The mastery of SMKN 2 Depok students over basic clause patterns and their distributions in written compositions.

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THE MASTERY OF SMKN 2 DEPOK STUDENTS

OVER BASIC CLAUSE PATTERNS AND THEIR DISTRIBUTIONS IN WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS

A THESIS

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

in English Language Education

By

Bangkit Setiyaji Student Number: 051214073

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2010

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He has set the right time for everything.

Ecclesiastes 3:11a

I dedicate this thesis to

My dear God,

my lovely family,

and my beloved girlfriend.

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ABSTRACT

Setiyaji, Bangkit. (2010). The Mastey of SMKN 2 Depok Students over Basic Clause Patterns and Their Distributions in Written Compositions. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

Since English is termed as a subject prominent language, the subject and predicate become the basic grammar units of the sentence structures. These basic grammar units are termed as basic clause patterns which are important in the making of grammatically correct sentences or clauses to support students’ English mastery including skill development and students’ study results. Students’ English mastery is reflected through the distributions of the basic clause patterns in written composition as one of learning products. The distributions reflect students’ mastery through presenting the clause patterns commonly used, frequency of correct clauses or sentences as well as the frequency of errors. Hence, the researcher conducts the research in SMKN 2 DEPOK to find out students’ mastery over basic clause patterns. There were three research problems which are formulated, those are: (1) How are the basic clause patterns distributed? (2) What basic clause patterns are commonly used by students of SMKN 2 Depok? (3) How is the mastery of SMKN 2 DEPOK students over the basic clause patterns?

The research was a qualitative descriptive research which utilized document analysis as the data were compositions and human instrument as the researcher was the data analyser. The research participants were SMKN 2 DEPOK

students class XI Teknik Pemesinan A (TPA) and class XI Geologi Pertambangan B (GPB) in the academic year of 2008/ 2009.

The research results showed that first, all basic clause patterns were used. Based on the distribution frequency or occurrence, the sequence of the basic clause patterns from the most frequently used until the least used is as follows: 1. SVA, 2. SVOA, 3. SVC, 4. SVO, 5. SV, 6. SVOC, 7. SVOO. The higher distribution frequency of a certain basic clause patterns, the more frequently students used the pattern. Second, students’ mastery over a certain basic clause was determined by the correct and intended clauses in the distributions. The higher frequency of the correct clause of a certain pattern compared to the one of the intended clause, the better students’ mastery over such pattern was. Hence, their mastery could be categorized as, 1. good for SVC and SV pattern, 2. fair for SVO and SVOO pattern, 3. insufficient for SVA and SVOA pattern, 4. poor for SVOC pattern.

Related to the findings, it is suggested that first, after English teachers know students’ mastery, they are to find more appropriate techniques to improve students’ skill and study result by applying focus on form and function technique. Second, students are supposed to master the form and function of English by learning, practicing, and using English grammar, clause patterns, and functions to improve their skill and learning achievement. At last, other researchers are suggested to conduct further research related to this study since this study can give some basis. They can conduct the research about, for example, the effect of L1

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towards students’ mastery over English basic clause patterns or the significances of the errors of English basic clause patterns in students’ compositions.

ix ABSTRAK

Setiyaji, Bangkit. (2010). The Mastey of SMKN 2 Depok Students over Basic Clause Patterns and Their Distributions in Written Compositions. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Bahasa Inggris merupakan bahasa subject prominent, maka subjek dan predikatnya menjadi unit dasar tata bahasa dari struktur kalimat. Unit dasar tata bahasa struktur kalimat ini disebut pola dasar klausa dan sangat penting dalam pembuatan struktur kalimat dan klausa yang benar untuk mendukung penguasaan Bahasa Inggris siswa termasuk perkembangan keterampilan dan hasil belajar. Penguasaan Bahasa Inggris siswa tercermin pada distribusi pola dasar klausa dalam komposisi tertulis sebagai salah satu produk pembelajaran. Distribusi setiap pola dasar klausa mencerminkan penguasaan siswa dengan menunjukkan pola-pola yang sering digunakan, frekuensi kalimat atau klausa yang tepat, dan frekuensi kesalahan. Oleh karena itu, peneliti melakukan penelitian di SMKN 2 Depok untuk mengetahui penguasaan siswa terhadap pola dasar klausa. Ada tiga rumusan permasalahan dalam penelitian ini, yaitu: (1) Bagaimanakah pola dasar klausa didistribusikan? (2) Pola dasar klausa mana yang biasa dipakai siswa

SMKN 2 Depok? (3) Bagaimanakah penguasaan siswa SMKN 2 Depok terhadap pola dasar klausa?

Penelitian ini bersifat kualitatif deskriptif dan memanfaatkan analisis dokumen untuk menginterpretasi data yang berbentuk komposisi tertulis dan peneliti berperan sebagai instrumen penelitian yang bertugas menganalisa data. Peserta penelitian ini ialah siswa SMKN 2 Depok kelas XI Teknik Pemesinan A (TPA) dan kelas XI Geologi Pertambangan B (GPB) tahun akademik 2008/ 2009.

Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa, pertama, semua pola dasar klausa digunakan dalam penulisan komposisi. Berdasarkan frekuensi pendistribusian atau penggunannya, pola dasar klausa dari yang paling sering digunakan hingga paling jarang dapat diurutkan sebagai berikut: 1. SVA, 2. SVOA, 3. SVC, 4. SVO, 5. SV, 6. SVOC, 7. SVOO. Semakin tinggi frekuensi distribusi suatu pola dasar klausa, semakin sering pula siswa memakai pola tersebut. Kedua, penguasaan siswa pada pola dasar klausa ditentukan oleh klausa yang tepat dan yang kurang tepat. Semakin tinggi frekuensi klausa yang tepat dibanding dengan yang kurang tepat, maka semakin baiklah penguasaan siswa. Selanjutnya, penguasaan siswa dikategorikan sebagai berikut: 1. baik bagi pola SVC dan SV, 2. sedang bagi pola SVO dan SVOO, 3. kurang bagi pola SVA dan SVOA, 4. rendah bagi pola SVOC.

Hasil penelitian menganjurkan bahwa, pertama, para guru Bahasa Inggris diharapkan dapat menentukan teknik pengajaran yang lebih sesuai untuk meningkatkan keterampilan dan hasil belajar siswa setelah mengetahui penguasaan mereka. Guru dapat menggunakan teknik focus on form and function.

Kedua, siswa diharapkan menguasai form and function dari Bahasa Inggris dengan belajar dan berlatih tata bahasa, sekaligus menggunakan pola dasar klausa dan ungkapan dalam bahasa Inggris guna meningkatkan keterampilan dan hasil belajar. Terakhir, peneliti menganjurkan agar para peneliti melakukan penelitian

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lebih lanjut dan dapat menjadikan penelitian ini sebagai landasan. Para peneliti dapat melakukan penelitian lanjutan, sebagai contohnya, mengenai pengaruh bahasa pertama terhadap penguasaan pola dasar klausa Bahasa Inggris atau nilai penting kesalahan pola dasar klausa Bahasa Inggris pada komposisi siswa.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Jesus Christ

and Mother Mary for the blessing which had been given to me. I always felt that I was being encouraged even when I had my bad times. I learnt many things from Jesus and Mother Mary that I could struggle and kept trying for everything in my life including to finish my thesis. God blessed me all the way that I could finish this thesis. With all my heart and gratitude, hereby, I would like to thank Him.

I would like to thank my sponsor Carla Sih Prabandari, S.Pd., M.Hum., for her guidance, patience, time, support, and advice during the writing process of my thesis. Her help, suggestion, and comment were really worthy and useful.

I would like to thank to Drs. Sutarto, the headmaster of SMKN 2 Depok, for permitting me to conduct the research in the school. I would thank Erma Ade Susmonowati, S.Pd. one of the English teachers of SMKN 2 Depok who had helped me in conducting the research and obtaining the data. I would also thank all students of SMKN 2 Depok year 2008/ 2009 class XI Teknik Pemesianan A (TPA), and XI Geologi Pertambangan B (GPB) for the willingness to be research subjects and the cooperation to do the task given to succeed the research.

I would like to thank God’s gift, my beloved family. My parents - Mrs. Theresia Sri Suhartati and Mr. Sidik Harjono, my older brother - Suherman, S.H. and my younger sister - Theresia Ratih Kurnia Putri. I thank my parents for their love, support, encouragement, and all the things that had made me

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struggle and walk through this far to reach my dreams. I thank my siblings for their jokes, encouragement, and care which always made me feel happy.

I would like to thank to my beloved Lucia Sekar Widianingsih, for her love, care, support, encouragement, guidance, and beauty which always made me complete and alive. I could keep struggling because she always reminded me that I must be strong and patient to reach my dreams, or actually, our dreams.

I would like to thank my friends, Yosep, Agnes si bos, Dik Monik, Dee,

Filus, Adit, Daniel, and Itok for the beautiful moment of struggling, teamwork, jokes, share, and friendship during the study.

Finally, I would like to thank anyone who helped me to finish this thesis whose names could not be mentioned. God blesses us all.

Bangkit Setiyaji

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE………. APPROVAL PAGES………. DEDICATION PAGE ……….. STATEMENT OF WORK'S ORIGINALITY ……….

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS...

ABSTRACT ……….……..

ABSTRAK……….…... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………..……. TABLE OF CONTENTS……… LIST OF TABLES……….……. LIST OF APPENDICES………..…...

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………..

A. Research Background ………...

B. Problem Formulation ………

C. Problem Limitation ………...

D. Research Objectives ……….

E. Research Benefits ……….

F. Definition of Terms ………..

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE……….…....

A. Theoretical Description ………

1. Clause………...….

a. Independent Clause ……….……. b. Dependent Clause ………...……….. 2. Clause Elements………...

a. Clause Elements based on Positions ………

Page i ii iv v vi vii ix xi xiii xvi xvii 1 1 4 4 5 6 6 9 9 9 10 10 11 11

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1) Subject ………..……..

2) Verb ………

3) Object ………..

4) Adverb ………...…….

5) Complements ………..………

b. Clause Elements based on Part of Speech

(Form-Classes) ………..

1) Nouns ………..

2) Verb ………

3) Adjectives ………...

4) Prepositions ………..…….. 3. Basic Clause Patterns ………....………. 4. Types of Sentence based on the Relation

between Clauses ………

a. Simple Sentence ……….….

b. Compound Sentence ………..…..

c. Complex Sentence ………..…….

d. Compound Complex Sentence ………. 5. Mastery ……… 6. Errors and Mistakes ………. 7. Written Descriptive Texts ………

B. Theoretical Framework ………

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY………..

A. Research Method ………..

B. Research Participants ………

C. Research Instrument ….………

D. Data Gathering Technique ………

E. Data Analysis Technique ………..

F. Research Procedure ………..

11 12 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 18 21 22 22 23 24 25 25 26 26 29 29 30 31 32 32 33

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CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION …………...

A. Research Findings ……….

1. The Distribution of the Basic Clause Patterns ………….………... 2. Students’ Mastery over Basic Clause Patterns ....………... a. Students’ Mastery over SVA Pattern ………...………. b. Students’ Mastery over SVOA Pattern ………. c. Students’ Mastery over SVC Pattern …..………. d. Students’ Mastery over SVO Pattern ………...…. e. Students’ Mastery over SV Pattern ……….……. f. Students’ Mastery over SVOC Pattern ………. g. Students’ Mastery over SVOO Pattern ………. 3. Other Research Finding ……….……….…

B. Discussion ……….…

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ………..

A. Conclusions ………..

B. Suggestions ………..

REFERENCES ………

35 35 35 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 51 57 57 60 63

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LIST OF TABLES

Table

Table 4.1 The Distributions of Basic Clause Patterns………...…. Table 4.2 The Result of SVA Basic Clause Pattern Distributions ………. Table 4.3 The Result of SVOA Basic Clause Pattern Distributions ……….…. Table 4.4 The Result of SVC Basic Clause Pattern Distributions ……….. Table 4.5 The Result of SVO Basic Clause Pattern Distributions ………. Table 4.6 The Result of SV Basic Clause Pattern Distributions …………...…. Table 4.7 The Result of SVOC Basic Clause Pattern Distributions ……..……. Table 4.8 The Result of SVOO Basic Clause Patterns Distributions …………. Table 4.9 The Scope of Errors ………..…….….

Page

37 41 42 43 43 44 45 46 50

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix Page

APPENDIX A Permission Letters

1. Permission Letter from English Language Education 65 Study Program

2. Permission Letter from BAPPEDA 66

APPENDIX B The Example of the Task 67

APPENDIX C Examples of Students’ Compositions 68 APPENDIX D The Checklist of the Distributions of Basic Clause Patterns 73 APPENDIX E The Detailed Error Scopes of Students’ Clauses 106 APPENDIX F The List of Original Clause, Intended Clause, and 111 Intended Clause

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

English is defined as a subject prominent language that the grammatical units of the subject and predicate become the basic elements to the sentence structure (Richards, 1992: 161). The grammatical units which involve the basic structure of sentences or clauses are often found in every English lesson, especially in grammar learning. Those basic structures, in this study, are termed as basic clause patterns. These basic clause patterns can be seen in students’ written compositions. These written compositions become one of students’ products of learning. Hence, the basic clause patterns which students use in their compositions reflect their mastery over them. Furthermore, their mastery can be revealed through the distributions of those basic clause patterns.

This study focuses on students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns and their distribution. This research uses students’ written compositions in a form of descriptive text. This chapter presents the background of the study, the problem formulation, the problem limitation, the research objectives, the research benefits, and the definition of terms.

A. Research Background

The research is conducted in consideration that all of the students of the eleventh grade of SMKN 2 Depok should be ready to continue their study on English and master it. English is very important for them to master for the sake of

their study and skill development. As the eleventh grade students have been learning English since they were in the tenth grade, their knowledge is supposed to have been more developing than when they were in the previous grade. Moreover, they are still expected to make more development on their English proficiency as they are continuing their study in the twelfth grade.

In order to master English, students need to learn, practice, and use the basic clause patterns as the grammatical units of English. The lesson related to English grammar and the basic clause patterns are included in the curriculum and the teaching materials although there is no specific grammar class in the school. However, the lessons related to English grammar rules and basic clause patterns are needed and very important. The basic clause patterns are viewed to have contributions in students’ mastery related to English. The contribution of basic clause patterns is supported by Roulet (1975: 48). Roulet claims that “fast and adequate learning can be achieved if deep structures are properly recognized…. that learners can derive from them the rules which they must internalize in order to become proficient in the target language.”

The relation between the deep structure and the basic clause patterns is that the deep structure functions as a syntactic structure which introduces the structure of a sentence while the basic clause patterns are the forms of clauses’ variations of which each pattern can show the basic structure of a clause or sentence. Therefore, the deep structure is closely related to the basic clause pattern since they both introduce the sentence structures. The sentence structures which

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students understand are used based on the basic clause pattern to make the compositions.

However, apart from the reasons and expectation to master English, there is also a problem that students face. There is possibility that those eleventh grade students forget the knowledge that they have learned in the previous grade. The fact that they forget the knowledge is proved through the existence of the errors in the compositions that they made. Hereby, students’ mastery is said to be degenerated. This degeneration can be caused by the result of inappropriate teaching techniques or other factors which students experienced in the tenth grade learning process. This problem adds more urgency toward the research.

In summary, the research is conducted for the consideration that while students’ are expected to develop their study and skill towards English, they also face a problem which is the degeneration of their knowledge and mastery from the previous learning. In addition to such degeneration, this problem can be caused by the inappropriate teaching techniques. Therefore, the research aims to find out students’ mastery over English through the basic clause patterns that students use and the distributions in the written compositions that they produce. If students’ mastery can be revealed, teachers can determine the more appropriate teaching techniques to develop students’ skill and results of their study. Meanwhile, students can be familiar with the basic grammatical patterns of English and know how to use them appropriately to communicate.

B. Problem Formulation

Considering the research background, this research is going to answer three questions. The first and second question is directed to find out how the basic clause patterns are distributed as well as what patterns commonly used in students’ written compositions are. Meanwhile, the third question is directed to reveal students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns in relation to each clause pattern distribution. The questions are:

1. How are the basic clause patterns distributed?

2. What basic clause patterns are commonly used by students of SMKN 2 Depok

in their compositions?

3. How is the mastery of SMKN 2 Depok students over the basic clause patterns?

C. Problem Limitation

The research focuses on the mastery of the eleventh grade students of

SMKN 2 Depok over the basic clause patterns. The discussion directs to the patterns and distributions of the basic clause patterns which students use in their written compositions. The compositions, which are applied, are descriptive compositions. The reason of choosing this kind of compositions is because descriptive compositions are included in the school curriculum and are taught to all students of SMKN 2 Depok from the tenth grade until the twelfth grade. In brief, this research works on the patterns and distributions of the basic clause patterns in students’ written descriptive compositions.

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In addition to students’ compositions, there are also errors that they possibly make in their sentences or clauses. Therefore, the errors that students possibly make are included in this research. The errors are involved because errors are included to the part of students’ mastery. Corder (1967 quoted in Walz 1982: 1) says that “learning a new language requires a trial and error approach, and errors are evidence that the learners are testing hypotheses of underlying rules, categories, and systems.”

However, in this study, the errors are not the focus, but are treated as other research result. The scopes of the errors, which can be revealed, are used to find the important information of students’ weaknesses towards the basic clause patterns and other grammatical aspects on them.

D. Research Objectives

Considering the problems stated in the problem formulation, the objectives of the research are:

1. To find out how the basic clause patterns are distributed as well as what the common patterns which are used by students of SMKN 2 Depok in their compositions are.

2. To know how well students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns based on their distributions.

E. Research Benefits

Since the distributions of the basic clauses, the common patterns which are used by students, and the errors that they make are able to show students’ mastery, this research enables the teacher to know students strengths and weaknesses over English. For further advantages, the appropriate teaching techniques in English learning especially in grammar learning can be found to help students develop their skill and the achievement of their study. As a result, they can enrich their knowledge and use their skill to communicate in a better way.

In relation to students’ composition, students are able to understand how the elements of a sentence or a clause work together to make grammatically correct sentences to convey their ideas. Furthermore, they can make variation in the sentence structure correctly and, after students master each clause pattern, they are able to make good compositions by using other basic clause patterns.

F. Definition of Terms

Below are the list of the terms used and the definitions of the terms: 1. Basic Clause Pattern

A basic clause pattern is a pattern of the elements of a clause or a sentence. This basic clause pattern is reflected in every English sentence in a form of Subject-Verb relationship. Other elements can be added to make a sentence more interesting, but they are not essential to its formation. In this study, the basic clause pattern means the pattern of a sentence or a clause of which the subject and the verb become the main element and their relationship becomes the determining

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factor to the agreement or concord. Meanwhile, other elements of the basic clause such as the object, adverb, and or complement are complementary to the pattern. These complementary elements become the ones which can emerge the variations of pattern of the basic clause.

2. Written Composition

Heaton (1982: 127) defines “the writing of a composition is a task which involves the student in manipulating words in grammatically correct sentences and in linking those sentences to form a piece of continuous writing which successfully communicates the writer’s thoughts and ideas on a certain topic.” In this study, written compositions are defined as the result of the writer’s thoughts and ideas of a certain topic which are communicated through continuous and grammatically linked correct sentences in compositions.

3. Mastery

Hagboldt (1935: 2 as cited by Suharyono 1997: 8), defines that “someone is said to have a mastery over a language if he or she has spontaneous comprehension by ear, effortless and affluent reading, and habitual and skillful use of words, idioms, and sentences both oral and written.” In this study, the word mastery is suited to the meaning of students’ comprehension and skill over English which is reflected through the basic clause patterns in their compositions.

4. Descriptive Text

Kammer and Diebold (1949: 119) say that “a description is a form of writing or talking whose purpose is the creation of pictures, sounds, smells, taste, and touch sensations in the imagination of the reader or listener.” In this study, descriptive text is referred to a kind of text of which the aim is to describe a particular persons, places, events, or things. The generic structures of this text involve, first, identification whose purpose is to identify phenomenon to be described. The second one is the description. It aims to describe parts, qualities, and characteristics.

5. Eleventh Grade Students of SMK NEGERI 2 Depok

The eleventh grade students are the students who are studying in the second year in SMKN 2 Depok. There are nine classes of students in SMKN 2 Depok. The classes are as follows: Teknik Gambar Bangunan (TGB), Teknik Audio Video (TAV), Teknik Elektronika Industri (TEI), Teknik Komputer Jaringan (TKJ), Teknik Pemesinan (TP), Teknik Mekanika Otomotif (TMO), Kimia Industri (KI), Analisis Kimia (AI), and Geologi Pertambangan (GP).

Since those eleventh grade students are still continuing studying English as one of the school subjects, thus they still learn English grammar, sentence patterns, and the writing of compositions. Therefore, it is suitable if the researcher manages to find out their mastery over English through the basic clause patterns that they use in the compositions.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the researcher discusses the underlying theories of the study. There are two major points of discussion, of which the first one deals with the theoretical description. The theoretical description covers seven main points, those are the theory of clause, theory of clause elements, theory of basic clause patterns, theory of types of sentence based on the relation between clauses, theory of mastery, theory of error and mistakes, and the theory of written descriptive texts. The second point, on the other hand, deals with the theoretical framework of the research.

A. Theoretical Description 1. Clause

A clause means a group of words containing a subject and a verb (Betty, 1989: 238). Other source, John (1962: 245) states that “a clause is defined as a group of related words that contains a subject and predicate.” Therefore, it can be concluded that a clause is a group of words of which the main elements are a subject and a verb or a predicate. In this study, the clause is defined as a group of words of which the main elements are subject and predicate or the simple predicate which is called verb and other complementary elements. Furthermore, clauses are divided into two categories. Those categories are independent clause and dependent clause.

a. Independent Clause

An independent clause is defined as a clause that expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence (John, 1962: 245). The example of an independent clause can be seen in the example (1).

(1) Bernard always keeps his room clean.

b. Dependent Clause

A dependent clause is said to depend on the rest of the sentence for its meaning. This kind of clause can be classified into adjective clause, adverb clause, and noun clause. Adjective clause functions to modify a noun or a pronoun which normally uses relative pronouns, such as who, whose, whom, which, that as what we can see in the italicized clauses in the example (2) and (3):

(2) The person who is preaching is our manager.

(3) The old woman whose hair is blonde is my grandmother.

Meanwhile, adverb clause functions to modify a verb, an object, or an adverb in a sentence. The subordinating conjunction such as when, where, before, since, as, unless, than, though are normally present. Examples (4) and (5) show the adverb clause with subordinating conjunctions:

(4) He had studied before he had the examination. (5) It was raining when she came.

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The other dependent clause is a noun clause. It is a clause which is used as a noun and functions as single noun in a sentence. The words such as who, which, what, when, where, whether, how, and why are used to introduce a noun clause. (6) What they are doing is not our business.

(7) I know that she did not study last night.

2. Clause Elements

In relation to a sentence, clauses can also become the elements of it. The elements are divided into two categories; those are the elements based on positions and the elements based on parts of speech.

a. Clause Elements based on Positions

Randolph and Sidney (1982: 12) state that “the elements of a sentence based on positions involve subject (S), predicate or verb (Verb), object (O), adverb (A), and complement (C).” Those elements, in the explanation of the other section, are used to determine the pattern of the clauses.

1) Subject

Randolph and Sidney (1982: 12) state that “a subject is normally a noun phrase or a clause with nominal function which occurs before the verb phrase in declarative clauses and immediately after the operator in question.” In addition, it has number and concord which are applicable with the verb phrase. The example of a subject is written in italics and can be seen in the example (8):

(8) Those two big ships were sailing.

As seen in example (8), the subject is in a form of noun phrase which consists of a group of words. In this case, the most important word in that complete subject is the simple subject. Therefore, the subject is ships.

2) Verb

John (1962: 204) states that “A word which is used as the predicate in a sentence is classified as a verb”. Meanwhile, Warriner (1982: 25) claims that “the principal word or group of words in the predicate is called the simple predicate or the verb.” A verb expresses the action or state of being. Examples (9) and (10) show the verbs which are written in italics:

(9) The architect destroyed the blueprints. (10) I was in the house all day.

As seen in examples (9), the word destroyed states an action while in example (10), the word was states of being. There are two kinds of verbs. The first one is the transitive verb. “A transitive verb is a verb passing an action to a noun or a pronoun and usually followed by direct objects” (John, 1962: 268). The example of a transitive verb can be seen in example (11) which is written in italics.

(11) The policemen arrested the robber.

As seen in example (11), the word arrested, which functions as the transitive verb, passes its action to the word robber, which functions as direct object.

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The other kind of verbs is the intransitive verb (John, 1962: 276). In opposite to the transitive verb, intransitive verb does not pass an action to a noun or a pronoun. In addition, intransitive verbs are still classified into two kinds. First, complete intransitive. “Complete intransitive verb is an action verb which is complete in itself and it does not pass an action to a noun or a pronoun” (John, 1962: 276). The example of complete intransitive verb is written in italics in example (12).

(12) The car moved slowly into the garage.

Meanwhile, the second one is a linking intransitive verb. “Linking intransitive verb is a verb which links or joins a predicate noun, a predicate pronoun, or a predicate adjective to the subject of the sentence” (John, 1962: 276). The example of the linking intransitive verb can be seen in example (13), (14), and (15) in italics:

(13) Mr. Hendry is the headmaster in my sister’s school. (14) That is he in the kitchen.

(15) My father and mother havebeen busy all day.

As seen in example (13), the verb is links the predicate noun headmaster to the subject Mr. Hendry. In example (14), the verb is links the predicate pronoun he to the subject that. Meanwhile, in example (15), the words have been are the linking verb that links the adjective busy to the subjects my father and mother.

