Why can't you just leave it alone? Deviations from memorized language as a gauge of nativelike competence
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Alison Wray
Abstract
This chapter reports an investigation into the capacity of language learners to improve their performance through the memorization of specifically targeted linguistic material. Six intermediate/advanced learners of English memorized nativelike versions of conversational turns that they anticipated needing in future conversations. After rehearsal, they attempted to use the memorized material in real interaction. Recordings of all stages of the process were transcribed and analyzed, to identify the nature of the deviations made from the targets. Nativelike deviations are interpreted as a legitimate approximation of nativelike behaviour, since fully faithful reproduction of a memorized original is usually neither necessary nor desirable for those with the linguistic skill to make appropriate changes. Non-nativelike deviations are viewed as indicative of shortfalls in knowledge, poor attention focus, and over-optimistic risk-taking during memorization. Individual profiles of the learners are presented, and it is proposed that memorization could be used as a means of establishing the strengths and weaknesses of learners in relation to morphological, lexical and phraseological knowledge
Abstract
This chapter reports an investigation into the capacity of language learners to improve their performance through the memorization of specifically targeted linguistic material. Six intermediate/advanced learners of English memorized nativelike versions of conversational turns that they anticipated needing in future conversations. After rehearsal, they attempted to use the memorized material in real interaction. Recordings of all stages of the process were transcribed and analyzed, to identify the nature of the deviations made from the targets. Nativelike deviations are interpreted as a legitimate approximation of nativelike behaviour, since fully faithful reproduction of a memorized original is usually neither necessary nor desirable for those with the linguistic skill to make appropriate changes. Non-nativelike deviations are viewed as indicative of shortfalls in knowledge, poor attention focus, and over-optimistic risk-taking during memorization. Individual profiles of the learners are presented, and it is proposed that memorization could be used as a means of establishing the strengths and weaknesses of learners in relation to morphological, lexical and phraseological knowledge
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Phraseology: The periphery and the heart of language 1
- Introduction 15
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Section I. Extracting and describing phraseological units
- Phraseology and language pedagogy: Semantic preference associated with English verbs in the British National Corpus 21
- Essential collocations for learners of English: The role of collocational direction and weight 43
- Phraseology effects as a trigger for errors in L2 English: The case of more advanced learners 67
- Contrasting English-Spanish interpersonal discourse phrases: A corpus study 85
- Exemplification in learner writing: A cross-linguistic perspective 101
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Section II. Learning phraseological units
- Why can't you just leave it alone? Deviations from memorized language as a gauge of nativelike competence 123
- Phraseology and English for academic purposes: Challenges and opportunities 149
- Multiword expressions and the digital turn 163
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Section III. Recording and exploiting phraseological units
- Phraseology in learners' dictionaries: What, where and how? 185
- Compilation, formalisation and presentation of bilingual phraseology: Problems and possible solutions 203
- The phraseological patterns of high-frequency verbs in advanced English for general purposes: A corpus-driven approach to EFL textbook analysis 223
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Section IV. Concluding remarks
- Phraseology in language learning and teaching: Where to from here? 247
- Author index 253
- Subject index 257
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Phraseology: The periphery and the heart of language 1
- Introduction 15
-
Section I. Extracting and describing phraseological units
- Phraseology and language pedagogy: Semantic preference associated with English verbs in the British National Corpus 21
- Essential collocations for learners of English: The role of collocational direction and weight 43
- Phraseology effects as a trigger for errors in L2 English: The case of more advanced learners 67
- Contrasting English-Spanish interpersonal discourse phrases: A corpus study 85
- Exemplification in learner writing: A cross-linguistic perspective 101
-
Section II. Learning phraseological units
- Why can't you just leave it alone? Deviations from memorized language as a gauge of nativelike competence 123
- Phraseology and English for academic purposes: Challenges and opportunities 149
- Multiword expressions and the digital turn 163
-
Section III. Recording and exploiting phraseological units
- Phraseology in learners' dictionaries: What, where and how? 185
- Compilation, formalisation and presentation of bilingual phraseology: Problems and possible solutions 203
- The phraseological patterns of high-frequency verbs in advanced English for general purposes: A corpus-driven approach to EFL textbook analysis 223
-
Section IV. Concluding remarks
- Phraseology in language learning and teaching: Where to from here? 247
- Author index 253
- Subject index 257
