ABSTRACT
Sukmawati, Agnes Listi. (2016). An Error Analysis of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses of Students’ Writing in Critical Reading and Writing Course. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University
Learning English is also learning grammar of the language. Grammar has an important role in the four basic skills of language especially in writing. Grammar becomes very important in writing because it determines the quality of a writing. Committing errors in writing is a common thing for a language learner or student of second language acquisition. According to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982) there are four types of errors which are usually made by students of second language acquisition. Those are omission, addition, misformation, and misordering.
Therefore, to know the difficulties that are faced by the students, the researcher conducted an error analysis of students’ writing focusing on Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses. The researcher formulated two problems to be discussed in this research. The research problems are: (1) What types of errors occur in Simple Present Tense sentences? (2) What types of errors occur in Present Perfect Tense? Then, the researcher also presented two research objectives in this research. The research objectives are describing Simple Present Tense errors of students’ writing and to describing Present Perfect Tense errors of students’ writing.
To analyze the data, the researcher used document analysis as the research method. Document analysis was chosen because it was the best qualitative method to conduct this research. The data of this research were taken from Mid Test 1 assignments of Critical Reading and Writing course class F of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University batch 2014.
After analyzing the data, the researcher found four types of errors which occurred in Simple Present Tense and two types of errors which occurred in Present Perfect Tense. There were 33 times of occurrences of omission errors, 3 times of occurrences of addition errors, 22 times of occurrences of misformation errors and 1 time of occurrences of misordering error in Simple Present Tense. Then, there were 3 times of occurrences of omission errors and 4 times of occurrences of misformation errors in Present Perfect Tense.
ABSTRAK
Sukmawati, Agnes Listi. (2016). An Error Analysis of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses of Students’ Writing in Critical Reading and Writing Course. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma
Belajar Bahasa Inggris berarti juga mempelajari tata bahasanya. Grammar mempunyai peran penting di setiap kemampuan dasar berbahasa khususnya dalam menulis. Tata bahasa menjadi hal sangat penting dalam menulis karena tata bahasa sebuah tulisan menentukan kualitas tulisan itu sendiri. Melakukan kekeliruan saat menulis merupakan hal biasa bagi seorang pembelajar bahasa atau siswa yang sedang belajar bahasa asing. Menurut Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982) ada empat tipe kekeliruan yang biasa dilakukan siswa yang sedang belajar bahasa asing. Empat tipe itu adalah omission, addition, misformation, dan misordering.
Kemudian, untuk mengetahui kesulitan yang dihadapi siswa, peneliti membuat sebuah penelitian tentang analisis kesalahan tulisan siswa yang memfokuskan pada Simple Present Tense dan Present Perfect Tense. Ada dua rumusan masalah yang akan dibahas. Dua rumusan masalah tersebut yaitu (1) Apa tipe kekeliruan yang muncul dalam Simple Present Tense (2) Apa tipe kekeliruan yang muncul dalam Present Perfect Tense? Selain itu, ada dua tujuan dalam penelitian ini. Dua tujuan tersebut adalah mendeskripsikan tipe kekeliruan Simple Present Tense dan mendeskripsikan tipe kekeliruan Present Perfect Tense yang muncul dalam tulisan siswa.
Dalam menganalisis data penelitian, peneliti menggunakan metode analisis dokumen. Peneliti menggunakan metode analisis dokumen karena analisis dokumen merupakan metode kualitatif yang paling baik untuk mendukung penelitian ini. Data dari penelitian ini merupakan dokumen tugas tengah semester kelas Critical Reading and Writing Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris angkatan 2014 Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Setelah menganalisis data penelitian, peneliti menemukan ada empat tipe kekeliruan yang muncul dalam Simple Present Tense dan ada dua tipe kekeliruan yang ditemukan dalam Present Perfect Tense. Ada 33 kali kesalahan tipe omission, 3 kali kesalahan tipe addition, 22 kali kesalahan tipe misformation dan satu kali kesalahan tipe misordering dalam Simple Present Tense. Lalu, ada 3 kali kesalahan tipe omission dan 4 kali kemunculan kekeliruan tipe misformation dalam Present Perfect Tense.
AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF SIMPLE PRESENT AND
PRESENT PERFECT TENSES
OF STUDENTS’ WRITING IN
CRITICAL READING AND WRITING COURSE
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Agnes Listi Sukmawati Student Number: 12 1214 113
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
i
AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF SIMPLE PRESENT AND
PRESENT PERFECT TENSES
OF STUDENTS’ WRITING IN
CRITICAL READING AND WRITING COURSE
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Agnes Listi Sukmawati Student Number: 12 1214 113
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
iv
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; the one who searches, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matthew 7:7
Jer basuki mawa bea; No pain no gain
For all the happiness and sadness I’ve been through, For all the triumph and the failure I’ve got,
I dedicated this thesis to my beloved parents
vii ABSTRACT
Sukmawati, Agnes Listi. (2016). An Error Analysis of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses of Students’ Writing in Critical Reading and Writing Course. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University
Learning English is also learning grammar of the language. Grammar has an important role in the four basic skills of language especially in writing. Grammar becomes very important in writing because it determines the quality of a writing. Committing errors in writing is a common thing for a language learner or student of second language acquisition. According to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982) there are four types of errors which are usually made by students of second language acquisition. Those are omission, addition, misformation, and misordering.
Therefore, to know the difficulties that are faced by the students, the researcher conducted an error analysis of students’ writing focusing on Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses. The researcher formulated two problems to be discussed in this research. The research problems are: (1) What types of errors occur in Simple Present Tense sentences? (2) What types of errors occur in Present Perfect Tense? Then, the researcher also presented two research objectives in this research. The research objectives are describing Simple Present Tense errors of students’ writing and to describing Present Perfect Tense errors of students’ writing.
To analyze the data, the researcher used document analysis as the research method. Document analysis was chosen because it was the best qualitative method to conduct this research. The data of this research were taken from Mid Test 1 assignments of Critical Reading and Writing course class F of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University batch 2014.
