Reasons for the use of past verb tenses by Mandarin-speaking ESL learners

Mike Tiittanen

doi:10.18844/gjflt.v10i2.4849

Abstract

This exploratory study investigated the contexts in which a group of native Mandarin English as a second language learners, with high knowledge of the simple past tense, used the present perfect, past perfect and past progressive on a fill-in-the-gaps task. The participants frequently correctly used the past perfect form on a task item requiring these forms, but they also often oversupplied the present perfect, past perfect and, to a lesser extent, the past progressive, on the task. Participants who correctly supplied the past perfect had a higher overall level of grammatical knowledge than those who did not. On a verbal protocols task, the learners reported that the presence of adverbials sometimes led them to their choice of the present perfect or past perfect. The oversuppliances of the past progressive were primarily atelic activities. These results mirror other studies in the confusion between past tense forms, influence of adverbials and lexical aspect. They may also possibly indicate L1 influence from Mandarin. Keywords: Past perfect, past progressive, present perfect.

Highlights

The acquisition of past tense–aspect morphology forms by language learners, English learners, has been of some interest for some time (Bardovi-Harlig, 2000; Collins, 2002; Yang & Huang, 2004)
English as a second language (ESL) learners tend to learn to use the simple past tense correctly before using the past progressive, and that use of the past progressive precedes the emergence of the present perfect, which in turn precedes the emergence of the past perfect (Bardovi-Harlig, 2000; Bardovi-Harlig& Comajoan, 2008).within the order of emergence of verb tense–aspect forms, there is a great deal of individual variation (Housen, 2002).There is research indicating that learners tend to mix up similar verb tense–aspect forms
ESL learners tend to confuse the use of the present perfect with the simple past, and to a lesser extent, the past perfect (Bardovi-Harlig, 2000).Some studies support the contention that adverbials play a role in the use of past tense morphology (Bardovi-Harlig & Reynolds, 1995).In addition, some research indicates that L1 influence may play a role in the acquisition of past tense–aspect forms (Collins, 2002; Tiittanen, 2013; Yang & Huang, 2004; Zhang & Liu, 2016)

Summary

Introduction

The acquisition of past tense–aspect morphology forms by language learners, English learners, has been of some interest for some time (Bardovi-Harlig, 2000; Collins, 2002; Yang & Huang, 2004). ESL learners tend to confuse the use of the present perfect with the simple past, and to a lesser extent, the past perfect (Bardovi-Harlig, 2000).Some studies support the contention that adverbials play a role in the use of past tense morphology (Bardovi-Harlig & Reynolds, 1995).In addition, some research indicates that L1 influence may play a role in the acquisition of past tense–aspect forms (Collins, 2002; Tiittanen, 2013; Yang & Huang, 2004; Zhang & Liu, 2016). This study is exploratory in nature and aims to gain greater insight into L2 learner uses of the above verb tense–aspect forms on a task which promotes focus on form, a fill-in-the-gaps task, with the aid of verbal protocols methodology

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion