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Measuring the Effects of Proficiency, Frequency and Semantic Transparency on the Acquisition of Polysemous Verb-Particle Constructions by Moroccan EFL University Learners: A Corpus-based Approach
Abstract
The present study investigates the acquisition of polysemous verb-particle constructions by Moroccan EFL university learners. It aims at analyzing the extent to which frequency, semantic transparency and proficiency affect the acquisition of the various meaning senses of phrasal verbs. The study also aims at determining which linguistic variable is more powerful at predicting the acquisition of polysemous verb-particle constructions: frequency or semantic transparency. The sample of the study consisted of 110 EFL students, divided into two groups: 55 BA students, and 55 MA students from two and three Moroccan faculties, respectively. The data were elicited using two tasks: a form-recall task, and a meaning-recall task. The selection of the target items in the two tasks was based on a corpus analysis of the COCA (Contemporary Corpus of American English), and the semantic judgement of native speakers. The data were analyzed using a series of statistical measures, namely paired-samples t-test and independent-samples t-test. The findings show that the advanced group statistically outperformed the intermediate group in their overall knowledge of the polysemous phrasal verbs. All participants had a wider knowledge of high frequency phrasal verbs' meaning senses, as well as semantically transparent phrasal verbs' meaning senses. The findings also revealed that frequency overrides semantic transparency in predicting the acquisition of verb-particle constructions, as participants demonstrated a wider knowledge of frequent, yet opaque, phrasal verbs' meaning senses, than of semantically transparent, yet infrequent, phrasal verbs' meaning senses, and as the effect size of frequency was found to be the largest. Low-frequency opaque phrasal verbs' meaning senses seemed to form a difficult category for all participants, regardless of their proficiency level.
This study investigates whether Moroccan undergraduate EFL learners use phrasal verbs in the same way native speakers do or not. To achieve this objective, written learner corpus data are compared against similar data representing native English. The study focuses on two aspects of phrasal-verb use: the absolute co-occurrence frequency of verbs and particles and the degree of verb-particle attraction. Building on Gilquin's (2014) model of the constructional network of phrasal verbs, the present study distinguishes between three levels of analysis: the higher level of the phrasal verb 'superconstruction', the intermediate level of the constructions, and the lower level of analysis, which contains specific phrasal verbs. Nevertheless, contrary to Gilquin's model, the model used in this study extends the intermediate level of constructions to include, in addition to the [V Prt]i, [V Prt OBJ] and [V OBJ Prt] constructions, the passive transitive construction [V Prt]pt. In general, the results show that whether Moroccan undergraduate EFL learners use phrasal verbs in the same way native speakers do or not is dependent on: (1) the level of abstraction that is under analysis; (2) the native language variety that the learners' corpus data is compared against; and (3) the aspect of use of phrasal verbs that is under analysis. Ultimately, findings of this study inform EFL teachers and curriculum/syllabus designers in relation to how phrasal verbs should be introduced to the learners and how the learners' knowledge of these constructions should be assessed.
Verb-particle constructions, also known as phrasal verbs (PVs), have long been challenging for second language (L2) learners of English with its discontinuous syntactic structure and complex semantic structure. Previous literature on L2 PV acquisition focused on the central issues such as avoidance (Gonzalez 2010, 2012; Dagut and Laufer 1985; Laufer and Eliasson 1993; Liao and Fukuya 2004) and first language (L1) effects (Hulstijn and Marchena 1989). This chapter reports a study that adopts the functionalist approach to language acquisition (Ellis 2006) and aims to examine how two of the most important internal properties of PVs (frequency and semantic transparency) interact and affect the developmental patterns in L2 learners’ interlanguage system. Eighty-nine low-intermediate and advanced Chinese learners of English as a foreign language participated in the study. An untimed structured discourse-level cloze test was used to measure learners’ explicit knowledge of PVs. Our results indicated main effects of frequency, semantic transparency, and L2 proficiency. PVs with higher frequency were better acquired than lower-frequency PVs; literal PVs were better acquired than figurative PVs. L2 learners’ explicit knowledge of PVs accumulated with the growth of English proficiency. At the same time, frequency and transparency showed interaction effects: The acquisition of figurative PVs was more strongly influenced by the token frequency of these items compared with the acquisition of literal PVs, resulting in figurative low-frequency PVs being the most problematic category to L2 learners. This finding implies that classroom pedagogy should direct attention to the fossilized areas in order to compensate for the lack of input exposure and semantic complexity.
