A Corpus-Based Study on Collocation of Verb by China EFL Learners: A Case Study of the Word Improve

Jiaxing Mu

doi:10.6918/IJOSSER.202512_8(12).0042

Authors

Jiaxing Mu

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6918/IJOSSER.202512_8(12).0042

Keywords:

Collocation, Improve, Corpus, Verb–Object Structure

Abstract

Lexical collocations play a crucial role in language acquisition. However, Chinese learners of English frequently produce inappropriate collocations, a phenomenon particularly evident in verb–object structures. Drawing on data from the British Academic Written English Corpus (BAWE) and the Ten-thousand Chinese Learners’ English Composition Corpus (TECCL), this study investigates Chinese learners’ use of the English verb improve in term of collocation. The results reveal that while Chinese learners are generally familiar with the core meaning of improve (“to make it better than before”), they fail to fully acquire the semantic prosody associated with its collocates beyond the typical combinations they already know. In the TECCL corpus, improve frequently occurs with a variety of abstract nominal objects compared with BAWE corpus, most of which exhibit features of Chinese English due to L1 transfer, limited vocabulary and lack of authentic and real expressions. The study provides pedagogical implications for English teaching by highlighting the importance of incorporating authentic corpora into classroom to prevent students from staying in their linguistic “comfort zone,” which may restrict the diversity and naturalness of their expression.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] Chen, J., & Lin, T. (2010). An Analysis on the Colligation and Collocation of the High -frequency Word Good in Learner Corpus [J]. Journal of Tianjin Foreign Studies University.

[2] Firth, JR. Papers in Linguistics [M]. London:Oxford University Press, 1957.

[3] Fu, S., & Chen, Y. (2022) A Corpus-based Study of the Acquisition of English Collocations with Delexical Verbs by Chinese-speaking Students [J]. Language Education, 10(01):52-65.

[4] Gui, S., Feng, Z., Yang, H., et al. (2010). Corpus linguistics and foreign language teaching in China [J]. Modern Foreign Languages.

[5] Laufer, B., & Waldman, T. (2011). Verb-Noun Collocations in Second Language Writing: A Corpus Analysis of Learners’ English. Language Learning, 61(2), 647–672.

[6] Liu, B., & Wang, Y. (2015). A Study on Use of Adjectives in English Writing by Non-English Major Postgraduates [J]. Chinese Foreign Languages, 12(4), 45–53.

[7] Niu, B., & Shen, S. (2022). Collostructional analysis of try to V and try V-ing constructions in English [J]. Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 54(5), 656–667, 798.

[8] Sinclair, J, Jones S. English Lexical Collocations: A Study in Computational Linguistics [J]. English Studies, 1974.

[9] Sinclair, J. Corpus, Concordance, Collocation [M]. Oxford University Press, 1991.

[10] Stubbs, M. Collocations and Semantic Profiles: On the Cause of the Trouble with Quantitative Studies [J]. Functions of Language, 1995.

[11] Tang, Y. (2012). Verb–object collocations and translation strategies in English versions of Chinese white papers: A corpus-based study [J]. Shanghai Journal of Translators.

[12] Wang, Q. (2020). A corpus-based contrastive analysis of I think in spoken Hong Kong English: Research from the International Corpus of English (ICE) [J]. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 40(3), 319–345.

[13] Wang, R. (2016). A Comparative Study on the Semantic Prosody Difference of CLE and NES: Using Verbs with “DO” Meaning [J]. Foreign Language Research.

[14] Zhang, H., & Zhang, S. (2023). A Study on the Developmental Characteristics of High-Frequency Verb Collocations in Spoken English of Chinese Beginner EFL Learners [J]. Foreign Language Research, 40(06): 52-59.

[15] Zhang, W., & Yang, S. (2009). An Analysis of V-N Collocation Errors in CLEC [J]. Foreign Languages Bimonthly, 32(2), 39–44.

[16] Zheng, L., & Xiao, Z. (2015). A Corpus-based Study of Collocational Use in Oral Production by Chinese EFL Learners [J]. Foreign Language Learning Theory and Practice.