Effects of Input-based and Output-based Instructions on Iranian EFL Learners’ Productive Knowledge of Collocations

Nawal Gholami,Mohammad Taghi Farvardin

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.6n.3p.123

Abstract

Few studies have investigated the effects of input-based and output-based instructions on collocational knowledge of EFL learners. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of these instructional approaches on Iranian EFL learners’ productive knowledge of collocations. To this end, 80 senior high school students from three intact classes at Tali-e High School in Ahvaz, Iran, were selected. Each class was assigned to a control group (n = 28) and two experimental groups including the input group (n = 27) and the output group (n = 25). Twenty collocations were selected as the target collocations. Then, a pretest was administered to all groups. Two days after the last treatment session, an immediate posttest was given to the participants. A delayed posttest was also administered two weeks later. The results of Mixed-ANOVA, one-way ANOVA, and Tukey post hoc tests revealed that both input and output groups outperformed the control group on the immediate and delayed posttests. However, there were no significant differences between the input and output groups on the posttests. The implications and suggestions for future research are also presented.

Highlights

It has been argued that knowing collocations is essential for learning a second/foreign language (McCarthy & O’Dell, 2006)
There were no significant differences between the input and output groups on the posttests
To fill in the existing gap, this study aimed to investigate the effects of input-based instruction techniques (i.e., Textual enhancement (TE) and input flood (IF)), and output-based instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ collocational knowledge

Summary

Introduction

It has been argued that knowing collocations is essential for learning a second/foreign language (McCarthy & O’Dell, 2006). Collocation is defined as “a group of words that occurs repeatedly in a language” It has been proposed that such language patterns comprise much of speech and writing (Lewis, 2000). Learning words in chunks can improve fluency in writing and speaking (Hill, 2000). Collocational knowledge has been classified into receptive and productive knowledge (Milton, 2009). Receptive knowledge means collocations that can be distinguished during listening or reading, while productive knowledge refers to using collocations in speech and writing

Objectives

Results

Conclusion