Collocations and Teaching
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COLLOCATIONS AND TEACHING Investigating word combinations in two English textbooks for Norwegian upper secondary school students Lívia Cerqueira de Souza Hodne A thesis submitted for the Master‟s Degree program in English Department of Foreign Languages University of Bergen Autumn 2009 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Aud Solbjørg Skulstad, for her support, guidance, and for valuable advice. I also thank my co-supervisor, PHD candidate Gard Buen Jenset, for all the constructive feedback, practical tips, and help with corpus work. I also owe much of what I know today as a teacher and as a student of English to Susan Harris de Mello, first my teacher, then my boss, and always a friend. She was the one who first introduced me to the phenomena of collocations and showed me their importance in English teaching and learning. I am grateful to my students for being patient during my busy weeks and for being positive to my new „experiments‟, especially when I wanted to try out the ideas of the present study in my classes. I thank my dear family and friends in Brazil, who have accompanied me and encouraged me during the writing of this thesis even from a long distance. I would also like to thank my Norwegian family and friends who have followed closely each step of the process. I wish to extend a special thank you to my father, who has always shown me unconditional love and has taught me everything I know. Finally, I thank my husband, Arnstein, for his love and patience through the unsociable weekends and extra housework, and for helping me „take a step back and think objectively‟ when I most needed it. iii iv SUMMARY IN NORWEGIAN Denne masteroppgaven omhandler undervisning av kollokasjoner i videregående skole i Norge. Kollokasjoner er anerkjent som et viktig fenomen i det engelske språket, og derfor har mer og mer oppmerksomhet blitt gitt til temaet i undervisningssammenheng. Til tross for dette virker det som om lærebøkene i Norge enda ikke har tilpasset forskning om korpus og kollokasjon til klasserommet. Studien omfatter en undersøkelse av vokabularøvelser i to lærebøker som er brukt i engelsk på videregående skoler i Norge (studieforberedende utdanningsprogram). Det første målet er å undersøke om ord representert som isolerte ord i vokabularøvelsene er en del av kollokasjonene i tekstene de er hentet fra. To forskningsspørsmål har blitt formulert: Hvor mange av disse ordene dukker opp i kollokasjoner, og hvilke av disse kollokasjonene ville være nyttige for denne elevengruppen? Det andre målet er å komme med forslag til hvordan vokabularøvelser kan bli forbedret basert på Kunnskapsløftet og tidligere forskning. Det tredje målet er å foreslå andre måter hvordan kollokasjoner kan bli integrert i engelsk undervisningen. Denne studien bruker et korpus og en kollokasjons-ordbok for å avgjøre om ordkombinasjonene funnet i tekstene er kollokasjoner. Korpusanalyse er også brukt som en metode for å se etter frekvensen og styrken på kollokasjoner, og for å finne kollokatorer av ord fra øvelsene. Resultater viser at mer enn en tredjedel av ordene fra de valgte vokabularøvelsene er en del av kollokasjoner i tekstene de er hentet fra, og at de fleste av disse er nyttige for undervisningen. Til slutt har eksisterende kollokasjons-øvelser og forskning på fremmedspråklæring og korpuslingvistikk blitt brukt for å legge fram forslag til hvordan øvelsene kan bli forbedret og komplimentert. For å oppsummere, viser studien at kollokasjoner opptrer hyppig i skolebøker og de formidler relevant sosiokulturell informasjon. Den viser også at korpus kan brukes til å forbedre språklige øvelser, og at det både er mulig og hensiktsmessig å integrere kollokasjoner i språkundervisningen. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………….. iii Summary in Norwegian………………………………………………………… v Table of contents……………………………………………………………….. vi List of tables …………………………………………………………………… ix List of figures…………………………………………………………………... xi List of abbreviations……………………………………………………………. xi 1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………... 1 1.1 Relevance of the present study………………………………………… 1 1.2 Aims and scope………………………………………………………… 2 1.3 Methods………………………………………………………………… 2 1.4 Why collocations? ……………………………………………………... 3 1.5 What is a collocation? …………………………………………………. 4 1.6 Terminology……………………………………………………………. 8 1.7 Structure………………………………………………………………... 8 2 BACKGROUND…………………………………………………………….. 9 2.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………. 9 2.2 Teaching methods and the role of vocabulary………………………….. 9 2.3 Foreign language vocabulary acquisition………………………………. 12 2.4 Vocabulary in Norwegian curricula……………………………………. 15 2.5 Collocations……………………………………………………………. 17 2.5.1 Background…………………………………………………….. 17 2.5.2 Cognitive linguistics, chunking, and memory………………….. 