W ITH TH EIR ERROR SPELLING
(A Case study Among Students of MIM Tegalarum
Grade Four and Five in the 2002/2003)
THESIS
Submitted to the Board of Examiner in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Educational Islamic Studies (S.Pd.I)
In the English and Educational Department
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FACULTY
STATE ISLAMIC STUDIES INSTITUTE (STAIN)
SALATIGA
2002 M/1423 H
SALATIGA
Tentara Pelajar No. 2 Salatiga 50721 Telp. (0298) 323433, 323706
STATEMENT OF CERTIFICATION
CHILDRENS STRATEGIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPELLING jTHEIR CORRELATION WITH THEIR ERROR SPELLING (A Case Study Among
M1M Tegalarum Grade Four and Five in The 2002/2003) KDNT1 ASrHANI A.M.
113 97 005
State Islamic Studies Institute Salatiga
ATTENTIVE COUNSELOR NOTES Salatiga, 27th March 2002
Case : Kunti Asihani Alfi Muslihah’s Thesis
Dear
The Head of Salatiga State
Islamic Studies Institute
After reading and correcting Kunti Asihani Alfi Muslihah’s thesis entitled
“CHILDREN’S STRATEGIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPELLING, THEIR
CORRELATION WITH THEIR ERROR SPELLING (a Case Study Among
Students of MIM Tegalarum Grade Four and Five in the 2001/2002)”, I have
decided and would like to propose that if could be accepted by the educational
faculty, I hope it would be examined as soon as possible.
Consultant,
Dra Woro Retnoningsih. M.Pd NIP. 150 262 646
1. My beloved my Mother and my Father 2. My beloved Husband ( I Love You Forever) 3. To My Son in my pregnancy
4. My Brothers and Sisters 5. My Nephews and Nieces
6. Everyone that I love and who love me
iii
“ A friend in need is a friend indeed, so it is important to forgive
and forget all the sadness “
Alhamdulillah, in the name of Allah swt., who has given remarkable Blessing without which the writer would never have accomplished this thesis.
This thesis is not merely the writer’s work, it has been greatly improved by the comments and notes of a great body of people who gave their suggestions, guidance, help and support. Therefore, the writer would like to express her gratitude to Drs. Sa’adi, M.Ag. and Dra. Woro R. M.Pd., her consultant, who have helped shape the ideas that have gone into this thesis.
Her sincere gratitude is devoted to her beloved husband and family who have for so long encouraged her patiently. It is their support that also made the writer finish this thesis. Also all my lecture that was teach me for 4,5 years.
Uncountable thanks are also dedicated to the principal, the teachers, and the students of MIM Tegalarum who have been so helpful to make the research run well. The writer does not forget that she owes many thing to “Anggar Rental Computer” for the typing and everything.
Finally, needless to say, this thesis has many shortcomings. However, the writer wishes that this thesis will be of some contribution to the practice of English teaching-learning process at the Elementary School.
The writer
By
Kunti Asihani Alfi M. 11397005
A B S T R A C T
The object of this research was the children’s learning spelling strategies which led to the occurrence of their spelling errors. Those learning spelling strategies can be inferred from the characteristics of those errors.
1'he research used a content analysis method. The data were the characteristics of the children’s spelling errors. The contexts of the data were the characteristics of the input, learning spelling strategies, and cognitive structure and cognitive processes of the research subjects. The analytical construct being used was input - process - output. This research involved the students of MIM Tegalarum grades four and five in the 2002/2003 academic year. Quota sampling and Krejcie and Morgan Table were used to determine the size of the sample. A dictated spelling test was used to create the data. The data collected 255 addition errors, 704 omission errors, 153 transposition errors, 2301 substitution errors, 92 confusion errors - were analyzed contextually.
The result of the analysis reveals that the children’s spelling errors are errors related to the competency of auditory discrimination and use of correct word pronunciation, consonant and vowel competency, plural noun and third person singular markers, syllabication competency, diphthong and vowel digraph competency, and the competency of silent e. using an analytical construct, it is inferred that the strategies employed by the children are interference, transfer, generalization and oversimplification with the tendency of using word pronunciation as the basis for spelling the w o rd .
TITLE ... i
CERTIFICATION PAGES ATTENTIVE COUNSELOR NOTES... ii
DEDICATION... iii
MOTTO ... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT... v
ABSTRACT... vi
TABLE OF CONNTENT... ... vii
LIST OF TABLE... ix
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION A. Background Of The Study... 1
B. The Statement Of The Problem... 2
C. The Objective and The Benefit Of The Study... 3
D. Hypothesis... 4
E. Research Methodology... 4
F. The writing system of the papers... 9
CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL STUDY A. Theoretical Framework... 11
1. Spelling... 11
a. English Spelling... 11
3. Learning Strategies... 19
4. Learning English Spelling Strategies... 21
5. Children Strategies In Learning English Spelling... 22
B. Conceptual Framework... 23
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH REPORT A. The General Transparency Of Research Field... 25
B. Research Finding... 30
1. The Total Error Frequency Distribution Of The Spelling Error... 30
2. The Research Data About The Strategy Of Learning English Spelling That Performed By The Students... 40
CHAPTER IV : DATA ANALYSIS... 41
CHAPTER V : CLOSURE A. Conclusions... 60
B. Suggestions... 61
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIXES
No Title Page
1. The Teacher Condition of MIM Tegalarum are as Volunteer and was Recognized by Government as a Permanent Teacher... 28 2. The teacher condition According to Graduating... 29 3. Students Condition According to Sex... 29 4. The Total Error Frequency Distribution of the Spelling Error Categories
Made by the Subjects... 30 5. The Total Error Frequency Distribution of the Addition Category Made by
the Subjects... 31 6. The Total Error Frequency Distribution of the Omission Category Made by
the Subjects... 32 7. The Total Error Frequency Distribution of the “Auditory Discrimination”
Competency... 33 8. The Total Error Frequency Distribution of the Substitution Category Made
by the Subjects... 34 9. Error Elements in Word Spelling... 35 10. The Error Frequency Distribution of the “Auditory Discrimination”
Competency... 36 11. The Error Frequency Distribution of the “Consonant” Competency... 37 12. The Error Frequency Distribution of the Competency of “Plural” and “Third
Person Singular” Marker... 38 13. The Error Frequency Distribution of the “Syllabication” Competency... ... 49
14. The Error Frequency Distribution of the Competency of “Diphthong” and “Vowel Digraph” ... 50 15. The Error Frequency Distribution of the Silent e Competency... 51
A. The Background Of The Study
Language is something we need to express our opinion, emotion and desires whether in speaking or writing. Language is mostly used in communication, in the form of conversation and dialogue. Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbol used for communication. 1 That statement explain that language is concern with the system of producing sounds by speech organs. There are no two language which are the same, because every language has its own rules. 2 Each language has its own unique system which is different from one to another. The differencies are in the system of grammar, vocabulary and sounds.
English is a foreign language in Indonesia. The government has taken measures about it, for example teaching it in Indonesia. It is include in the local curriculum from
elementary school up to Universities. The fact is in the decrees of the ministary of education and culture No. 0487/4/1992 and No. 060/U/1993 employ that English can be introduced to elementary school students as “local” curriculum contents.
The introduction of English subject in elementary school tours pronounciation, vocabulary, spelling and reading. The learning English spelling is considered as one of early steps need in learning the required basic skills. Learning English spelling as a
1 Ronald, Wardaugh. Introduction to Linguistic, New York : M.C. Graw - Hall, 1977
: Thomas, Phyles, Their Origin and Development o f the English Language, New York : Har Court,
Brance & World, 1964
part of learning English skill, is expected to be effective and efficient for children’s to learning it, so that they will be more ready and confident in learning it in the higher levels. The introduction of English spelling in elementary school will be beneficial since they can use of their strong memorization ability for example when they study mathematics, they learn and memorize all of number from 1, 2, 3, 4 etc so they can count, or when they must memorize all of traditional leave or songs from their art teacher.
In spelling, there are differencies between Indonesia and English spelling for example is the sound of each alphabet as when we spell “a” it has different sound. In English "a” is spelled “ei” but in Indonesia “a” is spelled “a” too and so the others. From that examples, English language will feel difficult for children when they learn it, especially they learn as a foreign language. The spelling errors that may made by children arise from that difficulties or may also arise from the lack of competence, the lack of practice, on appropriate methods of teaching, or the defects within the children to make this easier to study we need strategy.
Strategy is tactic which are tools to active the success or planning, competition, conscious. Strategy is tactic to get the target easier learning strategics are
* specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self directed, more effective and more transferable to new situation.3 Learning strategies help learners to regulate their own cognition and to focus, plan and evaluate their progress as they move to ward communication competence, for example. Look
3 Oxford, R.L. Language Learning Strategies, What Every Teacher Should Know. N ew York :
for the private teacher, have more time to study, spend all material that given by teacher in the cassette or disc. Language learning strategies is action that taken by learner to improve their intelligent or skill especially in language skills, learning English as a foreign language although was used strategy, children will make some of errors, so in this research the writer focused on the relation between children’s strategies in learning English spelling with their errors.
B. The Statement of The Problem
Avoiding in correct interpretation of this research. The writer wantrto analysis children’s strategies in learning English spelling, their correlation with their error spelling. The followings are the problems that the writer is going to scrutinize :
1. What spelling errors are majorly made by the students?
2. What strategies of learning spelling are performed by the students?
3. What are better strategies that should be used for the children in learning English spelling ?
C. The Objectives and The Benefit of The Study
1. The objectives of the study are
a. To find out the spelling errors made by the students.
b. To find out the strategies of learning spelling that performed by students. c. To find out the factor that caused the spelling errors tend to be made by
2. The benefit study of this research are
To give theory as a support on language learning especially in learning English spelling as a foreign language in Indonesia. The examples are theory- theory learning tactic or strategy although better than the theory or strategy that usually use in learning process, so children can practic in learning and get their success.
D. Hypothesis
The writer’s hypothesis of this research is: “There is a corelation between spelling errors and learning spelling strategies in learning English as a foreign language among the students of in Tegalarum Islamic Elementary School studying English.
E. Research Methodology
1. Population and Sample
2. The Instrument
The instrument to create the data was a dictated spelling test. The test consisted of 100 sentences with one missing word in each completed by the corresponding picture. Those missing words are selected from the GBPP and the materials used in elementary schools. The test specification was constructed as the modified form of a dictated spelling test and its objective by Mercer and Mercer and a diagnostic spelling test by Hammill and Bartel.
a. Validity
As in developing the test, the teaching material in the curriculum and the English spelling rules and English spelling competencies presented in Chapter II were used, the test was said to have a content validity and a construct validity. Beside that, item analysis using the correlation formula of Pearson Product Moment was used in this research. Each item had 1 score for the right answer and 0 score for the wrong one.
b. Reliabilitiy
The technique of measuring the reliability of the instrument in this • research was the computation using the formula of K_R 20. The computation showed that the instrument was reliable (r = 0,978).
3. The Prosedures of the Test
Second, she dictated the whole sentences. Hence, the researcher read the whole sentences with the stress on the missing words. Third, the researcher pronounced the missing words once more. In that way, the children were expected to be able to spell the missing words correctly by making use of the contexts, pictures and the word pronunciation.
In this research the writer use test to collect the data :
Test is a sequence question which is used to measure or evaluate how far the ability, knowledge, and intelligence or aptitude owned by someone or student.5 In this research the writer use dictated spelling test. The test consisted 100 sentences with one missing word and each word that miss will answer with corresponding picture. Those missing word are selected from the materials used in Elementary School. For example :
1. That i s ... 2. This a re ...
3. What is it ? It i s ...
4. Procedur of Data Collection and Data Reduction
The spelling errors of each subject collected through the dictated spelling test. The characteristics of the spelling errors were specified in a detailed and systematic way. They were devided into live categories of spelling errors-incorrect addition, omission, transposition, substitution, and confusion of homonym. Then the spelling items incorrectly added, omitted, transposed,
5 Suharsimi Arikunto. Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktis. Jakarta : Rineka Cipta, 1993. p.
substituted and homonym being confused were specified in details. The frequency of spelling errors in each category was counted. In this way, each subject had his or her profiles of typical spelling errors.
By comparing the profiles of the spelling errors of all subjects, the spelling errors of all subjects, the spelling errors were ranked from the most general to specific characteristics. The types of spelling errors made by most of the subjects were used as the basis of making inferences about the learning spelling strategies employed.
