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STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING NOUN CLAUSES IN
INTERMEDIATE GRAMMAR CLASSROOM
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fullfilment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Elisse Setya Wardani
112010079
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
SALATIGA
2017
i
STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING NOUN CLAUSES IN INTERMEDIATE
GRAMMAR CLASSROOM
A THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fullfilment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Elisse Setya Wardani
112010079
Approved by
Supervisor
Examiner
Gita Hastuti, M.A.
Maria Christina Eko Setyarini, M.Hum.
ii
iii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course
or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of
my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by
any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2017. Elisse Setya Wardani and Gita Hastuti, M.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of a least one of the copyright owners or the English Language Education
Program, Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga.
Elisse Setya Wardani
iv
TABLE OF CONTENT
Cover .......................................................................................................................... i
Approval Page ........................................................................................................... ii
Publication Agreement Declaration ........................................................................... iii
Copyright Statement ................................................................................................. iv
Table of Content ........................................................................................................ v
Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 2
Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 3
Noun Clause..................................................................................................................... 4
Learners’ Possi le Diffi ulties in Learning Noun Clause .................................................. 5
Strategies in Learning Grammar ...................................................................................... 6
Approaches in Grammar Teaching .................................................................................. 7
Review of Previous Studies on Noun Clause Learning .................................................... 8
The Study .................................................................................................................. 9
Context of the Study ...................................................................................................... 10
Participants of the Study ............................................................................................... 11
Instruments of Data Collection...................................................................................... 12
Data Collection Procedure ............................................................................................. 13
Procedure of Data Analysis............................................................................................ 14
Finding and Discussion ............................................................................................. 15
Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 16
Acknowledgement ................................................................................................... 17
References............................................................................................................... 18
v
STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING NOUN CLAUSES IN
INTERMEDIATE GRAMMAR CLASSROOM
Elisse Setya Wardani
112010079
Abstract
The fact that grammar is difficult for most L2 learners seems unavoidable, particularly
when it comes to learning Noun Clause. Noun clause is a dependent clause that works
like a noun (Khudhayer, 2013). It has become a problematic area for EFL university
learners in Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. This study was aimed at finding out the
students‟ difficulties in learning noun clauses and the ways they handle their difficulties.
The participants were 23 students of Intermediate Grammar Class in the year of 2017.
The data was collected using a Focus Group Discussion. The results revealed that there
were three major difficulties faced by the students in learning noun clause. They were
difficulty in identifying functions, creating noun clause, and identifying the subject and
verb of a noun clause. Besides, there were three ways students did to overcome their
difficulties in learning. They were reviewing materials, asking peers, and finding
information and doing exercise in the Internet.
Keywords: learning strategies, EFL learning difficulty, noun clause.
Introduction
In the area of foreign language teaching, grammar is often portrayed as the most
unattractive and threatening. Baron (1982 in Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam, 2011) argued
that grammar causes the students‟ discomfort. The fact that grammar is difficult for most
L2 learners seems unavoidable. Therefore, the discussion about how to teach grammar
has grown so large to overcome this matter.
In the history of grammar teaching, the use of drilling, mimicry and memorization
has been discussed as effective strategies in the area of foreign language learning (Mat &
Soon, 2010). Mimicry provides learners with necessary meaningful repetition of
1
production and perception of the target language. Memorization deals with the
acquisition of the language. Meanwhile, drilling deals with the speech patterns.
However, some teachers like to provide their students with educational tools, like
scripted dialogues, language learning tapes, and the Internet as they are commonly used
in foreign language classrooms. The students can use the tools while enjoying the
grammar learning process. As described by Can (2009), learners are given the chance to
work together and collaborate while learning the language by creating their own designs
and projects using educational tools such as online learning materials.
Despite the fact that there are many strategies used to teach grammar, students
might have their own expectations in their grammar learning process. As mentioned by
Borg (1999, in Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam, 2011), student expectations of explicit
grammar teaching have been confirmed by many teachers. Borg‟s also mentioned that
according to the teachers, explicit grammar teaching is favored by students because of
expectation and feelings of insecurity. They often believe that having intellectual
knowledge of grammar and its rules by explicit grammar teaching will enable them to use
the language and minimize their error eventually. Yet, many students tend to be afraid of
making mistakes in grammar. Thus, it caused them to feel insecure that might lead them
to face difficulties in their learning development.
Students‟ language skills are to some extent developed by their teachers who are
their first instructor in modeling grammar rules and language patterns in the target
language. Hence, teacher‟s teaching strategies play a major role in the process of
students‟ learning. Therefore, the writer conducted a study about students‟ difficulties in
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learning noun clauses in Intermediate Grammar classroom. The aim of the study was to
find out the students‟ difficulties in learning noun clauses and the ways they handle their
difficulties. It was done in the English Language Education Program of Universitas
Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga. The study was guided by the following research
questions: “What are the students‟ difficulties in learning noun clauses in Intermediate
Grammar classroom?” and “How do the students handle their difficulties in learning noun
clauses?”
This study hopes to establish a significant reference for English teachers in the
area of grammar teaching. It will hopefully be beneficial to the teachers to evaluate their
performance and to promote a better teaching strategy of grammar.
Literature Review
Noun Clause
Noun clause is a crucial construction in English that can be a problematic for EFL
students because it has various functions (Khudayer, 2013). Noun clauses come in a
variety of forms. According to Khudhayer (2013) a noun clause is a dependent clause,
which can work like a noun. It consists of a subject and a verb.
Noun clause has several functions. Megginson (1996) in Khudhayer (2013)
divided the functions of a noun clause into several types. They can function as a subject,
direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, object of
preposition, and appositive.
3
Difficulties in Learning Grammar
In DeKeyser‟s research (2005), he identified three areas of difficulty for
learners in learning grammar. The first difficulty is complexity of meaning. It
arises form language features of the target language which is not exist in their L1.
