Error analysis on basic noun phrases in descriptive writing of VIIF students of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta - USD Repository

ERROR ANALYSIS ON BASIC NOUN PHRASES

  IN DESCRIPTIVE WRITING OF VIIF STUDENTS OF SMP PANGUDI LUHUR 1 YOGYAKARTA A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education

  By Margaretha Okta Paulina

  Student Number: 081214009

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

ERROR ANALYSIS ON BASIC NOUN PHRASES

  IN DESCRIPTIVE WRITING OF VIIF STUDENTS OF SMP PANGUDI LUHUR 1 YOGYAKARTA A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education

  By Margaretha Okta Paulina

  Student Number: 081214009

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

  

Conceive, believe, achieve…

(Anonymous)

  This thesis is dedicated to my parents, my brother, and everyone who stays in my heart.

  

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

  I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.

  Yogyakarta, 5 December 2012 The Writer,

  Margaretha Okta Paulina 081214009

  

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

  Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Margaretha Okta Paulina Nomor Mahasiswa : 08 1214 009

  Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

  

Error Analysis on Basic Noun Phrases in Descriptive Writing of VIIF

Students of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta

  beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta izin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta, Pada tanggal: 5 Desember 2012 Yang menyatakan (Margaretha Okta Paulina)

  

ABSTRACT

  Paulina, Margaretha Okta. (2012). Error Analysis on Basic Noun Phrases in

Descriptive Writing of VIIF Students of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta.

Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

  Basic noun phrases (BNP) are easily found in text books, magazines, newspapers, and other sources of information. Since BNP are common, they must be mastered and formed well. Mastering BNP enables the students to grasp general idea and specific information and also build good sentences and paragraphs. However, VII graders of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta had problems and frequently made errors in forming BNP. This study aims to identify BNP errors made by the students, discover possible causes of the students’ errors and make suggestions to improve students’ understanding of BNP.

  The researcher undertook a document analysis. There were three research problems in this study: 1) What are BNP errors made by the students? 2) What are possible causes of their errors? and 3) What are suggestions to improve students’ understanding of BNP? In responding to the first and second research problems, the researcher analyzed documents which are the students’ descriptive writing. In identifying possible causes of the students’ errors and making suggestions, the researcher conducted interviews to three English teachers and also three students, one made the most errors, one made the fewest errors and one made the greatest range of different types of errors. The participants of the study were 38 VIIF graders and three English teachers of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta in the 2011/2012 academic year. The theories applied to obtain the data were theories of a descriptive text and BNP proposed by Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1972) and Lam (2004), and then to analyze the data, theories of error analysis, surface strategy taxonomy proposed by Dulay, Burt & Krashen (1983), causes of errors proposed by Brown (2000) and Indonesian noun phrases proposed by Alwi, Dardjowidjojo, Lapoliwa and Moeliono (1993) and Chaer (2009) were applied.

  The finding showed that the students made 8 misformation errors in type 1 BNP. In type 2 BNP, the students made 76 omission errors (43.6%), 53 misformation errors (30.4%), 36 addition errors (20.9%) and 1 misordering error (0.5%). While, three possible causes of the students’ errors are interferences from the mother tongue, overgeralization and the context of learning. The result of the interview revealed that there are several suggestions to improve students’ understanding of BNP, namely giving feedback and increasing practice of the language through interesting activities. In addition, the researcher also offered recommendations for the teachers, students and the researchers who are interested in this topic.

  Keywords: Errors, error analysis, basic noun phrase, descriptive text

  

ABSTRAK

  Paulina, Margaretha Okta. (2012). Error Analysis on Basic Noun Phrases in

Descriptive Writing of VIIF Students of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta.

Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Basic noun phrase (BNP) mudah ditemukan di buku modul, majalah,

  koran dan berbagai sumber informasi lainnya. Karena mudah ditemukan, maka

  

BNP harus dikuasai dan dibuat dengan benar. Dengan menguasai BNP, para siswa

  dapat memahami gagasan utama dan informasi rinci dan mampu membuat kalimat dan paragraf yang benar. Namun, siswa kelas VII SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta mengalami kesulitan dalam membuat BNP. Mereka hampir selalu membuat kesalahan saat membuat BNP. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi BNP errors yang dibuat oleh para siswa, mengetahui penyebab siswa membuat kesalahan dan memberikan anjuran untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan siswa tentang BNP.

