A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON MULTI-WORD VERBS BASED ON THE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS RECOMMENDED BY THE BRAZILIAN TEXTBOOK NATIONAL PROGRAM-PNLD 2012

This paper focuses on the analysis of textbooks used in regular schools and language institutes in order to contribute to an overview of the current situation of the EFL material provided to language students in Brazil. It presents the results of a language aspect, that is, the multi-word verbs. This research aimed at an analysis of how multi-word verbs are presented and discussed in English textbooks from the Brazilian Textbook National Program (PNLD 2012), and at an investigation, by means of a short questionnaire, of the way English teachers, mainly, but not only, from public schools, help their students master this linguistic aspect of the target language. The purpose was, first, to check whether a distinction between the adverb/ preposition particles is made in relation to such verbs, as well as to check the use of terminology for an appropriate syntactic discussion. The results from the textbook analysis and from the questionnaires were compared to help visualize the current situation of the multiword verbs teaching.


INTRODUCTION
In Brazil, the English language has been taught in regular schools for over a century and it is part of the obligatory curriculum for students in primary, secondary and high school levels.
Language teaching, however, is not treated as a priority and, in most schools, students are offered only 100 minutes of English classes a week, in opposition to 250 minutes of Portuguese and Math.According to the Brazilian National Curriculum Parameters for High School (PCNEM) 4 , students are mostly expected to be able to read and comprehend written texts, and lessons by acquiring reading strategies, such as "skimming", "scanning" and "prediction".Considering this argument, it may be stated that the teaching of English, as well as other foreign languages, is, then, predominantly, based on Grammar-Translation Method, because the other linguistic competencies, such as listening, writing and speaking, tends to be disregarded by regular schools.
It is then common for studentsespecially those from upper class familiesto look for alternatives in order to reach fluency and be able to manage experiences with foreigners.Most of them are enrolled in language institutes and take English as an extra class subject.These language institutes vary within a wide range of prices and offer English for different purposes, although most of them promise to lead students to fluency and full comprehension of the language.
Most language institutes tend to use textbooks in order to have a well-established course plan and avoid the creation of an entire curriculum, so it is not unusual to find regular schools using textbooks to support their classes.And textbooks are not a privilege of students attending English classes at language institutes.In Brazil, the government program named PNLD (Brazilian Textbook National Program) selects textbooks to be used in public schools.
Multi-word verbs is an issue that demands closer attention in teaching because it seems to be one of the biggest fears for learners in Brazil, due to their "infinite" options and the approach given to their study by EFL textbooks in Brazil.
This paper is then an investigation of how textbooks deal with this linguistic aspect.It is an investigation of the description provided by textbooks from the Brazilian Textbook National Program (PNLD 2012) concerning multi-word verbs.We analyze the material used in regular schools and cross theoretical references from grammar books with English teachers' statements in order to investigate how the use of proper terminology might be beneficial to students.
The purpose of this research is to investigate how multi-word verbs are presented to high school students in Brazilian regular schools.In order to do so, we cross data collected from an analysis of presentations and descriptions in textbooks approved by the Brazilian Textbook National Program with information concerning teachers' approaches to this language topic, through a questionnaire.
With respect to the research questions of this study, we present the following ones: "Do the English textbooks from Brazilian Textbook National Program (PNLD 2012) distinguish the particle (s) adverb and/or preposition when presenting multi-word verbs?" and "What is their approach to this language topic?" Regarding the previous research questions, we still present others, as follows: in case the books analyzed do not deal with multi-word verbs and they do not distinguish those particles in the subcategorization of the phenomenon, how do English teachers deal with this issue?Do they present any distinction of these particles to their students?

