Commentary on Part IV: Processes in the Development of L2 Collocational Knowledge — A Challenge for Language Learners, Researchers and Teachers

Abstract

Collocations, that is, frequently recurring lexical patterns, often with specific semantic and syntactic restrictions, can be seen as a subset of formulaic sequences. Mastery of formulaic sequences, including collocations, is a central aspect of communicative competence, enabling the native speaker to process language both fluently and idiomatically (Pawley and Syder, 1983) and to fulfil basic communicative and social needs (Wray, 2002). For the L2 learner, formulaic sequences often function as a gateway to the new language and they may support the process of acquiring more creative language skills. Moreover, the ability to use formulaic sequences, including collocations, is an important element in gaining nativelike competence, and they may play an important role in taking on or rejecting group identity (Wray, 2002). Even though learners in the initial phases of learning may rely on accumulating different types of formulaic sequences, collocational knowledge is, nevertheless, a language phenomenon that is acquired late and often not mastered very well by L2 language learners (see, for example, Arnaud and Savignon, 1997; Revier and Henriksen, 2006). In this chapter, we will focus on the processes in the development of L2 collocational knowledge, which is the topic explored in the three research studies in Part IV. We will discuss both the challenges learners are faced with in relation to acquiring collocational knowledge and the challenges researchers are faced with in relation to describing and explaining the acquisition processes involved.