AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS

IN WRITING RECOUNT TEXT: A STUDY AT THE ENGLISH

STUDENTS OF TADULAKO UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR
2018

STEPMI GAYANTRI A.HAKIM

SKRIPSI

ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
TADULAKO UNIVERSITY
2020

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 APPROVAL PAGE

Research Title : An Analysis of Grammatical Errors in Writing Recount

Text: A Study at the English Students of Tadulako
University Academic Year 2018.

Researcher : Stepmi Gayantri A.Hakim

ID Number : A 121 15 086

has fulfilled the requirements for skripsi

Approved by:

Supervisor

Drs. Sudarkam .R. Mertosono, M.A., Ph.D

NIP. 19680723 199403 1 002

Acknowledged by:

The Head of Language and Art The Coordinator of English

Education Department Education Study Program

Dr. Hj. SriatiUsman, M.Hum Dr. Rofiqoh, M.Ed

NIP. 19630810 198903 2 002 NIP. 19670715 199303 2 002

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 ABSTRACT

Stepmi Gayantri A.Hakim A 121 15 086. An Analysis of Grammatical Errors in

Writing Recount Text: A Study at the English Students of Tadulako University
Academic Year 2018, under the supervision Sudarkam .R. Mertosono.

Considering the importance of grammatical knowledge in the writing process, this

research was aimed to know the grammatical errors that happen in writing class made
by students of of The English Students of Tadulako University Academic Year 2018.
Population was taken in fifth semester of English student department. Accidental
samplingwas used intaking sample from the population. The researcher found the
common error that exist on the students’ writings. The findings showed that the
percentage of the students’ percentage in ommision The findings showed that the
percentage of the students’ percentage in ommision is 40,4%, addition is 5.2%,
misformation is 50.8% and misordering is 11,6%.. The researcher attempted to put
the findings analysis in accordance to the order of the most frequents errors found in
studnets essays to the least frequent errors. It showed that the most frequest error is
misformation (39%).. After calculating the data from those components. The
researcher found that the students were still low in misformations erros.Based on the
result, it is figured out that the studentsstill have difficulties in applying grammatical
structures in writing recount text.

Keywords: Grammatical Errors, Writing Skill, Recount Text

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 MOTTO

‘BETTER LATE THAN NEVER”

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The most gracious, all praises to be Allah, who has given us blessing and

guidance so the researcher able to finish writing this Skripsi as a partial fulfillment

for the scholar degree at the English Education Study Program of Tadulako

University. The researcher realize that this skripsi can not be completed without a

great deal of help from many people. Especially her beloved mother and father, his

sister and his brother thank you for endless love, prays, patient, support, cares and

motivation.

Many people have facilited the researcher to accomplish this research. They

gave a lot of contribution. Firstly, Thank to Abdullah D.Hakim, Fadhilah S.Basir,

Nurdiana, Wika Sartika, Dwi Fitri Apriani, Arif Rahman, Syifa Raihana, Asyraf

Akil, Aditya Syarif Hidayatullah, and Adzana Anindya Putri Aditya. My sincere

gratitude goes to my supervisor Drs. Sudarkam .R.Mertosono, M.A., Ph.D for his

guidance, ideas, time, corrections, suggestion, and support which helped me during

the writing of this thesis. I also thank all the committees of examination Maf’ulah,

S.Pd., M.Pd and Drs. Muhammad Arid, M.Pdfor who have giving so many advices,

briliants ideas, well guidance, developing sugestion and other supporting efforts. in

improving this skripsi. I would also like to extend my great appreciation and thank

the Rector of Tadulako University, Prof. Dr. Ir. H. Mahfudz, M.P. and the Dean of

Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Tadulako University, Dr. H. Anshari

Syafar, M.Sc., who give chance and facilities to study. Next, my appreciation is

addressed to the Coordinator of English study program, Dr. Hj. Rofiqoh, M.Ed who

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helped me in all administrative matters during the study time, and all the lecturers

who have given us the useful knowledge to be applied..

Thanks go to all his best for the kindness, smile, laugh, spirit, help and for

accompanying her to finish this skripsi. Thank you for my classmatesFadel

Muhammad, Nirmala Ayu Fadhilah, Sonita Puji Lestari, Bryan Andreas, Fajar Putra

Setiawan, Nuranisa Andiyani Tenggelina, Rezkianah, Sadiq Ramdhani, Imron

Firmasyah, Sriwahyuni Kaimun, Lilis Savarina, Monika Gabriela Kartika Dalle, Fifi

Andriani, Nurul Alice, Masni, Putri Ayu Ariska, Rif’ah Zakhiyah, Musniani Amar,

Nadiyah, Fauzia Alhadad, Ayu Magdalena Soputan, Apriani K Dai Mabela, Sri

Sundari, Vani Goma, Christa Mulyani, and Luz Clarita Debora Sidaling. Thank to

my sisters Anirwana, Niar, Riska Humairah, Yulia Crismonica, Febby Jenifer, Nurul

Hidayah, Yaya, Nuroktaviani, Hesti Dwi Astuti, Inun Usman, and Moh. Tarmizi who

gave contributions to the completion of this project. The researcher admits that this

skripsi still has weakness and mistakes. Therefore, the researcher grateful to accept

any constructive, comments, suggestion and critics to make this skripsi better. May

Allah SWT always bless you all.

