Cover not available
Article published In:
AILA Review
Vol. 36:2 (2023) ► pp.135–162

Pedagogical construction grammar

The case of collocations and collostructions
in foreign language instruction

ORCID logo | University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
The concept of constructions has become increasingly important in theories of language acquisition and use during the last 20 years. Constructions are form-meaning pairings that are learned and stored as pieces of linguistic knowledge. Fillmore, Kay, and O’Conner (1988), and Goldberg (1995, 2006, 2019) were among the first linguists who paved the way for this alternative constructivist view on grammar. Since then, Construction Grammar (CxG) has become a widely accepted descriptive and processing model that is based on a large body of scientific research (e.g., Herbst, Schmid, & Faulhaber, 2014; Herbst, 2016; Hilpert, 2019; Hoffmann, 2022; Stefanowitsch, 2011). However, it is only recently that linguists have addressed the question of whether second/foreign language learners’ linguistic competence depends on constructions (e.g., Boas, 2022; De Knop & Gilquin, 2016). If CxG is widely recognized in the branch of first language acquisition, it is also indispensable to transfer this concept to Applied Linguistics to design suitable teaching materials and methods. Drawing upon the proposition “foreign language learning is construction learning” (Ellis, 2001; Herbst, 2016), this article aims to suggest a proposal for teaching English collocations following Herbst’s (2016) seven principles of Pedagogical Construction Grammar (PCxG). In particular, this article aims to suggest ways to apply these principles to developing supplementary teaching materials, activities, and tasks for teaching English collocations and collostructions.
Keywords: Pedagogical Construction Grammar, Applied Construction Grammar, collocations, Construction Grammar, foreign language pedagogy
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Review of the literature
    • 2.1Collocations as constructions
    • 2.2Teaching collocations
    • 2.3Teaching constructions with Pedagogical Construction Grammar (PCxG)
  • 3.This study: Presenting and teaching collocations as constructions in the classroom
    • 3.1Principle 1: The basic principle of Pedagogical Construction Grammar if “it’s constructions all the way down” (Goldberg, 2006, p. 18) and language learning consists of the learning of constructions, then language teaching should consist of the teaching of constructions (Herbst, 2016, p. 41)
    • 3.2Principle 2: The principle of presenting constructions as form-meaning pairings Constructions should be introduced as form-meaning pairings and not indirectly (Herbst, 2016, p. 41)
    • 3.3Principle 3: The principle of one sense at a time: Lexical constructions should be presented in textbooks as units of lexical form and a single sense (Herbst, 2016, p. 42)
    • 3.4Principle 4: The principle of indicating chunks: In the vocabulary sections of textbooks, important collocations and phrases should be listed explicitly (Herbst, 2016, p. 42)
    • 3.5Principle 5: The principle of showing valency constructions: The most important (and most frequent) valency constructions should always be listed explicitly in the vocabulary sections of textbooks (Herbst, 2016, p. 43)
    • 3.6Principle 6: The principle of moderate and meaningful use of grammatical terminology: The use of grammatical terminology should be restricted to a useful minimum, i.e. to cases in which the use of terminology contributes to language learning. In particular, the terminology used should be employed consistently, be appropriate for the language in question, and not be based on the teaching traditions of another language (Herbst, 2016, p. 44)
    • 3.7Principle 7: The principle of authenticity: Teaching materials should be based on the analysis of corpora or on reference works based on corpus analysis and the frequency of constructions should be reflected in the design of teaching materials (Herbst, 2016, p. 44)
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Conflicts of interest
  • References
  • Dictionaries
  • Corpora
Published online: 15 February 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.22017.pak
References (102)
References
Achard, M. (2018). Teaching usage and concepts: Toward a cognitive pedagogical grammar. In A. Tyler, L. Huang, & H. Jan (Eds.), What is applied cognitive linguistics? (pp. 37–62). De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ambridge, B., Theakston, A. L., Lieven, Elena V. M., & Tomasello, M. (2006). The distributed learning effect for children’s acquisition of an abstract syntactic construction. Cognitive Development, 21 (2), 174–193. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aston, G. (2002). The learner as corpus designer. In B. Kettemann & G. Marko (Eds), Teaching and learning by doing corpus analysis (pp. 9–25). Rodopi. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bahns, J., & Eldaw, M. (1993). Should we teach EFL students collocations? System, 21 (1), 101–114. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Basal, A. (2019). Learning collocations: Effects of online tools on teaching English adjective- noun collocations. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50 (1), 342–356. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Behrens, H. (2011). Grammatik und Lexikon im Spracherwerb: Konstruktionsprozesse. In S. Engelberg, A. Holler, & K. Proost (Eds.), Sprachliches Wissen zwischen Lexikon und Grammatik (pp. 375–396). De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bencini, G. M. L., & Goldberg, A. E. (2000). The contribution of argument structure constructions to sentence meaning. Journal of Memory and Language, 43 (4), 640–651. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boas, H. (2022). Directions for pedagogical construction grammar: Learning and teaching (with) constructions. De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2022). From construction grammar(s) to pedagogical construction grammar. In H. Boas (Ed.), Directions for pedagogical construction grammar: Learning and teaching (with) constructions (pp. 3–44). De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bybee, J. (2010). Language, usage and cognition. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Çelik, S. (2011). Developing collocational competence through web-based concordance activities. Novıtas Royal Research on Youth and Language, 5 (2), 273–286.Google Scholar
