CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

As an international language, English is used by most of the people in the
world. It is getting more important. Many countries use English to communicate
and convey their messages or ideas to others. Therefore, the Indonesian
government has decided that English must be taught officially at school.
English language is the first foreign language in Indonesian schools.
Having studied English, the students are expected to acquire some abilities, and
those are: the ability to listen to English sound, the ability to read and understand
English books, the ability to speak English, and the ability to write in English. We
can call those abilities as Language Skills. Besides the four language skills, they
should have capability in language components. One of the language components
is grammar. The grammar components such as syntax, morphology, and so on
should be acquired by anyone who learns language, so they can use the language
clearly, accurately, and effectively. From the four language skills above, the
students may still have some difficulties in writing a set of sentences in English.
However, Indonesian learners seem to have problem in mastering English
grammar because English and Indonesian language are quite different. This
phenomenon is one of the factors that can trigger students to make errors. The
errors include inter-lingual and intra-lingual errors.1 According to Corder quoted
from Asian esp Journal Inter-lingual error happens because the learners native
language habit (L1)-pattern, system, and rules-interfere to prevent him or her, to
some extent, from acquiring the patterns and rules of the second language. Intra-
lingual error is an error caused by the language being learnt (L2). Thus, error can
be caused by both L1 and L2.2
Errors are not always harmful. Sometimes error is needed for some
purposes. Error can be used as a tool of evaluation for measuring, the mastery of

1
www.asian-esp-journal.com/April_2007_EBook.doc
2
www.asian-esp-journal.com/April_2007_EBook.doc

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language being learnt. In addition, errors can also help the teacher even the
curriculum designer to improve the material given or designed.
In making a good writing in English, students have to know all rules in
writing, not only in general rule but also in a specific rule. The specific rule here
is about sentence. To make a good sentence, students have to pay attention that a
sentence they make is constructed by a complete aspect like subject, verb, and
complement. A construction is not named as a sentence if it has no verb or to be.
When students learn verbs, one of the categories of verb that they will
learn is modal auxiliaries those are: can, could, will, would, shall, should, must,
have to, may, might, had better, and ought to. These auxiliaries are added to the
verb a special semantic component such as expressing ability, possibility,
permission, advice, necessity, lack of necessity, prohibition, asking for assistance,
making logical conclusions, giving instructions, making suggestion, and stating
preferences.
Modal auxiliaries have special grammatical features such as no infinitive
after verb, and have no s after the third singular. Most modal verbs have not
only a grammatical function, but also a dictionary meaning.
The rule is simple enough in theory, but in practice, there might not be as
expected for a number of reasons. One of the reasons of modal auxiliaries errors is
the difficulty to understand the forms of the modal auxiliaries for Indonesian
learners, because Indonesian language does not have modality to express ability,
possibility, probability, etc as English has. The students often go wrong when they
use modal auxiliaries in their writing. Although they have learnt the function of
each modal, they still get difficulties in making sentences with modal.
Here the writer would like to show a number of different errors made by
the second year students of Junior High School on writing sentences by using
modal auxiliaries as follows:
- They must be go to school.
The sentence above is incorrect because students use be after auxiliary
must. The students must not add anything after modal; according to Betty
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Schrampfer Azar modals are followed immediately by simple form of a verb. 3

The correct sentence of this form is:
- They must go to school.

Other error is:

- Anni have to return my book now.

The sentence above is incorrect because students are still influenced by

their mother tongue that has no different form for all subjects. The correct one is:

- Anni has to return my book now.

From all of that case above, the writer wants to point out that the problems
in modal auxiliaries are complex. Then, to solve it, students have to have the more
concentration in learning modal auxiliaries.
In this case, the writer is interested to analyze the errors related to modal
auxiliaries made by Indonesian learners, entitled ERROR ANALYSIS ON
USING MODAL AUXILIARIES MUST AND HAVE TO OF THE SECOND
GRADE STUDENTS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL AT MTsN 1
PANDEGLANG. It is because there are many students who still make some
errors in using modal auxiliaries.

B. Limitation of the Study

Referring to the title, the discussion of this study will be focused only on the
students errors in using modal auxiliaries Must and Have to.

C. Formulation of the Problem

Based on the statement of the problem above the formulation of problem of
this study can be formulated as follow:
1. What are the types of errors made by the students in using modal
auxiliaries Must and Have to?
3
Betty Schramfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar 2nd Edition, (New Jersey:
Prentice Hall Regents. 1989), p. 68.
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2. Why did the students make such errors in using modal auxiliaries Must
and Have to?

D. Objective of the Study

This study are intended to know the errors made by the second grade
students of MTsN 1 Pandeglang, analyze the reasons why the students made errors
in using modal auxiliaries Must and Have to.

E. Significance of the Study

The result of the study will be benefit to the English teachers, and other
researchers who are interested in this subject. For the English teachers, this
research may help them to know how well their students ability in using Must
and have to in English sentence. For students, this research may assist them to
use must and have to correctly. For other researchers, the result may serve as
guidelines for the future study related to the subject.