English Majors’ Processing Model Of Formulaic Sequences Based On E-prime

Formulaic sequences refer to strings of words as prefabricated chunks which are linked tightly in the neural network and stored holistically in the mental lexicon of language users.It can effectively improve the fluency and appropriateness of learners’ language output.The current studies mainly focus upon the psychological reality of formulaic sequences.However,subjects of the existing studies were mainly native speakers or highly proficient L2 learners.In few studies English majors were investigated,but no consensus was reached,and most studies were designed based on the frequency effect,which ignored the L1 knowledge and interactions between the various factors,etc.Thus more researches are needed.The present study use the online grammar judgment task to explore the effects of frequency,transparency,proficiency and their interactions on the formulaic sequences processing of English majors from the reaction time(RT)paradigm.To be specific,it addresses the following questions:(1)Is there a frequency effect in English majors’ formulaic sequences processing?(2)Is English majors’ formulaic sequences processing affected by semantic transparency?(3)Does English majors at different proficiency levels differ in different types of formulaic sequences processing?(4)Is there any psychological reality in English majors’ mental lexicon?30 juniors and 30 freshmen of English major in one university of Shandong were selected as high and low level groups respectively.The experimental materials included high/low frequency transparent and high/low frequency opaque formulaic sequences(each type consists of 10 items),and 40 ungrammatical interference items.Programmed the materials to E-prime and measured the subjects’ RT,and then analyzed the data through SPSS 17.0.The following findings are mainly drawn:Firstly,formulaic sequences processing of English majors has a frequency effect.Both groups process the high-frequency formulaic sequences significantly faster and more accurate than that of the low-frequency formulaic sequences.That is,with thefrequency increase,the holistic processing becomes more obvious.Secondly,it is affected by the semantic transparency to some extent.Both groups make less errors in transparent formulaic sequences,which indicates that the opaque formulaic sequences are more difficult to learn.Besides,the transparency effect mainly affects the low-frequency formulaic sequences of high level group,while low level group is opposite,thus more studies are needed.Thirdly,different proficiency groups process the different types of formulaic sequences differently.High proficiency group do significantly faster than the low proficiency group under the conditions of high/low frequency and opaque formulaic sequences.Even if under the transparent condition,the high proficiency group needs less RT.It indicates that the processing advantage is strengthened with the improvement of language proficiency.Finally,there is the psychological reality of formulaic sequences in the mental lexicon of English majors.They do better on formulaic sequences than on ungrammatical interference items.This advantage becomes more obvious when the frequency,transparency and proficiency are improved.That is formulaic sequences are represented and processed holistically in the mental lexicon of the English majors.In addition,the findings of the present study are significant for L2 teaching.In order to improve one’s fluency and awareness,teachers can consciously increase students’ access to various formulaic sequences through multiple activities and practices in teaching process.Meanwhile,the consequences also provide some enlightenment for textbook compilation and translation teaching.