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 V O C A B U L A R Y
Noticing
and learning
collocation
George Woolard uses
I
n the ten years since the
publication of the Lexical
key words to unlock word Approach by Michael Lewis,
collocation, one of the central
partnerships. ideas of the book, is beginning to
establish itself in English Language
Teaching. This can be seen from the
growing trend in new coursebooks of
providing vocabulary exercises on
collocation, and setting tasks which
encourage the kind of noticing that is
essential to learning collocation.
As teachers, we need to raise
awareness of collocation and to provide
activities and materials which help
develop learner competence. My own
approach is guided by the following
principles:
● Learning new vocabulary is not just
learning new words, it is often
learning familiar words in new
combinations.
● Practice must be directed towards
helping the learner collocate words
and grammaticalise from word to
sentence.
● The noun provides the most efficient
focus for learning collocation.
1 Familiar words in
new combinations
A learner can know the meaning of a
word, use it in a grammatically well-
formed sentence and communicate
effectively, yet still fail to produce
acceptable English. For example,
48 • Issue 40 September 2005 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
1 Scientists are making research into the
causes of AIDS.
2 The result was an extreme
disappointment.
3 We’ll experience many costs, and few
benefits will come.
In each case, the learner understands
the highlighted word, but fails to
collocate correctly. Each of these
miscollocations has something
instructive to tell us about the nature of
collocation itself.
In 1, make should be replaced by do.
This example highlights the fixed nature
of collocation. There is no reason why it
should be do rather than make, it just is!
This is certainly true of verb–noun
collocations where the verbs do, get,
have, make, put and take carry little
meaning. This de-lexicalised use of the
verb accounts for an extremely large
number of collocations in English.
Learning collocation, then, is knowing
which words can go together.
In 2, extreme should be replaced by
big, huge or bitter. This example
demonstrates that collocation is often
learning about constraints on language
use. We can say The result was extremely
disappointing, but the simple grammar
transformation to The result was an
extreme disappointment is blocked by
the speech community. Learning
collocation is also about knowing which
words can’t go together.
Sentence 3 shows that collocation is
subject-defining. The competent
business English user not only knows
key business terms like costs and benefits,
but also the particular verbs that they
collocate with. In 3, incur should
replace experience and accrue should
replace come. It is the learners’ ability to
use appropriate collocations rather than
particular grammatical structures which
determines their proficiency within a
particular subject area.
As teachers, we encourage learners
to keep vocabulary lists, but the type of
error highlighted above demonstrates
the need to raise awareness of the fact
that learning new vocabulary is not just
learning new words, it is often learning
familiar words in new combinations. This
means that learners need to return to
the words on their lists at regular
intervals in order to extend their
knowledge of their collocations. As with
grammar, learning vocabulary is not
linear, but cyclical in nature.
2 Grammaticalising from
word to sentence
Lewis states that ‘language consists of
grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised
grammar’. The contrast he draws
actually reflects two different ways of
looking at language.
Lexicalised grammar refers to the
traditional ‘slot and filler’ approach in
which prominent structures such as the
tenses are highlighted. For example, in a
typical lesson on the present perfect
tense, the learner is presented with I’ve
been to ........, but I haven’t been to ........
yet and is encouraged to complete this
frame with suitable vocabulary items, eg
I’ve been to Greece, but I haven’t been to
Italy yet.
Grammaticalised lexis, on the other
hand, refers to a ‘word grammar’
approach in which the learner moves
out from a word to discover its
A word grammar
approach, as the
term itself suggests,
tends to dissolve the
strict dichotomy that
we draw between
grammar and
vocabulary
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 40 September 2005 •
collocations and dominant grammatical
patterns. For example, from the
utterance My mother holds very strong
views on the subject of marriage, the
learner notices that you can hold a view,
that a view can be strong and that view
is followed by the preposition on. This
leaves the learner with a chunk of
language: to hold very strong views on
(something). This kind of word
grammar approach helps the learner to
avoid the type of miscollocation we
examined earlier.
It should be noted that a word
grammar approach, as the term itself
suggests, tends to dissolve the strict
dichotomy that we draw between
grammar and vocabulary, as any focus
on the combination of words will
usually involve grammar. For example,
if learners apply a word grammar
approach to success in the utterance I’ve
been looking for a job for some time now,
but I haven’t had much success in finding
one, not only do they note that success
collocates with have and is followed by
the preposition in, but their attention is
also drawn to a very common and
useful use of perfect tenses.
This particular combination of the
present perfect continuous tense +
present perfect tense is used to describe
an activity with a particular aim,
followed by an evaluation of how far
that aim has been achieved. From this
observation, the learner can easily
generate further examples: I’ve been
looking for a flat for some time now, but
I haven’t had much success in finding
one; I’ve been trying to contact Boston
for over an hour now, but I haven’t had
much success in getting through. In
learning vocabulary, then, the learner is
also learning grammar.
Rather than seeing the slot and filler
approach and the word grammar
approach as in some kind of
opposition, as the quote from Lewis
seems to suggest, I believe that, in
relation to language learning, they are
in fact complementary, and further I
would argue that the learner needs to
adopt both approaches in order to
achieve a full competence. The slot and
filler approach enables the learner to
produce huge amounts of
grammatically well-formed language,
while the word grammar approach
shows the learner how much of that
language is actually acceptable.
Where Lewis is right, however, is in
his insistence that ‘practice must be
If our aim in
using language is to
communicate meaning,
it is more helpful to
focus on the noun in
these collocations
rather than the
delexicalised verb
directed towards helping the learner
collocate words and grammaticalise from
word to sentence’. It is this which is
lacking in current materials and
methodology and so we need to enrich
our teaching by adding a word
grammar dimension to it.
