Optimizing a Lexical Approach to Instructed Second Language Acquisition

Frank Boers

What parts of language is this about?

‘Chunks’ (a.k.a. ‘phrases’, ‘formulaic sequences’, etc.)

Fair trade coffee may be a familiar sight on supermarket shelves, but a new study has found the British do not practise what they preach when it comes to buying it. While most people claim to take social issues into consideration, their purchasing behaviour shows little evidence of this. Although the vast majority of consumers believe their choice could make a difference to companies' ethical policies, they are still failing to act on their beliefs.

Fair trade coffee may be a familiar sight on supermarket shelves, but a new study has found the British do not practise what they preach / when it comes to buying it. While most people claim to take social issues into consideration, their purchasing behaviour shows little evidence of this. Although the vast majority of consumers believe their choice could make a difference to companies' ethical policies, they are still failing to act on their beliefs.

More “chunking” practice

Are the numbers of boys and girls in our families really down to the toss of a coin? In fact, it’s not quite so simple. You as an individual may actually load the dice towards a son or a daughter right at conception. Especially the condition of mothers could be playing a part according to some studies. Ruth Mace was in Ethiopia when that country was hit by a severe food shortage. As part of a study on nutrition she looked at the birth statistics of women caught up in the crisis: “Mothers that had a higher body-mass index were more likely to have boys than girls.” Why this happens is still open to debate. Valerie Grant says dominance in personality may also tip the balance towards male offspring: “I’ve come to notice that dominant women tend to have more boys.”

Are the numbers of boys and girls in our families really down to the toss of a coin? In fact, it’s not quite so simple. You as an individual may actually load the dice towards a son or a daughter right at conception. Especially the condition of mothers could be playing a part according to some studies. Ruth Mace was in Ethiopia when that country was hit by a severe food shortage. As part of a study on nutrition she looked at the birth statistics of women caught up in the crisis: “Mothers that had a higher body-mass index were more likely to have boys than girls.” Why this happens is still open to debate. Valerie Grant says dominance in personality may also tip the balance towards male offspring: “I’ve come to notice that dominant women tend to have more boys.”

Plenty and varied

collocations (e.g. commit a crime), social-routine formulae (e.g. Have a nice day), discourse markers (e.g. On the other hand), compounds (e.g. peer pressure), idioms (e.g. take a backseat), standardised similes (e.g. clear as crystal),proverbs (e.g. When the cat’s away …), genre-typical clichés (e.g. Publish or perish), exclamations (e.g. You must be kidding!)open-slot frames (e.g. it takes [time][for x] to …)...

Principal function of chunks in L1

Receptive and productive fluency

As a matter of ___On the other __Through thick and __Last but not __It was two in the morning and I was still wide __The difference was not statistically __

Cf. genre analyses by K. KuiperCf. eyetracking studies by N. Schmitt & colleaguesCf. work by J. Bybee

Principal functions of chunks in L2

• Fluency • Idiomaticity and Accuracy

Avoidance of L1 interference:? Do an effort? With other words? Realise a survey? Let’s drink a glass? Whose feet are you playing with?

Any evidence ?

Research procedure:• Speaking task in L2 • Oral proficiency scores by blind judges• Chunk-counts by more blind judges• Calculating correlations: proficiency scores ~ chunk

counts?• Results: coefficients up to .60 (highly significant)• Conclusion: chunks are good for you !

Proposals for a chunk-oriented pedagogy

• Nattinger and DeCarrico (1992). • Michael Lewis’ (1993, 1997, 2000) Lexical Approach.

Not really ‘new’:

e.g. Firth (1957):

“You shall know a word by the company it keeps”

Can you guess which verbs the following columns of nouns are strong collocates of?

verb+ verb+ verb+ verb+

damage crime study task

trouble offence research function

pain murder survey music

cancer adultery interview dance

injury rape investigation song

harm fraud experiment role

Just a couple of challenges for the learner ...

