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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
A STUDY ON THE TEXTUAL FEATURES OF THE NARRATIVE TEXTS

WRITTEN BY THE STUDENTS OF SMU N 2 KLATEN
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Yuanita Dwi Indriawati
Student Number: 031214019
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2008
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A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2008
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A Sarjana Pendidikan Thesis on

Prepared by
Approved by
Date
Drs. Concilianus Laos Mbato, M.A. 12 September 2008
Sponsor
Ch. Lhaksmita Anandari, S. Pd., M. Ed. 12 September 2008

Co-sponsor
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By
YUANITA DWI INDRIAWATI
Defended before the Board of Examiners

on 24 September 2008
and Declared Acceptable
Board of Examiners
Chairperson : A. Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A. __________________
Secretary : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. __________________
Member : Drs. Concilianus Laos Mbato, M.A. __________________
Member : A. Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A. __________________
Member : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. __________________
Yogyakarta, 24 September 2008

Faculty of Teachers Training and Education
Sanata Dharma University
Dean
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to address my gratitude to Jesus Christ for His grace,
love, and guidance. I would accomplish nothing without His blessing. I would
also like to thank my former major sponsor, Drs. P. G. Purba, M.Pd. for his time,
suggestions, and jokes. I am also greatly indebted to my major sponsor, Drs.
Concilianus Laos Mbato, M.A. for his time, suggestions, evaluation and
assistance. I would also like to thank my co-sponsor, Ch. Lhaksmita Anandari,
S.Pd., M.Ed. for her time, suggestions and corrections. I would also like to thank
Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. for her suggestions, comments and corrections.
My appreciation also goes to all the lecturers of the English Language
Education Study Program, to the secretariat staff, Mbak Tari and Mbak Dani, and
to the entire librarian staff who assisted and helped my study in English Language
Education Study Program.
I thank SMU N 2 Klaten for giving me an opportunity to conduct this
study. I would also like to thank the tenth grade English teachers of SMU N 2
Klaten, Ibu Tri Asrini W., Bapak Sudirman, and Ibu Arief for their help and
cooperation. I also thank the students of X B of the 2007/2008 academic year of
SMU N 2 Klaten.
My thankfulness also goes to my family. I thank my father, whose
financial support helped me through these years studying at Sanata Dharma
University. I thank my mother, whose support helped me financially and
encouraged me to finish this thesis. I also thank my elder sister, Yuyun, for the
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inspiration to graduate this year and for the grammar corrections. I also thank my
younger sister, Yenni, for the love and jokes.
I thank my great friends, Mathilda, Dewi and Emma, who are always
there, and also Arum and Nila for their friendship. I am so lucky to get to know
them. I also thank all my friends, whose name I could not mention one by one, in
English Language Education Study Program for letting me have such a great and
fun time in English Language Education Study Program.
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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declared that the thesis, which I wrote, does not contain the works or
part of the works of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the
references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, 24 September 2008
The Writer

031214019
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ABSTRACT
Yuanita Dwi Indriawati. 2008. A Study on the Textual Features of the Narrative
Texts Written by the Students of SMU N 2 KLATEN. Yogyakarta: English
Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.
The latest curriculum named KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan

Pendidikan/ Curriculum at the School Level) shows that senior high school
students should be able to write many genres in English. A genre is the type of a
text. There are many genres, each of which has its own characteristic.
A narrative genre is important for high school students to master. To be
able to write a narrative text, students should understand the narrative text’s
characteristics shown in its textual features. Textual features include generic
structure and linguistic features. The generic structure of a narrative text
comprises orientation, complication and resolution. The linguistic features of a
narrative text comprise relevant vocabulary, past tense, adjective, and time
transition.
This study investigated 1) what textual features the tenth grade students’
narrative texts have and 2) the possible causes of the most frequent errors in
applying the textual features of the tenth grade students’ narrative texts. This
study was a descriptive research. The writer used document analysis to reveal the
narrative texts’ textual features and a survey using questionnaires and interview to
reveal the possible causes of the most frequent errors in applying the textual
features.
The results of this study showed that almost all of the tenth grade students’
narrative texts had generic structure of a narrative text but did not have all
linguistic features of a narrative text. Almost all (96%) of the tenth grade students’
narrative texts had orientation. There were 96% of the narrative texts that had
complications and 92% of the narrative texts that had resolutions. The results of
the research also showed that 36% of the narrative texts had vocabulary that was
relevant to the subject matter. Almost all of the narrative texts (84%) had time
transitions. There were 92% of the narrative texts that had adjectives to describe
setting, characteristic and appearances. In the meantime, there were only 8% of
the narrative texts without erroneous past tense sentences. Thus, the most frequent
errors in applying textual features were errors in applying past tense.
The results of this study also revealed the possible causes of the erroneous
past tense sentences in the tenth grade students’ narrative texts. The tenth grade
students made the errors because 1) there was interlingual transfer; 2) there was
intralingual transfer; 3) the students did not know that they have to apply past
tense; 4) the students did not do enough writing practice; 5) there was the
students’ negative approach toward English; 6) there was the students’ negative
approach toward writing; and 7) there was the students’ carelessness during
developing narrative texts.
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ABSTRAK
Yuanita Dwi Indriawati. 2008. A Study on the Textual Features of the Narrative
Texts Written by the Students of SMU N 2 KLATEN. Yogyakarta: Program Studi
Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Kurikulum terbaru yang dinamakan KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan

Pendidikan/ Curriculum at the School Level), menunjukkan bahwa siswa SMU
harus bisa menulis banyak genre dalam Bahasa Inggris. Genre adalah jenis
karangan. Genre ada banyak jenis, tiap jenisnya mempunyai ciri masing-masing.
Genre narratif penting untuk dikuasai siswa SMU. Agar dapat menulis
teks naratif, siswa harus mengerti ciri dari karangan naratif yang terlihat pada ciri-
ciri tektualnya. Ciri-ciri tekstual tersebut berupa struktur karangan dan ciri-ciri
bahasa. Struktur karangan dari teks naratif teks teridiri atas pembukaan, konflik
dan penyelesaian. Ciri-ciri bahasa karangan naratif terdiri atas penerapan kosakata
yang relevan, past tense, kata sifat dan time transition.
Studi ini meneliti 1) ciri-ciri tekstual yang ada dalam karangan naratif
siswa kelas sepuluh dan 2) penyebab yang mungkin menyebabkan kesalahan
terbanyak yang muncul dalam menerapkan ciri-ciri tekstual karangan naratif
siswa kelas sepuluh tersebut. Studi ini merupakan penelitian deskriptif. Penulis
menggunakan analisa dokumen untuk mengungkapkan ciri-ciri tekstual yang ada
dan menggunakan survey dengan kuesioner dan wawancara untuk mengungkap
kemungkinan penyebab kesalahan yang paling banyak muncul dalam menerapkan
ciri-ciri tekstual.
Hasil studi ini menunjukkan bahwa hampir seluruh karangan siswa kelas
sepuluh mempunyai struktur karangan naratif tetapi tidak mempunyai semua ciri-
ciri bahasa karangan naratif. Hampir seluruh (96%) karangan naratif siswa kelas
sepuluh mempunyai pembukaan. Ada 96% karangan naratif mempunyai konflik
dan 92% karangan naratif mempunyai penyelesaian. Hasil penelitian juga
menunjukkan bahwa 36% karangan naratif menerapkan kosakata yang relevan
dengan pokok persoalan. Dapat juga dilihat bahwa hampir seluruh karangan
naratif (84%) yang mempunyai time transition. Dan juga, ada 92% karangan
naratif yang mempunyai kata sifat untuk menggambarkan setting, karakter dan
penampilan. Sementara itu, hanya ada 8% karangan naratif tanpa kalimat past
tense yang salah. Sehingga, kesalahan yang paling banyak muncul dalam
menerapkan ciri-ciri tekstual dalah kesalahan dalam menerapkan past tense.
Hasil studi ini juga menunjukkan kemungkinan penyebab kesalahan dalam
kalimat past tense yang ada dalam karangan naratif para siswa kelas sepuluh. Para
siswa kelas sepuluh membuat kesalahan karena 1) adanya interlingual transfer; 2)
adanya intralingual transfer; 3) para siswa tidak mengetahui jika mereka harus
menerapkan past tense; 4) para siswa kurang latihan menulis; 5) pendekatan
negatif para siswa terhadap Bahasa Inggris; 6) pendekatan negatif para siswa
terhadap pelajaran menulis; dan 7) Kekurangtelitian para siswa dalam membuat
karangan naratif.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGE .......................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................. iv
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ................................................. vi
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... vii
ABSTRAK .......................................................................................................... viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................. ix
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................ xi
LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study ...................................................................... 1
B. Problem Formulation ............................................................................ 3
C. Problem Limitation ............................................................................... 3
D. Objectives of the Study ......................................................................... 4
E. Benefits of the Study ............................................................................. 4
F. Definition of Terms ............................................................................... 4
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Theoretical Description ......................................................................... 7
1. Developing a Text ........................................................................... 7
2. Applying Textual Features of a Narrative Text .............................. 13
3. A Brief Review of Errors ................................................................ 18
4. Sources of Errors ............................................................................. 20
B. Theoretical Framework ......................................................................... 23
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
A. Research Method .................................................................................. 25
B. Research Participants ............................................................................ 26
C. Research Instruments ............................................................................ 27
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D. Data Gathering Technique .................................................................... 29

E. Data Analysis Technique ...................................................................... 29
F. Research Procedure ............................................................................... 31
CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. The Textual Features of the Students’ Narrative Texts ........................ 34
1. Generic Structure ............................................................................ 35
2. Linguistic Features .......................................................................... 40
B. The Possible Causes of the Errors in Applying Past Tense in
Developing a Narrative Text ................................................................. 47
C. Other Findings ...................................................................................... 60
1. The Students’ and the Teachers’ Different Perception of the
Possible Causes of the Most Frequent Errors in the Students’
Narrative Texts ................................................................................ 60
2. Incomprehensible Sentences in the Students’ Narrative Texts ....... 63
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions ........................................................................................... 66
B. Suggestions ........................................................................................... 67
1. For Further Researchers .................................................................. 68
2. For the Students .............................................................................. 68
3. For the Teachers .............................................................................. 69
REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 70
APPENDICES .................................................................................................. 73
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Generic Structure Checklist .............................................................. 30

Table 3.2 Linguistic Features Checklist ............................................................ 31
Table 4.1 The Students’ Generic Structure of Narrative Texts.......................... 35
Table 4.2 The Students’ Linguistic Features of Narrative Texts ....................... 40
Table 4.3 The Results of the Questionnaire for Students and the
Questionnaire for Teachers ................................................................ 48
Table 4.4 The Students’ and the Teachers’ Different Perception ..................... 61
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1. Narrative Text “Snow White” ...................................................... 73

Appendix 2. Recapitulation of the Results of the Questionnaire
for Students .................................................................................. 74
Appendix 3. The Answers to the Essay Part of the Questionnaire
for Students ................................................................................... 77
Appendix 4. Recapitulation of the Results of the Questionnaire
for Teachers................................................................................... 78
Appendix 5. The Answers to the Essay Part of the Questionnaire
for Teachers .................................................................................. 80
Appendix 6. The Result of the Interview .......................................................... 81
Appendix 7. Student’s Text 1 “Golden Snail” .................................................. 82
Appendix 8. Student’s Text 5 “The Golden Snail” ........................................... 83
Appendix 9. Student’s Text 6 “Sumber Tetek Temple” ................................... 85
Appendix 10. Student’s Text 11 “Cinderella” .................................................. 88
Appendix 11. Student’s Text 12 “Lake Rawa Pening” ..................................... 91
Appendix 12. Student’s Text 13 “Ande-Ande Lumut” ..................................... 92
Appendix 13. Student’s Text 15 “Malin Kundang” .......................................... 94
Appendix 15. Student’s Text 19 “Lara Jongrang” ............................................ 97
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the background of the study, problem formulation,
problem limitation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study and definition of
terms.
A. Background of the Study
Writing is important to master. Writing can be a means of improving
students’ English, especially their reading skill, vocabulary, and grammar.
Hughey, Worthmuth, Hartfiel and Jacobs (1983: 6) state that
Writing is also a means of reinforcing other language skills. … For ESL

students particularly, whose individual needs and goals are highly
variable, writing is an efficient tool to facilitate and reinforce other
language skills. Reading, vocabulary, and grammar skills are employed in
the act of writing.
It is clear that writing is an important skill for students to master as through
writing the students will improve their reading skill, vocabulary, and grammar.
There are many types of texts to write, one of which is narrative text. Vital
concludes “that the genre of narrative should be an important stage in the process
of teaching second languages” (http://www.tau.ac.il/2007). Furthermore, Barthes’
famous assertion in 1966, as cited by Mcquillan (2000: 2), states:
The narratives of the world are numberless. Narrative is first and foremost
a prodigious variety of genre. … Moreover, under this almost infinite
diversity of forms, narrative is present in every age, in every place, in
every society; … and there nowhere is nor has been a group of people
without narrative. … it (narrative) simply there, like life itself.
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Barthes’ assertion makes it clear that a narrative genre is everywhere and
important and that everybody tells narration, reads narration, listens to narration
and writes narration. Thus, writing a narrative genre is important.
Furthermore, there is an interesting fact that, according to the latest
curriculum named KTSP (Curriculum at the School Level), the narrative genre is
taught in class X, XI, and XII of senior high school (SMU) in every semester. It is
clear that narrative genre is important for high school students. It will be also
good for the students to know their difficulties in their beginning semester to
improve their narrative texts in the next semesters. This leads to the importance of
the tenth grade students’ mastering a narrative genre.
To master a narrative genre, the tenth grade students should be able to
apply the textual features of a narrative genre. The Curriculum at the School Level
states that the writing teaching material gradation appears in using vocabulary,
grammar, and rhetorical steps (generic structure) to produce certain form of text.
It means that to develop a good narrative text, the students should apply the right
rhetorical steps or generic structure and linguistic features that comprise
vocabulary and grammar. In this study, these generic structure and linguistic
features are termed as textual features. Thus, the tenth grade student’s textual
features of the narrative text became the focus of this study.
While doing her teaching practice in SMA GAMA Yogyakarta, the writer
found that developing a narrative text was a difficult activity for the tenth grade
students. The writer was interested whether the other tenth grade students in other
school had difficulties in developing a narrative text. Talking to some of the tenth
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grade English teachers of SMU N 2 Klaten, the writer found that the students often
had difficulties in writing, including writing a narrative text. Moreover, SMU N 2
Klaten was accessible to the writer. Therefore, the writer conducted a study on the
tenth grade students’ textual features of narrative texts in SMU N 2 Klaten.
B. Problem Formulation
In this study, the writer intended to answer these questions:
1. What textual features do the tenth grade students’ narrative texts have?
2. What are the possible causes of the most frequent errors in the textual features
of the tenth grade students’ narrative texts?
C. Problem Limitation
The participants of this study are the tenth grade students of the 2007/2008
academic year of SMU N 2 Klaten. Therefore, the results of this study do not
represent the textual features written by other students of any grade in the school.
SMU N 2 Klaten is chosen because it is accessible for the writer. Meanwhile, the
tenth grade students are chosen because it would be good for the students to know
their difficulties in their beginning semester to improve their narrative texts in the
next semesters.
This study only focuses on the students’ textual features. The textual
features that are described in this study do not take punctuation, spelling,
handwriting, and paralinguistic features of the students’ text into account. This
study only describes the textual features of a narrative text that characterize a
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narrative genre. The textual features that characterize a narrative genre comprise
generic structure and linguistic features.
D. Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are:
1. investigating the tenth grade students’ textual features of a narrative text.
2. investigating the possible causes of the most frequent errors in the textual
features of the tenth grade students’ narrative texts.
E. Benefits of the Study
Teachers are expected to gain the benefit of this study as they will know
the difficulties that occur in developing a narrative text among their students, so
that they might adjust their teaching-learning activities to benefit more. Students
are also expected to gain the benefit of this study as they will be aware of their
mastery of textual features of a narrative text. This study presented the students’
textual features of narrative texts so that students might know their textual
features errors and have the chance to correct them.
F. Definition of Terms
For the purpose of this study, it is necessary to define the terms that are
used to avoid misinterpretation.
1. A narrative text
Bal (2000: 85) mentions that a narrative text is “a story that is told in
language; that is, it is converted into language signs”. Mcmurray and Campman
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(1983: 256) mentions that “a narrative paragraph or work tells a story, either
factual or fictional, and comes in a variety of forms, including the essay, the short
story, the diary and journalistic and historical writing”. Narrative also deals with
problematic events leading to a crisis which then find a resolution (Pusat
Kurikulum, 2003: 80). In this study, a narrative text is a written short story that
deals with problematic events leading to a crisis which then finds a resolution.
2. Textual features
The term “textual” means connected with or contained in a text (Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2000: 1397). It is clear that textual features are
the important parts that are connected with or contained in a text. Textual features
are related to generic structure, vocabulary, and grammar, likely functions and
associated grammar and vocabulary and other significant features (Hardy and
Klarwein, 1990: 14). In this study, textual features refer to the generic structure
and the linguistic features that are contained in a narrative text.
3. Error
Collins Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (2001: 520)
defines error as “something you have done which is considered to be incorrect or
wrong, or which should not been done.” Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982: 138)
suggest that errors are those parts of composition that deviate from some selected
norm of mature language performance. In this study, an error refers to the
incompleteness in applying textual features (generic structure and linguistic
features) and/or incorrectness in applying textual features (generic structure and
linguistic features) of a narrative text.
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4. Tenth grade students of SMU N 2 Klaten
Tenth grade students of SMU N 2 Klaten refer to the tenth grade students
of the 2007/2008 academic year of SMU N 2 Klaten. Those students have been
taught how to write a narrative text. The tenth grade students are chosen as the
participant of this study because it would be good for the students to know their
difficulties in their beginning semester to improve their narrative texts in the next
semesters.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter discusses theories upon which this study is laid down. There
are two major areas to be discussed here. They are theoretical description and
theoretical framework.
A. Theoretical Description
There are four major issues underlying this study. They include theories on
developing a text, applying textual features of a narrative text, a brief review of
errors and sources of errors.
1. Developing a Text
According to the latest curriculum, KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan
Pendidikan/ Curriculum at the School Level), senior high school students should
be able to produce texts (Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan, 2006: 135).
Students should be able to produce any short functional texts, monologs, and
essays in the form of many genres. In this section, the importance of a genre is
described. A genre has textual features and contextual factors (Hardy and
Klarwein, 1990: 14). This study is limited to textual features as it is too wide for
the writer to discuss both textual features and contextual factors. However, there
are theories on contextual factors in addition to theories on textual features.
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a. Developing a Text in KTSP
Referring to the latest curriculum, KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan
Pendidikan/ Curriculum at the School Level), students should be able to
communicate in English (Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan, 2006: 134). What
is meant by to communicate here is to communicate in verbal and in written form,
to understand and convey information, thoughts, and feelings and to develop
science, technology, and culture. The communication is realized through four
language skills, i.e. listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.
This study focuses on the students’ writing skill. The second of the three
high school curriculum scopes states:
kemampuan memahami dan menciptakan berbagai teks fungsional pendek

dan monolog serta esei berbentuk procedure, descriptive, recount,
narrative, report, news item, analytical exposition, spoof, explanation,
discussion, review, public speaking. Gradasi bahan ajar tampak dalam
penggunaan kosakata, tata bahasa, dan langkah-langkah retorika (Badan
Standar Nasional Pendidikan, 2006: 135).
It is clear that high school students should be able to write many genres in
English. The students are expected to produce short texts, monologs, and essays in
the form of a procedure, descriptive, recount, narrative, report, news item,
analytical exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, review, and public speaking.
The curriculum also states that the teaching material gradation appears in using
vocabulary, grammar, and rhetorical structure to produce certain form of text.
Rhetorical structure refers to ‘the underlying structure which accounts for the
organization of a TEXT or a DISCOURSE’ (Richards, Platt, and Weber,
1985:251). Thus, this study investigates the students’ vocabulary, grammar and
rhetorical structure/generic structure.
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b. The Importance of a Genre in Developing a Text
The latest curriculum, KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan/
Curriculum at the School Level) implies that senior high school students should
be able to write many genres in English (Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan,
2006: 135). It means that to develop a text, students should know the genre of the
text. Thus, a genre is important for students to understand. Similar to KTSP,
Department of Education Training and the Arts of Queensland (http://
education.qld.gov.au/2007) states that a genre is important in developing a text as
the department states that students “need lots of exposure to, and experience with,
a wide range of written genres to be able to master them with relative ease”. To
conclude, genres need to be taught to students to develop texts.
Before going further, it would be better to know what a genre is.
Mcquillan (2000: 319) mentions that a genre is “a literary type or style.”
Furthermore, a genre is also “the name given to the type of the text” (Hardy and
Klarwein, 1990: 14). Thus, a genre is a text type. Hardy and Klarwein (1990: 2)
also state that every genre “has a number of obligatory parts – those parts have a
characteristic order” and “has identifiable grammatical features.” It is clear that a
genre has a number of obligatory patterns concerning the characteristic order and
the grammatical features. In brief, a genre is a text type that has obligatory
patterns concerning the characteristic order (generic structure) and the
grammatical features (linguistic features).
It is also important to know that one genre is different from another. The
Certificate in Spoken and Written English (CSWE), the most widely used TESOL
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(Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages) curriculum in Australia has
features of text types that highlight how one text-type is different from another
(Feez, 2002: 84). For example, recounts tend to use the past tense and make more
use of action verbs while descriptions tend to use the present tense and make more
use of the verbs ‘to be’ and ‘to have’ (Feez, 2002: 84). It is clear that genre of
recount is different from descriptive genre. The differences are comprised of each
genre’s characteristic patterns. These characteristic patterns are actually the
generic structure and linguistic elements, as Nunan (1999: 280) mentions
“linguists are studying different text and discourse types in an effort to identify
their underlying generic structure, and the linguistic elements that characterize
them.” In brief, every genre has its features or characteristic patterns, which are
the genre’s generic structure and linguistic elements, which make one genre differ
from another.
c. Contextual Factors of a Text
According to Hardy and Klarwein (1990: 7), contextual factors include:
What is being spoken or The social roles and relationships of

written about? the people involved (roles and
relationship);
Who is involved in the The choice of spoken or written

interaction? channel and of print, sound, stage or
screen media (mode)
By what means is the

message conveyed?
The objects, people, events, ideas
and feelings being referred to
(subject matter);
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It is clear that contextual factors of a genre are 1) what is written or subject matter
concerning the objects, people, events, ideas and feelings, 2) who are involved in
the interaction or roles and relationship and 3) mode or by what means the
message is conveyed.
Department of Education, Training and the Arts of Queensland (http://
education.qld.gov.au/2007) also describes contextual factors, which are usually
similar to Hardy and Klarwein’s theory, and some plain examples:
The Context Contrasting Examples

What is the purpose? to inform/to persuade
Who or what is being people and their feelings/objectives facts
written about?
Who is being written to? a letter to the editor/a letter to your friend
What medium is the a speech in a play/pamphlet
writing for?
According to the Department of Education, Training and the Arts of Queensland,
contextual factors include: 1) the purpose of the text, 2) what is written in the text,
3) to whom is the text is written and 4) the medium of the text.
To conclude, referring to Hardy and Klarwein and the Department of
Education, Training and Arts of Queensland, contextual factors include: 1) the
purpose of the text, 2) what and/or who is written in the text (subject matter), 3) to
whom the text is written and 4) by what means the message is conveyed.
d. Textual Features of a Text
The term “textual” means connected with or contained in the text (Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2000: 1397). Therefore, textual features refer to
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important parts that are connected with or contained in a text. According to Hardy
and Klarwein (1990: 7), those important parts include:
 the selection and sequencing of subject matter (generic structure);

 the linking words and phrases within and across sentences which
make clear or imply the logical relationships amongst items of subject
matter (cohesive ties);
 the words appropriate to the contextual factors and sentences,
including forms of questions, command and statements, and
placement of auxiliary verbs (grammar);
 … the paragraph markers and punctuation;
 … the spelling and handwriting;
 … the illustrations, tables and photographs, screen images, print size
and texture of paper (paralinguistic features).
In brief, textual features are interrelated to a text’s generic structure, linking words
and phrases that make the text cohesive, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation,
spelling, handwriting and paralinguistic features.
In this study, the writer would describe the textual features that
characterize a genre. It is stated before under The Importance of a Genre in
Developing a Text section that what characterized a genre are generic structure
and linguistic features. Therefore, punctuation, spelling, handwriting and
paralinguistic features of a text are not taken into account in this study. Thus, the
textual features that are taken into account are generic structure, linking words
and phrases that make the text cohesive, vocabulary and grammar. The linking
words and phrases that make the text cohesive are included in the scope of
grammar. Hence, the textual features that are taken into account are generic
structure, vocabulary and grammar.
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2. Applying Textual Features of a Narrative Text
In this study, textual features are classified into two parts: generic structure
and linguistic features (vocabulary and grammar). Thus, there is a discussion
about applying generic structure and applying linguistic features in this section. In
the discussion, the writer refers to three theories presented by Hardy and
Klarwein, by the Ministry of Education, Wellington, New Zealand and by
Certificates in Written and Spoken English (CSWE), which is the national ESL
framework in Australia.
a. Applying Generic Structure of a Narrative Text
Generic structure is the organization of a text or the obligatory elements of
a genre (Hardy and Klarwein, 1990: 14). It is a must for a text to a have generic
structure. According to Hardy and Klarwein (1990: 20), the generic structure of a
narrative text comprises orientation, complication, and resolution.
1) Orientation: Orientation is the setting in time and place and the characters of
the story.
2) Complication: Complication is the problem to be solved by the character of a
story.
3) Resolution: Resolution is the solution to the complication.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Education, Wellington, New Zealand (http://
english.unitecnology.ac.nz/2007) mentions that the following parts comprise the
generic structure of a narrative text:
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1) Orientation (Introduction)
In this part, the characters, setting, and the time of the story are
established. This part usually answers the questions who, when, and where, e.g.
Mr. Wolf went out hunting in the forest one dark gloomy night.
2) Complication or Problem
The complication or problem involves characters. This complication part
often mirrors the complication in real life.
3) Resolution
There must be resolution(s) of the complication(s). Complication should
be resolved for better or worse or happily or unhappily. This resolution part adds
and sustains interest and suspense for the reader.
Basically, the Ministry of Education, Wellington, New Zealand and Hardy
and Klarwein have the similar idea of the generic structure of a narrative text.
They suggest the same generic structure that includes orientation, complication
and resolution. In conclusion, the generic structure that must present in students’
textual features of a narrative text comprises orientation, complication and
resolution.
b. Applying Linguistic Features of a Narrative Text
The linguistic features of a genre involve vocabulary and grammar of a
genre. According to Hardy and Klarwein (1990: 14), beside vocabulary and
grammar, there are two more important parts of linguistic features of a text. They
are likely functions and associated grammar and vocabulary and other significant
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features. Thus, according to Hardy and Klarwein (1990: 20), the linguistic
features of a narrative text are vocabulary, grammar, likely functions and
associated grammar and vocabulary and other significant features.
1) Vocabulary
In a narrative text, the vocabulary should be relevant to the subject matter.
The subject matter refers to the events, setting and characters and/or issues and
themes, e.g. Snow White, Doc, America, dwarves, castle, ran away, little cottage
(this vocabulary are taken from a narrative text titled “Snow White” (see
Appendix 1) telling the story of Snow White who ran away from home and met
the 7 dwarves).
2) Grammar
The grammar is related to the verb type and the verb form (tense). The
verb type might be action, relational or mental. The tense of the verb should be
appropriate to the meaning behind expressed, which it might be present, past, and
active or passive form. In a narrative text, the relational verb (to be and have) and
action verbs are usually used. Past tense is usually applied in a narrative text.
3) Likely functions and associated grammar and vocabulary
In a narrative text, the language functions are to describe characteristics
and appearance. In describing characteristics and appearances, adjectives are used
in a narrative text.
4) Other significant features
Using direct speech in a narrative text is common. Direct speeches or
dialogs among characters are common in a narrative text. It means that it is not a
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must for a narrative text to have. Thus, direct speech is not taken into account in
this study.
Another theory on linguistic features of a narrative text is suggested in
Certificates in Written and Spoken English (CSWE) in Feez’s Text-based Syllabus
Design. In the CSWE, there are three learning focus area in learning ESL (Feez,
2002: 108). They are learning for community access, for further study, and for
vocational English. High school students learn ESL for their further study. Thus,
the CSWE framework for further study is used. In the framework, the significant
linguistic features of a narrative text comprise (Feez, 2002: 99): series of clauses
in past tense linked with conjunctions, main ideas across the text, specific
information in clauses, clauses with range of past tenses, direct/indirect speech,
etc., and vocabulary for characters, contexts and events.
Hardy and Klarwein and CSWE actually have the similar idea of linguistic
features of a narrative text. Both theories presented by Hardy and Klarwein and
CSWE agree that the linguistic features include a) vocabulary that is relevant to
the subject matter, b) past tense, c) adjectives to give specific information on
characteristic and appearance of the characters in the story.
Besides the vocabulary, past tense, and adjectives, the CSWE also
mentions “series of clauses in past tense linked with conjunctions” and “main
ideas across the text”. The “ideas across the text” are not taken into account in this
study as they are included in the scope of contextual factors of a narrative text.
Meanwhile, the conjunctions or transitions are taken into account in this study.
Transitions are important in a narrative text as Mcmurrey and Campman (1983:
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259) state that without transition, readers often get lost in a story. Mcmurrey and
Campman (1983: 259) also mention that transitions that are used in a narrative
text indicate the passage of time, e.g. ‘then’, ‘next’, ‘a week later’, ‘years later’,
‘soon’, ‘when’, ‘meanwhile’. In brief, time transition is included in the linguistic
features of a narrative text.
To conclude, a student should carefully apply: a) vocabulary that is
relevant to the subject matter, b) past tense, c) adjectives to give specific
information on characteristic and appearance of the characters in the story, and d)
time transitions in developing a narrative text.
The following is an example of a narrative text taken from Panduan
Materi Ujian Sekolah Tahun Pelajaran 2004/2005 SMA/MA and the explanation
of the textual features of the narrative text.
The Man and the Bees

