"An Investigation of the Hierarchy of Realization of English Idiomatic Phraseology by Iraqi Learners of EFL

There are many idiomatic expressions which constitute major problems for foreign learners of English. Phraseology as a general concept and particularly phrasal verbs are one of these idiomatic expressions. It is undeniable that EFL learners may find it difficult to understand and use idiomatic phraseology and this leads them to avoid using these expressions. The  research aims at knowing to which extent Iraqi EFL students can recognize and produce idiomatic phraseology as a problem for EFL learners and to know how English idiomatic phraseology pass along a continuum of complexity through the college grades. It is argued that there will be some statistical differences among the students of the four grades of English department at College of Education for Women at Tikrit University. 100 students are chosen to be the sample of the research. The research is grounded into two main parts. The first, presents a theoretical background of idioms and phrasal verbs tackling some definitions, types, characterizations and features of idioms and phrasal verbs and the interference between the two concepts. Part two deals with the procedures of the research. The Conclusions indicate that language development is not necessarily a smooth continuous process that takes place all the time. Finally, some conclusions, findings, and suggestions are provided.