5. Procedure of Making Inference
To make inferences from the spelling errors, the first step taken was determining the context of the research data, the empirical environment of the data. The next step was analyzing the relations between the data and the context of the data. The analysis was done by employing any knowledge of the researcher about the related data context. Based on what was known about the firm relations between the data and various elements in data context, the researcher made inferences about the characteristics of the phenomena of the research object also existing in the data context.
the processes by which children perceive, interpret, integrate, organize and store the ‘input’ about the items of English spelling system. This set of processes is conceptualized as the “learning spelling strategies” of the research subjects.
6, Analytical Construct
An analytical construct operationalizes what the analyst knows about the interdependencies between data and context. The analytical construct model being used in this research was an input-process-output model. The input was the correct spelling of English words. The output was the English words misspelled by the children. Whereas the process was the learning spelling strategies by which the input was changed into the output.
7. Procedure of Data Analysis
The findings of content analysis-inferences about the characteristics of the phenomena constituting the meanings of the data-were gained by analysing the relations between the data and its context.
To analyze the data in this research the methods used is quantitative, than to analyzis the item of children’s strategies in learning English spelling with their error, the writer using correlation formula by Pearson Product Moment, there are :
Zfd
- Cx . Cy
N
Where :
rxy = Correlation between x and y.6
From the answer of the instruments we can account the data with the formula above are the last with know are the strategy that used by student’s valid or no from that answer too we can look for kinds of the than the writer can conclude the best solution.
F. The Writing System of The Paper
It is the outline, which will be discussed in the thesis, the writer divides into five chapters.
The first chapter, will talk about introduction, it includes the background of the study, the statement of the problem, the objective and benefit of the study the methodology and the theoretical system of the paper.
6 Isaac, S. and Michael, W.B. (1984). Handbook in Research and Evaluation. California Edith
The second chapter, the writer will talk about review of related literature. The basic theories presented by writer are closely related to the topic of her thesis, in this case the writer start from spelling. There are English spelling and Indonesian spelling, children’s errors in English spelling, learning strategies, learning English spelling strategies, and the children’s strategies in learning English spelling.
The third chapter is the methodology of the research. It explains about population and sample and sampling, the method of collecting data, data presentation.
The fourth chapter is research data, data analyses, and interpretation of the data analysed.
A. Theoritical Framework
1. Spelling
In learning Engglish there are four skills that must learn by student. That four ski Is are reading, writing, listening, and speaking. It has big role or has deep relation in spelling. Because in practice spelling need it skills. Good spelling is very important in learning foreing language, especially in learning Engglish, because there are differenciate between one language with another. Spelling is the forming of words from letters in both written and oral form, according to accepted usage.7)
a. English Spelling
Adderson and Lap said that “Some major skills needed by learner in English
spelling, the ability to relate sounds of the language with the ability to recall and represent consonant-vowel patterns in the English spelling there are the ability to recognize sound variations represented by vowels and consonants, the ability to use a dictionary to ascertain correct spelling and pronounciation, the ability to recall and represent consonant-vowel patterns in the Engglish spelling, the ability to revognize sounds variation represented by vowels and consonant.8) According to Stephens in * S)
7) Hammil, D. D and Bartel, NR. Teaching Children With Learning And Behavior Problem. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon Inc, 1978, P. 147.
S) Aderson, D.S and Lapp Diane. Language Skills in Elementary Education. New York : Mac Milan
Publishing Co, 1979, p. 241.
Marcer and Marcer notes that there are nine English spelling competencies that enable the child to be an effective speller. The nine English spelling competencies are :
1. Auditory discrimination : the ability to discriminate consonant sound and vowel sounds and use correct word pronounciation.
2. Consonants : the knowledge of consonants in initial, final and medial position, in word and knowledge of consonant blends.
3. Phonograms : the ability to identify phonograms in initial, medial, and final positions in words.
4. Plurals : The ability to form plurals by addings, adding cs, changing f to v, making medial changes, and the knowledge exceptions.
5. Sylabication : the ability to devide words into syllables.
6. Stroctural elements : the knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes.
7. Ending changes : the ability to change ending words which end in final e, final y, and final consonant.
8. Vowel digraphs and diphtongs : the ability to spell words in which vowel digraph forms one sound (ai, ea, ey, ei, ie) or a dipthong forms a blend (oi, ov, ow).
9. Silent e : the knowledge of single-syllable word that end in silent e .9)
A serious English spelling problem is posed by the phonetic inconcistencies between speech sound and written symbols. Hanna and Moore reported that, “The English system of writing is basically alphabetic and that for almost every sound there
9) Mercer, C D. and Mercer, A.R. Teaching Students with learning Problems. Toronto . Merrill
incounter in primary school. Using English spelling rules is one of a number of strategies that can be used when we are unsure of a words spelling.
Lapp and Aderson present some of the English spelling rules :
1. Plural of most nouns are formed by adding -s to the singular : cat, catc, etc.
2. When the noun ends in s, x, sh, and ch the plural generally is formed by adding -es
: buses, boxes, bushes, churches.
3. A noun ending in y proceded by a consonant forms its plural by changing the y to i
and adding -es : fly, flies.
4. Plural of a few nouns are made by changing their form : mouse, mice; child, children.
5. A word that end in silent e usually keeps the e when a suffix beginning with a consonant is added : nine, ninety; home, homeless.
6. A word that end in silent e usually drops the e when a suffix beginning which a vowel is added : ride, reading; dance, dancer.
7. In words like calf and half, the f of the singular is changed to v before adding -es to form the plural : wolf, wolfes; knife, knives.
8. When words end in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, the last consonant is called the final consonant. This final consonant is duble before a
suffix beginning with a vowel, swimming, bigger.
10) Anderson, P S and Lapp Diane. Language Skills in Elementary Education. New York : Mac Milan
9. A word ending y and following a consonant usully changes the y to i before a suffix is added unless the suffix beginning with i : cry, coying, cries. A word that ends in a y and follows a vowel usually keeps the y when a suffix is added : buy, buys, buying.
10. The letter q is usually followed by u : quick, queen.
11. The letter i is usully used before e (believe, shield, field) except ofler c (receive, sociaty) or when sounded like an a as in neighbour and weight. Exceptions : neither, either.
12. Ph often sounds like f; elephant, alphabet.ll)
b. Indonesian Spelling
In Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan (EYD) there are also 26 letters in Indonesian alphabet. Indonesian has 5 vowel (a, e, i, o, u), 21 consonants (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, 1, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z), tree diptongs (ai, ou, oi) and four consonant clusters (kh, ng, ny, sy) representing one consonant.
