An Exploration Of The Development Of Chinese English Majors' Mental Lexicon Organization

The pattern of L2 mental lexicon organization is one of important dimensions of lexical competence. Mental lexicon research has been a popular and independent research field with the development of cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics in recent years. However, most researches focused on the first language (L1) mental lexicon. Studies on the second language (L2) mental lexicon, especially on Chinese English learners'mental lexicon are much fewer. Current studies on Chinese English learners'mental lexicon mainly explored the nature of mental lexicon of learners with similar language proficiency. By employing word association test, this study attempts to investigate the developmental features of mental lexicon organization of Chinese college English majors with different language proficiency.To achieve the purposes, a word association test was administered upon 90 English majors from Sichuan International Studies University. The subjects are 30 undergraduate students in Grade Two, 30 undergraduate students in Grade Four and 30 postgraduates in Grade Two. The study explores the proportion of paradigmatic, syntagmatic, encyclopedic and clang-other connections which organize words in subjects'mental lexicon and the comparison of each proportion across groups. Data analysis based on 80 valid answer sheets shows:1) For students in Grade Two, their clang-other connections (53.1%) >syntagmatic connections (15.6%)>paradigmatic connections (11.2%)>encyclopedic connections (4.3%); 2) for students in Grade Four, their clang-other connections (45.2%)>syntagmatic connections (23.9%)>paradigmatic connections (17.0%)>encyclopedic connections (9.1%); 3) for postgraduate students, their clang-other connections (59.8%)>syntagmatic connections (15.7%)>paradigmatic connections (15.1%)>encyclopedic connections (4.3%).So we have the following findings: the organization pattern of mental lexicon for three groups of subjects with different language proficiency is the same. That is, clang-other connections>syntagmatic connections>paradigmatic connections> encyclopedic connections. The clang-other connections occupy a dominate position in all three groups of subjects'mental lexicon organization. This finding is consistent with the result of the previous researches which indicates that L2 learners'mental lexicon is mainly organized phonologically. The result of the present study also shows that the proportion of semantic connections (syntagmatic connections, paradigmatic connections and encyclopedic connections) reaches the peak in Grade Four. The semantic connections account for 50.0% in Grade Four. But it dropped sharply at postgraduate learning stage. The proportion of semantic connections in postgraduates'mental lexicon organization is 35.1%. The results indicate that the development of Chinese college English majors'mental lexicon organization fluctuates at different learning stages.Finally, on the basis of the research finding, this study provides some pedagogical implications in terms of improving the organization of L2 mental lexicon for Chinese college English majors and enhancing their L2 lexical competence. Limitations of the present study and suggestions for further studies are also pointed out.