Chambers, A. (2005). Integrating corpus consultation in language studies. Language Learning & Technology, 9 (2), 111–25.Google Scholar
Chan, T.-p., & Liou, H.-C. (2005). Effects of web-based concordancing instruction on EFL students’ learning of verb - noun collocations. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 18 (3), 231–251. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cowie, A. (1981). The treatment of collocations and idioms in learner’s dictionaries. Applied Linguistics, 2 1, 223–235. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Daskalovska, N. (2015). Corpus-based versus traditional learning of collocations. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 28 (2), 130–144. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Knop, S., & Gilquin, G. (2016). Applied construction grammar. De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Knop, S., & Mollica, F. (2022). Construction-based teaching of German verbless directives to Italian-speaking learners. In H. Boas (Ed.), Directions for pedagogical construction grammar: Learning and Teaching (with) Constructions (pp. 123–160). De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Knop, S., & De Rycker, T. (2008). Cognitive approaches to pedagogical grammar: A volume in honour of René Dirven. De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Durrant, P., & Schmitt, N. (2010). Adult learners’ retention of collocations from exposure. Second Language Research, 26 (2), 163–188. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eddington, D., & Ruiz de Mendoza, F. (2010). Argument constructions and language processing: Evidence from a priming experiment and pedagogical implications. In S. De Knop, F. Boers, & A. De Rycker (Eds.), Fostering language teaching efficiency through cognitive linguistics (pp. 213–238). De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N. (2001). Memory for language. In R. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 33–68). Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003). Constructions, chunking, and connectionism: The emergence of second language structure. In C. J. Doughty & M. H. Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp.63–103). Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013). Construction grammar and second language acquisition. In T. Hoffmann & G. Trousdale (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of construction grammar (pp. 365–368). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, N., & Cadierno, T. (Eds.) (2009). Constructing a second language. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 7 1, 111–290. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N., & Wulff, S. (2015). Second language acquisition. In E. Dabrowska & D. Divjak (Eds.), Handbook of cognitive linguistics (pp. 409–431). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Evert, S. (2008). Corpora and collocations. In A. Lüdeling & M. Kytö (Eds.), Corpus linguistics: An international handbook (extended manuscript of Chapter 58) (pp.1–53). Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Fan, M. (2009). An exploratory study of collocational use by ESL students – A task based approach. System, 37 (1), 110–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fang, L., Ma, Q., & Yan, J. (2021). The effectiveness of corpus-based training on collocation use in L2 writing for Chinese senior secondary school students. Journal of China Computer-Assisted Language Learning, 1 (1), 80–109. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fillmore, C. J., Kay, P., & O’Connor, M. C. (1988). Regularity and idiomaticity in grammatical constructions: The case of let alone. Language, 64 1, 501–538. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Firth, J. R. (1957). Modes of meaning. In J. R. Firth, Papers in linguistics 1934–1951 (pp. 190–215). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Francis, G., Hunston, S., & Manning, E. (1996). Collins COBUILD grammar patterns, 1: Verbs. Harper CollinsGoogle Scholar
Friginal, E. (2018). Corpus linguistics for English teachers: Tools, online resources, and classroom activities. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gemmell Hudson, M. (2022). Teaching second year German using frames and constructions. In H. Boas (Ed.), Directions for pedagogical construction grammar: Learning and teaching (with) constructions (pp. 265–304). De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gilquin, G. (2022). Constructing learner speech: On the use of spoken data in applied construction grammar. In H. Boas (Ed.), Directions for pedagogical construction grammar: Learning and teaching (with) constructions (pp. 73–96). De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gilquin, G., & Granger, S. (2010). How can data-driven learning be used in language teaching? In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy, The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics (pp. 359–370). Routledge.Google Scholar
