Corpus-Based Versus Traditional Collocation Learning: The Case of Iranian EFL Learners

Abstract

A vital aspect of word knowledge is knowledge of collocations. Regarding its central role in accurate and fluent use of words, it is essential to consider collocation learning as integral to the study of vocabulary. While different methods are proposed for teaching collocations, the efficiency of these methods is yet subject to question. This study sought to investigate the effectiveness of corpus-based learning of verb-noun collocations as opposed to the traditional methods. To this aim Collin Collocation Dictionary was used as a concordancing tool for learning collocations. Forty five upper-intermediate students divided randomly into control and experimental groups were studied. A pre-test was conducted to both groups before the experiment. Next, in 4 subsequent weeks, the experimental group was provided with 24 concordance collocations and was required to identify the collocations and miscollocations while the control group received traditional collocation training through texts. At the end of the teaching procedure a post-test as well as a writing task were administered to compare students' collocation learning and their accurate application of collocations in the writing task. In a final step, an interview was conducted to gain insight into students' perceptions of the design. The results indicated the experimental groups' advantage in collocation acquisition as ISSN 2329-9150 2016 http://jsss.macrothink.org 104 well as their application in writings. The interview results with seven students indicated their positive perceptions of the corpus-based design despite the reported limitations. Journal of Social Science Studies

The effect of corpus-assisted language teaching on academic collocation acquisition by Iranian advanced EFL learners

“…Similarly, in Koosha and Jafarpoor (2006) study of traditional and paperbased DDL of propositions, the experimental group outperformed the traditional group in both proposition and collocation learning. Jafarpour et al (2013) and Foomani and Khalaji's (2016) studies showed positive effects of the DDL method on understanding and producing lexical bundles when compared to a traditional approach to teaching collocations using the paper-based DDL approach.…”

“…Second, the number of subjects was so limited that it was fewer than 30 subjects, except for Foomani and Khalaji (2016) study, which had 45 subjects. Additionally, in the Iranian classroom setting, the number of corpora was limited to one corpus, whereas Boulton (2010) found that the number of corpora strongly affects students' ability to learn collocations.…”

EFL Learners’ Collocation Acquisition and Learning in Corpus-Based Instruction: A Systematic Review

“…It is important to note that the proficiency level descriptions in Figure 5 are diverse and may vary depending on the specific framework or context. Some instances include specific levels like advanced [50], pre-intermediate [71,74], upper-intermediate [36,58,65,68], and intermediate [26,52,54,66,69,70], while others have more general descriptions such as beginner-tointermediate [51], intermediate-to-upper-intermediate [72] However, some studies provided no information except the participants' college grades [39][40][41][55][56][57]59,60,[62][63][64]67]. This distribution indicates that corpus-based collocation instruction was investigated across a range of proficiency levels, catering to learners at different stages of language proficiency.…”

“…Jafarpour et al [59] and Koosha and Jafarpour [15] reported the effectiveness of concordancebased methods and DDL in teaching collocations. Men [64] emphasized the positive impact of DDL on collocation production, while Mohammadi and Khalaji [65] found that learners had positive perceptions of corpus-based design. Other studies, such as Yunus…”

“…Jafarpour et al [59] and Koosha and Jafarpour [15] reported the effectiveness of concordance-based methods and DDL in teaching collocations. Men [64] emphasized the positive impact of DDL on collocation production, while Mohammadi and Khalaji [65] found that learners had positive perceptions of corpus-based design. Other studies, such as Yunus and Awab [60], Rezaee et al [68], Saeedakhtar et al [43], and Yang [73] highlighted the advantages of DDL and concordance activities using questionnaire responses and improved performance on collocation tasks.…”