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Gabrielatos, C. (2004). Teaching the expression of time: A concise framework. In Pulverness, A. (ed.) IATEFL 2003: Brighton conference selections. Canterbury, Kent: IATEFL, 133-136.

and

Also here (with workshop tasks):

 

Introduction

 

ELT materials adopt a system of twelve ‘tenses’. Typically, they present three factors as affecting choice of ‘tense’: event time, event duration and speech time. This is misleading, as many more elements are in play. Their treatment is form-based, giving piecemeal information about the uses of the forms, or providing rules with quite a few exceptions or ‘special cases’, a practice that tends to confuse learners.

 

This framework is informed by descriptive and theoretical accounts of English. It takes into consideration all the component elements of expressing time in English, including the meaning of verbs and speaker subjectivity. It presents a small number of consistent and flexible guidelines, provides a systematic visual representation of time reference and helps learners put in perspective the information in pedagogical materials.

 

Relevant details

 

This is the summary of my paper/workshop given at the 37th IATEFL International Annual Conference, Brighton, UK, 22-26 April, 2003. Earlier versions of this framework were presented at the TESOL Greece Mini Convention, 31 October 1999, and the 23rd Annual TESOL Greece Convention, 9-10 March 2002.

 

Key words

 

Time, tense, aspect, modality, English language teaching, language teaching methodology, EFL, ESL, ESOL, ELT, TESOL.

 

Related articles by the same author

 

Gabrielatos, C. (1994). Minding our Ps. Current Issues 3, 5-8.

 

 

If you know of any related publications or discussions freely available online,

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