Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T08:40:18.091Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

L1 Influence vs. Universal Mechanisms: An SLA-Driven Corpus Study on Temporal Expression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2020

By
Valentin Werner ,
Robert Fuchs  and
Sandra Götz
Edited by
Bert Le Bruyn  and
Magali Paquot
Bert Le Bruyn
Affiliation:
UIL-OTS, Utrecht University
Magali Paquot
Affiliation:
FNRS – Centre for English Corpus Linguistics, UCLouvain
Get access

Summary

Both influence of language learners’ L1 (“transfer”) and universal mechanisms have been forwarded as important determinants in Second Language Acquisition. This study weighs these claims against each other through a case study on temporal expression, looking at the alternation between the Present Perfect and the Simple Past in L2 English. It analyzes written and spoken data from two learner samples, one with a similar structure in the L1 (German), the other one (Cantonese) lacking such a structure, and compares them against native data, using a multifactorial regression-based approach. The results suggest higher error rates of Cantonese-speaking learners, so that target-like use of past-referring time-reference forms is mediated by L1 influence. By contrast, L1 influence is not traceable when the distributions of usage contexts and error conditioning are compared across the learner samples and with the native baseline data, suggesting a prevalence of universal mechanisms conspiring with linguistic factors.

Keywords

temporal referencetenseaspectL1 influencepresent perfectsimple pastadvanced learnersChinese learner EnglishGerman learner EnglishMuPDAR
Type
Chapter
Information
Learner Corpus Research Meets Second Language Acquisition , pp. 39 - 66
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anthony, L. (2014). AntConc (Version 3.4.3). Tokyo: Waseda University, retrieved from www.laurenceanthony.net/software/antconc (accessed June 13, 2020).Google Scholar
Andersen, R. & Shirai, Y. (1994). Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 16(2), 133–156.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1992). The use of adverbials and natural order in the development of temporal expression. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 30(4), 299–320.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2000). Tense and Aspect in Second Language Acquisition: Form, Meaning and Use. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bayley, R. (1994). Interlanguage variation and the quantitative paradigm: Past tense marking in Chinese-English. In Tarone, E., Gass, S. M., & Cohen, A. D. (eds.) Research Methodology in Second-Language Acquisition, 157–181. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Brand, C. & Kämmerer, S. (2006). The Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (LINDSEI): Compiling the German component. In Braun, S., Kohn, K., & Mukherjee, J. (eds.) Corpus Technology and Language Pedagogy: New Resources, New Tools, New Methods, 127–140. Frankfurt: Lang.Google Scholar
Bybee, J., Perkins, R., & Pagliuca, W. (1994). The Evolution of Grammar: Tense, Aspect, and Modality in the Languages of the World. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Calcagno, V. (2015). Glmulti: Model selection and multimodel inference made easy. R package 1.0.7, retrieved from rdrr.io/cran/glmulti/ (accessed June 13, 2020).Google Scholar
Collins, L. (2002). The roles of L1 influence and lexical aspect in the acquisition of temporal morphology. Language Learning 52(1), 43–94.Google Scholar
Dahl, Ö. & Velupillai, V. (2013). The perfect. In Dryer, M. S. & Haspelmath, M. (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Munich: Max Planck Digital Library, retrieved from wals.info/chapter/68 (accessed June 13, 2020).Google Scholar
De Cock, S. (2004). Preferred sequences of words in NS and NNS speech. Belgian Journal of English Language and Literatures 2, 225–246.Google Scholar
Deshors, S. (2017). Zooming in on verbs in the progressive: A collostructional and correspondence analysis. Journal of English Linguistics 45(3), 260–290.Google Scholar
Deshors, S. (2018). Does the passé composé influence L2 learners’ use of English past tenses? A semantic exploration of the present perfect in French–English interlanguage. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research 4(1), 23–53.Google Scholar
Domínguez, L., Arche, M., & Myles, F. (2017). Spanish imperfect revisited: Exploring L1 influence in the reassembly of imperfective features onto new L2 forms. Second Language Research 33(4), 431–457.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (2015). Researching acquisition sequences: Idealization and de-idealization in SLA. Language Learning 65(1), 181–209.Google Scholar
