SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT ERRORS MADE BY STUDENTS IN PARAGRAPH WRITING CLASS A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT ERRORS MADE BY STUDENTS

  i

  IN PARAGRAPH WRITING CLASS A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education

  By Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali

  Student Number: 071214039

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT ERRORS MADE BY STUDENTS

  ii A Sarjana Pendidikan Thesis on

  By Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali

  Student Number : 071214039 Approved by

  Advisor Date Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd.

  11 November 2011

  iii

  

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT ERRORS MADE BY STUDENTS

  

IN PARAGRAPH WRITING CLASS

  By YUSTINUS CALVIN GAI MALI

  Student Number : 071214039 Defended before the Board of Examiners on 2 December 2011 and Declared Acceptable

  

Board of Examiners

  Chairperson : C. Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd. _______________ Secretary : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. _______________ Member : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. _______________ Member : Carla Sih Prabandari, S.Pd., M.Hum. _______________ Member : C. Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd. _______________

  Yogyakarta, 2 December 2011 Faculty of Teachers Training and Education Sanata Dharma University Dean, Rohandi, Ph.D.

  PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  Temukanlah tujuan hidupmu Capailah itu dan JANGAN PERNAH BERHENTI Sebelum kamu mencapainya...

  This thesis is dedicated to my beloved mother,

MAMA LUSIA KRISTIANI

• She is my “great” mother, my “faithful” friend and my “nice” listener- iv

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

  I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.

  Yogyakarta, 11 November 2011 The Writer

  Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali 071214039 v PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ABSTRACT

  Mali, Yustinus Calvin Gai. 2011. Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by

  

Students in Paragraph Writing Class . Yogyakarta: English Language Education

Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

  Writing is one of the skills learnt by ELESP students. They learn how to produce English sentences which are grammatically correct. Therefore, to be able to produce the correct sentences, they need to apply the required grammatical elements in the sentences which they write correctly. One of the required grammatical elements to apply in the sentences is subject-verb agreement. Thus, they are required to master subject-verb agreement and to apply it accurately in order to enable them to always produce English sentences which are grammatically correct. Besides, they are also prepared to be future English teachers, the one who later becomes the model for his/her future students, in a real school where writing skill, involving subject-verb agreement, becomes a skill that is still taught. It is ironic if an English teacher is unable to give an example of the correct sentence. Therefore, before coming to the school and being the model for students, ELESP students have to master subject-verb agreement well and to be able to minimize the occurrence of subject-verb agreement errors. However, the writer still finds the fact that ELESP students make the errors. For that reason, it would be significant to find out the errors made by the students as well as to discover the factors behind the errors.

  There were two problems to be solved in this research. Those problems are (1) What are subject-verb agreement errors that are made by students in Paragraph Writing class of ELESP? (2) What are the factors that cause students in Paragraph Writing class of ELESP to make those subject-verb agreement errors?

  To answer the first research question, the writer conducted a document analysis. The documents to analyze were the written work of students in class B of Paragraph Writing at ELESP in 2010/ 2011 academic year. Then, the errors found in the students’ written work were classified into several categories of errors based on surface structure taxonomy. Furthermore, to answer the second research question, the writer carried out an interview whose respondents were eight students of class B of Paragraph Writing who made various subject-verb agreement errors.

  From the data gathered, the writer found that most of the errors belonged to misinformation category (71.4%) and were subsequently followed by omission category (17.9%) and addition category (10.7%). Then, based on the result of the interview, the writer found five (5) major factors that caused the students to make the errors, namely interlingual error, ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules, false concepts hypothesized, and carelessness. Based on the research results, the writer proposed recommendations for students, lecturers in Paragraph Writing class, and future researchers who want to follow up this research.

