Hajjah Zulianti
STKIP PGRI Bandar Lampung
ABSTRACT
This research is aimed to know the type of students’ errors which is caused by their mother tongue, to know the highest frequency of errors and to know the possible causes of learners’ errors. In conducting the research, the researcher uses descriptive qualitative method. The researcher takes the data from fifth semester students’ composition. The researcher asks the students to make a composition about literary works at least 300-350 words. In analyzing the data, the researcher does some procedure namely reading the EFL learners’ writings, taking notes on the errors in learners’ writings, classifying and tabulating the learners’ errors based on the types of errors, finding the highest frequency of learners’ errors, finding the possible sources of errors and drawing conclusions. Based on the analysis, the researcher found three types of learners’ errors, namely grammatical errors, lexical errors, and word order errors. Grammatical errors include simple predicate missing: be, failure to attach –s, article missing, do auxiliary: underuse in negative sentence, singular and plural markers, misusing pronouns, possessive case incorrect: omission of ‘s, inappropriate preposition . Lexical errors include formal errors and semantic errors, and word order errors include misordering noun and adjective. The highest frequency of errors lies on the use of pronouns in writings. The errors may come from two possible causes; they are limited L2 environment and limited L2 performance.
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In learning English, students learn not only four skills namely speaking, writing, reading, and listening but also the other components such as grammar or structure, pronunciations and vocabulary (Sandra and Reesentaha, 1980: iv). Writing is an act of sharing ideas with the community. To write means to put our favorite or most important thoughts forward, to unveil a line of thinking or written form using certain symbols or graphics system. Harjono (1988: 85) says that writing is the activity of making language eternal means of graphic system. Thus, to be able to make a piece of writing, first of all, the students should master the graphic system of the language. The requirement of good writing needs not only good grammar and improves the style of writing, but also good organization in which the students will also learn to organize their thought in writing.
Since writing is important for the future, it is taught from the elementary schools. Most of the learners, especially English Foreign language learners, think that to write in English is not easy because they should learn many things related to the sentence element and structure that is very complex. The learners of second language or foreign language can not avoid making errors because they have two or more different grammar systems. Corder in Richard (1967: 19) says that errors are the result of interference in learning a second language from the habits of the first language. Because of the difference in system especially grammar, the students will transfer their first language into the second language by using their mother tongue system. Errors are the result of the negative transfer of first language. Based on the researcher’s observation, she noted that in doing a writing activity or in making English composition, EFL learners sometime transfer their’ mother tongue rule into English. They tend to use Indonesian grammar rule in making English sentences. In this study the researcher is interested in observing the effect of learners’ mother tongue on their writings in English. The researcher uses error analysis by examining students’ composition to categorize the kinds of errors as a negative transfer of learners’ mother tongue. Besides, the researcher also would like to know the most frequent of errors and the possible causes of EFL learners’ errors on their writing in English. By understanding linguistic differences between
students' L1 and English may
help the learners to reduce interferencefrom their first language. Besides, it can help the lecturer to focus on
learners’ errors when they are doing a writing activity.
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In this era language learning is very famous course not only in the school but also in other educational institution. Language learning is not the simple thing. Generally as human life people get the first language when they are born in the world. The first language acquisition is influenced by people behavior. Based on Skinner (in Littlewood, 1998:5) “language is not mental phenomenon: it is behavior. In the daily life the first language acquisition is started when the people still child”. This phenomenon had been stated by Crystal (2010:13) “baby also wants to listen. They want to learn language… We shouldn’t be surprised that babies learned language-and learn them so quickly it’s what they designed to do”.
The first language acquisition that is got by the children will influence their second language learning. Second language learning is usually given to the children before they are being teens. For instance, in Indonesia second language is learned by the students since they are in the elementary school, this second language learning process is started when the learners are child. This phenomenon has been explain by Cameron (2001:13) he states “The Critical Period Hypothesis is the name given to the idea that young children can learn second language particularly effectively before puberty because their brain are still able to use the mechanism that assisted their first language acquisition”.
Besides, language learning is divided into three categories. They are first language learning, second language and foreign language learning. In every learning process they are different each other. The differentiation among first, second and foreign language will influence toward material that will be learned by the teacher. The teachers should understand, the purpose of every language learning to give the appropriate material for the students.
Errors in Language Learning
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inaccurate utterances. Errors are in a sense, a type of knowledge the learner has about the target language.
Errors
There have been several definitions related to errors. Dulay, Burtand Krashen (1982: 130) define errors as “the flawed side of learner speech or writing”,which “deviates from some selected norms of mature language performance”. They further discuss that errors may be distinguished based on the causes: errors caused by factors such as fatigue and inattention are “performance errors”, and those caused by lack of knowledge of the rules of the language are called “competence errors” Brown (2000: 257) also makes a distinction between mistakes and errors based on the sources. A mistake indicates “a failure to utilize a known system correctly” whereas an error “reflects the competence of the learner”
Kinds of Errors
Many linguists classify errors into some typologies. According to Dulay (1982: 146), there are many classifications of errors namely linguistic category, surface strategy, comparative analysis, and communicative effect. Each classification can be seen in the explanation below:
a. Linguistic Category Taxonomy
The linguistic category taxonomies classify errors according to both the language components or the particular linguistic constituents the error effects. Linguistic components include phonology (pronunciation), syntax and morphology (grammar), semantics and lexicon (meaning and vocabulary), and discourse (style), while linguistic constituents include the elements that comprise each language component.
b. Surface Category Taxonomy
A surface strategy taxonomy highlights the ways surface structures are altered. It holds much promise to concern with identifying cognitive process and makes us aware of the learners’ errors based on some logic. It can be divided into four categories namely omission, addition, misordering and misformation.
c. Comparative Taxonomy
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learners’ mother tongue. It can be divided into developmental errors, interlingual errors, ambiguous errors and unique errors.
d. Communicative effect taxonomy
The communicative effect classification deals with errors from the perspective of their effect on the listener or the reader. It focuses on distinguishing between errors that seem to cause miscommunication and those that do not.
Dulay et. al (1982: 191-192) state that there are two types of communicative effect taxonomy, they are:
1) Global errors are the errors that affect overall sentence organization that significantly hinders communication. The most systematic global errors include:
(a) Wrong order or major constituent. For example: English language use many people.
(b) Missing, wrong, or misplaced sentence connectors. For instance: not take this bus, we late for school.
(c) Missing to signal obligatory exception to pervasive syntactic rules. For example: the student’s proposal looked into the principal.
(d) Regularization of pervasive syntactic rules to exception. For example: we amused that movie very much.
2) Local errors are the errors that affect single elements in a sentence that do not usually hinder communication significantly. These include errors in noun, verb inflections, articles, auxiliaries, and the formation of the quantifiers. The global or local distinction can be extended to the classification of errors in terms of those that sound more “un –English” to a listener or reader than others. For example of local errors: why like we each other?
Possible Causes of Errors in Writing English Sentences
Brown (1980: 172-174) divides the causes of errors into two, namely interlingual transfer and intralingual transfer.
1. Interlingual Transfer
The beginning stages of learning a second language are characterized by a great deal of interlingual transfer (from the native language). In these early stages, before the system of the second language is familiar, the native language is the only linguistic system in previous experience upon which the learner can draw.
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The negative transfer of items within the target language (incorrect generalization of rules within the target language) is a major factor in second language learning. Once the learner has begun to acquire parts of the new system, more and more intralingual transfer is manifested.
METHOD
A research design consists of a research plan and procedures to analyze the topic and get the answer to the problems. This research is descriptive research. There are two descriptive methods; they are qualitative and quantitative method. Qualitative method is an approach in which the data are described in the form of number. In this research the researcher uses descriptive qualitative method. The reason for choosing this method is that the data observed are in the forms of words. The research neither involve any statistical procedure, nor calculation.
Data source can be library source, people and events or things of interest that the researcher wishes. On the other hand, data source is where the researcher is able to get the data that will be researched. In this study the data will be taken from fifth semester EFL learners of STKIP PGRI Bandar Lampung.
The object of this research is students’ composition about literary works which consist of 300 words in each composition. The researcher tries to analyze the learners’ composition to find some errors caused by their first language or mother tongue.
The technique of collecting data in this research is testing. The researcher ask the EFL learners to make a composition about literary works which become a subject that is being learned in the fifth semester. The composition should be at least 300-350 words.
In this research, the writer uses description method to analyze the data. In doing analysis the researcher goes through the procedures as follows: 1. Reading the EFL learners’ writings.
2. Taking notes on the errors in learners’ writings.
3. Classifying and tabulating the learners’ errors based on the types of errors.
4. Finding the highest frequency of learners’ errors. 5. Finding the possible sources of errors
6. Drawing conclusions.
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The researcher presented the result of the study into three categories; the types of errors due to the influence of students’ first language, the error frequency and the possible sources of learners’ errors.
1. Type of Errors
Based on the analysis, the researcher found the types of students’ errors which are influenced by their first language or mother tongue. Those errors include grammatical errors, semantic errors, and word order errors. In describing the data, the writer uses the symbol If for incorrect form and Cf for correct form of the data. Here are the kinds of errors face by EFL learners on their writing in English:
1.1 Grammatical Errors
After tabulating EFL learners’ errors, the researcher found eight kinds of grammatical errors caused by learners’ mother tongue. Those are simple predicate missing: be, failure to attach –s, article missing, do auxiliary: underuse in negative sentence, singular and plural markers, misusing pronouns, possessive case incorrect: omission of ‘s, inappropriate preposition.
1.1.1 Simple predicate missing : be
In English, be form such as am, is are, was, were should be used in a sentence which does not have a main verb. In this case, EFL students often transfer their first language system in their English writings. Here are some of the data:
(1) If : *Stage direction and costume important in the drama……. Cf : Stage direction and costume are importantin the drama …….
(2) If : *Costume very importantin the drama performance because……..
Cf : Costume is very importantin the drama performance because……..
(3) If : *She very arrogant and want to make others hate each other. Cf : She is very arrogant and wants to make others hate each other.
From the data above, it can be seen that students did not attach to be in their sentences. The students write their sentences by using Indonesian rule. Indonesian sentence does not need to attach such a to be as in English. For example dia sangat sombong (She is very arrogant). The presence of to be “is” in this sentence is needed to make the sentence grammatically correct. Different rule between English and Indonesia in constructing sentences causes the students transfer their first language rule in their English writings. They just do it as they do in writing Indonesian sentences.
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In English, attaching –s in the verb for the third person singular subject is the rule of English to make sentence in simple present tense. For example she always makes her mother happy. While in Indonesian the verb form for all subjects in every sentence remains the same. For example Dia membeli (She buys), Mereka membeli (They buy), Dia membaca (She reads), Saya membaca (I read), etc. Here some of the data show the students’ negative transfer in their English writings:
(4) If : *It start from dance party, when Charles Bingley will marry Jane. Cf : It starts from the dance party, when Charles Bingley will marry Jane.
(5) If : He wants to marry her daughter. Cf : He wants to marry her daughter.
(6) If : He tell to Elizabeth, that Mr. Darcy not like him. Cf : He tells to Elizabeth that Mr. Darcy does not like him.
Based on the data above, it can be seen that students are failing to attach –s in the verb for third person singular. In English, the verb for 3rd person should be added by –s or –es. Meanwhile in Indonesian the verb form remains the same for all subjects. For example, Dia ingin menikahi adiknya (He wants to marry her daughter). The verb ingin (want) does not have different form for all subjects in an Indonesian sentence. In this case, the students apply Indonesian rules in their English writings which cause some errors.
1.1.3 Article missing
Article is a word which comes before a noun. There are two kinds of article in English namely definite (the) and indefinite article (a and an). The article the is used before singular and plural nouns that refer to a particular member of a group, for example The cat is on the red mat, while the articles a and an are used before singular nouns that refer to any member of a group, for example A cat is mammal, An ant is insect. Here are the data which show the missing of article due to the students’ interference of their mother tongue rule:
(7) If : She is rich girl and sister of Bingley. Cf : She is a rich girl and the sister of Bingley. (8) If : Costume can show different character in play.
Cf : A costume can show a different character in a play.
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requirement. For example, Dia gadis yang kaya (She is a rich girl). Indonesian people sometimes ignore the presence of an article in the sentence, so the word a in English is deleted. The sentence becomes she is rich girl. The presence of an article in English is needed to determine which object is being discussed. In this case, the EFL learners’ errors in their writings are influenced by their mother tongue rule.
1.1.4 Do auxiliary : underuse in negative sentence
Do auxiliary is used to express the negative and used to ask question. In English, do auxiliary is also called helping verb. It is used to help the main verb in a sentence. Based on the analysis, the researcher found that students are underused do auxiliary in negative sentence. They only tend to use the word “not” without attaching do auxiliary before it. Here are the data:
(9) If : He tell Elizabeth, that Mr. Darcy not like him. Cf : He tells Elizabeth, that Mr. Darcy does not like him. (10)If : Poetry not require the students to have a play performance.
Cf : Poetry does not require the students to have a play performance. (11)If : Jane and her family not knowabout Darcy’s family.
Cf : Jane and her family do not knowabout Darcy’s family.
One of differences between English and Indonesian rule is attaching do auxiliary in negative and interrogative sentence as a helping verb. In this research, the researcher found that some students omit do auxiliary when they are writing English sentences. In this case, the students transfer Indonesian rules in their writings. Indonesian rule does not have any auxiliary system as in English. For example Tuan Darcy tidak menyukainya (Mr. Darcy does not like him). From this explanation, it is known that the Indonesian interference always becomes the source of errors in producing English sentences.
1.1.5 Singular and plural markers
In English, to make a plural noun, a noun should be added by –s or –es. For example books, pens, buffaloes, potatoes, etc. Meanwhile in Indonesian, it is done by repeating the singular noun. For example buku – buku (books), meja – meja (tables), kursi – kursi (chairs), etc or by using the word beberapa to show the plural noun, such as beberapa buku (some books) without changing the form of noun. This different rule between English and Indonesian cause the students face some error. Here are the data:
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Cf : Prose is one of literary works defined as creative writing which uses ordinary language.
Failing to insert –s or –es in plural marker is often done by EFL learners in their English writings. They tend to use Indonesian rule in constructing English sentences without pay attention on the English rule. To make the sentences are grammatically correct, the students should insert –s or –es in a noun.
1.1.6 Misusing pronouns
Pronouns is a word that can function by itself as a noun phrase and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g., I, you ) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g., she, it, this ). For EFL learners, pronouns can be difficult because they are expressed differently in their native language. For example, the word “it” sometimes is deleted in Indonesian sentence. Here are the examples of the data relate to the students’ misuse of pronoun in their writings.
(14)If : The last is sound effect, is importantbecause…………..
Cf : The last is sound effect, it is importantbecause…………..
(15)If : The drama uses progressive plot because describe the future incident.
Cf : The drama uses progressive plot because it describes the future events.
Looking at the examples above, the students tend to construct English sentences by following Indonesian rule. They omit the pronoun “it” which according to them its existence was not necessary, whereas in English the presence of pronoun is needed to the subject or object are being discussed in a sentence.
1.1.7 Possessive case incorrect :omission of ‘s
Possessive case incorrect is characterized by the absence of apostrophe ‘s in a sentence. In English, to make a possessive noun, a possessive noun should be added by apostrophe ‘s. For example His father’s pen, My friend’s books, Ratna’s pencil etc. Here are the data of EFL learners who omit ‘s as possessive ;
(16)If : The sickly girl is Mrs. Lady Catharine Daughter. Cf : The sickly girl is Mrs. Lady Catharine’s Daughter. (17)If : Georgiana Darcy is Mr. Darcy sister.
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The probable reason of those errors is students’ first language or mother tongue. In Indonesian, to show a possessive sentence, it does not need such ‘s in a possessive noun. EFL learners did a negative transfer, by using Indonesian rule in their English writings.
1.1.8 Inappropriate preposition
Using the appropriate preposition is one of the most difficult tasks
of EFL learners that’s because in English there are various prepositions
which have the same function. Most of the learners only translate the
idea on their mind by using Indonesian rule. Here are the data:
(18)If : The characterization of Elizabeth is different with her sister. Cf : The characterization of Elizabeth differs from her sister. (19)If : Elizabeth need to talk with Mr. Darcy.
Cf : Elizabeth needs to talk to Mr. Darcy.
Looking at the data
above, the EFL learners here tend to use
Indonesian structure in transferring their idea in English. In Indonesian, to express something differs from other, the speaker or the writer can express it by using the word “with” (e.g. berbeda dengan, berbicara dengan). In this case, the learners transfer their ideas freely without pay attention on the use of appropriate preposition in English.1.2 Lexical Errors
Hemchua and Schmitt (2006:8) categorize two types of lexical
errors namely formal errors and semantic errors. The researcher found
the lexical errors both formal and semantic in learners’ English
writings. On the level
of this category, the lexical errors counted were either a word or two words (e.g. collocation) or whole phrases or sentences. Here are some examples of errors due to L1 transfer:(20)If : The drama uses progressive plot because describe the future incident.
Cf : The drama uses progressive plot because it describes the future events.
(21)If : Drama is kind of literary work in which the character will presentation the dialog on the stage.
Cf : Drama is kind of literary work in which the character will present The dialog on the stage.
