FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH COMMON ERRORS IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR

CHAPTER I

Introduction

Achieving the effectiveness in communication requires communicative competence

which is the mastery of the knowledge of language and the ability to use the knowledge in actual
communication (Canale, 1983; Canale and Swain, 1980). The knowledge of the language or
linguistic competence encompasses mastery of lexis, grammar and the sound system of the
language.

Grammar is the life of all the sentence within a paragraph, so correctness in writing leans
on grammar. As students learn, they commit writing errors that speak of their level of
competence in the use of English as medium. Constructing a sentence using correct grammar is
the common problem of the students.

English language has been our secondary language. In the very beginning they had been
taught how to construct sentences well, correct usage of punctuation marks and many more. By
that, as English major students must have great and wide knowledge about the certain subject
than other students taking the different course, not only because we are studying the teaching of
language but it is taught since we are elementary until high school. In college, it is now a review
of what they have learned in English from high school and it is just being polished. The students
are taught how to observe correct usage of grammar and how to use it correctly. English majors
are supposed to be considered as language experts yet, there are still English major student that
committed the common errors in English language. These errors are committed not once but
repeatedly over and over again.

Theoretical Framework of the Study

According to J.Richard et al.,(2002), an error is the use of a word, speech act or

grammatical items in such a way it seems imperfect and significant of an incomplete
learning(184). It is considered by Norrish (1983,p. 7) as a systematic deviation that happens
when a learner has not learnt something, and consistently gets it wrong. However, the attempts
made to put the error into context have always gone hand in hand with either Language learning
and Second language acquisition processes.

Hendrickson (1987:357) mentioned that errors are ‘signals’ that indicate an actual
learning process taking place and that the learner has not yet mastered or shown a well-structured
competence in the target language.
 . According to Corder (1976) errors are significant of three things, first to the teacher, in
that they tell him, if he or she undertakes a systematic analysis, how far towards that goal the
learner has progressed and, consequently, what remains for him to learn. Second, they provide
the researcher with evidence of how language is learned or acquired, and what strategies or
procedures the learner is employing in his discovery of the language. Third (and in a sense this is
their most important aspect) they are indispensable to the learner himself, because we can regard
the making of errors as a device the learner uses in order to learn.

Errors are an important device for learners as well as teachers because they are part of a
process in which learners prove or disprove their hypotheses about the second language.
Learners can learn from errors particularly when they take part in correcting their own errors. As
a result, learners might not make the same errors again.

Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this research is to find out the reasons why English major students still commit
English Grammar errors. Specifically, this sought to find answer to the question:

What are the factors why English major students commit grammar errors when taken as a
whole and when group as to:

 Family background,

 Personality or Behavior and

 Social Attitudes

 Teacher factor

Research Paradigm

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

* Family Background Factors Associated

with Common Errors
* Personality or Behavior in English Grammar

* Social Attitudes

Scope and Delimitation of the study

This study will conduct to determine the factors associated with common error in English
grammar of English majors’ students.
 The study will be delimited only on the family background, personality or behavior, and
social attitude. Other possible factors are excluded for the conduct of this study.

Significance of the Study

This study will be conducted because the researchers believe that the results will also be
beneficial to the English major students, teachers, administrators and researchers.

 Students. It will be beneficial to the students because the result will possibly reveal
students’ reasons why they still committing common errors in English. Furthermore, the
students will be aware about these errors.

 Teachers. The result of this study will provide them the basis to determine about what
the reasons are associated with the common errors in English of the students. They can be
able to improve and enhance their way of teaching for them to minimize the common
errors that students committed.

 School Administrators. This will help the administrator on how to deal with all the
instructors. He/She can be able to give an idea or opinion on how the teacher will
improve their way of teaching for the students to minimize committing errors in English.

 Researchers. This study will help the researchers to be aware of the common errors in
English committed by the students and could generate or discover solutions for the
problem. As future teachers, it is very important to know the norms in English grammar
construction to be able to teach very well.

Definition of Terms

 Family - A group of people who are related to each other.

 Background - A person’s social heritage or the previous experience or training.

In this study, background refers to the information that is essential to understand a

situation.

 Family Background - A person’s family, social, cultural, and educational or class

background.

In this study, Family Background refers to the factors associated with common errors on
English grammar under the family category.

 Personality. A person’s character or trait.

 Behavior-Manner of conducting oneself.

 Social - Public or surrounding.

  Attitude - Mental outlook.

 Social Attitude - hese are the factors in the respondents’ surrounding that can affect his
learning towards English grammar.

Chapter II

Review of Related Literature

Brown (2000: 217) defines an error as “noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a
native speaker, reflecting the inter language competence of the learner.” This is supported by
James (1998), Ellis (1997), and Bell (1981) who affirm that errors are seen as the deviation
which arises as a result of second language learning. Errors are normal and unavoidable.
Therefore, they are regarded as a necessary part of language learning that could reveal learners’
underlying knowledge of the language. Errors can be described in two terms: systematic and
non-systematic errors.

 As Brown (2000) and Richards (1974) point out, systematic errors are the sort of errors
we might expect from anyone learning English as a second language and also persist or
recur within any group of learners. Errors under the category of systematic errors seem to
occur in case in which learners reveal more consistency in producing the second language
and when learners produce incorrect language because they do not know the correct form.
Besides, second language learners also seem to make non-systematic errors (James, 1998;
Edge, 1989; Jain, 1969). They are the slips –failures to utilize known systems correctly –
of the tongue or pen caused by psychological conditions such as intense excitement, or
psychological factors such as tiredness, which change from moment to moment and from
situation to situation. Errors under these circumstances are unsystematic and may be
called ‘mistakes’ – performance errors that are either random guesses or slips. They can
occur when learners produce incorrect language although they know the correct form.

According to James (1998), Ellis (1997) and Corder (1967), learners’ systematic errors can
provide evidence of the language system that they are using or have learned at a particular point.

There are three good reasons for pointing out errors. First, it is necessary for language
teachers to know what types of errors learners make so that they can know what needs to be
taught and find ways to help learners remedy those errors.

Second, specific errors are an obvious point of reference that raises the important
question of ‘Why do learners make errors?’ This could allow language teachers to know how
learning proceeds and to understand causes of learners’ errors. Errors also provide evidence of
how learners learn a language, and what learning strategies they are employing. This can tell the
teachers what skills learners have achieved and what remains for them to learn.
 Brown (1994) also states that errors are viewed as windows to the learner’s
comprehension of the second language.

Therefore, they reflect learners’ underlying system and enable teachers to provide
appropriate feedback. Third, errors are an important device for learners as well as teachers
because they are part of a process in which learners prove or disprove their hypotheses about the
second language. Learners can learn from errors particularly when they take part in correcting
their own errors. As a result, learners might not make the same errors again.

Causes of errors

In the language-learning process, errors occur because of two main reasons:

* Interlingual and;

*Intralingual transfer.

Interlingual Transfer

Interlingual transfer is seen as a process in which learners use their knowledge of the first
language in learning a second language.

As stated by Brown (1994), most of the learner errors in the second language result
primarily from the learner’s assumption that the second language forms similar to the native
language.

It appears that transfer can take place in two different ways. Transfer can be positive in
cases in which the first and second languages are similar and learners can apply the knowledge
of their first language to the second language learning task. Then, the similarities between the
first and second languages can benefit or facilitate second language learning. In contrast, where
there are differences between the first and second languages, learners’ first language knowledge
interferes with second language learning. This is referred to as negative transfer, or interference,
which can become the source of errors in the second language.

When second language learners commit errors which could be traced back to the first
language, those errors are known as interlingual errors (Brown, 2000; Lightbown and Spada,
1999; James, 1998; Ellis, 1997 and 1985; Norrish, 1993; Krashen, 1981; Richards,
1974).Negative transfer or interference is considered the most frequent cause of second language
learners’ errors. It can lead to language patterns which are not foundin that of the native speaker
when the first and second languages differ on a particular point. Moreover, Towell and Hawkins
(1994) point out that L1 transfer is likely to affect all linguistic levels including
phonetics/phonology, morphology, lexicon, syntax, and discourse. ‘I hungry very much
‘produced by Thai learners is a clear example of a transfer of Thai grammatical structures into
English.
Intralingual Transfer

A large number of errors committed by second language learners are similar, regardless
of their first language. Those errors are caused by intralingual transfer. As James (1998) defines,
intralingual errors are created without referring to L1 resources. The outcomes produced by the
learner are non-existent in the second language but result from the misapplication of language
rules.

Intralingual errors are found to involve overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restriction,

incomplete application of rules, and false concept hypothesized (James, 1998; Ellis, 1985;
Norrish, 1983; Richards, 1974). In the context of second language learning, intralingual transfer
is frequently referred to as overgeneralization– a process that occurs as the second language
learners act within the target language.

It can be explained as extensions of general rules to specific items where the general rules
do not apply. Overgeneralization basically concerns cases in which the learner creates a deviant
structure based on his experience of other structures in the target language. That is, the learner
generalizes a particular rule or item based on partial knowledge of the target language.
Moreover, many intralingual errors represent difficulty in learning the rules of the target
language.

 The learner tends to apply some of the rules and continues to make deviant forms in order
to make him easily understood. A good example of this is seen when learners do not
conjugate verbs in relation to their antecedent, for instance, ‘she know what she want’.

 This can reflect learners’ incomplete application of agreement rules since they are
supposed to add –s to‘know’and‘want’in accord with a third person singular pronoun,
‘she’. False concept hypothesized refers to errors derived from faulty knowledge of target
language distinctions or in accurate ideas about language rules.

Sex and Common Errors in English

According to the study of Dewi Furtina ,Ika Apriani Fata, and Dohra Fitrisia (2016), the
results show that the type of grammatical errors dominantly found in male students’ writing is
article. The percentage of errors of article produced by male students in 1000 words is 1.7%. On
the other hand, subject-verb agreement and singular/plural form are the types of grammatical
errors which take place the most in female students’ written works. Both types have the same
percentages which are 0.8% in 1000 words.
 Obviously, there is no error of pronoun in female students’ writing and errors of
singular/plural form have the same percentages in male and female students’ writings. Examples
of each grammatical error subcategory in male and female students’ written works are explained
as the following.

Family Income and Common Errors in English

Poverty often places constraints on the family's ability to provide other material resources
for their children as well. For example, they may have limited access to high-quality day care,
limited access to before- or after-school care, and limited physical space in their homes to create
private or quiet environments conducive to study. They may not own a computer or have the
fiscal resources necessary to complete out-of-class projects.

Summary

This chapter dealt with the related studies and literature which included topics on the
definition and significance of errors in grammar, causes of errors in grammar, sex and common
errors and family income and common errors. The literature and studies reviewed in this chapter
revealed the significance of errors. Why the learners commit errors in English grammar. It was
also reviewed the studies about errors of grammar which it revealed that the learners commit
because of the interlingual and intralingual errors. It is stated that it is the cause why learners
commit errors because English is considered as their second language. Furthermore, the related
studies and literature about sex and common errors revealed that males are dominantly found
common errors in English grammar.

Chapter III