The Mental Lexicon of Low-Proficiency Korean Heritage Learners

Abstract

Previous studies have examined word association behaviors of native speakers and non-native speakers, pointing out differences in the organization of their mental lexicon. This study investigates a relatively underexplored area in word association studies—the word association of heritage learners. The study compares word association behaviors of low-proficiency Korean heritage learners to those of native Korean speakers and non-heritage learners. Preliminary results indicate that heritage learners exhibit a great deal of variability in their word association patterns compared to native speakers and non-heritage learners. All three subject groups show an overall preference for meaning-based association over position-based association for nouns. However, in subcategories of meaning-based and position-based responses, the three groups show significant differences. Heritage learners tend, like native speakers, to produce more responses based on strong conceptual associations than non-heritage learners. Yet heritage learners, despite their larger vocabulary size and their exposure to the language in authentic socio-cultural contexts at home, show little difference from non-heritage learners in their weak collocation-based associations. This preliminary study provides insight into heritage learners’ mental lexicon in contrast to those of native speakers and non-heritage learners, and also discusses pedagogical implications for teaching vocabulary to heritage learners.