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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses about the background of study, problems of study,

objective of study, significance of study, scope and limitation, even the definition

of key term.

A. Background of Study

Indonesia is a multi-culture country. In every island it has its own

culture even its own language as communication media among its society.

Each society of the island communicates using their mother tongue or L1.

Even, to communicate with the other citizen in other island, they need to use

L2 that is Indonesian language, as the national language. It means that

language holds its important role as we know that not only L1 or L2 need to

learn but also foreign language.

Beside Indonesian language, now English is also important for

Indonesian citizens. English is an international language that people use as

the lingua franca. Nowadays, it is being one of the most important languages

since people around the world from different countries use it as a media to

communicate each other. The use of English is widely spread almost in every

country. Now, English is chosen as the unifying language of the whole world

instead in Latin the heyday of Europe.1 Because of its useful and importance,

1 Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman, An Introduction to Language, (New York: Harcourt Brace Collage Publisher), 2003, p. 19.

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people need to learn it, so do Indonesians. Any Indonesian citizens learn

English for any purposes, not only for education but commonly also for

business or job needed. When we want to pay attention around us, many

Indonesian citizens face some annoyance with their L1even L2in English

applying actually.

This annoyance or difficulties may get influence from Indonesian

language on learning English. As we have known that Indonesian language

have different grammatical rules from English language so that the difficult

part in applying English is about learning Grammar. As it has been said by

Marlyna Maros, based on studies carried out by Shaari (1987) found that the

major difficulty faced by many of the students is learning English Grammar.2

This difficulty may also be attributed with their environment. In the

case of multicultural students, most of them tend to use their L1 even L2

when interacting with their family members, friends, even peers in their home

environment as well as in school. Hence, they hardly use English outside the

language classroom, resulting weak performance in their reading, writing,

speaking, and listening skills. This problem is most obvious when it comes to

examinations or daily writing assignments. We will be rarely difficult to find

students’ essays in a few grammatical mistakes even in tenses or word order

using.

2 Marlyna Maros, Tan Kim Hua & Khazriyati Salehuddin, "Interference in Learning English: Grammatical Errors in Essay Writing Among Rural Malay Secondary School Students in Malaysia”, e-Bangi Journal, Vol. 2, suppl. 2, School of Language Studies and Linguistics Faculty of Social Science and Humanities University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, (Desember 2007), p.2,.

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The difference in forming words between Indonesian and English can

be seen easily since they have different words produced. Although there are

some ways to learn English easily and effectively, the learners still get

difficulty in applying the word forms because Indonesian do not have

complex morphological and grammatical rule as like English. If they do not

pay attentionto how to form word properly, they will produce wrong word in

English writing and consequently, grammatical interference will easily occur.

Grammatical interference may also be found in the use of Direct and Indirect

question, partitive article and changing the partitive and indefinite article with

the preposition the, and the sequence of tenses3 e.g.: I go to Jakarta

yesterday; My mother buy three book red; She not have house; on the corner

of the street will be built a tall building, etc.

The same problem happens on the first year students of senior high

school at SMAN 1 Mojo. Many students are still confused to make a correct

word order. They still have difficulty in applying grammatical rule although

they have studied it from the first time they learned English when they were

in the kindergarten, elementary even in the secondary school. This difficulty

is also caused by the language that they used. Generally they use Indonesian

language in their daily communication because they come from different

provenance. They have their own mother tongue or L1 so that they need

Indonesian language as their unifying language and it can cause annoyance in

practicing English as foreign language that they really use it.

3 Branimira Hristova Lekova, Language Interference and Methods of Its Overcoming in Foreign Language Teaching, Trakia Journal of Sciences, Vol. 8, Suppl. 3, Faculty of Education, Trakia University, StaraZagora, Bulgaria. (2010), p.323,.

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Based on the background of the importance oflearning English and the

fact that the students still have difficulty to learn English especially for

constructing grammatical sentence, the researcher conducts a research about

the Grammatical Interference of Indonesian Language to the English

Writing of EFL Learners at SMAN 1 Mojo.

B. Problem of Study

Based on the background of study, the researcher does an analysis of

grammatical interference in English writing construction of first year students

at SMAN 1 Mojo. So, the research question on this research is:

What are the types of grammatical interference of Indonesian language found

in the English writing of EFL learners at SMAN 1 Mojo?

C. Objective of Study

The objective of this research is:

To know the types of grammatical interference of Indonesian language found

in the English writing of EFL learners at SMAN 1 Mojo.

D. Significance of Study

The finding of this study is expected to provide scientific investigation

about the types of grammatical interference of Indonesian language found in

the English writing of EFL learners at SMAN 1 Mojo, so that it can serve

some useful investigations for the learners, the teachers, and the next

researchers.

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1. For the learners, this study can help them to know the typesof the

grammatical interference that still commonly happens. So that it will help

them to consider and to learn English grammatically and correctly.

2. For the teachers, the result of this study can be information about their

students’ ability especially in constructing grammatical English writing.

So that the teachers are able toknow and to understand their students’

weakness in learning English and provide the appropriate ways as their

shortcoming that need to improve. As the result, the teachers can get the

maximal achievement and success in conveying materials even

information to their students.

3. For the next researchers, this study can be used as additional information

to improve their investigation. This research can also be used as reference

to conduct their next further investigation to be better and more useful for

others.

E. Scope and Limitation

In this study, the researcher gives the limitation of the key terms to

restrict misunderstanding made by the students even the readers. The research

scope of this study is limited to the analysis of writing samples of first year

students at X-6 class in the English language classroom, with a focus on

grammatical structures and takes into account interference made in their

written constructions.

F. The Definition of Key Terms

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The definition is intended to avoid misunderstanding and ambiguity in

perception of some terms used in this study. On the definition of key terms,

the researcher will define the key words that are related to this study. They

are:

1. Grammatical Interference

It is defined as the Indonesian language influencing the use of

English as foreign language in terms of word order, use of pronouns or

determinants, tense and mood. Grammatical interference occurs when the

elements of native language included in the use of target language step by

step in grammatical of target language, word order, pronoun, conjunctions,

subject-verb agreement, tense, singular-plural agreement, etc.4

2. English Writing

Writing is an activity in which a person expresses his ideas, thought,

expressions, and feelings which is used for communicating to the readers

in the form of written words. Writing in this study means a written

composition which is constructed by the English class students of the first

year at SMAN 1 Mojo.The written composition is matched with their

English class material that is about descriptive text.

CHAPTER II

4 Putri Martanti, An Analysis of Grammatical Interference in Articles of Berani Newspaper Thesis, State Islamic University “Syarif Hidayatullah” Jakarta, 2011, p.34.

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REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter is about the related theoretical framework which discusses

about sentence structure, contrastive analysis, error analysis, interference, and

grammatical interference.

A. Sentence Structure

A sentence is a unit of language that says something in a fix structure of

grammar and punctuation, and characterized in most languages by the presence

of a finite word. According to Harman and Homer, sentence is a group of

related words containing a subject and a predicate and expressing a complete

and independent unit of thought.5 Then, Robert defined that asentence is a

language unit which is not, by any grammatical device or signal shown to be

part of some larger language unit.6 Basic constituent are usually a clause,

phrase or word and have the final intonation represented by a dot, a question

mark or an exclamatory point.

There are many ways to classify sentences. Different language may have

the different patterns and below it discusses more on the English and

Indonesian structures, one by one.

1. English Sentence Classification

5 Susan E. Harman and Homer C. House, Descriptive English Grammar, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Inc.), 1950, p. 12.

6 Paul Robert, Understanding English, (New York: Harper & brorthers), 1958, p. 12.7

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In the English structure, all of sentences are verbal sentence. It can be

analyzed on how to construct sentence using these patterns, they are:7

a. Sentence Pattern with Intransitive Verbs

Based on the form of intransitive verbs, sentence can be

constructed into some patterns, they are:

1) Sentence Pattern: Noun + Verb

This sentence kind is composed using the simplest sentence

pattern in English, verb + noun, e.g.: the wind blew, the sun dimmed,

the earth shook and trembled, etc.

Besides the simplest patterns, the noun (subject), verb, or

predicate in this and other sentence patterns can be compounded. The

subject part of the sentence is called the noun phrase; the part that

expresses what is said of the subject is called the verb phrase, or

predicate, e.g., the professor and his colleagues lecture and teach,

neither they nor she reads or studies, etc.

In the English structure, a sentence has to have agreement,

between subject and predicate. A compound subject may cause

confusion in the agreement of the subject and predicate. But that

confusion can be avoided using these rules;

a) If the parts of the compound subject are joined by and, whether

they are singular or plural, the plural form of the verb is used.

E.g. the boys and girls are playing. Mark and Helene approve.

7 George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks, Let’s Write English Revised Edition, (Litton Educational Publishing, Inc.: New York), 1980, p.3-77.

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b) If the parts of the compound subject are singular and are joined by

such connectives as or, nor, either … or, neither … nor, not only …

but also, the singular form of the verb is used. E.g.; Either Juan or

his friend is expected. Neither Helene nor Alice works.

c) If the parts of the compound subject joined by or, nor, either … or,

neither … nor, not only … but also are different in number of

person, the part nearest the verb determines the number of the verb.

E.g.; Neither Helene nor her sisters work. Not only the students but

also Prof. Ober is waiting.

2) Sentence Pattern: Noun + Verb + Adverbial

Adverbs normally follow the verb and are of three basic types;

adverbs of manner, adverbs of time, and adverbs of place. A

prepositional phrase can be substituted for any of them.

a) Adverbs of manner, like most other adverbs, normally follow the

verb. These adverbs explain how the action of the verb is done.

Many of these adverbs are formed by adding –ly to adjectives e.g.

quietly, calmly, quickly, etc. and if the adjective ends in –y, often

the –y is changed to –i before –ly is added, e.g. happy – happily,

noisy - noisily.

b) Adverbs of place usually answer the question where about the

action of the verb, and come after the verb. Common adverbs of

place are up, down, here, there, far, near, over there, away, and far

away. E.g. the boat sailed away. The elevator is going up.

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c) Adverbs of time usually follow the verb. It is also possible for

almost any adverb to be placed at the beginning of the sentence, but

adverbs of time are found in that position more frequently than the

others. Some useful adverbs of time are then, next, now, soon, late,

and early. Nouns are also used as adverbs of time: Saturday, today,

last night, every day, next week, tomorrow morning, etc. e.g.

Tomorrow Prof. Ober will lecture.

Adverbs of frequency are also a small category of adverbs that

normally occur before the main verb, except when the main verb is be.

Then these adverbs follow be. Some examples are frequently, never,

often, sometimes, rarely, constantly, regularly, continually, etc. e.g.

He goes to library often but not this sentence He goes usually. These

adverbs at the beginning of the sentences are followed by a comma

except in the case of seldom, rarely, never, which, coming at the

beginning of the sentence, cause change in the word order to adverb +

auxiliary+ subject + main verb. E.g. seldom does he leave before 4:00.

b. Sentence Patterns with Transitive Verbs

The sentence in these patterns is constructed by using verbs which are

followed by nouns. They are called transitive verbs. These sentences can

be constructed using these patterns;

1) Sentence Pattern: Noun + Verb + Noun

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This sentence is constructed by using noun + verb + noun pattern.

The noun following the verb in each sentence is the direct object of

the verb. This sentence pattern may or may not be followed by an

adverb. E.g. the students attend the lectures regularly or the students

attend the class; the professor buys books, etc.

2) Sentence Pattern: Noun + Verb + Noun + Noun

A sentence can also be constructed using noun + verb + noun +

noun pattern. The pattern may also be stated subject + verb + indirect

object + direct object. The indirect object can be a personal pronoun,

but the direct object cannot. E.g. Tim told his friend something.

The following verbs take indirect object and are often used in the

pattern noun + verb + noun + noun: ask, assign, award, bring, buy,

cause, cost, deny, do, get, grant, guarantee, hand, lease, leave (in a

will), lend, mail, make, offer, owe, pass, pay, play, promise, read,

rent, save, sell, send, serve, show, spare, teach, tell, throw. E.g. Prof.

Ricci awarded the best student a prize, she assigned them homework.

Except for sentences using the verbs ;cost, deny, spare; take to/for

and can be rewritten in another pattern, using a preposition, without a

change of meaning, e.g. we bought Mrs. Johnson a gift, we bought a

gift for Mrs. Johnson.

3) Sentence Pattern: Noun + Verb + Noun/Adjective

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A sentence can be constructed using noun + verb + noun/adjective

version of pattern. Only certain verbs can be used in this pattern. They

include consider, find, believe, think, prove, call, name, elect, appoint,

nominate, and make. Most of the verbs used in the noun + verb + noun

+ noun pattern can be used equally well in this pattern. E.g. the

weather made the trip a pleasure. The weather made the trip pleasant.

A few verbs, however, such as like and keep, require an adjective

as the objective complement. E.g. he likes his coffee black. Please

keep the records straight. Similarly, such verbs as appoint, elect, and

name require a noun as the objective complement. E.g. the people

elected her president. The president named the general chief-of-staff.

c. Sentence Patterns with Linking Verbs

A linking verb connects a subject to a complement which tells

something about subject. The complements in this pattern are an

adjective, adverbial, and noun. The most common linking verb is be;

however, remain, stay, become, appear, continue, feel, grow, seem, and

taste may be used as linking verbs. In this part, the use of be is stressed.

Linking verb connects subject to a complement which one of forms

is an adjective with the pattern noun + linking verb + adjective. E.g.

water is necessary; floods can be harmful, crops are poor, etc.

A sentence can also be constructed using this pattern, noun +

linking verb + adverbial. The adverbial may be either an adverb or a

preposition phrase and in this pattern only time and place adverbials are

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used. When both time and place adverbials occur in the same sentence,

adverbials of place go before adverbials of time. E.g. Dorothy will be

there on time, she must be at the doctor’s office at 3:00, etc.

The pattern noun + linking verb + adverbial can be transformed to

a pattern beginning with there if the noun is indefinite. E.g. many people

were in the park last Sunday, there were many people in the park last

Sunday, there is a robin in the tree behind the house, there was some

paper on the desk, etc. All of those sentences have indefinite subjects:

many people, a robin, some paper; not the people, the robin, the paper.

Another sentence using linking verb is by using this pattern noun +

linking verb + noun. This pattern is often called the subjective pronoun

or the predicate nominative. A principal use of this pattern is to indicate a

person’s profession or occupation. E.g. Ms. Janik is a lawyer, Mr. Muller

is a nutritionist, he is a house painter, etc.

2. Indonesian Sentence Classification

Grammatically, Indonesian sentence can be divided into some

classifications; the predicate form and the content or the function of the

sentence.

a. Classification by the predicate form

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Based on the predicate that forms, sentence can be classified into

two parts; verbal sentence and nominal sentence.8Below it is discussed

more one by one.

1) Verbal Sentence

Verbal sentence can be divided into intransitive verb, semi

transitive verb, and transitive verb.

According to Adiyasa, intransitive verb is a sentence that

doesn’t need object and complement; just has two important units

those are subject and predicate/verb. Examples: Ibu guru sedang

berbelanja (the teacher_ shopping); Nenek berjalan (grandma walk).

Semi transitive verb of predicate sentence is a type of sentence

that may be or may not be followed by object. The presence of object

on this sentence is just to increase clarity meaning of the sentence.The

common verbs of semi transitive sentence are memasak (cook),

menulis (write), mengajar (teach), menonton (watch), and membaca

(read). Examples:

- Dahlia sedang memasak (Dahlia is cooking)

- Dahlia sedang memasak nasi (Dahlia is cooking rice)

Transitive verb is a kind of sentence where it predicate or verb

needs object to clarify the meaning of sentence. Example: Ratna

sedang mencari pekerjaan (Ratna is looking for job).

2) Non-Verbal Sentence

8 Ida Bagus Putrayasa, Jenis Kalimat dalam Bahasa Indonesia, (PT Refika Aditama: Bandung), 2009, p. 75 - 87.

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Non-verbal sentence is a kind of sentence where the form of

predicate is non-verbal form. Non-Verbal sentence includes nominal,

adjectival, numeric, and prepositional phrase sentence. As we can

observe that Indonesian sentence structure does not need “linking verb

or copula be”as the predicate substitution.

a) Nominal sentence

In the Indonesian sentence there is sentence that has

predicate in the nominal or nominal phrase. Examples:

- Dia guru saya (she_ my teacher).

- Dialah guru saya (she is my teacher).

At those examples there are word Dia and Dialah. In the

first example, the word Dia is as subject but in the second

examples the word Dialah is as predicate phrase. It is based on fact

that in Indonesian structures the –lah particle generally as the

predicate sign.

b) Adjectival sentence

The predicate form of the adverbial sentence is adjective or

adjective phrase. Example: Pemainsepak bola itu kaya (the football

player _ rich).

c) Numeric sentence

Numeric sentence is a kind of sentence which has the

numeral or numeral phrase as the predicate of that sentence.

Examples: Tabungannya hanya sedikit. (Her savings _ just a

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little.), Lebar sungai itu lebih dari dua ratus meter. (Wide of the

river _ more than 200 meter.)

d) Prepositional phrase sentence

In prepositional phrase sentence, all of prepositional kinds

can be used as the predicate. E.g.: Ibu sedang ke pasar (mother _ to

the market); Ayahnya dari Bali (her father _ from Bali).

b. Classification by the content

Based on the content, there are three kinds of sentence. They are

declarative sentence, question sentence, and command sentence.9

1) Declarative Sentence

Declarative sentence is a kind of sentence that supports the

statement of event or incident. The main structure of this sentence can

be formed with these patterns:

a) Subject-Predicate structure

Examples: Gubernur itu diperiksa (governor _ investigated);

Para pedagang digusur (the sellers _ removed).

b) Subject-Predicate-Object structure

Examples: KPK memeriksa gubernur itu (KPK investigate

the governor); Korban kecelakaan itu dirawat di RSUD (victim of

accident _ hospitalized).

c) Subject-Predicate-Object1-Object2 structure

9 Ida BagusPutrayasa, 2009, ibid. p.19 -36.

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Examples: Majalah itu diberikan oleh adik kepadaku (the

magazine _ given by my little sister to me).

d) Subject-Predicate-Object-Adverb structure

Examples: Wartawan itu mengirimkan berita ke luar negeri

(journalist send news to abroad).

2) Question Sentence

Question sentence is formed to raise the answer. Kridalaksana

also called it as interrogative sentence. This sentence is also signed

with the question particle as like -kah, or using W-H Questions.

Examples: Anaknya tujuh orangkah? (Are her children seven?);

Dimana tempat tinggalmu? (Where _ your mansions?)

3) Imperative Sentence

Imperative sentence is a sentence which is formed to raise the

action response. In the written construction this sentence is usually

marked with the point or exclamation mark, with the –lah particle or

using the word hendaklah and jangan. Examples: Tengoklah nenekmu

di kampung! (Visit your grandma in the village!); Jangan kamu tidur

di lantai! (Don’t sleep on the floor!)

Beside the importance to clarify about sentence structure between

Indonesian and English language, this part also needs to study about the

contrastive analysis to differentiate the differences between the source

language and the target language constructions which are used in this study.

B. Contrastive Analysis

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The term “Contrastive linguistics” was suggested by Whorf, for

comparative study which is giving emphasis on linguistic differences.

Meanwhile contrastive linguistics has been redefined as “a sub discipline of

linguistics concerned with the comparison of two or more languages or

subsystems of languages in order to determine both the differences and

similarities between them”.10

Contrastive analysis in general term is an inductive investigative approach

based on the distinctive elements in a language.11 In common definition, the

term can be defined as the method of analyzing the structure of any two

languages with a view to estimate the differential aspects of their system,

irrespective or their genetic affinity of level development.12 The contrastive

analysis emphasizes the influence of the mother tongue in learning a second

language in phonological, morphological and syntactic levels. A part of the

difficulties can be attributed to the mother tongue (first language)

interference.13

In contrastive analysis, we also discuss more about the similarities and

dissimilarities of the two languages, Indonesian and English, in the

morphological, syntactical, and sociolinguistics levels. Some of them are

comparison of the idea of plural, comparisons for the sentence structure at

syntactic level, comparison of passive and object-focus construction, the

10 Geethakumary, V.2006, A Contrastive Analysis of Hindi and Malayalam, http://www.languageinindia.com., March 24th 2014.

11 LjubicaKardaleska, 2006, Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis in Combination with Analysis of the Semantic Level, http://www.sil.org., March 24th 2014.

12 Geethakumary, V.2006, ibid13 Kardaleska, Ljubica, 2006, ibid

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similarities and dissimilarities of subject prominence in English and –nya in

Indonesian, terms of address, and gender orientation versus kinship orientation.

1. The idea of plural

Plural refers to the form of a noun or a verb which refers to more than

one person or thing. English expresses plural implicitly by creating patterns

how to use –s and –es. Indonesian on the other hand expresses plural

explicitly no definite rules how to create a plural form of a word except by

reduplicating it, e.g. rumah-rumah, mobil-mobil, etc. The idea of plural can

be clearly seen trough the following examples:

Indonesian English

1. Serigala itu binatang

(the wolf _ animal)

1. A wolf is an animal / Wolves are animal / Wolf

is animal

2. Hiu itu ikan apa mamalia?

(The shark_ fish or

mammal?)

2. Is a shark fish or mammal? / Are sharks fish

or mammal? / Is shark fish or mammal?

3. Tukang pos selalu membawa

surat. (Postman always bring

letter).

3. A postman always brings letters / Postmen

always bring letters / Postman always brings

letters.

On the example above, we can know that in English, the ideas of plural

are expressed in many ways. A final –s or –es is added to a noun to make a

noun plural. Sometimes, the changing a (man) to e (men) is also needed to

indicate plural. Besides, a final –s or –es is also added to a verb1 when the

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subject is a singular noun (a wolf, a shark, a pet, etc.) or a third person

singular pronoun (she, he, and it).14

2. Sentence structure at syntactic level

The basic order for Indonesian sentence is; Subject, Verb,

Object/Adjective/ Adverb. In syntactical term, simply we use the definition

of S = NP.VP. A short hand way of saying that pattern is; a sentence

consists of Noun Phrase and Verb Phrase. Yet in many cases, the order can

be put in various ways, a sentence may come from NP.VP, orNP.NP, or

NP.AP or NP.PP. But in English, the order strictly lies on S = NP.VP

(sometimes VP with copula be or linking verb).15 Below, the level

differences are:

Indonesian English

1. NP.VP

Paman pergi ke Surabaya tadi malam.

1. NP.VP

Uncle went to Surabaya last night

2. NP.AdvP

Bibimu di kebun

2. NP.VP

Your aunt is in the garden

3. NP.AP

Burdin sakit semalam

3. NP.VP

Burdin was sick last night

4. NP.AP

Kebanyakan warga desa ini nelayan.

4. NP.VP

Most of citizens in this village are

sailors.

14 Betty Scramfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.Inc, 1989.

15 Danajaya Mahmudz, Julie 28, 2013, http://www.slideshare.net/DanajayaMahmudz/a-contrastive-analysis-between-bahasa-indonesia-and-english-dawood-widya , March 27th 2014.

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3. Passive and object-focus construction

The idea of passive is rare in speech, yet it occurs often in academic

writing. The passive form of a verb phrase contain this pattern; be + past

participle, e.g. is bitten, was stolen, can be taken. In Indonesian, passive is

shown by adding di- before a verb, e.g. dimakan, ditipu, dipermalukan. In

most clauses, the subject refers to the “doer” of the action of the verb.16

When we create a passive sentence, the focus of the sentence goes to

Subject. This term is well known as Canonical passive, e.g.: Buku itu sudah

dibaca oleh Andi or The book has been read by Andi. Passive sentence in

Indonesian, the position of focus may go to object. We call it Object focus

or non canonical passive. The term can be defined as a sentence which has

semi-active and semi-passive construction, e.g. Buku itu sudah saya baca.

This phenomenon does not occur in English except in relative clauses.17

Indonesian English

1. A: Dona menulis makalah ini

P: Makalah ini ditulis oleh Dona/

Makalah ini Dona tulis*

2. A: Dia sudah mengirim suratnya?

P: Suratnya sudah dikirim oleh dia?

Sudah dia kirim suratnya?*

3. A: Saya tidak memakan makanan itu

P: Makanan itu tidak dimakan oleh saya

1. A: Dona writes this paper

P: This paper is written by

Dona

2. A: Has she sent the letter yet?

P: Has the letter been sent by

her?

3. A: I did not eat that food

16 Geofrey Leech & friends, An A-Z of English Grammar & Usage, Malaysia: Longman, 2003.17 Danajaya Mahmudz, Julie 28, 2013, ibid,.

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Tidak saya makan makanan itu* P: That food was not eaten by

me yet

Note: A= Active/P= Passive * Non-Canonical Passive/Object focus

4. Subject prominence in English and –nya in Indonesian

English is a subject prominent language. It means every sentence in English

always requires a subject. The subject can be a proper name, pronoun or

something else. Yet in Indonesian, the subject may be omitted. This phenomenon

can be mentioned as Zero subject sentence. The subject is coverable from the

context.

Indonesian English

1. Tinggalnya dimana sekarang?

2. Pekerjaannya apa?

3. Uangnya berapa?

1. Where do you stay now?

2. What do you do for living?

3. How much money do you

have?

In the sentence, Tinggalnya di mana?, we do not find a subject since

the subject needs not to be put there. Yet, this sentence is still understood by

Indonesian people. Here zero subjects play role, and it is coverable from the

context. In the sentence where do you stay now? The subject is definite, and

in this case the subject is “you”.

5. Terms of address

In Indonesian, The term of address is used to differentiate positions of

people. It is also used to show politeness in conversation. To address

someone who is older than us, we must use the proper address, e.g. Bapak,

23

Ibu, Panjenengan. In English, those terms are not used. English only

addresses “You” to all of their interlocutors.

Indonesian English

1. Anda sudah makan?

2. Bapak/Ibu/Pak Roni/Bu Dewi/Adik/Kakak/

Mbak/Mas/Heri/Puspita lapar?

1. Have you had

yourdinner?

2. Are you hungry?

6. Gender versus Kinship Orientation

The idea of gender orientation in English is commonly used in the form

of pronoun, both subject and object. It may appear as he, she, him or her.

More than that, the gender orientation is also used to differentiate subjects in

a sentence. There are many terms to differentiate subject. One is used to

differentiate siblings. We find the words brother and sister are aimed to

differentiate male and female siblings, or son or daughter to differentiate

male or female child. In Indonesian the term of gender orientation is not

well known. When we talk about a child, we commonly say anak without

referring what gender the child has. English will say a boy or a girl instead

of a child. In this case we can say that English is a strongly gender oriented

language.18 Below we can find example for that:

Indonesian English

1. Kemana dia pergi?

2. Buku itu milik dia.

1. Where does he go?/ Where does she go?

2. The book belongs to her / The book belongs to him

18 Danajaya Mahmudz , Julie 28 2013, op.cit

24

3. Anak itu bermain di

lapangan.

3. The boy plays on the playground / The girl plays on

the playground.

In Indonesian language, the ideas of kinship are very popular. These ideas

play basic role in conducting a conversation. It seems the cultural background may

support these Ideas. The cultural bound of Indonesian people create a close and

respectful relationship with others. Someone who is close to us will be treated

differently with someone who has no relative connection. The differentiation of

address may be the realization for that.

Indonesian English

NakDeni/ Mas Deni/ Pak Deni/ Om Deni mau kemana? Where are you going?

After knowing the differences between Indonesian and English language

through the contrastive analysis, this part also discusses the error analysis to

classify the error that common happens in English construction that still causes

ungrammatically English yet.

C. Error Analysis

Learning foreign language is surely different from learning one’s another

tongue. People who learn foreign language will get difficulties in applying it.

Such mistakes must be carefully distinguished from errors of a foreign

language learner, idiosyncrasies in the inter language of the learner that are

direct manifestations of system within which a learner is operating at the time.

25

An error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speakers,

reflecting the inter language competence of the learner.19

The fact that learners do make errors and that these errors can be

observed, analyzed and classified to reveal something of the system operating

within the learner, led to surge of study of learners’ errors, called error

analysis.20 According to Hendrickson, errors are by vocabulary (lexical errors),

grammar (syntactic errors) and morphological errors:21

1. Lexical errors

Lexical error usually occurs as a result of choosing inappropriate

nouns or verbs. The following examples illustrate such faulty lexical

choices. Example:

- He found one bird-home and her eggs. (bird nest)

- Before sleep, he turns-off the curtain on the window. (closes)

2. Morphological errors

These errors occur in these specific grammatical areas:

a. When verb + ing was substituted for verb-ed:

Example: the girl is surprising. (Instead of “The girl is surprised”)

b. Inappropriate past tense forms

Examples:

- They digged around the small tree. (dug)

- It’s impossible it has grew very rapidly. (grown)

19 Muhammad Farkhan, 2006, op.cit. p. 14920 ibid.21 James Hendrickson, Error Analysis and Error Correction in Language teaching, (Singapore:

SEAMEOW Regional Language Centre), 1979, p. 34

26

c. Syntactical errors

It occurs most frequently when preposition and pronouns were

misused or omitted. Misused prepositions often made meaning ambiguous.

Example: they worked and at last they found their sheep without frozen

(Were not). Omitted prepositions also confused meaning. Example: they are

going a bridge. Instead of (they are walking on a bridge).

The misuse of pronouns made several interpretations of meaning

possible especially when subject or possessive pronouns were used

inappropriately. Example: When the woman watches this, he is scared and

cried (she). The wife of the family man wants some ornaments from his

husband (her).

After studying about the error in English construction, it is also important

to clarify about the base theory which is related with this study that is about

interference. It is served based on some the linguist’s theories.

D. Interference

Interference is also as one of important parts to discuss in this part.

Below, this part discusses more about its definition and its kinds.

1. Definition of interference

Language interference is a natural phenomenon in bilingual and

multilingual countries that occurs in a country which basically has bilingual

and multilingual speakers. According to Weinreich:

“Those instances of deviation from the norms of either language which

occur in the speech of bilinguals as a result of their familiarity with more

27

than one language, i.e. as a result of language contact, will be referred to as

interference phenomena.”22

Weinreich sees that language influence as an effect of language

contact in its application by bilingual causes grammatical rule deviation.

This deviation identified then in the term of interference. Interference

happens in the linguistic levels, such as phonology, morphology, syntax till

lexical level.

Actually, if viewed on the importance of language, the influence that

comes from the first language or region languages, there are indeed

profitable, but also will make chaos. The interference that will make chaos

causes the forms and become a rival toward the forms that well establish in

language.The interference of regional languages due to interference of this

chaos is a side effect as a consequence of language’s openness. Today,

Indonesian people are facing all of those influences.

Thus, the definition of interference involves the using of elements

which belong to language when speaking in another language and using two

language systems simultaneously toward the language elements and

consequently a deviation from the norms of each language that occurs in

bilingual speech.

2. Types of Language Interference

Aixelá states interference can be classified to the following four types:

Lexical interference, Syntactic interference, Cultural interference; proper

22 Uriel Weinreich, Language in Contact: Finding and problems, (New York: Mouton Publisher), 1953.

28

nouns included, Structural or pragmatic interference. He claims that the

definition of interference “includes the importation, whether intentional or

not, words and phrases (lexical interference), forms (syntactic interference),

specific cultural items (cultural interference, proper nouns included), or

genre conventions (structural or pragmatic interference)”.23 Interference can

also be classified into: Lexical, Syntactic and Grammatical interference.24

a. Lexical interference: occurs on the level of words. It includes mainly

interferences caused by incorrect or inappropriate direct translation of a

concept.

b. Syntactic interference: occurs on the level above the word. It includes a

syntactic structure, either the whole sentence or a certain part of it.

c. Grammatical interference: occurs in cases in which the subject ignores

the grammatical differences between the two languages.

According to Suwito as quoted by Aslinda that interference can occur

in all components of language, such as phonology, grammar, lexical and

semantic. Besides, Weinreich also divides the interference forms into three

parts, such phonological, lexical and grammatical interference. Weinreich

identifies three types of interference:25

23 Javier Franco Aixelá “An Overview of Interference in Scientific and Technical Translation”. JoSTrans, 11, (2009), p. 75. Full text available at: (http://www.jostrans.org/issue11/issue11_toc.php), Accessed April 2014.

24 Zuzana Havlásková, “Interference in Students’ Translations Master‟s Diploma Thesis”, Masaryk University Faculty of Arts, 2010, p.43.

25 Uriel Weinreich, 1953, op.cit., p. 39

29

a. The transfer of elements from one language to another.

b. Application of elements that do not applicable to the second language

into the first language.

c. Structure disobedience of second language because there is no equivalent

in the first language.

In this part we studied about the base theory which leads this study.

Then, it is more important also to discuss about the main theory that becomes

the main base to conduct this study. It is about grammatical interference.

E. Grammatical Interference

Grammatical interference is one of interference types that need to be

discussed here. The explanation below studies about its definition and its types.

1. Definition of Grammatical Interference

Grammatical interference occurs when learners identify morpheme or

grammatical of first language and then use it in the second language.

Grammatical interference occurs when the elements of source language

included in using of target language step by step in grammatical of target

language, word order, pronoun, conjunctions, subject-verb agreement, tense,

singular-plural agreement, etc. and according to Havlásková grammatical

interference occurs in cases in which the subject ignores the grammatical

differences between the two languages or gets influence.

30

2. Types of Grammatical Interference

Weinreich distinguishes three types of grammatical interference,

namely:26

a. The transfer of morphemes from the source language to the recipient

language

This type occurs in Morphology which is caused by the transfer of

morphemes from the first language in second language usage. For

example, the word “statue” becomes “statuette”. Suffix –ette is derived

from French. In this case showed that the word statue is derived from

English as L1, it can get expansion by adding affix –ette from second

language, French.

b. Interference relates to grammatical relations in particular word order

This type is about the application of Indonesian language into

English and this interference relates to Syntax, namely word order, for

example “girl beautiful” means gadis cantik. It occurs misplaced word

and it must fixed by changing the position becomes beautiful girl.27

c. Interference relates to functions or meaning of grammatical forms

This interference relates to function or grammatical meaning of

language that occurs when a speaker identifies the morpheme or

grammatical of first language and then use it in second language. For

example, there is a sentence “most of the student in the Aclass got good

score in Mathematic”. The usage of that sentence is still influenced by

26 Uriel Weinreich, 1953, op.cit. p. 3027 Putri Martanti, 2011, op.cit, p.35-36.

31

Indonesian language, because in Indonesian there is not plural form by

adding suffix –s meanwhile, in English there is plural form which added

by suffix –s thus, the grammatical sentence is “most of the students in the

A class got good score in Mathematic”.

The interference occurs when two languages in different system come

into contact. Then the types of grammatical interference above are analyzed

on the morphological and syntactic interference. On morphological

interference include analyzing of subject-verb agreement, plural-singular

agreement, to-infinitive, passive voice, and forms of adjective. In the syntax

interference include redundancy, preposition, parallel structure, and

misplaced word analyzing.28

There are some related theories that has discussed in this chapter.

First, it studies about the sentence construction between Indonesian and

English structures. Then, it discusses about the differences between those

two languages through contrastive analysis. After that, it studies about the

error that still commonly happens especially when constructing English on

the error analysis explanation. Then, the study is about interference and the

following study is about the grammatical interference as the base theory in

conducting this study. After discussing about the related theoretical

framework, it is turn to study about the way to do this study through

research methodology in the following chapter.

CHAPTER III

28 Putri Martanti, 2011, op.cit., p.27

32

RESEARCH METHOD

This chapter discusses about the method that the researcher uses. It includes

research design, the subject of the research, research instrument, data collection,

and data analysis.

A. Research Design

In this study the research is aimed to answer particular problem and to

obtain information about the phenomenon of grammatical interference of

Indonesian language among first year students at SMAN 1Mojo. The main aim

of this study is to describe existence of the types of the grammatical

interference of Indonesian language that causes the students often make

ungrammatical English form when they were studying English as foreign

language especially in learning English writing skill.

In this study, the researcher tried to identify and to describe the

grammatical interference made by the students in the written construction. The

researcher wanted to describe the students’ ability in applying grammatical

structure in the writing construction. Therefore, in this study the researcher

used descriptive qualitative method. The researcher uses this method because

there is no control or treatment to this study. Besides, the researcher does not

want to criticize less construction but to explore this phenomenon in students’

writing; to see how it manifests in their works, to offer a list of possible

classifications ofinterferential types and to analyze their frequency.

42

32

33

B. Subject of the Research

In this research, the researcher takes the first year students which consist

of six classes. From six classes the researcher takes one class that is the X-6

class that consists of 38 students as the sample. This subject is chosen to obtain

the information about the grammatical interference of the students writing. The

researcher chooses this class as the representation because all of the classes in

these first year students are taught by the same teacher. They have been getting

materials and any time writing duties from their English teacher. It means that

every class has the same teaching and learning process. In addition, according

to Mrs. Mifta, as the English classes’ teacher, the students in this first year

have the average ability in English subject. Then, to take X-6 class can be

representative sample with the consideration since this class has the first period

in each meeting for English subject class so that it can support and help the

research run well.

C. Data Source

The data source is taken from the writing of the first year students at the

X-6 class of SMAN 1 Mojo. The researcher takes written test to know the

grammatical interference that made in their written construction. The written

tests given are matched with their materials in the class that is about descriptive

text.

D. Research Instrument

29

34

Instrument is research tool getting data to analyze in order to make easy

our duty.29 In this study the researcher used writing test as the research

instrument, especially to compose descriptive text. The written test is done

twice, the first on April 28, 2014 and the second meeting on May 5, 2014. The

first test is served using a set ofsequential picture with the theme my family’s

activities. The students are instructed to compose some paragraphs, and asked

to write a story beginning with the first picture and ending with the last, in the

order presented in the set of the picture given. On the second test, the students

are served some themes, my family; my best friend; my holiday, and then they

are asked to choose one of those themes to compose into some paragraphs,

minimal 2 paragraphs. The students are given for about 60-75 minutes in every

meeting to do those tasks.

E. Data Collection Method

In order to get the data of the students’ grammatical interference on the

writing especially about descriptive text, the researcher used some tests. The

tests were to write descriptive text based on the themes given by the researcher.

After the students finishing their work, the researcher collected their work then

the researcher analyzed it.

F. Data Analysis

29 Suharsimi Arikunto, Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktek, (Jakarta: Rineka Cipta), 2006, p.136.

35

Data analysis is a process of looking for the information material

systematically of the data found on the test. In this study, to analyze the data

the researcher takes some ways as follows:

1. Identifying the ungrammatical forms

This first step is taken to observe the inappropriate or ungrammatical

English forms on the students’ writing construction generally.

2. Identifying the grammatical interference

In this step the researcher studied the acquired data and tried to find

out the grammatical interference.The researcher analyzed the sentences

containing grammatical interference which are collected from written

construction of the students’ at SMAN 1 Mojo.

3. Classifying the grammatical interference

Once the sentences have been identified, then the compiled data are

categorized into several categories of grammatical interference. They are

interference relates to function or meaning of grammatical forms and

interference in word order. Those categories are analyzed based on the

morphological and syntactic interference. On morphological interferences

include classification of subject-verb agreement, plural-singular agreement,

to-infinitive, passive voice, and forms of adjective. Then, in the syntactic

interferences include redundancy, preposition, parallel structure, and

misplaced word classification.

4. Listing the result in table

36

Once the grammatical interferences are classified, the researcher

constructed table for the result of the analysis. This table is meant to ease

the identification. Therefore, the result of the analysis of the grammatical

interference in writing descriptive text made by the first year students of

SMAN 1 Mojo in the form of table. The researcher rewrites the sentences

and corrects them into English grammatical sentences.

The result of the analysis can be served in the example table as follows:

No. Corpuses Types of grammatical interference Correct sentence

5. Drawing a conclusion

The last step would be drawing a conclusion based on the analysis. In

this step, the researcher has to make a valid conclusion in the form of a brief

description of the grammatical interferences found and also through

triangulation validation.

G. Triangulation

Triangulation is needed to validate the researcher’s working on a study.

According to Michael Quinn Patton in his book entitled How to Use

Qualitative method in Evaluation, 1991, there are four basic types of

triangulation.30 The first type is data triangulation in which various data sources

are employed in a study. The second type of triangulation is investigator

triangulation in which some different evaluators are used in evaluating a

30 Michael Quinn Patton, Metode Evaluasi Kualitatif, translated by Budi Puspo Riady, (Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 1996), p.98.

37

problem. The third type is theory triangulation in which it is possible to use

various perspective and theories in analyzing a set of data. The last type is

methodology triangulation in which various methods are used in analyzing

data. In this study, the researcher uses investigator that is Bu NurAfifi, M. App.

Ling. to always investigate, evaluate, and track the researcher’s work in doing

the research.

CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

38

After conducting the research, the result and its discussion are presented in

this chapter.

A. Findings

As previously stated, this study is conducted to know the grammatical

interference in the written construction made by the first year students of

SMAN 1 Mojo especially about descriptive writing. According to Weinreich

there are three types of grammatical interference. They are the transfer of

morphemes from the source language to the recipient language; interference

relates to function or meaning of grammatical forms; and interference in

particular word order. After analyzing the data, there are two of three types of

grammatical interference found. They are interference relates to function or

meaning of grammatical forms and interference in particular word order. These

two types of interference are found based on the analyzing of morphological

and syntactic interference.

