Methodological difficulties and ways to overcome them in teaching phraseology to Chinese students

Importance. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that the teaching of phraseology within the course of Russian as a Foreign Language receives insufficient attention. The methodological development of phraseological instruction in Russian as a Foreign Language represents an important and promising area for further research and improvement, particularly with regard to Chinese learners. Students from China experience notable difficulties in understanding and using set expressions that are highly idiomatic and culturally specific. Purpose: The aim of the study is to identify methodological challenges in teaching phraseology to Chinese-speaking students and to propose practical recommendations and techniques to overcome these difficulties.Research Methods. The study employs methods of theoretical analysis, comparison, content and pragmatic analysis of teaching materials, as well as synthesis of pedagogical experience in teaching Russian as a Foreign Language to Chinese students.Results and Discussion. As a result of the work carried out, the main types of difficulties are identified: lexico-semantic, pragmatic, cultural-motivational, interference-related, and grammatical. The analysis not only made it possible to systematize these challenges, but also to determine their internal interconnection, which is conditioned both by the specific features of the learners’ native language and by the peculiarities of the Russian phraseological system. The breadth and depth of the collected data create opportunities for comprehensive diagnostics of phraseological competence, adaptation of teaching materials to the needs of a particular audience, and the construction of individualized learning trajectories. In particular, the study’s findings indicate that interference errors are often accompanied by pragmatic misuses, while lexico-semantic difficulties are usually linked to a lack of cultural background. This highlights the need for a multi-level methodological intervention that includes semantic visualization, cultural comparison, scenariobased speech practices, and active use of multimodal and game-based technologies. In addition to previously tested techniques – such as the explication of internal form, creation of visual associations, and stylistic mapping – it is proposed to integrate digital tools (including neural networkbased systems) capable of adapting phraseological material to the learner's perceptual level in real time. These developments lay the groundwork for a new methodological toolkit focused on interdisciplinarity, variability, and cultural-linguistic sensitivity, which in turn facilitates the sustainable acquisition of phraseology as a key element of foreign language communicative competence.Conclusion. The successful development of phraseological competence among Chinese students is achievable only through a targeted, culturally oriented, and methodologically sound teaching strategy that takes into account the linguistic, cognitive, and sociocultural characteristics of the learners. Within this framework, phraseology should occupy a central place in the Russian as a Foreign Language curriculum, fostering intercultural intuition and helping to overcome pragmatic challenges, thereby ensuring not only language acquisition but also the learners’ integration into the cultural space of native speakers.