MTs ASSALAFI, RENTENG, SUSUKAN
2 0 0 1 /2 0 0 2
THESIS
Submitted to The Board of Examiners in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirement for The Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan Islam (S. Pd. I)
in The English and Education Department of STAIN Salatiga
By
ABDUL LATIF
113.97.012
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FACULTY
STATE OF ISLAMIC INSTITUTE (STAIN) SALATIGA
State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga
ATTENTIVE COUNSELOR’S NOTES
Case : Abdul Latif s
Having reading accurately and correctly Abdul L atif s Thesis entitled: “AN
ERROR ANALYSIS OF INFINITIVE OF THE THIRD YEAR STUDENTF MTs
ASSALAFI, KENTENG, SUSUKAN 2001 / 2002.”, I have decided and would like to
purpose that if could be accepted by the educational faculty, I hope it would be
examined as soon as possible.
Salatiga, 30 Agustus 2002
Dear
The Head of State Islamic Studies Institute Salatiga
C ’ '
J l. S tad io n 0 3 P h o n e . 0 2 9 8 3 2 3 7 0 6 S a la tig a 5 0 7 2 1
STATEM ENT OF CERTIFICA TIO N
AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF INFINITIVE OF THE THIRD YEAR STUDENT OF MTs. ASS ALA FI, KENTENG, SUSUKAN
2001/2002
ABDUL L ATIF NIM 113 97 012
Has been brought to the board of examiners in September, 16th 2002/Rajab, 9th 1423 H, and hereby considered to completely fulllTIl the requirement of Sarjana degree
in the English Department of Education Faculty.
Rajab, 9th 1423 H, Salatiga, ---
---September, 16tfl2002M.
“The
Real Champion is not just winning the
competition, but everyone who can stand up for every
1. My dearest Mother and Father ( Mahfi Abidin, Siti Cholisoh ) who always
guide and understand me. You sacrifice anything for my education. Thank
you so much, I don’t know the reward that 1 must give you to replay your
services.
2. My Brothers ( Siti Rahmah, Chusnul Khotimah, Aris As’ari, Istie).
3. All of my friends in TB1 97’s student, especially Joe, Farid, Munir, Felik,
Makmun, Seno, Bobi, Alifah, Lia.
4. Special friend Mr. Wajiyanto (in late)! hope you peace in paradise.
5 My best friend and my beloved Susilo Widyaningsih, thank for your
attention and support to me. You give something that I never feel before.
v
Page A. Background of the Study... 1
C. Statement of the Problem... 4
B, Reasons for Choosing the Topic... 4
D. Limitation of the Problem... 6
E. Objectives of the Study... 6
F. Significance of the Study ... 7
F. Research Methodology . T... 7
G. The Outline of the Thesis... 10
CHAPTER II : REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 12 A. The Importance of Learning Grammar... 12
B. Infinitive ... 14
1. Bare Infinitive... 14
2. To infinitive ... 16
a. infinitives is used as a Noun ... 16
1. Infinitive functioning as subject ... 17
2. Infinitive functioning as Direct Object ... 17
c. Infinitives used as an Adverb ... 20
C. Comparison Between Gerund and infinitive ... 21
D. Error on infinitive ... 26
CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DATA 32 PRESENTATION A Research Methodology... 32
B. Population and Sample... 35
C. The Choice of Population... 35
D. The technique of Sampling ... 36
E. The Instrument ... 37
F. Construction of the Instrument ... 38
B. Descriptive Analysis ... 59
CHAPTER V : CLOSURE 62
A. Conclusions ... 62
B. Suggestions ... 64
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Background O f The Problem
People need to communicate with others by a language, which is
understood by them. All normal people in community understand and speak
their language well to carry out an every activity. However, some people in
that community cannot read and write, and by using the language they are still
able to co-operate with others. Wardhaugh points out:
...Language allows people to say things to each other and express their communicative needs. Language is the cement of society, allowing people to live, work and play together, to tell the truth but also to tell a lie or lies (1977:7).*
Indonesian as an independent country needs a language which can be
understood by its citizen that is Indonesian. In order to communicate with
people from other countries we need an international language that is English.
In Indonesia, English has been chosen as the first foreign language to be
taught in our school, rather than French, German, or Chinese. It is reasonable
since English plays important roles in international communication and our
country must keep abreast with the scientific and technological advancement.
Because of that reasons we have to learn English.
Eventhough English has been taught as one of the compulsory sub jects
and taught since the tirst year of Junior High School, it is a fact that many
mastery in English is low. The student thinks that learning English is difficult. 1/
It is not surprising because every language has its own system of rules. The
system of rules in English is different from the system of rules in Indonesian
language. The differences between them usually induce problem in the
learning of English. ^
Dealing with English teaching in Indonesia today, the government
provides the new Junior High School curriculum of 1994. It becomes a
guidance for English teachers in teaching the target language to Junior High
School students. In the new Junior High School curriculum of 1994, the
learning activities involve listening, speaking, reading, writing and the goal of
learning the foreign language is to use it in spoken and written
communication. The four skills (reading, listening, reading, and writing) are
taught cohesively as stated in English Basic Course Outline (GBPP) that the
English lesson in Junior High School covers reading, speaking, listening, and
writing in English. The fours skills are tough cohesively if they are possible;
, ^
however, the emphasis is primarily on reading skid (1995; 1) . Since it on the
four skills, the grammar or structure question is “How are the students able to
do with the four skills well if their knowledge about grammar is poor?”
Cook and Suter state:
Grammar is a set of rules by which people speak and write. These rules are not always understood consciously because the rules we
refer to are those hardly anyone ever thinks about but which allow people to use their language easily and naturally most o f the time (1980:1)/
It is clear that the use of grammar is still important, but the students are not
supposed to know only the grammar. They must be able to use good grammar
either in spoken or written communication. Sometimes we find some students
are good at vocabulary but they are not able to communicate, that situation
arises because they do not know the grammar to construct a good sentence. In
expressing something or in conveying message we need vocabulary, but
without grammar it will be hard to understand what other people say or write.
In junior high school, generally, the students learn infinitives. But
infinitive are not separately taught from the four skills. They are taught
through passages indirectly. When the teaeher finds that the students have
problems in understanding infinitive, the teacher can explain them. An
infinitive is a unit of word consisting to and a simple form of a verb (e g., to
run, to talk, to understand). Although it derives from a verb form, an infinitive
cannot be the main verb of a sentence. Infinitive is used in many different
ways: An infinitive can function as the subject of a sentence, e.g. To
cooperate is the least you can do. Verb, e.g. She agreed to meet me. Noun,
e.g. I need a book to read now. “Too” with an adjective or an adverb, e.g He
was too tired to walk any further. To infinitives include the word to but after
certain verb and in certain expression we use infinitive.
from the environment and successively mare closely approximately desired goals (1980:164)'*.
In learning English some students still get confused in using to
infinitive or bare infinitive. They use bare infinitive instead of to infinitive or
vice versa. It can be shown in the following sentence: The writer would like
go to school earlier. The correct one is I would like to go to school earlier, she
ordered a taxi-driver drive carefully Or She ordered a taxi-driver drove
carefully. The correct one is She ordered a taxi-driver to drive carefully.
In teaching English, teacher should predict the problems that may be
faced by students. With reference to the explanation above, the reasons for
choosing the thesis dealing with an analysis of error of infinitive made by the
second year students of MTs. Assalafi are as follows:
1. In the new Junior High School curriculum of 1994, the English grammar
is not taught separately from the four skills: listening, speaking, reading,
and writing. Because of that reason, students only have little time to do
with grammar learning. The writer wants to know whether or not students
can use grammar correctly.
2. The writer wants to know how far students have mastered the language,
particularly the grammar dealing with infinitive problems as the topic of
the research because one of the language functions for the Junior High
School students focuses on using infinitives.
4 Brown, H.Douglas. 1980. Principle o f language I.earning and Teaching.Englewood Cliffs, N ew Jersey. Prentice, Hall, Inc. Page. 164.
B. Statement O f The Problem
In order to make a systematic approach in solving the problems; the
statement of the problem can be formulated in the following sentence:
1. Why does the use of infinitives become troubleshot in learning English?
2. What are the main errors in asing infinitives most often made by the
students of MTs Assalafi, Kenteng, Susukan in the academic year of
2001/2002.
3. Does intralingual influence the forming of errors in using infinitives?
4. What are the significant causes of errors?
Based on the questions above, the writer is eager to investigate the
problems and analyze the thesis with the main discussion of error analysis on
infinitives, so that he is able to present the main or dominant errors in using
the infinitives.
C. Reason for Choosing the Topic
It is inevitable that in learning English as foreign language students
usually get problems due to the differences between Indonesian and the target
language. Because of this, students will probably make mistakes during the
process of learning, as Brown
3. Since there are many exceptions in the grammatical point in infinitives,
the writer assumes that many errors may be made by students.
D. Limitation O f The Problem
There are many kinds of infinitive forms such as present infinitive,
present continuous infinitive, perfect infinitive, and passive and past »
infinitives. Related to the statements of the problem, the writer limits the
infinitive problems on the use of present infinitive only for in the structure
tests for the students. And also he selects the function of the present infinitives
which are taught in Junior High School.
E. The Objective O f The Study
The objectives of the study are to find out:
1. Why do the uses of infinitives become troubles in learning English?
2. What are the main errors in using infinitives most often made by the
students of MTs Assalafi, Kenteng, Susukan.
3. The possible intralingual errors of the learner’s attempt to create language
based on his hypothesis about the language system.
F. Significance O f The Study
1. Theoretically
The writer can giving some more explanations is required especially the
different uses between flare infinitive and To infinitive logically and
systematically in order that they will be helpful and simple to by the
students. It is, therefore; very essential for teachers to have a better
treatment to anticipate the errors.
2. Practically
The writer can provide a lot of drills of written exercises relating with
infinitive, for the errors in any language teaching and learning situations
particularly English as a foreign language are sometimes predictable, and
sometimes are unpredictable.
G. Research Methodology
1. Population
The chosen population in the research is the third year students of MTs
Assalafi Kenteng Susukan in 200/2002
a. Object : The student of Junior High School
b. Grade : Third Years
c. Location : MTs Assalafi Kenteng Susukan
2. Sample
In this research, the writer takes one class as the sample of the
students of the third year MTs Assalali, Kenteng, Susukan, those are three
classes. As the way of getting the sample of the research, the writer uses
random sampling, because random sampling technique is the most ideal
way to take sample of the student’s.
3. Technique of Sampling
It has been said above that the population had a high homogeneity,
so the writer used a random sampling technique to facilitate research
operation. He took some of the population used as samples for his
research. A selecting process is random if it favour no member of
population over any other members, every member of the population has
the same chance of being selected5). The writer in this case, took the
procedure called the lottery method; each group of the population was
presented by a small piece of paper. The small piece of paper was placed
in a box and well - mixed, and a sample of the required size was selected.
The use of this lottery method of random sampling was easier because of
the fact that it did not need difficult procedures lo follow. In this case,
each of the classes’ names was written on a piece of paper. The paper was
then rolled and put into a slot of a box. After being well - mixed, a paper
wa s dropped out of the slot. They became the sample of the research.
4. Method of Investigation
a. Tryout Test.
The writer gives of a test to the students and to know about
knowing and understanding students about infinitive
b. Test items
In collecting the required data, the writer used only one type of test
that was multiple - choice tests. He conducted this kind of test
because multiple - choice test type is easier to be scored and also it
does not take much time to score because it just has one correct
answer. Harris in his book says that because of the highly
structured nature of this multiple - choice test, the writer can get
directly many of the specific skills and learning the writer wishes
to measure.6) In collecting data, research students needed. In other
words, the research students plays an importance role in a research
project
5. Data Analysis.
To get empirical data, the writer administered a structure test on
infinitives. Based on the student, result, he then analyzed and determined
the errors. The result of the data analysis ts listed in the tables. The formula
for computing the discriminating power of each item as follows:
D =
U
-L
n
In the data analysis, he used a percentage descriptive analysis’ and a
reselected category approach’ the first of which was used to compute the
percentage of error made by the students, the second to find out the
dominant error, namely the types of errors which often occur.
The formula of the percentage descriptive analysis goes like this
T E
X = 4 * ---jc 1 0 0 %
L
'i'
The formula of the reselected category approach, on the othei hand,
goes as follows:
pi = -J'- X
100
%
n
H. The Outline of the thesis
In order to have clear and distinct arrangements, this thesis is organized
in the following:
Chapter one gives covering the general background of the study,
statement of the problem, Reason for choosing the topic, limitation of the
problem, objectives of the study, Significance of the Study, method of
Chapter two, the writer gives same review of the related literature as a
theoretical supporting the study
Chapter three, the writer talked about research methods, which used.
They were the population, generalization area, sample and sampling.
Chapter four, the writer gives a presented the result and analysis of the
study.
Chapter five, which concludes all of the data analysis and gives same
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. The Important of Learning Grammar
The goal of teaching English in junioT high school has been mentioned
in the first chapter, as in 1994’s curriculum, the students are expected to
master the language skills. They are supposed to be able to communicate in
English without ignoring grammar since it is better for them if they can use
speak English fluently and correctly grammar.
The word grammar is very ambiguous since it has several meanings.
There is no fixed definition of grammar, because many experts often deline
the term of grammar differently. Grammar may mean an analytical and
terminological study of sentences. Thus when we learn grammar we will learn
the parts of speech, their names of phrase, clause, interrogative sentence,
retained object, etc.7 8' Grammar may also be defined as the basic signals by
which a language transmits meanings. It means that grammar is what we learn
in our native language; thus., any language speaker of certain language knows
the grammar of this language.X) Therefore, if he knows his language grammar,
he also knows how to construct sentences in order to express his idea.
According to Cook’s and Sutter’s statements in the book The Scope O f
Grammar:
7) Paul Robert, 1995, Understanding English, N ew York, Harper and Raw Publisher, page. 132.
8) Ibid, page 132
Grammar as we mean it is simply your language knowledge whatever brain knows that allows you to use language we will call it your grammar. Your grammar is what enables you to understand the very words you are now reading as well as to speak* (ji and write words and sentences o f your own.
Beside providing pattern, which enables speakers to speak and
understand the language, grammar also constitutes a very essential vehicle that
makes someone to be able to produce and understand sentences or utterances
he has never said or heard before.
Every language has its own grammar and English does, too What
someone wants to understand the English grammar? When someone wants to
express something or produce utterance, he has to undergo some more
process. If someone wants to say “gadis manis iln senang menyanyi “in
English; he, first, has to find the English term of each word (gadis, mams, iiu,
senang, menyanyi). Then he should arrange the words in such a wav that the
construction become “that sweet girl likes singing “or” that sweet girl likes to
sing”. If they does not know English grammar, he will probably say “girl
sweet that likes singing”. The adjective is put after the noun being modified.
that someone knows form of a verb preceded by the word to. Infinitive may be
used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.101 Then Wishon and Burks in their book
Let’s Write English say that the infinitive is made up of to + the simple form
of the verb, though to may be dropped when the infinitive is followed by
certain verbs. Like gerunds, infinitives resemble the vert in many ways, but
also function as other parts of speech.0 11- Based on some definitions about
,
»infinitive, it can be concluded that the infinitive as a verbal is made up of the
word to plus the base form of the verb. It has several functions of word
classes. Moreover, the infinitive phrase is a phrase containing an infinitive.
The infinitive phrase may be used in the same way as infinitives.
B. Infinitive
There are two kinds of infinitive, the first is called Bare Infinitive and
the second is called To Infinitive. Bare infinitive without to and it is
considered the simplest form the verb e.g., see, try, run, while to infinitive is
infinitive which is frequently preceded by to e.g., to see, to try, to run.
1. Bare Infinitives
The to infinitives include the particle to, some examples are
shown above; but after certain verbs we use the infinitive without to.
We call this bare infinitive is used after modal verb such as can, may,
must, will, should, might, etc.; after verbs of causing such as let, help,
make and have; and then after verbs of sense such as see, watch, hear,
feel.
a. After modal verbs
e.g. He may go soon.
She can dance.
b. After the causing verbs make and have
About the causative verbs “make” and “have”, Azar
states that they can be used to express the idea that “X” causes
“Y” to do something. When they are used as causative verbs,
their meanings are similar but not identical . For the example
“The mother made the children clean up their own room” the
children had no choice because their mother insisted that they
clean up their own room. In another example “Ani had the
maid clean all the rooms” the maid cleaned the rooms simply
because Ani asked her to.
c. Let
e. g. She lets me rest.
d. Help (the omission of to is optional)
e. g. He helped the old man (to) cross the street.
e. Verbs of physical perception - feel, hear, listen to, look at,
notice, observe, see, and watch. Infinitive with to alternates with
the participial form in this construction after a verb of
e. g. I saw the old ladies cross the road.
It has meaning that the speaker saw the old ladies cross the
road from one side to the other side
2. To Infinitive
The one very important thing to remembei about infinitives
is that it never fill the verb position is a sentence pattern nor
become the predicate of a sentence. It is sometimes difficult to
remember because infinitives have many qualities of verbs.
Infinitive can be used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs in many
instances in the sentences. To infinitive that is used as nouns have
several functions. It can function as a subject, a direct object, and
an objective complement. To infinitive is used as an adjective,
modifies a noun and to infinitive used as adverb, modifies verb,
adjective, and adverb. The more explanation about to infinitive -
usage and functions- can be read in this chapter,
a. Infinitive is Used as a Noun
Infinitives that are used as nouns can function as subject,
direct objects, or complements. Cook and Sutter state in their book
The Scope O f Grammar that as a noun, an infinitive can function as
the subject of sentences, an object, or complement. An infinitive
retains the naming of a verb, just as a gerund does, describing
actions and states than naming persons, places, things, and ideas.121
1. Infinitive Functioning as sub ject
Infinitive functions as subject without anticipatory “it”.
For example:
To cooperate is the least you can do.
(to cooperate is an infinitive and it is used as a noun)
To climb a mountain requires courage
(The sentence contains an infinitive phrase to climb a mountain)
The to infinitive can also stand as grammatical subject at
the beginning of a clause or sentence, as it does in the well-known
quotation “To error is human”, but in modem English the infinitive
as subject as nearly always introduced by it, so that instead of “To
force them is impossible” we have the constructions, people tend to
use the infinitive as subject that is introduced by “it”.
2, Infinitive Function as Direct Object
The infinitives and the infinitives phrase are used as nouns
is another way too? They can be used after certain verbs, but not
after others. It means they can serve as direct object. They can be
seen in the following sentences:
For example:
Trevor forgot to call
1 hope to see him soon
After graduating from Junior High School he decides to
continue his study.
The following is a list of verbs frequently followed by
infinitives as object that are taken from AzarU); Thomson111; and
Wishon and Burks1' ’.
Agree decide plan
Appear demand prepare
Afford expect fail
Arrange deserve prove
Attempt forget pretend
Care hesitate refuse
Claim hope seem
Consent mean struggle
Intend manage swear
Learn threaten tend
Undertake try volunteer
3. Infinitive Functioning as Objective Complement
The third function of infinitive as a noun is as objective
complement. As Frank writes;
,3) Azar, Betty Schramofer, 1989, Understanding and Using English Grammar. Englewood Cliffs, N ew Jersey, Prentice - Hall, Inc, page 168-169.
H) Thomson, A.J and Martinet. A V, 1990, Oxford Pocket English Grammar. Oxford Oxford University Press. Page. 1 9 1 -193
two-part object after a verb; first part being a noun and the infinitive-stand in the relationship of the subject-predicate to each other. The infinitives in such two- part objects are sometimes classified as objective complement.161
In short, the statement above refers to the verbs followed by
object and infinitives. These verbs are transitive, so they must have
objects. The following list shows the verbs that are taken from
A few examples are given as follows:
e.g. During examinations, the professor didn’t allow us to
smoke
The flowers from your garden will cause her to sneeze
Her mother won’t mind inviting us to come to her
daughter’s paity.
Besides certain verbs with their functions in the sentence, there are
also verbs, which can serve either the infinitives as direct object or
as objective complement. Some of the verbs are as follow:
Ask intend expect
Like prefer want
Wish
A few examples are given below:
Beg they begged to play
They begged her to play
Ask the professor us to attend the meeting
The professor asked us to attend the meeting.
Expect Jessica expected to go away for the weekend
Jessica expected her mother to go away for the weekend.
Wish I wished to meet the new teacher
I wish Andy to meet the new teacher,
b. Infinitive Used As An Ad jective
Besides functioning as subjects, direct objects, and object
complements, infinitives frequently perform other jobs as well As
Cook and Sutter say that infinitives can be used in adjectival sense to
lire department”, where the noun “fire” modifies department by ruling
out reference to the police, sanitation, or other kinds of department.'*’
Infinitives, on the other hand, are able to modify nouns
directly. Observe in the following sentences how the infinitives
function to limit the meaning of a noun: »
Our intention to visit Mexico was complicating our plans.
(“To visit Mexico” modifies the noun intention).18 I9)
Mrs. Martin sky has time to visit the zoo.
(“To visit the zoo” modifies the noun time).20) *
“Honesty is the best policy” is a good rule to follow.
(“To follow” modifies the noun rule).20
c. Infinitives Used As An Adverb
Infinitives are also used in an adverbial sense: that they
modify verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Infinitives perform this
modification directly. A few examples are given as follows:
We are ready to leave.
(“To leave” modifies the adjective ready - it tells what the
people are ready to do).22)
She is too intelligent to do such thing.
(“To do such thing” modifies the adjective intelligent)
18) Frank, Marcella, Op, Cit, page 341 19) Cook and Sutter, Op, Cit, page. 195 20) Frank, Marcella, Op, Cit, page. 346 2,) Ibid
We came to discuss business.
(“To discuss business” modifies the verb came).
The men went to the bank to deposit the money.
(“To deposit they money” modifies the verb went).211
C.Comparison Between Gerund And Infinitive
When this happens, the form is called a gerund. A Cook and Sutter
write that gerunds are “used” as nouns because they are made to perform
some of the same functions that nouns perform -they act as subjects, and as
complements. The meanings they communicate, however, are always those
of verb, since gerunds describe actions and states rather than name persons,
places, things, or ideas, as nouns.251 Several gerunds are shown in the
following sentences :
Her job is modeling.
( “modeling” is gerund, which acts the subject complement).
Reading is a pleasure we all enjoy.
( “Reading” is gerund and acts as subject).
Pamela practices singing.
( “singing “ is gerund that has function as direct object ). * 24
2,) Cook and Sutter, Op, Cit, page. 193 24' Ibid, page. 193
Both infinitive and gerund do not carry tense or the third person
singular-s, nor do not serve as the predicate of a sentence. But unlike
gerunds, however, infinitives cannot be preceded by possessive pronouns.
In a sentence such as :
“His to snore disturbed everyone “ is unacceptable. Those who
understand English well, the sentence above sounds strange. The
unacceptable sentence can be acceptable if the infinitive “ to snore is
changed into gerund. And the sentence becomes :
“ His snoring disturbed everyone “.
When there is a sentence containing a transitive verb, it is often
necessary to decide which form - the gerund or the infinitive - is used as
the direct object. In many verbs, the two cannot be interchanged. Some
verbs can be followed by gerunds but not infinitives and some can be
followed by infinitives, but not gerunds.
Here is the list of the common verbs followed by gerund.
Admit delay mind
Appreciate deny miss
Avoid enjoy dislike
Consider finish can’t help
Continue keep
Those verbs above take the gerunds only but not the infinitives. A
few examples taken from the scope of grammar are given as follows :
Unacceptable : Tony denied stealing the money *.
Acceptable : I enjoy playing badminton.
Unacceptable : I enjoy playing badminton *.
Acceptable : She will finish painting soon.
Unacceptable : She will finish to paint soon * 26>
In those examples, gerunds are suitable to the transitive verbs. On
the other hand, the infinitives will more suitable to the intransitive verbs.
Some verbs like wanting, promising, agreeing, accepting only the
infinitives - they cannot take the gerunds.
Acceptable : I cannot agree to do that.
Unacceptable : I cannot agree doing that *
Acceptable : She has promised to repeat the course.
Unacceptable : She has promised repeating the course *
Acceptable : 1 want to sleep.
Unacceptable : I want sleeping *.* 27)
After comparing between gerunds and infinitives, we should be
caieful in choosing the direct object form for the sentence with transitive
verbs, since not every transitive verbs can be followed by gerunds or
infinitive interchangeably.
There are other verbs that can be followed by either gerunds or
infinitives. Sometimes they have no different’meaning, as in group A and
sometimes with a different meaning as in group B.
Group A : common verbs followed by infinitives or gerunds with no
different meaning.
Begin like start
Continue love hate
Intend prefer mean
Permit
(a) . It began to rain / It began
raining
(b) . 1 started to work / 1 started
working.
In (a) and (b) there is no difference between ' began
to rain “and” began raining “ If the main verb is
progressive, an infinitive (not a gerund) is usually used,
such as in the following sentence “ It was beginning to rain”
not “It was beginning raining”.
Group B : common verbs followed by infinitive or gerunds with a
different meaning.
Remember regret
Forget try
c. Any always remembers to lock the door.
Remember + infinitive = remember to perform
responsibility or duty. It refers to future action
c. Bob often forgets to lock
the door.
Forget + infinitive = forget to perform a
responsibility or duty.
I remember locking the door, ( I remember doing something after I
do it. I remember doing something = I did something and now I realized ).
It refers to past action.
For example, “l clearly remember locking the door before 1 le ff ( - I
locked it and now 1 clearly remember this ).
I’ll never forget seeing the Alps for the firs time. ( forget + gerund =
forget something that happened in the past).
Some students of Junior High School still produce sentences such
as, I avoided to meet him at the party *, 1 pretended listening to her *, or
Her mother made me to come*. So. The writer concluded that gerund and
infinitives could cause problems in learning English. It happens because
the students of Junior High School don’t know the rule how to use
between infinitive and gerunds. Errors such as the ones just mentioned are
caused by an inadequate working knowledge of which verbs take the
gerunds, which the infinitives, and so on. It is possible , of course, for non
which verbs take which forms, and many textbooks dealing with English
as a foreign language contain such lists. The confusion of which form is
used is like what Cook and Sutter state :
Being forced to refer to memorize lists while engaging in spontaneous conversation, however, is like trying to eat an apple while playing flute, and most non-native speakers simply develop a sense of what sounds right and allow their “ear” to be their guide. The more exposure to English the non-native speaker experiences, the faster this sense of how to use gerunds and infinitives develops.2*’
From the explanation above, the writer can say the use of
infinitives becomes trouble spot in learning English because there <m<
many rules and exception in using infinitive. And it will be worse if the
students tend to think that infinitive and gerund can be used
interchangeably.
D.Error
on Infinitive1. Error Analysis
will encounter some problems
Learners, m
learning any language, win
L1
ivvnouace rules. This can be worse
? if the learners in this
; are afraid of making
language are
Since errors in any language teaching - learning situation
especially in teaching and learning English as a foreign language are
inevitable present, they should be observed, analyzed and classified to find
or to reveal the solution to the problems. The study of the errors is
commonly called “Error Analysis”.
Related to errors analysis, Brown’s Principle o f learning and
teaching which notes that error analysis is the study of students’ errors
which can be observed, analyzed and classified to reveal something of the
system operating within the learners. Error analysis will show the teachers
some problems confronting the students. Additionally, it may present
further information to the teachers about the process of acquiring a foieign
language made by the students. The advantage of having error analysis
may be traced back to the importance of students’ errors, as Corder quoted
by Brown says “ A learner’s errors provide to the researchers evidence of
how language is learned and acquired, what strategies or procedures the
learners is employing in his discovery of the language 29)
Since the 1960s 1970, an error study or an error analysis has been
chosen to be one of the methods to find the answer to the problems owing
to the fact that error themselves, as stated by Corder edited by Richards are
significant in three ways :
A learner’s errors ... are significant in three different ways. First to the teachers, in that they tell him if he undertakes systematic analysis, how far towards the goal the learner has
progressed.... Second, they provide to the researcher evidence of how language is learned, acquired, what strategies or procedures the learner is employing in his discovery of the language. T hirdly,... they are indispensable to the learner himself because we regard to the making of errors as a device the learner uses in order to learn.'1^
2. Error and Mistake
In everyday life, the term error and mistake sometimes can be
confusing. In order to clarify the distinction between them, the writer cited
the definition of error and mistake.
According to Brown’s statement “Error is defined as a systematic
and noticeable deviation from the grammar of a native speaker reflecting
the interlanguage competence of a learner, and consistently made by a
leamer”.'U) It is common for the learners to make same errors
consistency in acquiring the target language. Indonesian students for
example, often make errors in studying English. One of the common errors
made by the Indonesian students is about infinitive. For example, some of
them tend to make a sentence like “His boss always makes the workers to
obey the rule” instead of “His boss always makes the workers obey the
rule”. Here, the students tend to use to infinitive after the word ‘ make”.
On the other hand, Brown the states that mistake refers to
inconsistent or a mistake refers to a performance error that is either a * *
W) Jack C Richard, 1985, The Concept o f language Teaching, N ew York, Cambridge University Press, page. 12.
random guess or a “Slip” in that it is a failure to utilize a known system
correctly.32*
-3. The Source o f Error
Error as Brown writes arises from several possible general sources
(causes) : interlingual errors of the interference from the native language,
interlingual errors within the target language.32 33) 34 The social linguistics
context of communication, psycholinguistics or cognitive strategies, and
no doubt countless affective variables.
This hypothesis deeply rooted in behaviorism and structuralism, claimed that the principal barrier to second language acquisition is the interference o f the first language system with the second language system, and that a scientific, structural analysis o f the two languages ... yield a taxonomy of linguistic contrast between them ... which unable the linguistic to predict the difficulties a learner would encounter.3'4*
Predicting errors by using contrastive can be carried out m
terms of hierarchy of difficulty. Therefore, a teacher or linguist can
make a prediction of the relative difficulty of a given aspect of the
second language,
b. Intralingual Error
intralingual error are also called developmental errors, for
which Richards w rites:
... refers to items produced by the learner, which reflect not the structure of the mother tongue, but generalization based on partial exposure to the target language. Like first language learners, the second language learners try to derive and rule behind the data to which he has been exposed, and may develop hypothesis that correspond neither to the mother tongue nor target language.3*'
Thus, intralingual errors are the direct result of the learner’s
attempt to create language based on his hypothesis about the language
system he is learning In this caused by the target language itself so it
is said as developmental errors.363
According to Richards’s statement, systematic
intralingual errors involv e overgeneral izavi on, ignorance: of rule
restrictions, incomplete application of rules, and false concept
hypothesized, or semantic errors.
(1) Overgeneralization 35 36
Jakobovits as quoted by Richards defines generalization
of transfer as the use of previously available strategies in new
situation .... In second language learning .... Some of the
strategies will prove helpful in organizing the fact about the second
language, but others, perhaps due the superficial similarities.37'
For example, he can’t sings*. Here, he or she over
generalizes that in the simple present tense as -sending is required
by the third person singular. He or she fails to realize that such an
- s ending is not required anymore when a sentence in the simple
present tense is introduced by such in auxiliary verb.
(2) Ignorance of Rule Restrictions
In this type of error, the learner fails to observe the
restrictions of existing structures. For example, I made him to do
it* ignores restrictions on the distributions of make. The correct
one is I made him to do it. In this case, he or se ignores the rule
that after make must be followed by infinitive without to.
(3) Incomplete Application of the Rule
Intralingual error of this category' may occur when the
learner has to respond immediately to questions made by the
teacher as in “what does he come here for ?”the question will be
answered as “he comes here for study”*. In fact the correct
37)
respond to the question is “he comes here study”. Responding to
this problem Richards say :
...a question used to elicit sentence, the answer often has to be corrected by the teacher to counterattack the influence of his question. Some course books proceed almost entirely through the use of questions by utilizing signals to indicate the type of sentence required. 'I hese may produce the total number of deviant sentence produced.3*’
(4) False concept hypothesized
This sometimes also called semantic error may be derived
from faulty comprehension of distinction in the target language.
For example, “this is a too big house”* The word “too” would be
more safely taught out of association with the word “very”, and in
i /
contexts where it did not appear to be a substitute for very, as for
example in structure with “too + adjective + infinitive”.
This house is too big to rent.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DATA PRESENTATION
In this thesis a researcher must collect data from resources that are called
informants. This research was conducted at MTs Assalafi Kenteng Susukan.
Before conducting the research, the writer had consulted to the headmaster
whether the students of the third year could be used as samples of the research.
Having received the headmaster’s approval as well as the local governments, the
writer prepared his research.
A. Research Methodology
In this research, the writer uses the qualitative research with attaching
descriptive method. This due to the fact that the purpose of this descriptive
research method is about collecting and analysis data, finding model, and
drawing the conclusion based on the data without a trial to generalize the
result just being valid for the data used in the research, not for others. The
qualitative data consist of detailed description of situation, events, people,
interaction, and observed behavior correspondence and case history.
Having found the errors dominantly made by the respondents, the
writer then, classified those errors into two categories of errors based on
interalingual only. They are:
1. Errors caused by overgeneralization
Only 35 errors due to overgeneralization occurred infinitives the
infinitive use for all headings. Especially, they occurred infinitives the
infinitive use as bare infinitive after modal verbs for example, the
writer took items number (25) as a sample;
He only shaves once a week. He should... more often.
A. to shave C. shaving
B. shaves D. shave
Infinitives this case, they overgeneralization that after the third
person singular the word “shave” must be ended by - s. They failed to
realize that such as - s ending is not required anymore when a sentence
infinitives the simple present tense is introduced by such a modal verb.
The total errors infinitives this item are 15 or equal to 2.16
percent, or infinitives other words, the students made 2.16 percent
overgeneralization for this item. The other item infinitive, which the
students made overgeneralization, is the item number (1). There are 20
errors = 2.89 percent. It has been mention before that the errors are 35
or equal to 5.05 percent. The errors occurred when the students created
deviant structure based on their experience of the previous strategies.
2. Ignorance of the rule restriction.
Ignorance of rule restriction took the proportion of 94.95 percent (or
658 errors). It means that most errors are caused by ignorance of rules
restriction. Since the infinitive use is full of rule infinitives contracting
it, many students made errors in this cause. 658 errors due to ignorance
of rule restriction occurred at all of headings infinitive, namely:
a. The use of infinitives as bare infinitives.
1) after modal verbs (16 errors = 2.30%)
2) after verbs of perception (41 errors = 5.92%)
3) after causative verbs (make and have), let and help (78 errors =
11.85%) \
b. The use of infinitives as subjects
1) without anticipatory “it” (61 errors = 8.80%)
2) with anticipatory “it” (22 errors -- 3.17%)
c. The use of infinitives as direct objects (118 errors = 3.17%)
d. The use of infiniti ves as object complements (126 errors == 18.18%)
e. The use of infinitives as adjectives (62 errors = 8.95%)
f. The use of infinitives as adverbs
1) modifying verbs (45 errors = 6.49)
2) modifying adjectives (58 errors = 8.37%)
3) modifying adverbs (31 errors = 4.47%)
These types of errors occurred when the respondents responded to the
English grammatical items with which they were unfamiliar. As the result,
they tried to create forms based on their own analogies, which were
unacceptable infinitives English.
For example, the test item number (3)
Although they were angry with their daughter, they allowed her.
. Her mamage.
A. to delay
B. had delayed
C. delay
3. The writer had been in teaching practice in a Junior High School. Based on
her experience and her observation towards the student’s work, the writer
found many errors made by the second year students.
4. By conducting the research to the second year students, the writer
attemded to reader his idea to minimize errors at the level of the infinitives
which possibly occur in the third year.
The total number of the opulation used in the research was 180
respondents. Time and financial reasons had caused the writer to take not
all of population as sample.
* D. The Technique O f Sampling
It has said above that the population had a high homogeneity, so the writer
used a random sampling technique to facilitate research operation. He took
some of +he population used as samples for her research. A selection process is
random if it favours no member of the population over any other members,
every member of the population has the same chance of being selected (Weiss,
1966fJ(
The writer in this case, took the procedure called the lottery method; each
group of the population was by a small piece of paper. The small piece of
paper was placed in a box and well - mixed, and a sample of the required size
was selected.
39( W eiss, Robert S, 1966, Statistics in Social Research, N ew Jersey, John W illy and Son, Inc, page. 222.
can get directly many of the specific skills and learning the writer wishes to
measure (1969:7)41)
This statement affirms that besides being easily administreted. a multiple -
choice test will show the occurrence and frequency of the specific errors right
away. Moreover, based on the nature of this thesis in which it was designed to
find out a specific point of English grammar, the writer assumed that multiple
- choice test would be the most be the most appropriate type of test
F. Construction o f the Instrument.
The multiple - choice applied by the writer consisted of 40 items with 4
options A, B, C and D. one of the options the answer, correct option or key,
while the others were distracters. Although the distracters were not the correct
answers, they were written in correct format.
Each item represents a certain type of error in which the students might
have difficulty. The range of vocabulary in this is included words practised
daily in textbook and also in the GBPP that are taught in the second class In
the instrument, the words were arranged in such a way that the students would
have no serious problem in vocabulary.
Heaton (1975:174)42) gives some example of the item on the infinitives
which can be described in the following:
1. I wanted...the actor, but my car broke down.
4,) Harris, David. P. 1969, Testing English A s A Second language. N e w York: M e Graw- Hill, Inc, page. 7
A. Meet C. meeting
B. to meeting D. to meet
2. Mr. Brown made P eter...To the dentist’s.
A. Go C. went
B. to go D. going
3. You must give Audrey a lift in your car, )ou can’t allow h e r...
home.
A. Walked C. to have walked
B. to walk D. walk
The above example show that Heaton design the test items according
to the particular type of errors on infinitives. The writer used those
examples to be the model of the test instrument.
G. Preparation o f Test.
1. Test items
Since there are many possible errors on infinitives, the writer only
classified the possible errors into some categories. He classified errors as
follows:
a. Errors on the use of infinitives as bare infinitives
1) after modal verbs
2) after verbs of physical perception
b. Errors on the use of infinitives as subjects.
1) without anticipatory “it”
2) with anticipator)' “it”
c. Errors on the use of infinitives as direct object.
d. Errors on the use of infinitives as subject complement
e. Errors on the use of infinitives as adjectives
f. Errors on the use of as adverbs
1) modifying verbs
2) modifying adjectives
3) modifying adverbs
2. Arrangement of test items
After classifying the errors into those categories, the writer then arranged
the
Test items into the following numbers:
a. Test on the use of infinitives as bare infinitives
1) after modal verbs (number 1,9, 25)
2) after verbs of physical perception (number 10,33)
3) after causative verbs, let and help (number 15,24,38,40)
b. Test on the use of infinitives as subjects
1) without anticipatory “it” (number 4, 17,36)
2) with anticipatory “it” (number 8, 335)
c. Test on the use of infinitives as direct objects
d Test on the use of infinitives as object complements
(Number 3 ,12,13,20,21,23,30, and 37)
e. Test on the use of infinitives as adjectives
(Number 5, 14, 18, and 19)
f. Test on the use of infinitives as adverbs
1) modifying verbs (number 6, 22)
2) modifying adjectives (number 7, 27, 28)
3) modifying adverbs (number 29, 39)
Very complicated items were included.
3. Trying out of the test
Before the test was used to collect data, it was first tried out to 6
students of the third year that was from class 3.2. By lottery method 3 2
were chosen.
The trial test was carried out on August 3th 2002. The 36 students
had taken, as respondents had to do the test consisting of 40 multiple -
choice items in 40 minutes. Before starting to do test was finished, the
students’ results were collected to be Discriminating Power of each item.
In order to find the Discriminating Power (DP) of each item the
writer selected 27.5% of the upper group and 27.5% of the lower group of
the students’ results. As Heaton says however, while it is statistically most
efficient to compare the top 27.5% with the bottom 27.5%, it is enough for
most purpose to divide small samples into halves or thirds (1975:174jn>
Then the number of errors made (breach item comine from both
O
the low and upper students’ results were counted and put in table 1. The
discriminating power of an item can be calculated bv applying the
following procedure recommended by Heaton (1975:174).441
a. At the beginning the writer arranged the students’ result in rank order
of total score and divided them into two groups of equal size (i.e the
top half and the bottom half).
b. Next, he counted the number of the students, in the upper and lower
group, who answered an item correctly.
c. Then, he subtracted the number of the correct answers in the lower
group from the number of the correct answers in the upper group.
d. After that, he divided the difference by the number of the students in
one group. And the procedure of calculating the DP explained above
can be expressed by the following formula :
DP
-- H S L ±
n
DP : Index of discriminating, often called DP of an item;
U : the number of students in the upper group who answer the item
correctly;
L : the number of students in the lower group who answer the item
correctly;
N : the number of students in one group
44)
e.g. item no 1 U = 6 DP = 6 - 0
L = 0 10
= 0.6
Discrimination indices can range from + 1 (= an item which
discriminates perfectly) through 0 (= an item which does not
discriminate in any way at all) to - 1 (= an item which discriminates in
entirely the wrong way) Far example, if all ten students in the lower
group got the wrong answer, the item would have an index of
discrimination of 1.0.
It is clear from table l that item numbers 4,15,19 and 35 must be
revised because they have zero or negative DP. Harris states that item
showing negative discrimination should be revised or discarded
(1969:106Y45)
The result of this item analysis can be seen in appendix I in which
the figure can be read as follows:
U = Number of students in the upper group who answered an
item correctly;
L = number of students in the lower group who answered an
item correctly;
U - L = difference between U and L for computing DP of an item
DP = discrimination of an item
45)
After the instrument had been tried out, it was then used to collect
data.
4. Validity of the test
Gronlund says that validity is that validity is the most important
quality of any test A test is said to be valid when it actually measures
what it is intended to measure (1976:79).50) Related to the validity, Harris
also states that validity of the test is usually distinguished into three kinds;
content validity, empirical validity or statistical validity and face validity.
Content validity is one, which depends on a careful analysis of the
language being tested and the particular course objectives. A test is said to
have high content validity if each item used together data has relevance to
establish or objectives and covers representative materials. To find out
whether the test has content validity, the writer compared the test items
with the materials dealing with infinitives. Related to this case, in
constructing the instrument the writer had to look first at the GBPP and
find the materials, which the students had learned what the curricul I urn
was intended to each them.
Face validity is the way a test looks to examiners, teachers and
examiners or if a test looks right to other testers or teachers. Before
administering this test the writer first of all consulted the test to her fr iends
and finally to her adviser.
In the construction of the instrument, the writer considered some
factors that tend to influence the validity of results like Gronlund says. In
order to avoid lower validity the writer did some things as follows:
a. The writer had consulted the GBPP and Blooms Taxonomy in
constructing the test and the test would suit the GBPP materials.
b. The writer had constructed the test in a way that the words and
sentence structures of the items were not too difficult and they would
not get any vocabulary problem.
c. Before the test was administered, the writer had examined carefully the
direction of the tests. For example, how the students had to respond to
the items.
d. The test item was made as not ambiguous as possible that could
contribute to misinterpretation and confusion.
e. The writer had tried to arrange the test item in order of difficulties with
the easiest items ranging to the most difficult one. By placing easy
items early in the lest, this might not cause the students to spend too
much time to respond to the test item.
f. The correct answers of the test were not placed in systematic pattern.
By doing this way it won’t enable the students to guess the answer to
some items more easily.
g. Before the test was begun, the wrier requested the teacher to ask the
students to do the test by themselves.
Reliability of the test shows the stability or the consistency of the
test scores when the test is used. In other words, the test measures
examinee’s ability consistently. Harris states that to have confidence in
measuring instrument, the rearches needs to make sure reliability of the
test itself and reliability of the scoring of the test. Based on the above point
of view, the try out test was carried out to the students of MTs Assalafi
Kenteng Susukan to get the reliability of the test.
There are several ways of estimating the reliability of a test The
writer used the method that considered being the easiest method to follow.
By using this method it is only a single administration of a test required.
That is internal consistency method. In the internal consistency of a test
the writer used odd-even method. In this method, the test items were
divided into two groups, that was by placing all odd number items into one
half and all even number items into the other half.
H. Data Presentation
Data about an error analysis of infinitive of the third year student of
MTs Asssalafi, Kenteng, Susukan To know the data about an error analysis of
infi nitive the writer use of it of instrument consist of is test item which had
negative discriminating power. The real test was conducted to 40-student
To know the data about the error analysis of infinitive, the writer used
instrument consisting of question given to students. The criteria of answer
alternative were as follows :
Answer A = 4
Answer CO li UJ
Answer C = 2
Answer D = 1
Data of instrument result of an error analysis of infinitive of the third-year
students of MTs Assalatl, Kenteng Susukan
No Respondent Scores Total
A B C D A B C D
4 3 2 1
0 ) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
1. Agus Mariyadi 12 8 6 13 48 24 12 13 97
2. Ali Mashar 15 12 6 7 60 36 12 • 7 115
3. Annisa Nurul Hida 9 19 5 7 36 57 10 7 110
4. Azizah 21 9 2 8 84 27 4 8 123
5. Chusni Mubarok 20 4 8 8 80 12 16 8 116
6. Effendi 16 5 9 10 64 15 18 10 107
7. Erna Faimawati 11 20 3 6 44 60 6 6 116
8. Habib Zamroni i l 25 0 4 44 75 0 4 123
9. Iin Uhbiyati 16 9 6 9 64 27 12 9 112
10. Irfani 19 7 9 5 76 21 18 .5 121
11. Joko Arif Suryadi 16 12 9 3 64 36 18 3 121
12. Joko Mardiyono 21 8 1 10 84 24 2 10 120
13. Khaliyatul Husna 20 6 7 7 80 18 14 7 119
14. Khusnul Chotimah 3 4 9 24 12 12 18 24 132
15. Maryono 10 3 3 24 40 9 6 24 79
16. Muhammad Droni 10 6 4 20 40 18 8 20 86
17. Muhammad Fatkhur 16 l 12 11 64 o
J 24 11 102
18. Muhammad Mimbar 11 9 13 12 44 27 26 12 109
19. Muhammad Nurudin 16 *■> 9 12 64 9 18 12 103
20. Muhammad Muhsin 16 1 12 11 64 3 24 11 102
21. M. Taufik Afwan 21 8 4 7 84 24 8 7 123
22. Nanik 21 6 6 7 84 18 12 T
/ 12.1
23. Ngatiyanah 11 7 15 7 44 21 30 *7
/ 102
24. Nur Istiqomah 21 6 11 11 84 18 22 11 135
25. Nurul Huda 14 1 16 9 56 3 32 9 100
26. RifaT 19 0 9 12 76 0 18 12 106
27. Safroni 7 9 13 11 28 27 26 11 92
28. Saifudin 6 12 9 13 24 ' 36 18 13 91
29. Siswanto 19 3 10 8 76 9 20 8 113
30. Siti Aminah 20 .7 6 7 80 21 12 7 120
31. Siti Maesaroh 7 5 16 12 28 15 32 12 87
32. Solikhul Hadi 16 5 3 16 64 15 6 16 101
33. Sri Aghni Kurniawati 18 3 7 12 72 9 14 12 107
34. Sugeng Riyadi 7 4 19 10 28 12 38 10 88
35. Sulistyo 9 2 13 16 36 6 26 16 84
36. Sutarti 21 2 8 9 84 6 16 9 1 15
37. Taufik Setiawan 16 9 6 9 64 27 12 9 112
38. Uhutuhul Masruroh 6 2 15 17 24 6 30 17 77
39. Uswatun Khasanah 9 0 21 10 36 0 42 10 88
CHAPTER IV
DATA ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION
A. Statistical Analysis
As has been mentioned in chapter I, in this statistical analysis, the writer
used the percentage descriptive analysis using a simple formula.
I
iX x 100 %
Z T
Where is: X - the percentage of errors
E = various kinds of errors
T = lest items
£ = The sum of sigma
In this step the writer had 40 computations of such percentage of
errors since the study involved 40 respondents. The following table is the
results of the data analysis. In order 1o make this data understood clearly
about the table, the writer gave a brief explanation about it.
The first column is number of subject that is the total number of
the respondents who participated in the real test. There were 40
respondents. The second column is the sum of various kinds of errors
made by respondens out of 40 items.
