\ character, Malin Kundang. There were also ‘beautiful’ in paragraph 4 and ‘well
dressed’ in paragraph 5 that described the wife of Malin Kundang in the text. The text also described the mother of Malin Kundang using the adjectives ‘old’
paragraph 5, ‘poor’ in paragraph 5, ‘dirty’ paragraph 5, and ‘ugly’ in paragraph 5.
Another example would be Student’s Text 1 see Appendix 7. There were ‘golden‘ in ‘golden snail’ in paragraph 1, ‘evil’ in ‘evil witch’ in paragraph 1
and ‘beautiful’ in ‘beautiful girl’ in paragraph 2.
B. The Possible Causes of the Errors in Applying Past Tense in Developing a Narrative Text
It is clear that the tenth grade students made the most frequent errors in applying past tense in their narrative texts. Thus, the writer attempted to reveal the
possible causes of the errors in applying past tense in developing the narrative texts. The questionnaire and interview were used to reveal the possible causes.
The results of the questionnaires the closed-questions part, which were arranged based on the Recapitulation of the Results of the Questionnaire for Students see
Appendix 2 and the Recapitulation of the Results of the Questionnaire for the Teachers see Appendix 4, is presented in Table 4.3:
47 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
\
Table 4.3 The Results of the Questionnaire for Students and the Results of the Questionnaire for Teachers
Statement S
T 1
The teachers often gave the students writing assignments at least 3 times in the last semester.
58.97 __
2 The students have difficulties in applying past tense and the other
grammar rules in narrative text maybe because they students did not do enough writing practice.
__ 66.67
3 The students did not know that they have to apply past tense in
developing a narrative text. 25.64
__ 4
Students are getting used to produce sentences in Bahasa Indonesia
, which do not apply any tenses, any verb form changes, and any auxiliaries such as: did, was, were, had, so that they
often make errors in producing sentences in past tense 66.67
66.67
5 Many kinds of tenses confuse the students so that they sometimes
mix up the rules of each tense in their sentences, including in their past tense sentences.
64.10 100
6 Many rules in past tense confuse the students so that the students
have difficulties in applying them. 69.23
66.67 7
Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because the students did not memorize all irregular past
form. 71.79
66.67 8
Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because the students were still confused about ‘was’ and
‘were’ as auxiliaries in past tense that are followed by verb-ing. 30.76
66.67 9
Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because the students were still confused about applying
‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by nouns. 28.20
66.67 10
Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because the students were still confused about ‘was’ and
‘were’ which are followed by adverbs. 41.02
66.67 11
Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because the students were still confused about applying
‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by adjectives. 30.76
100 12
Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because the students were still confused about ‘was’ and
‘were’ that are followed by past participle in passive sentences. 64.10
66.67 13
Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because the students were still confused about ‘did’ as an
auxiliary that should be followed by present form in past tense sentences
51.28 100
14 Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous
maybe because the students were still confused about ‘did’ as a verb in past tense or as the past form of ‘do’.
41.02 100
15 Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous
maybe because the students were still confused about ‘had’ as an auxiliary.
35.89 100
16 Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous
maybe because the students were still confused about ‘had’ as a verb or as the past form of ‘have’ in past tense.
41.02 33.33
This table is continued to the next page
48 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
\
Statement S
T 17
Many of the students’ sentences in past tense were erroneous maybe because the students were still confused about modals
such as ‘can’ and ‘will’ whose form actually change when they are used in past tense and followed by present form.
53.84 33.33
18 Many of the students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were
erroneous maybe because they haven’t been taught how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ as auxiliaries in past continuous tense that are
followed by verb-ing. 17.94
19 Many of the students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were
erroneous maybe because they have not been taught how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by nouns.
17.94 20
Many of the students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because they have not been taught how to apply
‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by adverbs. 28.20
21 Many of the students past tense sentences in narrative text were
erroneous maybe because they have not been taught how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by adjectives.
38.46 33.33
22 Many of the students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were
erroneous maybe because they have not been taught how to apply ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by past participle in passive
sentences. 30.76
23 Many of the students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were
erroneous maybe because they have not been taught how to apply ‘did’ as an auxiliary that is followed by present form in past
tense. 23.07
33.33
24 Many of the students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were
erroneous maybe because they have not been taught how to apply ‘did’ as a verb in past tense.
17.94 33.33
25 Many of the students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were
erroneous maybe because they have not been taught how to apply ‘had’ as an auxiliary that is followed by past participle in past
perfect tense. 10.25
33.33
26 Many of the students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were
erroneous maybe because they have not been taught how to apply ‘had’ as a verb in past tense.
