Which sentence demonstrates a collocational interference from L1?

Which sentence demonstrates a collocational interference from L1?

• A. I am going eye-shopping
• B. I am window shopping
• C. I am window-shopping
• D. I am going eye shop

Answer: (A)

Collocational interference from L1 shows up when a learner transfers a word-pair pattern from their native language into English, producing an expression that native speakers wouldn’t use. The sentence with eye-shopping does this because English speakers don’t pair shopping with the word eye in that position. The natural, widely used way to describe looking at items in stores without buying is window-shopping. So this sentence reflects a direct transfer from L1 of a less-nativelike collocation, whereas using window-shopping aligns with ordinary English usage.

Collocational interference from L1 shows up when a learner transfers a word-pair pattern from their native language into English, producing an expression that native speakers wouldn’t use. The sentence with eye-shopping does this because English speakers don’t pair shopping with the word eye in that position. The natural, widely used way to describe looking at items in stores without buying is window-shopping. So this sentence reflects a direct transfer from L1 of a less-nativelike collocation, whereas using window-shopping aligns with ordinary English usage.