An Error Analysis on The Tenses in 'Pieces of Life'.

ABSTRACT

Skripsi ini membahas penggunaan tenses yang terdapat dalam kumpulan cerita pendek berjudul Pieces of Life. Kumpulan cerita pendek ini ditulis oleh para mahasiswa/i jurusan S1 Sastra Inggris, Universitas Kristen Maranatha, yang mengambil mata kuliah Creative Writing pada tahun 2008. Data penelitian ini diambil dari dua cerita pendek yang berjudul “I Am a hero” dan “Hallucination in My World.”

Analisis data dilakukan berdasarkan teori A Non Contrastive Approach to Error Analysis dari Jack C. Richards. Hasil analisis data ini menunjukkan bahwa kedua penulis paling sering membuat kesalahan dalam tense sequence. Hasil analisis juga menunjukkan bahwa penyebab kesalahan tenses dalam dua cerita pendek tersebut adalah ignorance of rule restrictions dan false concepts hypothesized.

Skripsi ini juga mendeskripsikan cara perbaikan terhadap kekeliruan dalam penulisan teks yang diteliti. Perbaikan tersebut memperlihatkan beberapa kelemahan para penulis dalam aspek gramatika dan kosa kata mereka tetapi kekeliruan ini tidak dibahas. Kesimpulan penelitian menunjukkan bahwa para penulis perlu meningkatkan penguasaan terhadap kemampuan gramatika, terutama dalam penggunaan tenses.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... i

ABSTRACT ... ii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study...1

Statement of the Problem ... 4

Purpose of the Study ... 4

Methods of Research ... 4

Organization of the Thesis ... 5

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 6

CHAPTER THREE: AN ERROR ANALYSIS ON THE TENSES

IN PIECES OF LIFE ... 19

CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ... 43

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 47

APPENDICES

Title of the book: Pieces of Life Data 1:“I Am a Hero”

“Crang…”

“Mmmphh… Again?” I sighed and directly took the pillow to cover my ears. I

hid inside the wool blanket.

So warm, but it wasn’t warm enough to warm up my heart.

5 It happened in several times; my parents quarreled and snapped each other. They were arguing about something that confused me. My mom said that daddy had another woman in his life. She said it because daddy always came home late since last month.

“You must have had an affair outside there. Someone told me that you were 10 dating with another woman at atmosphere café last night!” Mom screamed loudly,

at the same time she appointed daddy’s nose.

“I never have an affair with anyone! Last night I had a dinner with Ms. Lucia, she is the director of Multifashion Company, and it produces woman wears andtheir accessories. I wanted to make some deal with her related to our business, that’s all!” 15 Daddy spoke more loudly.

“ Ah…it’s such a bullshit reason. Last month my friend saw you walking around with that woman in Istana Plaza, and two weeks ago too. It means you had

been three times gapped with the same woman. Isn’t it enough to make distrust you?”

5 “ Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay it’s up to you! I have already being mad at my job;

don’t try to add my problems anymore! I just want to take a rest now!” Daddy went to

bedroom and blow up the door; today I heard mom said that she was going to divorce my dad.

When I heard that, I cried out loudly inside my heart. I really didn’t know 10 why they had to get divorce. Problems of adults are very complicated. I wander who that woman is. Deep in my heart I was sure that my father would never did such an affair, he was not that type of person who liked to cheat on others especially his own wife and family.

(Saturday night)

15 When I was hanging out with my friends at a mall, I saw my dad at a restaurant with a woman. I assumed that that woman is the one whom has made both my parents quarreled last time at home. After some time, my dad left. It seemed

that he wouldn’t go home nor went back to that restaurant again. Without considering

the consequence I will face latter on, I straightly went into the 20 restaurant and talked to that woman.

“ You are such a distractive woman! Do you know that you are the cause of

my parents’ divorce? You want to make my family falling apart! Why do you do that to our family, especially my mom?” I told that woman emotionally.

Then in a minute, she explained that she is not having an affair with my 25 father moreover she said, “We are only a partners in business and I am going to

explain everything to your mother about our relationship”.

I felt relieved and asked her to come to our house and ask her to explain everything to my mom that instant.

