AN ANALYSIS ON STUDENTS’ ERRORS IN UNDERSTANDING SIMPLE

PAST TENSE AND PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

(A Case Study at the First Grade Students of SMK Dua Mei Ciputat)

By:

Inayatul Mustafidah

NIM: 108014000093

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS TRAINING

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH

JAKARTA

2014

i

ABSTRACT

AN ANALYSIS ON STUDENTS’ ERRORS IN UNDERSTANDING

SIMPLE PAST TENSE AND PRESENT PERFECT TENSE. (A Case Study

in the First Grade Students of SMK Dua Mei, Ciputat). Skripsi of English

Education Department at Faculty of Tabiyah and Teachers’ Training of State

Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. 2014

Keywords: Error, Error Analysis, Common Errors in Simple Past tense, Common

Errors in Present Perfect Tense.

This study was carried out to analyze and to classify the types and the

sources of students’ errors in understanding simple past tense and present perfect

tense. The types of error were classified based on James’ theory and the sources

of error were classified by Brown’s theory. Besides, the purpose of this study is to

find out their frequency of occurrence and to find out the sources of errors which

students made in understanding simple past tense and present perfect tense.

The method used in this study was descriptive qualitative. The descriptive

qualitative design applied in this study was case study. Furthermore, the subject of

this study was First Grade students of AK class of SMK Dua Mei Ciputat which

consisted of 30 students and the writer only took 28 students as the sample

because there were 2 students absent when the research was done. The data were

collected through observation and test.

The result of the error analysis process showed that students committed

error into four types: omission, addition, misselection, and misordering. From the

frequency of each error types, misselection was the error which most frequently

produced by the students. It took 71.09% of the total errors. Moreover, 15.94%

errors fell into omission and 11.30% errors fell into addition. For misordering, it

only took 1.67%. These errors were conducted because most of the students were

still influenced by partial learning and the students did not understand about the

rules of target language as well, so that the students generalized the rule and

applied it incompletely (intralingual transfer). Besides, errors occured because of

their mother tongue and their Indonesian logical thinking (interlingual transfer).

To sum up, it showed that the understanding of simple past tense and present

perfect tense is difficult for students.

ii

ABSTRAK

ANALISA KESALAHAN-KESALAHAN SISWA DALAM MEMAHAMI

SIMPLE PAST TENSE DAN PRESENT PERFECT TENSE. (A Case Study

at the First Grade Students of SMK Dua Mei Ciputat). Skripsi jurusan

Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Fakultas Ilmu Tarbiyah dan Keguruan Universitas

Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. 2014.

Keywords: Error, Error Analysis, Error Analysis in Simple Past tense, Error

Analysis in Present Perfect Tense.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis dan mengelompokkan

kesalahan-kesalahan yang dilakukan oleh siswa dalam memahami simple past

tense dan present perfect tense. Jenis-jenis kesalahan tersebut dikelompokkan

berdasarkan teori James sedangkan sumber-sumber kesalahan dikelompokkan

berdasarkan teori Brown. Selain itu, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memperoleh

persentasi dari setiap jenis kesalahan yang dilakukan oleh siswa, serta untuk

mengetahui penyebab terjadinya kesalahan-kesalahan yang dilakukan oleh siswa

dalam memahami simple past tense dan present perfect tense.

Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kualitatif

deskriptif, sedangkan pola umum atau rancangan penelitian yang digunakan oleh

peneliti adalah studi kasus (case study). Selanjutnya, peneliti memilih siswa kelas

XAK yang berjumlah 30 orang. Tetapi penulis hanya mengambil 28 siswa sebagai

sample dalam penelitian ini karena 2 siswa tidak hadir ketika penelitian ini

dilaksanakan. Data dalam penelitian ini diperoleh melalui observasi dan test.

Hasil dari proses error analysis adalah siswa melakukan empat jenis

kesalahan yaitu omission, addition, misselection, and misordering. Dilihat dari

presentase setiap jenis kesalahan, selection merupakan jenis kesalahan yang

paling sering dilakukan dengan presentase sebesar 71.09%. Selanjutnya,

kesalahan omission sebesar 15.94%, addition sebesar 11.30%, sedangkan jenis

kesalahan ordering hanya sebesar 1.67% dari total kesalahan yang dilakukan oleh

siswa. Kesalahan-kesalahn tersebut terjadi karena sebagian besar siswa masih

dipengaruhi oleh pembelajaran yang belum tuntas dan siswa tidak mengerti secara

cermat aturan-aturan dalam bahasa target oleh karena itu siswa

mengeneralisasikan aturan (grammar rules) dan menerapkan aturan tersebut

dengan tidak sempurna (intralingual transfer). Disamping itu, kesalahan terjadi

karena dipengaruhi oleh bahasa ibu dan masih berfikir secara logika bahasa

Indonesia mereka (interlingual transfer). Sebagai kesimpulan, hal ini terlihat

bahwa siswa memiliki kesulitan dalam memahami simple past tense dan present

perfect tense.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All praises be to Allah,

Lord of the Worlds, who has bestowed strength and health upon the writer in

finishing this research paper. Peace and blessing be upon to our prophet

Muhammad Peace be upon him, his family, companions, and all his followers.

Alhamdulillah by the grace of Allah the Highest, the writer could finish

her research paper after long hard effort of writing. Thus, she would like to

express her greatest gratitude to her beloved parents (Afnan Qohar and Sumini)

who always pray, support, and motivate her in every part of her life especially in

doing this study.

The writer would also like to address her gratitude to her advisors Drs.

Zaenal Arifin Toy, M. Sc and Teguh Khaeruddin, MAppLing for their patient

guidance, kindness, valuable advice, and correction during the development of

this research.

She would like to express her deep appreciation and gratitude to:

1. All lecturers of English Education Department who have taught her new

knowledge and have given her gorgeous experiences in study.

2. Drs. Syauki, M.Pd. and Zahril Anasy M.Hum, the head and secretary of

English Education Department.

3. Dra. Nurlena, MA, Ph,D., as the Dean of Faculty Tarbiyah and Teachers’

Training of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

4. The principal and the English teacher of SMK Dua Mei Ciputat for

permitting and helping the writer to conduct the research.

5. All her beloved friends of English Education Department Class C for the

academic year 2008 whose names cannot be mentioned one by one who

always help and motivate her in accomplishing this research paper.

iv

May Allah, the Almighty bless them all. Aamin.

Finally, the writer realized that this research paper still has some weakness

and shortage. Thus, she would be grateful to accept any suggestions and

corrections from anyone for better research paper.

Jakarta, March 14th

, 2014

Inayatul Mustafidah

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... i

ABSTRAK ...................................................................................................... ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................. iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................. v

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................ vii

LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................. viii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study ..................................................... 1

B. Identification of the Problem .............................................. 3

C. Limitation of the Problem ................................................... 3

D. Formulation of the Problem ................................................. 4

E. Objective of the Study ......................................................... 4

F. Significance of the Study .................................................... 4

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. Error .…..…. ...................................................................... 5

1. Definition of Error…. ................................................... .5

2. Types of Error ............................................................... 6

3. Causes of Error ............................................................. 8

B. Error Analysis ................................................................... 10

1. Definition of Error Analysis ........................................ 10

2. Procedure of Error Analysis ........................................ 11

C. Error Analysis on Simple Past Tense ................................. 11

1. Common types of Error in Simple Past Tense.............. 11

2. Common Sources of Error in Simple Past Tense ......... 16

D. Error Analysis on Present Perfect Tense .............................19

1. Common Types of Errors in Present Perfect Tense….. 19

2. Common Sources of Errors in Present Perfect Tense…23

vi

E. The Differences between Simple Past tense and Present Perfect

Tense ................................................................................. .... 25

1. Form of Simple Past Tense ........................................... … 25

2. The Usage of Simple Past Tense .................................. … 26

3. Form of Present Perfect Tense ...................................... … 26

4. The Usage of Present Perfect Tense ............................. … 27

F. The Previous Related Study ............................................... … 27

CHAPTER III: REASERCH METHODOLOGY

A. Method of Research ........................................................... ... 29

B. Place and Time of Research …………. ............................ .... 29

C. Population and Sample ....................................................... … 29

D. Instrument of the Research ................................................ … 30

E. Techniques of Data Collecting .......................................... … 30

F. Techniques of Data Analysis ............................................. … 31

CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDING

A. Error Identification. ............................................................ .. 33

1. The Result of Observation ........................................... .. 33

2. The Result of Test ........................................................ .. 34

B. Description of Errors .......................................................... .. 79

C. Explanation of Errors .......................................................... .. 81

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion …………………………………………. ....... .. 84

B. Suggestion …………………………………………… .... .. 85

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... .. 86

APPENDICES

vii

LIST OF TABLES

3.1 Types of Error........................................................................................... 31

4.1 Table of Students’ Errors......................................................................... 34

4.29 Frequency and Percentage of the Error….............................................. 81

viii

LIST OF APPENDICES

Instrument of the test ................................................................................................. 88

Lembar Jawaban Siswa ............................................................................................. 91

Surat Pengajuan Judul ............................................................................................... 97

Lembar Pengesahan Proposal ................................................................................... 98

Surat Bimbingan Skripsi ............................................................................................ 99

Surat Permohonan Izin Penelitian ............................................................................. 101

Surat Keterangan Selesai Penelitian .......................................................................... 102

1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the general account of the present study. It covers

background of the study, identification of the problem, limitation of the problem,

formulation of the problem, objective of the study, and significance of the study.

A. Background of the Study

All people in this world need language to communicate. As the writer knows

that English is an international language. Therefore, it is crucial to be mastered. Some

countries use English as a first language and a second language while others use it as

a foreign language. While in Indonesia, English is used as a foreign language which

is taught in schools and it has been taught in every level of school education. In fact,

English becomes a compulsory subject which is learnt by the students.

In learning English, students are required to master grammar. By mastering

grammar, they can build up the sentences and express their ideas for communication

activities. Besides, they can also improve their ability in understanding reading text.

Those are some advantages the students will get through learning English grammar.

Meanwhile, English grammar is different from Indonesian.