The aim of this study is to determine the effects of vocabulary size and vocabulary depth on reading performance in EFL context. To this end, Vocabulary Size Test by Nation and Beglar (2007), Words Associate Test by Read (1998), and a reading performance test, the reliability of which was found to be .81 were administered to 361 university students. In the analysis of the data, linear regression and Pearson correlation statistics were used. The results showed that vocabulary size and vocabulary depth were both significantly correlated to reading performance, but vocabulary depth predicted reading performance better.
As researchers and practitioners are becoming more aware of the importance of multi-word items in English, there is little doubt that phrasal verbs deserve teaching attention in the classroom. However, there are thousands of phrasal verbs in English, and so the question for practitioners is which phrasal verbs to focus attention upon. Phrasal verb dictionaries typically try to be comprehensive, and this results in a very large number of phrasal verbs being listed, which does not help practitioners in selecting the most important ones to teach or test. There are phrasal verb lists available (Gardner and Davies, 2007; Liu, 2011), but these have a serious pedagogical shortcoming in that they do not account for polysemy. Research indicates that phrasal verbs are highly polysemous, having on average 5.6 meaning senses, although many of these are infrequent and peripheral. Thus practitioners also need guidance about which meaning senses are the most useful to address in instruction or tests. In response to this need, the PHrasal VErb Pedagogical List (PHaVE List) was developed. It lists the 150 most frequent phrasal verbs, and provides information on their key meaning senses, which cover 75%+ of the occurrences in the Corpus of Contemporary American English. The PHaVE List gives the percentage of occurrence for each of these key meaning senses, along with definitions and example sentences written to be accessible for second language learners, in the style of the General Service List (West, 1953). A users’ manual is also provided, indicating how to use the list appropriately.
The calculation and use of effect sizes—such as d for mean differences and r for correlations—has increased dramatically in second language (L2) research in the last decade. Interpretations of these effects, however, have been rare and, when present, have largely defaulted to Cohen's levels of small (d = .2, r = .1), medium (.5, .3), and large (.8, .5), which were never intended as prescriptions but rather as a general guide. As Cohen himself and many others have argued, effect sizes are best understood when interpreted within a particular discipline or domain. This article seeks to promote more informed and field-specific interpretations of d and r by presenting a description of L2 effects from 346 primary studies and 91 meta-analyses (N > 604,000). Results reveal that Cohen's benchmarks generally underestimate the effects obtained in L2 research. Based on our analysis, we propose a field-specific scale for interpreting effect sizes, and we outline eight key considerations for gauging relative magnitude and practical significance in primary and secondary studies, such as theoretical maturity in the domain, the degree of experimental manipulation, and the presence of publication bias.
Interest in ESL learner language has gained momentum since the 1990s with the generation of learner corpora, development of robust Concordance software and the establishment of the principles of the corpus -linguistic methodology. All these innovations have empowered researchers to investigate not only the frequent but also the idiosyncratic features of different language phenomena in learner language. This corpus-based content analysis stydy was an attempt to explore the phenomena of creativity and unnaturalness in the use of phrasal verbs in an ESL context. Findings revealed that albeit the ESL learners were competent enough in creating compositional phrasal verbs, hence creative, they often produced unusual forms in their attempt to use and create idiomatic phrasal verbs. Materials developers and teachers are, therefore, recommended to provide materials and learning activities that would enable ESL learners to more effectively acquire phrasal verbs in general and idiomatic combinations in particular.
Validated under a Rasch framework (Beglar, 2010), The Vocabulary Size Test (VST) (Nation & Beglar, 2007) is an increasingly popular measure of decontextualized written receptive vocabulary size in the field of second language acquisition. However, although the validation indicates that the test has high internal reliability, still unaddressed is the possibility that it overestimates learner vocabulary size due to guessing effects inherent in its multiple-choice format, as size estimates are made by multiplying its raw score by a constant (100 or 200). This paper argues that the VST's multiple-choice format results in a test of passive recognition of words that does not approximate the experience of readers of authentic English texts, details drawbacks of the Rasch framework and mean-square fit statistics in detecting the overall contribution of guessing effects to raw test scores that could have allowed such deficiencies to remain undetected during the test's validation, overviews challenges that multiple-choice formats pose for vocabulary tests, and concludes by proposing methods of testing and analysis that can address these concerns.
