The Effects Of Multiple-choice Gloss And Word-focused Activity On English Collocation Learning

Collocation knowledge is considered as an important aspect of second languageproficiency, and the collocational competence plays a significant role in helping secondlanguage learners use a language accurately and appropriately.Based on the Input Enhancement, Pushed Output and Involvement Load Hypothesis, thepresent study aims at investigating whether L1multiple-choice gloss and word-focusedactivity can facilitate collocation acquisition and retention in terms of receptive knowledgeand productive knowledge respectively. Also, it is our concern whether word-focused activitygenerates better effects on collocation acquisition and retention than L1multiple-choice glossdoes or vice versa.The participants in the study were143non-English major freshmen from ZengchengCollege of South China Normal University. They were assigned to one of the three differentconditions:(a) reading for meaning with multiple-choice gloss;(b) reading for meaning withword-focused activity;(c) reading for meaning only. Afterwards, all participants took animmediate posttest on target collocations in terms of receptive knowledge and productiveknowledge, and a similar delayed posttest was conducted two weeks later.The results from the study are confirmatory to the research hypotheses. Both L1multiple-choice gloss and word-focused activity are found to be effective on collocation gainand retention in terms of receptive knowledge and productive knowledge. Moreover,word-focused activity is found to have a significant advantage over L1multiple-choice glosson collocation acquisition.The study suggests that, multiple-choice gloss and especially word-focused activity aretwo effective techniques for collocation learning. It provides practical guidance for collegeEnglish (especially for collocations) teaching and learning.