e-ISSN: 2695-8465
ISSN: 2255-3703
139
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Learning collocations in English as a foreign language: a
didactic proposal for level B1
Rosario Lisciandro
Centro de Lenguas de la Universidad de Almería
rosario.lisciandro@gmail.com
Fecha de recepción: 15.10.2020
Fecha de aceptación: 17.12.2020
Resumen: Quien estudia una lengua extranjera se pregunta qué es lo que puede
hacer para mejorar su fluidez, tanto en el hablado como en el escrito. Una de las
respuestas es aprender unidades fraseológicas. Por ello, en este trabajo nos
centraremos en los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje de colocaciones de la
lengua inglesa. Se tratarán, concretamente, colocaciones sustantivo + sustantivo y
verbo + sustantivo, debido a sus numerosas unidades. Se presentará el Enfoque
Léxico de Lewis (1993) y su repercusión en la enseñanza del léxico de la lengua
inglesa. A continuación, se abordará el concepto de colocación y se delinearán las
diferentes tipologías según el esquema propuesto por Corpas Pastor (1996). Por
último, se presentarán cuatro actividades originales sobre algunas colocaciones de
la lengua inglesa, para facilitar la enseñanza y aprendizaje de este tipo de unidades
en el aula del inglés LE.
Palabras clave: colocaciones, enseñanza, aprendizaje, EFL, léxico, nivel
intermedio.
Ejercicios de colocaciones en lengua inglesa para el nivel B1
Abstract: Anyone studying a foreign language wonders what they can do to improve
their fluency, both in spoken and written form. One of the answers is to learn
phraseological units. Therefore, in this paper we will focus on the processes of
teaching and learning English language collocations. We will deal, specifically, with
noun + noun and verb + noun collocations, due to their numerous units. Lewis'
Lexical Approach (1993) and its impact on the teaching of the English language
lexicon will be presented. The concept of collocations will then be addressed and the
different typologies will be outlined according to the scheme proposed by Corpas
Pastor (1996). Finally, four original activities will be presented on some English
language collocations, in order to facilitate the teaching and learning of this type of
units in the English LE classroom.
Key words: collocations, learning, teaching, EFL, vocabulary, intermediate level.
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Sumario: 1. Introduction. 2. The Lexical Approach. 3. What are collocations? 3.1.
Characteristics of collocations. 3.2. Taxonomy of collocations. 4. Teaching Collocations in an
EFL Classroom. 5. English Language Collocation Exercises. 5.1. Activity 1: Let’s do some
shopping! 5.2. Activity 2: Be a teacher! 5.3. Activity 3: Be a detective! 5.4. Activity 4: Escape
Classroom! 6. Conclusion.
1. Introduction
For many years, vocabulary has been the “poor relation” of language
teaching (Carter 1987: 145), considered to be a less important element in
learning a second language by most teachers. In contrast, Wilkins (1972:
111-112) affirms that “while without grammar very little can be conveyed,
without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” underlining its importance in
the processes of learning and teaching a foreign language.
There is no doubt that learning the lexicon of a foreign language is a
rather complicated task, especially if reference is made to the English
language. If we stop to think about the vocabulary of our language, we will
realize that most of the structures and words we use are prefabricated
combinations of all kinds, which makes teachers of a foreign language
wonder about how to teach most efficiently the language stored in our brain.
That is, if native speakers are able to store an enormous amount of
prefabricated combinations, what is the methodology to be employed to help
our students build the mental lexicons in which to store these chunks? It is
obvious that learners need to acquire a large mental lexicon, because what
is acknowledged is that the difference between intermediate and advanced
learners is not complex grammar, but the great vocabulary they have stored
in their long-term memory (Lewis 2000: 8). However, over the years,
language teaching has been based on mastering a grammar system and
memorising many isolated words. It is undeniable that students have
acquired a great vocabulary and are able to name many objects; however,
so much of the effective language is actually made of prefabricated chunks.
These lexical combinations, among which we can find collocations, have a
function that goes beyond the simple fact of naming objects; they have a
pragmatic feature (Lewis 2000: 15). For instance, how can we explain the
verb to get in the classroom if we do not name the words it collocates with?
