Investigating the Difficulties Faced in Understanding, and Strategies Used in Processing, English Idioms by the Libyan Students

The field of idiomaticity is considered by many researchers as an important area, especially when it comes to L2 and/ or EFL learners. Mastering idioms and the ability to use them in the written and the spoken discourse is considered as a sign towards proficiency. However, it is noticed clearly that there is not much research done in this respect. Lazar (1996) states that figurative language is an area often neglected in the teaching of vocabulary. In this respect, this study was conducted to investigate the difficulties faced by 40 Libyan students in understanding idiomatic expressions. Additionally, it was to shed light on some strategies employed by those students to ease their way in understanding and using idiomatic expressions. The paper aims to investigate problems and difficulties encountered by the Libyan students and strategies used to overcome these problems and difficulties.