The Difficulties of Learning The English Tenses in Marib's Schools: Issues and Needs

http://ijopaar.org/ijopams.php/; 2017 Vol. 3(1); pp.
16-23, ISSN: 2456-4516
The Difficulties of Learning the English Tenses in Marib's

Schools: Issues and Needs
Ahmed Abdulbari Abdullah Abdulmalik
Author Research Scholar Department of Linguistics, AMU, Aligarh
Abstract
The primary aim of learning a foreign language is to communicate in it, both in spoken and written
mode. The success in developing the ability to communicate and use the target language requires
strategic teaching and training which the learners should receive at school level. However, most
schools in Yemen fall short in training English teachers which will help the learners to develop their
written and spoken proficiency in English.
The aim of this paper is to address the practical problems faced by the EFL learners at the schools
level at Marib city in Yemen. This paper focuses on the difficulties of learning English tenses by
students of primary school and the study tries to identify the underlying factors for the weakness of
learning English tenses. Some of these factors are the lack of experience in communicative methods of
teaching, absence of confidence in teaching English, influence of mother tongue in language learning.
The proposed solution for improvement of English language learning and teaching performance is to
conduct some training skills which will fill the gap and enhance the abilities of the teachers for better
teaching and help the students in better learning.
Keywords: English grammar, present tense, past tense and primary schools.
1. Introduction
1.1 Historical background
“Yemen is an Arab country in Western Asia, occupying South Arabia, the southern end of
the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is the second-largest country in the peninsula, It is bordered by Saudi
Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea to the south,
and Oman to the east-northeast". (Agger, P.1976:42).
Marib is the capital city of the Marib Governorate Yemen and was the capital of the Saba kingdom in
ancient. It is located approximately 120 kilometers east of Yemen's modern capital, Sana'a.
1.2 Learning in Marib
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Education system in Marib schools consists of three phases, first phase is elementary phase that
consists of six levels, then the second phase that is known as primary phase consists of three levels
and the third one is the secondary phase which consists of three levels further these phases are divided
into scientific and arts. English in public school in Marib is first taught to the learners in the 7th
standard of schooling when the student's age is about 13 years, during the 3 years, that is an a 7 th and
8th and 9th standards of primary schooling. During this period students study the alphabets of English
as well as reading, spelling and elementary writing. Some of the grammatical terminology, categories
and relations such as nouns, verbs, conjunction, prepositions, simple past tense, present tense, plural
and singular are also introduced during this period.
Language in the Primary School is significant in the process of education and development. Grammar
is the back bone of any language. It has become the subject of study of low achievement level of the
students in the subject of English. It is so important that you cannot condone or overlooked because it
can result in facing difficulties to the student after graduating from high school and transition to
college or leaving the realm of practical life. The teaching English grammar at this level regarded the
important stage for developing the cognitive system of students. It must be the base of awareness that
make a strong generation who will build and contribute to the society. In this paper, I discuss the
difficulties of learning English grammar at primary level in Marib (Yemen) schools. The problem is
when the students learn the past tense and he/she does not differentiate between the irregular and
regular verbs, for instance when you ask them, what is the past tense of the verb speak ,they directly
replies (speaked) with the addition of (ed) to use the generalization of the irregular verbs or in the
case of present tense when third person subject such as (Ahmed play football), they don’t add suffix 's'
to the end of the verbs or they neglect to add 'es' in the case of the verbs that are end with voiceless
(ch, sh, x, s, o). It is expected that the students still make grammatical mistakes but we must to know
how to help them in good way to avoid these mistakes in the future and make the suitable suggestions
and solutions to overcome the odd and growth their confidence. Any teacher may be found this
phenomenon in secondary schools. This study attempts to find out the difficulties by analyzing with
the help of descriptive statistics and then establishes significant solutions. There are many reasons
which contribute to the low achievement level of student for instance, the students themselves,
teachers, surrounding environment, curriculum educational or the mean, hence, the biggest role is of
teachers they are responsible for finding solution and alternatives to solve the problem and not lose
sight of the student's role as the center of educational process which suffers deficit.

2.Objectives
The main objectives of the current study are:
To find out the grammar problems faced by the students at primary levels.
To identify the leading causes for the problems of learning English as a second language.
To focus on the factors which are hindering of learning English tenses.
3. Sample
Four schools were selected to find out the factors that cause difficulties in learning English tenses.
4. Methodology
The study uses the quantitative method. The researcher collects the appropriate data from exam sheets
and analyses the data by using descriptive statistics analysis method. The target population is the
students in primary schools in Marib city, 30 students were selected for the present study. The
analysis was done on their exam sheets where the researcher observed the mistakes that they have
made.
5. Data analysis
The present data analysis is based on the descriptive statistics method-
Statistics
Students
N Valid 300
Missing 0
Students
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 0 292 97.3 97.3 97.3
1 8 2.7 2.7 100.0
Total 300 100.0 100.0

FREQUENCIES VARIABLES=Students
/PIECHART FREQ
The descriptive statistics has shown that, the frequency 292 that means that the majority of students
have made mistakes in Exams by percentage of 97.3. Whereas, the percentage of right answer has
been shown to be only 2.7.
This analysis of present simple tense:
Statistics
Student
N Valid 210
Missing 0

Student
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid 0 197 93.8 93.8 93.8
1 13 6.2 6.2 100.0
Total 210 100.0 100.0
FREQUENCIES VARIABLES=student
/PIECHART PERCENT
/ORDER=ANALYSIS.
The descriptive statistics have shown that the frequency of mistakes of learners in present simple
tense is 197 and the percentage is 93.8
6. Discussion and Results
This study was conducted to investigate the factors that are responsible for the difficulties of learning
English tenses in Marib schools and also to find out the appropriate solutions. Through the close
observation of the Exam sheets, it was predicted that the majority of the students make mistakes in the
past tense regarding irregular verbs. There were 10 columns in present simple tense and the students
were asked to write their equivalence in past tense in exam sheets. The students were asked to write
the past tense for speak, go or another verbs. They responded by writing 'speaked', 'goed' etc. by
adding the regular past tense marker i.e. 'ed', and they do not know the correct answer; here we found
the big problem in this regard. On other hand the mistake in present simple tense when third person
subject comes in the sentence like ' Ali often watch T.V' the students responded it like 'Ali often
watchs T.V'. They do not know the verbs in this case need to add '-es' as per the rules of present tense
in English Language.
Even though there were correct answers too that assure some students have good knowledge. In this
discussion, I try to clarify the causes of difficulties that decrease the students' knowledge. All the
learners of language make mistakes, if the mistakes happen it is important to pay attention to their
types and reason why they have happened. It is also important to analysis different ways to prevent
mistakes. What practice teachers use to correct these grammar mistakes and what are the strategies
they find effective for preventing them?
''Grammar mistakes are generally caused by problem related to students' cognitive skills and their
individual traits'' Mayer (2002: 227). Thornbury (1999) claims that mistakes may also be caused by
language teaching strategies used by teacher, according to Thornbury many factors cause affecting on
English learning, such as the family background plays vital role in success of learning process in the
case of the country like Yemen where majority of people are not well educated. Larson (2000) claims
that the dominance of mother tongue is regarded as one the causes of poor performance. Environment
affects on learning, school building-class room lab or society. However Hoxby (2000) found that
"class size did not have a statistically significant effect on student achievements". The negative notion
about English is confusing, implicated, unfamiliar and difficult. Lack of motivation in learning
English tenses, it happens in schools, poor focus and poor attention are given to subject, schools
mostly focus on mathematics and science.
Jamshaid (2003) assumes that the inadequate qualified English teacher, most English teachers do not
improve their professional academics after being graduate, and all these factors affect the education
process. English teachers are not sufficiently qualified for teaching English and not well trained.

English teachers use traditional methods for teaching, and not using the modern teaching aids like
audio-visual methods for teaching a secondary language and the schools do provide any study
materials. Batool (2008) has done her study on the role of aural and visual aids in improving the
tenses at secondary level revealed that, most of the teachers agreed that students showed interest and
eagerness to use audio and visual aids while studying grammar.
This study suggests solutions for improving the performance of English language learning and
teaching that is to conduct some training skills which will fill the gap and enhance the abilities of the
teachers for better teaching and help the students in better learning. One of the important solutions is
family, ''children are more successful when their parents are involved in their education; parents have
to create a conducive atmosphere to learn English. Their role is to courage their children to
communicate and give them more exercises to improve themselves. On the other hand, Teachers have
to encourage the students to communicate in English. Teachers should create student-friendly and
learner centered environment. They should motivate students for participation. Teachers should use
the good strategies for teaching grammar such deductive (based on rule) or inductive'' (Greenwood, G.
E., & Hickman, C. W. (1991-279-288).
Teachers can use different exercise to integrate skills and give children the opportunity to work
individually and in small groups, the significant point here is how can teachers correct the mistakes.
The good way to correct mistakes is self-correction strategies, there are numerous ways to use self-
correction in the ESL classroom, but whichever you use, you can bet the students' attention which will
focus on the problems she/he has to solve. Great strategies are used for those mistakes that students
repeat over and over again. Practice is second important way to correct mistakes, teachers must give
students extended practice to help to overcome this particular difficulty, game. Drill or work sheets,
anything and everything helps.
7. Findings
The Data for the present study was collected through Exam Sheets of 30 students from four primary
schools. This was done to determine the most common grammar mistakes faced at primary levels. The
data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for the purpose of this study, the analysis focused on
the grammar tenses (present and past tense). After analyzing the data, it was found that the frequency
was 292 that mean that the majority of students make mistakes in Exam. The percentage is 97.3.
Whereas, the percentage shows the right answers that are only 2.7.In the case of the present simple
tense, the descriptive statistics shows the frequency is 197 and the percentage is 93.8
8. Conclusion
Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were made:
(i) The data shows that the frequency 292 and the percentage of 97.3 that indicates to wrong
answer, whereas the percentage of the right answer is 2.7.
(ii) This study suggests that there are many factors affecting the learning of English that include
''dominance of mother tongue, inadequate teachers of English language, inadequate facilities
and instructional media/materials, teachers’ attitude toward innovation and use of
instructional media, negative attitude of students toward learning English language and
improper use of methods of teaching by teachers'' Evans, G.W.(2006, 57). And the significant
factor is the environment.
References
1. Agger, P. (1976). Yemen Arab Republic–Stock Assessment FI: DP YEM.(1)42
2. Batool, A. (2008). The role of aural and visual aids in improving the tenses at secondary level
(Doctoral dissertation, AIOU).
3. Evans, G. W. (2006). Child development and the physical environment. Annu. Rev.
Psychol., 57, 423-451.(4)
4. Greenwood, G. E., & Hickman, C. W. (1991). Research and practice in parent involvement:
Implications for teacher education. The Elementary School Journal, 91(3), 279-288.
5. Hoxby, C. M. (2000). The effects of class size on student achievement: New evidence from
population variation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115(4), 1239-1285.
6. Jamshaid, M., 2003. Errors made by students in the present perfect and simple past tense sat
ssc level: Analysis and remedies. Islamabad. (Unpublished Master's thesis). Allama
Iqbal Open University, Pakistan.
7. Larsen, F.D., 2000. Technique and principles in language teaching. New York: Oxford
University press
8. Mayer, R. E. (2002). Rote versus meaningful learning. Theory into practice, 41(2), 226-232.
9. Thornbury, S. (1999). How to teach grammar. Harlow: Pearson Education.


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http://ijopaar.org/ijopams.php/; 2017 Vol. 3(1); pp.

16-23, ISSN: 2456-4516

The Difficulties of Learning the English Tenses in Marib's

Ahmed Abdulbari Abdullah Abdulmalik

Author Research Scholar Department of Linguistics, AMU, Aligarh

1.1 Historical background

1.2 Learning in Marib

UGC JOURNAL NO. 45255;

UGC JOURNAL NO. 45255;

The main objectives of the current study are:

To focus on the factors which are hindering of learning English tenses.

The present data analysis is based on the descriptive statistics method-

Valid 0 292 97.3 97.3 97.3

1 8 2.7 2.7 100.0

Total 300 100.0 100.0

UGC JOURNAL NO. 45255;

This analysis of present simple tense:

UGC JOURNAL NO. 45255;

Valid 0 197 93.8 93.8 93.8

1 13 6.2 6.2 100.0

Total 210 100.0 100.0

6. Discussion and Results

UGC JOURNAL NO. 45255;

UGC JOURNAL NO. 45255;

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