OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
Rationale
In the field of applied linguistics, a great deal of research efforts has been dedicated to the way to teach and learn English skills, while the methods of learning English collocations have not aroused the same degree of interest In recent years, we can see that a lot of students have paid more attention to English collocations, especially for students learning IELTS or TOEFL The main reason is that nowadays English collocations become more and more important for students to learn and remember vocabulary It's extremely necessary to know what words pair with each other and know how to use collocations.
In the past, some people used to try to find out the rules of forming English collocations as well as the importance of English collocations They did some research on lexical collocations, grammar, types, the origin of collocation… However, not many people have research on the methods of learning collocations
It is a truth that understanding clearly about collocations is very important in not only English communication but also in all English skills (especially in reading and listening skills) Besides, third– year students of English Faculty at ThuongmaiUniversity are chosen as respondents because they are people who should know more about academic vocabulary and business terms which can absolutely help them build a strong foundation to work effectively in their future career
Therefore, this thesis topic: “methods of learning English collocations in order to enhance English vocabulary for third - year students of English Faculty at Thuong Mai University” is performed with the strong expectation to find out the best methods for them to form English collocations and learn them easily, which would properly improve their English skills.
Aims of the study
English collocations are not new terms for English learners However, not everyone can understand exactly about it When trying to learn English vocabulary, researcher realized that remembering English collocations can help English learners to remember new words longer and applied them into speaking fluently Knowing how to use and form collocations is the key to learn vocabulary and help them gain the high band when they take the IELTS exam or TOEIC In addition, almost third – year students of English faculty at Thuongmai University are recognized that they have not gained enough knowledge about English collocations Therefore, this study has been conducted and followed these ideas:
- Explore the ways that third – year students of English Faculty use to deal with collocations and their weaknesses in learning English collocations From that, I can help them to understand the importance of collocations in the process of learning
- Suggest some suitable methods for English learners and third – year students of English Faculty about learning English collocations and enhance their vocabulary.
Research subjects
- The research questions of the study:
What are the methods that students use to learn English collocations?
What are the weaknesses that students have in learning English collocations?
How can students do to enhance English collocations and vocabulary
- Research subjects: The methods of learning English collocations in order to enhance English vocabulary.
Under-researched and brimming with potential, English collocations present an engaging topic for business students Their prevalence in the business world makes them a crucial subject for study While approachable, the topic remains intriguing and ripe for exploration, offering ample opportunities for research and discovery.
Scope of the study
The study aims to explore effective methodologies for enhancing English collocation proficiency among third-year students within the English Faculty of Thuongmai University This research endeavors to establish a comprehensive understanding of the most suitable techniques for optimizing collocation acquisition, thereby facilitating improved language comprehension and production abilities.
Firstly, they are students from English faculty and now they have spent three years learning at university, most of them use English at intermediate level and English is the foundation for them to find a job in the future In other words, English will be the most important thing for these students when they choose jobs. Knowing about English collocations can help them to use English fluently and easily Especially, in business, there are a lot of economic terms they have to understand and translate exactly, English collocations are the basic background for them to translate closely with original documents
Secondly, after consulting and discovering, researcher sees that these students have enough characteristics of English learners and they are suitable to this topic as well Their main characteristics are:
- They have to learn a lot of subjects related to English at university
- In the third year of university, students have to understand more about specialized English and academic terms.
- English is very important for them in their career.
Research methodology
This study is conducted by quantitative research methods
(emphasize objective measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating pre-existing statistical data using computational techniques. Quantitative research focuses on gathering numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people or to explain the phenomenon.)
Researcher chooses this type of methods because of its characteristics. Firstly, the data is usually gathered using structured research instruments. Moreover, the results are based on larger sample sizes that are representative of the population The research study can usually be replicated or repeated, given its high reliability The next reason is that Researcher has a clearly defined research question to which objective answers are sought In addition, project can be used to generalize concepts more widely, predict future results, or investigate causal relationships.
In detail, the main method of this survey is survey questionnaire A questionnaire is a set of questions typically used for research purposes which can be both qualitative as well as quantitative in nature A questionnaire may or may not be delivered in the form of a survey, but a survey always consists of questionnaire.
A questionnaire used in qualitative research asks open ended questions via email, telephone or face-to-face meetings A questionnaire used in quantitative research asks more closed ended questions with restricted options to answer. There are two types of questionnaire:
- Questionnaires that evaluate variables that is separate, including questions regarding an individual’s behavior, facts and preferences.
- Questionnaires that measure factors incorporated into a scale like those about individual identities and different attributes, index and traits.
