Cognitive grammar tools in teaching English tenses : the case of present perfect

Abstract

The article discusses an application, within the sphere of foreign language pedagogy, of one of the psychological mechanisms omnipresent in language – construal (Langacker 2008: 4-5, Tomasello 2003: 13). In the fi rst part, the article takes up two major issues: a more detailed characterization of the construal aspects in question: profi le and base, as well as the problems often encountered in pedagogical grammar while referring to the uses of one of the English tenses – Present Perfect: the number of uses, the manner of defi ning them, and the level of schematicity at which the description should take place. The second part of the article is devoted to an analysis of the uses of Present Perfect by means of the presented Cognitive Grammar tools. In the conclusions this analysis is reviewed from the perspective of the above-mentioned problems and some pedagogical implications fl owing from the model proposed by the author are discussed.