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1. 1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses about the background of study, problems of study,
objective of study, significance of study, scope and limitation, even the definition
of key term.
A. Background of Study
Indonesia is a multi-culture country. In every island it has its own
culture even its own language as communication media among its society.
Each society of the island communicates using their mother tongue or L1.
Even, to communicate with the other citizen in other island, they need to use
L2 that is Indonesian language, as the national language. It means that
language holds its important role as we know that not only L1 or L2 need to
learn but also foreign language.
Beside Indonesian language, now English is also important for
Indonesian citizens. English is an international language that people use as
the lingua franca. Nowadays, it is being one of the most important languages
since people around the world from different countries use it as a media to
communicate each other. The use of English is widely spread almost in every
country. Now, English is chosen as the unifying language of the whole world
1
1

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instead in Latin the heyday of Europe.1
Because of its useful and importance,
people need to learn it, so do Indonesians. Any Indonesian citizens learn
English for any purposes, not only for education but commonly also for
business or job needed. When we want to pay attention around us, many
Indonesian citizens face some annoyance with their L1even L2in English
applying actually.
This annoyance or difficulties may get influence from Indonesian
language on learning English. As we have known that Indonesian language
have different grammatical rules from English language so that the difficult
part in applying English is about learning Grammar. As it has been said by
Marlyna Maros, based on studies carried out by Shaari (1987) found that the
major difficulty faced by many of the students is learning English Grammar.2
This difficulty may also be attributed with their environment. In the
case of multicultural students, most of them tend to use their L1 even L2
when interacting with their family members, friends, even peers in their home
environment as well as in school. Hence, they hardly use English outside the
language classroom, resulting weak performance in their reading, writing,
speaking, and listening skills. This problem is most obvious when it comes to
examinations or daily writing assignments. We will be rarely difficult to find
1
Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman, An Introduction to Language, (New York: Harcourt
Brace Collage Publisher), 2003, p. 19.
2
Marlyna Maros, Tan Kim Hua & Khazriyati Salehuddin, "Interference in Learning English:
Grammatical Errors in Essay Writing Among Rural Malay Secondary School Students in
Malaysia”, e-Bangi Journal, Vol. 2, suppl. 2, School of Language Studies and Linguistics
Faculty of Social Science and Humanities University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, (Desember
2007), p.2,.

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students’ essays in a few grammatical mistakes even in tenses or word order
using.
The difference in forming words between Indonesian and English can
be seen easily since they have different words produced. Although there are
some ways to learn English easily and effectively, the learners still get
difficulty in applying the word forms because Indonesian do not have
complex morphological and grammatical rule as like English. If they do not
pay attentionto how to form word properly, they will produce wrong word in
English writing and consequently, grammatical interference will easily occur.
Grammatical interference may also be found in the use of Direct and Indirect
question, partitive article and changing the partitive and indefinite article with
the preposition the, and the sequence of tenses3
e.g.: I go to Jakarta
yesterday; My mother buy three book red; She not have house; on the corner
of the street will be built a tall building, etc.
The same problem happens on the first year students of senior high
school at SMAN 1 Mojo. Many students are still confused to make a correct
word order. They still have difficulty in applying grammatical rule although
they have studied it from the first time they learned English when they were
in the kindergarten, elementary even in the secondary school. This difficulty
is also caused by the language that they used. Generally they use Indonesian
language in their daily communication because they come from different
provenance. They have their own mother tongue or L1 so that they need
3
Branimira Hristova Lekova, Language Interference and Methods of Its Overcoming in Foreign
Language Teaching, Trakia Journal of Sciences, Vol. 8, Suppl. 3, Faculty of Education, Trakia
University, StaraZagora, Bulgaria. (2010), p.323,.

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Indonesian language as their unifying language and it can cause annoyance in
practicing English as foreign language that they really use it.
Based on the background of the importance oflearning English and the
fact that the students still have difficulty to learn English especially for
constructing grammatical sentence, the researcher conducts a research about
the Grammatical Interference of Indonesian Language to the English
Writing of EFL Learners at SMAN 1 Mojo.
B. Problem of Study
Based on the background of study, the researcher does an analysis of
grammatical interference in English writing construction of first year students
at SMAN 1 Mojo. So, the research question on this research is:
What are the types of grammatical interference of Indonesian language found
in the English writing of EFL learners at SMAN 1 Mojo?
C. Objective of Study
The objective of this research is:
To know the types of grammatical interference of Indonesian language found
in the English writing of EFL learners at SMAN 1 Mojo.
D. Significance of Study
The finding of this study is expected to provide scientific investigation
about the types of grammatical interference of Indonesian language found in
the English writing of EFL learners at SMAN 1 Mojo, so that it can serve

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some useful investigations for the learners, the teachers, and the next
researchers.
1. For the learners, this study can help them to know the typesof the
grammatical interference that still commonly happens. So that it will help
them to consider and to learn English grammatically and correctly.
2. For the teachers, the result of this study can be information about their
students’ ability especially in constructing grammatical English writing.
So that the teachers are able toknow and to understand their students’
weakness in learning English and provide the appropriate ways as their
shortcoming that need to improve. As the result, the teachers can get the
maximal achievement and success in conveying materials even
information to their students.
3. For the next researchers, this study can be used as additional information
to improve their investigation. This research can also be used as reference
to conduct their next further investigation to be better and more useful for
others.
E. Scope and Limitation
In this study, the researcher gives the limitation of the key terms to
restrict misunderstanding made by the students even the readers. The research
scope of this study is limited to the analysis of writing samples of first year
students at X-6 class in the English language classroom, with a focus on
grammatical structures and takes into account interference made in their
written constructions.

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F. The Definition of Key Terms
The definition is intended to avoid misunderstanding and ambiguity in
perception of some terms used in this study. On the definition of key terms,
the researcher will define the key words that are related to this study. They
are:
1. Grammatical Interference
It is defined as the Indonesian language influencing the use of
English as foreign language in terms of word order, use of pronouns or
determinants, tense and mood. Grammatical interference occurs when the
elements of native language included in the use of target language step by
step in grammatical of target language, word order, pronoun, conjunctions,
subject-verb agreement, tense, singular-plural agreement, etc.4
2. English Writing
Writing is an activity in which a person expresses his ideas, thought,
expressions, and feelings which is used for communicating to the readers
in the form of written words. Writing in this study means a written
composition which is constructed by the English class students of the first
year at SMAN 1 Mojo.The written composition is matched with their
English class material that is about descriptive text.
4
Putri Martanti, An Analysis of Grammatical Interference in Articles of Berani Newspaper
Thesis, State Islamic University “Syarif Hidayatullah” Jakarta, 2011, p.34.

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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter is about the related theoretical framework which discusses
about sentence structure, contrastive analysis, error analysis, interference, and
grammatical interference.
A. Sentence Structure
A sentence is a unit of language that says something in a fix structure of
grammar and punctuation, and characterized in most languages by the presence
of a finite word. According to Harman and Homer, sentence is a group of
related words containing a subject and a predicate and expressing a complete
and independent unit of thought.5
Then, Robert defined that asentence is a
language unit which is not, by any grammatical device or signal shown to be
part of some larger language unit.6
Basic constituent are usually a clause,
phrase or word and have the final intonation represented by a dot, a question
mark or an exclamatory point.
There are many ways to classify sentences. Different language may have
the different patterns and below it discusses more on the English and
Indonesian structures, one by one.
5
Susan E. Harman and Homer C. House, Descriptive English Grammar, (Englewood Cliffs:
Prentice Hall. Inc.), 1950, p. 12.
6
Paul Robert, Understanding English, (New York: Harper & brorthers), 1958, p. 12.

