This case study examines the use of verb tenses by an English L2 learner from China. Interviews were conducted to understand the participant's language learning background. A picture description task elicited a language sample which was analyzed for use of past, present, and progressive verb tenses. Results show that the participant struggled most with past tense verbs. Additional analyses of lexical diversity provide further context. The discussion interprets the findings in relation to SLA theories and areas for future improvement.

1. APLX DATA ANSWERS
Verb Present tense Verb Past tense Verb Progressive tense
Noun Noun Plural
Run Ran Running Intern Interns
Eat Ate Eating Laptop Laptops
Walk Walked Walking Homework Homework
Study Studied Studying Man Men
Swim Swam Swimming Person People
Practice Practiced Practicing Table Tables
Encounter Encountered Encountering House Houses
Admire Admired Admiring China(flatware) 瓷器 China
Hit Hit Hitting Car Cars
Sleep Slept Sleeping Goose Geese
Drive Drove Driving Volcano Volcanoes
See Saw Seeing Syllabus Syllabi
Do Did/Done Doing Potato Potatoes
Help Helped Helping Tooth Teeth
Cut Cut Cutting Woman Women
Bring Brought Bringing Glasses 眼镜 Glasses
Intern Interned Interning Computer Computers
Shower Showered Showering Deer Deer
Arise Arose Arising Foot Feet
APLX DATA L2
Verb Present tense Verb Past tense Verb Progressive tense
Noun Noun Plural
Run Ran running Intern Interns

2. Eat ate eatting Laptop Laptops
Walk walked walking Homework Homeworks
Study Studied Studying Man men
Swim swam swimming Person people
Practice practiced practicing Table tables
Encounter encountered encounterring House houses
Admire admired admiring China(flatware) 瓷器 Chinese
Hit hitted hitting Car Cars
Sleep slept sleepping Goose Gooses
Drive drove driving Volcano Volcano
See saw seeing Syllabus Syllabus
Do did doing Potato potatos
Help helped helping Tooth teeth
Cut cutted cutting Woman Weman
Bring brought bring Glasses 眼镜 Glasses
Intern Intern Interning Computer Computers
Shower showered showerring Deer Deer
Arise arised arising Foot Feet
16/20 17/20 12/20
APLX DATA L1
Verb Present tense Verb Past tense Verb Progressive tense
Noun Noun Plural
Run Ran Running Intern Interns
Eat Ate Eating Laptop Laptops
Walk Walked Walking Homework Homeworks
Study Studied Studying Man Men
Swim Swam Swimming Person People
Practice Practiced Practicing Table Tables
Encounter Encountered Encountering House Houses
Admire Admired Admiring China(flatware) 瓷器 China

3. Hit Hit Hitting Car Cars
Sleep Slept Sleeping Goose Geese
Drive Drove Driving Volcano Volcanoes
See Saw Seeing Syllabus Syllabi
Do Did/Done Doing Potato Potatoes
Help Helped Helping Tooth Teeth
Cut Cut Cutting Woman Women
Bring Brung Bringing Glasses 眼镜 Glasses
Intern Interned Interning Computer Computers
Shower Showered Showering Deer Deer
Arise Arose Arising Foot Feet
L1 Native speaker(baseline)
· Age: 21
· From Van Nuys, CA
· Length of L1 study: Native
· Education level: Junior at UCSC
· Linguistics major
· Father and mother both speaks English
· Mother is native english speaker, Father is Guatemalan.
1. When did you begin to study English?
My mother was a college freshman when she gave birth to me.
As a result, she needed a babysitter or some sort of daycare to
take care of me while she went to school and worked. She
taught me basic English words and phrases that any parent
would begin to teach their toddler. However, while she was
busy, and once she found a trustworthy but inexpensive daycare
to drop me off at, my English learning was picked up from
there. I learned some numbers and some alphabet from a native
Peruvian couple that spoke some English.
Since they had multiple kids, and my mother later added my two

