GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN WRITING NARRATIVE MADE BY THE GRADE XI NATURAL SCIENCE AND SOCIAL SCIENCE STUDENTS AT SMA NEGERI 1 AEKKUO, LABUHANBATU UTARA.
GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN WRITING NARRATIVE MADE
BY THE GRADE XI NATURAL SCIENCE AND SOCIAL
SCIENCE STUDENTS’ AT SMA N 1 AEK KUO,
LABUHANBATU UTARA
A THESIS
Submitted in Partial fulfillment of the Requirements
for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
By :
YUDHI ADITYA KURNIAWAN
Registration Number : 2111521017
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2016
ABSTRACT
Kurniawan, Yudhi Aditya. 2111521017. Grammatical Errors in Writing
Narrative Made by the Grade XI Natural Science and Social Science Students
at SMA Negeri 1 AekKuo, Labuhanbatu Utara. A Thesis.English and
Literature Department. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State University of
Medan. 2016
The aim of this study is to discover of grammatical errors in writing
narrative text that have been made by the natural science and social science
students. Causal-comparative design is used as the research method. This research
took place at SMA N 1 Aek Kuo, Labuhanbatu Utara. There were 2 classes
chosen as the sample with 15 students in each class. The classes were divided into
two classes namely natural science class and social science class. The instrument
of the research is the free narrative writing made by the students. The result has
shown the total errors in natural science students are 155 while in social science
students are 125 in the other words the average score of natural science class is
73,8 while in social science class is 78,6. This study has shown that the natural
science students are not always good than social science students.
Keyword : Grammatical Errors, Narrative Writing.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
All praises and the greatest thankfulness to Allah SWT who has blessed,
given time, opportunity, health, and mercy to the writer in finishing this thesis
entitled “Grammatical Errors in Writing Narrative Made by the Grade XI Natural
Science and Social Science Students at SMA N 1 Aek Kuo, Labuhanbatu Utara”
to fulfill the requirements for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) at English
Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.
In the process of writing this thesis, so many people have always assisted,
supported, prayers, suggested, helped, adviced, and motivated the writer.
Therefore, the writer would like to express his thanks and his sincere appreciation
that directed to :
Prof. Dr. Syawal Gultom, M.Pd, the Rector of State University of
Medan.
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum, the Dean of Faculty of Languages and
Arts, State University of Medan.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd, the Head of English and Literature
Department and his Thesis Advisor who has given her precious time
to give valuable advice and guidance in the process of writing this
thesis.
Dra. Meisuri, M.A, the Secretary of English and Literature
Department.
Nora Ronita Dewi, S.S., S.Pd., M.Hum, the Head of English
Education Study Program.
Drs. Willem Saragih, Dipl. Appl, M.Pd, Academic Advisor and
thesis Reviewer.
Drs. Johan Sinulingga, M.Pd, Drs. Lidiman Sahat Martua Sinaga,
M.Hum, and Dra. Masitowarni, M.Ed, as his Academic Adviser and
as the Examiners who have given suggestions and comments.
All the Lecturers of English Department who have taught and
adviced his during the academic years.
Eis Sri Wahyuningsih, S.Pd., M.Pd and Mr. Pantes, the
administration staffs of English and Literature Department who
always helped the writer during his academic year.
Suyanto, S.Pd, the Headmaster of SMA Negeri 1 Aek Kuo,
Labuhanbatu Utara who has given the permission to conduct the
research in the school. And also for students in XI IPA 2 and XI IPS 2
for their participation and attention during the research.
His special sincere gratitude goes to his beloved parents; his lovely
father Ismanto, his beloved mother Sarni, his lovely brothers and
sisters Riswanto, S.Pd., M.Si, Haryono (Aseng), Herwinsyah S.Si,
Surya Abadi S.Sos, Titin Ismawati S.Pd and Nining Afrilla Sari
S.Pd and all his families for their endless love, pray, inspiration,
motivation, and everything that they have given to the writer during
his whole life.
His beloved friends Sri Lestari Setyawan, Sofa Marwa Pohan,
Sarah Silaban, Mega Siregar, Sameris Sitanggang, Putri Samosir,
Sirikit Sembiring, Mauritz Panggabean for their endless support,
attention, pray and love and beautiful day spent together.
His best partner ever, Sylvia Febyani Taruna who always support
and accompany wherever and whenever. Thank you very much for
your time and everything you give for him. He hopes you are happy in
your new journey.
