Diction in academic writing of the sixth semeter students of the english education study program of Sanata Dharma University.

DICTION IN ACADEMIC WRITING OF THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS OF THE ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Laurentia Lila Paramita Student Number: 021214017

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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DICTION IN ACADEMIC WRITING OF THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS OF THE ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Laurentia Lila Paramita Student Number: 021214017

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to commence by expressing my greatest and highest gratitude to Jesus Christ for His endless blessing, love, and inspiration.

I would like to thank Ouda Teda Ena, S.Pd., M.Pd., as my major sponsor for his invaluable guidance, comments, and suggestions in writing this thesis. I am also particularly grateful for Fidelis Chosa Kastuhandani, S.Pd., as my co-sponsor for his advice and precious time to revise my thesis.

I would like to sincerely thank to Dr. Philip Jenkins who always assisted and gave me valued comments, correction, suggestions, and encouragement. I would like also thank Drs. F.X. Mukarto, M.S., Ph.D., and Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd, M.Pd., for helping me when I remained uncertain about this thesis.

My sincerest gratitude goes to my parents for their financial, spiritual support, and encouragement during the accomplishment of this thesis.

My special gratitude goes to Wisma Bahasa for the chance to learn the priceless knowledge. I am grateful for these following Wisma Bahasa colleagues for welcoming, encouraging, and supporting me through the good and bad work days: mas Boel, Cici’e, Adrian, Tiwuk, Ete, Russy, Letyzia, mas Sute, mba’ Prima, Mawar, Fajar, Niken, Gelar, and mas Sugeng. They are huge assets to have as friends. Besides, I am thankful for my wonderful students, Alfa, Josh, Akira, Danau, Rika, and Martin.

I also particularly thank the following people for being my friends and supporting me during my study and the completion of this study: mba’Santy, k’Achiet, Mbirut, Bita, Netta, Nina, Laoren, Angga, mas Yudhi, bang Jalee,

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and Adjie ‘cepi peci’. I also greatly thank Sebastien Raimbert, Scott Hanna, Frank Lea, Filipe Lancastre, and Pascal, for their support, valuable experiences and memorable moments that inspire me to accomplish my thesis and learn the values of life.

My deep gratitude also goes to all my friends in PBI especially Titin, Anissa, Haryana, Nathalie, Amrita, Amri, Binta, Ila, Ook, Andre, Rendy, and mas Kaka, all secretarial and library staffs for their sincere help when I conducted library study, LTI (Lembaga Toefl Indonesia) Jogjakarta branch, Bantul Tourism Department, and The Amanjiwo hotel staffs for the precious experiences. Words cannot express the gratitude I have for the experiences.

Finally, I am grateful to all friends who gave contributions on the research and anyone who supported me to finish this thesis. Their efforts are very much appreciated.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE ……….…………. i

APPROVAL PAGES ……….. ii

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ………... iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……….... v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……… vii

LIST OF TABLES ……….………. x

LIST OF APPENDICES ………... xi

ABSTRACT ……… xii

ABSTRAK ……… xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ……..……….…………... 1

B. Problem Identification ……….. 2

C. Problem Limitation ……….……….. 3

D. Problem Formulation ……… 4

E. Research Objectives …….………. 4

F. Research Benefits ………. 4

G. Definition of Terms …….………... 5

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW A. Theoretical Description ……… 6

1. Academic Writing ………... 6

a. The Concept of Writing ……….. 6

b. An Overview of Academic Writing …….………..……..………... 8

c. Academic Writing Process ……….…..…….………. 9

d. Academic Writing Rubric …….……….……..………... 10

2. Diction …….………..……...………... 12

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1) Formality ……….………..………. 14

2) Accuracy …….………..……….……. 20

3) Clarity …….………..……….………. 21

4) Concision …….……… ……….……….………… 23

b. Revising Diction ………..…………...…… 25

1) Eliminating Vague Words ………..……… 25

2) Being Economical in Using Words ………..………….. 26

3) Using a Thesaurus ………..……….…... 26

c. Developing Word Power …….……….………....….. 27

1) The Use of Dictionaries …….……….………...….…… 27

2) Regular Reading ………..……….………….. 28

3) Words Sheet …….……….……….………. 28

4) Vocabulary Study Books …….……….……….…….… 29

2. Error ……….…..…. 29

a. A Brief Definition of Errors …….………...… 29

b. The Causes of Errors …….……….. 30

1) Interlingual Transfer …….……….. 30

2) Intralingual Transfer …….………..…… 30

3) Context of Learning …….………... 31

c. Error Analysis ………... 31

B. Theoretical Framework …….………...………. 32

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY A. Method of Research …….…...………..……… 33

B. Research Participants …….……….……..………...……… 34

C. Research Setting …….………..………..……….. 34

D. Research Instruments …….……….………. 34

E. Research Procedure …….………. 37

ix CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS OF RESULT

A. Diction Produced in Students’ Writing …….……….….... 39

1. Formality of Students’ Writing …….……….…….……. 42

2. Accuracy of Students’ Writing ……..……….….…… 43

3. Clarity of Students’ Writing …….………..…. 45

4. Concision of Students’ Writing ………... 47

B. Diction Errors Produced in Students’ Writing …….……….……. 48

1. Formality Errors ……….………...…………..…… 49

2. Accuracy Errors …….……….……....…………. 54

3. Clarity Errors ………..…….……… 55

4. Concision Errors …….………...……..………… 57

5. Other Findings ………..……….……….. 60

C. Sources of the Diction Error ……….……….……… 61

1. Laziness ……….……….. 61

2. Showing Off ……….……….……….. 62

3. Context Ignorance …….………..……….……… 63

4. Uncertainty …….……….. 64

5. Target Language Rules …….…….…..……… 64

6. Carelessness …….………..……….. 65

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusions …….………..…… 66

B. Implications……….……. 68

C. Suggestions……….….………. 70

1. Students……….……...… 70

2. Writing Instructors………...… 70

3. Further Researchers………...… 71

REFERENCES……….…… 72

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1 Writing VI Rubric………... 11

Table 3.1 Formality Checklist………... 35

Table 3.2 Accuracy Checklist………. 36

Table 3.3 Clarity Checklist………. 36

Table 3.4 Concision Checklist………. 37

Table 4.1 The Students’ Diction on Formality Category………….... 41

Table 4.2 The Students’ Diction on Accuracy Category……… 43

Table 4.3 The Students’ Diction on Clarity Category……… 43

Table 4.4 The Students’ Diction on Concision Category…………... 45

Table 4.5. The Number of Diction Errors in Each Category……… 46

Table 4.6 The Percentage of the Formality Errors………... 47

Table 4.7 The Percentage of the Accuracy Error……… 52

Table 4.8 The Percentage of the Clarity Error……… 53

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Page

Appendix 1. The Detailed Recapitulation on Formality Features…….. 76

Appendix 2. The Detailed Recapitulation on Accuracy Features……... 77

Appendix 3. The Detailed Recapitulation on Clarity Features………... 78

Appendix 4. The Detailed Recapitulation on Concision Features…….. 79

Appendix 5. Examples of Formality Error ……… 80

Appendix 6. Examples of Accuracy Error ……… 85

Appendix 7. Examples of Clarity Error ……… 88

Appendix 8. Examples of Concision Error ………... 91

xii ABSTRACT

Laurentia Lila Paramita. 2007. Diction in Academic Writing of the Sixth Semester Students of the English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.

This undergraduate thesis analyzed the diction in academic writing of the sixth semester students. There were three research problems in this study. The first problem dealt with the diction employed in the students’ writing. The second problem was concerned with the diction errors, and the last one was the likely source of the diction errors.

This study was conducted using descriptive qualitative method. It was intended to investigate the quality of the diction produced in students’ writing. The data were taken from the students’ final papers. There were 28 papers taken as the data in this study. To answer the research problems, those papers were analyzed. Each composition was evaluated based on theories of diction suggested by O’Hare (1984) and Gerson (2003).

The result of the data analysis showed that not all of the compositions implemented formal diction. Firstly, most of the compositions contained correct use of abbreviation. In more than half of the compositions, abbreviations were explained in plain words. This implied that most of the students did not meet difficulties in using shortening, initialism and contraction. The same result occurred with pronoun. Most of the compositions contained correct use of addressing and sexist pronoun. Yet, only half of the compositions contained correct use of expression. In fact, the wrong use of expression, such as the presence of colloquialisms, made the students’ compositions informal since they use conversational language. Besides, half of the compositions still contained exaggerated expression. This fact made the meaning less clear. The next one, nearly all of the compositions contained concise diction. They avoided ‘to be’ or ‘being’ forms, doubled words, redundancies, and negative forms. It implied that most of the students were aware of being concise. However, less than half of the compositions contained concise and straightforward phrases. Most of them still used long and devious phrases to convey ideas. This implied that most of the students lacked vocabulary as they mostly used longer phrases to state their ideas.

Concision error was statistically the most frequently encountered error in the students’ compositions, as it comprised 39.7% of the total errors in overall categories. The second rank was formality error (32.21%). It was followed by accuracy error in third place (14.23%), while clarity error ranked fourth (13.86%).

Finally, some implications and suggestions intended for teachers of English, the students, and for further researcher were put forward in the last chapter.

xiii ABSTRAK

Laurentia Lila Paramita. 2007. Diction in Academic Writing of the Sixth Semester Students of the English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidian, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Skripsi ini menganalisa diksi dalam karangan akademik pada mahasiswa semester enam. Ada tiga permasalahan dalam penelitian ini. Masalah pertama berkaitan dengan diksi yang dipakai dalam karangan mereka. Masalah kedua dipusatkan pada kesalahan-kesalahan diksi. Sedangkan yang ketiga berkaitan dengan hal-hal yang mungkin menjadi penyebab dari kesalahan-kesalahan diksi dalam menulis karangan akademik.

Penelitian ini dilaksanakan dengan menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif yang bermaksud untuk menyelidiki kualitas diksi yang digunakan dalam karangan mahasiswa semester enam. Sebanyak 28 karangan dipakai sebagai data dalam penelitian ini. Untuk memecahkan permasalahan, karangan-karangan tersebut dianalisa. Setiap karangan dinilai berdasarkan teori diksi yang dikemukakan oleh O’Hare (1984) dan Gerson (2003).

Hasil dari analisa data menunjukkan bahwa tidak semua karangan menggunakan diksi yang formal. Pertama, sebagian besar dari karangan sudah benar dalam penulisan singkatan. Lebih dari separuh karangan, singkatan-singkatan sudah dijabarkan. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar mahasiswa tidak mengalami kesulitan dalam menggunakan shortening, initialism dan contraction. Hal yang sama juga terjadi pada penggunaan kata ganti. Sebagian besar karangan menggunakan addressing dan kata ganti sexist dengan benar. Akan tetapi, hanya sebagian dari karangan yang memakai expression dengan benar. Pada kenyataannya, penggunaan yang salah seperti pemakaian colloquialism atau bahasa sehari-hari menyebabkan karangan menjadi informal. Selain itu, sebagian karangan masih memakai exaggerated expression. Hal ini membuat arti kata menjadi kurang jelas. Selanjutnya, hampir semua karangan memakai pilihan kata yang singkat. Bentuk to be atau being, doubled words, redundancies, dan bentuk negative mampu dihindari dalam karangan. Ini menunjukkan bahwa hampir semua mahasiswa semester enam mengerti akan bagaimana menulis efektif. Tetapi, hanya kurang dari separuh karangan saja yang masih mengandung frasa atau kalimat yang singkat dan tidak bertele-tele. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa mahasiswa-mahasiswa tersebut memiliki kekurangan pada kosakata karena mereka masih memakai frasa yang panjang dalam mengungkapkan opini mereka.

Kesalahan concision secara statistik merupakan yang paling sering ditemukan dalam karangan-karangan para murid karena terdapat 39,7% kesalahan dari keseluruhan kesalahan diksi. Kedua adalah kesalahan formality (32,21%), diikuti dengan kesalahan accuracy (14,23%) dan clarity (13,86%).

Akhirnya, beberapa implikasi dan saran yang ditujukan untuk para guru bahasa Inggris, para murid dan peneliti selanjutnya, ditulis di bab terakhir.

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Writing is no longer a secondary skill but one with great significance. Students are called upon to use English writing skill in their careers or to participate in conferences and workshops, both before and after graduation. As a fundamental element of all educational mainstreams and the central skill among the four language skills, English writing skill is important to be successful in almost any profession. The work of Odell (1985) states that no matter what profession a person is in or plans to enter, developing English writing skill will facilitate career advances. In other words, good English writing skill is an asset to professionals (Zimmerman & Rodriguez, 1992: 5). This is reflected in the fact that nearly all published articles require superior written communication in English. Accordingly, professions that are either directly or indirectly associated with writing require people to have good English writing skill. Further, today’s technology makes it even more imperative to be able to write well. It has been clearly shown that there are a lot of companies which place great reliance on communicating through the internet. The easiest illustration is communicating via e-mail, instant messaging, or reporting and publishing articles, essays, term papers, contracts, business letters, professional journals, memos, and reports. The students are thus required to build up English academic writing skill if they are to succeed in the occupational mainstream.

B. Problem Identification

The syllabus of the Writing VI course of English Study Program, Sanata Dharma University states that sixth semester students must have good command of English and be capable of composing well-organized academic writing. Academic writing tends to be associated with hard work and difficulty, rarely with pleasure. Academic writing is complex and not merely based on guesswork, untested speculation, and received opinion (Swales, 1994: 2). Further, a good academic paper must demonstrate wide knowledge of a subject, be well-organized, and show effective use of sentence structure, word choice, and mastery of mechanics (Sanata Dharma English Education Writing VI Composition Profile, 2006).

Formal, clear, and concise language is the preferred language for academic writing as well (O’Hare, 1984: 317). Gerson (2003: 27) further affirms that to be effective academic writing, diction must be accurate. In summary, formal, clear, concise, and accurate language is appropriate for academic writing. However, the students of the English Education Department, particularly the students of Writing VI course still produce informal, unclear, and inaccurate sentences. For example, “Students’ motivation and achievement got more and more dependent on each other as the teacher puts a lot of support into making academic papers” may be better changed into “ The relationship between students’ motivation and achievement grew rapidly as the teacher strongly encouraged in composing academic papers”. The example above states the same meaning but differ widely in the degree of formality and concision, as the first sentence does not meet the

standard of the word choice in academic writing suggested by O’Hare and Gerson. One of the most likely reasons is that the students have a limited range of effective diction. In other words, they are unable to choose appropriate words for academic writing.

Therefore, the students are not only compelled to have knowledge of the ideas in their writing but also mastery of linguistic items such as the structure and the diction. Diction, as Michael Agnes (1999: 400) points out, is a manner of expression in words or choice of word. Anne Ruggles (1988: 301) further states that finding exactly the “right” word for what the writer wants to say can be difficult. As O’Hare (1984: 317) and Gerson (2003: 27) stated that appropriate diction in academic writing must comprise formality, accuracy, clarity, and concision.

Since the academic writing is significantly related with working world, the researcher will investigate the students’ academic writing especially the students’ diction employed in academic writing covering four features suggested by O’Hare and Gerson.

C. Problem Limitation

The researcher limits the word choice in the category of formality, accuracy, clarity, and concision. Grammar does not have to do with word choice but with word form and word order. Choosing the proper word form is a matter of grammar but not of diction (Willis, 1966: 190). As the area of the research is diction features, the grammatical awareness will be excluded in the process of

analyzing the diction of students’ academic writing. The subjects of this study are the sixth semester students of Writing VI course of the English Education Study Program, particularly class E.

D. Problem Formulation

Focusing on the background, problem identification, and problem limitation above; there are three questions in the research:

1. What diction do the sixth semester students of English Education Study Program produce in their academic writing?

2. What diction errors do the sixth semester students of English Education Study Program produce in their academic writing?

3. What are the likely sources of the diction errors?

E. Objectives

Relating to the problems mentioned; this study has three objectives that are to find out the formality, accuracy, clarity, and concision of the diction that the students mostly produce, to describe the diction errors that the students produce in academic writing, and to reveal the likely sources of the diction errors.

F. Benefits

This study is expected to be advantageous and could give some inputs and contribution for students to be more critical and selective in applying diction in academic writing. Teachers are expected to pay more attention to the categories

that weaken the students’ diction. Besides, the researcher posits that the research may assist the students in minimizing error in the diction of academic writing.

G. Definition of Terms 1. Academic Writing

Wikipedia (2006) describes academic writing belongs in the structure of

formal English. It is intended for a critical and informed audience, and based on closely investigated knowledge. Academic writing in this study refers to the most common pieces of writing in the academic world that are research papers.

2. Diction

According to Agnes (1999: 400), diction is a manner of expression in the word or choice of words. In this study, diction refers to the writer’s choice of words in academic writing which covers four above-stated features, namely formality, accuracy, clarity, and concision.

3. Writing VI

The researcher refers to the definition as it is stated in the Academic Guide of English Language Program (2005: 94) which clarifies that Writing VI is a course in which the goal is students are able to write academic writing such an interview report, a research paper and a survey report.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter reviews all theories proposed by some experts which relate to the research. There are two main parts in this chapter, namely theoretical description and theoretical framework. The theoretical description presents the discussion of any literature related to the academic writing, diction, and error. Theoretical framework summarizes all relevant theories, which helped the researcher solve the research problem.

A. Theoretical Description 1. Academic Writing a. The Concept of Writing

There are some definitions of writing that can give a general understanding of what writing is. Writing according to Troyka (1987) is a way of communicating a message to a reader for a purpose. According to him, the purposes of writing are: (1) to express oneself, (2) to provide information, (3) to persuade one’s reader, and (4) to create a literary work. The first and the last purposes significantly contribute to human thought and culture while the second and the third purposes of writing above are most prominent and practical in academic life. To produce a written form is a difficult task particularly for second language learners. Writing for the ESL students requires maturity in both languages which enables them to think and write in the second language without

complicated by the fact that he or she lacks an intuitive sense of English language conventions. For example, inadequate vocabulary and grammatical structure are too limited to convey what they know and want to say.

According to Ambruster (2002: 118), writing is a complex goal-directed, problem solving process that consists of a number of sub-processes. Further, Raimes as cited in Musthafa (1994: 5) defines writing specifically as a set of decision making process involving intricate choice of grammar, syntax, mechanics, organization, word choice, purpose, audience, content, and the writing procedure.

Writing is linked to language skills and elements such as reading, listening, vocabulary, structure, and spelling. To be able to write well, students must have extensive previous knowledge about orthography forms, lexicon, syntax, and morphemes. Besides, a great part of writing proficiency also results from prior knowledge. Vocabulary items, grammatical rules, and more generally, the knowledge of the world play important role in writing. Since linguistic proficiency is considered important, students need to learn the grammatical, lexical terms, styles and formats as well.

Writing is commonly difficult for most students, even in their first language. It is because writing is a complex process, and competent writing is frequently accepted as the last language skill to be acquired (Hamp-Lyons in Nunan, 1991: 91). Ball and Burnaby in Nunan (1989: 36) also reveal the complexity of writing that writing is an extremely complex cognitive activity that involves knowledge of language and ability to put into written form. Asger (in

Asher, 1994: 375) also says that “ process of writing views writing as the result of employing cognitive strategies to manage the composing process that is a process of exploration and developing organization”. He adds that it is comprised of setting goals, generating ideas, organizing information, and selecting appropriate language, drafting, reviewing, revising, and editing. Therefore, writing is a complex activity, which for many foreign language writers is difficult.

b. An Overview of Academic Writing

As it was stated earlier, academic writing tends to be associated with hard work and difficulty, rarely with pleasure. Swales (1994: 2) states that academic writing is complex and not merely based on guesswork, untested speculation, and received opinion. Hodgson (2005) also states that academic writing is careful to include doubts. Essay, thesis, research article, book report are kinds of academic writing which closely related with university students.

Concerning on the purpose, according to Jones (2005), the general purpose of an academic writing is to present information that displays a clear understanding of a subject. Meanwhile, the specific purpose varies according to the assignment such as argumentation, persuasion, description, narration, and exposition. According to Gocsik (2005), the structure and organization in academic writing will be determined by the content itself. Further, he states that content of academic writing must have a declared and arguable thesis. In other words, in composing an academic writing, the writer must be able to present the reader with an informed argument. In this case the writer needs to sort out his or

her knowledge about the subject from his or her assumption about the subject. Gocsik (2005) further explains that an academic paper is considered failed to meet the expectation of the reader if it fails to argue or inform. Thus, in creating arguments in academic writing, the writer needs to rely on several strategies.

Knowing about the function and structure of academic writing is important. However, knowing about the appropriate style and conventions to use when composing academic writing is equally important. Compare to other kinds of writing, the style and convention of academic writing is obviously different. Academic writing written in a university context tends to be structured, formal, objective, impersonal, complex and contain technical language. According to Hodgson (2005), the formal and impersonal nature of academic papers can be achieved by avoiding certain types of language, such as avoiding conventional language like a bit and maybe, contractions, abbreviation, and starting sentences with words such as but, again, and although. In addition, academic vocabulary is strongly recommended in composing academic writing, as it usually has more precise meanings than its less formal equivalents.

c. Academic Writing Process

Some writers find it harder to deal with their own thoughts, since they are fully responsible for generating the appropriate expression for good communication. Academic writing tends to provide someone’s idea and a kind of summary. In other words, academic writing is comprised of the small version of the writer. McLaine (1998) states paraphrasing, quoting, and reporting are three

common techniques in providing someone’s idea in academic writing. Paraphrasing process is repeating and rewriting someone’s statement using the writer’s own word. It means that the writer may restate the idea in reduced form without mentioning the author by name. This gives prominence to the information itself, while the author is added simply as a reference, either by name, year and page. Quoting process means choosing a single sentence or phrasing from the original text that in itself, sums up the main point being made by the author. Meanwhile, reporting means the writer reports the idea by describing indirectly what the original statement is about.

d. Academic Writing Rubric

As a general rule, papers are evaluated according to the quality of writing in several different elements such as argument or content, organization, and language use. The elements of writing proficiency are the criteria that a faculty uses to evaluate students’ proficiency in academic writing. Referring to Writing VI Composition Profile, Sanata Dharma University (2006), the grading system is classified into six categories namely excellent, very good, good, average, fair, and poor. Specifically, to have the detailed frame of the grading system, the table of Writing VI Composition Profile is presented in Table 2.1 (see p.11).

From the rubric in Table 2.1, in the area of language, the grading system covers the sentence structure (preposition, articles, tense, compound and complex sentences), vocabulary (idiom, diction or word choice), and mechanics (spelling, punctuation, and capitalization). In this study the researcher will focus on the

grading system in the area of language, particularly vocabulary area that is word choice or diction.