One of the grammar aspects is tense. In making a sentence in English either

written or spoken, tense plays a very important role. In English, each sentence always

contains tense. Lock pointed, tense is different forms of a verb that indicate

distinctions in time.1 There are many kinds of tenses such as simple present tense,

simple past tense, present perfect tense, present progressive tense etc. From those

tenses, some students find some difficulties in understanding simple past tense and

present perfect. To understand simple past tense and present perfect tense is not easy

1 Graham Lock, Functional English Grammar, (London: Cambridge University Press, 1996),

p. 163.

2

especially for Indonesian students because the translation of these tenses have no

differences in Indonesian.2

According to the writer‟s experience, the students usually make errors on

tense usage in the verb form and the use of time signal. The students sometimes do

not understand when the verb form will be used whether in past or present. Here are

some mistakes that are often made by the students.

*Have you study English? Yes, I have study English.

* I have writted a novel last week.

The sentences above are incorrect. In the first sentence, the students do not

know the interrogative and affirmative form of present perfect tense. The

interrogative form of the sentence above should use past participle „studied‟.

However, the students use simple form. Then, the answer of the question uses simple

form too “study” that should be “studied” because the affirmative form of present

perfect tense is subject+ have+ past participle.3 In the second sentence, the

sentence must be past tense but the students use present perfect tense because they

feel difficult to choose which tenses should they use whether past tense or present

perfect tense. This error happens because they do not know the usage of simple past

tense and present perfect tense. They also do not know the past participle of “write”.

The writer thinks that this problem happens because there is no verb

agreement and tense marker in Indonesian.4 Then, the translation of simple past tense

and present perfect tense have no differences in Indonesian. If someone does not

understand the tense well, she/he can break the language use. Indeed, it causes

misunderstanding in communication. Therefore, it needs an error analysis to correct

the error and avoid miscommunication.

Error analysis is important in language learning process because it can help

teacher to know the strengths and weaknesses of the students. It can also improve

teachers‟ effectiveness in teaching. For the students, it helps them to reduce the errors

2 http://id.shvoong.com/writing-and-speaking/presenting/2103555-differences-present-perfect-

tense (Sunday, March 30th

, 2014:17.00). 3 A. J Thomson and A. V martinet, a Practical English Grammar, (New York: Oxford

University Press, 1986), p. 165. 4 John Lyons, Linguistic Semantic, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 25.

3

and improve their abilities in learning target language. Error analysis gives some

advantages to the teachers and students. It can help them to achieve the goal of

language learning process.

Based on the description above, the writer intends to analyze the students‟

errors in understanding simple past tense and present perfect tense. As the writer

knows, many students find some difficulties in understanding simple past tense and

present perfect tense. Therefore, she would like to discuss it in her thesis under the

title “An Analysis on Students’ Errors in Understanding Simple Past Tense and

Present Perfect Tense” (A case study at the first grade student of SMK Dua Mei

Ciputat).

B. Identification of the Problem

Based on the background of the study above, the writer identifies some

problems, such as:

1. Simple past tense and present perfect tense are difficult to be mastered for

Indonesian students.

2. Many students cannot differentiate between simple past tense and present

perfect tense.

3. Many students made errors in the form and usage of simple past tense and

present perfect tense especially in the irregular verb.

4. There are some causes why the students made errors in understanding

simple past tense and present perfect tense.

C. Limitation of the Problem

In order to achieve the goal of the research, the writer limits the problem on

students‟ errors in the form and usage of the simple past tense and present perfect

tense. The writer uses Carl James‟s error classification for this research. The problem

is limited on analyzing the students‟ errors in the types of misselection, missordering,

omission and addition. While in analyzing the causes of errors, the writer uses

Brown‟s classifications which consist of; intralingual, interlingual, context of

learning and communication strategy.

4

D. Formulation of the Problem

Based on the limitation of the study, the problems of this study can be

formulated as follow:

1. What are types of errors that made by the students in using simple past

tense and present perfect tense?

2. What are the causes of students‟ errors in using simple past tense and

present perfect tense?

E. Objective of the Study

The objectives of this study are:

1. To identify the types of errors made by the students in using simple past

tense and present perfect tense.

2. To identify the causes of errors made by the students in using simple past

tense and present perfect tense.

F. Significance of the Study

The writer would like to find out some errors that faced by the students, the

types and the causes of them for the first grade students of SMK Dua Mei Ciputat in

the term of form and usage. The writer also expects that this thesis will be useful for

herself, English teacher, students and other people in general. For writer, this

research can improve and increase her analytical skill which will prevent her from

making the same errors. For English teachers, this research may help them to know

how good their students‟ ability in understanding simple past tense and present

perfect tense. For students, this research may assist them to improve their

understanding in simple past tense and present perfect tense. For other people, the

result may serve as guideline for the future study related to the subject.

5

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter presents the theoretical framework of the study. It consists of

error, error analysis, error analysis on simple past tense, error analysis on present

perfect tense, differences between simple past tense and present perfect tense and the

previous related study. In error part contains definition of error, types of errors and

causes of error. In error analysis contains definition of error analysis and the

procedure of error analysis. Next subchapter is error analysis on simple past tense

which involves common types of errors and common source of errors. Then,

common types of errors and common source of errors on present perfect tense will be

discussed in the next subchapter. The next subchapter is differences between simple

past tense and present perfect tense. The last is the previous related study.

A. Error

1. Definition of Error

To know further about error, the writer tries to describe the linguists‟

views about it. Brown stated that error is caused by lack of knowledge about the

target language or by incorrect hypothesis about it. Error is noticeable and cannot

be self-corrected. It is deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, and

reflects the competence of the learner. Error reveals the portion of the learner‟s

competence in the target language.1

Dullay claimed “Error is flawed side of learner speech and writing. It is

parts of conversation or composition that deviates from some selected norm of

mature language performance.”2 While Corder defined error is as a systematic

deviation made by learners who have not yet mastered the rules of L2.3

1 H. Douglas Brown, Principle of Language Learning and Teaching, (New York: Prentice

Hall Regents, 1987), p. 127. 2 Heidi Dullay et al., Language Two, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 138.

3 Pit Corder, Introducing Applied Linguistics, (Middlesex: Penguin, 1973), p. 277.

6

According to Harmer an error is a part of student‟s interlanguage that is

version of the language which is a learner has any one stage of development and

continually reshape as he or she aims toward full mastery.4

From what have been suggested by some linguists about errors above, the

writer concludes that what is meant by error is the incurrent use of language

system elements and it cannot be self- corrected. It can be said that error occurs if

the learner has not yet learnt an item although this item has been covered in class.

2. Types of Error

A number of different categories for describing errors have been

identified. Firstly, Corder classified the error in terms of the difference between

the learners‟ utterance and the reconstructed version. In this way, error is

classified into four categories: omission of some required element; addition of

some unnecessary or incorrect element; selection of an incorrect element; and

misordering of the elements.5

Erdogan on his journal entitled Contribution of Error Analysis to Foreign

Language Teaching mentioned Ellis stated that “classifying error in these ways

can help us to diagnose learners‟ learning problems at any stage of their

development and to plot how changes in error patterns occur over time.” This

categorization can be exemplified as follows:6

Omission:

Omission is an error which is characterized by absence of an item that

must appear in a well-form utterance. E.g. *Mary President new company. This

example is categorized as omission since the student omitted the part of the

sentence. This sentence is incorrect because there is no verb after the subject.

Also, there is no article “of” before the word “new”. The correct sentence should

be; Mary is a president of new company.

4 Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, (London: Pearson

Education, Inc.,), 5th

ed, p. 100. 5Pit Corder, ibid.

6 Vacide Erdogan, Contribution of Error Analysis to Foreign Language Teaching, Mersin

University Journal of the Faculty of Education, 2005, p. 264.

7

Addition:

This type of error is contradicted to the previous one. The characteristic of

this error is known by the presence of an item, which must not appear in a well-

formed utterance. E.g. *He is buys a book. The sentence is incorrect because there

two verbs “is and buys”. Because the tense is present tense, to be “is” should not

be omitted in that sentence.

Selection:

This error is characterized by the use of wrong form of morpheme or

structure. In this error, learner supplies something although it is incorrect. E.g. *I

see a teeth. The word “teeth” in the example above has a plural meaning whereas

there is article “a” which shows a singular meaning. The subject failed to choose

correct morpheme that should be “tooth”.

Ordering:

The incorrect placement of a morpheme or a group of morpheme in

utterance is the character of this error. E.g. *I do not know what that is. The

sentence is incorrect because auxiliary in declaration sentence should be placed

before object. The correct sentence should be; I do not know what is that.

Another type of error is classified by Dullay in Language Two. According

to him, error based on the communicative taxonomy is divided into two parts.

a. Global Errror

Global error is an error which hinders communication; it prevents the

learner from comprehending some aspect of message. For instance, *I like

bus but my mother said so not that we must be late for school. Since the

hearer cannot understand the meaning of the sentence so it is categorized as

global error.

b. Local Error

Local error is an error which is not interference with understanding of an

utterance. For instance, *I angry will be local error since the meaning is

apparent.7 Local error does not prevent the message from being understood

7 Heidi Dullay, Ibid., p. 147

8

because there is a minor violation of one segment of a sentence that allows

the hearer to guess the meaning.

3. Causes of Error

Error happened because of some reasons. One of the strategies to prevent

students making error is by looking at the causes of the error itself. Here are some

causes of errors classified by linguists.

Brown classified the causes of error into four categories; interlingual

transfer, intralingual transfer, context learning, and communication strategy.8

While, Hubbard in a Training Course for TEFL mentioned that Corder

claimed there are three major causes of error; transfer errors, analogical errors and

teaching-induced errors. Hubbard himself proposed the same categories with

different names, they are: mother-tongue interference, overgeneralization and

error encourage by teaching material or method.9

a. Interlingual Transfer

Interlingual transfer occurs because the interference of a mother

tongues into a target language. “In this early stage, before the system of

the second language is familiar, the native language is the only linguistic

system in previous experience upon which the learner can draw.”10

The

other name of interlingual transfer is mother tongue interference. It is an

error which the sound system (phonology) and the grammar of the first

language impose themselves on the new language and this leads to a

„foreign language‟ pronunciation faulty grammatical pattern and,

occasionally, to the wrong choice of vocabulary.11

b. Intralingual Transfer

Intralingual transfer is a major factor in second language learning.