In general, questionnaire is only possible way to survey, even though this method has some disadvantages At the time of surveying, most of third – year students of English faculty are in the middle of revision for final test Therefore,researcher cannot use some methods like observation and interview Only by online questionnaire can help researcher collect information for this study.
Organization of the study
The study is going to answer the question: How can students improve
English, especially English collocations? And it also helps them to understand the importance of English collocations The organization of this thesis is divided into four chapters:
Chapter 1 provides an overview of the study This chapter will put emphasis on the background of study and give some basic information such as rationale and the aims of the study, research subjects, scope of the study and research methodology
Chapter 2 introduces literature review related to this study In this chapter, readers can understand exactly about the theory of this thesis topic From definition to the history of English collocations The last section in chapter 2 focuses on the importance of English collocations and some main types of English collocations.
Chapter 3 provides a brief description on the plan of surveying Readers can know more about the current situation of third – year students of English Faculty and some difficulties that researcher have to face when conducting Throughout the data analysis, the strengths and weaknesses of them will be showed with the reasons
Chapter 4 gives some solutions to this phenomenon and some evaluation for this study.
The last one of this study is APPENDIX which contains the full description of all questions, methodologies of the survey.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Definitions of collocation
In corpus linguistics, a collocation is a sequence of words or terms that co- occur more often than would be expected by chance In phraseology, collocation is a sub-type of phraseme An example of a phraseological collocation, as propounded by Michael Halliday, is the expression strong tea While the same meaning could be conveyed by the roughly equivalent powerful tea, this expression is considered excessive and awkward by English speakers Conversely, the corresponding expression in technology, powerful computer is preferred over strong computer Phraseological collocations should not be confused with idioms, where an idiom's meaning is derived from its convention as a stand-in for something else while collocation is a mere popular composition.
According to Oxford Collocations Dictionary [2002], collocation is a means of combining words in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing.Incorrect combinations such as heavy wind or strong rain do not sound naturally inEnglish Apart from the prevalent grammatical/lexical distinction, the authors also mention ‘word’ collocation, none of whose elements can be replaced even with its synonym, e.g small fortune but not *little fortune and ‘category’ collocation whose elements can collocate with any items of a precisely determined group of words. This group can be quite large and its elements- predictable because they make up the same category, e.g measurements of time for a noun walk: five minutes’ walk/three-minute walk.
Nowadays, in order to make it easy to understand, some dictionaries define that collocations are groups of two or more words that are commonly-used together These groups of words are largely idiomatic The “right” and “wrong” words to use in a given collocation have evolved through custom and usage as the English language itself has evolved Because of this, people should think of collocations as whole units of language, rather the individual words that they are composed of.
By their very nature, collocations do not follow grammar rules that you can memorize Collocations are abstract, they normally have no explanation, and the list is endless This can be confusing and frustrating for students For example, you would order “fast food” for lunch and develop a “quick fix” to a problem However,you wouldn’t order “quick food” or come up with a “fast fix.” Both pairs are grammatically correct, but the former “sounds” correct to native English speakers while the latter does not.
It is important to learn collocations, because they are important for the naturalization of one’s speech Besides, they broaden one’s scope for expression “Collocation” refers to how words go together or form fixed relationships Collocations are also very common in business settings when certain nouns are routinely combined with certain verbs or adjectives For example, draw up a contract, set a price, conduct negotiations, etc.
Collocations may be strong or weak Strong collocations are where the link between the two words is quite fixed and restricted Strong collocations refer to words that almost always go together It's possible that people might understand you if you don't use a strong collocation However, if you do not use a strong collocation it will sound funny to native speakers
“make” and “do” provide perfect examples of why collocation is so important. Generally, 'make' refers to things that are made that weren't there before 'Do' refers to actions that we take or do such as chores
- Collocations with “Make” make a cup of coffee / tea make noise make the bed
- Collocations with “Do” do the laundry do the errands do business with someone
Make and Do are perfect examples of verbs that go together with specific nouns A verb + noun combination that always go together are considered collocations.
The importance of English collocation
Native speakers of a language have at their disposal thousands of words. Using their knowledge of grammar, they are, in theory, capable of using the words to produce and understand an unlimited number of sentences that they have never said or heard before In practice, however, they do not produce every sentence from scratch They tend to use a great number of ready-made chunks of words and put them together in various ways according to their communicative needs Words become tied, so to speak, to each other due to repeated use in the same chunks by members of the language community Sometimes, though, a single use of a group of words together may be enough to link the words in one chunk in the memory of speakers of a language because of the dramatic effect of such a use or the prestige of the user.
