Cover not available

Article published In: Pedagogical Linguistics
Vol. 2:1 (2021) ► pp.64–91

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Objective and subjective collocational frequency

Association strength measures and EFL teacher intuitions

ORCiD logo with link | Ankara University
Published online: 2 March 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pl.20014.can
Abstract
Research states that when deciding what target lexical items to focus in their syllabi, textbook designers tend to use their intuition and establish their framework for vocabulary teaching accordingly rather than using a systematic method. With the advent of computational methods for language analysis, contemporary EFL publishers also claim they have begun to design corpus-informed textbooks reflecting actual language use in their products as evidenced in a representative corpus. In an attempt to offer a more rational method to form corpus-oriented and pedagogically convenient target vocabulary lists, the present study, exploiting different association measures in a representative corpus, seeks to detect the collocational strength of 50 target word combinations presented in the two EFL textbooks as an initial step. Additionally, inspired by Ellis, N. C., Simpson-Vlach, R., & Maynard, C. (2008). Formulaic Language in Native and Second Language Speakers: Psycholinguistics, Corpus Linguistics, and TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 42(3), 375–396. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar research, the current study aims to investigate if/to what extent the association measures indicating collocational strength correlate with EFL instructors’ intuitions regarding collocational frequency. The results indicate that EFL instructors’ collocational frequency intuitions correlate strongly with an objective collocational frequency measure (t-score). The findings are likely to guide decision makers in tertiary level schools in constructing their vocabulary syllabi and designing materials for teaching collocations in particular.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
  • 3.The current study
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Collocational items
    • 4.2Method
    • 4.3Participants
    • 4.4Aims and research questions
  • 5.Results
  • 6.Discussion & conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (57)
References
Alderson, J. C. (2007). Judging the frequency of English words. Applied Linguistics, 281, 383–409. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Balota, D. A., Pilotti, M., & Cortese, M. J. (2001). Subjective frequency estimates for 2,938 monosyllabic words. Memory and Cognition, 291, 639–647. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bestgen, Y., & Granger, S. (2014). Quantifying the development of phraseological competence in L2 English writing: An automated approach. Journal of Second Language Writing, 261, 28–41. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brezina, V. (2018). Statistics in Corpus Linguistic: A Practical Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brysbaert, M., & Cortese, M. J. (2011). Do the effects of subjective frequency and age of acquisition survive better word frequency norms? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64(3), 545–559. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, J. (2010). Language, usage and cognition. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cangır, H., Büyükkantarcıoğlu, S. N., & Durrant, P. (2017). Investigating Collocational Priming in Turkish. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 13(132), 465–486.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cangır, H. (2018). Investigating the Relationship between L1 and L2 Collocational Processing in the Bilingual Mental Lexicon (Doctoral dissertation, Hacettepe University). Retrieved from [URL]
Council of Europe (1996). The Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching and assessment. [URL]. Accessed 1 February 2021.
Chen, X. & Dong, Y. (2019). Evaluating objective and subjective frequency measures in L2 lexical processing. Lingua, 2301, 102738. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Church, K., Hanks, P., & Moon, R. (1990). Word Association norms, mutual information and lexicography. Computational Linguistics, 16(1), 22–29.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
de Groot, A. M. B. (1992). Bilingual Lexical Representation: A Closer Look at Conceptual Representations. Advances in Psychology, 941, 389–412. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Durrant, P., & Schmitt, N. (2009). To what extent do native and non-native writers make use of collocations? IRAL, 471, 157–177. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2006). Language acquisition as rational contingency learning. Applied Linguistics, 271: 1–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C., Simpson-Vlach, R., & Maynard, C. (2008). Formulaic Language in Native and Second Language Speakers: Psycholinguistics, Corpus Linguistics, and TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 42(3), 375–396. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Erickson, L. C., & Thiessen, E. D. (2015). Statistical learning of language: Theory, validity, and predictions of a statistical learning account of language acquisition. Developmental Review, 371, 66–108. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Evert, S. (2008). Corpora and collocations. In A. Lüdeling and M. Kytö (eds.), Corpus Linguistics. An International Handbook, article 58, pages 1212–1248. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gablasova, D., Brezina, V., & McEnery, T. (2017). Collocations in Corpus-Based Language Learning Research: Identifying, Comparing, and Interpreting the Evidence. Language Learning. 67(1), 155–179. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Granger, S., & Meunier, F. (2008). Phraseology in language learning and teaching. Where to from here? In S. Granger and F. Meunier (Eds.), Phraseology in foreign language learning and teaching (pp. 247–252). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gries, S. T., & Ellis, N. C. (2015). Statistical measures for usage-based linguistics. Language Learning, 651: 228–55. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Henriksen, B. (2013). Research on L2 learners’ collocational competence and development – a progress report. EUROSLA Monographs Series, 21, 29–56.