students’ syntactical errors in writing descriptive …
TRANSCRIPT
STUDENTS’ SYNTACTICAL ERRORS IN WRITING
DESCRIPTIVE TEXT AT MTsN 8 MUARO JAMBI
THESIS
YULINAR
NIM TE161836
ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SULTAN THAHA
SAIFUDDIN JAMBI
2020
STUDENTS’ SYNTACTICAL ERRORS IN WRITING
DESCRIPTIVE TEXT AT MTsN 8 MUARO JAMBI
THESIS
Submited as a Partial Fulfilment of the requirements to obtain Undergraduate
Degree (S.1) in English Education Study Program
YULINAR
NIM TE161836
ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SULTAN THAHA
SAIFUDDIN JAMBI
2020
i
Jambi, October 13th
2020
To. Dean of Faculty of Education and Teacher Training
State Islamic University Sultan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi
In Jambi
OFFICIAL NOTE
Assalamu‟alaikum Wr. Wb.
After reading, giving guidance and fixing necessary, we agree that the
thesis entitled “Students‟ Syntactical Errors in writing descriptive text at MTsN 8
Muaro Jambi” by Yulinar, TE161836, has been progressed to be the examined as
a partial fulfillment of the requirement to obtain undergraduate degree (S.1) at
English Education Study Program, Faculty of Education and Teacher Training the
State Islamic University Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi, we assert the thesis can
be accepted well.
Thus, we hope this thesis will be useful for education, religion and nation.
Wassalamu‟alaikum Wr. Wb.
Advisor I Advisor II
Drs. Habibudin Ritonga, MA Hilma Suryani, M.Pd
NIP. .195906121987031003 NIP.19861226201503 2 005
ii
iii
ORIGINALITY THESIS STATEMENT
I who signed below stated that the thesis that I arrange s a requirement to
get under graduate degree which is entitled “Students’ Syntactical Errors in
Writing Descriptive Text at MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi” is originally and truly my
own work.
As certain parts of the thesis which I quoted from the work of other
people, I have written the source clearly in accordance with the norms, rules and
ethnics of academic writing.
If later found that some parts of the thesis are not my own work or
indicated any element of plagiarism, I am willing to accept the consequences in
accordance with rules and regulation prevail. Therefore, in writing this statement I
am in good health and mind.
Jambi, October 13th
2020
Yulinar
TE161836
iv
DEDICATION
First of all, the writer gives praise and thankfulness to Allah SWT because
his blessing and the merciful with deeply this thesis can be finished.
I dedicated this thesis especially for:
My beloved parents, there are my Mother (Salbiah) and My Father (Binar),
thank you for your love, material, best support ,and prayer for me. Both of you
always give me best motivation when I am down. Your love give a power for me
to finish this thesis.
My big family and my sister who always pray and give me support and
spirit as well as wish for my success.
My beloved lecturers, my first advisor (Drs. Habibudin Ritonga, MA ) and
my second advisor (Hilma Suryani, M.Pd) thank you for your times, helps, and
advice, teaching me until I finished my thesis.
The last to all my friends, my classmates (English Member Class of D
2016 ) who can‟t mentioned one by one. thank you for being my friends and
giving support to me.
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MOTTO
فإن مع العسر يسرا , إن مع العسر يسرا
So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief.
Verily, with every difficulty there is relief
(Q.S. Al Insyirah: 5-6)
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
By reciting Alhamdulillahirobbil‟alamin, with all mercies and blessing
Allah SWT, finally the researcher accomplished this thesis. The objective of this
thesis is partial requirement for the undergraduate degree (S1) in English
Education Study, Faculty of Education and Teacher Training in the State Islamic
University Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi which is entitled “Students’
Syntactical Errors in Writing Descriptive Text at MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi”.
The writer would not have been completed without supports, guidance, advice and
special recognition for their invaluable help in accomplishing this thesis.
Therefore, the write would like to express deep appreciation to:
1. Prof. Dr. H. Su‟aidi Asy‟ari, MA, Ph.D, as the Rector of the Islamic University
STS Jambi.
2. Dr. Hj. Fadhillah, M.Pd as the Dean of Faculty of Education and Teacher
Training the Islamic University Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi.
3. Wahyuni Fitria M,Pd, as Chief of English Education Study Faculty of
Education and Teacher Training The Stated Islamic University Sulthan Thaha
Saifuddin Jambi.
4. Drs. Habibuddin Ritonga, M.A as the first Advisor and Hilma Sutyani, S.pd,
M.Pd as the second Advisor.
5. All lectures in Tarbiyah Faculty of State Islamic University Sulthan Thaha
Saifuddin Jambi who have given knowledge to the writer.
6. H. Moeh Djuddah, M.Pd.I as the Principle of MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi and his
staff and teachers who have given their kindness as long as the researcher took
the data.
7. Hartati Ismail, M.Pd, as English teacher of MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi who was
helped the researcher in the process of getting accomplish this thesis.
8. All the students of VIIE as the subject of this research.
9. My big family who have me support and suggestion to the research to
accomplish this thesis
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Finally, the researcher expects this thesis will give contribution to be
teaching English especially. The researcher hopes critics and suggestions of the
readers for the perfection of this thesis. May Allah SWT always gives guidance
and blessing for me and readers. Aamiin ya rabbal alamin.
Jambi, October 13th
2020
The Researcher
Yulinar
TE161836
viii
ABSTRACT
Name : Yulinar
Major : English Education Study Program
Title : Students‟ Syntactical Errors in Writing Descriptive Text at MTsN
8 Muaro Jambi
This research aims to find out the syntactical errors made by students of MTsN 8
Muaro Jambi in writing descriptive text and the frequency of errors. The method
of the research was qualitative method and the approach used in conducting this
research was descriptive research. The data obtained through documentation and
analyzed by Surface Strategy Taxonomy. This study involved twenty students of
MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi as samples The result of the research showed that there are
4 types error made by the students on their descriptive writing. The totals errors
were 41 errors which are divided 31,78% omission errors in 5 kinds, 19,51%
addition errors in 3 kinds, 41,47% misformation errors in 4 kinds and 7,31% mis-
ordering errors in 2 kinds. According to the data analysis, the common error made
by the students was misformation.
Key words: Error, Writing. Descriptive. Syntactical
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ABSTRAK
Nama : Yulinar
Jurusan : Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris
Judul : Kesalahan Sintaksis Siswa dalam Penulisan Teks Deskriptif di
Madarasah Tsanawiyah Negeri 8 Muaro Jambi
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menemukan kesalahan-kesalahan sintaksis yang
dibuat oleh siswa di MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi dalam penulisan teks deskriptif dan
jenis kesalahan yang dominan. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini
adalah metode kualitatif dan pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini
adalah penelitian deskriptif. Data diperoleh melalui dokumentasi dan dianalisis
dengan menggunakan Surface Strategy Taxonomy. Penelitian ini melibatkan dua
puluh siswa MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi sebagai sampel. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan
bahwa ada 4 jenis kesalahan yang dilakukan siswa dalam menulis deskriptif. Total
kesalahan sebanyak 41 kesalahan yang terbagi 31,78% error omission dalam 5
jenis, error addition 19,51% dalam 3 jenis, error misformation 41,47% dalam 4
jenis, dan error misordering sebanyak 7,31% dalam 2 jenis. Berdasarkan analisis
data, kesalahan umum yang dilakukan oleh siswa adalah misformation.
Kata Kunci: kesalahan. Tulisan, deskriptif, sintaksis
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TABLE OF CONTENT
PAGE OF TITLE ..............................................................................................
