Errors in Compositions of The Students of SMKN 2 Tegallalang
I Wayan Diarsa(a), Nyoman Sujaya (b), Ni Made Suwendri (c*)

Warmadewa University

Abstract

This study aims to explore the grammatical errors made by the students of SMKN 2 Tegallalang in practising English. The theory applied for this study is Error Analysis Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition (1974) edited by Jack C. Richards. In this study, the method applied is descriptive analysis method. The data of the analysis are taken from the compositions by the students of SMKN 2 Tegallalang. Then the errors were collected and classified based on the types of errors according to the theory applied. As a result of analysis, it shows that some errors are made by the students in writing a sentence. Actually they seem to be clever to use English in writing grammatically, however they are lack of knowledge as seen in the errors encountered in their statement. The error found can be classified into error of using singular-plural, error of using word form, error of using word choice, error of using verb tense, error of using add word, error of omit word, error of using word order, error of spelling, error of using punctuation, error of using article, error of meaning not clear, and error of run-on sentence. In conclusion, the students have learned English for some years in junior high school, but they still make many errors in practicing their English. It is very big problem for the English teacher and institution related. There are some factors that made the students made some errors, such as- their age, their motivation, and English as a foreign language.

Keywords: Error analysis- Errors in compositions- second language acquisition

Topic: Humanities