LITERATURE REVIEW
The categorization of multi-word verbs depends on the type of particle(s) that follow(s) the verbs with which they make a unit, such as "get up", "look at", and "look down on".These combinations of verb + particle(s) are considered to be multi-word verbs when they behave as a single unit.In order to understand this last statement, it is necessary to discuss the concept of "unit."According to Downing and Locke (2006:11), "a unit is any sequence that constitutes a semantic whole and which has a recognized pattern that is repeated regularly in speech and writing."In other words, a unit is any part of language and/or writing that has meaning, which is recognizable by the speakers of a language.An example is the verb "to get up", which cannot be understood separately as only "get" plus "up", maintaining the meaning the complete unit has.
English textbooks' authors tend to oversimplify the explanation of these types of verbs by using inappropriate terminology.These verbs are most commonly presented in textbooks as phrasal verbs, not taking into consideration the fact that multi-word verbs is an umbrella term that covers different kinds of verbs, such as phrasal-verbs, prepositional verbs, and phrasalprepositional verbs.Another consequence of such oversimplification is the way the particles that accompany such verbs are treated: they can be an adverb or a preposition, and most textbooks tend not to distinguish them as such.This distinction is important so as to understand how to use these verbs and to identify them properly, taking their subcategorization into account.
Linguists such as Quirk and Crystal (1985), Downing and Locke (2006) and Carter and McCarthy (2006) provide us with similar views on these verbs.According to Quirk andCrystal (1985:1150), the main category of multi-word verbs consists of combinations such as "drink up", "dispose of", and "get away with", which are studied under the headings of "phrasal verb", "prepositional verb", and "phrasal-prepositional verb", respectively.
Each category of multi-word verb will be explained in the following sections of this paper.To Downing and Locke (2006:336), "the function of many of the particles is to modify the nature of the activity expressed by the verb.The result is an extended meaning that is often quite different from the meaning(s) of the verb when it functions alone".In other words, the particle(s) (adverb/preposition) change(s) the meaning of the lexical verb.The following examples provided by Carter and McCarthy (2006:436) Carter and McCarthy (2006:429) state that "a lexical verb may combine with a particle to form a multi-word verb which behaves as a single unit of meaning.The particle may be an adverb or a preposition.""Unit", in this case, is interpreted according to the definition presented by Downing and Locke (2006) and previously discussed in this paper.
The table below brings the most common particles that combine with lexical verbs to form multi-word verbs, according to Carter and McCarthy (2006:431).Multi-word verbs are, as previously mentioned, an umbrella term that involves subcategories that vary from author to author.Such distinction and discussion of subcategories is important to provide us with a solid basis to relate the grammar book exploration of the language topic and compare it to the approach in the English textbooks approved by the PNLD 2012.
To Carter and McCarthy (2006:431), Phrasal verbs are constituted by a lexical verb and an adverb particle.They can be intransitive or transitive.Intransitive phrasal verbs do not require an object.For example: The radio alarm went off at the same time as usual.(went off: rang); Hang on.Let me write all this down.(hang on: wait).
On the other hand, transitive phrasal verbs require a direct object.This can be exemplified by means of the following sentences: You're not going to sort out your problems in a month.(sort out: solve); We decided to put the meeting off for a couple of weeks.(or: We decided to put off the meeting for a couple of weeks.)(put off: postpone).
The particle can be used before or after the direct object if the object is not an object pronoun.
However, if there is occurrence of an object pronoun, the pronoun always comes before the particle.
I couldn't wake her up.
According to Carter and McCarthy (2006:433), if an object pronoun is coordinated with a full noun phrase or another pronoun, the objects may occur before or after the particle.However, objects that are longer tend to come after the particle.
Yesterday we were just finishing off looking at the structure and the land use of city and town.
Yesterday we were just finishing looking at the structure and the land use of city and town off.
