ENGLISHES TODAY I February 2016 I Vol. II, Issue I I ISSN : 2395 4809 Identification of Verb Patterns in L2 Learners of English Studying in Telugu Medium Schools Arpita Panda Research Scholar The English and Foreign Languages University Hyderabad, INDIA. Abstract This paper deals with the study of interlanguage of L2 learners of English studying in Telugu medium schools. The main purpose of the study is to identify Verb Phrase Structures (VP) structures in ESL learners. The study also attempts to examine the acquisition of finiteness in these learners. It also attempts to look at production of verb varieties in terms of transitive and intransitive verbs. Answer scripts of ten class IX students study in Telugu medium schools were chosen for the study. The data was analysed quantitatively using tools like mean and percentage followed by interpretation done with reference to theoretical support given by various studies done by Klein and Perdue in their Basic Variety (BV) study. The findings indicate that learners are at the Basic variety stage of language acquisition and the interlanguage has not attained the FUO (Finite Utterance Organisation). It is still in the interlanguage stage and has attained the IUO (Infinite Utterance Organisation) stage after crossing the NUO stage. Finally the study discusses the pedagogical implication by discussing the pattern in which learners acquire language in various stages and thus benefitting teachers by making them aware of their learners development in acquiring language(s). Keywords : Verb Phrase Structures, Transitive, Intransitive verbs, Basic variety, Finite Utterance Organisation (FUO), Infinite Utterance Organisation (IUO), NUO (Nominal Utterence Stage)
Second language learning is an immensely complex phenomenon. People cannot reliably describe the language rules that they have somehow internalized, or the inner mechanisms which process, store and retrieve many aspects of that new language (Mitchell & Myles, 2004). Whatever may be the theory that supports the language learning process, as researchers in second language learning, it is important to understand the phenomena in describing language learning and explain why they are so. Armed with sophisticated tools of modern linguistic theory, research in L2 has gleaned a wealth of information in language studies. One such central tenet amongst various language learning theories is Universal Grammar (UG). UG studies the syntactic knowledge that a learner acquires and hence it is one of the leading research areas in second language research learning context. Particularly, non- target like morphosyntactic structures are frequently observed in the speech of beginning L2 learners (Klein & Perdue, 1997). Researchers have proposed that the underlying syntactic knowledge of learners is fundamentally or partially different from native like syntax (Beck, 1998; Eubank,1993/1994, 1996; Meisel, 1997) or that it only reaches a native like state after a gradual structure-building process (Dimroth, Gretsch, Jordens, Perdue, & Starren, 2003; Vainikka & Young-Scholten, 1994, 1996a, 1996b). Various studies in recent times have studied the relationship between finiteness and negation in learners spontaneous data (Meisel, 1997; Parodi, 2000; Prevost & White, 2000). These studies have drawn varying conclusions including the fact that in the early stages of development of finite forms are infrequent in elicited production. The present study aims at complementing existing studies on finiteness, but limits the scope by looking only at the elicited production of finite and non- finite forms of verbs and hence predicts the tentative proficiency level of learners. A comparison between the percentages of production of finite and non- finite verb also determines learners stage of attainment of IUO and FUO. The study also aims at looking at the pattern of verb phrase structure and kind of verbs produced by learners. When child language development is studied, it is important to notice that there is a lack in functional words and overt morphological markers of case, tense, number, etc. (Mitchell & Myles, 2004). Therefore, mature adult language system may not be useful in order to study the developmental stages. The aim of studies in second language learning theories and acquisition is based on the assumption that the course of acquisition is to attempt to produce successful or near to successful reproduction of the target language. Deviations in target language may be at all levels of linguistic competencepronunciation, morphology, syntax, choice of lexical items, all aspects of communicative behaviour. This study specifically pins down to looking at the syntactic structure of a sentences produced by Telugu speakers of English. The course and acquisition processes are described in terms of differences in reproduction of various types of verb phrase structures; finite and infinite use of verb forms; and production of variety of verbs in terms of transitive and intransitive verbs. Statement of Problem For the purpose of this research, the researcher identified a group of learners who study in Telugu regional medium schools and found certain consistent pattern in their language production in written data. Hence it was decided by the researcher to pick any written sample from them so that it
