Particle Placement in English L1 and L2 Academic Writing

This study seeks to contribute to a better understanding of how syntactic
variation is affected by probabilistic factors in English as a foreign
language (EFL, L2), exemplified by the effect of weight on the syntactic
variation with English transitive verb-particle constructions (e.g. look up,
sort out) and transitive verb-prepositional phrase (PP) constructions (e.g.
take into account, bear in mind). With these constructions, the particle/PP
may occur either adjacent to the verb or separated from the verb by a direct
object noun phrase (DO NP). Being highly influenced by the weight of the DO NP
in native (L1) English, little is known about the factors, including syntactic
weight, that govern this variation in L2 English. Against the background of
possible native-language transfer, this study examines whether advanced
L1-German EFL learners are sensitive to the probabilistic effect of weight on
syntactic choices with verb-particle/PP constructions and whether there are
differences when compared to English native speakers. Triangulating
comparative corpus data and experimental data, i.e. elicited production and
elicited assessment, the study provides converging evidence from language
production and intuition that the learners have acquired a near-native
awareness of weight effects in verb-particle/PP constructions, with
differences indicating a tendency to more conservative choices.