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Running head: AVOIDANCE OF PHRASAL VERBS

Avoidance of Phrasal Verbs by EFL Arab College Students

Ghyzayel M. Al-Otaibi

Dr. Ibrahim Ali Haji-Hassan

English 526

King Saud University

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Avoidance of Phrasal Verbs by EFL Arab College Students

Ghyzayel M. Al-Otaibi

College of Languages and Translation

King Saud University

Abstract

Arabic is a non-Germanic language and one may expect that Arab learners of English

face problems with structures found only in Germanic languages. This paper, hence,

investigates the avoidance of phrasal verbs, a structure found in Germanic languages only,

by EFL Arab college students in relation to proficiency levels (beginners, advanced) and

phrasal verb types (literal, figurative). The researcher used two research tools: a multiple-

choice test and classroom observation. 39 female Arab students took the test, whereas two

groups of different proficiency levels have been observed with regards to speaking only.

Results showed that female Arab students do not avoid phrasal verbs including figurative

ones. One explanation for this is the fact that the group who took the test are advanced

language learners whose avoidance behavior regarding the phrasal verb structure is

diminished. Further, classroom observation showed no difference between beginners and

advanced language learners regarding their production of phrasal verbs. Each group produced

the same number of phrasal verbs suggesting that speaking, as a productive skill, should be

further examined using a different research tool and various elicitation activities.

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Contents

1. Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

2. The avoidance phenomenon---------------------------------------------------------------------4

2.1 Definition -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

2.2 Types of avoidance-------------------------------------------------------------------------------5

2.3 Approaches used in the analysis of learner difficulty in acquiring a second language--5

2.4 Reasons behind avoidance suggested by different studies----------------------------------5

3. The phrasal verb------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7

3.1 Other terms-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7

3.2 Definition-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8

3.3 Reasons for the limited understanding of phrasal verbs--------------------------------------8

3.4 Reasons behind avoidance of phrasal verbs----------------------------------------------------9

4. Significance of the present study------------------------------------------------------------------10

5. Method------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11

5.1 Participants------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11

5.2 Data collection and analysis----------------------------------------------------------------------12

6. Results and discussion------------------------------------------------------------------------------14

7. Conclusion-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15

8. References--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------17

9. Appendices-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------19

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Avoidance of Phrasal Verbs by EFL Arab College Students

1. Introduction

Kamimoto, Shimura, and Kellerman (1992, as cited in Kano 2006, p. 1) provide the

following quoted words by a second language (L2) learner:

I never know which Dutch nouns have common or neuter gender, so I always

stick a diminutive suffix on the end of them, because then they’re always

neuter, bless the little things (British university professor after 25 years in

the Netherlands). (p. 251)

According to Kano (2006, 1), the advanced quotation manifests L2 learners’ difficulty when

communicating using the L2. Such learners want to use a specific structure in the L2, but they

cannot do so and; thus, they compensate for this nonuse by using other linguistic means that may

achieve the purpose without any errors. This behavior is known as avoidance which is defined

by Laufer and Eliasson (1993, as cited in Kano 2006, p. 1) as “one of the strategies learners may

resort to in order to overcome a communicative difficulty” (p. 36).

2. The avoidance phenomenon

2.1 Definition

Kano (2006, p. 7) states that avoidance is defined in two different ways. According to

Tarone (1981, as cited in Kano 2006, p. 8) avoidance can be viewed as a communication

strategy which “attempts to bridge the gap between the linguistic knowledge of the second-

language learner and the linguistic knowledge of the target language interlocutor in real

communication situations” (p. 288). On the other hand, Ellis (1994, as cited in Kano 2006, p.

8) states that avoidance has been seen as one of the manifestations of language transfer.

Manifestations besides avoidance include errors (negative transfer), facilitation (positive

transfer), and over-use. Furthermore, avoidance implies some passive knowledge of the

structure being avoided. As Kleinmann (1977, 1978) argues, “to be able to avoid some

linguistic feature presupposes being able to choose not to avoid it, i.e., to use it” (p. 97).

Despite the fact that many research papers have been written on avoidance, there are still

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unanswered questions regarding the identification of avoidance and the reasons behind its

occurrence.

