16 consonant sounds. Next, for singular generic and indefinite nouns started with
vowel or diphthong sound, article an is used. The third article, the, is used for definite noun, and the last one discussed above, Ø, is used for plural and noncount
nouns.
After the elaboration, it is summarized that there are three kinds of articles a,an, and the, and Ø. Those articles are used with different kinds of nouns, explained in
tables. The use of articles with those nouns becomes the focus of the test.
c. Theories of Error Analysis
Ellis and Barkhuizen describe “error analysis as a set of procedures for identifying, describing, and explaining learners’ errors” 2005: 51. This set of
procedure consists of five steps: 1 collection of a sample of learner language, 2 identification of errors, 3 description of errors, 4 explanation of errors, and 5
error evaluation. Below are the explanations of each step in error analysis.
1 Collection of a Sample of Learner Language
This step is to obtain data from the learners. Here, the researcher may previously set the kinds of necessary datain order to get the right samples. Heshe should
consider the language learners, the language, and the plannedunplanned production. Learners generally have different proficiency levels, L1, or learning
background which may affect the data. In addition, the medium of data gathering oral or written, the genre, and the content of the samples may also affect the
17 data. The last factor affecting the data is the preparation of the learners, whether
the production is planned or unplanned. Those factors could be summarized in table 2.6 adopted from Ellis’ table.
Table 2.6: Factors Affecting Data
No Factors
Description A. Learner
1. Proficiency Level Elementary, intermediate, or advanced
2. Other languages The learner’s L1
3. Language learning background Instructed, naturalistic, mixed
B. Language
1. Medium
Oral, written
2. Genre e.g. conversation, narrative, essay
3. Content The topic of the discourse
C. Production
1. Planned The discourse is produced after it is planned
2. Unplanned The discourse is produced spontaneously
2 Identification of Errors
After obtaining the data, the researcher has to compare the learners’ production and what a native speaker may produce in the same context. There is a procedure
to compare those two things. This procedure has been arranged by Ellis and explained in his book.
a Preparing the probable answer or reconstruction that may be produced by a
native speaker in the same condition. b
Assuming that every utterance produced by the learners are wrong and omit those which are well formed.
c Identifying which parts are different from the reconstruction.
After carrying out those steps, the researcher will find out the errors. Those errors would later be described by classifying them into several groups which is
explained in the description of errors.
