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- Perceptions on the use of collocations in academic ielts writing task 2 by senior english major students at Quang Nam university
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- PERCEPTIONS ON THE USE OF COLLOCATIONS
IN ACADEMIC IELTS WRITING TASK 2 BY SENIOR
ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT QUANG NAM
UNIVERSITY
Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong1
Abstract: One of the IELTS marking criteria is lexical resource which focuses on
the way students use collocations in their writing section. Therefore, IELTS test takers
should make effective use of collocations to ace IELTS Writing test. This means IELTS
learners should not learn individual words by themselves and should focus on what other
words these lexical items are collocated with to build up their vocabulary range and
thus, maximize their IELTS score. This paper presents a study on Quang Nam University
English major students’ perception of using collocations in IELTS Writing Task 2.
This piece of research is expected to inform teachers of English at Quang Nam
University of the problems students usually encounter in IELTS Writing Task 2 and to
gain an insight into how students perceive their using of collocations in academic IELTS
Writing Task 2. It will also put forwards some recommendations on the use of collocations
for improving band score on IELTS Writing Task 2.
Key words: collocations, perception, IELTS academic writing essay, problems
1. Introduction
It is widely acknowledged that writing has always been demanding and dif cult for
students especially IELTS Writing Task 2 which requires test takers to write at least 250
words presenting about a topic by means of giving and justifying an opinion, discussing
the topic, summarizing details, outlining problems, identifying possible solutions and
supporting what they write with reasons, arguments and relevant examples from their
own knowledge or experience.
Notably, IELTS learners often face dif culties when it comes to collocations, also
known as the natural combination of words or the correct arrangement of words in a
sentence. Regarding IELTS Writing Task 2, IELTS test takers should make the most of
collocations to be aware of language chunks used by native speakers in writing especially
in IELTS Writing test. The correct use of collocations is an essential part of improving
English level and boosting IELTS score. Using collocations correctly allows IELTS
learners to write and speak more like a native speaker, an element which is critical for
examiners to look out when marking the test.
It is, therefore, essential for teachers to raise students’ awareness of collocations
and to teach students how to use collocations appropriately and accurately in their writing
in general and in IELTS writing in particular.
1. MA, Department of Foreign Lnaguages, Quang Nam University
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This paper presents the ndings of the research on using collocations in IELTS
Writing Task 2. It seeks to help students, especially those majoring in English at Quang
Nam University, enhance their English competence and boost their writing skills to
maximize their IELTS writing band score.
2. Literature review
2.1. The De nitions of Collocation
Many de nitions of the term collocation have been proposed in the literature. The
concept of collocations was rst identi ed by Palmer (1933, as cited in Nation, 2002, p.
317) as a string of words that “must or should be learned, or is best or most conveniently
learned as an integral whole or independent entity, rather than by the process of piecing
together their component parts.” Firth (1957, p. 183), who rst coined the term to refer
to “the company that words keep". Besides, McCarthy (2000, p. 12) de ned collocation
as “a marriage contract between words, and some words are more rmly married to each
other than others”. In the position of Woolard (2000, p. 29), collocations are referred
to as “the co-occurrence of words which are statistically much more likely to appear
together than random chance suggests”.
2.2. Classi cation of Collocations
Over the past decades, there have been many studies having focused on a certain
type of collocation, investigating, for example, the use of verb-noun collocations
(Gyllstad, 2007 or Peters, 2009) or adjective-noun collocations (Siyanova and Schmitt,
2008).
In addition, some studies have also included different types of collocations such
as adjective-noun, adverb-adjective, verb-noun or phrasal-verb-noun collocations (Fan,
2009; Peters, 2014; 2016). Basically, there are two types of collocation: lexical and
grammatical collocations.
