講談社学術文庫

酒井邦秀著 1993 年 「どうして英語が使えない」ちくま学芸文庫

澤田昭夫著 1992 年 「外国語の習い方」講談社学術文庫

鈴木孝夫著 1999 年 「日本人はなぜ英語ができないか」岩波新書

山田雄一郎著 2005 年 「日本の英語教育」岩波新書

35

AppendicesCondition I (Phrases only list)

Worksheet A (Order I)

1. as mad as a hatter=とても気が狂っている

He is as mad as a hatter. Sometimes I think he is actually crazy.(彼は、とても気が狂っている。たまに私は彼が頭がおかしいと思う。)

2. go like clockwork＝順調に物事が進む

His plans always go like clockwork. He is so efficient.（彼の計画は、いつも順調に進む。彼はとても効率がいい。）

3. split hairs＝細かいことを気にする

There is no need to pay me exactly \3408. Just call it \3400. There is no need to split hairs over it.

（ぴったり 3408 円払う必要はないよ、3400 円でいいよ。細かいことを気にする必要はないよ。）

4. have a chip on one’s shoulder＝けんか腰だ

He always has a chip on his shoulder, so don’t be surprised if he gets angry for no reason.

（彼はいつもけんか腰なので、意味もなく怒ってきても驚かないでね。）

5.look a gift horse in the mouth＝もらいものに不満をいう、ケチをつける

I gave my mum an i-pad, but she didn’t want it. I don’t know why my mother would look a gift horse in the mouth.

（私はお母さんに、アイパッドをあげたが、ほしがらなかった。私はお母さんがなんでもらいものに

不満をいうのか分からない。）

6. red herring＝人を混乱させるもの

The teacher implied the test would be on Wednesday, but it was a red herring. It was actually on Tuesday.

（先生は、水曜にテストをすると言ったが、実際は火曜だったため、混乱のもととなった。）

7. sleeping policeman＝道路の段差

When you see a sleeping policeman on the road , you should slow down, or it will damage your car.

（道路の段差を見たら、スピードを落とさないと車がダメになってしまいますよ。）

8. smoke and mirrors＝人を欺くもの

The actor said he was going to be in the movie but it was all smoke and mirrors. He is always telling lies to make himself look popular.

36

（その俳優は、映画に出ると言っていたが、それは人を欺くものだった。彼は人気に思われるよ

う、嘘をつく。）

9. That takes the cake!＝呆れたものだ。それはひどい。

‘We had 8 tests last week and I thought they had all finished. But now we have 5 more!!! ‘----‘That takes the cake.’

（「私たちは、先週８つのテストがあって、それが全部かと思っていたら、あと５つあるみた

い。」―――「それはひどい。」）

10. a storm in a teapot＝つまらないことでの大騒ぎ

It is really not so important and we should not worry about it. He is just making a storm in a teapot.

（それはそんなに重要なことではないから心配する必要はないよ。彼はただつまらないことに大騒ぎ

しているだけなんだ。）

11. a white elephant＝維持費がかかって持て余すもの

I don’t know why the government made that huge building here. No one uses it. It’s just a big white elephant.

（政府はなんでここに大きな建物をつくったのだ。誰も使わないのに。維持費がかかるだけだ。）

12. wear the pants＝家庭の主権を握る

His wife wears the pants at home. She makes all the major decisions.（彼の妻が家庭の主導権を握っている。彼女が大事な決断をすべてする。）

Worksheet B (Order II)

1. save one’s bacon＝被害を危うく逃れる、命が助かる

Some antivirus software could have saved your bacon, but as you didn’t use it, now you’re in trouble.（ウイルス対策のソフトウェアで、被害を逃れることができたのに、使わなかったから、大変なことに

なっているね。）

2. roll up one’s sleeves＝本気で仕事にとりかかる

I think it’s time for you to roll up your sleeves and get to work.（そろそろ本気で仕事に取りかかるべきだと思いますよ。）

3. a little bird told me＝風の便りでは

A little bird told me that Koji got married last year.（風の便りでは、コウジは去年結婚したみたいです。）

4. paint the town red＝街に繰り出してどんちゃん騒ぎをする

The fans painted the town red when the team won the match.（そのチームが試合に勝った時、ファンは街に出てどんちゃん騒ぎをした。）

5. cat and mouse game with＝人の心をもてあそぶ、なぶる

37

She is fed up with a cat and mouse game he is always playing with her over whether he will marry her or not.（彼女は、彼が彼女と結婚するかで、彼女の心をもてあそぶのに嫌気がさしている。）