OFFICIAL NOTE ............................................................................................i
ORIGINALITY THESIS STATEMENT .......................................................ii
DEDICATION ...................................................................................................iii
MOTTO .............................................................................................................iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..............................................................................v
THESIS APROVAL .........................................................................................xi
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................vii
ABSTRAK .........................................................................................................viii
TABLE OF CONTENT ....................................................................................ix
LIST OF TABLE...............................................................................................xi
LIST OF APPENDIXES................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of study ...............................................................................1
B. Focus of Problem ....................................................................................4
C. Problems of study ....................................................................................4
D. Objectives of Study .................................................................................4
E. Significances of Study.............................................................................5
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Writing ...................................................................................................6
B. Error and Mistake ....................................................................................10
C. Syntactical Error......................................................................................10
D. Error .......................................................................................................11
E. The Previous Study .................................................................................17
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Design ......................................................................................18
B. Setting and Subject of the Research ........................................................18
C. Kinds and Source of Data ........................................................................18
D. Technique of Collecting Data..................................................................10
E. Technique of Analysis Data ....................................................................19
F. Trustworthiness of Data ..........................................................................21
G. Research Schedule ..................................................................................22
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CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDING
A. Research Finding .....................................................................................23
B. Discussion ..............................................................................................34
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion...............................................................................................37
B. Suggestion ...............................................................................................37
REFERENCES
APPENDIXES
CONSULTATION CARD
CURRICULUM VITAE
xii
LIST OF TABLE
3.1 Schedule of the research ...............................................................................18
4.1 Frequency of syntactical errors .....................................................................19
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LIST OF APPENDIXES
1. Students‟ Writing Descriptive Text
2. Consultation Card
3. Curriculum Vitae
2
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the study
In teaching learning English, the learners are demanded to master the four
skills in language, those are listening, speaking, reading and writing. According to
Brown in Lailatul Husna (2001) writing is thinking process, because writing is a
process of putting ideas down on paper to transform thought into words and give
them structure and coherent organization. Harmer explained (2007) that writing
gives more „thinking time‟ than they get when they attempt spontaneous
conversation.
Writing is undergone the most difficult skill in learning language. In
which, in writing students needs to master many skills of English; reading,
speaking, vocabulary, and etc. Besides that, students also have difficulty with the
difference between the learners‟ native language rules and that of the language
being learned. Writing is a difficult skill for native speakers and non-native
speakers; because writers must be able write it in multiple issues such as content,
organization, purpose, audience, vocabularies and mechanics such as punctuation,
spelling, and capitalization (Rass in Lailatul Husna, 2001). In expressing idea one
should consider many aspects that will support writing, such as, the relationship
between topic, idea and context, correct grammar, good spelling, mechanics, and
vocabulary. Therefore, when the students learn English especially in writing, they
often make mistakes and errors. Usually they do not master the English structure
well. In fact, making error learning English is a natural process and it can show
the students competence in English. According to Leo in Leli Dwi at.all (2007),
writing as a process of expressing ideas or thought in words should be done at our
leisure. It means to develop the idea to make the longer sentence in written.
There are many rules in grammar that cannot be ignored. They are articles,
part of speech, sentence pattern, tenses, etc. According to Setiyadi (2003), he
points out that English tends to be very difficult to be learnt in Indonesia because
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English has different grammar from Indonesian language which might be difficult
for language learners to understand the system of target language. As we know,
those english and indonesian language do not have similar structure in sentence.
In english we have to know about the used of the verb correctly based on tenses
while in indonesian language we do not have to know about the form of verb. For
example, “he work as a merchant” it should be “he works as a merchant”.
One of the texts that must learned by seventh grade students is descriptive
text. According to Mukarto (2007) descriptive text is used to describe a particular
person, place, or thing. In this text, students describe about topic clearly with his
or her six senses. Thus, the readers are able to get the same sense as what the
writer experienced. The descriptive text have generic structure; first, identification
is introducing whereor who is the subject is being describe. Second, descrptive
text also describe qualities and characteristic or the supporting part of the
paragraph which describe in detail to assisst the reader to see and feel the subject.
The researcher chose descriptive text because student can express look, sound,
taste and smell about people, animals, things and place and their feelings toward
them. They can describe their family, pet, hobby and favorite place. Each students
has different description because the students have different thoughts about
something.
In writing, syntactical problems are unavoidable. According to Atawneh in
Annie Gideon (1994) examined the English syntactic problems persistent in the
performance of educated Arabs living in the United States. Results indicated
performance problems in the areas of (1) tense agreement; (2) relative clause
construction; (3) indirect questions; (4) perfective tenses; and (5) use of
prepositions. Another similar study conducted by Zughoul in Annie Gideon
(2002), had showed that noun phrase errors were second to verb phrase errors, and
the most frequent noun phrase errors were in the use of articles, ordinals were
used interchangeably, and quantifiers were confused as to their use with count /
non count nouns. Syntactic problems created by students cannot be separated from
the lack of grammar knowledge so they transfer their mother tongue to a second
language.
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Having done preliminary study at one of junior high school Muaro Jambi,
the researcher found that, based on the interview with the English teacher, many
students still had difficulties in mastering grammar. One of the reasons was that
the lack of knowledge since they were in elementary school and there are even
students who have never learned it at all. That is why when they are in junior high
school, students have low grammar skills. According to an explanation from an
English teacher, when students write descriptive paragraphs, the error that is
usually found is the absence of s or es in the subject of a third-person singular,
incorrect placement of words, students' ignorance of the use of auxiliaries, is, am,
and are instead of auxiliaries do and does.
There have been many studies conducted related to students' syntactical
errors including: the first research was conducted by Jumriana (2017), where she
conducted research on syntactical errors in writing thesis. She found several types
of mistakes made by students in the form of: verb and verb construction,
transformation, verb, and noun phrase. Second, a study from Frijuniarsi (2016)
regarding syntactical errors on students translation. The results of his research
there are some syntactic errors in the form, noun phrases, verb phrases,
prepositional phrases. Adjective clause, adverb clause. Third, research from Gayo
and Widodo (2018), where they found some syntax errors including passive voice,
tense, noun phrase, auxiliary verb, subject-verb agreement, and demonstrative
determiner.
Syntactical error is a confusion in part of speech. This confusion mostly
happened in constructing words into a clause, phrase and sentence. According to
Anggraini and Susanto (2014) Syntactic errors are errors in sentence or clause
boundaries (run-ons, fragments, and comma splices), word order, and other
ungrammatical sentence constructions. It can be concluded that syntactical error is
confusion part of speech in constructing how words are combined to form larger
grammatical units such as phrases, clauses and sentences
There are many errors will be produced by students in making their
assignment in writing descriptive text. Students make errors when they have to
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express or describe something in English, especially about the structure
construction. Though, there have a lot of studies conducted on syntactical errors in
writing, the scope of the genre of writing is still limited. Therefore, the researcher
is interested in analyzing students‟ syntactical error in writing descriptive text.
Thus, in this research the researcher take the title “ Students’ Syntactical Errors
in Writing Descriptive Text At MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi”
B. Focus of Problem
From the researcher has explained above, there many problems faced by
the students in writing English paragraph. So that, in this study, the researcher
focused on analyzing the first grade students‟ syntactical errors on writing
descriptive paragraph at MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi. To be more focused, the problem
is limited on analyzing the students‟ syntactical errors on English writing through
descriptive paragraph.
C. Problems of Study
Based on the background of study, the researcher would like to seek the
answer by the following problem;
1. What type of syntactical errors found in students‟ descriptive paragraph?
2. What is the most frequent of syntactical errors found in students‟
descriptive paragraph?
