A study on the seventh grade student\' grammatical errors in descriptive writing of SMPN 1 Muntilan.

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vi ABSTRACT

Hanafitria. 2009. A Study on the Seventh Grade Students’ Grammatical Errors in Descriptive Writing of SMP N 1 Muntilan. Undergraduate Thesis. Yogyakarta: English Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.

This research started with the occurrence of grammatical errors that happened in most of students writing. They did not pay much attention to the sentences they have made, therefore, there are many grammatical errors happened. Through this research which is a study on grammatical errors that are commonly made by the seventh grade students in writing descriptive paragraph, hopefully the errors happen could be minimized. There were two questions that needed to be answered. The first question was the grammatical errors that the seventh grade students commonly made in their descriptive writing. The second was what the teacher could do to improve students’ descriptive writing.

The subjects of the research were the bilingual class and the regular class of seventh grade students and their teacher in a public school, SMP N 1 Muntilan. The data of the research were the students’ descriptive writing. From the writing collected, the grammatical errors made by the students were analyzed.

There were some theories to support this research. The theories were used to provide the theoretical framework of this research. The theories included the rubrics in evaluating a writing task, which contains task fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics in descriptive writing.

The result of the study confirmed that, first, the grammatical errors commonly made by the seventh grade students based on the checklist on the Frequency Errors Made by ESL Writers adopted from La Trobe University was the Subject verb agreement. It covers the subjects and the verbs which do not agree in number. In decreasing order, the other grammatical errors made by the students were verb tense, vocabulary, articles, word class, sentence, spelling, singular/plural and, the last, punctuation. Second, from the interview with the teacher, what the teacher could do to improve students descriptive writing were doing repetitions and drilling for the writing exercises. It means that the writing exercises were continuously done until at least 85% of the students mastered them.

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vii ABSTRAK

Hanafitria. 2009. A Study on the Seventh Grade Students’ Grammatical Errors in Descriptive Writing of SMP N 1 Muntilan. Skripsi Sarjana Pendidikan. Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Penelitian ini berawal dari kejadian banyaknya kesalahan struktural yang dilakukan oleh para siswa. Mereka tidak memberi perhatian atas kalimat-kalimat yang telah mereka buat, sehingga kesalahan struktural masih banyak terjadi. Melalui penelitian ini yang adalah sebuah studi tentang kesalahan struktural yang umumnya dilakukan oleh siswa kelas tujuh sekolah menegah pertama dalam menulis paragraf deskriptif; diharapkan kesalahan-kesalahan tersebut dapat diminimalis. Ada dua pertanyaan yang perlu untuk dijawab. Pertanyaan pertama adalah apakah kesalahan struktural yang umumnya dilakukan oleh siswa kelas tujuh dalam tulisan paragraf deskripsif mereka. Pertanyaan kedua adalah apa yang bisa dilakukan oleh guru untuk meningkatkan kemampuan siswa dalam menulis paragraf deskriptif..

Subjek dari penelitian ini adalah para siswa kelas tujuh (kelas dua bahasa dan kelas regular) dan seorang guru mereka di sebuah sekolah negeri, yaitu, SMPN 1 Muntilan. Data dari penelitian ini adalah hasil dari tulisan deskriptif siswa. Dari data yang telah diperoleh, kesalahan stuktural yang dilakukan siswa dianalisa.

Ada beberapa teori yang digunakan untuk mendukung penelitian ini. Teori-teori ini digunakan untuk memberikan pembatasan bahasan dari penelitian. Teori itu meliputi rubrik dalam mengevaluasi sebuah karya tulis, yang terdiri dari konten, organisasi, kosakata, bahasa, dan mekanik dalam penulisan paragraf deskripsi

Dari hasil dari penelitian ini dapat dikorfimasikan bahwa, pertama, kesalahan struktural yang paling umum dilakukan oleh para siswa kelas tujuh berdasarkan checklist dalam the Frequency Errors Made by ESL Writers yang diadaptasi dari Universitas La Trobe adalah Subject verb agreement. Hal ini meliputi penggunaan subjek kalimat dan kata kerja yang mengikutinya. Dalam urutan mundur, kesalahan struktural yang dilakukan oleh para siswa adalah verb tense, vocabulary, articles, word class, sentence, spelling, singular/plural, and, punctuation. Kedua, dari hasil wawancara dengan guru dari sekolah tersebut, yang dapat dilakukan oleh guru untuk meningkatkan kemampuan menulis paragraf deskriptif adalah melakukan perulangan. Dalam artian, latihan-latihan menulis paragraf deskriptif dilakukan terus-menerus hingga kurang lebih 85% dari siswa telah menguasainya.

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A STUDY ON THE SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS’ GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN DESCRIPTIVE WRITING

OF SMP N 1 MUNTILAN

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By Hanafitria

Student Number: 041214119

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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A STUDY ON THE SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS’ GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN DESCRIPTIVE WRITING

OF SMP N 1 MUNTILAN

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By Hanafitria

Student Number: 041214119

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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vi ABSTRACT

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vii ABSTRAK

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viii

Our greatest glory is not in never falling,

but in rising every time we fall.

Confucius

Knowing is not enough; we must apply.

Willing is not enough; we must do.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank to the Almighty God who is always by my side through the ups and downs of my life. He shows me that I will get the best if only I believe. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude for those who have supported, facilitated, and helped me for all this time:

1. Yohana Veniranda, S. Pd., M.Hum, for her willingness to guide me through this thesis, so I manage to finish it.

2. My lovely parents, Ag. Mudakjo and Ag. Murtinah for their endless love for me. I thank them for all the supports and lessons that I could not get at school.

3. All PBI lecturers, I thank them for sharing their knowledge, so now I can share my knowledge to other people as well.

4. Ms. Suci Pambasmi, S.Pd. and all the seventh grade students at SMP N 1 Muntilan for their willingness to help, so I could do the research there. They were so helpful.

5. Sister Margareth, FCJ, I thank her for her help as my proofreader. She helped me a lot in knowing the correct words for each sentence.

6. Mba’ Tari and Mba’ Dani from Sekretariat PBI who always gave helps they could give which helped me a lot through the process of finishing the thesis.

7. Mira, Dewi Putri; I thank them for their true friendships that they have given with all the tears and the laughter. I will miss them all…

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8. All of my friends in PBI 2004, Danti, Yulis a.k.a Adi, Okki “Bokki” and those that I cannot mention one by one, I thank them for the precious time we spent together. Friends are for forever.

9. My lovely younger sister, Sri Handayani, I thank her for her support and silly jokes which always make me laugh.

10.My Dee2, I thank him for his companion and support along the way here. I hope that our dreams will come true.

11.My ‘crazy’ friends at ELTI, Yu Widh, Mbok De, Mr. ‘Leo’ Panda, DanDan, KioKio, Tante Nay, Tim Tam, Shoe See, and Felix da Cat who taught me how to share wonderful experiences; and also all the seniors who always have the willingness to help whenever I need help. 12.Last, but not least, I would like to thank NdHut for accompanying and

helping me so I can finish this thesis on time. I thank him for the supports he always gave.

