T1 112009068 Full text
Students’ Acquisition of Negative Constructions in the
Present Tense
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirement for Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Garnis Dwi Sulistyowati
112009068
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
Students’ Acquisition of Negative Constructions in the
Present Tense
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Garnis Dwi Sulistyowati
112009068
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Prof. Dr. Gusti Astika, M.A
Supervisor
Martha Nandari, M.A
Examiner
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Garnis Dwi Sulistyowati
Students’ Acquisition of Negative Constructions in the Present Tense
Garnis Dwi Sulistyowati
Abstract
This study aimed to describe the students’ writing problems of negative constructions in the
Present Tense. This study was conducted in a rural school, SMP Negeri 2 Tuntang. The
research participants were thirty four students in that school. The data were collected using a
test. The students changed ten positive statements into negative statements in the Present
Tense. This study found three common writing problems of negative constructions in the
Present Tense. They were morphological error, syntactic error, and mechanical error.
Keywords: Negative Constructions, Students’ Perception, Morphological Errors,
Syntactic Errors, Mechanical Errors
Introduction
Background of the Study
Writing skill becomes an important skill in which students should be proficient at.
Becoming a proficient writer is one of the students’ major objectives. They should be able to
write fluently and correctly, besides being able to speak and read in English. For EFL
(English as Foreign Language) students, writing helps students to learn English. There are
three advantages of learning writing. First, writing reinforces the grammatical structures and
vocabularies. Second, students will also have a chance to be adventurous with the language,
which means they can go beyond what they have just learned to say because sometimes
students cannot speak what they want to express. So, writing is an answer to express their
ideas. Third, when they write, they become involved with the new language.
According to Sokolik (2003), in writing, physical and mental activities are working
together to create and develop sentences to make them clear to readers. Raimes (1983:6) also
explained that the close relationship between writing and thinking makes writing a valuable
part of any language course. She identified the different components for producing a clear,
fluent and effective piece of writing: content, the writer’s process, audience, purpose, word
choice, organization, mechanics, grammar and syntax. It can conclude that writing is not easy
and more difficult than speaking (Norrish 1983:63). Writing is complex because it tests a
person’s ability to use a language and the ability to express ideas. As a result, a person needs
to write not only coherently but correctly as well. Based on the description above, this study
is aimed to answer students’ writing problems in writing negative construction in the Present
Tense.
Literature Review
Theories of Grammar
Grammar is used as a mean to analyze language system, and the study of grammar is
not just considered as an essential feature of language learning, but is thought to be sufficient
for learners to actually acquire another language (Rutherford, 1988). Harmer (2003) cited in
Nunan (2005) affirmed that grammar is the way in which the words change themselves and
group together to make sentences.
Grammar can be a frightening thing for EFL students if they don’t master it. In my
view, the native speaker of English has learnt how words behave in a sentence as well as
what they mean, but it is different for people who learn English as a Foreign Language. EFL
students have to learn grammar before they express their ideas in the written or spoken form.
They should think about what a certain tense they should use in forming a sentence and
which one is the appropriate word choice they should use to make an understandable
sentence.
Some language educators have argued that foreign languages are best learned
deductively where the students are asked to memorize and recite definition, rules, examples,
and exceptions. In the deductive approach, the teacher presents the grammar rules and then
gives students exercises in which they apply the rules. As Thornbury (2000) pointed out that
the advantages of deductive approach in teaching grammar is straight to the point and can be
time-saving. Many rules can be more quickly explained than elicited, thereby allowing more
time for practice and application.
Students’ perception about writing
Students’ perception when they write is complicated. They feel confused when they
write their ideas. They have a lot of ideas, but they cannot express it in English. It occurs
because they do not know which tenses they should use and how to arrange some words. The
word “tense” of course has strong correlation with grammar. Rea-Dickins (1991) stated that
the goal of grammar worksheet is to provide an opportunity for the test-taker to create his or
her own message and to produce grammatical responses as appropriate to a given context.
Bachman and Conde (1998) also supported that providing grammar exercises in a test is to
measure grammatical development in classroom.
This study was based on Ferris’ theory. Ferris (2002) said that there are four common
EFL students’ writing errors: morphological errors, syntactic errors, lexical errors, and
mechanical errors. Based on the framework from Ferris (2002), this study aimed to answer
the following question, what are the students’ writing problems of negative construction in
the Present Tense? The purpose of this study was to identify students’ writing problems in
writing negative construction of the Present Tense. I had great curiosity to know about what
the students’ writing problems in writing negative construction of the Present Tense were. It
could be grammatical, syntactic, or mechanical errors.
There were two aspects of significance of this study. The first one is for teachers.
Teachers could apply the result of the study to increase students’ achievement in teaching and
learning of Present Tense. If they knew common errors done by students, they could know
which part the students are usually confused at. They could repeat and repeat the explanation
until the students were able to write negative constructions in the Present Tense correctly
without errors.
The second one is for the students. This research could increase their awareness
toward English structure. They could realize in which part they need to improve their writing.
The result of this study might suggest other questions for further research about students’
writing problems in the Present Tense.
The Study
In this study, the participants should write negative sentences in the Present Tense.
They were given the positive sentences first, and then they changed them into negative
sentences. Students often made grammatical errors. For example, given a positive
construction such as Jasmine sweeps the floor every morning, their negative construction
might be Jasmine do not sweeps the floor every morning . From that example, it could be seen
that they were still confused on how to arrange the words with the correct structure or
grammar, especially on how to use do or does based on the subject. They thought that writing
activity was the most difficult exercise in learning English. That’s why they were reluctant to
write in English. If they never tried to write, they would never be a good writer.
Method of the Study
This study was a descriptive research because it described the students’ writing
problem of negative constructions in the Present Tense. The setting of the study was junior
high schools located in Tuntang, Kab. Semarang, Central Java. I used a test which consisted
of ten questions in order to change the positive construction into negative construction in the
Present Tense.
Participants of the Study
The participants in this study were a class of thirty four students which are mixed
between male and female. They were students in the seventh grade of Junior High School in a
rural area, SMP N 2 Tuntang. I used purposive sampling in selecting participants. Before I
conducted this study, I had taught there during my teaching practicum program. So, I knew
about the characteristics of the participants. All of the students at that school learned English
as beginner. They learned English when they entered in the first year of Junior High School.
Thus, in introducing Present Tense for them was a challenging experience because it was a
new thing for them. I had to teach them first all of Present Tense’s types before I gave them a
test because they were not have been taught it before.
Research Instruments
The instrument used in this study was a test. The purpose of the test was to identify
students’ difficulties in making negative constructions in the Present Tense. The test had ten
positive sentences and the students were required to change the positive sentences into
negative sentences in the Present Tense. I gave the test only once while conducting the
research.
Data Collection Procedure
The data for the study were from the participants’ test results in making negative
sentences in the Present Tense. I made the schedule to meet with the participants for
collecting data. It was not easy to arrange time with the students because they had to follow
their lesson materials from the school’s handbook. Then, I asked the teacher to give me two
hours of her teaching time. The students spent around 30 minutes to do the test that consisted
of ten questions. Before I distributed the test, I reviewed the description of present tense. I
explained the description about the present tense; what it was and when it should be used.
