An Investigation of Problems Encountered by EFL Learners while Using Lexical Collocations in Writing and their Causes

Abstract

Achieving native-like writing undoubtedly remains a significant difficulty for EFL learners notably on the level of collocations. Remarkably, EFL students make a lot of collocational errors in their writings. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to investigate the main problems and their causes encountered by third-year English language students of Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia University while using lexical collocations in their written productions. This study is based on the assumption that third year students face significant problems in using lexical collocations; also, it is claimed that these problems are primarily caused by lack of collocational competence and L1 interference. To investigate this topic, data were gathered by dint of content analysis and questionnaire. The content was taken from twenty-four exam papers of third-year English students. Likewise, the questionnaire was administered to a sample of sixty third year students. The results yielded by both tools revealed that students make lexical collocation errors to a large extent, especially in verb + noun and adjective + noun patterns. Also, it was found that L1 interference, lack of collocational competence and learning strategy types are the main reasons behind students' mis-collocations in writing. To overcome the former problems, it was suggested that teachers should raise their students' attention towards the use of collocations through integrating them into their teaching curricula; also, students are required to develop autonomous learning of collocations.