Phraseological competence in IELTS academic writing task 2: phraseological units and test-takers’ perceptions and use

Autor: Masoomeh Estaji, Mina Hashemi
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Language Testing in Asia, Vol 12, Iss 1, Pp 1-25 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2229-0443
DOI: 10.1186/s40468-022-00180-7
Popis: Abstract This study intended to explore the different types of phraseological units in IELTS academic writing task 2 and probe into the IELTS candidates’ perceptions of phraseological competence. To this end, a corpus entailing 100 essays (26,423 words) written for IELTS writing task 2 was scrutinized, through which phraseological units were extracted and their types were identified based on Moon’s (Phraseology: Theory, analysis, and application, 1998) typology. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine IELTS candidates. The results indicated that simple formulae were the most commonly used phraseological units in IELTS writing task 2. The interview data, using inductive thematic and summative content analyses, also demonstrated that IELTS candidates have had varying perceptions of phraseological competence, wherein higher band score candidates appeared to have a deeper and more accurate understanding of the concept. As for the candidates’ perceived phraseological competence, they were found to under- or overestimate their own competence at using phraseology. The findings of the study can be employed in making learner dictionaries based on the phraseologies used in IELTS.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals