Jasmine, Ersa. 2019.  Problems on Tenses Encountered by Advanced Students of English Language Education Study Program Lambung Mangkurat University. Study Program of English, Department of Language and Art, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Lambung Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin. Advisor: (1) Dr. Rina Listia, M.Pd; (2) Nasrullah, M.Pd BI.

Keywords: Aspects, Semantical Problem, Structural Problem, Tenses.

Tense is category of grammar relating to time or duration of the event. It allows speakers or writers to deliver their messages clearly. However, a change of tense is often avoided by learners, making it difficult which non-native learners have to spend much time to understand and use it correctly and properly. This research aimed to investigate and describe the tenses problems encountered by advanced students of English Language Education Study Program in Lambung Mangkurat University, along with the causes of those tenses problems.

This research was conducted using descriptive-qualitative method. The subjects were the students who had passed all three structure courses in English Language Education Study Program of Lambung Mangkurat University. The researcher used questionnaire, tenses test, and interview to gather the data. The data were analyzed qualitatively and using descriptive method for the tenses test.

The research result showed that the students often encounter problems on perfect tenses and tenses that have more than one aspect. They have structural problems mostly on irregular verb and memorizing long formula; then the semantical problem mostly on identifying kind of tense to use semantically. The causes of the problems are mainly because of lack of input and practice result in feeling unfamiliar with certain tense, also the students rarely use certain tenses such as perfect tense so that they prefer to use other tenses they are familiar with.

In conclusion, the students still have problems on tenses, both structural and semantical, especially in tenses with more than one aspect and tenses that they rarely use such as perfect tense. It is suggested that there is more input and practice for the students in tenses that they rarely used in daily life context.