An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Enhancing Input Through Glossing and Skewing Techniques on Knowledge of...

It is broadly acknowledged that collocation is a crucial aspect of lexical knowledge. A well-developed collocational knowledge is necessary to transfer receptive word knowledge into productive use. The aim of the present study was to investigate comparatively the effect of two glossing conditions (textual and audio) and skewed input on lexical collocation of intermediate EFL learners. To this end, 137 L1 Persian EFL students were given Oxford Placement Test (OPT), out of whom 80 were selected and assigned to four 20-participant groups: Textual Glossing Group (TGG), Audio Glossing Group (AGG), Skewed Input Group (SIG), henceforth as experimental groups, and Teacher Existing Method Group (TEMG), as control group. A piloted lexical collocation test, created by familiarity-rating checklist, was administered as a pretest and posttest to the participants to collect data. A delayed posttest was administered after a 2-week interval to assess the delayed effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable of lexical collocation. Collocations were presented in textual glossing, audio glossing, skewed, and L1 glossed conditions during ten instructional sessions. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and post hoc test for both immediate and delayed posttests. The results showed that the different gloss conditions and skewed input technique had significantly different effects on learners' L2 lexical collocation gain. It was revealed that textual glossing and skewing techniques resulted in greater improvement in lexical collocation. Some pedagogical implications were represented for language teachers, learners, and testers.