  Peneliti melakukan document analysis. Ada tiga pertanyaan dalam kajian ini: 1) Kesalahan apa saja yang dibuat siswa? 2) Apa yang menyebabkan siswa- siswa membuat kesalahan? dan 3) Apa anjuran yang mungkin diberikan untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan siswa tentang BNP? Untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama dan kedua, peneliti menganalisis dokumen yang merupakan karangan deskriptif para siswa. Untuk mengidentifikasi penyebab kesalahan siswa dan memberikan anjuran, peneliti mengadakan wawancara terhadap tiga guru Bahasa Inggris dan tiga siswa yang membuat kesalahan terbanyak, tersedikit dan yang paling bervariasi. Responden dalam kajian ini adalah 38 siswa kelas VIIF dan 3 guru Bahasa Inggris SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta pada tahun ajaran 2011/ 2012. Teori yang digunakan untuk memperoleh data adalah teori tentang teks deskriptif dan teori BNP yang dikemukakan oleh Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1972) and Lam (2004) dan untuk menganalisa data, teori yang digunakan adalah teori error analysis, teori surface strategy taxonomy yang dikemukan oleh Dulay, Burt & Krashen (1983), teori penyebab kesalahan yang dikemukakan oleh Brown (2000) dan teori frasa nominal yang dikemukakan oleh Alwi, Dardjowidjojo, Lapoliwa & Moeliono (1993) dan Chaer (2009).

  Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa siswa membuat 8 kesalahan

  

misformation di BNP type 1. Di BNP type 2, siswa membuat 76 omission

  (43.6%), 53 misformation (30.4%), 36 addition (20.9%) and 1 misordering (0.5%). Sementara itu, tiga penyebab siswa melakukan kesalahan adalah pengaruh dari bahasa ibu, overgeneralization dan context of learning. Hasil wawancara menunjukkan bahwa ada beberapa anjuran untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan siswa tentang BNP yaitu dengan memberikan feedback dan meningkatkan latihan bahasa melalui aktivitas yang menarik. Selain itu, peneliti juga memberikan saran untuk guru, siswa dan peneliti lainnya yang tertarik dengan bidang ini.

  Kata kunci: kesalahan, analisis kesalahan, frase kata benda sederhana, teks

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First of all, I would like to express my never-ending gratitude to Lord Jesus Christ, who already created me, Mother Mary, who always blesses me and everyone who helps me in my frustrating thesis time. Without them, I am sure that this thesis would be still empty now.

  I am so delighted to have this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to my sponsor, Agustinus Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A., for his patience, guidance, valuable suggestions and encouragement throughout this process. His way to criticize my thesis was like a whip for me; it reminded me to force myself to do my thesis with all my heart and to finish this thesis well. Big thanks are also expressed to the PBI lecturers and the staff for supporting me in completing this thesis in the right time.

  I would like to thank Br. Valentinus Naryo, FIC, M.Pd., A. Ismargyaning Utami, S.Pd., Pricillia Linawati Cahya P., S.Pd., M.Hum., M. Dyah Lintang P., S.Pd, Isidorus Sumardiyono, Msi., the other teachers and the staff of SMP

  

Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta for their kindness and priceless help. For VIIF

students, I would like to thank them for their willingness to do the assignments.

  Sincere thanks are also expressed to the English teachers and the students who had become the interviewees.

  I would also like to express my special gratitude to my dearest parents, Tanto Wiratno and Ana Sumiyarti for raising me until now and for my only one elder brother, Agustinus Handoko for being a great brother. I thank them for their support, love, prayers and beneficial suggestions. Their assistance in my life is a wonderful gift for me.

  Special thanks go to Damianus Deni Kurnianto for being my number one supporter. His love, support, patience, attention and prayer have motivated me to finish this thesis and reminded me that there are still a lot of things to do to turn my dreams into reality.

