Locutions in second language learning

The present paper addresses the issue of idioms in foreign language teaching. Their formal, semantic, and functional properties have been largely discussed and described in lexicology. Within the conceptual framework developed by Explanatory and Combinatorial Lexicology, and relying on the data encoded in French Lexical Network, the study firstly focalises on linguistic properties of idioms as main source of difficulties in language learning. The question that arises then is that of the possible methods of teaching idioms in a foreign language class. Thus, in a second part, the paper outlines a general design of an idiom pedagogy, in accordance with their linguistic properties on the one hand, and on the other, with acquisitional and organisational constraints of the language curricula defined in line with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.