Abstract: The aim of this
article is todescribe about the correlation between grammar mastery and
grammatical errors in writing. Mastery of grammar as one of the English
components influences the students’ ability in writing. The correlation design
was conducted to prove it. The subject of this study was a class of second
semester students at English department of Islamic University of Malang which
consisted of 25 students. They got two different tests: grammar and writing
test. Students answered the 30 items in form of multiple choices, and the
second test was writing a text from the two different types: descriptive and
recount text.The data collected was then computed the correlation coefficient
between those variables by using Spearman correlation. The result of the study
indicated that there was a significant correlation between grammar mastery and
grammatical errors in writing of the second semester students. The meaning of
significance was that the students’ grammar mastery influences the students’
writing ability. Since the computed r ratio was 0.924, while the critical r
value at level of significance 0.01 at the n of 25 students was 0.475. Thus,
the computed coefficient was higher than critical value.
Key Words:
Grammar Mastery and Grammatical Errors in Writing
INTRODUCTION
Grammar is
explanation that describes the rules for forming words and making sentences or
paragraph (Sentence or paragraph is a group of words that creates complete
meaning or sense. It is declared that at one level these units are words. So,
it can be inferred that a sentence is a serial of words that has subject,
predicate, object to make a complete sense, or the rules in making sentences
according to the rules of grammar (Homby, 1974:182).
In
learning a language, people have to concern with its grammar because it will
help them to perform better in speaking, reading, listening or writing. It is
clear that grammar is part of language. And, grammar is very important aspect
of written language beside unity, coherence and mechanic. Coleman &Klapper
(1988:8) stated that grammar is made in applied linguistic between implicit and
explicit knowledge of grammar. Implicit knowledge is knowledge of grammar that
is intuitive and allows correct grammatical forms to be deployed automatically,
without the user being aware of why a particular form is correct. E.g. a native
speaker as correct formulation based on implicit knowledge of the relevant word
order rules. Explicit knowledge is knowledge about grammar, i.e. the conscious
knowledge we use in checking the accuracy of our language production or in
employing rules to formulate utterance.
According to Bowen (1985:161) argued that
grammar is the rules by which we put together meaningful word and parts of
words of language to communicate messages that are comprehensible. And, grammar
can be understood in different ways by different people with different
purposes.
Another similar
definition of grammar stated by Penny (1996:75), she defines that grammar as
the way words are put together to make correct sentences. Furthermore, she
inferred that grammar may be roughly defined as the way a language manipulates
and combines words (or bit of words) in order to form longer units of meaning.
The word grammar has several meanings and
there is no universally accepted definition. Different experts define the term
grammar differently. There is no fixed definition of grammar. Leech (1988:2)
defined that every time we write or speak, we are faced with a large array of
choices: not only choices of what to say but of how to say it. The vocabulary
and grammar that we used to communicate are influenced by a number of factors.
Such as the reason for the communication, the setting, the people we are
addressing, and whether we are speaking or writing.
Taken together, these choices gives rise to
systematic patterns of choice in the use of English grammar. Harmer (2001:12)
defined that grammar as the description of the ways in which words can change
their forms and can be combined into sentences in that language. Hall (1992:3)
stated that grammar is description of certain organizing aspects of particular
language. it usually includes phonological (sound), morphology (word
composition), and statistic (sentence composition) points.
Having known the definition of grammar, it is
not hard for us to understand why grammar is useful and important. Without
knowing the grammar of a language, one cannot be said to have learned the
language. Besides, it seems impossible to learn a language
without learning the grammar because it tells him how to use the language.
People learn how to construct a good message based on the rules they have known
and try to convey the message to the others. These rules are termed as grammar.
The mechanism of grammar cannot be seen concretely, because it is rather
abstractly represented in the human mind, but we know it is there because it
works. One way of describing this mechanism is by means of a set of rules which
allow us to put words together in certain ways which do not allow others. The
meaning of a message conveyed by language has to be converted into words put
together according to grammatical rules and these words are then conveyed by
sounds.
Based on the definition above, the writer
concludes that grammar is a system of rules as the way a language manipulates
and combines words and how words are adaptive and arranged to construct
correctly and meaningfully sentence. How words can (or cannot) be combined in
sentence is an important part of grammar; it is the concern of syntax. In this
way is one followed certain syntactic conventions for word order. Through
grammar one can specify the ways in which words can be systematically modified
through such alternations and additions.
Language without grammar would be
disorganized and causes some communicative problems, like grammatical errors in
writing. Writing also tends to be more formal than speaking in the sense that
more conscious manipulation of vocabulary and syntax take place (Ronald,
1972:12).
For example in writing,
tenses can help students to produce grammatical utterances. In some cases, a
second language learner will not have a good performance in his/her speech
although he or she knows what to say because of the lack of grammar knowledge,
especially the tenses rule for producing a sentence.
The
grammar rule help to govern the way writing takes place, and ensure that it can
be easily understood by people who read it. Every language in the world has
different rules for grammar and writing. They all have specific conventions
regarding syntax,
or the way words are arranged in a sentence, as well as punctuation
usage, verb
conjugation, and other important aspects of written and spoken language.
It is important to keep in mind that though proper grammar is important for
good writing, it is also very important for speaking the language properly as
well. In writing, mastering grammar is very important for students to be able
to write correctly.
Writing
is a form of problem-solving that involves such process as generating ideas,
discovering a ’voice’ which with to write, planning, goal-setting, monitoring,
and evaluating what is going to be written as well as what has been written and
searching for a language which to express exact meaning. So, the readers
understand what is writing about. It is important for students to know the
rules and the function of each part of grammatical structure. Grammatical items
are quiet complicated to be learned by the students, since each item has
certain rules that must be followed while using them in language.
From
the discussion above the researcher is interested to describe the correlation
between grammar mastery and grammatical errors in writing. Actually, Peoples tend to acquire spoken
language easier than the writing language. This is because people first know
the spoken before they know the written one and a human child always speaks a
language first before he is accustomed to the writing system of his language.
It means that writing also plays an important role in a modern society.
Writing
should be done with the understanding from the past time in order to inform and
express what had happened. It should be well-organized in order to be
understandable for the readers (Harmer, 2004:3). As like speaking, writing is a
way of communicating a message with an intended audience. It is a means of
expressing thoughts, ideas, and feelings. By writing we may flow out a burden
occupying our mind offer our ideas and concepts to others, and share our
knowledge and experiences. However, different from writing, much of our
speaking is spontaneous, noncomplex, and linked to the particular situation at
hand. Speech is ephemeral. It lasts not longer than the moment of speaking. It
is gone as soon as it is uttered. In some cases, especially in informal
situations, a speaker pays a little attention to the conventions of speaking
such as the composition of talk, the organization, development, and the
articulation. However, it does not reduce the comprehensibility of the nuances
delivered by the speaker to the audience.
Writing
involves a range of writer’s consciousness. When we sit down, holding a pen and
facing a piece of paper ready to write, apparently we are engaging in more than
one act of consciousness, such as the contents of thoughts, the style of
thoughts, the organization of thoughts, the purpose of thought, and so on.
These acts lead us to create a good and careful thinking which is strongly
needed when we want to produce a good writing. Writing as one of the four
language skills, in real world contexts, is not a solitary enterprise, it is a
social act. It is not an activity in its own right but one which serves the
other skills. So, writing has a relation with grammar, reading, listening, and
speaking. Bowen (1985:252) stated that writing is more an individual effort
than speaking, while at the same time more rule-bound and therefore more
error-prone. Although a person is expected to speak correctly, the burden of
the spoken communication is shared by the listener or listeners, who provide
immediate feedback.
Most
students find foreign language writing is difficult; they will rarely need to
write in adult life, so they will decrease the amount of writing. Rivers as
quoted by Swarbick (1994:142) describes five stages of development which
students need to go through in acquiring competence in writing, i.e.: copying,
reproduction, recombination, guided writing, and free writing.
