68 errors. On the contrary, if the possible causes are from the interference of English
language itself, they are called intralingual errors. The two subchapters below explain the possible causes of errors based on both Indonesian and English
language interference, or perhaps the mixing interference of those two languages.
1. The Possible Causes of the Omission of A or An
There were two possible causes of article omission for singular generic nouns which were analyzed from Indonesian and English language: a the use of
Indonesian words indicating singular nouns b the generalization of the rules of articles for plural and noncount nouns.
a. The Use of Indonesian Words Indicating Singular Nouns
The first possible cause of a oran omission was viewed from the interference of Indonesian use of singular word. The students were assumed to translate words
indicating singular nouns words beginning with se-, such as sebuah, seorang as a oran. Unlike English articles which were should be used before singular nouns,
the use of those Indonesian words were optional. For that reason, most students did not use a or an before singular generic nouns since a singular noun without
the words beginning with se- sounded more familiar for them.
The researcher’s assumption emerged after the pilot test. The result of the pilot test showed that most students omit a or an before singular generic nouns.
Therefore, two additional items in translation part were designed to prove it. The
69 items required the students to translate nouns started with a word beginning with
se-, and surprisingly, the percentage of the right answer was higher than that of another test items which was based on the same concept singular generic nouns
of which first letter was spelled and sounds as a consonant, yet without the words beginning with se-. Table 4.8 and 4.9 provides the examples taken from the test.
Table 4.8 Percentage of Answers with an Indonesian Word Indicating Singularity
Category Sentence Example
Percentage
Indonesian Sentence
71 Globe adalah benda berbentuk bola yang bergambar peta dunia.part II,number 20
Correct Answer
A globe is a ball-shaped object with the world map on it
49.53 Incorrect Answer
with the highest frequency
ØGlobe is a ball-shaped object with the world map on it
45.75
Table 4.9 Percentage of Answers without an Indonesian Word Indicating Singularity
Category Sentence Example
Percentage
Indonesian Sentence
72 Seekor ayam mampu menghasilkan 260
telur dalam setahun.part II, number 15 Correct Answer
A hen is able to lay 260 eggs a year. 78.30
Incorrect Answer with the highest
frequency
Ø Hen is able to lay 260 eggs a year. 18.87
The tables show that the addition of the word seekor really affected the students’ answer, which was proven by difference between the percentage of the correct
answers in table 4.8 and table 4.9 answers. The students might not realize that English article should be appeared before singular nouns. They just translated
what was written on the test paper. As a result, if there was a word beginning
70 withse-sebuah,seekor,etc,it was translated as a, yet if there was no word
beginning with se- the students would translate the nouns without any article. It was supported by the examples in the table. In table 4.8, there is no word of
sebuah before the word globe, so the students just translated it into Ø globe. However, when the students were asked to translate seekor ayam, they add a
before the word hen refer to table 4.9 page 67. It showed that the students tended to translate words beginning with se- sebuah, seekor as the a or an.
In brief, the students had a low awareness of the need of article for a singular generic noun. The optional use of Indonesian language such as seekor, sebutir,
sebuah, to indicate a singular noun, may affect the students’ production of article. The students unconsciously implemented their background knowledge of
Indonesian language to the English production after the mental translation process in their mind. To solve this problem and make the students aware of this kind of
errors, the researcher believes that a teacher should explicitly exemplify and compare the difference between Indonesian and English sentence in terms of
article and the words beginning with se-.
c.
The Generalization of The Rules of Articles for Plural Generic Nouns
The omission of a or an may be affected by the students’ background knowledge of English, particularly the use of article for plural generic nouns. Most students
were assumed to be more familiar with plural generic nouns instead of singular generic nouns. The assumption was supported by several answers of several
71 students which translated a singular generic noun into a plural generic noun
though the verb after the noun explained that the noun should be singular.
The students might not realize that they could utilize a or an before generic nouns. Since they were more familiar with plural generic nouns, they generalized the
rules of article for plural generic nouns to singular generic nouns. As a result, they chose Ø as the article for singular generic nouns. Figure 4.1 supported the
researcher’s assumption.
Figure 4.1: An Example of the Students’ Test
Figure 4.1 shows that the students were confused about the concept of singular generic nouns. The student’ answers in the example show the students’
inconsistency and confusion of using article for singular generic nouns. The example represents the students’ pattern of answering the items. When they were
asked to translate a singular generic noun, sometimes they translated it into a plural generic noun which needed no article, yet sometimes they translated it into
a singular noun without any article. It can be seen from the test results that even though the auxiliary verb in test number 19 is has indicated that a singular noun
should be used, the participant translated the noun into plural nouns.
72 Figure 4.1 also shows that, at times, students might have realized that the verb in
the sentence requires a singular noun. However they made errors in the translation process by not inserting an article before the noun, which suggests they that their
awareness that a singular count noun always requires article a or an was low.
In short, the students unconsciously generalized the rules of articles for plural generic nouns to singular generic nouns since they were more familiar with plural
generic nouns. They may not realize that a generic noun could be in a form of a singular noun. The students translated a singulargeneric noun into a plural generic
noun, even though the verb after the singulargeneric noun already explained that the noun was a singular noun. Therefore they thought that the nouns need no
article.
2. The Possible Causes of the Addition of the
