Error Analysis On The Students Writing Of Descriptive Text ( A Case Study at Second Grade Students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat).

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( A Case Study at Second Grade Students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat)

Proposed By: EKA SASMIASIH

208014000028

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF

TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING

SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

JAKARTA

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v ABSTRACT

Sasmiasih, Eka, 208014000028, ERROR ANALYSIS ON THE STUDENTS WRITING OF DESCRIPTIVE TEXT ( A Case Study at Second Grade Students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat). Skripsi of English Education Department at Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, 2014.

Advisors : 1. Drs. Syauki, M.Pd.

Keywords : Error Analysis, Descriptive Text Writing, Adjective

This research was carried out to find out what types of error made by students of second grade of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat in using adjective in descriptive text writing and what causes of the students error in using adjective in descriptive text writing.

This research is categorized as a case study done to 25 students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat. The method used in this study was Descriptive Qualitative Method. This study was conducted following procedures of the error analysis: data collection, identification, description, explanation and diagnosis, evaluation, and prevention and feedback. The data were gathered through writing test and

interview.

The finding of this study showed the highest frequency of error is mis-formation error (53.33%). The lowest frequency of error is mis-ordering error

(6.67%). On the other hand, the highest cause of error is First Language

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vi ABSTRAK

Sasmiasih, Eka, 208014000028, ERROR ANALYSIS ON THE STUDENTS WRITING OF DESCRIPTIVE TEXT ( A Case Study at Second Grade Students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat). Skripsi Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris di Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, 2014.

Pembimbing : 1. Drs. Syauki, M.Pd.

Kata Kunci : Analisis Kesalahan, Menulis Teks Deskriptif, Adjective

Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui apa jenis kesalahan yang dibuat oleh siswa kelas dua SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat dalam menggunakan kata sifat dalam menulis teks deskriptif dan apa penyebab kesalahan siswa dalam menggunakan

kata sifat dalam menulis teks deskriptif.

Penelitian ini dikategorikan sebagai studi kasus dilakukan untuk 25 siswa dari SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah

Deskriptif Metode Kualitatif. Penelitian ini dilakukan prosedur berikut analisis kesalahan: pengumpulan data, identifikasi, deskripsi, penjelasan dan diagnosis, evaluasi, dan pencegahan dan umpan balik. Data dikumpulkan melalui tes tertulis dan wawancara.

Temuan penelitian ini menunjukkan frekuensi tertinggi dari kesalahan mis-formation (53.33%). Frekuensi terendah dari kesalahan adalah kesalahan mis-ordering (6.67%). Di sisi lain, penyebab tertinggi kesalahan First Language

(52.54%), sedangkan penyebab terendah dari kesalahan adalah Translation

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the

Lord of the world who has blessed the writer in completing this ”skripsi” entitled

“ERROR ANALYSIS ON THE STUDENTS WRITING OF DESCRIPTIVE TEXT ( A Case Study at Second Grade Students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat)”.

Peace and Blessing be upon the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W, his family, his companion, and his followers.

In this opportunity, the writer would like to express her greates gratitude to her beloved families, especially her parents – Casmo and Kursiyah – and her sisters, Dwi Liana Afanti, who have given the greates love, prayer, and moral encouragement. It also will be expressed to the whole of her families for their biggest love and kindness to support her in finishing this “skripsi”. Also, she

would like to address her greatest thanks to her advisors Drs. Syauki, M.Pd. for his time, valuable guidance, helps, corrections, and suggestions during completing

this “skripsi”.

The writer realized that without support, help, and motivation from people

around her, she could not finish this “skripsi”. Therefore, she would like to give

her deepest appeciation for:

1. All lecturers in English Education Department who always give their motivation and valuable knowledge and also unforgettable experience

during her study at Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training of State

Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

2. Drs. Syauki, M.Pd. the chairman of English Education Department and Zaharil Anasy, M.Hum. the secretary of English Education Department. 3. Dra. Nurlena, MA, Ph.D. the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’

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4. Members of Drs. Syauki, M.Pd., advisors who support and help her in finishing this research paper.

5. Ika Hartika, S.Pd., The Headmaster of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat, who has allowed the writer to observers there. Also, Margawati Natalina, S.Pd., the English teacher of the second grade of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat, who has given her time to conduct the writer in doing the research. Also the eighth grade students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat, who helped the writer by doing the

test given. Without their help this “Skripsi” will not be finished.

6. Her beloved family, especially her mother – Ramini – and her deceased father –Sadi-, and her grandfather –H. Muhammad Usman- and her deceased grandmother –Hj.Siti Khodijah-, her auntie –Jamilah and -Jamaroh-, who have given the greates love, prayer, and moral encouragement.

7. All her beloved friend at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, especially Didit Dharmawan , Anna Agus Selviana, Syarifatunnisa, Eni Nuraeni , Ari Puji Lestari , Rifadah , Yana Ida Subekti, Rinda Rizaldi Syarif, Ira Ihsanudin, Immawan Moh. Alamiri and all friends who have always been great friends and always given their support especially classmates in English Education Department Class A for academic 2008.

Hopefully, this “skripsi” can be useful to the readers, particularly to the researcher. Furthermore, the writer realized that this “skripsi” is far from being perfect. It is pleasure for her to recieve constructive critics and suggestions from

anyone who read her “skripsi" for valuable improvement.

Jakarta, 30 September 2014

The writer

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Purposes for Description…...………28

Table 4.1 Identification of the Errors of Student………..38

Table 4.26 Recapitulation of the Students Types of Error ………...57

Table 4.27 Recapitulation of the Students Cause of Errors………...59

Table 4.28 Students who made Types of Errors………...…….61

Table 4.29 Sequence of Types of Errors………...66

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Appendix 3. Interview Guideline for Students……….…….94

Appendix 4. Students’ Interview Result……….…………...94

Appendix 5. Surat Keterangan Izin Peneletian dari Sekolah ………..………....117

Appendix 6. Surat Pengesahan Proposal Skripsi ………118

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. The Background of The Study

In learning English, the learners are expected to be able to master four language skills; they are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. As one of

the language skills, writing has important role for its significance in learner’s

actual life. In real life (as opposed to school) they will be able to send a letter to anywhere, and it makes them easier to express or share their ideas to anyone. Moreover , in their school, writing skill will help them to express their ideas in answering the essay and accomplishing their assignment from their teacher. Therefore, the ability to write in any form will give many advantages

in students’ life as gaining success in their study at school.

