“…the holistic nature of learning, the nature of natural language – collocations will become so central to everyday teaching”. Lewis (2006) Teaching collocations: Further developments in the Lexical Approach
USING CORPORA TO TEACH COLLOCATIONS IN A UNIVERSITY EFL CONTEXT Presenter: Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen Supervisor: Tran Huong Quynh (Ph.D) OVERVIEW OF MY THESIS GRADUATION Introduction Theoretical framework Methodology Findings and discussion Conclusions, limitations and pedagogical suggestions PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN INTRODUCTION PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN INTRODUCTION “…the holistic nature of learning, the nature of natural language – collocations - will become so central to everyday teaching” Lewis (2006) - Teaching collocations: Further developments in the Lexical Approach PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN Objectives INTRODUCTION Investigates the teaching of collocations in academic writing based on corpus linguistics PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN Objectives INTRODUCTION Investigates the teaching of collocations in academic writing based on corpus linguistics PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN Rationale INTRODUCTION Reduce “learning burden” - learners’ effort to learn vocabulary Enrich learners’ lexical resources in academic writing PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN INTRODUCTION Research questions How is the corpus-assisted method used in teaching and learning premodifier-noun collocations? How does the corpus-assisted method promote learner’s development of premodifier-noun collocational competence in academic writing? PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN Why corpus-based method? ✓ Corpus (corpora) - a collection of texts, written or spoken, which is stored on computers ✓ “A living dictionary” - provides learners with authentic languages and examples through concordance lines PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN MAIN FINDINGS Phase Phase • • Misuse of collocations The decrease of misusing collocations The tendency of using more compound premodifiers as adjectives Phase The occurrence of more academic collocations PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN Phase FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Criteria for assessing Type-token ratio (TTR) Academic word list (AWL) Lexical density (LD) Students’ writing 23.4% 5% 0.42 PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN Phase FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Collocations in students’ writing in Collocations should be replaced Phase (with MI-score) (with MI-score) Finding 1: Misuse of collocations Hard schedule Hectic schedule (MI = 2.356) (MI = 6.7) Outside activities Extracurricular activities (MI = 2.19) (MI = 5.65) Male career Male profession (MI = 1.34) (MI = 8.64) Significant workloads Heavy workloads (MI = 1.27) (MI = 6.3) Busy schedule Hectic schedule (MI = 2.12) (MI = 6.7) Phase FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Criteria for assessing TTR AWL LD EG 31.6% 11.86% 0.81 CG 33.03% 6.35% 0.56 PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN Phase FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION EG student’s writing Sedentary lifestyle Finding 2: (MI = 4.85) The decrease Ultra-processed food of misusing (MI = 5.6) collocations Whole food (MI = 4.21) CG student’s writing Unhealthy lifestyle (MI = 2,78) Fast food (MI = 3.43) Unhealthy food (MI = 2.64) Adverse impact (MI = 4.56) Negative effect (MI = 3.02) Phase FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION “In the recent time, unhealthy diet is definitely listed as one of the major factors Finding 3: The tendency of using more compound premodifiers as adjectives causing overweight It is acknowledged that the fast- paced life due to remarkable advanced technologies exerts a negative bearing on eating lifestyle, the standard daily meals are not nutritious as they were Take ultra-processed food as an example Many young people are addicted to dining out in budget- friendly fast food joints and street vendors where fat ingredients and preservatives are prevalent Additionally, officers now are snowed under with the great number of work, which means they have no time for food preparation and have no choice except to dine out more often for on-a-daily-basis meals Unquestionably, the more frequently they get used to this, the more probably they might go down with obesity as well as other fatal diseases.” (Extracted from EG student’s writing) Phase FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION “The measures forward this issue are promoted by the government Finding 3: The tendency of using more compound premodifiers as adjectives through allocation funding to building more recreational centers such as gymnasiums or exercise classrooms Besides, organizing physical competitions is considered a great way to arouse everyone’s interest Needless to say, each one also need to keep a work-life balance and become a health-conscious person for the sake of a better living These two approaches address the far-reaching repercussions accompanying with the determination to raise the health consciousness” (Extracted from EG student’s writing) Phase FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Two weeks after the course Index Control Group Experimental Group (including 14 files, 1842 (including 14 files, 1792 tokens, 612 types) tokens, 634 types) TTR 33.2 % 36.8% AWL 6.05% 9.91% LD 0.63 0.88 PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN Phase FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Students in EG use more academic collocations than the CG Finding 4: The occurrence of Reasons : - Reason 1: The different teaching more academic method collocations in - Reason 2: The learners’ personal students’ writing experience and language competence - Reason 3: The implicit learning of participants CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND PEDAGOGICAL SUGGESTIONS Conclusions: • Collocation – an fundamental language phenomenon • Vocabulary – should be learned in chunks (not word by word) • Corpus-based method – more effective in teaching collocations than the rule-based method (Authentic language) • main findings: - Misuse of collocations - The decrease of misusing collocations - The tendency of using more compound premodifiers as adjectives - The occurrence of more academic collocations Limitations: • Experiment on a relatively small sample (10 articles and 28 selected participants) • Different educational background and teaching method Pedagogical suggestions: ✓Elementary level: Gap filling or matching collocations ✓Upper-mediate level or Advanced level: Teaching collocations in a reading-writing integrated course → Boost lexical resources and collocational competence at the same time THANKS PRESENTER: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN ... adjectives causing overweight It is acknowledged that the fast- paced life due to remarkable advanced technologies exerts a negative bearing on eating lifestyle, the standard daily meals are... suggestions: ✓Elementary level: Gap filling or matching collocations ✓Upper-mediate level or Advanced level: Teaching collocations in a reading-writing integrated course → Boost lexical resources