Teaching collocation further developments in the lexical approach

Contents

Contents

3.7

INTRODUCTION

... . 8

PART 1 - IN THE CLASSROOM
Chapter 1:
1.1
I.2
I.3
I.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
1.10

Introduction
Learnersdon'tleamwhatteachersteach
Knowingawordiscomplicated...
Theintermediateplateau
The grammar-vocabularydichotomyisinvalid
AdvancedEnglish
Leave'used'languagealone.

Someclassroomactivities
Actionresearch
Cdnclusion

Chapter 2:
2.I
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
2.10
2.lI

.... 10
....... 11
....I2
.......14
. . . . . . . . 15
.....17
...18
.....20
.......27
.....21

Collocation- encouraging learner independence. . . . . 28
GeorgeWoolard

Introduction
Collocation
Raisingawarenessofcollocation...
Highlightingandteachingcollocation
Choosingkey words
The independentlearnerandleamerstrategies
R e s o u r c edsi:c t i o n a r i e s
Resources:corporaandconcordancers
Lexicalnotebooks
Wordgrammar...
Summary

Chapter 3:

3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4,
3.5
3.6

There is nothing as practical as a good theory. . . . . . . . 10
Morgan Lewis

....28
.....28
...30
........31
. . . .32

. . . . . . . . 33
........36
........39
.....43
.....44
."....46

Revising priorities: from grammatical failure to
collocationalsuccess
Jimmie Hill

Languageandlexis
Languageandlearning
Whatiscollocation?
Collocationalcompetence...
Collocations,idiomsandphrasalverbs.
Collocationsandsrammar...

\\ tr

J.6

Lol

3.9
3.10
3.1i
3.12

Tea

Chc
Ped
Sun

Chapter.l
4.1
^ +.2

Bac

4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9

Etp
The
The
\Iak
Reri
Con
Con

I ne

Chapter 5:
5.1

5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.1

Intro
Gene
Actil
Actii
Exeri
Your
Sumr

Chapter 6:

PART 2 Chapter 7:

...47

.....47
........48
....48
...49
.......50
........52

7.1
7.2

7.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7

Descr
Intuiri
Termi
From
Collor
Collig
Other


Contents

8

.......10

3.1
3.8
3.9
3.10
3.11
3.12

Whyiscollocationimportant?
Collocationintexts

Teachingcollocation
Choosingwhich collocationsto teach
Pedagogicalimplications
S u m m a r y - l e s s g r a m m a r , m o r e .l e x i s

Chapter 4:

......10
. . . . . 1. 1
......t2
......14
......15
......17
......18
. ... .. 2 0
......27
. .. . . . 2 1

4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.1
4.8
4.9

e.....28

Chapter 5:

. . .. . . 2 8
......28
......30
......31
-.....32
......33
......36
......39
......43

5.1
5.2
5.3
5.5
5.6
5.7

........53
....56
. . .59
. . .63
......65
........67

Integrating collocation into a reading & writing courseT0
Jane Conzett

Background

The needto build vocabulary
Explicitvocabularystudy.
Themissinglink:collocation..
The needfor guidancefrom the teacher
M a k e s t u d e n t s a w a r e o f c o l l o c a.t.i.o n
Reviewandtesting
Concordancesforteachersandstudents
Conclusion

....70
. . .7I
.....72
.......73
. . . . . . .j4
.......-15
.....83
.......85
.....86

Classroom strategies,activities and exercises. . . . . . . . 88
Jimmie Hill, Morgan Lewis and Michael Lewis

Introducingcollocationtoleamers
Generalstrategies
Activities-exploitingatext.
Activities-usingacollocationdictionary
Exercises
Yourownexercises
Summary
......

Chapter6: Calloway'sCode.
A short story by O. Henry

.

.....88
......90
....98
......99
..... 106
....116
.....116
.....118

LL

......46
)

PART 2 - BACKGROUND THEORY
Chapter 7:

4'7

......41
".....48
......48
......49
......50

......52

7.1
7.2
1.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7

Language in the lexical approach
Michael Lewis

D e s c r i p t i o nosf E n g l i s h
Intuitionandevidence...
Terminology
From idioms to idiomaticity .
Collocation
Colligation
Other multi-word expressions

. . . . .126
......126
....126
. . .129
. . 130
....I32
....136
. . 138

Contents

7.g
7.9
7.10
1.tI
7.12
1.13
7.14

words
T h e c e n t r a l r o l e o f ' o f.'
Grammar
Lexis.
Collocationandtesting
Necessityfor change
Summary
Learning in the lexical approach
Michael Lewis

. . . . . . i55

Introduction
Twokindsofknowledge....
Acquisitionandnoticing
Noticing
Theimporlanceofexamples...
Acquisitionisnon-linear
Which is fundamental- lexis or structure?

Thelexicalchallengetomethodology'.
'1eve1'?
What do we meanby
Teachingparadigms
The Lexical Approach and the Natural Approach
Towardsaleamingtheory
Summary

...155
..156
.....158
......161
.-----163
....'.168
' . . .I7I
... ' '.173
. .I14
. . .177
. . . . . 181
.'...182
.'.'.184

Chapter 8:
g.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
8.7

8.8
8.9
8.10
8.11
8.12
8.13

. .142
.....I45
.....147
.......I49
.'..."150
. . . 151
..'..153

Materials and resources for teaching collocation. . . . . 186
Michael Lewis
......186
Choosingtexts.
..188
Genre
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
i89
Subject-specificlanguage....

.....191
Languagecorpora
.....198
Concordances...
.'.2O0
Referencematerials.
. '203
.
.
Summary

Chapter 9:
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5
9.6
9.7

. .205
Chapter L0: Collocation and testing
Peter Hargreaves
...205
10.1 Introduction
.
. . .206
I0.2 How do we define different levels?
.......208
10.3 Testingvocabularyknowledge

. . . . .215
10.4 Grammatical patterns and collocations in testing
.
.
- '217
and
dictionaries.
corpora
10.5 Sources native-speaker
. . . ZI8
10.6 Sources the learnercorpus(CLC)
- - - - -220
10.7 Approachesto testingcollocation
.-.'.22I
10.8 Summary.

Chapter 11

11.1
11.1
11.3
ll.+
11.5
11.5
I1,7

Lear
\\ hr
The
Sem

ColU
Con
Surr

Bibliograpl


Contents

......r42
....,.145
......t47
......t49
......150
......151
......153
......155
. . . . .. 1 5 5
......156
......158
......161
......163
......168
......flr
......r13
......174

......r77
......181
......182

. . . . . .1 8 4
)n.....186
......186
......188
......189
,.....191
......198
......200
......203
.......205
......205
......206
......208
......215
......2t7
......2t8
......220

......z2r

Chapter LL: A world beyond collocation: new perspectiveson
Yocabularyteaching
....224
Michael Hoey
11.1
llz
11.3
11.4
11.5
ll.6

ILl

Leaming new words
Why word lists are dangerous
T h e i m p o r t a n coef c o n t e x t. . . .
Semanticprosody
Colligation
Concordancing..
Summary

