A Study On The Effect Of Frequency On The Acquisition Of L2 Lexical Chunks Knowledge In English Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High School

The National English Curriculum Standards for Common Senior High School(2017 Edition)underlines that the key to English lexical teaching in senior high school is to raise students;awareness of lexical chunks through context.While in teaching practice,such negative phenomena still exist as overlooking the lexical chunks teaching or confusing lexical chunks with a single word.Besides,the usage-based approach points out that the language acquisition derives from the exposure frequency of language structure,namely,the frequency is a significant factor in facilitating the lexical acquisition.Therefore,the study on the effect of frequency on lexical chunks acquisition not only bridges the gap of previous research,but also provides practical suggestions to lexical chunks teaching.Based on the theoretical framework of the usage-based approach and construction grammar,and with 120 Chinese Grade One students in senior high school as research subjects and 12 target lexical chunks as research materials,the current research employed the method of test and semi-structured interview to investigate the effect of frequency(1,3,6,10)on the acquisition of L2 lexical chunks knowledge.Four aspects of receptive knowledge and productive knowledge were chosen as the focuses of the experiment:receptive knowledge of orthography,productive knowledge of orthography,receptive knowledge of form and meaning,and productive knowledge of form and meaning.This study was conducted to answer the following questions:(1)What effect does the frequency have on the acquisition of receptive orthography and productive orthography of L2 lexical chunks?(2)What influence does the frequency cause on acquiring receptive form and meaning and productive form and meaning of L2 lexical chunks?(3)What impact does the frequency bring to the retention of the above-mentioned four different types of lexical chunks knowledge after one month?The immediate test revealed that the rate and results of acquiring these four types of knowledge were different under the different exposures(1,3,6,10).However,the receptive knowledge of orthography and form and meaning were gained quicker than productive knowledge of orthography and form and meaning no matter in which types of frequency(1,3,6,10).The one-month-later delayed test illustrated that the retention of productive knowledge of orthography and form and meaning were greater than receptive knowledge of orthography and form and meaning under every type of frequency(1,3,6,10).Besides,the score of the group receiving ten exposures showed that the acquisition order was receptive orthography,receptive form and meaning,productive orthography,productive form and meaning,which was different from the order in word acquisition.The results of the semi-structured interview after the immediate test suggested that most students regarded the productive form and meaning as the most difficult one to acquire and the test of productive orthography was most influenced by the frequency.Teachers should improve the occurrence times of lexical chunks in reading materials in order to strengthen the students’ acquisition of lexical chunks and ask students to do more exercise to promote the acquisition of productive knowledge of lexical chunks.Additionally,a timely review is indispensable to deepen learners’impression on receptive knowledge of lexical chunks.This research gives some enlightenment to the teaching of L2 lexical chunks and English vocabulary in senior high school.