Article published in:
ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 171:1 (2020) ► pp. 2–33

The effect of frequency on learners’ ability to recall the forms of deliberately learned L2 multiword expressions

| Hilderstone College
| Ghent University

In incidental learning, open class vocabulary items with high or relatively high objective frequency in input are comparatively likely to be acquired. However, many single words and most multiword expressions (MWEs) occur infrequently in authentic input. It has therefore been argued that learners of school age or older can benefit from episodes of instructed or self-managed deliberate (or intentional) L2 vocabulary learning, especially when L2 is learned in an EFL environment and most especially when productive knowledge is the goal. A relevant question is whether the objective frequency of vocabulary items is an important factor in production-oriented deliberate L2 vocabulary learning. We report three small-scale interim meta-analyses addressing this question with regard to two-word English Adj-Noun and Noun-Noun expressions. The data derive from 8 original studies involving 406 learners and 139 different MWEs. Our results suggest that objective frequency has a weak, possibly negative effect in the deliberate learning of MWE forms.

Keywords: L2 multiword expressions, productive knowledge, deliberate learning, frequency effect, phonological forms, free recall
Article outline
  • Literature review
    • Frequency effects in general and in L1 in particular
  • Effects of frequency in incidental learning of L1 and L2 vocabulary
    • Frequency effects on ability to recall deliberately learned L2 vocabulary
  • Three meta-analyses
    • Introduction
  • The purpose and nature of the previously conducted primary studies
    • Learners, stimulus expressions, and procedures in the original studies
      • Learners
      • Stimulus expressions
      • Procedures
  • A new meta-analytic study
    • Introduction
    • Research questions
    • Data analysis: Final steps before the meta-analysis
    • The meta-analytic approach
    • Results of the meta-analyses
  • Summary and discussion
  • Limitations
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 02 April 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.18005.lin
References
Abelson, R.
(1985) A variance explanation paradox: When a little is a lot. Psychological Bulletin, 97(1), 129–133. http://​www2​.psych​.ubc​.ca​/~schaller​/528Readings​/Abelson1985​.pdf
Aloe, A., & Becker, B.
(2012) An effect size for regression predictors in meta-analysis. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 371, 278–297. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, M.
(2009) Retrieval. In Baddeley, Eysenck, & Anderson (Eds.), 161–189.Google Scholar
Anderson, S., & Maxwell, S.
(2016) There’s more than one way to conduct a replication study: Beyond statistical significance. Psychological Methods, 21(1), 1–12. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Asher, J.
(1969) The total physical response approach to second language learning. Modern Language Journal, 53(1), 3–17. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Baayen, H.
(2008) Analyzing linguistic data: A practical introduction to statistics using R. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A., Eysenck, M., & Anderson, M.
(Eds.) (2009) Memory. Hove: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Barcroft, J.
(2015) Lexical input processing and vocabulary learning. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bates, E., D’Amico, S., Jacobsen, T., Székely, A., Andonova, E., Devescovi, A., Herron, D., & Tzeng, O.
(2003) Timed picture naming in seven languages. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 10(2), 344–380. https://​www​.ncbi​.nlm​.nih​.gov​/pmc​/articles​/PMC3392189/
Begg, I.
(1972) Recall of meaningful phrases. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11(4), 431–439. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Boers, F., Dang, C. T., & Strong, B.
(2017) Comparing the effectiveness of phrase-focused exercises. A partial replication of Boers, Demecheleer, Coxhead, and Webb (2014). Language Teaching Research, 21(3), 362–280. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Boers, F., Demecheleer, M., Coxhead, A., & Webb, S.
(2014) Gauging the effects of exercises on verb-noun collocations. Language Teaching Research, 18(1), 54–74. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Boers, F., Eyckmans, J., & Lindstromberg, S.
(2014) The effect of a discrimination task on L2 learners’ recall of collocations and compounds. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 24(3), 357–369. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Boers, F., & Lindstromberg, S.
(2009) Optimizing a Lexical Approach to Instructed Second Language Acquisition. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave-Macmillan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2012) Experimental and intervention studies of formulaic sequences in a second language. Annual Rev. of Applied Linguistics, 321, 83–110. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Boers, F., Lindstromberg, S., & Eyckmans, J.
