TESOL 2018, Chicago, Eli Hinkel

Teaching Collocations and

Multiword Units

Eli Hinkel

Seattle Pacific University

Collocations and Multiword Phrases

Collocations are combinations of two or more words that tend to be found together in text and discourse, e.g. hard rain, pouring rain, heavy rain, but not *big rain or *strong rain.

  1. Collocations and multi-word units are also called chunks, lexical bundles,set phrases, idioms, fixed phrases/strings, lexicalized sentence stems, lexical phrases, expressions, formulaic sequences, formulaic language, prefabricated constructions, prefabs, conventionalized expressions, and the like.
  1. They are astoundingly frequent and ubiquitous in all manner of language, e.g. informal conversations, news reports, formal speeches, university and academic lectures, email, fiction, blogs, and academic writing.
  1. Various research counts demonstrate that these language units number in the hundreds of thousands.
  2. A key attribute of multi-word units by any name is that often their meanings cannot be readily understood or predicted from the meanings of their component parts. For example, knowing the meaning of the word "look" and the meaning of the word "after" does not mean that you will know the meaning of the collocation "look after."
  1. One of the super-important characteristics of multi-word units is that it is not usually possible to translate them from one language to another by employing any type of grammar or vocabulary rules.

Teaching Collocations and Multi-Word Units

A few examples:

