The acquisition of English 'be' auxiliary and thematic verb constructions by adult Arab ESL learners.
This study investigates the acquisition of English be auxiliary and thematic verb constructions in non-past contexts by adult Arab learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). It is well known that second language (L2) learners show variability in the L2 production of verbal inflectional morpholo...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Canadian Center of Science and Education
2011
|
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24359/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24359/1/The%20acquisition%20of%20English%20%27be%27%20auxiliary%20and%20thematic%20verb%20constructions%20by%20adult%20Arab%20ESL%20learners..pdf |
| _version_ | 1848845014488055808 |
|---|---|
| author | Yahya Ali Muftah, Muneera Wong, Bee Eng |
| author_facet | Yahya Ali Muftah, Muneera Wong, Bee Eng |
| author_sort | Yahya Ali Muftah, Muneera |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This study investigates the acquisition of English be auxiliary and thematic verb constructions in non-past contexts by adult Arab learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). It is well known that second language (L2) learners show variability in the L2 production of verbal inflectional morphology by either omitting inflections or marking inappropriate substitution of one kind of inflection for another. The Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (MSIH) (Prévost and White, 2000) proposes that L2 learners have knowledge of functional categories and features underlying tense and agreement although sometimes they fail to produce the corresponding overt forms. In order to examine the nature of the adult Arab ESL learners’ interlanguage (IL) grammar at the L2 ultimate attainment level as well as the extent to which the learners can acquire English be auxiliary and thematic verb constructions in non-past contexts, an oral production task (ORPT) was conducted with 77 adult Arab ESL learners subdivided into three proficiency levels (lower-intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced). An analysis of the ORPT show that the L2 learners omit and wrongly use the be auxiliary verbal inflection (am, is, are) more frequently than the thematic verb inflection (-s) in their production. The results reveal that the adult Arab ESL learners, even at ultimate attainment level, are more sensitive to the thematic verb contractions than to the be auxiliary constructions.
These results suggest that variability in the production of verbal inflectional morphology is due to problems with
the realization of surface morphology in accordance with the MSIH.
|
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T08:40:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-24359 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T08:40:05Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | Canadian Center of Science and Education |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-243592015-10-28T05:10:43Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24359/ The acquisition of English 'be' auxiliary and thematic verb constructions by adult Arab ESL learners. Yahya Ali Muftah, Muneera Wong, Bee Eng This study investigates the acquisition of English be auxiliary and thematic verb constructions in non-past contexts by adult Arab learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). It is well known that second language (L2) learners show variability in the L2 production of verbal inflectional morphology by either omitting inflections or marking inappropriate substitution of one kind of inflection for another. The Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (MSIH) (Prévost and White, 2000) proposes that L2 learners have knowledge of functional categories and features underlying tense and agreement although sometimes they fail to produce the corresponding overt forms. In order to examine the nature of the adult Arab ESL learners’ interlanguage (IL) grammar at the L2 ultimate attainment level as well as the extent to which the learners can acquire English be auxiliary and thematic verb constructions in non-past contexts, an oral production task (ORPT) was conducted with 77 adult Arab ESL learners subdivided into three proficiency levels (lower-intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced). An analysis of the ORPT show that the L2 learners omit and wrongly use the be auxiliary verbal inflection (am, is, are) more frequently than the thematic verb inflection (-s) in their production. The results reveal that the adult Arab ESL learners, even at ultimate attainment level, are more sensitive to the thematic verb contractions than to the be auxiliary constructions. These results suggest that variability in the production of verbal inflectional morphology is due to problems with the realization of surface morphology in accordance with the MSIH. Canadian Center of Science and Education 2011 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24359/1/The%20acquisition%20of%20English%20%27be%27%20auxiliary%20and%20thematic%20verb%20constructions%20by%20adult%20Arab%20ESL%20learners..pdf Yahya Ali Muftah, Muneera and Wong, Bee Eng (2011) The acquisition of English 'be' auxiliary and thematic verb constructions by adult Arab ESL learners. International Journal of English Linguistics, 1 (2). pp. 91-105. ISSN 1923-869X; ESSN: 1923-8703 http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijel English |
| spellingShingle | Yahya Ali Muftah, Muneera Wong, Bee Eng The acquisition of English 'be' auxiliary and thematic verb constructions by adult Arab ESL learners. |
| title | The acquisition of English 'be' auxiliary and thematic verb constructions by adult Arab ESL learners. |
| title_full | The acquisition of English 'be' auxiliary and thematic verb constructions by adult Arab ESL learners. |
| title_fullStr | The acquisition of English 'be' auxiliary and thematic verb constructions by adult Arab ESL learners. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The acquisition of English 'be' auxiliary and thematic verb constructions by adult Arab ESL learners. |
| title_short | The acquisition of English 'be' auxiliary and thematic verb constructions by adult Arab ESL learners. |
| title_sort | acquisition of english 'be' auxiliary and thematic verb constructions by adult arab esl learners. |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24359/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24359/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24359/1/The%20acquisition%20of%20English%20%27be%27%20auxiliary%20and%20thematic%20verb%20constructions%20by%20adult%20Arab%20ESL%20learners..pdf |