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ASJP: https://www.asjp.cerist.dz/en/PresentationRevue/305 Vol 16 / Issue 02 / September 2022 / pp 553 - 572

Teaching Collocations to Foreign Language Learners through Listening to Podcasts

Using an Interactive Website

‫تدر س اﳌتﻼزمات اللفظية ﳌتعل اللغة اﻷجن ية من خﻼل اﻻستماع للتدو نات الصوتية باستعمال موقع تفاع‬

Mohammed El Amin GHOUES 1 , Mokhtar HAMADOUCHE 2

1 Oum El Bouaghi University (Algeria) , [email protected]
2 Oum El Bouaghi University (Algeria) , [email protected]
Received: 25/10/2021 Accepted: 10/09/2022 Published: 30/09/2022

ABSTRACT:
The importance of incorporating collocations in EFL syllabi cannot be overstated. Although collocations could
massively contribute to EFL learners’ fluent written and spoken production, they are seldom taught in any
principled manner in classrooms. Thus, using collocations correctly and appropriately remains a particular
challenge even to advanced EFL learners. A pilot study is conducted to explore the role of an interactive website
aimed at improving the collocational competence of 25 third-year EFL students from the Department of English at
Oum El Bouaghi University (Algeria) through listening to podcasts. Pre-tests and post-tests were selected as
research tools. The study is mainly quantitative, in which the primary aim is to draw comparisons between
students’ results and performance on collocations before and after listening to podcasts using an interactive
website. The results of the study have revealed that participants’ scores after listening to the podcasts were
significantly higher than their scores before interacting with the podcasts. In the light of their overall scores, the
use of an interactive website to teach collocations through listening to podcasts has immensely contributed to EFL
learners’ rate of learning the target collocations.
Keywords: Collocations, interactive website, collocational competence, EFL learners, podcasts.

:‫اﳌ ص‬
‫ ﻓع الرغم من أن اﳌتﻼزمات اللفظية‬.‫ﻻ يمكن اﳌبالغة التأكيد ع أ مية دمج اﳌتﻼزمات اللفظية منا عليم اللغة اﻹنجل ية لغة أجن ية‬
ً ‫ إﻻ أنه‬،‫يمكن أن سا م ش ل كب تحس ن اﻹنتاج الكتا ي والشفوي ﳌتعل اللغة اﻹنجل ية لغة أجن ية‬
‫نادرا ما يتم تدر س ا ﺑطر قة أساسية‬
‫ أجر ت دراسة‬.‫تحديا كب ا ح للمتعلم ن اﳌتقدم ن اﳌستوى‬ ً ‫ يظل استخدام اﳌتﻼزمات اللفظية ش ل يح ومناسب‬، ‫ و التا‬.‫الفصول الدراسية‬
ً 25 ‫تجر ية ﻻستكشاف دور موقع تفاع دف إ تحس ن الكفاءة ا اصة ﺑاﳌتﻼزمات اللفظية لـ‬
‫ﻃالبا للغة اﻹنجل ية السنة الثالثة من قسم اللغة‬
‫ الدراسة‬.‫ تم استعمال اﻻختبارات القبلية والبعدية أدوات ﺑحث‬.‫اﻹنجل ية جامعة أم البوا )ا زائر( من خﻼل اﻻستماع إ التدو نات الصوتية‬
‫إجراء مقارنات ﺑ ن نتائج وأداء ونتائج الطﻼب علم اﳌتﻼزمات اللفظية قبل و عد اﻻستماع إ‬ ‫ حيث يتمثل ال دف اﻷسا‬، ‫كمية ش ل أسا‬
‫ كشفت نتائج الدراسة أن درجات اﳌشارك ن عد اﻻستماع إ التدو نات الصوتية انت أع ﺑكث من‬. ‫التدو نات الصوتية ﺑاستخدام موقع تفاع‬
‫ سا م استخدام اﳌوقع التفاع الذي استخدم عليم اﳌتﻼزمات اللفظية‬،‫ ضوء الدرجات اﻹجمالية‬.‫درجا م قبل التفاعل مع التدو نات الصوتية‬
.‫من خﻼل اﻻستماع إ التدو نات الصوتية ش ل كب معدل علم اﳌتﻼزمات اللفظية اﳌس دﻓة لدى متعلم ن اللغة اﻹنجل ية لغة أجن ية‬
.‫ التدو نات الصوتية‬،‫ متعل اللغة اﻹنجل ية لغة اجن ية‬،‫ الكفاءة ا اصة ﺑاﳌتﻼزمات اللفظية‬، ‫ موقع تفاع‬،‫ اﳌتﻼزمات اللفظية‬:‫لمات مفتاحية‬

