THE ROLE OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS IN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Phraseological units, commonly known as idioms and fixed expressions, play a significant role in the process of language acquisition and vocabulary development. This article examines the cognitive, linguistic, and pedagogical functions of phraseological units in enhancing learners’ lexical competence. It highlights how the acquisition of idiomatic expressions helps learners understand figurative meanings, improve communicative fluency, and strengthen their overall linguistic intuition. The study also explores the relationship between phraseological competence and vocabulary expansion, arguing that exposure to idioms fosters deeper semantic processing and long-term retention of new lexical items. Furthermore, the article reviews effective instructional strategies that integrate phraseological units into language teaching, emphasizing the advantages of contextual learning and corpus-based approaches. The findings suggest that systematic incorporation of phraseological units into educational frameworks can significantly improve learners’ linguistic proficiency and communicative competence.