ANANALYSISONTHEPLURALINFLECTIONSOFENGLISHLANGUAGE

AMONGMALAYSTUDENTS
SARAHNADIAHBINTIRASHIDI
DepartmentofGeneralStudies
MalaysianInstituteofMarineEngineeringTechnology,UniversitiKualaLumpur

Received:21stApril2011,Revised:24thMay2011,Accepted:21stNovember2011

Abstarct

ThefunctionofpluralityexistsinbothMalayandEnglishlanguage.However,therearesignificantdifferencesinthe
formationofpluralformsbetweenbothlanguages.DespitelearningtheEnglishlanguageforelevenconsecutiveyearsat
theprimaryandsecondarylevels,studentsarestillunabletoapplythecorrectstructureofpluralityinEnglishlanguage.A
studyconductedon40semesteronestudentsofalocalhigherlearninginstitutionshowsthatmajorityofstudentsunder
standthefunctionofplurality,butfounditdifficulttowritethecorrectspellingofthepluralforms.Thisisduetothevari
ousspellingrulesofthepluralinflectionsintheEnglishlanguage.Forexample,studentshavetoknowwhentousethe
pluralinflection(i.e.sasinbooks,esasinbusses,iesasinstories).Thesespellingrulesaresomeoftheconstraintsface
bytheMalaystudentssincetherearelesscomplicatedrulesintheformationofpluralityintheMalaylanguage.Among
thetoolsusedformeasuringthestudentscompetencyinpluralinflectionareclozetestsandessays.Resultsshowthat
errorsregardingpluralinflectioninstudentswrittentasksareaffectedbythedifferencesofpluralinflectionsbetween
MalayandEnglishlanguage.

Keywords:Plurarity,affixes,contrastiveanalysis

Introduction

Generally,Malaysianchildrenwereintroducedtothislanguageasearlyasfourorfiveyearsold,attheirpreschool
level.Thisteachingandlearningprocessgraduallycontinuesfrompreschooltoprimaryandsecondaryschool.Thedura
tionofexposuretowardsEnglishlanguageinclassroomsettingwouldbeapproximately11years.AlthoughEnglishlan
guagehasbeengivenmuchrespectandattention,therearestilllearnersbeingunderachieversandnotproficientinthe
languageattheendoftheirsecondaryschoollevel.

Inordertobefullyproficientinalanguage,onemustmasterallfourskillslistening,speaking,readingandwriting.
Unfortunately,intheMalaysiancontext,moreemphasisisgiventoreadingandwritingskillsattheearlystageoflearning
Englishlanguage.ThestudentsproficiencyinEnglishlanguageismeasuredbywrittenexaminations,givinglessfocuson
oral performances. Hence,the teaching and learning process of English language inclassrooms revolves aroundwriting
performancesofthestudents.Byunderstandingthissituation,wewilldefinitelyexpectthestudentstobegoodintheir
writingsystem.

___________________________________________
Corresponding author: sarahnadiah@mimet.unikl.edu.my

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AccordingtoLimHoPeng(1976),Azimah(1998),Khan(2005),Vahdatinejad(2008)thereisagradualdeclineinthe
standardofEnglishlanguageinMalaysia.TherearestillstudentswhofailtounderstandthemostbasicrulesofEnglish
languagestructure,suchasplurality.Whatarethefactorsaffectingthesestudentsdifficultiesinusingoneofthesimplest
ruleslikepluralform?Thispaperwillinvestigatetheregularoccurrencesoferrorsintheuseofpluralinflectionswhichare
identifiedinstudentsessaybycontrastingthepluralformofEnglishandMalaylanguage.

Fries(1945),Lado(1957)andVanEls(1984)agreedthatdifferentgrammaticalstructurebetweenlanguagesisapos
siblefactorofstudentsincompetencyinthetargetedlanguage.Hence,thehypothesisofthisstudyisMalaystudentsfind
itdifficulttounderstandanduseEnglishlanguagepluralinflectionsbecausetherearenopluralinflectionsintheMalay
language.