In this case, it is not possible to move the object to the position before the particle "off", as in the other examples.Carter and McCarthy (2006:432)  Concerning the subcategories of multi-word verbs, Quirk andCrystal (1985:1155) state that "a prepositional verb consists of a lexical verb followed by a preposition with which it is semantically and/or syntactically associated."In other words, a prepositional verb is constituted by a verb and its accompanying particle, which is always a preposition that precedes its complement.Consider the following examples: Look at these pictures; I don't care for Jane's party; His eyes lighted upon the jewel.
The verbs "look at", "care for" and "light upon" are prepositional verbs since their particles are prepositions, as opposed to phrasal verbs, which are followed by an adverb particle.
Prepositional verbs do not follow the same rules that apply to phrasal verbs, since, mostly, the object pronoun cannot precede a preposition.For example: I couldn't sell my car.I just couldn't do without it.(couldn't do without: need/have to have).
A list of prepositional verbs is presented by Carter and McCarthy (2006:434): According to Carter and McCarthy (2006), an important characteristic of these verbs is the fact that some prepositional verbs allow an adverb or discourse marker to be used between the verb and the preposition.For example: It depends entirely on what's going on at the time; I agree, I think, with most of his reasons.
Besides the verbs "agree with" and "depend on", other verbs such as the following ones can be included in this category: "apologize for", "approve of", "ask for", "belong to", "break with", "care for", "depend on", "glance with", "keep to", "laugh at", "look for", "look at", and "cope with".Carter and McCarthy (2006:435) also draw our attention to another characteristic of these verbs when they state that "some prepositional verbs take a direct object after the verb as well as an object of the preposition."In other words, some prepositional verbs accept the movement of their preposition behaving similarly to phrasal verbs.
You don't bombard them with new stuff; Just remind me of your surname again.
According to Quirk andCrystal (1985:1151), "the most obvious difference between the preposition and the spatial adverbs is that where prepositions require a following noun phrase as a prepositional complement, there is no such requirement for adverbs."In fact, this is a simple difference between phrasal and prepositional verbs.As previously explained, some prepositional verbs allow the movement of their particle.The question that arises in this point is: what can be done to distinguish the particle (adverb/preposition) and to identify the category that a given multi-word verb belongs to?First of all, the person must be aware of the features of each category of multi-word verb.This way, it might be properly analyzed.Apart from that, it is advisable to always analyze these verbs in a sentence, not out of context, in order to avoid confusion concerning their similar features.As to how these verbs should be analyzed, we recommend some strategies, as follows: (1) identify the particle(s) that follows the lexical verb (1)5 ; (2) analyze if the lexical verb is transitive or intransitive; (3) check if the particle was moved.
Regarding such strategies to analyze multi-word verbs, we provide the following examples: (i) The dog went for me (prepositional construction), (ii) *The dog went for (adverbial construction); (iii) Jack fell down the hill (prepositional construction), (iv) Jack fell down (adverbial construction).
Notice that in (iii) and (iv), the constructions are accepted, and they are dependent on the use of the particle.The particle "down" is as a preposition in (iii) and a spatial adverb in (iv).The terminology "spatial" is discussed by Downing and Locke (2006:547), who state that "when we express spatial relationships we use mental picture or image schema for each type of relationship."In other words, it refers to the way people experience things in the world and their world knowledge.In sentence (iii), it is noticeable that the figure is "Jack" and the place is "the hill".However, in sentence (iv) "Jack fell down" (adverbial construction), the figure is the only accessible piece of informationas the event itselfbut the place is not mentioned.
The last category of multi-word verbs is "phrasal-prepositional verbs" which contains an adverb and a preposition.According to Quirk andCrystal (1985:1160), these types of verbs are restricted to informal English.These authors provide us with few examples: The new job hasn't come up to her expectations.(come up to: meet); Don't look down on me.You're not better than anybody else.(look down on: disdain).

And a table with the most common phrasal-prepositional verbs:
Common phrasalprepositional verbs catch up on get on with catch up with listen out for come up against look forward to do away with look down on face up to look in on get away with look out for get along with look up to Carter and McCarthy (2006:436) state that "a small number of verbs take a direct object after the verb as well as an object of the preposition".In other words, not a significant quantity of such verbs allow a direct object after its lexical verb and an object after the two particles.
She was just taking her frustration out on me, shouting at me and stuff.(take… out on: cause someone to suffer) This theoretical description related to multi-word verbs in "Literature Review" is applied to the section "Analysis" in which seven textbook collections from the cited Brazilian program were analyzed regarding their explanations of such types of verbs.

METHODOLOGY
By trying to answer the two research questions, the following methodology was adopted: (1) seven textbook collections from the cited Brazilian program, whose total number of the books is 21, were analyzed regarding their explanations of multi-word verbs, (2) a short questionnaire was designed for English teachers, in order to investigate how they deal with this topic and how they teach such verbs, considering the terminology used by them, (3) the questionnaires were sent to teachers who answered it; after that, they were collected, and compared to the information in theoretical texts and the analysis of the textbooks.A further step taken refers to the contrasting of the information provided by public and private school teachers in their questionnaires.This analysis aimed at investigating different points of view from different realities and at contributing for a more critical reflection on the teaching and learning of English in Brazilian schools.

Examples of multi-word verbs from the English textbooks (PNLD 2012)
Seven textbooks approved by the Brazilian Textbook Program (PNLD 2012) were analyzed in order to provide a view on how multi-word verbs are presented to students of regular schools.
A brief discussion of the results of the investigation of each textbook is here presented: Textbook 1: In this material, there is no mention of multi-word verbs; this grammar topic is treated as phrasal verbs.it is said that such verbs are followed by particle(s) Such definition of multi-word verbs is rather simplified.Phrasal verbs are, as covered in the section Literature Review, verbs that consist of a lexical verb and a particle (adverb) and can be transitive or intransitive.Stating that several phrasal verbs have unpredictable meaning, it is ok to consider the different degrees of idiomaticity of multi-word verbs (even specifically phrasal verbs): some of them are semi-idiomatic while others are full-idiomatic.Downing and Locke (2006:341), refer to idiomaticy connected to phrasal verbs, stating that semi-idiomatic phrasal verbs are those in which "the lexical verb generally keeps its literal or metaphorical meaning", while the particle is used as an aspectual marker of various kinds.By stating this, they refer to the way a particle can express different meanings such as completion, beginning-point, end-point or high intensity of an event.For example: Heat up the milk but don't let it boil over.(The bringing of an activity to an end or get to a certain limit).
The meaning of verbs such as the one in the example above may be predicted, and that is why they are semi-idiomatic.However, the full-idiomatic "are those in which the meaning of the whole is not easily deduced from the parts, although it may be well deduced from the context."(Downing and Locke, 2006:342).This means that the meaning of full-idiomatic verbs cannot be easily predicted.The phrasal-prepositional verb below is a full-idiomatic verb: The government has decided to crack down on antisocial behavior.(impose sanctions).
Textbook 1 also proposes exercises to help students schematize and practice the use of multiword verbs (phrasal verbs in their terminology).On page 146, we find: Now complete the sentences with phrasal verbs with put.4) Please put away your clothes.Don't leave them on the floor.
6 We have reproduced the information from the textbooks the way it was provided, keeping the Portuguese language when it was the case.
This extract can be translated into English as follows: Phrasal verbs are locutions consisting of a verb and a particle (preposition / adverb) which carry proper meaning.In many cases, the meaning of such locutions accompany that of the elements of which they are constituted.Therefore, jump means "spring off the ground or other base", up means "to a higher position", and in jump up the adverbial particle only reinforces the meaning of the verb.Several other phrasal verbs, however, have unpredictable meaning that needs to be memorized.

