Abstract
This study investigates the collocational competence of Arab foundation program students, addressing the lack of systematic analysis of ESL learners’ lexical and collocation errors. Understanding how ESL learners construct fixed expressions is crucial for achieving native-like proficiency, a key goal of foundation programs. A cohort of 38 foundation learners took a 60-item collocation test focused on verb-noun and adjective-noun structures to assess their collocational competence and identify specific errors. Results indicated that students were more familiar with verb-noun combinations but struggled with adjective-noun collocations. A significant disparity in scores between these two structures was observed. The primary challenges stemmed from the influence of the learners' first language (L1), particularly in their selection of collocates, as many answers reflected their inability to differentiate between synonyms absent in their L1. Additionally, non-exposure to certain collocations and the degree of L1-L2 differences were highlighted in surveys. Instructor interviews corroborated these findings, emphasizing the students' limited exposure to collocations and insufficient English proficiency, alongside L1-L2 discrepancies. The thematic analysis revealed that enhancing students’ exposure to collocations and addressing their linguistic challenges could improve their performance. Overall, the study's findings contribute valuable insights for language pedagogy, suggesting effective strategies for teaching collocations to ESL learners.
Author Information
Pakenam Shiha, Effat University, Saudi Arabia
Nadine Emirey Lacsina, Al Yamamah University, Saudi Arabia
Paper Information
Conference: ACE2024
Stream: Foreign Languages Education & Applied Linguistics (including ESL/TESL/TEFL)
This paper is part of the ACE2024 Conference Proceedings (View)
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