DELTA Module 2- Background Assignment 2: PRESENT PERFECT, GRAMMAR

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LSA 2: System: Grammar: Helping Low Level Learners Understand and Use the Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous
Ebru ÖZTEKİN BIYIKLI





CAMBRIDGE English Delta
Module 2
ASSIGNMENT
: LSA (2) (System)
ASSIGNMENT TITLE
: HELPING LOW LEVEL LEARNERS UNDERSTAND AND USE THE PRESENT PERFECT AND PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS
CANDIDATE NAME
: Ebru ÖZTEKİN BIYIKLI
CANDIDATE NUMBER
:
CENTRE NAME
:
CENTRE NUMBER
:
DATE
:26.01.2015
WORD COUNT
:2500



Contents
Introduction 3
1. ANALYSIS 3
A. MEANING/USE 3
A.1. Present Perfect 3
A.2. Past Perfect 3
A.3. Future Perfect 4
A.4. Perfect + Progressive Aspects 4
A.4.1. Present Perfect Progressive 4
A.5. How long and Time Expressions 4
B. FORM 6
B.1. Present Perfect 6
B.1.1. Affirmative and Interrogative forms 6
B.1.2. Short answers 6
B.1.3. Irregular verbs 6
B.2. Past Perfect 7
B.3. Future Perfect 7
B.4. Perfect + Progressive Aspects 7
B.5. Time Expressions 7
C. PHONOLOGY 8
C.1. Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous 8
2. LEARNING AND TEACHING ISSUES 9
A. FORM 9
B. MEANING / USE/ FUNCTION 9
C. PHONOLOGY 9
3. APPROACH AND TEACHING SUGGESTIONS 10
A. FORM 10
B. MEANING / USE/ FUNCTION 10
C. PHONOLOGY 12
APPENDICES 14
APPENDIX A: A List of Irregular Verbs 14
APPENDIX B: Flashcard Sample to Teach Past Participles 15
APPENDIX C- Main Verb And Auxiliary Have 16
APPENDIX D: Biography 17
APPENDIX E: Been vs Gone 18
APPENDIX F: Story 19
APPENDIX G: Reduced Forms of Have and Has (not) 20



Introduction
The focus of this assignment is the Perfect Aspect. Perfect Aspect, as put by Swan 2005), shows the time of an event as being earlier than some other time. In addition, it shows how the speaker sees the event (being connected to a later event or completed by a certain time) looking back from one time to another. Perfect tenses are constructed with have + past participle. Tenses with a perfect aspect can refer to the past, present or future.
Since perfect aspect does not exist in Turkish, Turkish EFL learners are challenged by structures containing the perfect aspect; trying to integrate these into their grammar schemata depending on their L1. Continuous aspect, which can also be utilized together with the perfect aspect as in present perfect continuous, takes this challenge one step further.
1. ANALYSIS
A. MEANING/USE
A.1. Present Perfect
Present Perfect often expresses how speaker views himself relative to the events he is talking about (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1998)
The uses can be identified as:
a) A situation leading up to the present time
i.e. That house has been empty since 2010.
b) Indefinite experiences in a period leading up to the present time
i.e. Have you (ever) been to Florance?
c) Recurring actions or habit in a period leading up to the present time
i.e. He has attended lectures regularly (this term)
d) Past event with result in the present time. (Figure 1)
i.e. I can't get in. I've lost my keys! Figure 1 (Swan, 2005)
e) An action that went on over time in the past and that is completed with the moment of speaking
i.e. The value of our house has doubled in the last 4 years.
f) With verbs in subordinate clauses of time or condition
i.e. If you have done your homework, you can watch TV.
(Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman 1998; Leech and Svartvik, 2002)
A.2. Past Perfect
It indicates past in the past (Leech and Svartvik, 2002) and is utilized;
a) For an action completed in the past prior to another past event
b) In the subordinate clause of past conditional
A.3. Future Perfect
Future Perfect expresses;
a) A future action that will be completed before a specific time in the future
b) A state/ action that will be completed in the future before another future time or event. (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman 1998)
A.4. Perfect + Progressive Aspects
Progressive aspect usually emphasizes the duration and incompleteness of an action/state before a certain event/time. Past, present and future perfect progressive forms are the possible combinations.
A.4.1. Present Perfect Progressive
This tense is mainly used;
a) as an explanation for the present situation or appearance
i.e. I won't shake hands. I've been baking.
b) to account of time now finishing (complaint, excuse)
i.e. I've been waiting for you for two hours.
c) to emphasize the repeated or continuous nature of an action resulting in present expertise
i.e. She's been learning French for ten years.
d) for new, temporary habits
i.e. He's been doing a lot of wood-carving. (Aitkien, 1992).
A.5. How long and Time Expressions
Below are the common time expressions as used with perfect tenses.