2.2 Types of avoidance

According to Brown (1994, p. 128-129), avoidance can be semantic, topical, lexical,

phonological, morphological, graphological, or void. In semantic avoidance, second language

learners avoid talking about certain concepts. For topical avoidance, learners avoid talking

about certain topics and they devise certain strategies for such a purpose. They may change

the topic of the conversation, pretend not to understand, or not to respond to the speaker. For

lexical avoidance, learners avoid using some lexical items. When avoidance is phonological,

learners prefer to use words that are easier to pronounce. Additionally, learners may avoid

words they do not know how to spell and; thus, we have graphological avoidance. Regarding

void avoidance, learners prefer using words that have translation-equivalents in the mother

tongue to those that do not have.

2.3 Approaches used in the analysis of learner difficulty in acquiring a second language

There are two approaches used in the analysis of learner difficulty in acquiring a second

language. The first one is known as Contrastive Analysis (CA), whereas the second is Error

Analysis. According to Kleinmann (1977, p. 93), the former compares the learner's native

language (NL) with his target language (TL). This comparison helps researchers in predicting

any areas of difficulty learners may face in the process of learning a second language.

According to the proponents of this approach, similarities between the two linguistic systems

may lead to easiness in second language acquisition, whereas differences will result in

difficulties. On the other hand, EA examines empirically errors produced by second language

learners to identify their causes. As opposed to CA, EA makes no priori predictions.

2.4 Reasons behind avoidance suggested by different studies

Avoidance behavior was first brought to light by Schachter (1974) who examines such a

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phenomenon in relation to Relative Clauses (RCs). Schachter has chosen Chinese, Japanese,

Persian, and Arabian learners as her participants. She found that Chinese and Japanese

learners produced fewer RCs comparing them to Persian and Arabian learners. She claims

that Chinese and Japanese learners find such a construction difficult to produce and thus

avoid using it. She concludes that “if a student finds a particular construction in the target

language difficult to comprehend it is very likely that he will try to avoid producing it” (p.

213). Such a difficulty was earlier predicted by CA. Hence, Schachter argues that EA was

deficient in explaining the avoidance phenomenon. As noted by Kano (2006), studies

following Schachter's can be divided into two classes:

1. Studies by Kleinmann (1977; 1978), Chiang (1980), Dagut and Laufer (1985),

Hulstijn and Marchena (1989), Seliger (1989), Laufer and Eliasson (1993), and Liao and

Fukuya (2004) which support Schachter's idea that avoidance is caused by structural or

semantic aspects of a target language.

2. Studies by Bley-Vroman and Houng (1988), Zhao (1989), Kamimoto et

al.(1992), and Li (1996) which argue that avoidance is a ''form of underproduction caused by

transfer of the frequency, distribution, and function patterns from the L1''. (Kano, 2006, p.

14).

Some such as Kleinmann (1977, p.106) added other reasons like the affective state of

learners. Moreover, Chiang (1980, as cited in Kano 2006, p. 10) states that linguistic

proficiency is a very important reason behind avoidance. Further, Hulstijn and Marchena

(1989, as cited in Kano 2006, p. 11) manifest that L1 – L2 difference as well as L1 –L2

similarity may contribute to avoidance.

Seliger (1989, as cited in Kano 2006, p. 12) points out two problems with the

definition of avoidance highlighted in the previous studies. He argues that it is very difficult

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to distinguish avoidance which is intentional from ignorance which is not intentional.

Additionally, he states that ''in order to claim avoidance, a statistical norm of native speaker

usage should be demonstrated'' (p. 21). He further highlights that true avoidance only occurs

when learners can form the target structure, but they do not acquire its distributional rules.

As advanced above, there are still unanswered questions regarding the definition of

avoidance and reasons for avoidance. Kamimoto et al., (1992, as cited in Kano 2006, p. 13)

states that if avoidance presupposes some kind of passive knowledge, one should determine

how much of this knowledge is sufficient to claim avoidance. Also, the causes of avoidance

should be further investigated. As mentioned above, Schachter (1974) claims that L1 – L2

structural difference is one reason for avoidance. However, studies following Schachter's

point out other reasons such as L1 – L2 similarity or inherent L2 complexity. Liao and

Fukuya (2004, p. 17) note that because of the development of one's interlanguage, one goes

through stages of avoidance then nonavoidance as his linguistic knowledge develops.

