Spanish L2 acquisition of Aspect by Mandarin Chinese learners
What is it about?
The paper analyzes the role of lexical aspect, grounding information and the combination of both in the acquisition of Spanish aspectual past tenses (Indefinido and Imperfecto) by Mandarin Chinese learners. The role of L1 transfer is also analyzed. Empirical data from two level groups (B1, B2 CEFR) of university students were gathered. The elicitation instrument was a set of three semiguided story telling tasks where the infinitive forms of targeted verbs were provided. Data partially support the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis (Andersen 1991, Andersen and Shirai 1996) and the Discourse Hypothesis (Bardovi-Harlig 1994). Finally, our data support that the L1 transfer can be attested but only at the semantic level.
Why is it important?
Se provide and analyze mpirical data of B1 and B2 Mandarin Chinese learners of Spanish from a wider learner corpus (Gushi-ELE).