Problems and strategies of teaching and translating English idioms in Albanian schools-Theoretical and practical implications

The aim of this paper is to present the main strategies, problems and difficulties that English language teachers encounter while teaching idioms in Albanian schools. Idiomatic language and expressions place an important part in English phraseology, as a reflection of the mentality and spirituality of the nation vision of the world. Translating idioms needs good competence of the target language, which makes the issue a difficult and challenging task for the teachers and translators, too. The scope of this study is to show theoretical and practical implications of idiom teaching and translation in primary and secondary schools of Korça region. It outlines the main problems, methods and ways which have been investigated through a questionnaire carried out to 41 English teachers, 7 of which teaching in villages and 34 in the city. A quantitative research is carried out to give a general view on idiom teaching and the place translation acquires in the target language. The most effective strategies and methods are outlined to illustrate the results of this study. As teaching idioms is considered to be a difficult process, the scope of this study aims at presenting data collected showing Albanian teacher’s experience and the role of the target language in idiom meaning explanation.


Introduction
Teaching idioms is a very difficult and challenging process.It is well known that English is rich in idioms, collocations, set phrases, proverbs and quotations.According to E. M. Kirkpatiick, CM.Scwartz (1996: cover 4) "Idioms are those modes of expression peculiar to a language which frequently defy logical and grammatical rules, but without which both speech and writing would lose much of their vitality and color." The field of idiomaticity is considered by many researchers an important area of linguistics.Mastering idioms is believed by many scholars as a sign toward proficiency for students as EFL learners.It is obvious that further studying should be done to enrich this field.Figurative language is an area often neglected in the teaching of vocabulary (Lazar: 1996) but of crucial importance to be considered.
The aim of this article is to identify teacher's problems while idiom processing and explanation in class and also to outline which strategies do teachers use and find more effective.Idioms are part of the vocabulary in student's course books and no one can neglect teaching them, since they constitute an important part.Idiom teaching and learning are often considered as a hard task in L2 learning.The difficulty of this stands in the fact that the meaning of idioms is not the sum of the individual literal meanings of its constituents.An idiom is made up of simple and random words but when it comes to translate or teach them, there stands the difficulty.
A good cultural knowledge should be acquired by teachers in order to achieve a good grammatical and semantic translation.According to Culler (1976), languages contain concepts which differ radically from those of another, since each language organizes the world differently.
The disparity among languages results in different phrases even though both nations have identified similar social rules.This makes the process of translation a difficult task for the teachers to transfer the meaning from one language to another and a troubleshoot for EFL students to acquire.

Theoretical background
There has been a great contribution of linguists such as Baker, M. ( 1992 In order to understand translation strategies we should know what the translation process is.According to Brislin (1976, p.1) translation is defined as: "the general term referring to the transfer of thoughts and ideas from one language have established orthographies or do not have such standardization or whether one or both languages is based on signs, as with sign languages of the deaf."To Lotfipour, 1997, the translator's task is to create conditions under which the source language author and the target language reader can interact with one another.Those who are involved in the process of translating and are called translators are supposed to be the agents for transferring messages from one language to another, while preserving the underlying cultural and discourse ideas and values (Azabdaftary, 1996).According to Bell (1991: xv), the goal of translation is "the transformation of a text originally in one language into an equivalent text in a different language retaining, as far as possible, the content of the message and the formal features and functional roles of the original text."Newmark (1981: 7) defines translation as "a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language".According to Wills (1982: 13), translation theory examines the transferability of texts from one language to another language, as well as the "similarity of the effect produced by the source language text (SLT) and that produced by the target language text (TLT)"

