The problem of learning foreign languages has become especially important at present. Languages are needed as the main and most efficient means of information exchange between people of our planet. English is generally considered to be the major international language for communication in such areas as science, technology, business, politics and mass media. It is the language of computer software, literature, education, modern music and international tourism. All this presents a rich input for a person learning English as a foreign language. Remembering a number of new words is rather challenging, there being items which learners find especially difficult. Phrasal verbs or multi-verb words are generally a major challenge even for quite good learners. So, the aim of this article is to examine the physical characteristic of phrasal verb particles up and down and offer some ideas of how such words can be taught and learnt.

Needless to say that learning any foreign language is not an easy thing. It is a long and hard process that takes a lot of time, effort and patience. But every learner, even a beginner, knows about the ways of mastering the language. Watching English films, reading books in the original, talking to English-speaking people will help a lot to improve the learner’s vocabulary. After hearing and writing words a thousand times, a person can learn them without series difficulty, although some confusions may still arise.

According to the predictability and regularity of the different features involved in language items, there are at least three factors making a learning burden lighter or heavier:
1. the learners’ previous experience with their mother tongue and the L2;
2. the way a word is learned or taught;
3. the intrinsic difficulty of a world.

As with many other foreign learners of English, Russian students find that the learning burden, when it comes to phrasal verbs, is not at all light. The following features are among those which cause them difficulty:

* These constructions do not always occur in the same patterns as the corresponding word or concept in their mother tongue. For example, Russian prepositions are usually followed by noun phrases, while English prepositions and adverbs may appear in sentences like What are you waiting for? Her daughter is being cared for by relatives. I advised her to bring the matter up at the next meeting. * The students’ mother tongue word does not resemble the English form, e.g. ‘выходить’ go out, ‘выяснять’ find out. * Certain combinations have an idiomatic quality, e.g. to make up one’s mind. Metaphorical senses of phrasal verbs are fairly frequent and commonly misinterpreted.

Research studies show that we remember new words much more easily if they are organized into groups. English coursebooks available, for example, English Vocabulary in Use [1; 2; 3], usually give learners aids to learning vocabulary. So, learners of all levels of knowledge of English words and phrases are advised to keep a vocabulary notebook where they can write down words that go together (collocations, word families; words with a grammatical connection) or even draw pictures and diagrams with them.

How can the learner organize phrasal verbs in his/her vocabulary notebook? Obviously, the suggestions given above are of little use here. Learning these language items in word lists like those illustrated, for example, by Phrasal Verb Dictionary [4] won’t do either. What is the way of dealing with such unfortunate area of English vocabulary then?

Being a part of language acquisition, all good coursebooks contain certain practice and test activities built on phrasals. Traditionally, they are learnt together with their synonyms or/and antonyms, e.g. Tony was raised/brought up strictly.

But in my opinion, there is a more universal way to remember these verbs: the phrasal verb particles ‘up’ and ‘down’ are meaningful in English vocabulary. When used with verbs, they give them certain shades of meaning. When you say that your car has broken down or you have picked up English everybody understands what bad or good has happened to you recently. These striking examples prove that there must be something deeper, not only the opposition ‘positive - negative’, in the explanation of these language items.

Reading some works on the problem provoked our further thinking. The first work which is worth mentioning is an article whose author argues for revival of interest in M. Halliday’s ideas [5]. This linguist’s theories provide a framework that makes sense of different language-learning problems. For example, phrasal verbs are interpreted through stress-intonation paradigms.

According to Halliday, a phrasal verb is a device for putting the important new idea at the end of the sentence, and thus enabling us to express it more forcefully. Compare ‘Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off’ and ‘Let’s Not Get Married’. So, this example proves the idea that phrasal verbs are related not to useless abstract forms, but to concrete functional needs.

Another interesting article following this approach is that by Campoy [6], who studied the use of up and over and offered convincing explanations helping students understand how native English speakers organize concepts and pattern them onto phrasal verb structures.

M. Campoy explains how physical size and power may be expressed by means of the particle up, which, in contrast to down, indicates the highest size or position in society. This may be seen in phrasal verbs like bring up (a child), grow up, and pairs like look up to /look down on; come up/come down (socially). In this sense, up indicates the position of power, superiority or knowledge as something that is desirable. Thus, for instance, when we look up to someone, it is because we would like to be like him/her: When I was young, we were taught to look up to the police [6].

To take a step further we find other verbs implying improvement (which may also but not necessary imply power). When one grows up we assume that is for the better; if women make up, it is to make them look more attractive; we cut up our food because eating in pieces is easier. So, up is associated with superiority in the sense of improvement, quality, good position.

Another use of up/down is to express quantity related to a container. This use of up may be found both in literal and metaphorical examples, where up means more, full or complete. Conversely, when you turn down the heater, you reduce the amount of heat being produced.

This sense of quantity can also be related to mental and emotional state. For example, M. Campoy explains a verb like cheer up as ‘filling someone up with joy’ [6]. Apart from that, we find another example on down: if something gets you down, it makes you unhappy.

Taking into account these researchers’ ideas we have studied all the examples given in Phrasal Verb Dictionary [4] and classified phrasal verbs according to different senses of up and down. The table below could be a good illustration of a vocabulary notebook on phrasal verbs.

The examples given suggest that relating particles to central concepts, which may then be extended to metaphorical meanings, may help to reduce the learning burden associated with phrasal verbs. This also allows the teacher to refer back to a previous phrasal verb with similar cognitive features. Likewise, differences in shades of meaning, like the contrast discussed here between up and down, help to provide better classroom explanations of why one particle is preferred to the other.

Литература

1. McCarthy, O’Dell D. English Vocabulary in Use. Elementary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
2. McCarthy, O’Dell D. English Vocabulary in Use. Upper-intermediate and advanced. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
3. McCarthy, O’Dell D. English Vocabulary in Use. Advanced. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
4. Prodromour L. First Certificate Star. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
5. Lowe M. Why should we read Michael Halliday? Because we call ourselves professionals. // Modern English Teacher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. – Volume II, Number I, pp.5-7.
6. Mari Carmen Campoy. Up and over. Phrasal verbs expressing superiority and quantity. // Modern English Teacher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. – Volume II, Number I, pp.17-19.

Научный руководитель – Ястребова Л.Н.,
ст. преподаватель ИЯК ТПУ