Minggu kemarin saya dan teman-teman saya travelling ke Palembang. Entah kenapa, saya sempat mellow dramatic sebelum pulang. Kenapa? Karena ternyata saya begitu suka dengan suasana kota itu dan teman-teman saya yang ada di kota itu. Sepertinya hidup saya selama beberapa hari di Palembang kemarin sungguh sangat menyenangkan.
Jadi ceritanya, malam ini saya dan teman saya chat di ym. Kami sempat ngobrol mengenai fenomena mellow dramatic saya dan mendadak kami melakukan analisis mengenai hal itu. Akhirnya setelah berbagai teori diungkapkan (halah!), kami pun mencapai suatu kesimpulan. Di kota besar, contohnya: Jakarta, Surabaya, atau kota-kota besar lainnya yang ada di Indonesia, ketika kita bangun pagi, maka yang terpikir adalah hal-hal sebagai berikut:
1. Jam berapa sekarang? Telat nggak ya?
2. Kira-kira lewat jalan mana yang nggak macet ya?
3. Gimana cara mempertahankan IPK-ku semester ini ya? (sambil melirik transkrip)
4. Kemarin tugas-tugas belum sempat selesai nih. Duh, buruan bangun biar sempat ngedit deh!
5. Hari ini ada rapat jam segini, terus mau survei ini di situ....blablabla. (sambil baca organizer)
6. Nanti sempat makan siang nggak ya? Makan siangnya jam berapa nih?
7. Mati aku! Kok bahasa inggrisku makin acak adut ya? (kedip-kedip dan melebarkan kuping mendengarkan BBC)
8. Kapan aku punya waktu buat les perancis/ mandarin/ jepang ya? (apapun lah yg penting konsepnya second language)
9. ................................
Hmm. Apakah teman-teman merasa familiar dengan hal-hal di atas? Daftar pertanyaan boleh ditambah dengan hal-hal lain yang terpikir di benak teman-teman lho. Nah hebatnya nih, orang-orang yang hidup di kota kecil, contohnya: Malang, Gresik, Madura atau di kota lain yang lebih kecil dari Surabaya (saya ambil contoh kota-kota di jawa Timur karena saya tinggal disini...hihihi) berpikiran lain lho, seperti ini contohnya:
1. Wah, bangun kepagian nih! Tidur lagi aahhh!
2. Siang ini makan dimana ya? Enaknya makan malam apa?
3. Duit berlebihan ini mau dipakai buat apa ya? Investasi atau modal usaha?
4. Duh, IPK-ku semester ini bagus banget! (sambil melirik transkrip)
5. Pas lagi bengong, terus berakhir dengan menyalakan televisi dan menyetel gosip pagi
6. Nggak melakukan semua hal di atas karena keburu bobo lagi
Anjrit!!! Saya dan teman saya pun ketawa. Seekstrim itu perbedaannya. Hidup di kota kecil itu enak lho! Makan murah, bensin hemat, dan teman-teman super ramah. Pokoknya, feels like heaven lah! Hahahaha. Sementara yang namanya hidup di kota besar itu persaingan tinggi, semua serba cepat, bawaannya unsecure melulu tiap hari, dan rentan stres. Pokoknya ribet deh!
Saya punya teori 80-100 sih. Kalau di kota kecil, nilai 80 itu sudah top score. Akhirnya meskipun kita sampai nilai 100, dapat nilai 75 saja sudah bangga plus dipuja-puja. Eh, kalo di kota besar lain lagi. Toleh kiri 81, toleh kanan 81,25, toleh belakang 81,5. Pokoknya ketat abis dan top scorenya tetap 100, bahkan kalau bisa 100 atau 1000! Jadi, tiap hari yang dipikir ya itu tadi. How to make myself better today or how to improve myself! Yah, baik saya maupun teman saya pernah merasakan keduanya. Hehehehe.
Duh, hidup di kota kecil saja seperti ini! Gimana kabar Jakarta ya? Mendadak saya merasa takut kalo nanti saya jadi tinggal disana :(. Eh, gimana kehidupan di kota teman-teman? Teman-teman lebih memilih hidup di kota besar atau kota kecil nih? ;)

IMPLIKASI TAYANGAN KEKERASAN DI TV

Tren tawuran dikalangan mahasiswa dan pelajar, seringkali menjadi wabah sosial yang nyaris tidak pernah habis diberitakan di media massa. Alasan saling berbaku hantam pun terkadang sangat sederhana dan tidak masuk akal; gara-gara rebutan pacar, senggolan dijalan antar pelajar, saling ejek tanpa alasan, hingga musuh bebuyutan antar universitas, atau bahkan antar fakultas di Universitas yang sama.

Tapi dampaknya sangat luar biasa, beberapa pelajar atau mahasiswa tewas akibat terkena lemparan batu atau tikaman senjata tajam, beberapa sekolah atau kampus rusak akibat amukan massa atau bahkan ada yang terbakar akibat bom molotov. Motif kecil tapi berdampak sangat besar, tentunya merupakan wacana sosial yang harus mulai dipelajari dan dicari solusinya.

Akar masalah pun sangat kompleks, beragam kondisi sosial dituduh sebagai penyebabnya; ada yang menyalahkan kelompok tertentu yang dianggap sebagai provokator, ada yang menunjuk alasan kondisi keluarga pelaku yang berantakan, atau mencuplik teori bahwa kekerasan adalah hal yang wajar terjadi dalam kondisi masyarakat dengan ekonomi yang sulit.

