plagiat merupakan tindakan tidak … beberapa gagasan dalam mengajar klausa ajektiva dan sintaksis....

THE PERFORMANCE ON ANALYSING THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE

USING THE X-BAR SCHEMA OF THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS

IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Ari Wijayanto

Student Number: 031214030

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

2009

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

THE PERFORMANCE ON ANALYSING THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE

USING THE X-BAR SCHEMA OF THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS

IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Ari Wijayanto


ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

2009

i


A Sarjana Pendidikan Thesis on

THE PERFORMANCE ON ANALYSING THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE USING THE X-BAR SCHEMA OF THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS

IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

Prepared and Presented by Ari Wijayanto


Approved by Date

Yohana Veniranda, S.Pd., M.Hum. 18 June 2009

Sponsor

ii


A Sarjana Pendidikan Thesis on

THE PERFORMANCE ON ANALYSING THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE USING THE X-BAR SCHEMA OF THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS

IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

By

ARI WIJAYANTO


iii


For my mom, my dad, Ari Novi Wardana, and Meyske Jeannette

“Everyone, left to his own devices, forms an idea about what goes on

in language which is very far from the truth.”

Ferdinand de Saussure

iv


STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work

or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotation and

bibliography, as a scientific paper should.

Yogyakarta, 18 June 2009

The writer

Ari Wijayanto 031214030

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ABSTRACT Wijayanto, Ari. 2009. The Performance on Analysing the Adjective Clause Using the X-Bar Schema of the Sixth Semester Students in the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program Sanata Dharma University. Grammar provides the blueprints for a person to produce novel utterances and sentences from limited words. Equally, the intelligibility of a language largely depends on the understanding of the grammar of that language. From these points, it is understood that language teachers as well as students of English Language Education will perform better in teaching by having extensive knowledge of grammar and understanding systems for assessing language as their subject matter. The X-Bar schema, as one of thriving systems for assessing language, can deliberately depict the formations of words, phrases and sentence. However, the use of the X-Bar schema has been apparently poles apart from the practice and consideration on language teaching especially in grammar studies which in turn make it worth researching. This current study was conducted to answer two questions. The first question was on the performance of the sixth semester students of English Language Education on analysing the adjective clauses using the X-Bar schema. The second question was on the general classifications of the students’ mistakes in analysing the adjective clauses using the X-Bar schema. The research was conducted to the sixth semester students of the English Language Education academic year 2007/2008. A test which consists of two parts was administrated to answer those two questions.

The research findings revealed that the performance of the students was sufficient in general in that the result of the test showed that the average score of the students was 57.77%. In details, the first part of the test which tested the students’ knowledge and comprehension of the topics the average score was 64.67% whereas the second part of the test which required the students to apply the concepts and theories of the topics the average score was 50.89%. These figures implied that the students’ performance needs improving so that better performance in their learning especially grammar could be attained. They also answered the first question of the research. On the other hand, the students made mistakes generally in (1) identifying an adjective clause in a complex sentence, (2) identifying a CP related to the noun which was modified, (3) identifying the head of a main clause and (4) merging the categories of a matrix clause in both subject-subject adjective clause and object-subject adjective clause. These findings answer the second question.

As the students’ performance needs improving, the writer proposed some ideas of teaching adjective clauses and syntax to the English Language Education students. Furthermore, the writer also recommended that future research be directed to look for the underlying factors of the students’ mistakes so that better performance can be attained.

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ABSTRAK Wijayanto, Ari. 2009. The Performance on Analysing The Adjective Clause Using the X-Bar Schema of the Sixth Semester Students in the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Tata bahasa memberikan cetak biru bagi seseorang untuk untuk menciptakan ujaran dan kalimat baru dari kata-kata yang terbatas. Demikian pula, kejelasan atas sebuah bahasa sangat bergantung pada pemahaman atas tata bahasa dari bahasa tersebut. Dari hal ini dapat dipahami bahwa guru bahasa dan juga mahasiswa pendidikan bahasa Inggris akan berperforma lebih baik dalam mengajar dengan memiliki pengatahuan yang luas akan tata bahasa dan memahami sistem untuk menilai bahasa sebagai pokok persoalan. Skema X berpalang, sebagai salah satu sistem yang sangkil dalam menilai bahasa, menunjukkan pembentukan kata-kata, frase-frase dan kalimat-kalimat secara hati-hati dan runtut dengan cara yang cerdas namun sederhana. Namun demikian, penggunakan skema X berpalang nampaknya telah terpisahkan dari praktek pengajaran bahasa yang justru sebaliknya membuat hal ini layak untuk diteliti. Studi ini berusaha menjawab dua pertanyaan. Pertanyaan pertama menanyakan performa mahasiswa-mahasiswi semester enam Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris dalam menganalisis klausa adjektiva menggunakan skema X berpalang. Pertanyaan kedua menanyakan kesalahan-kesalahan umum yang dilakukan oleh mahasiswa-mahasiswi semester enam Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris dalam menganalisis klausa adjektiva menggunakan skema X berpalang. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan terhadap mahasiswa-mahasiswi semester enam Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris tahun ajaran 2007/2008. Sebuah tes yang terdiri atas dua bagian diujikan untuk menjawab kedua pertanyaan tersebut.

Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa performa mahasiswa-mahasiswi adalah cukup secara umum karena nilai rata-rata tesnya adalah 57,77%. Sebagai rincian, pada bagian pertama tes, yang mengujikan pengetahuan dan pemahaman dari topik-topik di atas, nilai rata-ratanya adalah 64,67% sedangkan pada bagian kedua tes yang mengujikan mahasiswa untuk menerapkan konsep dan teori dari topik-topik di atas nilai rata-ratanya adalah 50,89%. Angka-angka tersebut menyiratkan bahwa performa mahasiswa-mahasiswi perlu ditingkatkan sehingga performa yang lebih baik dalam studi terutama dalam tata-bahasa dapat dicapai. Hal tersebut juga menjawab pertanyaan pertama dari penelitian ini. Di sisi lain, mahasiswa-mahasiswi melakukan kesalahan umumnya pada (1) mengidentifikasi sebuah klausa adjektiva dalam kalimat majemuk, (2) mengidentifikasi klausa pelengkap (CP) dalam kaitanya dengan kata benda yang diterangkannya, (3) mengidentifikasi kategori yang menjadi kepala dari klausa induk dan (4) menggabungkan kategori-kategori dari kalimat majemuk baik dalam subjek-subjek dan objek-subjek klausa ajektiva. Temuan-temuan tersebut menjawab pertanyaan kedua dalam penelitian ini.

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Karena performa mahasiswa-mahasiswi perlu ditingkatkan, penulis mengajukan beberapa gagasan dalam mengajar klausa ajektiva dan sintaksis. Lebih jauh lagi, penulis juga menyarankan penelitian lanjutan diarahkan untuk mencari faktor-faktor yang menjadi penyebab mahasiswa-mahasiswi melakukan kesalahan sehingga performa yang lebih baik dapat dicapai.

viii


LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Ari Wijayanto Nomor Mahasiswa : 031214030

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul: THE PERFORMANCE ON ANALYSING THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE USING THE X-BAR SCHEMA OF THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, me-ngalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal: 12 Agustus 2009 Yang menyatakan Ari Wijayanto


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Jesus Christ for His

everlasting love, blessing and for making everything possible and beautiful just in

time.

My deepest gratitude goes to my major sponsor, Yohana Veniranda, S.Pd.,

M.Hum., for her precious time and support. Her criticism and suggestion were

very helpful to complete this thesis. I would like to address my thankfulness to

Drs. Y.B. Gunawan, M.A., for his permission to conduct my research in his class

and for his positive advice. I also would like to thank the sixth semester students

class A of Morpho-Syntax of the academic year 2007/2008 for their willingness to

be the respondents of this research.

My sincere appreciation also goes to my mother, my father and my brother

for their support in accomplishing this thesis. I would like thank Meyske Jeannette

for maintaining my sanity in time of difficulties through her everlasting love,

patience and smile.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the lecturers of the

English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University, PBI

secretariat staff, Mbak Daniek and Mbak Tari, and the library staff, for their

guidance, inspiration, encouragement and help during my study. I would like also

thank Dr. Bambang Triguno who patiently supported and guided me to finish this

thesis. I also thank Mera Puspitasari, S.E., Aff. W.M., and Beatri Hiprakurniwan,

S.E., M.M., for her willingness to help my research on statistic.

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I also want to express my gratitude to PBI fellows, Daniel, Mas Denny,

Niko, Devi ‘Amoy’, Reta, Lintang, Nina, Ozzy, Yuanita, Ipad, Dhea, Bagong,

Bhe, Ratna, Paulina, Alene ‘Cret’, Cimoy, Indra, Om Adit and Bram for the

unforgettable moments during the study. I thank my fellow teachers and staff of

Cresscendo Music School for their support in finishing my thesis. I also thank my

fellow teachers, staff and managers of LBA Interlingua especially Sari Irjayanti,

S. Hut., for her kindness to give me some opportunities to teach. I also thank

Imam Budi Purwoko. S.T., M.A. for his new insights of teaching and for

sharpening my knowledge through wonderful discussions.

Ari Wijayanto

x


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE ............................................................. ........................................ i

APPROVAL PAGES ......................................................................................... ii

DEDICATION PAGE ........................................................……........................ iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ................................................... v

ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... vi

ABSTRAK ................................................................. .......................................... vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................. ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................…............................ xi

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................ ................................. xiv

LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................ xv

LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................... xvii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Research Background ................................................................................... 1

B. Problem Formulation .................................................................................... 3

C. Problem Limitation ....................................................................................... 4

D. Research Objectives .................................................................……............ 5

E. Research Benefits …..................................................................................... 5

F. Definition of Terms ...................................................................................... 6

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Theoretical Review ........................................................................ .............. 8

1. Theoretical Review of Adjective Clause ................................................ 8

a. Independent Clause, Dependent Clause and Modifier .......….......... 8

b. Relative pronoun .......................................................... ……............ 10

1) Who .............................................................................................. 10

2) Which ........................................................................................... 11

3) Whom ........................................................................................... 11

4) That ...................................................................................... ........ 12

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c. Embedding .................................... ................................................... 13

2. Theoretical Review of the X-Bar Schema .............................................. 14

a. The Blueprint .................................................................................... 14

1) Head, Specifier and Complement .................................. .............. 15

2) Merge Operation .......................................................................... 17

b. The I' and the Inflection Phrase ....................………........................ 20

c. Complementizer Phrase ................................................................ ... 21

d. Wh Movement and Trace on Complemetizer Phrase ...................... 23

e. The Syntactic Structure of the Adjective Clause ........................ ..... 26

B. Theoretical Framework ................................................................ ................ 28

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Research Method ............................................................................ ............. 30

B. Research Respondent ......................................................................... .......... 31

C. Research Instrument ..................................................................................... 32

1. Type of Instrument ................................................................................. 32

2. Validity and Reliability of the Instrument .............................................. 33

a. Test Validity ..................................................................................... 33

1) Content Validity ........................................................................... 34

2) Construct Validity ........................................................................ 35

3) Face Validity ................................................................................ 36

b. Test Reliability ................................................................................. 36

c. Test Practicality ................................................................................ 38

D. Data Gathering Technique ................................................................... ........ 38

E. Data Analysis Technique ..................................................................... ........ 39

F. Research Procedure ............................................................................. ........ 40

CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION

A. Data Presentation ..........................................................................…............ 41

1. The Students’ Performance on the Test .................................................. 41

a. The Students’ Performance in Each Part of the Test ............…........ 42

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b. The Students’ Final Scores ............................................................... 43

2. The Presentation of the Descriptive Statistics ........................................ 45

B. Discussion ......................................................................................... ........... 47

1. The Students’ Performance on Analysing the Adjective Clauses

using the X-Bar Schema ......................................................................... 47

2. The General Classifications of the Students’ Mistakes .......................... 49

a. Main Clause, Subordinate Clause and Modifier ............................... 49

b. Complementizer Phrase and Wh Movement .................................... 54

c. Wh Movement and Trace on Inflection Phrase ……......................... 60

d. Drawing the Tree Diagram ................................................…........... 70

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion .................................................................................................... 87

B. Teaching Implication .................................................................................... 89

1. Teaching Syntax ..................................................................................... 89

2. Teaching Adjective Clause ..................................................................... 91

C. Suggestion .................................................................................................... 92

BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………....………………………. 93

APPENDICES

Appendix A. The Test and the Answer…………….................……….………. 96

Appendix B. The Computation of the Test Reliability ….… ...………..……… 103

Appendix C. Lesson Plans and Teaching Materials ……….………… .......….. 109

Appendix D. Examples of the Students’ Test ……………….……… ...........… 127

xiii


LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1 Specifiers in Relation to Head ............................................................ 16

Table 2.2 Lexical Categories and Their Inflectional Affixes ............................. 18

Table 2.3 Distributional Properties of Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives ............... 18

Table 2.4 Syntactic Categories ........................................................................... 19

Table 3.1 The Distribution of the Test Contents................................................. 35

Table 4.1 The Students’ Scores in Part A............................................................ 42

Table 4.2 The Students’ Scores in Part B.................................................... ....... 43

Table 4.3 The Students’ Final Scores ................................................................. 44

Table 4.4 The Students’ Scores in Relation to the Category............................ .. 45

Table 4.5 The Descriptive Statistics ................................................................... 46

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LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 2.1 The X' Schema .................................................................................. 15

Figure 2.2 A VP Consisting of a Specifier, a Head, and a Complement .......... . 16

Figure 2.3 Merge Operations in Action .......................................................... ... 20

Figure 2.4 The Structure of a Sentence .............................................................. 21

Figure 2.5 Complementizer Phrase .................................................................... 22

Figure 2.6 How Derivations Works ................................................................ ... 24

Figure 2.7 An Example of the D-Structure of an Adjective Clause ................... 25

Figure 2.8 An Example of S-Structure as a Result of the Movement ................ 25

Figure 2.9 The D-Structure of a Sentence Containing an Adjective Clause ... .. 27

Figure 2.10 The S-Structure of a Sentence Containing an Adjective Clause . ... 27

Figure 4.1a The Tree Diagram of the Correct CP .............................................. 56

Figure 4.1b The Incorrect Tree Diagram of the CP in which CP as an IP ......... 56

Figure 4.1c The Incorrect Tree Diagram of the CP in which CP as an NP ........ 57

Figure 4.1d The Incorrect Tree Diagram of the CP in which CP as an IP ......... 57

Figure 4.2 An Adjective Clause Modifies a NP ................................................. 58

Figure 4.3a The Tree Diagram of the Question Number 7 and 8 ....................... 61

Figure 4.3b The D-Structure of the Sentence [4] ..........................................….. 62

Figure 4.3c The S-Structure of the Sentence [4] ................................................ 63

Figure 4.4a The Tree Diagram of the Question number 9 and 10 .............. ....... 66

Figure 4.4b The D-Structure of the Sentence [5] ........................................ ...... 67

Figure 4.4c The S-Structure of the Sentence [5] ................................................ 68

Figure 4.5 The Correct Tree Diagram of the Sentence [6] ................................. 71

Figure 4.6a The Tree diagram of the Students Achieved Score 4 .............. ....... 72

Figure 4.6b The Tree diagram of the Students Achieved Score 4 ............... ...... 73

Figure 4.7a The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 3 ..................... 74

Figure 4.7b The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 3 ................…. 75

Figure 4.8a The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 2 ..................... 76

Figure 4.8b The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 2 ..................... 77

Figure 4.8c The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 2 ..................... 77

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Figure 4.9a The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 1 .......... .......... 78

Figure 4.9b The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 1 ............. ....... 79

Figure 4.10 The Correct Tree Diagram of the Sentence [7] .................... .......... 80

Figure 4.11 The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 4 ......... ........... 81

Figure 4.12a The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 3 .............. .... 82

Figure 4.12b The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 3 ....... ........... 83

Figure 4.12c The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 3 ........... ....... 83

Figure 4.13 The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 2 ........... ......... 84

Figure 4.14a The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 1 ................... 85

Figure 4.14b The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 1 ........ .......... 85

Figure 4.14c The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 1 ........... ....... 86

xvi


LIST OF APPENDICES

Page

Appendix A. The Test and the Answer…………….................……….………. 96

Appendix B. The Computation of the Test Reliability …… ....………..……… 102

Appendix C. Lesson Plans and Teaching Materials …………………. .......….. 107

Appendix D. Examples of the Students’ Test …………………….… ...........… 124

xvii


CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The writer puts forward his rationale in doing the research in this chapter.

He questions two important problems which are going to be answered in this

research. The purpose, limitation and benefit of the research are also elaborated in

this chapter. Finally, the writer also provides the definition of terms based on the

relevant sources to avoid misunderstanding.

A. Research Background

The practice of English language teaching is closely related to the

grammar. Tracing back to the history of English language teaching, it reveals that

grammar becomes the main consideration in language teaching (Howatt and

Widdowson, 2004: 95-98). Grammar is evidently vital in the practice of English

language teaching and language itself in that grammar provides blueprints on how

one should combine words to form meaningful sentences and utterances. Equally,

the intelligibility of a language largely depends on the understanding of the

grammar of that language. Grammar is the answer on how one creates and

understands novel utterances and sentences from limited words (Fromkin,

Rodman and Hyams, 2003: 117-121). Therefore, it is understood that language

teachers as well as students of English Language Education will perform better by

having extensive knowledge of grammar. It cannot be denied that correcting

students’ performance on speaking or writing is grammatical. By knowing the

1


2

correct rules and patterns, teachers lead and help the students to be able to use

language grammatically, accurately and meaningfully. In addition, the tendency of

contemporary language teaching literatures and practices perceive grammar as a

skill in which it demands extensive knowledge of grammar (Celce-Murcia and

Larsen-Fremaan, 1999: 4-6; Larsen-Freeman, 2003: 34-48).