D. Objectives of study
The study will be aimed to finding out :
1. The type of syntactical errors in students‟ descriptive paragraph.
2. The most frequent of syntactical errors in students‟ descriptive paragraph.
E. Significances of Study
The result of the study will be benefit for English teachers to improve the
teaching techniques and to encourage students to be more cautious in using every
aspect of grammar in writing descriptive paragraph. For the students, this research
may assist them in writing descriptive paragraph correctly. For the writer, this
research becomes an input about the most typical syntactical errors that the
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students do and the last benefit is for the other researchers, the result may serve as
guidelines for the future study related to the subject.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES
A. Writing
1. Definition of Writing
Writing is an important skill to be mastered in learning English as a
foreign language. Therefore, in writing needs well knowledge and hard thinking
when the writer produce words, sentences, paragraph at the same time with good
English grammatical. There are several opinions about the definition of writing
that have been given by the experts. Writing is a complex process that allows
writers to explore thoughts and ideas, and make them visible and concrete
(Ghaith, 2002). It is an activity that encourages thinking and feeling that will
expres in to the written. When thought is written down, ideas can be examined,
reconsidered, added to, rearranged, and changed.
Bello (1997) states that writing enhances language acquisition as learners
experiment with words, sentences, and other elements of writing to communicate
their idea effectively, and to reinforce the grammar and vocabulary they are
learning in class. It means that writing is not only a means of communication
where students can share their views and thoughts, it is actually a pre request to
master other language skills. Byrne (1997) says that on one level, writing can be
said to be the act of forming symbol; making mark on a flat surface of some kind.
He also states that writing involves the encoding of a message of some kind that is
translating thoughts into language.
From the definition above, it can be concluded that writing is producing
message into written language. Writing is a skill which can learned by anyone
who want to express their thought, ideas, and feeling. In addition, it is a tool of
communication, so that writing is a hard skill because it is an unnatural act which
is need hard thinking and it is a way of remembering and a way of thinking as
well.
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2. Aspect of Writing
Aspect of writing consists of grammar, form, mechanic, vocabulary, and style.
The following aspect can be explained as follows:
a. Grammar
Grammar is employment of grammatical form and syntactic pattern. It
means that sentence is another aspect that should be considered.
b. Form ( organization)
Form means the organization of the content. We should clarify our idea
and make it clear. So, the reader can deduce some organization well. Organization
means there is a communication between the reader and the writer.
c. Mechanic
Mechanic is the use of the graphic convention of the language we have to
pay attention the use of the punctuation and applying of the word of sentence.
Function is very determiners whiter the writer can clear for the reader.
d. Vocabulary
Vocabulary is the most important aspect in teaching a language mastery
vocabulary. It means that, we can explore our idea and effect it in writing.
e. Style
Style means the choice of structure and lexical items to give a particular
tone to flavor the writing. It should be noted that the choice of lexical item to be
used writing must be accordance with the readers. by seeing the opinion above, it
can be said that there are five aspects in writing that have to be paid attention in
writing in order to make the writing more better and understand by the reader.
3 . The Process of Writing
a . Planning
The first step is planning or pre-writing. According to Richards and
Renandya (2002) planning is any activity in the classroom that encourages
students to write. This is the first step that students have to do before they write a
text. There are some activities which provided the learning experiences for
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students at this stage, such as group brainstorming, clustering, rapid free writing
and WH-questions to generate ideas for the students before they write a text.
b . Drafting
The second step is drafting. In this step the writers are focused on the
fluency of writing and are not preoccupied with grammatical accuracy or the
neatness of the draft (Richards and Renandya, 2002). In the draft stage, students
are expected to put the arrangement they did in the planning stage on a paper. In
this stage, spelling rules for the written text are ignored. The students primarily try
to create the content.
c . Revising
The next step is revising. This stage consists of the students‟ review of the
written draft, sharing the draft with a writing group formed in the classroom, and
rearranging the content according to feedback from friends in the writing group.
In this stage, the students might expand the text with new ideas or remove the
unnecessary parts. Revising is a difficult stage for students.
d . Editing
The last step is editing. Up to this stage the focus is on the content. In this
stage spelling rules and punctuation, which are called the mechanical aspect of
writing, are checked. Before sharing what they have written with others, the
students review the draft for the last time and make corrections for readability. An
editing checklist might be prepared illustrating the spelling errors. The students
might benefit from this list for their learning in the future.
4. Descriptive Writing
a. Definition of Descriptive
Oshima and Hogue (2007), descriptive writing appeals to the sense, so it
tells how something looks, feels, smells, tastes, and/or sounds. A good description
is a word picture; the reader can imagine the object, place, or person in his or her
mind. A description usually follows a pattern of organization that we call spatial
order. Spatial order is the arrangement of things in space. Oshima and Hogue
(2007), the supporting sentences not only provide details that prove the truth of
your topic sentences, but they also make your writing rich and interesting.
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Hall in Diani Syahputri (2001), description is writing that uses vivid
details to capture a scene, setting, person, or moment. Effective descriptive
writing includes
a. Sensory details-sight, sounds, smells, tastes, and physical sensation
b. Vivid, precise language.
c. Figurative language or comparisons
d. Adjectives and adverbs that paint a word picture.
e. An organization suited to the subject.
Hall (2001), descriptive writing are chosen to offer specific information,
images, that accompany such writing in magazines and newspaper are equally
important in conveying a specific idea.
Generic structure of Descriptive includes:
a. General classification : contains the identification of matter / a will
describe.
b. Description : contains the explanation / description of the thing/
person to mention a few properties.
c. Language Features : the use of adjective and compound adjectives,
using the simple present
Based on the explanation above, the writer tries to conclude that
description is the text that describes something, the way that things look, smell,
taste, feel, or sound, it can stimulate the reader‟s imagination towards what the
writer experienced with his/her six senses.
b. Purpose of Descriptive Writing
Simon stated that description can serve several purposes as follow:
1) it can illustrate the basis on which you are making inferences, that will allow
readers to imagine the physical object involved in the writer experience.
2) it can provide visual images to make the essay lively and concrete
3) it can reflect criteria for comparing two subjects.
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B. Error and Mistake
Some of people consider that the definition between error and mistake are
the same. Actually, they are quite different because both of them have different
concepts. According to James (1998) errors cannot be self-corrected until further
relevant input has been provided and converted into intake by the learner. In other
words, errors require further relevant learning to take place before they can be
self-corrected. Erdogan (2005) explains that mistakes is a condition when learners
sometimes use the correct form of a certain structure or rule and later on use the
wrong one and it still can be corrected by the learner themselves.
Meanwhile, Ellis (1997) stated that there are two ways to differentiate
between an error and a mistake. The first way is to confirm the consistency of
students‟ performance. Sometimes, the students use the correct items and vice
versa, it is called a mistake. However, if the students use the incorrect items
consistently, it is an error. The second way can be seen from their ability to
correct their deviation by themselves. If the students are unable to make the
correction, it is an error. Meanwhile, they are successful to correct the deviation, it
is a mistake.
An error is a deviation from the adult grammar of a native speakr which
reflects the learner‟s language competence. While mistake refers to a performance
error that is either a random guess or a “slip”, in that is utilize aknown system
correctly (Brown, 2000)
From the explanations above, the researcher concluded that error is
condition when the learners can not make a correction on the error and they need
help others to correct the error. Besides, a mistake is a fault that learners can be
self-corrected and the learners can correct it as soon as realizing what they say or
write is wrong
C. Syntactical Error
Syntactical error is a confusion in part of speech. It is any deviation from
the rule system due to insufficient competence of the target language, particularly
in syntax which involves phrase, clause and sentence. Some of the errors are
difficult to categorize unambiguously, however an error in word meaning may be
11
caused by ignorance of just one word, but it effects are sometimes global: that is
the entire sentence may be affected in unpredictable ways (Ruth Sanders, 1987).
