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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

By the time a human does the communication with others by means of

speaking or writing, they will use a language. Language is an important

communication tool that people can use it to express their feelings, thoughts and also

share ideas so they can interact and get in contact with others easily. It is necessity to

human life and civilization is certainty not possible without it. All sciences depend

upon it and also all education in human life are conducted through it.

Nowadays, the existences of English language are not odd anymore in the

world. It has become the popular language which is learnt by most people in many

areas of the globe. English is an international language. It is the world’s most widely

used language by society for communication and international contact.

English has become the most popular language in the world, through the long

road of its historical background. The predominance of English is mainly the result of

two periods of world domination by English speaking countries: British imperialism

in the nineteenth century and the economic influence of the United States in the

twentieth century.In another word, it may be shortly concluded that these are two dominant

reasons for popularity of English as a world language and the factors which have

influenced and sustained the spread of the language.

In this globalization era, everyone is demanded to prepare a great resources

for his/her life particularly in science and technology. Of course, to compete against a

global demanding, the people should have an adequate knowledge and good skills.

Therefore, mastering English language both oral and written English actively is

necessity for academic and global media communication requirement because it has

become compulsory for everyone who wants to compete against the globalization era.

In Indonesia, it is acknowledged that English is the first foreign language that

must be learnt by students from elementary school level up to senior high school level

because the government considers that mastering English is one way to absorb the

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sciences and technology in order to create great human resources. And, it is no doubt

that great human resources are very important for national development and

existences toward other nations. Besides that, English has become a medium

instruction in teaching-learning activity especially for particular lesson in certain

school.

When students are learning English, they will learn language skills and

language component. Grammar is one of English language component that it must be

learnt and understood by students. It is a very basic knowledge and an important tool

for students to master English. It is a science that teaches students how the way to

speak, to read, and to write English correctly. Besides, by learning grammar the

students will know about system of language so they will be able to combine and

build words into meaningful sentence.

It is as Penny Ur stated in A Course in Language Teaching Practice and

Theory, “Grammar is defined as words are put together to make correct sentences;s it

does not only affect how the units of words are combined in order to make correct

sentences but also affects their meaning.”

It can be concluded from the statements above, it is no doubt that by

mastering grammar, the students will have a way to be able to speak, to read, and to

write English correctly and understandable, so finally the students can create a good

communication and interaction in English language actively both in oral or writtenEnglish between each other in their lives.

In English grammar, reported speech is one of many grammatical categories

which is important to be learnt by students. It is needed to be learnt because it is one

of three ways for students to report or share their statements or thoughts to other

people especially when they communicate between each other. It is as Marianne

Celce Murcia and Diane Larsen Freeman stated in The Grammar Book An ESL/EFL

Teacher’s Course, “Grammar and rhetoric books generally recognize three ways for a

speaker and writer to attribute statements or thoughts to other people: direct

quotation, indirect reported speech, and paraphrase.”

Reported speech is commonly used to report what other people have said or

thought without reporting the exact word. With indirect reported speech, one wishes

to report the content of the original source without necessarily repeating sentences

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exactly as they were originally uttered.

To report people word’s, thoughts, and beliefs there are two main ways: direct

and indirect speech. Reported speech is also used when people are interested not in

the words that someone has chosen, but in the essential information they conveyed.

Reported speech is found in newspaper reports, fiction, talking or writing

about conversation, reports, articles or speeches peoples have heard or read. By

learning reported speech definitely students will able to quote somebody’s words or

thoughts, whether in direct or indirect speech and also the students will learn and

understand the way to report speeches such as statements, questions and commands.

Besides, It is an essential for students to learn reported speech because

reported speech is one of the linguistic features which is should be mastered by

students when they try to write the text of news item or report text and also it can bedenied that it has important role because it is often used by people to communicate in

their daily conversation.

It is as Marianne Celce Murcia and Diane Larsen Freeman stated in The

Grammar Book an ESL/EFL Teacher’s Course, “Indirect reported speech plays an

important role in everyday conversations.”

Therefore, the school has attached reported speech in syllabus as a subject

matter that must be learnt by students considering to these importance that has been

explained above.

Learning grammar is not easy for many Indonesian students as it has already

known that English and Indonesian have many different aspects in grammatical form.

Of course, by this differentiation, there are many difficulties will be faced by students

when they learn grammar.

As the writer found in her research, there are many students still have

difficulties in learning reported speech. They notice that they often do mistake when

they quote the direct into indirect form. Some students still confuse with certain

grammatical changes that have to be made by them. Sometimes they feel so hard to

decide what kind of tenses and pronoun that should be used when they quote the

word. It can be known that Indonesian language has not a grammatical form like

tenses and pronoun.

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It is as Martin Parrott stated in Grammar for English Language Teachers,

“Learners are sometimes confused by the tense and pronoun changes that can occur in

reported speech, particularly if their first language doesn’t involve making similar

changes.”

In fact, there is a little different process happened when the students want to

report somebody’s word from direct into indirect form in English language, that the

students should have made grammatical changes in their effort to reproduce the

words. They should change its tense and pronoun to make it acceptable and

meaningful within a language. It is as Llewelyn and Menezes in Matriculation

English stated “When turning the direct into indirect form certain grammatical

changes have to be made.”

On the contrary, when the students want to report somebody’s word, thoughts

and ideas in Indonesia language, then, the grammatical changes won’t be happened or

they do not need to change the tense or pronoun like in English language. That is why

students often do mistake and find difficulty when they quote direct into

indirect/reported speech in English.

It can be concluded from statement above, that the grammatical changes

which happened when the direct form transformed into indirect form has become one

of difficulties that occur when the students learn reported speech. Therefore, it is

important for learner to have a good understanding on it and memorize the rule or

form very well.

Based on the description above, the writer would like to conduct the research

on the students’ difficulties in learning reported speech of question sentence. The

study is done in first year students of MA Pembangunan UIN Jakarta. So, the writer

would like to discuss it in her “ skripsi” under the title:

“An Analysis on Students’ Difficulties in Learning Reported Speech of Question

Sentence at the First Year Students of MA Pembangunan UIN Jakarta”

B. Identification of the Problem

Based on the background of the study above, there are many problems that

can be identified in this research such as: (1) The students’ difficulties in learning

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reported speech of question sentence. (2) The causes of the difficulties in learning

reported speech of question sentence which is faced by the first year students of MA

Pembangunan UIN Jakarta.

C. Limitation and Formulation of the Problem

1. Limitation of the Problem

Based on the identification of problem above, it can be seen that the study is

still general and abroad. There are many difficulties happened when turning direct

speech into reported speech such as difficult in the change of tenses, pronoun,

word order and adverb. Beside that, reported speech is divided into three kinds:

statements, questions, and commands. Therefore, to make it better and more

specific, of course, it is effective and efficient to limit the problem. Then, the

writer is interested in the difficulties of reported question in the change of tenses

and pronoun, where the object of this research is the first year students of MA

Pembangunan UIN Jakarta.

2. Formulation of the Problem

In line with limitation of problem above, the writer formulates the problem

of the study as follows: (1)What are the difficulties faced by the first year students

in learning reported speech of question sentence?(2)Why do the students face

difficulties in learning reported speech of question sentence?

D. Use of the Study

The use of this study is expected to provide a contribution of knowledge for

students who still find problem and confuse when learning a reported speech of

question sentence, so they can overcome their difficulties in their learning activity.

Then, for the teacher of English language, it is also expected to be useful information,

so they will know how far the students comprehend about reported speech of question

sentence, the difficulties which are faced by students when they learn this subject

matter, and the causes of those difficulties. Besides, the result of this study will direct

the English teacher to do some evaluation and revision in their teaching-learning

activity so it is expected that both teacher and students will have a good collaboration

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to overcome all problems that happen especially in learning reported speech of

question sentence. Next, for further researchers: it can be as a reference in conducting

similar study in the next time. Finally, for the writer particularly and readers broadly

who are concerned with this paper, it is as one of resource which can enhance their

perception and knowledge in learning reported speech of question sentence.

E. Organization of the Study

This “ skripsi” systematically consists of five chapters. Here are the short

description of its contain:

Chapter one is introduction. It contains of background of the study,

identification of the problem, limitation and formulation of the problem, use of the

study and organization of the study.

Chapter two is theoretical framework. It discusses about concept of grammar

(definition and types of grammar), reported speech (meaning, kinds and

transformational rules from direct question into reported speech of question

sentence), and student’s common difficulties in learning reported speech of question

sentence (definition of learning, learning difficulty, and difficulty in the change of

tense and pronoun).

Chapter three is research methodology. Research methodology consists of

the purpose of research, time and place of study, population and sample of the study,

Method of the study, instrument of the research, technique of collecting data, and

technique of data analysis.

Chapter four is research findings. They consist of data description, data

analysis, and interpretation data.

Last chapter is conclusion and suggestion.

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

A. Grammar

1. Definition of Grammar

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Grammar is the natural, inherent meaning-making system of the language,

a system that governs the way words come together to form meanings; grammar

is also the study of that system, the various theories or perspective that attempt to

understand and describe it.

According to David Crystal in the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language,

“Grammar is a device of some sort for producing the sentences of the language

under analysis.”

David Nunan defined in Second Language Teaching and Learning

Grammar as “A description of the structure of a language and the way which

linguistic unit such as words and phrases are combined to produces sentences in

the language.”

Grammar is the study of all the contrasts of meaning that it is possible to

make within sentences.

Scott Thornburry in Uncovering Grammar stated “Grammar is a system of

rules (or patterns) which describe the formation of a language sentences.”

According to many English dictionaries:

a. Grammar is the study of the classes of words, their inflections, and their

functions and relations in the sentence.

b. Grammar is the study and practice of the rules by which words change their

forms and are combined into sentences.

From all definitions above, it can be concluded that grammar is the study

of the systematic rules which describe the way words change their form and are

combined into good sentences. It is as a tool that must be learnt by students to

master English.

2. Types of Grammar

According to David Crystal in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language,

grammar is divided into six types :1. Descriptive Grammar: An approach that describes the grammatical

constructions that are used in language, without making any

evaluative judgments about their standing in society.2. Pedagogical Grammar: A book specifically designed for teaching a

foreign language, or for developing an awareness of the mother

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tongue.3. Prescriptive Grammar: A manual that focuses on constructions where

usage is divided, and lays down rules governing the socially correct

use of language.

4. Reference Grammar: A grammatical description that tries to be as

comprehensive as possible, so that it can act as a reference book for those interested in establishing grammatical facts (in much the same

way as a dictionary is used as a ‘reference lexicon’).5. Theoretical Grammar: An approach that goes beyond thestudy

individual languages, to determine what constructs are needed in

order to any kind of grammatical analysis, and how these can beapplied consistently in the investigation of a human language

6. Traditional Grammar: A term often used to summarize the range

ofattitudes and methods found in the period of grammatical study

before the advent of linguistics science.

In addition, the following are the other types of grammar that was found by the writer from internet, there are ten types of grammar;1. Comparative Grammar : The analysis and comparison of the

grammatical structures of related languages.

2. Generative Grammar : The rules determining the structure and interpretation of sentences that speakers accept as belonging to the

language.

3. Mental Grammar : The generative grammar stored in the brain that allows a speaker to produce language that other speakers can

understand.

4. Pedagogical Grammar : Grammatical analysis and instruction design

for second language students.5. Performance grammar : a description of the syntax of English as it is

actually used by speakers in dialogues.

6. Reference Grammar : A description of the grammar of a language,with explanations of the principles governing the construction of

words, phrases, clauses, and sentences.

7. Theoretical Grammar : The study of the essential components of anyhuman language.

8. Traditional Grammar : The collection of prescriptive rules and

concepts about the structure of the language.

9. Transformational Grammar : A theory of grammar that accounts for the constructions of a language by linguistic transformations and

phrase structures.

10. Universal Grammar : The system of categories, operations and principles shared by all human languages and considered to be

innate.

Based on various types above, it can be concluded that all types of grammar

have their own point of view. However, they are concerned with their own aims and

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functions.

B. Reported Speech

1. Meaning of Reported Speech

Reported speech refers to reproducing the idea of another person’s words.

Not all of the exact words are used: verb forms and pronoun may change.

Michael Swan stated in Practical English Usage that reported speech was

to quote somebody’s words or thoughts without quoting the exact words that had

been used and connected it more closely to our own sentence.

Betty Schramper Azar stated in Understanding English Grammar ,

“Reported Speech refers to using a noun clause to report what someone has said.”

A.J.Thompson and A.V. Martinet stated in A Practical English Grammar ,

“ In indirect speech we give the exact meaning of a remark or a speech, without

necessarily using the speaker’s exact words.”

Reported Speech (also called Indirect Speech) is used to communicate

what someone else said, but without using the exact words.

It can be known from several definitions about that reported speech is to

quote somebody’s idea or thoughts without exactly repeating the exact word

produced by the speaker.

2. The Kinds of Speech

When one wishes to report what someone else says or has said (thinks or

has thought) or what one said or thought on a previous occasion oneself; two

ways are open to one, either to give the exact words: direct speech, or to adapt the

words according to the circumstances in which they are new quoted: indirect

speech. In other word, There are two main ways of reporting people’s words,

thoughts, and beliefs:

a. Direct Speech

It may be given the exact words (more or less) that were said, or

imagine that were thought. This kind of structure is called “direct speech”

Direct speech conveys exactly what someone has said, often to

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dramatise and to create a sense immediacy. It is found in newspaper reports,

fiction, and oral narratives.

Example :

So he said, ‘ I want to go home,’ and just walked out.

Did she say, ‘What do you want?’

It uses quotation marks when it quotes direct speech. Single quotation

marks (‘...’) are more common in British English, and double quotation marks

(“...”) in American English.

In direct speech, usually the words quoted are introduced by one of the

words say or think , put before the quotation. In writing, quotation marks (‘...’

or “...”) are used. In literary writing, a large number of other verbs are used

(to add variety and to give additional information); for example; ask, exclaim,

suggest, reply, cry, reflect, suppose, grunt, snarl, hiss, whisper.

b. Indirect Speech

It can be made a speaker’s words or thoughts part of his sentence,

using conjunction (e.g that), and changing pronouns, tenses and other words

where necessary. This kind of structure is called ‘indirect speech’ or ‘reported

speech’.

Example :

So he said that he wanted to go home, and just walked out.

Did she just ask what I wanted ?

Commas are not put before that, what, where, etc in indirect speech

structures.

Example :

Everybody realised that I was a foreigner.

( NOT Everybody realised that ,...)Reported speech is used when it is interested not in the words that

someone has choosen, but in the essential information they conveyed. It is often

used far fewer words to report this than were originally spoken. Reported speech

is found in newspaper reports, fiction, talking, or writing about conversation,

reports, articles or speeches that have been heard or read.

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In reported speech, the tenses, word-order, pronouns and other words may

be different from those in the original sentence.

Example :

Direct speech Reported speech

He said, ‘ I am going home.’ He said he was going home.

‘Is it raining?’ He asked if it was raining

He said ‘ I love you.’ He said he loved me.

In some cases, words may disappear or be expressed in other ways (yes,

no, well, exclamations and question-tags, for example, cannot be fitted into the

reported construction.)

Example :

Direct speech Reported speech

‘Yes, I suppose so,’ he said.

‘It’s difficult, isn’t it?’

He agreed unenthusiastically,

saying that it was difficult.

To indicate that it is quoting or reporting what someone has said or

thought is by using a reporting verb. Every reporting clause contains a reporting

verb. The most neutral and most common verbs to use to introduce what are

reported are say and tell , and choosing between these verbs often poses a problem

to learners. Say is never followed by an indirect object (e.g. him, us, them, my

sister), whereas it has to use an indirect object after tell . It is better to choose to

say when the person who has spoken to is unimportant or already known. It is

better to choose to tell when to draw attention specifically to the person who is being addressed.

Example :

He said (that) he was ill. He told me (that) he was ill.

Here is a list of reporting verbs which can be used to report what people

say:

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Acknowledge

AddAdmit

Advise

Agree

AnnounceAnswer

ArgueAsk

Assert

Assure

BegBegin

Boast

Callcomplain

Concede

ConfessConfirm

Continue

Convince

CryDeclare

DemandDeny

Describe

Direct

DiscussDispute

Enquire

Explain

Imply

InformInquire

Insists

Instruct

InviteMaintain

MentionMumble

Murmur

Mutter

Note Notify

Object

observeOrder

Predict

ProclaimPromise

Prophesy

Propose

ReassureRecall

ReciteRecommend

Record

Refuse

Remark Remind

Repeat

ReplyReport

Request

Say

ScreamShout

Shriek

State

StipulateSuggest

Swear Teach

Tell

Threaten

UrgeVow

Wail

Warnyell

The following table are some common changes in expression of time and

place in indirect speech:

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

Today That day

Yesterday The day before

The day before yesterday Two days before

tomorrow The next day/the following day

The day after tomorrow In two days’ time

Next week/year, etc. The following week/year, etc.

Last week/year, etc. The previous week/year, etc.

A year, ago, etc. A year before/ the previous year

But if the speech is made and reported on the same day these time changes

are not necessary.

Example:

At breakfast this morning he said, ‘I’ll be very busy today’

At breakfast this morning he said that he would be very busy today.

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3. The Transformational Rules from Direct Question into Reported Speech of

Question Sentence

c. Reported Question

As mentioned in chapter one, the writer limited her study only in reported

question. Reported question is used when people want to relate a question that

someone has asked. As well as reporting what someone says or thinks, it can be

also reported a question that one asks or wonders about.

John Sinclair stated in Collins Cobuild Grammar , “Questions in report

structures are sometimes called reported question or indirect questions.

There two main types of report structure for questions. One type of

questions is called a ‘yes/no’ question. These are questions which can be

answered simply with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ . The other type of question is called a ‘wh’-

question. These are questions in which someone asks for for information about an

event or situation. ‘Wh’-questions cannot be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ . The

most common verbs for reporting questions are ask and want to know . Ones also

use inquiry for formal question and wonder for ask oneself.

When one reports a ‘yes/no’ questions, he/she uses an ‘if ’-clause

beginning with the conjunction ‘if’ , or a ‘whether’-clause beginning with the

conjunction ‘whether ’. ‘ If’ uses when the speaker has suggested one possibility

that may be true. Meanwhile, ‘whether ’ uses when the speaker has suggested one

possibility that may be true.

There are a few verbs which can be used before ‘if’-clauses or ‘whether’-

clauses, because they refer to being unsure of facts or to discovering facts.

Here is a list of other verbs which can be used before ‘if’-clauses and

‘whether’-clauses:

Discover Remember See

Know Say Wonder

On the other hand, when one reports a ‘wh’ question, he/she uses a ‘wh’

word at the beginning of the reported clause. There are a few verbs which can be

used before clauses beginning with ‘wh’ words, because they refer to knowing,

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learning, or mentioning one of the circumstances of an event or situation.

Here is a list of verbs which can be used before clauses beginning with

‘wh’ -words:

Decide Forget Realize Suggesst

Describe Guess Remember Teach

Discover Imagine Say Tell

Discuss Know See Think

explain learn Wonder Understand

And the following are the form of grammar rules for reported question:

1) Normal word order is used in reported questions, that is, the subject comes

before the verb, and it is not necessary to use 'do' or 'did' :

Example: “Where does Peter live?”

She asked him where Peter lived .

2) Yes / no questions: This type of question is reported by using ask + if /

whether + clause:

Example: "Do you speak English?"

He asked me if I spoke English.

"Are you British or American?"He asked me whether I was British or American.

3) Question words: This type of question is reported by using ask + question

word + clause. The clause contains the question, in normal word order and

with the necessary tense change.

Example: "What is your name?" he asked me.

He asked me what my name was.

"How old is your mother?” he asked.

He asked how old her mother was.

Note: When someone reports questions with ‘who, what or which’ + to

be+ complement , the verb ‘to be’ can come before or after the complement.

The other changes to note when one reports the question is that there is no

inversion (or change of the word order) of subject and verb in reported speech and

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no do/does/did when the question is reported. On the contrary, do can be used in

indirect negative questions, as a negative auxiliary.

In addition, when someone reports another person’s words in indirect

question, he/she often has to change the tenses and pronouns used in the direct

question.

Here is a list of characteristic changes in tense forms:

Direct Question Indirect Question

Simple Present

‘What is the matter?’

Simple Past

She asked me what the matter was

Simple Past

‘How did you make this

salad?’

Past Perfect

I wondered how she had made that

salad.Present Perfect

‘Have you bought a new

outfit for it?’

Past Perfect

She wondered whether I had

bought a new outfit for it.

Present Progressive

‘Where are you going?’

Past Progressive

I wanted to know where she was

going .

Future

‘Will you be in Paris on

Monday?’

Conditional

He asked me if I would be in Paris

on Monday.

Here is some common change in pronouns and possessive adjectives:

Direct Question Indirect Question

I He or she

Me Him or her

My His or her

we They

Then , pronouns and possessive adjectives , of the 1 st and 2nd persons, are

all turned into the 3r d persons in the indirect form, as follows:

a. I, you, (singular) my, your become he, she, his, her, their .

b. We, you (plural), our, your become they, their.

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In addition, when one reports the question, the word order is generally the

same as that of statements. Reported questions do not have the same word –order

(auxiliary verb before subject) as direct questions often have. Do and question

mark are not used.

Example: ‘Do you have the time, please?’

Someone asked me if I had the time

C. Student’s Common Typical Difficulties in Learning Reported Speech of

Question Sentence

1. Definition of learning

Learning is a relatively permanent influence on behavior, knowledge, and

thinking skills, which comes about through experience.

According to Cronbach in his book ‘ Educational Psychology’ he stated,

“learning is shown by a change in behavior as a result of experience”. It is as

Harold Spears stated “Learning is to observe, to read, to imitate, to try something

themselves, to listen, to follow direction”.

Learning is a change in organism due to experience which can affect the

organism’s behavior.

According to Wittig in his book ‘ Psychology of Learning ’ he defined

learning as “Any relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavioral

repertoire that occurs as a result of experience.”

Learning is acquiring new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values,

preferences or understanding, and may involve synthesizing different types of

information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some

machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves.

In addition, there are another of many experts in psychology who have

defined the definition of learning as follows:

a. Skinner (1958) defined “Learning is a process progressive behavior

adaptation.”

b. Kimble defined “Learning is a relative permanent change in

behavioral potentiality occur as a result of reinforced practice.”

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c. Horgen (1984) defined “Learning can be defined as any relatively,

permanent change in behavior which occured as a result of practice or

experience.”

From several definitions above, it can be concluded that learning is a

process to acquire new knowledge, behavior, skill and understanding through

experience and practice in progressive.

2. Learning difficulty

Learning activity is not always going properly for students, sometimes it

does well and sometimes it does not do well. Once, they understand the material

they learn easily and the other time they are hard to understand it.

Learning difficulty happened when students can not study as usual. It is a

lack that can not be seen physically. Learning difficulty is not always caused by

low intelligence factor but it is also caused by another factor outside intelligence.

Therefore, high intelligence is not always guarantee successful learning.

In other word, it can be concluded that learning difficulty is a condition of

learning process that is signed by certain obstacle in learning achievement.

In fact, in teaching and learning activity it is often found some students

who face difficulty in their learning. In this case, it can be seen from their learning

achievement or score. Commonly they will get low score when they face the

difficulty in learning. As in English subject, some students will face the difficulty

in learning it because Indonesian language has not grammatical form like English

language.

Generally, the causal factors of learning difficulty are divided into two

categories, as follows:

a. Student Internal Factor

It includes of disruption or lack of students psycho-physic:

1) Cognitive, such as, intellectual low capacity of students intelligence.

2) Affective, such as, the unstable emotional of behavior students.

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3) Psychomotor, such as, the students have disruption in sense. Ex. Sightless

and deaf.

b. Student External Factor

It includes of all situations and conditions in students’ environment

which is not advocated their learning activity. Those factors are divided into

three categories, as follows:

1) Family Environment, such as, inharmonious relationship between father

and mother, and low economics.

2) Social Environment, such as, the students live in slum area and they have

a naughty friends.

3) School Environment, such as, the location of school is close to market, the

school building is not good, and lack of learning facilities.

3. Difficulty in the Changes of Tenses and Pronoun

When one reports another person’s words in indirect speech, he/she often

changes the tenses and pronouns used in the direct speech.

It is as Llewelyn Tipping and Menezes stated in Matriculation English,

“When turning the direct into indirect form certain grammatical changes have to

be made.

In addition, several changes are usually made in converting direct speech

to indirect speech. If the time of reporting is expressed as later than the time of the

utterance, there is generally a change of verb forms. The change is termed

backshift, and the resulting relationship of verb forms in the reporting and

reported clause is known as the sequence of tense.

A change of speaker may mean a change of pronoun. A change of time

may mean a change of tense; the person reporting uses tenses that relate to the

time when he/she is making the report, not to the time when the original words

were used.

In other word, when one turns direct question into indirect question, the

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following changes are necessary. Tenses, pronouns, possessive adjective, adverbs

of time and place change as in statements.

Martin Parrot stated in Grammar For English Language Teacher,

“Learner are sometimes confused by the tense and pronoun changes that can

occur in reported speech, particularly if their first language doesn’t involve

making similar or parallel changes.”

From the statements above, it can be concluded that the grammatical

changes that occur in converting direct into indirect question becomes one

difficulty for students whose their mother tongue or first language does not have

grammatical changes in reporting somebody’s word or question.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. The Purpose of the Research

This study is entitled “An Analysis on Students Difficulties in Learning

Reported Speech of Question Sentence”. Then, the purpose of this study is as follows:

1. To know the difficulties encountered by the first year students of MA

Pembangunan UIN Jakarta in learning reported speech of question sentence.

2. To find out the reason why the students face the difficulties.

B. Time and place of the study

The writer conducted her research at MA Pembangunan UIN Syarif

Hidayatullah which is located on Jl. Ibnu Taimia IV Ciputat, South Jakarta. The

research was carried on 22 February up to 15 March 2010.

C. Population and sample of the study

In this study the writer took the population of the first year students of MA

Pembangunan UIN Jakarta. The students consist of two classes. Class X-A consist of

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36 students and class X-B consist of 35 students. So, the number of the first year

students of MA Pembangunan UIN Jakarta is 71.

The writer decided not to take the whole population as sample in her study.

She only took one class (X-B) which consists of 35 students. The sample is taken by

using purposive sampling technique, the determining of class that will be studied

based on the policy and ease from the school.

D. Method of the study

In conducting her study, the writer used field research supported by library

study. The writer did the library study to gain the data such as definition and ideas

from experts. By doing this way, the writer can read many references book which are

related to the topic. She also browsed internet and visited some libraries such as FITK

library, UIN library, National library, and Unika Atmajaya library. Meanwhile, in the

field research the writer did the observation directly to the school. In this case, the

writer gave the test to the student about the topic would be studied and interviewed

both English teacher and first year students of MA Pembangunan UIN Syarif

hidayatullah Jakarta.

E. Instrument of the research

In her research, the writer used test as an instrument to obtain the data, she

made the test about reported speech of question sentence. The writer gave a written

test focused on the subject matter that would be studied. The test consists of 20

questions. It is divided into two parts. The first part consists of ten questions asking

the students to change the direct question into reported question with the suitable

tenses. The second part consists of other ten questions directing the students to

complete the sentences by filling in the blank spaces with the suitable pronouns.

F. Technique of Collecting Data

1. Observation

In this way, the writer observed the school where the research would be

carried out in order to obtain the accurate data that can support her study, such as,

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CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDINGS

A. Data Description

In this chapter, the writer will report the description of data. She gave the test

to the thirty five students of the first year of MA Pembangunan UIN Jakarta.

However, there were five students absent when the writer gave the test. The test

consisted of 20 items divided into two parts (A and B). These two parts of test were

given to take student’s score in reported speech of question sentence;

1. Part A : To test student’s ability to change the direct question into indirect

question by applying the rule for sequence of tenses in its transformation.

2. Part B : To test student’s ability to change the direct question into indirect

question by using suitable pronoun in its transformation.

The following table is the classification of each item about the test of reported

speech of question sentence into area tested.

Table 4.1:

Area tested of change tenses and pronoun

No Area Tested Number of

Items

I Part AChange the direct question into indirect

question by applying the rule for sequence of

tenses:

Simple Present-Simple Past

Present continuous-past

continuous

Present perfect-past perfect

1,8,9

4

3,610

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Present perfect continuous- past perfect continuous

Simple past-past perfect

Future-conditional

2,57

II Part B

Change the direct question into indirectquestion with suitable pronouns:

The 1st and 2nd person turns

into 3rd person;

1 My-her/his

•2 You-he/she/they/me

•3 We-they

•4 I-he/she

•5 Me-him/her

15,4,3,6,7,8

2

910

B. Data Analysis

After the writer did the research, she had the English test score, the frequency

and percentage of students’ error in the change of tenses and pronouns of reported

speech of question sentence.

TABLE 4.2

Student’s score of test result

No Sample Score No Sample Score1 Student 1 50 16 Student 16 70

2 Student 2 45 17 Student 17 55




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Average 52,33

Highest Score 80

Lowest Score 35

Based on the table above, the writer had the English score from the test about

reported question. The average score is 52.33 the highest score is 80 and the lowest

score is 35.

TABLE 4.3

Frequency of error made in the change of tenses

No Change of tensesItem

Number

Frequency

of

Error

Made

Percentage

1Simple Present to

Simple Past 1 17 56.66%

2 Simple Present to


3 Simple Present to


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4 Present Continuous to

Past Continuous

4 13 43.33%

5 Present Perfect to Past

Perfect

3 15 50%

6 Present Perfect to Past

Perfect

6 13 43.33%

7 Present Perfect

Continuous to Past

Perfect Continuous

10 21 70%

8 Simple Past to Past

Perfect

2 18 60%

9 Simple Past to past

Perfect

5 20 66.66%

10 Future to Conditional 7 23 76.66%

Total 10 182 60.66%

To find out the average of total frequency error made by the students in change of

tenses, the writer uses formula:

P = F x 100 %

N X n

P = 182_ x 100 %

30 X 10

P = 182 x 100 %

300

P = 60.66 %

These are the items related to the students’ difficulty in the change of tense in

transformation from direct question into indirect question. First, the writer discussed

about the change of simple present to simple past. There are 17 students or 56.66 % who

made error in item number 1, there are 20 students or 66.66 % who made error in item

number 8 and there are 22 students or 73.33 %who made error in item number 9.

Second , the writer discussed about the change of present continuous to past

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8 We become they 2 8 26.66%

9 I become he 9 10 33.33%

10 Me become him 10 25 83.33%

Total 10 104 34.66%

To find out the average of total frequency error made by the students in change of

pronoun, the writer uses formula:

P = F x 100 % N X n

P = 104_ x 100 %

30 X 10

P = 104 x 100 %

300

P = 34.66 %

These are the items about the students’ difficulty in the change of pronouns. First ,

the writer discussed about the change of pronoun my become her . There are 8 students or

26.66% who made error in item number 1.

Second , the writer discussed about the change of pronoun you become he.

There are 7 students or 23.33% who made error in item number 5.

Third , the writer discussed about the change of pronoun you become she.

There are 10 students or 33.33 % who made error in item number 3 and there are 12

students or 40% who made error in item number 4.

Fourth, the writer discussed about the change of pronoun you become they.

There are 9 students or 30% who made error in item number 6.

Fifth, the writer discussed about the change of pronoun you become me. There

are 6 students or 20% who made error in item number 7 and there are 9 students or

30% who made error in item number 8.

Sixth, the writer discussed about the change of pronoun we become they.

There are 8 students or 26.66 % who made error in item number 2.

Seventh, the writer discussed about the change of pronoun I become he. There

are 10 students or 33.33% who made error in item number 9.

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Eighth, the writer discussed about the change of pronoun me become him.

There are 25 students or 83.33% who made error in item number 10.

The total averages of frequency error made by students are 34.66 % students

who got difficulty in the change of pronoun.

To find the reasons why students got difficulties in learning reported speech of

question sentence, the writer did the interview. She interviewed the English teacher of

MA Pembangunan and 15 students of class X-B. They consisted of 10 students who

got low score and 5 students who got high score. In doing her interview, the writer

proposed 7 questions related to the topic which must be answered clearly by the

teacher and students.

After the writer finished interviewing some students, the writer found the

reasons why students got difficulties in learning reported speech of question sentence.

It was happened because there were many students who have not mastered yet

about the rule for sequence of tenses and the change of pronouns, so that the

students felt hard to apply the right tenses and pronoun in transforming direct speech

into indirect or reported speech of question sentence. They noticed that they were still

confused to change the time from the original question uttered to the time of the

question which is reported and to change the speaker or the 1st and 2nd person turned

into 3rd person. In other word, they still felt difficult to apply the tenses and pronoun

correctly in converting direct speech into reported speech of question sentence.

However, the internal factor and external factor influenced the students’

difficulties in their learning. First, they faced the difficulties because of their worse

mind set or opinion. They believe that grammar is difficult subject. Then, they have

low enthusiasm and motivation in learning reported speech of question sentence.

Lastly, they have not understood yet the explanation given by the teacher because of

the crowded class until they have less attention to listen teachers’ explanation.

C. Data Interpretation

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After classifying the items into area tested and analyzing the frequency of

error in each item, the writer described the difficulty in the change of tense and

pronoun in transformation direct speech into reported speech of question sentence in

the percentage as follows:

No. Difficulties Percentage

1. The change of tense in transformation

direct question into reported question60.66%

2. The change of pronoun in

transformation direct question into

reported question

34.66 %

The table above shows that many students made error in the change of both

tense and pronoun. There are 60.66 % students who made error in the change of tense

in transformation direct speech into reported speech of question sentence and 34.66 %

students who made error in the change of pronoun in the transformation direct

question into reported question. And, it also shows that the range of their percentage

is not too wide. However, the higher difficulty in learning reported speech of question

sentence is in the change of tense.

Furthermore, the writer can interpret that most of the first year students of MA

Pembangunan still hard to change the tenses and pronouns in the right form in

converting direct speech into reported speech of question sentence. It means they

have not mastered yet the rule. They also noticed they confused to change the time of

the original question uttered to the time of question reported and the speaker that was

of 1st and 2nd person turned into 3rd person. Then, having opinion that grammar is

difficult, less enthusiasm and motivation caused the students get difficulties in

reported speech of question sentence. Besides, they have not understood yet the

explanation given by the teacher because the class was crowded so it made the

students unable to give attention to the teachers’ explanation.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion

Based on the data analysis discussed in the previous chapter, the writer infered

most of first year students of MA Pembangunan UIN Jakarta made error in the

change of tenses when they transformed the direct question into indirect/reported

question in learning this subject. The data result showed that the difficulty in the

change of tenses has the highest percentage of error. It was about 60.66 % error made

by students. It means the rate of the students’ mastery in this subject is still low

enough especially in grammatical changes therefore it is collocated the change of

tenses in the first while the change of pronouns is in the second rank.

B. Suggestion

Based on the conclusion above, the writer would like to give some

suggestions as follows:

1. To the students; they should understand very well how to change the direct speech

into reported speech of question sentence and memorize the rule for the sequence

of tense and pronoun in its transformation.

2. To the teacher; firstly, the teacher should change students’ opinion about grammar

as it has already discussed before. Secondly, the teacher should create the class

comfortable for studying and do an improvisation to attract students’ enthusiasm

and motivation in teaching-learning process. Finally, the teacher should give more

exercise and explanation about reported speech of question sentence to the

students especially who got bad scores.

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