Therefore, this research is put down on the investigations of the grammar

studies which help the language teachers assess language as their main subject

matter. X-Bar schema, hereafter is abbreviated X' schema, is one of the thriving

methods to assess linguistic phenomena. Nevertheless, the use of the X' schema

has been apparently poles apart from the practice and consideration of language

teaching. It is due the fact that the X' requires understanding of various concepts

like complementizer, empty category, movement or tree diagram which are

somewhat unusual (Alip, 2006). Moreover, for those who are not accustomed to

using the X' schema to analyse linguistic phenomena it might be felt impractical.

In spite of the terms which are problematic, the X' schema provides simplicity and

deliberately shows generations of words, phrase or sentences. It means that the X'

schema does not only deals with the actual utterances or performance (Alip,

2006), but the X' schema also shows the competence in which the generation of

those elements are rooted in a speaker’s mind. Another colour of the X' schema is

the use of tree diagrams. The tree diagrams are graphic representations of

grammatical relations of each syntactic category. The X' schema widely employs

tree diagrams to show how words, phrases and sentences are generated. Once the

teachers comprehend how words, phrases and sentences are generated,


3

explanations to the students on language forms and functions are clear and

reliable.

To relate with the practice of English language teaching, this research puts

forward on the practical uses and the application of the X' schema to analyse

adjective clauses as one of the subjects of language teaching. The adjective

clauses have been interest for many researchers to investigate for their complexity

and usage (Annas, 2004 and Lin and Bever, 2006). Some teaching literatures

(Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1999: 571-573; Murphy, 1985: 182-190 and

Yule, 2004: 239-240) also indicate that the adjectives clauses should be elaborated

in a great respect. However, most of the researchers investigate the adjective

clauses in the light of teaching strategies and second language acquisition.

Therefore, this research carries out the research in the framework of syntax as a

complement of those researches. This research is expected to give positive

contribution in language teaching by disclosing the students’ performance in

applying the X' schema as well as making general classifications of the students’

mistakes so that better performance in teaching could be attained.

B. Problem Formulation

The research questions are the followings:

1. What is the sixth semester students’ performance on analysing the adjective

clauses using the X-Bar schema?

2. What are the general classifications of the most mistakes commonly made by

the students on analysing the adjective clauses using the X-Bar schema?


4

C. Problem Limitation

This research is conducted to the sixth semester students of English

Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University academic year

2007/2008. The main focus of this research is to measure students’ performance to

analyse adjective clause using the X' schema. To measure the students’

performance the writer will administers a test. The test results are then analysed to

determine the students’ performance and to know the mistakes on analysing the

adjective clauses.

Since adjective clauses are a broad topic, the writer limits the topic of the

adjective clause. This research will focus on the restrictive adjective clauses

which use relative pronouns which, who, whom and that. According to Biber,

Conrad and Leech (2002: 284-286), those relative pronouns are included in the

high frequency of relative pronouns choices in conversation, fiction, news and

academic prose. Therefore, they clearly deserve priority from pedagogical

perspective to be analysed.

The writer uses and follows the theories which is used as the main sources

in Morpho-Syntax class to analyse the adjective clauses. The theories are taken

from the book entitled Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction (2005) by

O’Grady, Archibald, Aronof and Rees-Miller. The consideration of taking that

book is because the sixth semester students who become the sample of the

research study the theories taken from the book. Therefore, in making the research

instrument and in discussing the findings, the writer refers to that theory as the

main source. In addition, the book emphasises more on the practical uses of the X'


5

schema rather than philosophical. Therefore, it is suitable to be used for language

teachers and candidate of teachers as a media to depict language.

D. Research Objective

Based on the background of the problem and the problem formulation, the

purposes of the research are:

1. To find out the sixth semester students’ performance on analysing the adjective

clauses using the X-Bar schema.

2. To find out the general classifications of the most mistakes commonly made by

the sixth semester students on analysing the adjective clauses using the X-Bar

schema.

E. Research Benefit

This research will give positive contributions to the field of language

teaching and linguistics. In language teaching, this research will measure the

students’ performance on their extensive knowledge of the grammar study related

to the adjective clauses and the X' schema. Besides, this research also looks for

general classifications of the students’ mistakes. Once the students’ performance

is measured and mistakes are classified, better improvement on grammar study

can be enhanced in which it will bring about a change in the knowledge and

behavior of the students in the teaching practice. On the other hand, in the area of

linguistics, this research can be used as a basis to conduct similar research with

different interests to enrich and enlarge research-based literature on linguistics.


6

F. Definition of Terms

This research uses some technical terms in the area of linguistics and

language teaching. In order to avoid misunderstanding among the readers, the

writer provides some definitions of terms related to the research based on relevant

sources.

1. Performance

According to McKean (2005), performance is an action, task, or operation

seen in terms on how successfully it was. In this research, performance refers to

on how successful the sixth semester students on applying the concepts and

theories of the X' schema to analyse the adjective clauses. Furthermore, a test

which consists of two parts is administered to elicit the students’ performance.

Once the students’ scores are obtained, the students’ performance is classified

according to the academic regulations of Sanata Dharma University which are

used as the benchmark.

2. Adjective Clause

Azar (1999: 267) states that adjective clause or relative clause is a

dependent clause that modifies a noun. It describes, identifies or gives further

information about a noun. On the other hands, Yule (2004: 240) adds that

adjective clauses do not only describe and identify nouns but also people.

An adjective clause uses relative pronoun such as who, which, whom and

that to connect the dependent clause to the independent clause. Murphy (1985:


7

182-184) elaborates that the relative pronoun who is used to talk about people,

which is used for things, that can be used either for people or things. In addition,

whom is used when the adjective clause functions as an object in formal English.

3. X-Bar Schema

According to O’Grady et al. (2005: 658), X' schema is the template for

phrase structure, indicating that a phrase is hierarchically organised with a head,

complement and specifier. The symbol X is used as a variable denoting any word

category. In addition, Radford (1997: 535) adds that the X' is an intermediate

projection headed by a word category. Furthermore, according to O’Grady et al.

(2005: 155-157), the X' schema captures four generalisations. First, all phrases

have a three-level structure. Second, all phrases contain a head. Third, if there is a

complement, it is attached at the intermediate X' level as a ‘sister’ of the head.

Fourth, if there is a specifier, it is attached at the XP level.

4. Tree Diagram

According to Radford (1997: 533), a tree diagram is a way of representing

the syntactic structure of a phrase or a sentence. In addition, the tree diagram

represents the formations of phrases and sentences hierarchically. It is called a

‘tree’ because the representation of the syntactic structures using this diagram is

similar to a tree sketch with its branch and leaves.


CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

The writer elaborates theories of adjective clause and X-Bar based on

relevant sources in this chapter. This chapter is also meant to present the

theoretical ground as the basis of analysis. Contemporary theories of adjective

clause and X-Bar are presented here.

A. Theoretical Review

In this part, the writer reviews many theories related to the adjective clause

and the X' schema to provide theoretical background to conduct the research. The

first part is related to the adjective clauses theory and the second part is related to

the X' schema. The followings are the complete elaborations of those theories.

1. Theoretical Review of Adjective Clause

Many literatures on grammar discuss adjective clauses extensively.

However, to avoid exaggerate discussion on the adjective clauses and to

synchronise those literatures with the aims of this study the writer will discuss

theories and concepts of the adjective clause related to the research.

a. Independent Clause, Dependent Clause and Modifier

According to Azar (1999: 267) and Murphy (1985: 182), a clause is a part

of a sentence which contains a subject and verb. On the other hand, Azar (1999:

8


9

267) also states that an independent clause or a main clause is a complete

sentence. It contains the main subject and verb of a sentence. It should be also

contrasted with the term dependent clause or subordinate clause since an adjective

clause is a dependent clause. A dependent clause is not a complete sentence. It

must be connected to an independent clause.

On the other hand, adjectives, as Azar (1999: A4) states, give a little

different meaning by describing or modifying nouns. Therefore, as the name

suggests, the adjective clause is a clause which functions to modify or to describe

about a noun. In line with the arguments, Murphy (1985: 182) states that an

adjective clause is not only to explain about a noun but also a pronoun. In other

words, the adjective clause functions as a modifier of a noun or pronoun. To make

it precise, sentence [1] illustrates those explanations.

[1] The woman who lives next door is a doctor.

The clause in italic is an adjective clause. It is an adjective clause because

it functions to modify or to give further information about the noun phrase the

woman. By adding an adjective clause after the noun phrase, a speaker intends to

be precise on which he or she means. Still according to Murphy (1985: 182),

sentence [1] actually consists of two sentences. They are [1a] and [1b].

[1a] The woman is a doctor.

[1b] She lives next door.

Comparing sentence [1a], [1b] and [1], it makes an impression that [1b] explains

or gives further information of sentence the [1a]. It gives further information of

the noun phrase the woman. However, if [1b] merely combines with [1a] it will be


10

less elegant and wordier. Therefore, the presence of the relative pronoun who

encodes the properties of [1b] so that it naturally attaches to [1a] to form [1]. The

next part discusses the theoretical description of the relative pronoun.

b. Relative Pronoun

The relative pronoun is the most noticeable feature of an adjective clause

because of its functions. The relative pronoun marks or introduces the adjective

clause as well as functions as a subject or an object in a sentence (Philips, 2003:

119 and Swan, 2005: 477). The relative pronouns such as who, which, whom and

that introduce the adjective clauses. However, the use of the relative pronouns

largely depends on the noun or pronoun which is modified. The followings are the

explanation of each relative pronoun.

1) Who

The relative pronoun who introduces an adjective clause when it modifies

or gives further explanation about people. The relative pronoun who replaces the

use of he, she, or they (Azar, 1999: 268 and Murphy, 1985: 182). Sentence [2]

illustrates the role of the relative pronoun who in a sentence.

[2] I thanked the woman who helped me.

The presence of the relative pronoun who in the clause who helped me

introduces that the phrase is an adjective clause. According to Azar (1999: 268),

the sentence [2] consists of an independent clause [2a] and dependent clause [2b].

Therefore, sentence [2a] and [2b] constitute [2].


11

[2a] I thanked the woman.

[2b] The woman helped me.

The phrase the woman in [2b] corresponds to the noun phrase the woman in [2a]

therefore the relative pronoun who is used when those two sentences are

combined in which one of those sentences functions as the modifier.

2) Which

Conversely, the relative pronoun which introduces an adjective clause

when it modifies or gives further explanation about things (Murphy, 1985: 182).

Sentence [3] illustrates the use of which in an adjective clause.

[3] Where is the cheese which was in the fridge?

Following the same arguments, dependent clause [3a] and independent clause [3b]

constitutes sentence [3].

[3a] Where is the cheese?

[3b] It was in the fridge.

The pronoun it in [3b] corresponds to the noun phrase the cheese in [3a].

Therefore, the relative pronoun which takes the position of the pronoun to form

the sentence [3].

3) Whom

Similar to the former relative pronoun, the relative pronoun whom

introduces an adjective clause when it modifies about people. However, as Azar

(1999: 268) puts forward, whom is generally used only in formal English. In


12

speaking, who is usually used instead of whom. However, in the perspective of

grammar, the relative pronoun whom is used when it functions as an object of the

verb. Sentence [4] illustrates the use of whom in an adjective clause.

[4] The man whom I met was Lecter.

Based on the arguments that an adjective clause connects to an independent

clause, sentence [4a] and [4b] comprise [4].

[4a] The man was Lecter

[4b] I met him.

Comparing [4a], [4b] and [4], the presence of the relative pronoun whom is clear

then. The object pronoun him which functions as an object corresponds to the

pronoun Lecter therefore the relative pronoun whom occupies the object position

to make up sentence [4].

4) That

Another relative pronoun which introduces either people or things is that.

According to Murphy (1985: 182-184 and Azar, 1999: 268), the relative pronoun

that occupies same properties as which and who. Instead of using who and which,

that can be used in an adjective clause. Following the arguments therefore,

sentence [5] and [6] below have the same meaning as sentence [2] and [3].

[5] I thanked the woman that helped me.

[6] Where is the cheese that was in the fridge.

A final point which should be clear is that those relative pronouns also

occurs in a noun clause. The relative pronoun who, which and that can function as


13

a connector in a noun clause (Philips, 2003: 117). However, the nature of the noun

clause naturally distinguishes from an adjective clause. As the name suggest, a

noun clause is a clause which is treated like a noun. Therefore, it can occupy the

position of subject, object and object preposition whereas an adjective clause

cannot. It should be another point which needs to be taken in to account in

considering an adjective clause in a sentence.

c. Embedding

The formation of an adjective clause entails embedding process.

Embedding is a process in which one clause embeds or pushes in within another

superordinate clause or a main clause (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1999:

572). Thus, it implies that the adjective clause derives from a basic structure

consisting of more than one sentence in which one sentence modifies another

sentence. Furthermore, Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999: 572) illustrates

the idea of embedding in sentence [7] clearly.

[7] The fans who were attending the rock concert had to wait in line for

three hours.

By observing [7] closely, it has a sense that the embedded clause in italics

is closely associated with the noun phrase the fans. The italics clause gives further

explanation or explains the noun phrase precedes it. In the perspective of Murphy

(1985: 182-184) and in line with Azar (1999: 268), sentence [7] consists of two

sentences. They are [7a] and [7b].

[7a] The fans had to wait in line for three hours.


14

[7b] They were attending the rock concert.

The subject they in [7b] corresponds to the subject the fans of [7a]. Thus, relative

pronoun who can replace the subject position to form more elegant sentence such

as [7]. The process in which [7b] push in within [7a] to form a more elegant

sentence such as [7] is called the embedding.

2. Theoretical Review of the X-Bar Schema

Discussing the X-Bar, it traces back to the classical and notorious work of

Chomsky (1957). Chomsky mentions that phrase-structure rules might contain

another phrase of the same type. In a noun phrase, for example, it might have

another noun phrase which theoretically without any limit. Therefore, to avoid the

recurring use of phrasal category such as noun phrase (NP), verb phrase (VP),

prepositional phrase (PP) or adjective phrase (AP), Chomsky (1970) introduces

the concept of the X-Bar, where X can be any lexical category. O’Grady,

Archibald, Aronoff and Rees-Miller (2005: 155) and Radford (1997: 92) explain

further the X' in a hierarchal design in a concept of head, specifier and

complement. Therefore, the X' schema, as the name suggest, is the template for

phrase structure, indicating that a phrase is hierarchically organised with a head,

complement and specifier.

a. The Blueprint

O’Grady et al. (2005: 156) and Radford (1997: 92) state that a typical

phrase can be broken down into three parts. They are head, specifier and


15

complement. Figure 2.1 illustrates the blueprint of the X' schema (X' is

pronounced X-Bar) in which X stands for any category such as noun, verb,

adjective or preposition, thus XP stands for a phrase such as NP, VP, AP, or PP.

Figure 2.1 The X' Schema (O’Grady et al., 2005: 156)

The structure, as Figure 2.1 illustrates, which is often called tree captures the

hierarchical organisation of phrases and sentences. In particular, the X' schema

captures four generalisations. First, all phrases have three-level structure. Those

are X, X' and XP. Second, all phrases contain a head X. Third, if there is a

complement, it is attached at the intermediate X' level, as a sister of the head.

Finally, if there is a specifier, it is attached at the XP level. The followings are the

expansion of the head, specifier and complement feature and how those features

come up together.

1) Head, Specifier and Complement

The head is the essential core around which a phrase is built. Similar to the

XP notion above, X refers to any category functions as the head. Therefore, as an

example, a noun phrase contains a noun as the head as well as a verb phrase

contains a verb as the head. Although phrases usually consist of two or more

words, a head may form a phrase all by itself (O’Grady et al., 2005: 156).


16

On the other hands, the type of specifier appearing in a particular phrase

depends on the category of the head. Syntactically, specifiers mark a phrase

boundary which occur at the beginning of the respective phrase whereas

semantically specifiers make the meaning of the head more precise (O’Grady et

al., 2005: 157). Needless to say, the specifier attaches to XP in accordance with

the X' schema. Table 2.1 presents the specifier in relation to the head.

Table 2.1 Specifiers in Relation to Head (O’Grady et al., 2005: 157)

Category Typical Function Examples Determiner Adverb Degree word

(Det) (Adv) (Deg)

specifier of N specifier of V specifier of A or P

the, a, this, those, no never, perhaps, often, always very, quite, more, almost

Finally, complements, which are themselves phrases, provide information

about the entities and locations whose existence is implied by the meaning of the

head (O’Grady et al., 2005: 158). In order to give clearer insight into the relation

between head, specifier and complement, Figure 2.2 as taken from O’Grady et al.

(2005: 158) illustrates it.

Figure 2.2 A VP Consisting of a Specifier, a Head, and a Complement (O’Grady et al., 2005: 158)

Figure 2.2 illustrates a phrase which consists of a head, a specifier and a

complement. In accordance with the X' schema, the verb eat is the head. It takes a


17

NP a hamburger as a complement comprises a determiner a and a noun

hamburger. Finally, the head takes the adverb never as the specifier to form a verb

phrase as it is illustrated above. The followings are the explanation on how those

categories can come up together and build larger phrases.