Yogyakara, 10 July 2009 The Writer,

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE………... i

APPROVAL PAGES……….... ii

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY………... iv

ABSTRACT……….. vi

ABSTRAK………..……… vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……….. ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS……….. xi

LIST OF TABLES………... xiv

LIST OF FIGURES………... xv

LIST OF APPENDICES……….. ….. xvi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study……….. 1

B. Problem Formulation……… 4

C. Problem Limitation……….. 4

D. Objectives of the Study……….. …. 5

E. Benefits of the Study……….. …. 5

F. Definition of the Terms………..…. 6

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW A. Theoretical Description……….. 8

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xii

2. Writing Focus on Language Structures……… 9

3. The Process of Writing……… 9

4. Descriptive Writing………. 11

5. Techniques of Description……….. 12

6. Grammar in Writing……… 13

7. Grammatical Error……….. 14

8. Stages of Error……… 14

B. Theoretical Framework……… 16

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Methods……….. 19

B. Research Respondents………. 20

C. Setting………. 21

D. Data Collection……….. 22

E. Data Analysis……….. 23

F. Research Procedures……….. 26

CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION A. Data Presentation and Analysis of the First Question…….... 28

1. The Data Presentation on the Grammatical Errors Commonly Made by the Seventh Grade Students ……….. 30

2. The Data Analysis of the First Question……….. 50

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CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion……… 60

B. Suggestions……….. 61

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LIST OF FIGURES

Page Figure 1. The Chart of Students’ Grammatical Errors of Bilingual Class…… 33 Figure 2. The Chart of Students’ Scores of Bilingual Class ……… 37 Figure 3. The Chart of Students’ Grammatical Errors of Regular Class…... 43 Figure 4. The Chart of Students’ Scores of Regular Class……….. 48

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LIST OF TABLES

Page Table a.1 Data on the Frequency Errors Made by ESL Writers

adopted from La Trobe University (1992)....………. 30 Table a.2 The Result of the Students’ Scores Based on the Assessment

Scale (Christopher Tribble, 1996)……… 34 Table b.1 Data on the Frequent Errors Made by ESL writers

adopted from La Trobe University (1992)……….. 38 Table b.2 The Result of the Students’ Scores Based on the Assessment

Scale (Christopher Tribble, 1996)……… 44 Table B.1 Most Writing in the Classroom Falls on a Continuum

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Page Appendix A. Muatan Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan Mata Pelajaran

Bahasa Inggris for Seventh Grade Students…... 66 Appendix B. List of Names of the Seventh Grade Students’

of SMP N 1 Muntilan……….. 69

Appendix C. The Transcript of Interview with the Seventh Grade

Students’ of SMP N 1 Muntilan’s Teacher………. 72 Appendix D. Examples of Seventh Grade Students’ Descriptive

Writing……… 76 Appendix E. Examples of Students Activities in Three Stages

of Learning………. 80

Appendix F. An Example of Games to Raise Students’ Awareness in

Descriptive Writing………... 82 Appendix G. Examples of Games to Drill Students’ Understanding in

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1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses about the background of the research. It consists of six parts. They are background of the study, problem formulation, problem limitation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of terms.

A. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In today’s era, mastering English is one of the important skills that people need to achieve a better life. English is also used in many aspects of life such as politics, economics, commercial and trade, culture, and many more. By mastering English, people can have a better job than people who do not master English. Seeing the benefits of English, Indonesian government in their educational regulations had made a decision to make English as a compulsory subject in junior high schools. Therefore, all of the junior high school students have to learn English whether they like it or not. English also becomes one of the subjects that is tested in the final examination.

In real life, people are forced to be able to describe anything. It can be about people, things, or places. The description requires detail information and here involves the five senses such as touch, taste, listen, see, smell. Students in their real life need to have the ability to describe, to give information as detail as possible; so that the other people can know the picture of the description only by imagining in their mind.

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In learning English there are four language skills that need to be learned. They are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. All those skills are very important and supporting each other. However, this research gives more emphasis on writing skill. Writing, according to Iris Tiedt (1989: 1) in his book Writing: From Topic to Evaluation, said that writing is a method of expressing ideas about any subject content; it appears in classrooms everywhere and, therefore, must be the concern of every teacher.

Still according to Iris Tiedt, there are certain basic understandings about writing process. The first is students learn to write by writing. It means that students have to write many writings in order to be able to write good texts. The source of the ideas can come from their own experiences. Second, writing expresses thinking. A teacher’s role is as a guide to see the relationship between thinking and writing process. Third, students learn to write by reading. It is important for the students to read and understand model text before they write specific form of writing so that they know what features to include in the text. Students also learn to write by reading written works done by other students. Students are taught by what they read, not by dictionaries and handbooks (Roberts, Paul, 1958: 82). Forth, writing is not easy. Writing is hard work; problems arise when the students have to deal with the written language, spelling, punctuation, et cetera. Fifth, writing can be taught. Teacher provides a model of writing to the students, gives examples, and then has them compose their own writing. The last, writing is a way of learning in all classrooms. Teacher needs to

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see writing as a way of communicating thought in any subject area; the emphasis should be on the ideas expressed through writing.

Writing ability, in relation, follows reading ability. Therefore, writing skill and reading skill cannot be separated. Students cannot write if they cannot read, and they cannot make a good writing if they make a lot of errors. Even so, this research gives more specification in writing; and the research will focus on descriptive text. This type of text consists of three major components; those are describing people, describing things, and describing places. According to the Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) Sekolah Menengah Pertama, the basic competence of writing skill of the seventh grade students in the second semester is that the students are able to express meaning and rhetoric steps on a simple short essay using accurate types of written language to interact with the nearest environment in descriptive and procedure texts. That is why descriptive text is chosen to be the object of this study. Students in the future will have an ability to describe someone, something, or place accurately.

Students in their writing often make some errors, including when they have to write about descriptive composition. It could happen because the students do not give attention to the writing elements. Two of the important elements of writing are about the grammar and the composition itself; it includes the task fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics. Those two elements are not only important and exist in descriptive writing but also in every kind of writing. Besides having to pay attention to the grammatical errors

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and written assessment, students also have to pay attention to the features or characteristics of a descriptive text.

The aim of this research is to discover the grammatical errors commonly made by the students’ and their level of mastery in the five aspects of a descriptive writing, namely task fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics, and also to find out what can the teachers do to improve the students’ descriptive writing.

B. PROBLEM FORMULATION

The researcher in this research wanted to find out about the answer to these following questions:

1. What are the grammatical errors that the seventh grade students of SMP N 1 Muntilan commonly made in their descriptive writing?

2. What can the teachers do to improve the students’ descriptive writing?

C. PROBLEM LIMITATION

This research focused on the grammatical errors; five aspects of a written work to evaluate the seventh grade students’ writing, namely task fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics in students’ descriptive writing; and also the teacher’s movement to improve the students’ writing, in this case, descriptive writing.

The subjects of the research were the seventh grade students and their teacher in a public school, that was SMPN 1 Muntilan. There were six classes and

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taught by the same teacher, two classes were for bilingual class and four classes for regular class. However, the researcher decided to use only two of those classes as the subjects of the research, one from bilingual class and one from regular class; since it was impossible to make use all of the classes. There were no specific reasons why the researcher chose bilingual class and bilingual class. From those subjects, the researcher got the information that was needed to answer the questions mentioned before in the problem formulation.

D. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This research was conducted as an attempt to discover the grammatical errors commonly made by the seventh grade students in writing descriptive text by evaluating their writing based on the evaluative checklist which emphasized five major aspects of a piece of written work. This research also tried to find out what the teachers did to improve the students’ writing.

E. BENEFITS OF THE STUDY

Hopefully, this study will be useful for the teachers that by knowing the students’ grammatical errors in some particular areas, for example on the subject verb agreement, they can give more emphasis on that area, so that the students can minimize the errors they make.

This research can also help the next researchers or anyone else who feel interested in the same study especially in writing descriptive text, and will also help the English Education students or people for the next research.

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F. DEFINITION OF TERMS 1. Descriptive writing

In this study, descriptive writing refers to a text which lists the characteristics of something or someone that you want to picture. The goal of description is to enable the reader to visualize a person, place, or thing, you must provide as much detail, and the right kind of detail, as possible. (McMurrey, David A., 1983: 239).

2. Grammatical Errors

The term grammatical errors in this study are related to the grammatical mistakes that are produced by the students in their descriptive writing. Errors according to Pit Corder (1973) refer to the utterances which are either superficially deviant or inappropriate in terms of the target language grammar.

3. The Seventh Grade Students

This refers to the students in the first grade of junior high school. In this research, they are students in SMPN 1 Muntilan. The age range of the students is about 12-13 years old.

4. SMP N 1 Muntilan

This school is located in Jl. Pemuda No. 161 Muntilan. It is one of the favorite schools in Muntilan. There are six classes on each level with the total number of students, more or less, four hundred students. There is also

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an acceleration class which consists of twenty students. In the acceleration class, the students only need to take two years of study. This school has many facilities to support the teaching and learning process; they are language laboratory, computer media, and classes with supporting environment, and so on.

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8 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter consists of theories related to the topic of the research. There are two major sections which are used as the groundwork of this research. They are theoretical description and theoretical framework.

A. THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION

The researcher in this chapter, make an effort to gather theories related to writing, descriptive writing, and grammatical errors to support the research. The theories were stated by experts in language teaching.

1. The Concept of Writing

Since this research is frequently related to writing, especially descriptive writing, the researcher considers that it is important to analyze the concept of writing. According to Harmer (2001: 88), writing can be defined by a series of contrast:

a. It is both a physical and a mental act.

At the most basic level, writing is the physical act of committing words or ideas to some medium. On the other hand, writing is a mental work of inventing ideas, thinking about how to express them, and organizing them into statements and paragraphs that will be clear to a reader.

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b. Its purpose is both to express and impress.

Writers typically serve two masters: themselves, and their own desires to express an idea or feeling, and readers or audience who need to have ideas expressed in certain ways. Writers then choose the best form for their writing - a shopping list, notes from a meeting, a scholarly article, a novel, or poetry are only a few of the choices. Each of these types of writing has a different level of complexity, depending on its purpose. c. It is both a process and a product.

The writer imagines, organizes, drafts, edits, reads, and rereads. This process of writing is often cyclical, and sometimes disorderly. Ultimately, what the audience sees, whether it is an instructor or a wider audience is a product - an essay, letter, story, or research report.

2. Writing focus on language structures

Hyland (2003: 3-4) said that one way to look at writing is to see it as marks of a page or a screen, a coherent arrangement of words, clauses, and sentences, structured according to a system of rules. Conceptualizing second language writing in this way directs attention to writing as a product and uncourageous a focus on formal text units or grammatical features of texts.

3. The Process of Writing

Writing is a paper work, and it should be gone about in a workmanlike manner. … and, like any other job, it should be done in a series of steps. Each step

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presents its problems, but each makes an important contribution to the finished paper (Perrin, 1965: 38). He proposed these stages of writing a paper:

Stages of Writing a Paper

a. Focusing on a subject – Definition of topic, sensing of problem involved and of possible sources of information.

b. Gathering material – Notes from memory, observation, interviews, reading, speculation.

c. Deciding on methods of development – The ways of approaching and exploring the subject.

d. Organizing the paper – A synopsis or outline of the paper. e. Writing the first draft – Tentative of the copy.

f. Revising – Necessary changes in material, corrections and improvement in words, sentences, paragraphs.

g. Preparing the manuscript – The completed paper, ready for reading or for printing.

h. Seeing the manuscript into the print – The printed copy.

Whereas, the stages outlined based on Tribble (1996: 38) below are among the most commonly reported.

PREWRITING

(specifying the task / planning and outlining / collecting data / making notes)

COMPOSING L

REVISING

(reorganizing / shifting emphasis / focusing information and style for your readership)

EDITING

(checking grammar / lexis / surface features, for example punctuation, spelling, layout, quotation conventions, references)

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Another type of process writing is proposed by Raimes (1983: 139)

Selection of Preparation Writing Rewriting, Teacher’s

topic for writing and editing marking of

prewriting proofreading paper

activities

There is also a process model of writing instruction according to Hyland (2003: 11)

Selection of topic: by teacher and/or students

Prewriting: brainstorming, collecting data, note taking, outlining, etc.

Composing: getting ideas down on paper

Response to draft: teacher/peers respond to ideas, organization, and style

Revising: reorganizing, style, adjusting to readers, refining ideas

Response to revisions: teacher/peers respond to ideas, organization, and style

Proofreading and editing: checking and correcting form, layout, evidence, etc.

Evaluation: teacher evaluates progress over the process

Publishing: by class circulation or presentation, noticeboards, etc.

Follow-up tasks: to address weaknesses

In each of the stages of writing process above, the writer can jump backward or forward to any of these activities.

4. Descriptive Writing

Description is a term used rather loosely in ordinary conversation, but it means something quite specific. It is often combined with other kinds of writing, most often with narration. The goal of description is to enable the reader to

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visualize a person, place, or thing as much detail, and the right kind of detail, as possible. It includes all the appropriate senses, particularly sight. But the other senses - smell, hearing, touch, and taste - can also play important role in description. (McMurrey, 1983: 239)

5. Techniques of Description

According to McMurrey, these following strategies can be used for developing a good description.

a. Analysis of the Item Described

The writer has to consider and then select the parts of that subject that will actually describe. Analysis help in two ways: it limits the enormous amount of detail by which most people, places, or things can be described; and it also provides an organizational pattern.

b. Selection or Specification of Detail

The most important thing in description is enabling the reader to visualize what the writer describing in as much detail as is appropriate. Think about as many of the specific detail that can be quite a challenge, especially to inexperienced writers. The process of specification detail can go almost endlessly. Where the writer stops in the process depends on (1) the writer’s purpose in writing the description; (2) the effect you are attempting to create; and (3) the writer length limitation.

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c. Dominant Mood of Description 1. Objective description

It concentrates on presenting only facts and avoids showing how the writer actually feels about the topic. Business or scientific reports primarily use objective description.

2. Subjective description

It includes the writer’s own reactions; the description is designed in such a way that the reader is clearly being encouraged to respond to it emotionally. A subjective description might cover anger, fear, resentment, hostility, serenity, excitement, craziness, melancholy, depression, happiness, joy, wonder, awe, or skepticism, depending on the purpose of the writer or the writing situation.

d. Showing Versus Telling

One of the most serious problems that arise in descriptive writing involves telling the readers rather than showing them.

e. Comparison or Analogies

Comparing the subject of description to something similar will also make the description more vivid.

6. Grammar in Writing

“Grammar in writing” emphasizes that a focus on form in composition can help writers develop rich linguistic resources needed to express ideas effectively in addition to providing assistance in error correction. (Celce-Murcia, 2001: 233)

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Grammar in writing should mean helping writers develop their knowledge of linguistic resources and grammatical systems to convey ideas meaningfully and appropriately to intended readers. (Frodesen in Celce-Murcia, 2001: 233)

7. Grammatical Error

Grammar is more than just a set of rules. It is the ever-evolving structure of our language, a field which merits study, invites analysis, and promises fascination.(http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/ac_paper/gram mar.shtml)

a. Competence errors

It is developed from a lack of knowledge or ability. b. Performance errors

It is developed from a mistake in language processing in the head. E.g. error in typing the word, “the” becomes “teh”.

8. Stages of Error

Pit Carder (1993) carried out three successive stages of error analysis. They are Recognition, Description, and Explanation.

a. Recognition of Error

“Erroneous” means any utterances which are either superficially deviant or inappropriate in terms of the target language grammar. Pit Corder distinguishes between mistakes, lapses, and errors. They correspond to what he calls Pre-systematic, Post-systematic, and Systematic errors.

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1) Pre-systematic errors are those committed by the learners while he or she is trying to come to grips with a new point.

2) Post-systematic errors occur when one temporarily forgets a point that has been previously understood.

3) Systematic errors are those which occur when the learner has formed inaccurate hypothesis about the target language (i.e. the language that he is learning.

b. Description of Errors

Description of errors tries to explain to the learners how they failed to realize the intended message. Errors that occur repeatedly should be looked so that the rule that the learner uses and tries to describe can be observed. It is a difficult task to do because individual learners may be highly inconsistent in their errors. Inconsistency is more characteristic of errors than systematicity. Once errors are described properly, explanation of errors can begin.

c. Explanation of error

Explanation is still largely speculative because of the limited knowledge of the psychological and neurological process involved in language learning. The same error could be looked at from various points of view, but once it has been decided to give an explanation from a particular point of view, then classifying the errors can be started.

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B. Theoretical Framework

Basically, students in learning writing have already known about types of texts. One of those texts is descriptive text. The goal of descriptive text or description is to enable the reader to visualize a person, place, or thing as much detail, and the right kind of detail, as possible. It includes all the appropriate senses, particularly sight. But the other senses - smell, hearing, touch, and taste - can also play important role in description. (McMurrey, 1983: 239).

Writing for the seventh grade students can be more difficult than the other skills because they have to pay more attention on the grammar and the spelling. Students in their writing often make many grammatical errors which can make the writing quite odd to understand. Students also sometimes lack of vocabulary. Therefore, it makes them use words which are not suitable to the context of the sentences.

Seeing the difficulties of writing, the researcher gave more attention to the errors that students made in their writing. The aim of the research is to find out what are the grammatical errors commonly made by the seventh grade students of SMP N 1 Muntilan in their descriptive writing and also what can the teacher do to improve students’ descriptive writing. The data collected from the students is about descriptive writing. In analyzing the students’ descriptive writing, the researcher uses the frequent errors made by ESL writer’s checklist which consists of articles, verb tense, subject verb agreement, singular/plural, punctuation, word class, vocabulary, spelling, and sentence structure. Finishing the step, the researcher gives mark to the students’

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descriptive writing based on the second checklist, that is an evaluative checklist proposed by Christopher Tribble (1996) which is suitable enough for every type of writing.

1. Task fulfillment/content – It involves the treatment of the subject, interpretation of the topic, content relevant to the topic, and accurate detail. 2. Organization – It includes the ideas of the description, the organized

paragraphs, the coherence (logically sequence), and the cohesion (connectives appropriately used)

3. Vocabulary – It focuses on the range of vocabulary, accurate word choice and usage, and appropriate selection to match.

4. Language – It relates with the structures of the description, any errors of agreement, tense, number, word order, articles, pronouns, and prepositions; and also the meaning of the sentence is not obscured.

5. Mechanics – It connects with the spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and layout of the description.

The data from the students is collected, then analyzed the errors by using the checklists, after that classify the errors, and quantify the errors. These steps are proposed by Gass and Selinker (1994: 66). There are actually two more steps, they are analysis of source and remediation, but the researcher decides to use only the previous four steps because the two latter steps are unnecessary to conduct in this research.

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The researcher also conducts an interview with the teacher of the seventh grade students of SMP N 1 Muntilan to find out what can the teacher’s do to improve students’ descriptive writing. The last, the researcher reported the result of the research and made conclusion of what had been analyzed.

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

The discussion in this chapter includes the method that is used in the research, research respondents, research instrument, research setting, data gathering technique, and data analysis technique.

A. METHOD

This research was a descriptive research because it was designed to gather information as natural as possible, without any treatment of the researcher in the data collection. Descriptive research was used to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena to describe "what exists" with respect to variables or conditions in a situation. (P. Key, James, 1997).

Based on Introduction to Research in Education (Ary et al, 1990), there are several types of studies that may be classified as descriptive research. Those are surveys, developmental studies, follow up studies, documentary analyses, trend analyses, and co relational studies. Documentary analyses or content analysis is known as the procedure for systematically analyzing written materials. Therefore, the data gathered are generally expressed as frequency counts in various relevant categories. Moreover, this research used documentary analyses because the researcher analyzed the data she got. The researcher in this research also used checklists to analyze the data and to answer the first question.

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for Analysis and Application (1992), “One common type of descriptive research involves assessing attitudes or opinions toward individuals, organizations, events or procedures. Descriptive data are typically collected through a questionnaire survey, an interview, or observation”. Therefore, the researcher in this research also conducted interview with the one of the teachers. The interview was conducted to find what the teacher’s did to improve students’ descriptive writing.

B. RESEARCH RESPONDENTS

The respondents of the research were the seventh grade students and their teacher in one of the public schools in Muntilan, that was SMP N 1 Muntilan. This research was conducted in the second semester because this research wanted to find out about the students’ descriptive writing and it was relevant to the standard competency and basic competence of junior high school, which is “to express a simple meaningful short written functional text to interact with the nearest environment.” There were six classes of the seventh grade students in SMP N 1 Muntilan. However, this research took only two classes since it was not possible to make use all the classes. The two classes consisted of 58 students, 22 students from the bilingual class and 36 students from the regular class. The samples in this research were cluster sampling because “the unit chosen is not an individual but a group of individuals who are naturally together.”

The seventh grade students were chosen for this research because these students were facing a new environment in learning, especially learning English. They were also starting to learn something different because now they are in the

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higher level of learning than before. Moreover, the descriptive writing was also learned in this level. The collected data were the documents analyzed by the researcher.

At first, the grammatical errors collected from the students were checked; the researcher tried to find what were the grammatical errors commonly made by the students based on the first checklist. After the researcher checked the grammatical errors, then the researcher marked the composition of students’ descriptive writing by using the second checklist, that was the assessment scale of written work mentioned before.

The seventh grade students in SMP N 1 Muntilan were supervised by a teacher. The teacher was also being interviewed related to the result of students’ descriptive writing. From the interview, the researcher also tried to find what the teacher can do to improve the students’ descriptive writing.

C. SETTING

This research was conducted in SMPN 1 Muntilan. The seventh grade students were the samples of the research. It was done on April 28, 2008 in the second semester of academic year 2007/2008

The research was conducted in SMPN 1 Muntilan because this school was one of the best quality schools in Muntilan. It was proven from the students who were carefully selected. That was why the seventh grade students of SMP N 1 Muntilan were chosen as the subjects of the research. They were believed to have good skills in English acquisition.

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D. DATA COLLECTION

In order to meet the data about the grammatical errors made by the seventh grade students in their descriptive writing, the researcher gathered the students’ assignments about descriptive writing from the teacher. The descriptive writing could be about places, people, or things. However, the data of descriptive writing about people was the focus and analyzed in this research.

There were two data used by the researcher. The first was the students’ descriptive writing data. From the data collected, the researcher made an analysis of the grammatical errors that the students made. The grammatical errors were marked from any students’ mistakes in their writing. The aspects for analyzing students’ errors were based on checklists. These checklists included some frequent errors made by ESL students and they were first taken from LAS ESL La Trobe University Australia (http://www.latrobe.edu.au/lasesl/assets/downloads/error.doc {online} accessed on March 31st 2007). This checklist was relevant to the minimum requirements proposed by R.L Fountain and issued by the English Department of Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The minimum requirements included the use of concord or agreement, finite verbs, tenses, verb groups, articles, punctuation, and also spelling.

The second was evaluating students’ descriptive writing based on an evaluative checklist. “There are five major aspects of a piece written are evaluated and each of these aspects is accompanied by explicit descriptors of what is meant by the different band-scales.” (Tribble, Christopher, 1996: 130).

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After the researcher found out the grammatical errors commonly made by the students, then the researcher analyzed their written works and marked the works based on the above checklists.

E. DATA ANALYSIS

In analyzing the data, instrument 1 and 2 were the instruments to specify the presence and the absence of some items of the grammatical errors and written work in students’ descriptive writing. The specific calculation of the data in reckoning the presence and the absence of students’ grammatical errors and students’ descriptive writing based on the task fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics was using this formulation:

1. Percentage = ∑X x 100%

∑X = the total of each grammatical errors occurs N = the total of the samples

2. N = X1 + X2 + X3 + X4 + X5

N = the mark

X1 = score for task fulfillment/content, max. score 20 X2 = score for organization, max. score 20

X3 = score for vocabulary, max. score 20 X4 = score for language, max. score 30 X5 = score for mechanics, max. score 10

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The sum of the score was 100 and it was considered as 100%. To decide the real mark of a piece of writing, the researcher used this scoring procedure:

The marking of the students’ writing was one of the ways to give the students feedback of their works.

Below are the two instruments that were used to treat the data:

Table 1.1 Frequent errors made by ESL writers (La Trobe University)

Frequent errors Descriptor + / -

Articles A mistake with the article –a, an, the, etc.

Verb tense A mistake with the verb tense.

Subject verb agreement

The subject and verb do not agree in number. e.g. She run/We was smiling.

Singular/plural A mistake with number (singular/plural). e.g. They have three doll in the cupboard.

Punctuation Capital letters, full stops, or commas missing.

Word class The word is in the wrong class. e.g. She is unemployment.

Vocabulary The wrong word is used.

e.g. Let’s discuss about Mathematics.

Sentence structure The sentence is not complete or perhaps is too long and need to be reorganized.

Spelling

+ = symbolizes the present of the frequent errors - = symbolizes the absent of the frequent errors Scores 8 or above A

Scores 6 to 7 B Scores 4 to 5 C Scores 2 to 3 D Scores 0 to 1 F

≥ 90% = 9 ≥ 50% = 5 ≥ 80% = 8 ≥ 40% = 4 ≥ 70% = 7 ≥ 30% = 3 ≥ 60% = 6 ≥ 20% = 2

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Table 2.1 Assessment scale for written work (Christopher Tribble, 1996)

Area Score Descriptor

20-17 Excellent to very good: Excellent to very good treatment of the subject; considerable variety of ideas or argument; independent and thorough interpretation of the topic; content relevant to the topic; accurate detail.

16-12 Good to average: Adequate treatment of topic; some variety of ideas or argument; some independence of interpretation of the topic; most content relevant to the topic; reasonably accurate detail.

11-8 Fair to poor: Treatment of the topic is hardly adequate; little variety of ideas or argument; some irrelevant content; lacking detail.

7-5 Very Poor: Inadequate treatment of the topic; no variety of ideas or argument, content irrelevant, or very restricted; almost no useful detail.

Task Fulfillment/

Content

4-0 Inadequate: Fails to address the task with any effectiveness.

20-17 Excellent to very good: Fluent expression, ideas clearly stated and supported; appropriately organized paragraphs or sections; logically sequenced (coherence); connectives appropriately used (cohesion).

16-12 Good to average: Uneven expression but main ideas stands out; paragraphing or section organization evident; logically sequenced (coherence); some connectives used (cohesion)

11-8 Fair to poor: Very uneven expression, ideas difficult to follow; paragraphing/organization does not help the reader; logical sequence difficult to follow (coherence); connectives largely absent (cohesion).

7-5 Very Poor: Lacks fluent expression, ideas very difficult to follow; little sense of paragraphing/organization; no sense of logical sequence (coherence), connectives not used (cohesion).

Organization

4-0 Inadequate: Fails to address this aspect of the task with any effectiveness.

20-17 Excellent to very good: Wide range of vocabulary; accurate word/idiom choice and usage; appropriate selection to match register.

Vocabulary

16-12 Good to average: Adequate range of vocabulary; occasional mistakes in word/idiom choice and usage; register not always appropriate.

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11-8 Fair to poor: Limited range of vocabulary; a noticeable number of mistakes in word/idiom choice and usage; register not always appropriate.

7-5 Very Poor: No range of vocabulary; uncomfortably frequent mistakes in word/idiom choice and usage; no apparent sense of register.

4-0 Inadequate: Fails to address this aspect of the task with any effectiveness.

30-24 Excellent to very good: Confident handling of appropriate structures, hardly any errors of disagreement, tense, number, word order, articles, pronouns, prepositions; meaning never obscured.

23-18 Good to average: Acceptable grammar – but problems with more complex structures; mostly appropriate structures; some errors of agreement, tense, number, word order, articles, pronouns, prepositions; meaning sometimes obscured.

17-10 Fair to poor: Insufficient range of structures with control only shown in simple constructions; frequent errors of agreement, tense, number, word order, articles, pronouns, prepositions; meaning sometimes obscured.

9-6 Very Poor: Major problems with structures – even simple ones; frequent errors of negation, agreement, tense, number, word order, articles, pronouns, prepositions; meaning often obscured.

Language

5-0 Inadequate: Fails to address this aspect of the task with any effectiveness.

10-8 Excellent to very good: Demonstrate full command of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, layout.

7-5 Good to average: Occasional errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, layout

4-2 Fair to poor: Frequent errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, layout.

1-0 Very Poor: Fails to address this aspect of the task with any effectiveness.

Mechanics

F. RESEARCH PROCEDURES

First, the researcher asked permission from the target school to have a research. After that, the researcher asked help from the English teacher of the

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seventh grade class to give the two target research classes assignment to make a descriptive writing about people.

Second, the researcher analyzed the data collected. The researcher tried to find what the grammatical errors were commonly made according to the frequent errors made by ESL writer’s checklist. Finishing the step, the researcher gave mark to the students’ descriptive writing based on the second checklist, which was assessment scale for written work which included task fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics.

The last was the researcher conducted an interview with the teacher about the students’ performance in descriptive writing and what could the teacher do to improve students’ writing. After that, the researcher reported the result of the research and made conclusion of what had been analyzed.

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28 CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter includes the discussion of problem formulation mentioned in Chapter I. In order to answer the questions, the data gathered were analyzed in this chapter. The data gathered during the research were presented and analyzed here.

A. Data Presentation and Analysis of the First Question

The data was gathered from one type of texts, that was description. There are three kinds of descriptive writing, they are describing people, describing places, and describing things. The description topic that was discussed in this research was about describing people.

This part was divided into data presentation and data analysis of grammatical errors that the students of the seventh grade commonly made.

1. The Data Presentation on the Grammatical Errors Commonly Made by the Seventh Grade Students

The samples of this research were total 57 copies of students’ descriptive writing, 22 copies were from bilingual class, and the other 35 copies were from regular class. There were actually 36 students of the regular class. However, one student did not join the class at that time. To specify the presence and the absence of some items of the grammatical errors and written work in students’ descriptive

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writing, the researcher used two instruments as explained before in chapter III. The result of the grammatical errors commonly made by the seventh grade students was presented in the following tables. The first two tables were the result of grammatical errors made by students in bilingual class. The second two tables were the result of grammatical errors made by students in regular class.

The number mentioned in the tables referred to the number of the students in each class. Therefore, number one up to twenty two referred to the students in bilingual class; while number one up to thirty six referred to the students in regular class.

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a. Bilingual Class

Table a.1 Data on the Frequency Errors Made by ESL Writers adopted from La Trobe University (1992)

Frequent errors 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Articles A

mistake with the article –a, an,

the, etc.

+ + - - - + - + - + - + + + - + - - - + - -

Verb tense A

mistake with the verb tense.

- - + + - - - + - + + + + + + + + + - + + +

Subject verb

agreement The

subject and verb do not agree in

number. e.g. She run/We

was smiling.

+ + + - + + + + + + + + + + + + + + - + + -

Singular/plural

A mistake with number (singular/plural).

e.g. They have three doll in the

cupboard.

- - - + - + + + + - + + + - + + + +

Punctuation

Capital letters,

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commas missing

Word class The

word is in the wrong class.

e.g. She is unemployment.

- + - - + - - + + + + + - + + + - + - + - -

Vocabulary The

wrong word is used. e.g. Let’s discuss

about Mathematics.

- + + + - + - + + + + - + - + + - - - + - -

Sentence

structure The

sentence is not complete or perhaps is too long and need to

be reorganized.

+ - + - + - - + - + + - + - + - - - - + - -

Spelling - - - + - - - - + + + - - + - + - + -

+ = symbolizes the present of the frequent errors - = symbolizes the absent of the frequent errors

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The Summary of the Frequent Errors and the Percentage of Bilingual Class

Subject verb agreement : 19 x 100%= 86.36%

Verb tense : 15 x 100%= 68.18% 22

Word class : 12 x 100%= 54.54% 22

Vocabulary : 12 x 100%= 54.54% 22

Singular/plural : 12 x 100%= 54.54%

Articles : 10 x 100%= 45.45%

Sentence structure : 9 x 100%= 40.9%

Spelling : 7 x 100%= 31.81%

Punctuation : 2 x 100%= 9.09% 22

From table a.1 and the result of the percentages, it can be seen that from nine categories of Frequent Errors made by ESL writers, there were three ranks of grammatical errors made by the students. The highest rank was the Subject verb agreement, with the highest percentage 86.36% from total 22 students. The second rank was Verb tense with total percentage 68.18%. As much as total percentage 54.54% was shown by three categories, they are Singular/plural, Word class, and Vocabulary. Below is the Chart of the Students’ Grammatical Errors based on the percentages.

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Artic_les Verb

tens_eSubject v erb a_gree

ment Sing

ular/p lural

Pun_ctua

tionWord class Voca_bula

ry Sen_tenc

e str_ructu re Spe_lling

Figure 1. The Chart of Students’ Grammatical Errors of Bilingual Class

Therefore, from the percentage, it can be concluded that grammatical errors commonly made by the students from bilingual class was Subject verb agreement, with the highest percentage 86.36 % from total 22 students.

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Table a.2 The Result of the Students’ Scores Based on the Assessment Scale (Christopher Tribble, 1996), (Bilingual Class)

Area Score Descriptor 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

20-17 Excellent to

very good 17 18 17 17 17 18 18

16-12 Good to

average 16

12 15 12 16 15 12 16 13 15 16

11-8 Fair to poor 10 11 11 11

7-5 Very Poor

Task Fulfillment/

Content

4-0 Inadequate

20-17 Excellent to

very good 17 17 18 18

16-12 Good to

average

16 16 14 16 16 16 12 13 14 15 13 16 16 15

11-8 Fair to poor 10 10 11 11

Organization

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4-0 Inadequate

20-17 Excellent to

very good 17 18 17 18

16-12 Good to

average 16

16 12 15 12 12 16 12 12 16 12 13 15 12 14 16 15 17

11-8 Fair to poor

7-5 Very Poor

Vocabulary

4-0 Inadequate

30-24 Excellent to

very good 24

23-18 Good to

average

23 23 18 20 22 20 18 20 18 23 19 18

17-10 Fair to poor 16 17 15 17 17 16 15 17 15

9-6 Very Poor

Language

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10-8 Excellent to

very good 9 8 8 8 8

7-5 Good to

average

7 6 6 6 7 7 6 7 7 6 7 5 7 6 5 6 7

4-2 Fair to poor

Mechanics

1-0 Very Poor

TOTAL 83 79 79 62 72 80 77 54 57 73 60 60 70 63 60 73 56 62 85 69 73 79

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Figure 2. The Chart of Students’ Scores of Bilingual Class

From this chart, it can be seen that the highest score for the students’ writing from the bilingual class from the range 0 to 100 was 85. The second highest score was 83.

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b. Regular Class

Table b.1 Data on the Frequency Errors Made by ESL Writers adopted from La Trobe University (1992) Frequent

errors

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Articles A

mistake with the article –a, an,

the, etc.

+ - + + + + + + - + + + - - + + + +

Verb tense A mistake with the

verb tense.

+ + + - - + + + + + + + + + + + + + Subject verb

agreement The subject and verb do not agree in

number. e.g. She run/We

was smiling.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Singular/plural A mistake with

number (singular/plural).

e.g. They have three doll in the

cupboard.

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Punctuation Capital letters,

full stops, or commas missing.

- - - + - - + + - + + - + - + + + -

Word class The word is in the

wrong class. e.g. She is unemployment.

+ - + - - - + + + + + - + + + + + -

Vocabulary The wrong word

is used. e.g. Let’s discuss about Mathematics.

+ - + - + + + - + - + + + + + + + +

Sentence structure The sentence is not complete or perhaps is too long and need to

be reorganized.

+ + + - - + + + + - + - - + + + - +

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Frequent errors

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Articles A

mistake with the article –a, an,

the, etc.

+ + - - - + + + + + + + + + - + + +

Verb tense A mistake with the

verb tense.

+ + + + + + + + - + - + + + + - + + Subject verb

agreement The subject and verb do not agree in

number. e.g. She run/We

was smiling.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Singular/plural A mistake with

number (singular/plural).

e.g. They have three doll in the

cupboard.

+ - - + + - - - - + - + + - - - - -

Punctuation Capital letters,

full stops, or commas missing.

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Word class The word is in the

wrong class. e.g. She is unemployment.

+ - + + + + + - + - - + + - - - - -

Vocabulary The wrong word

is used. e.g. Let’s discuss about Mathematics.

- + - - + + + + - - + + + + + - - -

Sentence structure The sentence is not complete or perhaps is too long and need to

be reorganized.

- + + + + + + + - + - + + + + - - -

Spelling + + - + - - - - + + - + + + - - + +

+ = symbolizes the present of the frequent errors - = symbolizes the absent of the frequent errors

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The Summary of the Frequent Errors and the Percentage of Regular Class

Subject verb agreement : 36 x 100%= 100%

Verb tense : 31 x 100%= 86.11%

Articles : 27 x 100%= 75%

Sentence structure : 24 x 100%= 66.66%

Word class : 21 x 100%= 58.33%

Vocabulary : 24 x 100%= 66.66%

Spelling : 20 x 100%= 55.55% 36

Punctuation : 16 x 100%= 44.44%

Singular/plural : 11 x 100%= 30.55%

From table b.1, the Regular class of SMP N 1 Muntilan consisted of thirty six students, but one of the students did not join the class at that time. The result of the percentages showed that there were three highest ranks of grammatical errors made by the students. The first rank was the Subject verb agreement, with the total percentage 100% from 36 students. The second rank was Verb tense with 86.11%. The other ranks in decreasing order were the Articles, Vocabulary, Sentence structure, Word class, Spelling, Punctuation, and the last Plural/singular. The chart of students’ grammatical errors based on the percentage can be seen below.