15.38 27
Many of the students’ past tense sentences in narrative text were erroneous maybe because they have not been taught how to apply
modals whose forms change and are always followed by present form.
28.20 33.33
Legends: S = percentage of the students who agree with the statement
T = percentage of the teacher who agree with the statement
According to the result of the questionnaires, as can be seen in the Table 4.3, The Answers to the Essay Part of the Questionnaire for Students see
Appendix 3 and The Answers to the Essay Part of the Questionnaire for Teachers 49
\ see Appendix 5, and
The R
esults of the Interview see Appendix 6, here are the possible causes of the past tense errors in developing a narrative text:
a. The students did not know that they have to apply past tense. There were 25.64 of the students who stated that they did not have any
idea that past tense is applied in developing a narrative text see statement 3 in Table 4.3. The teacher also agreed that the errors might have been caused by the
students’ not knowing that they should have applied past tense in their narrative texts. The teacher wrote in the answer to the essay part of the questionnaire that
some of the students did not pay attention to their teachers’ explanation. Thus, the 25.64 of the students might not have paid attention to their teachers’ explanation
about how to write a narrative text so that they made erroneous past sentences in their narrative texts.
b. The students were familiar with producing sentences in their native language It is clear that most of the students 66.67 and most of the teachers
66.67 agreed that Indonesian language see statement 4 in Table 4.3 and, as one of the student added in the answers to the essay part of the questionnaire,
Javanese language may cause errors in applying past tense. The students were acquainted with producing sentences in Indonesian and Javanese which do not
apply any tenses, any verb form changes, and any auxiliaries such as: ‘did’, ‘was’, ‘were’, ‘had’ so that when they produce sentences in English, they
sometimes apply Indonesian or Javanese grammar. The teacher also wrote in the answer to the essay part of the questionnaire that actually the students knew how
50 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
\ to apply past tense but when they were asked to write a narrative text, which is in
past tense, they started to get misled by Indonesian, their native language. Here is an example of the errors concerning the native language:
Because Mbok Rondo felt Ande have adult, she hope … Because Mbok Rondo felt that Ande was adult enough, she hoped …
The sentence above was taken from Student’s Text 13 see Appendix 12, paragraph 1. The student who wrote the sentence only translated it from
Indonesian Karena Mbok Rondo merasa Ande telah dewasa, dia berharap…. Instead of using was, the student using have, which is direct translation from
Indonesian telah. There is not any ‘to be’ in Indonesian, so that the student just translated it from the word telah into ‘have’. Furthermore, the student also used
hope , the present form, instead of hoped, the past form. Indonesian and Javanese
do not have any verb form change, so that the student did not change the verb form. Actually, there were so many verbs that were not changed by many
students. This also shows that the students did not notice the tense of their texts. Here are some other examples, in which the students did not change the verbs:
She clean them… Student’s Text 16, see Appendix 14, paragraph 2 She cleaned them…
Cinderella want join this party,… Student’s Text 16, see Appendix 14, paragraph 5.
Cinderalla wanted to join this party, …
Meanwhile, here is another example of the errors in which a student did not apply auxiliary in her sentence:
…Klenting Kuning most beautiful… … Klenting Kuning was the most beautiful…
51 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
\ The sentence above was also taken from Student’s Text 13 paragraph 2. It shows
that the student’s native language Indonesian andor Javanese language influenced the student’s text. There was not any ‘to be’ or auxiliaries applied in
the student’s native language, so that the student produced the sentence that did not have auxiliary was before the adjective beautiful. Here are some other
examples in which the students did not apply auxiliary in their text: …the prettiest pair of glass slipper ever seen Student’s Text 11, see
Appendix 10, last paragraph. …the prettiest pair of glass slippers had ever seen.
Airlangga king sad again Student’s Text 6, see Appendix 9, paragraph 4.
King Airlangga was sad again.
Therefore, the native language Indonesian and Javanese became the source of the errors in applying past tense. When native language becomes the
source of errors, interlingual transfer happens in the students’ texts. Thus, interlingual transfer became the possible source of errors in applying past tense in
the students’ narrative texts. c. There are too many kinds of tenses to learn by the students.
As there are many kinds of tenses with their rules, students were confused. There were 64.10 of the students and 100 of the teachers stated that too many
kinds of tenses made the students make errors see statement 5 in Table 4.3. The students sometimes mix up the rules of each tense in their sentences, including in
their past tense sentences. A student also stated that sometimes they forgot the rules for each tense so that they applied the wrong rules in a certain text,
particularly in a narrative text. Another student stated that applying tenses is 52
\ frustrating. There was also another student who mentioned that it was hard to
differentiate one tense to another tense. When the students misuse tenses, intralingual transfer happens in the
students’ texts. Intralingual transfer became the possible source of errors in applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts.
d. There are many rules in past tense. Rules in past tense confused the students so that the students made errors.
Almost 70 of the students and 66.67 of the teacher agreed that the rules in past tense itself made the students make errors see statement 6 in Table 4.3. The
students were still confused about the verb form, how to apply ‘did’, ‘was’, ‘were’ and ‘had’ and how to apply modals ‘could’ and ‘would’ in past tense. A student
clearly mentioned that heshe was confused in applying past tense as heshe did not know which rule to use and which form to change. Thus, past tense rules
themselves can make the students make errors. When the students misuse past tense rules, intralingual transfer happens in
the students’ text. Hence, intralingual transfer became the possible source of errors in applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts.
e. The students did not memorize all irregular past form. Irregular verb can be the cause of erroneous past tense. There was 71.79
of the students and 66.67 of the teacher who stated that the students made errors in past tense because the students could not memorize all irregular past form see
statement 7 in Table 4.3. 53
\ Intralingual transfer happens in the students’ text when the students misuse
verb form. Therefore, intralingual transfer became the possible source of errors in applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts concerning the misuse of verb
form. f.
The students were still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’. There were 30.76 of the students and 66.67 of the teachers who agreed
that the students made erroneous past tense sentences because of the students’ being confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ as auxiliaries that are followed by verb-ing
see statement 8 in Table 4.3. And also, the rule ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are followed by nouns also confused the students as there was 28.20 of the students
and 66.67 of the teachers stated that see statement 9 in Table 4.3. The students also had difficulties in applying ‘was’ and ‘were’ that are
followed by adverbs and adjectives. There was 41.02 of the students and 66.67 of the teachers confirmed that the students had difficulties in applying
‘was’’were’ + adverbs see statement 10 in Table 4.3. Meanwhile, 30.76 of the students and all teachers agreed that the students have difficulties in applying
‘was’’were’ + adjectives see statement 11 in Table 4.3. The students were also still confused about passive sentence ‘was’’were’ + past participle. There were
64.10 of the students and 66.67 of the teachers asserted that the students did not understand well how to produce passive sentences in past tense see statement
12 in Table 4.3. Thus, the students clearly still had difficulties in applying ‘was’ and ‘were’.
54 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
\ Intralingual transfer happens in the students’ text when the students misuse
‘was’ and ‘were’. Therefore, intralingual transfer became the possible source of the errors in applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts concerning the
misuse of auxiliary. g. The students were still confused about ‘did’.
All of the tenth grade English teachers and 51.28 of the students stated that the students’ erroneous past tense sentences were made because of difficulties
in applying ‘did’ as an auxiliary see statement 13 in Table 4.3. There were students who did not know that the auxiliary ‘did’ in past tense are followed by
present form. Instead of present form, some students used adjectives and past form after the auxiliary ‘did’.
And also, there were 41.02 of the students and 66.67 of the teachers who confirmed that the students also had difficulties in applying ‘did’ as a verb in
past tense see statement 14 in Table 4.3. The students seemed confused about ‘did’ as the past form of ‘do’.
Intralingual transfer happens in the students’ text when students misuse ‘did’. Thus, intralingual transfer became the possible source of errors in applying
past tense in the students’ narrative texts concerning the misuse of auxiliary. h. The students were still confused about ‘had’.
All of the teachers and 35.89 of the students agreed that the students had difficulties in applying ‘had’ as an auxiliary in past perfect tense see statement 15
in Table 4.3. Only a few students applying past perfect tense and some of them made erroneous past perfect sentences.
55 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
\ Meanwhile, some students were also confused about ‘had’ as a verb in
past tense and as an auxiliary in past perfect tense. There were 41.02 of the students who were confused about ‘had’ as a verb and one teacher realized it see
statement 16 in Table 4.3. Intralingual transfer happens in the students’ texts when the students
misuse ‘had’. Thus, intralingual transfer became the possible source of errors in applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts concerning the misuse of
auxiliary. i.
The students were still confused about modals. There were so many erroneous past tense sentences using modals ‘can’
and ‘will’. There was almost 54 of the students did not understand that ‘can’ and ‘will’ should be changed into ‘could’ and ‘would’ in past tense sentences see
statement 17 in Table 4.3. And there was only one teacher noticed that more than 50 of his students asserted that they had difficulties in applying modals like
‘could’ and ‘would’ in past tense see statement 17 in Table 4.3.. Intralingual transfer happens in the students’ texts when the students
misuse modals. Thus, intralingual transfer became the possible source of errors in applying past tense in the students’ narrative texts concerning the misuse of
modals ‘could’ and ‘would’. j.
