Students' Attitudes towards Learning the Present Tenses through Explicit Grammar Instruction

Abstract

Over the centuries, grammar and its approaches are considered to be important in second and foreign language teaching/learning. In line with this, existing literature shows that students' attitudes are one of the important factors to determine their success in language learning. This research, therefore, is an attempt to investigate students' attitudes towards learning the present tenses through explicit grammar instruction.The basic aim is then to determine the effect of explicit grammar instruction on students' attitudes towards learning the present tenses. The educational setting in which this study takes place is the Department of Letters and English language, faculty of letters and languages, Abdelhafid Boussouf University Center of Mila, for the academic year 2016-2017. Along with this aim, it is hypothesized that if the present tenses are taught under explicit grammar instruction, students would have positive attitudes towards learning the target tenses. To achieve the aim of the undertaken research, answer the research questions, and attempt to confirm the validity of the hypothesis, two kinds of data collection instruments were employed with students: the questionnaires and the interviews. According to the sampling, 80 students were selected randomly from a total population of 225 first year students. They have been used as a sample, in the study, in order to fill in the questionnaire; whereas, twelve among them were chosen randomly to answer the interview questions. The data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results of this investigation have confirmed the hypothesis and have shown that students have positive attitudes towards grammar, in general, as well as towards learning the present tenses through explicit grammar instruction. On the basis of the result s obtained, a number of pedagogical implications are proposed, at the end of the dissertation, to help the students understand and perform better; and to help teachers opt for the right method when teaching grammar.