Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine how the learning experience affects associative strength between lexical representations of first and second language (L1, and L2) and conceptual representation, and word processing. The critical experimental manipulations were L2 proficiency, word frequency, and matching direction. The subjects were advanced learners and beginners. Association strength was assessed by measuring reaction time and error rate in translation recognition tasks with three sets of English (L2) and Japanese (L1) words that were high or low frequency, and corresponding pictures. The results showed that (1) the two associations involving L2 words were stronger when L2 word frequency was high, (2) both L2-L1 and L2-Picture association were strengthened with L2 proficiency. However, (3) there was no difference between L2-L1 and L2-Picture conditions. Moreover, (4) the association between L1 words and pictures were strong regardless of L2 proficiency or word frequency. These results suggest that L2 learning experience strengthens both associations involving L2 words.
