The document discusses William Bull's framework for describing tense in discourse. Bull's framework establishes an axis of orientation that a speaker uses to place themselves in relation to another event. This framework can be applied to both Spanish and English. The framework helps explain why ESL students may "discourse hop" by changing tense without shifting axis. Examples are provided of coherent and incoherent uses of tense related to the axis. Teaching methods are suggested to help students understand and properly apply tense through interacting with a visual model of Bull's framework and practicing shifting the axis of sample text.

1. Tense Aspect-Modality
in Discourse
Richard Loebel Presents

2. The Bull Framework
• Linguist William Bull proposed a framework
to describe tense in Spanish. This
framework also has application in English.
• His framework sets up an axis of orientation
in which a speaker may place their self to
describe another event.
• The speaker establishes one axis for them,
and describes something in another axis.
Example with future axis: Before: He will be
finished running before 6. During: He is
going to sleep at 7. After: After dinner, he is
going to play golf.

3. Bull Framework Applied to English
• When applied to English, speakers still stay
within one axis of orientation, past,present,
or future.
• Future tense has no distinct form, and is still
described using “will” “going to” along with
other indicators.

4. Helping ESL Students with Tense-aspect
use in text.
• Students who don’t
understand the importance
of axis-orientation may
“discourse hop.”
• Example: I don’t know what
to do for my vacation. It will
start in three weeks. I saved
enough money for a really
nice trip. I went to Hawaii.
It will be too early to go to
the mountains. I worked
hard all year. I really need a
break.
• While this is understandable, we
want students to present more
cohesive writing through
consistent use of axis forms.
• Example: I don’t know what to
do with my vacation. It starts in
three weeks. I have saved
enough money for a really nice
trip. I have been to Hawaii. It is
too early to go to the
mountains. I have worked hard
all year. I really need a break.

5. Helping ESL Students with Tense-aspect
• We can provide the students with a visual
model to illustrate the Bull framework and 3-
axis structure.

6. Helping ESL Students with Tense-aspect
• We can then have students interact with a
visual model in which they can see the
cohesiveness when language follows Bull’s
framework.

7. Another Teaching Idea
• Have a student describe what their average
school day is like.
• Then write this on the board, all in the
present tense, having each sentence
describe one action in their routine.
• Then, have students choose a sentence in
the paragraph to use as their axis point, and
guide them on modifying the rest of the
paragraph to fit the new axis.

8. Summation on Tense in Discourse
• Learning to properly apply the right tense in
discourse can be a tricky concept for ESL
students to grasp.
• Bull’s framework provides a good structure
for students to understand perspective
influences what tense is used in discourse
situations.
• Helping students view and create discourse
from an established axis via the framework
will help them in their use of proper tense
and discourse cohesiveness.

9. Article for Reference.
Larson-Freeman, Diane, Tom Kheun,
and Mark Haccius. Helping Students
Make Appropriate English Verb Tense-
Aspect Choices 4th ser. 11 (n.d.): n.
pag. Web. 22 May 2015.