IJAESsince 2000 International Journal of Arabic-English Studies

At the Intersection of L1 Congruence and L2 Exposure: Collocational Knowledge of Advanced Arab Users of English

Abstract

The study is quantitative research, examining the effects of learning environment and native language (L1) on the collocational knowledge of advanced Arab users of English as a second language (ESL) (n=34) and foreign language (EFL) (n=33). The participants were university students who completed two collocation tests, containing verb-noun and noun-adjective congruent (collocations with L1-L2 translation equivalents) and incongruent (L2-specific) collocations. The results showed that the two groups markedly differed in their collocational knowledge (both productively and receptively), with the ESL participants performing significantly better than the EFL students. As to the effects of the native language, the results revealed that the ESL participants experienced noticeable effects of Arabic both receptively and productively with the influences being significantly stronger for the incongruent collocations (L2-only) than the congruent ones (L1-L2). Interestingly, the EFL participants showed less L1 effects in their production and perception of collocations. The findings suggested that both L1 congruence and second language (L2) exposure have an effect on the acquisition of English collocations. The findings are discussed in light of some pedagogical expectations and instructional recommendations that can improve advanced ESL and EFL Arab students’ collocational knowledge productively and receptively.

Authors

Alla Zareva, Asmaa Shehata

DOI

Keywords

Full Text :