When words are thus combined in a chunk, they have the power to predict each other's occurrence On the other hand, due to the fact that English words are not linked in ready-made chunks in the non-native speakers' memory; inappropriate word combinations are often produced by most non-native speakers.
It is important to study English collocations because it will help English learners understand how to use vocabulary words in a sentence correctly.Many people learning English studied numerous hours to learn thousands of vocabulary words They understand the meaning of the word by learning it from a dictionary, but in the end, they still have a problem using the word in a sentence.Learning English collocations is the best way for English learners remember vocabulary and make sentences Collocations are important because they make your language sound natural If you master collocations, your English will be more idiomatic, that is, more similar to the way it is spoken by native speakers Collocations enhance improvement of learners' oral communication, listening comprehension, and reading speed, and that teaching collocations enables learners to be aware of language chunks used by native speakers in speech and writing. For example:
I try to make my bed every morning (NOT do my bed)
Parents usually tell stories to their children (NOT say stories)
Sean likes to surf the web before going to bed (NOT navigate the web)
Or we say: Strong coffee/tea , NOT powerful coffee/tea
2.2.2 For third – year students of English Faculty at Thuong Mai university
In general, students of English Faculty at Thuongmai university should know and understand exactly how to use English collocations in business because English collocations will have initial impact on their work in the future
In business, we have to write an email, a letter or a contract… for our partners Sometimes, we have to write advertisements, Writing Invitation Cards, Company Profiles, Writing Business Letters, Meetings,… Therefore, if you do not know about business collocations or how to use it, you would have a lot of troubles.
The following is an example of collocations used in advertisement:
Dark spots and skin pigmentation, a growing concern by many Asian women, are mainly caused by constant exposure to harsh UV rays resulting in overactive melanin production in the epidermis.
With this in mind, L’Oréal Skincare Laboratories has successfully formulated the latest breakthrough in whitening skincare treatment White Perfect Double Action Concentrated Whitening Essence effectively targets pigmentation both the skin surface and in the epidermis.
MELANN+BLOCK+LACTIS ACID+DERMOLISS CHAMBER
Melanin-Block acts directly on melanogenesis and effectively reduces melanin production by -53%
Efficient exfoliating agents: Lactic acid and Dermoliss gently exfoliate away melanin-filled dark dead cells to recover skin tone evenness, radiance and greater transparency
(Adapted from Maybin, Mercer & Hewings, 2007: p 70)
As we can see from the example, the collocations found in this advertisement are as follows:
Mainly caused by, effectively reduces, and gently exfoliate.
According to McCarthy & O’Dell (2005), the words such as mainly, effectively, gently are called Intensifying Adverbs Intensifying adverbs refer to the combination between an adverb and an adjective that can lead to the more attractive and powerful language In this regard, it indicates the role of collocations to create persuasive language in advertising English.
Here is another example of collocations used in invitation cards:
Mr and Mrs John C Smith request the pleasure of the company of Mr James K Brown & Guest at a small holiday party and dance
Monday, the twenty-third of December from seven o’clock in the evening until eleven o’clock.
Wilshire Road Los Angeles, CA 90039
Based on this invitation, the collocations specifically used for writing an invitation can be as follows: - Mr and Mrs John C Smith request the pleasure of the company of Mr JamesK Brown & Guest at a small holiday party and dance.
To accept a written invitation, you may use the collocations as follows: Mr.
A and … accept with pleasure the invitation of
Or: … has much pleasure in accepting
When crafting business communications, the precise use of collocations is crucial for effective writing, acceptance, and declination of invitations These collocations serve as essential building blocks for professional interactions, enabling seamless communication with business partners worldwide.
We can see that English collocations in business are always related to the work and important documents If the translators make mistakes with translation, it would be difficult for them to deal with the job.
For third – year students of English faculty, when they have spent three years at university, they should know a lot of academic words and terms It is more important for them to learn and remember English collocations, especially in business area.
Types of English collocations
The main characteristics of collocation in contrast to idiom are their meanings reflect the meaning of their constituent parts One of the characteristics of the way words collocate is that a word in frequent use may often combine with one which is much less widely used When words are used together regularly, rules are formed about their use not for grammatical reasons, but because of the association.They are always in that order and to put them the other way around seems wrong.
Many words combinations made Benson and Benson classify the collocations into two types They are grammatical collocation and lexical collocation.
According to Benson, Benson, and Ilson (1997), grammatical collocation is a phrase consisting of a dominant word (noun, adjective, and verb) and a preposition or grammatical structure such as an infinitive or clause This type also can be called as fixed combination words This opinion is supported by Mahmoud (2004) He said that grammatical collocation is a combination where a preposition is used with a noun, a verb or an adjective For examples, by accident, admiration for, the house needs painting; she (the girl) is ready to go, etc.”