Bibliography

. . . 224
. .227
......230
.....232
....233
.....238
.....242
. .244


Introduction

Introduction
'Without grammar little can be
As David Wilkins observedmany years ago,
conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.' The single most
important task facing language learners is acquiring a sufficiently large
'vocabulary' consists of

vocabulary.We now recognisethat much of our
prefabricated chunks of different kinds. The single most imporlant kind of
chunk is collocation. Self-evidently,then, teachingcollocation should be a top
priority in every languagecourse.
The centrality of lexis
Increasingly, languageteachershave turned to the question of how language
is stored in the brain. If native speakersstore large amounts of language in
chunks, what strategiesshould language teachers adopt if they are to help
learnersbuild mental lexicons which are similarly phrasal?
From a teaching point of view, argumentsabout exactly what types of multiword item make up the mental lexicon are unfruitful. It is clear that the
learners'taskin acquiringa sufficiently large mental lexicon is considerably
greaterthan we previously thought. Although grammar remains an important
part of language acquisition, the lexical memory load, even for an
intermediate leamer, is enormous. We now recognise that the principal
difference between intermediate and advanced leamers is not complex
grammar, but the greatly expanded mental lexicon available to advanced
learners.Failure by some teachersto recognisethis simple fact can condemn
their learnersto a lifetime on the intermediateplateau.
A modified role for grammar
The centrality of lexis means that the teaching of traditional grammar
sffucturesshould play a less important role than in the past. Recognising that
every word has its own grammar,however,meansthat any approachbasedon
the central role of lexis is in many ways more grammatical than any
traditional grammar syllabus.
Three themes
Three themesre-occurregularly in this book:
. The mental lexicon is larger than we previously thought.
. The prefabricatedchunks stored in our mental lexicons ready for use are
often larger than previously recognised.
. Really 'knowing a word'involves knowing its grammar- the patternsin

which it is regularly used.
The contributors all argue that expanding learners'phrasal lexicons and
knowledge of word grammar are the two most important elements of any
languagecourse.There is a seriouschallengefor teachersif our new insights

rnto ihe size
or-eru'hein-l
'r'ocabuian'

Er en thing ir
teachersen,i.
Developing I

Tlrc Le:;!tt;i language iru;
\\'as. as 1is l1
lin_euistics.T
arise not tton
are alreadr I
radical. inrol
chan_ses.
ln ,
Increasing ur

Ser eral conr:i
The basic rdr
rr ar.s.B ul a gt
da-r'r.is quit;
most liequen-j:
u'ho have a cl
to heip leamel

teachersder er
From pracfic

Books of rhis
order. Ihe aur
as a result rf
Part I descntt
lan_eua_ue
and I
Part 1. and i', !
to Chapters
teaching. or ttri
first. belore rei

The contrihrLlt
'
learirers nrenli
ranse oi liti-ct
l,Iiclrce! Le.,rr:


Introduction

iittle can be
srngle most
:iently large
consistsof
tant kind of
ould be a top

orv language
languagein
are to help
pes of multilear that the
considerably
an important
.'ven for an
the principal
not complex
to advanced
can condemn

into the size, importance and nature of the mental lexicon are not simply to
overwhelm students. Mike Mccarthy once eloquently described the
'vocabulary'part
of languagelearningasmastering'the chaosof the lexicon'.
Everything in this book is designedto help bring order to that chaosfor both
teachersand, more importantly, their learners.
Developing the Lexical Approach
The Lexical Approach (1993) was a combination of applied linguistics and
languageteachingmethodology.Implementingthe Lexical Approach (199j)
was, as its title suggests,more practical; methodology,rather than applied
linguistics.The first half of this book is even more practical. The chapters
arisenot from what teacherscould do in their classrooms,but from what they
are already doing. Some of the suggestionsare modest; others are more
radical, involving a reversal of traditional priorities. Introducing modest
changes,in a climate of action research,is surely the best way forward.
Increasing understanding
Severalcontributorsstresstheir own increasingunderstandingof collocation.
The basic idea is extremely simple - some words co-occur in interesting

ways.But a greatdeallies behindthat formulation.Frequentcollocation(nice
day), is quite different from strong collocation (wage war); bfi neither the
most frequent nor the strongestare the most useful for learners.only teachers
who have a clear understandingof different kinds of collocation will be able
to help learnersin the bestpossibleway. part 2 of this book is designedto help
teachersdevelop this clearer understanding.
From practice to theory

nal grammar
:ognisingthat
rachbasedon
cal than any

for use are
: pattems in
iexicons and
lments of any
r new insights

Books of this kind tend to go from theory to practice; this book reversesthat
order. The authors in Part 1 describe how what they do in class has changed
as a result of their developing awarenessof the lexical nature of language.
Pafi 2 describes in more detail the present state of our understanding of
languageand acquisition.Teacherswho havetried someof the suggestionsin
Part l, and want to take their understandingfurlher, should turn particularly
to chapters 7 and 8. Teacherswith a lot of experienceof lexically-based
teaching,or thoseon in-servicecoursesmay prefer to read thesetwo chapters
first, before returning to the more detailed practical suggestionsof part 1.
The contributors to this book have one principal objective - to develop
learners'mental lexicons, and with that, to give those leamers a far wider

rangeof life-choices.It is a worthwhile objective.
Michael Lewis, Hove, January 2000


10

There is nothing as practical as a good theorl

Chapter I
J

'
-

There is nothing as practical as a good theory

-.
' J

Morgan Lewis

-,
..

Morgan Lewis describes how his initial teacher training led him to value
grammar and explaining, and to believe both in the importance of a good lesson
plan and the close relationship between what he taught and what his students
learned. Experience led him to question these ideas and, as a result of more
theoretical study of the nature of both language and learning' to change his
classroom priorities. A better understanding of language means he gives much

more attention to collocation in all his classesl a better understanding of
language acquisition means consciously bringing more language into every class,
while accepting that the teacher cannot be sure exactly what learners will do
with the language which is presented to them. He believes many teachers with a
few years experience behind them will recognise the story he tells'

1.1 Introduction
Seeing the title of this chapter,you might have assumedthat the chapter was
written by an applied linguist who will lemove you from the classroominto
the far off land of academia.In fact, I am a regular classroom teacher with
about ten years' experienceof teachingmostly multi-lingual classesin the
UK.
Perhapslike you, after afew yearsin the classroom,I beganto question some
of the received wisdom of my initial training. The Present-Practise-Produce
paradigm I startedwith seemedsuch a neat, tidy and sensibleway to go about
teaching.I increasingly found, however,that leaming did not follow the same
tidy model. I seemedto have less control over what studentswere learning
than my initial training had led me to expect.I beganasking myself questions
- some more explicitly than others- such as:
. Why is it that what my studentsleam doesn'tmore closely resemblewhat
I teach?
. Should I spend so much time trying to achieveaccurateglammar from my
students?
. Shouldmy lessonplan rule the proceedings?
. What is the most efficient way of improving students'performance,given
they don't have a lot of time to leam the language?
. What can you really do for those 'intermediate plateau' studentswho need
a breakthrough and a feeling of progression?
. What can you do for advancedstudentsafter they have met the third
'advanced'English anyway?

conditional?And what is

'l

--

,

t

-

. . : - . - .


Thereis nothing as practical as a good theory

reory
him to value
I a good lesson
lt his students
result of more
to change his
he gives much
Ierstanding of
nto every class,
rarners will do
.eacherswith a

re chapterwas

:lassroominto
n teacher with
ciassesin the
questlonsome
rctise-Produce
/ay to go about
r11owthe same
u'ere leaming
l,self questions
'esemblewhat
nmar from my

mance, given
entswho need
the third

11

I beganan extendedperiod of extra study free from the constraintsof day-today lesson planning and thinking about my particular students.This allowed
me to stop being preoccupiedwith my teaching for a while and as a result, I
found myself drawn more and more to considering the nature of language
itself and the nature of languagelearning - what the processin which I was
engagedand for which I was trained was really all about. Surprisingly, my
initial training had not included study of this at all. It was concerned
exclusively with how the teacher should teach; learners and leaming were
hardly discussedat al-.

Tlsr
Whatpercentage
of thetimein yourtrainingwasspentlookingat

teaching and what percentage was devoted to learning?
After a lesson now, do you tend to think mostly about what you did,
or about the leamers?

