Learning Collocations: Exploring EFL Learners’ Beliefs and Strategies
<p>Collocations are regarded as a major aspect of learning a foreign language. However, few studies have explored collocations from the learners’ perspective. These issues include the importance of learning collocations and the different strategies and difficulties associated with le...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Islamic Azad University, Isfahan Branch
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Research in English Language Pedagogy |
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| Online Access: | https://sanad.iau.ir/journal/relp/Article/1126097 |
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| author | Farhang Daneshfard Mahboobeh Saadat |
| author_facet | Farhang Daneshfard Mahboobeh Saadat |
| author_sort | Farhang Daneshfard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Collocations are regarded as a major aspect of learning a foreign language. However, few studies have explored collocations from the learners’ perspective. These issues include the importance of learning collocations and the different strategies and difficulties associated with learning them. Since beliefs are foundational for developing language skills, this study endeavored to fill this gap. Using a mixed-methods design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 Iranian EFL learners majoring in English and, therefore, having above-intermediate knowledge of English. Next, the participants’ recorded responses were probed, tentative themes were drawn, and similar ones were combined to obtain final themes, which were then counted. The findings indicated that learners regarded collocations to be important for various reasons, including the fact that they help with their precision and accuracy (<em>n=</em>14), as well as their naturalness (<em>n=</em>7). Implicit exposure to English, for instance, by watching films (<em>n=</em>19) or reading (<em>n=</em>14), was pinpointed most frequently as an effective means for learning collocations. Furthermore, L1 influence and the vast number of collocations were two of the important difficulties in learning them. In addition, most learners considered learning collocations easier (<em>n=</em>26) and more important (<em>n=</em>20) than learning individual words. Finally, the findings were interpreted through beliefs about external, personal, language-related, and language-learning factors and cognitive, metacognitive, social, compensation, and affective strategies. Implications for language teaching included the responsibility of teachers to reinforce the usefulness of collocations and to set useful tasks. It was also recommended that researchers examine collocation-learning problems in other contexts and compare the effectiveness of the suggested strategies. </p> |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ed9096191d1340c780dc8a6c9a480133 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2588-3259 2538-4244 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Islamic Azad University, Isfahan Branch |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Research in English Language Pedagogy |
| spelling | doaj-art-ed9096191d1340c780dc8a6c9a4801332025-08-20T03:08:00ZengIslamic Azad University, Isfahan BranchResearch in English Language Pedagogy2588-32592538-42442025-03-01131129Learning Collocations: Exploring EFL Learners’ Beliefs and StrategiesFarhang DaneshfardMahboobeh Saadat<p>Collocations are regarded as a major aspect of learning a foreign language. However, few studies have explored collocations from the learners’ perspective. These issues include the importance of learning collocations and the different strategies and difficulties associated with learning them. Since beliefs are foundational for developing language skills, this study endeavored to fill this gap. Using a mixed-methods design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 Iranian EFL learners majoring in English and, therefore, having above-intermediate knowledge of English. Next, the participants’ recorded responses were probed, tentative themes were drawn, and similar ones were combined to obtain final themes, which were then counted. The findings indicated that learners regarded collocations to be important for various reasons, including the fact that they help with their precision and accuracy (<em>n=</em>14), as well as their naturalness (<em>n=</em>7). Implicit exposure to English, for instance, by watching films (<em>n=</em>19) or reading (<em>n=</em>14), was pinpointed most frequently as an effective means for learning collocations. Furthermore, L1 influence and the vast number of collocations were two of the important difficulties in learning them. In addition, most learners considered learning collocations easier (<em>n=</em>26) and more important (<em>n=</em>20) than learning individual words. Finally, the findings were interpreted through beliefs about external, personal, language-related, and language-learning factors and cognitive, metacognitive, social, compensation, and affective strategies. Implications for language teaching included the responsibility of teachers to reinforce the usefulness of collocations and to set useful tasks. It was also recommended that researchers examine collocation-learning problems in other contexts and compare the effectiveness of the suggested strategies. </p>https://sanad.iau.ir/journal/relp/Article/1126097collocations learners’ beliefs learning problems learning strategies thematic analysis |
| spellingShingle | Farhang Daneshfard Mahboobeh Saadat Learning Collocations: Exploring EFL Learners’ Beliefs and Strategies Research in English Language Pedagogy collocations learners’ beliefs learning problems learning strategies thematic analysis |
| title | Learning Collocations: Exploring EFL Learners’ Beliefs and Strategies |
| title_full | Learning Collocations: Exploring EFL Learners’ Beliefs and Strategies |
| title_fullStr | Learning Collocations: Exploring EFL Learners’ Beliefs and Strategies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Learning Collocations: Exploring EFL Learners’ Beliefs and Strategies |
| title_short | Learning Collocations: Exploring EFL Learners’ Beliefs and Strategies |
| title_sort | learning collocations exploring efl learners beliefs and strategies |
| topic | collocations learners’ beliefs learning problems learning strategies thematic analysis |
| url | https://sanad.iau.ir/journal/relp/Article/1126097 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT farhangdaneshfard learningcollocationsexploringefllearnersbeliefsandstrategies AT mahboobehsaadat learningcollocationsexploringefllearnersbeliefsandstrategies |