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b. Overgeneralization
Overgeneralization is the result of faulty or partial learning of the target language. In other words, it happens because learner creating a
deviant structure based on his own experience of other structure in target language. The learners tend to use two tense makers at the same time in
one sentence since they do not mastered the language yet. For example, He is comes here. The use of is is not correct in the sentence. is is used if the
senten ce does not have verb „comes’. The sentence should be ‘he comes
here. Another example, She drinked all the lemonade yesterday. Drinked is not the correct verb form for past tense. The correct one is drank. So, the
sentence should be „She drank all the lemonade yesterday
c. Error encouraged by teaching material or method
The teaching material or method can also contribute to the students errors. Unfortunately, these errors are much more difficult to classify. If the
material is well chosen and presented with meticulous care, there won’t be
any error made by the student. Error can appear to be induced by teaching process itself. In other
words, it is called as teacher-induced errors. For that, Hubbard et al., said, “Error is an evidence of failure of ineffective teaching or lack control. If
material is well chosen, graded, and presented with meticulous care, there should never be error”.
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The errors are difficult to classify without studying the teaching material and teaching technique or method. Corder in A Training Course
for TEFL by Hubbard, et al., admitted, “It is however, not easy to identify such error except in
conjunction with a close study of the material and teaching technique to which the learner has been exposed. This is
probably why so little is known about them. ”
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8
Ibid.,p. 142.
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Ibid.
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For example,I am go to school every day. It is caused by teacher giving more emphasizing on one tense, present progressive tense, so learners
overuse it when moving on to a new pattern. On the other hand, Brown said causes of error as sources of error and
he classified into 4 categories
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. a.
The first source of error is interlingual transfer. It is the beginning stage of learning second language. It is the negative influence of the
mother tongue of learner. In this stage, students are not familiar yet with the use of target language, so they use a previous experience
when they learn it. b.
The second source of error is intralingual transfer. It is the negative transfer of items within the target language. In this stage, students just
learn some of target language, so students apply the structure into a new form and develop it that does not correspond to target language or
mother language. c.
The third source of error is context of learning. It overlaps both types of transfer. In this stage, „context’ refers to the teacher or the textbook.
In classroom, the teacher or the textbook can lead the students to make errors. It can called „false concept’. It is caused there are some error in
teachers explanation or textbook presentation. d.
The last source of error is communication strategies. In this stage, students have to use their production strategies for getting the
message. But sometimes it can be sources of error. For this study, the writer uses causes of error from Brown to find out
what causes of students error in using simple past tense in writing narrative text. Brown classifies causes of error into four categories; Interlingual,
Intralingual, Context of Learning and Communication Strategies
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H.D.Brown, Principle of Language Learning and Teaching, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 1993, p.213-217
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