- Corresponding author: Mohammed El Amin GHOUES

doi: 10.34118/ssj.v16i2.2486
http://journals.lagh-univ.dz/index.php/ssj/article/view/2486
ISSN: 1112 - 6752 Legal Deposit Number: 66 - 2006 EISSN: 2602 - 6090
 Mohammed El Amin GHOUES , Mokhtar HAMADOUCHE

1- Introduction:
Learning collocations is considered as one of the biggest challenges that EFL learners still
face when writing and speaking. Students who have a higher proficiency in the various aspects
of the language such as grammar may find difficulties when communicating without knowledge
of words and the meanings they convey (McCarthy, 1990). There is no language without these
words, which they build chunks of language which carry meaning (Milton, 2009). Collocation
as an essential part of ‘formulaic language’ has received considerable attention in the field of
language learning during the last few decades (Gitsaki, 1999, Webb & Kagimoto, 2009).
Learning collocations is regarded as an important and crucial part in ESL/EFL acquisition
because the meaning of a lexical item has much to do with other lexical items that are combined
with it. “Not only do these associations assist the learner in committing these words to memory,
they also aid in defining the semantic area of a word” (Nattinger, 1988).
The main aim of this research paper is to tackle the concept of collocation, which is an
indispensable part in formulaic language and vocabulary learning. The literature to come cast
some light on other researchers and linguists’ contributions in this field of study, attaching
importance to teaching and learning collocation, especially in EFL classes. Furthermore, raising
EFL leaners’ awareness of the importance of learning collocations is another major aim why the
present study was conducted in the first place.
1-2- Background of the Study
Collocation has recently become a flourishing field of enquiry ever since research studies
on this concept in foreign language learning increased in number. Various researchers and
linguists attempted to investigate this linguistic phenomenon (Brown, 1974; Nattinger, 1980,
1988; Bahns & Eldaw, 1993; Howarth, 1998), and Firth’s theory on syntagmatic relations
between words and lexicality is certainly one of the chief reasons why more investigations
about collocation have been pursued in the last decades (Firth, 1957; Halliday, 1966; Sinclair,
1966). Many linguists such as (Lewis, 2001), (Lin, 2002), (Fan, 2009), and (Mahvelati &
Mukundan, 2012), not to mention but a few, saw the vital necessity to incorporate collocation
in EFL syllabi. Yan (2010) and Saudin (2014), on the other hand, further stressed the
importance and the need for integrating collocation vis-a-vis the common errors made by EFL
and ESL learners when using collocation.
Linguistic investigations have revealed that native-speaker productions are virtually
formulaic (Cowie, 1991, 1992; Howarth, 1998; Altenberg, 1998; Biber et al., 1999). That is to
say, natural and ready-made word combinations proved to be pervasive in their productions,
and the propensity for using such blocks of words entails a good command of collocations in
order for EFL learners to attain high linguistic proficiency. This is often a challenging task as
this requires delicate use of authentic and culturally-loaded expressions that are natural to
native speakers; even EFL advanced users of English are still grappling with the appropriate use
of collocations in their spoken and written productions.

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 Teaching Collocations to Foreign Language Learners through Listening to Podcasts Using an Interactive
Website

Studies, which attempted to highlight the importance of teaching words in chunks, hence
collocations, faced several problems due to the vagueness of this concept itself since there was
no clear and specific definition provided in order for experiments to be conducted easily
(Husein, 1990; Farghal & Obiedat, 1995). More requisite studies must be therefore conducted
to further clarify the concept and offer more useful insights into this phenomenon, starting from
proposing clear and comprehensive definitions to pioneering different and innovative
approaches to teaching and learning collocations in EFL classrooms.
This empirical study sets out to investigate the significance of learning collocations
through listening and interacting with podcasts using an interactive website. The latter was
designed to test EFL students’ collocational competence. It examines the extent to which
listening to interactive podcasts can help participants learn, memorize and retrieve
collocations, and whether the incorporation of interactive websites as an ICT tool can be useful
to teach collocations in modern EFL classrooms. Twenty-five (25) third-year EFL students from
the Department of English at Oum El Bouaghi University (Algeria) were invited to take a series
of pre-tests and post-tests before and after interacting with thematic podcasts. The results
helped to draw a comparison and to see to what extent listening to interactive podcasts
improved their scores. These two key questions are raised:
 To what extent can interactive websites improve third-year EFL students’ collocational
competence?
 To what extent can listening to podcasts help third-year EFL students memorize and
retrieve collocations?
Based on the research questions stated above, the following hypotheses are formulated:
 Interactive websites can immensely contribute to third-year EFL students’ collocational
competence.
 Listening to podcasts plays an essential role in third-year EFL students’ learning,
memorization and retention of the target collocations.
In the light of these questions and hypotheses, the present study attempts to investigate
the effectiveness of an interactive website in teaching collocations to EFL learners through
listening to podcasts.
2- Literature Review
A substantial part of native-speakers’ communicative competence is composed of idioms
and collocations (Howarth, 1998; Nesselhauf, 2003; Keshavarz & Salimi, 2007). These
combinations are considered as multi-word sequences in which a large part of any discourse,
whether spoken or written, is made up of these sequences (Conklin & Schmitt, 2008). The
extensive use of collocations, for instance, indicates how crucial these sequences are since they
enhance accuracy and fluency as well (Nesselhauf, 2003). The inaccurate use of collocations,
however, leads to the speaker noticeably sounding foreign (Hsu & Chiu, 2008). This is yet a
major hindrance for EFL learners and even for proficient users of language. Additionally, multi-

