DETECTING ERRORS IN ENGLISH MADE BY INTERMEDIATE INDONESIAN LEARNERS OF ENGLISH IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS OF STAIN PAREPARE KAHARUDDIN
DETECTING ERRORS IN ENGLISH MADE BY INTERMEDIATE INDONESIAN LEARNERS OF ENGLISH IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS OF STAIN PAREPARE KAHARUDDIN
Fakultas Sastra Universitas Hasanuddin
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This research is constructed from a descriptive method to describe an aspect of second language acquisition that is systematic errors made by language actors in the speech of second language. The data were collected from picture description tasks and interviews to delineate error categories made by Indonesian learners of English. The results of this study show that grammatical errors are found in the four major errors categories. The most frequent errors occur in verb tense (33.8 %) followed by errors in article usage (17.5%) then errors in using preposition (14.1%) the next, errors produced in verb agreement (13.1%) and then, errors detected in noun ending (6.2%) and the last, errors committed in word order and sentence structure (1.9%). Keywords: errors, Indonesian learners and speaking.
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Penelitian ini disusun dengan menggunakan metode deskriptif untuk mengungkapkan beberapa aspek kesalahan sistematis yang dilakukan oleh peserta didik dalam menggunakan bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa kedua. Dalam penelitian ini, data dikumpulkan dengan menggunakan tugas deskripsi gambar dan wawancara untuk mengkategorikan kesalahan tata bahasa yang dilakukan peserta didik. Hasil penelitian menunjukkkan adanya empat kategori kesalahan, yaitu kategori verb tense 33.8 %, kategori penulisan artikel 17.5%, kategori preposition 14.1%, kategori verbal agreement 13.1%, kategori noun ending 6.2%, dan kategori struktur kata dan kalimat 1.9%. Kata Kunci: Kesalahan, Peserta Didik, dan Percakapan.
I ntroductIon
As a foreign language, English is taught at the English Education Department of
People as social beings are in need of all colleges and universities in Indonesia
interaction from one to another in their including STAIN Parepare. STAIN (State
daily life. Interaction among people can be college for Islamic studies) Parepare’s English
carried out by using language as a tool of Department offers the learners of EFL (English
communication. In communicating, people as a foreign language) varied and dynamic
use language differently according to their courses which focus on exploring both language
background; the place of origin, education, input (listening and reading) and output skills
social group, generation and even occupation. (speaking and writing) as compulsory subjects.
(Loveday, 1986:1). Hence, no two speakers In speaking subject for instance, learners are
have the same exact language because no two not only taught how to speak clearly but also
speakers have the same exact background. Due
how to speak correctly.
to the different background, the way of people Richards (2006: 209-221) says that speaking
speak will never be the same in the aspect of clearly is not just about audibility, but also the idea
linguistics items (pronunciation, morphology, of pronunciation that is, intonation, diction,
syntax and vocabulary). enunciation and articulation. It is also about
Kuriositas, Edisi VI, Vol. 1, Juni 2013
the importance of clarity and coherence. The pattern would stick’ in the minds (Tono, 2004: point is to show the quality of expressing our
98). This process can be carried out by making ideas and thoughts in a clear way. In addition
them recognize the spot of problems they
he claims that speaking correctly is not just have in learning English from identifying and about grammatically correct English, but also
analyzing error categories first. the choice of words, word usage and sentence
For the reason, this research is intended construction. The point is to show that what the
to investigate the occurrence of errors made speakers say is free from clichés, redundancies
by Indonesian learners of English when and ambiguity.
speaking. Errors in speaking are selected to As far as the writer concerned in English
be the focus of attention because Errors are teaching process of the speaking subject, he
more frequents produced in speaking rather always complains about his students’ inability
than in writing. Haluskova (2007) stated to use the linguistic forms that they are taught.
that when speaking, students are prone to Even he finds out that almost all learners
produce far more mistakes than in writing. produce errors when speaking English. For
This can be attributed to the fact that speaking example; once a student said ‘I am like cat’
provides students with less processing time. instead of saying ‘I like cat’. Such kind of error in
On the other hand, when writing, students speaking occurs repeatedly. Then, what does the
can consult dictionaries; they can use even error phenomenon reflect? According to Corder
the so-called less- frequency words. In case of learners’ error is indicative both of the state of
writing, grammar can be reviewed carefully the learner’s knowledge and of the way in which
before handing in the final version of an essay
a foreign language is learned. Quite different
or any other type of text.
from Gergely (2001: ), he stated that error is Owing to the fact, the writer is of the opinion considered “a stepping stone to learning”. It is
that committing errors among the Indonesian useful because it shows the language learner
learners of English who are especially studying as thinking individual who constructs his-her
at the English education department is a serious language towards a system in its own right.
problem and needs a special treatment to be Regardless of what the linguists say on error,
minimized because the errors not only occur the writer is the opinion that error is bad habit.
as they are still students but also as they have It is said due to his experience asking for an
become English teachers. Then the errors will English native speaker’s interpretation about ‘I
be a habit and inherited to the next learners am like cat’ and the native speaker said that it
who are taught English by them. According to is funny. This fact proves that error is bad habit
S.P Corder (1967: 99-113) errors in language since it not only leads to negative judgement on
use can be categorized into systematic errors the learners’ language mastery but also makes
and non-systematic errors. the speaker’s interlocutor confused for the
He claims that non systematic errors occur intended meaning of his speech.
in the native language which can be identified The problem of error should be minimized
as “Mistakes”. Such errors do not significantly particularly for those who are learning English
exist in the process of language learning. In at the department of English education. It
addition, the systematic errors occur in the target is essential that they are prepared to become
language which can be identified as “errors”. English language teachers at English Language
Hence, systematic error is the object of this schools, public schools, as well as colleges.
study. Through this research as well, the writer Behaviorists in the early 1960s believe that
wishes to make an in-depth investigation errors need to be corrected immediately before
to find out what possible errors made and to it becomes a habit and ‘wrong behavioral
provide information on the areas that the
Kaharuddin – Detecting Errors In English Made by Intermediate Indonesian Learners Of English
learners frequently commit errors. This is Learner-based variables expected to make the learners more careful
At this point, the learner plays a central in constructing the new language system for
part in L2 acquisition. In deciding whether producing comprehensible linguistic items
L1 transfer will occur or not, priority must be (pronunciation, morphology, syntax and
given to the variables focused on the learner, vocabulary) in the target language.
and two major ones are:
Age. Age for this situation comes to be the
Error Studies on Language transfer (Linguistic Transfer) very important variable in language transfer.
This fact can be observed in children learners When a speaker of a certain culture is
who are less likely to draw on their L1 than learning another language (L 2), the linguistic
adult learners. Young children are more likely knowledge of his native language (L1) can greatly
to achieve a more native-like pronunciation, affect the second language (L2) acquisition,
while for older learners; their L1 pronunciation and the most accepted term to describe such
will be more influential. Similar results have an influence is language transfer. Ellis (1997: been obtained for the acquisition of grammar.
51) refers to interference as ‘transfer’, which he Selinker (1984) argues that L2 acquisition by says is ‘the influence that the learner’s L1 exerts young children is driven by Universal Grammar
over the acquisition of an L2’. He also argues and target language input, following a similar
that transfer is governed by learners’ perceptions process to L1 acquisition, and that native
about what is transferable and by their stage of language influence cannot be considered as a development in L2 learning.
significant factor.
Apparently, the widely recognized opinion Affection. Affection seems to be the second
at present is that transfer really occurs in determinant of language transfer in the area
language acquisition process and may exert of learner based variables. When someone an influence, positively or negatively, on the finds it very difficult to learn a new language,
acquisition of a target language. According affective statements can probably increase his
to Gass & Selinker (1992), language transfer mood to learn. The learning process will open
is indeed a real and central phenomenon the key to the likelihood of transfer. As Odlin
that must be considered in any full account (1989:129) claims that motivation surely plays
of the second language acquisition process.
a major role. “A highly motivated Chinese Therefore, it is of great significance to probe speaker will probably learn more English and into this phenomenon and get fully acquainted
learn it faster than a poorly motivated Spanish with the possible variables of L1 transfer in L2
speaker”. In language acquisition process, the acquisition.
Chinese speaker will share a lot more of his L 1 In practice, transfer has attracted people
structural features into English while the other from different academic backgrounds and led
will not.
researchers to carry out in-depth investigation on the area. Chunliang Zhang (2006:53-55), in Language-based variables
his study on “Variables affecting L1 transfer in In language transfer, it is linguistic factors L2 acquisition”, states that many factors interact
that are mainly transferred. To fully understand when the two languages come in contact. In
the nature of L1transfer, the relationship the process of L1 features’ incorporation into
between the native language and the target L2, the variables can be roughly classified
language should be explored. into three groups: learner-related variables,
Markedness
language-based variables and socio-linguistic According to Chomsky’s Universal variables.
Grammar, in L1 transfer, the unmarked
Kuriositas, Edisi VI, Vol. 1, Juni 2013
settings of “parameters” (highly abstract from a language in which he has a higher degree properties of grammar that vary in certain
of proficiency to a language in which he has restricted ways from one language to another)
a lower degree of proficiency. The correlation will be transferred before marked settings, and
between low L2 proficiency and transfer applies items are not easily transferred when L1 has a
primarily to negative transfer, whereas Odlin marked setting. Zobl (1987) claims that transfer
(1989) points out that positive transfer, such as of prior linguistic experience to the acquisition
cognate vocabulary use, occurs at high levels of process is sharply limited by the dynamics of
proficiency.
the rule-creation process which proceeds from With regard to transfer of conceptions, it unmarked to marked properties.
seems likely that L1 influence will increase Language Distance and Cultural Distance
with L2 proficiency as learners acquire more L2 tools that can express their L1 perspective.
Related languages often share a great The relationship between L2 proficiency and number of similarities (e.g., cognate vocabulary transfer is complex. Regardless of the direction
or close translation equivalents), and this can of the correlation, it is clear that proficiency has give learners an enormous advantage. Where
a strong effect on the likelihood of language languages have less common ground, more
transfer.
information about language form and use has to be acquired from scratch in L2 acquisition.
Socio-Linguistic Variables Language distance clearly has some effect
Social context can influence the extent to on the amount of transfer. Corder (1981:101)
which transfer occurs. Odlin expresses that emphasizes positive transfer if there exist
negative transfer is less common in classroom similarities between L1 and L2: “Where the
settings than in natural settings, because in the mother tongue is formally similar to the target
former, learners constitute a “focused context” language, the learner will pass more rapidly
(1989:144) and treat L1 forms as intrusive. In along the developmental continuum (or some
natural settings where learners are unfocused, parts of it) than where it differs.”
language mixing will be freely permitted, thus In addition to language distance, cultural
encouraging negative transfer to take place. distance can also greatly affect ease or difficulty of learning. When learners try to acquire
Studies on Error Analysis in
Language Acquisition
another language which shares the same or
similar cultural background, they are sure to As for some linguists, transfer is considered find many conforming elements and feel at
responsible for error occurrences in cross- ease; when they experience an L2 with totally
linguistic and cross-cultural studies (Lado, different cultural background from their
1957; Stockwell & Brown, 1965; Corder, 1969; L1’s, they may encounter more troubles. A
1971). In a similar manner, Jain (1974) reported Hungarian learner of Spanish will find that,
that transfer was but one of the sources of though there are virtually no cognates, the new
error. Since then, transfer was more and more words in general express familiar concepts
indirectly mentioned as an apparent factor of and are often semantically congruent with his
error (Corder, 1981). By virtue of the statement. mother tongue roots, so a good deal of semantic
It is essential that we first of all see the transfer is possible.
distinction between errors and mistakes. Rod L2 Proficiency Ellis in his book the study of the second language acquisition (1997) raises the need
Ringbom (1987) suggests that L2 proficiency to distinguish between errors and mistakes
is a determinant factor affecting the extent of and makes an important distinction between transfer: a learner is more likely to transfer
Kaharuddin – Detecting Errors In English Made by Intermediate Indonesian Learners Of English
the two. He says that errors reflect gaps in the but if the context employs the Past Simple, then learner’s knowledge; they occur because the
go is probably wrong. Context is very important learner does not know what is correct. Mistakes
in recognizing an error.
reflect occasional lapses in performance; they Classification. Abbot (1992) argues that occur because, in a particular instance, the
a linguistic classification of errors involves learner is unable to perform what he or she
assigning them to various levels of linguistic knows.
description, i.e. phonological (both speaking According to Corder (1973) the study of
and listening), ortographic (spelling and errors would be significant in three areas: to
punctuation), syntactic (grammatical), lexico- teachers, to researchers and to learners. The
semantic (choice of vocabulary, which in turn error categories are classified into four parts
affects meaning), situational or socio-linguistic among other things: omission of some required
(appropriacy).
element; addition of some unnecessary or Explanation. Explanation in this context incorrect element; selection of an incorrect
means the process of identifying the possible element; and misordering of the element.
causes of errors. The development of error Ellis (1997) maintains that “classifying errors
analysis in language acquisition area has in these ways can help us to diagnoselearners’
contributed a widely accepted consensus among learning problems at any stage of their
the linguists that there are three distinct causes development and to plot how changes in error
for the errors (as previously discussed) among patterns occur over time.” This categorization
other things: L1 Transfer, Developmental error, can be exemplified as follows: omission;
and Other possible causes e.g. carelessness and addition; selection; and ordering.
faulty rules given by the teacher. Lungu (2003:323) states that errors are
This study is constructed from a research studied in order to find out something about
design called the descriptive method since the learning process and about the strategies
it attempts to specify or to describe an employed by human beings learning another
aspect of second language acquisition that is language. Error analysis (EA) covers the areas
performance of errors made by language actors of collecting errors, studying them, classifying
in the speech of second language. The gathered them in various ways and suggesting possible
data from this descriptive method come from causes.
survey questions and interviews, to delineate Most linguists on EA divide the process
error categories made by Indonesian learners into three stages:
of English. In addition, those data collection Recognition. Identifying errors for most
procedures are aimed at disclosing the source English teachers is not a problem. Teachers
of the errors categories.
generally have a highly developed sense of error This research was carried out at State detection as they know that their students are
College for Islamic studies (STAIN) Parepare prone to that particular mistake, even when
by focusing the investigation on Department the context makes an alternative, correct
of English education at Tarbiyah (education) interpretation possible. Often the linguistic
faculty. This research was started from context helps teachers to determine whether
September to December 2010. Indonesian an error has been made or not. Consider the
learners of English (those who are learning following sentence:
English at the English Education Department
I used to clean my teeth every night before of STAIN parepare) are the population of this
I go to bed. research. The samples are selected according If the general context employs the Present
to their English proficiency levels and consist Simple tense, then used to is probably wrong;
of 21 subjects. Those who already achieve
Kuriositas, Edisi VI, Vol. 1, Juni 2013
intermediate levels of proficiency in English The writer simultaneously used two are included in this study. The samples’ English
data collection procedures for gathering levels of proficiency are measured according
data on error categories in English made by to their TOEFL scores range from 400 to 500
Intermediate Indonesian learners of English, for TOEFL paper based or equivalent. The
e.g.
proficiency levels in English according to ETS Picture Description Tasks are designed (English Testing Service, New Jersey, USA)
to collect data of possible error categories Data Collection Instrument as The Source
made by Intermediate Indonesian learners of of Collecting Data
English. The picture description tasks provide This instrument is designed to measure
pre recording directions along with six series the oral language proficiency of non-native
pictures as stimulus for demonstrating the speakers of English at the intermediate level
subjects’ linguistic skills. The resulting data of education whose TOEFL Score range from
were reviewed and analyzed by a process 400 to 500. The writer uses the following pre
known as content analysis (analyzing the recording directions to generate speeches and
content of utterances in order to determine utterances of the despondence of this study. These
the presents of errors categories within the directions are provided in the data collection
utterances).
instruments along with the series pictures. The After the errors categories are identified
pre recording directions can be shown as follows from the utterances provided by the with pre- recording directions: 1) please look at
respondents. They are then interviewed the 6 pictures below; 2) I’d like you to tell me
individually. The interviews will be recorded to the story that the pictures show; starting with
ask for explanations why and how they produce picture number 1 and going through picture
such kind of errors, use specific L1 structures number; 6) please take 1 minute to look at the
in L2 as well as what they know about L2 pictures and think about the story; 7) do not
structures. This is certainly carried out to begin the story until I you are ready to do so
identify the possible sources of errors. because you are going to be recorded.
Data obtained from this descriptive After reading all the pre recording
research were analyzed with the aid of directions, the respondents are then allowed
descriptive statistics. This technique provides to look at the pictures shown on the data
information such as how often (frequencies) a instrument for at least 60 seconds. Next, the
certain error category occur in English made by respondents have got to start speaking about all
the subjects, how often (frequencies) a certain the pictures. The series pictures are presented
possible source of errors affect the subjects’ L2 as follows:
acquisition. The descriptive statistic analysis will be developed by taking into account two different notions.
Errors Identification in Speaking The required data of errors in speaking
were first of all identified based on the notion of three major components of speaking proposed by Harris (1984) i.e. pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. In this study, the writers restrict the scope of analysis in grammar of speaking which is classified into several variables as proposed by Peter Nelson (2004)
Kaharuddin – Detecting Errors In English Made by Intermediate Indonesian Learners Of English
among other things such as grammatical errors; Misordering can occur in morphological verb tense, verbal agreement (subject and
level. Misordering of bound morphemes verb including be and auxiliary verbs), noun
in English is perhaps less frequent, given ending (singular or plural), article (omission or
their limited number; but in the example * inappropriate usage), preposition (omission or
He’s get upping now, the learner attaches inappropriate usage). Other grammar such as
the inflection -ing to the particle of the two- gerund, infinitive, relative pronoun, pronouns,
word verb get up. Learners can also misorder determiner, phrase of things existence (there
words as in the sentence, * He’s a dear to me is/are), conjunction, quantifier, word order,
friend, where constituents of a single noun and sentence structure.
phrase are split.
After the required data are collected based on the three major components of speaking,
F IndIngs
the data are then classified according to four
Detecting Grammatical Errors
major categories of errors proposed by Ellis
Produced by Intermediate Learners
(1997) to find out kinds of error categories
of English In Speaking
(as presented in chapter two i.e. Omission, In this part of the study, the detection of
Addition, Selection, Ordering) occur to each grammatical errors committed by the learners
area of the speaking component. of English at STAIN Parepare is presented and Certain linguistic forms may be omitted discussed based on the transcription text of the
by the learner because of their complexity recorded data containing 240 utterances. The
in production. Omission not only occurs in utterances are analyzed by using the notion of
phonology but also occurs in morphology. four error categories proposed by Corder and Learners often leave out the third person
Ellis i.e. Omission, Addition, Selection, and singular morpheme -s, the plural marker -s and
ordering. The over all result of the data analysis the past tense inflection -ed. A learner could
shows that the intermediate learner of English say, for example , *A strange thing happen to
produced 320 types of errors in the aspect of me yesterday -which signals a problem with
grammar. The errors are distributed into the his/her control of the past tense inflection in
four major error categories namely omission, English.
addition, selection, and ordering. The following Learners not only omit elements which
discussion will go into all details of the errors they regard as redundant but they also add
detection.
redundant elements. In morphology learners often overuse the third person singular
Omission of Grammar Features in Speaking
morpheme -s and the plural marker -s. A learner may say * I thinks and * The books is
To start describing error findings in this here instead of I think and The book is here ,
study due to omission, we first of all need to respectively.
know that omission is the absence of an item Learners commit errors in morphology,
that must appear in a well-formed utterance. syntax, and vocabulary due to the selection of
Referring to the grammar features, 159 errors the wrong morpheme, structure or vocabulary
are detected in omission category distributed item. An error commits in morphology as a
to the omission of verb tense 93 (58,4%) out of result of the selection of a wrong morpheme.
159 errors, verb agreement 21 errors (13,2%), For example, the learner can use -est instead of
article 18 errors (11,3%), noun ending 11 errors -er for the comparative, producing a sentence
(6,9%), other grammar 10 errors (6,2%) and like * My friend is oldest than me.
omission in preposition 6 errors (3,7%). Let’s take a look at the following table.
Kuriositas, Edisi VI, Vol. 1, Juni 2013
Table 3. Error of Grammatical Features In English, it is a mandatory rule that the Omission
verb must agree with the subject. A singular
Error Category
subject takes a singular verb whereas a plural
Grammar Features
subject takes a plural verb. Take for instance, 1. Verb Tense
Omission
the third person pronouns such as “he, she and 2. Verb Agreement
it” taking a singular verb with the -s inflection 3. Noun Ending
as in “The boy//He/She/It eats”. On the other 4. Article
hand, the plural subject and pronouns such as 6. Other Grammar
5. Preposition
“I, We, You and They” take the stem form of a. Gerund
the verbs. As ILsE speak English, they must be b. Infinitive
able to avoid committing errors as long as the c. Relative pronoun
subjects of spoken sentences are plural subjects d. Pronouns
e. Determiner and pronouns since subject verb agreement of
f. Phrase existence both English and Indonesian are equal.
(there is/are) The fact seems to be contradictory to the g. Conjunction
conditions for using the third person singular h. Quantifier -s/-es/ies. As for ILsE, using such tense marks 7. Word Order
8. Sentence Structure
is complicated because they have to recognize
the guidelines simultaneously to identify contexts Source: Primary data processing
Total
for singular and plural subject. The recognition of verb agreement guidelines ease them to
On closer inspection, it is important disclose the category of subject verb agreement, that the writers clarify the error occurrences
for example: “The boy or his friends runs every in detail through the following discussion
day” or “His friends or the boy runs every successively from the most frequent to least
day” which one is correct? Those who do not frequent errors.
know the guidelines of subject verb agreement Verb Tense Omission
will find it difficult to answer, but those who
A verb tense in English is used to indicate know that when a compound subject contains the time of an action, event or condition by
both a singular and a plural noun or pronoun changing its form. The verb tenses may be
joined by ‘or’ or ‘nor’, the verb should agree categorized according to the time frame: past
with the part of the subject that is nearer the tenses, present tenses, and future tenses.
verb. They are then easily to decide the correct Errors of verb tense omission are made when
one. Due to the facts, it is natural that errors compulsory tense markers are omitted such as
of verb tense omission had the highest number the omissions of the grammatical morphemes
of occurrences in comparison with the other
e.g. the omissions of the –ed marker in the
grammar features.
simple past tense verbs, like “I visit(-) you Auxiliary - VerbalAgreement yesterday” and the –s marker in the verbs after
We all know the meanings of “agreement,” the third person singular noun or pronouns, for
but when we talk about subject-auxiliary verb example, “My father work(-) here”. The data
agreement; we’re talking about something of this study show that verb tense omission in
different that is matching subjects and auxiliary speaking is the most frequent error. There are
verbs according to number. The key is Singular
93 (58,4%) errors detected out of 159 errors. subjects = singular form of auxiliary verbs or Most of the subjects of this study tend to omit
Plural subjects = plural form of auxiliary verbs. the tense markers when speaking.