I very soon came to two broad conclusions.Firstly, there was no guarantee
thai leamers learn what teachersteach. Secondly, the grammar/vocabulary
'3ichotomywas spurious, and the central role of grammar, at least as defined
,',,ithin my training, probably neededto be re-evaluated.
\faking slight methodologicalchangesin the light of theseconclusionswould
not have satisfied me. I neededto get below the surface, explore the theory
,'*,hich lies behind classroom procedures, and decide what the real
implicationsfor the classroomcould be. Let me explain in more detail how I
rame to these conclusions and show how they relate to the importance of
teachingcollocationin the classroom.

1.2 Learners don't learn what teachersteach
{lthough it is hard for many teachersto accept,it simply is not true that our
srudentsnecessarilylearn what we teach them. Teachingis, on the whole,
organised,linear and systematic,but it is a mistake to think that leaming is the
same.Leaming is complex and non-linear, and although the result may be a
s] stem,its acquisition is far from systematic.We cannotcontrol what students
ieam. in what order they will learn and how fast they will learn. As Diana
Larsen-Freemanwrites in a disconcertingfootnote to an article in the journal
-\pplied Linguistics: 'I am constantly reminding students, audiences and
rnr self that teaching does not causeleaming.'
This has had an important implication for the way I teach: I no longer expect
srudentsto masteran item or items of languagebefore exposing them to more.
Erpecting mastery in the immediate shorl term is an unrealistic expectation.
The fact is, they may or may not acquire what you teachthem. If they do, they
mav acquire it immediately, later or only partially.

12

There is nothing as practical as a good theory

Tlsr

item or areabefore
Shouldlearnersmore or lessmasterone new
new points
being exposedto more, or are you happy introducing
confusing?
more
this
find
evenif learnersmay, ln the shortterm,

Whathasthistodowithteachingcollocation?Imagineastudentproduces
the student with the t'"19*i
He's a strong smoker'You could simply supply
ideal opportunity to activate
collocate _ heavy - and move on. But an
languageontheedgeofthestudent'slexiconhasbeenmissed.Itrequiresvery
chain and non as more
little extra time or explaining to add: occasional'
know whether students will
collocates of smoker' Given that you cannot
as well give them three more'
remember and use heavy smoker, you might

or all of them' Adding
They might remember none' one' two of them
introducing one. or two new
collocation to your teaching by consciously
in this way increasesthe
words and re-activating other half-known words
you cannotbe at all sure what the
chanceof acquisition titi"g place, though
acquisitionencouraged(bu"tnot.caused')bythisparticularbitofteaching
willbe.
oneofthequestionslposedformyselfafterteachingforanumberofyears
wastheextenttowhichmylessonplanshoulddominateproceedings.These
the languageaims in my plan and
days, I am less concemed about achieving
to opportunities like the
more concerned about spotting and responding
- whether prompted by a
heavy/occasional/chain/nin- smoke' scenario
to which I can add a handful of
studenterror or finding a collocation in a text
capturedby Peter wilberg's
other useful collocateslThis mindset is perfectly
andquoted by Michael Lewis at
discussion of responsibility in One to One'
thebeginningofTheLexicatApproach:..Theteacher'smainresponsibilityis
response-abilitY."

means indi\
have alreadl
learner re-ot

do not realh
simple and t
thesediffere
isolation frc
pafiicular tel
it used or n
tenses.

The same B
'negative'
c
alternatives-

can be undet
fine until th
assesswhat
teacherma1the dffircnc
training - lr
difference bre
are at best
dictionary d<
injury, and t
collocationa
or rather mor

Tnsx
Look at
lt'Of

Tlsr

what your students
How much control do you think you haveover
learn?
rigidly?
Do you still try to follow your lessonplan fairly
respondspontaneously
How willing areyou to forget your plan and
with unpreParedinPut?

L.3 Knowing a word is comPlicated
Relatedtothepointthatlearnersdon'tnecessarilylearnwhatweteachisthe
step-by-step in nature, whereas
fact that teaching tends to be linear and
time' This is becausenew input
learning is holistic, cyclical and evolves over

I

hou
und,

Can yor
Can 1,or
want to
concord
Which r
or the li

From the cX
evolving the

lexis, it follor
met will wic


There is nothing as practical as a good theoryt

lnt produces
the standard
to activate
requfesvely
,70nas more
;tudentswill
Lthree more.
rem. Adding
or two new
increasesthe
;ure what the
t of teaching
nber of years
:dings.These
my plan and
ities like the
impted by a
i a handful of
:ter Wilberg's
hael Lewis at
;ponsibility is

13

means individual learners constantly need to make adjustmentsto what they
have already internalised. Learning is not simply additive; it involves the
learner re-organisinghis or her previous interlanguage.For example,learners
do not really understandthe presentperfect until they understandthe present
simple and the past simple too, and the relationshipsthat the meanings of all
thesedifferent verb forms have with each other. Tensesare not understoodin
isolation from each other and it follows that learners' understanding of a
particular tensedevelopsas they encounterdifferent usesofthat tenseand see
it used or not used in preference to, and in (implied) contrast with, other
tenses.
The same principle of meeting new uses, and becoming more aware of
'negative'
choices - choosing one item implies rejecting several similar
alternati.ves- applies to items of vocabulary.Take the word injury. This word
can be understoodby a student from its dictionary definition and all will be
fine until the student comes across the word wownd. Sfte) then has to reassesswhat injury means in the light of the new discovery, a discovery the
teachermay wish the learner had never made when the leamer asks: What's
the dffirence befween'wound'and 'injury' 2 One's instinct - and my initial
training - leads you to answer such a question by trying to define the
differencebetweenpairs of this kind, but this only leadsto problems and what
are at best half-truths. The difference between the two does not lie in
dictionary definitions but rather that we say,for example,stab woundnot stab
injury, and internal injwries not internal wounds. In other words, it is the
collocational frelds of the two words which reveal the difference of meaning,
or rather more precisely,the difference betweenthe ways the words are used.

Tlsr
Look at these pairs of words:
work / job
house/ bwilding

wnderstand/ realise
Can you define the difference between each pair?
Can you list a few collocates of each word in each pair? (You may
want to look them up in a collocation dictionary or use a computer
concordance program.)
Which do you think would help your learners more - the definitions
or the lists of collocations?

,r'eteach is the
rrure, whereas
rusenew input

From the classroom point of view, if learners are slowly but continually
evolving their understanding of the target language, whether grammar or
lexis, it follows that giving studentscollocations of words newly or previously
met will widen their understanding of what those words mean and, more


l4

There is nothing as practical as a good theorl

imporlantly, how they are used. Taking a few minutes to supply these
collocationsin a lesson shortcutsthe processof building up meaning and
therefore acquiring. If you do not actively introduce additional collocations,
it may be weeks,monthsor yearsbeforestudentsmeet thosecollocationsand
therefore the process of evolving and deepening understandingis delayed.
Actively introducing collocations recycles half-known words and, while this
doesnot directly causeleaming, it accelerates
it.

1,5 The
-\r-1, tlli.--r
l-

_ a -i_

_ _ L ) - 1

, : a "

. r

., -:..i ,-,- la:r

ll3il,rll-i:i

Some teachersmight say at this point that there is not enoughtime to explore
the collocations of words in this way - there are too many other important
things to do, particularly explaining things. A great deal of time is spent in
many classroomsexplaining what things mean. For the reasonsabove, I
suggestthat ar least some of that time is better spentshowing studentswhat
words do - how they are actually used and how they collocate - rather than
explaining what they mean. Explaining and exploring is surely better than
either alone.

Tlsr
Are you happy with the idea of explaining less and giving and
discussingmore examples instead?