This verb is most commonly used in fixed expressions, such as to get
married, to get wet, to get annoyed, and so on. It is hard not to find this verb
in combination with other words.
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Our job, as teachers, is to improve our students’ linguistic competence
and performance in order to reach a good vocabulary level so as to
communicate more fluently and precisely. Many students, as mentioned
previously, already know a lot of words, but perhaps, they are not conscious
of the collocations that those words can have. Many teachers may believe it
is only another way of introducing vocabulary in the classroom; however, if
we stopped to think about how language is organised, we would realise that
most of the lexicon is made up of collocations.
Therefore, in this piece of work we will survey the nature and
characteristics of collocations and we will focus our attention on their
application in the teaching of the English language. We will discuss the
importance of the Lexical Approach (Lewis 1993) in the process of learning
new vocabulary and focus on those collocations at level B1. In addition to
this, a series of four didactic activities will be presented to improve the
learning of level B1 collocations in an amusing and entertaining way.
2. The Lexical Approach
Lewis (1993: 2) states: “An approach is an integrated set of theoretical
and practical beliefs, embodying both syllabus and method and it involves
principles which reflect the nature of language itself and the nature of
learning”.
The Lexical Approach focuses on the globality of language and not on
what, until then, used to be the focus of foreign language manuals: isolated
phrases, grammar and unattractive and unmotivating activities. In this
regard, Lewis (1993: 8) argues: “Grammar is normally equated with
structures, sentence patterns, different verb forms (the tenses), prepositions
and those other supposedly generative bits of the language which are
practised in grammar exercises”. However, many of these bits of languages
that Lewis speaks of are not formed by a single word, such as by the way,
the day after tomorrow (Lewis 1993: 8) and learners tend to translate literally
word by word, running the risk of making lexical errors. Lewis asserts that
knowledge of grammatical rules is essential, but grammatical notions will not
be acquired, but stored in the short-term memory (1993: 35). Instead, his
new approach envisages that the student will be able to use words in their
context and cotext.
Lexicon, and especially its learning and teaching, is a very complex
aspect of language. All types of vocabulary do not make sense outside a
specific context. Words do not usually appear alone in a sentence and are
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not combined with all words, only with some (Lewis 1993: 116); for example,
we say turn off the light and not close the light. What the linguist proposes in
his new approach is the learning and teaching of vocabulary through
linguistic chunks, which would facilitate the memorization of vocabulary and
improve the fluency of the learners. In other words, introducing the idea of
chunks and providing students with appropriate materials to facilitate their
identification should be one of the central activities of language teaching
(Lewis 1993: 122).
Lewis (1993) structures the vocabulary of a language into four
different types of lexical units, from which their combinations are formed:
word – polyword / collocation / institutionalised utterances / sentences
frames or heads.
In order to recognize chunks, it is first important to recognize their
structure and formation. It is a conscious learning process that can favour
language acquisition.
From a didactic perspective, Lewis (1993: 119-120) proposes several
activities to recognize and memorize collocations. Let's look at an example:
Verbs
________________
Adjectives
________________
Book
What he proposes is that students are able to find adjectives and
verbs that have something to do with the noun book.
Taking as an example the English language (Lewis's target language),
it is more comfortable and advisable to deal with verbs from a combinatorial
point of view. An example is the auxiliary verb to have, whose main meaning
is possession, but if it is not considered in its lexicalized form, it can assume
different meanings, such as to have a shower, to have breakfast, to have
fun, depending on the situational context in which it is used. This study
methodology allows to improve communicative competence when actually
interacting with natives of the studied language.
In addition to this, Lewis maintains that it is important to introduce
these units and identify them from the initial level of the language, so that,
once an advanced level has been reached, the student will be able to
distinguish these combinations, separate them and use their components to
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form more units. For this reason, Lewis states that greater attention should
be given to the presentation of the lexicon in combination in foreign
language classes, so that students can recognize words and their
combinatorial limitations. Therefore, a lexical approach in language teaching
reflects a belief in the centrality of the lexicon to language structure, in
particular to multi-word lexical units or chunks that are learned and used as
single items (Richards and Rodgers 2014: 215).
