Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides general introduction to the research. There are six sections that will be discussed. They are the background of the study, problem formulation, problem limitation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study and definition of terms.

A. Background of the Study

English, which is the foreign language and most commonly taught in Indonesia, is not easy to learn. There are three elements of English language that should be mastered, namely language structure usually called grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Radford 1997 says that grammar relates to the rule about the construction of sentences p.1. He also says that grammar is traditionally concerned with the principles which determine the formation of words, phrases, and sentences. Similarly, Thornbury as cited in Pramesi, 2010 argues that in order to acquire English accuracy, learners have to focus on form p. 1. In other words, second language learners should focus on the form of grammatically correct words, phrases and sentences to master English grammar and acquire English accuracy. Noun phrases, basic element of the English grammar, must be well-formed because they are common in English sentences. The existence of noun phrases in a sentence is obligatory, because they have a lot of functions in the sentence. They 2 can function as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, complements of the subject, complements of the object, objects of prepositions, andor appositions. Noun phrases are a word or group of words that contain a noun or pronoun as the head and which are modified by other words, for example: the girl, that book, etc. Therefore, since noun phrases are frequently found and play an important role in forming English sentences, they should be well-formed. Indonesian students learning English are expected to be able to form noun phrases well. Constructing well-formed noun phrases enables students to build good sentences and paragraphs. Moreover, since noun phrases are common and easily found in text books, magazines, newspapers, and other sources of information, the students who master noun phrases are able to grasp general idea and specific information in the texts as well. In order to acquire well-formed noun phrases, the students are expected to practise a lot. One of errors that the researcher found in the process of learning was related to forming correct noun phrases. When the researcher became a student teacher and a temporary English teacher in SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta for five months during the 20112012 academic year, most of the seventh graders found problems forming basic noun phrases. The researcher asked the seventh graders to change the singular form this is a potato into its plural form, these are many potatoes. Some of the students answered this is a potatoes, these are two potato or these are a potatoes which are all incorrect. This example shows that the students still lack knowledge about nouns and numerals which are the main components of basic noun phrases. 3 Considering this situation, the researcher was encouraged to analyze the students’ errors in forming noun phrases. However, in this study the researcher only focuses on the basic noun phrase, a type of a noun phrase, since it is an essential foundation of noun phrases. The researcher also uses a descriptive text type as an analytical tool for obtaining the data. As seen in the list of School Based Curriculum or Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan KTSP, students are familiar with a descriptive text until they finish learning in their secondary school. Related to a descriptive text, everybody is expected to be able to describe anything in real life. Describing anything clearer requires detailed information and involves five senses such as sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. Similarly, the students are also expected to be able to describe anything in a text as detailed as possible, for instance depicting the quantity, condition or quality of the things being described. Therefore, since the students’ descriptive text deals with the quantity, certain amount of numbers and nouns, basic noun phrases would be easily found there. The students’ descriptive writing might show errors and mistakes. Ellis 1997 describes that mistakes are made by learners because they fail to show and perform what they have already understood. On the contrary, errors occur when learners do not master a concept or even misunderstand it p. 17. Since distinguishing errors and mistakes is not simple, this study does not differentiate those two terms which are actually different. In other words, in this study the term errors refer to any of the students’ misproduction which shows misunderstanding 4 or failure to perform what the students have already understood about basic noun phrase formation. To sum up, this study focuses on errors in forming basic noun phrases made by seventh grade students and uses the students’ descriptive texts as the analytical tool to obtain the data. This study aims to find out the errors made by the students through the students’ descriptive writing, discover the possible causes of their errors and make suggestions to improve the students’ understanding of basic noun phrases through an interview. Hopefully, by knowing students’ errors, both the teachers and students are able to make better adjustments of what teachers need to develop the quality of the teaching-learning process and of what students need to improve and enrich their knowledge about basic noun phrases.

B. Problem Formulation