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word sequences are regarded as high-frequency words; they are semantically opaque with
restricted collocability. As an example, the verbs ‘have’, ‘make’ and ‘do’ are used delexically and
their uses occur mainly in phraseological patterns. These verbs are troublesome, especially in
production (de Cock & Granger 2004; Gouverneur, 2008). Learners tend to use these verbs
randomly with no consideration, and this is often occurring due to the passive transfer from
their mother tongue. This is a quintessential example of how delicate phraseology as an area of
study can be. More insights into the use of words in blocks are much needed.
Despite the fact that collocations are widely acknowledged for their importance, and
particularly in EFL learning, there have not been many studies conducted which analyze the use
of collocations by EFL learners, and it is due to the vague definition of collocation that these
studies are unsatisfactory and rare (Nesselhauf, 2003). Various studies, on the other hand, have
attempted to break the barriers and revealed key findings that a significant positive correlation
exists between learners’ knowledge of lexical collocations and their language proficiency
(Zhang, 1993; Sung, 2003; Keshavarz & Salimi, 2007). The outcomes of learning more
collocations will certainly lead to higher language proficiency and authenticity. To put it simply,
the more collocations to be learnt, the higher linguistic proficiency will be achieved.
The concept of collocation is often studied within ‘formulaic language’, and it is by all
means important to establish some foundations such as the terminology that is used to refer to
‘formulaic language’ first. There has been a plethora of terms given to it ever since it was
investigated, but this term alongside with ‘formulaic sequences’ are widely common in the field
of linguistics and applied linguistics. The notion of ‘formulaicity’ has long been a subject of
investigation and there have been many debates on it; however, there is a consensus that this
term represents a huge number of linguistic multi-word units that learners store in long-term
memory the way they memorize sperate lexical items (Wood, 2002). This means that words are
stored in the brain and retained as a part of a block rather than being generated as separate
items and grammar rules each time they are being used. This process is known as ‘fusion’ and
it allows these sequences to be sometimes analyzable and compositional as some of them can
be composed out of individual items and grammar rules, and therefore become formulaic
sequences (Wray, 2002). The term is so broad that it covers many other terms such as idioms,
proverbs, lexical bundles, collocations, etc. (Schmitt & Carter, 2004).
Those formulaic sequences constitute a substantial part in spoken and written language.
Pawley and Syder (1983) posited that a mature native speaker’s repertoire of these multi-word
units at their disposal can be up to hundreds of thousands. It is found that 58.6% and 52.3% of
spoken and written discourse are made up of these, respectively (Erman & Warren, 2000).
Several researchers (Nattinger & DeCarrico, 1992; Lewis, 1993, 1997, 2000) attached
significance to the inclusion of formulaic sequences in English Language Teaching Methodology
since they are fully present in native speakers’ language use.
Since the present study focuses solely on the concept of collocation, it is also well worth
mentioning that the term ‘collocational competence’ is, by far, an essential component in
learning English as it helps reduce the cognitive challenge EFL learners might confront during

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 Teaching Collocations to Foreign Language Learners through Listening to Podcasts Using an Interactive
Website