On balance, in the Lexical Approach, language does not consist of
traditional grammar and vocabulary, but it is often made up of multi-word
prefabricated chunks, which are lexical units rather than grammatical
structures. These units consist of collocations and fixed phrases (Richards
and Rodgers 2014: 215).
The Lexical Approach underlines the idea that chunks are a central
element of naturalistic language use. It cannot be denied that there are
advantages in producing utterances from prefabricated chunks rather than
from isolated lexical items, as this contributes to make the speech fluent
(Richards and Rodgers 2014: 217). The main purpose is to develop learners’
awareness and use of these chunks so as to improve their naturalistic
language use.
Because of obvious practical reasons, in this paper we will focus
exclusively on the learning and teaching of collocations and not on other
phraseological units of the English language.
1. What are collocations?
Collocations are free phraseological units that are generated from
linguistic norms and that present a certain degree of combinatorial restriction
dictated by use (Corpas 1996: 53). In addition, they cannot be considered
acts of speech, since they need a context and cotext for them to take on
meaning.
The term collocation was first used by Firth (1957) in Papers of
Linguistics. According to his theory, the meaning of a word depends on the
others with which it is combined. For example, one of the meanings of the
noun night is due to its placability with the adjective dark (Firth 1957: 196)
and vice versa.
Many linguists have discussed Firth's definition of collocation. Halliday
(1961: 276) asserts that a collocation is a syntagmatic association of lexical
units, quantifiable as the possibility that it occurs in n intervals from an x unit.
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Likewise, the phenomenon of collocations is reduced to the frequent co-
appearance of lexical words in speech. In addition, Halliday (1966: 148)
argues that lexical theory does not belong to grammar, although it
complements it, and that the co-occurrence of lexical units should be dealt
with at the lexical level, and not at the grammatical level. For example,
grammar is not able to explain why the adjective strong is used, and not any
other synonym, with the noun argument (Halliday 1966: 151).
Sinclair (1966: 415) proposed studying the co-occurrence of lexical
units through the use of extensive corpora and introduced new terms such
as node (nucleus), span (distance) and collocates (place). In his words:
We may use the term node to refer to an item whose collocations we
are studying, and we may define a span as the number of lexical items
on each side of a node that we consider relevant to that node. Items in
the environment set by the span we will call collocates.
According to his theory, a collocation is the co-occurrence of two or
more words found in a short space within a text (Sinclair 1991: 170).
Together with S. Jones (1974), he considers as significant collocations those
formed by two lexical elements whose coappearance frequency is greater
than could be deduced from the individual frequency of each of the elements
(Jones and Sinclair 1974: 19). Sinclair adopted the formal criterion:
frequency of co-occurrence and positional distance of four words but does
not take into account semantic or syntactic aspects of the collocations
(Corpas 1996: 57). As Alonso Ramos (1993: 147) stated, the frequent co-
occurrence of two lexical units does not necessarily imply the presence of a
collocation, and not always the positional distance is four words.
Coseriu (1967) speaks of “lexical solidarities” and distinguishes
between unilateral and multilateral. The former function only syntagmatically,
like biting - teeth, do not constitute collocations because their components
do not usually appear in the discourse. On the other hand, the units of the
second group, such as barking - dog, could be considered collocations,
since both terms can appear within the discourse.
Mel'čuk (1981) also delves into the concept of lexical co-occurrence,
which is the capacity of lexemes to combine in syntagmas to express
different meanings.
Hausmann (1985) asserts that the structure of collocations consists of
a determinant element called base and a determined one called collocative.
In noun + verb collocations, the noun performs the base function, while the
verb is the collocative. The set of all the collocatives that can be combined
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with a base is called “positional radius”, while the positional field is the set of
all the terms, generally synonyms, that has a positional potential similar to
the base. In the example of to contract a debt, the noun debt performs the
function of base and the verb to contract that of collocative. The positional
radius of debt is composed of the verbs to owe and to repay while the
synonyms of debt, such as credit and debit, form the positional field (Koike
2001: 63).
From the point of view of the system, collocations are no different from
free syntagmas. On the other hand, at the normative level, there are some
differences, since collocations enjoy a certain degree of combinatorial
restriction of their components imposed by use (Corpas 1996: 76).
It may be quite complicated to distinguish a collocation from a
locution. Koike (2001) affirms that a collocation is more flexible than a
locution, more rigid at a combinatorial level. Moreover, locutions express an
idiomatic sense and do not allow modifications at the syntactic level, such as
nominalization, adjective modification, transformation into passive (Koike
2001: 31). The locution is less transparent, at a semantic level, than the
collocation; however, there are cases in which idiomatic collocations are
found (Escandell Vidal 2004: 30-32). For example, if we analyze the verb to
have in its lexicalized form, its meaning is possession. On the other hand, if
we combine it with the noun breakfast, the same verb loses its lexical form
and acquires a metaphorical meaning.
3.1. Characteristics of collocations
Collocations have a certain degree of combinatorial restriction
between their components. From the paradigmatic point of view, there are
collocations that maintain a syntactic restriction, such as verb + noun and
noun + adjective, for example, to make friends. In other cases, on the other
hand, a variable restriction is found, for instance, from one type of
collocation another one can be derived, such as torrential rain – rain
torrentially (Corpas 1996: 77).
The collocational distance is the distance between the components of
a collocation (Koike 2001: 146). However, the positional theory does not
establish which is the one between the components of a collocation (Corpas
1996: 78). Jones and Sinclair (1974) affirmed that the distance between
collocatives must be of four positions to the right or left of the nucleus.
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3.2. Taxonomy of collocations
As mentioned above, the concept of collocation refers to that property
of languages by which a speaker tends to produce certain combinations of
words as opposed to other possible combinations. Likewise, collocations are
defined as those phraseological units composed of two lexical units in
syntactic relation, which do not constitute independent statements, since
they need a linguistic cotext in order to be comprehensible. These are fixed
combinations which present combinatorial restrictions dictated by their use,
where the base chooses its collocative. Collocations can be composed in the
following ways:
noun (subject) + verb: in these collocations the noun performs the
function of subject of the verb, which denotes a characteristic action of the
designated person or thing (Corpas 1996: 67). For example, a rumor runs, a
war breaks out, a ship sets sail, etc. In this group it is possible to include
also other types of collocations, e.g., a fire breaks out, an epidemic breaks
out, and a polemic breaks out.
verb + noun (object): the collocations in which the noun performs the
function of direct object complement are the most conspicuous group and,
actually, it is the group we will work with througout this paper. Verbs such as
to give, to have, to make, to do, to take are found in this group and are
considered delexical verbs, that is, verbs that abandon their lexical meaning
to acquire another one according to the situational context in which they are
used. Given their syntactic scheme, only transitive verbs can intervene in
this type of collocations (Koike 2001: 48). Some examples include the
following ones, to play a role, a position or a function, to assume a
responsibility, to make friends. But also, to make a decision (Corpas 1996:
68-69). It is of capital importance to clarify that the nouns (direct
complement) that indicate “a specific person” do not constitute collocations,
because it is very difficult to establish a lexical co-occurrence between a
transitive verb and a person who performs the function of direct complement
(Koike 2001: 48).
noun + adjective: Corpas Pastor (1996: 71-72) calls this type of
collocations adjective + noun because adjectives imply the base with which
they can be combined. However, in this section, the denomination of Koike
(2001: 49), noun + adjective, is preferred, since it shows the formal structure
of these collocations are composed. In examples such as a fierce enemy,
blunder, brilliant success, the adjective intensifies its base both positively
and negatively. Many times, the collocative (adjective) can be combined with
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several bases (nouns) that belong to the same semantic field; for example,
fine ear, view, and smell.
noun + preposition + noun: in this type of collocations, the first noun
constitutes the collocative and the second one the base of the combination.
A slice of bread, a bar of soap, a bar of chocolate, a clove of garlic, are
smaller entities, a portion or a unit of something. On the other hand,
collocations such as conference cycle, school of fish and flock of birds are
considered as the group to which a noun belongs. The combinatorial
restriction between the components of the collocations can be fixed as in
school of fish or variable as in flock of birds, pigeons, insects, where a
collocative can be combined with several bases (Koike 2001: 51).
verb + adverb: the collocations that make up this group are
composed of a verb and an adverb that ends in -ly. Manuel Seco (1972:
175) states that adverbs of mode, intensity, place and time form these
collocations. Some examples are: to desire fervently, to pray earnestly, to
fail miserably, to prohibit utterly, to face/fight fiercely, to rain torrentially, to
oppose categorically, to strike mortally, to try uselessly, etc. These
collocations seem to be related, at a lexical level, to other collocations, such
as those of noun + adjective, for example, fervent desire, strict prohibition,
torrential rain (Koike 2001: 53).
adverb + adjective: Corpas (1996: 75) calls this type of collocations
adjective + adverb. The adverbs that form these phraseological units are of
mode and intensity, as firmly convinced, madly in love, highly reliable,
closely related, visibly affected, etc. (Koike 2001: 54). The collocative (the
adverb) has the function of intensifying the base (the adjective).
In some cases a correspondence can be established with other types
of collocations, such as: deeply asleep - sleep deeply - deep sleep (Koike
2001: 54).
verb + adjective: the collocations verb + adjective are not many.
However, they must be considered as collocations because they have the
typical characteristics of these phraseological units: frequent co-occurrence
and combinatorial restriction imposed by use. Among the most common are
the following ones: to leave unharmed, to rest assured, to walk bundled, etc.
(Koike 2001: 55).
simple lexical unit + locution: the combinatorial restriction
established between two simple lexical units, as noun + adjective or verb +
noun, also exists between a simple lexical unit and a locution (Koike 2001:
55). This type of co-occurrence bears the name of complex collocation,
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since one of the components of collocation is a lexical unit, a locution. The
semi-idiomatic expressions of Zuluaga (1980: 134-136), such as to receive
with open arms, to sleep like a trunk, to be stubborn like a mule, etc., can be
considered complex collocations, as their constituent elements are a simple
lexical unit and a locution. Following Zuluaga, there are several types of
complex collocations as, for example:
verb + nominal locution: to raise castles in the air; verbal locution +
noun: give rise to suspicions; noun + adjectival locution: health of iron; verb
+ adverbial locution: to do to the letter; adverbial locution + adjective: deaf
like a wall.
4. Teaching Collocations in an EFL Classroom
The collocational aspect is essential in the process of acquiring a
language, second or foreign, since the lack of knowledge of the
combinatorial restrictions of words in a language differentiates the native
speaker from the non-native speaker. Castillo Carballo (2001) states that
collocations are very complicated to learn since they are combinations of
words that are characterized by semantic precision. Through collocations it
is possible to determine the degree of knowledge that a speaker possesses
and, therefore, their teaching should not be limited to intermediate and
advanced levels, but should begin at elementary levels (Higueras García
2006: 29).
When we speak a language, we do not always construct our phrases
word by word, but we resort to prefabricated segments that we have
memorised in our mental lexicon. In addition, knowing collocations helps to
distinguish synonyms and therefore favors the creation of word associations
that often appear together.
Collocations are combinations of words, in most cases, transparent.
Because of this characteristic and because the elements that compose them
are words known to the speaker, they go unnoticed by the student (Higueras
García 2006: 30). It is really important for students to be aware of
collocations, since they must broaden their knowledge of words that already
belong to their mental lexicon so that they can combine them with each other
to form lexical collocations.
Teaching collocations in an EFL classroom can be exciting and
entertaining but, sometimes, frustrating too. As mentioned previously,
collocations are linguistic chunks that native speakers use frequently in their
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daily language. As teachers, it is our duty to introduce these types of word
combinations to our students so that their fluency and lexical background
approximates the vocabulary used by native speakers.
In order to teach collocations appropriately, we have to give them the
same importance as other aspects of language, such as grammar,
phonetics, pronunciation or intonation. Collocation is not an added feature
which we pay attention to once students have reached an advanced level of
language. Collocation should play an important part in our teaching from the
first lesson because students need to store these chunks little by little (Lewis
2000: 58). Moreover, teaching collocations is not such a difficult task, as in
the same way that we teach vocabulary, isolated words, we should teach
these peculiar phraseological units. For instance, when we point out some
important words to our students, we might, at the same time, present their
collocations in the contexts where they belong, so that students may
understand them in as a simple way as possible. As Lewis (2000: 60) says:
At a higher level, when students are learning less common vocabulary,
we must be aware that some words are used in a very restricted
number of collocations. There is no point in knowing the meaning of
the words impetuous or initiative unless you also know the
collocations: impetuous behaviour, to take the initiative, etc.
