How can classroom instruction in english help Japanese high school students to learn the present perfect tense?

Abstract

The present study examined whether instruction using an organization strategy and a learning strategy utilizing a figure in solving problems in the present perfect tense would improve students' learning of that tense. High school students in the 2 experimental group classes (N = 78) received instruction using an organization strategy, and were taught how to utilize a figure in solving problems about the present perfect tense. Students in the 2 control classes (N = 80) received instruction in the way that it is generally given in high school English classes in Japan. All participants were trained for 2 hours, and then took 2 posttests. The results were as follows: (1) the experimental group performed better than the control group on both posttests, (2) the students who utilized the figure to solve the problems perceived the strategy as more useful, and performed better, than the students who did not, and (3) after the intervention, the students in the experimental classes were more motivated to learn English grammar, and more interested in the class than were the students in the control classes.