70 Leech Svartvik, 1994, p. 264 and the modal auxiliaries do not have these
forms, such as –s forms, –ing forms, or –ed participles Leech Svartvik, 1994, p. 243. Besides, Azar and Hagen 2006 state that modal axuiliaries come in front
of the simple form of a main verb p. 398. Thus, sentence [9a] should be replaced by sentence:
[9b] In dining room, it must have a big table and some chairs.
B. The Factors that Caused the Students to Make the Errors
This part aims to answer the second research question, the factors that caused the students to make the errors. The researcher divided this section into
two main parts. The first part is data presentation. In this part, the researcher presented the summarized information from the interview. Then, the second part
is discussion. In this part, the researcher discussed the summarized information from the interview.
1. Data Presentation of the Factors that Caused the Students to Make the
Errors
After classifying and describing subject-verb agreement errors made by the students in Class B of Paragraph Writing, the researcher would present the
factors that caused them to make the errors. Then, dealing with the second research question, the researcher carried out semi-structured interview as an
instrument in order to be able to discover the factors why the students made subject-verb agreement errors when they wrote an English sentence. Moreover,
the researcher chose eight students to be interviewed. The selected students to be
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
71 intervieweed were those who made errors on subject-verb agreement variously.
The interviewees were also students in Class B of Paragraph Writing at ELESP in 20102011 academic year. In addition, in the interview, there were eighteen
questions to ask to the students. For further information, the interview was conducted in Bahasa Indonesia.
Its underlying reason was that the researcher aimed to ensure that the interviewees understood the meaning of each question in the interview, so the purpose of the
interview could be achieved. Then, the researcher recorded the interviewes’ results and transcribed it in order to make it more easily to analyze. After
transcribing and analyzing the result of the interviewes, the researcher summarized the information obtained from the interview and presented it in Table
4.2.
Table 4.2 The Summary of the Interview Results
No. The Factors that Caused the
Students to Make the Errors Information Obtained
1.
Interlingual Error
• Most of the respondents argued that when they wrote an
Indonesian sentence, they did not need to think about the rules which were as complicated as those when they wrote an English
sentence. For example, when they wrote an Indonesian sentence, they did not need to think about: simple form, simple past, past
participle, subject-verb agreement, English tense.
• Since most of the respondents had been accustomed to the
concepts of writing in Indonesian language, they sometimes forgot to apply the required rules, which one of them was
subject-verb agreement, when they had to write an English sentence.
• Most of the respondents claimed that the concepts of Indonesian
language did really influence them in making errors on subject- verb agreement.
2.
Over-generalization
• Most of the respondents thought that they often made the
subject-verb agreement errors because of over-generalization only when they learnt English in their very beginning time, e.g.,
in Elementary school. •
Most of the respondents agreed that nowadays, they kept trying to write better than before and kept improving their writing skill.
Therefore, when they are in the university, most of the respondents thought that the errors on subject-verb agreement
caused by over-generalization error rarely happenned.
Continued to page 72
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72
Table 4.2 Continued
No. The Factors that Caused the
Students to Make the Errors Information Obtained
3.
Ignorance of Rule Restrictions
• Most of the respondents claimed that the subject-verb agreement
errors caused by ignorance of rule restrictions often happenned especially when they were confused in writing an English
sentence. •
The errors caused by ignorance of rule restrictions also happenned when the respondents obtained new theory of subject-
verb agreement which was similar with the respondents’ existing knowledge about certain rules of writing in English language,
but which had different pattern in implementing it.
• It was also admitted that the errors might also happen due to the
basic knowledge of subject-verb agreement which had not been well understood yet.
4.
Incomplete Application of Rules
• Most of the respondents tended not either to reread or to restudy
the rules of subject-verb agreement when they wanted to write an English sentence.
• It was also admitted by most of the respondents who thought that
they had already had sufficient knowledge about the rules of subject-verb agreement, so they did not need to restudy the rules
of subject-verb agreement even before doing the Progress Test. •
Almost all respondents also agreed that they confidently would be able to write an English sentence correctly without either
reread or restudied the rules of subject-verb agreement.
5.
False Concepts Hypothesized
• Most of the respondents found it difficult to consider whether
these things were singular or plural: countable and nouncountable noun, it, a noun which is added by the adjectives
color, size. •
Almost all respondents also did agree that subject-verb agreement errors they made were caused by this false concepts
hypothesized.
6.
Carelessness
• Some of respondents thought that the way their lecturer
explained the materials to them and taught them in the classroom could affect their motivation in writing English sentences. Thus,
they tended to write an English sentence carelessly when they could not understand what their lecturer had explained to them.
• The respondent also mentioned that lack of feedback could also
decrease students’ motivation in writing an English sentence correctly. Besides, it was also admitted by most of respondents
who agreed that they tended to write an incorrect sentence when they had a lot of assignments, got stuck in writing a sentence,
decided not to reread and to recheck the text that they had written.
• Almost all admitted that errors, especially subject-verb
agreement error, tended to appear when they wrote an English sentence with less motivation to write it.
• This case of carelessness did affect the students to make errors
on subject-verb agreement. Continued to page 73
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73
Table 4.2 Continued
No. The Factors that Caused the
Students to Make the Errors Information Obtained
7.
Translation
• Most of the respondents tended to directly write an English
sentence without trying to translate the words applied in the sentence that they wanted to write one by one.
• To disagree that translation was not the factor that caused them
to make subject-verb agreement errors was what most of the respondents tried to explain.
8.
Error as a Part of Language Creativity
• Most of the respondents claimed that the subject-verb agreement
errors caused by students’ language creativity could be caused by the basic knowledge of subject-verb agreement which was not
well understood by students. •
The difficulty to decide whether the certain noun is singular or plural might also led students to only use their language
creativity without to use their knowledge in writing an English sentence.
• However, from the argument given by most of the respondents, it
could be inferred that students’ language creativity had not big influence to students in making the subject-verb agreement
errors when they wrote an English sentence.
9.
Context of Learning
• Most of the respondents did not admit that subject-verb
agreement errors that they made were caused by the confusing explanation from their lecturer in the classroom or by the
misleading explanation in the textbook they read.
2. Discussion on the Factors that Caused the Students to Make the Errors
