This document summarizes a study that investigated macrolinguistic errors in essays written by Indonesian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. The study analyzed 40 students' essays and interviews. It found seven types of errors at the discourse level (run-on sentences, unawareness of logical relations, poor paragraph development, cohesion problems, improper use of discourse markers, coherence problems, absence of parallel structure) and two types of errors at the pragmatic level (miss-selection of lexical items, violation of cooperative principles). Possible causes of errors included lack of writing interest, inadequate grammar mastery, difficulties arranging ideas logically, and lack of vocabulary. The researchers hope the results can help teachers design better materials and students recognize
In the recent years, many new fields in second language acquisition have emerged. instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) is also among them. ISLA due to Loewen (2015T is an academic subfield that is about learning a language other than the first one. cognitive-inter actionist methods offered efficient features of L2 instruction. This chapter discusses about Loewen definition of ISLA and emphasizes the roles of both native speaker-learner and learner-learner interaction.
This study aims at explaining the confusion that led by the misuse of English grammatical structures when conveying meanings in written English texts. Indicating how committing certain errors in written English structures constrains Sudanese English learners’ performance. Investigating English grammatical structures experienced by Sudanese learners who are preparing to graduate with B.A. in English. Therefore, the roles that grammatical structures play in models of communicative competence are discussed in this paper. Additionally, the study explains the role of mastering these structures in communicative purposes. The obtained results revealed that Sudanese students are incompetent in using grammar well enough for some real-communicational purpose. Grammatical structures play a role in language communicative competence for the learners of English language. Learners’ mastery of the language communicative ability is affected when language learners are unable to successfully communicate in L2 without cultural knowledge of what is considered appropriate according to a particular context in the target language.
In the recent years, many new fields in second language acquisition have emerged. instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) is also among them. ISLA due to Loewen (2015T is an academic subfield that is about learning a language other than the first one. cognitive-inter actionist methods offered efficient features of L2 instruction. This chapter discusses about Loewen definition of ISLA and emphasizes the roles of both native speaker-learner and learner-learner interaction.
This study aims at explaining the confusion that led by the misuse of English grammatical structures when conveying meanings in written English texts. Indicating how committing certain errors in written English structures constrains Sudanese English learners’ performance. Investigating English grammatical structures experienced by Sudanese learners who are preparing to graduate with B.A. in English. Therefore, the roles that grammatical structures play in models of communicative competence are discussed in this paper. Additionally, the study explains the role of mastering these structures in communicative purposes. The obtained results revealed that Sudanese students are incompetent in using grammar well enough for some real-communicational purpose. Grammatical structures play a role in language communicative competence for the learners of English language. Learners’ mastery of the language communicative ability is affected when language learners are unable to successfully communicate in L2 without cultural knowledge of what is considered appropriate according to a particular context in the target language.
Full paper-the-academic-writing-performance malik albalawi مالك البلوي malikjabr
Academic Writing performance and Spelling errors of English as A Foreign Language Students at Tabuk University: A case of The Introductory Year Students 2015
The Academic writing performance and Spelling Errors Malik Jabr Albalawi مال...malikjabr
The Academic writing Performance and Spelling Errors of English As Foreign Language Students at Tabuk University: A case of the Introductory Year students:2015
Error analysis is a type of linguistic studies that focuses on the errors that learners make. To identify and explain the errors which are committed by second/foreign language learners, error analysis is one of the best ways of such purpose. This study aimed at analyzing the errors in the use of prepositions made by Kurdish EFL learners. One-hundred and seven students studying English at University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan, Iraq participated in this study. Based on the result of Oxford Placement Test participants of this study were at three different levels of proficiency; elementary, lower-intermediate and upper-intermediate. This study tries to find out the sources of the errors and specify the differences between learners at different levels of proficiency. An Oxford Placement test and a preposition test were used to elicit the data. After analyzing the data by SAS ver. 9 and SPSS VER. 22, it was revealed that, Kurdish EFL learners have problems in the use of English prepositions. The students at different levels of proficiency were different in making errors and the sources behind making errors. The students of higher levels of proficiency were least effected by the interlingual source of errors and also intralingual errors, and they committed fewer errors; it might be because students at higher levels of proficiency have more practice compare to the lower levels of proficiency. In the light of findings, this study has some pedagogical implications for teaching prepositions. Teachers are advised to draw their students’ attention to the fact that literal translation into their mother tongue may lead to errors.
Full paper-the-academic-writing-performance malik albalawi مالك البلوي malikjabr
Academic Writing performance and Spelling errors of English as A Foreign Language Students at Tabuk University: A case of The Introductory Year Students 2015
The Academic writing performance and Spelling Errors Malik Jabr Albalawi مال...malikjabr
The Academic writing Performance and Spelling Errors of English As Foreign Language Students at Tabuk University: A case of the Introductory Year students:2015
Error analysis is a type of linguistic studies that focuses on the errors that learners make. To identify and explain the errors which are committed by second/foreign language learners, error analysis is one of the best ways of such purpose. This study aimed at analyzing the errors in the use of prepositions made by Kurdish EFL learners. One-hundred and seven students studying English at University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan, Iraq participated in this study. Based on the result of Oxford Placement Test participants of this study were at three different levels of proficiency; elementary, lower-intermediate and upper-intermediate. This study tries to find out the sources of the errors and specify the differences between learners at different levels of proficiency. An Oxford Placement test and a preposition test were used to elicit the data. After analyzing the data by SAS ver. 9 and SPSS VER. 22, it was revealed that, Kurdish EFL learners have problems in the use of English prepositions. The students at different levels of proficiency were different in making errors and the sources behind making errors. The students of higher levels of proficiency were least effected by the interlingual source of errors and also intralingual errors, and they committed fewer errors; it might be because students at higher levels of proficiency have more practice compare to the lower levels of proficiency. In the light of findings, this study has some pedagogical implications for teaching prepositions. Teachers are advised to draw their students’ attention to the fact that literal translation into their mother tongue may lead to errors.
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An Investigation of Macrolinguistic Errors in Indonesian Efl Learners Essays.pdf
1. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 80
AN INVESTIGATION OF MACROLINGUISTIC ERRORS
IN INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS’ ESSAYS
Fanisa Fitrianti Putri; Dhafid Wahyu Utomo; Yusti Fargianti
Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa; Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa;
Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa;
fanisafitriantiputri@gmail.com; dhafid.wu@untirta.ac.id;
yusti@untirta.ac.id
Abstract
This present study tries to investigate macrolinguistic errors and to
know the possible causes of the errors committed by Indonesian EFL
Learners in their essay writing. This study employed qualitative
approach with content analysis method. The data were taken from 40
university students’ essay and interview in one public university
located in Banten province. The result of the data analysis reveals that
the students commit seven types of error at the discoursal level and two
types of error at the pragmatic level. In the discoursal level, the
students committed run-on sentences, unawareness of logical relation,
poor paragraph development, cohesion problem as well as coherence
problem, improper use of discourse markers, and absence of parallel
structure. In the pragmatic level, the researchers found miss-selection
of lexical item and violation of the cooperative principles. Moreover, the
possible causes of the errors included students have lack interest in
writing; inadequate grammatical mastery; arranging ideas in a
meaningful and logical order; lack of vocabulary and formulating their
idea of writing. It is hoped that the result of this study can be the
consideration for both the teachers when they design the material, and
students to recognize their weaknesses in doing the writing and find
the best solution to cope with this problem.
Keywords: macrolinguistic error; students’ essay; Indonesia EFL
Learners
Introduction
Writing is one method of communicating our ideas and feelings
on a piece of paper as well as organizing our knowledge and conveying
meaning through well-constructed textual content. Writing is the
2. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 81
cognitive process of generating ideas and selecting how to
communicate them in reader-friendly sentences and paragraphs.
(Nunan, 2003). By mastering writing skill, one can communicate their
ideas, knowledge, and feelings to others, particularly in written form.
However, mastering writing, particularly writing in an academic
context, is a difficult task. A number of factors became the reason one of
which is differences in academic registers. They are interpreted and
comprehended differently from country to country. In the same vein, a
wide social as well as psychological distance between foreign language
and target language has also the negative attitudes. In addition, writing
is regarded to be cognitively a complex process especially in the
acquisition of academic vocabulary and style of discourse (Klimova,
2014).
