The learning of the past progressive tense: an investigation into target language interference and crosslinguistic interference

• Main Author: Miin, Jason Hwa Lim
• Format: Article
• Published: Penerbit Universiti Malaysia Sabah 2002
• Subjects: P Philology. Linguistics
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/18692/

Based on the notion that the teaching and learning of the tense should take into consideration not merely its verb forms and semantic functions, this paper studies the learners’ perception of the tense in relation to other tenses and verb forms in a total of ten different situations. Using multiple-choice items that competed with one another at the morphological, phonetic and semantic levels, the researcher offered an objective approach to studying the significance of the learners’ first language in the second language acquisition of the past progressive tense. An analysis of both errors and non-errors has revealed that the role of the mother tongue is prominent, yet its significance should not be exaggerated. This is due to the plausibility that verb forms in the target language may also be a cause of learning difficulty or interference that has often been overlooked by researchers. On the basis of the data elicited, it is recommended that when a new tense is taught, the tense should always be contrasted with other tenses in terms of their verb forms and functions in a wide range of situations. Some useful techniques have also been recommended to help learners distinguish the past progressive tense from other tenses in an effort to minimise interference resulting from both the mother tongue and the target language itself.