From Prototypes to Cryptotypes: Past Tense-Aspect Acquisition in Moroccan EFL Interlanguage

Abstract

The present cross-sectional study investigates the emergence of the English perfective (-ed) and imperfective (-ing) past markers in the interlanguage of Moroccan university EFL learners, testing the predictions of the Aspect Hypothesis (AH). Sixty Moroccan university learners of English (undergraduate/BA level, n=30; graduate/MA level, n=30) completed a silent-film narrative retelling task, coded for grammatical aspect marking across the four Vendlerian lexical aspect categories (states, activities, accomplishments, achievements). Chi-square tests of independence showed that marker choice (-ed vs. -ing) was significantly associated with lexical aspect category in both groups (BA: χ²(3)=32.65, p<.001, V=.35; MA: χ²(3)=31.70, p<.001, V=.45), supporting the AH’s central prediction. Paired-samples t-tests further showed that perfective marking was significantly more accurate than imperfective marking within both groups (BA: t(29)=5.38, p<.001, dz=0.98; MA: t(29)=9.71, p<.001, dz=1.77), consistent with the predicted acquisitional order (perfective preceding imperfective). However, the overall -ed/-ing distribution did not differ significantly between BA and MA (χ²(1)=1.29, p=.256), and BA learners significantly outperformed MA learners on imperfective-marking accuracy (t(57.4)=2.33, p=.023, d=0.60) — a pattern that complicates any straightforward account of linear improvement from BA to MA and is discussed in relation to task and cohort effects. Standardised residual analysis further shows the marker-category association is anchored in the state/non-state distinction rather than the classical achievement-based prototype, a pattern discussed in relation to a connectionist account of cryptotype emergence as a theoretical extension beyond categorical Aspect Hypothesis predictions.