The Effect of Input Enhancement of Collocations in Reading on Collocation Learning and Retention of EFL Learners (original) (raw)
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Collocational Use: A Contrastive Analysis of Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Learners
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2015
Despite the role of collocations in many aspects of second language learning, its significance has been neglected by the contrastive analysts in ELT. The current study aimed at investigating learners' use of collocations by analyzing their written performance. It was conducted using 102 male and female EFL learners majoring in English Translation and English Language and Literature at Hakim Sabzevari University in Iran. The researchers analyzed the data to determine the sources of collocational errors, and the strategy types utilized by learners in order to overcome their collocational deficiencies. The percentage of errors resulting from lack or inadequate familiarity of the students with collocations was 75%. The results of the study showed that most of the students' errors in writing did not originate from their insufficient knowledge of the grammar but from their inability with regard to the combination of language units. Moreover, the findings revealed that learners made use of four strategy types including transfer, synonym, repetition and paraphrase to overcome their collocational problems, with transfer strategy ranking as the most frequently used strategy followed by the use of synonym. The implications and applications of the study are discussed.
The current research was to explore the relationship among knowledge of collocation and reading, writing, speaking and listening proficiency of Iranian EFL students. To this end, 50 students involved in the study took a test of both lexical and grammatical collocations to measure their collocational knowledge, first. Then, an IELTS sample test (IELTS Practice Plus Pearson Education Longman University, Version two) was administered in order to find the students' reading, writing, speaking and listening proficiency. Pearson correlation coefficient and regression model were used to analyze the data. Pearson correlation coefficient illustrated a significant correlation between knowledge of collocation and reading (P=0.724), writing (P=0.724), listening (P=0.706) and speaking (P=0.885) proficiency. Regression model was conducted to find the exact contribution between variables. It indicated that knowledge of collocation can be a predicator for all four language skills. In addition, knowledge of collocation has the greatest impact (R 2 =78.3%) on participants' speaking proficiency. Based on the above mentioned results, knowledge of collocation proved to be a prerequisite for successful language learning. This research confirmed the influential role of collocation knowledge in essential language learning.
The current research was to explore the relationship among knowledge of collocation and reading, writing, speaking and listening proficiency of Iranian EFL students. To this end, 50 students involved in the study took a test of both lexical and grammatical collocations to measure their collocational knowledge, first. Then, an IELTS sample test (IELTS Practice Plus Pearson Education Longman University, Version two) was administered in order to find the students' reading, writing, speaking and listening proficiency. Pearson correlation coefficient and regression model were used to analyze the data. Pearson correlation coefficient illustrated a significant correlation between knowledge of collocation and reading (P=0.724), writing (P=0.724), listening (P=0.706) and speaking (P=0.885) proficiency. Regression model was conducted to find the exact contribution between variables. It indicated that knowledge of collocation can be a predicator for all four language skills. In addition, knowledge of collocation has the greatest impact (R 2 =78.3%) on participants' speaking proficiency. Based on the above mentioned results, knowledge of collocation proved to be a prerequisite for successful language learning. This research confirmed the influential role of collocation knowledge in essential language learning.
The Impact of Corpus-Based Collocation Instruction on Iranian EFL Learners' Collocation Learning
Universal Journal of Educational Research, 2014
Over the past decades, studies of EFL/ESL vocabulary acquisition have identified the significance of collocations in language learning. Due to the fact that collocations have been regarded as one of the major concerns of both EFL teachers and learners for many years, the present study attempts to shed light on the impact of corpus-based collocation on EFL learners' collocation learning and awareness. 60 Iranian EFL learners, who participated in this study, were chosen randomly based on their scores in an OPT exam. There were two groups, experimental and control ones. The study examined the effects of direct corpus-based collocation instruction on EFL learners' collocation learning. For 15 sessions the control group received single-item vocabulary or, the usual work of their class and the experimental group received lexical collocation instruction as treatment. The same test as post-test was given to the learners when the treatment accomplished, and after that a t-test and kolmogorov-smirnov test between the pre-tests and post-tests were calculated. According to the results demonstrated by the statistical program, the effectiveness of the treatment was noticeable. This study suggests that direct corpus-based collocation instruction can be a worthy alternative. It demonstrated that the learners, who were in the experimental group, got aware of the existence of collocations, used them and learnt them properly, and they also started to find the collocation of every other word, which they learnt during the term, by themselves because the treatment appealed to them.
The Effects of Teaching Lexical Collocations on Speaking Ability of Iranian EFL Learners
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2013
The present study aimed at a) investigating the effect of teaching collocations on the speaking ability of EFL Iranian Learners, b) examining the relationship between the participants' knowledge of collocations and the participants' use of collocation taking into consideration, and c) finding out participants' attitude towards teaching collocations. To this end, after administrating the Quick Placement Test (QPT), 40 intermediate L2 learners were selected out of 80, and assigned to two experimental and control groups. For pretests, collocation test and collocation interview were run. Then, Collocation in Use was taught to the experimental group as a treatment. After collocation instruction, another collocation test and interview were conducted on both experimental and control group. The result of paired sample t-test showed that the participants' speaking ability in the experimental group significantly improved in posttest. The analyzed data also revealed that after the collocation instruction in experimental group the participants' performance in interview increased too. Moreover, the result of ANCOVA displayed that the participants had positive attitudes towards explicit instruction of collocations. This study has theoretical and pedagogical implications in the field of foreign/second language teaching and learning. It can be considered as a solution for language teachers, constantly searching for the better ways to train native-like speakers.
