Kiki Kartika Widiyanti
Department of English Education Faculty Of
Teaching And Educational Science University ff
Swadaya Gunung Jati Cirebon
ABSTRACT
Nowadays
many people especially teenager like to communicate using media social. The
activity that is often do is writing, whereas they must write posting, comment,
and other activity in social media. One of media social is Facebook, and there
are many of Facebook groups that is made for learning English. The study
investigates what kind of grammar error of students’ writing in Facebook and
what the impacts of Facebook in students’ writing skill. the sample of this
study is 20 students of English Department of education Faculty in Unswagati
Cirebon who is entered in a Facebook Group that is created by Joseph Crossman a
teacher from Canada, the group is called “FREE ENGLISH LESSON”. The data for analyzing
the grammar error were got from students’ comment in a post of the Facebook
group was hosted by facebook here:
Key word:
Facebook, students’ writing, grammar error, impact
I.
Introduction
Nowadays many
people like to communicate using social media or social network. It has become
consumption for people in this era. Nothing they do in everyday without on-line
in their Facebook account to up-date their status or just comment their friend
status. Selwyn in Yunus (2009:88) reported that many kinds of media social they
use, but the most popular social media is Facebook . Many of the users of
Facebook are students where they are teenagers. Yunus and Salehi (2012: 87)
found that students and adolescent waste their time in Facebook or social network
heavy emphasis in social need.
Although the
Facebook is made by American, but the highest user of Facebook is Indonesian.
Lim in Yunus (2010:87) found Indonesia was the highest user of Facebook in
Asia; there are 18, 9 million of users. See this matter Indonesia has big
potential in using Facebook as media to learning English.
Yunus and Salehi
(2012: 87) reported that the development of ICT (Information Communication
Technology) make the several of teaching and learning process. Social network
especially Facebook is one of the ICT that will make the students easier to
study, because many of them have known how to use almost the entire features of
Facebook. There are posting post, chat, comment, sharing that the entire
feature make they can socialize in network. Moreover, Facebook have another
features to make a group that consist of unlimited members. The group is
controlled by admin where they can give comment, post and share something, or
even chat with other members without knowing by the other person who is not the
member of the group, so that they will learn comfortably.
Almost of the
activity in the facebook is writing. The students like using facebook to update
their status, give their comment, chatting, and posting post by writing. The
activities in Facebook help the students to learn in writing process. Students
will be usual to write and it will make good habitual to learn English
especially in writing. But, it is usually using informal language in Facebook,
whereas they are free to give their opinion or comment. Therefore, the grammar
of sentences in their writing will be faced of error.
This
study was limited to observe 20 students’ writing of Unswagati Cirebon in
Facebook with formulated the following research question:
1.
What
is grammar error found in students’ writing on Facebook?
2.
What
are students’ responses towards the impacts of Facebook on the students’
writing skill?
II.
Literature Review
2.1.
Writing
Writing is one of skill in English that is
important to learn beside other skill like speaking, reading, and listening.
This skill is one of English skill that is difficult to learn. Westwood
(2008:56) tells that “writing is perhaps the most difficult skill to acquire
because its
development involves the effective coordination of many different cognitive,
linguistic and psycho-motor processes”. It means that writing needs to learn
deeply to make good a sentence.
2.1.1. Sentence Writing
Writing a sentence is very important to EFL
(English Foreign Learner), because it will influence their writing skill.
Ehrilch (2000) descibes that sentence is group of words that make a statement
and can be followed by full stop, introgative, and exclamation. Term to make a
sentence must have a subject and verb, if one of these elements not owned, then it can not be
called a sentence.
2.1.2 Classification
According to Radford (2009:1) sentence can be
clasified beside on the structure and the purpose.
a. Structure
One traditional scheme for classifying English sentences is by clause structure, the number and types of clauses in the
sentence with finite verbs.
2. A compound sentence consists of
multiple independent clauses with no dependent clauses. These clauses are
joined together using conjunctions, punctuation, or both.
3. A complex sentence consists of one
independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
4. A complex-compound sentence (or compound-complex
sentence) consists of multiple independent clauses, at least one of which
has at least one dependent clause.
b. Purpose
Sentences
can also be classified based on their purpose:
1. A declarative sentence or declaration,
the most common type, commonly makes a statement: "I have to go to
study."
2. An interrogative sentence or question is commonly used to request information :
"Do I have to go to study?"