Syntax errors are errors that affect text larger than the word namely phrase, clause,
sentence, and ultimate paragraph. ( Binti, 2007)
Syntactical errors include noun phrase which included, determiner,
nominalization, number, use of pronouns, use of preposition, errors in verb phrase
that include omission of verb, use of progressive tenses, agreement of subject and
verb, error in verb and verb construction, word order, and some errors in
transformations involve negative transformation, passive transformation.
(Tammase, 2011). In brief. Syntactical error is an error relating to the order of
word, phrase, clause and sentence.
D. Error
1. The Definitions of Error
To get clear understanding about the error, it is better for the researcher to
consider several opinions given by some linguists. Ancker in Diani Syahputri
(2000), making mistakes or errors is a natural process of learning and must be
considered as part of cognition. It means that error is a natural phenomenon that
accompanies any human activity, especially when we try the activity for the first
time. When error handled well, it is a welcome companion on the road to
understanding. When we recognize it, and identify its causes, our ability better in
the future increases. We are aware that one learns from ones mistakes, and want to
implement this process fully in our teaching and learning. Intellectually,
understanding the reasons behind an error is an effective way to grasp the nature
of a phenomenon under investigation.
Brown (2000) mentions that error is an obvious deviation of the grammar
from a native speaker that reflecting the inter language competence of the
learners. While, according to Erdogan in Dwi Anggraeni (20019) points out those
errors were considered as being the result of the persistence of existing mother
tongue habits in the new language. Hedge in Vattia Sahal (2018) stated that the
error is an unavoidable part of language learning. In addition, he claimed that
Error is now seen as reflections of learner‟s stage of inter language development.
12
Therefore, the error is one of the inescapable processes that shows the event phase
in learning the inter language.
From all definitions above, the researcher can summarize that error is
grammatically incorrect form that occur in writing, caused by the factor of
competence. On the other hand, they do not understand well the use of
grammatical rules in the target language; it will lead the students to make errors
consistently.
2. Error Analysis
In recent years, studies of second language acquisition have tended to
focus on learners errors since they allow for prediction of the difficulties involved
in acquiring a second language. Error Analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that
focuses on the errors learners make. It consists of a comparison between the errors
made in the target language and that target language itself. Error analysis
emphasizes the significance of learners‟ errors in second language. It is important
to note here that Interferences from the learner‟s mother tongue is not only reason
for committing errors in his target language (khansir, 2012)
Meanwhile, Saville-Troike in Endang Fauziati (2014) states that Error
analysis is the first approach to the study of SLA which includes an internal focus
on learners‟ creative ability to construct language. The primary focus of EA is on
learner errors and the evidence of how learner errors could provide an
understanding of the underlying processes of SLL or SLA.
Vahdatinejad in Diani Syahputri (2018) maintains that error analysis can
be used to determine what a learner still needs to be taught. It provides the
necessary information about what is lacking in his or her competence. He also
makes distinction between errors and lapses (simple mistakes). Mistakes are a
sure sign that learners are learning language, especially L2. This statement suggest
learners know a point or have used many times correctly but somehow slip has
occurred. Errors, On the other hand, occur because learners don‟t probably know a
particular point of target language. Hence error correction has a role to play in
language learning. The explained above means that the students still always
13
learning about their errors for whatever their lack and the teachers should help
students to find the weakness of the students and give their treatments through
explanation or information.
Brown (2006) states that error analysis is a study of error that learner made
during their learning, this study arose since there are many phenomenon about
errors which are made by learners. It can observe the errors, analyze them, and
classify to reveal something.
Corder (in Ellis, 1994) as the mover of the analysis of learners‟ errors
refocused the errors from the perspective of the language process and language
acquisition. Corder suggested five steps to analyze the learners‟ errors: sample
collection, errors identification, errors description, errors explanation, and errors
evaluation.
The first step is collecting sample data for analysis. The researcher may
control the data by narrowly specifying the sample that they intend to collect.
Some researchers used samples that were collected in periods of weeks, months,
or even years in order to determine patterns of error utterances. The second step is
the identification of errors. In this step, the researcher identified the errors by
comparing the learners‟ sentences with the corresponding native sentences. Then,
the researcher identify which parts of the learners‟ sentences were different from
the natives‟ sentences.
The third step is a description of the errors. In this step, the researcher
describes the errors using the surface strategy taxonomy in order to describe the
difference between learners‟ sentences and the corresponding native‟s sentences.
The fourth step is an explanation of the errors. In this step, the researcher
determines the sources of error, in order to find the reasons for the learners‟
errors. The last step is the evaluation of errors. In this step, the researcher
determines which parts of the errors need more explanation or attention. Those
five steps are important in order to analyze and understand the learners‟ errors.
So the writer tries to conclude that the errors analysis is a way of looking
at errors made by the learners of the target language, as a source of information to
14
the teachers, which in turns helps them correct the students‟ errors, and improves
the effectiveness of their teaching.
3. The Types of Error
According to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982), surface strategy taxonomy
highlights the ways surface structure is altered: learners may omit necessary items
or add unnecessary ones; they may misform items or misorder them. Classifying
errors using surface strategy taxonomy can give clear description about cognitive
processes that underline the learner‟s reconstruction of the new language or
language being learned. Surface strategy taxonomy includes errors of omission,
addition, misformation, and misordering. Below is the detailed description of each
category used in surface strategy taxonomy:
1) Omission
Omission is a type of errors which are characterized by the absence of an
item that must appear in a well-formed utterance (Dulay, 1982). The learner may
omit grammatical morphemes in producing a sentence. Grammatical or function
words, on the other hand, are those little worse that play a minor role in carrying
the meaning of a sentence. They include noun and verb inflections (-s, -ed, -ing),
the article (a, an, and the), the verb auxiliaries (is, will, can, may ) and preposition
(in, on, at, under). For example: She lecturer new college. (The correct sentence is
She is the lecturer of the new college.
2) Addition
According to Dulay (1982) addition is a type of errors which are
characterized by the presence of an item which must not appear in well formed
utterance. It is the opposite of omission error. There are three types of addition
errors, which have been observed in speech of both first language and second
language learners. They are double markings, regularizations, and simple addition.
These errors are good indicators that some basic rules have been acquired.
a) Double Marking
This type is usually resulted from the failure to delete certain items
required in some linguistics construction, but not in others. Double marking
15
usually happens in tense. In most English sentences, some semantic failure such
as tense may be marked syntactically only once.
For example: I did not read or I do not read. In English rule of the subject-verb
agreement, the first verb (auxiliary verb) agrees with its subject and the other verb
(main verb) must be constant (read). Learners who have acquired the tense from
both auxiliary verb and main verb often place the marker on both, as in: She does
not understands or I did not went. The auxiliary verb in error of double marking
may be produced twice, as in: Is this is your teachers? or over-marking the form
of auxiliary verb, as in: You did not known me at all or She does not likes him.
b) Regularization
Regularization errors that fall under the addition category are those in
which a marker that is typically added to a linguistic item is erroneously added to
exceptional items of the given class that do not take a marker. There are some
exceptions that can be found in English. For example: the verb sing cannot be
changed into singed but sang. The noun “woman” cannot be pluralized into
womans but women. It is true that in English most of verbs can be changed into
past form by adding –d/-ed after the basic verb and most of nouns can be
pluralized by adding –s/es to singular forms, but not all of them. The description
above shows other errors that may be made by the learners in which the errors are
interfered by regularization. The learners may say, The mans did not cry or
The men did not cried or even, The mans did not cried.
c) Simple Addition
It is an addition error that consists of double marking or regularization. No
particular features characterize all addition errors, which are the use of an item
should not appear in a well formed utterance.
