EFL LEARNERS’ PRODUCTION OF IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS IN SPEAKING

Idiomatic expressions are expressions whose meanings cannot be derived from their literal meaning. Thus, it is viewed as a challenging part for EFL learners in either understanding or practicing them. However, using them in oral spoken adequately signifies that someone is a proficient English user. This research is carried out to depict the learner's application of idiomatic expressions in spoken English. It is performed to address the accompanying examination questions: (1) Do EFL learners of the English Department in IAIN Takengon use idiomatic expressions in speaking? (2) What type of idioms do they produce in speaking? (3) What is the most frequently used idiom type in their speaking?. 20 students' recordings were collected and analyzed using the descriptive qualitative method. The result shows that the learners use idiomatic expressions. The learners produced only three types of idiomatic expressions, namely phrasal verb idiom, tournures idiom, and irreversible compound idiom. Of all, phrasal verb idiom is the most frequently used. It is suggested that the learners are encouraged to be exposed to English more often to apply more idiomatic expressions in their speaking.


INTRODUCTION
Idiomatic expressions such as metaphors, action words, phrases, and all non-literal discourse will always overflowing in a language (Cooper, 1999). Idiomatic expressions, also known as idioms, are considered an essential element in learning English. They are part of native speakers' life which are very widely used in their communication. These expressions are even found in argumentative essays written to TOEFL prompts in large quantities (Flor & Beigman Klebanov, 2018). Cooper (1999) in (Zarei & Rahimi, 2012) Jurnal As-Salam, Vol. 4 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2020 (Print ISSN 2528-1402, Online ISSN 2549 Jurnal As-Salam Vol. 4 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2020: 379 -390 Yunie Amalia Rakhmyta, Rusmiati | 380 states that applying appropriate idiomatic expressions would be regarded as being close to the native speaker in all languages since she noted that almost all the English speakers say around 20 million idioms per lifetime; thus, idioms play a crucial role in learning a foreign language. (Onjukka, 2011) also emphasizes the significance of idioms in language learning that the learners' competence in a language can be increased by identifying and applying idiomatic expressions. However, they can be problematic when EFL learners are unfamiliar with the expressions since communication cannot be reached when EFL learners do not understand native's spoken. Glucksberg (2008: 88), in Bastug and Salihagic (2014), points out that mastering applying idioms is both essential and difficult in language learning. It is supported by Maisa's and Karunakaran's findings, which stated that most teachers agree that idiomatic expressions are important in everyday English usage and include the hardest part of English for the foreign learners (Maisa & Karunakaran, 2013). Furthermore, Healey (1968: 71), as cited in (Alata et al., 2016), defined idiomatic expressions as a series of words from which their meaning cannot form the meaning of the expressions. For instance, the phrase "kill two birds with one stone" does not have anything to do with stone and birds. It does not signify throwing a stone toward two birds to kill them. Instead, it means to get two results or benefits in only one action. Such meaning is likely to be implicit or hidden and should be comprehended in a context.
Velasco states that daily utterances of English native speakers are littered with many idiomatic expressions that would sound strange or even weird to non-native speakers (Velasco, 2016).
Due to the implied meaning of the idiomatic expression, it is difficult for EFL learners to catch it. Warren (2005) in (Vanderniet, 2015) says that due to naturally memorizing idioms (because is read/listened to repeatedly), non-English speakers can recognize (learn) the meanings of those (idiom expressions). Glucksberg (2001)  as the subject of mental exploration (Bobrow & Bell, 1973). Thus, idiomatic expressions are regarded as a challenging part for EFL learners to master. One of the plans to get a decent comprehension of idiomatic expressions articulations is that the learners must introduce more into the objective language.
Conversely, due to the hardship in extracting the significance of idiomatic expressions and their wide use by the locals, the EFL learners who can understand and apply in speaking are considered more proficient. Students having sufficient insight into idiomatic expressions will be better speakers because a natural, conversational, and creative sense of a language is obtained (Edith, 2009). This assessment agrees with Rana, who expressed that the lot of a non-local speaker of English is supplied for utilizing idiomatic expressions, the nearer the person to English fluency (Rana, 2016). It is in line with (Bastug & Salihagic, 2014)  meanings and how they are used. It is because English learners will come across a great many idioms when they listen and read English. It is said that a non-English speaker who can use idiomatic expressions is considered as close to English language proficiency (Rana, 2016). It is supported by many researchers (Fernando, 1996;Schmitt, 2000;Wray, 2000) that to have the ability to recognize idioms represents to reach the fluency of a native speaker.
Furthermore, Makkai (1972)  e) Binomial (word + and + word) "odds and ends," "wear and tear." f) Trinomial (word + word + and + word) "gold, silver, and bronze," "small, medium and large." g) Clause or sentence  "without further ado." However, this investigation will use the classification as proposed by Makkai in grouping the idiomatic expressions produced by the participants. The data classified in this investigation is noninteractive speaking, i.e., the participants' self-speaking recording, which does not involve the immediate interlocutory when speaking.

Speaking
Figuring out how to communicate in another dialect is laden with a danger of disappointment or negative assessment. (Macintyre & Gregersen, 2012 Qualitative research is applied in this investigation. In the beginning, participants were suggested to record self-telling experiences for about 5 minutes. The record was collected and then analyzed by performing the following steps. 1. First, the record was transcribed into written text (transcript).
2. Second, idiomatic expressions were identified throughout the transcript.
Subsequently, as much as detected idiom expressions were classified based on their types according to Makkai's theory about lexemic idioms. Six types of idiomatic expressions were classified here: phrasal verbs, tournures, irreversible, compounds, phrasal compounds, incorporating verbs, and pseudo-idioms.
3. The last step is to find out the most frequently used type of idioms. It was carried out by applying Arikunto's formula of percentage, i.e., P = x 100% in which P stands for percentage, F is the number of a certain type of idioms, N is the total number of all idioms (Arikunto, 2008). In detail, every idiom found in the transcript will be count individually.
4. From this analysis, the research questions are answered, and a description of the learners' idioms practice can be illustrated.

Result
From 20 transcripts of learners' around-5-minute-recordings, 23 idiomatic expressions were identified. A few of them were produced by more than one participant and counted as different parts (one idiom is counted as twice). For instance, get in is the idiom that comes from NS and SH. According to Idiom Free Dictionary by Farlex, get in means to enter some place or thing. Besides, the other idioms produced more than once were go through and last but not least: the former means to do something that one had planned or promised, despite difficulties, hesitations, or a concerning outcome, while the latter means a phrase used to

Total of 23
From table 1, it can likewise understand that the participants use the idiomatic expression, yet it appears to be that not all participants use them. It can be noticed that from the six types proposed, three of them were identified as phrasal verb idioms, tournures idioms, and irreversible compound idioms. While the other three were not found in the participant's self-telling record. Then, the finding provides the answer to the second question: what type of idioms do they produce in speaking?. It can be summed up that the participants recognize and are familiar with the only three types of idioms. On the contrary, the participants do not recognize and are seemingly unfamiliar with phrasal compounds, incorporating verbs, and pseudo-idioms.
The subsequent step in data analysis is to provide the data in terms of percentage to look for the most dominant type of idiom practiced by the learners. It is displayed in the following table.    (Tran, 2013) also, obtain a similar finding that the investigated students (EFL Learners in Vietnam) possess little knowledge of the common idioms, though most of them are aware of idioms' significance and learn them as a foreign language.

Discussion
Grabe and Stoller (Ho, 2018) claim that most native English students can read fluently with good comprehension, but they would have difficulty in doing grammar exercises on their reading. On the other hand, many EFL students have little fluency but considerable grammatical knowledge to do a test. In this case, EFL students do not need more grammatical knowledge but their fluency. Therefore, fluency in speaking needs to get more attention in the EFL teaching-learning process (Albino in (Ho, 2018). The spread of English, the promotion of English education, and the communicative purpose lead to many EFL learners in the world, especially in Indonesia. This reveals the importance of speaking fluently in the EFL class. As the outcome of this investigation revealed that the majority of participants did not apply idioms. Language learners need to be realized and conscious of enhancing their idiomatic understanding to assist their specific perspectives in the first-rate language and turn out to be extra successful. A couple of instructing exercises and thoughts can be additionally intended for learning and utilizing idiomatic expressions inside and outside the study hall to broaden this investigation. Since for all intents and purposes, all idiomatic and conventionalized expressions are represented language and culture. The idiomatic didactic function can contribute to learners' key fluency advancement (Hinkel, 2017).

CONCLUSIONS
Several points regarding the utilization of idiomatic expression by EFL learners in IAIN Takengon can be concluded. First, as a participant, they used idioms in their speaking practice. Second, overall the types of idioms they used are phrasal verb idiom, tournures idiom, and irreversible idiom. There was no use of other idioms found in their data record. Third, a phrasal verb is the most frequently used by the participants of all these three types.
It can be wrapped up that idiomatic expressions are not prevalent widespread from the data distribution. Therefore, the use of idioms among the participant is reckoned poor.
As stated previously, the more a non-indigenous speaker is equipped for comprehension and utilizing idiomatic expression, the closer the person is to the indigenous speaking capability and English fluency. The result signifies that the learners are still far from the native proficiency of English.
Regarding the result of this investigation, it is recommended that EFL learners of the English Department in IAIN Takengon are encouraged to exposure English more often to apply more idiomatic expressions in their speaking.
Further research is recommended as the continuity of this study to determine the intricacies that the learners probably encounter in recognizing, comprehending, and practicing idiomatic expressions.