Grammatical Error Analysis in Students' Recount Texts

GRAMMATICAL ERROR ANALYSIS in STUDENTS’
RECOUNT TEXTS
(The Case of the Twelfth Year Students of SMA N 1 Slawi, Tegal
in the Academic Year of 2006/2007)
a Final Project
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan in English
by
TONI HARYANTO
2201402050
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
SEMARANG STATE UNIVERSITY
2007
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to Allah the Almighty, the Most Merciful (the eternally
besought of all for blessing), who has led me to the completion of this final
project entitled Grammatical Error Analysis in Students’ Recount Texts
(The Case of the Twelfth Year Students of SMA N 1 Slawi, Tegal in the Academic
Year of 2006/2007.
My first respect and thank go to Dra. Hj. Dwi Rukmini, M.Pd., my first
advisor and Rudi Hartono, S.S., M.Pd., my second advisor for their invaluable
assistance, guidance and valuable suggestions during the writing of this final
project.
My next deeply grateful go to my beloved parents, Sanyoto, A. Md, Sri
Indah, Beni and Adhi for their love and patience in waiting for my graduation.
Great thanks also goes to Carol, my humble one, your understandings and
supports are essential. To my friends Adji, Heru and all of my friends in Beswan
Djarum 05/06 who have given their wonderful supports. Ganesha Squad, thanks
for your laughs, you really give me a nice second home.
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ABSTRACT
Haryanto, Toni. 2007. Grammatical Error Analysis in Students’ Recount Texts.

The Case of the Twelfth Year Students of SMA N 1 Slawi in the Academic Year
of 2006/2007. A Final Project.
Learning English becomes more and more important nowadays since we

know that English is one of the international languages which can be used to
communicate around the world. In Indonesia, English is learnt as a foreign
language. Learning a different language is sometimes difficult since the target
language has different elements compared to the native language. These
differences sometimes cause students to make errors when using it.
This final project primarily deals with grammatical error analysis. It
describes the grammatical errors on recount texts made by the twelfth year
students of SMA N 1 Slawi in the academic year of 2006/2007. I use the
qualitative approach of which the data were obtained from the students’ recount
text writing. These writings were then analyzed. The grammatical errors were
classified into seven groups. They were errors in producing verb group, errors in
subject-verb agreement, errors in the use of articles, errors in the use of
prepositions, errors in noun pluralization, errors in the use of pronouns, and errors
in the use of conjunctions.
From the result in chapter IV I can conclude that the students made 235
grammatical errors which were classified into 153 errors in producing verbal
groups, 3 errors in subject-verb agreement, 10 errors in the use of article30, errors
in the use of preposition, 12 errors in pluralization, 23 errors in the use of
pronoun, 4 errors in the use of conjunction.
From the result I can conclude that the possible causes of errors are
overgeneralization, and interference.
It is suggested that the students still need more practices dealing with verb
forms since they were the basic knowledge needed for telling their past
experiences.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................. iv
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... vi
LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................... viii
I INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1
1.1 General Background of the Study ................................................................ 1
1.2 Reasons for Choosing the Topic .................................................................. 5
1.3 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................. 6
1.4 Objectives of the Study ................................................................................ 6
1.5 Significance of the Study ............................................................................. 6
1.6 Definition of Error ....................................................................................... 7
1.7 Outline of the Report .................................................................................... 7
II REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE ....................................... 8
2.1 Grammar ...................................................................................................... 8
2.2 Writing ......................................................................................................... 9
2.3 Recount Text ................................................................................................. 13
2.4 Errors and Mistakes ..................................................................................... 14
2.4.1 Errors ......................................................................................................... 15
2.4.2 Mistakes .................................................................................................... 16
2.5 Sources of Errors .......................................................................................... 16
2.6 Grammatical Errors ...................................................................................... 18
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2.7 Error Analysis .............................................................................................. 20
III RESEARCH METHODS ......................................................................... 22
3.1 Research Approach: Case Study .................................................................. 22
3.2 Research Procedure ...................................................................................... 23
3.3 Research Instrument ..................................................................................... 23
3.4 Data Collection ............................................................................................. 24
3.5 Participants of the Study .............................................................................. 24
3.6 Procedure of Investigations ......................................................................... 24
IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................................ 28
4.1 Findings ........................................................................................................ 28
4.2 Discussion .................................................................................................... 31
V CONCLUSION AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS ..................... 46
5.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 46
5.2 Pedagogical Implications ............................................................................. 47
REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 49
APPENDICES ................................................................................................... 51
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix
1 Research Approval Letter ............................................................................... 52
2 Students’ Recount Texts ................................................................................. 53
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 General Background of the Study
Language is a means of communication among individuals. It is a system
of sounds which is structured and is used to communicate people’s feelings,
intentions, purpose, etc to the others. It is a special characteristic of human or it
can also be regarded as one of human criteria, because only human beings speak a
language. Nevertheless, the ability to speak a language should be developed in a
social group.
Language is an arbitrary sound or sequence of speech sounds used in
particular area Carrol as quoted by Ramelan (1992: 10):
“language is an arbitrary of speech sounds or sequence of speech sounds which is

used in interpersonal communication by an aggregation of human beings, and
which rather exhaustively catalogs things, and events in the human environment.”
After knowing the language, in order to be able to communicate, people
should master the communicative competence. Johnson & Johnson (1999: 62-68)
stated that communicative competence is the knowledge which enables someone
to use a language effectively and their ability to actually use this knowledge for
communication.
Canale (1983) outlines four major components of communicative
competence: grammatical competence, including knowledge of vocabulary, rules
of words and sentence formation, linguistic semantics, pronunciation and spelling;
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sociolinguistic competence, including rules of appropriateness of both meanings
(allowable messages) and grammatical forms in different sociolinguistic contexts;
discourse competence, the knowledge required to combine forms and meanings to
achieve unified spoken or written texts; and strategic competence, knowledge of
verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that may be called upon to
compensate for limitations in one or more of the other areas of communicative
competence.
Besides, people also have to know what so called language skills. These
skills ease them to communicate. They are the media of communicating. They
could be listening, speaking, writing, or reading.
One of the languages is English. It is one of the languages used in
communication almost all over the globe. It is used mainly in Britain and its
commonwealth all over the world. For instance: in Singapore English is used as
second language, in Australia it is used as first language. Therefore, it has become
one of the main languages of international communication, and even people who
are not speakers of English often know words such as television, hotel, and radio.
Since English has become one of the main languages of international
communication, it has a very important role in technological and scientific
advances.
When someone learns a foreign language, he often faces interference,
where he/ she applies his/her mother tongue or first language structure to structure
of the foreign language which is different from his/ her native language.
Indonesian students learn English as the first foreign language. Therefore, English
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is a new language so that they get some difficulties and they also need much time
to learn.
Competence based curriculum 2004 claims:
“...................when one learns a foreign language, he is involved in creating

and interpreting various kinds of texts made form the foreign culture
which are different from his own.”
Thus, kinds of texts which are colored by various communicative
objectives, arrangement of parts of the text, and certain linguistics features should
be noticed by every language learners. It means that the learners can not only
create English sentences in isolation, but also arrange them to become texts that
are accepted by the native speakers.
Moreover, Ramelan (1992: 5) says that most of learning problems are
caused by different elements found between the two languages. Therefore, he will
be able to learn the elements of the target language which are similar to those with
his own more easily than those which are not found in his native language.
The structure differences between Indonesian and English could make
students make some grammatical errors. Brown (1980: 165) stated that an error is
noticeable grammar from the adult grammar of native speaker, reflecting the
interlanguage competence of the learners.
These errors occur because of many things. Richards (1974: 124)
distinguishes three sources of competence errors:
(1) Interference errors occur as a result of the use of element from one language
while speaking another. An example might be when a German learner of L2
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English says, “I go not” because the equivalent sentence in German is “Ich
gehe nicht”.
(2) Intralingual errors’reflect the general characteristics of rule learning such as
faulty generalization, incomplete application of rules and failure to learn
conditions under which rules apply.
(3) Developmental errors occur when the learner attempts to build up hypotheses
about the target language on the basis of limited experience.
Indonesian does not have tenses like English. It could be seen in the table
below:
Indonesian sentences English sentences
1. Kami sedang belajar sekarang. 1. We are studying now.
2. Kami belajar kemarin. 2. We studied yesterday.
3. Kami akan belajar besok. 3. We are going to study
tomorrow.
From the description above, it is clear that the way Indonesian sentences
formed is different from the English way.
In the competence based curriculum 2004, recount is being taught in tenth
year, so the twelfth year students have mastered how to write a good recount
composition in English. They have had the basic of making a good composition in
English. Therefore, it is interesting to observe the grammatical errors in writing
made by the twelfth year students of Senior High School.
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1.2 Reasons for Choosing the Topic
People tend to acquire spoken language easier than the writing language.
This is because people first know the spoken before they know the written one
and a human child always speaks a language first before he is accustomed to the
writing system of his language.
The explanation above does not imply that writing or written language is
less important than the spoken one. The more cultivated and more technologically
advanced a man is the more he involved in a written form of a language. It means
that writing also plays an important role in a modern society.
Writing language is getting more and more essential today. It should be
mastered in order to be literate. But, Indonesian students of senior high school
commonly have only little enthusiasm for their writing tasks. Every time they
have writing tasks, they feel it is difficult to do. But, they should have strong
foundation for their writing skill before entering a higher level of education. So, it
is crucial for them to master this skill.
In composing a good writing, we should notice some aspects. Grammar is
one important aspect that should be mastered in order to make a well structured
writing. But, writing in different language is not always as easy as writing in our
own language since there are some different rules in the writing systems and these
differences sometimes make us make errors. That is why; I choose to analyze the
grammatical errors in writing.
This study primarily deals with the students’ English grammar mastery,
specifically in writing. Therefore, the main reasons for choosing this topic are the
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differences between Indonesian and English, and the students’ difficulties in
writing a good English composition.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
The problems to solve are:
(1) What kind of grammatical errors are faced by the twelfth year students of
SMA N 1 Slawi in writing recount?
(2) What are the possible causes of those errors?
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are:
(1) to describe of grammatical errors in writing made by the students, and
(2) to describe the possible causes of the errors. Because, identifying the possible
causes of the errors made by the students may help the teachers as well as the
students to improve in the teaching-learning process.
1.5 Significance of the Study
The significance of this study can be classified into two parts, for the
teachers and the students. For the teacher by reading the result of this study they
can find new methods to anticipate the making of the errors and to improve their
teaching ability. For the students, by reading the result of this study they can
improve their ability in writing especially in writing recount.
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1.6 Definition of Error
From the result of this study, it can be concluded that error is the failure to
use the grammatical system correctly made by the students which is caused by the
lack of students’ competence.
1.7 Outline of the Report
This final project consists of five chapters. The first chapter describes the
general background of the study, reasons for choosing topic, statement of the
problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study and the outline of the
study.
The second chapter is the review of the related literature consists of the
definition of grammar, writing, recount, errors and mistake, error analysis, and the
sources of errors.
The third chapter tells about the method of investigation consists of
research design, participants of the study, role of the researcher, types of the data,
procedure of collecting data, and the procedure of analyzing the data.
The next chapter discusses the grammatical errors in writing made by the
students, the error analysis, and the possible causes of errors.
The last chapter concludes what the grammatical errors are made by the
students, the possible causes of errors and the suggestions that are explained based
on the errors made.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter I will explain what grammar is, writing, recount text and its
lexicogrammatical features, the differences of errors and mistakes, sources of
errors, grammatical errors, and what error analysis is.
2.1 Grammar
The word grammar has several meanings and there is no universally
accepted definition. Different experts define the term grammar differently. There
is no fixed definition of grammar.
Leech (1982: 3) defined grammar as something in reference to the
mechanism according to which language works when it is used to communicate
with other people.
Harmer (2001: 12) defines grammar as the description of the ways in
which words can change their forms and can be combined into sentences in that
language.
Gerot & Wignell (1994: 2) state that grammar is a theory of a language, of
how language is put together and how it works.
Having known the definition of grammar, it is not hard for us to
understand why grammar is useful and important. Without knowing the grammar
of a language, one can not be said to have learned the language. Besides, it seems
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impossible to learn a language without learning the grammar because it tells him
how to use the language.
People learn how to construct a good message based on the rules they have
known and try to convey the message to the others. These rules are termed as
grammar.
The mechanism of grammar cannot be seen concretely, because it is rather
abstractly represented in the human mind, but we know it is there because it
works. One way of describing this mechanism is by means of a set of rules which
allow us to put words together in certain ways which do not allow others. The
meaning of a message conveyed by language has to be converted into words put
together according to grammatical rules and these words are then conveyed by
sounds.
2.2 Writing
There is no particular definition about writing stated by an author or a
linguist. L. Strauss in J. Hartley, et al (1962: 66) stated that “writing might, that is
to say, be regarded as a form of artificial memory, whose development should be
accompanied by a deeper knowledge of the past and, therefore, by a greater ability
to organize the present and the future.”
In fact, there are some acts of writing which can be used as the basis for
conceiving the meaning of writing. Those acts of writing are in line with the
development of learning to write through which a student should pass.
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Writing involves more than just producing words and sentences. To be
able to produce a piece of writing, we should be able to write a connected series of
words and sentences which are grammatically and logically linked, so that the
purpose we have in our mind will suit the intended readers. In this way, it is meant
that the style of language used in a piece of writing designed for layman and
people living in the village, for example should be different from the one designed
for educated people such as students, teachers, doctors, professors, etc. Therefore,
in presenting a piece of discourse we should consider the correctness of form, the
appropriateness of style, and the unity of topic (Harmer, 2004: 2).
Whereas discourse, as explained by Candlin (1997: viii) is a means of
talking and writing about and acting upon worlds, a means which both constructs
and is constructed by asset of social practices within these worlds, and in so doing
both reproduces and constructs afresh particular social-discursive practices,
constrained or encouraged by more macro movements in the overarching social
formation. Whether style is feature of literary composition which belongs to form
and expression rather than to the substance of the thought or matter expressed and
also a manner of discourse or tone of speaking, adopted in addressing others or in
ordinary conversation.
Writing should be done with the understanding from the past time in order
to inform and express what had happened. It should be well-organized in order to
be understandable for the readers (Harmer, 2004: 3).
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Just like speaking, writing is a way of communicating a message with an
intended audience. It is a means of expressing thoughts, ideas, and feelings. By
writing we may flow out a burden occupying our mind offer our ideas and
concepts to others, and share our knowledge and experiences.
However, different from writing, much of our speaking is spontaneous,
noncomplex, and linked to the particular situation at hand. Speech is ephemeral. It
lasts not longer than the moment of speaking. It is gone as soon as it is uttered. In
some cases, especially in informal situations, a speaker pays a little attention to
the conventions of speaking such as the composition of talk, the organization,
development, and the articulation. However, it does not reduce the
comprehensibility of the nuances delivered by the speaker to the audience.
Writing is more than just public communication; it is also a way of
thinking. Writing involves a range of writer’s consciousness. When we sit down,
holding a pen and facing a piece of paper ready to write, apparently we are
engaging in more than just one act of consciousness, such as the contents of
thoughts, the style of thoughts, the organization of thoughts, the purpose of
thought, and so on. These acts lead us to create a good and careful thinking which
is strongly needed when we want to produce a good writing.
Writing as one of the four language skills, in real world contexts, is not a
solitary enterprise, it is a social act. It is not an activity in its own right but one
which serves the other skills. So, writing has a relation with grammar, reading,
listening, and speaking.
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Most students find foreign language writing is difficult; they will rarely
need to write in adult life, so they will decrease the amount of writing. Rivers as
quoted by Swarbick (1994: 142) describes five stages of development which
students need to go through in acquiring competence in writing, i.e.: copying,
reproduction, recombination, guided writing, and free writing.
We should also consider the writing process. It is influenced by the
content and the medium of the writing. The processes are planning, drafting,
editing, and final draft (Harmer, 2004: 4-6). They are the steps if we want to
compose a good writing.
Before writing, we should plan what we are going to write about and the
purposes of the writing. After that, we can start to write. We may produce a
number of writing (draft) and editing in order to get the good writing – that is the
final draft.
Writing involves some activities before, when we write, and after writing.
The activities before we write include exploring ideas which could be building
vocabulary, interviewing someone, discussion, etc; and organizing ideas which
could be ordering information in a paragraph, writing topic sentences, limiting
information, using a time sequence, making an idea map, categorizing and making
outline, summarizing ideas, writing titles, etc. When we write we should develop
cohesion and style which includes connecting ideas, adding details, selecting the
correct verb tense, selecting the correct tense, and writing the first draft.
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This is not the end of writing. After we write the first draft we should edit
and revise it. It could be the content, form, organization, cohesion and style, and
grammar. In order to produce a good writing we should write more than just one
draft. A good writing could be the fourth or fifth draft or even more.
2.3 Recount Text
Recount is a reconstruction of something happened in the past. It is the
unfolding sequence of events over time and the purpose is to tell what happened.
Recounts begin with by telling the reader who was involved, what
happened where this event took place and when it happened. The sequence of
event is then described in some sort of order, for instance a time order (Seaton,
2007).
The generic structure of a recount consists of three parts; they are the
setting or orientation, events, and conclusion. The setting or orientation is the
background information answering who, when, where and why. It is also where
you give an outline of what you are writing about. Events are where you write
about the things that happened and are identified and described in chronological
order. And the conclusion expresses a personal opinion regarding the events
described. In other words this is where you bring your writing to a close by;
saying how things went, saying what you felt about the things that happened
and/or mentioning something which will or may happen later.
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A recount has a title, which summarizes the text. Since recount tells about
past experiences, it uses past tenses; such as simple past, past perfect, past
continuous, past perfect continuous tenses.
A recount describes events, so plenty of use is made of verbs (action
words), and of adverbs (describe or add more detail to verbs). And since it
describes events in a chronological order, to describe the events words which link
events in time can be used, such as next, later, when, then, after, before, first.
The lexicogrammatical features of recount are focus on specific
participants, use of past tense, use of material processes, circumstances of time
and place, and focus on temporal sequence.
According to the 2004 Competence Based Curriculum, recount is being
taught in the tenth year. The basic competence is the students can use various
kinds of language, i.e.: either written or verbal in smooth and accurate
transactional and monologue texts especially on the form of recount, narrative,
procedure, report and news item.
2.4 Errors and Mistakes
The different system of language could make learners to make errors and
mistakes. In order to analyze learners’ errors in learning a foreign language, it is
too crucial to make a distinction between mistake and errors.
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2.4.1 Errors
As stated above, the different system of language could make us to make
errors when using the target language. Here I will try to define what an error is.
An error is noticeable grammar from the adult grammar of native speaker,
reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learners. (Brown, 1980: 165).

L1/MT FL/SL (TL)
Interlanguage (IL)
MT:TL comparisons (Contrastive Analysis)

IL:TL comparisons (Error Analysis)
MT:IL comparisons (Transfer Analysis)
Points of comparison for successive FL learning paradigms (James, 1998: 3).
There are two ways to conceptualize ‘interlanguage /IL’. First, it can refer
to the abstraction of learner language, the aggregate of forms, processes and
strategies that learners resort to in the course of tackling an additional language.
This concept is similar to de Saussure’s langue. Alternatively, ‘IL’ can be used to
refer to anay one of a number of concretizations (cf. de Saussure’s parole) of the
underlying system (James, 1998: 7)
Errors are typically produced by people who do not yet fully command
some institutionalized language system (Corder, 1974: 29).
The errors themselves are competence errors. According to Corder, true
errors are marker of the learners’ competence (Richards, 1974). Errors are caused
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by deficiency in competence and a shortcoming in the knowledge of language
learners make errors when they have not learnt something correctly.
From the linguists’ opinion above, I would conclude that mistake refers to
the failures to use the language system correctly caused by some factors such as
carelessness, memory lapses, and physical condition. While error, refers to the
failure to use the system correctly caused by the lack of the learners’ competence.
2.4.2 Mistakes
Mistake is different with error. A mistake refers to a performance error
that is either random or a slip of the tongue, in that it is failure to utilize a known
system correctly (Brown, 1980: 165).
A mistake refers to performance errors that are a random guess or a slip, in
that it is failure.
Mistakes are caused by hesitation, slips of the tongue. The learner, who
makes mistakes, will sometime use one form and sometime the others. This shows
an inconsistency. For example:
a. If learners produce “he must go” and “he must to go”.
b. If the Indonesian learners pronounce the word error “intruction” not
“instruction”.
2.5 Sources of Errors
According to Richards (1974: 124), “the sources of errors in studying a
language might be derived from the interference of the learners’ mother tongue
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and the general characteristics of the rule learning. The errors that are caused by
the general characteristics of the rule learning are also called the intralanguage
errors. And the errors caused by the interference of the learners’ mother tongue
are called the interlanguage errors.”
Richards (1974: 124) distinguishes three sources of competence errors:
(1) Interference errors occur as a result of the use of element from one language
while speaking another. An example might be when a German learner of L2
English says, “I go not” because the equivalent sentence in German is “Ich
gehe nicht”.
(2) Intralingual errors’reflect the general characteristics of rule learning such as
faulty generalization, incomplete application of rules and failure to learn
conditions under which rules apply.
(3) Developmental errors occur when the learner attempts to build up hypotheses
about the target language on the basis of limited experience.
Richards (1971) also classifies intralingual errors into four categories:
(1) Overgeneralization
It occurs when the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of
other structures in the target language. It generally involves the creation of one
deviant structure in place of two target language structures (for example, ‘He
can sings’ where English allows ‘He can sing’ and ‘ He sings’).
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(2) Ignorance of the rule restrictions
It involves the application of rules to contexts where they do not apply.
An example is ‘He made me to rest’ through extension of the pattern found
with the majority of verbs that take infinitival complements (for example, ‘He
asked /wanted/invited me to go’).
(3) Incomplete application of rules
It is typically related to analogy. It involves a failure to fully develop a
structure. Thus learners of L2 English have been observed to use declarative
word order in questions (for example, ‘You like to sing?’) in place of
interrogative word order (for example, ‘Do you like to sing?’). This type of
intralingual error corresponds to what is often referred to as an error of
transitional competence (Richards, 1971).
(4) False concepts hypothesized
The last category of intralanguage error, that is sometimes called
semantic error, may be derived from faulty comprehension in the target
language.
2.6 Grammatical Errors
Levenston in James (1998: 255) proposes that students’ erroneous output –
their composition errors in particular – are not one remove, but two removes from
the NS’s version. We are not only correcting the errors into what learners want to
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say but also correcting the errors into what the native speakers would have said or
write.
He thus challenges Corder’s claim that the data of EA are ‘two sentences:
the idiosyncratic sentence [produced by the learner] and a well-formed sentence
[that which the native would have produced]’. These two sentences would then be
compared. This is not the case, however. The data of EA comprise not two but
three sentences: (i) what learner said; (ii) what they were attempting to say; and
(iii) what the NSs would have said (or written) (James, 1998: 255).
Moreover Fotos (1993) did an experiment involving noticing. She
hypothesized that noticing would be induced to different degrees by two sorts of
teaching: teacher-formed formal instruction, and doing grammar tasks in groups.
So she gave two matched groups of learners grammar-noticing opportunities
under these two conditions in order to find out which way is the more effective
(James, 1998: 257).
This is why analyzing learner’s grammatical errors in learning other
language would be interesting.
Learning other language becomes difficult since the target language has
different system from the native language. This difference sometimes makes the
learners (in this case – the students) make errors especially in applying the
grammar. These errors will be analyzed further in Chapter IV.
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2.7 Error Analysis
James in James (1998: 4) stated that in the 1950s and 1960s the favoured
paradigm for studying FL/ SL learning and organizing its teaching was
Contrastive Analysis. The procedure involved first describing comparable features
of MT and TL (e.g. tenses, cooking verbs, consonant clusters, the language of
apologizing), and then comparing the forms and resultant meanings across the two
languages in order to spot the mismatches that would predictably (with more than
chance probability of being right) give right to interference and error.
According to Johnson & Johnson (1999: 110), “Contrastive analysis is a
comparing two linguistics systems, the learners L1 and the target L2 with a view
to determining structural similarities and differences. Because of it, making error
in learning language is often happens.
According to James (1998: 1), error analysis is the process of determining
the incidence, nature, causes and consequences of unsuccessful language.
As Lado (1977), one of the prime movers of contrastive analysis, makes
clear, “The teacher who has made a comparison of the foreign language with the
native language of the students will know better what the real problems are and
can provide the easy way for the teaching and learning process.”
As a learner, making errors in language process is very common. It
involves the making of mistakes and errors. Errors help the learners to establish
the closer and closer approximations to the system of the target language. Brown
(1980: 163) stated, “….by gradual process of trial and error and hypothesis
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testing, the learner slowly and tediously succeeds in establishing closer and closer
approximation to the system used by native speakers of the language.”
The students get problems in learning English because there are many
differences between Indonesian and English in terms of grammar, vocabulary, etc.
As Lado (1977) said, “errors made indication of the difficulties the learner
had with certain aspects of language.” The study of learners’ errors has been a
primary focus of foreign language research. It is called Error Analysis.
As Ubol (1988: 8) said, “Error analysis is a systematic description and
explanation of errors made by learners or users in their oral or written production
on the TL. It means that error analysis is concerned with the explanation of the
occurrence error and the production of their oral or written expression differs from
that of native speaker or TL norm. The error analysis movement is characterized
as an attempt to account for learners’ error that could not be explained or
predicted by contrastive analysis. Error analysis has made a significant
contribution to the theoretical consciousness- raising applied linguistics and
language practitioners. Error analysis provided a methodological for investigating
the learner language.
According to Corder as cited by Richards (1974) noted that errors “could
be significant in three ways: they provided the teacher with information about
how much the learner had learnt, they provided the researcher with of evidence of
how language was learnt, they served as devices by which the learner discovered
the rules of the TL.”
21
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODS
In this research, two steps of data investigation were applied, namely;
collecting the data and analyzing the students’ writing.
3.1 Research Approach : Case Study
Yin in Nunan (1992: 76) stated that a case study is an empirical enquiry
that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when
the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in
which multiple sources of evidence are used.
In addition, Merriam in Nunan (1992: 77) stated that the qualitative case
study can be defined as an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a single
entity, phenomenon, or social unit. Case studies are particularistic, descriptive,
and heuristic and rely heavily on inductive reasoning in handling multiple data
resources”.
Adelman et al. in Nunan (1992: 74) said a case study should not be
adequated with observational studies as this world rule out historical case study,
that case studies are not simply pre-experimental, and that case study is not a term
for a standard methodological package.
Adelman et al. in Nunan (1992: 74-75) also stated that although case
studies have often been used to sensitive researchers to significant variables
subsequently manipulated or controlled in an experimental design, that is not their
only role. The understandings generated by case study are significant in their own
22
23
right. It is tempting to argue that the accumulation of case studies allows theory-
building via tentative hypotheses culled from the accumulation of single instances.
But the generalizations produced in case study are no less legitimate when about
the instance, rather than the class from which the instance is drawn (i.e.
generalizing about the case, rather than from it).”
In this study, I tried to do a case study. So, the result of this study can not
be used to represent students from other school’s mastery of recount writing. It is
only relevant to the twelfth year students of SMA N 1 Slawi in the academic year
of 2006/2007 and their mastery of recount writing.
3.2 Research Procedure
In conducting this research I came to the field, explained what is recount
to refresh the students’ understanding about recount itself, got them writing a
recount, analyzed and described the errors made by the students.
3.3 Research Instrument
The instrument of this research is the free recount writing made by the
students which I applied as the data to be analyzed and described the errors made
by the students.
23
24
3.4 Data Collection
To collect the data, I applied classroom observation since I tried to analyze
the students’ errors and the concern of this final project is to find out the
grammatical errors done by students in writing recount texts. I came to the field,
got the students writing a recount, collected their works, and analyzed them. In
this way, I tried to get the data as objective as possible.
3.5 Participants of the Study
The participants of the study are the immersion class of twelfth grade
students of SMA N 1 Slawi in the academic year of 2006/ 2007 which consists of
two classes; they are XII IA5 and XII IA6. Each of them consists of 19 students.
Thus, the total number of the participants is 38 students. And I choose ten of them
randomly. I chose them to be the subject of his research because they have already
learnt the English grammar and they also use more English in the classroom
teaching-learning process than the non-immersion class students.
3.6 Procedure of Investigations
In analyzing the data, I use error analysis method. Corder as quoted by
Ellis (1994: 48) suggests the following steps to conduct an error analysis research:
No Steps Explanations
1. Collection of samples Deciding what samples of learner
of learner language language to use for the analysis
and how to collect these samples
24
25
2. Identification of errors Identifying the errors by

