Present Perfect Simple and Present Perfect Continuous

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[Note: This was for the unassessed lesson on the Delta.  Like the practice essay I posted previously, I was still learning the format, and this essay should not be taken as an example format for the Delta.  However, it may be useful for the informational content.  It's largely a re-working of the practice essay, and thus the content is quite similar.]

Systems--Present Perfect Simple and Present Perfect Continuous

Introduction
I have chosen to research the contrast between the perfect perfect simple and the present perfect continuous.
I have chosen this focus because in my own teaching experience, learners are frequently confused by the difference between the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous.  I myself often have a difficult time explaining the rules to them. 

Analysis
The terminology used to describe these structures differs from grammar book to grammar book.  In many books, “present perfect simple” and “present perfect progressive” are defined as verb tenses.  In this view, they are part of a 12 tense system of the English verb (Celca-Murcia, Larsen-Freeman, 1999, p.110).
However, many linguists claim that English technically only has two tenses: present tense and past tense.  This is because linguists use the word “tense” to refer to how verbs are inflected, and only the present simple and the past simple are made purely by changing the form of the verb.  (Thornbury, 2006, p.226).
According to this view, the perfect and progressive are not types of tenses, but aspects, which combine with tenses.  Michael Lewis differentiates between tense and aspect in the following way: tenses are used to give the facts of the situation, aspects are used to give the speaker’s perception of the temporal nature of the events (Lewis, 1994, p.94).  Aspects combine with tenses to produce structures like “present perfect” or “present continuous”.  Both aspects can also be used in the same combination to produce structures like “present perfect continuous”.
The perfect aspect is defined as being before, and connected to, a point in time.  (Thornbury, 2006, p.158).  Thus the present perfect simple is used to refer to an event before and connected to the present time.
The continuous aspect is used to indicate that an event is both temporary and extended in duration. (Lewis, 1994, p.87-88)  Thus the present perfect continuous is used to refer to an event that the speaker views as before the present time, connected to the present time, of temporary nature, and extended in duration.
The terminology is further complicated.  Some writers use “simple” to mean without aspect.  In this view, there is a present simple and a past simple but not a present perfect simple.  However other writers use the term present perfect simple to indicate that there is no continuous aspect (Lewis, 1994,  p.94). Also the “continuous” aspect is sometimes referred to as the “progressive” aspect (Parrot, 2000, p.192).  In this essay, I will be using the terms “present perfect simple” and “present perfect continuous”.
Both the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous have many different uses.  Grammar books frequently list these uses as separate meanings, and there is some debate as to whether there is one meaning or several.
Michael Lewis argues for a “Principle of General Use” when describing any grammar form.  “A general rule describes the characteristics which are shared by all uses of the form.” (Lewis, 1994, p.31, italics in the original)  Thus, in Lewis’s view, all uses of the present perfect relate back to the general theme of looking at the past from the perspective of the present, and all uses of the present perfect continuous relate to looking at the past from the perspective of the present and seeing the event as temporary and extended in duration.  But for both verb forms, it is difficult to justify all the disparate uses as sharing a single unitary meaning, and many writers chose to list the uses as separate meanings.
Michael Swan identifies 8 uses of the present perfect simple:
* finished events connected with the present
* finished events reported in the news
* repetition up to now
* continuation up to now
* thinking about the past and present together
* exact time not mentioned
* announcing news, and
* causes and origins.  (Swan, 2005, p.438-442)
For the Present Perfect Continuous, Swan identifies at least 5 different uses:
* continuing actions and situations
* actions and situations that have just stopped.
* repeated actions
* to refer to a period of time continuing up to now, and
* to talk about how long something has been happening (Swan, 2005, p.455-456)
The form of the perfect perfect simple is made by combining the auxiliary verb “have” or 3rd person “has” and the past participle of the verb.  (Thornbury, 2006, p.158).  The present perfect continuous is have/has + been + the present participle form of the verb.  The auxiliary verb is frequently contracted as “’ve” or “’s”.
The pronunciation of the auxiliary verb is /hæv/ or 3rd person /hæz/ and in the weak form /əv/ or /əz/.  It is often contracted as /v/ or /z/, and in casual speech, the contracted /v/ sound is sometimes pronounced as /f/.  Regular past participle verbs either end in /Id/ or have a consonant cluster ending with /d/ or /t/.  Irregular past participle verbs vary in pronunciation

Issues
One Meaning or Several`
As mentioned in the analysis section, with both the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous there is a debate about whether there is one general meaning, or several.  It follows that there is a similar debate over how to best teach it.
Michael Lewis argues that presenting multiple different uses of the same form discourages the students by making them think that the language is illogical and unlearnable.  Instead, one general use principle should be presented, and all the different uses should flow from this (Lewis, 1994, p.31). The obvious problem with this, however, is that with both the present perfect simple and continuous some of the uses appear to be more easily explainable by the Principle of General Use than others.
Grammar as Choice versus Grammar as Fact
Another problem particularly with the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous is that in many contexts they appear to be interchangeable.  (I’ve taught English for 6 years/ I’ve been teaching English for 6 years). This frequently confuses the students. Michael Lewis argues that the problem is that textbooks usually teach that the difference between verb structures is dependent on external contexts. But actually, the choice of aspect depends on the speaker’s subjective interpretation of events more than the external reality. According to Michael Lewis, students therefore need to be taught “grammar as a choice” rather than “grammar as a fact”.  “Even if we are fully aware of the external context in which language is used, we cannot without complete insight into the speaker’s motivation, attitude, presuppositions, etc, decide precisely the language that speaker would use in that particular context.” (Lewis, 1994, p.40).  According to this view, the difference between I’ve taught English for 6 years and I’ve been teaching English for 6 years is not dependent on the context, but on the speaker’s subjective perception of the event—in this case, whether the speaker viewed the event as either a indivisible whole, or an event currently in progressive.
And yet, language is somewhat context bound.  When my wife (L1 Vietnamese) noticed that I was still reading Don Quixote after several months, she observed “You have read that book for a long time.”  I knew instinctively the context demanded “have been reading” even though at the time I had trouble explaining to her why.  (I now realize it was because it was an event with a limited duration but currently unfinished.)
Furthermore, how to effectively teach these subjective choices opens up its own pedagogical difficulties.  Scott Thornbury writes that the “present perfect is baffling for many learners…” precisely because “...notions such as relevance, connectedness, and unfinishedness are subjective and difficult to pin down” (Thornbury, 2006, p.159).  Perhaps it is no wonder that most textbooks opt to teach the present perfect in relationship to concrete situations instead of getting in to all the subjectivities of the human mind.
Thornbury concludes then that “Rather than try and teach rules, therefore, it may be easier to relate the perfect with the kinds of time expressions it co-occurs with (such as yet, just, already)...”  (Thornbury, 2006, p.159) However one potential problem with this is that in American English, it is equally common to use the past simple with these words. David Crystal gives the examples of “You told me already” and “Did they come home yet?” (Crystal, 1988, p.81). Moreover Swan notes on the same topic that: “British English is changing under American influence, so some of these uses are becoming common in Britain as well.” (Swan, 2005 p.444)



Bibliography
Aitken, Rosemary. Teaching Tenses. 1997. Longman Group Ltd.

Celce-Murcia, Marianne and Diane Larsen-Freeman. The Grammar Book: An ESL/ EFL Teacher’s Course. 1999. Heinle & Heinle Publishers

Crystal, David. Rediscover Grammar with David Crystal. 1988. Longman Group

Lewis, Michael. The English Verb. 1994. Thompson and Heinle.

Parrot, Michael. Grammar for English Language Teachers. 2000. Cambridge Univerity Press

Swan, Michael. Practical English Usage. 2005. Oxford University Press.

Thornbury, Scott. An A-Z of ELT. 2006. Macmillan Publishers.

Thornbury, Scott. Uncovering Grammar. 2001. Macmillan Publishers.