The Usage of Tense and Aspect in the Written English of Some Selected Secondary School Students in Nigeria

Abstract

The verbal group of English is the most crucial part in the structure of English and it constitutes a source of considerable difficulty for second language learners. The major aim of this paper is to find out the level of competence of the participants in the usage of tense and aspect features of English especially in their active, productive language use. The participants are 60 Senior Secondary Year Three students who were given a guided composition to write. Our findings showed that the different verbal group forms and their meanings posed different problems to the learners. On the basis of our findings we offer suggestions that can lead to a better understanding and usage of the features investigated.

英文中的動詞群組是英語結構中最重要的部份，同時它也為第二語言學習者帶來相當大的困擾。本研究最主要的目標即是找出學生在積極主動使用英文時，利用時態與語態的能力。本研究參與者共有60位接受引導式寫作的高中生。而研究結果發現，不同的動詞群組和它們本身的意思對學生造成不同程度的困擾與問題。根據此結果，我們也提供了有助於瞭解時態與語態等用法的建議。