1. Morphological Interference

In morphological interference, it analyzes on the word form including

number, person, tense, voice, and gender in rule. To make their role in

describing language structure becomes clearer, the researcher considers

them in terms of agreement.

a. Subject-verb agreement38

39

The subject and verb must agree in number; both must be singular

or both must be plural. When the subject of the entity performing the

action is third singular pronoun; he, she, it or words for which these

pronouns could substitute so in the end of the verb has to be added –s or

–es. Then, if the subject is for the first, second, or third plural pronoun, it

is no need to add –s or –es in the end of a verb.Data about subject-verb

agreement found on the students’ writing are served on the table below.

Table 1 Subject – Verb Agreement

No. Corpuses Types of grammatical interference

Correct sentence

1 My father give many advice to us.

Interference relates to

function or meaning of grammatical

forms

My father gives many advices for us.

2 My Mom very know how make the delicious food.

My Mom really knows how to make delicious food.

3 My father have idea to make birthday party to my sister.

My father has an idea to make birthday party to my sister.

4 All equipment is ready to celebrate birthday.

All equipments are ready to celebrate the birthday.

5 I’m and my sister is reading a book.

My sister and I are reading a book.

6 There so many fisherman. There are so many fishermen.

7 We also could saw sunrise and sunset.

We also could see sunrise and sunset.

8 At Sunday, I go to beach Waduk Cacaban.

On Sunday, I went to Waduk Cacaban beach.

9 She too also humorous She is humorous too10 I from Jakarta city and she from

Kebumen, Central Java.I am from Jakarta city and she is from Kebumen, Central Java.

11 I will diligent more as like father say for me.

I will be more diligent just like my father said to me.

12 My mother usually do her hobby. My mother usually does her hobby.

40

13 My Mom have cook the delicious food.

My Mom has cooked delicious food.

Data

My father give many advice to us. (Ayah member i banyak nasehat untuk

kami).

My mother usually do her hobby. (Ibu biasanya mengerjakan hobinya)

In the sentence above, there is subject with third singular person

“father”or with pronoun “he” but the form of the verb still in the bare

form. It is still influenced by Indonesian structure that no needs to change

the verb form whatever subject used in a sentence. That is different from

the English structure that has to be added –s or –es for the third person as

the subject. Although after the subject, there is an adverb of frequency

“usually”, as like the second sentence, it still should be followed by the

verb using suffix –s or -es. Thus, the correct sentences are: “My father

gives many advices for us.”, and “my mother usually does her hobby.”

Data

She too also humorous. (dia juga lucu)

I from Jakarta city and she from Kebumen, Central Java.

(saya dari Jakarta dan dia (pr) dari Kebumen, Jawa Tengah)

In the sentences above, the copula be does not appear. In the first

sentence it is a kind of adjectival sentence that in Indonesian the subject

33

33

41

can be directly followed by adjective without any copula be addition, but

it is different from English structure that needs to add copula be as the

agreement before the adjective placed. Thus, the correct sentence is “she

is humorous too”. Then the second sentence, there is no agreement also.

It is non-verbal sentence that needs the presence of copula be which is

appropriate with the subject. Thus, the correct sentence is “I am from

Jakarta city and she is from Kebumen, Central Java.”

b. Singular-plural agreement

In English, there is a term that indicates whether the number of

noun or pronoun is in singular or plural form. The form of words that

indicate one or less than one is called the singular, whereas more than

one is plural.31 Indonesian language does not distinguish singular and

plural form and to denote plurality, a reduplicated form of the noun is

used.

Indonesian language does not use copula be that could change

depending on the noun, either singular or plural as in grammatical

English. Noun can be divided into singular or plural which most nouns

are formed by adding suffix –s or –es in the singular, if not need

syllables.

Table 2 Singular – Plural Agreement

No. Corpuses Types of grammatical

Correct sentence

31Anies M. Basmalah, Sistem Analisis Kalimat untuk TOEFL, (Jakarta: Rineka Cipta), 1994, p.10

42

interference1 All of my friend come to my

birthday party.

Interference on particular word

order

All of my friends come to my birthday party.

2 There so many fisherman. There are so many fishermen.

3 Many material we must buy for this party.

We must buy many materials for this party.

4 I and my bigbrother also assembled many shell.

My elder brother and I also assembled many shells.

5 I want be the good children for my Mom.

I want to be a good child for my Mom.

6 All equipment is ready to celebrate birthday.

All equipments are ready to celebrate the birthday.

7 I will be a good and religious people.

I will be a good and religious person.

8 We invite our friends at school and all neighbor.

We invite our friends at school and all neighbors.

9 Many man and children come. Many men and children come.

10 All of his friends come and give a lot of gift.

All of his friends come and give a lot of gifts.

Data 1

All of my friend come to my birthday party.

(semua temanku datang ke pesta ulang tahunku.)

There so many fisherman. (ada begitu banyak nelayan)

In English, there must be in harmony between the pronoun and its

reference. The pronoun must be appropriate with its reference. In the first

sentence above, “all” means plural form and refers to “my friend” which

is single. Grammatically, the reference “my friend” must follow its

pronoun and take the plural agreement as same as with its pronoun with

43

adding suffix -s. So, the appropriate noun or reference for “my friend” is

“my friends”. Then, the correct sentence is “All of my friends come to my

birthday party.”

In the second sentence above, the sentence still follows the

grammatical Indonesian where the word “many” means the plural that no

need to change the noun into plural because it has been clarified by the

word “many” or “banyak”. The word “many” means plural form and

refers to “fisherman” which is single form and needs to change into

plural form to become “fishermen”. The word “man” is irregular form

that to change into plural has to follow the rule. So, the correct sentence

is “there are so many fishermen.”

Data

I will be a good and religious people.

In the sentence above, the article “a” means singular form and

refers to “people” which is plural form in English. It is different from

Indonesian, “people” means “orang” in singular form and to make it

plural just in a reduplicate form. It means the student writes that sentence

still gets influence from Indonesian and there is not harmony at that

sentence. Then, the appropriate noun or reference for “people” is

“person”. So, the right sentence is “I will be a good and religious person”

c. To-infinitive form

44

An infinitive phrase will begin with infinitive form (to + simple

form of the verb). The compiled data taken are as follows:

Table 3 To-Infinitive

No. Corpuses Types of grammatical interference

Correct sentence

1 We plan to shopping in the supermarket with buy prize.

Interference relates to

function or meaning of grammatical

forms

We plan to shop in the supermarket to buy prize.

2 I want be the good children for my Mom.

I want to be a good child for my Mom.

3 My Mom very know how make the delicious food.

My Mom really knows how to make delicious food.

4 I helped my mother lift the dry clothes.

I helped my mother to lift the dry clothes.

5 Then I helped Mom make a cake and decorate the house.

Then I helped my Mom to make a cake and to decorate the house.

6 We start know meaning the life.

We start to know the meaning of life.

7 My friends come all, my neighbor all celebrate my birthday.

All of my friends and my neighbors come to celebrate my birthday.

Data

We plan to shopping in the supermarket with buy prize. (kita berencana

belanja di supermarket dengan membeli hadiah.)

Infinitive will begin with to and simple verb (Verb 1). The word

“shopping” becomes “shop”. So, the correct sentence is “we plan to shop

in the supermarket to buy prize”.

Data

45

I helped my mother lift the dry clothes. (saya membantu ibuku

mengangkat jemuran)

We start know meaning the life. (kita mulai mengetahui arti kehidupan.)

In the sentences above, it shows that the sentences are

ungrammatically English. Grammatically, if there are more than one verb

in a sentence, one of ways to construct the verb is to separate using to, so

that become infinitive verb for the second verb and more. The word “lift”

becomes “to lift” and “know” becomes “to know”. So, the correct

sentences are “I helped my Mom to lift the dry clothes” and “we start to

know the meaning of life”.

d. Passive-voice form

The passive voice is preferred when the “doer” of an action (or the

agent) is unimportant or unknown. The compiled data are as on the table

below:

Table 4 Passive – Voice

No. Corpuses Types of grammatical interference

Correct sentence

1 The event immortalized in video. Interference relates to

function or meaning of grammatical forms

The event was immortalized in the video.

2 The show closed with gift giving.

The show was closed by gift giving.

