10
3. Error Analysis
In this study, Error Analysis was proposed by the researcher as a way to investigate the errors occurred in students‟ descriptive texts of seventh grade of
SMP Pangudi Luhur Yogyakarta. Crystal 2003: 165 as cited by Abed 2012 defined Error Analysis
as “technique for identifying, classifying and systematically interpreting the unacceptable forms produced by someone learning
a foreign language, using any of the principles and provided by linguistics”. In addition, Keshavarz 2012: 168 as cited by Abed 2012 defined Error Analysis
as “a procedure used by both researchers and teachers which involves collecting samples of learner language, identifying errors, classifying them according to their
nature and causes, and evaluating their seriousness”. This research is an Error Analysis.
The researcher took students‟ worksheets as the object of his research. The researcher intended to search for the
errors that occurred in the students‟ descriptive texts. Corder 1967 as cited by Ellis 1994: 78 stated the differences between mistakes and errors. He stated
mistakes as “mistakes are akin to slips of the tongue”. He also stated errors are
systematic and likely to happen repeatedly. Norrish 1983 definederrors. An error is when
a learner has not learnt something and consistently „gets it wrong‟. Error Analysis also has its own benefits. Norrish 1983 stated that Error Analysis can
give a picture of the type of difficulty learners are experiencing. The other benefits of errors analysis stated by Norrish 1983 are an Error Analysis can give
useful information about a new class, an Error Analysis can indicate problems common to all and problems common to particular groups, and the teacher can
11 assess objectively how his teaching helps the students. The researcher
implemented the steps of Error Analysis by Corder 1974 as cited by Ellis 1994 in this research. Those steps helped the researcher conduct this research. The
researcher also added additional steps of Error Analysis by Gass and Selinker 2001 in order to obtain a reliable research result.
12
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES
In this chapter, the researcher presents the related theories and literatures that underline the research field. The related literatures are discussed here as the
basis of answering the research question. There are two parts presented in this chapter. They are the theoretical description and the theoretical framework. In the
theoretical description, the researcher presents theories related to error analysis, error and mistakes, sources of errors, causes of errors, error taxonomy, types of
errors, and descriptive text. In the theoretical framework, the researcher presents the steps of conducting
an error analysis on students‟ descriptive texts.
A. Theoretical Description
In this part the researcher discusses some fundamental theories of this research.
1. Error Analysis
Crystal 2003: 165 as cited by Abed 2012 defined error analysis as “technique for identifying, classifying and systematically interpreting the
unacceptable forms produced by someone learning a foreign language, using any of the principles and provided by linguistics”. Keshavarz 2012: 168 as cited by
Abed 2012 defined error analysis as “a procedure used by both researchers and
teachers which involves collecting samples of learner language, identifying errors, classifying them according to their nature and causes, and evaluating their
Kategori