Testing the Use of a Collocation Retrieval Tool Without Prior Training by Learners of Spanish

Abstract

AbstractThis experimental study tests the usability of a collocation retrieval tool that combines corpus and dictionary features in order to help learners of Spanish as a Foreign Language to improve their production of collocations. More specifically, the study tests the extent to which such a tool is effective without prior training, and evaluates which of its features might be improved. Two experiments were conducted. The first experiment involved Japanese-L1 learners of Spanish. One subgroup completed a gap-fill test both with and without the collocation tool, while another subgroup used electronic bilingual dictionaries instead of the collocation tool. In a second experiment, we chose a more heterogeneous group of participants with less experience in using lexicographic tools. Results show that learners do not need previous training to benefit from the collocation tool, but also that they do not check corpus examples as often as they might.