On Chunk Acquisition from Multi-dimensional Perspectives

School of Foreign Studies,Northwestern Polytechnical University,Xi’an,China Email:550293848@qq.com

[Abstract]L2 chunk teaching and researching has gained popularity in recent years.In addition to performing empirical researches on the functions of chunk teaching,researchers turn to study the issue from multi-dimensional perspectives,among which mostly are from one particular angle.In view of this,this paper explores 3 perspectives,namely,L2 acquisition,interdisciplinary education and corpus linguistics to survey the L2 chunk acquisition and its effect.

[Keywords]chunk;L2 acquisition;interdisciplinary education;corpus linguistics

INTRODUCTION

Chunk is the main component of social communication and the basic unit of SLA.The introduction and development of chunk theory finally breaks the dichotomy between vocabulary and grammar in the world of the traditional structuralism linguistics,and puts forward a double mode of language acquisition with rule-based grammar learning as one content and example-based chunk system as another.Therefore,many language teachers and researchers are increasingly interested in the chunk acquisition and teaching.In recent years,they have not only done empirical researches on the important role of chunk in SLA from the perspective of linguistics,but also explored the advantages,teaching modes and cognitive psychological basis of chunk in SLA from the perspective of language teaching.It is found in CNKI that from 2005,the researches in China began to focus on corpus-based empirical researches and multi-dimensional researches.The multi-dimensional researches are mostly to discuss chunk acquisition and its effectiveness from a specific perspective,while few about the systematic discussion on chunks acquisition from the multi-point perspective.In view of this,this paper discusses the acquisition and effectiveness of L2 chunks from the perspectives of SLA theory,interdisciplinary education and corpus linguistics on the basis of summarizing the theories and application of chunks in recent decades.

DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION OF CHUNK

Different scholars have different views on when and how the concept“chunk”begins.Chunk studies can be traced back to the studies of the importance of chunks to children’s language acquisition 150 years ago(Wang,2009,p.90).And the term“formulaic language”used by Jesperson who is considered to be the first language phenomenon represented by chunks.In the 1950s,Firth put forward the concept of collocation and pointed out that the meaning of a word is reflected from the words that appear together with it.Therefore,the study of collocation is the study of the habitual use of lexical items,that is,the mutual expectation and anticipation of lexical items in habitual collocation.This is generally regarded as the beginning of chunks researches(Wei,2003,p.11).At the same time,Miller put forward the concept of“chunking”.He pointed out that a person’s short-term memory capacity is about 7 ± 2 information chunks.Therefore,in the form of semantic chunks,sporadic information can be recollected into larger units to increase the amount of information memory(Miller,1956,pp.81-97).Reviewing the terms of“chunks”,there are more than 50 of them,including Nattinger & DeCarrico’s“lexical phrases”; Lewis’s“lexical chunks”; Pawley &Syder’s“lexicalized sentence steps”;Cowie’s“read-made complex units”;Wray&Perkins’s“formula Language”etc.(Wray,2002,p.9).Different names as chunks are given,the nature of the phenomenon they discuss is basically the same.In simple words,chunks are multi-word units stored in the brain as a whole and can be used as prefabricated chunks for people to extract.

Many researchers have tried to classify chunks from different perspectives.The frequently cited concept is proposed by Lewis and Nattinger & DeCarrico.According to Nattinger & DeCarrico,chunks can be divided into polywords,institutionalized expressions,phrasal constraints,and sentence builders(Nattingger&DeCarrico,1992,p.37-47).Lewis believes that chunks include polywords,collocates,institutionalized utterance,sentence frame and heads(Lewis,1993,p.255).In essence,both of them classify chunks from the perspective of structure and function.It can be seen that if a lexical sequence often appears in the form of co-occurrence,is relatively stable in structure and has a specific range in pragmatic function and meaning,it will eventually be used as a chunk with practical meaning.And then the organic combination of these chunks will form a continuous coherent text.These idiomatic chunks are more likely to be remembered in speech acts,so they are often regarded as the highest priority and choice.The native language learners communicate more fluently and accurately,mainly because they have accumulated a large number of formulaic language.Therefore,foreign language learners must constantly master these formulaic chunks to reach the level of native language learners(Pawley & Syber,1983,p.192).However,the fact that native speakers,especially children,have the ability to create and understand countless new sentences despite their limited vocabulary shows that learners have not only to master a large number of formulaic languages,but to use the language comprehensively by a creative use of grammar rules.In simple words,the fixed formulaic language and the creativity of language use are complementary.The key to successful SLA is to establish and maintain the balance between them.

