Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol.

3(1) January 2017

p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635

PROCESS TYPES IN STUDENTS’ NARRATIVE TEXT

Erwin Oktoma
Department of English Education, University of Kuningan, Indonesia
Email: erwin_oktoma@yahoo.com

APA Citation: Oktoma, E. (2017). Process types in students’ narrative text. Indonesian EFL Journal, 3(1), 69-78

Received: 24-11-2016 Accepted: 26-12-2016 Published: 01-01-2017

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the process type in students’ narrative text. It involves 20
first grader of Department of English Education, University of Kuningan. The title of narrative text
given to all respondents is “Rabbit and Twenty Crocodiles.” This study raises two problems: the
process types appear in students narrative texts and the errors of the process types occur in
students’ narrative texts. This research used a descriptive qualitative method to describe the data.
As result, by using Derewianka (2002), the process types found in students’ narrative texts were
material, mental, verbal, and relational process. Material process was the dominant type found in
students’ narrative texts in which there were 232 material processes from 371 data with
percentage 62.53%. It means that, in the text telling about a sequence of happenings and
experiences, the characters did many material activities than the other process types. Besides, this
research also found three process type errors occurred in students’ narrative texts, namely
material, verbal, and relational process. Material process is the dominant error occurred in
students’ narrative texts in which 100 errors occurred in 157 data with percentage 63,7%. In
conclusion, considering that students face diffuculties mostly in material process, teacher should
deal with its teaching more cautiously.
Keywords: narrative text, transitivity and error, process types

INTRODUCTION namely participants, process, and

Language has three metafunctions of circumstance. The participants are them who
language, namely ideational, interpersonal, directly involved in the process: the one who
and textual function (Gerot & Wignell, 1994). behaves, senses, says or exists. The process
First, the ideational function consists of consists of material process (process of
logical and experiential function. The doing), mental process (process of sensing),
experiential function is realized by the relational process (process of being), verbal
transitivity system. Transitivity is normally process (process of saying), behavioral
understood as the grammatical feature which process (the combination of psychological
indicates if a verb takes a direct object. and physiological behavior), and existential
Second, the interpersonal function are process (represents that something exist and
meanings which express a speaker’s attitudes happen). While circumstances are typical
and judgments. Meanings are realised in adjuncts.
wordings through what is called MOOD and Halliday’ transitivity system belongs to
Modality. Third, the textual function experiential metafunctions. When we looked at
expresses the relation of language to its the experiential metafunctions, that’s mean that
environment, including both the verbal we looked at the grammar of the clause as
environment, what has been said or written representation. It is called so because the clause
before (co-text) and the non-verbal, in its experiential functions is a way of
situational environment (context). These representing pattern of experience. Through
meanings are realised through pattern of the system of transitivity, it can be explored the
Theme and Cohesion. clause in its aspects, such is who does, what, to
In the concept of transitivity proposed by whom, when, where, why or how function.
Halliday (1985), there are three components When people talk about what a word or
of what Halliday calls a transitivity process, sentence means, it is a kind of meaning they

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Process Types in Students’ Narrative Text

have in mind. Meaning in this sense is related are doing, but about what they think or feel.
to content or idea. So, here the clause that Halliday (1985) calls processes which encode
functions as the representation of processes meaning of thinking or feeling as mental
is explored by transitivity system. processes. These processes tend to be
Transitivity analysis offers a description of realized through the use of verbs like think,
one of the structural strands of the clause. believe, understand, know, feel, smell, hear,
Transitivity specifies the different types of see, smell, want, like, please, admire, repel,
processes that are recognized in the language enjoy, fear, frighten, etc.
and the structures by which they are Basically, there are three types of mental
expressed. process, namely 1) affective or reactive
We use the term process and participant (feeling) which is recognized through the use
in analyzing what is represented through the of verbs of liking, fearing, 2) cognitive
use of language. Processes are central to (thinking) which is recognized through the
transitivity. They are also regarded as what use of verbs of thinking, knowing,
“goings-on” and suggest many different kinds understanding, and 3) perceptive (perceiving
of goings-on which necessarily involve through the five senses) which is recognized
different kinds of participant in varying through the use of verbs of seeing, hearing.
circumstances. While participants and The participant role in mental process are
circumstances are incumbent upon the “senser” and “phenomena” associated with
doings, happenings, feelings, and beings. any mental process.
Processes can be subdivided into six 3. Relational Process
different types, namely 1) Material - doing According to Gerot and Wignell (1994),
bodily, physically, materially; 2) Mental - relational processes involve states of being
sensing emotionally, intellectually, sensorilly; (including having). Eggins (1994) adds that
3) Relational - being equal to or some relational process covers many different
attribute of; 4) Verbal - saying lingually, ways in which “being” can be expressed in
signaling; 5) Behavioral - behaving English clauses. Simply, it can be said that
physiologically and psychologically; and 6) “states of being” refers to the statements
Existential - existing there exist (Halliday, stated to convey the existence. relational
1985). Each of them is explained briefly processes can be classified according to
below. whether they being used to identify
1. Material Process something (Barry Tuckwell may be the finest
Gerot and Wignell (1994) state that living horn player), or to assign a quality to
material processes are processes of material something (Barry Tuckwell is a fine horn
doing. They express the notion that some player). Relational processes are fundamental
entity physically does something - which are on how the above mentioned subject
done to some other entity. So, clauses with construct the words.
material process obligatorily have a doing 4. Verbal Process
(process) and a doer (participant) as in “He Verbal processes are processes of saying
built the house for the kids” in which ‘he’ (Lock, 1996). Further, Gerot and Wignell
refers to the actor, ‘built’ refers to the (1994) assume that verbal processes are
material process, ‘for the kids’ refers to the processes of saying or more accurately of
beneficiaries. symbolically signaling. Verbal processed are
2. Mental Process expressed by verbs such as say, tell, ask,
Mental process is a process of sensing, reply, and suggest. Verbal process clauses
feeling, thinking, or perceiving. Some normally have one participant, desired, plus
processes involve not only a material action in most cases a representation of what is said,
but also a phenomenon described as states of called the “saying”. In addition, verbal
mind or psychological event. People are not process clauses have participant which
always talking about concrete process of represents the person toward whom the
doing. They often talk not about what they

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words are directed. This participant is the time, (5) Dialogue often included with the
addressee. tense may change to the present or future, (6)
5. Behavioral Process Descriptive language chosen to enhance and
According to Halliday (1985), “behavioral develop the story by creating images in the
process includes the “mental” and processes reader’s mind, and (7) Can be written in the
of consciousness that are being represented first person (I, we) or third person (he, she,
as forms of behavior, like look, watch, listen, they).
think.” Similarly, Gerot and Wignell (1994) Unfortunately, in the study of second and
states that “Behavioral processes” are foreign languages learning, students often
processes of psychological and psychological made mistakes or errors relating to these
behavior, like breathing, dreaming, snoring, language features of narrative. But, learning
smiling, looking, coaching, christening and language is a process, so it is not matter if
pondering. For example, “Don’t look, I am students do some errors of mistakes. Exactly,
thinking, no one’s listening.” This statement from their errors they can learn more, correct
shows that the behavioral processes are done and improve their knowledge. As stated by
consciously. Richards et al. (1992), errors have been
6. Existential Processes studied to discover the processes learners
Existential process is the representation make use of in learning and using a language.
that something exists or happens (Halliday, Stevenson (1996) states that many errors
1985). These clauses typically have the verbs are due to that the learner uses structures
“be” or some other verb expressing existence, from his/her native language. The possession
such as exist and arise. Frequently, the of one’s native language is facilitative. Errors
existential clause contains a circumstantial in this case are not inhibitory, but rather
element, as in “There was a picture on the evidence of one’s learning strategies. Error
wall.” analysis owes its place as a scientific method
These six process types are commonly in linguistics. Finally, triggered by the fact
found in texts or in daily conversations. But, that there are still many first grade students
not all people knows about this division. So, in University of Kuningan get difficulties in
to make it clearer, the researcher intends to constructing the text, the researcher is
analyze the process types found in students’ interested to firstly analyze the process types
narrative text. According to Gerot and used by the students in their narrative texts,
Wignell (1994), narratives deal with then analyze the errors made by them. This
problematic events which lead to a crisis or research is expected to be beneficial for
turning point of some kind which in turn either students or English teachers.
finds a resolution. It is used to amuse, to
entertain, and to deal with actual or vicarious METHOD
experience in different ways. Narratives This study is a qualitative research.
include fairy stories, mysteries, science Creswell (1994) states that “qualitative
fiction, romances, horror stories, “heroes and research is interpretative research.” It is the
villains” (e.g. TV cartoons), adventure stories, theory used by those conducting grounded
parables and moral tales, myths and legends, theory studies as an outcome for their
and historical narratives. studies. Grounded researchers hope to
The features of narrative text according discover a theory that is grounded in
Derewianka (2002) are; 1) Specific, often information from informants. Further,
individual participants with defined Creswell (1994) adds that “qualitative theory
identities, (2) Mainly use actions verbs may shape the initial research questions and
[material processes], but also many verbs provides additional information about
which refer to what the human participants pattern of theories.”
said, or felt, or thought [verbal and mental By means of purposive sampling design,
processes], (3) Normally use past tense, (4) this research involves twenty students of the
There are many linking words to do with first frade in Department of English
Education, University of Kuningan. Here, the

