The Perception of Color Idiomatic Metaphorical Expressions by Arabic-speaking EFL Learners: An Investigation of the Effect of Gender
Keywords:
Semantics, Color idioms, Arabic-speaking EFL learners, metaphor, cultureAbstract
This study investigates the ability of Jordanian learners of English as a foreign language to understand color-idiomatic metaphorical expressions. It also examines whether gender can have an effect on the participants’ ability to comprehend these expressions. Twenty females and twenty males from Isra University took part in this study. The adopted framework is Charteris-Black’s model (2002) which contains six types of metaphors to compare and contrast different types of color idiomatic metaphorical expressions in English and Arabic. A multiple -choice test containing thirty items was administered. The results show that there are differences in the perception of the six types with the most difficult one being the third type. The results also reveal that there are statistically significant differences between the participants’ results due to gender in favor of females, suggesting that females have a better comprehension of color idiomatic metaphorical expressions compared to males.
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