Measuring L2 explicit knowledge of English verb-particle constructions: Frequency and semantic transparency at two proficiency levels

Abstract

Verb-particle constructions, also known as phrasal verbs (PVs), have long been challenging for second language (L2) learners of English with its discontinuous syntactic structure and complex semantic structure. Previous literature on L2 PV acquisition focused on the central issues such as avoidance (Gonzalez 2010, 2012; Dagut and Laufer 1985; Laufer and Eliasson 1993; Liao and Fukuya 2004) and first language (L1) effects (Hulstijn and Marchena 1989). This chapter reports a study that adopts the functionalist approach to language acquisition (Ellis 2006) and aims to examine how two of the most important internal properties of PVs (frequency and semantic transparency) interact and affect the d..