Employing a Parallel Corpus-based Approach in Teaching Semantic Prosody and Collocational Behavior to Arabic EFL Learners

Abstract

This dissertation is intended to investigate if, and to what extent, a web-interface parallel corpus known as Reverso Context can assist Arabic EFL learners in addressing two aspects of word knowledge: semantic prosody and collocational behavior. A convergent mixed method design is adopted in this study in which one group of undergraduate L1 Arabic students are asked to do a pretest that is followed by a pedagogical intervention over the course of three 3-hour sessions and then a posttest is administered again with the same group of students. The posttest is followed by a one-on-one interview with the students and the course instructor to obtain a well-rounded view of their experiences with the pedagogical material and the new resource that they have been introduced to. The results reveal that the students are capable of using the parallel corpus (Reverso Context) effectively in semantic prosody identification and non-congruent collocation translation. The interview demonstrates that in spite of some difficulties the students encounter with Reverso Context, the students perceive the new resource positively and that it might be used to increase autonomy and discovery learning. The study also illustrates how Reverso Context can be implemented effectively to obtain the maximum benefit of this resource in a classroom setting with some pedagogical implications for EFL teachers. In addition, the study concludes with some tips for future researchers on how to better evaluate the efficacy of .parallel corpora in foreign language pedagogy