What are translation strategies?
Very little has been actually written about translation strategies within the field of translation theory, since some scholars consider it a useless concept in the first place.These strategies are defined by Loescher (1991:76) as "a potentially conscious procedure for solving a problem faced in translating a text, or any segment of it."Jaaskelainen (1999, p.71) considers strategy as, "a series of competencies, a set of steps or processes that favor the acquisition, storage, and/or utilization of information."He continues that strategies are "heuristic and flexible in nature, and their adoption implies a decision influenced by amendments in the translator's objectives."According to Leppihalme (1997: 24), translation strategies are "means which the translator, within the confines of his/her existing knowledge, considers to be the best in order to reach the goals set by the translation task." Another important concept is giving the definition of the term 'idiom'.Being part of phraseology, idioms are defined as "a string of words whose meaning is different from the meaning conveyed by the individual words" (Larson, 1984, p.20).In Longman dictionary of English idioms (Longman Group Ltd: 1979) idioms are referred to as "a fixed group of words with a special different meaning from the meaning of the separate words".J. Sedl and W.Mc. Mordie, 1978 gives the definition "The idiom is some quantity of words which, under condition of their joint consideration, mean something absolutely another in comparison with the individual word meanings, forming an idiom."Moon (2006) defined idiom as a fixed sequence of words which has a meaning beyond that of the constituent parts.Another definition contributed by Irujo (1986a, p. 2) is that "an idiom is a conventionalized expression whose meaning cannot be determined from the meaning of its parts.Idioms differ from other figurative expressions, such as similes and metaphors, in that they have conventionalized meanings."Jani Thomai, 1981, states: "An idiom is a linguistic unit with an autonomous meaning consisting of two or more words, with a stable construction, historically formed for a long time, with the value of one word and is reproduced in speech and functions in language as a ready-made unit."Amosova, 1963 "an idiom is a phraseological unit in which we cannot point out which word comprises the main and basic semantic feature of the unit".
The definitions of the idioms are quite unified and they seem to posses almost the same concept and no major contradictions seem to exist between them.
Taking into consideration the idiom definition as a group of words the meaning of which is different from the meaning of its constituents, translation is not an easy task to perform.That's why teachers and many other scholars find this process difficult.This is the reason why we have intended to present the strategies and how to overcome difficulties in the teaching and translation process of idioms in the Albanian context.

Idiom translation
Idiom translation poses a serious problem for the translator because each culture has its own way of expressing things.Some idioms might be difficult to translate because of the lack of this idiom in the target language.The translator has to think about an appropriate translation strategy for the phrase.Idiom translation requires a deep insight of the culture, a good understanding and appropriate analysis before it is given the equivalence.They are culture bound and language specific.Larson (1984: 143) agrees, as he argues that the first crucial step in the translation of idioms is to be absolutely certain of the meaning of the source language idiom.This is why recognizing and being able to use idioms appropriately requires excellent command over the source language.
There are some ways to carry out translation of idioms from one language to another.
Identical pairs is one of them.It is easy for the translator to find the equivalence in the target language such as: someone's blood boils -i zjen gjaku (është i ri), never look a gift horse in the mouth -kali i falur nuk shihet nga dhëmbët, kill two birds with one stone -vras dy zogj me një gur, etc.
Identical messages is another one.This method comprises the idioms which are different in form and meaning, but they convey the same message, e.g.kick the bucket -ndërroj jetë, carry coals to Newcastle -të bësh një vrimë në ujë, put the cart before the horse -peshku në det tigani në zjarr.
Calque or loan translation which are idioms borrowed and accepted from another language (usually from Greek mythology, Bible, Latin, French, German, borrowings) such as: all roads lead to Rome -të gjitha rrugët të çojnë në Romë, be more Catholic than the Pope -të jesh më katolik se Papa, Pandora box -kutia e Pandorës, a Pirrian victoryfitore si e Pirros, the Troyan horse -kali Trojan, etc.
Translation of the message -the idiom in the source language cannot be conveyed in the target language except by translating the message it is supposed to convey, e.g.be in the same boat -të gjendesh në të njëjtën situatë, every cloud has a silver lining -mbas çdo të keqe vjen një e mirë, stick one's neck out -të të hajë kurrizi (të flasësh me kurajo duke marë përsipër rreziqe), spill the beans -nxjerr të palarat në shesh, tie one on -të bëhesh tapë (i dehur), etc.
Uncommon translations.Sometimes an idiom is translated into another language and sounds unfamiliar but the metaphor behind it is clear enough to make it understood.These translations usually happen in translating novels and in dubbing films and rarely become part of the lexicon of the target language.
There is another way of translating idioms and collocations.It is called word for word translation.This type of translation is similar to primitive machine translations and serves no practical purposes.It is considered to be the worst possible translation strategy.For instance according to Larson (1984: 116), a literal translation of an idiom will usually result in complete nonsense in the target language.Also Newmark (1981: 125) stresses that idioms should never be translated word for word.Ingo (1990: 246) agrees with Larson and Newmark, stating that literal translation of an idiom is rarely successful, and should therefore be avoided at all costs.
The most effective strategy is translating by finding the equivalent expression in the target language as the original source language idiom.It is very important to convey the style and the manner of the original source language idiom.If there is no equivalent expression the translator has to use a "non-idiomatic" expression which conveys the same meaning.

