An Empirical Study On The Effects Of Explicit Teaching And Implicit Teaching On Collocational Competence Of Seventh Graders

Over the past decades,researchers have recognized the essential role collocations play in language learning.In numerous studies,collocational competence has been proved to be a predictor of proficiency level which will aid learners in expressing themselves precisely and economically.However,this kind of competence is quite often not easily acquired by EFL(English as a Foreign Language)learners due to the fact that collocations are free of general rules since they are developed in habitual use.To date,literature has been largely concerned with collocations from the perspectives of error analysis and theory development.Studies on collocation teaching are rare,especially the effects of explicit teaching and implicit teaching on collocational competence are still uncertain.This research attempts to compare the effects of explicit instruction and implicit instruction on collocational competence by seventh graders,which may help to offer some insight into collocation teaching.A total of 80 seventh graders in two intact classes participated in this study.The two classes were randomly assigned as Group A and Group B.The study lasted for three months and consisted of three phases: the pre-experimental phase,the experimental phase,and the post-experimental phase.At the start of the study,the participants in both groups took a pretest which included one sentence-completion task(completion task for short)and one collocation-recognition task(recognition task for short).The purpose of the pretest was to measure the participants? collocational competence and make sure they were at the same starting point before the experiment.After the pretest,Group A received explicit teaching while Group B received implicit teaching respectively.After receiving different classroom treatment,the participants in Group A and Group B were given the posttest with the identical format in the post-experimental phase.The research questions are as follows:(1)What are the effects of explicit teaching and implicit teaching on students' collocational competence?(2)How do explicit teaching and implicit teaching affect students' collocational competence respectively?(3)What are the respective perceptions of participants in Group A and Group B towards explicit teaching and implicit teaching? The results of the study revealed that:(1)Both explicit teaching and implicit teaching facilitated seventh graders? collocational competence.(2)Explicit teaching significantly enhanced the ability to recognize collocations on the part of participants in Group A.By contrast,implicit teaching remarkably facilitated the ability to produce collocations on the part of participants in Group B.(3)The participants in Group A were mostly positive about explicit teaching and showed confidence in future studying of collocations while participants in Group B remained divided on implicit teaching with the majority being unaware of its role and the minority affirming its value.To sum up,both explicit teaching and implicit teaching respectively facilitated seventh graders? collocational competence in different facets.Each method has its own merits.Hence,the two types of teaching should be integrated to promote the students? collocational competence.