4. younger siblings to their roster, the daycare had the money to
buy interactive toys and activities to teach the youngest children
some English. This included a very large rug that had every
letter in the alphabet, along with a corresponding animal whose
species started with that letter.
I would watch American English television programs for kids
(in addition to some Spanish ones). My own father is native
from Guatemala. To this day, his English is sometimes a little
broken and ungrammatical. But it did not hinder my English
learning.
0. How long have you studied English?
The last time I had an English class, where I learned grammar
rules and how to read and write would be in high school. I’ve
been learning English from when I was a toddler to senior year
of high school, when I was 18 years old.
This question is a little odd for me, because I’ve never seen my
English learning as anything other than inherent and intuitive. It
was my first language, and because of some personal family
issue, my only spoken language, despite my mother and father
speaking fluent Spanish at home. Every book I’ve ever read,
every article, every youtube video I’ve ever watched or listened
to in the English language had secured such reasoning in my
head. How could I have studied English past elementary school,
if I could think in it?
I don’t really remember studying the grammar of English. Over
the years, through speaking, listening, and reading in English,
the grammar is ingrained. It’s just been so long that I don’t
even remember any specific grammars. If it feels right, it feels
right. Not even the red or blue squiggly lines in word processors

5. can change my learned views over what I’ve studied and
observed in the English language for years.
1. How did you study English at school? (all years studied)
Starting from Kindergarten, I began to formally learn the
alphabet, and how to write. I already understood many words,
because I was a child, and children are learning-sponges. From
then on, my teachers would teach me concepts, like math and
music, and use English to give directions, rules, and discuss
patterns. I studied through writing really short essays, and I
learned new words through pictures and history books.
I don’t quite remember learning the grammar in my early years,
but I do remember being formally introduced to proper sentence
structure in high school in order to write academic essays.
2. Was English spoken at all at home?
My parents had taught me both English and Spanish at home
until it was discovered that my younger brother had a speech
issue. He was taken to speech therapy, and to help him focus,
my parents had to cut back on the Spanish studies. This
occurred when I was young, and still in elementary school. So
instead of becoming fluent in English alongside Spanish,
English became my only language. I can still associate some
Spanish words with English, and I have a small bit of an ear for
it. But now I have to take Spanish classes to formally and
officially learn to be fluent in it. I wonder if this would have
happened with my English studies if for some reason my family
had moved to Guatemala. My studies would parallel that to my
years in English, and it just fascinates me sometimes.

6. 3. Did any family members know English?
All my immediate family members know English. My father and
his immediate family moved to America almost twenty two
years ago, yet their English (especially his family) is broken,
and they aren’t quite fluent in it, despite living in California for
over twenty years. My mother’s side are from North Carolina,
and they’re predominantly white Americans, so English is all
they know.
4. What did you find most difficult while learning English?
The most difficult thing I found while learning English was
essay formation. It was the bane of my existence to form an
introduction paragraph. I found it weird to start things off with
“Then, Thus, Finally, etc.” Also, after learning English for
many years, there are some manners of speaking and writing
that I had gotten accustomed to, which were found to be
incorrect by my teachers. Learning how to correct them
purposefully was difficult, since they weren’t intuitive to me.
5. How about now?
Other than just hating essays in general, I don’t have any of
those difficulties any more, or in any other area of the English
language (presumably). Though I may not know or care for the
differences between “who’s” and “whose”, I’m sure there are
many old formal grammar rules that I do not know about, even
as a native English speaker.

