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Presenter
Slamet Abdullah
FKIP/Lembaga Bahasa Universitas Sriwijaya
Indonesia

Title
Optimizing the Senior High School Students’ Language Monitor by Improving their Self-Error Identification Ability

Abstract
In relation to the concept of language monitor--by which the learner can edit his language--and language learning, Dulay et al. (1982:67) state that “monitor represents one’s conscious knowledge of the rules and forms of the language.” One of the functions of monitoring is grammatical sensitivity, that the individual’s ability to demonstrate his awareness of the syntactical patterning of sentences in a language (Carol, 1973 in Dulay., 1982:67). Dulay et al. (1982) also describe that the difference between the language used by children and that used by adults depends on the use of monitor.  The monitor is responsible for conscious linguistic processing. Learners can use the linguistic knowledge they gain through monitoring to consciously formulate sentences and to correct or edit their speech and writing (Dulay et al., 1982:72).

The degree to which the monitor is used depends on a number of factors--(a) The learner’s age or level of cognitive development, (b) the verbal task being performed, and (c) the learner’s personality. Learners who are insecure self-conscious and afraid to make errors tend to use the monitor more than others. Since most of students in Indonesia start learning English around the age of 12 and the position of English is as a foreign language, the monitoring will be more dominant.

As a matter of fact, the tendency of the use of the monitor by the students is a potential aspect of language learning, especially in writing. In relation to the importance of the use of language monitor in writing, Raimes (1983:149) states that what students really need is to develop the ability to read their own writing and to examine it critically, to learn how to improve it, to learn how to express their meaning fluently, logically, and accurately, and to be able to find and correct their own mistakes.

The above idea suggests that the students’ ability to monitor their language is very important in writing—the ability to monitor one’s language can be used as a means to edit his/her language in writing and this ability can be practiced. This ability includes recognizing their own errors and revising those errors. Through intensive practice, the students’ errors are gradually reduced and eliminated.
This paper is aimed at presenting the result of a research dealing with optimizing the students’ language monitor by using self editing ability.

Key words: language monitor, self-editing

Slamet Abdullah is a lecturer at the English Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University. He holds a Drs. degree in linguistics/TEFL from Malang Institute of Teacher Training and Education and an M.Pd. degree from Sriwijaya University. He is interested in Academic Writing, Teaching Methods and Strategies, and Material Development.