  I would also like to express my appreciation to my dear friends in PSM Cantus Firmus, PBI 2008, Nityambara, Ohunka, kost mb Desti, narlim and murai, PPL SMP PL 1 and KKN 24 for helping me in the process of finding who I am.

  Besides, their continuous questions about my graduation were like an alarm for me to wake me up and finish this thesis sooner and better.

  My deepest gratefulness also goes to Pricillia Linawati Cahya P., S.Pd. M.Hum. and Yohannes Jatmiko Yuwono, S.Pd for their precious suggestions to improve this thesis. I also thank Marita Elisabeth Arnold for being my proofreader and a great teacher. I also thank her for her support and willingness to share her experiences in teaching English and learning languages. It was fun and inspiring! Sincere thanks also go to Sr. Margaret O’ Donohue FCJ, for her patience in helping me to correct and proofread this thesis. Throughout my lifetime I will remember their kindness and priceless help to me.

  Last but not least, I would also like to express my gratitude to those whose names I cannot mention here, especially to everyone who had supported and helped me in finishing this thesis. Matur nuwun lan Berkah Dalem!

  Margaretha Okta Paulina

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Page

  TITLE PAGE .............................................................................................. i APPROVAL PAGE .................................................................................... ii

DEDICATION PAGE ................................................................................. iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ......................................... v

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ......................................... vi

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................. vii

ABSTRAK ..................................................................................................... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................ ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................ xi

LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................... xv

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................... xvi

LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................ xvii

  CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Background of the study ................................................................... 1 B. Problem of Formulation .................................................................... 4 C. Problem Limitation ........................................................................... 4 D. Objectives of the study ...................................................................... 5 E. Research Benefits .............................................................................. 6 F. Definition of Terms ........................................................................... 6 CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Theoretical Description .................................................................... 9

  1. Error and Error Analysis.................. ........................................... 9

  a. Errors ..................................................................................... 9

  b. Error Analysis ....................................................................... 11

  c. Types of errors ...................................................................... 11 1) Linguistic Category Taxonomy ...................................... 11

  a) Omission ................................................................... 12

  b) Addition .................................................................... 12

  c) Misformation ............................................................. 13

  d) Misordering ............................................................... 13 3) Comparative Analysis Taxonomy ................................... 14 4) Communicative Effect Taxonomy .................................. 14

  d. The Causes of Errors ............................................................. 14

  e. Suggestions to Improve Students’ Understanding ................ 15

  2. Basic Noun Phrases (BNP) ......................................................... 16

  a. Type 1 BNP: Pronouns and Numerals .................................. 17 1) Pronouns .......................................................................... 17

  a) Personal Pronouns ..................................................... 17

  b) Possesive Pronouns ................................................... 17

  c) Indefinite Pronouns ................................................... 18

  d) Demonstrative Pronouns ........................................... 18

  e) Interrogative Pronouns .............................................. 18 2) Numerals ......................................................................... 18

  a) Cardinal Numbers ...................................................... 18

  b) Ordinal Numbers ....................................................... 18

  b. Type 2 BNP: Noun Head with Determiners ......................... 18 1) Determiners ..................................................................... 19

  a) Predeterminers ........................................................... 19

  b) Central Determiners .................................................. 20

  c) Postdeterminers ......................................................... 21 2) Noun Heads ..................................................................... 22

  a) The countable nouns ................................................. 22

  b) The uncountable nouns or mass nouns...................... 22

  c) The proper nouns....................................................... 22

  3. A Descriptive Text ...................................................................... 22

  a. Purpose .................................................................................. 23

  c. Language Feature .................................................................. 23

  d. Types of Descriptive texts ..................................................... 23 1) Describing Process .......................................................... 23 2) Describing an Object ....................................................... 24 3) Describing a Place ........................................................... 24 4) Describing Personality .................................................... 24 5) Describing an Event ........................................................ 24

  4. Indonesian Grammar Theories ................................................... 25

  a. Indonesian Noun Phrases ...................................................... 25

  b. Singular and Plural ................................................................ 26 1) Singular Concept ............................................................. 27 2) Plural Concept ................................................................. 27

  c. Pronomina Penunjuk Atributif .............................................. 29