The early stage of language learning is characterized by a predominance of

8 Brown, op cit., p. 173.

9 Peter Hubbard et al., A training Course for TEFL, (New York: Oxford University Press,

1983), pp. 140-143. 10

Brown, op. cit., p. 177. 11

Hubbard, Ibid.,

9

interference (interlingual transfer), but once learners have begun to acquire

parts of the new system, more and more intralingual transfer is

manifested.12

The other name of this category is overgeneralization. It is

error which is inevitable because it reflects various stages in the language

development of the learner. The learner processes new language data in his

mind and produces rules for its production, based on the evidence.13

c. Context of Learning

Context refers to the classroom with its teacher and its material in

the case of school learning.14

In a classroom context, the teacher or the

textbook can lead the learner to make faulty hypotheses about the

language. Students often make errors because of a misleading from the

teacher, faulty presentation of a structure or word in a textbook. This cause

of error is as the same as error encourage by teaching material or method.

It is an error which is caused by ineffective teaching or lack of control.

This error occurs when the material is not well chosen and presented with

meticulous careless.15

d. Communication of Strategies

Communication strategies were defined and related to learning

style.16

Learners obviously use production strategies in order to enhance

getting their message across but at times, these techniques can themselves

become a source of error.

In this research, the writer uses four causes of error which has taken from

Brown‟s theory of error analysis. They are; interlingual, intralingual, context of

learning, and communication of strategies.

12

Brown, op. cit., p. 178. 13

Hubbard, op. cit., p. 141. 14

Brown, op. cit., p. 179. 15

Hubbard, op. cit., p.142. 16

Brown, op. cit ., p. 180.

10

B. Error Analysis

Error analysis is a way of looking at errors that made by the students while

they learn target language. It is important for the teacher to study about error analysis

because it can help the students to avoid the error. Here are some definitions of error

analysis according to the linguists.

1. Definition of Error Analysis

According to Brown, “The fact that learners do make errors and that these

errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified to reveal something of the system

operating within the learner, led to a surge of study of learners‟ errors, called error

analysis.”17

It means that error analysis is a process to observe, analyze and

classified the errors made by the students to right the wrong sentences made by

them.

Error analysis is a kind of linguistic analysis that concerns on the errors

learners made. It emerged as a reaction to Contrastive Analysis theory, which

considered errors as the result of the interference from learner‟s mother tongue.

James pointed out, "Error analysis is the process of determining the incidence,

nature, cause and consequences of unsuccessful language."18

Errors always occur

in language learning process especially foreign language and it is impossible for

students never make errors because producing errors is an inevitable process.19

Therefore, error analysis is needed to help teacher realizes that the errors which

are made by the learner in language learning process should be analyzed carefully

because with this analysis, the teacher can identify the difficult areas that are

faced by the learners.

Based on the definitions above, it can be concluded that error analysis is a

way or methodology in language learning to observe or analyze the learner‟s

errors in order to facilitate the goal of the target language.

17

Ibid., p. 218. 18

Carl James, Error in Language Learning and Use, (New York: Longman, 1998), p. 80. 19

Heidi Dulay, op. cit., p. 138.

11

2. Procedure of Error Analysis

In the language teaching, either a native or a second language teaching,

study about students‟ error is very important. There are some procedures in error

analysis:20

These procedures are written to facilitate the teacher in analyzing the

errors.

a. Identification of error, the first step in the process of analysis is

recognition/ identification of errors. In this step teachers recognize the

students‟ errors from the task given by the teacher.

b. Description of errors, the next step is the describing errors. It begins when

an identification stage has taken place. The description of student errors

involves classification of kinds of errors made by the students.

c. Explanation of errors, the third step in the process of analysis is the

explanation of error that can be regarded as a linguistic problem. This step

attempts to account for how and why the students‟ errors happen.

d. Evaluation of errors, in this step, the teacher gives evaluation from the task

that teacher will be giving to the students.

e. Preventing or correction of error, finally the last step in the process of

analysis is correction of error when the teacher checks the result from the

task done by the students then, the teacher gives the correct answer from

the error has been done by the students.21

In this stage, the teacher gave a

feedback to the students‟ task in order to prevent them make the same

errors.

C. Error Analysis on Simple Past Tense

1. Common Types of Error in Simple Past Tense

Ratnah on her journal “Error Analysis on Tenses Usage Made by

Indonesian Students” found that types of errors made by the students at the first

semester of tour and travel department, academic year 2012/2013 in tenses usage

20

Theo Van Els et al., Applied Linguistics and the Learning and Teaching of Foreign

Languages, (London: a Devision of Hodder and Stoughton, 1983), p. 47. 21

Ibid.,

12

were error of omission, error of selection and error of addition, particularly in

using verb, time signals and the use of auxiliary verb.22

She found that the most

common errors made by the students in using simple past tense is error in

selection of irregular / regular verb and error in selection of time signal. Here are

the results of the error analysis on simple past tense:

Error of Selection of Irregular and Regular Verb

• Source sentence : “Saya sudah menulis surat kemarin”

Erroneous translation: “I write a letter yesterday”

Suggested translation: “I wrote a letter yesterday”

The error happened in the sentence above because the students failed to

select the irregular verb of the word “write”. They used present participle instead

of past tense because there is no tense marker in Indonesian. Besides, English is

different from Indonesian.

• Source sentence : “Saya sudah memanggil Rudi tadi malam”

Erroneous translation : “I call Rudi last night”

Suggested translation: “I called Rudi last night”

The error happened in the sentence above because the students failed to

select the correct verb of “call” in past tense. It should be “called”. The students

used present participle because there is no differences of the translation between

Indonesian and English. Therefore, it is important for the students to learn and

understand about the differences between tenses in English.

Error of Selection Time Signal

• Source sentence : “Ali sudah membeli buku ini dua minggu yang lalu”

Erroneous translation: “Ali bough this book two last week”

Suggested translation: “Ali bought this book two weeks ago”

The error in the sentence above happened because the students failed to

select the time signal in past tense. The students were influenced by their mother

tongue to translate word by word the adverbial of time” two weeks ago”. This

error happened because there is no tense marker in Indonesian. Besides, they also

22

Ratnah, Error Analysis on Tenses Usage Made by Indonesian Students, Journal of

Education and Practice ISSN, 2013, p. 164.

13

failed to choose the correct irregular verb of “bought” because they did not know

the past participle of the “buy”.

Based on the description above, it has been found that the types of errors

made by the students are error of selection (selection of regular and irregular and

selection of time signal).

Whereas, Ansar and his friends on their research on title Errors in Using

Simple Past Tense in Recount Texts at the SMP Lab UM found that there are

eleven types of errors classified by them namely; omission of to be, wrong form

of to be, wrong form of infinitive to, addition of to be (before/after), wrong form

of verb, wrong form of modal auxiliary, omission of verb, wrong form of negative

sentence, wrong form of question sentence, omission of subject pronoun, and

wrong use of subject pronoun.23

Here are some examples of the errors made by the students at the SMP

Lab UM:

a. Omission of to be: *I sleepy. The students omitted to be “was” because they

were influenced by their mother tongue and translated the sentence word by

word. The correct sentence should be “I was sleepy”.

b. Wrong form of to be: *She were angry. The students failed to choose the

correct to be that should be “was” because “was” used for the subject “I, she,

he and it” in simple past tense. The correct sentence should be “She was

angry”.

c. Wrong form of infinitive to: *My mother wanted to went shopping. This

sentence is incorrect because to infinitive is followed by present participle. It

should be “My mother wanted to go shopping”.

d. Wrong form of verb: *I go home yesterday. In this error, the students failed to

use the correct verb of “go” it should be “went” because the activity happened

in the past time (yesterday) so it must use past tense.

e. Wrong form of modal auxiliary: *I can helped my grandmother. In this

sentence, the students made error in forming modal auxiliary. They put past

23

Ansar et. al., Error in Using Simple Past Tense in Recount Text: Journal online.um.ac.id,

2008, p. 6.

14

participle after modal auxiliary “can”. The correct sentence should be “I can

help my grandmother”.

f. Wrong form of negative sentence: *I don’t brought it. In this sentence, the

students failed to form negative sentence of past tense. They used past

participle that should be present participle. Besides, they also made error in

selection of auxiliary “did” because they do not know the negative form of

simple past tense.

g. Wrong form of question sentence: *Do you brought my phone? In this

sentence, the students failed to form interrogative sentence of simple past tense

because they did not understand well about past tense. They used auxiliary

“do‟ instead of “did”. Also, they used past participle “brought” instead of

“bring” because the formula of past tense in interrogative is Did+ S+ V1. 24

Besides, Yuningsih in her thesis on tittle Analyzing the usage of simple

past tense and present perfect tense on third semester student of English

Department found that there were many errors made by the students in using

simple past tense and present perfect tense. The number of errors both tenses is

higher than the correct sentences found. It was about 59.99 %. What is

surprising is that the errors made by the students are not only in usage but also

in the form and verb spellings.25

Tittanean in his journal “L1 influence in simple past tense errors” the case

of Mandarin and Tamil ESL learners found there were some differences between

the learners in the frequency of some of the mistakes they made. The Mandarin

participants used over regularizations more frequently than the Tamil participants.

The Mandarin group‟s use of over regularizations accounted for 24.5% of their

total mistakes while this type of error only accounted for 8.0% of the Tamil total

mistakes.26

24

Ibid., 25

Yuningsih, Analyzing the Usage of Simple Past Tense and Present Perfect Tense:

Electronic journal of education, 2006, p. 4. 26

Mike Titanean, L1 Influence in Simple Past Tense Errors, Journal of Education, 2013, p.

50.

15

Other research was written by Blanca who has analyzed her student‟s error

named Ella. She found 38 instances of incorrect use of the simple past tense (i.e.

using it when she should not or not using it when she should). Here are some

examples from her finding:

*I felt very shameful because my mother has to wash dishes every day and has to

go to work. [In both cases, it should be “had”]. This kind of error happened

because the student used present participle “has” instead of had” in a recount

text. The tense used simple past tense because the student was retelling her

experience happened in the past so the verb used should be “had”.

*As my own experience, I still remember that I help my mother to wash dishes in

eight years old. [It should be “helped”].