7. But I must add that because of my intuitive process on the
language, learning new and fresh lingo from meme culture has
led to an accidental study in modern English language changes
(as it has changed alongside the technology boom, and its
corresponding lingo). And I find that neat.
6. Do you have any trouble with verb conjugations? EG. Past
tense, current tense? Plurality of nouns?
I have a very good grasp on verb conjugations. However, even
as a fluent speaker and writer in English, there are some verbs
that I either briefly forget the conjugation to (Example: the past
tense of “cut” being “cut” and not “cutted”, ungrammatical
orally, but if I were to write something that included that word,
I would have used the correct tense) or just find an
ungrammatical version of it more personally grammatical.
·
L2 learner
· Age: 21
· From Shenzhen, China. Moved to USA 4 years ago
· Shenzhen learners of English tend to have a better grasp on
English due to the international industries and economy of
Shenzhen.
· Length of L2 study: 6 years actively studying, not just basic in
class studying(little attention given during previous studying of

8. L2)
· Education level: Sophomore at UCSC
· CS game design major
· Father and mother both speaks English
·
1. When did you begin to study English?/How long have you
studied English?
· As a normal Chinese student, I started to learn English when I
was studying at pre school. I start by learning English alphabets
at first and learning more later. Our educational system required
us to learn English, so I learn through out my years at school
from primary school to high school and continue to US
highschool and University now.
2. How did you study English at school? (all years studied)
· At first, our teacher at pre school will just teach us english
alphabets and some simple words like apple. Our pre school
teacher basically let us remember those alphabets with reading
out loud and watching image representation. Then, once I enter
into primary school, our teacher start to teach us more about
English with more vocabularies and reading english paragraphs.
Our textbook usually come with audio recording which we can
listen to and follow in order to imitate the pronounciation. Each
morning, we will be lead by our teacher and read English
paragraphs together. Our teacher usually have okay english
pronouciation and strong grammar. After we learned some
lessons, we will have exams to test our understanding about the
material we covered. Before high school, the level of
difficulties just increased, and the pattern of learning English
didn’t change. I don’t pay too much attention during my early

9. stage of English learning, so my English basic grammar is
pretty bad. I start to pay more attention to English when I need
to take the high school entrance exam. One of the required exam
is English. It took me so much time before I started to become
okay. My English skill has a major improve at my high school
as I enter into the study abroad program which apply for
America High school. Majority of my English grammar,
vocabularies, and speaking skill comes from preparing the
TOEFL exam. Later when I enter into America school, I
basically enter into English environment which English is used
every where. My English skill also improved a lot by studying
in English only environment. But the improvement arc is
increasing a lot faster at first, now the progress is limited and
the arc of progress is increasing slower and slower than before.
3. Was English spoken at all at home?
· My dad’s job is working to negotiate conflict between foreign
business and chinese business, so he will use some English and
be able to talk in English. My dad sometime speaks English and
wants me to speak back. My mum didn’t have strong English
background at first, but after I went to study abroad, she start to
study English as well and become comfortable to speak in
English.
4. Did any family members know English?
· Majority of my old family members have the same generation
as my dad, they understand a limited amount of English. I
would say primary school level. People who have a generation
above me, like my cousins, they have better English as the
education system in China start taking care about English.
Majority of them have middle level of English, which is good
and grammar and writing, but not good at speaking and
listening. One of my cousins who came to America University

10. and study has good English skills. Then it is my family
members who have the same generation or lower generation as
me. At this point, the China education system have hard focus
on English and provide lots of money in building up English
study resource. The result is many of us have okay English skill
but still leak in listening and speaking.
5. What did you find most difficult while learning English?/
How about now?
· I found out the most difficult part of learning English is
writing and speaking. Where writing require clearity in
sentences and good grammar, which I left a lot at first and hard
for me to catch up. Speaking required practice with other people
where English environment is hard to find in China and I and
many Chinese people felt shy to speak with other people in
English as we tend to make mistakes. Now these problems are
still present, the grammar is hard to improve, but the speaking
skill has increased a lot when I study in America where each
day requires English.
Case Study Research Project
a101
Write your name(s) here
University
[email protected]
Abstract
This is a max 150 word summary of your project. After reading
the abstract, the reader should know what your project is about,

