errors then linguistic category and surface strategy taxonomy are used in classification of error and focuses to identify the types of lexical errors, syntactical errors and
discourse errors; describing the frequency of each type of errors; explain; the dominant type of error; and then the researcher will follow the theory from Richard 1971 to
investigate the cause of errors. As a result, the aim of the present study is four folds: 1 to describe the types of
errors are found in the students’ writing result made by Junior, Senior, and University Students; 2 to know the frequencies of each type of errors found in the students’ writing
result made by Junior, Senior, and University Students; 3 to explain the similarities and differences types of errors are found in the students’ writing result made by Junior,
Senior, and University Students; 4 to investigate the causes of errors are found in the students’ writing result made by Junior, Senior, and University Students.
A. RESEARCH METHOD
This research applies descriptive qualitative method.The subject of research are eight grade students of SMP N 1 Kajen Pekalongan, eleventh grade students of SMA N
1 Kajen Pekalongan and second semester English students of Pekalongan University. There 10 students as sample in each level and the total partcipants are 30 students.The
object of the study is comparative type of errors on students’ written form sentences containing errors will take from different level of students’ composition in written
production between junior, senior and university students.The data are erroneous sentences taken from 30 pieces of students’ writing junior, senior and university
students, there are 10 pieces from each levels. To collect the data the researcher uses elicitation method. Then,in analyzing data, the researcher used the procedures of error
analysis suggested by Brown 1980, namely: error identification, error classification,
and error explanation. B.
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
In this section the writer intends to describe the type of errors, to know the frequency each type of errors, to describe the similarities and the differences of errors,
and the last point about the causes of errors of data erroneous sentences made by Junior, Senior, and University students.
1. Types of Errors Made by Junior, Senior, and University Students
The researcher finds errors in students’ writing composition. Here, will be discussed the types of errors made by Junior, Senior, and University students.
a. Lexical Error
Lexis describes about the words and meaning of the English words then the aim of lexis study to represent the meaning of each word in the language and show how the meaning
of words in a language are interrelated.
1. Spelling
Spelling is writing or stating the letters and diacritics of a word. Words generally have accepted standard spellings which can vary regionally or nationally.
In this case the students write some wrong spelling in English. The errors are caused by their ignorance of the writing of the word in English. So, the students write with the
wrong spelling. The student gets wrong in spelling of the word, such as the sentence : “The monkey always spent anything”. The student writes the word”enything”,when the
student means “anything”The students’ errors are caused by the limitation and the lacking of students’ vocabulary in English.
2 False Friend
False friends are pairs of words or phrases in two languages or dialects or letters in two alphabets that look or sound similar, but different significantly in meaning. In this
case, the errors are caused by confusion of students to write the word or phrase because of the word or phrase look or sound similar.
In this case the students write some wrong spelling in English such as “Than rabbit ran and tiger race”. The student uses the word ‘’than’’ for the word “then”. The
sentence must be “Then rabbit ran and tiger race”. The student can not differentiate the use of the words or phrases that look or sound similar. The errors are caused by their
ignorance of the writing of the word in English.
b. Syntactical Error
Syntax is the structure of language or grammar; syntax consists of tenses, subject, verb, preposition, conjunction and other words to make sentences, so that syntax is the
knowledge about grammar and description of word classes, sometimes these were called
part of speech, and how to numbers of these classes go together to form phrase and sentences.
1 To be
Forms of the verb “to be” include: is, was, am, are, be, being, been, has been, may be, and were. ‘Be’ used after some nouns to describe the person that someone will soon
be or the position that they will soon have. a The Use of Copula ‘Be’ Present Tense for Past Event
In this case, the students do not use the past tense ‘be’ as predicate such as the sentence: “Her name is Tinker Bell”. The student uses ‘is’ as predicate for the past
tense. The sentence must be “Her name was Tinker Bell”. Because the phrase “Her name’’ indicates the singular subject, so, it must use ‘was’ as predicate for copula be in
the sentence. The students’ errors influenced by the target language. it is because the confusion of the using copula ‘be’ present tense for past.
b Addition ‘Be’ for Past Event The simple past is used to make statements about events at last time. In this case the
students add be is for past event. Errors are caused by confusion of the using verb ‘be’ for tenses in English. So the students’ use be is for past event. The students’
Additional ‘Be is’ for past event such as in the sentence: “The rabbit is looked for food in jungle”. The student adds ‘be is’ in the sentence that indicates the past event. ‘be is
must be omitted in the sentence. The sentence must be “The rabbit looked for food in the jungle”.
c Omission “Be” for Past Event In this case the students do not understand the function of be for past event such as
sentence: “The grasshopper hungry”. The students do not add “be”. So the students omit “to be” in their sentence, the students omit to be that indicates the past tense. So, it
should be ‘’The grasshopper was hungry’ to indicate the past tense.
2 Bound Morpheme‘ses’
Bound morpheme is a morpheme that can not stand alone as an independent word while carrying the lexical meaning related to the one in the word it is taken from.
a Omission of Bound Morpheme‘ses’ as the Plural Marker
In this case the students do not understand the function of –s-es in the plural form. The students do not add –s-es to noun in plural form. So the students omit –s-es in
their sentence. The students omit the use of bound morpheme –s-es such as in the sentence: “All of the fairy have a binary wings”. The student omits –s-es that indicates
the plural noun. The phrase “binary wings” indicates the plural noun. The word “fairy’’ indicates for the singular noun. So it must be ‘’fairies’’ to indicate the plural noun.
3 Verb Tense
In English, there are three basic tenses: present, past, and future. Each has a perfect form, indicating completed action; each has a progressive form, indicating ongoing
action; and each has a perfect progressive form, indicating ongoing action that will be completed at some definite time.
a
The Use Verb-1 for Past Event In this case verb can be categorized as Verb 1 and Verb 2
.
Verb 1 is used for Present tense form and V
2
missuse for past tense. The students use Verb 1 for past event that found by the researcher of the students’ written products such as the sentence: “Rabbit
continue his job”. The student uses Verb 1for past event. The word ‘continue’ of the sentence indicates for the present tense not for the past tense. The students must use V
2
if they want to write the sentence for the past event. So the sentence must be “Rabbit continued his job”. The errors are caused by students can not differentiate the use
between Verb 1 and Verb 2.
b
The Use of IncorrectVerb 2 In this case verb 2 can be categorized as Regular verb and Irregular verb
.
Verb 1 is used for past tense. In this case the studentsuse incorrectverb 2. The researcher finds
examples such as sentence: “The squirrel knowed”. The student tries to use Verb 2for past event, but it is false. The sentence should be “The squirrel knew ”.The errors are
caused by students cannot differentiatethe use of Regular and Irregular Verb.
4 Articles a,an,the
An article is a word that is used with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun.
a Omission of the Article a,an,the