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Process Types in Students’ Narrative Text

researcher does not need informants, rather Allowing the student to write with their own
than he gives writing assignment to students words; and 4) Analyzing students’ writing by
in order to analyze the types of process means of transitivity system.
occurred in their writings. Next, the steps conducted by the writer in
Here, a narrative text entitled “Rabbit and analyzing the data are; reading the narrative
Twenty Crocodiles” is used as a guidance for texts written by the students, and analyzing
the students to write the story by using their the types of process in students’ narrative
own words. This narrative text tells about a text.
rabbit that was clever, smart, and kind. The
rabbit had an idea when he wanted to cross a RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
river because he couldn’t swim. A rabbit laid There are two findings in this research.
the boss of crocodiles to make a line in order The first finding relates to the proccess types
he can crossed the river. represented in narrative texts produced by
All of the data were collected the first grade students. While, the second
qualitatively. According to Richards et al. finding presents the error of the process
(1992), qualitative data are not in numerical types occurred in students’ narrative texts as
form, it is a written account of what constructed by the transitivity system.
happened during a lesson or an interview
data collected in qualitative form. The Process types appear in students’ narrative
quantitative form is also employed in this text
study to count up the frequency of process As the result of data analysis, the process
type appearances in students’ narrative texts. types used by students in their narrative texts
The steps in collecting the data are as follows; are mental, material, verbal, and relational
1) Giving students instruction to make a process. The record of this finding is shown in
narrative text individually; 2) Leading 20 the table below.
students to be the sample of the study; 3)

Table 1. Frequency of Appearance of the Process Types

Text Process Types Frequency of Percentages
Appearances
Material 232 62.53%
Narrative text Mental 41 11.05 %
Verbal 42 11.32 %
Behavioral 0 0
Existential 0 0
Relational 56 15.1 %
Total 408 100 %

Based on the table above, it can be seen produced by respondent 1, the total of
that material process is the dominant process material proccess occured are 10 times, 13
types found in students’ narrative texts in times in respondent 2, 10 times in
which 62.53% out of the data are material respondent 3, 10 times in respondent 4, 8
process. While the other three process types times in respondent 5, 11 times in
found in the narrative texts are mental respondent 6, 12 times in respondent 7, 7
process with percentage 11.05%, verbal times in respondent 8, 11 times in
11.32%, and relational 15,1 %. respondent 9, 11 times in respondent 10, 16
First, from all narrative text produced by times in respondent 11, 19 times in
20 first grade students, the number of respondent 12, 14 times in respondent 13, 21
material process found are 232 or 62.53% times in respondent 14, 12 times in
out of the data. These 232 material processes respondent 15, 13 times in respondent 16, 12
come from twenty respondents in which each times in respondent 17, 8 times in
respondent use material process with respondent 18, 5 times in respondent 19, and
different number. In the narrative text 19 times in the last respondent.

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The examples of material processes respondent 20 “He will went to house”, “will
appear in students’ narrative text are as went” explain that it is a material proccess or
follows. From respondent 1 “He can’t go doing activities.
there”, “can’t go” explain that it is a material Second, mental process relates to deed of
proccess. From respondent 2 “The rabbit mental like feeling and thinking. For example
wish went to mountain”, “went” explains that from respondent 1 “He saw a boss of
it is a material proccess. From respondent 3 crocodiles”. The word “saw” describes the
“A rabbit went to jungle”, “went” explains that mental proccess. The frequency of mental
it is a material proccess or doing activities. process appearances in twenty narrative
From respondent 4 “He can’t swim”, “can’t texts is 41 with percentages 11.05 %. From
swim” explain that it is a material proccess or respondent 1, the total of mental proccess
doing activities. From Respondent 5 “He must occured is 2 times, respondent 2 is 1 time,
crossed a river”, “must cross” explain that it is respondent 3 is 1 time, respondent 4 is 3
a material proccess or doing activities. From times, respondent 5 is 1 time, respondent 6 is
respondent 6 “He will went to house”, “will 2 times, respondent 7 is 2 times, respondent
went” explain that it is a material proccess or 8 is 2 times, respondent 9 is 2 times,
doing activities. From respondent 7 “He respondent 10 is 1 time, respondent 11 are 4
couldn’t swim”, “couldn’t swim” explain that times, respondent 12 is 2 times, respondent
it is a material proccess or doing activities. 13 is 2 times, respondent 14 is 3 times,
From respondent 8 “He will went to party”, respondent 15 is 2 times, respondent 16 is 2
“will went” explain that it is a material times, respondent 17 is 2 times, respondent
proccess or doing activities. From respondent 18 is 2 times, respondent 19 is 1 times, and
9 “He can’t went to jungle”, “can’t went” the last respondent is 4 times.
explain that it is a material proccess or doing The examples of mental processes appear
activities. From respondent 10 “The rabbit in students’ narrative text are as follows.
jump on twenty crocodile”, “jump” explains From respondent 1 “He saw a boss of
that it is a material proccess or doing crocodiles”, the word “saw” explains that it is
activities. From respondent 11 “He like play a mental proccess. From respondent 2 “the
with a friend”, “play” explains that it is a rabbit wish went to mountain”, the word
material proccess or doing activities. From “wish” explains that it is a mental proccess.
respondent 12 “He must swimming”, From respondent 3 “He saw a boss of
“swimming” explains that it is a material crocodiles”, the word “saw” explains that it is
proccess or doing activities. From respondent a mental proccess. From respondent 4 “A
13 “He came to a boss of crocodile”, “came” rabbit thanked for them”, the word “thanked”
explains that it is a material proccess or doing explains that it is a mental proccess. From
activities. From respondent 14 “he went to a respondent 5 “He saw a boss of crocodiles
river”, “went” explains that it is a material swim”, the word “saw” explains that it is a
proccess or doing activities. From respondent mental proccess. From respondent 6 “He saw
15 “He can’t swimming”, “can’t swimming” a boss of crocodiles swimming in the river”,
explain that it is a material proccess or doing the word “saw” is a mental proccess. From
activities. From respondent 16 “He can respondent 7 “A rabbit thanked for them”, the
jumping and cross a river”, “can jumping and word “thanked” explains that it is a mental
cross” explain that it is a material proccess or proccess. From respondent 8 “when he saw a
doing activities. From respondent 17 “He boss of crocodiles swimming”, the word
couldn’t swim”, “couldn’t swim” explain that “saw” explains that it is a mental proccess.
it is a material proccess or doing activities. From respondent 9 “after that he saw a boss
From respondent 18 “a rabbit went to jungle”, of crocodiles swim in the river”, the word
“went” explains that it is a material proccess “saw” explains that it is a mental proccess.
or doing activities. From respondent 19 “a From respondent 10 ““when he saw a boss of
rabbit jumped from one crocodile to another crocodiles swimming in the river”, the word
crocodile”, “jumped” explains that it is a “saw” explains that it is a mental proccess.
material proccess or doing activities. From From respondent 11 “He get idea”, the word

