Proficiency‐Driven Pathways of the Acquisition and Functional Expansion of English Participles: Evidence From L2 Learners Across L1 Backgrounds

ABSTRACT Despite their importance to English grammar, participles are consistently underused by L2 learners. This large‐scale, corpus‐based study investigates their acquisition across proficiency levels by analyzing 12,100 essays from learners with 11 different L1 backgrounds. Utilizing participle distribution analysis and dependency parsing, our findings reveal that proficiency is a stronger predictor of participle use than L1 transfer. Present participles are acquired earlier, whereas past participles exhibit more rapid and steady growth. Cognitively, learners progress from simple forms (e.g., those with salient cues) to complex ones. Functionally, they advance from clausal to multi‐clausal usage. A notable developmental change is the decline in the use of present participles as predicates, alongside an increase in past participles, reflecting a shift toward de‐narrativization and more sophisticated argumentation. The study offers actional insights for proficiency‐based language teaching.