(Originally submitted November 10, 2010)
Main Text: drive, docs, pub
Appendix A--Sue Transcript:
drive,
docs,
pub
C. Sue’s Past Tense Distribution by Morphology: drive, docs, pub
Appendix G Rationale For Coding and List of Verbs Excluded from Analysis: drive, docs, pub
Appendix E. Sue’s Past Tense Distribution by Inherent Lexical Aspects: drive, docs, pub
This
study looks at the oral production of two L1 Chinese speakers retelling a
narrative from their past, and focuses on the distribution of past tense
verbs. It examines which type of verbs
get marked for the past tense in the learner interlanguage, and whether this is
for phonological, grammatical, or lexical reasons.
Literature Review
Since the 1970s, second language
acquisition research has used the term interlanguage to refer to the language
system that learners construct, and the rules which appear to govern it at any
given stage in their development (Ortega, 2009).
Much attention has been paid to how
learners express temporal notions in their interlanguage, particularly in the
past tense. Intermediate and advanced
learners of English are no doubt well aware that the past tense exists, but it
is used inconsistently even by advanced learners of English (Riddle, 1986).
Part
of the reason for learner errors, Riddle (1986) argues is that the past tense
is often taught in ESL as having a completive sense. That is, learners perceive (or are taught)
that the past tense is used for situations that once were true, but are no
longer true at the time of speech. This
is in conflict with the native speaker preference for using the past tense to
indicate something that was true in the past, and may or may not still be true
in present.
For this reason it has been
suggested that lexical type plays a role in whether or not a verb is marked for
the past tense in a learner’s interlanguage.
This is known as the aspect hypothesis, and was developed by Andersen
and Shirai in 1996 (Ortega, 2009). Research
has shown that learners are more likely to supply a past tense verb for telic verbs
(actions that have an inherent end point) and least likely to use a past tense
verb for stative verbs (verbs describing the state or condition of something)
(Collins, 2005).
Much research follows the
classification system devised by Andersen in 1991 which divides verbs into four
different categories: accomplishments (which are instantaneous) achievements (dynamic
actions which have an inherent end point) activities (dynamic actions with no
inherent end points) and states (used for stative verbs). Andersen found that with untutored learners
of Spanish, the acquisition of past tense markings started with accomplishment
verbs, then moved to achievement verbs, followed by activity verbs, and finally
state verbs (Bardovi-Harlig & Reynolds, 1995). Bardovi-Harlig et al. (1995) found similar patterns with tutored learners
of English, showing that in learner vocabularies event verbs (achievement and
accomplishment verbs) were marked for the past tense at a much higher rate than
non-event verbs (activity and state verbs).
In addition to the simple past tense,
English has many other verb forms used to express actions in the past
time. These various other forms combine
the past tense with the perfect aspect (a situation which results from the
completion of an earlier state or event) or the progressive aspect (which presents
events as being in progress) (Collins & Hollo, 2010). It is common for learners of English to first
use the present progressive, followed by the simple past, the past progressive,
the present perfect, and the past perfect (pluperfect), in that order (Ortega,
2009).
As learners become more competent
with the English tense system, they may also seek to break chronological order
and use reverse order reports in their narratives. This commonly does not happen until the
correct use of the past tense stabilizes at about 80% (Bardovi-Harlig,
1994). A common way to break
chronological order in English is to use the past perfect to show that one
event was already completed at the time another event took place, regardless of
which event was mentioned first in the narrative. However even at advanced levels English
learners will often avoid the use of the past perfect and instead indicate
reverse order reports by other means such as time adverbials (Bardovi-Harlig,
1994).
This particular study focuses on L1
Mandarin Chinese using past tense English verbs.
Although the role of the first
language on second language acquisition is controversial (supporters of the
Skill Acquisition Theory or Universal Grammar believe the L1 has no influence
on L2 acquisition) many researchers believe the grammar and phonology of the L1
can transfer over into the interlanguage of the L2 learner (Sharmini, Tee Pei
Leng, Singaram & Jusoff, 2009). If
the latter is true, the Chinese language has certain grammatical characteristics
which may influence the interlanguage of Chinese learners of English.
Unlike English, Chinese verbs do not
have past tenses. Instead Chinese uses
auxiliary verbs, particles or time verbs to indicate the past (Sharmini et al.
2009). There is therefore a possible
tendency for Chinese learners of English to indicate temporality adverbially
instead of morphologically, and to overuse the present tense.
Research
Questions
How are past actions or states
expressed in the English narratives of L1 speakers of Chinese?
Method
Participants
Two female participants, Sue and
Carol (not their real names) were selected.
Both had an L1 of Mandarin, were from the Shanghai
area, and were currently attending RMIT
University in Melbourne.
Both had lived in Australia
for two years. Carol was studying a bachelor’s
of Accounting and Sue was completing a Master’s of Accounting.
Both had studied English as a second
language for 10 years in the Chinese public school system. Both had taken a short English course upon
arriving in Australia
before the start of their academic program (1 month in the case of Sue, and 3
months in the case of Carol.)
Both participants were known
personally to me since we all lived on the same dormitory floor, and I have had
frequent interaction with them throughout the year. I have noticed that despite their high level
of English, they both use imperfect grammar and idiomatic phrasing. However they have no trouble in communicating
(either in understanding or in being understood). Furthermore they are both obviously able to
function in English in academic settings at the tertiary level.
It was my subjective impression,
prior to data collection, that Sue had a greater proficiency level than Carol,
and my original intention was to compare two learners of different proficiency
levels. However the data analysis did
not show any great difference in regards to accuracy level of the target
feature (past tense). Post-data
collection interviews also indicated both participants had the same IELTS
score: 6 average with a 5.5 in speaking.
The comparative analysis therefore became between two learners of
similar proficiency, but with a slightly different developed interlanguage.
Instrument
Both participants were told to think
of some incident in their past which they felt they could talk about for five
minutes. Within this broad framework
they were allowed complete freedom of topic.
They were given a couple minutes to think about a suitable incident, and
were then asked to speak into a tape recorder.
