ERROR ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH PAST SIMPLE AND

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSES AT A SECONDARY

SCHOOL

BY

MR. PONGSATORN WIPAWIN

AN INDEPENDENT STUDY PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL

FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS IN CAREER ENGLISH FOR
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION
LANGUAGE INSTITUTE
THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY
ACADEMIC YEAR 2017
COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

Ref. code: 25605921040639UHJ

ERROR ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH PAST SIMPLE AND
PAST CONTINUOUS TENSES AT A SECONDARY
SCHOOL

BY

MR. PONGSATORN WIPAWIN

AN INDEPENDENT STUDY PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL

FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS IN CAREER ENGLISH FOR
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION
LANGUAGE INSTITUTE
THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY
ACADEMIC YEAR 2017
COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

Ref. code: 25605921040639UHJ

 i

Independent Study Paper Title ERROR ANALYSIS OF PAST SIMPLE AND

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSES AT A
SECONDARY SCHOOL
Author Mr. Pongsatorn Wipawin
Degree Master of Arts
Major Field/Faculty/University Career English for International Communication
Language Institute
Thammasat University
Independent Study Paper Advisor Assistant Professor Monnipha Somphong, Ph.D.
Academic Years 2017

ABSTRACT

This research was conducted in order to make an analysis of grammatical errors

of past simple and past continuous tenses by M.4 students at a secondary school. The
aim of this case of study was to investigate the frequencies of the grammatical errors.

Research tool used in this research was a set of test. It could be divided into two
main sections: sentence completion and cloze test. For research methodology, the
participants in this research were 93 M.4 students at a secondary school.

The result of this study demonstrated four main classifications of grammatical

errors: misformation, addition, omission, and tense. The main errors of past simple
and past continuous tenses were specified as problematic factors among the
participants. The most repeated error type was tense.

The information in this research could be beneficial for improving the

proficiency of use of past simple and past continuous tenses for a lot of participants.
Moreover, it could be useful for teachers who want to develop the students’
proficiency of past simple and past continuous tenses. The teacher can pay more
attention to the issues that a lot of students lack.

The knowledge of investigation of errors plays an important role for students in

the case of using past simple and past continuous tenses. This research could lead the
readers to the accomplishment of English grammatical learning.

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Keywords: Error analysis, Past simple tense, Past continuous tense

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research could be achieved because of the assistance, guidance, and

recommendations from several supporters. They gave strong efforts to assist me. I
would like to illustrate my respectful appreciation to those involved in my success.
First, I really appreciate the help from my advisor, Assistant Professor
Monnipha Somphong, Ph.D. She always gave me best support, guidance, and
encouragement.
I also appreciate the help of Assistant Professor Vimolchaya
Yanasugondha, Ph.D who revised my research. I would like to thank all of the
participants involved in this research.
Finally, I am so thankful to my kind parents for their best support and
inspiration. My life could not be successful without them.

Mr.Pongsatorn Wipawin

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ABSTRACT i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
LIST OF TABLES vi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background 1
1.2 Research questions 3
1.3 Research objectives 3
1.4 Definitions of terms 3

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 5

2.1 Error analysis 5

2.2 Past simple and past continuous tenses 5
2.3 Causes of errors 8
2.4 Error analysis procedures 10
2.5 Advantages of error analysis 12
2.6 Relevant research on error analysis 12

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16

3.1 Participants 16
3.2 Research instruments 17

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3.3 Procedures 17
3.4 Data analysis 18

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS 19

4.1 Error classifications 19

4.2 Tense errors found in the English grammar test 20
4.3 Misformation errors found in the English grammar test 21
4.4 Omission errors found in the English grammar test 22
4.5 Addition errors found in the English grammar test 23

CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION, SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 25

5.1 Summary of major findings 25

5.2 Discussion 26
5.3 Implications of the research 27
5.4 Recommendations for further study 27

REFERENCES 29

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A 35
APPENDIX B 37

BIOGRAPHY 38

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LIST OF TABLES

Tables Page

2.1 Types of Errors Used in the Study 15

4.1 Summary of Percentages and Frequencies of 20

Error Classifications: Addition, Omission, Misformation
and Tense

4.2 Summary of Percentages and Frequencies of Tense Errors 21

4.3 Summary of Percentages and Frequencies of Misformation 22

Errors

4.4 Summary of Percentages and Frequencies of Omission 23

Errors

4.5 Summary of Percentages and Frequencies of Addition 24

Errors

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

English language includes various tenses that Thai students have to study.
Especially, past simple and past continuous tenses are related to verb patterns;
irregular and regular verbs. During this decade, these tenses have been widely used.
They frequently appear in many examinations and situations. There is no clear
distinction between regular and irregular processes but varying levels or ranks of
constancy (Baayen & Moscoso del Prado Martín, 2005; McClelland & Patterson,
2002).

According to Greenbaum and Quirk (1990), tense is a classification of

grammar related to the time of the situation. It is recognized by the different patterns
of the verb. Yamput (2011) explained that tense is the significant element of studying
language to show time through verbal patterns, consisting of regular, irregular verb
patterns. Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999) stated that the tense of English
organization is very significant to both ESL and EFL students to enable them to
actually comprehend how the system functions and patterns of tenses combine.
According to Sorattayatorn (2003), comprehending the past tense usage is an
important obstacle for a large number of Thai English students who misunderstand
about the inflectional verbs to mark the grammatical past verbs in the second
language. English tense is still an obstacle in understanding language for both ESL
and EFL learners because Thai learners seem to produce the errors of grammatical
past tense patterns. Sorattayatorn’s current research investigated the errors of
grammar of past simple and past continuous tenses produced by Thai EFL students to
decrease and to explore classifications of errors related to verb pattern (Sorattayatorn,
2003).

