Task Design in L 2 Tense and Aspect

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Task Design in L 2 Tense and Aspect Research: What matters? Nicole Tracy-Ventura Laura Dominguez University of Southampton Contact email: N. Tracy-Ventura@soton. ac. uk

Spanish Learner Language Oral Corpus Project n Collaboration between the Universities of Southampton, Newcastle, and Greenwich. n Additional Team Members: n n Rosamond Mitchell, Florence Myles, and María Arche Tim Boardman, web design and IT support n Previous Projects: n SPLLOC 1 (www. splloc. soton. ac. uk) n FLLOC (www. flloc. soton. ac. uk)

SPLLOC 2 n Main Goal: to test the validity of the Aspect and the Discourse Hypotheses with reference to the acquisition of perfective and imperfective forms in L 2 Spanish. n Relevant features: 1. 2. 3. Cross-sectional design with native speaker controls A combination of different task types Data available online for use by other researchers Audio files (mp 3 &. wav) Transcripts (CHILDES) Tagged files (MOR)

Perfective and Imperfective forms in Spanish n Perfective (preterit): bounded n Llegué tarde. (I arrived late. ) n Preparaste el almuerzo. (You prepared lunch. ) n Ella pintó. (She painted). n Imperfective (imperfect): unbounded n n n Llegaba tarde. (I would arrive late/was arriving late) Ella preparaba el almuerzo cuando … (She was preparing lunch when…) Estaban cansados. (They were tired)

SPLLOC 2 Research Questions: 1. Emergence: What is the pattern of Tense-Aspect development of English L 2 learners of Spanish? 2. AH VS DH: Can the observed pattern be accounted for by the Aspect Hypothesis, the Discourse Hypothesis, or both? 3. Acquisition of Imperfective Semantic meanings: Which reading is the imperfect associated with in the first place (habitual, continuous, progressive)?

L 2 Tense and Aspect Research n Various hypotheses proposed to explain the L 2 acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. For example: n Aspect Hypothesis (Andersen & Shirai, 1994, 1996) n Discourse Hypothesis (Bardovi-Harlig, 1998) n Default Past Tense Hypothesis (Salaberry, 1999, 2008) n Distributional Bias Hypothesis (Andersen, 1994) n Minimalist Hypothesis (Montrul & Slabakova, 2002) n Despite a large body of research, still several issues to be resolved: n Inconclusive results when comparing competing hypotheses (AH vs. DH). n Acquisition of the imperfective has not been adequately addressed (Bardovi-Harlig, 2005).

Aspect Hypothesis (Andersen & Shirai, 1994, 1996) n Perfective and Imperfective morphology emerge in a sequence determined by the inherent semantic properties of the verbal predicate Telic n n n Atelic n Achievements (recognize, wake up) Accomplishments (build a house, write a letter) Activities (swim, walk, sing) States (be, want, love)

Aspect Hypothesis predictions for Spanish PERFECTIVE: ACH – ACC – ACT – STA telic atelic IMPERFECTIVE: STA – ACT – ACC – ACH atelic

Prototypical Pairings: acquired first PERFECTIVE: ACH – ACC – ACT – STA telic atelic IMPERFECTIVE: STA – ACT – ACC – ACH atelic

Non-Prototypical Pairings: acquired later PERFECTIVE: ACH – ACC – ACT – STA telic atelic IMPERFECTIVE: STA – ACT – ACC – ACH atelic

Discourse Hypothesis (Bardovi-Harlig 1998) n L 2 learners’ use of temporal-aspectual forms is guided by narrative structure n FOREGROUND n n n moves time along chronologically PERFECTIVE BACKGROUND n n supporting information, description, evaluation, prediction IMPERFECTIVE

Studies testing the DH vs. AH n For example: n Bardovi-Harlig (1998) n Liskin-Gasparro (2000) n López-Ortega (2000) n Comajoan & Pérez Saldanya (2005) n Salaberry (2009) n Results complicated because the cases where the hypotheses make opposite predictions have been difficult to elicit using more free and open-ended tasks Non-Prototypical Pairings

What about the ‘elusive imperfect’? (Bardovi-Harlig, 2005) n The imperfect has multiple semantic interpretations but research has rarely taken this into consideration. n (e. g. , habitual, progressive, continuous) n Are there meanings of the imperfect acquired before others?

In sum n Various hypotheses have been proposed to explain the acquisition of past tense morphology. How do we make sense of all the results? n Ayoun & Salaberry (2005) suggest that it’s not that one hypothesis is right and another is wrong. Each hypothesis might explain a different stage of development. n However, n n What if our elicitation tasks are to blame? Most studies have not designed tasks considering prototypical and nonprototypical forms and discourse role.

Elicitation Tasks in Tense-Aspect Research n Oral: n Personal narratives n Impersonal narratives (e. g. , Modern Times) n Role-plays n Interviews and semistructured interviews n Free conversation n Written: n Personal narratives n Impersonal narratives n Essays/compositions n Multiple choice n Fill-in-the-blank n Appropriateness judgments n Sentence conjunction *Most studies use one or two task types, not a range.

Issues with Tasks n Problems eliciting past tense morphology with prompts such as “What happened in the story”: Learners and NS use historical present n Learners and NS focus on main events, i. e. , foreground and not as much on background. n n Few nonprototypical pairings occur naturally n Lafford (1996) no nonprototypical imperfect pairings

Task type can affect: 1. amount of lexical diversity n Film retells – much higher percentage of achievement verbs than the three other lexical aspect classes (Bardovi -Harlig, 2000) 2. amount of foreground and background n n Impersonal narratives – more examples of foreground than background (Liskin-Gasparro, 2000). personal narratives – usually less constrained and often include more background (Bardovi-Harlig, 2005). 3. rates of appropriate use n Learners most accurate with cloze tests, then written retells, then spoken retells (Bardovi-Harlig, 1998; Camps, 2002)

Conclusions n Need tasks that accomplish the following: n naturally elicit the past tense n elicit a variety of verb types in both prototypical and nonprototypical pairings. n are rich in background (vs. foreground). n elicit the imperfect with different meanings (habitual, progressive, continuous). n Need to have the same learners (across proficiency levels) do a variety of text and task types: n n n Narratives, description, biographical controlled vs. less controlled production and comprehension

SPLLOC 2 Participants Post Year Abroad

SPLLOC 2 Tasks Task Type Research Questions Format Las Hermanas: picture-based story 1. Impersonal Controlled Narrative RQ 1: Emergence RQ 2: AH vs. DH 2. Impersonal Narrative RQ 1: Emergence RQ 2: AH vs. DH Cat Story: picture-based story 3. Semi-structured Interview RQ 1: Emergence RQ 2: AH vs. DH Personal interview based on learners’ past experiences Task Type Research Questions Format 4. Comprehension task RQ 3: Semantic meanings of the On-line context dependant imperfect preference task 5. Production task RQ 1: Emergence RQ 3: Progressive meaning of the imperfect Simultaneous Actions: Picturebased production task

Las Hermanas: controlled impersonal narrative n Main task design issues: n How to prompt learners to tell the story in the past n How to demonstrate habituality with a picturebased narrative n How to find pictures to demonstrate prototypical and nonprototypical pairings

Las Hermanas: controlled impersonal narrative n n Written by the research team Drawn by a hired artist – ©SPLLOC 2009 Verb phrases provided (infinitive form) Targeted nonprototypical pairings (where AH & DH make opposite predictions) ACH ACC ACT STA Total FORE 2 1 6 4 13 BACK 3 7 1 1 12 Total 5 8 7 5 25

Las vacaciones de Sarah y Gwen en España Gwen Sarah Prompt to push use of past Verano del 2006

Foreground: En MADRID (visitar) la ciudad (comer) tapas (beber) vino

Prompt to push use of past Después decidieron ir a Barcelona (coger) el tren (hablar) sobre su niñez

Background begins: Prompts to push use of past 1996 De pequeñas, (ser) muy diferentes