This study explores Chinese university students’ use of phrasal verbs in comparison with their American and British counterparts by utilizing a corpus of learner English and four native corpora of two English varieties and two genres (argumentative and academic writing). The results show that it is difficult to state whether the Chinese learners of English over- or underuse phrasal verbs in writing because a more striking difference emerges between the British and American students. American students tend to use many more phrasal verbs in both genres than British students and they also use a greater variety of phrasal verbs. Notwithstanding the differences, both American and British students tend to use fewer phrasal verbs in academic writing than in argumentative writing. The learners do not show a fundamental difference from the British students regarding overall frequencies of phrasal verbs; however, the learner-native writer gap does exist between the Chinese and American students.
Effect sizes are the most important outcome of empirical studies. Most articles on effect sizes highlight their importance to communicate the practical significance of results. For scientists themselves, effect sizes are most useful because they facilitate cumulative science. Effect sizes can be used to determine the sample size for follow-up studies, or examining effects across studies. This article aims to provide a practical primer on how to calculate and report effect sizes for t-tests and ANOVA's such that effect sizes can be used in a-priori power analyses and meta-analyses. Whereas many articles about effect sizes focus on between-subjects designs and address within-subjects designs only briefly, I provide a detailed overview of the similarities and differences between within- and between-subjects designs. I suggest that some research questions in experimental psychology examine inherently intra-individual effects, which makes effect sizes that incorporate the correlation between measures the best summary of the results. Finally, a supplementary spreadsheet is provided to make it as easy as possible for researchers to incorporate effect size calculations into their workflow.
One of the choices available in English is between one-word verbs (train at the gym) and their multi-word counterparts (work out at the gym). Multi-word verbs tend to be colloquial in tone and are a particular feature of informal spoken discourse. Previous research suggests that English learners often have problems with multi-word verbs, and may even avoid their use. This study explores this issue further by comparing the likelihood of using multi-word vs. one-word verbs by both native speakers and advanced nonnatives. A questionnaire of 26 multi-word/one-word verb pairs showed that nonnatives were less likely to use multi-word verbs than native speakers in informal spoken contexts. Moreover, the amount of exposure to native-speaking environments did not have an effect on the likelihood of using the multi-word verbs. However, a corpus analysis of the same verb pairs showed that the one-word verbs are often more frequent in both written and spoken discourse.
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Among the structural and lexical factors claimed to account for avoidance in second language learning are (a) cross-linguistic difference, (b) cross-linguistic similarity, and (c) intrinsic complexity of the second language features avoided. This paper examines patterns of avoidance and preference for phrasal verbs or equivalent single-word verbs among Swedish learners of English. We assumed that if the subjects avoided English phrasal verbs, particularly the figurative ones, even though phrasal verbs exist in Swedish, this would indicate that inherent semantic difficulty of second language forms was the main factor contributing to the avoidance behavior. If, on the other hand, the learners did not show any preference for one-word verb forms in English, or indeed favored the phrasal forms, this would support the assumption that avoidance or nonavoidance depends largely on differences or similarities between the native and the foreign language.
A multiple-choice test and a translation test were given to two groups of advanced Swedish-speaking learners of English. Each test consisted of 20 sentences, allowing for the choice of either a phrasal or a synonymous single-word verb. The test answers showed that the Swedish learners avoided neither phrasal verbs in general nor the figurative ones in particular, regardless of whether the verbs were similar to, or different from, their Swedish translation equivalents. Furthermore, the results were compared to the avoidance patterns of a group of advanced Hebrew-speaking learners of English. From the comparison it emerged that the Swedish learners usedsignificantly more phrasal verbs than the Israelis, notably figurative ones. These results suggest that the avoidance is determined more by a systemic incongruence between the first language (L1) and the second language (L2) than by the inherent difficulty of L2 forms.
As a usage-based language theory, cognitive linguistics is predestined to have an impact on applied research in such areas as language in society, ideology, language acquisition, language pedagogy. The present volumes are a first systematic attempt to carve out pathways from the links between language and cognition to the fields of language acquisition and language pedagogy and to deal with them in one coherent framework: applied cognitive linguistics. © 2001 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG. All rights reserved.
