1. Introduction

This chapter introduces the importance of collocations in second language acquisition research and discusses the influence of L1 knowledge and L2 frequency effects on L2 collocational processing. It also highlights the need for further research on the sensitivity of lower-proficiency L2 learners to collocational frequency.

2. Literature Review

This chapter provides a literature review on the effects of L1 knowledge and L2 proficiency on L2 collocational processing. Previous studies have found that congruent collocations exhibit a processing advantage over L2-only incongruent collocations, and that higher proficiency learners are more sensitive to collocational frequency. However, most previous studies have focused on congruency effects in higher-proficiency learners, and there are limitations in the selection of experimental materials and participants as well as the interactive effects of factors affecting L2 collocational processing. Therefore, the present study aims to address these deficiencies by investigating the interactive effects of collocational frequency, congruency, and L2 proficiency on the processing of English adjective-noun collocations among Chinese learners at two proficiency levels.

3. Methodology

Participants in the study were 103 English majors. From this sample, 60 participants were chosen and equally divided into a higher-proficiency group and a lower-proficiency group. The items were divided into six types, including high-frequency congruent collocations, low-frequency congruent collocations, high-frequency incongruent collocations, low-frequency incongruent collocations, Chinese-only items, and baseline items. The experiment was programmed through E-prime 2.0 and involved an acceptability judgment task. The testing process for each item involved the participants pressing a specific key within a given time frame.

4. Results

The chapter presents the results of an experiment that analyzed the effects of congruency, frequency, and their interaction with L2 proficiency on Chinese English learners' ability to process collocations. The results demonstrated that both higher- and lower-proficiency groups responded significantly faster to congruent collocations over incongruent collocations and made fewer mistakes when processing congruent collocations. Furthermore, the study found that L1 lexical knowledge played a role in L2 collocational processing, with both proficiency groups showing a negative priming effect on processing Chinese-only items compared to baseline items. However, there was no significant interaction between congruency and proficiency. Additionally, the study found that higher-proficiency learners processed high-frequency collocations faster and made fewer errors compared to low-frequency collocations. Similarly, lower-proficiency learners processed high-frequency collocations significantly faster and made fewer errors compared to low-frequency collocations.

5. Discussion

chapter describes the congruency effects of L2 learners on processing adjective-noun collocations. The study found that congruency had a significant impact on processing speed and quality for both higher-proficiency and lower-proficiency learners. Additionally, the study highlighted the inhibitory effect of processing Chinese-only items and the priming effect for English-only collocations. Furthermore, the chapter discussed the frequency effects on collocational processing, showing that high-frequency collocations were processed more accurately than low-frequency collocations by both groups of learners. The conclusions of the study emphasize the importance of frequency for mental representation, confirming the core idea of Usage-based Language, and the entrenchment of adjective-noun collocations through frequent exposure and usage.

6. Conclusion

This chapter discusses the major findings of the study, including the effects of collocational congruency, frequency, and L2 proficiency on the processing of English adjective-noun collocations. It concludes that the processing of Chinese English learners is influenced by collocational frequency, congruency, and L2 proficiency. It also suggests that teachers should focus on lexical chunk teaching in the foreign language learning environment. The study's limitations include small sample size, focus only on adjective-noun collocations, and the use of the acceptability judgment task, which may not reflect real-life processing patterns of learners.