Chapter 1 the study of collocations

Table 25.  Means and standard deviations by group for the essay data 
    Means 
per 
Group 
 Std. 
Dev. 
per 
Group 
Types Group1 
Group2  Group3   Group1  Group2 Group3 
1. Noun Prep 
.099 
 .234 
 .400 
 .335 
 .517 
 .650 
2. Noun to infinitive 
0.000 
 .074 
 .083 
0.000 
 .366 
 .323 
3. Noun that 
0.000  0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 
4. Preposition Noun 
 .626 
 .989 
 .411 
1.217 
1.187 
 .701 
5. Adjective Prep 
 .231 
 .426 
 .411 
 .616 
 .823 
 .833 
6. Pred Adj to inf 
 .033 
 .128 
 .100 
 .180 
 .421 
 .337 
7. Adj that 
0.000 
 .011 
 .011 
0.000 
 .103 
 .105 
8. SVO to O/SVOO 
 .209 
 .117 
 .133 
 .587 
 .384 
 .429 
9. SVO to O 
0.000  0.000  
.011  0.000 0.000  
.105 
10. SVO for O/SVOO 
 .011 
 .011 
0.000 
 .105 
 .103 
0.000 
11. SV(O) prep O 
2.066  2.213 1.200 2.081 2.047 1.432 
12. SV to inf 
 
.835  2.404 1.933 1.790 2.329 2.360 
13. SV inf 
 .286 
1.287 
2.389 
 .898 
1.708 
2.355 
 
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14. SVV-ing 
 .330 
 .606 
 .222 
 .844 
1.483 
 .746 
15. SVO to inf 
 .011 
 .106 
 .256 
 .105 
 .427 
 .628 
16. SVO inf 
 .011 
 .021 
 .044 
 .105 
 .145 
 .207 
17. SVO V-ing 
0.000 
 .032 
0.000 
0.000 
 .177 
0.000 
18. SV poss V-ing 
0.000  0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 
19. SV(O) that 
 .165 
 .702 
1.078 
 .719 
1.199 
1.326 
20. SVO to be c 
0.000 
 .011 
0.000 
0.000 
 .103 
0.000 
21. SVOc 
0.000 
 .053 
 .256 
0.000 
 .226 
 .646 
22. SVOO 
0.000  0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 
23. SV(O) Adverbial 
 .813 
 .649 
 .533 
 .999 
 .924 
 .782 
24. SV(O) wh-word 
 .055 
 .245 
 .133 
 .273 
 .581 
 .373 
25. S(it)VO to inf 
0.000 
0.000 
0.000 
0.000 
0.000 
0.000 
26. SVc 
7.846  6.160 3.789 5.131 3.740 3.000 
27. Verb Noun (creat) 
 .549 
 .681 
 .800 
1.036 
 .941 
1.083 
28. Verb Noun (erad) 0.000  0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 
29. Adj Noun 
3.440  2.021  
.856  3.078 1.328 1.076 
30. Noun Verb 
0.000  0.000  
.033  0.000 0.000  
.181 
31. Noun
1
 of Noun
2
 
 .044 
 .011 
 .122 
 .295 
 .103 
 .419 
32. Adv Adj 
0.000  0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 
33. Verb Adverb 
0.000 
 .021 
 .056 
0.000 
 .145 
 .275 
34. Noun Noun 
 .209 
 .298 
 .367 
 .548 
 .583 
 .800 
35. Miscellaneous 
 .033 
 .043 
 .022 
 .233 
 .203 
 .148 
36. Prep Det Noun   
.714  1.362 1.033 1.088 1.335 1.146 
 
258

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37. Phrasal Verb 
 .143 
 .936 
 .200 
 .382 
1.096 
 .050 
 
0
2
4
6
8
Gr oup1
Gr oup2
Gr oup3
Col l oca ti on  Tokens - Essa y Da ta - Al l Groups
Col l oca ti on Ty pes
 
Note. Only those collocation types showing significant differences across 
groups are included in this figure. 
Figure 3.  Mean use of collocation tokens - essay data - all groups 
 
4.2.1.1.2  Summary of the Results for the Essay Data 
 
The results of the Kruskal-Wallis analyses of the accurate use of the 37 
types of collocations in the students' essays partially support Hypothesis 1, 
since there are significant differences between different proficiency groups in 
the use of collocations.  These differences are clear in the use of the collocation 
Types 13. SV Infinitive and 19. SV(O) that.  As the proficiency level increases, 
the accurate use of these two types of collocations increases, resulting in 
significant between-group differences, across all three groups. 
 
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 Type 
1. 
Noun Preposition collocations are also positively related to 
proficiency, since Group 3 subjects use significantly more tokens of this type of 
collocation than subjects in the other two groups. 
 
The results also show that the direction of the between-group differences 
is not always the expected one.  With respect to the collocation Types 26. SVc 
and 29. Adjective Noun, proficiency is negatively correlated with accurate use of 
these two types across groups: the less proficient students use significantly 
more tokens of these two types of collocation than the more proficient students. 
 There are also collocation Types, 4. Preposition Noun, 12. SV to Infinitive, 36. 
Prep Det Noun, and 37. Phrasal Verb, for which Group 2 subjects use 
significantly more tokens than either Group 1 or Group 3 subjects.  For Type 5. 
Adjective Preposition, Group 2 and Group 3 subjects use significantly more 
collocations than subjects in Group 1, while for Type 11. SV(O) Preposition O 
Group 1 and 2 subjects are significantly better users than Group 3 subjects.  
There is also a number of collocation types that did not receive any tokens of 
accurate use by any of the groups (3. Noun that, 18. SV possessive V-ing, 22. 
SVOO, 25. S(it)VO to inf, 28. Verb Noun (eradication), and 32. Adverb Adjective). 
 
The results of the analysis for this set of data, summarised below in 
Table 26, suggest that there are indeed proficiency-related differences in the 
accurate use of collocations, and that there are specific types of collocation that 
are used in the early stages of proficiency, and others that are used in the later 
stages of development.