It was a pleasure to do it.
He took an oath that he would do his duty. by accident, in advance. be angry at, be fond of.
It was necessary to work
It was nice that he can was able to come home for the holidays. send ( the dative movement transformation verb)
Lexical is a words‟ definition that we can find in the dictionary that mostly used by a single word A word is the smallest unit of a language that can exist on its own in either written or spoken language (Larson, 1990)
2.3.2.1 Some Characteristics of Lexical Collocation by Hill (2000)
Lexical collocations are characterized by their non-idiomatic, identifiable, and predictable nature They comprise non-randomly selected words that conform to language rules, resulting in a large mental lexicon While verb-noun collocations can exhibit unpredictable patterns, the majority of naturally occurring text relies heavily on collocations, highlighting their significance in language usage.
To understand more about these types, we need to elaborate the lexical words Lexical words are the smallest units of a sentence that can stand alone and we can know the meaning by look up the dictionary According to BBICombinatory Dictionary of English, Lexical Collocation consists of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs For examples, make an impression, compose music, etc The function of these types is to help learners of English avoid the errors and identify the highest types which deserve attention in class.
Noun/Pronoun (or Preposition phrase)
Come to an agreement, make an impression, set an alarm, etc
Extermination the pest disease, a square refusal of the ideas, etc.
3 Adjective + Noun A chronic alcoholic, a pitched battle, a rough estimates, etc.
4 Noun + Verb Bees buzz, blizzards rage, blood circulates, etc.
5 Noun + Noun A herd of buffalo, a bouquet of flowers, an act of violence, etc.
6 Adverb + Adjective Strictly accurate, hopelessly addicted, etc.
7 Verb + Adverb Affect deeply, amuse thoroughly, anchor firmly, etc
Table 2.2 Types of lexical collocations
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Current situation
In general, almost students of Thuongmai University started learning English when they were Grade Three students in primary school Some started learning when they were very small Therefore, their English level is various Based on this background knowledge, this study puts more emphasis on third – year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University Most of them have used English at intermediate level and they have approached a lot of methods to learn English in all skills.
Generally speaking, when asked whether they liked English, most of the students who were interviewed by the project team answered “yes”, because they think it is interesting for them and they think English is very important nowadays. But they also dislike English because English is difficult to master Sometimes they cannot communicate with native speakers and handle with some English skills like writing, speaking or listening Even though they learn English everyday at school, they still have trouble when communicating or doing test The main reason of this phenomenon is that they do not have an environment to improve and practice English Moreover, the methods that they use to learn English are not effective.
About English collocations, most of students who are seriously learningEnglish think it is extremely important to learn They think that the most integral part for English learners to speak like native speakers is understanding how to use English collocations For some students, they can use English collocations, but somehow, they do not understand and know exactly about them
University students predominantly utilize English in their coursework, and despite learning the language as part of their studies, they often encounter difficulties In particular, business correspondence poses challenges due to the presence of unfamiliar academic vocabulary Translating English business emails into Vietnamese proves challenging as suitable equivalents may not be readily available.
In addition, they lack skills and vocabulary to express their feelings when communicating, which make them feel unconfident when talking with native speakers
For the most part, third –year students of English faculty at Thuongmai University can use English in communication and study, but they are not excellent. When in other faculties, a lot of students have IELTs or TOEIC, only few students of English faculty have these certificates Most of them have the same thought that they are majoring in English so it’s no need to take the IELTS or TOEIC tests.
Difficulties
When learning English collocations, students have to deal with a lot of difficulties Collocations are an especially tricky aspect of learning English because there is no apparent reason or rule behind them Instead, collocations need to be encountered in natural language and learners must familiarize themselves with the different collocations over time in order to adopt them into their own language. Here are some difficulties when learning English collocations:
The first difficulty is related to de – lexicalized verbs De -lexicalized verbs are also known as empty verbs There are verbs which are used frequently in English and with many nouns, thus, they seem to have lost their meaning in the phrase Common de- lexicalized verbs are get, go, take, make, do, have If we consider the phrase have a coffee, it has the same meaning as drink a coffee, though this is not what we would say and the use of have does not necessarily equate to drink
Collocation errors frequently arise with de-lexicalized verbs, leading to potential misunderstandings Despite correct grammar, these collocations may be incorrect Additionally, students may form erroneous collocations.
Collocation errors are common among students, particularly with "make" and "do." Instead of the correct "do business," students may incorrectly use "make business." Similarly, they might say "make a report" instead of "do a report." While these phrases are grammatically correct, they violate the expected collocations, resulting in incorrect usage.