According to this theory, teachers should never teach isolated words
but always try and give a few collocations. For example, if we are teaching
the auxiliary verb to have, we should add that it may combine with some
nouns, such as: Have (lunch, dinner, fun, a relation with).
Just before explaining the verb, doing a brainstorming activity may
help students understanding better the concept of collocations. Actually,
what teachers should do is make their students aware of this linguistic
phenomenon as an essential part of language learning and encourage
students to think behind the isolated word and look for some combinations.
Another duty teachers have is to help their students extend the
collocational knowledge of the words they already know, and not only teach
new contextless words. For example, students who know 2,000 words and
six collocations with each, know 12,000 expressions (Lewis 2000: 60).
But, how to memorise and remember all the collocations we learn?
Well, there are a few suggestions students may follow. The first one is
keeping a collocation notebook. When the teacher says a new collocation or
when students find some in-reading exercises, they should write them down
and look at them again and again, maybe adding some contextualised
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examples in order to understand better their meaning. Lewis (2000: 60)
suggests a simple division, for instance:
⎯ Gramatically: section such as noun + noun, adjective + noun, verb +
noun, adverb + adjective.
⎯ By common key word: collocations with, to do, to make, to take, to have,
to get, etc.
⎯ By topic: collocations to talk about holidays, travel, work, etc.
This simple division may help students to distinguish collocations
easily, since they can check them at any time. What is more, keeping
collocations organised in a notebook is much better than not storing them.
However, it is blatantly obvious that teachers should not teach every single
collocation they come across because it may frustrate students. Therefore, it
is better to draw students’ attention to some of them, the most important
ones according to their level and the topic treated in the classroom.
All things considered, in ELT we have always been told that the
language we teach and learn is made up of rules and we could just learn
them to speak fluently. This is blatantly incorrect, because teaching and
learning a language implies more than that. It means focusing on both
grammar and, especially, vocabulary. With respect to this, teachers must
pay attention to words in combination, because the acquisition of individual
items depends not on students using them 20 times in one lesson, but on
encountering them, perhaps 10 times, in different contexts at different times
(Lewis 2000: 68). Therefore, as Lewis (2000: 68) states: “Spending a lot of
class time on traditional EFL grammar condemns learners to remaining on
the intermediate plateau”.
5. English Language Collocation Exercises
Throughout this paper, it has been mentioned that learning
collocations lacks effective material for their teaching and, therefore, the task
of the teacher is notably complicated when they have to teach and practise
this type of phraseological units in class. For this reason, four phraseological
activities on the learning and teaching of English language collocations are
presented below. These activities can be used with A1, A2, B1 and even
more advanced students as reinforcement and/or review activities. In
addition to this, they are intended to be a help for both teachers and
students, with the aim of facilitating the learning and teaching of English
collocations. The exercises making up the four activities are attached as an
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appendix in the Annex 1. All the images in the activities have been taken,
free of charge, from the website: www.canva.com.
5.1. Activity 1: Let’s Do some Shopping!
This activity is made up of four different exercises. In the first one,
students are asked to match the words in the box to the words in the third
column to produce the correct collocation. As an aid, they are suggested to
use the images in the second column in case they need help. The ten
collocations belong to the type noun + preposition + noun, for example, a
cup of coffee, a bottle of water, a packet of crisps, a tube of toothpaste, a jar
of jam, etc. In the second exercise, students are asked to find out which
collocation is used in a metaphorical meaning and which means very easy.
In the third one, after correcting the collocations with the teacher, students
are asked to rewrite the sentence given using the new collocation. In the
fourth exercise, students are asked to make a list of the products they need
from the supermarket. In addition, they are recommended to use the
vocabulary of the first exercise of this activity. The last exercise is devoted to
the speaking skill, in which students must talk in pairs telling their
classmates the products of their shopping lists. The whole activity will last
approximately fifty minutes.
5.2. Activity 2: Be a Teacher!
The aim of this activity is to make students aware of collocations. The
activity consists of three exercises. In the first one students become the
teachers of the lesson. They are asked to read and analyse eight sentences,
from A to H, in which there are eight mistakes in collocations. In small
groups they have to read the sentences and find the mistake in the verb.
