REFLECTIONS OF ELT STUDENTS ON LEARNING PROVERBS

Learning English proverbs is important for ELT students to understand the language and culture better because they form an essential part of daily speech. The goal of this study was to explore the reflections of ELT students on learning proverbs from various perspectives. The participants were 24 senior teacher trainees attending The Department of English Language Teaching in Pamukkale University Faculty of Education. The data were mainly comprised of the written reflections of the participants based on a practice work to teach English proverbs and they were analyzed through content analysis. Brainstorming technique was also used in the post-practice session in order to identify the opinions on why ELT students would use and teach proverbs in their classes. In addition, a native instructor was also interviewed and asked to give her views on the use of proverbs. The opinions received from the teacher trainees were classified under nine themes. The findings of the study reveal that teacher trainees in our program did not have much experience in learning proverbs previously, but as a result of the practice work they were involved, they find learning and teaching proverbs important. The participant ELT students report that they can express an opinion directly in an easy and effective way by using a proverb rather than using its translation, and in this way, they can be more fluent in language use. It is also reported that conscious use of proverbs develops their confidence in language use and this raises their motivation to learn more of them. It seems that the participants are also interested in the cultural aspect of proverbs and it is reflected that they can use them to teach values of the target culture, specific vocabulary and various components of English in their future teaching experiences. Consequently, ELT students can be helped to focus on proverbs and develop an awareness of them in language use, and as a natural outcome of this, they can benefit from their knowledge of proverbs in their native language and reflect their knowledge of English proverbs into their own teaching.