We
should also consider the writing process. It is influenced by the content and
the medium of the writing. The processes are planning, drafting, editing, and
final draft (Harmer, 2004: 4-6). They are the steps if we want to compose a
good writing. Before writing, we should plan what we are going to write about
and the purposes of the writing. After that, we can start to write. We may
produce a number of writing (draft) and editing in order to get the good
writing – that is the final draft.
Writing
involves some activities before, when we write and after writing. The
activities before we write include exploring ideas which could be building
vocabulary, interviewing someone, discussion, etc; and organizing ideas which
could be ordering information in a paragraph, writing topic sentences, limiting
information, using a time sequence, making an idea map, categorizing and making
outline, summarizing ideas, writing titles, etc. When we write we should
develop cohesion and style which includes connecting ideas, adding details,
selecting the correct verb tense, selecting the correct tense, and writing the
first draft.
This is not the end of
writing. After we write the first draft we should edit and revise it. It could
be the content, form, organization, cohesion and style, and grammar. In order
to produce a good writing we should write more than just one draft. A good
writing could be the fourth or fifth draft or even more.
From
the explanation above, it can be summed up that writing is act of putting
meaningful sequence of sentence and observing conventions in written forms to
express what is wants to say. Writing is a process of building larger units
from the smaller ones. That is, the writer use words to make sentence, sentence
to make paragraph, and paragraph then to make the whole composition.
Writing
language is getting more and more essential today. It should be mastered in
order to be literate. But, in Indonesian students when they get an English
subject from junior high school or senior high school even faculty commonly
have only little enthusiasm for their writing tasks. Every time they have
writing tasks, they feel that it is difficult to do. But, they should have
strong foundation for their writing skill before entering a higher level of
education. So, it is crucial for them to master this skill.
In
composing a good writing, we should notice some aspects. Grammar is one
important aspect that should be mastered in order to make a good writing
structured. But, in the different writing language is not always as easy as
writing in our own language. Because there are some different rules in the
writing systems, these differences sometimes lead to create some writing
errors.
Dealing
with the learner’s errors, there are many ways to analysis them. This present
study deals with error analysis that is used to analyze the grammatical errors
found in writing. Error analysis is a careful study of errors committed by the
learners in attaining to express their idea in the target language that provide
factual data rather than theatrical speculation for developing a syllabus or a
model for second language acquisition.
Dulay
(1982:138) states that Error analysis has yielded inside into the second
language acquisition process that has stimulated major change in teaching
practice. Perhaps in most controversial contribution have been the majority of
the grammatical error second language learners make do not reflect the
learner’s mother tongue but are very much like those young children make us
they learn a first language. Researchers have found that like L1 learners make
indicate they are gradually building in L2 rule system.
Based
on the statement above, the students committing errors means that they have
already build the L2 rule system. Their errors are not considered as the
reflection of their L1 construction like what contractive analysis (CA) has
claimed. This analysis treatment of errors is rested on a comparison of the
learner’s native language and target language. This analysis was popular up
through the 1960’s.
Then,
because the CA was considered ineffective in analyzing students’ errors by the
reason but there was still amount of learner errors that could not be predicted
or explained by the CA just then, the instant and widespread appear of error
analysis stemmed as the refreshing alternative of analyzing learner errors.
Dulay (1982:140-141).
Error
analysis notices that a great number of students errors cannot possible be
traced to their native language. While CA noticed that learning was basically a
process of learning automatic habits and that error should therefore result
from first language habits interfering with the learner’s attempt to learn.
Moreover,
Richard (1974:25) adds that a learner’s errors provide evidence of the system
the language that is used (i.e. has learned) at a particular point in the
course (and it must be repeated that he is using some system, although it is
not yet the right system). Richard (1975:25) also concludes that the learner’s
errors are significant to the teacher towards the goal of the learner has
progressed and what remains for him to learn. Secondly, it is significant to
the learner himself because we can regard to making of errors as a device the
learner use in order to learn. It is a way the learner has of testing his
hypothesis about the nature of language that learns.
