A Study on the In-depth Knowledge of Grammar among English Major Students at the University of Makati: Basis for Worktext Development

Abstract

This research aimed to identify relevant concerns that are necessary for addressing teaching English to improve the grammar and performance of English major students. It specifically sought to determine certain areas in grammar where students have difficulty understanding and find appropriate methods or interventions that can enhance the knowledge of the said students. The researcher tapped forty (40) students, from among the 52 currently enrolled English major students from the College of Education for the First Semester Academic Year 2022-2023, who corrected a 20-item validated test questionnaire that contains faulty sentences. The English major students’ common grammatical errors fall under incorrect verb tense and its word order. When transformed into reported speech, incorrect use of prepositions, incorrect use of articles (determiner), incorrect word form (modifiers-adjective and adverb), number of nouns, and poor choice of words were found. According to the respondents, they find it extremely hard to remember the tense and aspects of verbs, various usage of prepositions, and rules in subject-verb agreement, alongside syntax and prescriptive grammar as a whole. Therefore, teachers should prepare interesting and up-to-date classroom activities such as grammar bingo, crossword puzzles, celebrity biographies, play parts of speech uno, and rummy sentences, among others. These fun practices can encourage learners to enhance and improve their grammar skills. In doing so, English teachers can develop a module on English grammar that can be used in the elective course as an additional enhancement.