How learners cope with English tenses: Evidence from think-aloud protocols

Mastering the temporal system of a second language and being able to correctly implement this knowledge especially in spontaneous production is a challenging task to accomplish. That is why most learners often have problems using appropriate tenses in oral and written production. The present study attempts to shed light on the way Iranian learners cope with a tense task and how they come up with responses, right or wrong. The participants were given a tense task in the form of a cloze and were asked to think aloud as they were completing the task. The researchers, then, tried to see what processes they went through while filling in the blanks with verbs. The potential sources of error and their significance in teaching English are also discussed. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Dr Zafer Bekirogullari.