  B. Theoretical Framework ..................................................................... 29

  CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Research Method ............................................................................... 32 B. Research Setting ................................................................................ 33 C. Research Participants/subjects .......................................................... 33 D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ...................................... 34

  1. Instruments .................................................................................. 34

  a. Documents ............................................................................ 34

  b. Interview Protocol ................................................................. 35

  2. Data Gathering Technique .......................................................... 35

  E. Data Analysis Technique .................................................................. 36

  F. Research Procedure ........................................................................... 40

  CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. The Errors in Basic Noun Phrases .................................................... 43

  1. Type 1.......................................................................................... 46

  2. Type 2.......................................................................................... 48

  a. Omission ............................................................................... 49

  b. Addition ................................................................................ 50

  c. Misformation ......................................................................... 52

  d. Misordering ........................................................................... 56

  B. The Possible Causes of the Errors .................................................... 56

  1. Interferences from the Mother Tongue ....................................... 58

  2. Overgeneralization ...................................................................... 59

  3. Context of Learning .................................................................... 60

  C. The Possible Suggestions to Improve Students’ Understanding about Basic Noun Phrases ................................................................. 62

  1. Giving Feedback ......................................................................... 63 2.

  Increasing Practice of the Language through Interesting Activities ..................................................................................... 64

  CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Conclusions ....................................................................................... 66 B. Recommendations ............................................................................. 68

  1. For English Teachers................................................................... 68

  2. For Students ................................................................................ 69

  3. For Future Researchers ............................................................... 69

  

REFERENCES ............................................................................................ 70

APPENDICES ............................................................................................. 72

  

LIST OF TABLES

  39 3.7 Possible Correction .................................................................................

  56 4.7 Game .......................................................................................................

  52 4.6 Type 2 BNP Errors (Misordering) ..........................................................

  50 4.5 Type 2 BNP Errors (Misformation) ........................................................

  49 4.4 Type 2 BNP Errors (Addition) ...............................................................

  47 4.3 Type 2 BNP Errors (Omission) ..............................................................

  44 4.2 Type 1 BNP Errors (Misformation) ........................................................

  39 4.1 The Number of Basic Noun Phrases and the Errors ...............................

  3.6 The Summary of Type 1 BNP Error Sub-classifications and Their Examples.................................................................................................

  Table Page

  39

  3.5 The Summary of Type 1 BNP Error Sub-classifications and Their Examples.................................................................................................

  38

  38 3.4 Errors in each Student’s Writing ............................................................

  38 3.3 The Number of Type 1 BNP Errors ........................................................

  37 3.2 The Number of Type 1 BNP Errors ........................................................

  3.1 The Number of Basic Noun Phrases (BNP) and Errors Based on each Error Sub-classifications .........................................................................

  64

  

LIST OF FIGURES

  Figure Page

  2.1 Basic Noun Phrases Type 1........................................................................ 17

  2.2 Basic Noun Phrases Type 2........................................................................ 19

  2.3 Frase Nominal (FN) or Indonesian Noun Phrase ...................................... 25

  

LIST OF APPENDICES

  Appendix Page

  Appendix 1 Surat Ijin Penelitian ................................................................. 78 Appendix 2 Sample of the Student’s Descriptive Writing ........................... 80 Appendix 3 The Number of BNP and the Errors Based on each Category . 82 Appendix 4 The Number of Errors in Type 1 .............................................. 85 Appendix 5 The Number of Errors in Type 2 .............................................. 87 Appendix 6 Errors in each Student’s Writing .............................................. 90 Appendix 7 Possible Correction .................................................................. 98 Appendix 8 Interview Results ...................................................................... 101 Appendix 9 Interview Transcript ................................................................. 104

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter provides general introduction to the research. There are six

  sections that will be discussed. They are the background of the study, problem formulation, problem limitation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study and definition of terms.

A. Background of the Study

  English, which is the foreign language and most commonly taught in Indonesia, is not easy to learn. There are three elements of English language that should be mastered, namely language structure usually called grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Radford (1997) says that grammar relates to the rule about the construction of sentences (p.1). He also says that grammar is traditionally concerned with the principles which determine the formation of words, phrases, and sentences. Similarly, Thornbury (as cited in Pramesi, 2010) argues that in order to acquire English accuracy, learners have to focus on form (p. 1). In other words, second language learners should focus on the form of grammatically correct words, phrases and sentences to master English grammar and acquire English accuracy.

  Noun phrases, basic element of the English grammar, must be well-formed because they are common in English sentences. The existence of noun phrases in a sentence is obligatory, because they have a lot of functions in the sentence. They can function as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, complements of the subject, complements of the object, objects of prepositions, and/or appositions.

  Noun phrases are a word or group of words that contain a noun or pronoun as the head and which are modified by other words, for example: the girl, that book, etc.

  Therefore, since noun phrases are frequently found and play an important role in forming English sentences, they should be well-formed.

  Indonesian students learning English are expected to be able to form noun phrases well. Constructing well-formed noun phrases enables students to build good sentences and paragraphs. Moreover, since noun phrases are common and easily found in text books, magazines, newspapers, and other sources of information, the students who master noun phrases are able to grasp general idea and specific information in the texts as well.

  In order to acquire well-formed noun phrases, the students are expected to practise a lot. One of errors that the researcher found in the process of learning was related to forming correct noun phrases. When the researcher became a student teacher and a temporary English teacher in SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta for five months during the 2011/2012 academic year, most of the seventh graders found problems forming basic noun phrases. The researcher asked the seventh graders to change the singular form this is a potato into its plural form, these are many potatoes. Some of the students answered this is a potatoes,

  

these are two potato or these are a potatoes which are all incorrect. This example

  shows that the students still lack knowledge about nouns and numerals which are the main components of basic noun phrases.

  Considering this situation, the researcher was encouraged to analyze the students’ errors in forming noun phrases. However, in this study the researcher only focuses on the basic noun phrase, a type of a noun phrase, since it is an essential foundation of noun phrases. The researcher also uses a descriptive text type as an analytical tool for obtaining the data. As seen in the list of School Based Curriculum or Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP), students are familiar with a descriptive text until they finish learning in their secondary school.

  Related to a descriptive text, everybody is expected to be able to describe anything in real life. Describing anything clearer requires detailed information and involves five senses such as sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. Similarly, the students are also expected to be able to describe anything in a text as detailed as possible, for instance depicting the quantity, condition or quality of the things being described. Therefore, since the students’ descriptive text deals with the quantity, certain amount of numbers and nouns, basic noun phrases would be easily found there.

  The students’ descriptive writing might show errors and mistakes. Ellis (1997) describes that mistakes are made by learners because they fail to show and perform what they have already understood. On the contrary, errors occur when learners do not master a concept or even misunderstand it (p. 17). Since distinguishing errors and mistakes is not simple, this study does not differentiate those two terms which are actually different. In other words, in this study the term errors refer to any of the students’ misproduction which shows misunderstanding or failure to perform what the students have already understood about basic noun phrase formation.

  To sum up, this study focuses on errors in forming basic noun phrases made by seventh grade students and uses the students’ descriptive texts as the analytical tool to obtain the data. This study aims to find out the errors made by the students through the students’ descriptive writing, discover the possible causes of their errors and make suggestions to improve the students’ understanding of basic noun phrases through an interview. Hopefully, by knowing students’ errors, both the teachers and students are able to make better adjustments of what teachers need to develop the quality of the teaching-learning process and of what students need to improve and enrich their knowledge about basic noun phrases.

  B. Problem Formulation

  There are three problems that can be formulated:

  1. What are the basic noun phrase errors made by the students?

  2. What are the possible causes of the students’ basic noun phrase errors?

  3. What are suggestions to improve the students’ understanding of basic noun phrases?

  C. Problem Limitation This study focuses on basic noun phrases made by VIIF grade students.

  Basic noun phrases are obtained from the students’ descriptive writing. Thus, any errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation of the whole paragraph of the students’ descriptive writing were disregarded.