2.3. IELTS Writing Task 2
The Writing Task 2 of the IELTS test requires test takers to write at least 250
words. They will be presented with a topic and will be tested on their ability to respond
by giving and justifying an opinion, discussing the topic, summarizing details, outlining
problems, identifying possible solutions and supporting what you write with reasons,
arguments and relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
In an IELTS writing exam, the assessment of Task 2 carries more weight in marking
than Task 1 and is marked with four criteria including Task Response, Coherence and
Cohesion, Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. It can be seen that
in the marking criteria in IELTS test takers are marked on Lexical Resource that marks
on the way writers use collocations in the writing section, especially essays. Ferguson
(2019) gave the tips that help students increase their score as follows.
-Task Response: This Task 2 marking criterion is about the answer to the IELTS
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- PERCEPTIONS ON THE USE OF COLLOCATIONS...
essay question, the main idea and how they are developed. In order to increase the score,
students should pay attention to all issues in the essay question, write about the issues
rather than just the general topic, answer the essay question with relevant main points,
plan the supporting points so they do not go off the topic and write over 250 words.
-Coherence and Cohesion: The IELTS examiner will check the organization of
your essay, the paragraphs and your use of linking devices. Their score will increase if
they have either four or ve paragraphs but not more and not less, have just one central
topic in each body paragraph, organize their ideas logically, use a range of linking words
and avoid errors in linking words.
-Lexical Resource: the use of vocabulary, paraphrasing, spelling and the number
of mistakes writers make will be assessed in this criterion. They should pay attention to
collocations, paraphrase carefully to avoid errors, use a range of words appropriate for
topic, spell words correctly, avoid making errors and avoid using informal language if
they want to get a high score.
-Grammatical Range and Accuracy: The IELTS examiner will give candidate a
band score for their sentence structures, the tenses they use, their control of grammar and
also the number of mistakes they make. Their score will increase if they use different
grammar tenses (conditionals, perfect tenses, passive voice, past, future, etc.), pay
attention to word order in their sentences, use a range of sentence structures, use the
correct punctuation (full stops and commas), avoid errors in grammar (articles, plural
nouns, uncountable nouns, word order).
3. Research Methods
The aim of the study is to identify the senior English major students’ attitudes as
well as their awareness of the use of collocations IELTS writing task 2 in order to nd
out their actual understanding about this criterion in the academic IELTS writing task 2
at Quang Nam University. In this study, questionnaires and interviewed are conducted
for data collection.
3.1. Questionnaire
As the questionnaires and students’ writing IELTS 6 tests will be primarily used to
collect data, the quantitative approach plays a crucial role in this research. In addition,
at the end of the question in the questionnaire, there will be an optional space for the
respondents to express their subjective comments. Therefore, both quantitative and
qualitative approaches will be chosen to obtain and deal with the date of this research.
The questionnaire was distributed to 80 senior students from two classes
DT15TAN01, DT15TAN02 with 40 students in each class, with a return of 100%. Their
ages ranged from 21 to 23 years old, and they come from different areas in Vietnam but
mostly from Quang Nam province.
Information about the participants who responded to the questionnaire is
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summarized in Table 1 below.
Table 1. Students’ personal information
Students’ personal Category Number of Percentage
information students
Gender Male 4 5%
Female 76 95%
Age 21 20 25%
22 53 66%
23 7 9%
Years of studying English 6-9 years 11 14%
More than 9 years 60 75%
Years of studying academic More than 3 years 9 11%
IELTS Writing Task 2
The questionnaire was constructed to capture the participants’ own perceptions
and re ections because it was not only an essential measurement tool for the collection
of data, but it was also unique and tailored to t the circumstances of our study.
3.2. Interview
In order to further some qualitative features to our study, some in-depth interviews
were implemented to make more investigations into the subjects who may have quite
different opinions or concepts in comparison with the others.
The in-depth interviews were conducted after the receipt and preliminary analysis
of the initial questionnaire. The purpose of the interviews was to collect insightful
information which was related to the perceptions, the classroom practice, the dif culties
as well as the expectation of the participants with respect to the improving their IELTS
writing task 2.
The interviews were open-ended in nature and viewed as purposeful conversations
with the structures shaped in the process to get access to social relationships in a profound
way.
