Background of the Problem

I. INTRODUCTION

This chapter deals with the reasons for conducting the research it discusses following topics: background of the problem, formulation of the problems, objective of the research, uses of the research, scope of the research, and definition of terms.

1.1 Background of the Problem

English is as an international language that is used for communication in daily activity and academic field. In Indonesia, English is positioned as the first foreign language formally taught in schools from elementary until university. Studying English is not a new thing for the students of senior high school. Nevertheless most students still have many difficulties to deal with English. For example it is difficult for the students to express and to understand ideas, telling and thoughts when someone speaking English. The students still gets difficulty when they are asked to translate Indonesian into English text. Moreover, students still face some difficulties in using and expressing English in the form of structure especially in constructing English sentences. In relation to the problems before, Badudu 1983:7 contends that although the students have learnt English for many years, they still find that the students or the graduate of senior high school were not able to use English properly in the form of written or spoken form. According to Lado in Indrati 1998:1 this facet can be seen when students who come into contact with foreign language, especially English, they will find some features of its quite easy and others are extremely difficult. This is, as a matter of fact, due to the grammatical differences between Indonesia as their native language and English as the target language. A study done by Hasan 1999:52 to the university students shows that the difficulties faced by them in translating Bahasa Indonesia into English are due to the students ’ lack of knowledge in grammatical aspect comprising vocabulary, grammar, lexicon, and grammatical meaning. To overcome the problem described before, certainly, the teacher determine and analyze students’ weaknesses, for example by giving some intensive exercise which enable them to increase their knowledge in vocabulary, grammar and lexicon, and grammatical meaning. In translating, a translator should practice translating very often and through which he or she will become experienced. He or she should be able to arrange the sentences in such a way in the target language that the reader will feel as if he or she is not reading a translation. Larson 1984:3 points out that translation is studying the lexicon, grammatical structure, communication situation, and cultural context of the source language text, analyzing it in order to determine its meaning, and then reconstructing this same meaning using lexicon and grammatical structure which are appropriate in the receptor language and its cultural context. This statement means that in translating, the translator will be found out some process and context. The processes from the source language into the target language enormously have significant different. Barnwell 1983:15 says that a good translation should be accurate, clear, and naturals so it is not sound foreign. The principle in translation is the sameness meaning in the source language and the target language. One of the competencies that should be possessed by translators is language competence. Other competencies are textual competence, subject competence, cultural competence, and transfer competence. Additionally, in translating text, there are many aspects that should be remembered by translator. One of them is mastering language both source language and target language. It becomes the reasons for the researcher to conduct the research related to the students’ grammatical problems. There are two problems usually faced by students, i.e. lexical problems and grammatical problems. In terms of the application of teaching, the use of translation leads to the clues. Major objections to using translation in language teaching can be summered as follows. First, translation does not help students develop communication skills. Second, it encourages to uses L1 sourcce language instead of L2 target language. Third, translation activities may be suitable for students who prefer analytical or verbal-linguistic learning strategies. Finally, translation is a difficult skill which is not always rewarding. However, translating gives several benefits to the students. The benefits of translation activities include practice of all language skills, i.e. reading, writing, speaking and listening. In terms of communicative competence, accuracy, clarity, and flexibility can be developed. Translation is a real-life, natural activity which many learners use on a daily basis either formally or informally. Translation is a common strategy used by many learners even if teachers do not encourage it. Discussion of differences and similarities between languages help students understand problems it because by their native language. Developing skills in translation is a natural and logical part of improving language proficiency. According to Ross 2000 translation is sometimes referred to as the fifth language skill alongside the other four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing: Translation holds a special importance at an intermediate and advanced level: in the advanced or final stage of language teaching, translation from L1 source language to L2 target language and from L2 target language to L1 source language is recognized as the fifth skill and the most important social skill since it promotes communication and understanding between strangers. Mattioli 2004 states that rigidly eliminating or limiting the native language does not appear to guarantee better acquisition, nor does it foster the humanistic approach that recognizes the learner. Translation as a teaching tool needs to take into account a number of different aspects, such as grammar, syntax, collocation and connotation. Uncritical use of translation may give learners insufficient, confusing or even inaccurate information about target language. However good the students are at understanding authentic reading materials, some of them keep mentally translating from L2 target language into L1 source language . This fact makes teachers of English consider the importance of translation for learning purposes. The problems usually faced by students are lexical problems and grammatical problems. Grammatical problems cover the problems related to the word in relation to the other word. In getting a good translation, the translators or the students have to know the grammar of the two languages. So that is why, according to the researcher, this research is necessary to be done. By knowing the problems, the teacher will choose the most appropriate the strategy how to solve the problem to get better students’ acquisition. According to DEPDIKNAS 2003:81 there are many kinds of English text, i.e. recount, report, discussion, explanation, exposition, new item anecdote, narrative, procedure, descriptive, and review. Descriptive text is focus of this research. It is one of the texts employed in KTSP besides narrative, spoof, procedure, report, news item, anecdote, exposition, explanation, discussion, commentary and review. Descriptive text is a text that is used to give the reader description about a particular person, place, or thing. It is one of simple text that can be understand by the students easily. When translate a descriptive text, students are asked to identify the phenomenon to be described and then describe part qualities and characteristics of a place, person or thing to be described. As this text is taught in early semester and the generic structure of the text is considered not yet too complicated compared to the other texts, the challenges that need to be faced by teacher is increasing. Based on the problems stated above this research was necessary done to know the students’ grammatical problems in translating Indonesia into English descriptive text and the solution taken by students. By identifying their problems, the teacher have the solution how to improve the weaknesses. It is expected their ability in translating being better than before.

1.2 Formulation of the Problem