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Table of contents
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Statement of the problem and rationale of the study………………………..4
1.2. Aims of the study……………………………………………………………5
1.3. Scope of the study…………………………………………………………..5
1.4. Methods of the study………………………………………………………..5
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Key concept……………………………………………………….…….…..6
2.1.1. Definitions of collocation……………………………………….……….6
2.1.2. Types of collocation………………………………………………….….72.1.3. The relation between collocation and speaking proficiency…….……...9
2.2. Related studies……………………………………………………………..11
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants……………………………………………………………..….14
3.2. Data collection instruments……………………………………………..…14
3.2.1. Collocation test……………………………………………….………..14
3.2.2. Speaking test………………………………………………………..…163.3 . Data procedure………………………………………………………….…17
3.4 Data analysis……………………………………………………….….……17
CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4. Research question: ………………………………………………………..18
To what extent is third- year students’ knowledge of using collocations related to
their speaking proficiency? ..................................................................................18
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION …………………………………….…………24
5.1. Expected outcome and contribution of the research………………………25
5.2. Limitation of the research and recommendation for further research……26
References………………………………………………………………….…..25
Appendices………………………………………………………………….….27Questionnaire
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper would not have been completed without the support of many people,
to all of whom, we are profoundly indebted.First and foremost, we would to thank my supervisor Mrs. Pham Minh Hien, for
her constant support and insightful comments which were decisive factors in the
completion of the study.
Last but not least, we are truly grateful to our families and friends for their
continual encouragements during the time we conducted the research.
Supervisor’s signature:
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ABSTRACT
The present study explores the knowledge and use of English lexical collocations
and their relation to the speaking proficiency of third-year students at Faculty of English Language Teacher Education. Data for the study were collected from 50
third-year students. Each student was asked to take two tests: (1) one lexical
collocation test, measuring the subjects’ knowledge of lexical collocations; (2) one
English speaking test, administered to collect the subjects’ use of lexical
collocations and measure their speaking proficiency. Test results were examined for
correlations between the subjects’ knowledge of lexical collocations and their
speaking proficiency. The study findings showed that there was a positive
correlation between third-year students’ knowledge of lexical collocations and their
speaking proficiency. The current study concluded that knowledge of lexical
collocations play a significant role of developing speaking proficiency.
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CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Statement of the problem and rationale of the study
One of the difficulties for foreign language learners arises from the fact thatsome word combination- collocations are acceptable and some not or
“collocational competence” (Hill, 1990). There are some collocation- related
problems such as learners may make negative transfer from their mother tongue;
learners may look for general rules for collocations that do not work for all
collocations. When students learn words through definitions or in isolation their
chances of using appropriate collocations or remembering the words decrease.
When students read texts, they may not recognize collocations as meaningful
phrases, which would inhibit their understanding of the text. Therefore, the study
was conducted in the hope of contribution to the better understanding about
collocation, the principal step to deal with the above problems.
It is well-recognized that collocations are a crucial part of language use and it is
collocation proficiency that differentiates native and non-native speakers (Ellis,
2001; Fontenelle, 1994). As back as the 1930s, Palmer (1933, cited in Nation, 2001,
p.317) discussed collocation’s importance and the fact that each must be “learnt as
an integral whole”. The strongest view held so far is that collocation competence is
an indispensable component in the process of second/foreign language acquisition
(Lewis, 1997, 2000; Nattinger & DeCarrico, 1992; Richards & Rogers, 2001).
Raising full awareness of the significance of using collocation, researchers decided
to carry out this study.
When getting for help from researchers who have conducted studies,
practitioners often find these reports on English collocations too diverse, yielding
findings of limited practical value. For instance, many pioneer studies merely
investigated learners’ knowledge of collocation (Bahns & Eldaw, 1993; Biskup,
1992); or analyzed some collocation errors and collocation teaching. Only recently
have researchers seen the studies targeting the possible connection between
collocations and general language skills (Al-Zahrani, 1998). Based on these reports,
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researchers undertook the research about the relation between using collocation and
speaking skill.
1.2. Aims of the study.
First of all, researchers want to provide students and lecturers with better
understanding about the importance of English collocations and using collocation.
Secondly, the purpose of the study is to examine the using of collocation and its
relation with English speaking proficiency among 3rd year students at Faculty of
English Language Teacher Education, ULIS, and VNU.
To fulfill the purpose of the study, the experiment carried out in this study aiming
to answer the following research question:
- To what extent is third- year students’ knowledge of using collocations
related to their speaking proficiency?
