Advances in Language and Literary Studies - Vol. 4 No. 2 - Teaching Grammar - The Use Of The English Auxiliary “BE” Present Tense Verb Among Malaysian Form 4 And Form5 Students

Oct 15, 2026

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This research paper explores the usage of the English auxiliary “Be” present tense verb among Malaysian Form 4 and Form 5 students using a corpus-based method. Errors in students’ compositions from the MCSAW corpus are identified and classified across 273 Form 5 and 295 Form 4 sample essays. Wordsmith software version 4 supports evaluation and analysis of written usage. Findings show three error types: tense shift, agreement, and misuse. Form 4 makes more errors than Form 5, and results guide teachers in revising instruction and remedial actions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

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Abstract

1. Introduction

Advances in Language and Literary Studies Vol. 4 No. 2; July 2013 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Teaching Grammar: The Use Of The English Auxiliary “BE”Present Tense Verb Among Malaysian Form 4 And Form5 Students Joanna Jishvithaa.M Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia Tabitha.M Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia Seyed Ali Rezvani Kalajahi (corresponding author) Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia E-mail: [ali.rezvani85@gmail.com](ali.rezvani85@gmail.com) Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.4n.2p. 152 URL: [http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.4n.2p.152](http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.4n.2p.152) Received: 02/04/2013 Accepted: 04/06/2013 Abstract This research paper aims to explore the usage of the English Auxiliary “Be” Present Tense Verb, using corpus based method among Malaysian form 4 and form 5 students. This study is conducted by identifying and classifying the types of errors in the Auxiliary “Be” Present Tense verb in students ’ compositions from the MCSAW corpus developed by (Mukundan&RezvaniKalajahi, 2013) . 273 Form 5 sample essays and 295 Form 4 sample essays were taken from four different national schools where the schools were from four different states. The errors made in the written usage of the English Auxiliary “Be” Present Tense verb were evaluated and analyzed using the Wordsmith software version 4. The findings revealed that there are three types of errors which are the “Tense shift, Agreement and Misuse”. The results show that there were more errors made by the form 4s compared to the form 5s even though the difference of the frequencies of errors produced by both the levels were not of much difference. Therefore, the findings ofthis study can be used as a guide in enabling secondary school teachers to revise and be more prepared in their teaching instructions, materials and procedures. It will help teachers look into the possible remedial actions which could be taken into consideration to overcome the problems faced by Malaysian secondary school students in using the Auxiliary “Be” Present Tense verb. Keywords: Auxiliary, Learner corpus, Frequency, Wordsmith 1. Introduction Learning the English language has always been the driving force for many students as it is widely used as the "Lingua Franca" around the world. The 21st century has emphasized the importance of the English language as being used all over the world and is spoken by nearly one out of four of the world’s population. According to Crystal (1995 :106), the high position of the English language in the world has mainly two explanations. First the British Empire with its colonies allover the world and second, the United States as the leader of the field of economics. English Language in Malaysia according to Solomon (1988) has had a comparatively long history. Since attaining independence in 1957, Malaysia has gone through vast changes in various fields. Malaysia has been multilingual and Malaysia has continued to practice linguistic segregation as far as individual schools are concerned, a divide-and-rule system inherited from the colonial era (Solomon, 1988) . Englishis a compulsory second language (L2) in Malaysian schools. English lessons, which are conducted daily, begin at Standard one at the age of seven. Malaysian students come from different backgrounds in life and have different levels of knowledge and proficiency in the English Language. Mastering a second language for any individual can be a very complicated and difficult task, especially for those who have always been communicating with others using their first language. David and Naji (2000) and David and Nambiar (2001) pointed out that “many of urban children who use English as their First Language (L 1) or dominant language at home were able to master the language well compared to the majority of children, especially tho

FAQs

What is the paper’s main research focus?

The paper investigates how Malaysian Form 4 and Form 5 students use the English auxiliary “Be” present tense verb, with attention to the errors found in their writing.

How were the students’ errors identified and analyzed?

The study identifies and classifies error types in students’ compositions from the MCSAW corpus, using Wordsmith software version 4 for evaluation and analysis.

What types of errors were found in the auxiliary “Be” present tense usage?

The findings report three error types: tense shift, agreement, and misuse.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Cipher