After analyzing the data, the researcher found four types of errors which occurred in Simple Present Tense and two types of errors which occurred in Present Perfect Tense. There were 33 times of occurrences of omission errors, 3 times of occurrences of addition errors, 22 times of occurrences of misformation errors and 1 time of occurrences of misordering error in Simple Present Tense. Then, there were 3 times of occurrences of omission errors and 4 times of occurrences of misformation errors in Present Perfect Tense.
viii ABSTRAK
Sukmawati, Agnes Listi. (2016). An Error Analysis of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses of Students’ Writing in Critical Reading and Writing Course. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma
Belajar Bahasa Inggris berarti juga mempelajari tata bahasanya. Grammar mempunyai peran penting di setiap kemampuan dasar berbahasa khususnya dalam menulis. Tata bahasa menjadi hal sangat penting dalam menulis karena tata bahasa sebuah tulisan menentukan kualitas tulisan itu sendiri. Melakukan kekeliruan saat menulis merupakan hal biasa bagi seorang pembelajar bahasa atau siswa yang sedang belajar bahasa asing. Menurut Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982) ada empat tipe kekeliruan yang biasa dilakukan siswa yang sedang belajar bahasa asing. Empat tipe itu adalah omission, addition, misformation, dan misordering.
Kemudian, untuk mengetahui kesulitan yang dihadapi siswa, peneliti membuat sebuah penelitian tentang analisis kesalahan tulisan siswa yang memfokuskan pada Simple Present Tense dan Present Perfect Tense. Ada dua rumusan masalah yang akan dibahas. Dua rumusan masalah tersebut yaitu (1) Apa tipe kekeliruan yang muncul dalam Simple Present Tense (2) Apa tipe kekeliruan yang muncul dalam Present Perfect Tense? Selain itu, ada dua tujuan dalam penelitian ini. Dua tujuan tersebut adalah mendeskripsikan tipe kekeliruan Simple Present Tense dan mendeskripsikan tipe kekeliruan Present Perfect Tense yang muncul dalam tulisan siswa.
Dalam menganalisis data penelitian, peneliti menggunakan metode analisis dokumen. Peneliti menggunakan metode analisis dokumen karena analisis dokumen merupakan metode kualitatif yang paling baik untuk mendukung penelitian ini. Data dari penelitian ini merupakan dokumen tugas tengah semester kelas Critical Reading and Writing Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris angkatan 2014 Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Setelah menganalisis data penelitian, peneliti menemukan ada empat tipe kekeliruan yang muncul dalam Simple Present Tense dan ada dua tipe kekeliruan yang ditemukan dalam Present Perfect Tense. Ada 33 kali kesalahan tipe omission, 3 kali kesalahan tipe addition, 22 kali kesalahan tipe misformation dan satu kali kesalahan tipe misordering dalam Simple Present Tense. Lalu, ada 3 kali kesalahan tipe omission dan 4 kali kemunculan kekeliruan tipe misformation dalam Present Perfect Tense.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to dedicate my biggest gratitude to Jesus Christ, my Savior. He always stands by my side in all conditions I have been through. He is the one who makes me believe that everything which happens and comes into my life has a reason. He also always convinces me that all my dreams will come true at the right time and this acknowledgement proves that one of my dreams has already come true, at the right time.
This thesis will not be completed and acceptable to be submitted without a great lecturer who always helps me and guides me during the writing process. She is my one and only advisor, Carla Sih Prabandari, S.Pd., M.Hum. I really appreciate and be thankful to her for her time, knowledge, and affection given to me. No matter how many red streaks she gave to me during the revision process, I believe that it was her kind of affection to me.
I also want to give my deepest gratitude to the lecturer of Critical Reading and Writing class F, Truly Almendo Pasaribu, M.A., who has given me permission to take her students’ Mid Test 1 assignments as my research data. My
gratitude is also given to all students of Critical Reading and Writing class F whose Mid Test 1 assignment became the data of this research.
x
gave me some suggestions. Even though she is grumpy, but, I love her, anyway. Besides, these sincere thanks are also to my sisters from another family, Octa and Ella. Thanks for being my best friends. Thanks for always supporting me, understanding me, and loving me so far.
My big thanks also go to my ladies, Gatha, Angger, and Mita who want to be my partner, my sister, my new family even my enemy. I also want to give my thanks to Wulan who makes me feel like having an older sister. Thanks for being my sister since we were in the first semester. My big thanks are also presented to all my cute and cool friends, Penguin Kejam. They have completed my story in this college.
I also present my gratitude to all my friends in UKM Seni Karawitan Sanata Dharma especially to Mb Clara, Mb Beatrik, Mb Ratna, Oyen, Nugroho, Vita, Mb Anik, and Mas Jentik for coloring my life story. I also want to give my big thanks to my best Karawitan coaches, Mas Eko, Mas Tri and Mas Mamat who have given me so many experiences and knowledge, both inside and outside campus.
The last but not least, I would like to give my thanks to all PBI lecturers and staff for giving me knowledge and experience during my study in Sanata Dharma.
xi
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... v
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi
ABSTRACT ... vii
4. Present Perfect Tense ... 9
5. Error Analysis ... 10
xii
a) Simple Present Tense ... 21
b) Present Perfect Tense ... 25
B. Theoretical Framework ... 27
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Research Method ... 29
B. Research Setting ... 30
xiii
1. Human Instrument ... 30
2. Research Data ... 30
3. Table of Analysis ... 31
D. Research Subjects ... 34
E. Data Analysis Technique ... 34
F. Research Procedure ... 35
1. Finding the problems and the grounded theory ... 35
2. Designing the research method ... 35
3. Collecting the data ... 36
4. Analyzing the data ... 36
5. Reporting the results of the research ... 37
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION A.Data Findings ... 38
1. The Total Number Sentences ... 38
2. Classification According to the Types of Error ... 40
B. Types of Errors in Simple Present Tense... 41
1. Omission ... 41
2. Misformation ... 43
3. Addition ... 44
4. Misordering ... 46
C. Types of Errors in Present Perfect Tense ... 47
xiv
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
2.1 Examples and Functions of Simple Present Tense………22
2.2 Form of Simple Present Tense Sentences (verb) ……….23
2.3 Form of Simple Present Tense Sentences (to be) ………...24
2.4 Examples and Functions of Present Perfect Tense………25
2.5 Form of Present Perfect Tense Sentences………...26
3.1 The Number of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense Sentences………...31
3.2 The Number of Errors According to the Types of Errors………...32
3.3 The Number of Errors in Simple Present Tense………32
3.4 The Number of Errors in Present Perfect Tense………33
3.5 Ungrammatical Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense Sentences According to the Types of Errors………..…...33
3.6 Ungrammatical Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense Sentences and the Possible Correction………..33
4.1 The Number of Written Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses Sentences………..39
4.2 The Total Number of Errors in Each Type of Error……….40
4.3 The Number of Errors of Simple Present Tense (1) ………..………41
xv
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
A.Ungrammatical Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense
According to the Types of Errors……..………....63 B.Ungrammatical Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense Sentences
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This research elaborates and discusses Simple Present and Present Perfect tense sentences of students’ writing in Critical Reading and Writing class. In this chapter, the writer will present the background of the research, problem formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms.
