because of a misleading explanation from the teacher, faulty presentation of a structure or word in a textbook, or even because of a pattern that was rotely
memorized in a drill but not properly contextualized Brown, 1987: 179-80. Broughton purposes similar reasons that context of language learning and
teaching can be possible sources of students errors 1978: 133-4. They are the poor teaching and learning process. The poor teaching: The teacher’s lacks of
mastery of the material which respectively make the students know nothing or at least less comprehend the subject.
The teaching -learning process: Even though there are optimal efforts to
make the students avoid errors, errors are still produced. It means that there is still a place for errors in teaching-learning process. In this matter, the learners and the
teachers could be the factors for making errors.
B. Theoretical Framework
It is obvious that the second language learners find it difficult to learn English grammar. The preposition of place at, in and on is part of English
grammar and also has its own rules underlying them. According to Fries 1948, a person is said to have mastered a foreign language if he or she can understand
utterances in that foreign language and also produce understandable production of them. Secondly, he or she has to be able to make the structure or syntax of the
target language matters of automatic habit. It means that he or she has internalised the rules underlying the utterances that he or she produces so that his or her
utterances are acceptable.
The focus of the study was on the preposition of place at, in and on. When someone wants to master the preposition of place at, in and on, there were three
important points need to be considered. They are: the meaning, the function and the uses. Each preposition of place has its own meaning underlying them. Though
the meaning of each preposition of place at, in and on is more or less the same, the function of each preposition is different. Their function can’t be replaced one to
another. The last one is the uses. The students should be able to use the preposition with the right meaning and function as the way it is in the appropriate
situation. There were three problems regarding to the first semester students mastery
on the prepositions of place at, in and on in this study. The test was used to collect information needed and also to answer those problems. The first problem was that
how much the first semester students have mastered preposition of place at, in and on
. The statistical computation was used to answer the problem. The result of the computation was then compared to the standard of mastery stated in the academic
regulation of Sanata Dharma University 2002. The students’ mastery then can be determined. Secondly, the writer tried to find out the difficulties faced by the
students in their attempt to master preposition of place at, in and on. The students score in each part of the test gave the information about what difficulties faced by
the students in mastering preposition of place at, in and on. From their scores in the test, the writer found out their mastery on each preposition of place at, in and
on . This score were then compared to the minimum standard of mastery stated in
the Academic Regulation of Sanata Dharma University. If their achievement in
one of the preposition of place at, in or on fell below the minimum standard of mastery stated in the Academic Regulation of Sanata Dharma University, it means
that they still have difficulties in mastering that preposition of place. The third problem was on the possible sources of their difficulties. The writer tried to
identify their difficulties in mastering preposition of place at, in and on.
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Research Method
The method used in conducting the research was descriptive research. There were two kinds of study conducted in this research; these were survey
research and library research. The survey was conducted to get the data to be analyzed in studying the
preposition. The research was intended to describe the problems faced by students in mastering the English preposition of place and also some possible factors that
might caused the difficulties. The library research was conducted in order to get the data related to the
study by observing and studying related literature. The result of this research, both the survey and the library research would
be presented in a descriptive way.
B. Participants
The subject of this research was the first semester students of the 20072008 academic year in the English Language Education Programme of
Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta. They were chosen because the writer intended to measure their mastery in prepositions of place at, in and on. The
writer’s assumption was that they must have had learnt the preposition of at, in and on rules and its application during their study in Senior High School.