The winner is the group who finds most errors. In the second exercise there
are eight images and students have to write the correct collocation from
exercise 1 according to the photos. The last exercise aims to improve the
students’ speaking skill; therefore, they have to choose some or all of the
collocations from the previous exercises and create a dialogue with their
partner. The whole activity will last approximately twenty minutes.
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5.3. Activity 3: Be a Detective!
The aim of this activity, made up of two exercises, is to make students
able to identify collocations in a text and follow up with their use. As
mentioned before, one of the most important factors in learning collocations
is, actually, being able to identify them, in order to keep them in the long-
term memory and reuse them in real conversations. For this reason,
students are asked to read carefully a text so as to find five hidden
collocations and help Detective Ross with his case. The collocations in the
text belong to the group verb + noun. After completing the task, students are
asked to continue the story using the collocations provided in the box. They
must write from sixty to eighty words. This second exercise is very useful
because it helps students to develop their imagination and use collocations
in a real context or situation, since, as it has been said previously, it is
essential to use these phraseological units in their context.
This exercise might be carried out both in class (in approximately
twenty minutes), or as a homework assignment, depending on the teacher. If
used in the classroom, the whole activity will last forty minutes; if
autonomously or individually, twenty minutes.
5.4. Activity 4: Escape Classroom!
The aim of the activity is to motivate EFL students to learn
collocations in an amusing and entertaining way, since they are considered
to be one of the most difficult challenges while learning and teaching
vocabulary. The activity is run in the following way. The students are locked
in the classroom for half an hour. To leave the room they have to look for
five images that represent five collocations verb + noun. To finish the game
successfully, students have to find all of them. The teacher needs five
objects where to hide the images and five clues to carry out the game.
Before the activity, the teacher hides the photos in the classroom and leaves
the first tip on the desk so that the students may start the game. When the
students think they have found a collocation, they say it out loud. If the
answer is correct, the teacher says Correct. If, alternatively, it is incorrect,
the teacher says Try again. It is of utmost importance that students say the
correct collocation without missing any of the elements that form it, since
they are all characterised by collocational restriction.
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6. Conclusion
Learning and teaching a foreign language is a rather difficult task,
especially when it comes to acquiring phraseological units such as
collocations.
Michael Lewis in The Lexical Approach (1993) focuses the teaching of
the lexicon on the learning of linguistic chunks, which facilitate the
memorization of the vocabulary and improve the fluidity of the learners,
since the presence of a word implies the appearance of another, as in the
collocation dark night. For this reason, learning collocations is of paramount
importance because it improves students' linguistic, phraseological and
communicative competences.
As previously discussed, collocations are expressions that are made
up of two or more words that, by use and custom, form a single lexical
phraseological unit that is not fixed but recognizable. In the English language
there are thousands of collocations, some more frequent and common,
others, however, belonging to specific languages or jargons. All the
collocations are characterized by their quality of being recognizable as a
lexical unit, which makes them a distinctive and characteristic type of
element in the language (Tiberii 2012).
As stated above, there is often no logical link between the terms that
form the elements of collocations, nor can the correct combinations be
derived from a reasoning or a lexical rule: think, for example, of the
collocations to break a leg and to catch the flu. In the first case, the meaning
of the collocation is not deductible from the sum of the elements that make
up the expression, but its meaning is metaphorical, as in the second case,
where it is inimaginable to catch the flu literally.
Given the difficulty of these expressions, it is of utmost importance
that students be made aware of the existence of collocations in order to
recognize, learn and reuse them in an autonomous way. For this reason, the
objective of this project is to focus on the learning and teaching of the noun +
noun and verb + noun collocations at level B1. Teaching this type of
collocations is a rather complicated task, especially if there is a lack of
material to support their teaching. In this regard, this project presents four
activities on learning noun + preposition + noun and verb + noun with the
aim of being used by both students and teachers as reinforcement and
practice in the classroom, or review exercises at the higher levels.
