Speaker
Description
It is widely acknowledged that in order to achieve high levels of proficiency in an L2, learners
need to master highly pervasive formulaic sequences, such as collocations (e.g., Siyanova-
Chanturia & Pellicer-Sánchez, 2019). Research has shown that L2 collocations appear to be
challenging for L2 learners (e.g., Boers et al., 2014) and that several factors (i.e., frequency,
transparency, word length) affect the development of L2 collocational knowledge (Webb,
2020). However, few studies have attempted to track the development of collocational
knowledge over an extended period of time (e.g., Boone, De Wilde, Eyckmans, 2023).
Similarly, there is very limited research on the interaction between individual differences
(IDs) such as motivation, grit and engagement and the learning of L2 collocations (e.g., El
Hadim and Ghaicha, 2024). The present study attempts to address these two gaps. Specifically,
we seek to answer the following research questions:
1. How does L2 collocational knowledge change over time?
2. How do individual differences affect the longitudinal development of L2
collocations?
The study aims to track students during their compulsory 4-year long high school education
and the talk will report initial findings based on two rounds of data collection conducted in the
first year of the project. Participants included first-year vocational high school students in
Bosnia who completed assessments at Time 1 (N = 102) and Time 2 (N = 111), with 96 students
providing data at both time points. They completed a test of productive collocational
knowledge (LexCombi 2; Brown, 2025) and an individual differences questionnaire at two
points in time, Semester 1 and 2. LexCombi contains thirty frequent nouns as cues which are
viewed one at a time and asks participants to write down three collocates within a 30-second
limit per cue. The questionnaire drew on a number of previous questionnaires to fit the purposes
of the study (Botes et al, 2022; Khajavi et al, 2016; Li et al, 2024; Papi et al, 2019; Papi &
Khajavi, 2021; Teimouri et al 2022; Teravainen-Goff 2023.) It included items targeting ten
IDs: motivation, anxiety, engagement, L2 grit, parental encouragement, willingness to
communicate, boredom, enjoyment and language mindsets.
Data were analysed using paired-samples t-test and multiple regression. We found that L2
collocational knowledge decreased across the academic year (t = 2.76, p = .007, Cohen’s d = .294). We also found that students with higher scores in perseverance (β = -.212, p = .048) and
ideal self/own (β = -.343, p = .002) at Time 1 experienced significantly smaller declines in L2
collocational scores, suggesting that initial higher levels of perseverance and ideal self/own
could act as protective factors against collocational knowledge loss. Results of multiple
regression further indicated that changes in individual differences were not related to changes
in L2 collocational knowledge.
It is hoped that due to its longitudinal nature, the present study will provide a comprehensive
picture of the dynamic relationships between IDs and collocational knowledge and offer useful
pedagogical implications for English language teachers.
Biography
Marijana Macis is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and TESOL at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Nottingham and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Marijana has over 20 years of experience in teaching English and Applied Linguistics and TESOL courses across different contexts, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, and the UK. She also has vast experience in training and supporting teachers both in degree programs and pre- and in-service teacher development programs.
Marijana collaborated on two projects funded by the British Council that aim to support teachers in taking charge of their own professional development through Teacher Activity Groups (TAGs) in Vietnam. In addition, she is one of the lead organisers of the Transforming Research into Practice (TRIP) workshop series, a highly impactful initiative that fosters meaningful dialogue between second language researchers and practitioners. Marijana is a co-author of Educating Second Language Teachers: A Guide to Being, Feeling, and Doing (2026, Routledge) and is currently preparing another book as lead author that examines the challenges faced by researchers, educators, teacher trainers, and industry leaders in fostering collaborative, open dialogue within ELT (Routledge, under preparation).
Marijana’s research interests include: second language acquisition, vocabulary, teacher development and the interface between research and practice. Marijana has published in top international language teaching and research journals, such as Applied Linguistics, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, TESOL Quarterly, ELT Journal and Language Teaching Research.
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