Grammatical Errors In Composition Made By The 11th Grade Students Of Sman 1 Tabanan
on
ISSN: 2302-920X
Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Unud
Vol 16.3 September 2016: 272 - 279
Grammatical Errors In Composition Made By The 11th Grade Students Of Sman 1
Tabanan
Theresia Yohana Kristiani1*, I Gede Putu Sudana2, Ni Made Ayu Widiastuti3
123
123English Department Faculty Of Letters And Culture, Udayana University
1[[email protected]] 2[[email protected]] 3[[email protected]]
Corresponding Author
Abstrak
Tata bahasa dalam Bahasa Inggris merupakan salah satu komponen penting dalam bahasa lisan ataupun tulisan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui jenis kesalahan tata bahasa yang terdapat dalam tulisan murid kelas XI di SMAN 1 Tabanan dan penyebab terjadinya kesalahan tersebut. Jenis kesalahan dalam tulisan para murid diklasifikasikan ke dalam empat kategori menurut teori yang dikemukakan oleh Dulay (1982) dalam bukunya berjudul “Language Two” dan penyebab terjadinya kesalahan menurut teori yang dicetuskan oleh Richards (1974) dalam bukunya yang berjudul “Error Analysis: Perspective on Second Language Acquisition”. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa “omission” ialah jenis kesalahan tata bahasa yang paling banyak dilakukan oleh para murid dan “ignorance of rule restriction” ialah faktor terbanyak yang menyebabkan para responden melakukan kesalahan tata bahasa dalam hal penulisan. Kemampuan para responden dalam penulisan dapat dikatakan rendah atau di bawah rata-rata disebabkan persentase kemampuan yang mereka dapatkan kurang dari 50%.
Kata Kunci: Kemampuan menulis, Tata Bahasa, Kesalahan penulisan
Language is needed to be able to communicate with society well. Therefore, language is divided into two: first and second language. English is the second language mostly used and learnt in Indonesia besides the fact that it is also claimed as the international language over the world. Furthermore, students need to learn English grammatically in order to be able to communicate and compete globally nowadays. Hence, it is important to study the English grammar in order to be able to form correct utterances in composition.
The problems that the writer would like to discuss in this study are:
-
a) What kinds of grammatical errors according to Dulay’s surface strategy taxonomy are mostly made wrong by the students in their writings?
-
b) What are the causes of learners’ errors according to Richards’s theory of causes of errors in writing composition made by the 11th grade students of SMAN 1 Tabanan?
The aims of this study are:
-
a) To identify and explain the kinds of grammatical error according to Dulay’s surface strategy taxonomy made wrong by the students in their writings.
-
b) To identify and explain the causes of learners’ errors according to Richards’s theory of causes of errors in the students’ composition.
The data source of this study was obtained directly from recount composition made by the 11th grade social students of SMAN 1 Tabanan. The samples for this study were the compositions which met the requirements for being as a recount text (use past tenses and consist of min. 3 paragraphs).
Field research method was the method in collecting data. Therefore, the technique of collecting data was direct personal observation. It was done by asking the learners to compose a recount composition and collect it directly.
Qualitative and quantitative method were used in analyzing the data. Qualitative method was done for analyzing the kinds of grammatical errors and causes of learners’ errors while quantitative method was used for presenting the percentage calculation of the data. There were some steps for analyzing the data. First, the kinds of grammatical errors according to Dulay’s surface strategy taxonomy (1982) were identified, therefore, it classified into some categories. Second, the causes of learners’ errors were identified and analyzed by applying the theory of Richards (1974). At the end, the analysis of this study was presented using descriptive method and classified into some categories and percentage calculation.
The result of the analysis was divided into 2: the kinds of grammatical errors made by the respondents and the causes of their errors.
Omission is one of categories of types of learners according to surface strategy taxonomy by Dulay (1982). It is considered as common error found in second language learners. Thus, there are eight types of omission were identified in this study.
-
a. Omission of preposition
The second language learners commonly make a mistake in forming an utterance using a preposition. In this study, the respondents omitted the preposition when they should put the preposition in their sentences. It sometimes occurs due to the lack of the respondents’ knowledge in mastering English and/or the different rule applied in their first and second language. Furthermore, the omitted prepositions were identified in this data: up, at, to.
-
b. Omission of article a, the
A and an are indefinite articles that can be used only before singular countable nouns; the can be used before uncountable (mass) nouns and before countable plural nouns (Maclin, 1996: 50). Some of the respondents have failed to construct a correct sentence by omitting the articles. Therefore, the respondents were confused in using the English articles since there are some differences between their first and second language in using articles. Thus, utterances which omitted the articles were that was very fun experience, listening music, entered competition room, snatch away fishing rod.
-
c. Omission of both plural markers
Plural nouns can be formed by adding –s or –es at the end of the nouns; however, there are some rules in applying plural markers. In this study, some of the respondents did not put the plural markers to the sentences which required the plural markers and the plural marker was mostly required in the samples were –s. The nouns which omitted the plural markers were month, student, question, competition, hour, place, tourist, week, dress.
-
d. Omission of auxiliary was, were
Auxiliary was and were are required in forming past tenses sentences, especially on past continuous tense. In this study, some of the respondents omitted the auxiliary was and were in forming their sentences. Therefore, the utterances that omitted the 274
auxiliary was and were: my junior high school travelling to Java, my sister fishing fish, I’m waiting.
-
e. Omission of copula was, were
Unlike the auxiliary was and were, copula was and were are required if the sentences are followed by adjective or noun. This study identified that the omission of past form copula was more than the past form auxiliary. Thus, one of the sentences that omitted the copula was and were: when I grade 4 in elementary school.