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

Page
TITLE i
APROVAL PAGE ii
ABSCTRACT iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
LIST OF TABLE vii
LIST OF APPENDICES ix

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Problem Statement 2
1.3 Objective of the Research 3
1.4 Significance of the Research 3
1.5 Scope of the Research 3
1.6 Operational Definition of Key Terms 4

CHAPTER 2 RELATED STUDIES, REVIEW OF RELATED

LITERATURE, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK, AND
HYPOTHESIS
2.1 Related Studies 5
2.2 Review of Related Literature 7
2.2.1 Definition of Writing 7
2.2.2 Porpuse of Writing 9
2.2.3 Recount Text 10
2.2.3.1 Generic Structure of Recount Text 11
2.2.3.2 Language Features of Recount Text 11
2.4 English Grammatical Aspects 12
2.5 Error Descriptions 16
2.6 Theoritical Framework 18

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Design of the Research 20
3.2 Population and Sample 20
3.2.1 Population 20
3.2.2 Sample 20
3.3 Data Collection 21
3.4 Instrument of Data Collection 21
3.5 Data Analysis 22

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CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Finding 23
4.2 Essay Documents 23
4.3 Discussions 24

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTION

5.1 Conclution 31
5.2 Suggestion 31

REFERENCES 32
APPENDIX 36

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LIST OF TABLE

4.1 Distribution of Levels In Students’ Essay 24

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 LIST OF CHART

Graph Pages

2.1 Writing process 9

4.1 Students erros percentage 25
4.2 Additions Errors 25
4.3 Ommision Errors 27
4.4 Misformation Errors 28
4.5 Misordering Errors 29

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 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Writing is one of four skills in English language. It is a skill that lets a person

produce something in a more formal way, unlike speaking skill. What to be

understood as a formal way is the consideration of everything, including grammar,

punctuation, and mechanics when the writer is writing. Furthermore, as one of the

skills of English, writing is compulsory for the students in order to explore or transfer

their ideas and thoughts into series of words. There are many kinds of texts in

English, namely, descriptive text, recount text, narrative text, report text, and

procedure text. Though, in order to tell others about one’s past experience, students

are required to be skilled to write a recount text. This is in line with the Indonesian’s

curriculum (2013:70), “Menyusun teks recount lisan dan tulis, sangat pendek dan

sederhana, tentang pengalaman/kegiatan/kejadian/peristiwa, dengan memperhatikan

tujuan, struktur teks, dan unsur kebahasaan secara benar dan sesuai dengan konteks.”

It means that students should have an ability to construct a recount text while

minding about the objective, generic structure, and language feature of it.

To achive the goal of the curriculum at university is not an easy work. The major

reasons were because the students did not have any ideas to be written about due to

the fact that they were rarely given chances to practice writing. Moreover, writing

skill is really needed especially on a recount text, it suggests imaginative tasks to the

students which may increase their enthusiasm toward developing their writing skills.

In classroom practice, writing assignments were often given as homeworks. In other

words, the students did their work without any guidance from the teacher. That was

why, another reason of the low ability of students’ writing skills was partly because

they were not sure of the proper organization of the recount text, the words that have

to be used, the grammatical use of English, and the mechanics of writing. Based on

the background above, the researcher is interested to analyse the the leves of

grammatical errors in writing recount text of the english students of Tadulako

University academic year 2018. This research covered the analysis ofthe types of

errors.

1.2 Problem Statement

Based on the preliminary observation which was carried out The researcher

plans to analyse the grammatical errors in writing recount text of the english

students of Tadulako University academic year 2018. For that to be working, the

problem statement is formed as follows:

“What is the highest errors made by the students of Tadulako University academic

year 2018 in writing recount text?”

1.3 Objective of the Research

In order to know the types of the grammatical errors of the students, the

researcher will use qualitative research design. The objective of this research is to

analyse of grammatical errors in writing recount text of the english students of

Tadulako University academic year 2018.

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1.4 Significance of The Research

The researcher expects that the results of this research could give advantages

to the students, teachers, and other researchers. First, students can improve their skill

of writing effectivelyon recount text. Second, teachers can use this research to enrich

the way of teaching writing. Third, this research can be a source of related studies for

other researchers.

1.5 Scope of the Research

Regarding to the problems found in preliminary observation, the

researchertries to come up with a solution. Thus, this reseach is intended to analyse

the grammar errors. The kind of text that will be focused on is recount text. Whereas,

the aspects of writing will be limited to mechanics (capitalization, punctuation, and

spelling), and vocabulary.

1.6 Operational Definition of Key Term

Some operational definitions of the key termsin this sense, are used to explain

the meanings of the words so that the reader might not misunderstandor misinterpret

them. The operational definitions of the key terms are describedas follows;The

students are required to write the recount text;Analysis is the process of breaking a

complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding

of it; Recount text is a kind of text that lets the writer tell the reader about events that

has happened in the past.

