AN ERROR ANALYSIS IN USING ENGLISH TENSES ON EHGUSH SENTENCE VVRITING OF THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF SLTP 1NEGERI 7 JEMBER IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2001/2002

AN ERROR ANALYSIS IN USING ENGLISH TENSES ON EHGUSH
SENTENCE VVRITING OF THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF SLTP
1
NEGERI 7 JEMBER IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2001/2002

,.,_ente4 as One of the

ｾ･ｱｵｬｲｭｮｴｳ＠

to Obtah1 S-1 Decree

at the Encllsh

Education Procra"' of the Language and Arts Department of the Faculty

Teacher Tralnlnc and Education of Jember liAlve"lty

Nc. · r
KLASI" I

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1nuhamma8 Su.giono
NIM. 970210401107

ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

JEMBER UNI'{ERSITY
APRIL, 2002
I

ot

MOTTO

No language no humanity
No written language no civilization
ｾｯ＠

language plays an important role in improving civilization
(C.H. Laird)

II

DEDICATION

I ded1catc ti11S thes1s to
• My beloved parents, //. S holihifl and, Hj ｬ ｾＱ｡ｲｩ

Ｇ ｡ｬｴ＠

for their supports and love,

• The late my beloved grundmother and grwul/ather;
• My beloved big family;

• My Love, lle rlina T ugas Pra tiwi, you are my great inspiration:
• My dearest friends, A minatuz. Nunung, Diana, Diyah, Heslin. and Sindu:

• My fncnds in the Engl1sh Education Program. Mansyur. Faiz. Wulan, Yuana,

Endah, Een, Lutji, and all my friends of the 199 7 level, thanks for our
friendship:
• My St udents at SL TPN 7 Jember;
• My Almamater;

Ill

CONSl'LT.\1\T APPROVAL
AI\ rRROR A A LYSIS 1

l

ｾＱＧＮＨＬ＠

E'\GL ISH TE'\SES 0'\ 1:1\JGLISll

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'II '\CI:

WRITING OF THE SECO [) Yl:t\R S ILDI:'\ I'S OF SLTP '\EGLRI 7 JL;>.1BLR 1'\l
TilE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 200 1/ 2002 .

TIIESIS

Presented as one of the Rcqu1rements to obtain S-1 Degree at the l::ngllsh
Education Pro!:,rram of the Language and Arts department of the Faculty of Teacher
Trammg and Education of Jember Universit)

By

Name

: Muhammad Sugiono

Identification Number : 97021040 II 07
Level

: 1997

Department

: Language and Arts Education

Program

: English Education

Place of Birth

: Gresik

Date of Birth

: September 17'\ 1978

ｩｦＮｾｲｴＺ＠

Approved By:

MPd.
NIP. 131 475 844

NIP. 131 877 579

1V

ｔｨＱ

APPROVAL OF EXA"IIN ER TEAM

ｾ＠

thcs1s

IS

defended

tn

front of the exam mer team and rece1 vcd b) the Facull)

ofTeacher Training and Education, Jember Un1versity.

On

April 2ih, 2002

Date

Saturday

Place

£·acuity of Teacher Training and
Education, Jember University.

Exam mer Team

Chairperson
/ r-rl

,

{ [,..?(_,..'·fl A-/i(4l
Q

-

Ora. Wiwiek lstianah , M.Kes, MEd.
NIP. 13 1472 785

NlP. 131877579

Members

ＨｾＩ＠

Ora. Siti Sundari, MA.

L
ＯｲＮ

ａ Ｂ ｾＨ＠

NlP. 131 475 844

M.Hum

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ｾ＠

...................ｾ＠

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I \\Ould like to thank Allah, SW1 , the Alm1ghty '"ho g1ves me strength to
accomplish this thesis in the last stage of my study. I also want to express my
gratitudes to:
The Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of Jember
University:
2. The Head ofthe Language and Arts Department of the faculty ofTeacher
Training and Education of .I ember University;
3. The I lead of the English Program ofthe Language and Arts Department ofthe
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of Jcmber University:
4. The Consultants who gave me valuable input in writing this thesis;
5. The Principal, the English teacher of the second year, and the administrative
staff of SLTP Negeri 7 Jember who have helped me gather the data, and
6. All of my fellows for the help and warm relationship during my study in this
faculty.
Hopefully this thesis would be a valuable finding in developing English
teaching learning process, especially in correcting tenses errors. So the teaching of
English as a foreign language in fndonesia will be more perfect in the future.

Jember, April 2002

The writer

VI

TABLE OF ｃＰｾｔｅＺ｜Ｂｓ＠

'II f'L F ............................................................................................................

MOl..ro................ .................................................................................... ........

••

DEDICATION .................. ..... ..... .................... ................................................

Ill

CONSULTANT APPROVAL .... ........................................................ ............

1v

APPROVAL OF EXAMINER TEAM ........... ...................................... ..........

v

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ..................................................................................

VI

TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................... ..... ...... ....... ........................ .

VII

LIST OF TABLES ················ ·············· ··············· ·······························-- ·············

X

ABSTRACT ......... ............ ............ ....................................................................

XI

I. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study .... .......... .......... ........... .................................. .
1.2. Problems ofthe Researc h ......... ...... . ................... .............. .................. .

2

1.2.1. General Problem ...................... ...................................................

2

1.2.2. Specific Problem s..................................... ...... ........ ............... .... .

2

1.3. Operational Definitions of Terms .............. ......................................... .

3
..,

1.3. 1. Error Analysis ...... ........ ..... ........... ..... .................. .. ....... ....... ..... .

.)

1.3.2. Errors in Using English Tenses ....... ........... ............................... .

3

1.3.3. English Sentence Writing Skill ........................................... ...... .

3

1.4. The Objectives of the Research ............ ............. ........ ................. ......... .

4

1.4.1. General Objective ...................................................................... .

4

1.4.2. Specific Objectives.. ......... ........... .......... ...... ...... ........ ......... ....... .

4

1.5. The Significances of the Research ...................................................... .

5

1.5. 1. English Teacher ....... ................................... ............................... .

5

1.5.2. Other Researchers ........ ......................... ..... .. ....... ................ ...... .

5

VII

II. REVIE\V OF RELATED LlTF!lATt 1RE

2. 1 T he Mcamng of Errors

6

2.2. T he Sources of Errors..

8

2.2. 1. lnterl ingual Errors ................. .......................................... ........

8

2.2.2. lntral ingual and Developmental Errors. ............. ........................

8

2 3. T he Object of Error A nalysis.. ......... ............. ........................... ........

II

2.3. 1. English Tenses .. ............................ .............. ...... ...... ...... ............

II

2.4. Error A nalysis ................... .............. ............................................... .

18

2.5. T he English Sentence Writing Ski ll.....................................................

19

Ill . RESEARCH METHODS
3. 1. Research Design................................................. ..................................

21

3.2. Area Determination M ethod ............ ................................. ..................

21

3.3. Respondent Detennination Method ....... ... .... .......................................

22

3.4. Data Collection M ethods...... ................................................................

23

3.4. 1. Test. ................. ......... ................ .... ..................... ....... .......... .. ......

23

3.4.2. Interview......................... .. .... .... ..................................................

25

3.4.3. Documentation ...........................................................................

26

3.5. Data Analysis Method ......... ........... ......................................................

26

IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCL'SSION
4. 1. Supporting Data ........ .... ............ ...... ... .. .................................... ............

29

4. 1. I . Results of Documentation .......... .. ..............................................

29

4. 1.2. Results of Interview ...................................................................

29

4.2. Primary Data ............ .......... .... ..............................................................

30

4.2. 1. Results of T enses Test. ................ ...............................................

30

4.3. Data Anal ysis.. .....................................................................................

33

4.4. D iscussion ..... ............. ... .. ..... ..... ...... .............................. .......................

36

VIII

V. C0'1Cbl SION AND SliGGESTIO!\S
.

.

5 I Conclusion ................................................................. ........................

38

5 2 Suggestions. .. .................................. ........... ............................... ...........

39

BILBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDICES
I. Research Matrix
2. Supporting Data Instruments.
3. Test Instrument
4 . Respondents' Ans wer Sheet
5. The Way in Analyzing the Data.
6. The Names of Respondents
7. The Names of Personnel of SLTP Negeri 7 Jember
8. The School Facilities
9. Thesis Proposal Seminar
I0. Permit of conducting the research from .I ember University.
I I. Penmt of conducting the research from SLTP Negeri 7 .I ember.
12. TheGuidelineofthe 1994 English Curriculum forSLTP(GBPP 1994)
13. Consultant Sheet l
14. Consultant Sheet II.