Problems in Teaching L2 Idioms
Idioms are the most difficult part of the vocabulary to teach.They are not considered to be taught in the elementary level.Students might be faced with idiomatic expressions like phrasal verbs since the third and the fourth grade such as: switch on the TV, wake up, turn on/off the light, hurry up, stand up, sit down, hands up (in the air), etc. they often use to learn from the teachers phrases like: carry on, raise up your voice, look at the blackboard, etc.Even though this expressions are not called idioms they comprise figurative meaning which is made up of a verb and a particle or adverb.
Idioms are usually not taught in the L2 classroom due to the fact that teachers either don't know their meaning or they don't know their origin.Idioms are not treated in L2 classrooms as regularly as might be, because of time pressures.(Mola, 1993).According to Lennon (1998) exercises of problem-solving nature can help learners to discover the metaphors in idiomatic expressions.Furthermore, Lennon believes that students will become highly motivated to translate their language's metaphors into the target language so as to share with the class their own culture the method of metaphor encoding.
It is very important to integrate students in the four skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking) because they integrate idiom knowledge in the four skills.Teachers should design various activities for students to use with English idioms so that students can collaborate with peers and utilize idioms in different contexts.Idioms should not be taught directly at all.(Mantyla, 2004).She considers the best policy of teaching to be a method where the students' attention is focused on the common characteristics of idioms.

When to teach idioms
A number of questions arise from researchers as to when to teach idioms, what level, age, in the primary or secondary school, etc.Since idioms represent the status of highly idiomatic language, an idiomatic expression like let the cat out of the bag -nxjerr të palarat në shesh or it is raining cats and dogs -bie shi me gjyma there is no relation with cats and dogs but the overall meaning is composed of several words whose individual meanings do not seem to contribute to the meaning of the idiom as a whole (reveal a secret or heavy rain).In addition to this apparent incongmity between form and meaning, the scarcity of teaching materials and the lack of a clear methodology make idioms a stumbling block for EFL students.(Irene López Rodriguez, Elena Maria Garcia Moreno, n.d.: 241)."Some students, of course, only learn English because it is on the curriculum at primary or secondary level, but for others, studying the language reflects some kind of choice."(J.Harmer, 2007: 11).

Teaching tips and strategies.
Learning idioms is one of the fundamental aspects of language learning that is postponed until the learners reach their advanced levels (Irujo, 1986a).It is very important to choose the idioms which are necessary, those which are more frequent in reading texts and conversations.She indicates that comparing and contrasting literal and figurative meanings of idioms will enable students to recognize idiomatic usage and to interpret idioms accordingly.Irujo (1986b) emphasizes that most students are very interested in learning idiomatic expressions so it will be a wrong decision to postpone learning them until students reach advanced levels.A research study conducted by Wu (2008) showed that English idioms with illustrations could increase college students' idioms understanding better.
According to Nilsen, A.P. & Nilsen, D.L.F.(2003), by knowing the origins of idioms, students can more easily figure out the metaphorical meanings.He carries on that discussions focused on the origins of words and phrases help students understand how language transforms over time and, thereby, enables them to hypothesize in a more meaningful way the meaning of unfamiliar words or phrases.Zigo, D. (2001), states that: "when teachers encourage students' natural inclinations toward narrative forms of meaning making, in conjunction with text-based lessons, the students appear more engaged with textual content and demonstrate less resistance to reading material that might otherwise be challenging or frustrating."He sums up that students respond to texts through narrative approaches, encouraging them to engage in role-playing and to allow memories, images, and stories to surface as they begin to develop interpretations.They are more likely to understand, recall, and care about what a metaphor means after having played with the word through a highly personalized, storied exploration of their own experiences of metaphorical language.According to the internet site (w.w.w.teachingenglish.org.uk) the following tips are given to teach idioms: - The teacher deals with proverbs and idioms when they crop up in their contexts, such as in reading and listening tasks or when you use one naturally in class.

