Tenseless First Language on the Acquisition of the Tense-aspect System in English

【Abstract】This paper is a reflective work on an article in regards to the impact of the absence of grammatical tense in L1 on the acquisition of the tense-aspect system in English. The author will thoroughly explain the influence of tenseless L1 on the acquisition process of tense within L2 from a language transfer perspective and also provide teaching suggestions specifically for teaching Tense system to Chinese ESL/EFL learners.

【Key Words】Tenseless First Language; Tense-aspect System

【作者簡介】张子婵，天津财经大学珠江学院， 硕士，研究方向：第二语言习得，语言迁移现象，跨文化交际。

The acquisition of the English tense-aspect system has been proven to be difficult for non-native speakers by many ESL researchers. Despite the fact that all languages deal with time， researches has shown that the conceptual， cultural and grammatical divisions of time differ among language communities （Scovel， 1971; Hinkel， 1992）， which presents an additional level of complexity for L2 learners to comprehend the meaning and forms of tense. In a language like Chinese， tense is not morphologically encoded or specified. Therefore “speakers of Chinese may be faced with establishing an entirely new hypothesis of how time is used and referred to” （Hinkel， 1992） or encounter more difficulty with the usage English of tense. This paper will reflect on a scholarly work produced by Suying Yang and Yueyuan Huang in regards to the impact of the absence of grammatical tense in L1 on the acquisition of the tense-aspect system in English.

In the article Yang and Huang examine the acquisition of the English tense system by native Chinese at at different proficiency levels in order to find out how the absence of tense in Chinese and the learners initial tendencies interact to affect the learners acquisition of the tense-aspect system in English（Yang &Huang， 2004）. They indicated that previous scholars suggest distinct stages in the development of L2 tense acquisition， which is identified as three-stage developmental tendency from pragmatic to lexical and to grammatical devices. However， the findings in their research argue for a continuum description rather than a three-stage description of the tense-aspect system development. Their study investigates the impacts that the absence of tense features in L1 may have on the acquisition of English tense system and they believe 1） formal instruction on tenses and aspects may force an early tense-aspect use; 2） L1 transfer of expressing temporality may reinforce the learners tendencies of relying on pragmatic and lexical devices to indicate temporal locations; and 3） the early start of tense use and the L1 reinforcement may prolong the pragmatic and lexical period in the tense-aspect acquisition process.

Readers may argue that the article has been long on examination and analysis but short on pedagogical recommendation. It is true to some extent. However， in consideration of the difficulties fraught with teaching L2 tense， it is actually worthwhile and meaningful to study on the tense features in both L1 and L2 since “learners L1 conceptualization of time and lexical and/or grammatical time marker have an impact on their acquisition of English tense”（Hinkel， 1992）. Understanding the differences between the temporality systems in L1 and English as well as L1 transfer in terms of expressing temporality underlie the teaching of English tense-aspect system.

According to the article， unlike English， Chinese has no grammatical temporal forms and its time reference is primarily determined by pragmatic devices， for example context clues; lexical temporal adverbials like yesterday， tomorrow; or aspectual markers like zai （progressive marker）， guo （perfective marker）. Therefore， English grammatical references to time may not be readily available for pragmatic interpretation by speakers of tenseless language （Hinkel， 1992）. Yang and Huang indicate that learners initial tendency of relying on pragmatic and lexical device might be transferred to the acquisition of L2 tense which coincide with the statement made by Gabrele and Maekawa in the article Interpreting Tense in a Second Language （2008）： it is possible that Chinese L2 learners would try to rely on these pragmatic and lexical devices when acquiring tense in English （Gabrele & Maekawa， 2008）. Both articles also agree that Chinese L2 learners are more likely to ignore the necessity to mark tense-aspect since contextual clues and lexical expressions have provided temporal information （Yang & Huang， 2004）. The reinforcement of the initial tendencies by L1 transfer clearly impede the morphological and grammatical realization of the English tense-aspect system.