They were prompted as needed, but as long as they kept talking I stayed
out of their way. Sue spoke for 10:10
minutes, with almost no prompting. Carol
spoke for 6:55 minutes, with prompting for the last two minutes. A transcript of the recording was typed up
immediately after each recording and given to the participant. They were offered the opportunity to dispute
any parts of it. Neither of them
expressed any dissatisfaction.
Analysis
All correct instances of using the
past tense were counted, and then compared against the number of instances were
the past tense was obligatory for an accuracy percentage. To analysis patterns in distribution, two
sets of tables were created. The first
set of tables analyzed the distribution of accurate and inaccurate verb tenses
distributed by the lexical morphology of the verbs (see appendix C for Sue’s
distribution, and appendix D for Carol’s distribution.) The second set of tables analyzed accuracy
distribution by the inherent lexical aspects of the verb (see appendix E for
Sue’s distribution, and appendix F for Carol’s distribution).
(In order to focus
only on the past tense, the present tense and all non-finite verbs were
excluded, as well as conditionals and reported speech. As with any instance of data coding some
judgment calls were made about ambiguous situations. To see the reasons why some verbs were
excluded from analysis, as well as a complete list of all the verbs excluded,
see Appendix G.)
Results and
Discussions
The first step in the data analysis
was to look at participants overall accuracy using the past tense. This resulted in an accuracy percentage of 57%
for Sue, and 49%
for Carol.
Of the errors
counted, there were only three instances of incorrect morphology (feeled,
thinked and gived) across both data sets.
All the other errors were cases of incorrectly substituting a present
tense verb where the context required a past tense one.
Despite the high
amount of errors, the distribution
was clearly not random. Certain words
were consistently marked in the past, and other words were consistently marked in the
present. Excluding self-corrections, Sue
only had six words that she overlapped between the two groups (make, give,
come, call, say and like). Carol only
had one (eat). As predicted
in the literature, this indicates that non-target like verb tenses are not a
matter of simple mistakes or slips of the tongue creeping into the learner’s
production, but rather indicates that certain verbs are represented differently
in the interlanguage with regards to tense.
There are various explanations why different verbs could be marked differently
in the interlanguage. One explanation is
phonological constraints.
Chinese does not allow final consonant clusters, and in their oral
production some Chinese learners may avoid final consonant cluster past tense
forms that they might otherwise comfortably produce in their written English (Bardovi-Harlig,
1999.)
This may account for Carol’s failure to produce “walked” (/wɔːkt/)
and the mixed rate with which Sue was able to correctly produce the past tense
“liked” (/laɪkt /).
However this explanation is not completely satisfactory for either
participant, because they at times both correctly produce past forms with final
consonant clusters and fail to produce past forms with no consonant clusters.
Another explanation is that through frequency of input, certain verb past
tenses are fused into the learner’s brain earlier than others. This is the reason, according to the hierarchical
ordering of morphemes, beginning learners often master the past tense of
irregular verbs (which have higher frequency in English) before regular verbs,
despite the more predictable pattern of regular verb conjugation (Ortega,
2009).
In the case of verb forms, both participants showed
slightly higher accuracy with regular verbs than irregular verbs (70% compared
to 54% in the case of Carol, 67% to 55% with Sue). This goes against the pattern mentioned above
for beginning learners, but neither participant is a beginner and may well be
beyond that stage of their development. In
fact the three examples of irregular verbs given incorrect “-ed” endings
(mentioned above) indicate that the participants may have begun
over-generalizing the regular verb endings to irregular verbs, possibly as part
of a U-shaped development assuming fossilization does not interfere (Ortega,
2009).
Furthermore, some research has disputed the claim that
learners always acquire the irregular past tense first (Bardovi-Harlig, 1999),
and at least one study has shown that low level Chinese learners of English
will learn regular verbs before irregular verbs (Sharmini et al. 2009).
Another explanation for the marking of past tense is
that lexical meaning determines verb markings.
In the case of Sue, this is supported by looking at the negative verbs.
Because negative verbs inflect tense on the auxiliary followed by the base form
of the main verb, morphology of the main verb is not a factor in determining
tense, and yet in Sue’s case the same words are marked in the present tense for
both the positive and the negative, such as want
(four times in the positive, three times in the negative) and care (once in the positive, twice in the
negative). (Carol had no verbs
incorrectly marked in the negative present tense, and so a comparison with
Carol’s data was not possible.)
It is at this point that we turn to the lexical
classification system developed by Andersen to examine patterns in the lexical type
of verbs. Each verb was classified into
one of four categories: achievement verbs,
accomplishment verbs, activity verbs, or state verbs. Accuracy percentages were calculated
accordingly. (See the appendixes E and F
for complete tables and accuracy calculations.)
As expected, it was found that both learners had their
lowest level of accuracy with state verbs (38% for Carol, 50% for Sue), and for
both learners event verbs were tensed more accurately than non-event verbs (79%
compared to 39% for Carol, 65% to 55% for Sue.)
As expected, both learners showed increasing accuracy proceeding from
state verbs, to activity verbs, to accomplishment verbs. However in both learners the pattern was
broken with achievement verbs, which did not receive the highest level of
accuracy, as the literature had predicted.
This may be partly because of the infrequency with which they occurred
(particularly in Carol’s data). As
Bardovi-Harlig et al. (1995) note, it is very difficult to get verbs perfectly
balanced across the lexical aspect classes in an unguided production.
As predicted in the literature, there was a tendency
for both participants to use stative verbs in the present tense when referring to
situations that were true in the past and still true at the present time (i.e.
Sue T16 “I had a, a good friend. She is
a girl, but looks like a boy”) despite the fact that a native speaker standard
would have preferred the past tense for verbs reporting past situations,
regardless of whether they are still true in the present time or not. Carol had ten errors of this sort, and Sue
had four.
Moving beyond the simple past, there are very few
examples of other past verb forms in either data set. There is one attempt at the past progressive
in Carol’s data (T40 “my dad like always, (laughs) hm hm, checking on me”). Although this is only one occurrence, it is
consistent with the research which indicates past progressive occurs after
simple past in learner language.
Sue showed one example of a past participle verb,
which may have been an attempt at a past perfect, but it was without an
auxiliary verb and in a context where the simple past would have been more
appropriate (T44 “after that we been together.