1.3. Scope of the study.
Due to the small scope of a student research paper and to serve the practical
purpose of the student researchers, this paper only focuses on the overview of
knowledge of using collocations among the 3rd year students at Faculty of EnglishLanguage Teacher Education, ULIS, VNU.
The research examines whether collocation knowledge can be a key element in
enhancing the third year students’ speaking ability. This will give the researchers
focused aims, which may be conductive to bring out the desired outcomes.
1.4. Methods of the study.
Data for the study were collected from 50 third year students at Faculty of
English Language Teacher Education, ULIS, VNU. Each student was asked to take
a collocation test which measured the students’ collocation knowledge.
Together with test results, researchers used speaking scores of each student at
the end-of- 5th term speaking test. Descriptive and correlation statistics will be used
to analyze the data. Data were synthesized and analyzed to discover the
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significant correlation between students’ knowledge of collocation and speaking
skill.
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Key concept.
2.1.1. Definitions of collocation.
Within the area of corpus linguistics, collocation is regarded as a sequence of words
or terms that co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. According to
Firth (1957) who is known as the father of collocation, this term is defined as
“statements of the habitual or customary places of that word.” (1957: 181). Or inother words, collocation is an expression consisting of two or more words that
correspond to some conventional way of saying things. Different in words but in
similar nature, collocation, in its simplest definition, consists of two words which
are linked together in the memory of native speakers and occur together with some
frequency in both written and oral discourse (Aghbar, 1990). For example, “catch a
cold” and “severe cold” are two commonly used word combinations that qualify as
collocations.
Holliday (1966) emphasized the importance of collocations in the study of lexis,
which he considered as complementary to grammatical theory. He defined a
collocation as “a linear co-occurrence relationship among lexical items which co-
occur together” (1966:153).
Partly influenced by Firth‘s (1957) original, somewhat fuzzy, conception of
collocation as ―mutual expectancies, SFL theory also defines collocation in itsmost elemental form as ―lexical items that regularly co-occur (Halliday & Hasan,‖
1976, p. 284) or, in Sinclair‘s (1991, p. 71) terms, ―a tendency for words to occur
together and identifiable by frequency of occurrence. More recently within broader
research on collocation, however, it has become apparent that simple frequency of
occurrence is not sufficient to fully account for the composition of collocation
(Nation, 2001). For example, while two items may occur together frequently like
“of the”, this is not to say they form a significant collocation. Therefore, Margaret et
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al, (2002) argued that “Collocation is the way words combine in a language to
produce natural-sounding speech and writing.”
In conclusion, there are many different definitions of collocation. All of them havesame thing in that they deal with the characteristics of collocation- collections of
words that ‘fit together”. This study will thus define collocation, adapted from
Margaret et al. (2002) and Holliday (1966) as significantly frequent combinations of
some words to create natural-sounding speech.
2.1.2. Types of collocation.
According to Hill, we can further categorize collocations based on the
elements they contain (2000:51):
Type Example
Adj+ Noun Huge profitNoun+Noun Pocket calculator
Verb +Adj+ Noun Learn a foreign language Noun + Adv Live dangerouslyAdv+ Adv Half understandAdv+ Adj Completely soakedVerb + Prep+
Noun
Speak through an interpreter
Some collocations are longer; for example, adverb + verb + adjective + noun +
preposition + noun as in seriously affect the political situation in (Northern Ireland),described by Lewis as a semi-fixed expression.
Lewis (1998) proposed the following categories for collocations:
1. Strong: A large number of collocations are strong or very strong. For
example, we most commonly talk of rancid butter, but that does not mean
that other things cannot be rancid.
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2. Weak: These are words which co-occur with a greater than random
frequency. Many things can be long or short, cheap or expensive, good or
bad. However, some things are more predictable, which could be called
collocation; for example, white wine or red wine.3. Medium strength: These are words that go together with a greater frequency
than weak collocations. Some examples are: hold a meeting; carry out a
study.
Another way to classify collocations is based on the view of Below - a spectrum of
collocations adapted from Howert (1996) and Carter (1987).
