Mood analysis and self-correction to enhance EFL s tudents’ conjugation accuracy

This study is more focused on enhancing the accuracy of subject-verb agreement/ conjugation, by employing the mood analysis and self-correction techniques. The purpose of this study is to find out the effectiveness of mood analysis and self-correction practices to enhance EFL students’ conjugation accuracy. This research is an experimental study in a classroom context, which was carried out in the English Department of Stikubank University (UNISBANK) Semarang. Fifteen students played a role in an experimental group while fifteen others played a role in a control group. During the treatment, the experimental group did mood analysis and self-correction while the control group did not. The t-test calculation shows that there is a significant difference between the conjugation accuracy of the text written by the experimental group and that written by the control group. The experimental group outperformed the control group. The research findings indicate that mood analysis and self-correction practices are effective to enhance EFL students’ conjugation accuracy. Thus, it is recommended that practices of mood analysis and self-correction be applied in a teaching grammar lesson.


INTRODUCTION
Many EFL learners find English grammar problematic although they have learned grammar for years (Vannestål & Lindquist, 2007), (Abbasi & Karimnia, 2011) (Ekaningsih, 2017). Research revealed that the types of grammatical errors commonly committed by EFL learners are among others: inappropriate use of English tenses, and subject-verb agreement/conjugation. One grammatical rule which is considered difficult for EFL learners is the rule of subject-verb agreement (SVA). It is the rule of grammar where the subject matches with the verb (or verbs) used in a sentence (Alahmadi, 2019).
This study is more focused on the accuracy of subject-verb agreement/ conjugation, employing mood analysis and self-corrective feedback. The correctness of subject-verb agreement is important to show professionalism, proficiency in the target language, and convey interpersonal meaning. The mastery of SVA is very important to express ideas, especially in writing, where Based on the background above, we are interested in investigating Mood Analysis and Self-Correction to Enhance EFL Students' Grammatical Accuracy (conjugation competence). The research questions can be formulated as 1) How can mood analysis develop interpersonal meaning, a stepping stone to achieve conjugation accuracy? 2) How can self-corrective feedback develop deep understanding, a stepping stone to achieve conjugation accuracy? 3) How can mood analysis and self-corrective feedback enhance EFL Students' grammatical accuracy? 4) What grammatical errors are commonly committed by the students?
Theoretically, this study can develop the theory of applied linguistics. Practically, the result of the study can be used by English teachers as an alternative strategy to teach English grammar.
Conjugation derives from a Latin word referring to the inflection of a verb to show a different person, tense, number, or mood. It teaches us the proper use of a verb which is a basic rule that a foreign language learner should master (Pimsleur, 2013).
Conjugation is one feature to achieve grammatical accuracy which is important for receptive and productive skills because without grammatical accuracy miscommunication may occur. Different inflection morphemes such as '-ing' and '-ed' convey differences in meanings. Therefore, at present, grammar teaching has regained its rightful place in the language curriculum (Richards, 2008) (Azar, 2007). Grammar helps language users to understand and produce texts.
Mood is the term found in functional grammar explaining that language comprises several strata: semantic or meanings, lexico-grammar, and expressions (Eggins, 1994). Various speech functions exist at the strata of meanings which are realized by the system of grammar: mood, namely the structure of subject and finite (Matthiessen, 1995). Question is grammatically realized in interrogative (the mood element is the combination of Finite + Subject). The statement is grammatically realized in declarative (the mood element is the combination of Subject + Finite). While the command and offer are grammatically realized in imperatives (no mood element).
Corrective feedback (CF) is a feedback received on the learner's linguistic errors (Sheen & Ellis, 2011). In the student-center learning system, students should be encouraged to give self-corrective feedback to their work (Hedge, 2001). Self-correction requires the learners to identify the errors, write the correction, and self-evaluate their answers, evaluating their responses. The research results showed that self-corrective feedback is more efficient (Skinner et al., 1992). Research on indirect corrective feedback reveals the usefulness of self-correction (Maharani, 2017).
Previous studies of grammatical accuracy have been done. Research on grammatical errors investigating SVA in the texts written by Saudi students revealed that the most committed errors are SVA errors with singular subjects (Alahmadi, 2019).
SVA is a common mistake made by Malaysian students. The problem is also faced by students at the postgraduate level whose first language is not English (Darus & Subramaniam, 2009) (Stapa & Izahar, 2010).
A study at Sudan University concluded that the EFL learners found problems in using inflectional morphemes. Their sentences had no subjectverb agreement. The mistakes were because of the misapplication of rules and overgeneralization (Adam & Eljack, 2020).
A study at the University of Madura explored English writings by Indonesian EFL students. It is found that the grammatical problems mostly faced by the students are problems of tense and SVA. And it is found that the main cause of the errors in the Indonesian language is interference (Budiharto, 2019).
All of the previous studies investigated SVA, to find out the errors and the causes of the errors. Different from the previous studies, this research employed mood analysis and self-correction to enhance the EFL students' SVA mastery. Doing MA repeatedly will implant the knowledge of subject-finite agreement or conjugation. Thus, we assume that in grammar teaching, knowledge of formal grammar and functional needs to be taught. To strengthen the EFL students' knowledge of conjugation, the practice of giving self-corrective feedback needs to be added since it will make the students do self-reflection that will impact their self-awareness. Self-correction here refers to an analysis of their work. The practice of analyzing problems is recommended by the Indonesian Education Minister to enhance the students' higher thinking skills.

Hypothesis
The null hypothesis of this research can be formulated as "There is no significant difference between the grammatical accuracy of the text written by the students who did mood analysis -practiced self-correction and the grammatical accuracy of the text written by the students who did not do mood analysis -did not practice self-correction."

Procedures
The research procedure is as the following:

Pre-test
It is to reveal the students' initial grammatical accuracy/ conjugation accuracy competence. In the research, the researchers gave a pre-test to all of the students. They wrote a one-paragraph text with their topic. The SVA competence was assessed by dividing the correct clauses in terms of SVA by the total number of clauses in a text.

Treatment
Both the control and the experimental groups follow the instructional procedure: 1) Building the context, 2) Modeling, 3) Text analysis, 4) Joint construction, and 5) Individual construction. The difference is in the EFL learners' activities in the steps of Text analysis, Joint construction, and Individual construction. Different from the previous studies that didn't explore the effective techniques to teach conjugation, this research attempted to reveal the more effective techniques employed in genre-based approach to teach conjugation.
Building the context stage is to activate the students' previous knowledge and introduce the context of the topic and the teaching materials. Explicit teaching concerning the language rule is also done here (Purba et al., 2020). Both experimental and control groups had the same activities in this step. The teacher started the class by brainstorming activities and explaining the sentence structure and tenses. This step made the students more motivated and prepared to learn the new materials. This is in line with the purpose to open a class, i.e. preparing, motivating, and drawing the students' attention (Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007).
In the modeling stage, the sentences were presented in a text to make the sentences more meaningful. Various knowledge of the world was conveyed in the modeling texts. This is in line with the text-based approach principle that the students not only master the language knowledge and skills but also achieve literacy (Mumba & Mkandawire, 2019). The modeling text was used as a stimulus, followed up with practices such as identifying sentence types, comprehension questions, and guided composition. Both experimental and control groups had the same activities in this step.
In the step of Text analysis, the experimental group did a mood analysis of the text provided by the teacher, namely by analyzing the mood elements, Different from the experimental group, the control group did a 'conventional' analysis of the text provided by the teacher, namely by only identifying the subject and verb of each clause in the text, without mentioning the finite, predicator, and residue. Example: Tina studied hard, S V so she gets a good score.

S V
Both experimental and control groups worked in groups of 3 in the classroom. For the assignment done outside the classroom, they found a text and analyzed the text in the same way but they worked individually. The control group only identified the subject and the verb without mentioning the finite, predicator, and residue.
Having a sufficient and deeper concept of the sentence types, the students started writing their texts in groups with the teacher's help in the Joint construction stage. They worked in groups: the whole class, small groups. This is in line with Vygotsky's sociocultural theory that initially the student needs scaffolding or assistance from his peer and teacher (Haider & Yasmin, 2015). This stage focuses on the process of creating a text. Thus, the sentences are presented in a meaningful text to make them aware that learning a language is learning to communicate meaning. The students must initiate the text topic, not the teacher. The teacher only assists. The teacher gradually reduces the contributions. Having finished writing the text, they analyzed the text in the same way as they did in the step of 'Text analysis.' For the assignment done outside the classroom, they wrote a different text with a different topic, then analyzed the text in the same way. The experimental group wrote a text and did a mood analysis of the text, while the control group wrote a text and identified the subject and verb of each clause in the text.
Having passed the 4 stages, the students are ready to write a text containing simple, compound, and complex sentences independently without help from others. The teacher who is one of the researchers assigned all of the students to write one-paragraph text. After finishing writing the text, each student in the experimental group proofread his/ her text, gave self-corrective feedback on her/ his work, and revised it based on the feedback before submitting it to the teacher. Self-corrective feedback is part of the writing process to raise EFL students' awareness concerning their errors. This is a way of allowing them to find the errors and correct the errors by themselves. This way will guide the students to be responsible and independent learners.
In this research, each student in the experimental group was asked to proofread his/her work, find any errors, give comments, then correct and rewrite the text. Here are some examples of the comments: 1. The verb doesn't match the time 2. The verb doesn't match with the subject

No verb 4. No inflection
This is in line with the notion that self-corrective feedback is indirect feedback allowing the students to perceive the correct form by themselves (Ramírez Balderas & Guillén Cuamatzi, 2018). This is a good way to develop problem-solving skills and this in turn will develop deep understanding because of deep learning.
Different from the experimental group, each student in the control group wrote a text and directly submitted it to the teacher without giving selfcorrective feedback on her/ his work and the teacher gave feedback to the text.

Post-test
Each student in both groups wrote a story about her/ his impressive experience for 60 minutes. In order that the writing reflects the students' competence, they were not allowed to consult a dictionary or open gadget while writing. The writing products in this post-test become the data to be analyzed in the research.

Comparing the grammatical accuracy of the texts produced by the control group and the experimental group
To know whether the difference is significant or not, a t-test calculation was done.
And to know the students' opinions concerning their mood analysis and self-corrective feedback practice, the researchers also did an open-ended interview. The interview to experimental group students was carried out as a follow up of the statistical analysis result, to verify the strength, benefit, obstacles, and challenges of mood analysis and self-corrective feedback practices. It was to reveal the students' opinion, perception of learning grammar using mood analysis and self-corrective feedback techniques.
Therefore, an open-ended question was asked to the students: 'What is your opinion, perception of learning grammar using mood analysis and selfcorrective feedback techniques?' Furthermore, the interview results were analyzed using content analysis. The way to analyze the interview data was (1) coding the interview results, (2) reading the excerpt, (3) grasping what were conveyed by the interviewees. In this way, the students' opinion, perception of learning grammar using mood analysis and self-corrective feedback techniques were revealed.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Results
The pre-test results show that the average score of the control group is 58.5 while that of the experimental group is 57. It means that both groups have similar competence before the treatment.
After the treatment, the conjugation competence of all the students in the control and experimental groups increases. However, the experimental group's average score is 82, which is higher than the control group's average score of 73. The t-test calculation shows that the t-calculated score is -4.972 with a significance value of 0.000. It means that the experimental group's average score differs significantly from the control group's one.
The students did a post-test by writing a one-paragraph text entitled 'my impressing experience.' Like the pre-test, the post-test was assessed by dividing the correct clauses by the total number of clauses. Here is the result of the post-test. The table shows that the t-score is -4.972, with a significance score of 0.000, meaning that the difference is significant.
Errors were found in the students' work. The errors committed by the students were analyzed and classified in the table below. To know the reason(s) to make an error, an interview question was asked to the error maker, 'Why do you make such an error?' And their answers can be classified as shown in the table below. Overgeneralization I overgeneralize that in one sentence, I use the same tenses for all the clauses.

REG10
3 Tense sense I often ignore the concept of each clause in my sentence, whether it is an activity in the past, in the present, or an opinion.

REG12
The researchers were curious to find out how and why mood analysis and self-corrective feedback can develop the students' grammatical accuracy from the students' point of view. Thus, an open-ended interview was carried out to reveal their opinion by asking 'What is your opinion, perception of learning grammar using mood analysis and self-corrective feedback techniques? The question was asked to 10 students whose post-test achieve excellent, very good, good, and fairly good competence. Content analysis was employed to grasp what were conveyed by the students. It revealed that from the students' point of view, mood analysis and self-corrective feedback practices were beneficial, important, challenging, and awareness raising. Table 4 below shows sample perceptions.

Mood analysis to develop a sense of interpersonal meaning
In speaking and writing a language, people simultaneously convey ideational, interpersonal, and textual meanings, namely meanings about the field, modes, and tenors (refer to who are taking part), realized by mood elements: subject and finite. Interpersonal meanings are related to what the people want and need to make in interacting with others (Halliday, 2014). Through interpersonal meanings, we communicate our feelings/attitudes/intentions.
When we talk about interpersonal meanings and mood, we talk about clause as an exchange because, in communication, the mood is exchanged. Speaking or writing is an interactive event inherently involving a speaker or writer and an addressee (listener or reader). A response is expected (Gerot & Wignell, 1995) (Linda & Peter, 1995). Example: I didn't; Who did?; He did; Yes he did; No she didn't. The mood elements are exchanged in communication, while the other elements such as the predicator, complement, and adjunct/ adverb called residue are not exchanged. This implies the importance of mood elements (SVA) mastery in learning English as a foreign language.
In communicating, spoken or written, we have intentions/ speech functions or interpersonal meanings to be conveyed to the interlocutors. These meanings are realized by the grammatical system of mood (SVA). Mood features are realized structurally through the ordering of subject and finite (Matthiessen, 1995). Question is grammatically realized in interrogative (the mood element is the combination of Finite + Subject). The statement is grammatically realized in declarative (the mood element is the combination of Subject + Finite). While the command and offer are grammatically realized in imperatives (no mood element). Thus, understanding mood elements (SVA) has a key role for EFL students to master English.
The experimental group did move analysis to enhance their awareness of the existence of the mood elements and to implant the habit of employing mood elements appropriately based on the context of the text. Here is an example of the mood analysis. The sample analysis above shows that the student includes simple, compound, complex sentences meaningfully in a text. The data show that the finite anchors the writer's proposition, primary tense, modality, and polarity. Thus, finiteness combines the specification of the polarity, temporal or modal reference of the speech event of what the language user is saying or writing. Examples: • We should be more optimistic about the future: positive polarity, and median modality. • We experienced failures in the past: positive polarity, and past tense.
• We must try to face our future positively: positive polarity, and high modality. • They hesitate to try new things: positive polarity, present.
Through the primary tense, the writer shows when an entity occurs: past, present, future. Modality shows the writer's judgment of the probabilities or the obligations of what she is saying. Finite also shows polarity: positive or negative. Sometimes a finite element and a lexical verb are fused.
Mood refers to interpersonal meanings through which social relations are created and maintained. By doing mood analysis, the understanding of the mood elements and mood system will be developed which simultaneously will develop the students' sense of interpersonal meaning.

Self-corrective feedback to develop a deep understanding
Cognitive theories assume that corrective feedback assists acquisition. The students are commonly primarily focused on meaning, thus, ignoring and committing errors. Students should be allowed to self-correct and, if it fails, then let other students do the correction, and the last is the teacher (Hedge, 2001).

Mood analysis and self-correction to effectively develop grammatical accuracy
The t-test calculation shows that there is a significant difference between the grammatical accuracy of the text written by the students who did mood analysis -practice self-correction and that of the students who did not do mood analysis -practice self-correction. This calculation indicates that the practice of mood analysis and self-correction can effectively develop EFL students' grammatical accuracy, in this case, SVA/ conjugation. The experimental group masters the conjugation well (average score: 82), while the control group masters the conjugation fairly well (average score: 73). Below is the explanation of how and why the practice of mood analysis and self-correction can effectively develop EFL students' grammatical accuracy.
The previous sections mentioned that mood analysis and self-correction enhance self-awareness, deep understanding, a habit of mind, tense sense, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. Mood analysis and self-corrective feedback promote learners to be thinkers; they think of the texts they analyze. In this study, the students thought of the texts from the perspectives of mood elements and conjugation. And these activities or learning experiences promote their self-awareness of the importance of mood elements/conjugation in a sentence. Self-awareness theory states that the acts of self-evaluation and thinking promote self-awareness (Ackerman, 2020). This argument is also supported by the students' perception. Sample perceptions: Mood analysis and self-correction promote learning and deeper understanding because the students do deep thinking and deep learning (Hattie & Yates, 2014). Here are some students' perceptions: 1. Those make me know that I must think of conjugation when I write a sentence. (OEG13) 2. Now, I learn that verb must exist in a sentence; the main verb in a sentence consists of predicator and finite. (OEG11) Mood analysis and self-correction develop the students' habit of mind toward mood elements and conjugation. A habit of mind refers to having a character toward behaving intelligently (Costa & Kallick, 2008). A habit of mind among others consists of sensitivity, capability, and commitment. The habit of mind was acquired because of the students' repeated practice of mood analysis and self-correction. This is in line with behaviorism theory stating that habit is formed through repeated behavior established through learning (Nilsen et al., 2012). The students' perceptions (OEG2) (OEG6) (OEG13) (OEG11) above imply that they have acquired a new habit of mind.
Mood analysis and self-correction improve the students' tense sense because finite carries (1) primary tense, (2) positive and negative form, (3) modality, and (4) agreement. By manipulating the subject and finite, we manipulate the mood, the interpersonal meaning, and the intent (Eggins, 1994). By having a tense sense, the students will understand the rhetorical concept of each clause and then can decide when to shift tense. The tense shift is problematic for the students as revealed in an interview. Here is one student's perception: I often ignore the concept of each clause in my sentence, whether it is an activity in the past, in the present, or an opinion. (REG12) Mood analysis and self-correction develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Twenty-first-century teaching and learning prepare the students for living in the 21 st century that requires the students to have a higher order of thinking skills such as critical thinking and problem solving (Mantra et al., 2022) (Ratu Betta Rudibyani, 2020. In doing mood analysis and in giving selfcorrective feedback, the students need to think critically; they need to analyze and evaluate a text. Therefore, the student's critical thinking skills will be strengthened. Self-correction requires students to look at a problem and solution, cover the problem and solution, write the problem and solution, and self-evaluate their answers, evaluating their responses (Skinner et al., 1992). Thus, problem-solving skills will be strengthened by the practice of self-correction. The practice of analyzing problems is recommended by the Indonesian E-ISSN: 2528-4479, P-ISSN: 2477-5304 http://jurnal.unissula.ac.id/index.php/edulite DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30659/e.8.1. 209-226 2. Mood analysis and self-correction promote deeper understanding because the students do deep thinking and deep learning. 3. Mood analysis and self-correction develop the students' habit of mind toward mood elements and conjugation. 4. Mood analysis and self-correction improve the students' tense sense because finite carries (1) primary tense, (2) positive and negative form, (3) modality, and (4) agreement. And this in turn will develop the students' sense of interpersonal meaning. 5. Mood analysis and self-correction develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills because in doing mood analysis and in giving self-corrective feedback, the students need to think critically; they need to analyze and evaluate a text. Self-correction requires students to look at a problem and solution, cover the problem and solution, and write the problem and solution.
Based on the conclusion above, it is recommended that mood analysis and self-correction be applied in a teaching grammar lesson.

AUTHOR STATEMENT
Author 1: Conceptualization, data collection and management, data analysis, writing the abstract, introduction, methodology, results and discussion, and conclusion. Author 2: supporting results writing, editing and refining the overall manuscript. Author 3: reference management software and proofreading.