1 AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN USING CONDITIONAL SENTENCES OF THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF TARBIYAH FACULTY IAIN ANTASARI Saadillah A lecturer of English Department at Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training, IAIN Antasari Banjarmasin Herlena An Alumni of English Department at Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training, IAIN Antasari Banjarmasin ABSTRACT This research describes the ability in using conditional sentences of the sixth semester students in English Department of IAIN Antasari academic year 2011/2012. The problems in this research are: 1) how is students’ ability in using conditional sentences? 2) what is the most students’ common error in using conditional sentences? This study are supposed to know the students’ ability in using conditional sentences and the most students’ common errors in using conditional sentences. The subjects in this research are 69 of 79 students in the English Department of IAIN Antasari in academic year 2011/2012. The objects of this research are the ability in using conditional sentences of the sixth semester students in the English Department of IAIN Antasari Academic Year 2011/2012 and the most students’ common errors in using conditional sentences. The data are collected by using some techniques. They are: written test, observation, interview and documentary. Data processing in this research is divided into four stages, they are checking, scoring, tabulating and interpreting. Then all data are analyzed descriptively and use inductive method to make conclusion. The result of the research denoted that the level of students’ ability in using conditional sentences is in fair category. It is based on calculation it is mean that is 64, 8. After analyzing each type of test, the writer found that the most students’ common errors is in type III (41,6%). It can be concluded that mistakes happened because the students do not understand well about tenses that is used in conditional sentences. For example, type I we use simple present tense, type II we have to use simple past tense, and for type III we need know well about past perfect tense. The writer also concludes, the mistakes that the students have done because inappropriate in choosing modal. The students have to choose which appropriate modal should be attached to the sentence. Key Words: Analysis, Ability, Conditional Sentences In this modern era, people are demanded to have more than one language. Language does far more than just enable people to communicate with each other but also language is used to show their thought and feeling, wish and activities and to influence others and also mirrors one’s identity and is an integral part of culture. Put differently a person’s language is a vehicle of their particular culture. Mumpande contends (2012) that “This is clearly shown in proverbs and riddles. The former, for example, have dual meanings: a literal meaning and a metaphoric or cultural significance. When literally translated into another language, a 2 proverb frequently loses its meaning and flavor”. He further graphically argues that a community without a language is like a person without a soul. Most people know instinctively how to deal with other people of their culture and in their native language. When speaking another language, though, especially in a different culture, one should be aware of the differences. There are various levels of politeness. This may be expressed in the type of words or vocabulary that one uses, or it may also be an integral part of a language's grammar. It becomes a reason why we should learn language deeply. Alexander (1972, p. viii) said that The student must be trained adequately in all four basic skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In many classroom courses the emphasis is wholly in the written language. The student is trained to use his eyes instead of his ears and his inability to achieve anything like correct pronunciation, stress and intonation must be attributed largely to the tyranny of the printed word. If the teacher is to train his students in all four basic skills, he must make efficient use of the time at his disposal. Efficiency presupposes the adoption of classroom procedures which will yield the best results in the quickest possible time. The following order of presentation must be taken as axiomatic: Nothing should be spoken before it has been heard Nothing should be read before it has been spoken Nothing should be written before it has been read Speaking and writing are the most important of these skills, since to some extent they presuppose the two others. But just know about the words and how to pronounce it does not enough. In mastering the language we have to know the fundamental grammatical patterns of a language. In Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary (1987, p. 632) grammar is the rule of a language, concerning the way in which you can put words together in order to make sentences. Such as Thomas Pyles pointed out in his book English an Introduction to Language (1970, p. 133), words alone do not make a language. A person can memorize all the morphemes, words and idioms in a dictionary with their pronunciation, meaning, parts of speech and other information given for them, and yet be unable to speak or write even one sentence of the language. Beyond knowing vocabulary, it is necessary also to know grammar.1 The function of grammar according to the Noel Burton is, the function of the grammar of a language is to specify which word sequences are and which are not, in the infinite set of its sentences. Talking about grammar, it is considered that conditional sentences play an important role. Conditional sentences; the modal will, would, can and could often appear in conditional sentences. Usually conditional sentences contain the word if . there are two types of conditionals: the real (factual and habitual) and the unreal (contrary to fact or hypothetical). The real, or “future possible” as it is sometimes called, is used when the speaker expresses an action or situation which usually occurs if the circumstances in the main clause are met. The writer has been facing conditional since in junior high school untill university level and when the writer took ITP TOEFL there were so many questions in conditional sentence form. It means, really necessary to gain knowledge deeply about conditional sentences. Knowledge about conditional clauses and their use in sentences comes in handy while solving the sentence completion, sentence correction, reading comprehension. Basically, a conditional 3 form an important part of the English language and gives so much importance in verbal ability. The writer is corious about the students’ ability in using conditional sentences because in writer experience there are some students in English Departmen of IAIN Antasari are still confused about that term because there are three types and have different formula for each type. English Department of IAIN Antasari is chossen because it is going to make a higher acreditation to be A, so the writer has a high desire to know how well the students understand about the conditional sentences which become a part of gammar and what are the common errors. So, the writer can give a suggestion about teaching method to make English Department of IAIN Antasari can be better. The writer tried to interview some the sixth semester students of English Department at IAIN Antasari which they must be mastered in using conditional sentences because they have taken structure A, B, C and D. Most of them still confused about it, especially in type 2 and 3. The students confused when they have to use past tense and past perfect tense. Whereas, conditional sentences are materials that taught in senior high school and these term usually use in our daily activities. Realizing that the sixth semester students’ of English Department almost graduate and they will become as English teachers, they are expected to have good English and capable of proficiently using each of the four language skills so they can give a big contribution for education in Indonesia as a professional teacher. To support all skills, grammar must be mastered by the students of English Department. Because of it the writer interested to find out the sixth semester students’ ability in using conditional sentences and what the most common error is. Conditional Sentence is a Part of Grammar According Watson (2000, p. 6), a language consists of sentences. A sentence is a complete written or spoken thought. To express a complete thought, a sentence must have two parts. One part is the subject. It tells who or what the sentence is about. The other part is the predicate. It says something about the subject. To produce the right sentences we are really need grammar. Grammar is not the most important thing in the world, but if we make a lot of mistakes we may be more difficult to understand and some kinds of people may look down on us or not take us seriously. Hardly nobody speaks or writes a foreign language perfectly, but we can communicate more successfully if we can make our English reasonable correct and without any doubt we will teach our students easily. In line Thornury also stated (1999, p. 1), grammar is partly the study of what forms (or structures) are possible in a language. Traditionally, has been concerned almost exclusively with analysis at the level of the sentences. Thus a grammar is a description of the rules that govern how a language’s sentences are formed and conditional sentence is a two-clause sentence which has its formed or structure. So, if we want to learn conditional sentences we have to know the grammar well. Simply Sargean (2007, p. 124) says a sentence with if is called conditional sentence. In conditional sentences, the first clause states a supposition or hypothesis and the second clause states the results if that condition is met. The hypothetical clause which states the condition ("If this...") is termed the protasis and the conclusion clause is called the apodosis (". . . then this."). Smyth explains it this way (1920, p. 512): 4 A condition is a supposition on which a statement is based. A conditional sentence commonly consists of two clauses: The protasis: the conditional, or subordinate, clause, expressing a supposed or assumed case (if). The apodosis: the conclusion, or principal, clause, expressing what follows if the condition is realized. The truth or fulfillment of the conclusion depends on the truth or fulfillment of the conditional clause. There are three types of conditional centences they are, conditional sentences type I, II, and III. FINDING Students’ Ability in Using Conditional Sentences To know about students’ ability in using conditional sentences, the writer conducted a test on March 13th-14th 2011 at PBI room 9 and 10 through 60 minutes for 50 questions. From the total of the sixth semester students of English Department, just 69 students enrolled the test and there are 10 students did not come to the class to enroll the test at the time. Based on the result of conditional sentences test of the sixth semester students in the English Department of IAIN Antasari academic year 20011/2012, it is found the data that the highest score is 83 and the lowest score is 7,5. The accumulated score is 4473,5. The test result can be seen in this following table: Table 4. 5. The Students’ Test Result in Using Conditional Sentences Subject Number Score 1. 82 2. 61 3. 63 4. 78 5. 80,5 6. 55,5 7. 75 8. 72 9. 40 10. 78,5 11. 75 12. 69,5 13. 70 14. 79 15. 78 16. 78 17. 75 18. 75,5 19. 64, 20. 68,5 21. 83 22. 80 23. 69 5 24. 59 Continuing of table 4. 5. The Students’ Test Result in Using Conditional Sentences 25. 63,5 26. 73,5 27. 78 28. 78,5 30. 75 31. 77 32. 78,5 33. 47 34. 78,5 35. 72 36. 60,5 37. 80 38. 63,5 39. 45 40. 45 41. 83 42. 7,5 43. 48 44. 29 45. 76,5 46. 81 47. 67,5 48. 73 49. 69,5 50. 66 51. 78,5 52. 28,5 53. 68 54. 69 55. 61 56. 72 57. 77,5 58. 76,5 59. 74,5 60. 76 61. 77,5 62. 71 63. 64,5 64. 44 65. 73 66. 82,5 67. 49 6 68. 56,5 69. 76,5 Table 4.7. The Frequency Distribution of the Students’ Test Result and the Classification No. Score F % Category 1. 0–49 10 students 14,4% Very Low 2. 50–59 3 students 4,3% Low 3. 60–69 19 students 27,5% Fair 4. 70–79 30 students 43,7% Good 5. 80–100 7 students 10,1% Excellent Total 69 students 100% From the table above, it shows that the students’ ability in using conditional sentences based on its categories there are 10 students in poor category which the percentage is 14,4%, 3 students (4,3%) get the score 50-59 (low category), 19 students (27,5%) who get the score 60-69 (fair category), 30 students (43,7%) who get the score 70-79 (good category) and there are 7 students (10,1%) who get the score 80-100 (excellent category). To know the students’ ability in using conditional sentences of the sixth semester students in the English Department of Tarbiyah Faculty academic year 2010/2011, the writer uses the mean as follows: M = ΣX N M = 4473,5 69 M = 64.8 Based on the data above, the total score is 4473,5 of 69 students. The mean score is 64.8 shows that the students’ ability in using conditional sentences of the sixth semester students in the English Department of Tarbiyah Faculty of IAIN Antasari academic year 2011/2012 is categories into fair category. Students’ Most Common Errors in Using Conditional Sentences To know about the most students’ common errors in using conditional sentences, the writer presented the data based on the test result by writing all most students’ common errors of each type of the test. The data is shown on the following table: Table 4. 8. Students’ Common Errors for Multiple Choices Test No Number of Test F Answer Key Type I II III 1. 6 10 (a) Were having X 2. 8 35 (d) Had not come X 3. 13 18 (c) Can X 7 4. 15 20 (d) Would he have resigned X Total 1 1 2 On the table above, the writer presented data about students’ most common errors for multiple choice test. The writer had the students to choose words with their correct meaning. There are 4 numbers of students’ most common errors in using conditional sentences of 20 questions are given. They are 10 students made error for question number 6 and the correct answer is type in II, 35 students made error for question number 8 and the correct answer is in type III and 18 students made error for question number 13 with the correct answer is in type I and the last there are 20 students made error for question number 15 which the correct answer is type III. The total of students’ common errors for the multiple choice of the test are 1 error for type I, 1 type II and 2 error for type 3. Question number 8 is the most difficult one with 35 students could not answer the question with their correct meanings. Table 4. 8. Students’ Common Errors for Short Answer No. Number of Test F Answer Key Type I II III 1. 6 48 Would stopped X 2. 13 39 Spends X 3. 18 51 Studied X Total 1 2 - On the table above, it is the data about students’ common errors short answer test. There are 20 questions with 3 numbers of the questions are the most students’ common errors they are question number 6 is made by 48 students and the correct answer is in type II. Question number 13 with 39 students and the most difficult one, number 18 with 51 students and the correct answer is type II. The total of students’ common errors for completion test are no error in type III, 2 errors in type I and 1 errors in conditional sentence type I. Table 4. 9. Students’ Common Errors for Change The Sentence Test No. Number of Test F Answer Key Type I II III 1. 2 25 She would have sold her car if she had found the right buyer. X 2. 3 17 If he did not speak so quickly, you could hear him. X 3. 5 38 If we had not lost our way, we would have arrived sooner. X 4. 6 49 We will have plenty of time to finish the project before dinner if it is only ten o’clock. X 5. 10 68 If the fireman had not arrived when they did, they could not have saved the house. X Total 1 1 3 8 On the table above, That is the data about students’ common errors for change the sentence test. There are 5 numbers of students’ most common errors of 10 questions are given. They are question number 2 are made by 25 students with the correct answer is in type III, question number 3 with 17 students and the correct answer is in type II, question number 6 with 49 students and the correct answer is in type I, question number 5 with 38 students and the correct answer is in type III and there are 68 students made mistakes when answered the question number 10 which the correct answer is in type III, it means just one student could pass the question number 10. The total students’ errors such type test are 1 in type I , 1 in type II and 3 in type III. Table 4. 11. The Frequency of Students’ Common Errors in Using Conditional Sentences No. Types of Students’ Common Errors F % 1. Error in type I 3 25% 2. Errors in Type II 4 33,3% 3. Error in type III 5 41,6% Total 12 100% Based on the table above are taken from each type of the conditional sentences test, the writer concludes that the most students’ common errors are in type II and type III, it is shown by the frequency of errors for each table with the following number of students’ errors: 3 : number of item test’s error in type I 4 : number of item test’s errors in type II 5 : number of item test’s errors in type III N : 12 3 x 100% = 25% (errors in type I) 12 4 x 100% = 33,3% (errors in type II) 12 5 x 100% = 41,6% (errors in type III) 12 DISCUSSION The findings show that there are 10 students in poor category which the percentage is 14,4%, 3 students (4,3%) get the score 50-59 (low category), 19 students (27,5%) who get the score 60-69 (fair category), 30 students (43,7%) who get the score 70-79 (good category) and there are 7 students (10,1%) who get the score 80-100 (excellent category) with the total score is 4473,5 of 69 students. The mean score is 64.8 shows that the students’ ability in using conditional sentences of the sixth semester students in the English Department of Tarbiyah Faculty of IAIN Antasari academic year 2011/2012 is categories into fair category. The writer also found that the most students’ common errors are in type II and type III, it is shown based on the percentages for every kind of students’ most common errors which the 9 total of errors are 12, that is 3 numbers of students’ common errors in type I (25%), 4 numbers of students’ common errors in type II (33,3%) and 5 numbers of students’ common errors of type III (41,6%). The writer concludes that the students’ ability in conditional sentences is in fair category based on the calculation mean that is 65,4. After analyzing each type of test, the writer found that the most students’ common errors is in type II (33,3%) and type III (41,6%), those are more difficult than type I which percentage of students’ common errors is 25% but the most students; common errors is in type III which takes 41,6%. In type I there were 3 numbers of test that the students’ did not do well and the most students’ common error in type I is number 6 in change the sentence section. There were 49 students false in answering the question. Several of they forgot to put will and several others forgot to put have. They just wrote; we will plenty of time to finish the project before dinner if it is only ten o’clock or we have plenty of time to finish the project before dinner if it is only ten o’clock. The answer should be, we will have plenty of time to finish the project before dinner if it is only ten o’clock. In type II there were 4 numbers of tests that students made mistakes. From the data which have checked, there were 48 students made mistake when answering number 6 of short answer section. Almost of them did not put modal would before past tense verb. According to the formula past real fact type II is modal + past tense….. + past tense. The answer must be, I wish them would stop making so much noise so that I could concentrate. The most students’ common error in using conditional sentences of the sixth semester in English Department is in type III. There were five questions which almost students could not answer well and from my research, the question number 10 of changing the sentence section is the hardest one for the students. Just one student from the total number of subject in this research answered correctly. It means there were 68 students could not answer the question truly. All of the students forgot change the infinitive verb to the past tense verb. It can be concluded, the mistakes happened because the students do not understand well about tenses that is used in conditional sentences. For example, type I we use simple present tense, type II we have to use simple past tense, and for type III we need know well about past perfect tense. The writer also concludes, mistakes that the students have done because inappropriate in choosing modal. The students have to choose which appropriate modal should be attached to the sentence. CONCLUSION Based on the research result it can be concluded that: 1. The students’ ability in conditional sentences of the sixth semester students in the English Department of Tarbiyah Faculty of IAIN Antasari academic year 2011/2012 is in fair category, it is based on the calculation mean of students’ score 65,4. 2. The most students’ common errors in using conditional sentences based on the test result is type III. It is known that the most students’ common errors come to the type III (41,6%) with the number of errors are 5 and type II (33,3%) with 4 numbers of errors while students’ errors in type I is about 25% with the number of errors are 3 and the total of all students’ common errors are 12 of 3 types of the test. 10 REFERENCES Alexander, L. G. 1972. Practice and Progress an Integrated course for Pre Intermediate students. London: Longman Group Ltd. Bulton, Noel. and Robert. 1998. Analyzing sentence An Introduction to English Syntax. England: Pearson Education Limited. Pyles, Thomas., and Jhon Alseo. 1970. English An Introduction To Language. England: Harcout, Brace & World,INC. Sargean, Howard. 2007. Basic English Grammar. United States Of America: Saddleback Educational. Sinclair, John., dkk. 1987. Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionarry. London: Collins ELT. Smyth, Herbert Weir. 1920. Greek Grammar for Colleges.New York: American Book Company. Thornury Scott. 1999. How to Teach Grammar. England: Blueston Press. Watson, three.2006. Grammar and Uses. Saddleback Educational. Mumpande, Isaac. 2012. Silent Voices: Indigenous languages in Zimbabwe. 11