The Problems Related to the Construction of English Grammar of Grade 12 General Academic Strand Students in Bestlink College of the Philippines

Abstract

English Grammar refers to the construction of words and must be encoded with proper mechanics. Constructing English Grammar affects many students in terms of not being proficient in speaking and writing in English. This problem made them commit errors due to the interference of the mother tongue. The researchers chose this study to conduct to determine the problems related to the construction of English Grammar to the Grade 12 General Academic Strand (GAS) students and to propose an action plan to address them. This research used the descriptive method in such a way that the survey questionnaire was administered to fifty (50) respondents from Grade 12 GAS students that were chosen through random sampling. The survey questionnaire was constructed to determine how the proper use of tenses, parts of speech and punctuation marks affected the problems in the construction of English Grammar. Moreover, Golberg's theory, stating that the central and radical claim of construction of Grammar was that linguistic knowledge could be fully described as knowledge of construction defined as symbolic units that connect a linguistic form with meaning, was utilized in this study. The data collected were analyzed qualitatively. Many respondents of this study agreed that there were problems that affect the students' construction of English Grammar. Students responded that the correct spelling of words in different tense forms was one of the problems that affected them in terms of the use of tenses. In the part of speech, respondents stressed that the subject-verb agreement in a sentence gave them difficulty. And lastly, the most common problem that affected them was when to use a comma in a sentence. The results ask for an action plan that may address the problems encountered by the respondents. The researchers concluded these recommendations and suggestions to benefit those who have problems in the construction of English Grammar: read English Academic books and watch educational movies; try to practice communicating in English, and spend time reading English Academic books to familiarize the different punctuation marks and the use of tenses.