Processing Of Collocations Research Articles

The congruency effect in L2 collocational processing: The underlying mechanism and moderating factors

AbstractThe congruency effect—that is, faster and more accurate processing of congruent multiword units, has been demonstrated in multiple studies. It is still unclear, however, what its underlying mechanism is, and how congruency may interact with other factors. Using an acceptability judgement task, this study examined the congruency effect in immersive (Experiment 1) and nonimmersive (Experiment 2) L2 learners’ collocational processing while taking into account L2 collocation frequency, immersive learners’ L2 use, their length and starting age of immersion, nonimmersive learners’ length of instruction, and their L2 proficiency. The study also tested whether L1 counterparts of words in L2 collocations were activated. Nonmmersive learners showed a congruency effect in both processing speed and accuracy. In contrast, immersive learners were affected by congruency only in processing accuracy. Higher L2 collocation frequency, greater length of instruction, and higher L2 proficiency did not reduce the congruency effect, whereas longer duration of immersion improved the processing of incongruent items. An effect of L1 lexical frequency was found, an indication of L1 activation. Results were discussed in light of how L2 proficiency and experiences changed the amount of L1 influence in L2 collocational processing.

The lexical processing of Japanese collocations by Chinese Japanese-as-a-Foreign-Language learners: An experimental study by manipulating the presentation modality, semantic transparency, and translational congruency.

Research on collocations has become an essential issue in L2 acquisition and cognitive psychology. Previous studies have mainly focused on phonographic languages such as English, Swedish, and German, and primarily discussed the effect of semantic transparency and translational congruency. However, these studies have lacked (1) an analysis of the interactions between presentation modalities (visual vs. auditory) and the semantic transparency and translational congruency, and (2) a discussion of an ideographic language, such as Chinese and Japanese. We conducted an experiment with 36 Chinese Japanese-as-a-Foreign-Language learners to examine the processing of Japanese collocations. In the experiment, we manipulated the presentation modality, semantic transparency, and translational congruency during a lexical judgment task. Data analysis using linear mixed-effects models revealed the following. (1) In both conditions of semantic transparency and translational congruency, the auditory presentation was associated with longer reaction times than the visual presentation. (2) In the visual presentation condition, neither semantic transparency nor translational congruency showed significant effects. (3) In the auditory presentation condition, the reaction time for collocations with high semantic transparency tended to be longer than that for collocations with medium semantic transparency and significantly longer than that for collocations with low semantic transparency. The reaction time for collocations with congruent translation was longer than that for collocations with incongruent translation. These results support the dual-route model of Japanese collocational processing by Chinese Japanese-as-a-Foreign-Language learners. Our findings suggest that whether the analytic or holistic processing dominates is closely related to the learners' knowledge of Chinese and Japanese Kanji words and strongly influenced by the presentation modality, semantic transparency, and translational congruency.

The effects of typographic enhancement on L2 collocation processing and learning from reading: An eye-tracking study

Collocations have been of considerable interest to applied linguistics and SLA researchers, due to their pervasiveness in language. In corpus research, collocations are broadly defined as pairs of content words like nouns and adjectives that appear more frequently in language than the occurrence frequency of the individual words would predict (Biber et al. 1999). Typical examples in English are heavy rain and strong wind. As conventional forms of expression, collocations may be used to express concepts in an efficient manner, or serve as phrasal terminology in technical, scientific, or academic discourse (e.g. Schmitt and Carter 2004). Research has shown that L2 learners tend to produce many collocations that are deviant or non-nativelike (e.g. *make a photo) in their speech (Nekrasova 2009) and writing (e.g. Durrant and Schmitt 2009; Laufer and Waldman 2011). Although the evidence is far from conclusive, it is generally thought that L2 collocation knowledge develops slowly, and therefore does not always show up at the level of productive use (e.g. Durrant and Schmitt 2010). A better understanding of why this might be the case requires a closer look at the variables that may affect the learnability of collocations.

