Why Uzbek Learners Avoid English Phrasal Verbs: a Typological Explanation and Teaching Implications
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: English phrasal verbs such as find out, give up and put off are frequent in everyday English but are often avoided by learners, who prefer one-word equivalents such as discover, quit and postpone. Studies of Hebrew-, Swedish- and Chinese-speaking learners have explained avoidance through first-language differences, semantic complexity and proficiency. Uzbek learners have received little attention in this research, although local work has examined the translation of phrasal verbs into Uzbek. This article offers a typological explanation. Following Talmy, English is a satellite-framed language that typically expresses path of motion in a particle (go out, run away), while Uzbek, like other Turkic languages, is largely verb-framed, expressing path in the main verb (chiqmoq, qochmoq) and using converb-plus-auxiliary constructions (chiqib ketmoq) for aspect and manner. This difference, together with the figurative meanings of many phrasal verbs, predicts avoidance. The article then proposes a three-stage teaching sequence based on frequency, literal-to-figurative meaning extension and particle meanings.
Source: Arabian journal of science.
Author: Rasulov Ibrohimjon Akramzoda
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225684393
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