From these objectives, it is clear that the students of the second year of SMP are expected to be able to write in any form, especially descriptive paragraph. The problem is that writing is the most difficult skill to be learnt. Writing is complicated because the writer needs to do everything at once. The writer must produces words, sentences, paragraphs, and extended compositions all the same time.

Due to the fact that writing English for Indonesian learner is difficult since English is different from Indonesian structure. Therefore, learning English is different from learning Indonesian language. Thus, the students who learn English may produce many errors in their writing. Some of them are confused in using it in their writing; for example, “Jacket black” it should be “Black

jacket”. This error happens because the students translate Indonesian language to English directly. In other words, the students is influenced by Indonesian

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some example of students’ writing errors in learning a foreign language, English. That is why most of students prefer to learn speaking to writing. The ability to write is more difficult than the ability to speak, to read, or to understand the language.

Some problems that happen in students’ English writing are caused by differences in English and Indonesian structure and also they do not understand how to make a good writing.

Referring to the examples above, the writer thinks that an error analysis

plays an important role to know what kinds of error that the students mostly do in writing paragraphs and the causes of the error they make. So, the teacher knows about their problem in writing paragraph and tries to overcome their problem. Those are the reason why the writer is interested in analyzing

students’ writing error. Therefore, the writer would like to conduct the

research under the title “Error Analysis on the Students Writing of Descriptive Text (A Case Study at Second Year Students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat).

B. Identification of the Problem

Some problems that happen in students’ English writing are caused

by differences in English and Indonesian structure and also they do not understand how to make a good writing. and error made by the students because errors grammatically aspect made by them as follow singular-plural, word form, word choice , verb tense, add a word, omission , meaning not clear and run on sentences , and one of them is the adjective. Which, the students have limited knowledge about adjectives’ rules

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chance to expose their idea in English writing or speaking, they only practice based on their textbook.

In other words, the students have not mastered the knowledge or they do not understand those rules of the language, while the error are caused by factors such as tired, doubt, nervous, or unfocused.

Based on the description above, the writer chooses that topic because she found many students made errors in usage adjective when they described something well in their writing. Most of them do not know

how about the rules usage adjective in writing descriptive text.

C. Limitation of Problem

This research on second year students of SMP PGRI 2 CIPUTAT, the problem will be focused on analyzing the error in using adjective in descriptive text writing, which will be in search of errors and in the analysis of error by the writer is about the type of error that students made and the source of the reason why the students made error in using adjective in descriptive text writing.

D. Formulation of the Problem

Based on the background presented above, the writer will gave test to the students, and took the interview to do an error analysis on the students writing of descriptive text at second year students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat. The formulation of the problem stated as follows:

1. What are types of error are made by the students in using adjective in in descriptive text writing?

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E. Objective of the Study

In line with the statement above, the objectives of study are:

1. To find types of error are made by the students in using adjective in descriptive text writing.

2. To find source of the reason why the students made error in using adjective in descriptive text writing.

F. The Significance of the study

The findings (results) of this study are expected to give useful information on students’ errors which in turn, it can help teachers to correct the students’ errors and also to improve methods or ways of their teaching.

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CHAPTER II

THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter will be focused on the discussion about the concept of error, error analysis, and descriptive text.

A. Error

1. Definition of Error

Various definitions of error have been presented by experts. Basically those definitions contain the same meaning while the difference lies only

on the ways they formulate them. These definitions are adequate to reveal the errors showing up in the written texts. According to Norrish, he said that Error is a systematic deviation, when a learner has not learnt something and consistently get it wrong. He said the child his own language sometimes make the same error. In the same way, when a learner of English make an error systematically. So, he has not learnt the correct form.1

In the other, Dulay said “Errors are the flawed side or learner speech or writing. They are those parts of conversation or composition that deviate from some selected norm of mature language performance. Teacher and mothers who have waged long and patient battles against their students or

children’s language errors have come to realize that making errors is an

inevitable part of learning. People cannot learn language without first systematically committing errors”.2

1

J. Norrish, Language Learning and Their Errors, (London: Macmillan Publisher Ltd, 1987), p. 7

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Another concept of error by Brown, he defined “error as the process to observe, analyze, and classify the deviation of the rules of the second language and then to reveal the systems operated by learner”.3 It seems this concept is the same by Crystal, he defined “error is a technique for identifying, classifying and systematically interpreting the unacceptable forms produced by someone learning a foreign language, using any of the principles and procedures provides by linguistics”.4

On the other hand, Richards states that “error is the study of errors made by the second and foreign language learners. Error may be carried out in order to find out how well someone knows a language, find out how a person learns a language, and obtain information on common difficulties in language learning, as an aid in teaching or in the preparation of teaching materials”.5

The definitions above clarify that error is an activity to identify, classify and interpreted or describe the errors made by someone in writing and it is carried out to obtain information on common difficulties faced by someone in writing English sentence.

2. Types of Errors

Error fall into four categories: “omission of some required element; addition of some unnecessary or incorrect element; selection of an incorrect element, and misordering of the elements. Nevertheless, Corder in Erdogan’s journal adds that this classification is not enough to describe

3

H. D Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, (New jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1994), p. 206

4

D.Crystal, A.Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, second edition, ( New York: Basil Blackwel Inc, 1987), p.43

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errors. That is why he includes the linguistics level of errors under the sub-areas of morphology, syntax, and lexicon”.6

On other hand, in Erdogan’s journal, Ellis maintains that “classifying

errors in these ways can help us to diagnose learners’ learning problems at

any stage of their development and to plot how changes in error patterns occur over time. This categorization can be exemplified as follows: omission, addition, selection, ordering”.7

Omission:

Morphological omission * A strange thing happen to me yesterday

Syntactical omission * Must say also the names?

Addition:

In morphology * The books is here

In syntax * The London

In lexicon * I stayed there during five years ago

Selection:

In morphology * My friend is oldest than me

In syntax * I want that he comes here

Ordering:

In pronunciation * Fignisicant for „significant’;

*prulal for „plural’

6

Vacide Erdogan, Contribution of Error Analysis to Foreign Language Teaching, Journal of the Faculty of Education Mersin University, 2005, p. 264

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In morphology * Get upping for „gettingup’

In syntax * He is a dear to me friend.

In lexicon * Key car for „car key’

An error may vary in magnitude. “It can include a phoneme, a morpheme, a word, a sentence or even a paragraph. Due to this fact, errors may also be viewed as being either global or local. Global errors hinder communication. They prevent the message from being comprehended as in

the example “Ilike bus but my mother said so not that we must be late for

school”. In whatever context, may be difficult or impossible to interpret.8

On the other hand, “local errors do not prevent the message from being understood because there is usually a minor violation of one segment of a sentence that allows the hearer to guess the intended meaning as follows

“If I hear from her, I would let you know”.9

The final group is “the two related dimensions of error, domain and extent. Domain is the rank of linguistic unit from phoneme to discourse that must be taken as context in order for the error to be understood, and extent is the rank of linguistic unit that would have to be deleted, replaced, suplaced, supplied or reordered in order to repair the sentence”.10 “This

suggestion by Lennon is parallel with Corder’s other categorization of

overtly and covertly”.11 By acceptable, of course, the writer mean here, as elsewhere, “a sentence such as the native speaker would accept as being superficially well-formed, and might himself utter on the appropriate occasion. That is precisely the difficulty. A sentence must not only be acceptable, it must also be appropriate, that is, relevant and intelligible in the specific context (Overt errors are unquestionably categorization ungrammatical at the sentence level), And the covertly erroneous

8 Ibid. 9

Ibid.

10 Ibid. 11

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sentences are those which are not appropriate in the context in which they occur (covert errors are grammatically well-formed at the sentence level but are not interpretable within the context of communication). For

example “I want to know the English” wrote a perfectly acceptable sentence which, interpreted independently of its context, expressed unexceptionable sentiments. The context of the utterance showed, however, that his interest lay not in the people but in their language”.12

To find out what types of error in this study, the writer uses types of error from Corder that has four types of error; omission of some requirement element, addition of some unnecessary element, selection of an incorrect element, and mis-ordering of the element.

3. Cause of Error

The next step is analyzing what causes of error. The answer from

”what causes of errors?” probably will be the same answers. Some persons will answer, it is because of carelessness, and others will answer because of first language interference or translation from mother language. According to Norrish, “he classifies three causes of error into three types that is carelessness, first language interference, and translation”.13 The three types of causes of error will be discussed briefly below.

a. Carelessness

Carelessness is “often closely related to lack of motivation. Many

teachers will admit that it is not always the student’s fault if he loses

interest; perhaps the materials and/or the style of presentation do not suit him”.14

12

Corder, … p. 273 13

J.Norrish, Language Learning and their Errors, (London:Macmillan Publisher Ltd.,1987), p.47

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b. First language

Norrish states “that learning a language (a mother tongue or a foreign language ) is a matter of habit formation. When someone tries to learn new habits the old ones will interfere the new ones. This cause of error is called first language interference”.15

c. Translation

Translation is “one of the causes of error. This happens because a student translates his first language sentence or idiomatic expression

in to the target language word by word. This is probably the most common cause of error”.16

Another expert who discusses the sources of error is Richards’s article, “Error Analysis and Second language Strategies” in Schummann

and Stenson. In his article, he classifies sources of errors into. According to Richards, “he classifies causes of error into six types that is Interferences, Overgeneralization, Performance error, Markers of transitional competence, Strategy of communication and assimilation, Teacher-induced error”.17 The six types of causes of error will be discussed briefly below.

a. Interference that is an error resulting from the transfer of grammatical and/or stylistic elements from the source language to the target language.

b. Overgeneralization, that is an error caused by extension of target language rules to areas where they do not apply.

c. Performance error, that is unsystematic error that occurs as the result of such thing as memory lapses, fatigue, confusion, or strong emotion.

15

Ibid.

16

Ibid.

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d. Markers of transitional competence, that is an error that results from a natural and perhaps inevitable development sequence in the second language learning process (by analogy with first language acquisition).

e. Strategy of communication and assimilation that is an error resulting from the attempt to communicate in the target language without having completely acquired the grammatical form necessary to do so.

Richards in another article “A Non-Contrastive Approach to Error

Analysis”, “classifies causes of error into overgeneralization, incomplete application of rules, false concepts hypothesized, and ignorance of rule restriction”.18 To make it clear, the four classifications above are explained briefly below.

a. Overgeneralization

Overgeneralization generally involves the creation of one deviant structure in place of two regular structures, for example, “He can

sings”, “We are hope”, “It is occurs”.

b. Incomplete Application of rules

An example of incomplete application of rules can be seen in the question forms. Very often they are used, not to find out something, as they should, but as a means of eliciting questions through a transform exercise.

c. False concepts hypothesized

False concepts hypothesized are something due to poor gradation of

teaching items. The form „was’ for example, may be interpreted as the marker of the past tense, as in “one day it was happened”.

d. Ignorance of rule restriction

Closely related to the generalization of deviant structures is failure

to observe the restriction of existing structures, that is, the application of rules to context where they do not apply. They man

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who I saw him violates the limitation on subjects in structure with

who. This is again a type of generalization of transfer, since the learners is making use of previously acquired rule in a new situation.

Brown said “causes of error as sources of error and he classifies into 4 categories is Interlingual Transfer, Intralingual Transfer, Context of Learning, Communication Strategies”.19 The four types of causes of error will be discussed briefly below.

a. Interlingual Transfer

The beginning stages of learning a second language are characterized by a good deal of interlingual transfer from the native language, or, interference. 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. We

have all heard English learners say “sheep” for “ship”, or “the book of Jack” instead of “Jack’s book”. All these errors are attributable to

negative interlingual transfer. While it is not always clear that an error is the result of transfer from the native language, many such errors are detectable in learner speech.20

b. Intralingual Transfer

The second cause of errors is Interlingual transfer. It is the transfer within the target language itself. Researchers have found that the early stages of language learning are characterized by a predominance of interference (interlingual transfer), but once learner have begun to acquire parts of the new system, more and more intralingual

transfer-generalization within the target language-is manifested. This of course

19

H.D. Brown, Principle of Language Learning and Teaching, (New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1993, p. 213-217

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follows logically from the tenets of learning theory. As learners’ progress in the second language, their previous experience and their existing subsumes begin to include structures within the target language itself.21

Negative intralingual transfer, or overgeneralization, has already

been illustrated in such utterences as “Does John can siing ?” other example like “He goed,” and “I don’t know what time is it ?”. Once again, the teacher or researcher cannot always be certain of the source of an apparent intralingual error, but repeated systematic observations

of a learner’s speech data will often remove the ambiguity of a single

observation of an error.22

c. Context of Learning

The third cause of errors is context of learning. “Context” refers, for

example, to the classroom with its teacher and its material in the case of the school learning or the social situation in case of untutored second language learning. In the classroom context the teacher can lead the learner to make faulty hypotheses about the language. Students often make errors because of a misleading explanation from the teacher, faulty presentation of a structure or word in a textbook or even, because of a pattern that was rotely memorized in a drill but improperly contextualized.23

d. Communication Strategies

Communication strategies were defined and related to learning styles. Learners obviously use production strategies in order to enhance getting their messages across, but at times these techniques can themselves become a source of error. Once an ESL learner said “Let us

21

Ibid. p. 214

22

Ibid. p. 214

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work for the well-done of our country”. While it exhibited a nice little twist of humor, the sentence had an incorrect approximation of the word

“welfare”. Likewise, word coinage, circumlocution, false cognates, and

prefabricated patterns can all be sources of error.24

From Cause of Error above, the writer concludes if the Cause of Error is derived from the four theories; first, the theory of the Norrish, Cause of Error which was composed of Carelessness, First language,

Translation. Second, the theory of Richards, which was comprised of Error Cause of Interference, Overgeneralization, Performance Error, Markers of Transitional Competence, Strategy of Communication and Assimilation, Teacher-Induced Error. Third, another theory of Richards, Cause of Error which was composed of Overgeneralization, Incomplete Application of Rules, False Concepts Hypothesized, Ignorance of Rule Restriction. And the last theory of Brown, Cause of Error which was composed of Interlingual transfer, Intralingual transfer, Context of learning, and Communication Strategies. In making a descriptive paragraph, not the student may not make an error. Certainly the student made an error in making the descriptive paragraphs. The errors occur because students do it like the following factors: first, the student carelessness in make and writing the descriptive paragraph-sentence; Second, students are still influenced by their native language (Indonesian), so that in making a sentence, word order is like upside down; Third, students add a few words that do not need to be place in the sentence, Fourth, students eliminate words that should exist or that needed in the sentence, so the meaning of the sentence is being obscured. And of course there are many more factors that cause students to make errors in writing and make sentences in descriptive paragraph, as has been explained above that. Of the factors causing the

above error, so that the teacher can correct errors made by students in

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creating descriptive sentences in a paragraph. And teachers also know how to justify the errors made by the students.

B. Error Analysis

1. Definition of Error Analysis

The fact that “learners do make errors and that these errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified to reveal something of the system operating within the learner, led to a surge of study of learners’ errors,

called error analysis”.25

Another concept of error analysis is given by Richards. He states “that error analysis is the study of errors made by the second and foreign language learners”. Error analysis may be carried out in order to find out how well someone knows a language, find out how a person learns a language, and obtain information on common difficulties in language learning, as an aid in teaching or in the preparation of teaching materials”.26

Moreover, Brown said “that error analysis as the process to observe, analyze, and classify the deviations of the rules of the second language and then to reveal the systems operated by learner”.27 It seems this concept is the same by Crystal, “he defined error analysis is a technique for identifying, classifying and systematically interpreting the unacceptable forms produced by someone learning a foreign language, using any of the principles and procedures provided by linguistics”.28

25

Brown, op cit, p. 206

26

Jack C. Richards, Error Analysis, (London:Longman, 1973), p.172

27

Ibid.

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From the definitions above, the writer concludes “that error analysis is

the study of learners’ error to obtain information on common difficulties

faced by someone in speaking or writing English sentences”. Another thing, which should be noticed, is the procedure of error analysis.

2. The Procedure of Error Analysis

Procedure of error analysis is very necessary and important. Without procedures, analyze error will not be correct and clear. Therefore, a learner

needs to know about the procedure of error analysis. So that they know how to write correct. There are some procedures of error analysis which come from some linguistics experts. One of them came from the linguistics experts, he is Ellis. In his book, “Second Language Acquisition”, mentions the procedures of error analysis such as identifying

errors, describing errors, explaining errors, and evaluating errors.29 Where four procedures that was very important and needed in the error analysis. Without of one of the procedure, the analysis will be doing less truth. Because these procedures related to each other, which in the error analysis, usually step that should be done by the writer after identifying error is the writer should be done describe the overall error and should detail, this purposes that the writer know clearly the frequency errors that the students made in using adjective in descriptive text writing, and also know the development of the students in target language. After describing the error, the next step is the writer should explaining and evaluating the error, that’s all meant that the writer know the types of errors the students make and the source of the reason why the students make error in using adjective in descriptive text writing. And the final step is Evaluating the error, this purposes that the writer can specify what should be emphasized or repaired to test result of the students in using adjective in descriptive text writing. What is clear, the four procedures are very important and needed in error

analysis, so the data is valid of truth in the analysis that.

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Procedure of error analysis in Ellis book, he classifies into fourth step is identifying the errors, describing errors, explaining or interpreting, and

evaluating error.30 The fourth step procedure of error analysis in Ellis book will be discussed briefly below.

The first step in analyzing learners’ errors is identifying the errors; which the researcher should compare the sentence that learner produces with what would be the correct sentence in the target language. If the

sentence is assumed wrong in the target language or inappropriate for a particular context, it shows the error.

The next step is describing errors; the identified errors are described and classified into the table description of errors in order to know the frequency of error types. Classifying errors in such ways can help the

teacher analyze learners’ problems in their target language development.

The third step is explaining or interpreting. It discusses the error types described in the table description and It is going to be more difficult when identifying the causes of error since the errors have a varied causes such as mother tongue interference, overgeneralization, error encouraged by teaching materials or methods.

The last step is evaluating error, which is also necessary. The teacher can determine what should be more emphasized or treated and what should be not to their students.

The fourth step in the above procedure proposed by Ellis is very necessary and important to the teachers in analyzing the errors made by learners in their writing. Because of the absence of the procedures of error analysis, then certainly there will be many errors in the writing of the learners and the teacher does not know. So that, this procedures very

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necessary and important for the teachers to can know the error made by learners in their writing.

Corder in Brown provides a good model for identifying erroneous or idiosyncratic utterances in second language. The first step is the

identification and description of error. According to Corder’s model, any

sentence uttered by the learners and subsequently transcribed can be analyzed for idiosyncrasies. A major distinction is made at the outset

between “overt” and “covert” errors. The model indicates that in both

cases if a plausible interpretation can be made of the sentence then one should form reconstruction of the sentence in the target language, compare the reconstruction with the original idiosyncratic sentence, and then describe the differences. If the native language of the learners is known, the model indicates using translation as a possible indicator of native language interference as the source of error. In some cases, of course, no plausible interpretation is possible at all, and the researcher is left with no analysis of the error.31

However, once an error is identified, the next step is to describe it adequately, something the above procedure has only begun to accomplish. A number of different categories for description of errors have been identified in research on learner language32:

a. The most generalized breakdown can be made by identifying errors of addition, omission, substitution, and ordering.

b. Within each category, levels of language can be considered: phonology or orthography, lexicon, grammar, and discourse. c. Errors may also be viewed as either global or local (Burt and

Kiparsky 1974).

31

H.D. Brown, Principle of Language Learning and Teaching, (New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1993, p. 208

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d. Finally, Lennon (1991) suggests that two related dimensions of error, domain and extent should be considered in any error analysis.

To support this study, the researcher used Ellis’s theory of error

analysis viewing the error analysis as an activity to identify, describe,

explain and interpret, and evaluate the errors.

C. Adjective

1. The definition of Adjective

For definition of adjective, the writer choses two definitions from two different linguists. According Marcella Frank, in her book Modern English: A Practical Reference Guide, states that adjective is a modifier that has the grammatical property of comparison. It is often identified by special derivational endings or by special adverbial modifiers that precede it. Its most usual position is before the noun it modifies, but it fills other positions as well.33

On the other hand, in Arnold book Media Writer’s Handbook: A Guide to Common Writing and Editing Problems, states that adjectives is rarely difficult to find because the nouns and pronouns they modify are usually prominent is sentences. However, in addition to being helped by the positions adjectives occupy in relation to the words they modify, the student may ask several questions to help locate them: which, what, what kind of and how many.34

33

Marcella Frank, Modern English: A Practical Reference Guide, (New York: New York University, 1972), p. 109

34_{George T. Arnold, Ph. D.}_{Media Writer’s ha dbook: A Guide To Co} _{o Writi g A d}

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2. Types of Adjectives

According to Marcella Frank, she divided adjectives into two types; determiners and descriptive adjective.35

a. Determiners

Determiners consist of a small group of structure words without characteristic form.

1) Article

The article included as adjective category also. It is classified into definite article (the), and indefinite article (a/an). Look at the examples:

a. I ate a apple.

b. The glass is on the table. 2) Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjective is also called as demonstrative pronoun. They are that, those (for plural), this, and these (for plural). They also can used to modify noun or pronoun. Look at the examples:

a. This clothes is belonging to Neema. b. That market just opened weekend. 3) Possessive Adjective

Possessive adjective can be used as adjective, they are my, your, her, his, its, our, and their. Look at the examples:

a. Your bag is over there. b. Butterfly uses its wings to fly. 4) Numeral Adjective

Numeral adjective shows amount of a noun. There are two kinds of numeral adjectives; cardinal numeral such as one, two, three, etc., and ordinal numeral such as first, second, third, etc.

Look at the examples:

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a. I have one sister.

b. I am the first daughter in my family. 5) Adjective of Indefinite Quantity

Adjective of indefinite quantity indicate amount of noun, but they do not show their numeral such as some, few, all, more, etc. look at the examples:

a. I save some chocolate this day.

The examples above does not show the number of money I

save, it just explained that I save some money this month. 6) Relative and Interrogative Adjectives

Relative and interrogative adjectives are like interrogative pronouns except them modify a noun or a noun phrase rather than standing on its own to ask a noun such which, whose, what, etc. look at the examples:

a. Whose candy is made sugar? b. What course are you cooking? c. Which house is yours?

b. Descriptive Adjectives

Descriptive adjective usually indicate an inherent quality (such as handsome, beautiful, smart), or physical state such as age, size, color, etc. inflectional and derivational endings can be added only to this types of adjectives.36

Some descriptive adjective take the form of:

1) Proper Adjectives

Proper adjectives formed from a proper name such as French, Japanese, etc. look at the examples:

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 Fried rice is one of the most Indonesian food.  My sister likes west singers.

2) Participial Adjectives

This kind of adjectives is divided into two, they are: a) Present Participle

It is formed by adding suffix “-ing”. Look at the examples:  This building has a lot of meeting room.

 11th of September is a celebrating day of my sister. b) Past Participle

It is formed by the third form of verb. Here are the examples:

 A bored teacher  A spoiled daughter  A tired baby sitter

c) Adjective Compounds

Adjective compounds consist of two or more adjectives, and it divided into two:

(1) With participles

(a) Present participle, such as a good looking girl, a heart-breaking story, an English-speaking student, etc.

(b) Past participle, such as a turned-up nose, new-born kittens, ready-made clothes, etc.

(2) With –ed added to nouns functioning as the second element of a compound. The first element is usually a short adjective, such as

ill-tempered, far-sighted, blue-eyed, etc.

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dictionaries give as single words a number of the compounds we have just listed such as heartbreaking, absentminded, and newborn.37

Other adjective compounds include various syntactic combinations.

(1) A prepositional phrase, such as a wall-to-wall carpet, etc. (2) An infinitive, such as a never-to-be-forgotten plot, etc.

(3) Coordinate elements (joined by and), such as a life-and-death

struggle, etc.

Some set phrases or specially coined phrases may also function as

adjective compounds, such as a get-rich-quick scheme, a catch-as-catch-can policy, a publicity-shy actor.

3. Position of Adjectives in Relation to Noun

Adjectives also appear in several other positions, not only in relation to nouns and verbs, but also in relation to pronouns. All the possible positions of adjectives will therefore be described here.

a. In Relation to Nouns (Attributive Position)

A noun head may have adjective modifier that appear before and after it in what is called a noun phrase. There are three position of adjective in relation to noun. There are three positions where an adjective can be placed:38

1) Adjectives preceding a noun head (Pre-Position)

Determiners and descriptive adjectives appear in this position before a noun it modifies. For example:

The tall women sat down quickly.

37

Marcella Frank, Modern English: A Practical Reference Guide, (New York: New York University, 1972), p. 110

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2) Adjectives following a noun head (Post-Position)

This type of adjective comes after the noun it modifies. Post-Position adjectives are found in a number of fixed expressions. They are also to post-modify indefinite pronouns because pronouns cannot be pre-modified. For example:

a) In set phrases coming from old French. For example:  The body politic

 Postmaster general

b) With units of space or time. For example:  Five months ago

 A ruler eleven inches long

c) Place or time words that usually function as adverbs. For example:

 The house above  The week after

d) Cardinal numbers used for identifying or naming. For example:

 Chapter four  Paragraph six

e) The adjective enough. For example:  I have enough food.

b. In Relation to Verbs

1) After the linking verbs be, seem, appear, look (as subjective

complements in predicate position), such as “The boy is tall”.

Such inversions usually occur with the linking verb be, for example:

 Fair was she as the roses in May.

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2) After certain verbs and their objects, as objective complements, for example:

 The storm has made me uneasy.

 All this friends considered him intelligent.

3) In the special verb-adjective combinations that express a state, such as hold-tight, stand still, break loose. For example:

 She held the child tight.

 The ship broke loose from its moorings.

c. In Relation to Pronouns

1) After the pronoun, for example:

 He is looking for something new and exciting to do.

2) Before the pronoun (only with one), for example:  Did you buy the green dress or the blue one?

4. Sequences of Adjectives in a Noun Phrase

When more than one adjective precedes a noun in a noun phrase, the adjectives follow a set order. This order is determined by the degree of generality of each type of adjectives. Adjectives that can be used with greatest number of nouns, the determiners, always come first. Then come, descriptive adjectives, those with more general application preceding those that are more specific.39

The first word in the noun phrase is the determiner. Then after the determiner, come descriptive adjectives. The first descriptive adjective is general description that describes noun qualities. General description also called the opinion-expresser, such as beautiful, nice, excellent, etc.

Then, the third order is physical state. It consists of size, shape, age, and color of the noun that described. After it, come proper adjectives that consist of nationality or origin, and material of the noun. Also in this

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position are some adjectives ending in –ic (al), -al, -ing, etc. the fourth order is noun adjunct or qualifier. The function of noun adjuncts is giving the additional information about the noun and it come closest to the noun head. The last order is noun that modifier with the entire adjective before.

Adjectives of size and length (big / small / tall / short / long etc.) usually go before adjectives shape and width (round / fat / thin / slim / wide etc). It would be folly, of course, to run more than two or three (at the most) adjectives together.

Furthermore, when adjectives belong to the same class, they become what we call coordinated adjectives, and we can put a comma between them (e.g. the inexpensive, comfortable shoes) the rule for inserting comma works this way: if we could have inserted a conjunction – and or but –between two adjectives, use a comma. We could say these are

“inexpensive but comfortable shoes,” so we would use a comma between them (when the “but” isn’t there).

When we have three coordinated adjectives, we can separate them all

with commas, but don’t insert a comma between the last adjective and the noun, for example: a popular, respected, and good looking student.

5. Commas with Adjectives

According to Frank, The different types of adjectives cannot be separated by a comma- beautiful, small, red bag-and there is no comma before noun itself-beautiful, small, red, bag.40

For general description adjectives can be connected by “and” or “but”, and also can be separated by commas. For example in the phrase beautiful, expensive blue dress, comma can be replace before the word „expensive’

with and, but we cannot put comma before „beautiful’ or „blue’.

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If in one phrase there is three or more general description then using

comma before „and’ it is optional. For example many intelligent, charming (,) and well-dressed French ladies; this is optional to use or not

a comma before „and’.

D. Descriptive Text

1. The Definition of Descriptive Text

Description is “the part of the paragraph that describes the character”.

Or we could say “a descriptive text is a text that describes the features of

someone, something, or a certain place”.41

Description is describes something, someone, or a place. Or we could say description is describes the parts and characteristics, such as describes the parts of classroom, which consist describes doors, windows, tables, chairs, and wall. And describes the characteristics of classroom, which consist size (big), color (brown, blue), and quality (clean).42

Description isolates one person, object, place, event, from every other and shows what the selected topic is like”. Description is “found in contexts that solicit detail. Police reports, order letters, lab reports, leases, all require description to be effective”.43

Description recreates sense impression by translating into words, the feel, sound, taste, smell, and look of things. Emotion may be describing too, “feelings such as happiness, fear, loneliness, gloom, and joy”.

41

Artono Wardiman, et.al. English in Focus: for Grade VII Junior High School (SMP/MTS), (Jakarta:Pusat Perbukuan, DEPDIKNAS, 2008), p.115

42

Dr. Mukarto, M.Sc, Sujatmiko B.S., S.Pd., Josephine Sri Murwani, S.Pd., and Widya Kiswara, S.Pd., English On Sky SMP Book VII, (Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga, 2007), p.140

43_{Helen Rothschild Ewald, Writing As Process: Invention And Convention, (Ohio: A Bell &}

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Description helps the reader, through his or her imagination, to visualize a scene or a person, or to understand a sensation or an emotion.44

2. Purposes of Descriptive Text

The purpose of descriptive text is to create a vivid impression of a person, place, object, or event. The writers use description to persuade others to think or act in particular ways. As the examples in the following

chart show, description enables us to entertain, express feelings, relate experience, inform, and persuade.

[image:40.595.125.520.275.698.2]

Table 2.1

Purposes for Description45

Purpose Description

To entertain An amusing description of a teenager’s bedroom

To express feeling A description of your favorite outdoor retreat so your reader understand why you enjoy it so much

To relate experience A description of your childhood home to convey a sense of poverty you grew up in

To inform (for a reader unfamiliar with the subject)

A description of a newborn calf for a reader who has never seen one

To inform (to create a fresh appreciation for the familiar)

A description of an apple to help the reader rediscover the joys of this simple fruit

To persuade (to convince the reader that some music

A description of a degrading music video

44

George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks, Let’s Write English, (New York: Litton Educational Publishing, 1980), p.128

45

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videos degrade woman)

Although it can serve a variety of purposes, description is most often expressive, so it most often helps writers share their perceptions. As human beings, we have a compelling desire to connect with other people by sharing our experience with them.

3. Kinds of Descriptive Text

As we know that descriptive text is a text to describe something, such as persons, places, or things. Here are the brief explanations:

a. Description of person

Every person is unique, and therefore they are also different. In

describing someone, sometimes you may ask “how or what’s look

like”. There three different ways to describing someone depend on the situation: identification, impression, and character sketch.

1) Identification

Identification only consist certain statistical information (height, weight, age), visible characteristics (color of hair, skin, and eyes), and recognizable marks (scars, birthmark).46

2) Impression

Unlike the identification, the impression may not identify a person, but it does convey an overall idea of him or her. Many details may be missing. Although impression is usually less

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complete and informative than identification, it may be more

effective in capturing an individual’s striking or distinctive trait.47

3) Character sketch

More complete descriptions of people are usually called character sketch; they may be referred to as profiles, literary portraits, and biographical sketches. As its name indicates, a

character sketch delineates the character of a person, or at least his or her main personality traits. In the process, it may include

identification and an impression.

b. Description of a place

There is no pattern for arranging sentences in descriptive paragraph in describing place. It is not necessary to begin with one area and then proceeds to another one. The description must be organized so that the reader can imagine the scene described.

Smalley and Ruetten said that to make the paragraph more interesting, you can add a controlling idea that states an attitude or impression about the places being described, and the arrangement of the details in your description depends on your subject and purpose.

c. Description of a things

To describe a thing the writer must have a good imagination. Besides, to make our subjects interesting to our readers, the proper nouns and effective verbs can be used:

1) Using proper noun

To fill our descriptive writing with concrete details, we may also want to include a number of proper nouns, such as names of

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particular persons, places, and things that familiar with the readers and they can recognize easily; for example; Arizona, University of Tennessee.

2) Using effective verb

We know how important verbs are to narration, but effective verbs can also add much to a piece of description. Writers use to

make descriptions more specific, accurate, and interesting. For

instance, “the wind had chiseled deep grooves into the sides of the

cliffs” is more specific than “the wind had made deep grooves”.

The verb chiseled also gives the reader a more accurate picture of

the winds’ action than made does.

4. The Structure of Descriptive Text

Every text has its own structure. One to another text has its own rules, and it is different. Here the explanation about descriptive text structure.

a. The generic structures of a description are: 1) Identification

This stage contains identification that identifies the phenomenon to be described.

2) Description of features

This stage contains important features description, such as physical appearance, qualities, and other characteristic from thing that the writer describes.48

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b. The generic features of description are: 1) Verb in present tense

In descriptive text, the writer should use present tense as verb. 2) Adjectives

Adjective is also important in descriptive text, because it used to describe the features of the subject.

3) Topic sentence

It used to begin paragraph and organize the various aspect of the

description.

c. The factual description scaffold

1) A general opening statement in the first paragraph

This statement introduces the subject of the description to the audience. It can give the audience brief details about the when, where, who, or what of the subject.

2) A series of paragraph about the subject

Each paragraph usually begins with a topic sentence. The topic sentence previews the details that will be contained in the remainder of the paragraph. Each paragraph should describe one feature of the subject. These paragraphs build the description of the subject.

3) A concluding paragraph (optional)

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5. The Strategies of Descriptive Text

Strategies in writing descriptive text is very necessary and important. Without strategies in writing descriptive text, writing itself will not be correct and clear. Therefore , a learner needs to know about the strategies of writing descriptive text.