In enhancing students’ writing competence, particularly foreign
language learners, it will cover some sub skills in writing including
writing mechanics as well as discourse skills. The teachers usually only
focus on microlinguistic level such as grammatical accuracy,
punctuation, spelling, writing mechanics but neglected the
macrolinguistic level which focus on communicative competence which
usually focus on pragmatic and discourse competence (Fareh, 2014).
The ability to grasp and construct utterances that are truthful
and acceptable to the social and cultural contexts in which
communication occurs is known as pragmatic competence (Deda,
2013). Pragmatic competences are associated with the ability of
speakers in using a language by considering the context where the
utterances are performed both spoken and written. Furthermore, it is
also associated with both spoken and written discourse such as
cohesion, coherence, reference, politeness principle, cooperative
principle as well as turn-taking conventions. Whereas discourse
competence is the capability to perceive and produce language that is
more complex than a single sentence (Richard, 2006). It relates to the
capacity to identify and organize lexical words as well as grammatical
structures to produce well-formed texts.
To date, there have been many studies which focus on
investigating the performance of EFL learners in writing (Sermsook, et.
al., 2017; Sadiah & Royani, 2019; Kumala, et. al., 2018). However, those
studies mainly focused on microlinguistic errors or grammatical errors
committed by the students. There are still a few studies discussed
problems at macrolinguistic errors especially in the essay of EFL
3. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 82
learners. Therefore, this study tries to fill this gap by focusing on
investigating macrolingustic errors committed by Indonesian EFL
learners’ essays.
Literature Review
Macrolinguistic Errors
Macrolinguistics is the study of meanings and how the language
and meaning function within social systems. The goal of macrolingusitic
is to achieve a scientific understanding of how people communicate. It
is concerned with the external view of language in relation to other
sciences, as well as how to apply it in everyday life. Macrolinguistics in
composition concerns about coherence and cohesion of their writing.
Macrolinguistic error in writing is macrolinguistic problem covers to
discourse and pragmatic error faced by the student in writing English
essays (Fareh, 2014). Consequently, macrolinguistic errors lead to the
reader's difficulties in understanding the whole text in the essay.
Discourse Error
Discourse error occurs when a person's ability to comprehend,
generate, and develop larger stretches of language, such as paragraphs,
essays, short tales, discussions, and dialogues, is insufficient (Fareh,
2014). Run-on sentences, a lack of understanding of the logical
relationship between sentences, poor paragraph development or
coherence issues, cohesion issues, and improper use of inter-sentential
connectives or discourse markers are all examples of common
discourse errors made by students.
Run-on Sentence
When two or more independent clauses are not connected
appropriately, the result is a run-on sentence. A sequence of words that
can stand alone as a sentence is known as an independent clause. When
students use a comma instead of a full stop or a semicolon to link
phrases together, this is known as a run-on sentence (Fareh, 2014).
There are four possible solutions to the problem of a run-on
sentence. To combine two independent clauses with a coordinating
conjunction (and, but, yet, so, or, nor, for), use a comma and a
coordinating conjunction (and, but, yet, so, or, nor, for). Place a comma
before the coordinating conjunction. Second, the writer can use a
semicolon alone or with a transitional expression by employing a
4. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 83
semicolon or, in some situations, a colon or a dash (e.g., however, at any
rate, in contrast, as a result, and etc.). Third, separate the independent
clauses into sentences; this is particularly useful when one of the
independent clauses is particularly long. Forth, the writer can
restructure the sentence by subordinating one of the parts if one of the
independent clauses appears to be less important than the other.
Unawareness of Logical Relations between Sentences
A sentence relation is a meaning created just by placing two
sentences next to each other in a text. Sentence relations have two main
characteristics that have to be borne in mind if the writers are trying to
discover and understand one in a text. First, relation involves two
sentence means that the meaning created by placing two sentences
together. Second, the second sentence indicates the specific meaning
(Fanning, 2012). The writers must be aware about the logical relation
holding between sentences so that they can develop the paragraph
correctly and there is no digression that will distorts the flow of the
text.
Poor Paragraph Development
Learners' problem in writing English is poor paragraph
development, which is related to coherence issues. When creating a
conversation, consistency is crucial. A written speech unit comprising
many sentences describing a concept and a full stop at the end. The
coherence of a lengthy text is determined by the consistency of each
paragraph or section. When students fail to recognize the form of a
paragraph as a series of related sentences that develop a single central
theme, they are said to have weak paragraph development (Fareh,
2014).
Cohesion Problem
The grammatical and lexical connecting that binds a text or
sentence together and gives it meaning is known as cohesion. Cohesion
is the use of elements such as repetition, pronouns, transitional
expressions, and other cohesive indications to guide readers and
illustrate how different parts of a text relate to one another in writing
(Nordquist, 2017). Cohesion, on the other hand, refers to a text's logical
links at the sentence level. The grammatical and lexical links between
the elements of written creation are referred to as this word (Kaplan,
5. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 84
2014). Finally, cohesiveness is the process of connecting and linking
sentences, which is a crucial part of writing. However, EFL writings
were frequently graded based on individual sentences, rather than the
overall cohesion of the material created.
Improper Use of Discourse Markers
Discourse markers are terms that illustrate how discourse is
created and can indicate sentential roles that exist between sentences
in a text (Swan, 2005). The connective and, for example, denotes an
addition relationship, whereas but denotes a sentential contrast
relationship between phrases. Because they signal the logical
relationships that exist between phrases in a text, connectives play a
crucial role in building contextual cohesiveness. Discourse markers also
provide information on the learners' pragmatic skill in the target
language, according to (Garcia, 2009). Discourse markers, it can be
argued, play a significant part in the cohesiveness and coherence of a
work, and writers must use them correctly.
Coherence Problem
A text is coherent if it meets two criteria: first, it must be
compatible with the context in which it was generated, and second, it
must have cohesion, which means that all portions of the text must be
related by cohesive devices (Halliday and Hasan, 1976). In other terms,
a paragraph or text is coherent if each sentence contributes to the
development of the paragraph's theme. Because there is unity of ideas
throughout sentences and paragraphs, coherent literature is easier to
read and understand.
Absence of Parallel Structure
The use of the same pattern of words to demonstrate that two or
more ideas are of equal importance is known as parallel structure. This
might happen at the level of the word, phrase, or clause. Coordinate
portions of a sentence, such as items in a series or list, share the same
grammatical form in a parallel structure. All nouns, verbs, participles,
and so on must be included in a series. Parallel sentences are frequently
joined by a coordinating conjunction like for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
Text with a parallel structure has more authority and clarity.
6. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 85
Pragmatic Error
Pragmatics is the study how people use language in real life. In a
globalized world, pragmatics education is necessary and important. The
reason for this is because English is now utilized by people all over the
world to engage and communicate with one another in order to conduct
international business or attend academic conferences (McKay, 2002).
Being conversant with other cultures and pragmatics is vital for
preventing misinterpretation caused by cultural differences. Pragmatics
research focuses on the appropriateness of intercultural dialogues. The
intercultural communication competence of English speakers should be
improved by mastering pragmatics.
However, pragmatics and language use are rarely covered in
foreign language textbooks. That is most likely why foreign language
learners make subtle errors that are not always apparent in terms of
grammatical accuracy. The impact of pragmatic inaccuracy is often
overlooked by EFL students and teachers (Harlig and Dornyei) (1998).
Words, statements, sentences, or even paragraphs that, while
grammatically correct, do not fit the situation, fail to reflect the writer's
intended meaning, or create misunderstanding or unhappiness to the
intended reader are examples of pragmatic errors. In this study the
pragmatic errors only focus on three categories, they are miss-selection
of lexical item, maxim violation and overuse of qualifiers.
Miss-selection of Lexical Item
Miss-selection of lexical item is a process in which pupils employ
one lexical item instead of another due to a misunderstanding of the
item's meaning. Students make this mistake due to a lack of lexical
competence, which may be influenced by L1. Students frequently
employ the wrong term in the wrong context, making the sentence
ambiguous and occasionally incoherent (Fareh, 2014). In terms of
grammar, the misused word sound is correct, but in terms of language
use, it is incorrect. Lexical errors can occur in a variety of situations,
obstructing communication, and are less accepted by readers than
syntactic faults (Carter, 1998).
Maxim Violation
People engaging in any sort of discourse want to express their
messages, since languages have arisen and grown throughout human
history based on the necessity for communication. The cooperative
7. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 86
principle and the cooperative maxims are the rules that people follow
to communicate effectively (Grice, 1975). Moreover, Grice defines four
“specific maxims” or “sub maxims”, namely maxims of Quantity, Quality,
Relation and Manner.
Overuse Qualifier
A qualifier, such as very, is a word or phrase that comes before
an adjective or adverb and increases or decreases the quality of the
word it modifies (Nordquist, 2017). Qualifiers can be useful in creating
text since they show the reader how confident the writer is in the
information he is providing. In academic writing, authors must clearly
state whether their believes or claims are certain, likely, unlikely, or
simply wrong.
Method
Qualitative approached by using content analysis was employed
in this study. According to (Mayring, 2000) content analysis is a method
that will be kept as the foundation for a qualitatively oriented
procedure of text interpretation. As a result, content analysis is a text-
analysis method for understanding interview transcripts and other
research papers, such as attempts to identify macrolinguistic problems
in essays written by university students at one of Banten's public
universities.
The participants of this study were forty English department
students in one of the public universities in Banten who are currently in
the sixth semester who have passed academic writing course. The data
were collected through the documents or students’ essays to find out
the macro-linguistic errors in English essay written by the students. The
essay is argumentative essay. There was also a semi-structured
interview to find out the possible cause of students’ errors writing the
essay. Then the data was analyzed by applying three procedures
proposed by (Miles, Huberman and Sadana, 2014) namely data
condensation, data display, and drawing conclusion or verification.
Discussion
The researchers found seven types of error at the discoursal
level and two types of error at the pragmatic level. In the discoursal
level, the researchers found run-on sentences, unawareness of logical
relation between sentences, poor paragraph development, cohesion
8. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 87
problem, improper use of discourse markers, coherence problem, and
absence of parallel structure. In the pragmatic level, the researchers
found miss-selection of lexical item and maxim violation.
Run- On Sentences
When two or more independent clauses are not connected
appropriately, the result is a run-on sentence.
Teacher is figure that very important in education system, teacher also
very determine the success the students, especially in teaching and
learning in the class.
(Datum AK/01/DE/RS)
The run-on statement is exemplified above. A comma splice is when
two or more independent clauses are only connected by a comma.
Fareh (2014) claims that pupils are unaware of several basic textual
rules relating to paragraph organization. They believe that a text is
nothing more than a collection of sentences that aren't bound by
punctuation standards. Sentence structure, grammatical accuracy, and
spelling were frequently the main concerns of the students.
Unawareness of Logical Relations Between Sentences
Here is the example of student’s unawareness of logical relations
between sentences.
Teacher is someone who could be example for the students. The
qualities of education, that were good or bad is determined by the
teacher quality standards.
(Datum AK/01/DE/LR)
From the example, the topic sentence is teacher as the example for the
students, but the student did not mention a sentence that supports the
topic sentence. The student mentioned the qualities of education that is
not logically related to idea mentioned in the topic sentence.
Poor Paragraph Development
Here is the example of student’s poor paragraph development
*Good Qualities of Teacher*
Teacher is figure that very important in education system, teacher also
very determine the success the students, especially in teaching and
learning in the class. Teacher is someone who could be example for
the students. The qualities of education, that were good or bad is
determined by teacher quality standards.
(Datum AK/01/DE/PD)
9. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 88
The example demonstrates that the paragraph is made up of a series of
interconnected sentences that do not build a single major idea. Instead,
the kids write a series of disjointed and unrelated statements that do
not form a logical unit. The transition from one topic to the next is
incoherent, demonstrating poor paragraph development.
Cohesion Problem
The grammatical and lexical connecting that binds a text or sentence
together and gives it meaning is known as cohesion. A text should have
a sense of continuity and a smooth flow of ideas (Fareh, 2014).