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The teacher teaches several 'body idioms' together.E.g. to be head and shoulders above the rest, to be long in the tooth, to shoot yourself in the foot, etc.It will be easier for students to remember some of them if they're in groups. - The teacher uses visuals and pictures to help learners remember them.For example, draw a bird in the hand and two in the bush. - The teacher does some matching activities.For example, give students five proverbs that have been cut in half and get them to match them up. - The teacher asks students if any of the proverbs translate directly into their own language.Most of the time students will know a similar expression in their language and it can help them to remember them if they compare the differences between English and their language. - The teacher tires put idioms into context.Try to use situations when people actually use the expressions and get students to create dialogues or role-play and to use a few of the proverbs or idioms to reinforce the meaning.

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The teacher explains to students that it may be more useful for them to be able to understand the expressions when they hear them than to be able to produce them.Ask them how they would react if you used this type of expression in their language.Would they find it a bit strange? - The teacher doesn't overload students with too many at a time.Five is probably a good number of one class.

The study
This study has a qualitative nature followed by a quantitative study carried out by the analysis of a questionnaire handed to city and village teachers of Korça district.The study is followed by an analysis of the data taken from each questionnaire and presented in type of charts and diagrams below.

Aim and research questions
The overall aim of this research paper is to analyze what strategies and methods teachers use in idiom teaching and translation in primary and secondary schools of rural and urban zones of Korça city.This paper intends to show teachers methodology of idiom translation in their classes and what different strategies do they use to teach idioms in primary and secondary schools.This study seeks to answer the following research questions.
1. What are the main translation strategies teachers' use in teaching and translating idioms in class?
2. What different strategies do teachers find more effective in teaching idioms in primary and secondary schools?
3. How do teachers cope with idiom translation in class?

The subjects in the study and the research instruments
This study is focused on a questionnaire of the methods, strategies, and difficulties teachers face in teaching idioms in class.The participants involved in this study were 41 English teachers of Korça city and some villages (Pirg, Zvirinë, Vashtmi, Libonik, Mborje, Podgorie and Pojan).The questionnaire was distributed to 12 teachers teaching in the above villages and 29 teachers of Korça public schools.From the 29 teachers 10 teach in private schools and English language centers.4 of the teachers teach in both private centers and public schools, of which 2 in villages and the other 2 in Korça public schools.All of them teach both in primary and secondary schools from the 3rd to the 9th grade.Primary school in Albania includes grades from 3rd to 5th while secondary from 6th to 9th.The questionnaire was handed out and collected in two weeks time.The questionnaire consisted of 16 questions and the data derived were analyzed by using descriptive statistical methods.
Teachers under the subject of this research have an experience from 5 to 15 years of teaching in primary and secondary school.Teachers worked with different levels of English texts in different schools thus different answers are provided depending on idiom frequency in their English texts.Most of them worked with English Zone

Methodology
The methodology used is based on a quantitative analysis conducted with a questionnaire handed out and filled in from teachers of primary and secondary schools of Korça city and villages around.The questionnaire was selected as the most appropriate methodological tool so as to conduct the survey.According to Papanastasiou and Papanastasiou (2005), a questionnaire is an important means which can collect data from a lot of people while the quantitative and the statistical analysis can be revealed.Data results are interpreted through graphs and charts under statistical descriptive method.