Therefore,
the writer believes that it would be fruitful to conduct a research concerning
to the mastery on English grammar and its correlation to the writing skill for
students. That is why the title of this study is stated: “The correlation
between grammar mastery and grammatical errors in writing of the second
semester students of English Department at Islamic University of Malang”.
Based
on the discussion above, the state of the research problem,” Is there any
correlation between grammar mastery and grammatical errors in writing of the
second semester students of English Department at Islamic University of
Malang?”
Related
on the statement of the problem above, the purpose of the study is the writer
would like to find out the correlation between the students who have good
grammar mastery and their grammatical errors in writing of the second semester
of English Department of Islamic University of Malang.
METHOD
In
this study, the writer uses correlative quantitative design because study in
the form of correlation study that is the research carried out by observing the
grammar as the first variable and grammatical errors in writing as the second
variable. It means that, there are two variables in this research, namely
grammar mastery and grammatical errors in writing. Grammar is the predictor the
first variable and grammatical errors in writing as the responses of second
variable. In measuring this relation, the writer applied the Spearman
correlation coefficient formula.
The
subject of this study was a class of second semester students at English
department of Islamic University of Malang which consisted of 25 students as
the subject of this research.In this study,the researcher used a test as
instrument to collect the data. Test is to measure of the students’ skill,
intelligence, ability and talent of an individual or a group. This test was
divided into two kinds of test. The first test was grammar test. A student
answered the 30 items multiple choices, and the second test was writing a short
story. For writing test, the students chose one type of text; Descriptive and
Recount. The test was allocated in 30 minutes.
The
test of grammar had intended of collect the data about the student’s knowledge
of grammar. The test was objective test in the form of multiple-choice type.
There were 30 items used to measure the student’s knowledge of grammar. And the
test of writing had intended to collect the data about the writing ability.
Students were asked to write one paragraph by choosing one the types of text;
Description, and Recount.
Before
collecting data, the first researcher asked to letter referral signed by the
Dean of Faculty of Teacher Training and Education at Islamic University of
Malang. Second, the researcher asked the lecturer’s permission to conduct
research to the students of C class. Third, the researcher administered test to
obtain the data on the students’ grammar mastery and their ability to write
English sentence or paragraph.
The
grammar test consists of 30 items. It was under the consideration of the time
allotment for the test. For each correct answer, one score was given, then for
false answer, zero score was given. And for writing test, the researcher
focused on the errors in students’ writing related to the structure used by
them.
The
data were collected and analyzed by using the appropriate design of
computation. Based on score of the test, analyzing the data was considered as
critical and essential procedures in this research. Then, the writer decided
the appropriate method to analyze the data in order to obtain the great (“r”
Correlation Coefficient) at Spearman Correlation. The writer used Spearman
Correlation because the numbers of student are less than 30. It is used to
analyze the students’ score of mastery grammar and writing achievement.
Nevertheless, the writer covers the computation by statistical formula namely
Spearman Correlation. It is used to test whether there is correlation between grammar
knowledge and writing ability or not.
FINDINGS
AND DISCUSSIONS
The
research finding was obtained from the result of the computation of the
students’ English grammar mastery and grammatical error in writing of the
second semester at Islamic University of Malang.In
this study, the writer analyzed the correlation between students English
grammar mastery and grammatical errors in writing. The writer applied the
formula of computation correlation coefficient namely Spearmen Correlation.
This research was conducted to analyze the great extend of the second semester
students’ scores of mastery grammar and grammatical errors in writing. It
involved 25 students as sample of this research. After the researcher gathered
and computed the data, the researcher found the result of the computation was
’r’= 0.924 and ‘r’ of the table 0.475. Proving that the researcher hypothesis
was accepted and the null hypothesis was rejected.
