EISSN 2302-3198
Published by Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris FBS Universitas Negeri Padang
available at http://ejournal.unp.ac.id/index.php/jelt
AN ANALYSIS OF SECOND GRADE STUDENTS’ GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN USING PRESENT PERFECT TENSE THROUGH
COMMUNICATIVE TEST AT SMAN 1 BATIPUH
Acc/18-05-2022
Kurnia Fitri1, Muhd. Al Hafidz2
Student of English Language Education1 (English Department, Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Negeri Padang), Jl. Prof. Dr. Hamka Air Tawar, Padang, 25173
Lecturer of English Language Education2 (English Department, Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Negeri Padang), Jl. Prof. Dr. Hamka Air Tawar, Padang, 25173 Correspondence Email: kurniafitrii03@gmail.com
Article History Abstract
Submitted: YYYY-MM-DD Accepted: YYYY-MM-DD Published: YYYY-MM-DD
This study aims to discover the most errors in using present perfect tense and to find out the causes why the students made errors in using present perfect tense at SMAN 1 Batipuh. The sample of the research was the eleventh-grade students of XI IPS 2 and XI IPS 3 of SMAN 1 Batipuh. The number of samples in this study was 58 students. The researcher used the descriptive analysis method with a qualitative research. The data obtained from a test and interview. The findings of the study reveal that students committed errors of four types: omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. From the frequency of each error type, misformation was the error most frequently produced by the students. It took 48.78%
of the total errors. Moreover, 26.83% of errors fell into omission and 13.41% of errors fell into addition; whereas misordering took 10.98%. These errors were conducted because most of the students were less practice at home and they do not focus while studying. Most of them still do not comprehend the formula and the concept of Present Perfect Tense. This topic also less interested to the students and they were still lacked the vocabulary to produce the sentence with the right form of Present Perfect Tense. In the conclusion, it showed that the usage of the present perfect tense in a communicative test is difficult for students.
Keywords:
Grammatical Error, Present Perfect Tense, Communicative Test
©2020 The Author(s) Publish by Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris FBS UNP. This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
How to Cite: Fitri, K & Muhd. Al Hafidz. (2022). An Analysis of Second Grade Students’ Grammatical Errors in Using Present Perfect Tense through Communicative Test at SMAN 1 Batipuh. Journal of English Language Teaching. Universitas Negeri Padang: Padang.
INTRODUCTION
English is the first foreign language taught in all schools in Indonesia. English is considered the main subject of the student. English had been widely used as a means of international communication and as a result, English has come to be seen as the most important foreign language in the world. English is used not only to apply for a job but also to communicate with people in different nations. So, the first thing that learners should master is the grammar structure system, because it is the basic knowledge and important role in understanding the English language. As stated by Robert (1954) grammar is a body of generalization about how people say things. By learning grammar, the learner can communicate the message clearly and precisely.
Some grammarians state that in English there are many variations of tenses and it is not easy to translate into other languages because the equivalent tenses are often not used in the same way. The present perfect tense is one of the tense that is required to learn in English. It states an action or activity done but continues in the present. The verb forms of this tense are in the third verb form (past participle) which means has happened. According to George and Julia (1980:206) state that when the students want to tell a verb that is used to indicate an action that took place at an indefinite time or throughout the time in the past, but still has relevance in the present, it is called the present perfect tense. Learning present perfect tense is important for the students as well for the teacher to correct and analyze it to understand its usage correctly, how students use it in sentences and do not change into past tense.
Ulvika (2019) and Rizka (2017) discussed about the students’ difficulties in using Present Perfect Tense. The result of the researches found that there are some difficulties faced by the students, namely difficulty in memorizing formulas, difficulty in memorizing irregular verbs, and difficulty in auxiliary use of "have/has". In Rizka’s (2017) research found that there are many factors of students' problems in using present perfect tenses, such as a lot of tenses in English, lack of interest in the teaching-learning process, lack of English learning facilities or the instructional resources such as grammar books, lack of interaction between teacher and students, the classroom environment is not suitable, students' laziness, lack of concentration in class as the result students do not pay attention to the teacher.
Further researches related to the error analysis in using Present Perfect Tense also found in Dwi (2006), Baiquni (2016), and Setiawan (2008)’s researches. In Dwi’s research (2006), in analyzing the errors, the writer used the theory of four different categories by Corder (1981:36) and the result was there are four categories occurred in the application made by the students; they are errors of omission, error of addition, error of selection, and error of misordering. While, the research by Baiquni (2016) showed that students have difficulties in applying adverbs of time, the irregular verbs, and the agreement into simple past tense and present perfect tense. Then, the research by Setiawan (2008) found that distinguishing the usage of present perfect and simple past tense has a higher difficulty than the form. It reveals that most students find some difficulty in learning present perfect tense, actually in usage.
From the previous studies above, the researcher is interested to conduct a research entitled “An Analysis of Second Grade Students’ Grammatical Error in Using
Present Perfect Tense through Communicative Test at SMAN 1 Batipuh” with the focus on the most grammatical errors made by the students and the causes of the errors to discover the most errors in using present perfect tense and to find out the causes why the students made errors in using present perfect tense.
METHOD
Based on this study, the researcher used qualitative data. Creswell (2009:2) stated “qualitative research is an approach for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem.” This research categorized as qualitative data since it is used to to analyze and identify students’ grammar mastery, especially in using present perfect tense.
Since the Present Perfect Tense was taught at the second grade of senior high school, the researcher chooses the sample from XI IPS 2 and XI IPS 3 class. The total of the sample was 58 students. The instruments used in this research were test and interview. Test is used to know the students' grammatical errors in using the present perfect tense. While interview is used to get information related to the interviewees’
opinion, beliefs, and feeling about the situation being asked in their own words orally.
According to Ary et al. (2010:480) said that interview is one of the most widely used methods to obtain qualitative data.
The first instrument used was test which was done to collect the data or information about the second grade students’ grammatical errors in using Present Perfect Tense through communicative test. The students were given three topics/situations. Then, each student made a dialogue based on the topic that has been decided by the researcher. Meanwhile, interview was used to get information related to causes of grammatical errors in using Present Perfect Tense made by the second-grade students at SMAN 1 Batipuh.
This research used Gass and Selinker’s (2018:103) steps of error analysis. The data was analyzed based on the following steps; Identifying the grammatical error to reveal the errors in students' writing, Classifying the data based on the type of errors, Calculating the frequency of the grammatical error, Analyzing the cause of error, Reporting the analysis result. After classifying the data of students’ errors, it calculated to determine the most type of errors and frequently used strategies. To calculate the data, it was used the formula:
x = N
NT × 100%
Where:
x= Percentage of errors type
n= the number of a particular type of errors nt= The total number of all types of errors
The last step was concluding. In this step, the researcher concluded based on the result of the analysis through test and interview of the students.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION Research Finding
Based on the data analysis, it shows that there were some errors found in the test of the research. These are the description of types of errors based on analysis data by the researcher.
a. Error of Omission
After gathering the data, it was found that there were 17 students’ test contained omission. Student 19 done the most committed errors with total omission 3 times. The second most committed errors were done by student 1, student 31, and student 35 with total omission 2 errors. The least error of omission is done by the students 3, 8, 11, 12 and others with total omission 1 error. This research detects 22 errors of omission after gathering all omission within the 17 students’ test.
b. Error of addition
After analyzing the data, there were 11 students’ test contained addition. This type of error is caused by the presence of an element or form which must not appear in a well-formed utterance. Based on the data analysis, each student made the error with the total addition 1 error each test. So, it was found 11 cases were categorized as addition errors which the students’ were made in this test. This kind of error is the third highest error that made by the students.
c. Error of Misformation
From the data, it was found that there were 26 students’ test contained misformation. This kind of error is the highest error that made by the students. Student 28 is done the most committed error in this type, with the total misformation 4 times.
The second most committed error of misformation with total error 3 times is made by student 34 and student 35. Then, 7 students were made the error of misformation 2 times in the test. The least error with total misformation 1 cases is done by 16 students.
So, in this research found 40 errors after gathering all misformation within the 26 students’ test.
d. Error of misordering
Misordering is the least error type made by the students in this research. There were 6 students’ tests categorized as misordering error. Based on the data, the student 33, student 37, student 41 made error of misordering with the total 2 times in this test.
Student 9, student 14 and student 40 made errors 1 case in their test. So, in total there were just 9 misordering errors done by the students in this test.
The recapitulation data of XI IPS 2 and XI IPS 3 students’ errors types, the frequency and also the percentage for each error can be seen in the table 4.6 below.
Table 4.6
The Recapitulation of Error Types, Frequency, and its Percentage
NO TYPES OF ERROR FREQUENCY OF ERROR
PERCENTAGE OF ERRORS
1 Error of Omission 22 26.83%
2 Error of Addition 11 13.41%
3 Error of Misformation 40 48.78%
4 Error of Misordering 9 10.98%
Total 82 100%
From the result obtained from the test, table 4.6 above shown the data of error types, frequency and also percentage recapitulation. As seen on the calculation and the table above, it can be concluded that there were four types of errors found in this research. Those are error of omission, error of addition, error of misformation, and error of misordering. The first type of error is the omission with the total omission is 22 errors or 26.83% total cases. The result also shows 11 errors of addition or 13.41% total cases. Next, the most frequent errors done by second grade students of SMAN 1 Batipuh are misformation with the total frequncy 40 errors or 48.78% in percentage.
Lastly, misordering errors as the lowest case occured 9 errors or 10.98% total cases. So, it was found 82 total errors that made by the second grade students in using Present Perfect Tense through communicative test in this research.
Based on the result of the students’ interview, the researcher found that there were some causes of grammatical errors made by the students in using present perfect tense. The main cause is they had difficulties with singular and plural nouns and also in using the regular and irregular verbs. Most of them were doubt changing the verb 1 to verb 3. The second factor that causes them difficult to master the present perfect tense is a lot of tenses in English and students' confidence in using English. They feel doubt and are afraid of mistakes. The other factors also claimed by the students, are; lack of vocabulary and less interest in the teaching-learning process of English especially in tenses topics, lack of practice and review at home (laziness of the students), lack of concentration while studying, do not understand about the formula because of the differences between English structure and Bahasa Indonesia and some others factors.
Discussion
After conducting the research, the writer got the result. The students still had difficulties in using Present Perfect Tense. The writer found there were four types of errors in students’ test in using Present Perfect Tense. The theory used for analyzing errors in this research was the theory from Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982:154). They state that there are four types of errors, namely: error of omission, error of addition, error of misformation, and error of misordering. The omission is the missing of an item that must occur in the sentence to form the correct sentence. The addition is the contrast of omission. Misformation is the implementation of the wrong form of items in the right place of the sentence. Last, misordering is the incorrect placement of sequence items or words.
Looking at the findings of the research, misformation was the highest frequent error committed by the students with a total frequency of 40 errors or 48.78% total cases. Similarly, the studies conducted by Yulian (2016) had the same result. His studies found that error of misformation is the most frequent error made by the first-
grade students of MA Nurul Iman Cipageran with 54 of total errors or 65.8% in percentage. Meanwhile, a study by Putri (2013), Ervindo (2014), Ulfa et.al (2014), and Belo (2017) showed that the highest frequent error in their study is omission with 47.05%, 30.12%, 57%, and 41.06% total cases. From the result of the test, the reason of the error was the students used the wrong forms of the morpheme or word; moreover the students did not give attention to grammatical rules. The theory by Dulay (1982:138) stated that Misformation errors happen consciously. The students supply something, although it is incorrect.
In terms of the lowest frequent error committed by the students, this research discovered misordering was the lowest frequent error with a total frequency of 9 errors or 10.98% in percentage. Similarly, the studies conducted by Putri (2013), Azizah et.al (2014), Wahyuni (2016), and Belo (2017) had the same result. Their studies uncovered that misordering was the lowest frequent error with percentages of 2.35%, 1%, 6.1%, and 14.60%. From the result of the test above, it can be concluded that the second-grade students of SMAN 1 Batipuh still encounter many grammatical errors especially in using present perfect tense. Although they had been taught about the present perfect tense before, they might still be confused.
The second discussion is about the causes of the students’ errors in using the present perfect tense. Many factors may cause students' errors in using the present perfect tense. According to Martin Parrot (2010:162) learners generally have far more problems in using present perfect tense correctly than in understanding it. Even they do not know or are unclear about the difference in meaning between different tenses. In addition, Khaljoo (2013:56-57), the difficulties in learning English for students are lack of interest and motivation for learning English, lack of concentration, and difficulty to understand and comprehend certain material, especially tense topics; as the topic that always exists from the elementary to high school. The theory by Murphy (1985:26) stated that there are two main difficulties in learning present perfect tense; those are difficulty in understanding the form of Present Perfect Tense (either the regular or irregular verb of past participle/V3 and either singular or plural subject), then they have difficulty in using Present Perfect Tense. This theory is following the result of this research in which the students had difficulties in determining the singular and plural subject and either use the regular or irregular verb. This is similar to the previous study by Siti Bayinah (2013:32) that the errors are caused by they faced difficulty in determining the regular and irregular verbs. So, some of them tended to use regular patterns; by adding – ed, instead of irregular patterns. The existing theory also proved that some other factors cause students' grammatical errors in using Present Perfect Tense based on the interview result; those are English is less favoured learning material for the students, especially about tenses topic, they are lack of vocabulary, less of practice and review at home, fear to be wrong and they had a problem in using to be (has/have).
CONCLUSION
From the analysis and data described, it can be concluded that there are four types of errors encountered by students. The types of errors that were made by the students from the highest percentage to the lowest are the error of misformation, omission, addition, and ordering. The highest errors was misformation with percentage (48.78% ), while the lowest error was misordering with percentage (10.98% ). Furthermore, many factors that cause students' errors in using present perfect tense, such as lack of English
vocabulary mastery, difficulties in using to be (has/have) of Present Perfect Tense, difficulty in forming the verb forms (regular and irregular verbs) and many other.
From the findings of the research, there are some suggestions offered. First, The researcher hopes the teacher can improve the students' grammatical understanding by given detailed and clear explanations to the students about the form and usage of the present perfect tense. Second, it is important for the students to pay more attention when the teacher explains this topic and also they are expected to be ably to memorize the regular and irregular verbs. Third, the researcher hopes for other researchers may develop more an error analysis research deeply into finding out the best way for solving students' errors.
REFERENCES
Baiquni, M. S.2016.An Analysis on Students’ Difficulties in Understanding Simple Past Tense and Present Perfect Tense.A Thesis. Universitas Pakuan.
Dulay,H., Burt,M., & Krashen, S.1982.Language Two. New York: Oxford University Press.
Dwi, Agustina,P. 2006. Error Analysis on Using Present Perfect Tense to Write A Composition. A Thesis.Faculty of Letters Soegijapranata Catholic University.
Murphy, Raymond. 1994. English Grammar in Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Parot, Martin. 2010. Grammar for English Language Teachers, 2nd Edition. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Rahmawati, Ulvika and Nur Hidayat, M.Pd.2019. An Analysis of the Difficulties Faced by the Students in Learning Simple Past Tense in Eight Grade of SMPN 1 Baki in the Academic Year of 2018/2019.A Thesis. Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta.
Rizka, Nurul.2017.The Students’ Problems Encountered in Using Present Perfect Tense.
A Thesis.Banda Aceh: UIN Ar-Raniry.
Roberts, Paul. 1954. Understanding Grammar. New York: Harper & Row Publisher.
Setiawan, D. 2008. Students’ Difficulties in Learning Present Perfect Tense (A Case Study of the Third Year Students of Akuntansi of SMK Puspita Bangsa Ciputat).
Jakarta: Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University.
Wishon, George E. and Julia M. Burks. 1980. Let Write English (Revised Edition). New York: Linton Educational.
Yulian, Yayang. 2016. An Error Analysis of the Students’ Narrative Test in Using Simple Past Tense. Bandung: Sekolah Tinggi Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan.