Table 1





B. FORM
B.1. Present Perfect
B.1.1. Affirmative and Interrogative forms
Aitken (1992) documents the affirmative and interrogative forms of the Present Perfect as follows:

Table 2
B.1.2. Short answers
As for the short answers, the auxiliaries have/has are used following the subject. The contracted form cannot be used in positive short answers.
i.e. Has she finished yet?
Yes, she has. / No, she hasn't.
B.1.3. Irregular verbs
The past participle form of irregular verbs can
a) have a form similar to the past simple
i.e. make/made/made
b) be formed by adding –en to the base form
i.e. eat/ate/eaten
c) be formed by adding –(e)n to the past simple form
i.e. choose/chose/chosen
d) have a form similar to the base form
i.e. run/ran/run
e) be in the form of changing an interior vowel
i.e. drink/drank/drunk (Aitken, 1992)
These rules also apply to the use of past participles with the past perfect and the future perfect.
B.2. Past Perfect
The affirmative, interrogative and short answer forms are quite similar to the ones in the Present Perfect (Aitken, 1992) except that the auxiliary verb is had.
B.3. Future Perfect
In Future Perfect, the modal will is used to form negatives, questions and short answers instead of have. The formula is will+ have + past participle.
i.e. A: Will you have had a pay rise by next January?
B: Yes, I will/ No, I won't (have had it by then)
B.4. Perfect + Progressive Aspects
The following formula applies to all Perfect Progressive tenses;
have (has)+been+ Ving
Negative, question and short answer formations are the same with corresponding simple perfect tenses.
i.e. Alice has been painting the house for two hours.
The boys had been playing in the garden when a stone hit one of them.
By this time next year, I will have been working for this company for ten years.
B.5. Time Expressions
Below is a detailed chart displaying the positions of time expressions and the kinds of utterances they can be utilized in:

Table 3
C. PHONOLOGY
C.1. Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous
According to Aitken (1992);
a) The stress is on the past participle, not on the auxiliary have except in the emphatic form and short answers.
i.e. Have /əv/ you seen that new film with Tom Cruise?
Yes, I have. /hæv/
b) In questions starting with question words and in contracted forms with pronouns or names the /h/ sound disappears and
i.e. What have /əv/ you been doing?

2. LEARNING AND TEACHING ISSUES
Present Perfect Tense will be referred as PPT and Present Perfect Continuous as PPCT, as of this point.
A. FORM
1. In PPT, learners have difficulty in memorizing and utilizing the past participle forms of the verbs and tend to use either the infinitive or the past form together with have/has (Appendix A).
2. Learners may get confused about the auxiliary have and the main verb have, so utterances including both may be overly challenging.
3. The contracted form of the auxiliary has can be confusing as the contracted 's may also refer to is.
B. MEANING / USE/ FUNCTION
1. Perfect aspect does not exist in Turkish.
a) it can be translated either in past or present tense to Turkish depending on the meaning, yet the translation does not include any reference to the perfect aspect.
b) Learners cannot locate the meaning in their minds since in Turkish, it there is not a time defined between the past and the present. As Parrott (2010) suggests Present Simple may refer to the present in some contexts and to the past in the others, which challenges the learners further. Learners are inclined to perceive PPT as equal to past simple fail to see the functional differences.
2. Because there are no separate words for since and for in Turkish, learners may mistakenly use one for the other.
i.e. I've lived there since three years (Swan and Smith, 2001)
3. Students have difficulty in distinguishing between meanings of have been and gone. In fact, there are two different verbs corresponding to them in Turkish, yet Turkish EFL learners tend to interpret both the same way.
4. Learners cannot differentiate between PPT and PPCT both because they do not exist in Turkish and because they are rarely taught in comparison or in context. The former is usually translated in Turkish as Simple Past while the latter is translated as Present Continuous, which leads to a misinterpretation of their meanings.
C. PHONOLOGY
1. Learners tend to depend on the written form of the words, thus they are unable to recognize and produce the spoken (reduced/weak) forms of auxiliaries, in particular ('ve, 's)
2. The contracted 's may be lost (i.e. She stolen it) or be understood as is (i.e. He is walked away). Although this rarely interferes with the negotiation of meaning, the error often fossilizes if the correct form is not presented and practiced.


3. APPROACH AND TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
Depending on the level, various grammar teaching methods can be adopted. I favor a functional approach. Teaching grammar should include more than laying out the rules and structures. Learners should be taught what the structures are for and how they are used. Grammar should be a tool for exchanging meaning (Lock, 1995). Below are my suggestions for abovementioned problems- some have more than one function.
A. FORM
Suggestion 1. Past participle forms of irregular verbs
Aim: To help learners realize and remember the past participle forms of irregular verbs.
Procedure: Students are shown flashcards of V3 forms which consist of an illustration of the verb and a sample sentence where V3 is used. The teacher tries to elicit the target form, then shows the answers, drills on word and sentence level and finally sticks the flashcards somewhere in the classroom. Next, pairs create a rhyming verse using the given words. The verses are presented to the class verbally and stuck on the walls for further practice. (Appendix B)
Commentary: This activity requires time and patience and it may not be possible to cover all the words at once. Yet, once finished the class will have a bulk of personally created examples. Teacher monitoring is crucial in the production phase.
Suggestion 2. Main verb or auxiliary have?
Aim: To present and practice the difference between main verb and auxiliary have.
Procedure: The teacher shows a shopping basket and a shopping list and gives the learners a list of sentences. (Appendix C) S/he asks them to check whether Angela has bought the items in the list and to mark the sentences as True or False. Eliciting answers, the students are asked to produce more sentences about the items and write some on the board. Teacher and student-generated sentences are analyzed with the students by asking if the "have/has" in all sentences have the same meaning, and why there are two verbs in some sentences.
Commentary: This activity can be followed a production activity where students write about their own shopping baskets. This activity has an inductive approach. It is contextualized and students are not challenged by extra structures or lexis. Thus, it is well chosen in terms of complexity (Thornbury, 1999).
B. MEANING / USE/ FUNCTION
Suggestion 1. A functional difference
Aim: To help learners distinguish between the use of PPT and Past Simple
Procedure: The teacher hands out a biography and asks students to read it carefully and underline the two tenses. Next, s/he asks them to explain the difference between these two tenses. After eliciting answers, the teacher tells that difference lies in whether the time in the sentence is finished or not.
Next, the teacher provides the students with another biography to fill in the blanks with the two tenses.(Appendix D). S/he elicits answers and tells students to a write a biography as homework.
Commentary: To do these activities students should have a prior knowledge of both tenses, though separately. Since the activity is contextualized, it is expected to be more memorable for students than simply working on isolated sentences. It combines a guided discovery (Scrivener, 2005) and deductive approach, so its effect is supposed to be long lasting while the controlled practice part is time-saving as suggested by Thornbury (1999). The homework part allows personalization. The activity can be done using authentic texts in higher level classes. The activity focuses on only one function of PPT. Additional activities are needed to compare other functions.
Suggestion 2. A functional difference 2
Aim: To help learners restructure what they know about Past Simple and PPT, and practice adding to existing knowledge
Procedure: The teacher asks students where they went for holiday last year. After eliciting answers s/he asks other students the question: "Have you ever been to…?". Next, she asks more questions using the Past Simple. S/he writes the questions and the answers (short, negative or positive forms) on the board. The teachers scaffolds students as they try to come up with the rules. The sentences are then drilled by chorally and in closed pairs. Finally, the teacher invites students to a mingling activity (Find someone who) where they ask questions to classmates and report answers.
Commentary: This procedure follows a Test-Teach-Test approach and has a situational context. The teacher scaffolds students by supplying them with the written form of sentences to facilitate the automatization process. The lesson ends with a generative situation activity so that learners could personalize what is taught.
Suggestion 3. Here or not?
Aim: To let learners deduce the meaning difference between "have been/gone"
Procedure: The teacher picks two students and sends them to the canteen. S/he asks student A to come back in a few seconds and B to stay there for a few minutes. When student A comes back, s/he writes a sentence about him with "been" and asks the class to tell a sentence about B. S/he lets student B in and writes a sentence with "gone". S/he then introduces more minimal pairs (Appendix E) and analyzes them with students via concept check questions. Next, s/he does a backchaining drill to ensure that learners notice contracted forms of have/has. Finally, the class is given a controlled practice activity.
Commentary: Using minimal pairs the time is used economically in this consciousness-raising activity. Students are provided with fair amounts of guidance, context and feedback.
Suggestion 4. Simple or Continuous?
Aim: To revise the differences between PPT and PPCT.
Procedure: The teacher writes clue words on the board (telephone box, $500000, arrest) and students ask yes/no questions to guess the details of a story. Then, students read the story (Appendix F) (It should be simplified for lower levels). Next, students analyze sentences related to the story in teams, spot grammatically incorrect ones and correct them. The teacher elicits answers from teams one by one and teams receive a point for each correct answer. The answers are discussed in a whole class manner. Finally, students are asked to complete a substitution table. The teacher summarizes the tenses through a timeline.
Commentary: It is a meaning-focus activity. The students are provided with a context so that they could identify the uses of different tenses. The activity chain has an inductive nature and enables students to discover the rules.