heavy

traffic/rain/snow/sweater/coat ~~ BUT

strong

person/animal/wind/current/tea/coffee/

supporter/opponent/smell/taste

sharp

cheese/wit/rise/increase/drop/contrast/

turn/distinction ~~ also be/feel/look/seem

broad/wide/narrow street, busy street, pedestrian

street, one-way street ~~

~~~~but not*thin street or *active street

In language production, learning frequent collocationsis crucially important.

Numerous studies have demonstrated conclusively that even in the cases of learners with a substantial vocabulary base, L2 speaking or writing may appear inaccurate and unidiomatic when collocations are inappropriately or infrequently employed.

(Hinkel, 2004, 2015, 2017; Howarth, 1998; Lewis, 2000; Pawley and Syder, 1983; Peters, 1983).

Collocations can include words in combinations with any types of other words, e.g. nouns, verbs, prepositions, and prepositional phrases.

For example:

The nouncause and the verbcause

Cause (noun) -- an underlying cause, a root cause, (for/with) a good cause, a cause for concern, a common cause, or a lost cause

Cause (verb) -- cause problems, cause inconvenience, cause a controversy

Collocations and lexical phrases cannot be assembled from their component words.

They have evolved in the language historically and are somewhat arbitrary.

Typically, collocations consist of two elements:

  1. a pivot word which is the main/focal word in the collocation
  1. its accompanying word(s) (one or more), e.g. change jobs, change direction, change course, or change gears.

Many students are simply unaware that collocations and lexical phrases are highly prevalent in many languages, including English.

For many learners, it is easier to work with collocations as whole phrases (as in, for example, one long word) rather than trying to assemble phrases from their component parts.

As Wilkins (1972, p. 102) comments, learning an L2 through vocabulary and multiword units, instead of through discrete words or word elements, means one can often "cover in half the time what is … expected from a whole year of language learning."

Most adults can recite L1 or L2 poems or texts that they learned several decades earlier. There is little reason to doubt that L2 learners are quite capable of similar feats in their L2 production.

Techniques for Teaching Collocations

  • A good place to start can be bringing learners' attention to pivot words and those that accompany (go with) them.
  • Explicitly teaching and noting the most frequent phrases, such as in this case, on one hand, on the other hand, or for this reason saves time and effort in the long run.
  • Demonstrate typical combinations of pivot words and their accompaniments

in -- columns/tables -- and with appropriate substitutions to highlight collocation frequency and provide models for students to use.

Quizzes on collocations can be simple and easy when students are presented a pivot word and are asked to supply collocates (accompanying words). This activity can be fruitful and highly productive.

In pairs or small groups, students can check one another's collocations -- and have a bit of a competition.

Collocation Practice

An example of student practice or a quiz on collocations is presented below.

A pivot word is presented in the left column, and students have to come up with as many collocates (accompanying words) as they can during a particular amount of time, say, 5-10 minutes. Students can compete to see who comes up with the longest list and work in small groups of 2-4.

The pivot words can be as basic as make, do, have, give, or take for beginners, and more advanced, such as assume, assign, achieve, conclude, consist, consult, define, denote, increase, decrease, presume, verify (from the University Word List), for more proficient learners.

For example:

give (pivot word)
/ possible collocates: a presentation/speech/talk, priority, an answer, a chance, a choice, an example, an excuse, a try, credit, an idea, an impression, a call, an opinion, a suggestion, a ride, some thought
great
(pivot word)
/ possible collocates: accuracy, diversity, flexibility, impact, increase, influence, likelihood, majority, opportunity, potential, range, significance, time
provide word) / possible collocates: a benefit, a focus, a clue, an alternative, data, evidence, information, material, resources, support, an insight, a service, a source, an example, an explanation, an illustration, an opportunity, an indication

Collocates can come before and after the pivot words. Productive pivot words can be found in any collocation dictionary.

Some other examples: advice, fight, influence, issue, plan, relate, relationship, or role.

Collocation practice:

  • News reports and restatement of information from the business section of a newspaper, e.g. "And now we bring you the latest from the stock market"
  • Business plans or presentations to "the board of directors" or a company president
  • Poster sessions with formal explanations for fellow-professionals, "stock holders," or potential "investors."
  • Restating technical news or weather reports also works well to provide students with collocation practice

The key consideration in learning practice is to give learners an opportunity to use the multiword units and academic collocations that they would not otherwise have in their spoken casual and informal interactions.

Collocation dictionaries:

Useful collocation dictionaries that can provide comprehensive collections of pivot words and collocates:

  • McIntosh, C., Francis, B., Poole, R. (Eds.). (2009). Oxford collocations dictionary for students of English, (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Rundell, M., Fox, G. (Eds.). (2010). Macmillan collocations dictionary for learners of English. Oxford: Macmillan.
  • Lea, D. (2002). Oxford collocations dictionary for students of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Benson, M., Benson, E. & Ilson, R. (2010). The BBI combinatory dictionary of English: A guide to word combinations, (3rd ed). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Longman Collocations Dictionary and Thesaurus (2010). Edinburgh: Pearson Education.

Phrasal verbs dictionaries:

  • Cambridge Phrasal Verbs Dictionary (2006). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Longman Phrasal Verbs Dictionary(2nd edition) (2000). Edinburgh: Pearson Education.
  • Macmillan Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs (2005). New York & Oxford: Macmillan Education.
  • Oxford Phrasal Verbs (2006). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sample Activities and Suggestions For Teaching

(1) Identifying formulaic expressions and prefabs in readings and level-appropriate authentic texts.

  • Locate four or five (short) newspaper articles (easily found online) and hand them out to the students.
  • In small groups or as a whole class, ask learners to note and make a list of formulaic expressions and prefabs. These expressions are counted to figure out their overall number relative to the number of words in the texts.
  • How common do formulaic expressions and prefabs appear to be?
  • In English as a Foreign Language settings, the same activity can be repeated in learners' first language(s).

(2) Responding to formulaic expressions with appropriate formulaic expressions.

  • Create a worksheet of appropriate responses to formulaic conversational expressions in English.
  • Learners are asked to match questions or statements to situational appropriate responses. For example:

Hi! How's everything going? / Thank you! I study very hard.
I missed class yesterday. Could I borrow your class notes? / I think, but I am not sure, that it's on zzz (day) at xxx (time) (Note: The preposition on is used with days and dates, and at with time points.)
When is the xxx? (day and time)? / Sure! I am afraid, though, that they are a little bit messy.
Where is the yyy? /How far is xxx? (location) / I am sorry, but I don't know. Maybe, yyy could tell you?
Your English/ Spanish/French is great! / Great/good/fine. How about you?

The End

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