Then, I taught them positive sentences first and made some examples. After that, I continued
with the negative sentence. At this stage, I emphasized the use of don’t, doesn’t, and to be
followed by not. Next, I taught them the interrogative form.
As has been discussed above, the aimed of this study was to identify the students’
writing problems in writing negative constructions of the Present Tense. I gave them a test on
negative constructions of the Present Tense. There were ten statements of positive sentences
that should be changed into negative sentences. After I collected their work, I analyzed the
errors in their work, i.e the negative sentences in the Present Tense.
Finding and Discussion
This section discusses the students’ acquisition of negative constructions in the
Present Tense. The analysis was based on the framework proposed by Ferris (2002) who
categorizes errors in writing into four groups:
Grammatical errors which involve tense, form, subject-verb agreement,
article/determiners, and noun ending (plural)
Syntactic errors which consist of sentence structure, run-on, and fragments
Lexical errors which include word choice, word form, idiom error, pronoun error,
and informal usage
Mechanical errors which involve punctuation and spelling.
In the analysis, I only discussed three types of writing errors found in the data:
grammatical errors, syntactic errors, and mechanical errors. The three categories of errors are
presented in Figure 1 below
Figure 1. Overall errors made by students in writing in the Present Tense
90
80
70
60
50
40
83
30
Total
20
10
17
15
11
0
Form
Determiner Subject-verb Noun ending
agreement
(plural)
Grammatical error
8
5
2
Article
Sentence
structure
Spelling
Syntactic
error
Mechanical
error
Figure 1 shows that the overall errors made by students in writing of negative
constructions in the Present Tense. This type of error contained several sub-types of errors.
The error in form was the highest, eighty three cases. Then, errors in placement of the
negative construction after determiners; seventeen cases, fifteen cases for subject-verb
agreement errors, eleven mistakes for noun endings in plural form, and then there were eight
errors for articles.
The second type of error was syntactic. There were five errors in sentence structures.
And the last was mechanical errors which was the lowest in occurance. It had only two errors
in spelling. Based on the figure above, the highest number of errors made by the students was
morphological. It showed that the students’ acquisition in well-form writing was still low.
Morphological Error
Morphological errors are portrayed from those resulted from the misapplication of the
morphological rules in the formation of words. According to Akande (2005), morphological
errors are due to the learners’ misunderstanding about the meaning and morphological rules.
This type of error may include such errors as omission of plurals on nouns, lack of subjectverb agreement, the subject-verb agreement, verb tense or form, article or other determiner
incorrect, omitted, or unnecessary.
Form error
The first type of morphological error found in this study was form error. It could be
tenses and the form or word placed in a sentence. In the section below are ten tables in
describing the errors in forms. Tables 1 to 10 show the form errors that the students made in
their test.
Table 1. Errors in statement 1: I live in the small town of Central Java
Type of Error
Sub-type of
Example
Percentage
I live don’t in the small town of
9,375 %
error
Morphological
error
Form
Central Java
I live in the don’t small town of
Central Java
21,875 %
I live in the doesn’t small town of
3,125 %
Central Java
I live don’t live in the small town of
3,125 %
Central Java
I don’t in the small town of Central
3,125 %
Java
The first statement in the test was I live in the small town of Central Java . The
participants should change that statement into negative construction of the Present Tense. The
correct answer was I don’t live in the small town of Central Java. In the test, they made
mistakes as displayed in the table above.
As can be seen in the Table 1, the highest percentage (21,875%) of form error was I
live in the don’t small town of Central Java . The word don’t should be placed after the
subject “I”. The correct form of that sentence should be I don’t live in the small town of
Central Java .
Then, the second highest (9,375%) was I live don’t in the small town of Central
Java.The students made errors in placing the negative word. As stated above that negative
word should be placed after subject. And the rest of students’ errors based on Table 1 were
the misplacement of doesn’t as written in the third row. In the fourth row the students put two
same verbs in a sentence. The statement was I live don’t live in the small town of Central
Java. And the last was the students did not write a verb in a sentence. So, that sentence did
not have meaning.
Table 2. Errors in statement 2: Jasmine sweeps the floor every morning
Type of error
Sub-type of
Example
Percentage
Jasmine doesn’t sweeps the
21,875 %
error
Morphological error
Form
floor every morning
Jasmine sweeps doesn’t the
3,125 %
floor every morning
Take a look at the first row, there had been written Jasmine doesn’t sweeps the floor
every morning. The students often made errors dealing with placement of verb. It reached
21,875% of students who did this error. They should write sweep only because there was
doesn’t there. And as displayed in the second row 3,125% the students made same mistakes,
but the different was they put it oppositely. The correct sentence was Jasmine doesn’t sweep
the floor every morning.
Table 3. Errors in statement 3: My brother plays basketball every Sunday and Friday
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
My brother doesn’t plays
40,625 %
basketball every Sunday
and Friday
This statement had one case of form error with the percentage of 40,625%. It was like
the previous table that shows students’ writing error dealing with the verb position doesn’t.
When I asked them whether they have understood they said that they understood. However,
when they did the test, this problem still occured. If a negative sentence has the auxiliary
doesn’t, the verb does not need to be added with + -es/-s. The correct answer of that
statement was My brother doesn’t play basketball every Sunday and Friday.
Table 4. Errors in statement 4: My father works in the police office
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
My father doesn’t works
25 %
in the police office
My father doesn’t in the
3,125 %
police office
The table above had two cases. First, the problems with placement of negative word
and verb reached 25%. Second, missing verb in the sentence as displayed in the second row
with the percentage 3,125%. After the word doesn’t, the students did not put any verb. A
sentence is not a sentence if it doesn’t have at least subject and verb.
Table 5. Errors in statement 5: They go to the Safari Park on Saturday
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
They go to don’t the
9,375 %
Safari Park on Saturday
They go to the doesn’t
Safari Park on Saturday
3,125 %
They go to the Safari
3,125 %
don’t park on Saturday
They go to the don’t
6,25 %
Safari Park on Saturday
They go to the doesn’t
3,125 %
Safari Park on Saturday
In table 5, it could be seen that there were five examples of form errors in statement
five. The highest percentage was 9,375% was in the first row. This error was made because
the students were not aware how to put the word don’t or doesn’t after the subject. Actually,
those errors above had similar form error, either the students didn’t put don’t or doesn’t or
they were not aware who the subject was. If the subject was single, they should write doesn’t
after the subject. Generally, the students’ error here were dealing with how to put negative
word in a sentence.
Table 6. Errors in statement 6: She is a beautiful girl in my school
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
She is a doesn’t beautiful
3,125 %
girl in my school
This type of error had a small percentage; 3,125%. The example error above was the
students put the word is and doesn’t together in the same sentence. It was incorrect, so they
should only write isn’t after the subject. From this case it could be seen that the students’
understanding was still low. This kind of statement was simple because the students just need
to write not after to be.
