Multi-word expressions play an important role in second lan- guage acquisition, comprehension, and production. Therefore, there is great need for a list of frequent, useful multi-word expressions in language teaching classrooms. Despite multiple attempts at defining multi-word sequences, researchers and teaching experts are divided over the nature and characteristics of these units and the possible pedagogic value of each type of multi-word expression for particular teaching contexts. Various definitions have been provided based on different criteria used in extracting these phrases and expressions from a corpus. Con- sidering the importance of identifying features that render a multi-word expression useful to language teachers and learners, the present study elicited value judgments from experienced EFL instructors and advanced-level learners regarding items in three notable lists that take into account different criteria and features of multi-word sequences. The researchers asked 100 learners and instructors of English for academic purposes to rate a list of expressions based on how valuable they believed them to be in the teaching/learning process. The researchers also interviewed a number of the participants about the reasons underlying their preferences for particular expressions. The findings reveal a penchant for expressions with a clear form– function mapping and multi-word expressions believed to pose difficulty for learning and teaching.

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