Now in its third edition, this popular introduction to the foundations of research methods is designed to enable students and professionals in the field of applied linguistics to become not just casual consumers of research who passively read bits and pieces of a research article, but discerning consumers able to effectively use published research for practical purposes in educational settings. All issues important for understanding and using published research for these purposes are covered. Key principles are illustrated with research studies published in refereed journals across a wide spectrum of applied linguistics. Exercises throughout the text encourage readers to engage interactively with what they are reading at the point when the information is fresh in their minds. Intended for and field-tested in courses in MA-TESOL/TEFL and applied linguistics programs, course instructors will find that this text provides a solid framework in which to promote student interaction and discussion on important issues in research methodology. This book provides an excellent foundation for those who plan to continue in an active research agenda. Changes in the Third Edition • Chapter 2 revised to reflect formatting changes made by ERIC, addition of referencing and citation resources • Chapter 8 revised to increase practicality • Revision of some embedded exercises • The topic of meta-analysis integrated more fully where appropriate • Corpora research given more attention • Many studies older than 2000 replaced with more recent studies • Companion Website (www.routledge.com/cw/Perry) with list of journals related to applied linguistics, annotated resources to aid students and instructors for each chapter, access to screencasts and YouTube demonstrations, and a space for students and/or teachers to interact with the author.
This study investigates the processing of literal and figurative meanings of L2 idioms by Korean learners of English. Based on Cieslicka's (2006) literal-salience resonant model, which proposes that literal meanings of idioms are accessed before figurative meanings in L2 idiom processing, the present study examines the model using a different experimental task (cross-modal lexical priming vs. self-paced sentence processing in context) and learners with different L1 background (Polish L1 vs. Korean L1). Ten English idioms were embedded in sentences (e.g., He kicked the bucket) and presented in conversation-based contexts biased toward either literal or figurative meaning (He kicked the bucket = He died). A novel non-idiom sentence (He filled the bucket) was also presented for each idiom in an appropriate context. Sixty seven Korean learners of English read the contexts line by line and their reading times were measured for each line. Literal sentences were read faster than figurative sentences. This suggests that, in L2 idiom processing, the literal meaning of an idiom was processed before its figurative meaning and that figurative meaning was more difficult to compute than both literal and novel non-idiom meanings even in the presence of strong contextual cues. In general, the results of the present study are in accordance with the literal-salience resonant model when different methods and learners with different L1 background were employed.
The eleven contributions to this volume, written by expert corpus linguists, tackle corpora from a wide range of perspectives and aim to shed light on the numerous linguistic and pedagogical uses to which corpora can be put. They present cutting-edge research in the authors’ respective domain of expertise and suggest directions for future research. The main focus of the book is on learner corpora, but it also includes reflections on the role of other types of corpora, such as native corpora, expert users corpora, parallel corpora or corpora of New Englishes. For readers who are already familiar with corpora, this volume offers an informed account of the key role that corpus data play in applied linguistics today. As for readers who are new to corpus linguistics, the overview of approaches, methods and domains of applications presented will undoubtedly help them develop their own taste for corpora. This volume has been edited in honour of Sylviane Granger, who has been one of the pioneers of learner corpus research.
This study investigates L2 learners' knowledge of highly frequent polysemous phrasal verbs in English, and the effect of a number of factors on this knowledge. 128 students on BA English/TEFL courses were recruited to take a productive test in the form of a gap-fill task. The results show that only 40% of phrasal verb meaning senses were known on average, with the chances of knowing all the different meaning senses of each phrasal verb tested being quite low at only around 20%. The factors of semantic opacity, previous L2 instruction, immersion in L2 environment, and year of BA study did not have any effect on knowledge. Conversely, corpus frequency was found to predict knowledge, along with time spent reading per week, and time spent social networking per week. No relationship was found between phrasal verb knowledge and the hours spent listening to music and watching films in English. The study confirms that phrasal verbs are a problematic feature of English vocabulary for many learners, and consequently deserve more attention - either via instructed contexts or outside the classroom in L2 language engagement.
