The effects of teaching lexical patterns in second language reading

The present study investigated the effects of teaching lexical patterns, which are a network of repetitions and synonyms or near-synonyms of keywords in thesis statements of expository texts. Specifically, the study compared the performance of two groups of intermediate proficiency Japanese EFL college students (i.e., control and experimental groups) in terms of their ability to find lexical patterns in expository texts written for a native-speaker audience. The control group received a five-week treatment of translating English journalistic texts into their L1, and the experimental group, in addition to receiving the same treatment as the control group, received instructions and tasks on finding lexical patterns in the same texts they translated. The alpha for this study was set at .008 (.05/6 = .008) because a total of six comparisons were conducted in this study.; Findings from pre- and post-treatment tests results, which were analyzed using univariate analyses of variance, indicated that participants' ability to find the constituents of bonds, namely, three or more repetitions or paraphrases of the keywords in the first sentence of a relatively long journalistic text, was unrelated to English proficiency as measured by the grammar, vocabulary, and reading sections of the Michigan English Placement Test. However, the results of five analyses of covariance of the post-treatment data showed that providing instruction and practice finding lexical patterns for a span of four weeks enhanced the experimental group participants' performance on finding lexical patterns in texts that were new to them, though not to a statistically significant degree. Using a principal components analysis, this study also identified three components involved in lexical pattern searches, which were named Lexical Pattern Search after Treatment, Lexical Pattern Search without Instruction, and English Proficiency. These components suggested that lexical pattern searches before and after the treatment sessions were different in nature. Finally, informal feedback on the lexical pattern search exercises gathered from the experiential group showed that these exercises seemed to have helped some participants increase their reading speed.