Language is inherently formulaic and lexical bundles make up a generous proportion of it. Lexical bundles are usually acquired through extensive exposure to fluent discourse. However, in an environment where exposure is limited, intervention may be helpful. This presentation was given at JALT2014: Conversations across borders conference

1. Noticing and learning lexical
bundles
Haidee Thomson
Muroran Institute of Technology
Sponsor: JALT Hokkaido
Sun 23 Nov, JALT2014, Rm 201A

2. Language is formulaic – not original
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3. The idiom principle
‘a language user has available to him or her a
large number of semi-preconstructed phrases
that constitute single choices…’ (Sinclair, 1991:
110)
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4. 4

5. Speaking naturally is speaking idiomatically,
using frequent and familiar word sequences
(Ellis, 2001, p. 45)
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6. • Use of formulaic language linked to fluency (Boers et al.,
2006; Pawley and Syder, 1983)
• Formulaic language is stored and processed
holistically (Jiang and Nekrasova, 2007; Wray, 2002)
• Faster processing
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7. Each of…
The way in which…
Assume that…
Depend on…
The case of…
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8. How do we learn formulaic language?
Native speakers get hours upon hours of input
- From family, community, school etc.
Second language learners receive limited input
- Not enough for incidental learning
• How can teachers expedite the learning process?
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9. Without intervention
• Rely on word-combination knowledge from L1
(see Laufer and Waldman, 2011)
• Unnatural collocations = strain communication
(see Millar, 2011)
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10. Possible interventions
• Textbook exercises – best to keep the collocation together (Boers,
Demecheleer, Coxhead, & Webb, 2013)
• Translate and notice L1 & L2 differences (Laufer & Girsai, 2008)
• Rote-memorisation (Myles, Hooper, & Mitchell, 1998; Yu, 2009)
• Encourage noticing (underline the formulaic sequence) (c.f. Boers et al., 2006;
Lewis, 1993)
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11. Lexical bundles
• Most common type of formulaic language (Biber and Conrad, 1999)
• Functional – express stance, discourse organization and framing (Biber &
Barbieri, 2007, p. 265)
• Occur 10-40 times per million words in sub-corpora of a single register
as a result of
by the end of
• Transparent meaning (not idioms)
• Often appear incomplete 11

12. Schematic linguistic representation
• Incomplete
this is the…
• becomes complete
this is (determiner + noun)
(Liu, 2012, p. 27)
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13. Research questions
• Can learners produce more lexical bundles after they have been noticed
with schematic linguistic representation?
• Compared to previous methods, is this an effective way of noticing and
learning lexical bundles?
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14. Participants
• 3 intact classes at a private university in Japan
• Share Japanese as L1
• Completed high school and 1st year English classes
• Second year mixed proficiency classes
• N=65
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15. Methodology
Pre-test
• 15 lexical bundles (reduced to 9 target LBs, unknown)
Treatment (reading text)
1) Notice lexical bundles (underlining only) (N=26)
2) Notice lexical bundles (underlining + schematic labels) (N=15)
3) Answer meaning focused questions (N=24)
Immediate post-test
Delayed post-test (2 weeks later)
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16. Pre-test example
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Japanese Context example
1 やらなければいけないことがい
くらか残っています。
______ ____ _______ things that
need to be done.

17. Treatment texts
Two short narrative texts (100 words)
• High frequency words (90%)
• Topic 1: My cat
• Topic 2: My brother
List of lexical bundles to be found, underlined and/or labeled
Bare noticing - The way in which she tricks
NSLR - The way in which (det + N) + VP
MFI – no list 17

18. Scoring method
• 33 words spread over 9 lexical bundles of various lengths
(3-8 words)
• 1 point per word
• 0.5 incremental learning evidence
-Right word but wrong order
-Incorrect article in correct order
-Incomplete word e.g. develop (ment)
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19. 9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Mean scores of immediate and delayed post-tests
by treatment
Bare noticing NSLR MFI
Mean
Treatment
Immediate
Delayed
d = .70
†
d = .84
*
* p < .05 (sig)
† p < .10
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20. Interpretation
• Noticing with schematic linguistic representation is
more effective than bare noticing (immediate post-test)
Why?
Bare noticing - Find and underline as a result of her trickiness
NSLR - Find, underline and label as a result of (determiner + noun)
• NSLR required more attention/evaluation
• Involvement load table on next slide
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21. Involvement load for vocabulary (Hulstijn & Laufer, 2001)
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Condition Need
Extrinsic=1
Intrinsic=2
Search
(for meaning)
Evaluation
(of appropriate
use)
Involvement
Index
(total)
Bare-noticing Moderate 1 Absence 0 Absence 0 1
NSLR Moderate 1 Absence 0 Moderate 1 2
MFI (non-LB area of text) Absence 0 Absence 0 Absence 0 0
MFI (LB area of text) Moderate 1 Moderate 1 Moderate 1 3
Formulaic language shows similar learning patterns to vocab (Alali & Schmitt, 2012)

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23. Once is not enough
• Noticing with schematic linguistic representation was
more effective than bare noticing (immediate post-test)
• But difference disappeared over time (2 week delayed post-test)
- Rehearsal is necessary for long term memory creation
- Productive use
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24. Lessons for the classroom
 Noticing lexical bundles appears to also be effective for uptake
 Ask learners to underline lexical bundles in texts
 Ask learners to underline and label lexical bundles in texts
Involvement load for vocabulary learning (Hulstijn and Laufer, 2001)
 Helps to describe involvement in lexical bundle learning
 Check for presence of need, search and evaluation
in lexical bundle learning tasks
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25. THANK YOU
Questions, comments, suggestions?
haidee.thomson@mmm.muroran-it.ac.jp
haideethomson.com
slideshare.net
JALT Hokkaido

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