Multiword sequences in English language learners’ speech: The relationship between trigrams and lexical variety across development

Languages have formulaic multiword sequences (MWSs) which occur repeatedly in speech and writing (e.g., Nattinger & DeCarrico, 1992; Siyanova-Chanturia Pellicer-Sánchez, 2018). For learners, then, the production of MWSs is an important element developing spoken language that complex, accurate, fluent. Though use for achieving proficiency, it unclear whether supports or hinders another aspect lexical variety. This paper exploration (recurrent trigrams) development variety, found 2-min speeches ( n = 294) from English L2 learners 66) over time intensive program (IEP). Using hierarchical linear modeling correlation analysis, we different patterns two measures. The increased then decreased while variety scores slightly sharply IEP. Although impact on oral fluency has been studied, this seems to be first study consider how influence across development. • Use multi-word-sequences time. Lexical A negative relationship was generally, but not all learners.