J'(

THE LIST OF TABLES

No

Names ofTables

'
1

T he Comparison between Error and M1stake

7

The Samples Taken by Using Proportional Random Sampling from

23

Each Class.

3

T he Interpretation of the Students' CITors

4

The Results of the Students· Error in Using English Tenses
The Number of Tenses Errors of Each Component.

6

Page

28
- - , 30
ＭｾＧ
..,..,
_)_)

The Percentage of Tenses Error of Each Component.

35

The Interpretation of the students' Errors of Each Compone nt

36

I

7

1

ABSTRACT
Muhammad Sugiono, 2002, An Error Analysis in using English Tenses on
English Sentence Writing of the Second Year Students of SLTP Negeri 7
Jember in the Academic Year of 2001/2002.
A Thesis, English Education Program , Language and Arts Department,
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Jember university.
The Consultants: (I) Ora Wiwiek Eko Bindarti, MPd.
(2) Drs. Budi Setyono, MA .
Actually, making errors is an inevitable part of the lan!:,JUage learnmg
process, because the learners cannot learn without first systematically makmg
errors. The errors arise because of the intluence ofthe students' second or foreign
language and the students' lack of English rules. The general objective of the
research was to know the percentage of errors in using English tenses on English
sentence writing made by the second year students of SLTPN 7 Jember in the
2001 /2002 academic year. The specific objectives were to know the percentage of
errors in using the simple present tense, the simple present continuous tense, the
simple past tense, the simple future tense, and the present perfect tense on English
sentence writing made by the second year students of SLTPN 7 Jember in the
2001 /2002 academic year. The sample ofthis research was taken by proportional
random sampling by lottery. The method of collecting the primary data was test,
while documentation and interview were used to get supporting data. The
collected data were analyzed using descriptive quantitative in the percentage. The
results of the data analysis showed that the students' errors of the use of English
tenses were low (31.57%). Meanwhile, the students' errors of each component
were ( 1) low for Simple present tense errors (36.36%), (2) low for Simple present
continuous tense errors (24.54%), (3) low for Simple past tense errors (32.42%),
( 4) very low for Simple future tense errors as ( 16.36%) (5) high for Present
prefect tense errors as (48.18%). Based on the results, English teachers are
suggested to give the students more examples and exercises mainly about the use
of present perfect tense in the form of sentences and to give exercises of the uses
of the other tenses to improve their tenses mastery.

Key words: Error, English tenses, English sentence writing.

XI

1.1. The Background of the Study
Englt sh, as a means of communication is wide ly spoken all over the! world. It
plays an important role in many aspects of human life such as in education .
technology, economics, politics, and many others.
Constdering the importance of Engl1 sh, 1n Indonesia Engl1 sh is taught as one
of a compulsory subjects in Junior lligh School, Senior Hi gh School and in some
universities. Even, based on the 1994 C urriculum , 1t is nO\v offered as a local
content subject at elementary schools.
Jn Indonesia, English is considered as a foreibrn language because it is learnt
after the first language is acquired That is why, in the process of learning E nglish,
the students usually face many problem s. Students usually make a number of
errors. The errors arise because of the different system between students' native
language and the foreign language they learn It is realized that each language has
its own system that is different from one another, so it is possible for the students
to make errors and find difficulties in learning a foreign language, or English.
Dulay et al ( 1982: 138) state that making errors is an inevitable part of the
language teaming process, because the learners cannot team without first
systematically making errors. They say:
" Teachers and mothers who have waged long and patient battles against their
students' or children ' s' language errors have come to realize that making
errors is inevitable part oflearning. People cannot learn language without first
systematically committing errors".
Then, Hendrickson ( 1979:3) states that language educators are now prop'osing
that the language teacher should expect many errors in his/ her students' speech
and writing, and the foreign language teacher should accept these errors as a
natural phenomenon integral to the process of second language learning.
Students in Indonesia who learn English as a foreign language often make
errors on English tenses. It refers to the writer's experience while doing the
teaching practice. Those occurred because of students could not understand the