"For some time now there has been, in the field of EFL teaching, a growing awareness of the importance of lexical collocations for vocabulary learning. One of the main obstacles to teaching lexical collocations systematically, however, is their number, which amounts to tens of thousands. In this article, it is argued that this enormous teaching and learning load can be reduced by a contrastive approach to the concept of lexical collocation. An exemplary German-English contrastive analysis of noun + verb and verb + noun collocations shows that there is, for a considerable portion of them, direct translational equivalence. Such lexical collocations do not have to be taught. The teaching of lexical collocations in EFL should concentrate, instead, on items for which there is no direct translational equivalence in English and in the learners' respective mother tongues."
From: Lexical collocations: a contrastive view. By Jens Bahns.
A great idea, maybe, but what should teachers who are not familiar with the students' mother tongues do? How can such teachers, and I imagine they are among the majority, possibly get to know which collocations are translational and which are not?
Which collocations?
Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2
I find the collocations that my student need to master the most are verb+preposition, or adjective+preposition. As prepositions in English are particularly difficult because of their fluidity in meaning, and their lack of a direct counterpart in other languages (direct in both sentence position and meaning), I don't think they can be taught lexically. For the most part, they must be absorbed naturally, or memorized.
For example, 'excited by' and 'excited about' - they mean slightly different things. Are you saying that other languages have similiar nuances in meaning, simply by changing a word that grammatically is meant to convey relationships between parts of a sentence? My experience with French prepositions was that they couldn't be counted on - in some sentences, 'pour' meant 'for', in other sentences it meant 'so'!
I've recently been mildly irked by 'talk with' instead of 'talk to'. Both are equally correct, but in my dialect, 'talk with' sounds a tiny bit off. Lexically, it makes sense, and in translation it's probably bang on. But really, there are only certain specific cases where we'd say 'talk with' instead of 'talk to' - usually 'to' is the default preposition.
In the case of preposition collocations, arguably the most used of the collocations, I do not think other languages have similiar constructions.
For example, 'excited by' and 'excited about' - they mean slightly different things. Are you saying that other languages have similiar nuances in meaning, simply by changing a word that grammatically is meant to convey relationships between parts of a sentence? My experience with French prepositions was that they couldn't be counted on - in some sentences, 'pour' meant 'for', in other sentences it meant 'so'!
I've recently been mildly irked by 'talk with' instead of 'talk to'. Both are equally correct, but in my dialect, 'talk with' sounds a tiny bit off. Lexically, it makes sense, and in translation it's probably bang on. But really, there are only certain specific cases where we'd say 'talk with' instead of 'talk to' - usually 'to' is the default preposition.
In the case of preposition collocations, arguably the most used of the collocations, I do not think other languages have similiar constructions.
My experience with French prepositions was that they couldn't be counted on - in some sentences, 'pour' meant 'for', in other sentences it meant 'so'!
One would then need to widen the collocation. Even in English, collocations can be up to several words.
I've never had a problem with "talk with". The BNC gives a result of 334 per million words, which is quite high. Still, many of those could be of the "held talks with" or type.
Lotus, do you teach only grammatical collocations, or do you also teach lexical collocations?In the case of preposition collocations, arguably the most used of the collocations, I do not think other languages have similiar constructions.
My students find the learning load is heaviest at the middle range of the weak - strong collocations spectrum. Medium-strength collocations such as: hold a conversation, recover from an operation, and make a mistake. cause many problems for students. If I teach a verb + prep. combination (such as recover from, above) I try to expand the collocation to common collocates of that pairing.
My students would have most difficulty in completing an exercise such as this:
Still, the question is, for teachers who are not familar with, or not advanced speakers of, their students' languages, what to teach. If I'm one of those teachers and only to teach "items for which there is no direct translational equivalence in English and in the learners' respective mother tongues.", how will I do that?Which words normally collocate with the adjective strong below?
northerly
minority
neighbour
symbol
supporter
figure
weapon
post
coffee
odor
Which of those words normally collocate with the adjective powerful?
Interesting question, Metal. Allow me to give a bit of history first. I did MA work in linguistics before we moved to Hong Kong, but I did not finish. All I lack is a thesis. Although I have tutored English for a long time, I have only recently completed formal TESOL training. I am now researching my MA thesis, and hopefully will have that linguistic masters in hand within a year. So, last year is when I became aware of collocations as a term. I have taught them for years under what I called English usage. As such, I have not distinguished between grammatical and lexical collocations, since I was not aware of the terms. I am still grappling with the differences myself, so I hesitate to make a big deal about them with my students. I am delighted to see this thread, and shall follow it closely. By the way, my thesis deals with teaching English prepositions to native Chinese speakers. I think the majority of the paper will have to focus on prepositional collocations. Are those mostly lexical or grammatical, do you think?Lotus, do you teach only grammatical collocations, or do you also teach lexical collocations?
Why did your course tutors wait so long to introduce the term? I would have thought that such a term would be introduced in the first year of an MA in linguistics.So, last year is when I became aware of collocations as a term.
This is a very useful support:I am still grappling with the differences myself, so I hesitate to make a big deal about them with my students.
Teaching Collocation: Further Developments in the Lexical Approach
Michael Lewis (Ed.) (2000)
Hove, England: Language Teaching Publications
Pp. 245
ISBN 1-899396-11-X (paper)
I'd be interested in reading it sometime. Good luck with it.By the way, my thesis deals with teaching English prepositions to native Chinese speakers.
IMO, they are grammatical collocations.I think the majority of the paper will have to focus on prepositional collocations. Are those mostly lexical or grammatical, do you think?
Here's a definition of the two types:
Grammatical collocations are combinations where a preposition is used with a noun, a verb or an adjective, (e.g. by accident, admiration for, agree with, account for, afraid of, amazed at). Lexical collocations include:
[1] Verb + Noun (e.g. break a code, lift a blockade)
[2] Verb + Adverb (e.g. affect deeply, appreciate sincerely)
[3] Noun + Verb (e.g. water freezes, clock ticks)
[4] Adjective + Noun (e.g. strong tea, best wishes)
[5] Adverb + Adjective (e.g. deeply absorbed, closely related)
(for more elaborate linguistic analyses of collocations see e.g. Al-Salmani, 2002; Baker, 1992; Emery, 1991).
http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/pta_August_05_ma.php
And a longer treatment here:
http://jurnal-humaniora.ugm.ac.id/downl ... 20rini.pdf
....
Thank you for your references, Metal. I look forward to digesting them. Do you happen to know if Michael Lewis devotes special attention to prepositional collocations, specifically?
My first year of study for an MA in linguistics was in 1975. I don't think the term collocation had been invented yet.Why did your course tutors wait so long to introduce the term? I would have thought that such a term would be introduced in the first year of an MA in linguistics.
I'm surprised that you are allowed to finish your MA after such a long gap.Lotus wrote:Oh, yes. We even had Chomsky, and my main prof and mentor's good friend was Eugene Nida. As long as I've been around, linguistics has been around a bit longer.Was the term linguistics was invented way back then?
Actually, it surprised me too. About three years ago, I happened to be on campus visiting friends, and asked about finishing my degree. Various people got excited and put me in touch with the right ones. I had to jump through a few hoops, one of which was getting a TESOL cert. first, but I was very well taken care of.I'm surprised that you are allowed to finish your MA after such a long gap.
It has indeed, Lorikeet. All very exciting.Actually, when I got a B.A. in Linguistics in 1968, it was a very new field. It's come a long way, and all that.