Been together for around two years.”)
It is notable that both the previous examples are
missing the auxiliary verb. This is
consistent with findings that learners appear to begin the acquisition of a new
verb form by only using the verb and a verbal suffix, and omitting any
auxiliaries (Bardovi-Harlig, 2000).
Other than these two examples, all other past contexts
used the simple past tense or, incorrectly, the present tense.
There were no correctly formed examples of the past perfect
in either data sample, although there were occasional reverse order reports
where a past perfect form would have been appropriate. (For example Carol, T62, “He can’t ask for
any help because peoples already fall asleep.”)
This is not particularly surprising, because the previous
research indicates the past perfect does not emerge until the correct use of
the simple past has stabilized at around 87% (with a possible low of 78%)
(Bardovi-Harlig, 1994). Neither
participant had reached this threshold. Instead,
both participants used time adverbials (like already) and because (as
illustrated above) to make reverse order reports. Reverse sequencing prepositions are also used
(Sue T56 “I called him after I came to Australia”).
Differences
Between Participants
There were many observable differences between the
language of Carol and Sue, although much of it falls outside the scope of this
study.
(For example Sue appeared much more confident using
the conditional tense than Carol was.
Although some of this may have been driven by the topic. Sue was talking about a failed romance, and
therefore speculated a lot on what might have been.)
With regards to the focus of this study, the past
tense, both learners appear to be in a similar stage of development, and (as
indicated above) show the same patterns in the analysis. However within this similarity, there are
differences in which specific verbs get marked.
For example, Sue consistently used the verb couldn’t correctly in the past tense (five times in all), whereas
Carol always incorrectly used the present tense can’t (eleven times in all).
By contrast, Sue incorrectly used words like think (three times) in the present tense, while Carol correctly
used the past thought (two
times.) This indicates that despite the
learners being in the same stages of development, the interlanguage mental
dictionary of each learner is built up slightly differently on a word by word
basis. Individual variation of this sort
may simply be a reflection of the unique language learning experience that
every learner has.
Limitations
Something that was slightly humbling
when reading over the transcript was noticing the various grammatical mistakes
the interviewer (myself) made during the course of the conversation. For example T5 in Sue’s data: “The teacher
doesn’t allow it?” (Echoing the learner, but still referring to a situation in
the past with a present tense negation.)
Also in T17 of the same transcript: “You better say it again” (instead
of “You had better.”) Finally in T43 of
Carol’s data: “There were no taxis?” (instead of “there weren’t any
taxis?”) Given how little the
interviewer spoke, these few lines represent a significant portion of the
interviewer’s utterances.
This may indicate that perhaps a more stringent level
of analysis was applied to the mistakes of the learner then to the native
speaker interviewer, and perhaps throws doubt on the native speaker standard
against which these participants were measured.
Bibliography
Bardovi-Harlig. (1994).
Reverse-order reports and the acquisition of tense. Beyond the principle of chronological order. Language Learning, 44,
243-282.
Bardovi-Harlig. (1999). From morpheme
studies to temporal semantics: Tense-aspect in SLA.
Studies in Second Language Acquisition,
21, 341-382.
Bardovi-Harlig. (2000). Tense and aspect in second language acquisition: Form,
meaning and use. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Bardovi-Harlig, K.,
& Reynolds, D. (1995).
The role of lexical Aspect in the acquisition of tense and aspect. TESOL Quarterly, 29 (1), 107-131.
Collins, L. (2005). Accessing second language learners’
understand of temporal morphology. Language Awareness, 14 (4), 207-219.
Collins, P., & Hollo, C.
(2010). English grammar: An introduction. New York: Palgrave MacMillian.
Ortega, L. (2009). Understanding
second language acquisition. London: Hodder Education
Riddle, R. (1986). The meaning and discourse function of
the past tense in English. TESOL Quarterly, 20 (2), 267-286.
Sharmini, S., Tee Pei
Leng, K., Signaram, N ., & Jusoff, K. (2009). The second language acquisition of past tense marker in English by
L1 speakers of Chinese. Canadian Social
Science, 5 (3), 133-140.
Bar
Appendixes
A. Transcript of Sue’s data
B. Transcript of Carol’s data
C. Sue’s Past Tense Distribution by
Morphology
D. Carol’s Past Tense Distribution by
Morphology
E. Sue’s Past Tense Distribution by
Inherent Lexical Aspects
F. Carol’s Past Tense Distribution by
Inherent Lexical Aspects
G. Rationale for Coding and Verbs
Excluded from Analysis
Appendix
A
Transcript
1. Sue. (Time 10:10 minutes)
1. Interviewer: Okay
2.
Sue: Once I get into the University in China,
3. I: Mm hmm
4. S: Um, our teacher actually doesn’t
allow us to have a relationship with another guy
5. I: The teacher doesn’t allow it?
6. S: Yeah, because I’m the student
leader in my classroom
7. I: Mm hmm
8. S: So, ah he was afraid if I fall in
love with someone, then it will influence my study and my work—my student work
9. I: Mm hmm
10. S:
So actually he doesn’t allow it and he won’t accept it so but at that
time, a guy was uh, you know, I met a guy, and he was ah, one year, ah, how do
you say, levels in my grade? Such as I’m
in grade two but he was grade one.
11.
I: Okay
12.
S: Yeah and uh we met each other ah, at, we were just good friends at
that time. But after that I felt, yeah I really like it—like him. So ah, um, I encouraged myself to be together
with him. And uh, but I made some
mistakes, because I, before that, I did something wrong.
13. I: Really? What—
14. S: Not actually wrong. Um.
How do you say? I promised him one thing. That was, I promised him to go to travel with
him during the summer holiday. But I
didn’t, you know, really go travel with him because I felt I shouldn’t lie to
my parents. If I let my parents know I
go out with some guy, and then go to travel with him to some other city they
will be afraid of me—worry about me.
15.