the production and processing of a language (Conklin & Schmitt, 2008), i.e., the process of using
combinations in speaking and writing will be almost natural and effortless as these multi-word
sequences are stored in the mind; they can be retrieved at a later stage more easily without
having to wade through deeper, older memories. The term ‘collocation’, on the other hand, is
often used as a sperate concept or as another term to refer to ‘formulaic language’ itself.
Collocation is ‘the grammar of words’ and it has to do with the occurrence of words and how
words often go with other words. It indicates which words can come before or after other words
(Woolard, 2005).
There have been numerous and multifarious definitions of the concept. It was first
introduced by Firth (1957) as a combination of words being associated with each other.
According to him, the word collocation refers to the way words used in the same context are
being associated with each other, and that the use of one word makes the occurrence of another
predictable. Firth (1957) also claims that “the collocation of a word or a ‘piece’ is not to be
regarded as mere juxtaposition; it is an order of mutual expectancy” (181), and he believes that
the meaning of a word can be easily understood from other words collocating with it. Palmer
(1933) defines the term as “a succession of two or more words that must be learned as an
integral whole and not pieced together from its components parts” (title page). According to
McCarthy and Felicity (2017), collocation is “a pairing or a grouping of words that are often
used together” (6). However, if these combinations are misused, they will sound wrong,
unnatural and inappropriate. For instance, the adjective ‘quick’ collocates with ‘glance’ and
‘shower’; but not with ‘food’ and ‘car’. The adjective ‘fast’ collocates with ‘food’ and ‘car’ instead.
The categorization of collocation is a contentious subject, for different researchers
proposed various classifications such as Bahns (1993), Lewis (1997), Wood (2002), Chia-Chuan
(2005) and Boussalia (2010). Perhaps the most common classification was proposed by Benson
et al. (1997) who divided collocation into lexical and grammatical collocation. The type that
deals with phrases containing syntagmatic combinations of content words such as nouns, verbs,
adjectives and adverbs is known as lexical collocation. Grammatical collocation, however, deals
with word combinations between content words (a noun, a verb or an adjective) and
grammatical word (a preposition or a particle), and between content words (a noun or an
adjective) and grammatical structures (infinitive or ‘that’ clause) (as cited in Saudin, 2014). Yan
(2010), Mahvelati & Mukundan (2012) and Saudin (2014) listed some of these two syntagmatic
types: verb+noun (make mistakes), adjective+noun (strong tea), noun+noun (human
resources) and so forth. These fall under lexical collocation. As for the grammatical types, they
can be preposition+noun (on tv), noun+preposition (love for), preposition+preposition (apart
from) and so on.
As a matter of fact, collocation is not characterized by merely syntagmatic combination of
words. Most linguists such as Howarth (1998) suggest that collocation is determined by not
only its lexical combinations it is composed of but also by its restrictedness, semantic
transparency and particular position, which is situated between idioms on one end and free

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combinations on the other (as cited in Miyakoshi, 2009). The best examples of restricted
combinations are ‘break promises’ or ‘break news’. They are restricted because no other
collocates can replace ‘break’ to have the same meaning of each combination. They can also be
semantically transparent collocations as the meaning of the two combinations can be deduced
from their lexical constituents unlike idioms such as ‘break a leg’, whose meaning cannot be
guessed from the individual words in it. Groupings of words in which a word like ‘break’ can be
used with a great number of other lexical words such as ‘vase’ and ‘glass’. These are not, in fact,
collocations, but rather free word combinations. Miyakoshi (2009) sees that these groupings of
words are just bound to follow syntactical rules only. He adds that the collocation is positioned
just between idioms and free word combinations on each end, but, nevertheless, the boundaries
between these three types of word combinations cannot be easily seen or identified.
It is well established that teaching collocations to EFL learners is increasingly gaining
more importance, especially during the last decades. Traditional approaches, whose main focus
was to accumulate and memorize lists of word definitions, are becoming obsolete (Robinson,
1989; Gitsaki, 1992). The concept of collocation, as a new vocabulary learning approach,
according to applied linguists, involves more than defining and learning words. It discards all
the old previous theories on learning words in isolation and also examines the syntagmatic
relations between lexical items, which is regarded as a skill in itself, evident in adult native
speakers of a language (McCarthy, 1984; Carter, 1987; Sinclair, 1991). Lewis (1993) is one of
the doyens and advocates who outlined the lexical approach, and who considers the language
as grammaticalized lexis. He furthers the way words combine from a theoretical perspective
(Hewitson & Steele, 1993). These collocations according to his lexical perspective are vital in
generating syllabi.
Not only does teaching collocations help EFL learners develop their vocabulary and
communicative competence, but it also leads to a manipulative grasp of words (Bolinger, 1976).
He argues that learning words in chunks instead of learning individual words is the most
effective way to learn vocabulary; language learning can be described as a cline, starting from
the smallest units of words to the creation of complete words, then phrases governed by certain
rules, and people usually store phrases rather than morphemes in the process of learning a
language. Brown (1974) is considered as one of the early advocates for the significance of
collocations in EFL learning and teaching. He believes that there is a close-knit relationship
between the improvement of oral/listening comprehension, reading speed and the knowledge
of collocations. He also outlined a variety of exercises to make it possible for advanced students
to get to a point where they can recognize what is both acceptable and appropriate.
It has been noted by Korosadowicz-Struzynska (1980) that lexical items pose an
insurmountable obstacle to EFL learners. He stressed the importance of teaching collocations
at the very first stages of foreign language learning. According to him, the best way to learn
these effectively is by selecting the most essential, useful and frequent words, highlighting the
most frequent collocations of those words, presenting these collocations in the most typical
contexts, and drawing a comparison between collocations that are selected and the ones that

