A corpus-based study of semantic treatment of phrasal verbs in Malaysian ESL secondary school textbooks

Despite their being the most notoriously confusing aspects of English language instruction, phrasal verbs are of high relevance for ESL/EFL learners because knowledge of them is often equated with language proficiency and fluency. With textbooks containing a noticeable number of phrasal verbs, it is...

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Main Authors: Zarifi, Abdolvahed, Mukundan, Jayakaran
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 2015
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37179/1/03%20JSSH%20Vol%2023%20%284%29%20Dec%202015_pg793-808%20%28JSSH%201060-2013%29.pdf
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author Zarifi, Abdolvahed
Mukundan, Jayakaran
author_facet Zarifi, Abdolvahed
Mukundan, Jayakaran
author_sort Zarifi, Abdolvahed
collection UPM
description Despite their being the most notoriously confusing aspects of English language instruction, phrasal verbs are of high relevance for ESL/EFL learners because knowledge of them is often equated with language proficiency and fluency. With textbooks containing a noticeable number of phrasal verbs, it is of pedagogical significance to see if these combinations are appropriately dealt with in semantic terms. The present corpus-based study was, thus, intended to explore the semantic treatment of these combinations in a pedagogical corpus of Malaysian ESL textbooks. Using WordSmith software and the Oxford Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs as research instruments, the study revealed that despite the overwhelming number of phrasal verbs in the corpus, most of these combinations were presented with a very thin skeleton, as they were repeated in different forms with the same meaning. In addition, some items were presented with their rare and infrequent word meanings. Therefore, the selection and presentation of the word senses of different phrasal verb combinations proved to be more intuitively than empirically motivated.
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spelling upm.eprints-371792016-01-28T04:47:31Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37179/ A corpus-based study of semantic treatment of phrasal verbs in Malaysian ESL secondary school textbooks Zarifi, Abdolvahed Mukundan, Jayakaran Despite their being the most notoriously confusing aspects of English language instruction, phrasal verbs are of high relevance for ESL/EFL learners because knowledge of them is often equated with language proficiency and fluency. With textbooks containing a noticeable number of phrasal verbs, it is of pedagogical significance to see if these combinations are appropriately dealt with in semantic terms. The present corpus-based study was, thus, intended to explore the semantic treatment of these combinations in a pedagogical corpus of Malaysian ESL textbooks. Using WordSmith software and the Oxford Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs as research instruments, the study revealed that despite the overwhelming number of phrasal verbs in the corpus, most of these combinations were presented with a very thin skeleton, as they were repeated in different forms with the same meaning. In addition, some items were presented with their rare and infrequent word meanings. Therefore, the selection and presentation of the word senses of different phrasal verb combinations proved to be more intuitively than empirically motivated. Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 2015-12 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37179/1/03%20JSSH%20Vol%2023%20%284%29%20Dec%202015_pg793-808%20%28JSSH%201060-2013%29.pdf Zarifi, Abdolvahed and Mukundan, Jayakaran (2015) A corpus-based study of semantic treatment of phrasal verbs in Malaysian ESL secondary school textbooks. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 23 (4). pp. 793-808. ISSN 0128-7702; ESSN: 2231-8534 http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/Pertanika%20PAPERS/JSSH%20Vol.%2023%20%284%29%20Dec.%202015/03%20JSSH%20Vol%2023%20%284%29%20Dec%202015_pg793-808%20%28JSSH%201060-2013%29.pdf
spellingShingle Zarifi, Abdolvahed
Mukundan, Jayakaran
A corpus-based study of semantic treatment of phrasal verbs in Malaysian ESL secondary school textbooks
title A corpus-based study of semantic treatment of phrasal verbs in Malaysian ESL secondary school textbooks
title_full A corpus-based study of semantic treatment of phrasal verbs in Malaysian ESL secondary school textbooks
title_fullStr A corpus-based study of semantic treatment of phrasal verbs in Malaysian ESL secondary school textbooks
title_full_unstemmed A corpus-based study of semantic treatment of phrasal verbs in Malaysian ESL secondary school textbooks
title_short A corpus-based study of semantic treatment of phrasal verbs in Malaysian ESL secondary school textbooks
title_sort corpus based study of semantic treatment of phrasal verbs in malaysian esl secondary school textbooks
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37179/1/03%20JSSH%20Vol%2023%20%284%29%20Dec%202015_pg793-808%20%28JSSH%201060-2013%29.pdf
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