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 CHAPTER 2
RELATED STUDIES, REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES,
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK, AND HYPOTHESIS

2.1 Related Study

Relatedstudy to analyse the students writing skill has been done by some

researchers. One of them was published in 2014which was entitled “An Analysis Of

Students’ Error In Writing Recount Text.” The researcher is from Department Of

English Education The Faculty Of Tarbiya And Teachers’ Training Syarif

Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta 2014. The researcer used A qualitative

research.The subject in this research is the second grade students of SMP Trimulia

Jakarta Selatan. The second grade students are divided into five classes A, B, C, D, E

and the writer took a class to conduct the research using purposive cluster sampling

used for specific purpose to generate a more efficient probability sample in term of

monetary and/or time resources.

The researcher showed the conclusion that the second grade students of SMP

Trimulia Jakarta Selatan still made many errors in recount text writing. The most

common types of errors made by the students are capitalization with the number of

errors is 200 or 23.90%, word choice with the number of error is 110 or 13.14% and

verb tense with the number of error is 105 or 12.54%. The sources of errors

identified in this study are communication strategy with the number is 428 or 51.14%

source of error, interlingual transfer with the source of error is 295 or 35.24%,

intralingual transfer with the source of error is 94 or 11.23%, context of learning with

the number source of error is 20 or 2.39%.

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 Second researcher wasLulu Meilina Alfiyani, it was entitled “An Analysis Of

Grammatical Errors In Writing Among The Second Semester Students Of English

Department of Yogyakarta StateUniversity In The Academic Year Of

2011/2012”The research was conducted using qualitative research design to some of

the English students department of Yogyakarta StateUniversity In The Academic

Year Of 2011/2012. The result showed there were some category of errors in

students’ writing skill which can be seen from the surface strategy taxonomy proposed

by Dulay, Burt and Krashen.Hence, the researcher suggested to use interesting topic

and various techniques in writing activity so that the students get motivated to write

more in English.

Third study, “The Effect of Diary Writing and Students’ Achievement

Motivation on Their Writing Recount Text”, presented a positive result as well. This

study was conducted under quantitative approach by using quasi-experimental

method. The samples were the eleventh grade students of SMAN 1 Seruway, Aceh

Tamiang. The findings of this study showed that there was a significant difference on

the skills of writing between students who were taught by using writing diary and

those who were taught by using direct instruction. In other words, diary writing is

impactful for the students of senior high school. It gives significant improvement on

students’ writing skill.

However, Looking at those researches above, there are similarities and

differences between their researches. In this research the researher focused to

analysethe grammatical errors in writing recount text of the english students of

Tadulako University academic year 2018.

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2.2 Review of Related Literature

2.2.1Definition of Writing

Writing is considered as a productive skill along with speaking (Harmer, 2007:

265). When students deal with language production, it means that they should use their

knowledge to produce the language to achieve a communicative purpose either in the

form of spoken or written language. According to a psycholinguist, Eric Lenneberg, (as

cited in Brown, 2001: 334), he says that different from speaking in which people learn

language through a natural process or human behavior as learning to „walk‟, writing is a

learned behavior as learning to „swim‟, people need someone to teach them.

people learn to write if they are members of a literate society and usually if

someone teaches them. Among the four language skills, “writing is the most difficult

skill for second or foreign learners to master” (Richards & Renandya, 2002: 303). It is

because writing is considered as a complex process of putting ideas down on paper to

transform thoughts into words (Brown, 2001: 336). Since the idea or thought is an

abstract thing which comes from our mind, it is not easy to transform it into

understandable or readable form. The similar definition also stated by Rohman (as cited

in McDonald & McDonald, 2002: 7). He points out that writing is usefully described as a

process of putting thoughts into words and words into papers. “Writing is considered as a

productive skill along with speaking,” Harmer (2007:265). When students deal with

language production, it means that they should use their knowledge to produce the

language to achieve a communicative purpose either in the form of spoken or written

language. Among the four language skills “writing is the most difficult skill for second

or foreign learners to master,” Richards & Renandya (2002:303). It is because “writing is

considered as a complex process of putting ideas down on paper to transform thoughts

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into words,” Brown (2001:336). Brown (2001), furthermore, states that writing is seen as

a process focusing on the various stages that any process of writing goes through, such as

putting ideas down on paper to transform thoughts into words. It means that the process

of writing is more valuable than the end of the product.

According to Heaton (1975: 127) writing is a task which involves students

to make grammatically correct sentences by manipulating words in the form of

apiece of continuous writingthat successfully communicates the writers' ideas ona

certain topic.The statementsuggests that the main purpose of writing is to

expressideas, thoughts, and write clearly in a written language. From the

definitionabove the writer can conclude that by using writing, we can share our idea,

feelingor anything that comes upto our mind. Writing is one way of making

experience meaningful.

Harmer (2005: 4) suggests the process of writing into four main elements:

planning, drafting, editing (reflecting and revising), and final version.

