A Corpus-Based Analysis of Lexical Frequency and Patterns in Informal Spoken English About Surabaya's Landmarks by Cambodian Students at Muhammadiyah University of Surabaya

Limited vocabulary and repetitive lexical patterns are common characteristics of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' spoken production. However, studies examining lexical frequency and lexical patterns in the spoken English of Cambodian students in Indonesian higher education remain limited. This study aimed to identify the most frequent lexical items and describe the recurring lexical patterns produced by Cambodian students when speaking informally about Surabaya's landmarks. A descriptive qualitative design within a corpus linguistics framework was employed, involving two Cambodian students from the English Education Department at Muhammadiyah University of Surabaya. Transcribed recordings of topic-based informal conversations were analyzed using LancsBox through wordlist, concordance, and collocation analyses. The corpus consisted of 1,358 tokens and 252 lexical types, with nouns as the most dominant part of speech (38.89%) and A1-level CEFR vocabulary as the most frequent proficiency level (51.19%), reflecting only 12.45% coverage of the New General Service List. Wordlist analysis showed that function words such as and, I, can, and the occurred most frequently, while concordance analysis revealed simple Subject–Verb–Object patterns and recurring chunks such as I think, I can, and people can. Collocation analysis identified only one recurring pattern, very important, indicating limited collocational competence. These findings suggest that although the participants communicated effectively, their spoken English remained lexically limited and repetitive, offering practical insights for vocabulary-focused instruction in EFL contexts.

==================================================================================

Kosakata yang terbatas dan pola leksikal yang berulang merupakan karakteristik umum dalam produksi tuturan pembelajar bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing (EFL). Namun, penelitian yang mengkaji frekuensi dan pola leksikal dalam bahasa Inggris lisan mahasiswa Kamboja di perguruan tinggi Indonesia masih terbatas. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi item leksikal yang paling sering digunakan serta mendeskripsikan pola leksikal yang berulang pada tuturan informal mahasiswa Kamboja ketika membicarakan landmark Kota Surabaya. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain deskriptif kualitatif dalam kerangka linguistik korpus, dengan melibatkan dua mahasiswa Kamboja dari Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Muhammadiyah Surabaya sebagai partisipan. Rekaman percakapan informal berbasis topik yang telah ditranskripsi dianalisis menggunakan LancsBox melalui analisis wordlist, concordance, dan collocation. Korpus penelitian terdiri atas 1.358 token dan 252 tipe leksikal, dengan nomina sebagai kelas kata yang paling dominan (38,89%) dan kosakata tingkat A1 CEFR sebagai tingkat kemahiran yang paling banyak muncul (51,19%), yang hanya mencakup 12,45% dari New General Service List. Analisis wordlist menunjukkan bahwa kata fungsi seperti and, I, can, dan the muncul paling sering, sementara analisis concordance menunjukkan pola kalimat sederhana Subjek–Verba–Objek serta ungkapan berulang seperti I think, I can, dan people can. Analisis collocation hanya mengidentifikasi satu kolokasi berulang, yaitu very important, yang menunjukkan keterbatasan kompetensi kolokasional. Temuan ini menunjukkan bahwa meskipun partisipan mampu berkomunikasi secara efektif, tuturan bahasa Inggris mereka tetap terbatas secara leksikal dan bersifat repetitif, sehingga memberikan wawasan praktis bagi pengajaran kosakata dalam konteks EFL.