Development of automaticity in processing L2 collocations: The roles of L1 collocational knowledge and practice condition

AbstractThis study examined the development of automaticity in processing L2 collocations, and the roles of L1 collocational knowledge and practice conditions in the development process. Korean learners of English were assigned to one of two practice conditions (practice in identical or varied contexts). The learning gains for word combinations with and without equivalent counterparts in the L1 (L1-only and L2-only collocations) were assessed using response times (RTs) and coefficients of variation (CV) from a phrasal decision task. The results demonstrated that the learners in both groups showed significantly improved collocation processing for both types of items in terms of speed (RT) and automaticity (CV) over time. The RT and CV analyses indicated that both groups’ improvements in collocation processing in the later stages of learning were associated with automatization. Interestingly, L1 collocational knowledge played a facilitative role in processing speed only in the early stages of learning. No reliable evidence for the differential effects of the two types of practice conditions on developing automaticity in collocation processing was found.

SEMI-ANALYTIC FIBONACCI POLYNOMIAL SOLUTION FOR VOLTERRA–FREDHOLM INTEGRAL EQUATION WITH ERROR ANALYSIS

Herein, a spectral scheme is implemented and analyzed for numerically handling general Volterra–Fredholm integral equations (VFIEs), for this purpose, the linearly independent Fibonacci polynomials are utilized as basis functions for the solution, then the spectral collocation process is used to transform the integral equation into a system of algebraic equations with undetermined coefficients. The error, convergence and stability analyses of the scheme are discussed in-depth, some numerical examples are exhibited to ensure the applicability, efficiency and accuracy of the solver.

Figurativeness Matters in the Second Language Processing of Collocations: Evidence From a Self‐Paced Reading Experiment

AbstractThis study reports on a self‐paced reading experiment exploring whether the figurativeness of collocations affects L2 processing of collocations. The participants were 40 English native speakers and 44 Chinese‐speaking English foreign language learners (including doctoral, postgraduate, and undergraduate students). To ensure that the effect emerged from the figurativeness of collocations rather than other item‐related confounds, this study added a literal–literal comparison (e.g., choose a career vs. choose a house) as a control to the experimental figurative–literal comparison (e.g., build a career vs. build a house). Results showed that L2 speakers processed figurative collocations more slowly than literal collocation controls but native speakers did not. Importantly, this processing cost for figurative collocations in L2 speakers varied by L2 proficiency but not phrase familiarity. We discuss the results in terms of the dual‐route model of formulaic and novel language processing and also incorporate them into the literal salience model of bilingual figurative processing.

Effects of L1-L2 congruency, collocation type, and restriction on processing L2 collocations.

The present study investigated the effects of L1-L2 congruency, collocation type, and restriction on L2 collocational processing. Advanced Chinese learners of English and native English-speaking controls performed an online acceptability judgment task to investigate how advanced L2 learners processed congruent (sharing the same meaning and structure in L1 language) collocations and English-only (not equivalent in L1 construction) collocations with the same node (right) word and a different collocate (left). The experimental materials included verb-noun (VN), adjective-noun (AN) collocations, free (less fixed), and restricted (more fixed) collocations chosen from BNC. The results revealed that (i) The non-native speakers were sensitive to L1-L2 congruency, but the native speakers were not. (ii) The native speakers were sensitive to collocation restriction, whereas the non-native speakers were not. These results lend initial support to the mapping hypothesis and open choice principle of L2 collocational processing for Chinese English learners.

Trivariate Spectral Collocation Approach for the Numerical Solution of Three-Dimensional Elliptic Partial Differential Equations

This article is concerned with the numerical solution of three-dimensional elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs) using the trivariate spectral collocation approach based on the Kronecker tensor product. By using the quasilinearization method, the nonlinear elliptic PDEs are simplified to a linear system of algebraic equations that can be discretized using the spectral collocation method. The method is based on approximating the solutions using the triple Lagrange interpolating polynomials, which interpolate the unknown functions at selected Chebyshev–Gauss–Lobatto (CGL) grid points. The CGL points are preferred to ensure simplicity in the conversion of continuous derivatives to discrete derivatives at the collocation points. The collocation process is carried out at the interior points to reduce the size of differentiation matrices. This work is aimed at verifying that the algorithm based on the method is simple and easily implemented in any scientific software to produce more accurate and stable results. The effectiveness and spectral accuracy of the numerical algorithm is checked through the determination and analysis of errors, condition numbers and computational time for various classes of single or system of elliptic PDEs including those with singular behavior. The communicated results indicate that the proposed method is more accurate, stable and effective for solving elliptic PDEs. This good accuracy becomes possible with the usage of few grid points and less memory requirements for numerical computation.

