Chapter II

Related Study, Literature Review, Theoretical Framework, and

Hypothesis

2.1 Related Study

In this part, the researcher presents some materials that have

relation to this topic. The researcher focuses on how the implementation of

error analysis improves students’ writing skill.

The first research is conducted by Ameena Zafar (2016) and the

title Error Analysis: a tool to improve English skills of undergraduate

students. The study focuses on the evaluation of the writing components of

a four months’ Business Communication course for a class of thirty-seven

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) students at Mohammad Ali

Jinnah University Islamabad. It is based on the idea that effectiveness in

English Writing can be achieved by identifying, categorizing, and

analyzing the most prominent errors made by the English as a Second

Language Students in written tasks. In conclusion of this research, the

second language influence error was reduced to 169 in test II as compared

232 in test I.

The second research is entitled Error Analysis of Students Essay: A

Case of First Year Students of The University of Health and Allied

Sciences by Benjamin Amoakoheme. The aim of this study is to explore

the competence level of first year students of the University after they
 have gone through the Academic and Communicative Skill program for

two semesters. That is, the paper seeks to analyze whether the students are

able to apply the knowledge they gain in the class by writing error-free

text or whether they still face challenges in avoiding errors in their essays

and if so, to identify the type of errors that typify their writing. For the

conclusions, it is clear that after going through the program for two

semesters, first year students of university are not able to effectively apply

the rules of usage of the English language. That is, out of 50 scripts that

were analyze, 1.050 errors were detected, a situation that needs immediate

attention to help the graduates from this university to be well equipped in

the field of Academics Writing and Communicative Skill so as to enable

them complete confidently both at international and local levels.

After reading and understanding the previous studies about using Error

Analysis in teaching English language, the recent researcher conducted that the

research about using Error Analysis can improve students’ writing skill in English

subject. The researcher found that the similarity between this research and related

studies is that the researcher focuses on using error analysis to find students’

needs to improve their English language skills specially writing. The researcher

analyzes the students’ work to find out their lack in writing and how to cure it.

The difference between the previous studies and this research is in the sample. In

previous study, the subject is undergraduate students, while this research is

students in junior high school.

2.2 Literature Review

2.2.1 Writing Skill

2.2.1.1 Definition

The definitions of writing are variously stated by some experts.

Urquhart and Mclver (2005: 5-6) state that writing is a recursive process,

which means students revise throughout the process, frequently moving

back and forth among the stages. Then, students should learn strategies for

invention and discovery, and teachers should help students generate

content and discover a purpose. Also, it is stated that readers, purpose, and

occasion define all types of writing and effective writing fulfills the

writer’s intention and meets the readers’ needs. It means that writing is a

complex process and it seems reasonable to expect, then the teaching of

writing is complex as well. Moreover, Harmer (2004) states that writing

encourages students to focus on accurate language use. It is because

students consider the language use when the students engage in their

writing process. This activity will provoke language development because

the students resolve problems what writing puts in students’ minds.

Based on the definitions above, a definition of writing skill can be

obtained. Writing is a productive process which is done through some

stages. Firstly, exploring and transmitting ideas, thought and feeling into

written form. Secondly, conducting a number of revising process to carry

out a grammatically and orderly texts. The writing productions are in the
 forms of readable texts which should be meaningful to everyone who read

the writing.

2.2.1.2 Components of Writing

On the teaching of writing, an evaluation should be done to

measure or to know the students’ ability in writing. The effectiveness of a

learning process of writing skill can be measured through an error analysis

activity. According to Brown (2001: 357), the categories for evaluating

writing are:

a. Content

It includes thesis statement, related ideas, development of

ideas, and development of ideas through personal experience,

illustration, facts, and opinions. This element involves focusing

on a clear, manageable idea, argument, or thesis around which

to organize your material. It includes selecting subordinate

ideas that support and reinforce your central idea.

