The impacts of input frequency and input enhancement on the learning of L2 collocations

Although the acquisition of collocations has been widely examined, the extent to which attention-drawing techniques influence the acquisition of L2 collocations remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of two attention-drawing techniques-input frequency and input enhancement-on the acquisition of L2 collocations. Seventy-four L2 learners of English read passages under two conditions: a) reading-only (R), in which target collocations appeared either once or three times, and b) reading with input enhancement (IE), identical to reading-only but with collocations made salient with bold font. The study employed a 2 × 2 factorial design manipulating enhancement (enhanced vs. unenhanced) and frequency (one vs. three exposures). Immediate post-test results showed an effect of input enhancement: IE yielded significantly more learning gains than R in form recall, with no differences between the two conditions in form recognition. There was an effect of input frequency, with three exposures resulting in greater gains than one exposure in both form recall and recognition tests. Further analysis indicates that input enhancement can achieve the same outcomes as input frequency, but with fewer exposures. These results have important implications for teaching L2 collocations.