* (At Home)

“I am very sorry for what had happened to you, I just want to explain 5 everything that has happened in the past three weeks. I really don’t have anything with your husband; I an only his business partner, we are working on a

project that we have some agreements to make”.

My mother asked, “ If you really are doing business with my husband, why do you have to meet him so often?”

10“When we are at Istana Plaza, we were discussing about the right location to open up a boutique; then at atmosphere café, we were making sure the agreement and the rules, more than that I am engaged and will get married soon”. Finally my mom understands the situation and there is no more misunderstanding 15 between my mom, my dad and Miss Lucia.

“I am so sorry forwhat happened in your family”, said Ms. Lucia.

“I am the one who should apologize for misunderstand you and my husband as he don’t tell me that he is planning to have new project and ill cooperate with your

company” apologized my mother.

20 Then the two of them drifted into a very a long conversation till dawn and they became friends.

Once my father comes home, my mom told my dad of what has just happened that afternoon.

Daddy asked,” How can Miss Lucia come to our house?”

Mom smiled and said. “it’s all because our lovely and precious daughter.” “Yes, I’m a Hero” I smiled proudly.

Then my mom and dad made up and saying sorry to each other then we had

dinner together and chatted during dinner time along with some jokes about 5that matter. “It was the happiest moment and very delicious dinner with my parents

and it will stay the same forever”, I told myself.

My mother told my father about her misunderstanding. My mother thought that he was having affair with someone else. But she finally knew that the woman

was only her husband’s business partner and she was not having an

10 affair with her husband.

When my mom is talking about her gladness feeling, dad was interrupted her.

“Oh, my dear, I feel guilty to you. You are the kindest woman I ever known. I

can’t lie anymore”

15 “Actually I am having an affair with another woman. And right it’s Lucia.

But she told me to appreciate your feeling. She said that you are honest and I can’t

betray you like this” he said.

Mom was shocked and she remains silence for few hours. And dad feels guilty for what he has done. Many times he told his regret but mom was still in 20silence. And me, shocked, didn’t know what to said anymore.**

Data 2: “Hallucination in My World”

It was a calm morning on 11th September, 2011. The sun shone brightly. My name is Paul. My parents and I went to WTC to visit Bob, my uncle. He worked there as a marketing of Foretec, Inc. His office was just a small office but cozy. There was

a comfortable sofa where you could take a little nap when you 5 were tired. It happened so fast. The building was suddenly shaking. It was a

tremendous and terrified shaking. I saw people screaming outside, running randomly

nowhere, panic. They said “GOD, HELP!!”

We were scared too, we leave the office hand in hand so we would not separate each other. I had a headache because of the crowded and panic 10 people. People ran nowhere who wanted to leave the building too suddenly, I separated with my parents and Bob.

I came across the fireman and asked him if he saw my parents and uncle. I

showed him family’s picture from my wallet. But he asked me to leave from that

building immediately and found my relatives outside, maybe they had already gone

out first. When I was out of the building, I still couldn’t find them because of too many

people and the crowd was terrible.

*

It was a Monday morning, I woke up at 7 and directly prepared my breakfast. I had to prepare it as simple as I could since I lived alone without my parents. I miss them very much, they have never come back since that damn day.

20 Ting, Tong (the bell ringing). “wait a minute!” I said.

When I opened the door my coffee cup fell of my hand. I felt just very shocked, meeting the two people in front of me.

“Mom? Dad?” asked me.

“Yes, dear. Why are you looking us like that, like you are looking a ghost.”

Mom said.

“But…but…Oh My God! I must wake up. It is just a dream!” “No, no dear. You aren’t in a dream”. Said dad.

“well, come in, come in. What you want to drink? Asked me. “lime honey tea, dear. Just like usual. “ Mom said.

“I want a cup of coffee for a wonderful morning day.” Said daddy.

I am still confused am I dreaming?! But I know for sure that Mom’s favorite

drink is lime honey tea and dad usually stars the day with a cup of a 10 coffee. But all happens just so suddenly. I had to leave my parents because I had

a class that I could not pass anymore because of my attendance was finish at Econ Class.

“Mom, dad, I must go now to campus, it’s ok? “ I asked.

“ Yea, yea…just be careful and study hard today ok? “ Mom and dad said.

15 Then I went to campus with a strange feeling. Mom and dad suddenly appeared and they didn’t feel like missing me. Like they have just gone for an hour

but no it has been two years. Didn’t they realize it? But the weird thing was when I arrived at home, the drinks were still in the dinning table. Mom and dad didn’t drink it.

20 Cafeteria always looks full, all students must queue to get today’s food. After waiting at a long time, now this is my turn, but suddenly Robert came and occupied my position.

“Hey, I want today’s food, be quick!” he said.

“Hmm, by the way, it is my turn, queue please.” I said.

“I know, you are Robert, but…but…”said me.

“So, just move and shut your mouth!” Robert threatened me.

When Robert pushed me, he made my food drop. I hate him because he always behaves as he wishes. He is a devil. The worst thing that he has done to me is hiding my assignment at basketball field.

5 “Are you okay?” someone at my back asked me.

“I’m okay, but my food…,ooohh…”I said.

“Hmmm, I can share my food with you, by the way, my name is Tommy, what

is yours?” Tommy said.

“My name is Paul, nice to meet you Tom.” I said.

10 After that event, I became closer with Tom. Sometimes, he visited me but because we were in the different faculty, Tom and I usually met at lunch time at cafeteria. We became best friends. We always shared our problem and he knew

about my weird parents’ appearance which sometimes they were gone like gone with

the wind. Because of my weirdness so Tommy gave me an article 15 about Dr. David Collin. He is the best psychologist in New York. It is said in New

York Times Magazine.

*

It was very hard to make appointment with Dr. David Collin, but finally I got it. The appointment took on Monday 14th March. I told him everything about 20 my weird parents’ appearances which looked very real. I told that sometimes I saw mom talking with dad at the parlor but sometimes they were just gone like the wind. The weird thing was sometimes I could hear their voice inside my head.

After listening my story, Dr. David made a conclusion that maybe my sick

25 voices. After explaining about Schizophrenia, he gave me a medicine to eliminate the hallucination when it came.

Day after day, I became better. My parents never come again. Yes that was so sad but, I had to face it that they were just my hallucination. But I become suspicious too because after that I have never met Tommy again. Because my condition became better and better so Dr. Collin advised me to decrease to drink 5 the medicine but I still have a consultation with him, he wants to know my health progress.

I have never met Tommy again, so I think that Tommy was just my hallucination too. My day was like a cloudy day not a sunny day, like I lost a part of my life.

10“Tom? Where have you been??” asked me surprisingly.

“Sorry, sorry my friend, I was so busy with my assignment and exam” he

said.

“How is your condition now? Did my article help you?” He said. “wait, wait, I need to go to the toilet first.” I said.

In the toilet, I took that medicine again, I was just still wondering whether Tom is the real one or the fake one. I know the consequence if Tom is just my

20 imagination, I must lose my best friend in the world. Frightened, I went out

from the toilet and “OH MY GOD…”

“TOM, you..you…I mean…YOU ARE REAL?”shouted me. “Yeah, this is me, I am human and alive. Why don’t you believe me?” He asked me.

25 “No, no I believe you but I just want to make all clear. I have lost my

“Yeah…yeah…I know what you mean, sorry because I said that you didn’t believe me.” He said.

I told Tom about everything that he had missed because of his busy activity

in his faculty. I hugged him and thanks to God because he still smile at 5 me and gives me a best friend who still cares for me in this world. He knows my

feelings of loosing my parents because of that I said that God still smile to me. *

I don’t have couragement to see the WTC building because I’ll remember

with my parents and uncle who are still missing. When I had to go to the public library I would turn my way and I was afraid if I am in crowded place. Tom asked 10 me to face my fear. Tom accompanied me to the WTC building and gave my parents and uncle a bunch of flower. Tom invites me to the crowded place. Maybe it was hard for the first time but as the time run I have couragement to stand in the crowded place. Now I can go shopping alone and go to the theater.

I never forget to give progress to Dr. Collin. He said that my development 15 is very good and I can stop taking my medicine. Now I am not afraid anymore to

see my parents’ pictures and go to WTC building, even though I still miss them so much. Deep in my heart, I believe, I knew that they will always watch me from heaven and I believe someday I can gather with them again in heaven.

