The effects of L1 priming,type of L2 collocation,its frequency,and individuals’ L2 proficiency on L2 collocation processing

Abstract

Aims:

This study investigates how Chinese-English bilinguals process English adjective–noun collocations under different priming conditions to understand the mechanism underlying the L1 congruency effect. By examining how various factors affect processing and knowledge representation, this research aims to shed light on effective language teaching strategies.

Methodology:

We employed cross-language masked priming followed by an acceptability judgment task with two groups of participants: lower-intermediate (94) and advanced (74) Chinese-English learners.

Findings:

(1) The statistics showed that collocation type-specific response times for these groups differed; only the advanced group critically manifested the L1 Chinese congruency effect in response time under the Chinese-congruent priming condition. (2) Lower-intermediate learners had limited knowledge representation of all three types (“Chinese-congruent,” “English-only,” “Chinese-only”), while advanced learners developed better knowledge of “Chinese-congruent” and “English-only” collocations, but not “Chinese-only” ones. (3) Furthermore, while lower-intermediate learners showed sensitivity only to the frequencies of “Chinese-congruent” ones, the advanced learners became sensitive to the frequencies of not only “Chinese-congruent” but also “English-only” ones.

Originality:

This study contributes to our understanding of the collocation processing mechanism by comparing results from a wider range of proficiency levels (lower-intermediate vs. advanced) rather than focusing narrowly on intermediate versus advanced learners. The study’s methodology combines cross-language masked priming with an acceptability judgment task, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of how bilinguals process different types of adjective-noun collocations.

Implications:

This research highlights the importance of L2 exposure in shaping bilinguals’ mental representation of English adjective–noun collocations and in forming L1 congruency effect. The findings have implications for improving L2 collocation instruction strategies by relying less on supposedly vital L1 influence but more on exposure to any individual collocation to learn.

Keywords

L2 adjective–noun collocation L1 semantic activation cross-language masked priming L1 congruency effect

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