An analysis on the errors of Wh-questions made by the third year students of Stella Maris Junior High School Surabaya

Wh-question is one of the topics that the children should learn when they are learning English. This sentence can be found in the 1994 English Curriculum of Junior High School. Therefore, to be able to construct wh-question correctly is one of the important points in learning English. Realizing the fact that the third year students of Stella Maris Junior High School students still had difficulties in constructing correct "Wh-question" arose the writer's curiosity in finding out the most troublesome element of wh-question pattern made by the students. The writer then set up two kinds of instruments to be tested to the students. After the students did the test, the writer collected the work and analyzed the errors encountered. The writer classified the errors based on the elements in wh-question. They are errors of wh-word, errors of auxiliary, errors of subject, errors of verb and errors of word order. The writer divided those errors into sub errors types. For the sub error types, the missuse of wh-word occupied the highest number, followed by the omission of auxiliary and the missuse of verb. However, the most troublesome was the auxiliary. The error of auxiliary was the most troublesome element for the third year students of Stella Maris Junior High School in constructing wh-question. This brings six possible reasons. First, the students were familiar with certain types of wh-questions. Second, the students were not aware of the existence, the usage and the order of auxiliaries in wh-questions. Third, the students did not pay attention to the possessive and subjective personal pronoun of the subjects. Fourth, the students did not realize that the verb form in wh-question must be infinitive without to, except when the wh-question ask for the subject of the statement. Fifth, the students were not aware of the order of the words in constructing wh-questions especially when it comes to subject. Sixth, the students had not mastered the pattern of wh-question well. Based on the findings, she concluded that the most difficult element in constructing wh-question for the third year students of Stella Maris Junior High School is auxiliary. The findings of this study are expected to be used by the English teachers as one of the sources to improve the effectiveness and the techniques of their teaching. about wh-question. Hence, the teacher can help the students minimize their errors. This study should be continued using more sophisticated instruments and research techniques to find causes of the errors encountered in order to give better remedial teaching. One thing to do is to enlarge the population of the study and to add variations of the instrument