AILA 2020 Symposium
9-14 August 2020, Groningen, the Netherlands

Investigating complexity in L2 phraseology: methods and applications (Symposium n. S069)

Featured speaker: Magali Paquot (Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium)

Organizers:
Stefania Spina (Università per Stranieri di Perugia), Luciana Forti (Università per Stranieri di Perugia), Maria Roccaforte (Sapienza Università di Roma)

50-word description: How can we investigate phraseological complexity in second language learning? This symposium will provide an opportunity to answer this question by exploring the different methods that are available today, reflecting on how they can be integrated in order to obtain a unified picture of the phenomenon.

Abstract:
Over the past few decades, numerous studies have shed light on the key role that phraseological units play in the development of second language competence. In this respect, phraseological units have been considered not only in relation to their structural and semantic features, but also in relation to their degree of sophistication, which is commonly associated to the notion of complexity. The available empirical evidence on L2 phraseological complexity, however, stems from either learner corpus research (LCR) or psycholinguistics, with only very rare overlaps in terms of the specific phraseological unit being considered.

This symposium aims to bring together specialists from a number of different subfields within the discipline of Applied Linguistics, in order to reflect on the different kinds of methods that can be mixed in order to obtain a unified picture of phraseological complexity in second language learning. Specialists in LCR and psycholinguistics are particularly welcome. The symposium will be relevant not only to scholars interested in investigating phraseological complexity in the development of second language competence, but also to those working on bridging the gap between linguistic research and its application to syllabus design and test development.

Keywords: learner corpus research, phraseology, psycholinguistics

Paper submissions: https://www.aila2020.nl/call-for-papers

Deadline: 16 September 2019