An error analysis in writing composition made by the second grade students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ABSTRACT
Marselyna, D. (2012). An Error Analysis in Writing Composition Made by the
Grade Students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta: Sanata
Dharma University.
Students consider writing is the most difficult skill than others. Therefore,
in writing a composition, the students often make errors. This study was
conducted under the consideration that grammatical forms play an important role
in writing a composition. The purposes of this study are to find out the types of
errors in students’ writing composition made by the second grade students of SMK
Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta and to find out the causes of those errors.
The study was conducted using document analysis. The source of data was
writing product made by the students. This was done to find out the simple past
tense errors. Further, the data were identified and analyzed based on the Surface
Strategy Taxonomy and Comparative Taxonomy by Dulay that classified into
omission, addition, misformation, developmental errors, and interlingual errors.
The instrument that was used was questionnaire which was used to find out the
possible causes of the errors according to theory of Brown that consists of
interlingual transfer, intralingual transfer, and context of learning.
The results of the analysis show that there were 54 errors from students’

writing product. They were 14 errors of omission, 29 errors of addition that
consisted of double marking, regularization, and simple addition, 11 errors of
misformation that consisted of regularization, and alternating forms, 34 errors of
developmental, and 20 interlingual errors. From the result of the questionnaires,
there were some factors which causing the errors. They were students’
carelessness, students’ first language interference, lack writing practice, lack
knowledge about rules of simple past tense, lack motivation of the students, and
teacher’s way in explaining the material.
Based on the result of the research, it is suggested that the students should
memorize the past form of verbs both regular and irregular form. For the teacher,
they should be emphasized on the teaching of simple past tense especially for
irregular verbs. The next researchers are expected to investigate the students’ error
and the factors that cause the students’ error in another type and using other tenses
by employing other strategies of data collection.
Keywords: document analysis, writing composition, errors

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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ABSTRAK
Marselyna, D. (2012). An Error Analysis in Writing Composition Made by the
Grade Students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta:
Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Siswa menganggap menulis adalah keahlian dalam bahasa Inggris yang
paling sulit. Oleh karena itu, saat menulis karangan, siswa sering membuat
kesalahan. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan pertimbangan bahwa tatabahasa
menjadi hal yang penting ketika menulis karangan. Tujuan dari penelitian ini
adalah untuk menemukan tipe-tipe kesalahan yang ada di karangan, yang dibuat
oleh siswa kelas II SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta dan untuk menemukan
penyebab dari terjadinya kesalahan tersebut.
Penelitian ini menggunakan metode analisa dokumen. Sumber data untuk
penelitian ini adalah produk karangan yang dibuat oleh siswa. Hal ini dilakukan
untuk menemukan kesalahan-kesalahan dalam penggunaan simple past tense.
Selanjutnya, data tersebut diidentifikasi dan dianalisis berdasarkan Surface
Strategy Taxonomy dan Comparative Taxonomy oleh Dulay yang terdiri atas
omission, addition, misformation, developmental errors, Dan interlingual errors.
Instrumen yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah kuisioner, yang digunakan
untuk menemukan kemungkinan penyebab-penyebab terjadinya kesalahan
berdasarkan teori Brown yang terdiri atas interlingual transfer, intralingual

transfer, Dan context of learning.
Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa ada 54 kesalahan dalam
produk karangan siswa. Kesalahan tersebut ialah 14 kesalahan dalam
penggunaan omission, 29 kesalahan dalam penggunaan addition yang terdiri atas
double marking, regularization, dan simple addition, 11 kesalahan dalam
penggunaan misformation yang terdiri atas regularization, dan alternating forms,
34 kesalahan dalam developmental errors, dan 20 kesalahan dalam interlingual
errors.
Dari hasil kuisioner, didapat beberapa faktor yang mungkin menyebabkan
terjadinya kesalahan tersebut yaitu kecerobohan siswa, interfensi dari bahasa asli
yang digunakan, kurangnya latihan dalam menulis, kurangnya pengetahuan
tentang aturan-aturan dalam simple past tense, kurangnya motivasi siswa, dan
cara guru dalam menjelaskan materi. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian tersebut,
sangat disarankan bagi siswa untuk mengingat bentuk lampau dari tiap kata kerja
baik yang beraturan dan yang tidak beraturan. mempelajari dan memahami
kesalahan mereka agar dapat memperbaiki kesalahan mereka dan tidak membuat
kesalahan yang sama. Untuk guru, disarankan untuk memberikan penekanan
dalam mengajar simple past tense terutama untuk kata kerja yang tidak
beraturan. Untuk peneliti selanjutnya diharapkan mampu menganalisa kesalahan
siswa dan faktor penyebabnya menggunakan tenses yang berbeda dengan

memanfaatkan strategi pengumpulan data yang lain.
Kata kunci: document analysis, writing composition, errors
viii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

AN ERROR ANALYSIS IN WRITING COMPOSITION
MADE BY THE SECOND GRADE STUDENTS
OF SMK MARSUDI LUHUR II YOGYAKARTA
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education

By
Dita Marselyna
Student Number: 081214035

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2013

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

AN ERROR ANALYSIS IN WRITING COMPOSITION
MADE BY THE SECOND GRADE STUDENTS
OF SMK MARSUDI LUHUR II YOGYAKARTA
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education

By
Dita Marselyna
Student Number: 081214035

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2013
i

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

iii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must --- but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many failure turns about,
Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow,
You might succeed with another blow.
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit --It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.
Anonymous

This thesis is dedicated to
The most amazing parents in the world,
Bapak Sumaryanto and Ibu Fajar Iriantiwi

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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work

or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the
references, as a scientific paper should.

Yogyakarta, 10 January 2013
The writer

Dita Marselyna
081214035

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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma
Nama

: Dita Marselyna

Nomor mahasiswa

: 081214035

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
AN ERROR ANALYSIS IN WRITING COMPOSITION
MADE BY THE SECOND GRADE STUDENTS
OF SMK MARSUDI LUHUR II YOGYAKARTA
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan
kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan,
mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan
data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau
media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya
maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya
sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 20 Desember 2012
Yang menyatakan

Dita Marselyna
vi

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ABSTRACT
Marselyna, D. (2012). An Error Analysis in Writing Composition Made by the
Grade Students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta: Sanata
Dharma University.
Students consider writing is the most difficult skill than others. Therefore,
in writing a composition, the students often make errors. This study was
conducted under the consideration that grammatical forms play an important role
in writing a composition. The purposes of this study are to find out the types of
errors in students’ writing composition made by the second grade students of SMK
Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta and to find out the causes of those errors.
The study was conducted using document analysis. The source of data was
writing product made by the students. This was done to find out the simple past
tense errors. Further, the data were identified and analyzed based on the Surface
Strategy Taxonomy and Comparative Taxonomy by Dulay that classified into

omission, addition, misformation, developmental errors, and interlingual errors.
The instrument that was used was questionnaire which was used to find out the
possible causes of the errors according to theory of Brown that consists of
interlingual transfer, intralingual transfer, and context of learning.
The results of the analysis show that there were 54 errors from students’
writing product. They were 14 errors of omission, 29 errors of addition that
consisted of double marking, regularization, and simple addition, 11 errors of
misformation that consisted of regularization, and alternating forms, 34 errors of
developmental, and 20 interlingual errors. From the result of the questionnaires,
there were some factors which causing the errors. They were students’
carelessness, students’ first language interference, lack writing practice, lack
knowledge about rules of simple past tense, lack motivation of the students, and
teacher’s way in explaining the material.
Based on the result of the research, it is suggested that the students should
memorize the past form of verbs both regular and irregular form. For the teacher,
they should be emphasized on the teaching of simple past tense especially for
irregular verbs. The next researchers are expected to investigate the students’ error
and the factors that cause the students’ error in another type and using other tenses
by employing other strategies of data collection.
Keywords: document analysis, writing composition, errors

