i
THE MASTERY OF
SMKN 2 DEPOK
STUDENTS
OVER BASIC CLAUSE PATTERNS AND THEIR DISTRIBUTIONS
IN WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the
Sarjana Pendidikan
Degree
in English Language Education
By
Bangkit Setiyaji
Student Number: 051214073
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
iv
He has set the right time for everything.
Ecclesiastes 3:11a
vii
ABSTRACT
Setiyaji, Bangkit. (2010).
The Mastey of SMKN 2 Depok Students over Basic
Clause Patterns and Their Distributions in Written Compositions.
Yogyakarta:
Sanata Dharma University.
Since English is termed as a subject prominent language, the subject and
predicate become the basic grammar units of the sentence structures. These basic
grammar units are termed as basic clause patterns which are important in the
making of grammatically correct sentences or clauses to support students’ English
mastery including skill development and students’ study results. Students’ English
mastery is reflected through the distributions of the basic clause patterns in written
composition as one of learning products. The distributions reflect students’
mastery through presenting the clause patterns commonly used, frequency of
correct clauses or sentences as well as the frequency of errors. Hence, the
researcher conducts the research in
SMKN 2 DEPOK
to find out students’ mastery
over basic clause patterns. There were three research problems which are
formulated, those are: (1) How are the basic clause patterns distributed? (2) What
basic clause patterns are commonly used by students of
SMKN 2 Depok
? (3) How
is the mastery of
SMKN 2 DEPOK
students over the basic clause patterns?
The research was a qualitative descriptive research which utilized
document analysis as the data were compositions and human instrument as the
researcher was the data analyser. The research participants were
SMKN 2 DEPOK
students class
XI Teknik Pemesinan A
(TPA) and class
XI Geologi Pertambangan
B
(GPB) in the academic year of 2008/ 2009.
The research results showed that first, all basic clause patterns were
used. Based on the distribution frequency or occurrence, the sequence of the basic
clause patterns from the most frequently used until the least used is as follows: 1.
SVA, 2. SVOA, 3. SVC, 4. SVO, 5. SV, 6. SVOC, 7. SVOO. The higher
distribution frequency of a certain basic clause patterns, the more frequently
students used the pattern. Second, students’ mastery over a certain basic clause
was determined by the correct and intended clauses in the distributions. The
higher frequency of the correct clause of a certain pattern compared to the one of
the intended clause, the better students’ mastery over such pattern was. Hence,
their mastery could be categorized as, 1.
good
for SVC and SV pattern, 2.
fair
for
SVO and SVOO pattern, 3.
insufficient
for SVA and SVOA pattern, 4
. poor
for
SVOC pattern.
viii
ix
ABSTRAK
Setiyaji, Bangkit. (2010).
The Mastey of SMKN 2 Depok Students over Basic
Clause Patterns and Their Distributions in Written Compositions.
Yogyakarta:
Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Bahasa Inggris merupakan bahasa subject prominent, maka subjek dan
predikatnya menjadi unit dasar tata bahasa dari struktur kalimat. Unit dasar tata
bahasa struktur kalimat ini disebut pola dasar klausa dan sangat penting dalam
pembuatan struktur kalimat dan klausa yang benar untuk mendukung penguasaan
Bahasa Inggris siswa termasuk perkembangan keterampilan dan hasil belajar.
Penguasaan Bahasa Inggris siswa tercermin pada distribusi pola dasar klausa
dalam komposisi tertulis sebagai salah satu produk pembelajaran. Distribusi setiap
pola dasar klausa mencerminkan penguasaan siswa dengan menunjukkan
pola-pola yang sering digunakan, frekuensi kalimat atau klausa yang tepat, dan
frekuensi kesalahan. Oleh karena itu, peneliti melakukan penelitian di
SMKN 2
Depok
untuk mengetahui penguasaan siswa terhadap pola dasar klausa. Ada tiga
rumusan permasalahan dalam penelitian ini, yaitu: (1) Bagaimanakah pola dasar
klausa didistribusikan? (2) Pola dasar klausa mana yang biasa dipakai siswa
SMKN 2 Depok
? (3) Bagaimanakah penguasaan siswa
SMKN 2 Depok
terhadap
pola dasar klausa?
Penelitian ini bersifat kualitatif deskriptif dan memanfaatkan analisis
dokumen untuk menginterpretasi data yang berbentuk komposisi tertulis dan
peneliti berperan sebagai instrumen penelitian yang bertugas menganalisa data.
Peserta penelitian ini ialah siswa
SMKN 2 Depok
kelas XI Teknik Pemesinan A
(TPA) dan kelas XI Geologi Pertambangan B (GPB) tahun akademik 2008/ 2009.
Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa, pertama, semua pola dasar klausa
digunakan dalam penulisan komposisi. Berdasarkan frekuensi pendistribusian atau
penggunannya, pola dasar klausa dari yang paling sering digunakan hingga paling
jarang dapat diurutkan sebagai berikut: 1. SVA, 2. SVOA, 3. SVC, 4. SVO, 5. SV,
6. SVOC, 7. SVOO. Semakin tinggi frekuensi distribusi suatu pola dasar klausa,
semakin sering pula siswa memakai pola tersebut. Kedua, penguasaan siswa pada
pola dasar klausa ditentukan oleh klausa yang tepat dan yang kurang tepat.
Semakin tinggi frekuensi klausa yang tepat dibanding dengan yang kurang tepat,
maka semakin baiklah penguasaan siswa. Selanjutnya, penguasaan siswa
dikategorikan sebagai berikut: 1.
baik
bagi pola SVC dan SV, 2.
sedang
bagi pola
SVO dan SVOO, 3.
kurang
bagi pola SVA dan SVOA, 4.
rendah
bagi pola
SVOC.
Hasil penelitian menganjurkan bahwa, pertama, para guru Bahasa
Inggris diharapkan dapat menentukan teknik pengajaran yang lebih sesuai untuk
meningkatkan keterampilan dan hasil belajar siswa setelah mengetahui
penguasaan mereka. Guru dapat menggunakan teknik
focus on form and function.
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xi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to
Jesus Christ
and
Mother Mary
for the blessing which had been given to me. I always felt that
I was being encouraged even when I had my bad times. I learnt many things from
Jesus and Mother Mary that I could struggle and kept trying for everything in my
life including to finish my thesis. God blessed me all the way that I could finish
this thesis. With all my heart and gratitude, hereby, I would like to thank Him.
I would like to thank my sponsor
Carla Sih Prabandari, S.Pd.,
M.Hum.
, for her guidance, patience, time, support, and advice during the writing
process of my thesis. Her help, suggestion, and comment were really worthy and
useful.
I would like to thank to
Drs. Sutarto,
the headmaster of
SMKN 2 Depok
,
for permitting me to conduct the research in the school. I would thank
Erma Ade
Susmonowati, S.Pd.
one of the English teachers of
SMKN 2 Depok
who had
helped me in conducting the research and obtaining the data. I would also thank
all students of
SMKN 2 Depok
year 2008/ 2009 class
XI Teknik Pemesianan
A
(TPA), and
XI Geologi Pertambangan
B (GPB) for the willingness to be research
subjects and the cooperation to do the task given to succeed the research.
xii
struggle and walk through this far to reach my dreams. I thank my siblings for
their jokes, encouragement, and care which always made me feel happy.
I would like to thank to my beloved
Lucia Sekar Widianingsih
, for her
love, care, support, encouragement, guidance, and beauty which always made me
complete and alive. I could keep struggling because she always reminded me that
I must be strong and patient to reach my dreams, or actually, our dreams.
I would like to thank my friends,
Yosep
,
Agnes
si bos
,
Dik
Monik
,
Dee
,
Filus
,
Adit
,
Daniel
, and
Itok
for the beautiful moment of struggling, teamwork,
jokes, share, and friendship during the study.
Finally, I would like to thank anyone who helped me to finish this thesis
whose names could not be mentioned. God blesses us all.
Bangkit Setiyaji
xiii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE……….
APPROVAL PAGES……….
DEDICATION PAGE ………..
STATEMENT OF WORK'S ORIGINALITY ……….
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ILMIAH UNTUK
KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
...
ABSTRACT ……….……..
ABSTRAK
……….…...
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………..…….
TABLE OF CONTENTS………
LIST OF TABLES……….…….
LIST OF APPENDICES………..…...
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
………..
A.
Research Background ………...
B.
Problem Formulation ………
C.
Problem Limitation ………...
D.
Research Objectives ……….
E.
Research Benefits ……….
F.
Definition of Terms ………..
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
……….…....
A.
Theoretical Description ………
1.
Clause………...….
a.
Independent Clause ……….…….
b.
Dependent Clause ………...………..
2. Clause Elements………...
a.
Clause Elements based on Positions ………
xiv
1)
Subject ………..……..
2)
Verb ………
3)
Object ………..
4)
Adverb ………...…….
5)
Complements ………..………
b.
Clause Elements based on Part of Speech
(Form-Classes) ………..
1)
Nouns ………..
2)
Verb ………
3)
Adjectives ………...
4)
Prepositions ………..……..
3. Basic Clause Patterns ………....……….
4. Types of Sentence based on the Relation
between Clauses ………
a.
Simple Sentence ……….….
b.
Compound Sentence ………..…..
c.
Complex Sentence ………..…….
d.
Compound Complex Sentence ……….
5. Mastery ………
6. Errors and Mistakes ……….
7. Written Descriptive Texts ………
B.
Theoretical Framework ………
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
………..
A.
Research Method ………..
B.
Research Participants ………
C.
Research Instrument ….………
D.
Data Gathering Technique ………
E.
Data Analysis Technique ………..
F.
Research Procedure ………..
xv
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
…………...
A.
Research Findings ……….
1.
The Distribution of the Basic Clause Patterns ………….………...
2.
Students’ Mastery over Basic Clause Patterns ....………...
a.
Students’ Mastery over SVA Pattern ………...……….
b.
Students’ Mastery over SVOA Pattern ……….
c.
Students’ Mastery over SVC Pattern …..……….
d.
Students’ Mastery over SVO Pattern ………...….
e.
Students’ Mastery over SV Pattern ……….…….
f.
Students’ Mastery over SVOC Pattern ……….
g.
Students’ Mastery over SVOO Pattern ……….
3.
Other Research Finding ……….……….…
B.
Discussion ……….…
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
………..
A.
Conclusions ………..
B.
Suggestions ………..
REFERENCES
………
35
35
35
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
51
57
57
60
xvi
LIST OF TABLES
Table
Table 4.1 The Distributions of Basic Clause Patterns
………...….
Table 4.2 The Result of SVA Basic Clause Pattern Distributions ……….
Table 4.3 The Result of SVOA Basic Clause Pattern Distributions ……….….
Table 4.4 The Result of SVC Basic Clause Pattern Distributions ………..
Table 4.5 The Result of SVO Basic Clause Pattern Distributions ……….
Table 4.6 The Result of SV Basic Clause Pattern Distributions …………...….
Table 4.7 The Result of SVOC Basic Clause Pattern Distributions ……..…….
Table 4.8 The Result of SVOO Basic Clause Patterns Distributions ………….
Table 4.9 The Scope of Errors ………..…….….
Page
xvii
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix
Page
APPENDIX A Permission Letters
1.
Permission Letter from English Language Education
65
Study Program
2.
Permission Letter from BAPPEDA
66
APPENDIX B The Example of the Task
67
APPENDIX C Examples of Students’ Compositions
68
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
English is defined as a subject prominent language that the grammatical
units of the subject and predicate become the basic elements to the sentence
structure (Richards, 1992: 161). The grammatical units which involve the basic
structure of sentences or clauses are often found in every English lesson,
especially in grammar learning. Those basic structures, in this study, are termed as
basic clause patterns. These basic clause patterns can be seen in students’ written
compositions. These written compositions become one of students’ products of
learning. Hence, the basic clause patterns which students use in their compositions
reflect their mastery over them. Furthermore, their mastery can be revealed
through the distributions of those basic clause patterns.
This study focuses on students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns and
their distribution. This research uses students’ written compositions in a form of
descriptive text. This chapter presents the background of the study, the problem
formulation, the problem limitation, the research objectives, the research benefits,
and the definition of terms.
