The Wind of Change! Phraseology Perspective Gaining More Ground

Year 2014, Volume: 2 Issue: 3, 1 - 15, 11.07.2016

Ali Şükrü Özbay

Abstract

This study aims at highlighting the existence and the significance of an “unknown” or “only partially comprehended” feature of English language for the majority of the EFL learners in Turkey. This feature is named “the phraseological or collocational nature” of English language and it is an old consensus by now that EFL learners experience difficulties and huge challenges while exploiting the collocational patterns in their academic and expository texts as well as spoken ones (Lewis, 2000; Evans and Green, 2006). The contention is that writing in EFL setting requires a good level of language proficiency and failure to master a certain amount of lexical proficiency causes problems writing (Hinkel, 2004; Reynolds, 2005). In this paper, the several concepts related to the writing skill in terms of using appropriate words and lexical competency are briefly examined with a specific focus to their relevant features with the subject. At this initial stage, however, the researcher would like to make several reflections from his own teaching in EFL classrooms for more than 14 years as well as explain the reasons behind the interest towards the subject and the observations made towards the nature of English.

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