Collocations, e.g., apples and pears, hard worker, constitute an important avenue of linguistic enquiry straddling both grammar and the lexicon. They are sensitive to language experience, with adult L2 learners and children learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) exhibiting poor collocational knowledge. The current study piloted a novel collocational assessment with children (mean age 6;3, 40 monolingual, 32 EAL). It investigated (1) the feasibility of a collocational assessment at this age, (2) whether collocational knowledge is associated with other language domains (receptive grammar and vocabulary), and (3) whether collocational knowledge is more affected than other domains. The assessment demonstrated good psychometric properties and was highly correlated with performance in other domains, indicating shared psycholinguistic mechanisms. Unlike adult counterparts, the EAL children performed equally poorly across domains. Given the role played by collocations in vocabulary development and reading, a focus on this domain may be beneficial for EAL children.

搭配，例如，苹果和梨，勤奋的工作者，构成了跨越语法和词典的语言探究的重要途径。他们对语言经验很敏感，成人 L2 学习者和学习英语作为附加语言 (EAL) 的儿童表现出较差的搭配知识。目前的研究对儿童（平均年龄 6；3，40 单语，32 EAL）进行了新的搭配评估。它调查了（1）在这个年龄段进行搭配评估的可行性，（2）搭配知识是否与其他语言领域（接受语法和词汇）相关，以及（3）搭配知识是否比其他领域更受影响。该评估显示出良好的心理测量特性，并且与其他领域的表现高度相关，表明共享的心理语言学机制。与成年同行不同，EAL 儿童在各个领域的表现同样糟糕。考虑到搭配在词汇发展和阅读中所起的作用，关注这一领域可能对 EAL 孩子有益。