The effects of explicit instruction on L2 learners’ acquisition of verb–noun collocations

This study investigates the relative effectiveness of two methods for teaching a set of English verb–noun collocations: form-focused instruction (FFI) and concept-based instruction (CBI). The sample comprised 73 Chinese-speaking learners of English taking intermediate English courses, who were randomly assigned to one of three groups: an FFI intervention group, a CBI intervention group, and a control group. In order to determine the effects of the two instructional methods, the participants’ collocational knowledge was measured in three ways: via form recall testing, form recognition testing, and meaning recall testing. Specifically, all of the participants took pretests, immediate posttests, and one-week delayed posttests. The results of a comparison of the learning gains between the three groups showed that the CBI and FFI approaches each had a positive effect on establishing initial form–meaning relationships for verb–noun collocations. The CBI group significantly outperformed the FFI group on both collocational acquisition and retention. This result suggests that CBI’s focus on learning verbal meanings through image schemas and conceptualization practice is associated with a deeper understanding of English verb–noun collocations. The study concludes with pedagogical implications for teaching second language (L2) collocations.