A study on preposition errors made by tenth grade students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo - USD Repository

  A STUDY ON PREPOSITION ERRORS MADE BY TENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMA 1 SAPURAN, WONOSOBO

  A THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education

  By Bernadeta Yunita Prasetyowati

  Student Number: 061214046

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

  Maybe we're different, but we're still the same We all got the blood of Eden, running through our veins

  I know sometimes it's hard for you to see You come between just who you are and who you wanna be

  If you feel alone, and lost and need a friend Remember every new beginning, is some beginning's end

  Welcome to wherever you are This is your life, you made it this far

  Welcome, you gotta believe That right here right now, you're exactly where you're supposed to be

  Welcome, to wherever you are When everybody's in, and you're left out

  And you feel your drowning, in a shadow of a doubt Everyone’s a miracle in their own way

  Just listen to yourself, not what other people say When it seems you're lost, alone and feeling down

  Remember everybody's different Just take a look around

  Be who you want to, be who you are Everyone’s a hero, everyone’s a star

  When you wanna give up, and your hearts about to break Remember that you're perfect, God makes no mistakes

  Bon Jovi

• – Welcome to Wherever You Are I dedicate this thesis to those beloved people

  My parents, who love and care about me My brothers and sister, who always love and support me

  

ABSTRACT

  Prasetyowati, Bernadeta Y. 2011. A Study on Preposition Errors Made by Tenth

  

Grade Students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo. Yogyakarta: English Education

Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

  Preposition is one of important elements in learning English. It is impossible to the learner to avoid errors in learning English, especially English preposition. The most common problem encountered by the students in learning English is applying English prepositions. They are complicated because each of them has its own rules underlying its forms.

  This study was aimed at finding out the forms of preposition made by tenth grade students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo. There were two problems to be discussed in this study: 1) What are preposition errors commonly made by tenth grade students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo? and 2) What are the causes of errors in using preposition made by tenth grade students of SMA 1 Sapuran,

  Wonosobo ?

  Answering the first problem of this study, the researcher employed document analysis or content analysis. The researcher collected students’ writing assignments and then analyzed them. The researcher classified the preposition errors based on its form. The classification is proposed by Greenbaum and Quirk (1990), they are place and position; direction and motion; time; manner, agent, and instrument. To obtain the data and more information in order to answer second problem, the researcher used two instruments. The researcher distributed a questionnaire to the tenth grade students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo and interviewed some students. Having collected data from questionnaire and interview, the researcher analyzed the result.

  The result of students writing assignments showed that, most of the students made preposition errors in place and position form (54,62%). The second rank was direction and motion form (20,97%), followed by time form (16,04%), and the last was manner, agent, and instrument form (8,37%). The researcher also found out the causes of errors in mastering English preposition. Those factors were carelessness, translation, and overgeneralization.

  Based on the conclusions above, two suggestions were proposed. First suggestion was for the English teachers. They should be creative and using interesting teaching method in presenting the material in the class to attract students’ attention and to assist the students to understand the material easier. The teachers might use pictures, video, or movie in presenting the material. Second suggestion was for the students. It is better for the students to learn English by themselves outside the school since there were a lot of media to help them learn English. The students might browse in the internet to find out the English material, especially English preposition. They also could find the on line English exercises to test their ability.

  ABSTRAK

  Prasetyowati, Bernadeta Y. 2011. A Study on Preposition Errors Made by Tenth

  

Grade Students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo. Yogyakarta: Program Studi

Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Preposisi merupakan salah satu elemen penting dalam pembelajaran

Bahasa Inggris. Membuat kesalahan adalah hal yang tidak bisa dihindari dalam

pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris, terutama preposisi Bahasa Inggris. Masalah yang

kerap kali ditemui siswa dalam belajar Bahasa Inggris adalah dalam penggunaan

preposisi Bahasa Inggris. Preposisi dalam Bahasa Inggris sering dianggap sulit

karena masing-masing preposisi memiliki aturan (pola) sendiri dalam bentuk dan

pemakaiannya.

  Studi ini bertujuan mengetahui bentuk-bentuk kesalahan preposisi yang

dibuat oleh siswa kelas X SMA 1 Sapuran. Ada dua masalah yang dibahas dalam

studi ini: 1) Kesalahan preposisi apa yang umumnya dibuat siswa kelas sepuluh

SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo?, dan 2) Apa sebab-sebab terjadinya kesalahan

dalam penggunaan preposisi oleh siswa kelas sepuluh SMA 1 Sapuran,

Wonosobo?

