Aitken argues that learning tenses in isolation is ineffective. Instead, learners must first understand why a tense is used in a specific context (the "meaning" or "function") before analyzing how it is constructed (the "form"). B. The "Time-Aspect" Approach
By using "Teaching Tenses" by Rosemary Aitken, and by taking advantage of these additional resources, teachers can help their students to develop a deeper understanding of tenses, enabling them to communicate more effectively in English.
Perhaps the most influential aspect of Aitken’s work is her focus on Concept Checking Questions (CCQs) .
Students ask "Have you ever...?" and follow up with "When did you...?"
: Fill-in-the-blanks, sentence transformations, and matching exercises.