a study on the mastery of preposition of place at, in - PLAGIAT ...

A STUDY ON THE MASTERY OF PREPOSITION OF PLACE AT, IN AND ON AMONG THE FIRST SEMESTER STUDENTS OF ENGLISH

LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

A THESIS

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

in English Language Education

By

Puguh Alfath Tegar Student Number: 011214147

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

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

2009

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

i

A STUDY ON THE MASTERY OF PREPOSITION OF PLACE AT, IN AND ON AMONG THE FIRST SEMESTER STUDENTS OF ENGLISH

LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

A THESIS

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

in English Language Education

By

Puguh Alfath Tegar Student Number: 011214147

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

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

2009


ii


iii


iv


v


vi

ABSTRACT Tegar, Puguh Alfath. 2009. A Study on the Mastery of Preposition of Place at, in, and on Among the First Semester Students of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University. It is impossible for the learner to avoid errors due to their attempt to learn English. One of difficulties may be faced by the learner in studying English is its grammar. And one of the grammar elements which are considered complicated is prepositions of place at, in and on. They are complicated because each of them has its own rules underlying it forms.

This study was aimed to find out: (1) the learners’ achievement in using prepositions of place at, in and on, (2) the learners’ difficulties in mastering the prepositions of place at, in and on and (3) the possible causes of their difficulties in their attempt to master the prepositions of place at, in and on.

As the instrument of the study, a test was administered to collect the needed data. This was a survey study of which the subject was the first semester students of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Random sampling technique was used as the representative sample.

According to the academic Regulation of Sanata Dharma University, the writer discovered that the first semester students’ mastery on the prepositions of place at, in and on was sufficient. Their average achievement score was 28.68, which fell slightly above the minimum passing score for the category of sufficient (28-35). He found out that the students’ difficulty in mastering the prepositions of place at, in and on was on the application of preposition of place at. The students only achieved 46.83 % of correct answers in the test.

The writer also found out the possible sources of error during their attempt to master prepositions of place at, in and on. Those factors were interference from the first language (Bahasa Indonesia), overgeneralization, false concept hypothesis and context of learning.

Based on the conclusions and implications above three recommendations were proposed. The first was to the lecturer of the English Language Education Study programme. They were recommended to add the meeting hour of the lecture so that the lecturer can give more explanation and exercises on the subject. They were also recommended to add the textbook to broaden the knowledge over the prepositions of place at, in and on. The second was to the students. They were recommended to be more active in using their time to study in order to improve their mastery. The last was concerned with the need for other and further research on the tenses and construction with future meaning.


vii

ABSTRAK

Tegar, Puguh Alfath. 2009. A Study on the Mastery of Preposition of Place at, in, and on Among the First Semester Students of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Membuat kesalahan adalah hal yang tiydak bias dihindari oleh para mahasiswa dalam usahanya untuk belajar Bahasa Inggris. Salah satu hal yang menimbulkan kesulitan adalah tata bahasanya. Salah satu elemen tata bahasa yang dianggap sulit adalah kata ganti tempat di, di dalam dan pada. Mereka di anggap sulit karena masing-masing mempunyai pola (aturan) sendiri dalam bentuk dan pemakaiannya. Studi ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui (1) punguasaan kata ganti tempat di, di dalam dan pada pada mahasiswa semester satu Program Studi Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma, (2) mengetahui kesulitan yang mereka hadapi dalam penguasaan kata ganti tempat di, di dalam dan pada dan (3) mengetahui kemungkinan penyebab kesulitan yang mereka hadapi. Test diadakan untuk mengumpulkan data dan sekaligus menjadi instrument dalam studi ini. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian survey dimana populasinya adalah mahasiswa semester satu Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Metode random sampling digunakan untuk memilih sample. Berdasarkan Peraturan Akademik Universitas Sanata Dharma, penulis menemukan bahwa subyek dari studi ini dianggap telah cukup menguasai kata ganti tempat di, di dalam dan pada. Skor rata-rata yang mereka capai adalah 28.68 yang berada sedikit di atas batas bawah untuk kategori cukup (26-33). Penulis juga menemukan bahwa subyek dalam studi ini menemui kesulitan dalam menguasai kata ganti tempat di (at). Mereka hanya mencapai 46.83% pada keseluruhan test. Penulis juga menemukan kemungkinan-kemungkinan yang menyebabkan mereka mengalami kesulitan dalam menguasai kata ganti tempat di, di dalam dan pada. Kemungkinan-kemungkinan tersebut adalah: interference from the first language (Bahasa Indonesia), overgeneralization, false concept hypothesis dan context of learning. Berdasarkan kesimpulan dan implikasi tersebut di atas, maka penulis memberikan beberapa rekomendasi. Untuk dosen Program Studi Bahasa Inggris disarankan untuk mengalokasikan lebih banyak waktu untuk mengajar dan memberikan latihan-latihan tentang kata ganti tempat di, di dalam dan pada. Mereka juga direkomendasikan untuk menambah buku panduan untuk menambah wawasan mahasiswa. Kepada para mahasiswa direkomendasikan untuk bisa memanfaatkan waktu belajar mereka dengan aktif dan kreatif. Dan rekomendasi juga diberikan kepada peneliti yang berminat untuk mengadakan penelitian lebih lanjut mengenai topik ini.


viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to God Almighty

for Thy love and guidance during my life especially the hard times in doing this

thesis. He makes my life so beautiful and meaningful. He always gives me the

wonderful surprises and blessings.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my major sponsor, Ag.

Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A., for his guidance, encouragement, understanding,

and advice from the beginning until the end of this thesis writing. I would like to

sincerely express my gratitude to Christina Kristiyani, S.Pd., M.Pd., who gave

the permission to make her students in structure I class to be the participant of the

study. I would also like to dedicate my gratitude to the students of Structure I

Class B who willingly help me to be the participant of this study.

My appreciation also goes to Caecillia Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd., for her

guidance and advice on my thesis. I also express my gratitude to all lecturers at

Sanata Dharma University who have taught and given me valuable and great

knowledge. I also would like to thank to the secretary staffs for helping me in the

administration and the librarian for helping me in searching the references.

I am sincerely grateful to my beloved parents Bapak Triyono Freda

Tama and Ibu E.M Sri Suhartini, for their endless love and for their prayer for

my success. I also thank my lovely sisters, Riesta Tyan Maretha, Eldiaz Tyan

Febila, Alzena Anabila Suhada, Bintang Suhada and Kusuma Putra for their

support and attention.


ix

I also dedicated deepest gratitude to Henry Permana, Farah Fahrudin,

Bonny Muntahari Permana, and Solichin who willingly accept me as the part of

the family.

My best gratitude goes to my partner in “crime”: Bhonz, Nyotz, Texex,

Bobby,Coli, Andre, Rara, Dhee, Ratri, Lintang, Novi, Widi, Marina, Della, Lia,

Peye, Julie, Nusi, Maya, Ari Oneng, DogDick, Tomy, Ukhe, Lunatic Maya, Cece,

Pietz, Kopet, Pleky, and Lambz for sharing the joy and sorrow. I am honored to

have such great friends as them. My life will not be the same without knowing

them all in my life. My gratitude goes to all of my friends at Sanata Dharma

University, especially 2001 students of PBI, with whom I have got through the

good and bad times during my study.

I address my acknowledgement to all my friends in Brojowikalpo 1A:

Ghowez, Bebe, Ikke, Martha, Vita, Yusta, Dicta, Patrice, Hana, Neti,Thomas

Djorji. I would also thank to the Gondolayu Community members: Katrow

Kats_Onde, ekhi, Anton, Reza, Yoga, Dicky, and Dj Rey_no Karno. I thank them

for encouraging me to keep trying and never give up. It is great to spend time with

them.

Last but not least, I would like to thank those whose names are not

mentioned here for their support and prayer so that I could finish this thesis. May

God bless them all.

Puguh Alfath Tegar


x

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

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

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY .............................................. iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA

ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS .......................................... v

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

ABSTRAK........................................................................................................... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................. viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................. x

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

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study ........................................................................ 1

B. Problem Identification ............................................................................ 3

C. Problem Limitation ................................................................................ 4

D. Problem Formulation ............................................................................ 4

E. Objectives of the Research ..................................................................... 4

F. Benefits of the Research ........................................................................ 5

G. Definition of Terms ................................................................................ 5

CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................... 8

A. Some Existing Theories About Preposition of Place at, in and on ....... 8

1. Preposition of Place at ....................................................................... 10

2. Preposition of Place in........................................................................ 14

3. Preposition of Place on....................................................................... 15

4. Comparison of the Uses of Preposition of place at, in and on ........... 17


xi

5. Indonesian Preposition of Place di, di atas, di dalam and pada ........ 20

a. Preposition of Place di..................................................................... 21

b. Preposition of Place di atas............................................................. 21

c. Preposition of Place di dalam.......................................................... 21

d. Preposition of Place pada ............................................................... 22

6. Possible Factors Causing Difficulty in Learning Preposition of

Place at, in and on ........................................................................... 23

a. Inter-lingual transfer........................................................................ 23

b. Intra-lingual transfer........................................................................ 26

c. Context of learning.......................................................................... 27

B. Theoretical Framework .......................................................................... 28

CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY ............................................................... 31

A. Research Method ................................................................................... 31

B. Participants.............................................................................................. 31

C. Research Instrument ............................................................................... 32

D. Validity.................................................................................................... 34

1. The Content-Related Evidence of Validity ........................................ 35

2. The Criterion-Related Evidence of Validity ...................................... 35

3. The Construct-Related Evidence of Validity ..................................... 35

a. The variable Being Measured is Clearly Defined .......................... 36

b. Formulate the Hypothesis............................................................... 36

c. Test the Hypothesis ........................................................................ 37

4. Face Validity ....................................................................................... 37

5. Reliability............................................................................................ 37

F. Data Gathering Procedure ....................................................................... 39

G. Data Analysis Procedure ......................................................................... 39

CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULT AND DISCUSSION ...................... 41

A. Data Presentation ................................................................................... 41

1. Students’ Achievement ...................................................................... 42

2. Class’ Achievement............................................................................ 44

3. Error Classification ............................................................................ 45


xii

B. Data Analysis ......................................................................................... 46

1. The Reliability of The test .................................................................. 46

2. Presentation of Descriptive Statistic ................................................... 47

3. The Analysis on the Students Achievements in Each Preposition of

Place at, in and on ................................................................................... 50

C. Discussion ............................................................................................... 52

1. The Students’ Mastery on the Preposition of place at, in and on ....... 52

2. The Students’ Difficulties in Mastering Preposition of Place at, in and

on............................................................................................................. 52

a. The Students’ Difficulty in Mastering Preposition of place at ....... 53

b. The Students’ Difficulty in Mastering Preposition of place in ....... 55

c. The Students’ Difficulties in mastering Preposition of place on..... 57

D. The Possible Causes of the Students’ Difficulties in Mastering Preposition

of Place at, in and on............................................................................... 59

1. Inter-lingual Transfer ......................................................................... 59

2. Intra-lingual Transfer .......................................................................... 60

3. Context of Learning ............................................................................ 60

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION AND

RECOMMENDATION ................................................................................... 62

A. Conclusion ............................................................................................. 62

B. Implication ............................................................................................. 63

C. Recommendation .................................................................................... 64

1. Recommendation to the Lecturer ...................................................... 64

2. recommendation to the learner .......................................................... 64

3. Recommendation to the Other and Further Researcher ..................... 65


xiii

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................ 66

APPENDICES .................................................................................................. 69

APPENDIX 1. The Test and the Answer of the Test ................................. 70

APPENDIX 2. Reliability of the Half Test ................................................ 72

APPENDIX 3. Reliability of the Full Test ................................................. 73

APPENDIX 4. The Students Score ............................................................ 74

APPENDIX 5 Descriptive Analysis .......................................................... 75


xiv

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: The Distribution of the Test Items .................................................... 33

Table 4.1: The Students’ Achievements in the Test .......................................... 42

Table 4.2: The Students’ Achievements in the First Part of the Test ................. 43

Table 4.3: The Students’ Achievements in the Second Part of the Test ............. 43

Table 4.4: The Class’ Achievements in the First Part of the Test....................... 44

Table 4.5: The Class’ Achievements in the Second Part of the Test ................. 45

Table 4.6: The Errors Classification ................................................................... 46

Table 4.7: The Descriptive Analysis .................................................................. 47

Table 4.8: Students’ Score Related to the Category ........................................... 49

Table 4.9: The Students’ Achievement on the Prepositions of at ...................... 50

Table 4.10: The Students’ Achievement on the Prepositions of in .................... 50

Table 4.11: The Students’ Achievement on the Prepositions of on ................... 50


1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Dealing with learning English, learners cannot avoid learning four basic

skills and three components. The four basic skills are speaking, reading, listening

and writing, while the three components are pronunciation, grammar and

vocabulary. There are close relationships among them; they function together to

build a complete mastery of English.

Among the three components, grammar is one which is essential to enable

students to produce correct sentences because it provides rules applied in every

English sentence from the simple sentences until the most complicated ones.

English sentences are composed of many kinds of constructions. Those

constructions are usually formed by many classes of words or parts of speech.

One word class that can be considered the most frequently used is the preposition.

Prepositions are simple words. Although they are so, they are usually difficult to

learn. Pittman (1966) comments on the prepositions: “Among those who teach or

learn the English language, prepositions have earned a reputation for difficulty if

not a downright unpredictability”.

Reading some English grammar books on the prepositions, the writer

found that there are not many definite rules about the English prepositions. Some

prepositions have similar functions, e.g. preposition at, in and on all can indicate


2

time (in the morning, on Monday, at night). On the other hand, preposition at, in

and on all can indicate place too (at the gate, in the door, on the door).

It is also important to consider that language transfer might happen while

learning the second or foreign language. Learners usually translate their first

language into the target language. Prepositions of place at, in and on in Indonesian

are respectively translated as di/pada, di dalam and di/di atas/pada. For

Indonesian learners learning those prepositions of place is difficult since they have

almost the same meanings and their counterparts in the first language and target

language do not always use them differently. The learners possibly find difficulty

when they try to translate or apply di, di atas, di dalam or pada into English. They

might be confused in choosing the correct preposition to form a good and correct

sentence since in Indonesian their meanings are almost the same.

In English, preposition of place at, in and on cannot be used randomly.

There are definite rules for the preposition to use in phrases or in sentences. The

function of each preposition in a phrase or in a sentence would not be the same.

Based on the writer’s experience, a lot of students (in this case, the first

year student of the English Language Education Study Program) still have

difficulties to apply the preposition (especially preposition of place at, in and on)

in their utterances. Their knowledge of preposition might be poor since they did

not get enough explanation when they were studying in Senior High School. For

example, when the students are asked to make a sentence, they might say: I saw a

lizard walking in the wall instead of I saw a lizard walking on the wall. Another

example of the false concept of using preposition of place in their utterances is


3

caused by the transfer from their first language. Students may think that the rules

of using Indonesian preposition of place is more less the same as the English

preposition of place since their meaning are almost the same. Thus, they just

transfer and bring the rule and meaning from Indonesian into English. For

example, when a learner translates an Indonesian language sentence “Doni tinggal

di Yogyakarta” into English, he may translate “Doni lives at Yogyakarta”. He may

think that at also means di instead of pada. In fact, his translation is incorrect; it

should be “Doni lives in Yogyakarta”.

Based on the difficulties faced by the students of English Language

Education Study Program, this study is focused on measuring their proficiency of

preposition of place at, in and on.

B. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Preposition is the most frequently-used word in English. It plays important

roles in order to produce correct sentences. The Indonesian learner as L2 students

faced difficulties in learning the English (L2) since the rules in the L2 are

interfered by their mother language (L1). Overlapping between rules of both

languages often occurred in their utterances.

It is likely happens when they tried to learn the prepositions of place at, in

and on. The L1 rules to apply those preposition in their utterances has been set on

their mind. When they are producing the L2, the L1 rules sometimes interfering

and causing difficulties to produce L2 in the correct manner.


4

C. PROBLEM LIMITATION

To ease this study, the writer needs to limit the area of the research to

avoid the overlapping of the study. Based on Close (1963), there are two kinds of

prepositions; preposition of place and preposition of time. In this study, the writer

focused on the preposition of place at, in and on.

D. PROBLEM FORMULATION

Prepositions of place at, in and on are considered essential for every

English learner to master in order to be able to produce correct and understandable

sentences. The problems are formulated as follows:

1. Have the students mastered the preposition of place at, in and on?

2. What are the difficulties faced by the students in their attempt to master the

preposition of place at, in and on?

3. What are the factors which may cause difficulties to the students to master

preposition of place at, in and on?

E. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

The objectives of the research are decided as follows:

1. To find out the learners’ achievement in using preposition of place at, in and

on.

2. To find out the learners’ difficulties in mastering the preposition of place at, in

and on.


5

3. To identify the possible causes of their difficulties in their attempt to master

the preposition of place at, in and on.

F. BENEFITS OF THE RESEARCH

Hopefully, from this study, the readers, the English learners or those who

are interested in learning English will be able to know more the nature of English

prepositions of place. Since there are not many English grammars textbooks that

provide enough space for the discussion of prepositions of place at, in and on.

As for the teacher, this study can help them to improve their teaching

ability. From this study, the teacher might find out difficulties that are faced by

their students in learning the preposition of place at, in and on. The teachers then

will be able to help the students to improve their learning.

G. DEFINITION OF TERMS

It is important to give the sufficient information about some terms used in

this study in order to avoid misunderstanding. These words below are some terms

used in this paper:

1. Mastery

In this study, the term mastery is understood as proposed by Charles Fries.

Fries (1948:3) says that a person has learned a foreign language when he has thus,

within limited vocabulary, mastered the sound system (that is when he can

understand the stream of speech and achieve an understandable production of it)

and has, secondly, made the structural devices (that is the basic arrangement of


6

utterances) matters of automatic habit. The term mastery in this study is match to

the second requirement mastery (mastery of ‘structural devices’) as it listed

above. It might to be said since the prepositions of place are part of structural

devices and it has its own form, meaning and uses. In other words, those who are

considered to have mastered the structural devices should meet these

requirements:

a. knows the forms and the rules underlying them

b. knows the meaning of those forms

c. knows how to use those constructions correctly and appropriately.

2. Preposition of place at, in and on

In this study a preposition of place means a word or a group of words

often placed before a noun or pronoun to indicate place (Curme, 1966). A

preposition of place at is used to show the exact points. Preposition at and in is

used within a larger area and is consequently used with bigger towns’ valley and

countries (Corder, 1979:107), and on is used to indicate position on a surface

partially or entirely (Close, 1962: 150).

3. Error

In this study, error, as it is stated by Norrish (1993; 7), “is a systematic

deviation, when a learner has not learned something and consistently gets it

wrong“. Corder (1997) who is cited in Dulay (1982: 139) states that “Error is

reversed for the systematic deviations due to the learner are still developing

knowledge of the L (2) rule system”.

4. Inter-lingual Transfer


7

In this study, inter-lingual transfer as it is stated by Dulay et al., in the

book Language Two, states the theories of interference and transfer. The first one

is essentially psychological and the other is essentially sociolinguistic.

Interference has been used to refer to two very different linguistic phenomena.

Interference refers to language interaction, such as linguistic borrowing and

language switching.

5. Intra-lingual transfer

In this study Intra-lingual errors are those which reflect the general

characteristic of rule learning, and developmental errors illustrate the learner

attempting to build op hypothesis about the English language from his limited

experience of it in the classroom textbook (Richards, 1977: p.174).


8

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter contains two main topics of discussion on which this study is

based. The first section discusses on the theories related to the study which later

on help to answer the questions of the study as it was wrote in the problem

formulation. The second is the theoretical framework of mastering the preposition

of place at, in and on.

A. Some Existing Theories about Preposition of Place at, in and on

The function of language is usually defined as by which man

communicates or to convey information; a system of communication; for the

purposes of communication (Corder 1979, p.32). The primary use of preposition

in English according to Dixon (1991, p.270) is to introduce a peripheral noun

phrase, providing location or temporal specification (e.g. in the house, at three

o’clock) or making an instrument (with a stone), a beneficiary (for Mary), a

recipient (to John). Close (1962, p.141) states that prepositions express a

relationship in space between one thing and another, and relationships in time

between events. There are many kinds of prepositions in English related to place

and time. Preposition of place as a part of language system has a certain function.

Its function is to indicate direction or location of the following noun. Thus,

prepositions of place indicate (Close, 1962, p.141):

• something with no dimension or unspecified dimension: A POINT

• something with one dimension: A LINE


9

• something with two dimensions: A SURFACE (having an area) and,

• something with three dimensions: A SPACE (having volume).

