Alexandra Gathen: L2 acquisition of the English present perfect

A Questionnaire Study

1. Rationale
2. Hypotheses
3. Stimuli – The Questionnaire
4. Coding System
5. Population
6. Data
7. Preliminary Results

For different groups of learners of English, researchers have already
commented on the possibility that the mother tongue may have an
influence on the overuse of the present perfect in contexts where the
simple past/preterite would be the appropriate tense (cf. Ayoun and
Salaberry 2008: 560 f., Collins 2002: 49, Rohde 1997: 39).
For the German language, various grammarians describe difficulties
that may be caused by the similar form of the German Perfekt and
the English present perfect next to some overlapping and some
completely contrasting functions (cf. König and Gast 2009: 86 ff.,
Sammon 2006: 47, among others).
However, there have not been adequate studies with German learners
of English so far to investigate the influence of the L1 on the
acquisition of the present perfect.

The NL influences the acquisition of the English present perfect
by native speakers of German, i.e. transfer occurs.
1a. The NL influence can cause facilitation in cases where the
functions overlap.
1b. The NL influence can cause interference in form of
proactive inhibition in cases where the
functions contrast.
1c. The frequency of the use of present perfect instead of
simple past depends on the lexical aspect of the verb.
1d. The frequency of the use of present perfect instead of
simple past depends on the learner’s proficiency with verb
morphology, i.e. L2 development.

• Selection of data:
Written questionnaire by e-mail
Sent to family and friends with very different language
learning backgrounds
• 30 copies sent out – got back 17 complete ones
• Structure:
- Introduction
- Items on Social Data
- Items on Language Data separated into 4 parts

Introduction:

Social Data:

Acceptability Judgement task:
Translation task:

Gap filling task:
Choice task:

• Number of Items: 42
6 for social data, 36 for language data
• Language-related items:
29 in English language, 7 in German language
• Independent variables:
Language, Lexical aspect, Grammatical aspect, Relevant
Verb context, Negation, Predicted kind of use, Possible NLinfluence
• Dependent variables:
Years of Learning, Time spent abroad, Need to speak last
year, Tense, Correct use of tense, Grammaticality
judgment, Accordance with my prediction

social data
Gender
Age
Way of Learning
Years of Learning
Time spent abroad
Need to speak in last year
1 = female
2 = male
number
1 = classroom
2 = natural environment
1 = 1-8
2 = 9-15
3 = > 15
1 = never
2 = < 3 months
3 = 1/4 - 1 year
4 = > 1 year
1 = never or rarely
2 = sometimes
3 = often
4 = very often

Independent Variables:
Language
Lexical aspect
Grammatical aspect
Relevant verb context
1 = German
2 = English
1 = state
2 = activity/process
3 = achievement
4 = semelfactive
5 = accomplishment
1 = imperfective (ongoing, unfinished)
2 = perfective (complete, finished)
3 = both possible
1 = adverb/adverbial of time
2 = adverb/adverbial of place
3 = adverb/adverbial of frequency
4 = adverbial of duration
5 = implied
6 = other
7 = none

Independent Variables:
Negation
Predicted kind of use
Possible NL-influence
1 = positive
2 = negated
1 = continuative/universal
2 = existential
3 = resultative
4 = hot news
5 = narrative
6 = other
7 = unclear
1 = none
2= unclear
3 = facilitation
4 = interference

Dependent Variables:
Tense
Correct use of tense
Grammaticality judgement
Accordance with my prediction
1 = present perfect
2 = preterite
3 = simple present or present progressive
4 = none or other
5 = more than one
1 = incorrect
2 = unclear
3 = partly
4 = correct
1 = ungrammatical
2 = grammatical
1 = different
2 = concurrent

• 17 participants:
12 female, 5 male
• all learned English in a classroom environment
• min. age: 20, max. age: 50,
mean age: 26,41
Years of Learning
Index Value Absolute frequency Relative frequency (%)
1 1-8 2 11,76
2 9-15 11 64,71
3 > 15 4 23,53
Sum 17 100,00

Time spent abroad
Index Value Absolute frequency Relative frequency (%)
1 never 3 17,65
2 < 3 months 7 41,18
3 1/4 - 1 year 5 29,41
4 > 1 year 2 11,76
Sum 17 100,00
Need to speak last year
Index Value Absolute frequency Relative frequency (%)
1 never or rarely 3 17,65
2 sometimes 5 29,41
3 often 6 35,29
4 very often 3 17,65
Sum 17 100,00

Overview Depedent Data:
Lexical Aspect
Index Value
Relative
Absolute frequency frequency (%)
1 state 8 22,22
2 activity/process 8 22,22
3 achievement 9 25,00
4 semelfactive 4 11,11
5 accomplishment 7 19,44
Sum 36 100,00

Overview Depedent Data:
Relevant verb context
Index Value Absolute frequency Relative frequency (%)
1 adverb/ial of time 10 27,78
3 adverb/ial of frequency 1 2,78
4 adverbial of duration 6 16,67
5 implied 8 22,22
6 other 4 11,11
7 none 7 19,44
Sum 36 100,00

Overview Depedent Data:
Predicted kind of use
Index Value Absolute frequency Relative frequency (%)
1 continuative/universal 7 19,44
2 existential 4 11,11
3 resultative 9 25,00
4 hot news 4 11,11
5 narrative 9 25,00
6 other 3 8,33
Sum 36 100,00

Overview Depedent Data:
Possible NL-influence
Index Value Absolute frequency Relative frequency (%)
1 none 8 22,22
2 unclear 8 22,22
3 facilitation 7 19,44
4 interference 13 36,11

100,00
Tense_mainly preterite
90,00
Relative Frequency in %
80,00
70,00
60,00
50,00
40,00
30,00
20,00
Item A_4
Item A_7
Item A_11
Item B_1
Item C_3
Item C_4
Item D_5
10,00
0,00
present perfect preterite both

100,00
Accordance with Predictions_preterite
Relative Frequency in %
90,00
80,00
70,00
60,00
50,00
40,00
30,00
20,00
10,00
Item A_4a
Item A_7
Item A_11b
Item B_1
Item C_3
Item C_4
Item D_5
0,00
different
concurrent

Preterite preference goes together with:
- Lexical aspect:
accomplishment (2), activity/process, achievement (2),
semelfactive (2)
- Relevant verb context:
adverb/ial of time (4), question word when (2)
- Predicted kind of use:
narrative (4)

100,00
Items where only present perfect would be
grammatically correct
90,00
Relative Frequency in %
80,00
70,00
60,00
50,00
40,00
30,00
20,00
Item A_6
Item A_12
Item A_15
Item B_3
Item C_2
Item C_5
Item C_7
Item D_2
Item D_6
10,00
0,00
present perfect preterite present none/other both

Goes together with:
- A_6: activity/process, adverbial of duration, continuative/universal
- A_12: semelfactive, hot news
- A_15: state, adverb/ial of frequency, existential
- B_3: state, adverbial of duration, continuative/universal
- C_2: state, continuative/universal
- C_5: activity/process, adverbial of duration, continuative/universal
- C_7: achievement, adverbial of duration, existential
- D_2: state, adverb/ial of time, continuative/universal
- D_6: achievement, resultative

−
−
−
−
−
In German, present perfect and preterite are used interchangeable
in narrative contexts
Adverbs/Adverbials of time, frequency, or duration often have a
higher influence than the NL
The main interference occurs with the continuative/universal use
where Präsens is used in German
The resultative use in English seems to have a low influence on
German learners‘ choice of tense, even though it seems to be a
strong predictor for Perfekt in German
The hot-news use in English also seems to have a low influence on
the choice of tense