I: Yeah
16. S: I mean, so I didn’t, how do you
say, realize my promise. So maybe he was
disappointed at that time. And after the
summer holiday I felt I really should be together with him. I don’t care anything—I didn’t care
anything. So I want to tell him I want
to be with you but at that time he was just told me, okay, that’s enough, he
couldn’t afford this. This…things. And ah, there are also some other things that
happened during this time but it is very difficult to ah, describe. Because I had a, a good friend. She is a girl, but looks like a boy. Um, and one, I-I just treated her as my best
friend. But one day he, uh she, said,
[whisper] she liked me [end whisper].
Oh,
sorry. [Reference to a 3rd
party passing through.]
So
at that time I was just shocked.
You
can understand from the tape.
17.
I: Yeah, maybe you better say it again.
18. S: Yeah, the girl just told me she
loves me.
19. I: Okay
20. S: GIRL told me she loves me. I-I just shocked. I couldn’t accept this. Even she was my best friends. You know, we are very happy together and take
care of each other, but we are not in the same subject.
21. I: Mmm
22. S: And uh, I was shocked and then
she, at that time she doesn’t allow —didn’t allow me to be together with a
boy. I just, couldn’t understand. Why?
Because maybe at that time I was too young. You know, so I couldn’t understand something,
lesbian, or something, guy, gay, I couldn’t understand, because it’s not normal
in China.
23. I: Okay.
24. S: Yeah, so uh, after the summer
holiday I—during the summer holiday I think about to a lot, and I don’t want, I
don’t want this kind of friend anymore, even you were—even we were very well--
25. I: mm hmm
26. S: --during the past, but ah, I just
give up this friend and want to be together with the guy, and the guy just gave
up, he gived up.
27. I: mmm
28.
S: So I was very sad during that time.
And after that I tried everything to change myself. You know, make-up. Start to wear make-up. Start to learn dance.
29. I: Mm hmm
30.
S: And ah, just changed a
lot. And uh, I tried everything. I want to, you know, um, how do you say, get
him back.
31. I: mmm
32. S: Yeah, and along the way just buy
some gifts for him if I go to the city, and uh send a message to him and ah, if
it become cold, or something like that, I did a lot of things, because I don’t
want to be ashame of my life.
33. I: mmm
34. S: So I just tried everything but,
mm, he controlled my mood. I mean, you
can understand. If he replied me the
message I felt very happy. And if he
didn’t I felt sad. My friends just
persuaded me to give up many times.
35. I: Mm hmm
36. S: Um, so ah (laughs). It’s okay [in
reference to 3rd person passing through]. Um, so um, I just ah, give -- gave myself
last chance to ah, you know, tell him--tell him about how much I love you. And ah, if you can, if you don’t want to be
with me you just told me directly.
37. I: Mm hmm
38. S: And, uh, no something like, above
friend, but below the love.
39. I: Oh, right.
40. S: Right, it’s very confusing.
41. I: Yeah.
42. S: Confusing, confused me. So ah,
um, ah, I just give—gave myself last chance.
And uh, he said he can think about it.
And he want to something in nature not just very official. You know, ah, be together or not together,
just ah be natural.
43. I: Mm hmm
44. S: Yeah. So ah, yeah, after that we been
together. Been together for around two
years.
45. I: Mm hmm
46. S: Yeah I really care, care him,
care about him, but ah, aft—because you know I am one grade higher than him.
I’m a senior. So ah, I graduated
earl--one year earlier than him
47. I: Mm hmm
48. S: And ah, the, ah, it was not good
to find—not, not easy to find a job in China during that time. So ah, as you know I decide to study abroad
49. I: Mm hmm
50. S: For maybe two years and ah before
that I ah tried to persuade him to accept this—this ah fact I decided to go
overseas
51. I: Mm
52.
S: But, um, I used one year to ah, make him accept this but I failed
53. I: Really?
54. S: He still feel sad and normally
say something make me disappointed
55. I: Mm
56. S: so I, after I came here, he never
send me message, never call me, never, you know, MS me, something. And ah, before that everyone weren’t happy,
we were very, how’d you say, just very unhappy before I come to Australia.
So ah, after that I think about, I thinked a lot, and I think I should end,
end, finish this relationship.
57. I: Right.
58: S: Good for us. Both of us.
So I ah, I just, even I still like him, still don’t want let him
go. But the truth is ah, maybe he
doesn’t care me anymore. Otherwise why
he doesn’t--he didn’t send message or call me?
59.
I: Right
60. S: And ah once the time, uh, I
called him after I came to Australia. Maybe one week after I come to Australia
I called him. And I complained
something. Complained such as why you
don’t look for me, or something. And he
said, if next time you calling me for complain something just don’t call me.
61. I: Mm
62. S: So, I was shocked and very sad at
that time, so ah, I think the decision is right. Otherwise we always—we’ll always, you know,
blame with each other or complain with each other. Why you leave me? Why you go to Australia? And I will complain why you don’t care about
me, why you don’t just, ah, encourage me or support me. So, I’m single now
63. I: You’re what?
64. S: I’m single now.
65. I: Ah, single now, right.
66. S: Yeah, long time ago. Yeah but the memory sometimes still, you
know, come rise from my head. Ah,
because I liked him for 4 years.
67. I: mm hmm
68. S: Can you—Can you imagine you like
someone for the whole 4 years? It’s very
difficult to forget him.
69. I: right.
70. S: Yeah, that’s my, ah love story.
Yeah, sad love story. hmm (laughs)
71. I: Okay, great. I think it was perfect.
72. S: More than 5 minutes (laughs)
Appendix
B
Transcript
2. Carol. (Time 6:55 minutes)
1. Interviewer: Okay
2.
Carol: So I, I can start now?
3.
I: Yep
4.
C: Okay my memory story is about
my father and um, it’s what happened when I was in grade 6 of senior school. Ah, it was a rainy night, and I was really
sick, and um my dad did not know I was sick.
Uh, he was, uh, with his supervisor, outside, and uh, and uh he came
back really late at night, and uh, with, with strongly drunk.
5. I: With what?
6. C: Ah, he was strongly drunk.
7. I: Ah, right, okay
8. C: yeah, and ah, I can’t move, I
can’t ah, take any step because um, I don’t know, ah one—before that happened I
just got like small, small red, I don’t know what’s that? Small red?