C. PHONOLOGY
Suggestion 1. Reduced forms of have and has
Aim: To help students recognize reduced forms of have and has
Procedure: Students first listen to correct and wrong pronunciations of the target words and spot the mistakes. Next, they notice the reduced forms (via explicit teaching). After that, they try to spot the reduced and open forms in a contextual listening rather than isolated sentences. Finally, they practice producing the sounds by reading a text to a peer. (Appendix G)
Commentary: Since this activity chain includes everything from testing prior knowledge to teaching, practicing and producing the target skill, it is expected to help students understand how reduced forms of have/has (not) are pronounced.


REFERENCES
Aitken, R. 1992. Teaching Tenses. Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.
Corder, S.P. 1981. Error Analysis and Interlanguage. Oxford University Press
Celce-Murcia, M., Larsen- Freeman, D. 1998. The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher's Course. Heinle & Heinle Publishers, Boston.
Dean, M. 1993. English Grammar Lessons. Oxford University Press.
Hall, N., Shepheard, J. 1991. The Anti-Grammar Grammar Book. Longman
Leech, G.N., Svartvik, J. 2002. A Communicative Grammar of English. Routledge
Lewis,M. 1986. The English Verb- The Exploration of Structure and Meaning. Language Teaching Publications.
Lock, G. 1995. Teaching Functional Grammar- An Introduction for Second Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press.
Parrott, M. 2010. Grammar for English Language Teachers.
Scrivener, J. 2005. Learning Teaching. Macmillan publishing
Swan, M. 2005. Practical English Usage. Oxford University Press.
Swan, M., Smith B. 2001. Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and Other Problems. Cambridge University Press, pp: 214-226.
Thornbury, S. 1999. How to Teach Grammar. Pearson Education Ltd.





APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: A List of Irregular Verbs

Source: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/irregular-verbs






APPENDIX B: Flashcard Sample to Teach Past Participles
Front side
What is the Past Participle of FLY?What is the Past Participle of FLY?
What is the Past Participle of FLY?










What is the Past Participle of FLY?























Back side
I have only FLOWN twice in my life and that was to İstanbul and back.I have only FLOWN twice in my life and that was to İstanbul and back.
I have only FLOWN twice in my life and that was to İstanbul and back.










I have only FLOWN twice in my life and that was to İstanbul and back.

