1. Free Combination
run a risk
make an attempt
2. Restricted Combination
(i) Adjective + noun:
hardened + criminal
extenuating + circumstance
(ii) adverb + verb
readily + admit
totally + unaware
(iii) verb + noun -renovate + house
shrug + shoulder
(iv) noun + verb
brake + screech
cloud + drift
3. Multi-word Expressions
(i) irreversible binominals—part and parcel, leaps and bounds
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(ii) phrasal verb—pull out, give up
(iii) idioms—to take the bull by the horns, to set the ball rolling
According to McCarthy & Felicity O’ Dell, in “English Collocation In Use”
collocation is divided into 6 types:
Type Example
Adj+ Noun Bright color Noun + Verb Pose a problem Noun + Noun A sense of prideVerb+ Prep Burst into tearsVerb+ Adv Pull steadily
Adv+ Adj Happily marry
In this paper, researchers will focus on the 4 th classification because of some main
reasons. Firstly, the classification of McCarthy & Felicity O’ Dell is very familiar
with English learners and is suitable for learning collocation with the purpose of
regular using. Moreover, the focused aim is to examine the students’ knowledge of
using collocation in speaking and there are a variety of exercises, according to this
classification, help researchers to evaluate their ability.
2.1.3. The relation between collocation and speaking proficiency.
Considering the function of language that is a device of communication, it can not
be devised that speaking is one of the ways to gain the function of that. As one of
the language skills, speaking can be complex process. The first speaking has some
points to show that speaking and productions are related in the mind of individual
for the learners. The learners also need production to get interaction in receiving
messages, result according to Hymens, “Communication competence”. .
A good speaker has to produce the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures,
and intonations of the language; using grammar structures accurately; selecting
vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topic being;
paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of
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speech such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to
maximize listener comprehension and involvement (Brown, 1994).
Therefore, speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific
points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguisticcompetence), but also they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce
language (sociolinguistic competence). Finally, speech has its own skills, structures,
and conventions different from written language (Burns & Joyce, 1997; Carter &
McCarthy, 1995; Cohen, 1996). A good speaker synthesizes this array of skills and
knowledge to succeed in a given speech act.
Collocations are indispensable for second language (L2) learners, especially at an
advanced level. This is due to the fact that collocation knowledge is an essential part
in both speech and writing (Bahns & Eldaw, 1993; Fontenelle, 1994; Herbst, 1996;
Lennon, 1996; Moon, 1992). To gain overall language proficiency, learners need to
gain collocation competence (Fayez-Hussein, 1990).
According to Kjellemer (1992), the more accurate language learners are able to
use collocations, the fewer pauses and hesitations they make during long chunks of
discourse. This is only one of many reasons why it is necessary for language
learners to master collocations. By doing so, their speech sounds more natural, and
is more easily understood by native speakers. Also, language learners are able to
express their ideas in more varied ways when they learn collocations (Lennon,
1986).
Furthermore, Benson and IIson (1997) have stated that language learners must
acquire how words collocate with each other in order to be able to produce language
with native-like accuracy and fluency in both oral and written forms. Thus, their vocabulary and overall language proficiency level increase as their collocation
knowledge increases.
Learning collocations not only increases the mental lexicon but develops
fluency as well. As Michael says, “fluency is based on the acquisition of a large
store of fixed or semi- fixed prefabricated items, which are as the foundation for any
linguistic novelty or creativity” (1997:15).
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Many researchers have stressed the importance of collocations in language
learning. Brown (1974) suggested that learning collocations improve the learner’s
oral proficiency, listening comprehension and reading speed. In addition, she argued
that we speak and write in chunks and learning collocations helps learners observehow native speakers in both spoken and written contexts use language chunks. N.
Like Brown (1974), Lewis (2000) stated that learning chunks of words helps
language learners develop their communicative competencies better than learning
words in isolation.
Including collocations in learners’ communication is very useful since it is
natural for learners of a foreign/second language to want to be like a native speaker.
“Native-like proficiency of a language depends crucially on knowledge of a stock of
prefabricated unites (Cowie, 1996, p. 389). Therefore, EFL learners should have a
number of collocations in stock to communicate fluently and accurately.
To sum up, we can infer that collocation plays important role of giving learners
great help to develop speaking fluency and accuracy as a native speakers.
2.2. Related studies.
Realizing the importance of using collocation, many researchers conducted a
number of studies to investigate the correlation between collocation and general
language proficiency. In this part, a great number of studies have been reviewed to
provide the background for our research.
