Abstract
This paper investigates advanced German learners’ use of the progressive in spoken English by analyzing the German error-tagged subcorpus of LINDSEI-GE compared to the native speaker counterpart LOCNEC. The analysis reveals a significant underuse of the progressive in the spoken language. Our qualitative error analysis shows that the error patterns do not explain the frequency patterns at all, as there is only a very low proportion of errors caused by a non-use of the progressive in contexts where it would be required. The most frequent type of error is a misuse of the progressive in non-required contexts. Finally, we find that there is great variability in the performances of the individual learners, also as regards the number and types of errors committed.
References
Andersen, Roger W. 1991. Developmental sequences: The emergence of aspect marking in second language acquisition. In Thom Huebner & Charles A. Ferguson (eds.), Crosscurrents in second language acquisition, 305–324. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.10.1075/lald.2.17andSearch in Google Scholar
Andersen, Roger W. & Yasuhiro Shirai. 1994. Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 16(2). 133–56.10.1017/S0272263100012845Search in Google Scholar
Antinucci, Francesco & Ruth Miller. 1976. How children talk about what happened. Journal of Children Language 3(2). 167–189.10.1017/S0305000900001434Search in Google Scholar
Axelsson, Margareta Westergren & Angela Hahn. 2001. The use of the progressive in Swedish and German advanced learner English: A corpus-based study. ICAME Journal 25. 5–30.Search in Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen & Dudley W. Reynolds. 1995. The role of lexical aspect in the acquisition of tense and aspect. TESOL Quarterly 29(1). 107–131.10.2307/3587807Search in Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas & Susan Conrad. 2001. Quantitative corpus-based research: Much more than bean counting. TESOL Quarterly 35(2). 331–336.10.2307/3587653Search in Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad & Edward Finegan. 1999. Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow: Pearson Education.Search in Google Scholar
Blomberg, Karin. 2001. Swedish learners’ use of the progressive aspect in English. Uppsala: Uppsala University term paper.Search in Google Scholar
Bloom, Lois, Karin Lifter & Jeremie Hafitz. 1980. Semantics of verbs and the development of verbs inflection in child language. Language 56(2). 386–412.10.1353/lan.1980.0001Search in Google Scholar
Brand, Christiane & Susanne Kämmerer. 2006. The Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (LINDSEI): Compiling the German component. In Sabine Braun, Kurt Kohn & Joybrato Mukherjee (eds.), Corpus technology and language pedagogy: New resources, new tools, new methods, 127–40. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Search in Google Scholar
Callies, Marcus. 2013. Advancing the research agenda of interlanguage pragmatics: The role of learner corpora. In Jesús Romero-Trillo (ed.) Yearbook of corpus linguistics and pragmatics 2013: New domains and methodologies, 9–36. New York, NJ: Springer.10.1007/978-94-007-6250-3_2Search in Google Scholar
Carlsen, Cecilie. 2012. Proficiency level – a fuzzy variable in computer learner corpora. Applied Linguistics 33(2). 161–83.10.1093/applin/amr047Search in Google Scholar
Dagneaux, Estelle, Sylviane Granger, Fanny Meunier, Jennifer Thewissen, Sharon Denness & JoAnne Neff. 2005. Error tagging manual version 1.2. Louvain-la-Neuve: Université catholique de Louvain.Search in Google Scholar
Dahl, Östen. 1985. Tense and aspect systems. Oxford & New York, NJ: Basil Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
Filip, Hana. 1989. Aspectual properties of the AN–construction in German. In Werner Abraham & Theo. Janssen (eds.), Tempus – Aspekt – Modus. Die lexikalischen und grammatischen Formen in den germanischen Sprachen, 259–92. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Search in Google Scholar
De Cock, Sylvie. 2004. Preferred sequences of words in NS and NNS speech.Belgian Journal of English Language and Literatures (BELL), New Series 2. 225–46.Search in Google Scholar
Gilquin, Gaëtanelle, Sylvie de Cock & Sylviane Granger (eds.). 2010. Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (LINDSEI). Handbook and CD–ROM. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.Search in Google Scholar
Granger, Sylviane. 1996. From CA to CIA and back: An integrated approach to computerized bilingual and learner corpora. In Karin Aijmer, Bengt Altenberg & Mats Johansson (eds.), Languages in contrast: Text-based cross-linguistic studies, 37–51. Lund: Lund University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Granger, Sylviane. 2004. Computer learner corpus research: Current state and future prospects. In Ulla Connor & Thomas. A. Upton (eds.), Applied corpus linguistics: A multidimensional perspective, 123–45. Amsterdam: Rodopi.10.1163/9789004333772_008Search in Google Scholar
Granger, Sylviane, Estelle Dagneaux & Fanny Meunier (eds.). 2002. International corpus of learner English. Handbook and CD-ROM.Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.Search in Google Scholar
Granger, Sylviane, Estelle Dagneaux, Fanny Meunier & Magali Paquot (eds.). 2009. International corpus of learner English. Version 2. Handbook and CD-ROM. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.Search in Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan T. 2006. Exploring variability within and between corpora: Some methodological considerations. Corpora 1(2). 109–151.10.3366/cor.2006.1.2.109Search in Google Scholar
Gross, Harro. 1974. Der Ausdruck des ‘Verbalaspekts’ in der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.Search in Google Scholar
Hahn, Angela. 2007. Learning and teaching processes: Teachers’ learning and teaching strategies for tense and aspect. München: Langenscheidt.Search in Google Scholar
Hahn, Angela, Sabine Reich & Josef Schmied. 2000. Aspect in the Chemnitz internet grammar. In Christian Mair & Marianne Hundt (eds.), Corpus linguistics and linguistic theory: Papers from the 20th International Conference on English Language Research on Computerized Corpora (ICAME 20), 131–139. Amsterdam: Rodopi.10.1163/9789004490758_012Search in Google Scholar
Huang, Ping-Yu. n.d. The Aspect Hypothesis and L2 Learners’ Awareness of Lexical Aspect.http://spirit.tku.edu.tw:8080/phd/upload/893010099/The%20Aspect%20Hypothesis%20and%20L2%20Learners%20Awareness%20of%20Lexical%20Aspect.pdf (accessed 16 December 2015).Search in Google Scholar
Kämmerer, Susanne. 2009. Error-tagging spoken features of (learner) language: The UCL Error Editor ‘revised’. Paper presented at the 30th annual conference of the International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English (ICAME 30), Lancaster University, 27–31 May.Search in Google Scholar
Kämmerer, Susanne. 2012. Interference in spoken learner language: Scope, dependency and detectability. In James Thomas & Alex Boulton (eds.), Input, process and product: Developments in teaching and language corpora, 284–297. Brno: Masaryk University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Killie, Kristin. 2004. Subjectivity and the English progressive. English Language and Linguistics 8(1). 25–46.10.1017/S1360674304001236Search in Google Scholar
Kranich, Svenja. 2010. The progressive in modern English: A corpus-based study of grammaticalization and related changes. Amsterdam: Rodopi.10.1163/9789042031449Search in Google Scholar
Krause, Olaf. 1997. Progressiv-Konstruktionen im Deutschen im Vergleich mit dem Niederländischen, Englischen und Italienischen. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 50. 48–82.10.1524/stuf.1997.50.1.48Search in Google Scholar
Lee, Eun‐Joo. 2001. Interlanguage development by two Korean speakers of English with a focus on temporality. Language Learning 51(4). 591–633.10.1111/0023-8333.00169Search in Google Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey. 2006. A glossary of English grammar. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.10.1515/9780748626915Search in Google Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey. 2011. Frequency, corpora and language learning. In Fanny Meunier, Sylvie De Cock, Gaëtanelle Gilquin & Magali Paquot (eds.), A taste for corpora: In honour of Sylviane Granger, 7–32. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.10.1075/scl.45.05leeSearch in Google Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey, Marianne Hundt, Christian Mair & Nicholas Smith. 2009. Change in contemporary English: A grammatical study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511642210Search in Google Scholar
Leńko–Szymańska, Agnieszka. 2007. Past progressive or simple past? The acquisition of progressive aspect by Polish advanced learners of English. In Encarnación Hidalgo, Luis Quereda & Juan Santana (eds.), Corpora in the foreign language classroom: Selected papers from the 6th international conference on Teaching and Language Corpora (TaLC 6), University of Granada, Spain, 4–7 July, 2004, 253–67. Amsterdam: Rodopi.10.1163/9789401203906_017Search in Google Scholar
Ljung, Magnus. 1980. Reflections on the English Progressive. Gothenburg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.Search in Google Scholar