Using a cognitive linguistics perspective, this work provides the most comprehensive, theoretical analysis of the semantics of English prepositions available. All English prepositions are originally coded as spatial relations between two physical entities. While retaining their original meaning, prepositions have also developed a rich set of non-spatial meanings. Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans argue that all the meanings are systematically related through a set of cognitive principles, emphasizing the importance of human experience with the world as the foundation for lexical meaning. © Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans and Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Providing an accessible introduction to the study of word-formation, this text focuses specifically on English. Assuming no prior linguistic knowledge, Ingo Plag explains the fundamentals of word-formation, demonstrating how morphemes--the elements of a word's internal structure--can function to relate words to other words, and to create new words. Students are encouraged to undertake their own morphological analysis of English words, and are introduced to the methodological tools for obtaining and analyzing relevant data.
This timely reference guide is specifically directed toward the needs of second language researchers, who can expect to gain a clearer understanding of which techniques may be most appropriate and fruitful in given research domains. Data Elicitation for Second and Foreign Language Research is a perfect companion to the same author team’s bestselling Second Language Research: Methodology and Design. It is an indispensable text for graduate or advanced-level undergraduate students who are beginning research projects in the fields of applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and TESOL as well as a comprehensive reference for more seasoned researchers. © 2007 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
We used free association and verbal fluency tasks to investigate verb-argument constructions (VACs) and the ways in which their processing is sensitive to statistical patterns of usage (verb type-token frequency distribution, VAC-verb contingency, verb-VAC semantic prototypicality). In experiment 1, 285 native speakers of English generated the first word that came to mind to fill the V slot in 40 sparse VAC frames such as 'he across the', 'it of the', etc. In experiment 2, 40 English speakers generated as many verbs that fit each frame as they could think of in a minute. For each VAC, we compared the results from the experiments with corpus analyses of verb selection preferences in 100 million words of usage and with the semantic network structure of the verbs in these VACs. For both experiments, multiple regression analyses predicting the frequencies of verb types generated for each VAC show independent contributions of (i) verb frequency in the VAC, (ii) VAC-verb contingency and (iii) verb prototypicality in terms of centrality within the VAC semantic network. VAC processing involves rich associations, tuned by verb type and token frequencies and their contingencies of usage, which interface syntax, lexis and semantics. We consider the implications for the mental representation of VACs.
Verb-particle constructions (phrasal verbs) are a notoriously difficult aspect of English to acquire for second-language (L2) learners. This study was conducted to assess whether L2 English speakers would show sensitivity to the subtle semantic properties of these constructions, namely the gradations in semantic transparency of different verb-particle constructions (e.g., finish up vs. chew out). L1 French, L2 English bilingual participants completed an off-line (explicit) survey of similarity ratings, as well as an on-line (implicit) masked priming task. Bilinguals showed less agreement in their off-line ratings of semantic similarity, but their ratings were generally similar to those of monolinguals. On the masked priming task, the more proficient bilinguals showed a pattern of effects parallel to monolinguals, indicating similar sensitivity to semantic similarity at an implicit level. These findings suggest that the properties of verb-particle constructions can be both implicitly and explicitly grasped by L2 speakers whose L1 lacks phrasal verbs.
When discussing vocabulary, a distinction is often made between size of vocabulary (number of known words) and depth of knowledge (how well those words are known). However, the relationship between the two constructs is still unclear. Some scholars argue that there is little real difference between the two, while regression analyses show that depth typically adds unique explanatory power compared to size alone. Ultimately, the relationship between size and depth of vocabulary knowledge depends on how each is conceptualized and measured. In an attempt to provide an empirical basis for exploring the size–depth relationship, this critical synthesis identifies studies that contain measures of both size and depth. Based on a number of different conceptualizations of depth, various patterns emerged. For higher frequency words and for learners with smaller vocabulary sizes, there is often little difference between size and a variety of depth measures. However, for lower frequency words and for larger vocabulary sizes, there is often a gap between size and depth, as depth measures lag behind the measures of size. Furthermore, some types of word knowledge (e.g., derivative knowledge) seem to have generally lower correlations with size than other types.
In part I of this paper [by the author, H. C. Yeh and D. B. Owen, ibid. 11, 109-126 (1982; Zbl 0588.62049)], the robustness of the type I error for the two-tailed two-sample t-test was studied under departures from the assumption of equal variances. The level of robustness of this test was then quantified under the concept of regions of robustness. These results are extended here to the one-tailed test for the same problem. The high level of robustness for equal or nearly equal sample sizes observed in the previous study is again documented quantitatively.
