Abstract
The present study empirically scrutinizes the fixed natural order of grammatical morphemes relying on a manual analysis of an EFL learner corpus. Specifically, we test whether the accuracy order of L2 grammatical morphemes in the case of L1 Turkish speakers of English deviates from Krashen’s (1977) natural order and whether proficiency levels play a role in the order of acquisition of these morphemes. With this in mind, we focus on the (in)accuracy of nine English grammatical morphemes with 2883 cases manually tagged by the UAM Corpus Tool in the written exam scripts of Turkish learners of English. The results based on target-like use scores provide evidence for deviation from what is widely believed to be a set order of acquisition of these grammatical morphemes by second language learners. In light of such findings, we challenge the view that the internally driven processes of mastering grammatical morphemes in English for interlanguage users are largely independent of their L1. Regardless of L2 grammar proficiency in our data, the observed accuracy of some morphemes ranked low in comparison with the so-called natural order. These grammatical morphemes were almost exclusively non-existent features in participants’ mother tongue (e.g., third person singular –s, articles and the irregular past tense forms), thus suggesting the influence of L1 in this respect.
Highlights
The focus of second language acquisition (SLA) research involves scrutinizing and gaining an understanding of the development of learners’ linguistic competence in the target language (TL)
Even though there has been a body of research supporting the assumption that L2 grammatical morpheme acquisition in English by different L1 learners is bound to a universal order minimizing the influence of the mother tongue, the universality of a natural order for grammatical morphemes in L2 appears to be insufficient to explain the development of these grammatical features for some L1 learners of English
The accuracy level differed across the morphemes. 2,440 out of the 2,883 cases of grammatical morphemes represented target-like use (84.6% accuracy), and almost 15% of the cases (N = 443) turned out to represent non-target-like use
Summary
The focus of second language acquisition (SLA) research involves scrutinizing and gaining an understanding of the development of learners’ linguistic competence in the target language (TL). Exploring the developing interlanguage systems with respect to grammatical morphemes (such as –s added to nouns to mark plurality or –ing added to the main verb to mark the progressive aspect), morpheme order studies have received considerable attention from SLA specialists (Goldschneider & DeKeyser, 2001; Luk & Shirai, 2009). In a recent study, Murakami and Alexopoulou (2016) reported that the accuracy order of grammatical morphemes in the exam scripts of learners from miscellaneous L1 backgrounds (i.e., Spanish, French, Japanese, Russian, Korean, German and Turkish) with different proficiency levels manifested a striking similarity within the same L1 but varied across various L1 backgrounds. Turkish lacks an explicit article system, such as that used in English, it is different from Japanese as well
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
