36
Continued from page 35
No Category of
Errors Subcategory of
Errors Example of
Errors Number
of Errors
Percentage
Auxiliary ‘have’
as operator What
we have
learned today? Do
you know
what is that? Verb in an
embedded question
Can you explain what
is identification?
Modal auxiliary as operator
What kind
of expression
you should use?
4. Misordering
‘Be’ as operator Why we are not
allowed to
use them too often?
80 26.2
You like to read a magazine?
After orientation we have what?
It is sad ending or happy ending?
Being a mother is difficult?
Everybody
got one?
5. Other Errors
Uninverted forms
Usually it
uses what
kind or
types of tense? 65
21.3
Total number of errors 305
2. Discussion
Based on the data presented, it can be shown that the participants made errors which were quite various in types. This is not to mention the fact that based
on the transcriptions there was a tendency that a number of participants preferred to switch the language into Bahasa Indonesia when they asked questions to the
students. The reason for this case became unquestionable because it was definitely easier for the participants to say something or form questions in their first
37 language. Consequently, it became harder for the writer to find errors as they did
not speak in English. However, the findings are still interesting to discuss in this part due to their diversity. The writer will discuss the findings by highlighting
some important points. There were 94 errors or 30.8 of the total errors regarded as omission
errors. ‘Do’, which is an auxiliary performing as operator, became one of the most omitted items in the participants’ question production. Another example for this
kind of error is 1a What we call it? In the previous erroneous item, ‘do’, which should be put after ‘what’ is omitted. When it happens, the item becomes a noun
clause, not an interrogative sentence. Thus, the correction of item 1a should be 1b What do we call it? Other cases like 2a You just buy it? and 3a You
know? were classified into two categories, which are omission and uninverted
form. When forming items either 2a or 3a, the participants did not apply any inversion and only put rising intonation at the end of the sentence and,
consequently, omitted ‘do’ before the subject. The grammatical forms of items 2a and 3a therefore are 2b Do you just buy it? and 3b Do you know?
Under addition category, there were 29 errors or 9.5 of the total errors. One of the most influential errors found in double marking subcategory was that
of tense marker, such as 4a What did we got from this lesson? which is the deviant form of a grammatical question 4b What did we get from this lesson?
This kind of error is characterized by the existence of two items which are marked for the same feature. In the latter example of erroneous item 4a, ‘did’ and ‘got’
are marked for the same feature, which is past tense. Other errors in this
38 subcategory are those related to double objects and subjects. Another subcategory
in addition category is simple addition. In simple addition, the participants simply added features which should not be put in a grammatical sentence, e.g. 5a What
is the main ideas of paragraph 26? Since the verb ‘is’ implies singular marker,
plural marker ‘-s’ should not be added after the word ‘idea’. Hence, the question will be 5b What is the main idea of paragraph 26?
Although errors in the misformation category were only as many as 37 errors or 12.1 of the total errors, there were quite various forms of errors. Errors
are classified into this category when there is wrong form of the morpheme or structure. As the writer did not find any error falling under regularization
category, there is only one subcategory, namely archialternating form. Most of the errors classified into archialternating form category were those related to
overgeneralization of the use of certain auxiliaries, such as ‘do’, and ‘be’. Other examples of this kind of error besides those presented in Table 4.1 are 6a Do
you have finished? and 7a Maybe when you hear, you are say what? In 6a,
the participant overgeneralized the use of ‘do’ as auxiliary while the sentence already contained ‘have’ performing as the auxiliary. The correct question then
should be 6b Have you finished? In 7a, the participant used ‘are’ instead of ‘do’ which already performed as the operator. Hence, the correction will be done
by changing ‘are’ into ‘do’ and put the word in the correct order so that it becomes 7b Maybe when you hear, what do you say? Other common errors in
archialternating form were those related to incorrect application of certain verb forms as presented in Table 4.1.
39 The fourth category, misordering, covered as many as 26.2 of the total
errors or 80 errors. In most cases, participants made errors when producing embedded questions as seen in 8a Do you know what is it? This is actually the
product of overgeneralization in the learner’s mind. Generally, second language learners learn how to produce simple or direct questions first, e.g. What is it?
When they have already acquired the knowledge, however, they may become failed in producing indirect or embedded questions. Learners make errors for they
possibly invert the auxiliary as they usually do in forming simple questions, while in embedded questions, auxiliary inversions are not applied. Thus, the correct
form of the example should be 8b Do you know what it is? The inversion and do-insertion are only applied to Do you know, which should be followed by what
it is since the auxiliary of the embedded question should remain in the same
position as it is in a statement. It was interesting to figure out that 21.3 of the total errors or 65 errors
were the results of the absence of an inversion in the question formation. In other words, the participants tended to put rising intonation at the end of their
affirmative sentences to ask questions as seen in 9a You know? for 9b Do you know?
and 10a It is bored? for 10b Is it bored? Being declarative statements with final rising intonation, uninverted forms of questions are actually acceptable
and familiar in spoken communication. However, they can only be used in restricted contexts and determining whether they are produced contextually
correct needs thorough analysis. Therefore, the writer regarded them as deviations in forming questions.
40 Commonly, errors in uninverted forms also belonged to other categories. It
can be seen in the question 10a It is bored?, which could be categorized as both uninverted forms and misordering. It bears the characteristic of an uninverted
question for it is produced in a declarative form with final rising intonation. Besides, it belonged to misordering category due to the wrong order of the words.
If an inversion is applied, the process will move the operator ‘is’ before the subject. In another case, the question 9a You know? belonged to uninverted
question as well as omission. It was also categorized as omission because there is not any do-insertion in item 9a.
B. The Causes Underlying the Errors
