| Sumario: | This study aims to explore the mental lexicon and lexical networks of the English as a Second Language (ESL) learners in India through two-word association tests. The research intends to extract patterns from the associational behavior of the learners and understand the syntactic properties of the associations that make the network. The participants of the study are 106 tertiary level learners of ESL, registered for various undergraduate degree programs in an Arts and Science College situated in the city Chennai, India. Test 1 is a Single Response word association task, the results of which were analyzed for patterns in the association of the words through a slightly modified response classification system. The words were then "taught" to the participants to minimize the form-based associations and non-words. Test 2 was conducted with the same set of words and the associations were analyzed for their lexico-syntactic properties. The responses were then checked for patterns emerging from the meaningful as well as erratic associations. Also, the associational behavior of the participants with regard to the lexico-syntactic properties and lexical class differences was studied. The patterns that have emerged carry suggestions for further probe into the ESL vocabulary teaching methods.
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