Formulaic sequences and perceived oral proficiency: putting a Lexical Approach to the test

Abstract

This study reports a small-scale experiment that was set up to estimate the extent to which (i) the use of formulaic sequences (standardized phrases such as collocations and idiomatic expressions) can help learners come across as proficient L2 speakers and (ii) an instructional method that emphasizes ‘noticing’of L2 formulaic sequences can help language learners add such phrases to their linguistic repertoire. Participants were 32 college students majoring in English. Over the course of 22 teaching hours they were exposed to considerable quantities of authentic listening and reading materials. During exploration of those materials, the experimental students (N = 17) were made aware of standardized word combinations, while in the control group (N = 15) the traditional grammar-lexis dichotomy was upheld. Afterwards, the participants’ oral proficiency was gauged in an interview by two blind judges. Both perceived the experimental group as more proficient than the control group. Two other blind judges counted the number of word combinations in the interviews that they considered to be formulaic sequences. Their counts correlated well with the oral proficiency ratings, which suggests that helping learners build a repertoire of formulaic sequences can be a useful contribution to improving their oral proficiency.

The impact of teaching communication strategies on EFL learners’ Willingness to Communicate

“…Implicit in this definition is the fact that, since formulaic sequences are accessed as wholes, they require minimal processing capacity, leading to more fluent speech (Ellis, 2003). Ample evidence lends support to the efficiency of investment in formulaic sequences either as an approach in its own right or as one type of CS (e.g., Boers, Eyckmans, Kappel, Stenger, & Demecheleer, 2006;Canale & Swain, 1980;Ellis, 2005;Howarth, 1998;Thornbury, 2002;Shin & Nation, 2008).…”

“…As a first step, the teacher's job is raising learners' awareness of the pervasiveness of formulaic sequences in written or spoken English (Boers et al, 2006), and of their beneficence in language reception and production. Introducing the concept of chunks by bringing up some familiar examples (in the morning, go for a walk, wearing glasses, how much does .…”

Teaching Vocabulary with Graphic Novels

“…In this context, particularly good knowledge of idiomatic expressions can help language learners to reach proficiency level in the target language (Boers et al, 2006), and is even generally equated with sounding more natural (Schmitt, 2000;Wray, 1999). Indeed, lack of competence in idiomatic expressions can even result in communication breakdowns (Cooper, 1999).…”

Speech fluency in phrases: teaching English oral fluency in distance learning

“…As noted by Ellis and Sinclair (1996: 234), '[t]he attainment of fluency, in both native and foreign languages, involves the acquisition of memorized sequences of language'. Boers et al (2006), for example, showed that L2 speakers were judged as more proficient when they used formulaic sequences.…”