Schachter (1974) claims that a structural difference between L1 and L2 leads to

avoidance. However, studies after Schachter found that avoidance could be caused not only

by L1 – L2 difference, but also by L1 – L2 similarity or inherent L2 complexity. The most

recent research (Liao & Fukuya, 2004, p. 17) claims that learners go through a

developmental stage from avoidance to nonavoidance as their proficiency reaches a higher

level.

3. The phrasal verb

3.1 Other terms

According to Waibel (2007, p. 15), different linguists propose different terms for

the phrasal verb. Francis (1958, as cited in Waibel 2007, p. 15) suggests the term ''separable

verb'', whereas Taha (1960, as cited in Waibel 2007, p. 15) and Meyer (1975, as cited in

Waibel 2007, p. 15) use ''verb-particle combinations'' to refer to this group of verbs.

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McArthur (1989, as cited in Waibel 2007, p. 15) claims that the term ''phrasal verb'' seems to

be the winning term.

3.2 Definition

Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik(1985) offers syntactic and lexical

definitions for the phrasal verb. From the syntactic aspect, a phrasal verb is a verb ''followed

by a morphologically invariable particle, which functions with the verb as a single

grammatical unit (p. 1150). The lexical definition for the phrasal verb is that ''the meaning of

the combination manifestly cannot be predicted from the meaning of the verb [proper] and

particle in isolation” (p. 1152); hence, they function as one lexical unit. According to Celce-

Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999, p. 282), the phrasal verb can be semantically divided into

three types: literal, idiomatic, and aspectual. The meaning of literal phrasal verbs can be

easily derived from the meanings of its constituents. The verb take down is an example. The

meaning of idiomatic phrasal verbs has no relation to the meanings of its constituents. In this

case, make up is one example. For aspectual phrasal verbs such as eat up, the meaning of the

verb proper is easily understood, but the particle ''contributes meanings, not commonly

understood, about the verb’s aspect'' (p. 282).

3.3 Reasons for the limited understanding of phrasal verbs

According to Darwin and Gray (1999, p. 66), there is some limited understanding of

phrasal verbs which can be attributed to three different reasons. The first reason has to do

with the definition of phrasal verbs. Although linguists define the phrasal verb as a verb

followed by a particle which work together as one single unit, but the application of such a

definition is problematic. Brinton (1988, as cited in Darwin & Gray 1999, p. 66) would

consider drink up as a phrasal verb, whereas Quirk and Greenbaum (1990, as cited in Darwin

& Gray 1999, p. 66) are unsure about its classification. This confusion among researchers has

led to a similar confusion among students and teachers. Another reason is the fact that there

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are few lists of the most common phrasal verbs prepared by researchers. Such researchers

depend entirely on their intuition when preparing these lists which is sometimes misleading.

The third reason is related to the method of presenting phrasal verbs which groups them

according to the verb proper. Frank (1993, as cited in Darwin & Gray 1999, p. 67), for

example, presents five phrasal verbs that begin with bring, four with make, and five with

take.

3.4 Reasons behind avoidance of phrasal verbs

In the literature of avoidance, there are five studies that focus on the avoidance of

phrasal verbs. Dagut and Laufer (1985, as cited in Liao & Fukuya 2004, p. 75) argue that

Hebrew learners of English, whose language lacks phrasal verbs, prefer one-word verbs to

their phrasal verb equivalents. They conclude that L1-L2 structural differences is a

significant reason behind one's avoidance of phrasal verbs.

In a study by Hulstijn and Marchena (1989, as cited in Liao & Fukuya 2004, p. 75), the

participants are Dutch whose language has phrasal verbs. Dutch learners of English avoid

using figurative phrasal verbs that have literal counterparts in Dutch. They conclude that L1

–L2 similarity may trigger avoidance.

