This study explored second language (L2) competence in discontinuous discursive formulaic sequences, namely Chinese correlative connectives (CCCs; e.g. yīnwèi . . . suǒyǐ ‘because . . . so’), in relation to the determinants of formulaic sequence acquisition by scrutinizing L2 Chinese learners’ performance on two controlled tasks. Mixed-effects modeling showed that frequency exerted both positive and negative effects on the task performance of L2 learners on CCCs. Contingency (i.e. the co-occurrence of two constituent connectives) posed a tremendous challenge to the use of obligatory CCCs by L2 learners. In contrast, semantic transparency and first language congruency had a positive effect. The effects of these determinants on L2 performance were qualified by their interactions in different categories of CCCs. The results also indicated that learners were sensitive to frequency and contingency determinants at both construction and constituent word levels. This study enriches our understanding of L2 competence in formulaic language and provides unique insights into L2 learners’ knowledge of CCCs.
Academia Sinica. (2013). Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese. Academia Sinica. Available at: http://asbc.iis.sinica.edu.tw (accessed November 2021).
2.
BarrD.J.LevyR.ScheepersC.TilyH.J. (2013). Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language, 68, 255–278.
3.
BatesD.MächlerM.BolkerB.WalkerS. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67, 1–48.
4.
BestgenY.GrangerS. (2014). Quantifying the development of phraseological competence in L2 English writing: An automated approach. Journal of Second Language Writing, 26, 28–41.
5.
BoersF.LindstrombergS. (2012). Experimental and intervention studies on formulaic sequences in a second language. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 32, 83–110.
6.
ButlerC.S. (2003). Multi-word sequences and their relevance for recent models of functional grammar. Functions of Language, 10, 179–208.
7.
CaoF. (2013). Preference and constraints by beginning learners in the acquisition of causal textual markers. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 48, 45–67.
8.
CarrolG.ConklinK. (2017). Cross language lexical priming extends to formulaic units: Evidence from eye-tracking suggests that this idea ‘has legs’. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20, 299–317.
9.
CarrolG.ConklinK.GyllstadH. (2016). Found in translation: The influence of the L1 on the reading of idioms in a L2. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38, 403–443.
10.
ClahsenH.FelserC. (2006). How native-like is non-native language processing?Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 564–570.
11.
CieślickaA. (2006). Literal salience in on-line processing of idiomatic expressions by second language learners. Second Language Research, 22, 115–144.
12.
CieślickaA.HerediaR. (2013). The multiple determinants of eye movement patterns in bilingual figurative processing. Unpublished paper presented at the 25th Association of Psychological Science Annual Convention, Washington, DC, USA.
13.
ConklinK.CarrolG. (2018). First language influence on the processing of formulaic language in a second language. In Siyanova-ChanturiaA.Pellicer-SánchezA. (Eds.), Understanding formulaic language: A second language acquisition perspective (pp. 62–77). Routledge.
14.
ConklinK.SchmittN. (2008). Formulaic sequences: Are they processed more quickly than nonformulaic language by native and nonnative speakers?Applied Linguistics, 29, 72–89.
15.
ConklinK.SchmittN. (2012). The processing of formulaic language. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 32, 45–61.
16.
CrossleyS.A.McNamaraD.S. (2012). Predicting second language writing proficiency: The roles of cohesion and linguistic sophistication. Journal of Research in Reading, 35, 115–135.
17.
DeKeyserR.M. (2005). What makes learning second-language grammar difficult? A review of issues. Language Learning, 55, 1–25.
18.
DeKeyserR. (2015). Skill acquisition theory. In VanPattenB.WilliamsJ. (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (pp. 94–112). 2nd edition.Routledge.
19.
DurrantP. (2014). Corpus frequency and second language learners’ knowledge of collocations: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 19, 443–477.
20.
DurrantP.SchmittN. (2009). To what extent do native and non-native writers make use of collocations?International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 47, 157–177.
21.
DurrantP.SchmittN. (2010). Adult learners’ retention of collocations from exposure. Second Language Research, 26, 163–188.
22.
EllisN.C. (2002). Frequency effects in language processing: A review with implications for theories of implicit and explicit language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, 143–188.
23.
EllisN.C. (2006). Selective attention and transfer phenomena in L2 acquisition: Contingency, cue competition, salience, interference, overshadowing, blocking, and perceptual learning. Applied Linguistics, 27, 164–194.
24.
EllisN.C. (2008). Usage-based and form-focused language acquisition: The associative learning of constructions, learned attention, and the limited L2 endstate. In RobinsonP.EllisN. (Eds.), Handbook of cognitive linguistics and second language acquisition (pp. 372–405). Routledge.