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The researcher, who teaches English to Matthayom 4 students at a secondary

school, comprehends that learning both past simple and past continuous tenses are
difficult for the participants who rarely speak English in their daily lives. Although
there are some foreign teachers who teach English in the school, the students try to
avoid speaking English language. They often use their native tongue language with
gestures to communicate with foreigners. The main reason of this problem is that the
students are not able to use the past simple and past continuous tenses correctly. It
directly affects various communication skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Richards and Platt (1977) explained that the definition of error is the incorrect
use of grammar points in several areas such as the wrong use of tenses, word choices
etc. Learners’ errors are caused by grammar and misunderstanding interpretation.
According to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982), investigating some errors caused by
learners can be divided into two main purposes. The first one provides data from
implications about the nature of language learning acquisition. The second one
illustrates to teachers and curriculum developers about the part of the target language
that students are actually having difficulty producing correctly and the types of error
that distracts the students from the ability of effective communication.

Durich (2005) considered a study on “The Acquisition of the English Tense”.

The results of the findings showed that the students’ capacity was not high in the
patterns of various tenses at the specific level by students who study above secondary
school. Moreover, the students try to memorize the rules, transfer of structures and
linguistic culture, and generalization. Yamput (2011) claimed that productions from
both Thai and foreign students indicated the need for studying English tenses. Error
analysis of English tenses is very important to develop the ability of grammar for
students.

The scope of this study is limited to the data collected from Thai students in
Bangkok, Thailand. The test was created to assess the ability of using past simple and
past continuous tenses accurately. The result of this research intends to assist Thai

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students in improving their use of tenses and to communicate with both Thais and
foreigners in various situations.

1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the error types of past simple and past continuous tenses produced by
Thai secondary school students?
2. What are the frequencies of each error type?

1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1. To examine the error types of past simple and past continuous tenses produced by
Thai secondary school students.
2. To investigate the frequencies of each error type.

1.4 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

-Thai students refer to the group of students who study at a secondary school
where the researcher works. The researcher was able to collect the data about how to
use tenses of the students. Both the researcher and all students are in the same school.
-Error analysis refers to the part of linguistic study which analyzes errors by
language learners. In this study, the error analysis was done through analyzing the
test, focusing on the incorrect use of past simple and past continuous tenses.
-Past simple tense refers to the past simple form, both regular and irregular
verbs, which are used to present the past action.
-Past continuous tense refers to actions or events in a time before now,
which began in the past and is still going on at the time of speaking. Moreover, it can
illustrate an action that was not completed or finished in the past.
-Regular verbs refer to the verb forms that take an added ‘ed’ after the last
position of their original forms. (e.g. walk-walked)
-Irregular verbs refer to the verbs that are formed by specially or entirely
changing the base forms.

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- The types of errors refer to the types of error which are put into several
classes. In recent studies, many types of errors were based on procedure taxonomy,
which Dulay et al. (1982) offered. The types of errors include incorrect use of tense,
misformation, omission, and addition.

-Wrong use of tense: In the current study, the incorrect use of tense refers to
the wrong use of verb form in specific sentences. The incorrect use of verb form
includes both regular and irregular verb forms. For instance, the sentence ‘we send the
letter to out teacher last week’ is categorized as the incorrect use of tense because
there is a time maker ‘last week’ so the verb ‘send’ must be in past form.

-Misformation: It refers to the incorrect forms of verbs, both regular and

irregular verbs are related to past simple and past continuous tenses. For an example
sentence ‘We did not had lunch’ is categorized as misformation because the past
simple tense is illustrated by the helping verb ‘did’ already.

-Omission : This type of error refers to the omission of the word that must be
offered in specific sentences. For this study, an example sentence is ‘He not eat
anything yesterday’.

-Addition : This type of error refers to the addition of any grammatical word
which must not be offered in sentences. For instance, for this sentence ‘The gardener
was walked on the farm yesterday’ is classified as addition because of the addition of
the verb to be ‘was’.

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CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter presents related literature in six main areas: (1) error analysis, (2)
past simple and past continuous tenses, (3) causes of errors, (4) error analysis
procedures, (5) advantages of error analysis, and (6) relevant research on error
analysis.

2.1 ERROR ANALYSIS

Richards (1973) stated that the term error analysis can be defined as the
differences between how native speakers use the language and how non-native
speakers learn how to speak the language. Alternatively, according to Erdogan (2005),
error analysis is a part of applied linguistics, which emerged in the sixties. It shows
that the errors made by learners are not only because of the native language of
learners but also they illustrate universal procedures. It is a reaction to the comparison
of error analysis theory that defined native language as the great source of errors in a
target language. The theory of behavior recommended that applied error analysis, in
contrast, involves managing improving courses, inventing appropriate instruments and
teaching methods based on the results of the theory of error analysis.

In addition, Krashen (1982) acknowledged the types of error. Krashen refers

to the types of error which are put into several classes. In recent study, many types of
errors were based on procedure taxonomy, which Dulay et al. (1982) offered. The
types of errors include incorrect use of tense, misformation, omission, and addition.

2.2 PAST SIMPLE AND PAST CONTINUOUS TENSES

In all kinds of language, both aspect and tense are basic to perception and
experience, which is based on the structural composition of language (Klein, 1994, p.
1). When people have to describe what happened, it is not as easy as the arranged
order in the specific lines, one follows another relating “before” and “after”, but a

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flow of matters which may have occurred simultaneously. Some issues may have
proceeded for quite a long time. In contrast, some may change immediately.
Both tense and aspect are involved with time, the “temporal relations” (Klein,
1994, p. 3), but they are concerned with time in different ways and sometimes it is
difficult to observe the obvious difference from one another. Tense is grammatical
expression about time, generally with reference to the present time when something
happened rather than how long it happened for. It focuses on reforming verbs. The
tense pattern will illustrate the ability of speaker. The ability is related to the reference
of general time, or else his/her analysis of the event” (Stranks, 2003, p. 333).

2.2.1 Past Simple Tense

Supported by Klein (1994), Greenbaum and Quirk (1990) used similar ways to
categorize the normal past tense. There were three parts: the event past, the usual past
and occasional past. One can find the similarity and difference by making a chart to
show the relationship between them.

Comparing the simple present tense and simple past tense, Greenbaum and
Quirk (1990) explained that the state past and state present use stative verbs, the other
type uses dynamic verbs, which gives the learners the implication that the verbs are
the most important component in the tenses. They do not provide a large number of
superficial rules, which might leave the impressions to the learners that “The relevant
grammatical area is bitty and arbitrary” (Stranks, 2003, p. 333). Therefore, the
bottom-up method might be the appropriate way for the learners to study the rules
from several examples. They happen in sentences and contexts. Various teaching
materials might emphasize the main position of the verbs for the studying of tenses.
“Silent sentence” is one of the activities recommended by Rinvolucri (1984, p. 59):
This involves writing a long sentence in simple past tense according to a picture and
then telling the class to reduce this sentence to one word by taking out the words for
up to 3 consecutive words; however, they are not permitted to change any ending or
re-arrange word in sentences. When students reduce the sentence, the meaning
changes radically. This could make students realize the importance of the sentence
elements. Once they reformed the sentence into one word, they need to make a

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sentence by adding one word for up to 3 words continually. This activity is to draw
the students’ attention to the many forms of verb that can appear in sentences and use
them in the appropriate tense when needed.

Another activity suggested by Rinvolucri (1984, p. 115) should be a good one

to form an idea of time in the students’ minds. It is “Our lives”. Hand out each
student 10 labels. Students need to write the significant things that occurred to them in
the past, including the month and year. The teacher may assign the students to discuss
in groups of three and edit the grammar mistakes that appear on the labels. The
teacher may assist the students if the students encounter difficulty. Then the teacher
can let the students stick 30 labels on a sheet of paper provided in chronological order.
Students will discard the wrong one by one and if the number shows a certain label,
the student who wrote it must read for a minute about the description of the event.
The activity terminates when all the players finished their description about their
events. This activity could enhance students to have better understanding about the
situation in the past and provide the students adequate opportunities to practice the
main tenses such as simple past tense. If possible, the teachers could call students to
practice the historic present to accomplish a dramatic effect and make the whole
narration clear.

2.2.2 Past Continuous Tense

Conversely, Mahaboonpati (2013) explained that past continuous tense is the
activity in progress at specific time that happened in the past. The study should
engage with the past continuous tense because it is more complicated than past simple
tense. There are many times that mistakes occur when non-native speakers refer to the
situation at a particular time. To know the types of error is very essential to improve
grammatical proficiency.
Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999) claimed that the structure of past
continuous tense is be (past tense) + main verb + present participle (-ing). The verb be
(past tense) + the present participle (-ing) represents the continuous event. It manifests
the unfinished event. In the case, ‘be’ is acted as a modal verb that includes three

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present tense patterns (is,am,are) and two past tense patterns (was,were). This study
can illustrate that past tense forms depended on the range of the research.

2.3 CAUSES OF ERRORS

In this research, there are both interlingual and intralingual errors which
might have occurred as the committing errors.

2.3.1. Interlingual Error

Srinual (2013) claimed that interlingual errors is a part of errors caused by the
mother tongue’s implication or negative transfer. The phonological, morphological,
lexical-semantic, grammatical and personal style are elements of the native language
or mother tongue implication (Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005 ; Shekhzadeh & Gheichi,
2011). Especially, The negative transfer of the native language (Heydari & Bagheri,
2012; Kaweera, 2013) granted the description of native language implication as
engaging the definitions ‘cross-linguistic and language transfer’ that belong to when
mother language structures have an attempt on the operation and improvement of
students in their goal language. Bennui (2008) mentioned that thinking in English
while writing in English is very beneficial because it makes students process an
assignment through the accuracy of English language. It is described that students can
understand any sentence in their first language better than translating the native
language instantly into English language; however, it is difficult for Thai students to
think in English when writing.

According to the study of Bennui (2008) and Kaweera (2013), interlingual

errors can be separated into three subsections when comparing Thai with English
context; the native language lexical implication, L1 discourse implication, and
syntactic implication.

-The native language lexical implication

It is identified as the usage of L1 lexical in the goal language. The following
example demonstrates the direct translation of Thai into English language.

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For example: I turned off the air conditioner – I *close the air conditioner (Thep-
Ackraphong, 2005, cited in Bennui, 2008).

-L1 discourse implication

The definition of this interference is incoherent or non-connection of ideas, or the
order of ideas within paragraphs reflected by the mother tongue language. Mc Daniel
(1994, as cited in Bennui, 2008) explained that for Thai composed writing, L1 discourse
interference is discovered in two degrees as sentence and paragraph. For sentence
degree, Thai learners may write with their own style, Thai style structure. On the other
hand, it consists of several sentences in the paragraph degree. It is difficult to determine
where a sentence begins and ends because there is no punctuation mark. Moreover, the
subject of a sentence is omitted, as this may be done in Thai language. In paragraph
degree, it is illustrated that Thai learners write any paragraph without the space between
lines and that makes the readers, particularly those who do not understand Thai
language, confused as it does not include any pause.

The difference between the mother tongue language and the target language can
be that they cause the learners to encounter the difficulties in the duration of acquiring
the second language process. Finally, it can lead to making errors.
-Syntactic implication
This type of implication is cited when the second language learners produce the
goal language sentence by direct translation of their native language into their goal
language. It causes the errors of grammar, especially “…….subject-verb agreement, verb
pattern, active and passive voice, word arrangement, relative clause and expletive
structure (there are/is)” (Bennui, 2008, p.79).
For example: ‘I drank coffee hot.’ Instead of ‘I drank hot coffee’.

Thep-Aackrapong (2005, as cited in Bennui, 2008) wrote that the structure of

Thai sentence structures is discovered to be dominantly involving the grammatical errors
in writing in English language. Passive voice and regular-irregular verb are usually
mentioned since the subject of Thai language can be omitted from the sentence if the
encoder and decoder know it.

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For example: Wang Lang was crowded and ^ had bad temperature and it looked terrible.
(You can see that the subject is omitted) The subject “it” is omitted. The sentence is
written instead of “Wang Lang was crowded and it had bad temperature and it looked
terrible.”

2.3.2 Intralingual Errors

Intralingual errors belong to the errors that are caused by having less
experience of goal language knowledge. It does not need to consider the native or first
language (Kaweera, 2013; Srinual, 2013). In addition, Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005)
explained that intralingual errors demonstrate the procedure of learning strategies that are
obvious example about errors of learners’ native language. Furthermore, intralingual
errors happen when the learners use the wrong function of the goal language principles
such as overgeneralization or illiteracy of limitation.
Kaweera (2013) informed the explanation of overgeneralization as the type of
errors that is derived from the learner’s attitude that there is no restriction to the usage of
language principle, hence they overuse and underuse some principles of the goal
language. For example, using the pattern of past tense for regular verbs with irregular
verbs such as buy-*buyed, steal-* stole (Kulsirisawad, 2014).
Ignorance of principle limitation refers to implementing the rules to the context
where they are not suitable to place them in the situation (Heydari & Bagheri, 2012).
Heydari and Bagheri (2012) offered this example: Using the structure “John
made me to go to the room” instead of “John asked/wanted me to go”.

2.4. ERROR ANALYSIS PROCEDURES

There are five procedures to process the error analysis (Ellis & Barkhuizen,
2005, Ellis, 2008; Taher, 2011).

2.4.1 Collection of a Sample of Learner Language

The outcome of error analysis engages with the kind of method of collecting
samples related to three factors: learner, production, and language samples (Ellis, 2008;
Srinual, 2013).

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2.4.2 Identification of Errors

Originally, the term of error is required before processing an analysis (Taher,
2011). After the data is studied, grammatical errors have to be divergent from
mistakes (Pi, 2013). According to Ellis (2008), his study demonstrates four main
factors of generating an error. Firstly, acceptability and grammaticality are related to
which one should be the priority. Secondly, explore the difference between mistake
and error. Thirdly, both covert and overt errors must be investigated. Finally, whether
or not unsuitable language used by learners in the goal language is an error when it is
accurate but rarely used by native speakers.

2.4.3 Description of Errors

The procedure of error analysis will be continued after errors are examined. Pi
(2013) stated that dividing of errors and noting the frequency of the error in each kind
are two research steps of explaining error. Kaeoluan (2009) claimed that to specify
errors is not easy as learning a language involved in the synergy of a learner’s interior
action and external surrounding. There are the attempts to classify the errors from
their surface features and the comparison of language result that are defined as
descriptive category of errors. There are four main divisions that are generally used
for descriptive category of errors.

2.4.4 Explanation of Errors

This procedure is studied to be the most essential analysis of error because it
consists of several reasons why errors have occurred (Ellis, 2008; Pi, 2013).
Intralingual factors, interlingual factors, and communicative tactics-general factors,
and induced factors are four notable causes of errors.
2.4.4.1 Interlingual errors mean errors that illustrate the result of the
structure of native language, not related to the internal procedure or external
limitation that create them (Dulay et al., 1982).
2.4.4.2 Intralingual errors are involved in inadequacy of the second
language experience of learners. They tend to use the principles of the second
language by creating assumptions with minimal knowledge and linguistic profession.

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2.4.4.3 Communicative tactics-general factors are separated into two

subtopics (Heydari & Bagheri, 2012).
(1) Resemblance (Holistic tactics) refers to learners’
learning method that if one can say X in a second language, then he/she can say Y,
such as focusing on a synonym method, e.g. *uprightness for the *honesty (Yang,
2010).
(2) Periphrasis (Analytic tactics) refers to not using the
accurate objective language to illustrate or explain learners’ performance (Yang,
2010).
2.4.4.4 Induced factors of error belonging to the procedure of teaching
and learning processes, such as assignment-based induced errors, instrument or
exercise induced errors.

2.4.5 Evaluation of Errors

This procedure is used for evaluating the several types of error for definition
which must be applied in pedagogy (Taher, 2011). Pi (2013) asserted that the
evaluation of errors provided the teachers and researchers with more excellent
demonstrations about the methods that can be applied.

2.5 ADVANTAGES OF ERROR ANALYSIS

PBworks (2018), the writer of PBWORKS, stated that error analysis is one of
the few strategies with the potential to evaluate the importance of word and context
based language cues as these interact in a reading assignment. Results could become
of theoretical interest in identifying the issue of the balance of conceptually and data-
driven elements of reading over improvement. The strategies closely illustrate a
natural classroom situation, even to the use of passages from school materials, results
may be inferred to reflect strategies typically used as children read.

2.6 RELEVANT RESEARCH ON ERROR ANALYSIS

Yamput (2011) found several error types of grammar. They were about past
simple and past continuous tense. There were 60 first year students at Silpakorn
University. The purposes of the study were to explore the frequent errors and the

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causes of errors produced by both English and non-English major students. The
results showed that the errors about grammar could be divided into four major types
of error including omission, misformation, tense and addition. The most frequent
errors occurred in past continuous tense. In contrast, the errors about past simple tense
decreased a lot. The study implied that both Thai EFL/ESL learners still have trouble
about using the tenses correctly. For the major benefit of this study, English language
teachers can apply the knowledge that they obtained from the production to enhance
their teaching approaches and techniques.

Alternatively, Zhuang (2010) explained that the learning of English tenses and
verbs is an absolutely important part of second language perception and learning. Her
research analyzed the difference between present and past simple tense. It is
suggested that it could be significant if the grammatical rules are shown rather in
context than in formula.

Developed from Zhuang (2010), Syarif (2014) analyzed the errors about past
simple tense among students. She focused on narrative text and received data from the
test. There were several parts of data which she analyzed: describing, identifying, and
summarizing. The results showed 185 errors. Misformation is about the use of wrong
form of verb pattern. It included adding the past tense morpheme or changing the verb
form. Other productions were found in the study of error analysis among Indonesian
students. It was related to the use of tenses. Nineteen first-year students had to do a
test about translation. They needed to have the knowledge about using past tense to
complete the test. The results illustrated that they made many errors about
misformation because they selected incorrect verb forms.

In contrast, Sorattayatorn (2003) explored the errors about using English past
tense among the second-year pre-cadets. The method of collecting data was writing
assignments. The assignments include the misuse about past tense. It includes both
regular and irregular verbs with modal auxiliary. The researcher divided the
participants into different groups by considering their language ability. The results
revealed that the participants in the highest ability group could do better than the

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others in lower ability. It showed obviously that the learners with lower ability still
have errors in using English past tense correctly. The researcher suggested that most
Thai EFL/ESL learners cannot use various tenses in English well. The major reason is
that there is no language system about past tense in their native language. Thus, the
teachers have to provide many appropriate ways to make them understand how to use
tense in the target language correctly.

According to the results from related studies, it can be inferred that most
EFL/ESL learners still have errors in using tenses, especially in past simple and past
continuous tense. A possible reason is that there is a difference between the native and
target language about tense system. When they want to produce English language by
using the tenses that are related to regular and irregular verbs, errors unavoidably
occur. Therefore, all English language teachers have to be responsible and offer them
the most suitable solution for learners.

A lot of related studies focused on analyzing errors about tenses since they
directly affect all communication skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
There are many types of errors that the learners still make. In addition, language
teaching methods that many teachers use do not support grammatical learning. The
students may memorize some rules but cannot apply the knowledge to communicate
with the others in real life. Not many researchers have been interested in analyzing
specific tenses in students. Therefore, it is worthwhile to analyze the frequent errors in
past simple and past continuous tense made by Thai students.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the grammatical errors. This

research focuses on the most frequent errors that occur among students.

Table 2.1 shows the types of errors used in the present study adapted from Cho and
Yoo’s (2012) study.

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Table 2.1 Types of Errors Used in the Study

Category Description Example Explanation

Addition The illustration of any
grammatical word which
must not be offered in
specific sentences
Omission The absence of any
grammatical word which
must be offered in
specific sentences
The incorrect form of
Misformation verb. This can be both
regular and irregular
verbs.
Wrong use of The incorrect use of verb
tense form
The teacher was The verb ‘was’ is
went to the school not important in
yesterday. this sentence.
He not going to the The auxiliary ‘was’
hospital. is missing. It is
important in this
sentence.
We did not ate The word ‘ate’
anything yesterday. must be in its base
form because there
is the word ‘did’
before.
We go to the The verb ‘go’ must
market last week. be in the past form

Source : Cho and Yoo’s (2012): Surface Strategy Taxonomy

These types of errors will be different. Investigating them will be the proper
way to develop students’ learning by helping them enhance their understanding.
Moreover, the researcher can use the data from this result to solve the exact problem
among the students.

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CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research was designed to answer two research questions: What were the
most frequent error types of past simple and past continuous tenses produced by
students in a secondary school? What were the causes of the errors of past simple and
past continuous tenses? This chapter aimed to describe: (1) participants, (2) research
instruments, (3) the procedures, and (4) data analysis.

3.1 PARTICIPANTS
The objective of this study was to examine the grammatical error analysis of
past simple and past continuous tenses among M.4 students in a secondary school.
They must pass the English subject. The learning progress of M.4 students was
suitable for past simple and past continuous tenses. They must study English as a
compulsory course. The convenience sampling was used to choose participants to
conduct this study.
The population of this study included 93 M.4 students who took the English
subject as part of their curriculum. Their proficiency level was intermediate. They
studied in a secondary school in academic year 2017. The reasons of selecting this
group of students were:
1) The researcher and students had to go to the same place five days a week. It
was convenient to collect the data for this study.
2) The students could do the test that the researcher provided. It also helped them
to develop their grammatical proficiency.
3) The students must learn the same lesson in the specific tenses such as past
simple tense and past continuous tense. They could apply their basic
knowledge and the new knowledge to the test provided.
4) Most of the students frequently made errors about the grammar section, so the
researcher wanted to investigate the types of errors. It was useful to seek for
the improvement of using correct tenses.

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3.2 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

The research instrument used for data collection was a set of grammar tests.
The set of grammar tests was designed to explore the errors of past simple and past
continuous tenses. In addition, it was applied to investigate the causes of the error.
The set of grammar tests was adapted from an independent study of Yamput (2011)
“An error analysis of the use of past simple and past continuous tenses by first year
students at Silpakorn University”.