A.
Research Background
The research is conducted in consideration that all of the students of the
their study and skill development. As the eleventh grade students have been
learning English since they were in the tenth grade, their knowledge is supposed
to have been more developing than when they were in the previous grade.
Moreover, they are still expected to make more development on their English
proficiency as they are continuing their study in the twelfth grade.
In order to master English, students need to learn, practice, and use the
basic clause patterns as the grammatical units of English. The lesson related to
English grammar and the basic clause patterns are included in the curriculum and
the teaching materials although there is no specific grammar class in the school.
However, the lessons related to English grammar rules and basic clause patterns
are needed and very important. The basic clause patterns are viewed to have
contributions in students’ mastery related to English. The contribution of basic
clause patterns is supported by Roulet (1975: 48). Roulet claims that “fast and
adequate learning can be achieved if deep structures are properly recognized….
that learners can derive from them the rules which they must internalize in order
to become proficient in the target language.”
The relation between the deep structure and the basic clause patterns is
that the deep structure functions as a syntactic structure which introduces the
structure of a sentence while the basic clause patterns are the forms of clauses’
variations of which each pattern can show the basic structure of a clause or
sentence. Therefore, the deep structure is closely related to the basic clause pattern
3
students understand are used based on the basic clause pattern to make the
compositions.
However, apart from the reasons and expectation to master English, there
is also a problem that students face. There is possibility that those eleventh grade
students forget the knowledge that they have learned in the previous grade. The
fact that they forget the knowledge is proved through the existence of the errors in
the compositions that they made. Hereby, students’ mastery is said to be
degenerated. This degeneration can be caused by the result of inappropriate
teaching techniques or other factors which students experienced in the tenth grade
learning process. This problem adds more urgency toward the research.
In summary, the research is conducted for the consideration that while
students’ are expected to develop their study and skill towards English, they also
face a problem which is the degeneration of their knowledge and mastery from the
previous learning. In addition to such degeneration, this problem can be caused by
the inappropriate teaching techniques. Therefore, the research aims to find out
students’ mastery over English through the basic clause patterns that students use
and the distributions in the written compositions that they produce. If students’
mastery can be revealed, teachers can determine the more appropriate teaching
techniques to develop students’ skill and results of their study. Meanwhile,
students can be familiar with the basic grammatical patterns of English and know
B.
Problem Formulation
Considering the research background, this research is going to answer
three questions. The first and second question is directed to find out how the basic
clause patterns are distributed as well as what patterns commonly used in
students’ written compositions are. Meanwhile, the third question is directed to
reveal students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns in relation to each clause
pattern distribution. The questions are:
1.
How are the basic clause patterns distributed?
2.
What basic clause patterns are commonly used by students of
SMKN 2 Depok
in their compositions?
3.
How is the mastery of
SMKN 2 Depok
students over the basic clause patterns?
C.
Problem Limitation
The research focuses on the mastery of the eleventh grade students of
SMKN 2 Depok
over the basic clause patterns. The discussion directs to the
patterns and distributions of the basic clause patterns which students use in their
written compositions. The compositions, which are applied, are descriptive
compositions. The reason of choosing this kind of compositions is because
descriptive compositions are included in the school curriculum and are taught to
all students of
SMKN 2 Depok
from the tenth grade until the twelfth grade. In
brief, this research works on the patterns and distributions of the basic clause
5
In addition to students’ compositions, there are also errors that they
possibly make in their sentences or clauses. Therefore, the errors that students
possibly make are included in this research. The errors are involved because errors
are included to the part of students’ mastery. Corder (1967 quoted in Walz 1982:
1) says that “learning a new language requires a trial and error approach, and
errors are evidence that the learners are testing hypotheses of underlying rules,
categories, and systems.”
However, in this study, the errors are not the focus, but are treated as other
research result. The scopes of the errors, which can be revealed, are used to find
the important information of students’ weaknesses towards the basic clause
patterns and other grammatical aspects on them.
D.
Research Objectives
Considering the problems stated in the problem formulation, the objectives
of the research are:
1.
To find out how the basic clause patterns are distributed as well as what the
common patterns which are used by students of
SMKN 2 Depok
in their
compositions are.
2.
To know how well students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns based on
their distributions.
E.
Research Benefits
Since the distributions of the basic clauses, the common patterns which are
used by students, and the errors that they make are able to show students’ mastery,
this research enables the teacher to know students strengths and weaknesses over
English. For further advantages, the appropriate teaching techniques in English
learning especially in grammar learning can be found to help students develop
their skill and the achievement of their study. As a result, they can enrich their
knowledge and use their skill to communicate in a better way.
In relation to students’ composition, students are able to understand how
the elements of a sentence or a clause work together to make grammatically
correct sentences to convey their ideas. Furthermore, they can make variation in
the sentence structure correctly and, after students master each clause pattern, they
are able to make good compositions by using other basic clause patterns.
F.
Definition of Terms
Below are the list of the terms used and the definitions of the terms:
1.
Basic Clause Pattern
A basic clause pattern is a pattern of the elements of a clause or a sentence.
This basic clause pattern is reflected in every English sentence in a form of
Subject-Verb relationship. Other elements can be added to make a sentence more
interesting, but they are not essential to its formation. In this study, the basic
clause pattern means the pattern of a sentence or a clause of which the subject and
7
factor to the agreement or concord. Meanwhile, other elements of the basic clause
such as the object, adverb, and or complement are complementary to the pattern.
These complementary elements become the ones which can emerge the variations
of pattern of the basic clause.
2.
Written Composition
Heaton (1982: 127) defines “the writing of a composition is a task which
involves the student in manipulating words in grammatically correct sentences
and in linking those sentences to form a piece of continuous writing which
successfully communicates the writer’s thoughts and ideas on a certain topic.” In
this study, written compositions are defined as the result of the writer’s thoughts
and ideas of a certain topic which are communicated through continuous and
grammatically linked correct sentences in compositions.
3.
