Work

Comparing the longitudinal development of phraseological complexity across oral and written tasks

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: This study builds upon previous research investigating the construct validity of phraseological complexity as an index of L2 development and proficiency. Whereas previous studies have focused on cross-sectional comparisons of written productions across proficiency levels, the current study compares thelongitudinaldevelopment of phraseological complexity in writtenand oralproductions elicited over a 21-month period from learners of French. We also improve upon the state of the art by including L1 data to benchmark learner levels of phraseological complexity. Phraseological complexity, operationalized as the diversity (no. types) and sophistication (PMI) of adjectival modifiers (adjective + noun) and direct objects (verb + noun), was generally higher in learner writing as compared to speaking. Over the study period, the sophistication of phraseological units increased slightly but developmental patterns were found to differ between tasks, highlighting the importance of considering task characteristics when measuring phraseological complexity.

Source: Studies in Second Language Acquisition

DOI: 10.1017/s0272263122000389

Authors: Nathan Vandeweerd, Alex Housen, Magali Paquot

Institutions: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, UCLouvain

Language: English

Topic: Second Language Acquisition and Learning

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,255