How frequency and L2 proficiency moderate the congruency effect in collocational processing? Evidence from L2 Chinese learners in an acceptability judgment task
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21332916 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Xiaolong Lu (0000-0001-6712-7303, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences , City University of Macau , Macau , China), Shaohua Fang (0000-0002-3342-5764, Department of English , Purdue University , 100 North University Street , West Lafayette , USA), Xiaoyu Liu (0000-0002-3485-0885, University of Oregon) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0019-042X • E-ISSN: 1613-4141 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/iral-2025-0245 |
| OpenAlex | W7163589782 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 60 |
This study examines how L1-L2 congruency affects the processing of Chinese collocations by English-speaking learners in the United States. Seventy-nine participants completed an online acceptability judgment task involving congruent (L1 and L2 structurally and semantically aligned) and incongruent collocations. Results showed that learners of Chinese judged congruent items more accurately than incongruent ones, particularly at lower proficiency levels. However, no clear congruency effect was observed in response times. Meanwhile, collocational frequency significantly predicted both accuracy and speed, with stronger effects among higher-proficiency learners. In contrast, native speakers performed near the ceiling, showing no sensitivity to congruency. L2 proficiency modulated the congruency effect in accuracy: lower-proficiency learners demonstrated greater sensitivity to congruency, while higher-proficiency learners processed both types more uniformly. These findings suggest that congruent collocations benefit from L1-based processing, especially for lower-proficiency learners, and that frequency plays a crucial role in facilitating collocational processing. The study has implications not only for Chinese instruction in English-speaking contexts but also for understanding formulaic language processing in logographic languages
Context effect · Contrast (vision) · First language · Language proficiency · Second language · Task (project management) · Task Analysis · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Second Language Acquisition and Learning
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From Usage to Grammar
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |