Localized English...(Condro & Sulasih)

COTEFL-International Conference on Teaching English as Foreign Language

LOCALIZED ENGLISH, WHAT ARE ITS IMPLICATIONS ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING?

Condro Nur Alim & Sulasih Nurhayati

Muhammadiyah University of Purwokerto

Abstract

The phenomenon of Englishes (Localization of English) in some countries has become an interesting topic in language studies. The term such as Singlish (Singaporean English) or Manglish (Malaysian English) refers to the ‘unique characteristics’ of English used in those areas. As a result, it may produce the unique variety of English. The term ‘localized’ itself can be simply defined as local characters incorporated in English. Localization, on the other hand may be an attempt to abridge the learners’ difficulties in learning English in native-like way as well as to capture the specific psyche in that local.

Localized English allows the speaker to pronounce English words in a different way from the dictionary. It is also possible for them to be different in accent. As long as they understood each other, they do not need to bother themselves with the ‘correct’ pronunciation and accent. As the consequence the students will not be burdened to speak as closely as native speakers’ accent and pronunciation. It is believed that localized English will give a great encouragement to the students since the difficulties in studying English in native-like way has been minimized by localization.

Localized English also gives a place for local cultures and values tobe incorporated into English language teaching. Therefore, local culture awareness will be another requirements in teaching English in such context.

Since it has been generally accepted as ‘variety of English’ localized English surely has implications on English language teaching. This paper is aimed at exposuring some possible implications of localized English on English language teaching.

Key words: localized, implications, language, teaching

Introduction

English is the language which is used widely among the people around the world. As the consequence, it is unavoidable that certain local characteristics will influence the nature of English in that area. The so-called standard variety of English will be influenced by local language. As the result, a new variety of English –well known as Englishes- will emerge in that region.

In this context, the term of localized English, simply can be understood as the new variety of English in a certain area which is influence by local variety. As this phenomenon has already taken place in many countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, taking account on this matters, will be an interesting discussion. Although Indonesian have not experienced such phenomenon yet, in daily life this ‘localization’ happens.

Therefore, this paper will discuss about the phenomenon of English localization in term of what are ‘localized’ as well as describing its possible implications in case that localization is generally accepted as the local variation of English.

Englishes Reality

Englishes is a term for recently emerging and increasingly autonomous varieties of English, especially in a non-western setting. This term is used to contrast with the varieties of English spoken in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. However, the term is sometimes also used more broadly to refer to all varieties of English except for those spoken on the British Isles.

In the real world, the number of non-native countries speaking English both as an international communications tool and as local varieties increases significantly. Braj B. Kachru estimated that there is 400 million non-native speakers of English, who are spread all over the world. As English has been used as an auxiliary language in non-native English speaking countries, it has undergone a transplantation in non-American and non-British situations. Consequently, new varieties, styles, registers, and rhetorical models of thinking inevitably emerge, and their authentic and appropriate use in daily conversation cannot be determined and judged by reference to English native speakers, who have become outsiders from the Third World ""Englishes"". (Setiono: 2005).

The phenomenon of Englishes can be found almost in allcountries, for example, such familiar terms as Singlish (Singaporean English), Manglish (Malaysian English), Urrdlish (Urdu English), Japlish (Japanese English), Spanglish (Spanish English), and Hinglish (Hindi English).

Englishes in Literary Works

The local variation of English, actually do not only happen in the daily use of that language, but it has also been used as the language of literary works. The use of local variety of English in many literary works has shown us that Englishes has become our language reality.

Preeta Samarasand, the author of Evening is the Whole Day wrote:

“The English in which I write, is not standard English, but Malaysian English or Manglish, as we call it in Malaysia, and that what actually I meant when I listed interest in ‘Global English’ – I meant English that is not the Queen’s English but that has been transformed/localized to become the native language of people outside England. I’ve argued elsewhere that Manglish is the true ‘native language’ of Malaysia…I think the use of Manglish allows me to capture the Malaysian psyche in a way that no other language would, not even Bahasa Malaysia. (Budianta: 2008)

The following is the example of Manglish in Preeta’s work, that reflects the general characteristics of a local variation of English.

“Chhi!” Amma says, the syllable exploding directly into her mug of tea. “Can’t even be bothered to find a tissue!” If she had listened to your Appa and started packed nicely one moth ago she wouldn’t be in such a mess now, all kacan-mucan running here running there and sniffing and gasping all over the place, isn’t it? (Budianta: 2008)

Another phenomenon of local variation of English in literary work can be found from Moni Mohsin. He is the author of End of Innocence. He wrote as follows:

“My experience is similar to Preeta’s in that though I can read and write both urdu and English, I write only in the latter. And like Preeta,the dialoque that I write is not the Queen’s English, but a mix of English and Urdu, that we call Urdlish. The sensibility of Urdlish is also particular and distinct to Pakistanis, because the language mirrors the culture’ (Budianta: 2008)

Look at the following example of how Urdlish is used in Moni Mohsin ‘The End of Innocence”

“Wimbldeon’s very bore. The women look like khussras. Look at those Venus sisters. (But doesn’t Janoo always say that Venus in the loo in Paris has no arms and yet she has aafat figure? But if she has no arms how does she do backhand?). Maybe these Venus sisters are different. I tau like that blondie Russian wali, Sherpova. Such a nice figure, such long long golden hairs. Wonder where she gets her highlight? Must be from Tony and Gay.

Hai best news tau batana hee bhool gayee. We’re going to london. Janoo’s taken a flat in Baywater. Big concert’s going to be there right next door in Hide Park Concert is for Live Aids ke liye. Kulchoo’s obsessed with it. He’s told me Madonna’s coming. U2 Shu2, Sting vagera, sub Harrods sale is also on and my committee’s out. Gucci chuuchi here I come! (Budianta: 2008)

From above example of Englishes in literary works, both Manglish and Urdlish are characterized by the use of unique vocabularies which are not common in so-called standard English.

Lexical Semantic Localization

The first question to be raised deal with localized English will be: What are actually being ‘localized’? This question will be the basis of the following discussion about the aspects of English which are localized. In this discussion, variety of English in non-native English country will be taken as the example.

In general the aspects of being localized can be categorized in two, they are in vocabulary and phonology.

In the discussion on Pakistani English (PE) Baumgardner (1993) stated that Pakistani language has its own linguistic and cultural identity. The following are some characteristics of Pakistani English, which can also be generalized as the characteristics of other English varieties:

a. Word borrowings: a large number of loan words from Urdu and Regional

languages borrowed freely from indigenous domains of food, clothing,

administration, government, politics, art, education, music and most of all registers of religion.

Words which enter English have become a part of its grammatical system.

b. Word-formations: Another area in which PE has forged its own identity is thatof

word formation, prefixes and suffixes e.g. dc-seat, dc-notify, charge-sheeter and

woolies.

c. Conversion: shift of word for one part of speech to another is another area e.g.

air-craft to air-line (noun to verb conversion)

d. Obsolete vocabulary: use of vocabulary no longer current in BSE e.g

botheration, conveyance, moot etc.

English Phonology Localization

In Indonesian context, Alip (2007) identified English phonology localization among Indonesian people. He said that this deviation is not random but systematic, because local people share similar features of language competence and performance,which influence their English competence and performance. Further, he identified the ‘deviant’ form of phonological phenomenon in both segmental and non-segmental aspects of the language.

1. Segmental Alterations
1. Final Fortis/Lenis Distinction

Example of localization: the words mop and mob, peck and peg, are pronounced the same

2. Missing aspiration

Example of localization: the words pot, top and cot are pronounced without any aspiration.

3. Palato alveolar fricatives

Example of localization: the words fish, zoo, and vision are pronounced as [fis], [su:], and [visiən]

4. Tense/lax distinction

Example of localization: the words know and so are pronounced as [no] and [so] rather than [nəu] and [səu].

2. Suprasegmental Alterations
1. Consonant Clusters

Example of localization: the words star and asked are pronounced as [səta:] and [askəd].

2. Stress and Rythm

Example of localization: there is no stress and rythm

Implications on English language Teaching

From above discussion it can be assumed that once localization of English is accepted as the local variation of English in a region, there must be implications on English language teaching.

Since the localization can happen both in lexical semantic and phonology, the possible implications on its teaching may cover those two main aspects. Meanwhile, since there is no localization of what so-called standard English grammar, there will be no implication on English grammar teaching.

Dealing with lexical semantic and phonology localization, Setiono (2005) stated that in Indonesian context, both Indonesian teachers and Indonesian students do not really pay serious attention to the accents associated with both American and British English varieties. They instead learn to communicate in English using their local accent, which is typically labeled as ""non-English"" by English native speakers. After all, as one learns and acquires a new language to communicate, the intelligibility of an utterance becomes the prime consideration.

A non-native variety of English therefore accept local content to be incorporated in language production and language use. In this sense, local culture awareness will be an unavoidable aspect to be considered both by language teachers and learners. The assertion of this local culture can be a way to create a more ‘precise’ expression in such particular context.

Final Remarks

As local variety of English has been accepted as a global phenomenon, its emergence is unavoidable as long as the language users in a certain region require it. This is due to the assumption that the language belongs to those who speak it.

Localization, in a more practical term can be an abridgement to reduce the barrier may face by those who are non native English speakers due to their ‘natural’ obstructions. As the consequence, the acceptance of a new variety of English will give implications on language teaching. In a more practical sense, localized English can be an alternative to boost the use of English by incorporating local culture. In order to be accepted as the norm, pedagogical norm change and description and codification of the feature of the language should be the priority.

References

Alip, F.B. “Localization of English Phonology in Indonesian Context”. Phenomena Journal of Language and Literature. Vol 10 No.3, February 2007, pp.159-167.

Baumgardner, R. J. 1993. The English Language in Pakistan. Karachi: Oxford University Press.

Budianta, Melani. World Literature in English: Problematizing East and West. 2nd Rafil Conference paper, 2008

Kachru, B.B. The Other Tongue: English Across Cultures. Oxford: Pergamon Institute of English, 1982.

Setiono. “Teaching english in Indonesia: Whose rules should be followed?” The Jakarta Post. April 9, 2005.

Localized English...(Condro & Sulasih)

COTEFL-International Conference on Teaching English as Foreign Language

LOCALIZED ENGLISH, WHAT ARE ITS IMPLICATIONS ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING?

Condro Nur Alim & Sulasih Nurhayati

Muhammadiyah University of Purwokerto

Abstract

The phenomenon of Englishes (Localization of English) in some countries has become an interesting topic in language studies. The term such as Singlish (Singaporean English) or Manglish (Malaysian English) refers to the ‘unique characteristics’ of English used in those areas. As a result, it may produce the unique variety of English. The term ‘localized’ itself can be simply defined as local characters incorporated in English. Localization, on the other hand may be an attempt to abridge the learners’ difficulties in learning English in native-like way as well as to capture the specific psyche in that local.

Localized English allows the speaker to pronounce English words in a different way from the dictionary. It is also possible for them to be different in accent. As long as they understood each other, they do not need to bother themselves with the ‘correct’ pronunciation and accent. As the consequence the students will not be burdened to speak as closely as native speakers’ accent and pronunciation. It is believed that localized English will give a great encouragement to the students since the difficulties in studying English in native-like way has been minimized by localization.

Localized English also gives a place for local cultures and values tobe incorporated into English language teaching. Therefore, local culture awareness will be another requirements in teaching English in such context.

Since it has been generally accepted as ‘variety of English’ localized English surely has implications on English language teaching. This paper is aimed at exposuring some possible implications of localized English on English language teaching.

Key words: localized, implications, language, teaching

Introduction

English is the language which is used widely among the people around the world. As the consequence, it is unavoidable that certain local characteristics will influence the nature of English in that area. The so-called standard variety of English will be influenced by local language. As the result, a new variety of English –well known as Englishes- will emerge in that region.

In this context, the term of localized English, simply can be understood as the new variety of English in a certain area which is influence by local variety. As this phenomenon has already taken place in many countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, taking account on this matters, will be an interesting discussion. Although Indonesian have not experienced such phenomenon yet, in daily life this ‘localization’ happens.

Therefore, this paper will discuss about the phenomenon of English localization in term of what are ‘localized’ as well as describing its possible implications in case that localization is generally accepted as the local variation of English.

Englishes Reality

Englishes is a term for recently emerging and increasingly autonomous varieties of English, especially in a non-western setting. This term is used to contrast with the varieties of English spoken in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. However, the term is sometimes also used more broadly to refer to all varieties of English except for those spoken on the British Isles.

In the real world, the number of non-native countries speaking English both as an international communications tool and as local varieties increases significantly. Braj B. Kachru estimated that there is 400 million non-native speakers of English, who are spread all over the world. As English has been used as an auxiliary language in non-native English speaking countries, it has undergone a transplantation in non-American and non-British situations. Consequently, new varieties, styles, registers, and rhetorical models of thinking inevitably emerge, and their authentic and appropriate use in daily conversation cannot be determined and judged by reference to English native speakers, who have become outsiders from the Third World ""Englishes"". (Setiono: 2005).

