Psychological features of the collocational competence development

In connection with the use of the communicative method in foreign language teaching, the collocational competence development becomes especially relevant. Based on the analysis of the researchers’ works on the topic, it is revealed that one of the problems of the collocational competence development is not following the principle of the learning consciousness. The essence of this principle is that the provision of all theoretical information should precede the practice of a foreign language. Perception is highlighted as the initial level of consciousness. It is noted that the perception of the language material by the native speaker and the learner is different. Weak connections between the elements of the learner’s mental vocabulary explain why learners “mix” collocations. Noticing is the next level of consciousness. The analysis of scientific literature has shown that noticing is an important component of the successful study of a foreign language. The conditions that affect operations upon noticing are highlighted. Understanding is the last level of consciousness. The next logical step in the collocational competence development, following the principle of learning consciousness, is the use of communicative and pseudocommunicative tasks to consolidate the conscious theoretical material.

collocational competence, principle of learning consciousness, levels of consciousness, communicative tasks