.. __ ._-----~ .

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an
George Woolard uses tnhe ten yearn since the - ~ Scientists are making researciB inio lhe

key words to-unlock

partnershlps,
word
I publication 0i the ~exical
Approach Ly Michael Lewis,
collocation. oue of the central
ideas of the book.r.s beginning to
establish itself in E!lglish Language
causes 01AIDS
2 The result was an extreme
disappointment.
.

3 We'll experience many costs, and few

Teaching. This can be seen from the benefits wi/l come.
/
growing trend in m!,v coursebooks of In each case,. the leamer understands
providing vocabulajy exercises on the high1ighted word, but fails to
collocation, and serting tasks which collocate correctly. Each of these
encourage the kind of noticing that is .rniscollocations has something .
essential to learning collocation. instructive to tell us about the nature of
As teachers, we need to raise collocation itself.
awareness of colloc ation and to provide In l"make should be replaced by do.
activities and mate] ials which help This ex,ample high1ights the fixed nature
develop leamer corupetence, My own of collocation. There is no reason why it
approach is guided by the following should be do rather than make, it just is!
principls: -, I
This is certainly true of verb-noun
I
o Learning new vocabulary is not just collocations where the verbs do, get,
leaming new wous, it is often have, make, put and take. carry Iittle
, learning familiarwords in new meaning. This de-lexicalised use of the
combinations. ! verb accounts for an extremely large
I number of collocations in English.
o Practice must be ':Iirected towards
Leaming collocation, then, is knowing
helping the learni r collocate words
which words can go together.
and grammatical'se from word to
In 2, extreme should be replaced by
sentence,
big, huge or bitter. This example
o The noun provides the most efficient demonstrates that collocation is often
focus for leamin], collocation. learning about constraints on language
use. We can say The result was extremely
11 Familiar words ln disappointing, but the simple grammar
transformation to The result was an
new comlnnatlons extreme disappointment is blocked by
A leamer 'can kn )Vl the meaning of a the speech community. Learning
word, use it in a ~r;lmmatically well- collocation is also about knowing which
formed sentence an 1 communicate words can't g together, .
effectively, yet stillIail to produce Sentence 3 shows that collocation is
acceptable English., For example, subject-defining. The competent
1
, ,
I

