The acquisition of the future tense

Dossier / Travail de Séminaire , 2006 , 29 Pages , Note: 2,0

Didactique de l'Anglais - Pédagogie,Linguistique

It is the goal of this paper to examine the acquisition of the future tense in
children’s speech. After a two word utterance stage they develop more and
more their speaking skills and start to talk about events and activities in the
future, apart from saying things about the present. To give a detailed account
of the acquisition of the future, this study includes several steps of
examination. It will not only try to answer to the questions, when children first
use future expressions and how their use develops in time. But it also includes
an analysis of the occurrence of future tense in specific constructions, such as
simple sentences, questions etc. It is also necessary to look at verbs as well as
subjects which occur with expressions of future tense. A last part of the study
is concerned with common errors children produce when speaking about the
future.
There exist several ways to express the future in adult grammar. The most
common forms, which are also the focus of this analysis, are the simple future
expressed by will and the going to-future. Other possibilities of expressing the
future, e.g. using simple present tense or a present progressive form of the
verb, will be neglected in this paper, as they are too complex in their concepts
for children. They mainly depend on adverbials of time to denote the future
and therefore would require a different focus of analysis.
The simple future is formed with the modal auxiliary will, followed by the
infinitive of a verb (e.g. Greenbaum 1991: 54), as in
(a) I will write the exam.
The will-future is used to convey two different concepts: first, it is used for
expressing general predictions and assumptions of what is going to happen in
the future and second, it marks spontaneous decisions, offers and promises.
(cf. Fleischhack 2001: 70).
The second form of expressing future tense is the combination of the
infinitive of a verb with a form of be going to, such as in
(b) I am going to work in the garden.

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• List of Tables and Figures
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Data
• 3. Results
  • 3.1 General remarks on the data
  • 3.2 The age of acquisition of the future tense
  • 3.3 The development of the use of the future tense
  • 3.4 Constructions
  • 3.5 Subjects
  • 3.6 Verbs
  • 3.7 Errors in the use of the future tense
• 4. Conclusion
• 5. References
• 6. Appendix
  • 6.1 Input of Adam's mother
  • 6.2 Input of Sarah's mother
  • 6.3 Adam's data
  • 6.4 Sarah's data

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This paper aims to investigate the acquisition of the future tense in children's speech. It examines the age at which children first use future expressions, how their use develops over time, and the specific constructions, verbs, and subjects that occur with future tense expressions. The study also analyzes common errors children make when speaking about the future.

• The age of acquisition of the future tense
• The development of the use of the future tense
• The occurrence of future tense in specific constructions
• The verbs and subjects that occur with future tense expressions
• Common errors children make when speaking about the future

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

The introduction provides an overview of the study's goals and methodology. It discusses the different ways to express the future in adult grammar, focusing on the simple future (will) and the going to-future (gonna). The chapter also highlights the importance of analyzing the development of future tense in children's spoken language.

The data chapter describes the source of the data, which is from the CHILDES database. The study focuses on the language development of two children, Adam and Sarah, who were recorded regularly over a period of three years. This extensive data allows for a detailed analysis of the development of their use of future expressions.

The results chapter presents a comprehensive analysis of the data, examining the age of acquisition of the future tense, the development of its use, the constructions in which it occurs, the verbs and subjects associated with it, and common errors children make. The chapter includes tables and figures to illustrate the findings.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The keywords and focus themes of the text include the acquisition of the future tense, children's language development, the simple future (will), the going to-future (gonna), constructions, verbs, subjects, and errors in the use of the future tense. The study examines the development of future tense expressions in children's speech, analyzing the age of acquisition, the development of its use, and the specific linguistic features associated with it.

• Université: http://www.uni-jena.de/ (Institut für Anglistik/Amerikanistik)
• Cours: Syntactic Development
• Note: 2,0
• Auteur: M.A. Sandra Dorschner (Auteur)
• Année de publication: 2006
• Pages: 29
• N° de catalogue: V115383
• ISBN (ebook): 9783640169597
• ISBN (Livre): 9783640172276
• Langue: anglais
• mots-clé: Syntactic, Development, children, language learning, acquisition, tense, future