AimsofResearch

I.
Toidentifyandexplainstudentserrorregardingpluralinflection
II.
Toidentifythedifferences&similaritiesofpluralinflectionsbetweenMalay&Englishlanguage.
III.
TomeasureanddeterminewhetherthedifferencesofpluralinflectionsformationbetweenMalayandEng
lishlanguagecontributetotheerrorsinstudentswriting.

Inordertoachievetheaimsofthisstudy,theresearcherhastoidentify,analyzedandexplainedtheerrorsmadeby
studentsregardingpluralinflections.Thesestepscanbedonebyfirstcontrastingthesimilaritiesanddifferencesofplural
inflectionbetweenMalayandEnglishlanguage.Then,theresearchermustmeasureanddeterminewhetherthediffer
encesofpluralinflectionsformationbetweenMalay&Englishlanguagecontributetotheerrorsinstudentswritingusing
theassessmenttoolswhichareclozetestsandessays.

The results from previous studies related to this subject matter and the definition of plural inflection will be pre
sentedinthenextchapter.

LiteratureReview

I.ContrastiveAnalysis

Contrastiveanalysisisaninductiveinvestigativeapproachbasedonthedistinctiveelementsinalanguage.Inthis
paper;theresearcherfocusesontheanalysisofmorphemeswhichcarriesgrammaticalmeaning.Someresearchers
believedthatwhensimilarities&differencesbetweenL1&L2wereidentified,pedagogycouldbemoreeffective.This
statementisdevelopedfromthemastermindofcontrastiveanalysis,Lado(1957)wherehestatedthoseelements
thataresimilartothelearnersnativelanguagewillbesimpleforhim,butthosethataredifferentwillbedifficult.
Hence,thisstudyissignificantsincetheaspectofpluralityisbeinganalyzedintermsofbothlanguages.Ladosstate
ment supports this papers hypothesis that Malay students find it difficult to understand and use English language
pluralinflectionsbecausetherearenopluralinflectionsintheMalaylanguage.

Hashimah,Norsimah,Kesumawati(2008)intheirstudyofgrammaticalstructuresagreedthatdifferentconstruc
tionofpluralformsinMalayandEnglishlanguagecontributestothedifficultyofacquiringthelanguage

II.Inflection

Inflectionisachangeintheformofwordsthatindicatecertaingrammaticalrelationshipssuchasnumber,gen
der and tense. Inflection morphemes are those prefixes (combination of letters that comes in the beginning of a
word;e.g.unclear,restart,misbehave)andsuffixes(combinationoflettersthatcomesattheendoftheword;e.g.
climbing,washed,writes,tables)thatperformagrammaticalfunction.(Lehmann,Covell)

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III.Englishnumbermorphemes

SourcefromStockwell,Stageberg,Gleason,QuirkandGreenbaum,Eckersley&Eckersley,Frank,Jackson,Covell,Web
sterUnabridgedDictionary.

English has two forms ofnumber: singular and plural. Singular indicates only one while plural indicates two or
more. In this paper, the researcher covers only plurality on NOUN (words such as table, love, calendar, child
whichusedtorefertoaperson,thingoremotionstatus.InEnglishlanguage,theclassNOUNislinkedwithaninflec
tionalcategoryNUMBER.Thepluralsuffix /s/isaddedtothebaseformtoconvertitfromsingulartoplural(see
tablebelow).

Singular
Plural

Table
Tables

Calculator
Calculators

However,notallwordscanbemadetopluraljustbyadding/s/.(seetablebelow)

Singular
Plural

Child
Children

Mouse
Mice

Duetothisvariousrulesofformingpluralwords,secondlanguageusersofEnglishlanguageoftenconfusedand
committederrorsinwriting.

Methodology

Inordertoachievetheaimsofthisstudy,theresearcherimplemented3assessmenttoolstocollectthedata;Cloze
tests,EssaysandFillintheblank.ThefirstmethodologyimplementedbytheresearcherswastheuseofClozeTest.The
functionoftheClozetestwastomeasureanddeterminethestudentsunderstandingofpluralinflectionsinEnglishlan
guage.

TheresearcherusedtwosetsofClozetesttogatheramoregenuinedataregardingpluralinflection.Therewereten
questionsineachClozetestandstudentshavetoanswertoatotaloftwentyClozetestquestions.EachClozetestcon
sistedofvariousmorphological&syntacticalstructures.Theresearcherincludedvariousstructuresasshedoesnotwish
forherrespondentstobeawarethatthiswasatestonpluralform.However,oncetheClozetestiscollected,analysisis
madeonlyonPLURALINFLECTIONS.

The second approach implementedbythe researcherwas essay. Only six essays were takento be analyzed. These
essayswerechosenbasedonstudentsproficiencylevels.Threeessaysrepresentingthelowproficiencyandthreeessays
fromhigherproficiencystudents.AllessayswereaboutthesametopicIstelevisionabadinfluence?andtheyhadbeen
markedearlier;Insteadoffocusingonallgrammaticalerrors,analysiswasmadeonlyonPluralInflections.Thethirdmeth
odologyappliedbytheresearcherisFillintheblank.Thereare10questionsconsistingoftensingularnouns.Students
weretoconvertthesesingularwordsintotheirpluralforms.

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Inthisstudy,atotalof40semesteronestudentswereselectedasthesampleofthestudy.Theywere20lowerprofi
ciencystudentsand20higherproficiencystudentsofalocalsemiprivatehigherlearninginstitutioninMalaysia.Thestu
dentslevelofproficiencywaspredeterminedbyanEnglishPlacementTestwhichisacompulsoryassessmentofthein
stitution.Inthisstudy,studentswhopassedtheEnglishPlacementTestarecategorizedashigherproficiencywhilethose
whofailedarecategorizedaslowerproficiencystudents.

Thereasonforselectingsamplesofdifferentproficiencyistoconsiderthatdespitethepluralinflectionsdifferences
betweenthetwolanguages,studentsarestillabletograsptheideaofpluralityinEnglishlanguage.Itisbelievedthatstu
dentsfromthehigherproficiencygroupareabletoscorebetterintheirClozetest,EssaysandFillintheblanktasks.

Findings

Inthischapter,thedataiscollectedbyinitiallyselectingthesampleandthendistributingtheinstrumentswhichare
Clozetest,EssaysandFillintheblanktothesample.Thenextstepisassessingthedatacollectedandturnsthedatainto
percentageswhichisthenknownasthefindings.Then,thefindingsarediscussedbycomparingthestructuresofplural
inflectionsoftheMalayandEnglishlanguageinthelatterpartofthischapter.
InClozetest1,thereare4questionsonpluralinflections;Question1,4,6and9.

Chart1:ErrorsonpluralinflectioninClozetest1

Basedonthechartabove,only3outof20or15%ofthehigherproficiencystudentscommittederrorsinQuestion1.
Surprisingly,allofthelowerproficiencystudentsansweredQuestion1correctly.AsforQuestion4,majorityofthestu
dents of the higher and lower proficiency answered the question incorrectly. The correct answer for Question 4 is D.
wives.30outof40or75%ofstudentsmistakenlyrespondedB.wifes.AsforQuestion6,11or28%ofstudentsfromeach
proficiencylevelrespectivelyansweredB.beachsinsteadofthecorrectanswerC.beaches.ForthefinalquestioninCloze
test1,only6outof20or30%ofhigherproficiencystudentsansweredQuestion9wrongly.Ontheotherhand,14outof
20or70%oflowerproficiencystudentsmistakenlyansweredQuestion9.Mostofthestudentswhogavethewrongan
swercirlcedB.childsandD.childrenswhereasthecorrectanswershouldbeC.children.

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Chart2:ErrorsonpluralinflectionsinClozetest2

ThecorrectanswerforQuestion3,5and7aremice,wolvesandboxes.40%ofhigherproficiencystudentsgotthe
wronganswersforallthreequestionswithmajorityofthemcircledmouses,wolfesandboxs.Significantpercentages
wereidentifiedasthereweremorelowerproficiencystudentscommittederrorsforallthreequestions
Belowarethefrequenterrorsmadebystudentsinthe6essayscollectedbytheresearcher.

Table2:Frequenterrorsmadebystudentsinessays

BasedonTable2above,thewordsinboldaretheerrorsmadebystudentsintheiressay.Fromthetable,itisfound
that students included the suffix /s/ in the words childrens, heros and womans. However, for words like actress and
dress,thestudentsoverlookedthesuffix/s/.Thefactorsoftheseerrorswillbediscussedinthelatterpartofthischap
ter.

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Chart3:ErrorsonpluralinflectionsinFillintheblanktask

Thereare10wordsthattherespondentsneedanswerinthisFillintheblanktask.Itisfoundthatthehigherprofi
ciencystudentsperformbetterinthistaskcomparedtotheClozetestastheyonlyanswerQuestion2,6and9incorrectly.
Incontrast,thelowerproficiencystudentsgotthewronganswersforallquestions,exceptforquestionnumber8.
Table1:ComparisonoferrorsmadebystudentsforFillintheblanktask

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Table1showsthelistofsingularnounsthatstudentsneedtochangeintotheirpluralforms.Inthispaper,theresearcher
highlightsQuestion2,6and9forthosewerethequestionsthatcarriedhighpercentagesoferrorintheusageofplural
inflections.AsstatedinTable2,itisfoundthatmajorityofstudentsfrombothproficiencylevelsovergeneralizetheuse
ofsuffixsinallwords.ItisshownthatmoststudentswhocommittederrorsinQuestion2,6and9includethesuffixs
forallthewords.Forexample:
Table3:Commonerrorsmadebystudents

The overgeneralization of the suffix s and other factors contributing to the errors made by students regarding plural
inflectionswillbediscussedinthenextchapter.

Discussion

Inthischapter,thediscussionisdividedintotwopartswhereitbeginsbycontrastingthepluralformofthemalayand
Englishlanguageandendsbydeterminingwhethertheresultofthecontrastiveanalysisbetweenthetwolanguageshave
affectedtheerrorsmadebystudents.

UnliketheMalaylanguage,thepluralformationofwordsintheEnglishlanguageismuchmorecomplicatedbecause
there are many spelling rules. Malaysian students are exposed to ideathatthe suffix s is neededto indicateplurality.
LessaretheyawareoftheotherspellingrulesofpluralinflectionsintheEnglishlanguagesuchas:
Table4:SpellingrulesforformationofpluralformsinEnglishlanguage

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AsseeninTable4,therearealotofcomplicatedandconfusingspellingrulestoindicatepluralityinEnglishlanguage.
Howcanweblamethestudentsfornotbeingabletounderstandthespellingrules?Dotheyhavetomemorizetherules
inordertobeproficientinthelanguage?Thesearethequestionsthathavetobecaterinorderforeducatorstoapplya
betterlessonfortheirstudentsregardingpluralstructures.Pluralinflectionsbecomemorecomplicatedwhenitisinflu
enced by loan words. Only through exposure will the students be able to grasp the idea of plurality in the English lan
guage.

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From the Clozetest and Fill in the blank tasks, the students were clearly aware of the usage of plurality. The only
drawbacktheyfacedwastheovergeneralizationofthesuffix/s/forallwords,asseeninTable3.Thestudentsfromei
therhigherorlowerproficiencylevelareconfoundedwiththecomplexpluralinflectionsbecausetheformationofplural
wordsiseasierintheMalaylanguage.ItcanbeseeninTable5below.
Table5:RulesforformationofpluralformsinMalaylanguage

IntheMalaylanguage,thecommonmethodtoshowpluralityisbyreduplication.Pluralityiscalledkatagandawhich
simplymeanduplicate.Pluralinflectionsexistinthreecommonsuffixes/s/,/es/and/ies/forEnglishlanguage.Stu
dentseitherspellitrightorgottheanswerwrongforthepluralwords.However,intheMalaylanguage,thingsaremuch
simplerasstudentsareneededtojustreduplicatethewordsinordertomakeitplural.Belowisthecomparisonofthe
singularwordmouse:

Table6:ComparisonbetweenEnglishandMalaylanguagepluralforms

InEnglishlanguage,studentshavenooptionratherthantoknowthatthesuffix/es/mustbeaddedtowordsthat
endwith/f/.Ifstudentsspellitasshelfs,itwouldbewrong.ThemalaylanguageiseasiercomparedtotheEnglishlan
guagesincestudentshaveoptiontoeitherduplicatethewordrakusingthesymbol()ortoinsertcardinalorordinal
wordsbeforethewordrakinordertoshowplurality.Ifcardinalorordinalwordsareused,thewordrakwillremain
facenochangesatall.E.g.someshelvesbeberaparak.Tobesafe,moststudentswillapplytheuseofreduplication.

Despiteallthedifferencesintheformationofpluralitybetweenbothlanguages,therearesimilaritiesidentifiedby
theresearcher.Inbothlanguages,pluralityisindicatedbycardinallikeall(semua),some(sebahagian/beberapa).Forex
ample:

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ConclusionandRecommendations

ThisstudyhasfoundthattherearedifferencesandsimilaritiesregardingtheformationofpluralformsbetweenMa
layandEnglishlanguage.Inrespondingtotheaimofthisstudy,itisbelievedthatthedifferencesofpluralinflectionsfor
mationbetweenthoselanguagescontributetotheerrorsinstudentswriting.Basedonthedatacollected,itisfoundthat
therespondentsunderstandthewhenandwhyshouldweusethepluralform.Theerrorsoccurrednotbecausethere
spondentsfailedtograsptheideaofplurality,buttheyareconfusedwiththecomplicatedrulesofpluralinflectionsinthe
Englishlanguage.

Hence,thisstudyissignificantforitcreatesawarenesstothereadersontheimportanceofknowingthedifferences
betweentwolanguagestructures.Ithasanimpacttotheteachingandlearningenvironmentasitservesasaguidelinefor
educators.Now,theeducatorswillhavetheopportunitytoacknowledgetheareastatstudentsareweakin.withthere
sults from this study, educators are able to preparebetter lesson plans to cater thestudents difficulties. Teachers can
providebetterexplanationforgrammaticalstructurelikethepluralinflectioninclassroombyconsideringcomparingrules
ofbothlanguages.

Asforfuturestudy,considerofincorporatingmoresampletomeasurethestudentsauthenticunderstandingonthe
usageofpluralinflections.Itisalsorecommendedthatinthefuturestudy,emphasisshouldalsobegiventootheraspects
ofpluralitysuchastheloanwordsratherthanjustfocusingontheinflectons/s/,/es/and/ies/.

REFERENCES

NorHashimahJalaluddin,NorsimahMatAwal,KesumawatiAbuBakar(2008)TheMasteryofEnglishLanguageamong
LowerSecondarySchoolStudentsinMalaysia:ALinguisticAnalysis.EuropeanJournalofSocialSciences,Vol7,114

AsmahHj.Omar.(1986).NahuMutakhirMelayu.KualaLumpur:DewanBahasadanPustaka

KhazriyatiSalehuddin,TanKimHua&MarlynaMaros.(2006)."DefinitenessandIndefiniteness:AContrastiveAnalysis
oftheUseofDeterminersbetweentheMalayLanguageandEnglish".GEMAOnlineJournalofLanguageStudies.Volume6
(1)

NikSafiahKarimdanlainlain.2001.TatabahasaDewanJilid2:Perkataan.KualaLumpur,DewanBahasadanPustaka.

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