Light verbs drive construction-based sorting in intermediate-level but not beginner or advanced EFL learners¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? In the cluster analysis, intermediate learners (G3 and G4) clustered sentences by construction only when the sentences contained the light verbs take and get; beginner and advanced groups were unaffected by verb type. → Kim 2020

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

Hierarchical cluster analysis (Euclidean distance, Ward’s method) of co-occurrence similarity matrices per group. The article reports construction-based clusters in G3 and G4 only for sentences with light verbs, while G1, G2 and G5 sorted irrespective of verb type.

"We found a significant role of the light verbs (take and get) in the sorting performance of the intermediate groups (G3 and G4), who clustered sentences together with the same construction only when they included the light verbs."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

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

Related Claims¶

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