Teaching Phrasal Verbs More Efficiently: Using Corpus Studies and Cognitive Linguistics to Create a Particle List

Ryan Spring

Abstract


Phrasal verbs are important for EFL and ESL education because of their high frequency, but can be difficult for learners because of their number and polysemy. While there are a number of studies on phrasal verbs, the widening focus of such studies has left a gap between theory and practical instruction. This study improves upon previous studies related to teaching phrasal verbs through cognitive linguistics by combining the theory of event conflation with corpus-based research to create a list of phrasal verb particles and meanings that is concise and yet comprehensive enough to account for approximately 95% of common phrasal verb meanings. It also reports the results of an experiment in which learners taught with this particle list improved more on pre-/post-tests of phrasal verbs than learners that studied a list of the most common phrasal verbs as whole entities (p<0.001, d=1.34). Quantitative and qualitative data presented in this study also indicate that learners taught with the particle list improved their ability to conjecture the meanings of novel phrasal verbs more effectively than learners who studied common phrasal verbs as whole units.

Keywords


Phrasal Verbs, Cognitive Linguistics, Corpus, Instruction Materials, TEFL, Second Language Acquisition

Full Text:

PDF

References


Boers, F. (2000). Metaphor awareness and vocabulary retention. Applied Linguistics, 21, 553-571. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/21.4.553

Gardner, D. & Davies, M. (2007). Pointing out frequent PVs: A corpus based analysis. TESOL Quarterly, 41(2), 339-359. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2007.tb00062.x

Garnier, M. & Schmitt, N. (2015). The PHaVE List: A pedagogical list of PVs and their most frequent meaning senses. Language Teaching Research, 19 (6), 645-666. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168814559798

Inagaki, S. (2002). Motion verbs with locational/directional PPs in English and Japanese. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique, 47, 187-234. https://doi.org/10.1075/z.133.04ina

Jahedi, M. & Mukundan, J. (2015). A review on studies of phrasal verb constructions in ESL context. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 6(1), 157-162. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.1p.157

Lee, H. (2012). Concept-based approach to second language teaching and learning: Cognitive linguistics-inspired instruction of English phrasal verbs: PhD Thesis, Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Liao, Y.D. & Fukuya, Y.J. (2012). Avoidance of phrasal verbs: The case of Chinese learners of English. Second Language Studies, 20(2), 71-106. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2004.00254.x

Liu, D. (2011). The most frequently used English phrasal verbs in American and British English: A multicorpus examination. TESOL Quarterly, 45(4), 661-688. https://doi.org/10.5054/tq.2011.247707

Side, R. (1990). PVs: Sorting them out. ELT Journal, 44(2), 144-152. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/44.2.144

Spring, R. & Horie, K. (2013). How cognitive typology affects second language acquisition: A study of Japanese and Chinese learners of English. Cognitive Linguistics, 24 (4), 689-710. https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2013-0024

Spring, R. (2015). Jisho fure-mu no gengo ruikei to dainigengo shutoku: Ido to joutai henka no hyogen wo megutte [The linguistic typology of event framing and SLA: Looking at motion and change of state expressions]. In N. Ono and Y. Yumoto (eds.) Goi imiron no aratana kanosei wo sagutte [Inquiries into new possibilities of lexical semantics] (pp. 408-431). Tokyo: Kaitakusha. ISBN: 9784758922210

Talmy, L. (1985). Lexicalization patterns. Semantic structure in lexical form. In: Shopen T (ed) Language typology and syntactic description (Vol. 3, pp.36-149). Cambridge: CUP. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511618437.002

Talmy, L. (2000). Toward a cognitive semantics (2): Typology and process in concept structuring. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 0262700972

Talmy, L. (2009). Main verb properties and equipollent framing. Crosslinguistic approaches to the psychology of language. In: Guo J, Lieven E, Budwig N, Ervin-Tripp S, Nakamura K, and Özçalışkan, Ş. (eds) Research in the tradition of Dan Isaac Slobin (pp.389-402). New York and London: Psychology Press. ISBN: 9780805859997

Yasuda, S. (2010). Learning phrasal verbs through conceptual metaphors: A case study of Japanese EFL learners. TESOL Quarterly, 44(2), 250-273. https://doi.org/10.5054/tq.2010.219945




DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.9n.5p.121

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.




Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2010-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.

Advances in Language and Literary Studies

You may require to add the 'aiac.org.au' domain to your e-mail 'safe list’ If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox'. Otherwise, you may check your 'Spam mail' or 'junk mail' folders.