Glass, C. (2019). Collocations, creativity and constructions: A usage-based study of collocations in language attainment. Narr Francke Attempto.Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. E. (1995). Constructions: A construction grammar approach to argument structure. Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
(2003). Constructions: a new theoretical approach to language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7 (5), 219–224. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006). Constructions at work: The nature of generalization in language. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2019). Explain me this: Creativity, competition, and the partial productivity of constructions. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gries, S. (2022). On, or against? (just) frequency. In H. Boas (Ed.), Directions for pedagogical construction grammar: Learning and teaching (with) constructions (pp. 47–72). De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gries, S. T., & Wulff, S. (2005). Do foreign language learners also have constructions? Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 3 1, 82–200. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009). Psycholinguistic and corpus-linguistic evidence for L2 constructions. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 7 1, 164–187. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hausmann, F.-J. (1984). Wortschatzlernen ist kollokationslernen. Zum lehren und lernen französischer wortwendungen. Praxis des neusprachlichen Unterrichts, 31 (1), 395–406.Google Scholar
Hausmann, F. J. (1985). Kollokationen im deutschen wörterbuch. Ein beitrag zur theorie des lexikographischen Beispiels. In H. Bergenholtz & J. Mugdan (Eds.), Lexikographie und Grammatik. Akten des Essener Kolloquiums zur Grammatik im Wörterbuch (pp.118–129). Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hausmann, F. (2007). Die kollokationen im rahmen der phraseologie – Systematische und historische darstellung. Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 55 (3), 217–234. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Herbst, Thomas. (2014). The valency approach to argument structure constructions. In T. Herbst, H. J. Schmid, & S. Faulhaber (Eds.), Constructions – collocations – patterns (pp.167–216). Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Herbst, T. (2016). Foreign language learning is construction learning: Principles of pedagogic construction grammar. In S. De Knop & G. Gilquin (Eds.), Applied construction grammar (pp. 21–52). De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018). Is language a collostructicon? A proposal for looking at collocations, valency, argument structure and other constructions. In P. Cantos-Gómez & M. Almela-Sánchez (Eds), Lexical collocation analysis. Quantitative methods in the humanities and social sciences (pp.1–22). Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Herbst, T., Heath, D., Roe, I. F., & Götz, D. (2004). A valency dictionary of English: A corpus-based analysis of the complementation patterns of English verbs, nouns and adjectives. Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Herbst, T., Schmid, H. J., & Faulhaber, S. (Eds.) (2014). Constructions-collocations-patterns. De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hilpert, M. (2019). Construction grammar and its application to English (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, T. (2022). Construction Grammar. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holme, R. (2010). A construction grammar for the classroom. De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Howarth, P. (2013). Phraseology in English academic writing: Some implications for language learning and dictionary making. Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jablonkai, R. R., & Csomay, E. (Eds.). (2022). The Routledge handbook of corpora and English language teaching and learning (1st ed.). Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jespersen, O. (1954). A Modern English grammar on historical principles, Part VI: Morphology. Bradford and Dickens.Google Scholar
Johnson, W. (1944). Studies in language behavior: I. A program of research. Psychological Monographs, 56 1, 1–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kettemann, B., & Marko, G. (Eds.). (2016). Teaching and learning by doing corpus analysis. Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kilgarriff, A., Rychlý, P., Smrž, P., & Tugwell, D. (2014). The Sketch Engine: Ten years on. Lexicography, 1 1, 7–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kjellmer, G. (1991). A mint of phrases. In K. Aijmer & B. Altenberg (Eds.), English corpus linguistics. Studies in honour of Jan Svartvik (pp. 111–127). Longman.Google Scholar
Langacker, R. W. (1987). Foundations of cognitive grammar. Vol. 1: Theoretical prerequisites. CSLI.Google Scholar
(2008). Cognitive grammar: A basic introduction. Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lehecka, T. (2015). Collocation and colligation. In F. Brisard, P. Gras, S. D’hondt, & M. Vandenbroucke (Eds.), Handbook of pragmatics (pp. 1–20). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lewis, M. (Ed.). (2000). Teaching collocation: Further developments in the lexical approach. Language Teaching Publications.Google Scholar
Li, J., & Schmitt, N. (2010). The development of collocations use in academic texts by advanced L2 learners: A multiple case study approach. In D. Wood (Ed.), Perspectives on formulaic language: Acquisition and communication (pp. 23–46). Continuum.Google Scholar
Lindstromberg, S., & Boers, F. (2008). Teaching chunks of language. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Littlemore, J. (2009). Applying cognitive linguistics to second language learning and teaching. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, D. (2010). Going beyond patterns: Involving cognitive analysis in the learning of collocations. TESOL Quarterly, 44 (1), 4–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marks, J. A., & Wooder, A. (2007). Check your vocabulary for natural English collocations. A&C Black Publishers.Google Scholar