Another problem when learning English collocations is randomness. Collocations do not seem to follow any rules nor have any reason behind their existence If asked by a student why it is we do the homework rather than make the homework, we can try to find a flimsy reason to justify it but we are more likely than not going to reply that “it just is”, which is not a very satisfactory explanation.
Therefore, it is very hard for students to form English collocations, or remember them A word can combine with a lot of adjectives, adverbs, nouns,… However, there are also some words which only exist together, not with anything else
Randomness sometimes makes students feel confused and frustrated when trying to learn English collocations The only way to deal with this characteristic is trying to write collocations down and learn by heart
The next difficulties related to English collocation is meaning and noticing.
It means that sometimes, when trying to transfer from one language to English, it is very tough to find exactly words to express the feeling.
Especially when dealing with text, many learners (especially those at lower levels) tend to focus on individual words that they don’t know, rather than on the collocation This is because the usual way of noticing and recording vocabulary is to write the word (out of context and without its collocates) in a vocabulary notebook with its L1 translation Alternatively, more advanced learners will say, “I know that word” and move on without checking for any collocates in the text Both of these problems arise from poor learner-training: learners need to have collocations pointed out to them before they can be expected to notice them for themselves.
3.2.4 Difficulties in studying and teaching at Thuongmai university
For third-year English faculty students at Thuongmai University, mastering English collocations is crucial for vocabulary expansion Regrettably, the current learning environment presents significant challenges, hindering their academic progress and compromising their language proficiency.
There is no atmosphere of English learning on campus One doesn’t hear the students speaking English aloud except in the English class Even in the English class, tape recorder is still the primary and almost sole auxiliary equipment for the students Most students don’t have the access to multimedia All the classes are equipped with projectors and computers However, sometimes, they are not good enough for students to study and for teachers to show slides related to the lessons
In addition, the subjects at university focus mainly on business, there is no subject that can help them enhance English collocations and learn English skills.Textbooks cannot meet students’ demands for learning English, especially for students who want to do the IELTS or TOEIC tests Moreover, teachers do not have good methods to teach students, most of them use traditional ways to approach the lessons These are the reasons why sometimes students lose their interest in learning Absolutely, teachers also feel tired when dealing with students.
Reasons why third – year students of English faculty at Thuongmai
There are a number of reasons that may affect students’ ideas towards learning English English has become more and more important nowadays, however, students may sometimes lose their willingness and interest towards English lesson, which puts a major barrier in front of effective language learning.
For third – year students of English faculty at Thuongmai University, English is a compulsory language They learn English and use it every single day at school Therefore, English collocations are not strange with them anymore. However, there are a lot of problems they have to face when dealing with English collocations And these following are some objective reasons.
The first reason is related to the classroom environment As we all know, classroom environment is a second teacher for any student, and if students can be studied in a good condition, the results would be better
The second reason is that students in Vietnam usually spend time on working and earning money, they have very little time to practice English everyday.
It is not only because of classroom or equipment,… which are the main factors that affect the way students learn English collocations, there are also have many other subjective reasons.
On the one hand, students do not try their best in learning and understanding English collocations Because of some difficult subjects, they can lose their interest intermediately When learning English business, absolutely students have to learn English collocations, but they do not understand them, which makes it difficult to remember new phrases and idioms Therefore, some of them feel that these subjects are boring and tough
Another subjective reason is that some of them think that English collocations are not important They think English communication is much more important They do not recognize the importance and necessity of English collocations Thus, they do not want to learn and discover It is true that until they try to learn IELTS or TOEIC, they can understand how they should learn English collocations
Finally, some students are extremely lazy They do not care for their future and career That’s why they spend very little time on learning English, which will ruin their knowledge and English skills.
The process of surveying
The survey is conducted three days from 06/04/2018 to 9/04/2018 by online survey questionnaires The main respondents are 50 third – year students of English faculty at Thuongmai University, they come from different classes and different hometowns Basing on the data collected, some findings about the ways students use to deal with English collocations and the tendency of using English collocations to improve their English skills are found
As the main purpose of the survey is to collect information as well as data about the difficulties in studying English collocations and how the students deal with collocations, this survey questionnaires were made including 12 different questions related to these information, which would take only 10 – 15 minutes to complete the survey (to ensure that it was suitable for the third - year students of the English faculty, who can use English at intermediate level) Participants were asked to tick the most suitable answers in their opinion The questionnaires are divided into three parts
- General questions about their knowledge ( questions 1, 2, 3, 4)
- Questions for students who can use English collocations and understand them (questions 5, 6, 7)
- Questions for all of respondents about their opinions (questions 8, 9,
In the first part of survey questionnaires, students were asked about their general knowledge and the time they spend on learning English From the data, the situation of learning English of students is showed on this pie chart:
Chart 3.1 The amount of time students have been learning English
Looking at the pie chart, it is immediately obvious that most of students have been learning English for more than 7 years It means that they can understand and use English regularly and at intermediate levels On the other hand, there are only 6% of respondents learning English under 1 year And due to the fact that they are third – year students, maybe this figure indicates that they have learnt English seriously for 1 year The students learning English from 2 to 5 years and 5 to 7 years account for 22% and 16% respectively.
