Difficulties in Learning Present Perfect Tense

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E. Difficulties in Learning Present Perfect Tense

As it mentioned above that present perfect tense is one of the subject in grammar that most of the students usually find the difficulties in learning it. Martin Parrot in his book Grammar for English Language Teachers said that “learners generally have far more difficulty in using present tense correctly than in understanding them. Even if they d on’t know or are unclear about the difference in meaning between different tense, in most cases there is plenty of information in the context to help them understand whether, for example, an action is temporary or not. 18 He also made some list of typical difficulties for learners when they study the present perfect tense, they are: form and meaning, the use of how long with for and since, and over-use of present perfect forms. 19 In English subject, some students have some difficulties in learning tense, especially present perfect tense. Based on the description above, the writer divided the two main difficulties in learning present perfect tense, they are: the difficulty in form of present perfect tense and the difficulty in the use of present perfect tense.

a. Difficulty In Form of Present Perfect Tense

The form of present perfect tense is havehas + past participle. Have used for subject I, we, they, you while has used for subject he, she, it. Raymond Murphy state, “we form the present perfect tense with havehas + past participle. Uses have with I, we, they, you. Use has with 18 Martin parot, Grammar for English Language Teachers, p. 162 19 Martin parot, Grammar for English Language Teachers, p. 163 23 he, she, it”. 20 But in fact, there are some students still have difficulty in understanding the form of present perfect tense. Here are the examples of mistakes made by students: I has lost my chance to study abroad. She have finished her homework. The above sentences are wrong because the students use “has” for subject I and use “have” for subject she. The correct answers for examples above are: I have lost my chance to study abroad. She has finished her homework. It proved that there are some students who still have difficulties in understanding the form of present perfect tense, especially in putting havehas for subject. As it is mentioned above the form of present perfect tense is havehas + past participle. But from the form above, there are some students who also still have difficulties in using verb-form which is either regular or irregular verbs of past participle. Martin Parrot in Grammar for English Language Teachers, explained about several reasons why learners may make mistakes in the use of regular and irregular forms. They may: 1. consciously or unconsciously have learnt the wrong form of a particular verb. 20 Raymond Murphy, English Grammar in use With Answer, p. 26 24 2. be quessing the form because they don’t know what it is. 3. over-generalize ruler for example, ignoring irregular forms or using past forms in questions or infinitives 21 Here is the explanation about regular and irregular verbs, while according to Raymond Murphy, English verbs consist of two kinds, as follows: 1 Regular verbs The simple past and past participle of regular verbs end in – ed. For example: clean base form – cleaned simple past – cleaned past participle. 2 Irregular verbs a With some irregular verbs, all three forms base form, simple past, and past participle are the same. For example: hit b With other irregular verbs, the simple past is the same as the past participle but different from the base form. For example: tell – told c With other irregular verbs all three forms are different. For example: break - broke – broken. 22 An irregular verb is one of verb-forms that do not end in – ed to show past action. Therefore, to increase knowledge about irregular verbs, students must be learned individually and must memorize the irregular 21 Martin Parrot, Grammar for English Language Teachers, Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 2004, p. 192 22 Raymond Murphy, Grammar in use, p. 254 25 forms. According to Robert Krohn, “Many verbs, however, have irregular forms. These forms must learn individually”. 23 Because the irregular verbs must be memorized, therefore there are many students who still get difficulties in learning present perfect tense. Although there are some students who have already memorized the irregular verbs, they still get difficulties in putting these verbs in sentence. Here are the examples of student’s difficulties in past participle: Andy has knew Liza for a long time. I have meeted many people since I came here in June. The correct answers for example above are: Andy has known Liza for a long time. The irregular verbs all three forms are different: know-knew-known I have met many people since I came here in June. The past participle is same with simple past: meet-met-met The above example proved that there are some students who still do not know of irregular verbs. They are still confused, when they should use the first, the second or third verbs in their own sentences.

b. Difficulty in the Use of Present Perfect Tense

Some grammarians said that English has a variety of tense. This is one of the reasons why the Indonesia students have difficulties in understanding tense, because there are no tenses in Indonesia language. 23 Robert, Krohn English Sentence Structure, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1986, p.82 26 But in learning English, especially tenses, the students must be able to distinguish every tense in English, especially between present perfect tense and simple past tense. These tense are interrelated. They are used in the past time. Some students are still confused to distinguish the use. Wishon and Julie M. Burks said, “ the past tense is used for activities that occurred over a period of time in the past, but are now finished, or that occurred at intervals in the past, but don’t occur now”. 24 While the present perfect tense is used to express the activity that happened in the past but still related to the present moment of speaking. According Betty Schrampfer Azar in Understanding and Using English Grammar defined, “The present perfect expresses the ideas that something happened or never happened before now, at an unspecified time in the past. The exact time it happened is not important”. 25 That statement has been supported by Elaine Kiln and Darcy Jacks who said, “The present perfect tense refers to an event that happened at an unknown or unspecified time in the past. No specific time is given in a present perfect statement or question. If we use past time expression such as yesterday or last week, we use the past tense”. 26 But in fact, there are many students who still make mistakes in distinguishing the use of present perfect tense and simple past tense. This is the example of student’s mistake: she has lived in Jakarta last year. 24 George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks, Let’s write English revised edition, p. 195 25 Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, p. 29 26 Elaine Kirn and Darcy Jack, Interactions 1 Grammar, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, inc., 2002, 4 th edition, p. 130 27 The above sentence is wrong because the students use present perfect tense instead of simple past tense. The correct answer is: She has lived in Jakarta. That is because present perfect is not stressing the time of the action whether past tense is stressing. It proved that there are some students who find it difficult in distinguishing the use of present perfect tense and simple past tense. 28

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the description of the research method used in this research, includes the objective of study, place and time of research, method of the study, population and sample, instrument of research, and technique of data collecting.

A. The Object of the Research

The object of the research is the third year student of SMP Puspita Bangsa Ciputat. First grade consists of 120 students which divided into three classes; second grade consists of 136 students which divided into three classes. Third grade consist of 121 students. So the write just consist third grade A consist of 36 student. In the field research, to make the writer easier in analyzing the data. The writer did the observation, by giving the test and questioner to find out some difficulties face by students in learning present perfect tense.

B. Place and time

The writer did the research at SMP Puspita Bangsa that is located at Aria Putra Street no 9 Ciputat, Tangerang. The writer did the research from January 27 th up to February 24 th 2010.