An auxiliary verb is “a highly irregular verb that
Kaharuddin – Detecting Errors In English Made by Intermediate Indonesian Learners Of English
is used with other verbs to form voice, tense, three articles in English are a, an, and the. The and mood.” These verbs are sometimes called
is the definite article. It is used before singular “helper verbs”, because of their role in adding
or plural nouns that are specific or particular, meaning to the main verb of a sentence. There
for example: “The girl who lives next door to are 24 auxiliary verbs in all i.e. am, is, are, shall,
me is really cute.” This refers to a particular should, be, being, been, was, were, will, would,
girl: the girl who lives next door. “The president has, have, had, do, does, did, can, could, may,
is a busy man.” There is only one president, so might, must, ought
we are referring to a specific noun here. “I love Referring to the data analysis shown in
the books you gave me.” Again, we’re talking table 3, errors due to omission also occur in
about particular books, the ones you gave auxiliary verbs especially on ‘be’ usage such as
me. A/an are the indefinite articles. We use am, is, are, was, were, be and been. According
a/an before general, non-specific nouns or to to English grammar, verbs to be (am, is, are,
indicate membership in a group. A/an can only was, were, be, been) are also known as linking
be used with countable, singular nouns. Let’s verbs that do not show action in a sentence.
take a look at the examples of how to use a/an:
A linking verb (also called copulative verb) “Let’s go see a movie tonight.” Here we aren’t links or establishes a relationship between the
talking about a specific movie, as we haven’t subject and its complement. It describes or
said which movie we want to see. “Cassie is an renames the subject, for example: She is angry
interpreter.” Here, Cassie belongs to a group: - The word is (a form of the verb to be) links the
interpreters. We use “an” instead of “a” because subject she to the subject complement angry.
“interpreter” begins with a vowel. Linking Verbs are occasionally followed by
In this study, article usage seems to be predicate nouns e.g. My friend is a teacher. The
one of grammatical problems faced by the number of error of auxiliary verbs omission is
ILsE. This fact is supported by this research
21 times (13,2%) out of 159 errors of omission data analysis that indicates error occurrences occurrences. The data indicate that very often,
including errors of article omission. The data the ILsE omit the “be” verb in a sentence.
show, ILsE produced 18 (11,3%) errors of errors of auxiliary verbs omission made by
article omission out of 159 errors in all. ILsE in this study, as exemplified above,
ILsE consider that denotes Incomplete Application of Rules since
In
addition,
constructing grammatical sentence in speaking the subjects fail to fully develop a structure as
is not a compulsory. The most important recommended in Standard English. Verbs ‘be’
thing is to transfer the intended meaning that omission in some sentences when speaking
they have in mind appropriately toward their produces incomplete structure. The tendency
interlocutors when speaking. Besides, omitting occurs since the subjects’ native language
articles in forming English sentences as to ILsE (Indonesian) does not require be to make a
is recognized as an error but not a very serious sentence followed by an adjective, a noun, or
thing because it does not simultaneously alter an adverb. They then impose the same thing in
the intended meaning of the sentences which English by making English sentences the same
in turn keeps the interaction run properly. as the way they do in their native language.
Noun Endings Omission Article Omission
Nouns are traditionally defined as “words An article is a word that combines with a
that name people, places, things, and ideas.” In noun to indicate the type of reference being
using nouns, we are recommended to know the made by the noun. Articles in English are very
rules for forming the plurals of regular nouns important, as we use them all the time. The
in the English language. As we already know
Kuriositas, Edisi VI, Vol. 1, Juni 2013
that in order to change a singular noun to its come before a noun. Prepositions typically plural form in English, we usually add s. But
come before a noun, for example: after class, at there are many cases where this is not the case.
home, before Tuesday, in London, on fire, with The knowledge of this thing will improve our
pleasure and so on. The data analysis of this English and avoid making errors in turning
study has shown that ILsE also have difficulty in singular nouns to their plural form. For some
using English prepositions because they commit learners of English as foreign language, turning
errors by omitting preposition in speaking. It is singular to plural nouns is sometimes regarded
approximately detected errors 6 (3,7%) times in as a problem. They tend to omit the plural
preposition omission. For instance: marker (-s, -es, -ies) as normally applied in
The number of error frequency in forming plural when speaking English. This
preposition omission seems like the smallest fact is certainly identified as an error and can
amount of error frequency (3,7%) in all and
be seen in the data analysis of this study. From not of much problem to the subjects. Even the twenty one respondents participate in this
so, that is still a problem in constructing investigation, the writers find out 159 times of
good English sentence for the subjects. omission errors which involve 11 (6,9%) times
According to the subjects’ oral report, they of noun ending omission, specifically omission
face great difficulties in mastering the English of plural markers.
