The use of correct grammar and tenses is crucial, as it is the primary factor within both students’ spoken and written communication that enables them to have their messages understood clearly. It is very important in the academic world where communication is a key to success (Noursi, 2013). The use of incorrect grammar can cause issues not just among learners but between the learners and their teachers as well as in the outside world where proper communication is required. The grammatical errors on tenses can interfere with the meanings of sentences, thus making the intended message unclear and prone to misinterpretation. It explains why a study on grammatical errors in tenses is important for Emirati students in order to determine how best students can be assisted to develop superior language skills.

Literature Review

To begin with, current literature shows that Arab English learners experience difficulties with written tasks. Research confirms that these students experience significant problems in grasping the present simple tense and differentiating it from other tenses effectively (Muftah & Rafic-Galea, 2013). Certain specific error types include wrong suffixation and substitution, phonological similarity, and omission. Apart from that, the findings imply that unless deliberate efforts are put in place to ensure that students master these skills as early as possible, communication in English in their adulthood or in their higher levels of learning might be a challenging task. Such a difficulty could have a significant effect on their ability to write job applications, dissertations, or thesis. In this way, learning the correct usage of grammar should be a priority for Emirati learners, as it would ensure that they expand their vocabularies and develop skills that facilitate the presentation of information in interesting ways.

A study that examined the attitudes towards English among Emirati students was conducted. A sample of 196 students was collected to participate in it (Noursi, 2013). The findings of the research showed that almost half of the Emirati students had the right attitude towards this language. Another half had a moderate attitude. The most important thing to the authorities is that the findings revealed that none of the students had a negative attitude towards learning English. With the right attitude among the learners, the students can easily learn English and master its components, including tenses, well. Probably, teachers have the responsibility to ensure that English is taught appropriately. Noursi (2013) attributed students' positive attitudes towards English to their realization of the importance of this language in academic and career life. In summary, although Emiratis seem to struggle with English language, research shows that they have the right attitudes towards it.

It is worth to note that there has been regional generalization regarding academic underperformance in Arabic countries. Solloway (2016) argues that the UAE might not be exempted from this generalization. The author asserts that notwithstanding sufficient funding by the government, the effectiveness of public schools is disconcertingly poor. In the UAE, underachievement, repetition of years, and dropout are common phenomena. For example, Solloway (2016) backs his arguments by highlighting a study that revealed that 66% of the 116 male Emirati students enrolled at HCT Fujairah left within the first year. Such figure included 25% of the students who left just after four weeks of admission. The author noted that the rate of dropout was 97%, which was undesirable. Apart from that, the statistics translates to English learning where Solloway (2016) believes that studying English is less than normal. In essence, academic underachievement in the UAE has generally affected English learning.

The UAE government continues to improve the educational infrastructure and system to raise the academic levels. It hopes that the educational achievement and English learning progress are steadily improving. For example, as a strategy to develop the country’s education system, a new exam known as EmSAT was implemented for grade 12 by the Ministry of Education. The new examination replaced CEPA and would serve as the admission test at government post-secondary schools (Export.gov., 2018). The most unique feature about the new exam is its inclusion of English among other subjects to ensure that the students’ abilities in this language are effectively assessed. In this way, the schools would be sure that learners are encouraged to master English content as early as possible. The government is also keen to ensure that the issue of underachievement is dealt with decisively. For example, the records show that there are 580 schools with an enrolment of students standing at 584,932 (Export.gov., 2018). It represents a significant improvement compared with the past. Therefore, it is possible to say that the Emiratis' level of English could improve, as the government is focused on improving the education system.

Research Question

The primary research question read: To what extent can Emirati students select grammatically correct sentences?

Methodology

The current study used a sample size of 18 people drawn from class and social media. Survey Monkey was used to collect data from the respondents. Survey Monkey is an online data collection tool that is also designed with utilities that facilitate data analysis and organization in form of tables and graphs. The online task required the respondents to choose the correct words that completed the broken sentences. The questions focused on the three components of present tense, namely present simple tense, present perfect tense, and present continuous tense.

Results and Findings

Figure 1. Present simple tense

When the participants were presented with a broken present simple tense sentence to complete, a significant proportion of the respondents, about 44%, got it wrong (see figure 1). Only 56% of the students marked the right answer.

Figure 2. Present perfect

Despite the fact that the question in figure two had a grammatical error without a correct choice, it seemed that none of the students realized the mistake and went ahead to indicate what they thought was the right answer (see figure 2). In this case, all of them were wrong.

Figure 3. Present continuous tense

The majority of the students seemed to be comfortable with the present continuous tense. Over 70% got the question right as per the information in figure 3. Only around 28% of the students got it wrong. Still, the percentage of people that failed in this question is significant.

Figure 4. Present perfect tense

Almost 61% of the participants got the right answer for the present perfect tense. However, the percentage that missed the right choice is not justifiable, as the sentence featured just a simple present perfect tense.

Figure 5. Present perfect

The results displayed in figure 5 above show that most of the students performed exceptionally well on this particular question. The finding revealed that over 80% of the learners got it right. Just below 17% did not get the right answer.

Discussion

The current study confirms that Emirati students can select grammatically correct sentences with fairly high accuracy. Thus, there is no doubt that still, a significant percentage of the students has problems with various aspects of present tense. For example, a good number of the students cannot pick a correct choice that completes a broken present simple tense. What became clear from the current study is the students’ inability to consider the subject and verb in a given sentence to ensure subject-verb agreement. For instance, a significant proportion of the students thought that “he often visit his grandparents” was right as opposed to “he often visits his grandparents.” Therefore, ti is a classic example of a subject-verb agreement that Emirati teachers must strive to help their students understand.

A notable trend revealed by the current study is the high performance in the present perfect tense. It could be generalized that Emirati students have mastered the grammatical components of present perfect tense well. The majority of the students got the questions that featured present perfect tense right. Essentially, the results disapprove some the previous assertion made by various authors. Apart from that, a general notion has been created by some authors that Emirati students might be very poor in English. Based on the results, it seems that not many Emirati students have significant problems with tenses. For example, the current findings do not support Solloway’s (2016) argument that academic underachievement in Arab world, including the UAE, has affected English learning. Therefore, it could be true that some students need special attention to grasp some of the English contents; however, the extent of the problem is not as bad as the literature makes it to look.

Perhaps, the findings confirm the effectiveness of the UAE government’s strategies that are meant to improve the academic levels of the Emirati students across all the examinable subjects, including English. For instance, Export.gov (2018) highlighted the UAE government's initiatives to develop the education system. The author of the material noted that the government had introduced a new exam known as EmSAT, which replaced CEPA for grade 12. The new test includes English among other subjects. Since the exam serves as the admission test at government post-secondary schools, it is expected that the students would be joining higher institutions of learning while appropriately equipped with English language skills. Nevertheless, the percentage of students with English language problems cannot be assumed. Therefore, the study showed that some percentage of Emirati learners still struggle with certain components of tenses. English teachers should take the opportunity and guide the students in the most appropriate and easiest way to learn a foreign language to ensure adequate preparation of Emirati graduates for the entrepreneurial world where communication is a fundamental pillar of success.

Overall, the performance on the three aforementioned tenses was not poor as previously thought. At least, in each case, over 50% of the students were able to select the right choice that completed the sentences correctly. However, the current study observed that the percentage of the students that could not select the right choices due to incompetence in English as far as different tenses are concerned was substantial. Given this observation, it was recommended that the Ministry of Education of the UAE should come up with special strategies that target to help students in the English language. A possible strategy, in this case, includes hiring both foreign and native English language experts (teachers) to help in preparing students. The native teachers would help in translating some of the complex aspects of tenses to aid understanding. The foreign ones would serve a critical role in ensuring that the right contents are delivered to the learners.

Conclusion

All in all, the current research sought to determine the extent Emirati students can select grammatically correct English sentences. The results confirmed that a considerable number of students indeed have some problems in grammatical aspects related to tenses. In particular, the main problem appeared to be a subject-verb agreement. Nonetheless, the results revealed that the students were not poor in English. According to the analysis, the majority seemed to be comfortable with the present perfect tense as most of the respondents performed exceedingly well in this area. On top of the current initiatives, the state authorities may have to come up with more strategies meant to raise the English language levels among learners.

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