Laufer and Eliasson (1993, as cited in Liao & Fukuya 2004, p. 76) conduct their study

on Swedish learners whose L1 language has phrasal verbs. Such learners do not avoid

idiomatic phrasal verbs that have identical counterparts in Swedish. Thus, they conclude that

the best predicator of avoidance is L1 – L2 difference.

In a study by Liao and Fukuya (2004), the subjects are intermediate and advanced

Chinese English language learners whose language lacks phrasal verbs. Intermediate learners

avoid phrasal verbs especially the idiomatic ones. On the other hand, advanced learners do

not avoid phrasal verbs. The researchers argue that L1-L2 structural differences as well as

semantic complexity of the phrasal verbs are causes of avoidance. They further demonstrate

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that as one's interlanguage develops, he may go through stages of avoidance to

nonavoidance.

Gaston (2004) has chosen Spanish native speakers, whose language has phrasal verbs,

as his participants. He finds that Spanish learners avoid phrasal verbs mainly because of

semantic reasons (such as idiomaticity) and low proficiency levels.

4. Significance of the present study

Arabic is a non-Germanic language and one may expect that Arab learners may face

serious problems with structures found in Germanic languages only. One example of such

structures is the phrasal verb. Prior studies in the literature of avoidance do not address the

problem of avoidance of phrasal verbs among Arabs. In Schachter's study, some of the

participants are Arabs, but the focus is on RCs and not on phrasal verbs. Further, researchers

in previous studies use mainly written tests such as multiple-choice questions and translation

tests to investigate the phenomenon of avoidance, but none has tackled the avoidance

behavior in speaking. As noted by Blum and Levenston (1977), avoidance occurs when a

learner has some passive knowledge of some structures but ''fails to explain the distinctions

in his own speech and writing'' (p. 2). Their remark highlights the importance of investigating

avoidance in two productive skills: writing and speaking. In addition, most phrasal verbs are

informal and are more common in spoken language than in written language. For the

aforementioned reasons, the present study aims at answering the following questions:

1. Based on written tests, do Arab learners avoid phrasal verbs? If so, what are the

causes of avoidance of phrasal verbs among Arab learners?

(a) Do L1-L2 structural differences contribute to the avoidance of phrasal verbs?

(b) Does the idiomaticity of some phrasal verbs trigger the avoidance behavior?

2. Based on classroom observation, do Arab learners avoid using phrasal verbs in their

speaking ?

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(a) Is the low linguistic proficiency considered to be an avoidance-triggering factor?

5. Method

5.1 Participants

Subjects of the present study consist of EFL female students who are native speakers of

Arabic. All the subjects are majoring in English-Arabic translation at the COLT, King Saud

University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Their ages range from 17 to 22.

The first sample of participants consists of 39 upper-intermediate-learners at their

second level in the college. They were particularly chosen because they have passed a course

known as Vocabulary 1 (3 hours) in which two units of phrasal verbs are studied. Thus, if

students avoid phrasal verbs, one can conclude that this avoidance presupposes some passive

knowledge and choice. Those participants are of two groups: Group A (10 students) and

Group C (29 students). They took an elicitation test which is a multiple-choice test. They

volunteered to participate on Saturday 29.11.2008. The first group took the test at 11:00 a.m.,

whereas the second group took the test at 10:00 a.m. For both groups, the test lasted 15

minutes. Those second-level students are taking Writing 2 (4 hours), Reading 2 (4 hours),

Listening 2 (3 hours), Vocabulary 2 (2 hours), Grammar 2 (2 hours), Dictionary Skills (2

hours), besides Speaking 2 (3 hours).

For observation purposes, two samples of different levels have been chosen. The first

sample are of 40 students who are beginning learners at their first level in the college. Their

speaking class was observed on Monday 1.12.2008 at 12:00 p.m. The speaking lesson was

taped and later transcribed by the researcher. It was of 38 minutes focusing on cultural issues

and some related exercises such as role plays. The pictures in Appendix B are illustrative.

