Tenses .1 The Meaning of Tenses

silently was very important to keep other teams from overhearing. Then, the problem was also solved. 2.3 Tenses 2.3.1 The Meaning of Tenses Learning English is very important for students because English is an international language used by most people in the world. They need to master English if they want to interact with foreigners. In learning a certain language as a target language, the students have to learn the rules of the language itself. If they do not master the rules, they will get difficulties in applying the language. Therefore, the students need to master the rules of English Language, namely grammar or structure. The students have to master grammar, especially tenses, in order to be able to use English as a means of communication. The definition of tenses needs to be described in order to make the discussion easier to be understood. Comrie 1984:9 defines tense as grammaticalised expression of location in time. It means that tense describes the time at which the action happens using a specific verb. Langan 2004:186 defines tense as the time that is showed by the verb. This is in line with Veit 1986:149 who states that tense is frequently described as the property that relates to the time a verb action is performed. Meanwhile, Rusli 1996:1-2 states that the mastery of tenses will ease the learners to understand English sentences or texts that they find in the daily life. Based on the definitions stated by the experts above, it can be concluded that tense indicates whether an action, activity, or statement is present, past, or future or in progress over a period of time. Every language has different tense from other languages. In Bahasa Indonesia, we do not have the term tenses so that the Indonesian English learners often face difficulties in learning English tenses. In this research, the tenses that were used covered Simple Present Tense and Present Continuous Tense because the research was conducted on the seventh year http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id http:digilib.unej.ac.id students of Junior High School and those tenses were taught on the seventh year students of Junior High School.

2.3.2 Teaching Tenses at Junior High School Level

Based on the 2006 Curriculum KTSP, teaching grammar including tenses is integrated with the English language skills listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The teaching tenses on the seventh year students covers Simple Present Tense and Present Continuous Tense.

2.4 Tense Materials to be Taught for the Seventh Year Students