49
Errors Type
Errors Subtype
Description Example of
Learners’ Errors
9 C
O N
J U
N C
T I
O N
S A
Incorrect structure
of relational
conjunctio n
i Wrong
construction of and
It is example how we give
compliments and responding
compliments 0.4
1.5 B
Incorrect structure
of subordinat
e conjunctio
n i
Using double markers
Because this is the case, so you will
know what to do after you read this
case.
1.1
Total 100
4.1.2 Discussion Table 4.1 provides a general illustration of errors made by the respondents.
The errors found were in the categories of word formation, preposition, auxiliary systems, transformations, English sentence structure, passive sentences, sentential
complements, gerunds and infinitives, and conjunctions. The discussion of each category was as follows.
4.1.2.1 Word Formation
The biggest number of errors is word formation with 38.1 . Almost half of
the total errors were found in this category. Being subdivided into a smaller category, the largest share which is as much as 15.8 under this category is
50 errors on incorrect plural noun. The examples of errors in the domain of incorrect
plural nouns are seen in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2 Errors Belonging to Incorrect Plural Noun
1G i I want to ask you some question.
ii After one minute, I will show the second question and then you
answer the second questions.
iii I think three mans here are one group and…
The majority occurred errors under word formation is an omission of plural
marker -s for plural countable nouns as seen in example 1Gi. The contrastively different errors were also found as a result of an addition of -s for singular nouns
as seen in 1Gii. The previous errors belong to errors in minimal requirements which are so-called ‘concord’. As the name replies, ‘minimal requirements’ is a
fundamental learning in English. Basically, second language learners have adopted the knowledge of singular and plural since the first learning of English.
Hence, the errors that the respondents produced are not the products of lack of knowledge, yet they are the products of their carelessness to the application of
rules. The last errors which occurred in this domain was a misformation of
irregular plural nouns as in 1Giii, where man was incorrectly pluralized into mans
. Some nouns cannot be pluralized simply by adding suffix -s. However, some exceptions occur for nouns like woman to be women, leaf to be leaves, and
mouse to be mice. These alterations are not explicitly explainable, which made
them confused to memorize such pluralization of irregular nouns. The learners adopted the information of pluralization process primarily through memorization.
51 The second largest subcategory under word formation is incorrect past
participle. It is as much as 5 . Table 4.3 shows errors which emerge as the result of the failure to form past participle.
Table 4.3 Errors Belonging to Incorrect Past Participle
1D i Have you prepare it?
ii Has group one wrote in the right order?
Examples 1D indicated the respondents’ difficulty in forming perfective
utterances by the antecedent perfective auxiliary hashave. In most cases, the
respondents did not change the main verb pattern following the auxiliary into the correct form of past participle. The deviant forms of past participle, in this case,
referred to an omission of -ed for irregular past verb as in 1Di and a wrong
substitution of simple past for past participle as in 1Dii. The misformation of irregular past verbs noted by the researcher was basically due for two reasons: 1
the respondents were unable to pronounce the explosion of -ed verb, which
resulted in a listening of as simple non-past verb infinitive, and 2 the respondents were confused about the irregular verbs which have two or three
forms, such as bring – brought – brought two forms and write – wrote – written three forms. However, the researcher decided that errors included those
utterances which were pronounced incorrectly that made the utterances become ungrammatical.
Above all, the biggest number of mistakes is the substitution of simple non- past as in example 1Di by the formation of [subject + have + simple present +
52
object] in declarative word order or [have + subject + simple present + object] in
question word order. However, errors also occurred due to a mismatch of the
perfective auxiliary havehas with simple past verb, as seen in example 1Dii. The formation they adopted was [subject + have + simple past + object] in
declarative word order or [have + subject + simple past + object] in question word
order. The third largest share is on incorrect third person singular. The respondents
showed their difficulty in forming verb following third person singular by making errors as much as 5.4 . The errors are representatively seen in Table 4.4.
Table 4.4 Errors Belonging to Incorrect Verb after Third Person Singular
1I i She ask me to give her a chicken steak.
ii You have to see which person who do that action.
Errors also occurred in subject-verb agreement. In this case, the respondents
frequently did not attach inflection -ses into the verb after third person singular.
One of the errors corresponded to subject-verb agreement was represented by example 1Ii, where the simple present verb was formed as a single free
morpheme without any inflectional and derivational process. Such errors were the
results of their failure to attach -ses into the following verb after third person singular. Another deviancy also occurred due to a wrong selection of verb do-
form as the main verb, which selected do to substitute does, after third person
singular as in 1Iii. This is a product of overgeneralization. Basically, subject-
verb agreement was learnt in the early learning. Firstly, the word do is first learnt
53
as a verb instead of its function as auxiliary. Do, which plays as the basic form of infinitive, is indeed more familiar in use rather than does. In addition, the use of
do in the clause with an antecedent relative clause who had confused the
respondent to select verb do-form to refer to which person. By the cases explained, the respondent tended to choose do instead of does.
As much as 4.7 of the errors is found in the subcategory of incorrect indefinite article, which is then followed by incorrect definite article for 3.6 .
Some errors found in the subcategory of indefinite article are in Table 4.5.
Table 4.5 Errors Belonging to Incorrect Use of Indefinite Article
1E ii You are in a SMK Sanata Dharma with a hotel management academy. iv
This is example of pimples.
Errors corresponded to the use of indefinite article were an addition of
an including addition of an before uncountable noun, addition an before title
of place which was represented by example 1Eii and an addition of an before plural countable noun and an omission of an before singular countable noun as
in 1Eiv. More than half of the errors that belonged to indefinite article was due
to the latter factor. One example can be seen in 1Eiv, where an was omitted
before singular nouns. As stated by Radford 1997a, a singular count noun cannot
stand on its own, rather it requires either a premodifying article an or the or a demonstratives pronoun thisthat p. 47. Therefore, the deviant was best
corrected into This is an example of pimples.
54
Table 4.6 Errors Belonging to Incorrect Use of Definite Article
1F i For this questions, you have to do the research first iv
Who is character here? v
Please put the check in this column
Errors in definite article consisted of three factors. They are 1 a wrong
selection of this, those, and these, 2 omission of the before singular count noun, and 3 a wrong use of the for an. The biggest number of errors belongs to
number 1, such as example 1Fi, where the respondents overgeneralized the
function of this to substitute these as demonstrative before plural noun. The
second belongs to number 2, such as example 1Fiv, where the respondents
forgot to attach an article the to precede a singular noun. The last is number 3, where the respondents were confused to distinguish the function of the and an.
Therefore, the respondents often substituted the for an, as in example 1Fv. In
this case, the respondents were not aware that, according to Krohn 1971, definite
article the is used when the noun follows names an identified specimen; that is,
when the hearer knows which person, place, or thing the noun refers to, both singular and plural pp. 54-55.
As much as 2.5 is incorrect simple past. The errors representatively can be seen in Table 4.7.
Table 4.7 Errors Belonging to Incorrect Simple Past Formation
1B i We done all the exercise
ii What did you say when you give the special gift…?
55 Some observable errors were due to the difficulty to choose an appropriate
verb form into a contextualized tense, as seen in example 1Bi and 1Bii. The biggest number of errors is a misformation of irregular past tense; that is a
substitution of past participle verbs for past tense as in example 1Bi. In this case, the respondents paid less attention to the tense consistency. The inconsistency, in
this case, occurred for two reasons. The first was a disagreement between the context and the tense aspect used; the contextual past action was expressed or
formed into simple present. One representative example was 1Bi. Here, the action was contextually done in the past, yet the respondents wrongly formed the
verb to be past participle. The second was a disagreement of tense aspect in the main clause and in the sub clause within an utterance. In addition, there were also
a mismatching of the applicable adverb of time with the verbs used as in example 1Bii.
The next examples within word formation are seen in Table 4.8. The examples in Table 4.8 are errors in the domain of uncountable noun and
possessive pronoun. These take a small number of percentage, which is less than one percent.
Table 4.8 Other Errors within Word Formation
1F i I need you to find some informations. 1I i Any other who wants to share about the latest news or the latest
gossip about his favorite idol, for example?
Other errors within word formation found in a small number are incorrect
uncountable noun, which used final -s as seen in example 1Hi, mismatching of
56
auxiliary are and verb do in progressive as seen in example 1Ci, a wrong selection of possessive pronoun his for your as seen in example 1Ji, and a
misuse of pronoun that to replace those as seen in example 1Ki. Such errors
occurred in a small number which was less than one . However, their existence cannot be ignored as they show that the respondents still have difficulty in
forming such utterance in speaking.
4.1.2.2 The Auxiliary System