3. An exclamatory sentence or exclamation
is generally a more emphatic form of statement expressing emotion: "I have
to go to work!"
4. An imperative sentence or command tells someone to do something (and if done
strongly may be considered both imperative and exclamatory): "Go to
Study." or "Go to Study!"
2.2 Facebook
2.2.1. Facebook
as Social Media
Many
of the users in social network sites especially Facebook is teenagers.
Lenhart,Madden, Smith, & Macgill in Mc.daniel (2007: 135) reported that
“some experts found the number of online teens had risen and their uses of
online resources were increasingly social. Look this matter many of teenager
like to use social media such Facebook, they like to communicate or chat with
their friend use Facebook.
Althoughit is
booming in teenager life, but it also appears as transitioning process in
education. It is like an epert says where Karlin (2007: 7) reported that
“almost 60% of students who use social networking talk about education online,
and more than 50% talk about specific school work.”So, the use of social
network also influence their activity to get information about their school
work. It means that social network can help in education performance.
2.2.2
Facebook and Learning Writing
“the use of online
discussion groups offers a relatively new avenue through which the learner can
take an active role in the learning process.” While Thomas in white (2002)
suggested online discussions improved high levels of cognitive engagement and
critical thinking. Therefore, it shows the habitual of writing in Facebook
especially Facebook group automatically improve in writing.
Yancey in Yunus
(2012:90) reported “the use of FB in helping students make link in order to
make them better writers.” Therefore, Facebook especially Facebook group has
the potential to improve students writing skills by being the link between
writing and communication.
Kabilan in Yunus
(2012: 90) described that “while sharing views, exchanging messages and
comments on FB, students certainly develop a confidence in English writing as a
byproduct of their online socialization.”Moreover, Facebook make up for
learning meaning. The member of group can give the ideas and share them.
Furthermore, their friends are able to give the response, so it will build the
feedback for the other member to. These show that writing skills are very much
emphasized in FB group participation and thus has a high potential of improving
students’ writing skills.
2.3
Error
Analysis
English
foreign learner is disposed to make error when they deliver English both in
writing and speaking. James (2013:1)
described that errors in foreign
language teaching especially in English are the cases which are quite difficult
to avoid. Error analysis is the process of determinating the incidence, nature,
causes, and consequences of unsuccessful language.
2.3.1.
The
Differences Between Error and Mistake
Sometimes we confuse to
differentiate between error and mistake. James (2013: 78) described:
“If
the learner is inclined and able to correct a fault in his or her output, it is
assumed that the form he or she selected was not the one intended, and we shall
say that the fault is a mistake. If, on the other hand, the learner is unable
or in any way disinclined to make the correction, we assume that the form the
learner used was the one intended, and that it is an error. “
According the theory above, it
can be taken a conclusion that mistake is made by a learner is caused by their
carelessness and they can correct their
mistake by theirself if there is an
agent or we can say in here it is a
teacher who can show their mistake. Different with mistake, error can’t
be corrected by theirself because they
do an errror caused by their unknowledge. They must know about the system error in their form language, so they will be able to corect
their error.
James (2013: 83) reported that
errors cannot be self-corrected until further relevant (to that error) input
(implicit or explicit) has been provided and converted into intake by the
learner. In other words, errors require further relevant learning to take place
before they can be self-corrected.
2.3.2.
The Causes of Error
According to Norish in
Sattayatham (2008), there are some causes of errors that the English foreign
learner do:
1)
Overgeneralization,
that is error caused by extension of language target rules where they do not
apply.
2)
Interference,
that is error caused by resulting from transfer grammatical elements from
source language to target language.
3)
Carelessness,
that is error of lack in motivation, memory lapses, and confusion.
2.3.3.
The
Kinds of Error
There are some kinds of error
that usually english foreign learner do. According to Corder errors divided
into four categories:
1)
Omission
Certain linguistic forms may be
omitted by the learners because of their complexity in production. Omission
also occurs in morphology. Learners often leave out the third person singular
morpheme –s, the plural marker –s and the past tense inflection –ed. A learner
could say, for example: “I watch the movie last night”. Instead of: “I watched
the movie last night”.
2)
Addition
Learners not only omit elements
which they regard as redundant but they also add redundant element.
For
example: “I swims” and “The books is
here”
Instead
of: “I swim” and “The book is here”
3)
Selection
Learners commit errors in
pronunciation, morphology, syntax and vocabulary due to the selection of the
wrong, phoneme, morpheme, structure or vocabulary item. For example: “Fika is
smartest than Femy”.
Instead
of “Fika is smarter than Femy”.
4)
Ordering
Miss-ordering can occur in
morphological level. Miss-ordering of bound morpheme in English is perhaps less
frequent, given their limited number, but in the example “He is got upping
now”, the learners attaches the inflection –ing to the particle of the two
words verb “get up”.
2.4. The
Grammatical Error in Writing
There
are some the grammatical errors that are usually found in the students’ writing,
according to Ehrilch (2010:1):
2.4.1.
Sentence Pattern
Ehrlich (2000:1) described
subject is the word that tells you who or what performed the action of the
verb. Almost all English sentences contain a subject (S) and a verb (V). The
verb may or may not be followed by an object (O). This means that the Subject
comes before the Verb, which
comes before the Object.
Examples:
-
Birds
fly
(S)
(V)
-
The
baby cries
(S) (V)
-
The
student need a pen
(S) (V) (O)
Verb is a word or phrase that
describes an action, condition or experience.Verbs that are not followed by an
object are called “intransitive verbs.” Common intransitive verbs: agree,
arrive, come, cry, exist, go, happen, live, occur, rain, rise, sleep, stay,
walk. Verbs that are followed by an object are called “transitive verb.” Common
transitive verbs: build, cut, find, like, make, need, send, use, want. Some
verbs can be either intransitive or transitive. Transitive; A student
studied. Intransitive; A student studied books. Subjects and objects
of verbs are nouns (or pronouns). Examples of nouns are : person, place, thing,
John, pen, information, appearance).
2.4.2. Tense
Tense is the characteristic of
verb that shows event happens or describes situation. There are 6 tense in
English: present, past perfect, past, present perfect, future, and future
perfect. Present shows habitual occurance now, truth of public and past shows
the past event. For example:
Present
Past
I call I called
I
am calling I was
calling
2.4.3.
Pronoun
A pronoun is a word that is used
in the place of a noun or noun phrase. Usually when a noun or noun phrase has
been used once, a pronoun is used to avoid repetition of the same noun or noun
phrase. Personal pronouns are words such as:
1) First person pronouns, example
words that represent or include the speaker or writer.
Singular :
I, me, my, mine
Plural : we, us, our,
ours
2)
Second
person pronouns, example words that represent the person or people who is/are being addressed.
Singular : you,
your, yours
Plural : you,
your, yours
3)
Third
person pronouns, example words that represent people or things other than the speaker/writer
and the listener/reader.
Singular : he,
him, his, she, her, it, its
Plural :
they, them, their, theirs
2.4.4. Preposition
Preposition has been called the
biggest little words in English. They are usually quite short and significant
looking, but they have very important functions. Prepositions are always
followed by nouns (or pronouns). They are connective words that show the
relationship between the nouns following them and one of the basic sentence
element: subject, verb, object, or compliment. They usually indicate
relationships, such as position, place, direction time, manner, agent,
possession, and condition, between their objects and other parts of the
sentence. The following list illustrates the use of prepositional phrases to
convey specific kinds of information.
-
Place,
position: across, after, against, among, around, at, before, behind, below,
between, by, in, in front of, inside, near, on , on top of, opposite, outside,
over, to, under, underneath.
-
Direction:
across, at, by way of, down, into, out of, to through, toward, up upon.
-
Time:
about, after, around, at before, by, during, from ... to, from ... until,
in.
-
Purpose,
reason: for
-
Possession:
of
-
Manner,
instrument: by, in, like, with.
-
Identification:
at, by, in, on, with.
-
Distance:
for
-
Agent:
by
-
Material:
with
-
Quantity:
by
2.4.5. Punctuation
Punctuation is the use of special
marks that you add to writing to separate phrases and sentences, to show that
something is a question, etc. Punctuation is not something you impose upon a
sentence after you have written it out. Commas, semicolons, and the other marks
are an intimate part of grammar and style. To write well, you must punctuate
well; but to punctuate well, you must also write well. Punctuation mark used in
punctuation, for example: full stops/periods, commas, semicolon, question mark,
apostrophe, capitalization, etc.
2.4.6.
Spelling
Spelling words in English can be
difficult for learners because sometimes a word is very similar to a word in
their own language but is not spelled the same or also they confuse how to
write a word exactly that is usually called misspellings. For example, spell success
with only one ‘s’, or ahead without an ‘a’. Another thing that makes
spelling difficult is that some words in English do not sound exactly as they
are spelled. In the word definitely, for example, the second ‘i’ sounds
more like an ‘a’.