There were 09 participants (01 male and 08 female) in the study. Each interview
took about eight minutes. All the interviews were recorded and completed in two sessions
on two different days at the classroom setting.
4. Findings and Discussion
Questions in the questionnaire and interview are subdivided into three main parts
were taken into consideration in details in this section in the light of serving the research
purposes and supplying vital clues for the research questions under three headings: (1)
students’ attitudes towards academic IELTS writing task 2; 2) Students’ conception of
dif culties in writing IELTS task 2; (3) students’ awareness of collocations.
4.1. Students’ attitudes towards academic IELTS Writing Task 2
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In this part, students’ perception about requirement of writing IELTS task 2 will
be discussed. As can be seen from Figure 1, the highest percentage of students (71%)
understood the requirement of writing IELTS task 2 very well whereas 15% of them
knew it rather well and similarly 14% did not understand it very well.
14%
15%
71% Very well
Rather well
Figure 4.1: Students' perception of IELTS writing task 2
Data collected from the interviews also reinforced the above ndings. There were 8
students (80%) answered they had information that their IELTS essay would be assessed
using the 4 criteria including task response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource
(vocabulary) and grammatical range & accuracy. Each criterion was worth 25% of their
total marks for task 2. Their score would be improved if they paid attention to all issues
in the essay question and wrote over 250 words.
4.2. Students’ conception of dif culties in IELTS Writing Task 2
Concerning students’ problems in writing IELTS task 2, the data from Table
4.2 below shows that the vast majority of students had problems in using collocations
correctly and 65% of the students said that their problem was lack of vocabulary while
13% (represented 10 students) stated spelling hindered their writing. It can be seen that
these factors belong to the category of lexical resource, which is one of four criteria
used to assess their IELTS essay. Similarly, 68% of students claimed that grammar made
their writing dif cult. According to the criteria for IELTS Writing Task 2, grammar that
requires students to use a range of sentence structures, different grammar tenses as well
as avoid errors in grammar including articles, plural nouns, uncountable nouns and word
order accounts for a quarter of total score for writing task 2. Meanwhile, nearly 50%
claimed what they confronted in organizing and structuring their writing. Remarkably,
45% students stated that lack of ideas to write was their problem. They realized that
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they should have had suf cient knowledge of the issues asked in the essay question.
Moreover, their ideas had to be relevant, developed, extended and well supported. As
for coherence and cohesion, 24% agreed that they were not good at making their writing
ow logically. It is true that many students found it challenging to use a wide range of
linking devices in their essay properly.
Table 2. Students’ problems in IELTS Writing Task 2
Dif culties Number of Percentage (%)
Responses
Ideas to write 36 45
Grammar 54 68
Vocabulary 52 65
Organizing and structuring your writing 39 49
Making your writing ow logically 19 24
Spelling 10 13
Punctuation 10 13
Using collocations correctly 59 74
The ndings are strengthened by the data
collected from the interviews with students. Most
students (7, accounting for 70%) con rmed that
grammar and vocabulary made writing IELTS
essays a challenging task. Yes
4.3. Students’ perception of collocations
Regarding students’ perception of No
collocations, questions for the interview used
to investigate students’ understanding about the
collocation, their attitudes towards collocation.
Figure 2. Students’ perception on
The data from the pie chart above indicates collocations
that most respondents (65%) understood what
collocation is - a group of words that come together - while 35% of them felt confused
about the use of collocations.
Table 3. Students’ attitudes towards collocations
Attitudes Number of Responses Percentage (%)
Absolutely dif cult and important 30 37
Quite dif cult and important 47 59
Normal and somewhat important 3 4
Easy and unimportant 0 0
Very easy 0 0
Referring to students’ attitudes towards collocations, the data from Table 3
reveals that most of the participants, accounted 96% found collocations dif cult and
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- PERCEPTIONS ON THE USE OF COLLOCATIONS...
important; of which 59% of them considered collocations to be quite dif cult and 37%
was absolutely dif cult. Meanwhile, a minority of respondents (under 10%) realized
they were normal and somewhat important. Especially, none considered collocations to
be easy and important.