The effect of frequency of exposure on the processing and learning of collocations: A comparison of first and second language readers’ eye movements

AbstractThis study examined the processing and acquisition of novel words and their collocates (i.e., words that frequently co-occur with other words) from reading and the effect of frequency of exposure on this process. First and second language speakers of English read a story with 1) eight exposures of adjective-pseudoword collocations, 2) four exposures of the same collocations, or 3) eight exposures of control collocations. Results of recall and recognition tests showed that participants acquired knowledge not only of the form and meaning of the pseudowords but also of their collocates. The analysis of eye movements showed a significant effect of exposure on the processing of novel collocations for both first and second language readers, with reading times decreasing as a function of exposure. Eight exposures to novel adjective-pseudoword collocations were enough to develop processing speed comparable to that of known collocations. However, when analyzing the processing of the individual components of the collocations, results showed that eight exposures to the pseudowords were not enough for second language readers to develop processing speed comparable to known words. The frequency manipulation in the present study (four vs. eight exposures) did not lead to differences in the learning or processing of collocations. Finally, reading times were not a significant predictor of vocabulary gains.

Insights Into the Processing of Collocations During L2 English Reading: Evidence From Eye Movements.

We report an eye movement experiment that investigates the effects of collocation strength and contextual predictability on the reading of collocative phrases by L2 English readers. Thirty-eight Chinese English as foreign language learners (EFL) read 40 sentences, each including a specific two-word phrase that was either a strong (e.g., black coffee) or weak (e.g., bitter coffee) adjective-noun collocation and was either highly predictable or unpredictable from the previous sentence context. Eye movement measures showed that L2 reading times for the collocative phrases were sensitive to both collocation strength and contextual predictability. However, an interaction effect between these factors, which appeared relatively late in the eye movement record, additionally revealed that contextual predictability more strongly influenced time spent reading weak compared with strong collocations. This was most likely because the greater familiarity of strong collocations facilitated their integration, even in the absence of strong contextual constraint. We discuss the findings in terms of the value of collocations in second language learning.

Word order effect in collocation processing

AbstractCollocations are words associated because of their frequent co-occurrence, which makes them predictable and leads to facilitated processing. While there have been suggestions that collocations are stored as unanalysed chunks, other researchers disagree. One of the arguments against holistic storage is the fact that collocations are not fixed phrases, for example, their word order can vary. To explore whether reversed collocations retain the processing advantage that they have in their canonical form, we conducted two primed lexical decision experiments: Experiment 1 in English, and Experiment 2 in Lithuanian, an understudied language. We presented both forward and backward collocations and compared them to matched control phrases. We also explored which collocational measure (phrasal frequency, MI,t-score, or ΔP) worked as the best predictor of processing speed. We found a clear priming effect for both languages when collocations were presented in their forward form, which is in line with previous research. There was no priming for the backward condition in English, but a priming effect for it in Lithuanian, where the reversed word order is acceptable albeit marked. These results are not easily explained by holistic storage. As far as collocational measures are concerned, they all seem to perform reasonably well, with none of them being clearly better than the others.

Lexical Associations in the L1 Turkish Mental Lexicon: Can L1 Lexical Intuition and a Representative Corpus Guide Teaching of Turkish as a Foreign Language Materials?

