Exploring and Analysing the Difficulties When Learning and Teaching the Present Tense and the Present Progressive Aspect to Swedish Pupils

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the difficulties when learning the English present tense and the present progressive aspect and get information about the common errors made by Swedish learners of different grades. Method: A quantitative study of 41 pupils’ knowledge and use of the present tense and the present progressive aspect in a fill-in-the-blank test and thereafter, an error analysis of pupils’ collected data. Material: 6th grade and 9th grade pupils’ responses to test questions Main results: The results showed that older learners managed to answer correctly more than younger learners. At the same time, tense and aspect errors are a problematic area for both classes. However, the comprehension of how the rule works needs to be acquired by pupils and the rule must be used many times in their own communication to be automated.