underlying the errors the learner
made
3. Classification of errors Grouping the errors that have been
found and stating the classes of the
errors
4. Explanation of errors Explaining the errors by
establishing the source of the
errors and calculating how often
the errors appear
5. Evaluation of errors Evaluating the errors step involves
tabelizing the errors and drawing
conclusion
Referring to the steps of error analysis method above, the data will be
analyzed as follows:
(1) Identification of errors
In this step, I studied the acquired data and tried to find out the
grammatical errors by underlying the errors. I tried to analyze the data as
objective as possible.
(1) Classification of errors
Once the errors have been identified, I classified them into 7
categories, they are:
a. errors in using verb forms
b. errors in agreement between subject and verb
c. errors in the use of article
25
26
d. errors in the use of preposition
e. errors in noun pluralization
f. errors in the use of pronoun
g. errors in the use of conjunction
(2) Calculation of the errors
In this step, I calculated the errors in order to know how frequent these
errors have been made by the students of immersion class in the twelfth
grade of SMA N 1 Slawi. In calculating the frequency of these each error, I
employed the following formula:
n1
P= X 100%
∑N
in which,
P : percentage of each error
N1 : total of the given error
ΣN : total of the whole errors
By calculating the frequency of each error, I can identify the most
frequent error and the least frequent error made by the students.
(3) Tabelizing the result
Once the errors are calculated and arranged, I tabelized the result of the
analysis. This table is meant to ease the identification of the percentage of
each error. Therefore, the result of the analysis of the grammatical errors in
recount writing made by the students of immersion class in the twelfth grade
of SMA N 1 Slawi is presented in the form of a table.
26
27
(4) Drawing a conclusion
The last step would be drawing a conclusion based on the analysis. In
this step, I have to make a valid conclusion in the form of a brief description
of the errors.
27
CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
After conducting the research, the result and its discussion will be
presented in this chapter.
4.1 Findings
As previously stated in chapter I, this study means to explain the
grammatical errors in recount writing made by the students of immersion class in
twelfth year of SMA N 1 Slawi. After collecting and analyzing the data, I found
that there were a lot of grammatical errors. The errors are classified based on the
traditional English grammar. There were 7 classifications of the errors.
Two hundred and thirty five (235) grammatical errors of various kinds
were found; they were classified as follows:
a. Errors in using verb groups = 153
b. Errors in subject-verb agreements = 3
c. Errors in the use of articles = 10
d. Errors in the use of prepositions = 30
e. Errors in pluralization = 12
f. Errors in the use of pronouns = 23
g. Errors in the use of conjunctions = 4
As stated in the previous chapter that in calculating the frequency of each
error, I employed the following formula:
n1
P= x 100 %
∑N
28
29
in which :
P : percentage of each error
n1 : total of a given error
∑N : total of the whole errors
The frequency calculation of each error can be described as follows:
(1) Errors in using verb groups
The errors in this area is 153, the total errors is 235. So, the frequency of this
error is:
n1
P= x 100 %
∑N
153
= x 100 %
235
= 65 %
(2) Errors in subject-verb agreements
The total errors in this area is 3. So, its frequency is:
n1
P= x 100 %
∑ N
3
= x 100 %
235
= 1.3 %
(3) Errors in the use of articles
The occurrence of this error is 10. So, its frequency is:
n1
P= x 100 %
∑N
30
10
= x 100 %
235
= 4.3 %
(4) Errors in the use of prepositions
The errors in the use of preposition are 30. So, its frequency is:
n1
P = x 100 %
∑ N
30
= x 100 %
235
= 12.8 %
(5) Errors in pluralization
This error occurs 12 times. So, its frequency would be:
n1
P = x 100 %
∑N
12
= x 100 %
235
= 5.1 %
(6) Errors in the use of pronouns
The total of this error is 23. So, its frequency is:
n1
P = x 100 %
∑N
23
= x 100 %
235
= 9.8 %
31
(7) Errors in the use of conjunctions
The total of the last error is 4. So, its frequency is:
n1
P = x 100 %
∑N
4
= x 100 %
235
= 1.7 %
The result of the analysis can be tabelized as follows:
No Type of error Total of error Percentage
1. Errors in using verb groups 153 65.0 %
2. Errors in subject-verb agreements 3 1.3 %
3. Errors in the use of articles 10 4.3 %
4. Errors in the use of prepositions 30 12.8 %
5. Errors in pluralization 12 5.1 %
6. Errors in the use of pronouns 23 9.8 %
7. Errors in the use of conjunctions 4 1.7 %
Total 235 100 %
4.2 Discussion
The errors done will be written with “asterisks” (*) and underlined. They
will be discussed as follows:
1. Errors in using verb groups
Errors in using verb groups are the most frequent ones made by the
students. In using verb groups, there are some rules to be obeyed, such as: the
32
form of the sentence whether it is in the active or passive form, and the tense of
the sentence. These rules are complex so that the students often make errors in this
area. Some of the errors are illustrated as follows:
(1) a. *I went to saw it with my aunt and my brother at night.
b.* I stayed there to joined the First Centered Training Olympiad Central
Java Province 2006 (Pemusatan Pelatihan tahap 1 Olimpiade Propinsi
Jawa Tengah).
c. *On Tuesday, we visited Bali museum to saw Balinese culture.
d.* We ought to stood in line, because there were many patients.
e. *We went to my aunt’s home to had a rest.
Here the students made errors in producing verb 1 or infinitive. They
failed to recognize where to put the infinitives. In sentences a, b, c, and e the
students failed to figure out the non-finite verbs. They should be in the form of
infinitives (to + the simple form of the verb) whether in sentence d, the non-
finite verb should be in the form of the simple form of the verb because modals
are followed by the simple form of the verb. Although the tense used in writing
recount is in past form, but there are still infinitives should be used.
The sentences should have been:
(2) a. I went to see it with my aunt and my brother at night.
b. I stayed there to join The FirstPhase of The Centered Training
Olympiad Central Java Province 2006 (Pemusatan Pelatihan tahap 1
Olimpiade Propinsi Jawa Tengah).
c. On Tuesday, we visited Bali museum to see Balinese culture.

33
d. We ought to stand in line, because there were many patients.
e. We went to my aunt’s home to have a rest.
Besides the infinitive forms, verb groups could also be in the form of
linking verbs (to be). Frank (1972: 48) stated that linking verbs are verbs of
incomplete predication; it merely announces that the real predicate follows. The
complement is usually an adjective or a noun.
(3) a. *That the good and happy month.
b. *I very amazed that Yogyakarta is beautiful.
c. *It still very natural.
d. *We so tired, and we decided to go home earlier than the plan.
e. *It usually called Metikan in my village.
In five sentences above, the students failed to put the linking verbs. In
sentences a, b, and e, for instance, the student failed to recognize the passive form
of the verb. As we know in passive form there should be to be+verb3. Whether in
sentences c, and d; they failed to put the linking verbs before a noun and an
adjective.
(4) a. That was a good and happy month.
b. I was very amazed by the beauty of Yogyakarta.
c. It was still very natural.
d. We were so tired, and we decided to go home earlier than the plan.
e. It was called Metikan in my village.

34
Still in relation to linking verbs, the students also failed to recognize the
correct form of to be used in their sentences. The errors are as follows:
(5) a. *Because my grandfather’s house has located near the Mintaraga
mountain.
b. *It has a small house but clean.
c. *The house is the biggest house that I have ever stayed.
d. *I know that there are no my aunt and my brother beside me.
e. *I were at Jogjakarta just 2 days because I still had many important
activities in Slawi.
Since recount functions to tell our past experiences, normally we use past
tense. Here the students also failed to recognize the past form of to be should be
used.
(6) a. Because my grandfather’s house was located near the Mintaraga
mountain.
b. It was a small house but clean.
c. The house was the biggest house that I had ever stayed.
d. I knew that my aunt and my brother were not beside me.
e. I was in Jogjakarta just for two days only because I still had many
important activities in Slawi.
As I stated above, in writing recount we usually use past tense since it is
tells about past experiences. In the sentences below, the students failed to put the
verbs in the past form (verb2). The errors are as follows:

35
(7) a. *The doctor examined my ears and say that my “membrane tympani”
(hear tool to catch the sound) have broken and wounded.
b. *I have an unforgettable experience and it happened when I was in
elementary school.
c. *In the twenty third day, it means the last day we studied together, was
hold a farewell party.
d. *On the way, the rain falled.
e. *I only know there were many bats in every room in the second floor
because the floor had been used for nothing.
f. *It looks beautiful.
In sentences a, b, c, e, and f the students failed to recognize the past form
of the verbs. They still used the simple form of the verbs. This is incorrect since in
telling their past experiences they should use the past form of the verbs (verb2). In
sentence d, the student also failed to recognize the past form of the verb. Instead
of using the past form, she added the verb with –ed. This is wrong since the verb
is the irregular one. She can not add –ed. She just generalized that the past forms
of the verbs are always added by –ed.
(8) a. The doctor examined my ears and said that my “tymphani membrane”
(hearing tools to catch the sound) had broken and wounded.
b. I had an unforgettable experience and it happened when I was in the
elementary school.
36
c. On the twenty third day, it meant the last day we studied together, was
hold a farewell party.
d. On the way, it rained.
e. I only knew there were many bats in every room in the second floor
because the floor had been used for nothing.
f. It looked beautiful.
Still related to verb groups, there is gerund (-ing form of the verbs). It
explains that the process of something has been done. And it also functions as
noun. The students made errors in this area. They are as follows:
(9) a. *Then we continued study about leadership with Mr. Sapto Sri Nugroho
until 11.00 p.m.
b. *It was a big build with many stores.
c. *After two hours traveled in Sragen, I got conclusion that Sragen was a
unique city.
d. *After spent time in Kuta beach, we did not forget to buy something for
my family at home.
e. *When New Order Regime “fell”, New Ceper sugar factory was closed,
so everyone had to move to another sugar factory official house,
include my family.
In sentences a, c, d, the students failed to recognize the –ing form of the
verbs. Instead of using the –ing form they used the simple form of the verbs. They
failed to recognize that in order to explain a process, they should use the –ing
form of the verbs. In sentences b and e, the students they also failed to recognize
37
the –ing form of the verbs. Here they failed to recognize that in order to form a
noun derived from a verb they should use gerunds (the –ing form of the verbs).
(10) a. Then we continued studying about leadership with Mr. Sapto Sri
Nugroho until 11.00 p.m.
b. It was a big building with many stores.
c. After two hours traveling in Sragen, I concluded that Sragen was a
unique city.
d. After spending time in Kuta beach, we did not forget to buy something
for our family at home.
e. When the New Order Regime collapsed, New Ceper sugar factory was
closed, so everyone had to move to another sugar factory official
house, including my family.
As I stated above, in using verb forms we should consider the form of the
sentence whether it is in the active or passive form. The students made errors in
this area. They failed to recognize the formula of forming passive sentences that is
to be + Verb 3. The errors are as follows:
(11) a. *People still stayed in tents, because their house had been rebuilt.
b. *At last, my plan with her was succed.
In sentence a, the student failed to recognize the tense should be used.
Instead of using past perfect tense, she should use the past continuous tense since
the process of rebuilding the houses was still happening when she saw it. In
sentence b, the student failed to recognize the correct form of the verb and how to
38
spell the correct form of the verb. But, here I just analyzed student’s failure in
recognizing the correct form of the verb.
(12) a. People still stayed in tents, because their house was being rebuilt.
b. At last, my plan with her succeeded.
2. Errors in subject-verb agreement
Agreement between subject and verb is influenced by the subject form
whether it is singular or plural. To construct a correct sentence structurally, the
verb must agree with the subject. Fail to recognize this means we are failed to
construct correct sentences structurally. Thus, the students must be able to identify
the subject whether it is singular or plural. Having no competence in identifying
the subject will make students fail to produce the correct form of the verb. It
means that the students have made errors in making the agreement between
subject and verb.
As I stated above, in writing a recount we should use past tense since it
tells about past experiences. In past tense there is an agreement between subject
and verb in this case to be. For third person singular subject we should use was,
and for the other forms of subject we should use were.
The students made some errors in this area. They are as follows:
(13) a. *We were very confused because the walls were glass walls and the house
were dark.
b. *We ought to stand in line because there was many patients in there.
39
c. *On the way to the river, the sight was very beautiful. So did in the river.
In sentences a and b, the students failed to make the agreement between
subject and verb. Instead of using was for third person singular subject they use
were and vice versa. In sentence c the student also failed to make agreement
between subject and verb. Here she failed in relating the idea from the previous
sentence.
(14) a. We were very confused because the walls were glass and the house was
dark.
b. We ought to stand in line because there were many patients there.
c. On the way to the river, the sight was very beautiful. So was in the river.
3. Errors in the use of articles
The use of articles is also determined by the noun whether it is countable
or uncountable and whether it is singular or plural. There are two kinds of article;
they are definite article (the) and indefinite articles (a/ an). We use definite article
(the) if the noun has been mentioned before or if the noun has been familiar. The
developed historically from a word meaning this and still retains some of the
basic meanings of the pointing demonstrative. The serves to particularize a noun.
It helps to distinguish the known from the unknown. It may narrow down a class,
or it may even limit the class to one.
While, we use indefinite article (a/ an) if the noun has not been mentioned
before. The use of indefinite article also takes into account whether the noun is
40
countable or not and whether it is singular or plural. If the noun is countable,
singular and has not been mentioned before, the indefinite article must be used.
Thus, to be able to use an article properly, the students have to be sensitive
in differentiating the use of definite article, indefinite article and even using no
article at all. If they are not able to differentiate them, they will make errors as
follows:
(15) a. *On Saturday, I visited Pangandaran beach. The condition of society was
still same.
b. *Beside that, we could see many of the big trees in there.
c. *It was the one and only house with two floors and the biggest official
house on Pangkah sugar factory.
d. *There was a invited guest, so I could came late.
e. *In twenty third day, it means the last day we studied together, hold a
farewell.
In sentences a, c, d, and e the students failed to use the definite article
(the). Here they omit the definite article. In sentences a and c above they failed in
recognizing the repeated subject whether in sentences b, d and e, they failed to
recognize something familiar.
(16) a. On Saturday, I visited Pangandaran beach. The condition of society was
still the same.
b. Besides, we could see many big trees there.

