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The Role of Lexical Aspect in L2 Acquisition of the Present Perfect

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Abstract

The present study examined the use and appropriateness of the English present perfect in 24 advanced L1 Cantonese ESL learners using a rational cloze test. Results suggested that the learners strongly associated the present perfect with accomplishments than with states. Mixed-effects statistical analyses confirmed that prototypical pairings of morphology and lexical aspect (i.e. accomplishments and the present perfect) tended to be used more appropriately than non-prototypical combination (i.e. states and the present perfect). Yet, another finding revealed a robust L1-based lexico-grammatical pairing between present perfect progressive and state verbs modified by durative adverbials. These patterns of findings are interpreted as supporting the strong effect of lexical aspect and L1 transfer, which demonstrates a very complex relationship between putatively universal and language-specific mechanisms in second language acquisition. In sum, this study has provided new impetus to a possibility of extending the Aspect Hypothesis to the perfect aspect. More L2 acquisition research is called for to investigate the more complex yet less frequent English present perfect and present perfect progressive. Pedagogical implications of the findings are also discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    One exception to this description is that Cantonese has experiential gwo (Matthews & Yip, 2011, equivalent to Mandarin guò), which denotes experiential perfect (Smith, 1991). This might facilitate the acquisition of the experiential meaning of the English perfect by Cantonese learners, although this is beyond the scope of this present study.

  2. 2.

    More specifically, PP was considered appropriate when it was the choice made by the largest number of native speaker participants. Since both PP and the simple past are often acceptable, the simple past should be the strongest competitor for both state verbs and accomplishment verbs for all items. When the simple past was preferred by more participants, the item was not considered appropriate use of PP, to be on the safe side. For most items included as appropriate PP use, the margin was wide except for a few items.

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Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the tense, aspect and modality in L2 Conference held at the University of York, UK, on 20-21 June 2016. We wish to thank Mable Chan for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. Special thanks go to Joanna Siu and Kevin Tai for assistance in data collection. All remaining errors are ours.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Derek Ho Leung Chan

  2. Department of Cognitive Science, Case Western Reserve University, 10700 Euclud Ave., Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA

    Yasuhiro Shirai

Authors
  1. Derek Ho Leung Chan
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  2. Yasuhiro Shirai
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Derek Ho Leung Chan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Language Centre, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Mable Chan

  2. Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong

    Alessandro G. Benati

Appendix

Appendix

Cloze Task (* items retained in data analysis)

Instruction: Please fill in the blank below with an appropriate form of the given verb (in brackets). In case there is more than one answer, please provide the best choice possible.

Accomplishment predicates

  1. 1.

    *I __________________ (prepare) dinner already. Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you’re not coming back for dinner?

  2. 2.

    *My sister ______________ (buy) a very expensive handbag already. Don’t give her money to buy stuff anymore.

  3. 3.

    *This writer ________________ (write) five books already. His books are on the bestseller list every time.

  4. 4.

    I _______________ (bake) you a cake, and it’s your favorite cheese flavor!

  5. 5.

    I ___________________ (clean) the toilet, so you can take a rest today.

  6. 6.

    Grandma’s birthday is coming soon so I _______________ (make) her a card.

  7. 7.

    This earthquake ________________ (destroy) the home of many people. Organizations around the world are trying hard to help survivors.

  8. 8.

    *How’s your essay? I ________________ (write) half of it only.

  9. 9.

    *I really want to watch Monsters University. But everyone ______________________ (watch) it and no one wants to go to the cinema with me.

  10. 10.

    *I _____________________ (buy) all the ingredients for tonight’s hotpot already. Just come!

  11. 11.

    *My sister behaved really well today. She ___________________ (clean) her bedroom already.

  12. 12.

    *________ you ________ (wash) your hands? You are not allowed to eat before washing your hands.

  13. 13.

    *Human activities ______________ (create) many environmental problems already. We should reflect on our behaviour.

Stative predicates

  1. 14.

    The worker _______________ (paint) the wall, so you can go and take a look tonight. The wall looks quite nice.

  2. 15.

    *I ___________________ (love) her for many years already but I don’t dare to tell her.

  3. 16.

    SiuMing _____________ (think) about the topic the whole day, but he still hasn’t got a clue about it.

  4. 17.

    *Don’t tell me anything about him anymore! I ______________ (hate) him for a long time.

  5. 18.

    *He _________________ (experience) a lot of different things. He is way more mature now.

  6. 19.

    Don’t worry! Mum _____________ (agree) to let us keep the puppy! Remember what she said?

  7. 20.

    *Mr. Chan _______________ (believe) in Christianity for many years already. He goes to church every week.

  8. 21.

    *We _______________________ (know) each other for many years already and we are very close.

  9. 22.

    *I __________ (not feel) well for three days already. Should I go to see the doctor?

  10. 23.

    *Since I was young I ________________ (want/already) to be a good lawyer.

  11. 24.

    *I ___________ (need) to wear eyeglasses since Grade 1 and I find it really inconvenient.

  12. 25.

    *I __________________ (doubt) his ability since the very beginning. I don’t have much confidence on him.

  13. 26.

    *I _________________ (listen) to his fairy tale more than ten times already. This is so boring.

  14. 27.

    *I _____________ (live) in Sha Tin for many years, so I am very familiar with the neighbourhood.

  15. 28.

    After he is released from the jail, he ______________ (hope) to lead a normal life.

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Chan, D.H.L., Shirai, Y. (2022). The Role of Lexical Aspect in L2 Acquisition of the Present Perfect. In: Chan, M., Benati, A.G. (eds) Challenges Encountered by Chinese ESL Learners. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5332-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5332-2_2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-16-5332-2

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