Author
Tony Anggadha
A student of English Study Program in Riau University
Abstract
Since vocabulary has been rarely given any attention by others student in my class, I want to concentrate in this article on the problems non-native speakers may have with English vocabulary use especially in the use of appropriate combinations of words. This is an aspect of language called collocation. This study presents empirical data verifying the informal observations and theoretic assertions that EFL learners produce 'unnatural' word combinations. Multiple choice test consist of 20 questions were given to ten students. They made 128 or 64 % incorrect answers, and only 72 or 36% correct answers. Some of the incorrect answer may be due to negative transfer from Indonesian, and confusion with similar words in English.
Literature Review
The "father" of collocation is usually considered to be J.R. Firth, a British linguist who died in 1960. It was he that first used the term "collocation" in its linguistic sense. Mahmoud (2005) defines collocations as two words belonging to different grammatical categories to exclude binomials where the two words are from the same category and are connected implicitly or explicitly by a conjunction or a preposition.
Lexical collocation itself include: Verb + Noun (e.g. break a code, lift a blockade), Verb + Adverb (e.g. affect deeply, appreciate sincerely), Noun + Verb (e.g. water freezes, clock ticks), Adjective + Noun (e.g. strong tea, best wishes), Adverb + Adjective (e.g. deeply absorbed, closely related).
The problem for the learner of English is that there are no definite collocation rules that can be learned. The native English speaker intuitively makes the correct collocation, based on a lifetime’s experience of hearing and reading the words in set combinations. The non-native speaker has a more limited experience and may frequently collocate words in a way that sounds odd to the native speaker.
Correct production of such word combinations is a mark of an advanced level of proficiency in a language. Sonaiya (1988) says that lexical errors are more serious because effective communication depends on the choice of words.
Data Analysis
The data for this study is taken by giving a test to ten students. Each test consists of 20 questions. The students are not told that the test is collocation test. The sum of questions done by ten students was 200 questions. There were 128 or 64% incorrect answers and only 72 or 35% correct answers.
Table .1 and chart .1 shows that most of students have problem when make lexical collocation type V; Adverb + adjective. The students produced 33 (26) incorrect collocation. The correct collocations could have been acquired through exposure to the language or they might have been positively transferred from Indonesian, for instance; painfully slow, absurdly easy, widely believe, time goes by, absent-minded professor, frightened children, lions roar, pay attention. One of the incorrect answers could be due to negative transfer from Indonesian example, sound of the clock. Some of incorrect answer could be influenced by generalizing in others grammar rule; they are right in lexical meaning but contextually incorrect.
For example:
1. I hate loneliness because it is very soundless. Even the ticking clock can be heard (clock ticks).
2. You should try to get more attention in class (pay)
3. The situation in Gaza is very terrible. In every second, what we hear is booms exploding ruin the building (booms explode).
4. I’m going to have chance and ask her if she wants to go out somewhere.
Some of the incorrect collocations could be due to interlingual errors. Confusion with similar words in English could be the reason behind incorrect collocations such as;
1. I don’t know why you could not follow his directions. They were virtually clear (clearly).
2. Our test this week is quite challenging in places but the one we got last week was highly easy (absurdly).
Hugh Tomlinson is greatly believed to be the best director of his generation in Hollywood at the moment (widely)
Interlingual transfer is an indispensable learning communication strategy employed by foreign language learners at all levels of proficiency, (see e.g. Bhela, 1999; Mahmoud, 2000; Odlin, 1989; Ringbom, 1987; Sheen, 2001; Tang, 2002).
Discussion
This paper contributes for study in the area of lexical errors of foreign language learners in general and the errors of students of English Study Program in Riau University in particular. It provides empirical data verifying the belief that collocations constitute an area of difficulty in learning English as a foreign language. This finding is in line with Mahmoud (2005) study which state that “collocation is an area of difficulty in learning English as foreign language”.
This study also supports the claims that students commit errors when producing collocations in English, especially the lexical combinations. Errors indicate that English learners depend on interlingual and intralingual strategies to facilitate learning. Such strategies help in case of perceived linguistic similarities and lead to problems in case of differences.
Confusion with similar words also the cause of errors made by English learners. This can be happened when the student can not differentiate the use of words which is quite have the same in meaning but have different usage. In addition to that, the errors are caused by negative interlingual transfer form Indonesian to English. It may be due to the influences of students’ first language as their mother tongue.
As stated in Mahmoud’s paper (2005) that there is no magic formula for correction of collocation errors. In addition to exposure to the language through reading and listening, learners of EFL could benefit from direct teaching and exercises aimed at raising awareness of collocations, (see Ellis, 1997; Williams, 2002). Depending on the students' cognitive development, simplified contrastive comparisons between English and Indonesian collocations might help students see when to transfer and when not to transfer.
In addition to that, this study suggests the English teacher may give more attention to the lexical collocation lessons, especially type 5; Adverb + Adjective.
References
Koosha, Mansour and Ali Akbar Jafarpour. 2007. Data-driven Learning and Teaching Collocation of Prepositions; The Case of Iranian EFL Adult Learners. www.asian-efl-journal.com
Mahmoud, A. 2005. Collocation Errors Made by Arab Learners of English. www.asian-efl-journal.com
Tim Hsu, Jeng-yih and Chu-yao Chiu. 2008. Lexical Collocations and their Relation to Speaking Proficiency. www.asian-efl-journal.com
Tim Hsu, Jeng-yih. 2010. the Effect of Collocations Instruction on the Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Learning of Taiwanese College English Major. www.asian-efl-journal.com
Tony Anggadha
A student of English Study Program in Riau University
Abstract
Since vocabulary has been rarely given any attention by others student in my class, I want to concentrate in this article on the problems non-native speakers may have with English vocabulary use especially in the use of appropriate combinations of words. This is an aspect of language called collocation. This study presents empirical data verifying the informal observations and theoretic assertions that EFL learners produce 'unnatural' word combinations. Multiple choice test consist of 20 questions were given to ten students. They made 128 or 64 % incorrect answers, and only 72 or 36% correct answers. Some of the incorrect answer may be due to negative transfer from Indonesian, and confusion with similar words in English.