THE EFFECT OF COLLOCATIONS ON AZARI TURKISH EFL LEARNERS`READING COMPREHENSION
Collocation is one of the most problematic areas in second language learning and it seems that if one wants to improve his or her communication in another language s/he should improve his or her collocation competence. Unfortunately, almost no study has been done in terms of its efficiency among three levels including elementary, pre-intermediate and intermediate. The present study aimed at investigating the effect of teaching collocations on Turkish EFL learners`reading comprehension and its efficiency on elementary, pre-intermediate and intermediate level. For this purpose, 60 students were chosen from English institutes at elementary, pre-intermediate and intermediate levels. Their level of English proficiency was determined on the basis of their scores on a proficiency test. Three intact classes were randomly selected as the experimental group. Due to proven collocation effect on student reading ability, control group was not included in this study. Results of one-way ANOVA indicated that there isn`t any significant differences among the three groups. The findings of the current study shed light on the effect of teaching collocation on EFL learners reading comprehension. The result of this study can be used to inform ESL\EFL teachers and researchers interested in improving their students collocation and have doubt which level in much more effective. The finding that participants in this treatment groups achieved collocation knowledge in all three groups may encourage teachers and researchers in the ESL\EFL field to teach collocation in all three level with confidence that students can benefit from that. INTRODUCTION Vocabulary and grammar are both indispensable aspects of knowledge that second language (L2) learners need to acquire. The importance of vocabulary in communication cannot be iignored, as emphatically stated by Wilkins (1972) without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed .The primary concern of L2 vocabulary has largely been single, orthographic words, and Moon (1997) claims that it is natural to focus on the word as the primary unit when discussing vocabulary knowledge, and that dictionaries give an aid to reinforce this focus. It is clear that knowing many words is a merit for all language learners. However, certain learner categories need to attain native-like command of an L2. As a result, especially for advanced learners, e.g. university-level students, teacher students, translators and other professionals, possessing a large vocabulary per se is simply not enough. This has been pointed out by Wray (2002) to know a language you must know not only its individual words, but also how they fit together. Thus, in order to be able to communicate effectively, in addition to knowing many words and their more frequent, core meanings, learners must acquire knowledge
2013
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge and use of English lexical collocations and their relation to the speaking proficiency among upperintermediate to advanced Iranian EFL learner students at Sadr Institute of higher Education. It is worth mentioning that all of the students had already passed placement test and were preparing themselves for IELTS exam. Data for the study were collected from 20 students. The participants were asked to take 2 tests .The first one was a lexical collocational test for estimating the knowledge of lexical collocation. Another one was an IELTS speaking test, to collect the participants ‘use of lexical collocation and understanding their speaking fluency. Data analysis for correlations between the subjects’ knowledge of lexical collocations and their speaking proficiency showed that there was a significantly positive correlation between students ‘knowledge of lexical collocation and their speaking proficiency in IELTS success. Cu...
Impact of Collocation Instruction on Kuwaiti ESL/EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension
The Journal of Social Sciences Research
Collocation refers to a group of two or more words that often go together or located in a certain manner in speech and writing. This research was intended to observe the impact of collocation instruction on Kuwaiti ESL/ EFL learners’ reading comprehension. The setting of this pragmatic research was English Language Unit (ELU), Kuwait University. For this purpose, 80 Arabic-speaking English learners, both male and female, at intermediate level were selected from English Language Unit. The participants’ age ranged 22-25 years. Their level of English was determined on the basis of their scores on Nelson Proficiency Test which was administered at the same time in four different classes i.e., two classes as the experimental group while the other two classes as the control group for the purpose of recent research. Some participants, however, were disqualified from the data analysis because a few of them didn’t show up in the pre-experimental test, while others missed some of the sessions ...
Corpus-Based Versus Traditional Collocation Learning: The Case of Iranian EFL Learners
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 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 Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2016
The main goal of this study is to investigate the possible effects of explicit instruction of lexical collocations on Iranian upper intermediate EFL learners’ comprehension of collocation and the appropriate use of them in their writing. A total number of 66 university level EFL learners were selected and then were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Pretests of collocation and writing task were initially administered to both groups. Then, the specific treatment including explicit instruction of collocation was given to the experimental group while the control group received placebo. Afterwards, both groups took the post-test which was statistically analyzed through Independent sample t-test. The results showed that the performance of both groups improved in the post-tests of collocation comprehension and writing post-test. Based on the analysis of t-tests, this progression was statistically significant simply for the experimental groups. The experimental group...