Cover not available
Article published In:
Current Visions of TAML2: Tense, Aspect and Modality in Second Languages
Edited by Paz González and Tim Diaubalick
[Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics 8:1] 2019
► pp. 41–66

A ‘mixed methods’ approach for investigating aspect in a second language

Evidence from the SPLLOC project

ORCID logo | University of Southampton
A leading hypothesis in the study of the L2 acquisition of aspect-related verbal morphemes is the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis (LAH) (Andersen, 1989, 1991; Andersen & Shirai, 1994) which claims that learners’ use of these forms is determined by the lexical properties of events. Reviews of major studies reveal that data from one single task, usually an open-ended oral task, have often been used to support this hypothesis. I discuss copious evidence from the acquisition of Spanish to argue that when studies use a ‘mixed methods’ approach (e.g. combining oral production and experimentally elicited data) they are able to test existing hypotheses such as the LAH more reliably and can offer more valuable insights. Existing evidence from the SPLLOC project (Domínguez, Tracy-Ventura, Arche, Mitchell, & Myles, 2013; Mitchell, Domínguez, Arche, Myles, & Marsden, 2008) is used as supporting evidence for this approach and to raise questions about the appropriateness of some research methods widely used in our field.
Keywords: aspect, Spanish, imperfect, research methods, corpus, tasks
Article outline
  • 1.Research design in the L2 acquisition of aspect: Why it matters
  • 2.Choosing the right methodology for investigating aspect in a second language
  • 3.Using a combined-methods approach to test the predictions of the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis
    • 3.1The Lexical Aspect Hypothesis
    • 3.2Spanish Learner Language Oral Corpora (SPLLOC)
      • 3.2.1Research design
      • 3.2.2Results
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 11 March 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dujal.19011.dom
References
Andersen, R. W.
(1988) Models, processes, principles, and strategies: Second Language Acquisition in and out of the classroom. Issues and Developments in English and Applied Linguistics (IDEAL), 31, 111–38.Google Scholar
Andersen, R.
(1989) The acquisition of verbal morphology. Los Angeles: University of California. Linguistica, 11, 89–141.Google Scholar
(1991) Developmental sequences: The emergence of aspect marking in second language acquisition. In T. Huebner, & C. Ferguson (Eds.), Crosscurrents in SLA and linguistic theories (pp. 305–324). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
(1993) Four operating principles and input distributions as explanations for underdeveloped and mature morphological systems. In K. Hyltenstam, & A. Virborg (Eds.), Progression and regression in language (pp. 309–339). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(2002) The dimensions of pastness. Language acquisition and language disorders, 271, 79–106. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Andersen, R., & Shirai, Y.
(1994) Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 161, 133–156. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Antinucci, F., & Miller, R.
(1976) How children talk about what happened. Journal of Child Language, 31, 167–189. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Arche, M. J.
(2006) Individuals in time. Tense, aspect and the individual/stage distinction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2014a) The construction of viewpoint aspect: the imperfective revisited. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 32(43), 791–831. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2014b) About the primitives of aspect across languages. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 32(43), 711–733. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bard, E., Robertson, B., & Sorace, A.
(1996) Magnitude estimation of linguistic acceptability. Language, 721, 32–68. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K.
(1992) The telling of a tale: Discourse structure and tense use in learners’ narratives. Pragmatics and Language Learning, 31, 144–161.Google Scholar
(1994) Anecdote or evidence? Evaluating support for hypotheses concerning the development of tense and aspect. In S. Gass, A. Cohen, & E. Tarone (Eds.), Research methodology in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 41–60). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
(1995) A narrative perspective on the development of the tense/aspect system in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 17(2), 263–91. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1998) Narrative structure and lexical aspect: Conspiring factors in second language acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 201, 471–508. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1999) From morpheme studies to temporal semantics: Tense-aspect research in SLA. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21(3), 341–382. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2000) Tense and aspect in second language acquisition: Form, meaning, and use. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
(2005) Tracking the elusive Imperfect in adult second language acquisition: refining the hunt. In P. Kempchinsky, & R. Slabakova (Eds.), Aspectual inquiries (pp. 397–41). Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013) Research design: From text to task. In M. R. Salaberry, & L. Comajoan (Eds.), Research design and methodology in studies on L2 tense and aspect (pp. 219–269). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Bergstrom, A.
(1996) Acquisition of tense and aspect in second language and foreign language learning: Learner narratives in ESL and FFL. Canadian Modern Language Review, 52(2), 308–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Reynolds, D. W.
(1995) The role of lexical aspect in the acquisition of tense and aspect. Tesol Quarterly, 29(1), 107–131. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bergström, A.
(1995) The expression of past temporal reference by English-speaking learners of French. PhD dissertation, Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Bonilla, C. L.
