Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/34.3603

AUTHOR: Paweł Szudarski
TITLE: Collocations, Corpora and Language Learning
SERIES TITLE: Elements in Corpus Linguistics
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2023

REVIEWER: Benjamin Naismith

SUMMARY

This book is part of the Elements in Corpus Linguistics series, edited by Susan Hunston. Books in this series are intended to provide concise yet comprehensive overviews of key areas of applied linguistics. These books cast a wide net in terms of intended audience, from graduate students, to researchers, to practitioners (presumably language teachers in this case). This particular volume focuses on the relationship between collocations, corpora, and language learning. As described in the introduction and conclusion, this is a burgeoning area of linguistic research, part of the “corpus revolution” of the last 20 to 30 years. It is therefore both an important inclusion in the series, as well as an impressive feat given the amount of material to cover in a limited space. In total, the book is 89 pages, consisting of 75 pages of content in 5 sections, followed by 14 pages of references. This review of the book is therefore correspondingly brief.

Section 1 provides a short introduction, clearly stating the aims of the book and the questions which the subsequent sections are intended to answer. In essence, these sections relate to how collocations are defined (Section 2), how collocations are analyzed and measured (Section 3), how collocations are learned and taught (Section 4), and how collocations might be researched in the future (Section 5). The structure and format of the book is also briefly described.

Section 2 focuses on how research has conceptualized collocations. To do so, collocation research is situated within the broader area of research into formulaic language, starting with earlier work and ideas, such as Sinclair’s pioneering efforts in the 1980s with the COBUILD Corpus and his 1991 description of the open-choice and idiom principles. A link is then made to more current collocation research, which views collocations as a graded phenomenon (e.g., Granger, 2021). In turn, the different dominant approaches to collocation identification are described, starting with the phraseological approach, moving on to the frequency-based approach, before concluding with recent hybrid approaches. The topic of the psycholinguistic reality of collocations is also touched upon, that is, the extent to which collocations are represented and processed as single units in the mental lexicons of speakers. Throughout this (and all) sections, the ways in which corpus research has impacted our understanding of collocations is underscored.

Section 3 then transitions into a description of the multitude of ways in which collocations have been analyzed and measured, primarily in terms of corpus-derived measures of frequency. First, descriptions of historically popular measures are provided, for example t-scores and Mutual Information (MI). The author takes care not to dismiss such measures, but points out the need for caution in interpreting findings, as well as the benefits of considering multiple measures when conducting research in this field. Next, more recent collocation measures are described, for example Delta P and Log Dice, which attempt to address the limitations of more traditional measures (e.g., the lack of information about directionality or the over importance given to infrequent words). This section concludes with a description of how these types of quantitative collocation measures can be integrated with qualitative analyses (e.g., analysis of concordance lines in the Key Word in Content format) to reveal insights into collocational patterns, as evidenced in the Martinez (2013) study box.

The final main section, Section 4, looks at corpus-based studies which might inform how collocations are learned and taught in second language (L2) contexts. These studies are situated within usage-based approaches to language learning (e.g., Ellis, 2002), focusing on the importance of frequency in input for acquiring language. Learner corpora studies are then examined as a means to understanding learners’ collocation use, with consideration of factors such as learners’ first language (L1), age of acquisition, etc. Such research is described to demonstrate the important link between different aspects of collocational proficiency and overall language proficiency. Importantly, when comparing L1 and L2 collocation use, the author takes care to avoid presenting an L2-deficit model focusing solely on errors, instead showing how corpus data can descriptively compare different populations of speakers (e.g., in the Altenberg and Granger, 2001 study box). Learner corpus research is also presented to highlight how collocations contribute to different aspects of lexical proficiency (e.g., lexical richness and sophistication). The final part of this section deals with how corpora can be utilized for teaching purposes, whether directly or indirectly. As part of this description, a number of accessible online resources are described, including VocabProfile, AntWordProfiler, and various collocation word lists.

Section 5 is a short concluding section. It reiterates the importance and potential for corpus research to enhance our understanding of language and how we learn/teach L2 collocations. Four avenues for future research are then presented, highlighting the need for further collocation-related investigations into individual learning trajectories, as well as more interdisciplinary research, replication studies, and attempts to bridge collocation research and teaching/learning practices. The section concludes with optimistic closing remarks endorsing the value of collocation research explorations.

EVALUATION

As noted, this book is extremely compact, and yet the author admirably manages to cover a wide range of issues relevant to our current understanding of collocations at the intersection of corpus linguistics and second language acquisition. That the author is able to do so is the result of several factors. At the surface level, the writing is clear and accessible throughout, with the sections ordered logically to build upon one another. There is also an excellent balance of theoretical considerations, historical background, and concrete examples. The ‘study boxes’ are particularly useful as case studies, though if in a rush, readers could skip these and still understand the main text.

In terms of content, the author is very successful in covering the gamut of perspectives on issues related to collocation identification and measurement, acknowledging the positive aspects and contributions of each. For example, qualitative and quantitative approaches are each given due consideration, with mixed-method studies highlighted as being particularly informative. Similarly, in Section 3, when comparing earlier common measurements and rule-of-thumb thresholds, the author acknowledges their utility before suggesting more nuanced and comprehensive approaches for future research. One final example of a modern applied linguistics viewpoint occurs when the author succinctly addresses the issue of using L1-speaker norms as the target for L2 learners, as well as the now dispreferred ‘native speaker’ terminology.

As a reader, only a few minor critical observations came to mind. Superficially, most of the figures, for example of corpus output, were insufficiently high resolution. As a result, the details were illegible, at least in the print version. Another minor critique is the number of self-citations; although the author is an expert in the field, the number was noticeable, with seven as first author and one as third author (including one “under review”). Finally, I questioned whether all of the stated intended audience is truly best served by this treatment, specifically “language practitioners who may want to turn to corpora as a way of addressing practical challenges linked to selecting and teaching examples of specific word pairs deemed important for L2 pedagogy” (pp. 1-2). I worry that language practitioners looking to better understand collocations for the first time and looking for practical ideas may find much of the research methods discussion less relevant to their needs, with the exception of Section 4. Nevertheless, apart from this perhaps overly ambitious desired readership, I would highly recommend this volume for any linguists interested in learning more about state-of-the-art collocational research.

REFERENCES

Altenberg, B., & Granger, S. (2001). The grammatical and lexical patterning of MAKE in native and non-native student writing. Applied Linguistics, 22(2), 173–195. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/22.2.173.

Ellis, N. (2002). Frequency effects in language processing: A review with implications for theories of implicit and explicit language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24(2), 143–188. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263102002024.

Granger, S. (2021). Phraseology, corpora and L2 research. In S. Granger (Ed.), Perspectives on the L2 phrasicon: The view from learner corpora (pp. 3-21). Multilingual Matters.

Martinez, R. (2013). A framework for the inclusion of multiword expressions in ELT. ELT Journal, 67(2), 184–198. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccs100.

Sinclair, J. (1991). Corpus, concordance, collocation: Describing English language. Oxford University Press.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Ben Naismith is a Senior Assessment Scientist at Duolingo. Ben has worked in numerous contexts as a teacher, teacher trainer, materials developer, assessment specialist, and researcher. He holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics, and his research interests lie in the fields of second language acquisition, corpus linguistics, language assessment, and teacher education.