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actually has been made by the playwright. An incident is usually unplanned. It is something that happens unexpectedly, and often there is a negative connotation. Meanwhile, the story of the drama has been created and it becomes an event that is conveyed by the playwright. English has many words to convey something that should be appropriated with the meaning of the sentence. The second datum (21) shows the learners’ difficulty to use incorrect form of the verb “present”. The learners tried to follow Indonesian form in transferring their ideas. The word “presentation” is used instead of “present” as the verb of the sentence.
1.3 Word Order Errors
Word order errors refer to the incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morphemes in an utterance (Dulay, 1982: 154). In this research, the researcher analyze that EFL learner transfer freely their ideas into English by using Indonesian structure. Word order errors in this research include noun and adjective. Here are the examples of the data:
(22)If : The performance drama is influenced by each character in the drama.
Cf : The drama performance is influenced by each character in the drama
(23)If : TheEffect sound is very important for the performance drama. Cf : The sound effect is very important for the drama performance. (24)If : Mrs. Bannet is a woman foolish and noisy
Cf : Mrs. Bannet is a foolish and noisy woman.
The data above show the learners’ error in ordering noun and adjective in the sentence. These errors are due to the transfer of first language or mother tongue rule to the second language learning. In Indonesian, a noun or an adjective which describe a noun should be put after a noun itself, for example “pementasan drama” (drama performance), wanita bodoh (foolish woman). Meanwhile in English, the word which describes a noun must be put before a noun itself as in example above.
2. Error frequency
According to the data analysis, the researcher has done the calculation to know the percentage of EFL learners’ errors which are caused by their first language or mother tongue. The table below will show more detail about the frequency of errors:
Kinds of Errors Frequency of Errors
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simple predicate missing : be 35 18.5%
failure to attach –s 25 13.2%
article missing 10 5.3%
do auxiliary : underuse in negative sentence 30 15.9%
singular and plural markers 20 10.6%
misusing pronouns 38 20.1%
possessive case incorrect :omission of ‘s 9 4.8%
inappropriate preposition 5 2.7%
Lexical Errors
Formal errors 2 1.1%
Semantic errors 5 2.7%
Word Order Error
Noun 4 2.1%
Adjective 6 3.1%
TOTAL 189 100%
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According to the result of learners’ errors analysis and interview to the learners who learn English as a foreign language, the researcher can conclude that there are some sources which caused the students face some errors in their writings. Those sources are mentioned by Dulay et.al in his book Language two. He mentioned the sources of interlingual errors.
3.1 Limited L2 Environment
The environment has a big influence for Indonesian students who learn English as a foreign language. They have accustomed to use Indonesian as their mother tongue since childhood which has differences in spelling, pronouncing, reading, even in writing. That matter makes the students need an extra work to master English. Environment which provides the learners to use English can influence them to have better English. By hearing someone else speak in English or through reading authentic text can increase learners’ ability in using English especially in writing composition.
3.2 Limited L2 Performance
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Most of EFL learners tend to use Indonesian in their activity includes the activity in teaching and learning process. L2 performance will influence learners’ ability in using English in a communication. They often speak in Indonesian when they are conveying their ideas to others. The learners need to have early performing their ideas orally in order to avoid some errors in constructing English sentences. In writing activity, the learners tend to translate their idea into English by ignoring the rule of English. They only find the word in English and writing them in written form as they do in Indonesian.
CONCLUSION
This study is intended to identify, categorize and diagnose the learners’ errors in writing English composition. Based on the analysis, the researcher found three kinds of grammatical errors which is caused by learners’ first language. Those are grammatical errors, lexical errors, and word order errors. Grammatical errors include simple predicate missing : be, failure to attach –s, article missing, do auxiliary : underuse in negative sentence, singular and plural markers, misusing pronouns, possessive case incorrect :omission of ‘s, inappropriate preposition . Lexical errors include formal errors and semantic errors, and word order errors include misordering noun and adjective. The highest frequency of errors lies on the use of pronouns in writings. In this case, EFL learners need to have L2 environment which provide the opportunity to use English in daily activity to increase their ability in English especially writing. Besides, early performance of English is also important to make them reducing errors caused by their first language or mother tongue.
As researcher has explained in the conclusion above, EFL learners should aware of differences among English and Indonesian rule. They need to have a lot of practice to reduce the existence of errors in their writings which is especially caused by their mother tongue. EFL learners also need to have L2 environment which provides the opportunity to speak in English and to hear other speak in English. It can improve their ability in using English both in written and spoken.
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