(2013) Tense or aspect?: A review of initial past tense marking and task conditions for beginning classroom learners of Spanish. Hispania, 96(4), 624–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cadierno, T.
(2000) The acquisition of Spanish grammatical aspect by Danish advanced language learners. Spanish Applied Linguistics, 41, 1–53.Google Scholar
Camps, J.
(2002) Aspectual distinctions in Spanish as a foreign language: The early stages of oral production. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 401, 179–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005) The emergence of the Imperfect in Spanish as a foreign language: The association between imperfective morphology and state verbs. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 431, 163–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N.
(2005) Three factors in language design. Linguistic Inquiry, 36(1), 1–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Comajoan, L.
(2001) The acquisition of Catalan L2 past morphology: Evidence for the aspect and discourse hypotheses. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Indiana University.Google Scholar
(2005) The early L2 acquisition of past morphology: perfective morphology as a default marker or aspectual marker? In D. Eddington (Ed.), Selected proceedings of the 6th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as first and second languages (pp. 31–43). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
(2006) The aspect hypothesis: Development of morphology and appropriateness of use. Language Learning, 561, 201–268. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013) Tense and aspect in second language Spanish. In K. L. Geeslin (Ed.), The handbook of Spanish second language acquisition (pp. 235–252). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Comrie, B.
(1976) Aspect: An introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Demirdache, H., & Uribe-Etxebarria, M.
(2000) The primitives of temporal relations. In R. Martin, D. Michaels, & J. Uriagereka (Eds.), Step by step: Essays on minimalist syntax in honor of Howard Lasnik (pp. 157–186). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Depraertere, I.
(1995) On the necessity of distinguishing between (un)boundedness and (a)telicity. Linguistics and Philosophy, 181, 1–19. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Díaz, L., Bekiou, K., & Bel, A.
(2008) Interpretable and uninterpretable features in the acquisition of Spanish past tenses. In J. Liceras, H. Zobl, & H. Goodluck (Eds.), The role of formal features in second language acquisition (pp. 484–512). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Díaz, L., Bel, A., Ruggia, A., Bekiou, K., & Rosado, E.
(2003) Morphosyntactic interfaces in Spanish L2 acquisition: The case of aspectual differences between indefinido and imperfecto. In J. M. Liceras, H. Zobl, & H. Goodluck (Eds). Proceedings of the 6th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 2002), (pp. 76–84). Somerville: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Domínguez, L., Arche, M. J., & Myles, F.
(2011) Testing the predictions of the Feature- Assembly Hypothesis: Evidence from the L2 acquisition of Spanish aspect morphology. In N. Danis, K. Mesh, & H. Sung (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th annual Boston University conference on language development (pp. 183–196). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
(2017) Spanish Imperfect revisited: Exploring L1 influence in the reassembly of imperfective features onto new L2 forms. Second Language Research, 33(4), 431–457. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Domínguez, L., Tracy-Ventura, N., Arche, M. J., Mitchell, R., & Myles, F.
(2013) The role of dynamic contrasts in the L2 acquisition of Spanish past tense morphology. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16(3), 558–577. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Domínguez, L., Tracy-Ventura, N., Mitchell, R., Myles, F. & Arche, M. J.
(2009) Designing a learner corpus to study L2 Tense and Aspect. Paper presented at EuroSLA. Cork, Ireland.
Dowty, D. R.
(1986) The effects of aspectual class on the temporal structure of discourse: Semantics or Pragmatics? Linguistics and Philosophy, 91, 37–61.Google Scholar
Dry, H. A.
(1992) Foregrounding: An assessment. In S. J. J. Hwang, & W. R. Merrifield (Eds.), Language in context: Essays for Robert E. Longacre (pp. 435–450). Arlington, TX: The Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington.Google Scholar
Duffield, N., & White, L.
(1999) Assessing L2 Knowledge of Spanish clitic placement: Converging methodologies. Second Language Research, 15(2), 133–160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Featherston, S.
(2007) Data in generative grammar: The stick and the carrot. Theoretical Linguistics, 33(3), 269–318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fleischman, S.
(1990) Tense and narrativity: From medieval performance to modern fiction. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Gabriele, A., Martohardjono, G., & McClure, W.
(2005) Evaluating the role of the L1 in the L2 Acquisition of Aspect. Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Giacalone-Ramat, A.
(2002) How do learners acquire the classical three categories of temporality? Evidence from L2 Italian. In M. R. Salaberry, & Y. Shirai (Eds.), The L2 acquisition of tense-aspect morphology (pp. 221–247). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Givón, T.
(1987) Beyond foreground and background. In R. S. Tomlin (Ed.), Coherence and grounding in discourse (pp. 175–188). Amsterdam /Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
González, P.
(2003) Aspects on aspect: Theory and applications of grammatical aspect in Spanish. Published PhD dissertation, Utrecht: LOT.Google Scholar
González, P., & Quintana Hernández, L.
(2018) Inherent Aspect and L1 transfer in the L2 acquisition of Spanish grammatical Aspect. The Modern Language Journal, 102(3), 611–625. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Granger, S.
(2002) A bird’s-eye view of learner corpus research. Computer learner corpora, second language acquisition and foreign language teaching, 61, 3–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012) How to use foreign and second language learner corpora? In A. Mackey & S. Gass (Eds). A guide to research methods in Second Language Acquisition (pp 7–29). Blackwell: Chichester. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hasbún, L.
(1995) The role of lexical aspect in the acquisition of the tense/aspect system in L2 Spanish. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Hauser, M. D., Chomsky, N., & Fitch, W. T.
(2002) The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science, 298(5598), 1569–1579. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Housen, A.
(2002) A corpus-based study of the L2-acquisition of the English verb system. Computer learner corpora, second language acquisition and foreign language teaching, 61, 2002–77.Google Scholar
(1994) Tense and aspect in second language learning: The Dutch interlanguage of a native speaker of English. In C. Vet, & C. Vetters (Eds.), Tense and Aspect in Discourse (pp. 257–291). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Klein, E., Martohardjono, G., & Valian, V.
(1999) Learning and using a first and second language. CUNY Collaborative Grant.Google Scholar
Klein, W.
(1994) Learning how to express temporality in a second language. In Società di linguistica Italiana, SLI 34: Italiano-lingua seconda/lingua straniera: Atti del XXVI Congresso (pp. 227–248). Bulzoni.Google Scholar
Liskin-Gasparro, J.
(2000) The use of tense-aspect morphology in Spanish oral narratives: Exploring the perceptions of advanced learners. Hispania, 831, 830–844. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
López-Ortega, N. R.
(2000) Tense, aspect, and narrative structure in Spanish as a second language. Hispania, 831, 488–502. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lozano, C., & Mendikoetxea, A.
(2013) Learner corpora and second language acquisition: the design and collection of CEDEL2. In A. Díaz-Negrillo, N. Ballier, & P. Thompson (Eds.), Automatic treatment and analysis of learner corpus data (pp. 65–100). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lubbers-Quesada, M.
(1999) The acquisition of aspectual distinction in Spanish: A look at learners in an immersion program. In 6th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Stockholm, Sweden.Google Scholar
(2006) L2 acquisition of temporal reference in Spanish and the interaction of adverbials, morphology and clause structure. In N. Segarra, & A. J. Toribio, Selected Proceedings of the 9 th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 157–68). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
(2007) La percepción de las propiedades semánticas y la adquisición de la morfología verbal en el español como L2. In M. Buck (Ed.), Estudios de lingüística aplicada: La adquisición del Aspecto en Español, 441, 11–36.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B.
(2000) The CHILDES Project: Tools for analyzing talk (Third Edition). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Mitchell, R., Domínguez, L., Arche, M., Myles, F., & Marsden, E.
(2008) SPLLOC: A new database for Spanish second language acquisition research. Eurosla Yearbook, 8(1), 287–304. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McManus, K.
(2015) L1-L2 differences in the acquisition of form-meaning pairings: A comparison of English and German learners of French. Canadian modern language review-Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 71(2), 155–181.Google Scholar
Montrul, S., & Salaberry, R.
(2003) The development of Spanish past tense morphology: Developing a research agenda. In B. Lafford, & R. Salaberry (Eds), Studies in Spanish second language acquisition: State of the science (pp. 47–73). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Montrul, S., & Slabakova, R.
(2002) The L2 acquisition of morphosyntactic and semantic properties of the aspectual tenses Preterite and Imperfect. In A. T. Pérez-Leroux, & J. Muñoz Liceras (Eds.), The acquisition of Spanish morphosyntax (pp. 115–151). Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003) Competence similarities between native and near-native speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25 (3), 351–398. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Murphy, V.
(1997) The effect of modality on a grammaticality judgment task. Second Language Research, 131, 34–65. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Myles, F.
(2005) Interlanguage corpora and second language acquisition research. Second Language Research, 21(4), 373–391. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2008) Investigating learner language development with electronic longitudinal corpora: Theoretical and methodological issues. In L. Ortega, & H. Byrnes (Eds.), The longitudinal study of advanced L2 capacities (pp. 58–72). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
(2015) Second language acquisition theory and learner corpus research. In S. Granger, G. Gilquin & F. Meunier (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of learner corpus research (pp. 309–332). Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Noyau, C.
(1990) The development of means for temporality in the unguided acquisition of L2: cross-linguistic perspectives. In H. Dechert (Ed.), Current trends in European second language acquisition research (pp. 143–170). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Ramsay, V.
(1990) Developmental stages in the acquisition of the perfective and the imperfective aspects by classroom L2 learners of Spanish. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Oregon.Google Scholar
Rankin, T.
(2015) Learner corpora and grammar. In G. Granger, G. Gilquin, & F. Meunier (Eds). The Cambridge handbook of learner corpus research (pp. 231–254). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reid, W.
(1980) Meaning and narrative structure. Columbia University Working Papers in Linguistics, 51, 12–20.Google Scholar
Reinhart, T.
(1984) Principles of gestalt perception in the temporal organization of narrative texts. Linguistics, 221, 779–809.Google Scholar
Roberts, L., & Liszka, S. A.
(2013) Processing tense/aspect-agreement violations on-line in the second language: A self-paced reading study with French and German L2 learners of English. Second Language Research, 291, 413–439. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Robison, R. E.
(1990) The primacy of aspect: Aspectual marking in English interlanguage. Studies in second language acquisition, 12(3), 315–330. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Slabakova, R., & Montrul, S.
(2002) On aspectual shifts in L2 Spanish. In B. Skarabela, S. Fish, & A. H.-J. Do (Eds.), Proceedings of the 26th Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 631–642). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R.
(1998) The development of aspectual distinctions in L2 French classroom learning. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 541, 508–542. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1999) The development of past tense verbal morphology in classroom L2 Spanish. Applied Linguistics, 201, 151–178. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2000) The development of past tense morphology in L2 Spanish. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
(2002) Tense and aspect in the selection of Spanish past tense verbal morphology. Language acquisition and language disorders, 271, 397–416. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Salaberry, M. R.
(2008) Marking Past Tense in Second Language Acquisition: A theoretical model. New York: Continuum Books.Google Scholar
Salaberry, M. R., Comajoan, L., & González, P.
(2013) Integrating the analysis of Tense-Aspect across research and methodological frameworks. In M. R. Salaberry, & L. Comajoan (Eds.). Research design and methodology in studies on L2 tense and aspect (Vol. 21) (pp. 423–450). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., & Salaberry, R.
(2003) The development of tense/aspect morphology in Spanish as a second language. In B. Lafford (Ed), Spanish second language acquisition: State of the science (pp. 47–73). Washington: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Schütze, C. T.
(1996) The empirical base of linguistics: Grammaticality judgments and linguistic methodology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Shirai, Y.
(1995) Tense-aspect marking by L2-learners of Japanese. In D. MacLaughlin & S. Mc.Ewen (Eds.), Proceedings of 19th Annual Boston University Conference in Language Development, pp. 575–586. Somerville, MA: Casacadilla Press.Google Scholar
(1993) Inherent Aspect and the acquisition of Tense/Aspect morphology in Japanese. In H. Nakajima, & Y. Otsu (Eds.), Argument Structure: Its Syntax and Acquisition (pp. 185–211). Tokyo: Kaitakusha.Google Scholar
(2004) A multiple-factor account to form-meaning connection in the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. In B. VanPatten (Ed.), Form-meaning connections in second language acquisitions (pp. 91–112). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R.
(2001) Telicity in the second language. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John. Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2002) Recent research on the acquisition of aspect: an embarrassment of riches? Second Language Research, 18(2), 172–188. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Slabakova, R., & Montrul, S.
(2003) Genericity and aspect in L2 acquisition. Language Acquisition, 11(3), 165–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smith, C.
(1991) The parameter of aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stowell, T.
(1993) Syntax of tense. Los Angeles: Ms., University of California.Google Scholar
Sun, Y., Díaz, L., & Taulé, M.
(2018) A writing based study of the acquisition of aspect in Spanish by Mandarin Chinese learners, In F. J. Díaz, & M. A. Moreno (Eds.) Languages at the crossroads: Training, accreditation and context of use (pp. 51–62). Jaén: University of Jaén.Google Scholar
Tenny, C.
(1994) Aspectual roles and the syntax-semantics interface. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tracy-Ventura, N., & Domínguez, L.
(2009) Task design in L2 Tense and Aspect research: What matters? Paper presented at the Talk-Based Language Teaching Conference. Lancaster, UK.
Tracy-Ventura, N., & Myles, F.
(2015) The importance of task variability in the design of learner corpora for SLA research. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research, 1(1), 58–95. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vendler, Z.
(1967) Linguistics in philosophy. Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verkuyl, H. J.
(1993) A theory of aspectuality: The interaction between temporal and atemporal structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wallace, S.
(1982) Figure and ground: the interrelationships of linguistic categories. In P. Hopper (Ed.), Tense-Aspect: Between syntax and pragmatics (pp. 201–226). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar