Changsha Broadcast ＆TV University

This em pirical study investigates the differences in strategy use between advanced and intermediate Chinese EFLlearners when processing unfamiliar English idioms．The results show that（1）a variety of strategies are used when subjectsinitially process unfamiliar English idioms；（2）the subjects across proficiency levels vary in the overall frequencies with w hich they em ploy strategies as well as in the particular types of strategies they use to process unfamiliar EFLidioms initially；（3）guessing strategies are the highest－ranking category among both the advanced and the intermediate levelsubjects．This paper concludes with a num ber of pedagogical suggestions for the teaching and learning of English idioms． Key words English idiom com prehension；processing strategy；effects of learner proficienc