Finally, the writer hopes this thesis can give the contribution to the English
Education students and also further qualitative research.
Medan, January 2016
The writer,
Yudhi Aditya Kurniawan
Reg.No. 2111521017
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..........................................................................
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..............................................................................
iv
LIST OF TABLE ...........................................................................................
vi
LIST OF PICTURE.......................................................................................
vii
LIST OF APPENDICES ...............................................................................
viii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION..................................................................
1
A. Background of The Study ...........................................................
1
B. The Problem of The Study ..........................................................
4
C. The Scope of The Study ..............................................................
4
D. The Objective of The Study........................................................
4
E. The Significance of The Study ...................................................
5
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE .............................................
6
1. Theoretical Framework ..........................................................
6
2. Errors and Mistakes ................................................................
6
a. Error ..............................................................................
6
b. Mistakes ........................................................................
7
3. Grammatical Errors ...........................................................
8
4. Grammar ............................................................................
9
5. Writing...............................................................................
10
6. Types of Text.....................................................................
12
7. Narrative ............................................................................
14
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHOD .....................................................
18
A. Research Design .....................................................................
18
B. Population and Sample...........................................................
18
C. The Instrument of Data Colection ..........................................
19
D. The Procedure of Data Collection ..........................................
19
E. The Technique of Analyzing Data .........................................
19
1. Identifying the errors ..........................................................
19
2. Classifying the errors .........................................................
19
3. Calculating the errors .........................................................
20
4. Scoring the students work ..................................................
20
5. Putting the result into table ................................................
21
CHAPTER IV. DATA AND DATA ANALYSIS ........................................
22
A. The Data .................................................................................
22
1. The qualitative Data ..........................................................
22
a. Students grammatical errors ..........................................
22
b. The written work score of natural and social science
students .........................................................................
24
B. Data Analysis .........................................................................
26
1. Analysis of qualitative data ................................................
26
a. Grammatical errors analysis ..........................................
26
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS............................
44
A. Conclusion .........................................................................
44
B. Suggestion ..........................................................................
44
REFERENCES ..............................................................................................
45
APPENDICES ................................................................................................
47
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 2.1 Genre of Texts………………………………………………………...12
Table 3.1 Causal-Comparative design………………………………….………..18
Table 3.2 The result of students work………….………………………………..21
Table 4.1 Grammatical errors of natural science students……………………….23
Table 4.2 Grammatical errors of social science students………………………..24
Table 4.3 Natural science students score……………………….………………..25
Table 4.4 Social science students score………………...………………………..25
LIST OF PICTURES
Page
Picture 4.1 Error in using noun ............................................................................. 28
Picture 4.2 Error in using pronoun ....................................................................... 30
Picture 4.3 Error in using verb.............................................................................. 33
Picture 4.4 Error in using adverb .......................................................................... 35
Picture 4.5 Error in using adjective ...................................................................... 37
Picture 4.6 Error in using article ........................................................................... 39
Picture 4.7 Error in using preposition ................................................................... 41
Picture 4.8 Error in using conjunction .................................................................. 43
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX A .................................................................................................. 47
APPENDIX B………………………………………………………………..62
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Indonesian schools divide the classes of Grade XI into Natural Science
classes and Social Science classes. Natural Science and Social Science are two
different majors in Senior High School. The specific Natural Science subjects are
Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. The focus of Natural Science is nature. The
specific Social Science subjects are Economics, Geography, and Sociology. The
focus of Social Science is society. Compared to the Social Science, the Natural
Science rely on more mathematically based methods (Boutellier, 2011).
There is a perspective stated by the society that students of Natural
Science tend to be more intelligent, more hardworking, and therefore are said to
be cleverer compared to the Social Science students. Based on the oral interviews
conducted by researcher to about 20 parents, both in Aek Kuo and Merbau, whom
their children are currently attending the senior high school, 16 of them believe
that Natural Science students are better than Social Science students with the
dominant reason is because Natural Science students study more complex and
difficult subjects which will train the brain more in thinking and concentrating.
They are considered to be more focused and careful in studying based on the
different specific subjects that they learn at school. This perspective leads to a
new perspective that the Natural Science students would make fewer mistakes
compared to the Social Science students in doing something, including in writing
an English text. This superficial perspective is going to be proved by analyzing
the students’ writing, specifically the grammatical structures, from both types of
classes since grammar is one of the important elements in writing an English text
(Richards & Renandya 2002 in Hourani) whereas grammar is also said to be the
most difficult subject that should be learned by the students. Also, based on the
popular saying that it cannot judge a book by its cover, it cannot directly judged
the ability of the Social Science as well as the Natural Science students in the case
of writing an English text with proper grammatical structures.
Research about Error Analysis (EA) itself is actually quite popular in the
education field, particularly in countries where English is as the second or foreign
language. Hourani (2008) chose EA particularly in the analysis of common
grammatical errors found in 3rd secondary male students’ writings in Dubai as his
dissertation, Zawahreh (2012) conducted a research of EA that analyzed the
applied error made by tenth grade students in Jordan, Khansir (2012) wrote an
article of the importance of error analysis for the second language acquisition, and
so on. In Indonesia, there are still not many researchers that conduct the research
of Error Analysis, when actually it is a useful research to see the development of
the students in learning English. The basic task of error analysis is to describe
how learning occurs by examining the learner’s output and this includes his/her
correct and incorrect utterances (Khansir, 2012). Corder (in Hourani, 2012)
indicates that errors are significant in three different ways. First to the teachers, in
that they tell them how far towards the goal the learners have advanced and
consequently, what remains for them to learn. Second, they provide to the
researchers evidence of how language is learnt or acquired, what strategies or
3
procedures the learners are employing in their discovery of the language. Thirdly,
they are indispensable to the learners themselves, because we can regard the
making of errors as a device the learners use in order to learn. Research has
provided empirical evidence pointing to emphasis on learners' errors as an
effective means of improving grammatical accuracy (White et al, 1991; Carroll
and Swain, 1993 in Hourani, 2012). Indeed, as Carter (1997:35 in Hourani, 2012)
notes, 'Knowing more about how grammar works is to understand more about
how grammar is used and misused'. There is a need for students to recognize the
significance of errors which occur in their writing, to fully grasp and understand
the nature of the errors made. By looking through the previous researches, it can
be concluded that though Error Analysis seems to be unimportant, it actually has
its specific purpose and useful result for teachers, students, and other researchers
in education field.
The purpose of this research is to find out the ability of the Natural
Science and Social Science students in writing narrative based on how many
grammatical errors are made by the students. The analysis uses the grammatical
errors theory from Richards. Therefore, a conclusion can be made as the indicator
whether the students of Natural Science and Social Science classes have the same
ability in writing narrative with proper grammatical structures, or one is better
than the other. In addition, the findings of the research can also be used as a prove
to see whether the judgment of the society about Natural Science students are
better than Social Science students is true or not at SMAN 1 Aek Kuo.
4
B. The Problem of the Study
Based on the background of the study above, the problems found are:
1. What kinds of grammatical errors that are found in the narratives written by
the students of Grade XI Natural Science and Social Science?
2. Are there any different grammatical errors made between the students of
Grade XI Natural Science and Social Science in writing narrative?
3. What are the dominant errors made by both types of classes?
4. What are the dominant causes of the errors based on the Richards’
grammatical errors theory?
5. Is the society’s judgment about the difference of Natural Science and Social
Science students proven to be true at SMAN 1 Aek Kuo?
C. The Scope of the Study
This study is limited to the analysis of the grammatical errors found in
narratives made by the Grade XI students of Natural Science and Social Science
classes at SMAN 1 Aek Kuo to see the ability of the students in writing English
with proper grammar as well as to prove whether the judgment of the society who
claims that Natural Science students are better than Social Science students is true
or not.
D. The Objective of the Study
In relation to the problem, the objective of the study is to identify the
errors made by Grade XI Natural Science and Social Science students at SMAN 1
5
Aek Kuo which later the analysis finding can be used as a data to find the
dominant errors made by the students, the causes of the errors, and also to prove
whether the society’s perspective is true or not.
E. The Significance of the Study
This study is useful for:
1. The teacher, as a source of information or data about the students’ ability in
writing narrative with proper grammar to be further used as a way to find
the most suitable teaching technique or strategy and to prove whether the
teacher’s believe about the students’ ability is true or not.
2. The students, as a tool to motivate them as well as a reflection of how to
write a text (genres of text) using appropriate grammatical elements.
3. The future researchers who are also interested in analyzing the errors made
by the students.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclussion
By having analyzed the data, the writer has found :
1. There are 8 grammatical errors, they are : noun, pronoun, verb, adverb,
adjective, article, preposition and conjunction.
2. There are any different grammatical errors made between the students of
Grade IX Natural Science and Social Science in writing narrative.
3. The dominant error was verb.
4. The dominant error was Incomplete application of rules
5. The natural science students are not always better than social science
students. It can be seen from the average score of natural science class is
73,8 while social science class is 78,6. In this case we can’t say that the
natural science students are good in writing text rather than social science
students. This study has proved the perspective which has been made by the
society is not always true, it can be seen well from the results that have been
done by the students.
B. Suggestion
Based on my research, it is suggested that :
1. English teacher gives more explanation in grammatical aspect especially
about noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, article, preposition and
conjunction.
2. The students must study and practice English, especially in grammatical
aspect.
REFERENCES
Bartram, M. & Walton, R. 1991.CORRECTION – Mistake Management: a
positive approach for language teachers.Hove: Language Teaching
Publications.
Boutellier, R., Gassmann, O., & Raeder, S. 2011. What is the difference between
Social and Natural Scinces?.Switzerland: Universitat St. Gallen.
Brown, H. D. 2000. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New York:
Longman.
Byrne, Donn. 1980. English Teaching Perspectives. London: Longman.
Corder, S. P. 1973.Introducing Applied Linguistics.Cited in Byrne, D.
1980.English Teaching Perspectives. London: Longman.
Harmer, Jeremy. 2004. The Practice of English Language Teaching (Third
Edition Completely Revised and Updated). Malaysia: Longman.
Heydari, P., &Bagheri, M. S. 2012. Error Analysis: Sources of L2 Learners’
Errors. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 2, No. 8, pp. 15831589. Finland: ACADEMY PUBLISHER.
Hourani, Taiseer, M. Y. 2008. An Analysis of the Common Grammatical Errors
in the English Writing made by 3rd Secondary Male Students in the Eastern
Coast of the UAE. Dubai: Institute of Education, British University.
Johnson, K. 1976. The Production Functional Materials.Cited in Byrne, D.
1980.English Teaching Perspectives. London: Longman.
Khansir, A. A. 2012. Error Analysis and Second Language Acquisition.Theory
and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 2, No. 5, pp. 1027-1032. Finland:
ACADEMY PUBLISHER.
Moreno, A. I., &Cerezo, P. H. 2011.Secondary School Students’ Errors when
Writing in English: Analysis of the Interaction of Age, Language Level,
Linguistic Levels, and Types of Errors. UNED.
Richards, Jack. C. 1970. A Non-Contrastive Approach to Error Analysis.Presented
at the TESOL Convention, San Fransisco.
Richards, Jack. C. 1974. Error Analysis: Persprectives on Second Language
Acquisition. London: Longman.
Salkind, Neil. J. 2010. Encyclopedia of Research Design Volume 1. USA: SAGE
Publications, Inc.
Sembiring, Imantha Eka Putra. 2009. The Difference of Grmmatical Error in
WritingRecount Text between Natural Science and Social Science
Students. UNIMED
Smith, M. S. 1976. A Note on ‘Writing Versus Speech’. Cited in Byrne, D.
1980.English Teaching Perspectives.London: Longman.
Subasini, M. &Kokilavani, B. 2013.Significance of Grammar in Technical
English.International Journal of English Literature and CultureVol. 1(3),
pp. 56-58.
Veit, Richard. 1986. Discovering English Grammar. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Co.
Zawahreh, F. A. S. 2012. Applied Error Analysis of Written Production of English
Essays of Tenth Grade Students in Ajloun Schools, Jordan.International
Journal of Learning & Development, Vol. 2, No. 2.
BY THE GRADE XI NATURAL SCIENCE AND SOCIAL
SCIENCE STUDENTS’ AT SMA N 1 AEK KUO,
LABUHANBATU UTARA
A THESIS
Submitted in Partial fulfillment of the Requirements
for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
By :
YUDHI ADITYA KURNIAWAN
Registration Number : 2111521017
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2016
ABSTRACT
Kurniawan, Yudhi Aditya. 2111521017. Grammatical Errors in Writing
Narrative Made by the Grade XI Natural Science and Social Science Students
at SMA Negeri 1 AekKuo, Labuhanbatu Utara. A Thesis.English and
Literature Department. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State University of
Medan. 2016
The aim of this study is to discover of grammatical errors in writing
narrative text that have been made by the natural science and social science
students. Causal-comparative design is used as the research method. This research
took place at SMA N 1 Aek Kuo, Labuhanbatu Utara. There were 2 classes
chosen as the sample with 15 students in each class. The classes were divided into
two classes namely natural science class and social science class. The instrument
of the research is the free narrative writing made by the students. The result has
shown the total errors in natural science students are 155 while in social science
students are 125 in the other words the average score of natural science class is
73,8 while in social science class is 78,6. This study has shown that the natural
science students are not always good than social science students.
Keyword : Grammatical Errors, Narrative Writing.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
All praises and the greatest thankfulness to Allah SWT who has blessed,
given time, opportunity, health, and mercy to the writer in finishing this thesis
entitled “Grammatical Errors in Writing Narrative Made by the Grade XI Natural
Science and Social Science Students at SMA N 1 Aek Kuo, Labuhanbatu Utara”
to fulfill the requirements for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) at English
Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.
In the process of writing this thesis, so many people have always assisted,
supported, prayers, suggested, helped, adviced, and motivated the writer.
Therefore, the writer would like to express his thanks and his sincere appreciation
that directed to :
Prof. Dr. Syawal Gultom, M.Pd, the Rector of State University of
Medan.
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum, the Dean of Faculty of Languages and
Arts, State University of Medan.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd, the Head of English and Literature
Department and his Thesis Advisor who has given her precious time
to give valuable advice and guidance in the process of writing this
thesis.
Dra. Meisuri, M.A, the Secretary of English and Literature
Department.
Nora Ronita Dewi, S.S., S.Pd., M.Hum, the Head of English
Education Study Program.
Drs. Willem Saragih, Dipl. Appl, M.Pd, Academic Advisor and
thesis Reviewer.
Drs. Johan Sinulingga, M.Pd, Drs. Lidiman Sahat Martua Sinaga,
M.Hum, and Dra. Masitowarni, M.Ed, as his Academic Adviser and
as the Examiners who have given suggestions and comments.
All the Lecturers of English Department who have taught and
adviced his during the academic years.
Eis Sri Wahyuningsih, S.Pd., M.Pd and Mr. Pantes, the
administration staffs of English and Literature Department who
always helped the writer during his academic year.
Suyanto, S.Pd, the Headmaster of SMA Negeri 1 Aek Kuo,
Labuhanbatu Utara who has given the permission to conduct the
research in the school. And also for students in XI IPA 2 and XI IPS 2
for their participation and attention during the research.
His special sincere gratitude goes to his beloved parents; his lovely
father Ismanto, his beloved mother Sarni, his lovely brothers and
sisters Riswanto, S.Pd., M.Si, Haryono (Aseng), Herwinsyah S.Si,
Surya Abadi S.Sos, Titin Ismawati S.Pd and Nining Afrilla Sari
S.Pd and all his families for their endless love, pray, inspiration,
motivation, and everything that they have given to the writer during
his whole life.
His beloved friends Sri Lestari Setyawan, Sofa Marwa Pohan,
Sarah Silaban, Mega Siregar, Sameris Sitanggang, Putri Samosir,
Sirikit Sembiring, Mauritz Panggabean for their endless support,
attention, pray and love and beautiful day spent together.
His best partner ever, Sylvia Febyani Taruna who always support
and accompany wherever and whenever. Thank you very much for
your time and everything you give for him. He hopes you are happy in
your new journey.
Finally, the writer hopes this thesis can give the contribution to the English
Education students and also further qualitative research.
Medan, January 2016
The writer,
Yudhi Aditya Kurniawan
Reg.No. 2111521017
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..........................................................................
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..............................................................................
iv
LIST OF TABLE ...........................................................................................
vi
LIST OF PICTURE.......................................................................................
vii
LIST OF APPENDICES ...............................................................................
viii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION..................................................................
1
A. Background of The Study ...........................................................
1
B. The Problem of The Study ..........................................................
4
C. The Scope of The Study ..............................................................
4
D. The Objective of The Study........................................................
4
E. The Significance of The Study ...................................................
5
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE .............................................
6
1. Theoretical Framework ..........................................................
6
2. Errors and Mistakes ................................................................
6
a. Error ..............................................................................
