English Idiom Processing Strategies by Chinese EFL Learners

English idioms are one of the most difficult areas of foreign language teaching and learning for EFL teachers and students. But most of the research on idioms has only involved native speakers. In this research, forty Chinese college EFL learners are asked to comprehend a set of idioms in zero context and in a one-to-two sentences context by using TA protocol, respectively. On the basis of the results, using the literal meaning of the idiom, guessing from the context, discussion and analysis of the idiom with other frequently employed strategies in the process of comprehension by these Chinese participants are tracked down. It may assist idiom comprehension by the instruction of the successful strategies found in the study to Chinese EFL learners.