41
c. It was the one and the only house with two floors and the biggest official
house in Pangkah sugar factory.
d. There was an invited guest, so I could came late.
e. On the twenty third day, it means the last day we studied together, the
committee held a farewell party.
4. Errors in the use of prepositions
Prepositions are always followed by nouns (or pronouns). They are
connective words that show the relationship between the nouns following them
and one of the basic sentence elements: subject, verb, object, or complement.
They usually indicate relationships, such as position, place, direction, time,
manner, agent, possession, and condition, between their objects and other parts of
the sentence (Wishon and Burks, 1980: 288). A preposition may be composed of
one, two, or three parts. For instance:
a. one part: of, on, in, at, for, from
b. two parts: because of, according to, etc
c. three parts: in front of, on top of, as far as, etc
In using a preposition, one should be aware because there is no certain rule
for this. One has to determine which preposition should be used based on its
context.
Some of the errors made by the students in this area are as follows:
(17) a. *It was very crowded by tourism of many countries.
b. *It was the one and only house with two floors and the biggest official
house on Pangkah sugar factory.

42
c. *I didn’t realize if my aunt and my brother had crossed it, because I was
interested with the magic show that I saw it in crowded of people.
d. *I were at Jogjakarta just 2 days because I still had many important
activities at Slawi.
e. *At last Saturday, after I followed an English course, my mother asked me
to take her to the bank by motorcycle.
f. *They laughed me and of course, I cried again.
g.*It was very big and has a big swimming pool with many of plants at its
surrounding.
(18) a. It was very crowded by tourists from many countries.
b. It was the one and the only house with two floors and the biggest official
house in Pangkah sugar factory.
c. I didn’t realize if my aunt and my brother had crossed it, because I was
interested in the magic show that I saw in crowded of people.
d. I was at Jogjakarta just for 2 days because I still had many important
activities in Slawi.
e. Last Saturday, after I followed an English course, my mother asked me to
take her to the bank by motorcycle.
f. They laughed at me and of course, I cried again.
g. It was very big and had a big swimming pool with many plants on its
surrounding.
43
5. Errors in pluralization
Pluralization is a process of adding morpheme (s/es) to pluralize nouns.
There are many exceptional nouns that do not use adding -s/es to construct their
plural forms. For instance:
Singular Plural
mouse mice
person people
deer deer
fish fish
The function of pluralization is to show that the noun is more than one.
The students’ errors in this area are as follows:
(19) a. *It was a beautiful beach, with a big wave and many of hill around it.
b. *It was a big bookstore with 4 floor.
c. *We saw many plane in there.
d. *People still stayed in tent, because their house had been rebuilt.
e.* The next day we went to the garden and took some mangos.
f. *The mangos were so sweet.
In six sentences above, the students failed to recognize the plural form of
the object of the sentences. The sentences should have been:
(20) a. It was a beautiful beach, with big waves and many hills around it.
b. It was a big bookstore with 4 floors.
c. We saw many planes there.

44
d. People still stayed in tents, because their houses were being rebuilt.
e. The next day we went to the garden and took some mangoes.
f. The mangoes were so sweet.
6. Errors in the use of pronouns
Pronoun is used to substitute nouns. It has many types; they are personal,
reflexive, indefinite, relative, interrogative, demonstrative, and expletive
pronouns.
The students made errors in this area. They are as follows:
(21) a. *She wanted to have a vacation in Tegal in grandmother’s house.
b. *After acquainted, we took the photos with theirs.
c. *When I wanted to climb, I was so nervous.
d. *Those day, I was bored, and I was very tired.
In sentence a and b the student failed to recognize the possessive pronoun.
In sentence c, the student failed to recognize the personal pronoun. And in
sentence d, the students failed to recognize the correct form of demonstrative
pronoun.
(22) a. She wanted to have vacation in Tegal in her grandmother’s house.
b. After being acquainted, we took photos with them.
c. When I wanted to climb it, I was so nervous.
d. That day, I was bored, and very tired.

45
7. Errors in the use of conjunctions
Conjunctions are used to connect words. They connect not only words, but
also phrases and clauses. The rules in using them are the same with their rules in
Indonesian. Despite the same rules, the students still make errors in this area.
The errors are as follows:
(23) a. *But caused I thought it just took a moment, so I said OK.
b.* Next when we throughed the traffic light, the red blazed.
c. *Besides that, most of them live in one place or never moved to another
city.
In the three sentences above, the students seem confused in failed to
recognize the correct form of the conjunctions. They just added them with –ed,
just like what we do when we form the past form of verbs. They generalized what
we do in making past verb form to what we do with conjunctions.
(24) a. But, because I thought it just took a moment, I said OK.
b. Next, when we passed the traffic light, the red blazed.
c. Besides, most of them live in one place or never moved to another city.
The conclusion of the analysis will be presented in the next chapter.

CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
After conducting the research, doing the analysis, and presenting the
results, the conclusion and suggestion or pedagogical implications of this study
will be presented in this last chapter.
5.1 Conclusion
(1) Based on the finding of the analysis, it shows that the students made a total of
235 errors which consists of 153 or 65 % errors in using verb forms, 3 or 1.3
% errors in agreement between subject and verb, 10 or 4.3 % errors in the use
of article, 30 or 12.8 % errors in the use of preposition, 12 or 5.1 % errors in
pluralization, 23 or 9.8 % errors in the use of pronoun, and 4 or 1.7 % errors in
the use of conjunction.
(2) According to the findings, it can be concluded that the students have not
mastered the use of verb groups. We can see it from the number of the errors
made. Although they had been taught about it before, they were still confused
which one to use when making a grammatical sentence. It could be because in
bahasa Indonesia we do not have the verb conjugations. We do not have time
signaling in expressing ideas. They are unfamiliar to this form and because
English is still foreign for them. And those are the possible causes of their
errors.
46
47
The students were still confused in making the agreement between subject and
verb. It could be because in bahasa Indonesia there is no agreement between
subject and verb.
The students were still confused in differentiating whether to use the definite
or indefinite articles. It could be because in Indonesian language grammar
there is no definite article used.
The students still confused in deciding preposition which preposition should
be used, whether to use in, on, or at.
The students overgeneralized the pluralizing of nouns. They just added the -s/
-es without considering that there are some irregular forms of nouns
pluralization.
The students still confused in deciding which pronoun should be used to
substitute nouns, whether it is personal, relative, possessive, or demonstrative
pronouns.
The students applied rules in forming past time verb to conjunctions.
From the explanations above, I can conclude that the students still confused in
dealing with English grammar systems.
5.2 Pedagogical Implications
Based on the findings, I would like to offer some pedagogical implications
to be considered in teaching to improve the students’ writing ability.
47
48
(1) In teaching English related to its grammar, the teacher should give more easily
understood explanation in order to make the students more interested in
learning English, especially the grammar.
(2) The teacher teaches the grammar elements explicitly with adequate exercises.
(3) The teacher should give more exercises in applying grammar not only by
giving the theory of grammar. Because, based on the results the students seem
not quite understand how to differentiate when to use either past or present
form of the verbs.
(4) Teacher could apply a method where he/ she explains the correct uses of the
verb (when to use past and present) forms, gives examples of the usage, and
tests the students understanding which will assure the teacher that the students
really understand it. Otherwise, the students will face difficulties in
differentiating the uses of past and present forms of verbs whenever they learn
English and because this is the very basic step to learn English.
(5) The teacher could also apply the communicative language teaching method
especially when he/she teaches English grammar.
(6) In writing class, the teacher should give more writing exercises to the students.
So that, they will be familiar to English writing forms.
48
REFERENCES
Arikunto, S. 2002. Prosedur Penelitian. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.
Brown, J. D. 1980. Principles in Language Learning and Teaching. New

Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Canale, M. 1983. “From communicative competence to language pedagogy”,

in Sarangi, S & Coulthard, M. 2000. Discourse and Social Life. Essex:
Longman
Candlin. 1997. “Discourse as a topic and social practice: An introduction”, in

Sarangi, S & Coulthard, M. 2000. Discourse and Social Life. Essex:
Longman
Corder, S.P. 1974. Error Analysis. In J. Allen and S. P. Corder (eds.), The
Edinburgh Course in Applied Linguistic. Vol.3. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Departemen Pendidikan Nasional. 2004. Kurikulum 2004 Standar Kompetensi

Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris. Jakarta: Depdiknas.
Ellis, R. 1994. Language Two. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Frank, M. 1972. Modern English. A Practical Reference Guide. New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Gerot, L and P. Wignell. 1994. Making Sense of Functional Grammar.