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 Teaching Collocations to Foreign Language Learners through Listening to Podcasts Using an Interactive
Website

are equivalent in the native-language. The teaching of collocations in the classroom could
provide EFL learners with help to overcome problems of vocabulary, style and usage (Leed &
Nakhimovsky, 1979). In this case, a well-structured lexical analysis is requisite to the designing
of vocabulary exercises. Such an approach would help foreign language learners with the
aforementioned problems, and give teachers a method to produce and carry out lexical
exercises in the classroom, as well as concentrate on the teaching of restricted collocations such
as “heavy drinker”, “heavy smoker”, “deep trouble”, etc. (Leed & Nakhimovsky, 1979, p. 109).
It is often believed that current generation is more familiar and competent than previous
generations when it comes to the use of technology. Learners are more inclined to use it
whether in formal or informal learning. Although the term ‘Web 2.0 Technology’ is used in many
ways, most researchers agree that this technology include blogs, podcasts, wikis, social
networking sites and etc.; it is a set of second-generation web-based technologies and services
that are often designed for having access to a wealth of information easily. Among a myriad of
ICT tools that can be used in education, interactive websites come to serve as an essential means
that most current generations can use. They are an embodiment of effective learning tool that
“can stimulate intellectual curiosity and offer a sense of enjoyment that is necessary to move
learners from the passive role of recipients of information to the active role of builders of
knowledge” (Hfaiedh, 2015). They contain engaging means of presenting information such as
videos, audio technology, and computer animations, which bring sound and movement to static
lessons and enliven learners’ classes.
The adoption of new teaching/learning theories using technological innovation requires
that all teachers should modify their role, and introduce new contents, tools and methods.
Interactive websites have the potential to enhance access, efficiency and quality of acquiring
and disseminating knowledge. The mechanisms used in these interactive websites and the
engaging educational content through various types of stimuli (images, sounds and
movements) can also boost learners’ memory to retrieve information efficiently through
teaching and testing. They address all the needs of different types of learning (visual, effective
and psychomotor). The need for adopting this effective tool is becoming absolutely necessary
in modern education more than ever (Hfaiedh, 2015).
In light of what has been stated above, it is evident that teaching/learning collocations in
EFL classes is becoming a necessity, and teachers should therefore raise their learners’
awareness to acquire them. Following the right teaching methods as well as tools like interactive
websites will help them commit collocations to their memory.
3- Methodology
Twenty-five (25) third-year EFL students from the Department of English at Oum El
Bouaghi University (Algeria) took part in the current study. Students were randomly selected
for the current study. The reason behind choosing the third level is that students are required
to write at least several pages about a topic in research methodology. This level is also a bridge

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 Mohammed El Amin GHOUES , Mokhtar HAMADOUCHE

between two different academic phrases. Therefore, raising their awareness of the importance
of learning collocations is needed, especially that they will be writing a research dissertation in
the next coming years. All students received an introductory lesson about collocation with the
necessary examples and explanations as to make them more familiar with the concept.
This empirical study, which is mainly quantitative in its nature, sought to investigate the
collocational competence of EFL learners through listening to interactive podcasts, in which a
number of collocations related to each topic were presented and explained. The study sets out
to collect, calculate, analyze and compare students’ scores before and after listening. This would
not have been achieved easily without the use of an interactive website, Collopedia
(https://www.collopedia.com). See the interface of the interactive website in Figure (1) below:
Fig 1. A Screenshot Showing the Interface of the Interactive Website (Collopedia)

This interactive website was mainly designed to teach students the target collocations in
a more engaging way and to help learn and retrieve these combinations. Multimedia was
incorporated while using an easy-to-navigate interface as well as engaging topics. Two key
variables can be highlighted in this study: teaching collocations through listening to podcasts
by means of an interactive website and third-year EFL students’ performance in learning these
collocations before and after listening. It is believed that a correlation exists between the
aforementioned variables, i.e., the more one listens to these thematic podcasts in which
collocations are explicitly presented and explained through an interactive website, the better
one’s proficiency and knowledge of these collocations will become. Figure (2) shows a short list
of some of the podcasts that can be found and listened to on the website.
As can be seen, students can scroll up and down to listen to many other podcasts. The
study, however, focused on the first three podcasts only.
Participants had to take online pre-tests and post-tests, which were designed and related
to the content of each podcast. Undoubtedly, the majority of students are more familiar with
technology and this type of assessment as many websites offer online English proficiency tests

560
 Teaching Collocations to Foreign Language Learners through Listening to Podcasts Using an Interactive
Website

nowadays. A good testing platform was used in this case to design the pre and post-tests. This
made gathering data more efficient and much easier.
Fig 2. A Screenshot Showing a List of Some English Podcasts

It is highly likely that students’ results in the pre-tests would be no better than their results
after listening to the podcasts and taking the post-tests. This is the main aim why pre and post-
tests were selected as a tool in the first place. This method of assessment and gathering data
was to effectively measure participants’ knowledge and performance in the light of the scores
obtained as well as the number of correct and incorrect answers received. Fewer mistakes made
in the post-tests compared to the pre-tests can only indicate that learners have really grasped
the concept of collocation and memorized more natural expressions. The figure to come clearly
shows the interface of the platform, Quizizz (https://www.quizizz.com), used to test students,
gather and calculate their results.
The process of gathering and calculating students’ scores was done automatically using
the platform’s algorithms, providing a final, detailed report of their performance. To make
things clearer, using pre-tests was meant to form an opinion about their knowledge of certain
collocations, whereas the purpose of post-tests is to reinforce and deepen their knowledge of
the target collocations and to test their memory as well. This kind of testing is the most suitable
method, which can be used to measure learners’ growth in knowledge of a particular topic
(collocation in this case); it is also a valuable diagnostic tool for more effective teaching as well.
By providing participants with instant feedback about their overall performance in each
pre-test, learners will be able to learn and memorize the right combinations and avoid making
more mistakes later in the post-tests. Three pre-tests and three post-tests were administered
in total (two tests: a pre-test and a post-test for each thematic podcast). Each two tests differ in
terms of instructions and order of questions while focusing on the same target collocations to
ensure that students have really learnt and memorized these expressions without resorting to

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 Mohammed El Amin GHOUES , Mokhtar HAMADOUCHE

memorizing questions and their answers. The platform also comes with an option to randomize
questions and their answers. Students are required to deal with the different types of
instructions: cloze tasks, multiple-choice and checking boxes. The two figures below show a
good example of two sample questions targeting the same collocation. However, a different
instruction was given in the pre and post-test.
Fig 3. A Screenshot Showing the Interface of the Testing Platform (Quizizz)

Fig 4. A Sample Question Given in a Pre-test about Landscape

This question was related to landscape. Students were asked to select the right word to
correct a collocation error in the sentence. The correct answer is ‘familiar’, hence ‘familiar
landscape’. A different instruction was given in the post-test, just after listening to a podcast

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 Teaching Collocations to Foreign Language Learners through Listening to Podcasts Using an Interactive
Website

related to the same topic. The same collocation is highlighted here, which is ‘familiar landscape’,
as shown in Figure (5).
Fig 5. A Sample Question Given in a Post-test about Landscape

Again, the target collocation to learn here is ‘familiar landscape’, but students were asked
to type the missing word to complete the collocation learnt in the pre-test as well as the podcast.
The answer to this question is ‘landscape’. Students in this case are required to be more careful
when typing the answer as spelling mistakes are not accepted, or these will be therefore
considered as wrong answers.
The podcasts were recorded based on topics that are familiar to students. This means that
they, presumably, possess the appropriate vocabulary and ideas about each topic. Participants
were first tested on a topic related to ‘landscape’, prior to listening to an interactive podcast,
which is again designed to teach them some collocations related to the same topic. Some
collocations were presented such as ‘a gentle landscape’, ‘the surrounding countryside’, ‘dense
forest’, ‘open fields’, and so forth. Links with passwords were sent to small groups and even
individuals. The passwords were different for the links being sent for the sake of credibility and
originality. Participants’ names must be provided to be able to identify each one with their score.
A screen is displayed showing all the names of participants taking the tests in addition to their
answers and final scores. No second attempt was available; a detailed report of each participant
is stored in the database of the platform to help analyze their answers afterwards. This test was
designed to have an idea about their knowledge of the target collocations.
The second step was to listen to an interactive podcast highlighting all the target
collocations with some explanations given at the end. The aim here was to help visual learners
reinforce their memory of these collocations. As for the last step, links to the second post-test
were given to each individual or group following the same method used with the first pr-test.

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Different passwords for access were given and a full report of their performance is made and
stored after submitting their answers. This was the method followed each time a new podcast
with a new topic was presented, which means students had to take a pre-test related to the same
topic of a podcast to listen afterwards. Listening to the podcast will reinforce their memory and
teach learners new collocations they did not know about before taking the post-test. Students
are required to rely on their memory when answering the questions in each post-test.
The second topic was mainly about ‘online research’ with some collocations to learn like
‘to do a web search’, ‘to make a note’, ‘online resources’ and so forth. The third topic, however,
was about ‘war’, highlighting some collocations such as ‘to join the army’, ‘to go to war’, ‘fierce
fighting’, etc. Several people from the UK, the US, Canada, Algeria and other countries
contributed to these podcasts using their voices. Some of them were even podcasters. The aim
was to bring a variety of exciting topics with different English accents.
Finally, the platform used for testing can store participants’ attempts in the database with
all details needed for data analysis such as participants’ names, the date and the time, correct
and incorrect answers, unanswered questions and the overall scores. The reports can be even
downloaded and printed. It is also impossible to see their performance in the form of bar or pie
charts. In addition to these features, there was an option to bring these challenges live, in which
a group of participants can receive the same link with the same password to watch them
competing one another and observing their performance.
4- Results and Discussions
All participants were tested before and after listening to each podcast. Topics were about
‘landscape’, ‘online research’ and ‘war’. Figure (6) shows the steps followed in their assessment
for each topic.
Fig 6. The Steps Followed in the Assessment of Students for Each Topic

Pre-test Podcast Post-test

Students were first introduced to a lesson about collocation to make sure that they are
aware of the concept and how these words work in combinations with examples given. The
lesson also provided the most common types of collocation and what advantages learners can
get when learning collocations. The three topics mentioned earlier are selected because
learners are familiar with them.
The following table below shows participants’ scores of each pre and post-test before and
after interacting with each podcast.
In the pre-tests for every assessment (topic), the discrepancy in scores is clearly
noticeable in Table (1). Students’ scores were ranging from ٪10 to ٪90 in all tests. These scores
provided a clear idea about their different collocational competence as well as their knowledge
of these combinations. In addition to this, all students made collocational errors (mis-

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Website

collocations) when answering as in ‘destroy the landscape’ instead of ‘destroy the countryside’
and many other mis-collocations. These wrong answers are rather unnatural combinations and
are not used by native speakers or even proficient users of the language. The tiny minority,
however, managed to make as few errors as possible. This indicates that these learners have
some knowledge or they are quite familiar with these expressions, with no reference to the
name of the concept itself since it was new to them. According to the results obtained, students
either do not pay too much attention to these frequent combinations or they have never
encountered them whatsoever. Some of the them were even surprised that such combinations
do really exist, after a short discussion with them just right after the experiment.
Table 1. Results of Participants Before and After Listening to Podcasts
Participants Landscape Online Research War
Pre-test Post-test Pre-test Post-test Pre-test Post-test
1 40% 80% 30% 60% 40% 70%
2 87% 100% 70% 80% 30% 90%
3 60% 86% 30% 90% 10% 70%
4 60% 63% 30% 90% 20% 70%
5 80% 80% 60% 70% 70% 80%
6 60% 80% 30% 70% 50% 70%
7 73% 93% 70% 100% 60% 100%
8 86% 100% 50% 90% 80% 80%
9 80% 80% 40% 50% 30% 70%
10 60% 73% 50% 60% 40% 50%
11 53% 73% 80% 90% 90% 100%
12 47% 60% 40% 60% 10% 90%
13 53% 67% 60% 90% 20% 80%
14 73% 100% 50% 70% 70% 90%
15 66% 93% 40% 100% 50% 90%
16 73% 93% 70% 80% 70% 90%
17 40% 80% 50% 90% 60% 70%
18 87% 100% 70% 90% 50% 80%
19 47% 63% 60% 70% 30% 70%
20 53% 67% 20% 60% 30% 60%
21 60% 67% 50% 70% 40% 80%
22 40% 73% 40% 70% 70% 100%
23 73% 100% 70% 80% 20% 70%
24 60% 73% 80% 80% 50% 90%
25 53% 60% 30% 70% 50% 70%
Some of the participants managed to get full scores, and some of them almost got them.
That was due to their spelling mistakes such as ‘surroundid’ instead of ‘surrounded’, or
grammatical mistakes such as ‘to subscribe’ instead of ‘subscribe’ in the following example:

