A LONGITUDINAL CASE STUDY ON THE USE OF THE ABSTRACT NOUN

IN ENGLISH COMPOSITIONS AMONG STUDENTS OF SEKOLAH

MENENGAH IMTIAZ KUALA TERENGGANU, TERENGGANU

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.0

Introduction
How, I wonder, can anyone learn a language without understanding its
grammar? Yet, according to the Minister of Education, grammar as we
understand it, has not been taught in school for many years.
Dato Johan Jaffar
(2012)

In Malaysia, as in many other developed countries, English is considered to be

difficult for secondary school students to achieve especially those of beginner and
intermediate levels. Learning English grammar still has not taken place that is directed
towards enhancing the quality of education. This step is demanding greater
commitment from all parties involving administration and educators as well as
teachers who are responsible for the performance of students in schools.

Currently, teachers responsibilities are getting critical as students are still

having difficulty in using correct English grammar in their writings even though they
1

have gone through six years of learning English in schools (Maros, Tan & Khazriyati,
2007). Shaari (1987) also found that the major difficulty faced by many students is
learning the English grammar.

In Malaysia, the standard of English appears to be on the decline. Many

students in Malaysia would struggle to have proper use of grammar in their English
compositions. Malaysian students are still weak in English grammar, especially with
their rules. Generally, it is difficult to find students writing their essays with very few
grammatical errors. There is a pattern of most common errors that are made by
students in secondary schools in Malaysia which are the singular and plural forms of
nouns, word order, word choice and verb tense (Saadiyah & Subramaniam, 2009;
Summaira, 2011; Farzaneh, 2007). Those studies revealed that students tended to
make grammatical errors in English essays and proved that English grammar is one of
the most difficult skills to master in learning English in Malaysia where they made
lots of mistakes.

Khan (2005), Lim (1976), Azimah (1998), Vahdatinejad (2008) and Nik Safiah
(1978) found that secondary school students in Malaysia committed a lot of errors in
grammar especially in prepositions and tenses. In addition, Siti Hamin & Mohd
Mustafa (2009), Bhatia (1974), Munir (1991) and Surina & Kamarulzaman (2009)
claimed that a majority of students in Malaysia had problems with their subject-verb
agreement in their writing. They stated that students made mistakes in both general
and sub-general areas of subject-verb agreement in their writing.

To add to this, secondary school students in Malaysia still made errors on the
use of nouns. It is undeniable that students need to master the most basic word class in
English which is the noun in order to gain greater understanding in the reading,
writing, listening and speaking skills. Chew & NorhidaYahti (2012) have conducted a
research on 300 school students in the rural area of Hulu Selangor, Malaysia to
explore students mistakes in the noun components. The respondents were form one
students who are young learners of English. The findings found that the students
tended to make mistakes with the singular and plural nouns, collective nouns and
possessive nouns. Realizing the issue of grammatical problems associated with nouns
among secondary schools students in Malaysia, it is important to examine the use of
nouns in writing especially to comprehend the problem and find a solution to
overcome it.

2.0

Background of the Study

Generally, students still committed errors on nouns in their English essays even
though it is the most basic word class in grammar. There is a large body of literature in
Malaysia that proved Malaysian students still commit errors on nouns. Studies that
focused on nouns were conducted by Sarimah & Kaur (2010), Chung (2010), Nael, M.
(2013) and Wan Nurul Elia (2009). The findings proved that students in Malaysia
often made mistakes on nouns in their English essays. They made errors on the
singular noun and the plural noun as the findings figured an over-usage of the singular
noun form.

Many researchers have explored mostly on the use of the abstract noun in
speaking but not in writing. Studies by Snedeken, et al. (2014), Valois & Royle
(2009), Krajewski, et al. (2012) have shown some importance of the use of the
abstract noun in speaking and the studies were only focusing on changes on early
language development from infant to teenagers. The study by Snedeken et al. (2014)
showed that the data were collected from parental reports and speech samples. The
findings suggested that cognitive development plays little role for the respondents
ability to learn some abstract words.

In addition, studies by Natalia Judith (2009), Crespo et al. (2006) and Nguyen
(2011) were focusing on the process of acquisition of language and noun morphology.
They used quantitative and qualitative approaches to gather the data. Nguyen (2011)
had stated that abstract nouns are very common and important in communication be it
via writing or speaking because without these nouns, expressions of feelings and ideas
would be impossible. He used data that was carried out over 1000 examples collected
from different sources which were not mentioned as to whether in speaking or writing
or examples of what. The findings showed similarities between abstract nouns in
English and Vietnamese that typically abstract nouns was derived from verbs,
adjectives or a noun for example, the word of marriage was derived from marry and
the majority of abstract nouns in Vietnamese also enjoy back formation from
adjectives, verbs or nouns.
All of stated issues above did not focus on the use of abstract nouns in writing
and did not follow one person for a period of time as the present study and this proved
that a study on abstract noun usage over a period of time should be carried out in a

detailed analysis. It also helps others or the syllabus writers, teachers and educators
understand in depth on abstract noun usage in writing.

Furthermore, comparing and evaluating studies on longitudinal studies are

among others by Chiu, David & Tang (2006). They have focused students English
grammar learning rates in three years and conducted a research on 3,227 students from
16 Hong Kong different high schools. The respondents were young learners between
Grade 7 to 9. Specifically, they have done a longitudinal study among young learners
on those areas but not the use of the abstract noun in writing.

Therefore, the present study intends to specifically address students

performance on the abstract noun usage in writing. This leads to a gap in this present
research which is a longitudinal case study on the use of the abstract noun in writing
has never been done in Malaysia. Even though there are studies on abstract noun
usage but they did not utilize a longitudinal study on the use of abstract nouns in
writing. In addition, they did not follow several persons for a period of time as the
present study. The context chosen here is conducive to the study as the present study is
a longitudinal case study on the use of the abstract noun in English compositions
among young learners.

3.0

Statement of the Problem

Many researchers have explored on a longitudinal study and a study on nouns

as mentioned earlier in this chapter but there is a lack of information on the actual use
of abstract nouns by young learners over the years in schools. Those studies did not
follow a person for a period of time as in the present study.

Hence, the gap of this study is no longitudinal research has been done on the
use of abstract nouns by young learners of secondary school students in Malaysia.
Particularly, there are many studies on errors on nouns which have been carried out in
Malaysia but the types of errors as categorized under inflectional or derivational errors
are also not substantiated in a longitudinal study. There was no study that looks for
types of errors on abstract noun usage in the writing of secondary school students in
Malaysia over a period of time.

Overall, this present study hopes to examine the actual use of the abstract noun
by young learners as this study looks at the secondary school students usage on the
abstract noun in writing over a period of time. The present study will add to the
present knowledge and understanding of how youngsters use abstract nouns in
writing. This study will contribute a lot to those who write textbooks and syllabus.

4.0

Objectives of the Study

Given this background, the aims of this study are:

1. to examine the number of occurrences of the abstract noun in
compositions written over a period of four years by young second
language learners of English.
2. to analyze the correct and incorrect use of these abstract nouns by these
learners over the years
3. to identify whether inflectional or derivational type of error occurs
more frequently with these abstract nouns over the years.
4. to identify the possible reasons for the above findings.
5.0

Research Questions

This particular study seeks to answer the following research question:

1. Does the occurrence of the abstract noun in the students compositions
increase, decrease or stabilize over the years?
2. Do these young learners of English use those abstract nouns correctly
or incorrectly in their compositions written over the years?
3. Which type of errors do these students commit more with abstract
nouns when writing compositions over the years: inflectional or
derivational?
4. What are the possible reasons for the above findings?

6.0

Terminology

Following are the definitions of the key terms in this study:

Nouns

According to Loos et al. (2003), a noun is a member of a syntactic class which is a

word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, action and abstract idea. Nouns are
things in general and specific. A noun functions as a subject, a direct object, an
indirect object, a subject complement, an object complement, an appositive, an
adjective or an adverb in a sentence. Nouns can be concrete or abstract.

Abstract Noun

An abstract noun which belongs to uncountable nouns is a word used to name an idea,
activity, action, a quality which is considered apart from the object to which it
belongs (Wren & Martin, 2000: pg 6).

Composition

Patricia & Bruce Herzberg (2001) stated that a composition is a word from Latin. It is
another word for writing. It refers to what something is made of. In short, composition
means an essay.
Inflections

Simona Herdan (2005) defined inflections as word formation process that changes the
morphological form of a word to fit a syntactic context. Inflection does not change the
grammatical category of the base and affect the meaning of a word.

Derivations

Derivational morphology is the second main branch of morphology and it is

concerned with the formation of new lexemes through the formation of new lexemes
through the addition of bound morphemes. Unlike inflection, derivation acts to
change the semantic meaning of a root and/ or the class of the word (Bauer, 2003: pg.
35; Katamba, 1993: pg. 258).