  Keywords: errors, subject-verb agreement, Paragraph Writing Class

  vi PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ABSTRAK

  Mali, Yustinus Calvin Gai. 2011. Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by

  

Students in Paragraph Writing Class . Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan

Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Menulis merupakan salah satu bidang keahlian yang dipelajari oleh para mahasiwa Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma Yogyakarta. Mereka belajar bagaimana menghasilkan kalimat-kalimat Bahasa Inggris yang benar secara gramatikal. Oleh karena itu, untuk mampu menghasilkan kalimat-kalimat yang benar secara gramatikal, para mahasiswa perlu untuk mengaplikasikan secara benar elemen-elemen gramatikal yang diperlukan di dalam kalimat-kalimat yang mereka tulis tersebut. Salah satu elemen gramatikal yang diperlukan di dalam kalimat-kalimat tersebut adalah kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja. Jadi, para mahasiswa diwajibkan untuk menguasai kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja dan diwajibkan pula untuk mengaplikasikan secara akurat kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja tersebut dengan tujuan untuk memungkinkan mereka agar selalu menghasilkan kalimat- kalimat Bahasa Inggris yang benar secara grammatikal. Selain itu, para mahasiswa Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris juga dipersiapkan untuk menjadi seorang guru Bahasa Inggris di masa yang akan datang, yang nantinya menjadi seorang model bagi para muridnya pada masa mendatang, di sekolah dimana keahlian menulis yang melibatkan kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja menjadi suatu keahlian yang masih diajarkan. Menjadi ironis jika seorang guru Bahasa Inggris tidak mampu untuk memberikan contoh tentang suatu kalimat menggunakan kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja dengan benar. Oleh karena itu, sebelum berada di sekolah dan menjadi model bagi para muridnya, para mahasiswa Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris harus menguasai kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja dengan baik dan harus mampu untuk memperkecil munculnya kesalahan-kesalahan tentang kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja. Akan tetapi, penulis masih menemukan fakta bahwa para mahasiswa Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris membuat kesalahan-kesalahan pada kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja. Karena itu, untuk mengetahui kesalahan-kesalahan pada kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja yang dibuat oleh para mahasiswa Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris dan menelusuri faktor-faktor yang menyebabkan munculnya kesalahan-kesalahan tersebut akan menjadi bermanfaat.

  Ada dua permasalahan untuk dipecahkan dalam penelitian ini. Permasalahan tersebut ialah (1) Kesalahan-kesalahan tentang kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja apa saja yang dibuat oleh para mahasiswa di kelas

  

Paragraph Writing pada Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris di Universitas

  Sanata Dharma Yogyakarta? (2) Faktor-faktor apa yang menyebabkan para mahasiswa di kelas Paragraph Writing pada Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris di Universitas Sanata Dharma Yogyakarta membuat kesalahan-kesalahan tentang kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja tersebut? vii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  Untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama dalam penelitian ini, penulis melakukan suatu analisis dokumen. Dokumen yang dianalisis ialah karya tertulis para mahasiswa di kelas Paragraph Writing B pada Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris di Universitas Sanata Dharma angkatan 2010/ 2011. Kemudian, kesalahan-kesalahan yang ditemukan diklasifikasikan ke dalam beberapa kategori kesalahan berdasarkan surface structure taxonomy. Selanjutnya, untuk menjawab pertanyaan kedua dalam penelitian ini, penulis melakukan interview yang respondennya ialah delapan mahasiswa di kelas Paragraph Writing B yang membuat beragam kesalahan tentang kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja.

  Berdasarkan data yang diperoleh, penulis menemukan bahwa sebagian besar kesalahan-kesalahan tersebut termasuk dalam kategori misinformation (71.4%) dan kemudian diikuti dengan kategori omission (17.9%) dan kategori

  

addition (10.7%). Kemudian, berdasarkan hasil interview, penulis menemukan

  lima (5) faktor utama yang menyebabkan para mahasiswa membuat kesalahan- kesalahan tentang kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja. Kelima faktor tersebut adalah interlingual error, ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of

  

rules, false concepts hypothesized, dan carelessness. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian,

  penulis mengusulkan beberapa rekomendasi bagi para mahasiswa di kelas

  

Paragraph Writing , bagi para dosen pengajar di kelas Paragraph Writing, dan

bagi para peneliti di masa yang akan datang yang ingin melanjutkan penelitian ini.

Kata kunci: kesalahan, kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja, kelas Paragraph

Writing

  viii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

  Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali Nomor Mahasiswa : 071214039 Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

  

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by Students

in Paragraph Writing Class

  beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 14 Desember 2011 Yang menyatakan Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali ix PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Initially, I would like to thank my Savior, Jesus Christ. He has given His grace and love, so I could finish this thesis. “I thank you Lord!” Then, I would like to express my great thankfulness to my major sponsor,

  

Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd., for her time, guidance, and advice given to me

  during the writing process of this thesis. Without her help, I would have never been able to finish this thesis.

