From the table above, the number of errors that made by 25 students in YPN Bojong Gede are 449 incorrect answer with different number of each types.
In this case, the students did 84 omission, 46 additions, and 319 mis-selection mis-formation in using regular and irregular verbs.
The writer did not find the error of misorder and blends in the students answer. From the table above, error of mis-formationmis-formation is the most
common occur in the students’ answer sheets with319 errors.
After the writer calculated all student s’ error, she would like to analyze the
errors in each Regular and Irregular Verbs. Then, she changed the result into percentage that can be seen in the table below:
Table 4.7 Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Regular Verbs
Number of item
Frequency of Error Total
Frequency of Error
of Each Number
Percentage O
m is
si on
A dd
it ion
Mi sse
lec ion
m is
for m
a ti
on
m is
orde ri
ng B
lends
Part A
2. 10
10 4.50
4. 18
18 8.11
5. 1
1 11
13 5.86
8. 1
1 2
0.90 10.
4 21
25 11.26
Part B
1. 12
5 17
7.66 4.
5 7
12 5.41
5. 1
17 18
8.11 7.
9 3
4 16
7.21 9.
4 7
5 15
6.76
Part C
2. 1
1 12
14 6.31
3. 15
10 25
11.26 5.
21 2
23 10.36
6. 1
5 6
2.70 8.
2 6
8 3.60
Total
75 13
133 221
100.00
The table above shows the students’ error in mastering past tense of Regular verb. The part consists of 15 regular verb questions. From the table, there
are 75 errors of omission, 13 error of addition, and 133 error of mis-selection or mis-formation.
The lowest error frequency in the regular verbs in the question number 8 in the part A, it is 0.90 that made by 2 students. For the highest error percentage
in regular verb is in the question number 10 in the part A 3 in the part C, with 100 percentage of error answer.
Next, the writer would like to present the percentage of error in irregular verbs as the following table:
Table 4.8 Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Irregular Verbs
Number of item
Frequency of Error Total
Frequency of Error of
Each Number
Percentage O
m is
si on
A dd
it ion
Mi sse
lec ion
m is
for m
a ti
on
m is
orde ri
ng B
lends
Part A
1. 1
3 4
1.77 3.
8 15
23 10.18
6. 5
5 2.21
7. 25
25 11.06
9. 13
13 5.75
Part B
2. 1
12 13
5.75 3.
18 18
7.96 6.
5 18
23 10.18
8. 8
15 23
10.18 10.
10 2
12 5.31
Part C
1. 23
23 10.18
4. 3
3 1.33
7. 20
20 8.85
9. 4
12 16
7.08 10.
1 4
5 2.21
Total
9 33
186 228
100.00
The table above shows the different frequency in each types of error. They are 9 errors of omission, 33 error of addition, and also 186 error of mis-selection
or mis-formation the irregular verb in the past tense. The writer got the number 7 in the part A is the highest frequency of
students’ error. It is 100 of error in the part A. it means all student cannot answer the question number 7 in the part A with the correct answer. For the
lowest error percentage is in the number 4 in the part C with 3 students who made errors. The percentage of error in the number 4 in the part C is 1.33.
Next, the writer would like to describe the students ’ errors in mastering
Regular and Irregular Verbs. As the result in the table 4.6, the students do some errors in using Regular and Irregular Verbs such as omission, addition, and
misselection misformation. In this case, the writer did not find error of misordering and blends.
Furthermore, to make it easier to read, the writer presents it in the following table below:
Table 4.9 The Frequency of Each Error Type
No Error Types
The Number of Error Type
Frequency of Each Error Type
1 Addition
46 10.25
2 Omission
84 18.70
3 Mis-selection
Mis-formation 319
71.05
4 Misorder
5 Blend
Total Number of Errors
449 100
From the table above, it could be seen that there are many errors from students’ answer sheet. Error of mis-selectionmis-formation is the highest
number of all with 319 errors or 71.05. Then, error of omission is 18.70 or 84 number of errors. The lowest percentage is error of addition with 10.25 or 46
errors.
2. Explanation of Errors
In this step, the writer interpreted the sources of error after doing observation, giving questioner and
making a percentage of students’ error to the students. The writer used the source of error by Hubbard et al. They are mother-
tongue interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged by teaching material or method.