Longitudinal study

According to Goldstein (1968), longitudinal study may be classified according to the

method of collecting information and to the type of hypotheses which are to be tested.
In a longitudinal study, information is collected at different points in time in order to
study changes over time. There are three longitudinal designs which are trend studies,
cohort studies and panel studies.

7.0

Significance of the Study

Analyzing the abstract noun usage in writing has been the concerns of many
educators, textbook writers and syllabus writers for several decades. The present study
could provide a guideline for writers especially text-book writers and syllabus writers.
One of the most important aspects of this study was examining the actual use of

abstract nouns by young learners. It has a critical role in preparing quality young
learners who are still learning to possess great knowledge. Therefore, the result of this
study might help those who are in the field of teaching English. The findings will help
the teachers and educators to discover a solution to teach English abstract nouns in
school and make the best use of it.

Furthermore, the findings of this research are also important in order to seek
further clarification of young learners performance on their abstract noun usage in
writing. The young learners performance should be assessed gradually as this
longitudinal case study is required to determine how the use of abstract noun usage in
writing influenced their performance. The findings of this study also help young
learners to develop their confidence in using the abstract noun in writing. The
exposure is crucial because it will enable the students to know their weaknesses well
and how to improve their abstract noun usage in writing.

8.0

Limitations of the Study

This study is limited in a way it was only carried out on young learners in an
elite secondary school in Terengganu. Generalizing the findings to the different
population of other cultures or community in another elite secondary school in
Malaysia may not be true. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that its finding apply to

10

other kinds of schools be it independent schools or vocational schools. The findings

cannot be said true of other types of schools.

In addition, by having only four respondents for this study may also be a
limitation. The respondents who are young learners may have less knowledge and
experience regarding abstract noun usage in writing than the larger samples who will
offer wider experience and great language awareness. Moreover, the findings cannot
be true for tertiary level.

Another limitation in this study it focused only on abstract nouns. This study
may not be true to other types of nouns. The present study only focused on
derivational and inflectional errors not on appropriate use. Finally, this study is limited
to only compositions but not speeches.

9.0

Conclusion

This chapter provides the preliminaries to the actual framework of this study. It
covers the introduction to the study, its background, the statement of the problem, the
purpose of the study, research questions pertaining to the study, significance of the
study and limitations of the study. The chapter also includes a definition of terms to
11

ensure that it keeps within its focus and derives findings which are relevant and
meaningful to the parties involved. The next chapter will further explore related
studies and literature significant to the context of this study.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0

Introduction
12

The previous study of Chew & NorhidaYahti (2012) found that students in the
rural area in Hulu Selangor, Malaysia tended to make mistakes with singular and
plural nouns, collective nouns and possessive nouns. Saadiyah & Subramaniam
(2009), Summaira (2011) and Fazaneh (2007) stated that secondary school students
who are non-native speakers of English in Malaysia made most common errors on the
singular and plural forms of nouns. To this, studies that focused on nouns are
conducted by Kaur & Sarimah (2010), Chung (2010), Nael, M. (2013) and Wan Nurul
Elia (2009). The findings proved that students in Malaysia often made mistakes on
nouns in their English essays. These findings concluded that young learners of English
in Malaysia tended to commit errors on noun in their English compositions.

Nguyen (2011) had stated that abstract noun is very common and important in
communication be it via writing or speaking because without these nouns, expressions
of feelings and ideas would be impossible. Radden & Driven (12, p.81-83) also agreed
with this view and added that abstract things have their linguistic expressions as
abstract nouns.

In this respect, this present study hopes to examine the actual use of abstract
nouns by young learners as this study looks at the secondary school students on the
abstract noun usage in writing over a period of time. This study will contribute a lot to
those who write textbooks and syllabus especially on inflections and derivations.

13

2.1

The History of Noun

The history of noun begins when the ancient Greek of Noun noma interpreted
the Latin nmen "name". It is said that Pn ini in the Sanskrit language and by
Ancient Greek grammarians were the first to distinguish noun into word classes. They
also included definition in terms of their grammatical forms that they collect. In Greek
and Sanskrit, nouns are classified by gender and inflected for case and number.

Noun has been given different definitions by scholars relating to their field of
study, needs, plans, purposes and past experiences.

Defining the term noun is such a problem that many grammar books do not
even try to do it. Accepting the idea that the concept of noun is fairly abstract,
however can point us in the right direction, toward a reasonably acceptable
definition. From this perspective, nouns are the labels we use to classify the
world and our experiences in it
(James, 1999)
In parsing nouns, traditional grammar insisted on noting gender as well as
number and case. Modern grammars disregard this criterion, recognizing that
gender has no grammatical role in English. They do however find good
grammatical reasons for respecting the importance of several other traditional
contrasts, especially proper versus common and abstract versus concrete and

14

have developed the contrast between mass and count nouns into a major
dimension of subclassification.
(David, 2003)

In addition, Bernard (2000) described that nouns are not restricted to a

particular category that is a single noun can occupy several categories. Nouns have
sometimes been interpreted in terms of the grammatical categories to which they are
subject which is they are categorized by gender, inflected for case and number. The
definitions given by most scholars were towards language-specific because nouns
shave different categories for different language. The interpretation of nouns is
frequently in informal contexts, more to the semantic properties which are their
meanings. To be simplified, the definition of nouns refers to a person, place, thing,
event, substance, quality, quantity, etc. However, the contemporary linguists
disapprove this kind of definition because it is uninformative.

2.2

Previous Studies Related to Abstract Nouns

2.2.1 Definition of Abstract Nouns

15

According to William (1989), abstract and concrete are usually defined

together or in terms of each other. The abstract is that which only exists in
minds that which cannot be known through senses. It includes qualities,
relationships, conditions, ideas, theories, states of being, fields of inquiry and
the like. It cannot be known a quality such as consistency directly through
senses; it can only be seen or heard about people acting in ways that comes to
label consistent.

Furthermore, the most common classifications of nouns are concrete

nouns and abstract nouns. Concrete nouns mention to physical article that can,
in criterion at least, be stated by at least one of the senses (for example, chair,
apple, Janet or atom). Abstract nouns, on the other hand, refer to abstract
objects that is, ideas or concepts (such as justice or hatred) that cannot be seen
and touched and no physical shape to them. While this analysis is sometimes
restricted, some nouns have different meanings, including both concrete and
abstract ones; consider, for example, the noun art, which usually indicates to a
concept (e.g., Art is an important element of human culture) but which can
refer to a specific artwork in certain contexts (e.g., I put my daughter's art up
on the fridge).

2.2.2 How Abstract Concepts are learnt among Young Learners

of English

One of the characteristics of young learners are they are natural

language learners for good reasons. Specifically, young learners of English
16

who are non-native speakers of English takes place best in a setting in which
meaning is negotiated through interaction so that the learner has influenced on
the message being communicated (Michael, 1983). This suggests that for
young learners of English, early attention must focus on providing learners
with the ability to communicate in English classroom. In language learning
process, there is a factor within the learner and the learners social setting that
suggested age is strongly related to learning another language.

Piaget (1963) identified four stages of cognitive and affective

development in childhood and adolescence. In Piaget and Stages of cognitive
development:
The Stage of Formal Operations (age 11 to 15 years or older).
During this stage, the childs cognitive structures reach their highest
level of development. The child becomes able to apply logical
reasoning to all classes of problems including abstract problems either
not coming from the childs direct experience or having no concrete
referents.

Based on second language acquisition theory, young learners who

acquire languages more quickly and apparently with much less effort than do
their parents and when the learners are placed in a second-language
environment. The learners are given time to sort out the second language that
they hear and understand, until they are ready to start to use it for their own

17

purposes. According to Krashens input hypothesis, the most important factor

in the amount of language acquired by a learner is the amount of
comprehensible input to which that learner is exposed. Furthermore, Krashen
et al. (1982) added that acquisition takes place most effectively when the input
is meaningful and interesting to the learner, when it is comprehensible (i+1)
and when it is not grammatically sequenced.

Generally, The Input Hypothesis gives a powerful reason for the

exclusive use of the target language for all classroom purposes. Simply
deciding to use the target language is not enough but how abstract concepts are
learnt among young learners of English who are non-native speakers of
English. It must be used in such a way that the message is understood by the
learner at all times even though every word of messages may not be familiar to
the learner and abstract things are things that they cannot see or touch. This
can be achieved through the use of gestures, examples and teachers speech.
When young learners of English made errors when they use English, it may be
because the learners are using the target language at a level that is too far
beyond the young learners current ability to understand or i+10 or perhaps
i+50. Learners who are presented with language too far beyond their current
level may well conclude that they are not good language learners and that this
language is simply too hard to be learned.

