Semantics Collocation in vocabulary teaching

Nguyễn Thị Thủy Tiên-K18C

Viet nam national university, ha noi
University of languages and international studies
Department for post-graduate studies

ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC :

Collocation in vocabulary teaching

SEMANTICS
( FINAL ASSIGNMENT)

Student :Nguyễn Thị Thủy Tiên
Group: K18C – English Department
Supervisor : Dr. Hà Cẩm Tâm
Time of submission :28/6/2010

hµ néi 6 / 2010

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.

The theoretical overview of collocation ………………………........3
1. Definition of collocation……………………………………………….3
2. Characteristics of collocation…………………………………………3
3. Classification of collocation…………………………………………...5

II.

The importance of collocation in vocabulary teaching ……….......6

III.

The example of teaching collocation for 10th grade students……..8

Reference ………………………………………………………………...…13

I. The theoretical overview of collocation
I.1. Definition of collocation
-

According to Moira Runcie (2002), collocation is word combination in a
language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing.
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-

Lewis (2000) defines collocation as the way in which words co-occur in
natural text in statistically significant way (p. 132).

-

According to Mc Carthy (1990), collocation is the likelihood of corruptionoccurrence between words.

-

According to Chitra Fernando (1996), collocation is defined as the company
words keep.

-

According to Howard Jackson (1990), “collocation is a lexical relationship of
mutual expectancy, the presence of a particular lexical item gives rise to the
greater chance likelihood that other lexical items belonging to the same area
of meaning will also occur.”

-

Oxford Collocation ( 2002) defined collocation as “the way words combine
in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing”

-

Halliday and Hasan (1976) treat collocation as words used in lexical cohesion
of text and contain a cohesive force.”

- According to James (1998), collocations are the other words any particular

word normally keeps company with (p. 152).

I.2. Characteristics of collocation
I.2.1. No rule
Native English speakers make correct collocations because of experiences in
daily communication and the reading of word combination in their culture.
However, non-native speakers have limited chances to experience real word
combination in the culture of target language and thus, create word combination
in a way that sounds strange to native speakers because of using the way to
collocates words in mother tongue. In fact, there are no absolute rules for
collocation.

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According to Gains and Redman [1986: 37], there is no absolute rule for
collocating words because word combination simply reflects a common real
world state of affairs. For example, “shrug one’s shoulder” describes an action in
real world. McCarthy [1990: 18] said that knowledge of collocation is a question
of typicality which is very important for recognizing untypical collocations.
In summary, there is no absolute rule of collocation. Whether a collocation is
acceptable or not in target language depends on notion of typicality.

I.2.2. Language specific
Each language has its own language convention which governs the collocating of
word. As Zughoul (1991) points out, different languages have different
collocation modes; what collocates in one language does not necessarily

collocate in another language. For instance, a clear road in English is a free road
in Greek or a heavy drinker in English is a strong glass in Greek. That is the
reason why non- native speakers make mistakes in collocation. In other words,
English learners use their first language convention to collocate words. For
example, ăn sáng is correct in Vietnamese but eat breakfast is unacceptable in
English. It must be have / has breakfast in English.

I.2.3. Variable scope
Collocation has very strict syntactic features but there may be some nonadjacent words between collocates. For example, I break down doors, I broke
down the doors and I broke down the battered, old door. These examples
illustrate the combination of break, down and door with different words among
collocates.

I.2.4. Idiomatic
According to Fernando Chistra [1996: 45], both collocation and idiom have
idiomacy because of the habitual and predictable co-occurrence of specific
words, thus English native speakers are able to learn collocations through life4

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time experience. However, that is the disadvantage for English learners who
study English in non-English speaking environment.
However, there is distinction between collocation and idiom. Meaning of
collocation can be inferred from the meanings of the separate words but idioms
have meanings which are quite different from the meanings of their components.

I.3. Classification of collocation
- According to Benson, M., Benson, E. & Ilson, R. (1986), there are two ways of

classifying collocation:
- Grammatical collocation:
 Noun + prep : The light from the window
 Noun + to-V : Decision to make
 Noun + that clause : Conclusion that motivation is very important in
learning English
 Preposition + noun : By the light of the moon
 Adjective + preposition / prepositional phrase : Safe from the attack
 Adjective + to-infinitive : Glad to see
 Adjective + that- clause : Necessary that you should do that
 Verb patterns : To be free to choose
- Lexical collocation:
 Verb + Noun / Pronoun / Prepositional Phrase: Come to a conclusion,
make an appointment, set a record. In many cases, the collocation
incorporates an idea of eradication. for example : Override a veto
 Adjective + noun : Torrential rain, strong/weak tea
 Noun + verb : Volcano erupt, bombs explode/ go off
 Noun + noun ( usually noun + of + noun) : A school of whales, a pack of
wolves, a swarm of bees

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 Adverb + adjective : Closely acquainted, utterly abhorrent; patently/
totally/ utterly absurd
 Verb + adverb : Apologize humbly, appreciate deeply, greatly, keenly,
sincerely, very much; argue bitterly, heatedly, passionately, strenuously,

vehemently
- Jimmie Hill (2000) offers the following schema for pointing out collocations to
students:
+ Unique collocations: Foot the bill, shrug your shoulders. (These are unique
because foot (as a verb) and shrug are not used with any other nouns.)
+ Strong collocations: Trenchant criticism, rancid butter. (There are other things
that can be trenchant or rancid, but very few.)
+ Weak collocations: A tall woman, a red shirt, an expensive car, a loud noise.
(These combinations are entirely predictable to most students and not worth
focusing on.)
+ Medium-strength collocations: Hold a conversation, a major operation,
expensive tastes, a loud shirt. (Note that words such as expensive and loud can
form both weak and medium-strength collocations.)
Hill argues that it is the medium-strength collocations which are most important
for the ESL classroom.