20 Every time I see the sky, I always thank to God because He still cares of me he gives me a wonderful best friend in the world with an accidentally met. Without Tom, I maybe rotten man now. **

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Background of the study

Studying grammar is important for every learner of a second or foreign language because communication, both spoken or written, will not be successful without the use of correct grammar. A learner of a second or foreign language learner, specifically a learner of English as a second or foreign language, cannot be said to be masterful if she or he is unable to demonstrate her or his good English grammar. Therefore, grammar cannot be neglected in the process of English learning.

When English is learned as a second or foreign language, the learners will normally make errors, which can be caused by the different systems of the

learners’ mother tongue (L1) and the English language (L2). In Indonesia,

English is learned as a foreign language. Commonly, Indonesian learners of the English language will regard English grammar as a serious problem. The difficulty of learning the English grammar is generally caused by the different systems of English and Indonesian. One of the grammatical difficulties frequently faced by learners in learning English grammar is about tenses, which are not found in Indonesia.

Producing the right English tenses can be difficult for the learners because the Indonesian language has no tenses. According to Hornby, “ the word tense stands for a verb form or series of verb forms used to express a time

relation” ( Hornby 78). In addition, Martin (142) says, “ Verbs tell time. They tell whether something takes place in the past, the present, or the future. A verb changes its form to indicate time. Verbs have three basic tenses, past, present

and future.”In the Indonesian language, to express an idea in a different time frame, we only need to attach an adverb of time, such as kemarin, besok, tadi pagi, etc. In the English language, there are various tenses, namely present and past tenses, future tenses and perfect tenses. In the Indonesian language, a verb does not show the time when the action happens; however, in the English language, a verb shows it. For example, we say Saya pergi ke bioskop kemarin and Saya selalu pergi ke sekolah pukul tujuh in the Indonesian language, whereas in English we say I went to the cinema yesterday and I always go to

school at seven o’clock.

The different way of Indonesian and English in showing different time frames may cause English learners to make frequent errors in using English tenses. The fact that English learners often make errors in English tenses makes me interested in analyzing the tense errors in students’ English in order to find out the types and causes of errors that they often make.

In this thesis, I will analyze the tense errors in an anthology entitled Pieces of Life , which consists of the sixth semester students’ short stories in their Creative Writing class in the English Department, Faculty of Letters, Maranatha Christian University. The short stories were compiled in 2008. I choose Pieces of Life to be analyzed because it is unedited and the dominant errors that I find in this anthology are errors in tenses. Besides, this anthology is

the first experience for most students of Creative Writing Class in writing a short story.

In my analysis, I present my correction of the spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation found in the data. Hence, although the analyzed data in this study contain those errors, I only discuss the errors in the use of tenses in my analysis.

The reason of my taking the data from the sixth semester students is that they are considered to be intermediate students who are expected to write in English with proper grammar. However; in reality, they still apply incorrect grammar, especially tenses, in their writing.

According to Corder, errors are divided into two kinds, namely performance errors and competence errors. Performance errors are said to be caused by fatigue, inattention and a temporary lack of memory and they are often called mistakes. On the other hand, competence errors are caused by lack of knowledge of the rules of the language, and they are often called errors. However, to determine learners’ mistakes and errors is difficult and it needs a long and sophisticated study or analysis (Richards 24-25). In this paper, I will not differentiate between errors and mistakes owing to the fact that they are difficult to be differentiated and there is limitation time in finishing this thesis.

In doing the research, I take two stories because I find that those two stories contain errors which are commonly made by the students. Moreover, the writers of these two stories are still available in the campus to be interviewed while some others have graduated. In analyzing the data, I use a non-contrastive approach. In this approach, there are two kinds of errors: intralingual and developmental errors, which are explained as follow: “Intralingual errors reflect the general characteristics of rule learning, such as faulty generalization, incomplete application of rules, and failure to learn conditions under which rules

apply; on the other hand, developmental errors illustrate the learner attempting to build up hypotheses about the English language from his limited experience of it

in the classsroom or textbook” (Richards 173).

Finally, I hope this paper will give some contribution to the English learners in general and help them to understand their errors in English tenses so that they will be able to improve their use of tenses in their writing. I also hope this paper can be an additional reference for lecturers of grammar and writing classes.