Sydney: Antipodean Educational Enterprises (ÆE)
Hammond, J., A. Burns, H. Joyce. 1992. English for Social Purposes. A

Handbook for Teachers of Adult Literacy. Sydney National Centre for
English Language Teaching and Research Macquarie University.
Harmer, J. 2001. The Practice of English Language Teaching. London:

Longman Group Limited.
Hartley, J. and R. Male. 1962. Reading and writing. Alternate Edition. The
United States of America: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Inc.
________ . 2004. How to Teach Writing. Essex: Longman Group, Ltd.

James, C. 1998. Errors in Language Learning and Use: Exploring error
Analysis. London and New York: Longman.
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Johnson, K and H. Johnson. 1999. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied

Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Ltd.
Lado, R. 1977. Language Testing. The Construction and Use of Foreign

Language Test. Hongkong: Longman Group Limited.
Larsen-Freeman, D. 2000. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Leech, G., Margaret Deuchar and Robert Hoogenraad. 1982. English

Grammar for Today. London: Macmillan Education Ltd.
Nunan, D. 1992. Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.
Ramelan. 1992. Introduction to Linguistic Analysis. Semarang: IKIP

Semarang Press.
Richard, J. C. 1971. Error Analysis. England: Longman Group Ltd.
. 1974. Error Analysis. England: Longman Group Ltd.
Saleh, M. 2001. Pengantar Praktik Penelitian Pengajaran Bahasa.

Semarang: IKIP Semarang Press.
Seaton, A. 2007. “The Recount Genre” in

http://www.andrewseaton.com.au/grecount.htm, retrieved in 25th March
2007, 11.00 a.m.
Swarbrick, A. 1994. Teaching Modern Language. London: Longman.
Ubol, C. 1988. An Error Analysis of English Compositions by Singapore

Students. Singapore: Seamen Regional Language Center.
Wishon, George E. and Julia M. Burks. 1980. Lets Write English Revised
Edition. New York: Litton Educational Publishing International.
50
APPENDIX 2: Students’ Recount Texts
Khanan Rifa’ul Kasbi (XII IA5/ 09)
Dear diary,
On 4th July 2003, my school held a vacation to Dunia Fantasi. There were
many attracting games such as bumper car, jet coaster, glass house, etc. before we
entered it, we were given tickets by the committee.
Firstly, we entered glass house. My friends and I tried to reach the outway.
We were confused because the walls were glass walls and the house were dark.
Afterwards, my friend could reach the outway after a quarter. However I was
astrayed and separated from them. Then, I tried harder and finally I could reach it.
When I went out from it, I met a young foreign tourist. She was very young but
taller than me.
Secondly, we went to bumper car zone. We ought to stand in a queue. It
was my first time riding the car. I was entrapped in the corner. Next, I learned and
tried until I could. Immediatly, after it clashed my friend’s car. I clashed from
many way. Unfortunately, I lost my money there and I couldn’t find it.
Later, we went to the other attracting games. Lastly, we stayed in Dunia
Fantasi canteen and bought some souvenirs.
However, I enjoyed it.
53
Nur Indah Septriani (XII IA5/ 10)
GOING TO THE HOSPITAL TO SEE A DOCTOR
Last month, in the fasting month, I got sick. I got fever, I had got
recovered, but after that I got hearshore. So I ought to saw a doctor. At November
9th 2006 at 08.00 a.m, I went to hospital in Dukuhringin hospital, Slawi.
I and my mother went to the hospital by public transportation. After
arrived, we registered, we ought to stood in line, because there was many patients
in there. After registered, we waited for a doctor in “THT” specialist policlinic.
While waited for a doctor we looked hospital environment. The hospital
environment very clean and fresh because there are many plants, but some
building had been repaired.
The doctor came at 10.00 a.m., I waited for turn me. When I was called by
an assistant the doctor, I entered the policlinic room directly. The doctor examined
my hear and say that my “membrane tymphani” (hear tool to catch the sound)
have broken and wounded from this part out liquid. There is relation between my
fever that I was suffered before it. For this cases doctor usually call “otitis media”
case.
After the doctor examined me, he gave me the prescription. We ought to
took the medicine in the hospital drugstore. We ought to stood in line again until
01.00 p.m.
Those day, I was bored, and I was very tired. And I hope I could get
recover soon.
54
Rizky Nurul Amalia (XII IA5/ 13)
Last week I spent the night at my beloved school, SMA N 1 Slawi with the
members of ROHIS (Rohani Islam). It was called as pembekalan. We studied
about Islam all night.
There was a invited guest, so I could came late. I came at 07.00 p.m. after
they had gotten prayer in the mosque. Next, we went to class to have dinner
together, but I was late because I awaited for other invited guest. Then we
continued study about leadership with Mr. Sapto Sri Nugroho until 11.00 p.m.
Because we were very sleepy, we went to class to sleep on mat on tile floor.
In the schedule, we had to wake up at 02.00 a.m. to tahajud prayer in the
mosque with overcast light and continued with reflection in the main room
without light. It was the best activity for which I waited, but because of my sleepy
I didn’t concentrate with it so I was regret.
Next we prayer together still with overcast light at 4.05 a.m. After that we
waited for breakfast. The last activity was informal discussion. And we went to
home at 08.30 a.m.
This is a very long night will full of advantages. I enjoyed it.
55
Syaikhul Mu’thi (XII IA5/ 16)
UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE
I have an unforgettable experience and it happened when I was in

elementary school.
At the school holiday, my friends and I wanted to visit to uncle’s house in
Dukuh Salam, Slawi. Because the distance is not so far, we went there on foot.
We spent our school holiday here, by playing in Gung River and so on.
After we arrived at Dukuh Salam, my friend didn’t know the location of
his uncle’s house, so we decided to return to our house.
Having break for a moment, we went home. On the way, we saw a dog. I
was afraid if the dog chased us. Suddenly, the dog chased us, because there were
two students of junior high school disturbed it. We ran quickly.
Aw….!!! Cried one of my friend. Unfortunately, the dog clawed him.
Suddenly, at the same time the owner called it. So he only got a little injured on
his hip. I’m sorry to hear that. Moreover, having arrived at home, my friend’s
mother hit the wound. Ohh…., I’m sure it was sick.
Until now, I still remember it, because this experience is my funniest and
most dangerous story.
56
Yani Sanwati (XII IA5/ 17)
STAYED IN SEMARANG
In May 2006, I stayed in Semarang for 24 days. I stayed at LPMP Srondol,

Semarang. It is a big building that used by government to improve and support the
activity in education sector. I stayed there to joined in First Centered Training
Olympiad Central Java Province 2006 (Pemusatan Latihan Tahap1 Olimpiade
Propinsi Jawa Tengah).
I joined in astronomic class gathered with thirty students from some
regencies in Central Java province. We studied together. In first week, we got
physic material as the basic of astronomic. Then in second week we got the real
material for astronomic. We got the lesson by presentation from one of us. We
studied from 07.30 a.m. until 09.30 p.m.
In twenty third day, it means the last day we studied together hold a
farewell. All of class (there are seven class, that is Mathematic class, Physic class,
Chemistry class, Biology class, Computer class, Astronomic class, and Economic
class) showed their performance. Such as singing, reading poems or playing
guitar.
This was sweet memories and sure I wouldn’t forget it.
57
Brian Shendy (XII IA6/ 06)
HAVING ANOTHER TICKET
Last year, I saw my brother off in the railway station in Tegal. He went
back to Salatiga after his holiday at home. My brother is now studying at the
Satya Wacana University.
It was almost 7 p.m. when our motorcycle was stopped at A.R. Hakim
street.
“The train would leave at 7 p.m”, my brother said. He got upset for
missing the train. I did not say a word for I have no solution to give. We didn’t
say one another up to the railway station.
Getting off the motorcycle, we become hopeless. The train was moving.
“Oh my God”,
“Let’s meet the chief of the station, he may help us”, I suggested. “Okay,
let’s go”, my brother answered.
We met the official and reported that we came late for the 7 o’clock train.
We explained it was because of the traffic jam. For our surprise, the official let
my brother take the next train. He gave him a note for the conductor.
Then he got the train and say goodbay to me. After the train leaving, I got the
motorcycle and went home alone.
58
Maulana Khakim (XII IA6/ 12)
A HOLIDAY THAT MAKE ME HAPPY
In the second semester holiday, at X class, my friends and I spent to

Yogyakarta and Magelang for three days, from Wednesday to Friday.
On Wednesday, we went to Yogyakarta. We stayed at Dirgahayu Hotel
which is not far from Malioboro.
On Thursday, we visited the templates in Prambanan. There are three big
templates, the Brahma, Syiwa, and Wisnu templates. They are really amazing. We
visited only Brahma and Syiwa templates, because Wisnu template is being
renovated. I am very happy looked this templates.
On Friday morning we went to Jogja Kraton. We spent about two hours
there. We were lucky because we were led by a smart and friendly guide. Then we
continued our journey to Borobudur. In the evening we left for Tegal by wisata
bus.
We were very happy in that holiday.
59
Resti Ariesta F. (XII IA6/ 15)
“WHAT A PITY I AM”
I have unforgetable experience when I was in elementary school, in 1997.

