Assessing Comprehension of English Idioms: A Case of University Students in Unguja

Abstract

Understanding English idioms is essential to mastering the language. Despite idioms being extensively studied in the  African context,  showing the importance of idiomatic  competence, studies on how Zanzibari students comprehend  idioms are still limited. Therefore,  this study was conducted to  assess the extent of comprehension of English idioms among  university students in Unguja to establish if  this would enhance  their proficiency in English. The study adopted a mixed-method  approach and a descriptive research design. The  researcher  used questionnaires and cloze tests to collect data from 180  respondents from three universities in Zanzibar; the State  University of Zanzibar, Sumait University, and Zanzibar  University. The findings revealed that the respondents’  performance in idiom  comprehension was below average. The  findings add to linguistic theory and practice, specifically to the  studies on idioms.