vii newspapers, and other sources of information. Since BNP are common, they must be mastered and formed well. Mastering BNP enables the students to grasp general idea and specific information and also build good sentences and paragraphs. However, VII graders of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta had problems and frequently made errors in forming BNP. This study aims to identify BNP errors made by the students, discover possible causes of the students’ errors and make suggestions to improve students’ understanding of BNP.
The researcher undertook a document analysis. There were three research problems in this study: 1) What are BNP errors made by the students? 2) What are possible causes of their errors? and 3) What are suggestions to improve students’ understanding of BNP? In responding to the first and second research problems, the researcher analyzed documents which are the students’ descriptive writing. In identifying possible causes of the students’ errors and making suggestions, the researcher conducted interviews to three English teachers and also three students, one made the most errors, one made the fewest errors and one made the greatest range of different types of errors. The participants of the study were 38 VIIF graders and three English teachers of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta in the 2011/2012 academic year. The theories applied to obtain the data were theories of a descriptive text and BNP proposed by Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1972) and Lam (2004), and then to analyze the data, theories of error analysis, surface strategy taxonomy proposed by Dulay, Burt & Krashen (1983), causes of errors proposed by Brown (2000) and Indonesian noun phrases proposed by Alwi, Dardjowidjojo, Lapoliwa and Moeliono (1993) and Chaer (2009) were applied.
The finding showed that the students made 8 misformation errors in type 1 BNP. In type 2 BNP, the students made 76 omission errors (43.6%), 53 misformation errors (30.4%), 36 addition errors (20.9%) and 1 misordering error (0.5%). While, three possible causes of the students’ errors are interferences from the mother tongue, overgeralization and the context of learning. The result of the interview revealed that there are several suggestions to improve students’ understanding of BNP, namely giving feedback and increasing practice of the language through interesting activities. In addition, the researcher also offered recommendations for the teachers, students and the researchers who are interested in this topic.
viii koran dan berbagai sumber informasi lainnya. Karena mudah ditemukan, maka BNP harus dikuasai dan dibuat dengan benar. Dengan menguasai BNP, para siswa dapat memahami gagasan utama dan informasi rinci dan mampu membuat kalimat dan paragraf yang benar. Namun, siswa kelas VII SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta mengalami kesulitan dalam membuat BNP. Mereka hampir selalu membuat kesalahan saat membuat BNP. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi BNP errors yang dibuat oleh para siswa, mengetahui penyebab siswa membuat kesalahan dan memberikan anjuran untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan siswa tentang BNP.
Peneliti melakukan document analysis. Ada tiga pertanyaan dalam kajian ini: 1) Kesalahan apa saja yang dibuat siswa? 2) Apa yang menyebabkan siswa-siswa membuat kesalahan? dan 3) Apa anjuran yang mungkin diberikan untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan siswa tentang BNP? Untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama dan kedua, peneliti menganalisis dokumen yang merupakan karangan deskriptif para siswa. Untuk mengidentifikasi penyebab kesalahan siswa dan memberikan anjuran, peneliti mengadakan wawancara terhadap tiga guru Bahasa Inggris dan tiga siswa yang membuat kesalahan terbanyak, tersedikit dan yang dikemukakan oleh Brown (2000) dan teori frasa nominal yang dikemukakan oleh Alwi, Dardjowidjojo, Lapoliwa & Moeliono (1993) dan Chaer (2009).
Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa siswa membuat 8 kesalahan misformation di BNP type 1. Di BNP type 2, siswa membuat 76 omission (43.6%), 53 misformation (30.4%), 36 addition (20.9%) and 1 misordering (0.5%). Sementara itu, tiga penyebab siswa melakukan kesalahan adalah pengaruh dari bahasa ibu, overgeneralization dan context of learning. Hasil wawancara menunjukkan bahwa ada beberapa anjuran untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan siswa tentang BNP yaitu dengan memberikan feedback dan meningkatkan latihan bahasa melalui aktivitas yang menarik. Selain itu, peneliti juga memberikan saran untuk guru, siswa dan peneliti lainnya yang tertarik dengan bidang ini.
ERROR ANALYSIS ON BASIC NOUN PHRASES
IN DESCRIPTIVE WRITING OF VIIF STUDENTS
OF
SMP PANGUDI LUHUR 1 YOGYAKARTA
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Margaretha Okta Paulina Student Number: 081214009
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
i
ERROR ANALYSIS ON BASIC NOUN PHRASES
IN DESCRIPTIVE WRITING OF VIIF STUDENTS
OF
SMP PANGUDI LUHUR 1 YOGYAKARTA
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Margaretha Okta Paulina Student Number: 081214009
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
iv
Conceive, believe, achieve…
(Anonymons)
v
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, 5 December 2012
The Writer,
vi
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Margaretha Okta Paulina
Nomor Mahasiswa : 08 1214 009
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
Error Analysis on Basic Noun Phrases in Descriptive Writing of VIIF
Students of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta izin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta,
Pada tanggal: 5 Desember 2012
Yang menyatakan
vii newspapers, and other sources of information. Since BNP are common, they must be mastered and formed well. Mastering BNP enables the students to grasp general idea and specific information and also build good sentences and paragraphs. However, VII graders of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta had problems and frequently made errors in forming BNP. This study aims to identify BNP errors made by the students, discover possible causes of the students’ errors and make suggestions to improve students’ understanding of BNP.
The researcher undertook a document analysis. There were three research problems in this study: 1) What are BNP errors made by the students? 2) What are possible causes of their errors? and 3) What are suggestions to improve students’ understanding of BNP? In responding to the first and second research problems, the researcher analyzed documents which are the students’ descriptive writing. In identifying possible causes of the students’ errors and making suggestions, the researcher conducted interviews to three English teachers and also three students, one made the most errors, one made the fewest errors and one made the greatest range of different types of errors. The participants of the study were 38 VIIF graders and three English teachers of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta in the 2011/2012 academic year. The theories applied to obtain the data were theories of a descriptive text and BNP proposed by Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1972) and Lam (2004), and then to analyze the data, theories of error analysis, surface strategy taxonomy proposed by Dulay, Burt & Krashen (1983), causes of errors proposed by Brown (2000) and Indonesian noun phrases proposed by Alwi, Dardjowidjojo, Lapoliwa and Moeliono (1993) and Chaer (2009) were applied.
