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Assessing English language learners’ collocation knowledge: a systematic review of receptive and productive measurements

  • Chen Ding ORCID logo , Barry Lee Reynolds ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Csaba Z. Szabo ORCID logo and Griet Boone ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: January 4, 2024

Abstract

Since collocation knowledge is integral to second language vocabulary depth, it necessitates a careful examination of various measurement approaches. To this end, the current paper provides an overview and evaluation of extant collocation measurements used in empirical studies on L2 English (N = 153) published between 1980 and 2023 indexed in the SSCI, SCIE, AHCI, SCOPUS, and ERIC databases. Six instruments, seven item formats, and three other assessment tools were identified and reviewed for the assessment of receptive and productive collocation knowledge. The review focused on the collocation knowledge measured by each tool, the instrument and/or item format employed, item design, reported reliability, and potential drawbacks of employing each instrument and item format in research or practice. The review proposes several theoretical and practical considerations for future assessments of and research on English collocation knowledge.


Corresponding author: Barry Lee Reynolds, Faculty of Education, 59193 University of Macau , Room 1014, FED Building (E33), Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau SAR, China; and Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau SAR, China, E-mail:

Funding source: Universidade de Macau

Award Identifier / Grant number: MYRG2019-00030-FED

  1. Research funding: The current study was supported by the University of Macau under grant number MYRG-GRG2023-00112-FED.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2022-0163).


Received: 2022-08-14
Accepted: 2023-12-09
Published Online: 2024-01-04
Published in Print: 2025-06-26

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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