Challenges in Teaching the English Tense System to Non-Native Learners

Аннотация

The English tense system is one of the most complex aspects of the language, presenting significant challenges for non-native learners. Its intricate structure, encompassing various tenses, aspects, and uses, often leads to confusion and errors. These difficulties are further compounded by learners' native language interference, differences in grammatical frameworks, and the abstract nature of certain tenses. Understanding and addressing these challenges is crucial for effective English language teaching, as mastery of tenses is essential for accurate communication in both spoken and written contexts. This study explores the key obstacles faced by non-native learners and suggests strategies for overcoming them. This article explores the difficulties faced by learners in mastering the tense system and discusses effective strategies to overcome these challenges. Key Words: tenses, form and function, challenges in learning and also teaching English tenses, effective teaching strategies, the minor purpose of grammar, the importance of tense in learning English, teaching the English tense, being tricky of the tense. Nowadays, English has become a worldwide language, allowing people from all over the world to connect with each other. The purpose of English has been emphasized as not being confined to international purposes, but also for local purposes. As a result, the importance of using English has spread throughout the world. It's possible because the impact of English as an international language has successfully moved the English role's dominance globally. Kachru (1992) pointed out that the role of English might be employed in non-English speaking nations for academic reasons, particularly in the process of learning English, based on the spread 139 “JOURNAL OF SCIENCE-INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN UZBEKISTAN” JURNALI VOLUME 3, ISSUE 02, 2025. FEBRUARY ResearchBib Impact Factor: 9.654/2024 ISSN 2992-8869 of the role of English. Nonetheless, not all language acquisition techniques are always successful. Along the way, there are still some obstacles to overcome. Students who learn English as their second language often face some common difficulties. The potential hurdles of the English learning process may be greater in non-English speaking countries than in English-speaking countries when learning English. Some elements, such as learners' ability, motivation, environment, practices, and prior knowledge of learning foreign languages, influenced the problems (Thompson, 2014). Furthermore, linguistic distinctions, such as variances in phonology, word order, phrases, and verbal system, could be another element that contributed to the problem. Proper use of tense is one of them. Tense, in grammar, expresses the time of an action. Whether an action has been done, or is being done or yet to be done, these expressions are expressed with the help of Tense. Hence, "Tense" is an important aspect that ESL learners have to be well aware of to be a skillful writer and a good speaker as well. However, most students face numerous problems in using tenses properly. Also, teachers find it difficult as well to help the students gain accuracy on this particular grammar item. According to Noam Chomsky for the native speaker, grammar is somewhere in their brains and they can use it to make sentences. Chomsky maintains that language activity is an activity unique to human beings’ experience, so that learning a language involves mental processes. But for second language speakers it becomes slightly difficult to learn the grammar and tense is one of the major ones of them. Learning English is about more than just vocabulary and grammar. For ESL students, the social components of language use can be even more difficult than the linguistic aspects. A communicative competency barrier also exists for students learning a second language. The students are unsure about the new language's functions and when it is suitable to use it in specific situations. This incapacity causes stress and dissatisfaction in the student, as well as a decrease in the desire to participate in the community; this is referred to as the affective filter (Dulay & Burt, 1974). Teachers can be frustrated by their students' incapacity to communicate. Dr Cho identifies a variety of reasons why overseas students studying in an English- speaking country face significant stress and challenges when completing coursework. After going through some research journals previously conducted by other scholars and data analysis, the following problems can be considered as the vital ones. 140 “JOURNAL OF SCIENCE-INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN UZBEKISTAN” JURNALI VOLUME 3, ISSUE 02, 2025. FEBRUARY ResearchBib Impact Factor: 9.654/2024 ISSN 2992-8869 Different directions in the methodology of teaching foreign languages understood the role of grammar in different ways. With a communicative-cognitive approach, the importance of grammar is great. We learn grammar for communication. As it has already bee