The finding showed that the students made 8 misformation errors in type 1 BNP. In type 2 BNP, the students made 76 omission errors (43.6%), 53 misformation errors (30.4%), 36 addition errors (20.9%) and 1 misordering error (0.5%). While, three possible causes of the students’ errors are interferences from the mother tongue, overgeralization and the context of learning. The result of the interview revealed that there are several suggestions to improve students’ understanding of BNP, namely giving feedback and increasing practice of the language through interesting activities. In addition, the researcher also offered recommendations for the teachers, students and the researchers who are interested in this topic.
viii koran dan berbagai sumber informasi lainnya. Karena mudah ditemukan, maka BNP harus dikuasai dan dibuat dengan benar. Dengan menguasai BNP, para siswa dapat memahami gagasan utama dan informasi rinci dan mampu membuat kalimat dan paragraf yang benar. Namun, siswa kelas VII SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta mengalami kesulitan dalam membuat BNP. Mereka hampir selalu membuat kesalahan saat membuat BNP. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi BNP errors yang dibuat oleh para siswa, mengetahui penyebab siswa membuat kesalahan dan memberikan anjuran untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan siswa tentang BNP.
Peneliti melakukan document analysis. Ada tiga pertanyaan dalam kajian ini: 1) Kesalahan apa saja yang dibuat siswa? 2) Apa yang menyebabkan siswa-siswa membuat kesalahan? dan 3) Apa anjuran yang mungkin diberikan untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan siswa tentang BNP? Untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama dan kedua, peneliti menganalisis dokumen yang merupakan karangan deskriptif para siswa. Untuk mengidentifikasi penyebab kesalahan siswa dan memberikan anjuran, peneliti mengadakan wawancara terhadap tiga guru Bahasa Inggris dan tiga siswa yang membuat kesalahan terbanyak, tersedikit dan yang dikemukakan oleh Brown (2000) dan teori frasa nominal yang dikemukakan oleh Alwi, Dardjowidjojo, Lapoliwa & Moeliono (1993) dan Chaer (2009).
Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa siswa membuat 8 kesalahan misformation di BNP type 1. Di BNP type 2, siswa membuat 76 omission (43.6%), 53 misformation (30.4%), 36 addition (20.9%) and 1 misordering (0.5%). Sementara itu, tiga penyebab siswa melakukan kesalahan adalah pengaruh dari bahasa ibu, overgeneralization dan context of learning. Hasil wawancara menunjukkan bahwa ada beberapa anjuran untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan siswa tentang BNP yaitu dengan memberikan feedback dan meningkatkan latihan bahasa melalui aktivitas yang menarik. Selain itu, peneliti juga memberikan saran untuk guru, siswa dan peneliti lainnya yang tertarik dengan bidang ini.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my never-ending gratitude to Lord Jesus Christ, who already created me, Mother Mary, who always blesses me and everyone who helps me in my frustrating thesis time. Without them, I am sure that this thesis would be still empty now.
I am so delighted to have this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to my sponsor, Agustinus Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A., for his patience, guidance, valuable suggestions and encouragement throughout this process. His way to criticize my thesis was like a whip for me; it reminded me to force myself to do my thesis with all my heart and to finish this thesis well. Big thanks are also expressed to the PBI lecturers and the staff for supporting me in completing this thesis in the right time.
I would like to thank Br. Valentinus Naryo, FIC, M.Pd., A. Ismargyaning Utami, S.Pd., Pricillia Linawati Cahya P., S.Pd., M.Hum., M. Dyah Lintang P., S.Pd, Isidorus Sumardiyono, Msi., the other teachers and the staff of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta for their kindness and priceless help. For VIIF students, I would like to thank them for their willingness to do the assignments. Sincere thanks are also expressed to the English teachers and the students who had become the interviewees.
x
support, love, prayers and beneficial suggestions. Their assistance in my life is a wonderful gift for me.
Special thanks go to Damianus Deni Kurnianto for being my number one supporter. His love, support, patience, attention and prayer have motivated me to finish this thesis and reminded me that there are still a lot of things to do to turn my dreams into reality.
I would also like to express my appreciation to my dear friends in PSM Cantus Firmus, PBI 2008, Nityambara, Ohunka, kost mb Desti, narlim and murai, PPL SMP PL 1 and KKN 24 for helping me in the process of finding who I am. Besides, their continuous questions about my graduation were like an alarm for me to wake me up and finish this thesis sooner and better.
My deepest gratefulness also goes to Pricillia Linawati Cahya P., S.Pd. M.Hum. and Yohannes Jatmiko Yuwono, S.Pd for their precious suggestions to improve this thesis. I also thank Marita Elisabeth Arnold for being my proofreader and a great teacher. I also thank her for her support and willingness to share her experiences in teaching English and learning languages. It was fun and inspiring! Sincere thanks also go to Sr. Margaret O’ Donohue FCJ, for her patience in helping me to correct and proofread this thesis. Throughout my lifetime I will remember their kindness and priceless help to me.
Last but not least, I would also like to express my gratitude to those whose names I cannot mention here, especially to everyone who had supported and helped me in finishing this thesis. Matur nuwun lan Berkah Dalem!
xi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE ... i
APPROVAL PAGE ... ii
DEDICATION PAGE ... iv
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... v
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi
ABSTRACT ... vii
ABSTRAK ... viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... xi
LIST OF TABLES ... xv
LIST OF FIGURES ... xvi
LIST OF APPENDICES ... xvii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Background of the study ... 1
B. Problem of Formulation ... 4
C. Problem Limitation ... 4
D. Objectives of the study ... 5
E. Research Benefits ... 6
F. Definition of Terms ... 6
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Theoretical Description ... 9
1. Error and Error Analysis... ... 9
a. Errors ... 9
b. Error Analysis ... 11
c. Types of errors ... 11
1) Linguistic Category Taxonomy ... 11
xii
a) Omission ... 12
b) Addition ... 12
c) Misformation ... 13
d) Misordering ... 13
3) Comparative Analysis Taxonomy ... 14
4) Communicative Effect Taxonomy ... 14
d. The Causes of Errors ... 14
e. Suggestions to Improve Students’ Understanding ... 15
2. Basic Noun Phrases (BNP) ... 16
a. Type 1 BNP: Pronouns and Numerals ... 17
1) Pronouns ... 17
a) Personal Pronouns ... 17
b) Possesive Pronouns ... 17
c) Indefinite Pronouns ... 18
d) Demonstrative Pronouns ... 18
e) Interrogative Pronouns ... 18
2) Numerals ... 18
a) Cardinal Numbers ... 18
b) Ordinal Numbers ... 18
b. Type 2 BNP: Noun Head with Determiners ... 18
1) Determiners ... 19
a) Predeterminers ... 19
b) Central Determiners ... 20
c) Postdeterminers ... 21
2) Noun Heads ... 22
a) The countable nouns ... 22
b) The uncountable nouns or mass nouns... 22
c) The proper nouns... 22
3. A Descriptive Text ... 22
a. Purpose ... 23
xiii
c. Language Feature ... 23
d. Types of Descriptive texts ... 23
1) Describing Process ... 23
2) Describing an Object ... 24
3) Describing a Place ... 24
4) Describing Personality ... 24
5) Describing an Event ... 24
4. Indonesian Grammar Theories ... 25
a. Indonesian Noun Phrases ... 25
b. Singular and Plural ... 26
1) Singular Concept ... 27
2) Plural Concept ... 27
c. Pronomina Penunjuk Atributif ... 29
B. Theoretical Framework ... 29
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Research Method ... 32
B. Research Setting ... 33
C. Research Participants/subjects ... 33
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ... 34
1. Instruments ... 34
a. Documents ... 34
b. Interview Protocol ... 35
2. Data Gathering Technique ... 35
E. Data Analysis Technique ... 36
F. Research Procedure ... 40
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. The Errors in Basic Noun Phrases ... 43
1. Type 1... 46
xiv
2. Type 2... 48
a. Omission ... 49
b. Addition ... 50
c. Misformation ... 52
d. Misordering ... 56
B. The Possible Causes of the Errors ... 56
1. Interferences from the Mother Tongue ... 58
2. Overgeneralization ... 59
3. Context of Learning ... 60
C. The Possible Suggestions to Improve Students’ Understanding about Basic Noun Phrases ... 62
1. Giving Feedback ... 63
2. Increasing Practice of the Language through Interesting Activities ... 64
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Conclusions ... 66
B. Recommendations ... 68
1. For English Teachers... 68
2. For Students ... 69
3. For Future Researchers ... 69
REFERENCES ... 70
xv
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
3.1 The Number of Basic Noun Phrases (BNP) and Errors Based on each
Error Sub-classifications ... 37
3.2 The Number of Type 1 BNP Errors ... 38
3.3 The Number of Type 1 BNP Errors ... 38
3.4 Errors in each Student’s Writing ... 38
3.5 The Summary of Type 1 BNP Error Sub-classifications and Their Examples... 39
3.6 The Summary of Type 1 BNP Error Sub-classifications and Their Examples... 39
3.7 Possible Correction ... 39
4.1 The Number of Basic Noun Phrases and the Errors ... 44
4.2 Type 1 BNP Errors (Misformation) ... 47
4.3 Type 2 BNP Errors (Omission) ... 49
4.4 Type 2 BNP Errors (Addition) ... 50
4.5 Type 2 BNP Errors (Misformation) ... 52
4.6 Type 2 BNP Errors (Misordering) ... 56
xvi
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
xvii
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
Appendix 1 Surat Ijin Penelitian ... 78
Appendix 2 Sample of the Student’s Descriptive Writing ... 80
Appendix 3 The Number of BNP and the Errors Based on each Category . 82 Appendix 4 The Number of Errors in Type 1 ... 85
Appendix 5 The Number of Errors in Type 2 ... 87
Appendix 6 Errors in each Student’s Writing ... 90
Appendix 7 Possible Correction ... 98
Appendix 8 Interview Results ... 101
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides general introduction to the research. There are six sections that will be discussed. They are the background of the study, problem formulation, problem limitation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study and definition of terms.
A. Background of the Study
English, which is the foreign language and most commonly taught in Indonesia, is not easy to learn. There are three elements of English language that should be mastered, namely language structure usually called grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Radford (1997) says that grammar relates to the rule about the construction of sentences (p.1). He also says that grammar is traditionally concerned with the principles which determine the formation of words, phrases, and sentences. Similarly, Thornbury (as cited in Pramesi, 2010) argues that in order to acquire English accuracy, learners have to focus on form (p. 1). In other words, second language learners should focus on the form of grammatically correct words, phrases and sentences to master English grammar and acquire English accuracy.
can function as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, complements of the subject, complements of the object, objects of prepositions, and/or appositions. Noun phrases are a word or group of words that contain a noun or pronoun as the head and which are modified by other words, for example: the girl, that book, etc. Therefore, since noun phrases are frequently found and play an important role in forming English sentences, they should be well-formed.
Indonesian students learning English are expected to be able to form noun phrases well. Constructing well-formed noun phrases enables students to build good sentences and paragraphs. Moreover, since noun phrases are common and easily found in text books, magazines, newspapers, and other sources of information, the students who master noun phrases are able to grasp general idea and specific information in the texts as well.
3 Considering this situation, the researcher was encouraged to analyze the students’ errors in forming noun phrases. However, in this study the researcher only focuses on the basic noun phrase, a type of a noun phrase, since it is an essential foundation of noun phrases. The researcher also uses a descriptive text type as an analytical tool for obtaining the data. As seen in the list of School Based Curriculum or Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP), students are familiar with a descriptive text until they finish learning in their secondary school. Related to a descriptive text, everybody is expected to be able to describe anything in real life. Describing anything clearer requires detailed information and involves five senses such as sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. Similarly, the students are also expected to be able to describe anything in a text as detailed as possible, for instance depicting the quantity, condition or quality of the things being described. Therefore, since the students’ descriptive text deals with the quantity, certain amount of numbers and nouns, basic noun phrases would be easily found there.
or failure to perform what the students have already understood about basic noun phrase formation.
To sum up, this study focuses on errors in forming basic noun phrases made by seventh grade students and uses the students’ descriptive texts as the analytical tool to obtain the data. This study aims to find out the errors made by the students through the students’ descriptive writing, discover the possible causes of their errors and make suggestions to improve the students’ understanding of basic noun phrases through an interview. Hopefully, by knowing students’ errors, both the teachers and students are able to make better adjustments of what teachers need to develop the quality of the teaching-learning process and of what students need to improve and enrich their knowledge about basic noun phrases.
B. Problem Formulation
There are three problems that can be formulated:
1. What are the basic noun phrase errors made by the students?
2. What are the possible causes of the students’ basic noun phrase errors? 3. What are suggestions to improve the students’ understanding of basic noun
phrases?
C. Problem Limitation
5 errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation of the whole paragraph of the students’ descriptive writing were disregarded.
Since the study deals with seventh grade, this study is relevant to the School Based Curriculum or KTSP which focuses on a text type, namely a descriptive text. A descriptive text is chosen because it is closely related to the students’ real life which is expected to be able to describe anything around them. Besides, it also uses simple English tense, namely simple present tense. Furthermore, it also deals with numbers and nouns which describe the quantity and the quality of the things being described, so the basic noun phrases would be easily found in the students’ descriptive writing.
The researcher is interested in selecting thirty eight students of RSBI (Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf International) classes or International Designated Rating Schools VIIF class of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta in the 2011/2012 academic year to be the participants of the study. It is because the researcher found the problem there and hopefully this study provides feedback for them and other classes that have the same problems forming basic noun phrases.
D. Objectives of the Study
E. Research Benefits
The researcher expects that the findings of the study may give contribution for further development. Besides, there are some benefits aimed at the students, teachers, and other researchers. For students, hopefully this study helps the students to enrich their knowledge about basic noun phrases and improves their writing skill, especially in forming grammatically correct English basic noun phrases. It is also expected that the students would realize that the more they practice the more they have a good command of the material, in this case basic noun phrases.
For teachers, hopefully this study will help them to be aware of students’ needs and weaknesses so that they will make better improvement on their teaching techniques. It is also expected that whatever the reasons the students have for “getting it wrong,” the teachers should realize that students making errors is a natural part of the learning process. The last, for future researchers, hopefully, this study could inspire other researchers to conduct the study and follow up this study further.
F. Definition of Terms
7
1. Error Analysis
Richards, Platt, & Platt (1992) state that “error analysis is the study and the analysis of errors made by second language learners” (p. 127). Dulay, Burt & Krashen (1982) concludes that “error analysis has two major purposes: to provide data from which inferences about the nature of the language learning process can be made; and to show which part of the target language students have most difficulty producing correctly and which error type detract most from a learner’s ability to communicate effectively” (p. 138). In this study, the term error analysis refers to a study which identifies, describes and explains second language learners’ errors to provide data analysis and feedback.
In addition, in this study the researcher does not differentiate between errors and mistakes since distinguishing those two terms is not a simple task. Thus, in this study the term errors refer to any of the students’ misproduction which shows misunderstanding or failure to perform what the students have already understood about basic noun phrase formation.
2. Basic Noun Phrases
While type 2 basic noun phrase, it is comprised of a noun as the head and determiners which occur before the head. In addition, this study focuses on basic noun phrases made by VIIF grade students. Thus, any errors in grammar and punctuation of the whole paragraph of the students’ descriptive writing were disregarded.
3. Descriptive Writing
In this study, the term descriptive writing refers to the students’ English assignment. The students are asked to write a descriptive text based on a picture provided in their worksheets. In that picture, there is a farm and several farm animals live there. The purpose of providing the picture in the student’s assignment is to help the students to focus only on that picture so that they can point out the actual object. Besides, it also helps the researcher to obtain data about basic noun phrases since there are several farm animals and objects drawn in the picture which deal with nouns and numerals.
4. VIIF Grade Students of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta
9
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter aims to discuss the fundamental theories underlying this study. There are two elements discussed in this chapter; theoretical description in which relevant theories and research studies on the topic are outlined and theoretical framework which relates these theories to the present study.
A. Theoretical Description
This section is divided into four subsections: error and error analysis, basic noun phrases, a descriptive text and Indonesian grammar theories.
1. Error and Error analysis
This subsection explains the five main theories supporting this study: a) errors, b) error analysis, c) types of errors, d) possible causes of errors and e) suggestions to improve students’ understanding of basic noun phrases.
a. Error
knowledge of the target language. In other words, errors occur when learners do not master a concept or even misunderstand it (p. 17).
On the other hand, Dulay, Burt, & Krashen (1982) use the term errors to refer to “any deviation from some selected norm of mature language performance, no matter what the characteristics or causes of the deviation might be” (p. 139).
Radford (1997) has proposed another way of defining errors. He states that misproductions and misinterpretations are performance errors. He defines competence as having tacit knowledge of the grammar of the language; while performance, which is the reflection of the competence, is the actual use of language in concrete situations (p. 2). Similarly, Brown (2000) defines competence as one’s underlying knowledge of a system, event, or fact whereas performance is the realization of competence (p. 30).
Considering that distinguishing errors and mistakes is not simple, this study does not differentiate those two terms. This study drew on the theories of error proposed by Ellis (1997), Dulay et al. (1982) and Radford (1997). In other words, in this study the term errors refers to any of the students’ misproduction which shows misunderstanding or failure to perform what the students have already understood about basic noun phrase formation.
b. Error Analysis
11 common difficulties in language learning, and as an aid to teaching or in the preparation of teaching materials (p. 127).
Dulay et al. (1982) add that error analysis is the study of learners’ error and closely related to contrastive analysis. They state, based on contrastive analysis, that the differences between the first and the second languages were thought to account for the majority of a second language learner’s errors (p. 140).
According to Corder (1967), as cited by Ellis, Rod, & Barkhuizen (2005), error analysis (EA) is “a set of procedures for identifying, describing, and explaining learner errors.” They add that learner’s errors have three significant roles in error analysis. They serve a pedagogic purpose by showing teachers what learners have learned and what they have not yet mastered; a research purpose by providing evidence about how languages are learned; and a learning purpose by acting as devices by which learners can discover the rules of the target language (i.e. by obtaining feedback on their errors) (p. 51). In brief, error analysis is a study which identifies, describes and explains second language learners’ errors to provide data analysis and feedback.
c. Types of Errors
Dulay et al. (1982) present the most useful and commonly used bases for the descriptive classification of errors. They are (1) linguistic category; (2) surface strategy taxonomy; (3) comparative analysis; and (4) communicative effect.
