A Quantitative Analysis of Students’ English Idiomatic Competence at a University in Vietnam

Idioms undoubtedly play a crucial role in language acquisition and should be a fundamental component of language teaching and learning. Idioms provide insights into the target language’s culture and foster learners’ communicative competence. Structurally, idioms are divided into idiomatic pairs, comparative idioms, and ordinary idioms (Giang, 2018). Semantically, idioms can be transparent, semi-transparent, semi-opaque, or opaque (Fernando & Flavell, 1981; Giang, 2018). The research aimed to determine whether Vietnamese university students learning English for over 10 years were familiar with selected English idioms. It also sought to assess if they could correctly connect these idioms to their meanings and use them effectively in sentences. This study employed a quantitative approach to process the results of the receptive and productive tests issued to 454 final-year non-English major students at a university in Vietnam. The findings indicate that the students possess limited knowledge of English idioms, especially idiomatic pairs and ordinary idioms. This study also offers recommendations for enhancing Vietnamese students’ English idiomatic competence.