Literature Review
The "father" of collocation is usually considered to be J.R. Firth, a British linguist who died in 1960. It was he that first used the term "collocation" in its linguistic sense. Mahmoud (2005) defines collocations as two words belonging to different grammatical categories to exclude binomials where the two words are from the same category and are connected implicitly or explicitly by a conjunction or a preposition.
Lexical collocation itself include: Verb + Noun (e.g. break a code, lift a blockade), Verb + Adverb (e.g. affect deeply, appreciate sincerely), Noun + Verb (e.g. water freezes, clock ticks), Adjective + Noun (e.g. strong tea, best wishes), Adverb + Adjective (e.g. deeply absorbed, closely related).
The problem for the learner of English is that there are no definite collocation rules that can be learned. The native English speaker intuitively makes the correct collocation, based on a lifetime’s experience of hearing and reading the words in set combinations. The non-native speaker has a more limited experience and may frequently collocate words in a way that sounds odd to the native speaker.
Correct production of such word combinations is a mark of an advanced level of proficiency in a language. Sonaiya (1988) says that lexical errors are more serious because effective communication depends on the choice of words.
Data Analysis
The data for this study is taken by giving a test to ten students. Each test consists of 20 questions. The students are not told that the test is collocation test. The sum of questions done by ten students was 200 questions. There were 128 or 64% incorrect answers and only 72 or 35% correct answers.
Table .1 and chart .1 shows that most of students have problem when make lexical collocation type V; Adverb + adjective. The students produced 33 (26) incorrect collocation. The correct collocations could have been acquired through exposure to the language or they might have been positively transferred from Indonesian, for instance; painfully slow, absurdly easy, widely believe, time goes by, absent-minded professor, frightened children, lions roar, pay attention. One of the incorrect answers could be due to negative transfer from Indonesian example, sound of the clock. Some of incorrect answer could be influenced by generalizing in others grammar rule; they are right in lexical meaning but contextually incorrect.
For example:
1. I hate loneliness because it is very soundless. Even the ticking clock can be heard (clock ticks).
2. You should try to get more attention in class (pay)
3. The situation in Gaza is very terrible. In every second, what we hear is booms exploding ruin the building (booms explode).
4. I’m going to have chance and ask her if she wants to go out somewhere.
Some of the incorrect collocations could be due to interlingual errors. Confusion with similar words in English could be the reason behind incorrect collocations such as;
1. I don’t know why you could not follow his directions. They were virtually clear (clearly).
2. Our test this week is quite challenging in places but the one we got last week was highly easy (absurdly).
Hugh Tomlinson is greatly believed to be the best director of his generation in Hollywood at the moment (widely)
Interlingual transfer is an indispensable learning communication strategy employed by foreign language learners at all levels of proficiency, (see e.g. Bhela, 1999; Mahmoud, 2000; Odlin, 1989; Ringbom, 1987; Sheen, 2001; Tang, 2002).
Discussion
This paper contributes for study in the area of lexical errors of foreign language learners in general and the errors of students of English Study Program in Riau University in particular. It provides empirical data verifying the belief that collocations constitute an area of difficulty in learning English as a foreign language. This finding is in line with Mahmoud (2005) study which state that “collocation is an area of difficulty in learning English as foreign language”.
This study also supports the claims that students commit errors when producing collocations in English, especially the lexical combinations. Errors indicate that English learners depend on interlingual and intralingual strategies to facilitate learning. Such strategies help in case of perceived linguistic similarities and lead to problems in case of differences.
Confusion with similar words also the cause of errors made by English learners. This can be happened when the student can not differentiate the use of words which is quite have the same in meaning but have different usage. In addition to that, the errors are caused by negative interlingual transfer form Indonesian to English. It may be due to the influences of students’ first language as their mother tongue.
As stated in Mahmoud’s paper (2005) that there is no magic formula for correction of collocation errors. In addition to exposure to the language through reading and listening, learners of EFL could benefit from direct teaching and exercises aimed at raising awareness of collocations, (see Ellis, 1997; Williams, 2002). Depending on the students' cognitive development, simplified contrastive comparisons between English and Indonesian collocations might help students see when to transfer and when not to transfer.
In addition to that, this study suggests the English teacher may give more attention to the lexical collocation lessons, especially type 5; Adverb + Adjective.
References
Koosha, Mansour and Ali Akbar Jafarpour. 2007. Data-driven Learning and Teaching Collocation of Prepositions; The Case of Iranian EFL Adult Learners. www.asian-efl-journal.com
Mahmoud, A. 2005. Collocation Errors Made by Arab Learners of English. www.asian-efl-journal.com
Tim Hsu, Jeng-yih and Chu-yao Chiu. 2008. Lexical Collocations and their Relation to Speaking Proficiency. www.asian-efl-journal.com
Tim Hsu, Jeng-yih. 2010. the Effect of Collocations Instruction on the Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Learning of Taiwanese College English Major. www.asian-efl-journal.com
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment