Tense Errors in English Essays of Secondary School Students
Chapter One
Aim and Objectives
The aim of this research is to study Tense Errors in English Essays of Secondary Schools Students
The specific objectives are;
- To identify the errors in the essays of the students.
- To classify the errors identified into types
- To find out and explain the possible causes of the errors.
- To provide solutions to the causes of the errors.
CHAPTER TWO:
LITERATURE REVIEW
Meaning of Tense
Adejare and Adejare, states that tense is the linguistic feature of handling time relations in speech and it differs from language to language. To them, tense is a linguistic feature usually characterized by abstraction with language specific rather than universal. According to them, traditional Grammar assumes that since there exists three time frames, there must be three tenses referring to the three time frames, thus, the past, the present and the future tense.
Tense is the form that a verb takes to show time, or an aspect expressing time relation. Hornby, (78) defines tense as “a verb form or series of verb forms used to express time relation. By time, we mean a universal non- linguistic concept which has three dimensions, the present the past and the future and time is a continuous process that is from a day to the next.
In expressing time relation, tense system is used to indicate the different time at which an action is viewed as happening.
Contributing in the same vein, Palmer, defines tense as a linguistic reference to time. This definition differs from language as it is believed that some languages have an elaborate indicator to time while others don’t.
Orji, (30) states that “traditionally, there are up to 16 tenses in English, today, however linguistics have seen through the traditional flaw, which is that traditional grammarians equated “tense” with “time.”
Every race or every generation has three (3) times namely; the present, the past and the future, so time is a universal concept.
Thus palmer’s idea of 3 forms of tense is considered the theoretical framework within which this study is made. However, other tenses as in Orji, are incorporated as generated from the three basic tenses mentioned above.
According to Quirk and Greenbaum, (24 – 25) “that there is a choice of the past, present and future and that choice may be repeated and each new choice taking the place of the previous one at its departure.”
Leach and Svartvik, (81), state that most tenses in English have several uses, because the present tense, past tense and future tense can be used to indicate different times. To this effect therefore, students find it difficult to differentiate the term reference or verbs forms.
Types of English Tenses
Tense is a linguistics feature for handling time relation in speech and tense types differ from language to language.
According to Blake, traditional grammar works on the basis of worlds, and is to the extent world based grammar is that world from the important constituents of language which are joined together to form larger units.
However, traditional grammar recognizes a number of tenses which include present, past, future, present progressive, past progressive, past perfect, present perfect e.t.c.
The example of the tenses above
The present tense: Is said to express action going on at the moment of speaking e.g.
- I speak English very well
- He smokes cigarette
- Sadiya plays the piano well
The simple past tense: Is used to express something that happened or took place and was definitely finished/completed in the past e.g.
- I met the lady yesterday.
- The woman arrived ten minutes ago
- I learnt English at the University
The simple future tense: This tense is used to express something that has not yet happened but will happen at sometime in the future e.g.
- I shall go to the lecture by 2 O’clock
- He will bring the book next week
- When will you bring my notebook?
CHAPTER THREE:
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter deals with the methods of date collection for this research work which covers the tense errors in English essays of secondary schools students of some selected secondary schools in Kaduna South Local Government.
This chapter also serves as the basis to draw out the findings and conclusion of the study.
Sources of Data
In selecting the students for this research, the researcher considers the following:
- Equal educational background of selected students (SS II)
- The use of test as an instrument for data collection
- The use of narrative essay, in which the students were answer the question “How I spent my holiday”.
Method of Data Presentation and Analysis
In this section of the study, thirty answer scripts of written English essays of secondary school students in Kaduna South Local Government is marked and analyzed, pointing out the tense errors and group them into types.
From the identified errors, tables are drawn based on the different errors committed by the students. The table presents the number and percentage of scripts with or without errors and total.
CHAPTER FOUR:
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION
Introduction
This chapter is concerned with the presentation and analysis of data on the tense errors in the essays of secondary school students of G.G.S.S Maimuna Gwarzo, Government College Kaduna, and Government Day Secondary School, Kurmin Mashi Kaduna. A total of thirty students were examine of which ten-ten is given from each school, therefore, the data is presented in statistical tables showing frequency of tense of errors, numbers of scripts assessed and percentage of occurrence of each tense error. Examples are cited showing the wrong use of tenses and the necessary substitutions of the wrong usage (errors) are also provided.
The following are the areas where the data is analyzed in the second part of the chapter:
CHAPTER FIVE:
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
This chapter is concerned with the summary, recommendation and conclusion of the research work.
Summary
Chapter one is an introductory chapter, it looks at the reasons for the conduct of this research work on tense errors in the mentioned schools. The aims and objectives of the work, statement of the problems, significance of the study, scope and delimitation of the study, method of data collection, method of data presentation and analysis are all explicated in this chapter.
Chapter two is a literature review where relevant texts were consulted. The chapter discusses causes of tense errors and types of errors.
Chapter three deals with the method of data collection for the research work from some selected secondary schools in Kaduna South Local Government Area
Chapter four analyzes and interprets the data collected. Four tables were drawn, each with the following information; tense, frequency of errors, number of scripts assessed percentage of occurrence and total table one (1) showed the number of tense errors made on the use of present tense. Table two (2) was on the use of past tense and table three (3) deals with the students use of future tense. While table four (4) showed the final analysis and discussion of the results.
Different extracts on the wrong use of the present tense, past tense and future tense were collected and corrected.
Conclusion
The study examined tense as used by secondary schools students in Kaduna South local Government where thirty answer scripts were collected and analyzed.
English language services as official language of instruction in schools. Although, it serves the above purpose, the way it is used differs from that of the native speaker since it is not the mother language of many of its Nigerian users.
The complexity of the English tense sometimes contributes to the student’s poor usage of the tense. This leads to confusion in the way certain tenses are used.
Student ignorance of the English tense system led to this research work. The ignorance is a clear indication that some students have major weakness in the grammatical structure of the English language and this could be a barrier to their future academic achievements.
Recommendations
To remedy the problems of tense errors as found out in this research work, we find it necessary to make the following recommendations.
- Since the students have committed some mistakes in the use of tense and with the fact that students are learning the English language as a second language (L2), English teachers should correct the difficulties encountered by the students immediately as they are made by the students, whether while speaking or in their written work.
- Government and the school authorities should see that trained and competent teachers handle the teaching of English in both primary and secondary schools more especially in the junior classes of the secondary schools in order to ensure that pupils acquire the fundamental knowledge of the use of tenses right from the beginning.
- Students should be encouraged to use the English language intensively. A lot of practice and intensive teaching can remedy the problems of tense identification.
- Government should provide adequate textbooks on English grammar to the pupils. Schools in rural areas should not be neglected academically. Trained teachers and textbooks and other learning materials should be made available in all schools.
WORKS CITED
- Hornby, Albert, Sidney. Guide to Pattern and Usage in English. London: Oxford University Press, 1975.
- James, Svartvik. On Voice in English Verb. London: Longman, 1966.
- Leech, Geoffrey and Svartvik, James. A Communicative Grammar of English. London: Longman, 1974.
- Michael, Halliday. Language Structure and Language Function in Lyons New Horizons in Linguistics. Penguin (p. 140 – 165), 1970.
- Orji, Njokwo. English Grammar for Advanced Students. Obasi: Pacific College Press, 1988.
- Palmer, Frank. The English Verb, Second Edition. London: Longman Group Ltd, 1974.
- Quirk, Randolph and Greenbaum. A Grammar of Contemporary English. London: New York. 1972.