“In using prepositions we are concerned not so much with objective

measurement, i.e. with the actual dimension of the thing to which we are referring

to, as with how we imagine them to be at the time of speaking. Thus, we can

imagine a town as a point in the map, a surface to go across, or a space we live in

or walk through. Moreover, a point itself, as seen through microscope, may appear

to have an area which can be covered or space which can be penetrated” (Close,

1962, p.143).

However, this study was only concentrated on prepositions of place at, in,

and on. Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1978, p.807) discuss the

prepositions of place at, in and on, which is described as follows:

Picture 1.

X at, as dimension-type 0 preposition (point)

on, as dimension-type 1 or 2 preposition (line or surface)

in, as dimension-type 2 or 3 preposition (area or volume)

The preposition of place at, in and on can signify simple position and

destination. The notion of simple position (or static location) and destination

(movement with respect to an intended location) obtains cause and effect

relationship (Quirk et al, 1980: 107):

Destination Position

Tom went to Cambridge As a result: Tom was at Cambridge.

Tom fell on (to) the floor. As a result: Tom was on the floor.


10

Tom dived in (to) the water. As a result: Tom was in the water.

Further discussion below will explain existing theories about prepositions

of place at, in and on and their uses. However, complex prepositions like in spite

of and in view of will not be disscussed.

1. Preposition of place ‘at’

The function of preposition of place at, according to Spit Corder (1979,

p.107) is to show an exact point. R. A. Close states that the other functions of at

are to show the same position without specifying dimension. In other words, He

says that the preposition of place at has the idea of stationary relationship with an

unspecified dimension (1962, p.142).

There are many uses of the preposition of place according to its functions.

Raymond Murphy (1990, p.328) gives some examples of the uses of the

preposition of place at, which is used to show the exact points, as follows:

The preposition of place at is used

a. when someone is at an event or exact time, e.g.:

• at a conference

• at a football match

• at a party

The uses in sentences are

• She met the headmaster at a conference.

• I saw jack at the football match on Sunday.

• There were many people at the party.

b. to show an exact place or location, for example;


11

• at the royal festival hall

• at the cinema/ at the theatre

• at the company’s headquarter

• at the national museum

Picture 2.

_________ at the top (of the page)

_______________

_______________

_______________ at the bottom (of the page)

Picture 3.

X at the end of the street

The uses in the sentences are:

• We went to a concert at the royal festival Hall.

• They were at the national Museum last Sunday.

• Write your name at the top of the page.

• Write the mark at the bottom of the page.

• Jack’s house is the white one at the end of the street.

c. when a town or village is a point on a journey, for example:

• Do you know if this train stops at Nottingham?


12

• We stop at a pretty village on the way to London.

The use of the preposition of place at that has an idea of stationery

relationship with unspecified dimension is shown in the following examples:

- at the bus stop

- at the door

- at the window

The uses in the sentences are

- The man is at the bus stop.

- He is standing at the door.

- She is sitting at the window.

These sentences suggest that the subjects occupy more or less the same

position as the indicated places without specifying dimensions.

Beside the two functions above there are some expressions requiring

preposition of place at such as:

- at home

- at university

- at work

- at school

- at the seaside

- at someone’s house

- at a station

- at an airport

- at the north pole


13

The uses in the sentences are

- I’ll be back at work until 5.30 but I’ll be at home all evening.

- Julia is studying medicine at university.

- We’ll be arriving at 9.30. Can you meet us at the station?

- I was at Tom’s house last night.

Corder ( 1979, p.108 ) says that the prepositions of place at is also used

with certain verbs, such as aim at, laugh at, throw at, look at, arrive at. For

example:

- Throw a stone at the fierce dog.

- He looked at me.

The verb point can be followed by either preposition at or to. The contrast

between a point at and point to is shown in the example below (Close, 1977).

- He pointed at the brown house (the same as aim at).

“Point at suggest an exact place and can be followed by human subject or

object and inanimate subject or object.

- He pointed to the trees.

“Point to” suggest in the direction of the trees.

Corder also introduces principal collocation with the preposition of place

at. A collocation means a group of words frequently found together. It often has a

meaning that cannot be easily understood even if the meaning of each word in the

group is known (Corder, 1979: 112). Here are the lists of principle of collocation

with at:

At work means at one’s place of employment


14

At home means stay in the house

At church means inside the church

At sea means on a ship

At school means stay in the building (school) to learn

At hand means near by

2. Preposition of place ‘in’

The preposition of place in is to indicate that X occupies some or all the

space Y (Close, 1962: 141). The preposition of place in has an idea of within a

geographical location such as towns, valleys and countries (Corder, 1979: 107).

The uses of preposition of place in observed by some expert are presented in the

following pictures.

Picture 4.

In (inside) In a room/ in a building In a garden/ in a park In a town/ in a country

In the water In the sea In the river In a row/ in a line In a queue

The uses in sentences are:

- There is no one in the shop.

- The children are playing in the garden.


15

- When we are in Italy, we spent a few days in Venice.

- Robert lives in a small village in the mountains.

- Look at the girl swimming in the river.

- I prefer to sit in the front row.

- Have you read the article in the newspaper?

(Murphy, 1990: 224)

Some prepositions which requires preposition of place in are:

- ( sit ) in armchair

- In a photograph

- In the sky

- In hospital

- In prison

For example:

- Who is the woman in the photograph?

- It was a lovely day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

- Don’t sit in that armchair. It’s broken.

- Tom’s father is in hospital.

There are also principles collocations with the preposition of place in

(Corder, 1979: 115-6), such as:

In place means in a certain place.

In bed means lay on a bed.

3. Preposition of place ‘on’

The preposition of place on according to Close (1962, p.142) is used:


16

a. in relation with a line ( one dimension )

e.g. I am on my way home.

We are on the motorway.

b. to indicate location on a surface ( two dimension )

Picture 5.

On the ceiling

On the wall

On the floor

For example:

- Don’t sit on the floor.

- There is a dirty mark on the wall/ on the ceiling.

- Have you seen the notice on the notice-board?

- There is a report of the football on page 7 of the newspaper.

- The book you are looking for is on the top shelf/ on the table.

- Don’t sit on the chair. It’s broken.

- Our flat is on the second floor of the building.

Murphy (1990, p.235) gives the uses of preposition of place on as follows:

1) Idiomatic expression with prepositions of place on.

on the left/ on the right (or on the left/ right-hand side)

e.g. In Britain we drove on the left. (or…on the left hand side)


17

2) To indicate location on a small area, such as a small island.

e. g. Tom spent his holiday on a small island of the coast of Scotland.

3) To indicate enclosure in a geographical map, such as on the coast/ on a

river/ on a road.

e, g. London is on the river Thames.

Portsmouth is on the south coast of England.

4. Comparison of the uses of preposition of place at, in and on

Comparison of the uses of preposition of place at, in and on has been

introduced (Quirk et al., 1980: 310). Observe the following.

• at the door

e.g. The manager stood at the door.

The door is seen as a dimensionless location, and no details concerning its

shape or size into focus. Thus, at is a dimension-type 0 preposition.

• on the door

e.g. There was a new coat of paint on the door.

It makes us see the door as two dimensional things, i.e. a surface. On can

indicate location of either one or two dimension (line or surface). Thus, on

is a dimension-type one or two preposition.

• in the door

e.g. There was a wood worm in the door.

There door is seen as three dimensional object, an object having volume.

Thus, in is a dimension-type two or three preposition.


18

The contrast between on (=surface) and in (=area) has various implications

according to context, as the three examples below. Observe the following part

(Quirk et al., 1980: 310).

a. on the window : The frost made pattern on the window. (window= a glass

surface)

in the window : A face appeared in the window/ mirror. (window, mirror=

framed area)

on the field : The players were practising on the field. (field=surface for

sport)

in the field : Cows were grazing in the field. (field= enclosed area of

land)

b. on the island : He was marooned on a desert island. (viewed as a mere

space)

in the island : He was born in a long island. (viewed as inhabited

interior)

The opposition between at (dimension-type 0) and in (dimension-type 2 or

3) can also cause difficulty. In is used for continents, countries, provinces, and

sizeable territories of any kind; but for towns, villages, either at or in is

appropriate, depending on the point of view; e.g. at/ in Stratford-upon-avon. A

very large city, such as New York, London, or Tokyo, is generally treated as an

area; e.g. He works in London. However, one can treat it as a point on the map if

global distance is in the mind; e.g. our plane refuelled at London on its way from

New York to Moscow (Quirk et al, 1980: 310).


19

Preposition of place at and in can also be used preceding buildings, but

they are used differently:

‘At’ refers to a building in its institutional or functional aspect, whereas

‘in’ refers to three dimensional structure.

For example:

- He is at school (=He is attending school).

- I met Mr. Smith in school (=the building).

(Quirk et al al, 1980: 310)

The verb arrive is followed by either in or at.

“Arrive in” is usually used with countries or towns,

For example: When did he arrive in Britain?

“Arrive at” is usually used with buildings,

For example: What time did you arrive at the hotel?

(Murphy, 1990: 224).

The expressions of at the front/ at the back and in the front/ in the back

give different ideas.

“At the front/ at the back” suggests the exact position as the following

picture shows.

Picture 6.

At the back

At the front


20

”In the front/ in the back” suggests the enclosure of front/ back position as

illustrated in the following picture.

Picture 7.

In the back

In the front

Murphy observes that prepositions of place at, in and on are

interchangeable in some cases. We can say ‘in the corner of a room’ but ‘at the

corner and on the corner of a street’. For example,

- The television is in the corner of the room.

- There is a telephone box at/ on the corner of the street.

To add more information, the rules of preposition of place in Bahasa

Indonesia are inserted. By comparing both rules of English prepositions of at, in

and on to preposition of place in Bahasa Indonesia, giving information of what

causes the difficulties to the students to learn English (L2).

5. Indonesian Preposition of Place di, di atas, di dalam and pada

In this section we will discuss Indonesian Prepositions of place di, di atas,

di dalam and pada. The theories and the uses of those Indonesian prepositions of


21

places are taken from Indonesian linguists’ book, Abdul Chaer (1987) and M.

Ramlan (1980).

a. Preposition Of Place di

Preposition of place di is used to indicate position of a certain thing (or

noun). It usually precedes a noun which contains an idea of a place (adverb of

place). For example:

- Kami belajar di perpustakaan.

- Dia berada di pulau Bali.

Di is also used to show where a certain article is written (in newspaper,

magazines, books, etc.). For example:

- Artikel itu dimuat di surat kabar. (di can be replaced by didalam/dalam).

b. Preposition Of Place di atas

In order to state the location thoroughly, the preposition of place di can be

used with other prepositions like atas and dalam. The preposition of place di atas

is to indicate a higher position (Ramlan, 1980: 67-68). For example:

- Buku itu saya letakkan di atas meja.

