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  • Exploring the role of phraseological knowledge in foreign language reading

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  • BrunfautKremmelAlderson2017

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Exploring the role of phraseological knowledge in foreign language reading

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/12/2017
<mark>Journal</mark>Applied Linguistics
Issue number6
Volume38
Number of pages23
Pages (from-to)848-870
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date30/12/15
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Foreign language (FL) knowledge has been shown to contribute significantly to FL reading performance. Studies have contrasted the contribution of FL vocabulary and syntactic knowledge, following a dichotomous view of these components, producing mixed results. Despite the increasingly recognized formulaic nature of language, the contribution made by phraseological knowledge to reading ability has not been investigated systematically.
This study examines the impact of a broader construct definition of linguistic knowledge – which includes a phraseological component – in explaining variance in reading performances. Test scores of 418 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) were modeled in a structural equation model, showing that a phraseological knowledge measure outperformed traditional syntactic and vocabulary measures in predicting reading comprehension variance. Additional insights into the role of phraseological knowledge were gained through verbal protocol analysis of 15 EFL learners answering reading comprehension items that targeted the understanding of phrasal expressions within written context. The findings hint at an underestimated, but critical, role of phraseological knowledge in FL reading, and are relevant to both the assessment and the teaching of EFL ability.

Bibliographic note

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.