2.2.3 The Inflections of Nouns

18

Inflectional morphemes are one of the categories of morphology that is

sensitive to the grammatical environment in which they are expressed. Simona
Herdan (2005) defined inflections as word formation process that changes the
morphological form of a word to fit a syntactic context. Inflection does not
change the grammatical category of the base and affect the meaning of a word.
Anderson (1982) claimed that inflectional morphology is what is relevant to
syntax but the same cannot be stated for derivational morphology.

Nevertheless, in inflection versus derivation, it is possible to make one

another omit in the space of morphemes based on properties they share with
one another. Inflectional morphemes signal grammatical information whereas
derivational morphemes radically change the content of a root or stem. The
meaning of inflection is very abstract or grammatical and it does not change
category as derivation. The inflections of nouns is the name for the extra letter
or letters added to nouns and nouns are inflected in the plural (Paul, 2014).

Young learners in Malaysia tended to make mistakes in English

grammar despite having gone through six years of learning English in school
environment. Shaari (1987) also affirmed that the major difficulty faced by
many of the students is learning English grammar.

19

Ting et al. (2010) stated that plural form of nouns is one of the five
common grammar errors made by the learners who are less proficient in
English. The findings found that out of 55 errors in plural form, a majority are
omission errors (43) in which the inflectional morpheme s marking for
plurality was left out with fewer errors of addition

of the inflectional

morpheme s (4) and misformation (8). Ting et al. claimed that difficulty with
plural form may be due to the first language (L1) influence regarding a
conclusion made by Marlyna et al. (2007) based on their contrastive analysis
of 120 English essays written by Form One Malay students. Nik Safiah et al.
(2007) expanded the similarity by referring this to the number or status of the
subject does not affect the structure in the sentence. For example, in Malay
language, plurality is expressed by using kata bilangan such as dua tugasan
and banyak tugasan and kata majmuk for instance tugasan-tugasan.

2.2.4 The Derivations of Nouns

Derivations can be defined as the process of forming a new word on the

basis of an existing word. Pinker (1999) also defined derivations as rules that
form a new word out of old words, like duckfeathers and unkissable. The rules
of the Inflectional Processes Component (IPC) and Derivational Processes
Component (DPC) change the root morpheme to which they are applied in
different ways. For example, derivations always modify the meaning of the
root morpheme to which they are applied such as kind to kindness, boy to
boyhood.

20

In addition, Martin & Miller (2003) had reviewed language difficulties

in the classroom as a guide for the teacher:

Form

Has difficulty using noun derivation (-er)

Has difficulty using learning rules for irregular
plural nouns, noun possessives
Has difficulty in processing complex syntactic structures
Has difficulty transforming sentences to create
new sentences
Produces shorter, less elaborated sentences that lack
syntactical complexity; relies on basic sentence structure
Ignores or omits word endings (plural)

It can be seen that for those students already displaying language difficulties
and committing errors in noun forms as derivations, it is suggested that
classroom-based interventions can present language instruction that is rich,
frequent and relevant to learners daily experiences.

Use of nouns was denser, more linguistically complex and rich in

expository than narrative genres beyond all age groups. Participants practised
more abstract and high-level nouns in expository and in written texts than
narrative and spoken texts. Role, collective/location, imaginable abstract, and
generic nouns were the four most frequently used nouns in narrative texts; on
the other hand, derived abstract, and abstract nouns were most frequently
practised shown in expository texts.
21

2.3

Conclusion

The previous literatures that have been found show numerous studies have
been done in investigating the actual use of abstract nouns by young learners as it this
study looks at the secondary school students on the abstract noun usage in writing
over a period of time. All of these studies are generally aimed for ensuring the quality
and to enhance the educational goals and objectives.

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

22

3.0

Introduction

This research was conducted with the aim of examining the use of the abstract
noun over a period of time by the same student as to the usage whether increases,
decreases or stabilizes. Another purpose of this study was to investigate the use and
misuse of those nouns over the years. The last purpose was to identify whether those
errors are more of derivational or inflectional type. In order to gather the information,
this chapter will discuss the methodology used to seek the answers to the research
questions presented in Chapter 1. This chapter outlines the research design and how it
is utilized to fulfil the research objectives. Finally, instruments, data collection
procedures, data analysis are discussed accordingly.

3.1

Population

The population of this study is students of Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Kuala

Terengganu, located in Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu. Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz
Kuala Terengganu is a religious school which attained a high school performance
status where only 23 schools are listed as Sekolah Berprestasi Tinggi (SBT or high
performance school) in Malaysia. Apart from that, the type of school is recognized
based on the Malaysian Education Quality Standard. The schools medium of
instruction is Bahasa Melayu in line with the National Philosophy of Education.
Nevertheless, English is widely used throughout the school. Classes are conducted
based on New Secondary School (or Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Menengah
KBSM).
23

There were about 1550 students. The selection of site and respondents was
purposive as it fits the research objectives of the study. The target population of this
study was form four students who were approached in 2012. Out of the total of the
number of students, there were about 320 Form Four students. English is not their first
language but English has been considered as a second national language in Malaysia.
So, the population is not native speakers of English.

3.2

Sample and Sample Selection

The target sample of this study was form four students of Sekolah Menengah
Imtiaz Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu. The samples of this study were non-native
speakers of English. Only four students were chosen for this study. They were young
learners who were still learning and improving their level of proficiency in English.
The study selected the respondents involved at the particular school randomly.

The respondents selection process was based on whomever already had a

complete set of compositions written since Form 1. Each respondent must provide 5
pieces of compositions per year from Form 1 till Form 4. Four students had the
complete set and they were willing to participate in this study. Altogether 80 pieces of
compositions were gathered from these from four respondents. The compositions were
to analyze how these young learners of English used of abstract nouns over a period of
four years. The respondents were two girls (female) and two boys (male). The

24

respondents level was intermediate. In this study, the respondents referred to as

Respondent A, Respondent B, Respondent C and Respondent D.

3.3

Data Gathering Instruments

3.3.1 Research Approach

The research approach of this study is a combination of quantitative

and qualitative. There was a need to combine quantitative and qualitative
approaches to provide a wider and deeper perspective to the present study.
Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are systematic in their approach
but the qualitative approach is not generalizable and in words where it is
subjective. The term qualitative approach refers to a study that investigates the
quality of authentic materials. In this study, the authentic materials are
students compositions. Basically, qualitative data are collected mainly in the
form of words or pictures and seldom involves numbers as in a primary
method of data analysis.

By using a qualitative approach, to find out answers for the research

questions, document analysis was used to investigate the use of abstract nouns
in a natural setting. To be more specific, the data from the compositions were
analysed manually and grouped in different categories based on the common

25

themes. The themes were the errors which were grouped into inflectional type
of error and derivational type of error.

Therefore, the study was also done in quantitative approach because it

is deductive and objective. The data is generalizable and in numbers.
Furthermore, the data of this study were in words and narrative where it dealt
with the language point but later the data were counted in numbers to measure
the use and misuse of abstract nouns in writing over a period of time.
Consequently, the data were both subjective and deductive and both are
systematic in their approach.

Hence, the research approach is a mixture of quantitative and

qualitative where the data were calculated manually to examine the actual use
and misuse of the abstract noun for each year. Later, comparisons of such use
of misuse were made across the four years for each individual respondent.
Based on the patterns derived from the data, possible reasons were then given
to make sense of them.

3.3.2 Research Design

This study adopted a case study to gather the data on the use of the
abstract noun in compositions written over a period of four years by four

26

students in a secondary school. According to Creswell (2003), through this

case study, an activity, a process, or one or more individuals is investigated
thoroughly. The selected respondents are investigated thoroughly where the
study placed emphasis on understanding the case itself (Stake, 1995). Thus, in
order to understand the use of the abstract noun in compositions over a period
of time by young learners of English, a case study research design was
employed in four secondary students compositions over a period of four years
were thoroughly scrutinized to understand how abstract nouns are used in the
present study.

Stake (1997) has identified three types of case studies. They are
intrinsic case study, instrumental case study and multiple- (or collective) case
study. This is an intrinsic study. The researcher investigated in detail, the
particulars of the case in order to examine on what was going on. The
researchers objective in each research question was to understand the case in
all parts, including its inner workings. All of these involved the study of a
single case.

3.3.2.1

A Longitudinal Study

The study adopted a longitudinal study. The researcher

examined five compositions per year per student for four years and the
27

type of writing is guided writing. The data were written not for the
purpose of the study but for their English courses. This longitudinal
study design was employed in a panel study. In this panel study, the
researcher surveyed four students performance for a period of time, so
the changes over a period of time on the use of abstract nouns in their
English compositions could be noted and assessed.

3.3.3 Instrumentation

The study involved the use of only one primary instrument which is
compositions. Therefore, a combination of quantitative and qualitative
methods was employed for the purpose of this study.

3.3.3.1

Composition

A total of 80 compositions were collected from four

respondents. The respondents were approached in 2012 and at that time
they were already about to complete Form Four. They were asked to
collect and submit all of their previous compositions written for their
English subject. Five compositions per student per year were gathered
from form one to form four. In short, the compositions were gathered
within a four-year period as it is a longitudinal study. The type of
writing is guided writing and the length of each composition was about
120 words. The compositions were written to fulfil the English subject
28

but not for the purpose of the present study. This data collection
procedure was deemed important as it aided the reliability of the
instruments and more realistic way of ensuring authenticity of the
instruments. Table 3.1 shows the distribution of compositions according
to the respondents.

Table 3.1: Compositions according to Respondents

Respondent

Form 1

Form 2

Form 3

20

20

20

20

Total

Form 4

Total

80

The instrument used in this study comprised of the use of

abstract nouns in a natural setting. By examining the number of
occurrences the use and misuse of those abstract nouns by young
learners over a period of four years, all the research questions as posed
in the Chapter One could be achieved.

29

3.3.3.2

Type of Error

This study focussed on two types of errors which are

inflectional and derivational type of error.

a. Inflectional Type of Error

The inflectional type of error covered errors connected

with the singular and plural morphemes associated with the
concept of countable and uncountable nouns.
Example 1:
When a plural countable abstract noun was written without the
plural morpheme -s or -es, it was considered as one error.
eg. One of the reason that television is good for us because it
ca gain more knowledge to us

Example 2:

30

When a singular countable abstract noun was written with the

plural morpheme -s or -es, it was also considered as one
error.
eg. It will be an unforgettable memories to Aina and her
family.
Example 3:
When a non-countable abstract noun is written with the plural
morpheme -s, it was considered as one error.
eg. They can increase their knowledges and improve in their
essay as well as in language.

b. Derivational Type of Error

According to Crystal (1995), derivation is the formation

of a new word from another word or stem.
Example 1:
When an abstract noun was written with the wrong suffix, it
considered as one error.
eg. The tourism also can see the colourful and beautiful of
flora and fauna.
3.4

Administration
31

3.4.1 Data Collection

A request letter seeking permission to conduct the research was

submitted before the study was administered. In conducting this study, the
compositions were collected from the respondents of this study. The researcher
chose to collect the compositions herself from the respondents and it took
several times to collect the data from the participants because the respondents
stayed at the hostel. The respondents needed extra time to go back to their
hometown to find the collection of their previous pieces of compositions from
form one to form four.

The respondents were required to collect their old compositions since

they entered their secondary school. The first collection was done after two
months and four students submitted half of their English compositions. The
following month, 5 compositions were collected from Respondent B and C.
The final collection was conducted three weeks before school holiday and all
the compositions were successfully collected. The total number of
compositions was 80.

Later on, the respondents were given a small token of appreciation and
a letter thanking them for participating in the study. In addition, the letter also

32

included a brief explanation of the objectives of the study. The respondents

were informed that all data would be used for academic purposes only.

3.5

Methods of Data Analysis

3.5.1 Data Analysis

This study focused on the use of abstract nouns in English

compositions over the period of four years by young second language learners
of English. Some general approaches for the analysis of quantitative and
qualitative data have been developed over the years. According to Miles and
Huberman (1994), there are three steps which are data reduction, data display
and drawing of conclusions. On the other hand, Richard et al (2002) &
Caicedo (2009) suggested the use of a technique for identifying, classifying
and systematically interpreting the unacceptable forms of language writing.

Thus, the researcher combined both approaches for this study. The
researcher started the approach from Richard et al. (2002) & Caicedo (2009)
by identifying all the abstract nouns in the 80 compositions of four
respondents. The data was analysed manually and classified together into the
common themes. The themes were the abstract noun usage in writing, the
correct abstract noun usage in writing and the errors on abstract noun usage in
writing for each year. The data were calculated manually to examine the actual
use and misuse of the abstract noun in writing over the period of time. Later,
33

the type of error was identified. The researcher classified the errors into
derivational and inflection type of error.

In this study, the frequencies were recorded in a checklist form to sum

up the total number of abstract noun usage in writing per year of each student,
the overall abstract noun usage in writing of each student, the total number of
correct abstract noun usage in writing per year of each student, the total
number of errors on abstract noun usage in writing per year of each student,
the overall total of errors on abstract noun usage in writing for each student,
the total number of errors with inflections of each student, the total number
errors with derivations of each student and the total of all four respondents per
year.

Before any final conclusions were made, all the data were critically
classified and contrasted to ensure its accuracy and validity. To ease the
analysis process, the researcher used the approach by Miles & Huberman
(1994) where parts that were redundant were analyzed and irrelevant answers
were excluded. Data obtained from the compositions were analyzed based on
the research questions posed. The results of the finding were presented in the
forms of tables. Then, comparisons were made over the years.

34

3.6

Conclusion

This chapter has discussed the research approach, research design, data
collection, instrumentation, data collection and data analysis. The research design used
in this study explains the population, sample and sample selection, as well as the data
gathering instrument. This study employed a case study design. It involved four
secondary school students from Form Four studying at Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz
Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu. The data were collected using one instrument which
is compositions. The quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed manually
according to the reference by Richard et al. (2002) & Caicedo (2009). Both qualitative
data were identified, classified and systematically interpreted according to themes.
The following chapter will discuss the research findings. Then, the research questions
will be addressed accordingly.

CHAPTER 4
35

FINDINGS

4.0

Introduction

This chapter reports the findings of the study. First, it describes the frequency only
for the quantitative data to see the progress on abstract noun usage over four years of
four secondary school students and this is followed by examining the findings based
on the research questions posed by the study. The purpose of this study was to
examine the number of occurrences of the abstract noun in compositions written over
a period of four years by young second language learners of English .This study also
analyzed the correct and incorrect use of these abstract nouns by these learners over
the years. Another objective of the study is to identify whether inflectional or
derivational type of error occurs more frequently with these abstract nouns over the
years as well as to identify the possible reasons for the above findings. Therefore, the
findings presented in this chapter are based on the purposes of this study and tables
are presented with the detailed explanations of the findings. The findings are presented
according to the subjects and comparisons are made based on the years. In brief, this
chapter provides the basis for the discussion presented in Chapter 5.

4.1

Analysis of Results
36

4.1.1 Respondent A

Table 4.1: Abstract Noun Usage in Compositions by Respondent A

Responde
nt
A

Total use
of
abstract
nouns
Total
number
of errors
of
abstract
nouns
Total
number
of correct
use of
abstract
nouns

Form 1
(Text 1
5)

Form 2
(Text
15)

Form 3
(Text 1
5)

Total

Perce
nt

32

Form
4
(Text
15)
32

17

35

116

100%

10

29

25.0%

13

25

24

25

87

75.0%

As can be seen from Table 4.1, the table presents the abstract noun usage in
Respondent As compositions from Form 1 until Form 4. The total number of abstract
nouns used by Respondent A in all 20 compositions written was 116. From the 116
abstract nouns used, there were 17 abstract nouns used in Form 1, 35 abstract nouns
used in Form 2, 32 abstract nouns used in Form 3 and another 32 abstract nouns used
in Form 4. The highest number of abstract nouns used was in Form 2 with 35 which
was 30 percent of the total number of abstract nouns and the lowest usage of abstract
nouns in writings was in Form 1 which contributed to only 14 percent. The other 56
percent was of equal percentage of usage in Form 3 and Form 4. In conclusion, it

37

seems after the first year, Respondent A increased his use of the abstract nouns
drastically but more or less stabilized from the second to the fourth.

Based from the table, the total percentage of abstract noun errors in all
compositions from Form 1 to Form 4 was 25.0 percent of the total and the percentage
of correct usage of abstract nouns was 75.0 percent. The percentage of abstract noun
errors for Respondent A was much lower than the percentage of correct usage of
abstract nouns in Respondent As compositions. From this data, it could be implied
that Respondent A was quite good in using abstract nouns correctly in his
compositions.

The total number of abstract noun errors over four years for Respondent A was
29 errors. Out of the 29 errors, 4 (13.79%) errors were from Form 1, 10 (34.48%)
errors were from Form 2, 8 (27.59%) errors were from Form 3 and 7 (24.14%) errors
were from Form 4. The highest error percentage was in Form 2 with 34.48 percent or
a total of 10 errors out of 29 errors. On the other hand, the lowest error percentage was
in Form 1 with 13.79% or a total of only 4 errors out of 29 errors. In conclusion, it
seems after the first year, Respondent A increased his number of abstract noun errors
drastically and later more or less stabilized to the fourth.

The total number of correct abstract noun usage over four years was 87 out of
116 abstract nouns used in the compositions. Out of the 87 correct abstract nouns
used, 13 (14.94%) were in Form 1, 25 (28.74%) in Form 2, 24 (27.59%) in Form 3

38

and 25 (28.74%) in Form 4. The highest were in Form 2 and Form 4 with 28.74%
each or equal with 25 correct usage of abstract nouns. The lowest percentage was in
Form 1 with only 14.94%. Based from the percentages, it can be implied that
Respondent A showed improvement in using correct abstract nouns in his/ her
compositions as the percentages increased from Form 1 to Form 2 and decreased
slightly in Form 3 and increased again in Form 4.

4.1.2 Respondent B

Table 4.2: Abstract Noun Usage in Compositions by Respondent B

Responde
nt
B

Total
use of
abstract
nouns
Total
number
of
errors
of
abstract
nouns
Total
number
of
correct
use of
abstract
nouns

Form 1
(Text
15)
19

Form 2
(Text
15)
36

Form 3
(Text 1
5)
34

Form 4
(Text
15)
41

Total

Percen
t

130

100%

20

15.38
%

15

32

25

38

110

84.62
%

Based from Table 4.2, the table shows the abstract noun usage in compositions
written by Respondent B from Form 1 until Form 4. The total number of abstract
39

nouns used was 130 with 19 abstract nouns found in Form 1 compositions, 36 abstract
nouns in Form 2, 34 abstract nouns in Form 3 and 41 abstract nouns in Form 4. As can
be seen, the highest number of abstract nouns used was in Form 4 with 41 abstract
nouns which were equal to 31.5 percent. The second highest was in Form 2 with 27.7
percent followed by 26.2 percent in Form 3. The lowest percentage of abstract nouns
used was 14.6 percent in Form 1. Again similar to Respondent A, the first year and the
second year showed a big difference in his/ her use of abstract nouns. In conclusion, it
seems after the first year, Respondent B increased his uses of the abstract noun
drastically but slightly droppped in Form 3 and increased again in Form 4.

The total percentage of abstract noun errors in Respondent Bs compositions

over four years was 15.38 percent and the total percentage of correct usage of abstract
nouns was 84.62 percent. Similar to Respondent A, the percentage of correct abstract
noun usage was higher than the error percentage. It can be implied that Respondent B
was good in using the abstract noun in his/her composition.

The total number of abstract noun errors found in Respondent Bs

compositions over four years was 20 out of 130 abstract nouns. Out of the 20 errors, 4
(20.0%) errors were found in Form 1 compositions as well as 4 (20.0%) in Form 2, 9
(45.0%) in Form 3 and 3 (15.0%) errors found in Form 4. The highest errors occurred
in Form 3 writings with 45.0% or equal with 9 errors. The lowest number of errors
was in Form 4 with 15.0% or 3 errors. In conclusion, it seems for the first two years,
Respondent B stabilized his number of abstract noun errors and increased at the third
later decreased drastically to the fourth.
40

The total number of correct abstract noun usage over four years was 110 out of
130 or 84.62%. Out of the 110 correct abstract nouns used, 15 (13.64%) in Form 1, 32
(29.09%) in Form 2, 25 (22.73%) in Form 3 and 38 (34.55%) in Form 4. The highest
percentage was in Form 4 which was 34.55% or 38 correct abstract nouns used. The
lowest was in Form 1 with 15 correct abstract noun usages out of the total 110. It can
be seen that Respondent B showed a marked improvement from Form 1 to Form 2
with a big difference between the two percentages but later decreased at the third and
then increased drastically to the fourth.

4.1.3 Respondent C

Table 4.3: Abstract Noun Usage in Compositions by Respondent C

Responde
nt
C

Total
use of
abstract
nouns
Total
number
of
errors
of
abstract
nouns
Total
number
of
correct
use of
abstract
nouns

Form 1
(Text
15)
16

Form 2
(Text
15)
23

Form 3
(Text 1
5)
35

Form 4
(Text
15)
35

Total

Percen
t

109

100%

13

22

20.18
%

15

20

30

22

87

79.82
%

41

According to Table 4.3, the abstract noun usage in compositions written over
four years by Respondent C from Form 1 until Form 4 is presented. The total number
of abstract nouns used in Respondent Cs compositions was 109. From the 109
abstract nouns used, there were 16 abstract nouns in Form 1, 23 in Form 2, 35 each in
Form 3 and Form 4. The highest number of abstract nouns used was in Form 3 and 4
with 35 abstract nouns which was 32.1 percent each and the lowest usage of abstract
nouns was in Form 1 which contributed to only 14.7 percent. The other 21.1 percent
was for Form 2. In conclusion, it seems after the first year, Respondent C increased
his use of the abstract noun to the third and then stabilized to the fourth.

Based from the table, the total percentage of abstract noun errors in all
compositions from Form 1 to Form 4 was 20.18% of the total and the percentage of
correct usage of abstract nouns was 79.82%. The percentage of abstract noun errors
for Respondent C was much lower than the percentage of correct usage. From this
data, it could be implied that Respondent C was quite good in using abstract nouns
correctly in his/ her compositions.

The table shows that the total number of errors in Respondent Cs

compositions over four years was 22 out of 109 abstract nouns used. 1 (4.55%) error
was found in Form 1, 3 (13.64%) in Form 2, 5 (22.73%) in Form 3 and 13 (59.09%) in
Form 4. The highest number of errors was found in Form 4 with 13 errors or 59.09%
while the lowest error percentage was in Form 1 with only 4.55% or 1 error. In
conclusion, it seems after the first year, Respondent C increased his number of
abstract noun errors slightly to the third and later increased drastically to the fourth.
42

The total number of correct abstract nouns used in Respondent Cs

compositions over four years was 87 abstract nouns. Out of the 87 abstract nouns, 15
(17.24%) correct abstract nouns were found in Form 1, 20 (22.99%) in Form 2, 30
(34.48%) in Form 3 and 22 (25.29%) in Form 4. The highest correct abstract noun
percentage was in Form 3 with 34.48% or equal with 30 abstract nouns. The lowest
was in Form 1 with 15 abstract nouns or 17.24%. It can be seen from the data that
Respondent C showed improvement from Form 1 to Form 3 and slightly dropped in
Form 4.

4.1.4 Respondent D

Table 4.4: Abstract Noun Usage in Compositions by Respondent D

Responde
nt
D

Total
use of
abstract
nouns
Total
number
of
errors
of
abstract
nouns
Total
number
of
correct
use of
abstract
nouns

Form 1
(Text
15)
22

Form 2
(Text
15)
21

Form 3
(Text 1
5)
30

Form 4
(Text
15)
25

Total

Percen
t

98

100%

8.16%

20

18

29

23

90

91.84
%

43

Based from Table 4.4, the abstract noun usage in compositions written by
Respondent D from Form 1 until Form 4 is presented. The total number of abstract
nouns found in Respondent Ds compositions was 98. Out of the 98 abstract nouns
found, 22 (22.5%) were found in Form 1, 21 (21.4%) in Form 2, 30 (30.6%) in Form 3
and 25 (25.5%) in Form 4. The highest frequency or percentage of abstract nouns was
found in Form 3 with 30 abstract nouns or 30.6 percent. The lowest abstract noun
error was found in Form 2 with 21.4 percent or 21 abstract nouns. In conclusion, it
seems after the first year, Respondent D decreased his use of the abstract nouns
slightly but increased at the third and decreased again at the fourth.

Based from the table, the total percentage of abstract noun errors in all
compositions from Form 1 to Form 4 was 8.16 percent of the total and the percentage
of correct usage of abstract nouns was 91.84 percent. The percentage of correct
abstract noun usages for Respondent D was much higher than the percentage of
abstract noun errors in Respondent Ds composition. From this data, it could be
implied that Respondent D was very good in using abstract noun correctly in his
composition.

The total number of errors found in Respondent Ds compositions over four

years was 8 errors. Out of the 8 errors found, 2 (25.0%) errors found in Form 1, 3
(37.50%) in Form 2, 1 (12.50%) in Form 3 and 2 (25.0%) in Form 4. The highest error
was in Form 2 with 3 errors or 37.50% and the lowest was in Form 3 with only 1 error
each or 12.50%. In conclusion, it seems after the first year, Respondent D increased

44

his number of abstract noun errors slightly and later more or less stabilized to the
fourth.

The total number of correct abstract noun usages over four years was 90
abstract nouns. From the total, 20 (22.22%) correct abstract noun usages are found in
Form 1, 17 (18.89%) in Form 2, 29 (32.22%) in Form 3 and 23 (25.56%) in Form 4.
The highest percentage was in Form 3 with 32.22% or 29 abstract nouns. The lowest
was in Form 2 with 17 abstract nouns or 18.89%. In conclusion, it seems after the first
year, Respondent D decreased his correct abstract noun usages slightly but later
increased drastically to the third and then decreased to the fourth.

45

4.1.5 Overall Findings for All Respondents over the Years

Table 4.5: An Overall Abstract Noun Usage in Compositions by All Respondents

over the Years

Respondent A+B+C+D
Form 3
Form 4
131
133

Total use of

Form 1
74

Form 2
115

abstract nouns
Total number of

(100%)
11

(100%)
20

(100%)
23

(100%)
25

errors of abstract

(15%)

(17%)

(18%)

(19%)

nouns
Total number of

63

95

108

108

(85%)

(83%)

(82%)

(81%)

correct use of

Total
453

Percent
100%

79

17.44%

374

82.56%

abstract nouns

The results in Table 4.5 indicate an overall abstract noun usage for all four
respondents over the years. The overall total of abstract nouns used by all four
respondents in all 80 compositions written over four years was 453. The total number
of abstract nouns used by the respondents in Form 1 was 74, 115 in Form 2, 131 in
Form 3 and 133 in Form 4. Respondents exhibited the highest total use of abstract
nouns in Form 4 with 133 which was 29.36% of the overall total of abstract nouns and
the lowest total used in Form 1 which contributed to only

74 (16.34%) . In

conclusion, it seems after the first year, all four respondents increased their use of the
abstract noun drastically but later stabilized from the second to the fourth.

Based from the table, the total percentage of abstract noun errors in all
compositions of all four respondents from Form 1 to Form 4 was 17.44% of the
overall total and the total percentage of correct usage of abstract nouns was 82.56%.
46

The percentage of abstract noun errors for all four respondents was much lower than
the percentage of correct usage of abstract nouns in the respondents writings. From
this data, it could be implied that all four respondents were quite good in using
abstract nouns correctly in their compositions.

The total number of correct abstract noun usage was 374 out of 453 abstract
nouns used in the compositions. Out of the 374 correct abstract nouns used in the
compositions, 63 (16.84%) were in Form 1, 95 (25.40%) in Form 2, 108 (28.88%) in
Form 3 and Form 4. The highest were in Form 3 and Form 4 with 28.88% each or
equal with 108 correct usages of abstract nouns. The lowest percentage was in Form 1
with only 16.84%. This seems to indicate that not only did these respondents increase
the number of use of abstract nouns over the years, but they were able to improve their
use more and more over the years.

Although the occurrences of the correct use of the abstract noun increased over
the years, there were also errors flawed. The total number of abstract noun errors over
four years for all four respondents was 79 errors. Out of the 79 errors, 11 (13.92%)
errors were from Form 1, 20 (25.32%) errors were from Form 2, 23 (29.11%) errors
were from Form 3 and 25 (31.65%) errors were from Form 4. Out of four forms, Form
4 had the highest total number of errors of abstract nouns with 31.65% or a total of 25
errors out of 79 errors. On the other hand, the lowest error percentage was in Form 1
with 13.92% or a total of only 11 errors out of 79 errors. In conclusion, it seems after
the first year, all four respondents increased their number of abstract noun errors
drastically and later increased slightly to the fourth.
47

These findings indicate that even though there was an increase in the correct
use of the abstract noun over the years, there was also an increase of the incorrect use
over the years as well.

4.1.6 Types of Errors

48

The occurrences of errors are further analyzed and categorized under

inflectional type of error and derivational type of error.

Table 4.6: Types of Errors on Abstract Noun Usages

Errors with inflections

Form

Form

Form

Form

Respondent

A
Respondent

B
Respondent

C
Respondent

D
Overall

Errors with derivations

Total

Form

Form

Form

Form

17

12

11

14

14

16

47

11

32

Total for All

Four
Respondents

4.1.6.1 Types of Errors on Abstract Noun Usages by Respondent A

49

Total

As can be seen from Table 4.6, the table presents types of errors on
abstract noun usages for all four respondents from Form 1 until Form 4. The
total number of errors with inflections by Respondent A in all 20 compositions
written over four years was 17. From the 17 errors, there were 3 errors in Form
1, 4 errors in Form 2, 5 errors in Form 3 and Form 4. The highest number of
errors with inflections was in Form 3 and Form 4 with 5 which was 29.41% of
the total number of errors with inflections and the lowest number of errors was
in Form 1 which contributed to only 3 (17.65%).

On the other hand, the total number of errors with derivations by

Respondent A in all 20 compositions written over four years was 12. From the
12 errors with derivations, there was 1 error in Form 1, 6 errors in Form 2, 3
errors in Form 3 and 2 errors in Form 4. The highest number of errors with
derivations was in Form 2 with 6 which is 50% of the total number of errors
and the lowest number was in Form 1 which contributed to only 1 (8.33%).

In conclusion, it seems after the first year, Respondent A made errors

with derivations higher than errors with inflections. Respondent A made the
highest error with derivations in Form 2 with 6 errors which contributed to
50% while only increased slightly for errors with inflections. The occurrences
of errors with derivations was not quite stable by a major increase at the
second year with 6 (50%) and later decreased to the fourth while the pattern for
errors with inflections was more stable by starting with an increase than later
stabilized to the fourth.
50

4.1.6.2 Types of Errors on Abstract Noun Usages by Respondent B

Secondly, the total number of errors with inflections by Respondent B

in all 20 compositions written over four years was 11. From the 11 errors, there
were 3 errors in Form 1, 1 error in Form 2, 5 errors in Form 3 and 2 errors in
Form 4. The highest number of errors with inflections is in Form 3 with 5
which was 45.45% of the total number of errors with inflections and the lowest
number of errors with inflections in writings was in Form 2 which contributed
to only 1 (9.09%).

On the other hand, the total number of errors with derivations by

Respondent B in all 20 writing texts was 9. From the 9 errors with derivations,
there was 1 error with derivations in Form 1, 3 errors with derivations in Form
2, 4 errors with derivations in Form 3 and 1 error with derivations in Form 4.
The highest number of errors with derivations was in Form 3 with 4 which was
44.44% of the total number of errors with derivations and the lowest number of
errors with derivations was in Form 1 and Form 4 which contributed to only 1
(11.11%).
In conclusion, it seems after the first year, Respondent B increased his/
her errors with derivations but decreased in errors with inflections. Respondent
B made the opposite pattern between errors with derivations and errors in
51

inflections for the first two years. However, Respondent B made errors with
inflections more frequently than errors with derivations by looking at the total
of occurrences of errors for both types of errors.

4.1.6.3 Types of Errors on Abstract Noun Usages by Respondent C

Thirdly, the total number of errors with inflections by Respondent C in

all 20 compositions written over four years was 14. From the 14 errors, there
was 1 error in Form 1, 2 errors in Form 2, 3 errors in Form 3 and 8 errors in
Form 4. The highest number of errors with inflections was in Form 4 with 8
which is 57.14% of the total number of errors with inflections and the lowest
number of errors with inflections in compositions was in Form 1 which
contributed to only 1 (7.14%).

On the other hand, the total number of errors with derivations by

Respondent C in all 20 compositions written over four years was 8. From the 8
errors with derivations, there was 0 error with derivations in Form 1, 1 error in
Form 2, 2 errors in Form 3 and 5 errors in Form 4. The highest number of
errors with derivations was in Form 4 with 5 which was 62.50% of the total
number of errors with derivations and the lowest number was in Form 1 which
contributes to 0 (0%).

52

In conclusion, it seems after the first year, Respondent C increased his/

her errors with derivations and inflections to the fourth. Respondent C made
the highest error for both types of errors in Form 4. The pattern for both types
of errors was same over the years but Respondent C made errors with
inflections more frequently than errors with derivations.

4.1.6.4 Types of Errors on Abstract Noun Usages by Respondent D

Fourthly, the total number of errors with inflections by Respondent D in

all 20 compositions written over four years was 5. From the 5 errors, there was
1 error in Form 1, 2 errors in Form 2, 1 error in Form 3 and Form 4. The
highest number of errors with inflections was in Form 2 with 2 which was 40%
of the total number of errors with inflections and the lowest number was in
Form 1, 3 and 4 which contributed to only 1 (20%).

On the other hand, the total number of errors with derivations by

Respondent D in all 20 compositions written over four years was 3. From the 3
errors with derivations, there was 1 error in Form 1, 1 error in Form 2, 0 error
in Form 3 and 1 error in Form 4. The highest number of errors with derivations
was in Form 1, 2 and 4 with 1 which was 33.33% of the total number of errors

53

with derivations and the lowest number was in Form 3 which contributed to 0
(0%).

In conclusion, it seems at the first year, Respondent D started the year

by the same number of occurrences for both types of errors. Later, Respondent
D increased his/ her errors with inflections at the second but stabilized for
errors with derivations. Respondent D made errors with inflections more
frequently than errors with derivations by looking at the total number of
occurrences of both types of errors.

4.1.6.5 Types of Errors on Abstract Noun Usages by All Four Respondents

Finally, the total number of errors with inflections by all four

respondents was 47. From the overall total for all four respondents, there were
8 errors in Form 1, 9 errors in Form 2, 14 errors in Form 3 and 16 errors in
Form 4. The highest overall total of errors with inflections was in Form 4 with
16 which was 34.04% of the overall total of errors with inflections and the
lowest overall total of errors with inflections in compositions was in Form 1
which contributed to only 8 (17.02%).
On the other hand, the overall total of errors with derivations by all four
respondents was 32. From the overall total for all four respondents, there were

54

3 errors in Form 1, 11 errors in Form 2, 9 errors in Form 3 and Form 4. The

highest overall total of errors with derivations was in Form 2 with 11 which
was 34.38% of the overall total of errors with derivations and the lowest
overall total of errors with derivations was in Form 1 which contributed to only
3 (9.38%).

In conclusion, it seems that all four respondents made errors with

inflections more frequently than errors with derivations over the years. All four
respondents increased their errors with inflections from the first to the fourth
but decreased their errors with derivations slightly from the second to third and
later stabilized to the fourth. This reveals that the respondents were still not
good at using singular and plural inflections with abstract nouns more so than
with derivational endings.

4.2

Discussion of Results

4.2.1 Overall Findings for All Respondents over the Years

All four respondents increased their use of abstract nouns from the first
year to the second and later stabilized to the fourth. This explains that there
was a marked increase in the occurrences of abstract nouns in the compositions
between Form 1 and Form 2 and the findings further revealed that after Form
2, all the respondents stabilized their abstract noun usages to the fourth.

55

This indicates that the respondents began with few abstract noun usage
in their writing at the first year where input in learning was not enough. It
seems that during the first year, they were still young and they were still
learning. They were comfortable with their first language but not with the
second language. However, when they grew older and received input in
English classroom for four years, they started to gain confidence and were able
to use abstract nouns in their compositions.

This finding is supported by the developmental approach by Steiners

theory, he claimed that at the age of 13, the young learners learn through
presentations and activities and depend on received input in English classroom.
This shows that they were totally depend on their English teacher in the
classroom during the first year. Later, when they had more exposure in the
target language, they started to increase their abstract noun usages and
stabilized to the fourth.

The analysis of data also reports that all four respondents were able to
use correct than incorrect abstract nouns in their compositions. All showed
more correct use over the years. The possible reason is they had more
confidence in using abstract nouns because they were exposed lot through the
years. The findings indicate that even though there was an increase in the
correct use of the abstract nouns over the years, there was also an increase of
the incorrect use over the years as well. This is to be expected in learning a
56

foreign language or a second language. This indicates that these students still
did not master their second language due to the abstract concepts are not found
in Malay language.

There were two types of each errors of misuse of abstract nouns in

composition which were inflectional type of error and derivational type of
error. All four respondents increased their errors with inflections from the first
to the fourth but decreased their errors with derivations slightly from the
second to the third and later stabilized to the fourth. In conclusion, it seems
that errors tended to be more of inflectional type. So, this suggests that all four
respondents were still unclear with countable and uncountable nouns. The
respondents were still not good at using singular and plural inflections with
abstract nouns more so than with derivational endings.

The possible reason is the interference of the first language whereas

Malay language does not have the inflectional morphemes such as the plural
marker as -s and the possession marker as -s. If they do, they will
reduplicate the word for instance buku-buku to indicate the plural noun. In
Malay language, the noun will remain same without any addition but in
English language, the inflectional morpheme will be added to indicate the
plural marker.
In addition, this will only be applicable for countable nouns not
uncountable nouns for instance milk. Milk cannot be used with the plural
but can be used in such a way of 3 cups of milk. So, these countable and
57

uncountable concepts were difficult for these students. There were too many
rules to comprehend with including singular or plural concept as well as
irregular concept. It clearly shows that to master those rules is not easy task for
those who want to learn second language especially young learners of English.
The increase in the number of errors with inflections can also indicate a
worrying situation. If not captured and corrected, those errors could be
fossilized.

4.3

Conclusion

This chapter has provided an in-depth analysis of the results of the four
research questions posed in this study. It presents the results in using tables and
interpretations of the findings obtained from the combination of quantitative and
qualitative data. The overall findings of the quantitative analysis indicate that the
abstract noun usages by all four respondents in composition increased from year to
year. Apart from this, it can be seen that all four respondents were able to use abstract
nouns by looking at the increasing number of correct abstract noun usages in their
composition. All presents more correct use over the years. Based on both quantitative
and qualitative data, it also reported that the type of error committed most by students
was inflectional type of error. The possible reason is these students were still unsure
about the singular and plural concept with abstract nouns.
The next chapter will summarize, discuss and conclude key findings of the
study as well as make suggestions and recommendations for future research.

58

CHAPTER 5

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

59

5.0

Introduction

This chapter summarizes the major findings of the study and discusses the
conclusions and implications of the findings as a whole. It also lists several issues that
emerged as a result of this study and highlight a number of recommendations in
improving the research.

5.1

Summary of the Findings

The study examined the use of abstract noun usage in writing over the period
of four years of four students in a secondary school. The study involved one highperformance school which was Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Kuala Terengganu, located
in Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu. The respondents of the study involved four Form
Four students. The findings from this case study aimed to provide valuable input on
abstract noun usage in English composition and also to provide useful input for
teachers, educators and individuals involved in the education system and suggest
improvements to the current teaching and learning in secondary schools in Malaysia.
Given below are the summary and discussion of the main findings of this study based
on the research questions as provided in the Chapter One.
5.1.1

Research Question 1
Does the occurrence of the abstract noun in the students compositions
increase, decrease or stabilize over the years? What are the possible
reasons for the findings?

60

The overall total of abstract nouns used by all four respondents in all 80
writing texts is 453. From the 453 occurrences of the abstract noun, there were
74 abstract nouns used in Form 1, 115 abstract nouns used in Form 2, 131
abstract nouns used in Form 3 and another 133 abstract nouns used in Form 4.
These findings revealed that after the first year all four respondents increased
the occurrence of the abstract noun in their compositions but later stabilized
from the third to the fourth.
The respondents began with few abstract noun usages in their
composition during the first year and this indicates that input in learning was
not enough. According to the developmental approach by Steiners theory, he
claimed that at the age of 13, the young learners learn through presentations
and activities appealing to their feelings and imagination and depend on
received input in English classroom. The possible reason is they were not
matured or confident enough to come up with abstract nouns on their own. At
this age, they were too dependent on their teachers to provide those words for
them. As they grew older, maturity and confidence also increased. These
helped them to be braver to use more abstract concepts. Hence, this is the
reason why Form 4 had the most number of abstract nouns.
5.1.2

Research Question 2
Do these young learners of English use those abstract nouns correctly or
incorrectly in their compositions written over the years? What are the
possible reasons for the findings?
These young learners were able to use more abstract nouns correctly
than incorrectly in their compositions written over the years. This finding
indicates that all four respondents were good in using abstract nouns correctly
in their writings. The possible reason is these students had become familiar
61

with vocabulary choice of abstract nouns. The teacher probably gave them a
lot of practice on those words and they had more exposure through the years.
Hence, they gain confidence and maturity of their mind grows along with the
age. In addition, the abstract noun might have been provided for them in the
guided writing.
The findings further indicated that though each individual had more
occurrences of using abstract nouns correctly but there were still situations
where they incorrectly use them. The Input Hypothesis gives a powerful reason
for this finding. Simply deciding to use the target language is not enough but
how abstract concepts are learnt among young learners of English who are
non-native speakers of English. It must be used in such a way that the message
is understood by the learner at all times even though every word may not be
familiar to the learner and abstract things are things that they cannot see or
touch. This is expected in learning a second language and of course there are
still errors as part of learning.
The possible reason is when these young learners of English use those
abstract nouns incorrectly in their compositions, it may be because these
learners are using the target language at a level that is too far beyond these
young leaners current ability to understand or i+10 or perhaps i+50. Learners
who are presented with language too far beyond their current level may well
conclude that they are not good learners and that this language is simply too
hard to be learnt. The interference of the first language and certain concepts is
difficult to comprehend with the target language and this will be elaborated in
research question number three. This explains those situations when there were
times these young learners used those abstract nouns incorrectly in their
compositions written over the years.
62

5.1.3

Research Question 3
Which type of errors do these students commit more with abstract nouns
when writing compositions over the years: inflectional or derivational?
What are the possible reasons for the findings?

The findings displayed from the overall total for all four respondents of
errors with inflections, there were 8 errors in Form 1, 9 errors in Form 2, 14
errors in Form 3 and 16 errors in Form 4 and the overall total of errors with
inflections by all four respondents is 47 whereas the overall total of errors with
derivations was only 32. These show that students commit more inflectional
type of error with abstract nouns than derivational type of error when writing
compositions over the years.

The findings of this study were in line with the findings by Florentina
(2009) who stated that it could be because these English as Second Language
Users are confused about countable, uncountable nouns and irregular plurals.
So, this suggests that these students were still not clear with countable and
uncountable nouns. They were still not very sure how they work for abstract
nouns.

There are two possible reasons for this. First is the interference of the
first language. Malay language has no inflectional morphemes for the plural
63

form. If the noun is used in a plural form, the noun will be reduplicated as
kerusi-kerusi. Second, the target language has many forms of the plural for
instance -s, -es and -ies. It is difficult for these young learners to
remember all the rules and apply those with abstract nouns.

Another possible reason is derivations can be memorized where they

could be given in the English classroom. In addition, the type of writing is
guided writing where all the words provided include these abstract nouns. So,
there is a high possibility to lesser the errors with derivations in their
compositions.

5.2

Implications

This section will address the implications derived from the study. The study
has provided helpful insights on the overall analysis of the abstract noun error of four
secondary school students. First and foremost, one of the key findings in this study is
that teachers would be able to improve their teaching abilities during English
classroom. They may be able to approach teaching abstract nouns in a better way.

The findings suggested that, despite differences in the outcomes, this study
brought with it common issues and needs as outlined by previous researchers. With
reference by Saara Sirkka Mungungu (2010), the findings of this study confirm the
significance of positive information from the students English essays in analyzing

64

abstract noun errors which is to show proof that learning does take place despite the
number of errors.

Candling (2001) considers the L2 learners errors as potentially important for

the understanding of the processes of language learning. Malay students who are nonnative speakers of English are mostly confused about how English language works.
Malay language does not have plural, singular and irregular forms as well as countable
and uncountable nouns as in English language. Hence, they are confused and affecting
their English grammar. They have issues with errors with inflectional and derivational.
Therefore, this study gives tangible proofs of the existence of those errors. The
findings will be very useful to teachers in secondary schools in Malaysia and this will
give input to teachers in helping their teaching and learning.
The results of the study have necessary information for understanding what is
lacking in students writing. In particular, the study extended the significance of
students abstract noun errors for providing of how language is learned. The study also
brought with it a list of common abstract nouns that are used by secondary school
students. Hence, a textbook could be developed by syllabus writers to help teachers to
understand those common errors in writing.

5.3

Recommendations

Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are

suggested. This section addressed the recommendation for future research.

65

5.3.1 Recommendations for future research

I.

Since the site of this study is a high-performance school, the study may
be replicated to see if the findings will be similar in different academic
setting for example at the private Chinese independent schools,

II.

international schools or in private religious schools.

Given 80 English essays of four students in analyzing the use of
abstract nouns over a period of four years, a bigger number of students
may give a bigger contribution on the types of errors in this study. Four
students are not sufficient. A bigger number of students will contribute

III.

more essays and the findings will be more valid and reliable.
For the present study, data collection was done through document
analysis from the compositions. Thus, the limitation of data collection
has to be noted. Future research should consider conducting classroom

IV.

observation to gain a clearer picture.

This study has been able to reach some conclusions about errors
frequently done with abstract nouns. However, it also raises some
issues that could be explored further in subsequent research. One issue
is the lack of subcategories of such errors. Since the long term aim of
abstract noun errors analysis is to improve students English, the

V.

question of type of error is too central to its success.

Further research in the form of a case study might provide some
insights into individual students reason and reaction to learning
English in the classroom by using different methodology such as
interview to provide real data.

66

VI.

It is highly recommended that different concepts of abstract nouns

should be examined for future research. It can be extended to only one

VII.

area such as state or feelings.

For future research, free writing type can be used as an instrument
compared to the guided writing type. Guided writing limits the use of
abstract nouns because some abstract nouns were provided in the
question. Free writing would be better in examining the use of abstract

VIII.

noun in writing longitudinally.

Finally, types of instruments could be obtained from different genres
such as speech and also can be done in a different age group or
population.

5.4

Conclusion

This study adopted a longitudinal case study to examine the use of abstract nouns
in English compositions over a period of time in a secondary school. More
specifically, it set out to identify the use and misuse of abstract nouns by young
learners in English compositions. 80 English compositions written by four students
formed the primary data. The data revealed what type of error is made by the students
and their frequency of occurrences. The findings displayed that all four respondents
increased their use of abstract nouns over the years. Another finding shows these
young learners were able to use those abstract nouns correctly in their compositions
written over the years. The further findings revealed that the respondents displayed a
higher level of inflectional type of error than derivational type of error.

67

Implication of the research, recommendations to improve English grammar and

recommendations for future research were also presented accordingly. Hence, with
these issues in hand, further research should be conducted to provide a more holistic
understanding of the whole scenario. Hopefully, this will provide useful information
towards significantly improving English grammar in writing.

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APPENDIXES

77

The List of Abstract Noun Usages in Compositions Written over Four Years
Respondent
A

Form 1
(Text 1-5)
Celebration
Care
Morning
Day (3)
Hope
Time
Holiday
Month
Experience (2)
Internet
Ache
Appreciation
Activity
Year

Form 2
(Text 1-5)
Opinion (2)
Day
Mind
Time
Activity (6)
Tourism (3)
Morning (3)
Speech (2)
Ways
Chance
Aim
Care (2)
Pollution
Sound
Air (3)
Advantages
Work
Disease
Life
Time (2)
Routine

Form 3
(Text 1-5)
Talk
Contact
Conversation
Years
Morning (5)
Time (3)
Routine
View
Suggestion
Activities (5)
Problem (3)
Fortnight (2)
Holidays
Year
Holiday (2)
Interests
Weakness (2)

Activities
Weekends (2)
Information
Hobby
Attitude
Week
Day (2)

Week (2)
Time (2)
Midnight
Night
Causes (3)
Global warming
(2)

Evening
Scenes
Valuable
Journey
Trust
Duty
Honesty (3)

78

Form 4
(Text 1-5)
32
Morning
Talk
Importance (2)
Activities (5)
Time
Opportunity
(2)
Application
Knowledge
Day (2)
Idea
Awareness (2)
Environment
Speech
Nervous
Preparation
Effort
Cleanliness
Faith
Conscious
Stress
Boredom
Problem
Activity
Aim
Reason
Experience (2)
Competition
Information
Morning (3)
Chance (2)
Speech (2)

Advantage
Programmes
Reason (2)
Knowledge
News
Way
Life
Afternoon
Evening

Gas
Water vapour
Carbon dioxide
(6)
Methane
Ozone
Atmosphere (2)
Effect
Production
Greenhouse
Deforestation
Levels
Heat
Schedule
Noise
Sound
Answers
Questions
Day
Information

Evening
Sound
Information
Night
Day
Weeked
Morning
Discovery
Hesitation
Pain
Activities (2)
Session
Talent (2)
Magic

Day
Hand
Help (3)
Vacation (2)
Days
Holiday (2)
Alternative
Air
News
Cancer
Advices
Effort
Positive
Mind
Situation
Months
Atmosphere
Hesitation
Minutes

Week
Preparations (3)
Health
Works (2)

Reasons
Times (2)
Activities
Time
79

Day
News
Right
Deed
Key
Strength
Motto (2)
Way
Life (2)
Question (2)
Flaws
Advice
Loss
Carbon dioxide
Air
Heat
Temperature
(2)
Climate
Weather
Global
warming
Conclusion
Day
Life
Advice
Year
Week (2)
Weeks
Hobby (2)
Time (3)
Habits
Programme (7)
Knowledges
Stress
Morning
Culture
Month
Spirits
Journey
Minutes
News
Situation
Way
Cancer (2)
Opinion (2)
Advice
Appearance
Information (3)
Problem

Environment
(2)
Nature (3)
Pollution (3)
Opportunity
Importance
Activities (4)
Advantages
Skills (2)
Activity
Diseases
Asthma
Migrain
Generation
Problem
Ways
Years
Power
Appliances
Hour
Night
Morning (4)
Hour (2)
Minutes
Paradise
Span
Day (3)
Week (2)
Days
Way
Plans
Vacation (2)
Choices
Destination
Month (2)
Journey
Ways (2)
Importance
Life
Dengue (2)
Disease
Problem (3)
Tips
Week (2)
Knowledge
Health (2)
Information (2)

Holiday (2)
Time
Break
Work
Evening
Sound
Activities (3)
Celebrations
Pain (3)
Voice

Health (2)
Rest (2)
Works
Competition
Activity
Memories
Hours
Diet
Evening
Habits (2)
Cleanliness (2)
Regards

80

Tips (2)
Day (3)
Holiday (2)
Week
View
Night
Feelings
Evening (2)
Opinion
Activities
News
Fever
Knowledge
Rest (2)
Diet
Activity (2)
Time

Rest (2)
Diet
Purpose
Time (3)
Regard
Life
Hygiene
Guide
Morning (3)
Conversation
Activities
Day (2)