1. Collocation – the missing link?
Sibastian Malouf
Clayton Campus
9 June 2014

2. 2 Why collocation matters.
Content
1 What is collocation?
2 Why collocation matters.
3 Building collocational competence.
4 December 2018

3. Match these pairs of words:
homework
coffee
bike
skilled
strike up
new
a mistake
bag
heavy
defined do
clearly
old
smoker
make
strong
a conversation
highly

4. What’s the likelihood we got 100%?
strike up a conversation
do homework
make a mistake
heavy smoker
strong coffee
clearly defined
highly skilled
old bag
new bike
So we all know we can make a mistake and do homework... but not do a mistake or make homework.
“But why?”
most should match, weaker combinations will split.
4 December 2018

5. What is collocation?
fixed phrases phrasal verbs word combinations patterns of words v+n / n+n / adj+n / etc. idioms multi-word chunks
Collocations are predictable combinations of words;
they are chunks of language that represent single choices;
they are often worth more than the sum of the individual parts.
4 December 2018

6. Not all collocations are created equal!
Weaker Medium Stronger
new bike
strong coffee
make a mistake
highly skilled
strike up a conversation
old bag
heavy smoker
do homework
clearly defined
1 – empty cline labelled weaker to stronger: fly in collocations from slide 2
2 – what to focus on in learning and teaching: highlight medium strength collocations
3 – why: box at bottom with dot points – most useful; most common; carry meaning; less is more; restricted application of unique collocations
Which collocations do you think learners and teachers should focus on? Weak, medium or strong? Why?
4 December 2018

7. Why does collocation matter?
Do any of these sound familiar?
“They have plenty of words but just don’t know how to use them!”
“I know what they mean... But it just doesn’t sound right.”
“It’s not wrong exactly, but it just doesn’t sound natural.”
“I know what I want to say. I just don’t know how to say it.”
“They just don’t seem to have any ideas to write about.”
“But we already learnt this grammar (at home / before).”
“He’s just so difficult to understand when he speaks – I can’t follow what he’s saying.”
4 December 2018

8. Why does collocation matter to students?
Building collocational competence helps with:
fluency
accuracy
pronunciation
It can also help in breaking through the intermediate plateau and moving into higher levels of proficiency.
“My father... he’s getting better... he had a big operation.”
 My father’s recovering from a major operation.
4 December 2018

9. Why does collocation matter to teachers?
Provides insights into where a student’s language is breaking down.
Builds on breadth of vocabulary to add depth to vocabulary teaching.
Assists with getting the most out of input materials.
Provides a range of activities to help build language proficiency.
And do not discount the importance of:
Effectively answers “But why?”
4 December 2018

10. Building collocational competence
Notice and highlight collocations
Record and review collocations
Produce and practice
Teacher’s role Student’s role Type of activities
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11. Notice and highlight
Teacher: trains learners; actively teaches collocation; exploits input / texts for useful collocations;
Learner: learns how to notice; engages with collocation; uses the word collocation; exploits input/texts for useful collocations; draws on teachers innate knowledge; develops awareness of ‘chunks’ rather than isolated words
Activities:
Underline nouns in text then highlight verbs for each noun
Notice differences with L1 collocations
4 December 2018

12. Record and review
Teacher: provides models and train learners; remind learners to record; give feedback on records; review, reuse and recycle collocations frequently
Learner: actively records collocations; reviews frequently; develops autonomy in making decisions about what to record
Activities:
5 word boxes
What goes with....?
4 December 2018

13. Preparing to produce Lower levels, or new content areas:
Five word stories: choose a central noun, elicit, review, teach 5 (common) verbs that collocate, students write/tell a story (or process)
a job: look for, find, apply for, get, lose
Higher levels:
Essay/writing preparation: elicit useful collocations
1. elicit 4-5 nouns students think will be important
2. for each noun, explore useful collocations: elicit from class, have students look words up, or look to input materials or records
4 December 2018

14. Preparing to write an essay:
If we had more prisons, we would have fewer criminals. Do you agree?
Select a few nouns central to the topic:
prison criminal crime sentence
Elicit/review/look up/select useful collocations before writing:
4 December 2018

15. Conclusions?
Introduce students to the idea of collocation, and the word collocation.
Help students learn how to identify and select and record useful collocations
Teachers are an excellent ready-made walking collocation dictionary – if it doesn’t sound quite right than it probably isn’t !
There needs to be a big focus on rich input – texts rich in natural collocations.
Collocations are powerful – frequently more than the sum of their individual parts, and they affect fluency, pronunciation and accuracy!
Collocations may be the missing link in budging students who have plateaued.
4 December 2018

16. Further reading:
Lewis, M. (ed.) 2000, Teaching collocation: Further developments in the Lexical Approach, Language Teaching Publications, Hove, UK.
4 December 2018