The correct use of collocations accounts much for L2 Learners writing, and
several researchers have investigated the use of collocations in L2 learners writing,
and identified the correlation between L2 learners’ collocational knowledge and
their writing proficiency.Zang’s study (1993) was one of the first studies on this topic and is importantly
contributed to the following researches. He tested 60 (30 native and 30 non- native)
speakers of English by using a blank- filling collocation test and writing test. The
collocation test measures students’ collocational knowledge while the writing task
collected their use of collocations and their writing fluency. He compared the
correlation between his subjects’ knowledge of collocations and their writing
quality, and the application of collocations in the subjects’ essays and writing
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quality. He found that “collocational knowledge is a source of fluency in written
communication among college freshmen”. In fact, Zhang set off a trend in
collocation studies in which the correlations between the EFL students’ knowledge
of collocations use of collocations and English writing fluency were examined.Hus (2007) investigated the use of English lexical collocations and their relation
to the online writing of Taiwanese college English major and non- English majors.
He found that there was a significant correlation between L2 learners’ frequency of
lexical collocations and their scores. It was also shown that verb- noun collocations
and adjective- noun collocations are easier to acquire than other sud- type.
Besides writing, some researchers opened up their field of the research with
speaking skill. Labov argued “competence in the spoken language appears to be a
necessary base for competence in writing” (1963: 88).
Ding and Qi (2007) examined the correlation between the competence of
collocation formulaic sequence and speaking and writing. They analyzed 70 second
year English majors speaking in the TEM 4 examination and 22 four year students
writing concentrating on the use of chunks in their production. Total and correct
uses of collocations in both forms of production are counted, and it is made clear
that learners’ collocations can better predict their language competence than
grammatical knowledge. They suggest that a better awareness of chunks contributes
greatly their language production, and that teachers should help to raise learners’
awareness of the collocational knowledge.
Sung (2003) was the leading scholar who investigated the relationship between
collocation and speaking fluency. She explored knowledge and use of English
lexical collocations in their relation to speaking proficiency. In her experiment, 96university students in the United States, 24 native and 72 non-native English
speakers, were invited to participate. Each subject had to complete two tests: one
collocation test and one speaking test. The collocation test was used to measure the
subjects’ knowledge of lexical collocations while the speaking test was used to
elicit the subjects’ use of lexical collocations and measure their speaking
proficiency. Her results showed that there was a significant correlation between the
knowledge of lexical collocations and the subjects’ speaking proficiency.
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Jeng-yih, Tim Hsu & Chu-yao Chiu conducted the study, “Lexical Collocations
and their Relation to Speaking Proficiency of College EFL Learners in Taiwan”,
exploring the knowledge and use of English lexical collocations and their relation to
the speaking proficiency (assessed by two speaking tests) of Taiwanese EFLuniversity learners. Data for the study were collected from 56 junior English majors
at a national university of science and technology in southern Taiwan. Each student
was asked to take three tests: (1) one lexical collocation test, measuring the
subjects’ knowledge of lexical collocations; (2) one English speaking test,
administered to collect the subjects’ use of lexical collocations and measure their
speaking proficiency; and (3) PhonePass spoken English test, a standardized oral
test, which was combined with the speaking test to measure the students’ speaking
proficiency. The study findings showed that there was a significant correlation
between Taiwanese EFL learners’ knowledge of lexical collocations and their
speaking proficiency.
Investigating a specific language skill, Lien (2003) addressed the effects of
collocation instruction especially on reading comprehension. The collocation test
and reading comprehension pre-test were administered in order to investigate the
relationship between knowledge of collocations and reading comprehension. The
major findings of the study included: (1) collocational knowledge was associated
with reading comprehension; (2) the subjects performed better after receiving
collocation instruction compared with the other types of instruction; and (3) the
subjects also reported positive attitudes toward the direct teaching of collocations.
All in all, despite the differences in measurement of collocational knowledge
and use, those studies come to the consensus that learners knowledge and use of collocations both correlate with the general language proficiency, either writing,
reading or speaking.
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants
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The subjects in this study were 50 third-year students at Faculty of English
Language Teacher Education. These participants were chosen for the following
reasons.
Firstly, the purpose of the study is to examine the relation between knowledge of
using collocations and speaking skill proficiency of third-year learners.
Furthermore, with at least 8-year-formal English training, the third year students
should have learned a certain number of collocations, and also would have had
many opportunities to practice speaking English.
Besides, no previous study has ever looked into these subjects in this setting. Thus,
the researchers chose only 50 third-year learners as the target subjects. An
investigation of these students’ performance would provide the researchers with
sufficient data to explore their collocation performance and speaking proficiency.
The participants were chosen by systematic sampling strategy. With the total
sample of 50 third year students, the researchers have ten classes selected and each
class distributed 5 students. However, 4 subjects provided uncompleted tests which
could not be data for the study. To sum up, we only have 46 complete tests to give
a brief data analysis.
