Description
Book SynopsisThis book is concerned with frequency in foreign
language learning, and in particular with
contrastive frequency across languages. The
focus is on the learning of English and Italian,
whether it be English speakers learning Italian
or Italian speakers learning English. Despite
the fact that frequency – whether it be of
lemmas or of word forms within specific lexicogrammatical
environments – lies at the
heart of L2 learning, it is not stressed in any
salient or consistent manner in English / Italian
language-learning materials. This work aims
to redress the balance, offering a corpusassisted
critical analysis of the way frequency
is handled in English and Italian dictionaries,
and bringing out unexpected differences
between the two languages.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements – Introduction –The pervasiveness of frequency in language analysis and in language learning – Comparative frequencies of cognates and conventional equivalents across English and Italian – 3. The frequency of verb forms within specific grammatical categories as reported in English and Italian dictionaries – Passive and progressive labels in English monolingual learner’s dictionaries – The frequency of negatives in English and Italian – Lexical environment across English and Italian – Lexical and grammatical environment, a case study: English territory vs Italian territorio – Limitations of the research – Conclusion – References – Index