However, there is a disappointed fact about their learning English situation. Even though they have been learning English for a long time (more than 7 years), they cannot speak English fluently And the main reason is that they spend very little time on learning English
This pie chart below is collected from question 2, which shows the amount of time students spend per day on learning English
Chart 3.2 The amount of time a student spend per day on learning English
With this question, three choices are given and the results are surprising. Most of them spend very little time on studying English (under 2 hour) and there are only 10% of respondents learning English more than 5 hours per day These figures show us a disappointed current situation about the seriousness in learning English of third – year students of English faculty at Thuongmai University.
In order to find out the best solutions to this problem, some weaknesses of students in learning English are showed in this chapter.
Chart 3.3 The weaknesses in learning English
Looking at the graph, it is clear that speaking, writing and listening are the skills that they feel hard to learn Other options are chosen at around 30% It means that most of students can learn English very well, understanding phrases and grammar, however they do not have chances to practice English everyday to improve their listening, speaking or writing
Collocations, phrases and new words are some factors that have influence on these skills Therefore, with the question 4 “Do you know many English collocations?”, the reason why students cannot master English even they have been learning English for a long time maybe found.
For this question, with 50 answers, 22 answers are registered (account for 43.8%) for the option “YES” and 28 answers (56.2%) are registered for the option
After analyzing this part of questionnaires, these figures indicate that third – year students of English faculty at Thuongmai University have a lot of troubles in dealing with some English skills ( especially listening and speaking skills
Some learners are familiar with English collocations and employ them regularly, while others struggle with this concept This discrepancy is not attributable to academic instruction or teacher quality Instead, it stems from a fundamental lack of comprehension regarding the meaning of collocations.
Therefore, even though they use them on a regular basis, they still do not know much about them
English learners confront with great difficulties when trying to learn English collocations Thus, they have to find out some methods to handle with this problem. Here are some methods they have been using:
Chart 3.4 The methods that students use to learn English collocations
Looking at the chart, it is clear that most students who know many English collocations (question 4) use books, dictionary to study, and some learn from their teachers (from University, English centers… ) Learning online makes up for38.9%, which makes it the third levels throughout four methods Only 27% of them learn English collocations from daily life.
These figures show a truth that English collocations are not easy to learn from daily life In order to approach them, students have to read more books and look up them in many kinds of dictionary In addition, teachers are the people who can help students to remember English collocations longer
For the purpose of collecting information about respondents’ opinions in their ability to use and remember English collocations, questions 6 and 7 are designed to check students’ abilities to remember and use English collocations. These questions have the point ladder from 1(not well) to 5(very well) 36/50 answers were received for each question And here are the results:
Chart 3.5 Point ladder of students’ ability to use English collocations
Chart 3.6 Point ladder of students’ ability to remember English collocations
The collected data shows that if the students know many English collocations, they can use them regularly remember them as well However, there are still few students cannot remember and use English collocations, they think that collocations are difficult and hard to remember Just only 16.7% of respondents are confident with their English collocations memories.
3.4.2.3 Students’ opinions about difficulties and their suggestions
Discussion of the findings
Due to the fact that the survey is limited to only a small group of third – year students of English faculty at Thuongmai University, the result could not reflect all the realistic situation of studying English collocations at the university However, there are a lot of findings that can be utilized to find the appropriate solutions, recommendations and suggestions to improve the reality, which could be dawn out as follow:
Despite studying English for over seven years, approximately two-thirds of third-year English faculty students at Thuongmai University exhibit a concerning pattern of limited English usage This is evident in the fact that these students spend less than two hours each day dedicated to language learning This lack of engagement with the language hinders their ability to attain the intermediate proficiency expected of them at this level.
The majority of them have troubles when handling listening, speaking and writing skills because they cannot create a good environment to practice English. Another reason is that they are not willing to use English on a regular basis, which comes from the lack of vocabulary and collocations.
For students who know many English collocations, they can remember and use collocations quite well Most of them use books, dictionary for learning collocations.