(2012) Are alliterative word combinations comparatively easy to remember for adult learners? RELC Journal, 43(1), 127–135. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2014a) Some explanations for the slow acquisition of L2 collocations. Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 111, 41–62. http://​vialjournal​.webs​.uvigo​.es​/pdf​/Vial​-2014​-Article2​.pdf
(2014b) When does assonance make lexical phrases memorable? European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 3(1), 93–107. https://​core​.ac​.uk​/download​/pdf​/55762736​.pdf
(2014c) Is alliteration mnemonic without awareness-raising? Language Awareness, 23(4), 291–303. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Borenstein, M., Hedges, L., Higgins, J., & Rothstein, H.
(2009) Introduction to meta-analysis. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Braver, S., Theommes, F., & Rosenthal, R.
(2014) Continuously accumulating meta-analysis and replicability. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 91, 333–342. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Brown, R.
(1976) A first language: The early stages. Harmondsworth, MA: Penguin.Google Scholar
Brysbaert, M., Warriner, A., & Kuperman, V.
(2014) Concreteness ratings for 40,000 generally known English word lemmas. Behavior Research Methods, 46(3), 904–911. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, R.
(1989) Memory for action events: The power of enactment. Educational Psychology Review, 1(1), 57–80. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Conneely, K., & Boehnke, M.
(2007) So many correlated tests, so little time! Rapid adjustment of P values for multiple correlated tests. American Journal of Human Genetics, 81(6), 1158–1168. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cop, U., Keuleers, E., Drieghe, D., & Duyck, W.
(2015) Frequency effects in monolingual and biliingual natural reading. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 22(5), 1216–1234. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Criss, A., Aue, W., & Smith, L.
(2011) The effects of word frequency and context variability in cued recall. Journal of Memory and Language, 64(2), 119–132. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Crossley, S., Salsbury, T., Titak, A., & McNamara, D.
(2014) Frequency effects in second language acquisition: Word types, word tokens, and word production. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 19(3), 301–332. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cumming, G.
(2012) Understanding the new statistics: Effect sizes, confidence intervals, and meta-analysis. Hove: Routledge.Google Scholar
(2014) The new statistics: Why and how. Psychological Science, 251, 7–29. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Davies, M.
(2008–2018) The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). http://​www​.americancorpus​.org
De Groot, A., & Keijzer, R.
(2000) What is hard to learn is easy to forget: The roles of words concreteness, cognate status, and word frequency in foreign-language vocabulary learning and forgetting. Language Learning, 50(1), 1–56. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dell, G., & J. Gordon
(2003) Neighbors in the lexicon: Friends or foes? In N. Schiller & A. Meyer (Eds.), Phonetics and phonology in language comprehension and production: Differences and similarities (pp. 9–37). Berlin: Mouton. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dellantonio, S., Mulatti, C., Pastore, L., & Job, R.
(2014) Measuring inconsistencies can lead you forward: Imageability and the x-ception theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 708. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
DeLosh, E., & McDaniel, M.
(1996) The role of order information in free recall: Application to the word-frequency effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 22(5), 1136–1146. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dewhurst, S., Brandt, K., & Sharp, M.
(2004) Intention to learn influences the word frequency effect in recall but not in recognition memory. Memory and Cognition, 32(8), 1316–1325. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Diana, R., & Reder, L.
(2006) The low-frequency encoding disadvantage: Word frequency affects processing demands. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32(4), 805–815. https://​www​.ncbi​.nlm​.nih​.gov​/pubmed​/16822148
Durrant, P., & Doherty, A.
(2010) Are high-frequency collocations psychologically real? Investigating the thesis of collocational priming. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 6(2),125–155. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Durrant, P.
(2014) Corpus frequency and second language learners’ knowledge of collocations: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 19(4), 443–477. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N.
(2002) Frequency effects in language processing: A review with implications for theories of implicit and explicit language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24(2), 143–188. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N., & Sagarra, N.
(2011) Learned attention in adult language acquisition: A replication and generalization study and meta-analysis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 331, 589–624. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, P.
(2010) Essential guide to effect sizes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Eyckmans, J., Boers, F., & Stengers, H.
(2007) Identifying chunks: Who can see the wood for the trees? Language Forum, 331, 85–100.Google Scholar
Eyckmans, J., & Lindstromberg, S.
(2016) The power of sound in L2 idiom learning. Language Teaching Research, 21(3), 341–365. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Eysenck, M., & Eysenck, C.
(1980) Effects of processing depth, distinctiveness, and word frequency on retention. British Journal of Psychology, 71(2), 263–274. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, M., Rothkopf, E., Lapan, R., & Lafferty, T.
(1987) The word frequency effect in lexical decision: Finding a frequency-based component. Memory and Cognition 15(1), 24–28. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Glanzer, M., & Ehrenreich, S.
(1979) Structure and search of the internal lexicon. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18(4), 381–398. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, A.
