Acquisition of English nominal suffix -er by advanced EFL learners: a view from usage-based perspective
The present study investigated advanced Croatian EFL learners’ knowledge of five meanings of the English nominal (deverbal) suffix -er. It probed their ability to comprehend and produce corpus-rare and presumably unentrenched -er nouns in their prototypical agent and instrument meanings and their no...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2023-10-01
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| Series: | ExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics) |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/exell-2023-0005 |
| _version_ | 1826846059620466688 |
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| author | Takač Višnja Pavičić Buljan Gabrijela |
| author_facet | Takač Višnja Pavičić Buljan Gabrijela |
| author_sort | Takač Višnja Pavičić |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The present study investigated advanced Croatian EFL learners’ knowledge of five meanings of the English nominal (deverbal) suffix -er. It probed their ability to comprehend and produce corpus-rare and presumably unentrenched -er nouns in their prototypical agent and instrument meanings and their non-prototypical patient, locative, and causative meanings. It was hypothesized that participants would deal effortlessly with agent and instrument meanings of the low-frequency nouns since the corpus-attested high type frequency of -er agents and instruments, among others, suggests the existence of productive corresponding schemas. We hypothesized that participants would struggle with patient, locative and causative meanings of the low-frequency nouns since the corpus-attested low type frequency of the three functions arguably does not support their association with -er. A recognition and a production test were administered to two separate groups of English majors at a Croatian public university (n = 131). Results confirm general usage-based predictions about better performance with low-frequency agent and instrument -er nouns. However, a detailed examination reveals unexpected results, which confirm that frequency, however important, is not the only factor to include in a future model of EFL learners’ derivational proficiency. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:50:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e8ab182ac7be4cb3b5a6084e5cd6c28d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2303-4858 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-16T14:54:32Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | ExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics) |
| spelling | doaj.art-e8ab182ac7be4cb3b5a6084e5cd6c28d2025-01-31T08:34:31ZengSciendoExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics)2303-48582023-10-0111113410.2478/exell-2023-0005Acquisition of English nominal suffix -er by advanced EFL learners: a view from usage-based perspectiveTakač Višnja Pavičić0Buljan Gabrijela11University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia1University of Osijek, Osijek, CroatiaThe present study investigated advanced Croatian EFL learners’ knowledge of five meanings of the English nominal (deverbal) suffix -er. It probed their ability to comprehend and produce corpus-rare and presumably unentrenched -er nouns in their prototypical agent and instrument meanings and their non-prototypical patient, locative, and causative meanings. It was hypothesized that participants would deal effortlessly with agent and instrument meanings of the low-frequency nouns since the corpus-attested high type frequency of -er agents and instruments, among others, suggests the existence of productive corresponding schemas. We hypothesized that participants would struggle with patient, locative and causative meanings of the low-frequency nouns since the corpus-attested low type frequency of the three functions arguably does not support their association with -er. A recognition and a production test were administered to two separate groups of English majors at a Croatian public university (n = 131). Results confirm general usage-based predictions about better performance with low-frequency agent and instrument -er nouns. However, a detailed examination reveals unexpected results, which confirm that frequency, however important, is not the only factor to include in a future model of EFL learners’ derivational proficiency.https://doi.org/10.2478/exell-2023-0005usage-based modeltype frequencytoken frequencynominal suffix -er |
| spellingShingle | Takač Višnja Pavičić Buljan Gabrijela Acquisition of English nominal suffix -er by advanced EFL learners: a view from usage-based perspective ExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics) usage-based model type frequency token frequency nominal suffix -er |
| title | Acquisition of English nominal suffix -er by advanced EFL learners: a view from usage-based perspective |
| title_full | Acquisition of English nominal suffix -er by advanced EFL learners: a view from usage-based perspective |
| title_fullStr | Acquisition of English nominal suffix -er by advanced EFL learners: a view from usage-based perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Acquisition of English nominal suffix -er by advanced EFL learners: a view from usage-based perspective |
| title_short | Acquisition of English nominal suffix -er by advanced EFL learners: a view from usage-based perspective |
| title_sort | acquisition of english nominal suffix er by advanced efl learners a view from usage based perspective |
| topic | usage-based model type frequency token frequency nominal suffix -er |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/exell-2023-0005 |
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