• About 50% of native-speaker discourse is estimated to be chunky (cf. Erman and Warren 2000)

• The native speaker’s repertoire contains thousands of chunks (cf. Pawley and Syder 1983)

Lewis’ Lexical Approach in a nutshell

• The aim = learner autonomy: equip students with strategies to pick up L2 chunks outside the classroom.

• Class time is best spent on awareness-raising; not by focussing on individual items. The key activity is chunking of texts.

• Lexis is arbitrary teachers must not waste precious time on trying to give ‘explanations’ about chunks.

“Why” questions should be answered by “That’s-just-the-way-it is” answers.

Does that work, then ?

Learner autonomy?

Set-up:

– Experimental group: a school year of text chunking– Control group: same texts, but no chunking

Post-test: both groups underline ‘chunks’ in a new text.

Results: Experimental students underlined significantly more bits of text

... But not more chunks ...

Catch 22: how can you recognise a chunk if you haven’t encountered it several times before?

Likelihood of incidental acquisition?

Incidental uptake of vocabulary is very slow.

Why?- Requires multiple encounters (cf. Paul Nation)

- Insufficient ‘noticing’

Any more hopeful when it comes to chunks?- Is a given chunk likely to be frequent enough?- Are chunks (e.g. make an effort) likely to attract

attention?

Verb-noun collocations in 120 pages of a popular novel

Verb-noun collocations occurring more than once: make a point (p. 10; 61; 90); make a move (p. 26; 32; 78); make sense (p. 47; 73; 107); make a decision (p. 39; 50); spend time (p. 71; 88); pay attention (p. 91; 119); tell the truth (p. 28; 119).

Verb-noun collocations occurring only once: complete a mission (p. 3); fulfil a task (p. 3); bend the truth (p. 6); spend the night (p. 15); lose your mind (p. 18); see the point (p. 21); clear your throat (p. 22); speak your mind (p. 23); make conversation (p. 26); do your duty (p. 28); shake hands (p. 32); practise a religion (p. 41); commit suicide (p. 44); waste time (p. 48); climb stairs (p. 52); pay a price (p. 54); take notice (p. 59); having a laugh (p. 63); do the right thing (p. 63); read your mind (p. 75); make a start (p. 82); give pause (p. 85); make an impression (p. 90); do your best (p. 92); shed light (p. 94); serve a purpose (p. 94); make a statement (p. 100); make no difference (p. 101); pay tribute (p. 102); spend the evening (p. 103); watch TV (p. 105); have a drink (p. 107); crack a joke (p. 112); take a look (p. 119); take a picture (p. 119).

Eye-tracking

Eye-tracking experiment• Procedure: comparison of reading behaviour

real words versus pseudowords

e.g. [...] push boundaries [...]

versus [...] push paniplines [...]• Results: longer contemplation of pseudowords

But: NO evidence of any attention to immediately preceding or succeeding words (i.e. potential collocates)

But surely chunks attended to in class stand a good chance of retention ?

Hmm...• Treatment:

- experimental groups: a school year of text chunking

- control groups: same texts, no chunking• Post-tests: speaking tasks; chunk-counts by blind judges• Results:

NO differential uptake from the course materials! (in fact, very limited uptake altogether)

Now what ?

Let teachers do what they are good at: teach!

• Do something with the chunks encountered in class• Help students remember through ‘elaboration’

Pathways for elaboration?

First port of call: exploiting imagery

Example

What domain of experience do you think the following idiom comes from?

“to show someone the ropes”

• Prison/torture• Boats/sailing• Games/sports

Feedback:

a novice sailor needs to be taught by a experienced sailor which ropes he should handle

What domain of experience do you think the following idiom comes from?

“to cut no ice with someone”

• Boats/sailing• Games/sports• Food/cooking

Feedback:

Ice skating: if the blades of your skates are too blunt, they will not cut into the ice, and so …

What domain of experience do you think the following idiom comes from?

“to jump the gun”

• Jurisdiction / punishment

• Games / sports• War / aggression

Feedback:

Athletics: a contender who jumps the gun sets off before the starting pistol has been fired.

What domain of

experience do you

think the following

idiom comes from?