The
research hypothesis (H1)
in this study was “there was positive or significant correlation between
students’ mastery of grammar and grammatical errors in writing”. To know the
correlation was significant as the hypothesis above, the researcher referred to
’r’ table at level of significant 0.1. Based on the computation above, the
researcher hypothesis was accepted, and the null hypothesis was rejected. It
was indicated by the score of the observed value of correlation coefficient ‘r’
obtained 0.924. Then, the researcher compared it with the critical value of ‘r’
with the number of students were 25 at level of significance 0.01 (1%). It was
clearly that the observed r value was
higher than the critical r value.
In
this study, the researcher used Spearman correlation formula to compute the
data. The data was written as variable ‘X’ to indicate the score resulted from
the students’ grammar mastery and variable ‘Y’ to indicate the score resulted
from the students’ writing ability with the respondent N= 25. The “r” score of
Spearman correlation showed two variables that is grammar mastery and grammatical
errors in writing. Those variables were computed by using Spearman correlation
(r), and the result of this computation proved that the result was higher than
“r” of the table. It means that there was a positive or significant correlation
between students’ grammar mastery and grammatical errors in writing of the
second semester students of Islamic University of Malang. The computation
result of correlation coefficient of Spearman correlation formula between
students’ grammar mastery and grammatical errors in writing was 0.924 >
0.475. It could be said that the research hypothesis is accepted, and the null
hypothesis is rejected.
This
fact made the students’ grammar mastery and grammatical errors in writing
correlates significantly because the increasing in grammar mastery score of
students are usually followed by their increasing score of writing in many
case. Writing ability usually begins with mastery of grammar first. Based on
the result above it could be said that students’ grammar mastery was applicable
to measure the students’ writing ability.
Based
on the result above in the data analysis, it was found that the value of the
Spearman correlation “r” computation was 0.924 and the “r” table was 0.475. It
was proven that there was a positive significant correlation between two
variables because it referred to value of the Spearman correlation table or critical table with the significant
at level 1%. The result of the data analysis showed that the value “r” of the
computation was 0.924 and the value of the critical value of the critical table
was 0.475. These facts proved that the value of the Spearman correlation
computation of the statistical analysis was higher than the critical value of
“r” on the table. It means that the result of the data analyzed was included in
a significant correlation. In other words, the research hypothesis was accepted
and null hypothesis was rejected.
Based
on the result of data analysis of statistical method by Spearman correlation
above, the researcher proved that the result of the students’ grammar mastery
and grammatical errors in writing showed a significant correlation. It is
proven that the increasing of the students’ grammar mastery also followed the
increasing of students’ writing.
The
Spearman correlation computation of the data showed that the students’
increased in the grammatical errors in writing is because they have ability to
master in grammar. Many students assumed that they do not only need to speak
but also need to write in English correctly. This reason is influenced by the
students’ development about English and the need of market. These facts
motivate and encourage the students to master grammar and write better. The
language development and students’ need to improve and increase they knowledge
are the main points that forced students to have more knowledge and experience
especially about English language skills that recently become the main
requirement to participate in this competitive era.
Furthermore,
the students should master grammar to be able to write English and speak well.
Moreover, the students’ will be faster to increase their writing ability in the
teaching and learning process if they know the importance of grammar mastery in
their writing exactly. So, in this case the students’ are expected to be able
to analyze their grammar and they will get more concrete form of the tense
application in writing. Michael Swan (1982:52) argued that knowing that build
and certain grammar makes it possible to communicate common types of meaning
successfully. Without this grammar, it difficult to make comprehensible
sentences or paragraph. We must try to identify this grammar and teach well.
Based
on the explanation above, it is clear that the students who want to be able to
express their idea in written form should enlarge their mastery of grammar. It
is also stated in this chapter that students’ writing was influenced of their
grammar mastery. It means that, the researcher assumed the students’ writing
can be used to measure the students’ mastery of grammar.
On
the other hand, the students that have ability to write in English are often
overlooked in this discussion as learning English writing. This interpretation
based on the previous chapter that one of the requirements of language
development is knowledge or ability to write English correctly and also
students’ mastery in grammar. Furthermore, grammatical skill also has close
relationship with the ability to write the correct sentences (Heaton, 1975:27).
This means it concerns with the mastery of grammar. The students’ knowledge
about sentence parts is required, such as nouns, verb, adverb, adjective,
articles, etc. Their knowledge in organizing these parts of speech into good
meaningful order is also needed, so that the sentences are clear and
understandable.
In
line with these previous explanations, it is clear that the students’ mastery
of English grammar is essential factors that influenced the students’ writing
in English. This reason is presented in order to motivate, enlarge and increase
the students’ grammar and grammatical errors in writing.
Writing
is defined the act of forming symbol, making mark on flat surface, symbol have
to be arranged according to certain convention to form words, and words have to
be arranged to form sentence (Dumais, 1988:1). From the definition above, it
can be said that writing is considered as very complex skill. It needs a
mastery of other skills such as structure, mechanic, spelling and grammar
organization and language use.
In
the correlation between grammar mastery and grammatical errors in writing, it
is one of the crucial factors to make a good writing is diction or choosing the
best word that can be represented the writer’s idea. In order to make the best
diction, the writer must have knowledge in grammar or vocabularies. As Hornby
(1983) said that the grammar or vocabulary is total number of words in language
used by person.
Finally,
the students’ in this study are expected to learn grammar and grammatical
errors in writing more deeply. Because, students’ other language skills are
influenced by their grammar mastery and writing. Furthermore, the teacher’s
explanations in grammar that needs to be clear, useful and not overlapping with
the writing material. As a result, students’ grammar mastery will be obtained
to supports students’ writing or another student English language skills such
as listening, reading and speaking.
CONSLUSIONS
AND SUGGESTIONS
The
analysis shows that there are significant correlation between mastery of
grammar and grammatical errors in writing of the second semester students of
English department at Islamic University of Malang. The researcher resumed that
students’ mastery of grammar is important to upgrade and improve the students’
writing mastery. In conclusion, it was proved that students’ mastery of grammar
is an essential factor that influences the students’ writing mastery. The
students’ writing ability depends on the students’ mastery of grammar, and the
researcher proved it that students’ need is not only speaking but also writing.
In
relation to the research problem, the researcher concludes that there is a
significant correlation between mastery of grammar and grammatical errors in
writing of the second semester students of English department at Islamic
University of Malang. It is because of the result of the data analyzed by using
Spearman correlation statistical formula showed that number of students were 25
students from C class as a sample. And, the result of the data analyzed by using
Spearman correlation statistical formula shows that coefficient correlation of
r computation was ‘r’ = 0.924 and ‘r’ table = 0.475. It can be concluded that
there is a positive correlation or high correlation (0.924 > 0.475) between
the students’ mastery of grammar and grammatical errors in writing of second
students semester of Islamic University of Malang.
In
this case, it can be said that the second semester students of English
Department of Malang at Islamic University of Malang have good mastery in grammar
and also have good ability of grammatical errors in writing. It means that they
have good grammar mastery then, they apply it in writing. Thus, the grammar
mastery is accordance with their ability in writing.
The
suggestion for English lecturers, they must have professionalism, creative
motion, anticipation, appropriate teaching method to teach students about the
importance of their writing to improve the students’ English in mastering
language skills. The lecturers are expected to motivate students to learn more
grammar in correlation with their writing ability in order to improve the
students’ ability in mastering four English language skills (reading,
listening, speaking and writing).
For
the students, the researcher suggested to pay more attention to their grammar
and writing class especially and to have certain ways to enhance their language
skills related to grammar and writing. It means that they should be able to be
independent learners. It is better for them to read other English grammar and writing
books to develop their knowledge about English skills.
The
researcher suggested and recommended for future researchers to conduct a more
detailed and complex in research about the correlation between the students’
grammar mastery and grammatical errors in writing. It is also suggested for
future researcher to conduct further studies that concern another correlation
between one English Skill with another that is considered important to improve
students English skill.
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