Teaching Phrasal Verbs More Efficiently: Using Corpus Studies and Cognitive Linguistics to Create a Particle List

Abstract

Phrasal verbs are important for EFL and ESL education because of their high frequency, but can be difficult for learners because of their number and polysemy. While there are a number of studies on phrasal verbs, the widening focus of such studies has left a gap between theory and practical instruction. This study improves upon previous studies related to teaching phrasal verbs through cognitive linguistics by combining the theory of event conflation with corpusbased research to create a list of phrasal verb particles and meanings that is concise and yet comprehensive enough to account for approximately 95% of common phrasal verb meanings. It also reports the results of an experiment in which learners taught with this particle list improved more on pre-/post-tests of phrasal verbs than learners that studied a list of the most common phrasal verbs as whole entities (p<0.001, d=1.34). Quantitative and qualitative data presented in this study also indicate that learners taught with the particle list improved their ability to conjecture the meanings of novel phrasal verbs more effectively than learners who studied common phrasal verbs as whole units.

A Cognitive Approach to the Instruction of Phrasal Verbs: Rudzka-Ostyn’s Model

“…Other similar studies to the present study have been conducted by Yasuda (2010) and Spring (2018). Yasuda (2010) worked with 115 Japanese students to test the efficiency of orientational metaphors in teaching 21 idiomatic phrasal verbs with the particles up, down, into, out and off.…”

“…Spring (2018), on the other hand, benefited from Garnier and Schmitt's (2015) list of frequent phrasal verbs to extract another list of frequent particles, namely up, down, in, out, on, off, back, away, after, under, over, across, along, about/around, through, apart, together. Believing that the meaning of a phrasal verb results from a conflation between the verb and its particle (Talmy, 1985), Spring (2018) proposed some frequent senses for such particles to account for 95% of phrasal verb meanings. Thus, Spring's (2018) approach was based corpus linguistics and Talmy's cognitive theory of event conflation. According to Talmy (1985), since English is a satellite-framed language, motion, change and temporality are conveyed by the particle.…”

“…The adopted approach in many studies is orientational metaphors (e.g., Kövecses & Szab´o, 1996;Boers, 2000) as proposed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). Furthermore, some investigations (e.g., Yasuda, 2010;Spring, 2018) suggested an in-class instruction of shorter duration. However, multiple contacts of longer duration are recommended to ensure effective learning and retention of explicitly taught phrasal verbs (Nation, 1990).…”

“…As opposed to previous studies, the present study was of longer duration, of a different cognitive approach and addressed 150 frequent phrasal verbs along with 12 particles. Similar to Spring's (2018), the present study was based on Liu's (2011) list which was derived from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and the British National Corpus (BNC). The list is of 150 frequentlyused phrasal verbs and their very frequent senses proposed by Garnier and Schmitt (2015).…”

“…The list is of 150 frequentlyused phrasal verbs and their very frequent senses proposed by Garnier and Schmitt (2015). Additionally, akin to Yasuda's (2010) and Spring's (2018), the pre-and post-tests were of taught and new phrasal verbs where participants were required to fill in the gaps with particles.…”