Verbal tense and aspect in the interlanguage of learners acquiring Maltese as a foreign language

Abstract

This study explores the acquisition of Maltese verbal tense and aspect by adult foreign learners. It adopts chaos/complexity theory (C/CT) as a conceptual framework and interprets the process of learning from both the cognitive and the sociocultural perspectives. The data was collected by means of a number of spoken and written tasks, reflective journals, stimulated recall, and interviews. Thirty-five non-native speakers (L2 users), and fifteen Maltese native speakers (L1 users) who sat for some of the same tasks as L2 users for validation reasons, volunteered for this study’s data collection.

Except for three L2 participants out of thirty-five, the results indicate a non-linear learning curve and a fractal pattern on the quantitative tasks in the acquisition of Maltese as a second language (ML2). The information gathered by the quantitative tasks of Timed Grammaticality Judgment Tests and Verb Conjugation confirms this study’s conceptual framework of chaos/complexity theory (C/CT), that is that the process of acquiring ML2 is chaotic, complex, unpredictable, and non-linear. Overall, however, learners scored higher in all tasks in May 2017, when compared to their scores in March 2016, thus showing that learning had taken place.

The study’s results show that European and Asian learners of ML2 use the imperfett aspect more than the Maltese and Arabic L1 users. The study confirms that Maltese and Arabic L1 users use the perfett much more frequently during picture interpretation tasks, pointing toward the relevance of the learner’s L1 when acquiring an L2.

Finally, the study’s findings show that there are several challenges that adult learners face while acquiring ML2. These challenges include cultural differences, problems related to memory, lack of motivation, lack of exposure, and lack of support from Maltese L1 users.