prepositions-forms due to the great differences The omission of plural marker in English
between the prepositions system (the number sentences committed by ILsE seems to be
of prepositions and meaning variations) of generalization case. ILsE commonly generalize
English and Indonesian. Let’s take a look at the all nouns used without noticing the rules of
examples below:
forming plural nouns in English. It is said,
: Saya duduk di kursi because Indonesian needs no plural ending to
IND
Saya duduk di meja indicate plural noun. In Indonesian, when a
: I sit on the chair singular turns into plural, we are not in need
ENG
I sit at the table of changing the noun; we just use the same
noun for both singular and plural. Look at the Let’s take a look at the detail of the six following examples that use the word of Mobil
errors of grammatical features through the = Car to show how singular noun is the same as
following chart.
plural noun form. Other grammar omission “Saya mempunyai sebuah mobil” = singular
Before discussing this further, it is very “I have a car” = singular
important to clarify what the writers mean “Saya mempunyai lima mobil” = plural
by other grammar. Other grammar is the “I have five cars” = plural
collection of grammatical deviations which occur in a very low frequency. The collection is
The noun quantifier (many-banyak, aimed at simplifying the discussion of involved
several-beberapa, a few-sedikit, a couple of- grammatical errors since the collection consists sepasang, etc) and contexts (the number or of eight properties with low error frequency nouns – more than one) are the only plural occurrences. In this omission category, the markers that exist in Indonesian to indicate errors occur range from 1 to 3 times. Other plural noun forms. grammar components are Gerund, Infinitive,
Preposition Omissions Relative pronoun, Pronouns, Determiner,
Prepositions are a class of words that Phrase existence (there is/are), Conjunction, indicate relationships between nouns, pronouns
and Quantifier. Clear description on errors in this and other words in a sentence. Most often they
area can be seen in the following table.
Kaharuddin – Detecting Errors In English Made by Intermediate Indonesian Learners Of English
Table 4. Error of other grammar omission Table 5 . Errors of Grammatical Features
Other Grammar
Total Errors
Addition
a. Gerund
Error Category
b. Infinitive Grammar Features
Addition
c. Relative pronoun
1 (1,4) c. Pronouns
1. Verb Tense
11 (15,5) e. Determiner
2. Verb Agreement
6 (8,4) f. Phrase existence
3. Noun Ending
11 (15,5) (there is/are)
4. Article
g. Conjunction 19 (26,8) h. Quantifier
5. Preposition
6. Other Grammar
a. Gerund
- Source: Primary data processing
b. Infinitive
c. Relative pronoun
From the data provided in table 4, we 3 (13)
d. Pronouns
can clearly see that errors omission of other -
e. Determiner
f. Phrase existence
10 (43,4) grammar reach 10 times of errors which are
(there is/are)
4 (17,3) distributed into conjunction 1 (10%) error,
g. Conjunction h. Quantifier
- relative pronoun 1 (10%) error, gerund 2 (20%)
- errors, infinitive 3 (30%) errors, and pronouns
7. Word Order
8. Sentence Structure
Addition of Grammar Features in
Source: Primary data processing
Speaking In the section 1 of Chapter four, It has already been revealed in table 4. that
errors of addition occur in some specific areas Omission of grammar features in speaking
when ILs E speak English. The frequencies of of Indonesian Learners of English (ILsE) the errors in addition are 71 errors distributed subjects has previously been studied by from the largest amount of error occurrence investigating six errors of omission in namely other grammar 23 (32,4%) errors, grammatical features i.e. omissions of preposition 19 errors (26,8), article 11 errors verb tense, auxiliary verb agreement, noun (15,5%), auxiliary 11 errors (15,5), noun ending ending, article, preposition, and other grammar. Based on the notion of Corder 6 errors (8,4%), to the last that is verb tense
1 error (1,4%). Complete information about that error of addition is another category
those occurrences is available in the following exists in error study. First of all, we need to
discussion.
know what error of addition is. According to Brown (2000), errors of addition are made
Other grammar addition when unnecessary elements are present
As previously stated, other grammar in with the use of redundant markers, such
this context is a collection of grammatical as, putting the –s marker on verbs after
deviations which are gathered due to theory the plural pronouns/nouns in the simple
refinement of Peter Nelson for not clarifying present tense, for example, “They likes…”
what other grammar belong to. The collection and “Students wants…”. In general, we
in this part consists of five items i.e. Gerund, can say that addition is the presence of an
Relative pronoun, Pronouns, Phrase existence item that must not appear in a well-formed
(there is/are), and Conjunction. As the data utterance. The items can be addition of
in table 3 show that 23 errors of addition are tense markers e.g. –s, -ed, -ing, unnecessary
found. They can be classified into phrase of modal auxiliaries, prepositions, articles,
existence 10 errors (43,4%), relative pronoun plural markers and so forth.
