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Beating about the bush: written production and comprehension of L2 idioms

Palm, Lina LU (2019) ALSK11 20172
General Linguistics
Abstract
A study on the online process of producing idioms in writing and how second language learners manage the production and comprehension of idioms may provide a useful and comprehensive investigation of the production, comprehension and acquisition of language. The study in this paper investigated how Swedish (L1) second language learners of English (L2) produce and comprehend written idioms in the L2. It also explored whether production and comprehension of idioms which are lexically and semantically different in Swedish and English result in more difficulties for the learners compared to idioms which are lexically and semantically identical or similar. The difficulties are measured as time to onset and production accuracy. The study also... (More)
A study on the online process of producing idioms in writing and how second language learners manage the production and comprehension of idioms may provide a useful and comprehensive investigation of the production, comprehension and acquisition of language. The study in this paper investigated how Swedish (L1) second language learners of English (L2) produce and comprehend written idioms in the L2. It also explored whether production and comprehension of idioms which are lexically and semantically different in Swedish and English result in more difficulties for the learners compared to idioms which are lexically and semantically identical or similar. The difficulties are measured as time to onset and production accuracy. The study also investigated if the time to onset and production accuracy were affected by the idiom usage frequency. A keystroke logging software for research on the writing process was used. The results indicated an individual variation across participants and idioms. Participants with a high proficiency in the L2 seem to manage the production of L2 idioms somewhat better than participants with a lower proficiency, but still with difficulties. Even idioms which are lexically and semantically identical or similar in the L1 and L2 result in problems during production. The results in terms of time to onset and production accuracy were affected by the idiom usage frequency. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Palm, Lina LU
supervisor
organization
course
ALSK11 20172
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
figurative meaning, idiom, keystroke logging, language transfer, literal meaning, phraseology, second language acquisition, second language learning, translation
language
English
id
8972481
date added to LUP
2019-03-21 14:27:58
date last changed
2019-03-21 14:27:58
@misc{8972481,
  abstract     = {{A study on the online process of producing idioms in writing and how second language learners manage the production and comprehension of idioms may provide a useful and comprehensive investigation of the production, comprehension and acquisition of language. The study in this paper investigated how Swedish (L1) second language learners of English (L2) produce and comprehend written idioms in the L2. It also explored whether production and comprehension of idioms which are lexically and semantically different in Swedish and English result in more difficulties for the learners compared to idioms which are lexically and semantically identical or similar. The difficulties are measured as time to onset and production accuracy. The study also investigated if the time to onset and production accuracy were affected by the idiom usage frequency. A keystroke logging software for research on the writing process was used. The results indicated an individual variation across participants and idioms. Participants with a high proficiency in the L2 seem to manage the production of L2 idioms somewhat better than participants with a lower proficiency, but still with difficulties. Even idioms which are lexically and semantically identical or similar in the L1 and L2 result in problems during production. The results in terms of time to onset and production accuracy were affected by the idiom usage frequency.}},
  author       = {{Palm, Lina}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Beating about the bush: written production and comprehension of L2 idioms}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}