11. what the data show, and what your main conclusions are. You
should write the abstract last, after you’ve complete the project.
I. Introduction
One or two paragraphs that give an overview of your study, the
specific research questions you hope to address, and any matters
related to SLA theory that are relevant for your project.
2. Methodology
2.1. Focal participant(s)
This section includes a relevant description and details about
your focal participant(s). Remember to use a pseudonym!
Provide quantitative details (e.g., age of arrival, length of
exposure, years of formal study, etc.) as well a qualitative
summary of his/her learning experience, as gathered from your
interview (attach interview questions in Appendix).
2.2. Instrument
This section describes the instrument, or materials that you used
to elicit the language sample from your participant. For
example, if you used a picture description task, you would
describe it here. It is perfectly fine to use a task from previous
research as long as you cite the source.
2.3. Description of linguistic variable(s)
This subsection provides a description of the linguistic form or
structure that you will analyze. For example, if you are looking
at object pronouns in L2 Spanish, you will need to specify
which ones you’ll consider in your analysis. Some examples are
always helpful here. You should also briefly discuss why you
chose the feature(s) that you did (i.e., motivation from previous
research/theory).
2.4 Data Analysis

12. In this section you explain what you did with the data after
gathering it. For example, oral data were transcribed and
divided into AS units. If you only use a portion of the data for
analysis, mention that here (e.g., you have 2 hours of oral data
but will only analyze the first 20 minutes). Here you also
explain the procedure for the analysis you conducted on the
target language variable(s). Examples here may be helpful.
3. Results
3.1. Target analysis
In this section you will present the results of your analysis.
What are the patterns you notice? Is the participant finding
ways to avoid the form(s) in question? Depending on your
analysis, this may include quantitative data with tables and/or
figures. Also, show relevant examples here, and make sure to
attach the data in an Appendix.
3.2. Additional analyses
Generally speaking, there is always something else interesting
in the data that you wish to comment on. Your planned analysis
likely doesn’t reveal everything going on in the sample, so here
is your opportunity to examine other interesting aspects. For
example, you may choose to comment on lexical choices or even
present a measure of lexical diversity. If the learner is using the
form in question but restricted to one or two lexical items, that
is something potentially interesting to mention. If you gathered
native speaker baseline data, you will present it here.
4. Discussion and conclusion
The purpose of the discussion section is to interpret what
you’ve found. While your results section presents the results,
your discussion is aimed an explaining them. What do these
data mean? How do they relate to what we know about SLA
more generally (i.e., how do they relate to theories and/or

13. research findings we’ve discussed or that you’ve read about)? In
this section you also want to mention any difficulties you had
during the data collection process and what you would do
differently if you could take this project to the next level (e.g.,
with more participants or with additional tasks).
5. References
Cite all sources here (a minimum of four; APA format)
6. Appendix A
Attach your interview questions here.
7. Appendix B
If relevant, attach your data elicitation materials here
8. Appendix B
Attach your data set here.
Overview: The goal of this assignment is to give you the
experience of collecting and analyzing data from a second
language (L2) learner.
How to begin: Find an L2 learner who is willing to be your
research subject. Since you will be analyzing language, this
should be a learner of a language that you are highly proficient
in (e.g., most likely, your L1 or dominant language). Interview
your subject to gather basic information about their language
learning experience. Relevant questions might include: at what
age did this person begin learning the L2? Did they learn the
language primarily in a naturalistic or instructional context?

14. You might want to use or modify questions that guided your
own linguistic autobiography. You should ask questions about
areas of interest to you (e.g., explicit learning, teaching
methods they found most useful, self-reported proficiency in the
L2, attitudes and motivation, personality, learning strategies,
etc.).
Note: Please let me know ASAP if you cannot find an L2
learner.
Data collection: You will need to get a sample of the person’s
language, either oral or written. To do so, consider using one or
more tasks that elicit language production. Your elicitation task
will be based on what you’re interested in investigating. There
are numerous options, including:
· picture stories or comic strips (especially if they have no
written text)
· film narration (ask them to tell you the plot of a film they’ve
seen recently, or to narrate a youtube clip that has no
dialogue—or with sound turned off)
· personal narrative (ask them to tell you about an important
event in their life)
· picture description (ask them to describe a photo or compare a
series of photos)
· role plays
· Note: If you gather oral data, you will need to digitally record
the person’s output for transcription. Important: You cannot
record the person without their knowledge and consent! Also,
to maintain the anonymity of your participant(s), use
pseudonyms.
Other possible options: (a) gather oral and written data and
compare them (i.e., have the participant do the same task in
each modality) (b) get a native speaker baseline (i.e., have a

