The Paradox of Grammatical Awareness: Interfacing Explicit Knowledge and Grammaring in English Tense Proficiency: A Case of Pre-Service Teachers

Rizki Alawiya; Nur Ilmi Wathoni

doi:10.61924/jasmin.v4i2.101

Authors

Rizki Alawiya IAI Al-Manan NU Lombok Timur, Indonesia
Nur Ilmi Wathoni STKIP Agama Hindu Amlapura, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61924/jasmin.v4i2.101

Keywords:

Grammatical awareness, Metalinguistic Awareness, Explicit Knowledge, Tense, students

Abstract

Grammar is an important aspect of learning a language because it conveys the full meaning of sentences and how readers or listeners understand them, whereas mastery of English grammar is currently seen as a dynamic process called grammaring. In this process, learners must possess explicit knowledge of rules. They are also required to stay aware of how to integrate three dimensions of language: form, meaning, and use. Many studies have focused on analyzing students' writing errors. Meanwhile, this study aims to examine students' grammatical awareness when identifying and explaining the use of English tenses in a given context. The research involved first-year students in the English Education Department in the 2025/2026 academic year. A descriptive quantitative method was employed to analyze and describe students' current grammatical proficiency, using data from their written responses to a final examination in the Basic Grammar course. The findings showed that students performed better at identifying tenses (54.17%) rather than at explaining their use (43.33%). A paradoxical trend also emerged: whereas the Simple Present produced strong identification but poor explanation accuracy (70% vs 30%), the Past Continuous showed the opposite pattern (30% vs 56.7%). These findings suggest that students have disjointed explicit knowledge, frequently depending on intuitive recognition or memorization instead of a cohesive comprehension of Form, Meaning, and Use.

References

Aminah, S., Diyah, R., Muniratul Hidayah, A., Meysun Amalia, A., Studi Tadris Bahasa Inggris, P., & Islam Ahmad Dahlan, U. (2025). Grammatical Error Analysis in the English Writing of Second-Semester Students of the English Tadris Program. 2(2), 148–156. https://doi.org/10.61220/pedagogy.v2i2.270

Andrews, Stephen. (2007). Teacher language awareness. Cambridge University Press.

Creswell, J. W. . (2017). Research design?: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. SAGE.

DeKeyser, R. (1998). Beyond focus on form: Cognitive perspectives on learning and practicing second language grammar. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition (pp. 42–63). Cambridge University Press.

Dixon, L. Q. Z. J. S. J.-Y. W. S. S. J.-H. B.-B. R. G. M. U. S. C. (2012). What we know about second language acquisition: A synthesis from four perspectives. Review of Educational Research, 82(1), 5–60.

Ellis, Rod. (2003). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford University Press.

Ellis, Rod. (2009). Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language learning, testing and teaching. Multilingual Matters.

Humairah, S., Azizah, N., & Arham, M. (2025). Analysis of EFL Students’ Grammatical Errors in Writing Literature Review. 24. https://doi.org/10.33096/tamaddun.v24i2.1019

Ke, S. E., Zhang, D., & Koda, K. (2023). Metalinguistic Awareness in Second Language Reading Development. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108979801

Ko, H. S. (2022). Explicit Knowledge of English Grammar and Sentence Writing with Implicit Knowledge by Korean Students. English Teaching(South Korea), 77(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.15858/ENGTEA.77.1.202203.3

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2003). Teaching Language: From Grammar to Grammaring. Thomson and Heinle.

Lestari, D., & Wahyuni, F. (2020). Students’ Common Grammatical Errors in Writing English Sentences. Journal of English Language and Pedagogy, 3(2), 65–72. https://doi.org/10.33503/jelp.v3i2.1050

Martin, J. R., & Rothery, J. (2014). Grammar and Meaning in Genre. In F. Christie & J. R. Martin (Eds.), Functional Literacy: Widening the Debate. Routledge.

Murniati. (2021). INVESTIGATING THE ROLES OF IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE IN THE PRODUCTION OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS. 11(2), 100–109. http://journal.ubm.ac.id/

Rossiter, A. (2021). The importance of GRAMMAR. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED613321.pdf

Sevinch, A. (2026). Contextualizing English Tenses: Moving Beyond Morphological Forms to Pragmatic Competence. International Journal of ELT and Applied Linguistics, 9(1), 45–58.

Swan, Michael. (2016). Practical English usage. Oxford University Press.

Wahyuningtyas, E. W. D., & Bram, B. (2018). Analysis of University Students’ Grammatical Errors in Writing Indirect Speech. International Journal of Language Education, 2(1), 13–22.

Wang, F. (2010). The Necessity of Grammar Teaching. English Language Teaching, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v3n2p78

Widdowson, H. G. . (1978). Teaching language as communication. Oxford University Press.