In the Czech context, school grammar has traditionally held a relatively strong position and is taught systematically, often in greater detail than in many Anglophone educational contexts (Hudson, 2016). At the same time, curriculum and pedagogy have been moving towards a more functional view of language teaching, in which grammatical knowledge is expected to support meaning-making, communication, and work with texts rather than being an end in itself. This aligns with current debates in L1 grammar education, which increasingly focus less on whether grammar should be taught and more on how it should be explained, organised, and pedagogically sequenced (Hudson, 2016; Camps & Fontich, 2019; Myhill & Watson, 2014).

However, curricula often formulate competence-oriented aims without an explicit conceptual structure or clear guidance on learning progression. This increases the importance of textbooks and raises demands on teachers when translating the intended curriculum into classroom practice (Myhill & Watson, 2014). In Czech Language and Literature, expected outcomes are phrased in relatively general terms and the sequencing of grammatical concepts across grades is only weakly specified; textbooks therefore co-determine which model of “school grammar” reaches pupils and what teachers rely on in instruction. Together with selected didactic publications for teachers, textbooks act as key knowledge resources, connecting knowing (teachers’ conceptual tools) with teaching (how these tools become explanations and tasks).

This is particularly visible in the teaching of verbal tense. Tense is typically introduced early because it is assumed to be intuitively accessible; however, misconceptions may develop. Pupils often learn “tense” as a set of forms, but then encounter cases in which temporal meaning cannot be inferred directly from form, especially in expressing future time. Without an early grasp of the verbal aspect (Czech slovesný vid) as a contrast between ongoing or unfinished events and completed or boundedevents, explanations of tense may remain abstract and internally inconsistent.

Pupils commonly use verbal-aspect distinctions in communication before they can name them explicitly. Verbal aspect can therefore serve as a bridge between implicit linguistic competence and explicit grammatical knowledge. At the same time, it places demands on teachers’ professional knowledge as it requires translating a meaning contrast into accessible explanations and tasks. Nevertheless, primary-level textbooks often explain future time in vague terms, such as “some verbs form the future using present-tense forms”, and postpone a more systematic treatment of verbal aspect.

The presentation examines how Czech language textbooks for Grades 4–6 conceptualise verbal categories, with particular attention to explanations of future time and an implicit (unnamed) verbal-aspect principle. It explores what consequences this may have for pupils’ concept formation and teachers’ capacity to provide coherent explanations within a competence-oriented curriculum.

Research questions (RQ)
RQ1: How do textbooks for Grades 4–6 introduce and sequence key verbal categories (tense, mood, and related concepts), and what picture of the verbal system do they convey to pupils?
RQ2: How do textbooks explain future time, and to what extent do they use or replace verbal aspect (ongoing vs. completed event meaning) to account for different ways of expressing the future?
RQ3: What didactic implications does this conceptualisation have for pupils’ understanding and for teachers’ capacity to provide coherent explanations in the context of curricular change?

The study is a qualitative content analysis of curricular documents and instructional materials. In the Czech context, where the national curriculum framework does not provide an explicit list of grammatical categories or recommended sequencing, textbooks and teacher-oriented didactic texts carry increased responsibility for the conceptual organisation of grammar content and for shaping pedagogical metalanguage (MŠMT, 2021; MŠMT, 2025). In addition to textbook analysis, the study compares selected didactic publications as teachers’ professional knowledge resources in order to describe what support they do (or do not) provide for conceptual progression and explanatory strategies. The primary corpus consisted of 27 Czech language textbooks for Grades 4 to 6, representing nine publishers across three grade levels. The analysis focused on explanatory passages and tables on the verbal system, with particular attention to tense (including future time) and to explicit or implicit treatment of verbal aspect. Attention was paid to the formulation of definitions, rules, examples, and pedagogical metalanguage, as well as to terminological continuity across grades and within textbook series. The secondary corpus consisted of four didactic publications used in teacher education and teaching practice. A third data source included two versions of the national curriculum framework: the currently valid version and a revised version scheduled for compulsory implementation from the 2027/28 school year in Grades 1 and 6. Relevant passages from textbooks and didactic publications were converted into editable form and segmented into analytic units (definitions, rules, tables, metalinguistic notes, examples), following established guidance for textbook research (Pingel, 2010). A qualitative content analysis was conducted using a categorical coding frame combining deductive and inductive codes. Deductive codes were derived from the literature (conceptualisation, content sequencing, links between pupils’ implicit knowledge and explicit instruction, and pedagogical metalanguage), while inductive codes captured patterns specific to the analysed materials. Coding of explanations and tasks was guided by the research questions. Textbook findings were compared with the didactic publications (terminology and methodological guidance for teachers) and with the curriculum (explicit and implicit guidance). This study presents part of a broader doctoral project, in which later phases will extend the mapping of verb-related content across textbook components and will be supplemented by empirical classroom data.

Preliminary findings suggest that when the curriculum is framed in broad terms without an explicit conceptual structure, textbooks strongly shape the conceptual model of verbal categories that pupils encounter (RQ1). Explanations are often organised around morphological overviews and identification routines, while relations between categories, particularly between mood and tense, remain only weakly explicit. A key difficulty concerns explanations of future time. Many textbooks describe futurity without an explicit meaning-based account grounded in verbal aspect and instead rely on vague statements, such as “some verbs”. This reduces the transparency of different strategies for expressing future reference and leaves room for misconceptions (RQ2). This is not merely a matter of grammatical accuracy: future reference is central to everyday communication (plans, intentions), so unclear explanations may affect both comprehension and production. A typical consequence is a conflation of form and temporal meaning, such as present-form verbs used with future meaning, and increased abstraction even in tasks intended to be accessible (RQ3). Pupils may master the isolated rule will + infinitive without understanding why future time is sometimes expressed through present forms and why the verb’s meaning (ongoing vs. completed event construal) matters. Didactic literature provides clearer guidance by highlighting the systemic interplay between tense and verbal aspect and by cautioning against metalinguistic shortcuts that might unintentionally increase abstraction (van Rijt, de Swart, & Coppen, 2019; RQ2–RQ3). The study therefore argues for an earlier, functionally grounded introduction of verbal aspect (an aspect-first or aspect-with-tense approach) as a didactically defensible option that may improve coherence, support progression, and offer teachers a stable explanatory framework. More broadly, the tense–aspect issue is also a professional one as it concerns the conditions under which teachers make decisions aboutinfi concepts, pedagogical metalanguage, and sequencing when curricula leave much of this translation into practice to them.

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