  Untuk menjawab masalah yang pertama, penulis menggunakan metode

  document analysis atau content analysis. Penulis mangumpulkan tugas karangan

  

siswa dan kemudian menganalisanya. Penulis mengelompokkan kesalahan

preposisi yang dibuat siswa ke dalam masing-masing bentuk. Pengelompokkan

tersebut dikemukakan oleh Greenbaum dan Quirk (1990), bentuk-bentuk tersebut

adalah Place and Position, Direction and Motion,Time, dan Manner, Agent, and

  Instrument. Untuk memperoleh lebih banyak data dan informasi, penulis

  

menggunakan dua instrumen. Penulis menyebarkan kuesioner kepada siswa kelas

sepuluh SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo dan melakukan wawancara kepada beberapa

siswa. Setelah mendapatkan data dan informasi dari penyebaran kuesioner dan

wawancara, penulis menganalisa hasilnya.

  Hasil analisa dari karangan siswa menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar

siswa membuat kesalahan preposisi pada bentuk Place and Position (54,62%).

Terbanyak kedua kesalahan pada bentuk Direction and Motion (20,97%),

kemudian diikuti oleh bentuk Time (16,04%), dan yang terakhir adalah bentuk

  Manner, Agent, and Instrumen (8,37%)t. Penulis juga menemukan sebab-sebab

  

terjadinya kesalahan dalam penguasaan preposisi Bahasa Inggris yakni,

carelessness, translation, dan overgeneralization.

  Berdasarkan kesimpulan diatas, maka penulis memberikan dua saran.

Pertama, saran untuk guru Bahasa Inggris disarankan untuk kreatif dan

menggunakan metode mengajar yang menarik dalam memberikan materi untuk

menarik perhatian siswa serta untuk membantu siswa agar lebih mudah dalam

memahami materi. Para guru dapat menggunakan gambar, video, atau film

dalam menyampaikan materi. Kedua, dengan banyaknya media untuk belajar

Bahasa Inggris, siswa-siswa disarankan agar lebih banyak belajar Bahasa

  

menemukan latihan-latihan soal Bahasa Inggris secara on line untuk mengukur

kemampuan Bahasa Inggris mereka.

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my Lord, Jesus Christ, who is always by my side through the ups and downs in my life. I thank Him for giving me a chance to accept His everlasting love, to do my best in my life, and to accept wonderful people around me.

  From the deepest of my heart, I thank the great parent of the world, my beloved father, Alexius Supriyanto, and my lovely mother, Christiana

  

Suparwiyati for the care, prayer, understanding, and endless love they gave to

  me. I thank them for being there to pray for me in good and bad condition. I also thank

  The Simon’s Family (Mbah Putri, Oom dan bulik, Penyo, Mbak Agni,

Gilang, Lintang, Andri, Ato, Ganang, Widi, Thome, Arma, Bonggo, Mareta,

Anggi) for their love, support, and prayer.

  I deeply thank my advisor, Christina Kristiyani, S.Pd., M.Pd. for the guidance, feedback, advice, and support. I also would like to sincerely express my gratitude to Caecilia Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd., the chairperson of English Education Study program for giving me permission to conduct this study. I would also express my appreciation to all lecturers and all PBI staff of Sanata Dharma University.

  My gratitude also goes to Drs. Fatchurrozak, the headmaster of SMA 1

  

Sapuran, Wonosobo who has permitted me to conduct study in SMA 1 Sapuran,

Wonosobo . Special gratitude is directed to F. Rustriyani, S.Pd., the English

  teacher for tenth graders of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo for helping me conduct

  I also would like to express my appreciation to Tenth Grade Students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo for being my participants in my study.

  I warmly thank all of my relatives and my friends for the inspiration and support. I am so grateful for those who has fulfilled my life, who has become a rainbow in my life, my beloved friends, The Glitters (Esti, Nisa, Stella, Emiko,

  

Kristin Mandiri, Henny, Ragil, Jojo, Kurnia, Jati, Ardi, mBerlin, mBety), the

Fireflies (Satrio, Nonok, Riris, Adven, Aldi), Kos Endra 8 and ex-Endra 8

(Mbak Wen, Asti, Evi, Siti, Sri, Silvi, Ayu, Reni, Linda, Dian, Eka, Nuri,

Uun, Febri, Suci, Rere, Mbak Chory, Mbak Astrid, Mbak Riska, Mbak

Merry, Rinachip) for the support, help, smile, laugh, and friendship. I am so

  lucky to have them all. My best gratitude goes to my partner in crime, Herman

  

Susanto, for sharing love, joy and sorrow. I thank him for being there to be the

one that I could really count on.

  I am deeply indebted to all people and parties, who have gave contribution in my study from the beginning until the end financially, spiritually, and/or physically. May God bless them all.

  Bernadeta Yunita Prasetyowati

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE ..................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGES ......................................................................... ii iv STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ..................................

  DEDICATION PAGE ........................................................................ v

  

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN ........................................ vi

  ABSTRACT ....................................................................................... vii

  

ABSTRAK ........................................................................................... viii

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................... x TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................... xii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................. xv LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................... xvi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ....................................................

  1 A.

  1 Research Background .........................................................

  B.

  4 Problem Formulation ..........................................................

  C.

  5 Problem Limitation .............................................................

  D.

  5 Research Objectives ............................................................

  E.

  6 Research Benefits ...............................................................

  F.

  6 Definition of Terms ............................................................

  1.

  6 Errors ............................................................................

  2.

  7 Preposition ....................................................................

  CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ...........

  9 A.

  9 Theoretical Description .......................................................

  1.

  9 Errors ............................................................................

  a.

  9 Definition of Errors .................................................

  b.

  10 Causes of Errors ......................................................

  c.

  15 Types of Errors .......................................................

  d.

  22 Mistakes ..................................................................

  2.

  23 Preposition ....................................................................

  a.

  24 The Forms of Preposition .......................................

  b.

  26 The Use of Preposition ...........................................

  B.

  27 Theoretical Framework .......................................................

  CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ...............................................

  29 A.

  29 Research Method ................................................................

  B.

  31 Research Participants ..........................................................

  C.

  31 Research Instruments ..........................................................

  D.

  33 Data Gathering Technique ..................................................

  E.

  34 Data Analysis Technique ....................................................

  F.

  37 Research Procedure .............................................................

  CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.

  38 A.

  38 Data Presentation ................................................................

  1.

  39 Students’ Errors ............................................................

  2.

  43 Error Classification .......................................................

  3.

  44 Data Presentation of Questionnaire and Interview .......

  B.

  48 Discussion ...........................................................................

  1.

  48 Types of Errors .............................................................

  a.

  49 Errors in Place and Position Form ................................

  b.

  51 Errors in Direction and Motion Form ...........................

  c.

  52 Errors in Time Form .....................................................

  d.

  54 Errors in Manner, Agent, and Instrument Form ...........

  2. The Causes of Errors in Using Preposition Made by Tenth Grade Students ..........................................

  58 1.

  58 Students’ Lack of Motivation .......................................

  2.

  60 First Language Interference ..........................................

  3.

  63 Overgeneralization ........................................................

  CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS..............

  64 A.

  64 Conclusions .........................................................................

  B.

  65 Suggestions ......................................................................... REFERENCES ...................................................................................

  68 APPENDICES ....................................................................................

  70

  

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Preposition Errors Made by Tenth Grade Students Based on the Number of sentences .....................................................

  40 Table 4.2 Preposition Errors in < 5 Sentences ...................................

  40 Table 4.3 Preposition Errors in 6 - 15 Sentences ...............................

  41 Table 4.4 Preposition Errors in 16 - 25 Sentences .............................

  42 Table 4.5 Preposition Errors in > 26 Sentences .................................

  42 Table 4.6 Data on Preposition Errors in the First Topic ....................

  43 Table 4.7 Data on Preposition Errors in the Second Topic ................

  44 Table 4.8 Result of the Questionnaire ................................................

  45 Table 4.9 Preposition Errors in Place and Position Form ..................

  49 Table 4.10 Preposition Errors in Direction and Motion Form ...........

  51 Table 4.11 Preposition Errors in Time Form .....................................

  52 Table 4.12 Preposition Errors in Manner, Agent, and Instrument Form ...................................................................................................

  54

  LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1: Letter of Permission ......................................................

