Abstract
A single, free word association test using 60 high-frequency words as stimulus words was given to four groups of Japanese EFL learners having different English proficiency and length of time of English learning and to a group of native English speakers. The main findings are as follows: (a) The three less proficient groups showed no syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift between them, whereas the advanced group revealed a shift toward the native speaker pattern; (b) the association types of stimulus words (found when a word's results are compared to the whole results) were divided into standard (33.3%), divergent (15.0%), and other types (25.0%), as well as "no difference" between the groups (26.7%); (c) four stimulus words managed to evoke exceptionally frequent syntagmatic associations from the native speaker group and three stimulus words produced a very high frequency of paradigmatic associations from even the least proficient group; however, these unusual results were mainly generated by a high proportion of stereotyped associations across the participant groups, bringing their reliability as evidence for a counter-shift into question.
