# Towards Linguistically-informed Representations for English as a Second or Foreign Language: Review, Construction and Application

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09008 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.09008/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 1 of its 35 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 10 Apr 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Semantic Role Labeling for Learner Chinese: the Importance of Syntactic Parsing and L2-L1 Parallel Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.09409/) (2018)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The widespread use of English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESFL) has sparked a paradigm shift: ESFL is not seen merely as a deviation from standard English but as a distinct linguistic system in its own right. This shift highlights the need for dedicated, knowledge-intensive representations of ESFL. In response, this paper surveys existing ESFL resources, identifies their limitations, and proposes a novel solution. Grounded in constructivist theories, the paper treats constructions as the fundamental units of analysis, allowing it to model the syntax--semantics interface of both ESFL and standard English. This design captures a wide range of ESFL phenomena by referring to syntactico-semantic mappings of English while preserving ESFL's unique characteristics, resulting a gold-standard syntactico-semantic resource comprising 1643 annotated ESFL sentences. To demonstrate the sembank's practical utility, we conduct a pilot study testing the Linguistic Niche Hypothesis, highlighting its potential as a valuable tool in Second Language Acquisition research.