摘要：One of the most challenging parts of learning a foreign/second language is vocabulary, and perhaps the most difficult part of the vocabulary for EFL learners is learning both literal and figurative meanings of idioms. This study was an attempt to find out how EFL learners make a mental image of English idioms as compared with native English speakers. For this purpose two hypotheses were formulated as: 1) prior knowledge of an idiomatic phrase figurative meaning does not influence the mental image of native (American) and non-native (Iranian) English speakers based on phrase's literal meaning, and 2) nonliteral interpretation of figurative phrases does not help native (American) and non-native (Iranian) English speakers conceptualize the literal meanings of idiomatic expressions.After the data analysis the following results were obtained: 1) prior knowledge of an idiomatic phrase figurative meaning can influence the mental image of native English speakers and native Persian speakers based on phrase's literal meaning, and 2) nonliteral interpretation of figurative phrases is not effective in terms of conceptualizing the literal meaning of idiomatic phrases neither for Persian speakers nor for English speakers. The results of this study can be beneficial for L2 teachers and students as well as for material developers.
关键词：idiom; mental image; conceptualization; literal language; figurative language