The phenomenon of Englishes can be found almost in allcountries, for example, such familiar terms as Singlish (Singaporean English), Manglish (Malaysian English), Urrdlish (Urdu English), Japlish (Japanese English), Spanglish (Spanish English), and Hinglish (Hindi English).

Englishes in Literary Works

The local variation of English, actually do not only happen in the daily use of that language, but it has also been used as the language of literary works. The use of local variety of English in many literary works has shown us that Englishes has become our language reality.

Preeta Samarasand, the author of Evening is the Whole Day wrote:

“The English in which I write, is not standard English, but Malaysian English or Manglish, as we call it in Malaysia, and that what actually I meant when I listed interest in ‘Global English’ – I meant English that is not the Queen’s English but that has been transformed/localized to become the native language of people outside England. I’ve argued elsewhere that Manglish is the true ‘native language’ of Malaysia…I think the use of Manglish allows me to capture the Malaysian psyche in a way that no other language would, not even Bahasa Malaysia. (Budianta: 2008)

The following is the example of Manglish in Preeta’s work, that reflects the general characteristics of a local variation of English.

“Chhi!” Amma says, the syllable exploding directly into her mug of tea. “Can’t even be bothered to find a tissue!” If she had listened to your Appa and started packed nicely one moth ago she wouldn’t be in such a mess now, all kacan-mucan running here running there and sniffing and gasping all over the place, isn’t it? (Budianta: 2008)

Another phenomenon of local variation of English in literary work can be found from Moni Mohsin. He is the author of End of Innocence. He wrote as follows:

“My experience is similar to Preeta’s in that though I can read and write both urdu and English, I write only in the latter. And like Preeta,the dialoque that I write is not the Queen’s English, but a mix of English and Urdu, that we call Urdlish. The sensibility of Urdlish is also particular and distinct to Pakistanis, because the language mirrors the culture’ (Budianta: 2008)

Look at the following example of how Urdlish is used in Moni Mohsin ‘The End of Innocence”

“Wimbldeon’s very bore. The women look like khussras. Look at those Venus sisters. (But doesn’t Janoo always say that Venus in the loo in Paris has no arms and yet she has aafat figure? But if she has no arms how does she do backhand?). Maybe these Venus sisters are different. I tau like that blondie Russian wali, Sherpova. Such a nice figure, such long long golden hairs. Wonder where she gets her highlight? Must be from Tony and Gay.

Hai best news tau batana hee bhool gayee. We’re going to london. Janoo’s taken a flat in Baywater. Big concert’s going to be there right next door in Hide Park Concert is for Live Aids ke liye. Kulchoo’s obsessed with it. He’s told me Madonna’s coming. U2 Shu2, Sting vagera, sub Harrods sale is also on and my committee’s out. Gucci chuuchi here I come! (Budianta: 2008)

From above example of Englishes in literary works, both Manglish and Urdlish are characterized by the use of unique vocabularies which are not common in so-called standard English.

Lexical Semantic Localization

The first question to be raised deal with localized English will be: What are actually being ‘localized’? This question will be the basis of the following discussion about the aspects of English which are localized. In this discussion, variety of English in non-native English country will be taken as the example.

In general the aspects of being localized can be categorized in two, they are in vocabulary and phonology.

In the discussion on Pakistani English (PE) Baumgardner (1993) stated that Pakistani language has its own linguistic and cultural identity. The following are some characteristics of Pakistani English, which can also be generalized as the characteristics of other English varieties:

a. Word borrowings: a large number of loan words from Urdu and Regional

languages borrowed freely from indigenous domains of food, clothing,

administration, government, politics, art, education, music and most of all registers of religion.

Words which enter English have become a part of its grammatical system.

b. Word-formations: Another area in which PE has forged its own identity is thatof

word formation, prefixes and suffixes e.g. dc-seat, dc-notify, charge-sheeter and

woolies.

c. Conversion: shift of word for one part of speech to another is another area e.g.

air-craft to air-line (noun to verb conversion)

d. Obsolete vocabulary: use of vocabulary no longer current in BSE e.g

botheration, conveyance, moot etc.