A.Research Background
Students who are learning English, especially Indonesian learners, they may face some difficulties in its process. They should understand the rules or the grammar of English language. Some of them still get confused even though they have learned about it. This is because Bahasa Indonesia does not have tenses like English does. The only problem is about time. Cyssico (2003) says that the only thing which differs Bahasa Indonesia grammar and English grammar is only a matter of time. In Bahasa Indonesia, time of an event does not ever change the form of the verb. However, in English, time is very important to determine the form of the verb.
2
‘Time is an extralinguistic category.’ Time is not part of linguistic. It stands
alone, independently. Meanwhile, Declerck, et al. (2006) state, ‘Tense is a linguistic
concept: it denotes the form taken by the verb to locate the situation referred to in time.’ They also state that there are seven traditional names for tenses in English.
Those are Present Tense, Past Tense, Future Tense, Present Perfect, Past Perfect, Conditional Tense, and Conditional Perfect. All tenses have the progressive and non-progressive form for each tense (Declerck, et al., 2006). So, when writing in English, people need to consider when the activities happen and which tenses they will use. If the activity happens in the past, it will use Past Tense while if the activity happens in the present it should use Present Tense.
People need to master four basic skills of language when they are learning language including learning English. Those four basic skills are writing, reading, listening, and speaking. In order to master those basic skills, students or learners should also learn the grammar. Mastering grammar is much needed in learning those basic skills, especially in writing.
Levinson (2000) defines that writing is a kind of communication in which words, ideas, information, and emotions are presented in print or hard form from one mind to another. Writers have the ability to control their word to influence the readers. If the readers can understand the messages of a written text, it can be categorized as a good writing. A good writing requires a commitment to the writing process. It also needs much editing and revising.
understandable. When the ideas are expressed in the document, grammar is much needed. In the form of a document, grammar will affect the value of the document, moreover, if the document is put in the place where everyone could easily take it and read it. So, to make a good writing for readers, students, at least, should make sentences in good grammar so that the readers will not be confused with the ideas of the text. A good writing needs good grammar skills. Villemaire and Villemaire (2005:8) also state that learning to write well needs to have good grammar skills.
Another case, some people especially Indonesians who learn English, they are still confused when they have to use Simple Past and Present Perfect Tense. In English they have sentence Rudy lived in Japan for 4 years and Rudy has lived in Japan for 4 years, those sentences both are correct. The first sentence uses Simple Past Tense then the second sentence uses Present Perfect Tense. Perhaps, for some Indonesian learners, those sentences have the same meaning (Rudy pernah tinggal di Jepang selama 4 tahun) because Bahasa Indonesia does not have any tenses in its grammar which differs the meaning of the sentence but in English, those sentences have a big difference in meaning. The first sentence states that Rudy now does not live in Japan anymore, meanwhile, the second sentence shows that Rudy now is still living in Japan. This problem is also faced by PBI students of Sanata Dharma University.
have already learned grammar in Structure class. They actually have known the patterns of the sentences that they want to write but some of them are still confused when they have to implement it in writing.
Then, based on the writer’s experience, the most common mistakes and errors that students usually make in writing are the use of Simple Present Tense and Present Perfect Tense. Those two tenses are also part of basic tenses that should be mastered especially by students of English Language Education. Simple Present and Present Perfect are the part of basic rules of learning grammar.
Simple Present Tense and Present Perfect Tense are both categorized as Present Tenses. Simple Present and Present Perfect are tenses that have its connection. Kast (2008) notes, that Present Perfect has the same meaning like Present Tense. He gives an example of clause I have got (I’ve got) which has the same meaning as I have. This theory is also strengthened by Elsness (1997) who states that Present Perfect and Present Tense verbs can sometimes have close meaning. He also gives an example of sentence John has come already which has close meaning with John is here already. Simple Present tense is the basic tense or the foundation of tense that is usually taught to learners and the fact that Present Perfect has close meaning with Simple Present makes the writer choose Present Perfect as another data which is going to be analyzed.
This research can be used as one of the considerations that may overcome this problem. By analyzing the errors that are usually made by the students, focusing on writing and grammar, and providing the correct one, the researcher can help students to learn more. Besides, the lecturers could also understand the difficulties that are faced by their students so that they could explain more focusing on the students’ difficulties.
Therefore, based on those all considerations, this study will present an error analysis of Simple Present and Present Perfect tenses made by students of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. The writer analyzes the written work made by the students of Critical Reading and Writing batch 2014. The writer chose Critical Reading and Writing class because Critical Reading and Writing class is a course which focuses more on the product of students’ writing.
B.Problem Formulation
Based on the background above, this study formulates two main problems. Those problems can be formulated as follows.
1. What types of Simple Present Tense errors occur in sentences of students’ writing in Critical Reading and Writing class?