  70 Appendix 2: Letter of Permission from Dikpora Wonosobo .............

  71 Appendix 3: E xamples of Students’ Document .................................

  72 Appendix 4: Sample of Questionnaire ...............................................

  74 Appendix 5: Interview Guideline .......................................................

  76 Appendix 6: Raw Data of Students ’ Errors ........................................

  77 Appendix 6: Transcript of Interview ..................................................

  78

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the researcher discusses the research background, problem

  formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms.

A. Research Background In today’s era, writing is one of the communication tools besides speaking.

  People can communicate their ideas and messages to other people through writing. In this global era, writing is important in many aspects of life, such as education, economic, social, law, and many others.

  For students, writing is a medium to train their vocabulary and grammar skill to make suitable choice of words for their writing (Oller, 1983: 6). The students should master writing skill because writing is needed in any other subjects of their study. More importantly, writing is very important for them when they make a report or a short story as their assignment.

  In writing task, students are supposed to make a good writing. Students should know how to connect one sentence to other sentences and how to choose a proper diction according to the topic they discussed. Unfortunately, most of students are indicated that they use improper word which has different meaning in different context. A good writing is writing that is appropriate for the audience The content, organization, sentence structure, and word choice of an effective piece of writing should be appropriate for the writer’s audience and purpose.

  Preposition can be one of the concerns of students in learning English. Preposition is a small thing in sentence but it is very important. There are some functions of preposition in a sentence, such as to show time, place, direction, manner, agent, and so on. Unfortunately, most of the students produce some mistakes in using English preposition. It is because English prepositions have some variations that should be learnt by the students.

  Variation in the use of preposition by the native speaker can confuse students, especially when it is not the same as what the teacher had taught in the class (Murcia and Freeman, 1999:401). As the result, students have problem in using correct preposition in their writing. Sometimes the choice of preposition depends on the word before it, sometimes the word after it, and sometimes on both (Hughes and Heah, 1996:90). As a result, each expression must be learnt separately in order to make the students understand how to use the expression properly. Students use the word which is familiar to them and has the same meaning although it does not make sense with the context. Students often make some errors in using preposition. Some of the students are able to differentiate the use of preposition, but some others still face a problem in using it. In English, some verbs are combined with a preposition when they are followed by a noun (Hughes and Heah, 1996: 94). The word wait should be followed by preposition for. In Bahasa Indonesia the word wait means menunggu, and the

  Chomsky (1965) as cited in Dulay (1982:139) distinguishes between “errors caused by factor such as fatigue and inattention are called performance, and errors resulting from lack of knowledge of the rules of language are called

  competence

  ’’. Errors which are made by the students are usually included as competence because most of students are still in learning process, where the students are unable to choose and use appropriate prepositions in their writing. The students learn how to choose and to use the appropriate prepositions through their assignments, especially writing assignments. In addition, students still learn about words, sentence, tenses, and writing.

  There are some researches about error analysis in the previous research. One of the error analysis researches is

  A Study on the Seventh Grade Students’

Grammatical Errors in Descriptive Writing of SMPN 1 Muntilan by Hanafitria

  (2009). Hanafitria was one of the students of English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. In her research, she focused on two points, they are grammatical errors that were commonly made by seventh grade students of SMPN

1 Muntilan and the effort of the teacher to impr ove students’ descriptive writing.

  The researcher used two different classes in gathering the data, regular class and bilingual class.

  The result of the research was first, grammatical errors commonly made by seventh grade students of SMPN 1 Muntilan 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 students were verb tense, vocabulary, articles, word class, 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 continuously for the writing exercises until 85% of the students mastered them.

  This study is about errors analysis of using preposition which is made by tenth graders of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo. In this research, the researcher attempts to investigate the preposition errors which are commonly made by tenth grade students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo. Moreover, the researcher also tries to investigate the causes of error made by the students. It is because the researcher consideration that each learner is unique and they probably result differently in writing. Since the researcher only as an analyzer, the researcher did not give a judgment of the result of the research. The researcher only presented the result which was found during the research based on the students

  ’ writing assignments, the result of the questionnaire and the result of interview.

  The researcher chose SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo because of the location of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo which is reachable and also because it is the best senior high school in Sapuran. Most of the students in SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo are from rural area in Sapuran and they have well enough academic quality.

B. Problem Formulation

  Based on the topic of the research, the problem formulation can be stated as

  1. What are preposition errors commonly made by tenth grade students of SMA

1 Sapuran ?

  2. What are the causes of errors in using preposition made by tenth grade students of SMA 1 Sapuran?

  C. Problem Limitation

  This research is limited on students’ preposition in writing skill only. The researcher focuses on students’ writing product based on topic of students’ writing assignment.

