Learners’ Collocation Use in Writing: Do Proficiency Levels Matter?
Knowledge of collocation is important in enabling learners to use a language fluently. When learners can demonstrate a good command of collocation use as they write, this results in greater fluency and proficiency. The present study is a case study that investigated the collocational knowledge of ES...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics |
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| Online Access: | https://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/IJAL/article/view/31632 |
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| author | Nor Hazwani Munirah Lateh Sarimah Shamsudin Abdul Halim Abdul Raof Najihah Mahmud Amaal Fadhlini Mohamed Nazatul Syima Mohd Nasir Nurul Fatihah Hanapi |
| author_facet | Nor Hazwani Munirah Lateh Sarimah Shamsudin Abdul Halim Abdul Raof Najihah Mahmud Amaal Fadhlini Mohamed Nazatul Syima Mohd Nasir Nurul Fatihah Hanapi |
| author_sort | Nor Hazwani Munirah Lateh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Knowledge of collocation is important in enabling learners to use a language fluently. When learners can demonstrate a good command of collocation use as they write, this results in greater fluency and proficiency. The present study is a case study that investigated the collocational knowledge of ESL learners across different proficiency levels. Specifically, the extent to which the learners produce lexical collocation in writing is examined in the study. To this end, a writing task (an essay) was administered to elicit the written output of the learners. The procedure involved a total of n=120 undergraduate ESL learners (limited, modest, and proficient learners) studying at a public university in Malaysia. The essays collected in the study were analysed and compared in terms of the lexical collocation frequencies and categories. The results first revealed that the higher proficient students wrote slightly higher lexical collocations than their counterparts. The second finding, however, indicated that there is no significant difference in the proportion of lexical collocation (.05) written by the students, regardless of their proficiency levels. Thirdly, the results demonstrated that students of higher proficiency levels were able to write their essays with slightly more lexical collocation categories in comparison to lower proficiency level learners. Nonetheless, the students did not tap into all six lexical collocation categories in their writing. The findings of the study provide insights into the lexical collocation knowledge of Malaysian ESL undergraduates across various proficiency levels. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-911635b9e69d45128fe5cd53a55274e8 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2301-9468 2502-6747 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics |
| spelling | doaj-art-911635b9e69d45128fe5cd53a55274e82025-08-20T03:01:29ZengUniversitas Pendidikan IndonesiaIndonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics2301-94682502-67472021-09-0111241842610.17509/ijal.v11i2.3163216413Learners’ Collocation Use in Writing: Do Proficiency Levels Matter?Nor Hazwani Munirah Lateh0Sarimah Shamsudin1Abdul Halim Abdul Raof2Najihah Mahmud3Amaal Fadhlini Mohamed4Nazatul Syima Mohd Nasir5Nurul Fatihah Hanapi6Faculty of Language Studies and Human Development, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16300 Bachok Kelantan MalaysiaLanguage Academy, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaLanguage Academy, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 81300 Johor Bahru, Johor, MalaysiaFaculty of Language Studies and Human Development, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16300 Bachok Kelantan MalaysiaFaculty of Language Studies and Human Development, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16300 Bachok Kelantan MalaysiaFaculty of Language Studies and Human Development, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16300 Bachok Kelantan MalaysiaFaculty of Language Studies and Human Development, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16300 Bachok Kelantan MalaysiaKnowledge of collocation is important in enabling learners to use a language fluently. When learners can demonstrate a good command of collocation use as they write, this results in greater fluency and proficiency. The present study is a case study that investigated the collocational knowledge of ESL learners across different proficiency levels. Specifically, the extent to which the learners produce lexical collocation in writing is examined in the study. To this end, a writing task (an essay) was administered to elicit the written output of the learners. The procedure involved a total of n=120 undergraduate ESL learners (limited, modest, and proficient learners) studying at a public university in Malaysia. The essays collected in the study were analysed and compared in terms of the lexical collocation frequencies and categories. The results first revealed that the higher proficient students wrote slightly higher lexical collocations than their counterparts. The second finding, however, indicated that there is no significant difference in the proportion of lexical collocation (.05) written by the students, regardless of their proficiency levels. Thirdly, the results demonstrated that students of higher proficiency levels were able to write their essays with slightly more lexical collocation categories in comparison to lower proficiency level learners. Nonetheless, the students did not tap into all six lexical collocation categories in their writing. The findings of the study provide insights into the lexical collocation knowledge of Malaysian ESL undergraduates across various proficiency levels.https://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/IJAL/article/view/31632collocationcollocation knowledgeenglish as a second language learnerwriting |
| spellingShingle | Nor Hazwani Munirah Lateh Sarimah Shamsudin Abdul Halim Abdul Raof Najihah Mahmud Amaal Fadhlini Mohamed Nazatul Syima Mohd Nasir Nurul Fatihah Hanapi Learners’ Collocation Use in Writing: Do Proficiency Levels Matter? Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics collocation collocation knowledge english as a second language learner writing |
| title | Learners’ Collocation Use in Writing: Do Proficiency Levels Matter? |
| title_full | Learners’ Collocation Use in Writing: Do Proficiency Levels Matter? |
| title_fullStr | Learners’ Collocation Use in Writing: Do Proficiency Levels Matter? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Learners’ Collocation Use in Writing: Do Proficiency Levels Matter? |
| title_short | Learners’ Collocation Use in Writing: Do Proficiency Levels Matter? |
| title_sort | learners collocation use in writing do proficiency levels matter |
| topic | collocation collocation knowledge english as a second language learner writing |
| url | https://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/IJAL/article/view/31632 |
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