Kuriositas, Edisi VI, Vol. 1, Juni 2013
4 errors (17,3%), conjunction 4 errors (17,3%), There are several important things we need to pronouns 3 errors (13%), and gerund 2 errors
know about preposition in this part i.e. (8,7%).
1. There are about 150 prepositions in Another problem that we can discuss
English.
here is the addition of unnecessary relative
2. We not only use prepositions as individuals pronoun as exemplified in R 1) utterance. It
but also more frequently used along with is clearly stated in English grammar that we
other individual words e.g. come in, look use the relative pronouns to refer to a noun
at, etc.
mentioned before and of which we are adding
3. Many of English prepositions have more more information. They are used to join two
than one meaning.
or more sentences and forming in that way The three things seem to be the source of what we call “relative sentences”. As we use
difficulty for ILsE in using English prepositions the relative pronouns in our English sentence,
properly.
there must be an agreement rule that we have
Article addition
got to consider that is the agreement between This part deals with the discussion on the subject in the first sentence and the relative making errors in the area of article addition. pronoun used to replace the subject in the As we have known that English has two types second sentence. The agreement rules runs of articles: definite (the) and indefinite (a, an.) in two ways referring to people: Who, Whom, The use of these articles depends mainly on Whoever, Whomever, and referring to a place, whether we are referring to any member of thing or idea: Which, That.
a group, or to a specific member of a group. As for the ILsE, the rules are unfamiliar Before beginning the discussion on errors of since the only relative pronoun in Indonesia article omission, it is necessary to know some that they recognize is the word ‘yang’ which can important things about them.
be used by referring to any contexts (people, • A and an (determiners) are the indefinite place, thing or idea). When the subjects articles which refer to something not generalize the use of relative pronoun from specifically known to the person we are Indonesia to English, the generalization results
communicating with.
an error as well because the relative pronouns • A and an are used before nouns that exist in English and Indonesia are two different introduce something or someone you have things. As long as the ILsE do not recognize not mentioned before: For Examples: “I those things, it is natural to say that such kind ate an apple this morning” or “I bought a of difficulties are caused by the subjects lack
pet for my son”.
of comprehension on the English grammatical • A is used when the noun we are referring systems particularly in the areas in which the to begins with a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, subjects commit errors of addition. j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y or z), for Preposition addition example, “a city” and “a factory.
Another barrier faced by ILsE is errors of • We use an when the noun you are referring preposition addition. According to the data,
to begins with a vowel (a,e, i, o, u) this problem occurs 19 times (26,8%) out of
• Pronunciation changes this rule:
71 errors find in this session. The previous • If the next word begins with a consonant discussion already revealed that Prepositions
sound when we say it, for example, are a class of words that indicate relationships
“university” then we use a. If the next word between nouns, pronouns and other words in a
begins with a vowel sound when we say it, sentence. Most often they come before a noun.
for example “hour” then we use an.
Kaharuddin – Detecting Errors In English Made by Intermediate Indonesian Learners Of English
• The is Definite Article (determiners) which ies on both a noun supposed to be singular and is used when we know that the listener
plural. For instance: “They are my childrens”. knows or can work out what particular
The presence of morpheme –s at the end of the person/thing you are talking about. For
word ‘children’ is considered unnecessary and example: The dog (that specific dog) or The
categorized as an error of noun ending addition. apple (that specific apple).
According to the data collected in this research, • We should also use the when you have
errors of noun ending addition account for 8,4 already mentioned the thing we are talking
% (or 6) of the 71 grammatical errors made by about.
the subjects in the picture description task of • For example: She’s got two children; a girl
this investigation.
and a boy. The girl’s eight and the boy’s
Verb tense
fourteen. Verb tense here belongs to a situation in • We use the to talk about geographical which the subject adds unnecessary component points on the globe. For example: the to a well-formed sentence because of over Middle East, the West generalization process. Over generalization • We use the to talk about rivers, oceans and in this context reflects a situation in which
seas. For example: the Nile, the Pacific.
a subject recognizes the rules of adding • We also use the before certain nouns when
inflectional suffixes –s,-es, ies to simple we know there is only one of a Particular present tense verbs, but this rule is not only thing. For example: The rain, the sun, the applied to the verbs of singular subject but wind. also applied to all verbs of plural subjects. For
The result of the utterances analysis of example: “John celebrates his birthday and all this study find out 11 errors (15,5%) in the
his friends comes”. Error of verb tense addition aspect of article addition committed by ILsE.