APPENDIX C- Main Verb And Auxiliary Have
SHOPPING LISTMilkBreadCheesePineappleWatermelonOrangesBananasSausagesWineMeatCoconutLeekTeaMushrooms TomatoesSHOPPING LISTMilkBreadCheesePineappleWatermelonOrangesBananasSausagesWineMeatCoconutLeekTeaMushrooms Tomatoes
SHOPPING LIST
Milk
Bread
Cheese
Pineapple
Watermelon
Oranges
Bananas
Sausages
Wine
Meat
Coconut
Leek
Tea
Mushrooms
Tomatoes

SHOPPING LIST
Milk
Bread
Cheese
Pineapple
Watermelon
Oranges
Bananas
Sausages
Wine
Meat
Coconut
Leek
Tea
Mushrooms
Tomatoes



Answer with 'yes' or 'no'.1. Has she bought any apples?2. Does she have mushrooms?Answer with 'yes' or 'no'.1. Has she bought any apples?2. Does she have mushrooms?Mark as True or False.1. Angela has a bottle of wine in her basket.2. She has bought some bananas.3. She doesn't have any cheese in her basket.4. She hasn't bought any bread.5. She has put a watermelon in her basket.6. She has taken some meat.7. She doesn't have potatoes in her list.Mark as True or False.1. Angela has a bottle of wine in her basket.2. She has bought some bananas.3. She doesn't have any cheese in her basket.4. She hasn't bought any bread.5. She has put a watermelon in her basket.6. She has taken some meat.7. She doesn't have potatoes in her list.
Answer with 'yes' or 'no'.
1. Has she bought any apples?
2. Does she have mushrooms?
Answer with 'yes' or 'no'.
1. Has she bought any apples?
2. Does she have mushrooms?
Mark as True or False.
1. Angela has a bottle of wine in her basket.
2. She has bought some bananas.
3. She doesn't have any cheese in her basket.
4. She hasn't bought any bread.
5. She has put a watermelon in her basket.
6. She has taken some meat.
7. She doesn't have potatoes in her list.

Mark as True or False.
1. Angela has a bottle of wine in her basket.
2. She has bought some bananas.
3. She doesn't have any cheese in her basket.
4. She hasn't bought any bread.
5. She has put a watermelon in her basket.
6. She has taken some meat.
7. She doesn't have potatoes in her list.






APPENDIX D: Biography


Source: Parrott, 2010


Source: English File Pre-Intermediate


APPENDIX E: Been vs Gone
(name of the student A) has been in the canteen(name of the student B) has gone to the canteen. He is not in the classroom.1 A He's not here. He has gone to the football pitch. B He has been to the football pitch but now he is back at home.2 A Murat has gone abroad. I don't know when he'll return. B Murat has been abroad twice. He wants to go again.3 A My mother has gone to China. She phoned me from Beijing an hour ago. B My mother has been to China. She says it was great.(name of the student A) has been in the canteen(name of the student B) has gone to the canteen. He is not in the classroom.1 A He's not here. He has gone to the football pitch. B He has been to the football pitch but now he is back at home.2 A Murat has gone abroad. I don't know when he'll return. B Murat has been abroad twice. He wants to go again.3 A My mother has gone to China. She phoned me from Beijing an hour ago. B My mother has been to China. She says it was great.
(name of the student A) has been in the canteen
(name of the student B) has gone to the canteen. He is not in the classroom.
1 A He's not here. He has gone to the football pitch.
B He has been to the football pitch but now he is back at home.
2 A Murat has gone abroad. I don't know when he'll return.
B Murat has been abroad twice. He wants to go again.
3 A My mother has gone to China. She phoned me from Beijing an hour ago.
B My mother has been to China. She says it was great.




(name of the student A) has been in the canteen
(name of the student B) has gone to the canteen. He is not in the classroom.
1 A He's not here. He has gone to the football pitch.
B He has been to the football pitch but now he is back at home.
2 A Murat has gone abroad. I don't know when he'll return.
B Murat has been abroad twice. He wants to go again.
3 A My mother has gone to China. She phoned me from Beijing an hour ago.
B My mother has been to China. She says it was great.












Complete the sentences with have/has and the correct verb.
1. She ______________ to Paris. I think she's working there for a few months.
2. We ______________ there many times.
3. They ______________ on vacation. They should return next week.
4. You look tanned! ______________ you ______________ on holiday?
5. She's not home right now. She ______________ shopping.
6. He knows the city well. He_____________ there many times.
7. She's not here. She ______________ to the dentist.




APPENDIX F: Story

Source: Hall, 1991
APPENDIX G: Reduced Forms of Have and Has (not)

Source: New Headway Elementary Pronunciation Course