Those first-level students are taking Writing 1 (4 hours), Reading 1 (4 hours), Listening 1 (3

hours), Vocabulary 1 (3 hours), Grammar 1 (2 hours), besides Speaking 1 (4 hours). The

second sample are of 14 participants who are considered to be advanced language learners at

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their fourth level in the college. Their speaking class was observed on Monday 1.12.2008 at

11:00 p.m. The speaking lesson was taped and later transcribed by the researcher. It was of

47 minutes focusing on training students in debate skills through special kinds of activities.

The pictures in Appendix B illustrate some of the activities. Those fourth-level students are

taking Writing 4 (2 hours), Reading 4 (2 hours), Listening 4 (2 hours), Language and Culture

1 (2 hours), Introduction to Translation (2 hours), Salam 1 (2 hours), 217 and 215 Arab (6

hours).

In semesters 1 through 4, students are required to take courses in speaking, reading,

writhing, grammar, and listening. In semesters 6 to 10, students at the COLT are required to

read and translate texts in medicine, science, education, religion, engineering, oil industry,

agriculture, law, social and political sciences, mass media, literature, computer science,

business administration, military affairs, and public safety. Besides these written translations,

students are required to do oral translations such as bilateral translation 1 (2 hours) and

consecutive translation 1 (2 hours) on the sixth level. On the eighth level, they are required to

do consecutive translation 2 (2 hours). On the tenth level, students do simultaneous

translation (2 hours) and bilateral translation 2 (2 hours). As advanced above, students are

required to do written and oral translations. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the avoidance

phenomenon in speaking as well as in writing.

5.2 Data collection and analysis

The test used in this paper was developed by Liao and Fukuya (2004). The test is of 15

short dialogues. The verb in each dialogue was left blank. The participants were asked to fill

in each blank with one of the four verbs presented below the dialogue: the PV, its one-word

equivalent, and two distractor verbs. Among the 15 phrasal verbs, 4 were literal phrasal

verbs, whereas 11 were figurative. The participants were given 15 minutes to fill in the

blanks. In each item, there are two correct answers: the phrasal verb and its one word

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equivalent. Thus, students are asked to answer all the questions and choose the most suitable

verb. Such a test was particularly chosen because the phrasal verbs get up, go off, hold on,

make up, turn down, run into, come in presented in items 1, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 15 respectively

were discussed in Vocabulary 1. So, students have some knowledge of these phrasal verbs

and of their one-word equivalents that is necessary in determining avoidance. The number of

students taking the test will be multiplied by the number of the items. The resultant number

will be used as the standard. Each student's choice for a phrasal verb or its one-word

equivalent verb will be added; then, divided by the standard number to find out the

percentage of chosen phrasal verbs or one-word verbs. To find out the percentage of chosen

figurative or literal phrasal verbs, number of students taking the test will be multiplied by the

number of items representing literal or figurative phrasal verbs. The resultant number is the

standard number. Each students' choice of literal or figurative phrasal verb will be added;

then, divided by the standard number to find out the percentage of chosen literal or figurative

phrasal verbs.

One more research tool is classroom observation. Two samples of different levels have

been chosen. The first sample are of 40 students who are beginning learners at their first level

in the college. Their speaking class was observed on Monday 1.12.2008 at 12:00 p.m. The

speaking lesson was taped and later transcribed by the researcher. It was of 38 minutes. They

are taking Writing 1 (4 hours), Reading 1 (4 hours), Listening 1 (3 hours), Vocabulary 1 (3

hours), Grammar 1 (2 hours), besides Speaking 1 (4 hours). The second sample are of 14

participants who are considered to be advanced language learners at their fourth level in the

college. Their speaking class was observed on Monday 1.12.2008 at 11:00 p.m. The speaking

lesson was taped and later transcribed by the researcher. It was of 47 minutes. They are

taking Writing 4 (2 hours), Reading 4 (2 hours), Listening 4 (2 hours), Language and Culture

1 (2 hours), Introduction to Translation (2 hours), Salam 1 (2 hours), 217 and 215 Arab (6

14

hours). The purpose of classroom observation is to compare advanced students' performance

to that of beginners. If advanced students produce more phrasal verbs than those produced by

beginners, this will support Liao and Fukuya's claim (2004, p. 1) that with the increase in

linguistic proficiency, avoidance will be diminished.