Here the explanation about descriptive text strategies by Barbara Fine

Clouse in her book.

a. Topic selection

A topic in a sentence is very important. Because of the topics, a sentence would look weird and unusual. Selection of topics here is to choose a topic with caution before writing descriptive text. Where students have to concentrate to find a topic that and memorable, in order to produce descriptive text that is good and more interesting. The obvious choice of topics to help students achieve specific goal in writing descriptive text.

b. Dominant Impression

In writing descriptive text, students must choose a dominant impression, the impression or reaction that is interesting and surprising to be written in descriptive text. Thus, produced descriptive text that best.

c. Drafting

Drafting in writing descriptive text is also very important and necessary. Because of the presence of this drafting, will good determine whether or not the results of the descriptive text.

d. Revising

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sentence in descriptive text would be too long. So, revising here is very important that the text produced clearer.49

Above is a strategy in writing descriptive text, which was all very necessary and important to be produce the right writing of descriptive text and clear. Because of the absence of a strategy in writing descriptive text, which may occur of course there will be more errors made by students in their writing.

Here is the example of descriptive text.

Mr. Kartolo, the farmer

Mr. Kartolo is very happy. The rainy season of this year makes the farm beautiful. It is planting time! Rice fields become fresh and green during this season and by the end of this season Mr. Kartolo is ready to harvest his corps.

Mr. Kartolo ploughs the land at the beginning of the rainy season. Then, he usually works early and finishes at noon. Milking the cows,

feeding the livestock, and cleaning the barns are among Mr. kartolo’s

duties before breakfast. He does most of the hard outdoor work by himself.50

49

Barbara Fine Clouse, patterns For A Purpose, (New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003), p. 109-110

50_{Artono wardiman, et. Al.,}

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research methodology and data analysis. It covers place and time of the research, method and design of the research, data and data source, technique of data collection, the instrument of the research, and technique of data analysis, and also the research finding from the data.

A. Place and Time

The writer did her research at SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat, which is located on Jl. Cendrawasih Km. 4, Jurang Mangu Ciputat, Tangerang Selatan. She held this research from June, 3 - 10 2014.

B. Method and Design of the Study

In doing this research, the writer used Descriptive Analysis Research and uses the procedures of error analysis itself. The method is purposed to analyze the problem or case happened at research. It involves Identifying , Describing , Explaining , and Evaluating. The final step , the writer has to conclude the result of research. Through post-test, the writer will find and know the types of errors are made by the students and know source of the reason why the students made error in using adjective in descriptive text writing. The writer gave test to the second year students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat by doing the test used test booklets as instrument of the research to get some data is from the students, and the writer also took the interview at 25 students by doing in focus group interviews, where there are 5 groups in the interview. The test purposes to find the types of errors are made by the students in using adjective in descriptive text writing, and the interview purposes to find source of the reason why the students made error in using adjective in descriptive text writing. Then she interpreted the data is about the types of errors are made by

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C. Data and Data Source

In this research, the writer took the second grade students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat, which consists of four classes, VIII-1, VIII-2, VIII-3 and VIII-4. There are 33 students for VIII-1 and VIII-2, and 34 students for VIII-3 and VIII-4, so the total is 134 pupils. The writer took the data source from VIII-4 that consist 34 students. But when the data collecting is done in the class, there were 9 students who did not come to the school, four students were sick and five of them were absent. And then the sample that the writer used is 25

students.

D. The Instrument of the Research

1. To get the data, the writer used the test and test booklet as instrument of the research. They type of the test is guided by 13 question that cover descriptive text as describing the zoo. The test purposes to find what types of error that students make, which is categorized into four; omission, addition, formation, ordering. The question made is to help the students to organize their ideas. This test was used to find the source of errors that students made and to know the reason why the students made error in using adjective in descriptive text writing. 2. To get data, the writer also took the interview at 25 students by doing

took the interview in focus group interview, where there are 5 groups in the interview, and each group consisted of 5 students. There are 9 questions for students. The interview purposes to find what source of the reason why the students made error in using adjective in descriptive text writing. The test is made by the writer. The material of the test was taken from the books and relate to the describing the zoo.

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E. Technique of Data Analysis

In doing study, it needs to analyze data after the data were collected. The writer made analyzing of the error of the students from the test which is given into tables. Each table contains one type of errors made by the student. After the tables is completed, the writer described what errors made by the students.

The writer also used the data from interview to analyze causes of students’

error in using adjectives in writing descriptive text. Then the writer made

conclusion based on the data that are already being analyzed. The writer used the descriptive analysis technique (percentage) to analyze the data. She used formula as follows:

P = P: Percentage

F: Frequency of error made

N: Number of sample which is observed/cases45

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CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS A. Findings

1. Data Description

After collecting the data from the test which have been done by the second grade students of SMP PGRI 2 Ciputat, the writer found some errors that made by the students who encountered errors in using adjectives in their writing descriptive paragraph. Here are the data of

[image:50.595.120.506.237.749.2]

students’ errors which are using in writing descriptive paragraph.

Table 4.1

The Identification of the Errors of students 1 Paragra ph of test Identification of Error Descriptio n Error Classifica tion Explanati on

Correction Cause of Error

1

The condition of the zoo is also gromed and fairly ^.

Omission ‘Gromed’ should be replaced by ‘Groomed ’ The condition of the zoo is also groomed and fairly clean. Careless ness 1

The condition of the zoo is also gromed and fairly ^.

Omission ‘Fairly ^’ should be replaced

by ‘Fairly clean’

The condition of the zoo is also groomed and fairly clean. Careless ness 2

The geese are beuutiful animals.

Omission ‘Beuutiful

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[image:51.595.119.506.122.762.2]

Table 4.2

The Identification of the Errors of students 2 Paragra ph of test Identification of Error Descriptio n Error Classifica tion Explanati on