vii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ABSTRAK
Marselyna, D. (2012). An Error Analysis in Writing Composition Made by the
Grade Students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta:
Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Siswa menganggap menulis adalah keahlian dalam bahasa Inggris yang
paling sulit. Oleh karena itu, saat menulis karangan, siswa sering membuat
kesalahan. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan pertimbangan bahwa tatabahasa
menjadi hal yang penting ketika menulis karangan. Tujuan dari penelitian ini
adalah untuk menemukan tipe-tipe kesalahan yang ada di karangan, yang dibuat
oleh siswa kelas II SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta dan untuk menemukan
penyebab dari terjadinya kesalahan tersebut.
Penelitian ini menggunakan metode analisa dokumen. Sumber data untuk
penelitian ini adalah produk karangan yang dibuat oleh siswa. Hal ini dilakukan
untuk menemukan kesalahan-kesalahan dalam penggunaan simple past tense.
Selanjutnya, data tersebut diidentifikasi dan dianalisis berdasarkan Surface
Strategy Taxonomy dan Comparative Taxonomy oleh Dulay yang terdiri atas
omission, addition, misformation, developmental errors, Dan interlingual errors.
Instrumen yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah kuisioner, yang digunakan
untuk menemukan kemungkinan penyebab-penyebab terjadinya kesalahan
berdasarkan teori Brown yang terdiri atas interlingual transfer, intralingual
transfer, Dan context of learning.
Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa ada 54 kesalahan dalam
produk karangan siswa. Kesalahan tersebut ialah 14 kesalahan dalam
penggunaan omission, 29 kesalahan dalam penggunaan addition yang terdiri atas
double marking, regularization, dan simple addition, 11 kesalahan dalam
penggunaan misformation yang terdiri atas regularization, dan alternating forms,
34 kesalahan dalam developmental errors, dan 20 kesalahan dalam interlingual
errors.
Dari hasil kuisioner, didapat beberapa faktor yang mungkin menyebabkan
terjadinya kesalahan tersebut yaitu kecerobohan siswa, interfensi dari bahasa asli
yang digunakan, kurangnya latihan dalam menulis, kurangnya pengetahuan
tentang aturan-aturan dalam simple past tense, kurangnya motivasi siswa, dan
cara guru dalam menjelaskan materi. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian tersebut,
sangat disarankan bagi siswa untuk mengingat bentuk lampau dari tiap kata kerja
baik yang beraturan dan yang tidak beraturan. mempelajari dan memahami
kesalahan mereka agar dapat memperbaiki kesalahan mereka dan tidak membuat
kesalahan yang sama. Untuk guru, disarankan untuk memberikan penekanan
dalam mengajar simple past tense terutama untuk kata kerja yang tidak
beraturan. Untuk peneliti selanjutnya diharapkan mampu menganalisa kesalahan
siswa dan faktor penyebabnya menggunakan tenses yang berbeda dengan
memanfaatkan strategi pengumpulan data yang lain.
Kata kunci: document analysis, writing composition, errors
viii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I praise my Almighty God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit,
and Mother Mary for the wonderful grace and guidance upon my life, especially
during my study and in the process of finishing this thesis. The biggest thank goes
to my super parents Bapak Sumaryanto and Ibu Fajar Iriantiwi, for their
greatest and unstoppable love. My thankfulness also goes to Rany
Cahyaningtyas and Dominika Retno Murti, including Obonity and Ibility for
the jokes, encouragement, care, and even the foolish “fight” every day in the
house. Also to my grandmothers, uncles and aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces,
all my BIG family members, who always make my life so colorful.
My major gratitude is addressed to Christina Kristiyani S.Pd., M.Pd. as
the advisor of this thesis, who generously spared her precious time, guidance,
suggestions, patience, and advice to me during the process of writing this thesis. I
believe that without her help this thesis would have never been finished. I also
grant my deep appreciation to all lecturers and staff of the English Language
Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University who have given me
their best services and guidance during my education at this university.
I would like to thank M. Bambang Priyadi, S.Pd., the headmaster of
SMK Marsudi Luhur 2 Yogyakarta academic year 2011-2012, for permitting me
to conduct the research in the school. Also to Argo Budi Rahayu, S.Pd. one of
the English teachers of SMK Marsudi Luhur 2 Yogyakarta, who had helped me in
conducting the research and obtaining the data. I would also thank all students of
SMK Marsudi Luhur 2 Yogyakarta for the great memories when I was doing
my Program Pengalaman Lapangan there especially the second grade students
in academic year 2011-2012 for the willingness and the cooperation to be the
research participants.

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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

I would like to thank my great friends in PBI especially tiyen, didil,
sepsoy, nican, micil (d’Cyantiks girls), and also; Marshel, Massak, Asoy (the
‘Savior’ of Cyantiks) for the beautiful moments of struggling, sharing,
teamwork, jokes, and friendship during the study. I also thank all my friends in
PBI, especially 2008ers, and also all my friends in Sanata Dharma University.
I am very happy to meet and have them all as my friends. My sincere thankfulness
is also addressed to Swift English School for giving me precious chances to be
one of the tutors there and also belong to the big family of them.
I deservedly would like to acknowledge my deepest appreciation to Sr.
Margaret O’ Donohue, FCJ for her time, contribution of thoughtful and ideas
for the development of this thesis. I dedicate my special thanks to my special
“partner-in-crime”, Mister Amadeus Rembrandt, who gives so much “trouble”
that make me think again and again about the meaning of life and love. Last but
not least, I would like to express my gratitude to those whose names I cannot
mention one by one in here. May God bless them all.

Sincerely,
Dita Marselyna

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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ........................................................................................................ i
APPROVAL PAGES ............................................................................................ ii
DEDICATION PAGE ......................................................................................... iv
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ...................................................... v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ...................................... vi
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... vii
ABSTRAK .......................................................................................................... viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... xi
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................. xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................... xiv
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background ............................................................................ 1
B. Research Problems ................................................................................. 3
C. Problem Limitation ................................................................................ 4
D. Research Objectives ............................................................................... 4
E. Research Benefits ................................................................................... 5
F. Definition of Terms ................................................................................ 6
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Theoretical Description .......................................................................... 9
1. The Concept of Writing Composition ................................................. 9
2. The Type of Writing Composition.................................................... 10
3. A Brief Review on Language Errors................................................. 11
a. Concept of Error ...................................................................... 12
b. Errors Versus Mistakes ............................................................ 12
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c. The Classification of Errors ...................................................... 13
d. The Factors Causing the Errors ................................................ 19
4. The Classifications of Grammatical Errors ...................................... 21

a. Simple Past Tense .................................................................... 21
b. Subject-verb Agreement........................................................... 25
c. Prepositions ............................................................................. 25
B. Theoretical Framework ........................................................................ 26
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Research Method .................................................................................. 28
B. Research Setting................................................................................... 29
C. Research Participants ........................................................................... 30
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ................................................... 31
E. Data Analysis Technique ..................................................................... 33
F. Research Procedure .............................................................................. 34
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. The Types of Errors in Students’ Writing Composition.......................... 35
B. The Causes for the Errors ...................................................................... 44
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A. Conclusions ......................................................................................... 53
B. Recommendations ................................................................................ 55
REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 57

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: The Errors in Students’ Writing Composition ................................... 36
Table 4.2: The Types of Errors in Addition Category ........................................ 38
Table 4.3: The Types of Errors in Misformation Category ................................ 41
Table 4.4: The Result of the Questionnaire........................................................ 45
Table 4.5: The Students’ Difficulties When Writing a Composition in English.. 47
Table 4.6a: The Factors Causing the Errors (from the teacher) ............................ 47
Table 4.6b: The Factors Causing the Errors (from the students) .......................... 48
Table 4.7: The Way to Master the knowledge on the Use of Simple Past Tense
more favorably and correctly ............................................................ 49

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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A: Surat Permohonan Ijin Penelitian ........................................... 60
Appendix B: Forms of the Students’ Writing Test ........................................ 61
Appendix C: Questionnaire........................................................................... 63
Appendix D: Samples of the Students’ Writing Composition ........................ 66
Appendix E: List of Errors ........................................................................... 68

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

This study deals with an error analysis in writing composition made by the
second grade students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta. This chapter
consists of seven points, there are background of the study, problem formulation,
problem limitation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of
terms.
A. Background of the Study
Learning a second or foreign language cannot be separated from creating
errors (Richard,1974, p.1). Even the native speakers themselves are not free from
creating errors. In second language learning, the learner’s errors are indicative of
both the state of the learner’s knowledge and the way in which a second language
is learned (Richard,1974, p.1). However, errors made by the learners and the
native speaker are different. Corder (1973) states that the native speakers
recognize their errors, while learners do not always recognize their errors (p.1).
Thus when their attention is drawn to it, they often cannot correct it.
There are several factors that cause students to commit errors. In the study
of English errors, Richard (1974) points out that errors are not only caused by the
interference from the mother tongue, but also what he calls overgeneralization
which ignoring the rules restriction, incomplete application of rules, and false
concepts hypothesized (p.174). By knowing and understanding the students’
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2
errors, it is expected that teachers are able to improve their teaching skill and the
instructional process. According to Dulay et al., (1982), errors can be useful
feedback for the teachers.
Writing is an important skill in language learning. According to Troyka
(1987,p.2), there are some reasons why writing is important. First, writing is a
way of thinking and learning. By writing, learners have opportunities to explore
their ideas. Second, writing is a way of discovering. The act of writing allows the
learners to make unexpected connections among ideas and language. Third,
writing can create reading. It creates a visible record of the learners’ ideas to be
read by other people. To make a good writing, firstly, they must know and
understand English structure or grammar. Second, they have to practice how to
combine each element of language, from phoneme to morpheme to word to phrase
to sentence based on the situation given. When doing Program Pengalaman
Lapangan in SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta from October-November 2011,
the writer found some errors made by the students in their writing composition.
Most of them give little attention to writing by applying inappropriate tense,
omitting the preposition, and ignoring the subject-verb agreement. By producing
those errors, it can be said that the students could not compose a good writing.
Therefore, they need to fix the errors in order to avoid mistakes in producing good
writing especially in English (Campbell 1966, p.1).
Based on the above points, the writer wants to conduct an error analysis in
writing composition made by the second grade students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II
Yogyakarta, the reason why the writer is interested in doing the study because

