The Topic “past Simple Vs Present Perfect” in the Gestalt’s Mirror (from the Experience of Teaching English Tense Forms)
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The article deals with the problem of inconsistency between the traditional explanations of the choice of tense form in the pair "Past Simple vs Present Perfect" prevailing in Anglistics and the real functioning of this tense pair in live speech.Thus, the traditional justification for the choice of tense in this pair is based on the use of time markers.For the Past Simple: yesterday, last week, the last time, when, in the morning, at night, at 5 o'clock, in 1979, three days ago, on Tuesday, in winter, today, this week/month.For the Present Perfect: already, just, always, ever, never, recently, yet, since, as, as soon as, today, this week/month.However, many examples of real-life speech refute this traditional explanation, which raises natural questions from advanced students.The authors provide a large number of examples from live speech that refute the traditional explanation.Leaving such questions unanswered would mean the teacher's linguistic and pedagogical bankruptcy.In the authors' opinion, the explanation of the choice of tense form by means of tense markers is a demonstration of only the tip of the iceberg.The real reasons for the choice lie deep in the (sub)consciousness of the speaker.As a new explanation, the authors propose a Gestalt theoretical approach, namely, the identification of a figure in the Gestalt of the discourse content, similar to the identification of a figure in E. Rubin's classic 'face-vase' drawing.If the figure is time, the speaker chooses the Past Simple form; if the figure is action, the speaker chooses the Present Perfect.On the part of the speaker, this choice is often subjective, without regard to tense markers.According to the authors, the pulsation of the tense pair "Past Simple vs Present Perfect" fits well into the paradigm of Gestalt theory.The authors' conclusion: 1.The strategy of tense markers to explain the nature of "Past Simple vs Present Perfect" is appropriate only at the beginning of learning English grammar to give only a general idea of these tense forms.2. Later on, students with a high level of proficiency should be offered a figure-background Gestalt interpretation of this tense opposition.The authors suggest that there may be other explanations.
Institution: Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4411776189