THE ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS' DESCRIPTIVE ..., Study notes of English Language

Download THE ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS' DESCRIPTIVE ... and more Study notes English Language in PDF only on Docsity! THE ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ DESCRIPTIVE WRITING (A Case Study at the Second Grade students of “SMAN 1 Rumpin Bogor”, Academic Year 2009-2010) A “Skripsi” Presented to the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training In a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of S.Pd. (Bachelor of Arts) in English Education Department By FAJAR AGUSTININGSIH 105014000376 THE ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT THE FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING “SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH ” STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY JAKARTA 2009 ABSTRACT Agustiningsih, Fajar. 2009. The Error Analysis of Students’ Descriptive Writing, at SMAN I Rumpin Bogor, “Skipsi”, English Education Department, the Faculty of Tabiyah and Teachers’ Training, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta. Advisor : Dr. M. Farkhan, M.Pd. Key Words: Analysis of Students’ Error, Writing Descriptive, “SMAN I Rumpin Bogor”. The aim of this study is to describe the objective condition about students’ error in descriptive writing at second grade students of “SMAN I Rumpin Bogor”. Based on that purpose the writer intends to answer this question “What kind of that error that mostly the “SMAN 1 Rumpin Bogor” students made in writing descrptive text and what types of error that commonly made by students in descriptive writing?’ In doing this study, the writer uses descriptive design in form of qualitative. She analyzes the students’ English writing to find out the kinds of error that the students’ made. The population of this research is the 113 second grade students of “SMAN 1 Rumpin Bogor’. The writer took the 37 papers of 113 randomly to fulfill her research. The research finding states that the type of error that frequently made by the students of SMAN 1 Rumpin in the descriptive writing is sentence pattern 100 errors. The reason why most students made this error is the influence of their mother tongue. Second error is subject- verb agreement. Students made 35 errors in this case. This error happens because there is no difference between singular and plural form in Indonesian language. The third error is parts of speech. It is 32 errors. The reason why the students made this error is mother tongue influences. It is influence the most students when they write. The last error is verb tense. In this case students made 6 errors. In Indonesian language there are no tense changes. It is influence the way of students thinking when they write in English. In conclusion, the errors that made by the second grade students of “SMAN | Rumpin Bogor” are caused by students’ mother tongue interference. TABLE OF CONTENTS APPROVEMENT SHEET SURAT KETERANGAN KARYA SENDIRI ENDORSMENT SHEET ABSTRACT ........--ca.gtiMnnnereantnEnEE PEEREEREREEEEEE La sovsove cocenceeanocansocanocansocens ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. ........csccssssssssosscsssnssescsesncsescssenssssssesscseenceescseencoes iv TABLE OF CONTENT. .........cscscssssssossssscnsosencecnsosensecnsosencscnsssensssensscnescenees v LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study 0.0.0... cc cece cseeee cena tL B. Limitation of the Study... ccc 3 C. Research Question . 3 D. Significance of the Study. E. Organization of the Study. 4 CHAPTER IT THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK A. Error Analysis 1. The Definition Of Error............ccccecteeteeee cee 5 2. Classification Of Error......c.c.ccceeceeeteeeeee 6 3. The Cause Of Ervor co.cc cceeeteeeeseeeeeeees 7 4. Types Of Error oo. cece eeeeeeeseeeeeeeenes 9 5. The Procedure Of Error .......cccssecccseseeseeeees 8 6. Goal of Error Analysis .....0.00 cece eee 21 B. English Writing 1. The Definition of Writing... 22 2. The Kinds of Writing... eee 23 3. The Form of Writing .....0.c cence 25 4. The Role of Writing... eee eee 26 vi CHAPTER III THE PROFILE “SMAN 1 RUMPIN BOGOR” A. Description of the SChOOI ....... cece 28 B. Vision and Mission ...........0cccccceseesecseseecseeeseecseenesees 28 C. The English Teacher .........cccce cece 29 D. The Teaching Method .0..........ccc cece 30 TB, “UNS (CONTE IID 8 cocoon 24 CHAPTER IV RESEARCH MTHODOLOGY AND FINDING A. Research Methodology .........ccssssssssessseseseeeseeseeesees 33 1. The Objective of the Study... ccc 32 2) Methodiof Research). tesserae sssit).. 32 3. Instrument of Research ..........0.ccecceseecseeteseecseeeeees 32 4. Population and Sample . 32 5. Technique of Data Analy: 33 6. Time and Location.. 33 B. Research Finding 1. Data Description... cece eeeeeeeeeeeeeeceeeeeeee 33 2. Data Amallysis 0.0... .cccceesessesseseeeeeeeeetseeeecseseeeeeee 33 3. Data Interpretation 0.0... cece eeeeeeeeceeeeeee es 35 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION A. COMCIUSION .....c.ceeceseecseeeseeseesestesstesestesstesestessteneseeas 37 BIBLIOGRAPHY .........scssssssssssssssssscsssncsescseenesescssenssessseenessanessncsencsessseneee nesses 38 APPENDICES. ........ccsssssssssssssscsssncsescsesncsnscsesncsescssenssescsesnessenessncsenesessseenese senses 41 List of Tables Table 3 a Writing English for a foreign learner is difficult because English is different from Indonesian language in its stucture, spelling and lexical meaning. In this case, students who learn English may produce many errors. Such as in structure, there is no tenses in Indonesian language so many students confuse in using the right tenses for their writing. They make an error because they do not master well the grammar. For example, “Rahmat go to Surabaya two days ago” it should be “Rahmat went to Surabaya two days ago”. Most students commonly make error in their learning, but it is logically acceptable. The expert considred that doing some mistake or error are parts of learning process itself. The teacher should be aware of this problem and prevent students from making some error by analysing the learners’ error itself. B. Limitation of the Study In writing this paper, the writer focused her study on analyzing the students’ error on writing descriptive text such as parts of speech, sentence pattern, subject- verb agreement, and tense. The reason why she focused on these aspect on analyzing students’ writing because she saw that most students in “SMAN 1 Rumpin Bogor” made amny errors in writing descriptive text based on these aspects. C. Research Question Based on the background and the limitation of the study, the writer formulates the following research questions: 1. What kind of that error that mostly the*SMAN 1 Rumpin