It can include articles, grammatical gender, and classifiers. The second difficulty is
the complexity of form. It arises from aspects of the target language which is
highly complex and require a number of correct allomorphs and morpheme choices
that have to be made and to be in the right syntactic place in a sentence. The last
difficulty is the complexity of form-meaning relationship. It occurs when the link
between form and meaning are not transparent.
Learners’ Possible Difficulties in Learning Noun Clause
In the process of learning a foreign language, students will find different language
patterns from their mother tongue. This condition could lead students to encounter some
difficulties that might also be found in the process of learning noun clause. The study of
Baithy (2014) found that most of the first graders of a senior high school in Indonesia
faced difficulty in using the subordinators properly when learning reported speech that
includes noun clause. Baithy 2014) also found that students faced difficulty in
understanding the noun clause rules.
Another study done by Khudayer (2013) to 60 Iraqi learners in an EFL university
found two areas of difficulties that students encounter in using noun clause in English.
First, 56.1% of the total learners faced difficulty in using noun clause at the recognition
level due to the faulty comprehension of a distinction in the foreign language. In this
level, the learners‟ task is to underline the noun clauses in the given sentences, mention
4
whether they are finite or nonfinite, and show the functions of these noun clauses in the
sentences. Second, 75.3% of the total learners faced difficulty in using noun clause at the
production level in which the learners‟ task is to give ten examples based on what is
required from them. It happened due to a number of causes. The first one is because
overgeneralization in which learners failed to use a correct application of the learned
material to the actual context. The second is because ignorance of restrictions in which
the learners apply some rules to a category to which it is not applicable. The last is
because of incomplete applications of rules.
Based on the studies, it can be concluded that possible difficulties faced by
learners in learning noun clauses are varied. Learners might find difficulties in
understanding the noun clause rules, recognizing noun clauses, identifying the type of
noun clauses (finite / non finite) and its functions, and producing sentences with noun
clauses properly.
Strategies in Learning Grammar
Wenden and Rubin as cited in Yalcin (2005) defined learning strategies as “any
set of operations, steps, plans routines used by the learner to facilitate the obtaining,
storage, retrieved, and usage of information”. Yalcin (2005) listed two kinds of learning
strategies: direct and indirect strategies.
There are three groups in direct strategies. The first one is memory strategies.
They are regarded as mental tools such as creating mental linkages, applying images and
sounds, reviewing well, and employing actions. The second one is cognitive strategies
that operate directly on incoming information and manipulate it in ways that enhance
5
learning. The third is compensation strategies, which are helpful to the use of new
language for comprehension or production.
Meanwhile, indirect strategies can be divided into metacognitive, affective, and
social strategies. Metacognitive strategies are used to oversee, regulate, or self-direct
language learning. Affective strategies deal with lowering anxiety, self-encouragement,
and taking emotional temperature; while social strategies deal with communications
between and among people such as asking questions, cooperating with others, and
empathizing with others.
Gurata (2008) said that all learners use particular strategies in order to promote
their learning. Several researchers have also investigated the learning strategies that help
in grammar learning. The study conducted by Gimeno (2002 as cited in Gurata, 2008)
indicated that the use of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies to teach grammar
points improve the experimental group more than the control group did.
In addition, the study done by Yalcin (2005) to 425 of the Preparatory School
students at the University of Gaziantep found that 70.2% of the total students use
grammar learning strategies that consist of cognitive, metacognitive, and social/affective.
Cognitive learning enables students to enhance comprehension, acquisition or retention.
Meanwhile, metacognitive learning enables learners to do a self-evaluation of learning
after the task had been completed. Social/affective learning consists of using social
interactions to help in the comprehension and retention that can be done by learning with
peers.
6
Naturally, students will try to find out how to be a better learner. They will also
think about their progresses in learning. Different students might apply different
strategies depending on what they need in their learning objectives.
Review of Previous Studies on Noun Clause Learning
A study done by Lee (n.d.) used a questionnaire on 216 Taiwanese students to test
students‟ understanding of three major English clauses (Adjective Clause, Adverbial
Clause, and Noun Clause). The study was conducted in Taiwan. The participants were 80
Science College students, 90 Management College students, 43 Design College students,
and 3 Humanity College students. The study found that 50% of the students admitted that
they did not understand the meaning and functions of the three major clauses of English,
63% of them admitted that these clauses were very difficult to be learned, and 15% of
them said that they did not understand about the clauses at all. Half of the total students
are not sure about how to use the three major English clauses even though they had
already learned about it for many years.
Another study conducted by Agcam, Coban, and Cisdik (2015) investigated the
problems faced by Turkish adult learners in acquiring English syntactic movement in the
construction of noun clauses. The study was conducted in an English language teaching
department of Cukurova University in Turkey. There were 17 Turkish-speaking adult
learners with upper-intermediate level of English included as the participants. The data
were elicited through Grammaticality Judgment Task, Scrambled Sentence Task, and
Elicited Imitation Task. The result revealed that learners have some problems of
disposition in recognizing particular structures in noun clauses. The percentage showed
7
that 85.86% learners are successful in recognizing the movement in cases when the noun
clause included auxiliary (such as to be, do, and modal), while 74.83% of them encounter
difficulties when it did not contain auxiliary.
Based on the literature review and previous studies, it can be concluded that
learning Noun Clause is not easy for EFL learners. The difficulties are varied, such as
understanding the meaning and function, identifying particular structures in noun clause,
understanding the noun clause rules, recognizing noun clauses, and producing sentences
with noun clauses properly. Regarding to the possible difficulties EFL students might
encounter in learning noun clause, it is interesting to conduct a further study toward this
issue. The investigation is needed not only to know about the kind of difficulties in
learning, but also to know how the students find their own way to handle their learning
problems.
The Study
Context of the Study
The writer conducted the study at the Faculty of Language and Arts of Universitas
Kristen Satya Wacana. It is located in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. In this study, the
writer conducted the study in the English Language Education Program, because
grammar teaching is very crucial for these students since they are prepared to be English
teachers.
The class of Intermediate Grammar was chosen to be the relevant place of
investigation. Based on the course syllabus, the Intermediate Grammar Course requires
students to identify the importance of learning some English grammatical structures and
develop the constructions using the learned English grammatical structures correctly at
8
the level of sentences and short texts, and noun clause is one of the grammatical items
discussed.
Participants of the Study
The participants of the study were the students of Intermediate Grammar Course
in Semester 1 of the 2016/2017 academic year. There were 23 students attending the
Intermediate Grammar class at that time, and all of them became the participants of this
study.
Instruments of Data Collection
The writer used the following questions as the instrument to collect the data for
this study:
1. What do you think of Noun Clause?
2. Do you have difficulties in learning Noun Clause? What are they?
3. Have you tried to handle these difficulties? How? Did it work?
Data Collection Procedure
First, the writer made an appointment with each participant for doing the Focus
Group Discussion (FGD). FGD was used to collect data due to the limitation of time. It
was done for about 10 until 15 minutes long. The discussion was done in Indonesian to
make it easy for the participants to explain their ideas in details so that the writer would
be able to get a valid and detailed data. There were 3-5 participants in one FGD. The
participants were divided into 5 groups for the FGDs and all FGDs were conducted right
9
after an Intermediate Grammar class on March 13, 2017. The writer recorded the
discussions using an audio recorder.
Procedure of Data Analysis
The recorded discussions were transcribed. Then, the transcription data was
categorized based on the themes the writer created. The themes were created based on the
research questions: Students‟ Difficulties in Learning Noun Clauses and Students‟ Ways
to Handle Their Learning Problems. The data was presented descriptively in the findings
and discussion section based on each theme. Some excerpts from the FGD results will be
presented in English to function as evidence of the findings.
Findings and Discussion
In this section, the writer presents the findings and discussion of this study in
attempt to answer the research questions of students‟ difficulties in learning noun clauses
in the Intermediate Grammar course. The study found that there were three kinds of
difficulties faced by the students in learning noun clauses and there were three ways
students did to overcome their difficulties in learning. In this section, the findings and
discussion is divided into two categories. The first category is „Students‟ Difficulties in
Learning Noun Clauses‟ and the second category is „Students‟ Ways to Handle Their
Learning Problems‟. Based on the first FGD‟s question, all the 23 students said that
learning noun clauses is difficult. The difficulties they faced and the ways they did to
overcome the difficulties were described further as follows:
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Students’ Difficulties in Learning Noun Clauses
The study found that there were three kinds of students‟ difficulties in learning
noun clause. First, the study found that the different functions of noun clause made the
students confused in identifying the clause‟s functions. There are 17 out of 23 students
who said that. Often the lecturer had the students identify the function of a noun clause
and these students often failed the task. Megginson (1996 in Kudhayer, 2013) divided the
functions of noun clause into seven types. They are noun clause as a subject, direct
object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, object of preposition,
and appositive. The excerpt of the discussion is as follows:
Excerpt 1
I‟m still confused when I have to identify a certain function of a noun clause.
There are so many types and it is confusing to understand each type. (Participant
3)
Excerpt 2
If I should determine a function of a noun clause I often make mistakes because
there are too many functions of noun clause and it is not easy to be learned.
(Participant 16)
Excerpt 3
The most difficult part for me when learning noun clause is to find the functions.
This is because one noun clause can have different function. (Participant 20)
According to the students, various functions of noun clauses appeared to be the
major obstacle that caused confusion for the students in learning. The result is similar to
the study conducted by Khudayer (2013), which found that 56.1% of 60 Iraqi learners
faced difficulty in recognizing the functions of noun clause because they did not
understand the differences well enough.
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The second difficulty found in this study is to create a noun clause individually.
There are 7 out of total 23 students who claimed that it is hard for them to create a noun
clause that states a particular function while they are not able yet to identify the function
correctly. The following is the excerpt from the discussion:
Excerpt 4
The most difficult is when I have to make a noun clause but I still find difficulty
in understanding each type of noun clause. (Participant 8)
As can be seen on the excerpt, it is logical for the learners if they found difficulty
to create a noun clause when they themselves still did not acquire the rules of each
function. Thus, it could lead students to making mistakes in producing expressions with a
noun clause. Difficulty in producing expressions with noun clauses was also faced by the
participants in Khudayer‟s study (2013).
Third, there were 6 out of the total 23 students who stated that they faced
difficulties in identifying the subject and verb when learning noun clauses. The following
extract is the proof from the discussion:
Excerpt 5
It is difficult for me to determine the subject and the verb of a noun clause. It
makes me confused everytime I do an exercise about it. (Participant 2)
Excerpt 6
It‟s hard for me to determine the subject and the verb, because I‟m still not able
enough to understand noun clause. (Participant 13)
The excerpts show that students frequently found a hard time in identifying the
subject and verb every time they did an exercise on that. It might happen because
12
students were not capable enough to understand the learned material. It is similar to
Khudayer‟s study result (2013), in which students faced difficulty in the recognition level
because of faulty comprehension in the foreign language. In other words, students might
fail in the recognition level because they lack understanding on the respective principles.
Based on the result, it can be summarized that students faced a number of
difficulties when learning noun clauses. The difficulties were identifying the clause‟s
functions, producing a noun clause individually, and identifying the subject and verb. It
can also be concluded from the excerpts that the three difficulties appeared because
almost all the participants are not capable yet in acquiring the rules.
Students’ Ways to Handle Their Learning Problems
In every learning process there must be obstacles faced by students. Yet, students
must always have their own solutions to overcome the problems. This study found that
there are three ways of students‟ effort to handle their problems in learning noun clause.
The first way students did to handle the learning problem is reviewing the
material. There are 13 out of 23 students who argued that reviewing the materials from
their textbook did help them in their learning. The discussion excerpt is as follows:
Excerpt 7
I usually review the material to help me get a better understanding about noun
clause. (Participant 9)
Based on the excerpt, reviewing the materials will help learner to gain better
understanding about what they have learned. The way students handle by reviewing
13
material can be included into direct strategies in which categorized as memory strategies.
As Yalcin (2005) stated that memory strategies allowed learners to create mental
linkages, apply images and sound, review well, and employing actions. Therefore,
reviewing material can be included into a memory strategy.
The second one is asking peers. Eleven out of 23 students stated that they handled
their learning problem by asking their peers. Below is the excerpt from the discussion:
Excerpt 8
I‟m not comfortable enough to ask my lecturer, so I ask my friend to make it
clearer when I don‟t understand the material. (Participant 10)
Asking peers can be included into indirect strategy that is categorized as social
strategy. Yalcin (2005) stated that social strategies deals with communications between
and among people such as asking questions, cooperating with others, and empathizing
with others. Hence, asking peers in which contains communication with people is a part
of social strategies.
Meanwhile, there were 6 out of the total 23 students who said that finding
information and doing exercise in the Internet is helping their learning. Students stated
that in the Internet they find more various information about noun clause that can enrich
their knowledge in order to gain better understanding about the noun clause functions.
They also said that doing exercises from the Internet help the students more, since it
provides the answer key after they finish doing it. They could identify their error by
looking at the answer key. The following is the excerpt of the discussion:
14
Excerpt 9
Beside reviewing the materials from my handout, I usually find materials and
exercise in the Internet. It provides various definitions and examples, and also
there are answer key for the exercise. So, I know in which part I make mistake.
(Participant 5)
The way students handle their learning difficulties by finding materials and doing
exercises on the Internet can be included into direct strategies, which is categorized as
cognitive strategies. Yalcin (2005) mentioned that cognitive strategies deal with
operating directly on incoming information and manipulating it in ways that enhance
learning. Therefore, the activity when students read materials and doing exercise in the
Internet is a part of operating information to enhance learning.
It can be seen from the results that students did three strategies to handle their
difficulties in learning noun clauses. The first one is memory strategies, which were done
by reviewing the materials. The second one is social strategies, which were done by
asking peers. The last strategy is cognitive strategies, which were done by finding
materials and doing exercises on the Internet.
Conclusion
The results revealed that there were three kinds of difficulties faced by the
students in learning noun clauses and there were three ways students did to overcome
their difficulties in learning.
The first difficulty found was identifying the clause‟s functions. Students claimed
it was difficult since there are too many types of functions of noun clauses. Second,
students claimed that creating a noun clause with a particular function individually is
difficult. This may be because they were not capable yet to identify each function
15
correctly. Third, students claimed that identifying the subject and verb when learning
noun clauses is difficult due to each different function.
In order to overcome each difficulty in learning, the students tried to find a way to
improve and make a better learning. First, students do a material review from their
textbook to help them in learning noun clause. Second, they asked their peers when they
did not understand the materials. Third, they tried to find information and do exercise in
the Internet that could enrich their knowledge to gain better understanding in learning
noun clause functions. Here, the study revealed that students used memory, social, and
cognitive strategies to handle their difficulties in learning noun clause.
In the findings, there is still something worth noticing in it. Almost all of the
students claimed that learning Noun Clause is difficult and confusing. Therefore, it would
be much better if teachers could identify the students‟ difficulties in learning before
delivering the material. Thus, teachers would be able to implement the appropriate
approaches in their grammar teaching in the future, such as implementing explicit
grammar teaching to help students gain a better understanding about the rules when
learning in class. Meanwhile, it is on the students‟ side to determine what kind of
learning strategy they would use to learn the material outside the class. In this case,
teachers could give suggestions to the students about what kind of strategy is better to be
done for their at-home-learning when they deal with noun clauses.
However, the findings of this research have its own limitation due to the
limitation of the participants and setting. Hence, different research with similar context
16
may result differently. In this case, the findings of this research, then, cannot be
generalized in all contexts.
Furthermore, it is suggested for other researchers who desire to conduct such
similar research to broaden the scope of the research. It would be interesting to
investigate deeper about difficulties in learning noun clause with different subject, such
as comparing two different groups of participants based on their level or age. At last, the
writer hopes that this research could be a reference and consideration for those who work
in the area of grammar teaching.
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude to Jesus Christ, the most benevolent and
merciful God. My deepest gratitude goes to my mother and family for their unwavering
support and prayer, and my deepest appreciation to my thesis supervisor, Gita Hastuti,
M.A. and my thesis examiner, Maria Christina Eko Setyarini, M.Hum. for their patience,
guidance and endless support so that I can finish my thesis as without their valuable
assistance, this research would not have been completed. I am also indebted to all
lecturers in FLA-UKSW, especially my student advisor, Drs. Antonius Wahyana, M.A. I
would also thank to all of my research participants, particularly the students of FLA
UKSW, for their kind help.
17
References
Agcam, R., Coban, M., & Cisdik, Z. K. (2015). Second Language Acquisition of
Syntactic Movement in English by Tusrkish Adult Learners. Universitepark
Bulten, 4(1-2), 23-36.
Al-Mekhlafi, A. M., & Nagaratnam, R. P. (2011). Difficulties in Teaching and Learning
Grammar in an EFL Context. International Journal of Instruction, 4(2), 69-92.
Baithy, N. (2014). An Analysis of Students' Error in Learning Noun Clause. Jakarta: State
Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah.
Bourke, J. M. (2005). The grammar we teach. Reflections on English Language
Teaching, 4, 85-97.
Can, T. (2009). Learning and Teaching Languages Online: a Constructivist Approach.
Novitas-ROYAL (Research of Youth and Language), 3(1), 60-74.
DeKeyser, R. (2005). What Makes Second-‐Language Grammar Difficult? A Review of
Issues. Language Learning, 55 (1), 1-25.
Gurata, A. (2008). The Grammar Learning Strategies Employed by Turkish University
Preparatory School EFL Students. Ankara: Bilkent University.
Khudayer, M. A. (2013). The Performance of Iraqi EFL University Students in Using
Noun Clauses in English: Error Analysis. College of Education for Human
Sciences, 488-497.
Lee, M.-L. (n.d). The Study of College Students‟ Understanding of Three Major English
Clauses And its Influence on Their English Learning.
Ling, Z. (2015). Explicit Grammar and Implicit Grammar Teaching for English Major
Students in University. Sino-US English Teaching, 12(8), 556-560.
Mat, A. C., & Soon, G. Y. (2010). Grammar in the Classroom: Students‟ Expectations
and Reality the Case of Arabic and Mandarin. Novitas-ROYAL (Research on
Youth and Language), 4(1), 51-63.
Pawlak, M. (2009). Grammar Learning Strategies and Language Attainment: Seeking a
Realationship. Research in Language, 7, 43-60.
Scott, V. M. (1990). Explicit and Implicit Grammar Teaching Strategies: New Empirical
Data. French Review, 63(5), 779-789.
Yalcin, E. (2005). An Analysis of the Relationship Between the Use of Grammar
Learning Strategies and Student Achievement at English Preparatory Classes.
Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 1(2), 155-169.
18
INTERMEDIATE GRAMMAR CLASSROOM
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fullfilment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Elisse Setya Wardani
112010079
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
SALATIGA
2017
i
STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING NOUN CLAUSES IN INTERMEDIATE
GRAMMAR CLASSROOM
A THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fullfilment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Elisse Setya Wardani
112010079
Approved by
Supervisor
Examiner
Gita Hastuti, M.A.
Maria Christina Eko Setyarini, M.Hum.
ii
iii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course
or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of
my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by
any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2017. Elisse Setya Wardani and Gita Hastuti, M.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of a least one of the copyright owners or the English Language Education
Program, Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga.
Elisse Setya Wardani
iv
TABLE OF CONTENT
Cover .......................................................................................................................... i
Approval Page ........................................................................................................... ii
Publication Agreement Declaration ........................................................................... iii
Copyright Statement ................................................................................................. iv
Table of Content ........................................................................................................ v
Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 2
Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 3
Noun Clause..................................................................................................................... 4
Learners’ Possi le Diffi ulties in Learning Noun Clause .................................................. 5
Strategies in Learning Grammar ...................................................................................... 6
Approaches in Grammar Teaching .................................................................................. 7
Review of Previous Studies on Noun Clause Learning .................................................... 8
The Study .................................................................................................................. 9
Context of the Study ...................................................................................................... 10
Participants of the Study ............................................................................................... 11
Instruments of Data Collection...................................................................................... 12
Data Collection Procedure ............................................................................................. 13
Procedure of Data Analysis............................................................................................ 14
Finding and Discussion ............................................................................................. 15
Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 16
Acknowledgement ................................................................................................... 17
References............................................................................................................... 18
v
STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING NOUN CLAUSES IN
INTERMEDIATE GRAMMAR CLASSROOM
Elisse Setya Wardani
112010079
Abstract
The fact that grammar is difficult for most L2 learners seems unavoidable, particularly
when it comes to learning Noun Clause. Noun clause is a dependent clause that works
like a noun (Khudhayer, 2013). It has become a problematic area for EFL university
learners in Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. This study was aimed at finding out the
students‟ difficulties in learning noun clauses and the ways they handle their difficulties.
The participants were 23 students of Intermediate Grammar Class in the year of 2017.
The data was collected using a Focus Group Discussion. The results revealed that there
were three major difficulties faced by the students in learning noun clause. They were
difficulty in identifying functions, creating noun clause, and identifying the subject and
verb of a noun clause. Besides, there were three ways students did to overcome their
difficulties in learning. They were reviewing materials, asking peers, and finding
information and doing exercise in the Internet.
Keywords: learning strategies, EFL learning difficulty, noun clause.
Introduction
In the area of foreign language teaching, grammar is often portrayed as the most
unattractive and threatening. Baron (1982 in Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam, 2011) argued
that grammar causes the students‟ discomfort. The fact that grammar is difficult for most
L2 learners seems unavoidable. Therefore, the discussion about how to teach grammar
has grown so large to overcome this matter.
In the history of grammar teaching, the use of drilling, mimicry and memorization
has been discussed as effective strategies in the area of foreign language learning (Mat &
Soon, 2010). Mimicry provides learners with necessary meaningful repetition of
1
production and perception of the target language. Memorization deals with the
acquisition of the language. Meanwhile, drilling deals with the speech patterns.
However, some teachers like to provide their students with educational tools, like
scripted dialogues, language learning tapes, and the Internet as they are commonly used
in foreign language classrooms. The students can use the tools while enjoying the
grammar learning process. As described by Can (2009), learners are given the chance to
work together and collaborate while learning the language by creating their own designs
and projects using educational tools such as online learning materials.
Despite the fact that there are many strategies used to teach grammar, students
might have their own expectations in their grammar learning process. As mentioned by
Borg (1999, in Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam, 2011), student expectations of explicit
grammar teaching have been confirmed by many teachers. Borg‟s also mentioned that
according to the teachers, explicit grammar teaching is favored by students because of
expectation and feelings of insecurity. They often believe that having intellectual
knowledge of grammar and its rules by explicit grammar teaching will enable them to use
the language and minimize their error eventually. Yet, many students tend to be afraid of
making mistakes in grammar. Thus, it caused them to feel insecure that might lead them
to face difficulties in their learning development.
Students‟ language skills are to some extent developed by their teachers who are
their first instructor in modeling grammar rules and language patterns in the target
language. Hence, teacher‟s teaching strategies play a major role in the process of
students‟ learning. Therefore, the writer conducted a study about students‟ difficulties in
2
learning noun clauses in Intermediate Grammar classroom. The aim of the study was to
find out the students‟ difficulties in learning noun clauses and the ways they handle their
difficulties. It was done in the English Language Education Program of Universitas
Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga. The study was guided by the following research
questions: “What are the students‟ difficulties in learning noun clauses in Intermediate
Grammar classroom?” and “How do the students handle their difficulties in learning noun
clauses?”
This study hopes to establish a significant reference for English teachers in the
area of grammar teaching. It will hopefully be beneficial to the teachers to evaluate their
performance and to promote a better teaching strategy of grammar.
Literature Review
Noun Clause
Noun clause is a crucial construction in English that can be a problematic for EFL
students because it has various functions (Khudayer, 2013). Noun clauses come in a
variety of forms. According to Khudhayer (2013) a noun clause is a dependent clause,
which can work like a noun. It consists of a subject and a verb.
Noun clause has several functions. Megginson (1996) in Khudhayer (2013)
divided the functions of a noun clause into several types. They can function as a subject,
direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, object of
preposition, and appositive.
3
Difficulties in Learning Grammar
In DeKeyser‟s research (2005), he identified three areas of difficulty for
learners in learning grammar. The first difficulty is complexity of meaning. It
arises form language features of the target language which is not exist in their L1.
It can include articles, grammatical gender, and classifiers. The second difficulty is
the complexity of form. It arises from aspects of the target language which is
highly complex and require a number of correct allomorphs and morpheme choices
that have to be made and to be in the right syntactic place in a sentence. The last
difficulty is the complexity of form-meaning relationship. It occurs when the link
between form and meaning are not transparent.
Learners’ Possible Difficulties in Learning Noun Clause
In the process of learning a foreign language, students will find different language
patterns from their mother tongue. This condition could lead students to encounter some
difficulties that might also be found in the process of learning noun clause. The study of
Baithy (2014) found that most of the first graders of a senior high school in Indonesia
faced difficulty in using the subordinators properly when learning reported speech that
includes noun clause. Baithy 2014) also found that students faced difficulty in
understanding the noun clause rules.
Another study done by Khudayer (2013) to 60 Iraqi learners in an EFL university
found two areas of difficulties that students encounter in using noun clause in English.
First, 56.1% of the total learners faced difficulty in using noun clause at the recognition
level due to the faulty comprehension of a distinction in the foreign language. In this
level, the learners‟ task is to underline the noun clauses in the given sentences, mention
4
whether they are finite or nonfinite, and show the functions of these noun clauses in the
sentences. Second, 75.3% of the total learners faced difficulty in using noun clause at the
production level in which the learners‟ task is to give ten examples based on what is
required from them. It happened due to a number of causes. The first one is because
overgeneralization in which learners failed to use a correct application of the learned
material to the actual context. The second is because ignorance of restrictions in which
the learners apply some rules to a category to which it is not applicable. The last is
because of incomplete applications of rules.
Based on the studies, it can be concluded that possible difficulties faced by
learners in learning noun clauses are varied. Learners might find difficulties in
understanding the noun clause rules, recognizing noun clauses, identifying the type of
noun clauses (finite / non finite) and its functions, and producing sentences with noun
clauses properly.
Strategies in Learning Grammar
Wenden and Rubin as cited in Yalcin (2005) defined learning strategies as “any
set of operations, steps, plans routines used by the learner to facilitate the obtaining,
storage, retrieved, and usage of information”. Yalcin (2005) listed two kinds of learning
strategies: direct and indirect strategies.
There are three groups in direct strategies. The first one is memory strategies.
They are regarded as mental tools such as creating mental linkages, applying images and
sounds, reviewing well, and employing actions. The second one is cognitive strategies
that operate directly on incoming information and manipulate it in ways that enhance
5
learning. The third is compensation strategies, which are helpful to the use of new
language for comprehension or production.
Meanwhile, indirect strategies can be divided into metacognitive, affective, and
social strategies. Metacognitive strategies are used to oversee, regulate, or self-direct
language learning. Affective strategies deal with lowering anxiety, self-encouragement,
and taking emotional temperature; while social strategies deal with communications
between and among people such as asking questions, cooperating with others, and
empathizing with others.
Gurata (2008) said that all learners use particular strategies in order to promote
their learning. Several researchers have also investigated the learning strategies that help
in grammar learning. The study conducted by Gimeno (2002 as cited in Gurata, 2008)
indicated that the use of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies to teach grammar
points improve the experimental group more than the control group did.
In addition, the study done by Yalcin (2005) to 425 of the Preparatory School
students at the University of Gaziantep found that 70.2% of the total students use
grammar learning strategies that consist of cognitive, metacognitive, and social/affective.
Cognitive learning enables students to enhance comprehension, acquisition or retention.
Meanwhile, metacognitive learning enables learners to do a self-evaluation of learning
after the task had been completed. Social/affective learning consists of using social
interactions to help in the comprehension and retention that can be done by learning with
peers.
6
Naturally, students will try to find out how to be a better learner. They will also
think about their progresses in learning. Different students might apply different
strategies depending on what they need in their learning objectives.
Review of Previous Studies on Noun Clause Learning
A study done by Lee (n.d.) used a questionnaire on 216 Taiwanese students to test
students‟ understanding of three major English clauses (Adjective Clause, Adverbial
Clause, and Noun Clause). The study was conducted in Taiwan. The participants were 80
Science College students, 90 Management College students, 43 Design College students,
and 3 Humanity College students. The study found that 50% of the students admitted that
they did not understand the meaning and functions of the three major clauses of English,
63% of them admitted that these clauses were very difficult to be learned, and 15% of
them said that they did not understand about the clauses at all. Half of the total students
are not sure about how to use the three major English clauses even though they had
already learned about it for many years.
Another study conducted by Agcam, Coban, and Cisdik (2015) investigated the
problems faced by Turkish adult learners in acquiring English syntactic movement in the
construction of noun clauses. The study was conducted in an English language teaching
department of Cukurova University in Turkey. There were 17 Turkish-speaking adult
learners with upper-intermediate level of English included as the participants. The data
were elicited through Grammaticality Judgment Task, Scrambled Sentence Task, and
Elicited Imitation Task. The result revealed that learners have some problems of
disposition in recognizing particular structures in noun clauses. The percentage showed
7
that 85.86% learners are successful in recognizing the movement in cases when the noun
clause included auxiliary (such as to be, do, and modal), while 74.83% of them encounter
difficulties when it did not contain auxiliary.
Based on the literature review and previous studies, it can be concluded that
learning Noun Clause is not easy for EFL learners. The difficulties are varied, such as
understanding the meaning and function, identifying particular structures in noun clause,
understanding the noun clause rules, recognizing noun clauses, and producing sentences
with noun clauses properly. Regarding to the possible difficulties EFL students might
encounter in learning noun clause, it is interesting to conduct a further study toward this
issue. The investigation is needed not only to know about the kind of difficulties in
learning, but also to know how the students find their own way to handle their learning
problems.
The Study
Context of the Study
The writer conducted the study at the Faculty of Language and Arts of Universitas
Kristen Satya Wacana. It is located in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. In this study, the
writer conducted the study in the English Language Education Program, because
grammar teaching is very crucial for these students since they are prepared to be English
teachers.
The class of Intermediate Grammar was chosen to be the relevant place of
investigation. Based on the course syllabus, the Intermediate Grammar Course requires
students to identify the importance of learning some English grammatical structures and
develop the constructions using the learned English grammatical structures correctly at
8
the level of sentences and short texts, and noun clause is one of the grammatical items
discussed.
Participants of the Study
The participants of the study were the students of Intermediate Grammar Course
in Semester 1 of the 2016/2017 academic year. There were 23 students attending the
Intermediate Grammar class at that time, and all of them became the participants of this
study.
Instruments of Data Collection
The writer used the following questions as the instrument to collect the data for
this study:
1. What do you think of Noun Clause?
2. Do you have difficulties in learning Noun Clause? What are they?
3. Have you tried to handle these difficulties? How? Did it work?
Data Collection Procedure
First, the writer made an appointment with each participant for doing the Focus
Group Discussion (FGD). FGD was used to collect data due to the limitation of time. It
was done for about 10 until 15 minutes long. The discussion was done in Indonesian to
make it easy for the participants to explain their ideas in details so that the writer would
be able to get a valid and detailed data. There were 3-5 participants in one FGD. The
participants were divided into 5 groups for the FGDs and all FGDs were conducted right
9
after an Intermediate Grammar class on March 13, 2017. The writer recorded the
discussions using an audio recorder.
Procedure of Data Analysis
The recorded discussions were transcribed. Then, the transcription data was
categorized based on the themes the writer created. The themes were created based on the
research questions: Students‟ Difficulties in Learning Noun Clauses and Students‟ Ways
to Handle Their Learning Problems. The data was presented descriptively in the findings
and discussion section based on each theme. Some excerpts from the FGD results will be
presented in English to function as evidence of the findings.
Findings and Discussion
In this section, the writer presents the findings and discussion of this study in
attempt to answer the research questions of students‟ difficulties in learning noun clauses
in the Intermediate Grammar course. The study found that there were three kinds of
difficulties faced by the students in learning noun clauses and there were three ways
students did to overcome their difficulties in learning. In this section, the findings and
discussion is divided into two categories. The first category is „Students‟ Difficulties in
Learning Noun Clauses‟ and the second category is „Students‟ Ways to Handle Their
Learning Problems‟. Based on the first FGD‟s question, all the 23 students said that
learning noun clauses is difficult. The difficulties they faced and the ways they did to
overcome the difficulties were described further as follows:
10
Students’ Difficulties in Learning Noun Clauses
The study found that there were three kinds of students‟ difficulties in learning
noun clause. First, the study found that the different functions of noun clause made the
students confused in identifying the clause‟s functions. There are 17 out of 23 students
who said that. Often the lecturer had the students identify the function of a noun clause
and these students often failed the task. Megginson (1996 in Kudhayer, 2013) divided the
functions of noun clause into seven types. They are noun clause as a subject, direct
object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, object of preposition,
and appositive. The excerpt of the discussion is as follows:
Excerpt 1
I‟m still confused when I have to identify a certain function of a noun clause.
There are so many types and it is confusing to understand each type. (Participant
3)
Excerpt 2
If I should determine a function of a noun clause I often make mistakes because
there are too many functions of noun clause and it is not easy to be learned.
(Participant 16)
Excerpt 3
The most difficult part for me when learning noun clause is to find the functions.
This is because one noun clause can have different function. (Participant 20)
According to the students, various functions of noun clauses appeared to be the
major obstacle that caused confusion for the students in learning. The result is similar to
the study conducted by Khudayer (2013), which found that 56.1% of 60 Iraqi learners
faced difficulty in recognizing the functions of noun clause because they did not
understand the differences well enough.
11
The second difficulty found in this study is to create a noun clause individually.
There are 7 out of total 23 students who claimed that it is hard for them to create a noun
clause that states a particular function while they are not able yet to identify the function
correctly. The following is the excerpt from the discussion:
Excerpt 4
The most difficult is when I have to make a noun clause but I still find difficulty
in understanding each type of noun clause. (Participant 8)
As can be seen on the excerpt, it is logical for the learners if they found difficulty
to create a noun clause when they themselves still did not acquire the rules of each
function. Thus, it could lead students to making mistakes in producing expressions with a
noun clause. Difficulty in producing expressions with noun clauses was also faced by the
participants in Khudayer‟s study (2013).
Third, there were 6 out of the total 23 students who stated that they faced
difficulties in identifying the subject and verb when learning noun clauses. The following
extract is the proof from the discussion:
Excerpt 5
It is difficult for me to determine the subject and the verb of a noun clause. It
makes me confused everytime I do an exercise about it. (Participant 2)
Excerpt 6
It‟s hard for me to determine the subject and the verb, because I‟m still not able
enough to understand noun clause. (Participant 13)
The excerpts show that students frequently found a hard time in identifying the
subject and verb every time they did an exercise on that. It might happen because
12
students were not capable enough to understand the learned material. It is similar to
Khudayer‟s study result (2013), in which students faced difficulty in the recognition level
because of faulty comprehension in the foreign language. In other words, students might
fail in the recognition level because they lack understanding on the respective principles.
Based on the result, it can be summarized that students faced a number of
difficulties when learning noun clauses. The difficulties were identifying the clause‟s
functions, producing a noun clause individually, and identifying the subject and verb. It
can also be concluded from the excerpts that the three difficulties appeared because
almost all the participants are not capable yet in acquiring the rules.
Students’ Ways to Handle Their Learning Problems
In every learning process there must be obstacles faced by students. Yet, students
must always have their own solutions to overcome the problems. This study found that
there are three ways of students‟ effort to handle their problems in learning noun clause.
The first way students did to handle the learning problem is reviewing the
material. There are 13 out of 23 students who argued that reviewing the materials from
their textbook did help them in their learning. The discussion excerpt is as follows:
Excerpt 7
I usually review the material to help me get a better understanding about noun
clause. (Participant 9)
Based on the excerpt, reviewing the materials will help learner to gain better
understanding about what they have learned. The way students handle by reviewing
13
material can be included into direct strategies in which categorized as memory strategies.
As Yalcin (2005) stated that memory strategies allowed learners to create mental
linkages, apply images and sound, review well, and employing actions. Therefore,
reviewing material can be included into a memory strategy.
The second one is asking peers. Eleven out of 23 students stated that they handled
their learning problem by asking their peers. Below is the excerpt from the discussion:
Excerpt 8
I‟m not comfortable enough to ask my lecturer, so I ask my friend to make it
clearer when I don‟t understand the material. (Participant 10)
Asking peers can be included into indirect strategy that is categorized as social
strategy. Yalcin (2005) stated that social strategies deals with communications between
and among people such as asking questions, cooperating with others, and empathizing
with others. Hence, asking peers in which contains communication with people is a part
of social strategies.
Meanwhile, there were 6 out of the total 23 students who said that finding
information and doing exercise in the Internet is helping their learning. Students stated
that in the Internet they find more various information about noun clause that can enrich
their knowledge in order to gain better understanding about the noun clause functions.
They also said that doing exercises from the Internet help the students more, since it
provides the answer key after they finish doing it. They could identify their error by
looking at the answer key. The following is the excerpt of the discussion:
14
Excerpt 9
Beside reviewing the materials from my handout, I usually find materials and
exercise in the Internet. It provides various definitions and examples, and also
there are answer key for the exercise. So, I know in which part I make mistake.
(Participant 5)
The way students handle their learning difficulties by finding materials and doing
exercises on the Internet can be included into direct strategies, which is categorized as
cognitive strategies. Yalcin (2005) mentioned that cognitive strategies deal with
operating directly on incoming information and manipulating it in ways that enhance
learning. Therefore, the activity when students read materials and doing exercise in the
Internet is a part of operating information to enhance learning.
It can be seen from the results that students did three strategies to handle their
difficulties in learning noun clauses. The first one is memory strategies, which were done
by reviewing the materials. The second one is social strategies, which were done by
asking peers. The last strategy is cognitive strategies, which were done by finding
materials and doing exercises on the Internet.
Conclusion
The results revealed that there were three kinds of difficulties faced by the
students in learning noun clauses and there were three ways students did to overcome
their difficulties in learning.
The first difficulty found was identifying the clause‟s functions. Students claimed
it was difficult since there are too many types of functions of noun clauses. Second,
students claimed that creating a noun clause with a particular function individually is
difficult. This may be because they were not capable yet to identify each function
15
correctly. Third, students claimed that identifying the subject and verb when learning
noun clauses is difficult due to each different function.
In order to overcome each difficulty in learning, the students tried to find a way to
improve and make a better learning. First, students do a material review from their
textbook to help them in learning noun clause. Second, they asked their peers when they
did not understand the materials. Third, they tried to find information and do exercise in
the Internet that could enrich their knowledge to gain better understanding in learning
noun clause functions. Here, the study revealed that students used memory, social, and
cognitive strategies to handle their difficulties in learning noun clause.
In the findings, there is still something worth noticing in it. Almost all of the
students claimed that learning Noun Clause is difficult and confusing. Therefore, it would
be much better if teachers could identify the students‟ difficulties in learning before
delivering the material. Thus, teachers would be able to implement the appropriate
approaches in their grammar teaching in the future, such as implementing explicit
grammar teaching to help students gain a better understanding about the rules when
learning in class. Meanwhile, it is on the students‟ side to determine what kind of
learning strategy they would use to learn the material outside the class. In this case,
teachers could give suggestions to the students about what kind of strategy is better to be
done for their at-home-learning when they deal with noun clauses.
However, the findings of this research have its own limitation due to the
limitation of the participants and setting. Hence, different research with similar context
16
may result differently. In this case, the findings of this research, then, cannot be
generalized in all contexts.
Furthermore, it is suggested for other researchers who desire to conduct such
similar research to broaden the scope of the research. It would be interesting to
investigate deeper about difficulties in learning noun clause with different subject, such
as comparing two different groups of participants based on their level or age. At last, the
writer hopes that this research could be a reference and consideration for those who work
in the area of grammar teaching.
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude to Jesus Christ, the most benevolent and
merciful God. My deepest gratitude goes to my mother and family for their unwavering
support and prayer, and my deepest appreciation to my thesis supervisor, Gita Hastuti,
M.A. and my thesis examiner, Maria Christina Eko Setyarini, M.Hum. for their patience,
guidance and endless support so that I can finish my thesis as without their valuable
assistance, this research would not have been completed. I am also indebted to all
lecturers in FLA-UKSW, especially my student advisor, Drs. Antonius Wahyana, M.A. I
would also thank to all of my research participants, particularly the students of FLA
UKSW, for their kind help.
17
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