6. play possum＝タヌキ寝入りをする

The soldier wasn’t dead, he was playing possum. When the enemy left, he stood up and ran away.（その兵士は死んでなく、タヌキ寝入りをしていた。敵が去った時、立ち上がり走って逃げた。）

7. when one’s ship come in＝お金が入ってきたら、金持ちになったら

I will pay you the money back when my ship come in, which should be next week.（お金が入ってきたら、お金返します。来週には返すでしょう。）

8. as the crow flies＝直線距離にして

Karasuyama is only one kilometer away, as the crow flies, from here but about three kilometers by this mountain road.（烏山は、ここから直線距離にして１キロだが、この山道を通ったら、約３キロだ。）

9. wild-goose chase＝当てのない捜査、無駄な追及

He led me on a wild-goose chase. I went to several bookshops for a book he’d told me to buy, but it turned out he’d given me the wrong title.（彼は私に無駄な追及をさせた。私は、彼が買ってくるように言った本を探しまわったが、結局違うタ

イトルだったとわかった。）

10. worth one’s salt＝非常に価値がある

‘Do you think this textbook is worth its salt?’------‘I don’t like it much.’（「この教科書は価値があると思いますか。」―「そんなに良くないですね。」）

11. throw down the glove＝挑発する

An adult nation should ignore the glove thrown by the childish dictator.（大人は、子どもっぽい挑発を無視するべきだ。）

12. throw cold water＝ケチをつける

She threw cold water on my idea. She didn’t like it.（彼女は私の考えにケチをつけた。好きでなかったようだ。）

38

Condition II (Phrases with etymology)

Worksheet A2 (Order I)

1. as mad as a hatter=とても気が狂っている

不思議の国のアリスに出てくる‘いかれ帽子屋’が、もととなっている。いかれ帽子屋と同じくらい気

が狂っているということから、とても気が狂っているという意味に。

He is as mad as a hatter. Sometimes I think he is actually crazy.(彼は、とても気が狂っている。たまに私は彼が頭がおかしいと思う。)

2. go like clockwork＝順調に物事が進む

時計が、速度を変えることなくカチカチと同じペースで進むことから。

His plan always goes like clockwork. He is so efficient.（彼の計画は、いつも順調に進む。彼はとても効率がいい。）

3. split hairs＝細かいことを気にする

細い髪を 1 本 1 本裂いていくように、細かいことを気にするという意味。

There is no need to pay me exactly \3408. Just call it \3400. There is no need to split hairs over it.

（ぴったり 3408 円払う必要はないよ、3400 円でいいよ。細かいことを気にする必要はないよ。）

4. have a chip on one’s shoulder＝けんか腰だ

かつて、けんかをするときに、肩の上に木の切れ端をのせ、相手に蹴らせていたことから。

He always has a chip on his shoulder, so don’t be surprised if he gets angry for no reason.

（彼はいつもけんか腰なので、意味もなく怒ってきても驚かないでね。）

5.look a gift horse in the mouth＝もらいものに不満をいう、ケチをつける

馬は、歯で年齢を推定することができる。もらった馬の歯を見るということは、まだ働ける馬かそれ

とも、役に立たない老いた馬かを確認することを意味し、馬の贈り主に対し、失礼な行為であるとい

うことから。

I gave my mum an i-pad, but she didn’t want it. I don’t know why my mother would look a gift horse in the mouth.

（私はお母さんに、アイパッドをあげたが、ほしがらなかった。私はお母さんがなんでもらいものに

不満をいうのか分からない。）

6. red herring＝人を混乱させるもの

red herring は「燻製のニシン」という意味である。猟犬の訓練に燻製ニシンを使い、猟犬が燻製ニ

シンの臭いに混乱したり、惑わされる様子が由来となっている。

39

The teacher implied the test would be on Wednesday, but it was a red herring. It was actually on Tuesday.

（先生は、水曜にテストをすると言ったが、実際は火曜だったため、混乱のもととなった。）

7. sleeping policeman＝道路の段差

速度が出やすい所などにつくられている道路の段差は、自然にスピードを落とすような働きとなって

いる。警察官が寝転がり、スピードダウンに貢献しているかのようであることから。

When you see a sleeping policeman on the road , you should slow down, or it will damage your car.

（道路の段差を見たら、スピードを落とさないと車がダメになってしまいますよ。）

8. smoke and mirrors＝人を欺くもの

煙と鏡は、手品をするときの小道具で、人の目を欺くことができることから。

The actor said he was going to be in the movie but it was all smoke and mirrors. He is always telling lies to make himself look popular.

