Adding more fuel to the fire: An eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speakers

Abstract

Using eye-tracking, we investigate on-line processing of idioms in a biasing story context by native and non-native speakers of English. The stimuli are idioms used figuratively (at the end of the day -'eventually'), literally (at the end of the day -'in the evening'), and novel phrases (at the end of the war). Native speaker results indicate a processing advantage for idioms over novel phrases, as evidenced by fewer and shorter fixations. Further, no processing advantage is found for figurative idiom uses over literal ones in a full idiom analysis or in a recognition point analysis. Contrary to native speaker results, non-native findings suggest that L2 speakers process idioms at a similar speed to novel phrases. Further, figurative uses are processed more slowly than literal ones. Importantly, the recognition point analysis allows us to establish where non-natives slow down when processing the figurative meaning.

Using Gaze Data to Predict Multiword Expressions

“…Siyanova-Chanturia et al (2011) corroborated the processing advantages of idioms over novel phrases and showed that idioms required less re-reading and less re-analysis. Interestingly, there were no significant differences in the early gaze measures, suggesting that early eye-tracking measures may not be suitable for investigation of formulaic language (Siyanova-Chanturia et al, 2011). This result may be explained with previous research on predictability of single words showing strong effects in terms of shorter first fixation durations and greater likelihood of skipping (Rayner and Well, 1996).…”

INCIDENTAL L2 VOCABULARY ACQUISITIONFROMANDWHILEREADING

“…Eye-tracking methodology has been used to investigate several phenomena in L1 and L2 reading, such as sentence processing (e.g., Altarriba, Kroll, Scholl, & Rayner, 1996 ), the processing of formulaic language (e.g., Siyanova-Chanturia, Conklin, & Schmitt, 2011 ), and noticing of corrective feedback (e.g., Smith, 2012 ). However, only a few studies have used eye-tracking methodology to investigate the process of vocabulary learning from reading.…”

Wordn + 2 preview effects in three-character Chinese idioms and phrases

“…Findings suggest that idioms are processed faster than phrases, across several measures including response times in a phrase classification task (Swinney & Cutler, 1979), self-paced reading times (Conklin & Schmitt, 2008), and fixation times on final words (Underwood, Schmitt, & Galpin, 2004) and across the whole idioms (Siyanova-Chanturia, Conklin, & Schmitt, 2011).…”