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Volume 12. Issue 1
Article 3

Title
The Effects of Collocation Instruction on the Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Learning of College English Majors

Author
Jeng-yih Tim Hsu.

Bio Data:
 Jeng-yih Tim Hsu received his Master in English Language/Linguistics from the University of Arizona, and holds a doctorate in Composition & TESOL from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He is currently teaching at the Department of English, National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung.

Abstract
Over the past decades, studies of EFL/ESL vocabulary acquisition have pinpointed the importance of collocations in language learning. Most findings showed that general collocational knowledge among EFL learners was insufficient and that collocational knowledge is beneficial for EFL learning, by greatly facilitating language learning, comprehension, and production. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated the impact of explicit collocation instruction on other aspects of EFL learners’ general English proficiency, such as listening, speaking, writing, reading, and lexical fluency.

The present study examined the effects of direct collocation instruction on Taiwanese college English majors’ reading comprehension and vocabulary learning. Three groups of Taiwanese college English majors were divided according to their academic levels. Each group received (a) a vocabulary pretest, (b) 3 different types of instruction—single-item vocabulary instruction, lexical collocation instruction, and no instruction—in separate classes, (c) a reading comprehension test, and (d) 3 vocabulary recall tests (immediate, 1-week delayed, and 2-week delayed). The quantitative data indicated that (1) the lexical collocation instruction improves the subjects’ vocabulary learning more than their reading comprehension across all three academic levels; (2) the treatment of collocation instruction promotes the subjects’ performance on the 3 recall tests, outscoring the other two instruction types in the vocabulary retention patterns. This study suggests that direct collocation instruction can be a worthy option for exploration in teaching although more extensive studies need to be carried out to further support the findings.

Keywords: collocations, reading comprehension, vocabulary learning

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