THE ERRORS OF UNITY AND COHERENCE IN WRITING ENGLISH PARAGRAPH
MADE BY THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS OF D-3 ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM OF USU : A
CASE STUDY
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Analysis
Communication is a
process of sending and receiving of messages that happens at any time when
creatures (humans, animals, and plants) want to be acquainted and in contact
with each other. As the most intellectual creature, human is the only one that
can develop language as a tool of communication. By using language, the process
of communication happens through three forms, they are, visual, oral and
writing. This process can persist very well if each of humans wants to learn
and to master four language skills, i.e. listening skill, speaking skill,
reading skill, and writing skill as Nida and Harris’s statement in Tarigan’s
book (1994 : 1).
Writing skill is one of language
skills that plays a vital role in making a process of communication. For
example, written communication in a nation or a country can determine whether
that nation or country has progressed or not in communication aspect. This
progress can be valued and accounted of the quality and the quantity of
printing and publishing products done by that nation or country, such as,
newspapers, magazines, books, etc that carry all regional, national, and
international aspects.
In this modern life, each people
needs to have writing skill. It is no exaggeration to say that writing skill is
a characteristic of an educated people or an educated nation, in accordance
with Morsey in Tarigan’s (1994 : 4) remarks below :
“Writing is used by educated
people(s) to record, to convince, to report, or to inform, and to influence in
which these aims and purposes can be reached well by peoples who are able to
arrange their thoughts and explain it clearly. This clearness depends on their
way for thinking, organizing, using words, and structuring sentences.”
It is often found
that in learning and language acquisition process, error is often made by the
learners. There is a realization that doing errors is a part of learning that
can not be avoided.Error is disabled side of utterance or writing of the
learner that based on Tarigan and Tarigan’s remark (1995:141). Such errors can
be classified as transpositions or substitutions, or additions of a speech
sound or morpheme, word, or complete phrase, or some sort of blend of these
(based on Corder’s idea in Sembiring and Harefa’s book (2006:122) ).
According to
Richards et.al.(1985 : 95) in Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics errors
are classified tend to vocabulary (lexical error), pronunciation (phonological
error), grammar and sentence (syntactical error), misunderstanding of a
speaker’s intention or meaning (interpretive error), and production of the
wrong communicative effect through the faulty use of a speech act or one of the
rules of speaking (pragmatic error) that make the term ’error analysis’ exist
in language learning process so that we can find out how well people(s) knows a
language. A difference between an error and mistake is error results from
incomplete knowledge, whereas a mistake made by a learner when writing or
speaking and which is caused by lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, or
some other aspect of performance.
A learner’s
sentences may be deviant, ill-formed, incorrect or erroneous only in the sense
that they are not fully describable in the terms of the grammar of his mother
tongue or the target language. These can exist in writing study.
Academic
writing as the kind of writing in university, it differs from other kinds of
writing such as personal, literary, journalistic, or business writing. Its
differences can be explained in part by its special audience, tone, and
purpose. As Corder also remarks (in Sembiring and Harefa, 2006:122) :
“We should be aware
that different types of writen material may produce a different distribution of
error or a different set of error types. The distinction here is between the
learner selecting his own messages and processing already given mesages. In the
latter case there is also the problem of comprehension of the messages of the
original texts.”
Errors that appear
in form of writing are dominantly categorizedas syntactical errors. Syntactical
error is the error in the use of a major element of sentence structure which
makes a sentence or utterance difficult or impossible to understand. For
example :
a.
the error of verb
phrase
一.
the omission of main
verb
He [ fell ?] in the water.
the omission of to
be
He in the water
b. the omission of there Is one bird
Based on the definiton
of syntax as Richards and his friends say in Longman Dictionary of Applied
Linguistic (1985 : 284 & 285) : “ it is the study of how words combine
to form sentences and the rules which govern the formation of sentences”, I can
assume that writing which has the syntatic activity for moving our thoughts or
our assumptions in mind to written form in a paper such as in a sentence or
some sentences is not easy, particularly until making a correct paragraph which
has unity and coherence.
Accoding to Oshima’s
and Hague’s (1999 : 17), a paragraph is a basic unit of organization in writing
in which a group of related sentences develops one main idea. The paragraph
should be long enough to develop the main idea clearly.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
It is
supported by Bram’s theory (1995). He said the word ‘unity’ is synonymous with
‘oneness’. All sentences in a paragraph should focus on the one thung expressed
in the topic sentecne. The problem stated in the sentences has to be settled.
Unity can be achieved as long as the paragraph has good and clear topic
sentence.
In addition to make
a paragraph well, coherence plays a crucial role. Every coherent paragraph
contains smoothly connected ideas or consists of interrelated sentences which
move in such a way that they smooth the way. Each sentence moves on naturally.
To achieve coherence, we needs to use the transition signal, such as, however,
although, finally, nevertheless, and so on.
It is an example of
paragraph contains the elements of good unity and coherent :
Gold, a precious metal, is prized for
two important characteristics. First of all, gold has a lustrous beauty that is
resistant to corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable for jewelry, coins, and
ornamental purposes. Gold never needs to be be polished and will remain
beautiful forever. For example, a Macedonian coin remains as untarnished today
as the day it was minted twenty – three centuries ago. Another important
characteristics of gold is its usefulness to industry and science. For many
years, it has been used in hundreds of industrial applications. The most recent
use of gold is in astronauts’ suits. Astronauts wear gold – plated heat shields
for protection outside spaceships. In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for
its beauty but also for its utility.
From this paragraph,
its topic sentence discuss only two important characteristics of gold. Its
topic sentence does not discuss any other ideas, such as the price of gold or
gold mining. For its coherence, its supporting sentences are in some kind of
logical order and its idea are connected by the use of appropriate transition
signals. So, this paragraph is easy to read and understand. In the paragraph
about gold, there are supporting ideas : Gold is beautiful, and gold is useful.
Each of these supporting ideas is discussed, one afther the other, and an
example
is given for each one. This is kind of logical order. Furthermore, the
relationship between the ideas is clearly shown by using appropriate transition
words and phrases such as first of all, for example, another important
characteristics, and in conclusion.
As the comparison,
it is an example of paragraph without contains the elements of unity and
coherene :
Gold, a precious
metal, is prized for two important characteristics. It has a lustrous beauty
that is resistant to corrosion. It is suitable for jewelry, coins, and
ornamental purposes. It never needs to be be polished and will remain beautiful
forever. A Macedonian coin remains as untarnished today as the day it was
minted twenty – three centuries ago. Another of its important characteristics
is its usefulness to industry and science. It has been used in hundreds of
industrial applications. Its most recent use is in astronauts’ suits.
Astronauts wear heat shields made from it for protection outside spaceships. In
conclusion, it is treasured not only for its beauty but also for its utility.
The model paragraph
about gold above is a paragraph without coherence because throuhout the the
whole of the paragraph, the word gold has been replaced by pronouns,
making the paragraph much less coherent. Besides that, there are no use of
transition signal such as first of all, therefore, for example,for many
years, and in conclusion, that have significance to make this
paragraph more chronological.
Writing and learning
for our studies are so integrally related that they cannot be separated from
each other. When we learn to write in a particular way for a particular subject
we are learning how to make sense of that subject. Some difficulties will be
faced at the early stage. We may be asking how we can bridge the gap between
what is in our head and a complete piece of writing. Most of us, find getting
started on an assignment difficult at some points. We may have spent a long
time reading and thinking and felt that we cannot transform this into a
manageable form for an assignment.
I choose the title that related to the writing because I
found that there is reality that the errors still appear in students’s writing,
including the students that study at English course. I choose the sixth
semester students of D-3 English Department of Faculty of Letters of USU
because they are students who has a lecture about how write a good paragraph
and an essay at their curriculum that given by their faculty. They also have
learnt the writing subject for five semester and the way of writing a paragraph
they have got at the fifthe semester. So, with English grammar and many aspects
of English have been their strong basic to develop their knowledge and skill in
writing English paragraph. Based on their wiriting, I can conclude whether they
minimalize such kinds of errors in writing a good and correct paragraph which
should consists of unity, coherence, and logical orders.
1.2 Scope of the
Analysis
The analysis is
limited on the use of unity and coherence that can be categorized as the
syntactical erros in writing English paragraph made by D-3 English students who
have been given the strong basic of English grammar at the university in order
to be able to use English well. The analysis is on students’ data in combining
and constructing words and sentences to arrange a paragraph based on Oshima’s
and Hague’s (1999) theory of writing good paragraph and essay.
1.3 Problems of the
Analysis
The problems of this
thesis that I research are :
a.
What type of errors
of unity and coherence made by the D-3 students in writing a paragraph ?
b.
What are big type of
uniy and coherence that found in the D-3 students writing ?
c. What are difficulties the students
face in writing a good paragraph ?
d. How well the
students apply Oshima’s and Hague’s theory of writing English paragraph ?
1.4 Objectives of
the Analysis
The objectives of
the analysis that includes some found results after doing this researh and some
answers linked with poblems of the analyis are :
1.
to find out the type
of errors of unity and coherence made by the D-3 students in writing a
paragraph
to find out the what
the big type of uniy and coherence that found in the D3 students writing is
3. to describe difficulties the
students face in writing a good paragraph
4. to figure out how
well the students apply Oshima’s and Hague’s theory of writing English
paragraph
1.5
Significances of the
Analysis
Through doing the
analysis, I wish this thesis can be an useful information theoretically and
practically. Therefore, the significances of my thesis are stated as follow :
Theoretically, the
significances of my thesis are :
1.
to eliminate the
students’ errors in using English especially in the study of writing so that
they know how to use the right one
1.
to know some
information about writing aspect or important writing things for the students
especially the English students
Practically, th e
significance of my thesis is :
1.
This thesis is
expected to be an useful input for the students, the researchers, and the
lecturers in learning English written and error analysis of second / foreign
language
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