1. Planning

Before starting to write or type, writers try and decide what it is they are going

tosay. When planning, writers have to think about three main issues. Firstly, they

have to consider the purpose of their writing since this will influences not only the

type of text they wish to produce, but also the language they use, and the information

they choose to include. Secondly, experienced writers think of the audience they are

writing for, since this will influence not only the shape of the writing, but also the

choice of language. Thirdly, writers have to consider the content structure of

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thepiece, how best to sequence the facts, ideas, or arguments which they have

decided to include.

2. Drafting

Draft is the first version of a piece of writing. This first goes to a textwhich is

often done on the assumption that will be amended later. As the writing process

procedure into editing, a number of drafts may be produced on the way to the final

version.

3. Editing (reflecting and revising)

After writers have produced a draft, they usually read through what they

havewritten to see where it works and where it doesnot. Reflecting and revisingare

often helped by other readers (or editorsas a proofreader) who comment and make

suggestionson it. Another reader's reaction to a piece of writing will help the writer to

make appropriate revisions.

4. Final versions

Once writers have edited their draft, making the changes which are necessary,

they produce their final version. This may look considerably different from both the

original plan and the first draft, because things have changed in the editing process.

But the writer is now ready to send the written text to its intended audience.

Since writing is a way to communicate with others in the written form,

everything should be clear. Unlike speaking where the message of the

communication can be grasped through non-verbal language, such as gestures, body

languages or facial expressions, in writing, the message is conveyed through the

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written form. Therefore, the writer should be able to make the reader understand the

message conveyed.

The practice of language teachingpoints out that there are two important

aspects in writing. In order to make writing to be successful, it has to be both

coherent and cohesive.Coherent is the feeling that the elements of texts are bound

together in which the reader can follow the sequence of ideas or points. While

cohesive is the surface links between the clauses and sentences of a text. It is a more

technical matter since it deals with the various linguistic ways of connecting ideas

across phrases and sentences, such as using pronoun and connector.

Planning

Final Drafting
versions

Editing

Figue 2.1. Model of Writing Process

2.2.1.1 Purpose of Writing

There are many purposes of writing, such as to complete the assignment, to

earn agood grade, to publish their writing, and so on. Hugo (1986:24) in Sari

(2008:8) states that the purposes in writing activities are as follows:

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(1) Assignment Purpose

In term of this purpose, the writer actually doesn’t have the purpose of writing. It

is just for completing the task given.

(2) Altruistic Purpose

Here, the writer intends to entertain the reader through his writing order so they

can serve the life in the easy, simple and enjoyable way.

(3) Informative Purpose

The writer introduces and expresses what he really feels or thinks to the readers.

(4) Creative Purpose

Through his/her writing, the writer wants to perform artistic norms by

him/herself.

(5) Problem Solving Purpose

The writer wants to explain and analyze the problem in his/her mind so that the

reader understands it.

(6) Persuasive Purpose

The writer wants to persuade or convince the reader about his/her idea.

(7) Self Expression Purpose

The writer introduces and expresses what he/she really thinks to the reader.

2.2.3 Recount Text

According to Djoehari (2007:44), recount is a type of text that contains report

an event or an incident that happens to a person or a person's experience. Recount

text aims at informing or entertaining readers.

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2.2.3.1 Generic Structure of Recount Text

Recount text is usedto tell past events for the purpose of informing or

entertaining.Events are usually arranged in a temporal sequence. It is usually found

orpresented in journals, diary, personal letter, biography, travel report, policereport,

sport report, and history. The recount text has some generic structureas described

below:

1) Orientation: a first paragraph that gives background information about who,

what, where, and when.

2) Events: describing series of events that happened in the past.

3) Reorientation: It is optional, stating personal comment of the writer to the story.

2.2.3.2Language Features of Recount Text

1) Specific noun as a personal pronoun;example(I, my cat)

2) Individual participant focuses on the story of the participants (actors) that certain

specific:example(Angga, my father)

3) Time connection and conjuntion to sort events: example(after, before, soon)

4) Action verbs, verbs that show the events:example (stayed, climbed).

5) Adverbs and adverb phrases to show the place, time and manner: example

(yesterday, last week, at home, slowly)

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2.4 English Grammatical Aspects

Primary categories (Word classes) All words belong to categories called word

classes (or parts of speech) according to the part they play in a sentence. The main

word classes in English are:

a.) Nouns

Noun is the most important word classes. It is the name of person, place, thing or

idea. It is headword of noun phrase, in other words, a noun phrase must contain

one main noun on which all the other words in the phrase are centered. The

classification of noun are:

(1) Common noun. A common noun is a noun that refers to people or things in

general. Common noun are subdivided into count nouns (chair) and non-count

nouns (butter). e.g., boy, country, city, birth, day, happiness,atc.

(2) Proper noun A proper noun is a name that identifies a particular person,

place, or thing. In written English, proper noun begin with capital letters. Nouns

that refer uniquely to individually salient items lack many of the properties of

prototypical nouns in their normal usage. e.g., Steven, Brooklyn, Bridge,

Toronto, Monday.