Table 2.1

Writing VI Rubric, English Education, Sanata Dharma University Excellent – very

good

Good – average Fair - poor Content Knowledgeable;

substantive; thorough development of thesis

Some knowledge of subject; adequate range; limited

development of thesis

Limited knowledge of subject; little substance; inadequate development of thesis 25-24-23-22 21-20-19-18

17-16-15-14-13-12-11 Organization Fluent expression;

ideas clearly stated/ supported; well-organized

Somewhat choppy main ideas; stand out; but organization unclear

Ideas confused or disconnected; lacks logical sequencing 20-19-18 17-16-15-14 13-12-11-10 Sentence

structure

Effective use of simple, compound, and complex sentences; effective use of coordinators, subordinators, and transitions Effective simple sentences; minor problems in compound and complex sentences; minor problems in the use of

coordinators, subordinators

Frequent errors or negations, agreement, tense, number, word order/ function, articles, pronouns, prepositions

20-19-18 17-16-15-14 13-12-11-10 Vocabulary Sophisticated

range; effective word/ idiom choice and usage

Adequate range; occasional errors of word/ idiom form, choice, usage

Limited range; frequent errors of word/ idiom form, choice, usage 20-19-18 17-16-15-14 13-12-11-10 Mechanics Demonstrate

mastery of conventions few errors of spelling, punctuation

Occasional errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, unclear paragraphing

Frequent errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing poor.

15-14-13 12-11-10 9-8-7-6

2. Diction

Diction and word choice are one and the same. Diction locates and displays certain incorrect, wordy, commonly misused, and possibly sexist

expressions and displays each sentence in which they occur. Diction is defined as a writer's choice of words. “A word is the minimal meaningful units of language.” (O’Grady and Dobrovolsky, 1989: 90). Thus, diction has connection with words, which are able to convey meaning for a certain context. Michael Meyer (2006) further proposes that diction is not merely choice of words but also phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language which combine to help create meaning. The particular words an author uses will affect not only the message the audience receives, but the way in which we interpret that idea (Douglas Hunt, 2002). In other words, diction must be suited to the purpose of writing. Anson et al (2000) further say that all writings have a purpose, and the diction used should coincide with purpose, and be based on audience. In cases like this, diction is considered as a thesaurus. For each word in its glossary, a thesaurus lists numerous synonyms yet no two words are exactly synonymous. Therefore, when choosing a word to substitute, students must first decide if the new word fits (Day et al, 1984: 16-17).

a. Good Diction in Academic Writing

How a word is finally understood depends on many factors. Standard English has long been used as the guideline to judge speech or writing since educated speakers and writers of English, business, and media commonly use it. However, judgments about appropriateness are sometimes hard to make because of the fluid nature of language and the effect of different writing situations. In a larger sense, word choices must be made in the context of a given piece of

writing, depending on the subject, audience, and purpose. As a result, a word choice that is appropriate in one context may be inappropriate in another. It is appropriate and inappropriate in terms of whether it supports the purpose of the writing. If the purpose is to present thesis and research so that the reader will find the writer’s position credible, then the diction used should be appropriate, meaning objective, concrete, and specific. In every kind of writing, it is essential to choose the best word to express the intended meaning.

When writing academic papers, writers are expected to use formal language rather than the relaxed conversational language they use in everyday situations. Formal English is the level of language appropriate to this context (Brewton et al, 1962: 78). A formal, standard set of rules is employed in academic writing to minimize confusion and misunderstandings since it will be addressed to an academic audience. Since academic writing is intended for a wide array of people, locally, nationally and, perhaps, even internationally, academic writing hence requires a more formal diction than everyday talk or journalism (Harvey, 2003). Appropriate level of formality is taken into account in academic writing.

Diction refers to the overall selection of language in writing. According to McCrimmon (1984: 271), good diction is the choice of words that allows the writers to communicate their meaning to their readers. However, the writers sometimes may use longer phrase and complicated words because he or she is trying to be academic or to show off. In other words, the writers are required to present accurate and precise words for connecting the readers to the subject matter. Formal, clear, concise, and accurate word is the preferred style for

academic writing (O’Hare, 1984: 317). The following thus covers categories of appropriate diction in academic writing.

1) Formality

Good diction has to do with choosing words for their level of formality as well as for their connotations (Kemmerer, 1997). A writer will tend to use different sets of language at different levels of formality almost instinctively. Without even being aware of it, many people have been using different levels of formality in their diction for many years. The only difference is that in writing the writer needs to be conscious of the choices he or she makes. Harder et al (1965: 21) states that in some college writings, as in term papers for advanced courses, the writing is appropriately formal. In other words, a choice that is formal is best in academic writing.

Being aware of maintaining formality covers elements of formality which needs to be considered, namely,

a. Abbreviation

Abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. There are three main kinds of abbreviations: shortenings, contractions, and initialisms.

1. Shortenings

Shortening of words consist of the first few letters of the full form and are usually spelled with a final period when they are still regarded as abbreviations, for example, cont. means continued, in means inch. Sometimes shortenings are altered to facilitate their pronunciation or spelling, such as bike which means

bicycle. Shortening is inappropriate in academic writing as it is less well recognized by large audience (Wresch et al, 1988: 186).

2. Contractions

Contractions are avoided since they are informal English (Harder et al, 1965: 17; Wresch et al, 1988: 186). Weisman (1980: 314) explains that contractions are words from which an unstressed syllable is dropped in speaking. Specifically, contractions are abbreviated forms in which letters from the middle of the full form have been omitted, for example, Dr. means doctor, St. means saint or street. Another kind of contraction is the type with an apostrophe marking the omission of letters: can't stands for cannot, didn't stands for did not, and you've stands for you have. One-word numbers (e.g. 12) also should be written out as twelve.

3. Initialisms

Initialism is made up of the initial letters of words and pronounced as separate letters: CIA (or C.I.A.), NYC (or N.Y.C), pm (or p.m.), U.S. (or US). In formal writing, initialism should be put in plain words (Weisman, 1980: 314). For example, CLT should be written as CLT (Communicative Language Teaching). b. Pronoun

Pronouns are troublesome in writing because their forms are numerous and irregular and because not all of the various functions they serve in casual talk are appropriate in writing (Harder et al, 1965: 336).

Possessive pronouns are possessive in nature and appropriate in Standard English, for example, Standard English often uses a preposition of rather than a possessive clitic (‘s) as shown in this example below,

Report’s contents will better written out as contents of report. 2. Sexist Pronoun

Although in the past it was acceptable to use he when referring to both men and women, it is no longer acceptable to do so now as some of the readers may be offended by sexist language (McMahan, 1984: 45). Thus, the writer must avoid a masculine bias in pronouns or other words that indicate gender (Memering, 1989: 249). As sexist pronouns are not allowed in academic writing, the pronouns in academic writing are presented in third person, such as it, they, he or she, etc.)

3. Addressing

The use of I in academic writing should be avoided as it makes writing sound too subjective. According to Bradbeer (1999), in academic writing, You addresses the reader and it is better to find another approach. We groups the writer and readers together. Consider this example, we should all be more aware of... In this sentence, the writer is assumed to share his or her position with the readers.

c. Expression

According to Wendel (1999), an academic writer also needs to be aware of expressions of different sets of language to maintain formality in academic writing. The following will hence cover thorough discussion on slang, colloquialism, cliché, jargon, idiom, and neologism.

1. Slang

Slang is considered as a variety of language used in certain contexts by means of which people express their sense of belonging to a particular group within the community, which is not specific to any geographic location and sometimes is known as "street talk" (Ellis, 2003). Slang often involves the creation of new linguistic forms or the creative adaptation of old ones. According to Langan (1996: 455), we often use slang expressions when we talk because they are vivid and colorful. However, slang is usually out of place in formal writing. Dumas and Lighter (1978: 14) further state that slang is markedly lower in prestige than Standard English. It is inappropriate then to apply slang in academic writing as academic writing is formal writing which uses Standard English and is intended for wide range of readers.

2. Colloquialism

Colloquial is generally considered as conversational language (Brewton et al, 1962: 80) as colloquialism comprises words that people, educated and uneducated alike, use when they are speaking together quite informally (McCrimmon, 1984: 273). In other words, colloquialism involves everyday speech patterns that are acceptable in casual conversation. For example, The reason they failed was because they did not understand the questions should be changed into The reason they failed was that they misunderstood the questions. However, when immortalized in print, these words lack the ability to convey a clear, universal message, because they may also have inconsistent local interpretations. Although an occasional colloquial word might be effective in a

particular context, it is not precise enough using colloquialisms in academic writing.

3. Clichés

Clichés are old and overused. According to Memering and O’Hare (1984: 318) a cliché is a worn-out word or phrase, some expression so familiar that no longer has any force, such as better late than never, easier said than done, the bottom line, last but not least, unbelievable, and in this day and age. Clichés are common in speech but are uncommon in writing as the meaning of a cliché is often confusing. For example, last but not least should be changed into last. 4. Jargon

According to Rugles (1988: 305), jargon is the specialized language of occupations and fields of inquiry. Memering and O’Hare (1984: 318) stated that jargon covers all specialized vocabulary and terminology which is specific to particular trades, professions, and groups and can be neutral or suggest varying degrees of contempt (Dees, 2003: 174). One example of jargon is The dialectical interface between neo-Platonists and anti-disestablishment Catholics offers an algorithm for deontological thought. When such language is used in its own sphere, it can make communication more effective, but when it is extended to other realms, it makes writing more difficult for the average reader to understand. In academic writing the writer must avoid jargon since academic writing addresses not only a segment but also the whole of society.

According to White (1986: 388), idiom is a non-literal informal expression that is peculiar to one language and that cannot be literally translated into another language. Idioms hence tend to confuse those who are not already familiar with them. Idioms frequently cannot be analyzed grammatically and their meanings develop through usage rather than through the relationship of the words to each other (Brewton et al, 1962: 81). Alter (1979: 169) divides idioms through word formation. The first formation consists of an adjective and a noun such as soft drink and cold war. The second formation contains verbs and noun, for example, keep an eye on and be at a lost. Another example is The final assessment is conducted every semester on the dot should be changed into The final assessment is precisely conducted every semester.

6. Neologism

Memering and O’Hare (1984: 325) state that neologism is a new word or phrase that is created to achieve something that old words do not. Neologisms are sometimes resisted because they are unfamiliar, perceived as unnecessary, or considered improper or too informal (Dees, 2003: 242). Neologisms are generated by compounding two or more existing words, as in couch potato and downsize. In this example, word, term, or phrase which has been recently created often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. New words also come from abbreviations such as URL and CEO, blending, e.g. infomercial, and adding suffixes, such as sexism.

Michael Meyer (2006) states that formal diction consists of an impersonal language use. Nice, actually, wonderful, usually, basically, naturally, obviously, worthwhile, and everybody thinks are perceived as informal since they imply personal judgment of the writer.

2) Accuracy

Diction is vitally important since it affects the accuracy of everything we write and say (McMahan & Day, 1984: 407). Accuracy is the chief virtue of the academic writing style. Besides, there is a little value in academic papers that are inaccurate. However, the writer must be careful not to oversimplify or distort the concept in the process (Memering, 1989: 27).

a. Errors in Meaning

Vrooman (1967: 55) states that two causes of inaccuracy are: 1. Confused pairs

Some words frequently have different meaning although they are similar in spelling. Consider these following examples: advise – advice, affect – effect, assure - ensure, continual (frequently repeated) – continuous (without interruption).

2. Words Confused by Analogy

Words are sometimes confusing by transference of meaning. The words do not resemble one another in spelling, but their meanings are often switched such as oral (spoken) - verbal (consisting words), among (more than two people) – between (two people), error- mistake, and fewer (numbers) – less (degree).

b. Exaggerated Expressions

Exaggerated expressions such as really, definitely, very, and extremely create a barrier between writer and reader (Memering, 1989: 351). Exaggerated expression use of adjective and adverbs weaken vigor and precision. An academic writer should be specially warned against the overuse of very and definitely. Especially, truly, quite, or others of this type are better advised than very and definitely (Willis, 1966: 190).

3) Clarity

Writing in an academic style does not mean writing to impress, but rather, writing to communicate the writer’s message clearly to an expert audience (Anderson, 2001: 155). Checking clarity means searching for passages that are vague or ambiguous. Vague wording in academic writing will make the audience think of the writer as indefinite (Blicq, 1986: 16). Employing specific words and restricting meaning in this way will increase the sharpness of the image the reader receives and decrease the chance of misunderstanding and communication failure. a. Synonyms

When writers try to impress their readers by using long words and flowery phrases inappropriately, they create stilted writing. The result is lack of communication because ideas are obscured rather than clarified by the clutter of words (Anson, 2000: 346). Selecting the right word might be difficult as one word has various different shades of meaning. Synonym is a word of nearly the same meaning as another (Harder et al, 1965: 349). They further state that English is

especially rich in words of slightly different shades of meaning. McMahan (1984: 43) also states that synonyms often have different shades of meaning and nuances. Sometimes a single word can replace a long phrase. Sometimes a more specific word can replace a general or ambiguous one. Fast might be replaced by rapidly for example.

b. General Terms

In larger measure, finding exactly the right words in writing involves choosing specific terms that will keep the readers’ attention (McMahan, 1984: 45). General words name classes and groups of things, while specific words point to a member of a class or group. Both types of words are appropriate in their respective contexts, but on the whole rely upon specific words, since they express meaning more vividly and more precisely than general ones. Specific words tell the reader that we are definite while vague generalities imply that we are unsure of ourselves (Blicq, 1986: 348). Nouns, such as thing, area, aspect, factor, and individual are especially imprecise.

4) Concision

Concise writing does not always have the fewest words, but it always uses the strongest ones. In other words, it aims to avoid any words that can be removed or tighten, clarify, and simplify the writing (Memering, 1989: 248). Concision hence deals with wordiness. Writers often fill sentences with weak or unnecessary words that can be deleted or replaced. According to Procter (2005), eliminating wordiness will increase the clarity and formality of the meaning of the sentence.

Wordiness is using more words than necessary to express a meaning. It is often a sign of lazy or careless writing. Some sentences can be unclear in a variety of ways either in the form of redundancy, misused words, and misused terms.

Joseph William (2003: 117) proposes five principles of concision in academic writing. They are deletion of meaningless words, doubled words, redundancy, phrase replacement, and negative form. These principles are easy to state but hard to follow, because students have to inch their ways through every sentence they write, cut, and compress some words.

a. Meaningless Words

Some words are verbal tics, including to be and being, forms that we use unconsciously. The use of to be and being in a sentence is considered as meaningless since it does not influence the meaning conveyed. Omitting these forms will improve the quality of the sentences.

b. Doubled Words

Another form of concision is doubled words. Using two similar words to express a meaning will baffle the readers. Omitting doubled words will improve the virtue of the sentence, such as basic and fundamental and alter or change. c. Redundancy

Gerson states that redundancies are words that express the same thing (2003: 39). There is some common redundancy which is hard to identify because it comes in so many forms (Williams, 2003: 117). Every word implies its general category, so the writer can usually cut a word that names it. For example, There are desirable benefits to be gained from increasing research into English.

a. Phrase Replacement 1. Padded Verbs

Inadequate range of vocabulary will produce weak verbs. Students may hence combine words to produce the intended meaning. It may also reduce the quality of academic papers, for example have an expectation is less effective than expect.

2. Formulaic Phrase

This wordiness is especially difficult to fix because the writer needs a big vocabulary and the wit to use it (William, 2004: 119). One way of reducing phrases is to look at the use of formulaic phrase. Consider this example:

Weak: Despite the fact that the data were checked, errors occurred. Good: Even though the data were checked, errors occurred.

