An exploratory study of collocational use by ESL students – A task based approach

Fan, May

doi:10.1016/j.system.2008.06.004

Cited by 92 publications

(74 citation statements)

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“…It is believed that the mastery of word combinations or chunks of words retained in the memory contribute to language fluency. In addition, as the study is situated in a local setting, it is indeed a contribution to the existing research of this area of vocabulary and its profound effect on both second language and foreign language acquisition There has been a lot of research emphasising the importance of collocation in English language proficiency among second language learners [2,5,8,10,18]. However, most of these studies have focused on writing skills rather than other language skills such as speaking, listening and reading.…”

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The Knowledge of Lexical Collocation among University Students and its Relation to their Speaking Proficiency

Abdullah

Ghani

See

2015

ILSHS

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ABSTRACT. This study aims to investigate students' collocational competence by examining the relationship between the knowledge of lexical collocation among them. The respondents were 30 students of Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK). A lexical collocation test (LCT) was constructed to gauge the knowledge of collocation, while a speaking proficiency test (SPT) adopted from the IELTS was administered to determine the students' level of speaking proficiency. Both variables were then correlated. The result indicates that there was no significant correlation between the knowledge of collocation and speaking proficiency among the respondents. Based on the findings, it is revealed that exposure to the target language plays a vital role in language acquisition. Exposure to collocations in particular would enable the learners to speak more fluently and sound more native-like. INTRODUCTIONThe ultimate goal of learning a language is to be able to communicate effectively. In realizing communicative competence, comprehensibility of a speaker's speech production must be taken into account. As a rule of thumb, it is essential for non-native speakers to emulate the way native speakers use their language as a benchmark in reaching that goal. Native-like competence is characterized by speakers' ability to use a target language in a way that is natural and considered acceptable by the native speakers. It is one of the features of this native-likeness. Collocation is made up of word combinations which are naturally and frequently used by native speakers. Collocation plays an important role in language acquisition as it helps learners improve their communication skills and also helps them achieve native-like competence [11,13]. Collocation along with other types of prefabricated chunks or ready-made expressions consisting of word combinations that are repeatedly used by native speakers is said to contribute 58.6% and 52.3% to the composition of both their spoken and written discourses respectively [7]. This is reflective of the significance of acquiring word combinations in order to achieve the level of language competence of the native speakers of the target language. Along the same line, Schmitt (2004) reports that these formulaic sequences are extensively used in discourse and set the non-native speakers apart from native speakers in language proficiency.The level of English proficiency among UMK students still leaves a lot to be desired and deserves considerable attention. Their performance in the university English papers and Malaysian University English Test (MUET) often demonstrates some problems. One of the difficulties which could be identified besides poor grammar is students' struggle in producing acceptable word combinations or collocations, which is deemed vital for them to acquire a good command of English. These word combinations which are considered part of lexical chunks will help learners engage in communication more effectively and fluently [12]. Similarly, Hill (2000) maintains that one of the main reasons lead...

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The Knowledge of Lexical Collocation among University Students and its Relation to their Speaking Proficiency

Abdullah

Ghani

See

2015

ILSHS

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“…Fan, 2009;Zinkgraf 2008) and that collocational use is adversely affected by a deficient knowledge of L2 grammar and lexis (Fan, 2009). The analysis carried out here confirms these results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring atypical verb+noun combinations in learner technical writing

Marco¹

2011

ijes

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Professional and academic discourse is characterised by a specific phraseology, which usually poses problems for students. This paper investigates atypical verb+noun collocations in a corpus of English technical writing of Spanish students. I focus on the type of verbs that most frequently occurred in these awkward or questionable combinations and attempt to explore the reasons why the learners deviate from NS's norms. The analysis indicates that these learners tend to have problems with a set of sub-technical and high-frequency verbs. Deviant combinations involving these verbs are frequently the result of a deficient knowledge of the phraseology of academic and technical discourse. The unawareness of collocations that are typical of this discourse often leads students to create V+N combinations by relying on the "Open Choice Principle" (Sinclair, 1991) or by using patterns from their mother tongue.KEYWORDS: learner corpora, technical writing, collocation, sub-technical vocabulary, high-frequency verbs. RESUMENEl discurso profesional y académico se caracteriza por una fraseología específica, que suele plantear problemas a los estudiantes. Este artículo investiga colocaciones de verbo+nombre atípicas en un corpus de textos técnicos en inglés escritos por estudiantes españoles. El estudio se centra en los verbos que más frecuentemente aparecen en estas combinaciones atípicas y explora las razones por las que los estudiantes se desvían de la norma. El análisis indica que estos estudiantes suelen tener problemas con un grupo de verbos sub-técnicos y verbos de alta frecuencia. Las combinaciones atípicas en las que estos verbos aparecen son frecuentemente el resultado de un conocimiento deficiente de la fraseología del discurso académico y técnico. El desconocimiento de colocaciones que son típicas de este discurso a menudo lleva a los estudiantes a crear combinaciones basándose en el "principio de opción abierta" (Sinclair, 1991) o a usar colocaciones prestadas de su lengua materna.

