Lexical bundles and L1 transfer effects

This exploratory study makes use of Jarvis’s (2000) methodological framework to investigate transfer effects on French EFL learners’ use of lexical bundles. The study focuses on 3-word recurrent sequences that include a lexical verb in the French component of the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE) as compared to nine other ICLE learner sub-corpora. Results are in line with a usage-based view of language that recognizes the active role that the first language (L1) may play in the acquisition of a foreign language. The different manifestations of L1 influence displayed in the learners’ idiosyncratic use of lexical bundles are traced back to various properties of French words, including their collocational use, lexico-grammatical patterns, function, discourse conventions, and frequency of use. Following Hoey (2005), these transfer effects are subsumed under the general term of ‘transfer of primings’.