can be analysed for research purpose. The researcher also pinned down to observe patterns in verb production. Thus the statement of problem for this study was- Identification of verb phrase structures and verb patterns in L2 learners of English studying in Telugu medium schools Assumptions of the study The study tries to look from the bottom layers of the hierarchical order of linguistic competence, i.e. from the syntactic Verb Phrase (VP) structures and various kinds of VP structures like making Verb Noun Phrase (VNP), Verb Adjective Phrase (VAdj.P), Verb Adverb Phrase (VAdv.P), and VPP (Verb Prepositional Phrase). It also assumes that subjects (Ss) are at IUO stage. During the acquisition process, learners pass through various stages- internal organisation of each variety and transformation from one variety to another. Therefore, while looking at finiteness and infiniteness in learners data it can be observed and commented that learners are at which variety stage- BV or Beyond Basic Variety (BBV) (Klein & Perdue, 1992, as cited in Mitchell & Myles, 2004). In order to describe the features of BBV, they say BBV has the following characteristics- gradual appearance finiteness including verb inflections (tense markings preceding aspect marking) development in pronoun system development in subordination (Klein & Perdue, 1992, as cited in Mitchell & Myles, 2004) It is also assumed that the internal organisation of a learner variety can be seen at a given time and the transition from one variety to another variety is highly systematic. (Klein & Perdue, 1992) Research Questions: 1. What are the types of VP structures used by learners? 2. What is the pattern of verb usage in terms of finite and non- finite forms? 3. What is the overall percentage of correct usage of finite forms? 4. What is the variety of verbs used in terms of transitive and intransitive verbs? Review of Literature: Basic Variety by Klein and Perdue a. Basic Variety (BV) not only plays an important role in second language acquisition but also interprets the relation between form and function (Klein & Perdue, 1997). In other words all natural languages are built on BV and forthwith deal with initial to final stages of language learning. Transition from one level to another level of development represents a growth in both form and function. There are certain features of the BV. They are- lexical repertoire, principles according to which utterances are structured, temporality and spaciality. This paper will focus mainly on lexical repertoire and utterance structure.
Lexical repertoire- There is no inflection in the BV, hence no marking of case, number, gender, tense, aspect, agreement by morphology. The lexicon consists of noun like and verb like words with very little stock of adjectives and adverbs (Dietrich 1989a; 1989b, as cited in Klein & Perdue, 1997). Utterance structure- Given the lexical repertoire, the various ways of utterances are determined by the interaction of three types of constraints. 1) There are absolute constraints on the form and relative order of constituents: phrasal constraints. 2) There are constraints which have to do with the case role properties of arguments: semantic constraints. 3) There are, finally, constraints which have to do with the organization of information in connected text (introduction and maintenance of reference, topic-focus-structure): pragmatic constraints. The phrasal constraints observed in the BV admit three basic phrasal patterns with some subvariants. The subscripts N 1, N 2 are used as different NPs in various sentences. A. PH1a NP 1 V PH1b NP 1 V NP 2 PH1c NP 1 VNP 2 NP 2 B. PH2 NP 1 Cop NP 2 Adj. PP The BV shows a non-finite utterance organization : utterances contain verbs, and are structured according to the valency of this verb. But there is no trace of finite verbs, in whatever function. In the premise A the entity referred to by NP 1 is overwhelmingly controller of the situation the utterance describes. While in premise B the copula may be missed or dropped. This is possible in the constraint of pragmatic recoverability. This is related to pragmatic constraint of connected text. Although for our purpose in the research we may also consider this pattern of copula dropping in learner data as learners show similar problems in their writing task. Reviews based on Finite and infinite verb production by L2 learners of English: (Klein & Perdue, 1992; Parodi, 2000) It is already evident from the above discussion on BV that, the stages of acquisition of a Target Language (TL) is real language and it is highly systematic in which syntactic and morphological forms play a decisive role. A pattern may be obtained and interpreted if we see the sentences written by the Telugu learners in the present study. For example- I am not atented your brother marriage. Although there is a tense aspect present in the learner s written data, but it is a wrong form. This symptom has been explained by Klein and Perdue NUO is a stage which is extremely simple and
mainly consists of seemingly unconnected nouns, adverbs and particles. But this pattern is does not seem elusive in the subsequent stage, i.e. IUO stage. In this stage the presence of verbs allows the learner to make use of different types of valency (the total number of agreements that a verb takes) which comes with the (non-finite) verb; and hence there is no distinction made between finite and non-finite (infinite) verbs. Consequently, the ed marker seemingly can be interpreted as a change in location which is there in the learner s mind but it is not implied explicitly using a modal (will). This kind of learner produced data can again be linked to the inability of learners to show relation of verb placement in terms of finiteness understood as subject- verb agreement. It has been claimed by researchers that a distinction is made between thematic and non- thematic verbs by learners and this distinction plays an important in the initial stage of language acquisition thereupon bringing about problems in making non- thematic verbs like modals, copula, auxiliaries (Parodi, 2000). As a result of this in languages like English modals and auxiliaries have a separate morphological and syntactic class. Their inflection also differs in syntactic and morphological rules from the thematic verbs( lexical verbs) As opposed to the NUO and IUO stage, a formal acquisition is attained in the FUO stage. The FUO stage shows the presence of finite verbs with proper subject- verb agreement. However, the transition from NUO to IUO stage is slow and gradual, and the coexistence of several types of utterance organisation as well as backsliding is not uncommon (Klein & Perdue, 1992) Another study related to finiteness in leaners data: With reference to finiteness it has been proposed that verbal feature representations are impaired in L2grammar ( Beck, 1998, Eubank, 1996; as cited in Schimki, 2011). According to this theory early learner grammar consists of VP structures at its elementary forms with few other phrases like VNPs, VPPs, VAdj.P and Adv.P. There is less production of functional words like the prepositions, articles etc. Methodology and data analysis: The study was a quantitative design to observe and analyse data of learners of standard 9 studying in Telugu regional medium schools. It intended to see the learners ability to produce various Verb Phrase Structures (VPS); stages of finiteness in their elicited written data and try to analyse the stage at which they are pitched in, i.e. NUO (Nominal Utterance Organisation), IUO (Infinite Utterance Organisation) and FUO (Finite Utterance Organisation); and finally it also tried to analyse the percentage of production of verb varieties, i.e. in terms of transitive and intransitive verb production. Sample: Answer scripts of ten standard IX Telugu speaking English L2 learners were collected for the research.
S.no Names of Students Code used Age Gender Male(M)/ Female(F) M. Mamatha S1 15 F 7 J. Madhavi S2 16 F 7 Navenu S3 14 M 7 Y.Shiva Prasad S4 14 M 7 B. Shravanthi S5 14 F 7 M. Prince S6 14 M 7 M. Pravalika S7 14 F 7 G. Nirmala S8 14 F 7 G. Lakshmi S9 14 F 7. K. Kalpana S10 14 F 7 Table-1.Learners profile Total years of exposure to English Data analysis Verifying Research questions: 1. What are the types of VP structures used by learners? An examination of phrases produced by the 10 Subjects (Ss) was done. The total number of verbs, VNPs, and V. Adj. P produced by all the 10 Ss were analysed. The table below gives a summary of various types of phrase structures found in the data. Total Ss Verbs VNPs VAdjP VAdvP VPP 10 L2 learners of English 53 40 7 5 2 Table-2.Sum of VP Structures produced by all the Ss across the data 2. What is the pattern of verb usage in terms of finite and non- finite forms? When critically analysing all the data set it was noticed that Ss had not made correct use of finite verbs in all their written texts. Review of literature of finite verb acquisition also enumerates that stages of acquisition of finiteness thrives on three levels of development, i.e. NUO (Nominal Utterance Organisation), IUO (Infinite Utterance Organisation) and FUO (Finite Utterance Organisation) (Klein Perdue, 1992). Based on data analysis, the performance of Ss finite verbs, infinite verbs and percentage of finite verb produced by all the Ss is graphically represented below. 6 4 Finite verbs Finite 2 0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 Graph 1 showing finite verbs produced by each S across the data set
3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Infinite verbs S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 Infinite verbs Graph 2 indicates infinite verbs produced by Ss in their written texts. 2.5 Finite but incorrect 2 1.5 1 Finite but incorrect 0.5 0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 Graph 3 indicating finite but incorrect verbs in the data 3. What does the overall percentage of finite verbs indicate? In order to answer this question it is essential to calculate the overall percentage of finite verbs produced by Ss individually and together The table below summarises all the data collected to see the total number of finite, infinite, finite but incorrect verbs and percentage of finite verbs produced. Total Ss Total correct Finite Verbs Total infinite Verbs Total finite but incorrect % of finite verbs % of infinite and finite but incorrect verbs 10 L2 learners of English 31 11 12 58.49 % 43.39% Table-3.shows a summary of the total correct finite, infinite, finite but incorrect and percentage of finite verbs produced by all the Ss.
4. What is the variety of verbs used in terms of transitive and intransitive verbs? Transitive verbs can take different types of objects a noun phrase or a clause. But with link verbs different adjectives and nouns can act as complements. In the data set it was observed that Ss mostly produced maximum number of transitive verbs, which counted together to be 26. Intransitive verbs do not take an object. Some intransitive verbs usually are used with prepositions or adverbs. In the data that is under consideration shows a trend where intransitive verbs are mostly followed by a preposition or an adverb. The total number of intransitive verbs produced is 19. Findings: The findings show that the learners are at the BV stage because of limited lexical repertoire. The written data indicates that learners have very few verbs, nouns, prepositions and adjectives. Patterns of three major phrasal structures discussed in the review section were also evident in the written data. An example can be sited as under- PH1a- NP 1- V Example- {Our exams} NP1- {are continued } V PHIb- NP1-V-NP2 Example- {I} NP1 {am} v {your friend Y.Shiva} NP2 PH1c NP 1 VNP 2 NP 2 Example- {Your sister} NP1 {convey my best wishes} VNP2 {and wishes to the bride and bridegroom} NP2 PH2 NP 1 Cop NP2 PP Adj. Example- {Your brother s marriage inviting} NP1 - {was came} Cop - {to me} PP {I} NP1 - {am} Cop - {fine} Adj {How} NP1 - {are} Cop -{you} NP2 Thus the first research question gets proved as the data shows learners are at BV stage. The data also indicates that learners are at IUO stage. This is evident from the following example- a. I am not atented your brother marriage. atented lacks inflection b. my exams are fast approach. The examples show that Ss are in their BV stage and they are still to achieve their finiteness. It was also observed that the percentage of finiteness is 75%. However, a detailed analysis of the data shows that the question was explicitly stated in the examination. Therefore, Ss copied most of the words from the question. It can be stated that Ss did not have a stable state in finite verb production in their written data.
Ss produced 26 transitive verbs as opposed to 19 intransitive verbs. The percentage of transitive verb production is 49.05% while that of intransitive verbs is 35%. The review of literature also elucidates that non- native speakers of English are more likely to learn and use causative verbs as opposed to anticausative verbs. Causative verbs include verbs like convey, attend etc. hence Ss use these verbs frequently. Moreover, the frequency of use of these verbs is high almost every S s data. At the same time use of to be verb is used as transitive verb when it takes a noun phrase. On the other hand to be is used as a complement when it is followed by an adjective or an adverb. It can be seen that the frequency of transitive verbs is higher as opposed to frequency of intransitive verbs and therefore we can deduce that these Ss can produce transitive verbs more in comparison to intransitive verbs. it is also clear from the analysis that the variety of transitive verbs used by Ss is very less, i.e.5 varieties while intransitive variety is only 3. Pedagogical Implication: The language of learners at times is not so very much a language but rather an imperfect, deficient imitation of a language and it is latter which serves as the base of description. The learner variety is not perceived and studied in terms of what it is but in terms of what it is not. Hence, it renders for an implication perspective for teachers. Second language teaching is a normative process and it is the teacher s responsibility to bring the learners as close to the norms as possible. Therefore, teachers have to see that the questions that they set for the learners are not made explicit to a large extent. This has been discussed earlier as well. Teachers also have to be aware of the pattern of imperfect phrase and sentence structures that the learners make. This will enable them to rectify the syntactic and morphological errors in their learners.