Does Consciousness Raising Task Promote EFL Learners’ Recall and Retention of Collocations?

This research aimed to explore the effects of consciousness-raising tasks on the ability of Iranian intermediate EFL learners to recall and retain collocations. The study examined ۶۰ female students, aged ۱۸ to ۲۵, who were selected from a language school in Tehran, Iran, and were similar in language proficiency. The experimental and control groups were randomly assigned, with ۳۰ learners each. Initially, they were given a test of collocations as a pretest to ensure that both groups had equal knowledge of collocations. The treatment group received corrective feedback while the control group received the same instruction without feedback. After an eight-week treatment period, both groups were tested on their ability to recall collocations with an immediate post-test. One month later, the researchers gave the experimental group a delayed posttest to see how well they retained the learned grammatical collocations. According to the analysis of the immediate and delayed post-test data, it was found that the experimental group outperformed the control group in the post-test as they showed a significant improvement in recalling collocations. Moreover, the results revealed that learners’ retention of collocations is not affected by time, indicating that C-RTs enable retrieval during comprehension and retention. Furthermore, the participants in the experimental group were required to express their thoughts and feelings regarding the effectiveness of consciousness-raising techniques used during the treatment. The responses were analyzed, and categorized, and the most prominent ones were reported. The findings can help learners and practitioners develop appropriate learning behaviors.

کلیدواژه ها:

Consciousness raising tasks ، EFL Learners ، Recall of collocations ، Retention of collocations