Data Analysis of the questionnaire
When all questionnaires were collected, data were recorded and registered on the computer.Notes were kept for each question and answers were recorded.Concerning the 16 questions of the questionnaire, 11 questions included multiple choice answers while 5 others wanted teacher interpretation and comments.There was given no comment to some questions by some teachers.
According to the results of the questionnaire the following data were recorded: ► 40 % of the teachers chose translation by paraphrase strategy and another 41 % translation by using an idiom with similar form and meaning in the target language.19 % had chosen translation by using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form and 0% of them translation by omission.(Data are shown in Chart 1).► In the second question which strategies do teachers find useful while teaching it was pointed out the first and the third, and in some cases the second and the third strategies have been more useful.(See the questionnaire).Most of the teachers who had chosen the first method answer said students understand idioms better, the others who have chosen the second method said students can understand the meaning and differences in form the Albanian phrases and is more appealing to the needs of learners, it is practical to learn and easy to remember.About 18 have chosen the third method.Students feel comfortable and can understand better.It makes students think and use their knowledge (vocabulary, structure, phrases).Some teachers have chosen more than one strategy, 7 teachers have chosen the first and the third method, 3 the second and the third.
► 24 out of 41 teachers find necessary to translate idioms in Albanian, 10 answered often, 1 never, and 6 usually.(See Chart 2).This happens when there is a low level of pupils in class and in the primary education mostly.
► 24 of the teachers chose idiom translation into Albanian and 17 of them by paraphrasing to the question when do students acquire better an idiom meaning.
► Almost all the teachers found difficult to teach idiomatic language because students cannot grasp the idiom meaning unless it is translated into Albanian, sometimes there is no corresponding idiom in the target language, and they do not make use of them, so they do not feel encouraged to learn idioms.6 of them do not find idiom teaching difficult.► According to students they find idioms difficult in their course books.Around 36 find them difficult, 4 easy and 1 very difficult.
► 26 of the teachers have answered 10-20 % the 8 th question relating to idiom usage in students' communication activities, 13 find it 40 % and 2 less than 60-70%.
► 26 of the teachers answered: students are interested in learning English idioms, 12 a little, 1 very interested and 2 answered no.
► Some interest was shown by the students to know idiom origin and background 13, 18 a little, 5 no and 2 very interested.
► Concerning the 11 question what do teachers think are the drawbacks and disadvantages of learning idiom through internet, most of them answered: students would not get the right meaning and the presence of the teacher is necessary.A few answered there is no disadvantage since they are provided examples and explanation.
► We have the same ratio =50 % and >80 % to the question how much are students able to use and remember idioms in the learning unit.
► 26 out of 41 teachers answered not very easy to understand idiom explanation and examples in the learning unit, 6 answered easy, 5 very easy, 3 difficult, 1 very difficult.► 35 (85 %) teachers answered YES to the question if students could make faster progress in the English language learning possessing idiomatic competence, 6 (15 %) answered NO. (See chart 3).► Regarding the 15 th question what are the effects of using translation activities to learn English, most of the teachers shared the opinion that it is a useful activity to enhance students vocabulary; develop listening and speaking skills; necessary to comprehend the meaning of certain linguistic items; remember and produce foreign language; useful for lighting specific differences between mother tongue and English language; encourage critical thinking; etc.A few answered translation activities might not be suitable for all students' level; students take ready-made meanings; loose the chance to speak and listen in the foreign language; etc. 3 of the teachers gave no answer to this question.► Referring to the materials teachers use in explaining idiom meaning most of them used games, flashcards, and labels.Almost all used games and flashcards because they are more interesting, attractive to learners (especially young learners); they understand and remember better idiom meaning (long term memory).Some of the teachers varied the materials depending on the topic, module, etc. 3 teachers didn't use because of the lack of material in school.