*Then I was stood in front of my mother and said, “I will help you to wash dishes

today you could go and take a break.” [It should be “stood”].

The student also made some errors when she wrote an experience about

her past weekend. Here are the sentences:

*These were one more assignment that makes me crazy which is revising the

essay. [It should be “made” and “was”].

*My sister knows how to drive but she doesn’t know the location. [It should be

“didn‟t know”].

*I was totally forget to send you an email. [It should be “forgot”].

The number of the student‟s correct uses of the simple past tense may have

been inflated by the irregular verbs. For verbs that use the same form for the

simple present tense and the simple past tense, it is difficult to ascertain if she is in

fact using the past.27

The other result of the research was stated by Herlinawati. She found that

the errors of misinformation area are the most frequent errors in which the third

grade students at MTsN Pajajaran, Pamulang committed with 144 errors in

irregular verb. Moreover it is followed by errors of misinformation with 38 errors,

addition with 20 errors, omission with 43 erors and missordering with 43 errors.

27

Coma Blanca, Error Analysis: Simple Past Tense, Article, 2010, p. 3.

16

Then, error in irregular verb followed by errors 5 errors in addition, 20 errors in

omission, 15 errors in missordering and 63 errors in misinformation.28

From those finding, the writer concluded that the common errors happen

in the past tense are because of the misselection of regular and irregular verb.

2. Common Sources of Error in Simple Past Tense

Based on the types of errors described about it can be concluded that the

sources of errors made by the students in using past tenses covers: intralingual

error and interlingual errors and the causes of error are; interference,

overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restriction, and false concept hypothesized.29

Intralingual errors happen because of the incomplete rule application or

faulty generalization of the rule apply. It is often further subdivided. Thus,

Richards distinguishes the following:30

a. Overgeneralization errors arise when the learner creates a deviant

structure on the basis of the other structures in the target language. It

generally involves the creation of one deviant structure in place of two

target language structures for example *He can sings. The learner

knows he sings, he brings, he drinks, etc., but for using –s after a

modal, can, is incorrect because it is supposed to be a bare infinitive

which is put after modal. The learner over-generalized the –s addition

rule that is only used for third person in simple present tense.

b. Ignorance of rule restrictions involves the application of rules to contexts

where they do not apply. An example is *I made him to do it. Here the

learner ignores the restrictions on the distribution of make, that it is not

followed by to and a verb.

c. Incomplete application of rules involves a failure to fully develop a

structure. Thus learners of L2 English have been observed to use

28

Herlinawati, “Error Analysis on the Student‟s Writing Narrative Paragraph,” thesis on

State Islamic University of Jakarta: Jakarta, 2011, p. 33, not published. 29

Ratnah, loc. cit., 30

Rod Elis, the Study of Second Language Acquisition, (New York: Oxford University

Press, 1994), p. 59.

17

declarative word order in question for example:*you like to sing? In lace

of interrogative word order for example: Do you like to sing? This type of

intralingual error corresponds to what is often referred to as an error of

transitional competence.

d. False concepts hypothesized arise when the learner does not fully

comprehend a distinction in the target language. For example, the use of

„was‟ as a marker of past tense in *one day it was happened. The students

add “was” before the word happened. The auxiliary “was” should be

omitted because “happened” is categorized as intransitive verb.31

From the common types of error have been described by Ansar and friends

above, the source of error can be divided by intralingual and interlingual. He

found some errors categorized as an intralingual made by the students.

First is Overgeneralization factor. This error arises because the students

apply a structure that they already experience in another new situation. For

example, *I was went to Malang or *We visited be Jatim Park.

Second is Ignorance of rule restrictions. These errors occur when the

students ignore restriction of certain structures as in the following sentences:

*The waves is not too dangerous.

*I can helped my grandmother.

*My parents not accompany.

*Do you brought my phone and your computer?

*I and my friend swimming.

In this case, the students may be confused to use what kind of be that must

be used in the sentence, because in their mother tongue rules there is no difference

in meaning between both of them.

Third is incomplete application of rules. Here the students failed to apply

the correct English spelling pattern to different words. This cause of errors refers

to the students‟ failure to fully develop a structure, like in sentences below:

*I sleepy. In this case, the students omitted auxiliary “was” because they

31

Rod Ellis, ibid.

18

were influenced by their mother tongue to translate a sentence word by

word. The word “sleepy” is an adjective, so it needs auxiliary to make it

become complete sentence. Because the students are required to make a

recount text, the correct auxiliary must be “was”. The sentence above

should be “I was sleepy”.

*Before go home, we buy lots of fish. In this case, the students should

add “ing” after conjuction “before” and use past participle of the verb

“buy”. The correct sentence should be “Before going home, we bought

lots of fish”.

These types of errors occur when the students fail to make complete and

correct sentences.

Fourth is false concept hypothesized. Here the learners borrow an

element from one part of English pronunciation and put it into another. False

concept hypothesized derives from the students‟ faulty comprehension of

distinctions in the target language. It may be due to poor gradation of teaching

item which lead to students‟ confusion to distinguish two or more structures.

For example:

*Me helped grandmother in the kitchen.

In the sentence above, the students are failure to distinguish between

subject pronoun and object pronoun.

*My mother wanted to went shopping.

In that sentence, the students failed to distinguish infinitive to and past

simple. The students seemed confused in distinguishing when they have to use

past simple of the verbs and infinitive to. They may think that in the sentences of

simple past tense, every verb that occurs after subjects must be written in the

form of past tense.32

Ansar also mentioned that Brown stated interlingual errors are caused by

the interference of the mother tongue which has something to do with a

contrastive analysis hypothesis that aims at describing the differences and

32

Ansar et al., loc. cit.,

19

similarities between the two languages with a view to predicting possible

learning problems.33

There are two kinds of errors from the types of errors above which are

categorized into interlingual errors they are; omission of to be and wrong form of

verb. These two types of errors occur because of the negative transfer to the

target language. It means that the students make some errors by the effect of their

mother tongue, for examples in sentences *I sleepy.

This type of errors occur because be does not exist in the students‟ mother

tongue, so the causes of errors is called over differentiation in which a certain

target language item is not found in the native language. Another example is:

*We go home yesterday.

The sentence above is another type of errors in which the students are still

affected by their mother tongue. As the writer knows, in the student‟s native

language there are no verb changes such as in English. So, when the students

write the sentences of the simple past tense, they tend to use the infinitive verbs

without changing them into the verb form of past simple because of the effect of

their native language.34

D. Error Analysis on Present Perfect Tense

1. Common Types of Error in Present Perfect Tense

Arrakitsakul on his research An Error Analysis of Present Perfect Tense

found that the common types of error made by the freshman students of north

Bangkok in understanding present perfect tense are error in adverb of time,

regular and irregular verb, subject verb agreement, simple past tense and present

perfect distinguishing, and present perfect in translation and communication.35

The result of his study has shown that understanding on using the adverb

of time in present perfect tense was in moderate level (average 64%). The subjects

could recognize the aspect of present perfect tense and past participle verb both in

33

Ibid., 34

Ibid., 35

Yuttasak Arrakkitsakul, “an Error Analysis of Present Perfect Tense,” Thesis on

Thammasat University, Bangkok, 2008, p. 75, not published.

20

regular and irregular in moderate level (average 61%). The ability to use subject

and verb agreement in present perfect tense was in moderate level as the

percentage of correct answer is about 67%. The ability to distinguish the present

perfect tense and past tense usage was rather low (average 53.5%). The ability to

use present perfect tense for communication was in the low level as the percentage

of using present perfect tense in translation was 38% and speaking was only 23%.

According to the result, errors in the area of the present perfect tense

seemed to be the most problematic language areas for the subjects. Errors

occurred as following:

Subjects chose adverb of time or time markers in present perfect tense

correctly are 33% to 83%.

Subjects recognized the aspect of present perfect tense and past participle

verb both in regular and irregular form correctly are 27% to 80%.

Subjects identified the subject and verb agreement in present perfect tense

correctly when subject of sentence is noun phrase 48%, single noun 72%

and compound 80%.

Subjects distinguished the present perfect tense and past tense correctly

54% (for present perfect tense distinguishing) and 48% (for past simple

tense distinguishing).

Subjects used present perfect tense for translation from Thai to English

38% and other tenses 62%.

Subject used present perfect tense in speaking for communication 23%

and other tenses 77%.36

Besides, Hayyinatul on her thesis Analysis students difficulties in learning

present perfect tense at the second Year students of Anida Islamic Junior High

School found that there are 56,25% students who find difficulties in the use of

present perfect tense. There are 38.12% students who find difficulties in the form

36

Yuttasak Arrakkitsakul, ibid.

21

and have/has. 22.5% students who find difficulty in the form of regular verb, and

41.2% who find difficulty in the form of irregular verb.37

From those result, the writer conclude that the common types of error

faced by the students on present prefect tense involves the using of auxiliary

have/has, verb tense in forming regular and irregular verb.

Also, Aini found that types of error made by the students at the second

grade of SMP YAPIA covers error of omission 37 frequency or 19.58%, error of

misinformation 152 or 39.38% and error of misselection 197 or 51.04%.38

She

classified the errors into two part; error in the form and error in the use of present

perfect tense. The total error in the form of present perfect tense is 189 or 48.97%

which covers 57 frequency or 14.77% errors made by the students in the form

have/has in present perfect tense. 43 frequency or 11.14% errors made by the

students in the form of regular verb and 89 frequency or 23.05% in the form of

irregular verb. The total errors in the use of present perfect tense is 197 frequency

or 51.04%.39

From the finding above, it can be concluded that the highest percentage of

errors happen in the present perfect tense is in the use of present perfect tense. The

students have not mastered the form and the use of present perfect tense yet.

Another result was found by Gloria in his research at the first year students

of Spanish. He stated that the students showed problems with the choice of tense.

