ERIC Number: EJ1378454
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023-May
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0272-2631
EISSN: EISSN-1470-1545
"Bread and Butter" or "Butter and Bread"? Nonnatives' Processing of Novel Lexical Patterns in Context
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, v45 n2 p370-392 May 2023
Little is known about how nonnative speakers process novel language patterns in the input they encounter. The present study examines whether nonnatives develop a sensitivity to novel binomials and their ordering preference from context. Thirty-nine nonnative speakers of English (L1 Arabic) read three short stories seeded with existing binomials ("black and white") and novel ones ("bags and coats") while their eye movements were monitored. The existing binomials appeared once in their forward (conventional) form and once in their reversed form. The novel binomials appeared in their experimentally defined forward form in different frequency conditions (two vs. four encounters) and once in the reversed form. Results showed no advantage for existing binomials over their reversed forms. For the novel binomials, the nonnative speakers read subsequent encounters significantly faster than initial ones for both frequency conditions. More importantly, the final reversed form also led to faster reading, suggesting that L2 speakers process the reversed form of a novel binomial as another encounter, ignoring the established order.
Descriptors: Language Processing, Language Patterns, Second Language Learning, English (Second Language), Native Language, Arabic, Preferences, Story Reading, Eye Movements, Reading Processes, Word Frequency, Reading Rate, Novelty (Stimulus Dimension), Phrase Structure
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A