1.4 The intermediate plateau
Referring to my earlier question: what can you reaily do
for those
'intermediate
plateau' studentswho need a breakthrough?A big part of the
answerlies in the strategyjust discussed.The reasonso many studentsarenot
making any perceivedprogressis simply becausethey have not been trained
to notice which words go with which. They may know quite a lot of individual
words which they struggle to use, along with their grammatical knowledge,
but they lack the ability to use those words in a range of collocations which
pack more meaning into what they say or write. The answer lies in teachers
continually bringing useful collocations to students' attention and helping
them to remember them, rather than trying to improve their grammar or
giving them a lot more new words, which can so easily mean obscure,rarely
used words. Most intermediate studentswould improve dramatically if they
spentless time trying to perfect their grammar and leam new, rare words, and
insteadsimply leamed to use the words they alreadyknow in the huge number
of collocations of which thesewords are parts.
A shift in approach of this kind will almost certainly need to come initially
from the teacher as (s)he trains studentsto re-direct their priorities in ways
which are most likely to produce both perceived and genuine progress.

lf:lnln-

I
lr -

Jo. Granrr

-'r^| ig ',:,- :1

iansuagi il

storcdir [r

Thesechur
thrngs.thl;
- t,r
thin_ss
jusi'u'orris
force or are
srtuationsc
dattgerorttnnrne,-h:

dcmgeroust
Notice.it i-s
The item 'i
sanctioned
what it is
apan:

Langua-e"ii
expressson
occur.Tanrp
lose their cr
threeu,ords
ltems can e\

Trsn

What:,

alt ooii'

widel., t
disperst
Are the

To me, ther
dentist, a gc
haven't spol


There is nothing as practical as a good theory

-:IL', these
-:=;:riI1q
and
. __ _ : r J 3 l 1 0 n s .
. r . - i : l C n Sa n d
i s .1e1a\ed.

j ,,rhrle this
.

r r

-r'nlnra

:r L]l pofianl
r :: Spent1n
:ls rbo\-e. I

Lldantsu,hat
- I*lher ihan
!3l-ter than

l
L

, ior rlrcse
-

r'r rt

nf

fhe

.irnts arenot
b;en trained
:,i individual
I kno.,i'1edge,
riiions r.vhich
ls ir teachers
and helping
Erammar or
bscure,rarely
tically if they
fe \\,ords,and
hu-eenumber
:ome initially
nties ln ways

ro_qress.

15

1.5 The gramrnar-vocabulary dichotomy is invalid
So much of language teaching over the years has been based on the
dichotomy of grammar and vocabulary: master the grammar sysfem, Iearn
lots of words and then you will be able to talk about whateveryou want. This
view of languagehas meant that studentshave learnedto name a lot of things
- an extensivevocabulary,predominantly nouns - and then struggled to use
grammar to talk about those things. No wonder students make so many
grammarmistakes!They areusing grammarto do what it was nevermeantto
do. Grammar enablesus to construct language when we are unable to find
what we want ready-made in our mental lexicons. But so much of the
language of the effective language user is already in prefabricated chunks,
storedin their mental lexiconsjust waiting to be recalledfor use.
These chunks of lexis, which include collocations,do more than just name
things, they also have a pragmatic element. They enable you to talk about
things- to 'do'things. This raisesthe statusof collocationto much more than
just 'words which go together'.Many collocationshaveimmediatepragmatic
force or are situationally evocative.For example, it is hard to think in which
situation someonemight say: This is a corner. But if I say to yotr'. This is ct
dangerowscot'rler, it immediately suggeststwo people in a car as they
approach a corner where lots of accidents have happened.The collocation
dangerowscotrler is immediately evocative of a situation or a speechevent.
Notice, it is not simply that an adjective has been added to the word corner.
The item dangerowscorner exists as a prefabricatedchunk with its own
sanctionedmeaning. Taking it apart would do damageto what it does, even
what it is. Therefore, what collocation has put together, let no teacher pull
apart!

Languageis full of such examples- two (or more) word collocationswhich
expresssomething specific in precisely the form in which they typically
occur. Tampering with items of this kind in any way meansthey completely
lose their communicative power. Although such items may be only two or
threewords, a greatdeal of meaningmay be packedinto them, so one of these
items can evokea complex situationvery precisely.

Tasx
What event, situation or topic does each of these collocations
suggest:
routine check-up
widely available
boost employment
disperse the crowd
catch wp with the news
Are they typical of spoken English, newspapers,novels or what?

To me, they suggest:talking about a new product, a visit to the doctor or
dentist, a government aim, police action after an incident, and friends who
haven't spokenfor a while. In the classroom.items such as thesemust be


t6

There is nothing as practical as a good theory

brought to students' attention and the bigger context they suggest must be
shown. Once this has been done, it is safe to translate the item into the
leamers' mother tongue. Not word-for-word but whole phrase to whole
phrase, bearing in mind that the structure of the expression may be very

different in one languagefrom the equivalent expressionin the other.
There are two important points here. Firstly, if you do not teach collocations,
you are ignoring alarge set of items which expressoften complex ideas very
simply and yet precisely.Secondly,the fewer collocations studentsare able to
use, the more they have to use longer expressionswith much more
grammaticalisationto communicatesomething which a native speakerwould
express with a precise lexical phrase and correspondingly little grammar.
Notice too, that if native speakersusually express an idea lexically with a
collocation,the non-nativespeaker,not knowing the lexical item, has to use
grammar to express the idea in a way which they have not heard in that
context - they have no model to guide them. They are in unchartedterritory,
which further increasesthe chanceof grammatical error. If the teacheris not
careful, this can lead to more grammar explanationsand practice when what
is really neededis work to expandthe learners'mentallexicons.

It is a majo
erTors are a
oi these err,
in

Students'attempt

set yowrselfa realistic objective

You must know what you
want to do but it must not be
too much for it to be possible
for you to do.
make problems which you
think have no answers

a very important moment
when things changed
completely
a new book which is very
similar to the old one but
improved and up-to-date

cause insurmountabledfficwlties
major tuming point

revisededition

*r'1

1.6 Adrr
I rel-erb:L;k
-r,.rdetii,.u;i:
-\dr an'-ec s
rt'our id.-as
I o n g u e .\ l L r l
do not h:lp,
inanr, adl arl
g;ms as: Itrt
,,irel-itiilcii
; t.'fl1nlUn1iilt

An example may make this clearer. The student who doesn't know the
expressionadequate supplies to meet the demand is forced to construct
somethingllke: We clon't have things enoughso that evety person who will
have one can have one. The messagehas, perhaps, been successfully

communicatedin this casebut most teacherswould probably feel obliged to
stepin andhelp.Anyone who hasthe collocationsadeqwatesupplies,meetthe
demand, as part of their mental lexicon is able to recall them as complete
phrases.This meansthe more collocationslearnershave at their disposal,the
less they need to grammaticalise. This in turn means more brainspace is
available to generateand processcontent. Here are more examplesof natural
collocationsand students'attemptsto constructthe sameideas:
Collocation

nl:,-p

introduce til
emphasr: r-o

1rr,ethese- h
pr;ked noul

.-,1. Jrt gt-'i.llo

:dlerbisl nh
. i;:a 1- iJ;r;I

r, I

:.tiarnpies .h

:oh:sicn .rcr
nullt-ri orc p
I no iLrng-r ',
,trf,mmaiiJtl

','.hen usrn:

rihich \\ e cal
:)l*

{J

T = E

i

,

;
-

i

F

a

h---

t

=

r

1| "
:

C)

-..:l

nno-

1

f;

r.-\
ilJ

b*a

')

f

l

a\
';:

J

fiJ

*
).

.; . i !

r

i.ri;.

