Korean EFL learners sort sentences increasingly by construction rather than by verb as grade level increases¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q2 · i3 large
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2025: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The proportion of entirely construction-based sorting rose steadily across grade levels, from 0% in G1 to 81% in G5, while entirely verb-based sorting fell from 54% to 0%. → Kim 2020 q2 i3 One-way ANOVA showed significant group differences in deviation scores for both verb-based (ŋ2 = 0.30) and construction-based sorting (ŋ2 = 0.37). → Kim 2020 (2)

Evidence¶

Kim 2020¶

Kim, Hyunwoo, Rah, Yangon, & Hwang, Haerim. (2020). Testing usage-based approaches to assessing EFL learners’ development of English argument structure constructions. English Teaching, 75(s1), 55-78. https://doi.org/10.15858/engtea.75.s1.202006.55

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Cross-sectional sorting-task analysis of 169 Korean EFL learners in five grade-aligned groups (G1–G5). The article reports that entirely verb-based sorting fell from 54% (G1) to 0% (G5), while construction-based sorting "steadily grew with the grade"; only percentages are printed, no effect size.

"While no one produced entirely construction-based sorting in G1, the proportion steadily grew with the grade (28% in G2, 32% in G3, 45% in G4, and 81% in G5)."

Kim 2020 (2)¶

Kim, Hyunwoo, Rah, Yangon, & Hwang, Haerim. (2020). Testing usage-based approaches to assessing EFL learners’ development of English argument structure constructions. English Teaching, 75(s1), 55-78. https://doi.org/10.15858/engtea.75.s1.202006.55

q2 · i3 · associational · r2

One-way ANOVA on deviation scores from verb-based (Vdev) and construction-based (Cdev) sorting across the five groups, yielding effect sizes of ŋ2 = 0.30 and ŋ2 = 0.37, with Tukey HSD post-hoc comparisons showing significant differences between most pairs of adjacent groups.

"One-way ANOVA revealed significant group differences both for Vdev (F(4, 165) = 17.597, p < .001, ŋ2 = 0.30) and Cdev scores (F(4, 165) = 17.730, p < .001, ŋ2 = 0.37)."

Studies bearing on this claim¶

Do learners move from item-based, verb-bound patterns to abstract constructions as their language experience grows? This table gathers the studies behind this claim and the 6 narrower claims that bear on it: 2 distinct studies (1 associational, 1 review), q2, 1 of 2 with an effect size coded. One row per study, codes as each entry records them; no effect is averaged and no verdict is drawn. Built by scripts/synthesize_claim.py from eval/synthesis/; a row that looks wrong is fixed on the claim it comes from.

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Syntax — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Light verbs drive construction-based sorting in intermediate-level but not beginner or advanced EFL learners — related
• Translation accuracy rises with proficiency but varies substantially across individual constructions — related
• The transitive construction is acquired earliest while the resultative construction poses difficulty even for advanced learners — related
• Learners’ proficiency correlates with constructional sorting and translation performance, countering a purely age-based explanation — related
• Constructions typically emerge developmentally from formula, through low-scope pattern, to construction — a broader claim this one bears on
• Language processing is intimately tuned to input frequency across phonology, phonotactics, reading, spelling, lexis, morphosyntax, formulaic language, comprehension, grammaticality, sentence production, and syntax — a broader claim this one bears on