Formulaic Expressions for Foreign Language Learning and Teaching
Résumé
Foreign language teaching experts unanimously insist on the necessity of acquiring formulaic
expressions in order to communicate successfully in the target language. However, many of the
treatises in favour of phraseme use, including semantically non-compositional idiomatic expressions,
by foreign language learners seem to be marked by an insufficient depth of reflection
as to applied linguistic, methodological, and phraseodidactic1 criteria. The present contribution
therefore aims at a differentiated treatment of prefabricated communicative constructions, starting
out from an extended definition and classification and by discussing the pros and cons of
phraseme acquisition. These considerations will lead to the delimitation of formulaic language
fundamental for an operative foreign language competence (routine formulae, collocations and
“constructions”) as opposed to those types of phrasemes which are not essential or even inappropriate
for non-native speakers.