b. Organization

It includes the effectiveness of introduction, logical

sequence of ideas, conclusion and appropriate length. This

element of writing has to do with coherent arrangement of

material. It involves keeping the reader oriented to the central

and subordinate ideas. Good organization is logical and

sequential. It guides the reader between divisions of the

material.
c. Discourse

It includes topic sentences, paragraph unity, transitions,

discourse markers, cohesion, rhetorical conventions, reference,

fluency, economy, variation.

d. Syntax

Generally accepted rules of grammar are followed,

including pronoun/noun agreement, subject/verb agreement,

appropriate verb tense, pronoun case, possessive forms, parallel

construction, etc.

e. Vocabulary

f. Mechanics

It includes spelling, punctuation, and citation of references,

neatness and appearance. This element of writing counts only

when it’s wrong. Fair or not, your reader will notice your

spelling, grammar, or punctuation only when you make a

mistake.

 Spelling, including technical terms and proper names, is

correct.

 Correct words are used to convey the intended meaning.

 Punctuation, particularly comma placement, reflects

standard usage.
2.2.1.3 Types of Writing

Types of writing activities to perform writing should be based on

the students’ level and capacity. According to Brown (2001: 343), there

are five major categories of classroom writing performance:

a. Imitative, or writing down

This type is at the beginning level of learning to write.

Students will simply write down English letter, words, and

possibly sentences in order to learn the conventions of the

orthographic code.

b. Intensive, or controlled

This intensive writing typically appears in controlled,

written grammar exercises. This type of writing does not allow

much creativity on the part of the writer. A controlled writing is

to present in which the students have to alter a given structure

throughout.

c. Self-writing

The most salient instance of this category in classroom is

note-taking by the students. Diary or journal writing also falls

into this category.

d. Display writing

For all language students, short answer exercises, essay

examinations and research reports will involve an element of

 display. One of the academic skills of ESL students that they

need to master is a whole array of display writing techniques.

e. Real Writing

Some classroom writing aims at the genuine

communication of messages to an audience in need of those

messages.

According to the theories above, the teaching of writing skill

should be well constructed. Those types of writing activities that will be

applied in teaching writing are based on the students’ level and capacity.

Also, the writing practices, including writing paragraphs or simple essays

should be based on the standards of competence and the basic

competencies. Those efforts above should be done well to improve the

students’ writing skill.

2.2.1.4 Types of text

Writing processes always deal with texts as the products. Feez,

(2002: 4) that creating texts requires making choices about the words that

are used and how it can be put together. She also states that there are

various kinds of texts called text type. According to Feez (2002: 85-86),

the families of text type are:

a. Exchanges

 Simple exchanges is relating to information and goods

and services.

 Complex or problematic exchanges

  Casual conversation

b. Forms

 Simple formatted texts

 Complex formatted texts

c. Procedures

 Instruction

 Procedures

 Protocols

d. Information Texts

 Descriptions

 Explanations

 Reports

 Directives

e. Story Texts

 Narratives

 Recounts

f. Persuasive Texts

 Opinion texts

 Exposition

 Discussion

According to the standard of competence and the basic

competencies of students at the second grade of Junior High School, the

students are expected to write a narrative, a recount text and a descriptive

 orderly and grammatically. To produce qualified narrative, recount and

descriptive writings, the students need to be stimulated in expressing ideas

and to be guided in their writing process. Besides, they also need to be

supported by providing them qualified and understandable inputs.

2.2.1.5 Descriptive Text.

Descriptive Text is a kind of text with a purpose to give

information. The context of this kind of text is the description of particular

thing, animal, person, or others, for instance: our pets or a person we know

well. It differs from Report which describes things, animals, persons, or

others in general. The Social Function of Descriptive Text is to describe a

particular person, place, or thing.

a. Generic Structure

The Generic Structure of Descriptive Text consists of Identification

and Description.

 Identification

Introduction a thing, place, or person that want to be

described.

 Description:

Descriptions the parts, qualities, and characteristics of the

thing, person, or place which beings discussed.

Descriptive text is use relational verbs “to be” and “has/have”.

Examples:

 Samuel Rizal is a famous actor.

  He has very short hair.

These sentences are in the simple present tense.

- Nouns

They are found in (1) the topic of description: a classroom,

and (2) the parts of the classroom: doors, windows, tables,

pictures, chairs, and walls.

- Adjectives

They are used to describe the characteristics of the topic

and the parts. They characteristics can be the size (big), color

(brown), or the quality (clean). For example: the adjectives

„big‟ and „clean‟ describe the classroom. The adjective

„brown‟ describes „the doors‟ and „the windows‟. Vocabulary

for describing someone, such as:

 Tall, short, big, thin, fat, slim

 Hair, face, nose, cheeks, mouth, lips

 Curly, straight, long, short, wavy, black, grey

 Oval, round, pointed, flat

- Language focus

 Verb be ; is, am, are

 Verb have ; have, has

 Verb do ; do, does

 Simple present tense

 - Noun phrases

There are combination of adjectives and nouns. (e.g.: big

and clean classroom, two brown doors).

b. Language Features

Descriptive often uses 'be' and 'have'. Tense which is often used is

Simple Present Tense. However, sometimes it uses Past tense if the

thing to be described doesn't exist anymore.

o Significant Grammatical Features:

 Focus on specific participants.

(My English teacher, Andini’s cat, my favorite place)

 Use of Simple Present Tense

 Use of Simple Past Tense if Extinct.

 Verbs of being and having

“Relational Processes”

(My mum is really cool, she has long black hair)

 Use of descriptive adjectives

(Strong legs, white fangs)

 Use of detailed Noun Phrase to give information about

the subject.

(Very beautiful scenery, a sweet young lady, very thick

fur)

 Use of action verbs 'Material Processes'

(It eats grass, it runs fast)

  Use of adverbials to give additional information about

behavior

(Fast, at tree house)

 Use of Figurative language

 (John is as white as chalk.)

2.3 Error Analysis

Making errors is the most natural thing in the world and it is

evidently attached to the human being. But, how do we define an error?

There are different definitions of the word and as Ellis explains "learners

make errors in both comprehension and production, the first being rather

scantly investigated. Children learning their first language (Ll), adult

native speakers, and second language learners; they all make errors which

have a different name according to the group committing the errors.

Children's errors have been seen as "transitional forms", the native

speakers' ones are called "slips of the tongue" and the second language

(L2) errors are considered "unwanted forms"(George, 1972)".

The study of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) can be said to

have passed through a series of phases defined by the modes of inquiry

researchers have utilized in their work: contrastive analysis, error

analysis, performance analysis, and discourse analysis. As we look into

the roots and development of error analysis, we can first overview

contrastive analysis to gain better insight into how error analysis became

more popular among SLA researchers.

Corder (1967) went on to say that in first language acquisition, we

interpret child's 'incorrect' utterances as being evidence that he is in the

process of acquiring language. This evidence is also for those who attempt

to describe his knowledge of the language at any point in its development;

it is the 'errors', which provide the important evidence. In second language

acquisition, Corder (1967) proposed as a working hypothesis that some of

the strategies adopted by the learner of a second language are substantially

the same as those by which a first language is acquired.

For classifying the errors that learners made, researchers could

learn a great deal about the second language acquisition process by

inferring the strategies that second language learners were adopting. For

learners themselves, errors are 'indispensable,' since the making of errors

can be regarded as a device the learner uses in order to learn.

Ellis (1997) maintains that “classifying errors in these ways can

help us to diagnose learners’ learning problems at any stage of their

development and to plot how changes in error patterns occur over time.”

This categorization can be exemplified as follows:

 Omission:

 Morphological omission *A strange thing happen to me

yesterday.

 Syntactical omission * Must say also the names?

  Addition:

 In morphology * the books is here.

 In syntax * The London

 In lexicon * I stayed there during five years ago.

 Selection:

 In morphology * my friend is oldest than me.

 In syntax * I want that he comes here.

 Ordering:

 In pronunciation * fignisicant for ‘significant’; *prulal for

‘plural’

 In morphology * get upping for‘getting up’

 In syntax * He is a dear to me friend.

From those classifications, the researcher reformulated another

classification which is considered appropriate for the students of SMP

Negeri 5 Model Palu and also suitable for this study.

2.4 Teaching Mechanics Writing through Error Analysis Technique using

Descriptive Text.

Error Analysis technique is a method of teaching which focuses on

students weakness in specific field. It is compatible with the problems of

the students which directly aim to the Mechanics Writing. Mechanics

writing itself is one of the writing rules that contains punctuation,

capitalization and spelling, which has to be mastered.

 While, Descriptive text is a kind of text that usually use to describe

something, someone, and someplace to make the reader understand about

shape, situation, condition, smell, feel and all about the thing which

describe. It means that the students have to understand clearly about the

thing. Then, to make the students easier in making descriptive paragraph,

the teacher use sticky notes (picture).

In order to make the readers easily to imagine what the students

write, they have to use suitable punctuation, good spelling and clear

capitalization in their writing. Then, after the students finished their

writing, the teacher does Error Analysis to their work, which analyzes by

their closest friend in the class and lead by the teacher.

There are some procedures to teach using Error Analysis

Technique (Henry Irawati/2015):

1. Collecting data: errors are made by learners in their writing.

2. Identifying of errors.

3. Classifying into errors types.

4. Counting the frequencies of error types.

5. Identifying of the areas of difficulties in the target language.

For doing this research the writer will use the procedure of Error

Analysis Technique in the following ways:

1. The teacher explains about Mechanics Writing to the students.

2. The teacher explains about descriptive paragraph to the students and

its generic structures.

 3. The teacher gives the topic to the students.

4. The teacher provides picture to facilitate the students to organize their

writing.

5. The students give their work to another students

6. Teacher explains about Error Analysis

7. Collecting data: errors are made by learners in their descriptive

paragraph.

8. Identifying of errors.

9. Classifying into errors types.

10. Counting the frequencies of error types.

11. Identifying of the areas of difficulties in the target language.

12. The students develop their descriptive paragraph by avoiding their

previous mistake.

2.5 Theoretical Framework

It has been mentioned before in the above discussion that writing is

important skill to master the same as other language skills. But to measure

and to see the development or the process of someone learning language

specially English is how well their writing. Might be someone who is good

in listening, speaking, and reading not guarantee that he or she can be

good in writing as good as other language skills, because writing skill has

some rules that have to be learn with big motivation and high
 concentration. Therefore, it is important to teach writing skill to young

generation then, they could prepare for the next level language.

Some rules that simple but really important to learn for junior high

school. Eighth grade students of SMP 5 Model Palu have faced some

difficulties, which are already mentioned in the background, in learning

writing skill. The students are confused in using the proper punctuation,

their spelling which is still affected by the sound and their capitalization is

not strong enough for junior high school level. In other words, their

writing skill needs to be improved.

Based on the theories explained previously and the background of

the research is constructed on the description of the difficulties to

understand the roles of mechanics writing through descriptive text. The

use of descriptive text can provide them an easy way to understand the

mechanics writing, and next time they can applied in other types of

writing. Then, Error Analysis technique is to monitoring their

improvement also help them to solve their own problems. This theoretical

framework is aimed at focus this research on the problems concerned.

2.6 Hypothesis of The Research

Based on all stated above, Error Analysis Technique was used in

Improving Students’ Writing Skill. So, in line with the above statement the

writer state the hypothesis as follow:

 “Error Analysis Technique can improve writing skill of the eighth

grade students of SMP Negeri 5 Model Palu.”