18 2.5.3 Language teaching and learning………………………………... 19 2.5.4 Communicative language teaching and the Framework……….. 21 2.5.5 Culture and communication in word combinations……………. 25 2.5.6 Collocation dictionaries………………………………………… 27 2.6 Corpus linguistics………………………………………………………. 28 2.7 A summary: Vocabulary teaching, collocations, and corpora…………. 29 3 MATERIAL AND METHODS…………………………………………….. 31 3.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………….. 31 3.2 Material………………………………………………………………… 31 3.2.1 Criteria for selection of textbooks and exercises……………….. 31 3.2.2 @cross………………………………………………………….. 34 3.2.3 Passage…………………………………………………………. 36 3.2.4 The corpus……………………………………………………… 38 3.3 Methods………………………………………………………………… 40 3.3.1 The dictionary…………………………………………………... 41 3.3.2 MI scores and frequencies in COCA…………………………… 42 3.3.3 Description of corpus tools……………………………………... 44 3.3.4 Criteria for corpus search………………………………………. 46 3.4 Limitations of the material and methods……………………………….. 48 vi 4 RESULTS……………………………………………………………………. 51 4.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………….. 51 4.2 Presentation of the data………………………………………………… 51 4.3 Results from @cross…………………………………………………… 51 4.4 Results from Passage…………………………………………………... 70 4.5 Summary……………………………………………………………….. 86 5 DISCUSSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING………………... 89 5.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………….. 89 5.2 First aim: Research questions and hypothesis………………………….. 89 5.2.1 Discussion of @cross exercises………………………………… 90 5.2.2 Discussion of Passage exercises……………………………….. 92 5.2.3 Discussion of common features………………………………… 98 5.2.4 A summary: What kinds of collocations are useful for students? 104 5.3 Second aim: How the exercises can be improved……………………… 105 5.4 Third aim: Other ways of integrating collocations in language teaching 111 5.5 Summary……………………………………………………………….. 113 6 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………… 115 6.1 Summary and conclusion………………………………………………. 115 6.2 Further research………………………………………………………… 116 6.3 Final remarks…………………………………………………………… 118 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………… 119 APPENDICES vii viii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 2.1 Types of vocabulary learning strategies (Nation 2001:218)…………… 14 Table 2.2 An overview of the user/learner‟s competences in the Framework……. 22 Table 2.3 Classification of lexical elements compiled from the Framework……... 23 Table 2.4 Classification of lexical semantics compiled from the Framework……. 24 Table 3.1 Number and types of vocabulary exercises from each material………... 36 Table 3.2 Collocates of the adjective fancy in COCA…………………………….. 45 Table 3.3 Criteria for finding combinations in the corpus………………………... 49 Table 3.4 Types of combinations looked for in the corpus……………………….. 49 Table 3.5 Textbooks used in a selection of 60 Norwegian schools……………….. 50 Table 4.1 Collocations from exercise [1] in @cross……………………………… 55 Table 4.2 Collocates of the noun boundary in COCA……………………………. 55 Table 4.3 Collocations from exercise [2] in @cross……………………………… 56 Table 4.4 Collocates of the noun suburbs in COCA……………………………… 56 Table 4.5 Collocates of the adjective bright in COCA…………………………… 57 Table 4.6 Collocations from exercise [4] in @cross……………………………… 58 Table 4.7 Collocates of the noun disease in COCA………………………………. 58 Table 4.8 Collocations from exercise [5] in @cross……………………………… 60 Table 4.9 Collocates of the noun coverage in COCA…………………………….. 60 Table 4.10 Collocations from exercise [6] in @cross……………………………… 61 Table 4.11 Collocates of the verb pursue in COCA……………………………….. 62 Table 4.12 Collocations from exercise [7] in @cross……………………………… 62 Table 4.13 Collocates of the verb obtain in COCA………………………………... 63 Table 4.14 Collocations from exercise [8] in @cross……………………………… 63 Table 4.15 Collocates of the adverb environmentally in COCA…………………… 64 Table 4.16 Collocations from exercise [9] in @cross……………………………… 65 Table 4.17 Collocates of the noun trade in COCA………………………………… 65 Table 4.18 Collocations from exercise [10] in @cross…………………………….. 66 Table 4.19 Collocates of the noun prom in COCA………………………………… 67 Table 4.20 Collocations from exercise [11] in @cross…………………………….. 67 Table 4.21 Collocates of the noun vegetables in COCA…………………………… 68 Table 4.22 Collocations from exercise [12] in @cross…………………………….. 68 Table 4.23 Collocates of the adjective attractive in COCA………………………... 69 Table 4.24 Collocations from exercise [13] in @cross…………………………….. 70 Table 4.25 Collocates of the noun scholarship in COCA…………………………. 70 Table 4.26 Collocations from exercise [14] in @cross…………………………….. 71 Table 4.27 Collocates of the adjective constitutional in COCA…………………… 72 Table 4.28 Collocations from exercise [15] in Passage……………………………. 73 Table 4.29 Collocates of the noun slack in COCA………………………………… 73 Table 4.30 Collocations from exercise