The development of formulaic sequences in first and second language writing
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Matthew Brook O’Donnell
Abstract
Formulaic sequences are recognised as having important roles in language acquisition, processing, fluency, idiomaticity, and instruction. But there is little agreement over their definition and measurement, or on methods of corpus comparison. We argue that replicable research must be grounded upon operational definitions in statistical terms. We adopt an experimental design and apply four different corpus-analytic measures, variously based upon n-gram frequency (Frequency-grams), association (MI-grams), phrase-frames (P-frames), and native norm (items in the Academic Formulas List – AFL-grams), to samples of first and second language writing in order to examine and compare knowledge of formulas in first and second language acquisition as a function of proficiency and language background. We find that these different operationalizations produce different patterns of effect of expertise and L1/L2 status. We consider the implications for corpus design and methods of analysis.
Abstract
Formulaic sequences are recognised as having important roles in language acquisition, processing, fluency, idiomaticity, and instruction. But there is little agreement over their definition and measurement, or on methods of corpus comparison. We argue that replicable research must be grounded upon operational definitions in statistical terms. We adopt an experimental design and apply four different corpus-analytic measures, variously based upon n-gram frequency (Frequency-grams), association (MI-grams), phrase-frames (P-frames), and native norm (items in the Academic Formulas List – AFL-grams), to samples of first and second language writing in order to examine and compare knowledge of formulas in first and second language acquisition as a function of proficiency and language background. We find that these different operationalizations produce different patterns of effect of expertise and L1/L2 status. We consider the implications for corpus design and methods of analysis.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- About the authors vii
- Introduction 1
- Like I said again and again and over and over 7
- Phrases in literary contexts 35
- On “true” portraits of Letters to Shareholders – and the importance of phraseological analysis 57
- The development of formulaic sequences in first and second language writing 83
- Lexical frames in academic prose and conversation 109
- 50-something years of work on collocations 135
- Index 165
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- About the authors vii
- Introduction 1
- Like I said again and again and over and over 7
- Phrases in literary contexts 35
- On “true” portraits of Letters to Shareholders – and the importance of phraseological analysis 57
- The development of formulaic sequences in first and second language writing 83
- Lexical frames in academic prose and conversation 109
- 50-something years of work on collocations 135
- Index 165
