English Collocations: The Neglected Area in the EFL Classroom

One of the most important aspects of English language teaching and learning that is not receiving considerable attention in EFL classroom is English collocation. The aim of the current study is to investigate if EFL students are aware of the concept of English collocations. The aim is also to explore teachers' attitudes towards teaching collocations in the EFL classroom. Data were collected through two questionnaires administered to Algerian first-year EFL students and teachers at the department of English, Batna 2 University. The results revealed that students are completely unaware of the concept of collocation as it is kept out of view in the language classroom. Teachers, on the other hand, consider English collocations as an important element of foreign language teaching and learning, yet they do not yield collocations their due place in EFL classroom. This, in turn, negatively impacted students' overall language performance. On the basis of the findings of this study, some recommendations are proposed to raise students' collocational awareness and use.