Patterns of past tense production by third-year students of Spanish: a discourse analysis of open-ended personal narratives

Abstract

In this mixed-methods study, the researchers explored the distribution and accuracy rates for preterite and imperfect in the full discursive context in personal narratives written by native English-speaking learners of Spanish as well as the distribution of aspects, tenses and moods other than the preterite and imperfect. Regarding distribution, results revealed that obligatory contexts for other tenses differed significantly from obligatory context for preterite and imperfect. However, the latter two did not differ significantly from one another. As for accuracy, students seem to have a better command of the preterite at the discourse level, whereas the imperfect appears more problematic in its conceptualization and application. Qualitative analysis yielded additional insights with respect to accuracy in the full discursive context and revealed how other tenses and moods may be required along with the preterite and imperfect to relate a personal narrative.