Second language productive knowledge of collocations: Does knowledge of individual words matter?

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that developing L2 receptive knowledge of single words is associated with increased receptive knowledge of collocations. However, no study to date has directly examined the interrelationship between productive word knowledge and productive collocation knowledge. To address this gap, the present study administered a controlled productive word test and a controlled productive collocation test to 27 native English speakers and 55 nonnative speakers (L1-Arabic). The tests assessed word and collocation knowledge of the most frequent 3,000 lemmas in English (1K, 2K, and 3K frequency bands). The test scores were analyzed using three mixed-effects models for the following outcome variables: collocation appropriacy, collocation frequency, and collocation strength. Results revealed productive word knowledge as a significant predictor of productive collocation knowledge, though with a small effect. This association was omnipresent regardless of frequency band. We discuss implications of these findings for L2 learning and teaching.