- Wanita itu menjunjung beban di atas kepalanya.

c. Preposition Of Place di dalam

The preposition of place di dalam is used to indicate a place having

volume or space. For example:

- Uang itu disimpan di dalam lemari.

- Mereka duduk di dalam ruangan yang sempit.


22

Preposition of place dalam is also used to indicate a place having volume

or space, and in this case, dalam and di dalam are interchangeable. Thus, the

preposition of place in those two sentences can be replaced by the preposition of

place dalam. The preposition of place dalam itself is more used to show that

someone is in a certain situation or event. For example:

- dalam bentrokan itu beberapa orang menjadi korban.

d. Preposition Of Place pada

The preposition of place pada is used to signify locations which do not

show the exact place. For example:

- Ibu bekerja pada Dinas Kesehatan Kota.

- Perasaan sedih masih terbayang pada wajahnya.

The uses of the preposition of place pada here can be replaced by the

preposition of place di.

Pada is usually usd to indicated position on a surface (Ramlan, 1980: 92).

For example:

- pada tiap-tiap balon ditempelkan secarik kertas bergambar bunga emas.

- Lukisan akan bagus kalau di gantungkan pada dinding sejajar dengan

pandangan mata.

Pada is also used in front of pronoun, e.g. pada orang itu terdapat sifat-

sifat yang patut dijadikan contoh, but the preposition di is never used preceding

noun.

From the theories of preposition of place at, in and on an Indonesian

preposition of place di, di atas, di dalam and pada, we can observe that the


23

preposition of place at has similar meaning with di and pada, the preposition of

place in has similar meaning with di and di dalam, and the preposition of place on

has similar meaning with di, di atas and pada. Indonesian learners often use the

preposition of place at, in and on interchangeably since their meanings are almost

the same. However, they just may not use those prepositions at random. It is

almost impossible in practices that the Indonesian learners will use preposition of

place at or on to interpret di dalam, in or at to interpret di atas, and in to interpret

pada. The most interchangeably uses which possibly occur are that the

prepositions of place at, in and on are used to interpret di.

There are several difficulties faced by the L2 learner during their study.

The factors that may lead the L2 learner faced the obstacles will be explained

below.

6. Possible Factors Causing Difficulty in Learning Preposition of Place at, in

and on

Brown (1987) elicits some factors that possibly cause the learners’

difficulty in learning second language, namely interlingual transfer, intralingual

transfer and context of learning. The clarification of each factor is as follows.

a. Inter-lingual Transfer

Dealing with transfer, Brown suggest that

Transfer is general term describing the carryover previous performance or knowledge to subsequent learning. Positive transfer occurs when the prior knowledge benefits the tasks-that is, when a previous item is correctly applied to present subject matter. Negative transfer occurs when the previous performance disrupts the performance of the second task. The latter can be referred to as interference…(Brown, 1987:81).


24

Dulay et al., in the book language Two, also states the theories of

interference and transfer. Interference has been used to refer to two very different

linguistic phenomena. The first one is essentially psychological and the other is

essentially sociolinguistic. The psychological use of the term interference refers to

the influence of old habits when the new ones are being learned, whereas

sociolinguistic use of the term interference refers to language interaction, such as

linguistic borrowing and language switching (Dulay et al.,1978:98 ). Weinrich

defines interference as:

Those instances of deviations 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 in contact (cited in Dulay et al., 1982:99)

While Haugen defines linguistic borrowing as:

Borrowing is linguistic diffusion, and can be unambiguously defined as

the attempt by a speaker to reproduce in one language, pattern which has learned

in another… it is the language of the learner that is influenced, not the language

he learns (cited in Dulay et al., 1982:99)

Behavioural psychologist, who first defined ‘transfer’ technically, used it

to refer to a process described as the automatic, uncontrolled, and subconscious

use of past learned behaviours in the attempt to produce new responses. In this

sense transfer may be of two types: negative and positive. Negative transfer refers

to those instances of transfer which result in error because old, habitual behaviour

is different from the new behaviour that is being learned. In contrast, positive

transfer results in correct performances because new behaviour is the same as the


25

old. Both types of transfers refer to the automatic and subconscious use of old

behaviour in new learning situations (Dulay et al., 1982: 101).

Though they are a lot of people who learn a second language every year,

only very few succeed in mastering it. The most obvious reason is that a learner of

a second language has had experience with another language. Another reason is

there are some factors determine the type and degree of second language learning.

Those factors can be linguistic, social and psychological. It has been common in

second language teaching to stress the linguistic influence. Linguistically the

process in second language learning depends on (1) how the second language

differs from the first, and (2) how much the first language interferes with the

second (Mackey, 1961: 107-8). It is of course not surprising that this process has

been emerged, because native language interference is surely the most

immediately noticeable source of errors for the second language learners. It is

clear from learning theory is that a person will use whatever previous experience

he or she has had with language in order to facilitate the second language process.

The native speaker has acquired an obvious set of prior experience. Sometimes the

native language is negatively transferred, and we say then interference has

occurred (Brown, 1987: 87). For example, related to this study, the Indonesian

prepositions of place (di, di atas, di dalam and pada) uses have, in this case,

interfered with the person’s production of a correct English form. Unfortunately

the Indonesian learners lack positive transfer so that there are many negative

transfers especially concerning with prepositions of place at, in and on.


26

Beyond the interference there are still many factors which influence the

probability of occurrence of interference phenomena (Els et al., 1884: 59-60):

1) Amount and nature of input: interference is especially likely occurs when

the L2 input is limited in quantity and scope. This situation occurs mainly

where L2 is learned in an L1 environment (e.g. schools); most studies showing

a limited role of interference focus on learning L2 in an L2 environment,

where L2 input is abundant and varied;

2) Level of linguistic analysis: more L2 learning research has been done at the

level of morphology and syntax than at the phonological and lexical levels;

3) Linguistic distance between L1 and L2: interference phenomena manifest

themselves especially strongly between related linguistic system: the degree of

interference is partly determined by the degree of ‘translability’ of L1 feature

into L2 feature;

4) L2 learning stage: there is some evidence that, for adult learner at least,

interference phenomena are most frequent in the first stage of L2 learning

process;

5) Task focus: if the focus of L2 use is on correct grammatical form rather than

on communicative effectiveness, interference is likely to occur: written

translation task under time pressure constitute extremely favourable conditions

for the occurrence of interference phenomena.

b. Intra-lingual Transfer

Brown (1987: 178) says that once learners have begun to acquire parts of

the system, more intra-lingual transfer-generalization within the target language is


27

manifested. As learners progress in the second language, previous experience

begins to influence structure within the target language itself. Negative intra-

lingual transfer, or overgeneralization, then often causes errors in the actual L2.

Richards (1974: 174-8) suggest types and causes of intra-lingual and

developmental errors. Intra-lingual errors are those which reflect the general

characteristic of rule learning, and developmental errors illustrate the learner

attempting to build op hypothesis about the English language from his limited

experience of it in the classroom textbook. Intra-lingual errors occur (1) when the

learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of his experience of other structure

in the target language (overgeneralization), (2) when the learner fails to observe

the restriction of structure in the target language (ignorance of rule restriction),

and (3) in learners’ structure whose deviation represent the degree of development

of the rules required to produce acceptable utterances (incomplete application of

rules), (4) while developmental errors derive from faulty comprehension of

distinction in the target language (false concept hypothesized) (Richards, 1977:

174-8).

The occurrence of overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restriction,

incomplete application of rules and false concept hypothesized may cause errors

in the actual L2. Thus, those factors may become possible reasons causing

difficulties in language learning process.

c. Context of Learning

Context of learning refers to the classroom with its teacher, material and

social situation in the second language learning. Students often make errors


28

because of a misleading explanation from the teacher, faulty presentation of a

structure or word in a textbook, or even because of a pattern that was rotely

memorized in a drill but not properly contextualized (Brown, 1987: 179-80).

Broughton purposes similar reasons that context of language learning and

teaching can be possible sources of students errors (1978: 133-4). They are the

poor teaching and learning process. The poor teaching: The teacher’s lacks of

mastery of the material which respectively make the students know nothing or at

least less comprehend the subject.

The teaching-learning process: Even though there are optimal efforts to

make the students avoid errors, errors are still produced. It means that there is still

a place for errors in teaching-learning process. In this matter, the learners and the

teachers could be the factors for making errors.

B. Theoretical Framework

It is obvious that the second language learners find it difficult to learn

English grammar. The preposition of place at, in and on is part of English

grammar and also has its own rules underlying them. According to Fries (1948), a

person is said to have mastered a foreign language if he or she can understand

utterances in that foreign language and also produce understandable production of

them. Secondly, he or she has to be able to make the structure or syntax of the

target language matters of automatic habit. It means that he or she has internalised

the rules underlying the utterances that he or she produces so that his or her

utterances are acceptable.


29

The focus of the study was on the preposition of place at, in and on. When

someone wants to master the preposition of place at, in and on, there were three

important points need to be considered. They are: the meaning, the function and

the uses. Each preposition of place has its own meaning underlying them. Though

the meaning of each preposition of place at, in and on is more or less the same, the

function of each preposition is different. Their function can’t be replaced one to

another. The last one is the uses. The students should be able to use the

preposition with the right meaning and function as the way it is in the appropriate

situation.

There were three problems regarding to the first semester students mastery

on the prepositions of place at, in and on in this study. The test was used to collect

information needed and also to answer those problems. The first problem was that

how much the first semester students have mastered preposition of place at, in and

on. The statistical computation was used to answer the problem. The result of the

computation was then compared to the standard of mastery stated in the academic

regulation of Sanata Dharma University (2002). The students’ mastery then can be

determined. Secondly, the writer tried to find out the difficulties faced by the

students in their attempt to master preposition of place at, in and on. The students

score in each part of the test gave the information about what difficulties faced by

the students in mastering preposition of place at, in and on. From their scores in

the test, the writer found out their mastery on each preposition of place at, in and

on. This score were then compared to the minimum standard of mastery stated in

the Academic Regulation of Sanata Dharma University. If their achievement in


30

one of the preposition of place at, in or on fell below the minimum standard of

mastery stated in the Academic Regulation of Sanata Dharma University, it means

that they still have difficulties in mastering that preposition of place. The third

problem was on the possible sources of their difficulties. The writer tried to

identify their difficulties in mastering preposition of place at, in and on.


31

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Research Method

The method used in conducting the research was descriptive research.

There were two kinds of study conducted in this research; these were survey

research and library research.

The survey was conducted to get the data to be analyzed in studying the

preposition. The research was intended to describe the problems faced by students

in mastering the English preposition of place and also some possible factors that

might caused the difficulties.

The library research was conducted in order to get the data related to the

study by observing and studying related literature.

The result of this research, both the survey and the library research would

be presented in a descriptive way.

B. Participants

The subject of this research was the first semester students of the

2007/2008 academic year in the English Language Education Programme of

Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta. They were chosen because the writer

intended to measure their mastery in prepositions of place at, in and on. The

writer’s assumption was that they must have had learnt the preposition of at, in

and on rules and its application during their study in Senior High School.


32

Since it is very difficult to include all the members of a target population

(all members of the first semester students), the writer then selected a portion of

the population as the representative sample to study the first semester students’

mastery on the preposition at, in and on.

In selecting the representative sample the writer used the cluster sampling

technique. Within this technique, the chosen sample is not an individual but a

group of individuals who are naturally together. These individuals constitute a

cluster insofar as they are alike with respect to characteristics relevant to the

variables of the study.

C. Research Instrument

The library research was primarily based on the literature related to the

research. In collecting the data about the English preposition and the information

to support the research, the literature was used as the source of information.

Shortly, the library research did not need a special instrument in collecting the

data.

A test, as an instrument, was also used in collecting the data on the

student’s mastery of the English preposition. The test was constructed in the form

of recognition and production types, in order to get the effective and efficient

measurement instrument. Heaton (1979) mentions the importance of choosing this

type of test: “a good language test may contain either recognition type test items

or production type test items, or a combination of both”.


33

The recognition test was in the form of gap-filling test. The students were

asked to complete the sentences containing the English prepositions of place at, in

and on. The objective of the test was that the students were able to demonstrate

their ability to use the preposition of place at, in and on.

The production test was in the form of translation test. The students were

asked to translate some Indonesian sentences into English. The objective of the

test was that the students were able to distinguish the differences between the

rules underlying the preposition of place of their L1 (Indonesian) and the rules

underlying the preposition of place at, in and on in English.

As it is mentioned before, the test was divided into two parts (part A and

part B). The first part of the test (part A) contains 40 items of recognition test. The

second part of the test (part B) contains 10 items of production test. Most of the

test items were taken from some authoritative English grammar book and few

items were modified by the permission of the major sponsor and co sponsor. The

distribution of the test item is presented in table 3.1 below.

Test item number No Type of

prepositions of

place Part A Part B

Total number

of items

1 at 1,6,18,20,23,26,27, 31,32,35,38,39,40

1,2,5,6 17

2 in 2,3,4,7,8,9,11,12,14, 22,24,30,34,36

3,4,10 17

3 on 5,10,13,15,16,17,19, 21,25,28,29,33,37

7,8,9 16


34

Since the test was intended to measure the students’ mastery of preposition of

place at, in, and on, the scoring system used in this research was the 1-0 scale.

This scale was chosen with the assumption that the prepositions of place are

disinter-changeable. The correct answer was scored 1 and 0 was for the incorrect

answer.

There are two important characteristics should be possessed by every

measuring instrument in order to acquired the valid and reliable research result

(Ary, Jacobs and Rezavieh 1979). Therefore, the instrument to collect the data of

the research should meet what is called validity and reliability of the test.

D. Validity

A test is said to be valid if it measures accurately what it is intended to

measures (Hughes 1989). Whereas, Milikan (1989, p. 24) states that the urgency

of validity in the instrumentation for gathering data is that “validity is an

important consideration in the development and of instruments, and the risk of

misuse and misinterpretation of instruments, and of data gathered, should not be

under-estimated”.

There were several types of validity: content validity, construct validity,

criterion-related validity and face validity. Currently, those types of validity

mentioned above are seen as the evidence of validity since it is considered as a

unitary concept (Fraenkel & Wallen 1993; Wiersma 1995). It is difficult to make

an instrument that has all those evidences of validity mentioned above. And yet, it


35

does not mean that the test constructed in this study was invalid. Further

discussion on each evidences were discussed as follows:

1. The content-related evidence of validity (content validity)

This evidence refers to the content of the instrument. Bachman (1990)

divides this type into two: content relevance and content coverage. Content

relevance means that the content of the test should be relevant to the purpose of

the test. Content coverage means that the test should cover all (or at least

adequately sample) elements of the language intended to be tested.

Based on the explanation above, the test constructed in this study had the

content-related evidence of validity. Reasons to come up with the conclusion are:

the content of the test was relevant to the purpose of the test, which was to

measure the students’ mastery on the preposition of place at, in and on and the test

covered all the forms and adequately sampled the meanings and uses of the


2. The criterion-related evidence of validity

This validity refers the relationship between the scores on a measuring

instrument and an independent external variable (criterion) believed to measure

directly the behaviour or characteristics in question (Ary et al 1974).

Since the independent external variable (criterion) was not available in this

study, then it can be said that the evidence of criterion validity was not found.

3. The construct-related evidence of validity

Hughes (1989: 26) says about construct validity and its urgency to occur in

a test as follow: “a test, part of a test, or a testing technique is said to have


36

construct validity if it can be demonstrated that it measures just the ability which

it is supposed to measure. The word construct refers to any underlying ability (or

trait) which is hypothesized in a theory of language ability”.

Another expert (Ary et al 1974: 201) said that the term construct is used to

refer to something that is not itself directly measurable but which explains

observable effects.

To show that the test constructed in this study has the evidence of this type

of validity, as it proposed by Fraenkel & Wallen (1993:145), three steps was

administered to obtain the evidence. Those steps are discussed as follows:

a. The variable being measured is clearly defined

The variable (or in this study, the element of language) to be measured in

this study was the grammatical competence of the first year students of the

English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. The

focus of this study was to measure their grammatical competence on the


b. Formulate the hypothesis

The hypothesis then was proposed in this study. This study was intended

to measure the students’ grammatical competence especially on the area of

preposition of place at, in and on. The students’ whose grammatical competence

is low (in this study, it means their mastery on the preposition of place at, in and

on) score low in all part of the test. In the opposite, those whose grammatical

competence is high, score high in all parts of the test.


37

c. Test the hypothesis

To know the students’ mastery on the preposition of place at, in and on,

the students were given a test. The test also functions as a means to prove that the

proposed hypothesis was true. Previous discussion explained that the test had the

content validity. In other word, the test really was to measure just the ability

which it was supposed to measure. For that reason, the test in this study can be

said to have the construct-related evidence of validity.

4. Face Validity

Face validity is important to make a test accepted by candidates, teacher,

etc, because it will convince that the test is measuring what is intended to test.

Face validity is a condition in which a test looks as if it measures what it is

supposed to measure (Hughes 1989: 27). Even though this validity is weak and

unscientific (Bachman 1990; Lado 1961), it is still considered necessary and

important (Brown 1994: 256).

Before the test was administered, the content of the test was consulted to

the lecturers in the English language Education Study Programme of Sanata

Dharma University. They said that the test really measure what it is intended to

measure. The test then can be said to have the face validity.

E. Reliability

Lado (1964:169) says that “a test is reliable if the scores obtained with it

are steady. The degree of reliability of a test is usually given as a correlation”.


38

Brown’s definition about reliability is almost the same with previous definition

that is a test is said reliable if it is consistent and dependable (Brown 1994: 253).

Milikan (1989: 25) gives a longer and clearer definition about reliability as

quoted below: “Reliability – refers to the dependability, stability, consistency,

accuracy, or predictability of the research design and the researcher. A test of

reliability would be the extent to which another could replicate this research and

achieve fundamentally the same result or findings. Reliability can be defined as

the relative absence of errors of measurements in a measuring instrument, the

relative absence of distortion in observational techniques, and the relative

accuracy of interpretation in reporting qualitative data”.

To measure the reliability of the test the writer used the split-half

procedure. This procedure requires only a single administration of the test. After

the results of the test were collected, the items in the test were divided into two

comparable halves. The first half (which later were labelled X) was the odd-

numbered items and the second half (which later labelled Y) was the even-

numbered items. Then the students’ scores on each half were counted. The writer

used the Pearson Product moment to determine the reliability of the half test. The

formula is as follows:

Where:

r: Pearson r


39

∑X: The sum of X scores

∑Y: The sum of Y scores

∑XY: The sum of the products of paired X and Y scores

∑X2: The sum of the squared score in X distribution

∑Y2: The sum of the squared score in Y distribution

N: The number of the subjects

The result of the computation was the reliability of the half test. To

determine the reliability of the full test, the writer employed the Spearman-Brown

Prophecy Formula. The formula is as follows:

Where:

r1: The reliability of the full test

r1/2: The person r correlation of the two halves (the reliability of the half test)

F. Data Gathering Procedure

The test intended to gather the data was conducted in structure I class of

the first semester students in the academic year of 2007/ 2008. Since the writer

used the cluster sampling technique, the test was conducted only in a class. The

students’ were asked to do the 50 items of the test which is divided into two parts

in twenty minutes. The test was administered on 30 August 2006.

G. Data Analysis Procedure

Since the writer used the cluster sampling technique, the all members of

structure I class C (25 students) were considered as the representative samples of


40

the population. As the standard to determine whether the answer is correct or

incorrect, the writer used the authoritative English grammar textbooks and the

review of the literature as it is listed in the previous chapter. To avoid the overlap

in this study, the grammatical errors in constructing the sentences in production

test (test part II) was ignored.

Since the test was divided into two parts, the writer then counted the

number of correct answers of each student in each part of the tests and in whole

parts of the test. Based on the findings, the writer found out the percentage of the

correct answers achieved by each student. Based on this fact the writer also found

out the percentage of the students achieving the percentage of the correct answers.

To determine the students’ mastery on the preposition of place at, in and on, the

writer compared the result of the computation to the minimum standard of

mastery stated in the Peraturan Akademik Universitas Sanata Dharma (2002).

According to Peraturan Akademik Universitas Sanata Dharma (2002), the

minimum standard of mastery percentage is 56%. It means that the students are

considered not to have difficulties if their percentage of the correct answer is

above 56%. In the other word, if their percentage is lower than 56%, it can be said

that they still have difficulties in mastering the preposition of place at, in and on.


41

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter contains the research findings and discussion of the study. The

first section of this chapter presents the data collected from the test. Tables are used

to ease the data presentation to be comprehended. The second section of this chapter

is dealing with answering the problem of this research.

A. Data Presentation

As explained before in the previous chapter, the test was administered to the

first semester students of English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma

University year 2007/2008. The test itself was divided into two parts. The first part of

the test was the completion test. This kind of test was intended to measure their

ability to use the preposition of place at, in and on. The second part of the test was the

translation test. The purpose of the test was to figure out the students ability to

distinguish the differences between the rules underlying the preposition of place of

their L1 (Indonesian) and the rules underlying the preposition of place at, in and on in

English.

To ease the data presentation, the presentation of the statistical computation

was divided into three parts. The first part shows the individual achievement in the

test. It shows the students performance in the test. The second part shows the class


42

achievement in the test which shows the whole students performance in each item of

the test. The third part is dealing with the error classification.

1. Students Achievement

The students’ achievement in the whole part of the test is presented in table

4.1 below.

Table 4.1 The Students’ Achievement in the Test

Percentage of correct answer

Number of students achieving percentage of

correct answer 90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 50-59 40-49 30-39 20-29 10-19 0-9

- - 1 11 9 3 1 - - -

Most of the students (11 students) achieved 60-69% of correct answers. None

of the students achieved the highest percentage (90-100%). The students’ lowest

achievement fell in the range 30-39%, there was only one student who achieved it.

The presentation of the students’ achievement in each part of the test would

be seen as follows:


43

Table 4.2 The Students’ Achievement in the First Part of the Test.



correct answer 90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 50-59 40-49 30-39 20-29 10-19 0-9

- 1 -

13 7 3 1 - - -

Table 4.3 shows most of students (13 students) achieved 60-69% of correct

answers. The highest achievement in the first part of the test fell in the range 80-89%,

there were only one student who achieved it. There was only one student achieved the

lowest score (30-39%).

Table 4.3 The Students’ Achievement in the Second Part of the Test



correct answer 90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 50-59 40-49 30-39 20-29 10-19 0-9

- 2 6 5 6 5 - 1 - -


44

In the table 4.3 we can see that the higher achievement the students could

achieve was on the range of 80-89%. Six students achieved the score on the range of

70-79 %. There were also six students achieved the score on the range of 50-59%.

Five students each fell on the range of 60-69% and 40-49%. The lowest achievement

fell on the range of 20-29%, and it was achieved by only a student.

2. Class’ Achievement

The tables below are showing the whole students achievement in each items

of the test.

Table 4.4 The Class’ Achievement in the First Part of the Test


Number of the class achievement on the

item of the test(N=40) 90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 50-59 40-49 30-39 20-29 10-19 0-9

3 5 6 6 5 4 6 4 1 -

There were only three items of the test with the percentage of correct answer

equal to or more than 90-100%. Six items of the test shared three different ranges of

percentage each. There were in the range 30-39%, 60-69% and 70-79%. The lowest

percentage on the test items fell on the range 10-19% (one item of the test).

The class’ achievement in the second part of the test was presented as follows:


45

Table 4.5 The Class’ Achievement in the Second Part of the Test


Number of the class achievement on the

item of the test(N=10) 90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 50-59 40-49 30-39 20-29 10-19 0-9

1 1 1 1 1 2 3 - - -

There were one item of the test resulted the percentage of correct answer

equals to or more than 90-100%. Three items of the test were resulted to the range

30-39% of the correct answer. The lowest percentage on the test items fell on the

range 30-39% (three test items)

3. Error Classification

It is obvious that the students produce errors during their activity in learning

the L2 language. Once after the test was administered, the writer found errors made

by the students in the test. According to Dulay et al, this kind of errors is classified in

error type based on linguistic category.

Within this study, the erroneous items found were considered as the syntax

errors. The errors are the misuse of preposition of place at, in and on or

interchangeable use of preposition of place at, in and on.

The lists of errors are presented in the table below.


46

Table 4.6 The Errors Classification

Linguistic category and error

type

Total number of errors

Items tested Percentage

at replaced by in at replaced by on in replaced by at in replaced by on on replaced by at on replaced by in

136 90 73 88 69 79

425 425 425 425 400 400

32 21.17 17.17 20.70 17.25 19.75

Total 535 1250

The table 4.6 shows the errors made by students in the test. It was obvious

that overlap among preposition of place at, in and on often occurs. The highest

frequency of the errors took place in the preposition of place at (32% replaced by

preposition of place in and 21.17% replaced by preposition of place on). Preposition

of place in and on seem to be easier for the students in the test since it had the lower

frequency of errors.

B. Data Analysis

This section deals with analyzing the data of the research to answer the

research problems. Statistical computation was necessarily performed to answer the

first problem of the study. Before going further, the reliability of the test was

computed to show that test which was used in the study was reliable.

1. The Reliability of the Test

As it was explained in the previous chapter, the split-half method was used to

figure out the reliability of the test in the study. The items of the test were divided


47

into two equal halves, odd-numbered items and even-numbered items. Then the score

of both halves were counted. The Pearson-Product moment formula was used to

determine the correlation between the two sets of score. The result of the coefficient

correlation was 0.74 (see appendix 2). That was the reliability of the half test. To find

the reliability of the full test, the Spearman-Brown Prophecy formula was used, and

the result was 0.85 (see appendix 3). According to John W. Best, this result indicates

that the test had high reliability (Best 1975:257).

2. Presentation of Descriptive Statistics

To answer the first problem of the study, descriptive statistics are needed. The

descriptive analysis provides the scores of the mean, mode, median, range and

standard deviation. Those type of score helps to determine the students’ mastery on

the preposition of place at, in and on.

Table 4.7 The Descriptive Analysis

No Variables Score 1 Mean 28.68 2 Median 29 3 Mode 32 4 Range 21 5 Standard Deviation 4.76

Table above shows the descriptive statistics of the test. The average score (the

mean) the students achieved in the test is 28.68. This score shows the students’

mastery on the preposition of place at, in and on. To determine the students’ mastery

on the preposition of place at, in and on, academic regulation of Sanata Dharma


48

University are used as the model. According to the regulation (Peraturan Akademik

2002), there are three measurement systems that can be used to determine the

students’ mastery on certain study material. The first is the Sistem Penilaian Acuan

Patokan or PAP (Criterion-referenced Systems). This system requires the teacher to

first determine the minimum passing score as the minimum standard of mastery the

students must achieve. The second is the Sistem Penilaian Acuan Norma or PAN

(Norm-reffering Measurement Systems). In this system, the achievement of one

student is compared to that of the others in the group. The last is the Sistem Penilaian

Acuan Kombinasi or PAK (Combination-refferenced Systems). In this system, the

students’ or the groups’ achievement is compared to the expected achievement, and

then the minimum passing score is determined. The measurement system that is used

suitable with the communicative approach and it is used in Sanata Dharma University

is the adjusted criterion-referenced measurement system. This system requires the

teacher to first determine the minimum score as the minimum standard of mastery.

According to the regulation of the Sanata Dharma University (2002), the minimum

passing score is 56% of the highest score the students can achieve in the test. The

students who achieved 56% of the highest score are included in the category of

sufficient (C). The students who achieve less than 56% of the highest score are

considered in the category of insufficient. The category of good (B) and very good

(A) are determined by the teacher based on the score distribution above the minimum

passing score (56%).


49

Referring to the academic regulation above, then the score category that was

applied in this study was determined. The highest score the students could achieve in

the test was 50. The 56% of this score was 28. This is the minimum passing score the

students should achieve to enter the category sufficient (C). If the students could only

achieve less than 28, then they were categorized as insufficient or even fail. The

following is the score category.

Score Category 44-50 Very good 36-43 Good 28-35 Sufficient 21-27 Insufficient <20 Fail

The students’ average score (mean) score was 28.68 (57.36%). This score fell

on the category of sufficient. It was obvious that the first semester students’ mastery

on the preposition of place at, in and on was considered good according to the

academic regulation of Sanata Dharma University. Table 4.8 below presents the

students scores related to the category.

Table 4.8 Students’ Scores Related to the Category

Category Scores Number of Students Achieving the Category

Very good Good

Sufficient Insufficient

Fail

44-50 36-43 28-35 20-25 <20

- 2 17 5 1


50

The table above shows that most of the students (17) enter category of

sufficient. There were six students enter the category of good. There were also five

students enter the category of insufficient. One student entered the category of fail.

3. The Analysis on the Students’ Achievement in Each Prepositions of Place at,

in and on

This section discusses the analysis of the students’ achievement in each

preposition of place. Firstly, the students’ erroneous items of each preposition of

place in each part of the test were counted. The second step was to obtain the

percentage of erroneous items in each preposition of place in each part of the test.

The following tables show the students’ achievement.

Table 4.9 The Students’ Achievement in Preposition of Place At

Number of erroneous

items

Type of preposition

Total number of items

Test part I

Test part II

Total number of erroneous

items

Percentage of erroneous

items

At 425 167 59 226 53.17

The table 4.9 shows that the errors made by the students on the type of

preposition at are high enough (53.17 %). From 425 items tested, more than half of it

was incorrect. Among the other type of prepositions of place was tested, the type of

preposition of place at contributed the highest percentage of errors.


51

Table 4.10 The Students’ Achievement in Preposition of Place In

Number of erroneous

items

Type of preposition


Test part I

Test part II


items


items

In 425 135 26 161 37.88

From total 425 items tested, the errors made by the students were 37.88%.

Though the amount of items tested were the same (425), the errors made by the

students were less than what students made on the preposition of place at.

Table 4.11 The Students’ Achievement in Preposition of Place On

Number of erroneous

items

Type of preposition


Test part I

Test part II


items


items

On 400 125 23 148 37

Table 4.11 shows the students’ achievement in type of preposition of place on.

The percentage of the errors is 37% of 400 items tested. The type of preposition of

place on contributed the lowest percentage of errors rather than the other types of

prepositions of place.

From the students’ achievement above, the type of preposition of place at was

considered as the most difficult to master since the errors made by the students were

high (53.17%). According to the academic regulation of Sanata Dharma University,

their achievement in this type of preposition of place was insufficient since it was


52

below 56%. Though the achievement in the other types of preposition of place were

higher than 56%, the amount of errors still high enough (38.12% and 37%). The next

section is discussing the students’ difficulties in each type of prepositions of place.

C. Discussion

The result of the test has been presented. Considering the result, the answers

for each problems of the research are to be answered. From the related theories as it

discussed in the previous chapter, the research result in this study are interpreted.

1. The Students’ Mastery on the Preposition of Place at, in and on

All the data presented previously show that the students’ mastery on preposition

of place at, in and on was sufficient according to the academic regulation of Sanata

Dharma University. Their average score was 28.68 and it enters the category of

sufficient. It is obvious that the students’ mastery was satisfactory considering that

76% of the students’ (19 students) score were equal or higher than the minimum

passing score (28).

Though their mastery on preposition of place at, in and on considered

satisfactory, the fact that the average score (28.68) only slightly above the minimum

passing score need to be concerned. There were some difficulties faced by students in

their attempt to master prepositions of place at, in and on.

2. The Students’ Difficulties in Mastering Preposition of Place at, in and on


53

This section discusses in detail the students’ difficulties in mastering

prepositions of place at, in and on. The discussion is only on the prepositions of place

at, in and on in which the students’ achievement was below the standard of mastery

that was already determine in the first place.

a. The Students’ Difficulties in Mastering Preposition of Place at

From the previous discussion (see table 4.9), type of preposition of place at

contributed the highest erroneous items. Their achievement was only 46.83% which

means below the standard that was already determined before (56%). From 425 items

tested, they achieved 199 of correct answer. From 226 erroneous items, 167

erroneous were made in test part I and 59 items in test part II. Some of their errors are

listed as follow:

1) Item number 6 part I:

I met a beautiful girl…a village on the way to Nice.

In this item, there were only six students answered correctly. All of students

who answered incorrectly (19 students) used preposition of place in to answer the

question above. Since the village in the sentence seen as a point on a journey, then,

the correct answer is:

I met a beautiful girl at a village on the way to Nice.

From the result and explanation above, it is obvious that the students had difficulties

in their attempt to master the preposition of at. Students’ lack of knowledge of the

rules underlying the preposition of place at caused the difficulty to them.


54


You may write down your name…the bottom of this page.

There were 16 students answered this item incorrectly. Three of them

answered using the preposition of place in and thirteen of them replaced it by

preposition of place on. Preposition of place at is considered as dimension-type 0 and

function to show the exact points. Considering the theory, the correct answer should

be:

You may write down your name at the bottom of this page.

Most of the students answered this items using preposition of place on. They

probably considered the page in the sentence as a surface whereas preposition of

place on would be fitted.


There are many cars are waiting…the traffic light.

There were nine students answered this item correctly. From 17 erroneous,

nine students used preposition of place on to complete the sentence and eight of them

replaced the preposition of place at by preposition of place in. Preposition of place at

is used when subject has the stationary relationship with unspecified dimension. In

other words, the subjects occupy more or less the same position as the indicated

places without specifying dimensions. Then, the correct answer for the items is:

There are many cars are waiting at the traffic light.

4) Item number 6 part II:


55

Seorang pria berdiri di pemberhentian bus.

Eight students answered this item correctly. Eight students also used

preposition of place on instead of preposition of place at. The rest of them (9

students) used preposition of place in as the answer. The proper translation to this

item is: A man stands at the bus stop.

Preposition of place at was used in this sentence since the subjects (a man) occupy

more or less the same position as the indicated places without specifying dimensions.

b. The Students Difficulties in Mastering Preposition of Place in

There were 425 items in the test, and the students answered 161 incorrectly.

From 135 incorrect items in the test part I, most of students replaced preposition of

place in by preposition of place at rather than by preposition of place on (74 compare

to 61). In the test part II, preposition of place in was replaced by preposition of place

at 12 times. Fourteen of it was replaced by preposition of place on. The sentences

below are some of the erroneous made by the students.


Once, there was a kingdom named Babylon…the north of Iraq.

There were twelve erroneous in this item. From those twelve erroneous, eight

students replaced preposition of place in by preposition of place at. The rest of them

(4 students), used preposition of place on to answer this item. One of the uses of

preposition of place in is to indicate geographical location such as towns, valleys and

countries. The correct answer in this item is:


56

Once, there was a kingdom named Babylon in the north of Iraq.


I read an article about health…the newspaper.

Thirteen students answered this item incorrectly. Most of them (11 students)

used preposition of place on to answer this item. Two students used preposition of

place at in answering this item. Preposition of place in considered as the dimension-

type 2 or 3 (area or volume). The newspaper in the sentence is considered as an area.

The correct answer should be:

I read an article about health in the newspaper.


The police asked the crowd to stay…a row.

There were only six students answered correctly in this item. Eleven students

used preposition of place at as the answer and eight of them used preposition of place

on instead of in. the correct answer should be:

The police asked the crowd to stay in a row.


Siapakah nama gadis yang ada di foto itu.

From 13 erroneous made by the students in this item, twelve of them

answered by using preposition of place on. Only a student used preposition of place

at as the answer. The answer of this item should be:

Who is the name of the girl in the photograph?


57

Preposition of place in is used because there were some prepositional phrases that

requires preposition of place in. In the other word, those prepositional phrases make

its own collocation with prepositional of place in.

c. The Students Difficulties in Mastering Preposition of Place on

Preposition of place on contributed the lowest erroneous in the test. And yet,

there were some items that made the students faced difficulties. From 400 items

tested, there were 125 erroneous items in the test part I. Sixty eight of it were

replaced by preposition of place at and 57 were replaced by preposition of place in.

There were 23 erroneous items in the test part II. Three of it was replaced by the

preposition on place at, and the rest (20 items) was replaced by the preposition of

place in. Some of the erroneous items were listed below.


I forgot the name of the beautiful town…the east coast of England.

Seventeen students answered incorrectly in this item which means there were

eight of them answered this item correctly. There were nine students used preposition

of place in as the answer and eight students used preposition of place at. Preposition

of place on is used in this item because preposition of place on indicate enclosure in a

geographical map, such as on the coast/ on a river/ on a road. The correct answer

should be:

I forgot the name of the beautiful town on the east coast of England.



58

I live…the second floor of the apartment.

Sixteen erroneous were made by the students in this item. Eleven students

answered by using preposition of place in and five of them used preposition of place

at to answer this item. Preposition of place on is used to indicate location on a surface

(two dimensions). The correct answer should be:

I live on the second floor of the apartment.

3) Item number in 21 part I:

In Britain we drive…left side.

There were thirteen students answered correctly in this item, which means

twelve of them answered incorrectly. Nine of the students used preposition of place at

as the answer and three of them used preposition of place in. Preposition of place on

is used in this item to create idiomatic expression.

The correct answer for this item is:

In Britain we drive on the left side.


Ada banyak kotoran di dinding kamarku.

Thirteen students answered this item incorrectly. From those, eleven students

answered this item by using preposition of place in and two of them answered by

using preposition of place at. One of the functions of Preposition of place on is to

indicate location on a surface (two dimensions). So, the correct answer should be:

There was much dirt on the wall of my room.


59

D. The Possible Causes of the Students’ Difficulties in Mastering Preposition of

Place at, in and on

This section discusses the possible causes of the students’ difficulties in

mastering the preposition of place at, in, and on. The teachers and the students

themselves should pay attention to these difficulties since they are probably the

sources of errors. From the analysis above, the possible sources of errors in this study

are identified as inter-lingual, intra-lingual transfer and the context of learning. Intra-

lingual transfer itself occurs when the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis

of his experience of other structure in the target language (overgeneralization), when

the learner fails to observe the restriction of structure in the target language

(ignorance of rule restriction), and in learners’ structure whose deviation represent

the degree of development of the rules required to produce acceptable utterances

(incomplete application of rules), while developmental errors derive from faulty

comprehension of distinction in the target language (false concept hypothesized)

(Richards, 1974: 174-8). The context of learning is dealing with the students, the

teachers, and the materials it selves. The following are the detailed discussion on

those possible causes of errors.

1. Inter-lingual Transfer .

Sometimes the meanings of the preposition of place at, in and on are

overlapping one to another. This circumstance may cause difficulties to the students.


60

This condition could have been even worst since there were interference of the L1. In

a daily conversation, all of the preposition of place in Bahasa Indonesia (di,di dalam,

di atas and pada) can be replaced as di. This habit of the overlapping meaning in

Bahasa Indonesian was negatively transferred into their target language (L2).

Meanwhile, in English, the preposition of place at, in and on cannot replace one to

another. It is also possible that the students borrowing the language pattern from their

mother tongue (L1) to produce their utterances in L2.

2. Intra-lingual Transfer

It is obvious that from the analysis above, the students still lack of knowledge

about the rules underlying the preposition of place at, in and on. Each preposition of

place has its own rule underlying its form. Since the rules underlying it are complex,

it may cause problems to the students. Its complexity leads the students to make

overgeneralization to the rules.

Students also may have their own construction in their mind when they are

producing the L2. They probably acquired this from their previous learning, poor

gradation of teaching items and emphasizing memorization of rules rather than

understand them. This kind of phenomena is known as the false concept

hypothesized.

3. The Context of Learning

The word context refers to the factors outside the learners; it could be from

the textbook, the teachers or lecturers and even the classroom. In this study, the


61

textbook plays role in causing the students difficulties in their attempt to master the

prepositions of place at, in and on. Most of the textbooks used in their teaching

learning process do not discuss the prepositions of place at, in and on in detail. It only

shows a brief explanation.

This condition goes worst since the syllabus of the first semester students of

English Language Education Program only include the subject in two hour meetings.

This time allocation is not enough to discuss the prepositions of place at, in and on in

detail. Though their achievement in this study was moderate, the fact that they still do

not master the prepositions of place at, in and on is intriguing.


62

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMENDATIONS

In this chapter, the conclusions that been drawn from research result and the

data analyses are to be presented. Next, the suggestions, as the feedback of this study

are proposed. The proposed suggestions are dedicated to the learners, the lecturers

and to the further researches.

A. Conclusions

The first semester students’ of English Language Education Program of

Sanata Dharma University mastery on the prepositions of place at, in and on, was

considered good according to the academic regulation of Sanata Dharma University.

Their average score (mean) was 28.68 (57.36%), which entered category of

sufficient.

Based on the result of the research, the difficulties that the students had in

mastering the prepositions of place at, in and on was in the preposition of place at.

The students only achieve 54.65% of correct answer in the whole test. According to

the academic regulation of Sanata Dharma University, their achievement was low and

unsatisfactory. Their achievement in the preposition of at was far below the minimum

standard of mastery (56%). The difficulties that they had were resulted from three

major possible sources. The first was the interference from the mother tongue


63

(Bahasa Indonesia), which is included in the interlingual transfer. The habit in

overlapping the rules and meaning in their L1 usage was causing errors when they

produce the L2 (English). The students’ lack of knowledge on the rules underlying

the form of the prepositions of place at, in and on made them made

overgeneralization to the existed rules. The false concept hypothesized also took parts

in causing difficulties to the students. This happens because the students might have

their own construction of the rules in their mind that might be acquired from their

previous learning experience, the poor gradation of teaching items or emphasizing

memorization of rules rather than understand them. The last possible source of errors

is the learning context. The textbook used to study is one of the factors that causing

difficulties to the students. The other source of error is the syllabus of the Sanata

Dharma University which only discuss the preposition of place at, in and on in two

contacts hour in a semester.

B. Implications

As an attempt to remedy their errors, the writer proposed three steps as it

stated by Tarigan (1990). Those three steps are defining the teaching points,

providing correct answers and discussion, and practice. First, the teachers are

required to identify the kind of errors and sources of errors made by students. This

may help him to decide the kinds of remedial teaching points in order to improve

students’ competence.


64

Next, teachers must provide correct answers of the test and then explains

necessary points. Additionally, both the teacher and the students discuss together the

subject or the difficulties faced by the students.

Finally, after the discussion the students are given practice concerning the

subjects that have been discussed. The practice may consist of more detailed or

complex exercises.

C. Recommendations

Based on the conclusion above, some suggestions are proposed to hopefully

contribute to the success of the teaching-learning process.

1. Recommendation to the Lecturers

The lecturer of the English Language Education Study Program should teach

the prepositions of place at, in and on from the very basic to give the better

understanding towards the subjects. The meeting hours to discuss the subject must be

added. To make it better, the textbook as the reference to study must be added in

order to give more knowledge to the students.

2. Recommendations to the Students

The students also have responsibility to the failure of their study. Since the

limited time is allocated in the class, the students should be active and creative in

using their time outside the class to study more. It is easier now to study, since there

were many media or tools to study.


65

3. Recommendations to the Other and Further Researcher

This study still needs many criticisms, modifications and improvements from

the reader who are interested in the prepositions of place at, in and on. The next

researchers are recommended to develop the test with the larger amount of items to

increase the reliability of the test. The next researchers could also change the subject

of the study; it could be the higher or the lower level.

This study on the students’ mastery on prepositions of place at, in and on

resulted that their mastery was enter category good. Though it was good, there are

still some difficulties that students had. Further research then is recommended to

know how to teach prepositions of place at, in and on more effectively so that their

mastery will improve.


66

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ary, Jacobs, L.C.,Razavieh, A. (1979). Introduction to research in education. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc.

Azar, B. S. (1985). Fundamentals of English grammar. Englewood Cliffs, New

Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc. Azar, B. S. (1985). Understanding and using English grammar. Englewood Cliffs,

New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc. Best, J. W. (1970). Research in education. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice

Hall Inc. Brooks, N. (1984). Language and language learning. Chicago: Harcourt, Brace and

world Inc. Broughton, G., Flavel, R., and Pincas A. (1978). Teaching English as a foreign

language. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. Brown, H. (1987). Principles of language and teaching. New Jersey: Prentice hall

Inc. Chaer, A. (1988). Tata bhasa paktis bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Bratara Karya

Aksara. Close, R. A. (1977). A reference grammar for students in English. London: Longman

Group Ltd. Close, R. A. (1962). English as a foreign language. London: George allen and Unwin

Ltd. Corder, S. P. (1979). An intermediate English practice book. Singapore: New Art

Printing Co. Corder, S. P. (1979). Introducing applied linguistic. London: Hazel Watson and

Vinney Ltd. Cook, V. (1993). Linguistic and second language acquisition. New York: Saint

Martin Press. Curme, G. O. (1966). English grammar. New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc.


67

Dixon, R. M. W. (1991). A new approach to English grammar on semantic principles. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Dulay, H., Burt, M., & Crashen, S. (1982). Language two. Oxford: Oxford University

Press. Ebel, R. L. (1979). Essentials of education measurement. New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Inc. Fraenkel, J. R., & Wallen, N. E. (1993). How to design and evaluate research in

education. Singapore: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Fries, C. (1979). Teaching and learning English as a foreign language. Ann Arbor

(Michigan) : The University of Michigan Press. Greenbaum, S. (1989). A college grammar of English. New York: Longman Inc. Heaton, J. B. (1979). Writing English language test. London. Longman Group Ltd. Hornby, A. S. (1990). Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary. Oxford: oxford

University Press. Lado, R. (1981). Linguistic across culture. The University of Michigan. Lado, R. (1980). Language teaching: A scientific approach. New York: Mcgraw-Hill,

Inc. Mackey, W. F. (1965). Language teaching analysis. London: Longman Group Ltd. Murphy, R. (1990). English grammar in use. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press. Quirk, R., Sidney, G., Svartvik, J. (1974). A grammar of contemporary English.

London: Longman Group Ltd. Ramlan, M. (1980). Kata depan atau preposisi dalam bahasa Indonesia. Yogyakarta:

U.P. Karyono. Richards, J. C. (1977). Error analysis. London: Longman Group Ltd. Richards, S. C., Gregory T, Schmutte., & Sirois, L. (1980). Understanding

educational research. The New York: Prince Hill Ltd.


68

Tarigan, H. G. (1990). Pengajaran remedi bahasa. Bandung: Angkasa. Thomson, A. J., & Martinet, A. V. (1986). A practical English grammar. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.


69

APPENDICES


70

Appendix 1: The Test and the Key Answer Part I Complete these sentences using the prepositions of place at, in or on. e.g. Julia is working…her desk. Answer: Julia is working at her desk.

1. I met my ex-wife at the party. 2. I once met the girl in that photograph. 3. I saw a rat in the corner of the room. 4. Once, there was a kingdom named Babylon in the north of Iraq. 5. I forgot the name of the beautiful town on the east coast of England. 6. I met a beautiful girl at a village on the way to Nice. 7. I read an article about health in the newspaper. 8. Many children are playing in the park every evening. 9. I was sitting in front of the car when we crushed. 10. Who is sitting on my motorcycle? 11. the police asked the crowd to stay in row 12. The shark is the most dangerous predator in the sea. 13. The crashed plane was found on the small island named Kokato. 14. One of my friends lives in Zimbabwe. 15. I live on the second floor of the apartment. 16. The helmet on the top of the shelf is mine. 17. Would you like to write your address on the back of this envelope, please? 18. You may write down your name at the bottom of this page. 19. I saw my name is written on the notice board. 20. We’re about to arrive at the next railway station. 21. In Britain we drive on left side. 22. The AFC CUP final match will be held in Jakarta. 23. There were 88,987 people at the football match. 24. There are 5,874 people lives in the building. 25. I can’t reach the book on the top shelf, would you help me please? 26. My uncle bought an old house at the end of that street. 27. Public meeting was held at the town hall yesterday. 28. Do you hear somebody knocking on the door? 29. I am on my way home. 30. When did he arrive in Britain? 31. She works at her desk. 32. There are many cars are waiting at the traffic lights. 33. The man on the horse is my uncle. 34. I saw an eagle fly in the sky. 35. There’s a small park at the top of the hill.


71

36. Have you ever worked in a farm? 37. It’s difficult to carry a lot of things on the bike. 38. I went to Sam’s house but she wasn’t at home. 39. I saw my name at the bottom of the list. 40. My father wasn’t at work today, he is sick.

Part II Translate these sentences into English, use prepositions of place at, in and on when it is necessary.

e.g. Saya bertemu Doni di jalan.

Answer: I met Doni in the street. 1. Ibu saya bekerja di rumah sakit.

My mother works at hospital.

2. Saya tiba di sekolah pukul 07.00. I arrive at school at seven o’clock.

3. Siapakah nama gadis yang ada di foto itu?

Who is the name of the girl in that photograph?

4. Saya lahir di London. I was born in London.

5. Kami belajar di perpustakaan.

We are studying at the library.

6. Seorang pria berdiri di pemberhentian bus. A man was standing at the bus stop.

7. Jangan duduk di lantai.

Don’t sit on the floor!

8. Saya melihat spongebob and the squarepants di televisi setiap sore. I watched spongebog and the squarepants on the television every evening.

9. Ada banyak kotoran di dinding kamarku.

There are many dirt on the wall of my room. 10. Saya tiba di Jakarta pukul 17.00.

I arrive in Jakarta at five p.m.


72

Appendix 2: Reliability of the Half Test

Where:

r : Pearson r

∑X : The sum of X scores

∑Y : The sum of Y scores

∑XY : The sum of the products of paired X and Y scores

∑X2 : The sum of the squared score in X distribution

∑Y2 : The sum of the squared score in Y distribution

N : The number of the subjects

[ 5208- (338) (377) ] : √ [ (4710 - (338)² ] : [ (5847 - (377)² ] r= 25 25 25 r= [ 5208 - 5097.04 ] : √ (4710 – 4569.76) : (5847 – 5685.16)

r= 110.96 : √ (140.24) (161.84)

r= 110.96 : √ 22696.4416

r= 110.96 : 150.65

r= 0,74

From the formula, the Pearson r was 0.74


73

Appendix 3: The Reliability of the Full Test The reliability of the full test was computed using the Spearman-Brown Prophecy

formula.

The formula is as follow:

r1 = 2r½ 1+r½ Where:

r1 = the reliability of the full test

r½= the reliability of the half test

the reliability of the half test (r½) is 0.74

the reliability of the test is:

r1 = 2(0.74) 1+0.74 r1 =1.48 1.74 r1 =0.85


74

Appendix 4: The Student Scores

number total X Y X' Y' XY 1 32 16 16 256 256 256 2 30 15 15 225 225 225 3 32 14 18 196 324 252 4 33 16 17 256 289 272 5 33 15 18 225 324 270 6 31 15 16 225 256 240 7 32 16 16 256 256 256 8 32 15 17 225 289 255 9 32 14 18 196 324 252

10 38 18 20 324 400 360 11 29 14 15 196 225 210 12 26 12 14 144 196 168 13 30 13 17 169 289 221 14 22 11 11 121 121 121 15 25 13 12 169 144 156 16 28 12 16 144 256 192 17 23 9 14 81 196 126 18 25 12 13 144 169 156 19 27 12 15 144 225 180 20 29 14 15 196 225 210 21 33 16 17 256 289 272 22 29 14 15 196 225 210 23 26 14 12 196 144 168 24 17 7 10 49 100 70 25 21 11 10 121 100 110

715 338 377 4710 5847 5208


75

Appendix 5: Descriptive Statistic No Variables Score 1 Mean 28.68 2 Median 29 3 Mode 32 4 Range 21 5 Standard Deviation 4.76


a study on the mastery of preposition of place at, in - PLAGIAT ...

Documents

Transcript of a study on the mastery of preposition of place at, in - PLAGIAT ...