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

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 multiplechoice 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.

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

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 theyre 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 secondlanguage 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

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

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

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.

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 CelceMurcia 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 verbs 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

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

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 ?

10

(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

11

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

12

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

13

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
a. Literal
get up
(37)
go away
(11)
take away (16)
come in
(8)
---------------------72
b. Figurative
show up
(22)
brush up on (3)
let down
(20)
go off
(11)
hold on
(22)
put out
(30)
make up
(35)
give in
(22)
turn down (11)
show off
(22)
run into
(11)
--------------------209
--------------------281

One-Word Equivalents

rise
leave
remove
enter

(1)
(19)
(17)
(26)

appear
review
disappoint
explode
wait
extinguish
invent
surrender
refuse
boast
meet

(15)
(32)
(15)
(25)
(16)
(5)
(2)
(8)
(22)
(0)
(27)

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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):
Student (Level 4):

We will go on with our party.

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,

15

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 multiplechoice 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.

16

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
teachers 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-Universitt, 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. Its good to enjoy the morning air.
A. rise B. release C. get up D. look after
2. I didnt 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. Its been a long time since I was there, so I guess its 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 werent 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!

19

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!
Thats 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 didnt 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 dont think that he has anything to be proud of.
A. lie B. boast C. show off D. break out
13. Im sorry I hurt you. I didnt mean to say those things. I was just angry.

20

Just ___. I dont 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 youve 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

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