The Mastery on the use of English articles among the sixth semester students of English language education study program.

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THE MASTERY ON THE USE OF ENGLISH ARTICLES

AMONG THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

A THESIS

Presented as the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Maria Stella Gradiana Student Number: 061214045

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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THE MASTERY ON THE USE OF ENGLISH ARTICLES

AMONG THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

A THESIS

Presented as the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Maria Stella Gradiana Student Number: 061214045

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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ABSTRACT

Gradiana, Maria Stella. 2010. The Mastery on the Use of Articles among the Sixth Semester Students of English Education Study Program: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

Though it is simple, the use of appropriate articles becomes one of the problems for Indonesian people who learn English. Surprisingly, the advance learners of English like the sixth semester students of English Education Study Program, who were chosen as the participants, also face such problem. On the other hand, they, as teacher candidates, should be a language model for the students and should not violate English grammar.

This study explored the sixth semester students’ mastery on the use of articles focusing on three research problems: 1) What concepts of articles have the students mastered? , 2) What are the errors made by the students? , 3) What are the possible causes of errors? To answer those questions, a test consisting of fill in the gap items, and translating nouns together with adding articles for the noun was administered to 53 sixth semester students in 2010. The theories applied to make the test were the theories of articles, theories of a good test, and then to analyze the data, theories of error analysis were applied.

This research applied a mixed-method. To answer the first and the second questions, the researcher applied a qualitative study. Meanwhile, to discover the possible causes of errors, the researcher employed a quantitative study.

It was found that the students mastered articles sufficiently. The mean of the mastery percentage was 68.42%. However, in general, students committed two kinds of errors: 1) the omission of a/an for singular generic nouns, which was

probably caused by the use of Indonesian words indicating singular nouns (such as: sebuah, seekor), and the article rules for plural generic nouns, and (2) the addition of the for plural generic nouns of which probable causes were the absence of plural generic nouns in Indonesian language, and the hesitation in the in the students’ mind when they chose the article.

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ABSTRAK

Gradiana, Maria Stella. 2010. The Mastery on the Use of Articles among the Sixth Semester Students of English Education Study Program: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Walaupun dianggap sederhana, ternyata penggunaan artikel masih menjadi masalah bagi orang Indonesia yang belajar Bahasa Inggris, tidak terkecuali mahasiswa semester enam Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, subjek penelitian ini, yang dianggap sudah menguasai bahasa ini. Padahal, pada akhir semester enam mereka sudah mulai praktek mengajar di SMA dan SMP. Sebagai calon guru seharusnya mereka dapat memberikan contoh penggunaan bahasa yang baik dan benar dan selain itu, mereka harus dapat menguasai bahasa, terutama konsep sederhana seperti konsep artikel.

Penelitian ini meneliti penguasaan konsep artikel dengan menjawab. 3 pertanyaan besar: 1) Konsep apa saja yang telah mahasiswa kuasai? 2) Kesalahan apa saja yang mereka lakukan, dan 3)Kira-kira mengapa mereka melakukan kesalahan tersebut? Peneliti memberikan tes kepada 53 mahasiswa semester enam tahun 2010. Tes terdiri dari 26 kalimat rumpang yang harus diisi dengan artikel, dan 28 kata benda Bahasa Indonesia dalam kalimat yang harus diterjemahkan ke Bahasa Inggris, lalu dilengkapi dengan artikel. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan tiga teori dasar teori artikel, teori tes, dan teori analisa error (kesalahan yang tidak disengaja saat berbahasa baik tertulis maupun lisan).

Penelitian ini menerapkan metode campuran kualitatif dan kuantitatif.Pertanyaan pertama dan kedua dijawab dengan menggunakan metode kuantitatif.Sedangkan untuk menjawab pertanyaan ketiga, peneliti membandingkan beberapa teori Bahasa Indonesia dan Bahasa Inggris.

Setelah data dianalisis, dapat disimpulkan bahwa konsep artikel cukup dikuasai dengan rata-rata persentase penguasaan 68.42%.Walaupun begitu, ternyata mereka masih melakukan kesalahan-kesalahan yang disebabkan kurangnya penguasaan mereka terhadap artikel (1) penghilangan a/an untuk kata benda generik yang tunggal dan (2) penambahan the untuk kata benda generik yang jamak.Kesalahan pertama kemungkinan disebabkan penggunaan kata-kata berawalan se- untuk benda generic tunggal, dan pengaruh aturan artikel untuk benda generic jamak.Sedangkan kesalahan kedua kemungkinan disebabkan tidak adanya benda generic jamak dalam Bahasa Indonesia, dan kebimbangan siswa dalam memilih artikel yang tepat.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express the gratitude from the bottom of my heart to

God who already created me and those amazing people helping me in my frustrating thesis time. Without the assistance of those people, I believe that these paper would still be empty pages now with no single letter written here.

I would like to thank my sponsor, Ibu Carla Sih Prabandari, S.Pd., M.Hum., who opened her office door for me and let me take her time to discuss my thesis together. Her suggestions and opinions about my thesis were like an alarm for me; it woke me up and warned me that I still had a lot of things to do to finish my thesis well. What she said about my thesis was very beneficial for me.

I would like to express my gratefulness to Mr. Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang S.Pd., and Mr. Chosa Kastuhandani, S.Pd. for letting me interrupt their classes to conduct my test. For the 2007 students who were in class A, C, D, I would like to say thank them for the willingness to do the test, and say sorry for not giving them any chocolates or richesse after I conducted the test.

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I would like to appreciate someone who once helped meto find myself, Antonius Jody S.Pd, I would like to express my thankfulness to him for being my patient proof reader and raging boyfriend at the same time. Without his advice, I would still be drowning in the joy of earning money. His support really kept my brain in the right position.

I really want to show my gratefulness to my Process friends: Gontheng, Sarche, Agnes, Aik, Wiwit, Zita, Aditkoel, Gondrong, Trio, Ayuk, Nonok, Decy, Ceye,Intan, Nisa, Riris, Berlin. I truly appreciate the wonderful time. I enjoyed it. Laughing at and with them in the middle of the thesis time really gave me back my sanity.

My Special thankfulness would be addressed to my fun(d) team (Indah, Mita, Intan, Rimpeng, and Editha),my Glitters team, and my Athena team. They helped me to grow up by bringing in several values of life. I would like to thank

Pak Guru Kirjo (Jati) for being my enemy and my best pal at the same time.

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude for those whose names I did not mention here. God bless them.

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

2.1 The Use of A ... 12

2.2 The Use of An ... 13

2.3 The Use of The ... 14

2.4 Exceptions on the Use of The ... 15

2.5 The Use of Ø ... 15

2.6 Factors Affecting the Data ... 17

2.7 The Classification of Errors ... 18

2.8 Intralingual Errors ... 21

2.9 Competence Standard ... 23

2.10 The Use of Indonesian Articles ... 26

2.11 Pronomina Penunjuk ... 27

3.1 Specification of Fill-in-the-gap Section ... 37

3.2 Specification of Translation Section ... 39

3.3 The Distribution of the Test ... 40

3.4 Best’s Coefficient Classification ... 45

4.1 Students’ Mastery on Articles for Singular Generic Nouns ... 53

4.2 Students’ Mastery on Articles for Plural and Noncount Generic Nouns ... 55

4.3 Students’ Mastery on Articles for Definite Nouns ... 56

4.4 Students’ Mastery on Articles for Indefinite Nouns ... 58

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4.6 Examples of Errors of Articles for Singular Generic Nouns ... 62 4.7 The Addition of Thefor Plural Generic Nouns ... 64 4.8 Percentage of Answers with an Indonesian Word Indicating Singularity . 68 4.9 Percentage of Answers without an Indonesian Word

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page 2.1 Classification of Nouns ... 8

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

One of the basic problems for Indonesian learners of English is the use of appropriate articles. Dykes(2007) suggests that “the word article comes from the Latin word articulus meaning a little joint or a bit joined on”. In other words, an article is something which should appear with another language item or it will be useless. The definition supports its function which is explained explicitly by William (2005:83). He asserts that “an article is used as a determiner of which function is to signal the presence of certain nouns”. In addition, an article will be meaningful only after it comes up with a noun. Having that kind of functions, an article appears in almost every English sentence, and it is usually recognized as a, an, or the. Nevertheless, not every noun needs an article. There is also a condition when a noun does not need any article, symbolized with Ø in Azhar’s grammar book. In addition, an article is simply put before a noun, but what makesit complicated for learners is the various kinds of nouns following the article. They determined the article used, for example:

(1)She killed a man (2)She killed the man

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indicated with article a. The word man here functions as an indefinite noun, defined as a noun of which reference has not been identified yet. On the other hand, in example (2), man has a function as definite noun marked with the. The is used when the speaker and the listener share the same reference. (Azhar, 1993).Further explanation about how to use a, an, the, Ø and about the kinds of noun would be discussed in chapter two.

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Their mastery of articles would be analyzed by identifying errors through a test. The test result may show errors and mistakes, yet this research focuses on errors showing misconception in the students’ mind. Errors and mistakes are actually two concepts proposed by Ellis to analyze learners’ language other than their mother tongue. Mistakes are “deviations in usage that reflect learners’ inability to use what they actually know of the target language.”(Ellis, 1997:17). In other words, mistakes are committed by a learner because she/he fails to show what she/he already understands. Meanwhile, Ellis (1997) described an error as the opposite of a mistake. Errors are “deviations in usage which result from gaps in learners’ knowledge of the target language.” Errors happen when learners do not master a concept, or misunderstand it.

Ellis (1997) states that to distinguish errors and mistakes, teachers need to check the consistency of the students’ language in their performance. When the deviant utterances are consistent, it means they are producing errors. If the learners sometimesproduce either the right or the deviant utterances, they are committing mistakes. Another way to check whether learners are making errors or mistakes is by asking them to correct the deviant utterances. If they are able to correct them, they are committing mistakes, yet if they are not able to do so, they are making errors.

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Education Study Program (ELESP). They are expected to master the notions as they are prepared to be teachers who should not mislead the students. Moreover, the sixth semester students of ELESP are assumed to have passed English structure classes. To investigate the students’ mastery in English, the researcher would use the theory of errors as the basis in analyzing the data.

B.Problem Limitation

This research focuses on the problems on the use of a, an, the, ø. _{The researcher} applies the rules written in the Azhar’s book and excludes the exception on the use of articles, such as the use ofthe for generic nouns, with the reason that there is no specific rule which can explain the exception.

Another limitation is that this research focuses on the use of articles in formal condition based on the Standard English grammar. It is because what the students learn in ELESP is the standard usage of articles in English grammar. In other words, the use of articles in other written forms which do not follow the rules in English grammar such as those in the headlines of newspaper would be excluded from the discussion.

C.Problem Formulation

1. Which concepts of articles have the students mastered? 2. What are the errors made by the students?

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D.Objectives of the Study

This research is conducted in order to investigate which concepts of article that ELESP students have mastered, errors made by the students, and the possible sources of error.

E.Benefits of the Study

This study is conducted in order to:

1. Provide information to the lecturers about what the students have mastered. Having such information, the lecturers can evaluate their methods or techniques of teaching grammar in order to help the students learn what they have not mastered. They might even find better methods or techniques to teach grammar.

2. Help students develop their English. After getting feedback about the use of articles they might know what they have not known before, so that they will not produce those errors or mistake anymore.

F. Definition of Terms

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1. Sixth Semester Students

In this study, students are the English learners in English Language Education Study Program Sanata Dharma University. Sixth semester students were those who were in their third year in 2010. They have become the students of ELESP since 2007.

2. Mastery

Mastery refers to competence. Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 28) define language competence as “an ability that enables learners to perform a language.” In this study, mastery refers to the understanding and the ability to implement English article concepts in various contexts.

3. Article

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CHAPTER 2

THEORETICAL REVIEW

This chapter is divided into two parts: theoretical description and theoretical framework. Theoretical description consists of theory explanations supporting this research. Meanwhile, the second part, theoretical framework, synthesizes the theory explanation in the previous part. The synthesis focuses on the theories which may become the probable answers of the three questions in problem formulation.

A. Theoretical Description

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compared with several theories in the first part in order to answer the three research problems.

1. English Grammar Theories

This part explains four main theories supporting this research: a) theory of singular-plural, b) theory of articles, c) theory of error analysis, d) theory of competence representing theory of mastery.

a. Theory of Count-Noncount Nouns

Azhar states that there are two kinds of noun based on the countability of the nouns: count and noncount noun. Figure 2.1 illustrates the classifications of those kinds of nouns based on Azhar’s book (1993).

Figure 2.1 : Classification of nouns

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1) Count Noun

A count noun is an item that can be counted (Azhar, 1993: 204). Count nouns could still be broken down into singular when the quantity of the item is only one, and into plural when the quantity of an item is more than one. The example of singular noun is an eye, or a girl. Articles a andan are important to show that something is singular. The use of a and an will be explained further in the discussion of the theories of articles. Meanwhile, eyes, and girls are the examples of plural nouns. The form of a singular noun only has one form, a noun plus an ora, but plural nouns have several forms. The examples provided are included in the regular plural forms which only need -s or -es to indicate a plural noun, yet, there is another plural form, irregular plural form, for example: childÆchildren, or fishÆ fish.

2) Noncount Noun

Noncount nouns are nouns that cannot be counted. There are several kinds of nouns which are included in noncount nouns. In figure 2.1, Azhar (1993) classifies noncount nouns into four groups:

a) A noun that represents a whole group of things, for example, food, fruit. b) A noun that represents whole masses, for example, sugar, and coffee. c) An abstract concept, for instance, love, and luck.

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In short, based on their countability, nouns are divided into two groups: count and noncount nouns. The count nouns themselves can still be classified as the singular and plural nouns. Meanwhile, noncount nouns are classified into nouns representing a whole group of thing, whole masses, abstract concepts, and phenomenon in nature.

b. Theory of Articles

It is previously mentioned in the discussion of count-noncount noun, a andan are needed for singular noun. Those two items are called articles. This subchapter will elaborate articles more deeply starting from their definition, their types, kinds of nouns following them, and how to use them, including the use of a and an for a singular noun.

1) The Definition of Articles

According to Dykes (2007), the word article is derived from Latin words articulus meaning ‘a little joint’ or ‘a bit joined on’. Dykes views that an article

itself does not have a concrete meaning since it will not be present in the imagination. Nevertheless it has functions which make it meaningful. The function of articles would be explained further in the next discussion.

2) The Function of Articles

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the presence of a noun. In other words, an article has almost the same functions as the functions of a determiner. A determiner indicates the presence of a noun. On one hand, there are only several kinds of nouns which need articles as the determiners.

3) Types of Articles

According to Azhar, there are three types of articles: a, an, the. Those three articles are used in different conditions which mainly depend on the nouns after the articles. Nonetheless, there is also a condition when a noun does not need any article. Ø is the symbol used by Azhar to ease the students in visualizing such condition. Meanwhile, a, an, the, and Ø are used in different conditions. The next subchapter will explain the use of articles.

4) The Use of Articles

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a) A

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A is basically used for singular nouns which begin with consonant sounds. On the contrary, if the nouns begin with vowels or diphthong sounds, an is used. The description of an will be explained in a separated discussion. Table 2.1 provides the detailed use of a.

Table 2.1 : The Use of A

Articles Countability Reference Examples Phonetic Transcription

A singular

Generic

(3) A banana is yellow. (4) A university is for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

/ə βəνΑ::νə/ /ə ϕυ:νΙϖə:σ_ɪτ_ɪ /

Indefinite (5) I ate a banana. _{(6) I study in a university.} /ə βəνΑ::νə /

/ə ϕυ:νΙϖə:σɪτɪ/

Table 2.1 describes the usage of article a, which is used before (1) singular generic nouns and (2) singular definite nouns, with a condition that those singular definite and singular generic nouns are began with consonant sounds. Azhar (1993) defines a generic noun as a noun which represents a whole class of nouns, for example in the example (3) and (5) abanana refers to all bananas in the world, not a certain banana. Meanwhile, an indefinite noun is an actual thing, but it is not specifically identified. In short, if an indefinite noun is mentioned in a conversation, the speaker and the listener usually does not share the same reference since the thing is not specific. In example (4) and (6), the word a university may refer to any university in the world. The speaker knows the

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However, article a can be used if either the singular generic nouns or the singular indefinite nouns begin with a consonant sound. In example (3), the word banana is obvously started with the consonant letter b and sound /b/, thus, for this purposea is used. In example (4) although the noun university is started with a letter /u/ which is basically spelled as a vowel or diphthong sounds, it is pronounced as a consonant /ju/ when it is read as in the word university. Hence, a is used.

b) An

[image:33.612.130.506.247.520.2]

An anda basically have the same functions. The difference between a andan is on the beginning sound of the nouns. Table 2.2 provides the detailed information about the use of anas well as its examples in sentences.

Table 2.2 : The Use of An

Articles Countability Reference Examples Phonetic Transcription

an singular

generic

(7)An apple is red.

(8)An hour is sixty minutes.

/əν {πəλ/ /əν αυə(ρ)/

indefinite

(9) I ate an apple. (10)An honored guest

came yesterday.

/əν {πλ/

/əν Θ:νə(ρ)ə /

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example (8) represent all apples and the standard of an hour in the world. Generic noun does not refer to a specific thing, but to a class of things. Meanwhile, those words in example (9) and (10) use articles an as the listener may not share the same reference as that of the speaker.

c) The

[image:34.612.125.517.240.509.2]

Unlike the previous two articles,the is not affected by the first sound of the noun following it. The use of this article is mainly influenced by the reference of the nouns. The detailed use of the is provided in table 2.3.

Table 2.3 : The Use of The

Articles Countability Reference Examples

the

singular

definite

(11) Thank you for the umbrella. plural (12) Thank you for the bananas. nouncount (13) Thank you for the fruit.

Table 2.3 shows that the countability and the first sound of a noun do not affect the use of the. It is supported by examples (11), (12), (13). In example (11), the word umbrella is a singular noun and it is started with vowel sound. On the other hand, in example (12), the word bananas is plural and started with consonant sounds. Besides those examples, the may also be used for adjective clause.

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There are several exception for the use of the. The can also be used for several singular generic nouns: 1) species of animals, 2) inventions,3) musical instruments. Table 2.4 exemplifies each exception.

Table 2.4: Exceptions on the Use of The

No Classifications Examples

1. Species of animals (14) The whale is the largest animal on earth.

2. Inventions (15) Who invented the telephone?

3. Musical Instruments (16)Do you play the guitar

d) Ø

[image:35.612.128.508.233.509.2]

Ø or zero article is a state when a noun does not need any article. It is generally used for plural and noncount generic nouns. Detailed information of this article is provided in table 2.5.

Table 2.5 : The Use of Ø

Articles Countability Reference Examples

Ø plural Generic (17) Ø Bananas are yellow nouncount (18) Ø Fruit is good for you

Ø is used for plural and noncount generic nouns. Example (17) shows the example of plural generic nouns. To refer to a class of noun, in addition to using a singular noun identified by a oran, a plural noun can also be used, as shown in example (17).Meanwhile, the other use of Ø is that it is followed by noncount generic noun, such as fruit in example (18).

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consonant sounds. Next, for singular generic and indefinite nouns started with vowel or diphthong sound, article an is used. The third article, the, is used for definite noun, and the last one discussed above, Ø, is used for plural and noncount nouns.

After the elaboration, it is summarized that there are three kinds of articles (a,an, and the), and Ø. Those articles are used with different kinds of nouns, explained in tables. The use of articles with those nouns becomes the focus of the test.

c. Theories of Error Analysis

Ellis and Barkhuizen describe “error analysis as a set of procedures for identifying, describing, and explaining learners’ errors” (2005: 51). This set of procedure consists of five steps: (1) collection of a sample of learner language, (2) identification of errors, (3) description of errors, (4) explanation of errors, and (5) error evaluation. Below are the explanations of each step in error analysis.

1) Collection of a Sample of Learner Language

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[image:37.612.128.509.209.577.2]

data. The last factor affecting the data is the preparation of the learners, whether the production is planned or unplanned. Those factors could be summarized in table 2.6 adopted from Ellis’ table.

Table 2.6: Factors Affecting Data

No Factors Description A. Learner

1. Proficiency Level Elementary, intermediate, or advanced 2. Other languages The learner’s L1

3. Language learning background Instructed, naturalistic, mixed

B. Language

1. Medium Oral, written

2. Genre e.g. conversation, narrative, essay 3. Content The topic of the discourse

C. Production

1. Planned The discourse is produced after it is planned 2. Unplanned The discourse is produced spontaneously

2) Identification of Errors

After obtaining the data, the researcher has to compare the learners’ production and what a native speaker may produce in the same context. There is a procedure to compare those two things. This procedure has been arranged by Ellis and explained in his book.

a) Preparing the probable answer or reconstruction that may be produced by a native speaker in the same condition.

b) Assuming that every utterance produced by the learners are wrong and omit those which are well formed.

c) Identifying which parts are different from the reconstruction.

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3) Description of Errors

Corder (1947:128) as revealed in Ellis (2005: 60) states “the description of errors is essentially a comparative process, the data being the original erroneous utterances and the reconstructed utterance”. In other words, this step compares the errors made by the learners and the reconstruction deeper. Afterward, the researcher classifies the errors into two taxonomies suggested by James (1998) in Ellis (2005: 61): a) a linguistic taxonomy and b) a surface structure taxonomy.

a) A Linguistic Taxonomy

A linguistic taxonomy primarily deals with descriptive grammar of the target language. In short, the errors would be classified based on the sentence structure, verb phrases, etc. An example is proposed by Ellis in his book,

(19)Yesterday, Martin marry his long-life sweetheart.

According to Ellis, the error can be classified as verb phrase-past simple.

b)A Surface Taxonomy

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[image:39.612.128.509.128.508.2]

Table 2.7: The Classification of Errors

No Category Description Example

1. Omissions

The nonexistence of an item that

must appear in a good utterance. (20) She eating.

2. Additions The presence of an item that must not appear in a well-structured utterances

(21) She is eats fish.

3. Misinformations A subtitution of the morpheme or structure used in utterances

(22) The plane flied to London.

4. Misorderings The incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morphemes in an utterance

(23) Why mother is crying?

There are four classifications of errors in table 2.7: omission, addition, misinformation, and misordering. Omission occurs when there is a missing language item in a sentence (Ellis, 1997). It is illustrated in the incomplete sentence in example (20). The sentence in the example needs a linking verb is since it is a present continuous tense sentence. The correct sentence would be she is eating.

The second category is addition. Addition happens when there is a presence of language item that should not exist in a sentence. The sentence She is eats fish in example (21) shows that there an addition of linking verb is in a simple present tense sentence. She eats fish is the correct sentence.

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The fourth type of error is misordering defined by Ellis (1997) as errors that are indicated by incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morpheme. Example 23) emphasizes the misordering error. Is should be before mother. The correct form of the example is why is mother crying?

4) Explanation of Errors

This step basically copes with distinguishing errors and mistakes, and explaining the process of errors. The detailed explanation of errors and mistakes, and the process of errors will be explained in two subchapters below.

a) Errors and Mistakes

Errors and mistakes are actually two different things which are used to describe learners’ language. Ellis (1994) states that an error is a deviation of language rules made by language learners as a result from lack of knowledge about the correct form. The students do not realize that they have produced the wrong form and they cannot correct it when they are asked to. Error can be noticed from the consistency. The learners consistently perform the wrong forms if they are making errors.

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they have enough knowledge about the correct form. Consequently, when the students are told to correct what they have performed, they will be able to do it. In summary, learners commit an error since they lack of knowledge, but they commit mistakes since they know but somehow fail to perform the correct form. Those two things could be differentiated from the learners’ consistency and the learners’ awareness when they are told that the form is wrong.

b) The Process of Errors

[image:41.612.126.506.231.573.2]

There are two kinds of error process: interlingual, and intralingual. Ellis defines “Interlingual errors are the result of mother tongue influences” (Ellis, 2005: 65). Meanwhile, he describes intralingual errors as “the operation of learning strategies that are universal” (Ellis, 2005: 65). There are five kinds of common intralingual errors:

Table 2.8: Intralingual Errors

No Kinds Example

1. False Analogy (24) ChildÆ childs

2. Misanalysis (25) For example by assuming its as plural since the letter ‘s’

3. Incomplete rule application (26) Noone know where was Barbie 4. Exploiting redundancy (27) Martin like tennis

5. Overlooking co-occurrence

restrictions (28) Fast foodÆquick food

6. System simplification (29) The use of that for relative pronoun

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generalize the rule of regular plural form to inappropriate words. The second category is misanalysis, which is a wrong assumption of a form like illustrated in example (25). The next category is incomplete rule application. It happens when the learners know the rules, but they do not really master it. As a result, they produce imperfect sentences like illustrated in example (26). The fourth category is exploiting redundancy. This error happens when the learners omit a grammatical feature that does not affect the meaning of the utterance. Example (27) shows the omission of –s for the third person. The fifth category is overlooking co-occurrence restrictions which could be defined as the substitution of the synonym of a word, yet it does not match the collocation, like quick food. The last category, system simplification, is substituting a single form where the target language can use two or more forms, for example the use of that for relative pronoun, though there are words (who, when, where, etc) which can be used also.

5) Error Evaluation

There are some steps in error evaluation. a) Choose the errors to be evaluated

b) Decide the criterion on which the errors are to be judged

c) Prepare the error instruments, namely instruction, erroneous text, and a method for evaluating

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d. Theories of Competence Representing Those of Mastery.

According to Hutchinson and Waters competence is something that enables learners to do something (performance) with the language. In other words, competence is what the learners know about the language and how to use it. The performance represents the competence that the learners have.

e. Competence Standard

[image:43.612.123.501.226.552.2]

The competence standard in the research is based on Panduan Akademik Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris 2006.

Table 2.9: Competence Standard

Letter Range Meaning

A 80%-100% Very good mastery

B 70%-79% Good mastery

C 60%-69% Sufficient

D 50%-59% Insufficient mastery

E <50% Poor mastery

II.Indonesian Grammar Theory

There are also several Indonesian theories elaborated in this chapter. Those theories were selected based on their similarities to English grammar theories discussed previously. The discussed Indonesian grammar theories are: (1) theories of singular plural, (2) theories of articles, (3)theories of pronominal penunjuk

a. Singular and Plural Noun Concepts

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Although the functions of the concepts of singular-plural noun in English and Indonesian language are similar, these concepts of the word indicating the nouns are different in terms of consistency.

1) Singular Concept

Indonesian language normally use se- or suatu to indicate a singular noun. The example of a sentence containing singular nouns is that

(30)Seorang murid sedang membaca sebuah buku.

The sentence illustrates that there is one student who is reading a book. Se- in seorang murid refers to one student. However, the used of se- or suatu is not an obligation in Indonesian language rules. In other words, se- and suatu can be omitted. For example, in the sentence

(31)Seorang murid sedang membaca sebuah buku. (32)Seorang murid sedang membaca buku.

In example (31) , eventhough the word sebuah is omitted, its meaning is the same with that of example (32). Despite it no longer uses sebuah, it is understood that it is impossible for the students to read more than one book, even without witnessing the condition.

2) A Plural Concept

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Murid-murid in the sentence above means the readers are more than one student.

Besides those three indicators of plural noun (a repeated word, kaum, para), a word can also mean plural, for example,

(34)Anjing suka tulang.

The example was taken from Moeliono and Dardjowidjojo’s book. The word anjing in the sentence is more than one dog since it represents all dogs in the words. Nonetheless, it is unacceptable among Indonesian people to say anjing-anjing suka tulang-tulang. (Moeliono and Dardjowidjojo, 1988) The examples in

the previous discussion show that Indonesian language does not have a strict rule of singular and plural noun. Whether a noun is singular or plural depends on the meaning of a sentence.

b. Definition of articles

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1) Types of articles

Articles in Indonesian language are divided into three groups, for singular, plural, and generic sense. Articles sang, sri, hang, and dang are for singular sense. The only article for plural sense is para, and for neutral sense, Indonesian language has article si.

2) The Use of Articles

Like English articles, Indonesian articles explain the reference of nouns, yet it is different than the use of English articles. Table 2.10 explains the use of

[image:46.612.125.520.219.592.2]

Indonesian articles.

Table 2.10: The Use of Indonesian Articles

No Meaning Articles Used for Examples

1. Singular

Sang

respectable human or thing

(35) Sang juara merobohkan lawannya.

(36) Sang Merah Putih berkibar di seluruh penjuru tanah air.

Sri

respectable person in a kingdom or religion

(37) Kedatangan Sri Baginda disambut dengan meriah.

(38) Baru-baru ini Sri Paus berkunjung ke Asia.

Hang respectable

man (39) Segera Hang Tuah pergi merantau.

Dang respectable

woman

(40) Dang Merdu adalah tokoh terkenal dalam hikayat sastra Melayu.

2. Plural Para group of

people

(41) Para guru datang ke depdiknas untuk membuat soal ujian akhir.

3. Neutral Si any people

(42) Sedih aku melihat si miskin mengambil makanan dari tumpukan sampah.

(43) Di mana-mana selalu si miskin yang menderita

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people, and the neutral meaning may refer to singular of generic meaning for people. Si in example(42) referred to one people, yet si in example (43) refers to all poor people in the world. In other words, si in example (42) has singular meaning, yet in example (43) has generic meaning.

c. Pronomina Penunjuk

[image:47.612.128.509.228.597.2]

Besides articles, Indonesian language also has pronomina penunjuk which has almost the same function as articles in English grammar. Pronomina penunjuk basically refers to something which both the speaker and the listener know, yet pronominal penunjuk depends on the distance between the speaker and the thing refered, not the countability. Pronomina penunjuk in Indonesian language are ini, itu, and anu. In English grammar, pronomina penunjuk is called demonstratives pronoun. Moeliono and Dardjowidjojo (1988) explained each word of pronomina penunjuk.

Table 2.11: Pronomina Penunjuk

No Pronomina

Penunjuk Functions Examples

1. Ini To point something which is

close to the spaker of writer

(44) Pohon ini ditanam olehku.

2. Itu To point something which is

far from the speaker

(45) Pohon itu ditanam olehku.

3. Anu

To refer to something that the speaker forgets or do not want to mention it

(46) Anu menyebabkan penyakit kulit.

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from the speaker, yet in example (45), the tree is far from the speaker. Meanwhile, example (46) shows that the speaker forgets what is used to cure skin disease.

B.Theoretical Framework

Articles, the main subject of this study, are classified as determiners of nouns. In order to find out students’ mastery of articles, first the researcher needs to classify different types and the rules of using articles. Basically, there are three articles in English grammar: a, an, and, the, yet this research utilizes one more article,Ø. Ø symbolizes zero article or the condition when a noun does not need any article. The symbol is suggested by Azhar (1997) to help the students visualize the condition of no article, especially for the beginners. Articles are used together with several categories of nouns divided based on (a) its countability, including: singular count nouns, plural count nouns, and noncount nouns, and (b) its reference, including: definite nouns, indefinite nouns, and generic nouns. Understanding the types and the use of articles is necessary, especially when formulating the test criteria for measuring students’ mastery of articles.

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Based on the test result later, the researcher will find out the concepts which have and have not been mastered by utilizing error analysis, suggested by Ellis. There are five steps of error analysis starting: 1) learners language samples collection, 2) error identification, 3) error description, 4) error explanation, and 5) error evaluation. However, this research only utilizes sample collection to error explanation with several changes to adjust the steps to the formulated test.

In this research, the learner language samples are obtained from the test, rather than their composition or speech like what Ellis recommends. Next, the researcher identifies the errors by comparing the answer key to the students’ answers as the test is already set with only one answer for each test item. Employing the reconstruction from what native speakers produced and comparing it with the learners’ language, like in the theory, will not be suitable for the test. The third step is an error description. In this step, the researcher only utilizes the surface structure taxonomy to classify the errors. The error classifications based on this taxonomy are omission, addition, misinformation, and misordering.

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indicating singular nouns (sebuah,seekor,etc) may be translated into a or an. To find the intralingual ones, the researcher compares each concept of articles. The last step is error evaluation which is excluded from the research since this research is not applied to the students again.

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CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the methodology in conducting this research. It consists of six parts: (a) research method (b) research participant (c) research instrument (d) data gathering technique (e) data analysis technique and (f) research procedure.

A. Research Method

Viewed from the nature, this research applied mixed-method research. Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (2004) as revealed in Gall (2007: 33) define mixed method as “the class of the research where the researcher mixes or combines quantitative and qualitative research techniques, methods, approaches, concepts or language into a single study”. In essence, this research combines qualitative and quantitative research method. This subchapter briefly explains the characteristics of those two research methods and how this research copes with those characteristics.

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research was said to apply mixed method. The detailed explanation of the method characteristics in this research is provided in the next paragraph.

There were several characteristics of quantitative study in this research: (1) it studied the characteristics of a population, or to be precise, the characteristics of a sample representing the population, and (2) the analysis was in the form of variables. The first one, this research studied a sample that represents the population. The population was the sixth semester students, yet the sample was the students of two classes in English Education Study Program. There were only 53 out of 167 students of the year 2007 who participated in this research by doing the test. The second one, the analysis was on the forms of variables. The data was obtained from a test. The researcher would analyze the test by counting the percentage of the students’ answers.

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experience of the researcher. Therefore, this research investigated the article mastery of the sixth semester students.

To sum up, this research applied mixed-method which meant this research had the nature of quantitative and qualitative characteristics in analyzing the data. Basically, to answer the first and the second research problems, the researcher would apply a qualitative method since the data would be analyzed after they were converted into percentage. It meant that these questions dealt with numbers. On the other hand, to answer the third question, the researcher analyzed Indonesian and English theories and the analysis did not deal with number, which made the data included as qualitative data.

B.Research Participants

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Second, they were going to have teaching practices in high schools. The students had to teach in high schools at the end of the sixth semester or during the seventh semester. They would become a language model for the students. Subsequently, they had to perform both good written and spoken language. The research investigated whether they could demonstrate a good written language in using article.

The researcher applied a sampling technique. According to Ary (2002), a cluster sampling was employed when the researcher chose to investigate a group which is naturally together to participate in the research. In this research, two classes in English Education Study Program were chosen to be the samples. Those two classes were considered as a group which is naturally together since they started their study in the study program in the same year. They also shared the same curriculum which means they learnt the same materials.

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Class A and D were selected since there was a tendency that class A has higher Grade Point Average (GPA) than other classes, and class D had the lowest GPA. The consideration of choosing those two classes as the participants was that the combination of the result could represent the results of class B and C which had moderate average of GPA.

C. Research Instrument

To get the preferable data about mastery, errors, and possible causes of errors, there were two instruments employed in conducting the research: human instrument and a test.

1. Human Instrument

According to Lincoln and Guba (1985) as revealed in Ary (2002: 424), human as instrument is a concept that human’s mind is believed as an effective and valid instrument to analyze data. The researcher herself was the instrument to collect and analyze the data to solve the research problems.

2. Test

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The test was in the form of written test embodied thirteen functions of articles based on the types of nouns. Those thirteen functions were arranged in two parts in the test, 18 numbers of fill-in-the-gap items and 20 numbers of translation items. In the fill-in-the-gap part, the students had to write a, an, the, or Ø on the blank spaces, for example

(47)Mary is wearing______unique skirt. Mary is wearing_a__unique skirt.

The second part is 20 translation items with 28 blanks which required the students to translate Indonesian nouns and add articles before the nouns. The English translation was already provided, but the noun and article were not translated yet. The example of the test items in part two:

(48) Ia adalah wanita tak berguna. She is ________________________.

She is a useless woman.

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Due to the important role of the test in this research, this test was designed based on the requirements of test. Validity and reliability were the requirements that a test should meet.

a. Validity

Gronlund (1998) as revealed in Brown (2004) states “ validity is the extent to which inferences made from assessment results were appropriate, meaningful, and useful in terms of the purpose of the assessment”. A valid test was a test which could measure what should be measured. The test in this research was conducted to measure the mastery of sixth semester students English Education Study Program students in the use of articles. The measured detailed concepts will be explained further in the part discussing content validity.

There were several types of validity based on the source of evidence: content validity, construct validity, and face validity. The descriptions of each type were elaborated below.

1) Content Validity

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[image:58.612.122.505.299.708.2]

questions, it was important to underline this research objective which was to investigate the students’ mastery on the use of articles depending on the kinds of nouns following them. This test already answered the first question since it was to make the students perform their mastery of articles by adding articles based on the nouns which are explicitly and implicitly provided with the context. It was to test how far the students understood the use of articles. Meanwhile, the test was also designed based on the second question which was about whether the test objectives are represented in the form of test specifications. Basically, the test provided various kinds of nouns to evaluate the students’ mastery on the use of articles. Those kinds of nouns were divided based on the reference and the countability of the nouns. Table 3.1 and 3.2 provides the specification of each item in the test. Below was table 3.1 which presents the description of each item in the fill-in-the-gaps section in the test.

Table 3.1: Specification of Fill-in-the-gap Section

Number

of item

Kinds of

articles Kinds of Noun

1 a Singular indefinite nouns of which first letter is spelled as a vowel or a diphthong, yet sounds as a consonant

2

an Singular indefinite nouns of which first letter is spelled as a consonant, yet sounds as a vowel or a diphthong

the Plural definite noun

3 an

Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a vowel or a diphthong

Ø Noncount generic nouns

4

an Singular indefinite nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a vowel or a diphthong

a Singular indefinite nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a consonant

5 the Noncount definite nouns

6

a Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled as a vowel or a diphthong, yet sounds as a consonant

Ø Plural generic nouns 7 the Singular definite nouns

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Number of item

Kinds of

articles Kinds of Noun

9 a Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled and soundsas a consonant

11

the Plural definite nouns

an Singular indefinite nouns of which first letter is spelled as a consonant, yet sounds as a vowel

12 an

Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a vowel or a diphthong

13

15

a Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled as a vowel or a diphthong, yet sounds as a consonant

17 an Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled as a consonant, yet soundes as a vowel or a diphthong

18 a Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a consonant

The fill-in-the-gap section consisted of eighteen numbers with thirteen functions of articles. This section was divided into two groups. The first group was number one to nine. Each number in this group tested different functions of articles. On the other hand, the second group, number ten to number eighteen, tested the same points as the points which were tested in number one to nine, but with different sentences. The example was number one and ten were to test the students’ mastery on using appropriate article for singular indefinite nouns of which first letter is spelled as a vowel, yet sounds as a consonant.

[image:59.612.122.507.98.523.2]

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[image:60.612.129.503.125.600.2]

Table 3.2: Specification of Translation Section

Number

of Item Articles Kinds of Noun

2

the Plural definite nouns

3

an Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a vowel or a diphthong

Ø Noncount generic nouns 4

5 a Generic singular with seekor

6 the Noncount definite nouns 7

a Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled as a vowel a diphthong, yet sounds as a consonant

9 an Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled as a consonant, yet sounds as a vowel or a diphthong

10 a Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a consonant

11 a Singular indefinite nouns of which first letter is spelled as a vowel , or a diphthong yet sounds as a consonant

12 the Singular definite nouns

13 an Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a vowel or a diphthong

14 a Singular indefinite nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a consonant

an Singular indefinite nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a vowel or diphthong

15 a Singular generic nouns with seekor

17 a Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled as a vowel or a diphthong, yet sounds as a consonant

19 An Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled as a consonant, yet sounds as a vowel or a diphthong

20 A Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a consonant

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twenty. In this part, there were two test items which were added to know whether the word seekor or other words beginning with se- influence the students’ answers.

[image:61.612.123.501.284.699.2]

Table 3.1 and 3.2 are summarized in table 3.3. Table 3.3 provides the distribution of each function in the test. In the table, there is test item number column. The number would be in the form of number followed by alphabet (1a, 2b). It means, a was the item from fill-in-the-gap part, and b was the item from translation part.

Table 3.3: The Distribution of the Test

No

Kinds of Articles

Kinds of Noun

Test Item Number Total Number of Test Items 1 A

Singular indefinite nouns of which first letter is spelled as a vowel or a diphthong, yet sounds as a consonant

1a,10a,

1b,11b 4

2

An Plural definite nouns 2a,11a,

2b,12b 4 3

A

Singular indefinite nouns of which first letter is spelled as a consonant, yet sounds as a vowel or a diphthong

4a,13a,

4b, 14b 4

4

An Singular generic nouns of which first letter is

spelled and sounds as a vowel or diphthong

4a,13a,

4b, 14b 4 5

The Singular definite nouns 7a, 16a, 8b, 18b 4 6

The Plural definite nouns 2a,11a,

2b,12b 4 7

The Noncount definite nouns 5a, 14a, 6b, 16 b

4

8

An

Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled and sounds as a vowel or a

diphthong

3a,12a,

3b, 13b 4

9

A

Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled as a vowel or a diphthong, yet sounds as a consonant

6a, 15a,

7b,17b. 4

10

An

Singular generic nouns of which first letter is spelled as a consonant, yet sounds as a vowel or a diphthong

8a, 17a,

9b,19b 4

11

A Singular generic nouns of which first letter is

spelled and sounds as a consonant

9a,18a,

10b, 20b 4 12

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No

Kinds of Articles

Kinds of Noun

Test Item Number

Total Number

of Test Items

13

Ø Noncount generic nouns 3a,12a, 3b, 13b 4

[image:62.612.122.503.108.187.2]

14 A Singular generic nouns with seekor 5b,15b 2

Table 3.3 shows that all usages of articles were covered in the test. This test had content validity since every item in this test is to measure the article mastery.

2) Construct Validity

Brown proposes a question to evaluate whether a test has construct validity, “Does this test actually tap into the theoretical construct as it has been defined?” In other words, a test is said to have construct validity if the objective of the test is covered in the construction of the test. For example, a writing test requires the students to write an essay instead of to choose the correct answer. The scoring sheet will include whether the essay was coherent, cohesive, accurate, etc.

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The test designed in this research adapted the form of cloze test. In reading, a cloze test involves deleting a number of words in a passage, leaving blanks, and requiring the person taking the test to attempt to replace the original words.” (Hughes, 1941:63). A cloze test is also claimed as a good way to measure overall proficiency, since completing a cloze test requires a number of language competences such as knowledge of vocabulary, grammatical structure, discourse structure, reading skills and strategies, and internalized grammar (Oller, 1979).Meanwhile, in this test, every number consisted of a sentence with one or more articles and the deleted items were articles. To fill in the gaps correctly, the students should understand the vocabulary, the context of the sentence, and the rules of articles themselves. The first part required the students to understand the context of the sentence to find out the kinds of nouns, and the rules of articles. Fill in the gap form is considered to be more appropriate form for the test since this type of test is assumed to give the students more time to think about the vocabulary and the context more than other types of test. The students may only focus on the articles when they have to thick the correct sentence and it may cause more confusion in the students’ mind.

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states “the message of the translation may serve as adequate interpretations of code units or message, therefore there was no full equivalence through translation”. The test items tried to provide the message of the sentence by providing the translation, yet to find out whether the students could make the equivalent one in terms of article, they were asked to translate the noun and add the appropriate article for the noun.

To score this test, exact word method was employed. It was the method used to score a cloze test. Brown wrote that “this method gives credit to the test takers only if they insert the exact word that was originally deleted”. In short, the students get one score for one gap only if they fill it with the exact word. This method was applied in fill-in-the-gap and translation parts in order to match the answers with the test specification. In the translation part, the researcher tried to use simple nouns to limit the students’answers.

3) Face Validity

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b. Test Reliability

After the validity was fulfilled in the test, then it was important to find out if the test was reliable. According to Brown (2005) test reliability is the extent to which the result of a test is consistent when it is tested for the second time. Brown also added that the degree of reliability can be estimated by calculating a reliability coefficient (rxx’). A reliable test is a test of which reliable coefficient reaches + 1.00. On the other hand, a test is not a reliable test when the coefficient was almost 0.00.

To design a reliable test, the researcher employed split half method in this test. Trochim (2000) stated “split half test means a test that divides all items to measure the same item in two sets.” According to Brown, to estimate the reliability degree of split half test there is a Spearman-Brown formula. The formula was

(n )r

r

xx’=

(n-1)r+1

rxx’ = test reliability

r = correlation between the two test halves

n =number of times the test length is to be increased

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[image:66.612.128.513.165.561.2]

Best in his book Research in Education(1983, 255) interpreted the coefficient into several criteria.

Table 3.4 : Best’s Coefficient Classification

Coefficient (r) Relationship

.00 - .20 negligible

.20- .40 low

.40- .60 moderate

.60- .80 substantial .80-.1.00 High to very high

Table 3.4 presented the interpretation of reliability coefficient for a test which was based on Best’s book. The range of each criterion is 0.20. If the coefficient is only .00-.20, the test is not reliable or has a minimum reliability. In other words, the test should be revised. Next, if the coefficient is between the ranges .20-.40, the reliability was still low which means that the test needs to be revised. Meanwhile, if a test reliability coefficient achieves .40-.60, it means the reliability is moderate. In other words, the test is acceptable, yet it still needs a revision. A good test may have a reliability coefficient between the ranges .60-.80. The test with that coefficient was already reliable, yet the test with .80-.1.00 as the reliability coefficient was better. The last two criteria do not need any significant revision.

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Briefly, the test already met the requirements of an effective test. It was already valid from the content and the look, and it was also reliable. The test was ready to be administered to the students.

C.Data Gathering Technique

After designing the test, and assuring that it already met the requirements, the researcher administered the test to 2007 students. It was administered in two classes of sixth semester students in the academic year 2010. It was conducted on 8 and 12 April 2010.

After conducting the test, the researcher classified the sixth semester students’ work and other semester stu

The Mastery on the use of English articles among the sixth semester students of English language education study program.