1) Linguistic Category Taxonomy
affects.” Language component include phonology (pronunciation), syntax and morphology (grammar), semantics and lexicon (meaning and vocabulary), and discourse (style). Constituents include the elements that comprise each language component.
2) Surface Strategy Taxonomy
Surface strategy taxonomy highlights the ways surface structures are altered. This taxonomy more concerns with identifying students’ cognitive process of acquiring a new language. This taxonomy is divided into four sub-classifications, namely omission, addition, misformation, and misordering.
a) Omission
Omission errors are characterized by the absence of an item that must appear in a well-formed sentence, for example, *Mary president new company instead of Mary is the president of the new company.
b) Addition
13 added to items which do not take markers. The last type of addition errors is simple addition. If an addition error is not a double marking or a regularization, it is called a simple addition.
c) Misformation
Misformation errors are characterized by the use of the wrong form of morpheme or structure. While in omission errors the item is not supplied at all, in misformation errors the learner supplies something, although it is incorrect, for example, *the dog eated the chicken. As in the case of addition, misformations are not random. There are three types of misformations errors, namely regularization errors, archi-forms, and alternating forms.
Regularization errors that fall under the misformation category are those in which a regular marker is used in place of an irregular one, as in *runned, *gooses for geese. Archi-forms refer to forms selected by the learners. Dulay et al. (1982) give example, a learner may temporarily select just one of the English demonstrative adjectives this, that, these, and those, to do the work for several of them, as seen in that dog and *that dogs. The last type is alternating forms. Alternating forms refer to apparently fairly free alternation of various member of a class with each other as seen in *those dog and *this cats (p. 160).
d) Misordering
3) Comparative Analysis Taxonomy
Dulay et al. (1982) state that the classification of errors in a comparative taxonomy is based on comparisons between the structure of second language and certain other types of constructions (p. 163). According to Johnson and Johnson (1999), as cited in Harendita (2009), in comparative taxonomy, the second language learners’ errors are classified by similarity with the children’s first language learner deviations from target language norms and/or similarity with the errors made by second language speakers from different first language background (p. 14).
4) Communicative Effect Taxonomy
The communicative effect taxonomy deals with errors from the perspective of their effect on the listener or reader. It focuses on distinguishing between errors that seem to cause miscommunication and those that do not. d. The Causes of errors
15 example, the classroom with its teacher and material. The teacher or the materials may lead the students to make faulty hypothesis about the language (pp. 223-225). e. Suggestions to Improve Students’ Understanding
Some scholars have proposed some suggestions to improve students’ understanding of material being taught. Dulay et al. (1983), as cited in Harendita (2009); state that exposure to formal language environment, which consists of rule explanation and mechanical practice, can be helpful to increase students’ understanding about the material explained (p. 16). Besides, Ellis (2002) also state that practice stage aims to “transfer what they know from short-term to long-term memory” (p. 168). In addition, Dörnyei (2001) also suggests that the teacher should be able to make the learning stimulating and enjoyable. They should break the monotonous learning, make tasks more interesting and increasing the involvement of the students (p. 73). In other words, interesting practices and enjoyable activities would enable the students to keep and understand the material in long-term memory.
2. Basic Noun Phrases (BNP)
Noun phrases are easily found because they are normally used in a sentence. Close (1975) states that a noun phrase is a group of words in which a noun is the head and in which the other words modify the head. He adds that noun phrases can function as subject, direct object, indirect object, complement of the subject, complement of the object, object of prepositions, and apposition (p. 21). In addition, Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1972) classify noun phrases into two categories, namely basic noun phrases and complex noun phrases.
Basic noun phrases consist of pronouns of different types or numerals. They also comprise the head nouns with determiners or determiners modified by pre-determiners and/or post-determiners. Quirk et al. (1972) state
…’basic noun phrase’ consisting of pronouns and numerals and of nouns with articles or other closed-system items that can occur before the noun head including predeterminers like all, determiners like these, ‘ordinals’ like last, and quantifiers like few (p. 127).
In other words, Quirk et al. (1972) classify basic noun phrases into two types; 1) pronouns or numerals, 2) noun head with closed system items. Similarly, Lam (2004) also states that there are two types of basic noun phrases; 1) pronouns or numerals as the head, 2) noun heads with determiners.
dealt with basic noun es of basic noun phrases as the guidance to iden asic noun phrases are briefly presented below. ic Noun Phrase: Pronouns or Numerals
phrases type 1 consists of head only, those a ronouns or numerals are the minimal requi ic noun phrase. If the noun phrase consists of a numerals, the head must be realized as a plural per noun or a pronoun. Thus, basic noun phrase
Figure 2.1: Basic Noun Phrases Type 1
c) Indefinite pronouns:
(5) Someone keeps this farm clean and tidy. (6) Everyone will be happy to see this farm. d) Demonstrative pronouns:
(7) Those are black horses. (8) This is my favorite piglet. e) Interrogative pronouns:
(9) What is a husbandry? (10) Where is the cock?
2) Numerals
According to Quirk et al. (1972), apart from pronouns, numerals including cardinal numbers (‘one’, ‘two’, etc.) and ordinal numbers (‘first’, ‘second’, tenth, last etc.) can form basic noun phrases (p. 225), as in:
a) Cardinal Number
(11) Two is better that one.
b) Ordinal Number
(12) So the last will be first, and the first last.
b. Type 2 Basic Noun Phrase: The Head with Determiners
central determiners an
Figure 2.2: Basic Noun Phrases Type 2
iners
alf, etc
(1990) state that predeterminers can occur only but, since they are quantifiers, they do not ative’ determiners: every, some, any, no, ve of-constructions, which are optional w sonal pronouns (p. 75):
he horses stand near their pen. ice, three/ four… times, etc
type occurs with non-count and plural count n oting number, amount, etc:
ary is double their salaries. two-fifths, etc
(1972) add that those fractions can also be followed by determiners and have the alternative of-construction. For instance,
(15) He did it in one-third (of) the time it took me.
b) Central Determiners
Articles
According to Quirk et al. (1990), the definite and indefinite articles are the most common central determiners and their distribution is dependent upon the class of the accompanying noun. Relating definiteness to number, there is the following system for count and non-count nouns:
COUNT NON-COUNT
SINGULAR definite the book the music
indefinite a book music
PLURAL definite the books
indefinite books zero article
Beside the sole definite article the, there are two indefinite articles a and zero, the former occurring with singular count nouns, its zero analogue with non-count and plural count nouns. Both the and a have a different form when the following word begins with a vowel, though the does not display the difference in writing:
The bird [ðə] ~ the owl [ði] A bird [ə] ~ an olw [ən] (p. 73) Demonstratives Adjectives
Determiners this and that occur with non-count and singular count nouns while these and those occur with plural count nouns:
(16) I prefer this music to that music.
21 Possessives
There are five determiners which are called possessive, namely my, our, your, his, her, its, their, etc.
(18) I admire her house. (19) Their bodies are so fat. Quantifiers
Like indefinite article, there are determiners that co-occur only with singular count nouns:
(20) We need to interview every/each student separately. (21) There is no parking permitted on either side of the street. (22) Parking is permitted on neither side of the street.
Like zero articles, there are determiners that can co-occur only with non-count and plural count nouns:
(23) I would like some bread/some rolls, please. (24) We haven’t any bread/any rolls left.
c) Postdeterminers
According to Quirk et al. (1990), postdeterminers take their place immediately after determiners just as predeterminers take their place immediately before determiners. Postdeterminers fall into two classes (p. 77):
Ordinal numerals such as first, second, last, other etc.
Quantifiers such as two, ninety, many, few, plenty of, a lot of. Where they can co-occur, items (a) usually precede items (b); for example:
(26) A black horse is just watching other two horses from their cages. Among the (b) items, there are two important distinctions involving few and little. First, few occurs only with plural count nouns, little only with non-count nouns. Second, when preceded by a, each has a positive meaning; without a, each has negative meaning. Thus:
(27) I play a few games (ie ‘several’). I play few games (ie ‘hardly any’) (28) She ate a little bread (ie ‘some’). She ate littlebread (ie ‘hardly any’)
2) Noun Head
A head noun is the most important member which characterizes the basic noun phrase. Therefore, the existence of a head in the basic noun phrase is obligatory. There are some kinds of nouns which function as the head; they are: a) The countable nouns:
(29) Horses are strong enough to bring some loads. b) The uncountable nouns or mass nouns:
(30) The farm is running out of water. c) The proper nouns:
(31) Smith has a large farm.
3. A Descriptive Text
23 of impressions (p. 116). Its purpose, generic structure, and the language feature are explained below:
a. Purpose
The goal of description is to enable the reader to visualize everything as much detailed as possible. McMurrey (1983: 239) adds that the description requires detailed information and sense impressions which involve five senses such as sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste.
b. Generic Structure
The generic structure of a descriptive text is 1) identification (mention the special participant that will be described), 2) description (mention the part, quality, quantity, and characteristics of the object being described), and 3) conclusion.
c. Language Features
The language features of a descriptive text are the use of noun phrases, adjectives, linking verbs, simple present and past tense, and degree of comparison. d. Types of A Descriptive Text
According to McKay (1983), a descriptive text is divided into five types. The types of descriptive texts are outlined below.
1) Describing a Process
2) Describing an Object
The best way to describe the physical characteristics of an object is to point out the actual object or to show a picture of it. A description of the important characteristics of the objects such as its quantity and quality is an obligatory. The grammatical focus of describing an object is noun phrases, articles and subject-verb agreement.
3) Describing a Place
The same as an object, the best way to describe a place is to show someone the actual place or to take a picture of it. The grammatical focus of type describing a place is subject-verb agreement and articles (a, an, the).
4) Describing Personality
The focus of describing personality is on describing one characteristic of an individual and providing specific details that illustrate that characteristic. The grammatical focus of describing a personality is past tense or present tense, pronoun reference and descriptive adjectives of human characteristics.
5) Describing an Event
4. Indonesian G
several Indonesian grammar theories pre heories were chosen because they were selecte ifferences to English grammar. They also n forming basic noun phrases. The discus re: a) Indonesian noun phrases, b) singular and enunjuk atributif.
Noun Phrases
9) says that Frase nominal (FN) orIndonesian n t contains a noun as the head and fills one or t an function as subject, object and complement
widjojo, Lapoliwa and Moeliono (1993) state hrase can be followed by a noun or more than
is ended with one of pronomina penunjuk noun called pewatas depan or pre modifier. at are commonly used; they are numeralia
Numeral is used to count people, animals, things and concept. Like English, Indonesian differentiates numerals into two types; they are cardinal numeral (e.g. satu ‘one,’ dua ‘two,’ banyak ‘many,’ semua ‘all,’ se- ‘a/ an,’ tiap ‘every’ etc.) and ordinal numeral (e.g. keenam ‘sixth,’ dua koma lima (2.5) ‘two point five,’ etc). Besides, according to Dwijatmoko (1992), penggolong or classifier shows the kind of noun which comes with a quantifier. Its use is optional. There are a lot of classifiers used in Bahasa Indonesia. He adds that there are three main classifiers used; namely orang, which literally means ‘person,’ for persons, buah, which literally means ‘fruit,’ for inanimate things and ekor, which literally means ‘tail,’ for animals (p. 30). Nomina ‘noun’ is similar to countable and uncountable nouns in English, for example teman ‘friend,’ buku ‘book’ and kera ‘monkey.’ Since the use of quantifiers in bahasa Indonesia is optional, they can be either used or omitted. For instance,
(32) Belilah tiga buah buku tulis. (33) Belilah tiga buku tulis.
Those two examples have the same meaning although classifier buah is omitted in example (33).
b. Singular and Plural
27
1) Singular Concept
Bahasa Indonesia uses se- to indicate singular noun. For instance, (34) Seorang murid sedang membaca sebuah buku.
(35) Seorang murid sedang membaca buku.