Listening and reading skills are two skills that related closely with collocations Students have a lot of problems when dealing with these skills From the collected data, researcher had enough information to give the suggestions for them to improve their English level.
The survey questionnaires identified challenges that respondents encountered while studying English collocations, highlighting areas where improvement is needed By addressing these challenges, effective solutions can be developed Additionally, the chapter titled "Recommendations and Suggestions" provides valuable insights and guidance on drafting well-structured construction contracts.
RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
How should students deal with English collocations?
Firstly, students should treat English as a language in itself, and not as a translation of their own language They should avoid translating word by word If they do translate some expressions to study them, do so with the expression in a clear context that they will remember
Secondly, when students learn new expressions, always write them down as part of a sentence where is makes sense For example, when we see this sentence “ I got home quite late”, where “ got” means “ arrived”
Other ways for students to deal with English collocations are reading and listening as much as they can Exposure to the language in all its forms will inevitably help them pick different collocations without even realizing In addition, students should learn language as chunks This means that they should focus on language as a sum of set phrases, rather than a sum of single words This view is based on Lewis’ Lexical Approach.
Using dictionary and books is also a best way to learn English collocations. There are a lot of English collocations and students cannot remember all Here are some good dictionaries and books for students to learn and look up collocations:
- Book: English collocation in use
- Dictionary: Macmillan Collocations Dictionary for Learners of English
- Book: Shortcut to English collocations
Finally, there is an interesting fact that when students learn a new grammar point, they should not focus on the rules They should understand the rules, but they must focus on the sound of that grammatical structure Trying to repeat it and use it until it sounds natural and automatic A clear example of this is how we use conditional sentences And the last thing is trying to learn from the mistake.
Solution to problems facing third - year students when learning English collocations
4.2.1 Spending more time on self - teaching
Students who can use English at intermediate level know exactly how to learn English by themselves At this level, they don’t need a good teacher or anEnglish course to improve their English skills They can learn by themselves with the knowledge from internet or books.
Consistent English learning requires a daily commitment of 2-5 hours, transforming it into a regular habit To enhance fluency, students should immerse themselves in English through various mediums such as music, movies, and books Self-education fosters discipline, nurturing a desire for continuous improvement Reading and attending practical events become second nature, revealing the vast learning opportunities available By embracing learning as a discipline, individuals unlock exponential growth and linguistic mastery.
Mastering English collocations requires dedication from students Despite the initial challenges, leveraging self-education techniques can enhance retention By diligently recording encountered collocations, students can utilize rote memorization and application in sentences to embed them in their memory Maintaining a notebook dedicated to collocations allows for easy access and frequent review, facilitating effective learning.
In general, students using English collocations at intermediate level should spend more time on self – teaching and they have to non – stop learning English
4.2.2 Taking the IELTS, TOEIC, TOEFL tests
Taking an English test is a good way for students to try hard and learn English seriously IELTS and TOFEL request students to have a lot of academic words and phrase, especially collocations In speaking and writing skills, if candidates can use many English collocations, they can get the high points.
For students of English faculty, it is great if they can take IELTS or TOEFL tests Both of the tests are the measurement of the proficiency of English Language for the non - natives English speakers IELTS stands for - International English Language Testing System It measures all of the four skills such as - Listening, speaking, reading and writing TOEFL stands for the Test of English as a Foreign Language, and too measures all of the four core skills of language proficiency such as - Listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Students using English at intermediate level should spend time on preparing for an English certificate By doing that, they can try to reach their target From that they would learn English seriously and know more about English collocations. Moreover, an English certificate is also important for them when graduating and then finding a job
For students who use English collocations at basic level, it is very necessary for them to look up for a good teacher who can help them to improve English collocations They can take part in a communication class Teachers in these classes know a lot of collocations in speaking and communicating Otherwise, students in some classes for IELTS or TOEFL are also learned about English collocations and improve English skills.
Most of students in this group are unconfident about their English That’s why they do not want to communicate with native speakers When making presentation, they cannot get a perfect performance After surveying, researcher recognizes that taking an English course will give them a good environment to practice English, which absolutely make them feel more confident.
Students should keep practicing exercises everyday, they should spend 2 – 5 hours on learning English per day There are a lot of exercises which relate to English collocations for students to study On the internet, students can look up on some websites providing good exercises with answer key Here are some recommendations:
Otherwise, students can find books for learning English collocations
In addition, listening and reading are two necessary skills that they need to practice everyday They can listen English from some resources like: BBC, VOX,TED TALK, VOA, etc… from the news or conversations, trying to pick up some potential collocations and review them everyday.
