Many contemporary textbooks for English as a foreign language (EFL) and books for vocabulary study contain exercises with a focus on collocations, with verb–noun collocations (e.g. make a mistake) being particularly popular as targets for collocation learning. Common exercise formats used in textbooks and other pedagogic materials require learners to establish appropriate matches between sets of verbs and nouns. However, matching exercises almost inevitably carry a risk of erroneous connections, and despite corrective feedback these might leave undesirable traces in the learner’s memory. We report four small-scale trials (total n = 135) in which the learning gains obtained from verb–noun matching exercises are compared with the learning gains obtained from a format in which the target collocations are presented to the learners as intact wholes. Pre-test to post-test gains turned out small in all of the conditions, owing in part to the learners’ substitution of initially correct choices by distracters from the exercises. The latter, negative side-effect was attested more often in the matching exercises than in the exercises where the learners worked with collocations as intact wholes.
BishopH. (2004). The effect of typographic salience on the look up and comprehension of unknown formulaic sequences. In SchmittN. (Ed.), Formulaic sequences: Acquisition, processing and use (pp. 227−247). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
2.
BoersF.LindstrombergS. (2009). Optimizing a lexical approach to instructed second language acquisition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
3.
BoersF.EyckmansJ.KappelJ.StengersH.DemecheleerH. (2006). Formulaic sequences and perceived oral proficiency: Putting a lexical approach to the test. Language Teaching Research, 10, 245−261.
4.
BroukalM. (2002). Practice vocabulary. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
5.
ByrdP.CoxheadA. (2010). On the other hand: Lexical bundles in academic writing and in the teaching of EAP. University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 5, 31−64.
6.
CunninghamS.MoorP. (2005). New cutting edge. Students’ book. Harlow: Pearson Education.
7.
DaiZ.DingY. (2010). Effectiveness of text memorization in EFL learning of Chinese students. In WoodD. (Ed.) Perspectives on formulaic language: Acquisition and communication (pp. 71−87). New York: Continuum.
8.
Ertenİ.H.TekinM. (2008). Effects on vocabulary acquisition of presenting new words in semantic sets versus semantically unrelated sets. System, 36, 407−22.
9.
FinkbeinerM.NicolJ. (2003) Semantic category effects in second language word learning. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24, 369−383.
10.
ForsbergF. (2010). Using conventional sequences in L2 French. IRAL, 48, 25−51.
11.
GatbontonE.SegalowitzN. (2005). ‘Rethinking communicative language teaching: A focus on access to fluency’. Canadian Modern Language Journal, 61, 325–353.
12.
HillJ.LewisM.LewisM. (2000). Strategies, activities, and exercises. In LewisL. (Ed.), Teaching Collocation (pp. 86–117). Hove: LTP.
13.
JonesM.HaywoodS. (2004). Facilitating the acquisition of formulaic sequences: An exploratory study. In SchmittN. (Ed.), Formulaic sequences (pp. 269−300). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
KuiperK.ColumbusG.SchmittN. (2009). Acquiring phrasal vocabulary. In Foster-CohenS. (Ed.), Advances in language acquisition (pp. 216–240). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
16.
LauferB.GirsaiN. (2008). Form-focused instruction in second language vocabulary learning: A case for contrastive analysis and translation. Applied Linguistics, 29, 694–716.
17.
LauferB.WaldmanT. (2011). Verb–noun collocations in second language writing: A corpus analysis of learners’ English. Language Learning, 61, 647–672.
18.
LewisM. (1993). The Lexical Approach. Hove: LTP.
19.
LewisM. (1997). Implementing the Lexical Approach. Hove: LTP.
LiJ.SchmittN. (2010). The development of collocation use in academic texts by advanced L2 learners: A multiple case study approach. In WoodD. (Ed.), Perspectives on formulaic language: Acquisition and communication (pp. 22–46). New York: Continuum.
22.
LiuD. (2010). Going beyond patterns: Involving cognitive analysis in the learning of collocations. TESOL Quarterly, 44, 4–30.
23.
McCarthyM.O’DellF. (2005). English collocations in use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
24.
McCarthyM.O’DellF. (2008). English collocations in use: Advanced. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
MeunierF.GrangerS. (2008). Phraseology in foreign language learning and teaching. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
27.
NattingerJ.R.DeCarricoJ.S. (2002). Lexical phrases and language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
28.
NekrasovaT.M. (2009). English L1 and L2 speakers’ knowledge of lexical bundles. Language Learning, 59, 647–686.
29.
NesselhaufN. (2005). Collocations in a learner corpus. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
30.
PalmerH.E. (1933). Second interim report on English collocations. Tokyo: Kaitakusha.
31.
PetersE. (2009). Learning collocations through attention-drawing techniques: A qualitative and quantitative analysis. In BarfieldA.GyllstadH. (Eds.), Researching collocations in another language: Multiple perspectives (pp. 194−207). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
32.
PetersE. (2012). Learning German formulaic sequences: The effect of two attention-drawing techniques. Language Learning Journal, 40, 65−79.
33.
RichardsJ.C.BohlkeD. (2011). Four corners. Student’s book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
34.
SchmittN. (Ed.), (2004). Formulaic sequences: Acquisition, processing and use. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
35.
SchmittD.SchmittN. (2005). Focus on vocabulary: Mastering the Academic Word List. New York: Pearson/Longman Education.
36.
SoarsL.SoarsJ. (2009). New headway. Intermediate student’s book. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
37.
StengersH.BoersF.HousenA.EyckmansJ. (2010). Does ‘chunking’ foster chunk-uptake? In De KnopS.BoersF.De RyckerA. (Eds.), Fostering language teaching efficiency through cognitive linguistics (pp. 99–117). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
38.
TinkhamT. (1997). The effects of semantic and thematic clustering on the learning of second language vocabulary. Second Language Research, 13, 138–163.
39.
WaringR. (1997). The negative effects of learning words in semantic sets: A replication. System, 25, 261–274.
40.
WatsonD. (1997). Advanced vocabulary in context. St. Heller: Georgean Press.
41.
WebbS.KagimotoE. (2011). Learning collocations: Do the number of collocates, position of the node word, and synonymy affect learning?Applied Linguistics, 32, 259–276.
42.
WebbS.NewtonJ.ChangA.C.S. (2013). Incidental learning of collocation. Language Learning, 63, 91–120.
43.
WilsonJ.J.ClareA. (2007). Total English. Advanced student’s book. Harlow: Pearson Education.
44.
WoodD. (2010). Formulaic language and second language speech fluency: Background, evidence and classroom applications. New York: Continuum
45.
WrayA. (2002). Formulaic language and the lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
46.
WrayA.FitzpatrickT. (2010). Pushing learners to the extreme: The artificial use of prefabricated material in conversation. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 4, 37–51.
47.
YamashitaJ.JiangN. (2010). L1 influence on the acquisition of L2 collocations: Japanese ESL users and EFL learners acquiring English collocations. TESOL Quarterly, 44, 647–668.