1) Indonesian syllable patterns
a) The are four main syllable patterns : v (a-nak), vc (ar-ti), cv (ra-kit), cvc (pin tu).
b) Some additional syllable patterns in Indonesian are ccv (pra-ja), ccvc (block), vve (eks, ons), cvcc (teks), cccv (stra-te-an), cccvc (struk-tur).
n» Anderson, P.S and Lapp Diane. Language Skills in Elementary Education. New York : Mac Milan
2) Indonesian syllabication
a) When there are twovowels in sequence, the hyphenation is between the two vowels, e.q. ma-in, sa-at.
b) When there is a consonant between two vowels, the hyphenation is immediately before the consonant, e.g. ba-rang, su-lit.
ng, ny, sy, kh represent one consonant. Those combinations cannot be separated so that the hyphenation takes place before or after those combination. c) When there are two consonants in sequence, the hyphenation is between the
two consonants is between the two consonants, e.q. man-di, som-bong.
d) When there are three or more consonants in the middle of a word, the second one, e.g. in-stru-men.
3) The spelling of some borrowing words
a) c before a, u, o and consonant is spelled k (colonel-kolonel, cubic-kubik). b) a before e, i, oe, and y is spelled s (circus-sirkus, cent-sen).
c) ch pronounced as s or sy, is spelled s (machine-mesin) d) ch pronounced as ou is spelled an (counter-kaunter) e) dh is spelled j (sorghum-sorgum)
f) oo is spelled u (cartoon-kartun)
g) on pronounced as ou is spelled au (counter-kaunter) h) ph is spelled f (phase-fase)
i) q is spelled k (aquarium-akuarium)
e. Confution of homomyms
Homomyms words that make confuse for learner to remember and differ it to another. Spelling errors can be analyzed in writen composition as well as on dictated test.
3. Learning Strategies
In Oxford says that learning strategies are specific action taken be the learner to
'V
make learning easer, faster, more enjoyeble, more self-dirrected, more effective, and more transferable, to new situations.14) And they devides learning strategies into direc strategies and indirect strategies. Direct strategies fall in to : memory strategies cognitive strategies, compensation strategies, indirect strategies fall into : metacognitive strategies, avective strategies, and social strategy memory strategies function to help students stone and retrieve new information. The include four sets : a) creating mental lingkage. b) applying images and sounds, c) reviewing well, d) employing actions. Cognitive strategies have four sets : a) practicing, b) receiving, and sending massage, c) analyzing and reasoning, d) creating structure for input and output. Compensation strategies consist of a) quessing intelligently, b) overcaming limitations in speaking and writing.15)
Indirect strategies consist of metacognitive, avective, and sosial strategies. Metacognitive strategies allow the learners to coordinate their learning process by
14) Oxford, R.L. Language Learning Strategies, What Every Teacher Should Know. N ew York :
Newburry House Publisher, 1490, P. 6.
15) Oxford, R.L. Language Learning Strategies, What Every Teacher Should Know. New York :
using function such as centering, surranging, planning and evaluating. Metacognitive strategies consist of a) centering, learning, b) arranging and planning learning, c) evaluating learning. Avective strategi have regulate emotion, motivation, and attitudes. Avective strategy fall into three sets : a) lowering anciety, b) encouraging self, c) taking emotional temperature Social strategies have students leant trough interaction with others. Social strategies include : a) asking questions, b) cooperating with others, c) emphathizing with others.
Since in the English learning process the psycological activities inside the learners is going assumed as the core of the learning strategies, the strategies proposed by oxford by oxford that are relevant to the problem are the memory and cognitive strategies.
0. melly and Chamot propose in Brown’s book that. “In language learning strategy falls into three main categories; there are metacognitive, cognitive, sosio
affective strategies. Metacognitive strategies include : advance organisers, directed attention, selective attention, self-management, functional planing, self-monitoring, delayed production and self-evaluation. Cognitive strategies include repeatation, resourcing, translation, grouping, note taking, deduction, recombination, imagery, auditory representation, keyword, contectualization, ellaboration, transfer, inferencing.
Sosioafective strategies fall into cooperation and question for clarification strategies”.16) Like oxford’s theory, the theory proposed by O. Malley and Chamot is too wide if applied in this study. Since this study is frensed on the learning spelling
16) Brown, H.D. Principles o f Language Learning and Teaching. New Jersy : Prentice-Hall, inc, 1987,
strategies that underlie the presence of the children’s spelling errors the most relevant part of this theory is the cognitive strategies.
A more simple learning theory is proposed by Brown. According to brown is quoted by Partolo there are four strategies that a language learner employs : transfer, a corryover of previous performance or knoledge to subsequent learning : interference, the “butting in” effect of the native language in the target language; generalization, infering or deriving allow or rote or conclution from the observation of particular instances (the native language); simplification, the process of uncomplicating or reducing events to common forms or to as few parts or features as posible.I7)
4. Learning English Spelling Strategies
According Brown, learning English spelling strategies are not always observable but there are indicators-the spelling errors wich are observable and can be used to infer what happens inside the learner, what procedures or strategies happens inside the leamer.18) Among the theories of the language learning strategies, Brown’s theory seems simple compared with that proposed by oxford or O Malley and Chamot but in this study, Brown’s concept is the most applicable one since it is directly related to the posibilities of the making of spelling errors by childrens.
If children use the existing information - the phonemic spelling system of Indonesian as the basic for perceiving storing, and recalling the new information
-17) Partolo, Bambang W. Relationship between listening comprehention profiency and learining strategy o f students o f English Education Department IKIP Yogyakarta.
18) Brown, H D . Principles o f Language Learning and Teaching. N ew Jersy : Prentice-Hall, inc, 1987,
Children must also learn that the same sound can in some cases be represented by different letters (city and sun) and that the same letter can represent different sounds (comic and city). Sometimes, letters are used when spelling a words but not when speaking it (the gh is silent in night: the e is silent in kite). In summary, children must master many complex aspects of understanding in order to spell oppropriate learning strategies. In appropriate learning spelling strategies in internalyzing the English spelling system will result in the established cognitive structure different from that of English and this will be the couse of the learners spelling errors. Based on the insight of Brown’s theory, childrens may use transfer, interference, generalization of simplification strategies in learning English spelling.
v *****
B. Conceptual Framework
English is still a new program as well as the first foreign language, the reseacher asumes that they have not yet estabished the right cognitive structure of the English spelling.
