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C. The Data Interpretation
Finally, in this data interpretation, the writer would describe the sequence
of regular and irregular plural forms areas which are arranged from the highest to the lowest frequency of errors. The description is presented in this following
table:
Table 4.6 The Sequence of Plural Forms Area
Based on Their High Percentage of Error No
Plural Forms Area Percentage
of Error 1.
Regular Plural Forms
- Nouns ending in -s, -x, -z, -sh, or -ch
- Noun ending in –f or –fe
- Nouns ending in –o
- Nouns ending in –y
- The general rule for writing the plural of English
nouns 39.05
38.57 25.71
23.43 11.43
Total average 28.74
2. Irregular Plural Forms
- Mass noun
- Words better known in the plural
- Defective nouns--plurale tantum
- Irregular –en plurals
- Nouns with identical singular and plural
- Ablaut plurals
70 61.42
45.71 37.14
35.71 28.57
Total average 43.07
The whole total percentage of regular and irregular plural
34.95
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Table 4.7 The Percentage of Error Category in Regular and Irregular Plurals
Category of Error Percentage
Misformation Error 57.14
Addition Error 17.14
Omission Error 11.43
Table 4.8 The Cause of Error Percentage in Regular and Irregular Plurals
Cause of Error Percentage
Intralingual 74.3
Interlingual 11.43
The table 4.6 shows that students made error on regular noun with the total
percentage 28.74. The highest percentage is on nouns ending with the sibilants of s, x, z, sh, or ch
with 39.05. The second level is noun ending in –f or –fe with the percentage 38.57. The third level is 25.71 of nouns
ending in –o area. The fourth level is 23.43 of nouns ending in –y. And the
last or the lowest percentage of error in regular plural forms takes place on the general rule for writing the plural of English nouns.
That is 11.43 in this
area. Theoretically, this is natural, because this area is the simplest one of the way for making plural of regular noun. The students need to put ending
–s or – es only. So, they have become accustomed on this way.
For the irregular plural forms, Mass noun area is the highest error done by students; there is 70 error in this area. The second level is words better
known in the plural with percentage 61.42. The next level is in defective
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nouns--plurale tantum area with 45.71 of error. The fourth is nouns with
identical singular and plural with percentage of error 35.71. The fifth level
is 37.14 of irregular –en plurals area. And the lowest percentage of error
in irregular plural forms takes place on umlaut plurals area with percentage
28. The reason why students made error in mass nouns area is because they thought that the words are regular countable noun, so they form its plural by
adding –s to the end of the word, whereas there are no plural in mass noun.
Table 4.7 defines that most errors made by students on regular and irregular plurals is misformation error with percentage 57.14. While in
addition category, there is 17.14, and omission is 11.43. It shows that the students tend to mis-form the words or the rule in making plurals rather than to
add and omit them. From table 4.8, it is clearly defined that most errors made by students are
because of intralingual error, with percentage 74.3, while the cause of interlingual error is only 11.43. It proved that students still have less
knowledge about the rules of English plurals, so they need to learn and practice a lot about plural forms of English nouns, especially about irregular plurals,
because there are not specific rules in making irregular plurals.
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