6. Results and discussion

39 students took the multiple-choice test. The total number of answers was 585 (39

participants x 15 items). The results showed that in 281 cases, students chose the phrasal verb

(48%), and in 230 cases, students chose the one-word equivalents (39%). Of the 585 possible

occurrences of PVs, 429 were figurative (39 participants x 11 figurative PV items), and 156

were literal (39 participants x 4 literal PV items). Among the 281 PVs, 209

(209/429x100=48%) were figurative and 72 (72/156x100=46%) were literal. See Table 1

(Liao & Fukuya, 2004) for further clarification.

Table 1: Phrasal and one-word verbs used in the study

Phrasal Verbs One-Word Equivalents

a. Literal

get up (37) rise (1)

go away (11) leave (19)

take away (16) + remove (17)

come in (8) enter (26)

----------------------

72

b. Figurative

show up (22) appear (15)

brush up on (3) review (32)

let down (20) disappoint (15)

go off (11) explode (25)

hold on (22) wait (16)

put out (30) + extinguish (5)

make up (35) invent (2)

give in (22) surrender (8)

turn down (11) refuse (22)

show off (22) boast (0)

run into (11) meet (27)

---------------------

209

---------------------

281

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As shown above, Arab college students do not avoid phrasal verbs. Further, they do

not avoid idiomatic (figurative) phrasal verbs. The findings of this study contradict the results

of the aforementioned studies by Dagut and Laufer (1985), Hulstijn and Marchena (1989),

Laufer and Eliasson (1993), Liao and Fukuya (2004), and Gaston (2004). One explanation

for this is that the sample of students chosen are advanced foreign language learners whose

avoidance behavior has already diminished with the increase in language proficiency as

suggested by Liao and Fukuya (2004).

The other research tool, classroom observation, showed no difference between

beginners and advanced language learners. The first group that have been observed were a

group of level-one students who are considered to be beginners. Their speaking class was of

a teacher-fronted mode. Students produced little language. The phrasal verb was used only

once by the students. The phrasal verb produced was ''go on''. On the other hand, the other

group that have been observed were level-four students who are considered to be advanced

language learners. Those advanced language learners produced only one phrasal verb ''sit

down''. The following examples are illustrative:

Example (1)

Student (Level 1): We will go on with our party.

Student (Level 4): I'll ask her to sit down.

As shown above, a classroom observation showed no difference between the two groups

though the difference in their proficiency levels. The scarcity of phrasal verbs' production can

be attributed to the fact that little language is produced in both cases and because of using

certain activities that are not suitable as elicitation techniques.

7. Conclusion

Arabic is a non-Germanic language and one may expect that Arab learners of English

face problems with structures found only in Germanic languages. This paper, hence,

16

investigates the avoidance of phrasal verbs, a structure found in Germanic languages only,

by EFL Arab college students in relation to proficiency levels (beginners, advanced) and

phrasal verb types (literal, figurative). The researcher used two research tools: a multiple-

choice test and classroom observation. 39 female Arab students took the test, whereas two

groups of different proficiency levels have been observed with regards to speaking only.

Results showed that female Arab students do not avoid phrasal verbs including figurative

ones. One explanation for this is the fact that the group who took the test are advanced

language learners whose avoidance behavior regarding the phrasal verb structure is

diminished. Further, classroom observation showed no difference between beginners and

advanced language learners regarding their production of phrasal verbs. Each group produced

the same number of phrasal verbs suggesting that speaking, as a productive skill, should be

further examined using a different research tool and various elicitation activities.

17

8. References

Brown, D. H. (1994). Principles of language learning and teaching (4th

ed., pp. 128-129).

Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall-Regents.

Blum, S., & Levenston, E. (1977). Strategies of communication through lexical avoidance in

the speech and writing of second language learners and teachers in translation. (ERIC

Document Reproduction Service No. ED139280)

Celce-Murcia, M., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999). The grammar book: An ESL/EFL

teacher’s course (2nd ed.). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Darwin, C., & Gray, L. (1999). Going after the phrasal verb: An alternative approach to

classification. TESOL Quarterly, 33, 65-83.

