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AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS MADE BY INTERMEDIATE
LEVEL STUDENTS IN WRITING TASK AT “LIVING ENGLISH COURSE”
THESIS
This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education
By:
HENYWYDYASTUTY 201210100312293
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
ii
AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS MADE BY INTERMEDIATE
LEVEL STUDENTS IN WRITING TASK AT “LIVING ENGLISH COURSE”
THESIS
This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education
By:
HENYWYDYASTUTY 201210100312293
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
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M OT T O A N D D E D I CA T I ON
”Allah akan meninggikan or ang-or ang yang ber iman diantar a kamu dan or ang-or ang yang diber i pengetahuan der ajat (yang banyak).”
( Al Mujaadilah: 11)
“Menuntut ilmu adalah far dlu bagi tiap-tiap or ang-or ang I slam laki-laki dan per empuan”
(H .R I bn Abdulbari)
“Bar angsiapa yang per gi untuk menuntut ilmu, maka dia telah ter masuk golongan sabilillah (or ang yang menegakkan agama Allah) hingga ia
sampai pulang kembali”. (H .R. Tur mudzi)[ 2]
“Education is the most pow er ful w eapon w hich you can use to change the w or ld.” ((Nelson Mandela)
“I ndeed, Allah S.W.T w ill not change the condition of people if they do not tr y har d to change it themselves.”
I dedicated this thesis to:
My beloved father and mother ,
My br other s and sister s,
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AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS MADE BY INTERMEDIATE LEVEL STUDENTS IN WRITING TASK AT “LIVING ENGLISH COURSE”
ABSTRACT
This study was intended to find out students’ grammatical errors in writing tasks. It was conducted at “Living English Course” in Jombang. In line with the pur-pose of the study, the design of this study was quantitative design since this study was designed to describe errors of the students made in writing task products.
The subjects were the 37 students of intermediate level class of “Living Eng-lish Course”. The instruments used to collect the data were the students’ writing tasks on the themes of favorite activities, description of a person, unforgettable experience, and plans for the future. The study revealed the following findings; the students’ grammatical errors on writing were numerous. The result shows that there were 987 errors found from 37 students’ writing tasks of intermediate level class. The first highest frequency and the most dominant error was misformation errors (46.6%) that
consisted of: misformation of verb, misformation of to be, misformation of –ing
(ger-und), misformation of modal auxiliary, misformation of preposition, and other mis-formation errors. The second highest frequency was errors of omission (34.0%)
in-cluding omission of to be, omission of third singular person verb marker (s), omission
of –ing (gerund), omission of article, omission of plural marker –s/-es, omission of subject and verb in a sub clause, and other omission errors. The next highest
frequen-cy was errors of addition, it made up (15.5%) that comprised of addition of to be,
ad-dition of verb inflection –ed, addition of plural marker –s/-es, addition of preposition,
addition of verb inflection –ing, and other addition errors. The lowest frequency of
errors found from the data was misordering errors that only amount to (3.9%) from
all data. Errors of misordering consisted of misordering of adverb, misordering of to
be, misordering of modal auxiliary, misordering of preposition, misordering of object
pronoun, misordering of verb, and misordering article.
Based on the research findings, some suggestion were given to the English teacher and the next researches. The English teacher was expected to give more expo-sures to the English structure that often create difficulties for the students such as misformation error, omission error and error of addition and paying more attention for the students’ problems. For the next researchers, they should investigate errors in more specific part of English structure by using one of several kinds of text in stu-dents’ composition such as narrative text, argumentative text, recount text etc.
Key words: grammatical errors, writing
Advisor I, The Researcher,
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Hamdan wa Syukron Lillah, thank you to Allah S.W.T for the blessing and love. Thank you for the strength, affection and guidance given to me in completing this thesis. I am lost without You. Peace and blessing always to our prophet Muham-mad S.A.W.
I would to extend my special gratefulness to my first advisor Ms. Riza Elfana, MA and my second advisor Dra. Thathit Manon Andini, M.Hum for their great con-tribution, meaningful guidance, suggestions, corrections, and helpful feedback that have inspired me over the completion and improvement the quality of this thesis. My gratitude is also presented to the board of examiners.
Furthermore, my sincere gratitude goes to all the lectures of the English De-partment who have given invaluable knowledge which enrich my thought. My enor-mous gratitude is also extended to the English teacher and the owner of Living Eng-lish Course, Mr. Abdul Hakim, M.Pd for his cooperation and guidance during my pile up the data collection. In addition, I am so thankful to the students of intermediate level class 2009/ 2010 academic whothat helpedme to cooperate in data collection.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude and love to my super duper ex-traordinary beloved parents, my big brothers and little sisters for the unconditional and continuous love, sincere prayers, and precious supports. Besides, my thankful-ness for my cutest and handsome baby boys Rizwan and Ikhwan who always make me laugh out loud because of their behavior.
My sincere gratitude is also extended to my ladies “Kaki Meja” (Irene, Rizya, Icha),Junglish Girls B-‘05 (Ikong, Vio, Pinot, Hani, Memey, Inchan, Ra3, Sinta, Nurma, Juhai, April, Endang, Mega, Yuli, Evita, Sulis, Winantri, Winarti, Sulasih, Ila), Junglish Boys B-‘05 (Yaqin, Aries, Ido, Syaikhu, Asyari, Zane), my partners in crime (Mifta, Gullit, Fina, Pinandu, Didit “Dexter”, Dinda, Opah Fastha, Aulia, Tya-ssi). Big thanks for your amazing relation and cohesive friends in several cases.
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understanding, patience, and assistance of those person mentioned above, this thesis would have never been in its present. May Allah S.W.T bless all of them. Amin Ya Rabbal Alamin.
Malang, January 27, 2014
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1.3 Classification and Description of Errors ... 40
4.3.1 Error of Misformation ... 42
4.3.1.1 Misformation of Verb ... 42
4.3.1.2 Misformation of to be ... 43
4.3.1.3 Misformation of –ing ... 44
4.3.1.4 Misformation of Modal Auxiliary ... 45
4.3.1.5 Misformation of Preposition ... 45
4.3.1.6 Other Misformation Errors ... 46
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4.3.2.6 Omission of Subject and Verb
in a Sub Clause ... 51
4.3.2.7 Other Omission Errors ... 52
4.3.3 Error of Addition ... 54
4.3.3.1 Addition of to be ... 54
4.3.3.2 Addition of Verb Inflection –ed ... 55
4.3.3.3 Addition of Plural Marker –s/ -es ... 55
4.3.3.4 Addition of Preposition ... 56
4.3.3.5 Addition of Verb Inflection –ing ... 57
4.3.3.6 Other Addition Errors ... 57
4.3.4 Error of Misordering ... 58
4.4 The Most Dominant Error Type That Appeared in Students’ Writing Task ... 60
4.5 Discussion ... 61
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 5.1 Conclusion ... 67
5.2 Suggestion ... 69
REFFERENCES
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the background of the study, statement of the problem,
purpose of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation and definition of
key terms.
1.1Background of The Study
Language is a systematic means of community ideas or feelings by the use of
conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings
(Brown, 1994: 4). We use it to understand our world through listening and reading,
and to communicate our own feelings, needs and desires through speaking and
writing. With strong language skills, we have a much better chance of understanding
and being understood, and of getting what we want and need from those around us.
Nowadays, in this era globalization, English has often been referred to as a “world
language" that is a language spoken internationally. It is known as the foreign
language to be taught in Indonesian schools. It is regarded as an essential subject in
school either as an optional subject at kindergarten and primary schools or as a
compulsory subject starting from junior high schools, senior high schools up to
tertiary levels. Furthermore, the main reason why English is very important is that
Indonesian people need to use English as a means of communication among other
nations since English is widely used as the main international language. In short,
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In learning a language effectively, we have to know the grammar of the
language because grammar or structure is the part of the study of a language. That set
of rules is also called the grammar of the language, and each language has its own
distinct grammar that must be followed in order to form or make good sentences.
Grammar is part of the general study of language called linguistics. Using good
grammar helps get our point across effectively and focuses the attention on what we
have to write instead of how we choose to write it. According to Veit:
Grammar as we mean it is simply your language knowledge. Whatever your brain knows that allows you to use language we will call your grammar. Your grammar is what enables you to understand the very words you are now reading as well as to speak and write words and sentences of your own. You have had a grammar of English for as long as you have known (1986:1).
Students recognize that learning grammar is so difficult. Nevertheless,
grammar is one of the important aspects of English language in which foreign
students have to master it in order to be able to use English language correctly. Hall
(1993) stated that studying grammar helped one to learn about a language. Learning
about a language is very different from being able to use the language. Furthermore,
by understanding grammar, it will help students in constructing their writing word by
word well because Indonesian and English language have different rules. If students
are able to write well and correctly, they can communicate and convey their ideas
more comprehensively without misunderstanding and discrepancy in the information
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It is not a surprise that students make mistakes in constructing sentences when
they have not fully acquired the rules of the foreign language. Language learners may
acquire certain rules earlier than the others, which may result in the existence of
errors as there might be rules which they have not acquired. These existing errors can
be systematic or unsystematic. Unsystematic errors occur in one’s native language;
Corder (1971) calls these as “mistakes” and he states that they are not significant to
the process of language learning. He keeps the term “errors” for the systematic ones,
which occur in a second language development. These kinds of systematic errors are
significant to the process of language learning as students who have made errors in
their language finally realize the errors as these are known as the students’ progress
by the teachers. Realizing them, the students can then learn from the errors.
In contrast, it is inevitable for students who learn foreign language to make
errors in their learning process. Dulay (1982:138) states that ‘Errors are the flawed
side of learner speech or writing’. Besides, Beason and Lester (2003) mentioned that
errors are the part of learning process. Students make errors show they are still
working on it and understanding students’ errors are very useful for students
themselves and for the teachers where they can understand the problems in using
target language. Thus, errors are not considered as something to be avoided in
language learning, as the proponents of audiolingualism once held, but as an inherent
part of the language learning process.
Based on the previous research which was conducted by Maulidiyah (2008)
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6 Malang, she observed grammatical errors done by the first year students based on
Surface Strategy Taxonomy. The result of her research showed that 38% of students
made errors on omission, while 36% of them did errors on misformation, 20% of
them did errors on addition and 6% of the pupils made errors on misordering.
Writing, which was once considered the domain of the elite and
well-educated, has become an essential tool for people of all walks of life in today’s global
community. Whether used in reporting analyses of current events for newspaper or
web pages, composing academic essays, business reports, letters, or e-mail messages,
the ability to write effectively allows individuals from different cultures and
backgrounds to communicate. Writing, like speaking, is such a common part of our
everyday lives that we take for granted the writing we do on a daily basis. Most of
communication we do is through spoken language but nowadays written
communication is also a preference. In addition, the ability to speak and write a
foreign language is becoming widely recognized as an important skill for educational,
business, and personal reasons. Weigle (2002: 1) declares “The ability to write
effectively is becoming increasingly important in our global community, and
instruction in writing is thus assuming an increasing role in both second and foreign
language education”. Furthermore, it is now widely recognized that writing plays a
vital role not only in conveying information, but also in transforming knowledge to
create new knowledge.
Due to the usefulness of students’ errors in mastering English especially in
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the use of grammar in their writing task based on Surface Strategy Taxonomy. This
taxonomy concentrates on the ways in which surface structures are altered. Using this
taxonomy Dulay et al. (1982: 150) divide errors into the following categories: (1)
omission, (2) additions, (3) misformation, and (4) misordering. Omission is typical
for the early stages of L2 acquisition, whereas in the intermediate stages
misformation, misordering, or overuse are much more common.
The researcher is interested in analyzing the written task made by
Intermediate Level Students at Living English Course because basically they consider
English course as an additional place where they can learn English more specifically.
