THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATING PHRASAL VERBS IN THE TARGET LANGUAGE

Abstract

One of the most challenging aspects of learning English vocabulary is developing native lime proficiency of phrasal verbs in both spoken and written language. Phrasal verbs, similarly to other multiword units such such as multi-word verbs, idioms and collocations often pose problems even for advanced learners especially those who learn English in a foreign language learning (EFL) situation in the classroom. The reasons for the notorious difficulty of mastering native-like use of phrasal verbs are manifold. Descriptive grammar books and reaserch into avoidance in language learning suggest that some of the most decisive factors that may cause problems involve the structural grammatical features of phrasal verbs (e.g. word ordee), semantic features (e.g.the degree of transparency of meaning ), or the fact that phrasel verbs may not exist in the learner's first language and therefore, they lack adequate strategies to recognize and process them. This problem is of much concern to language learners and teachers for the simple reason that phrasel verbs are a common feature of the target language.