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1. English Sentence Classification
In the English structure, all of sentences are verbal sentence. It can be
analyzed on how to construct sentence using these patterns, they are:7
a. Sentence Pattern with Intransitive Verbs
Based on the form of intransitive verbs, sentence can be
constructed into some patterns, they are:
1) Sentence Pattern: Noun + Verb
This sentence kind is composed using the simplest sentence
pattern in English, verb + noun, e.g.: the wind blew, the sun dimmed,
the earth shook and trembled, etc.
Besides the simplest patterns, the noun (subject), verb, or
predicate in this and other sentence patterns can be compounded. The
subject part of the sentence is called the noun phrase; the part that
expresses what is said of the subject is called the verb phrase, or
predicate, e.g., the professor and his colleagues lecture and teach,
neither they nor she reads or studies, etc.
In the English structure, a sentence has to have agreement,
between subject and predicate. A compound subject may cause
7
George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks, Let’s Write English Revised Edition, (Litton Educational
Publishing, Inc.: New York), 1980, p.3-77.
7

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confusion in the agreement of the subject and predicate. But that
confusion can be avoided using these rules;
a) If the parts of the compound subject are joined by and, whether
they are singular or plural, the plural form of the verb is used.
E.g. the boys and girls are playing. Mark and Helene approve.
b) If the parts of the compound subject are singular and are joined by
such connectives as or, nor, either … or, neither … nor, not only …
but also, the singular form of the verb is used. E.g.; Either Juan or
his friend is expected. Neither Helene nor Alice works.
c) If the parts of the compound subject joined by or, nor, either … or,
neither … nor, not only … but also are different in number of
person, the part nearest the verb determines the number of the verb.
E.g.; Neither Helene nor her sisters work. Not only the students but
also Prof. Ober is waiting.
2) Sentence Pattern: Noun + Verb + Adverbial
Adverbs normally follow the verb and are of three basic types;
adverbs of manner, adverbs of time, and adverbs of place. A
prepositional phrase can be substituted for any of them.
a) Adverbs of manner, like most other adverbs, normally follow the
verb. These adverbs explain how the action of the verb is done.
Many of these adverbs are formed by adding –ly to adjectives e.g.

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quietly, calmly, quickly, etc. and if the adjective ends in –y, often
the –y is changed to –i before –ly is added, e.g. happy – happily,
noisy - noisily.
b) Adverbs of place usually answer the question where about the
action of the verb, and come after the verb. Common adverbs of
place are up, down, here, there, far, near, over there, away, and far
away. E.g. the boat sailed away. The elevator is going up.
c) Adverbs of time usually follow the verb. It is also possible for
almost any adverb to be placed at the beginning of the sentence, but
adverbs of time are found in that position more frequently than the
others. Some useful adverbs of time are then, next, now, soon, late,
and early. Nouns are also used as adverbs of time: Saturday, today,
last night, every day, next week, tomorrow morning, etc. e.g.
Tomorrow Prof. Ober will lecture.
Adverbs of frequency are also a small category of adverbs that
normally occur before the main verb, except when the main verb is be.
Then these adverbs follow be. Some examples are frequently, never,
often, sometimes, rarely, constantly, regularly, continually, etc. e.g.
He goes to library often but not this sentence He goes usually. These
adverbs at the beginning of the sentences are followed by a comma
except in the case of seldom, rarely, never, which, coming at the

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beginning of the sentence, cause change in the word order to adverb +
auxiliary+ subject + main verb. E.g. seldom does he leave before 4:00.
b. Sentence Patterns with Transitive Verbs
The sentence in these patterns is constructed by using verbs which are
followed by nouns. They are called transitive verbs. These sentences can
be constructed using these patterns;
1) Sentence Pattern: Noun + Verb + Noun
This sentence is constructed by using noun + verb + noun pattern.
The noun following the verb in each sentence is the direct object of
the verb. This sentence pattern may or may not be followed by an
adverb. E.g. the students attend the lectures regularly or the students
attend the class; the professor buys books, etc.
2) Sentence Pattern: Noun + Verb + Noun + Noun
A sentence can also be constructed using noun + verb + noun +
noun pattern. The pattern may also be stated subject + verb + indirect
object + direct object. The indirect object can be a personal pronoun,
but the direct object cannot. E.g. Tim told his friend something.
The following verbs take indirect object and are often used in the
pattern noun + verb + noun + noun: ask, assign, award, bring, buy,

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cause, cost, deny, do, get, grant, guarantee, hand, lease, leave (in a
will), lend, mail, make, offer, owe, pass, pay, play, promise, read,
rent, save, sell, send, serve, show, spare, teach, tell, throw. E.g. Prof.
Ricci awarded the best student a prize, she assigned them homework.
Except for sentences using the verbs ;cost, deny, spare; take to/for
and can be rewritten in another pattern, using a preposition, without a
change of meaning, e.g. we bought Mrs. Johnson a gift, we bought a
gift for Mrs. Johnson.
3) Sentence Pattern: Noun + Verb + Noun/Adjective
A sentence can be constructed using noun + verb + noun/adjective
version of pattern. Only certain verbs can be used in this pattern. They
include consider, find, believe, think, prove, call, name, elect, appoint,
nominate, and make. Most of the verbs used in the noun + verb + noun
+ noun pattern can be used equally well in this pattern. E.g. the
weather made the trip a pleasure. The weather made the trip pleasant.
A few verbs, however, such as like and keep, require an adjective
as the objective complement. E.g. he likes his coffee black. Please
keep the records straight. Similarly, such verbs as appoint, elect, and

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name require a noun as the objective complement. E.g. the people
elected her president. The president named the general chief-of-staff.
c. Sentence Patterns with Linking Verbs
A linking verb connects a subject to a complement which tells
something about subject. The complements in this pattern are an
adjective, adverbial, and noun. The most common linking verb is be;
however, remain, stay, become, appear, continue, feel, grow, seem, and
taste may be used as linking verbs. In this part, the use of be is stressed.
Linking verb connects subject to a complement which one of forms
is an adjective with the pattern noun + linking verb + adjective. E.g.
water is necessary; floods can be harmful, crops are poor, etc.
A sentence can also be constructed using this pattern, noun +
linking verb + adverbial. The adverbial may be either an adverb or a
preposition phrase and in this pattern only time and place adverbials are
used. When both time and place adverbials occur in the same sentence,
adverbials of place go before adverbials of time. E.g. Dorothy will be
there on time, she must be at the doctor’s office at 3:00, etc.
The pattern noun + linking verb + adverbial can be transformed to
a pattern beginning with there if the noun is indefinite. E.g. many people
were in the park last Sunday, there were many people in the park last
Sunday, there is a robin in the tree behind the house, there was some

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paper on the desk, etc. All of those sentences have indefinite subjects:
many people, a robin, some paper; not the people, the robin, the paper.
Another sentence using linking verb is by using this pattern noun +
linking verb + noun. This pattern is often called the subjective pronoun
or the predicate nominative. A principal use of this pattern is to indicate a
person’s profession or occupation. E.g. Ms. Janik is a lawyer, Mr. Muller
is a nutritionist, he is a house painter, etc.
2. Indonesian Sentence Classification
Grammatically, Indonesian sentence can be divided into some
classifications; the predicate form and the content or the function of the
sentence.
a. Classification by the predicate form
Based on the predicate that forms, sentence can be classified into
two parts; verbal sentence and nominal sentence.8
Below it is discussed
more one by one.
1) Verbal Sentence
8
Ida Bagus Putrayasa, Jenis Kalimat dalam Bahasa Indonesia, (PT Refika Aditama: Bandung),
2009, p. 75 - 87.

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Verbal sentence can be divided into intransitive verb, semi
transitive verb, and transitive verb.
According to Adiyasa, intransitive verb is a sentence that
doesn’t need object and complement; just has two important units
those are subject and predicate/verb. Examples: Ibu guru sedang
berbelanja (the teacher_ shopping); Nenek berjalan (grandma walk).
Semi transitive verb of predicate sentence is a type of sentence
that may be or may not be followed by object. The presence of object
on this sentence is just to increase clarity meaning of the sentence.The
common verbs of semi transitive sentence are memasak (cook),
menulis (write), mengajar (teach), menonton (watch), and membaca
(read). Examples:
- Dahlia sedang memasak (Dahlia is cooking)
- Dahlia sedang memasak nasi (Dahlia is cooking rice)
Transitive verb is a kind of sentence where it predicate or verb
needs object to clarify the meaning of sentence. Example: Ratna
sedang mencari pekerjaan (Ratna is looking for job).
2) Non-Verbal Sentence
Non-verbal sentence is a kind of sentence where the form of
predicate is non-verbal form. Non-Verbal sentence includes nominal,
adjectival, numeric, and prepositional phrase sentence. As we can
observe that Indonesian sentence structure does not need “linking verb
or copula be”as the predicate substitution.

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a) Nominal sentence
In the Indonesian sentence there is sentence that has
predicate in the nominal or nominal phrase. Examples:
- Dia guru saya (she_ my teacher).
- Dialah guru saya (she is my teacher).
At those examples there are word Dia and Dialah. In the
first example, the word Dia is as subject but in the second
examples the word Dialah is as predicate phrase. It is based on fact
that in Indonesian structures the –lah particle generally as the
predicate sign.
b) Adjectival sentence
The predicate form of the adverbial sentence is adjective or
adjective phrase. Example: Pemainsepak bola itu kaya (the football
player _ rich).
c) Numeric sentence
Numeric sentence is a kind of sentence which has the
numeral or numeral phrase as the predicate of that sentence.
Examples: Tabungannya hanya sedikit. (Her savings _ just a
little.), Lebar sungai itu lebih dari dua ratus meter. (Wide of the
river _ more than 200 meter.)
d) Prepositional phrase sentence

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In prepositional phrase sentence, all of prepositional kinds
can be used as the predicate. E.g.: Ibu sedang ke pasar (mother _ to
the market); Ayahnya dari Bali (her father _ from Bali).
b. Classification by the content
Based on the content, there are three kinds of sentence. They are
declarative sentence, question sentence, and command sentence.9
1) Declarative Sentence
Declarative sentence is a kind of sentence that supports the
statement of event or incident. The main structure of this sentence can
be formed with these patterns:
a) Subject-Predicate structure
Examples: Gubernur itu diperiksa (governor _ investigated);
Para pedagang digusur (the sellers _ removed).
b) Subject-Predicate-Object structure
Examples: KPK memeriksa gubernur itu (KPK investigate
the governor); Korban kecelakaan itu dirawat di RSUD (victim of
accident _ hospitalized).
c) Subject-Predicate-Object1-Object2 structure
Examples: Majalah itu diberikan oleh adik kepadaku (the
magazine _ given by my little sister to me).
d) Subject-Predicate-Object-Adverb structure
9
Ida BagusPutrayasa, 2009, ibid. p.19 -36.

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Examples: Wartawan itu mengirimkan berita ke luar negeri
(journalist send news to abroad).
2) Question Sentence
Question sentence is formed to raise the answer. Kridalaksana
also called it as interrogative sentence. This sentence is also signed
with the question particle as like -kah, or using W-H Questions.
Examples: Anaknya tujuh orangkah? (Are her children seven?);
Dimana tempat tinggalmu? (Where _ your mansions?)
3) Imperative Sentence
Imperative sentence is a sentence which is formed to raise the
action response. In the written construction this sentence is usually
marked with the point or exclamation mark, with the –lah particle or
using the word hendaklah and jangan. Examples: Tengoklah nenekmu
di kampung! (Visit your grandma in the village!); Jangan kamu tidur
di lantai! (Don’t sleep on the floor!)
Beside the importance to clarify about sentence structure between
Indonesian and English language, this part also needs to study about the
contrastive analysis to differentiate the differences between the source
language and the target language constructions which are used in this study.
B. Contrastive Analysis
The term “Contrastive linguistics” was suggested by Whorf, for
comparative study which is giving emphasis on linguistic differences.
Meanwhile contrastive linguistics has been redefined as “a sub discipline of

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linguistics concerned with the comparison of two or more languages or
subsystems of languages in order to determine both the differences and
similarities between them”.10
Contrastive analysis in general term is an inductive investigative approach
based on the distinctive elements in a language.11
In common definition, the
term can be defined as the method of analyzing the structure of any two
languages with a view to estimate the differential aspects of their system,
irrespective or their genetic affinity of level development.12
The contrastive
analysis emphasizes the influence of the mother tongue in learning a second
language in phonological, morphological and syntactic levels. A part of the
difficulties can be attributed to the mother tongue (first language)
interference.13
In contrastive analysis, we also discuss more about the similarities and
dissimilarities of the two languages, Indonesian and English, in the
morphological, syntactical, and sociolinguistics levels. Some of them are
comparison of the idea of plural, comparisons for the sentence structure at
syntactic level, comparison of passive and object-focus construction, the
similarities and dissimilarities of subject prominence in English and –nya in
Indonesian, terms of address, and gender orientation versus kinship orientation.
1. The idea of plural
10
Geethakumary, V.2006, A Contrastive Analysis of Hindi and Malayalam,
http://www.languageinindia.com., March 24th
2014.
11
LjubicaKardaleska, 2006, Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis in Combination with
Analysis of the Semantic Level, http://www.sil.org., March 24th
2014.
12
Geethakumary, V.2006, ibid
13
Kardaleska, Ljubica, 2006, ibid

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Plural refers to the form of a noun or a verb which refers to more than
one person or thing. English expresses plural implicitly by creating patterns
how to use –s and –es. Indonesian on the other hand expresses plural
explicitly no definite rules how to create a plural form of a word except by
reduplicating it, e.g. rumah-rumah, mobil-mobil, etc. The idea of plural can
be clearly seen trough the following examples:
Indonesian English
1. Serigala itu binatang
(the wolf _ animal)
1. A wolf is an animal / Wolves are animal / Wolf
is animal
2. Hiu itu ikan apa mamalia?
(The shark_ fish or
mammal?)
2. Is a shark fish or mammal? / Are sharks fish
or mammal? / Is shark fish or mammal?
3. Tukang pos selalu membawa
surat. (Postman always
bring letter).
3. A postman always brings letters / Postmen
always bring letters / Postman always brings
letters.
On the example above, we can know that in English, the ideas of plural
are expressed in many ways. A final –s or –es is added to a noun to make a
noun plural. Sometimes, the changing a (man) to e (men) is also needed to
indicate plural. Besides, a final –s or –es is also added to a verb1 when the
subject is a singular noun (a wolf, a shark, a pet, etc.) or a third person
singular pronoun (she, he, and it).14
2. Sentence structure at syntactic level
14
Betty Scramfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, New Jersey: Prentice-
Hall.Inc, 1989.

21. 21
The basic order for Indonesian sentence is; Subject, Verb,
Object/Adjective/ Adverb. In syntactical term, simply we use the definition
of S = NP.VP. A short hand way of saying that pattern is; a sentence
consists of Noun Phrase and Verb Phrase. Yet in many cases, the order can
be put in various ways, a sentence may come from NP.VP, orNP.NP, or
NP.AP or NP.PP. But in English, the order strictly lies on S = NP.VP
(sometimes VP with copula be or linking verb).15
Below, the level
differences are:
Indonesian English
1. NP.VP
Paman pergi ke Surabaya tadi malam.
1. NP.VP
Uncle went to Surabaya last night
2. NP.AdvP
Bibimu di kebun
2. NP.VP
Your aunt is in the garden
3. NP.AP
Burdin sakit semalam
3. NP.VP
Burdin was sick last night
4. NP.AP
Kebanyakan warga desa ini nelayan.
4. NP.VP
Most of citizens in this village are
sailors.
3. Passive and object-focus construction
The idea of passive is rare in speech, yet it occurs often in academic
writing. The passive form of a verb phrase contain this pattern; be + past
participle, e.g. is bitten, was stolen, can be taken. In Indonesian, passive is
shown by adding di- before a verb, e.g. dimakan, ditipu, dipermalukan. In
15
Danajaya Mahmudz, Julie 28, 2013, http://www.slideshare.net/DanajayaMahmudz/a-
contrastive-analysis-between-bahasa-indonesia-and-english-dawood-widya , March 27th
2014.

22. 22
most clauses, the subject refers to the “doer” of the action of the verb.16
When we create a passive sentence, the focus of the sentence goes to
Subject. This term is well known as Canonical passive, e.g.: Buku itu sudah
dibaca oleh Andi or The book has been read by Andi. Passive sentence in
Indonesian, the position of focus may go to object. We call it Object focus
or non canonical passive. The term can be defined as a sentence which has
semi-active and semi-passive construction, e.g. Buku itu sudah saya baca.
This phenomenon does not occur in English except in relative clauses.17
Indonesian English
1. A: Dona menulis makalah ini
P: Makalah ini ditulis oleh Dona/
Makalah ini Dona tulis*
2. A: Dia sudah mengirim suratnya?
P: Suratnya sudah dikirim oleh dia?
Sudah dia kirim suratnya?*
3. A: Saya tidak memakan makanan itu
P: Makanan itu tidak dimakan oleh saya
Tidak saya makan makanan itu*
1. A: Dona writes this paper
P: This paper is written by
Dona
2. A: Has she sent the letter yet?
P: Has the letter been sent by
her?
3. A: I did not eat that food
P: That food was not eaten by
me yet
Note: A= Active/P= Passive * Non-Canonical Passive/Object focus
4. Subject prominence in English and –nya in Indonesian
English is a subject prominent language. It means every sentence in
English always requires a subject. The subject can be a proper name,
pronoun or something else. Yet in Indonesian, the subject may be omitted.
16
Geofrey Leech & friends, An A-Z of English Grammar & Usage, Malaysia: Longman, 2003.
17
Danajaya Mahmudz, Julie 28, 2013, ibid,.

