Present tense in English: a study of Botswana secondary school students writing

bibliographic database
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Periodical article

Title:	Present tense in English: a study of Botswana secondary school students writing
Author:	Morapedi, Setumile
Year:	2008
Periodical:	Botswana Notes and Records (ISSN 0525-5090)
Volume:	40
Pages:	159-166
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Botswana
Subjects:	language instruction English language
Abstract:	During his six years of teaching practice supervision in Botswana secondary schools, the author observed that Batswana learners of English experience difficulties in using the present tense in English. They have a problem in mastering the occurrance of the -s suffix and the bare form for simple present tense. In order to cope with this complex English tense system, they rely heavily on the overgeneralization strategy, which brings about a lot of errors. To alleviate this problem, teachers can expose learners to a variety of contexts in which the simple present tense forms occur. The present tense form or uses should be presented using sentences in various appropriate contexts, and which reflect the learners' life experiences in order for it to sound real. Bibliogr., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract]