Extending the Morpheme Order Studies: Acquisition of Modal and Non-Modal Verbal Morphemes by ESL Learners

The morpheme order studies have long prevailed in the field of second language acquisition. However, these studies are often undermined by their extent and focus on a limited number of morphemes. Thus, the present study extends the scope of morphemes to include modal verbs within other verbal morphemes and studies the order of their acquisition. Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs) were used to examine a total of twenty-seven ESL learners from a wide range of L1 backgrounds: <em>Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, Thai, Spanish, Turkish, Urdu,</em> and<em> Vietnamese</em>. The study reveals a universal pattern in ESL learners’ acquisition of English verb morphology. The study also finds that the first language backgrounds of learners have influenced the accuracy results of morphemes. These findings are discussed in light of the <em>Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis</em>. Overall, the study highlights the early development of English modal verbs by second language learners.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

TESOL

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Alshehry, Amal

Contributors dc:contributor

• Charles X. Li
• Penglin Wang
• Natalie Lefkowitz

• Linguistics
• English Language and Literature

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/1126

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.cwu.edu:etd-2119