The assumptions forming the basis of this study are that the language-user has available a number of more or less preconstructed phrases and that the production of texts involves alternation between word-for-word combinations–which we refer to as adherence to the open choice principle (after Sinclair (1991))–and preconstructed multi-word combinations, which we refer to as making use of the idiom principle (again after Sinclair).
The main aim of the study is to get an impression of the impact that this alternation has. on the structure of texts Therefore a mode of analysis has been worked out revealing how multi-word combinations combine with each other and with words combined according to the open choice principle. This is the main contribution of the study. Another important contribution is the revelation that there is a large amount of prefabricated language in both spoken and written texts (on average around half of the texts), which makes it impossible to consider idioms and other multi-word combinations as marginal phenomena.
This study uses the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the British National Corpus as data and Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad, and Finegan's (1999) and Gardner and Davies' (2007) informative studies as a starting point and reference. The study offers a cross-English variety and cross-register examination of the use of English phrasal verbs (PVs), one of the most difficult aspects of English for learners of English as a foreign language or English as a second language. The study first identified the frequency and usage patterns of the most common PVs in the two corpora and then analyzed the results using statistical procedures, the chi-square and dispersion tests, to determine any significant cross-variety or -register differences. Besides validating many of the findings of the two previous studies (although neither was a cross-English variety examination), the results of this study provide new, useful information about the use of PVs. In addition, the study resulted in a comprehensive list of the most common PVs in American and British English, one that complements those offered by the two previous studies with more necessary items and more detailed usage information. The study also presents a cross-register list of the most frequent PVs, showing in which register(s) each of the PVs is primarily used. Finally, pedagogical and research implications are discussed.
This article critiques past approaches to identifying phrasal verbs and proposes an alternative approach. Instead of requiring verb + particle combinations to demonstrate specific features in order to be identified as phrasal verbs, the new approach calls for researchers and teachers to consider all verb + particle combinations to be potential phrasal verbs until they can be proven otherwise. This approach clarifies the process of classifying phrasal verbs and eliminates curriculum-based problems encountered by students.
Obwohl den phrasal verbs in letzter Zeit von Linguisten und Lexikographen größere Aufmerksamkeit zuteil wurde, sind die Probleme, die sie für Lehrende und Lernende des Englischen mit sich bringen, noch weitgehend ungeklärt. Wie der Autor durch einen Test nachweisen kann, haben selbst fortgeschrittene Lernende des Englischen in der Regel nur sehr dürftige Kenntnisse vom aktiven Gebrauch der phrasal verbs. Es werden Gründe für diese Schwierigkeiten diskutiert. Der Autor zieht den Schluß, daß es unrealistisch ist, von den Lernenden des Englischen die aktive Beherrschung einer großen Menge von phrasal verbs zu verlangen. Statt dessen sollte ein Kernbestand zugrundegelegt werden, der zusätzlich in je eine Liste für den aktiven und den passiven Gebrauch unterteilt wird. Am Schluß werden Kriterien für die Auswahl eines solchen Kernbestands diskutiert, und es wird eine vorläufige Beispielliste aufgestellt.
Usage-based models claim that first language learning is based on the frequency-based analysis of memorised phrases. It is not clear though, whether adult second language learning works in the same way. It has been claimed that non-native language lacks idiomatic formulas, suggesting that learners neglect phrases, focusing instead on orthographic words. While a number of studies challenge the claim that non-native language lacks formulaicity, these studies have two important shortcomings: they fail to take account of appropriate frequency information and they pool the writing of different learners in ways that may mask individual differences. Using methodologies which avoid these problems, this study found that non-native writers rely heavily on high-frequency collocations, but that they underuse less frequent, strongly associated collocations (items which are probably highly salient for native speakers). These findings are consistent with usage-based models of acquisition while accounting for the impression that non-native writing lacks idiomatic phraseology.