ON CHUNK ACQUISITION FROM MULTI-DIMENSIONAL PERSPECTIVES

Analysis from the perspective of SLA theories

At present,most linguists believe that there are explicit and implicit knowledge in L2 development.The former mainly refers to the consciously expressed knowledge of language learners.The implicit knowledge mainly refers to formulaic knowledge and grammar rule-based knowledge,the former of which includes chunks,while rule-based knowledge consists of internalized abstract structures.According to Cruttenden’s theory,two stages,item learning and system learning,are involved in language learning at all levels.The theory suggests that language learning changes from the original item to the abstract system.Among them,chunks provide implicit language rules for language learners.Therefore,the abstraction of language rules at any level comes from the concrete language input in the form of chunks(Cruttenden,1981,p.79-88).Similarly,Ellis believes that most of the language acquisition is to learn the order in which the words are combined at the level of vocabulary,sentence and discourse,and then abstract the grammar rules.In other words,the process of language acquisition includes a process from the explicit analysis of chunks to the implicit formation of abstract grammatical rules(Ellis,1996,pp.91-126).L2 acquisition studies have proved that L2 learners use a large number of chunks in communication,and only through the analysis of chunks can they realize the analysis of language learning knowledge.This dichotomy of explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge is consistent with Krashen’s view of“acquisition”and“learning”.

Generally speaking,L2 learners develop inter-language through rule-based learning and example-based learning,the latter of which is the construction of prefabricated chunks.In SLA and chunks researches,Peters’analytical style and Gestalt style,Nelson’s referential style and expressive style,and Wray’s dual system attempt to clarify the relationship between chunks and grammar.However,there are always different understandings about the relationship between chunks and grammar in chunks studies abroad.According to Lewis’lexical approach,language does not consist of traditional grammar and vocabulary,but multi-word and prefabricated chunks(Xu,2010,p.77).Grammar can be obtained from vocabulary.

There are many theories of SLA,ranging from the traditional point of view that grammar and vocabulary are totally dichotomous to the current theory of double mode of language acquisition.For different language learners,there will be differences in methods and strategies in SLA.How to apply the foreign theories of chunks research flexibly to the L2 teaching in China,and how to pave the way between chunks and grammar in the mechanism of double mode will be a trend in the application of chunk research in teaching in the future.

Analysis from the perspective of interdisciplinary education

Research on chunks belongs to the category of linguistic research.Studies in other disciplinary fields is developing too.At present,the study of chunks has been discussed from the perspective of philosophy of language.Dong Liyun reflected on the effectiveness of chunks in L2 learning from the angle of linguistic philosophy and found that the promotion of chunk to L2 learning is limited,chunks are partially completed,yet to be used and constantly open,and the key to the difference of learners’language fluency lies in whether they have acquired the language-game rules,rather than the chunk itself(Dong,2010,pp.17-22).Shi Luoxiang points out from the philosophical foundation of language such as linguistic world outlook,linguistic relativity and embodied philosophy that chunks,as part of language polite formulas is based on experience and has the characteristics of experience(Shi,2009,pp.97-156).Moreover,due to cultural differences and different theories of code,lexical acquisition in different languages is not simply a matter of vocabulary,but a matter of nature.a matter of constructing and developing a new conceptual system different from the category of mother tongue.This kind of research attempts to provide theoretical support for the study of chunks from the theoretical level,and provides a new perspective for SLA.It also provides the possibility to analyze all kinds of language phenomena in the process of SLA in the future and summarize the teaching strategies that can be implemented.

