Post on 15-Mar-2019
A STUDY ON THE SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS’
GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN DESCRIPTIVE WRITING
OF SMP N 1 MUNTILAN
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Hanafitria
Student Number: 041214119
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
2009
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A STUDY ON THE SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS’
GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN DESCRIPTIVE WRITING
OF SMP N 1 MUNTILAN
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Hanafitria
Student Number: 041214119
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
2009
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ABSTRACT
Hanafitria. 2009. A Study on the Seventh Grade Students’ Grammatical Errors in Descriptive Writing of SMP N 1 Muntilan. Undergraduate Thesis. Yogyakarta: English Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
This research started with the occurrence of grammatical errors that happened in most of students writing. They did not pay much attention to the sentences they have made, therefore, there are many grammatical errors happened. Through this research which is a study on grammatical errors that are commonly made by the seventh grade students in writing descriptive paragraph, hopefully the errors happen could be minimized. There were two questions that needed to be answered. The first question was the grammatical errors that the seventh grade students commonly made in their descriptive writing. The second was what the teacher could do to improve students’ descriptive writing.
The subjects of the research were the bilingual class and the regular class of seventh grade students and their teacher in a public school, SMP N 1 Muntilan. The data of the research were the students’ descriptive writing. From the writing collected, the grammatical errors made by the students were analyzed. There were some theories to support this research. The theories were used to provide the theoretical framework of this research. The theories included the rubrics in evaluating a writing task, which contains task fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics in descriptive writing. The result of the study confirmed that, first, the grammatical errors commonly made by the seventh grade students based on the checklist on the Frequency Errors Made by ESL Writers adopted from La Trobe University was the Subject verb agreement. It covers the subjects and the verbs which do not agree in number. In decreasing order, the other grammatical errors made by the students were verb tense, vocabulary, articles, word class, sentence, spelling, singular/plural and, the last, punctuation. Second, from the interview with the teacher, what the teacher could do to improve students descriptive writing were doing repetitions and drilling for the writing exercises. It means that the writing exercises were continuously done until at least 85% of the students mastered them.
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ABSTRAK
Hanafitria. 2009. A Study on the Seventh Grade Students’ Grammatical Errors in Descriptive Writing of SMP N 1 Muntilan. Skripsi Sarjana Pendidikan. Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini berawal dari kejadian banyaknya kesalahan struktural yang dilakukan oleh para siswa. Mereka tidak memberi perhatian atas kalimat-kalimat yang telah mereka buat, sehingga kesalahan struktural masih banyak terjadi. Melalui penelitian ini yang adalah sebuah studi tentang kesalahan struktural yang umumnya dilakukan oleh siswa kelas tujuh sekolah menegah pertama dalam menulis paragraf deskriptif; diharapkan kesalahan-kesalahan tersebut dapat diminimalis. Ada dua pertanyaan yang perlu untuk dijawab. Pertanyaan pertama adalah apakah kesalahan struktural yang umumnya dilakukan oleh siswa kelas tujuh dalam tulisan paragraf deskripsif mereka. Pertanyaan kedua adalah apa yang bisa dilakukan oleh guru untuk meningkatkan kemampuan siswa dalam menulis paragraf deskriptif.. Subjek dari penelitian ini adalah para siswa kelas tujuh (kelas dua bahasa dan kelas regular) dan seorang guru mereka di sebuah sekolah negeri, yaitu, SMPN 1 Muntilan. Data dari penelitian ini adalah hasil dari tulisan deskriptif siswa. Dari data yang telah diperoleh, kesalahan stuktural yang dilakukan siswa dianalisa. Ada beberapa teori yang digunakan untuk mendukung penelitian ini. Teori-teori ini digunakan untuk memberikan pembatasan bahasan dari penelitian. Teori itu meliputi rubrik dalam mengevaluasi sebuah karya tulis, yang terdiri dari konten, organisasi, kosakata, bahasa, dan mekanik dalam penulisan paragraf deskripsi Dari hasil dari penelitian ini dapat dikorfimasikan bahwa, pertama, kesalahan struktural yang paling umum dilakukan oleh para siswa kelas tujuh berdasarkan checklist dalam the Frequency Errors Made by ESL Writers yang diadaptasi dari Universitas La Trobe adalah Subject verb agreement. Hal ini meliputi penggunaan subjek kalimat dan kata kerja yang mengikutinya. Dalam urutan mundur, kesalahan struktural yang dilakukan oleh para siswa adalah verb tense, vocabulary, articles, word class, sentence, spelling, singular/plural, and, punctuation. Kedua, dari hasil wawancara dengan guru dari sekolah tersebut, yang dapat dilakukan oleh guru untuk meningkatkan kemampuan menulis paragraf deskriptif adalah melakukan perulangan. Dalam artian, latihan-latihan menulis paragraf deskriptif dilakukan terus-menerus hingga kurang lebih 85% dari siswa telah menguasainya.
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Our greatest glory is not in never falling,
but in rising every time we fall. Confucius
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank to the Almighty God who is always by
my side through the ups and downs of my life. He shows me that I will get the
best if only I believe. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude for those
who have supported, facilitated, and helped me for all this time:
1. Yohana Veniranda, S. Pd., M.Hum, for her willingness to guide me
through this thesis, so I manage to finish it.
2. My lovely parents, Ag. Mudakjo and Ag. Murtinah for their endless
love for me. I thank them for all the supports and lessons that I could
not get at school.
3. All PBI lecturers, I thank them for sharing their knowledge, so now I
can share my knowledge to other people as well.
4. Ms. Suci Pambasmi, S.Pd. and all the seventh grade students at SMP N
1 Muntilan for their willingness to help, so I could do the research
there. They were so helpful.
5. Sister Margareth, FCJ, I thank her for her help as my proofreader. She
helped me a lot in knowing the correct words for each sentence.
6. Mba’ Tari and Mba’ Dani from Sekretariat PBI who always gave
helps they could give which helped me a lot through the process of
finishing the thesis.
7. Mira, Dewi Putri; I thank them for their true friendships that they have
given with all the tears and the laughter. I will miss them all…
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8. All of my friends in PBI 2004, Danti, Yulis a.k.a Adi, Okki “Bokki”
and those that I cannot mention one by one, I thank them for the
precious time we spent together. Friends are for forever.
9. My lovely younger sister, Sri Handayani, I thank her for her support
and silly jokes which always make me laugh.
10. My Dee2, I thank him for his companion and support along the way
here. I hope that our dreams will come true.
11. My ‘crazy’ friends at ELTI, Yu Widh, Mbok De, Mr. ‘Leo’ Panda,
DanDan, KioKio, Tante Nay, Tim Tam, Shoe See, and Felix da Cat
who taught me how to share wonderful experiences; and also all the
seniors who always have the willingness to help whenever I need help.
12. Last, but not least, I would like to thank NdHut for accompanying and
helping me so I can finish this thesis on time. I thank him for the
supports he always gave.
Yogyakara, 10 July 2009
The Writer,
Hanafitria
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page TITLE PAGE……………………………………………………………..... i
APPROVAL PAGES…………………………………………………….... ii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY…………………………..... iv
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………….. vi
ABSTRAK…………………………………………………………..……… vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………….. ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………….. xi
LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………................. xiv
LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………....... xv
LIST OF APPENDICES……………………………………………….. ….. xvi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study……………………………………….. 1
B. Problem Formulation…………………………………………… 4
C. Problem Limitation…………………………………………….. 4
D. Objectives of the Study…………………………………….. …. 5
E. Benefits of the Study……………………………………….. …. 5
F. Definition of the Terms……………………………………..…. 6
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Theoretical Description……………………………………….. 8
1. The Concept of Writing……………………………………. 8
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2. Writing Focus on Language Structures…………………… 9
3. The Process of Writing…………………………………… 9
4. Descriptive Writing………………………………………. 11
5. Techniques of Description……………………………….. 12
6. Grammar in Writing……………………………………… 13
7. Grammatical Error……………………………………….. 14
8. Stages of Error…………………………………………… 14
B. Theoretical Framework……………………………………… 16
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Methods…………………………………………………….. 19
B. Research Respondents………………………………………. 20
C. Setting………………………………………………………. 21
D. Data Collection…………………………………………….. 22
E. Data Analysis……………………………………………….. 23
F. Research Procedures……………………………………….. 26
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. Data Presentation and Analysis of the First Question…….... 28
1. The Data Presentation on the Grammatical Errors Commonly
Made by the Seventh Grade Students ………………….. 30
2. The Data Analysis of the First Question……………….. 50
B. The Data Analysis of the Second Question………………… 57
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion……………………………………………………… 60
B. Suggestions…………………………………………………….. 61
REFERENCES………………………………………………………… …. 63
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LIST OF FIGURES
Page Figure 1. The Chart of Students’ Grammatical Errors of Bilingual Class…… 33
Figure 2. The Chart of Students’ Scores of Bilingual Class ………………… 37
Figure 3. The Chart of Students’ Grammatical Errors of Regular Class…..... 43
Figure 4. The Chart of Students’ Scores of Regular Class………………….. 48
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LIST OF TABLES
Page Table a.1 Data on the Frequency Errors Made by ESL Writers
adopted from La Trobe University (1992)....…………………………. 30
Table a.2 The Result of the Students’ Scores Based on the Assessment
Scale (Christopher Tribble, 1996)……………………………………… 34
Table b.1 Data on the Frequent Errors Made by ESL writers
adopted from La Trobe University (1992)…………………………….. 38
Table b.2 The Result of the Students’ Scores Based on the Assessment
Scale (Christopher Tribble, 1996)……………………………………… 44
Table B.1 Most Writing in the Classroom Falls on a Continuum
from Copying to Free Writing………………………………………… 58
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Page Appendix A. Muatan Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan Mata Pelajaran
Bahasa Inggris for Seventh Grade Students…................................... 66
Appendix B. List of Names of the Seventh Grade Students’
of SMP N 1 Muntilan……………………………………………….. 69
Appendix C. The Transcript of Interview with the Seventh Grade
Students’ of SMP N 1 Muntilan’s Teacher…………………………. 72
Appendix D. Examples of Seventh Grade Students’ Descriptive
Writing……………………………………………………………… 76
Appendix E. Examples of Students Activities in Three Stages
of Learning…………………………………………………………. 80
Appendix F. An Example of Games to Raise Students’ Awareness in
Descriptive Writing………………………………………………... 82
Appendix G. Examples of Games to Drill Students’ Understanding in
Subject Verb Agreement …………………………………………... 84
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses about the background of the research. It consists of
six parts. They are background of the study, problem formulation, problem
limitation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of terms.
A. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
In today’s era, mastering English is one of the important skills that people
need to achieve a better life. English is also used in many aspects of life such as
politics, economics, commercial and trade, culture, and many more. By mastering
English, people can have a better job than people who do not master English.
Seeing the benefits of English, Indonesian government in their educational
regulations had made a decision to make English as a compulsory subject in
junior high schools. Therefore, all of the junior high school students have to learn
English whether they like it or not. English also becomes one of the subjects that
is tested in the final examination.
In real life, people are forced to be able to describe anything. It can be
about people, things, or places. The description requires detail information and
here involves the five senses such as touch, taste, listen, see, smell. Students in
their real life need to have the ability to describe, to give information as detail as
possible; so that the other people can know the picture of the description only by
imagining in their mind.
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In learning English there are four language skills that need to be learned.
They are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. All those skills are very
important and supporting each other. However, this research gives more emphasis
on writing skill. Writing, according to Iris Tiedt (1989: 1) in his book Writing:
From Topic to Evaluation, said that writing is a method of expressing ideas about
any subject content; it appears in classrooms everywhere and, therefore, must be
the concern of every teacher.
Still according to Iris Tiedt, there are certain basic understandings about
writing process. The first is students learn to write by writing. It means that
students have to write many writings in order to be able to write good texts. The
source of the ideas can come from their own experiences. Second, writing
expresses thinking. A teacher’s role is as a guide to see the relationship between
thinking and writing process. Third, students learn to write by reading. It is
important for the students to read and understand model text before they write
specific form of writing so that they know what features to include in the text.
Students also learn to write by reading written works done by other students.
Students are taught by what they read, not by dictionaries and handbooks
(Roberts, Paul, 1958: 82). Forth, writing is not easy. Writing is hard work;
problems arise when the students have to deal with the written language, spelling,
punctuation, et cetera. Fifth, writing can be taught. Teacher provides a model of
writing to the students, gives examples, and then has them compose their own
writing. The last, writing is a way of learning in all classrooms. Teacher needs to
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see writing as a way of communicating thought in any subject area; the emphasis
should be on the ideas expressed through writing.
Writing ability, in relation, follows reading ability. Therefore, writing skill
and reading skill cannot be separated. Students cannot write if they cannot read,
and they cannot make a good writing if they make a lot of errors. Even so, this
research gives more specification in writing; and the research will focus on
descriptive text. This type of text consists of three major components; those are
describing people, describing things, and describing places. According to the
Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) Sekolah Menengah Pertama, the
basic competence of writing skill of the seventh grade students in the second
semester is that the students are able to express meaning and rhetoric steps on a
simple short essay using accurate types of written language to interact with the
nearest environment in descriptive and procedure texts. That is why descriptive
text is chosen to be the object of this study. Students in the future will have an
ability to describe someone, something, or place accurately.
Students in their writing often make some errors, including when they
have to write about descriptive composition. It could happen because the students
do not give attention to the writing elements. Two of the important elements of
writing are about the grammar and the composition itself; it includes the task
fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics. Those
two elements are not only important and exist in descriptive writing but also in
every kind of writing. Besides having to pay attention to the grammatical errors
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and written assessment, students also have to pay attention to the features or
characteristics of a descriptive text.
The aim of this research is to discover the grammatical errors commonly
made by the students’ and their level of mastery in the five aspects of a descriptive
writing, namely task fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and
mechanics, and also to find out what can the teachers do to improve the students’
descriptive writing.
B. PROBLEM FORMULATION
The researcher in this research wanted to find out about the answer to
these following questions:
1. What are the grammatical errors that the seventh grade students of SMP N
1 Muntilan commonly made in their descriptive writing?
2. What can the teachers do to improve the students’ descriptive writing?
C. PROBLEM LIMITATION
This research focused on the grammatical errors; five aspects of a written
work to evaluate the seventh grade students’ writing, namely task
fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics in
students’ descriptive writing; and also the teacher’s movement to improve the
students’ writing, in this case, descriptive writing.
The subjects of the research were the seventh grade students and their
teacher in a public school, that was SMPN 1 Muntilan. There were six classes and
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taught by the same teacher, two classes were for bilingual class and four classes
for regular class. However, the researcher decided to use only two of those classes
as the subjects of the research, one from bilingual class and one from regular
class; since it was impossible to make use all of the classes. There were no
specific reasons why the researcher chose bilingual class and bilingual class. From
those subjects, the researcher got the information that was needed to answer the
questions mentioned before in the problem formulation.
D. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This research was conducted as an attempt to discover the grammatical
errors commonly made by the seventh grade students in writing descriptive text
by evaluating their writing based on the evaluative checklist which emphasized
five major aspects of a piece of written work. This research also tried to find out
what the teachers did to improve the students’ writing.
E. BENEFITS OF THE STUDY
Hopefully, this study will be useful for the teachers that by knowing the
students’ grammatical errors in some particular areas, for example on the subject
verb agreement, they can give more emphasis on that area, so that the students can
minimize the errors they make.
This research can also help the next researchers or anyone else who feel
interested in the same study especially in writing descriptive text, and will also
help the English Education students or people for the next research.
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F. DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. Descriptive writing
In this study, descriptive writing refers to a text which lists the
characteristics of something or someone that you want to picture. The goal
of description is to enable the reader to visualize a person, place, or thing,
you must provide as much detail, and the right kind of detail, as possible.
(McMurrey, David A., 1983: 239).
2. Grammatical Errors
The term grammatical errors in this study are related to the grammatical
mistakes that are produced by the students in their descriptive writing.
Errors according to Pit Corder (1973) refer to the utterances which are
either superficially deviant or inappropriate in terms of the target language
grammar.
3. The Seventh Grade Students
This refers to the students in the first grade of junior high school. In this
research, they are students in SMPN 1 Muntilan. The age range of the
students is about 12-13 years old.
4. SMP N 1 Muntilan
This school is located in Jl. Pemuda No. 161 Muntilan. It is one of the
favorite schools in Muntilan. There are six classes on each level with the
total number of students, more or less, four hundred students. There is also
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an acceleration class which consists of twenty students. In the acceleration
class, the students only need to take two years of study. This school has
many facilities to support the teaching and learning process; they are
language laboratory, computer media, and classes with supporting
environment, and so on.
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CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter consists of theories related to the topic of the research. There
are two major sections which are used as the groundwork of this research. They
are theoretical description and theoretical framework.
A. THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION
The researcher in this chapter, make an effort to gather theories related to
writing, descriptive writing, and grammatical errors to support the research. The
theories were stated by experts in language teaching.
1. The Concept of Writing
Since this research is frequently related to writing, especially descriptive
writing, the researcher considers that it is important to analyze the concept of
writing. According to Harmer (2001: 88), writing can be defined by a series of
contrast:
a. It is both a physical and a mental act.
At the most basic level, writing is the physical act of committing words
or ideas to some medium. On the other hand, writing is a mental work of
inventing ideas, thinking about how to express them, and organizing
them into statements and paragraphs that will be clear to a reader.
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b. Its purpose is both to express and impress.
Writers typically serve two masters: themselves, and their own desires to
express an idea or feeling, and readers or audience who need to have
ideas expressed in certain ways. Writers then choose the best form for
their writing - a shopping list, notes from a meeting, a scholarly article, a
novel, or poetry are only a few of the choices. Each of these types of
writing has a different level of complexity, depending on its purpose.
c. It is both a process and a product.
The writer imagines, organizes, drafts, edits, reads, and rereads. This
process of writing is often cyclical, and sometimes disorderly.
Ultimately, what the audience sees, whether it is an instructor or a wider
audience is a product - an essay, letter, story, or research report.
2. Writing focus on language structures
Hyland (2003: 3-4) said that one way to look at writing is to see it as
marks of a page or a screen, a coherent arrangement of words, clauses, and
sentences, structured according to a system of rules. Conceptualizing second
language writing in this way directs attention to writing as a product and
uncourageous a focus on formal text units or grammatical features of texts.
3. The Process of Writing
Writing is a paper work, and it should be gone about in a workmanlike
manner. … and, like any other job, it should be done in a series of steps. Each step
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presents its problems, but each makes an important contribution to the finished
paper (Perrin, 1965: 38). He proposed these stages of writing a paper:
Stages of Writing a Paper
a. Focusing on a subject – Definition of topic, sensing of problem involved
and of possible sources of information.
b. Gathering material – Notes from memory, observation, interviews,
reading, speculation.
c. Deciding on methods of development – The ways of approaching and
exploring the subject.
d. Organizing the paper – A synopsis or outline of the paper.
e. Writing the first draft – Tentative of the copy.
f. Revising – Necessary changes in material, corrections and improvement in
words, sentences, paragraphs.
g. Preparing the manuscript – The completed paper, ready for reading or for
printing.
h. Seeing the manuscript into the print – The printed copy.
Whereas, the stages outlined based on Tribble (1996: 38) below are among the
most commonly reported.
PREWRITING (specifying the task / planning and outlining / collecting data / making notes)
COMPOSING
REVISING (reorganizing / shifting emphasis / focusing information and style for your readership)
EDITING (checking grammar / lexis / surface features, for example punctuation, spelling, layout, quotation conventions, references)
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Another type of process writing is proposed by Raimes (1983: 139)
Selection of Preparation Writing Rewriting, Teacher’s topic for writing and editing marking of prewriting proofreading paper activities
There is also a process model of writing instruction according to Hyland
(2003: 11)
Selection of topic: by teacher and/or students Prewriting: brainstorming, collecting data, note taking,
outlining, etc. Composing: getting ideas down on paper
Response to draft: teacher/peers respond to ideas, organization, and style Revising: reorganizing, style, adjusting to readers, refining ideas Response to revisions: teacher/peers respond to ideas, organization, and style Proofreading and editing: checking and correcting form, layout, evidence, etc. Evaluation: teacher evaluates progress over the process Publishing: by class circulation or presentation, noticeboards, etc. Follow-up tasks: to address weaknesses
In each of the stages of writing process above, the writer can jump
backward or forward to any of these activities.
4. Descriptive Writing
Description is a term used rather loosely in ordinary conversation, but it
means something quite specific. It is often combined with other kinds of writing,
most often with narration. The goal of description is to enable the reader to
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visualize a person, place, or thing as much detail, and the right kind of detail, as
possible. It includes all the appropriate senses, particularly sight. But the other
senses - smell, hearing, touch, and taste - can also play important role in
description. (McMurrey, 1983: 239)
5. Techniques of Description
According to McMurrey, these following strategies can be used for
developing a good description.
a. Analysis of the Item Described
The writer has to consider and then select the parts of that subject that will
actually describe. Analysis help in two ways: it limits the enormous
amount of detail by which most people, places, or things can be described;
and it also provides an organizational pattern.
b. Selection or Specification of Detail
The most important thing in description is enabling the reader to visualize
what the writer describing in as much detail as is appropriate. Think about
as many of the specific detail that can be quite a challenge, especially to
inexperienced writers. The process of specification detail can go almost
endlessly. Where the writer stops in the process depends on (1) the writer’s
purpose in writing the description; (2) the effect you are attempting to
create; and (3) the writer length limitation.
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c. Dominant Mood of Description
1. Objective description
It concentrates on presenting only facts and avoids showing how
the writer actually feels about the topic. Business or scientific
reports primarily use objective description.
2. Subjective description
It includes the writer’s own reactions; the description is designed in
such a way that the reader is clearly being encouraged to respond
to it emotionally. A subjective description might cover anger, fear,
resentment, hostility, serenity, excitement, craziness, melancholy,
depression, happiness, joy, wonder, awe, or skepticism, depending
on the purpose of the writer or the writing situation.
d. Showing Versus Telling
One of the most serious problems that arise in descriptive writing involves
telling the readers rather than showing them.
e. Comparison or Analogies
Comparing the subject of description to something similar will also make
the description more vivid.
6. Grammar in Writing
“Grammar in writing” emphasizes that a focus on form in composition can
help writers develop rich linguistic resources needed to express ideas effectively
in addition to providing assistance in error correction. (Celce-Murcia, 2001: 233)
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Grammar in writing should mean helping writers develop their knowledge of
linguistic resources and grammatical systems to convey ideas meaningfully and
appropriately to intended readers. (Frodesen in Celce-Murcia, 2001: 233)
7. Grammatical Error
Grammar is more than just a set of rules. It is the ever-evolving structure
of our language, a field which merits study, invites analysis, and promises
fascination.(http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/ac_paper/gram
mar.shtml)
a. Competence errors
It is developed from a lack of knowledge or ability.
b. Performance errors
It is developed from a mistake in language processing in the head. E.g.
error in typing the word, “the” becomes “teh”.
8. Stages of Error
Pit Carder (1993) carried out three successive stages of error analysis.
They are Recognition, Description, and Explanation.
a. Recognition of Error
“Erroneous” means any utterances which are either superficially deviant or
inappropriate in terms of the target language grammar. Pit Corder
distinguishes between mistakes, lapses, and errors. They correspond to
what he calls Pre-systematic, Post-systematic, and Systematic errors.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
15
1) Pre-systematic errors are those committed by the learners while he or
she is trying to come to grips with a new point.
2) Post-systematic errors occur when one temporarily forgets a point that
has been previously understood.
3) Systematic errors are those which occur when the learner has formed
inaccurate hypothesis about the target language (i.e. the language that
he is learning.
b. Description of Errors
Description of errors tries to explain to the learners how they failed to
realize the intended message. Errors that occur repeatedly should be
looked so that the rule that the learner uses and tries to describe can be
observed. It is a difficult task to do because individual learners may be
highly inconsistent in their errors. Inconsistency is more characteristic of
errors than systematicity. Once errors are described properly, explanation
of errors can begin.
c. Explanation of error
Explanation is still largely speculative because of the limited knowledge of
the psychological and neurological process involved in language learning.
The same error could be looked at from various points of view, but once it
has been decided to give an explanation from a particular point of view,
then classifying the errors can be started.
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B. Theoretical Framework
Basically, students in learning writing have already known about types of
texts. One of those texts is descriptive text. The goal of descriptive text or description
is to enable the reader to visualize a person, place, or thing as much detail, and the
right kind of detail, as possible. It includes all the appropriate senses, particularly
sight. But the other senses - smell, hearing, touch, and taste - can also play important
role in description. (McMurrey, 1983: 239).
Writing for the seventh grade students can be more difficult than the other
skills because they have to pay more attention on the grammar and the spelling.
Students in their writing often make many grammatical errors which can make the
writing quite odd to understand. Students also sometimes lack of vocabulary.
Therefore, it makes them use words which are not suitable to the context of the
sentences.
Seeing the difficulties of writing, the researcher gave more attention to the
errors that students made in their writing. The aim of the research is to find out what
are the grammatical errors commonly made by the seventh grade students of SMP N
1 Muntilan in their descriptive writing and also what can the teacher do to improve
students’ descriptive writing. The data collected from the students is about descriptive
writing. In analyzing the students’ descriptive writing, the researcher uses the
frequent errors made by ESL writer’s checklist which consists of articles, verb tense,
subject verb agreement, singular/plural, punctuation, word class, vocabulary, spelling,
and sentence structure. Finishing the step, the researcher gives mark to the students’
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
17
descriptive writing based on the second checklist, that is an evaluative checklist
proposed by Christopher Tribble (1996) which is suitable enough for every type of
writing.
1. Task fulfillment/content – It involves the treatment of the subject,
interpretation of the topic, content relevant to the topic, and accurate detail.
2. Organization – It includes the ideas of the description, the organized
paragraphs, the coherence (logically sequence), and the cohesion (connectives
appropriately used)
3. Vocabulary – It focuses on the range of vocabulary, accurate word choice and
usage, and appropriate selection to match.
4. Language – It relates with the structures of the description, any errors of
agreement, tense, number, word order, articles, pronouns, and prepositions;
and also the meaning of the sentence is not obscured.
5. Mechanics – It connects with the spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and
layout of the description.
The data from the students is collected, then analyzed the errors by using the
checklists, after that classify the errors, and quantify the errors. These steps are
proposed by Gass and Selinker (1994: 66). There are actually two more steps, they
are analysis of source and remediation, but the researcher decides to use only the
previous four steps because the two latter steps are unnecessary to conduct in this
research.
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The researcher also conducts an interview with the teacher of the seventh
grade students of SMP N 1 Muntilan to find out what can the teacher’s do to improve
students’ descriptive writing. The last, the researcher reported the result of the
research and made conclusion of what had been analyzed.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
The discussion in this chapter includes the method that is used in the
research, research respondents, research instrument, research setting, data
gathering technique, and data analysis technique.
A. METHOD
This research was a descriptive research because it was designed to gather
information as natural as possible, without any treatment of the researcher in the
data collection. Descriptive research was used to obtain information concerning
the current status of the phenomena to describe "what exists" with respect to
variables or conditions in a situation. (P. Key, James, 1997).
Based on Introduction to Research in Education (Ary et al, 1990), there are
several types of studies that may be classified as descriptive research. Those are
surveys, developmental studies, follow up studies, documentary analyses, trend
analyses, and co relational studies. Documentary analyses or content analysis is
known as the procedure for systematically analyzing written materials. Therefore,
the data gathered are generally expressed as frequency counts in various relevant
categories. Moreover, this research used documentary analyses because the
researcher analyzed the data she got. The researcher in this research also used
checklists to analyze the data and to answer the first question.
According to L. R. Gay in his book Educational Research: Competencies
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
20
for Analysis and Application (1992), “One common type of descriptive research
involves assessing attitudes or opinions toward individuals, organizations, events
or procedures. Descriptive data are typically collected through a questionnaire
survey, an interview, or observation”. Therefore, the researcher in this research
also conducted interview with the one of the teachers. The interview was
conducted to find what the teacher’s did to improve students’ descriptive writing.
B. RESEARCH RESPONDENTS
The respondents of the research were the seventh grade students and their
teacher in one of the public schools in Muntilan, that was SMP N 1 Muntilan. This
research was conducted in the second semester because this research wanted to
find out about the students’ descriptive writing and it was relevant to the standard
competency and basic competence of junior high school, which is “to express a
simple meaningful short written functional text to interact with the nearest
environment.” There were six classes of the seventh grade students in SMP N 1
Muntilan. However, this research took only two classes since it was not possible
to make use all the classes. The two classes consisted of 58 students, 22 students
from the bilingual class and 36 students from the regular class. The samples in
this research were cluster sampling because “the unit chosen is not an individual
but a group of individuals who are naturally together.”
The seventh grade students were chosen for this research because these
students were facing a new environment in learning, especially learning English.
They were also starting to learn something different because now they are in the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
21
higher level of learning than before. Moreover, the descriptive writing was also
learned in this level. The collected data were the documents analyzed by the
researcher.
At first, the grammatical errors collected from the students were checked;
the researcher tried to find what were the grammatical errors commonly made by
the students based on the first checklist. After the researcher checked the
grammatical errors, then the researcher marked the composition of students’
descriptive writing by using the second checklist, that was the assessment scale of
written work mentioned before.
The seventh grade students in SMP N 1 Muntilan were supervised by a
teacher. The teacher was also being interviewed related to the result of students’
descriptive writing. From the interview, the researcher also tried to find what the
teacher can do to improve the students’ descriptive writing.
C. SETTING
This research was conducted in SMPN 1 Muntilan. The seventh grade
students were the samples of the research. It was done on April 28, 2008 in the
second semester of academic year 2007/2008
The research was conducted in SMPN 1 Muntilan because this school was
one of the best quality schools in Muntilan. It was proven from the students who
were carefully selected. That was why the seventh grade students of SMP N 1
Muntilan were chosen as the subjects of the research. They were believed to have
good skills in English acquisition.
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D. DATA COLLECTION
In order to meet the data about the grammatical errors made by the seventh
grade students in their descriptive writing, the researcher gathered the students’
assignments about descriptive writing from the teacher. The descriptive writing
could be about places, people, or things. However, the data of descriptive writing
about people was the focus and analyzed in this research.
There were two data used by the researcher. The first was the students’
descriptive writing data. From the data collected, the researcher made an analysis
of the grammatical errors that the students made. The grammatical errors were
marked from any students’ mistakes in their writing. The aspects for analyzing
students’ errors were based on checklists. These checklists included some frequent
errors made by ESL students and they were first taken from LAS ESL La Trobe
University Australia (http://www.latrobe.edu.au/lasesl/assets/downloads/error.doc
{online} accessed on March 31st 2007). This checklist was relevant to the
minimum requirements proposed by R.L Fountain and issued by the English
Department of Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The minimum
requirements included the use of concord or agreement, finite verbs, tenses, verb
groups, articles, punctuation, and also spelling.
The second was evaluating students’ descriptive writing based on an
evaluative checklist. “There are five major aspects of a piece written are evaluated
and each of these aspects is accompanied by explicit descriptors of what is meant
by the different band-scales.” (Tribble, Christopher, 1996: 130).
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
23
After the researcher found out the grammatical errors commonly made by
the students, then the researcher analyzed their written works and marked the
works based on the above checklists.
E. DATA ANALYSIS
In analyzing the data, instrument 1 and 2 were the instruments to specify
the presence and the absence of some items of the grammatical errors and written
work in students’ descriptive writing. The specific calculation of the data in
reckoning the presence and the absence of students’ grammatical errors and
students’ descriptive writing based on the task fulfillment/content, organization,
vocabulary, language, and mechanics was using this formulation:
1. Percentage = ∑X x 100%
N
∑X = the total of each grammatical errors occurs
N = the total of the samples
2. N = X1 + X2 + X3 + X4 + X5
N = the mark
X1 = score for task fulfillment/content, max. score 20
X2 = score for organization, max. score 20
X3 = score for vocabulary, max. score 20
X4 = score for language, max. score 30
X5 = score for mechanics, max. score 10
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
24
The sum of the score was 100 and it was considered as 100%. To decide
the real mark of a piece of writing, the researcher used this scoring procedure:
The marking of the students’ writing was one of the ways to give the
students feedback of their works.
Below are the two instruments that were used to treat the data:
Table 1.1 Frequent errors made by ESL writers (La Trobe University)
Frequent errors Descriptor + / -
Articles A mistake with the article –a, an, the, etc.
Verb tense A mistake with the verb tense.
Subject verb
agreement
The subject and verb do not agree in number.
e.g. She run/We was smiling.
Singular/plural A mistake with number (singular/plural).
e.g. They have three doll in the cupboard.
Punctuation Capital letters, full stops, or commas missing.
Word class The word is in the wrong class.
e.g. She is unemployment.
Vocabulary The wrong word is used.
e.g. Let’s discuss about Mathematics.
Sentence structure The sentence is not complete or perhaps is too
long and need to be reorganized.
Spelling
+ = symbolizes the present of the frequent errors
- = symbolizes the absent of the frequent errors
Scores 8 or above A
Scores 6 to 7 B
Scores 4 to 5 C
Scores 2 to 3 D
Scores 0 to 1 F
≥ 90% = 9 ≥ 50% = 5
≥ 80% = 8 ≥ 40% = 4
≥ 70% = 7 ≥ 30% = 3
≥ 60% = 6 ≥ 20% = 2
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Table 2.1 Assessment scale for written work (Christopher Tribble, 1996)
Area Score Descriptor 20-17 Excellent to very good: Excellent to very good treatment
of the subject; considerable variety of ideas or argument; independent and thorough interpretation of the topic; content relevant to the topic; accurate detail.
16-12 Good to average: Adequate treatment of topic; some variety of ideas or argument; some independence of interpretation of the topic; most content relevant to the topic; reasonably accurate detail.
11-8 Fair to poor: Treatment of the topic is hardly adequate; little variety of ideas or argument; some irrelevant content; lacking detail.
7-5 Very Poor: Inadequate treatment of the topic; no variety of ideas or argument, content irrelevant, or very restricted; almost no useful detail.
Task Fulfillment/
Content
4-0 Inadequate: Fails to address the task with any effectiveness.
20-17 Excellent to very good: Fluent expression, ideas clearly stated and supported; appropriately organized paragraphs or sections; logically sequenced (coherence); connectives appropriately used (cohesion).
16-12 Good to average: Uneven expression but main ideas stands out; paragraphing or section organization evident; logically sequenced (coherence); some connectives used (cohesion)
11-8 Fair to poor: Very uneven expression, ideas difficult to follow; paragraphing/organization does not help the reader; logical sequence difficult to follow (coherence); connectives largely absent (cohesion).
7-5 Very Poor: Lacks fluent expression, ideas very difficult to follow; little sense of paragraphing/organization; no sense of logical sequence (coherence), connectives not used (cohesion).
Organization
4-0 Inadequate: Fails to address this aspect of the task with any effectiveness.
20-17 Excellent to very good: Wide range of vocabulary; accurate word/idiom choice and usage; appropriate selection to match register.
Vocabulary
16-12 Good to average: Adequate range of vocabulary; occasional mistakes in word/idiom choice and usage; register not always appropriate.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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11-8 Fair to poor: Limited range of vocabulary; a noticeable number of mistakes in word/idiom choice and usage; register not always appropriate.
7-5 Very Poor: No range of vocabulary; uncomfortably frequent mistakes in word/idiom choice and usage; no apparent sense of register.
4-0 Inadequate: Fails to address this aspect of the task with any effectiveness.
30-24 Excellent to very good: Confident handling of appropriate structures, hardly any errors of disagreement, tense, number, word order, articles, pronouns, prepositions; meaning never obscured.
23-18 Good to average: Acceptable grammar – but problems with more complex structures; mostly appropriate structures; some errors of agreement, tense, number, word order, articles, pronouns, prepositions; meaning sometimes obscured.
17-10 Fair to poor: Insufficient range of structures with control only shown in simple constructions; frequent errors of agreement, tense, number, word order, articles, pronouns, prepositions; meaning sometimes obscured.
9-6 Very Poor: Major problems with structures – even simple ones; frequent errors of negation, agreement, tense, number, word order, articles, pronouns, prepositions; meaning often obscured.
Language
5-0 Inadequate: Fails to address this aspect of the task with any effectiveness.
10-8 Excellent to very good: Demonstrate full command of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, layout.
7-5 Good to average: Occasional errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, layout
4-2 Fair to poor: Frequent errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, layout.
1-0 Very Poor: Fails to address this aspect of the task with any effectiveness.
Mechanics
F. RESEARCH PROCEDURES
First, the researcher asked permission from the target school to have a
research. After that, the researcher asked help from the English teacher of the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
27
seventh grade class to give the two target research classes assignment to make a
descriptive writing about people.
Second, the researcher analyzed the data collected. The researcher tried to
find what the grammatical errors were commonly made according to the frequent
errors made by ESL writer’s checklist. Finishing the step, the researcher gave
mark to the students’ descriptive writing based on the second checklist, which was
assessment scale for written work which included task fulfillment/content,
organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics.
The last was the researcher conducted an interview with the teacher about
the students’ performance in descriptive writing and what could the teacher do to
improve students’ writing. After that, the researcher reported the result of the
research and made conclusion of what had been analyzed.
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28
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter includes the discussion of problem formulation mentioned in
Chapter I. In order to answer the questions, the data gathered were analyzed in
this chapter. The data gathered during the research were presented and analyzed
here.
A. Data Presentation and Analysis of the First Question
The data was gathered from one type of texts, that was description. There
are three kinds of descriptive writing, they are describing people, describing
places, and describing things. The description topic that was discussed in this
research was about describing people.
This part was divided into data presentation and data analysis of
grammatical errors that the students of the seventh grade commonly made.
1. The Data Presentation on the Grammatical Errors Commonly Made by
the Seventh Grade Students
The samples of this research were total 57 copies of students’ descriptive
writing, 22 copies were from bilingual class, and the other 35 copies were from
regular class. There were actually 36 students of the regular class. However, one
student did not join the class at that time. To specify the presence and the absence
of some items of the grammatical errors and written work in students’ descriptive
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
29
writing, the researcher used two instruments as explained before in chapter III.
The result of the grammatical errors commonly made by the seventh grade
students was presented in the following tables. The first two tables were the result
of grammatical errors made by students in bilingual class. The second two tables
were the result of grammatical errors made by students in regular class.
The number mentioned in the tables referred to the number of the students
in each class. Therefore, number one up to twenty two referred to the students in
bilingual class; while number one up to thirty six referred to the students in
regular class.
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30
a. Bilingual Class
Table a.1 Data on the Frequency Errors Made by ESL Writers adopted from La Trobe University (1992)
Frequent errors 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22Articles A
mistake with the article –a, an,
the, etc.
+
+
-
-
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
+
+
-
+
-
-
-
+
-
-
Verb tense A mistake with the
verb tense.
-
-
+
+
-
-
-
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
Subject verb agreement The subject and verb do not agree in
number. e.g. She run/We
was smiling.
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
-
Singular/plural A mistake with
number (singular/plural). e.g. They have
three doll in the cupboard.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
+
Punctuation Capital letters, full stops, or
-
-
-
+
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
30
commas missing Word class The
word is in the wrong class. e.g. She is
unemployment.
-
+
-
-
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
-
+
-
+
-
-
Vocabulary The wrong word is
used. e.g. Let’s discuss
about Mathematics.
-
+
+
+
-
+
-
+
+
+
+
-
+
-
+
+
-
-
-
+
-
-
Sentence structure The sentence is not
complete or perhaps is too
long and need to be reorganized.
+
-
+
-
+
-
-
+
-
+
+
-
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
Spelling - - - + - - - - - - - + + + - - + - + - + -
+ = symbolizes the present of the frequent errors
- = symbolizes the absent of the frequent errors
31
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32
The Summary of the Frequent Errors and the Percentage of Bilingual Class Subject verb agreement : 19 x 100%= 86.36% 22 Verb tense : 15 x 100%= 68.18% 22 Word class : 12 x 100%= 54.54% 22 Vocabulary : 12 x 100%= 54.54% 22 Singular/plural : 12 x 100%= 54.54% 22 Articles : 10 x 100%= 45.45% 22 Sentence structure : 9 x 100%= 40.9% 22 Spelling : 7 x 100%= 31.81% 22 Punctuation : 2 x 100%= 9.09% 22
From table a.1 and the result of the percentages, it can be seen that from
nine categories of Frequent Errors made by ESL writers, there were three ranks of
grammatical errors made by the students. The highest rank was the Subject verb
agreement, with the highest percentage 86.36% from total 22 students. The
second rank was Verb tense with total percentage 68.18%. As much as total
percentage 54.54% was shown by three categories, they are Singular/plural, Word
class, and Vocabulary. Below is the Chart of the Students’ Grammatical Errors
based on the percentages.
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33
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
ArticlesVerb tense
Subject verb agreement
Singular/plural
Punctuation
Word class
Vocabulary
Sentence strructure
Spelling
Figure 1. The Chart of Students’ Grammatical Errors of Bilingual Class
Therefore, from the percentage, it can be concluded that grammatical
errors commonly made by the students from bilingual class was Subject verb
agreement, with the highest percentage 86.36 % from total 22 students.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
34
Table a.2 The Result of the Students’ Scores Based on the Assessment Scale (Christopher Tribble, 1996), (Bilingual Class)
Area Score Descriptor 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
20-17 Excellent to
very good
17
18
17
17
17
18
18
16-12 Good to
average
16
12 15 12 16 15 12 16 13 15 16
11-8 Fair to poor 10 11 11 11
7-5 Very Poor
Task
Fulfillment/
Content
4-0 Inadequate
20-17 Excellent to
very good
17
17
18
18
16-12 Good to
average
16 16 14 16 16 16 12 13 14 15 13 16 16 15
11-8 Fair to poor 10 10 11 11
Organization
7-5 Very Poor
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
35
4-0 Inadequate
20-17 Excellent to
very good
17
18
17
18
16-12 Good to
average
16
16 12 15 12 12 16 12 12 16 12 13 15 12 14 16 15 17
11-8 Fair to poor
7-5 Very Poor
Vocabulary
4-0 Inadequate
30-24 Excellent to
very good
24
23-18 Good to
average
23 23 18 20 22 20 18 20 18 23 19 18
17-10 Fair to poor 16 17 15 17 17 16 15 17 15
9-6 Very Poor
Language
5-0 Inadequate
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
36
10-8 Excellent to
very good
9
8
8
8
8
7-5 Good to
average
7 6 6 6 7 7 6 7 7 6 7 5 7 6 5 6 7
4-2 Fair to poor
Mechanics
1-0 Very Poor
TOTAL 83 79 79 62 72 80 77 54 57 73 60 60 70 63 60 73 56 62 85 69 73 79
SCORE A B B B B A B C C B B B B B B B C B A B B B
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37
0102030405060708090
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Figure 2. The Chart of Students’ Scores of Bilingual Class
From this chart, it can be seen that the highest score for the students’
writing from the bilingual class from the range 0 to 100 was 85. The second
highest score was 83.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
38
b. Regular Class
Table b.1 Data on the Frequency Errors Made by ESL Writers adopted from La Trobe University (1992)
Frequent errors
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Articles A mistake with the
article –a, an, the, etc.
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
Verb tense A mistake with the
verb tense.
+
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Subject verb agreement The subject and verb do not agree in
number. e.g. She run/We
was smiling.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Singular/plural A mistake with
number (singular/plural).e.g. They have
three doll in the cupboard.
+
-
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
+
-
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
39
Punctuation Capital letters, full stops, or
commas missing.
-
-
-
+
-
-
+
+
-
+
+
-
+
-
+
+
+
-
Word class The word is in the wrong class. e.g. She is
unemployment.
+
-
+
-
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
-
Vocabulary The wrong word
is used. e.g. Let’s
discuss about Mathematics.
+
-
+
-
+
+
+
-
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Sentence structure The sentence is not
complete or perhaps is too
long and need to be reorganized.
+
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
-
+
-
-
+
+
+
-
+
Spelling + + + - - + + - - + + - - - + + + -
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
40
Frequent errors
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Articles A mistake with the
article –a, an, the, etc.
+
+
-
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
Verb tense A mistake with the
verb tense.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
-
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
Subject verb agreement The subject and verb do not agree in
number. e.g. She run/We
was smiling.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Singular/plural A mistake with
number (singular/plural).e.g. They have
three doll in the cupboard.
+
-
-
+
+
-
-
-
-
+
-
+
+
-
-
-
-
-
Punctuation Capital letters, full stops, or
commas missing.
-
+
-
+
-
-
+
+
+
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
+
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
41
Word class The word is in the wrong class. e.g. She is
unemployment.
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
-
-
+
+
-
-
-
-
-
Vocabulary The wrong word
is used. e.g. Let’s
discuss about Mathematics.
-
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
-
Sentence structure The sentence is not
complete or perhaps is too
long and need to be reorganized.
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
-
+
+
+
+
-
-
-
Spelling + + - + - - - - + + - + + + - - + + + = symbolizes the present of the frequent errors
- = symbolizes the absent of the frequent errors
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
42
The Summary of the Frequent Errors and the Percentage of Regular Class
Subject verb agreement : 36 x 100%= 100% 36 Verb tense : 31 x 100%= 86.11% 36 Articles : 27 x 100%= 75% 36 Sentence structure : 24 x 100%= 66.66% 36 Word class : 21 x 100%= 58.33% 36 Vocabulary : 24 x 100%= 66.66% 36 Spelling : 20 x 100%= 55.55% 36 Punctuation : 16 x 100%= 44.44% 36 Singular/plural : 11 x 100%= 30.55% 36
From table b.1, the Regular class of SMP N 1 Muntilan consisted of thirty six
students, but one of the students did not join the class at that time. The result of the
percentages showed that there were three highest ranks of grammatical errors made by the
students. The first rank was the Subject verb agreement, with the total percentage 100%
from 36 students. The second rank was Verb tense with 86.11%. The other ranks in
decreasing order were the Articles, Vocabulary, Sentence structure, Word class, Spelling,
Punctuation, and the last Plural/singular. The chart of students’ grammatical errors based
on the percentage can be seen below.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
43
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
ArticlesVerb tense
Subject verb agreement
Singular/plural
Punctuation
Word class
Vocabulary
Sentence strructure
Spelling
Figure 3. The Chart of Students’ Grammatical Errors of Regular Class
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
44
Table b.2 Assessment scale for written work (Christopher Tribble, 1996)
Area Score Descriptor 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
20-17 Excellent to very good 19 17 17 18
16-12 Good to average 12 16 16 16 15 16 12 13 14
11-8 Fair to poor 11 11 10 11 10
7-5 Very Poor
Task Fulfillment/
Content
4-0 Inadequate
20-17 Excellent to very good 18 18 19
16-12 Good to average 14 14 16 12 12 15 16 14 13 12 13
11-8 Fair to poor 9 8 10 11
7-5 Very Poor
Organization
4-0 Inadequate
20-17 Excellent to very good 18 17 17 Vocabulary
16-12 Good to average 14 16 12 16 16 13 12 12 13
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
45
11-8 Fair to poor 8 9 11 11 11 11
7-5 Very Poor
4-0 Inadequate
30-24 Excellent to very good 25 24 25
23-18 Good to average 19 18 19 23
17-10 Fair to poor 17 14 17 16 15 15 17 16 13 15 16
9-6 Very Poor
Language
5-0 Inadequate
10-8 Excellent to very good 8 8 9 9 9
7-5 Good to average 6 7 5 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 6
4-2 Fair to poor 4 4
Mechanics
1-0 Very Poor
TOTAL 55 69 44 88 80 70 65 71 77 61 49 84 88 60 54 53 59 62
SCORE C B C A A B B B B B C A A B C C C B
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
46
Area Score Descriptor 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
20-17 Excellent to very good 15 13 15 17 18 18 19
16-12 Good to average 10 11 8 16 12 15 12 13 12
11-8 Fair to poor 7 7
7-5 Very Poor
Task Fulfillment/
Content
4-0 Inadequate
20-17 Excellent to very good 17 18 18
16-12 Good to average 15 12 13 14 12 16 16 15 13
11-8 Fair to poor 8 8 8 10 11 10
7-5 Very Poor
Organization
4-0 Inadequate
20-17 Excellent to very good 17 17 17 18 Vocabulary
16-12 Good to average 12 14 12 13 12 16 12 15 12 14
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11-8 Fair to poor 11 10 11 10
7-5 Very Poor
4-0 Inadequate
30-24 Excellent to very good 24 24 25
23-18 Good to average 18 20 22 20 21
17-10 Fair to poor 16 13 12 10 10 15 13 15 17 17
9-6 Very Poor
Language
5-0 Inadequate
10-8 Excellent to very good 8 9 8 9 8 8
7-5 Good to average 5 6 5 5 7 6 6 7 6 7 7 7
4-2 Fair to poor Mechanics
1-0 Very Poor
TOTAL 65 59 70 58 58 47 41 42 83 58 79 54 78 59 71 88 64 63
SCORE B C B C C C C C A C B C B C B A B B
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48
0102030405060708090
100
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 28 31 33 35
Figure 4. The Chart of Students’ Score of Regular Class
From this chart, it could be seen that the highest score was student number 4, 13, and 34 with total score 88 from the range 0-100.
The second high was 84.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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The Summary of the Frequent Errors and the Percentages of Both Classes
Subject verb agreement : 86.36% + 100% = 93.18% 2
Verb tense : 68.18% + 86.11% = 77.14%
2
Articles : 45.45% + 75% = 60.22% 2 Vocabulary : 54.54% + 66.66% = 60.6% 2 Word class : 54.54% + 58.3% = 56.42%
2
Sentence : 40.9% + 66.66% = 53.78% 2 Spelling : 31.81% + 55.55% = 43.68% 2 Singular/plural : 54.54% + 30.55% = 42.54% 2 Punctuation : 9.09% + 44.44% = 26.76% 2 Based on the summary of the frequent errors and the percentages of both classes
above, therefore, it could be concluded that the grammatical errors commonly made by
the students were Subject verb agreement with total percentage 93.18%, and was
followed by Verb tense with 77.14%. The next was Vocabulary with the percentage
60.6%. The other were Articles 60.22%, Word class 56.42%, Sentence structure 53.78%,
Spelling 43.68%, Singular/plural 42.54%, Punctuation 26.76%.
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50
2. The Data Analysis of the First Question
Below is the data analysis based on the students’ descriptive writing which
concerned on the grammatical errors made by the seventh grade students. The first
rank on the grammatical errors was Subject verb agreement, and then continued
by Verb tense, Vocabulary, Articles, Word class, Sentence structure, Spelling,
Singular/plural, and the last Punctuation.
a. The Data Analysis of Subject Verb Agreement
There were 55 students out of 58 students who made error on Subject verb
agreement with total percentage 93.18%. Below are the examples of the errors
made by the students.
Many of the students did not pay much attention on the usage of the first
or third person and their verb agreement. For example:
• Incorrect sentences
- She teach English.
- I has English teacher.
- Mrs. Suci live with her family.
- She always wearing woman Moslem wear.
• Corrected sentences
- She teaches English.
- I have an English teacher.
- Mrs. Suci lives with her family.
- She always wears Moslem women clothes.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
51
The subject ‘She’ is a third person singular. Therefore, for Simple Present
Tense, the verb agreement has to use verb one plus –s or –es. It is also used for
subject ‘He’ and ‘It’. However, for subject ‘I’, it is a first person singular, and
instead of using ‘has’ for the verb agreement, it uses ‘have’.
From this analysis, in point of fact, many of the students have lack of
awareness. Some of the sentences were correct, but because of carelessness some
sentences became incorrect.
b. The Data Analysis of Verb Tense
As many as 46 students made a mistake with the verb tense. The
percentage was 77.14%. The examples of the verb tense mistakes are:
• Incorrect sentences
- She always take a veil every day.
- She is always employ veil every teach.
- Mrs. Suci has is beautiful.
- She also very discipline.
• Corrected sentences
- She always wears a veil every day.
- She always wears a veil while teaching.
- Mrs. Suci is beautiful.
- She is also very disciplined.
In this section, the students chose the wrong verbs or “to be” to make the
sentences. This happened because the students have lack of knowledge in
choosing the correct verbs for the sentences they made.
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c. The Data Analysis of Vocabulary
The next analysis was the vocabulary with the percentage 60.6% and the
total students are 36. Students, in their writing, often choose the wrong words to
explain about certain things. The examples are below:
• Incorrect sentences
- … because we not answer the question with true.
- She is not height.
- She is wild because she want the student clever English.
- She is a guardian class seven C.
• Corrected sentences
- … because we don’t answer the question correctly.
- She is not tall.
- She is disciplined because she wants the students to be smart (or
clever) in English.
- She is the counselor of class seven C.
Students in translating the words from Indonesian to English were still
influenced by Bahasa Indonesia. As a result, they translated the sentences and the
meaning of the sentences sounded ‘strange’ because they were ‘too Indonesian’.
To avoid this, the students should enrich their vocabulary by reading more
English books. They can also find the synonyms of certain words in the
dictionary.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
53
d. The Data Analysis of Articles
As much as 60.22% was the percentage of the articles. Articles sound simple, but
they are important because they modify nouns. There are two types of articles;
indefinite and definite articles. Indefinite articles are generally used before nouns
that are nonspecific, singular, and countable. The indefinite articles are "a" and
"an". Use "a" before consonant sounds and use "an" before vowel sounds. Definite
articles, such as "the" are used before specific nouns-nouns that are not countable.
(http://www.ece.msstate.edu/academics/writing_resource/grammatical_errors_link
s.html#agreement {online}accessed on 29 August 2007, at 8.44 am)
Errors that happened in the students descriptive writing related to the
usage of articles were:
• Incorrect sentences
- I have teacher.
- Mrs. Suci is a English teacher.
- … because I went to get the good jobs.
• Corrected sentences
- I have a teacher.
- Mrs. Suci is an English teacher.
- … because I want to get a good job.
Students in writing the description often forgot to use the articles.
Although they seemed small errors, but they were still important. As the examples
above, the students did not use ‘an’ before the vowels, instead they used ‘a’.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
54
e. The Data Analysis of Word class
The next analysis is the word class with total 56.42%. Here, the students
made error by putting the words in the wrong class.
• Incorrect Sentences
- She is very smart, explicit, and fierce.
- I love she because …
- Her face is circle.
- She has two black eyes and sharp nose.
• Corrected sentences
- She is very smart, open, and disciplined.
- I love her because …
- She has got a round face.
- She has got two black eyes and a pointed nose.
Students sometimes think that they have found the correct words and they
can be used at anytime. In this case, the students have to be able to differentiate
the function and the meaning of the words first before applying them in sentences.
f. The Data Analysis of Sentence structure
The descriptor for sentence structure is the sentence is not complete or
perhaps is too long and need to be reorganized and there were 33 students who
made the errors with the percentage 53.78. The examples of the errors were:
• Incorrect sentences
- Humorist and kind teacher.
- She always clothes tidily.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
55
- I always attention what she teach.
- If are the student not do home work, so the student will get
punishment.
• Corrected sentences
- She is a humorous and kind teacher.
- She always wears her clothes tidily.
- I always pay attention of what she teaches us.
- If the students do not do their homework, they will get a
punishment.
For the first sentence, there was no subject of the sentence. The second,
there was no verb to explain the subject and the noun. Third, it needed the verb.
And fourth, the usage of auxiliary verb to support the negative form of simple
present tense.
g. The Data Analysis of Spelling
There were many students who made mistakes in spelling. Although it is
simple, but if the students did not be careful, they would make many mistakes.
The percentage was 43.68%.
• Incorrect sentences
- She is fourty five years old now.
- … but I know that she is angry if only we make mistic.
- She has whit skind and black eyes.
- She is a good theacher
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
56
• Corrected sentences
- She is forty five years old.
- … but I know that she is angry if only we make mistakes.
- She has got white skin and black eyes.
- She is a good teacher.
h. The Data Analysis of Singular/plural
The percentage for singular/plural was 42.54%, and there were 23 students
who made errors on singular/plural.
• Incorrect sentences
- There are five English teacher in my school.
- Mrs. Suci is one of teacher in SMP N 1 Muntilan.
• Corrected sentences
- There are five teachers in my school.
- Mrs. Suci in one of the teachers in SMP N 1 Muntilan.
i. The Data Analysis of Punctuation
Punctuation was at the bottom of the rank with the percentage 26.76%.
Punctuation in a writing is used as the ‘separator’ between ideas. Here are some
mistakes made by students.
• Incorrect sentences
- She live in Tempel, Sleman, Yogyakarta
- She is a teacher in class seven And she is very honest
- She has whit skin She teaches al of class seven She is guardian
class seven C.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
57
• Corrected sentences
- She lives in Tempel, Sleman, Yogyakarta.
- She is a teacher in class seven and she is very honest.
- She has got white skin. She teaches all of seven classes. She is
the counselor of class seven C.
Every sentence in English always begins with a capital letter and ends with
full stop. They are used to differentiate one sentence from another.
From the analysis above, it could be concluded that the grammatical errors
commonly made by the seventh grade students of SMP N 1 Muntilan was Subject
Verb Agreement. Students in their writing still made mistakes for the subject and
its verb agreement. Although actually in at a glance the sentences were
understandable, but grammatically, they were kind of errors.
B. The Data Analysis of the Second Question
Students in writing, or in this case writing descriptive paragraph, are
facing many problems, for examples students’ lack of vocabulary, need more
knowledge about the grammar or the structure of the sentences, and many more.
Here, the researcher tried to find how or what can the teacher do to improve the
students’ performance in writing descriptive paragraph.
From the interview with an English teacher at SMP N 1 Muntilan, it was
found that one of the ways to improve students’ descriptive writing was by
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
58
drilling and giving some exercises continually. Therefore, the students would be
familiar with the form and the expressions needed in making a descriptive writing.
According to ICELT Distance Unit: Teaching and Responding to Writing
(2006), writing should be practiced in the classroom everyday. Even very short
pieces writing with drawings to illustrate points should be encouraged and
discussed. Here is a table based on ICELT, most writing in the classroom falls on
a continuum from copying to free writing.
Table B.1 Most writing in the classroom falls on a continuum from copying to
free writing (Teaching Writing and Responding to Written work
by Michelle Coleman)
Focus A – types
of writing
B – Definitions and example activities
Copying Students Copy from the board or from books. They
generally copy grammatical structures, grammatical
rules and items of vocabulary. This provides the
students with a written record of the language
presented and practiced in class.
Written
Exercises
These exercise practice grammatical structure. For
example, writing sentences from prompts following a
particular structural pattern, answering questions
using a particular pattern, completing sentences,
matching halves of sentences, gap filling using the
correct tense or word.
Controlled
(accuracy
focus)
Freer
(fluency
focus)
Guided
Writing
Students are involved in a process of writing and the
teacher gives help during this process(thinking
through ideas, ordering them, cooperatively
preparing notes, writing draft, copies editing, and
editing final versions)
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59
Free
Writing
Students come up with a topic and title for a
composition themselves and do not receive any help
from the teacher.
The first step taken by the teacher was introducing the students to the
characteristics of a descriptive writing. Then, what tenses were used to describe
people or things. After that, the examples of descriptive writing were presented.
Next, the students made a simple description, this activity was done in groups and
after doing some practices in groups, then the students worked individually and
made their own descriptive writing. The drilling was done until more or less 85%
of the students have mastered the lesson.
The steps above can also be concluded into three stages: pre-writing,
while-writing, and post-writing. Pre-writing stage prepares the students to write.
They brainstorm ideas and share experiences. On While-writing stage, the
students produce their writing based on the examples presented. The teacher’s role
on this stage is to guide the students with the writing style, organization, content,
presentation, and help them to encourage each other. On Post-writing stage, the
students can present their work and share it to the other groups and then the other
groups can give respond to their friends’ work.
Therefore, practicing continuously and drilling the students to write were
activities that the teacher could do to improve the students’ descriptive writing.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter draws conclusions from this research and rpovides some
suggestions for English Education community members: teachers and lecturers,
learners, and for the other researchers.
A. Conclusions
This research discussed the grammatical errors commonly made by the
seventh grade students and also the completion of the five aspects, namely task
fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics in their
descriptive writing. This research also tried to find what the teacher’s did to
improve the students’ writing.
This research found that subject verb agreement was the error commonly
made by the students. The second rank was verb tense. Subject verb agreement
became the first rank because the students did not pay much attention to the
subject and its verb agreement. Actually, they have already known about the rules.
However, because of their carelessness, they made the errors. The students, in
their descriptive writing, completed the five aspects, namely task
fulfillment/content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics. The score
of their writing was based on these aspects. Each aspect had its descriptor.
Therefore, the score for each writing could be concluded.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
61
To improve the students’ descriptive writing, the teacher gave more
exercises and corrected the mistakes. Drilling and repetition was very important to
make the studentas familiar with the characteristics of a descriptive writing. The
process of drilling can be done by using three stages of writing: pre-writing,
while-writing, and post-writing. The examples of students’ exercises can be seen
in Appendices.
Grammatical errors in relation with descriptive writing has quite important
role. When the students made errors in their writing, though it is not really
affected to the meaning, but still the sentences are grammatically wrong.
Therefore, the teacher can also improve students’ writing by using Subject Verb
Agreement.
B. Suggestion
Some suggestions are also included in this chapter. They are as follow”
1. For English lecturers and teachers
In writing a composition, students of all level occasionally forget about
the usage of subject and its verb agreement. For example, about when
they use verb or verb plus -s or –es. Therefore, it is the lecturers and
teachers’ obligation to keep reminding the students about the usage of
subject and its verb agreement. Giving more practices and some
interesting activities such as games, would help the students to grasp
more easily the rule of subject verb agreement.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
62
2. For the further researchers
This research was about grammatical errors in descriptive writing.
There are many grammatical errors from other types of writing that can
be the next subject of the research. It will be challenging for the other
researchers to find out the grammatical errors made by the students
from different type pf writing.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
63
REFERENCES
Ary, D., Lucy J., and Asghar R. 1990. Introduction to Research in Education. New York: Hol, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
Celce-Muria, M. (editor). 2001. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign
Language, 3rd ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc.
Cohen, A. D. 1990. Language Learning: Insights for Learners, Teachers, and
Researchers. New York: Newbury House Publishers. Gay, L. R. 1992. Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and
Application. McMillian Publishing Company: New York. Granger, C. 1993. Play Games with English Teacher’s Resource Book 1. Oxford:
Athenæum Press Ltd., Gateshead, Tyne & Wear. Harmer, J. 2001. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Essex: Longman. Hillocks, G. 1986. Research on Written Composition. Library of Congress
Catalogiung-in-Publication Data. Hyland, K. 2003. Second Language Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. Johnson, K. 2001. An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching.
Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Laos M., C. 2002. Investigating Learner Language Through Grammatical Errors
in Different Writing Genres: A Case Study. LLT Journal Vol. 5 No. 1-April 2002.
Marton, W. 1988. Methods in English Language Teaching. Cambridge: Prentice
Hall. McMurrey, D. A. 1983. Writing Fundamentals. New York: MacMillian CO., Inc. Nunan, D. 1991. Language Teaching Methodology: a textbook for teacher.
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Perrin, P. G. 1965. The Writer’s Guide. 4th ed. Illinois: Scoot, Foresman and
Company.
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64
Stanley, L. Ways to Writing. New York: MacMillian Publishing Company Tiedt, I. M. 1989. Writing: From Topic to Evaluation. Massachusetts: Allyn and
Bacon. Tribble, C. 1996. Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Walvoord, B. F. 1985. Writing Strategies for All Disciplines. Englewood: Prentice
Hall. Wijasuriya, B. and Hyacinth G. (ed.). 1991. Teaching and Learning in
Challenging Situations. Kuala Lumpur: Cetaktama Sdn. Bhd. Kuala Lumpur.
White, F. D. 1943. The Writer’s Art. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
ELECTRONIC/INTERNET RESOURCES
LAS ESL. La Trobe University. Error Analysis, http://www.latrobe.edu.au/lasesl/assets/downloads/error.doc, {available online} accessed on 31 March 2007
Coleman, M. ICELT Distance Unit: Teaching and Responding to Writing (2006).
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/pdf/icelt_syllabus.pdf {available online} assessed on April 5, 2008
Unknown. Attending to Grammar,
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/ac_paper/grammar.shtml, {available online} accessed on April 2, 2007.
Unknown. http://www.ece.msstate.edu/academics/writing_resource/grammatical_
errors_links.html#agreement {available online} accessed on August 29, 2007.
Unknown. Fun Games for ESL Kids: Classroom Running Dictation. http://www.english-4kids.com/dictation.html {available online} accessed on May 27, 2009 11:11
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66
APPENDIX A
Muatan Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan
Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris (2004, Depdiknas Kabupaten Magelang)
Kelas/Semester Gambits Genre
VII/1 1. Menyapa orang yang sudah/belum
dikenal
2. Memperkenalkan diri sendiri/orang lain
3. Memerintah/melarang
4. Meminta dan memberi informasi
5. Mengucapkan terima kasih
6. Meminta maaf
7. Mengungkapkan kesantunan
VII/2 1. Meminta dan memberi jasa
2. Meminta dan memberi barang
3. Meminta dan memberi fakta
4. Meminta dan memberi pendapat
5. Menyatakan suka atau tidak suka
6. Meminta klarifikasi
7. Merespon secara interpersonal
1. Descriptive
2. Procedure
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69
APPENDIX B
List of Names of the Seventh Grade Students’ of SMP N 1 Muntilan
DAFTAR SISWA KELAS VII BILINGUAL
TAHUN PELAJARAN 2007/2008
Nomor
Urut Induk
Nama
1 9505 Afina Mahardhika E.
2 9506 Agrita Eka P.
3 9507 Arin Novia Lutfinanda
4 9508 Cahyati Indah Sari
5 9509 Dian Retno Kusuma N.
6 9510 Dimas Prasetyo
7 9511 Fitra Rindang NI.
8 9512 Goldi Rillo Pangayom
9 9513 Hanif Abdullah
10 9514 Ingga Dwi Puspita
11 9515 Jiwandono Pangestu
12 9516 Kukuh Adiwibowo MM.
13 9517 Laila Rahmawati
14 9518 Mayda Rahmat Mustofa
15 9519 Muhamad Fahmi M.
16 9520 Muhamad Fajar A.
17 9521 Muhammad Fahmi
18 9522 Nanda Pratiwi
19 9523 Nurul Jannah Yuliani
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20 9524 Ribowo Inmas PN.
21 9525 Riski Khoirul Anam
22 9526 Silvia Kusuma Ningrum
23 9521 Zamudra Silmi
DAFTAR SISWA KELAS VII D
TAHUN PELAJARAN 2007/2008
Nomor
Urut Induk
Nama
1 9637 Aldila Kemas Agusta
2 9638 Alfina Yunitasari
3 9639 Andhika Himawan Amrullah
4 9640 Anisa Fitriyani
5 9641 Arfian Yuniarizki
6 9642 Arika Dyah Riza Umami
7 9643 Azizah Hasna A.
8 9644 Bonggo Sadewa
9 9645 Citra Kurnia Permatasari Adi S.
10 9646 Defy Kusumaningrum
11 9647 Diva Aprilia Afifah
12 9648 Fajar Ridwan Kuniawan
13 9649 Fatikhah Delia Puspa Sari
14 9650 Hari M. Hardono
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15 9650 Hendra Saputra
16 9651 Hudoko Wahyu Pandega
17 9652 Husna Amanina Firdaus
18 9653 Ibnu Rama Hildhan All Eden
19 9654 Junara Adi Purnama
20 9655 Mohammad Masruri
21 9656 Muh Ibnu Hajar
22 9657 Muhammad Fachrul Umam
23 9658 Nur Eko Marjoko P.
24 9659 Nu Hasanah
25 9660 Nurhikmah
26 9661 Puteri Atvatuzzahroq
27 9662 Risa Dwi Kurniawati
28 9663 Rizky Setiawan
29 9664 Seviana Dewanti
30 9665 Shofyana Nur Anisa
31 9667 Siti Khoiruniqoh Lutfiatul Latifah
32 9668 Tiara Dewi Larasati
33 9669 Ulfah Tsaniyah
34 9670 Virna Elvira
35 9671 Yuan Rizki Rahma Dani
36 9672 Zakia Nafula Siwi
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APPENDIX C
TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW
WITH Ms. Suci Pambasmi, S.Pd.
Researcher : In teaching English, do you use the government’s curriculum or
use the school’s curriculum?
Ms. Suci : The KTSP is not yet purely used in this school because in my
opinion all the curriculums are still relevant till now. From 99’
curriculum, all can be used.
Researcher : What strategy(ies)/methods that you use in teaching English?
Ms. Suci : For English, I use traditional teaching, explaining and giving
exercises. But I also give them other types of teaching learning
strategies such as interviewing practice. The students must
interview selected teachers, who are competent enough in English,
and having an interview in English with them. Games, such as
crossword puzzle,
Researcher : Do you always use English when teaching the students?
Ms. Suci : I often try to use English but sometimes use Indonesian when
there are some words that the students do not know.
Researcher : What are the difficulties that you face when teaching English to
the students?
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Ms. Suci : When the students have to memorize vocabularies which had to
be mastered. Sometimes I have to be strict to the students because
they do not want to look at the dictionary to find some difficult
words. The difficulty also depends on what materials that will be
taught to the students.
Researcher : How do you overcome the difficulties?
Ms. Suci : I asked the students to memorize and understand the words. In
teaching, I usually give more explanation to the students when they
do not understand a topic.
Researcher : How do you motivate the students to learn English?
Ms. Suci : Usually I divide the class into small group; each group consists of
better students and less better students. I give them assignments to
be done. To motivate the less better students, from what he got
from the discussion in the group, I asked him to come in front of
the class and do the assignments.
Researcher : What are the learning activities that you usually use?
Ms. Suci : I asked the students to practice their English by having an
interview with certain teachers in this school. I also use the
traditional teaching learning activities. I use games if only there is
some time left. Crosswords puzzle or quiz are the games that I
usually used.
Researcher : Do you think what skill is the most difficult to be taught?
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Ms. Suci : I think the most difficult skill to be taught is writing skill because
it is related to the grammar and vocabularies. A student will not be
able to make a sentence without knowing the diction and he will
not be able to make a good sentence without knowing the sentence
patterns.
Researcher : Do you think that the teacher’s role is important in the students’
language acquisition?
Ms. Suci : Of course the teacher’s role gives effect to the students. I
convince that I’m quite strict to the students, many parents have
complaint to me but that is my typical. I want my students to get
the best. I also make a schedule about what I am going to give to
the students even though sometimes the schedule is changing.
Researcher : What do you do so that the students can understand more about
the characteristics of descriptive writing?
Mrs. Suci : At first, I explain about what is a descriptive writing. After all the
students understand about what is a descriptive writing, then I give
the examples of descriptive writing. Next, I give some exercises for
the students; easy and simple exercises first, and then increasing to
broader and more difficult descriptive writing. I always repeat the
activity of writing the description many times. I usually put the
students into groups which consist of better and less good students.
I use this technique to make the less good students learn from the
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better ones. After group discussion, now they can work
individually.
Researcher : What can you do to improve students’ ability in descriptive
writing?
Ms. Suci : Usually I drill them. So after the students do one exercise, I will
give other exercises. If the students still make many mistakes, I
will keep giving the students exercises until they do not make too
many mistakes. It is natural for students who are learning foreign
language to make mistakes. However, it is much better if they
don’t make mistakes because if they make mistakes, people will be
confused. Yes, every word in English has its own meaning. If you
write incorrectly, even only one letter, the meaning might be
different.
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APPENDIX D
Examples of Seventh Grade Students’ Descriptive Writing
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APPENDIX E
Examples of Students Activities in Three Stages of Learning
1. Pre-Writing
In this stage, students work in small group consists of three or four
students. Here, the teacher gives a task for the students to share and
brainstorm ideas about their classroom. The task given should be start
from the simplest. The students write everything that they know about
their classroom. For examples, the number of the students and things that
they can find in the class.
Number of students: 22
Things in the classroom: 17 chairs, 16 tables, 1 desk, one black board, one
white board, three pictures, a flag, a dustbin.
2. While-writing
After the students brainstorm the ideas, they can now produce their
findings into a composition. Here, the students have to pay attention to the
writing style, that is descriptive writing; organization, and content. The
teacher can help the students deal with their composition.
3. Post-writing
Students present their work to the other groups. They can read aloud their
description and the other groups give comment to the presenter group.
They can find the similarities and differences in their writing.
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The teacher does the group work activities several times. After that the
students can work independently. For another activity, the teacher can provide a
short outline for the students. The topic can be something that the students
interested in, for example, about pets.
Cats are my favourite animals. They are very intelligent and independent. I especially like black cats. When I am with cats I like talking to them and stroking them. I also like looking after them. My cat’s name is Blacky. He likes eating meat and cat snacks. He sleeps in a box in the house and I like playing with him. I love my cat very much.
The teacher reads out one line at a time and asks the students to change the
sentences so that they are true for them:
For example:
Teacher: Cats are my favourite animals.
Student: Dogs are my favourite animals.
After reading out a line, give the students some time to write down their
version. They will need time to think about the topic and make a decision as to
what they should write down. The teacher can make sure that the topic is one that
the students can identify with. The focus of the task is imagination development
and vocabulary expansion. The products are sentences expressing feeling about a
given topic/issue. For the post writing, the students compare their answers in
pairs/groups, and they can perhaps nominate the best one to read to the class.
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APPENDIX F
Examples of Games to Raise Students’ Awareness in Descriptive Writing
For the game, the teacher can use “Running dictation game” which can be
done classically. This game involves some skills such as reading, writing,
pronunciation, and spelling. Therefore, by playing this game the students can also
practice those skills. For the teachers, they need to prepare some texts. Here, the
teachers can prepare some descriptive texts. While the students just need to
prepare some pens and paper.
The rules of this game are quite easy. First, divide the class into two or
four groups. In each group, there is a reader and a writer. Then the teacher puts a
descriptive text at the back of the class, and then tells each the readers of each
team that they will run to a text, read and memorize a part of it. As fast as
possible, they will run back and dictate the text to the writer in their group. The
writer writes while he/she goes back to read more text. The group that finishes
writing their text first wins. The runners cannot write the words. They must
dictate what they read in the text to the student writing. They cannot help in the
writing but they can tell him/her how to spell the words. The group that finishes
first wins and reads out the text to the class. In addition, the teacher can put the
students of mixed ability together.
Here is an example of a descriptive text that can be used for the “Running
dictation game”. The teachers can create their own descriptive text as creative as
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they can, depending on the students need and it will be better if the texts are not
too long but also not too short.
Cats are my favourite animals. They are very intelligent and independent. I especially like black cats. When I am with cats I like talking to them and stroking them. I also like looking after them. My cat’s name is Blacky. He likes eating meat and cat snacks. He sleeps in a box in the house and I like playing with him. I love my cat very much.
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APPENDIX G
An Example of Games to Drill Students’ Understanding in
Subject Verb Agreement
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The rules of this game are first, the students work in pairs or in group of
three, then they have to make as many sentences based on the picture as possible
in five minutes. There are some clues in the form of verbs from the picture and the
students have to make correct sentences. However, students can also make
sentences with their own verbs, but the sentences are still based on things that
they can see from the picture. If they make an incorrect sentence, they will not get
a score. The rule for the score is up to the teacher, for example, for one correct
sentence, the score is 10. The winner is the ones who can make the most sentences
correctly.
The aim of this game is to enable students to make correct sentences by
paying more attention to the third singular person. Therefore, they can give more
attention to its subject verb agreement.
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