  This research is conducted at SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo. The research subjects are tenth grade students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo because in this level, students still use improper preposition in their writing. The tenth grade students have lack of vocabulary to choose proper prepositions to make a meaningful writing based on the topic they discussed.

  D. Research Objectives

  The research was held in order to find out two objectives. The following are the objectives of the research.

  1. To find out the forms of preposition are errors which are made by the tenth grade students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo.

  2. To find out the causes of errors made by tenth grade students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo .

  E. Research Benefits

  The findings of the research will be useful for the teachers as a consideration to determine the strategy to improve students’ knowledge in using preposition in order to help students in choosing proper words in their writing task to make a good writing. The teachers can give information to the students to use proper prepositions based on the context or situation of the writing by explaining them how to use English preposition and giving examples the correct preposition in a sentence. The teacher also can improve their teaching technique in order to obtain students’ attention to learn English prepositions by using interesting media in teaching learning process.

  The research findings are not only beneficial for teachers in tenth grade of

  

SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo , but also for the students. The students can learn the

  forms of prepositions and how to use it in order to ease them to choose proper prepositions in their writing. The students also know the proper preposition in some variations and in some forms such as, place and position, time, manner, agent, instrument, direction and motion.

  F. Definition of Terms

  There are some important definitions of terms related of this study. Those are as follows.

1. Errors

  Errors are any devation from a selected norm of language performance, no

  139). Many people assume that errors are the same as mistake, but actually they are different. Mistakes are performance errors caused by factors such as fatigue and inattention (Dulay, 1982: 139). Norrish (1983:8) also stated that mistakes happens when a learner makes inconsistent deviation, sometimes the learner get it right but sometimes he or she uses the wrong form, in fact he or she has known the right form. In this research, errors refer to students’ deviation in choosing proper preposition based on the writing context. In this research, the researcher did not differentiate between errors and mistakes. All improper prepositions which are found in this research are considered errors.

2. Preposition

  Preposition is a word that has function to relate a noun phrase to another unit (Curme 1947: 65). In this research, preposition refers to a word that express a certain relationship between a noun phrase and another unit such as time (e.g.

  

before the show ), place and position (in front of the class), direction and motion

(into the bucket) and manner, agent, and instrument (with my teeth).

  3. Tenth grade students of SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo This refers to the students in the first grade of senior high school. The age range of the students is about 15-16 years old. In this research, they are students in

  SMA 1 Sapuran , Wonosobo.

  SMA 1 Sapuran, Wonosobo is located in Jalan Purworejo km 2, Sapuran,

  Wonosobo, Central Java. It is one of the favorite schools in Sapuran. There are five parallel classes in each level with total number of students is about five

  

Sapuran, Wonosobo has some facilities to support the teaching learning process,

such as laboratory, library, computer media, basket field, and so on.

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE In this chapter, the researcher presents some theories related to the topic of

  the research. This chapter is divided into two parts. First part is Theoretical Description and Theoretical Framework. In the first Theoretical Description, the researcher presents overall theories which are directly relevant to the research being discussed. In the Theoretical Framework, the researcher summarizes and synthesizes all major relevant theories.

A. Theoretical Description

  Since the topic of the research is study on error in using preposition and phrasal verb made by tenth graders, the researcher writes theory about errors, mistake, and preposition.

  1. Errors There are four parts of errors which will be discussed in this section. First

  part is definition of errors, second part is causes of errors, third part is types of errors, and fourth part is mistakes.

  a. Definition of Errors Errors have various definitions according to some scholars. In this study, the researcher states three definitions of errors from three different scholars. First definition is from Norrish (1983:7), errors are a systematic deviation when a to Chomsky (1965) as cited in Dulay (1982:139), errors are resulting from lack of knowledge of the rules of language. The errors are called competence errors. The last definition is from Corder (1967) which is cited in Dulay (1982:139), errors are reserved for the systematic deviations due to the learner‟s still developing knowledge of the second language (L2) system.

  Since the tenth graders are ESL (English as Second Language) students, the concept of errors is understood as what Corder has stated, that is failure to utilize a known system correctly when they are developing their ability in writing, especially the ability in choosing appropriate words for certain context. In this study, the students have lack ability in choosing the appropriate preposition in writing context.

  b. Causes of Errors According to Norrish (1983: 21) there are three popular causes of errors such as carelessness, first language interference, and translation.

