difficulty for learners, they need to be made aware of their predictable collocations.
d. Medium-Strength Collocations Medium-strength collocations are words that frequently go together. These are
neither free nor completely fixed. Students may know the individual words hold and conversation, but not the word combinations. For example, hold a
conversation and make a mistake.
3. Definition of Collocation Knowledge
The acquisition of vocabulary is a significant component in using a language. The knowledge of words can be seen as a learners’ ability to store
words in their memory and use them accurately and appropriately in a given context. Doczi, et al., grouped vocabulary knowledge into passive and active
vocabulary knowledge. Passive vocabulary knowledge is an ability to recognize and understand lexical units. Meanwhile, an ability to use lexical units in speech
and writing is called active vocabulary knowledge.
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Learners need to have vocabulary knowledge because by having vocabulary knowledge, they are able to
use it to form a language production and form a meaning in comprehension as needs in communication.
Nevertheless, having vocabulary knowledge does not only know words but also know the combinatory possibilities of the words. Learners must be able to
combine words to other words to form phrases, and combine words to form grammatical patterns, clauses, and sentences to use a language. The combination
of words with words usually has been called as collocation.
34
Meanwhile, the ability to store sequences of words as the bases of language learning is called
collocation knowledge.
35
Having knowledge of collocation is clearly crucial for foreign language learners in learning English. Hill pointed out that “It is possible that up to 70 of
33
Brigtta Doczi, and Judit Kormos, Longitudinal Developments in Vocabulary Knowledge and Lexical Organization, New York: Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 7.
34
Robert Ilson, et al., Op. cit., p. vii.
35
Yu-han Ma and Wen-yin Lin, A Study on the Relationship between English Reading Comprehension and English Vocabulary Knowledge,
Journal of Education Research International, 2015, p. 3. Retrieved from
http:dx.doi.org10.11552015209154 .
everything we say, hear, read, or write is to be found in some form of fixed expression.”
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It seems that knowledge of collocation relates to the proficiency of language learning. Having collocation knowledge can help learners to form an
appropriate understanding of text. The reason that learners do not understand what they read is that they read every word as if it were separate from every other word.
In other words, they do not recognize collocation as meaningful phrases, which would inhibit their understanding of the text. Moreover, knowledge of collocation
can help learners to use appropriate words in producing a language. For instance, the words beautiful and handsome have similar meaning, however, it is not
appropriate to say she is a handsome girl and he is a beautiful boy. There are many collocations that are more appropriate to use in natural way. It means that
the given context is central in using collocation to create the appropriateness of words.
However, for English foreign language learners, having collocation knowledge might be nearly impossible. Collocation sometimes cannot be
understood literally, therefore the words cannot be used with confident. Learners may know words but their collocation knowledge is very limited because
collocation frequently occurs in spoken and written English in fact English is not used in everyday life in foreign language learners’ area. Therefore, there should
be a further effort to learn collocation to improve their collocation knowledge. Ideally, the acquisition of collocation is not instantaneously acquired. It
must be learned gradually from numerous exposures. Collocation can be learned in various ways. There are varieties of collocation dictionary for those who wish
to learn more about collocation. The dictionaries provide a much more comprehensive account of a word collocates rather than the traditional dictionary.
Novels, newspapers, magazines, radio programs, and movies also can be sources for learning collocation. In addition, corpora concordances also can be a good
resource for learners to determine their collocation frequencies and explore the collocation use.
36
Jimmie Hill, Op. cit., p. 53.
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that collocation knowledge is defined as an ability to store the combination of words to other words which
sound naturally, to use them accurately to produce a language, and to construct meaning in comprehension. In addition, collocation must be recognized in a text
or speech and learned in order to improve collocation knowledge. By having collocation knowledge, it will improve English learners’ fluency, accuracy, and
appropriateness in forming a language production and meaning in comprehension.
C. Related Previous Studies
The relationship between collocation and the language proficiency has been conducted by some researches. Zahra Yazdandoost, et al., has investigated The
Relationship among Collocation Knowledge and Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing Proficiency of Iranian EFL Learners. The study focused on
investigating both lexical and grammatical collocation knowledge and their relation to the language proficiency; reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
There were 50 male and female Iranian graduate students of different fields of study who were studying English as a foreign language involved in this study.
Both lexical and grammatical collocations tests are conducted in this study to measure the students’ collocation knowledge. For finding out students’ listening,
reading, speaking, and writing proficiency, the study took an IELTS sample tests IELTS Practice Plus Pearson Education Longman University, Version two. The
study revealed that the language proficiency has a relationship with students’ lexical and grammatical collocation knowledge. Moreover, knowledge of
collocation can predict the students’ performance or proficiency in all four language skills.
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In addition, Elsa Sastrawati, et al., investigated A Correlation between Students’ Reading Interest and Their Lexical Knowledge of Collocations towards
Their Reading Ability. The aims of the study were to find out the relationship between students’ reading interest and their lexical knowledge of collocations and
37
Zahra Yazdandoost, et al., The Relationship among Collocation Knowledge and Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing Proficiency of Iranian EFL Learners, Journal of
International Scientific Publications, vol. 8, 2014, pp. 408—419. Retrieved from
http:www.scientific-publications.netenarticle1000357 .
how these affected to their reading ability. There were 88 second year students of English Department of Bung Hatta University who were involved in this study.
For correlation study, approximately 30 samples were regarded enough that relates variables. This study distributed questionnaire to find out the students’
response in reading interest, conducted collocation test to measure the students’ knowledge in lexical collocation, and conducted reading test to find out the
students’ ability in reading. The result of analyzing data of this study revealed that reading interest has a relation with lexical knowledge of collocation towards
students’ reading ability.
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Another study is The Effect of Teaching Collocation on Enhancing Iranian EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension by Seyyede Samaneh Sadat Kiaee, et al.
The study used quasi-experiment as a research design to examine the effect of collocation
instruction on
enhancing Iranian
EFL learners’
reading comprehension. The study involved 70 EFL intermediate students from Safir
English Institute in Tehran, Iran. They were randomly divided into experimental group and control group. The experimental group was given collocation treatment
while there was no treatment for control group. In experimental group, the procedure
of collocation instruction included teaching and recognizing
collocations, giving examples, and practicing activities, all of which were designed to enhance the participants’ understanding of collocations. The study
used reading comprehension pretest and posttest consisted of three reading passages which had about 40 collocations to test the level of students’ reading
comprehension. The result indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group in reading comprehension. Thus, it revealed that the teaching of
38
Elsa Sastrawati, et al., A Correlation between Students’ Reading Interest and Their Lexical Knowledge of Collocations towards Their Reading Ability, Abstract of Undergraduate of
Faculty of Education of Bung Hatta University, vol. 4 1, 2015, pp. 1—14. Retrieved from http:ejurnal.bunghatta.ac.idindex.php?journal=JFKIPpage=articleop=viewpath5B5D=
5106path5B5D=4323 .