'\t
--".:J

)

"

i:
C)

ts
a'
#

.\n importan
not ne$' or d
not include I
very fact me
worth ther a
teachereven

slips by urLn
leamers.

Asking stude
a helpful qu
notice the co
goesmore lil


There is nothing as practical as a good theory

t7

It is a major changeof mindset for teachersto realise that many grammatical
effors are causedby lexical deficiencies,and that the best responseto many
of theseerrors at intermediateand advancedlevels is to do more lexical work
in place of grammatical correction. It may, of course, be necessaryto
introduce this idea to learnersand persuadethem of the value of putting more
emphasison collocationand other lexical work.

1.6 Advanced English
I refer back to anotherof my earlier questions:what can you do for advanced
studentsafter the third conditional? And what is 'advanced'English anyway?
Advanced studentsbecome fiustrated when they are unable to talk or write
about ideas which they can comfortably talk or write about in their mother
tongue.More complicated or this-will-challenge-them grammatical structures
do not help them to do this. unfortunately, this has been the standarddiet of
many advancedmaterials, encouraging learners to produce such convoluted
gemsas: wereI richer I would definitelybuy one or Had I not arrived in time,
the kitchen wowld have caught fire. The language which helps leamers to

communicate more complicated ideas is not convoluted grammar structures
like these,but different kinds of multi-word phrases,particularly denselypackednoun phrases(firm but relaxedparental discipline,modern cities in
the developed world, the continuing decline of educational standarcls) and
adverbial phrases (in marked controst, referring back to my earlier point,
later that year, in the late tutentiethcentwry).As the first two adverbial
examples show, among the most important phrases are those which create
cohesion across written text. The imporlant thing to note is that all these
multi-word phrasesare collocationsof differentkinds.
I no longer woffy about how to challenge my advancedcrasseswith obscure
grammaticalconstructionsor unusual words. I simply keep my eyes open
when using a text for collocations which I can bring to their attention and
which we can then explore together.

i',.it,:,,'. lita

, " ]r,struct
,. , ,ii: vill
*; . - s:lulhr
. b i r s e dt o
a : t t : € e ltl l e
.

'rnrnlrto
r - rlr}jllLe

l . ! , r , i 3 1 .t h e
r rn:,-e iq
r -r- natUral

,,-,tbe

i.itrle
i:ru
II

F4s
1lr I

-i
;-i

/

-

'F'-a*
il "

n
tl

L/l\

r \
f:
r\

r-]
I s

.Fj

hh*J

--

C)
a1!3

r , '-, \

{(!
ts"
?q-

'

!

An important point to make is that very often the words in the collocations are
not new or difficult at all. For example,the item, a major turning point does
not include any individually difficult words for an advancedstudent but this
very fact meansthat both teacherand studentcan too easily assumeit is not
worth their attention.trnfact, it is often true to say that neither learnersnor the
teachereven recogniseit as a new item, so an extremelyuseful collocation
slips by unnoticed and is therefore unavailablefor storageand re-use by the
leamers.
Asking students:Are thereany wordsyou don't understand?is, therefore,not
a helpful question. They may indeed understand all the words but fail to
notice the combinationsthosewords are in. My questioningof studentsnow
soesmore like this:

There is nothing as practical as a good theory

18
T

SS
T

Is there anything in the first paragraphyou think you
should write in your notebooks?(silence while students
scanthe paragraPh)Nothing?
No.
Are you sure?I don't believeyou. (more silenceand
looking) What about the expressionwith risk? In all my
time as a teacherI've never heard a student say or write
run the risk of. Perhapsmy studentshave never noticed it'
Do you use this expression?(generalshakingof heads)
Perhapsyou have never noticed it either. OK, write it in
your notebooks,then.

Being more proactive in pointing out useful languageand getting leamers to
record it is an essentialrole of the teacher.This goes against thinking which
encourages a student-centred,exploration approach to language. While I
agree that learners should take responsibility for their own learning, they
should not be taking responsibility for choosing which language items are
more linguistically useful. Interestingly, after a period of teacher-dominated
instruction (I prefer to call it learner training) of the kind exemplified above,
learnersbegin to notice more of this kind of languagefor themselves,and start

asking me about items in text, thus becoming more autonomous in their
approach.And the questions they ask are better. Better than me asking Are
there any words you don't know?, better than them asking only What does this
word mean? Studentsbegin askingIs this a commonexpression?What does
this expressionmean?Is this a collocatiorz?Thesequestionsrepresenta real
improvement as they mean learners are now asking about language which
they hadn't even noticed before.
I have found that higher level studentssensevery quickly that they are gaining
useful ground when collocations are drawn to their attention in this way.
Becausethey are being equipped to say or write more complicated ideas, a
new senseof satisfaction,and thereforemotivation, develops.[Deborah Petty
makesthe samepoint abouther leamers.Seep 95. Edl

1.7 Leave 'used'languagealone
'IJsed',languageis what David Brazllhas evocativelycalled languagewhich
has already been used naturally in speechor writing. Although we call this
language'used', that is not to suggestthat it has beenin any way damagedor
soiled in the process.Perhapsbecauseof the preoccupationwith grammar
over the years, and the determination to find generative systems, used
language,particularly speech,has often been thought to need a good clean up
'good'input. Once cleanedup, it has usually beenbroken
before it can form
dou,n irito individual words. Collocationhas been ignored or at least under,,aluedbecauseof this obsessionwith breakingdown usedlanguage.

Hort i';
noteLro
Do r.o:
Do r ot-t
similar
Do rou

1 translar

ln order ibr I
enough to si
hcln

lea-."

conr.ictionttt
*hich rle fit
keepthe chu
cleanin-eupnot adding.r
\ofino

nrrllr

recordingir"
at best.on n
centralroh.

Belou- are ,r
recordedson
n^t)ntioll\-

ri

ieamers. thet
to be used al
can actualli-l
processrnstll

the lan_euage
recorded: '.h;
\\-hat actualh
\\ ere taken:

Take the hir
Foilou'il si
Tum a blin,j
To rule ourri
Stand on ru,
On the othet
It's not rr-orl
I searchednr

Of these eigh
I also suggesi
eYocatl\ e an,:
also be transl


There is nothing as practical as a good theory

t9

Tlsr

!l-11'

-ri-J

IL.

-:
I til

.:ii learners to
n:niring which
i:ge. While I
r:arnrng, they
Ll.]qeltems are
.her-dominated
:rpiilled above,
;:1r es. and start
;rn-ious in their
ne asking Are
',J'hat does this
:'i: | \\/hatdoes
iepresent a real
trn-euagewhich
:he\ are gaining
':'n in this way.
rhcated ideas, a
!Deborah Petty

languagewhich
ush we call this
or
rl,'a)-damaged
n u'ith grammar
: s1'stems,used

La good cleanup
a1lybeen broken
rr at least underan_suage.

How do you encourage learners to record language in their
notebooks?
Do you ask them to record examples exactly as they find them?
'clean
Do you
the examplesup' so that what learnersrecord is
similar to a dictionary entry?
Do you encourage them to write (or prevent them from writing)
translations?

