In:
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Cambridge University Press (CUP), Vol. 41, No. 5 ( 2019-12), p. 1089-1110
Abstract:
Based on writing produced by second language learners at different proficiency levels (CEFR A1 to C1), we adopted a usage-based approach (Ellis, Römer, & O’Donnell, 2016; Tyler & Ortega, 2018) to investigate how German and Spanish learner knowledge of 19 English verb-argument constructions (VACs; e.g., “V with n,” illustrated by he always agrees with her ) develops. We extracted VACs from subsets of the Education First-Cambridge Open Language Database, altogether comprising more than 68,000 texts and 6 million words. For each VAC, L1 learner group, and proficiency level, we determined type and token frequencies, as well as the most dominant verb-VAC associations. To study effects of proficiency and L1 on VAC production, we carried out correlation analyses to compare verb-VAC associations of learners at different levels and different L1 backgrounds. We also correlated each learner dataset with comparable data from a large reference corpus of native English usage. Results indicate that with increasing proficiency, learners expand their VAC repertoire and productivity, and verb-VAC associations move closer to native usage.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0272-2631
,
1470-1545
DOI:
10.1017/S0272263119000202
Language:
English
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Publication Date:
2019
detail.hit.zdb_id:
435303-1
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2002746-1
SSG:
7,11
SSG:
5,3