Another major form of interdisciplinary education is the interdisciplinary English course,namely,ESP courses,such as scientific English,business English,tourism English,medical English and so on.Compared with general English,the chunk studies in ESP courses focus on the integration of professional knowledge.Learners with certain English chunks related to their majors are able to use them freely in their own professional field.Therefore,in order to meet the needs of different ESP majors,chunks that are closely related to the interests of the learners should be stressed in teaching,so as to improve their interest and efficiency of learning English.There are,of course,some difficulties and corresponding solutions in the implementation of interdisciplinary education in chunks teaching and acquisition.In a word,the combination of English chunk teaching and ESP professional knowledge is an effective way to apply interdisciplinary education to English chunk teaching.

Analysis from the perspective of corpus linguistics

According to the corpus linguistics studies,those lexical strings that appear with high frequency and various degrees of lexicalization constitute the basic language units in English.The establishment and development of corpus provides large numbers of authentic language data for language learning.A myriad of retrieval tools such as KWIC can make the relevant phrases and collocations easy and clear to understand.By observing the language data in corpus,learners can find the repeatedly-occurred structures and phrases,thus having an introspective judgment of language and understanding the rules and characteristics of chunks.The domestic chunk researches based on corpus from the 1980s are primarily aiming to understand the current situation of Chinese students’acquisition of lexical chunks by comparing the use of lexical chunks by English native speakers with Chinese students.They mainly involve the researches on the collocation of delexicalized words,trying to reveal the relationship between the use of lexical chunks and English speaking and writing ability,or to emphasize the important role of chunks learning in second language acquisition.There are many factors involved in chunk extraction from corpus,such as the content,the frequency of chunk occurrence,the definition of chunk length and the continuity of chunk.If there were no unified standards for these factors,then corpus-driven chunk researches have their own limitations.

Another aspect of the chunks study from corpus perspective is the corpus-based construction of chunks teaching mode.The traditional teaching mode of vocabulary,“3Ps”—Presentation—Practice—Production,cannot cultivate the full potential of learners'learning autonomy.The corpus-based teaching is based on the mode of OHE(Observation-hypothesis-experiment),that is,students put forward relevant hypotheses and discover the rules of language use by observing and examining the actual use of language.The empirical study of the mode of DPP(Discovery-Presentation-Production),a corpus-based chunk acquisition mode,proves that it is more helpful for learners to improve their ability of generalizing phrases from the corpus,to promote their output of the phrases learned,to cultivate their awareness of generalizing phrases from the corpus and to improve their output of vocabulary(Qu and Deng,2010,pp.47-53).

Corpus has been widely recognized as useful in chunks acquisition.Currently,computational linguistics brings many helpful mathematical devices into the use of corpus in language studies.For example,Python,or,Dependency Viewer,may be helpful for analyzing the structure and meaning of chunks available,or visualizing the dependency structure and assisting users to edit and find errors.Therefore,more studies may be conducted by combining these tools with corpus to expose language learners to a vivid and straightforward language data to master gradually the whole language system.

CONCLUSION

As the effect of chunks acquisition is well known,various studies of chunks have been widely performed.However,on the one hand,there is not a unified opinion on the definition and classification of chunk,which needs further combing and integrating by researchers.On the other hand,because of the different SLA learning environment between China and foreign countries,it is infeasible to copy foreign views and methods in Chinese foreign language teaching and research.This paper focuses only on the studies made from three perspectives,which of course has certain limitations.In view of the above analysis,only by exploring chunk acquisition and its effectiveness from a multidimensional perspective,can we deepen our comprehensive understanding of chunks,and thus construct a reference model suitable for our SLA environment.