‘She’s [the] only fish!’: Investigating the idiom topic transitions of elementary-to-intermediate proficiency Japanese learners of English

Abstract In conversation, speakers routinely bulldoze through to a new topic using idioms such as ‘plenty more fish in the sea’, which invoke clichéd, proverbial truths. This study investigates what happens when second language (L2) learners are given the keys to the proverbial bulldozer. To further understand the quality and nature of this aspect of L2 metaphoric competence (MC), forty first language (L1) Japanese L2 English learners of elementary-to-intermediate proficiency completed receptive and productive idiom topic transition and other MC tests, and a subset of twenty-five participated in prompted discussions as part of a topic transition classroom role-play activity. Extending previous research to this L1 and proficiency of learner, descriptive statistics, and regression analysis showed that as elicited abilities, receptive, and productive idiom topic transition were among the easiest and most difficult areas of MC respectively, while thematic analysis revealed rich linguistic and conceptual themes in both datasets, including many skilful idiom topic transitions. Discussion, limitations, and implications for future research and pedagogy are provided.