CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. Noun Phrase
1. Definition of Noun Phrase
Many scientists have defined what actually noun phrase is. The
following are several definitions of noun phrase:
a. Noun phrase is a noun head that has adjective modifiers that appear
before and after it.1
b. Noun phrase is a group of words in a sentence that behaves in the
same ways as a noun that is as subject, an object, a complement or as
the object of preposition.2
c. A noun phrase (abbreviated NP) is a phrase whose head is a noun or
a pronoun, optionally accompanied by a modifier set.3
From the meaning above, the writer can conclude that noun phrase
is a group of words which has a noun/pronoun as a main part (head)
which is modified by some modifiers (pre-modification or post-
modification). The following is some examples of noun phrase:
- Beautiful girls (an adjective ‘beautiful’, a plural noun ‘girls’)
- A beautiful girl (an article ‘a’, an adjective ‘beautiful’ and a singular
noun ‘girl’)
- This beautiful girl (a determiner ‘this’, an adjective ‘beautiful’ and a
singular noun ‘girl’)
- A very beautiful girl (an article ‘a’, an adverb ‘very’ defining an
adjective ‘beautiful’ and a singular noun)
- A very beautiful girl who loves him (an article ‘a’, an adverb ‘very’
defining an adjective ‘beautiful’ and a singular noun; followed by a

1
Marcella Frank, Op.Cit p.112
2
A.S. Hornby. Op.Cit ,p.867
3
Wikipedia, Noun Phrase, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun_phrase on 2nd
January 2011

7
 8

relative clause made up of a relative pronoun ‘who’, a verb ‘loves’

and a pronoun ‘him’)

2. Function of Noun Phrase

After learning what noun phrase is, the writer can conclude that
noun phrase has many function such as:
a. Subject
Example:
[S NP (My new car) P VP(is) C
AdjP(expensive)

b. Object
Example:
[S NP (John) P VP(have killed) O NP(the beautiful girl)]
c. Complement
Example:
[S NP(This) P VP(is) C NP(the big house)]
d. Adverbial
Example:
[S NP(Mary) P VP(visited) O NP(her mother) A NP(last night)]
e. Modifier in other noun phrase
Example:
[H N(Girl) M NPS(the seller)]

3. Structure of Noun Phrase

Noun phrase has a structure which consists of three components:
a. The head, around which the other components cluster and which
dictates concord and other kinds of congruence with the rest of the
sentence outside the noun phrase.4
The head of noun phrase may be:

4
Sidney Greenbaum and Randolp Quink, A Student’s Grammar of The English Language,
(England: Pearson Education Limited, 2003), 17th Ed, p. 363
 9

A noun: NP [This H car]

A pronoun: NP [H someone (in the corner)]
An adjective: NP [The H clever]
An enumerator: NP [The H first], or
Genitive phrase: NP [H Maulana’s]
b. The pre-modification, which comprises all the items placed before
head – notably, determiner, enumerator, adjective, noun, genitive
phrase and adverb.5
c. The post-modification, comprising all the items placed after the
head–notably, prepositional phrase, nonfinite clauses, and relative
clause.6
Because of the various forms of modifier, it is possible for a noun
phrase reaching considerable complexity. For the example is the phrase
below:
NP [M dThe M
etwo
M
adjdifficult
M
NEnglish
M
Ngrammar
M
Nteaching
H

Nsystem]

The noun phrase above has 6 pre-modifiers. Those are ‘the’

(determiner), ‘two’ (enumerator), ‘difficult’ (adjective), ‘English’
(noun), ‘grammar’ (noun) and ‘teaching’ (noun).
A noun phrase may also have more than one post-modifier. The example
is:
M H M M
NP[ dThe Nstudent PP(in the largest light class room) Rcl(which is
decorated beautifully]

The noun phrase above has two post-modifiers; they are prepositional
phrase and relative clause.

5
Ibid, p.364
6
Ibid.
 10

4. Types of Noun Phrase

The writer tries to classify noun phrase into three types. The
classification will be based on the modifier itself. The types are:
a. Pre-modified noun phrase, is a noun phrase in which the head is
preceded by a modifier(s). Here are the examples, the word ‘your’ in
NP[(your house] and ‘handsome’ in NP [handsome man]
b. Post-modified noun phrase, is a noun phrase in which the head is
followed by a modifier(s). Here are the examples, NP[ the man
M
(whom I love)] and NP[ a math book M(on the table)]
c. Pre-modified-post-modified noun phrase, is a noun phrase in which
the head is preceded and followed by a modifier(s). The example is
NP[the smartest student of Walisongo State Institute of Islamic
Studies]

5. Constructions of Noun Phrase

a. The composition that build of noun phrase are: (1) determiner (d);
including determiner are articles such as “the, a/an” demonstratives
adjective such as “this, that, those”, quantitative such as “all, some,
any, no, every, each, either, neither, several, enough, such; many,
much, more, most; (a) few, fewer, fewest; (a) little, less, least, the
last is possessives adjective such as “ his, my, your, john’s, etc.7”.
Other construction is (2) enumerator (e); these words include
cardinal numbers (one, two, three….); ordinal numbers (first, second,
third…); and a few general ordinal (next, last, other, further, etc).8
Next constructions are (3) adjective (adj), (4) noun (N) and (5)
adverb (adv) for pre-modifier, and, (6) prepositional phrase (PP), (7)
relative clause (RCL) and (8) other form for post-modifier.

7
Geoffrey Leech, et. al., English Grammar for Today, (Hampshire: Macmilan, 1986), 1st
Ed. p.51
8
Ibid, p.52
 11

b. For the structure of noun phrase construction, the writer classifies the
noun phrase based on the form of modifier itself. The forms of the
structure of construction of noun phrase can be: 1).Det.+Adj.+N,
2).N+N, 3).Adj.+N, 4).N+PP, 5).Adj.+N+PP, 6).Det.+N, 7).Det. +
Adj+ N+ RCL, 8).Det+E+Adj+N+RCL+PP

B. Biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle was born the third of ten siblings on 22 May
1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, who was
born in England of Irish descent, and his mother, born Mary Foley, who was
Irish, had married in 1855. Doyle's father died in 1893, in the Crichton
Royal, Dumfries, after many years of psychiatric illness.
Conan Doyle was sent to the Roman Catholic Jesuit preparatory
school Hodder Place, Stonyhurst, at the age of nine. He then went on to
Stonyhurst College until 1875.
From 1876 to 1881 he studied medicine at the University of
Edinburgh, including a period working in the town of Aston (now a district
of Birmingham) and in Sheffield. While studying, Conan Doyle also began
writing short stories; his first published story appeared in Chambers's
Edinburgh Journal before he was 20. Following his term at university, he
was employed as a ship's doctor on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the
West African coast. He completed his doctorate on the subject of tabes
dorsalis in 1885.
In 1885 Conan Doyle married Louisa (or Louise) Hawkins, known as
"Touie". She suffered from tuberculosis and died on 4 July 1906. The next
year he married Jean Elizabeth Leckie, whom he had first met and fallen in
love with in 1897. He had maintained a platonic relationship with Jean
while his Louisa was still alive, out of loyalty to her. Jean died in London on
27 June 1940.
 12

Conan Doyle fathered five children. He had two with his first wife—
Mary Louise (28 January 1889 – 12 June 1976) and Arthur Alleyne
Kingsley, known as Kingsley (15 November 1892 – 28 October 1918)—and
three with his second wife—Denis Percy Stewart (17 March 1909 – 9
March 1955), second husband in 1936 of Georgian Princess Nina Mdivani
(circa 1910 – 19 February 1987; former sister-in-law of Barbara Hutton);
Adrian Malcolm (19 November 1910–3 June 1970) and Jean Lena Annette
(21 December 1912–18 November 1997).
In 1882 he joined former classmate George Budd as his partner at a
medical practice in Plymouth, but their relationship proved difficult, and
Conan Doyle soon left to set up an independent practice. Arriving in
Portsmouth in June of that year with less than £10 to his name, he set up a
medical practice at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove, Southsea. The practice was
initially not very successful; while waiting for patients, Conan Doyle again
began writing stories and composed his first novel—The Narrative of John
Smith—which would go unpublished until 2011. His first significant work,
A Study in Scarlet, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887. It
featured the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes, who was partially
modeled after his former university teacher Joseph Bell. Conan Doyle wrote
to him, "It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes. ... Round
the centre of deduction and inference and observation which I have heard
you inculcate I have tried to build up a man." Future short stories featuring
Sherlock Holmes were published in the English Strand Magazine. Robert
Louis Stevenson was able, even in faraway Samoa, to recognize the strong
similarity between Joseph Bell and Sherlock Holmes: "My compliments on
your very ingenious and very interesting adventures of Sherlock Holmes. ...
Can this be my old friend Joe Bell?" Other authors sometimes suggest
additional influences—for instance, the famous Edgar Allan Poe character
C. Auguste Dupin. Most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock
Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of
crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a
 13

prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical
novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction.
Conan Doyle was found clutching his chest in the hall of Windlesham,
his house in Crowborough, East Sussex, on 7 July 1930. He died of a heart
attack at the age of 71. His last words were directed toward his wife: "You
are wonderful." The epitaph on his gravestone in the churchyard at Minstead
in the New Forest, Hampshire, reads: “Steel True Blade Straight Arthur
Conan Doyle Knight Patriot, Physician & Man Of Letters”.
Undershaw, the home near Hindhead, south of London that Arthur
Conan Doyle had built and lived in for at least a decade, was a hotel and
restaurant from 1924 until 2004. It was then bought by a developer, and has
since been empty while conservationists and Conan Doyle fans fight to
preserve it. A statue honors Conan Doyle at Crowborough Cross in
Crowborough, where Conan Doyle lived for 23 years. There is also a statue
of Sherlock Holmes in Picardy Place, Edinburgh, close to the house where
Conan Doyle was born.9

C. Noun Phrase in Short Story

Short story is a fictional work of prose that is shorter in length than a
novel. Edgar Allan Poe, in his essay “The Philosophy of Composition”, said
that a short story should be read in one sitting, anywhere from a half hour to
two hours. In contemporary fiction, a short story can range from 1,000 to
20,000 words.10
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often
in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works
of fiction, such as novellas (in the 20th and 21st century sense) and novels or
books. Short story definitions based upon length differ somewhat even

9
Sidney Paget, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, retrieved from
http://www.sherlockholmesonline.org/Biography/index.html on 15th June 2011
10
Cliff, What is a Definition of Short Story?, retrieved from
,HTTP://WWW.CLIFFSNOTES.COM/SECTION/WHAT-IS-A-DEFINITION-OF-SHORT-STORY-.ID-
305403,ARTICLEID-7941.HTML ON 29TH DECEMBER 2010
 14

among professional writers, due somewhat in part to the fragmentation of

the medium into genres. 11
The term “genre” is used to refer to particular text types. It is a type or
kind of text defined in terms of its social purposes, also the level of context
dealing with social purpose.Genre is a term for grouping texts together,
representing how writers typically use language to respond to recurring
situations.12
According to Gerrot and Wignell, there are many kinds of genres (text
type). They are:13
a. Spoof
Spoof is a kind of genre that has social function to retell an event with a
humorous twist.
b. Recount
It is a kind of genre that has social function to retell event for the
purpose of informing or entertaining.
c. Report
Report is a kind of genre that has social function to describe the way
things are with reference to range of natural, man-made and social
phenomena in our environment.
d. Analytic Exposition
It is a kind of genre that has social function to persuade the reader or
listener that something is the case.
e. Anecdote
Anecdote is a kind of genre that has social function to share with others
or listeners an account of an unusual or amusing incident.

11
Wikipedia, Short Story, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_story on 29th
December 2010
12
Ken Hyland, Genre and Second Language Writing,(The United State of America: The
University of Michigan Press, 2004), p.4.
13
L. Gerrot and P. Wignell, Making Sense of Functional Grammar, (Sidney: Antepodean
Educational Enterprises, 1995), pp. 192-217
 15

f. Narrative
Narrative is a kind of genre that has social function to amuse, entertain
and to deal with actual or various experience in different ways.
Narratives deal with problematic events which lead to crisis or turning
point of some kinds, which in turn finds a resolution.
g. Description
It is a kind of genre that has social function to describe a particular
person, place, or thing.
h. Hortatory Exposition
It is a kind of genre that has social function to persuade the reader or
listener that something should not be the case.
i. Explanation
Explanation is a kind of genre that has social function to explain the
process involved in the formation or working of natural or socio cultural
phenomena.
j. Reviews
It is a kind of genre that has social function to critique an art work or
event for a public audience.
k. Discussion
It is a kind of genre that has social function to present (at least) two
points of view about an issue
l. Procedure
Procedure is a kind of genre that has social function to describe how
something is accomplished through a sequence of actions or steps
m. News Item
It is a kind of genre that has social function to inform reader, listener,
viewers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or
important.
 16

The story of The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes includes narrative,

because this story is a fiction story and has a social function to entertain the
readers. In the short story must be noun phrase. There are some types of
noun phrase that found in the short story. The types are first, Pre-modified
noun phrase, is a noun in which the head is preceded by a modifier(s), such
as noun phrase found in the story “The Adventure of The Speckled Band”
NP[ (M d the M
GP world’s M
Adj greatest) (H N detective)]. Second, Post-
modified noun phrase, is a noun phrase in which the head is followed by a
modifier(s), such as noun phrase found in the story “A Case of Identity” NP
[(H N ceremony) M PP(at the church)]. The last is Pre-modified-post-modified
noun phrase, is a noun phrase in which the head is preceded and followed by
a modifier(s), such as noun phrase found in the story “The Boscombe Valley
Mystery” NP[(M e a H N case M RCL (involving a youth wrongfully accused of
murder)].

D. Teaching Noun Phrase

1. Good Teaching
A question prior to ‘What is good teaching?’ ‘What is teaching?’.
What indeed. Teachers may find this bald question strangely difficult to
answer. It is just teachers do, in lectures, classes, seminars, workshops
and tutorials. Teachers study literary text and movements, theoretical
and critical work, performances and so forth, and analyze and discuss
them with their students; they try to help their students become better at
expressing their ideas and feelings verbally; in writing creatively;
teachers mark asses their work, but whatever teacher might reply, they
are unlikely these days to say simply, “well, we tell them what we
know”
 17

Teaching is a means to an end-a complex of activities, strategies,

mechanisms, invitations, stimuli, and rhetorical ploys designed to help
students learn and to become better learners.14
Good teaching as stated by Hirst and Peters should have some
goals. They are:
a. To bring out about learning
b. To signed what is to be learnt
c. To be intelligible to the students and within their capacities
d. To engage and/or extend their enthusiasm for the subject
e. To encourage critical, independent thinking15
The first goal assumes that teacher should intend to bring about
learning, by whatever means, it means that teaching-learning aims to
create conditions in which learning is possible. The second goal draws
attention to the point that in education there must be a content to be
learnt. It should be clear that the content includes theories, processes,
related activities and skills, pursuits and so on. The next goal means that
teaching should use a variety ways or technique in which teacher can
make the subject matter intelligible to students. Then good teaching
should be aiming to engage and/or extend students’ interest in and
enthusiasm for the subject. We could hardly regard someone as a good
teacher if in the process the students were bored or alienated. The last
aim teaching should be conducted in such a way that students are
encouraged to think critically and independently about what they study.
To reach these goals, teacher needs some teaching approaches,
methods and techniques. Edward Anthony, American linguist gave
distinction among them.

14
Ellie Chambers and Marshall Gregory, Teaching and Learning English Literature,
(London: Sage Publications, 2006), 1st Ed. p.40
15
Ibid, p.46
 18

An approach is a set of correlative assumptions dealing with the

nature of language teaching and learning. An approach is
axiomatic. It describes the nature of the subject matter to be taught.
Method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language
material, no part of which contradicts, and all of which is based
upon, the selected approach. While technique is implementational–
that which actually takes place in a classroom. It is a particular
trick, stratagem, or contrivance used to accomplish an immediate
objective. Technique must be consistent with a method, and
therefore in harmony with an approach as well.16

It means that an approach is more general than a method while a

method is a specific set of procedures that typically compatible with one
(or sometime two) approaches and that a technique is a very specific
type of learning activity used in one or more methods.
Noun phrase is one part of grammar. Grammar is about form and
way to teach form is to give students rules; however, grammar is about
much more than forms, and its teaching is ill served if students are
simply given rules. The place of grammar in teaching foreign language is
controversial. Most people agree that knowledge of a language means,
among other things, knowing its grammar; but this knowledge may be
intuitive (as it is in our native language), and it is not necessarily true
that grammatical structures need to be taught as such, or that formal
rules need to be learnt.
There are some opinions on this question relating to the teaching of
grammar, such as:
First, according to L. Newmark “the important point is that the
study of grammar as such is neither necessary nor sufficient for learning
to use a language."17 L. Newmark says that we do not need to learn
grammar, as such, in order to learn a language. This statement is
probably true: one learns one’s mother tongue without studying
grammar. But it is, perhaps, a little misleading, and misses the point. The

16
Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers, Op.Cit .p.15
17
Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1991), p.77
 19

important question is not whether teaching and learning grammar is

necessary and/or sufficient for language learning, but whether it helps or
not. And the writer’s opinion is that yes, it does help, provided it is
taught consistently as a means to improving mastery of the language, not
as an end in itself.
Second, it is still L. Newmark’s opinion “the student’s craving for
explicit formulization of generalization can usually be met better by
textbooks and grammar that he reads outside class than by discussion in
class.”18 It is better, he says, for the learner to study grammar
individually and independently than as a part of the classroom lesson.
The interesting thing about this quotation is that the learner does want to
study rules (‘the student’s craving…’). The writer gives on reasons to
support his claim that grammar is better studied outside class; and if
learners see the study of grammar as desirable as a part of their learning,
the writer’s opinion this is surely sufficient justification for the teacher to
help them by providing information and practice in the classroom.
Next, Eric Hawkins’ opinion “the evidence seems to show beyond
doubt that though it is by communicative use in real ‘speech acts’ that
the new language ‘sticks’ in the learner’s mind, insight into pattern is an
equal partner with communicative use in what language teachers now
see as the dual process of acquisition/learning. Grammar, approached as
a voyage of discovery into the patterns of language rather than the
learning of prescriptive rules, is no longer a bogey word”.19 Here, Eric
Hawkin is affirming the usefulness of grammar for effective language
learning. He also implies that grammar can be interesting (‘a voyage of
discovery’) in itself: apparently a reaction against traditional prescriptive
rule-teaching, which he describes as a ‘bogey’. The writer agrees with
him in principle and of course the students can find an intrinsic interest
in grammar if the teacher can use interesting approach to teach it. The

18
Ibid
19
Ibid
 20

main point is an affirmation of its value as a means to help language

learning.
Based on these opinions, the writer gives opinion that teaching
grammar is crucial because teaching grammar means enabling language
students to use linguistic forms accurately, meaningfully, and
appropriately. While grammatical structures not only have
(morphosyntactic) form, they are also used to express meaning
(semantic) in context-appropriate use (pragmatic).
Back to teaching noun phrase, of course, needs certain approach,
method and technique, because many students who learn English get
some difficulties in learning it, especially in analyzing the construction
of noun phrase. Noun phrase has many compositions, based on the
position of the modifier. Sometimes, the students are difficult to
determine the position of the modifier’s form. And it is very important
teaching noun phrase should have aim that the students should master
noun phrase in order they can communicate grammatically and correctly.
There are some teaching approaches that can be used in teaching to reach
the goals of good teaching such as Grammar-Translation, Direct, Audio-
lingual, Oral-Situational, Cognitive, Affective-Humanistic,
Comprehension-Based and Communicative Approach.20

2. Cognitive Approach
Actually there is no the best approach to teach grammar (noun
phrase). Each approach has surplus, lack and characteristic itself. The
writer chooses cognitive approach to teach grammar (noun phrase)
because she thinks that this approach is appropriate.
First, let the writer explains what we mean when we use the term
language and cognition. Cognition can be thought of as the act or
process of obtaining knowledge including perceiving, recognizing,

20
Marianne Celce-Murcia, Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language,
(USA:Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data, 2001), 3rd Ed, p.5
 21

reasoning and judging. Cognition involves thinking, knowing,

remembering, categorizing and problem solving. Language refers to a
system of symbol that is used to communicate information and
knowledge.21 So, how does thinking affect language and how does
language affect thinking? How do they influence each other? Before
discussing the link between cognition and language as they occur
through life, let define the definition what cognitive approach is.
Actually, this approach is a reaction to the behaviorist features of
the Audio-lingual Approach; influenced by cognitive psychology,
Neisser, and Chomskyan linguistics (Chomsky).
Cognition refers to mental activity including thinking,
remembering, learning and using language. According to N. Ellis, a
major researcher notes that the study of cognition in language learning
deals with mental representations and information processing.22
Cognitive approach is theory of grammar that relates grammar to mental
processes and structures in human cognition.23 When we apply a
cognitive approach to learning and teaching, we focus on the
understanding of information and concepts. If we are able to understand
the connections between concepts break down information and rebuild
with logical connections, then our understanding of material will
increase.
When we are aware of these mental actions, monitor them and
control our learning processes it is called metacognition, which varies
from situation to situation, will greatly affect how individuals behave in
a given situation. Understanding of language, or psycholinguistics, is
essential to our understanding of print and oral acquisition of knowledge.

21
Insup Taylor, Psycholinguistics: Learning and Using Language, (USA: Prentice-Hall,
1990), p.19
22
Marianne Celce-Murcia, Op.Cit., p. 267
23
Wikipedia “Cognitive Approach to Grammar”, retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_approaches_to_grammar on 7th of February 2011
 22

Comprehension and perception will allow individuals to interpret

information.
The usefulness of cognitive approach to grammar instruction in
ESL/EFL becomes clear when we consider the problems with purely
communicative approaches. These tend to be based on theories which
distinguish between language acquisition-an unconscious process similar
to the way children learn their first language – and language learning, or
formal instruction on rules, forms, and vocabulary. These theories claim
that the best way to learn a language, either inside or outside a
classroom, is not by treating it as an object for study but by experiencing
it meaningfully, as a tool for communication – perhaps with target
grammar structures physically highlighted or embedded within
communicative activities as recommended by current “focus-on-form”
approaches to grammar instruction.24
This view may be acceptable for many ESL classrooms, although
considerable research shows that when students receive only
communicative lessons, with no instruction on grammar points, their
level of accuracy suffers.
Currently there are four main views of the relationship between
language and thought. One view derives from the attempts of structural
linguists in the early part of the twentieth century to characterize cultures
by the features and complexity of their languages. This is represented by
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis which suggest that both thought and language
are determined by culture.25 Known as linguistic determinism, this
position refers to the idea that people’s thought processes are culturally
determined by the features of the language they speak.
The second view of the relationship between language and thought
is held by researcher such as the child psychologist Piaget, and suggest
that cognitive development in the infant occurs in clearly defined stages

24
Marianne Celce-Murcia, Op.Cit., p. 268
25
Ibid, p. 269
 23

and precedes language. Thus, before infants can learn language forms
such as noun, they must possess certain cognitive prerequisites such as
an understanding that objects have a permanent existence.
A third theory derives from the rationalist concept of innate mental
structures and views language and cognition as separate. This approach
is represented by the work of Chomsky and more recently by Pinker who
argue that language is an innate, human specific ability which is not
dependent on other cognitive processes.
Although the existence of innate principles has received some
empirical support, it has also been suggested that social interaction is a
major importance in developing language capacity. This fourth view
comes from interactionists such as Vygotsky who hold that thought and
language are initially separate but become interdependent during acts of
communication since meaning is created through interaction.26
There are some principles in cognitive approach such as:
a. Language learning is viewed as rule acquisition, not habit formation.
b. Instruction is often individualized; learners are responsible for their
own learning.
c. Grammar must be taught but it can be taught deductively (rules first,
practice later) and or inductively (rules can either be stated after
practice or left as implicit information for the learners to process on
their own).
d. Pronunciation is de-emphasized; perfection is viewed as unrealistic
and unattainable.
e. Reading and writing are once again as important, especially at
intermediate and advanced levels.
f. Errors are viewed as inevitable, to be used constructively in the
learning process.

26
Ibid.
 24

g. The teacher is expected to have good general proficiency in the

target language as well as an ability to analyze the target language.27
Researchers using cognitive models to study second/foreign
language learning (e.g., McLaughlin; Ellis; Skehan; Tomasello) note that
psycholinguistic perspectives have been underrepresented due to
influences from structural linguistics and Chomskian theories of an
innate language acquisition module. As mentioned, although granting
that innate processes appear to guide first language acquisition in small
children, many researchers suggest that after a certain age suggested to
be at puberty, when myelination of neuron connections occurs
second/foreign language learning can be explained cognitively using the
three components if an information processing model: (1) input, (2)
central processing, and (3) output.28
2.1 Input
Input provides essential positive evidence, the language data that
allows acquisition to occur. The stages for processing
selected/noticed input are: (1) the encoding stage, where existing
knowledge located in long term-memory is activated and used to
interpret the new input and construct meaning from it; (2) a
transformation stage, where input is transformed to meaning, this
taking place in short-term or working memory, and (3) a storage
stage, in which the meaning is rehearsed and then transferred for
storage in long term-memory.29
2.2 Central Processing
Information processing refers to the many complex mental
transformations which occur between input and output. Two basic
psychological concepts are used to understand the mind’s
construction of meaning from language input: bottom-up and top-
down processing. The first refers to the process of decoding specific
27
Ibid, p.7
28
Ibid, p.270
29
Ibid.
 25

bits of information from input.30 For example, a reader recognizes

the individual words and the syntactical rules which organizes noun
phrase. In contrast, top-down processing refers to the use of world
knowledge, past experience, expectations, predictions and intuition
stored in the individual’s mind in order to make sense of input.31
Cognitive scientists make a distinction between short-term or
working memory, and long-term, or secondary-memory. Short-term
memory receives input but is limited in storage capacity. Research
suggests that generally only seven items can be stored for about a
minute in short-term memory, whereas long-term memory is
limitless. Transfer from working memory to storage in long term
memory is very important, and has been suggested to be facilitated
by noticing an item in input. These types of memory, short- and
long-term, are important in the development of knowledge about
language.32
There are two forms of knowledge. First is declarative/explicit
knowledge and second is procedural/implicit knowledge. Explicit
knowledge is knowledge about something. It is factual information
which is conscious, and is thought to consist of proposition
(language based representations) and images (perception based on
representations.). For example, when students are able to remember
grammar rules, they are drawing on their explicit knowledge.33
In contrast, implicit knowledge is knowing how to do something
and is usually unconscious. For example the ability to speak a
second/foreign language fluently is a skill that is dependent on
procedural knowledge used automatically.34

30
Ibid, p.271
31
Ibid
32
David W. Carrol, Psychology of Language, (USA: Cole Publishing Company, 1999),p.49
33
Marriene Celce-Muria, Op.Cit, p.272
34
Ibid
 26

The two language knowledge systems are connected by noticing

or awareness, a connection which has been referred to as the
“Noticing Hypothesis”.
Noticing works as follows. Once a student becomes aware of a
particular grammar point or language feature in input, he or she often
continues to notice the structure in subsequent input, particularly if
the structure is used frequently. Repeated noticing and continued
awareness of language features is important because it appears to rise
the students consciousness of the structure and to facilitate
restructuring of the learner’s unconscious system of linguistic
knowledge. Thus when a student pays attention when receiving a
grammar lesson and doing practice exercises, he or she becomes
aware of the grammar feature. When that feature is encountered in
input, the student often tends to notice it, recalling that he or she
learned about it previously. When this happens frequently, his or her
unconscious language system begins to develop new hypotheses
about language structure, altering his or he language system. The
student tests the new hypotheses by noticing language input and by
getting feedback on the accuracy of his or her own input.35
The final point is the distinction between serial and parallel
processing of information. Serial processing is linear or sequential
and takes place one step at a time, whereas parallel processing is a
special model of cognition based on the idea that many processes
occur simultaneously and are interconnected, forming neural
networks of various levels of activation depending on what is being
processed. Initial processing steps are usually done serially; input is
received and selectively taken into short term memory with the aid of
attention and various strategies. 36

35
Ibid, p.273
36
David W. Carrol, Op.Cit,p. 52
 27

2.3 Output
The final part of an information processing model is output. In
second/foreign language learning theory it has been suggested that
giving learners the opportunity for output is just as important as
giving them input because output serves critical functions in the
learning process.37 When language learner experience difficulties as
they attempt to use the target language to communicate, they often
become aware of what they need to know to express them-selves
effectively. They may ask their fellow students or their teacher for
help, or use their textbook or dictionary to locate the required phrases
or forms.

E. Previous Research
There are some researches which attempt to study the topic related to the
noun phrase, noun phrase in short story, and sentence analysis which is line
with the researcher’s.
The thesis entitled A Descriptive Study of Noun Phrase Construction In
English Vocational Advertisement In Kompas Newspaper written by Agus
Pramono, the student of Muhammadiyah University Surakarta 2008. This
study is about noun phrases in English; especially the noun phrases
constructions in English vocational advertisement. This research is aimed at
identifying the Noun phrase construction in English vocational
advertisement and to describe the typical construction of English vocational
advertisement. This research is descriptive qualitative research that describes
the phrase construction in English vocational advertisement. The result of
this research is some patterns of Noun Phrase construction in English
vocational advertisement in Kompas News Paper. The pattern of Noun

37
Marriane Celce-Muria, Op.Cit, p.273
 28

Phrase are; 1).Det. +Adj.+N, 2).N+N, 3).Adj.+N, 4).N+PP, 5).Adj.+N+PP,

6).Det.+N.38
Another final project discussing noun phrase which the researcher found
is entitled An Analysis of Noun Phrase Translation From English in Ernest
Hemingway’s The Old Man And The Sea Into Bahasa Indonesia in Sapardi
Djoko Damono’s Lelaki Tua Dan Laut written by Asem Tarigan the student
of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts Sebelas Maret University Surakarta
2003. This research is descriptive-qualitative. The researcher analyses the
translation of English noun phrases in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man
and The Sea into Bahasa Indonesia in Sapardi Djoko Damono’s Lelaki Tua
dan Laut. The aim of the research is to find out the translation types used to
translate English noun phrases and the varieties of changes of the English
noun phrases in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea into their
Bahasa Indonesia equivalents in Sapardi Djoko Damono’s Lelaki Tua dan
Laut.
The result of the research shows that the translation types used in
translating English noun phrases in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and
The Sea into their Bahasa Indonesia equivalents in Sapardi Djoko Damono’s
Lelaki Tua dan Laut are word for word translation, literal translation and
free translation. It also shows that there, in fact, are fifteen varieties of
changes from English noun phrases to their bahasa Indonesia Equivalents.
Eight varieties belong to appropriate translation category, of which the
variety of change from pre-modifier + head to inti + keterangan is the most
frequently occurring one, with 28.04%.
Seven varieties happen to belong to inappropriate translation category, of
which the variety of change from pre-modifier (direct modifier) + head +

38
Agus Pramono, “A Descriptive Study of Noun Phrase Construction In English
Vocational Advertisement In Kompas Newspaper”, Thesis of Muhammadiyah University,
(Surakarta: Muhammadiyah University, 2003), p. 42-43
 29

post-modifier (indirect modifier) to inti + keterangan is the most frequently

occurring one, with 4.88%.39
The last thesis is An Analysis Noun and Verb Phrase in D.H. Lawrence’s
Novel “Son and Lovers” written by Khoirun Nisa the student of English
Department of Semarang State University, 2009. This research is
descriptive-qualitative. It analyses noun verb phrase in the novel “Son and
Lovers” through of theory of Transformational Generative Grammar.
Besides discussing the form of English noun and verb phrase, this thesis also
learns their position function and category in the sentence. The result of this
research shows that there are 4,4 % noun phrase and 3,4 % verb phrase that
are used in D.H. Lawrence’s novel “son and lovers”.40
The thesis which the writer writes is different from the previous
researches above. The first previous research does not analyze the type of
noun phrase and the second research analyzes the noun phrase from its
translation and equivalent and the last previous research analyses noun and
verb phrase through of the theory of Transformational Generative Grammar.
All researches also do not explain an approach or technique to teach noun
phrase.

39
Asem Tarigan, “An Analysis of Noun Phrase Translation From English in Ernest
Hemingway’s The Old Man And The sea Into Bahasa Indonesia in Sapardi Djoko Damono’s
Lelaki Tua Dan Laut”, Thesis of Sebelas Maret University, (Sebelas Maret University: Surakarta,
2003), p.48-50.
40
Khairun Nisa, “An Analysis Noun and Verb Phrase in D.H. Lawrence’s Novel “Son and
Lovers”, Thesis of Semarang State University, (Semarang State University, 2009), p.63-65.