At that time, there was a “Metikan”. It usually called in my village. Metikan was
the celebration of sugar factory in rolling sugar-cane, where so many people sold
something, such as: clothes, shoes, toys, book, etc.
I went to saw with my aunt and my brother at night. We walked around
over the street. Suddenly, my aunt interested in buying clothes in a cross road. I
didn’t realize if my aunt and my brother had crossed it, because I was very
interested with the magic show that I saw it in crowded of people.
I stayed alone was there. I lost them. I was very surprised when I knew
that there are no my aunt and my brother beside me. I cried loudly and all of
people there looked at me. I was afraid and confused what would I did then. Many
people approached and asked to me what did happened. I cried louder. I couldn’t
answered because I didn’t knew them.
Fortunately, my aunt and my brother came after hearing my crying. They
carried out me and they tried to made me calm. My aunt told it to my family at
home. They laughed me and of course, I cried again.
I was very ashamed and I would to remember it forever.
60
Tika W. (XII IA 6/ 17)
ME, THE LUCKIEST GIRL ON THE WORLD
Most usually told about doll, Play Station, or another games when I ask
their period as a kid. They played indoor games because they live on a communal
housing or perumahan. Besides that, most of them live in one place or never
moved to another city. That’s why I always feel so lucky because of my beautiful
past. I didn’t only play indoor games but also outdoor games. I played with
nature. I also explore Central Java from west to east, from north to south before
my twelve.
I was born on Jatibarang (Brebes), in one of Sugar Factory official house.
At the time, the serial number of my house was seventeen, but because of a belief
it was changed became eighteen. Some people said that there was ‘something’ or
‘someone’ who cause everybody’s hair to stand on end. Believe or not, I had
never mind because my parents said that everything was OK. I lived there for a
year only.
On 1990, my family, and me of course, moved to New Ceper Sugar
Factory on Klaten. We lived in a small house which the walls made from
plywood. Although it was located on the corner of a dead-end alley, it hadn’t had
mystic atmosphere like my former house because it was clean and bright house.
Two years after that, my family moved to a big house not far from my plywood-
house. The house is the biggest house that I have ever stayed. Three years later,
my family moved again. The new house was still on New Ceper Sugar Factory.
It’s the most unforgettable house for me. A small and clean river flowed from the
front to the behind of the house. It flowed beside my biggest garden. I called the
big garden “Fruit Jungle” because there were so many fruit big trees that the
garden became dark and sinister like a jungle. In the Fruit Jungle, there was a
guava big tree which inclined toward the river. I often fed up when a guava which
I’ve got by climbing with great difficulty fell into the river.
61
When New Order Regime ‘felt’, New Ceper Sugar Factory was closed, so
everyone had to move to another Sugar Factory official house, include my family.
My family moved to Pangkah Sugar Factory official house. My first official house
on Pangkah was located on a dead-end alley. Two hundred meters from the house
was Administrator’s official house. It was the one and only house with two floors
and the biggest official house on Pangkah Sugar Factory. Many people said that
those were ‘something’ of ‘someone’ on the second floor. I didn’t know much
about that. I only know there were many bats in every rooms of second floor
because the floor had been used for nothing. My friends and I often playing cards
on the floor every Friday Kliwon night. One year later, my family moved to
another house not far from the former house. I like the new house so much! There
was a red guava big tree in front of the house which inclined toward the house’s
roof. Its fruits were so sweet. Fortunately, some of my neighborhoods love
climbing tree very much. That’s why we often held a ‘Tree Party’ on the tree. We
cllimbed, took the fruits as many as possible, and ate them on the roof. Usually,
we also take a nap there, on the tree or on the roof. It was not dangerous because
the house was designed as a Dutch house, so the roof was flat horizontally. Two
meters from the tree, there was a small front yard. Japan grass growth fertile.
There was an Apple Mangoes tree and some fragrance flower around the yard. My
friends, who worried about climbing or couldn’t climb, sat on the grass.
It was fun! What a lucky girl I am. I had ever been a girl who closed to the
nature. Unfortunately, I live on a communal housing since my twelve. No tree, no
yard, no river! But I always feel the luckiest girl on the world.
62
Yesi Febriani (XII IA6/ 19)
MY HOLIDAY
On the last holiday, I went to Bali. Bali has many beautiful tourism object.
One of them is Kuta Beach. In Kuta Beach, I saw the large of white sand, the blue
sea, sunset and also foreign tourist from the various of countries.
I did many activities in Kuta Beach. I played the white sand with my
friends. Made the toys from sand like castle, mountain, house and so on. Beside
that, we also played water in seashore chased with my friends. Then we
introduced with foreign tourist from France and Korea. They were very kind with
us. After acquainted, we took the photos with theirs.
Before we leaved Kuta Beach, we saw the scenery of sunset. It looks
beautiful. After spent time in Kuta Beach, we unforgot to bought somethings for
my family at home. We visited Joger shop, a shopping center that popular in Bali.
Today, we were so tired. We must came back to Slawi tomorrow.
It’s my holiday that interesting. We was enjoyade.
63

Grammatical Error Analysis in Students' Recount Texts

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GRAMMATICAL ERROR ANALYSIS in STUDENTS’

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

I am grateful to Allah the Almighty, the Most Merciful (the eternally

project entitled Grammatical Error Analysis in Students’ Recount Texts

My next deeply grateful go to my beloved parents, Sanyoto, A. Md, Sri

for your laughs, you really give me a nice second home.

Haryanto, Toni. 2007. Grammatical Error Analysis in Students’ Recount Texts.

Learning English becomes more and more important nowadays since we

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... vi

LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................... viii

1.1 General Background of the Study ................................................................ 1

1.2 Reasons for Choosing the Topic .................................................................. 5

1.3 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................. 6

1.4 Objectives of the Study ................................................................................ 6

1.5 Significance of the Study ............................................................................. 6

1.6 Definition of Error ....................................................................................... 7

1.7 Outline of the Report .................................................................................... 7

II REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE ....................................... 8

2.1 Grammar ...................................................................................................... 8

2.2 Writing ......................................................................................................... 9

2.3 Recount Text ................................................................................................. 13

2.4 Errors and Mistakes ..................................................................................... 14

2.4.1 Errors ......................................................................................................... 15

2.4.2 Mistakes .................................................................................................... 16

2.5 Sources of Errors .......................................................................................... 16

2.6 Grammatical Errors ...................................................................................... 18

III RESEARCH METHODS ......................................................................... 22

3.1 Research Approach: Case Study .................................................................. 22

3.2 Research Procedure ...................................................................................... 23

3.3 Research Instrument ..................................................................................... 23

3.4 Data Collection ............................................................................................. 24

3.5 Participants of the Study .............................................................................. 24

3.6 Procedure of Investigations ......................................................................... 24

IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................................ 28

4.1 Findings ........................................................................................................ 28

4.2 Discussion .................................................................................................... 31

V CONCLUSION AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS ..................... 46

5.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 46

5.2 Pedagogical Implications ............................................................................. 47

1 Research Approval Letter ............................................................................... 52

2 Students’ Recount Texts ................................................................................. 53

1.1 General Background of the Study

Language is a means of communication among individuals. It is a system

of sounds which is structured and is used to communicate people’s feelings,

intentions, purpose, etc to the others. It is a special characteristic of human or it

language. Nevertheless, the ability to speak a language should be developed in a

Language is an arbitrary sound or sequence of speech sounds used in

particular area Carrol as quoted by Ramelan (1992: 10):

“language is an arbitrary of speech sounds or sequence of speech sounds which is

After knowing the language, in order to be able to communicate, people

stated that communicative competence is the knowledge which enables someone

Canale (1983) outlines four major components of communicative

competence: grammatical competence, including knowledge of vocabulary, rules

of words and sentence formation, linguistic semantics, pronunciation and spelling;

sociolinguistic competence, including rules of appropriateness of both meanings

(allowable messages) and grammatical forms in different sociolinguistic contexts;

discourse competence, the knowledge required to combine forms and meanings to

achieve unified spoken or written texts; and strategic competence, knowledge of

verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that may be called upon to

compensate for limitations in one or more of the other areas of communicative

could be listening, speaking, writing, or reading.

One of the languages is English. It is one of the languages used in

second language, in Australia it is used as first language. Therefore, it has become