What Errors are Committed by Students in Writing English Paragraphs?

DOI:10.217716/ub.icon_laterals.2016.001.1.18 What Errors are Committed by Students in Writing English Paragraphs? Faiza Hawa Universitas PGRI Semarang Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia faizahawa@yahoo.com Rahmawati Sukmaningrum Universitas PGRI Semarang Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia raihansya@gmail.com Oscar Yustino Carascalao SMA Krista Mitra Semarang Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia oscarcarascalao@gmail.com ABSTRACT It is inevitable for students in making error when they write paragraphs in their second language. The study attempts to analyze errors in the paragraphs written by second semester students of English Department of University of PGRI Semarang. The data of this study are 35 paragraphs randomly taken from second semester students who enroll writing 2. Written test is used as the instrument of the research. The analysis of the paragraphs is derived from Corder s (1967) cited in Sawalmeh Murad (2013) method on error analysis. This method has three steps (1) collection of the sample errors, (2) identification of errors, (3) and description of errors. All the errors committed by the students are put into categorizations. This study reveals that the second semester students have committed several errors in their paragraphs. Those are verbs tense, subject verb agreement, fragment and capitalization, spelling, word order, use of pronoun, preposition, and article. Several recommendations are put in the highlight to reduce further problems regarding writing English paragraphs. KEYWORDS: Writing, Error Analysis, English Paragraph Learning English needs more practice. It has four skills to master. Those skills include listening, speaking, listening and writing. In writing, students learn to produce 278

connected and well-ordered sentences in a systematic ways. To produce meaningful and well-ordered sentences is not an easy job for students. It needs hard efforts and a lot of practices to produce good sentences since we do not acquire this skill naturally. However, students cope many obstacles when they are trying to write sentences or even paragraphs. Therefore, written production is one of the most difficult tasks for ESL/EFL learners (Harris and Cunningham 1994 cited in Maher 2014). In academic study, students need to learn writing in order to take notes, write essays and compositions, and answering written questions. For that reason, students need further understanding and more practices in writing. Meyers (2005:2) stated that writing is a way to produce language you do naturally when you speak. Writing is speaking to other on paper or on a computer screen. Writing is also an action a process of discovering and organizing ideas then putting them on a paper, reshaping and last revising them into good arrangements. In addition, writing requires a high level of language control, problem-solving form, generating ideas, planning, goal setting, monitoring and assessing what has been produced (Murcia and Olshtain, 2000). It is in line as what stated by Harmer. He said that writing is often time-bound in the way conversation is. When writing, students frequently have more time to think than they do in oral activities. They can go through what they know in their minds, and even consult dictionaries, grammar book, or other reference material to help them (2004:31). It can be summed up that writing needs hard work, many practices and plenty of time to not only generate ideas, but also arrange the ideas into readable and meaningful sentences. Therefore, making errors in writing English is not something surprising and it is inevitable for the students to commit since writing is a complex process. 279

Error analysis is a proper tool for revealing students mistakes in composing sentences in English. Doing error analysis on students writing means the lecturers provide themselves some information related to the students errors. This helps the lecturer or teacher in three ways: first to correct students error, second to improve their teaching, and third to focus on those areas which need reinforcement (Alhaysoni, 2012 cited in Alwameh Murad, 2013). This study meant to identify the types of errors made by the second semester students of University of PGRI Semarang in Writing paragraphs and frequency of committing those types of error. The present study sought to answer questions posed below: 1. What are the most common types of error committed by second semester students of English Department of University of PGRI Semarang in their paragraphs? 2. How frequent is writing errors occurred on students paragraphs? REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Writing Writing is a way to communicate in written form. Since writing is a complex process, it takes plenty of time to practice. Langan states that writing is not a natural talent, but a skill that must often be trained (2008: 13). It is a skill involving knowledge, concepts, and writing rules, and also for composing ideas into written form based on its rules to make it comprehended for readers. A good writing is resulted from plenty of thinking, practicing, evaluating, then revising. It is on the same highlight as uttered by Byrne, 1996 cited in Maher Fadi, 2014. He said that the way of ordering sentences should include some conscious mental effort such as making notes, drafting, and revising. 280

The process of thinking in writing is a process of creating and composing ideas into comprehended writing based on writing rules. Good writing must include a sufficient knowledge of grammatical rules, lexical items, and logical connections (Maher Fadi, 2014). English teacher or lecturer can use writing as a students learning reflection. It means that if the students able to produce good writing, it can be said that the learning is successful. It is a tool used either as a evidence of successful learning or as a means of learning (Richard, 1990 cited in Cholipah 2014). In other words, writing is a feedback for learning achievement. Error analysis In fact, learners do make errors, and these errors can be observed, analyzed, classified. This statement is in line with Ellis opinion. He said that error analysis is used as a tool to investigate how learners acquire a second language (2008:62). Brown (2000: 218) also stated that error analysis is a surge of study of learners errors. Here, error analysis is useful to keep us focuses on specific language. In analyzing the errors, there are steps that must be done by the researcher. Ellis (1997:16-19) explains that there are four steps of error analysis. They are: a. Identifying Errors In identifying errors we have to compare sentences the learners produce with what seem to be the normal or correct sentences in target language which correspond with them. b. Describing Error After errors have been identified, they can be described and classified into types. There are several ways of doing this. One way is to classify errors into grammatical categories. Another way might be to try to identify general ways, such as 281

omission, misinformation and misordering. Classifying errors can help us to diagnose learners learning problems at any stage of their development. c. Explaining Errors The identification and description of errors are preliminaries to the much more interesting task of trying to explain why they occur. d. Error Evaluation Where the purpose of the error analysis is to help learners, there is a need to evaluate errors. Some errors can be considered more serious than others because they are more likely to interfere with the intelligibility of what someone says. RESEARCH METHOD Subject of the Study This qualitative study took 35 students as the subjects of the study. The subjects were selected from the second semester students of English Department of University of PGRI Semarang who enrolled writing 2. The second semester students are divided into 5 classes; they are class A, B, C, D and E. Purposive cluster sampling were applied to take the subject. It is used for specific purpose to generate a more efficient probability sample in term of monetary and/or time resources (Charles, Yu: 2007: 79-80 cited in Cholipah: 2014: 54). Instrument The instrument used to collect the data in this study is written test. The students were assigned to write a paragraph in which the topic is not determined by the lecturer. The paragraphs the students wrote demanded four requirements of a good paragraph. The lecturer distributed the test sheet to the students. When they finished their writing, the lecturer collected the paper and began to analyze by marking the errors occurred on students paragraphs. 282

Data Analysis The analysis of the paragraphs will be derived from Corder s (1967) cited in Sawalmeh Murad (2013) method on error analysis. This method has three steps (1) collection of the sample errors, (2) identification of errors, (3) and description of errors. To find out the frequency of the common errors in the paragraphs, the writers calculated the total errors found in the paragraphs. The data will be analyzed using Chanquoi error classification (2001). Those include: first, spelling errors. This category deals with the errors related to the orthography errors. Second, grammatical errors. This category discusses the errors related to the gender and number, agreement of nouns, verb and adjectives, and subject-verb agreement. The third is punctuation errors. This category deals with the punctuation and capitalization errors. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS In this section, the writers present the results of the study. The results are presented in accordance with the research problems posed earlier in this study. First, what are the most common types of error committed by second semester students of English Department of University of PGRI Semarang in their paragraphs? Second, How frequent is writing errors occurred on students paragraphs? Tabel 1. Writing errors committed by second semester students No Types of Error Percentage 1 Verb tense 28.2 % 2 Word order 8.21% 3 Subject 21.74% 4 Pronoun 4.8% 5 Spelling 8.7% 6 Capitalization 9.6% 7 Preposition 4.3% 8 Article 3.8% 9 Fragment 10.62% 283

As presented in table 1, the second semester students of English department of University of PGRI Semarang have committed several errors in their paragraph writing. Those errors covering error in verb tense, word order, subject, pronoun, spelling, capitalization, preposition, article, and fragment. The most common error in writing paragraph are dominated by error of verb tense, subject, and fragment. Below is the presentation of nine types of errors committed by second semester students in writing paragraph. 1) Verb tense Verb tense error occurs when wrong verb tense is used. Incorrect verb tense can cause confusion readers may not understand when events happened. Error classification Error identification Error Correction Verb tense Homeschooling is an Homeschooling is an alternative solution for alternative solution for parents who wants to parents who want to implement more educational implement more focused on children educational focused on children 2) Word order Word order error is wrong arrangement of words in a phrase, clause, or sentence. In many languages, including English, word order plays an important part in determining meanings expressed in other languages by inflections. Error classification Error identification Error Correction Word order - There are four pictures on my wall room. -I have many small balls of colorful. -There are four pictures on my wall room. - I have many small balls of colorful. 3) Subject-verb agreement The subject and verb must agree in number: both must be singular, or both must be plural. Problems occur in the present tense because one must add an -s or -es at the 284

end of the verb when the subjects or the entity performing the action is a singular third person: he, she, it, or words for which these pronouns could substitute. Error classification Error identification Error Correction Subject verb - Karimunjawa have a diverse - Karimunjawa has a agreement ecosystem. - However, he is not arrogant although he become a best selling artist diverse ecosystem. - However, he is not arrogant although he becomes a best selling artist 4) Pronoun A pronoun is used in place of a noun or nouns. Error classification Error identification Error Correction Pronoun - In addition, it s geometrical - In addition, its frame is very different from that of technical control. geometrical frame is very different from that of technical control. 5) Spelling Spelling is the act or process of writing words by using the letters conventionally accepted for their formation. Error classification Error identification Error Correction Spelling - I have a familly. -Secendly, myself picture is next to my family s picture. - I have a family. - Secondly, myself picture is next to my family s picture. 6) Capitalization Capitalization is the writing of a word with its first letter in uppercase and the remaining letters in lowercase. Error classification Capitalization Error identification - he issued the government regulation is valid -family gathering right would really be fun for the family members. Error Correction -He issued the government regulation is valid - Family gathering right would really be fun for the family members. 285

-pemalang city has a interesting place that is Widuri water park. - Pemalang city has a interesting place that is Widuri water park. 7) Preposition A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. It links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. Error classification Error identification Error Correction Preposition - It can make me - It can make me interested to stay every time. - I can enjoy and listen a music or watch the movie. interested in stay every time. - I can enjoy and listen to a music or watch the movie 8) Article An article is a word that is used with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Error classification Article Error identification - That is a architect attempt to build a modern office. -Lawang sewu is a located on the east side Tugu Muda Semarang. -Homeschooling is an alternative education method that is carried out at home with parents as teacher. Error Correction - That is an architect attempt to build a modern office. - Lawang sewu is located on the east side Tugu Muda Semarang. - Homeschooling is an alternative education method that is carried out at home with parents as the teacher. 9) Fragment A sentence fragment is similar to a phrase or a dependent clause. It is not a sentence, or more precisely, not a finished sentence. A fragment expresses an incomplete thought; a fragment cannot function nor stand alone as a simple sentence. 286

Error classification Fragment Error identification - The beautiful and smart princess from central Java. -Because men and women are equal. -And on vacation the end of the years. -The second market Sukowati. -A very enjoyable holiday for me. Error Correction - She is a beautiful and smart princess from central Java. - It is because men and women are equal. - We are on vacation at the end of the years. - The second market is Sukowati - It is a very enjoyable holiday for me. The findings of this study indicate that most of the students experience error in writing paragraphs. The results show that the students experience nine types of common error when they write paragraphs. Those nine errors cover the error in verb tense, word order, subject-verb agreement, pronoun, spelling, capitalization, preposition, article and fragment. The most common errors are dominated by verb tense (28.2%), subject-verb agreement (21.74%), and fragment (10.62%). The errors are occurred due to the lack of students competence in English. This is in accordance as what stated by Abdellatif (2007). He claims that the reason of committing writing errors among non-native speakers of English is the lack of knowledge of second or foreign language structure. As mentioned in the earlier definition, error is something unavoidable for students. It is something natural for students to commit error in writing English since writing is not naturally given skill. Error itself cannot be separated from learning process especially language acquisition because many experts believe that error becomes an evidence which gives good contribution to second language acquisition (Khasanah, Uswatun, 2016: 27). 287

CONCLUSION This study intended to investigate the types of error committed by the second semester students in writing paragraphs and the frequency of their occurrences. The results of this study reveals that the students commonly commit error in grammatical when they write paragraphs. The most common errors are dominated by verb tense, subject-verb agreement, and fragment. The errors are occurred due to the lack of students competence in English. After finding the result, it is better for writing lecturers to teach the basic grammar before teaching the method of writing a good paragraph. Moreover, students who enroll writing 2 should be improved their knowledge on verb tense, subject-verb agreement and fragment. REFERENCES Brown, H Douglas. 2000. Principle of language learning and teaching. New York: Longman. Cholipah. 2014. An analysis of Students Errors in Writing Recount Text. 2014. Universitas Negeri Jakarta. Thesis Unpublished. Ellis, Rod. 1997. Second Language Acquisition. New York: Oxford University Press.. 2008. Second Language Acquisition 2 nd Edition.. Kabilan, Muhammad K. 2013. Investigating Jordanian EFL Students Spelling Errors at Tertiary Level. International Journals of Linguistics Vol. 5, no3, June 28. Retrieved on April 21 from www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/ijl/.../pdf Khasanah Uswatun, 2016. An Error Analysis of Simple Present tense Used in Written Descriptive text: a case of Seventh Grade students of SMP N 1 Kajen in the Academic Year 2015/2016. Unpublished Thesis. Langan, John. 2008. College Writing skill (Revised ED). New York: Mc. Graw Hill. Maher, Fadi. 2013. Error Analysis on Written English Paragraph by Jordanian Undergraduate Students: A Case Study. International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities Volume II, Issue VIII, December 2014. Retrieved from April 22 Meyers, A. 2005. Gateways to Academic Writing, Effective Sentence, Paragraph, and Essay. United Stated of America. Sawalmeh, Murad. 2013. Error Analysis of written English Essay: the Case of Students of the Prepatory Year Program in Saudi Arabia. Journal of English for Specific purpose World volume 14, issue 40. 2013. Retrieved on April 22 from thhp://www.esp-world.info. http://writing.umn.edu/sws/quickhelp/grammar/verbtense.html http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/word-order grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/subject.htm 288

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