Idiomatic expressions for the development of communicative competence

Abstract

When teaching a foreign language, to achieve a communicative competence of the learners, it should be considered not only their functional mastery of a new linguistic code, but also their capacity to interpret and interact in a sociocultural context of the target language. This paper aims at proposing exercises with some idiomatic expressions which contain parts of the body to strengthen the sociolinguistic competence and therefore the communicative one of the third-year medical students. Some of these expressions are pull someone’s leg, turn one’s back on, to put heads together, find one’s feet, a shot in the arm. Learning these and other idiomatic expressions may facilitate the communication of health professionals during their social and professional role in an English-speaking country.

Keywords

• lenguaje
• educación médica
• educación profesional, aprendizaje.