-
f. Omission of regular past tense –ed
Retelling the past events, the learners should be able to learn how to use and apply the regular form in their utterances. Therefore, this study identified that most of the respondents made mistakes in forming regular past tense verb utterances by applying infinitive verbs into their utterances. Based on the data, one of the respondent formed We work until 9 pm for three days before the competition, thus, it leads to a conclusion that the respondent omitted the regular past tense –ed.
-
g. Omission of irregular past tense
Unlike the formation of regular past tense which is only by adding –ed, the irregular past tense is more varied since it cannot be formed only by adding –ed. The respondents did not use the irregular past tense in which they should apply the irregular past tense forms in their utterances. For instance, one the respondent formed until we get tired. The instance could be probably said true yet it was incorrect due to the fact that the respondent had to write a recount composition. The respondent omitted the irregular past tense verb in his sentence since it should be until we got tired.
-
h. Omission of infinitive marker –to
The initiative form of a verb is the form which follows to (Maclin, 1996: 173). In English grammar, the infinitive marker –to cannot be omitted since it plays an important role. However, due to the differences between the respondents’ first language and second language, they often omitted the infinitive marker –to. One of the respondent formed an utterance My friends and I decided travel to Kuta beach, therefore, the sentence implied that the infinitive marker –to was omitted in the sentence although it can be said true literally if it depends on the first language.
Addition is a condition when there are two or more necessary items lie in the sentence. Therefore, there were 2 kinds of addition errors based on the data.
-
a. Simple addition
It is a condition when the errors are neither a regularization nor double markings (Dulay, 1982: 158). For example, the respondent wrote After that, I went to the my house. In the sentence, article the was classified as a simple addition error since it should not be added in the sentence.
-
b. Regularization
Regularization which falls under addition category is a condition when the learners break some linguistic rules, i.e. pluralization. The data identified one of examples, For your information to got the first rank. Based on the example, it broke the rules of infinitive verb. Thus, the sentence should be For your information to get the first rank.
-
c. Double markings
Double marking can be defined as a condition when the learners add some necessary items yet it should not be applied in the sentence. For instance, they were spoke too fast. The example showed that there was a double marking error lie in it which was showed by the existence of past participle were.
Misformation is an error characterized by the use of wrong form of morpheme or structure. There were 3 categories fall under misformations: regularization error, archi-forms, and alternating form; however, only 2 out of 3 categories which had been analyzed based on the data.
-
a. Regularization error
The sentence can be classified as regularization in which the learners apply regular form of past tense in irregular ones. Therefore, the example of this error is prepared some materials to competition and gived those some color. The respondent made a regularization error by applying regular form in irregular; therefore, the sentence should be prepared some materials to competition and gave those some color.
-
b. Alternating-forms
It is the use of one member of class of terms to represent others in class. A learner may temporarily select just one of the English adjective demonstratives, e.g. that, to represent others in class. For instance, my grandmother already waited we. The respondent had misformed the structure of the sentence since the sentence required the accusative pronoun to complete the sentence. Therefore, the sentence should be my grandmother already waited us.
Misordering errors occur when the learners misplace the items of the sentence. Therefore, the data identified that some of the respondents had misplaced the items lied in the sentence. One of the respondent formed we could longer enjoyed the view. It can be identified that the learner misplaced the items which led to an incorrect sentence. The position of adverb should be after the verb, therefore, the sentence should be we could enjoy the view longer.
The cause of their errors used the theory which was purposed by Jack C. Richards (1974). According to the theory, there are 4 causes of errors which are over generalization, false concept hypothesized, ignorance of rule restriction, and incomplete application of rules. However, the data identified only 2 causes of errors out of 4.
Ignorance of rule restriction is a condition when the learners fail to observe the restriction of existing structure by using the restrictions of structure which do not apply to it. Therefore, the respondents of this study often ignored the rule of recount composition which required the past tenses form.
It is a cause of errors which commonly occurred in second language learners. At the beginning stage, the second language learners often generalize the concept of some rules. Therefore, based on the data, this cause of error had been analyzed due to the fact that some of the respondents failed to form irregular past tense form. One of the
respondent formed I suddenly jumped up and taked a bath. The sentence showed that the respondent had false concept in forming past tense form.
The conclusion for this study is the respondents have low ability in composing a recount text without committing grammatical errors because of their percentage calculation was less than 50%, which was only 31.25%. Although the respondents have been learning English since they were in 4th grade of elementary school, they still face the grammatical problems in forming a writing composition. Furthermore, the ability of XI SOC 1 was better than XI SOC 2 due to the fact that the percentage calculation of XI SOC 1 was 47.05% while XI SOC 2 only gained 13.33%.
The suggestion for the respondents is they have to be able to master English, especially English grammar, since it is very important for global communication nowadays. They cannot communicate and compete the world if they cannot master this international language.
Baugh, Albert C. & Thomas Cable. A History of the English Language. London: Pearson Education.
Corder, Pit S.. (1981). Error Analysis and Interlanguage. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Cresswell, John W.. (2012). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and
Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Fourth Edition. Pearson Education Inc., Boston.
Creswell, John W.. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Fourth Edition. Sage Publications, USA.
Dulay, Heidi C., et al. (1982). Language Two. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Hornby, A.S.. (2009). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary: Eight Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Maclin, Alice. (1996). Reference Guide to English: A handbook of English as a Second Language. Materials Branch, Washington D.C..
Richards, Jack C.. (1974). Error Analysis: Perspective on Second Language Acquisition. Longman, England.
Thomson, A. J. & A. V. Martinet. (1986). A Practical English Grammar. Fourth Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Quirk, et al. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of The English Language. Longman, NY.
279
Discussion and feedback