THE DIFFICULTIES OF INDONESIAN STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH PLURAL FORM: CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

A comparative analysis is needed between the two languages or known as
contrastive analysis to identify their structural similarities and differences so that
the material and methods of teaching will be appropriate. Further than that, this
paper is aimed to give a clear understanding about how Indonesian differs from
English in the sense of its language features, especially in plural form. It is known
that the structure of the plural between English and Indonesian is different
although some similarities were found. Indonesian learners will find it difficult to
learn plural words because in terms of word formation, English and Indonesian are
very different. The formation of plural words in English is through the process of
affixation, while in Indonesian, the formation of plural is through reduplication and
addition of quantifier and number. It is necessary to give more explanations and
exercises to learn the plural of English because with a lot of practice, it is hoped that
Indonesian learners will start to get used to the formation of the plurals.