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“get” explains that it is a mental proccess. 3 “and a boss of crocodiles call a twenty
From respondent 12 “and finally he thanked crocodiles”, the word “call” explains that it is
all crocodiles”, the word “thanked” explains a verbal proccess. From respondent 4 “then
that it is a mental proccess. From respondent the rabbit asked to boss of crocodiles”, the
13 “he thanked to all the crocodiles”, the word “asked” explains that it is a verbal
word “thanked” explains that it is a mental proccess. From respondent 5 “he get idea for
proccess. From respondent 14 “he thanked to ask help”, the word “ask” explains that it is a
all crocodiles because crossed a river”, the verbal proccess. From respondent 6 “the
word “thanked” explains that it is a mental rabbit said that the crocodiles was good, nice
proccess. From respondent 15 “he get idea”, and gentle”, the word “said” explains that it is
the word “get” explains that it is a mental a verbal proccess. From respondent 7 “the
proccess. From respondent 16 “he get idea”, boss called his friend”, the word “called”
the word “get” explains that it is a mental explains that it is a verbal proccess. From
proccess. From respondent 17 “he saw a boss respondent 8 “he try and said to boss of
crocodiles swim in the river”, the word “saw” crocodiles”, the word “said” explains that it is
explains that it is a mental proccess. From a verbal proccess. From respondent 9 “he
respondent 18 “he thanked to all crocodiles”, must call the twenty crocodiles”, the word
the word “thanked” explains that it is a “call” explains that it is a verbal proccess.
mental proccess. From respondent 19 “a From respondent 10 “then the boss called his
rabbit thanked to all crocodiles”, the word friends and asked them for make line”, the
“thanked” explains that it is a mental words “called and asked” explain that it is a
proccess. From respondent 20 “when he saw verbal proccess. From respondent 11 “the
a boss crocodiles swimming in the river”, the boss of crocodiles call his friend”, the word
word “saw” explains that it is a mental “call” explains that it is a verbal proccess.
proccess. From respondent 12 “he saying if a boss of
Third, the frequency of verbal process crocodiles …”, the word “saying” explains that
appearances in twenty narrative texts is 42 it is a verbal proccess. From respondent 13
with percentages 11.32 %. Verbal process is “He said to boss crocodiles”, the word “said”
usually presented through conversation explains that it is a verbal proccess. From
indirectly by participant. For example in respondent 14 “the boss called twenty
respondent 1 “He ask to him for help a cross a crocodiles”, the word “called” explains that it
river”. From respondent 1 the total of verbal is a verbal proccess. From respondent 15 “for
proccess occurs is 2 times, respondent 2 is 2 ask the boss of crocodiles”, the word “ask”
times, respondent 3 is 2 times, respondent 4 explains that it is a verbal proccess. From
is 1 times, respondent 5 is 1 times, respondent 16 “he ask to the boss of
respondent 6 is 1 times, respondent 7 is 3 crocodiles”, the word “ask” explains that it is
times, respondent 8 is 1 times, respondent 9 a verbal proccess. From respondent 17 “he
is 3 times, respondent 10 is 3 times, ask to the boss of crocodiles and his friend”,
respondent 11 is 4 times, respondent 12 is 1 the word “ask” explains that it is a verbal
times, respondent 13 is 3 times, respondent proccess. From respondent 18 “the rabbit call
14 is 2 times, there is no verbal process in the boss of crocodiles”, the word “call”
respondent 15, respondent 16 is 1 times, explains that it is a verbal proccess. From
respondent 17 is 1 times, respondent 18 is 3 respondent 19 “a rabbit said ok”, the word
times, respondent 19 is 5 times, and the last “said” explains that it is a verbal proccess.
respondent is 3 times. From respondent 20 “a boss of crocodiles call
The examples of verbal processes appear twenty crocodiles”, the word “call” explains
in students’ narrative text are as follows. that it is a verbal proccess.
From respondent 1 “He ask to him”, the word Fourth, the frequency of relational
“ask” explains that it is a verbal proccess. process appearances in twenty narrative
From respondent 2 “A boss of crocodiles call texts is 56 with percentages 15.1 %. From
a twenty crocodiles”, the word “call” explains respondent 1, the total of relational proccess
that it is a verbal proccess. From respondent occurs is 4 times, respondent 2 is 3 times,

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respondent 3 is 2 times, respondent 4 is 1 describes the relational proccess. From

times, respondent 5 is 3 times, respondent 6 respondent 14 “He life fun because every day
is 2 times, respondent 7 is 3 times, he always play”, the word “life” describes the
respondent 8 is 2 times, respondent 9 is 2 relational proccess. From respondent 15 “He
times, respondent 10 is 2 times, respondent get idea”, the word “get” describes the
11 is 3 times, respondent 12 is 2 times, relational proccess. From respondent 16 “The
respondent 13 is 1 times, respondent 14 is 5 rabbit is a clever”, the word “is” describes the
times, respondent 15 is 2 times, respondent relational proccess. From respondent 17 “He
16 is 4 times, respondent 17 is 2 times, get idea”, the word “get” describes the
respondent 18 is 2 times, respondent 19 is 7 relational proccess. From respondent 18 “In
times, and the last respondent is 4 times. the wood life a rabbit with his friend”, the
The examples of relational processes word “life” describes the relational proccess.
appear in students’ narrative text are as From respondent 19 “A rabbit lived in the
follows. From respondent 1 “He get idea”, the wood”, the word “lived” describes the
word “get” describes relational proccess. relational proccess. From respondent 20 “He
From respondent 2 “he life happy everyday”, had idea”, the word “had” describes the
the word “life” describes the relational relational proccess.
proccess. From respondent 3 “in the wood life There are not behavioral process found in
a rabbit smart” the word “life” describes the all narrative texts entitled “Rabbit and
relational proccess. From respondent 4 “He Twenty Crocodiles” produced by the
had idea” the word “had” describes the respondents because there are not processes
relational proccess. From respondent 5 “He of physiological and psychological behavioral,
live with all animals” the word “live” like smiling, dreaming, breathing, coughing,
describes the relational proccess. From etc. Similarly, there are not also existential
respondent 6 “He had idea” the word “had” process in all of respondents’ narrative text
describes the relational proccess. From because this story only tells about activities
respondent 7 “He had idea” the word “had” of rabbit and crocodile.
describes relational proccess. From
respondent 8 “once upon a time, life a little The errors of process occurred in students’
rabbit with his family” the word “life” narrative texts
describes the relational proccess. From The second stage in this research was
respondent 9 “He get idea”, the word “get” analyzing the errors of the processes in
describes the relational proccess. From students’ narrative texts by using the
respondent 10 “He get idea”, the word “get” transitivity system. As the result of the
describes the relational proccess. From analysis, there are 100 errors or 63.7% out of
respondent 11 “He like play with a friend” the the sample occur in material process, 10
word “like play” describes the relational errors or 6.4% in verbal process, and 47
proccess. From respondent 12 “He get idea”, errors or 29.9% in relational process. The
the word “get” describes the relational record of this finding is shown in the table
proccess. From respondent 13 “long time ago below.
live in jungle a rabbit”, the word “live”

Table 2. The Error of the processes in the students’ narrative text

Text Process Types Frequency of Appearances Percentages

Material 100 63,7 %

Narrative text Mental 0 0
Verbal 10 6,4 %
Behavioral 0 0
Existential 0 0
Relational 47 29,9 %
Total 271 100 %