Prompt to push use of habitual past Gwen de niña…cada fin de semana (leer) un libro (escribir) un cuento (pintar) un cuadro

Cat Story: Impersonal narrative n Story adapted from "Missing" by Jonathan Langley ©Francais Lincoln 2000 n Rich in background information, both habitual actions and progressive. n Learners were given time to preview the story before starting. n Task Design Issues: same as other narrative

Prompt: Start of Background Todas las mañanas eran iguales… (Every morning was the same…) Prompt to push use of past and to be habitual

Prompt: Start of Foreground Hasta que un día … (Until one day…)

Interview n Task Design Issues: n How to elicit personal narratives (vs. impersonal) n How to elicit nonprototypical pairings of activities and states in the preterit n How to engage learners in the task (especially youngest group)

Interview: warm-up, biographical information John Lennon Diana, Princesa de Gales Adolf Hitler ¿Qué sabes de estas personas? ¿Por qué eran famosos?

Interview, autobiographical information Mi primer recuerdo El fin de semana pasado 7 -11 años 3 -6 años 12 años ahora Cuéntame cosas de tu vida…

Simultaneous Actions n Task Design Issues: n How to make sure we had opportunities for learners to use the imperfect for past progressive actions n How to demonstrate progressivity with pictures n How to prompt learners to describe the pictures in the past n How to find pictures to demonstrate prototypical and nonprototypical pairings n All pictures drawn by a hired artist, ©SPLLOC 2009

Javier and Silvia are cousins who travelled together to Mexico for holiday. They just arrived today and have already done a couple of things: BILLETES But…all day yesterday they were very busy getting ready for their trip. What were they doing?

Prompt: Mientras Javier…, Silvia… 9. 00 levantarse 10. 00 leer una carta 9. 00 preparar café 10. 00 escuchar música

Comprehension Task Design Issues: n Need to include all lexical aspect classes in both preterit and imperfect contexts. n Need to include items testing the various imperfect interpretations n Need to include a context that adequately settings the scene.

Comprehension Task Learners were given the prompt in English

Data Analysis – Oral Tasks n All audio recordings transcribed according to CHAT conventions (CHILDES) n Transcriptions checked anonymised n Transcriptions morpho-syntactically tagged (MOR) n Transcriptions coded with specific aspectual and discursive features (VCX)

Preliminary Results n Tasks were successful at eliciting past. n Pictures worked well for eliciting different lexical aspect classes and habitual/progressive events. n More equal amounts of foreground/background elicited in the narratives.

Controlled Impersonal Narrative: Las Hermanas n 2220 predicates were coded: n Y 10 = 497 Y 13 = 516 UG = 587 NS = 620 n Foreground = 47% Background = 53% n Achievements = 20%, Accomplishments = 26% Activities = 25%, States = 29%

Percentage of production within lexical aspect classes, Controlled narrative STA FORE ACH 46. 40% ACC 23. 30% ACT 72. 34% 46. 26% BACK 53. 60% 76. 70% 27. 66% 53. 74%

Cat Story – Native Speakers only n 818 predicates coded n 35% preterit 48% imperfect 7% past progressive 5% present n 40% Foreground 60% Background n Achievements = 36% Accomplishments = 15% Activities = 27% States = 22%

Within Lexical Aspect Class Analysis, Cat Story – NS STA FORE ACH 64. 97% ACC 44. 44% ACT 25. 79% 11. 30% BACK 35. 03% 55. 56% 74. 21% 88. 70%

Next steps in analysis n Finish coding all tasks n Consider across-group and within-group results for evidence of developmental stages n Compare learners’ use of imperfect morphology on production tasks with the results of the comprehension task n Compare learners’ performance across production tasks

TBLT Implications n Past tense morphology is a developmental feature. n When designing tasks: n pay attention to the verb phrases used n Are there both prototypical and nonprototypical pairings? n consider the amount of foreground and background. n Try to include equal amounts n think about how useful prompts are n use various text and task types

Spanish Learner Language Oral Corpus (SPLLOC) Thank you! www. splloc. soton. ac. uk Funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (award RES-062 -23 -1075)

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