Universite d’antananarivo ecole normale superieure

Figure 6: Graph representing the most difficult conditional type for students

We have already expected the result on this graph because the forms of the verbs in third conditional sentences are more complicated than in the other two types. The teachers who claimed that second conditional is the most difficult explained that the difficulty is because we use the Past Simple tense in the if clause, yet we actually talk about the present or the future.

Question 9: What is students’ main difficulty in learning conditional sentences?

1. 
   Confusion on the use of the three different types
   

2. 
   Non-mastery of irregular verbs
   

3. 
   Confusion on verb tense coordination
   

4. 
   Other problems (please, specify)
   

In designing this question, our goal is to discover students’ main problems in learning conditional sentences as far as teachers are concerned. We obtained 28 answers because two teachers gave two answers. The result shows that 21% of the teachers say their students are confused on the use of the three different types of conditional sentences; 25% of them claim their students do not master irregular verbs, and 45% claim students’ main difficulty is on the verb tense coordination. However, 7% mention other problems such as lack of vocabulary and the fact that unreal conditions are the core of the conditional sentences. The following graph shows these figures:

45%


^7% 21%


25%

Confusion on the use of the three different types
Non-mastery of irregular verbs
Confusion on verb tense coordination
Other problems