The example above shows that despite the fact that might be compressed into less words.

b. Negative Form

When the writer expresses an idea in negative form, not only does he or she has to use an extra word such as same which means not different, but he or she also forces readers to do a kind of algebraic factoring. The following expressions are the same, but the affirmative is more direct, for example, not possible is less direct than impossible and not often is also less direct than rarely.

Based on the overall theories, effective diction in academic writing should be aware of maintaining formality, accuracy, clarity, and concision. Using good diction in academic writing involves choosing the right word for the meaning desired to be addressed to a wide array of people. To be able to apply formal

diction in academic writing, students often use a thesaurus. Although, students often use it excessively and incorrectly in their selection of words, knowing that all synonyms do not mean the same thing that each synonym has a subtle nuance of meaning making it distinct from the other words will help them avoid random substitutions of words that merely seem to look better.

b. Revising Diction

There are three ways to revise diction errors according to Vrooman (1967: 59) and McCrimmon (1984: 289). They are eliminating vague words, being economical in using words, and using dictionary.

1) Eliminating Vague Words

Vague words such as thing, much, very, nice, usually, and really are regularly used in conversation. Vague words carry little meaning because they are general (McCrimmon, 1984: 349). As they do not convey specific meaning to the readers, an academic writer avoids vague words and requires more specific terms. Eliminating vague words is thus crucial as it will lead to formality, accuracy, clarity and concision of diction.

2) Being Economical in Using Words

As previously stated, concision in academic writing is inter-related to the content conveyed. Moreover, long phrases and sentences will incite the readers to lose interest. Wresch (1988: 197) further states that we make economical sentences so that readers will be able to grasp our meaning quickly. Redundancy

and formulaic phrases waste the reader’s time and interfere with the clear communication of ideas. The quickest way to trim it is to cut any word or phrase that contributes nothing worthwhile to the sentence. For example: There are some students who still have the same inappropriate behavior after being punished should be changed into There are some students who still misbehave after being punished.

3) Using a Thesaurus

A thesaurus may significantly affect the accuracy and clarity of the diction in academic writing. A thesaurus is another valuable word source. It does not define words; instead, it gives lists of synonyms. Although, synonyms are not always interchangeable, a good thesaurus will clarify the distinction between similar words (McMahan, 1984: 43). Further, a thesaurus is useful for revising diction errors as it comprises detailed series of associated words where we can find one that better suits the context (Guinn and Marder, 1987: 137), for example, The students can yield their article by tomorrow. Yield is possible synonym for submit, but within this context, submit is more appropriate. In brief, a thesaurus can sharpen the writer’s word choice and build vocabulary, as it consists of detailed series of synonyms to suit the context.

d. Developing Word Power

According to Perrin (1965: 362) and Langan (1996: 440), there are four ways of developing word power. They are the use of dictionaries, regular reading,

word sheets, and vocabulary study books. The following explanation will thoroughly discuss each way of developing word power.

1) The Use of Dictionaries

A dictionary is an effective tool for writers to help them revise a paper. Computers are the latest way to use dictionaries. Various publishers have issued dictionaries in electronic form. Dictionaries, old and new, have made their way onto the Internet, and this form of publication is likely to become more usual. Encarta World and Oxford dictionaries are examples of worldly accepted tool dictionaries. Such dictionaries concentrate on the most commonly used and most important words and meanings, define words in the simplest way, provide a thesaurus of each word, and include many examples of words as they appear in phrases and sentences, showing how the words are used and helping readers understand the definitions.

2) Regular Reading

Reading is a basis of knowledge. Students may acquire linguistic knowledge such as grammatical items, diction, language style, and word composition through reading English texts such as books, newspapers, magazines, and other printed materials. Further, vocabulary knowledge is explicitly acquired through reading any English texts. Some parts of rapid word recognition skills come from reading extensively and learning new words while reading (Schoonen, Huistjin, and Bossers, 1998). Students benefit from being exposed to new words

through explicit instruction, learning how to learn words of their own, familiarizing themselves with their own-learning processes, and becoming word collectors (Grabe and Stoller, as cited in Graves 2000; Stahl 1999).

3) Word Sheet

The first way to develop vocabulary by means of a word sheet is by marking off words that we want to learn. After accumulating a number of words, we look up in a dictionary the basic information of each word and record it on a word sheet. Then, we need to write sentences in which each word may appear as a word is always best learned not only in a vacuum but also in the context of surrounding words. For example, approach (noun) has several meanings such as, (1) An act of approaching, (2) A way of dealing with person or thing, and (3) Sexual advance. It has also other forms of the word such as, method, access, advance, methodology, and procedure. Specifically, its use in context is Our approach in dealing with the problem is different.

4) Vocabulary Study Books

The most effective way to help us to learn words is by looking at the context and the words around the unfamiliar words, and unlocking its meaning. This method is called using context clues or word clues. “30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary” by Funck and Lewis and “Vocabulary through Pleasure Reading”by Amsco School Publications are examples of vocabulary study books.

3. Error

a. A Brief Definition of Errors

Errors arise from a lack of knowledge of the rules of the language, i.e. competence; while mistakes arise from factors such as fatigue and inattention, i.e. performance (Chomsky, 1965, cited in Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982: 139). Burt and Kiparsky (1974, as cited in Omaggio, 1986: 291) differentiate between global error and local error. Global errors are errors that affect overall sentences organization. They are also called major errors because they are likely to lead to misunderstanding of the sentence (Norish, 1983: 106). Local errors are errors that affect single elements in a sentence and they do not hinder communication. They are also called minor errors because they hardly interfere with the writer’s intended meaning.

Another definition is from Corder (stated in Dulay, 1982: 139), where error consists of systematic deviations due to the learner’s still-developing knowledge of the second language rule system. Further, error is a red flag that provides evidence of the learner’s knowledge of the second language (Gas & Selinker, 1994). In this research, the error is the students’ failure to use appropriate words about academic writing system rule while they are still developing their English ability. Specifically, errors refer to any deviation that appears in the learner’s writing, regardless of causes of the possible deviation.

Brown (1983: 177) states that there are three likely sources of error, namely:

1) Interlingual Transfer

This source of errors is related with the entrance of rules of a language to another language being learned. It is dealing with the interference of native language. It is obvious that learners often use their previous experience with their native language on the production of the target language.

2) Intralingual Transfer

Most errors result from the interference of the learner’s first language or mother tongue (Dulay, 1982: 2). Second language sometimes is different from the first language. For example, English is quite different from Indonesian. Accordingly, the students frequently make errors in learning English. As noted by Johnson (2001: 67) the number of errors of intralingual interference involves the overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restriction, incomplete application of rules and semantic errors. The first type, overgeneralization, is associated with redundancy reduction. It covers instances where the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of his or her experience of other structures in the target language. It may be the result of the learner reduces his or her linguistic burden. The second source is ignorance of rule restrictions, for example, applying rules to contexts to which they do not apply. The third is incomplete application of rules. The last is semantic errors, such as building false concepts or systems: i.e. faulty comprehension of distinctions in the target language.

3) Context of Learning

Context of learning refers to the teachers, textbooks, and materials. If a teacher has low competence in explaining the students will model that wrong explanation. Besides, carelessnes can make errors as well. Norish (1983: 21) mentions that the material or the style of presentation can loosen the students’ interest. In other words, carelessness is closely related with lack of motivation.

c. Error Analysis

Error analysis is a category of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make. Researchers are interested in errors because they are believed to contain valuable information on the strategies that people use to acquire a language (Dulay and Burt, 1972). The investigation of errors can be at the same time diagnostic and prognostic. It is diagnostic because it can tell us the learner’s state of the language (Corder, 1967) at a given point during the learning process and prognostic because it can tell course organizers to reorient language learning materials on the basis of the learner’s current problems.

