The effects of input mode in learning declarative and nondeclarative knowledge of L2 collocations

Abstract

This study compared the effects of reading, listening, and reading while listening in developing declarative and nondeclarative knowledge of L2 collocations. Fifty L2 English speakers were randomly assigned to a treatment or a control group. During a two-day treatment session, the treatment group read and/or listened to nine texts. Each text contained 15 English medical collocations which were repeated nine times. Declarative and nondeclarative knowledge of the target collocations were measured using, respectively, one primed lexical decision task and three untimed vocabulary tests. Reading was found to be more effective than listening in form recall and meaning recall tests; there were no significant differences between reading and reading while listening. Three input modes resulted in similar accuracy rates in the form recognition test. Regarding nondeclarative knowledge, in all conditions, the development was small and statistically insignificant. The results highlight the importance of written input in learning L2 collocations.