Recommendations for improving learning environment at Thuongmai University
Developing a total learning environment for students in a particular course or program is probably the most creative part of teaching While there is a tendency to focus on either physical institutional learning environments (such as classrooms, lecture theatres and labs), or on the technologies used to to create online personal learning environments, learning environments are broader than just these physical components They will also include:
The characteristics of the learners.
The goals for teaching and learning.
The activities that will best support learning.
The assessment strategies that will best measure and drive learning.
The culture that infuses the learning environment.
After surveying, 80% students said that equipments in classroom are quite good, but they need to be guaranteed regularly, some classrooms need to be equipped with air – conditioners
About teaching methods, teachers of English faculty should have a modern method to approach the lesson and help students to improve their English skills. Moreover, teachers should cultivate a relationship with students The relationship between teachers and students directly restricts the students’ emotion and affects their learning behavior The teacher should walk down the tall podium to students and make friends with the students And the teacher should give a hand to students in their learning process by using their own knowledge and experience In order to build a good relationship between teachers and students, we should pay attention to the following points: The teacher should stand in the perspective of students when he thinks a problem and design the teaching activities.
There should be some activities and assessment strategies in the classroom This will arouse students’ interest in learning English Last but not least, English collocations can be remembered by learning from videos, games, activities… therefore teachers should be flexible in choosing the teaching ways.
English learners at Thuongmai University encounter collocations in both communicative and business contexts These collocations can be effectively utilized as a persuasive linguistic device in business communication However, it is crucial to approach collocation learning appropriately and effectively.
For third – year students of English faculty, they should learn how to deal with English collocations, especially Business English collocations As a successful language learner, using a wide range of collocations can indicate the language aptitude of that learner In terms of language instruction, teaching collocations is essential and indispensable to foster the language proficiency of learners In other words, this kind of enhanced ability is necessary for their English studies.Additionally, research studies on collocations should be carried out further and to a greater extent.
The survey questionnaire for third – year students of English faculty at Thuongmai University
This survey is designed for all the third – year students of English faculty at Thuongmai University The main purpose of this survey questionnaire is to ascertain your attitudes as well as your opinion toward the topic “methods of learning English collocations” in the interest of collecting quantitative data and information Your answer will be utilized only for the researching purpose.
Please tick the most suitable answer for each question.
1 How long have you been learning English? a Under 1 year b 2 – 5 years c 5 – 7 years d > 7 years
2 How much time do you spend per day on learning English? a < 2 hours b 3- 5 hours c > 5 hours
3 What are your weaknesses in English? ( you can choose more than one) a Listening b Reading c Writing d Speaking e Vocabulary f Phrases g Grammar
4 Do you know many English collocations? a YES b NO ( If the answer is NO, next to question 8)
5 What are the methods that you use to learn English collocations? ( you can choose more than one) a Learning from teachers (from university, English center,…) b Learning online c Learning from books and dictionary d Learning from daily life. e Others
6 How well can you use English collocations?
Giving point from 1(not well) to 5(very well)
7 How well can you remember English collocation?
Giving point from 1(not well) to 5(very well)
8 Do you think it is difficult to remember new words and phrases? a YES b NO
9 What are the most difficult factors you have to face in reading skills? (you can choose more than one) a Vocabulary b Phrases c Speed d Logic questions e Others
10 What are the difficult factors you have to face in listening skills? ( you can choose more than one) a Vocabulary b Phrases c Speed d Others
11 Do you think learning English collocations is important? a Not important b Important c Very important
12 Choosing the methods you think that it would be the most effective way to learn English collocations ( you can choose more than one) a Participating in an English course b Learning from internet c Reading more books about English collocation d Using dictionary e Learning with a group of friends f Trying to write them down and learn by heart. g Others
1 Bartsch, S (2004) Structural and functional properties of collocations in
English: A corpus study of lexical and pragmatic constraints on lexical co-occurrence Tubingen: Gunter Narr Verlag Tubingen.
2 Hoey, M 2000 A World Beyond Collocation: New Prespectives on
Vocabulary Teaching with Teaching Collocation (Eds.) M Lewis, Hove LTP.
3 Lewis, M 2000 Teaching Collocation: Further Development in the
Lexical Approach, Hove: Language Teaching Publications
4 Sinclair, J M et al (1991) Collocations and semantic profile.
5 Koya, T (2005) Collocations research based on corpora collected from
English textbooks for Japanese upper secondary schools Association of Applied linguistic.
6 Maybin, Mercer & Hewings, 2007, Using English
7 Benson, M (1990) ‘Collocations and General purpose Dictionaries.’
9 Online dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/
10 Online collocation dictionary: http://www.ozdic.com/