B. Theoretical Framework

Professions that are either directly or indirectly associated with writing require people to have good English writing skill. Formal writing is required for being accepted in working world as writing skill plays a central role in all elements of life.

As one variety of formal writing, academic writing is a compulsory course for sixth semester students of English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University as it will serve as fundamental skill to other following compulsory courses such as Seminar on Language Teaching, Research on English Language Teaching, Thesis Writing, Service Program Design, and Thesis course.

Since the sixth semester students of Writing VI course have encountered overall writing courses, they must be able to produce good diction. They should be at the level where they no longer make diction errors in formal writing. Nevertheless, they perhaps find difficulties selecting the right words in academic writing. Since they may produce inappropriate diction in developing their academic writing, some experts’ points of view are used as the references. To obtain the thorough information of the students’ diction, the integration of diction features for academic writing suggested by O’Hare and Gerson becomes the main instrument. It is used as the guidance in evaluating the students’ diction in academic writing.

In brief, some experts’ points of view play some significant roles in exploring, identifying, and analyzing the students’ diction in terms of formality, accuracy, clarity, and concision. It serves as the basis of the research that leads to the data analysis and interpretation.

33 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents detailed discussion about the methodology employed in this study. This includes the descriptions of the method of research, the participants, the setting, the instruments, the procedure, and the data analysis.

A. Method of Research

This study was a descriptive research. It was designed “to obtain information concerning the current status of phenomena” (Ary et al, 1990: 381). At the same time the research was done without their being influences by the investigator. Therefore, there was no treatment toward the students’ diction in academic writing. The data were purely natural without the researcher’s interference.

Descriptive research consists of several methods. To obtain the specific information, the research employed document analysis method. Documentary analysis is a research method applied to written or visual materials for the purpose of identifying specific characteristics of the material (Ary et al, 2002: 442).

Since this study explored the diction in the students’ academic writing as a major focus for investigation and interpretation, qualitative research was applied. Sprinthall (1991: 100) further states that the data gathered in qualitative research are purely descriptive and not numerical. Therefore, there was no hypothesis formulated in the research.

B. Research Participants

The term population refers to the entire group of persons, things or events that share at least one common trait (Sprinthal, 1991: 27). The target population of this research was all the sixth semester students who belonged to Writing VI classes of English Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University of the academic year 2003/ 2004. Since it would not be possible to survey the entire classes, a small sample designed to be the representative of the population was selected. A sample is “a subgroup taken from the population to represent it” (Brown, 1991: 114). There are five Writing VI classes and class E was taken as the sample of the population in this research. Class E consisted of thirty students. Since two students were not sixth semester students, the researcher thus took 28 students as the sample.

C. Research Setting

The research was conducted at the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. It was done from August until December 2006 towards the sixth semester students of the academic year 2003/2004. The researcher collected the final assignment from the lecturer to be analyzed as the data for the research.

D. Research Instruments

The research employed four checklists as the instruments. Those checklists consisted of formality, accuracy, clarity, and concision categories derived from the features of appropriate diction for academic writing advised by O’Hare (1984:

317) and Gerson (2003: 27). The first instrument consisting of formality category aimed to examine how the students use more formal words in academic writing. Further, it aimed to find out whether the students choose either less formal words or more formal words. Abbreviation was divided into four features, namely, shortening, contractions, and initialism. Pronoun included possessive, sexist, and addressing. While expression included slang, colloquialism, cliché, jargon, idiom, and neologism. The last feature is personal judgment or subjective words. The checklist was thus outlined as follows:

Table 3.1 Formality Checklist

No. Formality Criteria Yes/No

1. Abbreviation

Shortening (full forms)

Contraction (no apostrophe marking the omission of letters, full forms of one-word numbers)

Initialism (using plain words )

2. Correct pronoun (possessive, sexist, and addressing) Possessive (using of rather than a possessive clitic) Sexist (no masculine bias, presented in third person) Addressing (avoiding the use of I)

3. Expression

Slang (avoiding any slangs)

Colloquialism (avoiding conversational/ casual language) Cliché (avoiding worn-out words/ phrases)

Jargon (avoiding specialized vocabulary/ terminology)

Idiom (avoiding non-literal informal expression that cannot be translated into another language)

Neologism (avoiding new language forms that are unfamiliar)

4. Personal judgment or subjective words (avoiding words that imply personal judgment of the writer)

The second instrument consisting of accuracy category focused on whether the students employ accurate diction in delivering the message in academic writing. Accuracy category included ungrammatical form, errors in meaning, and exaggerated expression. Errors in meaning might be indicated from

confused pairs and words confused by analogy. The checklist of accuracy category would be:

Table 3.2 Accuracy Checklist

No. Accuracy Criteria Yes/No

1. Errors in meaning

Confused pairs (aware of words which have similar spelling but different meaning)

Words confused by analogy (aware of transference of meaning) 2. Exaggerated expression (avoiding the overuse of very, really,

definitely, and extremely)

The third instrument consisted of clarity category. This category consisted of synonym and general term. These features aimed to find out the students’ competence in choosing the right diction that was clear and not ambiguous. The checklist was framed as follows:

Table 3.3 Clarity Checklist

No. Clarity Criteria Yes/No

1. Synonyms (using precise words)

2. General term (using specific terms rather than general ones)

The concision category checklist was the fourth instrument used for ascertaining the students’ diction. Further it analyzed whether the students employed redundancy or brief sentences. Concision category included deletion of meaningless words, doubling of words, redundancy, phrase replacement, negative form. Meaningless words covered unnecessary to be and being. Meanwhile, phrase replacement covered padded verbs and formulaic phrase.

Table 3.4 Concision Checklist

No. Concision Criteria Yes/No

1. Meaningless words (avoiding unnecessary to be or being) 2. Doubled Words (avoiding two similar words to express one

meaning)

3. Redundancy (cutting words that express the same thing) 4. Phrase replacement

Padded verbs (avoiding combined words to produce the intended meaning)

Formulaic phrase (avoiding too long and big phrases in conveying message)

5. Negative form (using affirmative rather than negative forms)

E. Research Procedure

In this research, the research procedure covered two subsequent steps namely preparation and conducting survey.

1. Preparation

There was one step of preparation to do this research. The researcher asked permission to the lecturer of Writing VI course in class E where the research would be conducted.

2. Conducting Survey

The survey was done to gather data about the diction in Writing VI course. In this step, the researcher gathered the data by collecting the final research papers. There were supposed to be 30 pieces of writing collected from the students. Yet, not all of the data became the samples of the research as there were two students who were not sixth semester students. Therefore, there were only 28 pieces of writing analyzed in the research.

E. Data Analysis

Analysis involves organizing data, synthesizing, searching for significant patterns, and discovering what is important (Ary et al, 2002: 465). Therefore, there were two steps employed in the research to make the task manageable, namely data analysis and data interpretation.

To answer the first problem, the researcher would check the composition and give marks. The process of coding was important to recognize the inappropriate words and clauses if the researcher wanted to crosscheck the composition. The marking of the compositions would be followed up by transforming into the four checklist instruments. The four instruments indicated presence or absence of some features of the formality, accuracy, clarity, and concision.

To provide scientific reference on the frequency of the characteristics presence in the students’ diction, the result of the four instruments were counted and transformed in the percentage data. The percentage data presented the summary of the formality, accuracy, clarity, and concision features found in the students’ diction in their academic writing. The percentage might reveal how the presence or absence of those items affected the students’ diction in academic writing. The presence or absence of each category would be explored thoroughly in each point of discussion. It involved some of the students’ sentences as the samples of the discussions.

To answer the second problem, the researcher would recheck between lines. In this step, the researcher recorded all marked inappropriate words and phrases in a table. The researcher then put the inappropriate words and phrases in

the diction error checklist based on the combination features suggested by O’Hare and Gerson. Each phrase and sentence could be given more than one mark as it might consist of more than one error category. Further, the analysis of each category of errors would be thoroughly discussed in the next chapter.

Meanwhile, to answer the third problem, the sources of errors would be revealed by combining the existing theories and the research findings.

40 CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

This chapter presents the analysis of the research problem as previously mentioned. In the first section, the researcher discusses the first problem of the research. The results are presented in the following order: (1) formality of the students’ writing, (2) accuracy of the students’ writing, (3) clarity of the students’ writing, and (4) concision of the students’ writing. Meanwhile, the second section discusses the second problem of the research. The results are presented in the following order: (1) formality errors, (2) accuracy errors, (3) clarity errors, (4) concision errors, and (5) other findings. The last section will reveal the sources of errors derived from the existing theories and research findings. In addition, the detailed recapitulations of the overall results are available in appendices.

A. Diction Produced in the Students’ Writing

Responding to the first problem, the writer analyzed whether the students produced appropriate diction in academic writing. Further, the discussion determined at which category they were good.

1. Formality of the Students’ Writing

The formality category of diction in academic writing involves several features. In the research, abbreviation, pronoun, and expression features may indicate the formality of students’ diction in academic writing. The results were thus shown in Table 4.1 (see p. 41). Formal words needs to be employed as the audience of academic writing are scholars, lecturers, and even professors.

Table 4.1 The Students’ Diction on Formality Category

No Formality Features (%)

1. Avoid abbreviation (shortening, contractions, and initialism) 71.43 2. Use correct pronoun (possessive, sexist, and addressing) 60.71 3. Avoid expression (slang, colloquialism, cliché, jargon, idiom, and

neologism)

53.57 4. Avoid personal judgment or subjective words 64.29

To be formal, avoiding abbreviation is important as well. Its use is accepted in informal writing but not in formal writing. Enclosing abbreviation in academic writing will be considered as informal, since abbreviation is commonly used in informal writing and well recognized by particular community. Once a student uses shortening in his or her writing it will baffle the audience because the audience may not recognize or may misinterpret the meaning. The result shows that the majority of the composition (71.43%) avoided abbreviation either in the form of shortening, contractions, or initialism. This result shows that most of the students knew how to use abbreviation properly. In other words, most of the students were aware of the abbreviation proscription in academic writing. Consider these examples:

1) PBL (Problem Based Learning) 2) CTL (Contextual Teaching Learning)

Initialisms in the examples above were written correctly since the writer gave the meaning of the PBL and CTL. The writer needed to give meaning to those initialisms because PBL and CTL were merely familiar with particular community.

authentic historical and social context as found in American in teh postwar economis boom.

xii ABSTRACT

Laurentia Lila Paramita. 2007. Diction in Academic Writing of the Sixth Semester Students of the English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.

This undergraduate thesis analyzed the diction in academic writing of the sixth semester students. There were three research problems in this study. The first problem dealt with the diction employed in the students’ writing. The second problem was concerned with the diction errors, and the last one was the likely source of the diction errors.

This study was conducted using descriptive qualitative method. It was intended to investigate the quality of the diction produced in students’ writing. The data were taken from the students’ final papers. There were 28 papers taken as the data in this study. To answer the research problems, those papers were analyzed. Each composition was evaluated based on theories of diction suggested by O’Hare (1984) and Gerson (2003).

The result of the data analysis showed that not all of the compositions implemented formal diction. Firstly, most of the compositions contained correct use of abbreviation. In more than half of the compositions, abbreviations were explained in plain words. This implied that most of the students did not meet difficulties in using shortening, initialism and contraction. The same result occurred with pronoun. Most of the compositions contained correct use of addressing and sexist pronoun. Yet, only half of the compositions contained correct use of expression. In fact, the wrong use of expression, such as the presence of colloquialisms, made the students’ compositions informal since they use conversational language. Besides, half of the compositions still contained exaggerated expression. This fact made the meaning less clear. The next one, nearly all of the compositions contained concise diction. They avoided ‘to be’ or ‘being’ forms, doubled words, redundancies, and negative forms. It implied that most of the students were aware of being concise. However, less than half of the compositions contained concise and straightforward phrases. Most of them still used long and devious phrases to convey ideas. This implied that most of the students lacked vocabulary as they mostly used longer phrases to state their ideas.

Concision error was statistically the most frequently encountered error in the students’ compositions, as it comprised 39.7% of the total errors in overall categories. The second rank was formality error (32.21%). It was followed by accuracy error in third place (14.23%), while clarity error ranked fourth (13.86%).

Finally, some implications and suggestions intended for teachers of English, the students, and for further researcher were put forward in the last chapter.

xiii ABSTRAK

Laurentia Lila Paramita. 2007. Diction in Academic Writing of the Sixth Semester Students of the English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidian, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Skripsi ini menganalisa diksi dalam karangan akademik pada mahasiswa semester enam. Ada tiga permasalahan dalam penelitian ini. Masalah pertama berkaitan dengan diksi yang dipakai dalam karangan mereka. Masalah kedua dipusatkan pada kesalahan-kesalahan diksi. Sedangkan yang ketiga berkaitan dengan hal-hal yang mungkin menjadi penyebab dari kesalahan-kesalahan diksi dalam menulis karangan akademik.

Penelitian ini dilaksanakan dengan menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif yang bermaksud untuk menyelidiki kualitas diksi yang digunakan dalam karangan mahasiswa semester enam. Sebanyak 28 karangan dipakai sebagai data dalam penelitian ini. Untuk memecahkan permasalahan, karangan-karangan tersebut dianalisa. Setiap karangan dinilai berdasarkan teori diksi yang dikemukakan oleh O’Hare (1984) dan Gerson (2003).

Hasil dari analisa data menunjukkan bahwa tidak semua karangan menggunakan diksi yang formal. Pertama, sebagian besar dari karangan sudah benar dalam penulisan singkatan. Lebih dari separuh karangan, singkatan-singkatan sudah dijabarkan. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar mahasiswa tidak mengalami kesulitan dalam menggunakan shortening, initialism dan contraction. Hal yang sama juga terjadi pada penggunaan kata ganti. Sebagian besar karangan menggunakan addressing dan kata ganti sexist dengan benar. Akan tetapi, hanya sebagian dari karangan yang memakai expression dengan benar. Pada kenyataannya, penggunaan yang salah seperti pemakaian colloquialism atau bahasa sehari-hari menyebabkan karangan menjadi informal. Selain itu, sebagian karangan masih memakai exaggerated expression. Hal ini membuat arti kata menjadi kurang jelas. Selanjutnya, hampir semua karangan memakai pilihan kata yang singkat. Bentuk to be atau being, doubled words, redundancies, dan bentuk negative mampu dihindari dalam karangan. Ini menunjukkan bahwa hampir semua mahasiswa semester enam mengerti akan bagaimana menulis efektif. Tetapi, hanya kurang dari separuh karangan saja yang masih mengandung frasa atau kalimat yang singkat dan tidak bertele-tele. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa mahasiswa-mahasiswa tersebut memiliki kekurangan pada kosakata karena mereka masih memakai frasa yang panjang dalam mengungkapkan opini mereka.

Kesalahan concision secara statistik merupakan yang paling sering ditemukan dalam karangan-karangan para murid karena terdapat 39,7% kesalahan dari keseluruhan kesalahan diksi. Kedua adalah kesalahan formality (32,21%), diikuti dengan kesalahan accuracy (14,23%) dan clarity (13,86%).

Akhirnya, beberapa implikasi dan saran yang ditujukan untuk para guru bahasa Inggris, para murid dan peneliti selanjutnya, ditulis di bab terakhir.