Collocations in the L2: do L2 proficiency and L1 congruency affect collocation learning among Chinese high school EFL learners?

Thesis

This dissertation investigates the effects of L2 proficiency and L1 congruency (i.e. the presence or absence of a literal translation equivalent in L1) on the learning of collocations among Chinese high school EFL learners. Through a phrasal acceptability judgement task (PAJT) with 34 participants, this study measures accuracy rate (AR) and reaction time (RT) to assess collocational processing. The findings indicate that higher proficiency learners (B2) perform better in accuracy than lower proficiency learners (B1), but no significant difference in processing speed is observed. Additionally, congruent collocations are processed more accurately and quickly than incongruent ones, yet no interaction effect between proficiency and congruency is found. These results suggest that while proficiency enhances accuracy, both congruency and proficiency independently influence collocational learning. The study concludes with pedagogical implications, highlighting the importance of exposure and explicit instruction in improving collocational knowledge.

Authors: Fang, S

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-5zyvwqe7q
• Type of award: MSc taught course
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: collocations; Phrasal Acceptability Judgement Task; quantitative method; phrasal acceptability judgment test; L2 proficiency; L1 congruency; High School EFL learners; ALSLA; ALSLA2024; LexTALE
• Subjects: Second language acquisition; Applied linguistics; Collocation (Linguistics); Quantitative research; High schools