C. Problem Limitation
This study focuses on grammatical errors made by the student of Critical Reading and Writing class. The researcher will only focus on Simple Present and Present Perfect tense sentences. It is based on consideration that the use of tense for language learners like PBI students is a kind of problems because there is no tense in their language. Besides, Simple Present and Present Perfect tenses are basic tenses which should be mastered by students in English Education Study Program. The sentences include both simple and complex sentences but the focus is only on the Simple Present and Present Perfect tense including noun clauses, adjective clauses, and adverb clauses. The researcher selects one class of Critical Reading and Writing class as the subject of the research. Critical Reading and Writing course is chosen because this course focuses more on the product of the students’ writing
especially on the essay level writing. The researcher analyzes the written work made by the students of Critical Reading and Writing batch 2014 of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University.
D. Research Objectives
The objective of this study is to analyze the errors of using Simple Present and Present Perfect tense of students’ writing in Critical Reading and Writing class
1. Describing Simple Present Tense errors of students’ writing of Critical Reading and Writing class of English Language Education Study Program Sanata Dharma University.
2. Describing Present Perfect Tense errors of students’ writing of Critical Reading and Writing class of English Language Education Study Program Sanata Dharma University.
E. Research Benefits
Hopefully, this study can be beneficial for the readers and for those who are involved in English Language Education Study Program, especially for:
1. Students
By learning through this study which is about an error analysis of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense in which students usually made, students can learn and understand more how to use and produce Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense sentences well in writing. In short, this study encourages students to improve their writing especially in using Simple Present and Present Perfect by knowing the use of the tense especially Simple Present and Present Perfect provided in this research correctly.
2. Teachers/Lecturers
or lecturers pay more attention to it. Realizing this, teachers or lecturers can find the most appropriate way of teaching to make students minimize the errors they make.
3. Other Researchers
This study can be used as a guide for other researchers who have the same interest with this study. By learning this study, hopefully, other researchers can make better research and improvement according to the future’s needs.
F. Definition of Terms 1. Tense
Learning English is closely related to tenses. Tenses have its connection with time. When people talked about tenses, it means that they discuss a time of an event or tragedy. Declerck, et al. (2006) state that tense is a kind of marker verb that is used to show the time of an event. In simple word, tense is used to answer when the event or the tragedy happens. These are the name of English tenses; Present Tense, Past Tense, Future Tense, Present Perfect, Past Perfect, Conditional Tense, and Conditional Perfect.
2. Aspect
happens. For example two aspects of English, those are perfective and progressive, the perfective shows that the action of something has completed or done but the progressive one shows that the action of something has not completed or it is still in progress.
3. Simple Present Tense
According to Azar (1999), there are two functions of using Simple Present Tense. First, Simple Present Tense is used to express habitual activity or event. Second, Simple Present Tense is also applied to inform something factually. When using Simple Present Tense, the verb that is used is V1/Vs (Verb 1 if the subject is first person and plural and Verb s if the subject is third person and singular). Simple Present Tense has its own pattern. It is S+V1/Vs or S+to be (is, am, are). For example, Liliana plays badminton. Based on the example, it shows that Liliana likes playing badminton. She has a routine activity or the activity happens repeatedly. Another example: Diane is an English teacher. It informs a fact that Diane is an English teacher and until now she still holds her profession as an English teacher.
4. Present Perfect Tense
For example, Dono has written five letters to his wife for the last two weeks. From the example, it informs that Dono wrote more than one letter and gave it to his wife. The example does not show the specified time when Dono wrote each letter. It only shows that he has written five letters since the last two weeks. Third, Present Perfect Tense can also be used to express a situation that began in the past and still continues to the present. For example, Bona has had this pair of shoes for two years. The example shows that Bona already has the shoes since the last three years and now she still has it in her hand. The pattern of Present Perfect Tense is S+have/has+V3/to be.
5. Error Analysis
In this study, the writer will do an error analysis of students’ writing of
Critical Reading and Writing class. According to Cook (1993:22), as cited in Sutor (2013:34), ‘Error analysis was a methodology for dealing with data, rather than a
theory of acquisition’ Errors here are addressed to sentences that are grammatically
incorrect. VanPatten and Benati (2015) say that error analysis is a kind of research which focuses on identifying, describing, and explaining errors of L2 learners. The writer will only focus on Simple Present and Present Perfect tense errors. Afterwards, the writer will analyze the sentences and try to give some corrections of them.
6. Critical Reading and Writing
semester. Based on the syllabus which was made by the lecturer of PBI Sanata Dharma University, after completing this course, students are expected to be able to develop critical reading skills by comparing and contrasting, self-questioning, monitoring comprehension, summarizing and making a mind map. Besides, this course also encourages students to be able to develop writing skills by generating argumentative essay based on intertextuality, interview, and questionnaire. Panduan Akademik Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Sanata Dharma 2012 also states that Critical Reading and Writing is designed to facilitate students to develop their critical reading and writing skills. The product of the students’ writing will be used by the writer as the data of this study. The writer will
12 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter, the writer examines some theories that support the research. There are two sections in this part. The first section, the writer presents the theoretical description which contains the description of error including the types which become the focus of this research, simple present tense, and present perfect tense. Then, second section, the writer discusses the theoretical framework of this research. The theoretical framework consists of the description of theories that helps the writer answer the research problems of this research.
A.Theoretical Description
The researcher presents two parts, namely error and writing. Error is necessarily discussed because it is closely related to the focus of this study. Besides, writing deals with the process of writing and aspect of writing which influence someone’s writing.
1. Error
a. The Definition of Error
both orally and literally. Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982:138) define ‘Errors are
the flawed side of learner’s speech or writing’. Realizing this, errors can be seen or
identified by looking at the learner’s speech or writing work. Making errors is something inevitable when learning something, especially learning a language. It is impossible for people to learn a language without doing or committing errors (Dulay et al., 1982). Besides, Triestari et al. (2012) say that errors in grammar can be found in sentences when the sentences are not in the correct structure formulation. It is an error of grammar if the sentence is not structurally correct.
b. Error Vs Mistake
Regarding this research which focuses on error analysis, the writer provides the difference between error and mistake. People should be able to differ between error and mistake because it has a different condition. Gass (2013) also says that mistakes are described as a slip of the tongue. In line with what Gass says, Jordan (2004) says, “Corder distinguished between errors and mistakes: mistakes are slips of the tongue and not systematic, whereas errors are indications of an as yet non-native-like, but nevertheless, systematic, rule-based grammar “ (p.204). Based on that statement, it can be stated that mistakes are not systematic or not repeatedly occurred. The one who makes mistakes will realize that he just made a mistake. Gass (2013) states ‘the speaker who makes a mistake is able to recognize it as a mistake and correct it if necessary.’