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“…The studies also shared a common major limitation. The researchers generally requested the subjects to provide single collocates of the stimuli that reflected only part of their L2 collocational performance (Fan 2009). Moreover, they were wholly devoted to exploring the use of a particular type of collocations, i.e.…”

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confidence: 99%

Guessing Verb–Adverb Collocations: Arab EFL Learners' Use of Electronic Dictionaries

Alzi'abi

2017

LEXI

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Abstract:Collocational studies have recently attracted a great deal of interest. To date, hardly any study has tackled Arab EFL learners' competency in the use of verb-adverb collocations. This study explores the way advanced Arab EFL learners handle verb-adverb collocations using two learner's dictionaries. The subjects (N = 82) were required to look up 22 verbs, 12 frequent and 10 infrequent, and guess three adverb collocates of each verb. The results showed that even advanced EFL learners had considerable difficulty in providing extra adverb collocates of both frequent and infrequent verbs. Dictionary use was effective; the subjects performed significantly better especially with infrequent verbs. Many reasons were posited for this finding, foremost of which included the subjects' deficiency in collocational skills and the lack of sufficient clues in the definitions to facilitate dictionary users' correct use of collocations. Whereas knowledge of the meaning of the stimuli was found to be a significant contributing factor to the subjects' overall collocational competence, basic prior training in dictionary usage did not show any positive impact on their overall performance. Keywords: VERB-ADVERB COLLOCATIONS, ARAB EFL LEARNERS, FREQUENT VERBS, INFREQUENT VERBS, TRAINING IN DICTIONARY USE, COLLOCATIONS DICTIONARIES, DICTIONARY USE, LEARNER'S DICTIONARIESOpsomming: Die raai van werkwoord-bywoord-kollokasies: Arabiese EVTleerders se gebruik van elektroniese woordeboeke. Kollokasienavorsing het onlangs baie belangstelling ontlok. Tot op hede het byna geen studie Arabiese EVT-leerders se vaardighede in die gebruik van werkwoord-bywoord-kollokasies ondersoek nie. Hierdie studie ondersoek die manier waarop gevorderde Arabiese EVT-leerders met werkwoord-bywoord-kollokasies omgaan terwyl hulle twee aanleerderswoordeboeke gebruik. Die proefpersone (N = 82) is versoek om 22 werkwoorde, waarvan 12 gebruiklik en 10 ongebruiklik was, na te slaan en drie bywoordelike kollokasies vir elke werkwoord te raai. Die resultate het getoon dat selfs gevorderde EVT-leerders aansienlike probleme ondervind het om ekstra bywoordelike kollokasies vir sowel gebruiklike as ongebruiklik werkwoorde te verskaf. Woordeboekgebruik was effektief; die proefpersone het aansienlik beter gevaar by veral gebruiklike werkwoorde. Baie redes is voorgestel vir hierdie bevinding, waarvan die belangrikstes die proefpersone se gebrek aan kollokasionele vaardighede ingesluit het, asook die gebrek aan voldoende leidrade in die definisies om woordeboekgebruikers se * This is a sequel to Alzi'abi (2017). The two studies made use of the same material and subjects but each had its own aims, procedure and results.

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An exploratory study of collocational use by ESL students – A task based approach

Cited by 92 publications

References 13 publications

The Knowledge of Lexical Collocation among University Students and its Relation to their Speaking Proficiency

The Knowledge of Lexical Collocation among University Students and its Relation to their Speaking Proficiency

Exploring atypical verb+noun combinations in learner technical writing

Guessing Verb–Adverb Collocations: Arab EFL Learners' Use of Electronic Dictionaries

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