(3) Concrete noun A concrete noun is a noun that refers to people and to things

that exist physically and can be seen, touched, smelled, heard, or tasted. There

are count and non-count concrete nouns (apple, milk). e.g., dog, building, coffee,

tree, rain, beach, tune, Brooklyn Bridge.

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(4) Abstract noun An abstract noun is a noun that refers to ideas, qualifies, and

conditions. It is thing that cannot be seen or touched and things that have no

physically reality. 40 e.g., truth, danger, happiness, time, friendship.

(5) Collective nouns Collective nouns refer to groups of people or things. e.g.,

audience, family, government, team, jury (6) Compound nouns Compund noun

is a noun existing of more than a single word. It could be separate words or two

words joined by a hypen or a combined word. e.g., social studies, sister-in-law,

headmaster

b.) Verbs

A group of words cannot be described as a sentence or a clause unless at least

one of the words is a verb. It has morphological properties; There are several

types of verb in English:

(1) Action verbs An action verb tells what action (often a phisycal action) a

subject is performing, has peformed, or will perform. 41 e.g., My father delivers

packages to department stores each day.

(2) Linking verbs A linking verb connects (or links) a subject to a noun or an

adjective in the predicate. The most common linking verbs are the forms of the

verb “to be” (is, are, was, were, been, being, am) and appear, become, feel,

grow, look, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay, taste, and turn.

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b.) Adjectives

An adjective modifies (qualifies or limits the meaning of) a noun or a pronoun. It

gives the reader or speaker extra information about a noun or delimits it in some

way. e.g., Carrie read an interesting story . There are several types of adjectives:

(1) Proper adjectives It is formed from a proper noun. e.g., Italian bread,

Herculean Strength, Canadian sunset

(2) Compound adjectives It is a word composed of two or more words.

Sometimes these words are hypenated. e.g., landmark decision, black-and-blue

mark

e.) Pronouns

A pronoun is a word used in place of one or more nouns.it is used to refer a noun

(called its antecedent) that usually comes before the pronoun or make writing

clearer, smoother, and less awkward. There are several types of pronoun:

(1) Personal pronoun It refers to people and things. They are divided into three

categories called first person (referring to the person who is speaking; I went to

the mall), second person (referring to the person spoken to; Joy, can you see the

bus?), and third person (referring to anyone or anything else; Bob saw us do this

assignment). Singular Plural First person I, my, mine, me We, our, our, us

Second person You, your, yours You, your, yours Third person He, his, him,

she, her, hers, it, its They, their, theirs, them

(2) Reflexive pronoun It is formed by adding –self or –selves to certain personal

pronouns. Example of reflexive pronoun are myself, himself, herself, itself,

ourselves, themselves, yourselves.

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(4) Demonstrative pronoun It is used to point out a specific person or thing.

These pronouns include this, that, these, and those. e.g., Theresa, is this yours?

(5) Indefinite pronoun It is often does not refer to a specific or definite person or

thing. It is usually does not have a definite or specific antecedent as a personal

pronoun does. These pronouns include all, another, any, everybody, much,

neither, sveral, etc. e.g., Everybody will select another to help with everything.

f.) Prepositions

Preposition is used in which two parts of a sentence are related to each other. It

is always followed by a phrase containing a noun and need more than just

themselves to answer the same questions. Preposition is classified into two

categories:

(1) Common preposition It is a word that shows the relationship between a noun

or a pronoun and another word in the sentence. e.g., The man swam under the

bridge. (Under connects the idea of swam and bridge).

(2) Compound preposition It is composed of two or more words. e.g., He fell

down the stairs. (Down is a preposition because it takes more than a single word

to tell where he fell).

g.) Conjunctions

Conjunction serves to connect two or more clauses, phrases or words together to

make longer constructions. There are two types of conjunction: (1) Coordinating

conjunction This type is always used to connect elements that share the same

grammatical status, that is, main clause to main clause, verb to verb, noun to

15
 noun, adjective to adjective and so on. These seven words are for, and, nor, but,

or, yet, and so.

2.5 Error Descriptions

Analyzing errors from a surface strategy perspective holds much promise for

researchers concerned with identifying cognitive processes that underlie the learner’s

reconstruction of the new language. Dulay (1982) explains some types errors. They

are as follows:

1. Error in linguistic taxonomy Linguistic taxonomy classifies errors according

to either or both the language components and the particular linguistic

constituent the error affects. Language components include phonology

(pronunciation), syntax and morphology (grammar), semantic and lexicon

(meaning and vocabulary), and discourse (style). Constituent includes the

elements that 25 comprise each language component. For example, within

syntax one may ask whether the error is in the main or subordinate caluse,

which constituent is affected, e.g. the noun phrase, the auxiliary, the verb

phrase, the preposition, the adverb, the adjective, and so forth.