Studies to date using corpus linguistic and psycholinguistic approaches have investigated the collocational links in both the L1 and L2 brain from different angles. They have attempted to test the role collocations play in the mental lexicon and question how corpus data can guide us in our investigations. However, there have been almost no attempts to explore the relationship between the L1 Turkish users’ subjective judgements of collocational use (frequency) and the association strength of collocational items in Turkish evidenced in representative corpora. This research, mainly with a corpuslinguistic approach, aims to (a) detect the possible relationship between the collocational links in the L1 Turkish mental lexicon and the collocational frequency profiles on the TNC (Turkish National Corpus) (b) and thus question if L1 speaker intuitions (familiarity) regarding collocational frequency and the frequency profiles of the items, as evidenced through representative corpora, can/should be exploited in an attempt to create target vocabulary lists or vocabulary teaching materials for teaching Turkish as a foreign language. The results indicate that the collocational links in L1 Turkish users’ mental lexicon seem to resemble the lexical associations represented in the TNC. To be more precise, higher Delta-P (1 > word 2) scores are associated with stronger collocational intuitions. Additionally, the Delta-P (1 > word 2) as well as the CEFR1 level are significant predictors of subjective judgements for frequent collocational use. The results have been discussed in light of the psycholinguistic research highlighting collocational processing, and some pedagogical conclusions have been drawn. 

Особенности понятия «индивидуализм» в сознании китайцев и русских (на материале корпусов китайского и русского языков)

The article presents the results of statistical processing of collocations for the word “individualism” obtained from the corpora of the Chinese and Russian languages. The software sorts the collocations of the selected word by frequency and classifies and compares high-frequency words by parts of speech. The concept of individualism is one of the cultural dimensions of the expression of values used in the socio-psychological and pedagogical fields. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the author analyzes the content of “individualism”, its features which are translated into the mass consciousness of the Chinese and Russians with the help of language. National culture influences the value orientations and linguistic consciousness of a particular nation. The current study of lexical units and their content in the minds of speakers of different languages is of great importance for cross- cultural communication. Comparing features of the content of the concept “individualism”, national and cultural specifics are also found with the Chinese and Russians. The examples demonstrate that the content of a specific concept in the minds of members of different cultures becomes more obvious as a result of the comparative study.

The Effects of Two Association Measures on L2 Collocation Processing

The influence of association measures has been little examined in research on L2 collocation processing. For this reason, the present study replicated Öksüz et al. (2020) experiment on intermediate L2 learners of English to determine whether the association measure mutual information (MI) is a stronger predictor of L2 performance than the Log Dice measure. Twenty-two intermediate Arab learners of English completed a timed acceptability judgment task on the online Gorilla platform. The task included (1) high-frequent collocations (e.g., bad news), (2) low-frequent collocations (e.g., only friend), and (3) non-collocates (e.g., true news, wrong friend) which had differing MI and Log Dice scores. Mixed-effects models were built to analyze the participants’ reaction times to the three conditions. The results showed that the frequency of the collocation (operationalized as item type) and its length significantly influenced reaction times, while both MI and Log Dice scores did not surface as significant predictors. This suggests that intermediate English L2 learners are not sensitive to corpus-based association measures. The results have important implications for L2 teaching and testing and may indicate that it is not worthwhile to determine which collocations to include in the materials based mainly on the strength of the association.

L1 congruency, word frequency, collocational frequency, L2 proficiency, and their combined effects on Chinese–English bilinguals’ L2 collocational processing

Aims: The current study investigated the effects of first language (L1) congruency, word frequency, collocational frequency, second language (L2) proficiency, and their combined effects on L2 collocational processing. Methodology: Twenty English native speakers and 60 adult Chinese–English bilinguals (intermediate and advanced) completed an online phrasal decision task. They made a judgment about whether target word pairs (congruent collocations, incongruent collocations, and non-collocational baseline items) were commonly used in English. Data and analysis: Response time and accuracy data were analyzed with mixed-effects models, with focus on the interactions of the variables of interest. Findings: Results demonstrated differential effects for the response time and accuracy data: (1) both L2 groups were significantly more accurate but not significantly faster in judging the congruent collocations than the incongruent collocations, and unexpectedly similar patterns were observed with the L1 group; (2) all participants were sensitive to word frequency and collocational frequency, but they differed in the manner and degree of such sensitivity; and (3) the processing of incongruent collocations showed greater combined effects of word frequency and collocational frequency than did the processing of congruent collocations. Originality: We specifically investigated the effects of multiple influencing factors and their combined effects. In addition, we addressed a methodological limitation regarding stimuli control by using congruent and incongruent collocational pairs that differed in only one constituent word. Implications: Our findings highlight the non-colinear relationship of L2 proficiency and (explicit and implicit) collocational knowledge as well as the semantic aspects of cross-language differences, and they also support the usage-based models.