The set of questions was divided into the two following sections:
Section1: The sentence completion included 20 items.
This was designed to evaluate the ability of using past simple and past
continuous tenses. Filling in a part of question was the part to explore the causes of
errors. The sentence completion was adapted from “Advanced English Grammar in
Use (3rded.)’’ by Hewings (2013).
The verbs were selected from the 20 most frequently used verbs. It included both
regular and irregular verbs.

Section2: The cloze test included 20 items.

The participants must write the correct answers in the blanks. This section
evaluated their ability of using past simple and past continuous tenses.

For reliability
The resemblance level of the grammar test was previously tried out by
Yamput (2011) “An Error analysis of the use of past simple and past continuous
tenses by first year students at Silpakorn University”.

3.3 PROCEDURES
The set of grammar tests was distributed to the participants by the researcher.
The researcher asked 93 M.4students who studied in a secondary school in academic
year 2017 to do all sections of the test of grammar. The participants had 60 minutes to
complete the set of grammar tests. The return rate was 100 %.

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3.4 DATA ANALYSIS

The data analysis of this research was classified into two important sections,
the error types and the causes of the errors of past simple and past continuous tenses.
3.4.1. The error types of past simple and past continuous tenses produced by
students at a secondary school were four main error types based on Cho and Yoo’s
(2012) framework consisting of addition, omission, misformation, and the wrong use
of tense. The researcher analyzed the error types by counting the number of errors that
appeared on the test provided and calculated it into the percentage.
3.4.2. The errors of past simple and past continuous tenses were analyzed to
seek for the causes of problems to develop the proficiency of using English grammar.
3.4.2.1 In order to find the answer for the research questions, the
researcher interpreted the frequency of making errors. In addition, the researcher must
provide the statistics of errors to design the appropriate way to deal with the
grammatical problems.
3.4.2.2 After analyzing the result, the researcher calculated the errors
that happened in each type, converted them into pure numbers and calculated them
into a percentage. Moreover, the researcher provided the tables shown in chapter4. It
illustrated the statistical data clearly.

How was each research question answered?

1. What are the error types of past simple and past continuous tenses
produced by Thai secondary school students?
-The researcher could observe the result of errors from the instrument
(grammar test) and classified the errors into appropriate categories.

2. What are the frequencies of each error type?

- The researcher could make the percentage to calculate the frequencies of
each error type.

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CHAPTER 4
RESULTS

This chapter illustrates the result of error analysis of past simple and past
continuous tenses at a secondary school. The test of English tense results were
investigated and categorized to evaluate the ability of using past simple and past
continuous tenses including auxiliary verbs. Every error of tenses is demonstrated in
several types of classifications. In addition, the frequency of tense errors made by the
students at a secondary school was demonstrated.

4.1 ERROR CLASSIFICATIONS

Error classifications show the classifications of main error types. They also
show minimum, maximum, mean, and standard deviation (S.D.) of each error type in
order to compare the percentages and frequencies among the error types.

Table 4.1 Summary of Percentages and Frequencies of Error Classifications :

Addition, Omission, Misformation and Tense

Error types M.4 students at a secondary school

(N=93)
M M M S
Min Max Mean S.D.
Tense 4 1 7 1
4 11 7.06 1.44
Misformation 3 1 5 1
3 10 5.27 1.66
Omission 2 8 4 1
2 8 4.12 1.76
Addition 1 6 3 1
1 6 3.05 1.29

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The framework used in this analysis was Surface Strategy Taxonomy by Cho
and Yoo (2012). The results were from two parts: sentence completion test and cloze
test.

As can be seen, Table 4.1 represents the summary of percentages and

frequencies of error classifications: addition, omission, misformation and tense for
M.4 students at a secondary school (N=93) who made four frequent error
classifications. It shows that the most frequent error type was tense. In contrast, the
least frequent error type was addition.
For M.4 students at a secondary school, the mean of tense error was 7.06, S.D.
1.44. The minimum was 4. In contrast, the maximum was 11.
For example : We go to the market last week. (Tense error)

For M.4 students at a secondary school, the mean of misformation error was
5.27. S.D. 1.66. The minimum was 3. In contrast, the maximum was 10.
For example : We did not ate anything yesterday. (misformation error)

For M.4 students at a secondary school, the mean of omission error was 4.12 ,
S.D. 1.76. The minimum was 2. In contrast, the maximum was 8.
For example : He not going to the hospital. (omission error)

For M.4 students at a secondary school, the mean of addition error was 3.05 ,
S.D. 1.29. The minimum was 1. In contrast, the maximum was 6.
For example : The teacher was went to the school yesterday. (addition error)

4.2 TENSE ERRORS FOUND IN THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR TEST

Tense errors refer to the incorrect use of verb form. For example, we go to the
market last week. The verb ‘go’ must be in the past form.

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Table 4.2 Summary of Percentages and Frequencies of Tense Errors

Tense
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid 4.00 3 3.2 3.2 3.2
5.00 7 7.5 7.5 10.8
6.00 21 22.6 22.6 33.3
7.00 33 35.5 35.5 68.8
8.00 17 18.3 18.3 87.1
9.00 5 5.4 5.4 92.5
10.00 5 5.4 5.4 97.8
11.00 2 2.2 2.2 100.0
Total 93 100.0 100.0

According to Table 4.2, the M.4 students at a secondary school (N=93)

produced the maximum frequency of tense errors at 11 items. In contrast, the
minimum frequency of tense was 4 items. Therefore, the frequency of tense errors by
M.4 students at a secondary school was the first rank among four main error
categories. It could be calculated as 36.20 percent.