  Since the study deals with seventh grade, this study is relevant to the School Based Curriculum or KTSP which focuses on a text type, namely a descriptive text. A descriptive text is chosen because it is closely related to the students’ real life which is expected to be able to describe anything around them. Besides, it also uses simple English tense, namely simple present tense. Furthermore, it also deals with numbers and nouns which describe the quantity and the quality of the things being described, so the basic noun phrases would be easily found in the students’ descriptive writing.

  The researcher is interested in selecting thirty eight students of RSBI (Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf International) classes or International Designated Rating Schools VIIF class of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta in the 2011/2012 academic year to be the participants of the study. It is because the researcher found the problem there and hopefully this study provides feedback for them and other classes that have the same problems forming basic noun phrases.

D. Objectives of the Study

  This study is conducted in responding to the research problems formulated in the problem formulation. Thus, the objectives of the study are to find out the errors made by the students, discover the possible causes of the students’ errors, and make several suggestions to improve students’ understanding of basic noun phrases.

  E. Research Benefits

  The researcher expects that the findings of the study may give contribution for further development. Besides, there are some benefits aimed at the students, teachers, and other researchers. For students, hopefully this study helps the students to enrich their knowledge about basic noun phrases and improves their writing skill, especially in forming grammatically correct English basic noun phrases. It is also expected that the students would realize that the more they practice the more they have a good command of the material, in this case basic noun phrases.

  For teachers, hopefully this study will help them to be aware of students’ needs and weaknesses so that they will make better improvement on their teaching techniques. It is also expected that whatever the reasons the students have for “getting it wrong,” the teachers should realize that students making errors is a natural part of the learning process. The last, for future researchers, hopefully, this study could inspire other researchers to conduct the study and follow up this study further.

  F. Definition of Terms

  It is important to give appropriate information about the definition that the researcher mentioned in this study to avoid misunderstanding and to lead the readers to a better understanding on the topic being discussed. Several terms that are used in this study will be briefly explained overleaf.

  1. Error Analysis

  Richards, Platt, & Platt (1992) state that “error analysis is the study and the analysis of errors made by second language learners” (p. 127). Dulay, Burt & Krashen (1982) concludes that “error analysis has two major purposes: to provide data from which inferences about the nature of the language learning process can be made; and to show which part of the target language students have most difficulty producing correctly and which error type detract most from a learner’s ability to communicate effectively” (p. 138). In this study, the term error analysis refers to a study which identifies, describes and explains second language learners’ errors to provide data analysis and feedback.

  In addition, in this study the researcher does not differentiate between errors and mistakes since distinguishing those two terms is not a simple task.

  Thus, in this study the term errors refer to any of the students’ misproduction which shows misunderstanding or failure to perform what the students have already understood about basic noun phrase formation.

  2. Basic Noun Phrases

  Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1972) state that basic noun phrase is a word or group of words which contain a noun or pronoun as the head. Basic noun phrase can be comprised of the head nouns with determiners or determiners modified by pre-determiners and/or post-determiners (p. 127). In this study, basic noun phrases are divided into two types. It is supported by Quirk et al. (1972) and Lam (2004) who also state that basic noun phrases are classified into two types.

  Type 1 basic noun phrase consists of head only, namely pronouns or numerals.

  While type 2 basic noun phrase, it is comprised of a noun as the head and determiners which occur before the head. In addition, this study focuses on basic noun phrases made by VIIF grade students. Thus, any errors in grammar and punctuation of the whole paragraph of the students’ descriptive writing were disregarded.

  3. Descriptive Writing

  In this study, the term descriptive writing refers to the students’ English assignment. The students are asked to write a descriptive text based on a picture provided in their worksheets. In that picture, there is a farm and several farm animals live there. The purpose of providing the picture in the student’s assignment is to help the students to focus only on that picture so that they can point out the actual object. Besides, it also helps the researcher to obtain data about basic noun phrases since there are several farm animals and objects drawn in the picture which deal with nouns and numerals.

  4. VIIF Grade Students of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta

  VIIF is one of the classes in SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. This is the first grade of junior high school level. VIIF grade students had problems in forming basic noun phrases. They frequently made errors in forming basic noun phrases. Therefore, to deal with identifying students’ basic noun phrase errors, the researcher conducted an error analysis on students’ descriptive writing.

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter aims to discuss the fundamental theories underlying this

  study. There are two elements discussed in this chapter; theoretical description in which relevant theories and research studies on the topic are outlined and theoretical framework which relates these theories to the present study.

A. Theoretical Description

  This section is divided into four subsections: error and error analysis, basic noun phrases, a descriptive text and Indonesian grammar theories.

1. Error and Error analysis

  This subsection explains the five main theories supporting this study: a) errors, b) error analysis, c) types of errors, d) possible causes of errors and e) suggestions to improve students’ understanding of basic noun phrases.

a. Error

  Defining the term errors is not a simple task because it has often been used synonymously with the term mistakes. Some scholars have tried to distinguish between those two terms. Ellis (1997) states that mistakes are derivations in usage that reflect the learners’ inability to use what they actually know of the target language. In other words, mistakes are made by learners because they fail to show and perform what they have already understood. In contrast to mistakes, Ellis describes errors as derivations in usage which result from gaps in learners’ knowledge of the target language. In other words, errors occur when learners do not master a concept or even misunderstand it (p. 17).

  On the other hand, Dulay, Burt, & Krashen (1982) use the term errors to refer to “any deviation from some selected norm of mature language performance, no matter what the characteristics or causes of the deviation might be” (p. 139).

  Radford (1997) has proposed another way of defining errors. He states that misproductions and misinterpretations are performance errors. He defines competence as having tacit knowledge of the grammar of the language; while performance, which is the reflection of the competence, is the actual use of language in concrete situations (p. 2). Similarly, Brown (2000) defines competence as one’s underlying knowledge of a system, event, or fact whereas performance is the realization of competence (p. 30).

  Considering that distinguishing errors and mistakes is not simple, this study does not differentiate those two terms. This study drew on the theories of error proposed by Ellis (1997), Dulay et al. (1982) and Radford (1997). In other words, in this study the term errors refers to any of the students’ misproduction which shows misunderstanding or failure to perform what the students have already understood about basic noun phrase formation.

b. Error Analysis

  According to Richards et al. (1992), error analysis is the study and analysis of the errors made by second language learners. Error analysis may be carried out for several reasons: in order to identify strategies which learners use in language learning, to try to identify the causes of learner errors, to obtain information on common difficulties in language learning, and as an aid to teaching or in the preparation of teaching materials (p. 127).

  Dulay et al. (1982) add that error analysis is the study of learners’ error and closely related to contrastive analysis. They state, based on contrastive analysis, that the differences between the first and the second languages were thought to account for the majority of a second language learner’s errors (p. 140).

  According to Corder (1967), as cited by Ellis, Rod, & Barkhuizen (2005), error analysis (EA) is “a set of procedures for identifying, describing, and explaining learner errors.” They add that learner’s errors have three significant roles in error analysis. They serve a pedagogic purpose by showing teachers what learners have learned and what they have not yet mastered; a research purpose by providing evidence about how languages are learned; and a learning purpose by acting as devices by which learners can discover the rules of the target language (i.e. by obtaining feedback on their errors) (p. 51). In brief, error analysis is a study which identifies, describes and explains second language learners’ errors to provide data analysis and feedback.

c. Types of Errors

  Dulay et al. (1982) present the most useful and commonly used bases for the descriptive classification of errors. They are (1) linguistic category; (2) surface strategy taxonomy; (3) comparative analysis; and (4) communicative effect.

1) Linguistic Category Taxonomy

  The linguistic category taxonomy classifies errors “according to either or both the language component or the particular linguistic constituent the error affects.” Language component include phonology (pronunciation), syntax and morphology (grammar), semantics and lexicon (meaning and vocabulary), and discourse (style). Constituents include the elements that comprise each language component.

2) Surface Strategy Taxonomy

  Surface strategy taxonomy highlights the ways surface structures are altered. This taxonomy more concerns with identifying students’ cognitive process of acquiring a new language. This taxonomy is divided into four sub- classifications, namely omission, addition, misformation, and misordering.

  a) Omission

  Omission errors are characterized by the absence of an item that must appear in a well-formed sentence, for example, *Mary president new company instead of Mary is the president of the new company.

  b) Addition