6
b. Mistakes ........................................................................
7
3. Grammatical Errors ...........................................................
8
4. Grammar ............................................................................
9
5. Writing...............................................................................
10
6. Types of Text.....................................................................
12
7. Narrative ............................................................................
14
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHOD .....................................................
18
A. Research Design .....................................................................
18
B. Population and Sample...........................................................
18
C. The Instrument of Data Colection ..........................................
19
D. The Procedure of Data Collection ..........................................
19
E. The Technique of Analyzing Data .........................................
19
1. Identifying the errors ..........................................................
19
2. Classifying the errors .........................................................
19
3. Calculating the errors .........................................................
20
4. Scoring the students work ..................................................
20
5. Putting the result into table ................................................
21
CHAPTER IV. DATA AND DATA ANALYSIS ........................................
22
A. The Data .................................................................................
22
1. The qualitative Data ..........................................................
22
a. Students grammatical errors ..........................................
22
b. The written work score of natural and social science
students .........................................................................
24
B. Data Analysis .........................................................................
26
1. Analysis of qualitative data ................................................
26
a. Grammatical errors analysis ..........................................
26
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS............................
44
A. Conclusion .........................................................................
44
B. Suggestion ..........................................................................
44
REFERENCES ..............................................................................................
45
APPENDICES ................................................................................................
47
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 2.1 Genre of Texts………………………………………………………...12
Table 3.1 Causal-Comparative design………………………………….………..18
Table 3.2 The result of students work………….………………………………..21
Table 4.1 Grammatical errors of natural science students……………………….23
Table 4.2 Grammatical errors of social science students………………………..24
Table 4.3 Natural science students score……………………….………………..25
Table 4.4 Social science students score………………...………………………..25
LIST OF PICTURES
Page
Picture 4.1 Error in using noun ............................................................................. 28
Picture 4.2 Error in using pronoun ....................................................................... 30
Picture 4.3 Error in using verb.............................................................................. 33
Picture 4.4 Error in using adverb .......................................................................... 35
Picture 4.5 Error in using adjective ...................................................................... 37
Picture 4.6 Error in using article ........................................................................... 39
Picture 4.7 Error in using preposition ................................................................... 41
Picture 4.8 Error in using conjunction .................................................................. 43
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX A .................................................................................................. 47
APPENDIX B………………………………………………………………..62
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Indonesian schools divide the classes of Grade XI into Natural Science
classes and Social Science classes. Natural Science and Social Science are two
different majors in Senior High School. The specific Natural Science subjects are
Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. The focus of Natural Science is nature. The
specific Social Science subjects are Economics, Geography, and Sociology. The
focus of Social Science is society. Compared to the Social Science, the Natural
Science rely on more mathematically based methods (Boutellier, 2011).
There is a perspective stated by the society that students of Natural
Science tend to be more intelligent, more hardworking, and therefore are said to
be cleverer compared to the Social Science students. Based on the oral interviews
conducted by researcher to about 20 parents, both in Aek Kuo and Merbau, whom
their children are currently attending the senior high school, 16 of them believe
that Natural Science students are better than Social Science students with the
dominant reason is because Natural Science students study more complex and
difficult subjects which will train the brain more in thinking and concentrating.
They are considered to be more focused and careful in studying based on the
different specific subjects that they learn at school. This perspective leads to a
new perspective that the Natural Science students would make fewer mistakes
compared to the Social Science students in doing something, including in writing
an English text. This superficial perspective is going to be proved by analyzing
the students’ writing, specifically the grammatical structures, from both types of
classes since grammar is one of the important elements in writing an English text
(Richards & Renandya 2002 in Hourani) whereas grammar is also said to be the
most difficult subject that should be learned by the students. Also, based on the
popular saying that it cannot judge a book by its cover, it cannot directly judged
the ability of the Social Science as well as the Natural Science students in the case
of writing an English text with proper grammatical structures.