9: I: Ah
10. C: It’s—yeah
11. I: Like—like a mark?
12. C: Yeah, yes
13. I: Or a rash?
14. C: yeah, just a two in my ah
leg. Um left one and right one.
15. I: Mm hmm
16. C: And uh next day my dad asked my
mom to check on me because I just um, tell—told them for fun. I said look my
leg is really funny
17. I: Mm hmm
18. C: so left one I got one mark and
the right one I got one mark.
19. I: Mm hmm
20. C: And my dad really take it ser—uh,
seriously and the next day he asked my mom to check on me in school because I
was in boarding school.
21. I: Mm
22. C: And uh, when I uh take off my
trousers I was shocked. Because uh, um,
the whole legs were all red.
23. I: Mm
24. C:
So and um, I was um, mm, not, not light that time. I was heavy.
And um my—my mom can’t hold me along.
So, we just take taxi home. And
um, that time I already can’t move anymore.
So uh, so that night my dad was really drunk. He came back, like, midnight, 1 AM or
something like that. And um, when I,
when I heard he came back I cried. Because
I thought, oh hopefully my dad came back he can save me.
25. I: Mm
26. C: Because I can’t fall asleep. And um, what my dad s---did is really shocked
me. He cried because he was so
guilty. He feel guilty. He uh came back so late, he can’t feel his
daughter was suffering some pain in---and um, he take me to the hospital
because he can’t drive, because he was drunk, he just walk and uh hold me
along. And um, that time the hospital is
really far away from my home and it’s uh really late, there’s no taxi on the
way. And he just, um, hold me, I don’t
know that’s really…uh….yeah, he hold me and when we got to the hospital it’s
already 3 AM. And um, I don’t know how to describe that feeling. It’s like I, I, I saved by my father and he
still feels sorry for me because uh, he, he, he think—he thought he couldn’t
get home that, that late.
27. I: Mm
28. C: And ah, after that I, I, I wrote
a letter for him. I said thank you, and
ah, and ah, I know he was feels sorry and I said you don’t need to feel like that
because ah, I know you are so carefully because, ah, like, people generally
can’t, like, just take two marks, left right legs and think maybe my daughter
is something happened
29. I: Mm
30. C: But he feels like that and ask
me—asked my mother to check on me. So I,
I really feel thank you about, about hi—about that thing
31. I: Mm
32: C: Yeah. And uh, till now I still think about this, uh
this thing happened to me because I thought that it’s, I – I feeled my dad
really love me that much, yeah. Is it
[whisper] 5 minutes? [end whisper]
33.
I: Yeah, um, alright, so how long were you in the hospital?
34. C: I’s—one month. One month. I take a sick leave from my
school.
35. I: Okay
36. C: Yeah, because um, my--my doctor
said if I do not take hospital for one month maybe my life would be something
dangerous or something. Yeah
37.
I: Yeah.
38.
C: I-I can’t stay outside. I- I
can’t eat meat. I just eat vegetables. I
can’t eat rice. So at that time I ate
like 5 meals a day. Just vegetables.
39. I: Okay
40. C: Yeah, and my dad like always,
(laughs) hm hm, checking on me, for me, or always stay in hospital with me.
Yeah
41. I: Yeah
42. C: (laughs)
43. I: Now, there were no taxis?
44. C: Oh yeah, that’s too late
45. I.
Ah,
46. C: There’s not m-- not much m—that
more, that more, yeah
47. I: Right
48. C: Because, also that is long
s— many many years ago, so economy is
not that, ah, like these days
49. I: Yeah
50. C: Taxi is not that for more. Yeah.
It’s just a little on the road that night-- that late I mean
51. I: Okay
52. C: Yeah
53. I: So your dad had to carry you?
54. C: Yeah
55. I: And how long did it take?
56. C: Maybe one hour. One hour because he needed to run and walk to
the um, to the hospital. Yeah. It’s really hard I know
57.
I: Yeah
58. C: Because my—my dad is really fat
(laughs)
