Effects of English Collocation Instruction on Vietnamese Students’ Writing Performance

Hue Thi Tran; Thi Anh Nguyen

Hue Thi Tran Hanoi Metropolitan University
Thi Anh Nguyen Can Tho University

Keywords: Effect, English collocation, instruction, writing performance

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of the teacher’s use of collocation instruction on Vietnamese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ achievement of collocations in their writing. Twenty one volunteer students participated in this study. Data were collected through a pre-post test design and quantitatively analyzed afterwards. The results indicated that on the students outperformed in the number and made fewer errors of lexical and grammatical collocations in the post-test compared to the pre-test. Significant correlations between the three collocation types (correct lexical, correct grammatical and incorrect grammatical collocations) and the students’ writing scores were reported, except the type of incorrect lexical collocation. Accordingly, pedagogical implications as well as suggestions for the teachers with regard to teaching collocations in a writing class will be provided.

Author Biographies

Hue Thi Tran, Hanoi Metropolitan University

Tran Thi Hue has been working as a teacher trainer and lecturer of Division of English Language Teacher Education, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Metropolitan University. She instructs English language proficiency courses, trains pre-service teachers for primary and lower secondary schools in Hanoi, and lectures in intercultural communication and country studies courses. Her professional interests include eacher education, intercultural education and ICT in language instruction.

Thi Anh Nguyen, Can Tho University

Nguyen Anh Thi is an English lecturer at Can Tho University, Vietnam and currently a PhD student at the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts at KU Leuven. His main research interests involve second/foreign language acquisition, language teaching methodology, especially task-based language teaching.