However, errors are different from mistakes. Gass (2013) describes that error is systematic. He says ‘it is likely to occur repeatedly and is also likely not to
(2008:281) mistakes are also called as errors of performance while errors itself are defined as errors of competence. Richards (2015:25) says that errors of performance refer to mistakes and errors refer to systematic errors which have relation to the knowledge of the learner. He also states that errors of performance will not be systematic while errors of competence are systematic. Then, Luelsdorff (1986:387) explains that both errors of performance and errors of competence are the results of the process of addition, omission, substitution, and displacement.
c. Error Analysis
Error analysis is used to analyze learners’ error. It is applied in the study of
learners’ error which focuses on the second language acquisition. Gass (2013)
defines error analysis as ‘a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors
learners make.’ According to VanPatten and Benati (2015), error analysis is a kind
of research tool which focuses on identifying, describing, and explaining errors of L2 learners. It is closely related to linguistics. It is used to analyze some errors made by the language learners related to the language structure. James (2013) says ‘Error
Analysis is a major component of core linguistics’. Besides, Cook (1993:22) also
states as cited in James (2013:7), ‘Error analysis was a methodology for dealing with data, rather than a theory of acquisition.’ It is closely related to language
teaching.
d. Types of Errors
1) Omission
Omission errors is a type of error which occurs if there are one or more items that do not appear in a well-formed of utterances. Any morpheme or word which does not appear like it should be can be categorized as omission but grammatical morphemes are more frequent to be omitted by learners rather than the content words (Dulay, et al. 1982). For example
*Mary an English teacher
the sentence is potential to categorized as omission. Although the sentence is still understandable, it omits grammatical morpheme ‘is’ for present tense or ‘was’ on
past form. The sentence should be like this
Mary is an Engish teacher
Grammatical morpheme like is is word which has a minor role in the case of the meaning of a sentence. Besides, in case of grammar, grammatical morphemes like noun and verb inflections (the –s in dogs, the –s in Sister’s, the –ed in watched, the –ing in looking, etc); articles (a, the, etc); verb auxiliaries (is, can, will, etc); and
preposition (in, at, on, etc) are really important to be used in a sentence. Therefore, if there is an item in a sentence which is absent and making an unwell-formed utterance, it can be stated as omission (Dulay et al: 1982).
2) Addition
utterance.’ They also state that there are three types of addition errors. Those are
double markings, regularizations, and simple additions.
a) Double Markings
The tense formation in English rule shows that the tense marker is on the first verb. If there is an affirmative declarative sentence, the tense marker is the main verb. The main verb is the only verb of the sentence because there is no other verb in the sentence. While, it is different if a sentence needs an auxiliary. The main verb is not the tense marker. The tense marker is the auxiliary. For example
She doesn’t buy the book. or
They didn’t go to the party.
the auxiliaries does and did are the tense marker of the sentence. However, placing the marker on both, the verb and auxiliary, may occur toward learners, for example
*He doesn’t goes to school. or
*She didn’t went there.
both the auxiliary and the main verb are marked for the same tense. This type of addition error is called double marking.
b)Regularizations
Regularization errors are ‘those in which a marker that is typically added to
not take a marker.’ This error typically happens among learners in the use of regular
and irregular forms, for example
*Budi buyed a book yesterday. or
*There are five sheeps in the field.
the verb buy does not become buyed, but bought; the noun sheep does not become sheeps in the plural, the plural form of sheep is also sheep. This type of addition error has been called as regularization.
c) Simple Additions
There is no specific feature which can be categorized as simple additions. Simple addition errors are addition errors which are not categorized as double marking and regularization. Dulay et al. (1982) states ‘if an addition error is not
double marking nor a regularization, it is called a simple addition, for example
*This is a books.
the word books should be book without addition –s because the sentence states that the book is singular not plural. This kind of addition is categorized as simple addition.
3) Misformation
a) Regularization errors
Dulay et al. (1982) say that ‘misformation category are those in which a
regular marker is used in place an irregular one.’ For example, the word putted for
put or gooses for geese. It is the same case as regularization in addition errors.
b)Archi-form
Based on Dulay et al. (1982), they say archi-form is ‘the selection of one member of a class of forms to represent others in the class.’ The example is an error
of using English demonstrative adjectives this, that, these, those. Like for example the phrase that dogs which should be those dogs.
c) Alternating form
Dulay et al. (1982) state that ‘the use of archi-forms often gives way to the apparently fairly free alternation of various members of a class with each other’.
So, learners may do alternation in the sentence structure, for example, I seen her yesterday instead of I saw her yesterday or I have gave you instead of I have given you.
4) Misordering
Misordering errors are characterized by ‘the incorrect placement of a
morpheme or group of morphemes in an utterance’. The morphemes do not take place in where it should be, for example
*She is a person lazy.
*What John is doing?
the correct one is What is John doing? Learners may commit this kind of error because they are usual to hear the phrase -is doing so when they implement it in question form they forget to change into the right order of question form.
2. Writing
Writing is one of four skills that should be learned by learners when they were learning a language. Writing is not only a system which completes in the communication but also it is the main tool for learners in their learning (Weigle, 2002:5). Writing is easy but having good writing is difficult. There are several process and aspects to make a good writing.
a. The Process of Writing
To have successful writing, learners requires some steps. Gerson and Gerson (2003) presents three steps of writing. They are prewriting, writing, and rewriting.
1) Prewriting
their writing unless they get the data on them. The final important thing that writers should do is considering the audience. Considering the audience means that the writers can predict who will become the reader of their writing. Besides, the writers need to understand what their levels of understanding are. It is important because when the writers can answer those questions, they can write based on the reader’s
need and it can help the writers to write effectively.
2) Writing
After gathering the data and deciding the objectives, the next to do is writing. Students need to draft first before they write all the idea into a paragraph. Gerson and Gerson (2003) say that there are two things that writers should do when they start to write their document. First is organizing the draft. Organizing the draft means that the writer should arrange the sentences they should write well and understandable so that the readers can understand and follow what the content of the writing is, easily. Next is formatting the text to allow for easy access. After the writers have done with organizing the idea into a good text, they need to consider that the text is acceptable for the readers. In other words, the look of the text or the document is also needed to invite the readers.
3) Rewriting
The final step of a writing process is to rewrite the draft. The rewriting step can also be called as a perfecting step. In this step, the writers rewrite what they have made in writing step. According to Gerson and Gerson (2003) ‘to rewrite, you
document effectively must realize that there are several processes before it. It needs a second or third write.
b. Aspect of Writing
Having good writing should refer to some aspects of writing. One of the aspects is grammar. According to Bram (1995), to have a good writing, learners or students need to write their ideas not only semantically but also grammatically correct. Semantically means that the writers (students) understand the meaning of the whole paragraph of what they are writing. While grammatically means that the writers express their ideas by using Standard English grammar. Tense is one of the grammar components. The researcher elaborates the theories related to tenses in English and give some explanation on it.
1) Tenses in English
Learning English is related to tenses. Tenses refer to time. However, tenses are different with time. According to Decklerck et al. (2006), ‘time is an extralinguistic category.’ It stands independently. Then, they also state that tenses
are a kind of linguistic concept. Decklerck et al. (2006) say ‘it denotes the form
taken by the verb to locate the situation referred to in time.’ There are several names for tenses in English but Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense are the main focus of this research.
a) Simple Present Tense
something was true in the past, is true in the present, and will be true in the future’.
It also expresses general statements of fact and timeless truths. Besides, Azar (1999) also explains that simple present can be used to express habitual or everyday activities.
Table 2.1 Examples and Functions of Simple Present Tense (Azar : 1999, p.13)
Examples Functions
(a) Water consists of hydrogen and oxygen.
The use of Simple Present to express general statements of fact or timeless truths can be seen in the example (a), (b), and (c). The fact that water consists of hydrogen and oxygen is a timeless truth. In the past, present, or even in the future, water will always consist of hydrogen and oxygen. It is just the same with the example (b) and also (c). It tells about a fact or can be defined as a timeless truth.
Besides, the use of Simple Present to express habitual or everyday activities can be seen in the example (d), (e), and (f). Those examples show that someone usually studies for two hours, gets up at seven, and eats lunch with a sandwich. The subject does the activities every day as a habit. O’Dawyer (2006) who is in line with
Each tense of English has its pattern including Simple Present Tense. Simple Present Tense has its pattern. However, people should consider that there are several forms of sentences. The form of sentences can be positive, negative, or interrogative sentences. Simple Present Tense also has its pattern of positive, negative, and question form of sentences. The form of the main verb may be different depending on the subject chosen. The use of the subject in every sentence determines the form of the main verb. The following table will present the positive, negative, and interrogative form of Simple Present Tense sentences. The different types of subjects will determine the form of the verb of the sentence. The following table provides the example of each form of the sentences. Here are the form of Simple Present Tense sentences.
Table 2.2 Form of Simple Present Tense Sentences (verb)
Form of Sentence Subject + Verb + (O/C)
becoming walks because the subject is the third person. Then, if it comes to an interrogative sentence, the auxiliary do is used for the first or second person of the subjects and if the subject is third person, the auxiliary which is used is does. Both are the rules in present form.
Another pattern of Simple Present Tense is S+to be. Like what the researcher has explained above, Simple Present Tense in using to be has similar rules as Simple Present Tense in using a verb. There are two kinds of to be in Simple Present Tense. Those are is and are. The use of is and are is determined by the subject of the sentence. The following table presents the use of to be of Simple Present Tense.
Table 2.3 Form of Simple Present Tense Sentences (to be)
Form of Sentence Subject + to be + SC
b)Present Perfect Tense
According to Azar (1999), there are three functions of Present Perfect Tense. It expresses an idea of something which happened or even never happened before now, and does not have specified time in the past, repetition of an activity before now, and to express a situation that began in the past and still continues to the present. The following table will elaborate the functions of Present Perfect Tense including the examples of sentences which use Present Perfect Tense. The examples will be given in each type of the function. The examples provided may help the readers to understand more about the use of Present Perfect Tense.
Table 2.4 Examples and Functions of Present Perfect Tense.
Examples Functions
(a) They have moved into a new apartment.
(b) I have never seen snow. (c) I have already seen that movie.
To express an idea that something
(f) I have flown on an airplane many times.
To express repetition of an activity before now. past and continues to the present.
O’Dawyer (2006:118) states that Present Perfect Tense ‘expresses an
activity or event completed in the past but with some relationship to the present’
O’Dawayer (2006) the activity of Present Perfect Tense is started in the past. He
also explains that although the activity is started in the past, it still has some relationship to the present time. The verb formation of Present Perfect Tense is have/has + past participle (V3).
The following table will explain how Present Perfect Tense is used in some various subject like first, second, or even third person. The same as Simple Present Tense, Present Perfect also has the pattern of a positive, negative and interrogative form of sentences. Here are the explanations of the use of Present Perfect Tense according to the subjects and the positive, negative and interrogative form of the tense.
Table 2.5 Form of Present Perfect Tense Sentences
Form of Sentence Subject + have/has + past participle(V3) + (O/C)
Positive They Tense. The word have will change into has if the subject is the third person. While if the subject is the first or second person, the verb formation uses have.
S + Have/Has + been + (O/C)
Basically, the rules of using Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense are just the same. The differences are in the functions and in the pattern or the verb formation.
B.Theoretical Framework
As the framework, the writer elaborates some theories which can help the writer to answer the formulated research questions. This research is discussing the errors of students’ writing focusing on Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses.
The researcher used the theory of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses from Azzar (1999) to analyze some errors which were made by the students.
To answer research problem 1 and research problem 2, the researcher used theory types of errors from Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982). According to them, there are four types or errors. Those are omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. Those four types of errors were used by the researcher to analyze the errors students made in their writing.
