plagiat merupakan tindakan tidak terpuji · in academic essay writing assignments ... khususnya...

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PREPOSITIONAL VERB ERRORS

IN ACADEMIC ESSAY WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Kanina Pramesi

Student Number: 051214043

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

2010

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today….

Where there is a will, there is a way…. Not all that glitters is gold….

This thesis is dedicated to my beloved father, Mr. Adi Nugroho in heaven, for his love and encouragement that keep me struggling and being tough….


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ABSTRACT Pramesi, Kanina. (2010). Prepositional Verb Errors in Academic Essay Writing Assignments. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

Prepositional verbs are parts of English grammatical elements which could reflect the accuracy of English learners’ productions, especially in writing. These would contribute to the quality of the writing itself. Besides, writing is also a part of communication in which misunderstanding is avoided. Since prepositional verb errors often occur in English learners’ writing, they might create misunderstanding. It is because when the preposition in a prepositional verb is omitted or replaced by another preposition, the meaning would change or it would be meaningless. Consequently, prepositional verb errors are problematic for English learners, particularly for ELESP students, who are prepared to be English teachers. As English teachers, they would be role models for their students. This means that their prepositional verb errors could be imitated by the students. As a result, the problems would be wider if they were not well handled. For that reason, it would be beneficial to find out the prepositional verb errors produced by English learners and the suggested solutions to minimize the learners’ prepositional verbs errors.

This research aimed at answering two research questions: (1) What prepositional verb errors are found in students’ Academic Essay Writing course assignments? and (2) what efforts should be done to minimize the students’ prepositional verb errors in their writing? The participants of this research were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of ELESP students who were taking Academic Essay Writing class in the academic year 2009/2010. They were the participants of the first research question. The writer chose them as the participants of this research because they were assumed to have acquired advanced writing skill and English grammar. The second group consisted of ELESP lecturers who were teaching Academic Essay Writing class in the academic year 2009/2010. They were the participants of the second research question. The writer chose them to be interviewed because they had experienced in teaching fifth semester students taking Academic Essay Writing class. Therefore, the lecturers knew the characteristics of the students, the students’ problems, and the proper solutions to minimize the problems.

To answer the first research question, the writer conducted document analysis. The data taken to be analyzed were writing assignments composed by Academic Essay Writing students of 2007/2008 academic year. Then, the errors found in the assignments were classified into several categories based on surface structure taxonomy. To answer the second research question, the writer carried out an interview. The respondents of the interview were ELESP lecturers who taught Academic Essay Writing course in the academic year 2009/2010.

Based on the gathered data, the writer found that the errors were classified into: Omission (68%), Addition (30%), and Misinformation (2%). Then, based on the interview, the writer found that the efforts should be done to minimize prepositional


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verb errors were addressed to English teachers and learners. For English teachers, they should not be ignorant about the students’ errors, be careful about using prepositional verbs in teaching, practice and re-memorize prepositional verbs, and read a lot of texts to find the examples of prepositional verbs. In addition, in facing their students’ errors, they needed to give spoken and written feedback, keep reminding the students about their errors, assemble group discussions, provide prepositional verb practices for students, and provide authentic reading texts for students. For English learners, they should consult dictionaries and grammar books, memorize the prepositional verbs, and practice the prepositional verbs. Especially for ELESP students, prepositional verbs should be introduced in early semesters and taught integratedly in other classes.

As the final remark, the writer hoped that this thesis would be useful for English teachers, students, and the readers of this thesis in general. Besides, the writer also proposed suggestions for other researchers who want to follow up this thesis.

Keywords: errors, prepositional verbs, Academic Essay Writing


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ABSTRAK Pramesi, Kanina. (2010). Prepositional Verb Errors in Academic Essay Writing Assignments. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma. Kata kerja berpreposisi adalah bagian elemen gramatikal Bahasa Inggris yang dapat merefleksikan keakuratan siswa Bahasa Inggris dalam memproduksi bahasa tersebut, khususnya dalam bentuk karya tulis. Hal ini juga menentukan kualitas karya tulis tersebut. Di samping itu, karya tulis merupakan bagian dari komunikasi, di mana kesalahpahaman dalam mengartikan ide dalam karya tulis tersebut sebisa mungkin dihindari. Karena kesalahan kata kerja berpreposisi sering muncul dalam karya tulis siswa, kesalahan kata kerja berpreposisi menimbulkan masalah. Hal ini dikarenakan ketika preposisi pada sebuah kata kerja berpreposisi dihilangkan atau diganti dengan preposisi lain, arti dari kata kerja berpreposisi tersebut akan berubah atau akan kehilangan artinya. Maka dari itu, kesalahan kata kerja berpreposisi menjadi masalah khususnya bagi mahasiswa Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris (PBI), yang disiapkan menjadi calon guru Bahasa Inggris. Sebagai guru Bahasa Inggris, mereka akan menjadi teladan bagi murid-murid mereka. Hal ini berarti kesalahan kata kerja berpreposisi yang mereka buat dapat ditiru oleh murid-murid mereka. Akibatnya, masalah ini akan menjadi meluas bila tak ditangani dengan baik. Untuk itu, sangatlah penting mengetahui kesalahan kata kerja berpreposisi apa saja yang dibuat oleh para siswa and solusi-solusi yang disarankan untuk mengurangi kesalahan-kesalahan kata kerja berpreposisi tersebut.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menjawab dua pertanyaan penelitian: (1) Apa saja kesalahan kata kerja berpreposisi yang ditemukan dalam tugas karya tulis para siswa mata kuliah Academic Essay Writing? Dan (2) solusi-solusi apa saja yang disarankan untuk mengurangi kesalahan-kesalahan kata kerja berpreposisi dalam karya tulis para siswa tersebut? Partisipan penelitian ini dibagi menjadi dua kelompok. Kelompok pertama terdiri dari mahasiswa PBI yang mengambil mata kuliah Academic Essay Writing di tahun akademik 2009/2010. mereka merupakan partisipan dari pertanyaan penelitian yang pertama. Penulis memilih mahasiswa mata kuliah Academic Esaay Writing sebagai partisipan penelitian ini karena mereka adalah mahasiswa semester lima. Dengan demikian, mereka diasumsikan telah memperoleh kemampuan menulis dan tata bahasa Bahasa Inggris tingkat tinggi. Kelompok kedua terdiri dari dosen-dosen yang PBI yang mengajar mata kuliah Academic Essay Writing di tahun akademik 2009/2010. Mereka merupakan partisipan dari pertanyaan penelitian yang kedua. Penulis memilih mereka untuk diwawancara karena mereka telah berpengalaman dalam mengajar mahasiswa semester lima yang mengambil mata kuliah Academic Essay Writing. Karena itu, dosen-dosen tersebut mengetahui karakteristik para mahasiswa tersebut, masalah-masalah yang dihadapi para mahasiswa tersebut, dan solusi yang paling tepat untuk mengatasi masalah-masalah tersebut.


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Untuk menjawab kedua pertanyaan penelitian tersebut, penulis menjalankan analisa dokumen dan wawancara. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama, penulis mejalankan analisa dokumen. Data yang diambil untuk dianalisa berupa tugas karya tulis mahasiswa Academic Essay Writing angkatan 2007/2008. Kemudian, kesalahan-kesalahan yang ditemukan dalam tugas tersebut diklasifikasikan ke dalam kategori-kategori berdasarkan surface structure taxonomy. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan kedua, penulis menjalankan wawancara. Responden wawancara tersebut adalah para dosen PBI yang mengajar mata kuliah Academic Essay Writing di tahun akademik 2009/2010.

Berdasarkan data yang diperoleh, penulis menemukan bahwa kesalahan-kesalahan yang ditemukan diklasifikasikan ke dalam: Penghilangan (68%), Penambahan (30%), dan Salah Informasi (2%). Kemudian, berdasarkan wawancara, penulis menemukan bahwa solusi-solusi yang disarankan untuk mengurangi kesalahan-kesalahan kata kerja berpreposisi ditujukan kepada para guru dan siswa Bahasa Inggris. Para guru Bahasa Inggris disarankan untuk tidak mengabaikan kesalahan-kesalahan yang dibuat para siswa, berhati-hati dalam menggunakan kata kerja berpreposisi dalam mengajar, berlatih dan mengingat kembali kata kerja berpreposisi, dan membanca banyak teks Bahasa Inggris untuk menemukan contoh-contoh kata kerja berpreposisi. Di sisi lain, dalam menghadapi kesalahan-kesalahan yang dibuat siswa, para guru perlu untuk memberikan umpan balik secara lisan maupun tulisan, terus mengingatkan para siswa akan kesalahan mereka, membentuk kelompok diskusi, menyediakan latihan kata kerja berpreposisi secara sistematis untuk siswa, dan menyediakam bacaan berbahasa Inggris asli untuk siswa. Para siswa Bahasa Inggris disarankan untuk mengecek kamus dan buku tata bahasa, menghafalkan kata kerja berpreposisi, dan berlatih kata kerja berpreposisi. Khusus untuk mahasiswa PBI, kata kerja berpreposisi sebaiknya diperkenalkan di awal semester dan diajarkan secara integral dalam mata kuliah lainnya.

Sebagai ucapan penutup, penulis berharap skripsis ini dapat bermanfaan bagi para guru Bahasa Inggris, para siswa Bahasa Inggris, dan para pembaca skripsi ini secara umum. Di samping itu, penulis juga mengajukan saran-saran bagi peneliti lain yang ingin melanjutkan skripsi ini.

Kata kunci: kesalahan, kata kerja berpreposisi, Academic Essay Writing


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Initially, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my Lord Jesus Christ

for His timeless blessing, guidance, and love so that I could finish this thesis.

I also would like to express my sincere appreciation to Ms. Made Frida

Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd., my sponsor, for her precious time, patience, meticulous

guidance, advice, and encouragement during the research process until the final form

of this thesis.

I am also greatly indebted to the lecturers of Academic Essay Writing class,

Ms. Yuseva Iswandari, S.Pd., M.Ed., who has allowed her class’ assignments as

data of the research for this thesis. Also, I am greatly indebted to other lecturers of

Academic Essay Writing class, Mr. Nugraha Krisdiyanta, S.Pd., M.Hum. and Mr.

Hanandyo Dardjito, S.Pd., M.Hum., who were willing to be interviewed as the

respondents of this thesis. My gratitude is also addressed to Mr. Fx. Ouda Teda

Ena, S.Pd., M.Pd. and Dr. Retno Muljani, M.Pd., my academic counselors who

guided me during my study in ELESP until I finished this thesis.

My sincere thankfulness is also addressed to Academic Essay Writing

students of 2007/2008 academic year who have contributed their priceless writing

assignments as data of this research.

I present this thesis with my greatest gratitude to my beloved parents: my late

father, Bapak Adi Nugroho and my mother, Ibu Sri Murni Mustika Djati for all of

their support and prayers, and to my one and only younger sister, Tatya Arawinda,


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for her support and care. I would also like to thank Mrs. Rio Rini Diah Moehkardi,

M.A., my aunt, for the sharing and books used as references of this thesis.

My special thanks also go to all my fellows: Mega Wulandari, Monica Ella

Harendita, Ignasius Indra Kristanto, Fransisca Ninditya Kusumaningrum, Ayoe

Risna Hanna Kusuma, Laurensius Verdika, Audhifax Aditya Sulistyanto,

Priyatno Ardhi, and also my friends in PROCESS, PPL 2, KKN, SPD, my

classmates, my seniors, my colleagues, my relatives, and my students who I could not

mention one by one.

Finally, my deepest thanks go to everybody who has directly or indirectly

supported me in writing this thesis.

Kanina Pramesi


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE .......................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGES.............................................................................. ii

DEDICATION PAGE............................................................................. iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ....................................... v

ABSTRACT............................................................................................ vi

ABSTRAK ................................................................................................ viii

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ................................................... x

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................... xi

TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................ xiii

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................. xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES......................................................................... xvii

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

A. Research Background............................................. 1

B. Problem Formulation ............................................. 6

C. Problem Limitation ................................................ 6

D. Research Objectives ............................................... 7

E. Research Benefits................................................... 7

F. Definition of Terms................................................ 8

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. Theoretical Description.......................................... 12

1. Error ................................................................. 12

a. The Source of Error.......................................... 13

b. Category of Error ............................................. 15

2. Error Analysis .................................................. 18


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a. Category of Error Analysis .............................. 18

b. The Significance of Errors ............................... 19

c. Steps of Error Analysis .................................... 19

3. Collocation ....................................................... 20

a. Category of Collocation ................................... 21

4. Prepositions ...................................................... 24

a. Simple Prepositions.......................................... 25

b. Complex Prepositions ...................................... 26

5. Prepositional Verbs .......................................... 27

a. Types of Prepositional Verbs ........................... 28

b. Exceptional Types of Prepositional Verbs....... 30

6. Academic Essay Writing.................................. 31

a. The Nature of Writing...................................... 31

b. The Significance of Writing............................. 32

c. Academic Writing ............................................ 32

d. Essay ................................................................ 33

e. Academic Essay Writing.................................. 34

B. Theoretical Framework .......................................... 34

CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY

A. Research Methods .................................................. 37

B. Research Participants ............................................. 40

C. Research Instruments ............................................. 41

1. Documents ....................................................... 42

2. Interview Guide................................................ 43

3. Human Instrument............................................ 44

D. Data Gathering Technique ..................................... 44

E. Data Analysis Technique ....................................... 45

F. Research Procedure................................................ 46


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CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

A. The Prepositional Verb Errors ............................... 48

1. Data Presentation ............................................. 48

2. Discussion ........................................................ 49

B. The Efforts Should be Done to Minimize the Students’

Prepositional Verb Errors....................................... 55

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions............................................................ 70

B. Suggestions ............................................................ 72

1. For English Teachers ....................................... 73

2. For Students ..................................................... 74

3. For Other Researchers...................................... 74

REFERENCES ................................................................................... 76


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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1.1. The Types of Prepositional Verb Errors .......................................... 49


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LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix Page

A Samples of Students’ Assignments ................................................ 79

B Data of Prepositional Verb Errors.................................................. 92

C The Interview Blueprint ................................................................. 95

D The Interview Guide ...................................................................... 97

E The Interview Results .................................................................... 99

F Interview Transcripts ..................................................................... 101


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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of research background, problem formulation, problem

limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms.

A. Research Background

English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) students, as learners of

English as a Foreign Language (EFL), are expected to have good proficiency of

English. They need it because they would be English users in professional fields they

enter after graduating from ELESP. As ELESP graduates, their English is expected to

be more accurate compared to that of other graduates from other study programs.

They are not only expected to be able to recognize English language, including the

patterns, but also to be able to produce the language (Heaton 1979: 6).

Producing language includes speaking and writing skills. Accuracy is needed

in both of them. Thornbury (2006: 92) mentioned that in order to acquire English

accuracy, learners have to focus on form. In speaking skills, learners have limited

attention to focus on form and meaning at the same time. In fact, they are more

accurate if they have more time to plan, monitor, and modify their output (Thornbury,

2006: 92). On the other hand, writing provides learners enough time to think how to

create accurate language in their writing compositions so that it enables them to


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initiate their language development (Harmer, 2005: 31). Therefore, accuracy could be

evidently detected in written form because writing is considered to be the final

product of planning and modifying process, consisting of a lot of drafting.

Besides, language problems could be visibly detected in written form because

it is transcendent or permanent. Unlike spoken language which is transient or

temporary, written language could be more noticed and read for many times. On the

contrary, spoken language tends to be ignored and forgotten (Harmer, 2005: 7). As

Harmer (2005: 9) mentioned,

two of the most noticeable dissimilarities between speaking and writing are the level of correctness and the issue of well-formedness. Speakers can and do mispronounce and use deviant grammar without anyone objecting or judging the speakers’ level of intelligence and education, but spelling mistakes and grammar ‘awkwardness’, for example, are far more harshly judged. In acquiring the writing skill, ELESP students are given several writing

classes, in which they have to complete writing assignments. Through writing, they

apply their English mastery that they acquire. The higher semester they belong to, the

higher level of accuracy of English mastery they are expected to prove. However, in

the process of completing the writing assignments, the students often make

grammatical errors which indirectly show their problems in English mastery. Recent

study tends to consider that the learners’ habit of making errors could influence their

linguistic development (Thornbury, 2006: 113).

One of the errors that are commonly made is related to preposition

combinations, the combinations of prepositions with verbs and adjectives in which


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the prepositions follow the verbs or adjectives (Azar, 1985: 335). In addition,

according to Benson (1986) as said by Moehkardi (2002: 54), the prepositions could

also follow nouns, except preposition of and by. Actually, preposition combination is

a part of collocation. As Baker (1992: 47) said, collocation is defined as a tendency of

certain words to co-occur regularly in a given language. Specifically, preposition

combination is under grammatical category of collocation, which is drawn from a

closed set of obligatory options.

Collocations themselves, according to Prodromou (2004) as stated by Al-

Sibai (2007, http:// faculty. ksu. edu. sa/ dinaalsibai/ Research % 20 Papers / 04. % 20

Collocation% 20Review.pdf), “either fixed or more flexible, are the result of many

years of habitual use by fluent speakers of the English language.” They have been

recognized as one of the ways that differentiate native speakers and foreign language

learners. This fact creates a problem for the learners. This problem occurs because the

students of EFL realize that learning English prepositions is something difficult since

every language has a different way of using prepositions.

The transfer of the L1 prepositions may cause mistakes because of the different concept between the L1 prepositions to the English. For example, the Indonesian expression ‘tertarik dengan’ is literally transferred to English ‘interested with’, whereas ‘interested in’ will be difficult to remember because preposition ‘in’ is equivalent to Indonesian ‘di’. (Moehkardi, 2002: 58)

In addition, the fact that the kinds and functions of English prepositions are more

various than those of prepositions in Indonesian language makes prepositions emerge

as a serious problem. In fact, English also has preposition combinations which are

different from common prepositions in the usage. Since knowledge of preposition


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combinations is not taught in certain classes, ELESP students could gain the

knowledge by reading a lot of English texts, in which they could find various

preposition combinations. Furthermore, they need to apply the knowledge to their

own writing. This learning process would encourage them to use the correct

preposition combinations. As a matter of fact, most of EFL students, especially the

ELESP students, often produce incorrect preposition combinations. This would

become a crucial problem because as ELESP students, their accuracy of English is

demanded for their proficiency as English teacher candidates.

As teacher candidates, ELESP students are expected to recognize quality

writings as well as to produce English texts. Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005: 64)

mentioned that English teachers are expected to have the same degree of accuracy as

native speakers have, both in recognizing and in writing English texts. The

preposition combination errors would become a problem for the students, both during

their study in ELESP and after they graduate. First, it becomes one obstacle in writing

their undergraduate thesis. Mastering preposition combinations would help them

produce a quality undergraduate thesis. Besides, it would also help them in writing

quality English reports, either during their study in ELESP or in their working world.

However, if they are used to the errors, it would be difficult for them to replace the

incorrect preposition combinations with the correct ones because the incorrect ones

have been fossilized. As Brown (1991: 116) said, this fossilization occurs when an

incorrect form of language is embedded in learners’ mind and as a result, it becomes

a habit in learners’ repertoire.


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Furthermore, when the ELESP students become English teachers, they would

become role models for their students. In this case, they are considered as the masters

of English, whose accuracy is highly demanded. They are no longer learners whose

errors are tolerable. If they could not write good writings with correct preposition

combinations, they would not be able to guide their students to use the correct ones.

The students would have the same problem as their teachers have and eventually, this

problem would be a vicious circle.

This problem encourages the writer to describe errors in preposition

combinations which ELESP students often produce. However, in this research, she

focuses on prepositional verbs. They are preposition combinations of verbs and

preposition. The reason why this research chooses prepositional verbs is because

verbs are obligatory in producing sentences. Nevertheless, in some cases, knowing

the verbs must be followed by knowing the prepositions which follow them. Then,

she wants to propose the possible solutions.

The writer is interested in selecting ELESP students who are taking Academic

Essay Writing class as the participants of this research. Academic Essay Writing class

is one of writing classes in ELESP which is taught to ELESP students in the fifth

semester. The writer chooses this class with consideration that the fifth semester

students have acquired adequate competence in writing since they have taken several

writing classes in the previous semesters, but they still have chances to improve their

competence to write their undergraduate thesis. In addition, they also have chance to

improve their structure as well as their writing. In this semester, they have acquired


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complex English structure, including prepositional verbs, which they could apply in

their writings.

B. Problem Formulation

Based on the background, there are two problems addressed in this research.

They are:

1. What are prepositional verb errors in students’ Academic Essay Writing class

assignments?

2. What efforts should be done to minimize the students’ prepositional verb errors in

their writing?

C. Problem Limitation

This research is concerned with preposition combination errors made by

ELESP students. The types of preposition combinations involve verbs, adjectives,

and nouns plus prepositions. Although there are many possibilities of the preposition

combination errors, this research would only describe the students’ errors in the

combination of verbs and prepositions or prepositional verbs in Academic Essay

Writing class assignments. Prepositional verb errors are chosen because verbs are

regarded as the mostly used part of speech since every sentence needs a verb.

Therefore, the number of the errors is larger than that of other kinds of preposition

combinations, either adjectives plus prepositions or nouns plus prepositions.


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The Academic Essay Writing class is chosen in this research because it is

taught in the fifth semester of ELESP, where the students are assumed to have

acquired adequate competence in writing. Knowing their prepositional verb errors

would give insight into their English accuracy and help them to produce more

accurate writings, especially for their undergraduate thesis later. Then, this research

would find the recommended solutions to minimize this problem.

D. Research Objectives

This research is conducted in order to answer the questions stated in the

problem formulation. Thus, the objectives of this research are to find out:

1. The prepositional verb errors in the students’ Academic Essay Writing class

assignments.

2. The efforts should be done to minimize the students’ prepositional verbs errors.

E. Research Benefits

The result of this research is expected to be beneficial for advanced English

learners, especially the ELESP students as English teacher candidates, and the readers

of this thesis in general. First, the learners would recognize and be careful about

prepositional verb errors. Furthermore, they would be aware of the accuracy in

writing, especially in applying prepositional verbs. This would help them produce

quality writings. Besides, this research is significant for ELESP students, especially

after they graduate, because prepositional verb errors in their writing would affect the


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readers. As the ELESP graduates, they are assumed to have good proficiency of

English. It means that they are considered to be good role models for the readers of

their writings. Therefore, if the readers are lower level English users, they might

imitate the same errors as what the writer does in producing their own writings.

Nevertheless, for the advanced English readers, the errors would disturb and confuse

them. As a result, they would doubt the proficiency of the writers. Second, for

English teacher candidates, the result of this research would bring awareness of

prepositional verb errors in teaching their students so that they could guide their

students to produce accurate language. In addition, they could apply recommended

solutions presented in this research to the problem of prepositional verb errors that

they find in their teaching. Third, the readers of this thesis in general are expected to

be more aware of the significance of prepositional verbs in English language.

F. Definition of Terms

There are some terms in this research that need to be defined. The terms

which are frequently used in this research are as follows.

1. Errors

Based on Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (Quirk, 2001: 462),

errors mean “mistakes that cause serious problems.” According to Ellis and

Barkhuizen (2001: 17), “errors are deviations in usage which results from gaps in

learners’ knowledge of the target language.” Then, Gass and Selinker (2001: 453)


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stated that error is the incorrect form of target language produced by learners. Harmer

(2007: 96) added that errors are mistakes which students could not correct themselves

because they have not mastered the new information that they need deeper

explanation. Errors in this research mean the incorrect usage of English prepositional

verbs produced by the fifth semester students of ELESP taking Academic Essay class

in their writing assignments. The errors appear because of lack of knowledge of

prepositional verbs.

2. Prepositional Verbs

According to Swan (1982: 492), a prepositional verb is a verb that has two

parts: a ‘base’ verb and a preposition. According to Downing and Locke (2002: 334),

“prepositional verbs are combinations of a lexical verb and a preposition which is

semantically associated.” It is usually a monotransitive complement verb, in which

the component which follows it has a function as a direct object (Aarts and Aarts,

1982: 42). Thus, the noun phrase which follows the preposition is called prepositional

object (Oprep).

There are two types of prepositional verbs. They are type I and type II

prepositional verbs. Type I includes V + prep + Oprep. Examples of type I

prepositional verbs are: insist on, care for, agree with, arrive at, ask for, believe in,

belong to, deal with, depend on, hope for, insist on, laugh at, listen to, look after, look

for, pay for, send for, talk about. Type II includes V + N/NP + prep + Oprep.

Examples of type II prepositional verbs are: remind (someone) of, provide


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(something) with, thank (someone) for, protect (someone/something) from, confine

(something) under, ply (someone) with, deprive (someone) of.

Therefore, it is obvious that a prepositional verb is a transitive verb plus a

preposition which are semantically associated. This research is intended to find out

the prepositional verb errors in Academic Essay students’ assignments.

3. Academic Essay Writing

According to Oshima and Hogue (1991: 2), academic writing is a type of

writing which college or university students are required to compose. Then, an essay,

according to Muhyidin (1988: 153-154), is a formal composition which consists of

introductory, body, and concluding paragraphs which develop one central idea.

Additionally, Heaton (1979: 127) stated that an essay includes not only the

production of grammatically correct sentences within paragraphs, but also originality

and creativity of the writer to inform and entertain the readers.

In this research, based on Academic Essay Writing Syllabus (Aji, 2009),

Academic Essay Writing is one of the writing classes of ELESP Sanata Dharma

University which aims at introducing the students the underlying principles of

academic writing. Then, through this class, the students are expected to be able to

analyze the characteristics of academic essays and to write good academic essays.

The students’ academic essays in Academic Essay Writing class are

implemented in the form of writing assignments. Based on Longman Dictionary of

Contemporary English (Quirk, 2001: 66), the word assignment (n) means “a piece of


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work that is given to someone as part of their job, or that a student is asked to do.” In

this research, writing assignments are the writing compositions written by students

taking the Academic Essay Writing class, the topic of which are comparison and

contrast, cause and effect, argumentation, and book or article review, which are

conducted during the semester in order to fulfill the requirements of the Academic

Essay Writing class. In this research, the students’ writing assignments are used as

data, in which prepositional verb errors are found.


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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter discusses theories which are related to this research. The

discussion is divided into two parts: theoretical description and theoretical

framework. The theoretical description explains relevant theories that support this

research, consisting of theory of error, error analysis, collocation, preposition,

prepositional verb, and academic essay writing. Meanwhile, the theoretical

framework elaborates the framework synthesized from the discussed theories in

theoretical description.

A. Theoretical Description

This part deals with error, error analysis, collocation, preposition, prepositional verb,

and writing and academic essay.

1. Error

According to Gass and Selinker (2001: 453), an error is the incorrect form of a

target language produced by learners. However, it is different from mistake. Corder

(1974), as stated by Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005: 62), said that errors arise because of

gaps in the learners’ knowledge when they make the incorrect forms because they do

not know the correct ones. In other words, errors are the results of their ignorance.

Mistakes arise because of incomplete knowledge mastery processed by the learners.

Gass and Selinker (2001: 78) added that mistakes are similar to slips of the tongue.


13

When the learners recognize them, they could correct them. On the other hand, errors

are more systematic. When making errors, learners could repeat the same incorrect

forms of language without recognizing the errors.

Nevertheless, Brown (1991: 109) proposed a distinct definition of errors. He

classified errors into two types: goofs and mistakes. Goofs are errors made not only

by the language learners, but also by the native language users. They are caused by

slips of the tongue and are correctable. Meanwhile, mistakes are errors occurring

when the learners attempt to produce the language correctly, as a result of the process

of second language rules system which is incompletely formed. Hence, Brown’s

definition of mistakes is similar to the definition of errors defined by Corder.

a. The Sources of Error

Basically, errors are divided into two types. They are interlingual and intralingual

errors.

1) Interlingual Errors or Transfer Errors

They are errors which are connected to the first language. In fact, the influence

of the first language to the language being learned could be positive or negative. If

the influence does not produce errors, it is called positive transfer. Nevertheless, if it

produces errors, it becomes negative transfer or L1 interference (Thornbury, 2006:

114).

Interlingual errors involve cross-linguistic comparisons. For instance,

sociolinguistic source could influence the errors because “the learners may sometimes

deliberately employ non-standard forms of the language as a way of managing the


14

impression they wish to have on their interlocutor” (Rampton (1987) as stated by

Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005: 62)). Learners do this to show their reluctance to use the

L2 because they do not master it.

2) Intralingual Errors or Developmental Errors

They are errors which are because of the language being learned. Ellis and

Barkhuizen (2005: 62) mentioned that psycholinguistic source is a part of this error. It

is related to the processing mechanism involved in the use of the language being

learned and to the nature of the language knowledge system. This type of error is

common to all language learners. Therefore, they become a part of language

development (Gass and Selinker, 2001: 80). In this case, the learners experience

developmental stages to be nearly the same as the target language. In the

developmental stages, learners’ development follows a route, of which the rate is

different for every learner. This development process, then, creates a systematicity. In

this stage, learner’s first language and target language are parallel (Mitchell and

Myles, 2004: 15-16). Therefore, errors are viewed as “indications of a learner’s

attempt to figure out some system; that is, to impose regularity on the language

learner is exposed to do. As such, they are evidence of an underlying rule-governed

system” (Gass and Selinker, 2001: 78).

Furthermore, as Brown (1991: 111-114) stated, there are four main sources of

errors: learners’ native language, the second language itself, the context of the

learning situation, and the strategies employed by the learners.


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1) Learners’ Native Language

Learners use their first language as the pattern in learning the new language.

The pattern could be in the form of the first language’s sound system, grammatical

system, or vocabulary.

2) The Second Language Itself

Errors are seen as the result of the complexity of the second language. The fact

that the second language rule is different from learners’ first language rule makes the

learners confused to produce the second language.

3) The Context of the Learning Situation

Learning situation could become the source of errors. The context of learning

language in a classroom which becomes the source of errors are: the teacher’s

limitation in the language mastery, the confusing method in presenting the

knowledge, confusing or misleading textbooks, or influence from other students.

4) The Strategies Employed by the Learners

The learners’ strategy in the process of attempting to make the language their

own could cause errors. For instance, learners memorize English expressions to apply

them in communication. In fact, those expressions might be inappropriate with the

situation of communication.

b. Category of Errors

According to James (1998) as stated by Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005: 60),

describing errors could be conducted through descriptive category called taxonomy.


16

There are two kinds of taxonomy to be used in describing errors. They are linguistic

taxonomy and surface structure taxonomy.

1) Linguistic Taxonomy

It is based on categories described from descriptive grammar of the target

language. Here, a researcher identifies the errors found in the sample using the

category based on the descriptive grammar.

2) Surface Structure Taxonomy

It is based on the ways surface structures are changed in erroneous

utterances/sentences. According to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982:150) as stated by

Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005: 61), the errors are divided into five types, as follows.

a. omission, the absence of an item which must exist in a correct utterance. For

example: omission of to be in the sentence My sisters very pretty.

b. addition, the presence of a form which does not appear in a regular sentence. It is

sub-categorized into:

i. regularization, for example: eated for ate.

ii. double-marking, for example: He didn’t came.

iii. simple additions, they involve other cases of addition, excluding regulation

and double-marking.

c. misinformation, the use of the incorrect form of the morpheme or structure. It is

sub-categorized into:

i. regularization, for example: Do they be happy?


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ii. archi-forms, for example, the learners uses me as both subject and object

pronoun.

iii. alternating forms, for example: Don’t + V and No + V.

d. misordering, the errors are categorized as the incorrect placement of a morpheme

or groups of morpheme in a sentence, as in She fights all the time her brother.

e. blends, the errors which reflect the learners’ uncertainty as to which of two forms

is required. For example: The only one thing I want which is a combination of The

only thing I want and The one thing I want.

Thornbury (2006: 114) added that there are three categories of errors based on

their occurrence in levels of language: lexical errors, grammar errors, and discourse

errors.

1) Lexical Errors

Learners make the errors in choosing the wrong form of words or the meaning of

words they want to express. They occur at the word level.

2) Grammar Errors

Learners make the errors related to verb form and tense. They occur at sentence

structure level.

3) Discourse Errors

Learners make the errors related to the way sentences are organized and linked in

order to make a whole text. They are errors at text level.


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2. Error Analysis

Error Analysis is “a set of procedures for identifying, describing and

explaining learner errors” (Ellis and Barkhuizen, 2005: 51). It is a type of linguistics

analysis that focuses on the errors made by learners. It is similar to contrastive

analysis, in which the errors are compared to the native language. Conversely, in

error analysis, the comparison is between learners’ production of target language and

the target language form itself (Gass and Selinker, 2001: 79). Stern (1986: 354)

mentioned that according to Selinker (late 1960’s), error analysis is also called

interlanguage study because the developing learner language is assumed as a system

in its own right. According to Selinker, Swain, and Dumas (1975) as said by Stern

(1986: 354),

second language speech rarely conforms to what one expects native speakers of the target language to produce, that is not an exact translation of the native language, that it differs from the target language in systematic ways, and that the forms of utterances produced in the second language by a learner are not random. This interlanguage-hypothesis proposes that the relevant data of a theory of second language learning must be the speech forms which result from the attempted expression of meaning in a second language.

a. Category of Error Analysis

According to Corder (1971), as mentioned by Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005: 56),

error analysis is categorized as grammaticality and acceptability.

1) Grammaticality Category

An error is defined as a breach of the rule of the code. The error is divided into overt

and covert. An error is overt if it could be detected by confirming the


19

sentence/utterance in which it occurs. On the other hand, an error is covert if it only

becomes obvious when a larger stretch of the discourse is considered.

2) Acceptability Category

Errors are identified in a situational context in which the utterance might correspond

in question.

b. The Significance of Errors

According to Corder (1967) as stated by Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005: 51),

learner errors are significant to be analyzed in three ways:

1) The errors provide a pedagogic purpose by showing teachers what learners have

learned and what they have not mastered.

2) The errors provide a research purpose by presenting evidence about how language

is learned.

3) The errors provide a learning purpose by playing a role as a device by which

learners could find out the rules of the target language.

c. Steps of Error Analysis

Conducting error analysis, according to Corder (1974), as stated by Ellis and

Barkhuizen (2005: 57), consists of several steps: collection of a sample of learner

language, identification of errors, description of errors, explanation of errors, and

error evaluation.


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1) Collection of A Sample of Learner Language

It is the starting point in error analysis, in which the researcher decides the sample

of the research and how to collect them.

2) Identification of Errors

It is the step in which the definition of errors and the procedure to recognize them

must be identified.

2) Description of Errors

In this step, learners’ productions are compared to the reconstruction of the

productions in target language.

3) Explanation of Errors

In this step, the errors are explained. The explanation is concerned with the source

of the errors.

4) Error Evaluation

This step involves a consideration of the effect of the errors on the learners. It

aims at improving learners’ language mastery based on the errors.

3. Collocation

Preposition combinations are the combination of verbs and prepositions or

prepositional verbs, adjectives and prepositions, or nouns with prepositions (except of

and by) which are semantically associated (Azar, 1985: 335). They are parts of

collocation because the verbs, adjectives and nouns co-occur with their prepositions

(Yule, 2004: 402). The term collocation derives from the word collocate, which


21

means ‘to go together’ (Finch, 2000: 152). Then, “collocation would be to think of it

in terms of the tendency of certain words to co-occur regularly in a given language”

(Baker 1992: 47). Hence, preposition combinations are seen as the co-occurrence

between the prepositions and the verbs, adjectives, and nouns.

Furthermore, collocation is seen as

a part of continuum of strength of association: a continuum that moves from compound words (second-hand, record player), through multi-word units - or lexical chunks - (bits and pieces), including idioms (out of the blue) and phrasal verbs (do up), to collocations of more or less fixedness (set the record straight, set a new world record) (Thornbury, 2008: 7).

It means that collocation consists of various range of idiomaticity and has been the

habit of English native speakers for many years (Prodromou (2004) as stated by Al-

Sibai (2007, http:// faculty. ksu. edu. sa/ dinaalsibai/ Research % 20 Papers / 04. % 20

Collocation% 20Review.pdf). This distribution of the range of collocation is called

collocational range (Finch, 2000: 152).

a. Category of Collocation

Benson, Benson, and Ilson (1993), as said by Moehkardi (2002: 54), divided

collocation into two categories: grammatical and lexical collocation. The grammatical

collocation is more general and is relevant to a large number of examples. On the

contrary, the lexical collocation is more specific and is relevant to small number of

examples (Nattinger and DeCarrico, 2001: 22). However, both grammatical and

lexical collocations are varied from the idiomatic until the less idiomatic

combinations.


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1) Grammatical Collocation

It consists of a noun, an adjective, or a verb, plus a particle, which is in the

form of a preposition, an adverb, or grammatical structure like infinitive or gerund.

Specifically, Benson, Benson, and Ilson (1986), as stated by Moehkardi (2002: 54-

58), added that grammatical collocation consists of:

a) noun + preposition combinations

b) noun + to + infinitive

c) noun + that-clause

d) preposition + noun combinations

e) adjective + preposition combinations

f) predicate adjective + to + infinitive

g) adjective + that clause

h) Nineteen patterns of collocational verb:

(1) Moving an indirect object to a position before the direct object of transitive verbs

is allowed.

(2) Moving an indirect object to a position before the direct object by deleting to is

not allowed.

(3) Transitive verbs with preposition for allow the deletion of for and the movement

of the indirect object to a position before the direct object.

(4) The verbs with specific prepositions and objects (prepositional verbs).

(5) Verbs followed by to + infinitive which means a purpose.


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(6) Verbs followed by infinitive, without to. They include modals and verbal phrases

like had better and would rather.

(7) Verbs followed by second verbs in V-ing form.

(8) Transitive verbs followed by an object and to + infinitive.

(9) Transitive verbs followed by an object and infinitive, without to.

(10) Verbs followed by an object and V-ing.

(11) Verbs could be followed by a noun or pronoun and gerund.

(12) Verbs followed by a noun clause which begins with conjunction that.

(13) Transitive verbs could be followed by a direct object, an infinitive to be and

adjective/past participle/noun/pronoun.

(14) Transitive verbs followed by a direct object and adjective/past participle or

noun/pronoun.

(15) Transitive verbs followed by two objects.

(16) Intransitive/reflexive/transitive verbs must be followed by an adverbial in the

form of an adverb, a prepositional phrase, a noun phrase, or a clause.

(17) Verbs could be followed by interrogative words.

(18) Dummy it is followed by transitive verbs which express emotion and to +

infinitive or that + clause or by either.

(19) A small number of intransitive verbs are followed by a predicate noun or

predicate adjective.


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2) Lexical Collocation

It is a type of collocation which does not contain grammatical elements.

Benson, Benson, and Ilson (1986), as stated by Moehkardi (2002: 59-60), mentioned

seven types of lexical collocation:

a) CA (Creation and Activation) collocation, which consists of transitive verbs +

noun/pronoun/prepositional phrase. This collocation refers to creation or activation,

such as: compose a music (creation), set an alarm (activation).

b) EN (Eradication and Nullification) collocation, which consist of verbs which

means eradication or nullification + noun, such as: reject an appeal, revoke a license,

annul a marriage, withdraw an offer.

c) Adjective + noun, such as: strong/weak tea, kind/kindest/best regard.

d) Noun + verb, such as: bees buzz, bomb explodes, alarms go off.

e) Noun + noun, such as: a herd of buffalo, a bouquet of flowers, a bit of advice.

f) Adverb + adjective, such as: deeply absorbed, hopelessly addicted.

g) Verb + adverb, such as: appreciate sincerely, argue heatedly.

4. Preposition

Conner (1967: 153), in his book titled A Grammar of Standard English, stated

that English uses the term prepositions because the Romans never put their

preposition in the last sentence. In fact, for the English, putting prepositions in the

last sentence is considered to be correct. Therefore, English prepositions do not

always mean pre-position.


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According to Sinclair (1994: vi), there are over 100 prepositions in English.

In English, prepositions are function words. This means having little meaning in

dictionary sense. Nevertheless, they have important purpose in English language

because they relate other words in grammatical structures (Collier-Macmillian, 1970:

v). In English, prepositions are applied to make nouns become attributives and

complements for verbs. According to Curme (1966: 27), in general, “a preposition is

a word that connects a noun or pronoun with verb, adjective, or another noun or

pronoun by indicating a relationship between the things for which they stand”. Hence,

a preposition normally precedes a noun or noun phrase (Close, 1975: 24).

Basically, English prepositions express ideas of space, time, agency,

instrument, means, purpose, and topic (Close, 1975: 177). Then, based on their form,

English prepositions are divided into simple prepositions and complex prepositions,

and have grammatical and lexical use (Yule, 2004: 158).

a. Simple Prepositions

They are prepositions which do not contain nouns and possess grammatical or lexical

use.

1) Grammatical Use

The prepositions belonging to this category consist of one-syllable-form

prepositions which are the most frequently occurring prepositions and have general

conceptual meaning, such as: at, by, for, from, in, of, off, on, to, with.


26

2) Lexical Use

The prepositions belonging to this category usually consist of two or more-

syllable-form prepositions which have specific conceptual meanings and contribute

directly to the meaning of the phrases where they occur, such as: above, among,

before, behind, below, despite, during, opposite, toward(s), under.

b. Complex Prepositions

Complex prepositions are prepositions which include nouns, such as: in

accordance with, on account of, in addition to, on behalf of, in case of, by means of,

for the purpose of, with reference to, for the sake of, in spite of.

Considering the nature of English prepositions as mentioned before, Learning

English prepositions in EFL language learning is something difficult since every

language has a different way of applying prepositions. As stated by Moehkardi (2002:

58),

the transfer of the L1 prepositions may cause mistakes because of the different concept between the L1 prepositions to the English. For example, the Indonesian expression ‘tertarik dengan’ is literally transferred to English ‘interested with’, whereas ‘interested in’ will be different to remember because preposition ‘in’ is equivalent to Indonesian ‘di.’

In addition, the fact that the kinds and functions of English prepositions are more

various than Indonesian’s prepositions makes prepositions emerge as a serious

problem.


27

5. Prepositional Verbs

According to Downing and Locke (2002: 334), “prepositional verbs are

combinations of a lexical verb and a preposition which is semantically associated.” It

is usually a monotransitive complement verb, in which the component which follows

it has a function as a direct object (Aarts and Aarts, 1982: 42). This component is

called prepositional object (Oprep) (Eastwood and Mackin, 1982: 117). Several

instances of prepositional verbs are: insist on, care for, agree with, arrive at, ask for,

believe in, belong to, deal with, depend on, hope for, insist on, laugh at, listen to, look

after, look for, pay for, send for, talk about.

Downing and Locke (2003: 75) stated that cohesion between verbs and

prepositions is variable if:

(a) their cohesion is such that without the preposition the verb is either meaningless (e.g. account for) or has a different meaning (e.g. allow, allow for); and (b) if the verb can passivise with the completive of the preposition at Subject (The loss can’t be accounted for). In addition, such verbs can typically answer a question beginning with what or who(m) (What/who must I see to?).

Nevertheless, prepositional verbs could not be followed by that-clauses. In other

words, that-clauses are not prepositional objects (Downing and Locke, 2003: 78).

Consequently, some prepositional verbs such as: insist on, agree to, admit to, see to,

could be replaced by

a. Dropping the preposition.

For example:

1) We insist that he is old the truth.

2) They agreed that there should be changes.


28

b. Retaining the preposition and following it with anticipatory it before the that-

clause.

For example:

1) We insist on it that he is told the truth.

2) They agreed to it that there should be changes.

In addition, some prepositional verbs could insert the fact before the that-clause.

For example:

1) You must allow for the fact that he is severely depressed.

2) Several of the neighbors have commented on the fact that the gates were left open

all night.

a. Types of Prepositional Verbs

Greenbaum and Quirk (1990: 338) mentioned that there are two types of

prepositional verb:

1) Type I Prepositional Verbs

They consist of lexical verbs followed by prepositions. The combinations of

the verbs and the prepositions are semantically and could also be syntactically

associated. The noun phrase which follows the preposition is a prepositional object,

which is included into direct object.


29

For example:

1) Look at these pictures.

2) I don’t care for Jane’s parties.

3) We must go into the problem.

4) Can you cope with the work?

5) I approve of their action.

6) His eyes lighten upon the jewel.

This type allows the passive form of the sentence. For example:

1) The picture was looked at by many people.

2) Jane’s parties are not cared for by me.

3) Can the work be coped with by you?

It also allows the insertion of an adverbial between the lexical verb and the

preposition.

For example:

1) Many people looked disdainfully at the picture.

2) We must go straightforwardly into the problem.

3) His eyes lighten brightly upon the jewel.

4) I approve absolutely of their action.


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2) Type II Prepositional Verbs

The verbs of type II prepositional verbs are ditransitive verbs. They are verbs which

are followed by two objects or noun phrases. The noun phrases are normally

separated by the prepositions, and the second of which is the prepositional object.

For example:

1) He deprived the peasants of their land.

2) They plied the young man with food.

3) Please confine your remarks to the matter under discussion.

4) This clothing will protect you from the worst weather.

5) Jenny thanked us for the present.

6) May I remind you of your agreement?

7) They have provided the child with a good education.

The passive form of the sentence requires the direct object of the active form as the

subject.

For example:

Active: The gang robbed her of her necklace.

Passive: She was robbed of her necklace (by the gang).

b. Exceptional Types of Prepositional Verbs

Out of the two types of prepositional verbs, there are two exceptional types of

prepositional verbs as follows.


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1) For prepositional verbs like make a mess of, make allowance for, take care of, pay

attention to, take advantage of, the passive forms, in which the prepositional object

becomes the subject, are less acceptable.

For example:

1. A (terrible) mess has been made of the house.

2. The house has been made a (terrible) mess of.

2) For prepositional verbs like catch sight of, keep pace with, give way to, lose touch

with, cross swords with, keep tabs on, give rise to, only the prepositional object which

could be the subject of the passive form. Nevertheless, it is still considered to be

peculiar.

For example:

The lifeboat was suddenly caught sight of.

6. Academic Essay Writing

Writing is a language skill which demands accuracy. The accuracy of writing

could be evidently proved because writers need to pay attention to meaning and form.

Besides, they have more time to plan, monitor, and modify it until the final writing is

done (Thornbury, 2006: 92).

a. The Nature of Writing

Based on The Cambridge of Encyclopedia of Language (Crystal, 1987: 179),

the natures of writing that differentiates it from speaking are:


32

1) Writing is permanent. Therefore, it could be read and analyzed repeatedly. Harmer

(2005: 7) added that written language could be more noticed and read for many times,

while spoken language tends to be ignored and easily forgotten.

2) The participants could not see each other so that it is not feasible for any

clarification or confirmation.

3) Writing demands punctuation, capitalization, spatial organization, color, and other

graphic effects.

4) Lexical and grammatical differences are under significant consideration.

5) Language in written form is more formal than that in spoken.

b. The Significance of Writing

“Writing encourages students to focus on accurate language use and, because

they think as they write, it may well provoke language development as they resolve

problems which the writing puts into their minds” (Harmer, 2007: 31). Therefore,

giving writing class to learners, especially ELESP students, is necessary.

The purpose of the class is to facilitate the best piece of writing possible, given such exigencies as the linguistic and conceptual sophistication of the students, their knowledge of the subject, and their ability to produce a piece of discourse which conforms to the ‘norms of communication. (White and McGovern, 1994: 6)

c. Academic Writing

According to Oshima and Hogue (1991: 2), a type of writing which college or

university students are required to compose is academic writing. It differs from other


33

kinds of writing in the audience, tone, and purpose. The audience on academic

writing is primarily the lecturer of the class. The tone is formal with impersonal tone.

It also demands more passive forms and technical vocabulary. Then, the purpose of it

is specific and mostly is giving explanation.

d. Essay

An essay, according to Muhyidin (1988: 153-154), is a formal composition

which consists of introductory, body, and concluding paragraphs which develop one

central idea. The introductory contains the background of the essay and also attracts

the readers’ interest to read the essay, whereas the concluding contains the summary

of information presented in previous paragraphs (John and Yates, 1982: 202).

Additionally, Heaton (1975: 127) stated that an essay includes not only the

production of grammatically correct sentences within paragraphs, but also originality

and creativity of the writer to inform and entertain the readers.

John and Yates (1982: 202-203) mentioned that the organization of essay

could be in several ways, as follows:

1) Chronological Order

It is the most common way in writing essays that is usually applied in reporting

events, explaining process, or explaining cause and effect and is presented in

narrative way.

2) Spatial Order

It is applied in describing places and objects in detail.


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3) Logical Order

It emphasizes logical connection among parts of an essay. It could be in deductive

order, from general to specific, or inductive, from specific to general. Logical order is

appropriate in constructing generalization.

e. Academic Essay Writing

In this research, based on Academic Essay Writing Syllabus (Aji, 2009),

Academic Essay Writing class is a writing class in ELESP Sanata Dharma University

which aims at introducing the students to the underlying principles of academic

writing. Then, through this class, the students are expected to be able to analyze the

characteristics of academic essays and to write good academic essays. The topics of

the students’ writing are comparison and contrast, cause and effect, argumentation,

and book or article review. The competence standard expected by the students after

completing this class are they would be able to understand academic writing

conventions and to write academic essays on language, language teaching, and

literature. The procedure of writing process in this class includes exploring ideas,

prewriting, organizing, writing first drafts, revising the drafts, and producing the final

copy.

B. Theoretical Framework

This section discusses the synthesis of the theories discussed in the previous

subchapter as well as their relationship in supporting this research. Principally,


35

prepositional verbs in this research are categorized as the combinations of a lexical

verb and a preposition which is semantically associated (Downing and Locke, 2002:

334). Prepositions involved in prepositional verbs are in the form of simple

prepositions. Furthermore, prepositional verbs are also parts of grammatical

collocation, and are specifically included into 19 collocational verb patterns.

To achieve the first objective of this research, the prepositional verb errors in

students’ Academic Essay Writing class assignments, the writer needs to understand

the underlying principle of errors. The writer agrees with Gass and Selinker (2001:

453), who stated that error is the incorrect form of target language produced by

learners. This means that although errors and mistakes are distinct based on their

causes, errors in this research are seen as the incorrect forms of prepositional verbs as

found in students’ writing assignments. In the other words, errors and mistakes in this

research are considered to be the same.

In this research, the writer uses a framework proposed by Dulay et al. (1982:

150) as stated by Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005:61) to mainly answer the first research

question. Based on Dulay’s surface structure taxonomy, the errors related to

prepositional verbs are omission, addition, misinformation, misordering, and blends.

Then, based on their occurrence in levels of language, they are categorized as lexical

errors. In addition, Corder (1971), as stated by Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005), said that

prepositional verb errors are included into overt error, which could be detected by

confirming the sentence in which they occur. In analyzing prepositional verb errors,

the writer needs to be aware of the appropriateness of the forms and meaning in


36

sentences. Specifically, the writer needs to pay attention to the function of the

prepositions, whether they attach to the verbs or they precede noun or noun phrase.

The prepositional verb errors could be evidently found in written form.

Therefore, this research uses writing assignments written by ELESP students taking

Academic Essay Writing class. The assignments correspond with the level of the fifth

semester students. The assignments are used as documents, in which the prepositional

verb errors are analyzed.

Furthermore, to achieve the second objective of this research, the efforts

should be done to minimize the students’ prepositional verbs errors in their

production, the writer employs supporting references and theories and carries out an

interview with three ELESP lecturers teaching Academic Essay Writing class in

academic year 2009/2010.


37

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the research methodology employed in this research. It

consists of six parts: (a) research method, (b) research participants, (c) research

instrument, (d) data gathering technique, (e) data analysis technique, and (f) research

procedure.

A. Research Method

This research applied qualitative method with the purpose of solving the two

research problems stated earlier in the first chapter: (1) What are prepositional verb

errors in students’ Academic Essay Writing class assignments? and (2) What efforts

should be done to minimize the students’ prepositional verb errors in their writing?

According to Taylor (1988: 162), as stated by Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005: 53),

analyzing errors are not only proven quantitatively. Instead, he suggested that a new

qualitative approach be used to analyze errors based on interpretative traditions of

humanistic discipline. For this reason, this research applied qualitative method as the

basic principle.

The nature of this research was descriptive qualitative. As Hyland (2002: 152)

said, researching text could be descriptive or revealing what occurs, analytical or

interpreting why it occurs, and critical or questioning the social relations which


38

underlie and are reproduced by what occurs. According to Best (1981: 106), the

characteristics of descriptive research are:

1. They are non-experimental.

They deal with the relationships between natural variables in an existing setting,

without manipulation.

2. They include hypothesis formulation and testing.

3. They use inductive-deductive methods in analyzing the idea to formulate

generalizations.

4. They often employ random methods so that error might be estimated in

identifying the characteristics of the population when conducting observations.

5. The variables and procedures are described as accurately and completely as

possible so that the research could be followed or continued by other researchers.

Since this research applied descriptive qualitative, the characteristics of this

research dealt with point number 1 and 5. The writer analyzed the data by describing

the prepositional verb errors in the assignments of the students belonging to one of

the classes of Academic Essay Writing. Nevertheless, the data about the number of

the errors were presented only to support the writer’s description as an illustration of

the students’ prepositional verb errors for the readers. Therefore, this research was

explained through descriptive qualitative. It revealed students’ errors in using

prepositional verbs in Academic Essay Writing class.


39

To answer the first research question, the writer particularly employed

document analysis method. The documents analyzed in this research were the writing

assignments of Academic Essay Writing students. This research was conducted

through document analysis because it used students’ assignments as data. Document

or content analysis, according to Ary, Jacobs, and Razavieh (1990: 385), is “the

procedure for systematically analyzing written materials.” It explains some

phenomenon at a particular time or development of the phenomenon, and the result of

the research might lead to generalizations. Besides, it should aim at bringing

information about evaluation or explanation of social or educational practices (Best,

1981: 106-107).

The purposes of document analysis in educational research are (Best, 1981:

108):

1. To describe existing conditions.

2. To discover the importance of, or interest in, certain topics or problems.

3. To discover level of difficulty of textbooks or in other publications.

4. To evaluate bias, prejudice, or misinformation in textbook presentation.

5. To analyze types of errors in students’ works.

6. To analyze the use of symbols representing persons, political parties or

institutions, countries, or points of view.

7. To identify the literary style, concepts, or beliefs of a writer.

8. To explain the possible causes related to some outcome, action, or event.


40

The purpose of document analysis in this research referred to the fifth purpose as

mentioned above.

The second research question was answered through an interview method and

supporting references. The writer carried out an interview with three ELESP lecturers

who were teaching Academic Essay Writing class in the academic year 2009/2010. In

conveying the results of this research, the writer described what she obtained in the

given situation.

B. Research Participants

The participants of this research were divided into two groups based on the

research questions. They were Academic Essay Writing students and lecturers. To

answer the first research question, the writer chose ELESP (English Language

Education Study Program) students of Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta in the

academic year 2007/2008 who were taking an Academic Essay Writing class in the

academic year 2009/2010 as the participants. This research only selected students

from one of five parallel Academic Essay Writing classes as participants. This class

was selected because of the characteristics of the group which reflected English

proficiency of the fifth semester students. The fifth semester students were assumed

to have acquired advanced writing skill and English grammar. The selected class

consisted of 32 students, involving 31 fifth semester students and one seventh

semester student. However, there were only 30 fifth semester students who submitted


41

the assignments. For this reason, the writer only considered the 30 students as the

participants of this research and worked on their submitted writing assignments to

find prepositional verb errors.

The writer chose students taking Academic Essay Writing class as the

research participants because those students considerably acquired adequate

competence in writing. They had taken several writing classes in the previous

semesters. Besides, they also had acquired advanced English structure during their

study in ELESP since structure classes in ELESP were taught until the fifth semester.

With this consideration, they were supposed to have been acquainted with

prepositional verbs. Hence, the result of this research could give an overview about

the English accuracy of the students during their study in ELESP.

To answer the second research question, the writer interviewed three ELESP

lecturers who were teaching Academic Essay Writing class in the academic year

2009/2010. The lecturers were chosen as participants because they had experienced in

teaching fifth semester students in Academic Essay Writing class. They knew the

characteristics and problems of their students so that they could know the most

appropriate solutions to minimize their students’ prepositional verb errors.

C. Research Instruments

In order to solve the two research problems of this research, this research

employed three kinds of instruments in gaining the data: documents, interview guide,


42

human instrument. Additionally, the writer used supporting references as the

secondary data.

1. Documents

In relation to the first research problem, the instrument was documents. Borg

and Gall (1983: 806) classified documents in several ways: handwritten or printed,

published or unpublished, public or private use, and unpremeditated documents, those

intended for immediate purpose, or intentional documents, those prepared as

historical records. However, the documents must serve valid sources, such as:

records, reports, printed forms, letters, autobiographies, diaries, compositions, themes

or other academic works, books, periodicals, bulletins or catalogues, syllabi, court

decisions, pictures, films, and cartoons (Best, 1981: 107).

In this research, the documents analyzed were students’ writing assignments.

Based on the classifications of documents, the students’ writing assignments were

included in printed, unpublished, private use, unpremeditated documents. The writer

chose students’ assignments as data because the prepositional verb errors could be

naturally written in the form of assignments. Thus, it could reflect the actual

participants’ mastery of prepositional verbs in their level.

The assignments were the students’ writings of the first final project. The

topic was comparison and contrast between extensive reading and intensive reading.

The final project was the result of outlining, drafting, and revision process. The


43

process took three weeks before the final writing submission. Therefore, the students’

assignments which became the data of this research were considered to be the

students’ best works. They were taken on 30 September 2009.

2. Interview Guide

The writer also used an interview guide as an instrument to solve the second

research problem. Interview is an oral questionnaire in which the respondent gives the

needed information verbally in a face-to-face conversation (Best, 1981: 164).

Interview is beneficial in collecting descriptive data because the interviewees use

their own words so that the interviewer could develop insight into how the

interviewees interpret some information (Bogdan and Biklen, 2003: 95). In this

research, the writer interviewed three ELESP lecturers who taught Academic Essay

Writing class in the academic year 2009/2010 about their recommendation to

minimize the problem of prepositional verb errors based on their experiences. The

purpose of the interview aimed to investigate three points as follows.

1. The importance of prepositional verbs

2. The experience in dealing with the cases of prepositional verb errors

3. The efforts to minimize prepositional verb errors

The writer applied semi-structured interview in order to gather richer

interactions and more personalized answers (McDonough and McDonough, 2004:

184). The interview was carried out two times. The first one was carried out on 10


44

November 2009. The second and the third interviews were carried out on 11

November 2009.

3. Human Instrument

According to Ary, et al (1990: 447), a researcher is a data gathering

instrument because he or she interviews the participants, observes them, reads their

documents, and records the information on journals. Therefore, in this research, the

writer was also an instrument of this research.

D. Data Gathering Technique

The data gathering process was conducted through three instruments:

document, an interview guide, and human instrument. This research also used

supporting references as secondary data. The writer as the researcher of this research

played a role as a human instrument. First, in order to solve the first research

problem, the writer collected the students’ assignments and analyzed their errors in

their assignments. It was conducted on the first project of Academic Essay Writing

class. The writer collected all prepositional verb errors which were written by the

students in the assignments. Then, the writer classified the prepositional verb errors

based on the surface structure taxonomy. She presented the classified errors in a table,

with their frequency of occurrence and their percentages. From the data, the writer

could give a view about prepositional verb errors produced by the fifth semester


45

students of ELESP. After processing the data, the writer described the prepositional

verb errors which were made by the students.

Second, to solve the second research problem, the efforts which should be

done to minimize prepositional verb errors, the writer interviewed three ELESP

lecturers teaching Academic Essay Writing class in the academic year 2009/2010 and

used recommended references from supporting references.

E. Data Analysis Technique

In analyzing the data from the students’ assignments, the writer applied error

analysis. Conducting error analysis, according to Corder (1974) as stated by Ellis and

Barkhuizen (2005: 57), consists of several steps: Collection of a sample of learner

language, Identification of errors, Description of errors, Explanation of errors, and

Error evaluation. Based on the data of prepositional verbs in the students’ writing

collected in the Academic Essay Writing class, she identified errors in the usage of

prepositional verbs. Then, she described the category of the errors made by the

students using surface structure taxonomy. Surface structure taxonomy applied in this

research consists of five categories: omission, addition, misinformation, misordering,

and blends.

With the purpose of gaining an accurate analysis, the writer consulted a

monolingual dictionary. The dictionary chosen in this research as a reference was

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (Quirk, 2001). This dictionary was

chosen because the writer considered this dictionary to be commonly used by


46

university students of ELESP. Finally, the writer proposed efforts which should be

done minimize prepositional verb errors based on the results of interviewing three

ELESP lecturers who were teaching Academic Essay Writing class and

recommended references.

F. Research Procedure

All in all, the data collection of this research was started in the sixth meeting

of the Academic Essay Writing class, which took place on 30 September 2009. The

data collection aimed at solving the first problem of this research. After obtaining

permission from the lecturer, the writer collected the students’ assignments as the

primary data. The writer borrowed them from the lecturer after they were submitted

on the submission date. In order to obtain more in depth data and avoid intruding the

lecturer’s corrections on the assignments, the writer had the assignments copied.

Based on the students’ writings, the writer listed all prepositional verb errors which

were found there and classified them using surface structure taxonomy. Then, the

writer described the prepositional verb errors made by the students.

In order to solve the second problem, the writer interviewed three lecturers of

Academic Essay Writing class in ELESP and conducted a library research. The

interviews were carried out on 10 and 11 November 2009. Then, the interviews were

recorded and transcribed in order to help the writer to discuss the interview results.


47

Finally, the writer drew conclusions from the analysis results of the problem

formulations and suggested recommendations for future researches.


48

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter discusses the answers to the two research questions. The answers

are presented in the form of data presentation and discussion of the results. Therefore,

based on the research questions, this chapter is divided into two sections: (A) The

prepositional verb errors and (B) The efforts should be done to minimize the students’

prepositional verbs errors.

A. The Prepositional Verb Errors

1. Data Presentation

In order to gather prepositional verb errors produced by Academic Essay

Writing students, the writer analyzed 30 assignments submitted as the first final

project of the class. The assignments consisted of around 6 pages. However, the writer

did not regard sentences which were direct quotations as data with a consideration that

prepositional verbs found in direct quotations, either they were correct or incorrect,

were not produced by the students themselves.

From the assignments, the writer found 149 errors. The occurrence of the

errors in each assignment varied. On average, each assignment consisted of 5 errors.

Those errors were divided based on Surface Structure Taxonomy, which classifies

errors into 5 types: (1) Omission, (2) Addition, (3) Misinformation, (4) Misordering,

and (5) Blends. However, based on the analysis of the data, there were only three


49

types of the Surface Structure Taxonomy related to prepositional verbs found in the

students’ writing assignments: (1) Omission, (2) Addition, and (3) Misinformation.

The more detailed explanation is shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1. The Types of Prepositional Verb Errors

No. Type of Error Frequency Percentage (%) Examples 1. Addition 102 68,5 *Discuss about,

*consider as, *understand about, *study about

2. Misinformation 44 29,5 *Focus in, *share to, *pay attention on, *pay attention in

3. Omission 3 2 *Base, *focus,* impact TOTAL 149 100

2. Discussion

To answer the first research question, the prepositional verb errors in the

students’ Academic Essay Writing class assignments, the writer described the data

presentation. The data presentation shows that the types of prepositional verb errors

found in the assignments were addition, misinformation, and omission. Based on the

research results, the most frequently occurred type of error was addition. It occurred

102 times (68,5%). The example of this type which was often produced by the

students was *discuss about. The examples of this erroneous prepositional verb are as

follows.


50

1]*This essay is going to discuss about extensive reading which is…

2]*This essay is going to discuss about the benefits of extensive reading…

*Discuss about, as seen in sentence 1] and 2], is an addition error of

prepositional verbs because the use of the preposition about is redundant. Based on

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (Quirk, 2001: 384), the verb discuss

does not need any prepositions. It is used to talk about something with another person

or a group in order to exchange ideas or decide something. The example of the correct

usage of this verb is: Sandy won’t ever discuss money. The verb discuss could be

followed by preposition with after a noun if it means somebody discusses something

to somebody. For example: I’d like to discuss my contract with you. Therefore, the

addition of preposition about after the verb creates the incorrect form of prepositional

verb.

Based on this research results, among the addition types of error, preposition

about was mostly used after the verbs. Other examples are: *understand about, *study

about, *teach about, *compare about, *comprehend about, *articulate about,

*explain about, *present about, and *share about.

Another example of addition error is *consider as. The examples of the usages

of this erroneous prepositional verb are shown in sentences 3] and 4], as follows.

3]*Extensive reading is considered as being reading rapidly.


51

4]*The other reason is because Extensive Reading can be considered as a deep

reading.

Sentence 3] and 4] are incorrect because the verb consider could not be followed by

prepositional as. The intended meaning of the verb consider in sentence 3] and 4],

based on Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2001: 286), is having an

opinion. In the other meanings, the verb consider could only be followed by nouns,

verb-ing forms, or question words. For example:

1) He paused to consider his options.

2) I’m considering applying for that job.

3) We’re still considering where to move to.

In addition, consider could be optionally followed by to be if it means having an

opinion. For example: A further increase is now considered (to be) unlikely.

The second type of the error is misinformation. It occurred 44 times (29,5%) in

the assignments. The writer classified misinformation error into two kinds. The first

classification of misinformation error was the misinformation in choosing the

prepositions of the prepositional verbs that resulted in erroneous prepositional verbs.

The second classification was applying the correct prepositional verbs in the incorrect

context of sentences.


52

The example of the first classification is *focus in instead of focus on. It

occurred in sentences 5], 6], and 7].

5]*Actually not only intensive reading that is focus in vocabulary, but…

6]*It is because intensive reading focuses in grammar and vocabulary.

7]*It is because they focus in the meaning.

Then, the example of the second classification of misinformation error is that

the students used prepositional verb look on instead of look at. Look on is a correct

prepositional verb which means “to watch something happening, without being

involved in it or trying to stop it” (Quirk, 2001:847). The more obvious example is

shown in the sentence: Only one man tried to help us, the rest just look on in silence.

Nevertheless, students used prepositional verb look on in sentences as follows.

8]*The explanation above tells that intensive reading, for it looks on the very

little detail,…

9]*Intensive reading, also known as slow reading, is looking on the details of

the reading passage.

Prepositional verb look on in sentence 8] and 9] is more appropriate if it is replaced

with prepositional verb look at, which means “to study and consider something,

especially in order to decide what to do” (Quirk, 2001: 847).


53

The third type of the error was omission. It occurred 3 times (2%) in the

assignments. There were three examples of omission error of prepositional verb found

in the assignments. The verbs *base, *focus, and *impact occurred without their

prepositions which should co-occur with them.

10] *They can read any kind of passage; article or books base their own

choice.

11] *They also will remember the grammar, although they did not focus and

analyze the grammar from the text but…

12] *So, extensive reading impacts writing, listening, and speaking because

students know more vocabulary.

In sentence 10], the verb base should co-occur with on to create a meaning “to use

particular information or facts a point from which to develop an idea, plan, etc”

(Quirk, 2001: 91). In sentence 11], focus should co-occur with on to create a meaning

“to pay special attention to a particular person or thing instead of others” (Quirk, 2001:

544). Then, in sentence 12], impact should co-occur with on to create a meaning “to

have an important or noticeable effect on someone or something” (Quirk, 2001: 711).

Related to misinformation and omission errors, the types of prepositional verb

error produced by the students had included type I and type II prepositional verbs.

However, most of the errors were mostly type I prepositional verbs. The more specific

examples could be shown in appendix B.


54

B. The Efforts Should be Done to Minimize the Students’ Prepositional Verb

Errors

After classifying and describing the errors produced by the participants, the

writer would present the efforts should be done to minimize prepositional verb errors.

Hence, dealing with the second research question, the writer carried out a semi-

structured interview as the instrument to discover the efforts should be done to

minimize the errors. There were ten questions addressed to the respondents. In order to

obtain thorough data, the questions were arranged into three items to investigate: (1)

the importance of prepositional verbs, (2) the experience in dealing with the cases of

prepositional verb errors, and (3) the suggestions to minimize prepositional verb

errors.

The respondents interviewed in this research were three ELESP lecturers who

were teaching Academic Essay Writing class in the academic year 2009/2010. In

addition, the writer used supporting references as the secondary data. The interviews

were recorded and transcribed in order to help the writer analyze the findings more

easily. The complete interview result could be seen in appendix E.

To answer the second research questions, the efforts should be done to

minimize the students’ prepositional verbs errors, the writer would discuss the

research findings as seen in the data presentation. From the interview, it is shown that

related to students’ score grading, each Academic Essay Writing lecturer put different

emphasis on prepositional verbs. The first lecturer did not give any toleration to the

errors. The second lecturer only tolerated errors related to uncommon prepositional


55

verbs, but not to the common ones. The third lecturer tolerated prepositional verb

errors as long as the students could convey their ideas clearly.

In fact, the main concern of academic writing was the content of the writing. It

weighed about 60%. Dealing with prepositional verbs, each Academic Essay Writing

lecturer included them in different rubrics of scoring. The first lecturer included them

in mechanics although they were regarded as a grammar case. It was because grammar

itself was included in mechanics. The second lecturer included them in grammar

because prepositional verb errors would result in grammar errors. The third lecturer

included prepositional verbs in mechanics because he did not include grammar rubric

in his scoring. He was mainly concerned with the writing content. In general, the

lecturers weighed prepositional verbs 5%-20% in students’ score.

Although prepositional verbs contributed small percentage in scoring, the

lecturers agreed that prepositional verb errors were problematic because they could

create misinterpretation in understanding the sentences where they occurred.

Therefore, prepositional verb accuracy in writing was significant. The basic

consideration was that in writing, students presented the final form of their ideas. In

other words, unlike speaking production, writing production was not spontaneous. The

students had enough time to finish it and to follow processes of check and re-check

before submitting it. Then, the accuracy of prepositional verbs in writing firstly could

influence the readers’ speed of reading because the more the writer wrote

prepositional verb errors, the more ambiguous the sentences were. In other words, the

accuracy helped the readers understand the idea of the writing. Secondly, since writing


56

was considered to be a final thinking process, the accuracy of prepositional verb might

reflect the students’ real comprehension of prepositional verbs. Accordingly, the

students’ mastery and awareness of prepositional verb could be predicted from their

writing.

Based on the lecturers’ experiences, the Academic Essay Writing students’

mastery and awareness of prepositional verbs were still inadequate. Some students

might have been aware of the use of prepositional verbs, in which some verbs must be

followed by certain prepositions. However, errors in choosing the prepositions still

happened. Moreover, some students were not aware of the use of prepositional verbs.

They did not realize the rule that the prepositions following the verbs were restricted

because they only focused on the verbs. The lecturers also mentioned the most

frequently occurred prepositional verb errors in their students’ writing were: *discuss

about, *according with, *teach about, *based in, and *based as.

a. The Efforts Should be Done by English Teacher Candidates to Minimize

Prepositional Verb Errors

Dealing with students’ prepositional verb errors, ELESP students as teacher

candidates, need to prepare themselves to minimize their future students’

prepositional verb errors. There are two kinds of suggestions presented in this part.

They are suggestions for the teachers and actions in minimizing students’

prepositional verb errors.


57

1) Suggestions for the Teachers

a) Not being Ignorant about the Students’ Errors

Although prepositional verbs were small parts of writing, prepositional verbs

needed to be paid attention to in order to avoid misunderstanding in grasping

information in the writing. Besides, as the first lecturer said, if the errors were

ignored, they could become the students’ habit. This would be dangerous for the

students’ language learning in the future.

…be careful, I mean do not be ignorant. Because sometimes being ignorant is not the same as… what is it… not knowing is not the same as being ignorant. So, I think they know it, but they… many of them are ignorant. Ya, because they think that that would be classified as a small mistake. And that’s OK to make that kind of mistake. But, I would say that is not OK. Ya, that is dangerous. (R1, interview result)

Therefore, the first thing the teachers need to stress was the importance of the

accuracy of prepositional verbs in writing. This meant that teachers should not tolerate

the students’ errors.

b) Being Careful in Using Prepositional Verbs in Teaching

Since teachers were role models for the students, the teachers’ language

productions were also followed by the students. In fact, as the second lecturer said,

teachers might face slip of the tongue in speaking.

And the second, as also lecturers, sometimes we do not realize that we produced it unconsciously. (R2, interview result)


58

Hence, teachers needed to be more careful in producing language, especially in

speaking.

c) Practicing and Re-memorizing Prepositional Verbs

Teachers needed to practice prepositional verbs as well as their students. As

role models, teachers needed to ensure prepositional verbs they use. Besides, it was

unavoidable that students ask the teachers about prepositional verbs. In these cases,

teachers needed to enrich themselves with prepositional verbs by practicing and re-

memorizing prepositional verbs they already acquire. The second lecturer said,

Minimize the error,….and we also have to realize that these errors, are unconscious errors, I mean we are familiar with the errors, we are rarely familiar with the correct patterns, correct verbs, correct prepositional verbs, so what we have to do as lecturers and also students, we have to practice more and then we have to memorize more. Re-memorize. Maybe we have to go back to vocabulary one or two, in which we everyday memorize 15, 50 words, so everyday we memorize 50 prepositional verbs if it is possible. (R2, interview result)

As the second lecturer stated, English learners tended to be more familiar with the

incorrect patterns of prepositional verb instead of the correct ones. This also

happened to English teachers. It meant that when the fossilized errors were possessed

by the teachers, the errors could influence the students to produce similar errors.

Therefore, teachers were also expected to learn from their own prepositional verb

errors which they produced during their teaching or during their study when they

were students.


59

d) Reading a lot of English Texts to Find the Examples of Prepositional Verbs

One way for the teachers to enrich themselves with prepositional verbs was by

reading a lot of English texts, especially the authentic ones, in which they would find a

lot of examples of prepositional verbs. Then, they could provide the texts for their

students. The third lecturer said,

Well, I really suggest the future teacher to read a lot so that they can find

examples of the use of prepositional verbs… (R3, interview result)

As the third lecturer mentioned, teachers were suggested to read a lot because

examples of prepositional verbs were provided in English texts. Besides, when this

had been a habit, they would be familiar with prepositional verbs. As a result, they

would not need to always depend on dictionaries to check the correctness of


2) Actions in Minimizing Students’ Prepositional Verb Errors

In order to minimize the students’ prepositional verb errors, teachers needed to

take several actions, as follows.

a) Giving Spoken and Written Feedback

The feedback in this case was negative feedback, which means feedback that

shows the students that their errors are unacceptable (Brown, 1991: 117). The

feedback was significant because it enables the students to identify their errors and to

improve their language acquisition, dealing with prepositional verbs. The feedback


60

was not only given in written form, but also in a spoken way. Through written and

spoken feedback, the information about the errors could be delivered to the whole

class.

Therefore, feedback about prepositional verb errors needed to be emphasized

through a written and a spoken way. First, it was because the concern of the students

when they were writing was the idea of the writing. Second, prepositional verbs were

not specifically taught in certain classes so that they were not accustomed to them.

Third, Indonesian language might influence students’ way of thinking in producing

prepositional verbs that resulted in addition errors. As Thornbury (2006: 114) said, it

is called negative transfer of first language. Therefore, related to addition errors, not

only did the feedback emphasize the students to write in English, but also to think in

English.

b) Keeping Reminding the Students about the Errors

The concern of Academic Essay Writing class was the content of the students’

writing. As a result, when the students wrote their assignments, they tended to only

pay attention to their idea. This fact led them to miss detail things in writing, including

prepositional verbs. Therefore, the information about the errors must be reminded

repeatedly. In addition, the information should include the importance of structure in

writing in avoiding misleading. This would show the students that they have to pay

attention to detail information, including prepositional verbs, in composing academic

writing.


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c) Assembling Group Discussions

Group discussions were beneficial in minimizing prepositional verb errors in

writing. They were assembled during the teaching-learning activity. Here, the students

were divided into small groups, in which they conducted peer correction. In their

groups, students learned to identify their classmates’ errors in their writing. Besides,

the students could share their idea in their groups. Therefore, through this group

discussion, students could realize that errors they produced might create

misunderstanding for the readers. The lecturer, who assisted the groups in turns, could

guide the students to find out their errors and the corrections.

d) Asking Students to Consult Dictionary

As Harman (1950: 180) said, a monolingual dictionary is the most reliable

reference to the meanings and uses of words. Therefore, students needed to be

encouraged to consult their dictionary when they find doubt in prepositional verbs

usage. This was necessary in order to encourage the students to be independent

because they could not always depend on their teachers when they wrote their

assignments or any other kinds of writing. Besides, prepositional verbs needed to be

memorized. They were naturally produced by the native language users as their

habitual communication. As a result, non-native language users, including the students

and the teachers, needed to memorize them. This meant that the English teachers

themselves had limited mastery of prepositional verbs. It was in line with what was

conveyed by the third lecturer.


62

Well, I think the idea is just the same what we have discussed previously, but usually the more effective way to ask them to fix this error, just ask them to open the dictionary. That’s I think that is the most important thing because when just the information from me, I, myself, may make mistakes of that. Right…. (R3, interview result)

According to the third lecturer, since the teacher’s prepositional verb mastery was

limited, the students needed to be encouraged to consult dictionaries.

e) Providing Prepositional Verb Practices for Students

Minimizing students’ prepositional verb errors could be carried out by

introducing the prepositional verbs through practices. There were several practices for

students to minimize their prepositional verb errors, such as: matching exercises,

filling the blanks exercises, and contrasting prepositional verbs which share the same

verb, but different prepositions exercises (Anonymous, 2006:

http://www.oposicionesprofesores.com/muestras/demo_ingles_text_1_answers.pdf).

In addition, Frodesen and Eyring (1997), as stated by Celce-Murcia and Larsen-

Freeman (1999: 417), suggested a prepositional verb practice in the form of

discussion.

(1) Matching

Students were asked to match several verbs to the co-occurrence prepositions.

Otherwise, students could match several prepositional verbs to non-prepositional verbs

which are synonymous.


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(2) Filling in the Blanks

Students were asked to fill the blanks in a text with the proposed prepositional

verbs. Students could be provided with the verbs, and then they filled the blanks with

the suitable prepositions.

(3) Contrasting Prepositional Verbs which Share the Same Verbs, but Different

Prepositions

Since in prepositional verbs, some verbs might be paired with several

prepositions, students needed to be able to differentiate their meanings and use them in

the right context. In this practice, students attempted to use the prepositional verbs in

correct sentences. The examples are as follows.

1) I agree with you, I agree to the proposal, I agree on the plan, I agree about

your opinion, I agree for the principle

2) It differs from something else, It differs about/over a question.

(4) Discussion

Students were asked to discuss certain topics and share their opinion about

them using prepositional verbs. To emphasize the use of prepositional verbs, the

prepositional verbs were specified for verbs followed by suggested prepositions. For

example, Frodesen and Eyring (1997), as stated by Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman

(1999: 417), proposed a topic about different immigrant groups to the United States.

The students were asked to use verb + for pattern. Then, they said: “The Pilgrims


64

longed for freedom from religious persecution. In the 1840s and 1850s, the Irish

hoped for freedom from hunger. In the late 1800s, the Scandinavians yearned for

farmland.”

f) Providing Authentic Reading Texts for Students

One of EFL teachers’ main tasks was providing authentic materials for their

students (Anonymous, 2006: http://www.oposicionesprofesores.com/muestras/demo

ingles_text_1_answers.pdf). By reading authentic texts, students would find a lot of

prepositional verb examples. It would enrich their prepositional verbs mastery. Then,

the more often they found the prepositional verbs, the more they were accustomed to

them.

Dealing with the results of this research, prepositional verb errors which were

mostly produced by Academic Essay Writing students were included in addition error.

The mostly produced example of this error was *discuss about. Addition error,

according to the third lecturer, was an effect of the students’ first language

interference. As Thornbury (2006: 114) stated, it is called interlanguage error. The

learners’ first language influences the language being learned which results in errors.

Ya, because I guess this is Indonesian interference. We have like ‘Kita

berdiskusi tentang’, but actually discuss about, and we’re familiar with that, umm…we are comfortable using discuss about but actually this is incorrect, ya. If we say discuss, just discuss what, not discuss about. Ya, this is interference I think…. (R3, interview result)

Furthermore, to minimize this type of error, the lecturer suggested that the teachers put

emphasis on the feedback and ask the students to consult dictionaries.


65

b. The Efforts Should be Done by English Learners to Minimize Prepositional

Verb Errors

Since English learners, especially ELESP students, needed to be independent

in minimizing their prepositional verb errors, they needed to attempt several efforts,

such as:

1) Consulting Dictionaries and Grammar Books

The students needed to have dictionaries and grammar books as their guide.

As stated previously, dictionaries were the reliable references of prepositional verbs.

Besides, grammar books were also recommended.

….review the grammar book. That’s the only way to do it. Because I think it is impossible for me to what is it… to teach them… about grammar, at the same time I teach them academic essay. (R1, interview result)

The first lecturer added that the grammar books were also dependable

references for students to check prepositional verbs. There, students would find the

correct forms and usage of prepositional verbs. Therefore, English learners, especially

ELESP students, needed to have both dictionaries and grammar books.

2) Memorizing the Prepositional Verbs

After students consulted dictionaries and reviewed grammar books, they

needed to memorize the prepositional verbs. Since they could not always depend on

the dictionaries and grammar books when they produced prepositional verbs, they

needed to memorize them. Memorizing was one way that enabled the students to


66

produce the prepositional verbs automatically. It also helped the students convey their

idea fluently. As a result, students would be more confident in producing the

language.

3) Practicing the Prepositional Verbs

From the interview, the writer found that mastering prepositional verbs

needed a process. The third lecturer said that,

…prepositional verb is very cultural. So, it takes time to make students to be

more automatic… (R3, interview result)

Since prepositional verbs were cultural, it needed a process and took time for

students to be accustomed to them before finally they could use them naturally.

Therefore, students needed to apply prepositional verbs in every English class,

including reading skill, listening skill, writing skill, and speaking skill.

c. Teaching Prepositional Verbs for ELESP Students

All in all, it was assumed that prepositional verbs should be introduced to

students as early as possible because it needed process and took time for them to be

accustomed to the prepositional verbs and to be able to automatically use them. For

ELESP students, based on the interview, they appropriately started to be introduced

to prepositional verbs in the first or second semester.

The first lecturer mentioned,


67

As early as possible. I think after they learn or at the same time when they learn tenses, like simple present, and they are introduced with prepositional verb because I think when they use simple present, perhaps some of them will use the word discuss, and they should know the preposition followed umm… the verb. Ya… (R1, interview result)

As the first lecturer stated, the lesson was introduced in a structure class, in

which the students were introduced to English tenses. When the tenses were taught,

the students learned about different forms of verbs: V1, V2, and V3. At the same

time, they also learned to recognize the following prepositions.

Besides, as the second lecturer suggested, prepositional verbs could be

introduced in vocabulary class, in which the students acquired a new vocabulary list,

especially verbs.

Maybe from vocabulary and then it is also supported by the usage of prepositional verbs in writing, in speaking, and in other subjects. So I think, the sooner the better. (R2, interview result)

When they learned the verbs, at the same time they also learned the prepositions which

followed the verbs. Nevertheless, afterward, teaching prepositional verbs should be

integrated in every English skill. As the third lecturer said,

I don’t think of segmentation here, so I think it will be more appropriate when umm…all subjects have this contain, so in listening they have an opportunity to listen to umm…prepositional…prepositional verbs, and then they can learn from it, then in reading, they have the umm…form of the verb, and also in writing they apply it to the writing, so I think, all of the subjects should put together to make the students aware of the problem, verb, and another one that the students will be more automatic in producing prepositional verb. (R3, interview result)


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Consequently, students would be familiar with prepositional verbs. They could

recognize them in listening and reading, and then they could produce them in speaking

and writing. This would minimize their prepositional verb errors and lead them to be

automatic in producing correct prepositional verbs.


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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter presents the conclusions of this research and the suggestions

related to this research. In the first part, the writer presents the conclusions of this

research. Then, in the second part, the writer provides suggestions for English

teachers, students, and future researchers who are interested to follow up this

research.

A. Conclusions

This research was conducted to answer two research questions: (a) the

prepositional verb errors in the students’ Academic Essay Writing class assignments,

and (b) the efforts should be done to minimize the students’ prepositional verbs

errors. To answer the first research question, the writer conducted document analysis.

The documents used in this research were the writing assignments of Academic Essay

Writing students of academic year 2007/2008 submitted as the first final project.

Afterwards, the writer collected prepositional verb errors in the assignments. Based

on the gathered data, the writer found 150 prepositional verb errors. Those errors are

included in three types of error based on surface structure taxonomy: addition

(68,5%), misinformation (29,5%), and omission (2%). The research results show that

the mostly produced errors belong to addition error. Then, the second mostly

produced errors belong to misinformation error, and the third is omission error.


70

To answer the second research question, the writer carried out an interview.

To support the data, the writer conducted library research, in which she used

supporting references. The participants of the interview were three ELESP lecturers

who taught Academic Essay Writing class in 2009/2010 academic year. The efforts

in minimizing prepositional verb errors were given based on their experiences. The

suggested efforts were addressed to both English teachers and learners. The efforts

are needed by ELESP students because they are prepared to be English teachers, but

they are still struggling as ELESP students.

To minimize students’ prepositional verb errors, first of all, English teachers

need to prepare and enrich themselves with prepositional verbs because they would

be role models and facilitators for their students. First, they should not be ignorant

about the students’ errors. If the errors become fossilized, it would be more difficult

to correct them. Second, they need to be careful about using prepositional verbs in

teaching. This would prevent the students from imitating the teachers’ prepositional

verb errors. Third, they need to practice and re-memorize prepositional verbs they

have acquired before. This would make them used to the correct prepositional verbs.

Fourth, they need to read a lot of English texts to find the examples of prepositional

verbs. This would enrich their prepositional verb mastery.

Afterwards, they need to take several actions dealing with minimizing their

students’ prepositional verb errors. First, they need to give spoken and written

feedback concerning prepositional verb errors to their students. Second, they also

need to keep reminding the students about the errors. Third, they could assemble


71

group discussions to conduct peer corrections. Fourth, they need to ask students to

consult dictionaries when they are writing their assignments. Fifth, they could

provide prepositional verb practices for students. The practices could vary in the form

of matching exercises, filling in the blank exercises, contrasting prepositional verbs

which share the same verbs but different prepositions exercises, and discussion

practices. The practices could be given gradually, depending on the students’

prepositional verbs mastery level. Sixth, they also need to provide authentic reading

texts for their students. Through the reading activity, the students would learn to be

acquainted with many examples of prepositional verbs.

Meanwhile, for students, minimizing prepositional verb errors could be carried

out by consulting dictionaries and grammar books, memorizing the prepositional

verbs, and practicing them in every English class. Particularly, prepositional verbs in

ELESP need to be introduced since early semesters, either in the first or second

semester. The introduction could be given in structure or vocabulary classes.

However, in general, prepositional verbs should be taught integratedly in every

English class. As a result, students would be familiar with prepositional verbs

because they could recognize and produce them in written and spoken forms.

B. Suggestions

The suggestions are addressed to English teachers, students, and other

researchers who also have an interest in this topic.


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1. For English Teachers

Prepositional verbs are small English grammatical elements which obtain less

attention in language teaching. They do not have a specific domain in English

learning so that they could not be specifically taught. Nevertheless, prepositional verb

errors implicitly indicate bigger problems in English grammar. This fact insists

English teachers on paying attention to this problem.

