RUVERTUS RAMUEL Pengarang ELISNA HUAN Dosen Pembimbing 1 GRACIA M. N. OTTA Dosen Pembimbing 2 Santri Emilin Pingsaboi Djahimo Ketua Penguji Elisna Huan Penguji 1 Gracia M. N. Otta Penguji 2

This thesis is entitled “the problems encountered by eleventh graders of SMAN 6 Kupang in the academic year 2022/2023 in constructing simple past tense sentences”. The subjects of this study were the eleventh-grade students of SMAN 6 Kupang class XI IPS 1 which consist of 35 students. The problems of this research are “What kind of problems in using Simple Past Tense and what are the possible solutions offered by the English teacher to overcome the problems in using Simple Past Tense for the eleventh-grade students of SMAN 6 Kupang in the academic year 2022/2023”. This study aims at identifying the students’ problems and the possible solution offered by the English teacher to overcome the students’ problems in using Simple Past Tense. The method used in this study was qualitative. The instruments the writer used to collect the data were multiple-choice test, questionnaire, and interview. Based on the analysis of students' multiple choice test and questionnaire there were students’ problems in constructing simple past tense sentences. The result of this study also showed that the students had several problems in constructing simple past-tense sentences. There were four kinds of problems found in students' multiple-choice test and questionnaire; they were problems in using subject, past verb, auxiliary verb, and adverb of simple past tense. The most frequently found problems in students’ multiple choice test and questionnaire were related to the use of past verbs. To overcome these problems, there were some suggested solutions by the English teacher which include using contextual teaching and learning strategy, using a cooperative learning model, using an inductive approach, and appropriate materials about Simple Past Tense. Keywords: Grammar, Problems in Simple Past Tense, Eleventh Grade Students, SMA Negeri 6 Kupang.