AN ANALYSIS OF THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS’ GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN WRITING COMPOUND SENTENCES AT THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF BUNG HATTA UNIVERSITY

Abstrak

INTRODUCTION Language is important in human life. Language can help humans to convey their ideas to other humans easily. English is one of the important languages to learn. English is an international language that is used almost all over the world. In English subject, there are four skills that must be mastered by the students. These skills relate to each other. They are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Writing is a skill to reveal ideas, thoughts, and memories into written form, either in the form of a sentence, paragraph, or essay which requires some practice done step by step[1]. This skill can help the students to express their ideas, thoughts, and feelings to others through written form. In mastering writing skill the students need knowledge and skill about language components, one of them is grammar. Grammar is the rule of how to arrange words into a good and correct sentence[2]. One part of grammar that can cause the students make errors in writing is tenses. There are 16 total tenses in English. One of the basic tenses that must be mastered by the students is the Simple Present Tense. This type of tense shows sentences that state facts and habits. The low knowledge of students about grammar can make them tend to make errors in writing sentences. In English, there are four types of sentence. They are simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound-complex sentence [3]. Each type of sentence has different characteristics. Compound sentence is the sentence that consists of at least two independent clauses joined by a comma and followed by a transition [4]. Writing affirmative compound sentence in the Simple Present Tense becomes as one of essential materials learned by students. In this material, the students are expected to write affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense with good and correct grammar. There are two previous studies that showed the students made error in writing compound sentences especially in using conjunction. The first study was conducted by Novalia (2018) [5]. She found that the highest frequency of error made by the students in using correlative conjunction was misformation (56.19%). The second study was conducted by Deviyana (2018) [6]. She found that the highest frequency of error made by the students in using coordinate conjunction was misformation (72.34%). Both of the previous studies only discussed students’ error in using conjunction. The previous study did not explain the other error made by students in writing compound sentence. In addition, the researcher also conducted an interview with seven second year students at the English Department of Bung Hatta University on 07 June 2022. After conducting the interview, the researcher got information that the students made error in writing the sentence. Based on the previous studies and the result of the interview above, the researcher was also interested in conducting research entitled “An Analysis of the Second Year Students’ Grammatical Errors in Writing Compound Sentences at the English Department of Bung Hatta University.” The main purpose of this research is to find out the error made by the students in writing affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense. By knowing the error, the students can learn from the error. So that, they can focus improve their knowledge. Then, they can write the sentence with good and correct grammar. METHOD This research used the descriptive method. The researcher described the second year students’ grammatical errors in writing affirmative compound sentences in the simple present tense. The population of this research is the second year students at the English Department of Bung Hatta University. The total population was 30 students. The researcher used the total sampling technique to select the sample and the total sample was 30 students. The researcher used the writing test as an instrument for this research. The researcher asked the students to write affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense by combining the pairs of incorrect independent clauses that the researcher provided in the test. Then, the researcher asked the students to choose appropriate conjunction for the sentences. The researcher found that the reliability index of the test was 0.99. Then, the test was valid. The researcher used content validity. The researcher followed several steps in collecting the data. First, the researcher administrated the test for 60 minutes. Second, the researcher collected the students’ answers. Then, the researcher copied the students’ answers. One copy gave to the researcher while the other copy gave to the second assessor. Third, the researcher and the second assessor checked the students’ answers based on the criteria of error. While in analyzing the data, the researcher follows several steps. First, the researcher prepared the data for analysis. Second, the researcher found the average total error from the first assessor and the second assessor. Third, the researcher counted the percentage of each type of error. Four, the researcher analyzed each type of error. Five, the researcher reported the result. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS The researcher found the total error made by the students in writing was 1.587. The error consisted of four types of error. They were omission error (21.30%), addition error (6.36%), misformation error (67.04%), and misordering error (5.29%). To be clear, the finding is shown in table 1 below: Table 1 Types of Error in General No Types of Error Frequency of Students’ Error Average Percentage of Error 1. Omission 338 21.30% 2. Addition 101 6.36% 3. Misformation 1.064 67.04% 4. Misordering 84 5.29% Total 1.587 Referring to the finding above, the highest percentage of error in students’ writing was misformation error (67.04%). This study is in line with the result of the study conducted by Novalia (2018). She found that the highest frequency of error made by the students in using correlative conjunction was misformation (56.19%). Types of Omission Error After analyzing the data, the researcher found there were nine types of omission error made by the student in writing affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense. They were omission of pronoun (3.25%), omission of conjunction (6.21%), omission of be (to be) (24.56%), omission of verb (19.38%), omission of plural form (22.19%), omission of preposition (0.59%), omission of article (19.53%), omission of noun (1.78%), and omission of (to) infinitive (2.51%). Among the nine types of omission error, the highest percentage of omission error in students’ writing was omission of be (to be) (24.56%). It can be concluded that the students often omit auxiliary (be) (24.56%) in writing affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense. Types of Addition Error After analyzing the data, the researcher found there were seven types of addition error made by the student in writing affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense. They were addition of pronoun (2.97%), addition of conjunction (3.96%), addition of be (to be) (25.74%), addition of verb (1.98%), addition of plural form (30.20%), addition of preposition (0.99%), addition of article (34.16%). Among the seven types of addition error, the highest percentage of addition error in students’ writing was addition of article (34.16%). It can be concluded that the students often made error in addition of article in writing affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense. Types of Misformation Error After analyzing the data, the researcher found there were seven types of misformation error made by the student in writing affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense. They were misformation of pronoun (8.27%), misformation of conjunction (21.15%), misformation of (–be) (1.13%), misformation of verb (49.91%), misformation of plural form (0.66%), misformation of preposition (8.36%), and misformation of article (8.98%). Among the seven types of misformation error, the highest percentage of misformation error in students’ writing was misformation of verb (49.91%). It can be concluded that the students often made error in using form of verb in writing affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense. Types of Misordering Error After analyzing the data, the researcher found there were three types of misordering error made by the student in writing affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense. They were misordering of pronoun (34.52%), misordering of conjunction (22.62%), misordering of noun (42.86%). Among the three types of misordering error, the highest percentage of misordering error in students’ writing was misordering of noun (42.86%). It can be concluded that the students often made error in the placement of noun in writing affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS Based on the finding, the researcher found that all the second year students of the English Department of Bung Hatta University made errors in writing affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense. The researcher found that there were four types of error in students’ writing. They were omission error (21.30%), addition error (6.36%), misformation error (67.04%), and misordering error (5.29%). The highest error was misformation error (67.04%). Related to the study, the researcher would like to give suggestion. The researcher suggests the students improve their knowledge about grammar and the material of writing affirmative compound sentences in the Simple Present Tense. The researcher also suggests the lecturer to find out teaching strategies to avoid the students making errors in writing the sentence. For the next researcher, the researcher suggests finding the factors that make the students make errors in writing. Keywords: error, error analyses, grammar, grammatical error, compound sentence, simple present tense.