15. native speaker do the same task for the purposes of comparison)
(c) collect and compare samples from learners at different
proficiency levels who’ve had different learning experiences.
Target Feature(s): You can chose any (combination of)
linguistic feature(s) for your analysis in any subsystem of
language that interests you (e.g., phonology, morphology,
vocabulary, syntax, pragmatics). Your focus may be as narrow
as, for example, third-person singular –s orpast tense markers,
or somewhat more broad (e.g., question formation, verb
tense/aspect, a speech act such as asking for a favor or
apologizing). (Note: You may want to choose features based
on previous research, including contrastive analyses or
developmental sequences.)
Data analysis: As with your data elicitation method, your
analysis will depend on what you’re interested in learning.
Again, there are numerous options, including:
· Target-Like Use (TLU) Analysis, which goes beyond error
analysis by considering errors and correct uses of a form.
· Complexity, Accuracy, and/or Fluency (CAF) analysis
· Frequency Analysis
Note: There is no expectation that you will incorporate
anything beyond simple descriptive statistics (e.g., frequency,
type/token ratios, percentages…)
General Note on Methodology: You are welcome (and
encouraged) to borrow ideas or materials for data elicitation and
analysis from any of the studies that we’ve read or that you’ll
read in preparation for this assignment. Just be sure to cite the
source!
Format, length, and references (FOLLOW PAPER TEMPLATE)
· 5-6 pages (12pt., Times New Roman, font, 1” margins, double-

16. spaced) for the body of the paper
· 1 page appendix with the data (transcribed, if necessary)
· 1 page appendix with the interview questions
· An appendix with any data elicitation materials
· A minimum of 4 references (the textbook can be one of them)
· Additional option: You may complete this project in pairs or
groups of three if you prefer. If you do this, you must include
at least one participant for each group member. Also, the
required length will be adjusted: for pairs, 7-8 pages; for a
group of three, 9-10 pages.)
If you need help, make an appointment to come see me--
preferably no sooner than one week before the due date.
Notes
1. Ask the participant to explain their education experiences.?
How was the experience of learning the L2? Was it immersion?
I. He/She pronouns
II. Wug test for plurality.( not pronunciation of the (s/z))
III.
IV. Ricking test for past tense. (something similar for
conjugating present tense)
V.
· List stats of each participant including age, length of L2
study, education level, Familial exposure to the L2,
· Gather data samples in both oral recording with transcripts
and written.
· Find a native speaker for baseline comparison.
· Compare the data.
· Restrict to one L1
· Learners English book.

17. · Possible phonology
· Describe pictures
· Describe favorite movie plot
· Explain education experience through to uni.
· Something that will elicit past tense conjugation.
· Take oral exam then a week later written on the same
question. Compare data.
· I will focus on the use of plurality (s’), use of pronouns
(he/she/his/hers) and past tense conjugation of verbs. All of the
aforementioned structures are areas I’ve noticed native Chinese
L1 learning English as L2 have the most difficulty in obtaining
accuracy.
· L2 learners have strong interference from their L1, referring to
some grammar, but mainly pragmatics? Such as verb
conjugation or plurality of nouns.
· From “Bidirectional Transfer”
Method
Four 3-minute long films with a sound track but no dialogue
were used for
narrative elicitation purposes. Previously, films have been used
successfully
for narrative elicitation purposes in the crosslinguistic study of
narrative
production *Chafe 1980; Tannen 1980, 1993) and in the study
of SLA
*Bardovi-Harlig and Reynolds 1995; Becker and Carroll 1997;
Jarvis 1998;
McClure 1991; Perdue 1993). This methodology, which presents
subjects with
a uniform non-verbal prompt, is a variation of the better-known
picture task
elicitation procedure. Both of these types of data elicitation

