Tense, aspect and verb form errors in EFL academic writing produced by Italian learners

Errors in writing produced by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners of different mother tongues have been widely analyzed. Most studies have considered and categorized different types of writing errors and several facets within the same area of analysis (morphology, syntax, lexicon, etc.). Fewer studies, however, have specifically investigated errors in the form and use of verbs, which are quite frequent in the written production of EFL learners. The present paper deals with verb-related errors, with a main focus on tense and aspect. Given their own semantics, these grammatical categories are part and parcel of the communicative competence of EFL learners, as their misuse may easily lead to misunderstandings. The paper is based on the analysis of exam essays written by Italian students on a Primary Education Master‘s degree providing qualification for the teaching of English in Primary School. The high frequency of verb-related errors detected in the corpus, especially those concerning verb tense and aspect, suggests that despite the huge amount of time commonly devoted to the teaching of grammar to Italian EFL learners, the form and use of English verbs still seem to be problematic, and appears to indicate the need for a revision of approaches to the teaching of grammatical features. Keywords: EFL writing; writing errors; tense and aspect; English verbs; verb-related error analysis