Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T01:47:31.530Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Timed versus untimed recognition of L2 collocations: Does estimated proficiency modulate congruency effects?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2020

Suhad Sonbul Open the ORCID record for Suhad Sonbul [Opens in a new window]  and
Dina El-Dakhs Open the ORCID record for Dina El-Dakhs [Opens in a new window]
Suhad Sonbul*
Affiliation:
Umm Al-Qura University
Dina El-Dakhs*
Affiliation:
Prince Sultan University
*
*Corresponding author. E-mails: sssonbul@uqu.edu.sa; ddakhs@psu.edu.sa.
*Corresponding author. E-mails: sssonbul@uqu.edu.sa; ddakhs@psu.edu.sa.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Congruency (the availability of a direct first language translation) and level of proficiency have been reported among the most important determinants of second language collocation processing. However, only very few studies looked at the interaction between the two determinants, and none of these directly compared untimed collocation recognition assessed through traditional tests to timed recognition evident in psycholinguistic tasks. The current study administered both types of form recognition measures to 228 female Saudi English as a foreign language learners in two separate experiments: a traditional multiple-choice test (Experiment 1) and a timed acceptability judgment task (Experiment 2). Experiment 2 also tested 37 native speakers of English as a baseline for comparison. Congruency, estimated proficiency (vocabulary test scores), and the interaction between the two were evaluated as predictors of untimed and timed recognition through mixed-effects modeling. Results showed that congruency and estimated proficiency had a clear effect on untimed and timed recognition. More interesting, the effect of proficiency was clearer on timed recognition with a gradual decrease in the first language effect as proficiency increased getting closer to nativelike collocation processing. Results have implications for second language collocation learning and testing.

Keywords

collocationscongruencyestimated proficiencytimed and untimed recognitionvocabulary
Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 41 , Issue 5 , September 2020 , pp. 1197 - 1222
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alderson, J. C. (2005). Diagnosing foreign language proficiency: The interface between learning and assessment. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Alharbi, R. M. S. (2017). Acquisition of lexical collocations: A corpus-assisted contrastive analysis and translation approach. Unpublished PhD thesis, Newcastle University.Google Scholar
Bachman, L. F. (2004). Statistical analyses for language assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bahns, J., & Eldaw, M. (1993). Should we teach EFL students collocations? System, 21, 101–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biskup, D. (1992). L1 influence on learners’ renderings of English collocations: A Polish/German empirical study. In Arnaud, P. J. L. & Béjoint, H. (Eds.), Vocabulary and applied linguistics (pp. 85–93). London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brysbaert, M., & Duyck, W. (2010). Is it time to leave behind the revised hierarchical model of bilingual language processing after fifteen years of service? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13, 359–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bybee, J. (2006). From usage to grammar: The mind’s response to repetition. Language, 82, 711–733.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrol, G., & Conklin, K. (2014). Getting your wires crossed: Evidence for fast processing of L1 idioms in an L2. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17, 784–797.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrol, G., & Conklin, K. (2017). Cross language lexical priming extends to formulaic units: Evidence from eye-tracking suggests that this idea ‘has legs.’” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20, 299–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrol, G., Conklin, K., & Gyllstad, H. (2016). Found in translation: The influence of the L1 on the reading of idioms in a L2. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38, 403–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, M. (2008) The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA): 560 million words, 1990–present. Available online at https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ Google Scholar
El-Dakhs, D. A. S. (2015). The lexical collocational competence of Arab undergraduate EFL learners. International Journal of English Linguistics, 5, 60–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R. (2005). Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language: A psychometric study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 141–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erman, B., & Warren, B. (2000). The idiom principle and the open choice principle. Text–Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse, 20, 29–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farghal, M., & Obeidat, H. (1995). Collocations: A neglected variable in EFL. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 33, 315–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, P. (2001). Rules and routines: A consideration of their role in the task-based language production of native and non-native speakers. In Bygate, M., Skehan, P., & Swain, M. (Eds.), Language tasks: Teaching, learning and testing (pp. 75–93). Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Gablasova, D., Brezina, V., & McEnery, T. (2017). Collocations in corpus-based language learning research: Identifying, comparing, and interpreting the evidence. Language Learning, 67, 155–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfroid, A., Loewen, S., Jung, S., Park, J. H., Gass, S., & Ellis, R. (2015). Timed and untimed grammaticality judgments measure distinct types of knowledge: Evidence from eye-movement patterns. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 37, 269–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González Fernández, B., & Schmitt, N. (2015). How much collocation knowledge do L2 learners have? The effects of frequency and amount of exposure. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 166, 94–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groom, N. (2009). Effects of second language immersion on second language collocational development. In Barfield, A. & Gyllstad, H. (Eds.), Researching collocations in another language (pp. 21–33). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gyllstad, H. (2007). Testing English collocations. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.Google Scholar
Gyllstad, H. (2009). Designing and evaluating tests of receptive collocation knowledge: COLLEX and COLLMATCH. In Barfield, A. & Gyllstad, H. (Eds.), Researching collocations in another language (pp. 153–170). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gyllstad, H., & Wolter, B. (2016). Collocational processing in light of the phraseological continuum model: Does semantic transparency matter? Language Learning, 66, 296–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hussein, R. F. (1990). Collocations: The missing link in vocabulary acquisition amongst EFL learners. Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics, 26, 123–136.Google Scholar
Izura, C., Pérez, M. A., Agallou, E., Wright, V. C., Marín, J., Stadthagen-González, H., & Ellis, A. W. (2011). Age/order of acquisition effects and the cumulative learning of foreign words: A word training study. Journal of Memory and Language, 64, 32–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, N. (2000). Lexical representation and development in a second language. Applied Linguistics, 21, 47–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 149–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & Tokowicz, N. (2005). Models of bilingual representation and processing: Looking back and to the future. In Kroll, J. F. & De Groot, A. M. B. (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches (pp. 531–553). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Laufer, B., & Girsai, N. (2008). Form-focused instruction in second language vocabulary learning: A case for contrastive analysis and translation. Applied Linguistics, 29, 694–716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laufer, B., & Waldman, T. (2011). Verb-noun collocations in second language writing: A corpus analysis of learners’ English. Language Learning, 61, 647–672.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Migdad, A. A. (2012). The role of mother tongue in reception and production of collocations by English majors at the Palestinian universities. Unpublished MA dissertation, Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2011). Research into practice: Vocabulary. Language Teaching, 44, 529–539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2012). The BNC/COCA word family lists. Document bundled with Range Program with BNC/COCA Lists, 25. Retrieved from: https://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/about/staff/publications/paul-nation/Information-on-the-BNC_COCA-word-family-lists.pdf Google Scholar
Nesselhauf, N. (2003). The use of collocations by advanced learners of English and some implications for teaching. Applied Linguistics, 24, 223–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nguyen, T. M. H., & Webb, S. (2017). Examining second language receptive knowledge of collocation and factors that affect learning. Language Teaching Research, 21, 298–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oxford collocations dictionary for students of English . (2002). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pawley, A., & Syder, F. H. (1983). Two puzzles for linguistic theory: Nativelike selection and nativelike fluency. In Richards, J. C. & Schmidt, R. W. (Eds.), Language and communication (pp. 191–225). London: Longman.Google Scholar
Peters, E. (2016). The learning burden of collocations: The role of interlexical and intralexical factors. Language Teaching Research, 20, 113–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puimège, E., & Peters, E. (2019). Learners’ English vocabulary knowledge prior to formal instruction: The role of learner-related and word-related variables. Language Learning, 69, 943–977.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
R Core Team (2018). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org.Google Scholar
Segalowitz, S. J., & Graves, R. E. (1990). Suitability of the IBM XT, AT, and PS/2 keyboard, mouse, and game port as response devices in reaction time paradigms. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 22, 283–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimizu, H. (2002). Measuring keyboard response delays by comparing keyboard and joystick inputs. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 34, 250–256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., Conklin, K., & van Heuven, W. J. (2011). Seeing a phrase “time and again” matters: The role of phrasal frequency in the processing of multiword sequences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37, 776–784.Google ScholarPubMed
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., & Janssen, N. (2018). Production of familiar phrases: Frequency effects in native speakers and second language learners. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 44, 2009–2018.Google ScholarPubMed
Sonbul, S. (2015). Fatal mistake, awful mistake, or extreme mistake? Frequency effects on off-line/online collocational processing. Bilingualism: Language & Cognition, 18, 419–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonbul, S., & Schmitt, N. (2013). Explicit and implicit lexical knowledge: Acquisition of collocations under different input conditions. Language Learning, 63, 121–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonbul, S., & Siyanova-Chanturia, A. (in press). Research on the on-line processing of collocation: Replication of Wolter and Gyllstad (2011) and Millar (2011). Language Teaching. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1017/S0261444819000132 Google Scholar
Szudarski, P., & Conklin, K. (2014). Short- and long-term effects of rote rehearsal on ESL learners’ processing of L2 collocations. TESOL Quarterly, 48, 833–842.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, S., Sasao, Y., & Ballance, O. (2017). The updated Vocabulary Levels Test: Developing and validating two new forms of the VLT. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 168, 34–70.Google Scholar
Wolter, B., & Gyllstad, H. (2011). Collocational links in the L2 mental lexicon and the influence of L1 intralexical knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 32, 430–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolter, B., & Gyllstad, H. (2013). Frequency of input and L2 collocational processing: A comparison of congruent and incongruent collocations. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35, 451–482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolter, B., & Yamashita, J. (2015). Processing collocations in a second language: A case of first language activation? Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 1193–1221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolter, B. & Yamashita, J. (2018). Word frequency, collocational frequency, L1 congruency, and proficiency in L2 collocational processing: What accounts for L2 performance? Studies on Second Language Acquisition, 40, 395–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wray, A. (2005). Formulaic language and the lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Yamashita, J. (2018). Possibility of semantic involvement in the L1-L2 congruency effect in the processing of L2 collocations. Journal of Second Language Studies, 1, 60–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamashita, J., & Jiang, N. (2010). L1 influence on the acquisition of L2 collocations. TESOL Quarterly, 44, 647–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, X. (2017). Effects of receptive-productive integration tasks and prior knowledge of component words on L2 collocation development. System, 66, 156–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Sonbul and El-Dakhs supplementary material

Appendices S1-S2

Download Sonbul and El-Dakhs supplementary material(File)
File 27 KB