Collocations, like any other linguistic aspect, require a didactic
sequence so that the student can master them and internalize that
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knowledge. To achieve this, it is possible to opt for the classical didactic
sequence of the three P’s: presentation, practice and production, or to plan
their teaching gradually, memorizing and practicing so that they pass into the
long-term memory of the students. It is for this reason that the four activities
proposed belong to level B1, because it is essential that these
phraseological units be introduced from the intermediate levels, as only
through gradual learning will it be possible to store the collocations in the
long-term memory for its future reuse in everyday communication.
In conclusion, in spite of the difficulty that the learning of collocations
could entail at level B1, its explicit presentation in class is of paramount
importance to enhance fluency and to improve the linguistic skills of the
students, both from a comprehensive and a productive point of view.
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ANNEX 1
Activity 1: Let’s Do some Shopping!
1. Match the words below to the words in the third column to produce the correct
collocation. Use the images in the second column for help!
A CUP OF
A BOTTLE OF
A PACKET OF
A TUBE OF
A JAR OF
A LOAF OF
A PIECE OF
A TIN OF
A GLASS OF
A BAR OF
coke water crisps jam bread cake
chocolate wine coffee toothpaste
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2. In the previous exercise there is one collocation which, in a metaphorical
context, means “very easy”. A clue: It is something very sweet. Do you
know the answer? Write it in the box.
Something easy to do: ___________________________
3. As you already know the answer, rewrite the sentence changing very easy
and using the new expression.
a.
John, I’m so happy, I’ve passed my English exam. It was very easy.
b.
John, I’m so happy. I’ve passed my English exam. It was
____________________________.
4. Now, let’s go to the supermarket. Make a list of the products you need for
your fridge. Use the vocabulary of exercise number 1. Then, tell your
partner the products you need to get at the supermarket.
I need ...
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Activity 2: Be a Teacher!
1. Each phrase contains a mistake in the verbs. In small groups, read the
sentences and find the mistakes. The winner is the group who finds most
errors. Write the correct verb in the right column. Let the search begin!
A
Paul wants to play sport because it’s healthy.
B
John likes to touch the guitar because he loves
music.
C
Anna loves doing basketball with her friends.
D
Bob hates doing the bed every morning.
E
Can you make a picture of me, please?
F
Mum, I don’t like making the washing-up!
G
Saro is very sociable. He loves doing new friends.
H
Nuria likes to hear to music in the afternoon.
2. Look at the images and write an example using the correct collocation
from exercise 1.
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3. Let’s do some speaking! Talk in pairs. Choose some or all of the collocations
from the previous exercises and create a dialogue with your partner.
STUDENT
A
STUDENT
B
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Activity 3: Be a Detective!
1. Read carefully. In the text there are five hidden collocations verb + noun.
Find them and help Detective Ross with his case. Write your anwers in the
box below.
The innocent woman.
Yesterday I woke up at 7 o’clock. As usual, I had breakfast and then I went to the
bus stop. I took the bus and when I arrived at my office and I opened the door I
noticed something strange. I saw that my secretary, John, had been murdered. I
was scared and shocked so that I called the police. When the police arrived, they
asked me a lot of questions but I knew nothing. The problem was that they
believed I had murdered John. Please, I am innocent! Help me!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
2. And now it is up to you! Continue the story using the following
collocations. Write between 60 and 80 words. Let your imagination run
wild!
To make a mistake
To have a relationship with
To make money
To keep a promise
To keep a secret
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Write the follow-up to your story here.
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Activity 4: Escape Classroom!
Instructions for teachers. Hide the images of the collocations in the suggested
places before the beginning of the class. Explain the rules of the game to your
students. The activity lasts 30 minutes.
You can find the first tip in an object full of words. Answer: book.
Image inside a book.
Key: to do the ironing.
Tip: you can find the next
tip in an object that it’s
used for checking the time.
Answer: clock.
Image behind a clock.
Key: to have a party.
Tip: you can find the next
tip in an object full of pens.
Answer: pencil case.
Image behind a pencil
case.
Key: to make a call.
Tip: you can find the next
tip in an object with days
on it. Answer: calendar.
Image behind the
calendar.
Key: to do yoga.
Tip: you can find the next
tip in an electronic object
used for typing. Answer:
keyboard.
Image behind the
keyboard.
Key: to have a haircut.
Congratulations!!!
This is the end of the
game! You have escaped
the room!
