Investigating the Effect of Visually-enhanced Input on the Acquisition of Lexical Collocations by Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners: A Case of Verb-noun Lexical Collocations

Abstract

This study evaluates the potentially relative effectiveness of visual/textual input-based enhancement on the acquisition of Verb-Noun lexical collocations by Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, ninetysix intermediate learners were selected and randomly assigned to three equal groups. Having administered a pre-test, the three groups attended ten sessions of intervention in which all the learners received the same set of ten reading passages; nevertheless, the first experimental group (EG1) received reading passages in which the collocations bolded or CAPITALIZED. The subjects in the second experimental group (EG2) underwent a conventional-based treatment. The control group (CG) received no specific instructions. Later, the three groups took a post-test. The results indicated that both visually/textually enhanced input and conventional method of teaching have a statistically significant effect on the acquisition of target items. Moreover, it can be concluded that visual/textual input-based enhancement can be as beneficial as conventional method of teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]