AN ANALYSIS OF THE STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN THE SENTENCES

BY USING TREE DIAGRAM

RESEARCH POPOSAL

By:

YUNUS MARTEN MALASMENE

20158203115

ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRANING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH SORONG

2018/2019

i
 ABSTRACT

This research investigates the students’ ability in English syntax. The objective of the

research is to fine out the students’ ability in analyzing sentences by using tree diagram.This

research uses qualitative method. The design of the research is descriptive qualitative. This

research is conducted in University of MuhammadiyaSorong. The participant in this research

is the students at five semester in the University of MuhammadiyaSorong. There are two

classes of five semester, they are E and F class.

In this research, the researcher uses purposive sampling technique to choose the

participants. In order to get date needed, the researcher gives them test which has contained

the sentences in order to be analyzed. The researcher uses a test as the instrument of the

research.

ii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER SHEET …………………………………………………………………….………... i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………...………….. ii

ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………...………………………. iii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………...………….. 1

1.1 Background of the research……………………………...……………………….. 1

1.2 Research question……………………………………………………………..….. 3
1.3 Objective of the research………………………………………….……………… 3
1.4 Significance of the research………………………………………………..…….. 3
1.5 The scope of the research………………………………………………………… 4

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE……………...…………………………………. 5

2.1 The previous researcher……..……………………………………………………. 5

2.2 Some pertinent ideas……………………………………………...……………… 8
2.2.1 Syntax………..……………………………………….………………………. 8
2.2.2 Sentence………..…………………..………………………………………… 9
2.2.2.1 Definition of sentence……..…………………………………………. 9
2.2.2.2 The kinds of sentence………………………..……………...………. 10

2.2.3 Tree diagram…………………………….…........…….………………………. 12

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY…………………..………………………. 13

3.1 Research method……………..………………………………………………… 13

3.2 Research design………...……………………………………………………… 13
3.3 Setting of the research………………………………………………………….. 14
3.3.1 Place…………………………………………………………………….. 14
3.3.2 Time……………………………..……………………………………… 14
3.4 The participant of the research……………...………………………………….. 14
3.5 Research instrument……………………………………………………………. 15
3.6 Technique of date collection……………..…………………………………….. 15
3.7 Technique of date analysis…………………………………………..…………. 16

REFERENCES………………..…………………………………………………………….. 17

iii
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of Background of the research, the research question, the objective

of the research, the significance of the research (theoretically and practically), and the scope

of the research.

1.1 Background of the research

As we know that language is a communication tool that people used to communicate

and interact with other people. Language has structure and the succeeding sections

provide an overview of this structure: the modes (speech, writing, signs) in which

language is transmitted and the conventions (both linguistics and social) for how sounds,

words, sentences, and text are structured. Language is also called as linguistic. According

to Leech (1983: 21-4) stated that in studying about linguistic structure, whether it is

spoken, written, or signed, every language has structure, which can be described.

Based on the linguistic structure, there are four levels in a language. They are

phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics (Yule, 1998). In order to know certain

structure of sentences, we need to study more not only on sentences but also syntax.

Syntax is one aspect how language works, how sentences are structured (Carnie, 2002: 3).

Syntax is basically the structure of sentence. According to Srijono (2001: 63) stated that

syntax may be roughly defined as the principles of arrangement of the constructive

(words) into larger constructions of various kinds. It means that a learners’ ability to

create and understand the sentences, including sentences they never heard before.

A sentence is a group of words which is a grammatically complete statement. A

sentence is also a basically a group of words that are tied together and convey an idea,

iv
 description, and event (Miller, 2002: 76).Every sentence must contain a subject and a

verb. There are many kinds of sentence; it can be generated to be verbal, nominal,

declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory, simple, complex, compound, and

compound-complex sentence.

In analyzing the sentences, there is a wayto formulate the sentence, by usingtree

diagram in order to know the basic meaning of the words in a sentence. According to

Bornstein (1977: 39) said that “a tree diagram shows the hierarchical structure of the

sentence”. Tree diagram also provides a precise means of defining syntactical relation.

English syntax has been already taught in University of Muhammadiyah SORONG

especially at English course of Faculty of Teacher and Education since the 5th semester.

So, the researcher just focuses on students’ ability in analyzing sentence by using tree

diagram. The sentence is the topic of discussion because it can be found many aspects of

language either in written and oral communication. Besides, there are some learners who

are still confused about how to analyze the sentence by using tree diagram in syntax

course.According to the explanation above, the researcher is interested in how the

students analyzing the sentence by using tree diagram because there are many students of

University of MuhammadiyahSorong, especially the students from English Department

who have already learnt about syntax still do not know how to analyzethe sentence by

using tree diagram. Therefore, the researcher choosesthis title “StudentL,s’ Ability in

Analyzing the Sentence by Using Tree Diagram”.

1.2 The Research Question

Based on the background of the research above, the researcher attempts to answer this

following research question:

v
 How the students analyze the sentences by using tree diagram at University of

MuhammadiyahSorong?

1.3 Objective of the research

The objective of this research is to know the students’ ability in analyzing the

sentences by using tree diagram at University of MuhammadiyahSorong.

1.4 Significance of the research

By conducting this research, the researcher hopes that this research will give the

benefits both theoretically and practically:

1) Theoretically

This research will enhance the study of syntax, especially concerning in the

learning concept, types, and the structure of the sentences.

2) Practically

This research will be useful for English Department students who are interested in

studying syntax. So, they can use this research as the reference for their analysis.

1.5 The scope of the research

In this research, it deals with English Syntax. This research focuses on the students’

ability in analyzing the sentence by using tree diagram of University of

MuhammadiyahSorong. The researcher will take some students who have already learnt

about English Syntax and look in how the students analyze the sentence by using tree

diagram.

vi
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

On this chapter, the researcher would like to discuss about some previous studies and

some pertinent ideas.

2.1 The previous studies

There are some previous studies that relate to the researcher’s topic. The First,

a research is conducted by Winarsih (2011), in her research A Syntactic Analysis of

English Simple Sentence in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. The objective of her

research is aimed to identify the patterns of syntactic structure of English simple

sentence and to describe the syntactical constructions of the simple sentence used in

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. The type of this research is qualitative method.

The data source of her research is Wuthering Heights. The method of collecting data

in her research is documentation. The techniques of analyzing data are identifying the

patterns of syntactic structure and syntactical constructions of simple sentence by

structural approach. The results show that there are some patterns of syntactical

constructions of simple sentence in Wuthering Heights.

The second is a research that is conducted by Yun Friska Irene Ginting (2009),

her research’s title is An Analysis of Sentence Structure in Tennessee William’s A

Streetcar Named Desire. The objective of her research is to identify the sentence

structure using syntactical in Tennessee William Streetcar Named Desire. The method

on her research is qualitative descriptive method. The technique of collecting data is

purposive sampling method. On her research, she concludes that there are 373

sentences in play; it consists of 54, 96% of 205 simple sentences, 29, 69% of 107

vii
complex sentences, 9, 38% of 35 compound sentences, 6, and 97% of 26 compound -

complex sentences.

The third is a research from IchwanPurwata (2008), his research’s title is A

Syntactical Analysis on Sentence Patterns Used in Westlife’s Song Lyrics. The

objective of his research is to analyze the sentences into each of content of the

sentence in order to have a deep understanding in syntax. This research employs

descriptive qualitative method. The steps in collecting data are reading the lyrics of

song, listening to the cassette, and selecting the song as the sample and writing down

three lyrics of the selected song. In his research, he concludes that there are seventeen

kinds of sentences patterns. Through discussion, the researcher also finds that the

sentence patterns of westlife’s songs consist of noun phrase plus verb phrase,

conjunction plus noun phrase plus verb phrase, adverb of place plus noun phrase plus

verb phrase.

The fourth is a research that is conducted by DefiAnggraini(2012), on her

research’s title is A Syntactical Analysis in The English Song Lyrics of “Thank You

Allah” Album by Maher Zain. The objectives of her research are aimed at knowing

the types of sentences and syntactical rules in the English song lyrics of “thank you

Allah” album by Maher Zain. Her research is a descriptive qualitative method. The

techniques of collecting data are searching and collecting one album of Maher Zain

song lyrics, listening and comparing the songs’ lyrics to get the authentic data

sources. The result of the analysis of types of sentence in the English song lyrics of

Thank You Allah album by Maher Zain shows that there are 144 declarative

sentences, 15 interrogative sentences, 1 exclamatory sentence, and 23 imperative

sentences. Almost sentences used in the song lyrics are declarative sentences. So, the

sentences used in the song lyrics state a statement and give the information to the

viii
 listeners about the truth. On her conclusion, she concludes that the English song lyrics

have many single nouns that have function as subject, direct object or indirect object

of the sentences.

The fifth is a research that conducted by Nina Afrida (2016), her research’s

title is Students’ ability in Transforming A Sentence; Deep and Surface Structure. The

objective of her research is aimed at exploring students’ difficulties in determining

deep and surface structure of sentence. This research uses quantitative descriptive as a

research design. Techniques of collecting data are used test and questionnaire in her

research. This research reveals that the most of the students cannot transform deep

structure into surface structure. Her research also shows that English education

department students find much difficulty in determining the labeling of the words in

surface structure, for they cannot classify the class of words in the surface structure.

There are some similarities and differences between the previous studies and

the researcher’s research; the similarities of the researches above with the researcher’s

topic are about using same description qualitative method and also same in analyzing

the sentence. The differences are the technique of collecting data, the source of data,

the participants, and the analysis of data.

2.2 Some Pertinent ideas

2.2.1 Syntax

Historically, the term “syntax” means arranging together (from the word; syn

means ‘together’ and taxis means ‘an arrangement’) and the name given to the part of

grammar which treat the ways in which words are arranged in sentence and the

function of when they perform (Onion, 1971: 23). According to Onion, Matthews

(1981: 1) said that “the term of syntax is from ancient Greeks ‘syntaxes’, a verbal

ix
noun which literally means “arrangement” or “setting out together” words into

phrases, or clauses and phrases or clauses into sentences.

Similarly, according to Later Latif (1995: 23) said that “a phrase or a sentence is

always made by from the words arranged by the particular rules”. There more we

must know exactly the classification of words being used “the connection of meaning

within sentences are shown by the order of words”. By knowing the classification of

words, we can properly arrange the sentence that can show us the meaning of

arrangement.

Besides that, there are some theories thatrelated to syntax. According to Home

Library Dictionary, syntax is the study of rule where by words or others elements of

structure are combined to form grammatical sentences. Besides that, according to

Webster’s New College Dictionary (1975), syntax is the way in which words are put

together to form phrase, clauses, or sentence. Then, based on Dwight (1975: 171),

said that “syntax studies the organization of words into phrases and phrases into

sentences.

Based on the theories above, it can be concluded that syntax is the grammatical

arrangement from words, phrases, into sentences in order to be concerned with

sentence structure.

2.2.2 Sentence

2.2.2.1 Definition of sentence

Sentence is made up of two parts, subject and predicate. According to Dwight

(1975: 156) stated that the traditional definition of sentence is the minimum part

of language that expresses a complete thought and certainty some sense of

completeness is essential to it. Sentence also has deep structure and surface

x
structure. A deep structure represents the meaning, and surface structure

represents the sound. In sentences, there are differences between deep and surface

structure. The surface structure is about its grammatical form, while deep structure

is understood of its meaning. According to Ann (2004: 1), a sentence in standard

written Standard English has certain essential requirements:

 Each new sentence starts with capital letter.

 A sentence must end with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation

mark.

 A sentence must contain a subject that stated once.

 A sentence must have one independent idea

All of the issues above mention that in the focus of attention of linguistic deals

with syntax, where in order to analyze sentence structure, specific methods, and

symbols had to be introduced.

2.2.2.2 The kinds of sentence

According to Bornstein (1997: 39) stated that sentence is considered as the

basis of the syntactical system. Sentence is a group of words that is a complete

thought containing both a subject and a verb. There are four kinds of sentence:

a. A simple sentence

It contains only a predicate (a group of words having a subject and a

verb).

Example : I go to school

b. Compound sentence

xi
 It contains two or more predication connected by conjunction.

Example: this is my book and that is yours.

c. Complex sentence

It contains one or more predication called independent or main

predication.

Example: that is a book which I bought

d. Compound complex sentence

It is a sentence that contains two or more independent clauses.

Sentence may take a form of statement, question, request, or

exclamation.

Example: he doesn’t go to Surabaya very much but he has to get there

because his family wants to go there.

According to Bornstein (1997: 52) defined that “a sentence must have a noun

phrase and a verb phrase”:

a) Noun phrase

NP is a group of words whose elements are head and modifier and It

functions as a noun or pronoun. According to Bornstein, NP can be the

form of following:

- NP : table, chair

- NP : I, you, he.

- Etc.

b) Verb phrase

xii
 VB is a group of words whose the elements are modifier and head and

it functions as a verb. Several option also are available in writing

derivation verb phrase.

So, it can be concluded that sentence is the basis of syntactic system which

consists of a group of words that containing a subject and a verb in order to

express a main idea.

2.2.3 Tree Diagram

According to Bornstein (1977: 39), he stated that a tree diagram shows that the

hierarchical structure of the sentence. The sentence is considered the basic of

syntactic system. Instead of beginning with actual sentences. The rule should be

interpreted as an instruction to rewrite or expand the symbols of on the left arrows

as the sequence of the right. Based on Bornstein (1997: 44), he stated that Tree

provides a precise means of defining syntactic relation. Tree diagram also shows

which words are constituents of sentence.

Tree diagram is also called as syntax tree diagram. According to Wayne

(2009) defined that “syntax is an important part of language and is usually

difficult to grasp”. A syntax tree diagram is also used to understand a type of

sentence in a language. Interestingly, the fact is that syntax tree diagram can help

you understand grammatical structure of a sentence in a better way and easy way.

xiii
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the researcher will discuss about some components of the research

plans; research method and design, data of the research, population and sample, research

instrument, technique of data collection, technique of data analysis.

3.1 Research Method

In this research, qualitative method is used. According to Sprinthall and

Schemutte (1991:100), a qualitative method is described as an approach used to

collect the data systematically. This research is a descriptive research.

3.2 Research Design

A descriptive research is used in this research which means that the research is

based on characteristics of phenomena and the data will be analyzed using the

description, not number. According to Wiersman (1991: 41) stated that “qualitative

research relies heavily on narrative description”. It means that the researcher only

intends to describe the data obtained as they are found in the fields.

3.3 Setting of The Research

3.3.1 Place

This research will be conducted in MuhammadiyahSorong University. This

university is where the researcher wants to know the students ability in analyzing

the sentence using tree diagram because English syntax has been taught in this

university and still some of them do not know how to analyze the sentence.

xiv
 The researcher will focus on the students who have already lear nt about

English syntax because that is where the researcher wants to find out about the

students’ ability in analyzing sentence using tree diagram.

3.3.2 Time

This research will be conducted by the researcher maximal for two months in

collecting the data the researcher needs from the students. It takes more time in

order to get the data that valid.

3.4 The Participants of The Research

The researcher will choose the participants using the purposive sampling

technique. According to Lewis et al. (2012) stated that “Purposive sampling (also

known as judgment, selective or subjective sampling) is a sampling technique in

which researcher relies on his or her own judgment when choosing members of

population to participate in the study”. So, the researcher will choose the

participants from the students who have already learnt about English syntax,

because the students who learnt it are still confused in analyzing sentence using

tree diagram. It is a reason why the researcher wants to those students as the

participants.

3.5 Research Instrument

In this research, the researcher uses the test as the instrument for collecting the

data from the students. According to English Oxford Dictionaries, a test is a

xv
 procedure intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of

something, especially before it is taken into widespread use.

Then, The researcher will use the purposive sampling for collecting the data.

According to Bungin (2001: 108) stated “teknik sampling

inidigunakanberdasarkanpengetahuan yang jeliterhadappopulasi, makna unit-unit

yang dianggap “kunci” diambilsebagai sample penelitian”.

3.6 Technique of data collection

In collecting the data, the researcher uses the test to collect the data that the

researcher needs. The researcher will give the test that is already prepared in the

papers, but the researcher just gives it to the students that qualified. And then, the

students will be going to formulate the sentenceusing tree diagram in the papers.

After that, the researcher will collect the papers, and will use the data that has

been collected to be analyzed.

3.7 Technique of Data Analysis

According to Moleong (2008: 2), he argues that qualitative research is a

research that focuses on the exposure of sentences, making it more capable

understanding the complex human condition of psychology that are not enough if

only measured by using scale only. And then, based on Sugiyono (2010: 246), he

stated that “activity in qualitative data analysis is done interactively and

continuously until it’s done.

So, after gathering then data from the fields, the researcher will be going to

analyze it in order to get the results from the test that has been given to the

students in the university.

xvi
 REFERENCES

Afrida, Nina (2016). Students Ability In Transforming A Sentence; Deep And Surface

Structure. Vol Ii No 2 Tahun 2016. January 25, 2017. Institut Agama Islam

NegeriLangsa. Retrieved June 5, 2017, From

Http;//Www.Jurnal.Iainlangsa.Ac.Id/Index.Php/Jl3t/Article/View/14

Anggraini, Devi (2012). A Syntactical Analysis In The English Song Lyrics Of “Thanks You

Allah” By Maher Zain. University OfMuria Kudus. Retreived June 9, 2017, From

Http://Eprints.Umk.Ac.Id/Id/Eprint/1214

Purwata, Ichwan (2008). A Syntactical Analysis On Patterns Used InWestlife’s Song Lyric.

University IslmNegeri Malang. Retrieved June 15, 2017, From Http://Etheses.Uin-

Malang.Ac.Id/Id/Eprint/4752

Winarsih (2011). A Syntactic Analysis Of English Simple Sentence In Wuthering Heights By

Emily Bronte. Muhammadiyah University Of Surakarta. Retrieved June 13, 2017, From

Https://Www.Google.Co.Id/Www.Researchgate.Net/Publication/277795534 A

Syntactic Analysis Of English Simple Sentence In Wuthering Heights By Emily

Bronte/Amp

Yun Friska Irene Ginting (2009). An Analysis Of Sentence Structure In Tennessee Williams’

A Streetcar Named Desire; 2009-06-15. University Of Sumatera Utara. Retrieved June

10, 2017, From Https://Repository.Usu.Ac.Id/Handle/123456789/13415

xvii