The progressive aspect of English verbs: teaching and learning for Italian learners

This dissertation focuses on the English verb phrase, in particular its progressive aspect and corresponding forms. It is taken into account considering how it is taught and learnt by Italian learners, who may struggle in their acquisition process of English as a second language. In this regard, the present work tries to offer some solutions. The dissertation is divided into three chapters. The first one consists of a general overview of the differences between tense and aspect. Next, the paper focuses deeper on the progressive aspect and its forms. The second chapter concerns with the teaching and learning aspect of English grammar, firstly presenting second language learning theories and principles in general, and later focusing on teaching English grammar to foreign learners. The third and final chapter covers the acquisition of the progressive aspect for Italian learners, its major problems and possible suggestions to solve them. A bibliography can be found in the appendix at the end of this dissertation.