CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background and Motivation
The pivotal role that vocabulary plays in foreign language learning and teaching has been acknowledged in theoretical and empirical vocabulary research (Hill, 2000;
Hunt & Beglar, 2005; Michael Lewis, 2000; Nation, 2001). Vocabulary knowledge not only closely relates to learners’ performance of four language skills but also greatly influences their acquisition of a new language. Wilkins (1972) even stated that
“without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (p. 111). The quality of vocabulary, therefore, differentiates language learners from native speakers (Laufer, 1998). Meara (1995) further proposed that the acquisition of vocabulary should be emphasized at the very beginning of language learning. Thus, acquiring vocabulary must be a central aspect of learning any language.
Knowing a word does not, however, just entails learning its form and meaning.
In fact, knowing vocabulary is quite a complex process. According to Nation (2001), it involves acquiring eight types of lexical knowledge, including meanings, written form, spoken form, grammatical behavior, collocation, register, associations and frequency. Among those different aspects of vocabulary knowledge, researchers declared that collocational knowledge facilitates language fluency and appropriateness (Bahns & Eldaw, 1993; Hill, 2000; Michael Lewis, 2000; Nation, 2001). For example, Morgan Lewis (2000) claimed that sufficient knowledge of collocation could not only help learners know what those words really mean and how they are actually used in the contexts but also help them recycle half-known words.
As a result, acquiring proper collocational knowledge should be given a high priority in vocabulary teaching and learning.
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Teachers as well as researchers, however, have repeatedly observed that learning accurate and appropriate English collocations is a big challenge for language learners in EFL context (Bahns & Eldaw, 1993; Fraghal & Obiedat, 1995; Huang, 2009;
Nesselhauf, 2003), even for the advanced learners (Bahns & Eldaw, 1993). For instance, Bahns and Eldaw (1993) stated that the learners’ collocational knowledge could not compete with their vocabulary knowledge. In the present study, a researcher who teaches English in junior high school in Taiwan also observes that learners are not able to make good use of the correct collocations. For example, they would use
“*eat medicine” instead of “take medicine” or “*big rain” instead of “heavy rain,”
which is due to the direct translation from their native language.
The reasons why learners have difficulties in acquiring proper collocations can be concluded in several aspects. First, vocabulary in traditional teaching contexts is usually taught individually, instead of collocationally (Fraghal & Obiedat, 1995).
Second, EFL learners lack abundant exposure to authentic examples with different contexts and therefore are insufficient in collocational awareness and knowledge (Fraghal & Obiedat, 1995; Kuan, 2008). Third, Nation (2001) proposed that learners’
mother tongue may have an influence on the learning burden of vocabulary learning.
This claim is supported by many researchers (Fraghal & Obiedat, 1995; C. C. Lin, 2011; M. J. Lin, 2010; Liu, 2002; Nesselhauf, 2003). When the patterns or meanings of collocations could not be predicted from their native language, the learning burden would be increased and the misuse of collocation will occur (Bahns, 1993; Chan &
Liou, 2005; Fraghal & Obiedat, 1995; Huang, 2009; M. J. Lin, 2010).
Researchers in Taiwan also found that the EFL learners lack collocational awareness and knowledge, and also run into difficulties while learning collocations.
These two factors result in the learners’ misuse of collocations (Kuan, 2008; M. J. Lin, 2010). In addition, as stated by Nation (2001), language learners in Taiwan are prone
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to create inappropriate collocations of their own due to their first language (L1) transfer (M. J. Lin, 2009).
In response to learners’ need for effective collocation learning, many studies in Taiwan have been conducted to provide appropriate collocation instruction (Kuan, 2008; C. C. Lin, 2011). Recently there has been a shift in attention from teaching the text-based language to integrating the use of technology with the language learning in the classroom. With the advent of Internet and the development of technology, an online concordancer - a newly created pedagogical tool, has been particularly influential. It contributes insights to the language learning due to its provision of plenty of example sentences in various contexts. Monolingual concordancers firstly have been proved beneficial in language learning such as vocabulary acquisition (Kaur & Hegelheimer, 2005; Varley, 2009), grammar learning (Granath, 2009;
Pérez-Llantada, 2009), collocation learning (Chang, 2008; Chen, 2011; Sun & Wang, 2003; Zaferanieh & Behrooznia, 2011), self-correction (O'Sullivan & Chambers, 2006;
Yoon & Hirvela, 2004) and writing (Chambers, 2005; Charles, 2012; Sun, 2007; Yoon, 2008). Nevertheless, participants in these previous studies found corpus consultation with the use of a monolingual concordancer difficult and time-consuming (Chambers, 2005; Chen, 2011; Pérez-Llantada, 2009; Wu, Witten, & Franken, 2010; Yoon &
Hirvela, 2004). In addition, too many words unknown to the learners in the example sentences greatly overwhelm them (Chambers, 2005; Chang, 2008). A study even states that there exists a need for learners to use L1 queries which provide a faster way for them to learn collocations (Chen, 2011). Accordingly, bilingual tools should be employed to reduce learners’ learning burden and increase their learning efficiency.
In addition, by analyzing the patterns of example sentences in two different languages, learners can derive the usages of a target word or phrase by themselves.
This process is what Johns (1991) called “data-driven learning,” which not only
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elevates learners’ position from a passive receiver to an active learner but also arouses their autonomous inductive language learning (Chan & Liou, 2005; Sun & Wang, 2003). Research on collocation learning via parallel concordancers also proved that the native translations in the bilingual concordancers did benefit learners in their collocation learning (Chan & Liou, 2005; Chujo, Utiyama, & Miura, 2006; Kita &
Ogata, 1997).
Two main parallel concordancers in Taiwan, TOTALRecall and Tango, are built on one major source, Sinorama (1990 to 2000), a collection of news articles about Taiwan in bilingual forms. A study, however, reveals that the contents of Sinorama are for too difficult for the college students to locate the information they want (Yeh, Liou,
& Li, 2007). In this case, the example sentences in TOTALRecall and Tango may be even more difficult for the junior high school students, the target participants in the present study. Therefore, another bilingual concordancer, JuKuu, is exploited in the present study, instead. Compared with TOTALRecall and Tango, JuKuu provides not only Chinese translations but also English examples which are easier for junior high students to understand. As concluded by Nation (2003), language learners’ native language which provides them with clear and familiar explanations is the most effective tool to speed up vocabulary growth (Chen, 2011). With the scaffolding of L1 in a bilingual concordancer, learners can engage in an easier learning environment and compare the differences or similarities between two languages to broaden their vocabulary knowledge (Fraghal & Obiedat, 1995; M. J. Lin, 2010; Nesselhauf, 2003).
However, some research observes that language learners rely heavily on the online bilingual dictionaries (Lai, 2010). Nevertheless, as stated in Cobb’s (1999) study, through consulting bilingual dictionaries which the learners most often use to look up new words, they will neither improve their reading comprehension nor build a strong foundation for their future language learning. In addition, as explained in
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Phythian-Sence and Wagner (2007), acquiring a word does not just mean knowing its dictionary meaning. While dictionaries provide limited examples, concordancers supply language learners with abundant and authentic language usages. Besides, with the applications of new technology, Bing Dictionary was created - an online bilingual dictionary. It provides learners with more example sentences as compared with the traditional paper bilingual dictionaries. The effects of this new online bilingual dictionary still remain unknown. Although the previous studies proved that bilingual concordancers can be regarded as potentially beneficial in collocation learning, few studies compared the effects of these two bilingual tools on collocation learning in Taiwan.
Additionally, although previous studies (Chambers, 2005; Chan & Liou, 2005;
Chen, 2011; Cobb, 1997; John, 2001; Lixun, 2001) have asserted the advantages of integrating concordancers with language learning, most of them investigated the learning context at a college level (Chan & Liou, 2005; Frankenberg-Garcia, 2009;
Gao, 2011; Kaur & Hegelheimer, 2005; O'Sullivan & Chambers, 2006; Sun, 2007;
Varley, 2009; Yeh et al., 2007) or a senior high school level (Chang, 2008; Sun &
Wang, 2003; Tseng, 2009). Only one study was conducted at the junior high school level and the participants in that study were the top 20 percent students in their school (Chao, 2010). In addition, that study adopted a monolingual concordancer to facilitate learners’ collocation learning (Chao, 2010). Few studies have been conducted to explore how bilingual tools can be integrated with collocation learning in a heterogeneous intact class in junior high school. Thus, the present study is conducted with two bilingual tools, JuKuu and Bing Dictionary, which are not only to cater to junior high school students’ needs but also to lessen their learning burden. Therefore, the purpose of this present study is to investigate the effects of these two bilingual Chinese-English referencing tools on EFL junior high students’ collocation learning
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and their perceptions of collocation learning with the help of bilingual tools.