Fuchs, R., Götz, S., & Werner, V. (2016). The present perfect in learner Englishes: A corpus-based case study on L1 German intermediate and advanced speech and writing. In Werner, V., Seoane, E., & Suárez-Gómez, C. (eds.), Re-assessing the Present Perfect, 297–337. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Fuchs, R. & Werner, V. (2018). Tense and aspect in second language acquisition and learner corpus research. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research 4(2), 143–163.Google Scholar
Garside, R. & Smith, N. (1997). A hybrid grammatical tagger: CLAWS4. In Garside, R., Leech, G., & McEnery, T. (eds.), Corpus Annotation: Linguistic Information from Computer Text Corpora, 102–121. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Gilquin, G. (2008). Combining contrastive and interlanguage analysis to apprehend transfer: Detection, explanation, evaluation. In Gilquin, G., Papp, S., & Díez-Bedmar, M. B. (eds.), Linking Up Contrastive and Learner Corpus Research, 3–33. Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Gilquin, G., De Cock, S., & Granger, S. (2010). The Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage. Handbook and CD-ROM. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.Google Scholar
Götz, S, Werner, S., & Fuchs, R. (2019). Temporal adverbials in the acquisition of past-time reference: A cross-sectional study of L1 German and Cantonese learners of English. In Abel, A., Glaznieks, A., Lyding, V., & Nicolas, L. (eds.), Widening the Scope of Learner Corpus Research, 43–70. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.Google Scholar
Granger, S. (1996). From CA to CIA and back: An integrated approach to computerized bilingual and learner corpora. In Aijmer, K., Altenberg, B., & Johansson, M. (eds.), Languages in Contrast: Text-Based Cross-Linguistic Studies, 37–51. Lund: Lund University Press.Google Scholar
Granger, S. (2003). The International Corpus of Learner English: A new resource for foreign language learning and teaching and second language acquisition research. TESOL Quarterly 37(3), 538–546.Google Scholar
Granger, S. (2015). Contrastive interlanguage analysis: A reappraisal. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research 1(1), 7–24.Google Scholar
Granger, S., Dagneaux, E., Meunier, F., & Paquot, M. (2009). The International Corpus of Learner English, Version 2. Handbook and CD-ROM. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.Google Scholar
Gries, S. Th. & Bernaisch, T. (2016). Exploring epicentres empirically: Focus on South Asian Englishes. English World-Wide 37(1), 1–25.Google Scholar
Gries, S. Th. & Deshors, S. (2014). Using regressions to explore deviations between corpus data and a standard/target: Two suggestions. Corpora 9(1), 109–136.Google Scholar
Gries, S. Th. & Koostra, G. J. (2016). Structural priming within and across languages: A corpus-based perspective. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 20(2), 235–250.Google Scholar
Heller, B., Bernaisch, T., & Gries, S. Th. (2017). Empirical perspectives on two potential epicenters: The genitive alternation in Asian Englishes. ICAME Journal 41(1), 111–144.Google Scholar
Hinkel, E.. (2004). Tense, aspect and the passive voice in L1 and L2 academic texts. Language Teaching Journal 8(1), 5–29.Google Scholar
Hong, W. (2007). Lexical Aspect and L1 Influence on the Acquisition of English Verb Tense and Aspect among Hong Kong Secondary School Learners. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.Google Scholar
Hothorn, T., Hornik, K., Strobl, K. & Zeileis, A. (2017). Party: A laboratory for recursive partitioning. R Package 1.2-3, retrieved from cran.r-project.org/web/packages/party/index.html (accessed June 13, 2020).Google Scholar
Housen, A. (2002). A corpus-based study of the L2-acquisition of the English verb system. In Granger, S., Hung, J., & Petch-Tyson, S. (eds.), Computer Learner Corpora, Second Language Acquisition, and Foreign Language Teaching, 77–116. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Howard, M. & Leclercq, P. (2017). Tense, aspect and modality in second language acquisition: An overview. In Howard, M. & Leclercq, P. (eds.), Tense-Aspect-Modality in a Second Language: Contemporary Perspectives, 1–25. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Jackson, C. (2018). Second language structural priming: A critical review and directions for future research. Second Language Research 34(4), 539–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarvis, S. (2000). Methodological rigor in the study of transfer: Identifying L1 influence in the interlanguage lexicon. Language Learning 50(2), 245–309.Google Scholar
Jarvis, S. (2010). Comparison-based and detection-based approaches to transfer research. EuroSLA Yearbook 10, 169–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarvis, S. & Pavlenko, A. (2008). Crosslinguistic Influence in Language and Cognition. New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, G. (2003). On the stativity of the English perfect. In Alexiadou, A., Rathert, M., & von Stechow, A. (eds.), Perfect Explorations, 205–234. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Klein, W. & Perdue, C. (1997). The basic variety (or: Couldn’t natural languages be much simpler?). Second Language Research 13(4), 301–347.Google Scholar
