Investigating Iraqi EFL college students’ awareness and use of lexical chunks

Abstract EN

Lexical chunks are multi-word units can function as meaningful units with a fixed or semi-fixed form, they are stored in memory and retrieved as unanalyzed whole.

These prefabricated sequence of words building blocks of language, also they are most effective to learners as increase vocabulary repertoire and aid to fluency in speech.

Lexical chunks are related to the realm of phraseology, and have attracted by many linguistics and researchers.

The current study intends to investigate Iraqi EFL college students‟ awareness and use of lexical chunks.

Therefore to achieve the aim of the study, the below two null hypotheses have been posed: 1- There is no statistically significant difference between the mean scores of Iraqi EFL college students‟ awareness of lexical chunks and the theoretical mean.

2- There is no statistically significant difference between the mean scores of Iraqi EFL college students‟ use of lexical chunks and the theoretical mean.

The sample of the study consists of fifty EFL third-year college students, at English department, college of Arts/Baghdad university, during the academic year (2016-2017).

In order to achieve the aim of the study and test its hypotheses, the researcher has constructed a test of two types (recognition and production).

The test is exposed to jury of experts to ascertain its validity, also test reliability is calculated after a pilot administration.

And suitable statistical methods have been used to analyze the collected data.

The analysis of the data has led to main findings as follow: 1- Third year EFL college students‟ awareness of lexical chunks is average.

2- Third year EFL college students have unacceptable level of using lexical chunks and they face difficulty in producing them.

Finally, on the basis of the obtained results, some recommendations and suggestions for further studies are proposed and put forward.