ijaes.net/article/fulltext/view?volume=15&issue=1&id=6

References

  1. Abu Naba'h, Abdallah Matar. (2012). ‘An investigation of the English collocational knowledge of Jordanian graduate students’. Damascus University Journal, 28 (2): 37–61.
  2. Abu-Ssaydeh, Abdul-Fattah. (1995).’An Arabic-English collocational dictionary: Issues in theory and methodology’. Babel, 4: 12–23.
  3. Bahns, Jens. (1993).’ Lexical collocations: A contrastive view’. ELT Journal, 47: 56–63.
  4. Bahns, Jens and Moira Eldaw. (1993).’Should we teach EFL students collocations’? System, 21: 101–114.
  5. Benson, Morton, Evelyn Benson and Robert Ilson. (1986). The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  6. Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad and Edward Finegan. (1999). Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow, Essex: Longman.
  7. Boers, Frank, June Eyckmans, Jenny Kappel, Hélène Stengers and Murielle Demecheleer. (2006).’Formulaic sequences and perceived oral proficiency: Putting a lexical approach to the test’. Language Teaching Research, 10: 245–261.
  8. Channell, Joanna. (1981).’Applying semantic theory to vocabulary teaching’. English Language Teaching Journal, 35:115–122.
  9. Cobb, Tom. (2002). Web VocabProfile (v. 3 Classic). Available online at http://www. lextutor.ca/vp/eng/ Retrieved on March 16, 2015
  10. Conklin, Kathy and Norbert Schmitt. (2008). ‘Formulaic sequences: Are they processed more quickly than nonformulaic language by native and nonnative speakers’? Applied Linguistics, 29: 1–18.
  11. Davies, Mark. (2008).’The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA): 425+ million words, 1990-present’. Available online at http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/. (Retrieved on March 16, 2015)
  12. Durrant, Philip and Norbert Schmitt (2009). ‘To what extent do native and non-native writers make use of collocations?’IRAL 47: 157–177.
  13. Ellis, Nick C. and Susan G. Sinclair. (1996). ‘Working memory in the acquisition of vocabulary and syntax: Putting language in good order’. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 49: 234–250.
  14. Erman, Britt and BeatriceWarren. (2000).’The idiom principle and the open choice principle’. Text, 20: 29–62.
  15. Farghal, Mohammed and Hussein Obiedant. (1995). ‘Collocations: A neglected variable in EFL’. IRAL, 33: 315–331.
  16. Gass, Susan. (2013). Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course. Mahwah, NJ: Routledge.
  17. Ghadessy, Mohsen. (1989). ‘The use of vocabulary and collocations in the writing of primary school students in Singapore’. AILA Review, 6:110– 117.
  18. Gitsaki, Christina. (1999). Second Language Lexical Acquisition: A Study of the Development of Collocational Knowledge. Bethesda, MD: International Scholars Publications.
  19. Gledhill, Christopher. (2000). Collocations in Science Writing. Tübingen: Günter Narr Verlag.
  20. Granger, Sylviane. (1998). ‘Prefabricated patterns in advanced EFL writing: Collocations and formulae’. In A. P. Cowie (ed.), Phraseology: Theory, Analysis, and Applications, 145–160. Oxford University Press.
  21. Groom, Nicholas. (2009). ‘Effects of second language immersion on second language collocational development’. In Andrew William Barfield and Henrick Gyllstad (eds.), Researching Collocations in Another Language, 21–33. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  22. Herbst, Thomas. (1996). ‘What are collocations: Sandy beaches or false teeth’? English Studies, 77: 379–393.
  23. Hoey, Michael. (2005). Lexical Priming: A New Theory of Words and Language. London: Routledge.
  24. Howarth, Peter. (1998). ‘Phraseology and second language proficiency’. Applied Linguistics, 19: 24–44.
  25. Hunston, Susan. (2002). Corpora in Applied Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.
  26. Hussein, Riyad. (1990). ‘Collocations: The missing link in vocabulary acquisition amongst English foreign learners’. In Jacek Fisiak (ed.), Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics. The Polish–English Contrastive Project, 123-136. Pozan: Adam Mickiewicz University.
  27. Jiang, Nan and Tatiana M. Nekrasova. (2007). ‘The processing of formulaic sequences by second language speakers’. Modern Language Journal, 91: 433–445.
  28. Kjellmer, Göran. (1992). ‘Old as he was: A note on concessiveness and causality’. English Studies, 7: 337–350.
  29. Laufer, Batia and Tina Waldman. (2011). ‘Verb-noun collocations in second language writing: A corpus analysis of learners' English’. Language Learning, 61: 647–672.
  30. The Oxford Collocation Dictionary for Students of English. (2003). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  31. Lewis, Michael (ed.). (2000). Teaching Collocation: Further Developments in the Lexical Approach. Hove, England: LTP Publications.
  32. Mahmoud, Abdulmoneim. (2005). ‘Collocation errors made by Arab learners of English’. Asian EFL Journal, 6: 117–126.
  33. McIntosh, Angus. (1961). ‘Patterns and ranges’. Language, 37: 325–337.
  34. McMillan, James H. (2012). Educational Research: Fundamentals for the Consumer. Boston, MA: Pearson.
  35. Nation, Paul. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  36. Nattinger, James and Jeanette S. DeCarrico. (1992). Lexical Phrases and Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  37. Nesselhauf, Nadja. (2003). ‘The use of collocations by advanced learners of English and some implications for teaching’. Applied Linguistics, 24: 223–242.
  38. Nesselhauf, Nadja. (2005) Collocations in a Learner Corpus. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  39. O’Dell, Felicity and Mivchael McCarthy. (2005). English Collocations in Use: How Words Work Together for Fluent and Natural English: Self- Study and Classroom Use. Cambridge University Press.
  40. Ohlrogge, Aaron. (2009). ‘Formulaic expressions in intermediate EFL writing assessment’. In Roberta Corrigan, Edith A. Moravcsik, Hamid Ouali and Kathleen M.Wheatley (eds.), Formulaic Language Volume 2: Acquisition, Loss, Psychological Reality, and Functional Explanations, 375–386. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  41. Pawley, Andrew and Frances Hodgetts Syder. (1983). ‘Two puzzles for linguistic theory: Nativelike selection and nativelike fluency’. In Jack C. Richards and Richard W. Schmidt (eds.), Language and Communication, 191–226. Longman.
  42. Peters. Elke. (2009). ‘Learning collocations through attention-drawing techniques: A qualitative and quantitative analysis’. In Andrew William Barfield and Henrick Gyllstad (eds.), Researching Collocations in Another Language, 194 – 207. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  43. Richards, Jack. (1976). ‘The role of vocabulary teaching’. TESOL Quarterly, 10: 77–89.
  44. Sadeghi, Karim. (2009). ‘Collocational differences between L1and L2: Implications for EFL learners and teachers’. TESL Canada Journal, 26: 100–124.
  45. Schmitt, Norbert and Geoffery Underwood. (2004). ‘Exploring the processing of formulaic sequences through a self-paced reading task’. In Norbert. Schmitt (ed.), Formulaic Sequences, 173–190. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  46. Schmitt, Norbert and Ronald Carter. (2004). ‘Formulaic sequences in action: An introduction’. In Norbert. Schmitt (ed.), Formulaic Sequences,1–22. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  47. Siyanova, Anna and Norbert Schmitt. (2008). ‘L2 learner production and processing of collocation: A multi-study perspective’. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 64: 429–458.
  48. Underwood, Geoffrey, Norbert Schmitt and Adam Galpin. (2004). ‘The eyes have it: An eye-movement study into the processing of formulaic sequences’. In Norbert. Schmitt (ed.), Formulaic Sequences,153–172. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  49. Webb, Stuart and Eve Kagimoto. (2011). ‘Learning collocations: Do the number of collocates, position of the node word, and synonymy affect learning’? Applied Linguistics, 3: 259–276.
  50. Wolter, Brent and Henrik Gyllstad. (2011). ‘Collocational links in the L2 mental lexicon and the influence of L1intralexical knowledge’. Applied Linguistics, 32: 430–449.
  51. Wray, Alison. (2002). Formulaic Language and the Lexicon. Cambridge University Press.
  52. Yamashita, Junko and Nan Jiang. (2010). ‘L1 influence on the acquisition of L2 collocations: Japanese ESL users and EFL learners acquiring English collocations’. TESOL Quarterly, 44: 647–668.
  53. Zughoul, Muhammad Raji and Hussein Abdul-Fattah. (2003). ‘Collocational strategies of Arab learners of English: A study in lexical semantics. Babel, 49: 59 -81.