Phraseological complexity in learner language : measurement, analysis and evaluation

Complexity is considered one of the major research variables in applied linguistics: measures of linguistic complexity are widely used to describe foreign language (L2) performance, assess L2 proficiency, and trace L2 development (Housen & Kuiken, 2009). The construct, however, has traditionally been narrowed down to syntactic complexity and lexical complexity (Wolfe-Quintero et al. 1998; Ortega, 2012; Bulté & Housen, 2012). Usage-based research in corpus linguistics, psycholinguistics and cognitive linguistics, however, has provided convergent evidence that lexis and grammar are inextricably intertwined and that word combinations, be they framed in terms of phraseological units, formulaic sequences or constructions, play crucial roles in language acquisition, processing, fluency, idiomaticity and change (e.g. Ellis, 1996; Sinclair, 1991; Wray, 2002; Schmitt, 2004; Goldberg, 2006). Second language research has been relatively slow to follow suit but phraseology, formulaic language and constructions are now at the forefront of debates in foreign language learning and teaching (Meunier & Granger, 2008; Polio, 2012). Learner corpus studies have already provided unique insights into the links between word combinations and L2 proficiency and development (e.g. Paquot & Granger, 2012; Ellis et al., 2015; Ebeling & Hasselgård, 2015). Research, however, is still extremely fragmented and not all domains of L2 research have navigated the transition. L2 complexity research has remained largely impervious to current theoretical developments and empirical findings related to how words combine together to form meaningful units. Beyond a near-exclusive focus on syntactic and lexical complexity, the field now needs to account for complexity phenomena at the interfaces between the major levels of linguistic structure, in particular complexity phenomena at the lexico-grammatical interface and the phraseological dimension of language use (Paquot, 2019). In this presentation, I will report the results of a 5-year FNRS research project (2016-2021) that aims to bridge the gap between L2 complexity research, on the one hand, and (L2) phraseology research, on the other, by defining and circumscribing the linguistic construct of phraseological complexity, and theoretically and empirically demonstrating its relevance for L2 complexity research, and more generally for theories of L2 use and development. The project relies on the following working definition of phraseological complexity: “the range of phraseological units that surface in language production and the degree of sophistication of such phraseological units” (Paquot, 2019). It centres around four main objectives: (1) determine the dimensions of phraseological complexity, (2) establish the construct validity of phraseological complexity measures automatically calculated using natural language processing (NLP) techniques and corpus data, (3) chart the development of phraseological complexity in L2 writing and speech, and (4) identify the best set of complexity measures to adequately capture the dynamics of phraseological complexity development over time. To achieve these objectives, we have investigated the diversity and sophistication of word combinations (collocations, more particularly) in a variety of cross-sectional and longitudinal written and spoken learner corpora of L2 Dutch, English and French (e.g. Paquot et al., 2021; Rubin et al., 2021; Vandeweerd et al, in press). In the presentation, I will summarize the main results of the research programme so far and focus more particularly on conceptual/theoretical and methodological issues around the measurement, analysis and evaluation of phraseological complexity in learner language. I will round off my talk with a discussion of what I believe are the most important implications and most promising applications of this research programme. References Bulté, B., & Housen, A. (2012). Defining and operationalising L2 complexity. In Housen, A., Kuiken, F. & Vedder, I. (Eds), Dimensions of L2 performance and proficiency: complexity, accuracy and fluency. Benjamins: 21-46. 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(2012). Interlanguage complexity: A construct in search of theoretical renewal. In B. Kortmann & B. Szmrecsanyi (Eds.), Linguistic Complexity: Second Language Acquisition, Indigenization, Contact. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 127-155. Paquot, M. (2019). The phraseological dimension in interlanguage complexity research. Second Language Research, 35(1), 121–145. Paquot, M. & Granger, S. (2012). Formulaic language in learner corpora. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 32, 130-149. Paquot, M., Naets, H. & S. Th. Gries. (2021). Using syntactic co-occurrences to trace phraseological complexity development in learner writing: verb + object structures in LONGDALE. In Le Bruyn, B. & Paquot, M. (eds.). Learner Corpus Research Meets Second Language Acquisition (pp. 122-147). Cambridge University Press. Polio, C. (2012) (ed.). Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 32 (special issue on formulaic language). Rubin, R., A. Housen & M. Paquot. 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