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First, from all narrative text produced by relational proccess error is 3 times,
20 students, it is found that students respondent 2 is 1 times, respondent 3 is 2
frequently make errors in material proccess times, respondent 4 is 2 times, respondent 5
in which it happens in 100 data with is 3 times, respondent 6 is 1 time, respondent
percentages 63.7%. From respondent 1, the 7 is 3 times, respondent 8 is 2 times,
total of error in material proccess is 3 times, respondent 9 is 2 times, respondent 10 is 2
respondent 2 is 4 times, respondent 3 is 7 times, respondent 11 is 3 times, respondent
times, respondent 4 is 3 times, respondent 5 12 is 2 times, respondent 13 is 1 time,
is 6 times, respondent 6 is 5 times, respondent 14 is 5 times, respondent 15
respondent 7 is 5 times, respondent 8 is 1 occurs 2 times, respondent 16 occurs 4 times,
times, respondent 9 is 6 times, respondent 10 respondent 17 occurs 2 times, respondent 18
is 3 times, respondent 11 is 9 times, is 2 times, respondent 19 is 2 times, and the
respondent 12 is 2 times, respondent 13 is 4 last respondent is 3 times. For example from
times, respondent 14 is 11 times, respondent respondent 14, the sentence “He life fun
15 is 5 imes, respondent 16 is 9 times, because every day he always play” shows that
respondent 17 is 6 times, respondent 18 is 3 there is an error in relational proccess
times, there is no error analysis in because the word “life” is wrong, it should be
respondent 19, and the last respondent is 28 “lived”.
times. For example from respondent 3, the So far, the discussion has focused on the
sentence “He life play with a friend” shows clause as representation. Thus, the concept
that there is an error in material proccess discussed above are sought to be relevant to
because the word “life play” is wrong, it this study. From the analysis above, the
should be “lives”. researcher found that all respondents had not
Second, the frequency of errors in verbal mastered the narrative writing because there
process is 10 with percentages 6.4%. From are so many mistakes done by them in
respondent 1 the total of verbal proccess writing narrative texts. This error is
errors is 1 times, there is no error analysis in especially in the use of tense. Some
respondent 2, respondent 3 is 2 times, there respondents wrongly use simple tenses.
is no error in respondent 4, there is no error Finally, it can be concluded that the errors
in respondent 5, there is no error in can be influenced by some factors such as the
respondent 6, there is no error in respondent teacher or the respondents itself. The teacher
7, there is no error in respondent 8, might less in teaching narrative writing to all
respondent 9 makes error 1 times, there is no respondents. But, it could be also caused by
error in respondent 10, respondent 11 makes the respondents self who did not quite
error 2 times, respondent 12 makes error 1 understand about the narrative writing so
times, there is no error in respondent 13, they made errors in writing narrative texts.
there is no error in respondent 14, there is no
error in respondent 15, respondent 16 CONCLUSION
makes error 1 times, there is no error in As result of the data analysis, the
respondent 17, respondent 18 makes error 1 researcher found 4 process types in students’
times, there is no error in respondent 19, and narrative texts entitled “A Rabbit and Twenty
the last respondent makes error 1 times. For Crocodiles”, namely material, mental, verbal,
example from respondent 3, the sentence “A and relational process. The results are taken
boss of crocodiles call a twenty crocodiles” from process type analysis by means of
shows that there is an error in verbal transitivity system. Material process is the
proccess because the word “call” is wrong, it dominant process types appear in students’
should be “called”. narrative texts. It is because a rabbit as a
Third, there is no error in Mental Process character does many activities and
occurred in students’ narrative texts. interaction with other characters. As stated
Fourth, the frequency of errors in previously that material processes are
relational proccess is 47 with percentages process of doing. They express the notion
29.9%. From respondent 1, the total of that some entity “does” something which may

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Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol. 3(1) January 2017
p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635

be done to some other entity. From the REFERENCES

analysis, the researcher find out 232 material Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design:
processes from 408 data with percentage Qualitative and quantitative approaches.
London: Sage Publication.
62.53 %. It means that the text is telling about Derewianka, B. (2002). Exploring how texts work.
a sequence of happenings and experiences National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-
and characters do many material activities Publication entry.
than other process types. Many activities Eggins, S. (1994). An introduction to systemic functional
linguistic. London: Pinter Publishers.
which are done by the characters make the Gerot, L., & Wignell, P. (1994). Making sense of
readers understand the story easily. The functional grammar. Sidney: Antipodean
readers can know what will the character do educational Enterprise (AEE).
and can imagine what will happen and acts Halliday, M. A. K. (1985). An introduction to functional
will be done. In addition, the researcher also grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Lock, G. (1996). Functional English grammar.
finds out four process types error that occur Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
in students’ narrative texts, they are material, Richard, J., John, P., & Heidi, W. (1992). Longman
verbal, and relational process. The students dictionary of applied linguistics. Hallow: Essex
frequently make errors in material process in Longman Group UK Limited.
Stevenson, K. (1996). Second language acquisition:
which there are 100 errors occurred from Learners' errors and error correction in language
157 data with percentage 63.7%. teaching. Retrieved from:
http://www.proz.com/dochtml.

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Erwin Oktoma
Process Types in Students’ Narrative Text

Drummer
A drummer, sick of all the drummer jokes, decides to change his instrument. After some thought,
he decides on the accordion. So he goes to the music store and says to the owner, "I'd like to look
at the accordions, please." The owner gestures to a shelf in the courner and says, "All our
accordions are over there." After browsing, the drummer says, "I think I'd like the big red one in
the corner." The store owner looks at him and says, "You're a drummer, aren't you?" The
drummer, crestfallen, says, "How did you know?" The store owner says, "That 'big red accordion'
is the radiator."

(Source: http://www.study-express.ru/humour/funny-stories.shtml, picture: www.google.co.id)

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