57 In conclusion, the students needed help in learning articles for generic nouns.
They poorly mastered the articles for generic singular nouns. The percentage of the mastery was below the minimum percentage of the mastery which is 56 .
Meanwhile, the use of article for plural generic nouns was sufficiently mastered. The percentage is close to 56. The highest mastery of generic nouns was on the
concept of article for noncount generic nouns since the percentage shows a very good mastery.
2. Definite Nouns
Based on the data, the use of articles for definite nouns, nouns of which reference is known by both listener and speaker Azhar,1993, was a concept with the best
mastery. The well mastery was proved by the high percentage of the three classifications of the definite nouns. Unlike the singular generic nouns, the
singular definite nouns were not classified based on the first sound or the first letter of the nouns. Table 4.3 showed the detailed data of the mastery on the use of
articles for definite nouns.
Table 4.3: Students’ Mastery on Articles for Definite Nouns
No Article Used
before a noun
which is: Test Items
Example Mastery
Meaning
1.
The singular
Part A: 7,16 Part B: 8,18
55 The shirt given to me last
night fits me. part I, number 7
91.04 Very
Good
2. plural Part A:
2, 11 Part B:
2, 12 56 I get an honor from
Gramedia publisher because the books I wrote
are successful in the market. part I, number 2
87.26 Very
Good
3. noncount Part A:
5, 14 Part B:
6, 16
57 The money stolen
yesterday was finally found. part I, number 5
90.48 Very
Good
58 The table shows that the students have successfully mastered the articles for
definite nouns. None of the mastery percentage was lower than the limit of a very good mastery 80. In contrast to article mastery for singular generic noun, the
correct answers of singular definite noun appeared with high percentage 91.04. Meanwhile, the mastery of articles for plural and noncount definite
noun reached 87.26 and 90.48 which could also be described as a very good mastery.
In short, the students’ mastery on the articles the could be described as a very good mastery supported by no mastery percentage that was under 80. The very
good mastery implies that there was no significant problem for the students to use the.
3. Indefinite Nouns
An indefinite noun which is defined as nouns of which reference is only understood by the speaker in a conversation Azhar, 1998 was proved not to be
fully mastered by the students. This uneven mastery was proved with the presence of one classification of the indefinite nouns which was well mastered, and one
classification which was insufficiently mastered among four classifications of indefinite nouns. Like the generic and definite nouns, the indefinite nouns were
also divided into three classifications based on the countability of the nouns: singular, plural, and noncount indefinite nouns. Nevertheless, this research only
discusses the singular indefinite nouns with the reason that plural and noncount
59 indefinite nouns do not use articles as the determiners Azhar, 1997. People use
some, or a little instead of articles as the determiners. Meanwhile, the singular generic nouns itself was divided into four classification based on the articles a, or
an, the first letter whether it was spelled as a consonant or as a vowel, and the first sound of the noun whether the first letter of the word sounds as a consonant
or as a voweldiphthong.The detailed information is provided in table 4.4.
Table 4.4: Students’ Mastery on Articles for Singular Indefinite Nouns
No Article Used before a
noun of which: Test
Items Example
Mastery Meaning
1. An
• its first sound is a vowel or a
diphthong • its first letter is
a vowel Part A:
4,13 Part B:
4,14 58 Which one do you
prefer, an ice cream or a banana split? part I,
number 4 69.38 Sufficient
2. • its first sound is
a vowel or a diphthong
• its first letter is a consonant
Part A: 2, 11
Part B: 2, 12
59 I get an honor from
Gramedia publisher because the books I
wrote are successful in the market. part I,
number 2 83.41 Very
good
3. A
• its first sound is a consonant
• its first letter is a consonant
Part A: 4,13
Part B: 4,14
60 Which one do you prefer, an ice cream or
a banana split? part I, number 4
58.02 Sufficient
4. A
• its first sound is a consonant
• its first letter is a vowel or a
diphthong Part A:
1, 10 Part B:
1, 11 61 Mary is wearing a
unique skirt. part I, number 1
54.25 Insufficient
Table 4.4 shows that the students do not fully master articles for singular indefinite nouns. It was emphasized by the percentage of one category which was
well mastered 83.41, one category which was insufficiently mastered 54.25, and two categories which were sufficiently mastered 69.38 and
58.02. The concept which was well mastered was the concept of indefinite nouns of which first letters were consonants, yet they sound as vowel. Meanwhile,
60 the concept which was insufficiently mastered was the concept of indefinite nouns
of which first letters were spelled as vowels, yet they sound as consonants. The uneven mastery stressed that the students still need to develop their mastery on
articles for singular indefinite nouns.
Besides showing the uneven mastery of articles for singular indefinite nouns, table 4.4 also shows the same fact as what was in singular generic nouns, the mastery of
an was higher that of a. There was still no research about this fact yet, consequently the researcher has not been able to draw a conclusion why the
students mastered an better than a.
As the conclusion, the students did not fully master the concept of articles for singular indefinite nouns. They still needed a guidance to make them aware of the
errors and fix those errors.
B. Students’ Errors
This subchapter discusses the errors that the ELESP students had made. An error is defined as “a deviation of language rules made by language learners as a result
from lack of knowledge about the correct form” Ellis, 1997. According to Ellis 2005, an error can be identified from the consistency, and the awareness of the
students. If the students are consistent in producing the deviated form, and they did not aware of making it, resulting that they cannot correct the deviated form, it
is called an error. In the contrary, if the students can correct the deviated form and