This paper investigates the use of multi-word sequences in two important university registers: classroom teaching and textbooks. Following Biber et al. (1999), we take a frequency-driven approach to the identification of multi-word sequences, referred to as 'lexical bundles'. We compare the lexical bundles in classroom teaching and textbooks to those found in our previous research on conversation and academic prose. Structural patterns are described first, and then we present a functional taxonomy, including stance expressions, discourse organizers, and referential expressions. The use of lexical bundles in classroom teaching turns out to be especially surprising, both in frequency and in function. Classroom teaching uses more stance and discourse organizing bundles than conversation does, but at the same time, classroom teaching uses more referential bundles than academic prose. The analysis indicates that lexical bundles - the most frequent sequences of words in a register - are a unique linguistic construct. Lexical bundles are usually not complete grammatical structures nor are they idiomatic, but they function as basic building blocks of discourse. In the conclusion, we discuss the implications of our study for the theoretical status of lexical bundles.
1. Introduction1.1. The nature of formulaic language‘Formulaicity’ and ‘formulaic sequence’ will be used in this paper to describe, in aneutral way, a phenomenon that encompasses various types of wordstring whichappear to be stored and retrieved whole from memory. Our working definition ofthe formulaic sequence will be:a sequence, continuous or discontinous, of words or other meaning elements,which is, or appears to be, prefabricated: that is, stored and retrieved wholefrom memory at the time of use, rather than being subject to generation oranalysis by the language grammar.This includes, at the one extreme, tightly idiomatic and immutable strings, such asby and large, which are both semantically opaque and syntactically irregular, and, atthe other, transparent and flexible ones containing slots for open class items, like NPbe-TENSE sorry to keep-TENSE you waiting (Pawley and Syder, 1983, p. 210).Perkins (in press) defines formulaicity as follows: ‘‘manifested in strings of linguisticitems where the relation of each item to the rest is relatively fixed, and where thesubstitutability of one item by another of the same category is relatively con-strained’’. If we take formulaicity to encompass, as some do, also the enormous setof ‘simple’ lexical collocations, whose patterns are both remarkable and puzzlingfrom a formal grammatical point of view (e.g. Sinclair, 1991), then possibly as much
A discussion is given of discontinuous verbs from the point of view of a few consistent syntactic patterns, involving transitivity, passive transformation, word order, and relative stress.
Phrasal verbs (PVs) have recently been the object of interest by linguists given their status as phraseological units whose meaning is non-compositional and opaque. They constitute a perfect case for theories of language processing and language acquisition to be tested. Cognitive linguists have participated in this debate and shown a certain interest for PVs, although their research on this topic stems in most of the cases from their central interest on prepositions and the language of spatiality. In this paper, I aim to make a comprehensive and critical summary of the cognitive linguistics (CL) literature on PVs with particular attention to its connection with usage-based approaches, especially in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), and to the concept of (meaning) motivation, which has proven to be useful in teaching. I will also present a CL analysis of the
out-
PVs (i.e., those containing the particle
out
) used by 3 groups of non-native speakers of English whose L1 respectively belongs to a Germanic satellite-framed (S-) language (Swedish and Dutch), a non-Germanic S-language (Russian and Bulgarian) and a verb-framed (V-) language (Spanish and Italian). The results obtained from this analysis show: (1) that both Germanic and Non-Germanic S-language learners use a greater number of
out-
PVs than V-language learners, not only when these verbs have a motional meaning but also when they express other meanings; and (2) that S-language learners also use a greater elaboration of path (Slobin 1996) when non-motional
out-
PV meanings are involved. These findings suggest that ‘the thinking for speaking hypothesis’ (Slobin 1996, 1997; Cadierno 2004), which has been shown to work for the domain of manner and path of motion, may in part be extended to the acquisition of PVs by L2 learners.
In the description of such usages as argue away, measure up and zonk out, a venerable orphan comes in from the linguistic cold
This study investigated the relationship between receptive and productive vocabulary size. The experimental design expanded upon earlier methodologies by using equivalent receptive and productive test formats with different receptive and productive target words to provide more accurate results. Translation tests were scored at two levels of sensitivity to measure receptive and productive knowledge of meaning and form. The results showed that total receptive vocabulary size was larger than productive vocabulary. When responses were scored for fuller knowledge, receptive vocabulary size was also found to be greater than productive vocabulary size in each of three word frequency bands, with the difference between receptive and productive knowledge increasing as the frequency of the words decreased. However, when responses were scored for partial knowledge, there was little difference among vocabulary sizes at each frequency band. The findings also indicated that receptive vocabulary size might give some indication of productive vocabulary size. Learners who have a larger receptive vocabulary are likely to know more of those words productively than learners who have a smaller receptive vocabulary.