We discuss writers with typologically different L1s (Finnish/Swedish) and what they produce as sequences when writing in L2 English or L2 Swedish/Finnish, and in their L1. Keystroke logging programme reveals that L1 structures affect the production of sequences regardless of proficiency level, challenging prevailing views on learning and using FSs.
Formulaic sequences (FSs), be they multiword or multi-morphemic, are understood to be processed as entities when learning and using languages. The production of sequences in a language provides us with information on how language users and learners see structures and patterns in a given language, and there is evidence that these learner-internal sequences may be different from what is in standard language considered as (learner-external) sequences (Mitchell & Myles 2017, Myles 2019) Previous research on FSs has largely concentrated on English (Jaworska , Krummes & Ennslin 2015). This paper discusses vocabulary production in a written task, especially the production of FSs, by L2 learners (n=14) of three typologically different languages, English, Swedish and Finnish with two different mother tongues, Finnish and Swedish. In addition to L2 writing, the data include written texts in participants' L1. Finnish as an agglutinative language has to an extent different types of sequences from more analytic/synthetic English and Swedish. The data, that were gathered through a keystroke logging programme followed by retrospective interviews, show how, regardless of the level of proficiency the structures in learners' mother tongue affect the number and nature of vocabulary items produced as sequences, challenging the prevailing idea of the dominance of FSs in language production. The data also give further evidence to there being a difference between learner-internal and learner-external sequences, and on large invidual differences in the processing. We discuss the differences in the production of the three target languages and their implications to revisiting the idea of formulaic sequences and vocabulary teaching.