2) Merge Operation

According to O’Grady et al. (2005: 159) merge operation or merger

(Radford, 1997: 94) combines words in a manner compatible with the X' schema.

Figure 2.2 illustrates that a determiner a merge with a noun hamburger to form a

NP. It also captures that the verb eat merge with the adverb never and the NP a

hamburger to form a VP. In other words, merge actually combines smaller

syntactic category such as noun, verb, adjective and adverb to form a new phrasal

category. Radford (1997: 14-16 and 37) also argues that grammatical operations

in a natural language are category based and all words in the language belong to a

restricted set of category. There are three approaches according to O’Grady et al.

(2005: 154-155) to determine the category of words. The category of words can

be determined by meaning, inflection and distribution.

Meaning is used to determine the category of words based on designation.

Noun usually names entities or individual such as pen, book as well as Bob and

Ron. On the other hand, verb designates actions like in eat, drink and write.

Adjective denotes the property of a noun such as in beautiful girl, the word

beautiful modifies the word girl. Similarly, the adverb attributes the action,

sensation and state. However, meaning cannot tackle words with similar meaning


18

but they have different category. As an example, the similarity between like and

found are difficult to be designated. Although they share the same meaning, they

belong to different category.

In addition to meaning, inflection also can be employed to determine the

category of words. Table 2.2 provides information and examples related to the

inflection.

Table 2.2 Lexical Categories and Their Inflectional Affixes (O’Grady et al., 2005: 154)

Category Inflectional affix Examples Noun Verb Adjective

(N) (V) (A)

plural -s possessive -‘s past tense -ed progressive -ing third person singular -s comparative -er superlative -est

books, chairs, doctors John’s, (the) man’s arrived, melted, hoped arriving, melting, hopping arrives, melts, hops taller, faster, smarter tallest, fastest, smartest

However, inflection does not always provide information needed for assigning

category of word. For examples, some verbs like see, teach and sing have

irregular past form. Therefore, -ed inflection cannot be applied.

Finally, distribution is employed to determine the category of words by

figuring out the co-occurrence between the type of elements or functional

category with another functional category. Table 2.3 provides information about

the distributional properties.

Table 2.3 Distributional Properties of Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives (O’Grady et al., 2005: 155)

Category Distributional Property Examples Noun Verb Adjective

(N) (V) (A)

occurrence with a determiner occurrence with an auxiliary occurrence with a degree word

a car, the wheat has gone, will stay very rich, too big


19

Therefore, based on the Table 2.3 it is certain that a verb cannot occur with a

determiner or a degree word and a noun cannot occur with an auxiliary.

Furthermore, according to O’Grady et al. (2005: 152-153) the four most

studied syntactic categories are noun (N), verb (V), adjective (A) and preposition

(P). These elements, which are often called lexical categories, play a very

important role in sentence formation. However, languages may also contain

nonlexical or functional categories, including determiner (Det), auxiliary verb

(Aux), conjunction (Con), and degree word (Deg). Such elements generally have

meanings that are harder to define and paraphrase than those of lexical categories

are. Nonlexical categories are easier to interpret when they attach to the lexical

category. Table 2.4 provides the information and examples of the lexical and

nonlexical category.

Table 2.4 Syntactic Categories (O’Grady et al., 2005: 153)

Lexical categories Examples Noun Verb Adjective Preposition Adverb

(N) (V) (A) (P) (Adv)

Harry, boy, wheat, policy, moisture arrive, discuss, melt, hear, remain, dislike good, tall, old, intelligent, beautiful to, in, on, near, at, by slowly, quietly, now, always

Nonlexical categories Examples Determiner Auxilary verb Modal Nonmodal Conjunction Degree word

(Det) (Aux) (Con) (Deg)

the, a, this, these will, can, may, must, should, could, be, have and, or, but too, so, very, more, quite

In short, merge operations combine two categories to form another phrasal

category in accordance to the X' schema. Figure 2.3 which is adopted form

O’Grady et al. (2005: 155-160) illustrates the merge operation.


20

a. b.

Figure 2.3 Merge Operations in Action (O’Grady et al., 2005: )

The noun phrase the computer consists of the words the and computer. According

to the syntactic categories, the is a determiner and computer is a noun. Therefore,

they merger to form a NP in which N functions as the head. Similarly, the word

book is a noun. It merges with the determiner the to form a NP. In the end, it

merges with the verb read to form a larger phrasal category. As the result, they

make a VP read the book in which the verb read functions as the head.

b. The I' and the Inflection Phrase

The merge operation allows a category to combine to another category to

form a larger phrasal category. Continued application of the merge operations

leads to the unlimited and complex formation of phrases and sentences (Alip,

2006 and O’Grady et al., 2005: 160). Following the arguments that each merge

should meet the generalisation of the X' schema, a sentence also has a head as the

major feature. According to O’Grady et al. (2005:160) and Fromkin et al. (2003:

133), sentences have an abstract category dubbed as Inflection (I) which indicates

the sentence tense and specifies the time frame. Category such as modals,


21

auxiliary verbs and verbs take I as its category. To make it clear, Figure 2.3 as

taken from O’Grady et al. (2005: 160-161) illustrates the explanation above.

b.

a.

Figure 2.4 The Structure of a Sentence (O’Grady et al., 2005: 160-161)

It is clear in Figure 2.4a that the auxiliary verb will is dubbed I as its

category because it marks the tense and specifies the time frame. The I merges

with the verb return to form an I' and finally the I' merge with the NP the

explorers to form an IP. However, in Figure 2.4b the merge operation is

somewhat different from Figure 2.4a yet it is clear that I is an abstract category.

According to Radford (1997: 94), the I' of the Figure 2.4b is the intermediate

projection of the verb returned. Finally, the I' merges with the NP the explorers to

form the IP. However, it is not the final of the merge operation. It is because a

sentence can be a modifier of another sentence (Fromkin et al., 2003: 148-150;

O’Grady et al., 2005: 165-167; and Radford, 1997: 94-95). The followings discuss

the sentence which becomes a modifier of another sentence.

c. Complementizer Phrase

Complementizer phrase (CP) is a phrase which functions as a complement

of another clause or phrase (O’Grady et al., 2005: 166). By seeing the nature of an

adjective clause and comparing to the definition of the complementizer phrase, an


22

adjective clause can be categorised into a complementizer phrase. In relation to

the nature of the adjective clause as a complemetizer phrase. Furthermore,

Murphy (1985: 82) also elaborates that an adjective clause gives further

information about the noun or pronoun which precede it.

Another important feature of an adjective clause is the relative pronoun.

Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech and Svartvik (1985: 365) explain that the adjective

clause is introduced or marked by a relative pronoun. In the perspective of

O’Grady et al. (2005: 185) the relative pronoun is a noun phrase. Relative

pronoun is a noun phrase in view of the fact that it corresponds to the noun or

pronoun which are modified. The detail explanations of the relative pronoun

category are on the next topic. The following figure is to depict the relation of the

CP and the IP. Sentence [2] is used as the example.

Figure 2.5 The Relation of a CP which Modifies a NP in an IP


23

Sentence [2] consists of a main clause and an adjective clause. The relative

pronoun who marks the clause who helped me as an adjective clause. Considering

the merge operation, the verb helped merges with the object pronoun me to form a

VP, however I' occurs because the verb helped marks and specifies the time

frame. The I' merges with the relative pronoun who to form a CP. CP merges with

the noun phrase the woman to form a NP. Then, it merges with the verb thanked

to form a VP, however, it should be dubbed as I' because it specifies the time

frame and marks the tense. Finally, the I' merges with the subject pronoun I to

form an IP. However, talking about the complementizer phrase does not only

involve merger operation but also movement operation. The following part

discusses the movement operation related to the adjective clause.

d. Wh Movement and Trace on Complemetizer Phrase

According to O’Grady et al. (2005: 171), there are two mechanisms which

can be employed to help in analysing sentences. First, merger operation accounts

for the formation of phrases from smaller syntactic category. The second one is

movement operation. The movement operation modifies the arrangement of the

syntactic category in the tree diagram by moving an element from one position to

another. This movement results on two distinct levels of syntactic structure. They

are deep structure or D-structure and surface structure or S-structure. Therefore, in

analysing the adjective those two mechanisms should be considered. By

considering those mechanisms it will give a complete explanation on the nature of

the adjective clause in a sentence. Figure 2.6 illustrates it.


24

Merge

DEEP STRUCTURE

Move

SURFACE STRUCTURE

Figure 2.6 How Derivations Works (O’Grady et al., 2005: 172)

As Figure 2.6 depicts, merger operation accounts for the formation of the

larger phrasal category in accordance with X' schema. It results on the deep

structure. By the involvement of the movement operation in the deep structure, it

results surface structure. Sentence [8] which consists of [8a] and [8b] illustrates

those derivations.

[8] The car which John bought is cheap.

[8a] The car is cheap.

[8b] John bought the car.

By comparing [8a], [8b] and [8] it can be concluded that [8b] embeds in the main

clause [8a] to form a complex sentence [8]. Since the phrase the car in [8b]

corresponds to the same phrase in [8a], the relative pronoun which replaces it. In

addition, according to O’Grady et al. (2005: 175 and 184), the relative pronoun

should follows the Wh movement principle which requires the Wh phrase under

the position of CP. Another point is that there is an empty position which is left as

the result of the movement. This empty position is called a trace (t) (O’Grady et

al., 2005: 170). Those explanations are illustrated on Figure 2.7 and 2.8 on the

followings.


25

Figure 2.7 An Example of the D-Structure of an Adjective Clause (O’Grady et al., 2005: 185)

Figure 2.8 An Example of S-Structure as a Result of the Movement (O’Grady et al., 2005: 185)

In order to understand the nature of the Wh movement and the trace, observing the

relative pronoun which is very helpful. The noun phrase the car which has been

replaced by the relative pronoun which is originally located as the direct object of

the verb bought. Following the principle which requires to move the Wh phrase


26

under the CP, the relative pronoun which moves to the initial position of the

pronoun John. Once the position is vacated, the trace marks the original position

of the Wh phrase. The resulted phrase is the same as the phrase which is left.

e. The Syntactic Structure of the Adjective Clause

Another important colour of the X' schema is the use of tree diagrams

which can be used to represent the syntactic structure of a sentence. Alip (2006)

states that by using tree diagrams, several and theoretically unlimited number of

operations can be presented in the same diagram. Furthermore, Fromkin et al.

(2003: 140-143) also elaborate that tree diagrams describe grammatical relation

between words, phrases and sentences.

In other words, tree diagrams are representation of the language forms. In

addition, this tree diagram also shows how those forms are generated. Therefore,

it does not only deal with the surface structure or language performance but also

deals with the deep structure in which sentences are processed in speakers’ mind.

Furthermore, Alip (2006) also suggests the use of tree diagram in the scope of

language teaching as a tool in analysing linguistic phenomena because of its

practicality. The following paragraph shows the application of the tree diagram in

analysing the adjective clause of sentence [4].

One of the practical uses of tree diagram is to show how sentences are

generated. Sentence [4], as an example, can be analysed using the tree diagrams to

show its syntactic structure. Figure 2.9 shows the merge operations of the deep

structure of the sentence [4] which is rooted in a speaker’s mind.


27

Figure 2.9 The Deep Structure of a Sentence Containing an Adjective Clause

The tree diagram as it is depicted by Figure 2.9 is able to capture the original

arrangement or the deep structure of the sentence [4]. By applying the Wh

movement to the deep structure it will result in a surface structure as Figure 2.10

illustrates.

Figure 2.10 The Surface Structure of a Sentence Containing an Adjective Clause


28

Comparing Figure 2.9 to Figure 2.10, the tree diagrams clearly show the syntactic

structures of the sentence. It does not only capture the merge of each syntactic

category merges but also captures the transformation from the deep structures into

the surface structures.

Based on the use of the tree diagram to analyse a sentence which contains

an adjective clause as Figure 2.10 illustrates, it is clear that the tree diagram is

able to capture the merge operation of each syntactic category as well as the

movement and the trace of a category. The merge operations result on the deep

structure in which the relative pronoun whom is in its original position. The

movement operation then captures the movement of the relative pronoun whom

into new position which results the surface structure.

B. Theoretical Framework

X' bar schema provides analytical explanation on how sentences like the

adjective clause is generated. The core of the X' schema is the head, specifiers and

complement. The X' captures the hierarchical structures of phrases and sentence in

the form of tree diagram. In particular, X' schema captures four generalisations

(O’Grady et al., 2005: 156). First, all phrases have a three-level structure (X, X'

and XP). Second, all phrases contain a head X. Third, if there is a complement, it

is attached at the intermediate X' level as a sister. Finally, if there is a specifier it

is attached at the XP level. Head is the obligatory feature of a phrase whereas

specifier and complement can merge to the head alternatively through merger


29

operations. The merger operation is an operation by which two categories are

combined to form another category.

In the light of the X' schema, the adjective clause is perceived as a

complementizer phrase (CP). It is due to the fact that an adjective clause functions

as a modifier of another clause whereas the relative pronoun is categorised into a

noun phrase as its syntactic category. Since the adjective clause functions as a

modifier which embeds into another superordinate clause, two layers analyses are

needed. First, the deep structure as the results of the merger operation will capture

the actual arrangement of the sentence. Second, by applying the Wh movement

principle which requires to move the Wh phrase or the relative pronoun under the

CP, it will result to the actual performance or the surface structure. The Wh

movement also captures that there is an empty position which is resulted by the

movement of the Wh phrase. Once it is vacated, the position is marked by a trace

(t). As a result, the trace captures the original position of the relative pronoun

before the movement.

In spite of its rigorous use to explain language, the X' schema is utterly

poles apart from the practice of English language teaching which in turns makes it

worth researching. This current study tries to see the students’ performance on

using the X' schema to analyse the adjective clauses. The study also attempts to

make the general classifications of the students’ mistakes in applying the X'

schema. Once the students’ performance is observed and the mistakes are

recorded, further improvement for increasing the students’ performance could be

attained.


CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The writer elaborates the methodology of the research in this chapter

mainly to put forward the rationale of using certain instrument as well as its

validity and reliability. It also provides the type of the research, data gathering

procedure and data analysis procedure. Related literatures are reviewed as the

basis of the methodology to disclose accurate and reliable data.

A. Research Method

The method which was used in this research was a survey. Wiersma

(1995:169) states that surveys are used to measure attitudes, opinions, or

achievements–any number of variables in natural setting. In line with Wiersma,

Sprinthall, Schmutte and Sirois (1991: 93) add that survey research may be used

to investigate virtually anything that people do or think. Furthermore, one of the

uses of survey information is to generalise the results to the population from

which the sample has been selected. In this research, survey was employed to

measure the performance of the sixth semester students of English Language

Education of Sanata Dharma University on analysing the adjective clauses using

X' schema. The results of the research were used to generalise the students’

performance and to classify their mistakes on analysing the adjective clauses

using the X' schema. Seeing the nature of the survey and the objective of the

research it was appropriate to select survey as the method of the investigations.

30


31

B. Research Respondent

The population of the research was the students of the English Language

Education of Sanata Dharma University academic year 2007/2008. The sample of

this research was the sixth semester students of English Language Education of

Sanata Dharma University academic year of 2007/2008 class A. The writer chose

the sixth semester students because they had learned adjective clause in their

previous structure courses before the research was conducted and they were

learning English Morpho-Syntax at the time the research was conducted.

There were two Morpho-Syntax classes, class A and class B, in the

academic year 2007/2008. However, the writer conducted the research only in

class A because of two reasons. First, considering the time and the affordability,

the writer could not investigate all of the population. Secondly, class A had

finished discussing the topic of adjective clauses whereas class B had not. Seeing,

the conditions, class A was appropriate to be the sample of the research.

In choosing the sample, the writer used cluster sampling procedure. As

stated by Wiersma (1999: 292), the cluster sampling is a procedure to choose the

sample which involves the random selection of clusters from the bigger

population of clusters. This sampling method was chosen because of two reasons.

The first was that this sampling method was easier to conduct since the writer did

not need to make new clusters. The second reason was that the sixth semester

students of the English Language Education Study Program were supposed to

share the same level of performance on adjective clauses and syntax at the time

the research was conducted. Therefore, the outcome of sample would yield similar


32

result. As a result, the writer conducted the research to the 45 students of Morpho-

Syntax class A academic year 2007/2008.

C. Research Instrument

To elicit students’ performance and to classify the mistakes, certain

instrument was needed. In line with the objective of the research which would like

to measure students’ performance and to classify the mistakes, a test was used.

Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2000: 171) sustain that a test can be used as the

instrument on a survey. The followings are the details.

1. Type of Instrument

The instrument which was used to measure students’ performance was a

test (Appendix A). The test was administered to the sample to obtain the data to

be analysed. In line with the purpose of this research and the purpose of testing

(Hughes, 1989: 7), the test was administered because of two reasons. First, testing

is able to discover how far students have achieved the objectives of course of

study. Second, testing is able to diagnose students’ strengths and weaknesses, to

identify what they know and what they do not know. Therefore, based on those

arguments the test can measure the students’ performance on analysing the

adjective clauses using the X' schema.

The test consisted of twelve items and it was divided into two parts. The

first part of the test consisted of ten items. In this part, the students were required

to choose the best answer based on the question and the provided answer. The


33

second part consisted of two items. In this part, the students were required to

analyse two adjective clauses by applying concepts and theories of the X' schema

and adjective clauses in the form of tree diagrams. The test should be finished in

forty-five minutes. In order to elicit the students’ performance and to get reliable

data and measurement to be analysed, the test should meet some criteria. Those

are validity, reliability and practicality.

2. Validity and Reliability of the Instrument

In order to elicit the performance of the students, the writer composed a

test as the instrument. As a research instrument, a test should meet certain criteria

so that the data obtained really provided the intended information that the

researcher wanted to know. Ary, Jacob and Razavieh (2002: 256) state that a

research always depends on the measurement. In this case, there are two important

characteristics that every measuring instruments should possess, namely test

validity and test reliability. The following is the further discussion about the

validity and the reliability of the test used in this research.

a. Test Validity

Validity refers to the extend to which an instrument measures what it is

intended to measure (Ary et al., 2002: 256). Similarly, Hughes (1989: 22) state

that a test is said to be valid if it measures accurately what it is intended to

measure. In order to conduct a valid test, the agreement between what is intended

to measure and the result of measurement should be achieved.


34

In addition, Hughes (1989:22) states that the concept of validity reveals a

number of aspects. They are content validity, criterion-related validity, construct

validity and face validity. To construct a test which meets all these aspects is a

difficult task. A test may only have some of the aspects, but it does not mean that

the test is not valid at all. In this research, the test composed did not have all the

aspects above, since it only included three of the aspects: content validity,

construct validity and face validity.

1) Content Validity

According to Hughes (1989: 22), a test is said to have content validity if

its contents constitute a representative sample of the language skills, grammars,

vocabularies or other elements with which they are meant to be concerned. The

test will have content validity if it includes a proper sample of the relevant

structures which depend on the purpose of the test. Considering that this reserach

was intended to investigate the students’ performance on analysing adjective

clause using the X' schema, the test which was composed by the writer met the

content validity because the test contained proper sample of items on the adjective

clause and the X' schema.

There were some important concepts and theories related to the adjective

clauses in the light of the X' schema as taken from O’Grady et al. (2005: 151-

186). They were main clause, dependent clause, modifier, head, I', inflection

phrase, complementizer phrase, Wh movement, trace and tree diagram. Table 3.1

shows the distributions of the concepts and theories of the test.


35

Table 3.1 The Distribution of the Test Contents

PART A Number Concepts and Theories

1 dependent clause and main clause 2 dependent clause, main clause, modifier, and relative pronoun 3 dependent clause, main clause and relative pronoun

4 merger, I', inflection phrase, complement and complementizer phrase

5 complement, complemetizer phrase and Wh movement 6 complement, complemetizer phrase and Wh movement

7 tree diagram, relative pronoun, complement, complementizer phrase, Wh movement and trace

8 main clause, merge operations, I', inflection phrase and head


10 tree diagram, modifier, complement and complementizer phrase PART B

1 subject-subject adjective clause testing about merge operations, I', inflection phrase, complement, complementizer phrase, Wh movement and trace

2 object-subject adjective clause testing about merge operations, I', inflection phrase, complement, complementizer phrase, Wh movement and trace

The test met the requirement of content validity because it is clear that all of the

concepts and theories of the adjective clauses and the X' schema were present.

The concepts and theories were also presented in the linear order or from the

easiest to the most difficult.

2) Construct Validity

The test met the construct validity requirements because the score which

yielded from the test measured the students construct, especially in the area of

adjective clause and the X' schema. Construct such as main clause, dependent

clause, merger, movement operation and tree diagram existed on the test. It is in

line with the purpose of the test which is intended to know the performance of the


36

sixth semester students of the English Language Education Study Program of

Sanata Dharma University on analysing the adjective clauses using the X' schema.

Hughes (1989: 26) and Brown (2001: 389) underlie those arguments.

Furthermore, Bachman and Palmer (1996: 21) explain that the term construct

validity is therefore used to refer to the extent to which we can interpret a given

test score as an indicator of the abilities or construct. The score of the test would

show the students’ performance on the related subject of the test.

3) Face Validity

According to Mousavi (2002: 244) as quoted by Brown (2004: 26-27),

face validity refers to the degree to which a test looks right and appears to

measure, based on the subjective judgment of the examinees who take it, the

administrative personnel who decide on its use, and other psychometrically

unsophisticated observers. Brown adds that face validity is not something that can

be empirically tested by a teacher or even by a testing expert. Therefore, to elicit

the face validity the writer had asked the supervisor and the lecturer who teach

Morpho-Syntax to give feedback before the test was administrated. According to

their opinion, the test had met the requirements to be used in the research.

b. Test Reliability

Reliability is necessary for a good test. Ary et al. (2002: 268) state that

reliability is the consistency of the measuring instrument with which it measures

whatever it is intended to measure. In addition, Best (1986: 153) says that a test is


37

reliable if it measures accurately and consistently, from one time to another.

Therefore, if a test is administered to the same students on different time and the

students’ scores are stable, it can be said that the test is reliable, but if not, the test

is unreliable. In addition, Hughes (1989: 36-42) states that there are some criteria

that should be met to make a test reliable. They are related to the sample, items

writing, construction and scoring. Beside all of those factors, test reliability can be

determined by the calculation of the standard deviation.

The writer chose Coefficient Alpha as the way to test the reliability of the

test. The Coefficient Alpha or Cronbach Alpha was used because it has wider

application than other methods and it was suggested for language teacher because

of its practicallity. The formula is the followings (Brown, 2005: 179):

where

α : reliability of the test

Sodd : standard deviation for the odd-numbered items

Seven : standard deviation for the even-numbered items

Stotal : standard deviation for the total test scores

The result showed that the reliability of the first part of the test was 0.57 and the

reliability of the second part of the test was 0.86. According to Young (1982: 317)

as quoted by Djarwanto and Subagyo (1996: 343), those two coefficients were

included in the substantial and high category. In addition, the writer enclosed the

complete computation of the test reliability in the Appendix B. It consisted the

raw scores of the test as well as the distribution of the students’ answer and scores

in each part of the test.


38

c. Test Practicality

Another point that should be considered in making a test is test practicality

(Brown, 2004: 19-20). Brown states that a test is practical when it is not

excessively expensive and relatively easy to administer. He also adds that the test

should stay within appropriate time constrains and has a scoring or evaluation

procedure that is specific and time efficient. Therefore, as an example, a grammar

test which requires hundreds of students to have dozens paraphrasing test with

only one administrator is certainly impractical. The test in this research met the

practicality because it was easy to administer and appropriate within the time

constrain. The test also was not excessively expensive because the samples were

still reasonable in number. Moreover, the test also had reliable scoring system.

The test consisted of objective and subjective parts and the scoring system

(Appendix A) provided guidelines to provide reliable scoring.

D. Data Gathering Technique

There were some steps in conducting the research. Before collecting the

data about the students’ performance on analysing the adjective clause using X'

schema, the writer conducted library study to explore related literatures to

construct the test. In this step, the writer selected some books which were essential

for constructing the test.

After the test had been constructed, the writer conducted the test to the

sixth semester students in Morpho-Syntax class on Tuesday, 13 May 2008. The

writer distributed the test to all the students. Then, he explained clearly the


39

instructions of the test. Soon after that, the writer asked the students to do the test

individually in forty-five minutes. After the test had been administered and

submitted, the writer scored the students test. Finally, the data then were analysed

to get the expected outcome.

E. Data Analysis Technique

After the test had been submitted, the writer scored the test. Then, the

writer calculated and grouped the students who achieved certain scores to

determine the students’ performance whether they fell on fail, poor, sufficient,

good or very good category. The students’ performance was the comparison

between the students’ scores and the academic regulations of Sanata Dharma

University (2004). Furthermore, to determine the general performance of the sixth

semester students on analysing the adjective clause in the light using the X'

schema, the mean between the students’ scores and the academic regulation were

compared. Finally, the students were classified along with the scores they

achieved in each part of the test as well as the entire test.

After working on the students’ performance, the writer analysed the

students mistakes in this subject based on relevant sources. Concepts and theories

such as modifier, complementizer phrase, inflection phrase and traces were

discussed carefully and directly related to the students’ mistakes. The students’

mistakes related to certain theories and concepts were elaborated thoroughly so

that better improvements could be made.


40

F. Research Procedure

There were five stages to conduct the research. Those stages were done

step by step to elicit the certainty, validity and reliability of the research. The

stages are the followings:

1) Preparing the research

The researcher discussed the topic that were going to be investigated with

the major sponsor in order to get an overview of what the researcher should do.

Next, the researcher asked permission to the lecturer in charge of the Morpho-

Syntax class to conduct the research on his class.

2) Doing library study

The researcher did library study to get insight into the subject that was

going to be investigated. In addition, the test was also constructed during the

library study.

3) Administering the test

The researcher administered the test to elicit the students’ performance on

the subject that was investigated.

4) Analysing the test

The test was analysed to find out the students’ performance on the subject

that was investigated and to disclose the research findings.

5) Writing the report

After those steps had been gone through, the researcher wrote down the

research findings.


CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION

The writer discusses the research findings based on the research questions

and the primary data in this chapter. It presents the students’ performance and the

students’ mistakes in analysing the adjective clauses using the X' schema. The

data of the students’ performance and mistakes are compared to related literatures

and presented thoroughly to disclose the real practice rather than premise.

A. Data Presentation

The data presentation presents the students’ performance on the test. It

presents the students’ performance in each part of the test and the final scores. On

the other hand, it also presents the descriptive statistic of the primary data.

1. The Students’ Performance on the Test

In the research, a test was used as the instrument to obtain the data. The

test was administered to the sixth semester students of the English Language

Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University academic year 2007/2008

on 13 May 2008. The test consisted of two parts – part A and part B. The part A

was a multiple choices test. In part A, the students were required to choose the

best answer based on the question and provided answers. Part B was an analysis

test. In this part of the test, the students were required to analyse two adjective

clauses based on related theories and concepts and to draw their tree diagrams.

41


42

a. The Students’ Performance in Each Part of the Test

Table 4.1 shows the students’ scores in part A. There were ten numbers in

part A. The total of the correct answer was multiplied by 10 to reach 100-scale. In

contrast, Table 4.2 shows the students’ scores in part B. A rubric was used to

determine the students’ scores in this part (Appendix A). Then, it was multiplied

by 10 to reach 100-scale.

Table 4.1 The Students’ Scores in Part A

Range of Scores (%) Number of Students Achieving the Range of Scores Percentage (%)

90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 50-59 40-49 30-39 20-29 10-19 0-9

3 9 13 11 2 3 4 0 0 0

6.67 20

28.89 24.44 4.44 6.67 8.89

0 0 0

Table 4.1 presents that three students (6.67%) achieved the highest scores.

Furthermore, nine students (20%) achieved 80-89, 13 students (28.89%) achieved

70-79, 11 students (24.44%) achieved 60-69, two students (4.44%) achieved 50-

59 and three students (6.67%) achieved 40-49. However, four students (8.89%)

came in the range between 30-39.

On the other hands, the Table 4.2 shows the students’ scores in part B. In

part B, the students’ scores shared almost the same proportion in every range of

scores. The followings are the complete description and percentage of the

students’ scores in part B.


43

Table 4.2 The Students’ Scores in Part B


90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 50-59 40-49 30-39 20-29 10-19 0-9

5 9 2 3 7 2 1 16 0 0

11.11 20

4.44 6.67 15.56 4.44 2.22 35.56

0 0

On the other hand, Table 4.2 presents that five students (11.11%) achieved the

highest scores. Conversely, 16 students (35.56%) achieved the scores on the range

of 20-29. In between, nine students (20%) achieved 80-89, two students (4.44%)

achieved 70-79, three students (6.67%) achieved 60-69, seven students (15.56%)

achieved 50-59, two students (4.44%) achieved 40-49, one student or (2.22%)

achieved 30-39.

b. The Students’ Final Scores

The students’ final scores should be firstly determined in order to know

the students’ performance. The students’ final scores were the average of the

students’ scores in the test. Part A and part B was summed and the resulted score

was divided by two to yield the students’ final scores.

Furthermore, the academic regulations of Sanata Dharma University

(2004) were used to determined the students’ overall performance. The followings

are the students final scores and the overall students’ performance.


44

Table 4.3 The Students’ Final Scores


90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 50-59 40-49 30-39 20-29 10-19 0-9

2 7 9 7 3 8 5 4 0 0

4.44 15.56

20 15.56 6.67 17.78 11.11 8.89

0 0

Table 4.3 shows that two students (4.44%) achieved the highest score. There were

seven students (15.56%) achieved 80-89, nine students (20%) achieved 70-79,

seven students (15.56%) achieved 60-69, three students (6.67%) achieved the

scores between 50-59, eight students (17.78%) achieved 40-49, five students

(11.11%) achieved 30-39. In addition, there were four students (8.89%) achieved

the scores between 20-29. Finally, the students’ final scores were compared to the

academic regulations to classify their performance.

Referring to academic regulations of Sanata Dharma University (2004:

14), a student who achieves 56% of the total scores passes with sufficient level.

The complete scores category is listed as follows.

Score Category 80-100 very good (A) 70-79 good (B) 56-69 sufficient (C) 50-55 insufficient (D) ≤ 49 poor (E)

By referring to the academic regulations of Sanata Dharma University, the

students’ performance can be determined. The followings are the classifications of

the students performance based on the regulations.


45

Table 4.4 The Students’ Scores in Relation to the Category

Score Category Number of Students Achieving the Category

Percentage (%)

80-100 70-79 56-69 50-55 ≤ 49

very good good

sufficient insufficient

poor

(A)(B) (C) (D)(E)

9 9 7 3 17

20 20

15.56 6.67 37.78

Referring to the Table 4.4 there were nine students (20%) came in the category of

very good. There were also nine students (20%) were on the category of good. On

the other hands, seven students (15.56%) were on the category of sufficient. In

addition, there were three students (6.67%) came into category of insufficient. The

rest of the students in which there were 17 students (37.78%) came in the category

of poor. Based on the category, 25 students (55.56%) of the total students passed

the test. On the other hand, 20 students (44.44%) of the total students failed on the

test because of their final scores did not reach the category of sufficient. In

addition, descriptive statistics revealed the students’ performance in general and

described the distribution of the score.

2. The Presentation of the Descriptive Statistics

Brown (2005: 97) describes descriptive statistics as numerical

representation on the students’ performance on a test. Furthermore, Brown

explains that descriptive statistics can create a mental picture of how the students

performed on the test. Therefore, by reviewing the descriptive statistics of the test,

the students’ typical performance and its variations could be overviewed. The

complete variables and values of the descriptive statistics of the students test are

on Table 4.5.


46

Table 4.5 The Descriptive Statistics

Subtest Variables Part A Part B Entire Test

Number of Students 45 45 45 Number of Items 10 2 12 Mean 64.67 50.89 57.77 Mode 70 20 40 Median 70 50 60 Midpoint 65 60 62.5 Range 80 90 76 Standard Deviation 16.55 24.47 21.07

The table presents that 45 students joined the test which consisted of two

subtests. The test consisted of 12 items in which part A consisted of 10 items and

part B consisted of two items. The result of the test revealed that the mean was

57.77. Based on the academic regulations, students’ performance was considered

sufficient. The value which occurred most frequently or the mode was 40. The test

revealed that seven students achieved this score. Furthermore, the median of the

test result was 60. In addition, the midpoint of the test score was 62.5. On the

other hands, the range of the scores was 76. Finally, the standard deviation which

revealed the spread and the volatility of the scores (Ary et al., 2002: 135 and Gay,

1992: 393) was 21.07. Similarly, Brown (2005: 103) explains that standard

deviation is a sort of average of the differences of all scores from the mean. The

standard deviation 21.07 of the entire test revealed that the dispersion of the

students’ scores from the mean was around that number.

The followings are the complete discussions of the students’ performance

on analysing the adjective clauses using the X' schema. Besides, it also presents

the general classifications of the students’ mistakes on the test. Related theories

and the students’ performance are contrasted to elicit the research findings.


47

B. Discussion

This part deals with answering the research questions. The research

questions were (1) What is the sixth semester students’ performance on analysing

the adjective clauses using the X-Bar schema? and (2) What are the general

classifications of the most mistakes commonly made by the students on analysing

the adjective clauses using the X-Bar schema? The discussion on those two

questions are based on the students’ work and related theories.

1. The Students’ Performance on Analysing the Adjective Clauses using the

X-Bar Schema

The result of the test showed that the students’ performance was

considered sufficient in that the students achieved the average score 57.77% on

the test. In details, the mean of the scores in the first part of the test was 64.67%

whereas the second part of the test was 50.89%. Considering the academic

regulation of Sanata Dharma University, both the first part and the second part of

the test came in the group of sufficient. By looking at the Table 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3,

the students’ performance in each part of the test was elaborated in details.

In addition, the objective of the test was to measure the students’

performance on the concepts and theories of the adjective clauses and the X'

schema. The concepts and theories tested in this part were main clause, dependent

clause, modifier, head, I', inflection phrase, complementizer phrase, Wh

movement, trace and tree diagram. In order to be able to do the test, the students

should master those concepts and theories thoroughly. However, they should also


48

be able to apply those concepts and theories to perform the analyses. The test was

constructed for the students to measure the students’ performance in a linear

order. It started from the level of knowledge and comprehension up to the level of

application and analysis (Kemp, 1977: 24-25 and 31).

Considering the average 64.67% in the first part of the test and the

academic regulations of Sanata Dharma University, the students’ performance on

this part came in sufficient category. The first part of the test was a multiple

choice test. In this part of the test, the students were expected to be able to

perform their knowledge and comprehension of the adjective clauses and the X'

schema. The students were expected to be able to recall, name, identify and

indicate concepts and theories related to the adjective clauses and the X' schema.

