The Importance of Collocation in Vocabulary Teaching and Learning.docx
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The Importance of Collocation in Vocabulary Teaching and Learning.docx
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TheImportanceofCollocationinVocabularyTeachingandLearning
ZahraSadeghi
ZahraSadeghiwasborninIsfahan,Iran,in1980.ShegraduatedfromYazdUniversityinEnglishLiteraturein2004.AftergraduationshestartedteachingEnglishinaconversationInstituteinShahreza.After3yearsshepassedtheIslamicAzaduniversityMAentranceexamofShareza.AtthemomentsheisstudyingEnglishtranslationinAzaduniversityofShahreza.
TranslationJournal
TheImportanceofCollocationinVocabularyTeachingandLearning
byZahraSadeghi
Introduction
Inthefieldofappliedlinguistics,agreatdealofresearcheffortshasbeendedicatedtothegrammatical,phonologicalandorthographicaspectsoflanguage,whilethelexicalaspecthasnotarousedthesamedegreeofinterest.TheeffectofthisisthedearthofknowledgeabouthowteacherscanhandleL2lexicalproblems.Teachershavethereforemadelittleeffortstohelpstudentsintheirlexicalproblems.Wherethelexicalaspectistaughtatall,teachersconcentratemoreontheparadigmaticrelationsoflexicalitems(relationsofsetsoflexicalitemsthatbelongtothesameclassandcanbesubstitutedforoneanotherinspecificgrammaticalandlexicalcontexts).Verylittleattentionispaidtothesyntagmaticaspectoflexis(abilityofitemstoco-occur,otherwiseknownascollocation).
Inthissense,secondlanguagelearnersoftenrelyontheirnativelanguageintryingtocommunicateortranslate.Theyassumethattherealwaysexistsaone-to-onecorrespondencebetweenL1andL2lexicalitems.Thisstrategymaybeofsomehelptothelearneratthebeginninglevelsoflanguagelearning,butitisalsoamajorcauseoferrorsbecauseevenequivalentlexicalitemsdonotalwaysconveythesamesenseintwolanguagesforvariousreasons,includingculturaldifferenceswhicharereflectedinthevocabularyofeverylanguage.Thisfalseassumptioncausesthelearnerstomakecollocationalerrors.
1.DefinitionofCollocation
Themaincriterionfordefininganidiomisthatitsmeaningcannotbeinferredfromthemeaningofitspart.
Thedefinitionofacollocationisnotamatterofseriouscontroversy.TheBritishLinguistFirthisoftenquotedasoneofthefirstwhodealtwithcollocations.AccordingtoPalmer(1976:
94),hearguedthat"Youshallknowawordbythecompanyitkeeps,"andhegavetheexampleofthecompanyoftheEnglishword"ass,"whichoccurredinalimitedsetofcontextsandinthecompanyofalimitedsetofadjectivessilly,obstinate,stupid,andawful.Inanarticleonmodesofmeaningpublishedbackin1951,Firthintroducedhisoften-quoteddefinitionofcollocationas"thecompanywordskeep."Hemaintainsthat"meaningbycollocationisanabstractionatthesyntagmaticlevelandisnotdirectlyconcernedwiththeconceptualorideaapproachtothemeaningofwords."Hegivestheexampleofthewordnightwhereoneofitsmeaningsinvolvesitscollocabilitywithdark.Indiscussingsevendifferentiatedtypesofmeanings,Leech(1974:
20)discusseswhathecalls"collocativemeaning"which"consistsoftheassociationsawordacquiresonaccountofthemeaningofwordswhichtendtooccurinitsenvironment."ThisdefinitionisalmostareplicaofFirth'sdefinitionandinsteadof"ass,"Leechgivestheexamplesofprettyandhandsomeandthecollocatesofeach.Thewordsprettyandhandsomesharethecommongeneralmeaningof"good-looking,"buttheyaredistinguishedbytherangeofnounswithwhichtheyarelikelytoco-occur.Healsogivestheexampleof"quasi-synonymous"verbslikewander-stroll,andtremble-quiver,whereeachkeepsadifferentcompanyfromtheother.Benson,Benson,andIlson(1986)trytodevelopcriteriafordefiningcollocations.Theyproposedthedualcriteriaofrelativefixednessandnon-idiomaticityandtheyuserecurrentcombinationandfixedcombinationsforcollocations.
