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Abstract According to usage-based theories, linguistic knowledge is constructed on language experience during which frequency plays an important role. By using 66 Senior Two high school students as the subjects, the present study examined how exposure frequency and frequency types affected the acquisition of formulaic sequences. The subjects were repetitively exposed to materials containing the target formulaic sequences and were tested on their knowledge of these formulaic sequences. In the verbatim repetition condition, the subjects read the same reading materials six times, while in the varied repetition condition, the subjects read different reading materials six times. The results showed that frequency helped the acquisition of formulaic sequences and varied repetition exerted more significant influence. This study not only enriches our understanding of the usage-based theories by clarifying the effects of frequency on language learning, but also gives pedagogical suggestions on teaching of formulaic sequences.
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