ERROR ANALYSIS ON THE STUDENTS’ CONSTRUCTION OF ENGLISH IRREGULAR PLURAL NOUNS

Achmad Fanani,Mahfudz Fathoni

doi:10.26740/j.v2n2.p79-87

Abstract

In English, the forms of singular nouns commonly different from those of the plural ones. Many students are confused with how to construct the irregular plural noun forms. The formation of irregular plural nouns has complex and unique patterns. This current study aims to get information about the types of errors commonly made by EFL learners in constructing irregular plural nouns and to know how the errors occurred. This study is descriptive qualitative applying error analysis theory. The data were collected by giving the respondents a test consisting of 28 questions on irregular plural construction. The result of analysis shows that the errors made by the respondents can be classified into three types: misformation, addition, and omission. Misformation was the kind of error most respondents made. The error specifically occurred with the nouns that had quite dissimilar plural forms from the singular ones (e.g., foot – feet, goose – geese).

Highlights

There are many errors made by EFL learners when they try to construct English phrases, clauses, or sentences
Complete the plural noun forms of the singular noun forms presented in the left column
Based on the data analysis, it can be inferred that forming plural noun forms, especially irregular plural nouns, is one of the problematic things EFL learners would likely face

Summary

Introduction

Grammar is an essential part of learning a language. Debata (2013) said that knowledge of grammar helps students correct mistakes and increases learners' writing or speaking skills. Students can know how to build and combine words into meaningful clauses and sentences. Despite its importance in language learning, students often have difficulty learning foreign language grammars, including English grammar. In their opinion, learning grammar is very complicated. There are many errors made by EFL learners when they try to construct English phrases, clauses, or sentences. The errors may occur when they speak or write in English

Methods

Results

Conclusion