Students used present perfect instead of past perfect. This error can be explained

as false analogy because students seem to be overgeneralizing the use of present

perfect. The error in the present perfect made the students is 16.67% shows a high

frequency of errors. The most frequent error is misformation (use of infinitive

instead of past participle form of an irregular verb). This means there is

incomplete rule application.40

37

Jannah Hayyinatul, “Analysis Students‟ Difficulties in Learning Present Perfect Tense”,

Thesis on State Islamic University of Jakarta, Jakarta, 2009, p. 41, not published. 38

Nurul Aini, “an Error Analysis in Using Present Perfect Tense”, Thesis on State Islamic

University of Jakarta, Jakarta, 2012, p. 66. not published. 39

Nurul aini, ibid., 40

Carmen Gloria et al., Errors in the Use of English Tense, Journal of Education, 2012, p.

289.

22

Here are the examples of error made by the Spanish students:

Expected answer: You haven’t written.

Students‟ errors:

*You written. Type: Omission. The students omitted auxiliary “have not” in

forming negative sentence of perfect tense because they did not understand it

well. They should add auxiliary have/has after subject in present perfect tense. In

this example, the subject is “you”, so the suitable auxiliary should be “have”.

*You don’t have writing. Type: Misformation. This error categorized as

misinformation because the students failed to choose the correct verb in present

perfect tense. They used “don‟t” because they did not understand about the

formula of present perfect tense. It should be; “You have not written”

*You don’t have writed. Type: Misformation. In this case, the students failed to

choose auxiliary used in present perfect tense. Also, they did not know the past

participle of the word “write”. They overgeneralized the past participle of the

verb. Then, add “ed” after word “write”. The correct sentence should be” You

haven‟t written”.

* You haven’t write. Type: Misformation. This sentence is incorrect because the

students used present participle in the negative form of present perfect tense. They

did not understand about the rule of present perfect tense. The correct sentence

hould be” You haven‟t written”.

* You haven’t wroten. Type: Misformation. In this case, the students failed to

choose the correct verb of “written” because they did not know the irregular verb

of the word “write”. The correct sentence should be “You haven‟t written”.

Results showed that students still have problems to form the present

perfect. The main problem in this case is the past participle of the irregular verb

write.41

The main problems faced by the students in understanding present perfect

tense are in the forming regular and irregular verb and the misuse of past tense.

41

Carmen, loc. cit.,

23

2. Common Sources of Error in Present Perfect Tense

Nurul said that the causes of student‟s error in understanding present

perfect tense are:42

a. Mother-tongue interference is a learning strategy-based error. The students

fail to make the correct form of present perfect tense because they are

influenced by their mother tongue. The students translate a common error

from Indonesian language into English language.

b. Contex of learning is an error which is suspected happen because of the

incomplete teacher‟s explanation.

c. Overgeneralization is an error which is appeared because the students

overgeneralize the rule of past form.

After interviewing the respondent, jannah found that there are many

students confused in distinguishing the present perfect tense and simple past tense

because they have not understood yet the use of time expression of present perfect

tense properly.

Besides, the other students also say that they confused in use the auxiliary

have/has in different subject, and they have not mastered yet the regular and

irregular verb, especially for the third form of past participle. Another common

source of error happened because the external factor such as; the students‟ lack

interest and the students‟ low motivation in learning so they do not pay attention

to the teacher‟s explanation. From the external factor such as; the disturbing of

students‟ friends which make them cannot study and focus on the teacher‟s

explanation.

Whereas, Yuttasak stated that the errors of present perfect tense occurred

by the subjects of Thai students are caused by the following factors:

a. Use of Present of Present Simple Tense and Past Simple Tense.

The findings from the translation and interview test were found in the use

of the past simple tense 25% and present simple tense 38% in instead of the

present perfect tense. The results from this study showed that the most frequent

42

Nurul Aini,op. cit., p. 67.

24

errors within the wrong usage of tense is the use of the present simple and past

simple tense to describe the present perfect tense. For Thai people, tense errors

often occur because there is no tense in Thai. A lot of Thai people use the present

simple tense even though the sentences are supposed to be in the past simple

tense.

b. Differences between Thai Language and English Language Structure.

The errors in tenses usage showed that students had difficulty with the

distinction of tenses. As a result, they used the present simple tense or past simple

instead of the present perfect tense. This type of error appeared in the translation

and interview test. Sometimes they expressed actions which must be used in

present perfect tense by using present simple, past simple and past perfect. In

English, the form of verb is changed when tense and time are changed. Because of

these different rules, Thai students have trouble understanding tense forms.

c. Interference from Thai language

From the result in his survey, the subjects produced English sentence in

Thai structure. They used more than one finite verb in one sentence. Moreover,

they put adverb of time of present perfect in the wrong position in sentence. And

they did not change the form of verb to be verb 3 after have or has in present

perfect tense.

d. A Word for Word Translation

This incorrect technique of students might be one of the possible sources

of errors as well. For example, *I never go to Chieng Mai. This sentence can be

translated into Thai as: Chan Mai Keuy Pai Chieng Mai. The students thought in

Thai and were not aware of the present perfect tense rule. It must be: I have never

been to Chieng Mai. As a result, this sentence is not using English standard and

can be hardly understood. Moreover, the students were not aware that certain

words in Thai could not be used to express English words directly.43

Other finding was found by Duan. He stated that Chinese students often

get confused and misuse the tenses; students have vague understanding of the time

concept indicated by the different tenses. Based on the analysis, he tentatively

43

Yuttasak, ibid.,

25

provide some interpretations for these mistakes: many problems exist in the

teaching of grammar in Chinese English teaching, and the teaching of tenses is not

systematic and the focus of teaching and tests is not in accordance with the actual

uses of tenses; students are affected by inter-lingual transfer and intra-lingual

transfer when making English sentences.44

Based on those findings, it is known that students still do not understand

enough about simple past tense and present perfect tense. The students still make

some errors in understanding simple past tense and present perfect tense. Thus, in

this research, the writer intends to analyze what are the most common types of

errors and the possible causes of those errors in understanding simple past tense

and present perfect tense. By understanding the types and the sources of students‟

errors, the writer expects that she could give beneficial suggestions to solve

student‟ problems in understanding simple past tense and present perfect tense so

the difficulty of understanding these material would be reduced.

E. The Differences between Simple Past Tense and Present Perfect Tense

1. Simple Past Tense

a. Form of Simple Past Tense

Betty Schrampfer stated her idea that, “most simple past verbs are

formed by adding –ed to a verb. Some verbs have irregular past forms. The

simple past form of be are was and were.45

Furthermore, Nasrun Mahmud in English for Muslim University Students

argued that “Simple past tense is formed with past form of the verbs which

may be either regular, e.g. by adding -ed to the infinitive (incidentally, most

verbs are regular) or irregular must be learned in each case.46

44

Marfu Duan, a Corpus Based Study of the Misuse of Tenses in English Composition of

Chinese Students, Article, 2011, p. 173. 45

Betty Schrampfer Azar, Fundamentals of English Grammar, (New York: Longman,

1992) 3rd

edition, p. 25. 46

Nasrun Mahmud, English for Muslim University students, (Jakarta: PT. Siwinakti

Darma, 2003), p. 88.

26

b. The Usage of Simple Past Tense

According to Marcela Frank in “Modern English a Practical

Reference Guide” the past tense indicated time terminating in the past,

whether a time word is given or not. The past time may refer to:47

1) One event completed in the past

I saw him last night.

They left two hours ago.

2) Repeated events completed in the past and no longer happening

Last year it rained frequently in this past.

When I was young, I went swimming every day.

3) Duration of an event completed in the past

He lived in New York for thirty years and then he decided to return

to French in 1898.

From the explanations above, the writer synthesizes that the use of simple

past tense is to describe actions and situations that happened in the past. These

actions and situations were started and finished in the past.

2. Present Perfect Tense

a. Form of Present Perfect Tense

George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks stated that “the present perfect

tense is a construction made up the auxiliary have + the past form of the main

verb”.48

Whereas Raymond Murphy stated that, “the present perfect tense is

formed with have/has + the past participle”.49

47

Marcella frank, Modern English a Practical Reference Guide, (New Jersey: Prentice

Hall, 1972), p. 73. 48

George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks, Let’s Write English, (New York: Litton

Educational Publishing, Inc., 1980), p. 206. 49

Raymond Murphy, English Grammar in Use, (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1994) 2nd

edition, p. 14.

27

b. The Usage of Present Perfect tense

Michael swan in practical English Usage stated that: the uses of the

present perfect are:

1) The present perfect simple is often used to talk about finished action

events. This normally happens when the past events have some present

importance, and when we could make a present tense sentence (with

similar meaning) about the same situation.

2) The present perfect is also used to talk about the past actions which are not

recent, but which are‟ still with us‟ as part of our experience and

knowledge.50

From the discussion above it can be known that present perfect tense is

focused on the action that happened in the past but related to the present moment.

It is used commonly to show that the action has just been complete or at least the

effect of the action is still felt at the moment of speaking.

F. The Previous Related Study

This research is relevant to the three previous researchers. They are

Susanti, Linda Maisari and Erka Cahya. In her research An Analysis on Students’

Mastery of Simple Past Tense at the Second Year Students of Madrasah

Tsanawiyah Yayasan Pondok Pesantren, Depok (2011), Susanti used qualitative

method and the technique she used to collect the data were interview guide to the

English teacher and test to the students. She found that the highest percentage of

error that students made is in the form of simple past tense. About 61.75% of

students made error in the form and 33.75% of students made error in the usage of

simple past tense.51

While, Maisari on her thesis Some Difficulties Faced by the

Students in Learning the Present Perfect Tense at the Third Grade of SMP

Puspita Bangsa, Ciputat (2011) used the case study method to collect the data.

She collected the data by using observation, test and questioner. She found that

50

Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, (London: Oxford University Press, 1980) p.

495. 51

Susanti, “an Analysis on students‟ mastery of simple past tense”, Thesis on Stated

Islamic University of Jakarta, Jakarta, 2011, p.33, not published.

28

there are 36% students get difficulties in auxiliary have/has 32% students get

difficulties in regular verb and 32% students get difficulties in irregular verb.52

Another previous study was related to Cahya on her thesis An Error

Analysis on students’ Learning in Present Perfect Tense at the first year students

of Madrasah Aliyah Soebono Mantofani Jombang, Ciputat (2011), in doing the

research, she used quantitative method and the technique to collect the data she

used are test, observation and interview. She gave the test to the students which

consist of 25 items. 15 items is used to analyze the form and 10 items is used to

analyze the usage. The result is from overall responded 48% students did errors in

the form of have/has, 28% students did errors in the form of regular verb, 55%

students did errors in the irregular verb and 58.75% students did errors in the

usage of present perfect tense.53

Based on the previous researches above, the writer intends to use

descriptive qualitative method to know the common types and causes of errors

that made by the students at the First Grade of SMK Dua Mei, Ciputat. The

explanation of the method of the research will be explained in next chapter.

G. Research Hypothesis

As an effort to answer the question in this research, the writer would like

to propose hypothesis as temporary answer for the problem that has been

formulated. The hypothesis is presented into two parts, null hypothesis (H0) and

alternative hypothesis (H1). Null hypothesis (H0) is presented to avoid

subjectivity in conducting this research.

H0 = There is no errors made by the students in understanding simple

past tense and present perfect tense.

H1 = There are some errors made by the students in understanding

simple past tense and present perfect tense.

52

Linda Maisari, “Some Difficulties Faced by the Students in Learning the Present Perfect

Tense”, Thesis on Stated Islamic University of Jakarta, Jakarta, 2011, p. 29, not published. 53

Erka cahya, “an Error Analysis on Students‟ Learning in Present Perfect Tense”, Thesis

on Stated Islamic University of Jakarta, Jakarta, 2011 p. 31, not published.

24

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS

A. Method of Research

This thesis is written based on the field research supported by library

study; in this case the writer chose SMK Dua Mei Ciputat as the place where the

research was held. She observed some difficulties and problems that were faced

by the students at the first grade of senior high school in understanding simple

past tense and present perfect tense.

In the library study, the writer visited some libraries such as the main

library of State Islamic University of Jakarta, the Faculty of Tarbiya library,

Atmajaya library and UNJ library. Besides, she also read some journal and

browsed some references related to the topic.

In the field research, the writer observed the first grade students of SMK

Dua Mei by giving the test and interviewing the students about present perfect

tense and past tense as the data of this study. The processes of this research are;

First, the writer observed the process of teaching and learning in the classroom.

Second, the writer gave a test to the students. Third, the writer analyzed the errors

made by the students and classified them into types of error and the possible

causes of them by Brown’s theory. The last, the writer interpreted the data about

types of errors that the students made mostly and predicted the reason why the

students made some errors.

B. Place and Time of Research

The writer did the research at SMK Dua Mei. It is located on Jl. Abdul

Gani No. 135 Cempaka Putih, Ciputat Timur- Kota Tangerang Selatan. The

research was starting from April, 1st to 10

th 2013.

25

C. Population and Sample

The writer focused on her research at the first grade students of SMK Dua

Mei Ciputat. The population of the research consists of three classes; XAK, XAP1

and XAP2 class with the total 86 students. Because the population is homogenous,

the sample taken is only one class. She took XAK class which consists of 28

students as the sample of this research. The writer uses a cluster sampling to get

the representative data.

D. Instrument of The Research

The writer uses the test as the instrument of the research. The types of the

test are a multiple- choice, T/F, sentence completion and the translation of

Indonesian to English. The test consists of 35 items which cover past tense and

present perfect tense materials. The material of the test is taken from the book

which modified by the writer’s own word. Before giving a test, the writer

observes the condition of the classroom to know how the teacher explains the

material and what are the students doing during the lesson. The writer also

interviews the students to get the data. From those data, the writer hopes that she

can find some errors made by the students in understanding simple past tense and

present perfect tense. Then, she could find solution to avoid the students making

those errors.

E. Technique of Data Collecting

The writer uses three techniques of collecting data in this research, they

are; observation, test and interview.

1. Observation

The writer observed the condition of the classroom during the language

learning process. This observation is used to know the activity happened in the

classroom. The writer wanted to now the way how the teacher explains the

material and what are the students doing during the lesson.

26

2. Test

The test is given after the writer observed the classroom. The test

consists of 35 questions about simple past tense and present perfect tense.

The students are required to answer the question based on the instruction. The

result of this test will be analyzed by the writer as the data of her research.

From those result of the test, the writer will know what are types of errors

and the causes of them made by the students in understanding simple past

tense and present perfect tense.

3. Interview

This technique is used to supplement the data needed which are not

covered by the previous technique. The writer asked some questions to the

students to know what are some difficulties faced by them in understanding

simple past tense and present perfect tense. This interview consists of 10

questions and the participants of this interview were some students who made

many errors in using simple past tense and present perfect tense.

F. Technique of Data Analysis

In this research, the writer uses descriptive qualitative analysis. At first,

the writer analyzed the students’ errors by coding students’ names, identifying

students’ errors, then she classified students’ errors based on the kinds of errors,

the causes of errors, tabulated the data of students’ erros, corrected their errors,

calculated them and gave percentage of all the errors thay made. The last, she

interpreted the data and concluded them to know most types and causes of errors

that made by the students. The percentage will be described in the table

percentage and the formula as follows:

P =

100%

P = Percentage

27

F = Frequency of error made

N = Number of students’ errors1

1Anas Sudjiono, Pengantar Statistik Pendidikan, (Jakarta: PT. Raja Grafindo Persada, 2005),

p.43.

33

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDINGS

This chapter presents and discusses about research findings which consists of:

Error Identification, Description of Errors, and Explanation of Errors. Those are

arranged based on the procedural of error analysis.

A. Error Identification

1. The Result of Observation

The writer has observed how English teacher delivered simple past tense and

present perfect tense material in her teaching learning activity. This observation was

carried out before giving the test to students. It was held at the first grade students of

SMK Dua Mei Ciputat in XAK class which consists of 30 students but only 28 attended

the class when the research was done. This observation was conducted on 1st – 10

th of

April 2013 at 10.00 a.m. – 11. 30 a.m. By considering herself as an observer, she

recorded all activities which happened during classroom activity not only English

teacher‟s performance in delivering this material but also students‟ activities in

responding teacher‟s performance on it. In delivering this material, the teacher used

Grammar Translation Method to help students in understanding simple past tense and

present perfect tense. Firstly, the students seemed very interested in learning this

material; however, when the teacher presented the forms and rules of simple past tense

and present perfect tense, the students seemed bored and confused. Some of them were

talking to their friends and only few students were still paying attention to the teacher‟s

explanation. During the teaching activity, the class was uncontrolled. Even though the

teacher asked them to be quiet, the students still kept talking to their friends. Then,

when the teacher gave some examples of simple past tense and present perfect tense,

some students in the class seemed that they did not pay attention on it, so when the

teacher gave them exercise orally they could not do it. Furthermore, when the teacher

gave written exercise some students cheated each other. Besides, the teacher used LKS

(Lembar Kerja Siswa) during the teaching learning activity, so the students did not get

34

detailed information about the material. From this observation, the writer thought that

this classroom condition might bring some problems in teaching learning product which

could lead students to do some errors in their application of understanding simple past

tense and present perfect tense.

2. The Result of Test

The writer described the common types of errors made by the First Grade

students of SMK Dua Mei in understanding simple past tense and present perfect tense.

The types of errors can be classified and analyzed by using James‟ table which consists

of (omission, addition, misselection, and misordering).

After the writer analyzed the errors, she counted the errors by using the table.

The data analysis is done after processing the result. To obtain the data for this research

the writer took the data from students‟ result of test. There were 28 students.

Table of Students’ Errors

Table 4.1

Errors of Student 1 (FS)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes

*I never met

her/I have

never met.

*When exactly

go out?/When

exactly did

she go out?

*I have lunch/

I have had

lunch.

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

*I didn’t

finished/

I didn‟t

finish.

Intralingual

*I knew each

other for over

fifteen years/ I

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

35

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 14 errors in total. She

made errors in the omission (21.42%), addition (7.14%), misselection (71%) and

misordering (0%). The most type of errors she made was misselection. In some cases,

she failed to select the verb used in present perfect tense. For example she wrote “Mr.

Ahmad has live”. In that sentence, the writer can see that the student used present

participle “live” in present perfect tense. Whereas, the correct verb must be “lived”

because the form of present perfect tense is S+ have/ has+ V3. Another example is the

have known *My uncle

lived in

Jakarta for ten

years/ My

uncle has

lived in

Jakarta for ten

years.

*She finishing/

She finished

*She has took a

bath/ She has

taken a bath.

*They have

play/ They

have played.

*Has she close

it?/ Has she

closed it?

*Has the

teacher told a

history?/ Has

the teacher

taught a

history?

*Mr. Ahmad

has live/ Mr.

Ahmad has

lived.

*He has wait/

he has waited.

*Dina has

study/ Dina

has studied

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

36

sentence “He has wait”. It must be “He has waited”. Another type of errors made by

student was omission. The student omitted auxiliary “have” in the sentence “I never

met”. The correct sentence is “I have never met”. Student mostly made error because

of intralingual. It because of the student does not know the past participle of a certain

verb and she does not how to use simple past tense and present perfect tense.

Table 4.2

Errors of Student 2 (DE)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When

exactly go

out?/ When

exactly did

she go out?

*We waited

you/ We

have waited

for you.

*He has

knowed/He

has not

known.

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

*Dina was

studied English/ Dina

studied

English.

Interlingual

*My best

friend and I

knew each

other/ My

best friend

and I have

known each

other.

*My uncle

lived in

Jakarta for

ten years/

My uncle

has lived *He worked

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

37

in this firm

for 20 years/

He has

worked

*She teached

math/ She

taught math

last week.

*I was not

watched/ I

did not watch.

*He was not

finished/ He

did not

finish.

*She was not

drinked/ She

did not

drink.

*I was not

sleeped/ I

did not sleep * They were

not called/

They did not

call.

*Was I got

the door

prize?/ Did I

get the door

prize?

*Was he took

the food?/

Did he take

the food?

*Was she

came to your

house?/ Did

she come to

your house?

*Were you

sweep the

floor?/ Did

she sweep

the floor?

*Were they

worked?/

Did they

work?

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

38

*He has

knowed/ He

has not

known.

*Have the

police/ Has

the police

*Have the

police catch/

Has the

police

caught?

*Have the

teacher/ Has

the teacher

*Have the

teacher

teached/ Has

the teacher

taught

* I was eat

lunch/ I have

had lunch.

*Mr. Ahmad

was lived/

Mr. Ahmad

has lived

*He is

waiting for

you for 2

hours/ He

has waited

for you.

