Reference to past
- A number of researchers, including Jurgen Meisel (1987), have observed the developing ability to use language to locate events in time.
- The research has shown that learners from different first language backgrounds and acquiring a variety of second languages, acquire the language for referring to past events in a similar pattern.
- Like young children, learners with limited language may simply refer to events in the order in which they occurred or mention a time or place to show that the event occurred in the past.