Tapi mungkinkah seorang pelajar atau mahasiswa yang notabene berasal dari keluarga harmonis, secara ekonomi mapan, bahkan secara intelektual pun sebenarnya cukup meyakinkan, bisa terlibat dalam tindakan anarkis???

Pelajar atau mahasiswa termasuk dalam kategori anak normal, dalam artian secara umum punya visi untuk berkembang dan maju, punya latar pendidikan yang cukup bagus, dan secara normative tidak mengalami gangguan sosial yang tinggi. Ada satu penelitian menarik dari Robert Liebert (1972), yang menyimpulkan bahwa tayangan kekerasan di televisi mungkin membantu menyebabkan perilaku agresif dari banyak “anak normal”.

Sebuah riset di Amerika, menganalis bahwa banyaknya tayangan kekerasan di televisi membuat seorang anak pada usia menjelang 12 tahun, rata-rata anak telah akan menyaksikan 101.000 episode kekerasan di televisi, termasuk 13.400 kematian (standfield, 1973). Riset seperti ini (mungkin) belum pernah dilakukan di Indonesia, tapi jika menghitung banyaknya program yang bernuansa kekerasan di TV nasional, bukan tidak mungkin bahwa angka yang cenderung sama, mungkin saja terjadi.

Tingkat kekerasan pada remaja di Indonesia, entah itu tawuran, bullying, atau pemerasan antar teman, rawan terjadi pada tingkat pelajar SMP ke atas. Banyaknya memori kekerasan yang tersimpan di otak, membuat para remaja ini bersifat sangat permisif terhadap kekerasan yang terjadi di lingkungannya. Bahkan terkadang sangat agresif, sebagai contoh, banyak diberitakan di media massa, seorang pelajar SMP yang menusuk rekannya sendiri sampai tewas, gara2 menginginkan HP korban. Ini tentu sangat ironis.


Tayangan Kejahatan Tanpa Hukuman
Pernahkah anda menghitung, lebih banyak mana tayangan berita peristiwa kekerasan dibanding tayangan berita tentang hukuman yang diterima pelaku?? Pastinya tayangan berita peristiwa sebuah kekerasan jauh lebih banyak. Bagi televisi yang mengandalkan “gambar” untuk menarik pemirsanya, sebuah adegan peristiwa akan jauh menarik dibanding sidang pengadilan untuk sebuah kasus. Demikian pula jika kita menonton sebuah film atau sinetron, pernahkah melihat alur cerita tentang kehidupan antagonis di penjara sebagai balasan atas tindak kejahatannya. Tentunya sangat jarang. Sebuah kisah fiktif konflik, biasanya diakhiri dengan “ending cerita” yang singkat, tanpa pernah menggambarkan secara detil hukuman si antagonis.

Atau contoh paling sederhana adalah kartun Tom & Jerry yang penuh dengan adegan jahil dengan bumbu kekerasan tanpa rasa berdosa, dimana kedua tokoh kartun sering saling beradu strategi untuk bisa menyakiti lawannya, ternyata bisa menginspirasi anak untuk bertindak permisif terhadap kekerasan oleh dirinya. Kartun tersebut seolah mengajarkan bahwa si tokoh boleh berbuat jahat, toh lawannya akan hidup kembali dan tidak ada hukuman bagi tindak kekerasan itu sendiri.

Dalam sebuah riset terhadap tayangan kekerasan di televisi, menemukan fakta bahwa sangat sedikit tayangan kekerasan yang menunjukkan konsekuensi kekerasan jangka panjang, bahwa sebagian besar adegan kekerasan menunjukkan kekerasan itu tidak dihukum, dan bahwa sebagian interaksi kekerasan tidak menunjukkan kepedihan atau konsekuensi kekerasan negatif jangka panjang (National Television Study, 1996)

Berita tentang peristiwa tawuran antara mahasiswa YAI dan UKI di Salemba, Jakarta hingga mengakibatkan kebakaran beberapa bagian kampus akibat bom molotov, membuat beberapa mahasiswa yang dianggap sebagai pelaku kejahatan ditangkap polisi, tapi pemberitaan mengenai kelanjutan hukuman bagi para pelaku, nyaris tidak terekspose lagi. Sebagian tergeser isu-isu baru yang lebih ramai, sebagian media mungkin menganggap bahwa hal itu sudah tidak menarik lagi. Akibatnya masyarakat menganggap bahwa para pelaku kekerasan ini (mungkin) tidak mendapat hukuman atas kejahatannya.

Salah satu cara mengurangi dampak tersebut, peneliti National Television Study menyarankan agar produser lebih kreatif dalam menunjukkan lebih banyak tindak kekerasan yang dihukum, lebih banyak konsekuensi negatif dari tindak kekerasan dan lebih banyak alternatif pada penggunaan kekerasan dalam memecahkan masalah.


Beberapa Hipotesis
Dalam bukunya, Werner J. Severin dan James W. Tankard, Jr menyatakan bahwa ada beberapa hipotesis sehubungan dengan kemungkinan dampak tayangan kekerasan di televisi pada perilaku manusia.
Hipotesis katarsis, menyatakan bahwa menyaksikan tayangan kekerasan di televisi menyebabkan pengurangan dorongan agresif melalui ekspresi perilaku permusuhan yang dialami orang lain.
Hipotesis rangsangan, memprediksikan bahwa menyaksikan tayangan kekerasan menyebabkan peningkatan dalam perilaku agresif yang sesungguhnya.
Hipotesis menirukan atau mencontoh, menyatakan bahwa orang mempelajari perilaku agresif dari televisi dan kemudian mereproduksi perilaku itu.
Hipotesis kehilangan kendali diri, menyatakan bahwa televisi menurunkan rasa segan orang untuk berperilaku agresif terhadap orang lain.

Apabila hipotesis diatas benar, maka tayangan kekerasan di televisi mungkin mengajarkan norma umum bahwa kekerasan adalah cara yang dapat diterima untuk berhubungan dengan orang lain.

Daftar Pustaka:
Teori Komunikasi ; Sejarah, Metode, dan Terapan di Dalam Media Massa
Oleh Werner J. Severin dan James W. Tankard, Jr

Celesta, 7 Juli 2009

Dwi Firmansyah
http://ruangstudio.blogspot.com
Label: Ruang Ilmu

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1  Definiton of Error and Error Analysis 

 According to Crystal (1980 : 134 – 135) :
“Error is a term used in psycholinguistics referring to mistakes in
spontaneous speaking or writing attributable to a malfunctioning of
the neuromuscular commands from the brain. It is thus distinct
from the traditional notion of error, which was based on the
language user’s ability to conform a set of real or imagined
standards of expression.”

Whereas, for the error analysis, he defines as follows :

“In language teaching and learning, error analysis is techique for
identifying, classifying and systematically interpreting the
mistakes made by someone learning a foreign language, using any
of the principles and procedures provided by linguistics.”

Based on that understandings, I assume that doing or having an error is
related with whether each of human has good understanding or not of knowledge
in their mind and knowledge is an important thing in language learning.
Therefore, the study of error is a part of the investigation of the process of
language learning. It provides us with a picture of the linguistic development of a
learner and may give us the indications as to the learner strategies to understand
the second language. Second Langauge Acquisition (SLA) stands in contrast to
first language acquisiton It is the study of how learners learn an additional
language after they have acquired their mother tongue. The study of language -
learner’s language began with the study of first language (L1) acquisition. The
process of language learning is similar to other process of human learning as
Brown sites (1980 : 164) in Puspita’s thesis (2004 : 17) as follows :
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“Human learning is fundamentally a process that involves the
making of mistakes. Mistakes, misjudgements, miscalculations,
and erroneous assumptions form an important aspect of learning
virtually any skill or acquiring information. You learn to swim by
first jumping into the water and flailing arms and legs until you
discover that there is a combination of movements that succeeds in
keeping you afloat and propelling you through the water. The first
mistakes of learning to swim are giant ones, gradually diminishing
as you learn from making those mistakes. By using mistakes to
obtain feedback from the environment and with that feedback to
make new attempts which successfully more closely approximate
desired goals.”

If a child learns his first language, he will make countless “mistakes” from the
point of view of adult grammatical language. Many of these mistakes are logical
in the limited linguistic system within which the child operates, but by carefully
processing feedback from others the child slowly but surely learns to produce
what is acceptable spech in his native language. One of the factors which
influence how succesful a person in learning a second language is the person’s
ability to learn, notably intelligence and a set of more specific language – learning
abilities. Here the ability concerns with :
a. the ability to discriminate sounds to store auditory data over something
longer than a few seconds.
b. the ability to recognize the grammatical functions of words and sentences.
c. the ability to memorize materials, whether meaningful or meaningless.
d. the ability to infer linguistic patterns from new linguistic contexts.
Native speaker very frequently produce ill – produced utterances. By
definitions, these cannot be the result of an imperfect knowledge of the language
or an imperfect competence. The characteristic of native speaker’s errors is that
when noticed by speaker or hearer they are usually readily correctable by the
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speaker. Such error 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. Some ill – formed utterance appear to be false false starts or
restructurings of what the speaker want to say.
Errors are the important source of information about Second Language
Acquisition (SLA) because errors demonstrate conclusively that learners do not
simply memorize target language rules and then reproduce them in their own
utterances. 
Errors of appropriateness may however, be generally classified into :
a. referential errors, where the speaker use a term with the intention of
referring to some feature of the world to which it is conventionally
inacapplicable, for example : when he calls a hat  a cap
b. registers errors, where for example in naval context the speaker refers to
a naval ship
  a boat
c. social errors, where the speaker selects form which are inappropriate to
his or her social relations with his hearer, as when a pupil greets his
teacher with : well, how are we today, old man ?
d. textual errors, when the speaker does not select the structurally correct
form to show the intended relation between two sentences in a discourse,
as for example in answer to the question : who is the man over there ? 
Jhon is
Error analysis is the investigation of learner errors whcih are not systematic in
any simple way. Error analysis indicate that learners construct their own rules on
the basis of input data, and that in some instances at least these rules differ from
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those of the target language. Ellis (1985 : 9) remarks that it is rare that a learner
produces the same error in all contexts of use . It is much more likely that a
learner produces an error in some context but not in others. So, error analysis is
the fact that the learners do make errors and these errors can be observed,
analyzed, and classified to reveal something of the system operating within the
learner, led to a surge of study of learner’s errors.

2.1.2 Error, Mistake, and Lapse
There are many differences between mistake and error. The mistake (1973
: 280) refer to a performance error that is a failure to utilize a known system
correctly by the native speakers; resulting from memory mistakes, physical
condition, such as tiredness and psychological condition, such as strong emotion.
Mistake is also characterized as unsystematic deviation or inconsistent deviation.
In this case the learner has been taught the right form of the language, sometimes
the learner ‘gets it right’ but sometimes he makes a mistake and uses the wrong
form. 
Tarigan and tarigan (1995 : 75 – 76) support and add Corder’s thoery of
error and mistake as follows :
Istilah kesalahan (error) dan kekeliruan (mistake) dalam
pengajaran bahasa dibedakan yakni penyimpangan dalam
pemakaian bahasa. Kekeliruan pada umumnya disebabkan oleh
faktor performansi. Keterbatasan dalam mengingat sesuatu atau
kelupaan menyebabkan kekeliruan dalam melafalkan bunyi bahasa,
kata, urutan kata, tekanan kata atau kalimat, dan sebagainya.
Kekeliruan ini bersifat acak, artinya dapat terjadi pada setiap
tataran linguistik. Kekeliruan ini biasanya dapat diperbaiki oleh
para siswa sendiri bila yang bersangkutan lebih mawas diri, lebih
sadar, atau memusatkan perhatian. Siswa sebenarnya sudah
mengetahui sistem linguistik bahasa yang digunakannya, namun
karena sesuatu hal dia lupa akan sistem tersebut. Kelupaan ini
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biasanya tidak lama, karena itu pula, kekeliruan tiu sendiri tidak
bersifat lama.
Sebaliknya, kesalahan disebabkan oleh faktor performansi.
Artinya, siswa memang belum memahami sistem linguitik bahasa
yang digunakannya. Kesalahan bahasa biasanya terjadi secara
konsisten, jadi, secara sistematis. Kesalahan itu dapat berlangsung
lama apabila tidak diperbaiki. Perbaikan biasanya dilakukan oleh
guru, misalnya melalui pengajaran remedial, latihan, praktek, dan
sebagainya. Sering dikatakan bahwa kesalahan merupakan
gambaran terhadap pemahaman siswa akan sistem bahasa yang
sedang dipelajarinya. Bila tahap pemahaman siswa akan sistem
bahasa yang sedang dipelajarinya ternyata kurang maka kesalahan
sering terjadi, dan kesalahan akan berkurang apabila tahap
pemahaman semkain meningkat.

 An English learner who have been taught the use of English verb and
make an overgeneralization as to the auxiliary verb such as may
. He says, Bob
mays go, She will come, etc indicating that the learner has not distinguished
modals from other verbs, we may indicate this feature as error of the student.
However, in one or two occasions, he says, Bob mays go
, but on another
occasions says Bob may go, we may indicate that the learner committing a
mistake.
 Error which refers to error of competence or systematic error is a
systematic deviation, when a leatner has not learnt something and consistently
“gets it wrong”, as an error. For instance, a child acquiring his own language
sometimes make the same error, in the same way when a learner of English makes
an error. Systematically, it because he has not learnt the correct form until he has
been told otherwise, or until he notices that the native speakers of the language
that he is learning do not produce this form, he will produce this quite consistenly
as the native speakers do.
Acording to Corder (1973 : 257 – 258), lapses or native speaker’ slips of
the tongue are a field of reserch at the present time since it is believed that they
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will yield important evidence about how utterances are planned or executed. This
is part of the psycho – linguistic and neuro – linguistic research into language
performance. Native speakers, then, frequently make slips or false starts or
confusions of structure. These slips aspeaker makes are of several sorts; one is
changes of plan, when he starts an utterance, breaks off, and starts another one
with a different structure. For example : 
that . . . 
It’s a bit – it hasn’t – I mean, I wouldn’t really care to have one just like
He may convert one structure into another withour breaking off. These mistakes
have been called ‘syntactic blends’. Here is an example from a ‘Letter to the
editor’ :
One wonders . . . why this country should support foreigners in our
already overcrowded prisons . . . for the non – payment of fines of
which they had no opportunity to pay.

The redundant of appears to arise from a confusion of two constructions :
 . . . no opportunity of paying
 . . . no opportunity to pay

Then, there are ‘slips of the tongue’ or ‘slips of the pen’. These are the subject of
investigation at the present time by linguists interested in language performance.
Typical of such slips are the substitution, transposition or omission of some
segment of an utterance, such as speecg sound, a morpheme, a word or even a
phrase. Here are some examples :
It didn’t bother me in the sleast . . . slightest
But those frunds . . . funds have been frozen
. . . of Peester Ustinov

The object of these investigations is to discover the patterns of regularity
in these lips, what the ‘rules’ for making slips are. 
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Since many of these lapses seem to increase in frequency under conditions
of stress, indecision and fatigue, it is to be presumed that the second language
learner will demonstrate similar lapses in performance, where all these conditions
are likely to be more pronounced. It may not always be easy to distinguish such
lapses, slips and mistakes of performance from errors arising from an imperfect
competence in the target language.