（その俳優は、映画に出ると言っていたが、それは人を欺くものだった。彼はいつも人気に思われる

よう、嘘をつく。）

9. That takes the cake!＝呆れたものだ。それはひどい。

悪いことに皮肉をこめて、「ケーキがもらえるくらいすごいね」と、呆れた評価の仕方をしている。

‘We had 8 tests last week and I thought they had all finished. But now we have 5 more!!! ‘----‘That takes the cake.’

（「私たちは、先週８つのテストがあって、それが全部かと思っていたら、あと５つあるみた

い。」―――「それはひどい。」）

10. a storm in a teapot＝つまらないことでの大騒ぎ

ティーポットの中で、大嵐が起こってもなんともないことから。

It is really not so important and we should not worry about it. He is just making a storm in a teapot.

（それはそんなに重要なことではないから心配する必要はないよ。彼はただつまらないことに大騒ぎ

しているだけなんだ。）

11. a white elephant＝維持費がかかって持て余すもの

昔、タイの王が、白い象の中でも価値のないものを敵国に贈った。贈られた側は、粗末に扱うことも

できず、維持費がかさんで破綻してしまうことになったことから。

I don’t know why the government made that huge building here. No one uses it. It’s just a big white elephant.

（政府はなんでここに大きな建物をつくったのだろう。誰も使わないのに。ただ維持費がかかるだ

けだ。）

12. wear the pants＝家庭の主権を握る

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昔は、男の人はズボンを、女の人はスカートをはく習慣があり、家庭の主導権はズボンをはいている

男の人にあったことから、「ズボンをはいていること＝家庭の主導権を握っていること」となった。

His wife wears the pants at home. She makes all the major decisions.（彼の妻が家庭の主導権を握っている。彼女が大事な決断をすべてする。）

Worksheet B2 (Order II)

1. save one’s bacon＝被害を危うく逃れる、命が助かる

手間暇かけて作るベーコンは、農家にとって大切な収入源だったので、部屋に吊るしている間に盗ま

れたり、動物に食べられたり、火事で焼失したりしないように、気をつけていた。だから、そのベー

コンを守るというのは、被害を逃れることを意味するように。

Some antivirus software could have saved your bacon, but as you didn’t use it, now you’re in trouble.（ウイルス対策のソフトウェアで、被害を逃れることができたのに、使わなかったから、大変なことに

なっているね。）

2. roll up one’s sleeves＝本気で仕事にとりかかる

本気になった際に、袖をまくりあげる動作をすることから。

I think it’s time for you to roll up your sleeves and get to work.（そろそろ本気で仕事に取りかかるべきだと思いますよ。）

3. a little bird told me＝風の便りでは

小鳥は、いろんなところを飛び回ること、おしゃべり好きであることから。

A little bird told me that Koji got married last year.（風の便りでは、コウジは去年結婚したみたいです。）

4. paint the town red＝街に繰り出してどんちゃん騒ぎをする

ローマ時代、ローマの兵士たちが、征服した町を血で洗ったことから。

The fans painted the town red when the team won the match.（そのチームが試合に勝った時、ファンは街に出てどんちゃん騒ぎをした。）

5. cat and mouse game with＝人の心をもてあそぶ、なぶる

ねこが、捕まえたネズミを殺す前になぶる習性があることから。

She is fed up with a cat and mouse game he is always playing with her over whether he will marry her or not.（彼女は、彼が彼女と結婚するかで、彼女の心をもてあそぶのに嫌気がさしている。）

6. play possum＝タヌキ寝入りをする

ふくろネズミは、驚くと死んだふりをすることから。

The soldier wasn’t dead, he was playing possum. When the enemy left, he stood up and ran away.

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（その兵士は死んでなく、タヌキ寝入りをしていた。敵が去った時、立ち上がり走って逃げた。）

7. when one’s ship come in＝お金が入ってきたら、金持ちになったら

大航海時代に、７つの海を制覇して戻ってきたときには、世界中の富が入ってきていたから。

I will pay you the money back when my ship come in, which should be next week.（お金が入ってきたら、お金返します。来週には返すでしょう。）

8. as the crow flies＝直線距離にして

カラスは、えさ場までまっすぐ飛ぶという習性があることから。

Karasuyama is only one kilometer away, as the crow flies, from here but about three kilometers by this mountain road.（烏山は、ここから直線距離にして１キロだが、この山道を通ったら、約３キロだ。）

9. wild-goose chase＝当てのない捜査、無駄な追及

雁は、リーダーの後を気ままに追っていることから。

He led me on a wild-goose chase. I went to several bookshops for a book he’d told me to buy, but it turned out he’d given me the wrong title.（彼は私に無駄な追及をさせた。私は、彼が買ってくるように言った本を探しまわったが、結局違うタ

