CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the findings after the researcher analyzed the data which

included the classification type of errors and source of errors.

A. Findings

This subheading provided about the classification of errors and sub categorization

of errors that the researcher found after analyze the data.

1. Classification of Errors

The researcher collected the data from 36 students in class X MIA 1 of

SMAN 2 Tarakan. The data was in form of writing and especially in recount text

which consist of several of themes. Those were holiday, school‟s activities,

competitions, friendship and important events. After the data has already been

collected then the researcher could determine the classification of errors that was

found in students‟ writing that helped by two English teachers.

To classify the data, the researcher adopted the theory from Dulay (1982). The

name of that theory is Surface Strategy Taxonomy which one of the way to classify

the errors. Based on the data, the grammatical errors which happened in student‟s

writing were grouped into several types; they were omission, addition, misformation

and misinformation error. The samples type of errors from the student‟s writing were:

57
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a. Omission Error
w.m
Sentence: I __holiday in Juata Laut. (SN2)

There is something wrong from the sentence above. The student did not put was

after subject. It was one of the common problems that happened in the writing that

the researcher finds. The sentence at least has subject, verb (can be nominal or verbal)

and object.

b. Addition Error
Uncess V.t
Sentence: I am and my family move from my home. (SN25)

There is addition error happened above because the student added am after I which is

the sentence above is verbal sentence. In verbal sentence, the verb is action verb and

it was already available at that sentence. The verbal sentence above is move.

c. Misformation Error

Uncess sp sp
Sentence: I am go to home met nigth. (SN17)

Based on the sentence above, there are two misformation errors. The first is met

and the second is nigth. The written of those words should not like those. The correct

written of met and nigth are mid and night.

d. Misordering Error

V.t pl W.o
Sentence: I eat two fried chicken and rice with sauce tomato. (SN10)
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In the sentence above, contain a misordering error. That error is sauce tomato.

Those words should be written “tomato sauce”. The complete sentence should be “I

ate two fried chickens and rice with tomato sauce.”

2. Subcategories of Errors

In this section, the researcher categorized the errors into 18 categories. The

researcher found 687 errors. The distribution of grammatical errors occurred by eight-

nine graders have been shown in the table below.

Table. 4. 1 The Distribution of Grammatical Errors in Students, Writing

Types of Errors
No Sub Categories
Omission Addition Misformation Misordering
1 Verb be 54 32 79 1
2 Determiner 2 1 0
3 Auxiliaries 2 0 6
4 Verb tense 4 1 249
5 Sub-Verb Agreement 0 1 0
6 Plural 2 0 11
7 Adverb 4 5 17
8 Adjective 1 3 11
9 Pronoun 0 3 5
10 Possesive 23 8 17
11 Noun 4 4 40
12 Infinitives 2 0 9
13 Verb 2 10 5
14 Preposition 28 15 36
15 Conjunction 7 14 5
16 Article 5 7 6
17 Modals 5 2 0
18 Gerund 2 0 18
Total 147 106 538 1
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On the table above, the researcher can conclude that among 22 categorizes, the

majority of error was happened in verb tense sub categories. The number of error was

253 errors. Thus, the fewest of error were happened in subject-verb agreement,

auxiliaries and modal. The total of error were 18. On the other hands when the

distribution of types of error were did by Tenth graders are available in the table

below.

Table. 4.2 Percentage of Grammatical Errors in Student Writing

No Error Total of Error Percentage of Error
1 Omission 147 18%
2 Addition 106 13%
3 Misformation 538 67%
4 Misordering 7 1%
Total 798 100%

Based on the distribution in the table shown above, the researcher could conclude

that in tenth grade students made 147 omission errors with percentage 18%, 106

addition errors with percentage 13%, 538 misformation errors with percentage 67%,

and 7 misordering errors with percentage 1%.

In line with table 4.1 about the distribution of grammatical errors, the researcher

gives the detail description related with the distribution of subcategories of

grammatical errors that were found in students‟ writings including the student who

committed the errors. In addition, the names of the students were kept anonymous by

coding them based on the number of absence and for example SN1. The meaning of

SN1 was Student Number 1.

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a. Verb be

The numbers of omission errors in verb be sub categorize were 54 errors and were

occurred by 27 students. On the other hands, the total numbers of addition errors were

32 errors and were occurred by 14 students.

Misformation error also occurred in verb be. The total numbers of those errors

were 79 errors and occurred by 27 students. Misordering error also did not miss in

this sub category but, it only occurred once and occurred by 1 student.

b. Determiner

This category occurred in omission, addition and misformation. The total

numbers of omission errors were 2 errors and occurred by 2 students. There was 1

addition error by student. Many of the students in this error did not using determiner

and it effected to the number of errors.

c. Auxiliriaes

In this subcategory error, errors occurred in omission and misformation errors.

The total number of omission error were 2 errors and occurred by 2 students and the

total numbers of misformation were 6 errors and occurred by 6 students.

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d. Verb Tense

In this subcategory, there were several of omission errors which the total amounts

were 4 errors and done by 4 students. Addition error also happened 8 times by 7

students.

The mostly errors occurred in misformation error which the total amount of errors

were 249 and it was occurred by 35 students. In the other side, there was no

misordering error happened.

e. Subject-verb agreement

In this subject-verb agreement, there was no omission, misordering, and

misordering error was done by students of eight-nine. But, only one addition error

occurred by 1 student.

f. Plural

The addition and misordering error were not available in this subcategory. But,

there are omission errors occurred with total numbers of error is 2 errors by 2

students. And misformation error occurred which the total amount were 11 and were

done by 11 students.
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g. Adverb

In this subcategory, omission errors were available. The total amounts were 4

errors and were done by 2 students. On another hands, addition error were also done

by 8 students. which the total errors were 10 errors.

Misformation errors were done by 13 students which the total errors were 17

errors. Misordering error was also available 3 errors and was only done by 1 student.

h. Adjective

There was one omission error in this subcategory. But, there were 3 addition

errorswere occurred by 1 student. There were 11 Misformation errors occurred by

5 students. Misordering error was an error and occurred by 1 student.

i. Pronoun

In this omission error, only occurred by 1 student and the total number was one

error. Addition error also happened by 1 student and also the error were 3 errors. 5

Misformation error and misordering error were available in this subcategory.

j. Possessive

The next subcategory was possessive. The omission error occurred by 10

students. The total amounts of those errors were 23 errors. Addition error happened

by 8 which the total numbers of errors were 8 errors.

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There were 11 students who did misformation error. The total errors were 17

errors. Misordering errors also occurred by 1 student and there was 1 misordering

error.

k. Noun

In this omission error, there were 4 error and occurred by 2 student. Addition

error also happened in this category and the total errors were 3 errors by 2 students.

Misformation errors were done by 16 students. The total errors were 40 errors.

Misordering errors occurred by 5 students and the total numbers of this error

misordering were 4 errors.

l. Infinitives

The addition and misordering error were not available in this subcategory. But

there were 2 omissions and 9 Misformation errors occurred by 8 students.

m. Verb

There were several errors occurred in omission error. The total amounts of errors

were 2 errors. The students who made it were 3 students. On the other hand, there

were 10 students did addition errors. The total errors were 5 errors.

n. Preposoition

There were 14 students did omission error. The total errors were 28 errors. Then, the

addition errors were committed by 9. The total numbers were 15 errors. The mostly
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errors in this subcategory were misformation errors. The total amount of those errors

were 36 errors and were committed by 17 students. It was totally different with

misordering which there was no one error happened.

o. Conjunction

The researcher founded 7 errors in omission errors and was committed by 7

students. In the other hand, there were 14 errors occurred in addition errors and

occurred by 7 students. Then, in misformation errors there were 5 errors and

committed by 4 students. But, there were no errors in misordering error.

p. Article

The researcher founded 5 errors in omission errors and was committed by 5

students. In the other hand, there were 7 errors occurred in addition errors and

occurred by 7 students. Then, in misformation errors there were 6 errors and by 5

students. But, there were no errors in misordering error.

q. Modals

In this omission error, there were 2 errors and it occurred by 2 student. Then, the

addition error happened by 2 students. The total numbers of errors were 2 errors. It

was different with misformation error which there was no error.

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r. Gerund

The addition and misordering error were not available in this subcategory. But

there were 2 omission and 18 Misformation errors which were occurred by 10

students as well.

The researcher can conclude that the most errors were occurred by students in

subcategory verb tense which the students did 251 errors. Then, misformation error

was the most errors occurred in the students‟ writing in recount text. The total

amounts of errors were 249 errors.

B. Discussion

In this discussion, the researcher discussed about the types of error committed by

students in their writing. The researcher also discussed about the source of errors that

was made by tenth grade students of SMAN 2 Tarakan.

1. Analysis the types of errors

In this time, the researcher identified the errors that suggested by Corder (1981)

whereas the researcher described the errors of the students by comparing the

erroneous with the correct utterance from the target language. The researcher also

gave the short explanation to support the suggestion of correct utterance.

The researcher took one sentence every subcategory become the example of the

error. The researcher also marked the errors by using simbols adapted and modified
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by Oshima and Hogue correction symbols (2007). The samples were taken by

researcher randomly and easier to understand. Likely the previous descriptions, the

researcher also kept anonymous by coding them based on the number of absence and

for example SN1.

a. Verb be

Table . 4.3 The example of grammatical error of Verb be

Code Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
w.m My Family and I were holiday in Juata
My family and I _ holiday in Juata Laut
SN2
Laut

There was an error of verb be from the sentence above which it included to

omission error. The student SN2 omitted “were” from the sentence. That verb be

should be added after “I” to make it a correct sentence.

b. Determiner

Table. 4.4 The example of grammatical error of determiner

Cod
e Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN8
In Junior high school, senior high
school when ger we in university, In junior high school, senior high school,
Ger det
uncess work and until we when we in university, working, and until
dead that‟s a funny we dead. Those were fanny promises.
pl
promise
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There were many errors from the sentence above. The error of determiner

category was “that” which should be replaced become “those” because “that” only for

singular refer and those for plural refer. There were two sentences above which the

first sentence shown that refers were plural.

The sentence above was not only available one error but also other errors. Those

errors were gerund, verb be, article and plural errors. First, the word “work” on the

sentence above should be added “ing” because if that sentence does not add “ing”, it

could be verb and it was not matching with that sentence. Second was verb be error.

The word “is” on the sentence above should be replaced become “were” because the

determiner before was plural and the sentence in past form. The third error was article

which it should be omitted because the determiner before in plural form. The last

error on the sentence above was plural which the sentence “promise” should be added

“s” and become “promises”.

c. Auxiliaries

Table. 4.5The example of grammatical error of auxiliaries

Code Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN23 det uncess I must go away from memory and
I most go stay from everything.
w.m
memory_everything.

There was an error of auxiliary subcategory which the error included to

misformation error. The error was spelling of “most” which it should be “must”.
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There were also verb error and conjunction error. The verb error on the sentence

above was word “stay” which that sentence no need to put because the word before

already exist "verb. Conjunction error on the sentence above was the student omitted

conjunction there. It should be added word “and” to make the sentence good.

d. Verb Tense

Table. 4.6 The example of grammatical error of Verb tense

Code Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN3 v.t 5 years ago, I went to Bandung
5 years ago, I go to Bandung

There was an error happened in the sentence above. The error was “go” which

that verb is present form. It should be replaced become “went” because this writing

was recount text. That error includes misformation error because the written was

different from the word should be.

e. Subject-verb agreement

Table. 4.7 The example of grammatical error of Subject-verb agreement

Suggestion of Correct
Code Erroneous of Sentence Sentence
SN4 Agr inf She always invites me to play together.
She always invite me _ play
together
.

The sentence above showed that there was an error in this subcategory. The

error was at word “invite” which this sentence was present form and the correct word

is “invites”. That error was including of misformation error.

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According to Putri in Suhud (2013:303), there must be an adjustment between

subject and verb in a sentence, so when the subject in a sentence is singular then the

verb must be a singular verb and when the subject is plural so the verb must be a

plural verb. In another hand, there was an error. It was infinitive error. It should be

added “to” between “me” and “play” to make it complete infinitive. That error

include of omission error.

f. Plural

Table. 4.8 The example of grammatical error of Plural

Code Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN13 v.t pl I have one friend
I have 1 friends

The error of plural subcategory was at word “friends” which “s” at the end word

should be deleted. It was because of there was number “1” which meant the friend is

singular. That error include of misformation error. In another case, there was verb

tense error. The word was “have” which should be replaced become “had”. That error

also include of misformation error.

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g. Adverb

Table. 4.9 The example of grammatical error of Adverb

Code Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN23 Adv I went inside.
I went in.

There was an error in the sentence above. The error include in misformation error.

The error was at word “in” which it should be replaced become “inside” because “in”

is preposition and the word above needed “adverb”.

h. Adjective

Table. 4.10 The example of grammatical error of Adjective

Cod
e Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN2 v.be adj There were so beautiful and comfortable.
There is so beatiful and comfortable.

The error of that sentence above was spelling of adjective. The spelling “beatiful”

was not correct. It should be “beautiful” to make it correct word. The error above

include of misformation error. In another error was verb be “is” on the sentence

above which should be replaced become “was” because that sentence in past form.

That error also include of misformation error.

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i. Pronoun

Table. 4.11 The example of grammatical error of Pronoun

Code Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN24 Pron v.t w.miss I felt sad when we were sick.
My vell sad when we_ sick.

There was an error of pronoun subcategory. The error was because the student

put “my” in that sentence which the pronoun was not suitable in that sentence. The

correct word is “I”. That error include of misformation error. There were also two

errors beside that error. The errors were verb tense and verb be. The word “vell”

should be replaced become “felt” because the spelling “vell” was not correct. That

error also include of misformation error. Verb be error on the sentence above because

the word “was” was omitted by the student. It included of omission error.

j. Possesive

Table. 4.12 The example of grammatical error of Possesive

Code Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN4 v.t v.be poss I did not know what was her disease.
I don‟t know what is she disease
sick.

There was an error of possessive subcategory. The error was the student put

“she” in that sentence which the possessive was not suitable in that sentence. The

correct word is “her”. It was include of misformation error.

There were also verb tense, verb be and noun error. Verb tense error was word

“don‟t” which should be replaced become “didn‟t” because the sentence in past form.
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Verb be error on the sentence above was “is” which should be replaced become

“was”. Both of those sentences were misformation error. The last error was “sick”

which should not exist there because the meaning of the word before “sick” was

some. That word was addition error.

k. Noun

Table. 4.13 The example of grammatical error of Noun

Cod
e Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN20 uncess v.t nn I went to village library.
I „m going to library vilage.

The researcher found one noun subcategory error. The error was at spelling of

“vilage” which should be replaced become village. The second error was word

“going” which should be replaced become “went”. Both of those errors were

misformation error. The last error was verb be “am” which should be deleted. That

error was misformation error.

l. Infinitives

Table. 4.14 The example of grammatical error of Infinitives

Suggestion of Correct
Code Erroneous of Sentence Sentence
SN10 v.t inf w.miss I went to Karungan to look for
I go to Karungan to looking _ waterfall.
waterfall.

The researcher found one infinitive error. The student wrote “to looking” which it

was incorrect. After “to” should be followed by present verb. Whereas, the correct

infinitive was “to look”. That error was misformation error.

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There were also verb tense and preposition errors. Verb tense error was word

“go” which should be replaced become went because the word in past form. That

error was misformation error. The last error was preposition error because there was

no word “for” between “look” and “waterfall”. That error was misformation error.

m. Verb

Table. 4.15 The example of grammatical error of Verb

Code Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN3 v.t I went there with plane.
I when there with plane

The error was at word “when” which that error was spelling of that word. The

correct spelling of that word was “went”. The error was misformation error because

the formation of “when” different from “went”.

n. Preposition

Table. 4.16 The example of grammatical error of Preposition

Cod
e Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN20 Prep During the vacation at home, I learned a lot
During the vacation _ home I
learned a lot

The researcher found the error of the sentence above. That error was included in

the omission error because there was no preposition after “vacation”. The student

should put “at” after “vacation” to make the sentence correct.

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o. Conjunction

Table. 4.17 The example of grammatical error of Conjunction

Cod
e Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN23 det uncess conj I must go away from memory and
I most go stay away from memory _ everything.
everything

There was no conjunction after word “memory” which made that sentence

was not complete. The student should put conjunction like “and” to make it complete.

That error was included omission error.

There are two errors also beside that error. The errors were determiner and

verb errors. Error of determiner because the word “most” was incorrect spelling and it

should be “must”. That error include of misformation error. The last error was verb

error. The word “stay” should be deleted because it made double verb with “go”. That

error was addition error.

p. Article

Table. 4.18 The example of grammatical error of Article

Code Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN2 Poss art I gave my friend a gift
_ give my friend _ gift.

The error was occurred by student SN2. The errors were article and possessive

subcategories. The error of article was included in omission error because there was

no article after word “friend”. The student should put “a” to make its sentence

correct.
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Another error was possessive error because the students omitted possessive at

the beginning of the sentence. The student should put “I” at the beginning of

sentence. That error was omission error.

q. Modals

Table. 4.19 The example of grammatical error of Modals

Cod
e Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN12 conj mod I hope I can come back holiday in there.
I hope_I __ come back holiday in
there.

The error of the sentence above was missing of modal after word “I”. The

student should put modal "such as “can” or “could” to make the sentence good. The

error was omission error. It was not only one error, but there were two errors. The

another error was conjunction because there was no word “that” between “I” and

“hope”. The error was include of omission error.

r. Gerund

Table. 4.20 The example of grammatical error of Gerund

Code Erroneous of Sentence Suggestion of Correct Sentence
SN8 In junior high school, senior high In junior high school, senior high school,
school ger ger when we in university, working, and until
when we in university, work, and we dead.
until we dead.

In this subcategory, there was one error in the sentence. The error was the

word “work” which it was should be added “ing” in the end of that word to make it

gerund. The error include of misformation error.

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2. Analysis the Causes of Errors

Table. 4.21 The Distirbution of Sources of Errors

No Categories of Error Total Percentage
1 Developmental 265 69%
2 Interlingual 35 9%
3 Ambiguous 26 7%
4 Other 58 15%
Total 384 100%

In this part, the researcher aimed to describe and explain the possible causes of

error which were occurred by tenth grade students of SMAN 2 Tarakan. The

researcher used Comparative Analysis Taxonomy from Dulay (1982).

According to Putri (2017 : 93), that developmental errors which is because the

influence of language competence of English language knowledge, interlingual errors

which was because the influence of mother language, ambiguous errors which was

the combination of influence between language competence and mother language and

other errors which was influenced by the faulty of learning strategies of student.

After giving the questionnaire based on Comparative Analysis Taxonomy from

Dulay (1982) to the tenth grade students of SMAN 2 Tarakan, the researcher got the

data that mostly students' error in writing recount text was caused by developmental.

From 35 students, there were 69% students agreed that developmental brought them

in making error. Then, 9% students agreed that interlingual brought them in making

error. 7% students agreed also stated that ambiguous caused making error in writing
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recount text. In addition, 15% students agreed stated that other error in making

recount text.

a. Analysis of Cause of Error

Students at the tenth grade students of SMAN 2 Tarakan made the errors in

writing recount, caused by many things which was recognized as usual things of their

life background and their habit. The causes of students‟ error, described in the

following explanation based on the data gained from the questionnaire using

Comparative Analysis Taxonomy from Dulay (1982).

According to Putri (2017 : 93), that developmental errors which is because the

influence of language competence of English language knowledge, interlingual errors

which was because the influence of mother language, ambiguous errors which was

the combination of influence between language competence and mother language and

other errors which was influenced by the faulty of learning strategies of student.

The researcher put one sentence becomes the example of error. The example of

the error was taken randomly and obviously could understand easily. The researcher

gave one sentence every cause of error and the researcher explained one by one of the

causes of error which started from the first was developmental error. The second was

interlingual error. The third was ambiguous error and the last was other errors. So, the

samples were showed as follows.

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a. Developmental error

This part described about the cause of error especially at developmental error.

According to Dulay in Putri (2017 : 92-93), developmental occurs when students

learn and apply their target language like their first language that means the students

already can adapt with their target language but sometimes they just do not notice

about their target language grammar (English). So, the example of developmental

error is showed below:

Example: Ten years ago, I and my family go to Samarinda. (SN12)

There was an error in the sentence above. The error is verb “go” which that verb

is present verb. In this context, the verb should in the past verb because the text is

recount text. It was because the lack of knowledge in the English rules. The student

was over generalizing in using verb to write English sentence.

b. Interlingual Error

Interlingual error happened because of the differences of linguistics system

among the language. According to Ellise in Putri (2017:95), interlingual can occur

when students construct a linguistic system in students‟ native language which is

different from their target language linguistic system. It means that the students

arranged the sentence directly from their language to English. It happened in the

example below.

Example: My family and I holiday in Juata Laut. (SN2)

In this interlingual error, the student omitted a word which it made the sentence

was not complete. The word was ”was”. The student wanted to say “Keluarga saya
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dan saya liburan di Juata Laut. If that sentence translates in Indonesia language, it

will be correct sentence. The reason was because the structure between Indonesia

language and English is different.

c. Ambiguous Error

This point described about the sample of the error sentence caused by ambiguous.

According to Dulay in Putri (2017:96), ambiguous is a source of errors that can be

classified as developmental and interlingual, because this sources of error reflects to

the students‟ knowledge of target language and the influence of students‟ native

language. So it was mixing between developmental and interlingual errors. The

example of that error was showed below.

Example: Six years ago when I 9 years old I go to Jakarta. (SN18)

There were 2 errors in the sentence above. First, the error was verb “go” which

that verb was present verb. In this context, the verb should in the past verb because

the text was recount text. It was because the lack of knowledge in the English rules.

The student was over generalize in using verb to write English sentence.

Second, the student omitted a word which it made the sentence was not complete.

The word was “was”. The student wanted to say “Enam tahun lalu ketika saya 9

berumur sembilan tahun, saya pergi ke Jakarta. If that sentence translates in Indonesia

language, it will be correct sentence. The reason was because the structure between

Indonesia language and English is different.

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d. Other Error

The last cause of error was other error. According to Putri (2017:98), the kind of

errors occurred by other is commonly caused by students who arrange a sentence

structure that not reflects to developmental or interlingual. It means the students

create their own language as the uniqueness. According to Dulay (1982:172), other

errors are the errors which not fit either in developmental or interlingual. So, the

example of that error was showed below.

Example: confused them distant holidays. (SN20)

The sentence above did not reflect to developmental error and also did not reflect

to interlingual error. It could be unique errors which happened to the sentence above.

After analyzing the causes of errors, the researcher distributed those errors in the

table which was showed below.

the researcher also gave the strength concerning with the cause of the students'

error through questionnaire. The questionnaires were given to the students of the

tenth grade of SMAN 2 Tarakan. Through the questionnaire, the researcher asked

about students' statement about the cause of making error of writing recount text. The

researcher made the questionnaire based on Comparative Analysis Taxonomy from

Dulay (1982).
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Table. 4.22 The Result of Questionnaire

Response
No. Soal
SS S TS STS Percentage
1 4 17 12 2 73% (Setuju)
2 4 24 6 1 78% (Sangat Setuju)
3 4 18 10 3 67% (Setuju)
4 6 16 12 1 75% (Setuju)
5 3 14 16 2 70% (Setuju)
6 8 19 6 2 83% (Sangat Setuju)
7 20 13 2 0 90% (Sangat Setuju)
8 0 2 14 19 48% (Tidak Setuju)
9 4 9 18 4 67% (Setuju)
10 6 12 13 4 71% (Setuju)
Total 59 144 109 38

After giving the questionnaire to the tenth grade students of SMAN 2

Tarakan, the researcher got the data that mostly students' error in writing recount text

was caused by Developmental Error which were the students didn‟t understand

enough about Verb tense in writing recount text.