Collocations in Farsi L2 Learners of English. The role of proficiency and L1 language transfer

Abstract

The goal of learning collocations is to be able to put a word to actual and appropriate use. To use a word appropriately, it is not enough to know just the meaning of a word; we need to pay attention to the immediate context that it is used in. Both lexical and grammatical patterns are important to ensure that this happens. Collocations enable EFL learners to know more about language chunks used by native speakers and improve their skills in speech and writing. The present study investigates the correlation between language proficiency and knowledge of collocations, as well as the role of L1 transfer with collocations. The results show that there is a significant relationship between Iranian subjects‟ language proficiency, as measured by the Michigan proficiency test, and their knowledge of collocations, as measured by their performance on a collocation test designed for the current study. The results obtained from this research also indicates that Iranian EFL learners are more likely to use the correct collocation in cases where L1 transfer yields the correct combination in the L2 than when this is not the case. This suggests that positive transfer plays a major role when it comes to EFL learners‟ ability to produce the correct collocations in their L2.