Children at the age of 10-12 years have established their cognitive structure about the phonetic Indonesian spelling system. They are used to spelling the word as they pronounce them. When they spell English words they may carry over the way they do in Indonesian. Some regularities that exist in english spelling also contribute to this and lead them to generalize the spelling habit. In facing difficulty spelling words, children may come into the disequilibrium state so that they formulate hup theies on the spelling of certain words. The growing cognitive structure and the impropriate strategies of spelling English lead them commit spelling errors.
A. Research Reports _
In this chapter the writer will reported her reported her research of that take place on 06 and 07 Februari 2002.
I. 'Flie General Transparancy of Research Field a. Short Story of M1M Tegalarum
MIM Tegalarum was build because of Kartini-Kartini’s initiative. They are Ny. Japairo and Nyai Marom. At 1950 they have initiative to improve the Japairo’s people, education. That two women told their idea to their husband as a leader and Saijana or Educational people in that place, than
that initiative allowed by their husban. Kyai Japairo and Kyai Marom tolk to their people to choose a location of it education.
The first location is a forest, because at that time all of Kunden location is forest. It place is a pinaples forest so by Japairo people call that place Tegalarum. That Japairo and Tegalarum people become education and have develop thinking and than they build a mosque, so that it education place become known place for people that leave in those invirontment.
The founder of MIM Tegalarum are : 1. Nyai Bei Japairo as a inicitator.
2. Nyai Marom as a inicitator.
3. Kyai Bei Japairo as a leader of Japairo’s people.
4. Kyai Marom as a sarjana (education people in those time). 5. Bp. Dimyati as a teacher and as a headmaster.
6. Bp. Syamsyudin as a first teacher. 7. Bp. K.H. Fadolli as a first teacher. 8. Bp. Sadzaly as a first teacher. 9. Bp. Dumairi as a first teacher. 10. Bp. Hasyim As’ari as a first teacher.
On 1955, because of the inprovement of it education, by the founder registered it to Religius Department (DEPAG) Klaten, so it become Islamic! Elementary Education that under protection of Muhammadiyah organization.
b. The principle and the object
1. The principle of that education istitution are
According to five principles of the Republic of Indonesia and the constitution of Republic of Indonesia 1945 especially in part XIII Chapter 31 on 1 and 2 verse.
Verse one : “Every citizen qualified to get education.”
Verse two : “The goverentment made an effort and to take care of one system of National Education that ordered by constitutions.”
2. The objects
a. Realized education people in Tegalarum and in the invirontment so they become an education people.
b. Advance people’s science tehnology and skill to build sociaty and nation based on the Five Principle of Republic of Indonesia and the Constitution 1945.
3. The geographic position of MIM Tegalarum
Volume and position of MIM Tegalarum is founded on 667 cm2 of land. Location of MIM Tegalarum is in Tegalarum village, with address is on Jl. Penggung - Jatinom 2 kilometress, Tegalarum, Kunden, post
kode 57475, Karanganom, Klaten.
MIM Tegalarum have limitation of location there are : a. North : Djlapan village
Jla
d. East : Rice field and main street of Tegalarum and other village More evective and clearer about that location, writer will offened a map of MIM Tegalarum position.
Map of MIM Tegalarum
Mine street of Tegalarum and other village --- ,---,
4. Theacer’s and student’s condition a. Teacher’s condition
1. The teacher of MIM Tegalarum are as volountier and was recognized by goverentment as a permanent teacher.
Tabel 1
2002/2003 periode, with 6 woman and 8 man teacher,
b. Student condition
The total of student of MIM Tegalarum in 2002/2003 academic year are 178 students.
There are students condition according their sex
B. The Research Finding
Data that needed in this research are about children’s strategies in learning English spelling and the major error spelling that made by the student. In this research, we will look for the data with presented 100 items question which have category as presented in chapter II. Than here the researcher will present category data that was got from the tests that was tested at 12 of February on 2002. The data finding will presented in apendic part A . there are the error frequency distribution that made by the student as the answer of the research instrument as follow :
I. The total error frequency distribution of the spelling errors
Tabel IV
The error frequency distribution of the spelling error categories made by student’s of MIM Tegalarum grade four and five
NO SUBJ ADD OMl TRA SUB CON
27 aa 2 16 2 48 3
GRADE IV 141 404 79 1286 66
NO SUBJ ADD OMl TRA SUB CON
To know more detail about it errors, see appendix, part b, reader will find the detail parts about it errors. From the table above were :
1. Adding irrelevant elements, coded with ADD. 2. Omitting essential elements, coded with OMI.
3. Transposing the sequence of elements, coded with TRA.
4. Substituting certain elements with other inappropriate elements, coded with SUB.
5. Being confused of homonyms, coded with CON.
The total frequency distribution of the spelling error categories and their percentages are presented in Table 5.
Table 5. The Total Error Frequency Distribution of the Spelling Error Categories Made by the Subjects
GRADE ADD OMI TRA SUB CON
E
V 114 300 74 1015 26 1529
IV 141 404 79 1286 66 1976
y
255 704 153 2301 92 3505% 7.28 20.08 4.36 65.65 2.62 100
(92 or 3.34 %) are the errors made by the subjects in the confusion category such as spelling ice for eyes, sailor for seller, see for sea and vice versa.
The information presented in Table 5 is concerned with only the patterns of the spelling errors made by the subjects. So, they could not be used as the bases of either interpreting the essence of the errors or making the inferences about the learning spelling strategies employed by the learners as reflected in those errors yet. To be useful, the data in Table 5 are completed with the data concerning the substance of the spelling errors made by the subjects. The data are in the forms of the details of what spelling elements are incorrectly added, omitted, transposed, substituted, or homonyms being confused.