2.1.3 Errors in Writing
Writing is an important aspect of English language learning. Having
writing skills are useful for human being to make good and smooth
communication. Communication that involves writing skill consists two forms,
they are, informal written communications, like emails, notes on dairy, privacy
letters, etc, and formal written communication, such as, business letter writing,
professional report writing, academica writing, scientific writing, etc. For each of
these forms, there are certain convention to make it far away from some kinds of
errors. People should know the use of the appropriate style and language and
structure their writing so as to organize effectively and link their ideas. For
instance, in professional report writing or business letter writing, writing a good
business document is a craft, not an art. It requires skill, not just talent, and skills
can be learnt. Any report written carries the company’s name on the front sheet.
Therefore, the standard of writing within the report is a reflection on the
company’s reputation. The report may also contain recommendations. To give
weight to these, a polished writing style need to be developed. Besides that, it is
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important utilize letter writing conventions such as standard layout and accepted
openings and closings.
Recent development in English Language teaching has seen a shift in
focus from teaching individual components such as reading, writing, speaking,
and grammar toward teaching these components integratively as they are being
used in daily communication. This change in methodological approach
subsequently affects the way teachers perceive learners' errors in writing.
Teachers no longer view errors only as those which affect discreet grammatical,
lexical, or structural items but also as errors that affect a written text. In other
words, teachers today are also concerned about a particular piece of writing
communicating effectively and meaningfully by means of its unity coherence and
its conforming to the expectations of its prospective readers. 
Pilus’ experience in teaching writing to pre-university students and
undergraduates at the International Islamic University, Malaysia from
shttp://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol34/no3/p44.htm shows that incoherence
is a recurring problem in the students' writing and can be a major obstacle to their
success in writing classes. She finds that there are just two of the comments
written on students' papers, they are, "I cannot follow your argument" and "I don't
understand what you are saying" to indicate the inability of the papers to be
understood by their teachers. Unfortunately, unlike grammatical errors which can
be easily corrected, errors in coherence are often more difficult to handle as they
involve a chunk of units, such as a series of sentences or paragraphs. Because of
the difficulties in correcting errors, students sometimes do not get sufficient
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insights into their errors. Teachers find it impractical to correct the whole
erroneous section.
2.1.4  Errors in Students’ Writing
 Students’s writing at the graduate level need to master specific writing
tasks, such as summarizing, paraphrasing, and critiquing the work of others.
These tasks are designed to help students understand and execute such tasks since
they play an important role in a variety of wriitng projects, from short papers to
theses. These tasks that require good skills are the continuation of the previous
learning of writing subject that students take from their school such as from their
senior high school. From senior high school, students need to demonstrate their
skills in such forms of writing for creative and imaginative texts such as essays,
short stories, poetry, and drama and for persuasive and informative texts such as
reports, proposal, memoranda, and so on. Students are expected to apply
effectively the conventions of usage and the mechanics of written English in order
that they are able to set and develop their ideas in their mind to produce good
writing. 
Talking about the students’ error in writing, according to Swales and Feak
from www. sgs. utoronto. ca
 / english / coursedescriptions. asphtt  the most
common errors that the students make are grammatical errors, such as lack of
maintaining subject – verb agreement, lack of mastering the use of verb tenses,
using article errors, using relative clauses incorrectly, using direct and indirect
questions ineffectively, using incorrect or vague pronoun references, and paying
no atention to avoid punctuation errors, and so on. 
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 To support Swales’ and Feak’s idea, I will insert the examples of students’
errors in writing that are sited by Oshima and Hogue (1999 : 260 – 261) as follow
:
The use of Incorrect / Error Correct
Punctuation
I live. And go to school here.
Where do you work.
Word missing
I working in a restaurant.

Capitalization
It is located at main and
baker streets in the City.
verb tense
I never work as a cashier
subject – verb
agreement
make one word
or sentence
until I get a job there.
The manager work hard.
There is five employees.
Every one
 works hard.
We work together. So
 we
have become friends.
Spelling
The maneger
 is a woman.

Plural
She treats her employees like
unnecessary
word
slave
.
My boss she
watches
everyone all the time.
I live and go to school here.
Where do you work ?
I am working in a restaurant.
It is located at Main and
Baker Streets in the city.
I had never worked as a
cashier until I got a job
there.
The manager works hard.
There are five employees.
Everyone works hard.
We work together, so we
have become friends.
The manager is a woman.
She treats her employees like
slaves.
My boss watches everyone
all the time.
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wr
ong word form
Her voice is irritated.
 Her voice is irritating.
wrong word
The food is delicious.
pronoun
reference error
wrong word
order
Besides,
 the restaurant is
always crowded.
The restaurant’s specialty is
fish. They are always fresh.
The food is delicious.
Therefore, it
 always
crowded.
Friday always is
 our buisest
night.

The food is delicious.
Therefore, the restaurant is
always crowded.
The restaurant’s specialty is
fish. It is always fresh.
The food is delicious.
Therefore, the restaurant is
always crowded.
Friday is always our busiest
night.
run – on
Lily was fired she is upset Lily was fired, so she is
comma splice
(incorrectly
joined
independent
clauses)
fragment 
(incomplete
sentence)
upset.
Lily was fired; therefore, she
is upset.
Lily was fired, she is upset. Because Lily was fired, she
She was fired. Because she
was always late.
is upset.
Lily is upset because she
was fired.
She was fired because she
always late.
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add a transition
She was also careless. She
frequently spilled coffee on
the table.
Subject
Is open from 6:00 P.M. until
the last customer leaves.
Verb
The employees on time and
work hard.
Preposition
We start serving dinner 6:00
P.M.
Conjuction
The garlic shrimp, fried
clams, broiled lobster are the
most popular dishes.
Article
Diners expect glass of water
when they first sit down at
table.

