Phraseological competence in spoken English: Using corpus methods to inform language testing

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The project addresses an issue of high prominence in language learning and testing in the UK and internationally - the construct of phraseological competence (PC) in L1 (native) and L2 (non-native) spoken English and its application in the language testing practice. The study approaches this topic from a novel direction, combining state-of-the-art corpus methods with the latest advances in language testing research. In addition to the contribution to the language acquisition and language testing theory, the study seeks to improve assessment of spoken English by closely collaborating with Trinity College London, a major international language examination organisation, and by making the findings directly relevant to language test developers. Human ability to communicate fluently in real time depends to a large extent on the PC, that is, the ability to store, access and produce pre-fabricated chunks of language such as multi-word expressions (would like to) or lexico-grammatical frames (as far as X is concerned). This competence represents a key aspect in communicating in a native-like, effortless and error-free manner. As a result, PC has occupied a prominent role in research on language learning/use by LI and L2 users for decades. However, despite the attention given to the topic so far, significant gaps still remain in our understanding of the components of PC and its role in language production and perception. These are related to several methodological issues. For example, most of the evidence about PC comes from experimental, psycholinguistic research based on decontextualized language; contextualised (corpus) studies of PC have almost exclusively been based on written production. Also, much of the available knowledge relies on subjective identification and analysis of phraseological units.