3.2. Data collection instruments
In this study, the data were gathered by two tests, including one written and onespoken tests- they are a lexical collocation test and an English speaking test.
3.2.1. Collocation test
Collocation test consisted of 40 items with three types of tests: multiple choice,
matching and fill-in-blank. Forty items were extracted from the book “English
Collocation in Use” with six major types of lexical collocations as categorized by
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McCarthy & Felicity O’ Dell. Table 1 summarizes the distribution of the number
for lexical collocations in the test:
Table 1: Number of Items Used in the Test of Lexical Collocations
Patterns Number of questions
Noun + noun 10Adverb + adjective 10
Verb + adverb 5Verb + proposition 5
Verb + noun 5 Noun + adjective 5
Total 40
The first type is multiple choices mainly concentrating on Noun+ Noun collocation,
the second is matching which involves collocation of Adv + Adj, and the third is
box-gap filling on Verb + Prep and Verb+ Adv. The forth is gap-filling focusing on
collocations of Noun + Noun, Adj + Noun and Noun + Verb. The variety of
collocation types and exercises will motivate students’ interest and help them to do
the test with the most reliable result.
3.2.2. Speaking test
In the speaking test, students spoke together in pairs or sometimes in a group of
three. There will be two examiners: the Interlocutor, the examiner who asks the
questions and gives students their tasks and the Assessor who will listen and take
notes. The test takes approximately 15 minutes and is divided into four parts:
Part I About 3 minutes The interlocutor asked both students some
general question, e.g. about their family, home
town, job, free time, etc. The interlocutor
suggested similar general questions the students
can ask each other.Part II About 4 minutes The interlocutor gave each student a set of two or
more photographs or picture to discuss, commenton or compare. The other student(s) are then
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asked to make a brief comment or response.Part III About 4 minutes The interlocutor gave the students a problem-
solving or opinion activity which they negotiated
or discusses together.Part IV About 4 minutes The interlocutor asked questions which allowed
student to further discuss some of the issues and
themes raised in Part 3.
The important thing is students’ speaking skill could be judged according to the
following criteria:
Grammar and vocabulary: students’ ability to use grammatical structures and
vocabulary accurately and appropriately. Students are expected to have sufficient
grammar and vocabulary to express themselves without pausing too many times.
Discourse management : students; ability to express their ideas and opinion in a
coherent, connected manner. To achieve this, each student needs a range of
grammatical structures and phrases or linking words which show the relationship
between ideas or sentences.
Pronunciation: students’ ability to produce individual sounds correctly, to use stressand intonation in a way that aids communication, and to link words together so that
your spoken language sound natural. Students are expected to have a perfect native-
speaker accent.
Interaction communication: students’ ability to interact with the interlocutor and the
other students by asking questions, responding in a suitable way and taking turns in
the conversation.
Grammar and vocabulary, discourse management and pronunciation are three mostimportant criteria to evaluate the students’ speaking proficiency. However, the
relationship of collocation according to McCarthy (1995) is fundamental in the
study of vocabulary. J. R. Firth is often quoted having said "you know a word by
the company it keeps (Firth, 1957). Knowledge of appropriate collocations is part of
the native speakers' competence. Therefore, the significance of using collocation is
more emphasized in this kind of speaking test.
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3.3. Data procedure.
This study was composed of two stages. In the first stage, each of students took part
in the speaking test with the help of English teacher from Faculty of EnglishLanguage Teacher Education. We contacted to these teachers to receive the scores
of all students, but that time we had no idea of who would be able to take part in our
questionnaire. In the second stage, two week later, the collocation tests were
delivered randomly for 50 students in the list. Then we checked their answers and
counted their scores of collocation test. Based on the name, group and student
identification numbers, we could find their scores of speaking test. From two types
of points, we carried out an in-depth analysis of the results.
3.4. Data analysis
All the data were calculated to give the descriptive statistics of two variables for the
study: one variable is the score of collocation test to measure students’ knowledge
of using collocation and another is the score of speaking test to demonstrate their
degree of speaking development. Moreover, standard deviation formula correlation(r) was adapted to measure possible relation between knowledge of using
collocation and speaking ability.
CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Research question
1. To what extent is third- year students’ knowledge of using collocations related
to their speaking proficiency?