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoey, M. (2000). A world beyond collocation: new perspectives on vocabulary teaching. In M. Lewis (Ed), Teaching Collocation (pp. 224–243). Hove: Language Teaching Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoffmann, S., & Lehmann, H. M. (2000). Collocational Evidence from the British National Corpus. In J. M. Kirk (Ed.), Corpora Galore: Analyses and Techniques in Describing English. Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Howarth, P. (1998). Phraseology and second language proficiency. Applied Linguistics, 191, 24–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hunston, S. (2002). Corpora in Applied Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jones, M., & Durrant, P. (2010). What can a corpus tell us about vocabulary teaching materials? In M. McCarthy and A. O’Keeffe (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics: London: Routledge: 387–400. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, S. H., & Kim, J. H. (2012). Frequency effects in L2 multi-word unit processing: Evidence from self-paced reading. TESOL Quarterly, 461, 831–841. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koprowski, M. (2005). Investigating the usefulness of lexical phrases in contemporary coursebooks. ELT Journal, 59(4): 322–332. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kurtes, S., & Saville, N. (2008). The English Profile Programme – An overview. Research Notes, 331: 2–4. Cambridge: Cambridge ESOL.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Laufer, B., & Nation, I. S. P. (2012). Vocabulary. In S. M. Gass and A. Mackey (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 163–176). London, England: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lewis, M. (1993). The Lexical Approach. Hove: Language Teaching Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McCrostie, J. (2007). Investigating the accuracy of teachers’ word frequency intuitions. RELC Journal, 38(1), 53–66. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McGee, I. (2009). Adjective-noun collocations in elicited and corpus data: Similarities, differences and the whys and wherefores. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 51, 79–103. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nation, P. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nesselhauf, N. (2003). The Use of Collocations by Advanced Learners of English and Some Implications for Teaching. Applied Linguistics, 24(2), 223–242. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Okamoto, M. (2015). Is corpus word frequency a good yardstick for selecting words to teach? Threshold levels for vocabulary selection. System, 511, 1–10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Richards, J. C. (1974). ‘Word Lists: Problems and Prospects’, RELC Journal, 51: 69–84. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmitt, N., & Dunham, B. (1999). Exploring native and non-native intuitions of word frequency. Second Language Research, 151, 389–411. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmitt, N. (2008). Instructed second language vocabulary learning. Language Teaching Research, 121, 329–363. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Researching Vocabulary: A Vocabulary Research Manual. Palgrave Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scott, T. (2019). Learning language in chunks. Part of the Cambridge Papers in ELT series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sinclair, J. (1991). Corpus, concordance, collocation. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Siyanova, A., & Schmitt, N. (2008). L2 learner production and processing of collocation: A multi-study perspective. Canadian Modern Language Review, 641, 429–458. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., & Spina, S. (2015). Investigation of Native Speaker and Second Language Learner Intuition of Collocation Frequency. Language Learning, 65(3), 533–562. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tanaka-Ishii, K., & Terada, H. (2011). Word familiarity and frequency. Studia Linguistica, 651, 96–116. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
The British National Corpus version 3 (BNC XML Edition). (2007). Distributed by Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, on behalf of the BNC Consortium. URL: [URL]
The jamovi project (2019). jamovi. (Version 1.1) [Computer Software]. Retrieved from [URL]
Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a Language: A Usage-based Theory of Language Acquisition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tomlinson, B. (2011). Introduction: Principles and procedures of materials development. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (pp. 1–34). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tremblay, A., Baayen, H., Derwing, B., & Libben, G. (2008). Lexical bundles and working memory: An ERP study. Presentation given at the (FLaRN) Formulaic Language Research Network Conference. University of Nottingham, June 19–20, 2008.
Wang, M., & Koda, K. (2005). Commonalities and differences in word identification skills among learners of English as a second language. Language Learning, 55(1), 71–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolter, B. (2001). COMPARING THE L1 AND L2 MENTAL LEXICON A Depth of Individual Word Knowledge Model. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23(1), 41–69. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolter, B., & Gyllstad, H. (2013). FREQUENCY OF INPUT AND L2 COLLOCATIONAL PROCESSING A Comparison of Congruent and Incongruent Collocations. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 351, 451–482. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolter, B., & Yamashita, J. (2014). Processing collocations in a second language: A case of first language activation? Applied Psycholinguistics, 1(29), 1–29.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wray, A. (2002). Formulaic Language and the Lexicon. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

CANGIR, Hakan & Cumhur KUZU
2022. Collocational Links in the Multilingual Mind: Frequency Intuitions and Association Strength Measures. Dilbilim Araştırmaları Dergisi 33:2 ► pp. 191 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue