ANALYSIS OF ERROR IN ENGLISH ACADEMIC WRITING OF A NINETH GRADE STUDENT OF SMP HARAPAN DENPASAR IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2010/2011

ANALYSIS OF ERROR IN ENGLISH ACADEMIC WRITING

OF A NINETH GRADE STUDENT OF SMP HARAPAN DENPASAR

IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2010/2011 

Written by: Luh Ketut Sri Widhiasih

I. INTRODUCTION

The ability to write well is not a naturally acquired skill; it is usually learned or culturally transmitted as a set of practices in formal instructional settings or other environments. Writing skills must be practiced and learned through experience. Writing also involves composing, which implies the ability either to tell or retell pieces of information in the form of narratives or description, or to transform information into new texts, as in expository or argumentative writing. Perhaps it is best viewed as a continuum of activities that range from the more mechanical or formal aspects of "writing down" on the one end, to the more complex act of composing on the other end (Omaggio Hadley, 1993 in Myles, 2002).

It is undoubtedly the act of composing, though, which can create problems for students, especially for those writing in a second language (L2) in academic contexts. Formulating new ideas can be difficult because it involves transforming or reworking information, which is much more complex than writing as telling. By putting together concepts and solving problems, the writer engages in "a two-way interaction between continuously developing knowledge and continuously developing text" (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987, in Myles, 2002). Indeed, academic writing requires conscious effort and practice in composing, developing, and analyzing ideas. Compared to students writing in their native language (L1), however, students writing in their L2 have to also acquire proficiency in the use of the language as well as writing strategies, techniques and skills. They might also have to deal with instructors and later, faculty members, who may or may not get beyond their language problems when evaluating their work. Although a certain amount of consciousness-raising on the part of the readers may be warranted, students want to write close to error-free texts and they enter language courses with the expectations of becoming more proficient writers in the L2.

In learning second or foreign language, errors occur as the process of learning a target language. According to Richards et al in Anchalee (2008) error refers to the use of linguistic item in a way that a fluent or native speaker of the language regards it as showing faulty or incomplete learning.

There are two major causes of error in language learning that are recognized by Error Analysis experts and researchers, namely interlingual and intralingual transfer. Based on Abisamra (2003) stated that interlingual/transfer errors are those attributed to the native language (NL). There are interlingual errors when the learner’s L1 habits (patterns, systems or rules) interfere or prevent him/her, to some extent, from acquiring the patterns and rules of the second language (Corder, 1971 in Abisamra, 2003).

On the other hand, Intralingual/Developmental errors are those due to the language being learned (TL), independent of the native language. According to Richards (1970) in Abisamra, (2003) they are “items produced by the learner which reflect not the structure of the mother tongue, but generalizations based on partial exposure to the target language. The learner, in this case, tries to “derive the rules behind the data to which he/she has been exposed, and may develop hypotheses that correspond neither to the mother tongue nor to the target language” (Richards, 1970 in Abisamra, 2003).

This study will investigate some grammatical problems in the acquisition of English academic writing by Junior High School Student in Denpasar. By comparing errors committed at different cycles of study by the same person. The researcher can find out what their dominant errors are. One important reason to do so is that most of them do not know whether they have improved or not in their English academic writing.



II. METHODOLOGY

The focus of this research was to identify interlanguage on English academic writing of a student at SMP Harapan, Denpasar. She is a ninth grade learner at SMP Harapan, Denpasar. She is 14 years old and native speaker of Indonesian.

In the first writing the teacher asked the student to write about their family. For the second writing, the student was asked to write about her experience during holiday. And finally, in the third writing, she was asked to write about her best friend. Further, she had to submit her writings and these were analyzed by using Error Analysis. Error Analysis which was elaborated by Ellis (1997) and Hubbard et al. (1996) in Erdogan (2003) provided four steps in analyzing errors, namely colleting data, identifying errors, classifying error and describing error.



III. FINDINGS

After collecting, identifying, and classifying errors in her English written production, the researcher found that there are two sources of error namely, interlingual and intralingual transfer.



a. Interlingual Transfer


Errors


· We will never forget our experience

(We will never forget our experience).



· There are there people in my family: ....

(There are three people in my family: …)






· Her hobby is watch

(Her hobby is watching)



· …her is sweet girls.

(…sheis a sweet girl.)






· At home usually get up morning to preparing me breakfast.

(At home I usually get up in the morning to prepare my breakfast.)



· After that she cleaning home and go to her office.

(After that she cleans home and goes to her office.)


· This time, I want to tell you about my mother.

(Now, I want to tell you about my mother.)



· At home usually get up morning to preparing me breakfast.

(At home I usually get up in the morning to prepare my breakfast.)



· I can enjoyed days holiday…

(I could enjoy my holiday)



· I with Uttari went…

(I and Uttari went…)



· I played sand beach with my son

(I played sand with my brother)



· I went to market buy necesseries school

(I went to market to buy school equipment)



· Her body is slim and not very tall

(Her body is slim and not too tall)



· She includes diligent, cause each to get home work

(She is diligent, because she always does the home work)



· In there scenery is beautiful

(There, the scenery is beautiful)



· In there,…and my sister very enjoyed surfing

(There,…and my sister enjoyed surfing so much)



· Me usually to invite her for to do home work…

(I usually invite her to do home work…)

· Her and me has most same to like will something

(She and I mostly like the same things)



· Usually she teach me to behave good.

(Usually she teaches me to behave well.)




b. Intralingual Transfer


Errors


· Her always give advice to me.

(She always gives advice to me.)



· In office her is very diligent, her finishing her job on time.

(In office she is very diligent, she finishes her job on time.)



· There are there people in my family: my father, my mother and me.

(There are there people in my family: my father, my mother and I)



· …her is sweet girls.

(…sheis a sweet girl.)



· Her always to pay on time

(She always pays on time)



· Me usually to invite her for to do home work…

(I usually invite her to do home work…)



· Her and me has most same to like will something

(She and I mostly like the same things)



· Her very like pizza…

(She likes pizza so much)



· Her is polite children

(She is a polite child)


· Her always to pay on time

(She always pays on time)



· Usually she teach me to behave good.

(Usually she teaches me to behave well.)



· At home usually get up morning to preparing me breakfast.

(At home she usually gets up in the morning to prepare me breakfast.)



· After that she cleaning home and go to her office.

(After that she is cleaning home and goes to her office.)



· I can enjoyed days holiday…

(I could enjoy my holiday)



· Then we come back in my house

(Then we came back to my house)



· I helped my mother cooked in my kitchen to prepared breakfast.

(I helped my mother to cook in my kitchen preparing breakfast.)



· I went to market buy necesseries school

(I went to market to buy school equipment)



· I went to uttari house to say Happy Galungan Day

(I went to uttari’s house to say Happy Galungan Day)



· We are very fun in there

(We were very fun there)



· Because we can enjoyed …

(Because we could enjoy …)



· We can surfing together.

(We could do surfing together.)



· She very like to look arounds

(She likes to look around)



· She never boring each play and study…

(She has never bored every time she plays and studies…)



· She always give advice to me each me

(She always gives advice to me)



· I not boring with her, and her too

(I am not bored with her, and her too)




Note:

Bold written : wrong sentence or phrases

Based on the classification above, it could be seen that most of errors produced by learner are caused by intralingual transfer.



IV. CONCLUSION

The results of this study showed that there were two types of error namely interlingual error and intralingual error occurred. The need to achieve communicative purposes in EFL classroom turned out to be a big motivation for her to acquire English in creative way-translate phrases from Indonesia to English directly without considering the English grammatical rules. As a conclusion, it is important for the teacher to know in what way their students make mistake, so that the teachers can improve it well.

V. REFERENCES



Abisamra.2003. An Analysis of Errors in Arabic Speakers’ English Writings.Downloaded on April, 8th 2010 from http://abisamra03.tripod.com/nada/languageacq-erroranalysis.html

Erdogan.2005.Contribution of Error Analysis to Foreign Language Teaching.Downloaded on April 8th 2010 from http://efd.mersin.edu.tr/dergi/meuefd_2005_001_002/pdf/meuefd_2005_001_002_0261-0270_erdogan.pdf

Ellis.1987.Understanding Second Language Acquisition.Oxford:Oxford University Press. Myles, Johanne. 2002. Second Language Writing and Research: The Writing Process and Erro Analysis in Student Texts. http//www. error analysis.html