Phraseology in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

This book addresses the key role of phraseology in second language acquisition and instruction. It is divided into three main sections: Extracting and Describing Phraseological Units investigates the role played by native and learner corpora in the extraction and description of multiword units, two initial and crucial steps in informing language pedagogy; Learning Phraseological Units deals with the learning aspect, an oft-neglected yet essential dimension of phraseology in second/foreign language pedagogy, this section also addresses issues in new literacies; and Recording and Exploiting Phraseological Units focuses on pedagogical tools, notably monolingual and bilingual dictionaries and textbooks. This stimulating collection presents cutting edge research in the field and identifies major avenues for future theoretical and applied work. It is of particular relevance to researchers and teachers interested in the patterned nature of language.

Fei Fei, Michigan State University, in SSLA 31, 521–523, 2009:
This book is aimed at researchers and teachers who are interested in the patterns of language use. A majority of the chapters present empirical studies and findings that are concrete and convincing. The concluding chapter brings forward issues for future research, which include the availability of phraseological information and the lexis-grammar interface, which may be enlightening to researchers in the field. It should be noted that despite an increasing number of studies that suggest a role for phraseology in L2 learning and acquisition, this area occupies, at best, only a supplementary role in pedagogical practice. This work is, therefore, a timely addition to the mounting evidence of the need to introduce a phraseologically oriented approach to language teaching.