46 Issue 40 September 2005 '. ENGLlSH TEACHING professional o \~ i"1%'.<:lil[l:)li"(ll)V~5s@=C.<e:(C)00Il

;,

business English user not only knows
key business terms like costs and benefits,
but also the particular verbs that they
collocate with. In 3, incur should
replace experience and accrue should
replace come. It is the learners' ability to
use appropriate collocations rather than
particular grammatical structures whch
determines their proficiency within a
particular subject area.
As.teachers, we encourage learners
to keep vocabulary lists, but the type of
error highlighted above demonstrates
the need to raise awareness of the fact
that learning new vocabulary is not just
learning new words, it is often learning
familiar words in new combtnaiions. This
means that learners need to return to
the words on their lists at regular
intervals in order to extend their
knowledge of their collocations, As with
grammar, learning vocabulary is not
linear, but cyc1ical in nature.
~ Grammaticalising trom
word to sentence
Lewis states that 'language conslsts of
grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised
grammar', The contrast he draws
actually reflects two different ways of
looking at language, ' present perfect tense is used to deseribe
Lexicalised grammar refers to the
traditional 'slot and filler' approach in
which prominent structures such as the
tenses are highlighted. For example, in a
typical lesson on the present perfect
tense, the learner is presented with I've
been to , but I haven't been to . I haven't had much success in finding
yet and is encouraged to complete tbis
frame with suitable vocabulary items, eg
I've been to Greece, but I haven't been to
idal)' yet.
Grammaticalised lexis, on the other
hand, refers to a 'word grammar'
approach in wbich the learner moves
out from a word to discover its
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collocations and dominant grammatical
patterns. For example, from the
utterance My mothr holds very strong
views on the sujeciof marriage, the
learner notices thai' you can hold a view,
that a view can be ~{trong and that view
is followed by the preposition on. This
leaves the learner with a chunk of .
language: to hold v.;-rystrong views o~
(something). This kind of word
grammar approachlhelps the learner to
avoid the type of niscollocation we
examined earlier.
It should be noted that a word
grammar approach, as the term itself
suggests, tends to dissolve the strict
dichotomy that we draw between
grammar and vocabulary, as any focus
on the c.ombinatiOl! of words will
usually involve grammar, For example,
if learners apply a word grammar
approach to succes,; in the utterance I've
been looking for a job for some time now,
but.I haven't had m.;!ch success in finding
one, not only do they note that success
collocates with have and is followed by
the preposition in, {lUttheir attention is
also drawn to a ver;! common and
useful use of perfect tenses,
This particular combination of the
present perfect continuous tense +
an activity with a particular aim,
followed by an evauation of how far
that ai:m has been 2fhieved. From tbis
observation, the ledmer can easily
generate further ex.!.mples:I've been
looking for a fiat foto some time now, but
one; I've been tryin:i to contact Boston
for over an hour nOl~,but I havent had
much success in get iing through. In
learning vocabulary, then, the leamer is
also learning grammar.
Rather than seeing the slot and filler
approach and the word grammar
approaeh as in some kind of .
opposition, as the quote from Lewis
seems to suggest, I believe that, in
relation to languag . learning, they are
in fact complementary, and further I
would argue that ttje learner needs to
adopt both approahes in order to ' feel, in the wrong place, 'as make has
I" achieve a full competence, The slot and
fller approach enables the leamer to
A
I produce huge amounts of
grammatically well-formed language,
whi\e the word grammar approach
I
shows the learner h..>wmuch of that
language is actually acceptable,
Where Lewis is bght, however, is in
his insistence that ')'ractice must be
, (
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, IJlJ !J)Jr! ~O?iJiJ O(fi)
I (!!J~U(f7Jrg; ~iJUrg)W~@O~ ~
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I ff~ d~ mm fhJU~JMU 1c
I ..' !{jjj~ @ifY ~fhJ@ ~ry;f'V {lfiJ
I ~fhJ~@ @&1~J@f!iJ~
i f!@J~rrv@rr~rrv~[i) ~[Pij
i
! cQJ@CJ:(u~d~@(dJ f!i(fJltlJl'
1
directed towards helping the leamer
col/ocate words and grammaticalise from
word to sentence', It is this which is
lacking in current materiais and
methodology and so we need to enrich
our teacbing by adding a word
grammar dirnension to it.
m Focus on nouns
If a word has ten or more significant
collocations, the size of the learning
task begins to look enormous. However,
adopting a nun focus helps to make
the task mo-re manageable.
The justification for such an
approach is twofold. Firstly, language is
used to communicate meaning, and
meaning generally centres on ~henoun.
Secondly, a word grammar focus on the
noun will draw in significant verbs and
adjectives, leading to an efficient and
contextualised learning of vocabulary
For example, in the earlier sentence My
mother holds very strong views on the
subject of marriage, a word grammar
approach to view drew in the words hold
.and strong as significant collocations,
We could, of eourse, create
collocation exercises with the adjectve
strong - strong coffee, strong opinion,
strong smell; or with the verb hold -
hold a conversation, hold an opinion, hold
a grudge. This is similar to the 'make or
do' exercises which are common in most
current textbooks. My dssatisfaction
with these exercises is that the foeus is, 1
little or no meaning when it collocates
with decision, appointment, noise, etc.
If our aim in using language is to
communicate meaning, it is more
helpful to foeus on the noun in these
collocations rather than the
delexicatised verb - for instance to help
the learner say various things about
appointments: make an appointment,
TEACHING professional tssue 40 September 2005' 47

