67 learners because it is assumed that they failed to answer most of the questions
regarding that grammatical aspect.
Table 4.7 Descriptive Statistics - Comparison of Each Grammatical Aspect Descriptive Statistics
N Mean Std.
Deviation Std.
Error 95 Confidence
Interval for Mean Min Max
Lower Bound
Upper Bound
Simple aspect
2 30
9.73 3.423
.625 8.46
11.01 5
17 4
30 12.90 2.670
.487 11.90
13.90 4
16 6
30 11.97 2.965
.541 10.86
13.07 5
17 Total 90 11.53
3.285 .346
10.85 12.22
4 17
Perfect aspects
2 30
5.97 2.773
.506 4.93
7.00 1
12 4
30 7.77
3.411 .623
6.49 9.04
1 14
6 30
6.13 2.713
.495 5.12
7.15 2
12 Total 90
6.62 3.060
.323 5.98
7.26 1
14 Progressive
aspects 2
30 4.87
3.213 .587
3.67 6.07
12 4
30 7.83
3.668 .670
6.46 9.20
2 16
6 30
5.47 2.874
.525 4.39
6.54 11
Total 90 6.06
3.478 .367
5.33 6.78
16 Perfect-
progressive aspects
2 30
3.87 4.167
.761 2.31
5.42 18
4 30
6.63 3.917
.715 5.17
8.10 2
16 6
30 4.73
3.129 .571
3.57 5.90
12 Total
90 5.08
3.898 .411
4.26 5.89
18
Table 4.7 shows mean values of each grammatical aspect acquired by all groups of learners. From that table it is obvious that total mean value of simple
aspects is the highest 11.53, it can be assumed that most of the students were able to answer the questions related to simple aspects correctly. They correctly
answered both test item types of the grammatical aspects usage and grammatical aspects knowledge. Furthermore, the result of the descriptive statistic also gives
information on the less answered question indicated by the lowest total mean value. The lowest total mean value is the perfect-progressive aspect, therefore it
68 can be deduced that this grammatical aspect is the most problematic aspect
encountered by the learners. A detailed observation of the mean values of each semester reveals that all learners groups meet difficulties with perfect-progressive
aspect, and it is shown on the mean value of this aspect from each group second semester group: 3.87, the fourth semester group: 6.63 and the sixth semester
group: 4,73. In brief, the perfect-progressive grammatical aspect is the problematic aspect for the language learners.
B. DISCUSSIONS
The purpose of this cross-sectional study is to reveal the developmental pattern of the acquisition of grammatical aspects of EFL learners and to find out
whether there is a significant difference on the development of the grammatical aspects acquisition or not. Further, there would be also a discussion of the
problematic grammatical aspects encountered by the EFL learners. The discussion on these points would be elaborated in the following section.
1. The Developmental Pattern of Grammatical Aspect Acquisition
The findings of statistical analysis in this study revealed a developmental pattern of grammatical aspects acquisition was in a form of unbalanced
. Development of grammatical aspects acquisition from the second semester
students to the fourth semester is represented in an increasing line. It means that from the second semester to the fourth semester, there is a progress in the
grammatical aspects acquisition. The graph reaches its peak is on the fourth semester group, and then it slightly declined on the sixth semester group. This can
be interpreted that the grammatical aspect acquisition of the sixth semester students is slightly lower compared to the fourth semester students. It was
69 expected that the grammatical aspect acquisition level is relevant with the length
of study, therefore it was expected that the sixth semester students would obtain more score compared to the fourth semester students. Nevertheless, according to
statistical data analysis, the developmental pattern of grammatical aspects acquisition of these three learners groups were considered as significant.
Furthermore, there are also a more detailed analysis on the developmental pattern of the grammatical aspects usage and the grammatical aspects knowledge.
The developmental pattern of the grammatical aspects usage and knowledge are similar to the pattern of the grammatical aspect acquisition in general. In brief, it
can be interpreted that the students’ knowledge and skill to use the grammatical aspect reach its peak on the fourth semester.
The developmental patterns consist of two notions of order and sequence. As stated by Ellis 2008 the order of acquisition is about how learners acquire
some target-language features before others. In the other hand, the sequence of acquisition related to how learners acquire a particular linguistic feature in target
language. Therefore, this study also tried to identify the order of acquisition occurred in the developmental of grammatical aspect acquisition.
The statistical analysis showed the mean of four grammatical aspects. That information could be utilized to find out the order of acquisition of the
grammatical aspects. It is assumed that the achievement of grammatical aspects with higher obtained score happens earlier compared to the achievement of
grammatical aspects with lower obtained score. Table 4.3 shows the mean values of each grammatical aspect. The order of the highest mean value of the lowest
mean value is 1. The simple aspect, 2. The perfect aspect, 3. The progressive
70 aspect, 4. The perfect-progressive aspect. In other words, simple aspect is the
firstly acquired grammatical aspect by the language learners and the perfect- progressive aspect is the lastly acquired grammatical aspect.
Mentioning to the curriculum of English Letters department, it shows that from the first to the fifth semester the focus is on the English language skills and
from sixth to eight semesters the focus is no longer on the sill but on the content. Therefore, it can be assumed that one of the additional factors influencing the
developmental pattern of grammatical aspects acquisition of the three groups of learners was contributed by the implemented curriculum in English Letters
Department. The development from the second semester to the fourth semester was increasing due to the exposure of language skill from the courses taken by the
learners. It can be assumed that learners had more chance to get exposed to both the usage and knowledge of grammatical aspects. Nevertheless, the development
of the sixth semester students was slightly decreased from the fourth semester because on the sixth semester the exposure is no longer on the language skill but
on the content. Therefore, it can be concluded that one of influencing factors that shaping the form of developmental pattern into an inverted V-shaped line was the
language exposure the received due to their learning curriculum
2. Significant Difference in the Development of the Acquisition of the Grammatical Aspects
It has been agreed that there are influencing factors in second language acquisition. Ellis 1985 names several influencing factors such as age, aptitude,
intelligence, cognitive style, attitudes, motivation, and personality. These factors contribute to different learning result achieved by language learners.