18. allow the
researcher to keep the data more or less homogeneous by
holding the
semantic referents constant *in contrast to elicited personal
narratives, which
exhibit significantly more variation). Using films rather than
pictures,
however, has the advantage of making the storytelling task less
artificial
and more similar to spontaneous narratives *Tannen 1980,
1993). By using
this technique and by holding our experimental conditions
relatively constant
*see below), we were able to elicit narrative data that we
believe are optimal
in terms of comparability across subjects and language
conditions. On the
other hand, the narratives elicited through this approach were
relatively
short, so in the future it would be helpful to elicit a larger
variety and longer
stretches of data.
Transcript of simple conversation with the L2
· When did you begin to study English?
· “At my kindergarten, start with simple vocabulary and
alphabet.”
· How long have you studied English?
· “active study is 6 years. Total studies is from kindergarten to
now”
· What did you have the most difficulties with when you started
to learn English?
· “I think my majority of difficulties come from writing. I

19. didn’t put much attention to grammar.” “I used to translate from
Chinese to English when I was learning. It made bad clarity for
my grammar and sentence.”
· How did you study English at school? (all years studied)
· “First remember the vocabulary. Then try to remember the
vocabulary by using and speaking it. First listen to the word
then speak it, then use it in a sentence. Other that that learning
grammar by practicing. By use practice sheet. They give you a
grammar sheet to practice what you don’t understand, over and
over again. For the listening and speaking part, they give you
videos or sound track to listen and practice to. And most of my
English skill come from practice for the toefl”
· Was English spoken at all at home?
· “probably not”
· Did any family members know English?
· “Like two generation higher than me only know basic english
but not good. One generation has mediocre ability. “
· What do you think you have the most trouble with now, in
regard to English?
· “I would say also writing. Not changing. But my speaking
skills have improved but my writing skills did not improved
much.”
· Do you have any trouble with verb conjugations? EG. Past
tense, current tense? Plurality of nouns?
· “yes. A lot. That is the biggest mistakes I made in writing.
Also trouble with singular and plural.”
·
Possible sources
Berko Gleason, Jean. (1958). The Child's Learning of English
Morphology. Word. 14. 10.1080/00437956.1958.11659661.
Berko, J. (1958). The child's learning of English
morphology, Word, 14,150-177.

20. Pavlenko, A. (2002). Bidirectional Transfer. Applied
Linguistics - APPL LINGUIST. 23. 190-214.
Miller, D. (2020, February). Chpt. 6: Second Language
Development. Chpt. 6: Second Language Development. Santa
Cruz.
Hummel, K. (2014). Introducing Second Language Acquisition:
perspectives and practices. 138-151 JOHN WILEY & SONS.
Imai, M., Haryu, E., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Li, L., Okada, H.,
Golinkoff, R., & Shigematsu, J. (2008). Novel Noun and Verb
Learning in Chinese-, English-, and Japanese-Speaking
Children. Child Development,79(4), 979-1000. Retrieved
February 26, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/27563533
CROWTHER, D., TROFIMOVICH, P., SAITO, K., & ISAACS,
T. (2015). Second Language Comprehensibility Revisited:
Investigating the Effects of Learner Background. TESOL
Quarterly,49(4), 814-837. Retrieved February 26, 2020, from
www.jstor.org/stable/43893788
Severino, C., & Prim, S. (2015). Word Choice Errors in Chinese
Students' English Writing and How Online Writing Center
Tutors Respond to Them. The Writing Center Journal,34(2),
115-143. Retrieved February 26, 2020, from
www.jstor.org/stable/43442807