  1) Carelessness Carelessness is closely related to lack of motivation. Many teachers will admit that it is not always students‟ fault; perhaps the material or the styles of presentation do not suit the students.

  One way to reduce the number of „careless‟ errors in written work is to get students to check each other‟s work. This activity will involve students in an active search for errors and English can be used for a genuine communication while discussing the errors in the class.

  2) First Language Interference Skinner (1957) states, as cited in Norrish (1983: 22), that if language is essentially a set of habits, then when a learner learn new habits, the old ones will interfere with the new ones which is called „mother tongue interference‟. The implication of term „interference‟ is that what takes place is largely unconscious in the mind of the learner (Norrish, 1983:

  26). The learner‟s utterances are a thought to be gradually shaped towards those of the language he or she is learning.

  With the mother tongue, for example, sounds utters by young children which resemble those in the mother tongue are „reinforced‟ or rewarded by approval of the parents. The rewarding leads in turn to repetition of the utterance and the subsequent formation of linguistic habits (Norrish, 1983: 22). The following is the example of first language interference, where a parent ha s been heard to „correct‟ a child‟s grammar (McNeill 1966: 69 as cited from Norrish 1983: 23).

  Child: Nobody don‟t like me. Parent: No, say „nobody likes me‟. Child: Nobody don‟t like me. Parent: No, now listen carefully; say „nobody likes me‟. Child: Oh! Nobody don‟t likes me.

  3) Translation Norrish (1983: 25) states that translation word by word of idiomatic expressions in the learner‟s first language can produce classic howlers.

  Translation from the first language can lead to difficulty where there are not exact learner has been asked to communicate something, but he or she does not know the appropriate expression or structure. He or she may even be unaware that an appropriate expression exists. Naturally, he or she will fall back on the familiar language, his or her mother tongue.

  Norrish (1983) also proposed other current theories of the causes of error. There are six causes of errors: contrastive analysis, general order of difficulty, overgeneralization, incomplete application of rules, material-induced errors, and error as a part of language creativity. 1) Contrastive Analysis

  The contrastive analysis rested on comparison mother tongue and target language (Norrish, 1983: 280). Contrastive analysis is used to predict the areas of difficulty in the target language. This theory is related to the interference of first language. It was found that learning was basically a process of forming automatic habits and that error should therefore result form first language habits interfering with the learner‟s attempts to learn new linguistics behaviors.

  2) General Order Difficulty Different languages show different characteristics order. As the consequences, learners of English as a foreign language have difficulty to understand the simple structure in English. Recent work on learners of English as a foreign language has indicated that this apparent hierarchy of difficulty may explain some of the learners‟ errors in English.

  3) Overgeneralization Richard as cited in Norrish (1983: 31) stated that error might be made as a result of blending structures learnt early in the learning sequences. The example of overgeneralization such as blending of the continuous and the simple present tense in a sentence; both the modal and the standard third person singular

• –s suffix are used.

  4) Incomplete Application of Rules Richard as cited in Norrish (1983: 32) proposed two possible causes of incomplete application of rules. One is the use of questions in the classroom, where the learner is encouraged to repeat the question or part of it in the answer, for example:

  Teacher : Do you read much? Student : Yes, I read much.

  or

  Teacher : Ask her where she lives? Student : Where you live?

  The other possible cause is the fact that the learner may discover that he can communicate perfectly adequately using deviant form.

  5) Material-Induced Errors Two further types of errors which may be induced by teaching materials are false concept and ignorance of rule restriction. The example of false concept such as, the use of present continuous tense in a series of pictures, a radio actions of a suspect. Those are unnatural and will mislead the learners. Motivation, naturalness and a sensible context to for the language are clearly vital, if we accept the view that the learners will use the data presented to them actively, in order to test the use of the language items and form assumptions as to the kind of language they are learning.

  Errors arising from ignorance of rule restriction are more difficult to avoid because it often involves the construction of false analogies, a very similar activity to what the learners do when experimenting with their own language. The example of this theory such as when a student use the noun „discussion‟, and recalls that it is linked to another noun or noun phrase with the preposition „about‟ (e.g “A discussion about abortion”), then compare it to “We discussed about the nuclear energy”. In this case, when the verb „discuss‟ occurs, the student should use his sense of naturalness in using preposition. 6) Errors as A Part of Language Creativity

  Learners need to create new utterances, but with limited experience of the target language, they may make errors (Norrish, 1983: 34). Selinker (1972) as cited in Norrish stated that the process of learning target language leading to the errors is clearly a creative one. It is a natural activity of human who interact with his environment to make sense of it and to form it to his own ends.

