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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
Rahmawati Sukmaningrum
Universitas PGRI Semarang
Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia
Oscar Yustino Carascalao
SMA Krista Mitra Semarang
Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia
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
Proceedings of International Conference on Language, Literary and Cultural Studies (ICON LATERALS) 2016
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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.
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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.
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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
Proceedings of International Conference on Language, Literary and Cultural Studies (ICON LATERALS) 2016
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‘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.
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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%
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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
alternative solution for
parents who wants to
implement more educational
focused on children
Homeschooling is an
alternative solution for
parents who want to
implement more
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
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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
agreement
- Karimunjawa have a diverse
ecosystem.
- However, he is not arrogant
although he become a best
selling artist
- Karimunjawa has a
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
frame is very different from
that of technical control.
- In addition, its
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
Error identification Error Correction
Capitalization - he issued the government
regulation is valid
-family gathering right would
really be fun for the family
members.
-He issued the government
regulation is valid
- Family gathering right
would really be fun for the
family members.
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-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
interested to stay every
time.
- I can enjoy and listen a
music or watch the movie.
- It can make me
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
Error identification Error Correction
Article - 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.
- 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.
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Error
classification
Error identification Error Correction
Fragment - 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.
- 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).
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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.
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