Investigating the role of multi-word expressions in writing proficiency and overall English language proficiency of EFL students at a Turkish university
Author(s)
Advisor
Peker, HilalDate
2020-09Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between
frequency values of multi-word expressions (MWEs) and the writing proficiency and
overall proficiency of tertiary level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students.
The correlational study was conducted with 63 learners at the school of foreign
languages of a state university in Ankara, Turkey. Having collected the essays
written by the learners, the researcher applied a two-step item extraction method.
After MWEs in the essays were tagged by two experienced raters, frequency-based
association strength values were assigned to each phrase. The association strength
values were obtained through a reference corpus to determine the MWEs accepted
for regression analyses. The results indicated that proportion and mutual information
scores of MWEs were significant predictors of the writing proficiency of the
learners. Another finding of the study was that no relationship was found between
proportion and mutual information scores of MWEs and the overall proficiency of
the learners. As MWE frequency measures were predictive of writing proficiency,
inclusion of MWEs thoroughly in EFL curricula might be suggested as an
implication.