The effects of textbook frequency, congruency, and word class on the processing of L2 collocations by Chinese EFL learners

Abstract

This study examines the roles of L1-L2 congruency, frequency, word class, and proficiency in L2 collocation processing. An acceptability judgment task was conducted to evaluate how participants processed verb-noun and adjective-noun collocations across four levels of congruency: congruent, partially congruent, L1-only, and L2-only collocations. The findings revealed that participants were sensitive to both congruency and collocation frequency. Moreover, as L2 proficiency increased, the congruency effect became pronounced, while the impact of collocation frequency remained consistently significant. The results indicate differences in response time (RT) and accuracy among incongruent, partially congruent, and fully congruent collocations, suggesting a need for a more nuanced approach to defining congruency than what has been used in the past studies. Regarding the word-class configurations, participants processed verb-noun collocations more quickly and accurately than adjective-noun collocations. Finally, our findings demonstrated a significant improvement in accuracy rates with increased proficiency. We argue that future research should carefully consider the effects of congruency, frequency, word class, and proficiency, as well as the potential interactions between these factors.