Between Collocation and Colligation: An Experiment in Collaborative Lexicography

Abstract

This paper describes a protocol for using dictionaries in classroom activities to support language learning and develop language awareness (Nied Curcio 2022). A group of undergraduate foreign language students was guided through the process of compiling a multilingual Covid-19 dictionary, which provides collocational data to support language production and improve fluency in an L2. The activities were an integral part of a BA course in Lexicology and Lexicography. Lexonomy was used as the project editing tool. The compilation process not only shed light on the students’ challenges in basic language skills, such as syntactic analysis, but also highlighted the importance of refining the proposed teaching programme to include more detailed metalinguistic explanation and an augmented dictionary microstructure. Besides, the skills that emerged from the experiments conducted also provide valuable insights for research into dictionary use and the design of effective dictionaries.