1.1.Idiomsandcollocations
Cruse(1986)offersamorecomprehensive,exclusiveandformaldefinitionofcollocationanddevelopscriteriatoanswerthequestionsraisedconcerningrigorousdifferentiationbetweencollocationsandidioms.Thetermcollocation,accordingtoCruse,refersto"sequencesoflexicalitemswhichhabituallyco-occur,butwhicharenonethelessfullytransparentinthesensethateachlexicalconstituentisalsoasemanticconstituent.Moreover,acollocationhasakindof"semanticcohesion"wheretheconstituentelementsaremutuallyselective.Forexample,thewordheavyinheavydrinker,heavydruguser,andheavyonpetrolhasadefinedcontextualenvironmentwhichrequirestheselectionofthenotionof"consumption"intheimmediateenvironment.Suchexpressionsasfineweather,torrentialrain,lightdrizzle,highwindsareexamplesofcollocations.Anidiom,ontheotherhand,isdefinedbyreferringtotworequirements;first,beinglexicallycomplex—i.e.consistingofmorethanonelexicalconstituentand,second,beingasingleminimalsemanticconstituent.Aminimalsemanticconstituentisindivisibleintosemanticconstituents.Expressionssuchastopullsomeone'sleg,tohaveabeeinone'sbonnet,tokickthebucket,tocooksomeone'sgoose,tobeoffone'srocker,roundthebendandupthecreekareexamplesofidioms.Traditionally,themaincriterionfordefininganidiomisthatitsmeaningcannotbeinferredfromthemeaningofitspart.Sometimes,thereare"transitionalareas"wherecollocationsborderonidioms.Theexampleoftheboundcollocations(constituentsdonotliketobeseparated)footthebillandcurryfavorsisacaseinpoint.Thetwoexpressionsaresemanticallytransparent,butarenotidiomsbecausebillisfreelymodifiableinexpressionsliketheelectricitybillandthebloodybills.Adistinctlyidiom-likecharacteristichoweveristhatfootrequiresthepresenceofaspecificlexicalpartneranditresistsinterruption.AsZughoul(1991)pointsout,differentlanguageshavedifferentcollocationmodes;whatcollocatesinonelanguagedoesnotnecessarilycollocateinanotherlanguage.Moreover,somecollocationsmaysoundoddandoutofplacewhentranslated.
2.MentalProcessesinunderstandingandTranslatingCollocations
ThedevelopmentofwordlistsbasedonfrequencycountsforEnglishdirectedtheattentionofteachers,ELTpractitionersandcurriculumspecialistsaliketotheupperendsoftheselistsattheexpenseofthelowerendsonthepremisethatmasteringtheupperendswouldbeadequateforthedevelopmentofagoodmeasureofproficiencyinthelanguage,andtheupperendcanbeefficientlyexploitedforlearningthephonologyandsyntaxofthelanguage.Thisviewofthevocabulary,besideitsnotionalinaccuracyfromastatisticalpointofviewaswillbeshowninthenextsection,hasledtolearners'lexicaldeficiencyandinabilitytofunctioninreal-lifesituations.Judd(1978)rightlystatesthat"uponleavingtheshelteredatmosphereoftheclassroom,studentsoftenfindthemselvesataliterallossforwordsintheuncontrolledEnglishspeakingenvironmentwhichtheyencounterinthenormalAmericanuniversity.Hesuggeststhatmoreemphasisshouldbegiventodirectvocabularyteaching.ThisviewisstronglysupportedbyWilkins(1972)whofirmlyassertsthat"...thereisnotmuchvalueeitherinbeingabletoproducegrammaticalsentencesifonehasnotgotthevocabularythatisneededtoconveywhatonewishestosay.
Itseemsthatdifficultylevelofcollocationsdependslargelyontheuseofprimaryandnon-primarysenseofthecomponentwords.Collocationsinwhichthewordsareusedintheirprimarysenseareeasilyunderstoodandtranslated.Manyauthorsdonotevenconsiderthemcollocations(Newmark,1988:
149).Understandingandtranslatingcollocationsbecomesmoreandmoreproblematicwhenoneorbothofthecomponentwordsdepartfromtheirprimarysense.Thewordwhichisusedinitsprimarysenseactsasaclueforthetranslatortoguessthemeaningoftheunknownorlesstransparentelement,andconsequentlyplaysamajorroleinhelpingthetranslatorretrievetheTLword.Infact,thewordintheprimarysensehelpsatranslatorformamentalimage,andthisworksasacontextinwhichthelesstransparentwordmustbeused.Asaresult,thenumberofpossiblecandidatestofilltheslotortobeusedasacollocateislimited.ThusitmaybeclaimedthatthetypeofcollocationsinwhichnoSLelementisexpressedinitsprimarysensewillcausemoreproblemforthetranslatorthanothertypesofcollocationsinwhichtheexpectedTLequivalentforoneoftheelementsismissingorisconsideredredundant,thetranslatorwillunconsciouslybeinclinedtoincludeawordforthemissingelement.Inprocessingcollocations,grammaticalcompetencewillnotbeofconsiderablehelp.Relationsbetweenlexicalitemsinacollocation,andalsobetweenSLcollocationsandtheirTLequivalentsareindependentofgrammaticalconsiderations.
Intheabsenceofbilingualdictionariestailoredtotheneedsoftranslator,andwithoutproperexercisesondealingwithcollocations,thelearner/translatorcanonlyrelyoncontextualcluesandhisTLcompetencetosolveproblems.
3.DefinitionplusCollocationinVocabularyTeachingandLearning
Definitionandcollocationarebothimportantinvocabularylearningandteaching.Definitionisconcernedwithestablishingasingleword'smeaning,whereascollocationtakesdefinitionforgrantedandisconcernedwiththewordsthattypicallyappearwithanyparticularword:
theverbsthatmightoccurwithanoun,forexample.Suchcollocationalinformationoftenenablesawordtobeused.
3.1Statements
Whenourfocusisondefinition,wemightexplainanounlikedreamasfollows:
"Adreamislikeafilminyourheadthatyousometimeshave
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