The students did not do enough writing practice. There were 66.67 of the teachers who agreed that the students did not do
enough writing practice so that they have problem in developing a text, particularly a narrative text see statement 2 in Table 4.3. To be able to develop a
56 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
\ text, the students should practice developing the text. The teacher should give
enough writing assignments to the students so that the students can develop their ability in developing a text.
Almost 59 of the students stated that they were given more than 3 writing assignments in their first semester see statement 1 in Table 4.3. The
writer conducted interviews to the students to make certain this finding. There was only one out of ten students who said that they were given more than 3 times
writing assignments by their teachers. Then, the writer asked the teacher how many times they gave writing assignments to the students to make certain whether
the finding of the questionnaire or of the interviews should be approved. The teachers answered that they gave 3 writing assignments last semester. There were
three genres narrative genre, procedure genre and recount genre the students should have mastered in semester 1. Thus, the finding of the interview that
showed the students had 3 writing assignments in the first semester was approved. As there were 66.67 of the teachers agreed that the students did not
practice developing texts enough in semester 1, the writer concluded that 3 writing assignments were not enough for the students to work on.
k. There was the students’ negative approach toward English. There was one student who explicitly mentioned that heshe never studied
English and rarely paid attention to the lesson see appendix 3. Furthermore, one of the teachers also asserted that there are students who do not pay attention to
their teacher’s explanation see appendix 5. There were also some students stated 57
\ that they rarely learned past tense and past perfect tense, so that they made
erroneous past tense and past perfect tense sentences. l.
There was the students’ negative approach toward writing. The students did not have any positive approach toward writing. The
English teacher mentioned that the students did not have motivation to read and write English texts. Furthermore, after interviewing the students, the writer also
found that eight out of ten students did not like to write in English see appendix 6. For having no motivation to write an English text, a student would not do his
best to develop a text and this would result an erroneous text. In addition, there was a student clearly mentioned that errors made by the students occurred because
the students are dense. Seeing oneself as a dense being is a very negative attitude that destructs one’s confidence. Without confidence, the student will not give his
best in developing a text so that he might make errors in his text. m. There was the students’ carelessness during developing narrative texts.
Some students stated that their errors in producing past tense sentences in developing narrative texts were caused by the students’ carelessness see appendix
6. Carelessness refers to the students’ less attention or concentration in producing past sentences in their narrative texts. For example, some students might forget
that they should apply past tense, or they might forget the rules of past tense, or maybe they forget to change the verb form in their past sentences. Another
example is when the students forget to add auxiliaries in their sentences. The students knew what they should write, but because they were careless, their
sentences became erroneous. 58
\ In addition, there were few students who stated that they made erronous
past tense sentences because their teachers had not taught ‘was’ and ’were’ that are followed by noun, adverb, adjective, verb-ing, and past participle, ‘did’ as an
auxiliary and as a verb, ‘had’ as an auxiliary and as a verb, and modals ‘could’ and ‘would’ in past tense see statements 18 – 26 in Table 4.3. Meanwhile, the
results of the questionnaire for teachers showed that the teachers at least two teachers66.67 of the teachers had taught ‘was’ and ’were’ that are followed by
noun, adverb, adjective, verb-ing, and past participle, ‘did’ as an auxiliary and as a verb, ‘had’ as an auxiliary and as a verb, and modals ‘could’ and ‘would’ in past
tense to the students see statements 18 to 26 in Table 4.3. In brief, ‘was’ and ’were’ that are followed by noun, adverb, adjective, verb-ing, and past participle,
‘did’ as an auxiliary and as a verb, ‘had’ as an auxiliary and as a verb, and modals ‘could’ and ‘would’ in past tense had been taught.
To sum up, the following are the possible causes of the erroneous past sentences in the students’ narrative texts:
a. The students did not know that they have to apply past tense. b. The students were familiar with producing sentences in their native language
interlingual transfer. c. There are too many kinds of tenses to learn by the students.intralingual
transfer. d. There are many rules in past tense intralingual transfer.
e. The students did not memorize all irregular past form intralingual transfer. f.
The students misused and were still confused about ‘was’ and ‘were’ intralingual transfer.
59 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
\ g. The students misused and were still confused about ‘did’ intralingual
transfer. h. The students misused and were still confused about ‘had’ intralingual
transfer. i.
The students misused and were still confused about modals “would” and “could” intralingual transfer.
j. The students did not do enough writing practice.
k. There was the students’ negative approach toward English. l.
There was the students’ negative approach toward writing. m. There was the students’ carelessness during developing narrative texts.
C. Other Findings
