Abstract
Learners of English as a non-native anguage unavoidably confront situations in which insufficiency of their linguistic knowledge presents them with difficulties. There are also case in which the absence of some native-language lexical items in the target language is the source of problems the learners have to grapple with. This study focused on the phenomenon known as ˜lexical gap .The aim was to identify and examine the use of compensatory strategies employed by Iranian EFL students in coping with lexical gaps.To this end, number of Iranian undergraduate EFL students were selected and then split into two groups of intermediate-level and advanced-level. Both groups were given two written tasks requiring them to introduce eight Farsi words with no English counterparts to a typical native speaker of English. The analysis of data revealed well as the existence of some surprising differences between the frequencies of strategy use by the two groups.
Highlights
Different learners of foreign languages, including English, reach varying levels of language proficiency which often fall short of what is called „native-like fluency‟
What‟s more, there are a number of concepts and corresponding lexical items in some languages for which there are no target language counterparts or equivalents
Apart from needing to find ways of making themselves understood and preventing communication breakdowns from happening despite their having deficient knowledge of foreign languages, learners need to tackle a number of concepts and their corresponding words which exist in their L1s, but are absent in their L2s(English in the context of this study)
Summary
Different learners of foreign languages, including English, reach varying levels of language proficiency which often fall short of what is called „native-like fluency‟. A lexical gap denotes “the absence in a language of a word for an object or concept”(p.108).A rather more complex definition of the term has been cited by Fisiak(1980), who defined it as “a lack of a lexeme in a language L2 with respect to L1 lexeme within a given comparable field( p. A number of other previous studies have focused on the examination of compensatory strategies such as „circumlocution‟ and „approximation‟ in dealing with lexical gaps by foreign learners and students of the English language. Campillo(2006), whose study focused on the identification and analysis of lexical gap-filling compensatory strategies, has reported that the strategy of using circumlocutions has the highest frequency of use by learners of English. 1.What compensatory strategies do intermediate-level Iranian EFL students use to cope with lexical gaps in their two written tasks?. 2.What compensatory strategies do advanced-level Iranian EFL students use to cope with lexical gaps in their two written tasks?. 5.Do advanced-level participants of the study make use of more L2-based compensatory strategies compared with intermediate-level participants?
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