3 Focus on nouns
If a word has ten or more significant
collocations, the size of the learning
task begins to look enormous. However,
adopting a noun focus helps to make
the task more manageable.
The justification for such an
approach is twofold. Firstly, language is
used to communicate meaning, and
meaning generally centres on the noun.
Secondly, a word grammar focus on the
noun will draw in significant verbs and
adjectives, leading to an efficient and
contextualised learning of vocabulary.
For example, in the earlier sentence My
mother holds very strong views on the
subject of marriage, a word grammar
approach to view drew in the words hold
and strong as significant collocations.
We could, of course, create
collocation exercises with the adjective
strong – strong coffee, strong opinion,
strong smell; or with the verb hold –
hold a conversation, hold an opinion, hold
a grudge. This is similar to the ‘make or
do’ exercises which are common in most
current textbooks. My dissatisfaction
with these exercises is that the focus is, I
feel, in the wrong place, as make has
little or no meaning when it collocates
with decision, appointment, noise, etc.
If our aim in using language is to
communicate meaning, it is more
helpful to focus on the noun in these
collocations rather than the
delexicalised verb – for instance to help
the learner say various things about
appointments: make an appointment, 
49
 Noticing
and learning
collocation

cancel an appointment, keep an
appointment, miss an appointment, etc.
As a general strategy, the learner
should be encouraged to focus on nouns
in texts and notice the language around
them. Teachers can exploit the texts in
their current coursebooks by directing
their students’ attention to key nouns in
these texts and by creating
supplementary word grammar tasks
which help the learners to notice and
record their significant collocations.
Teaching collocation
Even if teachers follow the above
suggestions, the problem of coverage
remains, as key nouns in coursebook
texts are not revisited in the same
systematic way that key grammar items
tend to be. By this I mean that the
various collocations of words like
opinion and success are not threaded
through the units in the coursebook to
provide a fuller picture of the uses of
these words. Consequently, the learners’
exposure to the significant collocations
of a particular key word is unstructured
and haphazard. How then can we
improve on the situation? What
materials can we provide?
Designing a coursebook to satisfy
the above demands would be an
enormous task and probably
unmanageable. If each key word has ten
or more significant collocations then the
number of items to be threaded through
the coursebook becomes unworkable.
However, I do think that supplementary
materials which provide concentrated
and structured practice in collocation
can fill this gap and work alongside the
coursebook.
A further argument for this
approach lies in the fact that
collocation, by its nature, lends itself to
independent language learning. It is the
kind of task the learner can perform
outside the classroom, and the kind of
activity that will help make maximum
use of the coursebook in the classroom.
One possible format for
supplementary materials is to provide
exercises which highlight significant
verb and adjective collocations and
50 • Issue 40 September 2005 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
larger chunks of language such as the
much-neglected but common noun +
preposition + noun structure. The
sample exercises which follow focus on
use as a noun and are aimed at the
higher-intermediate/advanced student.
Practising collocation
In order to appreciate the richness
! of language that surrounds the key
word, try to think of verb and adjective
collocations with the noun use, and any
other significant chunks of language
containing use before you try the
exercises below. Not many higher-
intermediate/advanced students will
produce this sort of language unassisted.
The first exercise type uses the
traditional gap-fill format to focus on
verb collocations.
Exercise type 1
Complete the sentences below with
the correct form of the following verbs:
ban have lose make
1 I’m afraid she can’t walk. She
.................... the use of her legs in a
road accident.
2 In order to reduce pollution we need to
.................... more use of the energy
provided by the sun and the wind.
3 Let’s go for a drive. I .................... the
use of my father’s car for the weekend.
4 The United Nations should try to
.................... the use of chemical
weapons and get all countries to agree
not to produce them.
The second exercise type offers the
learner two choices to complete the
collocation. In this case, two semantically-
related terms are given, but only one is
appropriate. This format is particularly
useful in helping the learner avoid
miscollocations. In the following exercise
the focus is on adjective collocations.
Exercise type 2
Choose the correct collocation:
1 This entrance is in constant/full use.
Please do not park in front of it.
2 Your son is very clever, but he doesn’t
make complete/full use of his abilities
in the classroom. He could achieve
much better results.
3 The sign next to the fire alarm said
‘Penalty for wrong/improper use –
£200’.
4 It’s a very mild shampoo and doesn’t
dry your hair out. This makes it ideal
for everyday/widespread use.
The third exercise type helps the learner
to notice larger chunks of language. In
this particular exercise, the focus is on the
noun + preposition + noun structure.
Exercise type 3
Complete the sentences below with a
suitable preposition:
1 The steep increase .................... the
use of mobile phones in recent years
has led to a dramatic reduction in the
use of phone boxes.
2 The stone steps in the old castle had
been worn away by years ....................
use.
3 Our organisation has to follow very
strict guidelines .................... the use of
personal details on computers.
4 It’s very user-friendly. There is a large
handle at the front of the device for
ease .................... use.

Supplementary exercises of this sort
provide rich and structured practice in
collocation and word grammar.
Furthermore, once the learner has
completed these exercises, they remain a
reference source which can be revisited
and reactivated to develop fluency. ETp
George Woolard is an
experienced ELT teacher
and trainer who has
worked in Greece,
Malaysia and the UK.
He now teaches at
Stevenson College,
Edinburgh. He is the
author of Key Words for
Fluency, a new series of
collocation practice books
published by Thomson
ELT. His previous
publications include
Lessons with Laughter
and Grammar with
Laughter, also published
by Thomson ELT.
gwoolard@stevenson.ac.uk
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