2. Errors in surface strategy taxonomy Surface strategy taxonomy highlights the

ways surface structures are altered.

a) Omission Errors

An omission is a type of error which is “characterized by the absence of

an item that must appear in a well-formed utterance”. As we know that

16
 morphemes or words can be distinguished into two classes: content

words and grammatical words. Content words are those that carry the

bulk of referential meaning of a sentences such as nouns, verbs,

adjectives, adverbs, etc.

b) Addition Errors

Addition errors are characterized by the presence of an item which must

not appear in a well-formed utterance (Dulay et all 1982) tells that It is

usually occured in the later stages of L2 acquisition or learning, when the

learner has already acquired some target language rules.

c) Misformation errors

Misformation errors are characterized by the use of the wrong form of the

morphemes or structure. It is occured when the learner supplies

something although it is incorrect.

d) Misordering errors

Misordering errors are characterized by the incorrect placement of a

morpheme or group of morphemes in an utterance. It occurs

systematically for both L1 and L2 learners in constructions that have

already been acquired.

Ellis (1997) maintains that ‘classifying errors can help us to diagnose

learner’learning problem at any stage of their development’. This categorization can

beexemplified as follows:

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 a. Omission

i. Morphological omission : A strange thing happen to me yesterday.

ii. Syntactical omission : Must also say the names?

b. Addition

i. In morphology : The books is here.

ii. In syntax : The London.

iii. In lexicon : I stayed there during five years ago.

c. Selection

i. In morphology : My friend is oldest than me.

ii. In syntax : I want that he comes here.

d. Ordering

i. In pronunciation : fignisicant for ‘significant’, prulal for

‘plural’

ii. In morphological : get upping for ‘getting up’

iii. In syntax : he is a dear to me friend.

iv. In lexicon : key car for ‘car key’.

2.6 Theoretical Framework

In this research, the insufficient practice made the students had a low level in

writing. The chances to do writing practice is often only given as a home assignment.

In other words, the students did not have anyone to ask when he or she faced some

confusion or difficulty. It also resulted in the lack of understanding in mechanics and

grammar.Thus, using recount test to analyse the writing skillis expected to help the

students in familiarizing themselves with writing activity. When the students keep on

18
practicing, in the future, there will be no such difficulty in writing for them, such as

in finding a good topic to write, in building a well-structured sentence and in using a

good mechanics.

. The researcher will not only comment about the topic written but also about

the vocabulary employed and grammatical mistakes. Furthermore, the researcher

asked the students to make the test in online test then the students send the scan of

the test to researcher. In fact, there is no technique that is considered as a perfect

technique. It means that the students may feel uninterested on certain days when they

have to keep writing a journal. They may procrastinate a lot to the point that they

forget to write a diary. Thus, the activity of diary writing is going to done in the

classroom. It will not only help the students to write diary consistently, but the

students can also ask some questions to the teacher regarding to the topics.

19
 CHAPTER 3

METHOD OF THE RESEARCH

3.1 Design of the Research

As stated in problems of the research, this research was conducted to find out

the level of grammatical errors in writing recount text of the english students of

Tadulako University academic year 2018. This study is a descriptive qualitative.

Shortly this study was more flexible, the researcher analysed the students’ writing

skill on recount text. Widoyoko (2012), says that qualitative research describes the

way things is based on the facts and stated in statement or words form.

3.2 Population and Sample

3.2.1 Population

The researcherseleced the studentsof Tadulako University academic year 2018.

According to Best and Kahn (2006:13), “A population is any group of individuals

that has one or more characteristics in common and that are of interest to

theresearcher.” The population consists of 8 parallel classes (A,B,C,D,E,F,G and H).

The total number of the population is 245 students.

3.2.2 Sample

In conducting the research, the researcher limits the population by taking

sample of this research. Best and Kahn (2006:13) states“Sample is a small proportion

of the population that is selected for observation and analysis.” The researcher

usedthe researcher used accidental sampling in this descriptive research. Suen And Donal

20
(1989) states that accidental samplingis the least rigorous of all sampling procedures. With

accidental sampling,whichever subjects happen to be available comprise the sample. This

sampling technique is used in order to select sample, the researcher shared the

intruction to all students in academic year 2018. Moreover, the sample is the students

that returned the task.

3.3 Data Collection

In qualitative research, in collecting the data we used severals ways that are

observation, interview and documentation. Sugiyono (2008: 225) stated that the

fundamental method relied on by qualitative researchers for gathering information is

participation in the setting, direct observation, in-depth interviewing, and

documentation review.Sugiyono (2008:) states that documentation can be written and

picture by someone that can be used to obtain information. From the explanatios,

theresearcher used documentation to prove the level of grammatical errors in writing

recount text of the english students of Tadulako University academic year 2018.

3.4 Instrument of Data Collection

Arikunto (2000: 134) tells that instrument in collecting data is a tool that is

used by researchers to help them in collecting data in order to make it more

systematic and easy. In this research, The researcher collected and documented the

qualitative data by asking the students of the English students academic year 2018 to

write and send the picture of their writing through Whatsapp. In calculating the data,

the researcher used the formula adapted from Hatch and Farhady (1982) as follows:

21
 F= P

N
P= Percentage

F= Levels Of Errors

N=Total Number

3.5 Data Analysis

Data analysis is the review process, sorting, and grouping data in order to

formulate conclusion of research findings. The researcher focuses prove the level of

grammatical errors in writing recount text of the english students of Tadulako

University academic year 2018.

