ACAPULCO, Stephen Jay

BALUARTE, Epher
WAGA, Nathan
 The main purpose of Second Language Acquisition is
being able to communicate using a certain language. Thus, it
is best to learn the essentials of grammar in that language for
the speaker to be understood more clearly by his/her
audience. The Department of Education in the Philippines
has always been keen on the importance of grammar in
teaching English as a Second Language to learners in basic
education. Since the majority of Filipinos learn English as
their second language, they tend to commit errors frequently
as they use it.
Among the errors committed by people who speak English, the use
of simple present tense is one of the most common. In the
Philippines, the lesson on simple present tense is taught in the
elementary level. It is one of the essential lessons in developing the
students’ knowledge of the English grammar. However, when
students reach the high school level, they still tend to commit errors
in the use of simple present tense frequently, even in writing.
Aramburo, S. (1970) pointed out that the use of the simple present
tense of verbs is a common error among Filipino high school
students. One of the reasons cited by previous research is the
difference in structure between the mother tongue and the second
language. This was confirmed by Weinrich (1963) when he said that
the knowledge of one language interferes in the learning of other
languages.
 In the first two years of secondary education,
students in the Philippines are taught how to use
English effectively in writing and speaking. They are
expected to be able to use the language in expressing
themselves. However, many of the students in the
aforementioned level find it difficult to express their
thoughts in English, even in writing, as observed by the
researchers in their classes. It is for this reason that
they have decided to study the prevalence of the errors
committed by grade 8 students. They wish to shed light
on this issue to make find out what could be done in
order to help the students avoid making errors in the
use of present tense.
Grade 8 students in the Philippines are expected to be able to
express their ideas in speaking and writing. They are already
taught how write a paragraph about a specific topic of interest.
They are always tasked to write sentences to express
themselves. Since the researchers are also classroom teachers,
they have noticed that errors in the use of simple present tense
appear frequently in their students’ compositions. This has
sparked their interest in finding out the reason that students
commit such errors. They also aim to answer the following
questions after the conduct of this research:
 1. What are the most common errors in the use of simple
present tense among Grade 8 students?
 2. What are the reasons that grade 8 students commit these
errors?
 3. What existing solutions can be applied by teachers in
order to reduce the frequency of errors committed by
grade 8 students in the use of simple present tense in
writing their compositions?
1. This study is aimed at examining the common errors that
grade 8 students in Dagatkidavao Integrated School commit
in the use of simple present tense. Its purpose is to shed
light on why these students commit those errors frequently.
The researchers deem it necessary to provide more
information about the prevalence of this problem. The
researchers hope to apply effective strategies in order to
address this problem to help students become more
effective in expressing their ideas.
2. This study purports to confirm previous studies
about the reasons that students commit errors in the
use of simple present tense within the context of
grade 8 students in the aforementioned location. The
researchers believe that this study will provide
specific results that teachers in Valencia City can
look into as they apply approaches and methods
more effectively to correct the errors committed by
their students in the said level.
The data that will be used in this study will be taken from the
compositions written by grade 8 students of Dagatkidavao
Integrated School in Valencia City from October 2019 to
November 2019. The researchers will be reading essays
written by the students about various topics that they can
relate to such as their favourite food and pastime. The
researchers will focus on the use of simple present tense in
writing since it is the skill that the students frequently use to
express themselves in English. The researchers will try to
confirm the theories cited by previous researchers in
explaining why students tend to commit those errors
frequently. Formulating new methods and theories is beyond
the scope of this study.
The data that will be collected by the researchers will be analyzed through the use of
the error analysis model provided by Corder, SP (1974).
ERROR ANALYSIS MODEL of CORDER, S.P. (1974)
This theory categorizes errors in tenses to four types namely
addition, omission, selection, and ordering.