It is obvious that most of the students realized the importance and dif culties
of collocations in their writing task. As Hill (2002) states, the way words combine in
collocations is fundamental to all language use. We do not speak or write as if language
is “one huge substitution table with vocabulary items merely lling slots in grammatical
structures” (Hill, 2002, p. 48). Knowing which words collocate and which do not is an
important part of language competence.
Table 4. Frequency of using collocations in IELTS Writing Task 2
Frequency Number of Responses Percentage (%)
Always 2 3
Often 20 30
Sometimes 44 55
Rarely 10 12
Never 0 0
As can be seen from Table 4, all students used collocations in IELTS Writing Task 2.
However, the frequency of their use was quite different. More than half of the population
sometimes used collocations in their essay writing, while 30% of them claimed that they
often wrote their essay with collocations, just 12% stated they rarely did that and 3%
always wanted to increase their score by using collocations in their writing.
In general, a high percentage of students were aware of the importance of
collocations in their essay because as mentioned in the literature review, there was a
signi cant correlation between collocation use and writing ability. Kim (2012) also
nds out that good writers used a greater number of collocations and that appropriate
collocation use can be an indicator of quality writing. Moreover, Liz (2019) points out
that the correct use of collocations is an essential part of improving your English level
and boosting your IELTS score. Using collocations correctly allows you to write and
speak more like a native speaker and they are also one of the things that examiners
look out for when marking your tests. The point is that senior English-major students
at Quang Nam University use the collocations in a right way or not and what common
types of collocation used in their IELTS Writing Task 2.
5. Conclusion
It is clear that most of the students understood the requirements of IELTS Writing
Task 2 very well that help them perform their writing easier.
Concerning students’ problems in IELTS Writing Task 2, the ndings show that a
large proportion of students had problems in using collocations and grammar correctly
or nding the suitable words to write while a half of them confronted in organizing and
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structuring their writing and only a small percentage of them stated spelling hindered
their writing.
Regarding students’ perception of collocation, most of the students under survey
understood the de nition of collocation and they also found collocations dif cult and
important.
With regard to students’ frequent use of collocations in IELTS Writing Task 2, the
ndings show that more than half of the participants sometimes used collocations in their
essay writing, while a few claimed that they always wanted to increase their score by
using collocations in their writing.
This nding is reinforced by the interviewees who stated that although they had
the ideas and brainstormed the words, they did not know which words could be joined
together to form correct expressions. They learned vocabulary through the other subjects,
and most of the time they discovered only individual words. By knowing the meanings
of separate words, students tend to place them together as in their mother tongue (word-
by-word translation), express the source text in the way they understand, or use the word
they know for every situation is also the root of all their collocational mistakes. Moreover,
due to curricular constraints and time pressure, many teachers nd it dif cult to integrate
collocation instruction in regular classes. Mai (2015) points out that insuf cient attention
given to word combinations during class instruction and limited coverage of syntagmatic
phrases in the reference books are also some reasons why L2 collocations are dif cult
to acquire. This also causes students problems when applying collocations to produce a
correct sentence.
In fact, Vietnamese interference was also an obstacle that prevented nearly 60% of
the students using collocations correctly in their essay. Huang (2001) also points out that
the L1 plays a crucial role in their production of English collocations. English learners
tend to transfer negatively already known words and group of words form mother tongue
into the target language because of interference. They do translate expressions (either
consciously or unconsciously) from source language (L1) into target language (L2)
due to "interlanguage" or "errors of competence", which is a huge problem that hinders
learners’ performance in the target language. Teachers have to urge learners to think in
the target language as far as possible in order to avoid translating the L1 collocations into
the L2, since these translations would lead to errors in writing or speaking.
It is suggested that students take advantage of native speaker-published collocation
dictionaries, such as Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English or Dictionary
of Selected Collocations. Students are strongly encouraged to use such dictionaries
because they are the most reliable sources for the correct and natural English collocation;
or at least monolingual dictionaries to ensure their English semantic collocation usage.
In addition, Internet now is a new, fast access source for students to check the correct
collocation, but it is an open source, so students should be careful in using this facility.
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It should be stressed that the Internet can best be used as a complement rather than a
replacement to other types of printed dictionaries.
Moreover, their teachers should guide them to revise and edit for Writing Task
2, especially using collocations to improve Writing band score. Clearly, most of the
students recognized the importance of the teacher’ guidance of using collocation for
revising and editing their essay. The similar number of students suggested that their
teachers should improve students’ collocation competence by designing activities based
on available collocation tools for students to become more familiar with them and how
to effectively use them.
The research studies the reality of using collocations in IELTS writing task 2
of senior English major students at Quang Nam University. It reviews the students’
perception of writing IELTS Task 2, knowledge of English collocations and their attitudes
of collocations. In addition, it shows the reality of using collocations in students’ essays
and the dif culties they faced as well as some suggestions to overcome the problems
identi ed and promote the quality of students’ writing IELTS task 2. The results are
reported in the hope that the ndings can be used as a source of information for students,
teachers and the University have a clearer look towards teaching and learning the writing
skill for IELTS tests. The research is likely to be used as recommendations for adjusting
not only teaching and learning strategies but also the content, syllabus and furthermore,
as a modest contribution to improving the quality of teaching and learning English in
similar contexts.
REFERENCES
[1] Berdie, D. (1986). Questionnaire, Design and Use, The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
[2] Chang, L-H (2011). Integrating Collocation Instruction into a Writing Class. A Case
Study of Taiwanese EFL Students’ Writing Production.
[3] Kim, H (2012. The Relationship of Collocation Competence with Reading and
Writing Skills. English Teaching, Vol. 67, No. 3. pp.109.
[4] Lê, T. (2018). Highscore Collocations IELTS. Zim IELTS.
[5] Lombard, R. J. (2009). An Exploratory Study of Collocational Use by ESL Students
– A Task- based Approach. Science Direct Journals. System, Volume 37 (1), March
2009, pp. 110-123.
[6] Macleod, A, (2008). English Vocabulary Organizer. Commercial Colour Press.
[7] Mai, L. (2015). Insight into students’use of lexical collocation in Vietnamese-English
translation, Thang long University.
[8] Sadeghi, Zahra (2010). “The importance of Collocation in Vocabulary Teaching and
Learning.” Translation Journal,
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NHẬN THỨC VỀ SỬ DỤNG COLLOCATIONS (KẾT HỢP TỪ) TRONG BÀI
VIẾT HỌC THUẬT IELTS TASK 2 CỦA SINH VIÊN NGÔN NGỮ ANH NĂM
CUỐI Ở TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUẢNG NAM
NGUYỄN THỊ KIM PHƯỢNG (B)
Trường Đại học Quảng Nam
Tóm tắt: Một trong những tiêu chí chấm ðiểm trong IELTS là sử dụng từ vựng trong
đó sinh viên sử dụng Collocations (Kết hợp từ) trong bài viết. Do đó, những người làm
bài IELTS cần tận dụng tối đa các collocations cho bài viết của mình. Ðiều này có nghĩa
là người học IELTS không nên tự học từng từ một và nên tập trung vào phương thức kết
hợp các từ để nâng cao vốn từ vựng và tối đa hóa điểm IELTS. Bài viết này nghiên cứu
về nhận thức về viết IELTS học thuật Task 2 nói chung và sử dụng collocations trong bài
tập viết IELTS nói riêng của sinh viên chuyên ngành tiếng Anh ở Ðại học Quảng Nam.
Nghiên cứu trong bài viết này sẽ giúp giáo viên dạy tiếng Anh trường Đại học
Quảng Nam nhận thức được những khó khăn chính mà sinh viên thường gặp trong bài
tập viết IELTS task 2 và hiểu rõ hơn về quan niệm của sinh viên khi sử dụng collocations
trong bài viết học thuật IELTS Task 2. Qua đó, bài viết đề xuất sử dụng collocations để
cải thiện điểm cho sinh viên trong bài viết IELTS.
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