English Phonology Localization

In Indonesian context, Alip (2007) identified English phonology localization among Indonesian people. He said that this deviation is not random but systematic, because local people share similar features of language competence and performance,which influence their English competence and performance. Further, he identified the ‘deviant’ form of phonological phenomenon in both segmental and non-segmental aspects of the language.

1. Segmental Alterations
1. Final Fortis/Lenis Distinction

Example of localization: the words mop and mob, peck and peg, are pronounced the same

2. Missing aspiration

Example of localization: the words pot, top and cot are pronounced without any aspiration.

3. Palato alveolar fricatives

Example of localization: the words fish, zoo, and vision are pronounced as [fis], [su:], and [visiən]

4. Tense/lax distinction

Example of localization: the words know and so are pronounced as [no] and [so] rather than [nəu] and [səu].

2. Suprasegmental Alterations
1. Consonant Clusters

Example of localization: the words star and asked are pronounced as [səta:] and [askəd].

2. Stress and Rythm

Example of localization: there is no stress and rythm

Implications on English language Teaching

From above discussion it can be assumed that once localization of English is accepted as the local variation of English in a region, there must be implications on English language teaching.

Since the localization can happen both in lexical semantic and phonology, the possible implications on its teaching may cover those two main aspects. Meanwhile, since there is no localization of what so-called standard English grammar, there will be no implication on English grammar teaching.

Dealing with lexical semantic and phonology localization, Setiono (2005) stated that in Indonesian context, both Indonesian teachers and Indonesian students do not really pay serious attention to the accents associated with both American and British English varieties. They instead learn to communicate in English using their local accent, which is typically labeled as ""non-English"" by English native speakers. After all, as one learns and acquires a new language to communicate, the intelligibility of an utterance becomes the prime consideration.

A non-native variety of English therefore accept local content to be incorporated in language production and language use. In this sense, local culture awareness will be an unavoidable aspect to be considered both by language teachers and learners. The assertion of this local culture can be a way to create a more ‘precise’ expression in such particular context.

Final Remarks

As local variety of English has been accepted as a global phenomenon, its emergence is unavoidable as long as the language users in a certain region require it. This is due to the assumption that the language belongs to those who speak it.

Localization, in a more practical term can be an abridgement to reduce the barrier may face by those who are non native English speakers due to their ‘natural’ obstructions. As the consequence, the acceptance of a new variety of English will give implications on language teaching. In a more practical sense, localized English can be an alternative to boost the use of English by incorporating local culture. In order to be accepted as the norm, pedagogical norm change and description and codification of the feature of the language should be the priority.

References

Alip, F.B. “Localization of English Phonology in Indonesian Context”. Phenomena Journal of Language and Literature. Vol 10 No.3, February 2007, pp.159-167.

Baumgardner, R. J. 1993. The English Language in Pakistan. Karachi: Oxford University Press.

Budianta, Melani. World Literature in English: Problematizing East and West. 2nd Rafil Conference paper, 2008

Kachru, B.B. The Other Tongue: English Across Cultures. Oxford: Pergamon Institute of English, 1982.

Setiono. “Teaching english in Indonesia: Whose rules should be followed?” The Jakarta Post. April 9, 2005.

Negative Transfer...(Hanafi & Ni Putu Amalia)

COTEFL-International Conference on Teaching English as Foreign Language

NEGATIVE TRANSFER OF SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT IN EFL COLLEGE STUDENTS’ WRITINGS : A CASE STUDY AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS ANDALAS UNIVERSITY

Hanafi & Ni Putu Amalia C

English Department – Andalas University

ABSTRACT

This study attempts to distinguish negative transfer and unsuccessful automaticity in the process of acquiring English rule of subject and verb agreement, as applied in EFL college students’ writings. Informants are English department students of Andalas University. Ten students from every class (2008 – 2005) will be randomly selected as participants. They will be asked to fill in a questionnaire consisting of essay writing section, a drilling section on English subject and verb agreement, and a background check survey section. In the analysis, the essay writing part will provide data of the EFL students’ writing performance which reflects their real time acquisition of this rule of English grammar. The drilling section will give a comparative data for their acquisition. Herewith, negative transfer and unsuccessful automaticity can be distinguished. At last, the survey questionnaire items will provide learning and teaching process background data that can confirm the prior analysis on students’ acquisition of subject and verb agreement in English. As the result, it is expected that students will perform different levels of acquisition on the basis of their different learning levels. The teaching process students have undertaken can also be evaluated in order to find the most effective teaching methods or learning strategies. Therefore, one of the washback effects will lead to the process of teaching EFL grammar and writing in the department.

Keywords: Negative Transfer, Subject-Verb Agreement, Automaticity, writing skill

INTRODUCTION

The central issue of this paper constitutes the notion of ‘transfer’ in EFL college students’ writings. The differentiation between negative transfer and unsuccessful automaticity reflected in participants’ acquisition of English subject and verb agreement through writing products becomes the foci of the study. This paper starts with the acquisition of English rules of Subject and Verb Agreement in EFL writing. Then, a brief review on studies of transfer follows and precedes the review of automaticity in the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) discipline. This is subsequently continued by research questions, methods, analysis, discussion, implication, and conclusion of the study.

ACQUIRING THE ENGLISH RULES OF SUBJECT AND VERB AGREEMENT IN EFL WRITING

In general, acquiring English in a foreign language (FL) context is relatively more difficult than in the second language (L2) context. In an FL context, on one hand, e.g. Indonesians learning English in Indonesia, learners have to deal with the more restricted area of practice. They commonly have no real time situations to use the language they are learning other than their classroom. Consequently, they may practice and therefore achieve less. On the other hand, acquiring English in an L2 environment, such as Indonesians learning English in Australia, may be more easily and faster facilitated. Learners have every opportunity to make use of their newly-learnt language in real communicative events outside their classroom. In case they do not do so, their social needs will still force them to communicate in this language in such environment. This accordingly influences the achievement a learner can get in mastering such language productive skills as speaking and writing.

Due to the paper’s length limit, this paper explores only the acquisition of English grammatical rules of Subject-Verb Agreement (SVA here-to-forth) in EFL writing. Unlike acquiring speaking skill, EFL learners usually find more difficulties in achieving accuracy in writing skill. There are two factors that learners need to consider when practicing writing. They are vocabulary and grammar. Vocabulary is particularly needed in order to deliver the idea a writer gets in their head onto the paper. Despite their great ideas, a writer without sufficient bank of lexicon will have difficulty to start writing. They need to go back and forth to dictionaries to find the right word for their ideas. The longer time they consume to do this, the more frustrating the writing activity will be.

After dealing with vocabulary problems, a beginning writer will have to cope with the more delicate obstacle in EFL writing, i.e. grammar. Herewith, the grammar issue in focus is restricted only to the acquisition of English SVA in writing. This aspect of grammar is important especially for Indonesians because of the presence of a fundamental difference between English and Indonesian language, i.e. a two-directionally influential relationship. When talking about subject and verb relationship, English language embeds not only the countability or non-countability factor but also time markers in it. Moreover, the term ‘finite’ (Halliday, 1994) or traditionally called ‘auxiliary’ functions to indicate the nature of actions, situation, and time (Frank, 1972; Nelson, 2001). When observing it in such productive skill as writing, our preliminary observation indicates that Indonesian EFL learners tend to produce this kind of unnecessary error in their writing. Surprisingly, when being tested through multiple choice or gap filling practices, EFL learners on college level can actually perform well indicating that they have knowledge about it. The question is why do they still commit it when writing?

INDONESIAN NEGATIVE TRANSFER OF SVA IN EFL WRITING

To answer the question, we need to take a look at the theoretical analysis for such error to occur. In the context of SLA, ‘transfer’, or also called as Cross-Linguistic Influence (CLI) (Smith, 1983), is defined as “…the influence of that the learners’ L1 exerts over the acquisition of an L2…” (Ellis, 1997: p.51). This influence ranges from the level of sounds to meanings. In this case, the transfer happens between the Indonesian grammatical rules of Subject and Verb/Predicate and English rule of Subject and Verb Agreement. It is the concept of ‘agreement’ that makes the case. A subject in English will have to be defined firstly based on its countability. Then, once it is defined as to whether countable or non countable, the relationship between the subject and its finite or auxiliary has to be taken into account. Moreover, this complex matter continues to the relationship between the auxiliary and the main verb in a verbal sentence. Every auxiliary or linking verb has its own demand over the verb. For example, ‘do’ always demand verb 1; ‘be’ demands verb 1 + ing / verb 3 / to + verb 1; modal auxiliaries always ask for verb 1; etc. This concept of two-directional relationship does not exist in Indonesian Subject and Predicate/Verb construction. Therefore, if an Indonesian learner does not fully comprehend the English SVA concept, they will tend to produce such error on the basis on negative transfer, i.e. the influence of the absence of the similar pattern in the learner’s mother tongues on the learnt language. However, when Indonesian learners who evidently have comprehended the English SVA concept still fail to consistently use them correctly in the writing, there may only be one possible cause for it, i.e. unsuccessful automaticity.

AUTOMATICITY IN EFL WRITING

The term automaticity refers to the concept that language production has become spontaneous that the producer does not have to give so much attention anymore in the production process and the results are accurate (Segalowitz, 2005). Research efforts on automaticity are commonly associated with speaking fluency (De Ridder, Vangehuchten, & Gomez. 2007; Hulstijn, 1990). There is few or even no study on the automaticity on writing. Therefore, this study goes outside the mainstream because it is believed that automaticity and transfer can also be investigated in free writing. Another importance of this study is related to the fact that most classroom examinations especially on content subjects assign students to respond to the question by writing a free brief essay. Even language tests such as TOEFL and IELTS have a writing component that assesses a test-taker’s writing skill. These conditions provide students with less time to review and edit. Consequently, lack of accuracy will also affect the writing quality.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Do senior students comprehend SVA rule more correctly than the junior students do?
2. Do senior students apply SVA rule in their writings more correctly than the junior students do?
3. Is there any difference between the students’ grammar test score and their use of SVA in writing?

METHODS

Data collection

Data are collected primarily through a survey questionnaire. Students from English Department are invited to fill in the questionnaire which contains writing and survey questionnaire section. This questionnaire provides raw data for the analysis. After being processed using simple statistic calculation, the data can produce analytical outcome to show trends of use of SVA in students’ writing.

Informants

There are 38 students participating in this study from various classes (2008–2005). Among them, there are 31 female and 7 male students. After being stratified, they are invited on a random sampling procedure. From every class, every student with the first registered number of 5, then 10, 15, and so on is attended and invited to participate. This multiplication of five continues until it reaches ten students from the class. Unfortunately, most of the ones replying to the invitation are female students. Therefore, the intervening variable of gender difference may be unavoidable.

Instruments

This study’s data result from a survey questionnaire consisting of four sections. Firstly, students are asked about their personal information such as registered number, gender, first language, etc. Secondly, they are asked to write up a free simple essay. Next, a Grammar Drilling Section on SVA is provided for them where they choose the correct answer from two options in each item. At last, a background check survey section ends the questionnaire for finding the pattern of their learning methods and strategies.

Data Analysis

To analyze the data, students’ essays are marked on the basis of the number of clause written. It is important to see it in clauses because of the assumption that some of them will write in complex sentences. The measurement through the use of clause will also enable us to evaluate their writing quantity in producing propositions which accordingly provide SVA data for later analysis. Afterwards, their SVA errors in the clauses will be counted and calculated in percentage. This result of SVA errors in essay is compared to the grammar drilling section in order to confirm the claim that students have sufficient comprehension level in this form. Then, participants’ learning strategies and expectations on their improved performance of writing can be traced from this last section. The frequency of responses is calculated into percentage.

RESULTS

As shown in the following chart, the grammar test section shows that around 47% students achieve 61-80% score and 32% participants can earn 81-100% score. This indicates that majority of the participants can correctly answer more than 60 percent of the items in drilling practices reflecting sufficient understanding on the grammar rule. However, the essay section reveals the unexpected fact that half of the participants still produce around 20% errors on SVA, and ten out of 38 students makes 30% SVA errors. Only a few (3 informants) produce significantly most errors (51 – 100%).

Results on the class comparison also show an anomaly. In the grammar drill, more freshmen (4 out of 9) perform better (81-100%) compared to sophomore (67%) who perform less (61-80%). Half of junior students answer less correct (41-60%) than their senior (70%) who can provide more correct answers (61-80%). In terms of SVA errors on essays, a surprising finding occurs. Fewer freshmen perform well by making less SVA errors (20%) while the same number of sophomore students makes more errors (50%). However, this may happen because they write few clauses (average 20). Surprisingly, more junior (60%) and senior (70%) students make the same number of error (20%). The fact that they write more clauses may explain this phenomenon.

The survey background section also reveals unusual facts. Majority of students (92%) have learnt English for more than 7 years. Despite their eagerness to having English writing skill (87%), only few (5 out of 38) love writing activity very much and most of them (53%) simply ‘like’ doing it. Their motivation to have the skill is various from the desire to be good at writing academically (26%) to the desire of becoming journalists (37%) or writing diary or reviews in web blogs (34%). Most of the participants (88%) start learning writing at school and at home (11%). Moreover, their writing activity ranges from assignments (45%), diaries (13%), and both (24%). In terms of frequency, the participants admit to write 3-4 times (44%) and more than 5 times (44%) a week. They mostly (82%) do editing and proofreading by themselves (34%) and by help from others (29%). Among the writing difficulties offered, grammar is their biggest (61%) problem. When coming to self-evaluation, most of them assess themselves on the level of 7 (50%) and 8 (21%). Only few participants claims to have the 6 (5 out of 38) and 5 (4 out of 38) levels.

DISCUSSION

The results have presented the fact that there has been a considerable lack of attention to the automaticity of applying SVA rule in writing. Majority of informants in this study comprehend the concept of SVA rule proven by their high score (over 61% of correct answers) in the grammar drill sections (79%). However, their essay proves that there is a problem of habitual negative transfer that most of them might have got in earlier learning period. Despite their knowledge, these participants cannot automatically apply the SVA rule when writing. This brings us into a speculation that they did not pay attention too intensively toward this ‘little’ mistake in the earlier time. Gradually, this neglectfulness may finally form a habit that dies hard and eventually reduces the writing quality. To some extent, this can be seen from the more SVA errors that senior students make in their writing. We speculate that such habit is formed from the neglectfulness of the teacher too in guiding their students to do editing process which focuses on the grammar check before finalizing and submitting their writing tasks for assessment.

The importance of this editing process is supported by the finding on students’ learning strategies. Most of them (82%) claim that they check their writing before submission. Among them, large proportions do the editing and proofreading process by themselves (34%) and by help of others (29%). This shows that there is awareness that these two ‘restructuring’ activities (McLaughlin, 1990) are necessary for writing quality improvement. Unfortunately, the questionnaire does not have items investigating the role of teachers facilitating this necessity. Nevertheless, this outcome rings an alarm that there is a need for incorporating this aspect in the process of learning and teaching writing in order to support the automated use of such simple routine grammatical rules as SVA.

IMPLICATIONS ON LANGUAGE TEACHING

There are at least three implications of this study to the language teaching and assessment. First of all, teachers need to start incorporating the information technology into the teaching of writing. Students’ motivation to write as a journalist, to produce literary works, and to communicate through blogs and reviews clearly indicate this necessity. Therefore, teachers can facilitate this desire positively by allowing them to create their own blogs and encouraging them to write on newspapers or a network web blogs. Second of all, Teachers need to share the teaching focus on the collaborative editing methods instead of simply teaching writing. Students can also learn from their friends about the way to deliver ideas in a paragraph as well as reminding each other on grammatical errors such SVA. At last, multiple choice assessment in writing process or any other grammar drill test in evaluating improvement in students’ writing skills may need putting aside as complementary or secondary evaluation. End results from a long guided editing activity over their writing productions should become the main concern so that students can see writing as a three-phased process whose ultimate quality relies on the final procedure, i.e. editing and proofreading. Therefore, they will understand that they can achieve best in the maximum level if conducting serious editing and proofreading processes before submitting their essays for marking.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, it is clearly seen that negative transfer commonly happens in the earlier time of learning. As proven by the result of essay writing on the freshmen, negative transfer may evidently be the case in their early period or learning writing. When this issue is continuously neglected, they will form a habit which results in unsuccessful automaticity as shown in the sophomore, junior, and senior students’ writings. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean that the junior students do not have enough comprehension over the SVA rule. Their score on SVA grammar test is relatively higher than their seniors. However, errors that they produce in their essays are variously more than their seniors do. Therefore, it can be concluded that the senior students seem to comprehend SVA rules and apply them more correctly than the junior students do. The same case occurs between junior and sophomore students where junior students perform better than the sophomores do. Freshmen, however, seems to be out of ordinary because they evidently comprehend SVA rule more correctly and apply it consistently more accurate than the sophomores do. The reason for this unexpected outcome may be due to the shorter essay the juniors produce. This seems to help them minimize SVA errors. At last, a negative correlation may result from the two different kinds of test. The higher score a student gets in their grammar drill, the fewer SVA errors they make in the essay. However, this study is not designed to address its significance. Therefore, deeper and more comprehensive future investigations need to be conducted by considering these aspects.

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