Abstract
The termformulaic sequence(FS) is used with a multiplicity of meanings in the SLA literature, some overlapping but others not, and researchers are not always clear in defining precisely what they are investigating, or in limiting the implicational domain of their findings to the type of formulaicity they focus on. The first part of the article provides a conceptual framework focusing on the contrast between linguistic or learner-external definitions, that is, what is formulaic in the language the learner is exposed to, such as idiomatic expressions or collocations, and psycholinguistic or learner-internal definitions, that is, what is formulaic within an individual learner because it presents a processing advantage. The second part focuses on the methodological consequences of adopting a learner-internal approach to the investigation of FSs, and examines the challenges presented by the identification of psycholinguistic formulaicity in advanced L2 learners, proposing a tool kit based on a hierarchical identification method.
Highlights
The purpose of the present article is to provide a conceptual and methodological framework for the analysis of formulaic sequences (FSs) in second language learners, with a particular focus on advanced learners
The hierarchical identification method we propose in order to identify PUs in advanced L2 learners can be summarized as follows: 1. Necessary criterion, applied first on the data in order to obtain a subset of candidate PUs: Fluent pronunciation of a multiword sequence: that is, without filled or unfilled pauses longer than 0.2 second; without any syllable lengthening; and without any repetition or retracing
This article has aimed to clarify some conceptual issues underpinning the identification of formulaic language in second language learners
Summary
The purpose of the present article is to provide a conceptual and methodological framework for the analysis of formulaic sequences (FSs) in second language learners, with a particular focus on advanced learners. The phenomenon of chunking and ensuing processing advantage is worth investigating in its own right, in L2 learners just as much as in NSs, without assuming they are the same This is the purpose of this article, and it is crucial to devise sound methodologies for identifying psycholinguistic FSs in advanced second language learners, independently of speaker-external sequences, especially as the substantial overlap between external and internal FSs found in NSs is unlikely to be present in an L2 context. When defining FSs psycholinguistically, identification criteria showing evidence of preferential processing, such as phonological coherence, cannot just be optional This implies that a sequence displaying some other characteristics of formulaicity such as semantic opacity, cannot be regarded as formulaic if it does not fulfill the phonological coherence criterion; for example, an L2 learner uttering it’s raining . Holistic processing is investigated, prosodic criteria of phonological coherence will need to be applied first, and the subset of sequences identified will exclude idiomatic sequences that are not phonologically coherent, such as the preceding example it’s raining cats and dogs uttered haltingly
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