To answer the question, researchers calculated the standard deviation formula
correlation. The overview of this calculation is demonstrated as following example:
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Standard Deviation Formula Correlation:
Correlation problems:
Data correlation analysis
Find the coefficient of correlation of the following datax: 76 77 77 78 79 80 81
y: 78 75 78 82 82 79 81
Solution
Coefficient of correlation for the given data
x y xy x^2 y^2
76 78 5928 5776 6084
77 75 5775 5929 5625
77 78 6006 5929 6084
78 82 6396 6084 6724
79 82 6478 6241 6724
80 79 6320 6400 6241
81 81 6561 5041 5041
Sum 402 555 43464 41400 42523
Correlation r:
r= (43464/7) - (402/7)(55/7) / (√ (41400/7 - (402/7)2
)(√((42523/7) - (555/7)2
))r = 620.85 - (57.42*7.85) / √ (5914.28 - 3297.05) * √ (6074.71 - 6285)
r = 620.85 - 450.747 / √ (2617.23) * √ (210)
r = 170.103 / 51.158 * 14.491
r = 0.2294.
Result:
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The degree of correlation between two variables x and y is r=0.2294
The given two variables are positively correlated.
Consider two variables x and y:
• If r = 1, then x and y are perfectly positively correlated. The possible values
of x and y all lie on a straight line with a positive slope in the (x,y) plane.
• If r = 0, then x and y are not correlated. They do not have an apparent linear
relationship. However, this does not mean that x and y are statistically
independent.
• If r = -1, then x and y are perfectly negatively correlated. The possible values
of x and y all lie on a straight line with a negative slope in the (x,y) plane.
Back to our data for the study, table 2 presents the variables of third year students:
score of lexical collocation test and final speaking test.
Table 2 : The scores of collocation test and speaking test.
No. of students Scores of lexical
collocation test (x)
Scores of final speaking
test (y)1. 5 7.52. 7 7.53. 6.5 64. 7 6.55. 7 76. 5 7.57. 6 7.08. 8.5 8.59. 9 910. 6.5 7.511. 8.5 7.512. 9 713. 6.5 8.514. 6 6.515. 7.7 7
16. 5.5 7.517. 5.5 7.5
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18. 6.5 7.519. 8 920. 5 721. 6 722. 8 723. 7 8.524. 4 6.525. 5 526. 7.5 7.527. 6.5 7.528. 7.5 729. 7 730. 5.5 7.531. 7 7.5
32. 4.5 833. 7.5 934. 7.5 835. 7 7.536. 6.5 6.537. 4.5 538. 8 8.539. 6 840. 7 5.541. 7 8.0
42. 7 743. 6 944. 6 745. 5 7.546. 7 7.5
n = 46
∑ x = 303.2 (x : collocation test score)
∑ y = 322 (y : final speaking test score)
∑ xy = 2321.65
∑ x2 = 2470
∑ y2=2488
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r= 0.5998
This result reveals that students’ knowledge of using collocation and speaking
proficiency is positively correlated. This result is closely similar to some other
studies such as Sung (2003), Ding and Qi (2007), Jeng-yih, Tim Hsu & Chu-yaoChiu. However, the findings of this study are somewhat different from the Sung’s
study in 2003. In her results, there was a moderately significant correlation between
the knowledge of lexical collocations and frequency of lexical collocations in the
speaking performance of the non- native speakers in the United States. One possible
explanation is due to the different focuses on the categories of lexical collocations.
One possible explanation might be due to the different focuses on the categories of
lexical collocations. Sung (2003) included more subtypes of lexical collocations
(based on Benson et al., 1997) in her recording of students’ spoken data. In the
current study, the researchers looked at the subjects’ subtypes of lexical collocations
which are fewer than Sung’s. Another possible explanation might be that the
subjects in Sung’s study were residents in the United States; they may be more
proficient in English.
It is beyond the scope of the current study to draw a concrete conclusion on therelationship between use of collocations and speaking proficiency. Therefore,
further larger scale research could investigate the correlation between these two
variables.
Basing on the relationship between two variables, the table 3 was drawn up to
demonstrate the result more adequately.
Table 3 : The relation between the scores of collocation test and speaking test.
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It’s illustrated from the graph that the score of collocation test and speaking test
experienced the same trend with the significant increase from 5 points, reached the
top of average 7.5 points and then dramatically decreased to 9 points. The numbers
of good marks from 8 points to 10 points is very limited, which might reveal a
limited capability of using collocation and speaking English among third year students. However, the emphasis is the positive relation between collocation and
speaking.
In this positive relationship, high values on one variable are associated with high
values on the other and low values on one are associated with low values on the
other. So, it’s clear from the graph that that students’ knowledge of using
collocation and speaking proficiency is positively correlated.
