A Study on the Acquisition of English Past Tense by EFL Learners in Taiwan

台灣以英語為外語學習者英語過去式習得之研究

鄧冠明(Kuan-Ming Teng)

《語文與國際研究》 18期 (2017/12) Pp. 51-81

https://doi.org/10.3966/181147172017120018004

摘要

The study aims to investigate the effect of lexical aspect on L2 acquisition of English past tense by basic-level EFL learners in Taiwan in terms of the Aspect Hypothesis proposed by Andersen and Shirai (1994). The participants were 113 ninth graders at a junior high school (36 for Low group, 39 for Mid group, and 38 for High group) in Changhua County. The study made use of a cloze test to elicit data from the subjects' responses and explored the research topics: (1) the prediction of the Aspect Hypothesis on simple past, (2) L1 influence on the use of simple past, and (3) the relation between learners' L2 proficiency and their simple past use among the categories of lexical aspect. Based on the statistic outcomes, the results of the study supported the prediction of the Aspect Hypothesis on simple past. That is, simple past initially associated with telic verbs, then spread to activities, and finally extended to states. Meanwhile, this study found the perfective marking -Ie in Chinese might cause a positive transfer effect on the use of simple past in English. In addition, as learners' general English proficiency increases, the effect of the Aspect Hypothesis will become weakened on learners' use of simple past. At last, through the study, the researcher also provided some suggestions and implications for future directions of studies and English instruction.

關鍵字

the Aspect Hypothesis ； lexical aspect ； simple past ； L2 acquisition

並列摘要

本研究根據時貌假設理論探索詞彙時貌對台灣中學生英語過去式習得之影響。總計113位九年級生參與並探討以下主題：(1)時貌假設針對過去式之預測；(2)第一語言對於過去式使用之影響，及(3)學習者二語精熟程度與各詞彙時貌過去式使用之關係。統計數據支持時貌假設之預測。即，過去式先與終結動詞聯結，再擴散至活動動詞，最後展延到狀態動詞。本研究也發現中文完成貌標記「了」對英語過去式可能具有正面遷移效果。此外，當英語精熟程度提升時，時貌假設對學習者過去式使用之影響將會減弱。最後針對未來研究方向及英語教學提出建議與啟示。

並列關鍵字

時貌假設 ； 詞彙時貌 ； 過去簡單式 ； 第二語言習得

參考文獻

Andersen, R. W.(1984).The one to one principle of interlanguage construction.Language Learning.34,77-95.

Andersen, R. W.(1989).The acquisition of verb morphology. Los Angeles: University of California. Published in Spanish as: La adquisición de la morfología verbal.Lingüística.1,89-141.

Anderson, R. W.,Shirai, Y.(1994).Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles.Studies in Second Language Acquisition.16,133-156.

Antinucci, F.,Miller, R.(1976).How children talk about what happened.Journal of Child Language.3,169-189.

Bardovi-Harlig, K.(1995).A narrative perspective on the development of the tense/aspect system in second language acquisition.Studies in second language acquisition.17,263-291.