II. The importance of collocation in vocabulary teaching
-

Collocations might be described as the words that are placed or found

together in a predictable pattern. Examples range from two word combinations such
as problem child to extended combinations such as He’s recovering from a major
operation. These language patterns comprise much of speech and writing. But there
are many more collocations than words, since many words occur in several different
collocations. Consequently, semantic errors in the use of lexical collocations make
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both oral and written communication difficult. Thus, in teaching vocabulary,
teaching collocation is a vital part. Teaching collocation plays an important role in
order to help students write and speak English naturally. In addition, reading and
listening skills can be enhanced if students can acquire lots of collocations. Hill
(2000) states that collocation should play an important part in our teaching from
lesson one (p. 60).We have to accept the fact that collocation has been an
undervalued aspect of productive vocabulary, despite its significance in EFL
learning (Wei, 1999). Native-like proficiency of a language depends crucially on
knowledge of a stock of prefabricated units (Cowie, 1996, p. 389). Therefore, EFL
learners should have a number of collocations in stock to communicate fluently and
accurately.
-

The emphasis on teaching collocation in vocabulary teaching is essential as

the increasingly important role of Lexical Approach - a good way to acquire English
vocabulary knowledge. The approach has encouraged learners to see larger units of
the language and focus attention on naturally occurring expressions rather than rulegenerated sentences. Furthermore, the Lexical Approach puts communicative power
in the center of language teaching, with the knowledge of ready-made chunks;
students may learn how to communicate fluently and naturally, because fluency is
based on the acquisition of large store of fixed and semi-fixed prefabricated items.
-

In The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher’s Course, Marianne Celce-

Murcia and Diane Larsen-Freeman point out that “it would be useful for ESL/EFL
learners to have access to the significant collocates of all the lexical items they are
expected to acquire and use” (1983:55). Another EFL researcher, Joanna Channell,

has not only stressed the importance of collocation properties but also put the
semantic theory of vocabulary learning into practice. Together with three
researchers, she integrated semantic field theory, componential analysis, and the

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collocation approach into her unique workbooks for advanced EFL learners (Rudzka
et al., 1981a, 1985).

III. The example of teaching collocation for 12th grade students
III.1. Because of the reasons mentioned in part II, collocations should be paid
attention in teaching vocabulary which is an inevitable part of teaching all English
skills such as reading, speaking, listening and writing. There are some general
suggestions for teaching collocation:
● In the first place, teacher should explain the importance of collocation in learning
English and advise learners to use collocations in their communications to have
native-like communications.
● In the second place, teacher should encourage learners to pay attention to
collocations whenever they learn English. Consequently, students are able to
improve their knowledge of collocations. The collocation awareness-raising process
(CAR) proposed by Ying and Hendricks (2004) suggests four steps in teaching
collocations. First, make students understand what collocations are. Second, raise
collocation awareness by introducing materials for target collocations. Third, teach
the students the steps of noticing and noting collocations, followed by the step of
incorporating the learnt collocations in tasks. Lastly, examine and give feedback on
students’ work.

● In the third place, teacher should think carefully about collocations to teach.
Collocations should be active and appropriate for learners at different stages (Hill,
2000).
●In the fourth place, teacher should repeat and recycle the collocations already
learnt every now and then in class activities to help learners register those learnt in
their memory. The same thing twice activates collocations (Hill,Lewis & Lewis,
2000, p.90).

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● In the fifth place, teacher should have students’ work corrected by their friend.
Peer correction is recommended since it is a means to get feedback and instant
reinforcement (Wei, 1999).
● In the sixth place, teacher should take advantage of group work to help fostering
learning interdependence, especially in vocabulary work. Learners can exchange
knowledge and ask others to explain unknown items. Group work is a motivating
factor, which involves trying to remember details together, explaining impressions
and building good memories (Moudraia, 2006).
III.2.The example of teaching collocation for 10th grade students
- The lesson:
- The source:

Unit 3: Daily activities
English text book (2006) – 10th grade – Education publisher –

page 32

- Teaching collocation:
 Reading : Teaching collocation ( task 1, 2) is used as the final part of while –
reading step and task 3 is used as the beginning of post –reading step:
- Task 1: Read the reading “A worker’s typical day” quickly and find

out collocations in the text and make a list of collocations.
Answer: There are collocations in the reading text:
• Has a big breakfast