29 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this part, the writer will discuss about the methodology used in this research. This chapter consists of six parts. Those are description of research method, research setting, research participants, research instrument and data gathering technique, data analysis technique and research procedure.
A.Research Method
Since the writer was analyzing Simple Present and Present Perfect errors of students’ writing, this research used document analysis as the research method.
Referring to Best (1959:117), document analysis which is also called content analysis is a kind of research method that deals with records or documents as the research data. He also states that one of the purposes of document analysis is to analyze the types of errors in students’ work. Besides, Ary, Jacobs & Razavieh
(2002) state that document analysis ‘focuses more on analyzing and interpreting recorded materials within its own context’. This research method was conducted to
B.Research Setting
This part presents where and when this research was conducted. The writer did the research in class D of Critical Reading and Writing of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. The researcher conducted the research from March until July 2016.
C.Research Instruments and Data Gathering Technique
Since this research was using qualitative research and the method was document analysis, there were two major instruments of this research. Besides, the researcher also used table analysis to support the data findings. Those instruments can be noted as follows.
1. Human Instrument
Since this research was qualitative research and the method used was document analysis, the writer was the primary instrument to analyze the data. Ary, Jacobs, Sorensen, and Walker (2013:524) say that ‘the main instrument in qualitative research is the human instrument’. The researcher became the main
instrument of the research in which she gathered and analyzed the data of students’
writing. The writer focused on the errors sentences made by the students so that the writer could reveal what types of errors that were produced by the students in dealing with their writing.
2. The Critical Reading and Writing students’ Mid Test 1 documents
The Critical Reading and Writing students’ Mid Test 1 document became
Reading and Writing which was class F. Through these documents, the writer would be able to analyze the Simple Present and Present Perfect errors as presented in the documents.
3. Table of Analysis
There were some types of table used to analyze the students’ written work
of this research.
The first table dealt with the total number of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense sentences of students’ written work. The writer counted all Simple Present
and Present Perfect Tense sentences students wrote and made the total number in the form of table. This table was made to show and know the number of written Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense sentences that would be analyzed by the writer. The total number of sentences in every document which contained Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses were presented in the table. Besides, the researcher also provided the percentage of the total sentences of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses made by the students. The number and percentage of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses made by the students can be seen in the following table.
Table 3.1 The Number of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense Sentences
The second one, then, dealt with the number of errors in each type of errors that students wrote. The writer counted the number of errors in each types of errors students wrote then put it into table. The writer also made the percentage of the number of error in the sentences students wrote. There are four types of errors namely, omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. The table can be seen as follows.
Table 3.2 The Number of Errors According to the Types of Errors
Doc No.
Types of Errors
Omission Addition Misformation Misordering
1. 2. 3.
…
After obtaining the data through the tables above, then, the writer summarized the findings in two tables. The first table dealt with the number of types of errors which occurred in Simple Present Tense. The second table showed the number of the types of errors which were found in Present Perfect Tense. The tables can be seen as follows.
Table 3.3 The Number of Errors in Simple Present Tense
Simple Present Tense
Types of Errors
Table 3.4 The Number of Errors in Present Perfect Tense
Perfect Present Tense
Types of Errors
Omission Addition Misformation Misordering
Then, there were two kinds of tables which covered all types of errors made by the students. The first table showed all the error sentences in Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses and the types of errors. The last table, furthermore, was to show the errors sentences students wrote both were Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses with the possible correction provided by the researcher. The tables can be seen as follows.
Table 3.5 Ungrammatical Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense Sentences According to the Types of Errors
Doc.
Table 3.6 Ungrammatical Simple Present and Present Perfect Tense Sentences and the Possible Correction
Doc. No
Original Sentences Possible Correction
1. 2. 3.
Dealing with the two problems formulation, the writer used some techniques to gather the data. The researcher collected the data by taking the documents of students’ Mid Test 1 assignments as the research data. The source data of the
research were taken from students of Critical Reading and Writing course.
D.Research Subjects
The subjects of the research were the Critical Reading and Writing students’
Mid Test I documents of class F batch 2014 of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. The Mid Test I contained the students’ writing about argumentative essay and the entire documents are
considered as the data of this study. The writer took all of the documents of Critical Reading and Writing class as the subjects. The writer chose Critical Reading and Writing class because it is a course which focuses on the product of students’ writing.
E.Data Analysis Technique
of errors. The writer used the theory from Dulay et al. (1982) who state four types of errors in writing. Those are omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. Then, the writer presented all types of errors of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses which were found in the data students’ made.
F. Research Procedure
There were some stages to conduct this research. The researcher formulated into 5 stages. Those are finding the problems and grounded theory, designing the research method, collecting the data, analyzing the data, and the last was reporting the results of the research.
1. Finding the problems and the grounded theory
The very first thing that the writer did before doing the research was finding the problems. It was done in the seventh semester of the writer’s study through
Proposal Seminar course. Then, the writer formulated the two research problems and also provided the research objectives. Besides, the writer began to collect some relevant literatures as much as possible to strengthen every statement made by the writer and make the research grounded on scientific theories.
2. Designing the research method
3. Collecting the data
The writer, furthermore, collected the data that were going to use in the research. The data were taken from the Mid Test of Critical Reading and Writing class F. All the documents would completely be used as the data of the research. In the process of collecting the data, the researcher also conducted interviews with the lecturer of Critical Reading and Writing course about the process of the students’ writing.
4. Analyzing the data
After obtaining the data, the writer would start to analyze the document as the steps previously stated. The writer used two main steps. The first step the writer would find sentences which were categorized as Simple Present and Present Perfect sentences. The writer listed the sentences and differed which one was Simple Present and which one was Present Perfect.
Meanwhile, the second step was analyzing Simple Present and Present Perfect sentences of students’ writing. It was done by identifying all ungrammatical Simple
5. Reporting the results of the research
38 CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
In this chapter, the writer will present the results of the document analysis which will answer the two problem formulations of the research. Besides, this chapter will also discuss the findings of grammatical errors which were made by the students in their writing focusing in Simple Present and Present Perfect tenses. There will be three sections that the writer will present in this chapter: (A) Data Findings of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses, (B) Types of Errors Occurred in Simple Present (C) Types of Errors Occurred in Present Perfect Tense and (D) Other Findings.
