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Productive Collocation Knowledge in L2 German: Study Abroad and L1 Congruency

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Abstract

This study explores the effect of a 5-month study abroad (SA) experience and first language (L1) congruency on the acquisition of second language (L2) German collocations using a pretest-posttest two group design. Participants were 45 Belgian students (L1 = Dutch) majoring in German and another foreign language. One group (n = 26) spent the semester abroad in a German-speaking country, while the other group (n = 19) went to a country with a different vernacular. To gauge participants’ productive collocation knowledge in German, a gap-fill collocation task with 50 collocations, containing 20 congruent and 30 incongruent collocations, was administered pre- and post-SA. Although a large proportion of the variance was due to variation among participants and items rather than to the effects of SA and L1 congruency, the results point to a slight advantage in acquiring incongruent collocations for students spending a semester in the target language country.

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Acknowledgements

We thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that improved this paper. We also thank Seth Lindstromberg for his extraordinary statistical support and helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this manuscript. We are grateful to all participants for their time and effort.

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  1. Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Griet Boone & June Eyckmans

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  1. Griet Boone
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  2. June Eyckmans
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Correspondence to Griet Boone .

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  1. University of Macau, Taipa, China

    Barry Lee Reynolds

Appendix

Appendix

Part of the L2 (German) gap-fill translation task with the target items in L1 Dutch between brackets

  1. 1.

    Wir haben eine Safari gemacht und hatten da kein (stromend water) ______________. Wir konnten sogar kein (naar de radio luisteren) ________________, aber wir konnten interessante (gesprekken voeren) _____________________________.

  2. 2.

    Sie müssen (in gedachten houden) ____________________________, dass Sie im Notfall andere und sich selbst zuerst (in veiligheid brengen) __________________ sollten oder den Notarzt rufen sollten, bevor Sie (eerste hulp) _____________ leisten.

  3. 3.

    Eine (nauwe samenwerking) ____________________________ zwischen den Abteilungen ist etwas, worauf wir großen (belang hechten) ___________________. Wir sind aber auf dem (juiste weg) _________________.

  4. 4.

    Es ist wichtig, dass Sie, als (toekomstige moeder) ______________________ nicht ständig (een sigaret opsteken) _____________________________ oder (blond bier) _______________________ trinken.

  5. 5.

    Die Wettervorhersage für heute: leider kein (blauwe hemel) __________________.

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Boone, G., Eyckmans, J. (2023). Productive Collocation Knowledge in L2 German: Study Abroad and L1 Congruency. In: Reynolds, B.L. (eds) Vocabulary Learning in the Wild. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1490-6_2

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