  I am also greatly indebted to the lecturer of class B of Paragraph Writing,

  

Cristina Kristiyani, S.Pd., M.Pd. She gave me the permission to access the data

I needed and to interview the students in her class.

  My sincere thankfulness also goes to the respondents of my research, students in class B of Paragraph Writing of 2010/2011 academic year. I thank them very much for their written work which I used as the data of this research. I also thank them for their time and cooperation to be the respondents of the interview.

  I also thank Mbak Tari and Mbak Danik. I thank them for all their precious help to me during my study at the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Their help is precious to me.

  My deepest gratitude and love go to my beloved parents, Papa Yakobus

  

Yohanes Mali and Mama Lusia Kristiani, for their magnificent love, never-

  ending support, and motivation. I also thank them because they always ask me to finish my study as soon as possible. Without them, I could have never achieved this dream. x

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  I thank my beloved brother, Peter Chrysologus Lando Mali, S.E. I thank him so much for his worthful advice. I also thank my beloved cousin, Heronima

  Yustina Mina for her help and motivation.

  Profound thankfulness is addressed to Florentinus Ari Mursodo. I thank him very much for his precious help. I also thank him for his valuable advice.

  My special thanks go to Regina Ndiki and Theodora Dhambo, my aunts. I thank them very much for their prayers to me. Afterwards, I also thank Ir.

  

Wawan Edi Dayanto, B.Sc. and Sony Etwan Kisworo, S.E., who supported my

study.

  I also express my sincere thankfulness to Jessica Christiana

  

Pattinasarany, M.A., my aunt, for the sharing and for some references which

  really supported my thesis. Then, I also thank Hana Haryono and Lidya Ariyani, my other aunts, for their help and support.

  My special thanks also go to my beloved friends in PBI: Deny, Ian,

  

Arum, Sr.Yusta, Redy, Reta, Gaby, Merici, Dian, and all friends in

PROCESS 2009/2010. What we have done together is unforgettable.

  Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all people and friends whose names I could not mention here. I thank them very much for their support and prayers. Without them all, I could have never reached this achievement. Once again, I personally thank them all!

  Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali

  xi

  PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Page TITLE PAGE..................................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGES......................................................................................... ii DEDICATION PAGE....................................................................................... iv STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY.................................................. v ABSTRACT...................................................................................................... vi

  

ABSTRAK .......................................................................................................... vii

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ............................................................ ix

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................. x TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................. xii LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................... xvi LIST OF APPENDICES.................................................................................. xvii

  CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Research Background ............................................................. 1 B. Research Problem ................................................................... 6 C. Problem Limitation ................................................................. 7 D. Research Objectives ............................................................... 8 E. Research Benefits ................................................................... 8 F. Definition of Terms ................................................................ 9 xii

  PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Theoretical Description ........................................................ 13

  1. Subject-Verb Agreement .................................................. 13

  a. Subject Verb Concord in Number ............................... 14

  b. Subject Verb Concord in Person ................................. 16

  2. Subjects in English ........................................................... 19

  a. Noun ............................................................................. 19

  b. Pronoun ........................................................................ 22

  c. There Is and There Are ................................................ 28

  3. Verb Phrases ..................................................................... 28

  4. Errors ................................................................................ 30

  a. Definition ..................................................................... 30

  b. The Sources of Errors .................................................. 31

  c. Other Possible Sources of Errors ................................. 35

  d. Types of Errors ............................................................ 38

  e. The Significance of Errors ........................................... 41

  5. Error Analysis ................................................................... 42

  a. Steps of Error Analysis ................................................ 42

  B. Theoretical Framework ........................................................ 44

  CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Research Method .................................................................. 47 B. Research Setting ................................................................... 48 xiii

  PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  C. Research Participants............................................................ 48

  D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ......................... 50

  1. Human as a Research Instrument ...................................... 50

  2. Document .......................................................................... 51

  3. Interview ............................................................................ 52

  E. Data Analysis Technique ...................................................... 55

  1. The Data from Students' Written Work ............................. 55

  2. The Data from the Interview ............................................. 57

  F. Research Procedure ............................................................... 58

  CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND FINDINGS A. The Students’ Subject-Verb Agreement Errors ................... 60

