THE ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPELLING AT MTs MUHAMMADIYAH 1 MALANG
THESIS
By:
RIVAATIN MILA PRATIWI 09360137
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
THE ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPELLING AT MTs MUHAMMADIYAH 1 MALANG
This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Department
THESIS
By:
RIVAATIN MILA PRATIWI 09360137
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
This thesis written by Rivaatin Mila Pratiwi was approved on October 30, 2013.
By:
Advisor II,
Puji Sumarsono, M.Ed., M.Pd.
Advisor I,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
All praise be to Allah SWT,the Merciful and Charitable. Because of his
guidance, blessing, and effection, the researcher finally can finish this thesis.
The researcher would like to express her deepest gratitude toDr. Hartono,
M.Pd,her first advisor, and PujiSumarsono, M.Pd.,M.Ed, her second advisor, for their
kindness in giving suggestions, invaluable guidance and advice during the
consultation period, and their comments and corrections during the completion of this
thesis.
Her great thanks also go to the headmaster of MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Malang
and the English teacher,IbuListiani, who had given her the opportunity to conduct the
research.
Moreover, she would like to dedicate this research to her beloved and
wonderful parents(BapakMuhibahAfdollah and IbuMistin) who always become her
inspiring people to do the best in every chance she gets.
Finally, she also thanksher siblings (Risda, Rahma, Farhan, Farras) and her
best friends (Riza, Uud, Fya, Rey, Dhey, Olive, Rina, Chuy, Idut, Aidut, Windar) for
their encouragement, love, care, and pray so that she can finish this thesis.
The writer,
TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROVAL ... i
LEGALIZATION ... ii
MOTTO AND DEDICATION ... iii
AKNOWLEDGEMENT ... iv
ABSTRACT ... v
TABLE OF CONTENT ... vi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1Background of the Study ... 1
1.2Statement of the Problems ... 5
1.3Purpose of the Study ... 5
1.4Significance of the Study ... 5
1.5Scope and Limitation ... 6
1.6Definition of the Key Terms ... 6
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 8
2.1Writing ... 8
2.2Spelling ... 10
2.3Spelling rules ... 10
2.3.1 Doubling the Consonant ... 11
2.3.3 Words ending “ce” or “ge” ... 11
2.3.4 The Suffix “ful” ... 12
2.3.5 Words Ending in “y” ... 12
2.3.6 Vowels “ie” and “ei” ... 12
2.3.7 Forming Plurals ... 13
2.4Error and mistakes... 14
2.5Error Analysis ... 16
2.6Causes of Errors ... 17
2.7Spelling Error ... 19
2.7.1 Identifying Spelling Error ... 20
2.7.1.1Phonological Errors ... 20
2.7.1.2Orthographic Errors ... 21
2.7.2 Identifying Spelling Errors ... 22
2.7.2.1A Transposition Error ... 22
2.7.2.2An Addition Error ... 22
2.7.2.3A Substitution Error ... 23
2.7.2.4An Omission Error ... 23
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 25
3.1 Research Design ... 25
3.2 Research Problem ... 25
3.3 Research Instrument ... 26
3.3.2 Questionnaire ... 27
3.4 Data Collection ... 27
3.5 Data Analysis ... 28
CHAPTER IV FINDING AND DISCUSSION ... 32
4.1 Research Findings ... 32
4.1.1 The kinds of Students’ Spelling Errors ... 32
4.1.1.1Transposition ... 32
4.1.1.2Addition ... 33
4.1.1.3Substitution ... 34
4.1.1.4Omission ... 36
4.1.2 The Frequency of Students’ Spelling Errors ... 39
4.1.3 The Causes of Students’ Spelling Errors ... 40
4.1.3.1Interlingual Transfer ... 40
4.1.3.2Intralingual Transfer ... 41
4.1.3.3Context of Learning ... 41
4.1.3.4Communication Strategies ... 42
4.2 Discussion ... 43
CHAPTER V CONCLUSSION AND SUGGESTION ... 46
5.1 Conclusion ... 46
5.2 Suggestion ... 47
5.2.2 For the Students ... 47
5.2.3 For the Next Researcher ... 48
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arikunto, Suharsimi. 2010. Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktik. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.
Ary, Donald, et. al. 2010. Introduction to Research in Education. 8th Ed. Wardsworth: Belmont, CA.
Axelrod, R.B & Cooper, C.R. 2010. The ST. Martin’s Guide to Writing. 10th Ed. Boston: USA.
Brown, H, Doughlas. 2007. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. 5th Ed. New York: A Pearson Education Company.
Cohen, Louis, et. al. 2007. Research Method in Education. 6th Ed. Taylor & Francise e-Library: UK.
Dulay, Heidi et. al. 1982. Language Two. New York: Oxford University Press.
Dodigovic, Marina. 2005. Artificial Intelligence in Second Language Learning Fulwiler, T. 2002. College Writing: A Personal Approach to academic Writing. 3rd Ed. Portsmouth : Boynton/ cook publisher, Inc.
Field, Marion. 1998. Improving Your Written English: How to sharpen Up Your Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling for Everyday Use. 2nd Ed. United Kingdom: How to Books, Ltd.
Gayatri, Rifiani, Arindyah. 2010. Error analusis in Facebook status Update done by the Tenth Grasers of SMAN 8 Malang. Unpublished Thesis State University of Malang.
Harmer, Jeremy. 2004. How to Teach Writing. England: Pearson education Limited.
Hoston, G. 2001. English Spelling Rules. New Delhi: Ivy Publishing House.
Lillis, T. M. 2001. Student Writing. London: Routledge
Ormrod, J. E. & Leedy, P. D. 2010. Practical Research Planning and Design. 9th Ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
O’sullivan, Olivian & Thomas, Anne.2007. Understanding Spelling. Taylor & Francise E-library.
Reed, Deborah. 2012. Why Teaching Spelling. Portsmouth: RMC Research Corporation. www.bookfinder.com. Accessed on 20 May 2013.
Reima Al-Jafr, R. 2010. Spelling error corpora in EFL. Professor of College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University.
State Literacy Error. 1998. Focus on Literacy: Spelling. New South Wales: Department of Education and Training.
Thomson, A. J. et. al. 1986. A Practical English Grammar. 4th Ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ulum, Miftahul. 2005. Analysis of the Spelling Error Made by the Fourth Semester students of English Department of Muhammadiyah Malang. Unpublished Thesis Muhammadiyah University of Malang.
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents background of the study, statement of the problems, the
purposes of the study, sugnificance of the study, scope and limitation, and definition
of the key terms.
1.1Background of the Study
Learning English language involves four skills; they are listening, reading,
speaking, and writing. Among the four skills, speaking and writing are recognized as
the language productive skills. The ability to speak and write English is becoming
widely recognized as an important skill for educational, business, and personal
reasons. In that case, the ability of having a good communication skill helps people
make a good relationship, and consequently it may help people build a good career or
achieve their goals. Furthermore, it is now widely recognized that writing as
communication tools plays a vital role not only in conveying information, but also in
transforming knowledge to create new knowledge. Therefore, the study about
language needs to be concerned and always be upgraded.
It is easy to describe writing as communication because students spend many
hours practicing how to use written language by making various kinds of texts and
paragraphs` in the school (Fulwiler, T., 2002:26). It means that in many occasions,
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years, teachers in elementary, middle, high schools, and the university level ask the
student to compose texts or paragraphs.
However, writing is not an easy task to do. Writing, like another skill, has its
‘mechanical’ components. These include handwriting, spelling, punctuation, and the
construction of well-formed sentences, paragraph and text. (Harmer, J., 2004:44).
These somponents significantly support the quality of good writing. Therefore, those
who want to be able to compose a good writing should master the writing
‘mechanical’ components as well.
It is known that the English curriculum nowadays requires the students in
junior high schools to be able to produce various kinds of essay and paragraph.
Unfortunately, most of them have difficulties in their writing class. In the other hand,
as one of the language ‘mechanical’ components, learning spelling in writing needs to
be aware about how to use different spelling to distinguish between homophones
(word that sounds the same but are spelt differently) such as threw and through as
well as pairs of words that sound identical are immediately different in writing
(Harmer, J., 2004: 46). It means, to support a good writing, students must be first
able to master the spelling. Therefore, in this study researcher focuses on the
students’ English spelling errors in writing.
English spelling system is complicated and inconsistent. There are many rules
that students have to understand before they are able to write the words correctly. It is
supported by Field (1998:46) who pointed out that English spelling is not easy to
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Simonsen & Gunter 2001 (in Reed, 2012) added that many irregular words
are highly useful to students; whole-word memorization can never be completely
avoided. It means that although it is possible to make rough guesses at English
spelling, in order to really know English spelling, learners have to memorize the
spelling of every word.
