Improving Speaking Fluency in EFL Contexts through Collocation-Based Instruction: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Despite decades of innovation in communicative language teaching, speaking fluency remains one of the most persistent challenges for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners globally. Isolated vocabulary instruction—a dominant pedagogical tradition in many EFL contexts—equips learners with individual lexical items yet fails to provide the prefabricated multi-word sequences essential for automatic, fluent oral production. This study investigates the extent to which collocation-based instruction enhances speaking fluency, lexical accuracy, and communicative confidence among EFL university students. Employing a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test/post-test protocol, 64 participants were distributed across an experimental group (n = 32), which received systematic collocation-focused instruction integrated into communicative speaking tasks, and a control group (n = 32), which continued with conventional isolated vocabulary learning. Data were gathered through standardized speaking assessments, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and self-report questionnaires administered over twelve weeks. Quantitative analyses revealed statistically significant gains in the experimental group across all measured constructs, including words-per-minute fluency rates, collocation production frequency, hesitation reduction, and perceived communicative confidence. Qualitative findings corroborated these outcomes, with participants reporting heightened automaticity and reduced cognitive load during spontaneous speech. The study substantiates the theoretical claims of the Lexical Approach and formulaic language research, demonstrating that collocational knowledge constitutes a critical yet underexplored pathway to oral proficiency in EFL instruction. Pedagogical implications for curriculum design, teacher education, and materials development are discussed.