59. I: (laughs)
60. C: And he do not do any exercise
normal time, I know it’s, it’s really hard for him
61. I: Yeah
62. C: And it’s, it was really
late. He can’t ask for any help because
peoples already fall asleep
63. I: Ah, right
64. C: Yeah.
65. I: Okay, great, that’s quite a story
66. C: Is that finished?
67. I: Yeah, we’re finished.
68. C: Okay
Appendix C
Sue Past Tense Distribution by Morphology
Total: 110
Total Correct Use: 63 Total
Incorrect Use: 47
Overall Accuracy: 57%
Positive Irregular Verbs—Total 33
Accuracy: 55%
Correct Use—Total 18 Incorrect
Use—Total 15
met (2X) (T10, T12)
felt (3X) (T12, T14, T16)
made (T12)
did (2X) (T12, T32)
had (T16)
said (3X) (T16, T42, T60)
told (3X) (T16, T18, T20)
gave (T26)
came (2X) (T56, T60)
|
Present Tense Used—Total 11
get (T2)
take (T20)
think (3X) (T24, T56, T56)
give (T26)
feel (T54)
say (T54)
make (T54)
come (2X) (T56, T60)
|
|
Incorrect
Morphology—Total 2
gived (T26)
thinked (T56)
|
Self
Correction—Total 2
give—gave (2X) (T36, T42)
|
|
Positive Regular Verbs—Total 33
Accuracy: 67%
Correct Use—Total 22 Incorrect
Use—Total 11
encouraged
(T12)
promised
(2X) (T14, T14)
happened
(T16)
treated
(T16)
tried (4X) (T28, T30, T34, T50)
changed (T30)
controlled (T34)
persuaded (T35)
confused (T42)
graduated (T46)
decided
(T50)
used (T52)
failed (T52)
called (2X) (T60, T60)
complained (2X) (T60, T60)
liked (T66)
|
Present Tense Used—Total 11
like (2X) (T12, T58)
want (4X) (T16, T26, T30, T42)
looks (T16)
start (2x) (T28, T28)
care (T46)
decide (T48)
|
|
Negative Verbs—Total 13
Accuracy: 15%
Correct Use—Total 2 Incorrect
Use—Total 11
didn’t
go (T14)
didn’t
realize (T16)
|
Present
Tense Used With Don’t—Total 6
doesn’t allow (2X) (T4, T10)
don’t want (3X) (T24, T32, T58)
doesn’t care (T58)
|
|
Present
Tense Used with Never—Total 2
never send (T56)
never call (T56)
|
Self
Correction—Total 3
don’t care—didn’t care (T16)
doesn’t allow —didn’t allow (T22)
doesn’t—didn’t send
(T58)
|
|
Positive Be Verbs—Total 24
Accuracy: 62%
Correct Use—Total 15 Incorrect
Use—Total 9
was (12X) (T8, T10, T10, T10, T16, T16, T20, T22, T22,
T28, T48, T62)
were (3X) (T12, T24, T56)
|
Present Tense Used—Total 8
I’m (4X) (T6, T10, T46, T46)
are (2X) ( T16, T20)
is (2X) (T16, T40)
|
Ellipted—Total 1
|
Negative Be Verbs—Total 2
Accuracy: 50%
Correct Use—Total 1 Incorrect
Use—Total 1
weren’t (T56)
|
are not (T20)
|
Negative Modal
Verbs—Total 5
Accuracy: 100%
Correct Use—Total 5 Incorrect
Use—Total 0
couldn’t (5X) (T16, T20, T22, T22, T22)
|
|
Appendix D
Carol Past Tense Distribution by Morphology
Total: 87
Total Correct Use: 43 Total
Incorrect Use: 44
Overall Accuracy: 49%
Positive Irregular Verbs—Total 37
Accuracy: 54%
Correct Use—Total 20 Incorrect
Use—Total 17
came
(4X) (T4, T24, T24, T26)
got
(4X)(T8, T18, T18, T26)
said
(4X) (T16, T28, T28, T36)
heard
(T24)
cried
(2X) (T24, T26)
thought (2X) (T24, T32)
did (T26)
wrote
(T28)
ate
(T38)
|
Present Tense Used—Total 14
take (5X) (T20, T22, T24, T26, T34)
feel(s) (4X) (T26, T26, T30, T30)
hold (3X) (T26,
T26, T26)
eat (T38)
fall (T62)
|
|
Self-Correction—Total
2
tell-told (T16)
think-thought (T26)
|
Incorrect
Morphology—Total 1
|
Positive Regular Verbs—Total 10
Accuracy: 70%
Correct Use—Total 7 Incorrect
Use—Total 3
happened (3X) (T4, T8, T32)
asked (2X) (T16, T20)
shocked (T26)
needed (T56)
|
Present
Tense Used—Total 2
|
Self-Correction—Total
1
|
Negative Verbs Total 1
Accuracy: 100%
Correct Use—Total 1 Incorrect
Use—Total 0
Positive Be Verbs—Total 28
Accuracy: 54%
Correct Use—Total 15 Incorrect
Use—Total 13
was (14X) (T4, T4, T4, T4, T4, T6, T20, T22, T24, T24,
T24, T26, T26, T26, T62)
were (T22)
|
is (13X) (T26, T26, T26, T44, T46, T48,T48,T50, T50,
T56, T60, T62)
|
Negative Modal
Verbs—Total 11
Accuracy: 0%
Correct Use—Total 0 Incorrect
Use—Total 11
|
can’t (11X) (T8, T8, T24, T24, T26, T26, T26, T38, T38,
T38, T62)
|
Appedix E
Sue Past
Tense Distribution by Inherent Lexical Aspects
Summary
Overall Total: 109
Total Correct
Use: 64 Total
Incorrect Use: 45
Overall Accuracy: 59%
Overall Dynamic Verb
(Achievements, Accomplishments, Activities) Total: 57
Total Correct Use: 38 Total
Incorrect Use: 19
Overall Dynamic Verb
Accuracy: 67%
Stative Verb Total: 52
Correct Use—Total: 26 Incorrect
Use—Total: 26
Accuracy: 50%
Event Verbs (Achievements,
Accomplishments) Total: 40
Correct Use—Total: 26 Incorrect
Use—Total: 14
Accuracy: 65%
Non-Event Verbs (Activities,
States) Total: 69
Correct
Use—Total: 38 Incorrect
Use—Total: 31
Accuracy: 55%
Tables
Achievements—Total: 23
Accuracy: 52%
Correct Use—Total: 12 Incorrect
Use—Total: 11
met (2X) (T10, T12)
gave up(T26)
gived up(T26)
persuaded (T35)
graduated (T46)
decided
(T50)
called (2X) (T60, T60)
didn’t
realize (T16)
promised (2X) (T14, T14)
|
get into University (T2)
give up this friend (T26)
make me disappointed (T54)
give—gave myself one last chance (2X)
(T36, T42)
start
(2x) (T28, T28)
decide (T48)
never send (T56)
never call (T56)
doesn’t—didn’t
send (T58)
|
Accomplishments—Total 17
Accuracy: 82%
Correct Use—Total 14 Incorrect
Use—Total 3
failed (T52)
made mistakes (T12)
did something wrong (T12)
did a lot of things (T32)
said (3X) (T16, T42, T60)
told (3X) (T16, T18, T20)
changed (T30)
came (to Australia)
(2X) (T56, T60)
happened (T16)
used one year (T56)
|
say (T54)
come (2X) (T56, T60)
|
Activities—17
Accuracy: 71%
Correct Use—Total: 12 Incorrect
Use—Total: 5
thinked (T56)
didn’t
go to travel (T14)
encouraged (T12)
tried (4X) (T28, T30, T34, T50)
controlled (T34)
confused (T42)
treated her as my best friend (T16)
complained (2X) (T60, T60)
|
take care of each other (T20)
think (3X) (T24, T56, T56)
ask-asked (T30)
|
States—Total 52
Accuracy: 50%
Correct Use—Total 26 Incorrect
Use—Total: 26
felt (3X) (T12, T14, T16)
had a good friend (T16)
liked (T66)
was (12X) (T8, T10, T10, T10, T16, T16, T20, T22, T22,
T28, T48, T62)