Mastery
Hagboldt (1935: 2 as cited by Suharyono 1997: 8), defines that “someone
is said to have a mastery over a language if he or she has spontaneous
comprehension by ear, effortless and affluent reading, and habitual and skillful
use of words, idioms, and sentences both oral and written.” In this study, the word
mastery is suited to the meaning of students’ comprehension and skill over
4.
Descriptive Text
Kammer and Diebold (1949: 119) say that “a description is a form of
writing or talking whose purpose is the creation of pictures, sounds, smells, taste,
and touch sensations in the imagination of the reader or listener.” In this study,
descriptive text is referred to a kind of text of which the aim is to describe a
particular persons, places, events, or things. The generic structures of this text
involve, first, identification whose purpose is to identify phenomenon to be
described. The second one is the description. It aims to describe parts, qualities,
and characteristics.
5.
Eleventh Grade Students of SMK NEGERI 2 Depok
The eleventh grade students are the students who are studying in the
second year in
SMKN 2 Depok
. There are nine classes of students in
SMKN 2
Depok
. The classes are as follows:
Teknik Gambar Bangunan
(TGB)
, Teknik
Audio Video
(TAV)
, Teknik Elektronika Industri
(TEI)
, Teknik Komputer
Jaringan
(TKJ)
, Teknik Pemesinan
(TP)
, Teknik Mekanika Otomotif
(TMO)
,
Kimia Industri
(KI)
, Analisis Kimia
(AI)
, and Geologi Pertambangan
(GP).
Since those eleventh grade students are still continuing studying English as
one of the school subjects, thus they still learn English grammar, sentence
patterns, and the writing of compositions. Therefore, it is suitable if the researcher
manages to find out their mastery over English through the basic clause patterns
9
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter, the researcher discusses the underlying theories of the
study. There are two major points of discussion, of which the first one deals with
the theoretical description. The theoretical description covers seven main points,
those are the theory of clause, theory of clause elements, theory of basic clause
patterns, theory of types of sentence based on the relation between clauses, theory
of mastery, theory of error and mistakes, and the theory of written descriptive
texts. The second point, on the other hand, deals with the theoretical framework of
the research.
A.
Theoretical Description
1.
Clause
A clause means a group of words containing a subject and a verb (Betty,
1989: 238). Other source, John (1962: 245) states that “a clause is defined as a
group of related words that contains a subject and predicate.” Therefore, it can be
concluded that a clause is a group of words of which the main elements are a
subject and a verb or a predicate. In this study, the clause is defined as a group of
words of which the main elements are subject and predicate or the simple
predicate which is called verb and other complementary elements. Furthermore,
clauses are divided into two categories. Those categories are independent clause
a. Independent
Clause
An independent clause is defined as a clause that expresses a complete
thought and can stand alone as a sentence (John, 1962: 245). The example of an
independent clause can be seen in the example (1).
(1) Bernard always keeps his room clean.
b. Dependent Clause
A dependent clause is said to depend on the rest of the sentence for its
meaning. This kind of clause can be classified into adjective clause, adverb clause,
and noun clause. Adjective clause functions to modify a noun or a pronoun which
normally uses relative pronouns, such as
who, whose, whom, which, that
as what
we can see in the italicized clauses in the example (2) and (3):
(2) The person
who is preaching
is our manager.
(3) The old woman
whose hair is blonde
is my grandmother.
Meanwhile, adverb clause functions to modify a verb, an object, or an
adverb in a sentence. The subordinating conjunction such as
when, where, before,
since, as, unless, than, though
are normally present. Examples (4) and (5) show
the adverb clause with subordinating conjunctions:
11
The other dependent clause is a noun clause. It is a clause which is used as
a noun and functions as single noun in a sentence. The words such as
who, which,
what, when, where, whether, how,
and
why
are used to introduce a noun clause.
(6)
What they are doing
is not our business.
(7) I know
that she did not study last night
.
2.
Clause Elements
In relation to a sentence, clauses can also become the elements of it. The
elements are divided into two categories; those are the elements based on
positions and the elements based on parts of speech.
a.
Clause Elements based on Positions
Randolph and Sidney (1982: 12) state that “the elements of a sentence
based on positions involve subject (S), predicate or verb (Verb), object (O),
adverb (A), and complement (C).” Those elements, in the explanation of the other
section, are used to determine the pattern of the clauses.
1)
Subject
Randolph and Sidney (1982: 12) state that “a subject is normally a noun
phrase or a clause with nominal function which occurs before the verb phrase in
declarative clauses and immediately after the operator in question.” In addition, it
has number and concord which are applicable with the verb phrase. The example
(8)
Those two big ships
were sailing.
As seen in example (8), the subject is in a form of noun phrase which consists of a
group of words. In this case, the most important word in that complete subject is
the simple subject. Therefore, the subject is
ships
.
2)
Verb
John (1962: 204) states that “A word which is used as the predicate in a
sentence is classified as a verb”. Meanwhile, Warriner (1982: 25) claims that “the
principal word or group of words in the predicate is called the simple predicate or
the verb.” A verb expresses the action or state of being. Examples (9) and (10)
show the verbs which are written in italics:
(9) The architect
destroyed
the blueprints.
(10) I
was
in the house all day.
As seen in examples (9), the word
destroyed
states an action while in example
(10), the word
was
states of being. There are two kinds of verbs. The first one is
the transitive verb. “A transitive verb is a verb passing an action to a noun or a
pronoun and usually followed by direct objects” (John, 1962: 268). The example
of a transitive verb can be seen in example (11) which is written in italics.
(11) The policemen
arrested
the robber.
13
The other kind of verbs is the intransitive verb (John, 1962: 276). In
opposite to the transitive verb, intransitive verb does not pass an action to a noun
or a pronoun. In addition, intransitive verbs are still classified into two kinds.
First, complete intransitive. “Complete intransitive verb is an action verb which is
complete in itself and it does not pass an action to a noun or a pronoun” (John,
1962: 276). The example of complete intransitive verb is written in italics in
example (12).
(12) The car
moved
slowly into the garage.
Meanwhile, the second one is a linking intransitive verb. “Linking
intransitive verb is a verb which links or joins a predicate noun, a predicate
pronoun, or a predicate adjective to the subject of the sentence” (John, 1962: 276).
The example of the linking intransitive verb can be seen in example (13), (14),
and (15) in italics:
(13) Mr. Hendry
is
the headmaster in my sister’s school.
(14) That
is
he in the kitchen.
(15) My father and mother
have
been
busy all day.
In addition, there are other verbs which function as linking verbs such as
feel, look, sound, taste, appear, seem, become, get, turn,
and
grow
when they
mean
become
(Azar, 1989: A5). These words are immediately followed by
adjective (Adj), which describe the subject (S) of the sentence. The example of
such linking verbs can be seen in the example (16) and (17):
(16) She
seems
sincere.
(17) You
look
pale.
3)
Object
“An object is a noun phrase or noun clause with nominal function and
normally follows the subject and verb phrase” (Randolph and Sidney, 1982: 12).
By the passive transformation, an object assumes the status of subject. An object,
in this case, is divided into two kinds, those are direct object (Od) and indirect
object (Oi). The italic words in example (18) show the direct and indirect objects.
(18) The mother has given
her daughter
a new dress
.
In the example (18), the noun phrase
her daughter
serves as
indirect object (Oi) and the noun phrase
a new dress
serve as direct object
(Od). In addition, indirect object almost always precedes the direct object.
It can also be assumed that direct object tends to be done for or received
15
4)
Adverb
An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb
(John, 1962: 213). There are words classified as adverbs which can be patterned
with adjective and adverbs, but not verbs such as
very, too, quite, really, enough,
rather
. They are called intensifier. Example (19) shows the adverbs which is
written in italic:
(19) The young man walks
quite
rapidly
.
Besides, Adverbs can also show the information about time (adverb of time),
place (adverb of place), cause (adverb of cause), manner (adverb of manner), and
degree (adverb of degree) as seen in the following examples:
(20) We shall meet
at seven.
(adverb of time)
(21) I saw him
in the garden.
(adverb of place)
(22) The car,
therefore
, was broken.
(adverb of cause)
(23) He speaks
clearly.
(adverb
of
manner)
(24) I
absolutely
agree with you.
(adverb of degree)
5)
Complement
A complement is a word or a group of words which is added to another
word or group of words to complete a meaning (John, 1962: 223). There are two
kinds of complement, subject complement (Cs) and object complement (Co).
(25) The man is now
a teacher
in my sister’s school.
Example (25) explains that the phrase
a teacher
is the subject complement
(Cs) of the sentence since it has the direct relation to the subject (S) that the
subject of the sentence is understood as being a male teacher. Meanwhile,
example (26) shows the object complement (Co), that is the phrase
a chief of this
department.
The object complement has similar relation to the direct object
Mrs.
Anderson
.
b.
Clause Elements based on Part of Speech (Form-Classes)
Fries (1952: 64) states that “an English sentence is not a group of words as
words but rather a structure which is made up of form-classes or parts of speech.”
The elements which are included in parts of speech are noun (N), verb (V),
adjective (Adj), and preposition (Prep).
1)
Noun
A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing
(John, 1962: 245).
17
2)
Verb
A verb is a word that expresses action or state of being (John, 1962: 245).
Besides, a verb becomes part of speech by means of which we make an assertion
or ask a question (Curme, 1966: 22). Verbs are divided into three categories. The
first category is the transitive verb which functions to denote an action that passes
over from the doer of the action to the object.
(27) Mr. Anderson
painted
his own house.
The Second category is intransitive verb which denotes a state or simple action
without any reference to an object.
(28) I study every night.
Meanwhile, the last category is linking verb. It is applied when the thing
which is predicated towards the subject is an adjective phrase, noun phrase, or
prepositional phrase. Linking verbs perform merely the function to link the
predicate to the subject.
(29) The mangoes
are
sweet.
(30) The food
seems
delicious.
3)
Adjective
An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun (John, 1962: 210).
identification, or further information. The examples of adjectives are written in
italics as follows: a
wild
cat, an
interesting
story.
4)
Preposition
A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of its noun or pronoun
object to some other word or words in sentences (John, 1962: 216). There are
words that introduce prepositional phrase such as
in, on, at, inside, by, across,
under, off
. The examples of the prepositional phrases are written in italics and can
be seen in the sentence (31) and (32):
(31) I am standing
on the desk
.
(32) The boat is sailing
across the stream
.
3.
Basic Clause Patterns
The word basic, according to Hornby (1995: 85), means “forming a base
form which something develops or on which something is built or can also mean
the simplest in nature or level.” In this research, a basic clause means a group of
words containing a subject and predicate or verb which become the base forms of
a clause or sentence and can still be developed into variations through the addition
of other elements. Warriner (1982: 34) states that “certain additions to the
predicate create other sentence patterns.” Hence, the variations of the basic clause
patterns are because of the additions of other complementary elements, then these
19
the form of sentence base in a group of words containing a subject and predicate
or verb of which the variations can still be classified into patterns.
Related to the basic clause patterns variations, there three proponents who
propose such theory. The first theory is from John (1962: 169). John says there
are seven patterns of the basic clause. Those seven basic clause patterns are as
follows:
Patterns 1: N1 – V
(33) The sun shines.
Patterns 2: N1 – V – N2
(34) Birds have wings.
Patterns 3: N1 – V – N2 – N3
(35) My father gives me money.
Patterns 4: N1 – LV – N1
(36) Goats are offering animals.
Patterns 5: N1 – LV – Adj
(37) She looks beautiful.
Patterns 6: N1 – V – N2 – N2
(38) We appointed Mr. Bernard our manager.
Patterns 7: N1 – V – N2 – Adj
(39) I consider Anna wise.
Meanwhile, Randolph and Sidney (1982: 167) state that the basic clause patterns
Patterns 1: SVA
(40) My grandmother is in the kitchen.
Patterns 2: SVC
(41) Hendry is a policeman.
Patterns 3: SVO
(42) My cousin lits the firework.
Patterns 4: SVOA
(43) I park the car in the garage.
Patterns 5: SVOC
(44) I found her a good friend.
Patterns 6: SVOO
(45) My father bought me a guitar.
Patterns 7: SV
(46) The ship sailed.
The third proponent is David Crystal. According to Crystal (1991: 221), the seven
basic clause patterns are designated as follows:
Patterns 1: S + V
(47) She smiled.
Patterns 2: S + V + O:
(48) We played football.
Patterns 3: S + V + C
21
Patterns 4: S + V + A
(50) My uncle goes to his rice field.
Patterns 5: S + V + O + O
(51) Rivers give farmers water supply.
Patterns 6: S + V + O + C
(52) Lisa get Mrs. Smith a kind neighbor.
Patterns 7: S + V + O + A
(53) Mrs. Emmy plants the seeds in the garden.
From all those three proponents, there are similarities between them. First,
there are subject and verb that become the major elements of the sentence or
clause. Second, the other complementary elements such as adjective, adverb,
object, complement also exist to complete and develop the sentence or clause.
However, this researcher uses the theory of the seven basic clause patterns which
is proposed by Randolph and Sidney (1982: 167). Meanwhile, the other two
theories are used as the complementary which function is to support the
determination of the clauses.
4.
Types of Sentence based on the Relation between Clauses
Hornby (1995: 1212) states that “a sentence
means a set of words
expressing a statement, a question or an order, usually containing a subject and a
verb.” Meanwhile, Warriner (1982: 24) claims that “a sentence is a group of
subject and the predicate” Therefore, it can be concluded that a sentence means a
group of words which contain a subject and a verb and functions to express a
complete thought. In addition, a sentence, at least, consists of one independent
clause. In addition, structurally there are four types of sentences. Those are simple
sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound complex
sentence.
a.
Simple Sentence
“A simple sentence is a sentence with one independent clause and no
subordinate clauses” (Warriner, 1982: 65). The example of the simple sentences
can be seen in example (54).
(54) My father bought me a new bike.
Hereby, the minimum requirement of a simple sentence is reflected through the
relationship between the subject
My father
and the verb
bought
. Meanwhile, the
elements such as the indirect object
me
and the direct object
a new bike
are
complementary to the subject-verb relationship to make the sentence have a
complete thought.
b.
Compound Sentence
A sentence is said to be compound if it consists of two or more
independent clauses and has no subordinate clauses (Warriner, 1982: 65). Besides,
23
such as
and
,
but
,
nor
,
yet
,
or
which show the equality of each clause. The equality
between clauses, hereby, becomes the determining factor of a sentence to be
called compound. The example of a compound sentence can be seen in sentence
(55).
(55) John is studying and Lisa is cooking.
There are two clauses in the example (55). The first clause is
John is
studying
. Meanwhile, the second one is
Lisa is cooking
. Since the first clause
consists of a subject
John
and a verb phrase
is studying
and the second clause
consists of a subject
Lisa
and a verb phrase
is cooking
, it can be concluded that
each clause consists of a subject and a verb phrase. Therefore, sentence (55) is
said to be parallel and equal because the subject-verb relationship in the first and
second clause are equal through the existent of subject-verb relationships which
are parallelized by the conjunction
and
.
c.
Complex Sentence
A complex sentence is made up of an independent clause, which is called
main clause, and at least one dependent clause, which is called subordinate clause
(Warriner, 1982: 65). The example of complex sentence can bee seen in sentence
(56).
Example (56) shows that the clause
I like Anna
is the independent clause or the
main clause because such clause can stand alone by itself as a complete sentence
consisting a subject and verb. On the other hand, the clause
since she is clever
becomes the dependent clause or the subordinate clause as it cannot stand alone
due to the existence of the conjunction
since
.
The subordinate clauses are usually introduced by the subordinating
conjunction such as
because
,
when
,
while
,
although
,
as
,
so
that
, so
,
if
,
after
,
before
,
until
,
since
. In addition, subordinate clause can take the form of noun
clause, as seen in example (57), and relative clause as seen in example (58). The
subordinate clauses are written in italics.
(57) My mother knew
that I won the game
.
(58) I sold one of my guitars
which I like most
.
d.
Compound Complex Sentence
“A sentence can be said to be compound complex if it consists of two or
more independent clauses and at least one subordinate clause” (Warriner, 1982:
67). The example of compound complex sentence can be seen in sentence (57).
(59) When Lisa was studying for the next day exam, Johnny made a call
and he informed her that the exam would be cancelled.
25
5.
Mastery
Hagboldt (1935: 2) as cited by Suharyono (1997: 8) states that “if someone
has a mastery over a certain language, then he or she has to have spontaneous
comprehension by ear, effortless and affluent reading, and habitual and skillful
use of words, idioms, and sentences in both speech and writing.” Since this
research works on students’ mastery over basic clause patterns in compositions,
therefore, the mastery is viewed as students’ comprehension and skill to use the
basic clause patterns in the compositions.
6.
Errors and Mistakes
Corder (1967 quoted in Richards 1973: 23-24) states that “errors are
differentiated into two kinds, those are error competence and error performance.”
Error competence means a kind of error which deals with students’ competence
and it is characterized to be systematic and serious. This kind of error is said to be
systematic and serious because when someone learns a language, he or she uses a
definite system of such language in every progression he or she makes to master
it.
Meanwhile error performance deals with someone’s language
performance. This kind of error is said to be unsystematic and not serious since
whenever someone make this kind of error, they can correct themselves. The error
performance occurs because of some factors such as, emotional states,
termed as mistake. In this research, the errors and mistakes are seen to be the ones
which students make and which are revealed through their compositions.
7.
Written Descriptive Texts
“A description is a form of writing or talking functions to create pictures,
sounds, smells, taste, and touch sensations in the imagination of the reader or
listener” (Kammer and Diebold, 1949:119). In this research, the definition of
written descriptive text is referred to a kind of text which students write with the
purpose to describe particular person, place, or things.
B.
Theoretical Framework
In accordance to the first research question, firstly this research is going to
find out the distributions of the basic clause patterns and the patterns which are
commonly used within the distributions. There are theories which are used to
know the distribution of the basic clause patterns and the common patterns used.
The first theory is the theory of types of sentences based on the relation between
clauses. The theory of types of sentences based on the relation between clauses
aims to determine whether or not the sentence is simple, compound, complex, or
compound complex.
The second theory which is used is the theory of clauses which provides
information to determine the dependent and independent clause. The
determination of the sentence aims to break down the clauses within the sentence
27
compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound-complex sentence,
regardless to the simple sentence which does not need any process of breaking
down on its clause. The determination should be done for a reason that the
dependent clause has to be determined and separated from the independent clause
in order analyse the compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound
complex sentence. After the dependent and independent clause have been
separated, then each of them is analysed based on the basic clause pattern.
The third theory is the theory of clause element which consists of the
clause elements based on position and the clause element based on part of speech.
The theory of clause element based on position is used to give information about
the basic clause patterns’ elements which consist of subject (S), verb (V), object
(O), adverb (A), and complement (C). On the other hand, the theory about clause
element based on parts of speech is used to give information about the basic
clause patterns’ elements which consist of noun (N), verb (V), adjective (Adj),
and preposition (Prep).
Furthermore, the theory of clause element which consists of the clause
elements based on position and the theory of clause element which is based on
part of speech support each other in the determination of each element because of
the following process, for example, subjects (S) are formed by nouns (N) or noun
phrases (NP) or the complement (C) can be formed by adjective (Adj) or noun
(N).
Related to the second research question, secondly, this research is going to
the theory of the basic clause patterns. This theory functions to determine and to
make categories of the clauses based on the patterns. Therefore, the pattern of
each clause can be found and the distribution of the clause patterns can be
revealed as well as the commonly used patterns. The theory of the basic clause
patterns which will be used in this study is the one based on
A University
Grammar of English
written by Randolph and Sidney (1982: 167) since it gives
more details related to the information about the subject (S), verb (V), object (O),
adverb (A), and complement (C) of the basic clause patterns which will be
analysed. Meanwhile, the theory from John (1962) and Crystal (1991) is used as
the supporting theory to determine the clause patterns since they all have
similarities.
In relation to the third research question, this research is going to find out
students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns. The theory which is used to find
out students’ mastery is the theory about mastery. The theory of mastery proposed
by Hagboldt (1935: 2 as cited by Suharyono 1997: 8) views that “someone is said
to have a mastery over a language if he or she has spontaneous comprehension by
ear, effortless and affluent reading, and habitual and skillful use of words, idioms,
and sentences both oral and written.” Therefore, since the students’ mastery in this
research is about the basic clause patterns which are used in their compositions,
the mastery is described to be the students’ comprehension and skill to use the
29
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the researcher discusses the methodology which is used to
conduct the research. The methodology covers the research methods, research
participants, research instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis
technique, and the research procedures.
A. Research Method
This research was qualitative research. Brown and Rodgers (2002: 10-12)
state that “a qualitative research is a research which is aimed to understand the
phenomenon by focusing on the total picture rather than breaking it down into
variables”. Meanwhile, Best (1970: 117) says that “descriptive research is a kind
of research which estimates the degree of achievement of a large number of
individuals involved in educational and environmental influences.” Therefore, it
was suitable if the research was defined as descriptive research since it describes
students’ achievements and mastery over the basic clause patterns which are
reflected through their distributions.
In addition, since the description was the basic clause patterns that
students used in their written compositions, this study used document. “Document
analysis focuses on analyzing and interpreting recorded material within its own
context and the material may be public records, textbooks, letters, films, tapes,
researcher decides to use document analysis because the data were the materials
which were in the form of texts or, in this research, are called students’ written
descriptive compositions.
B. Research Participants
The syllabus of the tenth grade, eleventh grade, and twelfth grade include
the material which discusses the topic of description. Therefore, students have
been learning to make a description since they were in the tenth grade. This
condition assured the researcher to choose the eleventh grade students as research
participants since they have already had the knowledge about description and
since they are able to make descriptive compositions which were needed as the
data to be analysed.
The subjects of the research were the eleventh grade students of
SMKN 2
Depok
of the 2008/2009 academic year. The eleventh grade students were chosen
because it was necessary for the teacher to know their understanding about
English including their mastery over basic clause patterns. Knowing their
understanding, the teacher was supposed to be able to determine the most
appropriate teaching techniques in order to teach English in a better and more
suitable ways. Therefore, students could continue their study in the following
grade with better result as well as better English skill to communicate.
In conducting the research, the writer chose two classes. Those classes
31
became the research participants. Meanwhile, out of 32 students of class XI
Geologi Pertambangan B
(GPB), there were 26 students who became the research
participants. In addition to those participants, they were chosen because the
researcher should adjust his schedule to get the data and the teacher’s teaching
schedule. As a result of the agreement of the schedule, the participants which were
chosen were XI
Teknik Pemesinan A
(TPA) and XI
Geologi Pertambangan B
(GPB).
C. Research Instrument
The research instrument which was used in this research was human
instrument. Since the main data, which were gathered, were the product of the
students’ ability to use basic clause patterns in a form of written compositions, the
researcher played an important role as a human instrument whose job was to
analyse the documents in forms of students’ descriptive written compositions.
The students’ compositions were regarded to be the main source of the
research. Through students’ compositions, the basic clause patterns and their
distributions were able to be seen and analysed. Moreover, students’ compositions
were able to reflect their mastery over basic clause patterns as the compositions
became more effective materials which showed students’ interest and knowledge.
Thornbury (1999: 73) claims that “student texts may be the most effective
materials to know students’ knowledge, since they are likely to be of more interest
D. Data Gathering Technique
Producing descriptive compositions became one of the items in the
curriculum of the school for all grades in
SMKN 2 Depok
. Therefore, the data
were gathered through students’ production of the compositions. At the beginning
of the teaching-learning activity, the teacher explained the materials related to the
topic of descriptive. In the following teaching-learning activity, the teacher gave a
task to students which required them to make a descriptive composition. The
compositions should be submitted to the teacher in the end of the class. When the
class was dismissed, the researcher met the teacher to acquire the compositions.
The task which was given to the students can be seen in Appendix B.
The data gathering was conducted twice. The first data gathering was
conducted on October 13, 2009 in order to gain the data from class XI
Teknik
Pemesinan A
(TPA
)
. Meanwhile, the second data gathering was conducted on
October 28, 2009 to gain the data from class XI
Geologi Pertambangan B
(GPB).
