The present tense in English, again
The present tense in English, again
We report on an experimental study examining what aspectual tense forms we use to convey aspectual meanings when talking about present events in English. We test the effect of structural priming on the use of aspectual tense morphosyntax in the English present tense by native speakers, upper-intermediate and advanced L2 learners of English with French as their native language. Comparative production data from a video retell task is used. Aspectual choices from two previous studies by Liszka are compared with our partial replication. While Liszka primed participants to use the progressive tense, our instructions were neutral in this respect. Findings for native speakers point to a high level of individual variation in the use of present progressive and present simple to denote events simultaneous with the speech moment. Not only are choices variable, but they are also influenced by priming. We argue that this variability creates difficulties for learners of English that teachers should know about.
Aspect, English, L1 influence, Present tense, Priming, Production
133–154
Dudley, Amber
f438dff2-1334-470d-9c4a-5f79f3867a14
Slabakova, Roumyana
1bda11ce-ce3d-4146-8ae3-4a486b6f5bde
1 July 2020
Dudley, Amber
f438dff2-1334-470d-9c4a-5f79f3867a14
Slabakova, Roumyana
1bda11ce-ce3d-4146-8ae3-4a486b6f5bde
Dudley, Amber and Slabakova, Roumyana
(2020)
The present tense in English, again.
In,
Trotzke, Andreas and Kupisch, Tanja
(eds.)
Formal Linguistics and Language Education.
(Educational Linguistics series, 43)
Cham.
Springer, .
(doi:10.1007/978-3-030-39257-4_8).
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Abstract
We report on an experimental study examining what aspectual tense forms we use to convey aspectual meanings when talking about present events in English. We test the effect of structural priming on the use of aspectual tense morphosyntax in the English present tense by native speakers, upper-intermediate and advanced L2 learners of English with French as their native language. Comparative production data from a video retell task is used. Aspectual choices from two previous studies by Liszka are compared with our partial replication. While Liszka primed participants to use the progressive tense, our instructions were neutral in this respect. Findings for native speakers point to a high level of individual variation in the use of present progressive and present simple to denote events simultaneous with the speech moment. Not only are choices variable, but they are also influenced by priming. We argue that this variability creates difficulties for learners of English that teachers should know about.
Text
Dudley & Slabakova Springer Educational LIng volume (FINAL VERSION)
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Accepted/In Press date: 15 January 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 June 2020
Published date: 1 July 2020
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© 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Keywords:
Aspect, English, L1 influence, Present tense, Priming, Production
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Local EPrints ID: 439356
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/439356
PURE UUID: 4fac8319-2623-4b83-a9ee-d2515f75f863
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Date deposited: 17 Apr 2020 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:33
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Contributors
Author:
Amber Dudley
Editor:
Andreas Trotzke
Editor:
Tanja Kupisch
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