5) I think he is foolish and stupid. I can't put up with that guy.
The exercise uses inappropriate terminology, if we consider the reference grammar books revised in this research, when it refers to both "put away" and "put up with" as phrasal verbs.
"Put away" is, indeed, a phrasal verb."Put away" consists of a lexical verb, which is "put", and an adverb particle "away", which can be moved, as in the example: (4) Please put your clothes away.Don't leave them on the floor.(put away: organize).(Here it is a transitive verb whose direct object is "your clothes.") However, "put up with" is a phrasal-prepositional verb, which consists of a lexical verb "put" and two particles: "up" (adverb) and "with" (preposition).It might be stated that this is a fullidiomatic verb.
Textbook 2: The second textbook analyzed presents all multi-word verbs as phrasal verbs.
On page 105, a definition of phrasal verbs is presented by the author, but there is no discussion about the particles that help compose these types of verbs; they are only referred to as "small words."The following is the definition provided by the author: "Some verbs in English are made up of a verb + a small word (e.g., look for, look at, turn on).They are called phrasal verbs and their meanings are different from the original verb."On page 137, a list of "phrasal verbs" is presented without any further explanation.
The major problems considering the approach of multi-word verbs in textbook 2, relative to our analysis are: (1) "small words" could have been distinguished and are not; (2) because they name all multi-word verbs as "phrasal verbs", some of the examples of "phrasal verbs" provided in the material cannot be considered "phrasal verbs" in our analysis, such as "come up with", "get along with" and "look at"; all of them are phrasal-prepositional, except for "look at", which is prepositional.
Textbook 3: On page 81, the description offered by the author is, in certain way, similar to that presented in Textbook 2. Inappropriate terminology is used when multi-word verbs are treated as phrasal verbs.As previously discussed, it cannot be stated that all multi-word verbs are "phrasal verbs" since phrasal verbs is a subcategory of the former.Verbs presented are "give up", "get back", "pay off"which are, indeed, "phrasal verbs"; "get caught up in" and "come up with"which are phrasal-prepositional verbs.Moreover, no textbook from this collection mentions the distinction of the particles (adverb and preposition) that constitute multi-word verbs.Here is a fragment from an exercise in textbook 3: 4) These phrasal verbs were used in this unit.Use them to complete the advice letter.Make the necessary adjustments.Textbook 4: On page 83, there is an exercise in which multi-word verbs are used.There is no explanation related to them in the section "Language in use".By consulting the teacher's guide at the end of this book, it is possible to find information concerning the goal of the section, which is: to study the grammar implicitly (p.12).
Textbook 5: On page 56, the particles that constitute multi-word verbs are mentioned, but not distinguished.Also, "phrasal verb" is the only terminology used to refer to these groups of verbs.On page 160, the following definition can be found: "phrasal verbs são verbos seguidos de uma partícula (preposição ou advérbio) com um significado especial". 7 On page 198, all the multi-word verbs in the list provided are treated by the label "phrasal verbs"; however, among those items there are occurrences of phrasal-prepositional verbs such as "get along with", "look down on", "look up to" and "stand up for".
Textbook 6: On page 74, "phrasal verb" is the only terminology used to refer to these types of verbs.The verbs are not analyzed at the syntactic level, but only semantically.
Textbook 7: Multi-word verbs are not mentioned or applied to any activity.However, they appear in exercises.In level 2 textbook, a list of multi-word verbs is provided by the authors (p.168) under the heading "phrasal verbs".As previously discussed, such classification fails to categorize verbs such as "get by on" and "go on with", for instance.
7Translation: "phrasal verbs" are verbs followed by a particle (preposition or adverb) with a special meaning"

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Analysis of the English textbook (PNLD 2012) The seven collections of textbooks analyzed in this research had similar approaches to multiword verbs.The terminology "phrasal verb" is used in all of these seven collections of textbooks analyzed instead of the heading "multi-word verbs".Two of the textbooks do not mention the particles (adverb / preposition); four textbooks mention the particles (adverb / preposition), but do not distinguish them; and one textbook does not present the definition of multi-word verb.According to the reference material revised for this research, including outstanding grammarians of the English language, phrasal verbs is a subcategory or the umbrella term multi-word verbs and the distinction between a preposition and an adverb is important for this subcategorization, and also for understanding this grammar topic in its complexity.Presenting all occurrences of multi-word verbs as "phrasal verbs" leaves students with superficial and somehow inaccurate information concerning the language topic.