Having been observed and examined, the data the spelling errors made by the subjects in the categories of addition, omission, transposition, substitution, and being confused of homonyms - appear to be similar from one subjects to another. For example, in spelling, most of the subjects added an unnecessary single letter such as sholdierfor soldier, cointfor coin, exsample
for example, taile for tail or doubling single consonants such as towell for
towel, buffallo for bufallo. In spelling plural nouns or verbs, they tend to omit the plural noun marker and the third person singular marker in the present tense. The subjects also tend to omit one of the consonants in the consonant clusters pronounced as single letters, such as spelling chiken for chicken, stik
for stick, scool for school. They also tend to omit one of a pair of double
of the subjects transpose the sequence of letters especially in words containing consonant clusters or diphthongs, e.g. chikcen for chicken, grilfor girl, alwasy
for always, freind for friend, bycicle for bicycle. Substitution errors take the
highest rank. Most of the subjects substitute for the vowel, consonant or even the whole words according to the Indonesian spelling system, e.g. spelling
Table 6. The Total Error Frequency Distribution of the Addition Category Made by the Subjects
GRADE DBC DBV SGL S.l VDH E S.X
X
V 20 11 36 7 24 7 9 114
IV 13 10 54 2 35 11 14 141
I
33 22 91 10 59 17 23 255% 12.94 8.43 35.88 3.73 23.14 6.86 9.02 100
Notes : DBC = Doubling of a single consonant DBV = Doubling of a single vowel
SGL = Adding of an unnecessary single letter
S. 1 = Adding suffix -s or -es for plural noun without -s or -es VDH = Adding a single vowel for single letter spelling of diphtong
sounds
E = Adding silent -e S.X = Adding s or z for x
1. SGL = Adding unnecessary single letters especially h for c, s, t, d, to
form incorrect ch, sh, th, dh, e.g. jugh for jug, cointfor coin,
angkle for ankle, thail for tail, alphabeth for alphabet
(91/35.88%).
2. VDH = Adding a single vowel for single letter spelling of diphthong sounds, e g. butterjlay for butterfly, cray for cry, spaider for
spider(59/23.14%).
3. DBC = Adding unnecessary elements by doubling a single consonant, a.g. buffallofor bufallo, towelfor towel(33/12.94%).
4. S.X = Adding the letter s or z for x, e.g. boxes for boxes, oxsen for
oxen, exzample or exsamplefor example(23/9.02%).
5. DBV = Doubling a single vowel, e.g. floower for flower, sailoor for
sailor, noorthfor north(22/8.43%).
6. E = Adding unnecessary silent -e such as taile for tail, hate for
hati.
Table 7. The Total Error Frequency Distribution of the Omission Category
% 9.59 14.13 10.09 21.95 21.66 5.33 5.20 12.00 1.07 100
Notes : S. 1
= Omission of silent letters = Omission of single letters
= Omission of one of a pair of double consonants
= Omission of one of a pair of vowels constituting a diphtong or one of a vowel digraph
= Omission of silent -e
= Omission of one of a pair of vowels constituting long vowels
= Omission of one of the elements of a consonant blend The errors that have hight frequencies are as follows :
1. DBC = Omitting one of a pair of double consonants, e.g. hanier for
hammer, scisors for scissors, carotfor carrot, rabit for rabbit,
swimingfor swimming(154/21.95%).
2. SLP = Omitting a single letter pronounced and one of the consonants in the consonant clusters, e.g. cildren for children, chiken for
chicken, nortfor north, stikfor stick, sipfor ship(153/21.66%)
3. SLT = Omitting silent letters, e.g. gostfor ghost, comfor comb, lamfor
lamp, straitfor straight, ofenfor often, ritefor write, anserfor
answer, nifefor knife, lisenfor listen(100/14.13%).
4. LV = Omitting one of a pair of vowels constituting long vowel, e.g.
5. SGL = Omitting a single letter, e.g. studens for students, elephan for
elephant, scaffor scarf, brige for bridge, towl for towel, clow
for clown(71/10.09%).
6. S. 1. = Omitting the suffix -s or -es for plural noun markers and third person singular markers in the present tense, e.g. star for stars,
student for students, go for goes, kick for kicks, scissor for
scissors, glassfor glasses(67/9.59%).
7. VDH = Omitting one of a pair of vowels constituting a diphthong or omitting one of two vowels in sequence, e.g. techerfor teacher,
penut for peanut, ricefildfor ricefield, bredor bradfor bread,
frendfor friend(38/5.33%).
8. E = Omitting silent -e, e.g. horsfor horse, axfor axe, platfor plate,
hornfor home, geesfor geese(29/4.20%).
9. CBL = Omitting one element in a consonant blend, e.g. breakfas for
breakfast, typisfor typist(7/1.07%).
The following is the presentation of the data of the error frequencies in the third category that is the transposition category - transposing the sequence
of spelling elements. The transposition may be phonetic or unphonetic.
Table 8. The Total Error Frequency Distribution of the Transposition Category Made by the Subjects
GRADE PH UPH
X
V 21 52 73
IV 22 58 80
I
43 110 153Notes : PH = Phonetic transposition UPH = Unphonetic transposition
From Table 8, it is known that the subjects tend to make unphonetic transposition with the frequency 153 or 71.90% that is transposing the sequence of element but the pronunciation of the result of that transposition is not like the pronunciation of the correct spelling, such as chikcen or cichken
for chicken, caek for cake, theacerfor teacher, gosht for ghost, childern for
children, brid for bird, frok for fork, there for three, brade for bread, people
for people. The second type of transposition is the phonetic transposition_
transposing the sequence of elements_ the pronunciation of which is the same as that of the correct spelling e.g. hotlefor hotel, people for people, towle for
towel, exampel for example. The frequency of occurrence of this kind of
transposition is 43 or 28.10%.
Table 9. The Total Error Frequency Distribution of the Substitution Category Made by the Subjects
N otes: V = Vowel
C = Consonant
WORD = Word
SUB. DBL = Substitution of double letters
DH = Diphthong
SY = Syllable
from the correct word spelling such as peek for pig, lesson or licen for listen, tool for tall, snack for snake, flour for flower, mouses for mice, boom for bomb, boot for boat, bald for belt, max for mask. The frequency is 859 or 37.31%.
2. The second highest frequency is the substitution of a word phonetically such as eks for axe, trang for trunk, huk for hook, whan for one, pinat for peanut, right for write, mais for mice, lait for light, houm for home, lite for light (312 or 13.54%).
3. The phonetic substitution of vowels is in the third rank. In this column, subjects substitute the vowel in the correct spelling with another vowel such as, rabber for rubber, toll for tall, cames for comes, cap for cup, wor for war, san for son, ribben for ribbon, homewerk for homework, maney for
money, cigerette for ciggarette, elephent for elephant, fen for fan, dack for duck, spinich for spinach, sammer for summer and Indien for Indian, jag for jug, fer for fur, docter for doctor (303 or 13.175%).
4. Column 2 has the frequency of occurrence 192 or 8,32%. In this column, subjects substitute the consonant of the correct spelling with another phonetic consonant, such as oksen for oxen, dolfin for dolphin, elefan for elephant, sircus, cirkus or sirkus for circus, sigarette for cigarette, sinema for cinema, kook for cook, kwickly for quickly, necklase for necklace. 5. In column 3, the subjects substitute the diphthong with another phonetic
piple for people, mauth for mouth, blackbord for blackboard, ticher for teacher (147 or 6,39%).
6. Substituting the consonant with another unphonetic consonant such as bomp for bomb, van for fan, hark for hawk, guart for guard, alvabet for alphabet, dansher for dancer, pic or pick for pig, frok for frog, beld for belt, food for foot (147 or 6,39%).
7. Substituting the syllable of the word spelling unphonetically such as, ricefill or rice file for ricefield, breakfist for brackfast for breakfast, yestheirdey, yestoday for yesterday, neckles for necklace, birdday for birthday, greenmother for grandmother (107 or 4.67%).
8. Substituting the vowel with another unphonetic vowel, e.g. taylor for tailor, soon for sun, snike for snake, bait for belt (92 or 3.40%).
9. Substituting the diphthong unphonetically such as, reen, rean, reyn, for rain,
ageen for again, boot for boat, neal for nail (75 or 3.24%).
10. Substitution of double letters_ doubling another single element in the word such as, buffalo for bufallo, gllas for glaas for glass, cllas or claas for class, cigarrete for cigarette, botlle for bottle, aplle for apple, eeg for egg (34 or
1.50%).
The errors in the confusion category have the lowest frequency of occurrence and because of that this type errors will not be presented in a detailed table. In the confusion category, the subjects are confused of the spelling of a word with another word which has resemblance in spelling or pronunciation such as ice for eye, sea or she for see, sailor for seller, dear for deer and vice versa. The frequency is 66 or 3.34%.
II. The Research Data About The Strategies Of Learning English Spelling
That Performed By The Students
The strategies in learning English spelling clearly reflected in the errors related to the competency of auditory discrimination and use of correct word pronounciation, consonant clusters, double consonants, consonant blends,
sound variations, graphemic representations, plural nouns, and third person singular marker, consonant and vowel pattern, silent letter and silent e. from is the researcher conclude their strategy. Children’s strategies data also the researcher get from interview with their teacher which present some of question. So, from the answer the researcher conclude that children’s strategies are : a) transfer; b) interference, c) generalization and d) simplification. From that four strategies that used by the children’s the researcher will try to over better strategies that should or may be can use by children, so the learning
To analysis the data is the next step that did after all data that needed in this research was collected to analysis, the researcher use statistical tehnic, so the researcher get the answer about:
1. What spelling error are majorly made by the students of MIM Tegalarum.
2. What are strategies of learning English spelling are performed by the student, so the researcher can conclude.
3. What better strategies are should use for the children.
Base on that question or problems above. The researcher will analysis the data as follow:
A. Data Analysis
The form of representation of the data in this research is absolute frequencies- the numbers of incidents found in the sample.
If compared, the data presented in Table 6 up to Table 8 can be redrawn in a brief way to show the relationships of the error categories. The relationships of the error categories are shown in Table 10.
Table 9. Error Elements in Word Spelling
Note : The codes used are the same as those in the previous tables.
The data in Table 9 consist of 5 error categories. The errors are presented in rank. The highest rank is in the first row and the lowest is in the last row. There are 30 types of errors which are then related to the spelling competencies proposed by Mercer and Mercer (1989:419-420). The researcher found out that there are 6 competencies related to the errors made by the subjects of this research.
1. Errors related to the competency of “auditory discrimination”.
The errors related to the competency of auditory discrimination- the ability to discriminate consonant aound and vowel sound and use of correct word pronunciation covered the elements presented in Table 10.
Table 10. The Error Frequency Distribution of the “Auditory
Based on the data in Table 10, the researcher interprets :
1. The subjects had two opposing tendencies. They added unnecessary single letters and omitted necessary single letters. The tendency of adding the unnecessary single letters was stronger than that of omitting the necessary letters (91:71). The addition of single letters such as adding ‘h’ to form incorrect ‘sh, th, ch, gh, dh’, implies that the subjects are confused of discriminating the sounds represented by ‘s, t, g, p’, from the sounds represented by ‘sh, th, ch, gh, ph\ The omission of a single letter such as, the letter ‘t’ in ‘student, elephant’, and ‘r’ in ‘scarf also reveals that inaccurate pronunciation contributes to the making of errors.
2. The subjects had the tendency of omitting one of two vowels constituting long vowels. On the other hand, the subjects also had the tendency of doubling a vowel but the tenency of omitting the vowel was much stronger (85:22).
4. The subjects have the stronger tendency to transpose the sequence of the spelling elements unphonetically than that of transposing the elements phonetically (110:43).
5. In the case of homonyms, the subjects are confused of the same pronunciation of the two words being homonyms. The subjects who tend to employ the word pronunciation in spelling the words without considering the context will tend to spell to two words interchangeably.
2. Error related to the competency of “consonant”.
The errors related to the competency of “consonant” concern the knowledge of consonants in initial, medial and final position, and the knowledge of
Table 11 shows the following information :
consonants was stronger than that of doubling a single consonant (154:35). The problem of double consonants is also clear in the errors of substituting the double letters in a word by doubling another single letter in the word
(35).
2. The subjects tend to omit one of the elements in a single letter pronounced. In this case, a sequence of two or more consonants is pronounced as one sound such as, ck, ph, tch, ch, th. Concerning silent letters, the omission of silent letters tend to be done by the children who make use of word pronunciation for spelling those letters which are not pronounced. In the case of a consonant blend, one of the elements in the consonant blend also tends to be omitted such as, the omission of the ‘t’ in the words ‘typist’ or ‘breakfast’.
they generalize them. This results in the interchangeable use of t/d, p/b, k/g.
3. Error related to the competency of “plural” and suffix -s/-es for the third person singular marker in the present tense.
Table 12. The Error Frequency Distribution of the Competency of “Plural” and “Third Person Singular Marker”
Error Category Frequency
ADD. S. 1 10
OMI. S. 1 67
The tendency for omitting suffix -s/-es in the plural or third person singular marker was much stronger than that of adding it (67:10). The addition of suffix -s or -es for the irregular plural noun forms implies that the subjects generalize that the plural nouns are formed by adding the suffix -s or -es regardless of the exception in the case of irregular forms such as, ‘children, deer, oxen’. However, most of the subjects omit the suffix -s or -es. This fact
reveals that the subjects assume that there is no different marker for the plural and third person singular.