23. 23
This phenomenon can be mentioned as Zero subject sentence. The subject is
coverable from the context.
Indonesian English
1. Tinggalnya dimana sekarang?
2. Pekerjaannya apa?
3. Uangnya berapa?
1. Where do you stay now?
2. What do you do for living?
3. How much money do you
have?
In the sentence, Tinggalnya di mana?, we do not find a subject since
the subject needs not to be put there. Yet, this sentence is still understood by
Indonesian people. Here zero subjects play role, and it is coverable from the
context. In the sentence where do you stay now? The subject is definite, and
in this case the subject is “you”.
5. Terms of address
In Indonesian, The term of address is used to differentiate positions of
people. It is also used to show politeness in conversation. To address
someone who is older than us, we must use the proper address, e.g. Bapak,
Ibu, Panjenengan. In English, those terms are not used. English only
addresses “You” to all of their interlocutors.
Indonesian English
1. Anda sudah makan?
2. Bapak/Ibu/Pak Roni/Bu Dewi/Adik/Kakak/
Mbak/Mas/Heri/Puspita lapar?
1. Have you had
yourdinner?
2. Are you hungry?
6. Gender versus Kinship Orientation

24. 24
The idea of gender orientation in English is commonly used in the form
of pronoun, both subject and object. It may appear as he, she, him or her.
More than that, the gender orientation is also used to differentiate subjects in
a sentence. There are many terms to differentiate subject. One is used to
differentiate siblings. We find the words brother and sister are aimed to
differentiate male and female siblings, or son or daughter to differentiate
male or female child. In Indonesian the term of gender orientation is not
well known. When we talk about a child, we commonly say anak without
referring what gender the child has. English will say a boy or a girl instead
of a child. In this case we can say that English is a strongly gender oriented
language.18
Below we can find example for that:
Indonesian English
1. Kemana dia pergi?
2. Buku itu milik dia.
3. Anak itu bermain di
lapangan.
1. Where does he go?/ Where does she go?
2. The book belongs to her / The book belongs to him
3. The boy plays on the playground / The girl plays on
the playground.
In Indonesian language, the ideas of kinship are very popular. These
ideas play basic role in conducting a conversation. It seems the cultural
background may support these Ideas. The cultural bound of Indonesian
people create a close and respectful relationship with others. Someone who
is close to us will be treated differently with someone who has no relative
connection. The differentiation of address may be the realization for that.
18
Danajaya Mahmudz , Julie 28 2013, op.cit

25. 25
Indonesian English
NakDeni/ Mas Deni/ Pak Deni/ Om Deni mau kemana? Where are you going?
After knowing the differences between Indonesian and English language
through the contrastive analysis, this part also discusses the error analysis to
classify the error that common happens in English construction that still causes
ungrammatically English yet.
C. Error Analysis
Learning foreign language is surely different from learning one’s another
tongue. People who learn foreign language will get difficulties in applying it.
Such mistakes must be carefully distinguished from errors of a foreign
language learner, idiosyncrasies in the inter language of the learner that are
direct manifestations of system within which a learner is operating at the time.
An error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speakers,
reflecting the inter language competence of the learner.19
The fact that learners do make errors and that these errors can be
observed, analyzed and classified to reveal something of the system operating
within the learner, led to surge of study of learners’ errors, called error
analysis.20
According to Hendrickson, errors are by vocabulary (lexical errors),
grammar (syntactic errors) and morphological errors:21
1. Lexical errors
19
Muhammad Farkhan, 2006, op.cit. p. 149
20
ibid.
21
James Hendrickson, Error Analysis and Error Correction in Language teaching, (Singapore:
SEAMEOW Regional Language Centre), 1979, p. 34

26. 26
Lexical error usually occurs as a result of choosing inappropriate
nouns or verbs. The following examples illustrate such faulty lexical
choices. Example:
- He found one bird-home and her eggs. (bird nest)
- Before sleep, he turns-off the curtain on the window. (closes)
2. Morphological errors
These errors occur in these specific grammatical areas:
a. When verb + ing was substituted for verb-ed:
Example: the girl is surprising. (Instead of “The girl is surprised”)
b. Inappropriate past tense forms
Examples:
- They digged around the small tree. (dug)
- It’s impossible it has grew very rapidly. (grown)
c. Syntactical errors
It occurs most frequently when preposition and pronouns were
misused or omitted. Misused prepositions often made meaning ambiguous.
Example: they worked and at last they found their sheep without frozen
(Were not). Omitted prepositions also confused meaning. Example: they are
going a bridge. Instead of (they are walking on a bridge).
The misuse of pronouns made several interpretations of meaning
possible especially when subject or possessive pronouns were used

27. 27
inappropriately. Example: When the woman watches this, he is scared and
cried (she). The wife of the family man wants some ornaments from his
husband (her).
After studying about the error in English construction, it is also important
to clarify about the base theory which is related with this study that is about
interference. It is served based on some the linguist’s theories.
D. Interference
Interference is also as one of important parts to discuss in this part.
Below, this part discusses more about its definition and its kinds.
1. Definition of interference
Language interference is a natural phenomenon in bilingual and
multilingual countries that occurs in a country which basically has bilingual
and multilingual speakers. According to Weinreich:
“Those instances of deviation from the norms of either language which
occur in the speech of bilinguals as a result of their familiarity with more
than one language, i.e. as a result of language contact, will be referred to
as interference phenomena.”22
Weinreich sees that language influence as an effect of language
contact in its application by bilingual causes grammatical rule deviation.
This deviation identified then in the term of interference. Interference
22
Uriel Weinreich, Language in Contact: Finding and problems, (New York: Mouton
Publisher), 1953.

28. 28
happens in the linguistic levels, such as phonology, morphology, syntax till
lexical level.
Actually, if viewed on the importance of language, the influence that
comes from the first language or region languages, there are indeed
profitable, but also will make chaos. The interference that will make chaos
causes the forms and become a rival toward the forms that well establish in
language.The interference of regional languages due to interference of this
chaos is a side effect as a consequence of language’s openness. Today,
Indonesian people are facing all of those influences.
Thus, the definition of interference involves the using of elements
which belong to language when speaking in another language and using two
language systems simultaneously toward the language elements and
consequently a deviation from the norms of each language that occurs in
bilingual speech.
2. Types of Language Interference
Aixelá states interference can be classified to the following four types:
Lexical interference, Syntactic interference, Cultural interference; proper
nouns included, Structural or pragmatic interference. He claims that the
definition of interference “includes the importation, whether intentional or
not, words and phrases (lexical interference), forms (syntactic interference),
specific cultural items (cultural interference, proper nouns included), or

29. 29
genre conventions (structural or pragmatic interference)”.23
Interference can
also be classified into: Lexical, Syntactic and Grammatical interference.24
a. Lexical interference: occurs on the level of words. It includes mainly
interferences caused by incorrect or inappropriate direct translation of a
concept.
b. Syntactic interference: occurs on the level above the word. It includes a
syntactic structure, either the whole sentence or a certain part of it.
c. Grammatical interference: occurs in cases in which the subject ignores
the grammatical differences between the two languages.
According to Suwito as quoted by Aslinda that interference can occur
in all components of language, such as phonology, grammar, lexical and
semantic. Besides, Weinreich also divides the interference forms into three
parts, such phonological, lexical and grammatical interference. Weinreich
identifies three types of interference:25
a. The transfer of elements from one language to another.
b. Application of elements that do not applicable to the second language
into the first language.
23
Javier Franco Aixelá “An Overview of Interference in Scientific and Technical Translation”.
JoSTrans, 11, (2009), p. 75. Full text available at:
(http://www.jostrans.org/issue11/issue11_toc.php), Accessed April 2014.
24
Zuzana Havlásková, “Interference in Students’ Translations Master s Diploma Thesis‟ ”,
Masaryk University Faculty of Arts, 2010, p.43.
25
Uriel Weinreich, 1953, op.cit., p. 39

30. 30
c. Structure disobedience of second language because there is no equivalent
in the first language.
In this part we studied about the base theory which leads this study.
Then, it is more important also to discuss about the main theory that becomes
the main base to conduct this study. It is about grammatical interference.
E. Grammatical Interference
Grammatical interference is one of interference types that need to be
discussed here. The explanation below studies about its definition and its types.
1. Definition of Grammatical Interference
Grammatical interference occurs when learners identify morpheme or
grammatical of first language and then use it in the second language.
Grammatical interference occurs when the elements of source language
included in using of target language step by step in grammatical of target
language, word order, pronoun, conjunctions, subject-verb agreement, tense,
singular-plural agreement, etc. and according to Havlásková grammatical
interference occurs in cases in which the subject ignores the grammatical
differences between the two languages or gets influence.
2. Types of Grammatical Interference

31. 31
Weinreich distinguishes three types of grammatical interference,
namely:26
a. The transfer of morphemes from the source language to the recipient
language
This type occurs in Morphology which is caused by the transfer of
morphemes from the first language in second language usage. For
example, the word “statue” becomes “statuette”. Suffix –ette is derived
from French. In this case showed that the word statue is derived from
English as L1, it can get expansion by adding affix –ette from second
language, French.
b. Interference relates to grammatical relations in particular word order
This type is about the application of Indonesian language into
English and this interference relates to Syntax, namely word order, for
example “girl beautiful” means gadis cantik. It occurs misplaced word
and it must fixed by changing the position becomes beautiful girl.27
c. Interference relates to functions or meaning of grammatical forms
This interference relates to function or grammatical meaning of
language that occurs when a speaker identifies the morpheme or
grammatical of first language and then use it in second language. For
example, there is a sentence “most of the student in the Aclass got good
score in Mathematic”. The usage of that sentence is still influenced by
26
Uriel Weinreich, 1953, op.cit. p. 30
27
Putri Martanti, 2011, op.cit, p.35-36.

32. 32
Indonesian language, because in Indonesian there is not plural form by
adding suffix –s meanwhile, in English there is plural form which added
by suffix –s thus, the grammatical sentence is “most of the students in the
A class got good score in Mathematic”.
The interference occurs when two languages in different system come
into contact. Then the types of grammatical interference above are analyzed
on the morphological and syntactic interference. On morphological
interference include analyzing of subject-verb agreement, plural-singular
agreement, to-infinitive, passive voice, and forms of adjective. In the syntax
interference include redundancy, preposition, parallel structure, and
misplaced word analyzing.28
There are some related theories that has discussed in this chapter.
First, it studies about the sentence construction between Indonesian and
English structures. Then, it discusses about the differences between those
two languages through contrastive analysis. After that, it studies about the
error that still commonly happens especially when constructing English on
the error analysis explanation. Then, the study is about interference and the
following study is about the grammatical interference as the base theory in
conducting this study. After discussing about the related theoretical
framework, it is turn to study about the way to do this study through
research methodology in the following chapter.
CHAPTER III
28
Putri Martanti, 2011, op.cit., p.27

33. 33
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter discusses about the method that the researcher uses. It includes
research design, the subject of the research, research instrument, data collection,
and data analysis.
A. Research Design
In this study the research is aimed to answer particular problem and to
obtain information about the phenomenon of grammatical interference of
Indonesian language among first year students at SMAN 1Mojo. The main aim
of this study is to describe existence of the types of the grammatical
interference of Indonesian language that causes the students often make
ungrammatical English form when they were studying English as foreign
language especially in learning English writing skill.
In this study, the researcher tried to identify and to describe the
grammatical interference made by the students in the written construction. The
researcher wanted to describe the students’ ability in applying grammatical
structure in the writing construction. Therefore, in this study the researcher
used descriptive qualitative method. The researcher uses this method because
there is no control or treatment to this study. Besides, the researcher does not
want to criticize less construction but to explore this phenomenon in students’
writing; to see how it manifests in their works, to offer a list of possible
classifications ofinterferential types and to analyze their frequency.
42
32

34. 34
B. Subject of the Research
In this research, the researcher takes the first year students which consist
of six classes. From six classes the researcher takes one class that is the X-6
class that consists of 38 students as the sample. This subject is chosen to obtain
the information about the grammatical interference of the students writing. The
researcher chooses this class as the representation because all of the classes in
these first year students are taught by the same teacher. They have been getting
materials and any time writing duties from their English teacher. It means that
every class has the same teaching and learning process. In addition, according
to Mrs. Mifta, as the English classes’ teacher, the students in this first year
have the average ability in English subject. Then, to take X-6 class can be
representative sample with the consideration since this class has the first period
in each meeting for English subject class so that it can support and help the
research run well.
C. Data Source
The data source is taken from the writing of the first year students at the
X-6 class of SMAN 1 Mojo. The researcher takes written test to know the
grammatical interference that made in their written construction. The written
tests given are matched with their materials in the class that is about descriptive
text.
D. Research Instrument
29

35. 35
Instrument is research tool getting data to analyze in order to make easy
our duty.29
In this study the researcher used writing test as the research
instrument, especially to compose descriptive text. The written test is done
twice, the first on April 28, 2014 and the second meeting on May 5, 2014. The
first test is served using a set ofsequential picture with the theme my family’s
activities. The students are instructed to compose some paragraphs, and asked
to write a story beginning with the first picture and ending with the last, in the
order presented in the set of the picture given. On the second test, the students
are served some themes, my family; my best friend; my holiday, and then they
are asked to choose one of those themes to compose into some paragraphs,
minimal 2 paragraphs. The students are given for about 60-75 minutes in every
meeting to do those tasks.
E. Data Collection Method
In order to get the data of the students’ grammatical interference on the
writing especially about descriptive text, the researcher used some tests. The
tests were to write descriptive text based on the themes given by the researcher.
After the students finishing their work, the researcher collected their work then
the researcher analyzed it.
F. Data Analysis
29
Suharsimi Arikunto, Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktek, (Jakarta: Rineka Cipta),
2006, p.136.

36. 36
Data analysis is a process of looking for the information material
systematically of the data found on the test. In this study, to analyze the data
the researcher takes some ways as follows:
1. Identifying the ungrammatical forms
This first step is taken to observe the inappropriate or ungrammatical
English forms on the students’ writing construction generally.
2. Identifying the grammatical interference
In this step the researcher studied the acquired data and tried to find
out the grammatical interference.The researcher analyzed the sentences
containing grammatical interference which are collected from written
construction of the students’ at SMAN 1 Mojo.
3. Classifying the grammatical interference
Once the sentences have been identified, then the compiled data are
categorized into several categories of grammatical interference. They are
interference relates to function or meaning of grammatical forms and
interference in word order. Those categories are analyzed based on the
morphological and syntactic interference. On morphological interferences
include classification of subject-verb agreement, plural-singular agreement,
to-infinitive, passive voice, and forms of adjective. Then, in the syntactic
interferences include redundancy, preposition, parallel structure, and
misplaced word classification.
4. Listing the result in table

37. 37
Once the grammatical interferences are classified, the researcher
constructed table for the result of the analysis. This table is meant to ease
the identification. Therefore, the result of the analysis of the grammatical
interference in writing descriptive text made by the first year students of
SMAN 1 Mojo in the form of table. The researcher rewrites the sentences
and corrects them into English grammatical sentences.
The result of the analysis can be served in the example table as follows:
No. Corpuses Types of grammatical interference Correct sentence
5. Drawing a conclusion
The last step would be drawing a conclusion based on the analysis. In
this step, the researcher has to make a valid conclusion in the form of a brief
description of the grammatical interferences found and also through
triangulation validation.
G. Triangulation
Triangulation is needed to validate the researcher’s working on a study.
According to Michael Quinn Patton in his book entitled How to Use
Qualitative method in Evaluation, 1991, there are four basic types of
triangulation.30
The first type is data triangulation in which various data sources
are employed in a study. The second type of triangulation is investigator
triangulation in which some different evaluators are used in evaluating a
problem. The third type is theory triangulation in which it is possible to use
30
Michael Quinn Patton, Metode Evaluasi Kualitatif, translated by Budi Puspo Riady,
(Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 1996), p.98.

