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Keywords:
proverbs, vocabulary activity, English teaching, metaphorical 
learning, effective communication. 
According to the paroemiologist Wolfgang Mieder (2004), proverbs have 
been used and should be used in teaching as didactic tools because of their content 
of educational wisdom. When it comes to foreign language learning, proverbs play 
a role in the teaching as a part of cultural and metaphorical learning. Linguists also 
claim that the use of proverbs in the teaching of English as a second or foreign 
language is important for the learners’ ability to communicate effectively.
The use of proverbs and its declining in the teaching of modern languages has 
long been discussed.
Durbin Rowland (1926) points at some arguments pro the use of proverbs in 
language teaching. Rowland says that proverbs “stick in the mind”, “build up 
vocabulary”, “illustrate admirably the phraseology and idiomatic expressions of 
the foreign tongue”, “contribute gradually to a surer feeling for the foreign tongue” 
and proverbs “consume very little time”.
It was also said that proverbs are not only melodic and witty, possessed with 
rhythm and imagery; proverbs also reflect “patterns of thought”. As proverbs are 
universal, there are analogous proverbs in different nations that have related 
cultural patterns. Proverbs are therefore useful in the students’ discussions of 
cultural ideas when they compare the proverbs’ equivalents in different languages.
But as the experience shows the incorporation of proverbs in the foreign 
language classroom is rare. When proverbs are included, they are often used as 
timefillers and not integrated into a context. The proverbs that are used are often 
randomly picked from dictionaries, which often include archaic proverbs and new 

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proverbs might therefore be missed. The suitability of proverbs in teaching is due 
to their form; they are pithy and easy to learn, they often rhyme and contain 
repetition figures like alliteration and assonance.
Some scholars propose the use of proverbs in a range of areas within language 
teaching: grammar and syntax, phonetics, vocabulary development, culture, 
reading, speaking and writing. They state that proverbs, besides being an important 
part of culture, also are an important tool for effective communication and for the 
comprehension of different spoken and written discourses.
The person who does not acquire competence in using proverbs will be 
limited in conversation, will have difficulty comprehending a wide variety of 
printed matter, radio, television, songs etc., and will not understand proverb 
parodies which presuppose a familiarity with a stock proverb.
It is considered
that both the structure and the content of proverbs are useful 
in ESL teaching especially when it comes to teaching and understanding of culture, 
as proverbs conveys the values and metaphors shared by a culture. Proverbs are 
also useful in teaching the differences between spoken and written language, 
something that often confuses language learners; they use conversational style 
when they write. Proverbs are one way to help the students to clarify the 
distinction between oral and written English. One of the scholars compares the 
content of proverbs, which includes the metaphors contained in them, to “a 
microcosm of what it means to know a second language”. He points out that 
proverbial competence both requires knowledge of the linguistic structure of a 
target language (i.e. morphology, syntax, lexicon, pronunciation, and semantics) 
and of the rules and regulations that are necessary to be able to use a proverb 
accurately. His conclusion is that the processing of proverbial language involves 
all the functions of both the right and the left hemisphere of the brain. The function 
of the left hemisphere is to interpret the incoming linguistic data, i.e. text, while the 
right hemisphere supports the understanding of context. Due to the metaphorical 

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content of a proverb, the function of the right hemisphere is to create a literal 
meaning with the help of the contextual features in which the proverb is used, 
while the left hemisphere processes the linguistic structure of the proverb. Proverbs 
therefore serve an important purpose in the second-language classroom.
Proverbs change with time and culture. Some old proverbs are not in use any 
longer because they reflect a culture that no longer exists, e.g. 
Let the cobbler stick 
to his last
, which has vanished more or less, because the profession of the cobbler 
nowadays is rare. However, new proverbs that reflect the contemporary society are 
created instead, e.g. 
Garbage in, garbage
out
, a proverb created due to our 
computerised time. Old proverbs are also used as so called anti-proverbs today, i.e. 
“parodied, twisted, or fractured proverbs that reveal humorous or satirical speech 
play with traditional proverbial wisdom”. One example is 
Nobody is perfect
, which 
as an anti-proverb is changed to 
No body is perfect
.
Work with proverbs and sayings at the lessons not only helps to diversify 
educational process and to make its brighter and interesting. Moreover it helps to 
solve a number of very important educational problems: proverbs in the classroom 
can improve students’ learning experiences, their language skills, and their 
understanding of themselves and the world. This happens, because:

Proverbs provide an opportunity for students to be knowledgeable experts 
as well as learners.

Proverbs provide an opportunity for students to learn about each other and 
their shared values.

Proverbs provide an opportunity for students to gain insight as they 
discuss their experiences and work out their understanding of proverb meanings.

Proverbs provide an opportunity for students to use their home culture as 
a stepping stone into school culture.

Proverbs provide an opportunity to improve thinking and writing as 
students both provide and receive information.

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