*Were you

watched TV?/ Did

you watch

TV?.

From the table above, the writer can see the student made errors 27 in total. He

made errors in the omission (11.1%), addition (3.7%), misselection (85.1%) and

misordering (0%). The most common error made by the student is in the misselection.

He cannot differentiate which tense he should use and he also does not know how to use

39

negative and interrogative form of past tense. He always used nominal formula of past

tense in every sentence. Here are the examples of errors made by him:

*I was not watched the film last night.

It should be; I did not watch the film last night.

*She was not drinked the ice juice.

It should be; She did not drink the ice juice.

*Was he took the food?

It should be; Did he take the food?

And he also confused to choose which tense he should use either past tense or

present perfect tense. The example is:

*My best friend and I knew each other for over fifteen years.

It should be; My best friend and I have known each other for over fifteen years.

This error happened because the student does not understand enough about the

usage of simple past tense and present perfect tense.

Table 4.3

Errors of Student 3 (NR)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*She finish/

She

finished

Intralingual

*He has

wrote/ He

wrote.

*My

grandmoth

er was

died/My

grandmoth

er died.

Intralingual

Interlingual

*Who finded/

Who found

*He has

wrote/ He

wrote

*My best

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

40

friend and I

knew each

other/ My

best friend

and I have

known *I teached my

brother/ I

taught

*Has the

police

catched?/

Has the

police caught

*I have eat my

lunch food/ I

have had

lunch.

*Mr. Ahmad

lived/ Mr.

Ahmad has

lived

Intralingual

*When

exactly she

did went out?/Did she

go out?

Intralingual

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 11 errors in total. She

made errors in the omission (9.09%), addition (18.18%), misselection (63.63%) and

misordering (9.09%). The most common errors made by the student were misselection

of verb used in the simple past tense and present perfect tense. Besides, she also made

some errors in irregular verb. Here are the examples of the errors:

*I teached my brother; it should be “I taught my brother”

* Has the police catched the criminal?; it should be “Has the police caught the

criminal?”

In those cases, the student overgeneralized the rule of past tense and present

perfect tense because she does not know the past participle of the irregular verb “teach

and catch”.

41

Table 4.4

Errors of Student 4 (HA)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When

exactly she

went

out?/When

exactly did

she go out?

*Mita not

sleep

during the

day/ Mita

has not

slept yet.

Interlingual

Interlingual

*My

grandmother

was died/ My

grandmother

died

*Dina had

learned

English

yesterday/Di

na learnt

English.

yesterday.

*I didn’t

watched

television/ I

didn’t watch *I didn’t

drinked the

water/ I

didn’t drink the water.

Interlingual

Interlingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

*Who finded

our city/ Who

found

*I have never

meet/ I have

never met

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

42

*He worked in

this firm for 20

years/ He has

worked

*I buyed

clothes for

mom/ I

bought some

clothes for

mom.

*They have

make a

chocolate/

They have

made a

chocolate

*Has they send

the letter?/

Have they

sent

*Why she has

closed the

door?/ Why

has she closed the door?

Interlingual

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 13 errors in total. She

made errors in the omission (15.38%), addition (30.76%), misselection (46.15%) and

misordering (7.69 %). The table shows that the student does not know the negative form

of past tense for example: *I didn’t drinked the water; it should be I did not drink the

water. She used V2 in the negative form of past tense. However, the correct answer to

form negative form of past tense is use V1 after negative auxiliary “did not”. The

student also made some errors in misselection of auxiliary have/has in present perfect

tense. The example is *Has they send the letter? It should be “Have they sent the

letter?”.

43

Table 4.5

Errors of Student 5 (AU)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of Error

*When

exactly she

went out?/

When

exactly did

she go out?

Interlingual

*Sam have

arrived in

San Diego a

week ago/

Sam

arrived *My best

friend and I

have knew/

My best

friend and I

have

known

*The man

haven’t

built/ The

man hasn’t

built

*Have the

police

catched the

thief?/ Has

the police caught

*Have the

teacher taught

English?/

Has the

teacher

taught

English?

*I ate lunch/

I have had

lunch

*He waited

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

Intralingual

44

you for 2

hours/He

has waited you for 2

hours.

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 8 errors in total. She

made most errors in the omission (12.5%), addition (0%), misselection (87.5%) and

misordering (0%). She made the most common error in misselection of simple past

tense and present perfect tense. She overgeneralized the auxiliary “have” in using

present perfect tense. Also, she made some errors in the misselection of irregular verb.

Here are the examples:

*have the police catched the thief? It should be; has the police caught the thief?

*have the teacher taught English? It should; has the teacher taught English?

It is seen that student does not understand enough about the using of auxiliary

have/has in the present perfect tense.

Table 4.6

Errors of Student 6 (FE)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*I have

lunch/ I

have had lunch

Interlingual

*We have

been

waited for

you/We

have

waited for

you

Intralingual

*Sam have

arrived in

San Diego a

week ago/

Sam

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

45

arrived

*He hasn’t

know/ He

hasn’t

known

*The man

hasn’t

build/ The

man hasn’t

built

*The boys

hasn’t

play/The

boys

haven’t

played

*Mila hasn’t

open my

book/ Mila

hasn’t

opened

*Have you

study

math?/Have

you studied

*Has she close

the

door?/Has

she closed

the door?

*Has the

police catch

the

thief?/Has

the police

caught the

thief?

*Have they

send the

letter?/Have

they sent the

letter?

*Has the

teacher

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

46

teach you?/

Has the

teacher

taught you?

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 12 errors in total. She

made errors in the omission (8.33%), addition (8.33%), misselection (83.33%) and

misordering (0%). She made most errors in the misselection. She did not understand

well about negative and interrogative forms of present perfect tense. She used present

participle in both forms that must be V3 (past participle). Here are the examples of the

errors she made:

*He has not know what I mean. It should be; he has not known what I mean.

*Mila has not open my book. It should be; Mila has not opened my book.

*Have you study Math? It should be; have you studied math?

Table 4.7

Errors of Student 7 (DT)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When

exactly she

went out?/

When

exactly did

she go out?

Interlingual

*Sam have

arrived in

san Diego a

week ago/

Sam arrived

*My best

friend and I

have knew

each other/

My best

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

47

friend and I

have known

*I have

founded my

book/ I have

found my

book

*The man

hasn‟t build

the building/

The man

hasn‟t built

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 5 errors in total. He

made errors in the omission (20%), addition (0%), misselection(80%) and misordering

(0%). She found difficulties in using irregular verb. For example, she wrote *The man

hasn’t build the building. It should be; The man hasn’t built the building. Another

example of the error she made was *I have founded my book. It should be; I have

found my book. She failed to make correct sentence because she overgeneralized the

verb.

Table 4.8

Errors of Student 8 (AS)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*She finish her

homework just

now/ She

finished

Intralingual

*My grand

mother was

died/ My

grand

mother died.

*He didn’t

finished the test/ He

Interlingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

48

didn‟t

finish the

test

*Nia didn’t

drinked

mineral.

water/ Nia

didn’t

drink. *Didn’t he

worked for

FBI?/

Didn‟t he

work for

FBI?

*My best friend

and I knew

each other/ My

best friend and

I have known

*Who finded/

Who found

*She teached

patiently/ She

taught patiently

*He didn’t

finished the

test/ He didn‟t

finish the test

*Nia didn’t

drinked

mineral water/

Nia didn’t

drink *Did she took a

bath?/ Did she

take a bath?

*Didn’t he

worked for

FBI?/ Didn‟t

he work for

FBI?

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

*When

exactly she

did went out? When

exactly did

Interlingual

49

she go out?

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 13 errors in total. She

made errors in omission (7.69%), addition (30.76%), misselection (53.84%) and

misordering (7.69%). The most common errors made by the student are in misselection.

She does not understand how to form negative and interrogative sentence in past tense.

She used V2 that should be V1. Here are the examples:

*He did not finished the test. It should be; He did not finish the test.

*Nia did not drinked mineral water. It should be; Nia did not drink mineral water.

Table 4.9

Errors of Student 9 (LT)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When exactly

she went out?/When

exactly did she

go out?

Interlingual

*My best and I

has known/

My best friend

and I have

known

*My uncle

lived in

Jakarta for ten

years/My

uncle has

lived

*She is

finishing her

homework just

now/She

finished

*I had eaten

lunch/ I have

had lunch

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

50

*Dina had

studied

English

yesterday/

Dina studied

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 6 errors in total. She

made error in omission (16.66%), addition (0%), misselection (83.33%) and

misordering (0%). She made most errors in the misselection of verb tense. She used past

perfect tense instead of simple past tense. Also, she used past tense in present perfect

tense because she does not understand enough the usage of both tenses. Here are the

examples:

*Dina had studied English yesterday. It should be; Dina studied English yesterday.

*My uncle lived in Jakarta for ten years. It should be; My uncle has lived in Jakarta for

ten years.

Table 4.10

Errors of Student 10 (FV)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When exactly

she went out?/

When exactly

did she go

out?

Interlingual

*I did not

watched

insidious last

night/I did

not watch

Intralingual

*My best

friend and I

have knew/

My best

friend and I

have

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

51

known

*She has

finished her

homework

just now/

She

finished

* Mr. Yayat

teached

English last

Wednesday/

Mr. Yayat

taught

*I did not

watched

insidious

last night/I

did not

watch

*I did not

slept last

night/I did

not sleep

*I did not

drank coca-

cola this

morning/ I

did not

drink

*Did rina got

up late?/

Did rina get

up late

*Did you

took my

pencil?/Did

you take

*I have take

a lunch/ I

have had

lunch

Intralingual

Interlingual

52

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 11 errors in total. She

made errors in the omission (9.09%), addition (9.09%), misselection (81.81%) and

misordering (0%). The student made most errors in misseletion because she failed to use

simple past tense and present perfect tense correctly. As the previous student, she used

V2 in forming negative and interrogative form of simple past tense. Here are the

examples of the errors she made:

*I did not drank coca-cola this morning. It should be; I did not drink coca-cola this

morning.

*Did you took my pencil? It should be; Did you take my pencil?

Table 4.11

Errors of Student 11 (RF)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When exactly

go out?/

When

exactly did

she go out?