In order for collocationto assumeits rightful place in the classroom,it is not
enough to simply have an understandingof what it is and a sensethat it can
help learners increase their communicative power. There needs to be a
conviction that we should leave as much languageas possible in the form in
which we frnd it. Avoid breaking it up; keep something of the context and
keep the chunks which are recorded as large as possible.Avoid grammatical
cleaning up, and rememberattempting to generalisemay result in you losing,
not adding, relevant information about how the languageis actually used.
Noting multi-word vocabulary in exactly the form it is found in text,
recording it, and trying to remember it in that form for re-use later has been,
at best, on the periphery of language teaching, when in fact it deservesa
centralrole. fMichael Hoey cliscusses
this point at somelength,p 230. Ed]
Below are some examplesof languagewhich my learnersrecorded.They
recorded some of them in the form in which they found them, so these are
potentially re-usable if remembered.Others, despite my efforts to guide the

learners,they recordedin a 'cleanedup' version,which meansthat if they are
to be used again, the learners will have to manipulate the items before they
can actually use them. It goeswithout saying that manipulation requiresmore
processingtime, and gives more opportunity for grammatical error, or using
the languagein an unnatural way. The left hand column is what the learners
recorded;the right hand column is what I wish they had recorded,which is
what actually occurred in the texts and dialogues from which the examples
were taken:
Take the hint
Follow in someone'sfootsteps
Turn a blind eye
To rule out the possibility of
Stand on yow own two feet
On the other hand
It's not worth it.
I searchedhigh and low for it.

OK. I can take a hint.
He's following in hisfather's footsteps.
I decided to tum a blind eye.

Wecan't nile owt thepossibility of +...ing
It's timeyou stoodon your own twofeet.
On the other hand
It's not worth it.
I searchedhigh and low for it.

Of theseeight items, only the last three are recordedin the most useful way.
I also suggestthat becausethey havemore context,they are more situationally
evocative and they are, therefore, more likely to be remembered.They can

also be translatedmore safely.


20

There is nothing as practical as a good theora

The argument has been advanced that leamers can generalise from the
traditional to take one's time, or to give somebodya hand but may not be able
to generalisefrom the actually used examples:Takeyowr time, Can I give yow
a hand? Such an argumentis surely wholly illogical; the cleanedup infinitive
versions are themselvesneither more nor less than generalisationsof the used
examples. Used examples provide a perfectly adequate basis for other
generalisationsand havethe addedadvantagesof being both more memorable
and more immediately usable.
Related to this idea of respectingused languageis the fact that there are a lot
of words in the lexicon that have very little precise meaning until they are
actually used.For example,the meaning of get is impossible to pin down until
it is used and has co-text. The important point is that it is most commonly
used in relatively fixed expressionswith collocations - they're getting
married, we got wet, we got thrown owt, I've got a bad cold and so on.
Ignoring these expressionsin the forms in which they occur, or taking thern
apart in order to establishthe meaning of get is ridiculous, as the leamers will
only have to put them together again in order to use the original expressions.
Once you have realised that the mental lexicon contains many multi-word
chunks, as well as individual words, the teaching of collocations is inevitable
if you wish to remain true to the subject matter you are teaching.
So, having laid a theoretical basisfor collocation having a central role to play
in the classroom,let us considersomepracticalways this can be done.

1.8 Some classroomactivities
1. Don't correct - collect
Knowing a noun allows you to name a concept, but this is a long way from
being able to talk about the concept. So, a leamer who makes a collocation
mistake when trying to talk about somethingprovides the ideal opportunity to
expand and organisethe leamer's lexicon in a very efficient way, similar to
the strong smokerexamplediscussedearlier.Don't just correct the mistake,
give some extra collocations as well - three or four for the price of one. The
transcript below showshow this works.
I have to make an exam in the summer.
(T indicates mistake by facial expression)
S I have to make an exam.
(Writes 'exam'on the board)
T
What verb do we usually use with 'exam'?
S2 Take.
T
Yes, that's ight. (Writes 'take'on board)
What other verbs do we use with 'exam'?
S2 Pass.

T \ e . r

S
T

Fai;
\-es

rI{-r

\Ixd
\\tjr

_\o.rIi-r
T
+al \ {

Sl
T

pasi
Ea-*
\bs,
\\h
\\hi
\o.l

For advance
similar to thi

take
re-It
pass
fail
scra

With this lan
the collocatir

Tasx

Youma

these in
I ant toc
If you ltt
opetI v L'
Evertbo
Which r
to elicit

You can exte
main word
expressionsI
smoker exam
smoking. Ant
Suddenly1'or
you elicit od


There is nothing as practical as a good theory

Lsefrom the
able
L,r'not.be
'an
I give you
lup ffinitive
rs of the used
;is for other
ie memorable

thereare a lot
until they are
rin downuntil
rst commonly
wt're getting
fd and so on.
rr taking thern
e leamerswill
I expressions.
lr-multi-word
rs is inevitable
Ig

ral role to piay
rc done.

T
S
T

52
T

2l

Yes.And the opposite?
Fail.
Yes.
(Writes 'pass'and 'fail'on the board)
And if you fail an exam sometimesyou can do it again.

What's the verb for that? (Waitsfor response)
No? OK, re-take.You can re-take an exam.
(Writes 're-take'on the board)
If you passan exam with no problems,whal can you say?I
p a s s e d. .
Easily.
Yes, or we often say 'comfortably'. I passedcomfortably.
What aboutif you get 5l%oand the passmark is 50Vo?
What can you say? I . . . (Waitsfor response)
No? I just passed.You can alsojust fall. (Writes on the board)

For advancedleamers you may also give them scrape through. I use formats
similar to this to organisethe responses:
take
re-take
pass
fail
scrapethrough

an exam

With this language,studentscan not only name the concept exam, they have
the collocations they need to talk about exams with confidence.
long way from
s a collocation
opportunity to
lvay, similar to
ct the mistake,
ice of one.The

Tlsr
You may like to think how you would respondif a learnersaid one of
thesein your class:
I am toofat so I have to makea strongdiet.
If you have a problem with yourself it is good to talk abowtit in an
openway to a nearfriend.
Everybodymustagreewith the law if we want a good society.
Which nounsare you going to explore?What questionswill you ask
to elicit or teachextra collocations?
You can extend this activity further by thinking not only of collocates of the
main word in question, but also of other common collocations and
expressionslikely to be said or written around the same topic. In the heavy
smoker example it is only a very short step to elicit or give the item give up
smoking. And from there you could add: I wish I could give up smoking.
Suddenly you find yourself with two minutes practice of I wish I could . . . as
you elicit other vices from your students. All this from responding to a


22

There is nothing os practical as a gond theory

{t's,il
coul,J

collocation effol and thinking aloud and so stimulating the classto ask: What
elsedo we say when talking about smokersand smoking?

ICI

2. Make learners be more precise
It is obviously demotivating if every time studentscommunicate effectively,
the teachernitpicks and asks for perfection. However, at the right time and in
the right way, improving students'performance is an imporlant part of the
teacher'sjob, and what studentsneed. So, if a studentproduces:I was vetl'
disappointed, point out the options: bitterly/deeply disappointed. Ot if a
studentwrites: Thereare good possibilitiesfor improvingyowrjob, you may
want to write excellentpromotion prospectsin the margin. In other words, it's
not just mistakes that are opportunities for teaching but also the kind of
circumlocutions we discussed earlier. If you notice the roundabout
expressionswhich are the symptom of the lack of the necessarylexis, you will
frequently recognise opportunities for helping students be more precise or
more concrse.
3. Donot explain - explore
When students ask What's the dffirence between. .'. , fot two words of
similar meaning such as wownd/injwrydiscussedearlier, rather than spending
too much time explaining the difference, give three or four contextualised
examples of each word - that is, provide the appropriate collocational
language.For example, with make and do you might give: make a mistake,
make an enquiry, make the most of the opportunity; do your best, do some
overtime, Can yow do me a favour? and so on. The same procedure is
particularly useful with those nouns which have very little meaning unless
used in collocations,such as effect,position, action,point, way, grownd'(If
you look in a collocation dictionarY,You will see that thesenouns have very
'knowing' a word like
large collocational fields. The most important part of
this is knowing a large number of its collocations.) Consider this classroom
scenano:
T . . . yes, that's a good Point, Marco.
'point' again.You say it in every

S Excuse me but you said
'point'
lessonbut it's sometimesdifferent.What does
mean?
T Point . . . well, we use it in different ways, and it's very
common.Here are sometypical ways we use it.
(Writes on the board):
Why do you want me to do that? I can't seethepoint;
I know you want to comebut, thepoint is, you're not old
enough.
That's a good point. I hadn't thoughtof that'
I always make a point of saying thank you to the bus driver

]

-ilnn
_- r

\

'nl

0n-tl.sl
- x.
I LJ: \.
L

aF r g

i,lea-..