22
 CHAPTER 4

FINDING AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Findings

This chapter presents and discusses the finding of the research. This study

was conducted to investigate three research problems. Those are the types of

grammatical errors analysis and the sources of grammatical errors of the students. In

order to answer those questions, the researcher tried to find out thelevels of students’

gramatical errors. The researcher provided and distributed essay test to the students

in academic years 2018. After they took the esay test , the researcher collected the

paper then the researcher identified the levels of the students writing. There are

fourteen students as the sample of this research. Moreover the research counted the

score of the students to know the levels of the students’ gramatical errors.

4.2 Essay documents

This research was analyzed based on Assesing Writing by Weigle. These

errors defined as mechanics (spelling and punctuation), grammar, and word choices.

To find out the types of errors and how many errors on those components, the

researcher documented the students’ writing. After that, the percentage of each

category of errors in their writings was counted. And also the sources of errors were

counted. The last step was counting the percentage of each type of errors and its

sources. The data from the students’ writing are presented below.

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 Table 4.1: Distribution of Levels In Students’ Esay

Students’
No Ommision Addition Misformation Misordering Total
Initias
1 AAS 1 - 3 - 4
2 JDZS 2 - 3 - 5

3 BAMW 3 - 3 - 6

4 A 1 - 5 - 4

5 DSA 2 1 1 - 1

6 AM 3 - 3 1 2

7 AY 2 1 2 - 5

8 SY 2 - 2 - 2

9 PP 3 - 2 1 2

10 RDW 2 - 2 - 3

11 NIDP 2 1 3 - 5

Total 23 3 29 2 55

Percentage 40.4% 5.2% 50.8% 3,6% 100%

4.3 Discussion

The discussions in this section was to answer the research question stated in

Chapter I. The findings showed that the percentage of the students’ percentage in

ommision is 40,4%, addition is 5.2%, misformation is 50.8% and misordering is

11,6%.. The researcher attempted to put the findings analysis in accordance to the

order of the most frequents errors found in studnets essays to the least frequent

errors. It showed that the most frequest error is misformation (39%).After calculating

24
the data from those components. The researcher found that the students were still low

knowlodge in addition erros.

GRAPH 4.1

4
Ommision
3 Addition
Misformation
Misordering
2

0
AAS JDZSBAMW A DSA AM AY SY PP RDW NIDP

Graph 4.1Additions Errors

Misformation
6

4
Misformation
3

0
AAS JDZSBAMW A DSA AM AY SY PP RDW NIDP

25
 From the data research above, it was found that additions errors was the

highest percentage of student’ error made in writing. the students commited errors 3

times or 5.2% out of the whole errors. From students writing, the researcher found

the common errors one of them was double markings. This error was caused by the

failure to delete certain items which are required in some linguistic construction. e.g

The girl didn’t cooked in the kitchen. There was double marking that should be “The

girl didn’t cook in the kitchen”. There were some other errors Regularization

Regularization errors is a type of errors “in which a marker that is typically added to

a linguistic item is erroneously added to exceptional items of the given class that do

not take a marker”. For examples,sheeps instead of sheep There was regularization

error in which regular plural marker. Simple addition Simple addition errors

characterize all addition errors. It was the use of an item which should not be

appeared in a well-formed utterances. For examples,the fishes doesn’t live in the

water. There was simple addition that should be “ the fish doesn’t live in the water”.

The other errors that the students made for example “come to campusand finishing a

task” this sentece was incorrect because wearing not parallel with come. So, the

sentence must be “come to campus and finish a task”. Another example such as “she

will driving the car” the sentence was incorrect because there is Verb+ing after

modal “will”. So, the correct form of the sentence is “she will drive the car”.

26
 Graph 4.3Ommision Errors

Misordering
1.2

0.8

Misordering
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
AAS JDZSBAMW A DSA AM AY SY PP RDW NIDP

The second highest percentage of student error was omission. The students

commited error 23 times or 40.4% out of the whole errors. Grammatical or function

words are those little words that play a minor role in carrying the meaning of a

sentence. They include noun and verb inflection (-s, ed, ing): the article (a, the, an):

verb auxiliries (is, will, can, may, etc); and preposition (in, on, or, etc). Language

learners omit grammatical morphemes much more frequently than content words. it

is usually caused by lack of vocabulary, and learners usually indicate their awareness

of the missing constituent. For examples: John is clever student. There is missing “a”

that should be John is a clever student.

27
 Graph 4.4 Misformation Errors

Misformation
6

Misformation
3

0
AAS JDZSBAMW A DSA AM AY SY PP RDW NIDP

The third highest percentage of student error was misformation. The student

commited the error 29 times or 50.8% out of the whole errors. Archi-forms errors

were the selection of one number of a class of forms to represent others in the class is

common characteristic of all stages of second language acquisition. For examples,I

see him yesterday. His dance with my brother. There was archi-forms error that

should be “ I see him yesterday. She dance with my brother”. It was caused when the

learner represents the entire class of subject. Alternating forms error caused by the

28
learners’ vocabulary and grammar development. For examples: I seen her yesterday.