The article Interpreting Tense in a Second Language indicates that the properties of the native language are indeed important in determining the path of development that L2 learners take， but also argues that believe that L2 learners are not necessarily limited by the inventory the syntactic feature in L1. In other words， tense is totally acquirable regardless of whether or not the native language grammatically represents tense （Gabriele and Maekawa）. This has been proven in Yang and Huangs study， which shows that advanced Chinese learners are in fact sensitive to temporal constrains in English. However， it is simply identified as a advanced stage of the L2 tense acquisition. Yang and Huang focus more on the negative transfer of L1 and they emphasize the negative effect resulted from the differences between time attributes in Chinese and English. They ignore the positive L1 transfer may have， and dismiss the fact that distinct differences between L1 and L2 temporality systems may actually increase advanced learners contrast sensitivity in L1 and L2 tense features， and thus contribute to the successful L2 tense acquisition.

The article indicates that if formal instruction on tense-aspect is given to EFL learners when they have little exposure to English and still rely on pragmatic and lexical devices to express temporality， learners are more likely to form vague conscious ideas on tense-aspect use. Those vague comprehensions on meaning and function of tense-aspect forms may end up slowing the shift from depending more on pragmatic and lexical devices to depending more on grammatical devices. “Formal instruction” in the article actually refers to prescriptive description of grammatical rules. In the article Teachers Pedagogical Systems and Grammar Teaching： A Qualitative Study （1998）， Borg also argues that what students need is “a help” on how the language is used instead of an explanation on a pre-established rule. The two article all implies that “formal prescriptive instruction” on grammar， for example tense should not been given to early Chinese learners of English.

In order to see the reinforcing effect of tenseless L1 on learners acquisition of English temporal system， the article analyzes two studies： one on 20 native speakers of English learning Spanish and the other on a Dutch speaking child learning English. Besides illustrating the reinforcement， they also have another important finding— intensive training on L2 made a big difference on tense acquisition， which is actually also indicated in Hinkels article， Tense， Aspect and the Passive Voice in L1 and L2 Academic Texts（2004）. As we have acknowledged the fact that the temporality system differ among languages， which is clearly shown through Yang and Huangs specific looking into the Chinese and English temporality systems， we can get two major implications on the teaching of NNs English tense： when teaching ESL English， we cannot assume that NNs understand the English tense-aspect system as the Ns does. Another implication is like how R. A. Close puts it： “difficulties over tenses may vary from country to country， and require treatment adapted to the learners own language.” Thus， if we are teaching English tense to speakers of the same L1， we may need to design specific instruction targeting that group in order to help them overcome the difficulties within the acquisition of English tense.

With Chinese as an example， Yang and Huangs article looks specifically at the impact of tenseless L1s on the tense and aspect acquisition in English. It echoes some of the major problems in the field of tense acquisition. The article also has many implications （although they are not explicitly indicated） in teaching L2 tense. It also explains the issues that need to be aware of dealing with [-tense] L1 learners and particularly provided helpful information on the teaching of tense to Chinese L2 learners.

References：

[1]Yang， S. and Huang， 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 42： 49–70.

[2]Scovel.T.1971 Getting Tense in English： A Linguistics for Our Time. TESOL Quarterly， 5（4）：301-307.

[3]Hinkel， E. 1992： L2 tense and time reference. TESOL Quarterly 26（3）： 556–72.

[4]Hinkel， E. 2004： L2 Tense， aspect and the passive voice in L1 and L2 academic texts Language Teaching Research. 8 （1）：5-29.

[5]Gabriele. A and Maekawa. J. 2008， “Interpreting tense in a second language”. Eurosla Yearbook 8（1）：79-106.

[6]Borg. S. 1998. Teachers Pedagogical Systems and Grammar Teaching： A Qualitative Study. TESOL Quarterly 32（1）： 9-38.