Example: The book is in over there.
A this novel is good.
16
The error in the first sentence is the addition of the preposition in and the
error in the second sentence is the addition of the article a. either the preposition
in or the article a must not appear in those two sentences.
3) Misformation
Misformation error is a type of error that is characterized by using of the
wrong from of the morpheme or structure.
For example: The tiger catch a goat. and The boys is sad. Those two sentences are
not correct. The first sentence should be, The tiger catches a goat. The second
sentence should be, The boys are sad.
In English when the subject is singular, the verb should be verb for
singular, whereas when the subject is plural, the verb should be plural subject too.
4) Misordering
Misordering errors are characterized by the incorrect placement of
morpheme or group of morphemes in utterance. They occur systematically for
both first and second language learning in construction that have already been
acquired, especially in simple embedded questions. The researcher is focusing on
students‟ error in the level of bound morpheme.
The examples are below:
What you do mean? (You do mean is misordering)
What Daddy is doing? (Daddy is doing is misordering)
The first sentence should be, What do you mean?
The second sentence should be, What is Daddy doing?
4. Cause of Errors
The cause of error can be devided into three categories namely Brown (2002):
a. Interlingual Interference
Interlingual Interference is a cause of errors where the learners transfer
their native language system into the target language system. Interlingual
interference is called as interlingual, which is defined by Smith (1994) as the
systematic linguistic behavior of the learners of second or other language.
17
b. Intralingual Interferences
Intralingual is a cause of error from the target language itself due it‟s
complicated system Brown (2002). In this case, the learners have been saved from
the interferences of their mother tongue but as they learn the target language.
They find it more complicated and the result learning, the learner seem to make
generalization of the target system on the basis of the data to which they are
exposed.
c. Carelessness
The error of carelessness is caused of the less knowledge of the students
and the students who are purposely done the mistake. It can be shown when the
students use double preposition or may be phoneme omitted or mistyping.
D. Previous Related Study
There are some studies related with the syntactical errors in writing.
Firstly, a research done by Faidah Yusuf entitle “Syntactical errors made by the
students in writing thesis”, the writer used qualitative descriptive method with the
aimed to find out the types of syntactical errors made by the students in writing
thesis and to find out the most frequent type of errors made by the students in
writing thesis. The writer used Politzer and Romirez‟s theory focusing on the
Syntactical errors. This study found the errors made by students were in the term
of noun phrase, verb, verb construction, and transformation. Then, the most
frequent error found was in the noun phrase term with 48.7%.
Another study research was a research done by Leli Dwi et.all, entitled
“Syntactical Errors in Short Stories Compilation Book Written by English
Department Students of Darul Ulum Islamic University of Lamongan.” The writer
used descriptive analysis in form qualitative. In this research, the researcher wants
to find out types of students‟ syntactical Error in writing short story of English
Department student and the causes of error in short story compilation book of
English department student . Most of the errors found were caused by intralingual
error (error within the target language). The errors found were categorized as local
18
error and few of it were global error. The students‟ short stories or writing were
good in which the percentage of errors was not more than 25% of each short story.
In addition, the previous research by Hembati Ngangbam entitiled “An
Analysis Of Syntactic Errors Committed by Students of English Language Class in
The Written Composition of Mutah University: A Case Study.” This research
examined the English syntactic problems persistent in the written performance of
freshmen English language class of Mutah University. Subjects were 60 native
Arabic speaking students. 15 categories of errors were classified to find out the
causes of syntactic error, which type of errors are more frequent, areas of
weaknesses and problems tend to occur in writing compositions. Results indicate
performance problems committed in this study were due to mother – tongue
interference, misuse sentence fragment, overuse, lack of grammatical knowledge,
formation and developmental errors.
Based on the previous researchers above, they took the research subject
from students in university. In order to separate this study from the previous
study, the researcher will analyze the syntactical errors at junior high school. The
subject of this research only one class, in which there are 20 students. The
researcher choose descriptive text as a genre of students‟ writing. This research
has used surface strategy taxonomy to classify the students‟ errors in writing
descriptive paragraph.
18
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Research Design
The method used in this research is qualitative method. According to
David Williams (1995), qualitative research is the collection of data in a natural
setting, using natural methods, and carried out by naturally interested researcher.
According to Denzim and Lincoln (1987), state that qualitative research is
research that uses a natural setting, with the intention of interpreting phenomena
that occur and are carried out by involving existing methods, in qualitative
research method that are usually utilized are interviews, observations, and use of
documents.
More specifically, the approach used in conducting this research was
descriptive research. Ch Surakhmad in Turfina Andriyani (1991) gives a statement
that a descriptive research is a method in which the researcher uses a descriptive
qualitative research design to get the answer of research question.
Therefore, the researcher will analyze the error occurred syntactically in
students‟ writing with reading deeply to find the errors, then counting them to find
the frequency every types of errors. Every sentence which has error including in it
has its own code to facilitate the analysis
B. Setting and Subject of the Research
a. Setting
The researcher conduct this research at MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi which is
located on Jl. Lintas Jambi Muaro-Bulian KM 22 Kelurahan Pijoan.
b. Subject
The subject of this research is the seventh year students of MTsN 8 Muaro
Jambi. There were five classes of first year students. Then the researcher took one
of classes, that was VIIE to be investigated. The researcher uses purposive
sampling to take the sample.
C. Source of the Data
1. Primary Data
19
In this research, the primary source is the main data to get information
about students‟ syntactical error made by students in writing descriptive text at
MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi. The data will be documentation.
2. Secondary Data
Secondary data is the data supporting of this research. In this research, the
secondary data will be collected from the students‟ result of writing descriptive
text by the english teacher to the students VIIE at MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi.
D. Technique of Collecting Data
Researcher must to know the procedures of data collection in qualitative
research, because the main purpose of research is to get data. Moleong (2004)
stated that the source of data in qualitative research can be collected by
observation, documentation, field note, photo, recording, and picture.
In this research, the researcher use documentation in collecting he data.
According to Creswell (2002), documents consists of public and private record
that qualitative researcher obtain about a site or participants in a study, and they
can include newspaper, minutes or meetings, personal journals, and letters. In this
research the researcher take documentation that is students write descriptive text.
Then student‟s writing is collected and analyzed. From this, the researcher knows
what types of students‟ errors
E. Technique of analysis data
In analyzing the data, the researcher used error analysis method. The error
analysis was used since it fits the characteristic of the data and the nature of this
research. It was strengthened by Gass and Selinker (2008) that error analysis is a
type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make.
Then, Gass and Selinker (2008) there are a number of steps taken in
conducting an error analysis.
1. Collect data. Collecting the students‟ error in writing
2. Identify errors. Identifying the types of errors made e.g.: omission, addition,
misformation or misordering
20
3. Classify errors. Grouping the errors that have been found and stating the classes
of the errors e.g.: error of plural maker, error of conjunction etc.
4. Quantify errors. Explaining the errors and calculating how often the errors
appeared
5. Analyze source. Analyzing the sources of errors
6. Remediate. Based on the kind and frequency of an error type pedagogical
intervention is carried out.
Referring to the steps of error analysis above, the researcher analyzed the data as
follows:
1. Identification of errors
In this stage the researcher will find out any deviation which possibly
could be found in students‟ writing. That could be omission, addition,
misformation and misordering.
2. Classification of errors
Then the researcher will classify the errors which have been found based
on their grammar aspects, such as third person singular verb, to be and so on.
3. Tabulating the errors
The next, the researcher will calculate the frequency of each type of errors
and their grammar aspects.
4. Analyzing the errors
This step dealt with deeper analysis of the errors found and the sources of
errors in the students‟ writing.
5. Drawing a conclusion
After analyzing the errors, the researcher will make a conclusion based on
what have been found.
21
F. Trustworthiness of data
In this research for checking validity the researcher used triangulation.
Moleong (2006) triangulation is authenticity data collection technique of
exploiting data something else outside the data for checking or as comparator to
data. The principle of triangulation comes from navigation, where the intersection
of three different reference points is used to calculate the precise location of an
object. In research, the principle pertains to the goal of seeking at least three ways
of verifying or corroborating a particular event, description, or fact being reported
by a study. Such corroboration serves as another way of strengthening the validity
of a study.
The type of triangulation chosen is investigator triangulation. Flick, et .all
(2004) stated that investigator triangulation is characterized by the use of different
observes or interviewers, to balance out the subjective influences of individuals.
The process of to get the data, researcher took students‟ writing from the teacher
with one data retrieval. Then researcher anlyzed the data.
22
G. Research Schedule
This research be held from January 2020 until October 2020, where the researcher arrangement proposal until the
researcher is taking a thesis examination. The Schedule of the research can be seen below:
Table 3.1
Schedule of the research
N
o
Activiti
es
Month
January February March April May June July August Septem
ber
October November
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5
1 Arranging
Proposal
2 Consultatio
n proposal
3 Preparing
Seminar
3 Proposal
seminar
4 Collecting
data
5 Arranging
thesis
6 Thesis
Improveme
nt
7 Thesis
examinatio
n
23
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
After analyzing the data, from the four types of theory surface strategy
taxonomy the researcher found that there are 41 errors made by the students. The
researcher described the errors based on the four types of errors omission,
addition, misformation and misordering.
The researcher presents and analyzes the data which have been collected
during the research. The data were taken from the students writing descriptive
text. The research continue the results of assignment by the teacher for students
and the topic were my family, pet, and hobby.
There were 120 students in VII. The writer used purposive sampling to got
the subject of the research. Purposive sampling in which based on the specific
purpose of the research. The research took VIIE as the sample of this research .the
researcher took the sample based on the full of descriptive text material that have
been learned by students. Therefore, the sources of the data were 20 descriptive
text which written by VIIE students at MTs 8 Muaro Jambi.
A . Research finding
1. The types of errors
1) Omission error
Omission error takes place when the writer omitted the
necessary items that must appear in a well-formed sentence. In this
type of errors, the researcher finds some errors. Those errors can be
divided into 5 types of errors; omissions on to be, omissions on plural,
omissions of preposition, omissions of pronoun and omissions of
articles.
a. Omission of “to be”
Errors made by students:
24
a). My mom * not fat and skinny also (student 6)
b). One of the scenes that make me laugh * the silliness of
SpongeBob and Patrick (student 15)
c) When chio* tired (student 12)
d). He* taller than me (student 7)
e). They * very funny. (student19)
f). They * local breed chickens (student 14)
The first error is the omission of be/auxiliaries. The users
omitted to be (is /am/ are) that should appear in the sentence. The
error happened because the students did not put to be (is, am, and
are) before using adjective. The student tried to apply English rules
in the wrong construction or they did not master English
grammatical structure.
The correct sentence is:
a). My mom is not fat and skinny also (student 6)
b). One of the scenes that make me laugh is the silliness of
SpongeBob and Patrick (student 15)
c) When chio is tired (student 12)
d). He is taller than me (student 7)
e). They are very funny. (student 19)
f). They are local breed chickens (student 14)
b. Omission of plural
a). They has brown coat with some black spot( student 13)
In this sentence, the student did error omission on plural.
Some is always followed by a plural noun. Therefore, the noun
phrase role requires a plural marker –s. So, it should be better
to change the word “spot” into plural form.
The correct sentence is: They have brown coat with some black
spots
25
b). I love my cat.(student 19)
In this sentence, the student did not change the word
“cat” into plural form. On the paragraph of the writer, he has two
cats. Therefore, the noun should be plural form. So in this case
the student need to add “s” for the word “cat” to plural form.
The correct sentence is: I love my cats
c). Her height is about 169 centimeter(student 18)
in this sentence, student did error on omission of plural.
169 is a number that showed more than one. It is always
followed by a plural noun. Therefore, the noun kind requires a
plural marker s. “centimeter” should be replaced by “centimeters”
The correct sentence is: Her height is about 169 centimeters
c. Omission of preposition
a). My mother has brown skin like women *Indonesia (student1)
In this sentence, the student did not put preposition
between “women” and “Indonesia”. It should be put preposition
of place (in) because there is name of country.
The correct sentence is: My mother has brown skin like women
in Indonesia
d. Omission of pronoun
a).my father name is Suprino. (student 7)
In this sentence, the student did error on omission
possessive pronoun. The student omitted the possessive
pronoun („s) that should be appear in the sentence. Possessive
pronoun can also be formed with an apostrophe mark („) and
add (s). so, the word “father should be “father‟s”.
The correct sentence is: my father‟s name is Suprino.
26
e. Omission of article
a). My sister is active girl (student 3)
In this sentence, the students did error of omission of an
article. Before active should be added by an article an, because the
object is singular which the object is a singular noun
beginning with vowels.
The correct sentence is: My sister is an active girl
b). She has black hair( student 6)
In this sentence, the students did error of omission of an
article. Before active should be added by an article a, because
the object is singular which the object is a singular noun
beginning with consonant.
The correct sentence is: She has a black hair.
2) Addition error
Addition error is a type of error which is the presence of a item
must not appear in well-formed. In other words, the writer add the
unnecessary item in a sentence. In this type of errors, the researcher finds
some errors. Those errors can be divided into 3 types of errors; double
marking, regularization and simple addition.
a. Double marking
a). He is works hard for his family (student 9)
b). I really like to eat whatever she is makes.(student 18)
The error is addition on to be. The researcher found the
error in addition of to be in the students‟ sentence. In this case,
student 9 and 8 did error of addition of to be. the students add
to be after using verb and applying the double marking items.
27
The correct sentence is:
a). He works hard for his family,
b). I really like to eat whatever she makes
b. Regularization
a). My family consist of four peoples (student 7)
In this sentence, the student no need to add –s in the
word “people”. The noun “people” cannot be pluralized into
“peoples” because the word itself is in the plural form.
The correct sentence is:My family consist of four people
c. Simple addition
a). His body tall is about 157 cm (student 8)
In this sentence, the student add the unnecessary word
(body) that does not needed in the sentence. The word “body” is
considered incorrectly used when describing a person‟s height.
The word that should be add in the sentence is “height‟. The
word “height” more better than the word “body”.
The correct sentence is: His height is about 157 cm
b). I likes play with chio (student 12)
In this sentence, the student no need to add –s. in simple
present if subject of first person singular (I) then must followed
by main verb.
The correct sentence is: I like play with chio
c). I am have some chickens (student 14)
The researcher found the error in addition of to be in the
student‟s sentence. The student add to be before verb. To be
am should be omitted.
The correct sentence is:I have some chickens
28
d). She always to buys us things when she has money. (student 2)
In this sentence, the student did error on addition of
preposition. The preposition to should be omitted. It is no need
in this sentence,
The correct sentence is: She always buys us things when she
has money.
e). since I was little until now I am still like this sport. (student 16)
The researcher found the error in addition of to be in the
students‟ sentence. To be is should be omitted, because if there
is verb in sentence then no need to be in this sentence.
The correct sentence is: since I was little until now I still like this
sport.
3) Misformation error
Misformation error is a type of error that occurred by the using of
the wrong form of the morpheme or structure. In this type of errors, the
researcher finds some errors. Those errors can be divided into 4 types of
errors; misfromation of verb, misformation of auxiliary, misformation of
pronoun and misfromation of word choice.
a. Misformation of verb
a). I always watches this movie (student 15)
In this sentence, the student did not use the correct
formulation on simple present. The wrong verb is “watches”. It should
be replaced by “watch” because s/es only can add when student use
subject in third person singular. If the subject is first person singular
student cannot add s/es in the verb.
The correct sentence is: I always watch this movie
29
b). He teached sports (student 9)
In this sentence, the student should not added –ed in the
verb. It must be changed into simple present form. The word
“teach” should be added by -es because the subject is the third
person singular.
The correct sentence is: he teaches sports
c). I lived with my family (student 7)
In this sentence, the students using wrong simple present
form in verb. It must be changed into main verb. The word “lived”
should be “live”.
The correct sentence is: I live with my family
d). she like to give me the best advices (student 10)
e). She always listen my stories and my problems (student 10)
f). It look very cute and adorable (student 11)
g). My father keep them in a small barn in the backyard (student 13)
h). He work as a merchant (student 4)
In this sentences. The students did error on misformation of verb
tenses present. In the present tense when subject is third person
singular then the verb should be added by s/es.
The correct sentence is:
d). she likes to give me the best advices.
e). She always listens my stories and my problems
f). It looks very cute and adorable
g). My father keeps them in a small barn in the backyard.
h). He works as a merchant
b. Misformation of auxiliary
a). They has brown coat (student 13)
In this sentence, the student did error of misformation of
auxiliary. “Has” should be replaced by “ have”. The verb “have” use in
30
third person plural (they) and “has” only use in third person singular
(she, he. it)
The correct sentence is: They have brown coat
b). She have long straight black hair (student 18)
c). My sister have big eyes and pointed nose (student 2)
In this sentence, the students did errors of misformation
auxiliary. “have should be replaced by “has”. The subject that students
use In the sentences are third person singular. So after subject, the
verbs are “has”
The correct sentence is:
b). She has long straight black hair.
c). My sister has big eyes and pointed nose.
d). He is pointed nose (student 20)
In this sentence, the student did error of auxiliary. The
word “is” is error in the sentence. It should be replaced by “has”.
The correct sentence is: He is pointed nose.
c. Misformation of pronoun
a). Her hair is black and short like me (student 20)
In this sentence, the student omit the wrong pronoun. “her
should be replaced by “his” because in student‟s paragraph describe
about her brother. It means the subject is “he” and pronoun that correct
in the sentence is “his”.
The correct sentence is: his hair is black and short like me.
d. Misformation of word choice
a). She use glasses for helping her see clearly (student 8)
In this sentence, the student did error misformation of word
choice. The wrong word In this sentence is “use”. It should be replaced
by “wear”. In vocabulary there are words that have same meaning but
use In different context. Then, the verb should be add by s because the
subject is third person singular. It is the form of simple present.
31
The correct sentence is: She wears glasses for helping her see clearly.
b). While in summer, my father search the grass farther in the woods
(student 13)
In this sentence, the student did error misformation of word choice.
The wrong word In this sentence is “search”. It should be replaced by
“look for”. The use of the word “look for” is more appropriate than
“search” in this sentence. Besides that. The word “look for” is used to
search for something in physical form and in this sentence “grass” as
physical form that father look for.
The correct sentence is: While in summer, my father look for the grass
farther in the woods
c).I give food them about twice a day, usually in the morning, and
afternoon (student 14)
In this sentence, the student did error misformation of word choice.
The wrong word In this sentence is “give food”. It should be replaced
by “feed”. The word “feed” has the meaning of feeding, especially to
animals. So, the student no need to translated word for word.
The correct sentence is: I feed them about twice a day, usually in the
morning, and afternoon.
4) Misordering error
Misoredering errors are characterized by the incorrect placement of
a morpheme or incorrect sequence. In this type of errors, the researcher
finds some errors. Those errors can be divided into 2 types of errors;
misoredering of noun phrase and misordering of spelling.
a. Misordering of noun phrase
a). She has skin brown (student 6)
b). Mimoy is a cat female (student 11)
In this sentence, the student did error of incorrect placement
about adjective and noun .the noun is error because the sentence
should be put adjective first and followed by noun.
32
The correct sentence is:
a). She has brown skin
b). Mimoy is a female cat
b. Misordering of spelling
a). His weigh is about 70 kg (student 4)
In this sentence, student did error in misordering of
spelling. The student did not pay attention and more focus with the
word. The spelling of the word that the student‟s had wrote
The correct sentence is: His weight is about 70 kg
2. The calculation of error
After identifying and classifying the types of errors, the writer then
conducted an error analysis to determine the dominant errors. To determine the
dominant errors, the writer classified the errors into four categories. The four
categories are omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. In this part, the
researcher counts the frequencies of errors in order to know the percentages of
each type of errors. In calculating the most frequent type of error, the writer
applied the following formula:
f = 𝑑𝑦 x 100%
𝑑𝑥
f= percentage of error
dy= total of the given error
dx=total of whole errors
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Table 4.1
Frequency of syntactical errors
No Types of error The number of
error
Percentage
1 Omission 13 31,78%
2 Addition 8 19,51%
3 Misformation 17 41,47%
4 Misordering 3 7,51%
Total 41 100%
Based on the calculation above, it can be concluded that the total errors of
omission are 13 errors or 31,78%, the addition are 8 errors or 19,51%.the error of
misformation are 17 errors or 41,47%. While the error of misordering is 3 errors
or 7,31%. From the calculation of the data, error of misformation is the most
frequent errors done by the students of MTsN 8Muaro Jambi with the percentage
41,47%.
Based on the calculation above, it was found that the highest frequency of
errors made by students based on surface strategy taxonomy was misformation
error 17 items (41,47%). Misformation is characterized by the use of wrong form
of morpheme or the morpheme of the structure. In this case, the students made a
lot of errors in misformation of verb tenses present. The students did not put –s or
–es when the subject of the sentence was in the form of third person singular.
Furthermore, omission with the total errors was 13 items (31,78%), it was
most frequent error in using to be form: is, am, are. Addition is characterized by
the absence of an item that must appear in well-formed utterances. In this case,
the appearance of addition error there were 8 items (19,51%), was less than
omission. Addition is characterized by the presence of an item which must not
appear in well-formed utterance. In this case, the students made a lot of errors in
simple addition.
34
The least frequent errors that students made were misordering, which were
3 items (7,31%). Misordering is characterized by the incorrect placement of a
morpheme.
B. Discussion
After analyzing the data collection students‟ writing products in writing
descriptive text were necessary to discuss the result of this study. The purposes of
this study were to find out the answer of the research questions. Furthermore, the
aims of this study were to identify the types of syntactical errors in writing
descriptive text and to identify the most frequent of syntactical errors in students‟
descriptive paragraph
The result of the error analysis research showed that the students make the
errors into four types based on the surface strategy taxonomy, which are omission,
addition, misformation and misordering. The total of errors that made by the
students was 41 errors.
Based on the data, the researcher found error in omissions with the total
error 13 in 5 kinds, comprise (6 omission of to be , 1 preposition, 2 article, 3
plural, and 1 pronoun). Omission error occurs when the learner omitted a
necessary element of word. They omitted the items that should appear in the
sentence. For examples the students omitted to be in a sentence such as My mom
not fat and skinny also. The sentence should be My mom is not fat and skinny
also. The source of this error comes from inter lingual transfer. The students did
not use the rule of their target language well.
There are also 8 errors of additions in 3 kinds, they are (1 regularization, 2
double marking, 5 simple addition). In this kind of error, students added some
unnecessary or incorrect elements. For example the students added to be (am)
which must not appear in well-formed utterance such as I am have some chickens.
The sentence should be I have some chickens. the students had not clearly
understood of the structure of the sentence. So the source of this error comes from
the inter lingual transfer.
35
The researcher also found error in misformation with the total error 17 in 4
kinds, they are (8 misformation of verb tenses simple present for 3rd person
singular,3 word choice/word form, 1 pronoun, 4 auxiliary).The errors occurred
because the students used the wrong forms of the morpheme word. For example
the students did not added s or es when they use subject of third person singular
such as he work as a merchant. The sentence should be he works as a merchant
The researcher also found 3 misordering errors with the total error 3 in 2
kinds, they are (2 noun phrase, 1 misspelling).It happened because of students put
some elements or words in wrong place. For example in She has skin brown,
Mimoy is a cat female. This error is caused by the influence of bahasa. It is line
with the Ellis (2002) states that second language learners may be confused to
recognize the use the second language because of their first language‟s influences.
Thus, the most frequent errors in writing descriptive text made by the first
grade of MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi was misformation. Based on data in table 1, the
highest frequency is misformation which consists of 17 errors or 41,47%. It is also
similar to brown‟s statement in (2000) that error is noticeable from adult grammar
or native speaker reflecting the inter language competence of learner. Setiyadi in
Nur Choironi, at. All (2006) also states that language learner whose mother
tongue has no tenses tend to have more difficulties in learning a target language
which has tenses. Since English is a foreign language for them and their L1
(Bahasa Indonesia) does not impose such rules of tenses.
The students made errors in writing because they forgot the rules. Some of
them did not know which word they should use to create a good sentence and they
were still influenced by their habits when making sentences using their native
language (Indonesian). Therefore, They still lack of understanding the English
Grammar in term of tenses because in the Indonesian does not have the tense
system that show the time of the event unlike English
This finding was generally similar with Fatmawati (2015), the researcher
found that the number of students‟ omission and misformation errors are high.
The highest students‟ errors made in misformation are about 210 errors from 515
errors. Most of students have difficulties in misformation of verb in sentence.
36
Then followed by the omission error about 207 errors which are dominated by the
omission of article and the auxiliary.
Another similar finding is conducted by Istiqomah et.al, (2017). In their
research, it was found that the most frequent errors made by students are omission
and misformation. In this research error omission more higher than misformation.
In omission, there are 673 errors or 66,67%. Commonly, students do the omission
error of be. the students omit be since they are influenced by their mother tongue
(L1). The misformation becomes the second type of common errors. The total
errors in misformation are 242 errors or 23,98%. The students make errors in
misformation on subject verb agreement. They don‟t know and get confused how
to use the agreement of be along with the subject.
Musthoriyah (2017) in her research found that the most errors made by the
students were misformation 145 or 54%. Most of students used wrong form of the
morpheme or structure especially in verb tenses present, simple for third person
singular. The error happened because they do not understand the rules of grammar
when they make English sentence.
From the discussion above, it was indicated that the students were still
influenced by their habits when making sentences using their native language
(Indonesian). The students make errors in their writing. Especially in using tenses.
Most of students wrote incomplete sentences and ungrammatical. Referring to the
examples given, we can see that the sentences did not use verb + s/es and it used
regularization errors in the third person singular subject. Thus the phenomena
must be remedied and they may not happen again.
37
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusion
Based on the finding of the study, the researcher found four types of errors
made by students in their writing descriptive text. These are omission error,
addition error, misformation error and misordering error. Total of omission are 13
or 31,78%, total of addition error are 8 or 19,51%, total of misformation error are
17 or 41,47%, and total of misordering error are 3 or 7,31%. It can be inferred the
highest frequency of errors is misformation which consist 17 or 41,47%ad the
lowest is misordering which consist 3 or 7,31%.
B. Suggestions
Based on the finding of the research, the researcher proposes suggestions
for English teacher students and further researcher as follows: The teacher has to
be selective effective strategies or how the way to make the students aware of the
importance grammar in learning English. The teacher should find the best method
based on the condition of the students to teach English especially in teaching
tenses. Since tenses and grammar are important for learning the language, it
should be taught cohesively. The teacher also needs to remind the students about
their errors and give the feedback to the students‟ task to make the students know
about their mistakes and errors that they have made. In addition the teacher can
improve his/her skill in teaching tenses with the best strategy, method and media
so, the students can understand briefly.
For students, they should be aware and pay attention, checked and
rechecked what they are write even it is plural form, gerund, verb form etc. Also
the students should be more practice and learn about tense, verb form, grammar
and how to apply it in writing.
For the further researcher, the researcher suggests to extend the larger of
error analysis. In this research, the researcher only find the types of error of
surface taxonomy strategy, but there are the other types of errors. The researcher
38
hopes the next researcher to examine not only based on the surface strategy
taxonomy, but other types. Furtheremore, to the next researcher in order to get the
data retrieval over and over.
39
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Write the descriptive text in two paragraphs or more which consist approximately
five until seven sentences in a paragraph. Hera are the topics
1. My family
2. Pet
3. Hobby
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63
CONSULTATION CARD
Name : Yulinar
Student ID : TE.161836
Advisor I : Drs. Habibudin Ritonga, MA
Title : Students‟ Syntactical Error in Writing Descriptive Text at
MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi
Faculty : Faculty of Education and Teacher Training
NO DAY/DATE MATERIAL CONSULTATION
SIGNATURE
1 16th February 2020 Revise chapter I,II,II
2 23
th February
2020
Revise chapter 1.II,III
5 28th
February
2020
ACC Seminar
6 24th
September
2020
Revise chapter IV and
chapter V 7 8
th October 2020 Revise chapter IV and
chapter V
8 13
th October 2020 ACC to munaqasah
Advisor I
Drs. Habibudin Ritonga, MA
NIP. .195906121987031003
64
CONSULTATION CARD
Name : Yulinar
Student ID : TE.161836
Advisor II : Hilma Suryani, M.Pd
Title : Students‟ Syntactical Error in Writing Descriptive Text at
MTsN 8 Muaro Jambi
Faculty : Faculty of Education and Teacher Training
NO DAY/DATE MATERIAL CONSULTATION
SIGNATURE
1 26th
January 2020 Revise chapter 1
1. Add preliminary
study
2 4th
February 2020 Revise chapter 1
1. Support the
paragraph with
experts‟ opinion
2. Eliminate
definitions
3 15th
February
2020
Revise chapter 3
1. Triangulation
2. Sampling
technique
4 18th
February
2020
Revise chapter 3
1. Revise the tenses
2. State clearly
the reason of
selecting the
samples
5 28th
February
2020
ACC Seminar
6 6th
September
2020
Revise chapter IV and
chapter V
7 9
thSeptember
2020
Revise chapter IV and
chapter V
8 12
th September
2020
Revise chapter IV and
chapter V
65
9 18th
September
2020
ACC to munaqasah
Advisor II
Hilma Suryani
NIP.19861226201503 2 005
66
CURRICULUM VITAE
Name : Yulinar
Gender : Female
Place and Date of Birth : Pijoan, July 2nd
1998
Address : RT 24 RW 01 Kelurahan Pijoan, Kecamatan Jambi
Luar Kota, Kabupaten Muaro Jambi, Jambi
Email Address : [email protected]
Educational Background :
No Educational Graduated Year Place
1. SD Negeri 7/IX Lubuk Kuari 2005 Pijoan
2. MTsN Jaluko 2013 Pijoan
3. SMA Negeri 1 Muaro Jambi 2016 Pijoan
4. UIN STS Jambi 2020 Jambi