Lexical Collocation Instruction and Its Impact on Iranian Non-academic EFL Learners’ Speaking Ability

Abstract

Abstract-Words do not co-occur haphazardly and in fact lexical patterns are different. This difference in the lexical patterning causes potential problems in speaking. The present study intends to see if receiving treatment on the use of lexical collocations affects the pre-intermediate EFL students speaking proficiency. To achieve this aim, 50 pre-intermediate students of Iran Language Institute, Ahvaz branch were chosen and divided into two groups. In the instruction period of ten sessions, the experimental group received instructions on five common lexical collocation patterns such as Verb+ Adverb, Noun+ Verb, Verb+ Noun, Adverb+ Adjective, and Adjective+ Noun. Both groups took the same test before and after the treatment to measure their knowledge of collocation patterning. They also participated in a speaking task to assess their use of lexical collocation and overall oral proficiency. Results showed that the instruction of lexical collocation had a positive effect on the learners speaking proficiency and a moderate effect on their use of lexical collocations. This suggests that receiving instruction on the use of lexical collocation patterning can be effective in the enhancement of EFL students' language skills, specifically, their oral proficiency.

Using Explicit Instruction versus Incidental Learning in Enhancing Lexical Collocational Knowledge and Quality of Writing

“…The findings are consistent with those of other researches, including Bonk, 2000;Nesselhauf, 2003;Macaro & Masterman, 2006;Huang, 2007;Hsu & Chiu, 2008;Spada & Tornita, 2010;Zaferanieh & Behroozi, 2011;Attar and Allami, 2013;and Shooshtari & Karimi, 2013. All of these researchers claim that explicit instruction is more effective in teaching collocations than incidental learning methods as it can accelerate the rate of progress of learning and leads to longer retention.…”

The Effect of Explicit Instruction of Collocations on EFL Learners Language Proficiency

“…The findings are consistent with those of other researches, including Attar and Allami, 2013;Bahns and Eldaw, 1993;Bonk, 2000;Hsu and Chiu, 2008;Huang, 2007;Lin, 2002;Macaro and Masterman, 2006;Nesselhauf, 2003;Norris and Ortega, 2006;Shooshtari, and Karimi, 2013;Spada and Tornita, 2010;Zaferanieh and Behroozi, 2011;and Zhang, 1993. All of these researchers claim that explicit instruction is more effective in teaching collocations than implicit teaching methods as it can speed up the learning process and can have a more longlasting effect on memory retention.…”

Asocijativna snaga i čestota za 228 imenskih kolokacija u hrvatskom jeziku

“…Iako su u fokusu ovoga rada čestota i asocijativna snaga kolokacija te su u skladu s time i opisani rezultati istraživanja utjecaja tih čimbenika na kolokacijsku kompetenciju, potrebno je napomenuti da na razvoj kolokacijske kompetencije u inom jeziku utječu i brojni drugi čimbenici (npr. materinski jezik, dob, izloženost kolokacijama, složenost i struktura kolokacija, kulturološke razlike...) (Gitsaki 1999;Miščin 2012;Shooshtari i Karami 2013), no o njima se detaljnije neće raspravljati jer prelaze sadržajni okvir ovoga rada.…”