Does someone do a mistake or make a mistake? Does a student give a test or take a test? Does a person make a photo or take a photo? Do you someone in hospital or to hospital? Learners of English often face difficulties when it comes to collocations. Last week, I was an examiner for Business English Certificate (BEC) speaking exams, conducted by the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. My partner and I examined 43 pairs of candidates in two days. Their responses to different questions can serve as valuable inputs for a good research paper. The assessment criteria for speaking include grammar and vocabulary, discourse, pronunciation and interaction. I noticed that many candidates demonstrated inadequate collocation competence. Very recently, when I analysed my students’ writing assignments, I came across many inaccurate collocations and here are some of the incorrect collocations and the correct ones are within parentheses:
• I did a mistake (I made a mistake).
• I have not yet made my assignment (I haven’t yet done my assignment).
• Who makes the laundry at your house? (Who does the laundry?).
• He was admitted in hospital (He was admitted to hospital).
• The student gave a test (The student took a test).
• I would better do it now (I had better do it now).
Collocation can be defined as the natural combination of words or the correct arrangement of words in a sentence. The phrases ‘heavy rain’ and ‘strong wind’ sound natural and therefore are proper collocations but ‘strong rain’ and ‘heavy wind’ are not acceptable collocations. Do we have any set of rules for collocations? No, there is no logic behind using correct collocations. Of the use of ‘come’ and ‘go’ Alford writes: “We say of a wrecked ship that she went to pieces; but of a broken jug that it came to pieces. Plant come up, come into flower, but go to seed…”
Why do learners make collocation errors? It is because of their lack of exposure to the language. Learners who have the habit of reading magazine articles, novels and other books, watching English movies and listening to English news, make less collocation errors than those who do not have such habits. Mother tongue or first language interference is stated to be another cause. Many English language teachers teach individual words but not collocations. Only in recent years the focus on teaching co-occurrence of words or chunks has increased. Lewis’ lexical approach to learning a language that puts emphasis on learning collocations is an alternative to many grammar-based approaches. Exposure to the language and constant practice can help the learner acquire collocation competence. Here are some collocations of ‘make’ and ‘do’:
• Make an offer, make arrangements, make an attempt, make a phone call, make love, make money, make peace, make a plan and make progress.
• Do harm, do research, do one’s best, do business, do a deal, do a report, do a course, and do your hair.
— rayanal@yahoo.co.uk
