Croatian EFL learners’ comprehension of idiom use: Context, decomposability and age factors

Abstract: There are many factors influencing the comprehension of idiomatic expressions in EFL context. These factors include, among others, age, context, familiarity and decomposability rate (the degree to which an idiom is susceptible to interpretation through simple analysis of the meanings of its individual components). For the purpose of determining how Croatian EFL learners of all levels (Elementary, Secondary, Undergraduate level, Graduate level) process idioms, a study was conducted by using multiple-choice questions and a Likert scale task in order to try and determine which of the abovementioned factors play greater role in idiom comprehension, i.e. if they influence processing to the same extent or if there exists a noticeable difference among them. The purpose of this paper is to set a direction for figurative language teaching in EFL situations by contributing to the existing body of knowledge on what facilitates the comprehension of idiomatic expressions.