| The present study provides a systematic analysis of how temporal systems are developed by investigating the developmental process of adult Korean learners of English. In particular, the study examined the acquisition of the English simple past and present perfect in order to provide an understanding of the process of L2 acquisition of temporal systems as well as L2 acquisition in general. The objectives of the study are: (1) to systematically investigate the acquisition of the simple past and the present perfect, (2) to test how lexical aspect influences the acquisition of the simple past and the present perfect, and (3) to report acquisitional changes across learners with different proficiency levels.; The participants were 60 Korean L2 learners of English in four different proficiency levels, measured by an independent proficiency test, and 11 native speakers of English. The two cross-sectional studies, the controlled-elicitation task and the elicited-production task, were designed to explore the acquisition process.; The results of the simple past acquisition revealed that they exhibited progress proportionate to their proficiency levels of L2. Learners also showed the influence of lexical aspect in the acquisition of simple past, except for the advanced level learners in the controlled-elicitation task. That is, learners showed higher accuracy with accomplishments and achievements than with statives and activities. The advanced level learners, as well as the native speakers, were not influenced by the lexical aspect; as the native speakers, and demonstrated equal accuracy in all four lexical aspectual categories.; The results of the present perfect exhibited characteristics different from that of the simple past, in that learners' progress was not proportionate to their proficiency levels. Learners' accuracy in the present perfect did not show progress from the high-intermediate to the advanced levels. Also, learners did not show the influence of lexical aspect in acquiring the present perfect, but rather showed a pattern opposite to that of the simple past results: learners exhibited higher accuracy with statives and activities than with accomplishments and achievements. Overgeneralization of the simple past may have caused this pattern, given the fact that the overgeneralization was more frequently observed with accomplishments and achievements than with activities and statives. |
