Multiword sequences in English language learners’ speech: The relationship between trigrams and lexical variety across development

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.

The role of psycholinguistics for language learning in teaching based on formulaic sequence use and oral fluency

“…Since formulaic sequences fall into the scope of formulaic language, to a large degree, the positive relationship between the use of formulaic language and oral fluency could mirror the positive relationship between the use of formulaic sequences and oral fluency. These results could correspond well to the findings that formulaic sequences play a crucial role in language use (Boers and Webb, 2018;Wang, 2018;Liu and Chen, 2020;Shin, 2020;Vercellotti et al, 2021;Fritz et al, 2022;Kim and Kessler, 2022).…”

“…All these reflect the roles of formulaic sequences in language learning through the mechanism of proceduralization. Many studies have indeed showcased the importance of formulaic sequences in language use (Boers and Webb, 2018;Wang, 2018;Liu and Chen, 2020;Shin, 2020;Vercellotti et al, 2021;Fritz et al, 2022;Kim and Kessler, 2022).…”

Structural and functional differences between bundles of different lengths: A corpus-driven study

“…The last variable within this line is time. Studies of this category ( Siyanova-Chanturia, 2015 ; Hyland and Jiang, 2018 ; Hong, 2019 ; Candarli, 2021 ; Vercellotti et al, 2021 ) investigate whether bundle use change over time. An exemplary study is Hyland and Jiang (2018) research which explored the changes of bundles in four disciplines from 1965 to 2015.…”

“…In contrast, the relationship between bundles and complexity is less obvious because existing studies seem to report contradictory results. Some studies ( Mellow, 2006 ; Taguchi, 2008 ; Ma, 2020 ) found a positive effect of bundles on complexity, whereas others ( Vercellotti et al, 2021 ) fail to observe such an effect.…”