E. Data Analysis Technique
The data involved the basic clauses patterns that were used by the students
including the distribution of each pattern. Therefore, the researcher analysed the
basic clauses patterns in students’ compositions and made classifications of the
basic clause based on the seven patterns. Then, each pattern was counted in the
matter of how often they were used by students. This step was conducted to find
out the distribution frequency of each pattern. The next step was to find out
33
pattern, the researcher compared the occurrence of the correct clauses and the
intended clauses. However, the standard measurement to determine students’
mastery was the occurrence or frequency of the correct clauses since it reflected
students’ ability to use the basic clauses correctly.
In other words, after all of the basic clauses were classified based on the
seven patterns and their distribution frequencies were found, the results of the
classification and the distribution frequencies were taken into qualitative
description which could give the parameter of how well students’ mastery over
the basic clause patterns was. In addition to the qualitative description, the more
determining factor to determine students’ mastery was the frequency of the correct
clauses. Next, the writer made conclusions to provide the answer to the research
questions.
F. Research Procedure
To conduct the research and obtain the objectives, the researcher made
some steps. The first step was that the researcher asked the permission from
Bappeda Sleman to conduct the research and to obtain the data in
SMKN 2 Depok
.
Second, before conducting the research and obtaining the data, the researcher
reviewed the materials from the handbooks which were used by the students and
the teacher of
SMKN 2 Depok
. This step was aimed to know the topics of the
lessons. In this case, the topic determined teacher’ teaching-learning activities and
determined the task which were directed to students to make descriptive
After reviewing the materials and topics from the handbooks, the
researcher carried out the third step, that was consulting and determining the topic
related to the lesson with the English teacher of
SMKN 2 Depok
. Next, the
researcher conducted the research by obtaining students’ descriptive compositions
as the result of the teaching-learning activities and the task which was given. The
researcher obtained the compositions after the teaching-learning process was
dismissed. After obtaining the data, the researcher analysed the data. Afterward,
the researcher interpreted the data and discussed the research findings. Then, the
conclusions and suggestions were drawn. Finally, the researcher reported the
35
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents detailed information about the data in this research.
The discussion involves three main sections. The first part is the distributions of
the basic clause patterns. The second part is the brief analysis on students’ errors
which is used as the complementary part in order to know the scope of errors that
students made. The third part is the discussion on the students’ mastery over basic
clause patterns and their distributions and the errors that were produced by
students.
A.
Research Findings
1.
The Distributions of the Basic Clause Patterns
The distributions of the basic clause patterns involved the correct clauses
and the intended clauses. The correct clauses were the ones which did not need
any revision. Meanwhile, the intended clauses were the ones which were revised
by the researcher. However, the revisions did not change the idea of the clauses.
These revisions aimed to make the ideas of the clauses became more apparent
because students might not make perfect clauses to convey their intended ideas.
Besides, the researcher did not consider whether the clauses which students made
were correct or incorrect, but only viewed the errors and or mistakes in the
clauses. Hence, the researcher only made the revisions in order to make the idea
The idea of each clause became the source of information because the idea
which students intended to convey were reflected through the clauses they use. In
other words, students’ abilities to communicate the ideas were revealed through
the clauses they made. In brief, the more proficient students could communicate
the ideas through the clauses and the more correctly they made the clauses, the
better their mastery was.
In this research, the total frequency of the clauses based on the patterns,
the correct clauses, and the intended clauses were compared to find out the
distributions which reflect students’ mastery them. In other words, the comparison
which was used to reveal students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns involved
the distribution frequency of the basic clause patterns, the correct clauses, and the
intended clauses.
The researcher made this comparison in order to see the fact that although
the distribution of a certain pattern has possibly a high frequency, it did not mean
that students were really able to use such basic clause pattern regarding to the fact
that some of their clauses still needed to have some revisions. In addition, the
clauses which still needed to be revised, in this study, were termed as intended
clauses.
The existence of the intended clauses showed that students still made
errors in using the basic clause patterns. The errors which students made became
parts of the mastery. This statement was supported by Corder (1967 quoted in
Walz 1982: 1). Corder states that “learning a new language requires a trial and
37
underlying rules, categories, and systems.”
Therefore,
the intended clauses which
were included in this analysis become the reflection of students’ mastery, but in
this case was the mastery which was imperfect and still needed to be developed.
As it is explained, to reveal students mastery over basic clause patterns,
the researcher used the comparison on the distribution frequencies of the basic
clauses, students’ correct clauses, and students’ intended clauses. The comparison
of them was presented by means of tables. Table 4.1 presents the overall
distributions of basic clause patterns including the correct and intended clauses.
There were several symbols in some parts of the tables related to the terms of the
clause distributions. The symbols were as follows: 1. Clause Pattern frequency
(CP (f)), 2. Clause Pattern Percentage (CP (%)), 3. Correct Clause Frequency (CC
(f)), 4. Correct Clause Percentage (CC (%)), 5. Intended Clause Frequency (IC
[image:54.595.108.512.309.653.2](f)), 6. Intended Clause Percentage (IC (%)).
Table 4.1 The Distributions of Basic Clause Patterns
Clause Distribution
No. Clause
Pattern CP (f) CP (%) CC (f) CC (%) IC (f) IC (%)
1 SVA 284 34,38 109 38,38 175 61,62
2 SVOA 206 24,94 75 36,41 131 63,60
3 SVC 148 17,92 96 64,86 52 35,13
4 SVO 113 13,68 52 46,02 61 53,98
5 SV 52 6,29 32 61,54 20 38,46
6 SVOC 16 1,94 3 18,75 13 81,25
7 SVOO 7 0,85 3 42,86 4 57,14
Total 826 100 371 44,915 455 55,10
As seen in Table 4.1, the total frequency of the clause patterns’
distributions was 826 or 100%. Out of the total distribution frequency of 826, the
of intended clause was 455 or 55,10%. From those total distribution frequencies,
the clause patterns, of which each distribution frequency was analysed, were
sequenced from the most frequent until the least frequent. The sequence of the
basic patterns based on t