1I \Ou
Alrhrrnoh n.r
I TIS !

L{11Y

l UUN

.,,har ,,i'otll,c
"iet'initlon.
{. [f in douh

Dn-' ot rhe r:
l:rltrlers he".t
i'rnleiirnfi h
lhe tert is lt'r

Collocation,<
."rtrlocatirrns
I
n,licin_ an*nI
-]n
"ir3 not [o
iericons. Petr
u similar proil

In rhis ,,
the clan
channel
have'oa

Simple quest
nn,-nn-.'^l''

1

let's sar-the r.
of. using the c

Instead of as
board or ovel
I often do thl
then have tc
collocations.
more ven' qr
recordin_ethe
found that a
collocations i


There is nothing as practical as a good theory

I,:,rsk: It?rl/

:

- t

pli.rtntirrclrr
! r r ! ! L r Y v r J r

rt jiime and in
1r part of the
'-<.I \\'as vet))
'r:.',J.Or if a
. i r r b .\ - o u m a y
t3f l\'ords, it's
., ltre knd of
iLrundabout
:etis. 1'ouwill
r,raprecrse or

iri 0 \\'ords of

rran spending
;ontextualised
;oilocational
'-;i;ea trtistake,
,est. do some
r procedure is
].eaningunless
r., growtd. (If
rllns have very
le' a word like
this classroom

,Id

lriver.

23

It's difficult to say exactly what point meansbut you
could learn these expressionsand there are lots more so
let's seeif we can collect more. If you hear me use one,
stop me and we'll write it with the others.If you meet one
outsidethe class,write it down and tell us at the next
class.When you look at them later, try to think what
expressionsyou would use in Italian to expressthe same
ideas. Check with Paola or anotherItalian speakerto see
if you agree.
Although possiblymore time-consumingthan an explanationof point, surely
meeting four typical uses is time better spent than trying to get to grips with
what would have to be a vague, complicated and ultimately unhelpful
definition.
4. If in doubt, point them out
One of the reasonsstudentshave not learnedcollocationsis simply because
teachershave not pointed them out in the texts they are using. This happens
sometimesbecausethe teacher's approachto dealing with the vocabulary in
the text is to ask the class:Are thereany words you don't know?
Collocations are missed with this approach because the words of the
collocations may not be new, but the fact they occur together, and are worth
noticing and recording together,must be pointed out by the teacherif students
are not to 'look straight through' language which will expand their mental
lexicons. Peter Skehan(A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning) makes
a similarpoint whenhe writes:
In this view, the role of instruction is not necessarilytherefore in
the clarity or in the explanation it provides, but rather in the way it
channelsattention and brings into awarenesswhat otherwise would
have beenmissed.

Simple questionssuch as What's the verb before 'opportunie' in the ftrst
paragraph?draw students'attention
to collocations.Oncethat hasbeendonelet's say the verb was rulss quickly add someothers:take,grab, makethe most
ol usingthe collectionandrecordingtechniquediscussed
above.
Insteadof asking questions.you can preparea simple worksheetor use the
board or overheadprojector to list parts of the useful collocations in the text.
I often do this while studentsare engagedin a more global reading task. They
then have to go back and search the text for the missing parts of the
collocations.For any collocationswhich are worth adding to, I elicit or give
more very quickly. Do not assume students are noticing collocations and
recordingthem for themselves.They won't unlessyou train them to. I have
found that after a short period of time, students begin to ask me about
collocations in texts - whether they are worth recording - and they also ask


24

There is nothing as practical as ct good theory

for extras becausethat is what they have learned to expect from me. [Jane
Conzett also points out in her paper that students do begin to collect
collocationsfor themselves,once they havebeen introducedto the idea. Ed].
5" Essay preparation - use collocation
Studentssometimescomplain that they lack ideas when sitting down to write
a compositionon a prescribedtopic. Teacherscomplain that they do not want
to spendhalf the classtime telling studentswhat to write. There is a simple
answer.Many teachersbrainstormwords connectedwith the topic in class
before setting the composition for hornework. When the words are on the
board,the next stepis to add,where possible,useful collocatesto eachword.

It is particularly important to introduce the nouns which will be central to the
content of the essay.As we saw with the exam example above,this provides
students with language items with more communicative power than
individual words can offer.
Also, as we saw earlier,collocationsare much more situationallyevocative
and correspondingly far more likely, therefore, to spark the imagination for
writing. A dictionary such as The LTP Dictionara of SelectedCollocationsis
invaluablefor selectingcollocates.With a classset,I give the studentseight
'education'topic,
key nouns centralto the essaytopic. For example,with an
I might give them: school, education,qualiJication,teacher etc. I then ask
them to look up thesewords in the dictionary and note down collocations for
each of the words that catch their eye or which they think they might use.
They might choose for school: drop ottt of, leave, skip, go to, single-sex,
mixed, state, private. Draw their attention particularly to the importance of
verb + noun collocations.If studentshave their own dictionary, they can do
this at home.
When the written work comes in, I often find either collocation mistakes or
caseswhere studentshave used simple or vaglre words when they could have
usedmore specific or interestingones.For example,if a studentwrites very
intelligent, andbig mistake,I write in the margin other optionssuchas highb,
intelligent and disastrowsmistake, or ask them to refer to the Dictionaryt of
SelectedCollocationsto maketheir own selectionbeforerewriting their work
with the improvements.
6. Make the most of what students already know
'simple' words but are not awareof what
Some studentsalreadyknow a lot of
those words can do for them becausethey haven't noticed their common
collocations.I regularly take such words, usually nouns, and brainstorm
adjectives and verbs which studentsthink go with those nouns. Very often,

thesecollocations are already half-known by students- they sensethey have
met them before - but they havenot yet internalisedthem. Time spenton halfknown languageis more likely to encourageinput to becomeintake than time
spenton completelynew input. Again, Skehansuggeststhat ". . . very often

the pedago
accessibie
i

Trsx

Do vor
extenC
knou l

For exampl
adjectivesat
me is usual
perhaps:crrt
assess,be ir
collocations
students'me
suchas: Ccr:
were in? Dt
Becauseso r
they have sc
triggered ber
words usuall

Note that it
questionsbe

create an oF
questronsare
Do yow alv c
a challengirn
seelt as \.en
then.From th
more useful ,
practiceof lt

Tasx

What per
you expe
Do you r1

I do not expe
languageI er1
I believeexpo
taking place,I
on a refreshe
collocations.
c


There is nothing as practical as a good theory

rr

m:

[T2ne

lr ;o. collect
t-r; rdea.Edl.

25

the pedagogicchallengeis not to focus on the brand new, but insteadto make
accessiblethe relativelv new".

Tlsr
l,:''; n to rvrite
;v ,Jr not urant
r: ls a simple
r,-,licin class
iJs ,i.re on the
t,-'eech.,vord.
;:ntral to the
, :hrs provides
t'tn'et than
"ri,, evOCative
i:.-ination for
ts
L iir-,'ctttiorts
stLldentseight
r - --rinn'

fnnin

:r;. I then ask

':,.nocations
for
r;r rnight use.
;tt. shtgle-sex,
imporianceof
t'. the)'cando
Lrrxmistakesor
her could have
inl \\'ntes very
; suchas highly
: Dictiona: oJ
rtinetheir work

t a\\'areof what
their common
and brainstorm
rns. Very often,
sensethey have
le spenton halfLntakethan time
"...veryoften

Do you think it is better to teach learners a lot of riew words, or to
extend their knowledge of some of the words they already halfknow? Is your answer different for learners at different levels?