On the other hand, students tend to mainly pay attention to the general

structure and vocabulary. As a result, students would use their first language pattern

in using prepositional verbs that result in errors. At this stage, teachers are expected

to control the errors before the errors become fossilized. In order to prevent and

minimize the errors, the writer suggests that English teachers apply the suggested

efforts presented in this research. Besides, they need also to encourage the students to

learn from their errors because learning prepositional verbs needs a process before the

students become automatic.

Prepositional verbs are small parts of grammatical elements. Even, in writing,

they are mostly included in mechanic. In writing, as a means of communication,

grammatical problems are problematic in conveying the idea. Besides, the problems

would reduce the quality of writings. Therefore, teachers are expected not only to pay

attention to the content, but also to grammar. The writer suggests that the teachers

conduct a class discussion, in which they take several examples of the errors in their

students’ writings to be discussed.


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2. For Students

Producing errors, especially prepositional verb errors, is common for

language learners. However, students do not need to be discouraged in facing their

errors and feedback from their teacher. On the contrary, they should make use of the

errors and feedback to motivate themselves to be accurate. The writer suggests that

they apply suggestions proposed in this research. Besides, students should not put

aside grammar, especially prepositional verbs in writing. The accuracy of

prepositional verbs is demanded in writing, particularly when they write academic

writing because it influences the quality of the writing. One of the ways to increase

the prepositional verbs mastery is by doing self-learning, since prepositional verbs

must be memorized. In other words, students need to be independent in mastering


3. For Other Researchers

Since the area being studied in this research is specific, the writer suggests that

other researchers follow up this research. Related to prepositional verbs, the writer

suggests that other researchers explore the sources of the errors and students’ mastery

of prepositional verbs. Besides, since prepositional verbs are parts of preposition

combinations, the writer suggests that other preposition combinations, such as

adjective plus preposition, noun plus preposition, are also studied. Prepositional verb

errors indicate that English learners also have problems related to other preposition

combinations.


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In addition, a research about phrasal verbs is also appropriate to be conducted

to follow up this research. The consideration is that phrasal verbs are similar to

prepositional verbs, in which they consist of verb plus preposition form. However,

phrasal verbs are more complicated than prepositional verbs because the verbs and

the prepositions create new meanings when they are combined. On the contrary, the

meanings of prepositional verb are more predictable when the verbs and the

prepositions are recognized. Therefore, prepositional verb errors indicate that phrasal

verb errors are more problematic.


75

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Crystal, D. 1987. The Cambridge of Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge:

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University Press. Ellis, R. and Barkhuizen, G. 2005. Analysing Learner Language. Oxford: Oxford

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Course. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Association, Inc. Greenbaum, S. and Quirk, R. 1990. A Student’s Grammar of the English Language.

Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Harman, S. M. 1950. Descriptive English Grammar. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-

Hall, Inc. Harmer, J. 2005. How to Teach Writing. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Harmer, J. 2007. How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Heaton, J. B. 1979. Writing English Language Tests. London: Longman Group

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Hall International. Yule, G. 2004. Explaining English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.


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APPENDIX A Samples of Students’ Assignments


79


80


81


82


83


84


85


86


87


88


89


90


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APPENDIX B Data of Prepositional Verb Errors


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No. Incorrect PV

Type of Prepositional verb Type of Error Correction Freq. Sum

1 acknowledge of - addition acknowledge 2 2 articulate about - addition articulate 2 3 call as - addition call 2 4 compare about - addition compare 1 5 comprehend about - addition comprehend 1 6 concern about - addition concern 5 7 concern on - addition concern 2 8 consider as - addition consider 12 9 consult to - addition consult 2

10 contain of - addition contain 4 11 contain with - addition contain 2 12 correct on - addition correct 1 13 discuss about - addition discuss 23 14 discuss in - addition discuss 2 15 emphasize on - addition emphasize 5 16 enjoy with - addition enjoy 1 17 explain about - addition explain 7 18 practice on - addition practice 1 19 present about - addition present 1 20 read from - addition read 1 21 refer to as - addition refer to 1 22 share about - addition share 2 23 study about - addition study 5 24 teach about - addition teach 1 25 term as - addition term 4 26 understand about - addition understand 6 27 understand in - addition understand 1 28 understand of - addition understand 1 29 understand with - addition understand 1 30 consult with - addition consult 1 31 open to - addition open 1 32 check on - addition check 1 10233 accustom in II misinformation accustom to 1


93

34 arrange into II misinformation arrange in 1 35 ask to II misinformation ask about 1 36 base in II misinformation base on 1 37 center to I misinformation center on 1 38 concentrate in I misinformation concentrate on 1 39 depend to I misinformation depend on 1 40 differentiate into II misinformation divide into 2

41 distinguish among

II

misinformation

distinguish, distinguish between 1

42 divide to I misinformation divide into 1 43 focus in I misinformation focus on 8 44 include as II misinformation include in 1 45 include to II misinformation include in 1 46 interest to II misinformation interest in 1 47 introduce of II misinformation introduce to 1 48 introduce with II misinformation introduce to 1 49 limit by II misinformation limit to 1 50 link with II misinformation link to 1 51 look inside I misinformation look at 1 52 move on I misinformation move to 1 53 pay attention in I misinformation pay attention to 1 54 pay attention on I misinformation pay attention to 3 55 persuade about II misinformation persuade of 1 56 share to II misinformation share with 3 57 spend with II misinformation spend on 1 58 struggle in I misinformation struggle for 1 3859 look in I misinformation (context) look at 1 60 look on I misinformation (context) look at 2 61 look through I misinformation (context) skim through 1 62 agree with I misinformation (context) agree to/on 1 63 concern with I misinformation (context) concern about 1 664 base I omission base on 1 65 focus I omission focus on 1 66 impact I omission impact on 1 3

149


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APPENDIX C The Interview Blueprint


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Prepositional Verb Errors in Academic Essay Writing Assignments Blueprint of Interview Guide

The suggested solutions to minimize prepositional verb errors

No. Item to Investigate Question Number of Items

1. Do you think that prepositional verb errors are problematic? Why?

2. What do you think about the importance of prepositional verb accuracy in writing?

1. The importance of prepositional verbs

3. How much do prepositional verb errors influence your students’ scores?

3

4. How well did your students realize the correct usage of prepositional verbs?

5. What cases of prepositional verb errors have you encountered in your students’ assignments?

2. The experience in dealing with the cases of prepositional verb errors

6. How would you minimize the students’ prepositional verb errors?

3

7. Based on my research results, the students often produce addition errors in prepositional verbs, for example: discuss about. What is your suggestion to minimize this type of error?

8. What is your suggestion for English learners to minimize their prepositional verb errors?

9. What is your suggestion for ELESP students, as English teacher candidates, to minimize prepositional verb problem?

3. The suggestions to minimize prepositional verb errors

10. In what semester should ELESP students appropriately start to be introduced to prepositional verbs?

4

Total Number of Items 10


96

APPENDIX D The Interview Guide


97

Prepositional Verb Errors in Academic Essay Writing Assignments Interview Guide

The suggested solutions to minimize prepositional verb errors

1. Do you think that prepositional verb errors are problematic? Why?

2. What do you think about the importance of prepositional verb accuracy in

writing?

3. How much do prepositional verb errors influence your students’ writing

assignment scores?


5. What cases of prepositional verb errors have you encountered in your students’

assignments?

6. How would you minimize the students’ prepositional verb errors?

7. Based on my research results, the students often produce addition errors in

prepositional verbs, for example: discuss about. What is your suggestion to

minimize this type of error?

8. What is your suggestion for English learners to minimize their prepositional verb

errors?

9. What is your suggestion for ELESP students, as English teacher candidates, to

minimize prepositional verb problem?

10. In what semester should ELESP students appropriately start to be introduced to

prepositional verbs?


98

APPENDIX E

Summary of Interview Results


99

Summary of Interview Results

Question Information 1. Do you think that prepositional verb

errors are problematic? Why? • Prepositional verb errors are problematic because they

would create misleading in understanding the sentences where they occur.

2. What do you think about the importance of prepositional verb accuracy in writing?

• Influencing the readers’ speed of reading. • Reflecting the writer’s real comprehension of

prepositional verbs since the process of writing has taken time of checking.

3. How much do prepositional verb errors influence your students’ scores?

• 5%, without tolerating small errors. • 20% • Only common prepositional verb errors which

contribute to the score.


• Some students still ignore prepositional verbs. • Some students have recognized the use of

prepositional verbs in their writing, but they still produce errors.

5. What cases of prepositional verb errors have you encountered in your students’ assignments?

• *Discuss about • *According with • *Teach about • *Based in • *Based as

7. Based on my research results, the students often produce addition errors in prepositional verbs, for example: discuss about. What is your suggestion to minimize this type of error?

• Emphasizing the errors in giving written and oral feedback.

• Asking students to open dictionary

8. What is your suggestion for English learners to minimize their prepositional verb errors?

• Consulting grammar books • Memorizing the prepositional verbs • Practicing the prepositional verbs

9. What is your suggestion for ELESP students, as English teacher candidates, to minimize prepositional verb problem?

• Not being ignorant about the students’ errors • Being careful in using prepositional verbs in teaching • Practicing and re-memorizing prepositional verbs • Reading a lot of texts to find the examples of

prepositional verbs

10. In what semester should ELESP students appropriately start to be introduced to prepositional verbs?

• First – second semester. Introduced in structure and vocabulary classes, applied in reading, listening, writing, speaking, and other subjects.


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APPENDIX F Interview Transcripts


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Respondent 1 I : Good afternoon Miss (edited). R1 : Ya... I : Today, I’d like to interview you. It’s about my research, prepositional verb errors

found in Academic Essay assignment, so my first question is do you think that prepositional verb errors are problematic?

R1 : Well, based on my experience, from the first project, umm… I found out a lot of … umm… what is this… umm… prepositional verb errors in my students’ umm…writing and yes, I think it is problematic.

I : And why it is problematic? R1 : Uumm... because it will influence the way they explain umm… their opinion,

their ideas, and if they have a lot of mistakes on the prepositional verb, and it will reduce the understanding of the sentences.

I : OK... and then, the next question: what do you think about the importance of prepositional verb accuracy in writing?

R1 : Yeah. As I told you before that when you have or you make a lot of mistakes related to the prepositional verb, umm…that the accuracy will be umm… palpitate, umm… I mean it will make the readers get confuse in difficult to understand the meaning of the opinion or the ideas in the writing itself.

I : Do you often feel confused in understanding your students’ writing? R1 : Right, right, or at least umm… it will reduce my speed of umm…reading the

paper. I : Yeah I see. And then, how much do the prepositional verb errors influence your

students’ writing assignment scores? In…So, how does…how this… influence your students’ scores?

R1 : OK, so, umm… if it talk about the scores, then, usually in academic writing, I have a kind of proofread, and then it consists of the content, and than organization, sentence, structure, and vocabulary and mechanic, so the prepositional verb is included in the mechanic. So it consists of grammar, and then errors in spelling, preposition, and blablabla…. And it is only 5%.

I : Oh 5%? R1 : Yeah. So, the content will be 60%, and then the organization will be 20%, and

then umm…sentence structure will be 10, vocabulary will be 5, and then the mechanic will be 5. And 5% is divided into the minimum requirement. prepositional verb is part of the mechanic, and the mechanic itself is related to the minimum requirement, so like verb, verb groups, and then tenses, and punctuation, and so on.

I : Why don’t you put it into grammar? R1 : Ya, grammar is in the mechanic. I use the term mechanic, and in the mechanic I

have grammar, grammar case, not only grammar but also the minimum requirement.

I : So, grammar is part of mechanics? R1 : Ya, the minimum requirement, like tenses. Tenses means the use of simple

present, simple past, and also verb groups like prepositional verb, and then verb 1, verb 2, verb 3.

I : So, do you tolerate small mistakes?


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R1 : No. I : No? R1 : No at all. No. That’s why on the first project, well, actually I am supposed to deal

with the content only, the content of the paper. But, then, on the first project, I decided to also deal with the minimum requirement because I want to show the student that they made a lot of mistakes and I don’t want them to have the same mistakes on the next project.

I : What about their...your feedback... I mean… influence their improvement? How did it work?

R1 : Umm...yeah... that’s very… yes, on the second project, with got the first draft, uhh… what is it… the first draft check, and then we have peer review, and now I did a more sensitive to the mistake.

I : Including prepositional verb? R1 : Umm…ya, but I would say that they was…they still struggle with the

prepositional verb because they think that it is not really important. So, when they say discuss about, then I say you cannot use about. Discuss, you say: I would like to discuss e…e…e. So, they still do not pay attention on that because they think that that is not really important.

I : Yeah… that’s quite… answer the fourth question, about how well your students realize the correct usage of prepositional verb. So, without feedbacks, they would not pay attention on it?

R1 : Right, and even when they have already got the feedback, they will still ignore. Some of them will ignore the mistakes and they still use or repeat the same mistake.

I : OK. So, based on your experience, so what cases of prepositional verb errors have you encountered?

R1 : Like the example? I : Ya, the example. R1 : Maybe…maybe of them or almost umm… almost all of the students whenever

they want to say discuss then they will add this and always followed by about. So like: discuss about, and then according with, kind of that, or let say besides that for besides is not a verb. What else….

I : Umm…. And which one disturbs you a lot? R1 : Discuss about, ya… discuss about... I : Yeah, that also happened to my research result. R1 : And also I think umm…connected to, connected with… yeah, so they still get

confused which one they have to use. I : Oh yeah, OK…. And then how would you minimize your students’ prepositional

verb errors? R1 : First, by do not follow read the mistakes, and then second, I ask them to open

and review their grammar book. And really I said that in my classroom because many of them still make mistakes related to…yeah…grammar problem.

I : Yeah, as I told you. Based on my research result, the students often produced addition errors in prepositional verbs, for example: discuss about, right? I think about is a favourite preposition here…hahaha…. So, what is your suggestion to minimize this type of error? Only for this type.


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R1 : Only keep reminding them and I would… I would cross what is it… the word about with… what is it… red color ink… hahaha… yeah, to make them realize. Plus, I’ll tell them orally, maybe some of them will still use that. And I still found the use of about…

I : Have you told them about the errors? R1 : Emphasize, and I keep reminding them about that. I : But they still do it. R1 : Ya, because… well I think umm… what… when I ask them first, when they

write the paper, umm…they just like…what is it… write it few days before the submission… and after that they submit it without having cross-check, yeah…

I : OK, so, and what is your suggestion for English learners, for your students, to minimize their prepositional verb errors?

R1 : Lear, learn, and learn…hahaha… and review the grammar book. That’s the only way to do it. Because I think it is impossible for me to what is it… to teach the them… about grammar, at the same time I teach them academic essay.

I : OK. And what is your suggestion for English candidates to minimize the errors? As teachers….

R1 : Yaa… be careful, I mean do not be ignorant. Because sometimes being ignorant is not the same as… what is it… not knowing is not the same as being ignorant. So, I think they know it, but they… many of them are ignorant. Ya, because they think that that would be classified as a small mistake. And that’s OK to make that kind of mistake. But, I would say that is not OK. Ya, that is dangerous.

I : Ya. That is very dangerous. And the last question. Finally. R1 : OK…. I : Umm… what do you think? In what semester should PBI students should be

appropriately started to be introduced to prepositional verb? R1 : As early as possible. I think after they learn or at the same time when they learn

umm…tenses, like simple present, and they are introduced with prepositional verb because I think when they use simple present, perhaps some of them will use the word discuss, and they should know the preposition followed umm… the verb. Ya…

I : The first semester? R1 : Ya, first, ya… early…early semester, maybe second semester… I : And in structure class? R1 : Well, umm…maybe mainly in structure class…. Said that try to make it

integrated in… let say like in writing class, in reading, so whenever they find like a sentence in their reading passage and they find prepositional verb and I think the lecturers meet to emphasize and make it… tell the students that.. OK, this is the right…what is it… the right… partner for discuss…OK….

I : So, it should be integrated in every language skill? R1 : ya… I : Alright. Thank you Miss… R1 : You’re welcome…

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Respondent 2 I : Good morning Mr. (edited).... R2 : Good morning Nina.... I : Thank you. And today I’d like to ask you several questions. It is related to my

research, it is about prepositional verb errors found in Academic Writing students’ assignments, so the first question is: Do you think that prepositional verb errors are problematic?

R2 : Umm...well...in my opinion, sometimes it is not problematic, but sometimes it is. What I mean by that is that it is problematic if umm… what is it…umm…the preposition is incorrect, the meaning will be different. But sometimes, in Indonesia, because we are Indonesian, ya? Sometimes we do not pay attention on that… Ok, let’s call it small…small error, but it’s quite fatal ya… so, I think it is problematic. Really problematic.

I : OK, so what do you think about the importance of prepositional verbs accuracy in the writing?

R2 : Uhh...well...very important because umm…what… If you don’t pay attention to the accuracy, as I told you, the meaning will be different, ya? And this is fatal. Why? Because in writing, we have longer time than speaking. In speaking when we have umm…such an error, people will be…will understand. But in writing, since we have time to check and recheck, it is fatal, and sometimes it is also little bit…umm…we can say fatal? Ya, fatal, but unconscious understanding. I mean students do not understand, do not realize that this is incorrect. For example, umm… we always say… Let’s discuss about something, blablabla… even some teachers, some lecturers, say it.

I : OK…. R2 : So, ya… but, they..they in speaking. In spoken. So, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t

make any difference because…umm… I : Tolerable? R2 : Tolerable. Because the message is conveyed. But in writing, it is fatal, because

after discuss, we do not have about. I : Ya.. R2 : Just discuss, and then noun. I : OK, and then how much do the prepositional verb errors influence your students’

writing assignment scores? R2 : Umm...this is...well, actually I have to confess that sometimes it doesn’t make

any…umm…influence ya, when it doesn’t make any difference if you have a good idea and then the flow of the idea goes smoothly, that’s enough. And then we can grasp the argument and we can be convinced about their argument. I think, their score will be good. Even though sometimes I still found some mistakes, some errors in prepositional verb.

I : So, your concern is on their writing content, not their mechanic. R2 : Ya, mechanic, because writing five, Academic Essay Writing. OK, well,

umm…prepositional phrase is considered in my class, I consider it in grammar or structure, so I look at this or focus this based on the structure. For example the structure I give twenty points, so for the structure itself. Can I put this about five to seven percent, not percent but five to seven points from twenty points? I think,


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I don’t put it into mechanic, but I think prepositional phrase is a part of structure and if the prepositional phrase is incorrect, so the structure will be incorrect also.

I : So, you still tolerate small mistakes related to mechanic, grammar? R2 : Sometimes I tolerate if it is rarely, I mean, the words are rarely used. For

example, umm...term as...something like that. Ya. But if it is discuss about I will not tolerate that, so it is based on the usage of the words.

I : Ohh…OK, so how well did your students realize the correct usage of prepositional verb?

R2 : Oh, hahaha…well, I have to also confess that sometimes they don’t realize. Because, when they have the word teach for example, no matter what prepositional do we have, we have teach about…or just teach you about something. They don’t realize because the word teach is their focus.

I : Ohh…. R2 : Uhuh, not just the prepositional, well actually as a prepositional verb, they are

combined, they cannot be separated. So sometimes, not sometimes, so many times they don’t realize. It is proved by their writing, which still consists of or still content a lot of mistakes, with errors.

I : Do you give any feedbacks, related to these errors? R2 : Umm…not much, I mean just if it is fatal, or very used, yes, I give them

feedback like umm… do not use teach about, just teach, and then directly the object.

I : and what do you think, because if your students will be teachers, and they will teach their students later. Is it dangerous later?

R2 : Very dangerous, and…very fatal, hahaha… I : OK, so what cases of prepositional verb errors that you have encountered in your

students’ assignments. So, based on your experience, what are the errors? R2 : Umm…most of the errors meet umm…meet by the students…so like

umm…teach about, and then discuss about, based in, or based as, sometimes like that.

I : And then, based on the students’ errors, how would you minimize the errors? Your action I mean.

R2 : Ya, by giving feedback, by many times umm…what? Reminding them that this is incorrect. This is incorrect, so once again do not make this, but this. But sometimes, since what I said just like…ya…just like a wind, so they sometimes sometimes…they neglect it. Actually they pay attention on me, but after that one class dismisses the product what I said. So, ya uhuh, just feedback. Feedback spoken and written.

I : OK. And then ya...based on my research results, the students often produced addition errors. In this case, the example is discuss about, so what is your suggestion to minimize this type of error, like discuss about, or another addition?

R2 : Ya, uh... first, we have to again and again, hehehe…lecturers, remind them, maybe warn them that this is incorrect. And the second, as also lecturers, sometimes we do not realize that we produced it unconsciously.

I : Oh....uhuh... R2 : Especially, in our mind, umm…we have a pattern that we will teach you about

blablabla…and then the word you is omitted than we just teach about this….


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I : OK, so do you realize that about is often used in any verbs, which umm…which do not need prepositions, so about is the most favourite preposition….

R2 : Ya, because I guess this is Indonesian interference. We have like umm…Kita berdiskusi tentang, but actually discuss about, and we’re familiar with that, umm…we are comfortable using discuss about but actually this is incorrect, ya. If we say discuss just discuss what, not discuss about. Ya, this is interference I think…

I : OK. And, so what is your suggestion for English learners like your students, to minimize the prepositional verb errors? So, their own effort.

R2 : First, by memorizing them, hahaha…. I : Memorizing ya…. R2 : Memorizing prepositional verbs, and then the second by practicing how to use

those verbs, prepositional verbs correctly. In their writing, in their speaking, and in their other area.

I : OK. What about your suggestion for English candidates, English teacher candidates?

R2 : Umm…concern in this error? I : Ya. R2 : Ya, minimize the error, hehehe…and we also have to realize that these errors,

umm…are unconscious errors, I mean we are familiar with the errors, we are rarely familiar with the correct patterns, correct verbs, correct prepositional verbs, so what we have to do as lecturers and also students, we have to practice more and then we have to memorize more. Re-memorize. Maybe we have to go back to vocabulary one or two, in which we everyday memorize 15, 50 words, so everyday we memorize 50 prepositional verbs if it is possible.

I : Well, so both the teachers and the students must practice a lot about this? R2 : Ya, I guess, because…not I guess, I think. Umm…because…. (edited) I : Ya, and the last question. In what semester should PBI students appropriately stat

to be introduced to prepositional verbs? R2 : From the beginning semester. I mean the earlier the better. From the first

semester. Maybe from vocabulary and then it is also supported by the usage of prepositional verbs in writing, in speaking, and in other subjects. So I think, the sooner the better. Uhuh.

I : So, it is mainly taught in vocabulary classes? R2 : Not just in vocabulary classes, as I told you, that…maybe the vocabulary classes

give the…. I : Introduction? R2 : The introduction about prepositional verbs, but the practice how to use the

vocab…umm… the prepositional verbs are in speaking, writing, and also other subjects. Not just in vocabulary because in vocabulary we just memorize and we practice but how do we produce it correctly we can apply or we have it in other classes.

I : I think that’s all, Sir. Thank you very much for your time. R2 : You’re welcome. Good luck. I : OK….

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Respondent 3 I : Good morning, Sir…. R3 : Good morning. I : OK. Today I’d like to interview you some questions related to my research, it’s

about prepositional verb errors found in academic writing essay assignments. So, the first question is: Do you think that prepositional verb errors are problematic? So, what is your opinion, Sir?

R3 : Well, yes. It is problematic to me because…umm…it may lead to umm…misleading of the idea, when they have umm…prepositional verb related to the error, prepositional verb. However, umm…basically in academic essay, umm… we have a discussion with the students, that’s why usually I can follow their idea, then I can suggest them on a certain preposition for certain verb, umm…but when it deals with umm…the idea, which one umm…let say the percentage I should focus on, then actually I focus on the development of the idea and the prepositional verb errors can be the next.

I : And what do you think about the importance of prepositional verb accuracy in writing?

R3 : The importance of prepositional verb in accuracy umm…accuracy in writing I think deals with umm…how they convey the idea actually. Umm…then I think the reason will be the same when I told you dealing with umm…the verb preposition may misleading. May mislead to a certain or another idea. But, umm…as the result of the discussion usually umm…the students will retell the actual idea then that’s why I can lead to umm…certain accuracy for that.

I : And then, how much do the prepositional verb errors influence your students’ writing assignment scores? So, how do the errors contribute to their scores?

R3 : Umm…usually in my rubric I put umm…this kind of errors in mechanics, so umm…the percentage is not too high actually. I put the highest score for the originality of the idea.

I : It’s around…umm…how many percent? R3 : The percentage? I : Ya. R3 : OK, the percentage is about umm…20% for that… I : For the…. R3 : For the mechanic. I : For the mechanic. R3 : Ya. Instead the prepositional verb errors is just a part of 20%. Prepositional verb

is included in the mechanic in my rubric. It is because in mechanic, I put all the small things about writing, not small in the idea, not small, but actually the way the students write in comma, in punctuation, and in what so ever there, in mechanic. So, I put the together in the mechanic. Because the other in my elements is not discussing what we have in prepositional verbs.

I : OK. And then, based on…ya, your students’ assignments, you can see that: how well your students realize the usage of prepositional verbs, so far?

R3 : How well...when you ask me the score from number 1 to 10 then I will say that well…their knowledge about this is about 8, let say 7 to 8, umm…because I still sometimes umm…find the students with umm…let say the traffic mistakes


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dealing with…for example different from, and that is usually different with, and that’s kind of the example I think. I still find that kind of problem.

I : Do you think that those errors will disturb them later in teaching their students later? As teacher candidates?

R3 : Well, it would disturb them, later, but I do believe that they will develop. Ya, so, they will find their own mistakes. They will develop it someday, they will lead their students, so I hope, by having the mistakes, I do expect them to correct the errors.

I : The students are now in the fifth semester, do you think that…well…they still have an opportunity to…what…to…to…improve their accuracy, related to prepositional verbs?

R3 : I think it deals with the automatic ways of thinking, right? Since language should be automatic, then…umm…it is hard for them when…let say…language is…language…especially English needs a process of thinking, then, they will find some errors of course. But again, they… I do believe that they will develop.

I : OK. So, how would you minimize your students’ prepositional verb errors in their writing? So far, what have you done?

R3 : In Academic Writing class, I usually make them into groups, and when I find these mistakes or these errors, I usually share to them so that not only the students who got the problem, but also the groups. That is one, and another one is that when they…umm…hand in their writings to me, usually I put a mark on it.

I : So when you give them feedback, and then you ask them to have something like peer correction? The groups?

R3 : Yes, there are two stages of that. The first one is that the peer group, they actually work in their group first, umm…then I usually join with that group, umm…join that group, and I discuss some problems they have, umm…and one of it, prepositional verbs, and then…when they hand in their final paper, then I can give feedback there. Written feedback.

I : OK, so based on my research results, the students of Academic Essay often produce addition errors, so the type of the error is addition, the example is: discuss about. It is the commonly occur. So, what is your suggestion to minimize this type of error? I mean addition error.

R3 : Well, umm…I think the idea is just the same what we have discussed previously, but…umm…usually the more effective way to ask them to fix this error, just ask them to open the dictionary. That’s I think that is the most important thing because when…when just the information from me, I, myself, may make mistakes of that. Right….

I : So, the error is natural, you mean? Ya, and then the eight questions actually you may have answered. So, your suggestion for English learners, in this case are your students, they have to open dictionary to check it?

R3 : Ya. I : What about your suggestion for English teachers, because your students later will

be English teachers, so what should they do to avoid mistakes of their students, so how their own errors will not influence their students later.

R3 : Well, umm... I really suggest the future teacher to read a lot so that they can find examples of the use of prepositional verbs, and… I really do expect that they’re


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going to learn from the errors…umm…based on…let say my oral feedback and also my written feedback.

I : So far, what is the kind...the example of prepositional verb error that disturbs you a lot?

R3 : Well, so far, as I...umm...as I told you before, in advanced, umm…they…most of them have a problem with umm…the double verb, umm…dealing with the preposition here. Something like...umm…let say discuss about, yes, they have the problem, uhumm…

I : Explain about...verb plus preposition, and the preposition usually is about. Do you think you still tolerate umm…small mistakes, umm…I mean mistakes related to mechanic, especially prepositional verbs, do you still tolerate this?

R3 : Yes, I still have it. I : And then the last question, Sir. What do you think? In what semester should PBI

students appropriately start to be introduced to prepositional verbs? R3 : From the beginning. Ya. From the beginning semester, at least the first semester

they’ve got to be acquaintance with this kind of…umm… problems that…well…at least, they should aware of this problem because I…to me, prepositional verb is very cultural. So, it takes time to make students to be more automatic…what else…

I : And then, in which class, I mean is it in structure class, vocab class, or what class should this mainly introduced or started to be taught?

R3 : Umm…I don’t think of segmentation here, so I think it will be more appropriate when umm…all subjects have umm…this contain…so in listening they have umm…an opportunity to listen to umm…prepositional…prepositional verbs, and then they can learn from it, then in reading, they have the umm…form of the verb, and also in writing they apply it to the writing, so umm… I think, all of the subjects should put together to make the students aware of the problem, verb, and another one that the students will be more automatic in producing prepositional verb.

I : OK, I think that’s all our interview today, thank you for your time… R3 : You’re welcome.

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