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Many university libraries .... to online journals so that students can access them for free. The
subject was already stated and it requires a verb in the present simple, not in the infinitive. The
number of questions in each pair of tests for each podcast is the same, however different ways
of using the target collocations: selecting a word or words to complete the target collocations
or cloze tasks. The same target collocations to be completed are the same in each pair of tests
again, but not necessarily the same missing parts to complete. This is to make students more
familiar with the target collocations and to reinforce their memory of the constituents of every
collocation. The reason why wording was also different in instructions and examples given is to
make answering the questions in the second tests quite challenging and to give no room to rote
learning.
The arithmetic means of all tests were calculated before and after listening to each
podcast. This will help draw a comparison between all participants’ performance in the two
tests related to every topic. Table (2) displays the following results:
Table 2. Arithmetic Means for the Pre and Post-test Related to Podcast 1 (Landscape)
Arithmetic Mean (Landscape)
Pre-test Post-test
62.56 80.16
Clearly, there is a huge improvement in the scores of participants after listening to the
podcast with a mean of (80.16) compared to (62.56) in the pre-test. This indicates that listening
and interacting with the podcast helped learners memorize more collocations so that they could
use them correctly and accurately later in the post-test.
Table (3) was again to compare between the means for each test before and after listening
to a podcast about online research. Details are shown below:
Table 3. Arithmetic Means for the Pre and Post-test Related to Podcast 2 (Online
Research)
Arithmetic Mean (Online Research)
Pre-test Post-test
50.8 77.2
The results show an increase with a mean of (77.2) in the post-test. This means that the
results in the post-test were even higher compared to the pre-test (50.8). Again, interacting with
the podcast with the help of some explanations helped them achieve higher scores and avoid
making mistakes (mis-collocations or typos) while taking the second test. Learners could even
get full scores. That is a good a sign that some of them were responding quickly to the method
followed to help memorize the target collocations. This certainly requires too much focus to get
higher scores.
Table (4) shows the means for the pre and post-test. This was the third and the last
podcast; it was mainly about war with target collocations to be learnt in relation to the topic.
Table 4. Arithmetic Means for the Pre and Post-test Related to Podcast 3 (War)
Arithmetic Mean (War)
Pre-test Post-test
45.6 79.2

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There is a huge difference between participants’ results in the pre and post-test, hence
(45.6) and (79.2), respectively. It is clear that listening to this podcast massively contributed to
their rate of learning the target collocations and to their accurate and correct use of them since
they were used in a specific context.
Now, in terms of higher scores, students performed well in the first assessment (podcast
1) in which they were tested on their knowledge of collocations related to landscape. Their
results in both the pre and post-test were higher than the other two assessments (podcasts 2
and 3). This might have to do with the level of difficulty of expressions presented in each, but,
overall, their results after listening to each podcast were by all means impressive. The means of
every test before and after listening put each topic in order in terms of the higher scores
received. Figure (7) below clearly shows that:
Fig 7. Participants’ Performance in the Pre and Post-tests

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Pre- Post-
test test

Landscape Online Research War

Figure (7) shows that participants’ performance in the pre-tests were quite different. They
achieved higher scores in the first topic ‘Landscape’ and lower scores in the third topic, which
was about ‘War’. This has to do with the level of difficulty and the complexity of collocations
presented in each topic. As for post-tests, there were slight differences among the three topics
while topic 1 is always in the leading position with higher scores obtained by participants.
Overall, their performance improved after listening to the podcasts and the results prove the
effectiveness of this method to teaching collocations to EFL learners.
5- Conclusion
This study addressed the vital role of using interactive websites to teach collocations in
EFL classrooms. More specifically, students were tested on their collocational competence
before and after listening to thematic podcasts using an interactive website. Pre and post-tests

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 Mohammed El Amin GHOUES , Mokhtar HAMADOUCHE

were administered to investigate students’ knowledge of such combinations and to see the
extent to which their memorization of collocations after listening to podcasts can help them
achieve better results. Surprisingly, their results improved after listening to each podcast; their
attitudes were all positive as they have found the experience of learning new expressions and
expanding their vocabulary quite amazing and interesting. They could even use these
combinations effortlessly and naturally since they have been committed to their memory in a
more fun and engaging way. The fact why students were really amazed by their performance is
that all participants who were selected have never been introduced to the concept of
collocation, especially in such a more engaging way using an interactive website.
Consequently, the above results of the study lead us to stress the importance of
incorporating interactive websites to teach collocations in EFL classes as well as the teaching of
these combinations through listening to podcasts, for they help EFL learners improve their
collocational competence and memorization of collocations. The results are also considered the
best answers to the previous research questions; these results confirm the hypotheses that the
importance of incorporating interactive websites can never be overstated. The interactive
website massively contributed to students’ overall performance in the process of learning,
memorizing and retrieving the target collocations. Listening to these collocations through
podcasts has also proved effective, especially when they were clearly and explicitly presented
in more engaging topics to foster learning them. It is therefore worth mentioning that teachers
should raise their learners’ awareness to the significance of collocations and help them acquire
and memorize them to achieve the proficiency level they aspire to in speaking and writing.
Teachers should also start implementing interactive websites in their EFL classes, for they offer
more top-notch features as well as multimedia contents to make learning easier and more
exciting.

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- Appendices
Appendix A: A Sample of a Pre-test (Excerpt)

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Appendix B: A Sample of a Post-test (Excerpt)

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