Korean High School English Learners Knowledge of Collocations

Abstract

This study examined the high-frequency delexical verbs in seven Korean high school English II textbooks and Korean high school learners knowledge of collocations focusing on delexical verbs. 209 second-year Korean high school students of learning English participated in the study. In order to analyze the frequency of the verbs in the textbooks, the Natural Language Processing (NPL) Tools program was utilized. A collocation test consisting of 55 collocation items of delexical verbs was taken to measure the Korean high school students collocational competence, and a survey of participants perception towards the test was carried out. The frequency analysis results displayed that the verbs make, get, and take were most frequently used delexical verbs across the seven textbooks and the collocation test results revealed that the students knowledge of collocations regarding the delexical verbs was low, showing the rate of correct answers is 38 percent. The participants initially felt that they knew the verbs well but, in effect, their knowledge of the verbs was far from thorough. This study suggests a necessity of teaching delexical verb collocations to L2 learners explicitly and depth of vocabulary knowledge being a part of organizing principles in L2 instruction.