Abstract
The current study aims to investigate the role of L2 proficiency in the learners' word association behavior in an attempt to get better understanding of how their mental lexicon is structured. Therefore, 20 low-level, 20 mid- level, and 20 high-level Jordanian EFL learners are presented with an English twenty- verbs word association test (WAT), in order to see whether there are similarities or differences between the results of the students in these distinct groups. The main principal of this test is to present the subjects with a number of stimulus words and then to ask them to provide the first word that comes to their minds in writing. The results show that EFL learners tend to use syntagmatic word association techniques. Furthermore, the proficiency level of the students seems to have partial effect on their use of word associations. These results support Wolter's (2001) argument about the re-evaluation of the syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift in the case of non-native speakers. Key words: L2 proficiency, mental lexicon, paradigmatic, syntagmatic, word association DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/67-05 Publication date: April 30 th 2020
Highlights
To Learn a language is considered to be a complex process which involves storing and accessing words within the mind
The word 'association' was first used in psycholinguistics to refer to connections between ideas, concepts, or words which exist in the human mind (Sinopalnikova 2003)
Most of the learners responses are syntagmatic in relation which supports Wolter's (2001, P.61) view that non-native speakers have a syntagmatically dominant mental lexicon
Summary
To Learn a language is considered to be a complex process which involves storing and accessing words within the mind. The mental space where this process takes place is called the mental lexicon. To understand the organizational structure of our mental lexicon, there are variable methods that have been suggested over the past years. One of these methods is word association. The word 'association' was first used in psycholinguistics to refer to connections between ideas, concepts, or words which exist in the human mind (Sinopalnikova 2003). The appearance of one word entails the appearance of the other in what is called 'word association'
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