were (3X) (T12, T24, T56)
weren’t (T56)
couldn’t (5X)
(T16, T20, T22, T22, T22)
|
feel (T54)
like (2X) (T12, T58)
want (4X) (T16, T26, T30, T42)
looks like a boy (T16)
care
(T46)
doesn’t
allow (2X) (T4, T10)
don’t want (3X) (T24, T32, T58)
doesn’t care (T58)
don’t
care—didn’t care (T16)
doesn’t
allow —didn’t allow (T22)
I’m (4X) (T6, T10, T46, T46)
are (2X) (T16, T20)
is (2X) (T16, T40)
are
not (T20)
|
Not Analyzed:
Ellipted Verb (T20)
Appendix F
Carol Past Tense Distribution by Inherent Lexical Aspects
Summary
Overall Total: 87
Total Correct Use: 45 Total
Incorrect Use: 42
Overall Accuracy: 52%
Overall Dynamic Verb
(Achievements, Accomplishments, Activities) Total: 40
Total Correct Use: 27 Total
Incorrect Use: 13
Overall Dynamic Verb
Accuracy: 68%
Stative Verb Total: 47
Correct Use—Total: 18 Incorrect
Use—Total: 29
Accuracy: 38%
Event Verbs (Achievements,
Accomplishments) Total: 28
Correct Use—Total: 22 Incorrect
Use—Total: 6
Accuracy: 79%
Non-Event Verbs (Activities,
States) Total: 59
Correct Use—Total: 23 Incorrect
Use—Total: 36
Accuracy: 39%
Tables
Achievements—Total 2
Accuracy: 50%
Correct Use—Total: 1 Incorrect
Use—Total: 1
shocked (T26)
|
fall asleep (T62)
|
Accomplishments—Total: 26
Accuracy: 81%
Correct Use—Total: 21 Incorrect
Use—Total: 5
came
(4X) (T4, T24, T24T26)
got
(4X)(T8, T18, T18, T26)
said
(4X) (T16, T28, T28, T36)
heard
(T24)
did (T26)
wrote
a letter (T28)
happened (3X) (T4, T8, T32)
asked (2X) (T16, T20)
saved (T26)
|
take off my trousers (T22)
take taxi home (T24)
take me to the hospital (T26)
tell-told
(T16)
think-thought (T26)
|
Activities—Total: 12
Accuracy: 41%
Correct
Use—Total: 5 Incorrect
Use—Total: 7
cried
(2X) (T24, T26)
thought (2X) (T24, T32)
ate (T38)
|
take a sick leave (T34)
hold (3X) (T26, T26, T26)
eat (T38)
walk
(T26)
stay (T40)
|
States—Total: 47
Accuracy: 38%
Correct Use—Total: 18 Incorrect
Use—Total: 29
feeled (T30)
needed (T56)
did not know (T4)
was (14X) (T4, T4, T4, T4, T4, T6, T20, T22, T24, T24,
T24, T26, T26, T26, T62)
were (T22)
|
take it seriously (T20)
feel(s) (4X) (T26, T26, T30, T30)
is (13X) (T26, T26, T26, T44, T46, T48,T48,T50, T50, T56,
T60, T62)
can’t (11X) (T8, T8, T24, T24, T26, T26, T26, T38, T38,
T38, T62)
|
Appendix G
Rationale For Coding and List of Verbs Excluded from
Analysis
Because regular and irregular verbs in English both
negate in the same way (using post module negation), it was thought that the
verb type would make no difference in the tense of the negation. Therefore no distinction was made between
negative regular and negative irregular negative verbs for this analysis.
It was thought necessary to classify negative verbs in a
separate table because negativity affects the verb inflection in English. When the main verb is preceded by a negative
auxiliary verb, the main verb reverts to the base form and it is the auxiliary that
inflects to show tense change.
An
exception to this is when negativity is expressed by an adverb such as “never”
which negates the verb phrase without affecting the morphology of the
verb. In this way a case could be made
for classifying “never” verb phrases as positive verbs. However Sue always uses “never” followed by
the base form of the verb. It is unclear
whether this is a mistake in tense, or if her interlanguage representation of
“never” is similar to that of a negative auxiliary verb. In any case, the decision was made to count
“never” verb phrases as a sub-category within negative verbs.
Because this analysis focuses only on the past tense, any
verbs that were not in the past tense and were not intended to express a past
meaning were excluded from analysis.
Likewise any verbs that lacked temporal aspects (for example nonfinite
verbs such as infinitives) were also excluded from analysis.
For the sake of simplicity, all conditionals were
excluded from analysis, including past conditionals.
All reported speech was excluded analysis. This includes indirect reported speech
because the participants often treated indirect reported speech as direct
reported speech. The definition of
reported speech was also expanded to include thoughts and feelings when it was
felt participants were using sentence structures similar to reported speech.
In cases of self correction were the verb is not the
subject of the self correction, and the tense is not changed, the verb is only
counted as once. (Such as in Sue, T 12
“I really like it—like him” is only counted as one instance of “like”.)
Passive
verbs were excluded from analysis of the morphological distribution because of
the infrequency with which they occurred.
Only one occurrence in both transcripts combined (assuming sentences
like “I was disappointed” and “I am shocked” were counted as examples of
be-verbs plus adjectives and not passive verbs.) Because their temporal inflection was
expressed differently than active verbs, making them hard to compare, passive
verbs were exclude from analysis in the first two tables, but included in the
inherent lexical aspect distribution tables.
The
modal verb should was excluded from
analysis on the grounds that it had no past tense. However the modal verb can/could was included because it could inflect to show past
tense. Because it is always used as an
auxiliary verb (and therefore inflects tense even when in the negative) it was
put in a separate category from the other verbs for the morphological distribution
tables.
Verbs Excluded From Analysis
for Sue
Present tense verbs used correctly
T10.
how do you say?
T16.
but it is very difficult to ah, describe
T16.
You can understand from the tape
T20.
You know
T22.
because it’s not normal in China
T30 how do you say
T34.
I mean, you can understand
T36.
It’s okay
T36.
gave myself last chance to ah, you know, tell him
T42.
You know, ah, be together or not together, just ah be
natural.