The alternating error that should be “ I saw her yesterday” .

Graph 4.5 Misordering Errors

Misordering
1.2

0.8

0.6 Misordering

0.4

0.2

AA
S ZS W A
DS
A
AM AY SY PP W IDP
JD AM RD N
B

The lowest of the percentage of the student error was ordering, student

commited errors 2 times or 3.6%. Misordering errors are characterized by the

incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morphemes in an utterance. It occurs

systematically for both L1 and L2 learners in constructions that have already been

acquired. For examples,I don’t know what is that. There was misordering error that

should be “I don’t know what that is”.Ordering is the error where the learner put item

incorrect placement.The example such as “a country rich natural resources” instead

of “a rich country of natural resources” another example such as “rice fried is my

favorite food” instead of “fried rice is my favorit food”. The sentence was incorrect

because student influenced by his native language.The ordering errors was the lowest

29
frequency of occurence made by the English students. It is happened when the

students make an incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morphemes in an

utterance or writing. The example found in the data is “banana fried washer favorite

food”. It should be “friedbanana washer favorite food”

The improvement in students’ writing skills was also considered as the effect

of the process of theirs basic and the technique that they learned at university. The

technique became effective in raising students’ awareness of important

organizational and syntactical elements that they might not notice on their own. It

was also because the students got more productive feedback during the writing

process which helped them more independent when they worked individually.

Moreover, the students’ writing skills was needed to be improved. Most of them did

not even know how to start to write. They did not succeed to generate the idea,

identifying the generic structure of the texts and also the language features used. Their

knowledge on writing aspected had to be improved as well. In addition, the students

need some action plans to overcome the problems found during the teaching and learning

process of writing.Actually the students have studied about grammar but failed in

applying thir knowledge in wariting narative text that makes them confused the right

pattern. In others word, it could be said that the students have not been familiar with the

narative text.

30
 Table 4.6
Table corrections
No Wrong Correct
1. This is my story This was my story
2. The market was seemed The market seemed
3. I choose I chose
4. We looking We were looking
5. How to cook, drive and How to cook, drive and edit
editing
6. Family was never be Family was never boring
boring
7. I have more time I had much time
8. I never before I never did before
9. Iam boring I was bored
10. Three mount Three mounts
11. I rarely go I rarely went
12. There is an opportunity There was an opportunity
13. I feel there is benefit I felt there was benefit
14. We never forget We did not forget
15. Corona virus can be Corona virus could be
16. This is my first time That was my first time
17. I like I liked
18. I can eat and drink I ate and drank
19. I never know I did not know
20. Iam doing I was doing
21. People feel difficult People felt difficult
22. One of them is corona One of the was corona
23. I hope I hoped
24. Government are not fair Government were not fair
25. They lose their job They lost their job
26. People very sad and mad People were very sad and mad
27. They have to pay They had to pay
28. I never know I did not know
29. One of them is covid One of them was covid
30. Many companies are Many companies were closed
closed
31. I like I liked
32. I go home I went home
33. I still follow I followed
34. I decided to back my I decided to back to my village
village
35. I don’t have to go I did not have to go
36. My day is really borring My day was really borring
37. I more enjoy my life I enjoyed my life
38. I like I liked
39. One of them is corona One of the was corona
40. We never forget We did not forget
41. Corona virus can be Corona virus could be

31
42. This is my first time That was my first time
43. Government are not fair Government were not fair
44. They lose their job They lost their job
45. People very sad and mad People were very sad and mad
46. They have to pay They had to pay
47. I never know I did not know
48. I decided to back my I decided to back to my village
village
49. I don’t have to go I did not have to go
50. My day is really borring My day was really borring
51. I more enjoy my life I enjoyed my life
52. I like I liked
53. I choose I chose
54. I am done I was done
55. She believe She believed
56. My friends and I was My friends and I were
57. My day is really borring My day was really borring

32
 CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 Conclusions

This chapter provides the conclusion and suggestions drawn from the

description and the discussion of the result presented in chapter four in relation to the

problems formulated in the first chapter. The researcher found out the percentage of

gramatical errors. The findings showed that the percentage of the students’

percentage in ommision is 40,4%, addition is 5.2%, misformation is 50.8% and

misordering is 11,6%.. The researcher attempted to put the findings analysis in

accordance to the order of the most frequents errors found in studnets essays to the

least frequent errors. It showed that the most frequest error is misformation (39%)..

After calculating the data from those components. The researcher found that the

students were still low in misformations erros.

4.5 Suggestions

Based on the conclusion above, there were some suggestions that might be

helpful for the lecturer and the students. First of all, the lecturer expected to give

more exposures of writing activity which support the students’ writing skill. The

lecturer was expected to pay attention on the students’ writing skill and to create

writing activities which enable students to practice their writing skill.

33
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APPENDIX

37
Documentation

38
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46