Based on the author's dissertation, this volume provides a close look at the verb-noun collocations used by native German speakers writing argumentative or descriptive essays in English. A subset of 318 essays from the international corpus of learner English (ICLE) provides the 154,191-word corpus used in this study.
After an overview of previous collocation studies, chapter 1 clearly spells out the scope and goals of the study. By focusing on a specific type of collocation (i.e., verb-noun) used by writers from the same first language (L1; in this case, German), Nesselhauf is able to identify which collocations present challenges and to uncover patterns of errors in the types of collocation used by German learners writing in English. After an introduction to collocations, chapter 2 provides a thorough description of the methods used in this study. It would be easy for a researcher to duplicate this study or, more importantly, to carry out a similar study using another L1 group from the ICLE. The next three chapters focus on various aspects of the analyses of collocations found in the corpus.
The third chapter can be seen as the heart of the volume, with almost 100 pages devoted to a discussion of the use of collocations in this learner corpus. The chapter begins by categorizing collocations into three types—acceptable, questionable, and not acceptable—with the goal of identifying patterns that are particularly problematic for advanced second language (L2) German writers. These patterns are then further examined to tease apart the areas of difficulty. Deviations inside collocations (e.g., adjectives) versus incorrect collocations are explored.
After identifying the patterns of problematic collocations in chapter 3, chapter 4 tackles the question of the source of the building material for these nonnativelike collocations. The investigation includes looking at how the target language material is used and the influence of the L1 on nonnativelike constructions. The discussion and extensive use of examples in this chapter provide fuel for future investigations. Nesselhauf points out that this information might shed light on some of the mental processes used by language learners in forming collocations. These types of corpus investigations should be a promising direction for future L2 research.
Chapter 5 builds on the information presented in the previous two chapters and uses this information as a basis for identifying linguistic factors that relate to difficulty in collocation construction. The one-to-one match of words between the L1 and the English collocation proves to be the strongest factor for the correct production of a collocation. This chapter also explores extralinguistic factors, such as the use of dictionaries and production circumstances (e.g., timed essay production), that might impact the formation of collocations.
After summarizing the analyses described in the previous three chapters, the final chapter explores the pedagogical implications of the results of this study. It seems that exposure and classroom teaching had little to no effect on the correct production of collocations. Nesselhauf uses this information to advocate for the overt teaching of collocations, pointing out that collocations might pass below the radar of many learners, so that the learners might not be aware that these expressions are relatively fixed. Previous research also seems to support that the overt instruction of collocations can have a positive impact on the correct production of collocations. Based on the information in the present study, Nesselhauf is able to make some direct suggestions as to which collocations should be taught, particularly for advanced learners of English. This type of close examination of particular groups of learners producing particular structures is exactly what is needed to help ground pedagogical decisions.
Overall, this volume will be of interest to a wide range of readers, from those interested in the methodological aspects of a research study to L2 writing instructors. In addition to providing in-depth information about the use (and misuse) of collocations by L2 writers, this volume also serves as a useful resource for L2 researchers.
