L2 Learners’ Receptive and Productive Knowledge of Phrasal Verbs

Abstract

Phrasal verbs (PVs) are very common in English, indicating their usefulness in everyday settings. However, it was reported that language learners generally have great difficulties in understanding and using this linguistic form. This study investigated Malaysian learners’ receptive and productive knowledge of PVs, and some possible factors which may contribute to their difficulties in understanding and using this language feature. A set of PVs test was developed and distributed to 480 secondary school learners in Malaysia to identify their receptive and productive knowledge with respect to PVs. Real data from the English of Malaysian School Students (EMAS) Corpus was used to examine the actual use of PVs by Malaysian learners. Results of the PVs test indicated that in general, Malaysian learners had an average level of knowledge of PVs. Analysis of the EMAS corpus revealed that they faced a lot of problems in the production of PVs. Some possible factors are highlighted which may contribute to such difficulties.

Polysemous Phrasal Verbs: How Much Do Thai EFL High School Learners Know?

“…In other words, productive knowledge of phrasal verbs cannot be mastered until receptive knowledge is mastered. These results are consistent with prior research demonstrating that receptive knowledge of English polysemous phrasal verbs is acquired before productive knowledge (Chodchoi, 2018;Demetriou, 2020;Gardner & Davies, 2007;Garnier & Schmitt, 2016;Kamarudin et al, 2019;Paugtes, 2020;Rumpanpetch, 2013;Sonbul et al, 2020;Zhang & Wen, 2019). In the vocabulary literature, it has also been reported that receptive knowledge is first acquired and then transferred to productive knowledge (Jeensuk & Sukying, 2021;Laufer & Goldstein, 2004;Nation, 2013;Sukying & Nontasee, 2022;Zhang & Sukying, 2021).…”

“…In addition, it was demonstrated that phrasal verb knowledge appeared to be associated with overall language proficiency, as their upper-intermediate participants scored higher than their intermediate participants. Similarly, Kamarudin, Majid, Zamin, and Daud (2019) investigated the receptive and productive knowledge of PVs among Malaysian learners, as well as the factors that may contribute to their difficulties in comprehending and employing this linguistic feature. The test results indicated that Malaysian learners possessed an average level of knowledge regarding PV knowledge and that the production of PVs was fraught with difficulty.…”

“…A recent series of studies investigated the acquisition of receptive and productive knowledge of polysemous phrasal verbs in an effort to better understand the functions of this knowledge (Demetriou, 2020;Garnier & Schmitt, 2016;Kamarudin et al, 2019;Sonbul et al, 2020;Zhang & Wen, 2019). Garnier and Schmitt (2016) analyzed the knowledge of 128 Chilean English learners regarding exceedingly common polysemous phrasal verbs.…”

Digging into the receptive and productive knowledge of phrasal verbs among Arab EFL English

“…The influence of learners' mother tongue particularly the lack of PVs in their L1s may negatively influence learners' understanding and using of PVs. Therefore, EFL learners whose L1s lack the verb-particle composition habitually avoid using PVs (Hulstijn and Marchena, 1989;Laufer and Eliasson, 1993;Kamarudin, 2013aKamarudin, , 2013bEl-Dakhs, 2016;Kamarudin et. al, 2019).…”

“…This representation enables learners to infer the meaning of the distinctive constituents of PVs and hence misunderstand their inclusive meaning (Garnier and Schmitt, 2016). Besides, PVs are irregular in form and multifaceted in meaning as a large number of PVs convey manifold meanings which can be literal or non-literal (Dagut and Laufer, 1985;Laufer and Eliasson, 1993;Houshyar and Talebinezhad, 2012;Kamarudin et. al, 2019).…”