4.3 MISFORMATION ERRORS FOUND IN THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR

TEST
Misformation errors refer to the incorrect form of verb. This can be both
regular and irregular verbs. For example, we did not ate anything yesterday. The word
‘ate’ must be in its base form because there is the word ‘did’ before.

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Table 4.3 Summary of Percentages and Frequencies of Misformation Errors

Misformation

Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid 3.00 13 14.0 14.0 14.0
4.00 21 22.6 22.6 36.6
5.00 23 24.7 24.7 61.3
6.00 16 17.2 17.2 78.5
7.00 9 9.7 9.7 88.2
8.00 7 7.5 7.5 95.7
9.00 3 3.2 3.2 98.9
10.00 1 1.1 1.1 100.0
Total 93 100.0 100.0

According to Table 4.3, the M.4 students at a secondary school (N=93)

produced the maximum frequency of misformation errors at 10 items. In contrast, the
minimum frequency of misformation was 3 items. Therefore, the frequency of
misformation errors by M.4 students at a secondary school was the second rank
among four main error categories. It could be calculated as 27.03 percent.

4.4 OMISSION ERRORS FOUND IN THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR TEST

Omission errors refer to the absence of any grammatical word which must be
offered in specific sentences. For example, he not going to the hospital. The auxiliary
‘was’ is missing. It is important in this sentence.

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Table 4.4 Summary of Percentages and Frequencies of Omission Errors

Omission
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid 2.00 15 16.1 16.1 16.1
3.00 28 30.1 30.1 46.2
4.00 19 20.4 20.4 66.7
5.00 12 12.9 12.9 79.6
6.00 7 7.5 7.5 87.1
7.00 5 5.4 5.4 92.5
8.00 7 7.5 7.5 100.0
Total 93 100.0 100.0

According to Table 4.4, the M.4 students at a secondary school (N=93)

produced the maximum frequency of omission errors at 8 items. In contrast, the
minimum frequency of omission was 2 items. Therefore, the frequency of omission
errors by M.4 students at a secondary school was the third rank among four main
error categories. It could be calculated as 21.13 percent.

4.5 ADDITION ERRORS FOUND IN THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR TEST

Addition errors refer to the illustration of any grammatical word which must
not be offered in specific sentences. For example, the teacher was went to the school
yesterday.

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Table 4.5 Summary of Percentages and Frequencies of Addition Errors

Addition
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid 1.00 11 11.8 11.8 11.8
2.00 24 25.8 25.8 37.6
3.00 23 24.7 24.7 62.4
4.00 20 21.5 21.5 83.9
5.00 14 15.1 15.1 98.9
6.00 1 1.1 1.1 100.0
Total 93 100.0 100.0

According to Table 4.5, the M.4 students at a secondary school (N=93)

produced the maximum frequency of addition errors at 6 items. In contrast, the
minimum frequency of addition was 1 item. Therefore, the frequency of addition
errors by M.4 students at a secondary school was the fourth rank among four main
error categories. It could be calculated as 15.64 percent.

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CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION, SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter includes the discussion, summary and recommendations of the

error analysis of past simple and past continuous tenses which bring the end to the
independent study. It can be divided into four sections.
5.1 Summary of major findings
5.2 Discussion
5.3 Implications of the research
5.4 Recommendations for further study

5.1 SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS

The findings of the research can be concluded as follows:
5.1.1 For the first research question “What are the error types of past
simple and past continuous tenses produced by Thai secondary school students?”
The error types of past simple and past continuous tenses produced by Thai
secondary school students are tense, misformation, omission, and addition,
respectively.
5.1.2 For the second question “What are the frequencies of each error
type?”
The result of findings can be summarized as follows:
According to the frequencies in each classification of error, the M.4 students
made error at the maximum of 11 items at the mean of 7.06, S.D. 1.44 and
misformation errors at the maximum of 10 items at the mean of 5.27, S.D. 1.66 ,
omission errors at the maximum of 8 items at the mean of 4.12, S.D.1.76 , addition
errors at the maximum of 6 items at the mean of 3.05, S.D. 1.29, respectively.
In the case of percentages of four main error types, the most frequent error
was tense 36.21%, misformation 27.03%, omission 21.13% and addition 15.64%,
respectively.

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5.2 DISCUSSION
The part of this section shows the results of the current research regarding the
classifications of tense, the percentages and frequencies of tense errors of past simple
and past continuous tenses produced by M.4 students at a secondary school based on
the two questions as follows:

5.2.1 For the first research question “What are the error types of past
simple and past continuous tenses produced by Thai secondary school students?”
The result can be summarized that the most frequent error types of this
research are the same as the prior study of Krashen (1982). There are four main error
types : tense, misformation, omission, and addition.
Torut (1991) claimed that the importance of tense error production was
considered as the most frequent error. Tense problems were complicated and
problematic among a lot of students. They could not distinguish the differences
among several tenses. This could lead to the misunderstanding; for example, the
wrong use of auxiliary “ be”.

5.2.2 What are the frequencies of each error type?

The result shows that tense error was the most frequent error made by Thai
secondary school students. They used past simple and past continuous tenses
incorrectly. They misunderstood the concept of tense structure. The second frequent
error type was misformation. Some students used the verb in past simple form after
“did” because they were confused about formation. The third frequent error type was
omission. They forgot to add auxiliary verb in the necessary position. The last
frequent error type was addition. They added auxiliary verb in the sentence when it
was not necessary.
The procedure of error analysis was continued after errors were examined. Pi
(2013) stated that dividing errors and noting the frequency of the error in each kind
are two research steps of explaining errors. Kaeoluan (2009) claimed that to specify
errors is not easy as learning a language involves the synergy of a learner’s interior
action and external surrounding. There are the attempts to classify the errors from

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their surface features and the comparison of language results that are defined as
descriptive categories of errors.