2.2 An Overview of Organization in Writing
She was also careless. For
example, she frequently
spilled coffe on the table.
The restaurant is open from
6:00 P.M. until the last
customer leaves.
The employees are on time
and work hard.
We start serving dinner at
6:00 P.M.
The garlic shrimp, fried
clams, and broiled lobster
are the most popular dishes.
Diners expect a glass of
water when they first sit
down at the table.
Writing is a process of forming a text as a communicative bridge between the
reader and the writer. Learning to write is an indispensable part of language
learning and can reinforce language learning. Without learning to do so, we
cannot have affective acquisiton of a language. With awareness of this necessity,
writing is receiving more and more attention in English teaching .
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Remembering that good prose must have not only grammatical correctness
but unity, coherence, and emphasis as well, and further that the paragraph may be
thought of as the whole work in miniature, we who want to start to write will
concentrate on producing paragraph (s) that satisfy (ies) the acknowledged
requirements.
2.2.1 Paragraph  and its Three Parts
A paragraph has three major structural parts: a topic sentence, supporting
sentences, and a concluding sentence.
The topic sentence states the main idea of the paragraph. It not only
names the topic of the paragraph, but it also limits the topic to one or two areas
that can be discussed completely in the space of a single paragraph. The specific
areas is called the controlling idea.  For example :
Topic     (Topic)     (Controlling idea)
Sentence   Gold
, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics.
 In addition, Oshima and Hague state that the topic sentence is a complete
sentence (1999 : 20 - 21) and it is usually (but not always) the first sentence in the
paragraph.From this topic sentencee, a writer can see what information to include
and what information to exclude and the reader can see what the paragraph is
going to be about.
 There are three important points to remember about the topic sentence :
1. A topic sentence is a complete sentence, that is, it contains a subject, a
verb, and (usually) a complement. The following are not complete
sentences :
Driving on freeways.
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How to register for college classes.
2. A topic sentence contains both a topic and a controlling idea. It names the
topic and then limits the topic to a specific area to be discussed in the
space of a single paragraph.
The following examples show how a topic sentence states both the topic
and the controlling idea in a complete sentence :
 Driving on freeways requires skill and alertness.
 Register for college classes can be a frustrating experience for new
students.

3. A topic sentence gives only the main idea. Therefore, it is the most general
statement in the paragraph. It does not give any specific idea.
This is an example of a general statement that could serve as a topic
sentence :
Good  The Arabic origin of many English words is not always
obvious.

This sentence, on the other hand, is too specific to serve as a topic
sentence :
Too specific The slang expression “so long” (meaning goodbye) is
probably a
  Corruption of the Arabic “salaam”.

Supporting sentences develop the topic sentence. That is, they explain the
topic sentence by giving reasons, examples, facts, statistics, and quotations. For
example, from the example of gold that Oshima and Hague insert in their book
(1999 : 17), there are some of the supporting sentences that explain the topic
sentence about gold, they are :
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First of all, gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to corrosion. For
example, a macedonian coin remains as untarnished today as the day it
was minted twenty – three centuries ago. Another important characteristic
of gold is its usefulness to industry and science. The most recent use of
gold is in astronauts’ suits.
The concluding sentence signals the end of the paragraph and leaves the
reader with important points to remember. For example :
utility.
In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for its beauty, but also for its
2.2.2 Unity
Unity means that there is a concentration on the explanation of the purpose
of writing topic idea in a paragraph. There are no irrelevant sentences ot the
sentences that are developed in a paragraph. As readers move into a paragraph,
they need to know where they are, in relation to the whole essay, and what to
expect in the sentences to come. In a well – unified paragraph, there is a
foundation on which to build with a topic sentence and main sentences which
clearly support the controlling idea. By means of secondary sentences, a main idea
may be elaborated with specific details, illustrations, or personal observations,
always provided that every secondary sentence does clearly illuminate the main
sentence with which is used, and further, that it preserves the meaning and
purpose of the paragraph as a whole as set forth by the controlling.idea.
An example of paragraph that lacks of unity that is represented by Pilus
from her student in Malysia at
http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/
vols/vol34/no3/p44.htm :
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OUR LIFE IS BETTER WITHOUT AUTOMOBILES

 Apart from expenditure and environment, life without automobiles will
decrease the number of road casualties. A country like Denmark where people of
all generations ride on bicycles in the city has proven it. The road casualties could
be decreased by not using automobiles. Furthermore, road accidents that are
caused by bicycles have lesser degrees of serious injury. On the other hand, if a
collision happens, for example, between a car and a lorry, the possibility of death,
major injuries and handicap is higher. It is also known that the rate of road
accidents excessively increases during major festivals such as Hari Raya, Chinese
New Year, and school vacation. These examples clearly show that how
automobiles can turn our lives into miserable ones.

Explanation : In the above paragraph, the Pilus’s student inserts information (the
rate of accident is higher during festivals) which is of no direct relevance to the
topic being discussed. The digression diverts the reader's attention from the main
idea for a while. In that sense, it is a problem because there is a lack of unity in
points which requires extra effort on the reader's part to review the paragraph for a
better understanding. So, this sentence should be erased in order to become
paragraph which has good unity:

OUR LIFE IS BETTER WITHOUT AUTOMOBILES

 Apart from expenditure and environment, life without automobiles will
decrease the number of road casualties. A country like Denmark where people of
all generations ride on bicycles in the city has proven it. The road casualties could
be decreased by not using automobiles. Furthermore, road accidents that are
caused by bicycles have lesser degrees of serious injury. On the other hand, if a
collision happens, for example, between a car and a lorry, the possibility of death,
major injuries and handicap is higher. These examples clearly show that how
automobiles can turn our lives into miserable ones. 
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2.2.2.1 Topic and Controlling Idea
Basen on Oshima’s and Hague’s idea (1999 : 23), a topic sentence has two
essential parts : the topic and the controlling idea. The topic names the subject, or
main idea, of the paragraph. The controlling idea makes a specific comment about
the topic, which indicates what the rest of the paragraph will say about the topic. It
limits or controls the topic to a specific aspect of the topic to be discussed in the
space of a single paragraph. As the examples :
1.)        TOPIC     CONTROLLING IDEA
Convenience foods
 are easy to prepare.
 From that example, the topic is named : convenience foods. A specific
comment is then made about the topic : they are easy to prepare. From this
sentenc, the reader should immediately knows that the supporting sentences in the
remainder of the paragraphwill explain or prove how quick and easy it is to
prepare convenience foods and perhaps give some examples (frozen dinners,
canned soups, etc.)
2.) TOPIC       CONTROLLING IDEA
 The average American teenager
 consumes enormous quantities of junk
food.
 In this example, the topic is the average American teenager. The
controlling idea about the topic states that the American teenager eats junk food.
Thus, the rest of the paragraph should discuss the quantities and types of junk
food that American teenagers eat (soft drink, potato chips, candy bars, etc.)


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2.2.2.2 Relevant Sentences
The second part of unity is that every supporting sentence must directly
explain or prove the main idea that is stated in the topic sentence. Do not include
any information that does not directly support the topic sentence. These are called
relevant studies. Sometimes studnets write supporting sentences that are “off the
topic”. These are called irrelevant sentences.
For example, if someone are writing a paragraph about the high cost of sollege
tuition, he could mention inflation as a factor. However, if he writes several
sentences about inflation, he are getting off the topic, and his paragraph will not
have unity.

2.2.3 Coherence
A paragraph is said to be coherent when sentences in the paragraph flow
from one to another without discrenible bumps, gaps, or shifts. Necessary to the
coherence of the paragraph is order. If the reader is to be able to follow and to
understand the points that are being made, he or she must be led along in an
orderly fashion. Arrangement of the material according to a specific plan, such as
enumerative, chronological, spatial, logical, climatic, general to particular,
particular to general, or some combination of two of these, repetition of key words
to keep main ideas before the reader, provision of transitional expression to lead
from sentence to sentence, use of parallel construction to express ideas of like
value. All are valuable aids to coherence.

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2.2.3.1  Repetition of Key Nouns
Repetition of key nouns is an important technique for gaining coherence,
because if too much information seems new, a paragraph will be hard to read.
2.2.3.2 Consistent Pronouns
Oshima and Hague remarks that (1999 : 42) when we use pronouns instead
of key nouns, make sure that we use the same person and number throughout his
or her paragraph. Do not change from you to he or she (change of person), or from
he to they (change of number). But, there is no fixed rule about how often to
repeat key nouns or when to substitute pronouns. At the very least, it is important
to repeat a key noun instead of using a pronoun when the meaning is not clear.
As the examples from the previous chapter (chapter I) about two
models of paragraph coherence and without with coherence, the second
paragraph is paragraph without coherence because throughout the paragraph, the
word gold has been replaced by pronouns, making the paragraph much less
coherent; whereas, in the first paragraph which is coherent paragraph contains the
noun gold seven times, the pronoun it twice, and the pronoun its three times.
2.2.3.3 Transition Signals
In Oshima and Hague’s theory (1999 : 43 -  47), transition signals are
words such as first, second, next, finally, therefore, and however, or phrases such
as in conclusion, on the other hand, and as a result. Transition signals are traffic
signs that tell your reader when to go forward, turn, slow down, and stop.
Transition signals tell the reader when a writer is giving a similar idea (similarly,
moreover, furthermore, in addition), an opposite idea (on the other hand,
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however, in contrast), an example (for example), a result (as a result), or a
conclusion (in conclusion). For example : Paragraph 1 without transition
signals
A difference among the world’s seas and oceans is that the salinity varies
in different climate zones. The Baltic Sea in Northern Europe is only one – fourth
as saline as the Red Sea in the Middle East. There are reasons for this. In warm
climates, water evaporates rapidly. The concentration of salt is greater. The
surrounding land is dry and does not contribute much fresh water to dilute the
salty sea water. In cold climate zones, water evaporates slowly. The runoff created
by melting snow adds a considerable amount of fresh water to dilute the saline sea
water.

Paragraph 2 with contains transition signals

 Another difference among the world’s seas and oceans is that the
salinity varies in different climate zones. For example, the Baltic Sea in Northern
Europe is only one – fourth as saline as the Red Sea in the Middle East. There are
reasons for this. First of all, in warm climates, water evaporates rapidly;
therefore, the concentration of salt is greater. Second, the surrounding land is dry
and does not contribute much fresh water to dilute the salty sea water. In cold
climate zones, water evaporates slowly. Furthermore, the runoff created by
melting snow adds a considerable amount of fresh water to dilute the saline sea
water.

Explanation : Paragraph 2 is more coherent because it contains transition signals.
Each transition signal has a special meaning. Each shows how the following
sentence relates to the preceding one.
 Another tells the reader that this paragraph is part of a longer essay.
 For example tells the reader that an example of the preceding idea is
coming.
 Two tells the reader to look for two different reasons.
 First of all tells the reader that this is the first reason.
 Second and furthermore indicate that additional ideas are coming.
 Therefore and consequently indicate that the second statement is a result
of the first statement.
 On the other hand tells the reader that an opposite idea is coming.

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Note : We should not use a transition signal in front of every sentence in a
paragraph. Using too many transition signals can be just as confusing as using too
few. However, good writing requires that the use of transition signals is enough to
make the relationships among our ideas clear. 

TRANSITION SIGNALS FOR GENERAL USE
TO SHOW ADDITION
and, also, besides, further, furthermore, in addition, moreover, next, too, first,
second
TO GIVE EXAMPLES
for example, for instance, to illustrate, in fact, specifically
TO COMPARE
also, in the same manner, similarly, likewise
TO CONTRAST
but, however, on the other hand, in contrast, nevertheless, still, even though, on
the contrary, yet, although
TO SUMMARIZE OR CONCLUDE
in other words, in short, in summary, in conclusion, to sum up, that is, therefore
TO SHOW TIME
after, as, before, next, during, later, finally, meanwhile, then, when, while,
immediately
TO SHOW PLACE OR DIRECTION
above, below, beyond, farther on, nearby, opposite, close, to the left
TO INDICATE LOGICAL RELATIONSHIP
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if, so, therefore, consequently, thus, as a result, for this reason, since

2.3.1  Theoretical Frameworks
Oshima (1999) in Academic Writing Skills give very well descriptions,
explanations, and examples to be analyzed in writing good paragraph and essay.
According to Oshima, unity can be achieved if there is only one main idea is
discussed and there are every supporting sentence must directly explain or prove
the main idea that is stated in the topic sentence. Whereas, coherence can be
achieved if involving repeating key nouns and using pronouns that refer back to
key nouns, using transition signals to show how one idea is related to the next and
arranging sentences in logical order.  
Hacker’s (2004) in The Bedford Handbook for Writers attends to the
linguistic and social cause of errors and to the effect of effect on readers through
sentence rhetoric and diction to grammar, punctuation, and mechanics. It also puts
the stages of writing process in context, thereby showing students when and how
to revise and edit their drafts.
Creme and Lea (2003) in the second edition of Writing at University : A
Guide for Students which has been a collaborative project in which we have had
to merge ways of writing from our own different disciplinary backgrounds. We
have not always found this essay and so we would like to acknowledge each other
for being supportive at the times when a lot of us confidence in the writing
process was lacking.  
Corder’s idea in Applied Linguistics A : Module (2006 : 125) by Sembiring
and Harefa about error  and error analysis as follow : 
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“The study of error is part of the investigation of the process of
language learning. In this respect it resembles methodologically the
study of the acquisition of their mother tongue. It provides us with
a picture of the linguistic development of a learner and may give us
indications as to the learning strategies. In this respect, error
analysis may prove to be one of the central activities in the
psycholinguistics study of language learning.”

 Ellis (1985) in Understanding Second Language Acquisition remarks that
second language acquisition (SLA) refers to all the aspects of language that the
language learner neds to master. It is the study of how learners learn an additional
language after they have acquired their mother tongue. Errors are evidences of
non – learning, of the failure to overcome proactive inhibition.
2.3.2  Previous Studies
Wiryani, Rita (1993) in her thesis entitled “An Error Analysis of
Indonesian Students in Writing English”. It is a case study of the third year
students of SMP Sutomo Medan in making the errors of spelling, structural usage,
and vocabulary. Its discussion of error analysis is made to show the causal factors
of the errors and how the errors may happen in students’ writing. As the
conclusion, she concluded that in general, Indonesian students tend to make three
cases of errors in writing English, namely spelling, structural usage, and
vocabulary errors. Based on Corder’s theory, the reason that they usually make
errors in writing is the wider differences between Indonesian as the native
language and English as the language to be learned. So, these differences cause
interference (they usually carry over the speech habit of their native language into
a second language), over-genaralization (they create a deviant structure on the
basis of their experience of other structures in the target language) and ignorance
(they fail to observe the restrictions of existing structures) in learning English. In
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her thesis, she found that the students of SMP Sutomo make more errors in
structural usage than ther cases.
Lubis, Lismaya (2007) in her thesis entitled “An Analysis of
Morphological Errors in Senior High School’s Writings : A Case Study of SMU
Panca Budi Medan, English learners in senior high school are potentially making
errors in their second language productions especially in writing. She applied
Gass and Selinker’s theory of steps in conducting an error analysiswhich consists
of collecting the data, identifying errors, classifying errors, quantifying errors,
analysis of source, and remediation (1994) in Second Language Acquisition. In
her thesis, in each writing submitted by the students, the errors that dealt with
morphological errors appear in high level (approximately calculation is 30% for
each type of morphological errors



















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