The Effect of Textual Enhancement on Collocation Learning: The Case of Arab EFL Learners

Interest in second language (L2) collocation instruction studies is increasing because collocations constitute a major difficulty for L2 learners. The current study investigates the effect of textual enhancement on L2 collocation learning in a foreign language learning environment. To this end, a total of 137 Arab learners of English were divided into three groups; a textual enhancement group, a textual non-enhancement group and a control group. The treatment period lasted for 4 weeks during which the participants were repeatedly exposed to unfamiliar verb + noun and adjective + noun collocations (n=16) embedded in stories in four 45-minute sessions. Using a pre-test/post-test design, the results surprisingly showed a clear advantage for the textual non-enhancement group across different comparisons although to varying degrees. The results also revealed minimal and inconsistent differences in learning gains for different word types. Pedagogical implications and directions for future research are proposed.