The production of English binomials by Botswana learners of English

Abstract

This article presents the results of a paper-and-pencil experiment investigating the production of English binomial expressions (e.g. bread and butter, hit and run, in and out) by advanced learners of English at university level. Previous studies have reported a low competence in English binomials by learner participants, indicating a difficulty in idiomatic expressions for English learners. In the present study, 72 participants (mean age 21 years; 16 males, 56 females) took part in a production task at the University of Botswana. In this task, participants were given one of the constituents in the binomial pair (Item A) as a cue for the second constituent (Item B). The results indicate that participants generally have productive knowledge of binomials. In instances where participants were unfamiliar with a given binomial, they relied on semantic relationships (e.g. *salt and sugar, *bread and milk). However, this reliance on semantics yielded non-binomial expressions. Furthermore, the results show that the participants’ level of study played no role in their sensitivity to binomials. Implications for the teaching and learning of English as an L2 are discussed based on these findings.