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This essay contributes to the research on the emergence of tense/aspect morphology by reviewing the results and task conditions of studies supporting either the Aspect Hypothesis (AH) or the Default Past Tense Hypothesis (DPTH) for second language (L2) learners of Spanish. The AH has found that past marking emerges based on inherent aspectual categories (Andersen 1991; Andersen and Shirai 1994), and the DPTH proposes (Salaberry 1999, 2002, 2003, 2008; Salaberry and Ayoun 2005) that beginning learners of Spanish with first language (L1) English initially use perfective past marking as a default tense marker. The present study reviewed the results and task conditions of studies of beginning classroom learners of Spanish with L1 English that support either hypothesis. The review shows that many learners go through a stage of marking preterite regardless of lexical aspect particularly in tasks requiring an explicit focus on forms or in impersonal narratives. On the other hand, beginning learners show prototypical associations of preterite marking with telic predicates in open-ended tasks or personal narratives, and stronger associations of imperfect marking with state verbs especially in personal narratives.

In a study of the use of verbal morphology in oral narratives by advanced learners of Spanish, eight participants recounted two oral narratives, one a segment of a silent film and the other a personal experience. The learners then commented, in an immediate retrospective protocol, on their use of perfective and imperfective morphology. The reported reasons for their selection of aspectual morphology can be grouped into four categories: (1) the nature of the narrative task, (2) lexical aspect, (3) the role of the narrator in constructing discourse, and (4) the impact of instruction. Some of the reasons for tense-aspect morphological selections have implications for research methodology in future studies on the acquisition and use of tense-aspect morphology, while others invite reflection on teaching practices and on the role and utility of teaching and learning grammatical rules.

The performance of four immersed L2 Spanish speakers is used to test both the Aspect Hypothesis, initially proposed by Andersen (1986; 1991) and the Discourse Hypothesis (Bardovi-Harlig 1994). Personal narratives in four oral interviews support the interaction between the inherent lexical aspect of verbs and grammatical aspect, in accordance with the Aspect Hypothesis. A closer analysis of the narratives within the framework of foreground versus background information shows significant levels of interaction between past grammatical aspectual distinctions and grounding principles, in favor of the Discourse Hypothesis. Thus, these results reveal the two hypotheses as necessary and complementary frameworks of analysis which should be used to obtain a more complete picture of the interpersonal variation in the aspectual system of contact speakers of Spanish as a second language.