912 words 1.2 Statement of the problem

In this paper, the problems that I would like to research are formulated as the following questions:

1. What types of tense error do the students make in their short stories? 2. What are the causes of the tense errors?

1.3 Purpose of the Study The purposes of this study are

1. To find out the types of tense error that the students make in their short stories.

2. To find out the causes of the tense errors.

1.4 Method of Research

I read books and other references from the library and the Internet to obtain some error analysis theories. Afterwards, I took two short stories from Pieces of Life that are suitable for my analysis. I analyzed the errors in using tenses that the students have made in their short stories. I also interviewed the

writers to check the story line or the meaning of certain words in their short stories. After that, I classified the kinds of errors that the students made and finally I wrote this thesis.

1.5 Organization of the Thesis

There are four parts in this thesis. Chapter One is the Introduction, which consists of the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two contains the Theoretical Framework. Chapter Three presents the Analysis of Tense Errors in the Collection of Short Stories Entitled Pieces of Life by Students of English Department, Maranatha Christian University. Finally, Chapter Four contains the Conclusion. At the end of the thesis, I put the Bibliography and the Appendix.

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

This study investigates the errors in the use of the English tenses in two short stories taken from an anthology entitled Pieces of Life, written by the students of Creative Writing class in 2008. In this paper, the writer analyzes the

two short stories entitled “I Am a Hero” and “Hallucination in My World.” The two short stories were chosen to be analyzed because up to the present time, the writers are still available to be interviewed whereas the others have left. The interview is needed in this research to check the story line or the meaning of unclear words in their short stories.

In this chapter, I present some concluding points that are related to the purposes of this study, which are (1) to identify types of tenses error that the students make in their short stories, and (2) to identify the causes of the tenses errors.

In Data 1 and Data 2, the interlingual errors such as, I go to the cinema yesterday, can not be found. The errors which are found in Data 1 and Data 2 do not show the interference of the mother tongue but they are caused by faulty or partial learning of the target language, rather than from language transfer. For example in Data 1, p.50, l.11, *When mom is talking about her gladness feeling, dad interrupted, which has been revised When mom was talking about her gladness feeling, dad interrupted. The example can not be categorized into

an interlingual error because it does not show the interference of Indonesian language. It is difficult to say that this example belongs to an interlingual error because Indonesian language does not have tenses. However, it can be categorized into an interlingual error if the writer writes *When mom talk about her gladness feeling, dad interrupt. That example shows the interference of mother tongue because in Indonesian language we simply say, ketika ibu sedang bercerita tentang kebahagiannya, ayah menyela. The fact that Interlingual errors are not found in the data makes the non-contrastive approach is used in this thesis.

As a matter of fact, the analyzed data in this study contains various errors. Nevertheless, only the errors in the use of the English tenses are discussed; as a result, only three types of errors are found in Data 1 and Data 2, which are errors

in the production of verb group, errors in the distribution of verb group and miscellaneous errors; in addition, it can be seen that the errors are caused by the

writers’ ignorance of rule restriction and false concepts hypothesized.

In Data 1 and Data 2 the miscellaneous error is the type of error that is most frequently made by the writers. The second is the distribution of verb group and the third is the production of verb group. There are thirty errors that are classified as the miscellaneous error. Data 1 and Data 2 show that the most frequently type of error which has made by the writers is miscellanous error, which consists of only the error in tense sequence. From the Data 1 and Data 2, it can be seen that the writers tend to mix present tense and past tense in one sentence referring to the past. For example, Data 1, p.50, l.18, Mom was shocked and she remains silence for few hours, which has been revised into Mom was shocked and she remained silent for few hour. In Data 2, the same error is also comitted. It can be seen from p. 51, ll. 8-10, We were scared and we

leave…, which has been revised into We were scared and we left…. Besides, the writers also tend to mix present tense and past tense in a reported speech. For example, p. 49, ll. 24-26, she explained that she is not…, which has been revised

into …she explained that she was not…. The same error is also found in p. 55, ll. 14-15. For example, He said that my development is …, which has been

revised into He said that my development was….

The distribution of verb group takes the second position of the type of error which are frequently made by the writers. There are twenty eight errors which are categorized into the distribution of verb group and only the errors in the use of tenses are classified as the distribution of verb group. From Data 1 and Data 2, it can be seen that the error in the use of present tense is frequently comitted by the writers. Both of the writers frequently use simple present tense instead of simple past tense when they are retelling an event referring to the past. For example, sentence of Data 1, p. 49, ll. 14-15, Finally my mom understands..., which has been revised into Finally my mom understood....

The production of verb group is the most infrequent type of error which has made by the writers. In Data 1, there are only two errors classified as the production of verb group whereas in Data 2, there is no error which classified as the production of verb group. In Data 1, it can be seen that the writer has made the errors in presenting present perfect tense form. The two wrong forms of tenses which have been made in Data 1 indicate that the writer was rather careless in writing the short story. For example, p. 48, ll. 5-9 and p. 50, ll. 12-13

of Data 1, “…I have already being mad…” has revised into ”… I have already

been mad…” and “…I ever known…” has revised into “… I have ever known…” From Data 1 and Data 2, it can be seen that false concepts hypothesized becomes the main cause of the errors in these stories owing to the fact that the most frequently errors that the writers have made are errors in the use of tenses

and tense sequence. Their mother language can be the reason for the writers to apply the wrong tenses in their stories. They might have found difficulties in applying English tenses because the Indonesian verbs do not show the time when the action happens.

Ignorance of rule restriction is not the dominant cause of errors in Data 1 and Data 2 on the grounds that the most infrequent errors which were found are errors in applying tense forms. It can be concluded that the writers did not find difficulties in applying the rules of tense form because tense form is simple and easy to be memorized.

From all the findings, it can be estimated that the writers had insufficient efforts in writing their stories. The findings also reveal that the writers have not mastered the English tenses. It would be useful for the writers to keep practicing English tenses. They should choose one particular time in presenting the story, and stick to it. It is also important for the students to use the time expression like yesterday, already, now, tomorrow, etc to minimize the possibility of making errors in the use of different tenses.

This study has analyzed only two short stories. In future, relevant studies are recommended to analyze more short stories in order to result in more

findings and a deeper discussion and interpretation of the student’s creative

writing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Lilyana, S., comp. and ed. Pieces of Life. Bandung: Creative Writing Class, 2008. Martin, J. Heath English. Massachussetts: D.C. Heath and Company, 1984. Richards C, Jack. Error Analysis Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition.

London: Longman Group Limited, 1974.

Websites

www.scielo.edu. 2010. Error Analysis. 22 March 2010

<

www.scielo.unal.edu.co/scielo.php?pid=S165707902008000200008&script=sci_artt ext

>

writers to check the story line or the meaning of certain words in their short stories. After that, I classified the kinds of errors that the students made and finally I wrote this thesis.

1.5 Organization of the Thesis

There are four parts in this thesis. Chapter One is the Introduction, which consists of the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two contains the Theoretical Framework. Chapter Three presents the Analysis of Tense Errors in the Collection of Short Stories Entitled Pieces of Life by Students of English Department, Maranatha Christian University. Finally, Chapter Four contains the Conclusion. At the end of the thesis, I put the Bibliography and the Appendix.

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

This study investigates the errors in the use of the English tenses in two short stories taken from an anthology entitled Pieces of Life, written by the students of Creative Writing class in 2008. In this paper, the writer analyzes the

two short stories entitled “I Am a Hero” and “Hallucination in My World.” The two short stories were chosen to be analyzed because up to the present time, the writers are still available to be interviewed whereas the others have left. The interview is needed in this research to check the story line or the meaning of unclear words in their short stories.

In this chapter, I present some concluding points that are related to the purposes of this study, which are (1) to identify types of tenses error that the students make in their short stories, and (2) to identify the causes of the tenses errors.

In Data 1 and Data 2, the interlingual errors such as, I go to the cinema yesterday, can not be found. The errors which are found in Data 1 and Data 2 do not show the interference of the mother tongue but they are caused by faulty or partial learning of the target language, rather than from language transfer. For example in Data 1, p.50, l.11, *When mom is talking about her gladness feeling, dad interrupted, which has been revised When mom was talking about her gladness feeling, dad interrupted. The example can not be categorized into

an interlingual error because it does not show the interference of Indonesian language. It is difficult to say that this example belongs to an interlingual error because Indonesian language does not have tenses. However, it can be categorized into an interlingual error if the writer writes *When mom talk about her gladness feeling, dad interrupt. That example shows the interference of mother tongue because in Indonesian language we simply say, ketika ibu sedang bercerita tentang kebahagiannya, ayah menyela. The fact that Interlingual errors are not found in the data makes the non-contrastive approach is used in this thesis.

As a matter of fact, the analyzed data in this study contains various errors. Nevertheless, only the errors in the use of the English tenses are discussed; as a result, only three types of errors are found in Data 1 and Data 2, which are errors

in the production of verb group, errors in the distribution of verb group and miscellaneous errors; in addition, it can be seen that the errors are caused by the

writers’ ignorance of rule restriction and false concepts hypothesized.

In Data 1 and Data 2 the miscellaneous error is the type of error that is most frequently made by the writers. The second is the distribution of verb group and the third is the production of verb group. There are thirty errors that are classified as the miscellaneous error. Data 1 and Data 2 show that the most frequently type of error which has made by the writers is miscellanous error, which consists of only the error in tense sequence. From the Data 1 and Data 2, it can be seen that the writers tend to mix present tense and past tense in one sentence referring to the past. For example, Data 1, p.50, l.18, Mom was shocked and she remains silence for few hours, which has been revised into Mom was shocked and she remained silent for few hour. In Data 2, the same

leave…, which has been revised into We were scared and we left…. Besides, the writers also tend to mix present tense and past tense in a reported speech. For example, p. 49, ll. 24-26, she explained that she is not…, which has been revised

into …she explained that she was not…. The same error is also found in p. 55, ll. 14-15. For example, He said that my development is …, which has been

revised into He said that my development was….

The distribution of verb group takes the second position of the type of error which are frequently made by the writers. There are twenty eight errors which are categorized into the distribution of verb group and only the errors in the use of tenses are classified as the distribution of verb group. From Data 1 and Data 2, it can be seen that the error in the use of present tense is frequently comitted by the writers. Both of the writers frequently use simple present tense instead of simple past tense when they are retelling an event referring to the past. For example, sentence of Data 1, p. 49, ll. 14-15, Finally my mom understands..., which has been revised into Finally my mom understood....

The production of verb group is the most infrequent type of error which has made by the writers. In Data 1, there are only two errors classified as the production of verb group whereas in Data 2, there is no error which classified as the production of verb group. In Data 1, it can be seen that the writer has made the errors in presenting present perfect tense form. The two wrong forms of tenses which have been made in Data 1 indicate that the writer was rather careless in writing the short story. For example, p. 48, ll. 5-9 and p. 50, ll. 12-13

of Data 1, “…I have already being mad…” has revised into ”… I have already

been mad…” and “…I ever known…” has revised into “… I have ever known…” From Data 1 and Data 2, it can be seen that false concepts hypothesized becomes the main cause of the errors in these stories owing to the fact that the most frequently errors that the writers have made are errors in the use of tenses

and tense sequence. Their mother language can be the reason for the writers to apply the wrong tenses in their stories. They might have found difficulties in applying English tenses because the Indonesian verbs do not show the time when the action happens.

Ignorance of rule restriction is not the dominant cause of errors in Data 1 and Data 2 on the grounds that the most infrequent errors which were found are errors in applying tense forms. It can be concluded that the writers did not find difficulties in applying the rules of tense form because tense form is simple and easy to be memorized.

From all the findings, it can be estimated that the writers had insufficient efforts in writing their stories. The findings also reveal that the writers have not mastered the English tenses. It would be useful for the writers to keep practicing English tenses. They should choose one particular time in presenting the story, and stick to it. It is also important for the students to use the time expression like yesterday, already, now, tomorrow, etc to minimize the possibility of making errors in the use of different tenses.

This study has analyzed only two short stories. In future, relevant studies are recommended to analyze more short stories in order to result in more

findings and a deeper discussion and interpretation of the student’s creative

writing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Lilyana, S., comp. and ed. Pieces of Life. Bandung: Creative Writing Class, 2008. Martin, J. Heath English. Massachussetts: D.C. Heath and Company, 1984. Richards C, Jack. Error Analysis Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition.

London: Longman Group Limited, 1974.

Websites

www.scielo.edu. 2010. Error Analysis. 22 March 2010

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