3 Many gift all gived to me. Many gifts are given to me.

The formula which is used in passive voice is linking verb/to be +

past participle. Those sentences can be classified into passive voice based

on the meaning of those sentences and unknown the doer. Based on the

sentences above, the verbs are in the past participle forms but there isno

46

linking verb/to be. It makes those sentences become incorrect and

ungrammatical. The verbs need to be added with copula be “was” and

“are”. So, the correct sentences are “The event was immortalized in the

video.”, “The show was closed by gift giving.”, and “Many gifts are

given to me.”

e. The form of adjective

Many English adjectives exhibit three forms that express the

positive, comparative, and superlative.On this data found,

Table 5 Forms of AdjectiveNo. Corpuses Types of

grammatical interference

Correct sentence

1 The park includes the three larger islands.

Interference relates to function or meaning of grammatical forms

The park includes three large islands.

2 I and my big brother also assembled many shell.

My elder brother and I also assembled many shell.

In the first sentence above shows that the form of adjective is

“larger”. The word “large” has one syllable and it is correct to have

suffix –er. But what makes inappropriate is the use of the word. Suffix –

er is used to compare with the other noun. At that sentence there is no

comparison. So, the word “larger” is changed to “large” to show as the

positive adjective that there is no comparison on that sentence. Then, the

correct sentence is “The Park includes three large islands.”

47

In the second sentence shows the interference relates to meaning of

grammatical forms. The word “big” change to become “elder” and the

correct sentence is “My elder brother and I also assembled many shells.”

2. Syntactic Interference

The syntactic interference forms are discussed on the redundancy,

preposition, parallel structure, and misplaced word. The discussions more

are as follows:

a. Redundancy

When grammatical item or syntactic element is unnecessary for the

sentence to be correct, such an item is redundant. Sentences with

redundant items could be either structurally wrong or seem strange in

English grammar. Indonesian people tend to beat around the bush when

specifying their intentions. They also like to add unnecessary words in

the sentences. In the study of language, redundancy is the construction of

a phrase that presents some ideas using more information than is

necessary for one to be able understand the idea.32

Often times, redundancies occur in speech unintentionally

however, redundant phrases can also deliberately construct for emphasis,

in order to avoid the possibility of others’ misinterpretation of a very

important idea. Through the use of repetition of certain concepts,

32 John J. De Boer, Basic Language, (New York: Harper & Row, Publisher, Inc.), 1982, p.224.

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redundancy increases the odds of predictability of a message’s meaning

and understanding to others. A good sentence is the sentence that

effectively as possible without any additional element of the sentence

that already has the same meaning in the sentence. The data about

redundancy found are as follows:

Table 1 Redundancy

Corpuses Types of grammatical interference

Correct sentence

After eating they all start doing activities. Interference in particular

word order

After eating they start doing activities.

She too also humorous. She is humorous too.

Like the case above, the Indonesian often add the word, phrase or

sentence elements appear to make full sentences, but often the added

element makes the sentence becomes redundant. The student wants to

express the view of similarity of the sentences in the table above using

the phrase commonly used in Indonesian. The student does not consider

that in English, if someone refers back to something that has been already

mentioned or to emphasize what his or her suggestion, she or he used on

of these preposition, also or too, which one is more appropriate with the

sentence. Word “too” has similar meaning to”also”. So, the word “also”

can be dropped from the sentence. Therefore, the correct form of the

second sentence in the table is “she is humorous too.”

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In the first sentence above, there is redundancy. The student wants

to emphasize the plural form of the pronoun so that it is added word

“all”. The student does not consider that in English, by using “they” has

showed the plural form and the word “all” can be dropped from the

sentence. So, the correct form of the first sentence is “After eating they

start doing activities.”

b. Preposition

Preposition has been called the biggest little word in English. It is

always followed by nouns or pronouns and is connective word that shows

relationship between the nouns following it and one of the basic sentence

elements: subject, object or complement. It usually indicates

relationships such as position, place, direction, time, manner, agent,

possession, and condition between its object and other parts of the

sentence.33 And the data found are as follows:

Table 2 Preposition

No.

Corpuses Types of grammatical interference

Correct sentence

33 George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks, Let’s Write English Revised Edition, (New York: American Book Company), 1950, p.288.

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1 I and my friends planned to spend our holiday at Bogor.

Interference in particular

word order

My friends and I planned to spend our holiday in Bogor.

2 The show lasted 2 hours with the festive and closed with gift giving.

The show lasted 2 hours in a festive and was closed by gift giving.

3 At Sunday, I go to beach Waduk Cacaban.

On Sunday, I went to Waduk Cacaban beach.

4 She has of the same age with me. She has the same age as mine.

6 On this 17th year, I willdiligent more as like father say for me.

On this 17th year, I will be more diligent as like my father saidto me.

7 My father give many advice to us. My father gives many advices for us.

Data:

I and my friends planned to spend our holiday at Bogor.

The show lasted 2 hours with the festive and closed with gift giving.

At Sunday, I go to beach Waduk Cacaban.

According to Betty Schrampfer Azar in English Grammar Second

Addition, preposition of place, name of month, year, century, or season is

used “in”. Grammatically, the appropriate preposition before the name of

town in the first sentence above is innot at. So, the correct sentence is

“my friends and I planned to spend our holiday inBogor.”

The using with preposition has the same function as by that is to

express how something is done. Such in the second sentence above, the

phrasal verb is in passive meaning and it is more appropriate using by so

that the correct sentence is “The show lasted 2 hours in the festive and

was closed by gift giving.” Then, to show preposition of time; a date or a

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weekday is “on”. Grammatically, the appropriate preposition before a

weekday in the third sentence above is used “on” not “at” and the correct

sentence is “On Sunday, I went to Waduk Cacaban beach.”

c. Parallel structure

Each language has its own rules of grammatical structure which

differ between one language and another one. One use of a conjunction is

to connect words or phrases that have the same grammatical function in a

sentence. This use of conjunction is called parallel structure.34By this

conjunction we can only combine certain words that have similar

function as noun, adjective, adverb, etc. The parts that are combined

should be similar. All parts of series must have some grammatical

structure. When all the parts of series in a sentence have the same

grammatical structure, the sentence has good parallel structure. A series

may have two, three, four or more parts, but all parts must be parallel.

Indonesian recognizes the existence of parallel structures, but

equality of the elements in a sentence only applies to the function and

category equivalence. Indonesian ignores equality on some provisions

such as; to infinitive, verb-ing (gerund), specific period form because in

Indonesian grammatical, there are no such provisions. So that, the

students do not understand well the pattern of to infinitive, write a

34 Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and using English grammar, 2nd Ed., (New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents) 1989, p.287.

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sentence in which there are provisions such as Indonesian patterns,

consequently written sentence structure in English become not parallel.

The data taken are as follows:

Table 3 Parallel Structure

No. Corpuses Types of grammatical interference

Correct sentence

1 We plan to shopping in the supermarket with buy prize. Interference in

particular word order

We plan to shop in the supermarket to buy prize.

2 Then I helped Mom make a cake and decorate the house.

Then I helped my Mom to make a cake and to decorate the house.

3 I hope Allahalwaysbless us, protect us, and help us.

I hope Allah always blesses, protects, and helps us.

Those sentences above present a series of ideas about one person or

object. But all part of a series does not have the same grammatical

structure. It means that those sentences do not have good parallel

structure. It can be said that those sentences ungrammatically English.

Such as two sentences above, the first and the second sentence in

the table, the verb “shopping” and “make, decorate” are unparallel

because they do not use “to infinitive”. Based on English Grammar if

there is more than one verb in a sentence, one of arrangement ways, it

has to be constructed using verb + infinitive order. So, the verb

“shopping” must be in “to shop” and the words “make and decorate”

become “to make” and “to decorate”. Then, the correct sentences are “We

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plan to shop in the supermarket to buy prize” and “Then I helped my

Mom to make a cake and to decorate the house.”

On the third sentence above there is no parallel verbs order. The

subject used in the sentence is third singular pronoun so the verbs have to

be added –s or–es. Then, the correct sentence is “I hope Allah always

blesses, protects, and helps us.”

d. Misplaced word

Every language has its own unique grammar. Just like English,

Indonesian also has its own grammar. Before uttering sentence in a

foreign language, someone usually arranges the sentences in the mind in

his or her native language and later changes into the unintended

language. Sometimes, the outcome has the same word by word position

with the original language. The compiled data about misplaced words are

as follows:

Table 4 Misplaced Word

No. Corpuses Types of grammatical interference

Correct sentence

1 I and my friends planned to spend our holiday at Bogor.

Interference in particular

word order

My friends and I planned to spend our holiday in Bogor.

2 I go to beach Waduk Cacaban. I go to Waduk Cacaban beach.

3 Usually before have breakfast I pray together with my family.

Before having breakfast, I usually pray together with my family.

4 My mother notice to my sister to become children smart.

My mother notices to my sister to be smart child.

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5 I was happy once. I was very happy.6 In school my friend very many and

they all very good.I have many friends in the school and they are very kind.

7 In there I took many pictures with my family.

I took many pictures with my family there.

8 Many material we must buy for this party.

We must buy Many materials for this party.

9 She too also humorous She is humorous too.10 Adolescent period is very–

veryhappy.Adolescent is a very happy period.

11 She is a friend smart. She is a smart friend.12 She finally gives me opinion as my

sister.Finally, she gives me opinion as my sister.

13 On this 17th year, I will diligent more as like father say for me.

On this 17th year, I will be more diligent as like my father said to me.

14 Study today is English. Today’s study is English.

15 My friends come all, my neighbor all celebrate my birthday.

All of my friends and my neighbors come to celebrate my birthday.

Data:

I and my friends planned to spend our holiday at Bogor.

She is a friend smart.

She finally gives me opinion as my sister.

Based on the English Grammar, the order to place the subject or the

doer in a sentence is arranged to put another doer first, then the speaker

his or herself, that is “I” pronoun. It is proposed as the respectful way. As

like in the first sentence is improper order. The correct sentence must be

“my friends and I planned to spend our holiday in Bogor.”

In the second sentence, the misplaced word occurs on the phrase

”friend smart”. The word “smart” is an adjective form which its place is

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before a noun or thing as modifier. It is different from the sentence above

where the adjective is behind the noun. It still follows Indonesian

grammar. To make it in grammatically English, the correct sentence is

“She is a smart friend.”

The adverb of time in the third sentence above is inappropriate

place. It comes between subject and verb. Adverb of time for that

sentence above should be written before subject and after it should be

given comma. Thus, the right sentence is ”finally, she gives me opinion

as my sister.”

B. Discussion

This study provided a view and indication of the types of interference

English language learners produced in writing tasks in the classroom. It also

supplied evidence of source language with target language, its extent and

effects, as shown in the analysis of the learners’ written English texts. This was

clearly shown in the way that the learners used their Indonesian structure to

help them forming their English texts, indicating a direct interference of

Indonesian on English.

Data about grammatical Indonesian interference are analyzed in the form

of table and followed by its analysis on research finding. The identifications

are based on morphological interference; such assubject-verb agreement,

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singular-plural agreement, to-infinitive, passive-voice form, and the form of

adjective; based on syntactic interference including redundancy, preposition,

parallel structure, and misplaced word identifications.

Based on the analyses of the types of interference found that subject-verb

agreement, singular-plural agreement, and misplaced-word are the three most

problematic grammatical categories among the learners. Although not all

mistakes are due to mother tongue interference, a large number of mistakes

identified in the use of those three most problematic grammatical categories

reflected the interference of Indonesian structure.

In the subject-verb agreement there are many interferences found. It

happened because the students may get interference of Indonesian language.

They write in English but they still use the Indonesian grammatical rules. In

Indonesian there is no need to change the verb forms whatever the subject

used. In grammatical Indonesian there is no also verb agreement whatever the

adverb of time or when the circumstance happens. There is no past form or past

participle verb form in Indonesian, whenever circumstance happen, now, last

week, last month, or in the future, the verb form used is still in the base verb

forms. Of course it can make interference when the students learn and apply

the rules especially in the writing.

In the singular-plural agreement, the learners also made any interference.

It is caused in Indonesian language there is no rule to change the noun into

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plural through adding suffix –s or –es in regular nouns as well in English rules.

The way to change noun into plural in Indonesian is through reduplicated the

word or adding the amount of the noun.

The other one which has much interference in syntactic interference is

misplaced-word that still uses the Indonesian structure in constructing the

English written tasks. They used to use Indonesian language in their daily

communication so that these habits interfere with those needed for English

learning. Many learners still apply their Indonesian structure in doing English

written tasks in this study.

This finding verifies the theory which is stated by Weinreich about the

grammatical interference as an effect of language contact in its application by

bilingual causes grammatical rule deviation even about its classification. This

finding is also in line with some previous researches’ result. It is as well in the

Marlyna Maros’ study with the title Interference in Learning English:

Grammatical Errors in English Essay Writing among Rural Malay Secondary

School Students in Malaysia and Baljit Bhela with the title Native language

interference in learning a second language.

According to Marlina Maros and friends, where their study is concerned,

they found the most three problematic grammatical categories are the use of

determiners, SVA (subject-verb agreement), and the usage of copula be.35 From

35 Marlyna Maros, Tan Kim Hua & Khazriyati Salehuddin, op.cit, 2007, p.14.

58

those three categories subject-verb agreement is the most common interference

happened and then the usage of copula ‘be’ in wrongly produced. Their study

also shows that omission and wrong forms used are the two most common

types of errors in all three grammatical categories. The difference of Malay can

be seen in those examples. In the SVA is my mother like to eat chicken rice

(Malay: Emak saya suka makan nasi ayam. On the copula ‘be’ also includes

about the errors in the use of plural and singular form, e.g. My mother hobbies

is cooking, read, and anything.

The another study, conducted by Bhela on the combination of two Asian

(including Vietnamese and Cambodian) and two European languages

(including Spanish and Italian) also found that the most common interference

happen is about SVA such as the usage of present, past tense, and plurals.36

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

After analyzing the data then in this chapter it states the conclusion about

the result of this study and the suggestion.

A. Conclusion

36 Baljit Bhela, “Native Language Interference in Learning a Second Language: Exploratory Case Studies of Native Language Interference with Target Language Usage”, International Education Journal Vol 1, No 1, 1999, p.8.

59

Learning foreign language is surely different from learning one’s mother

tongue. People who learn foreign language will make mistake in using foreign

language. Language interference is a natural phenomenon that occurs in

bilingual or multilingual countries. Grammatical interference is one of

language interferences. Grammatical interference is a natural phenomenon that

occurs when elements of first language included in using of second language

step by step in grammatical of second language such as word order, pronoun,

subject-verb agreement, conjunction, singular-plural agreement, tense, etc.

Based on the data which has been analyzed in this study, the researcher

has some conclusions that can be drawn which include the types of

grammatical interference in the students’ written task. There are two types of

grammatical interference found. They are Interference relates to function or

meaning of grammatical forms and interference relates to word orders. In this

study, the researcher analyzes the students’ written from morphological

interference and syntactic interference. Morphological interference consists of

subject-verb agreement, singular-plural agreement, passive voice, to infinitive,

and forms of adjective. On those categories are found two categories with

many interferences happen, they are subject-verb agreement and singular-

plural agreement. Then, syntactic interference consists of redundancy,

preposition, misplaced word, and parallel structure which the misplaced-word

as the most in amount for interference found.

Interference along Indonesian language may happen for all classes of

society, even educated or uneducated society, even for rural or urban society in

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the formal or informal situation. Interference that happens in written or orally

conversations cannot be disappeared, but the degree of interference can be

coped with. But through the higher education degree, more prosperous

economically, the less interference can be created because of the situation and

condition that prosecute someone to use good language.37

B. Suggestion

Form the analysis and the conclusion above, the researcher would like to

propose the following suggestions for whoever concerns with the study of

English.

First, for the teacher could apply an appropriate method, as like

Traditional Grammar, to explain the base and the correct grammatical English

and to give the example of the usages. After giving the theory of grammar, the

teacher also should give more exercises in applying grammar, as like giving

more writing exercises in writing class, so that it can make the students to be

more familiar with English writing.

Second, for those students who are interested in studying grammatical

interference, they can study further about the subject by using any kinds of

interferences which supports the matter. They can also use this research as the

additional reference so that it can help the further research to be better.

Finally, the writer hopes that this thesis can be benefit for the readers as

multilingual users who like speaking and writing English in order to minimize

37 Aslinda and Leni Syafyahya, Pengantar Sosiolinguistik, Bandung: PT. Refika Aditama, 2007, p. 83.

61

and to anticipate the ungrammatical produce in their speech and written as a

result of grammatical interference.

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