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Score Category
80 – 100 Very Good A
70 – 79 Good B
56 – 69 Sufficient C
50 – 55 Insufficient D
≤ 49 Fail E
Based on the list of score category above, it could be assumed that if the students’ scores are below the minimum standard of mastery, they still have not
mastered prepositions at, in, and on, which indicate time and place, and they still have difficulties in using those three prepositions well.
B. Theoretical Framework
This section discusses the linked theories which are combined from the Theoretical Description. The use of those theories is intended to facilitate the
researcher to find out the answer of the research questions of this study, which are stated in Chapter I.
Grammar has played an important role in learning a second language. In order to acquire a certain language, a learner is required to learn the grammar of
the target language. English grammar consists of many elements. One of English grammar elements which is considered troublesome for most of the learners of
English is preposition. This statement is supported by Pittman 1974: 24 who said, “among those who teach or learn the English language, prepositions have
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31 obtained a reputation for difficulty if not a downright unpredictability.” In this
study, the researcher focuses on the students’ mastery of prepositions at, in, and on since the use of these prepositions were complicated for most of the learners of
English. The discussion of prepositions at, in, and on in this study is divided into
two, namely prepositions at, in, and on indicating place and prepositions at, in, and on indicating time. To indicate place, preposition at is used to show an exact
point, preposition in is used to show a certain location within a geographical area or three dimensional space, and preposition on is used to indicate a certain
location on a surface. To indicate time, preposition at is used to indicate points of time of a day, preposition in is used to indicate period within which something
takes place, and preposition on is used to indicate days and dates. When English learners use English as a second or foreign language, transfer
usually occurred. Therefore, they tend to translate what they would like to say from their mother tongue into the target language word by word. This could
happen because the learners’ mother tongue is the first language that is acquired by them. As a result, when they learn another language, there will be the influence
of the mother tongue to their use of the target language. The influence could be negative or positive influence, but in this study, the researcher would only focus
on the negative influence of the mother tongue to their use of prepositions at, in, and on. In using English prepositions at, in, and on, Indonesian learners are
usually influenced by Indonesian prepositions di, pada, di dalam, and di atas. Preposition of place at has the similar meaning with Indonesian prepositions di
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32 and pada, the preposition of place in has similar meaning with Indonesian
prepositions di and di dalam, and the preposition of place on has similar meaning with Indonesian prepositions di, di atas, and pada. Meanwhile, preposition of
time at has similar meaning with Indonesian preposition pada, the preposition of time in has similar meaning with Indonesian prepositions di and di dalam, and the
preposition of place on has similar meaning with Indonesian prepositions di and pada. Since each of prepositions at, in, and on has double similar meaning with
Indonesian prepositions di, pada, di dalam, and di atas, many English learners are confused in using these prepositions. As a result, they assume that these
prepositions are complicated. Since there were many students of the English Language Education Study
Program who assumed that prepositions at, in, and on were difficult and complicated, the researcher was interested to find out their mastery on these
prepositions and the possible factors that caused them to make errors in using these prepositions. In this chapter, there are five major parts of theories, namely
theories about prepositions at, in, and on, Indonesian prepositions di, pada, di dalam, and di atas, Affective Filter Hypotheses, theory of feedback, errors in
language learning, and the mastery of a language. Those theories are employed to provide a basis for finding out the students’ mastery of prepositions at, in, and on
and the possible factors which caused their errors in using those three prepositions.
In this study, the researcher used theory of Affective Filter because she would like to reveal some attitudes which influence the students’ mastery of
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33 prepositions at, in, and on. Affective Filter hypotheses identifies motivation, self-
confidence and anxiety as the affective variables in acquiring second language. Therefore, it could be concluded in this study that learners with high motivation,
good self-confidence, and less anxiety tend to receive more input related to preposition at, in, and on so that they could be more successful in mastering those
prepositions. Theories about prepositions at, in, and on and about mastery of a language
facilitate the researcher to answer the first research question of this study, which is about how well the fifth semester students of the English Language Education
Study Program of Sanata Dharma University have mastered prepositions at, in, and on. Meanwhile, in order to facilitate the researcher in answering the second
research question about the possible factors which cause the students’ errors in using prepositions at, in, and on, the theories about Indonesian prepositions di,
pada, di dalam, and di atas, Affective Filter Hypotheses, theory of feedback, and errors in language learning are employed in this study.
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34
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter illustrates the method of the research. It is divided into parts of discussion, namely research method, research participants, research instruments,
data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research procedure.
A. Research Method
Descriptive research studies are designed to obtain information concerning the current status of phenomena Ary, Jacob, and Razavieh, 1979: 295. Since it
was designed to obtain information about the current status of phenomenon, which is the mastery of prepositions at, in, and on among the fifth semester
students of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University, it is obvious that this research belongs to descriptive research. The
researcher conducted a survey research to accommodate this research. A survey research is a type of descriptive research in which the researcher provides a test,
an interview, and a questionnaire to obtain the data. Fraenkel and Wallen 1993: 343 state that a survey study is a process of collecting information from a group
of people about a specific subject. This collected information is useful for describing some aspects or characteristics of the population of which that group is
a part. Before the writer conducted the survey research, firstly, she conducted a library research. The aim of conducting the library research was to find out the
related theories to be used in this study.
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