TEACHING MODAL VERBS EFFECTIVELY IN ESL

A modal verb is a type of auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality. The modal auxiliary verbs express a variety of moods or attitudes of the speaker towards the meaning expressed by the main or lexical verb in a clause. Many modal verbs have more than one meaning or use and in some cases two different modal verbs have some meanings or uses in common but are not completely interchangeable. Auxiliary verbs are as their name suggests, helping verbs, and help complete the form and meaning of main verbs. \nMany students are not aware of the subtle shades of meaning that are found within the meaning of a modal; for example, there are many layers to the meaning of can. What is a modal? What is modality? How do we form modals? And what do modals mean? These are the questions that many students ask when trying to learn modals. Modals are difficult for students to grasp because a modal and modality are rarely explained to the student, the form of modals does not follow the conventional rules of grammar, and there are so many meanings of modals that students often get confused about which modal to choose. \nThe aim of the paper is to present the various uses of these verbs, the features of modal verbs that causes difficulty and how auxiliary verbs are distinguished from other verbs. Also the scope of this paper will analysis the two ways to teach the meanings of the modal auxiliaries. The most common way to teach modals is as a list. Modals, when taught as a list, are presented like regular vocabulary which does not present the various ways each modal can be used. A better way to teach modals is as a system which is more efficient to teach modals by placing the modals in context (e.g. making guesses, giving advice, permission, request, etc.). \nKeywords: teaching, modals, verbs, methods, students