To sum up, in this chapter, the researchers attempted to explain fully what we cananalyze from collected data. Comprehensive overview on standard deviation
formula correlation was presented at the beginning of this chapter aiming at making
clear understanding about the way we analyses and synthesize data. An exact
calculation and a graph were shown to indicate the desired result. It’s illustrated
from the result that there is a significant relationship between third-year students’
knowledge of using collocation and their speaking skill proficiency. So, we come to
conclusion in the chapter V.
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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1 The contribution of the research.
The current study has attempted to explore the relation between English
collocations and second language acquisition. More specifically, it examines
whether a correlation exists between third-year students’ knowledge of using
collocation and their speaking skill proficiency.
The main contribution of the study is the emphasis on the significance of using
collocation to develop speaking skill. Understanding this kind of relationship willhighly motivate teachers to pay more attention to impart knowledge of collocation
to students in class lessons. Moreover, once students comprehend the meaning and
the role of collocation in enhancing their speaking skill, they are led to practice
using collocation, master it sufficiently and apply it more regularly. So, the study
generates strong motivation in both teachers and students, not only third-year but
other levels.
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In the term of pedagogical implication, the study has demonstrated that
knowledge of collocations is significantly associated with Vietnamese university
EFL learners’ spoken English. Future bigger scale studies might still need to be
carried out in order to examine whether or not direct instruction on lexicalcollocations will benefit EFL learners’ speaking proficiency. Nevertheless, a
cautious way to deal with lexical collocations can be the introduction of a lexis-
focused syllabus (Willis, 1990; Lewis, 1993, 1997) as a supplementary component
to any current existing syllabus. In other words, teachers can at least try to provide
EFL learners sources of lexis, such as corpus, concordance, and dictionaries of
collocations, ensuring these learners to have direct exposure to chunks of English
language and learn to extract and use patterns of lexical collocations effortlessly.
5.2 . Limitation and recommendations of the research
The subjects were limited to the students at Faculty of English Language
Teacher Education. Therefore, while the study revealed interesting findings about
the relationship between learners’ use of lexical collocations and their speaking
fluency, the findings may not be easily generalized beyond the subjects of the study.As a result, other studies with the attendance of larger participants should be
recommended.
The second limitation pertains to the number of the selected collocations used in
the study. Due to the time constraints, this study made use of only 40 items of
collocation in one collocation test to measure the reception of the participants’
knowledge of collocations.However, the use of more collocations will be better to
give a comprehensive measurement of learners’ collocational competence and more
tests, which focus on more collocations, will offer a clearer picture of the
participants’ reception of collocations.
Another limitation of this study is related to the scope of collocations investigated.
This study only examined lexical collocations and did not include grammatical
collocations. As a result, the performance of the subjects on the collocation test only
reveals their knowledge of lexical collocations, but does not represent their overall
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collocation knowledge. Undertaking more studies is necessary to achieve more
vivid and logical result.
References
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Implications for assessing writing sophistication. Paper presented at a meeting
of the English Association of Pennsylvania State System Universities (ERIC
Document Reproduction Service No. 352 808).
Aghbar, A. A. & Tang, H. (1991). Partial credit scoring of cloze type items. Paper
presented at 1991 Language Testing Research Colloquium, Education Testing
Service, Princeton, NJ, 1-24.
Brown, D. (1974). Advanced vocabulary teaching: The problem of
collocation. RELC Journal, 5(2), 1-11.
Benson, M., Benson, E., & Ilson, R. (1997). The BBI dictionary of English word
combinations. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
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Firth, J. R. (1957) Papers in Linguistics. London. Oxford University Press.
Halliday, M., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman
Hill, J. (1999). "Collocational competence". English Teaching Professional , 11, 3-8.
Hill, J., and M. Lewis, eds. 1997. Dictionary of selected collocations. Hove, UK:
Language Teaching Publications.
Hill, J. (1990). Revising priorities: from grammatical failure to collocation success.
In M. Lewis (Ed.), Teaching collocation (pp. 28-46). Hove, London:
Language Teaching Publications.
Huang, L. S. (2001). Knowledge of English collocations: An analysis of Taiwanese
EFL learners. Texas papers in foreign language education: Selected
proceedings from the Texas foreign language education conference 2001, 6(1),
113-129. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 465 288).
Hsu, J. Y. (2002). Development of collocational proficiency in a workshop on
English for general business purposes for Taiwanese college students.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University of Pennsylvania,
Pennsylvania
Hsu, L. C. (2005). The effect of lexical collocation instruction on Taiwanese college
EFL learners’ listening comprehension. Unpublished master thesis, National
Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, Taiwan.