Orientation The man felt very weak. He hadn’t got spirit to work the
day before. His wife felt weak too and so told him to go
and look for honey to drink for making anergy.
The man searched for honey in the forest.
Complication After many hours he still hadn’t found any sign of hive.
Resolution He looked up and saw a bee hive dripping with honey.
Complication He tried to climb the tree but he was too heavy so he
decided to cut the tree over.
Resolution He cut and cut then the tree came down. He saw the hive
tangled in the branches. He searched into it for the
honey.
Complication Suddenly the bees began to attack him. The man started
to run. But the bees buzzed after him. They were stinging
him as he ran.
Resolution At last he saw a river. He ran and dived into the water.
At last he had escaped the bees. He stayed in the water of
the river for hours and went home to his wife.
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The narrative text titled “The Man and the Bees” applies the generic structure,
which comprises orientation, complications and resolutions. “The Man and the
Bees” also has the vocabulary that is relevant to the subject matter (i.e. the man,
the wife, weak, work, honey, bees, run, buzzed after, stinging, dived, river, etc.).
The past tense sentences are also used in the story. “The Man and the Bees” also
uses time transitions like ‘after many hours’, ‘then’, and ‘at last’. Adjectives are
also applied, for example ‘heavy’ and ‘weak’ to describe the character of the man
in the story.
3. A Brief Review of Errors
A distinction is sometimes made between an error, which results from
incomplete knowledge, and a mistake made by learner when writing (Richards, et
al, 1985: 95). Gass and Selinker (1994: 67) tell that an error is, as they cited from
Corder (1967), “likely to occur repeatedly and is not recognized by the learner as
an error.” Gass and Selinker also mention that an error is different from a mistake.
A mistake is a kind of slip of the tongue which is recognizable. The learner doing
a mistake can correct his mistake if necessary, but when he does an error, he will
not even realize that he does an error. Only teachers and researchers realize the
errors. Mistakes are only one-time-only events while errors are systematic. In this
study, the writer does not distinct error and mistake. She uses the term “error” to
refer to both mistake and error.
Collins Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (2001: 520)
defines an error as “something you have done which is considered to be incorrect
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or wrong, or which should not have been done.” It is clear that errors are
something incorrect. As this study focuses on textual features of a narrative text,
what are meant by errors are incorrect textual features. These errors could be
errors in applying generic structure (orientation, complication, resolution) and
linguistic features (vocabulary, past tense, adjectives, time transition).
Furthermore, Dulay et al. (1982: 138) suggest that errors “are the flawed
side of learner speech or writing. They are those parts of a conversation or a
composition that deviate from selected norm of mature language performance.” It
means that a student’s text that deviates from the correct norm is considered
erroneous. As this study focuses on textual features, the correct norm is the
presence of all correct textual features. It means that the correct norm is the
presence of all correct generic structure (orientation, complication, resolution) and
linguistic features (vocabulary, past tense, adjectives, transition) of a narrative
text. To sum up, in this study, errors refer to the student’s incomplete generic
structure and linguistic features and/or to the student’s incorrect generic structure
and linguistic features in developing a narrative text.
Teachers and researchers have studied learners’ errors for a long time.
Studying learners’ errors actually has two major purposes which are:
(1) it provides data from which interferences about the nature of the
language learning process can be made; and (2) it indicates to teachers and
curriculum developers which part of the target language students have
most difficulty producing correctly and which errors types detract most
from learner’s ability to communicate effectively (Dulay et al, 1982: 138)
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Errors also can be the basis of constructing theory and planning classroom
practice (Dulay et al., 1982: 140). Thus, a teacher can do something useful with
errors to keep the students’ texts to the correct norm of the text.
4. Sources of Errors
Brown (2000: 224 – 227) mentions that there are four possible sources of
errors: interlingual transfer, intralingual transfer, context of learning and
communication strategies.
1) Interlingual Transfer
Interlingual transfer is resulted from the native language and it is a
significant source of errors for all language learners (Brown, 2000: 224). Gass and
Selinker (1994: 55) mention the interlingual transfer as negative transfer or
interference. Negative transfer or interference refers to the transfer that produces
something incorrect (Gass and Selinker, 1994: 55). As an example, a German says
*’I go not’ because the equivalent sentence in German is ‘Ich gehe nicht’. In
addition, Brown (1994: 224) mentions that familiarity with the learners’ native
language will help teachers to detect and analyze errors that are caused by
interlingual transfer. In brief, interlingual transfer can be the source of an error in
target language.
2) Intralingual Transfer
According to Brown (2000: 224), “intralingual transfer (within the target
language itself) is a major factor in second language learning”. In intralingual
transfer, target language itself can be the source of learners’ errors. Brown also
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mentions that overgeneralization is the negative intralingual transfer (2000: 224).
Overgeneralization takes place when learners misuse words or grammatical rules
(Sattayatham and Honsa, Jr., 2004). For example, regular past tense ending
(opened, walked) is applicable to all past tense forms (*goed, *flied). Another
example is ‘Bill, *that had a great sense of unconventional morality…’ The
learner uses that to instead of who.
3) Context of Learning
‘”Context” refers, for example, to the classroom with its teacher and its
materials… In a classroom context the teacher or the textbook can lead the learner
to make faulty…” (Brown, 2000: 226). It is clear that students’ errors might be
caused by a misleading teacher and/or textbook so that students get the wrong
concepts. This is what Richards (1971) called “false concepts” and what Stenson
(1974) termed “induced errors” (Brown, 2000: 226). The false concepts arise
when learners fail to comprehend fully what they learn. The induced errors are
“the result of being misled by the way in which the teachers give
definitions, examples, explanations and arrange practice opportunities. In
other words, the errors are caused mostly by the teaching and learning
process” (Sattayatham and Honsa, Jr, 2004).
In brief, context of learning can be the source of errors when the students obtain
the false concepts because of the teaching learning process, particularly because
of misleading teacher and textbook.
4) Communication Strategies.
Communication strategy is employed when learners have problems in
saying what they want to say in the target language (for example, when they have
to refer to some objects without knowing the L2 word) (Ellis, 2003: 60). Learners
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who have little knowledge on the target language use communication strategies to
enhance transferring their message accross, but these strategies can themselves
become a source of errors (Brown, 2000: 227). According to Brown (2000: 227),
the strategies that can be the sources of errors are a) approximation, b) word
coinage, c) circumlocution, d) false cognates, and e) prefabricated patterns.
a) Approximation
In approximation, learners use an alternative term which expresses the
meaning of the target lexical item as closely as possible (e.g. ship for boat)
(Brown, 2000: 128).
b) Word Coinage
In word coinage, learners create nonexisting L2 word based on supposed
rule (e.g. vegetarianist for vegetarian) (Brown, 2000: 128).
c) Circumlocution
Learners describe or exemplify the target object’s action in circumlocution
(e.g. the thing you open bottles with to refer to corkscrew) (Brown, 2000: 128).
d) False Cognates
In false cognates, incorrect use of the word in the target language occurs
because of similarity with a mother tongue (Suslu, http://www.mu.edu.tr/2008).
The similarity is in the form and not in meaning. For example: ‘She is so cute,
sympathetic and beautiful that he wants to marry her.’ The word ‘sympathetic’ in
the sentence is used because of the influence of its cognate ‘likeable’ in Turkish.
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e) Prefabricated Patterns
In prefabricated patterns, learners use memorized stock phrases. These
phrases can be found in pocket bilingual phrase books.
B. Theoretical Framework
Senior high school students should be able to produce texts. The latest
curriculum named KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan/ Curriculum at
the School Level), shows that senior high school students should be able to write
many genres in English. A genre is the type of a text. There are many genres, each
of which has its own characteristic. A genre is characterized by its textual features
including generic structure and linguistic features.
A narrative genre is important for senior high school students to master.
Meanwhile, the tenth grade students of SMU N 2 Klaten actually have difficulty in
developing a narrative text. Thus, the narrative texts written by the tenth grade
students of SMU N 2 Klaten become the focus of this study.
To be able to write a narrative text, students should understand the
narrative text’s characteristics shown in its textual features. This study wants to
describe the student’s textual features of a narrative text. To describe it, the writer
needs to construct checklists to check the students’ textual features. The theories
on textual features that are described by, as presented in Theoretical Description
section, Hardy and Klarwein, the Ministry of Education, Wellington, New
Zealand and CSWE are used as references to construct the checklists of the
students’ textual features.
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The theories presented by Hardy and Klarwein, the Ministry of Education,
Wellington, New Zealand and CSWE state that the textual features of a narrative
text are the generic structure and linguistic features. The theories state that generic
structure of a narrative text includes orientation, complication, and resolution.
While the linguistic features of a narrative text comprise vocabulary that is
relevant to the subject matter, past tense, adjectives to describe characteristic
and/or appearances of the characters in the text and time transitions.
This study also investigates the possible causes of the most frequent error
in applying textual features of a narrative text. Questionnaires would be
constructed based on the analysis of the students’ texts. Knowing the most
frequent errors occur in the students’ narrative texts, the writer constructs and
distributes questionnaires to the tenth grade teachers and the students. After
gathering the data from the questionnaires, the writer also conducts interview with
some students to reveal the possible causes of the most frequent errors occurred in
the narrative texts.
Referring to Brown (2000: 224 – 227), here are the possible sources of
errors: interlingual transfer, intralingual transfer, context of learning and
communication strategies. Interlingual transfer is resulted from the native
language while the intralingual transfer is resulted from the target language.
Context of learning can be the cause of the students’ errors when the students are
mislead by the teacher and/or the book. Communication strategies can also be the
possible causes of a student’s errors in his narrative text.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the methodology used in the study. The discussion
includes those related to research method, research participants, research
instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research
procedure.
A. Research Method
This study was a descriptive research in which the primary purpose of the
research is description (Sprinthall, Schmute and Sirois, 1991: 98). The writer
attempted to describe the students’ textual features of their narrative texts.
Meanwhile, Ary et al. (1990: 381) state that the aim of a descriptive research is to
describe “what exists”, which is the students’ textual features of their narrative
texts. Document analysis and survey, which are approaches under descriptive
research, were used to gather the data of this study.
This study was also an explanatory research. The writers assumed that
there were errors in the students’ narrative texts. The writer wondered why those
errors existed even though the students had been taught how to write a narrative
text. Neuman (1997: 20) mentions that when “you encounter an issue that is
already known and have a description of it, you may begin to wonder why things
are the way they are. The desire to know “why” to explain is the purpose of
explanatory research.” Thus, this study was also an explanatory research as the
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writer intended to identify the reason of the most frequent errors occurring in
applying textual features of a narrative text among the tenth grade students.
B. Research Participants
The tenth grade students of SMU N 2 Klaten were the participants or the
population of this study. Sampling was used to enable the writer to study a portion
of population rather than entire population (Ary et al., 1990: 170).
The writer used typical case sampling technique, which is under purposive
sampling, and judgmental sampling. Typical case sampling “selects units that are
considered typical of the phenomenon to be studied” (Ary, Jacobs, and Razavieh,
2002: 429). The writer needed to select, after consulting with the English teachers
of the tenth grade students, one typical class rather than very high-achieving or
low-achieving classes. Actually, according to the English teachers, all classes had
similar achievement in English. They were new tenth grade classes in SMU N 2
Klaten and their achievement in English were about in the same level.
For the reason that, according to the tenth grade teachers, the students’
achievement was about in the same level, the writer used judgmental sampling. In
judgmental sampling, “the researcher selects individuals presumed to be typical of
segments of the population who as a group will provide representative panorama
of the population” (Krathwohl, 1998: 172). In this study, the teachers selected a
class to be the sample of the population because, according to Krathwohl (1998:
172), judgmental sampling uses the experience and wisdom to select
representative of the population. It was the teacher instead of the writer who
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selected the sample. As this study investigated the students’ narrative texts, the
English teachers said that class X B was the most appropriate class to be the
sample of this study as 1) the class had average-achievement in English, 2) the
class was just learning how to write a narrative text and 3) the class was
accessible. It was the perfect timing for the students in class X B to produce
narrative texts. Thus, class X B was selected as the sample of this study.
There were 40 students in class X B. There were 26 female students and
14 male students. The students of class B had been taught about narrative text for
about 4 times in 4 meetings. In teaching the students, the teacher used a handbook
and student work book. The teacher also had explicitly taught narrative text’s
textual features.
C. Research Instruments
The research instruments were the students’ narrative texts, questionnaires,
and interview. The first instrument was the student’s narrative text. The students’
narrative texts were collected from the English teacher after the students of class
B were given homework to write a 150-word length narrative text by the teacher.
The students had their freedom to choose the topic of their text and to use the
dictionary. The students’ narrative texts were the documents of this research as
this research uses document analysis. Referring to Ary et al. (2002: 442),
document analysis was applied to analyze types of errors, which was, in this
research, related to the students’ errors in applying textual features, which were
the generic structure and linguistic features of a narrative text.
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The second instrument was the questionnaire. There were two kinds of
questionnaires, one of which was for the students and the other was for the
teachers. The writer distributed the questionnaires to the teachers and the students
to investigate the possible causes of the most frequent errors occurred in the
students’ textual features of narrative texts. The writer considered these several
important things suggested by Wiersma (1995: 180 – 181) in constructing
questionnaire:
 Having the items directly relate to the research problem
 The items are to be clear and unambiguous
 Including only one concept in a single item
 Avoiding the use of leading questions
 Not asking questions so that certain responses make respondents
disapprove of themselves
 Avoiding questions demanding personal information including specific
income information and age of the respondents
 Requesting only information that the respondent is able to provide
 Making the reading level of the items appropriate for the respondents
 Shorter items are preferred to longer items, and simpler items are
preferred to complex items
 When requesting quantitative information, ask for specific number
rather than average
 For some items, it is necessary to provide a neutral response to avoid
forcing the respondent to make an undesirable response
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 Avoiding negative items and not using double negatives.
The questionnaire was in the form of a checklist and an essay. There were 25
closed questions and an open question in the questionnaire for teachers.
Meanwhile, there were 26 closed questions and an open question in the
questionnaire for students.
The third instrument was interview. The writer interviewed 10 students
having erroneous textual features of narrative texts. Those students having the
most errors were interviewed to verify and substantiate the result of the
questionnaire. Thus, the possible causes of making errors in the textual features
were revealed.
D. Data Gathering Technique
The data were gathered from the students’ narrative texts, the result of the
questionnaires and the result of the interview. The students’ narrative texts were
collected from the teacher after the students submitted their texts to the teacher.
The questionnaires were distributed to and collected from the students and the
tenth grade English teachers by the writer. The last data were the result of the
interview to 10 students.
E. Data Analysis Technique
This study used document analysis to describe the students’ textual
features and a survey using questionnaire and interview to reveal the possible
causes of the students’ most frequent errors in applying textual features of a
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narrative text. The writer gained the data in the form of documents, which were
the students’ narrative texts. To gain information using documents, checklist was
used (Brinkerhoff, Brethower, Hluchyj and Nowakowski, 1986: 79).
There were two checklists to analyze the student’s textual features. The
checklist items were derived from the theories, which are presented in the
previous chapter, by Hardy and Klarwein, by the Ministry of Education,
Wellington, New Zealand and by the Certificates in Written and Spoken English
(CSWE) on textual features of a narrative text. The first checklist consisted of the
generic structure items to analyze whether the student’s narrative text had
orientation, complication, and resolution. Table 3.1 is the generic structure
checklist:
Table 3.1 Generic Structure Checklist

Orientation
Orientation Complication Resolution
1
Student’s Text
2
Number
3
4
5
…
Total
Percentage
The second checklist consisted of linguistic features items to analyze
whether the students carefully applied the vocabulary that is relevant to the
subject matter, and whether the students carefully used the past tense, time
transitions, and adjectives in their narrative texts. Table 3.2 is the linguistic
features checklist:
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Table 3.2 Linguistic Features Checklist

Linguistic Features
Vocabulary that is Use past Use time Use adjectives
relevant to the tense transitions to describe
subject matter setting,
(events, context, characteristic
setting and and
characters) appearances
1
Student’s Text
2
Number
3
4
5
…
Total
Percentage
The writer analyzed the students’ textual features and put the data in the two
checklists. The result of each table was also counted and presented in a percentage
data as supplementary information using the following formula:
The sum of the present and correct features

Percentage = X 100 %
Total samples
After the writer analyzed the texts, the writer constructed questionnaires.
The results of the questionnaires were also analyzed and described. Having the
results of the questionnaires, the writer conducted interviews with some students.
The results of the interviews were then analyzed and described to verify the result
of the questionnaires.
F. Research Procedure
The procedure of this study contained 8 steps. They were preparing the
research, gathering the students’ narrative texts, analyzing the textual features,
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constructing questionnaires and distributing them, analyzing the questionnaires,
conducting interview, analyzing the interview and writing down the report.
1) Preparing the research
The writer asked permission to SMU N 2 Klaten and to the Head of
English Language Education Study Program to conduct the research. The writer
also observed the students’ ability in developing a text by asking the teacher about
the students’ text.
2) Gathering the students’ narrative texts
The writer gathered the students’ narrative texts as the data of this study.
The data were in the form of documents.
3) Analyzing the textual features of the texts
There were two checklists used to analyze the students’ textual features.
They were the generic structure checklist, which consisted of the generic structure
items, and the linguistic features checklist, which consisted of linguistic feature
items. The writer described the presence or absence and the correctness or
incorrectness of the generic structure and linguistic features of the students’
narrative texts. The result of each checklist was then also counted and presented in
a percentage data. The description of the students’ generic structure and linguistic
features of their narrative texts answered the first question formulated in the
problem formulation of this study.
4) Constructing questionnaires and distributing them
Finding the frequency of the errors in applying textual features of a
narrative text, the writer constructed questionnaire whose items reveal the
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possible causes of the most frequent errors. The questionnaires were then
distributed to the students and the teachers.
5) Analyzing the questionnaires
The response of the questionnaire were then analyzed and described.
6) Conducting interview
Describing the result of the questionnaire, the writer conducted interview.
The writer interviewed ten students to substantiate the result of the questionnaire.
7) Analyzing the interview
The result of the interview was then analyzed and described. The result of
the questionnaire and interview answered the second question formulated in the
problem formulation of this study.
8) Writing down the report
After making preparation, gathering the students’ narrative texts,
analyzing the textual features, constructing questionnaires and distributing them,
analyzing the questionnaires, conducting interview and analyzing the interview,
the writer wrote down the report.
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CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents the result of this study which answers the questions
in the problem formulation in chapter 1. The questions in the problem formulation
are 1) what textual features do the tenth grade students’ narrative texts have? and
2) what are the possible causes of the most frequent errors in the textual features
of the tenth grade students’ narrative texts? The first instrument, the tenth grade
students’ texts, was analyzed to answer the first question. The second and the
third instrument, which are the questionnaire and interview, were used to answer
the second question. The writer, firstly, presents the result of the tenth grade
students’ narrative texts analysis to answer the first question. Secondly, the writer
presents the result of the questionnaire and the interview analysis to answer the
second question. Thirdly, the writer also presents other findings that are worth to
be discussed.
A. The Textual Features of the Students’ Narrative Texts
Twenty six students’ narrative texts were gathered on December 13th,
2007. The writer found that 25 of which were narrative texts and 1 of which was a
spoof text. In addition, a spoof text is a text that has orientation, events, and twist
as the generic structure. Thus, the writer took the 25 narrative texts and did not
take the spoof text (text 22) into account.
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Textual features of a narrative text comprise generic structure and
linguistic features. The generic structure comprises orientation, complication and
resolution. The linguistic features comprise the vocabulary that is relevant to the
subject matter, the use of past tense, the use of time transitions and the use of
adjectives.
1. Generic Structure
After analyzing the 25 students’ narrative texts, the writer found that most
of the tenth grade students’ narrative texts had the generic structure, including
orientation, complication and resolution. The tenth grade students’ generic
structure of narrative texts is presented in Table 4.1:
Table 4.1 The Students’ Generic Structure of Narrative Texts

Generic Structure
1 √ √ √
2 √ √ √
3 √ _ _
4 √ √ √
5 √ √ √
6 √ √ √
Student’s Text Number
7 *_ √ √
8 √ √ √
9 √ √ √
10 √ √ √
11 √ √ √
12 √ √ √
13 √ √ √
14 √ √ √
15 √ √ √
16 √ √ √
17 √ √ _
18 √ √ √
19 √ √ √
This table is continued to the next page
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Generic Structure
23 √ √ √
24 √ √ √
25 √ √ √
26 √ √ √
Total 24 24 23
Percentage 96 % 96 % 92 %
Note:
*There are two stories in the text, one of which had orientation but the second story didn’t have
orientation. Thus, the writer considered the text didn’t have orientation as the orientation wasn’t
complete.
It is clear that almost all (96%) of the tenth grade students’ narrative texts
had orientation. Almost all (96%) of the narrative texts had complications. There
were 92% of the narrative texts that had resolutions. There were not any frequent
errors made by the students in applying generic structure. Thus, applying generic
structure in narrative texts is not a problem for the students.
In order to give specific information concerning the students’ generic
structure, each generic structure item is discussed in the following section. It
discusses the orientation, complication, and resolution in developing a narrative
text.
a. Orientation
Orientation is the setting in time and place and the characters of the story.
In this part, the characters, setting, and the time of the story are established. This
part usually answers the questions who, when, and where. Consider the following
examples, which are grammatically revised:
Example 1:
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl called Cinderella and she had
two ugly stepsisters who were very unkind [and] who made her do all the
hard work.
One day, a special invitation arrived at Cinderella’s house. It was from the
royal palace. The king’s only son was a truly handsome prince [and he]
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was going to have a grand ball. [The] Three girls were invited to come.
(Student’s Text 11— see Appendix 10)
In example 1, it is also known that the characters are Cinderella, her stepsisters,
and there is also a king and a prince. The story happens in a kingdom as there is a
palace mentioned. The story takes place once upon a time.
Example 2:
Long [long] time ago there lived a priest, Ki Ajar, who had a little baby.
Amazingly, his baby was a snake. He ordered the snake to meditate in
Mount Sileker. Ki Ajar named his child Baruklinting. (Student’s Text
12—see Appendix 11)
From example 2, we can also find who the characters are, when the story takes
place, and where the story happens. The characters are Ki Ajar, Baruklinting a.k.a.
the snake. The story takes place a long time ago and it happens in Mount Sileker
area.
Example 3:
Once upon a time [there] was a girl named Cinderella. She lived with bad
step mother and two [stepsisters]. She had to do all household chores.
One day, the king invited all the ladies in the kingdom to go to a ball in the
palace. He wanted to [get] the Prince a wife. (Student’s Text 26—see
Appendix 16)
From the text above, we know who the characters are, when and where the story
happens. The characters are Cinderella, her mother, her stepsisters, a king and a
prince. The story takes place once upon a time in a kingdom.
Almost all of the tenth grade students’ texts have orientations. Even
though some of the orientations had some grammatical errors, they were
considered correct for grammar was not comprised in generic structure. Thus,
96% of the students’ texts had orientations.
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b. Complication and Resolution
Complication is the problem to be solved by the character of a story. And
also, there must be resolution(s) of the complication(s). Complication should be
resolved for better or worst or happily or unhappily in a story. Consider the
following examples, which are grammatically revised:
Example 1:
When [his] mother came, Malin Kundang, in front of his well dressed
wife, his crews and his own [glories] denied [to] [meeting] that old, poor
and dirty woman. For three times she begged Malin Kundang and for three
times she yelled at him. At last Malin Kundang said to her “Enough, old
woman! I have never had a mother like you, a dirty and ugly peasant!”
Then he ordered his crews to set sail.
Enraged, she cursed Malin Kundang that he would turn into a stone if he
didn’t apologize. Malin Kundang just laughed and set sail.
In the quite sea, suddenly a thunderstorm came. His huge ship was
wrecked and it was too late for Malin Kundang to apologize[d]. He was
thrown by the wave out of his ship, fell on a small island, and suddenly
turned into [a] stone. (Student’s Text 15—see Appendix 13)
In example 1 above, the sentences underlined are the complication and the rest
statements are the resolution. There was a complication between Malin Kundang
and his mother in example 1. Malin Kundang denied that he had an old, poor,
dirty, and ugly peasant mother. His mother had begged Malin Kundang to
acknowledge her as his mother. But Malin Kundang was too arrogant to
acknowledge her as his mother in front of his wife and crews. His mother, then,
cursed Malin Kundang into a stone. Meanwhile, Malin Kundang just laughed and
then sailed away. Then, there was a resolution where Malin Kundang was thrown
out of his ship. He fell on an island and then he turned into stone.
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Example 2:
Bandung Bandawasa called [together] thousands of genies. They worked

so hard that just before [then] sun rose, they had built nine hundred and
ninety temples.
Lara Jonggrang [became] frightened. She went quickly to the nearest
village and asked for help. “Wake up all the cocks,“ she said, “and make
them crow [so that] when the giant hears them, he will believe that it is
already morning.” When the giant heard the crow, he thought he had been
beaten. Then, the genies [stopped] building temples and they [were] going
to a mountain[s].
Later, he found out that Lara Jonggrang had tricked him. He, then, turned
her into the thousandth temple. (Student’s Text 19—see Appendix 15)
In example 2, the sentences underlined are the complication and the rest
statements are the resolution. Lara Jonggrang was in trouble when the giant were
going to be able to build a thousand temple she had asked as a condition to marry
her. Then, there was a resolution when Lara Jonggrang tried to wake all the cocks
up so that the cocks crow and scare the genies away.
Example 3:
The [stepsisters] went to the ball that night with their mother. Cinderella
was left alone. She cried because she actually wanted to go to the ball too.
Just then a fairy godmother came. With her magic wand, she gave
Cinderella a coach, two horses, and footmen. She also gave Cinderella [a]
lovely dress to wear to the ball and a pair of glass slippers. She told
Cinderella to come home before midnight.
At the ball, Cinderella danced all night with the prince. The prince [fell] in
love with her. At midnight, Cinderella ran home. (Student’s Text 26—see
Appendix 16)
In example 3, the sentences underlined are the complication and the rest
statements are the resolution. Cinderella had a problem where she was left alone
by her stepsisters and stepmother. She cried and really wanted to go to the ball.
Then, there was a resolution where a fairy godmother came to her and helped her
with all Cinderella’s needs to go to the ball.
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Almost all of the tenth grade students’ texts have complication and
resolution. Even though some of the complication and resolution had some
grammatical errors, they are considered correct for grammar is not comprised in
generic structure.
2. Linguistic Features
The writer found that the tenth grade students’ narrative texts almost had
all of the linguistic features of narrative texts. The students actually understood
and mastered some linguistic features of a narrative text. They were able to apply
the vocabulary, time transitions, and adjectives in developing a narrative text but
they have problem in applying past tense. The linguistic features of the tenth
grade students’ narrative texts are presented in Table 4.2:
Table 4.2 The Students’ Linguistic Features of Narrative Texts

