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researcher picked Mathematics Education students of Sanata Dharma University batch 2010 or which are simply called students of PMat 2010 as the samples.
There are some factors why the researcher chose students of PMat 2010 as the samples. Firstly, regarding the English course held in the odd semester of
20122013 academic year, the researcher discovered that students of PMat 2010 had been taught how to use English in general, for example how to make both
positive and negative sentences, how to ask for permission, how to make questions and so on. Secondly, students of PMat 2010 had been taught how to
make interrogative word questions using
what, who, where, when, why,
and
how
which are known as 5W 1H. Assumedly they had already understood the basic rules how to construct English interrogative word questions properly.
Considering that constructing question is still problematic for Indonesian students in general, the researcher believes that it is possible for students of PMat
2010 as English foreign language learners to commit errors when constructing English interrogative word questions, even though they had been taught how to
construct them properly. To prove the hypothesis, the researcher needs to find sufficient proof showing that students of PMat 2010 still commit errors in
constructing English interrogative word questions.
B. Problem Formulation
In this research the researcher provides two questions to be answered. Those questions are:
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1. What errors in the interrogative word question formations are made by
Mathematics Education students of Sanata Dharma University batch 2010?
2. What are the sources of errors in interrogative word question
constructions made by Mathematics Education students of Sanata Dharma University batch 2010?
C. Problem Limitation
In order to answer both research questions, the research is limited to the error analysis in producing interrogative word questions using
what, who, where, when, why,
and
how
. The limitation is also put on the methodology of the research itself. This research is a type of survey research. It is conducted through testing
the samples by using test items related to interrogative word questions using 5W- 1H or
what, who, where, when, why,
and
how
. To get the answers to both research questions, the samples of research are
limited as well. The samples are limited to the students of Mathematics Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University batch 2010. Further, the students are
limited once more to those who have been taught English in the previous semester and those who attend the English course held in the odd semester of 20122013
academic year.
D. Research Objectives
The objectives of conducting this research are related to the problem formulation. They are:
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1. To analyze the errors in interrogative word question formations made by
Mathematics Education students of Sanata Dharma University batch 2010. 2.
To investigate the sources of errors in interrogative word question constructions made by Mathematics Education students of Sanata Dharma
University batch 2010.
E. Research Benefits
This research is expected to give benefits to the readers, especially to educational parties, such as English EFL teacher candidates, English Language
Education Study Program students, and also Indonesian students in general. For English EFL teacher candidates, the researcher expects this research will be
useful for their future understanding of what should be dealt with to teach basic grammar especially for EFL students at beginner to elementary level. This
research is expected to help English EFL teacher candidates to understand and to
enrich their knowledge about the characteristics or the tendency of errors in which commonly English foreign language learners make while producing interrogative
word questions. This research also provides evaluation to English EFL teacher candidates at
the importance of paying attention to their students’ understanding of a foreign language.
For English Language Education Study Program students, this research is expected to give new consideration to them on several matters, such as how to be
a good English teacher especially for EFL students concerning about the communicative competence mastery, how to teach students based on their needs
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of using English, and how to implement suitable approach to teach EFL students dealing with English communicative competence mastery. Meanwhile, for
Indonesian students in general, this research was conducted to give broad discussion that learning English as a foreign language nowadays is considered
important as part of communication. Therefore, it is good to know about the types of errors, the characteristics, and sources of errors to minimize the frequency of
the similar errors in the future.
F. Definition of Terms