Research about Error Analysis (EA) itself is actually quite popular in the
education field, particularly in countries where English is as the second or foreign
language. Hourani (2008) chose EA particularly in the analysis of common
grammatical errors found in 3rd secondary male students’ writings in Dubai as his
dissertation, Zawahreh (2012) conducted a research of EA that analyzed the
applied error made by tenth grade students in Jordan, Khansir (2012) wrote an
article of the importance of error analysis for the second language acquisition, and
so on. In Indonesia, there are still not many researchers that conduct the research
of Error Analysis, when actually it is a useful research to see the development of
the students in learning English. The basic task of error analysis is to describe
how learning occurs by examining the learner’s output and this includes his/her
correct and incorrect utterances (Khansir, 2012). Corder (in Hourani, 2012)
indicates that errors are significant in three different ways. First to the teachers, in
that they tell them how far towards the goal the learners have advanced and
consequently, what remains for them to learn. Second, they provide to the
researchers evidence of how language is learnt or acquired, what strategies or
3
procedures the learners are employing in their discovery of the language. Thirdly,
they are indispensable to the learners themselves, because we can regard the
making of errors as a device the learners use in order to learn. Research has
provided empirical evidence pointing to emphasis on learners' errors as an
effective means of improving grammatical accuracy (White et al, 1991; Carroll
and Swain, 1993 in Hourani, 2012). Indeed, as Carter (1997:35 in Hourani, 2012)
notes, 'Knowing more about how grammar works is to understand more about
how grammar is used and misused'. There is a need for students to recognize the
significance of errors which occur in their writing, to fully grasp and understand
the nature of the errors made. By looking through the previous researches, it can
be concluded that though Error Analysis seems to be unimportant, it actually has
its specific purpose and useful result for teachers, students, and other researchers
in education field.
The purpose of this research is to find out the ability of the Natural
Science and Social Science students in writing narrative based on how many
grammatical errors are made by the students. The analysis uses the grammatical
errors theory from Richards. Therefore, a conclusion can be made as the indicator
whether the students of Natural Science and Social Science classes have the same
ability in writing narrative with proper grammatical structures, or one is better
than the other. In addition, the findings of the research can also be used as a prove
to see whether the judgment of the society about Natural Science students are
better than Social Science students is true or not at SMAN 1 Aek Kuo.
4
B. The Problem of the Study
Based on the background of the study above, the problems found are:
1. What kinds of grammatical errors that are found in the narratives written by
the students of Grade XI Natural Science and Social Science?
2. Are there any different grammatical errors made between the students of
Grade XI Natural Science and Social Science in writing narrative?
3. What are the dominant errors made by both types of classes?
4. What are the dominant causes of the errors based on the Richards’
grammatical errors theory?
5. Is the society’s judgment about the difference of Natural Science and Social
Science students proven to be true at SMAN 1 Aek Kuo?
C. The Scope of the Study
This study is limited to the analysis of the grammatical errors found in
narratives made by the Grade XI students of Natural Science and Social Science
classes at SMAN 1 Aek Kuo to see the ability of the students in writing English
with proper grammar as well as to prove whether the judgment of the society who
claims that Natural Science students are better than Social Science students is true
or not.
D. The Objective of the Study
In relation to the problem, the objective of the study is to identify the
errors made by Grade XI Natural Science and Social Science students at SMAN 1
5
Aek Kuo which later the analysis finding can be used as a data to find the
dominant errors made by the students, the causes of the errors, and also to prove
whether the society’s perspective is true or not.
E. The Significance of the Study
This study is useful for:
1. The teacher, as a source of information or data about the students’ ability in
writing narrative with proper grammar to be further used as a way to find
the most suitable teaching technique or strategy and to prove whether the
teacher’s believe about the students’ ability is true or not.
2. The students, as a tool to motivate them as well as a reflection of how to
write a text (genres of text) using appropriate grammatical elements.
3. The future researchers who are also interested in analyzing the errors made
by the students.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclussion
By having analyzed the data, the writer has found :
1. There are 8 grammatical errors, they are : noun, pronoun, verb, adverb,
adjective, article, preposition and conjunction.
2. There are any different grammatical errors made between the students of
Grade IX Natural Science and Social Science in writing narrative.
3. The dominant error was verb.
4. The dominant error was Incomplete application of rules
5. The natural science students are not always better than social science
students. It can be seen from the average score of natural science class is
73,8 while social science class is 78,6. In this case we can’t say that the
natural science students are good in writing text rather than social science
students. This study has proved the perspective which has been made by the
society is not always true, it can be seen well from the results that have been
done by the students.
B. Suggestion
Based on my research, it is suggested that :
1. English teacher gives more explanation in grammatical aspect especially
about noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, article, preposition and
conjunction.
2. The students must study and practice English, especially in grammatical
aspect.
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