Comparison of Acquisition of Tense Markers in Oral and Written Language in Bilingual Children

Abstract

Abstract: Tense acquisition plays a crucial role in the language development of children. Tense refers to the grammatical expression of time in a sentence, which can be in the past, present, or future. Children begin to learn about tenses from a very young age and gradually acquire the ability to use them accurately as they develop their language skills. The present study aims to describe the comparison of the acquisition of tense markers in the oral and written language of 8 to 12-year-old MalayalamEnglish bilingual children. The study involves 20 typically developing children, studying in regular schools with English as the medium of instruction. Two tasks were selected, which included oral and written picture descriptions and narration. The results revealed that, in 8 to 10-year-old children, the acquisition of the simple present tense for both oral and written tasks in Malayalam and English was non significant and the acquisition of the simple past tense for both tasks in Malayalam and English was significant. However, the acquisition of the simple future tense in oral tasks for both languages was significant, while the written performance for future tense acquisition in both languages was non significant. For children aged 11 to 13 years, the acquisition of the simple present tense for oral and written tasks in Malayalam and English was inconclusive and the acquisition of the simple past tense for oral and written tasks in both Malayalam and English was non significant. The acquisition of the future tense for oral tasks was significant whereas for written tasks, it was inconclusive in both languages.