Background of the Study

D. Definition Of Terms

It is very important to provide sufficient information about some terms or keywords that are specifically used in a research in order to avoid misunderstanding. The terms used in this research are mastery, accuracy, prepositions, and error. According to Fries, a mastery is a condition when a person has learned a foreign language when he has, firstly, although has limited vocabularies, mastered the sound system and has, secondly, made the structural devices matters of automatic habit 1948: 3. Moreover, Smolinski further highlights: Mastery then of the “words”, the vocabularies, the lexicon, of even our native language is always limited, never complete. Growth in the knowledge of “meanings” accompanies our expanding experience. The mastery of the “words”, the vocabulary, of a foreign language is also bound by our factual experience and takes time. There are no short cuts to a control of the complete vocabulary of a foreign language 1993: 52. He also adds that in learning a foreign language, the mastery of that language concerns the mastery of the features of arrangement that constitute the structure of the language. The second term is accuracy. According to Smolinski 1993: 52, the accuracy does not always concern about the so-called “correctness” of the common handbooks—the spelling pronunciation often advocated there, the forms of words pronounced in isolation, or the school mastered structures that have no vogue outside the classroom. Nevertheless, the accuracy here mostly refers to an accuracy based on a realistic description of the actual language as used by native speakers in carrying their affairs—the exact reproduction of all parts of whole utterances as they appear in the normal conversation of native speaker. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI The third term is preposition. Prepositions in English are a well-known challenges for English learners as a second language, as they are one of the most problematic areas Lindstromberg, 1991 and Capel, 1993. This research will specifically discuss about prepositions for and to in which the students find some difficulties to apply them properly in a sentence. The fourth term is error. Norrish argues that error is a systematic deviation, when a learner has not learned something and consistently gets it wrong 1983: 7. This study proposes the term “error” because the main goal of this research is to find out several errors that contribute to the students’ mastery of prepositions for and to. 7

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

Throughout this part, there are three studies reviewed from previous researchers related to the research. The first one is from an undergraduate thesis conducted by Marsilus Marsell Wibowo 2012 entitled The Mastery of Preposition at, in, and on among The Seventh Semester Students at English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University. Wibowo’s thesis was a survey research concerning about the mastery of preposition at, in and on among the university students who took English as their major. The objects of his study were the seventh semester students at English Letters Department in academic year 20122013. In order to answer the formulated problems, Wibowo used several methods, which were a questionnaire or a test as the instrument and random sampling to gather the data. He revealed, based on the Academic Regulation 2010 of Sanata Dharma University, that the mastery of the seventh semester students in using the prepositions of place at, in, and on was sufficient. The students’ average score was 16.69 66,76 in which 64.10 students were considered to enter the category of sufficient. The achievement fell above the minimum passing grade according to the academic regulation of Sanata Dharma University. Based on this research, the researcher found out that the students’ problem in mastering the prepositions of place at, in, and on was on the application of preposition at, in which there was only 53 of correct numbers that the students made. It means that there was 47 of PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI incorrect numbers in the test. Wibowo also identified the possible factors that cause the students’ difficulties in learning the prepositions of place at, in, and on which were interference the problem that is caused by the influence of the first language, Indonesian, overlapping, and overgeneralization. The second is from an undergraduate thesis written by Maya Elfrida Sianipar 2007 entitled The Functions, Positions and Meanings of for and to prepositional phrases in Jeanette Winterson`s sexing the cherry. In her thesis, she described that the data collection and the data analysis took place simultaneously; firstly, the data were collected by signing the samples to be taken, which were the prepositional phrases containing prepositions for and to, and then classified the data by considering the circumstances around both prepositions in order to find out the prepositional phrases showing time, place, and movement. Finally, she analyzed the prepositions for and to to find the functions, the positions and also to find the meaning of each prepositions. As a result, after doing the steps in the method of the study, she figured out that prepositional phrases with for can function as an adjunct and a post modifier of a noun phrase, while prepositional phrases with to can function as an adjunct, a post modifier of a noun phrase, a complementation of a verb, and as a complementation of an adjective. The positions owned by both prepositions can be in the initial, medial, and final end position. The meanings of preposition for showing time are duration or the length of the time, occasion, and target; to show place, preposition for can mean target, position, and distance. The preposition to showing time can indicate the time before an exact hour on the clock, continuity, and target; to PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI