State University of Paraba

Humanities Center "Osmar de Aquino" - Campus III

Bachelor Modern Languages
Class: 2014.1
Curriculum Component: English Language II
Professor: Fbio Lcio Gomes Barbosa

THE PROBLEM OF EFL

Luan da Silva Soares1

Guarabira-PB
November/2014
1 Graduating from Course Modern Languages - UEPB

THE PROBLEM OF EFL

This work has the purpose to make an explanation about the context of
English teaching / learning as a foreign language to native Portuguese students.
Through this work we can analyze different views on the topic, and suggest
improvements if it necessary, but, it is only the opinions of the author based on
research on the question topics. Thus we can shed some light on how the
English language teaching is applied in our country because students spend
years attached to the grammar in which they make a tremendous confusion and
when they finished the high school, there are few students of those who we can
say they have acquired a good learning luggage during their school life. On the
other hand, many teachers are looking for different ways to innovate and bring
to room approaches and methods to get a good result, although being harmed
by continued imprisoned for a "system" in which the results are few.
Along this route are emerging doubts, as students spend years studying
grammar and many leave without the slightest idea of whether you have
studied. Items on which there should be no such confusion such as the Simple
Past and Present Perfect for example. "Confusion to the When to use the
present perfect or the simple past is one of the great" classics "in the teaching
of English grammar . I dare not think how many textbook pages and grammar
exercises must Have Been dedicated to it over the years, not to mention
teaching hours and yet the problem goes on learners go on using present
perfects where past simple and past simple shouldnt be where present perfects
should be ". (D. Cranmer, 1989, p.14).
Situations like this should not arise simply because the years dedicated
to grammar, seeing so hold fast to a hypothesis: our children go to school to
learn grammar of their mother tongue, but before learning grammar they arrive
at school with a few words, we can say, that will put into practice should be
used as the talk. The opposite happens with English in no time in the curriculum
of elementary and middle school English is applied to conversation, that is,
there is no way to learn grammar if we do not speak, to know what the situation
will be used both what is learned. In addition, this may be the major flaw of
education.

It is psychologically proven that we can shape a person only to his

seven-year-old child asks, something that teenagers and adults are afraid to do
the teaching / learning process. If we put in this situation and reverse the thing,
in the initial series of the foreign language teaching was the basis of dialogue,
so that just as the child acquires vocabulary over the years, the same way it
could be in language teaching. Especially with languages in which it differs both
from the language used in the country concerned. Perhaps, looking for that next
great resistance there to learn grammar could be put down.
In the background, we have the system itself mother tongue. The
grammar used in the Portuguese language for example, differs from the foreign
language in question in which this learning process the student seeks to make
comparisons between them, so find a clear interference in the Portuguese
language in which is crafted in question. It's like Lewis (1986, p.39 cited
LOPES, 2007), exemplifies the chart below:

It is also important to consider that as we study a language, when we

already have a second language as their mother tongue, will come on the
language studied prior knowledge about way, shape, function, stylistic, sound
and more issues related to mother tongue. These factors influence the
understanding and even learning process.
The question rests on how we perceive a new language, to find
similarities in the words or the equivalent own words, wrongly there is a
tendency to perpetuate that same use and that same function. This means that,
think only one way capable of understanding and writing, however, the
language is moldable, subtle and completely inflected new exhibition formats,
as well as the various cultures and time. It is importante that the student realize
this, and understand that just as there is in their mother tongue, in English there
are synonyms, and, we can use the same word to other senses, we can
understand this expression in a certain way, and we have that same expression
with a different meaning depending on the context, etc.

The difference between the use of the remote and the present
retrospective forms causes great difficulty for many learners. Private Difficulties
arise for many European learners to the distinctions made by the verbal
systems of Their Own language, while in some ways similar structurally to
Those of English, are semantically very different. (LEWIS, 1986 p.77).
References
CRANMER, D. Present Perfect or Past Simple? In: APPI NEWSLETTER, v. 4,
n. 3, 1989, pp. 14-17.
LEWIS, M. The English Verb: An Exploration of Structure and Meaning.
Language Teaching Publications, 1986.
LOPES, S. F. Da problemtica do EFL: O ensino/aprendizado de
contrastes verbais no mbito do passado: Simple Past/ Present Perfect
Pretrito Perfeito Simples/ Pretrito Perfeito Composto/ Pretrito
Imperfeito. 2007, 46 f. Tese (Doutorado em Cincias da Educao),
Universidade do Aveiro, Aveiro. 2007.