5.3 IMPLICATIONS OF THE RESEARCH

The following implications can be inferred from the previous part.
5.3.1 Tense was the most frequent classification of error for M.4 students at a
secondary school. Error is still an obstructive problem for participants in the ability of
using correct verb patterns and continuous aspects. The participants in this research
had studied English grammar as a part of a compulsory course; however, the findings
illustrate the errors of tense shown at the test. According to the finding, the errors by
M.4 students at a secondary school in the current research suggest that teachers should
put more emphasis on teaching tenses so that the students can avoid making errors in
tenses. More exercises and class activities can be added to practice the use of tenses in
English.
5.3.2 The frequencies of different error classifications have significant
influence in studying language among participants. The findings of the present
research are beneficial to instructors who plan to develop a teaching style and
teaching instruments. Moreover, instructors are able to concentrate on the weakness
of the students to improve their using-tense ability.

5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS OF FURTHER STUDY

According to the results and implications of this research, the following
recommendations are provided for further study.
5.4.1 This research consisted of only a grammar test. Hence, using writing
materials such as essay writing, quiz, or an oral examination can increase the validity
and reliability of productions.
5.4.2 In the effort of error analysis of the frequencies or error types, this
research was confined by the four main types. Further studies should analyze more
error types and investigate the cause of each error type.
5.4.3 There were inadequate participants in this research since it included
only the M.4 students at a secondary school. A larger sample number at a different
level would lead to more reliable and interesting results.

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5.4.4 Studies in the future should include both pre-test and a post-test to
guarantee the developed ability of learners to examine the findings of the research
efficiently.

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APPENDICES

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APPENDIX A
English Grammar Test

The instrument
Grammar test: it is divided into 2 sections
Section1 : Sentence completion, put the verb in parentheses into the correct form,
positive or negative. (20 items)

1. It was warm, so I ………………. off my coat. (take)

2. The film wasn't very good. I ………………. it very much. (enjoy)
3. I knew Sarah was very busy, so I ………………. her. (disturb)
4. I was very tired, so I ………………. to bed early. (go)
5. The girl was very happy. She ………………. beautifully at the restaurant. (sing)
6. Promote was very thirsty, so he ………………. a lot of orange juice. (drink)
7. We went to Kate's house but she ………………. at home. (be)
8. It was a funny situation but nobody ………………. (laugh)
9. The window was open and a bird ………………. into the room. (fly)
10. The hotel wasn't very expensive. It ………………. very much. (cost)
11.I ……………………… while it was raining. (eat)
12.As they ……………………………. the truth, I was sleeping. (tell)
13.We ……………………….. to the radio as he was watching TV. (listen)
14.What were you doing while I ……………………… football? (play)
15.I …………………….. dinner when the phone rang. (have)
16.When the police arrived, we ……………………….(sleep).
17.As we ……………………… to school, we saw a big elephant. (walk)
18.While they ……………………….,they heard a bird singing in the tree. (read)
19.She ……………………………when the shark came. (swim)
20.We ………………………… the car when it started to rain. (wash)

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Section2 : The cloze test (20 items)

Directions: Change the provided verb correctly

Two summers ago we (1)………………………(have) a holiday in Scotland. We

(2)……………………… (drive) there from London, but our car
(3)……………………… (break) down on the motorway and we
(4)……………………… (spend) the first night in Birmingham. When we
(5)……………………… (get) to Edinburgh we could not
(6)………………………… (find) a good hotel - they (7)……………………… (be)
all full. We (8)……………………… (not know) what to do, but in the end we
(9)……………………… (find) a bed and breakfast and we
(10)……………………… (stay) there for the week.

It (11)……………………………….(be) Tuesday evening and I

(12)………………………………. (get) ready to go to bed when the phone
(13)………………. (ring). To my surprise it (14)…………………………. (be) my
friend Peter. He (15)………………………………. (call) from his mobile and he was
very annoyed because he had lost his keys and he (16)……………………………….
(cannot) get into his flat. He (17)………………………………. (think) he had left
them at work but now it (18)……………………………….(be) midnight and the
office was closed so he couldn’t get in to check. Luckily I had the keys to his flat
because a month before he had given me a spare set so that I could look after his cat
while he was on holiday. When he finally (19)………………………………. (arrive)
to pick them up, it was three o'clock in the morning, and I(20)…………….……….
(lie) on the sofa fast asleep.

Ref. code: 25605921040639UHJ

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APPENDIX B
ANSWER KEY

Section 1 : Sentence completion

1. took 8. laughed 15. was having

2. didn't enjoy 9. flew 16. were sleeping
3. didn't disturb 10. didn't cost 17. were walking
4. went 11. was eating 18. were reading
5. didn't sleep 12. were telling 19. was swimming
6. didn't eat 13. were listening 20. were washing
7. wasn't 14. was playing
Section 2 : Cloze test
1. had 8. didn’t know 15. was calling
2. drove 9. found 16. couldn’t
3. broke 10. stayed 17. thought
4. spent 11. was 18. was
5. got 12. was getting 19. arrived
6. find 13. rang 20. was lying
7. were 14. was

Ref. code: 25605921040639UHJ

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BIOGRAPHY

Name Mr. Pongsatorn Wipawin

Date of Birth July 27, 1992
Educational Attainment 2016: English education, Kasetsart University

Work Position English teacher

A secondary school

Work Experiences 2018: Traimitwittayalai school

2016: Rittiyawannalai school

Ref. code: 25605921040639UHJ