For example, I take the word situation and ask students to give me first
adjectivesand then verbs which they think collocate. The number they give
me is usually very small, even for advancedclasses.I then supply extras,
perhaps:awkwctrd,complicated,critical, desperate,farcical;accept,analyse,
dr,se,s.s,
be in command of, make the best of the eIc. Again, a dictionary of

collocations is a very useful resourcefor this kind of systematicexpansionof
students'mental lexicons. If you want to, you can ask follow-up questions
such as: Can yow rememberthe last awkward/farcical/desperatesituation yow
were in? Do you always analyse sitwationsor do you just accept them?
Becauseso many collocations are situationally evocative,studentsoften find
they have somethingto say in responseto these questions- somethingis
triggered becausecollocations evoke bigger speech events than individual
words usually do.
Note that it is better to ask questions with or rather than simple yes/Noquestionsbecausethey elicit more languagein response.or-questions also
create an opportunity for the collocations to be used immediately. Typical
questionsare:Do you sometimesbreakpromisesor do you alwayskeepthem?
Do yowalways comeby bus or do you sometimescomeby car? Have you got
a challengingjob or a cushyjob? I must emphasise,however, that I do not
see it as very important that students actually use the collocation there and
then.From the point of view of acquisition,I would ratherspendtime adding
more useful collocationsto the noun than spendtoo much time in laborious
practice of fewer items.

TLsr
What percentageof the 'new vocabulary' you present in a lesson do
you expect your learnersto acquire from that lesson?
Do you think your expectation is realistic?

I do not expect studentsto remember or acquire all or even the majority of
languageI exposethem to. But for the reasonsdiscussedearlier in this paper,
I believeexposingstudentsto more increasesthe chancesof some acquisition
taking place.Recently,I was observedteachingin this way by someteachers
on a refresher course. At the end of the lesson with the board full of
collocations,one teacherremarked:It would be a miracle if thet remembered

26

There is nothing as practical as a good theory

50% of what you teach them. I replied, It would be a miracle if they
remembered10Vaof what I presented.We discussedthe difference in our
views at some length but I suspecthe remained unconvinced.We simply had
different mindsets.The teacherin question apparently believed that step-bystep teaching produces step-by-stepleaming, even mastery of what was
presented.Both researchand reflection on classroomexperienceshow that
this simply is not the case.Studentsdo not have enoughtime to find that out
for themselves;it is our job to provide the most effective learning based on
our professionalunderstandingof both languageand leaming.
7. Record and recycle
It is becoming clear that the lexicon is much bigger than anyone previously
thought. This implies a greatermemory load, an increasedlearning load - or
ceftainly an increased input load - and this being the case, careful and
systematicrecording of collocations which ensures accurate noticing of
useful languageis essential.During classtime, I encouragestudentsto write
down collocations in their main note-taking books and ask them to transfer
them later into the collocation sectionof their lexical notebooksusing formats
such as the one shown earlier.As much as possible,I encouragestudentsto
recordcollocationsin topic groups.
I use a simple and time-efficientapproachto recyclecollocations.Before the
lesson,I make a list of all the collocationsI want to recyclebut deletepart of
eachcollocationbeforephotocopyingthe list for each student.Studentsthen
searchtheir notebooksto fill in the missing part of the collocation. If the
collocations came from the same text, I sometimes ask students to reconsffuct the main content of the text, or parts of the text, using the
collocations as prompts. This activity has the added usefulness of
encouragingand including those studentswho may have trouble answering

comprehensionquestionsabout the text for linguistic reasonsbut who are able
to participate by rememberingparls of it, however falteringly.
One important point: when deciding which part of the collocation to delete,
leave the word or words which most strongly suggestwhat the missing part
is. For example,for the collocation a window of opportwnlf, it would be
betterto deleteopportuniQ,as a window of . .. . . is more helpful than . . . . .
opportuniQ. Your choice of deletion, therefore, is a principled one with the
aim of helping leamers to remember,not trying to make the task artificially
difficult.
A slight variation is to dictate part of the collocation and students have to
remember or find the missing part in their notebooks before I dictate the
whole item.
Other ways of recycling include: domino-typegames- match the cardsend
to end by matchingthe collocations;'find your partner'activitieswhere twoword collocations are split between members of the class who then have to

find their 'p
the table an
time hoprn:
recycling is

1.9 Actic

All of these
practiceto a
upsidedour
why not allc
lncorporaie
reflect on th
whether thel
actlon resea

recklessor ir

1.10 Con

For many iei
andperhapsi
collocations
vocabulary,b
threeyearsa1
or fail to -sra
only play at
commitment
ott: There is
time to practt
perfect! Hott
and holistic r
organised.th
collocationr',
whatevertool

Discussio

In what rvar'
feeling of pro

What do 1'or
grammaticall
conecting the

There is nothing as practical as a good theory

27

find their 'partner'; or a simple memory game with cardsplaced face down on
the table and, in groups, studentstake it in tums to turn over two cards at a
time hoping to find the collocations. A helpful principle to work with for
recycling is little and often, with some variation.

rcle if they
3nce ln our
simply had
hat step-byI what was
e show that
find that out
ng basedon

1.9 Action research
All of theseideascan be incorporatedpainlesslyinto most teachers'current
practice to a greateror lesserdegree.Your teaching doesnot need to be turned
upside down to make room for collocation.If, however,you are sceptical,
why not allow yourself a trial period over the next few weeks to regularly
incorporatesome of the ideas into your lessons?Then take a moment to
reflect on the effectivenessof the ideas and activities or even ask the class
whether they have found the input helpful - a simple, step-by-stepform of
action research.A thoughtful evolution is more likely to be beneficial than a
recklessor impatient revolution.

e previously
ing load - or

careful and
noticing of
tentsto wdte
m to transfer
rsing formats
e studentsto

1.10 Conclusion
For many teachers,collocation is just another way of presentingvocabulary,
andperhapsonceeveryotherunit ofthe coursebook,an exerciseon two-word
collocations appears and it is seen as a welcome change to the regular
vocabulary building that goes on. Indeed, that is how I saw it up until about
three yearsago - useful, but peripheral.Teacherswho do not stop to consider,
or fail to grasp, the theoretical basis behind the teaching of collocation will
only play at introducing it into the classroom. There will be no deep
commitment to giving it a prominent role - the old argumentswill crowd it
out'.There isn't enough time to explain everytthing.There won't be enowgh
time to practise. Theywon't rememberall that. They still can't do thepresent
perfect! However, if we take a deeper look at the non-linear, unpredictable
and holistic nature of learning, the nature of natural language- the way it is
organised, the way it is stored in, and recalled from, the mental lexicon collocation will become so central to everyday teaching that we will wonder
whatevertook up so much of our time before.

rs.Before the
deletepart of
Srudentsthen
cation. If the
ldents to rert. using the
isefulnessof
rle answering

t n ho are able
tion to delete,
l missing part
;. it would be
fulthan.....
tr one with the
ask artificially

DiscussionQuestions
In what ways can you help learners on the intermediate plateau to gain a
feeling of progress?

rdents have to
e I dictate the

What do you do when your learners express themselves in roundabout,
grammatically flawed ways? Do you think first of building their lexicons or
correcting their grammar?

l the cards end
.iesrvheretworo then have to

-{tttt*rnm---