T46.
because you know
T48.
So ah, as you know I decide to study abroad
T56. never,
you know, MS me, something
T58. But
the truth is ah
T62. I think
the decision is right
T62. Otherwise we always—we’ll always, you know,
blame with each other or complain with each other.
T62. I’m
single now
T64.
I’m single now
T66.
the memory sometimes still, you know, come rise
T68.
Can you—Can you imagine
T68. It’s
very difficult to forget him
T70. that’s
my, ah love story
Verbs of Unclear Morphology
T56. never,
you know, MS me, something
Infinitives
T4.
doesn’t allow us to have a relationship
T12.
I encouraged myself to be together with him
T14.
I promised him to go to travel with him
T14. then go to travel with
T16.
I want to be with you
T16.
but it is very difficult to ah, describe
T22.
didn’t allow me to be together
T26.
and want to be together with the guy
T28.
I tried everything to change
T28.
Start to wear make-up.
T28.
Start to learn dance
T30.
I want to, you know, um, how do you say, get him back
T32.
because I don’t want to be ashame of my life
T34.
My friends just persuaded me to give up
T36.
gave myself last chance to ah, you know, tell him--tell him
about how much I love you
T36.
And ah, if you can, if you don’t want to be with me you just told
me directly.
T42.
You know, ah, be together or not together, just ah be
natural.
T48.
it was not good to find—not, not easy to find a job
T48.
I decide to study abroad
T50.
I ah tried to persuade him to accept
T50.
I decided to go overseas
T52.
I used one year to ah, make him accept this
T58. still don’t want
let him go
T68.
It’s very difficult to forget him
Conditionals
T8.
if I fall in love with someone, then it will influence my
study
T14.
If I let my parents know I go out with some guy, and then go
to travel with him to some other city they will be afraid of me—worry
about me.
T32.
way just buy some gifts for him if I go to the city, and
uh send a message to him and ah, if it become cold, or something
like that
T34.
If he replied me the message I felt very happy
T34.
And if he didn’t I felt sad.
T36.
And ah, if you can, if you don’t want to be with me you
just told me directly.
T62. Otherwise we
always—we’ll always, you know, blame with each other or complain
with each other.
T62. And I will
complain
T68. Can you imagine
you like someone for the whole 4 years?
Causative
T52.
I used one year to ah, make him accept this
Future Tense
T10.
and he won’t accept it
Should (and post modal verbs)
T14.
I felt I shouldn’t lie to my parents
T16.
I felt I really should be together with him
T56. I should end,
end, finish this relationship
Post Modal Verbs after could
T16.
he couldn’t afford this
T20.
I couldn’t accept this
T22.
I just, couldn’t understand
T22.
I couldn’t understand something
T22.
I couldn’t understand, because it’s not normal in China
Reported Speech
T16.
So I want to tell him I want to be with you
T16.
one day he, uh she, said, [whisper] she liked me [end
whisper].
T18.
the girl just told me she loves me
T20.
GIRL told me she loves me
T36.
tell him--tell him about how much I love you
T42.
he said he can think about it
T60.
Complained such as why you don’t look for me, or something
T60.
And he said, if next time you calling me for complain
something just don’t call me.
T62.
Why you leave me? Why you go
to Australia? And I will complain why you don’t care
about me, why you don’t just, ah, encourage me or support
me
Past Participle
T44.
we been together. Been
together for around two years.
Verbs Excluded from Analysis
for Carol
Verbs Excluded from Analysis
Present tense verbs used correctly
T2.
I can start now
T4.
my memory story is about my father
T4.
it’s what happened
T8.
because um, I don’t know, ah one
T8.
I don’t know what’s that?
T26.
I don’t know that’s really…uh….yeah
T26.
I don’t know how to describe
T26.
It’s like
T28.
people generally can’t, like, just take two marks, left
right legs and think maybe my daughter is something happened
T32.
I still think about this
T32.
Is it [whisper] 5 minutes? [end whisper]
58. my
dad is really fat
T60. he do not do
any exercise normal time
T66.
Is that finished?
Infinitives
T16.
my dad asked my mom to check on me
T20.
he asked my mom to check on me
T26.
I don’t know how to describe
T30.
ask me—asked my mother to check on me
T56. he needed to run
and walk to the um, to the hospital.
Conditionals
T36.
if I do not take hospital for one month maybe my life would be
something dangerous
Past
Progressives
T40. my dad like
always, (laughs) hm hm, checking on me
Post Modal Verbs
T8.
I can’t move
T8.
I can’t ah, take any step
T24.
my mom can’t hold me along
T24.
I already can’t move anymore
T26.
Because I can’t fall asleep
T26.
he can’t feel his daughter
T26.
he can’t drive
T38.
I-I can’t stay outside
T38.
I can’t eat meat
T38.
I can’t eat rice.
T62. He
can’t ask for any help
Reported Speech
T16.
I said look my leg is really funny
T24.
I thought, oh hopefully my dad came back he can save me
T26.
he think—he thought he couldn’t get home
T28.
I said thank you, and ah, and ah, I know he was feels
sorry
T28.
I said you don’t need to feel like that because ah, I know
you are so carefully
T28.
think maybe my daughter is something happened
T32.
I thought that it’s
T32.
I feeled my dad really love me
Passive Verbs
T26.
I saved by my father
Grade and Professor's comments:
72 out of 100.0
Comments
A
fairly interesting paper with a few trouble spots. The lit review is
okay but could have been cited some more research about the acquisition
of the past from a functional perspective. The early part about Riddle's
work and the end talking about transfer don't seem very relevant to
your study. The Methodology is clearly presented, but the Results
(actually Results & Discussion) aren't very well presented: some of
the tables should have made an appearance here rather than being
banished to the Appendix. This section would also have benefitted from
some sub-headings to break it up a bit. While I enjoyed reading your
"Limitations" section, I would have liked to see less self-flagellation
and more thought on why you responded like that—interactants
accommodate, they don't recast, and it's extremely rare to actually hear
a native speaker say "you had better". Looking at Appendix F, I was
struck by Carol's issue with "take", which she seems to refuse to put
into the past.