38. 38
various perspective and theories in analyzing a set of data. The last type is
methodology triangulation in which various methods are used in analyzing
data. In this study, the researcher uses investigator that is Bu NurAfifi, M. App.
Ling. to always investigate, evaluate, and track the researcher’s work in doing
the research.
CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

39. 39
After conducting the research, the result and its discussion are presented in
this chapter.
A. Findings
As previously stated, this study is conducted to know the grammatical
interference in the written construction made by the first year students of
SMAN 1 Mojo especially about descriptive writing. According to Weinreich
there are three types of grammatical interference. They are the transfer of
morphemes from the source language to the recipient language; interference
relates to function or meaning of grammatical forms; and interference in
particular word order. After analyzing the data, there are two of three types of
grammatical interference found. They are interference relates to function or
meaning of grammatical forms and interference in particular word order. These
two types of interference are found based on the analyzing of morphological
and syntactic interference.
1. Morphological Interference
In morphological interference, it analyzes on the word form including
number, person, tense, voice, and gender in rule. To make their role in
describing language structure becomes clearer, the researcher considers
them in terms of agreement.
a. Subject-verb agreement
The subject and verb must agree in number; both must be singular
or both must be plural. When the subject of the entity performing the
38

40. 40
action is third singular pronoun; he, she, it or words for which these
pronouns could substitute so in the end of the verb has to be added –s or
–es. Then, if the subject is for the first, second, or third plural pronoun, it
is no need to add –s or –es in the end of a verb.Data about subject-verb
agreement found on the students’ writing are served on the table below.
Table 1 Subject – Verb Agreement
No. Corpuses Types of
grammatical
interference
Correct sentence
1 My father give many advice to
us.
Interference
relates to
function or
meaning of
grammatical
forms
My father gives many
advices for us.
2 My Mom very know how make
the delicious food.
My Mom really knows
how to make delicious
food.
3 My father have idea to make
birthday party to my sister.
My father has an idea to
make birthday party to my
sister.
4 All equipment is ready to
celebrate birthday.
All equipments are ready
to celebrate the birthday.
5 I’m and my sister is reading a
book.
My sister and I are
reading a book.
6 There so many fisherman. There are so many
fishermen.
7 We also could saw sunrise and
sunset.
We also could see sunrise
and sunset.
8 At Sunday, I go to beach Waduk
Cacaban.
On Sunday, I went to
Waduk Cacaban beach.
9 She too also humorous She is humorous too
10 I from Jakarta city and she from
Kebumen, Central Java.
I am from Jakarta city
and she is from
Kebumen, Central Java.
11 I will diligent more as like father
say for me.
I will be more diligent
just like my father said to
me.
12 My mother usually do her hobby. My mother usually does
her hobby.
13 My Mom have cook the delicious
food.
My Mom has cooked
delicious food.
Data

41. 41
My father give many advice to us. (Ayah memberi banyak nasehat untuk
kami).
My mother usually do her hobby. (Ibu biasanya mengerjakan hobinya)
In the sentence above, there is subject with third singular person
“father”or with pronoun “he” but the form of the verb still in the bare
form. It is still influenced by Indonesian structure that no needs to change
the verb form whatever subject used in a sentence. That is different from
the English structure that has to be added –s or –es for the third person as
the subject. Although after the subject, there is an adverb of frequency
“usually”, as like the second sentence, it still should be followed by the
verb using suffix –s or -es. Thus, the correct sentences are: “My father
gives many advices for us.”, and “my mother usually does her hobby.”
Data
She too also humorous. (dia juga lucu)
I from Jakarta city and she from Kebumen, Central Java.
(saya dari Jakarta dan dia (pr) dari Kebumen, Jawa Tengah)
In the sentences above, the copula be does not appear. In the first
sentence it is a kind of adjectival sentence that in Indonesian the subject
can be directly followed by adjective without any copula be addition, but
it is different from English structure that needs to add copula be as the
33
33

42. 42
agreement before the adjective placed. Thus, the correct sentence is “she
is humorous too”. Then the second sentence, there is no agreement also.
It is non-verbal sentence that needs the presence of copula be which is
appropriate with the subject. Thus, the correct sentence is “I am from
Jakarta city and she is from Kebumen, Central Java.”
b. Singular-plural agreement
In English, there is a term that indicates whether the number of
noun or pronoun is in singular or plural form. The form of words that
indicate one or less than one is called the singular, whereas more than
one is plural.31
Indonesian language does not distinguish singular and
plural form and to denote plurality, a reduplicated form of the noun is
used.
Indonesian language does not use copula be that could change
depending on the noun, either singular or plural as in grammatical
English. Noun can be divided into singular or plural which most nouns
are formed by adding suffix –s or –es in the singular, if not need
syllables.
Table 2 Singular – Plural Agreement
No. Corpuses Types of
grammatical
interference
Correct sentence
1 All of my friend come to my
birthday party.
All of my friends come
to my birthday party.
2 There so many fisherman. There are so many
31
Anies M. Basmalah, Sistem Analisis Kalimat untuk TOEFL, (Jakarta: Rineka Cipta), 1994, p.10

43. 43
Interference on
particular word
order
fishermen.
3 Many material we must buy for
this party.
We must buy many
materials for this party.
4 I and my bigbrother also
assembled many shell.
My elder brother and I
also assembled many
shells.
5 I want be the good children for
my Mom.
I want to be a good
child for my Mom.
6 All equipment is ready to
celebrate birthday.
All equipments are
ready to celebrate the
birthday.
7 I will be a good and religious
people.
I will be a good and
religious person.
8 We invite our friends at school
and all neighbor.
We invite our friends at
school and all
neighbors.
9 Many man and children come. Many men and children
come.
10 All of his friends come and give a
lot of gift.
All of his friends come
and give a lot of gifts.
Data 1
All of my friend come to my birthday party.
(semua temanku datang ke pesta ulang tahunku.)
There so many fisherman. (ada begitu banyak nelayan)
In English, there must be in harmony between the pronoun and its
reference. The pronoun must be appropriate with its reference. In the first
sentence above, “all” means plural form and refers to “my friend” which
is single. Grammatically, the reference “my friend” must follow its
pronoun and take the plural agreement as same as with its pronoun with
adding suffix -s. So, the appropriate noun or reference for “my friend” is

44. 44
“my friends”. Then, the correct sentence is “All of my friends come to my
birthday party.”
In the second sentence above, the sentence still follows the
grammatical Indonesian where the word “many” means the plural that no
need to change the noun into plural because it has been clarified by the
word “many” or “banyak”. The word “many” means plural form and
refers to “fisherman” which is single form and needs to change into
plural form to become “fishermen”. The word “man” is irregular form
that to change into plural has to follow the rule. So, the correct sentence
is “there are so many fishermen.”
Data
I will be a good and religious people.
In the sentence above, the article “a” means singular form and
refers to “people” which is plural form in English. It is different from
Indonesian, “people” means “orang” in singular form and to make it
plural just in a reduplicate form. It means the student writes that sentence
still gets influence from Indonesian and there is not harmony at that
sentence. Then, the appropriate noun or reference for “people” is
“person”. So, the right sentence is “I will be a good and religious person”
c. To-infinitive form

45. 45
An infinitive phrase will begin with infinitive form (to + simple
form of the verb). The compiled data taken are as follows:
Table 3 To-Infinitive
No. Corpuses Types of
grammatical
interference
Correct sentence
1 We plan to shopping in the
supermarket with buy prize.
Interference
relates to
function or
meaning of
grammatical
forms
We plan to shop in the
supermarket to buy
prize.
2 I want be the good children
for my Mom.
I want to be a good
child for my Mom.
3 My Mom very know how
make the delicious food.
My Mom really knows
how to make delicious
food.
4 I helped my mother lift the
dry clothes.
I helped my mother to
lift the dry clothes.
5 Then I helped Mom make a
cake and decorate the
house.
Then I helped my
Mom to make a cake
and to decorate the
house.
6 We start know meaning
the life.
We start to know the
meaning of life.
7 My friends come all, my
neighbor all celebrate my
birthday.
All of my friends and
my neighbors come to
celebrate my birthday.
Data
We plan to shopping in the supermarket with buy prize. (kita berencana
belanja di supermarket dengan membeli hadiah.)
Infinitive will begin with to and simple verb (Verb 1). The word
“shopping” becomes “shop”. So, the correct sentence is “we plan to shop
in the supermarket to buy prize”.
Data

46. 46
I helped my mother lift the dry clothes. (saya membantu ibuku
mengangkat jemuran)
We start know meaning the life. (kita mulai mengetahui arti kehidupan.)
In the sentences above, it shows that the sentences are
ungrammatically English. Grammatically, if there are more than one verb
in a sentence, one of ways to construct the verb is to separate using to, so
that become infinitive verb for the second verb and more. The word “lift”
becomes “to lift” and “know” becomes “to know”. So, the correct
sentences are “I helped my Mom to lift the dry clothes” and “we start to
know the meaning of life”.
d. Passive-voice form
The passive voice is preferred when the “doer” of an action (or the
agent) is unimportant or unknown. The compiled data are as on the table
below:
Table 4 Passive – Voice
No. Corpuses Types of grammatical
interference
Correct sentence
1 The event immortalized in
video. Interference relates to
function or meaning of
grammatical forms
The event was
immortalized in the
video.
2 The show closed with gift
giving.
The show was
closed by gift giving.
3 Many gift all gived to me. Many gifts are
given to me.
The formula which is used in passive voice is linking verb/to be +
past participle. Those sentences can be classified into passive voice based
on the meaning of those sentences and unknown the doer. Based on the
sentences above, the verbs are in the past participle forms but there isno

47. 47
linking verb/to be. It makes those sentences become incorrect and
ungrammatical. The verbs need to be added with copula be “was” and
“are”. So, the correct sentences are “The event was immortalized in the
video.”, “The show was closed by gift giving.”, and “Many gifts are
given to me.”
e. The form of adjective
Many English adjectives exhibit three forms that express the
positive, comparative, and superlative.On this data found,
Table 5 Forms of Adjective
No. Corpuses Types of
grammatical
interference
Correct sentence
1 The park includes the
three larger islands.
Interference relates to
function or meaning of
grammatical forms
The park includes
three large
islands.
2 I and my big brother
also assembled many
shell.
My elder brother
and I also
assembled many
shell.
In the first sentence above shows that the form of adjective is
“larger”. The word “large” has one syllable and it is correct to have
suffix –er. But what makes inappropriate is the use of the word. Suffix –
er is used to compare with the other noun. At that sentence there is no
comparison. So, the word “larger” is changed to “large” to show as the
positive adjective that there is no comparison on that sentence. Then, the
correct sentence is “The Park includes three large islands.”

48. 48
In the second sentence shows the interference relates to meaning of
grammatical forms. The word “big” change to become “elder” and the
correct sentence is “My elder brother and I also assembled many shells.”
2. Syntactic Interference
The syntactic interference forms are discussed on the redundancy,
preposition, parallel structure, and misplaced word. The discussions more
are as follows:
a. Redundancy
When grammatical item or syntactic element is unnecessary for the
sentence to be correct, such an item is redundant. Sentences with
redundant items could be either structurally wrong or seem strange in
English grammar. Indonesian people tend to beat around the bush when
specifying their intentions. They also like to add unnecessary words in
the sentences. In the study of language, redundancy is the construction of
a phrase that presents some ideas using more information than is
necessary for one to be able understand the idea.32
Often times, redundancies occur in speech unintentionally
however, redundant phrases can also deliberately construct for emphasis,
in order to avoid the possibility of others’ misinterpretation of a very
important idea. Through the use of repetition of certain concepts,
32
John J. De Boer, Basic Language, (New York: Harper & Row, Publisher, Inc.), 1982, p.224.

49. 49
redundancy increases the odds of predictability of a message’s meaning
and understanding to others. A good sentence is the sentence that
effectively as possible without any additional element of the sentence
that already has the same meaning in the sentence. The data about
redundancy found are as follows:
Table 1 Redundancy
Corpuses Types of grammatical
interference
Correct sentence
After eating they all
start doing activities. Interference in particular
word order
After eating they start
doing activities.
She too also humorous. She is humorous too.
Like the case above, the Indonesian often add the word, phrase or
sentence elements appear to make full sentences, but often the added
element makes the sentence becomes redundant. The student wants to
express the view of similarity of the sentences in the table above using
the phrase commonly used in Indonesian. The student does not consider
that in English, if someone refers back to something that has been already
mentioned or to emphasize what his or her suggestion, she or he used on
of these preposition, also or too, which one is more appropriate with the
sentence. Word “too” has similar meaning to”also”. So, the word “also”
can be dropped from the sentence. Therefore, the correct form of the
second sentence in the table is “she is humorous too.”

50. 50
In the first sentence above, there is redundancy. The student wants
to emphasize the plural form of the pronoun so that it is added word
“all”. The student does not consider that in English, by using “they” has
showed the plural form and the word “all” can be dropped from the
sentence. So, the correct form of the first sentence is “After eating they
start doing activities.”
b. Preposition
Preposition has been called the biggest little word in English. It is
always followed by nouns or pronouns and is connective word that shows
relationship between the nouns following it and one of the basic sentence
elements: subject, object or complement. It usually indicates
relationships such as position, place, direction, time, manner, agent,
possession, and condition between its object and other parts of the
sentence.33
And the data found are as follows:
Table 2 Preposition
N
o.
Corpuses Types of
grammatical
interference
Correct sentence
33
George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks, Let’s Write English Revised Edition, (New York:
American Book Company), 1950, p.288.

51. 51
1 I and my friends planned to spend
our holiday at Bogor.
Interference in
particular
word order
My friends and I planned
to spend our holiday in
Bogor.
2 The show lasted 2 hours with the
festive and closed with gift giving.
The show lasted 2 hours
in a festive and was
closed by gift giving.
3 At Sunday, I go to beach Waduk
Cacaban.
On Sunday, I went to
Waduk Cacaban beach.
4 She has of the same age with me. She has the same age as
mine.
6 On this 17th
year, I willdiligent
more as like father say for me.
On this 17th
year, I will be
more diligent as like my
father saidto me.
7 My father give many advice to us. My father gives many
advices for us.
Data:
I and my friends planned to spend our holiday at Bogor.
The show lasted 2 hours with the festive and closed with gift giving.
At Sunday, I go to beach Waduk Cacaban.
According to Betty Schrampfer Azar in English Grammar Second
Addition, preposition of place, name of month, year, century, or season is
used “in”. Grammatically, the appropriate preposition before the name of
town in the first sentence above is innot at. So, the correct sentence is
“my friends and I planned to spend our holiday inBogor.”
The using with preposition has the same function as by that is to
express how something is done. Such in the second sentence above, the
phrasal verb is in passive meaning and it is more appropriate using by so
that the correct sentence is “The show lasted 2 hours in the festive and
was closed by gift giving.” Then, to show preposition of time; a date or a

52. 52
weekday is “on”. Grammatically, the appropriate preposition before a
weekday in the third sentence above is used “on” not “at” and the correct
sentence is “On Sunday, I went to Waduk Cacaban beach.”
c. Parallel structure
Each language has its own rules of grammatical structure which
differ between one language and another one. One use of a conjunction is
to connect words or phrases that have the same grammatical function in a
sentence. This use of conjunction is called parallel structure.34
By this
conjunction we can only combine certain words that have similar
function as noun, adjective, adverb, etc. The parts that are combined
should be similar. All parts of series must have some grammatical
structure. When all the parts of series in a sentence have the same
grammatical structure, the sentence has good parallel structure. A series
may have two, three, four or more parts, but all parts must be parallel.
Indonesian recognizes the existence of parallel structures, but
equality of the elements in a sentence only applies to the function and
category equivalence. Indonesian ignores equality on some provisions
such as; to infinitive, verb-ing (gerund), specific period form because in
Indonesian grammatical, there are no such provisions. So that, the
students do not understand well the pattern of to infinitive, write a
34
Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and using English grammar, 2nd
Ed., (New Jersey:
Prentice Hall Regents) 1989, p.287.

53. 53
sentence in which there are provisions such as Indonesian patterns,
consequently written sentence structure in English become not parallel.
The data taken are as follows:
Table 3 Parallel Structure
No. Corpuses Types of
grammatical
interference
Correct sentence
1 We plan to shopping in the
supermarket with buy prize. Interference in
particular
word order
We plan to shop in the
supermarket to buy
prize.
2 Then I helped Mom make a cake
and decorate the house.
Then I helped my Mom
to make a cake and to
decorate the house.
3 I hope Allahalwaysbless us, protect
us, and help us.
I hope Allah always
blesses, protects, and
helps us.
Those sentences above present a series of ideas about one person or
object. But all part of a series does not have the same grammatical
structure. It means that those sentences do not have good parallel
structure. It can be said that those sentences ungrammatically English.
Such as two sentences above, the first and the second sentence in
the table, the verb “shopping” and “make, decorate” are unparallel
because they do not use “to infinitive”. Based on English Grammar if
there is more than one verb in a sentence, one of arrangement ways, it
has to be constructed using verb + infinitive order. So, the verb
“shopping” must be in “to shop” and the words “make and decorate”
become “to make” and “to decorate”. Then, the correct sentences are

54. 54
“We plan to shop in the supermarket to buy prize” and “Then I helped
my Mom to make a cake and to decorate the house.”
On the third sentence above there is no parallel verbs order. The
subject used in the sentence is third singular pronoun so the verbs have to
be added –s or–es. Then, the correct sentence is “I hope Allah always
blesses, protects, and helps us.”
d. Misplaced word
Every language has its own unique grammar. Just like English,
Indonesian also has its own grammar. Before uttering sentence in a
foreign language, someone usually arranges the sentences in the mind in
his or her native language and later changes into the unintended
language. Sometimes, the outcome has the same word by word position
with the original language. The compiled data about misplaced words are
as follows:
Table 4 Misplaced Word
No. Corpuses Types of
grammatical
interference
Correct sentence
1 I and my friends planned to spend
our holiday at Bogor.
Interference in
particular
word order
My friends and I
planned to spend our
holiday in Bogor.
2 I go to beach Waduk Cacaban. I go to Waduk
Cacaban beach.
3 Usually before have breakfast I pray
together with my family.
Before having
breakfast, I usually pray
together with my
family.
4 My mother notice to my sister to
become children smart.
My mother notices to
my sister to be smart
child.

55. 55
5 I was happy once. I was very happy.
6 In school my friend very many and
they all very good.
I have many friends in
the school and they are
very kind.
7 In there I took many pictures with
my family.
I took many pictures
with my family there.
8 Many material we must buy for
this party.
We must buy Many
materials for this party.
9 She too also humorous She is humorous too.
10 Adolescent period is very–
veryhappy.
Adolescent is a very
happy period.
11 She is a friend smart. She is a smart friend.
12 She finally gives me opinion as my
sister.
Finally, she gives me
opinion as my sister.
13 On this 17th
year, I will diligent
more as like father say for me.
On this 17th
year, I will
be more diligent as like
my father said to me.
14 Study today is English. Today’s study is
English.
15 My friends come all, my neighbor
all celebrate my birthday.
All of my friends and
my neighbors come to
celebrate my birthday.
Data:
I and my friends planned to spend our holiday at Bogor.
She is a friend smart.
She finally gives me opinion as my sister.
Based on the English Grammar, the order to place the subject or the
doer in a sentence is arranged to put another doer first, then the speaker
his or herself, that is “I” pronoun. It is proposed as the respectful way. As
like in the first sentence is improper order. The correct sentence must be
“my friends and I planned to spend our holiday in Bogor.”
In the second sentence, the misplaced word occurs on the phrase
”friend smart”. The word “smart” is an adjective form which its place is

56. 56
before a noun or thing as modifier. It is different from the sentence above
where the adjective is behind the noun. It still follows Indonesian
grammar. To make it in grammatically English, the correct sentence is
“She is a smart friend.”
The adverb of time in the third sentence above is inappropriate
place. It comes between subject and verb. Adverb of time for that
sentence above should be written before subject and after it should be
given comma. Thus, the right sentence is ”finally, she gives me opinion
as my sister.”
B. Discussion
This study provided a view and indication of the types of interference
English language learners produced in writing tasks in the classroom. It also
supplied evidence of source language with target language, its extent and
effects, as shown in the analysis of the learners’ written English texts. This was
clearly shown in the way that the learners used their Indonesian structure to
help them forming their English texts, indicating a direct interference of
Indonesian on English.
Data about grammatical Indonesian interference are analyzed in the form
of table and followed by its analysis on research finding. The identifications
are based on morphological interference; such assubject-verb agreement,

57. 57
singular-plural agreement, to-infinitive, passive-voice form, and the form of
adjective; based on syntactic interference including redundancy, preposition,
parallel structure, and misplaced word identifications.
Based on the analyses of the types of interference found that subject-verb
agreement, singular-plural agreement, and misplaced-word are the three most
problematic grammatical categories among the learners. Although not all
mistakes are due to mother tongue interference, a large number of mistakes
identified in the use of those three most problematic grammatical categories
reflected the interference of Indonesian structure.
In the subject-verb agreement there are many interferences found. It
happened because the students may get interference of Indonesian language.
They write in English but they still use the Indonesian grammatical rules. In
Indonesian there is no need to change the verb forms whatever the subject
used. In grammatical Indonesian there is no also verb agreement whatever the
adverb of time or when the circumstance happens. There is no past form or past
participle verb form in Indonesian, whenever circumstance happen, now, last
week, last month, or in the future, the verb form used is still in the base verb
forms. Of course it can make interference when the students learn and apply
the rules especially in the writing.
In the singular-plural agreement, the learners also made any interference.
It is caused in Indonesian language there is no rule to change the noun into

58. 58
plural through adding suffix –s or –es in regular nouns as well in English rules.
The way to change noun into plural in Indonesian is through reduplicated the
word or adding the amount of the noun.
The other one which has much interference in syntactic interference is
misplaced-word that still uses the Indonesian structure in constructing the
English written tasks. They used to use Indonesian language in their daily
communication so that these habits interfere with those needed for English
learning. Many learners still apply their Indonesian structure in doing English
written tasks in this study.
This finding verifies the theory which is stated by Weinreich about the
grammatical interference as an effect of language contact in its application by
bilingual causes grammatical rule deviation even about its classification. This
finding is also in line with some previous researches’ result. It is as well in the
Marlyna Maros’ study with the title Interference in Learning English:
Grammatical Errors in English Essay Writing among Rural Malay Secondary
School Students in Malaysia and Baljit Bhela with the title Native language
interference in learning a second language.
According to Marlina Maros and friends, where their study is concerned,
they found the most three problematic grammatical categories are the use of
determiners, SVA (subject-verb agreement), and the usage of copula be.35
From
35
Marlyna Maros, Tan Kim Hua & Khazriyati Salehuddin, op.cit, 2007, p.14.

59. 59
those three categories subject-verb agreement is the most common interference
happened and then the usage of copula ‘be’ in wrongly produced. Their study
also shows that omission and wrong forms used are the two most common
types of errors in all three grammatical categories. The difference of Malay can
be seen in those examples. In the SVA is my mother like to eat chicken rice
(Malay: Emak saya suka makan nasi ayam. On the copula ‘be’ also includes
about the errors in the use of plural and singular form, e.g. My mother hobbies
is cooking, read, and anything.
The another study, conducted by Bhela on the combination of two Asian
(including Vietnamese and Cambodian) and two European languages
(including Spanish and Italian) also found that the most common interference
happen is about SVA such as the usage of present, past tense, and plurals.36
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
After analyzing the data then in this chapter it states the conclusion about
the result of this study and the suggestion.
A. Conclusion
36
Baljit Bhela, “Native Language Interference in Learning a Second Language: Exploratory Case
Studies of Native Language Interference with Target Language Usage”, International Education
Journal Vol 1, No 1, 1999, p.8.

60. 60
Learning foreign language is surely different from learning one’s mother
tongue. People who learn foreign language will make mistake in using foreign
language. Language interference is a natural phenomenon that occurs in
bilingual or multilingual countries. Grammatical interference is one of
language interferences. Grammatical interference is a natural phenomenon that
occurs when elements of first language included in using of second language
step by step in grammatical of second language such as word order, pronoun,
subject-verb agreement, conjunction, singular-plural agreement, tense, etc.
Based on the data which has been analyzed in this study, the researcher
has some conclusions that can be drawn which include the types of
grammatical interference in the students’ written task. There are two types of
grammatical interference found. They are Interference relates to function or
meaning of grammatical forms and interference relates to word orders. In this
study, the researcher analyzes the students’ written from morphological
interference and syntactic interference. Morphological interference consists of
subject-verb agreement, singular-plural agreement, passive voice, to infinitive,
and forms of adjective. On those categories are found two categories with
many interferences happen, they are subject-verb agreement and singular-
plural agreement. Then, syntactic interference consists of redundancy,
preposition, misplaced word, and parallel structure which the misplaced-word
as the most in amount for interference found.
Interference along Indonesian language may happen for all classes of
society, even educated or uneducated society, even for rural or urban society in
52
60
59

61. 61
the formal or informal situation. Interference that happens in written or orally
conversations cannot be disappeared, but the degree of interference can be
coped with. But through the higher education degree, more prosperous
economically, the less interference can be created because of the situation and
condition that prosecute someone to use good language.37
B. Suggestion
Form the analysis and the conclusion above, the researcher would like to
propose the following suggestions for whoever concerns with the study of
English.
First, for the teacher could apply an appropriate method, as like
Traditional Grammar, to explain the base and the correct grammatical English
and to give the example of the usages. After giving the theory of grammar, the
teacher also should give more exercises in applying grammar, as like giving
more writing exercises in writing class, so that it can make the students to be
more familiar with English writing.
Second, for those students who are interested in studying grammatical
interference, they can study further about the subject by using any kinds of
interferences which supports the matter. They can also use this research as the
additional reference so that it can help the further research to be better.
Finally, the writer hopes that this thesis can be benefit for the readers as
multilingual users who like speaking and writing English in order to minimize
37
Aslinda and Leni Syafyahya, Pengantar Sosiolinguistik, Bandung: PT. Refika Aditama, 2007, p.
83.

62. 62
and to anticipate the ungrammatical produce in their speech and written as a
result of grammatical interference.
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