Data collected from public and private school teachers
34 English teachers answered the questionnaire, being 30 from public schools and 04 from private ones.They have provided us with valuable information, such as to how they treat multi-word verbs in the EFL classroom.98% of teachers do not use the terminology "multiword verbs" and do not distinguish the particles (adverb / preposition): they use the terminology "phrasal verbs".Only 2% of them distinguish the particles (adverb / preposition) and use the terminology "multi-word verbs".1% of them does not consider relevant the distinction of the particles.99% of them did not inform if they consider important or not to distinguish the particles.These two last results were reached by means of the third question of the questionnaire, as follows: "Is the distinction between a preposition and an adverb relevant for your explanation?If yes, how?", because the English teachers said they do not explain the distinction between a preposition and an adverb, however, most of them did not mention if such distinction is relevant or not for their explanation, being 99%.It may be necessary to say that only 1 English teacher answered that it is not important the distinction between such particles to his/her explanation which corresponds to 1%.Regarding their opinions in relation to what could be done to improve the teaching of such verbs, there were suggestions such as using a dictionary to study the different meanings of these verbs, studying them by taking the context into consideration, studying them in isolation, etc.Therefore, their suggestions were diverse.
The data collected from the private school English teachers and the public school English teachers were analyzed together, since there was no significant distinction between the perspective in them.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
Textbooks are not only guidelines to the students' learning process, but they may be considered as key components to language acquisition regarding the fact that students can use them to study independently.An efficient teacher provided with high quality material is able to perform better and reach results that he/she would most likely not reach on their own.
Textbooks are then weapons acting as maintainers of quality and standardizers of instructions.
Several teachersboth from language institutes and regular schoolshave a tendency to rely on textbooks making them their course plan and taking them as the most reliable source of information.However, as presented in this research, textbooks from different sources and publishing houses, different authors and purposes, may fail to provide students with enough scientific basis.
In the research presented, not only textbooks, but also teachers were investigated as to how they treat the so-called multi-word verbs.It may be stated that English teachers' point of view, related to such verbs, collected by means of a short questionnaire was very important for us not only to compare information from the analysis of the textbooks to the theoretical explanation of these verbs, but also to be aware about the current situation of the teaching and learning of multi-word verbs.The textbooks fail in basic definitionswhen presenting the multi-word verbs under the heading phrasal verbsand in providing students with information such as the distinction between an adverb and a preposition in the context of this grammar topic.Such distinction, though might be considered confusing by some people, help students comprehend the linguistic topic in its complexity and proper syntactic behavior.
Apart from not discussing the fact that the particles can be prepositional or adverbial, few of the materials discussed idiomaticity more seriously.
It is not the aim of this article to prove how effective such terminologyphrasal, prepositional or phrasal-prepositional verbs when dealing with multi-word verbscould be if employed by EFL teachers, but to discuss how textbooks are somewhat deficient in relation to syntactic analysis and discussion.A few questions are left unanswered to further research such as: would students learn better and more effectively if exposed to syntax terminology?
What are some of the implications of teaching such terms?Does analyzing the language aspect as part of discourse instead of only at the sentence level facilitate L2 syntax acquisition?
It is important to state here that textbooksno matter how qualified or validatedmay present flaws when dealing with certain language topics and that improvement is required.
The situation is not very different in regular schoolsprivate or public -, whose books are mostly produced in the country, or language institutes, whose books are usually imported from major authors and publishing houses.It is crucial then to develop strategies to update teachers and to improve materials in order to provide students with ever better tools when learning a second language, which is important for success in the globalized world.

APPENDICES
A -English textbooks approved by the Brazilian Textbook Program (PNLD 2012), in alphabetical order, not in the order discussed in the analysis.

B -Questionnaire provided for English teachers
The following questionnaire was sent to English teachers from public and private schools in order to obtain data to provide us with a clear view of the current situation of EFL teaching in regular schools in Brazil.
The aim of this questionnaire is to collect data for an undergraduate research concerning English textbooks approved by the Brazilian Textbook Program (PNLD 2012) for high school.This research is carried out at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) under the supervision of Professor Adriana Tenuta.It is not our aim to evaluate or investigate any teacher's knowledge about language.It is not required personal identification and we would like your school to remain unnamed.We would like you, however, to provide us with the title of the textbook adopted in your classes and the grade/level you are currently teaching.
Textbook title: __________________________________________ Grade: __________ 1) How do you call verbs such as "put away", "look at", "look down on" and "find out", for instance?
2) How do you define or explain this group of verbs to your students?
3) Is the distinction between a preposition and an adverb relevant for your explanation?If yes, how? 4) In your opinion, what can be done to improve the teaching of these verbs?
get caught up in, pay off, come up with, give up and get back Dear A.F.G., I'm very proud of you because you have given up using those pills!(…) Anyway, it's better to try new and safe ways than just let yourself get caught up in this thing of pleasing girls (…) (p.81)

looking forward to the weekend. (looking forward to: anticipating with pleasure) Let her get on with it. (get on with: continue doing)
illustrate this argument: