Responding to last week’s column “Learn vocabulary in chunks and not in isolation”, an English language trainer, writes from Chennai, You have explained how learning of chunks facilitates learning of a language. Is there evidence for it? Yet another reader Vijayawada writes: It will be very useful if you can list some common chunks which learners of English should know.
Learners should be exposed to chunks which are frequently used by speakers of English since exposure to the English language (input) is necessary for meaningful output. Here is an important quote from an article available at www.hltmag.co.uk/dec08/idea.htm: What a native-speaker writes and says consists very substantially of memorised combinations of words rather than individual words spontaneously combined in the mind of the individual according to principles of syntax. Erman and Warren (2000), for instance, reckon the proportion of chunks in spoken and written texts to be about 55%. (Wray 2002.)
Here are four important types of chunks:
Collocations: natural combinations of words (heavy rain, strong wind, fast food, quick lunch, bear in mind, chair a meeting)
Visit www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/collocations-lists.htm to access a list of common verb collocations such as have a bath, take a break, pay a fine, go abroad, and go astray.
Common phrases for various situations: Glad to meet you, It was my pleasure, Good luck, Hearty congratulations, Many thanks
We use many common phrases while carrying out functions such as comparing and contrasting, agreeing and disagreeing, expressing personal opinions, and expressing likes and dislikes. To know more about such functional phrases watch the videos available at www.ieltsspeaking.co.uk/comparing-and-contrasting. To become familiar with common formal, semi-formal and informal expressions used in various situations, visit www.commonenglishphrases.com.
Linking expressions: for example, in conclusion, in comparison to, compared with, in short, in the meantime, in the light of are words/phrases that connect our ideas and cohesion to our writing. Such expressions are also called transition signals.
To know more about linking expressions or transition signals, visit www.smart-words.org/linking-words/transition-words.html Idiomatic expressions from the cradle to the grave, social butterfly.
To become familiar with common idioms used in English, visit www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms. This site provides a dictionary of 3,770 idioms with definitions.
rayanal@yahoo.co.uk
Dr Albert P’ Rayan is an ELT Resource Person and Professor of English