The example (34) illustrates that there is a student who is reading a book. Se-, which is a classifier, in seorang murid means one student. Similarly, se- in sebuah buku also refers to one book. However, the use of se- is optional. Alwi et al. (1993) state that classifiers indicating tunggal ‘singular’can be omitted since it does not change the meaning of the sentence (p. 314). Thus, se- can be omitted like in the example (35). Although the word sebuah is omitted, its meaning is still the same as the example (34). In other words, the example (35) does not use sebuah, but it is understood that it is impossible to read many books in the same time (p. 313). On the other hand, to indicate tunggal or singular in English, article a must be added to every singular generic and singular indefinite countable nouns.
2) Plural Concept
Chaer (2009) says that in Bahasa Indonesia, people usually use numerals and quantifiers like banyak ‘many,’ sedikit ‘few,’ beberapa ‘some,’ semua ‘all,’ setengah ‘half’and kurang lebih ‘more or less’to indicate quantity and plurality. In addition, the words indicate unit like kilo ‘kilo,’ hektar ‘hectare,’ gelas ‘glass’ and cangkir ‘cup’ should also be added and put before the uncountable nouns to indicate quantity (pp. 52-53).
(36) Ada banyak hewan di peternakan itu.
In other words, in Bahasa Indonesia, numerals and quantifiers (optional) are added before nouns to indicate plurality. Similarly, in English, numerals and quantifiers are also added before nouns to indicate plurality. Besides, in English plural marker -s/-ies/-es must also be put in the end of regular countable nouns to indicate plurality.
Besides, in Bahasa Indonesia, plurality can also be stated by pengulangan or ‘reduplication.’ Reduplication means the repetition of parts or the whole word which appearing the new meaning to mark a grammatical or semantic contrast, for instance, orang-orang ‘people,’ meja-meja ‘tables.’ However, Alwi et al. (1993) state that a word can also mean plural without adding any words indicating plurals (p. 313). For instance,
(38) anjing suka tulang.
29 c. Pronomina Penunjuk Atributif
Bahasa Indonesia has pronomina penunjuk atributif which has almost the same function as demonstratives in English grammar. Pronomina penunjuk atributif is used as pewatas subyek or postmodifier. It is used when the speaker and the listener share the same reference yet the pronomina penunjuk atributif depends on the distance between the speaker and the thing referred, not the countability. Alwi et al. (1993) explains there are two pronomina penunjuk atributif used in Indonesia, namely ini and itu. Ini is used to refer to things both singular and plural which are near the speaker. While itu, itis used to refer to both singular and plural things which are far from the speaker (p. 287). For instance
(39) Pohon itu ditanam oleh Reinwardt.
(40) Bunga-bunga itu ditanam oleh Pak Hasan.
Those explanations show that Bahasa Indonesia does not differentiate ini and itu based on countability. It is different from demonstrative rule which considers countability.
B. Theoretical Framework
comprised of a noun as the head and determiners which occur before the head. In relation to a descriptive text, the researcher took describing an object, a type of a descriptive text, as the analytical tool to obtain data.
The major theories which are used to analyze data are an error analysis and a surface strategy taxonomy proposed by Dulay, Burt, & Krashen (1982). Dealing with errors, the researcher does not differentiate between mistakes and errors. In this study, the term errors is drawn from the theories of errors proposed by Ellis (1997) who differentiates between error and mistake, Dulay et al. (1982) who call errors as any deviation from the norm of selected norm of mature language performance and Radford (1997) who states that misproductions and misinterpretations are performance errors. Thus, in this study, the term errors refer to any of the students’ misproduction which shows misunderstanding or failure to perform what the students have already understood about basic noun phrase formation.
31 In addition, besides the interview results and the researcher analysis, the theory of the causes of errors proposed by Brown (2000) is helpful in identifying the possible causes of the students’ errors. Here, the researcher highlights three possible causes of the students’ errors; they are interferences from mother tongue, overgeneralization and the context of learning. To see the interlingual transfer, the researcher explains it based on Indonesian noun phrase theory proposed by Alwi et al. (1993), Chaer (2009) and Dwijatmoko (1992).
32
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter will include a discussion of the method that is used in the study, the research setting, the research participants/subjects, the research instruments and data gathering techniques employed, the data analysis technique and research procedures.
A. Research Method
This study has three research aims. First, it seeks to basic noun phrase errors made by the students in the SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. Second, it attempts to discover the possible causes of the students’ errors and third, it suggests strategies for improving students’ understanding of basic noun phrases. To respond to these research problems, the researcher used a qualitative approach since the study dealt with data primarily collected from documents and interviews.
33
B. Research Setting
The study was conducted at SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. This study of students’ descriptive writing ability was undertaken in the second semester of the school year because one of the curriculum outcomes in the second semester was to achieve a standard of competence in descriptive writing. The data was collected from English teachers at the school between April 30 and May 16, 2012. An interview was also conducted at SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta on September 3, 2012, from 11.30 to 14.00 AM.
C. Research Participants/Subjects
The sample of this study was obtained using purposive sampling. According to Ary et al. (2010) in purposive sampling, sample elements judged to be typical or representative are chosen from the population. The population in this study is made up of two hundred and thirty seventh graders at SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta in six classes which are divided into two RSBI (Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf International) classes or International Designated Rating Schools and four regular classes. However, the researcher only gathered data from one of the RSBI classes since it was not possible to involve all students in each class as participants.
because the researcher attempted to conduct a qualitative study which focuses in depth on the research problems. Consequently, as stated by Ary et al. (2010) the result of the study using purposive sampling may be misleading. This is because limited and typical participants will not be typical over a period of time (p. 156). Therefore, this study does not intend to generalize to a larger population.
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique
This section explains the research instruments and the techniques used to gather data. A detailed explanation of the research instruments and the data gathering techniques will be presented in the following subsections.
1. Instruments
The researcher used two research instruments in the study: documents and an interview protocol.
a. Documents
This study analyzed students’ descriptive writing. The students’ descriptive writing did not need to be transcribed since it was already in written form. This descriptive writing was based on a picture which was given in a worksheet. According to Ary et al. (2010), the students’ writing can be considered as primary a source as it was written by people who experienced the phenomena under study directly (443). The focus of the study was based on the students’ ability to form basic noun phrase in writing.