The teacher who loves they work as a teacher would find art in teaching
and they would find something comfort and interest to share more
knowledge to their students.
(Datum AK/01/DE/CP1)
The pronoun ‘they' has no antecedent, causing the paragraph to be
disjointed. A noun is referred to by a pronoun. To generate continuity,
the student should state the noun first, followed by the pronoun, or use
the correct pronoun. The usage of references reveals the paragraph's
unity to some level, as well as the ideas' relation to the major issue. The
paragraph's cohesion will be distorted if references are used
incorrectly.
Improper Use of Discourse Markers
The learners' poor renderings of connectives imply that they are
unaware of how to use them correctly since they have not been
properly educated or prepared to do so (Fareh, 2014).
When they love what are they doing, so they qualities is of course will
improve, but don’t forget to upgrading training they skills to improve
quality standard of teacher that’s very important.
(Datum AK/04/DE/DM)
The examples above show that the pupils are unaware of how to use
connectives correctly. The first example shows that the pupils are
unfamiliar with the connective 'but', which is used to highlight contrast
between two phrases. In the example it is said about the qualities of
teacher will improve, next the student said about upgrading training.
“Improve” and “upgrade” have the similar meaning, so it is better to use
connective ‘and’ to indicate same, similar, or equal.
10. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 89
Coherence Problem
Most of the issues students have with writing cohesive texts comes
from their failure to sustain information flow of senses in their
paragraphs and texts; they jump from one concept to the next, making
the text unintelligible.
*The Good Qualities of Teacher*
Teacher is figure that very important in education system, teacher also
very determine the success the students, especially in teaching and
learning in the class. Teacher is someone who could be example for the
students. The qualities of education, that were good or bad is
determined by the teacher quality standards.
(Datum AK/01/DE/CP2)
The example shows that the paragraph is lack of coherence. The
paragraph should clearly establish the main idea. However, each
sentence in the paragraph has its own theme that is unrelated to the
main topic. The learner jumps from one notion to the next, making the
text incomprehensible.
Absence of Parallel Structure
When compiling a list of things, EFL students frequently include
phrases or clauses that are not parallel. Their writing becomes clumsy
and disjointed because of this practice (Fareh, 2014).
A good teacher is like a great teacher, focusing on the positive and
never letting students lose hope.
(Datum DT/03/DE/AP)
The use of the same pattern of words to demonstrate that two or more
ideas are of equal importance is known as parallel structure. Different
series are shown in the example: noun phrase and verb phrase. The
learner appears to be unaware of the parallel structure in the instances
above. The grammatical form of the list above should be the same. A
sequence of items must all be nouns, verbs, or participles, and so on.
Mis- selection of lexical item
Students frequently employ the wrong term in the wrong context,
making the sentence ambiguous and occasionally incoherent. (Fareh,
2014).
I do believe if you follow all of them, you will increase your habit while
you were teaching the class.
(Datum SA/03/PE/MS)
The example demonstrates that the word "habit" is inappropriate in the
statement. To make the context clear and connect to how the teacher
11. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 90
teaches the students, the word "habit" should be replaced with
"performance”.
Maxim violation
a. Violation of Quality Maxim
Students are most affected by the quality of their teacher.
(Datum DW/01/PE/MX/QL)
Making overgeneralizations or providing insufficient or no evidence or
support for claims/ideas are examples of quality maxim violations. That
is, their poor expressive ability makes it difficult for them to provide
appropriate supporting information, causing them to breach the quality
maxim.
b. Violation of Quantity Maxim
According to (Fareh, 2014), in this form of failure, pupils frequently add
unnecessary sentences and concepts. Students' writing becomes
repetitious, monotonous, and uninformative.
The teacher not only must teach how the subject or material in the
class, but also have responsibility to teach good morals and manners
to the students. Because how students’ behavior depends on teacher or
parents who teach them. So, it is important to teacher and parents to
have responsibility about teach a good morals and manners, not
only just teaching the subject matter.
(Datum AK/03/PE/MX/QN)
Students were required to write a paragraph about a teacher's positive
traits. The first sentence, which is designed to establish the guiding
idea, has the phrase 'not only must teach how the subject or material in
the class', which should not be there. The second statement has nothing
to do with the topic sentence's governing premise, which is that it is the
teacher's obligation to teach students appropriate morals and manners.
The pupils did not provide more information regarding excellent
morals and manners until the last sentence, making the paragraph less
informative and a violation of the quantity maxim.
c. Violation of Manner Maxim
Students who have experienced this form of failure are more likely to
write unclear and ambiguous phrases that do not convey a clear
message (Fareh, 2014).
A good teacher is like a great leader, focusing on the positive, and
never letting students lose hope.
12. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 91
(Datum DT/03/PE/MX/M)
The example above indicates that the students produce a sentence that
is lack of clarity, and ambiguous. The student did not explain more
about ‘the positive’ and ‘students lose hope’. Students should be as
specific as possible in their writing, avoiding ambiguity and vagueness.
The Possible Cause of These Errors
From the data which were gathered from the interview with the
students, the researchers found that the performance of the student’s
writing is still not good enough. The students also have lack interest in
writing even they do not like writing at the session of interview. The
reason is the students said that they feel writing is difficult for them.
They face many problems in writing. The most common problem is to
use the correct and appropriate grammar. They felt that grammar is
complex and difficult to learn.
Besides grammar, they also said that they have problems in
developing the idea, mastering the vocabulary, using the discourse
makers and punctuation, constructing the cohesion and coherence in
the paragraph. The students got difficulties to formulate and develop
their own idea of writing. The students said, they got difficulties to
formulate and develop their own idea of writing. The difficulties lead
them to construct their idea to the cohesive and coherent paragraph as
well.
From the interview, the students admit that their vocabulary
mastery was still low because they are still not familiar with the English
word. It caused them to commit the error in the selection of the lexical
item. The students also said that they feel confused to use the
appropriate discourse markers and punctuation when they write.
However, when the researchers inquired about their efforts to improve
their writing skills, the most common effort students make to improve
their writing skills is reading English, which they do with the help of the
lecturer's guidebook.
However, the student said that they are seldom to read the book
even they said that the book is less helpful, and they prefer to use the
internet than the book from the lecturer. It indicates that the use of the
book as guided writing is less desirable by students. From those
reasons, it can be concluded that the first negative language transfers
caused students write the sentences as well as when they are talking
which is eventually causes the errors in writing sentence it is called
interlingual errors. Corder (1981) who explains about transfer, he
13. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 92
states that, “the learner is carrying over the habits of his mother-tongue
into the second language.” As he stated, When the native and target
languages are similar, learning a target language is simple through
positive transfer; but, when they are not, learning that language (target
language) is difficult and results in negative transfer, which leads to
errors. However, based on their efforts to enhance their writing skills,
the errors are not solely due to interference from their mother tongue,
but also the learners have not really acquired the knowledge because of
the difficult of language itself. Finally, a lack of writing practice and
supervision is a significant influence in pupils' poor performance.
Therefore, there must be revolutionary efforts to improve the learners’
potential in English communication together with the enhancement of
English teaching manner at colleges (Sidik, et. al., 2021) as well as the
writing materials which provide stimulus to encourage the students to
learn (Kirana, et. al., 2018).
Conclusion
It may be concluded from the discussion that the students made
macrolingistic errors at both the discourse and pragmatic levels,
indicating that the students' ability to produce and develop stretches of
language larger than a sentence is still limited. Furthermore, there are
several possible explanations of these errors, including a lack of
vocabulary, grammatical mastery, lack of attention, and the teacher's
delivery manner. As a result, EFL students should seek to achieve
maximum proficiency in the target language by intensive reading,
listening, and writing, as well as be conscious of their mistakes and
prevent repeating them in their future learning.
Moreover, EFL teachers are also expected to focus on the errors
do the students commit to writing an essay. They must create the
situation in learning process more enjoyable for the students to
enhance student’s motivation in learning writing. In learning writing,
Students' pragmatic and discourse competencies should be enhanced in
the classroom by focusing not only on the accuracy of linguistic forms
but also on the functional uses of language to achieve native-like
proficiency, primarily in the flow of information.
14. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching) Vol.5, No.2 - 2021 93
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