The Impact of Length of Study Abroad on Collocational Knowledge: The Case of Saudi Students in Australia

Ibrahim R Alqarni

doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.2p.237

Abstract

This study investigates the impact that study in Australia has on the lexical knowledge of Saudi Arabian students. It focuses on: 1) the effects that the length of study in Australia has on the acquisition of lexical collocations, as reflected by lexical knowledge tests, and 2) whether there is a significant gender difference in the acquisition of lexical collocation knowledge. The results indicate that there is a positive correlation between the length of stay in Australia and the knowledge of lexical collocation, since the overall mean scores of the entire sample increased with the number of the years spent in Australia. Participants who stayed for one year had the lowest mean score of 7.39, whereas those with the longest length of stay of four years had the highest mean score of 8.76. Participants staying for two or three years had minimal improvements, with mean scores of 7.64 and 7.68 respectively. The results indicate that there was only a slight difference between male and female participants in their knowledge of lexical collocations, with overall mean scores of 7.56 and 8.35 out of 12 respectively.

Highlights

Collocations are an important, integral aspect of second and foreign language learning and teaching, researchers have paid considerable attention to the topic in recent decades
The results showed that the length of time spent abroad can improve learners’ lexical collocational knowledge in a way that is not achievable in the home country
It was found that even participants with a minimum period of stay in Australia have a high level of lexical collocational knowledge with a mean score of 7.39 (62%)

Summary

Introduction

Collocations are an important, integral aspect of second and foreign language learning and teaching, researchers have paid considerable attention to the topic in recent decades. According to Nation (2001), the term collocation means “a group of words that belong together, either because they commonly occur together like take a chance, or because the meaning of the group is not obvious from the meaning of the parts, as with by the way or to take someone in (trick them)” (p.317). The verb commit for example, is the lexical item that recurrently co-occurs with a number of nouns such as suicide, murder, and adultery. As a result, mastering collocations is at the top of the list of challenges facing second and foreign language learners who have to deal with a great number of collocations throughout the learning process

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Conclusion