(2006) Constructions at work: The nature of generalization in language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goldstein, R., & Vitevitch, M.
(2014) The influence of clustering coefficient on word-learning: How groups of similar sounding words facilitate acquisition. Frontiers in Psychology, 181. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, B., & Caramazza, A.
(1982) Lexical decision for open- and closed-class words: Failure to replicate differential frequency sensitivity. Brain and Language, 15(1), 143–160. http://​www​.wjh​.harvard​.edu​/~caram​/PDFs​/1982​_Gordon​_Caramazza​.pdf
Guolo, A., & Varin, C.
(2017) Random-effects meta-analysis: The number of studies matters. Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 26(3), 1500–1518. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hall, J.
(1954) Learning as a function of word-frequency. American Journal of Psychology, 67(1), 138–140. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hamrick, P., & Rebuschat, P.
(2014) Frequency effects, learning conditions, and the development of implicit and explicit lexical knowledge. In J. Connor-Linton, & L. Amoroso (Eds.), Measured language: Quantitative approaches to acquisition, assessment, processing and variation (pp. 125–139). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Han, M., Storkel, H., Lee, J., & Yoshinaga-Itano, C.
(2015) The influence of word characteristics on the vocabulary of children with cochlear implants. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 20(3), 242–251. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Henriksen, B.
(2012) Research on L2 learners’ collocational competence and development. In C. Bardel, C. Lindqvist, & B. Laufer (Eds.), EUROSLA Yearbook 5: L2 vocabulary acquisition: Knowledge and use, (pp. 29–56). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Hulstijn, J.
(2001) Deliberate and incidental second language vocabulary learning: A reappraisal of elaboration, rehearsal and automaticity. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 258–286). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Izura, C., & Ellis, A.
(2002) Age of acquisition effects in word recognition and production in first and second languages. Psicológica, 231, 245–281. https://​www​.uv​.es​/revispsi​/articulos2​.02​/4​.IZURA%26ELLIS​.pdf
Jenkins, J., Stein, M., & Wysocki, K.
(1984) Learning vocabulary through reading. American Educational Research Journal, 21(4), 767–787. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Judd, C., Westfall, J., & Kenny, D.
(2016) Experiments with more than one random factor: Designs, analytic models, and statistical power. Annual Review of Psychology, 681, 17.1–17.25. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kuperman, V., Stadthagen-Gonzalez, H., & Brysbaert, M.
(2012) Age-of-acquisition ratings for 30,000 English words. Behavioral Research Methods, 44(4),978–990. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Laufer, B.
(2005) Focus on Form in second language vocabulary acquisition. EUROSLA Yearbook 5(1), 223–250. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Laufer, B., & Waldman, T.
(2011) Verb-noun collocations in second language writing: A corpus analysis of learners’ English. Language Learning, 61(2), 647–672. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lindstromberg, S.
(2016) Inferential statistics in Language Teaching Research: A review and ways forward. Language Teaching Research, 20(6), 741–768. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lindstromberg, S., & Eyckmans, J.
How big is the positive effect of assonance on the near-term recall of L2 collocations? ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 165(1), 19–45. Crossref
Lindstromberg, S., & Boers, F.
(2008) The mnemonic effect of noticing alliteration in lexical chunks. Applied Linguistics, 29(2), 200–222. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lindstromberg, S., & Eyckmans, J.
(2017) The particular need for replication in the quantitative study of SLA: A case study of the mnemonic effect of assonance in collocations. Journal of the European Second Language Association, 1(1), 126–136. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Loftus, G., & Loftus, E.
(1974) The influence of one memory retrieval on a subsequent memory retrieval. Memory and Cognition, 2(3), 467–471. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lohnas, L., & Kahana, M.
(2013) Parametric effects of word frequency in memory for mixed frequency lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39(6), 1943–1946. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lotto, L., & de Groot, A.
(1998) Effects of learning method and word type on acquiring vocabulary in an unfamiliar language. Language Learning, 48(1), 31–69. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Martinez, R., & Murphy, V.
(2011) Effect of frequency and idiomaticity on second language reading comprehension. TESOL Quarterly, 45(2), 267–290. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
McLeod, C., & Kampe, K.
(1996) Word frequency effects in recall, recognition, and word fragment completion tests. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22(1), 132–142. https://​www​.ncbi​.nlm​.nih​.gov​/pubmed​/8648282
Meschyan, G., & Hernandez, A.
(2002) Age of acquisition and word frequency: Determinants of object-naming speed and accuracy. Memory & Cognition, 30(2), 262–269. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Moon, R.