III.
Research
Methodology
3.1. Research Design
In a research,
the researchers must have a design where they can solve their research. Kothari
(2004: 31) reported that “the formidable problem that follows the task of
defining the research problem is the preparation of the design of the research
project, popularly known as the research design”. In other word research design
is important to find or solve problems that will be observed. Singh (2006 : 1)
reported “research is simply the process of arriving as dependable solution to
a problem through the planned and systematic collection, analysis and
interpretation of data.” Relevant with the purpose and the research question in
this study, descriptive analysis design is applied for this research.
3.2. Population and Sample
In a research there is a population
to be oberserved. According to Fraenkel (2011:91) defined that “Population as
the large group to which one hopes to apply the result “. The population for
this paper is students of English Department of Education Faculty in Unswagati
Cirebon.
To get the sample in this study, the
researcher takes 20 students in English Department of Education Faculty in
Unswagati Cirebon.
3.3.
Instrument and Procedure
To get the data
from the participants, the researcher use transcription from students’ comment
in Facebook and survey questionnaire as the instruments.
According to Gass and Selinker
(2001:79) there are some steps to analyze errors, those are identify errors,
classify errors, quantify error, and analysis of causes. The writer will use
that error analysis steps and follow descriptive analysis technique with using
the percentage from total number of students’ error and divided with total item
of the word.
The formula is
according to Gay in Rina (2012) :
Notes:
P: Percentage
X: Frequency (the
number of each errors in writing)
Y: the total
of errors in writing
The analysis of data that the
researcher gets from the questionnaire, it will be taken by two parts of
questionnaire. First the researcher asks
the writing skill with 6 items and second part ask about grammar skill with 5
items by using survey close-ended questionnaire to find how the facebook group
influence the participants’ writing by using likert scale.
The cathegories of the scale are
“Strongly Agree”, “Agree”, “Neutral”, “Disagree”, and “Strongly Disagree”. The
technique that is used to summarizing the cathegory uses frequency table or
proposition table to get the percentage.
The
formula is according to Fraenkel (2008: 207):
Where:
P: Percentage
F: Frequency
N: Respondent
IV.
Research Finding and Discussion
4.1
Grammar
Errors Found in Students Writing
Table 1. Result of The Data
Analysis
After
the writer have been analyzed and calculate the data, it showed that the most
errors in student writing from their comment in facebook group is punctuation
with the percentage 70 %. Moreover, second error is spelling with the
percentage 7,5 %, third error is pronoun with the percentage 8,75 %, the fourth
is sentence pattern and tense with the percentage 5 %and the last is
preposition with the percentage 3,75 %.
4.2
The
Students Response Toward the Impact of Facebook on Their Writing
To
know what the students’ response toward the impacts of facebook for students’s
writing skill, the writer collected the data from survey questionnaire that is
included of two part of questionnaire about writing skill and grammar skill.
Table 2. Questionnaire A (Writing
Skill)
|
No
|
Items
|
Strongly Agree %
|
Agree %
|
Neutral %
|
Disagree %
|
Strongly Disagree %
|
|
1
|
I think it's a
good idea to use Facebook topractice writing skills in English
|
35
|
60
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
|
2
|
I learn to write
better in English using Facebook
|
10
|
40
|
50
|
0
|
0
|
|
3
|
I can express my ideas freely in Facebook
|
25
|
50
|
10
|
10
|
0
|
|
4
|
I can be more creative
in expressing my ideas in Facebook
|
15
|
65
|
10
|
10
|
0
|
|
5
|
I am more
confident with my writing ability using Facebook
|
10
|
40
|
45
|
15
|
0
|
|
6
|
I can write
longer in English thanks toFacebook
|
0
|
30
|
50
|
20
|
0
|
In the table 2, the
writer finds that 60 % of students agree that using facebook to practice
writing in English is good idea and as many of 50% and 65% agree that they can
express their ideas and more creative to express their ideas but they give
neutral attitude in A2,A5, and A6 that they neither agree or disagree that
using facebook can make their writing better, feel confident to writing and
write longer. It shows that using facebook can help the students in expressing
ideas but uncertain to improve their writing skill.
Table 3. Part B
(Grammar Skill)
|
No
|
Items
|
Strongly Agree %
|
Agree %
|
Neutral %
|
Disagree %
|
Strongly Disagree %
|
|
1
|
In general I feel that my English grammar has somehow improved
|
0
|
40
|
50
|
0
|
0
|
|
2
|
I can use different word forms in English
|
5
|
75
|
20
|
0
|
0
|
|
3
|
I am more active in checking up meaning of difficult words in the
dictionary
|
20
|
65
|
5
|
10
|
0
|
|
4
|
when using Facebook: My skill in guessing meanings of word improved
|
15
|
65
|
15
|
5
|
0
|
|
5
|
I learn more new words when reading my friends' post
|
45
|
50
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
in the table 3, the
writer findss that the sudents feel uncertain that Facebook can improve their
grammar skill or not. With neutral answer, it can be meant that they agree or
disagree. On the other hand, in the question B2, B3, B4 and B5 with the
percentage 75%, 65%, 65%, and 50%, they give positive respons that they can use
different word forms in English and more active to finds meaning of difficult
words in the dictionary. Moreover, thay also feel that their skill in guessing
meaning of word improved and learn more new word when they read their friend
posting in Facebook.
4.3
Discussion
from all the
analysis of the students’ writing comments in facebook that have been analyzed
by the writer, it shows that the most grammar errors that the students often do
is punctuation error that included into omission, addition, and selecting
punctuation. Those errors are caused by the students’ carelessness to put
punctuation exactly when they write a comment. However, it is not suitable with
the study of Shih (2011) who reported that Facebook improves the students’
motivation in writing. Meanwhile, in the fact, the findings show that many of
students lack in motivation to write a sentence in their comment rightly
exactly to put punctuation.
However, almost of
students do not write too formal because Facebook is social media where the
written communication is most used. It is suitable with Marie (2008) who
described informal is flexible and not less rigid. Therefore, the students get
less motivation to write comment in facebook by following the grammatical rules
especially in using punctuation.
Based on the
results of survey questionnaire, the questionnaire A (see table 2) that focused
on the impact of using facebook on students’ writing skill based on the
students’ perception shows that Facebook can help the students to express their
ideas, it is suitable with Thomas in Yunus (2002) who suggested online
discussion improved high levels of cognitive engagement and critical thinking.
On the other hand, the students do not certain that facebook improves their
writing skill because many of them choose neutral. If the neutral is judged not
give opinion, so the result of the students’ perception shows that facebook can
improve their writing skill and it is suitable with Yancey in Yunus (2012:99)
who reported that the use of facebook can help them better writers.
Moreover, based on
the questionnaire part B (see table 3) that is focused on the impacts of the
students’ grammar skill that is looked from the students’ perception shows that
facebook can help them to improve grammar skill. It is showed from 5 items in
the questionnaire, 4 from them answer agree. They agree that facebook can make
them using different word forms in English. They also more active to open their
dictionary when they find difficult word and their skill in guessing meaning
word is improved. Moreover, they can
learn more new word when they read their friend posting in facebook. So,
it is suitable with Kabilan in Yunus (2012:99) who described that the activity
in Facebook can develop a confidence in English writing as a byproduct of their
online socialization.
V.
Conclusion
and Sugesstion
5.1. Conclusion
According to the
analysis of students’ writing from their comment in Facebook that have been
analyzed by the writer and also the questionnaire that has been given to the 20
students which is the sample of this research. It can be taken two conclusions:
1.
According
to the six grammar errors that is made by the student’s of English department
of Education Faculty of Unswagati Cirebon in writing comment on Facebook, it was showed the first error that is many
found is punctuation; the second is spelling; the third is pronoun; the fourth
is sentence pattern and tense; and the
last is preposition. So, punctuation is the grammar error that is many found in
the students’ writing on Facebook.
2.
Meanwhile,
beside on the result of the questionnaire most of students agreed that facebook
can increase their writing and grammar skill.
5.2.
Suggestion
From the studythat
has been researched, there are some suggestions for:
1.
Students
who want to learn English on Facebook
still have to pay attention to
English writing exactly beside on the rule of right English grammar. It will
make them accustomed towrite English rightly.
2.
English
Teacher can use facebook as a media for teaching English writing through a
Facebook group.
3.
Other
researcher who wants to investigate the use of Facebook as learning media, it
needs further research that is not only focused on writing skill but also another
skills such as speaking, reading, and listening. Moreover, further research
also can use another social media for learning English.
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