A Cognitive Approach to the Instruction of Phrasal Verbs: Rudzka-Ostyn’s Model
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners find some phrasal verbs problematic because
of their idiomatic and polysemous nature. They are frequently used in spoken English and
textbooks suggest an arbitrary way in teaching them. Cognitive linguists proposed that the
particle plays a major role in determining the meaning of such phrasal verbs. This study
investigated the effectiveness of a cognitive approach (i.e., Rudzka-Ostyn’s Model) in teaching
taught and new phrasal verbs including metaphorical ones. Using a list of frequent phrasal verbs,
a quasi-experimental design was used in which an experimental group was required to create
mind maps of the common meanings of each particle with example phrasal verbs. The control
group, on the other hand, was asked to memorize the frequent senses of the most frequent
phrasal verbs along with their translations. The experimental group did not outperform the
control group on the post-test. This was attributed to a number of problems such as the fact
that some senses given by some particles are not outlined in Rudzka-Ostyn’s Model. Further,
the analytical procedure followed by students to cognitively understand phrasal verbs should
be made explicit and address the interaction between the verb and the particle. Additionally,
following a cognitive approach, instructors should focus more on the particles up and out since
they have many senses and contribute a lot to phrasal-verb formation.
Binomials, as a sub-type of collocation, are made of two connected words (e.g., heaven and earth). Similar to other lexical collocations, binomials can be idiomatic, ambiguous, or culture-specific…
Binomials, as a sub-type of collocation, are made of two connected words (e.g.,
heaven and earth), and they are considered challenging to translate because some are
idiomatic,…
Background: Synonymous words behave differently, and language users should be aware of the fact that though near-synonyms share similar denotational meanings, they require different collocates.…