Noticing. .
and leafning
collocation
o"> cancel an appointment, keep an
appointment, miss an appointment,etc.
As a general strategy, the learner
should be encouraged to focus on nouns
in texts and notice the language around
them. Teachers can exploit the texts in
their current coursebooks by directing
their students' attention to key nouns in
thes texts and by creating
supplementary word grammar tasks
which help: the learners to notice and
record their significant collocations.
Teaching collocation
Even if teachers follow the above
suggestions, the problem of coverage
remains, as key nouns in coursebook
texts are not revisited in the same
systematic way that key grammar items
tend to be. By this I mean that the
various collocations of words like
opinion and success are not threaded
through the units in the coursebook to
provide a fuller picture of the uses of
these words. Consequently, the learners'
exposure to the significant collocations
of a particular key word is unstructured
and haphazard. How then can we
improve on the situation? What
materiaIs can we provide?
Designing a coursebook to satisfy
the above demands would be an
enormous task and probably
unmanageable. If each key word has ten
or more significant collocations then the
number of items to be threaded through
the coursebook becomes unworkable.
However, I do think that supplementary
materiaIs which provide concentrated
and structured practice in collocation
can fill this gap and work alongside the
coursebook.
A further argument for this
approach lies in the fact that
collccation, by its nature, lends itse1f to
independentlanguagelearning.ltisthe
kind of task the learner can perform
outside the classroom, and the kind of
activity that wilI help make maximum
use of the coursebook in the classroom.
One possible format for
supplementary materiaIs is to provide
exercises which highlight significant
verb and adjective collocations and
48 . Issue 40 September 2005 ENGLlSH TEACHIN<!l
~.
larger chunks of language such as the 41It's a very mild shampoo and doesn't
much-neglected but common noun +
preposition + noun structure, The
dry your hair out. This makes it ideal
for everydaylwidespread use.
sampIe exercises whid follow focus on
use as a noun and are aimed at the The third exercise type helps the learner
higher-intermediate/edvanced student. to notice larger chunks of language. In
this particular exercise, the focus is on the
Practising coocation noun + preposition + noun structure.
rQ\ ln order to appreciate the richness Exercise type 3'
W of language that surrounds the key Complete the sentences below wifu GlJ
word, try to think ofjverb and adjective suitable preposition:
collocations with thenoun use, and any
. ~ The steep increase the
other significant chunks of language
use of mobile phones in recent years
containing use before you try the
has led to a dramatic reduction in the
exercises below. Not inany higher-
use of phone boxes.
intermediate/advanced students will
produce this sort of l}lllguage unassisted. 2 The stone steps in the old castle had
been worn away by years .
The first exercise type uses the use.
traditional gap-fill fOI mat to focus on 3 Our organisation has to follow very
verb collocations. strict guidelines the use of
personal details on computers.
Exercise type 1
Complete the sentences below with 41It's very user-friendly. There is a large
handle at the front of the device for
the correct form of lhe following verbs:
ban have l;e make ease use.
~ I'm afraid she can't walk. She
.................... the use of her legs in a
road aeeident.
Supplementary exercises of this sort
2 In order to reduee pollution we need to provide rich and structured practice in
.................. :. more se of the energy collocation and word grammar.
provided by the SL,<1 and the wind. Furthermore, once the learner has
completed these exercises, they remain a
3 Let's go for a driv~i:I the
reference source which can be revisited
use of my father's car for the weekend.
I and reactivated to develop fluency. @
~ The United Natlons should try to
.................... the use of ehemieal .".~ GeorgeWooi2lrois2I1l
weapons and get ali eountries to agree " experienced lEo..rtelllc~er
and trainer who hllls
not to produce them. 11. .. worked in Greece,
,. Malaysia and tIlle UI}(.
" . ,. He now teaches lIlt
The second exercise type offers the t~ ~ ....., Stevensoll C09Uege,
learner two choices trl complete the \ ;' Edinburgil. He as~e
"" author of Key Words for
collocation. In this case, two semantically- \ ,/ Fluency, a 1l8Wsenes o'i
related terms are given, but only one is collocatDon prllctDce books
) __/' published by Thomsolrn
appropriate. This for mat is particularly I/\""'"--... ELT. His previollls
useful in helping the Iearner avoid v !. publications incOlllclle
'-- ' -.Ll.--I Lessons with 8.augMe:r
miscollocations. In the following exercise and Grammar with
the focus is on adjective collocations. -Laughter, s9so puiDOasilloo
by Thomson lEo..y.
Exercise type ,2 gwoolard@stevenson.ac.uk
Choose the correc\ collocation:
~ This entranee is iq eonstaqt/full use.
Please do not park in front of it.
2 Your son i very e!ever, but he doesn't
Do you have something to say about
make complete/fu!! use of his abilities
an article in the current issue of ETp?
in the classroom. He could achieve
This is your magazine and we would
much better results.
really like to hear from you.
3 The sign next to ti le fire alarm said Write to us or email:
I
, 'Penalty for wronMimproper use- talkback@etprofessi@:roaH.(C(U)1I!I'il
~200'. '
professional ~~7W.$il~Q"(ll;V$=Dca>croalD.a:;ca>1l!I'J