  1. Data Presentation of the Errors Made by the Students ...... 60

  2. Discussion on the Errors Made by the Students ................ 62

  B. The Factors that Caused the Students to Make the Errors.... 70

  1. Data Presentation of the Factors that Caused the Students to Make the Errors ............................................................ 70

  2. Discussion on the Factors that Caused the Students to Make the Errors ................................................................ 73 xiv

  PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Conclusions .......................................................................... 87

  1. The Students' Subject-Verb Agreement Errors ................. 87

  2. The Factors that Caused the Students to Make Subject-Verb Agreement Errors ....................................... 88

  B. Recommendations ................................................................ 90

  1. For Students in Paragraph Writing Class .......................... 91

  2. For Lecturers in Paragraph Writing Class ......................... 91

  3. For Future Researchers ...................................................... 92 REFERENCES..................................................................................................... 94 xv

  PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

LIST OF TABLES

  Table Page

  2.1 The Forms of Be........................................................................................... 17

  2.2 The Modal Auxiliaries................................................................................. 18

  2.3 List of Uncountable Nouns......................................................................... 21

  2.4 The Pairs of Singular and Plural Pronouns.................................................. 23

  2.5 The Pairs of Singular and Plural Pronouns with Their Be........................... 23

  2.6 The Pairs of Singular and Plural Pronouns with Their Verb....................... 23

  2.7 Universal Indefinites.................................................................................... 25

  2.8 Partitive Indefinites...................................................................................... 26

  2.9 The of-partitives........................................................................................... 27

  3.1 The Classification and the Examples of the Errors Made by the Students 56

  3.2 The Number of Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by the Students..... 57

  4.1 The Number of Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by the Students..... 61

  4.2 The Summary of the Interview Results....................................................... 71 xvi

  PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI LIST OF APPENDICES

  Appendix Page

  A. Surat Ijin Penelitian ....................................................................................... 97

  B. Samples of Students’ Written Work ............................................................... 99

  C. The Classification and the Examples of Errors Made by the Students ........ 108

  D. The Interview Blueprint ............................................................................... 115

  E. The Interview Guide ..................................................................................... 121

  F. Data Classification of the Interview ............................................................ 125

  G. Data Classification of the Interview (English version) ................................ 145

  H. Samples of Interview Transcripts ................................................................. 163

     

  xvii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This introductory chapter consists of six parts. They are research

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

A. Research Background

  The English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta, henceforth called ELESP, aims to prepare its students to become not only as an English language user in professional fields but also as a future English teacher. As teachers candidates who are going to be a model for their future students, ELESP students are required to learn English skills and to master the skills before they are ready to teach the skills to their future students and be a model for their future students. One of the skills that they learn is English writing. In writing an English sentence, ELESP students are required to write a subject and a verb within the sentence. Then, they also have to think about the agreement between the subject and the verb within the sentence.

  It can be said that subject-verb agreement becomes one of essential aspects to learn since an agreement between a subject and a verb is required to make a sentence which is grammatically correct. Therefore, ELESP students have to learn and to master agreement between subject and verb in order to be able to apply

  1

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  correct subject-verb agreement in a sentence and to teach their future students of a sentence whose subject-verb agreement is correct. Otherwise, they will not be able to apply correct subject-verb agreement in a sentence. Consequently, they will not be able to teach and to guide their students to do so.

  Moreover, teacher candidates are going to deal with the agreement between subject and verb when they have become a real English teacher in the classroom. It is because writing skill becomes one of the skills that is still taught to students in the school. It means that it is possible that in the real classroom especially in writing lesson, an English teacher will be asked by his or her students to give a lot of examples of English sentences whose subject-verb agreement is correct. Besides, teacher candidates are going to often deal with the subject-verb agreement when they have become a real English teacher not only in the school but also in some places where they have to teach someone, especially about writing. For example, it may happen when teacher candidates have to become private teachers for their private students who are also possible to have some lessons about subject-verb agreement. It means that teacher candidates also have to be able to be a model for their private students, especially become a model in teaching a sentence whose subject-verb agreement is correct. Therefore, learning, understanding and mastering subject-verb agreement in writing a sentence becomes an essential thing to do by ELESP students.

