The Freauencv Effects For Multi-word Expressions-Evidence From The Processing By Chinese Learners Of English

There is mounting evidence that frequency information of varying sizes plays an important role in language processing.Many recent studies have investigated the frequency effects for multi-word expressions,most of which focused on L1 processing,and a growing number of researches focused on L2 processing.Studies on the frequency effects in L2 learners,processing are useful in understanding the L2 acquisition process of multi-word expressions,and can shed some light on learners'processing mechanisms and the representation in their mental lexicon.The present study aims to investigate the frequency effects as well as the role of language proficiency in the contextualized processing of multiword expressions by two groups of Chinese learners of English with different proficiency levels.By conducting a self-paced reading experiment by means of E-prime,the results showed that both phrase-frequency and language proficiency had main effect on the processing of multiword expressions in non-native learners and there was no interaction between them.Specifically,multi-word expressions with higher frequency were processed faster than those with lower frequency.Besides,more proficient learners exceeded at both the processing speed and the sensitivity to different levels of phrase-frequencies.Based on these findings,the following conclusions were drawn.First,L2 learners'processing of multiword expressions in contexts is faster than the decontextualized recognition process.Second,the processing advantage is not restricted to multi-word formulaic sequences over their matched novel wordstrings,but extends to the processing of higher frequency phrases over those with lower frequency.Third,as learners' proficiency levels improve,their performance on the processing of L2 multi-word expressions can become significantly better,with faster processing speed and stronger sensitivity to different levels of phrase-frequencies.Fourth,the phrase-frequency effects in proficient L2 learners' processing can be better explained within a continuous model rather than a threshold one,indicating that input frequency,even at grain sizes above the word level,plays a central role in L2 processing and learning.Frequent encounter and usage of the expressions can leave and reinforce the entrenchment in learners'memory,which is a way of implicit learning.This is in line with the usage-based and exemplar-based theory of learning.In addition,the current study also sheds some light on L2 learners,representations and processing mechanisms of multi-word expressions.On the one hand,multi-word expressions have psychological reality for L2 learners.On the other hand,putting up a dual-system for the processing of multi-word expressions is redundant and unnecessary.On the whole,this study also has some practical implications that chunking plays an important role in second language learning.