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

3
there is a difference between the language system of the students’ native language
and the foreign language that they studied. As the example, their mother language
does not have tenses that explain an activity that happens in the past, present, or
future time. This situation might influence the process of acquiring foreign
language.
Based on the previous study, the writer found that there are many students
who still have many problems in forming the correct sentences using the rule in
English grammar. One of them is the research which was done by Titien in 2004
which focused on the students’ errors in forming positive sentences, negative
sentences, and interrogative sentences in simple past tense. She stated that some
students of English Department still made errors in forming the sentences because
they did not understand more clearly about the using of simple past tense. Based
on the above points , the writer would like to choose ‘An Error Analysis in
Writing Composition made by the Second Grade Students of SMK Marsudi Luhur
II Yogyakarta’ as the topic of this research since it is still found errors in applying
the rule of grammar when they have to write a composition. It is interesting to
analyze the errors on the grammar that they produce in their writing composition
and the causes that are likely to be responsible for the errors in their writing
composition.
B.

Research Problems
Considering the earlier explanation, the writer identified problems and
formulated them into some questions. They are as follows.

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4
1. What types of errors are found in students’ writing composition?
2. What are the causes of the errors?
C. Problem Limitation
This study is conducted to analyze the errors based on the writing
composition committed by the students in SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta.
The writer is limited only to the uses subject-verb agreement, and preposition, in
the form of simple past tense sentences. Based on Competency Based Curriculum
of senior high schools, those elements of grammar are taught in the first grade.
Thus, as second grade students they only need to review their understanding about
that. The reason why grammar was chosen is that because it often causes
problems to the students since there are many English grammar that do not exist
in Bahasa but it does in English, for example the usage of preposition and simple
past tense. The writer also limits the study just on writing composition of
narration text by giving a topic related to the usage of appropriate tense. The topic
is really familiar to their daily life. This study is intended to analyze, find out the
errors, and the causes that are likely responsible for the errors. The participants of
this study are several second grade students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II
Yogyakarta.
D.

Research Objectives
The research aims at describing how to improve the students’
understanding about using the appropriate tenses in writing a composition by the

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5
second grade students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta. The writer states the
aims of the study as follows.
1. To find out the types of errors in writing composition made by the second
grade students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta.
2. To find out the causes for the errors made by the second grade students of
SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta.
E. Research Benefits
The writer believes that the study in this research will give many
advantages as follows.
1. For students
After having known the grammar mistakes in writing English words in
simple past tense form, the students are expected to avoid or anticipate making the
same mistakes to reduce the errors in writing a composition. Besides, they are also
expected to be able to find valuable information on grammatical errors related to
simple past tense, subject-verb agreement, and preposition.
2. For English teachers
It will help teachers to know the grammatical problems in students’
writing composition, in order to improve and develop the students’ ability in
writing and also it is expected that the result of this study may help the English
teachers to give knowledge about the use of grammar in writing composition

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6
especially emphasizing the usage of subject-verb agreement, and preposition in
forming simple past tense sentences.
3. For other researchers
Hopefully this study can help others to get more knowledge about the
students’ problems in writing composition and it is expected that the study can
provide useful information and give stimulus to other researchers so that this
study can be used as a reference to make new study about analysis of students’
errors in other language skills.
F.

Definition of Terms
In order to give a guideline to the readers about the content of this study,
the writer tries to explain some terms which are used in this study.
The terms are as follows.
1. Writing composition
Corder (1979, p.127) defines “writing composition is a task which
involves the student in manipulating words in grammatically correct sentences
and in linking those sentences to form a piece of continuous writing which
successfully communicates the writer’s thoughts and ideas on a certain topic.” In
this study, writing composition is defined as the result of the students’ thoughts
and ideas of a certain topic in five up to ten sentences based on their experience.