Enhanced Numerov Method for the Numerical Solution of Second Order Initial Value Problems

Numerov method is a multistep numerical method that is used in solving second order differential equations. In this work, we apply this method as a Boundary Value Method (BVM) for the numerical approximation of both linear and nonlinear second order initial value problems. This is achieved by constructing the Numerov method via interpolation and collocation process while utilizing data at off-step points and implementing it as a BVM. On comparing the results obtained from the solved problems, it shows that the method is accurate with high level of convergence to their exact forms and performs better than results from literature.

Timed versus untimed recognition of L2 collocations: Does estimated proficiency modulate congruency effects?

AbstractCongruency (the availability of a direct first language translation) and level of proficiency have been reported among the most important determinants of second language collocation processing. However, only very few studies looked at the interaction between the two determinants, and none of these directly compared untimed collocation recognition assessed through traditional tests to timed recognition evident in psycholinguistic tasks. The current study administered both types of form recognition measures to 228 female Saudi English as a foreign language learners in two separate experiments: a traditional multiple-choice test (Experiment 1) and a timed acceptability judgment task (Experiment 2). Experiment 2 also tested 37 native speakers of English as a baseline for comparison. Congruency, estimated proficiency (vocabulary test scores), and the interaction between the two were evaluated as predictors of untimed and timed recognition through mixed-effects modeling. Results showed that congruency and estimated proficiency had a clear effect on untimed and timed recognition. More interesting, the effect of proficiency was clearer on timed recognition with a gradual decrease in the first language effect as proficiency increased getting closer to nativelike collocation processing. Results have implications for second language collocation learning and testing.

Collocational Processing in L1 and L2: The Effects of Word Frequency, Collocational Frequency, and Association

AbstractThis study investigated the effects of individual word frequency, collocational frequency, and association on L1 and L2 collocational processing. An acceptability judgment task was administered to L1 and L2 speakers of English. Response times were analyzed using mixed‐effects modeling for 3 types of adjective–noun pairs: (a) high‐frequency, (b) low‐frequency, and (c) baseline items. This study extends previous research by examining whether the effects of individual word and collocation frequency counts differ for L1 and L2 speakers’ processing of collocations. This study also compared the extent to which L1 and L2 speakers’ response times are affected by mutual information and log Dice scores, which are corpus‐derived association measures. Both groups of participants demonstrated sensitivity to individual word and collocation frequency counts. However, there was a reduced effect of individual word frequency counts for processing high‐frequency collocations compared to low‐frequency collocations. Both groups of participants were similarly sensitive to the association measures used.

The effects of L1 congruency, L2 proficiency, and the collocate-node relationship on the processing of L2 English collocations by L1-Chinese EFL learners

Abstract This study investigated the effects of first language (L1) congruency, second language (L2) proficiency, and the collocate-node relationship (i.e., verb-noun, adjective-noun, noun-noun) on collocation processing by logographic L1-Chinese learners of English. Comparisons were made of accuracy rates and response times to a collocation lexical decision task completed by L1-Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) English Majors (n = 30), L1-Chinese EFL non-English Majors (n = 30), and L1-English Native Speakers (n = 26). Analysis of the data revealed that while congruent collocations were processed more accurately and faster than incongruent collocations by both L1-Chinese participant groups, the English Majors showed a processing advantage over their non-English Major peers. Further analysis revealed a processing advantage for noun-noun collocations, providing additional evidence in explaining the difficulties L1-Chinese have in acquiring verb-noun collocations. These results and other nuanced statistical findings are discussed in relation to pedagogical means of enhancing L2 collocation acquisition by L1-Chinese speakers.

Frequency, MI, and Congruency in Collocation Processing by Korean EFL Learners: Evidence from Reading Aloud

Frequency, MI, and Congruency in Collocation Processing by Korean EFL Learners: Evidence from Reading Aloud