A contrastive analysis on English and Indonesian passive voice

Oleh :
Diannovita Evi P. M. A. - X2201013 - Fak. KIP

ABSTRAK The study is aimed at finding the differences and similarities between English and Bahasa Indonesia passive voice. By identifying the similarities and differences between both, the difficulty can be predicted. This is based on the contrastive analysis hypothesis that the differences between students’ first language (in this case Indonesian) and students’ target language (in this case English) make the structures of the target language rather difficult for Indonesian students. The population of the study is the grammar books and web sites that discuss the passive voice. They were analyzed through some steps: [1] identifying English and Bahasa Indonesia passive voice; [2] comparing both in sentences; and [3] presenting the similarities and differences between English and Bahasa Indonesia passive voice. The findings from the study indicate that there are some differences and similarities between English and Bahasa Indonesia passive voice. The differences are [a] English passive sentences are characterized by the word “be + past participle (V3)”. In Bahasa Indonesia, the passive voice is formed by using some affixes (such as: di-, di-i, di-kan, diper-, diper-kan, diper-i) and using kalimat pasif bentuk diri/pronoun substitutes (such as: saya, mereka, beliau, dia, olehmu, kami, etc.), [b] in English, the subject and the time signal determine the form but in Bahasa Indonesia they don’t. While the similarities of English and Bahasa Indonesia passive voice are (a) only transitive verb may be used in passive voice; (b) both have similar identity, namely when the subject of transitive verb receives the action; (c) both need a word to mark the doer, “by” for English and “oleh” for Bahasa Indonesia. The study shows that in general English passive voice adopts structures that are relatively different from Indonesian passive voice, and it causes the difficulty for Indonesian students in mastering the structures. In order to facilitate them, there should be some appropriate materials that support it. Giving proportional explanation about the varieties and complexities of both and more opportunities to drill and read the differences and the similarities will make the students learn better and more easily master the material. This thesis has been approved to be examined by the thesis consultants of the Teaching Training and Education Faculty of Sebelas Maret University Surakarta.