Abstract
This cross sectional study attempted to provide empirical study on interlanguage sentential negation of Indonesian EFL learners, particularly the dynamic nature viewed from the stages of development and the number of grammatical error types in each stage. The subjects were Indonesian EFL learners, consisting of four groups from different grades. The data were collected through translation test and analyzed using Lightbown & Spada's framework and error analysis framework. The result indicated that the development stages were not in line with Lightbown & Spada, instead they were represented in three stages of development. Its dynamicity was also depicted by the reduction of grammatical error types at each level. The conclusion was that the learners' interlanguage sentential negation was dynamic, developing closer and closer to the target language through three stages. It is suggested that educators not to give pressure to the learners to get things right at the first place. In addition, their instruction should match the learners' stage of development.
Highlights
Interlanguage, the interim grammar formed by learners while learning a second language, is believed to be a halfway house between native language (NL) and target language (TL). Saville-Troike (2012) called it 'transfer', in a sense that it is a transition of prior knowledge from NL to TL, as one of the processes involved in IL development
This study focuses on the EFL interlanguage sentential negation, known as a negative construction
Four aspects discussed are as follows: (1) the sentential negative constructions produced by the learners of low and high beginning levels and low and high intermediate levels, (2) the stage of development of the sentential negative construction, (3) the grammatical error types produced by the learners of low and high beginning levels and low and high intermediate levels, and (4) the dynamicity of the learners’ interlanguage negative construction viewed from the number of error types produced?
Summary
Interlanguage, the interim grammar formed by learners while learning a second language, is believed to be a halfway house between native language (NL) and target language (TL). Saville-Troike (2012) called it 'transfer', in a sense that it is a transition of prior knowledge from NL to TL, as one of the processes involved in IL development. Interlanguage, the interim grammar formed by learners while learning a second language, is believed to be a halfway house between native language (NL) and target language (TL). It is believed that learner errors represent cognitive mechanism used by the learners to determine the TL structure. In the process they create an IL of developmental sequences which often include grammatically incorrect structures. This shows the learner’s true level of understanding of the structures the TL (Lightbown & Spada, 2006). As they receive more linguistic input, they reexamine the structure and revise their idea of the rules and patterns
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