Bogor” students made in writing descrptive text? 2. What causes of error do the students make in writing descriptive text? D. Significance of the Study By analyzing the students’ error in writing descriptive text, the writer whises the result of the study would be advantageous for the readers who like writing in order to make a good writing and to know the importance of language learning process, and use as inputs for the writer to identify what part of language programs are found difficult by students. E. Organization of the Study This writing is divided into five chapters. The first chapter explains the Introduction, which contains the background of the study, the limitation of the study, the research questions, the significance of the study, and the organization of the study. The second chapter is divided into two sub-chapters. The first sub-chapter is Error Analysis that contains of definition of error, classification, of error, cause of error, types of error, and goal of error analysis. The second sub-chapter is Writing English that consists of the definition of writing, the kinds of writing and the form of writing. The third chapter is The School Profile. It contains the historical background of “SMAN 1 Rumpin Bogor”, vision and mission, the teaching staff, teaching method, and curriculum. The fourth chapter is divided into two sub-chapters. The first sub-chapters is Research Methodology consist of the objective of the study, method of the research, technique of data analysis, unit of analysis, and time and place. Second sub-chapters is research finding consist of data description, data analysis and data intepretation. Finally, the fifth chapter is conclusion and suggestion. In this chapter, the writer describes some conclusion and giving suggestion dealing with the matter. The writer also encloses the appendix and bibliography completing her research paper. CHAPTER IT THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK A. Error Analysis It is impossible that learners never make some errors in language learning process. In fact, it is very normal and unavoidable to make some errors during the learning process. Dulay said that “... making error is an inevitable part of learning. People cannot learn language without first systematically committing errors.”” The fact that the learners do make errors and that these errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified led to a surge of study of learners’ errors called as error analysis.® Through the error analysis teacher or researcher expects to know more why students make some errors. James pointed out, “Error analysis is the process of determining the incidence, nature, cause and consequences of unsuccessful language.” To know more about error analysis, how many types of it, and the cause of it, the complete explanation will be discussed in this following part. 1. The Definition of Error Errors are a natural part of language learning process because they reflect various stages in language development in learner. S. Pit Corder noted “A learner’s errors ... are significant in (that) they provide to the researcher 7 Heidi Dulay, Language Two, ... (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), P. 138 * Douglas Brown, Principle of Language Learning and Teaching, (New York: Longman, 2000) P. 218 °. Carl James, Error in Language Learning and Use, (New York: Longman, 1998) P. 80 Intralingual transfer (the transfer within the target language itself). Researcher have found that the early stages of language learning are characterized by a predominance of interference (interlingual transfer), but once leaner have begun to acquire parts of the new system, more and more intraligual transfer—generalization within the target language—is manifested. Negative intraligual transfer, or overgeneralization, has already been illustrated in such utterances as “Does John can sing?” other example like “He goed,” and “I don’t know what time is it?” Context of Learning “Context” refers, for example, to the classroom with its teacher and its material in the case of the school learning or the social situation in case of untutored second language learning. In the classroom context the teacher or the text book can lead the learners can make faulty hypothesis about the language. Students often make errors because of a misleading explanation from the teacher or word in a textbook, or even because of a pattern that was rotely memorized in a drill but improperly contextualized. 6 The similar opinion came from Peter Hubbard. He distinguishes the source of error into three parts: a. Mother Tongue Interference Although the young children appear to be able to learn the foreign language quite easily and to produce the new sound very effectively, older learner experience considerable difficulty. The sound system (phonology) and the grammar of the first language impose themselves on the new language and this leads to a ‘foreign’ pronunciation, faulty grammatical pattern and, occasionally, the wrong choice of vocabulary. Overgeneralization The mentalist theory claims that errors are inevitable because they reflect various stages in the language development of the learners. It claims that the learner processes new language data in his mind and produces rules for its production, based on the evidence. 6 Douglas Brown, Principle of Language Learning and Teaching,..., P. 224-226 c. The teaching process also can contribute to the students’ errors. According to those who support behaviorism theory, error is evidence of failure, of ineffective teaching or lack of control. If materials well chosen, graded, and presented with meticulous care, there should never be any error. '” 4. Types of Error There are several types of error. It consists of four items which is discussed further in this sub-chapter. They are parts of speech, sentence pattern, subject-verb agreement, and tense. These types of error were mostly made by the students. a. Parts of Speech The sentence maybe further divided according to the function each word has in the subject predicate relationship. Each of these functions is classified as a different part of speech. The words that form the central core of the sentence- around which all the other words “cluster”-are the part of speech known as nouns (or pronouns) and verb; the word that modify the central core words are the part of speech called adjectives and adverbs; the word that show a particular kind of connecting relationship between these four parts of speech are called prepositions and conjunctions. 's 1. Nouns A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.'° Some noun may belong to more than one of the types given below. A proper noun names a particular person place, or thing, and always begins with a capital letter. The examples of proper noun are Susan B. Anthony, Salt Lake City, January, Liberty Bell. "7. Hubbard, et al., A Training Course for TEFL, ... P.140-142 'S Marcella Frank, Modern English: a practical reference guide, (New Jersey: Prantice Hall Inc., 1972) P.l '° John E. Wariner, English Grammar and Conposition. 3" course., ( New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982) P. 4 A common noun names one of a general class of persons, places, or things, and does not begin with capital letter. The examples of common noun are woman, month, herd, bell.” A concrete noun is a word for physical object that can be perceived by the sense-we can see, touch, smell the object. The examples of concrete noun are girl, flour, flower, bag. An abstract noun is a word for a concept- it is an idea that exists in our minds only. The examples of abstract noun are beauty, justice, mankind, strength. Countable nouns name things that can be numbered and counted. A countable noun may be preceded by a or an. The examples of countable nouns are woman, child, leaf, and baby. Noncountable nouns name items that cannot be counted. Mass noun form is one type of noncountable noun. noncountable noun are coffee, milk, sugar, iron. A collective noun is a word for a group of people, animals or objects consider as a single unit. The examples of collective nouns are audience, government, class, faculty. Compound noun is two or more words joined together into one vocabulary unitthat function as a single part of speech. The examples of compound nouns are volleyball, bathroom, handshake, lifeguard, sister-in-law.7! 2. Pronouns A pronoun represents a person, place, thing, or idea without naming it. Pronouns may occur before a verb, after a verb, after a preposition, or before a noun. There are several types of pronouns personal, reflexive, intensive, indefinite, demonstrative, interrogative, and relative pronoun. a. Personal Pronoun 2° Majorie Farmer, Steve Zemelman, Seymour Yesner, and Lizabeth M. Richmond, Composition and Grammar. (Illinois: Laidlow, 1985)P.312 21 Marcella Frank, Modern English: a practical reference guide,... P. 6-8 The runner who finished the marathon first was disqualified. I didn’t see the car that you described.” 3. Adjectives An adjective is the word used to modify a noun or a pronoun-that is, to make it more specific or exact. It may appear (1) before a noun or noun substitute or (2) after the verb. Sometime adjective follow the noun they modify. The dog, weak and thin, prowled the alleys. There are four types of adjectives descriptive and proper adjectives. a. Descriptive Adjectives Descriptive adjectives add sensory details of color, shape, size, sound, feature, and taste. Loud voices shouted happy greetings, and eager hands waved large posters and red, white, and blue flags at the jubilant marchers. b. Proper Adjectives Proper adjectives are formed by adding suffixes like —an, -ian, -ese, or ish to proper nouns. They identify place or time of origin. Spanish moss hangs from cypress. boughs.”> 4. Verbs A noun or pronoun, no matter how many modifiers it may have, cannot make a sentence. The noun or pronoun must act in some way, or something must be said about it. The part of speech that performs this function is the verb. There are two main types of verb action and linking verb. a. Action Verb Action verb expresses physical or mental activity. There are large classes of action verb transitive and intransitive. A verb is transitive when the action it ” Majorie Farmer, Steve Zemelman, Seymour Yesner, and Lizabeth M. Richmond, Composition and Grammar, ... P.316-319 3 . Majorie Farmer, Steve Zemelman, Seymour Yesner, and Lizabeth M. Richmond, Composition and Grammar, ... P. 330-332 expresses is directed toward a person or thing named in the sentence. The examples of transitive verbs are: Neil sliced the pie. Tina mailed the package. A verb is intransitive when it expresses action (or helps to make a statement) without reference to an object. The following are the examples of linking verb. Last Saturday we stayed inside. The train arrived on time. b. Linking Verb Some verbs help to make a statement, not by expressing an action but by serving as a link between two words. These verbs are called linking verbs or state- of-being verbs. The examples of linking verbs are. That roasted beef smells good. The movie star appeared nervous.”* The linking verb be is the most irregular verb in the language. Its form include am, are, is, was, were, be, been. Other linking verb include seem, become, taste, feel, sound, smell, and appear. 5. Adverbs Adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or entire clause or sentence. There are six types of adverbs of time, place, manner, intensity, conjunctive and comparison adverb. The following table shows the types of adverbs. °° Adverb | Adverb | Adverb of | Adverb of | Conjunctive | Comparison oftime | of place manner intensity adverb adverb soon here rapidly very yet Comparativ now below noisily quite also e: * John E. Warriner, English Grammar and Conposition. 3" course, ... P. 17-18 5 Majorie Farmer, Steve Zemelman, Seymour Yesner, and Lizabeth M. Richmond, Composition and Grammar, ... P. 321 never above eagerly so however -er, more already | forward | smoothly | rather otherwise Superlative: lately there well too likewise -est, most then nearby extremely | therefore often besides 6. Prepositions A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to some other word in the sentence. The following table shows the preposition which commonly used as Common Prepositions Aboard around beyond near About at by of Across before down off After behind for out Against bellow from over Along beside in under Among between inside up 7. Conjunctions A conjunction is a word used to join other words, phrases, or clauses. It expresses certain relationship between the connected parts. There are three types of conjunction coordinating, correlative, and subordinating conjunctions. Coordinating conjunctions connect sentence parts of equal rank. And, but, yet, and or may connect single words, phrases, or independent clauses. bread and butter in the pool or on the diving board Correlative conjunction also connects items of the same kind. However, unlike coordinating conjunction, correlatives are always used in pair. Both Jim Thorp and Robert Clemente were athelets The following are correlative conjunctions: both ... and not only ... but also either ... or whether ... or neither ... nor though ... yet 26 John E. Warriner, English Grammar and Composition. 3" Course, ... P. 29-30 A compound-complex sentence contains two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. The examples of compound-complex sentence are as follow: All classes were canceled because the weather was bad, and the students Independent clause Dependent clause were told to listen to the radio to find out when classes would begin again. a ! Independent clause Dependent clause c. Subject-Verb Agreement A verb must agree with its subject in number (singular or plural) and in person (first, second or third). When subject and verb are correctly matched, it can be said that they are grammatically agree. Have you ever heard someone say, “He don’t,”. This error shows lack of agreement, the first one between subject and verb. English once used a complex system of word endings to reflect the person, number, gender of the subject today the main kinds of subjects requiring a special verb form are the third-person singular subjects:”* Singular Plural First person I work We work Second person You work You work Third person She work They work *8. Andrea Lunsford and Robert Connors, The St. Martin's Handbook, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989) P. 212 d. Verb Tense Tense is a grammatical property indicating the time of the action expressed by verb.”” Tense may indicate whether an action, activity, or states is past, present or future. It may also indicate whether an action, activity, or states is, was, or will be complete, or whether it is, was, or will be in progress over a period of time. Tense stand for a verb form or series of verb forms used to express a time relation. English verbs have only two simple tense, the tenses called the Simple Present (e.g. he writes) and Simple Past (e.g. he wrote). With few exceptions the distinction between present and past in English is shown by a difference in the form of the verb. All other time relationships indicated by verbs are manifested by combining these forms with auxiliaries. Future time is shown by using the auxiliaries shall and will with the plain, or infinitive, form. The perfect time which indicate that an action is completed prior to a given point in time, are formed by combining the various forms of have with the past participle. Still another kind of time construction is made by using the form of auxiliary to be in the present participle, or —ing form. ey) 1. The Present Tense Form The Simple Present is used to describe things that are always true. It also talks about habits or things that happen on regular basis. The examples of the use of Simple Present Tense are: Water consists of hydrogen and oxygen. He always eats a sandwich for lunch.*! The Present Progressives express an activity that in progress at the moment of speaking. It is a temporary activity that began in the past, is continuing at ». Glen Leggett, at. al., Prentice Hall: Handbook for Writers, (New Jersey: Prantice Hall Inc., 1965) P. 49 *A.S. Hornby, Guide to Pattern and Usage in English, (London: Oxford University Press, 1975) P. 78 3! Matrin Hewings, Advanced Grammar in Used, (England: Cambridge University Press, 1999) P. 2 present, and will probably end at the same point in the future. The examples of this tense as follow: The students are sifting in their desk right now. Ineed an umbrella because it is raining now. The Present Perfect shows the idea that something happens (or never happened) before now, at an unspecified time in the past. The exact time it happen is not important. The Present Perfect is also shows the repetition of an activity before now. The examples of Present Perfect Tense are as follow: They have move into a new apartment. I have written my wife a letter every other day for the last two weeks. The Present Perfect Progressive is used to indicate the duration of an activity that began in the past and continues to the present. The examples of this tense are as follow Ihave been sitting here since seven 0’ clock. You have been studying for five straight hours. 2. The Past Tense Form The Past Tense indicates that an activity or situation began and ended at a particular time in the past. The examples of the Past Tense are: I bought a new car three days ago. I walked to school yesterday.” The Past Progressive shows a temporary situation that existed at or around a particular time in the past. The examples of this tense are follow: Erika dropped her bag while she was getting into her car. At the time of the robbery, they were staying with my parents.*? Past Perfect expresses an activity that was completed before another activity or time in the past. The examples of this tense are as follow: Thad gone to bed when the phone rang. . * Betty Schramfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, 3" ed. (New York: Pearson Education, 1999) P. 13-27 *. Matrin Hewings, Advanced Grammar in Used, ... P. 12 Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Chooper on their book; The ST. Martine’s Guide to Writing, also said that, “Writing makes a special contribution to the way people think. When we write, we compose meanings, we put together facts and ideas and make something new...”*? When students write, they collect various information they need and putting them together. They create a complex web of meaning in sentences and have different relationships to each other. Furthermore, “Writing also contributes uniquely to the way we learn”? When the students take notes during lectures or as they read, writing enables them to store new information in memory. Writing also makes another important contribution to learning. Because it always a composing a new meaning, writing enables them to find and establish our own connections and networks of information and ideas. It enables them to clarify and deepen our understanding of anew concept and to find ways to connect it to other ideas within a discipline. Moreover, the meaning of writing is not only the way of thinking and learning but also contributes to the personal development, “Writing on a subject make us active learners rather than passive receiver.”“! As students write, they become more potent thinker and active learner, they come eventually to a better understanding of themselves through the recording, clarifying, and organizing of their personal experiences and their innermost thought. Beside that, writing is a physical act. It requires material and energy.” Like other physical act, to be performed skillfully, writing needs practice. Based on the explanation above it can be concluded that writing is more than a medium of communication, it brings a special contribution to the way people think, contributes to the personal development and a physical act which need practice to be skillful. Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Chooper, The ST. Martine’s Guide to Writing, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986) P. 1 “© Rise B, Axelrod and Charles R. Chooper, The ST. Martine's Guide to Writing .., P.1 41_ Rise B, Axelrod and Charles R. Chooper, The ST. Martine’s Guide to Writing .., P.1 * sylvan Barnet and Marcia Stubbs, Barnet and Stubbs’ practical Guide to writing, (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1975) P. 3 2. Kinds of Writing Generally, there are three kinds of writing; those are Free Writing, Controlled Writing, and Guided Writing as explained by experts below: a. Free Writing Free writing is “just sitting down and writing what ever comes to your mind about a topic.” This opinion almost the same as Lois Robinson, he said, “In free writing, you first think in English and then you write what you think.” It means that students just sit down with pen and paper, and write anything that comes to the mind without worrying about at all about spelling, grammar, or the like. To free write students just writing in ten full minutes without stopping. If they do not develop their ideas or get stuck, they just repeat what they just written. b. Controlled Writing Controlled writing is all the writing for which a great deal of the content and/ or form is supplies. In controlled writing the students are focused on getting words down on paper and in concentrating on one or two problems at a time; they are thus spared from tackling the full range of the complexity that free writing entails.“! The technique of controlled writing is the students are given a passage to work such as an outline to complete, a paragraph to manipulate, a model to follow, or a passage to continue, and let them do it. Controlled composition focuses the students’ attention on specific features of the written language. It is a good method of reinforcing grammar, vocabulary, and syntax in context.*° +8, John Lagan, Sentence Skills: Work Book for Writers, (Boston: MacGraw-Hill, 2003) P. 17 “4, Ann Raimes, Technique in Teaching Writing, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983) P.95 45. Mariane Celce-Murcia, Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, (Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers, 1991) P. 250 ce. Guided Writing According to Lois Robinson, “Guided writing is writing in which one cannot make a serious error so song as he follow that directions.”“° It means that if the students follow the instructions which are given by the teachers, they will not make a serious error. Guided writing is less control than controlled writing. In using this kind of writing, the students are given a first sentence, a last sentence, an outline to fill out, a series of questions to respond to, or information to include in their piece of writing. Students should be able to discuss, make notes, share findings, and plan strategies together before they begin to write.”” 3. Forms of Writing Forms of writing are required for different purpose. In general, writing can be divided into three forms: description, narration and exposition. Here are the definitions about those types of writings. a. Description Description is writing about the way persons, animals, or things apper.** It evokes place, scene, or time of day; we feel that we are there. Description tell about what the writer see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. It also talks about such features as size, shape, color, and sound. Descriptive Paragraph Model: Getting to Know Me My name is Rika Bachtiar. I was born on January 14, 1990 in Malang. I have a brother and a sister. Their names are Andi Bachtiar and Tina Bachtiar. Andi is seventeen years old and Tina is five. I am pretty tall about 158 cemtimeters. I have short curly hair. My brother calls me “noodle” because my hair look like noodles. 4 Lois Robinson, Guide Writing..., P.2 47 Ann Raimes, Technique in TEFL ..., P. 103 48 James A.W Heffernan and John E. Lincoln, Writing A College..., P. 83 CHAPTER III SCHOOL PROFILE A. The Description of the School “SMAN | Rumpin Bogor” is a public school. It belongs to department of Education. SMAN 1 Rumpin located on JI. Prada Abdullah Rumpin, Bogor. The school was established on June 23 1987. There are 28 teachers which teach 363 students in “SMAN | Rumpin Bogor” which divided into three grade 144 students in first grade, 113 students in second grade, and 106 students in third grade. The school consists of 22 rooms. They are 9 classrooms, | laboratory, 1 library, 1 art room, | “UKS” room, 1 counseling room, 1 headmaster room, 1 teacher room, | administration room, 1 OSIS room, and 4 restroom. B. Vision and Mission 1. Vision To make all the school members religious, dignified, smart and discipline. 2. Mission a. Achieving curriculum development. b. Developing the physic, mental, and spirit based on faith and “taqwa” to Allah. c. Developing the academic ability, sport, culture, and art with school as the optimal education environment. d. Achieving the conductive environment for teaching and learning process. 28 C. The English Teacher SMAN | Rumpin has 3 English teachers. The description the English teachers shown in the following table: Table 1 The English Teacher of “SMAN 1 Rumpin” A Teaching | Teaching No Name Graduated Statues Experience | at Grade from 1. | Yuyun Sri University of 9 years XII Part timer Wahyuni, S.Pd. Tbnu Kholdun, Bogor, 2000 2. | Muhamad Yunus | UHAMKA, 9 Years XI Part timer S.Pd. 2000 3. | Neng Mimin, | Sekolah 2 years x Part timer S.Pd. Tinggi Ilmu Tarbiyah Muslim Asia Afrika 2007 D. The Teaching Method To reach the English teaching learning target, the teaching method has to be selected precisely. Most of teachers use Communicative Language Teaching because it more suits to support the English Curriculum Target. Communicative Language Teaching is a teaching method which starts on a theory of language teaching starts from a communicative model of language and language use. It is focus on the abstract abilities speaker’s posses that enable them to produce grammatically correct sentence in a language. Hymes stated that, “Communicative competence was a definition of what a speaker needs to know in order to be communicatively competent in a speech community.” There are some characteristic of communicative view of language follows. 1. Language is a system for the expression of meaning. 2. The primary function of is for interaction and communication. 3. The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses. 4. The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structure features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse.* E. The Curriculum SMAN | Rumpin has already applied “KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan)” which focused on students acquiring of communication ways of target language; such as interpersonal and transactional conversation, genre of writing text, and literature understanding in learning language. “KTSP” is a curriculum which gives teacher freedom to develop their syllabus, method, and material based on students’ need and the environment. However, teachers cannot develop the component of teaching learning as they want. It should be based on standard competence and based competence which is arranged by the government. There are some opinions from the experts about KTSP. According to Drs. Narsius Sudaryono “KTSP” has three aspects that are indicators, materials and learning activity. He noted that: Tiga aspek pokok yang menjadi pilar KTSP adalah indikator, materi, dan kegiatan pembelajaran. Indikator dapat dirumuskan sebagai kompetensi yang paling spesifik. Indikator ini yang akan menentukan keseluruhan isi dan proses pembelajaran. Materi dapat dikategorikan baik jika materi yang dimaksud mampu mengembangkan kemampuan berpikir tingkat tinggi “Jack C, Richards and Theodore S. Rogers, Approach and Methods in Language Teaching: A description and analysis, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987) P, 69-71 5. Technique of Data Analysis 32 For the research, the writer us: ative method. At first, the writer analyzed the students’ errors. Then, she classified and calculate them. In addition, she tabulated the data of parts of speech, sentence pattern, subject-verb agreement, and verb tense. The last she interpreted the data and concluded them to know the highest error that the students made and the cause of those errors in writing descriptive text. 6. Time and Location The research was conducted at “SMAN 1 Rumpin’ Rumpin-Bogor, from August 24"-31" 2009. B. Research Finding 1. Data Description In this sub-chapter, the writer discussed about the description of students’ error in writing descriptive text. Their errors are using parts of speech, sentence pattern, subject-verb agreement, and verb tense. The examples of errors on using part of speech are as follows: a. She hobby is singing. b. I put on a necklace in she neck. c. Her has black eyes, straight hair, and white skin. d. This country is very strategic because it position Moreover, the examples of errors on sentence pattern are as follows: a. I feel enjoyed with her b. Her drink favorite is Pop Ice. c. Her hobby reading book and magazine. d. He has face handsome and round, his skin white, his black hair, his black eyes, and flat nose. Then, the examples of error on using subject-verb agreements are as follows: a. He like playing basketball and volleyball b. He live in Waru Jengkol Ciseeng. c. He have yellow fur, green eyes and flat nose. d. She always make me smile. Finally, the examples of error on using verb tense are as follows: a. She was very active. b. Now, he was twenty years old. c. She was 16 years old. d. My father give it to me as a birthday present. They are some examples of students’ errors in writing descriptive text. For further description of students’ errors, the writer put it in the appendix. (See appendix) 2. Data Analysis The writer analyzed that the most students made errors in sentence pattern, parts of speech, subject-verb agreement, and tense. The reason why most students made errors in writing descriptive text is because the influences of their mother tongue. Most students translated the Indonesian language into English directly. In sentence pattern, most students did not use the correct sentence pattern which consist of subject, predicate, and object. Most of them did not put the correct pattern in their sentence. The example of this error is “He has face handsome.” This sentence is wrong. It should be “He has a handsome face.” Besides that, the students did not put the auxiliary verb “to be” for nominative sentence. For example, “Her hobby reading book and magazine.” It should be “Her hobby is reading book and magazine.” Furthermore, the students could not make subject and verb agree in their sentence. They did not use singular and plural form correctly. For instance, “He like playing basketball and volleyball.” It should be “He likes playing basketball and volleyball.” Another example is, “He have yellow fur, green eyes and flat nose.” this sentence is wrong. It should be “He has yellow fur, green eyes and flat nose.” It can be inferred that the students who made those sentence were influenced by their mother tongue language in this case Indonesian language. There is no subject-verb agreement in Indonesian language because it is no difference between singular and plural form. Mother tongue influences the most students when they write descriptive text. They did not use the proper pronoun and noun. The example of this case is “Her has black eyes, straight hair, and white skin.” This sentence should be “She has black eyes, straight hair, and white skin.” Moreover, the students did not use the proper tense on their writing. The students know about the tense rule but they still confuse in using tense in their writing. The example of student’s error in this case is “My father give it to me as a birthday present.” It should be “My father gave it to me as a birthday present.” Another example is “She was 16 years old.” This sentence is wrong. It should be “She is 16 years old.” The above errors could happen because of the influence of student’s mother tongue. They thought in Indonesian way when they wrote in English. So, their writing seems ambiguous and not clear. In conclusion, the errors which students made in writing descriptive text are sentence pattern, subject-verb agreement, parts of speech, and verb tense. The reasons why they made these errors are because of the influence of their mother tongue. They thought in Indonesian way when they wrote in English. So, their writing seems ambiguous and not clear. BIBLIOGRAPHY 37 Articles Sudarwati, Th. M. and Eudia Grace, Look Ahead: An English Course for Senior High School, Jakarta: Erlangga, 2007. Sumarjo, Heribertus, KTSP Mengenmbalikan Otonomi Guru, Educare No.4/IV/Juli 2007. Books Axelrod, Rise B. and Charles R. Chooper, The ST. Martine’s Guide to Writing, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986 Azar, Betty Schramfer, Understanding and Using English Grammar, 3” ed. New York: Pearson Education, 1999. Heffernan , James A.W. and John E. Lincoln, Writing A College Handbook, Second Edition, New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc, 1986. Barnet, Sylvan and Marcia Stubbs, Barnet and Stubbs’ practical Guide to writing, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1975. Bates, Nina, Real Time: An Interactive English Course for Junior High School Students Year VII, Jakarta: Phibeta Aneka Gama, 2005. Brown, Douglas, Principle of Language Learning and Teaching, New York: Longman, 2000. Raymond, James C., Writing is Unnatural Act, New York: Harper & Row Publisher, 1980. Corder, S. Pit., Introducing Applied Linguistics, New York: Penguin Books, 1977. Dulay, Heidi, Language Two, New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. Farmer, Majorie, Steve Zemelman, Seymour Yesner, and Lizabeth M. Richmond, Composition and Grammar, Illinois: Laidlow, 1985 Frank, Marcella, Modern English: a practical reference guide, New Jersey: Prantice Hall Inc., 1972. Freeman, Diane Larsen and Michael H. Long, An Introduction to Second Language Research, New York: Longman, 1991. Ficiak, Jacek, Contrastive Linguistics and Language Teacher, Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1981. 38 Glazier, Teresa Ferster, The Leas, .... -... ./d Know About English Basic Writing Skills, New York:Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977. Hairston, Maxine, Contemporary Composition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986. Hall, Donald, Writing Well, Second Edition, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Heffernan, James A.W. and John E. Lincoln, Writing A College Handbook, Second Edition, New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc, 1986. Hewings, Matrin, Advanced Grammar in Used, England: Cambridge University Press, 1999, Hornby, A.S., Guide to Pattem and Usage in English, London: Oxford University Press, 1975. Hubbard, et al., A Training Course for TEFL, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. James, Carl, Error in Language Learning and Use, New York: Longman, 1998. Lagan, John, Sentence Skills: Work Book for Writers, Boston: MacGraw-Hill, 2003. Leggett, Glen, at. al., Prentice Hall: Handbook for Writers, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc., 1965. Lunsford, Andrea and Robert Connors, The St. Martin’s Handbook, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989. Raimes, Ann, Technique in Teaching Writing, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. Richards, Jack C. and Theodore S. Rogers, Approach and Methods in Language Teaching: A description and analysis, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Sarkim T, Drs.., Lahir Prematur, Perlu Penegakkan Otonomi Sekolah, Educare No.4/IV/Juli 2007, P.5-6 Warriner, John E., English Grammar and Conposition, 3" course, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982. round. I have a long hair. I thin body. I have many friend. Because I’m very happy, little Censorious. my hobby is to listen radio, I don’t like with Cat, and Worm, I have small lips. And people say that I nice. “My Friend” I has_my friend she was girl, her name is Tanti, she is beautiful and kind with me. I feel_enjoyed with her. She has hair_straight_and_her_skin_is Brown dark. She was very active. She is hobby dance, play basket ball, listening music. She was like _cartoon___figure “DORAEMON”. Sentence pattern Sentence pattern Sentence pattern Sentence pattern Sentence pattern The student translated the Indonesian language into English directly My Sister My _ sister name __is Merira__Imannisa. She is fourteen years old. She is short her_tall_ 150 centimeters. She has a black hair, blue eyes and white skin. She is school _in SMAN | Rumpin, at class X2. She has many friend, because her very friendly. She has oval face, little nose but in her face haved zone. I’m very love with her, because her is _my sister, Sentence pattern Sentence pattern Part of speech (noun) Sentence pattern Part of speech (noun) Sentence pattern Sentence pattern The student translated the Indonesian language into English directly and did not know how to use the noun properly cute and funny that. 8. Dwiki is a student of XI | Sentence pattern | The student grade of IPA. He to know | Subject-verb translated the student _he funny and Like for | agreement Indonesian friends to laugh, with way of | Sentence pattern language into acting. He have black hair and | Subject-verb English directly have feather eyes bent, to hi t . ave feather eyes bent, to have | agreement PTiPedid. not body small. He Like a football. | Subject-verb know the He have Idol a C. Ronaldo | agreement difference “CRO” between singular and plural form 9. My Pets. Part of speech | The student did I have one pets. He is a | (Pronoun) not know how to cat. He name is Pussi. He have | Part of speech | use the pronoun yellow fur and green eyes and | (pronoun) properly, the he have flat nose. He_is very | Subject-verb difference sweety and fat. He is very | agreement between clever but sometimes he is | Part of Speech | .. singular and stupid. I_used_nekless_in_he | (Pronoun) plural form, neck. He is very like fish and | Sentence pattern translated the eggs. I very love. My father | Part of speech we . Indonesian give it me as birthday present. I | (Pronoun) like my pets and I like cats. Part of speech language into (pronoun) English Sentence pattern | directly, and Sentence pattern | confused in Tense using the correct tense 10 MY TEACHER Sentence pattern | translated the T have a teacher. Her name Sentence pattern Indonesian is Lia Ekawati. She is English | Tense language into teacher in SMPN | Rumpin. | Part of speech | English She is beautiful and friendly. | (Pronoun) directly, Her face is oval. She has brown | Part of speech confused in eyes. And she has pointed nose, | (Pronoun) : using the white skin, and using a veil. Subject-verb ; correct tense, Mrs. Lia is a famous | agreement did not know teacher between the students. how to use the Because she teach very well. . pronoun properly Many students like her. She has id did not a_smooth voice and her lips is a small. She is tall and smart too. ne ag She teach I when I_ am difference at seven grade. She has husband between now. But I forget her name. singular and Mrs. Lia is my favorite teacher. plural form She is diligent teacher. She always come to my class on time. 11 “Me” Sentence pattern | The student | 7 My name is Haris | Sentence pattern | translated the Priyadi. I like Play music. My | Sentence pattern | [pdonesian Favorit Player musik is Slash | Sentence pattern language into guitarist “Gun N Roses” I very | Sentence pattern English directly love his song is “Sweet Child | Sentence pattern Mine” Sentence pattern I live in Sukasirna 19/08, JIn Raya Cicangkal. Tamansari. My weight is 50 kilograms with height 160 centimeters. My color hair_is black with straight_small_hair. eun. singular plural form 16 My Brother Sentence pattern | The student He is hand some boy. He | Subject-verb translated the is very tall and he have a eyes | agreement Indonesian brown, hair black, and_skin | Sentence pattern language into white. He is age eight teen. He | Sentence pattern English directly is work in PT. Gas Elpiji. He is id not very kind to me. But to me if he angry with me_he_not_speak. ie the Favorite _my brother “IWAN ee FALS” and my brother dislike Coe if me not use fail. singular plural form 17 My Sister Part of speech The student did Dara is student of SMAN | (adjective) not know how to 1 Rumpin. She is beautiful | Sentence pattern | use the adjective Girls at SMAN | Rumpin. She | Sentence pattern | properly, is smart and dilegent. She has | Subject-verb translated the face beautiful _and long hair | agreement Indonesian black. She has black eyes and | Sentence pattern language into her hobby is singing, Drawing English and Reading Novel. She is class directly, and did XI IPA and she her body language beautiful _and_here not know the small live. She Like Javanese difference story and literature. Her favorite between is chiken, meat ball and favorite singular plural drinks is pop ice. form 18 ANEW FRIEND Tense The student I want to introduce | Subject-verb confused in some one to you. She is my | agreement using the new friend in the class. Her | Subject-verb correct tense name is Heni Winarni. | agreement and did not Ok...please remember that. She know the isa girl of course. She was born difference on Augustus 22" 1993. Now. between she_was 16 years old. Heni’s . ; singular plural religion is Islam. So, I don’t fe know her hair because she wear an fail. She is a funny girl. She always make me smile. Her hobby is reading books. She will be my best friend. And your friend too. 19 lam Sentence pattern | The student My name _is Linda Kurniasih, my nick _name_is Linda. I was born in Bogor at 12" October 1993. I have three brothers and four sister. Yeah this is big family but_l not feel shy. I am fat and tall. I have flat nose. My hair is long black, and wavy, but in school Luse fail. In school I have many friend, house too. My hobby is laughing, but I don’t like to be laughed. I like yellow and green. Sometimes my friend in the classmate_always call _me “LINDADS” because my name Look Like “LIMBAD” The master Indonesia. He ..he..he.. Part of speech (noun) Part of speech (noun) Subject-verb agreement Sentence pattern Sentence pattern translated the Indonesian language _ into English directly, did not know how to use the noun properly, and did not know the difference between singular plural form But I Like it. 20 My Best Friend Sentence pattern | The student He is boy. His name is | Subject-verb translated the Ujang Roby. He is friend to | agreement Indonesian school. He is friendly. He live | Subject-verb language into in Waru Jengkol-Ciseeng. agreement English The characteristic is he | Sentence pattern E directly, did not has brown skin, his tall 175 | Sentence pattern know the centimeter, black eyes, short | Tense A 5 4 A difference hair. His favorite food is Chiken mie. His hobby is betweem playing football. His Habit he singular plural don’t shower. His weight is 52 form, and kilograms. confused in He is Friendly. He using the helped to people and me but he correct tense was very deaf. 21 My Home Sentence pattern | The student A hut home is situated | Sentence pattern | translated the in the cross road of Ciseeng at Jin. Pasar Seeng. With type very simple, but to take care of with good That_is my home. Home to make from fence wall with to paint white and_in creased color pink in front_of home. My home to from six room That is: two bedroom, dinning room, living room and one rest shed. That is My home. Part of speech (noun) Indonesian language _ into English directly and did not know how to use the noun properly because she is still little. I like carrying to play. I love very much to my cat. 27 My Sister My sister name is Nadin Sahara. She is sweet. She has a black and curly hair, white and soft skin, and brown eyes. She is three years old. She hobby is singing and the favorite animal is cat. She is a beautiful girl among her friends. I’m very like, love and very need to _her because he is a beautiful and kind Baby. Sentence pattern Part of speech (pronoun) Part of speech (pronoun) Sentence pattern The student translated the Indonesian language into English directly and did not know how to use the pronoun properly 28 Rabbit I have Rabbit in my house. She is beautiful and smart. She have Fur white, black and a long tail. big eyes, she is big ear fool short. My rabbit name is Nanda. She is very cute and she like carrot, but smell bad. Sentence pattern Subject-verb- agreement The student translated the Indonesian language into English directly and did not know the difference between singular plural form 29 My Favorite Actor During | live I really like someone. He is an actor. Dude Herlino his name. I really like him. I think he is really Subject-verb agreement Subject-verb agreement Part of speech The student did not know the difference between singular plural different from other Actor. He is really handsome, smart, religious, and the best actor. He has white skin. He always look cool. He look wise and I think he is very kind. He has good style and always be favorite actor. He eyes really brown and he has pointed nose. He is very religious and like that. He never make a big mistake during to be an actor. Many people like him. He has favorite ustad. The name is Quray Shihab. He is 27 years old. And he want marry soon. That is bad new for me. But I will always like him forever and I hope I can meet with him. (pronoun) Subject-verb agreement Tense form, did not know how to use the pronoun properly, and confused in using the correct tense 30 My School My school is located in Rumpin. Its name is SMAN | RUMPIN. This school is very Good and Comfortable __for study in the school. There are some building and big yard. There are Ten class of SMAN 1 RUMPIN consist of for_in the ten_class, one IPA class, Two IPS class of eleven class and twelve class consist of one IPA Sentence pattern Part of speech (noun) Sentence pattern Sentence pattern Sentence pattern The student translated the Indonesian language into English directly and did not know how to use the noun properly class, and three IPS class. The headmaster name is Drs. Agus Rusliana. He said that this school built at 1987. and_now twenty years old. 31 INNE NURAJIZAH Part of speech | The student did Inne Nurajizah is a student | (pronoun) not know how to of SMAN 1 Rumpin. Her has | Part of speech | use the pronoun black eyes, straight hair and | (pronoun) properly and white skin. Her beautiful. Her | Part of speech | translated the 15 years old. Her very like a | (pronoun) Indonesian cat. Her house is very many cat. | Part of speech language into Her like play playstation with | (pronoun) English directly little brother. Her hobby is | Sentence pattern drawing, reading novel and | Part of speech listening to the music. Her actor | (pronoun) favorit3_is Kim Bum. and her | Sentence pattern ger favorite is delon. 32 “My Mother” Subject-verb The student did My mother is a beautiful | agreement not know the woman for me. Her name is | Subject-verb difference Cutika. She has white skin and | agreement b etween brown eyes. My mother wear | Sentence pattern : singular plural glass and veil. Her hobby is form and reading book or novel. She work as headmaster. She is translated the always patient to face problem. Indonesian She very lovely with her family language into and I always love her. English directly 33 My Tiger Sentence pattern | The student