A.Data Findings of Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses 1. The Total Number Sentences
4.1 The Number of Written Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses Sentences
Tenses Number Percentage
Simple Present Sentences 868 77.5%
Present Perfect Sentences 22 2%
Simple Present and Present Perfect Sentences 24 2.1% Non Simple Present and Present Perfect Sentences 206 18.4%
Total Sentences 1120 100%
After counting and identifying the sentences students made, the researcher found some facts. According to the data, there were 1120 sentences which were made by 26 students. Then, the students wrote 868 sentences of Simple Present Tense. More than a half of the whole sentences contain of Simple Present Tense. Another fact is Simple Present Tense becomes the most tense used by the students because the documents are argumentative text which mostly talks about facts and provides some relevant arguments of the writer.
Counting all the sentences made by the students, the researcher found there were 22 Present Perfect Tense sentences made by the students. Some students also combined Simple Present and Present Perfect Tenses in their complex sentences. The writer found 24 sentences which consisted of Simple Present and Present Perfect tense sentences.
2. Classification according to the types of error
After conducting and presenting the total numbers of Simple Present and Present Perfect tense sentences, the writer classified those sentences into each type of error namely omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. The results of the classification could be seen in the table follows.
4.2 The Total Number of Errors in Each Type of Error
From the results presented in the table above, the first position or most frequently types of errors which were made by the students were the omission. There were 36 times omission or 54.54% which occurred in the documents. The next position was misformation. There were 26 times of occurrences of misformation errors found in the data. The number was 39.39% of all the errors written in the documents. Then, the other types of errors occupy the next position right after omission and misformation error. The researcher found 3 times of occurrences of addition error or 4.54% of all the errors made by the students and only once occurrence of misordering error.
Types of Errors Number Percentage
Omission 36 54.54%
Addition 3 4.54%
Misformation 26 39.39%
Misordering 1 1.54%
B.Types of Errors in Simple Present Tense
After identifying and classifying the sentences, the writer, then, analyzed and classified the errors made by 26 students based on Dulay’s theory. According
to the theory written in the previous chapter, there were four types of errors which would cover the data analysis. Those are the error of omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. The number of the Simple Present Tense errors could be seen in this following table.
4.3 The Number of Errors of Simple Present Tense (1)
Simple Present Tense
Omission Addition Misformation Misordering
33 3 22 1
Besides, the researcher discussed some errors which were made by the students in Simple Present Tense sentences. The error sentences discussed below were based on the data findings which were put in the appendix A. The errors could be seen as follows.
1. Omission
As seen in the table presented above, the most frequent errors made by the students were the error of omission. These following sentences are the results of errors omission made by the students.
1. *It seem that blog limits the movement of students who do not have
access and burdenthe teachers.
6a. *This program help us to express ourselves, like in music, dance, and
instrument.
Those sentences are included omission errors. The students omitted one or more item that should be in the sentence which made the sentences, not in a well-formed. In the first case (1), the omission occurred two times. The errors were in the verb seem and burden. A form of a verb is determined by a subject of a sentence. As seen in the sentence, the subject of the sentence is It. It is pronouns of the third person. According to the theory explained in the previous chapter, pronouns of the third person in Simple Present Tense, the verb should be followed by –s or –es. In line with the case (1), the verb of the sentence should be followed by –s or –es but
the students omitted morpheme –s in the verb seem and burden. The verb burden which appears in the second clause must be followed by –s because it refers to the subject blog. It also has the same case as in the sentence (6a). The student omitted morpheme –s in the verb help. While in the second case (5b) the students forgot to add to be in the sentence he made. The student should add to be are right after the subject of the sentence. The to be is are because the subject of the sentence is plural. Although those sentences can still be understood by the readers, it is grammatically incorrect. The possible correction of those sentences can be seen as follows.
1. It seems that blog limits the movement of students who do not have access
to it and it burdens the teachers.
6a. This program helps us to express ourselves, like in music, dance, and
instrument.
2. Misformation
The second types of errors which were mostly made by the students were the error of misformation. A good sentence should have correct morpheme or structure. If the sentence does not have correct form of morpheme or structure it can be categorized as misformation error. Here are some sentences of misformation errors students made based on the data.
7d. *All in all, small classes isbetter than big classes.
14a. *According to Martin (2011), pulp and paper is the third largest
industrial polluter of air, water and soil in both Canada and the
United States.
15a. *In this matter teacher who also have the responsibility to educate
students also can use video games for helping students to learn.
From the sentences above, it can be seen that those sentences were
grammatically incorrect. The students put a verb and to be wrongly to the sentence
they made. In the first and second example, there was a mistake of choosing to be.
The students did not pay attention to the subject of the sentence. The first and the
second cases (7d&14a) have wrong to be. The subjects of those sentences are plural
so the students should put to be are instead of is in the present sentences. The
possible correction of the ungrammatical sentences presented above can be seen as
7d. All in all, small classes are better than big classes.
14a. According to Martin (2011), pulp and paper are the third largest
industrial polluter of air, water, and soil in both Canada and the United
States.
Besides, the third case (15a) shows that a student put the wrong form of a verb in the sentence he made. The student put the verb have in the dependent clause of the complex sentence he made. That was grammatically incorrect because the subject of the main clause he made was teacher. The subject was singular so it should be followed by verb –s or –es. The verb have that he chose to complete his sentence was incorrect. It should be has because it refers to the subject teacher which is singular. The possible correction of the third example of the misformation error can be seen in the following sentence.
15a. In this matter, the teacher who also has the responsibility to educate
students can also use video games for helping students to learn.
Most students ignored the subject of the sentence which made the sentences
they made grammatically incorrect. The students should pay attention to the subject
of the sentence, whether it is singular or plural because it determines the auxiliaries
or the verbs that will be used in the sentence.
3. Addition
In the previous paragraph, the researcher has explained about omission error
which occurs when there are one or more items which are omitted in a sentence so
