From conceptualization to constructions in Finnish as an L2

Lesonen, Sirkku; Suni, Minna; Steinkrauss, Rasmus; Verspoor, Marjolijn

doi:10.1075/pc.17016.les

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We traced four learners over a period of 9 months in their use of haluta 'want' and tykätä 'like'. The verbs were relatively frequent in our data and can be considered good material for comparison because they are similar both semantically and structurally: they can both be seen to express an evaluation towards something (see Lesonen, Suni, Steinkrauss, & Verspoor, 2017), and they allow the same kinds of complements (see §3.3 below). The term 'lexically specific' is used to refer to a construction in which the main verb, here haluta or tykätä, repeatedly takes the same form (e.g., the first person singular) and the lexical material in the complement shows little variation.…”

Section: The Usage-based Learning Trajectorymentioning

confidence: 90%

Lexically specific vs. productive constructions in L2 Finnish

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It is assumed from a usage-based perspective that learner language constructions emerge from natural language use in social interaction through exemplar learning. In L1, young learners have been shown to develop their constructions from lexically specific, formulaic expressions into more productive, abstract schemas. A similar developmental path has been shown for L2 development, with some exceptions. The aim of the current study is to explore to what extent the default assumption holds for L2 learning. The development of two constructions was traced in four adults learning L2 Finnish. Free-response data, collected weekly over a period of 9 months, were used to investigate the productivity of the constructions. The results show that, contrary to the traditional assumption, L2 learners do not start off with only lexically specific expressions, but that both lexically specific and more productive constructions are used from the beginning. Our results therefore suggest that, for educated adult L2 learners, the schema formation can happen rather quickly and even without the repetition of a specific lexical sequence.

show abstract

Section: The Usage-based Learning Trajectorymentioning

confidence: 90%

Lexically specific vs. productive constructions in L2 Finnish

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In recent years, many researchers have adopted a CDST/DUB approach to study the role of variability in L2 development. It has been shown that a learner's performance fluctuates when measured with both specific and holistic measures (Spoelman & Verspoor, 2010;Tilma, 2014;Verspoor et al, 2008;Verspoor et al, 2017). Research has also demonstrated that learners whose language exhibits substantial variability may be more successful than their less-variable peers (Chan et al, 2015;Huang et al, 2021;Lowie & Verspoor, 2019).…”

Section: Tracing L2 Learners' Language Constructions: a Dub Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…) In L2 learning, however, findings have been mixed. In some cases, learners use item-based constructions initially (Eskildsen, 2009;Eskildsen & Cadierno, 2007;Mellow, 2006); in other cases, there is more variability in the early constructions (Lesonen et al, 2017;Lesonen et al, 2020;Roehr-Brackin, 2014). The differences between L1 and L2 may be explained by the fact that L2 learners are already conversant with slot-finding and need less time to discover them.…”

Section: Tracing L2 Learners' Language Constructions: a Dub Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation and variability in L2 learning trajectories: Learning the Finnish existential construction

Lesonen

Steinkrauss

Suni

et al. 2022

Journal of the European Second Language Association

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Taking an onomasiological approach and a dynamic usage-based perspective, this study explores how four beginning L2 learners of Finnish develop in expressing existentiality ('there is something somewhere') before and after instruction. Data were collected weekly over a period of nine months and examined for conventionalized and non-conventionalized constructions that express existentiality. As expected from a dynamic usage-based perspective, both inter-individual variation and intra-individual variability were identified. The initial repertoires of two of the learners were quite variable, as they used several different non-conventionalized constructions before settling on more conventionalized ones. In contrast, the two other learners did not independently try out different ways of expressing the targeted meaning but started to use the conventionalized Finnish existential construction only after pedagogical intervention. As one would expect from a usage-based perspective, some learners' initial repertoires included some item-based constructions that were similar to each other. As far as instruction is concerned, for all learners there was an increase in the use of the conventionalized construction after an explicit intervention, but the use was not morphologically accurate. The findings confirm two commonly held hypotheses in dynamic systems approaches: Learners own their own learning trajectories and initial trajectories are sometimes characterized by high degrees of variability because learners need to try out different strategies before they can adapt to the requirements of the new situation.

show abstract

“…One finding that is consistently emerging from the growing body of usage-based research is that the exemplar-based trajectory is not necessarily a path from "one to many" but can also be from "a few to more" in a process where constructions that are partially specific and partially schematic (for example, "Are you + ADJECTIVE?" in L2 English question formation) play an essential role across phases in development (Eskildsen, 2015, Eskildsen 2017, Eskildsen 2020aLesonen et al, 2018, Lesonen et al, 2020a, Lesonen et al, 2020bHorbowicz and Nordanger, 2022). However, recent research is showing that a usage-based trajectory may also be a matter of routinisation (Eskildsen, 2020a;Pekarek Doehler and Balaman, 2021).…”

Section: Longitudinal Conversation Analysis-based and Usage-based Studies In L2 Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embodiment, Semantics and Social Action: The Case of Object-Transfer in L2 Classroom Interaction

Eskildsen

2021

Front. Commun.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using conversation analysis and usage-based linguistics, I focus on a beginning L2 user in an ESL classroom and trace his use of a “family of expressions” which, from the perspective of linguistic theory, are instantiations of either the ditransitive dative construction (e.g., “he told me the story”) or a prepositional dative construction (e.g., “he told the story to me”). The semantics of both constructions denotes transfer of an object, physically or metaphorically, from one agent to another. Therefore, I investigate them as one type of object-transfer construction. The instances of the construction are found predominantly in instruction sequences, and I show how the L2 user co-employs talk and recycled embodied work that elaborates the deictic references of the talk and the relation of agent-object-recipient roles among them. Through my analyses, I will showcase the embodied nature of linguistic categorization (Langacker, 1987) but take the argument further and suggest that the semiotic resource known as “language” is a residual of embodied social sense-making practices (aus der Wieschen and Eskildsen, 2019). The study draws on the MAELC database at Portland State University, a longitudinal audio-visual corpus of American English L2 classroom interaction.

show abstract

From conceptualization to constructions in Finnish as an L2

Cited by 10 publications

References 33 publications

Lexically specific vs. productive constructions in L2 Finnish

Lexically specific vs. productive constructions in L2 Finnish

Variation and variability in L2 learning trajectories: Learning the Finnish existential construction

Embodiment, Semantics and Social Action: The Case of Object-Transfer in L2 Classroom Interaction

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About