cultural competence

This study highlights the role of idioms and expressions in language acquisition and teaching as essential and basic tools for communicating in any language. Learning idioms, and their complexities and simplicity, creates a significant barrier for language learners because it involves interpretation and comprehension, as there are multi-layered meanings attached to cultural dimensions. This study investigated learners’ and teachers’ opinions on the importance of idioms and expressions in enhancing their linguistic competence and language skills, as well as the challenges faced in learning and teaching them. A qualitative approach was employed to dig into the participants’ experiences. To this end, eight teachers and twenty-seven English language learners from a private language institute were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. It was found that learners realized the importance of idioms in their journey toward fluency in the target language culture, though it was a long journey. This gives particular focus on context-enriched learning, dynamic learning, and exploring cultural studies to boost learners’ knowledge and use of idiomatic expressions. It's training meaningful images into a context for which learners construct a linguistic and cultural understanding of how to operate those images across their entire life span. This study suggests that idiomatic language be given due recognition and that processes be developed to adequately render idiomatic language relevant for improved language learning and acquisition.

This research discusses the pedagogical relevance of German idioms and Persian proverbs in language acquisition and intercultural communication. Idioms and proverbs are extremely useful in language competence and culture awareness development, but they are also very challenging for learners due to their non-literal nature and cultural boundness. This study uses a qualitative design to investigate how the use of idiomatic language in real communicative contexts improves comprehension, memorability, and intercultural competence in German language learners. Data were gathered based on semi-structured interviews with experienced teachers and advanced learners, and content analysis of idiomatic language selected from German and Persian texts. The findings show that the integration of cognitive and sociolinguistic approaches optimizes learners' ability to interpret idiomatic meaning and use them appropriately. Besides, computer-mediated resources and multimedia technology support memorization of idioms and their application in context. The instructional model in the research, by incorporating metaphorical comprehension with cultural contextualization, addresses knowledge gaps in traditional idiom instruction and emphasizes the necessity for contextualized learning environments. By enhancing both cultural sensitivity and language proficiency, this research has valuable pedagogical implications for language teachers and curriculum planners. Follow-up research should investigate the application of technology-assisted idiom learning in various linguistic and cultural contexts to validate the usefulness of the model suggested.