English collocations: A novel approach to teaching the language's last bastion

Abstract

Collocations are a class of idiomatic expressions comprised of a sequence of words which, for mostly arbitrary reasons, occur together in a prescribed order. Collocations are not necessarily grammatical and/or cannot be generated through knowledge of rules or formulae. Therefore, they are often not easily mastered by EFL learners and typically only dealt with during the latter phase of second language apprenticeship. Literature has mostly examined the phenomenon of collocations from one of two perspectives. First, there are studies focusing on error analysis and contingent pedagogical advice. Second, there is research concerned with theory development; a genre associated with a specific methodological limitations. This study reports on data pertaining to a novel approach to learning collocations; one based on a learner's incidental discovery of such structures in written texts. Our research question is: will students who have been introduced to and practiced specific collocations in reading texts be inclined to naturally use such exemplars appropriately in novel/unfamiliar subsequent contexts? Findings have implications for EFL teachers and those concerned with curriculum development.

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