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Record W4414876303 · doi:10.18806/tesl.v42i2/1434

Approaches to Teaching Phrasal Verbs

2025· article· en· W4414876303 on OpenAlexaffvenue
Brian Strong

Bibliographic record

VenueTESL Canada Journal · 2025
Typearticle
Languageen
FieldPsychology
TopicSecond Language Acquisition and Learning
Canadian institutionsCarleton University
Fundersnot available
KeywordsVerbGeneralizationLiteral and figurative languageCognitionSecond languageCognitive linguisticsLanguage education

Abstract

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Phrasal verbs present persistent challenges for second language (L2) learners due to their figurative meanings, multiple interpretations, and variable word order. This article reviews five strands of research that contribute to effective phrasal verb instruction: corpus-based studies, which identify what to teach, and four instructional approaches—input-based, output-based, retrieval-based, and cognitive linguistic—that offer insights into how to teach. Corpus studies identify high-frequency phrasal verbs, common meanings, and register variation, while learner corpus research reveals patterns of underuse and cross-linguistic influence. Instructional studies show that textual enhancement promotes noticing, and output and retrieval tasks improve retention when carefully sequenced. Cognitive linguistic (CL) approaches foster generalization through conceptual metaphors and particle meanings, though their success depends on learner readiness. Despite these advances, most strands have been examined in isolation. This review calls for research on integrated instructional sequences that align corpus-informed selection, CL scaffolding, and retrieval practice. It also highlights the need to investigate how retrieval and communicative output can be coordinated to support durable, flexible phrasal verb use in L2 learning. Les verbes à particule posent des problèmes persistants aux apprenants d’une langue seconde (L2) en raison de leurs sens figurés, de leurs interprétations multiples et de l’ordre variable des mots. Cet article passe en revue cinq axes de recherche qui contribuent à un enseignement efficace des verbes à particule : les études basées sur des corpus, qui identifient ce qu’il faut enseigner, et quatre approches pédagogiques — basées sur l’intrant, basées sur la production, basées sur la récupération et la linguistique cognitive — qui offrent des éclairages sur la manière d’enseigner ces verbes. Les études de corpus identifient les verbes à particule très fréquents, les sens fréquents et les variations de registre, tandis que les recherches sur les corpus d’apprenants révèlent des tendances de sous-utilisation et d’influence translinguistique. Les études pédagogiques montrent que la mise en évidence du texte favorise la prise de conscience, et que les tâches de production et de récupération améliorent la rétention lorsqu’elles sont soigneusement ordonnées. Les approches de linguistique cognitive (LC) favorisent la généralisation par le biais de métaphores conceptuelles et des sens des particules, bien que leur succès dépende du degré de préparation de l’apprenant. Malgré ces avancées, la plupart des axes de recherche ont été examinés de manière isolée. Ce texte appelle à des recherches sur des séquences d’enseignement intégrées qui alignent la sélection basée sur le corpus, l’échafaudage offert par la LC et la pratique de récupération. Il souligne également la nécessité d’étudier la manière dont la récupération et la production communicative peuvent être coordonnées pour soutenir l’utilisation durable et flexible des verbes à particule dans l’apprentissage d’une L2.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.

How this classification was reachedexpand

Full frame distilled prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.000
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.000
Version: codex-gemma-dda1882f352aValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesInsufficient payload (model declined to judge)
Consensus categoriesnone
DomainCandidate signal: none · Consensus signal: none
Study designCandidate signal: Not applicable · Consensus signal: Not applicable
GenreCandidate signal: Empirical · Consensus signal: none
Teacher disagreement score0.489
Threshold uncertainty score0.965

Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.0000.000
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0000.000
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0000.000
Bibliometrics0.0000.000
Science and technology studies0.0000.000
Scholarly communication0.0000.000
Open science0.0000.000
Research integrity0.0000.001
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.2370.000

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.060
GPT teacher head0.299
Teacher spread0.239 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; a candidate call from one teacher head, not a consensus.

Study designNot applicable
Domainnot available
GenreEmpirical

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

Quick stats

Citations0
Published2025
Admission routes2
Has abstractyes

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