In addition, there are other verbs which function as linking verbs such as

feel, look, sound, taste, appear, seem, become, get, turn, and grow when they mean become (Azar, 1989: A5). These words are immediately followed by adjective (Adj), which describe the subject (S) of the sentence. The example of such linking verbs can be seen in the example (16) and (17):

(16) She seems sincere. (17) You look pale.

3) Object

“An object is a noun phrase or noun clause with nominal function and normally follows the subject and verb phrase” (Randolph and Sidney, 1982: 12). By the passive transformation, an object assumes the status of subject. An object, in this case, is divided into two kinds, those are direct object (Od) and indirect object (Oi). The italic words in example (18) show the direct and indirect objects.

(18) The mother has given her daughtera new dress.

In the example (18), the noun phrase her daughter serves as indirect object (Oi) and the noun phrase a new dress serve as direct object (Od). In addition, indirect object almost always precedes the direct object. It can also be assumed that direct object tends to be done for or received by the indirect object (Randolph and Sidney, 1982: 13).

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4) Adverb

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb (John, 1962: 213). There are words classified as adverbs which can be patterned with adjective and adverbs, but not verbs such as very, too, quite, really, enough, rather. They are called intensifier. Example (19) shows the adverbs which is written in italic:

(19) The young man walks quiterapidly.

Besides, Adverbs can also show the information about time (adverb of time), place (adverb of place), cause (adverb of cause), manner (adverb of manner), and degree (adverb of degree) as seen in the following examples:

(20) We shall meet at seven. (adverb of time) (21) I saw him in the garden. (adverb of place) (22) The car, therefore, was broken. (adverb of cause)

(23) He speaks clearly. (adverb of manner) (24) I absolutely agree with you. (adverb of degree)

5) Complement

A complement is a word or a group of words which is added to another word or group of words to complete a meaning (John, 1962: 223). There are two kinds of complement, subject complement (Cs) and object complement (Co).

(25) The man is now a teacher in my sister’s school.

Example (25) explains that the phrase a teacher is the subject complement (Cs) of the sentence since it has the direct relation to the subject (S) that the subject of the sentence is understood as being a male teacher. Meanwhile, example (26) shows the object complement (Co), that is the phrase a chief of this department. The object complement has similar relation to the direct object Mrs. Anderson.

b. Clause Elements based on Part of Speech (Form-Classes)

Fries (1952: 64) states that “an English sentence is not a group of words as words but rather a structure which is made up of form-classes or parts of speech.” The elements which are included in parts of speech are noun (N), verb (V), adjective (Adj), and preposition (Prep).

1) Noun

A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing (John, 1962: 245). The examples of nouns are students, president, tree, which are defined as living being or lifeless thing nouns. Other examples are nation, army, crowd, which are termed as collective nouns. Others are wheat, flour, water, which are termed as formless mass. The others are kindness, warmth, youth, which are defined as abstract noun.

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2) Verb

A verb is a word that expresses action or state of being (John, 1962: 245). Besides, a verb becomes part of speech by means of which we make an assertion or ask a question (Curme, 1966: 22). Verbs are divided into three categories. The first category is the transitive verb which functions to denote an action that passes over from the doer of the action to the object.

(27) Mr. Anderson painted his own house.

The Second category is intransitive verb which denotes a state or simple action without any reference to an object.

(28) I study every night.

Meanwhile, the last category is linking verb. It is applied when the thing which is predicated towards the subject is an adjective phrase, noun phrase, or prepositional phrase. Linking verbs perform merely the function to link the predicate to the subject.

(29) The mangoes are sweet. (30) The food seems delicious.

3) Adjective

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun (John, 1962: 210). An adjective modifies a noun or pronoun by giving further description,

identification, or further information. The examples of adjectives are written in italics as follows: a wild cat, an interesting story.

4) Preposition

A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of its noun or pronoun object to some other word or words in sentences (John, 1962: 216). There are words that introduce prepositional phrase such as in, on, at, inside, by, across, under, off. The examples of the prepositional phrases are written in italics and can be seen in the sentence (31) and (32):

(31) I am standing on the desk.

(32) The boat is sailing across the stream.

3. Basic Clause Patterns

The word basic, according to Hornby (1995: 85), means “forming a base form which something develops or on which something is built or can also mean the simplest in nature or level.” In this research, a basic clause means a group of words containing a subject and predicate or verb which become the base forms of a clause or sentence and can still be developed into variations through the addition of other elements. Warriner (1982: 34) states that “certain additions to the predicate create other sentence patterns.” Hence, the variations of the basic clause patterns are because of the additions of other complementary elements, then these variations are classified into patterns. In summary, a basic clause pattern means

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the form of sentence base in a group of words containing a subject and predicate or verb of which the variations can still be classified into patterns.

Related to the basic clause patterns variations, there three proponents who propose such theory. The first theory is from John (1962: 169). John says there are seven patterns of the basic clause. Those seven basic clause patterns are as follows:

Patterns 1: N1 – V

(33) The sun shines. Patterns 2: N1 – V – N2

(34) Birds have wings. Patterns 3: N1 – V – N2 – N3

(35) My father gives me money. Patterns 4: N1 – LV – N1

(36) Goats are offering animals. Patterns 5: N1 – LV – Adj

(37) She looks beautiful. Patterns 6: N1 – V – N2 – N2

(38) We appointed Mr. Bernard our manager. Patterns 7: N1 – V – N2 – Adj

(39) I consider Anna wise.

Meanwhile, Randolph and Sidney (1982: 167) state that the basic clause patterns are designated as follows:

Patterns 1: SVA

(40) My grandmother is in the kitchen. Patterns 2: SVC

(41) Hendry is a policeman. Patterns 3: SVO

(42) My cousin lits the firework. Patterns 4: SVOA

(43) I park the car in the garage. Patterns 5: SVOC

(44) I found her a good friend. Patterns 6: SVOO

(45) My father bought me a guitar. Patterns 7: SV

(46) The ship sailed.

The third proponent is David Crystal. According to Crystal (1991: 221), the seven basic clause patterns are designated as follows:

Patterns 1: S + V

(47) She smiled. Patterns 2: S + V + O:

(48) We played football. Patterns 3: S + V + C

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Patterns 4: S + V + A

(50) My uncle goes to his rice field. Patterns 5: S + V + O + O

(51) Rivers give farmers water supply. Patterns 6: S + V + O + C

(52) Lisa get Mrs. Smith a kind neighbor. Patterns 7: S + V + O + A

(53) Mrs. Emmy plants the seeds in the garden.

From all those three proponents, there are similarities between them. First, there are subject and verb that become the major elements of the sentence or clause. Second, the other complementary elements such as adjective, adverb, object, complement also exist to complete and develop the sentence or clause. However, this researcher uses the theory of the seven basic clause patterns which is proposed by Randolph and Sidney (1982: 167). Meanwhile, the other two theories are used as the complementary which function is to support the determination of the clauses.

4. Types of Sentence based on the Relation between Clauses

Hornby (1995: 1212) states that “a sentence means a set of words expressing a statement, a question or an order, usually containing a subject and a verb.” Meanwhile, Warriner (1982: 24) claims that “a sentence is a group of words which express a complete thought and consists of two main parts: the

subject and the predicate” Therefore, it can be concluded that a sentence means a group of words which contain a subject and a verb and functions to express a complete thought. In addition, a sentence, at least, consists of one independent clause. In addition, structurally there are four types of sentences. Those are simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound complex sentence.

a. Simple Sentence

“A simple sentence is a sentence with one independent clause and no subordinate clauses” (Warriner, 1982: 65). The example of the simple sentences can be seen in example (54).

(54) My father bought me a new bike.

Hereby, the minimum requirement of a simple sentence is reflected through the relationship between the subject My father and the verb bought. Meanwhile, the elements such as the indirect object me and the direct object a new bike are complementary to the subject-verb relationship to make the sentence have a complete thought.

b. Compound Sentence

A sentence is said to be compound if it consists of two or more independent clauses and has no subordinate clauses (Warriner, 1982: 65). Besides, those clauses are parallelized through the means of coordinating conjunctions

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such as and, but, nor, yet, or which show the equality of each clause. The equality between clauses, hereby, becomes the determining factor of a sentence to be called compound. The example of a compound sentence can be seen in sentence (55).

(55) John is studying and Lisa is cooking.

There are two clauses in the example (55). The first clause is John is studying. Meanwhile, the second one is Lisa is cooking. Since the first clause consists of a subject John and a verb phrase is studying and the second clause consists of a subject Lisa and a verb phrase is cooking, it can be concluded that each clause consists of a subject and a verb phrase. Therefore, sentence (55) is said to be parallel and equal because the subject-verb relationship in the first and second clause are equal through the existent of subject-verb relationships which are parallelized by the conjunction and.

c. Complex Sentence

A complex sentence is made up of an independent clause, which is called main clause, and at least one dependent clause, which is called subordinate clause (Warriner, 1982: 65). The example of complex sentence can bee seen in sentence (56).

Example (56) shows that the clause I like Anna is the independent clause or the main clause because such clause can stand alone by itself as a complete sentence consisting a subject and verb. On the other hand, the clause since she is clever

becomes the dependent clause or the subordinate clause as it cannot stand alone due to the existence of the conjunction since.

The subordinate clauses are usually introduced by the subordinating conjunction such as because, when, while, although, as, so that, so, if, after,

before, until, since. In addition, subordinate clause can take the form of noun clause, as seen in example (57), and relative clause as seen in example (58). The subordinate clauses are written in italics.

(57) My mother knew that I won the game. (58) I sold one of my guitars which I like most.

d. Compound Complex Sentence

“A sentence can be said to be compound complex if it consists of two or more independent clauses and at least one subordinate clause” (Warriner, 1982: 67). The example of compound complex sentence can be seen in sentence (57).

(59) When Lisa was studying for the next day exam, Johnny made a call and he informed her that the exam would be cancelled.

Example (59) shows that there are two dependent clauses, those are when Lisa was studying and that the exam would be cancelled. Besides, there are two independent clauses as Johnny made a call and heinformed her.

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5. Mastery

Hagboldt (1935: 2) as cited by Suharyono (1997: 8) states that “if someone has a mastery over a certain language, then he or she has to have spontaneous comprehension by ear, effortless and affluent reading, and habitual and skillful use of words, idioms, and sentences in both speech and writing.” Since this research works on students’ mastery over basic clause patterns in compositions, therefore, the mastery is viewed as students’ comprehension and skill to use the basic clause patterns in the compositions.

6. Errors and Mistakes

Corder (1967 quoted in Richards 1973: 23-24) states that “errors are differentiated into two kinds, those are error competence and error performance.” Error competence means a kind of error which deals with students’ competence and it is characterized to be systematic and serious. This kind of error is said to be systematic and serious because when someone learns a language, he or she uses a definite system of such language in every progression he or she makes to master it.

Meanwhile error performance deals with someone’s language performance. This kind of error is said to be unsystematic and not serious since whenever someone make this kind of error, they can correct themselves. The error performance occurs because of some factors such as, emotional states, carelessness, memory lapse, fatigue, ignorance. Furthermore, error performance is

termed as mistake. In this research, the errors and mistakes are seen to be the ones which students make and which are revealed through their compositions.

7. Written Descriptive Texts

“A description is a form of writing or talking functions to create pictures, sounds, smells, taste, and touch sensations in the imagination of the reader or listener” (Kammer and Diebold, 1949:119). In this research, the definition of written descriptive text is referred to a kind of text which students write with the purpose to describe particular person, place, or things.

B. Theoretical Framework

In accordance to the first research question, firstly this research is going to find out the distributions of the basic clause patterns and the patterns which are commonly used within the distributions. There are theories which are used to know the distribution of the basic clause patterns and the common patterns used. The first theory is the theory of types of sentences based on the relation between clauses. The theory of types of sentences based on the relation between clauses aims to determine whether or not the sentence is simple, compound, complex, or compound complex.

The second theory which is used is the theory of clauses which provides information to determine the dependent and independent clause. The determination of the sentence aims to break down the clauses within the sentence since there are sentences which can still be broken down into clauses such as,

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compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound-complex sentence, regardless to the simple sentence which does not need any process of breaking down on its clause. The determination should be done for a reason that the dependent clause has to be determined and separated from the independent clause in order analyse the compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound complex sentence. After the dependent and independent clause have been separated, then each of them is analysed based on the basic clause pattern.

The third theory is the theory of clause element which consists of the clause elements based on position and the clause element based on part of speech. The theory of clause element based on position is used to give information about the basic clause patterns’ elements which consist of subject (S), verb (V), object (O), adverb (A), and complement (C). On the other hand, the theory about clause element based on parts of speech is used to give information about the basic clause patterns’ elements which consist of noun (N), verb (V), adjective (Adj), and preposition (Prep).

Furthermore, the theory of clause element which consists of the clause elements based on position and the theory of clause element which is based on part of speech support each other in the determination of each element because of the following process, for example, subjects (S) are formed by nouns (N) or noun phrases (NP) or the complement (C) can be formed by adjective (Adj) or noun (N).

Related to the second research question, secondly, this research is going to find out the clause patterns which are frequently used. The theory which is used is

the theory of the basic clause patterns. This theory functions to determine and to make categories of the clauses based on the patterns. Therefore, the pattern of each clause can be found and the distribution of the clause patterns can be revealed as well as the commonly used patterns. The theory of the basic clause patterns which will be used in this study is the one based on A University Grammar of English written by Randolph and Sidney (1982: 167) since it gives more details related to the information about the subject (S), verb (V), object (O), adverb (A), and complement (C) of the basic clause patterns which will be analysed. Meanwhile, the theory from John (1962) and Crystal (1991) is used as the supporting theory to determine the clause patterns since they all have similarities.

In relation to the third research question, this research is going to find out students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns. The theory which is used to find out students’ mastery is the theory about mastery. The theory of mastery proposed by Hagboldt (1935: 2 as cited by Suharyono 1997: 8) views that “someone is said to have a mastery over a language if he or she has spontaneous comprehension by ear, effortless and affluent reading, and habitual and skillful use of words, idioms, and sentences both oral and written.” Therefore, since the students’ mastery in this research is about the basic clause patterns which are used in their compositions, the mastery is described to be the students’ comprehension and skill to use the basic clause patterns in their written compositions.

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the researcher discusses the methodology which is used to conduct the research. The methodology covers the research methods, research participants, research instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and the research procedures.

A. Research Method

This research was qualitative research. Brown and Rodgers (2002: 10-12) state that “a qualitative research is a research which is aimed to understand the phenomenon by focusing on the total picture rather than breaking it down into variables”. Meanwhile, Best (1970: 117) says that “descriptive research is a kind of research which estimates the degree of achievement of a large number of individuals involved in educational and environmental influences.” Therefore, it was suitable if the research was defined as descriptive research since it describes students’ achievements and mastery over the basic clause patterns which are reflected through their distributions.

In addition, since the description was the basic clause patterns that students used in their written compositions, this study used document. “Document analysis focuses on analyzing and interpreting recorded material within its own context and the material may be public records, textbooks, letters, films, tapes, diaries, themes, reports, and so on” (Ary, Jacobs, and Razavieh, 2002: 27). The

researcher decides to use document analysis because the data were the materials which were in the form of texts or, in this research, are called students’ written descriptive compositions.

B. Research Participants

The syllabus of the tenth grade, eleventh grade, and twelfth grade include the material which discusses the topic of description. Therefore, students have been learning to make a description since they were in the tenth grade. This condition assured the researcher to choose the eleventh grade students as research participants since they have already had the knowledge about description and since they are able to make descriptive compositions which were needed as the data to be analysed.

The subjects of the research were the eleventh grade students of SMKN 2 Depok of the 2008/2009 academic year. The eleventh grade students were chosen because it was necessary for the teacher to know their understanding about English including their mastery over basic clause patterns. Knowing their understanding, the teacher was supposed to be able to determine the most appropriate teaching techniques in order to teach English in a better and more suitable ways. Therefore, students could continue their study in the following grade with better result as well as better English skill to communicate.

In conducting the research, the writer chose two classes. Those classes were XI Teknik Pemesinan A (TPA) and XI Geologi Pertambangan B (GPB). Out of 32 students of class XI Teknik Pemesinan A (TPA), there were 24 students who

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became the research participants. Meanwhile, out of 32 students of class XI

Geologi Pertambangan B (GPB), there were 26 students who became the research participants. In addition to those participants, they were chosen because the researcher should adjust his schedule to get the data and the teacher’s teaching schedule. As a result of the agreement of the schedule, the participants which were chosen were XI Teknik Pemesinan A (TPA) and XI Geologi Pertambangan B

(GPB).

C. Research Instrument

The research instrument which was used in this research was human instrument. Since the main data, which were gathered, were the product of the students’ ability to use basic clause patterns in a form of written compositions, the researcher played an important role as a human instrument whose job was to analyse the documents in forms of students’ descriptive written compositions.

The students’ compositions were regarded to be the main source of the research. Through students’ compositions, the basic clause patterns and their distributions were able to be seen and analysed. Moreover, students’ compositions were able to reflect their mastery over basic clause patterns as the compositions became more effective materials which showed students’ interest and knowledge. Thornbury (1999: 73) claims that “student texts may be the most effective materials to know students’ knowledge, since they are likely to be of more interest and remembered longer than those introduced by teachers or course books.”

D. Data Gathering Technique

Producing descriptive compositions became one of the items in the curriculum of the school for all grades in SMKN 2 Depok. Therefore, the data were gathered through students’ production of the compositions. At the beginning of the teaching-learning activity, the teacher explained the materials related to the topic of descriptive. In the following teaching-learning activity, the teacher gave a task to students which required them to make a descriptive composition. The compositions should be submitted to the teacher in the end of the class. When the class was dismissed, the researcher met the teacher to acquire the compositions. The task which was given to the students can be seen in Appendix B.

The data gathering was conducted twice. The first data gathering was conducted on October 13, 2009 in order to gain the data from class XI Teknik Pemesinan A (TPA). Meanwhile, the second data gathering was conducted on October 28, 2009 to gain the data from class XI Geologi Pertambangan B (GPB).

E. Data Analysis Technique

The data involved the basic clauses patterns that were used by the students including the distribution of each pattern. Therefore, the researcher analysed the basic clauses patterns in students’ compositions and made classifications of the basic clause based on the seven patterns. Then, each pattern was counted in the matter of how often they were used by students. This step was conducted to find out the distribution frequency of each pattern. The next step was to find out students’ mastery over each pattern. To find out students’ mastery over each

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pattern, the researcher compared the occurrence of the correct clauses and the intended clauses. However, the standard measurement to determine students’ mastery was the occurrence or frequency of the correct clauses since it reflected students’ ability to use the basic clauses correctly.

In other words, after all of the basic clauses were classified based on the seven patterns and their distribution frequencies were found, the results of the classification and the distribution frequencies were taken into qualitative description which could give the parameter of how well students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns was. In addition to the qualitative description, the more determining factor to determine students’ mastery was the frequency of the correct clauses. Next, the writer made conclusions to provide the answer to the research questions.

F. Research Procedure

To conduct the research and obtain the objectives, the researcher made some steps. The first step was that the researcher asked the permission from Bappeda Sleman to conduct the research and to obtain the data in SMKN 2 Depok. Second, before conducting the research and obtaining the data, the researcher reviewed the materials from the handbooks which were used by the students and the teacher of SMKN 2 Depok. This step was aimed to know the topics of the lessons. In this case, the topic determined teacher’ teaching-learning activities and determined the task which were directed to students to make descriptive compositions.

After reviewing the materials and topics from the handbooks, the researcher carried out the third step, that was consulting and determining the topic related to the lesson with the English teacher of SMKN 2 Depok. Next, the researcher conducted the research by obtaining students’ descriptive compositions as the result of the teaching-learning activities and the task which was given. The researcher obtained the compositions after the teaching-learning process was dismissed. After obtaining the data, the researcher analysed the data. Afterward, the researcher interpreted the data and discussed the research findings. Then, the conclusions and suggestions were drawn. Finally, the researcher reported the result of the research.

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CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents detailed information about the data in this research. The discussion involves three main sections. The first part is the distributions of the basic clause patterns. The second part is the brief analysis on students’ errors which is used as the complementary part in order to know the scope of errors that students made. The third part is the discussion on the students’ mastery over basic clause patterns and their distributions and the errors that were produced by students.

A. Research Findings

1. The Distributions of the Basic Clause Patterns

The distributions of the basic clause patterns involved the correct clauses and the intended clauses. The correct clauses were the ones which did not need any revision. Meanwhile, the intended clauses were the ones which were revised by the researcher. However, the revisions did not change the idea of the clauses. These revisions aimed to make the ideas of the clauses became more apparent because students might not make perfect clauses to convey their intended ideas. Besides, the researcher did not consider whether the clauses which students made were correct or incorrect, but only viewed the errors and or mistakes in the clauses. Hence, the researcher only made the revisions in order to make the idea of each clause became more apparent.

The idea of each clause became the source of information because the idea which students intended to convey were reflected through the clauses they use. In other words, students’ abilities to communicate the ideas were revealed through the clauses they made. In brief, the more proficient students could communicate the ideas through the clauses and the more correctly they made the clauses, the better their mastery was.

In this research, the total frequency of the clauses based on the patterns, the correct clauses, and the intended clauses were compared to find out the distributions which reflect students’ mastery them. In other words, the comparison which was used to reveal students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns involved the distribution frequency of the basic clause patterns, the correct clauses, and the intended clauses.

The researcher made this comparison in order to see the fact that although the distribution of a certain pattern has possibly a high frequency, it did not mean that students were really able to use such basic clause pattern regarding to the fact that some of their clauses still needed to have some revisions. In addition, the clauses which still needed to be revised, in this study, were termed as intended clauses.

The existence of the intended clauses showed that students still made errors in using the basic clause patterns. The errors which students made became parts of the mastery. This statement was supported by Corder (1967 quoted in Walz 1982: 1). Corder states that “learning a new language requires a trial and error approach, and errors are evidence that the learners are testing hypotheses of

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underlying rules, categories, and systems.” Therefore, the intended clauses which were included in this analysis become the reflection of students’ mastery, but in this case was the mastery which was imperfect and still needed to be developed.

As it is explained, to reveal students mastery over basic clause patterns, the researcher used the comparison on the distribution frequencies of the basic clauses, students’ correct clauses, and students’ intended clauses. The comparison of them was presented by means of tables. Table 4.1 presents the overall distributions of basic clause patterns including the correct and intended clauses. There were several symbols in some parts of the tables related to the terms of the clause distributions. The symbols were as follows: 1. Clause Pattern frequency (CP (f)), 2. Clause Pattern Percentage (CP (%)), 3. Correct Clause Frequency (CC (f)), 4. Correct Clause Percentage (CC (%)), 5. Intended Clause Frequency (IC (f)), 6. Intended Clause Percentage (IC (%)).

Table 4.1 The Distributions of Basic Clause Patterns

Clause Distribution

No. Clause

Pattern CP (f) CP (%) CC (f) CC (%) IC (f) IC (%)

1 SVA 284 34,38 109 38,38 175 61,62

2 SVOA 206 24,94 75 36,41 131 63,60

3 SVC 148 17,92 96 64,86 52 35,13

4 SVO 113 13,68 52 46,02 61 53,98

5 SV 52 6,29 32 61,54 20 38,46

6 SVOC 16 1,94 3 18,75 13 81,25

7 SVOO 7 0,85 3 42,86 4 57,14

Total 826 100 371 44,915 455 55,10

As seen in Table 4.1, the total frequency of the clause patterns’ distributions was 826 or 100%. Out of the total distribution frequency of 826, the total frequency of the correct clause was 371 or 44,915% while the total frequency

of intended clause was 455 or 55,10%. From those total distribution frequencies, the clause patterns, of which each distribution frequency was analysed, were sequenced from the most frequent until the least frequent. The sequence of the basic patterns based on the distribution frequency was as follows: 1. SVA, 2. SVOA, 3. SVC, 4. SVO, 5. SV, 6. SVOC, 7. SVOO.

Referring to the sequence of the basic patterns and the distributions in Table 4.1, it could be seen that SVA pattern became the most frequently used patterns with the occurrence or distribution frequency of 284 or 34,38%. Out of the total frequency of 284 or 34,38%, the correct clause frequency was 109 or 38,38% while the intended clause’ frequency was 175 or 61,62%. Meanwhile, the patterns which was in the second sequence was SVOA with 206 or 24,94% of the total distribution frequency, 75 or 36,41% of the correct clause’s frequency, and 131 or 63,60% of the intended clause’s frequency. The third sequence was for SVC patterns with the total distribution frequency of 148 or 17,92%. Meanwhile, the frequency of its correct clause was 96 or 64,86% and 52 or 35,13% for the frequency of the intended clause.

The forth sequence of the distribution frequencies of the basic clause was for SVO pattern with its distribution frequency of 113 or 13,68%. Out of 113 total distribution frequency, the correct clause frequency was 52 or 46,02% and 61 or 53,98% for the frequency of the intended clause. Apart from it, the fifth sequence was placed by SV pattern. The total distribution frequency of it was 52 or 6,29%, while the intended clause was 32 or 61,54%, and 20 or 38,46% for the intended clause’ frequency. The following sequence or the sixth one was SVOC pattern

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with the total distribution frequency of 16 or 1,94%, 3 or 18,75 for the correct clause frequency, and 13 or 81,25% for the intended clause’s frequency. At last, the seventh sequence was SVOO pattern. This pattern’s total distribution frequency was 7 or 0,85% with the frequency of the correct clause was 3 or 42,86% and the intended clause was 4 or 57,14%.

With regard to the distributions of each pattern which were shown in Table 4.1, the sequence of the patterns from the most frequently used until the least one was made based on the distribution of each pattern. From that sequence, it could be seen that there were patterns with high distribution frequency and the ones with low distribution frequency. Hence, the commonly used patterns were regarded to be the ones with high distribution frequencies. Those patterns were SVA, SVOA, SVC, and SVO pattern. In addition, although their frequencies were not high if they were compared in the matter of the entirely distribution frequency of 826 or the percentage of 100%, those patterns were regarded to be the four patterns which had bigger distribution frequencies than the other three ones.

2. Students’ Mastery over Basic Clause Patterns

The results of the analysis of the basic clauses were presented and discussed per part based on the patterns. The analysis used tables which were provided in such a way to present students’ mastery. Hereby, the analysis involved the one on the basic clause pattern distribution frequencies, the correct clauses, and the intended clauses. In addition, there were example of the correct clause and intended clause. The researcher provided the examples in order to give

a grasp of understanding towards the correct and intended clause that students made. However, considering that the errors in the intended clauses were discussed in other section, there was no further discussion on the errors depicted in the intended clause in the provided examples in this section.

With regard to students’ mastery, it can be classified into categories which each of them represents students’ mastery over the basic clause patterns, those were, 1. excellent, 2. very good, 3. good , 4. fair, 5. insufficient, 6. poor. In addition, students’ mastery did not possibly cover those all categories regarding to the distribution frequencies of the basic clause patterns.   

 

a. Students’ Mastery over SVA Pattern

This part presents the distribution of SVA pattern. The purpose of this part was to find out students’ mastery over SVA pattern. The example of the correct and intended clause can be seen in (60) and (61). Example (60) shows the correct clause while example (61) shows the intended one.

(60) We go to the restaurant. (61) We can do stay home.

The highest distribution frequency of the basic clause was SVA pattern. The frequency of its distribution was 284 or 34,38%. Out of 284 SVA pattern, there were 109 correct clauses or 38,38 % and 175 intended clauses or 61,62 %. The correct clauses were less than a half of the total frequency of 284. Meanwhile,

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the intended clauses were exceeding more than a half of 284. Table 4.2 shows the percentage result of SVA pattern.

Table 4.2 The Result of SVA Pattern Distributions

Clause Distribution

No. Clause

Pattern CP (f) CP (%) CC (f) CC (%) IC (f) IC (%)

1 SVA 284 34,38 109 38,38 175 61,62

Difference 66 23,24

 

Since the frequency of the intended clauses in this pattern was bigger than the correct clauses and the difference frequency between the correct clause and intended clause was also significant with its frequency of 66 or 23, 24%, therefore, students were said to have insufficient mastery to use SVA pattern. They needed more improvement on their mastery over SVA pattern to make more correct clauses.

b. Students’ Mastery over SVOA Pattern

SVOA pattern was in the second sequence in the distributions with its frequency of 206 or 24, 94%. Out of that frequency, students made 75 or 36, 41% correct clauses and 131 or 63, 60% intended clauses. Here are the examples of the correct and intended clause. Example (62) shows the correct clause while (63) shows the intended one.

(62) You can kill some fish with guns or bombs. (63) Usually we go tour to mountain and beach.

Considering that the difference between the correct clauses and the intended clauses was 56 or 27, 18%, the difference between those two clauses was said to be significant. In other words, although the distribution frequency of SVOA clause pattern was high, it did not mean that students were able to use this pattern well with regard to the low frequency of the correct clauses. Therefore, students’ mastery over SVOA pattern was said to be insufficient. The Distribution of SVOA pattern can be seen in Table 4.3.

Table 4.3 The Result of SVOA Pattern Distributions

Clause Distribution

No. Clause

Pattern CP (f) CP (%) CC (f) CC (%) IC (f) IC (%)

2 SVOA 206 24,82 75 36,41 131 63,41

Difference 56 27,18

c. Students’ Mastery over SVC Pattern

SVC pattern was in the third sequence of the basic clause patterns’ distributions. Here are the examples of the clauses which use SVC pattern. Different from the distribution frequencies of the correct and intended clauses of SVA and SVOA pattern, SVC’s frequency of the correct clauses was bigger than the intended one. The correct clause is in example (64), while the intended one is in example (65).

(64) Her name is Clara. (65) All people very happy.

Out of the 148 or 17,92% distribution frequency of SVC pattern, the correct clauses, of which the frequency was 96 or 64,86%, occurred more

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frequently than the intended clauses, of which frequency was 52 or 35,13%. Furthermore, the comparison of the difference, which was 44 or 29,73%, was said to be significant. Therefore, the distribution of SVC pattern showed that students’ mastery over SVC pattern was good in consideration to its significant comparison although the distribution frequency of this pattern was in the third sequence. The distribution of SVC pattern is presented in Table 4.4.

Table 4.4 The Result of SVC Pattern Distributions

Clause Distribution

No. Clause

Pattern CP (f) CP (%) CC (f) CC (%) IC (f) IC (%)

3 SVC 148 17,92 96 64,86 52 35,13

Difference 44 29,73

d. Students’ Mastery over SVO Pattern

The forth distribution sequence was for SVO pattern. The distribution of this pattern was on average high with its frequency of 113 or 13,68%. Within this distribution frequency, the comparison between the correct clauses and the intended clauses was not very significant. The correct clauses’ frequency, which was 52 or 46,02%, was a bit lower than the frequency of intended clauses which was 61 or 53,98%. As a result, the difference between them was not so far, that was 9 or 7,96%. The distribution of SVO pattern can be seen in Table 4.5.

Table 4.5 The Result of SVO Pattern Distributions

Clause Distribution

No. Clause

Pattern CP (f) CP (%) CC (f) CC (%) IC (f) IC (%)

4 SVO 113 13,68 52 46,02 61 53,98

Difference 9 7,96

Since the frequency of correct clauses and intended clauses was almost the same, it could be concluded that students’ mastery over SVO pattern was fair. In

addition, the examples of the correct and intended clause are shown in the example (66) and (67).

(66) We ate opor ayam. (67) We loves the night life.

e. Students’ Mastery over SV Pattern

SV pattern was in the fifth sequence of the basic clause pattern distribution with its frequency of 52 or 6,29%. Although SV pattern was not very big on its distribution frequency, it had more correct clauses than the intended ones. The correct clauses’ distribution frequency was 32 or 61,54% while the intended ones was 20 or 38,46%. As a result, the difference between the correct clauses and the intended clauses was 12 or 23,08%. The distribution of SV pattern can be seen in Table 4.6.

Table 4.6 The Result of SV Pattern Distributions

Clause Distribution

No. Clause

Pattern CP (f) CP (%) CC (f) CC (%) IC (f) IC (%)

5 SV 52 6,29 32 61,54 20 38,46

Difference 12 23,08

As seen in Table 4.6, it could be said that although the frequency of this pattern was not very high, it did not mean that students were not able to use this pattern. It should be considered that SV pattern requires verb which is intransitive or kinds of verb which do not need any object and this kind of verbs are very limited. Therefore, since they are very limited, it was natural if students did not

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use this pattern very often although they had already had the ability to recognize and the intransitive verb appropriately.

In summary, with regard to the distribution result of SV clause pattern, the comparison between the correct clauses and intended clauses, students’ mastery over SV pattern was said to be good. The example of the correct and intended clause of SV pattern can be seen in example (68) and (69).

(68) I promise. (69) SID performe.

f. Students’ Mastery over SVOC Pattern

SVOC pattern was not so often used by students that it was in the sixth sequence of basic clause patterns’ distributions. The distribution frequency of this pattern was only 16 or 1,94%. Although the frequency was not significant, the correct clauses and the intended clauses were concluded to have a very significant difference. Since the correct clauses frequency of 3 or 18,75% and the intended clauses frequency of 13 or 81,25%, the comparison between them resulted to the difference which was 10 or 62,5%. The distribution of SVOC pattern is shown in Table 4.7.

Table 4.7 The Result of SVOC Pattern Distributions

Clause Distribution

No. Clause

Pattern CP (f) CP (%) CC (f) CC (%) IC (f) IC (%)

6 SVOC 16 1,94 3 18,75 13 81,25

As seen in Table 4.7, it could be said that within the low distribution frequency, the comparison between the correct and the intended clauses showed students’ incapability or low mastery to use SVOC pattern. This low mastery could be caused by the fact that this pattern was not very applicable that students rarely applied this pattern. As a result, they did not have enough mastery to use SVOC pattern. In brief, considering the distribution of SVOC pattern, students’ mastery over it was concluded to be poor. The examples of the correct and intended clause are shown in (70) and (71).

(70) Many experiences make my heart so happy. (71) Traffic jam make we angry.

g. Students’ Mastery over SVOO Patterns

The last distribution sequence was for SVOO patterns. The distribution of SVOO pattern can be seen in Table 4.8.

Table 4.8 The Result of SVOO Patterns Distributions

Clause Distribution

No. Clause

Pattern CP (f) CP (%) CC (f) CC (%) IC (f) IC (%)

7 SVOO 7 0,85 3 42,86 4 57,14

Difference 1 14,28

Since students hardly ever applied SVOO pattern, this pattern had the lowest distribution frequency compared to the other patterns. The frequency of this pattern was only 7 or 0,85% with distribution frequency of the correct clauses of 3 or 42,86% and the intended clauses of 4 or 57,14%. Meanwhile, the difference

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The List of Correct Clause and Intended Clause for SVOC Pattern

Clause No.

Original clause Correct clause Intended clause

1 Many people call it’s Idul Fitri day. Many people call it Idul Fitri day. 2 We called that “mudik.” We called that “mudik.”

3 The green lives make my feel so calm. The green lives make my feeling so calm. 4 Accidents make human die. Accidents make human die.

5 Traffic jam make we angry. Traffic jam makes us angry.

6 Traffic jam make we feel boring to do trip.

Traffic jam makes us feel bored to do trip. 7 Traffic jam make the meaning of Lebaran

day lost.

Traffic jam makes the meaning of Lebaran day lost.

8 This activity make me tired. This activity makes me tired.

9 I want this event not ending. I do not want this event ends. 10 Many experiences make my heart so

happy.

Many experiences make my heart so happy.

11 Make my heart so happy. It makes my heart so happy.

12 People celebrate the day with happy. People celebrate the day happily. 13 Sometimes, my friend and I spends a long

time at holiday to hiking mountain or traveling.

Sometimes, my friend and I spend a long time at holiday hiking a mountain or to travelling.

14 We doesn’t make people angry. We don’t make people angry.

15 You can call the die of Isa Almasih. You can call it the die of Isa Almasih. 16 I spent sometime wondering Akibahara in

Tokyo.

The List of Correct Clause and Intended Clause for SVOO Pattern

Clause No.

Original clause Correct clause Intended clause

1 My uncle given me a guitar Yamaha. My uncle gives me a Yamaha guitar.

2 My mom give me a new blouse. My mom gives me a new blouse.

3 She also give my young sister and my young brother a new shirt.

She also gives my young sister and my young brother a new shirt.

4 I bought myself an MP3 player. I bought myself an MP3 player. 5 I spent most of the holidays surfing. I spent most of the holidays surfing. 6 Someone will give you money. Someone will give you money. 7 It is can give us more reward from our

God.

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ABSTRACT

Setiyaji, Bangkit. (2010). The Mastey of SMKN 2 Depok Students over Basic Clause Patterns and Their Distributions in Written Compositions. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

Since English is termed as a subject prominent language, the subject and predicate become the basic grammar units of the sentence structures. These basic grammar units are termed as basic clause patterns which are important in the making of grammatically correct sentences or clauses to support students’ English mastery including skill development and students’ study results. Students’ English mastery is reflected through the distributions of the basic clause patterns in written composition as one of learning products. The distributions reflect students’ mastery through presenting the clause patterns commonly used, frequency of correct clauses or sentences as well as the frequency of errors. Hence, the researcher conducts the research in SMKN 2 DEPOK to find out students’ mastery over basic clause patterns. There were three research problems which are formulated, those are: (1) How are the basic clause patterns distributed? (2) What basic clause patterns are commonly used by students of SMKN 2 Depok? (3) How is the mastery of SMKN 2 DEPOK students over the basic clause patterns?

The research was a qualitative descriptive research which utilized document analysis as the data were compositions and human instrument as the researcher was the data analyser. The research participants were SMKN 2 DEPOK students class XI Teknik Pemesinan A (TPA) and class XI Geologi Pertambangan B (GPB) in the academic year of 2008/ 2009.

The research results showed that first, all basic clause patterns were used. Based on the distribution frequency or occurrence, the sequence of the basic clause patterns from the most frequently used until the least used is as follows: 1. SVA, 2. SVOA, 3. SVC, 4. SVO, 5. SV, 6. SVOC, 7. SVOO. The higher distribution frequency of a certain basic clause patterns, the more frequently students used the pattern. Second, students’ mastery over a certain basic clause was determined by the correct and intended clauses in the distributions. The higher frequency of the correct clause of a certain pattern compared to the one of the intended clause, the better students’ mastery over such pattern was. Hence, their mastery could be categorized as, 1. good for SVC and SV pattern, 2. fair for SVO and SVOO pattern, 3. insufficient for SVA and SVOA pattern, 4. poor for SVOC pattern.

Related to the findings, it is suggested that first, after English teachers know students’ mastery, they are to find more appropriate techniques to improve students’ skill and study result by applying focus on form and function technique. Second, students are supposed to master the form and function of English by learning, practicing, and using English grammar, clause patterns, and functions to improve their skill and learning achievement. At last, other researchers are suggested to conduct further research related to this study since this study can give some basis. They can conduct the research about, for example, the effect of L1

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towards students’ mastery over English basic clause patterns or the significances of the errors of English basic clause patterns in students’ compositions.

ix ABSTRAK

Setiyaji, Bangkit. (2010). The Mastey of SMKN 2 Depok Students over Basic Clause Patterns and Their Distributions in Written Compositions. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Bahasa Inggris merupakan bahasa subject prominent, maka subjek dan predikatnya menjadi unit dasar tata bahasa dari struktur kalimat. Unit dasar tata bahasa struktur kalimat ini disebut pola dasar klausa dan sangat penting dalam pembuatan struktur kalimat dan klausa yang benar untuk mendukung penguasaan Bahasa Inggris siswa termasuk perkembangan keterampilan dan hasil belajar. Penguasaan Bahasa Inggris siswa tercermin pada distribusi pola dasar klausa dalam komposisi tertulis sebagai salah satu produk pembelajaran. Distribusi setiap pola dasar klausa mencerminkan penguasaan siswa dengan menunjukkan pola-pola yang sering digunakan, frekuensi kalimat atau klausa yang tepat, dan frekuensi kesalahan. Oleh karena itu, peneliti melakukan penelitian di SMKN 2 Depok untuk mengetahui penguasaan siswa terhadap pola dasar klausa. Ada tiga rumusan permasalahan dalam penelitian ini, yaitu: (1) Bagaimanakah pola dasar klausa didistribusikan? (2) Pola dasar klausa mana yang biasa dipakai siswa SMKN 2 Depok? (3) Bagaimanakah penguasaan siswa SMKN 2 Depok terhadap pola dasar klausa?

Penelitian ini bersifat kualitatif deskriptif dan memanfaatkan analisis dokumen untuk menginterpretasi data yang berbentuk komposisi tertulis dan peneliti berperan sebagai instrumen penelitian yang bertugas menganalisa data. Peserta penelitian ini ialah siswa SMKN 2 Depok kelas XI Teknik Pemesinan A (TPA) dan kelas XI Geologi Pertambangan B (GPB) tahun akademik 2008/ 2009.

Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa, pertama, semua pola dasar klausa digunakan dalam penulisan komposisi. Berdasarkan frekuensi pendistribusian atau penggunannya, pola dasar klausa dari yang paling sering digunakan hingga paling jarang dapat diurutkan sebagai berikut: 1. SVA, 2. SVOA, 3. SVC, 4. SVO, 5. SV, 6. SVOC, 7. SVOO. Semakin tinggi frekuensi distribusi suatu pola dasar klausa, semakin sering pula siswa memakai pola tersebut. Kedua, penguasaan siswa pada pola dasar klausa ditentukan oleh klausa yang tepat dan yang kurang tepat. Semakin tinggi frekuensi klausa yang tepat dibanding dengan yang kurang tepat, maka semakin baiklah penguasaan siswa. Selanjutnya, penguasaan siswa dikategorikan sebagai berikut: 1. baik bagi pola SVC dan SV, 2. sedang bagi pola SVO dan SVOO, 3. kurang bagi pola SVA dan SVOA, 4. rendah bagi pola SVOC.

Hasil penelitian menganjurkan bahwa, pertama, para guru Bahasa Inggris diharapkan dapat menentukan teknik pengajaran yang lebih sesuai untuk meningkatkan keterampilan dan hasil belajar siswa setelah mengetahui penguasaan mereka. Guru dapat menggunakan teknik focus on form and function. Kedua, siswa diharapkan menguasai form and function dari Bahasa Inggris dengan belajar dan berlatih tata bahasa, sekaligus menggunakan pola dasar klausa dan ungkapan dalam bahasa Inggris guna meningkatkan keterampilan dan hasil belajar. Terakhir, peneliti menganjurkan agar para peneliti melakukan penelitian

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lebih lanjut dan dapat menjadikan penelitian ini sebagai landasan. Para peneliti dapat melakukan penelitian lanjutan, sebagai contohnya, mengenai pengaruh bahasa pertama terhadap penguasaan pola dasar klausa Bahasa Inggris atau nilai penting kesalahan pola dasar klausa Bahasa Inggris pada komposisi siswa.