イトルだったとわかった。）

10. worth one’s salt＝非常に価値がある

ローマ時代の給料は当時貴重とされていた「塩」であったことから、価値があること、またその価値

に見合うだけの仕事をすることを表す。

‘Do you think this textbook is worth its salt?’------‘I don’t like it much.’（「この教科書は価値があると思いますか。」―「そんなに良くないですね。」）

11. throw down the glove＝挑発する

中世のヨーロッパの騎士が、けんかをするときマナーとして手袋を投げたことから。

An adult nation should ignore the glove thrown by the childish dictator.（大人は、子どもっぽい挑発を無視するべきだ。）

12. throw cold water＝ケチをつける

throw で、バケツの水を投げかけるというイメージ。また、ただの水ではなくわざわざ冷たい水を投

げるということで、ケチをつけるというイメージができる。

She threw cold water on my idea. She didn’t like it.（彼女は私の考えにケチをつけた。好きでなかったようだ。）

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Post test for both conditions

Test A1

A１．次のフレーズの意味を a)～g)から選びなさい。

①a white elephant ②look a gift in the mouth ③sleeping policeman ④split hairs ⑤a storm in a teapot ⑥smoke and mirrors

⑦red herring

a)人を欺くもの b)人の注意をそらすもの c)ケチをつける

d)道路の段差 e)維持費のかかって持て余すむもの

f)つまらないことで大騒ぎする g)細かいことを気にする

① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦

２．次のフレーズの意味を書きなさい。

①wear pants （ ）

②That takes the cake! （ ）

③have a chip on one’s shoulder （ ）

④as mad as a hatter （ ）

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⑤go like clockwork （ ）

Test B1

B学籍番号（　　　　　）　名前（　　　　　　　　　　　）

１．次のフレーズの意味を a)～g)から選びなさい。

　　① throw cold water ②throw down the glove　　

　　③ as the crow flies 　　　　　　　　　④ wild-goose chase　　

　　⑤ cat and mouse game with 　　　　⑥ play possum　　

⑦a little bird told me

a)直線距離にして　　　　b)無駄な追及　　　　　c)人の心をもてあそぶ

d)風の便りでは　　　　　e)ケチをつける　　　　f)挑発する

g)タヌキ寝入りをする

① 　　　　②　　　　③　　　　④　　　　⑤　　　　⑥　　　　⑦　　　　

２．次のフレーズの意味を書きなさい。

　　① worth one’s salt　　　　 （　　　　　　　　　）

　　② when one’s ship come in （　　　　　　　　　）

　　③ roll up one’s sleeves （　　　　　　　　　）

　　④ save one’s bacon （　　　　　　　　　）

　　⑤ paint the town red　　　 （　　　　　　　　　）

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Delay test for both conditionsTest A2

A学籍番号（　　　　　）　名前（　　　　　　　　　　　）　

１．次のフレーズの意味を a)～g)から選びなさい。

　　① smoke and mirrors ②red herring 　　

　　③ look a gift in the mouth　　　　 ④ split hairs 　　

　　⑤ sleeping policeman 　　　 　 ⑥ a white elephant

　　⑦ a storm in a teapot

a) 細かいことを気にする　　 b) 人を欺くもの　　　c) 道路の段差

d)ケチをつける　　　　 e)人の注意をそらすもの　　　

f)つまらないことで大騒ぎする　g) 維持費のかかって持て余すむもの

① 　　　　②　　　　③　　　　④　　　　⑤　　　　⑥　　　　⑦　　　　

２．次のフレーズの意味を書きなさい。

　　① go like clockwork　　 　　 （　　　　　　　　　）

　　② as mad as a hatter （　　　　　　　　　）

　　③ That takes the cake! （　　　　　　　　　）

　　④ wear pants （　　　　　　　　　）

　　⑤ have a chip on one’s shoulder 　 　 （　　　　　　　　　）

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Test B2

B１．次のフレーズの意味を a)～g)から選びなさい。

①play possum ②a little bird told me

③as the crow flies ④cat and mouse game with ⑤throw cold water ⑥wild-goose chase

⑦throw down the glove

a)直線距離にして b) ケチをつける c) タヌキ寝入りをする

d) 人の心をもてあそぶ e) 風の便りでは f) 無駄な追及

g) 挑発する

① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦

２．次のフレーズの意味を書きなさい。

①save one’s bacon （ ）

②worth one’s salt （ ）

③paint the town red （ ）

④when one’s ship come in （ ）

⑤roll up one’s sleeves （ ）

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