Conversely, the second part of the test was specifically intended to find out the

students’ performance on applying the concepts and theories of the adjective

clause and the X' schema to analyse two types of adjective clauses. Furthermore,

the students were expected to be able to apply and to operate the concepts and

theories of the adjective clauses and the X' schema to examine two types of

adjective clause. Furthermore, the students were also expected to perform their

analyses in the form of the tree diagrams as a part of the X' schema feature. The

result of the second part of the test was 50.89% in average. Therefore, according

to the academic regulation of Sanata Dharma University, the performance of the

students on the second part of the test was insufficient. The ample discussion of

the students’ performance on both part of the test as well and the general mistakes

that the students made are on the followings.


49

2. The General Classifications of the Students’ Mistakes

The second question of this research was to classify the students’ mistakes

on analysing the adjective clauses using the X' schema. Ellis (1997: 17) defines

mistake as the reflection of occasional lapses in performance; they occur because,

in particular instances, the learners are unable to perform what they know. In this

case, the students’ mistakes were closely related to their performance on the

subjects which were tested. In addition, the students’ mistakes in this research

were based on the students’ work compared to the related literatures to depict the

theory and practice. The classifications of the students’ mistakes were divided into

some parts in order to elaborate the each finding in details. In addition, the writer

also provided a quick-look reference of the students’ mistakes (Appendix B).

a. Main Clause, Subordinate Clause and Modifier

In the Part A, question, number one, two and three tested the students’

knowledge and comprehension on the independent clause, dependent clause or

subordinate clause and modifier which were related to the adjective clause.

Shortly, an adjective clause is a dependent clause which modifies the noun or

pronoun of the independent clause which is marked by the occurrence of the

relatives pronouns such as who, which and whom (Azar, 1999: 267; Murphy,

1985: 182 and Swan, 2005: 477).

Question number one focused on sentence [1]. Based on the sentence [1],

the students should identify whether the clause which was bold was an adjective

clause, a noun clause, an adverb clause or a noun phrase.


50

[1] The boy who is standing at the corner is very naughty.

The clause which was bold in sentence [1] was an adjective clause. It was an

adjective clause because it was obvious that the occurrence of the relative pronoun

who after the noun phrase the boy indicated or marked that it is an adjective

clause. In addition, the clause which was bold gave further information about the

noun phrase the boy. By the process of embedding (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-

Freeman, 1999: 527-573), this adjective clause attached to another sentence to

become a complex sentence.

There was an interesting finding in this research related to the question.

The result showed that the students who answered adjective clause as the correct

answer and the students who answered noun clause as the correct answer shared

almost the same proportion. There were 13 students (28.89%) answered adjective

clause as the correct answer. However, there were 14 students (31.11%) answered

noun clause as the correct answer. It was interesting because, noun clauses and

adjectives clauses are somewhat similar. Therefore, by the students’ answers it

could be inferred that there were confusion among the students to differentiate

between an adjective clause and a noun clause. It is because of the similarities

between the connector of the adjective clause the noun clause. It is also sustained

by the literature which is elaborated by Phillips (2003: 220). She elaborates that a

noun clause is a clause that functions as noun. Furthermore, she explains that

because of its functions as a noun, a noun clause is used in a sentence as either an

object of verb, an object of preposition or the subject of the sentence. However, a

noun clause is similar in some degree to an adjective clause. A noun clause can


51

use a connector such as that, which and who which in fact they are the same as

relative pronouns (Phillips, 2003: 218 and 220). Therefore, if sentence [1] was

compared to what Philips argues, it was true that the clause which was bold in

sentence [1] was not a noun clause because it functioned as a modifier of the

subject not as the subject, object or object of preposition.

On the other hand, the rest of the students answered either adverb clause or

noun phrase. There were four students (8.89%) answered adverb clause and 13

students (28.89%) answered noun phrase. The clause which is bold in sentence [1]

was not an adverb clause because according to Azar (1999: 359) and Phillips

(2003: 109 and 111), adverb clause functions to utter time, cause, contrast, and

condition in a sentence. Adverb clause usually uses conjunctions such as after,

before, since, because, although, and unless. Therefore, if it was contrasted to the

clause which was bold in sentence [1], it was not an adverb clause because of two

reasons. First, it did not use conjunctions as the literature puts forward and second

it functioned to give further information about the noun which precedes it and it

does not relate to the state of time, cause contrast and condition. The clause which

is bold in sentence [1] was also not a noun phrase because according to Radford

(1997: 521), a phrase refers to nonclausal expression. In examples, group of words

like go to school, on the floor and proud of you are phrases. Therefore, who is

standing at the corner was not a phrase because it contained a subject who and

verb is standing. In addition, only one student did not answer for this question.

In question number two the students were required to analyse which

phrase or clause in the sentence [1] that functioned as a modifier of the subject. As


52

it had been stated in the beginning, an adjective clause also functioned as a

modifier of a sentence because it modified or gave further explanation about the

noun or pronoun which preceded it. Therefore, in other words, by looking for the

adjective clause in sentence [1] it automatically would find the modifier.

Sentence [1] consists of an adjective clause which was embedded in a

main clause (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1999: 572 and Murphy, 1985:

182). Therefore, sentence [1] could be broken down into two sentences, a main

clause [1a] and a subordinate clause [1b].

[1a] The boy is very naughty.

[1b] The boy is standing at the corner.

Comparing [1a] and [1b] to [1] it could be concluded that [1b] was embedded in

[1a]. The occurrence of the relative pronoun who was because the boy in [1b]

corresponded to the boy in [1a]. Therefore, the sentence [1b] became the modifier.

Sentence [1b] was the modifier of the main clause because it had two properties.

First, the occurrence of the relative pronoun who after the subject marked that it

was an adjective clause. Second, it modified or gave further explanation about the

subject the boy of the main clause.

An interesting finding also occurred in this question. In this, question most

of the students answered correctly that who is standing at the corner is the

modifier. The number of the students who answered correctly was 43 students

(95.56%) of the students. However, there was one student (2.22%) answered at

the corner as the modifier. This phrase was not the modifier because it functioned

as an adverb of the verb is standing. There was also one student (2.22%) who


53

answered the boy as the modifier. It is clear that in sentence [1] the boy functions

as the subject which was modified by an adjective clause. Surely, it was not the

modifier.

On contrary to number two, the question number three required the

students to identify the main clause of the sentence [2].

[2] The boy who is smart is doing his homework.

The sentence [2] was a complex sentence consisted of a main clause and a

subordinate clause. In the sentence [2] it could be identified that there was an

adjective clause which was marked by the use of relative pronoun who (Murphy,

1985: 182 and Swan, 2005: 477). Therefore, the clause who is smart was an

adjective clause. Since the clause who is smart was an adjective clause, it could be

concluded then that the rest of the sentence was the main clause. The main clause

of the sentence [2] is The boy is doing his homework.

Based on the test, 38 students (84.44%) answered correctly. However,

there were six students (13.33%) answered the boy is smart as the main clause.

This sentence was not the main clause because actually this sentence was the

subordinate clause which had been embedded in the main clause. Since the phrase

the boy corresponded to the same phrase in the main clause, the relative pronoun

who replaced it and at the same time it marked and formed an adjective clause.

Only one student (2.22%) answered who is smart as the main clause. It was also

not the main clause because the presence of the relative pronoun who marked that

it was an adjective clause which was a subordinate or a dependent clause.


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b. Complementizer Phrase and Wh Movement

An adjective clause can also be perceived as a complemetizer phrase (CP).

It is sustained by the following arguments. There are two important features about

an adjective clause. The first one is about the nature of the adjective clause in

which it is similar to the nature of an adjective (Murphy, 1985: 182). In the

perspective of O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff and Rees-Miller (2005: 158), in line

with Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams (2003: 130), state that this clause functions as

a complement. However, they, as well as Radford (1997: 521), do not consider the

complement as a clause but they consider as a phrase. The second one is about the

role of a relative pronoun in the adjective clause. The relative pronoun marks and

introduces the adjective clauses (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech and Svartvik, 1985:

365). Nevertheless, in line with the term which O’Grady et al. (2005: 185) has

already made, the relative pronoun is categorised into a noun phrase. It is due to

the fact that the relative pronoun corresponds to the noun or pronoun which is

modified

In question number four the students were required to choose the best tree

diagram which represented the adjective clause who is smart of the sentence [2].

This question measured the students’ performance on identifying a

complementizer phrase in relation to the main clause. It had been analysed that the

clause who is smart of the sentence [2] was an adjective clause. Therefore, in the

perspective of Fromkin et al. (2003: 148) and O’Grady et al. (2005: 166) it was a

complementizer phrase (CP) inflection phrase (IP). It was because of its role and

its relation to noun phrase which was modified and the matrix clause. However, to


55

choose the best tree diagram, categories and merge operations should be correctly

assigned. Merge operations become the main criteria before doing more advanced

analysis.

The word smart was an adjective, therefore it should be denoted as A. The

word is was dubbed I because it indicated the sentence’s tense. The auxiliary is

was dubbed I because it specified a time frame – whether the situation described

by the sentence would take place, already took place or is taking place at the

moment (Fromkin et al. 2003: 133). Thus, this auxiliary would become the head

of the phrase. On contrary, the word who was categorised into noun or N because

the relative pronoun who in this clause corresponded to the subject of the main

clause. On the other hand, the merge operations allowed the I category to take A

as the complement and the N as the specifier. The I merged to A became an I', and

finally the I' merged to NP becomes an IP. However, a final point which should be

taken into account was the fact that the resulted phrase could not be perceived

loosely as a sentence (IP) although based on the merge operation it was denoted as

an IP. This IP gave further information about the subject of the main clause.

Therefore based on its function and relation to the main clause, the clause who is

smart was categorised into a complementizer phrase or CP. The node +Rel was

only to show that the phrase was a relative clause or an adjective clause (O’Grady

et al., 2005: 184). Finally, the best tree diagram which best described the role and

relation of the adjective clause who is smart to its main clause is illustrated in

Figure 4.1a. The followings also discussed the students’ mistakes in this subject in

details.


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Figure 4.1a The Tree Diagram of the Correct CP

Based on the result of the test there was an interesting finding. There were

19 students (42.22%) chose the correct answer. However, 14 students (31.11%)

stated that the clause who is smart in sentence [2] was an IP as Figure 4.1b

illustrates.

Figure 4.1b The Incorrect Tree Diagram of the CP in which CP as an IP

There were two mistakes in Figure 4.2. First, the auxiliary verb should not be

denoted V although it also functioned as the verb in the phrase. Unlike verb,

auxiliary verb should be denoted as I. Second, the IP was not the final result from

the merge operations, it should be noticed that this phrase attached into a main


57

clause, therefore it formed a CP (O’Grady et al., 2005: 166 and Fromkin et al.,

2005: 148-150). Furthermore, there were 10 students (22.22%) of the students

stated that the clause who is smart was a NP as Figure 4.1c illustrates.

Figure 4.1c The Incorrect Tree Diagram of the CP in which CP as an NP

There were also two mistakes in Figure 4.3. First, I merged to a NP should be

denoted as I' and not as a NP. Second, Figure 4.3c did not illustrate that this

phrase was actually a complementizer phrase CP which embedded into a main

clause. Finally, there were two students (4.44%) of the students who actually

answered barely correct. Figures 4.1d illustrates it.

Figure 4.1d The Incorrect Tree Diagram of the CP in which CP as an IP

In the Figure 4.1d, all of the merge operations were correct. However, it did not

consider that actually who is smart was embedded into another clause or a main

clause. In this case, it was a complementizer phrase. Therefore, the final result of


58

the merge operations should be denoted as a CP whereas in the diagram above it

was an IP.

Furthermore, another operation which occurs on the adjective clause is the

movement operation. According to O’Grady et al. (2005: 184), adjective clauses

structures resemble to Wh question in two respects. First, they can begin with wh

word like who or which as the relative pronouns. Second, there is an empty

position within the sentence from which the Wh phrase has apparently been

moved. Question number five and six required the students to figure out the

movement operation in the noun phrase [3]. These questions were intended to

restate and review the students’ knowledge on CP and Wh movement principles.

[3] The car which John bought

The question presented a noun phrase which was modified by an adjective clause

was only to draw the students’ attention fully on the movement operation. The

tree diagram of the noun phrase [3] which students required to analyse is drawn in

Figure 4.2.

4.2 An Adjective Clause Modifies a NP


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Figure 4.2 showed that the movement operation which occurred in Figure 4.2 was

a NP moved to the position under the CP. It was because the nature of the

adjective clause which required to move Wh phrase under the position of CP or

adjacent to the noun or pronoun which was modified.

Based on the result of the test, most of the students answered correctly.

There were 37 students (82.22%) stated that the movement operation which

occurred was to move the NP to CP. However, there were four students (8.89%)

answered that it was to move the IP to CP. It was certainly incorrect because as

Figure 4.2 illustrates, IP labeled a merger between the I' and the NP which did not

require any movement operations (O’Grady et al., 2005: 175). Finally, there were

three students (6.67%) answered that it was to move the NP to IP. They were also

incorrect because it violated the rule which required to move the Wh phrase under

the position of CP not the IP (O’Grady et al., 2005: 175). Moreover, the IP had

already been resulted from merging the NP John and the verb bought which was

dubbed I without any movement operations. In addition, there was one student

(2.22%) who did not answer the question.

Question number six was still related to Figure 4.2. The figure showed that

the resulted phrase after the movement operation was a CP. It is due to the fact

that the Wh phrase moved under the position of CP. It was also because the

adjective clause which was marked by the relative pronoun which turned out to be

a complement of the noun phrase the car. The test revealed that there were 34

students (75.67%) answered correctly by stating that the resulted phrase after the

movement operation was a CP. However, seven students (15.67%) stated that the


60

resulted phrase after the movement was an IP. This answer was incorrect because

IP labels the merger between the NP John and the I' without any movement

operations. Finally, there were three students (6.67%) answered that the phrase

which was resulted after the movement operation is a VP. This answer was also

incorrect since VP labeled the merge operation between the verb bought and the

NP which before it moved. In addition, there was one (2.22%) student did not

answer the question.

c. Wh Movement and Trace on Inflection Phrase

The last four questions measured the students’ performance on the Wh

movement and trace. In general these four questions were intended to measure the

students’ performance to review, to recognise and to apply the principle of the Wh

movement on an inflection phrase (IP). In other words, they should consider the

relation between the complementizer phrase (CP) and the inflection phrase (IP) of

the matrix clause as well as the deep structure and the surface structure.

According to O’Grady et al. (2005: 170), a transformation only change an

element’s position. It does not change and eliminate any categories of words.

Thus, the Wh movement which is dubbed as a NP that occurs in the CP retains the

same. It is sustained by Radford (1997: 219) that properties which are left behind

must have the same feature as it used to. Furthermore, once it is vacated by the

Wh movement of the Wh phrase under the CP, the Wh leaves an empty category

which is called traces (t) (O’Grady et al., 2005: 170 and Radford, 1997: 220-222).


61

On question number seven, the students were required to locate the

original position of the relative pronoun whom in sentence [4] based on the tree

diagram as Figure 4.3a illustrates.

[4] The man whom you met is my teacher.

In order to answer correctly, certainly the students should understand the concepts

and theories of the trace. They should also understand the concepts and theories of

the deep structure and the surface structure.

Figure 4.3a The Tree Diagram of the Question Number 7 and 8

The occurrence of the relative pronoun whom in sentence [4] clearly

showed that it was an adjective clause. Therefore, according to Celce-Murcia and

Larsen-Freeman (1999: 571-573) and Murphy (1985: 182 and 184), sentence [4]

consisted of two sentences in which one of the sentences was embedded into

another sentence. Those two sentences are [4a] and [4b]. In this case, [4b]

embedded into [4a] to form a complex sentence.

[4a] The man is my teacher.

[4b] You met the man.


62

Comparing [4a], [4b] and [4], the [4b] embedded to the [4a]. The presence of the

relative pronoun whom was because it replaced the phrase the man in [4b]

(Murphy, 1985: 186).

By following the arguments above, sentence [4] has the deep structure as

Figure 4.3b illustrates in which the phrase the man is already replaced by the

relative pronoun whom.

Figure 4.3b The D-Structure of the Sentence [4]

The word you was a noun, therefore it should be noted as N. The word met was a

verb, therefore, it took V as the category. The word whom, since it replaced the

phrase the man, it should be dubbed as N. The verb met merged with the relative

pronoun whom and formed a VP. However, the verb met it should be dubbed as I'

(Fromkin et al., 2003: 133 and O’Grady et al., 2005: 160). Finally, the I' took the

word you as the specifier and it turned out to be an IP. However, this IP attached

into the main clause to modify the NP of the main clause. Therefore, if it was

perceived in a larger scope, this IP functioned as a CP. On the other hand, NP

which was modified by the CP labeled the merge between the determiner the and


63

the noun man. Finally, the auxiliary verb is merged to the NP my teacher to form

an I'. A final point which should be noted was about the relative pronoun whom.

As the nature of an adjective clause which resembles to Wh question, the relative

pronoun moved into another position (O’Grady et al., 2005: 175). Applying this

movement, it would result into the surface structure as Figure 4.3c illustrates.

Figure 4.3c The S-Structure of the Sentence [4]

In Figure 4.3c it was clear that the trace captured the relative pronoun whom

movement into another position under the CP. The trace also showed the empty

position which was left had the same category as the new position. The trace also

located that the original position of the relative pronoun was merger with the verb

met. The feature +Rel (O’Grady et al., 2005: 184) was only to show that it was an

adjective clause. At the end, the NP of the phrase the man which was modified by

the CP merged with the I' to form an IP as Figure 4.3c illustrates.

Based on the test, most of the students answered correctly. There were 36

students (80%) overcame this question. They were able to locate that the original


64

position of the relative pronoun whom was merger with the verb met then moved

under the CP next to the NP which was modified. However, there were four

students (8.89%) stated that the relative pronoun whom did not move. Certainly,

this answer was incorrect because it violated the rule which required to move the

relative pronoun under the position of CP (O’Grady et al., 2005: 175). Figure 4.3c

clearly depicted this arguments. Furthermore, there were five students (11.11%)

answered that the original position of the relative pronoun was on the determiner

my. It was also incorrect because it had been the nature of the relative pronoun to

replace the noun or pronoun which preceded it. In the case of sentence [4], the

relative pronouns modified the subject of the main clause (Azar, 1999: 268 and

Murphy, 1985: 184). Furthermore, the trace also did not capture that the relative

pronoun moved from the position of the determiner my.

On the other hand, on question number eight, the students were required to

find the head of the IP of the main clause. It had been mentioned above that [4a] is

the main clause and [4b] embedded in the main clause as an adjective clause. The

embedding was also clearly depicted in Figure 4.3c. Figure 4.3c depicted clearly

that IP consisted of merge operation between the I' and the NP which was

modified by the CP. As O’Grady et al. (2005: 160-161) and as well as Fromkin et

al. (2003: 134-135) put forward, the I category was the head of a sentence. Based

on the Figure 4.3c, there were two I categories. The one belonged to the verb met

and another belonged to the auxiliary verb is. However, it was the I category

which belonged to the auxiliary verb is became the head of the main clause. It was


65

because the I of the verb met was located under the position of CP. In other words,

it was the head of the CP.

Based on the test, there were only 11 students (24.44%) answered

correctly that the auxiliary verb is functions as the head. On the other hand, there

were 27 students (60%) answered the question incorrectly by stating the NP the

man was the head of the main clause. It was certainly incorrect because of its role.

Although the NP was on the position under the IP, it was not the head because it

did not specify the time frame and marked the tense as it was suggested by the

literatures (Fromkin et al., 2003: 134-135 and O’Grady et al., 2005: 160-161).

Furthermore, there were two students (4.44%) answered the verb met as the head.

It was incorrect because the I' of the verb met was located under the position of

CP. CP embedded in the main clause and only functioned as the modifier of the

NP the man. Therefore, the verb under this category was not the head of the main

clause (O’Grady et al., 2005: 156). Finally, there were five students (11.11%)

answered the IP as the main clause. The IP was not the head of the main clause

because the IP was the result of the merge operation of the I' which was the head

of the main clause and the NP which was modified by the CP. The IP was also not

the head of the main clause because it did not mark or specify the sentence’s

tense.

Question number nine was similar to question number seven. The question

required the students to locate the original position of the relative pronoun that in

sentence [5]. However, the difference was on the absence of the auxiliary verb as

the head in the IP or the matrix clause. Besides, sentence [5] was also different


66

from the sentence [4] in its nature. Sentence [5] was an object-object adjective

clause whereas sentence [4] was a subject-object adjective clause. In spite of the

difference, sentence [5] shared similar analyses to the former.

[5] I took the book that you mentioned.

The Figure 4.4a illustrates the tree diagram of sentence [5] in which the students

need to analyse.

Figure 4.4a The Tree Diagram of the Question number 9 and 10

The first points that should be look at the sentence [5] was the presence of the

relative pronoun that. The relative pronoun that could be used instead of which

(Azar, 1999: 268 and Murphy, 1985: 184). The presence of the relative pronoun

that also suggested that sentence [5] contained an adjective clause. Therefore,

sentence [5] could be broken into two sentences and became [5a] and [5b]

[5a] I took the book.

[5b] You mentioned the book.


67

By comparing sentence [5] and the two new sentences [5a] and [5b], it was clear

that sentence [5b] embedded into the sentence [5a] and then functioned as a

modifier or an adjective clause. The phrase the book in [5b] was replaced by the

relative pronoun that because it corresponded to the phrase the book in [5a].

Following the arguments above of sentence [5], the deep structures of the sentence

could be illustrated on Figure 4.4b.

Figure 4.4b The D-Structure of the Sentence [5]

The relative pronoun that was noted as N because it replaced the noun phrase the

book. The word mentioned was dubbed as I because it marked the tense and

specified the time frame (Fromkin et al., 2003: 133-134). The I merged together

with the relative pronoun that and formed an I' which functioned as the head.

Next, it merged together to the noun you which was noted as N and turned out to

be an IP. However, this IP embedded into the main clause. Therefore, this IP

should be noted as a CP (Fromkin et al., 2003: 148-149 and O’Grady et al., 2005:

166). On the other hand, the phrase the book merged with the verb took which


68

functioned as the head of the matrix clause to form an I'. The I' merged to the

pronoun I to form the IP. By applying the movement operation which required to

move the Wh phrase under the CP, it would result the surface structures as Figure

4.4c illustrates. Needless to say, the trace should also be considered because the

trace marked clearly the Wh movement as well as the indicated the position which

was left.

Figure 4.4c The S-Structure of the Sentence [5]

The trace captured the movement of the relative pronoun that. The relative

pronoun that functioned as the complement of the verb mentioned moves to the

position under the CP. The category which was left after the movement remained

the same as the new category of the relative pronoun under the CP. The +Rel

feature was to show that it was a relative or an adjective clause.

Based on the test, most of the students answered the question correctly.

There were 35 students (77.78%) answered correctly. They stated that the original

position of the relative pronoun that before the movement operation was as the


69

complement of the verb mentioned. However, there were seven students or

(15.56%) answered that +Rel was the original position of the relative pronoun

that. It was certainly incorrect because this feature was only to show that this

phrase was a relative clause (O’Grady et. al., 2005: 184). Moreover, based on

Figure 4.4c the trace did not capture the movement. Finally, there were three

students (6.67%) answered that I under the position of CP was the original

position of the relative pronoun that. It was also incorrect because I was used only

for category which was related to the tense and time frame state (Fromkin et al.,

2003: 134-135 and O’Grady et al., 2005: 160-161) whereas the relative pronoun

was closely associated with the state of noun or pronoun. Furthermore, the trace

also did not capture the movement from this position.

The question number ten required the students to figure out the role of the

complementizer phrase in the matrix clause [5]. Based on Figure 4.4c, the node

CP was under the NP. Therefore, it meant that the role of the CP modified the NP

(Fromkin et al., 2003: 148 and O’Grady et al., 2005: 166). It was also in line with

the arguments that the CP was an adjective clause which functioned as a modifier

(Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1999: 576-577)

The result of the test showed that there were 24 students (53.33%) stated

that the role of CP was to modify the NP. On the other hand, there were 14

students (31.11%) incorrectly answered by stating that CP modified the

complement. It was incorrect because CP functioned as the complement of the

NP. Furthermore, there were four students (8.89%) answered that the CP modified

the VP. It was incorrect because the CP position was under the NP. Therefore, it


70

was the NP which was modified. Finally, there were one student (2.22%)

answered that CP functioned as the head. It was also incorrect because the head

should be occupied by a category which showed the sentence tense and marked

the time frame. The (CP) did not take up those two roles. In addition, there were

two students (4.44%) left the answer empty.

d. Drawing the Tree Diagram

The students were expected to be able to apply and to demonstrate the

concepts and theories of the adjective clauses and the X' schema to examine

subject-subject and object-subject adjective clauses in the form of the tree

diagrams on the second part of the test. According to Alip (2006), tree diagrams

are very useful in analysing sentences. First, they are more practical to use

because several phrase structure rules can be shown together. Second, tree

diagrams truly presents how one element of sentence is related to another.

Therefore, it is important for the students to be able to perform grammatical

analyses by using the tree diagrams.

The students had to draw tree diagrams of the matrix clauses [6] and [7] in

the part B. In order to draw the tree diagram, the students should apply all of the

theories and concepts related to the X' schema to do the analyses.

[6] The girl who speaks English is my friend.

[7] I read the book which is on the table.

Question number one required the students to draw the tree diagram of the

sentence [6].


71

The phrase the girl formed a NP because a determiner the merged with the

noun girl. Similarly, the phrase my friend forms a NP because the determiner my

merged with the noun friend. The auxiliary verb is marked the tense and specified

the time frame. Therefore, it should be dubbed as I. The I merged with the NP my

friend formed an I'. Finally, I' merged with another NP the girl formed an IP. On

the other hand, the clause who is smart was labeled in a similar way. The word

English and the verb speaks merge to form an I'. The I' merged with the relative

pronoun who to form an IP. However, it was actually a CP although it was labeled

as an IP. It was because this IP was an adjective clause which modified the noun

phrase the girl (O’Grady et al., 2005: 185).

By considering the Wh movement principle, the relative pronoun moved to

the position under the CP next to the NP which was modified. In the end, Figure

4.5 clearly depicts the merge operation as well as the Wh movement operation.

Figure 4.5 The Correct Tree Diagram of the Sentence [6]


72

By looking at the Figure 4.5 above, it is clear that the adjective clause who speaks

English was a CP which took its role to modify the NP. The NP merged to the I' to

form an IP. It was also depicted in the figure that the head of the matrix clause

was the auxiliary verb is which occupied the position of the I'. The I' took the NP

The girl who speaks English as its specifier and the NP my friend as its

complement. It was also clear that the trace (t) showed the relative pronoun who

apparently moved under the position of CP although the actual words order in the

sentence did not change as a result of the movement.

The result of the test revealed that in the question number one, there were

five students (11.11%) answered correctly by drawing the tree diagram as it was

required. However, 12 students (26.67%) achieved 4. Based on the rubric, the

students’ answer who achieved this score only missed on the Wh movement. The

resulted tree diagrams was illustrated in Figure 4.6a and 4.6b.

Figure 4.6a The Tree diagram of the Students Achieved Score 4


73

Figure 4.6b The Tree diagram of the Students Achieved Score 4

Based on Figure 4.6a and 4.6b the students were able to label each word of the

matrix clause according to its category and to merge the category to form new

phrasal categories correctly. They were also able to distinguish between the main

clause from the adjective clause in respect of the matrix clause and to merge their

constituents correctly. They assigned correctly the adjective clause as a CP and

merge the CP to the NP which was modified correctly. As a result, they built an IP

of the matrix clause which consisted of a NP which was modified by the CP and

an I' which functioned as the head. However, the students on figure 4.6a did not

account for the Wh movement at all and the students on figure 4.6b made mistake

in the Wh movement operation (O’Grady et al., 2005: 184-186) by mistakenly

located the original position of the Wh phrase.


74

Next, there were six students (13.33%) of the students achieved 3.

According to the rubric, the students were able to label each word of the matrix

clause according to its category and to merge the category to form new phrasal

categories correctly. They were also able to distinguish between the main clause

from the adjective clause in respect of the matrix clause and to merge their

constituents correctly. Nevertheless, they made mistake in the CP. They

incorrectly labeled or merged the adjective clause, which should be a CP, as other

categories or the students merged the CP incorrectly, which should be merged

with NP, with other categories. Figure 4.7a and 4.7b depicted the students work

on this category.

Figure 4.7a The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 3

The Figure 4.7a showed that the students were able to label each word of

the matrix clause according to its category and to merge the category to form new


75



constituent correctly. However, they mistakenly merged the CP directly to the

position of the IP. In fact, they should merge the CP to the NP because the CP

functioned as a modifier of the NP (O’Grady et al., 2005: 185). Similarly, Figure

4.7b illustrated that the students were correctly able to assign each category of

word and the resulted phrase from the merge operation. They also account for the

CP. However, they mistakenly labeled the adjective clause as an IP. It was

incorrect because the adjective clause should be labeled as a CP because it

modified the NP (O’Grady et al., 2005: 185)

Figure 4.7b The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 3

The Figure 4.7b illustrated that the students incorrectly labeled the adjective

clause who speaks English as an IP in which it should be denoted as a CP.

Next, there were five students (11.11%) achieved 2. In this case, the

students were able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its


76

category to form new phrasal categories. However, they were not able to perform

that they can distinguish between the main clause and the adjective clause. As a

result, they incorrectly merged the constituents of the main clause and the

adjective clause. Therefore, they built awkward tree diagrams although some of

the students built up to the level of the IP of the matrix clause. Figure 4.8a, 4.8b

and 4.8c depicted this students’ performance.


Although the students built the tree diagram up to the level of the IP of the matrix

clause, it was incorrect because the noun English could not join to the auxiliary

verb is because those two categories belonged to the different clauses (O’Grady et

al., 2005: 185). As a result, the students considered the phrase English is my friend

as an IP whereas in fact it could not because the noun English should be merged

with the verb speaks. Therefore, the auxiliary verb is was should also be merged

with the NP The girl. In addition, Figure 4.8b illustrated the other students’

mistakes in analysing the sentence.


77


In Figure 4.8b, the student made mistakes in assigning the merger between the NP

The girl and the VP speak English. The VP should be merged with the

NP who first and the merged with the NP (O’Grady et al., 2005: 185). In the

figure, the students were also unable to merge the NP who with another category.

Figure 4.8c also depicted similar mistakes.

Figure 4.8c The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 2


78

In figure 4.8c the students made mistake in labeling the complementizer. The

phrase speaks English is my friend should not be denoted as C because they

belonged to the different categories and none of the words in the phrase belonged

to the category of the complementizer (O’Grady et al., 2005: 153). Moreover, the

students were also not able to distinguish between the adjective clause and the

main clause so that merged their constituents incorrectly.

Finally, most of the students achieved score 1 for the first question in the

part B. There were 17 students (37.78%) got the score. They were only able to

label each word of the matrix clause according to its category. Nevertheless, they

incorrectly labeled the new phrasal categories resulted from the merge operations

of the category. Figure 4.9a and 4.9b depicted the students’ mistakes on this

category.


The figure illustrated that the student made mistakes in most of the part. They

merged the adjective clause speak English is my friend to be a C. It was a mistake

because it belonged to different part of the clauses (Murphy, 1985: 184). In this

case, the student also made mistake in merging the auxiliary verb is. In addition,


79

students who came in the category only assigned each category and they did not to

continue to merge the category to form new categories. Figure 4.9b illustrated it.


In this case, the students only labeled the category of words. Although they had

tried to merge the category by drawing the lines, they did not continue to do the

analyses.

Question number two was similar to question number one. The students

were required to draw the tree diagram of the matrix clause [7]. The difference

was on nature of the sentence. Sentence [7] was an object-subject adjective clause

(Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman 1999: 574-575) whereas the former was a

subject-subject adjective clause.

To draw the tree diagram, first, it should be clear about each category of

the word. The phrase the book forms an NP because the determiner the merge

with the noun book. Next, it merged with the verb read to form a VP. Since read

specified the time frame and marked the tense, it should be dubbed as I to form an

I'. Finally, the I' merged with the pronoun I to form an IP. The NP the table

merged together with the preposition on and it formed a PP. The auxiliary verb is

also specified the time frame and marked the tense therefore it should be dubbed

as I. Then, the I merged with the PP to form an I'. At the end, the I' merged with

the NP to form an IP. Needless to say, this IP was embedded into another sentence

by the presence of the relative pronoun which. Therefore, it was categorized as a


80

CP. Following the principle of the Wh movement which required to move Wh

under the CP, the relative pronoun which moved under the position of CP. The

best tree diagram of those merges and movement operation were depicted on

Figure 4.10.

Figure 4.10 The Correct Tree Diagram of the Sentence [7]

Although the arrangement of words remained the same, the trace could

locate and showed that the relative pronoun which really moved. It was also

depicted by the figure that the verb read functioned as the head of the matrix

clause. It merged with the pronoun I and the NP the book which was modified by

the CP to form an IP.

The test revealed that there were five students (11.11%) drew the tree

diagram correctly. On the other hand, there were nine students (20%) achieved

score 4. The students who achieved this score were able to label each word of the

matrix clause according to its category and to merge the category to form new



81


constituents correctly. They assigned the adjective clause as a CP and correctly

merged the CP to the NP which was modified. As a result they built an IP of the

matrix clause which consisted of a NP which was modified by the CP and an I'

which functioned as the head. However, they did not account for the Wh

movement. Figure 4.11 illustrated the students’ work of this score.

Figure 4.11 The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 4

The test also revealed that there were six students (13.33%) achieved score

3. The students who achieved this score were able to label each word of the matrix

clause according to its category and to merge the category to form new phrasal

categories correctly. They were also able to distinguish between the main clause

from the adjective clause in respect of the matrix clause and to merge their

constituent correctly. Nevertheless, they made mistake in the CP. They incorrectly

labeled or merged the adjective clause, which should be a CP, as other categories

or the students incorrectly merge the CP, which should be merged with NP, with


82

other categories. Figure 4.12a, 4.12b and 4.12c illustrated the students’

performance who achieved this score.


The figure illustrated that the students were able to classify the words based on

their categories and to merge each category to form new phrasal categories up to

the level of IP of the matrix clause. They were also able to distinguish between the

adjective clause and the main clause. It was proven that they were able to denote

the adjective clause as a CP. Unfortunately, they merged the CP incorrectly. The

CP should be merged to the NP the book (O’Grady et al., 2005: 185) whereas on

the figure the CP was merged to the VP. It should be merged with the NP because

the CP functioned as the modifier of the NP and not the VP. Moreover, they also

did not account for the Wh movement which should be present on the CP.

Figure 4.15b and 4.15c also showed the similar and typical students’

performance of this score. They also made mistake on the area of merge between

the CP and the NP which was modified.


83



The Figure 4.12b illustrated that the students were able to assign each category of

word correctly. They were also able to merge the category to form new phrasal

categories. However, they made mistake on the merger between the adjective

clause and the NP the book. They should label the resulted phrase as a NP not a

CP (O’Grady et al., 2005: 185). Moreover, they also did not account for the Wh


84

movement. Similarly, Figure 4.12c illustrated that the students were able to assign

each category of word correctly. However, they mistakenly labeled the adjective

clause as an IP. Although an adjective clause was actually an IP, they should be

denoted as a CP in respect to its role in the matrix clause (O’Grady et al., 2005:

165-166).

In addition, there were seven students (15.56%) achieved score 2. Figure

4.13 illustrated the students’ performance on this case.

Figure 4.13 The Tree Diagram of the Students Achieved Score 2

The students who achieved this score were correct in assigning to each category.

They were able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its category to

form new phrasal categories. However, they were not able to distinguish between

the main clause and the adjective clause. As a result, they

incorrectly merge the constituents of the main clause and the adjective clause. It

was depicted in the picture that the students incorrectly labeled the phrase on the

table as a NP and the students could not differentiate between the adjective clause


85

and the main clause so that they merged incorrect constituents. In fact, they should

have merge the adjective clause which is on the table that functions as a modifier

to the NP the book (O’Grady et al., 2005: 185-186)

Finally, most of the students or 18 students (40%) achieved score 1. The

students were only able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its

category. Nevertheless, they incorrectly labeled the new phrasal categories

resulted from the merge operations of the category. Figure 4.14a, 4.14b and 4.14c

illustrated the typical students’ performance who achieved this score.



In Figure 4.14a, the students actually had assigned each category of word. They

also merged some of the categories to form a new phrasal category but they

incorrectly labeled the phrase is on the table as a PP. On the other hand, the


86

students in Figure 4.14b had correctly merged the VP read the book. However,

they did not continue to merge other categories. Similarly, the students depicted

by the Figure 4.17c had labeled each category of the words but they did not

continue the analysis.


In this case, the students were only correct in assigning each category of word.

They did not try to merge the category to form new phrasal categories. The

students in this part of the test commonly made these types of work.


CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION AND SUGGESTION

Conclusions, teaching implications and suggestions of this endeavor

research come up in this chapter. Conclusions of the research which are related to

the research questions are restated briefly to emerge important details of the

research findings. Teaching implications to the English Language Educations

students are presented to attain better performance. Finally, suggestions are also

outlined to trigger for other researchers to attain development in the practice of

language teaching.

A. Conclusion

The writer asked two questions in this research. The first one was asking

about the performance of the sixth semester students in analysing the adjective

clause using X' schema. The result of the research disclosed that the performance

of the students on analysing the adjective clause using of X' schema was

considered sufficient. The performance was sufficient because the test, which was

used to measure the students’ performance, showed that the students achieved

57.77% in average. In details, the average score of the first part of the was

64.67%. In this part of the test, the students were required to recognise, recall,

indicate and identify concepts and theories which are related to the X' schema and

the adjective clause. On the other hand, the average score of the second part was

50.89%. In this part of the test, the students were required to analyse two types of

87


88

adjective clause by employing and applying concepts and theories of the X'

schema to show their syntactic structures in the form of tree diagrams.

The second question was looking for the general classifications of the

students’ mistakes in applying the concepts and theories of the X' schema in

analysing the adjective clauses. The general classifications of the students

mistakes were drawn based on the literatures and the students’ work to disclose

important details of the X' schema and the adjective clauses. In this case, the

research disclosed several interesting findings. The first one was related to the

concepts and theories of main clause, dependent clause and modifier. The research

revealed that the students could not identify an adjective clause in a complex

sentence. The indication was when the students were required to identify a clause

and to select the adjective clause as the correct answer, there were only 28.89% of

the students answered correctly.

The second one was related to the CP and Wh movement. The result

showed that the students also could not restate clearly and indicated that an

adjective clause was categorised into a CP not an IP in relation to the noun which

was modified. There were only 42.22% of the students correctly answered the

question.

The third one related to the traces as the result of Wh movement on the IP.

In this case, the students were required to locate the original position of the

relative pronoun and to figure out the head of the IP as well as the role of CP in

the IP. Related to these concept and theories, the students were not able to identify

the head of a main clause. There were only 24.44% of the students able to state


89

the head of the subject-object adjective clause based on the tree diagram. Those

findings were elicited based on the students’ work in Part A of the test.

A final point was related to the students’ performance on applying and

employing the concepts and theories of adjective clause and X' schema to analyse

two types of adjective clauses and to depict the analyses in the form of tree

diagrams. The students’ performance was similar either in subject-subject

adjective clause or object-subject adjective clause. In this part, most of students

made mistake in merge operations. In the subject-subject adjective clause there

was 37.78% of the students made mistake in merging the categories. On the other

hand, there was 40% of the students made mistake in merging the categories of

object-subject adjective clause.

B. Teaching Implication

The research findings imply that great concern should be given to the

practice of teaching syntax and adjective clauses. Therefore, the writer would like

to propose some ideas which are related to the teaching syntax and adjective

clauses to the English Language Educations Study Program students.

1. Teaching Syntax

It is undeniably true that syntax as a part of linguistics has certain respect

and association in students’ mind due to its complexities and principles which

may become barriers for students to study it. In spite of the complexities, syntax,

in this case the X' schema, provides logical explanation on how words, phrases


90

and sentences are generated. The research findings, however, revealed that the

students’ performance on the practical uses of the X' schema needs improving so

that the students will be better equipped in their learning and teaching candidate of

teachers.

The research revealed three important findings which were related to the

practical uses of the X' schema especially on the concepts and theories of

complementizer phrase (CP), Wh movement and merge operation. Related to the

CP, most of the students were unable to identify the relation and the change of a

CP in respect to the noun which was modified. As the result, confusion on

analysing the Wh phrase and the Wh movement occurred. On the other hands, the

students were unable to show satisfying performance on the merger operation. In

fact, merger operation is very important as a basis to do more advanced analyses.

Therefore, seeing the importance of the X' schema and the research

finding, the writer purposes some ideas of teaching especially to syntax class to

enhance the students’ understanding and performance. As many literatures on the

X' schema put forward, merge operations become the basic criteria to be able to

do more advanced grammatical analyses. Therefore, great concern and carefulness

of teaching as well as appropriate material will support the students understanding

on this topic. Once the students understand the principle of the merge operations,

others principles such as head, specifier, complement complemetizer, CP and Wh

movement, trace and empty category will be easily introduced and studied. The

complete lesson plans and materials of those topics are on the other part of this

writing (Appendix C1).


91

2. Teaching Adjective Clause

The research findings also revealed that the students’ understanding on the

adjective clauses should be enhanced. It was proven by the findings that the

students could not differentiate between an adjective clause and a noun clause

clearly.

As many literatures and journal on grammar and language teaching put

forward, adjective clauses should be taught deliberately because of their structure

and use. Therefore, simplified explanation should be taken in advance to lower the

students’ barrier in understanding the adjective clauses due to their complexities.

The nature of adjective clauses which are similar to the nature of adjectives

pinpoints more advanced concepts and theories of the adjective clauses. The

students understanding will be easily drawn to make analogies between the

adjectives and adjective clauses by knowing the similarities between adjectives

and adjective clause. As a result, more complex theories and concepts of

adjectives clause such as embedding and relative pronoun will be easily studied.

In addition, the differences between adjective clauses and noun clauses should

also be elaborated clearly because they are similar in some degrees in terms of

their connectors.

In the other part of this writing (Appendix C2), the writer proposed

different perspective of teaching adjective clauses. It consists of a lesson plan and

a material as alternative to teach adjective clauses. Since the research was

conducted to the English Language Education Study Program students, the writer

made the lesson plans and the material based on the consideration of teaching


92

adjective clauses to the English Language Education students as teacher

candidates.

C. Suggestion

In language analyses, the X' schema with its principles and parameters

provides elegant ways to assess language. In spite of the principles and the terms

which may become shortcomings for those who are not used to, the X' schema

provides simplicity in assessing linguistic phenomena. Therefore, the writer

suggested to the students of English Language Education to master this grammar

studies. It is not meant to make students be skillful in analysing language because

understanding the grammar only one of aspect in the success of language

teaching. However, as Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman argue (1999: 1-2), if the

approach focus on the language analysis, the connection between the rule and

communication will be easily made. First, the teacher will expeditiously be able to

raise a learner’s consciousness about how the language works. Second, teacher

will be able to focus the learners’ attention on the distinctive features of a

particular grammatical form in short time. Finally, the teachers can accomplish the

teaching grammar explicitly or implicitly.

On the other hands, further research on looking for the underlying factors

of the students mistakes in applying the X' schema to analyse the adjective clauses

is highly recommended. In addition, the use of the X' schema to depict and map

the learners mistakes in producing sentences or utterances of the adjective clauses

is also valuable because this research solely focused on grammatical analyses.


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Appendix A

The Test &

The Answer Key


97


98


99


100


101

THE ANSWER KEY Part A. 1. B 3. D 5. A 7. C 9. D 2. C 4. D 6. A 8. C 10. B Part B 1. The girl who speaks English is my friend. 2. I read the book which is on the table.


102

Rubric for part B (Adapted from O’Grady et al., 2003: 151-194) Score Criteria

5

The students are able to perform theories and concepts of the X' schema needed for analysing the adjective clause using the X' schema to draw tree diagrams as they are depicted in the answer key. They are able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its category and to merge the category to form new phrasal categories correctly. They are also able to distinguish between the main clause from the adjective clause in respect of the matrix clause and to merge their constituents correctly. They correctly assign the adjective clause as a CP and correctly merge the CP to the NP which is modified. As a result they build an IP of the matrix clause which consists of a NP which is modified by the CP and an I' which functions as the head. They also able to perform the correct Wh movement operation of the Wh phrase inside the CP and mark the empty position which is resulted from the movement with the trace (t).

4

They are able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its category and to merge the category to form new phrasal categories correctly. They are also able to distinguish between the main clause from the adjective clause in respect of the matrix clause and to merge their constituents correctly. They correctly assign the adjective clause as a CP and correctly merge the CP to the NP which is modified. As a result they build an IP of the matrix clause which consists of a NP which is modified by the CP and an I' which functions as the head. However, they do not account for the Wh movement at all or they make mistake in the Wh movement operation by mistakenly choosing a category to be moved or incorrectly locate the new position or the original position of the Wh phrase.

3

They are able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its category and to merge the category to form new phrasal categories correctly. They are also able to distinguish between the main clause from the adjective clause in respect of the matrix clause and to merge their constituent correctly. Nevertheless, they make mistake in the CP. They incorrectly label or merge the adjective clause, which should be a CP, as other categories or the students incorrectly merge the CP, which should be merged with NP, with other categories.

2

They are able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its category to form new phrasal categories. However, they are not able to perform that they can distinguish between the main clause and the adjective clause. As a result, they incorrectly merge the constituents of the main clause and the adjective clause.

1 They are only able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its category. Nevertheless, they incorrectly label the new phrasal categories resulted from the merge operations of the category.

0 They students achieving this score are students who leave the question unanswered.


103

Appendix B

Test Reliability Computation

& Distribution

of the Answer


104 TEST RELIABILITY COMPUTATION

PART A PART B ENTIRE TEST

Student Scores Odd Even Student Scores Odd Even Student Part A Part B Total 1 10 5 5 1 8 5 3 1 8 8 80 2 9 5 4 2 8 5 3 2 9 8 85 3 9 5 4 3 10 5 5 3 9 10 95 4 8 4 4 4 10 5 5 4 10 10 100 5 8 4 4 5 6 5 1 5 8 6 70 6 8 3 5 6 5 4 1 6 8 5 65 7 8 4 4 7 9 4 5 7 8 9 85 8 8 5 3 8 9 4 5 8 8 9 85 9 8 5 3 9 9 4 5 9 8 9 85

10 8 4 4 10 6 4 2 10 8 6 70 11 8 4 4 11 8 4 4 11 8 8 80 12 8 4 4 12 8 4 4 12 8 8 80 13 7 4 3 13 8 4 4 13 7 8 75 14 7 4 3 14 8 4 4 14 7 8 75 15 7 5 2 15 8 4 4 15 7 8 75 16 7 3 4 16 8 4 4 16 7 8 75 17 7 4 3 17 8 4 4 17 7 8 75 18 7 4 3 18 7 3 4 18 7 7 70 19 7 4 3 19 6 3 3 19 7 6 65 20 7 4 3 20 5 3 2 20 7 5 60 21 7 4 3 21 5 3 2 21 7 5 60 22 7 4 3 22 5 3 2 22 7 5 60 23 7 4 3 23 7 3 4 23 7 7 70 24 7 4 3 24 5 2 3 24 7 5 60


105 25 7 4 3 25 5 2 3 25 7 5 60 26 6 2 4 26 5 2 3 26 6 5 55 27 6 2 4 27 4 2 2 27 6 4 50 28 6 4 2 28 4 2 2 28 6 4 50 29 6 3 3 29 3 1 2 29 6 3 45 30 6 3 3 30 2 1 1 30 6 2 40 31 6 3 3 31 2 1 1 31 6 2 40 32 6 4 2 32 2 1 1 32 6 2 40 33 6 4 2 33 2 1 1 33 6 2 40 34 6 3 3 34 2 1 1 34 6 2 40 35 6 4 2 35 2 1 1 35 6 2 40 36 6 3 3 36 2 1 1 36 6 2 40 37 5 3 2 37 2 1 1 37 5 2 35 38 5 3 2 38 2 1 1 38 5 2 35 39 4 3 2 39 2 1 1 39 4 2 30 40 4 2 2 40 2 1 1 40 4 2 30 41 4 2 2 41 2 1 1 41 4 2 30 42 3 2 1 42 2 1 1 42 3 2 25 43 3 1 2 43 2 1 1 43 3 2 25 44 3 3 0 44 2 1 1 44 3 2 25 45 3 2 1 45 2 1 1 45 3 2 25

Mean 6.46667 3.55556 2.93333 Mean 5.08889 2.62222 2.46667 Mean 6.46667 5.08889 57.7778

Midpoint 6.5 3 2.5 Midpoint 6 3 3 Midpoint 6.5 6 62.5 High 10 5 5 High 10 5 5 High 10 10 100 Low 3 1 0 Low 2 1 1 Low 3 2 25 SD 1.65462 0.95581 1.0198 SD 2.74730 1.48007 1.45449 SD 1.65462 2.7473 21.0701


106


107

The Distribution of the Students’ Answer

Part A

The Distribution of the Answer (%) Number Concept and Theories Correct Answer

(%) A B C D

1 dependent clause and main clause 28.89 31.11 28.89 8.89 28.89

2 dependent clause, main clause, modifier, and relative pronoun

95.56 2.22 2.22 95.56 0

3 dependent clause, main clause and relative pronoun 84.44 13.33 2.22 0 84.44

4 merger, I', inflection phrase, complement and complementizer phrase

42.22 4.44 22.22 31.11 42.22

5 complement, complemetizer phrase and Wh movement 82.22 82.22 8.89 6.67 0

6 complement, complemetizer phrase and Wh movement 75.67 75.67 15.57 6.67 0


80 8.89 0 80 11.11

8 main clause, merger, I', inflection phrase and head 24.44 60 4.44 24.44 11.11


77.78 0 15.56 6.67 77.78

10 tree diagram, modifier, complement and complementizer phrase

53.33 2.22 53.33 8.89 31.11


108

Part B

Number of Students (%) Score Criteria Number 1 Number 2

5

The students are able to perform theories and concepts needed for analysing the adjective clause using the X' schema and to draw tree diagrams as they are depicted in the answer key. They are able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its category and to merge the category to form new phrasal categories correctly. They are also able to distinguish between the main clause from the adjective clause in respect of the matrix clause and to merge their constituents correctly. They correctly assign the adjective clause as a CP and correctly merge the CP to the NP which is modified. As a result they build an IP of the matrix clause which consists of a NP which is modified by the CP and an I' which functions as the head. They also able to perform the correct Wh movement operation of the Wh phrase inside the CP and mark the empty position which is resulted from the movement with the trace (t).

11.11 11.11

4

They are able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its category and to merge the category to form new phrasal categories correctly. They are also able to distinguish between the main clause from the adjective clause in respect of the matrix clause and to merge their constituents correctly. They correctly assign the adjective clause as a CP and correctly merge the CP to the NP which is modified. As a result they build an IP of the matrix clause which consists of a NP which is modified by the CP and an I' which functions as the head. However, they do not account for the Wh movement at all or they make mistake in the Wh movement operation by mistakenly choose a category to be moved or incorrectly locate the new position or the original position of the Wh phrase.

26.67 20

3

They are able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its category and to merge the category to form new phrasal categories correctly. They are also able to distinguish between the main clause from the adjective clause in respect of the matrix clause and to merge their constituent correctly. Nevertheless, they make mistake in the CP. They incorrectly label or merge the adjective clause, which should be a CP, as other categories or the students incorrectly merge the CP, which should be merged with NP, with other categories.

13.33 13.33

2

They are able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its category to form new phrasal categories. However, they are not able to perform that they can distinguish between the main clause and the adjective clause. As a result, they incorrectly merge the constituents of the main clause and the adjective clause.

11.11 15.56

1 They are only able to label each word of the matrix clause according to its category. Nevertheless, they incorrectly label the new phrasal categories resulted from the merge operations of the category.

37.78 40

0 They students achieving this score are students who leave the question unanswered. 0 0


109

Appendix C

Lesson Plans and

Teaching Materials


110

LESSON PLAN

MEETING ONE

A. Description of the Course

Name of the course : Structure V

Topic : Adjective Clauses

Sub Topic : Main Clauses, Subordinate Clauses and Relative Pronoun

Time Allocation : 100 minutes

Number of Students : ± 40 students

B. Goal

At the end of the course students have adequate knowledge about complex

sentences with subordinate clauses which are finite, non-finite and verbless.

C. Learning Objectives

1. The students are able to define words, clauses and sentences correctly.

2. The students are able to define adjective, adjective clause and relative pronoun.

3. The students are able to recognise main clause and subordinate clauses.

4. The students are able to analyse complex sentences which contain adjective

clause.

D. Learning Activities & Time Allocation

Learning Activities Teacher Students

Time Allocation (minutes)

Pre-Activities 5 minutes

Greet the students

Introduce the adjective clause

material

Respond to the lecturer

Listen to the lecturer

3’

2’

Main Activities 90 minutes

Explain the definition of words,

clauses and sentences

Give some examples of words,

clauses and sentences



10 minutes

10 minutes


111

Explain the differences between

main clauses and subordinate

clauses

Explain the similarities between

the adjectives and the adjective

clauses

Explain about relative pronouns

and their relation to the

adjective clauses

Give some exercises about the

adjective clauses

Elicit and discuss the students

answer




Do the exercises

Follow the discussion

10 minutes

15 minutes

20 minutes

15 minutes

10 minutes

Post-Activities 5 minutes

Review some important points

about the material


5 minutes

E. References

Azar, Betty Schramphfer. 1999. Understanding and Using English Grammar. 3rd ed. New

York: Longman.

Celce-Murcia, Marrianne and Diane Larsen-Freeman. 1999. The Grammar Book: An

ESL/EFL Teacher’s Course. 2nd ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publisher.

Murphy, Raymond. 1985. English Grammar in Use. 2nd ed. Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga.

Swan, Michael. 2005. Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.


112

Adjectives Clause Main Clauses, Subordinate Clauses and Relative Pronouns

A. Terms, Definitions and Examples

Terms Definition Examples

Word Word is the smallest free form of language which means something and can be spoken or written

Go, so, timid, man, on, stay, book, pen, stupid, cool, etc

Phrase Phrase is a group of words that does not contain a subject and a verb

his story, red car, the green car, on Friday, her teacher, at the corner, beautiful girl, etc

Clause Clause is a group of words containing; a subject and a verb.

because he was late, as soon as he came, after the sun rises, etc

Independent Clause

Independent clause is a complete sentence. It contains the main subject and verb of a sentence.

Sue lives in New York. I know. I closed the door.

Dependent Clause

A dependent clause is a clause which cannot stands alone. It must be connected to an Independent clause.

where sue lives, what you did, when they arrive, who lives there, whom I met, etc

B. Adjective Clauses

As the name suggests, the adjective clause functions like an adjective. An adjective clause is a dependent clause that modifies a noun. It describes, identifies or gives further information about a noun. Please note this example

[1] beautiful girl

The adjective beautiful in the noun phrase beautiful girl gives further information about the noun girl. Please compare with the following matrix clause.

[2] The boy who is smart is standing at the corner functions

Similarly, the clause who is smart in the sentence [2] gives further information about the noun phrase The boy. Therefore, the clause who is smart is called an adjective clause. In addition, the main clause and the adjective clause are combined by a relative pronoun. The use of the relative pronoun is varied based on the noun which is modified. 1. Who The relative pronoun who introduces an adjective clause when it modifies or gives further explanation about people. The relative pronoun who replaces the use of he, she, or they. The sentence below illustrates it.

[3] I thanked the woman who helped me.

The presence of the relative pronoun who in the clause who helped me introduces that it is an adjective clause. Sentence [3] consists of an independent clause [2a] and dependent clause [2b].

[3a] I thanked the woman. [3b] The woman helped me.

The phrase the woman in [3b] corresponds to the phrase the woman in [3a] therefore the relative pronoun who is used when those two sentences are combined in which one those sentences functions as a modifier.


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2. Which Conversely, the relative pronoun which introduces an adjective clause when it modifies or gives further explanation about things. Sentence [4] illustrates the use of which in an adjective clause.

[4] Where is the cheese which was in the fridge?

Following the same arguments, sentence [4] consists of a dependent clause [4a] and an independent clause [4b].

[4a] Where is the cheese? [4b] It was in the fridge.

The pronoun it in [4b] corresponds to the phrase the cheese in [4a]. Therefore, the relative pronoun which takes the position of the pronoun to form the sentence [3]. 3. Whom Similarly to the former relative pronoun, the relative pronoun whom introduces an adjective clause when it modifies about people. However, whom is generally used only in formal English. In speaking who is commonly used instead of whom. However, in the perspective of grammar the relative pronoun whom is used when it is the object of the verb in an adjective clause. Sentence [5] illustrates the use of whom in an adjective clause.

[5] The man whom I met was Lecter.

Based on the arguments that an adjective clause connects to an independent clause, sentence [5a] and [5b] comprise [5].

[5a] The man was Lecter [5b] I met him.

Comparing [5a] and [5b] the presence of the relative pronoun whom is clear then. The object pronoun him which functions as an object corresponds to the noun Lecter. Therefore, the relative pronoun whom occupies the object position to make up sentence [5]. 4. That Another relative pronoun which introduces either people or things is that. The relative pronoun that occupies same properties as which and who. Instead of using who and which, that can be used in an adjective clause. Following the arguments then, sentence [6] and [7] below share the same meaning as sentence [3] and [4].

[6] I thanked the woman that helped me. [7] Where is the cheese that was in the fridge. A final point which should be clear is that those relative pronouns also occurs in a noun clause. The relative pronoun who, which and that can function as a connector in a noun clause. However, the nature of the noun clause naturally distinguishes from an adjective clause. As the name suggest, a noun clause is a clause which is treated like a noun. Therefore, it can occupy the position of subject, object and object preposition whereas an adjective clause cannot. It should be another point which needs to be taken in to account in considering an adjective clause in a sentence.


114

C. Exercise 1. Combine these following sentences to be a sentence which contain an adjective clause.

1. A girl was injured in the accident. She is now in hospital.

2. A man answered the phone. He told me you were away.

3. A waitress served us. She was very impolite and impatient.

4. A building was destroyed in the fire. It has now been rebuilt.

5. Some people was arrested. They have now been released.

6. The students was very handsome. I met the students.

7. The boy was my friends. You met the boy.

8. The woman was away on holiday. I wanted to see her.

9. The man was a burglar. I saw him

10. The book is expensive. The book is on the table.

2. Indicate the main clause and the adjective clause of the following sentences. 1. Barbara works for a company that makes washing machine.

MC: SC:

2. The book is about a girl who runs away from home.

MC: SC:

3. Alexander Bell was the man who invented the telephone.

MC: SC:

4. A mystery is something which cannot be explained.

MC: SC:

5. I don’t like people who are never on time.

MC: SC:

6. The cheese which was on fridge was missing.

MC: SC:

7. The woman whom I kissed was a supermodel.

MC: SC:

8. The students whom we met yesterday were brilliant.

MC: SC:

9. The lady whom I asked to dance was the most beautiful woman.

MC: SC:

10. The landlord whom we visited yesterday was very cheapskate.

MC: SC:


115

LESSON PLAN

MEETING ONE


Name of the course : English Morpho-Syntax

Topic : Merge Operation

Sub Topic : Head, Specifier and Complementizer



B. Goal

At the end of the course students are able to understand the major concepts of

English Syntax, the syntax of phrases, the syntax of clauses, special constructions, and

some semantics interpretation of English constructions.


5. The students are able to name correctly words based on their syntactic

categories.

6. The students are able to classify words based on their syntactic categories.

7. The students are able to recognise the head, specifier and complementizer of

phrases.

8. The students are able to demonstrate merge operations of simple phrases.





Greet the students

Introduce the merge operation

material



3’

2’


Explain the concepts and

theories of words categories


10 minutes


116

Give some exercises about

words categories

Elicit and discuss the students’

answer


theories of head, specifier and

complement

Give some exercise about head,

specifer and complementizer


answer

Do the exercises



Do the exercise


10 minutes

10 minutes

20 minutes

20 minutes

20 minutes



about the material


5 minutes

E. References

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hymas. 2003. An Introduction to Language. 7th

ed. Boston: Thomson/Wadsworth.

O’Grady, William, John Archibald, Mark Aronoff & Janie Rees-Miller. 2005.

Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s

Radford, Andrew. 1997. Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English: A Minimalist

Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Radford, Andrew. 1997. Syntax: A Minimalist Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.


117

MERGE OPERATIONS A. Category Category: A term used to denote a set of expressions which share a common set of linguistic properties. In syntax, the term is used for expressions which share a common set of grammatical properties. There are two categories. They are lexical categories and nonlexical categories

Lexical Categories Examples noun (N) verb (V) adjective (A) preposition (P) adverb (Adv)

Harry, boy, wheat, policy, moisture, bravery arrive, discuss, melt, hear, remain, dislike good, tall, old, intelligent, beautiful, fond to, in, on, near, at, by slowly, quietly, now, always, perhaps

Nonlexical Categories Examples determiner (Det) auxiliary verb (Aux) modal nonmodal conjunction (Con) degree word (Deg)

the, a, this, these, that will, can, may, must, should, could be, have and, or, but too, so, very, more, quite

B. Determining Word’s Category There are three ways of determining words category. Words’ category can be determined by meaning, inflection and distribution. 1. Meaning Nouns typically name entities, including individuals (Harry, Sue) and objects (book, desk). Verbs, on the other hands, characteristically designate actions (jump, sing), sensations (feel, hurt), and states (be, remain). Adjectives are to designate a property or attribute of the entities denoted by nouns. In a parallel way, adverbs typically denote properties and attributes of the actions, sensations, and sates designated by verbs. 2. Inflections Meaning is only one of several criteria to determine word’s category. Inflection can also be very useful for distinguishing among different categories of words.

Category Inflectional affix Examples

noun plural –s possessive –‘s

books, chairs, doctors John’s, the man’s

verb past tense –ed progressive –ing third person singular –s

arrived, melted, hopped arriving, melting, hopping arrives, melts, hops

adjective comparative –er superlative –est

taller, faster, smarter tallest, fastest, smartest


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C. Exercise 1. Indicate the category of each word. 1. go 6. Sally 11. bed 16. can 2. zoo 7. at 12. stopped 17. stupid 3. money 8. perhaps 13. job 18. standing 4. good 9. intelligence 14. quietly 19. pens 5. glass 10. have 15. on 20. laptops 2. Indicate the category of each word in the following sentences.

1. That glass suddenly broke. 2. The jet landed. 3. A journalist wrote the article. 4. He goes to the zoo every Tuesday. 5. He is standing.

C. Head, Specifier and Complement A typical phrase can be broken down into three parts. They are head, specifier and complement. The figure illustrates the blueprint of the X’ schema in which X stands for any category such as noun, verb, adjective or preposition, thus XP stands for a phrase such as NP, VP, AP, or PP.

Figure 1 The X' Schema

1. Head Head is the category around which a phrase is built. For examples, V is head of VP; N is head of NP, A of AP, and P of PP. 2. Specifier Specifier is a word that helps to make more precise the meaning of the head of the phrase. For examples, the word the in the book is a specifier. 3. Complement Complement is a syntactic constituent that provides information about entities and locations implied by the meaning of the head. D. Merge Operation Merge operation is a syntactic operation that combines elements to create phrases and sentences.


119

Figure 2 A VP Consisting of a Specifier, a Head, and a Complement

In accordance with the X’ schema, the verb eat is the head. It takes a NP a hamburger as a complement comprises a determiner a and a noun hamburger. Finally, the head takes the adverb never as the specifier to form a verb phrase as it is illustrated above. In other words, the noun hamburger merge with the determiner a to form a NP. The NP a hamburger merge with the verb eat to form a V’ and the V’ merge with the adverb never to form a VP.

E. Exercise 1. Each of the following phrases consists of a specifier and a head. Build a tree diagram for each example that complies with the X’ schema. 1. the zoo 5. very competent 2. always try 6. quite cheap 3. perhaps pass 7. never surrender 4. this house 8. those books 2. The following phrases include a head, a complement and a specifier. Build a tree diagram for each example that complies with the X’ schema. 1. into the house 2. fixed the telephone 3. a film about pollution 4. always study this material 5. perhaps earn the money 6. full of mistakes 7. plan to privatise hospital 8. never study hard


120

LESSON PLAN

MEETING TWO



Topic : Inflection Phrase

Sub Topic : Categories of modal and auxiliary



B. Goal





9. The students are able to name correctly the syntactic categories words which

are categorised into modal and BE.

10. The students are able to identify the head, specifier and complementizer of

sentences.

11. The students are able to demonstrate merge operations of simple sentences.





Greet the students

Introduce the inflection phrase

material



3’

2’


Review the concepts and

theories of words categories and

merge operation


5 minutes


121


words categories and merge

operation


answer


theories modal and BE

categories

Explain about the concepts and

theories of inflection phrase

Give some exercise about

inflection phrase

Discuss the students’ answer

Do the exercises




Do the exercise


5 minutes

10 minutes

10 minutes

20 minutes

20 minutes

20 minutes



about the material


5 minutes

E. References




Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.




University Press.


122

INFLECTION PHRASE Review

Draw the tree diagram of the following phrases

1. on the shelf 2. never sleep alone 3. go home 4. a beautiful girl 5. read a book

A. Inflection Phrase The largest unit of syntactic analysis is the sentence. Sentences have as their head an abstract category dubbed I (or Infl for ‘inflection) that indicate the sentence’s tense. This abstract category can be filled by modal auxiliary, BE or verb. However, the verb is treated in a different way. Whenever those three categories indicate the sentence’s tense and mark the time frame, they take I (inflection) as the category.

a b

Figure 1 The Structure of a Sentence

In the example above (a), the verb returned indicates the sentence’s tense and mark the time frame. Therefore, it takes I’ as the categories. On the other hands, the noun phrase The explorers comprise of a determiner The which merger with a noun explorers. The NP merges with the I’ to form an IP or a sentence. The example below shows the use of modal auxiliary in a sentence. Similarly, in the example (b) the noun phrase The explorers comprises of a noun explorers which merges with a determiner The. However, the difference lies on the modal auxiliary will and the verb return. The verb return merge with the modal auxiliary will to form an I’. Finally, the I’ merge with the NP to form an IP. B. Exercise Draw the tree diagram of the following sentences. 1. He ate a cake. 2. The glass broke. 3. The students lost the debate. 4. The judge often jails shoplifters. 5. The teacher often organised a discussion. 6. A psychic will speak to this group 7. Those guests should leave. 8. Maria never ate a brownie. 9. That shells will fall. 10. The manager may offer a raise.


123

LESSON PLAN

MEETING THREE



Topic : Complementizer Phrase

Sub Topic : Complementizer and Modifier



B. Goal





12. The students are able to demonstrate the change of an IP to be a CP.

13. The students are able to operate the concepts and theories of CP to account for

the relation of a CP to a noun which is modified.

14. The students are able to demonstrate merge operations of a matrix clause which

consist of a CP.





Greet the students

Introduce the complementizer

phrase material



3’

2’


Review the concepts and

theories Inflection phrase



Do the exercises

5 minutes

5 minutes


124

Inflection phrase


answer


theories of complementizer and

complementizer phrase

Explain the relation between the

complementizer phrase and the

inflection phrase

Give some exercise about

complementizer phrase and

inflection phrase

Discuss the students’ answer




Do the exercise


10 minutes

10 minutes

20 minutes

20 minutes

20 minutes



about the material


5 minutes

E. References




Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.




University Press.


125

COMPLEMETIZER PHRASE Review Draw the tree diagram of the following sentences.

1. The team will win. 2. That guy should go. 3. She sings loudly. 4. The puppy found the child. 5. The ice melted.

A. Complementizer phrase

Complementizer phrase is a phrase which functions as a complement of another clause or phrase. Please note the following example. [1] I thanked the woman who helped me.

Figure 2 An IP and a Complementizer Phrase

The sentence above is a matrix clause which consists of an adjective clause. Considering the merge operation , the verb helped merges with the object pronoun me to form a VP. However, the I’ occurs because the verb helped marks and specifies the time frame. The I’ merges with the relative pronoun who to form a CP. CP merges with the NP the woman to form another NP. Then, it merges with the verb thanked to form a VP, however it should be dubbed as I’ because it specifies the time frame and marks the tense. Finally, the I’ merges with the subject pronoun I to form an IP. As it has been stated that the sentence consists of an adjective clause. Therefore, the sentence [1] can be broken down into two sentences. They are [1a] and [1b]. [1a] I thanked the woman. [1b] She helped me.


126

Since the pronoun she in [1b] corresponds to the phrase the woman in [1a] the relative pronoun who can be used to replace the position. Therefore, the sentence [1b] modifies the noun phrase the woman in [1a]. B. Exercise Please draw the tree diagram of the following sentences. 1. The car which John bought is cheap.

2. The man whom I met was Lecter.

3. The girl who speaks English is my friend.


127

Appendix D

Examples of

Students’ Test


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136


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