Gaston, M. (2004). Avoidance of Phrasal Verbs by Spanish-Speaking learners of English

(Master's thesis, California State University Dominguez Hills, 2004).

Kano, S. (2006). Investigation of L1 influence on avoidance of relative clauses by Japanese

learners of English: Do the learners transfer the use of Japanese relative clauses into

English? (Master's thesis, Hamline University, 2006).

Kleinmann, H. H. (1977). Avoidance behavior in adult second language acquisition.

Language Learning, 27, 93-107.

Kleinmann, H. H. (1978). The strategy of avoidance in adult second language acquisition.

In W. Ritchie (Ed.), Second language acquisition research: Issues and

implications (pp. 157-174). New York: Academic Press.

Liao, Y., & Fukuya, Y. (2004). Avoidance of phrasal verbs: The case of Chinese learners of

English. Language learning, 54(2), 193-226.

Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of

the English language (pp.1150-1168). New York: Longman.

Schachter, J. (1974). An error in error analysis. Language Learning, 24, 205-214.

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Waibel, B. (2007). Phrasal verbs in learner English: A corpus-based study of German and

Italian students (Doctoral dissertation, der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 2007).

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9. Appendices

9.1 Appendix A

Test Items

Please read the following sentences and choose the best answer that completes the

sentence. Write the letter of your answer in the blank. If you do not know the meaning

of all the words, make your best guess. Be sure to answer all the questions.

1. –“When the weather is nice I love to ___ early.”

–“Me, too. It’s good to enjoy the morning air.”

A. rise B. release C. get up D. look after

2. –“I didn’t expect to see Emily at the party. I thought she had gone on vacation.”

–“Me neither. I was also surprised when she ___.”

A. claimed B. appeared C. showed up D. looked up

3. –“I heard that the company is sending you to Germany again.”

–“Yes. It’s been a long time since I was there, so I guess it’s time to ___ my

German.”

A. abolish B. improve C. brush up on D. calm down

4. –“How do you like John?”

–“He is one of those few people who never ___ their friends.”

A. solve B. disappoint C. let down D. carry on

5. –“Did you hear about the bombing of the embassy in Nairobi?”

–“That was a disaster. Fortunately, there weren’t that many people in the building

when the bomb ___.”

A. went off B. tuned in C. exploded D. replied

6. –“Hello, Jan!”

–“Hi, Susan! How nice of you to call me!”

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–“I want to ask some advice from you.”

–“No problem. Oh---, can you ___ a second? Someone is knocking at the door.”

A. hold on B. capture C. wait D. fall down

7. –“Michelle always forgets to ___ the fire when she leaves!”

–“That’s dangerous! You should talk to her about this.”

A. break into B. foresee C. put out D. extinguish

8. –“I was late for my date last night, so I ___ a story about a traffic jam.”

–“But did your girlfriend believe it at all? Better be frank next time.”

A. invented B. made up C. followed D. lay down

9. –“Robert and Paul were fighting on the street this morning.”

–“So I heard. Was it serious?”

–“They didn’t stop until Paul twisted his ankle and had to ___.”

A. realize B. give in C. surrender D. look up to

10. –“How is your business going?”

–“Pretty good. Though I have to ___ several good offers because I am just short of

time.”

A. offend B. turn down C. cheer up D. refuse

11. –“When you think about it, most of your classmates will disappear forever from your

life after you graduate.”

–“Yeah, but every now and then you will ___ one of them on the street.”

A. go over B. run into C. meet D. applaud

12. –“Do you notice that Marvin likes to ___?”

–“Yes. But I don’t think that he has anything to be proud of.”

A. lie B. boast C. show off D. break out

13. –“I’m sorry I hurt you. I didn’t mean to say those things. I was just angry.”

21

–“Just ___. I don’t want to see you for a while.”

A. leave B. sit C. go away D. move on

14. (in a restaurant)

–“Miss, could I get a bit more coffee when you’ve got a chance?”

–“Sure. Would you like me to ___ these plates first?”

A. remove B. take away C. mix D. drop in

15. –“How do you get in that bar?”

–“You have to ___ the back door.”

A. enter B. come in C. adopt D. put up