3
From the students’ answer sheet, there are 36 errors are caused by mother- tongue interference, 46 errors are caused by overgeneralization, and 18 errors
encouraged by teaching material and method. The writer made percentage of sources of error in using regular and irregular as follow:
3
Peter Hubbard et al., A Training course for TEFL, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983, p. 140
36
46 18
The Sources of Error
mother tongue interference
overgeneralization
error encouraged by teaching material and
method
a. Mother-tongue interference
This source of error is caused by the different sounds system phonology and the grammar of the first language which lead to a
„foreign’ pronunciation, faulty grammatical patterns and occasionally to the wrong choice of vocabulary.
4
Many Indonesian students do some errors in learning regular and irregular verbs, because in Indonesian there are no regular and irregular
verbs. From students’ answer sheet, there are some errors that may caused by foreign language pronunciation, faulty grammatical patterns,
and also wrong choose the vocabulary. From the data, the writer got 36 errors are caused by mother
tongue interference from 449 total errors. According to Brown, an error is the result of transfer from the native language. Before the system of
the system of the second language is familiar, the native language is the only previous linguistic system upon which the learner can draw.
5
From the observation, the writer saw that the teacher used Indonesian language in delivering the material. Besides, the English
teacher explained the material generally and the teacher only gave few examples of each regular and irregular verb.
From the result of questionnaire, there are 52 of 25 students thought that Indonesian has the similar verb form pattern with English.
This percentage reflected students do some errors are caused by mother- tongue interference, because the Indonesian language has no verbs
transformation when used in the different time. Therefore, the students did false concept hypothesis, because they
did not familiar to the system of foreign language English Language and they still influenced by the native linguistics system Indonesian
language.
4
Peter Hubbard et al., A Training Course for TEFL, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983, p. 140
5
H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, New York: Pearson Education, 2006, p. 263
The examples bellow are the errors which caused by the foreign language pronunciation as the first aspect of mother-tongue interference
based on the Hubbard’s theory:
I locked at Chris and he made a rustling sound of wind in the
bushes. Student: 2
Last night, the baby try in his room. Students: 11, 12 I meed my old friend in the restaurant yesterday. Students: 1, 3,
14
Andy’s grandfather day when he was 85 years old. Students: 4, 7 I reed this novel five days ago. Student: 8
Rita bay a new car three days ago. Students: 1, 3
In English language there are some verbs or words which have almost similar in pronunciation. From the examples above, they thought
the verbs “reed” has similar pronunciation with “read”. It also occurs in
the words try for “cry” that should be “cried” in the past form. Then, the
word “meed” for “meet” should be “met” in the past form. Next, the
word locked for looked. And then, the word “day” for “die” that should
be “died” in the past form.
Some students also did errors which influenced by different grammatical pattern in Indonesian language and English as the second
aspect of mother-tongue interference. Here are some examples of faulty grammatical pattern:
Fauzi Bowo leads Jakarta last year. Student: 7 Last night, David drives his car very fast. student: 14
I reads this novel five days ago. Students: 7, 14
The sentences above show that the students used incorrect grammatical pattern. They transformed the verb
“lead” become “leads”, “drive” become “drives”, and “read” become “reads” as the past form of
those verbs. However, the correct answer are led, drove and read.
Mother- tongue interference also lead students choose the wrong vocabulary as the third aspect of mother-tongue interference. For example:
She love live in Bandung for two years, but now she lives in
Jakarta. Student: 3
She lave live in Bandung for two years, but now she lives in
Jakarta. Students: 1, 4, 5, 6
I meed meet my old friend in the restaurant yesterday. students
3, 14
Andy’s grandfather day when he was 85 years old. students 4, 7
Those examples used incorrect vocabulary, such as the students used
“love” and “lave” as the past form of “live”. The others students used
“meed” as the past form of “meet”, and “day” as the past form of “die”.
b. Overgeneralization
This source of error occurs when a learner applies a grammar rule to forms that do not take it.
6
In this research, overgeneralization is the dominant error. There is 46 error which is caused by
overgeneralization. From the observation, the writer saw that the English teacher only
gave few examples of regular and irregular verbs. So, the students did not get more examples in forming regular and irregular verbs in the past form.
Most of errors of this study are caused by overgeneralization, especially in irregular verbs that the change of the verbs should be remember by them.
Few examples of irregular verbs that given by the teacher lead the students simplified the change of irregular verbs by adding
–d and –ed.
6
Ron Cowan, The teacher’s grammar of English a cource book and reference guide, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008, p. 44