• Hurried walks to factory

• Have lunch

• Take a nap

• Get on the train

• Overtime pay

• Get off the train

• Job security

- Task 2: Provide further exercise of collocations related to daily
activities:
Fill in each blank with a suitable word

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1. _____ a train

10. _____a shower/bath

2. _____ a taxi

11. _____ breakfast/lunch/dinner

3. _____ a bus

12. _____seafood/ Japanese food

4. _____a ferry

13. _____ to school

5. _____ a boat

14. _____ homework

6. _____the train

15. _____TV

7. _____the bus

16. _____to music

8. _____the ferry

17. _____to the radio

9. _____ up
Answer:
1. take a train

10. have a shower/bath

2. take a taxi

11. have breakfast/lunch/dinner

3. take a bus

12. have seafood/ Japanese food

4. take a ferry

13. go to school

5. take a boat

14. do homework

6. on the train

15. watch TV

7. on the bus

16. listen to music

8. on the ferry

17. listen to the radio

9. get up
-

Task 3: Make a list of collocations about the importance of college
education
Suggestions:
- Well-paid job
-

Do work better

-

Get promotion

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Listening



- Teach some collocations in listening text for students and refer to some
relevant collocations before students listen to the interview in while-listening
step:
• Ride a bicycle

• Indoor swimming pool

• Go to the gym

• Good appetite

• Go to a health club

• Beauty secrets

• Get advice

• Fantastic shape

-

Ask students to provide relevant collocations and then give suggestions :

• Go skiing

• Go for a walk

• Go fishing

• Go for a drive

• Go climbing

• Go for a swim

• Go hiking
• Go to sleep



Speaking :

- Provide some collocations about daily activities at the beginning of whilespeaking step help students to do task B “You are a TV reporter. Interview your
partner, a business man or a singer and then report his/ her routines to your class”:

• A business man’s activities :
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• Singer’s activities

 Having meetings/ business
lunch

 Getting up late

 Signing contracts

 Having breakfast

 Working on the computer

 Attending a club

 Attending an exhibition

 Going to the gym



Writing

Before students write, ask them to list some useful collocations for their
writing “Your class took a tour of Ha Long last month but the tour was very
poorly run. Write a letter to the travel agency to complain about the tour (the
hotel, the meals, the tour guide)
Here are some suggestions:
-

Uncomfortable bed

-

Fresh fish

-

Comfortable bus

-

Tasty food

-

Small room

-

Poorly served

-

Dirty room

-

Ill-informed tourist guide

-

Insufficient meal

-

Unfriendly tourist guide

-

Poor food

-

Look into matter

-

Spacious hotel

-

Convincing explanation

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Reference
 Benson, M., Benson, E. and Ilson, R. 1986a. Lexicographic Description of
English. Amesterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
 Benson, M., Benson, E. and Ilson, R. 1986b. The BBI Combinatory
Dictionary of English: A Guide to Word Combinations. Amsterdam and

Philadelphia: John Benjamins. (abbrev. as BBI)
 Celce-Murcia, M. and Larsen-Freeman, D. 1983. The Grammar Book: An
ESL/EFL Teacher’s Course. Cambridge: Newbury House.
 Cowie, A.P. (1994). Phraseology. In R.E. Asher (Ed.) The encyclopaedia of
language and linguistics, 6 (3168-71). Oxford: Oxford University Press .
 Fernando, Chitra 1996. Idiom and Idiomacity. Oxford University Press.
 Halliday, M. A. K., and Hasan, R., 1976. Cohesion in English. London:
Longman.
 Hill, J. (2000). Revising priorities: From grammatical failure to collocational
success. In M. Lewis (Ed.), Teaching collocation: Further development in the
lexical approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Hill, J., Lewis, M. & Lewis, M. (2000). Classroom strategies, activities and
exercises. In M. Lewis (Ed.), Teaching collocation: Further development in
the lexical approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Lewis, M.(2000). Learning in a lexical approach. In M. Lewis (Ed.),
Teaching collocation: Further development in the lexical approach. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
 Jackson, Howard 1990. Grammar and Meaning. Longman Group
Limited.
 James, C. (1998). Errors in language learning and use: Exploring error
analysis. New York: Addison Wesley Longman Limited.

UK


 Mc Cathy, Michael 1990. Vocabulary. Oxford University Press.
 Moudraia, O. (2006) Lexical approach to second language teaching.
Retrieved April 26, 2006 from the World Wide Web
< />2842056330/>
 Rudzka, B., Channell, J., Putseys, Y., and Ostyn, P. 1981a. The Words You

Need. London: Macmillan.
 Rudzka, B., Channell, J., Putseys, Y., and Ostyn, P. 1981b. The Words You
Need. Teacher’s Book. London: Macmillan.
 Rudzka, B., Channell, J., Putseys, Y., and Ostyn, P. 1985. More Words You
Need. London: Macmillan.
 Wei, Y. (1999, March). Teaching collocations for productive vocabulary
development. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Teachers of
English to Speakers of Other Languages. New York.
 Ying, Y. & Hendricks, A. (2004). Collocation awareness in the writing
process. Reflections of English Language Teaching, 3, 51-78.