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2. Grammar
The rules of a language, concerning the way in which the language user or
learner can put words together in order to make sentences that are acceptable to
the speakers of the language. In this study, the term “grammar” refers some
elements of English grammar; they are to simple past tense, subject-verb
agreement, and preposition.
3. Error Analysis
According to Sharma (1981, p.21) error analysis is a process based on
analysis of learners’ errors with one clear objective: evolving and suitable
effective learning teaching strategy and remedial measures necessary in certain
clearly marked out areas of the foreign language. In this study, the term error
analysis means analyzing errors that the students make in applying some elements
of English grammar.
4. Errors Versus Mistakes
Since ‘errors’ and ‘mistakes’ are often used synonymously, in this study, it
is needed to define the meaning of errors. As what Dulay et al., (1982, p.139)
state that, “errors are competence errors resulting from lack of knowledge of the
rules of the target language”, while Brown (1987, p.170) points out that mistake
can be a random guess or a slip reflecting a performance error. In other words,
mistakes are deviation caused by performance factor. According to Harmer (2007,
p.96), while slips can be corrected by the ones making mistakes, errors cannot be
corrected by themselves.

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8
Although errors and mistakes have been clearly defined, differentiating
between errors and mistakes has not always been simple and, therefore, needs
careful analysis. Hence, in this study, the writer uses the term errors which refer to
all deviant forms made by the students due to the lack of knowledge of the rules
of the English grammar.
5. Second grade students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta
The second grade students are the students who are studying in the second
grade in SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta. There are two program studies in
SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta. The program studies are Teknik Audio Video
and Teknik Mekanika Otomotif.
Since those second grade students are still continuing to study English as
one of the subjects, they still learn tenses and writing composition. Therefore, it is
suitable if the writer manages to find out the errors in writing composition made
by the second grade students of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta.

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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter offers some theories from related literature as a foundation of
the study outline in Chapter I. There are two major areas which will be analyzed
in this chapter. They are theoretical description and theoretical framework.
A. Theoretical Description
To support the research, the writer tries to collect some theories about
writing and errors which were stated by several experts in language teaching.
1. The Concept of Writing Composition
Writing is basically a process of communicating something on paper to a
reader. Troyka (1987, p.3) states that writing is a way of communicating a
message to a reader for purposes. Communicating means sending, so a message
must have destination whereas message of writing is the content. Sinclain (1987)
said, “Composition is a piece of written work, especially one that you write at
school to show your skill and imagination”(p.285). Writing gives us an
opportunity to think and express our idea and some information for the readers; it
also makes good connection among our ideas in indirect form. According to
Heffernan and Lincoln (1986) “Through writing, we have time to think, to try out
ideas on pieces of paper, to find what the writer means” (p.4).
Writing composition is a task, which involves the manipulating of words
in correct sentences to form a piece of good writing that successfully
9

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10
communicates the writer’s intention on a specific topic. Integrating new ideas in a
composition needs special skills writing should be arranged in a good
construction. According to Alter (1982, p.5), it is important to bear in mind that
the student at this level should always be guided in writing composition.
2. The Types of Writing Composition
According to Paulston and Bruder (1976, p.205), there are three types of
composition. The first is Free Composition in which the title is provided and
everything else is done by the student. In this case, the composition covers all
forms of writing activity which acquire the students to produce the ideas as well
as the language that is to use the new language as free media of expression. The
topic should be familiar to the students, if not; the students will have little or even
nothing at all to write. Afterwards, the second is Controlled Composition in which
the students are given clues in both the language and the ideas, for example by
answering question. At the beginning all the questions should be of equal type,
later the question will be varied. If the questions are carefully selected, the answer
will form a story. Furthermore, the last is Guided Composition in which students
are given clues in the idea only and they have to supply the language on how to
write out ideas. Composition prompted that tells a story without words is an
excellent way for promoting both oral and written composition.
There are three kind of exercises in writing composition: imitative writing,
guided writing, and topic sentence development. In imitative writing the students
copy or reproduce the features of original compositions (Collin, 2009).

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11
In this kind of exercise, the learners will see and find a model of paragraph, and
then they will imitate the paragraph with the other topic. It means, the learners not
only copy the further paragraph by subtituting the subject, predicate, and object.
However more than that, the learners will add the new paragraph with the real
events that happen.Whether in Guided Writing, the learners do the writing but are
supported as needed by the teacher who provides instruction (Fisher, 2007, p.12) ,
which is guided by some words and phrases. It means, to make a paragraph the
learners are given an example paragraph with some words or phrases to guide the
learners in writing a new paragraph. The learners try to write new paragraph by
subtituting some words or phrase into the example paragraph. Based on the
guided, the learners try to make a new paragraph. The third way to learn writing
composition is by developing the topic sentence, namely Topic Sentence
Development. In this section, the learners concentrate on the topic sentence. It
enables the students to develop their ideas correctly. However, the teacher can
give more attention to the learners on how the learners can express their ideas
exactly into topic sentence.
3. A Brief Review on Language Errors
This part discusses some brief reviews on language errors. The discussion
includes the concept of error, errors versus mistakes, the classification of errors,
and the factor causing the errors.

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12
a. Concept of Error
In order to understand what an error is in relation to the process of
learning, it will be more useful for us to refer to the definitions of ‘error’ which
are proposed by some linguistics. Dulay et al., (1982) state that an error is “the
flawed side of learner’s speech or writing. They are parts of conversation or
composition that deviate from some selected norms of nature language
performance” (p.138).
Corder (1979, p.122) uses the term errorneous to refer to error, he
describes an error as. “... either superficially deviant or inappropriate terms of the
target language grammar as the usual practice.” In learning a language, making
errors cannot be avoided. A learner cannot learn a language without making
errors. The errors are used as feedback in teaching-learnng processes.
Based on the explanation above, the writer concludes that learners make an
error if their written expressions grammaticaly deviate from the syntatic rules of
the target language.
b. Errors versus Mistakes
Mistakes and errors are assumed to be the violation from the rules of the
target language grammar. Another term that is closely related to the term ‘errors’
is the term ‘mistakes’. In addressing this, many people consider these two terms
as having similar meaning. In connection with errors in language teaching, errors,
as Norrish (1983, pp.7-8) notes, are caused by the learners on the processing the
knowledge in the second language rule systems. These errors are due to the

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13
limited competence of the learners in the rule systems of the language they are
learning. As a consequence, they are not ready to correct their errors, or they may
not be aware of making errors. This limited competence is caused by their
knowledge that is still developing.
While mistakes, according to Brown (1994, p. 209) refer to a performance
error that either a random guess, fatigue, inattention or a slip of tongue. Mistakes
are generally caused by performance factors. It is clear that mistake is different
from error. The differences lie on the performance and competence of the
learners.
In conclusion, generally errors indicate the students’ imperfect
competence, whereas mistakes are derived from the students’ imperfect
performance. In this research, the writer would like to discuss the errors since in
this research the writer will only discuss the errors on the use of past tense of
senior high school students in their writing composition.
c. The Classification of Errors
Dulay et al. (1982, pp.146 – 192) propose four basic classification of
errors. There are classification of errors based on linguistic category taxonomy,
surface strategy taxonomy, comparative taxonomy, and communicative effect
taxonomy.
1) Error Classification Based on Linguistic Category Taxonomy
This category classifies errors based on either or both of the language
component or the particular linguistic constituent the error affects (Dulay et al.,

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14
1982, p.146). Still according to Dulay et al., language components which are
included in this category are phonology (pronunciation), syntax and morphology
(grammar), semantics and lexicon (meaning and vocabulary), and discourse
(style). Whereas constituents include the elements that comprise each language
component, for example within syntax, the error may be in the main clause, and
within a clause the error may be in the noun phrase, verb phrase, auxiliary,
preposition, and so forth. Based on Dulay et al., (1982, pp.148 - 150), the error
types based on linguistic category taxonomy include:
a) Morphological Errors
There are several types of errors in morphological errors based on Dulay et
al., (1982, p.148). They are errors in definite article (An orange instead of A
orange), errors in possessive case (David’s magazine instead of David’
magazine), errors in third singular verb (Jean stays for 2 days in Mandala Hotel
instead of Jean stay for 2 days in Mandala Hotel), errors in past tense (the
example of regular past tense is he paid more for this book instead of he payed
more for this book. Furthermore, the example of irregular past tense is I sold my
car last week instead of I selled my car last week), errors in past participle (Ray
was accepted as a marketing manager last week instead of Ray was accept as a
marketing manager last week), and the last is errors in comparative adjective or
adverb (My sister is smarter than me instead of My sister is more smarter than
me)