Mindt, Dieter. 1997. Complementary distribution, gradience and overlap in corpora and in ELT: Analysing and teaching the progressive. In Udo Fries, Viviane Müller & Peter Schneider (eds.), From Ælfric to the New York Times: Studies in English corpus linguistics, 227–237. Amsterdam: Rodopi.10.1163/9789004653634_021Search in Google Scholar
Mukherjee, Joybrato. 2009. The grammar of conversation in advanced spoken learner English: Learner corpus data and language–pedagogical implications. In Karin Aijmer (ed.), Corpora and language teaching, 203–230. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.10.1075/scl.33.17mukSearch in Google Scholar
Mukherjee, Joybrato & Jan-Marc Rohrbach. 2006. Rethinking applied corpus linguistics from a language-pedagogical perspective: New departures in learner corpus research. In Bernd Kettemann & Georg Marko (eds.), Planing, gluing and painting corpora: Inside the applied corpus linguist’s workshop, 205–32. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Search in Google Scholar
Nesselhauf, Nadja. 2007. The spread of the progressive and its ‘future’ use. English Language and Linguistics 11(1). 191–207.10.1017/S1360674306002152Search in Google Scholar
Pendar, Nick & Carol A. Chapelle. 2008. Investigating the promise of learner corpora: Methodological issues. CALICO Journal 25(2). 189–206.10.1558/cj.v25i2.189-206Search in Google Scholar
Robison, Richard E. 1995. The aspect hypothesis revisited: A cross-sectional study of tense and aspect marking in interlanguage. Applied Linguistics 16(3). 344–370.10.1093/applin/16.3.344Search in Google Scholar
Rogatcheva, Svetlomira I. 2009. ‘I‘ve only found the answer a few days ago’: Aspect use in Bulgarian and German EFL writing. In Carlos Prado-Alonso, Lidia Gomez-Garcia, Iria Pastor-Gomez & David Tizon-Couto (eds.), New trends and methodologies in applied English language research. Diachronic, diatopic and contrastive studies, 255–78. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Search in Google Scholar
Rogatcheva, Svetlomira I. 2012. Measuring learner misuse: Tense and aspect errors in the Bulgarian and German components of ICLE. In James Thomas & Alex Boulton (eds.), Input, process and product: Developments in teaching and language corpora, 258–272. Brno: Masaryk University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Römer, Ute. 2005. Progressives, patterns, pedagogy. A corpus-driven approach to English progressive forms, functions, contexts and didactics. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.10.1075/scl.18Search in Google Scholar
Römer, Ute. 2006. Looking at looking: Functions and contexts of progressives in spoken English and ‘school’ English. In Antoinette Renouf & Andrew Kehoe (eds.), The changing face of corpus linguistics, 231–242. Amsterdam: Rodopi.10.1163/9789401201797_016Search in Google Scholar
Shirai, Yasuhiro & Andersen, Roger W. 1995. The acquisition of tense–aspect morphology: A prototype account. Language 71(4). 743–762.10.2307/415743Search in Google Scholar
Smith, Nicholas. 2005. A corpus–based investigation of recent change in the use of the progressive in British English. Lancaster: Lancaster University dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Smitterberg, Erik. 2005. The progressive in 19th–century English: A process of integration. Amsterdam: Rodopi.10.1163/9789004333086Search in Google Scholar
Stobitzer, Heinrich. 1968. Aspekt und Aktionsart im Vergleich des Französischen mit dem Deutschen, Englischen und Italienischen. Tübingen: University of Tübingen dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Swan, Michael & Bernard Smith. 1987. Learner English: A teacher’s guide to interference and other problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Wulff, Stefanie & Ute Römer. 2009. Becoming a proficient academic writer: Shifting lexical preferences in the use of the progressive. Corpora 4(2). 115–33.10.3366/E1749503209000276Search in Google Scholar
Zydatiß, Wolfgang. 1976. Learning problem expanded form: A performance analysis. IRAL 14(4). 351–71.10.1515/iral.1976.14.4.351Search in Google Scholar
©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- The role of formal features in the acquisition of early L3 French DPs by adult Chinese speakers of L2 English
- The L2-acquisition of the German particle doch
- The progressive in spoken learner language: A corpus-based analysis of use and misuse
- Effects of retrieval formats on second language vocabulary learning
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- The role of formal features in the acquisition of early L3 French DPs by adult Chinese speakers of L2 English
- The L2-acquisition of the German particle doch
- The progressive in spoken learner language: A corpus-based analysis of use and misuse
- Effects of retrieval formats on second language vocabulary learning