“to run the gauntlet”

• food / cooking

• games / sports• jurisdiction /

punishment

Feedback:

Running the gauntlet used to be a form of punishment in the military in which the wrongdoer was forced to run between two lines of men armed with sticks, who beat him as he passed.

Next stage

What is the figurative meaning of the following idiom:

“to show someone the ropes”

• To disclose the truth to someone

• To give someone a severe penalty

• To teach someone how to do a task

Next stage

What is the figurative meaning of the following idiom:

“to cut no ice with someone”

• To have a misunderstanding

• To get on well with someone

• To make no impression on someone

Next stage

What is the figurative meaning of the

following idiom:

“to jump the gun”

• Defend someone at your own peril

• Do something before the

appropriate time• Be startled by an

unexpected event

Next stage

What is the figurative meaning of the following idiom

“to run the gauntlet”

• Run away from your hometown

• Be in a position of power

• Go through an unpleasant

treatment

consolidation

When I started working here as a novice, nobody bothered to teach me how things were done around here.

I had to find out all by myself how to do my new work properly. You could say that nobody showed me the _____________

consolidation

Scientists argue that high voltage power lines increase the risk of cancer, but their arguments cut no ____________ with the big bosses of the electricity industry.

The scientific evidence does not seem to make any impression on them.

consolidation

Although we had agreed not to tell anyone about my pregnancy until we were absolutely certain about it,

my husband jumped the ___________ and told his parents straightaway.

consolidation

When her fellow-students found out she had started a relationship with one of their lecturers,

she had to put up with a lot of verbal abuse. Her fellow-students really made her run the _______________.

Summing up the procedure

• Stage one: awareness of the origin of the idiom Purpose: dual coding (association with images)

• Stage two: figuring out the meaning of the idiom Purpose: deep processing (from image to meaning)

• Stage three: consolidation

• Stage four to stage n: revision

Synopsis of experiments

Does it help?

Control group:

1) Meaning MC

2) Gap fill

Experimental group:

1) Origin MC

2) Gap fill

Exp > Ctr

p < .001

Across the idiom board?

Yes, but below-average scores in case of:• Explanations longer than five lines• ‘Culture-specific’ source domains (e.g. cricket)

Which sequence helps most?

Control: Experimental:

1) Meaning MC 1) Origin MC

2) Origin MC 2) Meaning MC

3) Gap fill 3) Gap fill

72% 81%

p < .01

Long-term effect?

Gap-fill scores after two-year lapse mean 85%

followed by origin MC

gap-fill scores ~ origins scores: rs .8

A bit of a dampener on our enthusiasm:

Troublesome standard deviations

Cognitive-style variables ?

Correlation analyses

‘Imager’ cognitive style ~ Gap-fill scores ?

high imagers: mean 78%low imagers: mean 72%

p < .05

So what? Let’s fix this …

What domain of experience do you think the following idiom comes from?

“a carrot-and-stick method”

• Religion/superstition• Animals/wildlife• Food/cooking

Feedback:

Donkeys can be urged on by dangling a carrot before them and at the same time by hitting them with a stick.

What domain of experience do you think the following idiom comes from?

“to be at the end of one’s tether”

• Prison/torture• Animals/wildlife• Games/sports

Feedback:

A tether is a rope that is used to restrict the movement of grazing cattle. One end is fastened around the animal's neck and the other to a stake.

no more correlation with cognitive style

high imagers: mean 70%

low imagers: mean 73%

Hooray for pictures ?

Performance new cohort vs previous cohort ?

Meaning MC:without pictures: mean 77%with pictures: mean 81% looking good …

Gap-fills:without pictures: mean 75%with pictures: mean 71.5% hmm…

Semantic elaboration # structural elaboration

Contemplating a picture

#

Contemplating precise lexical composition (“form”)

What domain of experience do you think the following idiom comes from?

“to go for the jugular”

• Entertainment/public performance

• Animals/wildlife• Food/cooking

The jugular is a vital vein in your neck. Predators (e.g. lions and tigers) tend to kill their prey by biting into this jugular.

Picture-superiority effect?

Does the picture distract?

Within-subjects experiment

• Matched pairs of idioms, targeting unfamiliar content words (e.g. trumps, tether, gauntlet, roughshod)

• Half presented with a picture• Results: recollection in gapfill better after

presentation without pictorials (p .03)• After presentation with pictorials: recollection of the

concept, but not the word (violin instead of fiddle; rope instead of rein; throw instead of toss

in the middle instead of halfway, etc.)

Any pathways for structural elaboration ?

Motivation for lexical composition ?

• Why steer clear of rather than “sail clear of” ?• Why cut and run rather than “cut and sail away” ?• Why left high and dry rather than “left up and dry” ?

phonological motivation ?

e.g. rhyme:

brain drain; fair and square; a fat cat;

horses for courses; an eager beaver;

drunk as a skunk; when the cat’s away …

Scope of rhyme ?

Only about 2% of the English idiom repertoire …

Hmm...

How about other phonological repetition ?

For example: why …

Time will tell rather than “Time will show” ?

It takes two to tango rather than “It takes two to waltz” ?

Alliteration

Scope of alliteration ?

About 17% of the English idiom repertoire

“Coverage” by alliteration + rhyme ?

19% of English idioms overall

23% of ‘frequent’ English idioms

28% of binomials (chop and change; part and parcel)

41% of similes (cool as a cucumber; fit as a fiddle)

Alliteration across phraseology

Compounds: baby boom; baby buggy; baby blues; ballot box; bargain basement

Collocations: tell a tale; wage war; commit a crime; make a mess vs. do damage

Proverbs: curiosity killed the … ; where there’s a will …; he who pays the …; that’s the way the cookie …

Discourse markers: first and foremost; It is safe to say that

Exclamations: Good God! Trick or treat!

Miscellaneous: by common consent; a sight for sore eyes; publish or perish

‘Statistical’ evidence ?

On-line collocations sampler data

Inviting strong collocates: • Seek + sanctuary; settlement; solution, solace,

solitude, support; asylym; advice.

Look for + /s/-nouns ? Only 1 (solution).

• Fulfil + function, fantasy, prophesy, life.

Satisfy + /f/-nouns ? None.

Good old Google

Fundamentally flawed: 1,130,000 hits

Fatally flawed: 851,000 hits

Badly flawed: 143,000 hits

Basically flawed: 23,100 hits

Mortally flawed: 550 hits

Multiword dictionary entries

Beach bums, beer bellies and the big bang

+ B_ + other

B_ 15% 85%

D_ 9% 91% p < .001

+ D + other

B_ 4% 86%

D_ 10% 90% p < .001

More multiword dictionary entries

Peer pressure on penny-pinching party poopers

+ P_ + other

P_ 14% 86%

T_ 8% 92% p < .001

+ T_ + other

P_ 5% 95%

T_ 10% 90% p < .001

Many more multiword dictionary entries

force-feeding French fries and fish fingers to fully-fledged flip-flops: far-fetched fact-finding?

+ F_ + other

F_ 11% 91%

M_ 2% 98% p < .000

Last but not least …

Hard evidence from Harry Potter!

Salazar Slitherin; Helga Hufflepuff; Godric Griffindor; Rowena Ravenclaw;

Bathilda Bagshot; Dedalus Diggle; Dudley Dursley; Piers Polkins; Dinky Duddydums; Bertie Bott; Severus Snape; Parvati Patil; Pancy Parkinson; ...

About 1/3 of invented names alliterate

About 1/3 chapter titles alliterate

And how about adding less salient kinds ofconsonance and assonance to the mix?

Examples:

off the cuff above board stark naked

Hit and miss say a prayer false dawn

Combined scope

In a sample of 508 “frequent” English idioms

Type N Example

Word repetition 3 Shoulder to shoulder

True rhyme 6 Fat cat

Allit + Asson 9 Rule the roost

Alliteration 58 Too close to call

Assonance 52 A false dawn

Total 128

= 25 %

Combined scope

In a set of 106 English binomial idiomsType N ExampleWord repetition 1 Neck and neckTrue rhyme 3 Fair and squareAllit + Asson 2 Part and parcelAlliteration 38 Spick and spanAssonance 13 Airs and gracesTotal 57

= 54 %

 

Mnemonic effect

Long assumed in advertising (Guiness is … for you; Probably the best … in the world; Now

probably in the best …)

And entertainment(Mickey … and Donald …, Peter …; Bend it like …; Pride and …)

But surprisingly little empirical evidence.

Experiment 1

26 target phrases:Ring road Key hole

Lamplight Hilltop

Sea salt Bath soap

Green grass Grey hair

West wind Right hand

Fast food Fresh air

[…]

Procedure

• Presentation in random order• Sorting: alliteratives vs. unpatterned phrases• Recollection

Results

• Immediate recall:

Alliteratives > No-pats p .008

• Delayed recognition:

Alliteratives > No-pats p .004

Experiment 2

24 paper slips:

e.g. home phone; sea breeze, queen bee, right size;

school lunch, storm cloud, good taste, bad luck.

Sorting: assonance vs. unpatterned

Recollection

Results

• Immediate recall:

Assonant phrases > no-pats p < .002

• Delayed recognition:

Assonant phrases > no-pats p < .000

Question

But don´t learners notice phonological repetition autonomously anyhow ?

Answer:

No, they don´t

Next question:

Does alerting learners to these patterns help retention?

Answer:

Sure enough• Two groups of language majors• Teacher alerted experimental students to alliteration• End of course test • Results:

– Alliteratives: Exp > Ctrl – No-pats: Exp = Ctrl

Summing up

• The chunk-learning task is formidable• Incidental acquisition is bound to be slow• Noticing has to be complemented by elaboration• Non-arbitrary features of chunks provide pathways for

teacher-led elaboration• If productive mastery is the aim, then structural

elaboration is called for

High time for questions

thanks

Afterthought on idioms

Teaching idioms?! You must be kidding: they’re just the icing on the cake!

Well, no ...• Issue of comprehension: even when embedded in

‘exemplary’ context 61% misinterpretations.• Non-negligible ‘pragmatic’ functions • More common than you might think:

e.g. 1/40 instances of a preposition = in an idiom.

Idioms in 120 pages of a popular novel Occurring more than once:

keep _ at bay (p. 21; 28; 31; 55); on the same wavelength (p. 19, twice); _ up to speed (p. 19; 98); take the piss (p. 19; 72; 76); caught on the wrong foot (p. 31; 97); keep you on your toes (p. 41; 78); call it a day (p. 72, twice); cut the mustard (p. 42; 108).

Occurring once: laid at the door of _ (p. 1); the rough and tumble of life (p. 1); He knew it in his bones (p. 4); a king’s ransom (p. 5); gone head to head (p. 15); the nuts and bolts (p. 19); thin on the ground (p. 20); stopped in her tracks (p. 21); off the hook (p. 32); make a face (p. 32); water off a duck’s back (p. 37); reaping what she’d sown (p. 37); for good measure (p. 39); hammer home a message (p. 42); gone far out on a limb (p. 42); run the gauntlet (p. 45); keeping me posted (p. 45); off the wall (p. 46); set the wheels in motion (p. 47); down the line (p. 47); screaming from the rooftops (p. 48); put my reputation on the line (p. 48); eyeball to eyeball (p. 52); the bottom line (p. 53); by the skin of his teeth (p. 62); for a song (p. 62); for peanuts (p. 62); rub shoulders with (p. 62); on track (p. 63); fit the bill (p. 67); on a platter (p. 68); run out of steam (p. 69); keeping tabs on (p. 70); keep on a tight leash (p. 70); at sea (p. 71); play the field (p. 72); a stay of execution (p. 75); up your street (p. 75); cut both ways (p. 79); hot on their heels (p. 79); raise the stakes (p. 80); make the grade (p. 85); put your foot in it (p. 88); chopping and changing (p. 91); a bone to chew on (p. 93); make headway (p. 94); rattling their sabres (p. 97); get up to speed (p. 98); at face value (p. 98); hang out to dry (p. 98); hidden agenda (p. 98); on the ground (p. 99); on the page (p. 99); cover your back (p. 99); run yourself into the ground (p. 103); fire on all cylinders (p. 105); have your wits about you (p. 105); footloose and fancy free (p. 106); carry a torch for someone (p. 106); make a dent in something (p. 107); look for a needle in a haystack (p. 108); get your hands on something (p. 108); keep _ at arm’s length (p. 110); not give a toss (p. 113); get in on the act (p. 113); shoot your mouth off (p. 113); put your oar in (p. 115); not miss a trick (p. 116); get your head around something (p. 117).

Also a window on ‘culture’

E.g. Abundance of idioms from seafaring in English

• Steer clear of something• On course for something• All hands on deck• In the doldrums• On an even keel• Miss the boat• Learn the ropes• Plain sailing

• Show your true colours• A steady hand on the tiller• Be left high and dry• Walk the plank• Run a tight ship• With flying colours• When your ship comes in• Clear the decks

Etc.

Crosslinguistic variation

• SAILING idioms:

English > French• GARDENING idioms:

English > French• FOOD idioms:

French > English

‘Productivity’ of source domains across languages

SOURCE DOMAIN• agriculture & gardening (e.g., Nip something in the bud); • commerce & accounting (e.g., Wipe the slate clean); • entertainment & performance (e.g., Play to the gallery); • food & cooking (e.g., On the back burner); • games & sports (e.g., Keep your eye on the ball); • handicraft & manufacturing (e.g., Break the mould);• health & medicine (e.g., Keep your finger on the pulse); • religion & superstition (e.g., Fall from grace); • vehicles & transport (e.g., Miss the boat); • war & aggression (e.g., Break ranks)• Etc.

Figure 1: Source domains of English, Dutch and Spanish idioms

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

source domains

per

cen

tag

e o

f re

per

toir

e

English Dutch Spanish

Some references• Boers, F., J. Deconinck & S. Lindstromberg (forthcoming) Choosing motivated chunks for teaching. In: S. De

Knop, F. Boers and T. De Rycker (eds.), Fostering Language Teaching Efficiency through Cognitive Linguistics. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

• Stengers, H., F. Boers, J. Eyckmans and A. Housen (forthcoming) Does chunking foster chunk uptake? In: S. De Knop, F. Boers and T. De Rycker (eds.)

• Godfroid, A., A. Housen and F. Boers (forthcoming) A procedure for testing the Noticing Hypothesis in the context of vocabulary acquisition. In: M. Pütz and L. Sicola (eds.) Inside the Learner’s Mind: Cognitive Processing and Second Language Acquisition. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

• Boers, F. and S. Lindstromberg (2009) Optimizing a lexical approach to instructed second language acquisition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Boers, F., A. Piquer, H. Stengers and J. Eyckmans (2009) Does pictorial elucidation foster recollection of figurative idioms? Language Teaching Research 13(4).

• Lindstromberg, S. and F. Boers (2008) Teaching Chunks of Language: from noticing to remembering. The resourceful teacher series. Helbling Languages.

• Lindstromberg, S. & F. Boers (2008) Phonemic repetition and the learning of lexical chunks: The mnemonic power of assonance. System 36(3).

• Lindstromberg, S. & F. Boers (2008) The mnemonic effect of noticing alliteration in lexical chunks. Applied Linguistics 29(2): 200-222.

• Boers, F. & S. Lindstromberg (eds.) (2008) Cognitive Linguistic Approaches to Teaching Vocabulary and Phraseology. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

• Boers F & S. Lindstromberg (2008) How cognitive linguistics can foster effective vocabulary teaching. In: Boers, F. & S. Lindstromberg (eds.), 1-61.

• Boers, F., S. Lindstromberg, J. Littlemore, H. Stengers and J. Eyckmans (2008) Variables in the mnemonic effectiveness of pictorial elucidation. In: Boers, F. & S. Lindstromberg (eds.), 189-116.

• Boers, F. & S. Lindstromberg (2008) Structural elaboration by the sound (and feel) of it. In: Boers, F. & S. Lindstromberg (eds.), 329-353.