English spelling system seems to be straight forward and simple, in fact we
still have to memorize just because otherwise when the speaker or writer wanted to
spell the word, we would have no way to know it is simple and straightforward. Field
(1998:46) stated that some spelling and pronunciation appear to be illogical. It is,
therefore, important that certain spellings are learnt.
In contrast, Bahasa Indonesia provides the more simple spelling system.
Bahasa Indonesia also has a consistent phonetic system which gives little possibilities
to make errors because when others say something, the listener will easily guess the
word precisely and spell the word correctly. Bahasa Indonesia as the mother language
absolutely affects the process of learning the target language (English language).
Therefore, it is very possible that students could make errors because they are in the
process of learning the target language.
In the process of learning, it is common that students make errors. Students
also make errors in writing. It naturally happens because learning is a process of
gaining information before they are able to express their knowledge in the written
form.
The results of previous studies have shown that many students still lack of
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writing. The percentage of spelling errors were 28.5% omission, 17.1% addition,
51.4% misordering, and 2,8% misinformation. Another study at senior high school
level conducted by Zuhro (2007) found the percentage of spelling errors were 36.95%
omission, 19.56% addition, 19.56 misinformation, and 23.91% blends.
Based on the result of the previous studies above, it shows that students’
spelling ability is weak. Most of the students still make errors both in university and
senior high school levels.
In addition, while joining a teaching practice in MTs Muhammadiyah 1 of
Malang, the researcher observed the students’ writing skill. Most of the students
made errors in spelling. This might be due to some reasons. During the observation,
in the daily meeting of English class, students rarely brought their dictionary to
support their learning English language. Moreover, in this school the English club,
which is intended to advance the students’ learning out of the regular class, was not
active.
In the process of learning a second language, especially English language, it is
normal that the students make errors. It is supported by the previous study conducted
by Ulum. Ulum (2005) found that there were several reasons why students made
errors in spelling. Among others the students were lazy to look up the dictionary, and
they were confused with British or American English spellings.
In order to get a clear description of the kinds, frequency and the causes of
spelling errors made by students of MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Malang in learning
English, the researcher is interested in conducting a study about spelling with the title
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1.2Statement of the Problems
1. What kinds of English spelling errors do students make in learning writing at
MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Malang?
2. How is the frequency of English spelling errors made by the students in learning
writing at MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Malang?
3. What are the causes of English spelling errors made by the students in learning
writing at MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Malang?
1.3Purpose of the Study
1. To describe the kinds of English spelling errors made by the students in learning
writing at MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Malang
2. To show the frequency of English spelling errors made by the students in
learning writing at MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Malang
3. To describe the causes of English spelling errors made by the students in learning
writing at MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Malang
1.4Significance of the Study
The result of this study is expected to give contributions to the following:
1. For English teachers
The finding of this study is expected be useful for the English teacher in order
to know the students’ errors in writing especially spelling. By knowing the students’
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strategy in teaching spelling in order to make the students able to compose a good
writing.
2. For students of MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Malang
The finding of this study may give the students of MTs Muhammadiyah 1
Malang an explanation of English spelling errors that they have made. In other words,
it is expected that they will learn more about English spelling.
3. For the further study of errors in English spelling
The result of this study is expected to be useful for the next researchers to
provide the relevant data causes or related materials in order to develop a study about
spelling. It is also expected that they will be able to find the way to solve the errors of
spelling that found in this study.
1.5Scope and Limitation
In this study, it is very important to determine the scope and limitation. Due to
limited the time and causes, this study is focused on the spelling errors based on
spelling strategy (Al-Jafr, R., 2010:10). This strategy includes transposition, addition,
substitution, omission. Meanwhile the limitation of this study is the English spelling
errors made by 3rd grade students of MTs Muhammadiyah Malang academic year
2013/2014
1.6Definition of the Key Terms
To avoid misunderstanding, the key terms used in the study are defined as
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1. Error
In this study, errors are noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of native
speakers, reflecting the inter language competence of the learner (Brown, H.
Douglass, 2007:258). In this study, errors mean the deviation of spelling made by the
students in learning writing.
2. Spelling
In this study, English spelling is a system which integrates phonetic and
morphemic patterns to produce meaning in writing (NWS State Literacy Strategy,
1998:10).
3. Spelling Error
In this study, spelling error is an error made by students in the area of
constructing words (Gayatri : 2010).
