Application of temporal models to teaching the Spanish preterit and imperfect tenses: a classroom discourse analysis approach

Abstract

This paper examines how the different temporal patterns that reflect the functions of preterit and imperfect tenses are transferred to the Spanish as a second language (L2) classroom, what the main theories on the acquisition of temporality that underly the teaching of these tenses are and what consequences this procedure has for the learning process. To illustrate this procedure, we hereby present a corpus derived from observing A2, B1 and B1+ level lectures of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Our results show an overlap of verbal categories used in the teaching of the preterit and imperfect tenses, which does not encourage assimilation of their operation, as even learners in the most advanced levels continue expressing uncertainty about the explanatory models presented.