Investigating the collocations available to EAP writers

Abstract

Studies on the productive use of collocations have enabled researchers to harness a wealth of information about the phenomenon. However, most such studies focus on the collocations that come to the surface in finished texts, and have not been able to capture the range of collocational choices available for writers to choose from as they write. The present investigation addresses this gap by examining the collocations users of academic English at a British university were able to recall when presented with a selection of general academic writing frames. The study examined the collocations instinctively available to a group of 90 academics, tutors of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and students at PhD, MA and undergraduate levels in an academic writing gap-filling test where more than one collocation could be used in each gap. The results indicate that experience of English academic writing plays a more decisive role than having English as a first language (L1) in the collocations effortlessly available to EAP users.