Overall Discussions and Conclusions
This study aimed at identifying strategies and methods teachers used in the process of L2 learning during idiom teaching based on a data analyzed from a questionnaire.The research seeks to answer the different strategies teachers used in primary and secondary education, and to analyze the role of the target language (Albanian) in class.
Teaching idioms in class has shown to be a difficult task.The study has revealed difficulties in choosing which strategy to teach.This varied on the level of the class.Teachers of primary education find effective translation by using an idiom with similar form and meaning in the target language while teachers of secondary one could use as an alternative method translation by paraphrase.They use it because it expands students vocabulary, develops critical thinking, they can understand better and clearly idiom meaning.Teachers find it useful when there is no equivalent in Albanian.However they tend to use translation into the mother tongue in most of the cases because they are sure all the students of all the levels have understood the idiom properly.
Based on the quantitative data, 59% of the teachers used sometimes Albanian in translating idioms.There is almost the same percentage of students when acquiring better idiom meaning which seems that teachers use almost in the same proportion of paraphrasing and idiom translation into Albanian.
Idioms resulted to be difficult because students do not use them in situational contexts thus not encouraging using them.They find their usage and remembering difficult.Students need teacher's help.They should be given contextual support and many exercises to demonstrate the right usage.It has come to a conclusion that teachers find them difficult to teach because there is no equivalent idiom in the target language and the language is too idiomatic.Moreover, the lower the grade, the lower the percentages of idiom use.Idiomatic language is used very little due to the lack of necessity and there is a different form and meaning in English and Albanian which makes students difficult to use them.
From the questionnaire statistics 76% of students have shown little interest in knowing idiom origin and background.Most of the teachers were against idiom teaching through internet because of the misunderstanding led from the meanings they read, the necessity of the teacher presence in class; they get inappropriate connotations of meaning and do not interact and put idioms in practice.Some teachers accepted the fact that they use internet as entertainment and not for the learning process.A few of them shared the opposite opinion.85% of the teachers commented that idioms help improve and increase idiomatic language competence.A few shared a negative answer.
The results of the questionnaire for the effects of using translation activities to learn English support for the idea of acquiring the meaning more easily and use idiom in everyday English, specifying the understanding of idioms.It is necessary to comprehend, remember and produce foreign language while some of the teachers agree with the opposite idea considering the process as threshold to develop their communicative ideas.They suggest these activities for the early beginners and not to be used as a common practice.
The organization of teaching idioms in an English class should take into consideration the usage of some materials to teach the idiom meaning.Games, flashcards, role-plays, and pictures have resulted to be the most useful.They learn easily and put them in the long term memory.It is an easier and faster method for students to acquire and understand through visual perception in partly motivated idioms.
Teachers should use a variety of methods and strategies depending on the topic and module.Mother tongue should be left apart and teach idioms through paraphrasing.This develops their critical thinking, enlarge the vocabulary and make students think in English.Albanian should be used in translating idioms which are highly non-motivated, when there is hard to find any explanation, and when half of the class has not acquired the idiom meaning.
This study intends to be helpful for L2 teachers who encounter difficulties and problems in such idiomatic languages suggesting what methods to use and exactly what strategies do Albanian teachers find useful in the foreign language teaching in primary and secondary schools, fulfilling thus teachers' needs and requirements.

Chart 3 .
Chart 4. Primary vs. Public Schools Question 3. Do you find necessary to translate idioms in Albanian while teaching and practicing idiomatic language in class?a) Yes b) No c) Sometimes d) often Question 4. How often do you use your mother tongue (Albanian) in translating idioms?a) Sometimes b) Often c) Never d) usually Question 5. When do students acquire better an idiom meaning?Why? a) By paraphrasing b) idiom translation into Albanian Question 6. Do you find idiomatic language difficult to teach?If Yes, why? Question 7. How do students find idioms in English course books?a) Difficult to use and practice b) easy c) not interesting d) very difficult Question 8. Do they use idiomatic language they have learned in communicative activities?If yes, how often?a) 10-20% b) 40% c) less than 60-70% ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Question 9. Are students interested in learning English idioms?a) No b) Interested c) extremely interested d) very interested e) little Question 10.When encountering unfamiliar an English idiom, are students interested to know its origin and background?a) No b) A little c)Some interest d) Very interested e) Extremely interested Question 11.Compared with traditional classroom learning with textbooks, what do you think are the drawbacks and disadvantages of learning idioms online?________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Question 12. How much are students able to use and remember these idioms after learning them?<10% <30% =50% >80% >95% Question 13.Is it easy to understand the explanation and examples of idioms in the learning unit?a) Very easy b) Easy c) Not very easy d) Difficult e) Very difficulty 1, English Zone 2, English Zone 3 -Margarita Prieto; Lauren Robbins; McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc (2006) from 3rd to 5th grade and some with Welcome 1, Welcome 2, and Welcome 3 -Gray E. Evans V. Express Publishing 2008.In the secondary grade they use Elevator International 1, Elevator 2, Elevator 3, Elevator 4 -Lucy Norris; Annie Taylor, Richmond Publishing (2008) and Access 1, Access 2, Access 3, Access 4 Virginia Evans; Neil O'Sulivan; Express Publishing 2008.One of the public secondary schools in Korça city worked with Off we go, Zana Lita; Suzana Balli, Pegi (2006).