König, E. & Gast, V. (2018). Understanding English–German Contrasts. Berlin: ESV.Google Scholar
Levey, S. (2006). Tense variation in preadolescent narratives. Journal of English Linguistics 34(2), 126–152.Google Scholar
Loh, W.-Y. (2011). Classification and regression trees. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery 1, 14–23.Google Scholar
Matthews, S. & Yip, V. 2013. Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myles, F. (2015). Second language acquisition theory and learner corpus research. In Granger, S., Gilquin, G., & Meunier, F. (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Learner Corpus Research, 309–332. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Odlin, T. (1989). Language Transfer: Cross-Linguistic Influence in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Osborne, J. (2015). Transfer and learner corpus research. In Granger, S., Gilquin, G., & Meunier, F. (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Learner Corpus Research, 333–356. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Paquot, M. (2013). Lexical bundles and transfer effects. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 18(3), 391–417.Google Scholar
R Development Core Team. (2017). R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing, retrieved from www.r-project.org (accessed June 13, 2020).Google Scholar
Ringbom, H. (1987). The Role of the First Language in Foreign Language Learning. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Roberts, L. & Liszka, S. A. (2013). Processing tense/aspect agreement violations online in the second language: A self-paced reading study with French and German L2 learners of English. Second Language Research 29(4), 413–439.Google Scholar
Rogatcheva, S. (2012). Perfect problems: A corpus-based comparison of the perfect in Bulgarian and German EFL writing. In Hoffmann, S., Rayson, P., & Leech, G. (eds.), English Corpus Linguistics: Looking Back, Moving Forward, 149–163. Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. & Slabakova, R. (2018). The generative approach to SLA and its place in modern second language studies. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 40(2), 417–422.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R. (2008). Marking Past Tense in Second Language Acquisition: A Theoretical Model. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Shirai, Y. (2009). Temporality in first and second language acquisition. In Klein, W. & Li, P. (eds.), The Expression of Time, 167–194. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Svalberg, A. (2019). Mapping tense form and meaning for L2 learning: From theory to practice. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 57(4), 417–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szmrecsanyi, B. (2005). Language users as creatures of habit: A corpus-based analysis of persistence in spoken English. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 1(1), 113–149.Google Scholar
Tenfjord, K., Jarvis, S., & Golden, A. (2017). Introduction. In Golden, A., Jarvis, S., & Tenfjord, K. (eds.), Crosslinguistic Influence and Distinctive Patterns of Language Learning: Findings and Insights from a Learner Corpus, 1–11, Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Vendler, Z. (1967). Linguistics in Philosophy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University PressGoogle Scholar
Vraicu, A. (2015). The simple present and the expression of temporality in L1 English and L2 English oral narratives: When form meets discourse. In Ayoun, D. (ed.), The Acquisition of the Present, 289–333. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Werner, V. (2013). Temporal adverbials and the present perfect/past tense alternation. English World-Wide 34(2), 202–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werner, V. (2014). The Present Perfect in World Englishes: Charting Unity and Diversity. Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press.Google Scholar
Werner, V., Seoane, E., & Suárez-Gómez, C. (eds.). (2016). Re-assessing the Present Perfect. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Wulff, S. (2017). What learner corpus research can contribute to multilingualism research. International Journal of Bilingualism 21(6), 734–753.Google Scholar
Xu, J. (2013). The Temporal (Re-)construal of Experience: How Native Speakers of English and Advanced Chinese Learners Select and Interpret Simple Past/Present Tenses. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Macquarie University.Google Scholar
Yang, S. & Huang, Y. Y. (2004). The impact of the absence of grammatical tense in L1 on the acquisition of the tense-aspect system in L2. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 42(1), 49–70.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×