AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL FEATURES IN
REPORT TEXT BY THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF
ACCOUNTING MAJOR AT SMK N 1 JORLANG HATARAN
A THESIS
Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
By:
NOMITA HERLINA MANURUNG
Registration Number 2113121050
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
i ABSTRACT
Manurung, Nomita Herlina. 2113121050. An Error Analysis of Grammatical Features in Report Text by the Eleventh Grade Students of Accounting Major at SMK N 1 Jorlang Hataran. A Thesis. Medan : English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan, 2017.
This study is purposed to describe the errors in grammatical features of report text. In addition, this study is also aimed to describe the possible causes of those errors. This study applied the descriptive qualitative approach of which the data were obtained from the report texts that were written by the eleventh grade students of accounting major in SMK N 1 Jorlang Hataran. The data were
collected by using students’ report texts and questionnaires. The data then were analyzed by identifying the errors first, then describing the errors, and the last explaining the errors. The errors that occurred in students’ texts are errors in verbs, sentences, prepositions, articles, agreements, pronouns, modifiers, and tenses. The result of the study indicates that the students made 541 grammatical errors which were classified into: 37,15% errors in verbs, 18,85% errors in noun, 15,15% errors in sentence, 11,27% errors in preposition, 7,76% errors in article, 4,06% errors in pronoun, 3,51% errors in modifier, and 2,21% errors in tenses.
The students’ errors were caused by 31,23% ignorance of grammatical rules, 28,09% incomplete application of rules, 15,89% false concept hypothesized, 13,86% interference of interlingual transfer, 9,05% wrong communication strategy, 1,84% over-generalization.
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The writer’s first gratitude goes to the Almighty Father in Heaven, Lord Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit for providing the countless blessing, love and
guidance to the writer. It is just another blessing from God to the writer so the
writer can finish this final project, as the requirements to obtain the S1 Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan at English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State
University of Medan.
In the process of doing this thesis, many people have given their precious
time, worthwhile support and motivation, and many kinds of thing. Therefore, the
writer would like to express her gratitude and special thanks to :
Prof. Dr. Syawal Gultom. M.Pd., as the Rector of State University of Medan.
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., as the Dean of Faculty of Languages and Arts.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., as the Head of English ad Literture Department.
Dra. Meisuri, M.A., the Secretary of English Department.
Nora Ronita Dewi, S.S., M. Hum., as the Head of English Education Study Program.
Drs. Willem Saragih, Dipl.Appl., M.Pd., as her First Thesis Advisor Johannes Jefria Gultom, S.Pd., M.Hum., as her Second Thesis Advisor Prof. Dr. Busmin Gurning, M.Pd., Dra. Masitowarni Siregar, M.Ed.,
Rita Suswati, S.Pd, M.Hum., as her Thesis Reviewers.
Eis Sri Wahyuningsih, M.Pd., the academic staff and adminitrative staff. Pantes, the staff of English Education and Literature Department.
iii
Her beloved parents, Manongar Manurung and Hotna Nurlita Damanik for giving love and prayers, for always listening to every jeremiad, for being so patient, and for always trying to make her happy,
the writer’s special gratitude also goes to her dearest one and only sister,
Mery Yusnila Manurung, for always understanding every single situation, and her brother, Thomson Wirabudi Sitorus, S.Pd, along with
his wife and children, for the help for all of this time.
Her other sisters Verawaty Sinaga, S.Pd., for never giving up to put faith, hope, and motivation to the writer, Aprillya Anastasya Haloho, S.Pd., for
every cloudless moments.
Her best of the best friends, especially Helena Siregar, S.Pd., Rostina Silalahi, S.Pd., Rismauli Aritonang, S.Pd., Putri Simbolon, for sharing the laughters and tears, for their continuous supports, and for giving good
times and memories, Laura Elizabeth Hutapea, S.Pd., for teaching the
goods of life, Raideni Kaloko, S.Pd., Lestari Veronika Manalu, Wike
Wiranda Hutasoit, S.Si., Murni Naibaho, Novika Lbn.Gaol, Nurlenta Panjaitan for cheering up the writer.
The writer hopes this thesis will be useful and give positive impact for
those who read it, especially, for the students of State University of Medan.
Medan, March 2017
The Writer,
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7. Types of Grammatical Errors ... 15
v
B. Relevant Studies ... 31
C. Conceptual Framework ... 36
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 38
A. Research Design ... 38
B. Subject of the Study ... 38
C. Instrument for Collecting Data ... 39
D. The Steps for Collecting Data ... 39
E. Analyzing Data ... 40
CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ... 42
A. The Data ... 42
3. Causes of Errors from Students’ Perspectives ... 59
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1. The Percentage of the Eleventh Grade Students’ Score in Writing ... 2
Table 2.1. Explanation of active and passive voice ... 16
Table 4.1. Numbers of Students’ Grammatical Errors on Report Text ... 43
Table 4.2. Numbers and Percentage of Errors in Verb ... 44
Table 4.3. Numbers and Percentage of Errors in Noun ... 46
Table 4.4. Numbers and Percentage of Errors in Sentence ... 47
Table 4.5. Numbers and Percentage of Errors in Preposition ... 49
Table 4.6. Numbers and Percentage of Errors in Article ... 50
Table 4.7. Numbers and Percentage of Errors in Pronoun ... 51
Table 4.8. Numbers and Percentage of Errors in Modifier ... 52
Table 4.9. Numbers and Percentage of Errors in Conjunction ... 53
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A Students’ Writing Test ... 71
Appendix B Students’ Report Text ... 72
Appendix C Types of Grammatical Errors in Students’ Report Text ... 77
Appendix D Occurences of Students’ Errors ... 95
Appendix E Sources of Students’ Errors ... 96
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A.Background of the Study
English as an International language has indirectly compelled Indonesian
to learn it. English has become the dominant global language of communication,
business, aviation, entertainment, diplomacy, and the internet. Over a billion
people speak English as their second or foreign language (Leacock, 2010).
Indonesian must learn English to be able to compete with other country. Owing to
this, English is now one of main subjects in school, started from Elementary
School, Junior High School, and Senior High School. There are four skills of
English language which are learned in school, they are listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Harmer (2004) regarded writing as an important skill as he
stated that being able to write is a vital skill for ‘speaker’ of a foreign language as
much as for everyone using their own first language.
Knapp and Watkins (2005: 17) mention that there are two codes of
writing: genres and grammar. Without these codes the process of writing can be
frustrating and unproductive process. These codes help the students to know how
to start their writing. However, for Indonesian students, these codes cause the
students get more difficult to write instead. Genres can be defined as the
classification of text according to their social purpose. Every genres are different
in rules and organizations that then curtail the students to share their ideas freely
2
difficulty in producing English writing since English grammar is different with
Indonesian rules. Grammar deals with the rules of using a language.
During the teaching practice in SMA N 1 Medang Deras, Batubara, it was
found that most of the students faced difficulties in writing. The minimum criteria
mastery (KKM or Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimum) was applied 75 meanwhile the
students’ writing score were still low. The students’ accumulated score then
become the preliminary data of this research as an evidence that Indonesian
students’ writing skill is still low. The data can be seen in the following table.
Table 1.1.
The Percentage of the Eleventh Grade Students’ Score in Writing
1st semester >75 <75
Source: The students’ accumulated score of the eleventh grade students at SMA
Negeri 1 Medang Deras academic year 2014/2015.
It can be seen from the table that most of students’ score percentage was
under the KKM. The low score was caused by the students failed to write
grammatically. In assessing students’ writing product, grammar becomes one
aspect to be concerned. For this reason, writing and grammar become aspects of
English which cannot be separated. To produce a good writing, students need to
pay attention to the grammatical features of the text. Grammatical features are the
3
features include the use of present tense, passive voice, action verbs, generalized
pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs.
Nevertheless, there are still many grammatical errors in students’ writing
product. The errors are various, for instances, the use of wrong tense, subject-verb
agreement error, misplacing of adjectives and adverbs, and so on. Language
usages in Bahasa are different from English usages. Students have been
accustomed to use Indonesian usages, then they tend to write English sentence in
Indonesian style. Although this may be true, it does not mean that the students’
errors in writing are acceptable. Their errors in writing must be corrected in order
to make them realize their fault and know what are right. To master the English
subject, it is important for the students to understand the correct form of grammar.
Another purpose of this correction is to make them not to do the same errors
henceforth.
The syllabus of the 2013 Curriculum determines that report text is one
writing genre that is learned by the eleventh grade students of senior high school.
Reports are written about living things and non-living things in general. As the
accomplishment of English subject, students are assigned to build a report text on
their own.
Hence, this study analyzes what types of grammatical errors the students
made in writing report text. According to Eastwood (2002), there are three
grammatical units of English; they are words, phrases, and sentences. However,
this study focuses on errors of the grammatical units on report text only. The word
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articles, and pronouns. The main errors that are concerned is related to the missing
words, wrong choice of words and the unclear use of those word classes.
Additionally, this study also analyzes the errors in kinds of phrase such as verb
phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase and prepositional phrase. Moreover, this
study does not only discuss about the use of words and phrases, but also the
relationship among sentence elements. It includes the form of the sentence, the
arrangement of the words order, and the agreement between subject and verb or
pronoun and antecedent.
By analyzing the types of students’ grammatical errors on their report text,
the students’ weaknesses in learning grammar will be discovered. The students’
weaknesses are seen from the most frequent error of grammatical units they make.
Moreover, this study is conducted to find out why students make errors in their
writing product. In other words, this study analyzes the possible factors that can
cause students’ errors. It is expected that the result of this study will help teachers
to see their students’ development in learning English. Teachers will be able to
find better ways to develop their learning in English subject.
B.The Problems of the Study
Based on the rationale above, the problems of the study are formulated as
follows:
1) What types of grammatical errors are mostly found in report text of the
eleventh grade students of accounting major at SMK N 1 Jorlang Hataran?
2) What are the causes of grammatical errors in report text by the eleventh
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C.The Objectives of the Study
The study was intended to find out the most dominant grammatical errors
that occur in report texts written by the eleventh grade of accounting major at
SMK N 1 Jorlang Hataran. Another objective of this study was to find out the
possible causes of the errors that occur in their report texts.
D.The Scope of the Study
In order to give the best result of the research, this study focused on
analysing the grammatical errors in Report text. The grammatical types of errors
that are discussed in this study are extended from the missing, wrong and unclear
use of grammatical units. Then the main concern in this study is limited only on
sentence errors, tense errors, verb errors, agreement errors, modifier errors,
preposition errors, and articles errors. The subject of the study is limited on the
eleventh grade of Vocational Senior High School students.
E.The Significances of the Study
It is expected that the finding of this study will later be useful for proper
parties, such as the following.
1) To the teachers
It is expected that this study will help the teachers to foreknow students’
common errors in grammar related to report text and try to find better way
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2) To the students
This study is expected to make the students understand their errors in
writing through this study. By knowing their errors, it is expected that in
the future they will learn more and try to improve their writing skill and
grammar ability.
3) To the further researcher
This study is also expected to be useful for those who want to do similar
research. It is expected that this study will be helpful as a guidance and
67 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusion
This study has discussed the analysis of errors in grammatical features of
Report text. The data were taken from the eleventh grade students of accounting
major. Based on the description of the results in the previous chapters, there are
some conclusions that can be presented.
1) The errors of grammatical features in Report text are errors in verbs,
nouns, sentences, prepositions, articles, pronouns, modifiers, and
conjunctions.
Table 5.1. The Amount and Percentage of Types of Error No. Types of Grammatical
Error Amount Percentage
1. Error in verb 201 37,15%
2. Error in noun 102 18,85%
3. Error in sentence 82 15,15%
4. Error in preposition 61 11,27%
5. Error in article 42 7,76%
6. Error in pronoun 22 4,06%
7. Error in modifier 19 3,51%
8. Error in conjunction 12 2,21%
TOTAL 541 100%
2) The sources of students’ errors are the ignorance of rule restriction,
incomplete applications of rules, negative interlingual transfer, false
concept hypothesized, wrong communication strategy, and
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3) The causes of students’ errors are the lack of knowledge, laziness,
difficulty in dealing with grammar rules, lack of vocabularies,
dislikeness of English subject, difficulty in building sentence,
difficulty in translating, and lack of attention of teacher’s explanation.
B. Suggestion
There have to be suggestions as response to the conclusions above so that
this study can be meaningful. Therefore, the following are some suggestions that
are expected to be helpful for teachers, students, and other researchers.
1. For the teachers
Teachers must correct the students’ errors on their assignments then
return them back to the students so they know their errors and learn at
home. In addition, teachers must find the easiest way to make the
students understand grammar.
2. For the students
Students must pay more attention when teachers explain. Students also
must be aware to learn their errors at home to avoid repeating the same
errors.
3. For the further researchers
Other researchers should conduct further studies on grammatical
features of every genre of text that involve a wider circle of
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