It means that schools are the main place to learn English. Furthermore, students
should be able to use their knowledge at school and combine it what the course has. It
can be concluded that after passing several grades at an English course centre, at least
the students can minimize their errors and they are able to deliver their ideas in good
written language. The researcher notices the errors in writing produced by
Intermediate Level Students of “Living English Course”. The researcher chooses
Intermediate Level Students because this grade is considered as grade where the
students are expected to be quite good in writing and quite fluent in speaking English.
It means that they have mastered grammatical rules in general. In this grade, the
students are taught about how to use auxiliary in sentences, forming nouns and
gerund, verb forms in narrative, continuous aspect in tenses, passive sentences form
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Based on the reasons that are explained above, the researcher would like to
conduct a research on the analysis of grammatical errors based on Surface Strategy
Taxonomy in writing task made by Intermediate students of “Living English Course”
at Jombang in academic year 2009/2010.
1.2Statement of The Problem
In this thesis, the researcher has formulated research questions as follows:
1. What are the error types made by intermediate level students of “Living
English Course” in their writing task based on Surface Strategy Taxonomy?
2. Which is the most dominant error type that often occurs in the writing task in
accordance with Surface Strategy Taxonomy?
1.3Purpose of The Study
Based on the statement of the problems above, the purposes of the study are:
1. To figure out and classify the types of errors which are found in writing task
of Intermediate Level Students in “Living English Course” based on Surface
Strategy Taxonomy.
2. To know the frequency of occurrence of each error type in writing task
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1.4Significance of The Study
It is hoped that the result of this thesis are able to describe the grammatical
performance of certain level as a portray of the result of learning foreign language,
in this case is English about grammar rules especially in writing form.
For the English as a foreign language, teachers especially those in “Living
English Course”, the result will contribute to the improvement of English teaching.
It will give information of what types of errors made by the students in constructing
English sentences in writing. By knowing the students’ problems, the teachers are
able to select the most appropriate technique or strategy to overcome the learning
problems. The result will also be useful for the teachers in arranging remidial
teaching appropriate for the students with those common errors since the teacher
knows which area of reinforcement the students need. Also, it will be useful in
choosing the text book in the classroom.
For the learners, this thesis will help them recognize their own problems in
English learning process by having their assignment returned to them after the
correction. Knowing their errors in English, they can later improve their English
skills and competence. The learners can also know which parts to review in order to
improve their proficiency in English. In addition, it is hoped that the result can
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1.5Scope and Limitation
The scope of this thesis is focused on grammatical errors in writing task and
the limitation of this thesis is Intermediate Level Students which are consist of
Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 ( 37 students) where the students from junior high
school and senior high school who join in “Living English Course” in academic year
2009/2010.
1.6Definition of Key Terms
To avoid misinterpretation of the terms used in this thesis, it is essential to
give definition as follows:
1. Grammar is one of components of language which must be used by students
who have already acquired an English language at school or in a course. By
learning grammar, they will know the way words combine to form sentences.
2. Error analysis is an analysis of the actual errors produced by the learners.
3. Error is something made wrong or incorrectly done through ignorance or
carelessness; as an error in writing.
4. Mistake can be called confusion which is generally caused by performance
factors. Limitations in remembering or forgetting something caused mistake
in pronouncing the sounds of language, words, word order, word or sentence
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5. Surface strategy taxonomy is a surface strategy taxonomy highlights the way
surface structures are altered. The surface strategy elements of a language are
altered in specific and systematic ways. Among the common errors are:
omission error, addition error, misformation error and misordering error.
6. Writing is one of four skills that students necessary to master when they learn
English. It is now recognized that writing plays an important role not only in
conveying information, ideas, beliefs, and impressions to others, but also in
transforming knowledge to create new knowledge.
7. Task is a piece of work assigned to or demanded to a learner.
8. Living English Course (LEC) is one of a famous English course in Jombang.
It is located in Jl. Semeru 24 Kauman Ngoro Jombang Jawa Timur. This
course offers two English programs they are General English and UNAS
Preparation. For General English, they have four levels, starting from
Elementary 1 and Elementary 2, Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2, Advanced
and TOEFL preparation. In addition, for UNAS Preparation, they have 3
programs, starting from SLTP UNAS English (intensive), SMU UNAS