25.
EllisN.C. (2012). Formulaic language and second language acquisition: Zipf and the phrasal teddy bear. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 32, 17–44.
26.
EllisN.C.Ferreira-JuniorF. (2009a). Construction learning as a function of frequency, frequency distribution, and function. The Modern Language Journal, 93, 370–385.
27.
EllisN.C.Ferreira-JuniorF. (2009b). Constructions and their acquisition: Islands and the distinctiveness of their occupancy. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 7, 188–221.
28.
EllisN.C.O’DonnellM.B.RömerU. (2014). Second language verb–argument constructions are sensitive to form, function, frequency, contingency, and prototypicality. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 4, 405–431.
29.
EllisN.C.Simpson-VlachR.MaynardC. (2008). Formulaic language in native and second language speakers: Psycholinguistics, corpus linguistics, and TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 42, 375–396.
30.
Evers-VermeulJ.SandersT. (2009). The emergence of Dutch connectives; how cumulative cognitive complexity explains the order of acquisition. Journal of Child Language, 36, 829–854.
31.
FernándezB.G.SchmittN. (2015). How much collocation knowledge do L2 learners have? The effects of frequency and amount of exposure. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 166, 94–126.
32.
GablasovaD.BrezinaV.McEneryT. (2017). Collocations in corpus-based language learning research: Identifying, comparing, and interpreting the evidence. Language Learning, 67, 155–179.
33.
GriesS.T.EllisN.C. (2015). Statistical measures for usage-based linguistics. Language Learning, 65, 228–255.
34.
HernándezT.A. (2011). Re-examining the role of explicit instruction and input flood on the acquisition of Spanish discourse markers. Language Teaching Research, 15, 159–182.
35.
HoekJ.ZuffereyS.Evers-VermeulJ.SandersT.J. (2017). Cognitive complexity and the linguistic marking of coherence relations: A parallel corpus study. Journal of Pragmatics, 121, 113–131.
36.
JiangW. (2012). Measurements of development in L2 written production: The case of L2 Chinese. Applied Linguistics, 34, 1–24.
37.
KeC. (2005). Patterns of acquisition of Chinese linguistic features by CFL learners. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 40, 1–24.
38.
KintschW. (1998). Comprehension: A paradigm for cognition. Cambridge University Press.
39.
KuznetsovaA.BrockhoffP.B.ChristensenR.H.B. (2017). LmerTest package: Tests in linear mixed effects models. Journal of Statistical Software, 82, 1–26.
40.
LauferB.WaldmanT. (2011). Verb–noun collocations in second language writing: A corpus analysis of learners’ English. Language Learning, 61, 647–672.
41.
LiuY. [Yun]. (2008). Fuju guanxi ciyu lixidu kaocha [The eductability of connectives of Chinese complex sentences]. Yuyan Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies], 6, 15–21.
42.
LiuY, [Yuehua]PanW.GuW. (2001). Shiyong xiandai Hanyu yufa [A practical grammar of modern Chinese]. Commerce Press.
43.
LuY. (2019). L2 distribution of Chinese connectives: Towards a comprehensive understanding of a discourse grammar. Second Language Research, 35, 557–586.
44.
LuY.KeC. (2018). L2 Chinese grammar development. In KeC. (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of Chinese second language acquisition (pp. 151–216). Routledge.
45.
LuceP.A.PisoniD.B.GoldingerS.D. (1990). Similarity neighborhoods of spoken words. In AltmannG. (Ed.), Cognitive models of speech processing: Psycholinguistic and computational perspectives (pp. 122–147). The MIT Press.
46.
MartinC.D.ThierryG.KuipersJ.-R., et al. (2013). Bilinguals reading in their second language do not predict upcoming words as native readers do. Journal of Memory and Language, 69, 574–588.
47.
MeunierF. (2012). Formulaic language and language teaching. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 32, 111–129.
48.
MirmanD.MagnusonJ.S. (2008). Attractor dynamics and semantic neighborhood density: Processing is slowed by near neighbors and speeded by distant neighbors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 65–79.
49.
National Committee of Language and Script. (2018). Modern Chinese Corpus. National Committee of Language and Script. Available at: http://www.aihanyu.org/cncorpus/index.aspx (accessed November 2021).
50.
NguyenT.M.H.WebbS. (2017). Examining second language receptive knowledge of collocation and factors that affect learning. Language Teaching Research, 21, 298–320.
51.
PaquotM.GrangerS. (2012). Formulaic language in learner corpora. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 32, 130–149.
52.
R Core Team. (2018). R: A language and environment for statistical computing [software]. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available at: http://www.R-project.org (accessed November 2021).
53.
RömerU. (2009). The inseparability of lexis and grammar: Corpus linguistic perspectives. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 7, 140–162.
54.
SandersT.SpoorenW.NoordmanL. (1993). Coherence relations in a cognitive theory of discourse representation. Cognitive Linguistics, 4, 93–134.
ShaoJ. (2007). Jianli yi yuyi tezheng wei biaozhi de Hanyu fuju jiaoxue xinxitong chuyi [A new perspective on Chinese compound sentences marked with semantic features]. Shijie Hanyu Jiaoxue [Chinese Teaching in the World], 21, 94–104.
57.
SiyanovaA.SchmittN. (2008). L2 learner production and processing of collocation: A multi-study perspective. Canadian Modern Language Review, 64, 429–458.
58.
Siyanova-ChanturiaA.MartinezR. (2015). The idiom principle revisited. Applied Linguistics, 36, 549–569.
59.
Siyanova-ChanturiaA.ConklinK.SchmittN. (2011). Adding more fuel to the fire: An eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speakers. Second Language Research, 27, 251–272.
60.
Siyanova-ChanturiaA.ConklinK.Van HeuvenW.J. (2011). Seeing a phrase ‘time and again’ matters: The role of phrasal frequency in the processing of multiword sequences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37, 776–784.
61.
SpoorenW.SandersT. (2008). The acquisition order of coherence relations: On cognitive complexity in discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 40, 2003–2026.
62.
TitoneD.ColumbusG.WhitfordV.MercierJ.LibbenM. (2015). Contrasting bilingual and monolingual idiom processing. In HerediaR.CieślickaA. (Eds.), Bilingual figurative language processing (pp. 171–207). Cambridge University Press.
63.
VanPattenB. (2015). Input processing in adult SLA. In VanPattenB.WilliamsJ. (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (pp. 113–134). 2nd edition.Routledge.
64.
Van SilfhoutG.Evers-VermeulJ.SandersT. (2015). Connectives as processing signals: How students benefit in processing narrative and expository texts. Discourse Processes, 52, 47–76.
65.
VilkaitėL.SchmittN. (2019). Reading collocations in an L2: Do collocation processing benefits extend to non-adjacent collocations?Applied Linguistics, 40, 329–354.
66.
WetzelM.ZuffereyS.GygaxP. (2020). Second language acquisition and the mastery of discourse connectives: Assessing the factors that hinder L2-learners from mastering French connectives. Languages, 5, 35.
67.
WolterB.GyllstadH. (2011). Collocational links in the L2 mental lexicon and the influence of L1 intralexical knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 32, 430–449.
68.
WolterB.GyllstadH. (2013). Frequency of input and L2 collocational processing: A comparison of congruent and incongruent collocations. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35, 451–482.
69.
WolterB.YamashitaJ. (2018). Word frequency, collocational frequency, L1 congruency, and proficiency in L2 collocational processing: What accounts for L2 performance?Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40, 395–416.
70.
WoodD. (2015). Fundamentals of formulaic language: An introduction. Bloomsbury.
71.
XiaoR.RaysonP.McEneryT. (2009). A frequency dictionary of Mandarin Chinese: Core vocabulary for learners. Routledge.
YangC. (2013). Textual conjunctives and topic-fronting devices in CFL learners’ written summaries. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 48, 71–89.
74.
YiW. (2018). Statistical sensitivity, cognitive aptitudes, and processing of collocations. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40, 831–856.
75.
YiW.LuS.MaG. (2017). Frequency, contingency and online processing of multiword sequences: An eye-tracking study. Second Language Research, 33, 519–549.
76.
YuldashevA.FernandezJ.ThorneS.L. (2013). Second language learners’ contiguous and discontiguous multi-word unit use over time. The Modern Language Journal, 97, 31–45.
77.
ZhanW.GuoR.ChenY. (2003). The CCL corpus of Chinese texts: 700 million Chinese characters, the 11th Century BC – Present. Centre for Chinese Linguistics of Peking University. Available at: http://ccl.pku.edu.cn:8080/ccl_corpus (accessed November 2021).
78.
ZhangL. (2014). College Chinese heritage language learners’ implicit knowledge of compound sentences. Heritage Language Journal, 11, 45–75.
79.
ZhangW.QiuL. (2007). Jiyu yuliaoku de guanlianci dapei yanjiu [A corpus-based study on the collocations of connectives in Mandarin Chinese]. Shijie Hanyu Jiaoxue [Chinese Teaching in the World], 21, 64–74.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