35 b. Interview Protocol
The researcher also used interviews as a tool in responding to the second and third problems. The interview was used to collect data about students’ opinions, beliefs and feelings about particular phenomena. The interview protocol was used to help the researcher deliver well-planned questions. The interview with the students aimed to investigate four points 1) the students’ understanding of noun phrases 2) the students’ experience related to problems in forming basic noun phrases 3) the causes of the students’ errors 4) suggestions offered by the students to improve their understanding of basic noun phrases. On the other hand, the interview with the teachers aimed to investigate two points 1) the causes of the students’ errors 2) suggestions offered by the teachers to improve the students’ understanding of basic noun phrases. The interview was semi-structured. Therefore, the questions delivered based on the interview protocol and varied according to the information the interviewer wanted to elicit from the students and the teachers.
2. Data Gathering Technique
made and possible causes of the students’ errors and also make suggestions to improve students’ understanding of basic noun phrases. By working in a group, the students were stimulated to reflect on the issues together and bounce ideas of one another. This made the students more willing to share their ideas than if they had been interviewed individually. As a focus group structure allowed the researcher to gather a range of information, it was also useful and time-efficient way for the researcher to explore the possible causes of the students’ errors and obtain suggestions to improve students’ understanding of basic noun phrases.
E. Data Analysis Technique
The researcher analyzed basic noun phrases based on the theories stated in the theoretical description and theoretical framework in chapter II. Based on those theories, several kinds of errors could be found from the sub-classification of errors, while the possible causes and suggestions were obtained from interview results.
37 The first table dealt with two types of basic noun phrases. Type 1 basic noun phrase consists of head only, those are pronouns or numerals. While type 2 basic noun phrase, it is comprised of a noun as the head and determiners which occur before the head. This table was created in order to identify the number of basic noun phrases and the errors made by the students. Then, the errors were classified based on the error sub-classifications. The error sub-classifications were proposed by Dulay et al. (1982). The errors were classified into four sub-classifications; omission, addition, misformation and misordering. The addition sub-classification had three types of addition namely, double marking, generalization and simple addition (p.150-163).
There are some abbreviations written in the tables to shorten the words. For instance, Doc # to indicate number of document, Om. for omission, Add. for addition, Misf. for misformation, Misor. for misordering, d.m. for double marking, gnr. for generalization, s.a. for simple addition, Num. for a certain amount or number and BNP for basic noun phrases. This first table dealt with the number of BNP and the errors can be seen as follows.
Table 3.1: The Number of BNP and Errors
Doc #
Type 1 Type 2 Total BNP
Error Sub-classifications Total Errors Om. Add. Misf. Misor.
Num. % Num. % Num. Num. Num. Num. Num. Num. % 1
2
Total
Table 3.2: The Number of Type 1 BNP Errors
Doc # Om.
Addition
Misf. Misor. Total Errors d.m. gnr. s.a.
Num. Num. Num. Num. Num. Num. Num. % 1
2
Total
Table 3.3: The Number of Type 2 Errors
Doc # Om.
Addition
Misf. Misor. Total Errors d.m. gnr. s.a.
Num. Num. Num. Num. Num. Num. Num. % 1
2
Total
Table 3.2 and 3.3 showed the number of errors made by the students in their descriptive writing based on each BNP type. Next, the researcher created a table describing the students’ errors and gave detailed examples of the errors. The table can be seen as follows.
Table 3.4: Errors in each Student’s Writing
Doc # Error
Sub-classifications Error Descriptions Error Examples
1 2
39 Table 3.5: The Summary of Type 1 BNP Error Sub-classifications and
Their Examples
Table 3.6: The Summary of Type 2 BNP Error Sub-classifications and Their Examples which is related to the several kinds of errors that the students made from table 3.2 to table 3.6. Then, the researcher made possible corrections of all students’ errors as seen in table 3.7 below. To validate the possible correction, the researcher asked proofreaders and language consultants to recheck them.
Table 3.7: Possible Correction
Doc # No Basic Noun Phrase Errors Possible Correction
1 1
2
2 1
the average range and frequency of errors made by the class. Of the three students who were chosen, one made the most errors, one made the fewest errors and one made the greatest range of different types of errors. The aim of conducting this interview was to obtain a data triangulation which is as a way to establish the validity of the possible causes of the students’ errors. This was done by checking and comparing analysis concerning the possible causes of the students’ errors with what was said in the interview by the students and the teacher. In addition, the interview was also used to collect suggestions to improve students’ understanding of basic noun phrases.
F. Research Procedure
This study was undertaken in several steps presented below. 1. Selecting the Problem and Reviewing the Literature
This study was planned in the second semester of the 2011/2012 school year. Having identified the participants and their problems, the researcher formulated three research problems. Then, the researcher collected the theories grounding this study in order to respond to the problem formulation. There are four main theories which form the basis of this study. They are errors and error analysis, basic noun phrases, a descriptive text and Indonesian grammar which cover Indonesian noun phrases, singular and plural concepts and pronomina penunjuk atributif.
41 2. Designing the Study
The researcher devised a plan to conduct a study which responded to the three research problems in the problem formulation. This plan included the method of the study and the research instruments to analyze the data. During the data collection and analysis of the study, the design underwent changes to improve its validity.
3. Obtaining Consent to Collect the Data
After having the confirmed thesis proposal and having approval from the researcher’s advisor and permission letter from the campus, the researcher asked the headmaster of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta for permission to take and use VIIF students’ descriptive writing as an analytical tool to obtain the data. 4. Collecting the Data
The researcher collected the data from the English teachers between April 30 and May 16, 2012. The data collection took quite long because some students forgot to bring their writing when the researcher came to the school to collect it.
5. Analyzing the Data
6. Conducting the Interviews
The researcher asked the headmaster and the teacher for permission to interview several students. The researcher interviewed three students and three English teachers. Of the three students who were chosen, one made the most errors, one made the fewest errors and one made the greatest range of different types of errors.
7. Identify the Possible Causes and Make Suggestions
Having obtained the interview data, the researcher interpreted the findings by identifying the possible causes and summarizing suggestions offered by the students and the English teachers to improve the students’ understanding of basic noun phrases.
8. Drawing Conclusion
Finally, after identifying the possible causes of the students’ errors and making suggestions to improve the students’ understanding of basic noun phrases, the researcher drew her conclusions.
9. Reporting the Result