McCarthy, M., & O‘Dell, F. (2005). English collocations in use: How words work together for fluent and natural English: Self-study and classroom use. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mckeown, K. R., & Radev, D. R. (2000). Collocations. In R. Dale, H. Moisl, & H. Somers (Eds.), A handbook of natural language processing (pp. 507–523). Marcel Dekker.Google Scholar
Mukherjee, J., & Götz, S. (2019). Learner corpora and language teaching. John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nagy, T. (2020). On the nature of collocations and ways of teaching them in foreign language classes. Hungarian Educational Research Journal, 10 (1), 16–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nesselhauf, N. (2004). Learner corpora and their potential for language teaching. In J. Sinclair (Ed.), How to use corpora in language teaching (pp. 125–152). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005). Collocations in a learner corpus. John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Niemeier, S. (2017). Task-based grammar teaching of English: Where cognitive grammar and task-based language teaching meet. Narr Francke Attempto.Google Scholar
Pakzadian, M. (2012). The effect of L1 on learning new L2 vocabulary among intermediate proficiency level students. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2 (6), 1147–1152. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Palmer, H. E. (1933). Second interim report on English collocations. KaitakushaGoogle Scholar
Partington, A., Morley, J., & Haarman, L. (Eds.). (2004). Corpora and discourse. Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd. ed). Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schmid, H.-J. (2010). Does frequency in the text instantiate entrenchment in the cognitive system? In D. Glynn & K. Fischer (Eds.), Quantitative methods in cognitive semantics: Corpus-driven approaches (pp.101–133). De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sinclair, J. (1991). Corpus, concordance, collocation. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(1996). The search for units of meaning. Textus, 9 1, 75–106.Google Scholar
(1998). The lexical item. In E. Weigand (Ed.), Contrastive lexical semantics (pp.1–24). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003). Reading concordances. Pearson.Google Scholar
(2004a). Trust the text: Language, corpus and discourse. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2004b). How to use corpora in language teaching. John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stefanowitsch, A. (2011). Keine Grammatik ohne Konstruktionen: Ein logisch-ökonomisches Argument für die Konstruktionsgrammatik. In A. Holler & K. Proost (Eds.), Sprachliches wissen zwischen lexikon und grammatik (pp. 37–70). Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stefanowitsch, A. & Gries, S. T. (2003). Collostructions: Investigating the interaction between words and constructions. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 8 (2), 209–243. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sun, Y-C., & Wang, L-Y. (2003). Concordancers in the EFL classroom: Cognitive approaches and collocation difficulty. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 16 (1), 83–94. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sung, M., & Yang, H.–K. (2016). Effects of construction-centered instruction on Korean students’ learning of English transitive resultative constructions. In S. D. Knop & G. Gliquin (Eds.), Applied construction grammar (pp. 89–114). De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thornbury, S. (2002). How to teach vocabulary. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Uhrig, P., Faulhaber, S., Dąbrowska, E., & Herbst, T. (2022). L2-words that go together – More on collocation and learner language. In H. Boas (Ed.), Directions for pedagogical construction grammar: Learning and teaching (with) constructions (pp. 97–120). De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Waller, T. (1993). Characteristics of near-native proficiency in writing. In H. Ringbom (Ed.), Near-native proficiency in English (pp. 183–193). Abo Akademi.Google Scholar
Webb, S., & Kagimoto, E. (2009). The effects of vocabulary learning on collocation and meaning. TESOL Quarterly, 43 1, 55–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Widdowson, H. G. (2000). On the limitations of linguistics applied. Applied Linguistics, 21 (1), 3–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wray, A. (2002). Formulaic language and the lexicon. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wulff, S., & Gries, S. T. (2011). Corpus-driven methods for assessing accuracy in learner production. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Second language task complexity (pp. 61–88). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dictionaries
Macmillan collocations dictionary. (2010). Macmillan Education.Google Scholar
Hornby, A. S., & Crowther, J. (1995). Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary of current English. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Corpora
BNC The British National Corpus. Distributed by Oxford University Press Computing Services on behalf of the BNC Consortium. [URL]
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Chen, Lvfang
2024. Analysis of Chinese-English Differences in “Degree Adverb + Noun” Constructions in the Perspective of Constructive Grammar Based on Pattern Recognition Technique. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences 9:1 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 november 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.