  There are two types of creativity in language use (Norrish, 1983: 35). The first type is the ability in the learner to use the parts of the language that he has learnt in order to say something that he may not heard before. The learner is what he has seen of the target language. The second type of creativity is „creative arts‟. In this type, the learners are able to create works of literature in a language other than their own, even if it has been as thoroughly learnt as their mother tongue.

  c. Types of Errors Dulay (1982: 146 - 1920) proposes four major types of errors. Those are types of errors based on linguistic category, surface strategy taxonomy, comparative taxonomy, and communicative effect taxonomy. 1) Error Types Based on Linguistic Category

  Linguistic category classifies errors based on either or both of the language component or the particular linguistic constituent the error affects (Dulay, 1982: 146). According to Dulay (1982: 146), language components include phonology (pronunciation), syntax and morphology (grammar), semantic and lexicon (meaning and vocabulary), and discourse (style). Whereas, constituents include the elements that comprise each language component. For instance, within syntax the error may be in the main clause or subordinate clause, and within a clause the error may be in the noun phrase, the verb phrase, the auxiliary, the preposition, and so forth. The types of linguistic category taxonomy based on Politzer and Ramirez (1973) as cited in Dulay (1982: 148-150) can be stated as follows.

  a) Morphological Errors Morphological errors related to misuse of grammatical structure of words.

  The writer use the incorrect form of writing a word based on the rule of grammar.

  (1) Errors in definite article

  Examples: a ox - an ox (The correct phrase) an big ox - a big ox (The correct phrase) (2)

  Errors in possessive case Examples: women secret - women‟s secret (The correct phrase)

  Agnes‟s father - Agnes‟ father (The correct phrase) (3)

  Errors in third person singular verb Example: He play football with his friend.

  He plays football with his friend. (The correct sentence) (4)

  Errors in simple past tense There are two types of past tense, regular and irregular past tense.

  Regular past tense: Example: She tryed to cook a new menu for dinner.

  She tried to cook a new menu for dinner. (The correct sentence) Irregular past tense: Example: I buyed a new skirt last week.

  I bought a new skirt last week. (The correct sentence) (5)

  Errors in past participle Example: The thieves were arrest by the police last month.

  The thieves were arrested by the police last month. (The correct sentence) (6)

  Errors in comparative adjective or adverb

  My shoes are cheaper than yours. (The correct sentence)

  b) Syntactical Errors Syntactical errors deal with the disorder of words to form of phrases or sentences.

  (1) Errors in noun phrase There two syntactical errors in noun phrase verb which are related to the preposition errors. i. Nominalization

  Example: The book was written Sir Arthur. (Omission preposition by) The book was written by Sir Arthur (The correct sentence) ii. Use of prepositions

  Examples: He went the house. (Omission of preposition) He went into the house. (The correct sentence) He fell down from the water. (Misuse of prepositions) He fell down into the water. (The correct sentence)

  (2) Errors in verb phrase Examples: My classmates is very funny. (Disagreement of subject and number)

  My classmates are very funny. (The correct sentence) (3) Errors in verb-and-verb construction

  Example: I try make her smile. (Omission of to in identical subject construction)

  (4) Errors in word order Example: The bicycle repairs Tedy. (Subject and object permuted)

  Tedy repairs the bicycle. (The correct sentence) (5) Errors in some transformations

  Examples: I don‟t know nothing. (Multiple negation)

  I know nothing. (The correct sentence)

  c) Lexical Errors Lexical errors are related to lack of vocabularies.

  Example: I use a pink t-shirt.

  I wear a pink t-shirt. (The correct sentence) 2) Error Types Based on Surface Strategy Taxonomy

  Surface strategy taxonomy classifies four types of errors. They are omission, addition, misinformation, and misordering.

  a) Omission Omission errors are characterized by the omission of an item that must appear in well-formed utterance (Dulay, 1982:154) Example: She is not allowed to her parents to go. (Omission or wrong preposition before agent)

  She is not allowed by her parents to go. (The correct sentence)