  Nevertheless, in a learning process, learners who study English writing make errors. Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982) mention that teachers who have experienced long against their students’ language errors have come to realize that

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  making errors become an inevitable part of learning (p.138). However, Norrish (1983) states that in language learning, errors are important in a process of learning and the errors may actually become an essential part in learning a language (p. 6).

  Considering the importance of learning, understanding and mastering agreements between a subject and a verb in a sentence and the fact that learners make errors in the process of learning, the researcher is interested to study subject-verb agreement errors made by students in Paragraph Writing class at ELESP. Then, the factors that cause them to make those subject-verb agreement errors are also analyzed.

  Furthermore, in this study, cluster random sampling is chosen by the researcher. Cluster random sampling can be defined as the selection which focuses on groups or clusters of subjects rather than individuals (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2009, p. 95). The second semester students in a Paragraph Writing class of ELESP, who can be the representative of subject-verb agreement errors made by the second semester students in other Paragraph Writing classes of ELESP, are chosen as the sample of the research.

  The students in the selected class can be the representative of subject-verb agreement errors made by the second semester students in other Paragraph Writing classes because the students in the selected class have the same characteristics as those of other students in the second semester in other Paragraph Writing classes. The first characteristic is all students are the second semester students, who were only equipped with the theory of writing from Basic Writing

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  class in semester one. Moreover, all students have to write a descriptive text, which requires them to apply Present Tense in writing the sentences, in their Progress Test II. In addition, the consideration of the accessibility to the respondents, time, and financial reasons also make the researcher choose students in a Paragraph Writing class at ELESP as the sample of this research.

  Furthermore, the researcher includes students in the second semester of Paragraph Writing class because of the researcher’s assumption that they are likely to make errors, particularly, in subject-verb agreement. If the students make the subject-verb agreement errors continuously since they are in the lower semester, it will influence their writing ability, especially in producing a sentence using correct subject-verb agreement. Moreover, if the students frequently and continuously make subject-verb agreement errors in their sentence, they will find it difficult to replace the incorrect subject-verb agreement with the correct ones since the incorrect ones have been fossilized. According to Brown (1991), this fossilization can happen because learners always remember and use the incorrect form, as a result, it becomes habit in their repertoire (p. 116). Besides, the students will also put themselves in trouble if they do not master subject-verb agreement and they often make errors in subject-verb agreement. It is because in the upper semesters, they will have some other writing classes which require them to always produce sentences whose subject-verb agreement is correct. Moreover, by studying at ELESP, whose aim is to prepare its students to become a professional English teacher, the students are also required to become not only as an English language user in professional fields, but also as a model for their students

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  especially in giving the example of a sentence whose subject-verb agreement is correct when they have graduated and have become a real English teacher.

  Furthermore, when ELESP students graduate, they are considered as a master of English, whose accuracy is highly required. Further, ELESP students will not be considered anymore as learners whose errors are tolerable. If they cannot write a sentence whose subject-verb agreement is correct, they will not be able to teach and to guide their students to do so. Therefore, students especially in Paragraph Writing class at ELESP are required and encouraged to master subject- verb agreement since they are in the beginning semester.

  Actually, in year 1990, which was twenty one years ago, there was a researcher who conducted the research which was similar with this research.

  Nevertheless, there are some differences between the previous research and this research. The participants of the previous research were students in three Senior High Schools in Yogyakarta. Then, the previous research aimed to find out the kinds of problems which were usually faced by high school students in Indonesia in handling subject-verb concord of number and person and the underlying reasons for having such problems. In addition, the previous research used two types of tests which were completion test and two-choice test as the instruments to obtain the data. In the previous research, two-choice test was defined as a test that provides only two options for students to decide which one of the two is correct.

  Unlike the previous research mentioned in the previous paragraph, the participants of this research are ELESP students, particulary those taking Paragraph Writing class. Then, this research aims to find out subject-verb

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  agreement errors made by students in Paragraph Writing class at ELESP and to find out the factors that cause them to make those subject-verb agreement errors.

  Furthermore, this research uses human as a research instrument, the document, which is students’ written work of Progress Test II, and interview as the instruments to obtain the data.

  Because this research presents subject-verb agreement errors made by students in Paragraph Writing class at ELESP and the factors behind it, the students are expected to see and to know the errors that they made, to realize the factors behind their errors, to learn from their errors, and then not to make the same errors in other writing classes held in upper semesters.

  When the students are able to always write sentences whose subject-verb agreement is correct since they are in the lower semester, it will lead them to become a future English teacher who does really understand and master subject- verb agreement in a sentence. This condition will also lead them to become English teachers who are able to be a model for their future students especially in giving the example of a sentence whose subject-verb agreement is correct and to teach their future students to write a sentence using correct subject-verb agreement, afterwards.

B. Research Problem

  Through this study, the researcher formulates the problems which are presented into two questions. They are:

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  1. What are subject-verb agreement errors that are made by students in Paragraph Writing class of ELESP?

  2. What are the factors that cause students in Paragraph Writing class of ELESP to make those subject-verb agreement errors? C.

   Problem Limitation

  In order to make this research feasible and to make readers obtain the point of the research, the researcher limits the research to a certain area. The researcher is only concerned with subject-verb agreement errors made by the second semester students in one Paragraph Writing class of ELESP in 2010/2011 academic year.

  The grounds for the limitation are that the students in Paragraph Writing class are still at the beginning level where errors, particulary in subject-verb agreement, tend to happen. In addition, they are prepared to be English teachers who must be able to be a model for their future students especially in giving the example of a sentence whose subject-verb agreement is correct. Besides, the students in one Paragraph Writing class are chosen as the participants of the study because the researcher considered them the representative of subject-verb agreement errors made by the second semester students in other Paragraph Writing classes at ELESP.

  Furthermore, in this study, the researcher does not differentiate errors and mistakes. Its underlying reason is that the researcher does not conduct further analysis in order to check whether what he finds in the students’ work is an error

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  or a mistake. Therefore, the researcher assumes that every incorrect subject-verb agreement in a sentence is due to the errors that students make.

  D. Research Objectives

  In this study, the researcher determines two objectives. They are to find out:

  1. Subject-verb agreement errors made by students in Paragraph Writing class of ELESP.

  2. The factors that caused students in Paragraph Writing class of ELESP to make those subject-verb agreement errors.

  E. Research Benefits

  The researcher does believe that when the research has been completed, the findings of the research will be beneficial for ELESP students in writing classes because the research presents subject-verb agreement errors made by students in Paragraph Writing class of ELESP and the factors behind their errors.

  Therefore, the researcher expects them to see and to know the errors made by students in Paragraph Writing class, to realize the factors that cause them to make the errors. They are also expected to learn from subject-verb agreement errors made by students in Paragraph Writing class. Richards (1974) states that learners can regard the making of errors as a device that they can use in order to learn (p. 25). Finally, they are also expected to be able to encourage themselves to study harder to improve their writing skills, not to commit the same errors as what

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  students in Paragraph Writing make, and then to be able to become not only as an English language user in professional fields but also as a language teacher who masters subject-verb agreement. Therefore, when they graduate, it will make them able to become a model for their students especially in giving the example of a sentence whose subject-verb agreement is correct.

E. Definition of Terms

  In order to make it easier for readers to follow the discussion and to avoid misinterpretation and misunderstanding, the researcher presents some terms that are often used in this research. They are: 1.

   Subject-Verb Agreement

  In order to be able to give the definition of subject-verb agreement, the researcher, first, tries to define the definition of subject and verb. Langan (1996) defines that a subject is who or what the sentence speaks about (p. 297). This research agrees that subject is who or what the sentence speaks about. Then, Langan (1996) mentions that verb is what the sentence says about the subject and verb also tells people the time of an action (p. 297, p. 347). In addition, according to Ellsworth (1981), verb is a word or group of words used to tell something about the subject (p. 9). In this research, verb refers to a word or group of words used to tell something about the subject and to tell people the time of an action.

  Then, after obtaining the clear definition of subject and verb, the researcher, then, tries to give the definition of subject-verb agreement. According to Wood (1981), the rule says that a verb must agree with its subject both in

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  number and in person (p. 12). Then, Quirk and Greenbaum (1973) mention that the subject is used to determine concord, with those parts of the verb that distinguish between singular and plural, and the selected verb depends on whether the subject is singular or plural (p. 10). In this research, subject-verb agreement can be defined as a rule which states that verb must agree with its subject, which determines concord, in number and in person.

2. Error

  Ellis (2003) states that error shows gaps in knowledge that learners have; error can appear because the learners do not know what is correct (p. 17). In addition, Corder (1971) mentions that error is a failure of the rule of the code and it depends on what particular variety of the target language which is considered as the ‘code’ (as cited in Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005, p. 56). In this research, error refers to a wrong or an incorrect rules of subject-verb agreement applied in a sentence by the second semester students in Paragraph Writing class of ELESP. The error can appear in a sentence written by the students because the students do not know the correct rules of subject-verb agreement to apply in the sentence.

  Further, the term error, admitted as competence error, can be used to present any deviation from a selected norm of language performance, admitted as

  

mistake , without considering the characteristics or causes of the deviation (Dulay

  et al., 1982, p. 139). Its underlying reason is because the term error is not specified only to competence based deviations in order to facilitate reference to deviations that have not been classified as performance errors, which have been

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  called as mistake in some language literature (Corder, 1967, as cited in Dulay et al., 1982, p. 139), or competence errors. Besides, Dulay et al. (1982, p. 139), further mention that the disctinction between performance and competence error is essential, but to determine the nature of a deviation without doing careful analysis is still not easy to do. In addition, it is difficult to determine whether the wrong or the incorrect rules of subject-verb agreement applied in a sentence by the students is an error or a mistake because at that time the students were in Progress Test, where they did not have a chance to revise their written work.

  Therefore, in this research, the researcher assumes that every incorrect subject- verb agreement in a sentence that the students in Paragraph Writing class made is an error.

3. Paragraph Writing Course Paragraph Writing is a writing course in the second semester at ELESP.

  This Paragraph Writing course is held after Basic Writing course in semester one. It means that students who enter Paragraph Writing class are those who are only equipped with the theory of writing from Basic Writing class in semester one. In addition, students who enter Paragraph Writing class are mostly new students who have just studied for two semesters at ELESP.

  In this research, Paragraph Writing course means a writing course in the second semester at ELESP, held after Basic Writing course in semester one, whose students are mostly new students who have just studied for two semesters

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

  in ELESP and are only equipped with the theory of writing from Basic Writing class in semester one.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE In this chapter, the researcher discusses two major areas of discussion on

  which this research is based. The first are the theories related to the research, which are elaborated in the theoretical desccription. The second is the presentation of the theoretical framework which elaborates the framework synthesized from the discussed theories in the theoretical description.

A. Theoretical Description

  This section deals with the theories to support the accomplishment of the research. This section, then, is divided into five parts, namely subject-verb agreement, subjects in English, verb phrases, error and error analysis.

1. Subject -Verb Agreement

  According to Wood (1981), the rule of subject-verb agreement is that a verb must agree with its subject in number and in person (p. 12). Another point is that the subject determines concord (Quirk & Greenbaum, 1973, p. 11). Besides, Leech and Svartvik (1994) add that grammatical concord means that certain grammatical items agree with each other (p. 260). Thus, concord can also be called agreement. Leech and Svartvik (1994) further mention that there are two types of concord, namely concord of number, for example, as in singular: the film

  13

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

   

  

is and as in plural: the films are and concord of person, for example, as in 1st

person: I am and as in 2nd person: you are (p. 260).

  Furthermore, Quirk and Greenbaum (1973) state that the selected form of a verb, which permits a distinction between singular and plural, depends on whether the subject is singular as in the man makes, or plural as in the men make (p. 11). Greenbaum (1989) adds that the agreement of subject and verb is always applied whenever the verb displays disctinctions in number and in person (p. 208).

  Greenbaum (1989) further states that for all verbs other than be, the distinctions only happen in Present Tense, where the third person singular has the –s form and the third person plural, which is like the first and the second persons, has the base form (p. 208).

a. Subject Verb Concord in Number

  According to Langan (1996), subject-verb concord in number means that a verb must agree with its subject in number (p. 338). The concord of number occurs between a subject and its finite verb. Langan (1996) states that a singular

  

subject , which is one person or thing, takes a singular verb, while a plural subject,