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Artic_les Verb_ten

se Sub

ject v_{erb a}

gree

men_t

Sing ular/p

lural Pun

ctua_tionWord_clas

s Voc

abula_rySentenc_{e str}

ructu_re

Spe lling

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Table b.2 Assessment scale for written work (Christopher Tribble, 1996)

Area Score Descriptor 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

20-17 Excellent to very good 19 17 17 18

16-12 Good to average 12 16 16 16 15 16 12 13 14

11-8 Fair to poor 11 11 10 11 10

7-5 Very Poor Task Fulfillment/

Content

4-0 Inadequate

20-17 Excellent to very good 18 18 19

16-12 Good to average 14 14 16 12 12 15 16 14 13 12 13

11-8 Fair to poor 9 8 10 11

7-5 Very Poor Organization

4-0 Inadequate

20-17 Excellent to very good 18 17 17

Vocabulary

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11-8 Fair to poor 8 9 11 11 11 11 7-5 Very Poor

4-0 Inadequate

30-24 Excellent to very good 25 24 25

23-18 Good to average 19 18 19 23

17-10 Fair to poor 17 14 17 16 15 15 17 16 13 15 16

9-6 Very Poor Language

5-0 Inadequate

10-8 Excellent to very good 8 8 9 9 9

7-5 Good to average 6 7 5 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 6

4-2 Fair to poor 4 4

Mechanics

1-0 Very Poor

TOTAL 55 69 44 88 80 70 65 71 77 61 49 84 88 60 54 53 59 62

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Area Score Descriptor

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

20-17 Excellent to very good 15 13 15 17 18 18 19

16-12 Good to average 10 11 8 16 12 15 12 13 12

11-8 Fair to poor 7 7

7-5 Very Poor Task Fulfillment/

Content

4-0 Inadequate

20-17 Excellent to very good 17 18 18

16-12 Good to average 15 12 13 14 12 16 16 15 13

11-8 Fair to poor 8 8 8 10 11 10

7-5 Very Poor Organization

4-0 Inadequate

20-17 Excellent to very good 17 17 17 18

Vocabulary

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11-8 Fair to poor 11 10 11 10 7-5 Very Poor

4-0 Inadequate

30-24 Excellent to very good 24 24 25

23-18 Good to average 18 20 22 20 21

17-10 Fair to poor 16 13 12 10 10 15 13 15 17 17

9-6 Very Poor Language

5-0 Inadequate

10-8 Excellent to very good 8 9 8 9 8 8

7-5 Good to average 5 6 5 5 7 6 6 7 6 7 7 7

4-2 Fair to poor Mechanics

1-0 Very Poor

TOTAL 65 59 70 58 58 47 41 42 83 58 79 54 78 59 71 88 64 63

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 28 31 33 35

Figure 4. The Chart of Students’ Score of Regular Class

From this chart, it could be seen that the highest score was student number 4, 13, and 34 with total score 88 from the range 0-100. The second high was 84.

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The Summary of the Frequent Errors and the Percentages of Both Classes

Subject verb agreement : 86.36% + 100% = 93.18% 2

Verb tense : 68.18% + 86.11% = 77.14% 2

Articles : 45.45% + 75% = 60.22%

2 Vocabulary : 54.54% + 66.66% = 60.6%

Word class : 54.54% + 58.3% = 56.42% 2

Sentence : 40.9% + 66.66% = 53.78% 2

Spelling : 31.81% + 55.55% = 43.68% 2

Singular/plural : 54.54% + 30.55% = 42.54%

Punctuation : 9.09% + 44.44% = 26.76% 2

Based on the summary of the frequent errors and the percentages of both classes above, therefore, it could be concluded that the grammatical errors commonly made by the students were Subject verb agreement with total percentage 93.18%, and was followed by Verb tense with 77.14%. The next was Vocabulary with the percentage 60.6%. The other were Articles 60.22%, Word class 56.42%, Sentence structure 53.78%, Spelling 43.68%, Singular/plural 42.54%, Punctuation 26.76%.

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2. The Data Analysis of the First Question

Below is the data analysis based on the students’ descriptive writing which concerned on the grammatical errors made by the seventh grade students. The first rank on the grammatical errors was Subject verb agreement, and then continued by Verb tense, Vocabulary, Articles, Word class, Sentence structure, Spelling, Singular/plural, and the last Punctuation.

a. The Data Analysis of Subject Verb Agreement

There were 55 students out of 58 students who made error on Subject verb agreement with total percentage 93.18%. Below are the examples of the errors made by the students.

Many of the students did not pay much attention on the usage of the first or third person and their verb agreement. For example:

• Incorrect sentences - She teach English. - I has English teacher.

- Mrs. Suci live with her family.

- She always wearing woman Moslem wear.

• Corrected sentences - She teaches English. - I have an English teacher. - Mrs. Suci lives with her family.

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The subject ‘She’ is a third person singular. Therefore, for Simple Present Tense, the verb agreement has to use verb one plus –s or –es. It is also used for subject ‘He’ and ‘It’. However, for subject ‘I’, it is a first person singular, and instead of using ‘has’ for the verb agreement, it uses ‘have’.

From this analysis, in point of fact, many of the students have lack of awareness. Some of the sentences were correct, but because of carelessness some sentences became incorrect.

b. The Data Analysis of Verb Tense

As many as 46 students made a mistake with the verb tense. The percentage was 77.14%. The examples of the verb tense mistakes are:

• Incorrect sentences

- She always take a veil every day. - She is always employ veil every teach. - Mrs. Suci has is beautiful.

- She also very discipline.

• Corrected sentences

- She always wears a veil every day. - She always wears a veil while teaching. - Mrs. Suci is beautiful.

- She is also very disciplined.

In this section, the students chose the wrong verbs or “to be” to make the sentences. This happened because the students have lack of knowledge in choosing the correct verbs for the sentences they made.

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c. The Data Analysis of Vocabulary

The next analysis was the vocabulary with the percentage 60.6% and the total students are 36. Students, in their writing, often choose the wrong words to explain about certain things. The examples are below:

• Incorrect sentences

- … because we not answer the question with true. - She is not height.

- She is wild because she want the student clever English. - She is a guardian class seven C.

• Corrected sentences

- … because we don’t answer the question correctly. - She is not tall.

- She is disciplined because she wants the students to be smart (or clever) in English.

- She is the counselor of class seven C.

Students in translating the words from Indonesian to English were still influenced by Bahasa Indonesia. As a result, they translated the sentences and the meaning of the sentences sounded ‘strange’ because they were ‘too Indonesian’. To avoid this, the students should enrich their vocabulary by reading more English books. They can also find the synonyms of certain words in the dictionary.

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d. The Data Analysis of Articles

As much as 60.22% was the percentage of the articles. Articles sound simple, but they are important because they modify nouns. There are two types of articles; indefinite and definite articles. Indefinite articles are generally used before nouns that are nonspecific, singular, and countable. The indefinite articles are "a" and "an". Use "a" before consonant sounds and use "an" before vowel sounds. Definite articles, such as "the" are used before specific nouns-nouns that are not countable.

(http://www.ece.msstate.edu/academics/writing_resource/grammatical_errors_link s.html#agreement {online}accessed on 29 August 2007, at 8.44 am)

Errors that happened in the students descriptive writing related to the usage of articles were:

• Incorrect sentences - I have teacher.

- Mrs. Suci is a English teacher.

- … because I went to get the good jobs.

• Corrected sentences - I have a teacher.

- Mrs. Suci is an English teacher. - … because I want to get a good job.

Students in writing the description often forgot to use the articles. Although they seemed small errors, but they were still important. As the examples above, the students did not use ‘an’ before the vowels, instead they used ‘a’.