• Boers, F. & H. Stengers (2008) A quantitative comparison of the English and Spanish repertoires of figurative idioms. In: Boers, F. & S. Lindstromberg (eds.), 355-373.

• Boers, F. & S. Lindstromberg (2008) From empirical findings to pedagogical practice. In: Boers, F. & S. Lindstromberg (eds.), 375-393.

• Boers, F. & H. Stengers (2008), Adding sound to the picture: An exercise in motivating the lexical composition of metaphorical idioms in English, Spanish and Dutch. In: Cameron, L, M. Zanotto, & M. Cavalcanti (eds.), Confronting Metaphor in Use: An Applied Linguistic Approach, 63-78. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

continued• Eyckmans, J., F. Boers and H. Stengers (2007) Identifying chunks: Who can see the wood for the trees? Language

Forum 33(2): 85-100.• Boers, F., J. Eyckmans & H. Stengers (2007) Presenting figurative idioms with a touch of etymology: More than mere

mnemonics? Language Teaching Research 11(1): 43-62.• Boers, F, J. Eyckmans, J. Kappel, H. Stengers & M. Demecheleer (2006) Formulaic sequences and perceived oral

proficiency: Putting a lexical approach to the test. Language Teaching Research 10: 245-261.• Boers, Frank and Seth Lindstromberg (2006) Cognitive Linguistic approaches to second or foreign language

instruction: Rationale, proposals and evaluation. In: G. Kristaensen, R. Dirven, M. Achard and Ruiz-Mendoza (eds.), Cognitive linguistics: current applications and future perspectives, 305-358. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

• Boers, F., J. Eyckmans & H. Stengers (2006) Motivating multiword units: Rationale, mnemonic benefits, and cognitive style variables. In: S.H. Foster-Cohen, M.M. Krajnovic & J.M. Djigunovic (eds.), EUROSLA Yearbook Vol. 6, 169-190, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

• Boers, F. & S. Lindstromberg (2005) Finding ways to make phrase-learning feasible: The mnemonic effect of alliteration. System 33: 225-238.

• Lindstromberg, S. & F. Boers (2005) From movement to metaphor with manner-of-movement verbs. Applied Linguistics 26: 241-261.

• Boers, F., M. Demecheleer & J. Eyckmans (2004) Cultural variation as a variable in comprehending and remembering figurative idioms. European Journal of English Studies 8: 375-388.

• Boers, F. (2004) Expanding learners’ vocabulary through metaphor awareness: What expansion, what learners, what vocabulary? In: Niemeier, S. and M. Achard (eds.), Cognitive Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, and Foreign Language Teaching, 211-234, Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

• Boers, F., M. Demecheleer & J. Eyckmans (2004) Etymological elaboration as a strategy for learning figurative idioms. In: Bogaards, P. & B. Laufer. (eds.), Vocabulary in a Second Language: Selection, Acquisition and Testing, 53-78, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

• Eyckmans, J., F. Boers & M. Demecheleer (2004) The Deleted-Essentials Test: An effective and affective compromise, Humanising Language Teaching 6. www.hltmag.co.uk Pilgrims

• Boers, F. (2003) Applied linguistics perspectives on cross-cultural variation in conceptual metaphor. Metaphor and Symbol 18: 231-238.

• Boers, F. & J. Littlemore (eds.) (2003) Cross-cultural Differences in Conceptual Metaphor: Applied Linguistics Perspectives. Special Issue of Metaphor and Symbol. Mahwah, New Jersey / London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

• Boers, F. & M. Demecheleer (2001) Measuring the impact of cross-cultural differences on learners’ comprehension of imageable idioms. English Language Teaching Journal 55: 255-262.

• Boers, F. (2001) Remembering figurative idioms by hypothesising about their origin, Prospect 16: 35-43.• Boers, F. (2000) Enhancing metaphoric awareness in specialised reading. English for Specific Purposes 19: 137-147.• Boers, F. (2000) Metaphor awareness and vocabulary retention. Applied Linguistics 21: 553-571.