4. Errors related to the competency of “syllabication”.
Errors related to the competency of syllabication deal with the ability to divide words into syllables. The errors in the competency of “syllable” is shown in Table 13.
Table 13. The Error Frequency Distribution of the “Syllabication” Competency
Error Category Frequency
SUB. PH/SY 34
The substitution of unphonetic syllables was much stronger than that of phonetic syllable substitution. In this case, it seems that the subjects have sufficient knowledge about syllabication. They made errors in the part of the syllable by substituting that part with another incorrect syllable resembling the correct one but unphonetic.
5. Error related to the competency of diphthong and vowel digraph.
Table 14. The Error Frequency Distribution of the Competency of “Diphthong” and “Vowel Digraph”
Error Category Frequency
ADD. VDH 59
OMI. VDH 38
SUB. PH/DH 147
SUB. UPH/DH 74
Errors related to the competency of diphthong and vowel digraph concern the ability to spell words in which a vowel digraph forms one sound or a diphthong forms a blend.
6. Errors related to the competency of silent e.
The errors related to the competency of silent e concern the knowledge of single syllable words that end in silent e.
Table 15. The Error Frequency Distribution of the “Silent e” Competency
Error Category Frequency
ADD. E 18
OMI. E 29
The tendency to omit the silent e is stronger than that of adding it. It seems that the subjects knowledge about the words ending in silent e is still low. The omission of silent e in a word is also due to the fact that the ‘e’ letter is not pronounced.
Because of the great number and complexity of the present the errors one by one. Besides, if the researcher elaborates the errors at a great length, the readers will research. From the data analysis on the types of errors having relatively high frequencies, this research results in the following findings.
2. The discrimination of long vowel sounds and their graphemic representation, especially by doubling the vowel are confusing to the subjects. Long vowel sounds are not always represented by double vowels but the subjects tend to double the vowel whenever they assumed that the words contained long vowel sounds such as, noorth for north, claass for class. On the other hand, the subjects tend to omit one of the elements in a vowel digraph or diphthong representing a long vowel sound. This is in line with the phenomena of doubling the vowel for long vowel sounds. The subjects apply their knowledge of long vowel sounds represented by double vowels. But they were not sure in which contexts this knowledge is applicable.
3. The omission of silent letters such as t, w, k, gh, in spelling the words containing those letters implies that the subjects make use of correct word pronunciation in spelling. Since those letters are not pronounced, those elements tend to be omitted.
represented by single c, s, p, g, t, even the subjects add ‘h’ to the single k as in the case of khitchen for kitchen. The omission of the ‘c’ in ‘ck’ may derive from the fact that when ‘ck’ appears together in a word only the ‘k’ is pronounced.
5. Another type of errors is related to the substitution of phonetic consonant. This is due to the existence of some letters having more than one sound such as ‘s’ which may sound as ‘s’ or ‘z’, ‘c’ which may sound as ‘s’ or ‘k’, ‘g’ which may sound as ‘g’ or ‘j ’ and then ‘qu’ wich^sounds as ‘kw’, ‘ngk’ or ‘nk’ which sounds as ‘ng\ The subjects substitute the consonant with its sound variation. The same case also occurs to the cluster ‘ph’ representing the sound
‘f o r ‘v’.
6. Error related to the double consonants are other glaring errors with a high tendency. Most of the subjects omit one of the double consonants. It seems reasonable as when two of the same cnsonants are side by side, only one is heard. Moreover, there is no double consonants in Indonesian spelling sistem. Some other subjects realize the existence of double consonants in English words but they are not sure where to apply the concept of double consonant representation, so they incorrectly double a single consonant. The imperfect concept of double consonants is also found in the fact that some subjects make the errors related to the incorrect substitution of double letters in the words. 7. The omission of one of the elements of a consonant blend has a relatively low
knowledge of consonant blend. They may have a problem of inaccurate pronunciation so that they miss one of the elements in a blend.
8. Related to the errors of adding the suffix -s to the irregular plural noun forms, it is clear that the subjects generalize that plural nouns are formed by adding the suffix -s. but some other subjects omit the suffix -s for the regular plural noun forms. Still in relation to the errors of omitting the suffix -s, the subjects also tend to omit the third person singular marker in the present tense. It seems that the subjects generalize the endingless form for all persons.
9. Errors in the part of syllables concern substituting the syllable either phonetically or unphonetically. These may be due to the inaccurate pronunciation or inaccurate auditory memory.
10. The type of errors concerning diphthong covered the addition of a vowel to spell a diphthong represented by a single letter such as cray for cry, spaider for spider. This implies that the subjects are influenced by the word pronunciation.
Substituting a diphthong phonetically reveals that the use of correct word pronunciation determines the spelling. Other errors related to the competency of diphthong are substituting the diphthong unphonetically and omitting one of the elements of a diphthong wich sounds as one sound.
12. The errors of adding or omitting the silent e, just like the silent letters, are much influenced by the fact that this letter is not pronounced.
The types of spelling errors presented above provide answers to the first research question, namely “What kinds of spelling errors tend to be made by elementary school children learning English?”. The answer to th esecond research queston - What learning spelling strategies are employed by the subjects of the research as reflected in those spelling errors? - will be presented in the following discussion.
In Chapter III, the researcher stated that the factors causing the errors are the cognitive structure and process of the subjects in terms of the learning spelling strategies. Unfortunately, the learning spelling strategies cannot be observed directly. That is why, the researcher employed content analysis. Based on the data and the context of the data, inferences were made about what learning strategies of the subjects are reflected in the spelling errors. In respect to the errors of substituting to whole words, the researcher found that many subjects substitute the whole word e.g., snack for snak, bald for belt, lesson for listen, boom for bomb.
of those errors. It is clear in spelling rait for write, trang for trunk, kwin for queen, ners for nurse.
This reveals that the subjects use a learning strategy known as interference strategy. The “phonetic” spelling system of Indonesian influenced the subjects to spell the words phonetically. This may result in the errors of substituting the words phonetically. Since the English spelling system has no one - to one relationship with the word pronunciation, the tendency to make unphonetic substitution of words tend to be stronger. This is in line with the fact that the highest frequency of error occurrence is in this type.
The same inference is also made for the errors due to the confusion of homonyms, for instance see/sea/she or ice/eye. Those wo made use of word pronunciation regardless of the contexts tend to make errors of this type. They inappropriately employ the interference strategy. In the phonetic substitution of consonants, the subjects substitute a consonant with its sound variation (kook for cook, foks for fox, alfabet for alphabet).