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e. The Data Analysis of Word class

The next analysis is the word class with total 56.42%. Here, the students made error by putting the words in the wrong class.

• Incorrect Sentences

- She is very smart, explicit, and fierce. - I love she because …

- Her face is circle.

- She has two black eyes and sharp nose.

• Corrected sentences

- She is very smart, open, and disciplined. - I love her because …

- She has got a round face.

- She has got two black eyes and a pointed nose.

Students sometimes think that they have found the correct words and they can be used at anytime. In this case, the students have to be able to differentiate the function and the meaning of the words first before applying them in sentences. f. The Data Analysis of Sentence structure

The descriptor for sentence structure is the sentence is not complete or perhaps is too long and need to be reorganized and there were 33 students who made the errors with the percentage 53.78. The examples of the errors were:

• Incorrect sentences

- Humorist and kind teacher. - She always clothes tidily.

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- I always attention what she teach.

- If are the student not do home work, so the student will get punishment.

• Corrected sentences

- She is a humorous and kind teacher. - She always wears her clothes tidily.

- I always pay attention of what she teaches us.

- If the students do not do their homework, they will get a punishment.

For the first sentence, there was no subject of the sentence. The second, there was no verb to explain the subject and the noun. Third, it needed the verb. And fourth, the usage of auxiliary verb to support the negative form of simple present tense.

g. The Data Analysis of Spelling

There were many students who made mistakes in spelling. Although it is simple, but if the students did not be careful, they would make many mistakes. The percentage was 43.68%.

• Incorrect sentences

- She is fourty five years old now.

- … but I know that she is angry if only we make mistic. - She has whit skind and black eyes.

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• Corrected sentences

- She is forty five years old.

- … but I know that she is angry if only we make mistakes. - She has got white skin and black eyes.

- She is a good teacher. h. The Data Analysis of Singular/plural

The percentage for singular/plural was 42.54%, and there were 23 students who made errors on singular/plural.

• Incorrect sentences

- There are five English teacher in my school. - Mrs. Suci is one of teacher in SMP N 1 Muntilan.

• Corrected sentences

- There are five teachers in my school.

- Mrs. Suci in one of the teachers in SMP N 1 Muntilan. i. The Data Analysis of Punctuation

Punctuation was at the bottom of the rank with the percentage 26.76%. Punctuation in a writing is used as the ‘separator’ between ideas. Here are some mistakes made by students.

• Incorrect sentences

- She live in Tempel, Sleman, Yogyakarta

- She is a teacher in class seven And she is very honest

- She has whit skin She teaches al of class seven She is guardian class seven C.

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• Corrected sentences

- She lives in Tempel, Sleman, Yogyakarta.

- She is a teacher in class seven and she is very honest.

- She has got white skin. She teaches all of seven classes. She is the counselor of class seven C.

Every sentence in English always begins with a capital letter and ends with full stop. They are used to differentiate one sentence from another.

From the analysis above, it could be concluded that the grammatical errors commonly made by the seventh grade students of SMP N 1 Muntilan was Subject Verb Agreement. Students in their writing still made mistakes for the subject and its verb agreement. Although actually in at a glance the sentences were understandable, but grammatically, they were kind of errors.

B. The Data Analysis of the Second Question

Students in writing, or in this case writing descriptive paragraph, are facing many problems, for examples students’ lack of vocabulary, need more knowledge about the grammar or the structure of the sentences, and many more. Here, the researcher tried to find how or what can the teacher do to improve the students’ performance in writing descriptive paragraph.

From the interview with an English teacher at SMP N 1 Muntilan, it was found that one of the ways to improve students’ descriptive writing was by

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APPENDIX E

Examples of Students Activities in Three Stages of Learning

1. Pre-Writing

In this stage, students work in small group consists of three or four students. Here, the teacher gives a task for the students to share and brainstorm ideas about their classroom. The task given should be start from the simplest. The students write everything that they know about their classroom. For examples, the number of the students and things that they can find in the class.

Number of students: 22

Things in the classroom: 17 chairs, 16 tables, 1 desk, one black board, one white board, three pictures, a flag, a dustbin.

2. While-writing

After the students brainstorm the ideas, they can now produce their findings into a composition. Here, the students have to pay attention to the writing style, that is descriptive writing; organization, and content. The teacher can help the students deal with their composition.

3. Post-writing

Students present their work to the other groups. They can read aloud their description and the other groups give comment to the presenter group. They can find the similarities and differences in their writing.

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The teacher does the group work activities several times. After that the students can work independently. For another activity, the teacher can provide a short outline for the students. The topic can be something that the students interested in, for example, about pets.

Cats are my favourite animals. They are very intelligent and independent. I especially like black cats. When I am with cats I like talking to them and stroking them. I also like looking after them. My cat’s name is Blacky. He likes eating meat and cat snacks. He sleeps in a box in the house and I like playing with him. I love my cat very much.

The teacher reads out one line at a time and asks the students to change the sentences so that they are true for them:

For example:

Teacher: Cats are my favourite animals. Student: Dogs are my favourite animals.

After reading out a line, give the students some time to write down their version. They will need time to think about the topic and make a decision as to what they should write down. The teacher can make sure that the topic is one that the students can identify with. The focus of the task is imagination development and vocabulary expansion. The products are sentences expressing feeling about a given topic/issue. For the post writing, the students compare their answers in pairs/groups, and they can perhaps nominate the best one to read to the class.

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APPENDIX F

Examples of Games to Raise Students’ Awareness in Descriptive Writing

For the game, the teacher can use “Running dictation game” which can be done classically. This game involves some skills such as reading, writing, pronunciation, and spelling. Therefore, by playing this game the students can also practice those skills. For the teachers, they need to prepare some texts. Here, the teachers can prepare some descriptive texts. While the students just need to prepare some pens and paper.

The rules of this game are quite easy. First, divide the class into two or four groups. In each group, there is a reader and a writer. Then the teacher puts a descriptive text at the back of the class, and then tells each the readers of each team that they will run to a text, read and memorize a part of it. As fast as possible, they will run back and dictate the text to the writer in their group. The writer writes while he/she goes back to read more text. The group that finishes writing their text first wins. The runners cannot write the words. They must dictate what they read in the text to the student writing. They cannot help in the writing but they can tell him/her how to spell the words. The group that finishes first wins and reads out the text to the class. In addition, the teacher can put the students of mixed ability together.

Here is an example of a descriptive text that can be used for the “Running dictation game”. The teachers can create their own descriptive text as creative as

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they can, depending on the students need and it will be better if the texts are not too long but also not too short.

(5)

APPENDIX G

An Example of Games to Drill Students’ Understanding in

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The rules of this game are first, the students work in pairs or in group of three, then they have to make as many sentences based on the picture as possible in five minutes. There are some clues in the form of verbs from the picture and the students have to make correct sentences. However, students can also make sentences with their own verbs, but the sentences are still based on things that they can see from the picture. If they make an incorrect sentence, they will not get a score. The rule for the score is up to the teacher, for example, for one correct sentence, the score is 10. The winner is the ones who can make the most sentences correctly.

The aim of this game is to enable students to make correct sentences by paying more attention to the third singular person. Therefore, they can give more attention to its subject verb agreement.

A study on the seventh grade student\' grammatical errors in descriptive writing of SMPN 1 Muntilan.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling,

but in rising every time we fall.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply.

Willing is not enough; we must do.

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A study on the seventh grade student\' grammatical errors in descriptive writing of SMPN 1 Muntilan.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling,

but in rising every time we fall.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply.

Willing is not enough; we must do.

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