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b) Syntactical Errors
The syntactical errors can occur in noun phrase, verb phrase, word order,
verb construction, and transformation. Based on Dulay et al., (1982, pp.148 –
150) some examples of such errors are errors in noun phrase (I take it from the
table instead of I take from the table), errors in verb phrase (I am here instead of I
here), errors in verb construction (I want to buy a car instead of I want buy a car),
errors in word order (Some students need English books instead of English books
need some students), and errors in transformation (When does he come? instead of
When he come?).
2) Error Classification Based on Surface Strategy Taxonomy
These errors consist of four types; they are omission, addition,
misformation, and misordering.
a) Omission
Omission errors are characterized by the omission of an item that must
appear in a well-formed utterance (Dulay et al., 1982, p.154). The example is
David is the new manager of department store instead of David the new manager
of department store (omission of grammatical morphemes).
b) Addition
Addition errors are characterized by the presence of an item which must
not appear in a well-formed utterance (Dulay et al., 1982, p.156). There are three
types of addition, the first is double marking (He did not write this letter instead

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16
of He did not wrote this letter), the second is regularization (Some children play
football instead of some childs play football), and the third is simple addition (You
may see it there instead of you may see it in there).
c) Misformation
Dulay et al., (1982) state that misformation errors are characterized by the
use of the wrong form of the morpheme or structure (p.158). It is different from
omission errors; the item is not supplied at all, whereas in misformation errors, the
item is supplied although it is incorrect. There are three types of misformation
errors as well, the first is regularization She bought a book last night instead of
she buyed a book last night), the second is archi-forms (Those two boys were
collecting some stamps instead of this two boys were collecting some stamps), and
the last is alternating forms I wrote this note a week ago instead of I written this
note a week ago).
d) Misordering
These errors are characterized by the incorrect placement of a morpheme
or group of morphemes in an utterance (Dulay et al., 1982, p.162). The example is
‘Where should I put it’ instead of ‘where I should put it’.
3) Error Classification Based on Comparative Taxonomy
This type classifies errors according to comparison between the structure
of second language errors and other certain types of construction. Two major

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17
types in these errors based on the theory of Dulay et al., (1982) are developmental
errors and interlingual errors (p.163).
a) Developmental Errors
According to Dulay et al.,(1982), developmental errors are errors made by
learner who learn the target language as their first language (p.165). These errors
include the omission of the article and the past tense marker. The example is ‘I
visited my uncle last week’ instead of ‘I visit my uncle last week’.
b) Interlingual Errors
Interlingual errors are the errors which are similar in pattern to a
semantically equivalent phrase or sentence in the learner’s native language (Dulay
et al., 1982, p.171). It can also be said that interlingual errors refer to second
language errors that reflect the native language structure. The example is ‘My
friend clever’ that is equivalent to ‘temanku pintar’.
4) Error Classification Based on Communicative Effect Taxonomy
Those errors are classified based on the perspective of their effect on the
listener or reader (Dulay et al., 1982, p.189). The focus of this type is on
differentiation between errors that seem to cause miscommunication and those
that do not. These errors are divided into two types, namely global errors and local
errors (Dulay et al., 1982, p.191).

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a) Global Errors
Dulay et al., (1982) define global errors as “errors that affect overall
sentence organization significantly hinder communication” (p.191). Global errors
consist of four major types, they are wrong order of major constituent (My mother
cooks the soup instead of this soup cook my mother), then missing or wrong or
misplaced sentence connectors (if we don’t get breakfast, we will get very hungry
in the afternoon instead of don’t get breakfast, we are very hungry in the
afternoon), after that missing cues to signal obligatory exceptions to pervasive
syntactic rules (My application letter is accepted by the manager of HRD instead
of my application letter accepted the manager of HRD), the last is regularization
of pervasive syntactic rules to exceptions (That film amused me very much instead
of I amused that film very much).
b) Local Errors
Local errors are errors that affect single elements (constituents) in a
sentence (Dulay et al., 1982, p.191). It does not usually hinder communication
significantly. Some errors that can be included in local errors are errors in noun
and verb inflections, articles, auxiliaries, and the formation of quantifiers. The
example is ‘when do you read this book?’ instead of ‘When you read this book’.
A learner can understand the first sentence easily, since the error does not
influence the meaning the whole sentence.

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19
d. The Factors Causing the Errors
According to Brown (1980), there are three basic sources of a learner’s
producing errors in learning a new language (pp.173-174). In this research, the
writer would like to explain those general sources of errors. These general factors
causing the errors consist of interlingual transfer or interference, intralingual
transfer, and context of learning.
Interlingual transfer is interference from the mother tongue (L1) during the
second language (L2) learning process. Intralingual transfer refers to the
overgeneralization as a process that occurs as the L2 learner acts within the target
language and generalizing the rules or items in L2, whereas the context of
learning refers to, for example, the classroom with its teacher and materials. The
teacher or the materials may lead the students to make faulty hypotheses about the
language. Thus, the students make errors because of the misleading information
from the teacher