Chapter 1 the study of collocations

5.3  Summary of the Findings 
 
 
As far as the free production of collocations is concerned, the following 
conclusions can be drawn: 
i) Type 26. SVc collocations are 'core' collocations, as they were the most frequently 
used by students at all proficiency levels. 
ii) Type 26. SVc and 29. Adjective Noun collocations are early acquired ones as their 
use by subjects in this study revealed. 
iii) Types 3. Noun that, 18. SV Possessive V-ing, 22. SVOO, 25. S(it)VO to Inf, 28. Verb 
Noun (eradication), and 32. Adverb Adjective were avoided by subjects in all groups.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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These types represent collocations that are structurally demanding, infrequent, 
and/or fixed. 
iv) The use of Type 12. SV to Inf, 13. SV Inf, 15. SVO to Inf, 21. SVOc, 1. Noun Prep, 
and 5. Adjective Prep collocations indicates a higher level of proficiency and 
development of collocational knowledge, as they were used mainly by subjects in 
Group 3, the highest proficiency level. 
v) The development of collocational knowledge occurs gradually, and collocational 
use develops significantly after two years of instruction, exposure and maturation 
has taken place (see correlations of the acquisition orders for the three Groups). 
 
As far as the learners' cued production of collocations is concerned, the 
following conclusions can be drawn. 
i) Grammatical collocations are easier to translate than lexical collocations.  
Accuracy in translating lexical collocations, Types 1,5, and 27, increased as 
language proficiency increased.  
ii) Grammatically more complex types were more difficult, e.g. Type 16. SVO inf 
collocations were more difficult to translate with accuracy than Type 13. SV Inf 
collocations. 
iii) Collocations containing a preposition were more difficult to translate than 
collocations containing an infinitive, as prepositions appeared to be more likely to 
cause L1 interference for the subjects in this study, and their combination with 
other words produced relatively fixed and difficult collocations.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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iv) Type 27. Verb Noun (creation) lexical collocations were the most difficult to 
translate with accuracy for all subjects.  Verb Noun collocations in the blank-filling 
test were also difficult for all subjects and they were also infrequent in the students' 
essays.