(1998) Fixed expressions and idioms in English: A corpus-based approach. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Mullen, B., Muellerleihe, P., & Bryant, B.
(2001) Cumulative meta-analysis: A consideration of indicators of sufficiency and stability. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(11), 1450–1462. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Nation, P.
(2013) Learning Vocabulary in Another Language, 3rd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Oldfield, R. C., & Wingfield, A.
(1965) Response latencies in naming objects. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 17(4), 273–281. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Oxford University Press
(2017) How to use the OED key to frequency. https://​public​.oed​.com​/how​-to​-use​-the​-oed​/key​-to​-frequency/
Paivio, A.
(1986) Mental representations: A dual-coding approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Paivio, A., & Desrochers, A.
(1979) Effects of an imagery mnemonic on second language recall and comprehension. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 33(1), 17–28. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Perfetti, C., & Hart, L.
(2002) The lexical quality hypothesis. In L. Vehoeven, C. Elbro, & P. Reitsma (Eds.), Precursors of functional literacy, (pp. 189–213). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Peters, E.
(2014) The effects of repetition and time of post-test administration on EFL learners’ form recall of single words and collocations. Language Teaching Research, 18(1), 75–94. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2016) The learning burden of collocations: The role of interlexical and intralexical factors. Language Teaching Research, 20(1), 113–138. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pisoni, D., Nusbaum, H., Luce, P., & Slowiaczek, L.
(1985) Speech Communication, 4(1–3), 75–95. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
R Core Team
(2017) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. (Version 3.3.1). Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. http://​www​.R​-project​.org/
Reilly, J., & Kean, J.
(2007) Formal distinctiveness of high- and low-imageability nouns: Analyses and theoretical implications. Cognitive Science, 31(1), 157–168. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, S.
(2011) Memory for emotional words in sentences: The importance of emotional contrast. Cognition and Emotion, 26(6), 1015–1035. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schmitt, N.
(2008) Review article: Instructed second language vocabulary learning. Language Teaching Research, 121, 329–363. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., & Janssen, N.
(2018) Production of familiar phrases: Frequency effects in native speakers and second language learners. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. Advance online publication. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sonbul, S., & Schmitt, N.
(2013) Explicit and implicit lexical knowledge: Acquisition of collocations under different input conditions. Language Learning, 63(1), 121–159. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Stadthagen-Gonzales, H., & Davis, C.
(2006) The Bristol norms for age of acquisition, imageability, and familiarity. Behavioral Research Methods, 38(4), 598–605. https://​www​.ncbi​.nlm​.nih​.gov​/pubmed​/17393830
Storkel, H., & Morrisette, M.
(2002) The lexicon and phonology: Interactions in language acquisition. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 33(1), 24–37. http://​lshss​.pubs​.asha​.org​/article​.aspx​?articleid​=1780270
Tellings, A., Coppens, K., Gelissen, J., & Schreuder, R.
(2013) Clusters of word properties as predictors of elementary school children’s performance on two word tasks. Applied Psycholinguistics, 34(3), 461–481. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M.
(2003) Constructing a language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
VanArsdall, J., Nairne, J., Pandeira, J., & Blunt, J.
(2013) Adaptive memory: Animacy processing produces mnemonic advantages. Experimental Psychology, 60(3), 172–178. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Viechtbauer, W.
(2010) Conducting meta-analyses in R with the metafor package. Journal of Statistical Software, 36(3), 1–48. http://​www​.jstatsoft​.org​/v36​/i03/
Waring, R., & Takaki, M.
(2003) At what rate do learners learn and retain new vocabulary from reading a graded reader? Reading in a Foreign Language, 15(2), 130–163. http://​nflrc​.hawaii​.edu​/rfl​/October2003​/waring​/waring​.html
Watkins, M., LeCompte, D., & Kim, K.
(2000) Role of study strategy in recall of mixed lists of common and rare words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26(1), 239–245. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Webb, S., Newton, J., & Chang, A.
(2013) Incidental learning of collocation. Language Learning, 63(1), 91–120. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Westfall, J., Kenny, D., & Judd, C.
(2014) Statistical power and optimal design in experiments in which samples of participants respond to samples of stimuli. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1431, 220–245. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Whaley, C.
(1978) Word-nonword classification time. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 17(2), 143–154. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Lindstromberg, Seth & June Eyckmans
2021. THE RETRIEVABILITY OF L2 ENGLISH MULTIWORD ITEMS IN A CONTEXT OF STRONGLY FORM-FOCUSED EXPOSURE. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 43:5 ► pp. 1040 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.