| Researchers |
| Custódio Martins |
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| Project |
| The current research proposal draws on the conclusions of previous studies (Noyau 2002) on the acquisition of romance languages tense and aspect systems that report learners show a greater accuracy in the acquisition of the perfective rather than of the imperfective. These findings have been supported by our previous study on the acquisition of the perfective / imperfective contrast in Portuguese as L2 by Chinese learners (Martins 2007). A more accurate understanding of what lies behind this difference in the acquisition of the perfective / imperfective contrast in Romance languages can be achieved by measuring both the comprehension and production of the perfective / imperfective contrast. Thus far, the studies on the acquisition of tense and aspect have not concentrated on how the information is processed by the learners. Measuring the reaction times of different instances of both contexts, will provide a clearer picture on whether the acquisition process of the aspectual contrast is led by syntactic, semantic cues, or both. Psycholinguistic in nature, our research aims at bridging the existing research findings on the acquisition of tense and aspect in Romance languages, namely Portuguese as L2, with accounts of information processing ones. As such, we intend to provide ground for theoretical development on the acquisition of tense and aspect. |
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| Publications |
| Teixeira e Silva, Roberval & Custódio C. Martins. in press. Intercultural interaction: Teacher and Student Roles in the Classroom of Portuguese as a Foreign Language in Macau, China. Multilingual Matters. |
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| Research Papers Presented |
| 2009. “A Hipótese do Discurso na Marcação da Morfologia de Tempo e Aspecto no Processo de Aquisição de Português L2”. SIMELP II – 1st World Symposium in Portuguese Studies, Évora, Portugal, 5th-9th October. 2009. “The Importance of Verb Semantics for the Acquisition of the ‘Pretérito Perfeito’ and ‘Pretérito Imperfeito’ by Chinese Learners of European Portuguese as L2”. European Association of Second Language Acquisition – EUROSLA 19, Cork, Ireland, 2nd-5th September. 2009. “Portuguese as L2 in Macau: Culture and Teaching / Learning Cultures”. First International Interdisciplinary Conference on Macau Studies: Intercultural Exchanges Between East and West, University of Macau, 25th-27th May. 2008 (with Roberval Teixeira e Silva). “Interaction in the Tertiary Classroom of Portuguese as Foreign Language in Macau, China: student types and learning strategies”. CALPIU, Roskilde University, Denmark, 15th-17th December. 2008. “Variáveis Aquisicionais do Português como L2: A Aquisição do Contraste Pretérito Perfeito / Pretérito Imperfeito”. 1º Simpósio Mundial de Estudos em Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo, Brazil, 1st-6th September. |
