xv
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
A. Ungrammatical Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense
According to the Types of Errors ……..……………………………………....63
B. Ungrammatical Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense Sentences
and the Possible Co rrection…………………………………………………...70
C. The Number of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense Sentences………..77
D. Types of Errors in Every Document…………………………………………..78
1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This research elaborates and discusses Simple Present and Present Perfect tense sentences of students’ writing in Critical Reading and Writing class. In this
chapter, the writer will present the background of the research, problem formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and
definition of terms.
A. Research Background
Students who are learning English, especially Indonesian learners, they may face some difficulties in its process. They should understand the rules or the
grammar of English language. Some of them still get confused even though they have learned about it. This is because Bahasa Indonesia does not have tenses like
English does. The only problem is about time. Cyssico 2003 says that the only thing which differs Bahasa Indonesia grammar and English grammar is only a
matter of time. In Bahasa Indonesia, time of an event does not ever change the form of the verb. However, in English, time is very important to determine the form of
the verb. Learning English as second language acquisition has its difficulties. English
has its grammar as the rules of the language. It also does exist when it should be implemented in writing. There are several rules that should be applied. English has
tenses. Tenses are not the same with time. Declerck, Reed, and Cappelle 2006 say, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
2
2 ‘Time is an extralinguistic category.’ Time is not part of linguistic. It stands
alone, independently. Meanwhile, Declerck, et al. 2006 state, ‘Tense is a linguistic concept: it denotes the form taken by the verb to locate the situation referred to in
time.’ They also state that there are seven traditional names for tenses in English. Those are Present Tense, Past Tense, Future Tense, Present Perfect, Past Perfect,
Conditional Tense, and Conditional Perfect. All tenses have the progressive and non-progressive form for each tense Declerck, et al., 2006. So, when writing in
English, people need to consider when the activities happen and which tenses they will use. If the activity happens in the past, it will use Past Tense while if the activity
happens in the present it should use Present Tense. People need to master four basic skills of language when they are learning
language including learning English. Those four basic skills are writing, reading, listening, and speaking. In order to master those basic skills, students or learners
should also learn the grammar. Mastering grammar is much needed in learning those basic skills, especially in writing.
Levinson 2000 defines that writing is a kind of communication in which words, ideas, information, and emotions are presented in print or hard form from
one mind to another. Writers have the ability to control their word to influence the readers. If the readers can understand the messages of a written text, it can be
categorized as a good writing. A good writing requires a commitment to the writing process. It also needs much editing and revising.
Grammar has an important role in writing. Why is grammar important in writing? Readers usually enjoy reading a text or an article which the content is
3 understandable. When the ideas are expressed in the document, grammar is much
needed. In the form of a document, grammar will affect the value of the document, moreover, if the document is put in the place where everyone could easily take it
and read it. So, to make a good writing for readers, students, at least, should make sentences in good grammar so that the readers will not be confused with the ideas
of the text. A good writing needs good grammar skills. Villemaire and Villemaire 2005:8 also state that learning to write well needs to have good grammar skills.
Another case, some people especially Indonesians who learn English, they are still confused when they have to use Simple Past and Present Perfect Tense. In
English they have sentence Rudy lived in Japan for 4 years and Rudy has lived in Japan for 4 years, those sentences both are correct. The first sentence uses Simple
Past Tense then the second sentence uses Present Perfect Tense. Perhaps, for some Indonesian learners, those sentences have the same meaning Rudy pernah tinggal
di Jepang selama 4 tahun because Bahasa Indonesia does not have any tenses in its grammar which differs the meaning of the sentence but in English, those
sentences have a big difference in meaning. The first sentence states that Rudy now does not live in Japan anymore, meanwhile, the second sentence shows that Rudy
now is still living in Japan. This problem is also faced by PBI students of Sanata Dharma University.
Considering the writer’s experiences as a student of English Language
Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University, the writer found that some students still have problems in producing correct grammar when they are writing.
They usually do not realize that they make mistakes in their writing. In fact, they PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
4 have already learned grammar in Structure class. They actually have known the
patterns of the sentences that they want to write but some of them are still confused when they have to implement it in writing.
Then, b ased on the writer’s experience, the most common mistakes and
errors that students usually make in writing are the use of Simple Present Tense and Present Perfect Tense. Those two tenses are also part of basic tenses that should be
mastered especially by students of English Language Education. Simple Present and Present Perfect are the part of basic rules of learning grammar.
Simple Present Tense and Present Perfect Tense are both categorized as Present Tenses. Simple Present and Present Perfect are tenses that have its
connection. Kast 2008 notes, that Present Perfect has the same meaning like Present Tense. He gives an example of clause I have got
I’ve got which has the same meaning as I have. This theory is also strengthened by Elsness 1997 who
states that Present Perfect and Present Tense verbs can sometimes have close meaning. He also gives an example of sentence John has come already which has
close meaning with John is here already. Simple Present tense is the basic tense or the foundation of tense that is usually taught to learners and the fact that Present
Perfect has close meaning with Simple Present makes the writer choose Present Perfect as another data which is going to be analyzed.
Besides, students need to master English grammar. It is important for them because they are going to teach. They are going to be a teacher, a role model for
students. So, if teachers explain English materials using wrong grammar, it is potential for the students to do the same thing like what the teachers did.
5 This research can be used as one of the considerations that may overcome
this problem. By analyzing the errors that are usually made by the students, focusing on writing and grammar, and providing the correct one, the researcher can help
students to learn more. Besides, the lecturers could also understand the difficulties that are faced by their students so that they could explain more focusing on the
students’ difficulties. Therefore, based on those all considerations, this study will present an error
analysis of Simple Present and Present Perfect tenses made by students of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. The writer
analyzes the written work made by the students of Critical Reading and Writing batch 2014. The writer chose Critical Reading and Writing class because Critical
Reading and Writing class is a course which focuses more on the product of students’ writing.
B. Problem Formulation
