CALL & MALL
Afsaneh Saeedakhtar
Abstract
The present study scrutinized the role of data-driven learning in recognizing and producing collocations by high- and low-intermediate learners of English. Moreover, the influence of secondary effect (or transfer of training) on learning secondary collocations (collocations not provided in concordancing ...
Read More
The present study scrutinized the role of data-driven learning in recognizing and producing collocations by high- and low-intermediate learners of English. Moreover, the influence of secondary effect (or transfer of training) on learning secondary collocations (collocations not provided in concordancing but embedded implicitly in tasks) was examined. The learners’ attitudes towards the effect of concordancing on learning collocations and their attitude change over time were also elicited through a questionnaire. A total of 40 Iranian learners were randomly divided into an experimental and a control group. Each group was further subdivided into high- and low-intermediate learners. The experimental group received a 10-session treatment in which they had access to concordancing to perform the paraphrasing tasks. The control group was taught the same collocations in a traditional explicit way. Results revealed that the high-intermediate learners benefitted from concordancing in both primary and secondary learning of collocations more than the low-intermediate learners. Both high- and low-intermediate groups appreciated the positive role of concordancing in learning collocations and stated that their attitudes towards concordancing changed positively over time.
Mohammad Reza Anani Sarab; Amir Kardoust
Volume 3, Issue 1 , June 2014, , Pages 112-89
Abstract
In spite of the highly beneficial applications of corpus linguistics in language pedagogy, it has not found its way into mainstream EFL. The major reasons seem to be the teachers’ lack of training and the unavailability of resources, especially computers in language classes. Phrasal verbs have ...
Read More
In spite of the highly beneficial applications of corpus linguistics in language pedagogy, it has not found its way into mainstream EFL. The major reasons seem to be the teachers’ lack of training and the unavailability of resources, especially computers in language classes. Phrasal verbs have been shown to be a problematic area of learning English as a foreign language due to their semantic opacity and structural differences between English and learners’ first languages. To examine the pedagogic potentiality of the use of corpus linguistics in the context of EFL, the present study aimed at comparing the effect of paper-based data-driven learning (DDL) activities, as a substitute for online DDL activities, with the activities designed based on dictionary entries in terms of their effect on learning phrasal verbs in both short and long run. To this end, the study adopted a quasi-experimental pretest posttest control group design. The analysis of the data collected through an immediate posttest as well as a delayed posttest showed that the DDL activities led to greater improvements by the participants. Based on the results of the study, it is argued that paper-based DDL activities can be used effectively in EFL classes to enhance learning and help learners to become more autonomous in their learning efforts.