Linguistic Features
Vocabulary that Use the Past Use Time Use adjectives
is relevant to Tense Transitions to describe
the subject setting,
matter (events, characteristic
context, setting and
and characters) appearances
1 √ √ √ √
2 _ _ √ √
3 √ _ _ √
4 √ _ √ √
5 √ _ √ √
6 _ _ √ _
7 _ _ _ √
8 _ _ √ √
9 _ _ √ √
10 √ _ √ √
11 _ _ √ √
12 √ _ √ √
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Linguistic Features
Vocabulary that Use the Past Use Time Use adjectives
is relevant to Tense Transitions to describe
the subject setting,
matter (events, characteristic
context, setting and
and characters) appearances
13 _ _ √ √
14 √ _ √ √
15 √ _ √ √
√ √
16 _ _
17 _ _ _ √
18 _ _ √ √
19 √ _ √ √
20 _ _ √ √
21 _ _ √ √
22 SPOOF
23 _ _ _ √
24 _ _ √ √
25 _ _ √ √
26 _ √ √ _
Total 9 2 21 23
Percentage 36% 8% 84% 92%
It can be seen that almost all of the narrative texts (84%) had time
transitions. There were 92% of the narrative texts that had adjectives to describe
setting, characteristic and appearances. And also, 36% of the narrative texts had
vocabulary that is relevant to subject matter. Meanwhile, there were only 8% of
the narrative texts had past tense application. Thus, the most frequent errors in
applying textual features are errors in past tense.
In order to give specific information concerning the students’ linguistic
features, each linguistic feature is discussed in the following section. It discusses
the vocabulary, past tense, time transitions, and adjectives in developing a
narrative text.
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a. Vocabulary
In a narrative text, the vocabulary should be relevant to the subject matter.
The subject matter refers to the events, context, setting and characters. There were
36% of the students’ narrative texts had vocabulary that is relevant to subject
matter. For example, Student’s Text 12 (see Appendix 11) titled “Lake Rawa
Pening” telling about the formation of a lake. The vocabulary used in text 12 is
also related to the events, setting and characters and/or issues in the story. There
are vocabularies such as: ‘long time ago’, ‘priest’, ‘snake’, ‘Mount Sileker’, ‘Ki
Ajar’—the name of the character in the story, ‘Baruklinting’—the name of the
character in the story, ‘Benarawa’—the setting of the story, ‘meditate’, ‘hunting’,
‘spirit’, ‘stick’, ‘flood’, and ‘old widow’.
Another example is from Student’s Text 15 titled “Malin Kundang” (see
Appendix 13), there are also relevant vocabulary such as: “Malin Kundang”—the
name of the character in the story, ‘long time ago’, ‘beach’, ‘West Sumatera’—
where the story took place, ‘sea’, ‘fish’, ‘sailing’, ‘wealthy merchant’, ‘pirates’,
‘huge ship’, ‘loads of trading goods’, ‘ship crews’, ‘cursed’, ‘wave’, etc.
There were 64% of the students’ texts that did not have relevant
vocabulary. For example, Student’s Text titled “Sumber Tetek Temple” (see
Appendix 9) had these vocabularies that were not relevant to the context and
events of the story:
*examination (in paragraph 3)  trial
*public (in paragraph 4)  people
*renovationed [renovated] (in paragraph 4)  restored
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*sined [sinned] (in paragraph 4)  guilty
*except (in paragraph 5)  besides
*pit (in paragraph 5)  unindentified word
*finished (in paragraph 6)  solve
*grandfather (in paragraph 8)  old man
Another text that did not have relevant vocabulary was Student’s Text 16 (see
Appendix 14). There were these irrelevant vocabularies in the text:
*duty (in paragraph 2)  a chore
*reply (in paragraph 3)  answer back
*peri (an Indonesian word, in paragraph 6)  fairy
*down (in paragraph 7)  get off
*start (in paragraph 7)  unnecessary word that should be omitted
*reach (in paragraph 8)  look for
*final (in paragraph 8)  last
*invite (in paragraph 8)  ask
b. Past Tense
Past tense is usually applied in a narrative text. There were only 8% of the
students’ narrative texts that applied past tense. They are Student’s Text 1 (see
Appendix 7) and Student’s Text 26 (see Appendix 16).
Meanwhile, most of the students did not apply past tense on their narrative
texts. There were 23 out of 25 narrative texts that apply past tense incorrectly. For
example, in Student’s Text 5 titled “The Golden Snail” (see Appendix 8), there
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were erroneous past sentences. The following are some of the erroneous sentences
with their corrections:
*He have two princess

 He had two princess[es]
*Their name is …
 Their name[s] were …
*Dewi Candra Kirana will married with …

 Dewi Candra Krana would get married with …
* But Dewi Ajeng disagree because herself jealous and want marrid with
Panji Asmoro Bangun
 But Dewi Ajeng disagreed because she was jealous and wanted to get
married with Panji Asmoro Bangun.
*… when she walking in the beach.

 … when she was walking in the beach.
*And all house work already did.

 And all house work had already been done.
*Meanwhile, Panji Asmoro Bangun searching Dewi Candra Kirana…

 Meanwhile, Panji Asmoro Bangun was searching Dewi Candra
Kirana…
Another text that had erroneous past sentences was Student’s Text 6 titled
“Sumber Tetek Temple” (see Appendix 9). The following are some of the
erroneous past sentences with their corrections in the text:
*This place was leadered by…

 This place was led by…
*…a king that wised, honested and etc.

…a king that was wise and honest.
*there are examination…

 there were examinations…
*Airlangga king sad again.

 King Airlangga was sad again.
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*…queen very sad…
 …queen was very sad...
*…to finished… (and so many more to+ past form in the text)
 …to finish…
*…all his problems can soon finished.

 …all his problems could soon be solved.
*…to commanded to Airlangga to stoped…

 …to command Airlangga to stop…
*The field grown vertile.

 The field grew fertile.
Another text that had erroneous past sentences was Student’s Text 16
titled “Cinderella” (see Appendix 14). Some of the errors with their corrections
are:
*The girl is Cinderella.

 The girl was Cinderella.
*She clean them… (and many more subject + present form in the text)
 She cleaned them…
*…there are … (and many more is/are were used in the text)
 …there were…
*Cinderella see her sister wear gown that very beautiful.

 Cinderella saw her sister who was wearing a gown that was very
beautiful.
*A peri ready help her.

 A fairy was ready to help her
 A fairy readied for helping her.
c. Time Transition
Transitions are important in a narrative text. Narrative texts that do not
have any transitions often make the readers lost. Transitions that are used in a
narrative text indicate the passage of time, e.g. ‘then’ and ‘next’. Most of the
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students’ narrative texts had time transitions. There were 84% of the narrative
texts that had time transitions.
There were time transitions applied in Student’s Text 1 (see Appendix 7).
The time transitions are: ‘one day’ (in paragraph 2), ‘the next day’ (in paragraph
2) and ‘then’ (in paragraph 2). Meanwhile, text 26 also applied time transitions.
Here are the time transitions in text 26 (see Appendix 16): ‘one day’ (in paragraph
2), ‘then’ (in paragraph 4), ‘the next day’ (in paragraph 6) and ‘after’ (in
paragraph 7). Furthermore, time transitions were also applied in Student’s Text 15
(see Appendix 13). Here are the time transitions used in Student’s Text 15: ‘one
day’ (in paragraph 3), ‘many years later’ (in paragraph 4), ‘when the mother
came’ (in paragraph 5) and ‘at last’ (in paragraph 5).
d. Adjective
In a narrative text, adjectives are used to describe characteristics and
appearance. Specific information in a narrative text is important, so that,
adjectives are used to give specific information about the characteristics and
appearance of the characters in the text. Almost all of the texts had adjectives. For
example, Student’s Text 12 (see Appendix 11) had adjectives to give specific
information, such as: ‘little’ in ‘a little baby’ (in paragraph 1) and ‘big’ in ‘a big
snake’ (in paragraph 2), ‘small’ in ‘a small boy’ (in paragraph 2), ‘old’ in ‘old
widow’ (in paragraph 2).
Student’s Text 15 (see Appendix 13) also used adjectives, such as:
‘healthy’ (in paragraph 2), ‘diligent’ (in paragraph 2), ‘strong’ (in paragraph 2),
‘wealthy’ (in paragraph 4), and ‘rich’ (in paragraph 4) that described the
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character, Malin Kundang. There were also ‘beautiful’ (in paragraph 4) and ‘well
dressed’ (in paragraph 5) that described the wife of Malin Kundang in the text.
The text also described the mother of Malin Kundang using the adjectives ‘old’
(paragraph 5), ‘poor’ (in paragraph 5), ‘dirty’ (paragraph 5), and ‘ugly’ (in
paragraph 5).
Another example would be Student’s Text 1 (see Appendix 7). There were
‘golden‘ in ‘golden snail’ (in paragraph 1), ‘evil’ in ‘evil witch’ (in paragraph 1)
and ‘beautiful’ in ‘beautiful girl’ (in paragraph 2).
B. The Possible Causes of the Errors in Applying Past Tense in Developing a
Narrative Text
It is clear that the tenth grade students made the most frequent errors in
applying past tense in their narrative texts. Thus, the writer attempted to reveal the
possible causes of the errors in applying past tense in developing the narrative
texts. The questionnaire and interview were used to reveal the possible causes.
The results of the questionnaires (the closed-questions part), which were arranged
based on the Recapitulation of the Results of the Questionnaire for Students (see
Appendix 2) and the Recapitulation of the Results of the Questionnaire for the
Teachers (see Appendix 4), is presented in Table 4.3:
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Table 4.3 The Results of the Questionnaire for Students and the Results of the
Questionnaire for Teachers
Statement S T
(%) (%)
1 The teachers often gave the students writing assignments (at least 58.97 __
3 times in the last semester).
2 The students have difficulties in applying past tense and the other __ 66.67
grammar rules in narrative text maybe because they students did
not do enough writing practice.
3 The students did not know that they have to apply past tense in 25.64 __
developing a narrative text.
4 Students are getting used to produce sentences in Bahasa 66.67 66.67
Indonesia, which do not apply any tenses, any verb form changes,
and any auxiliaries (such as: did, was, were, had), so that they
often make errors in producing sentences in past tense
5 Many kinds of tenses confuse the students so that they sometimes 64.10 100
mix up the rules of each tense in their sentences, including in
their past tense sentences.
6 Many rules in past tense confuse the students so that the students 69.23 66.67
have difficulties in applying them.
7 Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous 71.79 66.67
maybe because the students did not memorize all irregular past
form.
maybe because the students were still confused about ‘was’ and
‘were’ as auxiliaries in past tense that are followed by verb-ing.
maybe because the students were still confused about applying
‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by nouns.
‘were’ which are followed by adverbs.
11 Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous 30.76 100
maybe because the students were still confused about applying
‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by adjectives.
‘were’ that are followed by past participle in passive sentences.
maybe because the students were still confused about ‘did’ as an
auxiliary that should be followed by present form in past tense
sentences
maybe because the students were still confused about ‘did’ as a
verb in past tense or as the past form of ‘do’.
maybe because the students were still confused about ‘had’ as an
auxiliary.
maybe because the students were still confused about ‘had’ as a
verb or as the past form of ‘have’ in past tense.
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Statement S T
(%) (%)
maybe because the students were still confused about modals
(such as ‘can’ and ‘will’) whose form actually change when they
are used in past tense and followed by present form.
18 Many of the students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were 17.94 0
erroneous maybe because they haven’t been taught how to apply
‘was’ and ‘were’ as auxiliaries in past continuous tense that are
followed by verb-ing.
erroneous maybe because they have not been taught how to apply
‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by nouns.
‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by adverbs.
21 Many of the students past tense sentences in narrative text were 38.46 33.33
‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by adjectives.
‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by past participle in passive
sentences.
23 Many of the students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were 23.07 33.33
‘did’ as an auxiliary that is followed by present form in past
tense.
‘did’ as a verb in past tense.
‘had’ as an auxiliary that is followed by past participle in past
perfect tense.
‘had’ as a verb in past tense.
modals whose forms change and are always followed by present
form.
Legends:
S = percentage of the students who agree with the statement
T = percentage of the teacher who agree with the statement
According to the result of the questionnaires, as can be seen in the Table
4.3, The Answers to the Essay Part of the Questionnaire for Students (see
Appendix 3) and The Answers to the Essay Part of the Questionnaire for Teachers
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(see Appendix 5), and The Results of the Interview (see Appendix 6), here are the
possible causes of the past tense errors in developing a narrative text:
a. The students did not know that they have to apply past tense.
There were 25.64% of the students who stated that they did not have any
idea that past tense is applied in developing a narrative text (see statement 3 in
Table 4.3). The teacher also agreed that the errors might have been caused by the
students’ not knowing that they should have applied past tense in their narrative
texts. The teacher wrote in the answer to the essay part of the questionnaire that
some of the students did not pay attention to their teachers’ explanation. Thus, the
25.64% of the students might not have paid attention to their teachers’ explanation
about how to write a narrative text so that they made erroneous past sentences in
their narrative texts.
b. The students were familiar with producing sentences in their native language
It is clear that most of the students (66.67%) and most of the teachers
(66.67%) agreed that Indonesian language (see statement 4 in Table 4.3) and, as
one of the student added in the answers to the essay part of the questionnaire,
Javanese language may cause errors in applying past tense. The students were
acquainted with producing sentences in Indonesian and Javanese which do not
apply any tenses, any verb form changes, and any auxiliaries (such as: ‘did’,
‘was’, ‘were’, ‘had’) so that when they produce sentences in English, they
sometimes apply Indonesian or Javanese grammar. The teacher also wrote in the
answer to the essay part of the questionnaire that actually the students knew how
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to apply past tense but when they were asked to write a narrative text, which is in
past tense, they started to get misled by Indonesian, their native language.
Here is an example of the errors concerning the native language:
*Because Mbok Rondo felt Ande have adult, she hope …

 Because Mbok Rondo felt that Ande was adult enough, she hoped …
The sentence above was taken from Student’s Text 13 (see Appendix 12,
paragraph 1). The student who wrote the sentence only translated it from
Indonesian (Karena Mbok Rondo merasa Ande telah dewasa, dia berharap…).
Instead of using was, the student using have, which is direct translation from
Indonesian telah. There is not any ‘to be’ in Indonesian, so that the student just
translated it from the word telah into ‘have’. Furthermore, the student also used
hope, the present form, instead of hoped, the past form. Indonesian and Javanese
do not have any verb form change, so that the student did not change the verb
form. Actually, there were so many verbs that were not changed by many
students. This also shows that the students did not notice the tense of their texts.
Here are some other examples, in which the students did not change the verbs:
*She clean them… (Student’s Text 16, see Appendix 14, paragraph 2)
 She cleaned them…
*Cinderella want join this party,…( Student’s Text 16, see Appendix 14,
paragraph 5).
 Cinderalla wanted to join this party, …
Meanwhile, here is another example of the errors in which a student did
not apply auxiliary in her sentence:
*…Klenting Kuning most beautiful…

 … Klenting Kuning was the most beautiful…
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The sentence above was also taken from Student’s Text 13 (paragraph 2). It shows
that the student’s native language (Indonesian and/or Javanese language)
influenced the student’s text. There was not any ‘to be’ or auxiliaries applied in
the student’s native language, so that the student produced the sentence that did
not have auxiliary was before the adjective beautiful. Here are some other
examples in which the students did not apply auxiliary in their text:
*…the prettiest pair of glass slipper ever seen (Student’s Text 11, see
Appendix 10, last paragraph).
 …the prettiest pair of glass slippers had ever seen.
*Airlangga king sad again (Student’s Text 6, see Appendix 9, paragraph

4).
 King Airlangga was sad again.
Therefore, the native language (Indonesian and Javanese) became the
source of the errors in applying past tense. When native language becomes the
source of errors, interlingual transfer happens in the students’ texts. Thus,
interlingual transfer became the possible source of errors in applying past tense in
the students’ narrative texts.
c. There are too many kinds of tenses to learn by the students.
As there are many kinds of tenses with their rules, students were confused.
There were 64.10% of the students and 100% of the teachers stated that too many
kinds of tenses made the students make errors (see statement 5 in Table 4.3). The
students sometimes mix up the rules of each tense in their sentences, including in
their past tense sentences. A student also stated that sometimes they forgot the
rules for each tense so that they applied the wrong rules in a certain text,
particularly in a narrative text. Another student stated that applying tenses is
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frustrating. There was also another student who mentioned that it was hard to
differentiate one tense to another tense.
When the students misuse tenses, intralingual transfer happens in the
students’ texts. Intralingual transfer became the possible source of errors in
applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts.
d. There are many rules in past tense.
Rules in past tense confused the students so that the students made errors.
Almost 70% of the students and 66.67% of the teacher agreed that the rules in past
tense itself made the students make errors (see statement 6 in Table 4.3). The
students were still confused about the verb form, how to apply ‘did’, ‘was’, ‘were’
and ‘had’ and how to apply modals ‘could’ and ‘would’ in past tense. A student
clearly mentioned that he/she was confused in applying past tense as he/she did
not know which rule to use and which form to change. Thus, past tense rules
themselves can make the students make errors.
When the students misuse past tense rules, intralingual transfer happens in
the students’ text. Hence, intralingual transfer became the possible source of
errors in applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts.
e. The students did not memorize all irregular past form.
Irregular verb can be the cause of erroneous past tense. There was 71.79%
of the students and 66.67% of the teacher who stated that the students made errors
in past tense because the students could not memorize all irregular past form (see
statement 7 in Table 4.3).
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Intralingual transfer happens in the students’ text when the students misuse
verb form. Therefore, intralingual transfer became the possible source of errors in
applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts concerning the misuse of verb
form.
f. The students were still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’.
There were 30.76% of the students and 66.67% of the teachers who agreed
that the students made erroneous past tense sentences because of the students’
being confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ as auxiliaries that are followed by verb-ing
(see statement 8 in Table 4.3). And also, the rule ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are
followed by nouns also confused the students as there was 28.20% of the students
and 66.67% of the teachers stated that (see statement 9 in Table 4.3).
The students also had difficulties in applying ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are
followed by adverbs and adjectives. There was 41.02% of the students and
66.67% of the teachers confirmed that the students had difficulties in applying
‘was’/’were’ + adverbs (see statement 10 in Table 4.3). Meanwhile, 30.76% of the
students and all teachers agreed that the students have difficulties in applying
‘was’/’were’ + adjectives (see statement 11 in Table 4.3). The students were also
still confused about passive sentence (‘was’/’were’ + past participle). There were
64.10% of the students and 66.67% of the teachers asserted that the students did
not understand well how to produce passive sentences in past tense (see statement
12 in Table 4.3). Thus, the students clearly still had difficulties in applying ‘was’
and ‘were’.
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55
Intralingual transfer happens in the students’ text when the students misuse
‘was’ and ‘were’. Therefore, intralingual transfer became the possible source of
the errors in applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts concerning the
misuse of auxiliary.
g. The students were still confused about ‘did’.
All of the tenth grade English teachers and 51.28% of the students stated
that the students’ erroneous past tense sentences were made because of difficulties
in applying ‘did’ as an auxiliary (see statement 13 in Table 4.3). There were
students who did not know that the auxiliary ‘did’ in past tense are followed by
present form. Instead of present form, some students used adjectives and past
form after the auxiliary ‘did’.
And also, there were 41.02% of the students and 66.67% of the teachers
who confirmed that the students also had difficulties in applying ‘did’ as a verb in
past tense (see statement 14 in Table 4.3). The students seemed confused about
‘did’ as the past form of ‘do’.
Intralingual transfer happens in the students’ text when students misuse
‘did’. Thus, intralingual transfer became the possible source of errors in applying
past tense in the students’ narrative texts concerning the misuse of auxiliary.
h. The students were still confused about ‘had’.
All of the teachers and 35.89% of the students agreed that the students had
difficulties in applying ‘had’ as an auxiliary in past perfect tense (see statement 15
in Table 4.3). Only a few students applying past perfect tense and some of them
made erroneous past perfect sentences.
\
56
Meanwhile, some students were also confused about ‘had’ as a verb in
past tense and as an auxiliary in past perfect tense. There were 41.02% of the
students who were confused about ‘had’ as a verb and one teacher realized it (see
statement 16 in Table 4.3).
Intralingual transfer happens in the students’ texts when the students
misuse ‘had’. Thus, intralingual transfer became the possible source of errors in
applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts concerning the misuse of
auxiliary.
i. The students were still confused about modals.
There were so many erroneous past tense sentences using modals ‘can’
and ‘will’. There was almost 54% of the students did not understand that ‘can’
and ‘will’ should be changed into ‘could’ and ‘would’ in past tense sentences (see
statement 17 in Table 4.3). And there was only one teacher noticed that more than
50% of his students asserted that they had difficulties in applying modals like
‘could’ and ‘would’ in past tense (see statement 17 in Table 4.3)..
Intralingual transfer happens in the students’ texts when the students
misuse modals. Thus, intralingual transfer became the possible source of errors in
applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts concerning the misuse of
modals ‘could’ and ‘would’.
j. The students did not do enough writing practice.
There were 66.67% of the teachers who agreed that the students did not do
enough writing practice so that they have problem in developing a text,
particularly a narrative text (see statement 2 in Table 4.3). To be able to develop a
\
57
text, the students should practice developing the text. The teacher should give
enough writing assignments to the students so that the students can develop their
ability in developing a text.
Almost 59% of the students stated that they were given more than 3
writing assignments in their first semester (see statement 1 in Table 4.3). The
writer conducted interviews to the students to make certain this finding. There
was only one out of ten students who said that they were given more than 3 times
writing assignments by their teachers. Then, the writer asked the teacher how
many times they gave writing assignments to the students to make certain whether
the finding of the questionnaire or of the interviews should be approved. The
teachers answered that they gave 3 writing assignments last semester. There were
three genres (narrative genre, procedure genre and recount genre) the students
should have mastered in semester 1. Thus, the finding of the interview that
showed the students had 3 writing assignments in the first semester was approved.
As there were 66.67% of the teachers agreed that the students did not
practice developing texts enough in semester 1, the writer concluded that 3
writing assignments were not enough for the students to work on.
k. There was the students’ negative approach toward English.
There was one student who explicitly mentioned that he/she never studied
English and rarely paid attention to the lesson (see appendix 3). Furthermore, one
of the teachers also asserted that there are students who do not pay attention to
their teacher’s explanation (see appendix 5). There were also some students stated
\
58
that they rarely learned past tense and past perfect tense, so that they made
erroneous past tense and past perfect tense sentences.
l. There was the students’ negative approach toward writing.
The students did not have any positive approach toward writing. The
English teacher mentioned that the students did not have motivation to read and
write English texts. Furthermore, after interviewing the students, the writer also
found that eight out of ten students did not like to write in English (see appendix
6). For having no motivation to write an English text, a student would not do his
best to develop a text and this would result an erroneous text. In addition, there
was a student clearly mentioned that errors made by the students occurred because
the students are dense. Seeing oneself as a dense being is a very negative attitude
that destructs one’s confidence. Without confidence, the student will not give his
best in developing a text so that he might make errors in his text.
m. There was the students’ carelessness during developing narrative texts.
Some students stated that their errors in producing past tense sentences in
developing narrative texts were caused by the students’ carelessness (see appendix
6). Carelessness refers to the students’ less attention or concentration in producing
past sentences in their narrative texts. For example, some students might forget
that they should apply past tense, or they might forget the rules of past tense, or
maybe they forget to change the verb form in their past sentences. Another
example is when the students forget to add auxiliaries in their sentences. The
students knew what they should write, but because they were careless, their
sentences became erroneous.
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59
In addition, there were few students who stated that they made erronous
past tense sentences because their teachers had not taught ‘was’ and ’were’ that
are followed by noun, adverb, adjective, verb-ing, and past participle, ‘did’ as an
auxiliary and as a verb, ‘had’ as an auxiliary and as a verb, and modals (‘could’
and ‘would’) in past tense (see statements 18 – 26 in Table 4.3). Meanwhile, the
results of the questionnaire for teachers showed that the teachers (at least two
teachers/66.67% of the teachers) had taught ‘was’ and ’were’ that are followed by
noun, adverb, adjective, verb-ing, and past participle, ‘did’ as an auxiliary and as a
verb, ‘had’ as an auxiliary and as a verb, and modals (‘could’ and ‘would’) in past
tense to the students (see statements 18 to 26 in Table 4.3). In brief, ‘was’ and
’were’ that are followed by noun, adverb, adjective, verb-ing, and past participle,
‘did’ as an auxiliary and as a verb, ‘had’ as an auxiliary and as a verb, and modals
(‘could’ and ‘would’) in past tense had been taught.
To sum up, the following are the possible causes of the erroneous past
sentences in the students’ narrative texts:
a. The students did not know that they have to apply past tense.
b. The students were familiar with producing sentences in their native language
(interlingual transfer).
c. There are too many kinds of tenses to learn by the students.(intralingual
transfer).
d. There are many rules in past tense (intralingual transfer).
e. The students did not memorize all irregular past form (intralingual transfer).
f. The students misused and were still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’
(intralingual transfer).
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60
g. The students misused and were still confused about ‘did’ (intralingual
transfer).
h. The students misused and were still confused about ‘had’ (intralingual
transfer).
i. The students misused and were still confused about modals “would” and
“could” (intralingual transfer).
j. The students did not do enough writing practice.
k. There was the students’ negative approach toward English.
l. There was the students’ negative approach toward writing.
m. There was the students’ carelessness during developing narrative texts.
C. Other Findings
This section presents the other significant findings outside this study. The
first is about the tenth grade students’ and tenth grade English teachers’ different
perception of the possible causes of the erroneous past tense sentences in the
students’ narrative texts. The second is about the incomprehensible sentences.
1. The Students’ and the Teachers’ Different Perception of the Possible
Causes of the Most Frequent Errors in the Students’ Narrative Texts.
The writer found that there were the tenth grade students’ and teachers’
different perceptions of some possible causes of the erroneous past tense
sentences in the students’ narrative texts. From Table 4.3, the writer found some
striking perception difference between the students’ and the teachers’ agreement
on some statements. These statements are the statements number 8, 9, 11, 13, 14
\
61
and 15. Table 4.4 shows the statements on which the students and the teachers had
different perception.
Table 4.4 The Students’ and the Teachers’ Different Perception

S T
Statement
(%) (%)
8 Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were 30.76 66.67
erroneous maybe because the students were still
confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ as auxiliaries in
past tense that are followed by verb-ing.
9 Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were 28.20 66.67
confused about applying ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are
followed by nouns.
11 Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were 30.76 100
confused about applying ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are
followed by adjectives.
confused about ‘did’ as an auxiliary that should be
followed by present form in past tense sentences
confused about ‘did’ as a verb in past tense or as
the past form of ‘do’.
confused about ‘had’ as an auxiliary.
Legends:
S = percentage of the students who agree with the statement
T = percentage of the teacher who agree with the statement
Statement number 8 states that one of the possible causes of erroneous past
tense sentences was the students’ being confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ as
auxiliaries in past tense that are followed by verb-ing. There were 66.67% of the
teachers who stated that and there were only 30.76% of the students who agreed
to the statements. Most of the teachers were aware that the students were still
confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ as auxiliaries in past tense that are followed by
verb-ing. Meanwhile, less than half of the students in class were aware of this
\
62
possible cause. This thing clearly shows that there was different perception
between the students and the teachers on the possible causes of the students’
erroneous past tense sentences. This finding might show that there was
misconception between the students and the teachers about the possible causes of
errors in applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts.
The students’ and the teachers’ different perception is also shown in
statement 9. There were less than one third of the students agreed that their
sentences in past tense were erroneous because the students were still confused
about applying ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by nouns. Meanwhile, there
were two third of the teachers were aware of this possible cause.
This different perception also happened in statements 11, 13, 14 and 15. In
statements 11 and 15, all teachers were aware that the students’ sentences in past
tense were erroneous because the students were still confused about applying
‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by adjectives and because the students were
still confused about ‘had’ as an auxiliary. Meanwhile, there were only about one
third of the students who were aware of this possible cause. In statement 13, there
were only about half of the students who were aware that they had erroneous past
tense sentences because of they had problem with ‘did’ as an auxiliary that should
be followed by present form in past tense sentences. Meanwhile, all of the
teachers were aware of this possible cause.
Furthermore, the different perception is also shown through the difference
of the percentage number between the students’ and the teachers’ perception on
statement 14. In statement 14, all of the teachers were aware that ‘did’ as a verb in
\
63
past tense or as the past form of ‘do’ could be a problem in applying past tense. In
the meantime, there was less than half of the number of the students who were
aware of this problem.
In brief, there were the tenth grade students’ and tenth grade English
teachers’ different perceptions of some possible causes of the erroneous past tense
sentences in the students’ narrative texts. The students and the teachers should be
more open to avoid misperception about any other things in teaching –learning
activity.
2. Incomprehensible Sentences in the Students’ Narrative Texts
The writer found many sentences that were incomprehensible. These
sentences were very annoying for readers cannot understand or comprehend the
story. Thus, it is significant to point out these incomprehensible sentences in this
study. The following sentences are some incomprehensible sentences taken from
Student’s Text 6 (see Appendix 7).
*It problem that was faced Airlangga king was very much.
*At time Airlangga king was very sad saw it.
*Finally, Mataram country back to begin.
*Except that, queen very sad, because a long time they married but not yet
their gave the children.
*He didn’t give that the best for public but to his wife.
*In order that all his problem can soon finished. Don’t forget he beg in
order that to get children.
*In there, Airlangga came much tempted.
*…finally he was came a grandfather wearing white cloth.
*What happens you came to me?
*How if in place your ascetisim made a statue. This statue means for
remembered. Beside that also for expression.
*But how shape this statue?
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64
*To started this temple with statue resemble his wife to build.
*For to made more beauty this statue resemble his wife then to gave water
source for mountain to handle this statue. Then this temple to gave named
Sumber Tetek Temple. And that can we visited in Wonosongo village.
There are also many more sentences that are incomprehensible taken from
the other texts. Some other incomprehensible sentences were taken from text 16
(see Appendix 12):
*She is lived away her father a long time.

*But she always stiff in face to them.
*They add Cinderella’s torture a more with their slander.
*Cinderella want join this party, but she don’t it.
*she just want make her family was shy.
*Some mouse, a pumpkin to change into carriage.
*She down and start enter to in.
*A long time, a’clock is 12.00 p.m.
*She run very fast, in her behind a prince chase her.
*She fall down and forced leave her shoes.
*A prince reach girl in the party. He reach until in final home.
*Just one girl is finished Cinderella.
Analyzing the sentences over and over again, the writer found that most of
the incomprehensible sentences were translated directly from the native language.
It is clear that the interlingual transfer took part in these errors. These sentences
were still comprehensible for the writer as the writer and the students share the
same native languages, which are Indonesian language and Javanese language.
The following are sentences taken from text 6 (see Appendix 7) as the examples:
*Except that, queen very sad, because a long time they married but not yet
their gave the children. (Selain itu, ratu sangat sedih karena lama mereka
menikah tapi belum juga diberi anak)
 Besides, the queen was very sad because they had not had any children
even though they had been married for years.
*He didn’t give that the best for public but to his wife. (Dia tidak
memberikan yang terbaik untuk rakyat tapi untuk istrinya.)
 He did not give any attention to his people or anything else but to his
wife.
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65
*In there, Airlangga came much tempted. (Di sana, Airlangga didatangi
banyak godaan.)
 There were so many trials came to Airlangga.
*What happens you came to me? (Apa yang terjadi kamu datang padaku?)
 What occasion makes you come to me?
 Why do you come to me?
*But how shape this statue? (Tapi bagaimana bentuk patungnya?)

 But what is the shape of the statue?
Other examples are taken from text 16 (see Appendix 12):
*She is lived away her father a long time. (Dia ditinggal ayahnya lama)
 Her father left her since years ago.
*They add Cinderella’s torture a more with their slander. (Mereka

menambah siksaan Cinderella lagi dengan fitnah mereka)
 They added insult to injury Cinderella.
*She down and start enter to in. (Dia turun dan mulai masuk ke dalam)
 She got off the carriage and entered the palace.
*She run very fast, in her behind a prince chase her. (Dia lari cepat sekali,
di belakangnya, seorang pangeran mengejarnya)
 She ran fast with the prince was chasing her.
*A prince reach girl in the party. He reach until in final home. (Sang
pangeran menghubungi gadis di pesta. Dia sampai di rumah terakhir.)
 The prince looked for the girl, who was in the party, in every house. At
last, he reached the last house.
In brief, some of the tenth grade students’ sentences in their narrative texts
were incomprehensible. Most of the incomprehensible sentences were direct
translations from Indonesian. Thus, interlingual transfer did not only affect the
tenth grade students’ past sentences, but also affected the meaning of the
sentences. The tenth grade students translated the sentences directly from the
native language into English instead of thinking and translating ideas into English.
\
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter presents the conclusion derived from the analysis results. It
also presents suggestions for further researchers, the students and the teachers.
This chapter is divided into two parts, the conclusions and the suggestions.
A. Conclusions
Based on the data of the results and the discussion in the previous chapter,
there are two major conclusion. The first conclusion is about what textual features
the tenth grade students’ narrative texts had. The second one is about the possible
causes of the most frequent errors that occurred in the textual features of the texts.
The first conclusion is that almost all of students’ narrative texts had
generic structure but did not have all linguistic features. Almost all of the tenth
grade students’ narrative texts had generic structure concerning orientation,
complication and resolution. The result showed that 96% of the tenth grade
students’ narrative texts had orientation. Almost all (96%) of the narrative texts
had complications. There were 92% of the narrative texts that had resolutions.
Thus, applying generic structure in narrative texts is not a problem for the tenth
grade students. Meanwhile, tenth grade the students’ narrative texts did not had all
linguistic features. Most of the tenth grade students’ narrative texts had time
transitions and adjectives, some had relevant vocabulary, and only few of them
had past tense. The result of the research showed that almost all of the narrative
66
\
67
texts (84%) had time transitions. And also, there were 92% of the narrative texts
that had adjectives to describe setting, characteristic and appearances. It can be
seen also that 36% of the narrative texts had vocabulary that is relevant to the
subject matter. In the meantime, there were only 8% of the narrative texts that had
past tense application. Thus, the most frequent error in applying textual features
was error in applying past tense.
The second conclusion is about the possible causes of the most error
occurred in the textual features of the texts. As can be seen in the previous
chapter, the writer concluded that there were seven possible causes of errors in
applying past tense. The first was the interlingual transfer, in which native
language becomes the source of errors. The second was intralingual transfer, in
which the English grammar itself became the source of the errors. The third
possible cause was the students did not know that they have to apply past tense.
The fourth was the students did not do enough writing practice. The fifth possible
cause was the tenth grade students’ negative approach toward English in which
the students did not take the English subject seriously. The sixth was the tenth
grade students’ negative approach toward writing, in which the students did not
have motivation to write in English. The last possible cause was the tenth grade
students’ carelessness during developing narrative texts.
B. Suggestions
Considering the importance of this study, there are some suggestions for
further researchers, the students and the teachers.
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68
1. For Further Researchers
This study is focused on the textual features of narrative texts. Further
researchers may also conduct another study on another feature that is on the
contextual features of a narrative text. Furthermore, similar study may be
conducted for the other type of texts by further researchers. Further researchers
may also conduct a research relating certain genre mastery to the gender of the
writers. Moreover, as the students had problem in applying the relevant
vocabulary, further researchers may also conduct research revealing the possible
causes of errors in applying relevant vocabulary in narrative texts or other type of
texts.
2. For the Students
Students might be aware of their mastery of textual features of a narrative
text. This study presented the students’ textual features of narrative texts so that
students might know their textual features errors and have chance to correct them.
The students might be aware that they had problem in applying past tense. The
students should pay more attention to their grammar in writing. They also should
pay attention to their teachers’ explanations.
Related to the students negative approach toward writing, the students
should have motivation to write, belief that the writing task can be accomplished,
and willingness to develop texts. Related to the students’ carelessness, the
students might get peer-provided feedback. In peer-provided feedback, a student
gives and is given feedback to and from his classmates. In addition, considering
the students’ and the teachers’ different perception, the students might be more
\
69
sincere to their teachers to avoid misperception about any teaching-learning-
related things.
3. For the Teachers
Knowing the difficulties in writing a narrative text, the teachers might ask
the students to practice writing more often, give explicit explanation of English
tenses, particularly past tense, and give quizzes on English grammar. Giving
writing assignment as homework would be a solution because, according to the
teacher, there is not enough time to practice writing in class. Explicit explanation
of English grammar, particularly past tense, might improve the students’
knowledge on English grammar, particularly past tense. Giving grammar quiz in
every meeting might improve the students’ awareness of grammatical rules. In
addition, considering the students’ and the teachers’ different perception, the
teacher might be more open to the students.
\
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APPPENDICES
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73
Appendix 1 - Narrative Text “Snow White”
Snow White
Orientation
Once upon a time there lived a little girl named Snow White. She lived
with her Aunt and Uncle because her parents were dead.
Major Complication
One day she heard her Uncle and Aunt talking about leaving Snow White
in the castle because they both wanted to go to America and they didn’t have
enough money to take Snow White.
Resolution
Snow White did not want her Uncle and Aunt to do this so she decided it
would be best if she ran away. The next morning she ran away from home
when her Aunt and Uncle were having breakfast. She ran away into the
woods.
Complication
She was very tired and hungry.
Resolution
Then she saw this little cottage. She knocked but no one answered so she
went inside and fell asleep.
Complication
Meanwhile, the seven dwarfs were coming home from work. They went
inside. There they found Snow White sleeping. Then Snow White woke up.
She saw the dwarfs. The dwarfs said, what is your name? Snow White said,
‘My name is Snow White’.
Major Resolution
Doc said, ‘If you wish, you may live here with us”. Snow White said, ‘Oh
could(I) ?.Thankyou’. Then Snow White told the dwarfs the whole story
and Snow White and the 7 dwarfs lived happily ever after.
Taken from Kurikulum 2004 Standar Kompetensi Bahasa Inggris SMA/MA
\
74
6 7
Appendix 2 - Recapitulation of the Results of the Questionnaires for Students

state
ment
1 2 3 4 5
a b c d f f g h i j k a b c d e f g h i j
Res.
R1 _ _ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R2 √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _
R3 √ _ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R4 √ _ √ √ √ _ _ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ √
R5 √ _ √ √ √ _ √ √ √ _ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ √ _ √ _ _
R6 √ _ _ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R7 √ _ _ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R8 _ _ √ _ √ _ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ _ √ _ √
R9 _ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ √ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R10 √ _ √ √ √ _ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ _ √ _ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ _ √ _
R11 √ √ _ √ _ √ _ √ √ √ _ √ _ _ _ √ _ √ √ √ _ _ √ _ _ √
R12 _ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ √ √ _ √ _ _ √ √ √ √ _ √ √ √ _ _ _ _
R13 √ √ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ √ √ √ √ _ _ √ √ _ _ √ √ √ √ _ √
R14 _ _ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ _ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ _ _ √ √ √
R15 _ √ √ √ √ √ √ _ √ _ √ √ _ √ _ √ √ √ _ √ _ _ √ √ _ √
R16 _ _ √ _ √ √ _ _ √ _ √ _ √ _ √ √ _ _ √ _ √ _ √ _ √ √
R17 _ _ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R18 √ _ √ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ √ √ √ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ √
R19 √ _ √ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _
R20 √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _
R21 √ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _
R22 √ _ √ _ _ √ √ _ √ _ _ _ √ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ _
R23 √ _ _ √ _ √ _ _ _ √ √ _ _ √ _ √ _ _ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ √
R24 √ _ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ √ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ _
R25 _ √ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ √ √ √ √ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ √ _ √ _ √ √
R26 √ _ √ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
\
75
state 6 7
ment
1 2 3 4 5
a b c d f f g h i j k a b c d e f g h i j
Res.
R27 √ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R28 _ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R29 √ _ _ √ √ _ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _
R30 √ √ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R31 _ √ √ √ √ √ _ √ √ _ _ √ √ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R32 _ _ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R33 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R34 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R35 _ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R36 √ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ √ _ √ √ _ _ _ √ _ _ √ _ √ √ _ _ _ √
R37 _ _ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ _ √ √ _ √ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ √ _
R38 _ _ √ √ √ √ _ √ _ _ √ √ _ √ √ √ √ _ √ _ _ √ _ _ √ _
R39 _ _ √ _ √ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tot. 23 10 26 25 27 28 12 11 16 12 25 20 16 14 16 21 7 7 11 15 12 9 7 4 6 11
% 58.97 25.64 66.67 64.10 69.23 71.79 30.76 28.20 41.02 30.76 64.10 51.28 41.02 35.89 41.02 53.84 17.94 17.94 28.20 38.46 30.76 23.07 17.94 10.25 15.38 28.20
Legends:
Res. : Respondent
R1 (R2, R3,…, R 39) : Respondent 1 (Respondent 2, Respondent 3, …, Respondent 39)
1 : My teacher often gave me writing assignments (at least 3 times in the last semester).
2 : I do not know that I have to apply past tense in developing a narrative text.
3 : For getting used to produce sentences in Bahasa Indonesia, which do not apply any tenses, any verb form changes, and any auxiliaries (such as: did, was, were,
had), I often make errors in producing sentences in past tense.
4 : Many kinds of tenses confuse me as I sometimes mix up the rules of each tense in my sentences, including in my past tense sentences.
5 : Many rules in past tense confuse me so that I have difficulties in applying them..
6a : Many of my sentences in past tense were erroneous because I did not memorize all irregular verb 2.
6b : Many of my sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because I was still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ as auxiliaries in past continuous tense that are
6c : Many of my sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because I was still confused about applying ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by nouns.
6d : Many of my sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because I was still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ which are followed by adverbs
6e : Many of my sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because I was still confused about applying ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by adjectives.
6f : Many of my sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because I was still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by verb 3 in passive sentences.
\
76
6g : Many of my sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because I was still confused about ‘did’ as an auxiliary that should be followed by verb 1 in past
tense sentences.
6h : Many of my sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because I was still confused about ‘did’ as a verb in past tense or as the past form of ‘do’
6i : Many of my sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because I was still confused about ‘had’ as an auxiliary in past perfect tense.
6j : Many of my sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because I was still confused about ‘had’ as a verb in past tense.
6k : Many of my sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because I was still confused about modals (such as ‘can’ and ‘will’) whose form actually change
when they are used in past tense.
7a : Many of my past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not been taught how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ as auxiliaries in past
continuous tense that are followed by verb-ing.
7b : Many of my past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not been taught how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by
nouns.
7c : Many of my past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not been taught how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by
adverbs.
7d : Many of my past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not been taught how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by
adjectives.
7e : Many of my past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not been taught how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by verb
3 in passive sentences.
7f : Many of my past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not been taught how to apply ‘did’ as an auxiliary that is followed by
verb 1 in past tense.
7g : Many of my past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not been taught how to apply ‘did’ as a verb in past tense.
7h : Many of my past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not been taught how to apply ‘had’ as an auxiliary that is followed by
verb 3 in past perfect tense.
7i : Many of my past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not been taught how to apply ‘had’ as a verb in past tense.
7j : Many of my past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not been taught how to apply modals whose forms change and are
always followed by verb 1.
Tot. : Total
% : the percentage number
√ : agree
_ : disagree
\
77
Appendix 3 - The Answers to the Essay Part of the Questionnaire for Students
Reason
R1
- Many kinds of tenses make me confused and sometimes I forget the rules and mix them.
- I get used to produce Bahasa Indonesia and Javanese.
R2 –
R3 I get confused with the application of ‘had’, modals, and ‘verb-ing’.
R4 There are just so many tenses in English that I get confused
R5 There are just so many rules in English that make me confused.
R6 There are just so many grammar rules that confuse me and I don’t memorize all irregular verbs
R7 I don’t memorize all irregular verbs and there are just so many confusing grammar rules
R8 I just don’t know the rules of past tense and I don’t memorize all irregular verb
R9 I forget the rules of past tense
R10
I still get confused about the past tense rules application, I don’t know which to apply and whose forms to change
in past tense sentences
R11 I’m still confused about past tense
R12
I’m accustomed to producing texts in Bahasa Indonesia so that I’ve never thought of applying past tense in my
text
R13
There are just so much tenses in English and rules in past tense. I haven’t already mastered /memorized verb
form changes
R14 I rarely learn English and I rarely listen to my English teachers’ explanation
R15 I don’t understand past tense rules well
R16 I rarely learned past tense rules
R17
I have problem in producing a sentence with more than one verb. I don’t know which verb form that should be
changed
R18 There are just so many grammar rules that I don’t know which to use and when to use it.
R19 There are just so many tenses that sometimes I mix them up.
R20 I’m still confused about ‘did’ as an auxiliary and as a verb
R21
I’m still confused about verb form change and modals, about the rules of past tense, about auxiliaries in past
tense.
R22
For getting used to produce sentences in Bahasa Indonesia, I produce English texts without applying any tenses.
Thus, I sometimes forget the rules of past tense so that I make errors in my narrative text.
I don’t memorize verb 2 form, I don’t really pay attention to tenses, I’m still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ that
R23
are followed by adjectives and verb 3. I also have problem in applying ‘had’ and modals
- I was still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by verb 3 in passive sentences.
R24
- I was still confused about ‘did’ as an auxiliary that should be followed by verb 1 in past tense sentences.
- I was still confused about ‘did’ as a verb in past tense or as the past form of ‘do’.
- I often mix up the rules on tenses
R25 I rarely learn perfect tense and past tense.
R26 Carelessness in seeing the adverb of time.
R27
The poor mastery of past tense and students’ carelessness in producing past tense might lead to errors in past
tense.
R28 I didn’t memorize the verb forms and have problem in applying ‘was’/’were’ that is followed by adverb.
R29 I didn’t memorize the verb forms and I have problem in applying ‘was’/’were’ that is followed by adjective.
I didn’t memorize the verb forms and I don’t get the idea of past tense and how to differentiate past tense with
R30
other tenses.
R31 I don’t get the idea of past tense.
R32
I didn’t memorize the irregular verbs and I have problem in applying ‘was’/’were’ that is followed by verb 3 and
by the other things.
I don’t get the idea of past tense well. I’m confused about the patterns of tenses. Anyway, a student makes errors
R33
because he is stupid. A stupid student would make errors over and over again.
R34 I didn’t memorize the verb 2 and I have problem in applying ‘was’ and ‘were’.
R35 I didn’t memorize the verb 2. I don’t know how to apply ‘did’, ‘was’, ‘were’ and ‘had’.
R36 I don’t get the idea of auxiliaries.
R37 The students make errors in past tense because there are students that don’t memorize the irregular verbs.
R38
I have problems in applying ‘was’/’were’, ‘have’/’had’. And also, tenses sucks and I can’t apply the changing verb
form on them.
R39 I get used to Bahasa Indonesia, which doesn’t apply tenses. I am confused about producing correct past tense.
Legends:
R1 (R2, R3,…, R39) : Respondent 1 (Respondent 2, Respondent 3, …, Respondent 39)
\
78
5 6
Appendix 4 - Recapitulation of the Results of the Questionnaires for Teachers

ment
state
1 2 3 4
a b c d e f g h i j k a b c d e f g h i j
Res.
R1 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
R2 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ √
R3 _ _ √ _ _ _ _ _ √ _ √ √ √ _ _ _ _ √ _ _ √ √ √ _ _
T 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 3 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1
% 66.67 66.67 100 66.67 66.67 66.67 66.67 66.67 100 66.67 100 100 100 33.33 33.33 0 0 33.33 0 0 33.33 33.33 33.33 0 33.33
Legends:
Res. : Respondent
R1 (R2, R3) : Respondent 1 (Respondent 2, Respondent 3)
1 : My students have difficulties in applying past tense and the other grammar rules in narrative text maybe because my students didn’t do enough writing practice.
2 : Maybe my students are getting used to produce sentences in Bahasa Indonesia, which do not apply any tenses, any verb form changes, and any auxiliaries (such
as: did, was, were, had), so that they often make errors in producing sentences in past tense.
3 : Many kinds of tenses confuse my students so that my students sometimes mix up the rules of each tense in their sentences, including in their past tense sentences.
4 : Many rules in past tense confuse my students so that my students have difficulties in applying them.
5a : Many of my students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because my students did not memorize all irregular verb 2.
5b : Many of my students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because my students were still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ as auxiliaries in past tense
that are followed by verb-ing.
5c : Many of my students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because my students were still confused about applying ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed
by nouns.
5d : Many of their sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because my students were still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ which are followed by adverbs.
5e : Many of my students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because my students were still confused about applying ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed
by adjectives.
5f : Many of my students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because my students were still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by verb 3
in passive sentences.
5g : Many of my students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because my students were still confused about ‘did’ as an auxiliary that should be followed
by verb 1 in past tense sentences
5h : Many of my students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because my students were still confused about ‘did’ as a verb in past tense or as the past
form of ‘do’.
5i : Many of my students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because my students were still confused about ‘had’ as an auxiliary.
\
79
5j : Many of my students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because my students were still confused about ‘had’ as a verb or as the past form of ‘have’
in past tense.
5k : Many of my students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because my students were still confused about modals (such as ‘can’ and ‘will’) whose
form actually change when they are used in past tense and followed by verb 1.
6a : Many of my students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not taught them how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are
followed by nouns.
6b : Many of my students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not taught them how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are
followed by adverbs.
6c : Many of my students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not taught them how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are
followed by adjectives.
6d : Many of my students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not taught them how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are
6e : Many of my students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not taught them how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are
followed by verb 3 in passives sentence.
6f : Many of my students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not taught my students how to apply ‘did’ as an auxiliary that
is followed by verb 1 in past tense.
6g : Many of my students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not taught my students how to apply ‘did’ as a verb in past
tense.
6h : Many of my students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not taught my students how to apply ‘had’ as an auxiliary that
is followed by verb 3 in past perfect tense.
6i : Many of my students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not taught my students how to apply ‘had’ as a verb.
6j : Many of my students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because I have not taught my students how to apply modals whose forms
change and are always followed by verb 1 in past tense sentences.
Tot. : Total
% : the percentage number
√ : agree
_ : disagree
\
Appendix 5 - The Answers to the Essay Part of the Questionnaire 80

for Teachers
Reason
When the students were being taught past tense, most students understood it. But when they
R1
applied it in a text (narrative text), the students tend to be misled by Bahasa Indonesia.
The students don’t have any interest in reading and writing in English. The students don’t have
R2
enough writing practice. The students don’t pay much attention to the lesson.
The students’ don’t understand well the tense (past tense). And also, the students don’t
R3
memorize all verb 2 forms.
Legends:
R1 (R2, R3,…, R39) : Respondent 1 (Respondent 2, Respondent 3, …, Respondent 39)
\
81
Question Sari Dyah Citra Nita Septian Laga Ratri Zahara Rini Thyas
Appendix 6 - The Result of the Interview

1. Did your No Yes No No No No No No No No
teachers give you
more than 3
writing
assignments in
semester 1?
2. Do you agree Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
that students’
carelessness can
be the cause of
the erroneous
past sentences in
producing a
narrative text?
3. Please give me forgetting - omitting ‘to -omitting ‘to be’ __ -incorrect forgetting - using - mixing up - mixing up - using
some examples the verb be’ even though verb spelling the correct incorrect verb 2 and words in a incorrect
of students’ form so that the student verb form so verb form verb 3 sentence verb form
carelessness. the student -incorrect know that - using that the
use the irregular he/she should incorrect verb students -applying the -applying the - using the - mixing up
incorrect verb add ‘to be’ form write the wrong tense wrong tense wrong verb words in a
verb form incorrect because of in a text form sentence
- writing - using the verb form being
incorrect verb incorrect careless - writing the
even though auxiliaries - mixing up incorrect
the student the words spelling of
know the arrange- words
correct verb ment in a
form sentence
4. Do you like No Yes No No No Yes No No No No
developing
English texts?
5. Do you often No Yes No No No Yes No No No No
apply tenses in
your texts?
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

A STUDY ON THE TEXTUAL FEATURES OF THE NARRATIVE TEXTS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

A STUDY ON THE TEXTUAL FEATURES OF THE NARRATIVE TEXTS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

A Sarjana Pendidikan Thesis on

A STUDY ON THE TEXTUAL FEATURES OF THE NARRATIVE TEXTS

Ch. Lhaksmita Anandari, S. Pd., M. Ed. 12 September 2008

A STUDY ON THE TEXTUAL FEATURES OF THE NARRATIVE TEXTS

Defended before the Board of Examiners

Chairperson : A. Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A. __________________

Secretary : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. __________________

Member : Drs. Concilianus Laos Mbato, M.A. __________________

Member : A. Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A. __________________

Member : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. __________________

Yogyakarta, 24 September 2008

suggestions, and jokes. I am also greatly indebted to my major sponsor, Drs.

assistance. I would also like to thank my co-sponsor, Ch. Lhaksmita Anandari,

My appreciation also goes to all the lecturers of the English Language

Education Study Program.

I thank SMU N 2 Klaten for giving me an opportunity to conduct this

cooperation. I also thank the students of X B of the 2007/2008 academic year of

My thankfulness also goes to my family. I thank my father, whose

financial support helped me through these years studying at Sanata Dharma

University. I thank my mother, whose support helped me financially and

younger sister, Yenni, for the love and jokes.

fun time in English Language Education Study Program.

Yuanita Dwi Indriawati

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

Yogyakarta, 24 September 2008

Yuanita Dwi Indriawati

The latest curriculum named KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan

Kurikulum terbaru yang dinamakan KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan

D. Data Gathering Technique .................................................................... 29

Table 3.1 Generic Structure Checklist .............................................................. 30

Appendix 1. Narrative Text “Snow White” ...................................................... 73

This chapter presents the background of the study, problem formulation,

A. Background of the Study

Writing is important to master. Writing can be a means of improving

students’ English, especially their reading skill, vocabulary, and grammar.

Hughey, Worthmuth, Hartfiel and Jacobs (1983: 6) state that

Writing is also a means of reinforcing other language skills. … For ESL

It is clear that writing is an important skill for students to master as through

of teaching second languages” (http://www.tau.ac.il/2007). Furthermore, Barthes’

famous assertion in 1966, as cited by Mcquillan (2000: 2), states:

and writes narration. Thus, writing a narrative genre is important.

Furthermore, there is an interesting fact that, according to the latest

the tenth grade students’ mastering a narrative genre.

To master a narrative genre, the tenth grade students should be able to

rhetorical steps or generic structure and linguistic features that comprise

features of the narrative text became the focus of this study.

had difficulties in writing, including writing a narrative text. Moreover, SMU N 2

tenth grade students’ textual features of narrative texts in SMU N 2 Klaten.

In this study, the writer intended to answer these questions:

of the tenth grade students’ narrative texts?

generic structure and linguistic features.

D. Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study are:

1. investigating the tenth grade students’ textual features of a narrative text.

features of the tenth grade students’ narrative texts.