Table 7. Errors in statement 7: We are students in the SMP Tunas Harapan
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
We are don’t students in
3,125 %
the SMP Tunas Harapan
We are students in the
3,125 %
not SMP Tunas Harapan
Table 7 above had two examples of form error. The first was similar with the previous
explanation in Table 6. The second was about misplacement of verb ini the sentence with the
percentage of 3,125%. The students should put not after the to be are.
Table 8. Errors in statement 8: He is the smartest boy in my class
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
He is the doesn’t smartest
3,125 %
boy in my class
He is don’t the smartest
3,125 %
boy in my class
He is the not smartest boy
in my class
6,25 %
He is the smartest boy
3,125 %
not in my class
The first and second form errors were similar with the previous errors in Table 6 and
7. From Table 8 above, it could be seen that the highest percentage of the error 6,25% in the
third row. The students did not pay attention to the rules of the negative structure with
superlative adjective. The forth row was similar with the third row. The difference was in the
forth example where the students wrote the word not after the superlative degree, not after the
determiner.
Table 9. Errors in statement 9: My rooms are big and clean
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
My rooms are not are big
3,125 %
and clean
My not room are big and
12,5 %
clean
My rooms not are big and 21,875 %
clean
My rooms doesn’t are big 3,125 %
and clean
My don’t rooms are big
and clean
3,125 %
My not rooms are big and
6,25 %
clean
Table 9 shows that there were several form errors made by the students in to-be form
of negative construction in the Present Tense. Based on the highest percentage (21,875%) the
students’ writing problems was on how to place the word are not after the subject. They
wrote not are, it should be are not. Another example was My not room are big and clean.
The appropriate answer should My rooms are not big and clean . In this case, the participants
should put the word not after to be, not after the subject.
Table 10. Errors in statement 10: Ir. Soekarno is the first president in Indonesia
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
Ir. Soekarno is the
3,125 %
doesn’t first president in
Indonesia
Ir. Soekarno is the first
3,125 %
don’t president in
Indonesia
Ir. Soekarno is the not
9,375 %
first president in Indonesia
Ir. Soekarno not is the
first president in Indonesia
3,125 %
Ir. Soekarno is the first
3,125 %
not president in Indonesia
Ir. Soekarno not the first
3,125 %
president in Indonesia
Table 10 above also portrayed some form errors in the students’ test. The highest
percentage was 9,375% showed in the third row. The students made mistakes about
placement of negative sign. The correct statement was Ir. Soekarno is not the first president
in indonesia. The first row and the rest showed error as much as 3,125%. The students still
made mistakes in putting words is and doesn’t or don’t together in one sentence. The other
errors made by the students based on Table 10 was about understanding sign of negative
word not.
Determiner
A determiner is a grammatical element that appears with a noun phrase as a
complement. According to Martha and Robert (1998) pointed out that determiners signal
nouns in a variety of ways that may identify the noun as specific or general quantify it
specifically or refer to quantity in general. This kind of error was about the usage of term the
before a noun phrase. Determiner had three functions, there were:
To show a certain word is finite or infinite in explaining an object
To indicate that there is only one thing or object
To explain a certain word that had been explained before
For example, the word The Safari Park has a clear perception that the writer’s mean was only
Safari Park, not another.
Table 11. Students’ errors of the placement of negative signs after determiners
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
I live in the small town of Central I live in the don’t small town of Central
Java
Percentage
21,875 %
Java
I live in the doesn’t small town of
3,125 %
Central Java
They go to the Safari Park on They go to the doesn’t Safari Park on
Saturday
3,125 %
Saturday
They go to the don’t Safari Park on
6,25 %
Saturday
We are students in the SMP We are students in the not SMP Tunas
Tunas Harapan
Harapan
He is the smartest boy in my class
He is the doesn’t smartest boy in my
3,125 %
3,125 %
class
Ir. Soekarno is the first president Ir. Soekarno is the doesn’t first
in Indonesia
3,125 %
president in Indonesia
Ir. Soekarno is the not first president in
Indonesia
9,375 %
Table 11 above showed that students still made mistakes in their test. The number of
determiner error was higher than subject-verb agreement. The highest percentage based on
Table 11 was 21,875% in the first row. Students wrote I live in the don’t small town of
Central Java. They should put the before the noun and not negative sign don’t.
The rest of the data from Table 11 were also about students’ errors in putting the
before negative sign not, doesn’t, and don’t. It can be concluded that students’ errors was
about the placement of negative signs after determiners.
Subject-verb agreement
This sub-type of error was about the subject that fits with the verb. From their test it
was found that students’ errors were dealing with subject and verb agreement. They didn’t
know how to differentiate when they should use verb+ -s/-es if they have put the word do and
does.
Table 12. Subject-Verb Agreement Errors
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
I live in the small town of Central I doesn’t live in the small town of
Java
15,625 %
morning
My brother plays basketball every My brother don’t plays basketball
Sunday and Friday
3,125 %
Central Java
Jasmine sweeps the floor every Jasmine don’t sweeps the floor every
morning
Percentage
9,375 %
every Sunday and Friday
My brother don’t play basketball every
3,125 %
Sunday and Friday
My father works in the police My father don’t works in the police
office
15,625 %
office
My father don’t work in the police
6,25 %
office
They go to the Safari Park on They doesn’t go to the Safari Park on
Saturday
3,125 %
Saturday
Table 12 illustrated that the number of students’ error in subject-verb agreement was
also on big three of students’ writing problems. Take an example from the second row
(15,625%) stated that Jasmine don’t sweeps the floor every morning. The students as testtakers wrote don’t whereas they should wrote doesn’t. And they also put the word sweeps.
Those were double mistakes for that statement. Their perception was if they use the word
doesn’t, they don’t need to add –s/-es in the verb. It was true, but they also thought
oppositely. If they used don’t, they should add –s/-es. They have to be aware of combining
don’t and doesn’t with verb + -s/-es.
And also they did not notice what the subject was. They needed to differentiate
whether the subject was singular or plural. From Table 12, it could be seen that most of the
students made mistakes in choosing the word don’t and doesn’t.
Article
The articles a and the are usually regarded as reflecting a contrastive
indefinite/definite article system (Garton, 1983). The function of an article is to modify,
especially non-specific nouns. Articles a and an indicate a singular count noun.
Table 13. Article Errors
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
She is a beautiful girl in my school She is a not beautiful girl in my school
Percentage
25 %
Table 13 displayed the students’ error in placing article in a sentence. It could be seen
that 25% of the students needed to learn more about the usage of an article. This case would
be similar with the determiner before in Table 11. As an example above, She is a not
beautiful girl in my school. This case happened because the students did not understand the
function of a in that sentence. The article a should be put after negative sign not.
Noun endings (plural)
This type of error indicated how students added noun ending (-s) in the plural form.
From the data collection, there were some examples of such errors.
Table 14. Plural Form Errors
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
We are students in the SMP Tunas
We are not student in the SMP Tunas
Harapan
Harapan
Percentage
21,875 %
My rooms are big and clean
My not room are big and clean
12,5 %
Table 14 showed two examples of students’ errors of a writing negative sentence in
the Present tense. From the first row it could be seen that 21,875% of students made errors in
writing a noun in the plural form. The example was We are not student in the SMP Tunas
Harapan. The correct sentence was We are not students in the SMP Tunas Harapan . They
should add (-s) in the word students because the subject was we.
The second case reached 12,5%. The statement was My not room are big and clean.
In this case, the word room should be substituted with rooms. This was because there was to
be are after the noun. The table above proved that students still have problem in dealing with
plural noun form.
Syntactic error
Structure
Syntax is system of rules that cover the formation of words (Thornburry, 2005).
Syntactic error was the rules breaking of the phrase structure rules and violate the formation
of grammatically correct sentences. This error could be exemplified as word order,
ungrammatical sentence constructions resulting from faulty use of verbs, prepositions,
relative clauses in sentences. This kind of error was about sentence structured form. It is
based on how to place the subject, verb, object, complement, or adjunct.
Table 15. Sentence Structure Errors
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
I live in the small town of I don’t in the small town of
Central Java
3,125 %
my class
Ir. Soekarno is the first president Ir. Soekarno not the first
in Indonesia
3,125 %
park on Saturday
He is the smartest boy in my He is the smartest boy not in
class
3,125 %
office
They go to the Safari Park on They go to the Safari don’t
Saturday
3,125 %
Central Java
My father works in the police My father doesn’t in the police
office
Percentage
3,125 %
president in Indonesia
Table 15 provided data collection of students’ errors in sentence structure. The number of
errors in Table 15 were same, 3,125%. Take a look at first, second, and fifth row from the
table. Three of them had the same errors in the missing verb. Such an example above was I
don’t in the small town of Central Java . There was a verb missing also in that sentence. The
appropriate answer was I don’t live in the small town of Central Java . The students should
add the verb live to explain what the action of the subject. Another example was My father
doesn’t in the police office . The correct answer was My father doesn’t work in the police
office. There was a missing verb in that sentence. That’s why it was a structure error.
Mechanical error
According to Shoebottom (2010) a mechanical error was a kind of orthography (spelling
and capitalization) and punctuation. Everyone who wrote in English made such mistakes,
whether native speaker or ESL student. In many cases mechanical errors were the
consequence of quick writing where the focus was on the content rather than the form.
Spelling
Read (1975) analyzed the spelling attempts of young children and concluded that their
spelling inventions reflected their current knowledge of the orthography and the rules that
had been abstracted about the spelling system. Spelling was the writing one or more words by
using letters. In this error dealt with how the words are form. For example, Jasmine does’t
sweeps the floor every morning . The correct spelling from the word with bold and italic was
doesn’t. In writing skills, we needed not only good in creating and combining sentences, but
also we needed to be aware of the spelling. This was because if the word was miss-spelling,
the meaning will be different. The example of students’ writing problems in spelling shows in
the table below:
Table 16. Spelling Errors
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
Percentage
Jasmine sweeps the floor every
Jasmine does’t sweeps the floor every
3,125 %
morning
morning
My brother plays basketball
My brother does’t plays basketball
every Sunday and Friday
every Sunday and Friday
3,125 %
Table 16 informed that 3,125% of students made mistakes in spelling. They did not
notice whether the word which they write was complete or not. The two cases above showed
similar errors. The students only wrote does’t in their sentence whereas the correct word was
doesn’t. Although, they forgot to write one letter, it couldn’t be tolerated because there was
no meaning of that word. Another reason which influenced was they might write quickly or
wanted to finish their test earlier.
Conclusion and Recommendation
The purpose of this study was to show students’ problems in writing negative
constructions in the present tense. This study used Ferris’ theory (2002) and found three
common problems of negative constructions in the present tense. I found three common
students’ writing problems. They were grammatical errors, syntactic errors, and mechanical
errors. The highest number of errors made by the students was grammatical errors. Then, in
the second place was syntactic errors. The last position was mechanical errors. This study
found that the students still had problems to write negative statements . In addition, they were
confused whether they had to add –s/-es in the end of verbs. That’s why they often made
ungrammatical sentences of negative constructions in the present tense.
Based on the conclusion, this study recommends that the teacher
delivers the
materials through a deductive approach. According to Purpura (2004), foreign languages are
best learned deductively, where students can memorize rules, recite definition, and remember
examples and exceptions. It starts with the presentation of a rule and is followed by examples
in which the rule is applied. In this study, the teachers used a lot of Bahasa Indonesia during
teaching. It may become a source of the problem because there’s little opportunity for the
students to practice the target language.
This approach could be applied using PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) model.
It allows the teacher to control the content and pace of the lesson. In the Presentation phase,
teachers could demonstrate and explain the material first. They may use power point slides to
attract students’ attention. Then, in the Practice phase the teachers could provide some or
many examples to sustain the students’ understanding aimed at achieving accuracy. And the
last is the Production phase in which teachers could give the students exercises based on the
materials that have been explained in Presentation and Practice phases to improve fluency.
This study was limited to identify the students’ writing problems only in Junior high
school in a rural area. Further research may include participants to reveal more issues in
teaching the present tense or research that looks at other factors that may influence the
students’ writing problems in the present tense.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This thesis would not have been finished without the support of many people.
I would like to praise ALLAH SWT who has given me the life and always gives me bless. I
wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Bapak Prof. Dr. Gusti Astika M.A.,
who were abundantly helpful and patience in guiding me to finish this thesis in a limited
time. Deepest gratitude is also Ibu Martha Nandari M. A., as my thesis examiner. Without
whose knowledge and assistance this study would not have been completed. I would like to
thank all of the teachers and students of SMP N 2 Tuntang who were willing to share all their
thought and experiences to support this thesis. I also wish to express my love and gratitude to
my beloved family: Bapak, Ibu, Mas Dwi who always supported me and provided what I
needed during doing this study. Special thanks to Ochki’s members, Agam, and Niners who
also supported me with their prayers and spirits to finish my thesis.
Appendix
Change these positive sentences into correct negative sentences of the Present Tense!
I live in the small town of Central Java.
..........................................................................................................................................
Jasmine sweeps the floor every morning.
..........................................................................................................................................
My brother plays basketball every Sunday and Friday.
..........................................................................................................................................
My father works in the police office.
..........................................................................................................................................
They go to the Safari Park on Saturday.
..........................................................................................................................................
She is a beautiful girl in my school.
..........................................................................................................................................
We are students in the SMP Tunas Harapan.
..........................................................................................................................................
He is the smartest boy in my class.
..........................................................................................................................................
My rooms are big and clean.
..........................................................................................................................................
Ir. Soekarno is the first president in Indonesia.
..........................................................................................................................................
REFERENCES
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Purpura, J. (2004). Assessing Grammar . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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Reichelt, M. (1999). Toward a more comprehensive view of L2 writing: Foreign language
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Reichelt, M. (2001). A critical review of foreign language writing research on pedagogical
approaches. The Modern Language Journal 85, iv, 578–598.
Rutherford, W. E. 1978. Aspects of pedagogical grammar. Applied Linguistics 1:1.
Schovel, T. (2001). Learning New Languages. A Guide to Second Language Acquisition . San
Francisco State University
Schneider, D. & McCoy, K. Recognizing Syntactic Errors in the Writing of Second Language
Learners. Newark: University of Delaware
Sokolik, M. “Writing”. In Practical English Language Teaching . Edited by D. Nunan. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2003: 87-108.
Thornburry, S. (2005). How to Teach Grammar . Oxfordshire: Bluestone Press.
Present Tense
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
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Sarjana Pendidikan
Garnis Dwi Sulistyowati
112009068
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
Students’ Acquisition of Negative Constructions in the
Present Tense
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Garnis Dwi Sulistyowati
112009068
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Examiner
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Garnis Dwi Sulistyowati
Students’ Acquisition of Negative Constructions in the Present Tense
Garnis Dwi Sulistyowati
Abstract
This study aimed to describe the students’ writing problems of negative constructions in the
Present Tense. This study was conducted in a rural school, SMP Negeri 2 Tuntang. The
research participants were thirty four students in that school. The data were collected using a
test. The students changed ten positive statements into negative statements in the Present
Tense. This study found three common writing problems of negative constructions in the
Present Tense. They were morphological error, syntactic error, and mechanical error.
Keywords: Negative Constructions, Students’ Perception, Morphological Errors,
Syntactic Errors, Mechanical Errors
Introduction
Background of the Study
Writing skill becomes an important skill in which students should be proficient at.
Becoming a proficient writer is one of the students’ major objectives. They should be able to
write fluently and correctly, besides being able to speak and read in English. For EFL
(English as Foreign Language) students, writing helps students to learn English. There are
three advantages of learning writing. First, writing reinforces the grammatical structures and
vocabularies. Second, students will also have a chance to be adventurous with the language,
which means they can go beyond what they have just learned to say because sometimes
students cannot speak what they want to express. So, writing is an answer to express their
ideas. Third, when they write, they become involved with the new language.
According to Sokolik (2003), in writing, physical and mental activities are working
together to create and develop sentences to make them clear to readers. Raimes (1983:6) also
explained that the close relationship between writing and thinking makes writing a valuable
part of any language course. She identified the different components for producing a clear,
fluent and effective piece of writing: content, the writer’s process, audience, purpose, word
choice, organization, mechanics, grammar and syntax. It can conclude that writing is not easy
and more difficult than speaking (Norrish 1983:63). Writing is complex because it tests a
person’s ability to use a language and the ability to express ideas. As a result, a person needs
to write not only coherently but correctly as well. Based on the description above, this study
is aimed to answer students’ writing problems in writing negative construction in the Present
Tense.
Literature Review
Theories of Grammar
Grammar is used as a mean to analyze language system, and the study of grammar is
not just considered as an essential feature of language learning, but is thought to be sufficient
for learners to actually acquire another language (Rutherford, 1988). Harmer (2003) cited in
Nunan (2005) affirmed that grammar is the way in which the words change themselves and
group together to make sentences.
Grammar can be a frightening thing for EFL students if they don’t master it. In my
view, the native speaker of English has learnt how words behave in a sentence as well as
what they mean, but it is different for people who learn English as a Foreign Language. EFL
students have to learn grammar before they express their ideas in the written or spoken form.
They should think about what a certain tense they should use in forming a sentence and
which one is the appropriate word choice they should use to make an understandable
sentence.
Some language educators have argued that foreign languages are best learned
deductively where the students are asked to memorize and recite definition, rules, examples,
and exceptions. In the deductive approach, the teacher presents the grammar rules and then
gives students exercises in which they apply the rules. As Thornbury (2000) pointed out that
the advantages of deductive approach in teaching grammar is straight to the point and can be
time-saving. Many rules can be more quickly explained than elicited, thereby allowing more
time for practice and application.
Students’ perception about writing
Students’ perception when they write is complicated. They feel confused when they
write their ideas. They have a lot of ideas, but they cannot express it in English. It occurs
because they do not know which tenses they should use and how to arrange some words. The
word “tense” of course has strong correlation with grammar. Rea-Dickins (1991) stated that
the goal of grammar worksheet is to provide an opportunity for the test-taker to create his or
her own message and to produce grammatical responses as appropriate to a given context.
Bachman and Conde (1998) also supported that providing grammar exercises in a test is to
measure grammatical development in classroom.
This study was based on Ferris’ theory. Ferris (2002) said that there are four common
EFL students’ writing errors: morphological errors, syntactic errors, lexical errors, and
mechanical errors. Based on the framework from Ferris (2002), this study aimed to answer
the following question, what are the students’ writing problems of negative construction in
the Present Tense? The purpose of this study was to identify students’ writing problems in
writing negative construction of the Present Tense. I had great curiosity to know about what
the students’ writing problems in writing negative construction of the Present Tense were. It
could be grammatical, syntactic, or mechanical errors.
There were two aspects of significance of this study. The first one is for teachers.
Teachers could apply the result of the study to increase students’ achievement in teaching and
learning of Present Tense. If they knew common errors done by students, they could know
which part the students are usually confused at. They could repeat and repeat the explanation
until the students were able to write negative constructions in the Present Tense correctly
without errors.
The second one is for the students. This research could increase their awareness
toward English structure. They could realize in which part they need to improve their writing.
The result of this study might suggest other questions for further research about students’
writing problems in the Present Tense.
The Study
In this study, the participants should write negative sentences in the Present Tense.
They were given the positive sentences first, and then they changed them into negative
sentences. Students often made grammatical errors. For example, given a positive
construction such as Jasmine sweeps the floor every morning, their negative construction
might be Jasmine do not sweeps the floor every morning . From that example, it could be seen
that they were still confused on how to arrange the words with the correct structure or
grammar, especially on how to use do or does based on the subject. They thought that writing
activity was the most difficult exercise in learning English. That’s why they were reluctant to
write in English. If they never tried to write, they would never be a good writer.
Method of the Study
This study was a descriptive research because it described the students’ writing
problem of negative constructions in the Present Tense. The setting of the study was junior
high schools located in Tuntang, Kab. Semarang, Central Java. I used a test which consisted
of ten questions in order to change the positive construction into negative construction in the
Present Tense.
Participants of the Study
The participants in this study were a class of thirty four students which are mixed
between male and female. They were students in the seventh grade of Junior High School in a
rural area, SMP N 2 Tuntang. I used purposive sampling in selecting participants. Before I
conducted this study, I had taught there during my teaching practicum program. So, I knew
about the characteristics of the participants. All of the students at that school learned English
as beginner. They learned English when they entered in the first year of Junior High School.
Thus, in introducing Present Tense for them was a challenging experience because it was a
new thing for them. I had to teach them first all of Present Tense’s types before I gave them a
test because they were not have been taught it before.
Research Instruments
The instrument used in this study was a test. The purpose of the test was to identify
students’ difficulties in making negative constructions in the Present Tense. The test had ten
positive sentences and the students were required to change the positive sentences into
negative sentences in the Present Tense. I gave the test only once while conducting the
research.
Data Collection Procedure
The data for the study were from the participants’ test results in making negative
sentences in the Present Tense. I made the schedule to meet with the participants for
collecting data. It was not easy to arrange time with the students because they had to follow
their lesson materials from the school’s handbook. Then, I asked the teacher to give me two
hours of her teaching time. The students spent around 30 minutes to do the test that consisted
of ten questions. Before I distributed the test, I reviewed the description of present tense. I
explained the description about the present tense; what it was and when it should be used.
Then, I taught them positive sentences first and made some examples. After that, I continued
with the negative sentence. At this stage, I emphasized the use of don’t, doesn’t, and to be
followed by not. Next, I taught them the interrogative form.
As has been discussed above, the aimed of this study was to identify the students’
writing problems in writing negative constructions of the Present Tense. I gave them a test on
negative constructions of the Present Tense. There were ten statements of positive sentences
that should be changed into negative sentences. After I collected their work, I analyzed the
errors in their work, i.e the negative sentences in the Present Tense.
Finding and Discussion
This section discusses the students’ acquisition of negative constructions in the
Present Tense. The analysis was based on the framework proposed by Ferris (2002) who
categorizes errors in writing into four groups:
Grammatical errors which involve tense, form, subject-verb agreement,
article/determiners, and noun ending (plural)
Syntactic errors which consist of sentence structure, run-on, and fragments
Lexical errors which include word choice, word form, idiom error, pronoun error,
and informal usage
Mechanical errors which involve punctuation and spelling.
In the analysis, I only discussed three types of writing errors found in the data:
grammatical errors, syntactic errors, and mechanical errors. The three categories of errors are
presented in Figure 1 below
Figure 1. Overall errors made by students in writing in the Present Tense
90
80
70
60
50
40
83
30
Total
20
10
17
15
11
0
Form
Determiner Subject-verb Noun ending
agreement
(plural)
Grammatical error
8
5
2
Article
Sentence
structure
Spelling
Syntactic
error
Mechanical
error
Figure 1 shows that the overall errors made by students in writing of negative
constructions in the Present Tense. This type of error contained several sub-types of errors.
The error in form was the highest, eighty three cases. Then, errors in placement of the
negative construction after determiners; seventeen cases, fifteen cases for subject-verb
agreement errors, eleven mistakes for noun endings in plural form, and then there were eight
errors for articles.
The second type of error was syntactic. There were five errors in sentence structures.
And the last was mechanical errors which was the lowest in occurance. It had only two errors
in spelling. Based on the figure above, the highest number of errors made by the students was
morphological. It showed that the students’ acquisition in well-form writing was still low.
Morphological Error
Morphological errors are portrayed from those resulted from the misapplication of the
morphological rules in the formation of words. According to Akande (2005), morphological
errors are due to the learners’ misunderstanding about the meaning and morphological rules.
This type of error may include such errors as omission of plurals on nouns, lack of subjectverb agreement, the subject-verb agreement, verb tense or form, article or other determiner
incorrect, omitted, or unnecessary.
Form error
The first type of morphological error found in this study was form error. It could be
tenses and the form or word placed in a sentence. In the section below are ten tables in
describing the errors in forms. Tables 1 to 10 show the form errors that the students made in
their test.
Table 1. Errors in statement 1: I live in the small town of Central Java
Type of Error
Sub-type of
Example
Percentage
I live don’t in the small town of
9,375 %
error
Morphological
error
Form
Central Java
I live in the don’t small town of
Central Java
21,875 %
I live in the doesn’t small town of
3,125 %
Central Java
I live don’t live in the small town of
3,125 %
Central Java
I don’t in the small town of Central
3,125 %
Java
The first statement in the test was I live in the small town of Central Java . The
participants should change that statement into negative construction of the Present Tense. The
correct answer was I don’t live in the small town of Central Java. In the test, they made
mistakes as displayed in the table above.
As can be seen in the Table 1, the highest percentage (21,875%) of form error was I
live in the don’t small town of Central Java . The word don’t should be placed after the
subject “I”. The correct form of that sentence should be I don’t live in the small town of
Central Java .
Then, the second highest (9,375%) was I live don’t in the small town of Central
Java.The students made errors in placing the negative word. As stated above that negative
word should be placed after subject. And the rest of students’ errors based on Table 1 were
the misplacement of doesn’t as written in the third row. In the fourth row the students put two
same verbs in a sentence. The statement was I live don’t live in the small town of Central
Java. And the last was the students did not write a verb in a sentence. So, that sentence did
not have meaning.
Table 2. Errors in statement 2: Jasmine sweeps the floor every morning
Type of error
Sub-type of
Example
Percentage
Jasmine doesn’t sweeps the
21,875 %
error
Morphological error
Form
floor every morning
Jasmine sweeps doesn’t the
3,125 %
floor every morning
Take a look at the first row, there had been written Jasmine doesn’t sweeps the floor
every morning. The students often made errors dealing with placement of verb. It reached
21,875% of students who did this error. They should write sweep only because there was
doesn’t there. And as displayed in the second row 3,125% the students made same mistakes,
but the different was they put it oppositely. The correct sentence was Jasmine doesn’t sweep
the floor every morning.
Table 3. Errors in statement 3: My brother plays basketball every Sunday and Friday
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
My brother doesn’t plays
40,625 %
basketball every Sunday
and Friday
This statement had one case of form error with the percentage of 40,625%. It was like
the previous table that shows students’ writing error dealing with the verb position doesn’t.
When I asked them whether they have understood they said that they understood. However,
when they did the test, this problem still occured. If a negative sentence has the auxiliary
doesn’t, the verb does not need to be added with + -es/-s. The correct answer of that
statement was My brother doesn’t play basketball every Sunday and Friday.
Table 4. Errors in statement 4: My father works in the police office
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
My father doesn’t works
25 %
in the police office
My father doesn’t in the
3,125 %
police office
The table above had two cases. First, the problems with placement of negative word
and verb reached 25%. Second, missing verb in the sentence as displayed in the second row
with the percentage 3,125%. After the word doesn’t, the students did not put any verb. A
sentence is not a sentence if it doesn’t have at least subject and verb.
Table 5. Errors in statement 5: They go to the Safari Park on Saturday
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
They go to don’t the
9,375 %
Safari Park on Saturday
They go to the doesn’t
Safari Park on Saturday
3,125 %
They go to the Safari
3,125 %
don’t park on Saturday
They go to the don’t
6,25 %
Safari Park on Saturday
They go to the doesn’t
3,125 %
Safari Park on Saturday
In table 5, it could be seen that there were five examples of form errors in statement
five. The highest percentage was 9,375% was in the first row. This error was made because
the students were not aware how to put the word don’t or doesn’t after the subject. Actually,
those errors above had similar form error, either the students didn’t put don’t or doesn’t or
they were not aware who the subject was. If the subject was single, they should write doesn’t
after the subject. Generally, the students’ error here were dealing with how to put negative
word in a sentence.
Table 6. Errors in statement 6: She is a beautiful girl in my school
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
She is a doesn’t beautiful
3,125 %
girl in my school
This type of error had a small percentage; 3,125%. The example error above was the
students put the word is and doesn’t together in the same sentence. It was incorrect, so they
should only write isn’t after the subject. From this case it could be seen that the students’
understanding was still low. This kind of statement was simple because the students just need
to write not after to be.
Table 7. Errors in statement 7: We are students in the SMP Tunas Harapan
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
We are don’t students in
3,125 %
the SMP Tunas Harapan
We are students in the
3,125 %
not SMP Tunas Harapan
Table 7 above had two examples of form error. The first was similar with the previous
explanation in Table 6. The second was about misplacement of verb ini the sentence with the
percentage of 3,125%. The students should put not after the to be are.
Table 8. Errors in statement 8: He is the smartest boy in my class
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
He is the doesn’t smartest
3,125 %
boy in my class
He is don’t the smartest
3,125 %
boy in my class
He is the not smartest boy
in my class
6,25 %
He is the smartest boy
3,125 %
not in my class
The first and second form errors were similar with the previous errors in Table 6 and
7. From Table 8 above, it could be seen that the highest percentage of the error 6,25% in the
third row. The students did not pay attention to the rules of the negative structure with
superlative adjective. The forth row was similar with the third row. The difference was in the
forth example where the students wrote the word not after the superlative degree, not after the
determiner.
Table 9. Errors in statement 9: My rooms are big and clean
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
My rooms are not are big
3,125 %
and clean
My not room are big and
12,5 %
clean
My rooms not are big and 21,875 %
clean
My rooms doesn’t are big 3,125 %
and clean
My don’t rooms are big
and clean
3,125 %
My not rooms are big and
6,25 %
clean
Table 9 shows that there were several form errors made by the students in to-be form
of negative construction in the Present Tense. Based on the highest percentage (21,875%) the
students’ writing problems was on how to place the word are not after the subject. They
wrote not are, it should be are not. Another example was My not room are big and clean.
The appropriate answer should My rooms are not big and clean . In this case, the participants
should put the word not after to be, not after the subject.
Table 10. Errors in statement 10: Ir. Soekarno is the first president in Indonesia
Type of error
Sub-type of error
Example
Percentage
Morphological error
Form
Ir. Soekarno is the
3,125 %
doesn’t first president in
Indonesia
Ir. Soekarno is the first
3,125 %
don’t president in
Indonesia
Ir. Soekarno is the not
9,375 %
first president in Indonesia
Ir. Soekarno not is the
first president in Indonesia
3,125 %
Ir. Soekarno is the first
3,125 %
not president in Indonesia
Ir. Soekarno not the first
3,125 %
president in Indonesia
Table 10 above also portrayed some form errors in the students’ test. The highest
percentage was 9,375% showed in the third row. The students made mistakes about
placement of negative sign. The correct statement was Ir. Soekarno is not the first president
in indonesia. The first row and the rest showed error as much as 3,125%. The students still
made mistakes in putting words is and doesn’t or don’t together in one sentence. The other
errors made by the students based on Table 10 was about understanding sign of negative
word not.
Determiner
A determiner is a grammatical element that appears with a noun phrase as a
complement. According to Martha and Robert (1998) pointed out that determiners signal
nouns in a variety of ways that may identify the noun as specific or general quantify it
specifically or refer to quantity in general. This kind of error was about the usage of term the
before a noun phrase. Determiner had three functions, there were:
To show a certain word is finite or infinite in explaining an object
To indicate that there is only one thing or object
To explain a certain word that had been explained before
For example, the word The Safari Park has a clear perception that the writer’s mean was only
Safari Park, not another.
Table 11. Students’ errors of the placement of negative signs after determiners
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
I live in the small town of Central I live in the don’t small town of Central
Java
Percentage
21,875 %
Java
I live in the doesn’t small town of
3,125 %
Central Java
They go to the Safari Park on They go to the doesn’t Safari Park on
Saturday
3,125 %
Saturday
They go to the don’t Safari Park on
6,25 %
Saturday
We are students in the SMP We are students in the not SMP Tunas
Tunas Harapan
Harapan
He is the smartest boy in my class
He is the doesn’t smartest boy in my
3,125 %
3,125 %
class
Ir. Soekarno is the first president Ir. Soekarno is the doesn’t first
in Indonesia
3,125 %
president in Indonesia
Ir. Soekarno is the not first president in
Indonesia
9,375 %
Table 11 above showed that students still made mistakes in their test. The number of
determiner error was higher than subject-verb agreement. The highest percentage based on
Table 11 was 21,875% in the first row. Students wrote I live in the don’t small town of
Central Java. They should put the before the noun and not negative sign don’t.
The rest of the data from Table 11 were also about students’ errors in putting the
before negative sign not, doesn’t, and don’t. It can be concluded that students’ errors was
about the placement of negative signs after determiners.
Subject-verb agreement
This sub-type of error was about the subject that fits with the verb. From their test it
was found that students’ errors were dealing with subject and verb agreement. They didn’t
know how to differentiate when they should use verb+ -s/-es if they have put the word do and
does.
Table 12. Subject-Verb Agreement Errors
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
I live in the small town of Central I doesn’t live in the small town of
Java
15,625 %
morning
My brother plays basketball every My brother don’t plays basketball
Sunday and Friday
3,125 %
Central Java
Jasmine sweeps the floor every Jasmine don’t sweeps the floor every
morning
Percentage
9,375 %
every Sunday and Friday
My brother don’t play basketball every
3,125 %
Sunday and Friday
My father works in the police My father don’t works in the police
office
15,625 %
office
My father don’t work in the police
6,25 %
office
They go to the Safari Park on They doesn’t go to the Safari Park on
Saturday
3,125 %
Saturday
Table 12 illustrated that the number of students’ error in subject-verb agreement was
also on big three of students’ writing problems. Take an example from the second row
(15,625%) stated that Jasmine don’t sweeps the floor every morning. The students as testtakers wrote don’t whereas they should wrote doesn’t. And they also put the word sweeps.
Those were double mistakes for that statement. Their perception was if they use the word
doesn’t, they don’t need to add –s/-es in the verb. It was true, but they also thought
oppositely. If they used don’t, they should add –s/-es. They have to be aware of combining
don’t and doesn’t with verb + -s/-es.
And also they did not notice what the subject was. They needed to differentiate
whether the subject was singular or plural. From Table 12, it could be seen that most of the
students made mistakes in choosing the word don’t and doesn’t.
Article
The articles a and the are usually regarded as reflecting a contrastive
indefinite/definite article system (Garton, 1983). The function of an article is to modify,
especially non-specific nouns. Articles a and an indicate a singular count noun.
Table 13. Article Errors
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
She is a beautiful girl in my school She is a not beautiful girl in my school
Percentage
25 %
Table 13 displayed the students’ error in placing article in a sentence. It could be seen
that 25% of the students needed to learn more about the usage of an article. This case would
be similar with the determiner before in Table 11. As an example above, She is a not
beautiful girl in my school. This case happened because the students did not understand the
function of a in that sentence. The article a should be put after negative sign not.
Noun endings (plural)
This type of error indicated how students added noun ending (-s) in the plural form.
From the data collection, there were some examples of such errors.
Table 14. Plural Form Errors
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
We are students in the SMP Tunas
We are not student in the SMP Tunas
Harapan
Harapan
Percentage
21,875 %
My rooms are big and clean
My not room are big and clean
12,5 %
Table 14 showed two examples of students’ errors of a writing negative sentence in
the Present tense. From the first row it could be seen that 21,875% of students made errors in
writing a noun in the plural form. The example was We are not student in the SMP Tunas
Harapan. The correct sentence was We are not students in the SMP Tunas Harapan . They
should add (-s) in the word students because the subject was we.
The second case reached 12,5%. The statement was My not room are big and clean.
In this case, the word room should be substituted with rooms. This was because there was to
be are after the noun. The table above proved that students still have problem in dealing with
plural noun form.
Syntactic error
Structure
Syntax is system of rules that cover the formation of words (Thornburry, 2005).
Syntactic error was the rules breaking of the phrase structure rules and violate the formation
of grammatically correct sentences. This error could be exemplified as word order,
ungrammatical sentence constructions resulting from faulty use of verbs, prepositions,
relative clauses in sentences. This kind of error was about sentence structured form. It is
based on how to place the subject, verb, object, complement, or adjunct.
Table 15. Sentence Structure Errors
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
I live in the small town of I don’t in the small town of
Central Java
3,125 %
my class
Ir. Soekarno is the first president Ir. Soekarno not the first
in Indonesia
3,125 %
park on Saturday
He is the smartest boy in my He is the smartest boy not in
class
3,125 %
office
They go to the Safari Park on They go to the Safari don’t
Saturday
3,125 %
Central Java
My father works in the police My father doesn’t in the police
office
Percentage
3,125 %
president in Indonesia
Table 15 provided data collection of students’ errors in sentence structure. The number of
errors in Table 15 were same, 3,125%. Take a look at first, second, and fifth row from the
table. Three of them had the same errors in the missing verb. Such an example above was I
don’t in the small town of Central Java . There was a verb missing also in that sentence. The
appropriate answer was I don’t live in the small town of Central Java . The students should
add the verb live to explain what the action of the subject. Another example was My father
doesn’t in the police office . The correct answer was My father doesn’t work in the police
office. There was a missing verb in that sentence. That’s why it was a structure error.
Mechanical error
According to Shoebottom (2010) a mechanical error was a kind of orthography (spelling
and capitalization) and punctuation. Everyone who wrote in English made such mistakes,
whether native speaker or ESL student. In many cases mechanical errors were the
consequence of quick writing where the focus was on the content rather than the form.
Spelling
Read (1975) analyzed the spelling attempts of young children and concluded that their
spelling inventions reflected their current knowledge of the orthography and the rules that
had been abstracted about the spelling system. Spelling was the writing one or more words by
using letters. In this error dealt with how the words are form. For example, Jasmine does’t
sweeps the floor every morning . The correct spelling from the word with bold and italic was
doesn’t. In writing skills, we needed not only good in creating and combining sentences, but
also we needed to be aware of the spelling. This was because if the word was miss-spelling,
the meaning will be different. The example of students’ writing problems in spelling shows in
the table below:
Table 16. Spelling Errors
Statement
Negative construction (errors)
Percentage
Jasmine sweeps the floor every
Jasmine does’t sweeps the floor every
3,125 %
morning
morning
My brother plays basketball
My brother does’t plays basketball
every Sunday and Friday
every Sunday and Friday
3,125 %
Table 16 informed that 3,125% of students made mistakes in spelling. They did not
notice whether the word which they write was complete or not. The two cases above showed
similar errors. The students only wrote does’t in their sentence whereas the correct word was
doesn’t. Although, they forgot to write one letter, it couldn’t be tolerated because there was
no meaning of that word. Another reason which influenced was they might write quickly or
wanted to finish their test earlier.
Conclusion and Recommendation
The purpose of this study was to show students’ problems in writing negative
constructions in the present tense. This study used Ferris’ theory (2002) and found three
common problems of negative constructions in the present tense. I found three common
students’ writing problems. They were grammatical errors, syntactic errors, and mechanical
errors. The highest number of errors made by the students was grammatical errors. Then, in
the second place was syntactic errors. The last position was mechanical errors. This study
found that the students still had problems to write negative statements . In addition, they were
confused whether they had to add –s/-es in the end of verbs. That’s why they often made
ungrammatical sentences of negative constructions in the present tense.
Based on the conclusion, this study recommends that the teacher
delivers the
materials through a deductive approach. According to Purpura (2004), foreign languages are
best learned deductively, where students can memorize rules, recite definition, and remember
examples and exceptions. It starts with the presentation of a rule and is followed by examples
in which the rule is applied. In this study, the teachers used a lot of Bahasa Indonesia during
teaching. It may become a source of the problem because there’s little opportunity for the
students to practice the target language.
This approach could be applied using PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) model.
It allows the teacher to control the content and pace of the lesson. In the Presentation phase,
teachers could demonstrate and explain the material first. They may use power point slides to
attract students’ attention. Then, in the Practice phase the teachers could provide some or
many examples to sustain the students’ understanding aimed at achieving accuracy. And the
last is the Production phase in which teachers could give the students exercises based on the
materials that have been explained in Presentation and Practice phases to improve fluency.
This study was limited to identify the students’ writing problems only in Junior high
school in a rural area. Further research may include participants to reveal more issues in
teaching the present tense or research that looks at other factors that may influence the
students’ writing problems in the present tense.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This thesis would not have been finished without the support of many people.
I would like to praise ALLAH SWT who has given me the life and always gives me bless. I
wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Bapak Prof. Dr. Gusti Astika M.A.,
who were abundantly helpful and patience in guiding me to finish this thesis in a limited
time. Deepest gratitude is also Ibu Martha Nandari M. A., as my thesis examiner. Without
whose knowledge and assistance this study would not have been completed. I would like to
thank all of the teachers and students of SMP N 2 Tuntang who were willing to share all their
thought and experiences to support this thesis. I also wish to express my love and gratitude to
my beloved family: Bapak, Ibu, Mas Dwi who always supported me and provided what I
needed during doing this study. Special thanks to Ochki’s members, Agam, and Niners who
also supported me with their prayers and spirits to finish my thesis.
Appendix
Change these positive sentences into correct negative sentences of the Present Tense!
I live in the small town of Central Java.
..........................................................................................................................................
Jasmine sweeps the floor every morning.
..........................................................................................................................................
My brother plays basketball every Sunday and Friday.
..........................................................................................................................................
My father works in the police office.
..........................................................................................................................................
They go to the Safari Park on Saturday.
..........................................................................................................................................
She is a beautiful girl in my school.
..........................................................................................................................................
We are students in the SMP Tunas Harapan.
..........................................................................................................................................
He is the smartest boy in my class.
..........................................................................................................................................
My rooms are big and clean.
..........................................................................................................................................
Ir. Soekarno is the first president in Indonesia.
..........................................................................................................................................
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