Kjellmer, G. (1991). A mint of phrases. In K. Aijmer & B. Altenberg (Eds.), English
corpus linguistics: Studies in honour of Jan Svartvik (pp. 111-127). Harlow,
Essex: Longman.
Lewis, M. (1993). The lexical approach: The state of ELT and a way forward .
London: Language Teaching Publications.
Lewis, M. (1997). Implementing the lexical approach: Putting theory into practice.
London: Language Teaching Publications.
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Lewis, M. (2000). Teaching collocation: Further developments in the lexical
approach. London: Language Teaching Publications.
Lien, H. Y. (2003). The effect of collocation instruction on the reading
comprehension of Taiwanese college students. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania.
McCarthy, Michael and Felicity O’Dell. 2005. English Collocation in Use.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nation, Paul. 1990. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. New York: Newbury
House.
McCarthy, M. (1995) Vocabulary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nation, I. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Sung, J. (2003). English lexical collocations and their relation to spoken fluency of
adult non-native speakers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana
University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania.
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University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, USA.
Appendices
Collocation Test
Hello everyone! ^.^! We are Dao Thi Tham and Phan Thi Thanh Loan, group
08.1.E4. We are doing a research on the significance of using collocation in
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developing speaking skill. We hope to receive your co-operation by answering
these questions as much carefully as possible. This will help us to gain the most
reliable and best results. Thank you very much..!**
Your full name:……………………………………………………………….Your group:……………………………………………………………………
Your student identification number:……………………………………………
EXERCISE 1: Circle one suitable word in the column B.
A B
1. Older people feel a slight pang
of ………………as they think
back on their school days.
a. nostalgia b. hungriness c. longing
2. When Paul saw how harshly the
poor were treated by the wealthy
landowners he felt a surge of
………………
a. temper b. anger c. hostility
3. I got some travel………….. with
detail of camping trips. a. books b. brochures c. catalogue
4. The …………….café and shops
of Lunar Square are pleasant but
very expensive.
a. Pavement b. street c. road
5. The old town is a ………… area. a. Talking b. conservation c. speaking
6. I always have to look for
……………. accommodation. a. Fun b. budget c. plan7. I can’t believe food ………….are
good for our long-term health a. Addictives b. habits c. hobbies
8. This man has the sense
of………… He made us laugh all
the time.
a. mood c. wit c. humor
9. Every parent feels a sense
of……………. when their child
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does well or wins something a. congratulation b. pride c. praise
10.I’ve got to make
some…………..calls before my
dinner.
a. telephone b. mobile c. phone
EXERCISE 2: Write the suitable adjective in column B with suitable adverb in column A.
A B
1. Deeply ………………… angry
2. Ridiculously ………………. disappointing
3. Highly ………………………. controversial
4. Utterly ………………………… nice
5. Bitterly ………………………… cheap
6. Strongly ………………………… happy
7. Absolutely ………….…………… tired
8. Extremely ………………………… opposed
9. Perfectly ………………………. stupid
10.Furiously …………………………. ashamed
EXERCISE 3: Choose the suitable words in the box to fill in the blanks.
Soundly for from quickly out
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Down Strongly of completely up
1. Diana was so tired that she slept……. …through the night.
2. The evidence suggests…………. quite that the fire was caused by an explosion.
3. You shouldn't drive so fast! She drove…………. back to the office.
4. I………………. forgot to give your brother the message.
5. Mr. Trotter paid ………..the cost of the repairs.
6. I withdrew …………my university course after a year.
7. Hamid has always dreamt…………………….getting famous.
8. The mist came ………………….at about midday.
9. Jack struck ………….a friendship with the boy she sat next to at primary
school.
10.You can take …………….six library books at one time.
EXERCISE 4: Fill in the blanks with one correct word.
1. At a funeral people pay their last……………… to the person who has died.
2. I have a ………………. that something is wrong.
3. Some kids take an …………………. in us.
4. Chapter three touches on …………………..such as pollution.
5. We also need to take into ……………………the economic history.
6. ……………….. flight is more expensive than international one.
7. If their family is a strong, loving one. It can be called …………… home.
8. Whether it is a ……….…. meal or a …………..meal you are looking for, you
should carefully prepare for it.
9. Helen has to bring …………………. four young children.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
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*.*
If you would like to know your result, please give us your email address!
………………………………………………………………………………..