Vercellotti, Mary Lou and Juffs, Alan and Naismith, Ben
(2021)
Multiword sequences in L2 English language learners’ speech: The relationship between trigrams and lexical variety across development.
System, 98.
ISSN 0346-251X
Abstract
Languages have formulaic multiword sequences (MWSs) that occur repeatedly in speech and writing (e.g., Nattinger & DeCarrico, 1992; Siyanova-Chanturia & Pellicer-Sanchez, 2018). For learners, then, the production of MWSs is an important element in developing spoken language which is complex, accurate, and fluent. However, though the use of MWSs are important for achieving spoken proficiency, it is unclear whether the production of MWSs supports or hinders another aspect of proficiency, lexical variety. This paper is an exploration of the production of MWSs and the development of lexical variety, found in two-minute speeches (n = 294) from English L2 learners (n = 66) over time in an intensive English program (IEP). In this study, MWSs were operationalized as recurrent three-word trigrams. Using hierarchical linear modeling and correlation analysis, we found different patterns of development for the two measures. The use of MWSs increased and then decreased while the lexical variety scores slightly decreased and then sharply increased over time in the IEP. Although the impact of MWSs on oral fluency has been studied, this is the first study to consider how MWSs affect lexical variety.
Share
| Citation/Export: |
|
| Social Networking: |
|
Details
Metrics
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Altmetric.com
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}