Interdisciplinary Social Research

Learning English idioms are challenging for English as a Foreign Language learners as they are figurative in meaning, culturally specific, and semantically opaque. Such challenges can hinder learners’ language ability and fluency. Although there have been several studies on idiom understanding, few in-depth reviews exist which gather evidence across various educational settings and learner groups to guide effective instructional strategies. This scoping review integrated current research on the challenges EFL learners encounter in understanding English idioms and explored instructional strategies used to promote idiom learning. Through a systematic search, 12 peer-reviewed article were analyzed that had explored EFL learners’ challenges with English idioms and the instructional methods used to overcome these challenges. Data was extracted according to Arksey and O’ Malley’s outlined scoping review strategy. The results underscored semantic opacity, cultural unfamiliarity, and lack of contextual cues as main barriers in idiom understanding among EFL learners. Effective instructional strategies as using visual aids, conceptual metaphors, stories, and context guessing strategies were found effective. These have proven effective in enhancing students’ understanding and retention of idiomatic language. The application of research indicates integrating multimodal pedagogies and addressing different students’ needs when teaching EFL. Adjusting instructional practices to include locally situated materials and motivational interactive tasks will assist in enriching idiom comprehension. Addressing the challenges of idiom acquisition in the EFL context requires a holistic and multidimensional teaching strategy. Teachers need to incorporate diverse teaching methods that take into consideration learners’ linguistic ability and cultural background.