*She taken a

bath/ She has

taken a bath

*We waited

you so long/

We have

waited for

you so long

*They made

you feel

confused/

They have

made

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

*I have

been

lunch/ I

have had lunch

*Mr.

Ahmad

have

Interlingual

Interlingual

53

been

lives in

Ciputat/

Mr.

Ahmad

has lived

*Who finded

our city/ Who

found

*My best friend

and I

knew/My best

friend and I

have known

*My uncle

lived/ My

uncle has

lived

*She finishing/

She finished

*He was

worked/ He

has worked

*You aren’t cut

the paper/ You

haven’t cut

*He isn’t known

you/ He

hasn’t known

you

*The boys

aren’t played

tennis/ The

boys haven’t

played

*Mila isn’t

opened the

door/ Mila

hasn’t opened

the door

*Are you

studied

English?/

Have you

studied

English?

*Is the police

catched him?/Has the

police caught

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

54

him?

*Are they sent

an email?/

Have they sent

an email?

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 17 errors in total. He

made errors in the omission (23.52%), addition (11.76%), misselection (64.70%), and

misordering (0%). He made most errors in misselection of present prefect tense. He

used auxiliary “is and are” that should be “have/ has” in the negative and interrogative

form of present perfect tense. The data above has shown that the student does not

understand enough about present perfect tense. Here are the examples:

*You are not cut the paper. It should be; You have not cut the paper.

*He is not known you. It should be; He has not known you.

*Are they sent an email? It should be; Have they sent an email?

Table 4.12

Errors of Student 12 (M.FM)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*My

grandmother

was died/

My

grandmother

died

Interlingual

* I have never

see that movie/ I

have never seen

*I have never

meet/ I have

never met *Mrs. Anggi

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

Intralingual

55

teached math/

Mrs. Anggi

taught math

*She has took a

bath/ She has

taken a bath

*I ate a lunch/ I

have had lunch

*Mr. Ahmad

lived in Ciputat

since 2009/ Mr.

Ahmad has

lived

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 7 errors in total. The

student made errors in omission (0%), addition (14.28%), misselection (85.71%), and

misordering (0%). The most common error he made was in the misselection of verb he

used in present perfect tense. Here are the examples of the errors he made:

*I have never see that movie. It should be; I have never seen that movie

*I have never meet her. It should be; I have never met her.

Table 4.13

Errors of Student 13

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When exactly

she went

out?/When

exactly did she

go out?

Intralingual

*Dina was

studied

English

yesterday/

Dina studied English

yesterday

Interlingual

56

*She has

finished her

homework just

now/ She

finished her

homework just

now

*Mrs. Eka

thought English/ Mrs.

Eka taught

English

*I boughth a

flower/ I

bought a

flower

*She has take a

bath in my

bathroom/ She

has taken a

bath

*He was waited

for you about

2 hours/ He

has waited for

you for 2

hours

*Do you watch

TV last night?

Did you watch

TV last night?

*I was eat

lunch/ I have

had lunch

*Mr. Ahmad

was lived in

Ciputat since

2009/ Mr.

Ahmad has

lived

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 10 errors in total. She

made errors in the omission (10%), addition (10%), misselection (80%), and

misordering (0%). She made most errors in the misselection. She made errors in

selection the correct verb and auxiliary used in past tense and present perfect tense.

57

Besides, she was influenced by her mother tongue to make a sentence in English. Here

are the errors:

*Dina was studied English yesterday. It should be; Dina studied English yesterday.

*He was waited you about 2 hours. It should be; He has waited for you for 2 hours.

Table 4.14

Errors of Student 14 (RF)

Types Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering

*He has wrote

ten creative

short stories in

the last year/He

wrote

*We have to

waited her/ We

have waited for

her

*They have to

made

cookies/They

have made cookies

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

*Who finded/

Who found

*He has wrote ten

creative short

stories in the last

year/He wrote

*Does she went

out?/Did she go

out?

*My teacher

teached Mathematic

yesterday/ My

teacher taught

Math yesterday

*I have eat lunch/

I have had lunch

*Sir Ahmad has

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

58

stay in Ciputat

since 2009/ Mr.

Ahmad has lived

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 9 errors in total. She

made errors in the omission (0%), addition (33.33%), misselection (66.66%), and

misordering (0%). She made most errors in the misselection. Here is one of the

examples of the errors she made:

*He has wrote ten creative short stories in the last year. It should be; He wrote ten

creative short stories in the last year.

In the sentence above, it can be concluded that the student failed to choose the correct

tense. She should use simple past tense but she use present perfect. Then, she does not

know the past participle of the verb “write”.

Table 4.15

Errors of Student 15 (WS)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*Mila have

not open the

window/

Mila has not

opened the

window

*The boys

have not

play badminton/

They boys

have not

played

Intralingual

Intralingual

*Dina was

studied English

Yesterday/ Dina

studied

*Did you

watched TV

Interlingual

Intralingual

59

last night? Did

you watch TV

last night?

*When exactly

does she go

out?/When

exactly did she

go out?

*My uncle has

finished her

homework just

now/ My uncle

finished

*My teacher

teach me how to

swim/ My

teacher taught

me

*I write this

poem/ I wrote

this poem

*I has find new

idea/ I have

found *Mila have not

open the

window/ Mila

has not opened

the window

*The boys have

not play

badminton/

They boys have

not played

Intralimgual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

*Since year

2009, Pak

Ahmad live

in Ciputat/

Mr. Ahmad

has lived in

Ciputat since

2009.

Interlingual

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 11 errors in total. She

made errors in the omission (18.18%), addition (18.18%), misselection (54.54%) and

misordering (9.09%). She made most errors in the misselection of simple past tense and

60

present perfect tense. Besides, she also made error in the auxiliary “have/ has” in the

present perfect tense. Here are the examples:

*Mila have not open the window. It should be; Mila has not opened the window.

*I has find new idea. It should be; I have found new idea.

Table 4.16

Errors of Student 16 (IM)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When

exactly she

went out?/When

exactly did

she go out?

*He move to

London/ He

moved to

London

*Dina study

English

tonight/Dina

studied

English last

week.

Interlingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

*My

grandmother

was died before I was

born/ My

grandmother

died

Interlingual

*She has finished

her homework

just now/She

finished

*He worked in

this firm for 20

years/He has

worked

*He has not

know my mother/

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

61

He has not

known

*The man have

not build new

house/ The man

has not built

*The boys have

not play football/

The boys have

not played

*Have you study

English?/Have

you studied

English?

*Has she close

the door?/Has she

closed the door?

*Have the police

catch the

terrorist?/Has the

police caught the

terrorist?

*Do you watch

TV last

night?/Did you

watch TV last

night?

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 13 errors in total. He

made errors in the omission (13.07%), addition (7.69%), misselection (69.23%) and

misordering (0%). He made most errors in the misselection. He used present participle

in the negative and interrogative form of present perfect tense. Here are the examples of

the errors he made:

*He has know my mother. It should be; He has known my mother yet.

*Have the police catch the terrorist?. It should be; Has the police caught the terrorist?

62

Table 4.17

Errors of Student 17 (RF)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When exactly

she went out?/

When exactly

did she go

out?

*My sister be

angry/ My

sister has been

angry

*The boys play

futsal in the

yard/ The boys

have played

Interlingual

Interlingual

Intralingual

*My

grandmother

was died before I was

born/ My

grandmother

died

Interlingual

*My best friend and

I have know each

other/ My best

friend and I have

known each other

*She has finished

homework just

now/She finished

homework just now

*My father teached

me/My father

taught me

*I have find my

key/ I have found

my key

*We have wait the

bus/We have

waited the bus

*They have make a

fried rice/ They

have made a fried

rice

*He has not know

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

63

her/He has not

known her

*Mila has not open

the window/ Mila

has not opened *Have you study for

the test?/Have you

studied

*Have they send the

letter?/Have they

sent the letter?

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 14 errors in total. He

made errors in the omission (21.42%), addition (7.14%), misselection (71.42%), and

misordering (0%). He made most common errors in the misselection. He used present

participle in the positive, negative and interrogative form of present perfect tense. That

is why he failed to use present perfect tense correctly. Besides, he also used present

perfect tense instead of past tense. Here are the examples of the errors he made:

*I have find my key. It should be; I have found my key.

*He has not know her. It should be; He has not known her.

*Have you study for the test? It should be; Have you studied for the test?

Table 4.18

Errors of Student 18 (NF)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*I never met

her/ I have

never met

*When

exactly she

went out?

When exactly

did she go out?

*I eat lunch/

I have had

lunch

Intralingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

64

*He wait for

you about 2

hours/ He

has waited

for you for 2

hours

*Dina was

studyied

English

yesterday/

Dina studied

English

yesterday.

Interlingual

* She has

finished her

homework just

now/ She

finished

*Raihan writed a

note yesterday/

Raihan wrote

*He studyied in

this school/ He

studied in this

school.

*She take a bath

for an hour/ She

has taken a

bath for an hour.

*My sister being

a nurse/My sister

has been a

nurse.

*The man has not

build the

building/The

man has not

built the

building.

*Have the police

catched the

wanted?/ Has

the police

caught the

wanted?

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 12 errors in total. She

made errors in the omission (33.33%), addition (8.33%), misselection (58.33%) and

65

misordering (0%). She made most errors in the misselection. She overgeneralized the

verb. She has known the form of simple past tense and present perfect tense but she

failed to choose the correct verb especially in irregular verb. Here are the examples of

the errors she made:

*Raihan writed a note yesterday. It should be; Raihan wrote a note yesterday.

*He studyied in this school. It should be; He studied in this school.

Table 4.19

Errors of Student 19 (Z)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When exactly

she went out?/

When exactly

did she go

out?

*I have lunch/ I

have had lunch.

Interlingual

Interlingual

*My

grandmot

her was

died/ My

grandmot

her died.

Interlingual

*I have never

meet her/ I have

never met her.

*I written a story

last month/ I

wrote a story.

*The teacher

thought us with

patient/ The

teacher taught

us patiently.

*You have not

cuted the paper/

You have not

cut the paper.

*They has made

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

66

a soup/ They

have made a

soup.

*Mr. Ahmad

lived in Ciputat

at

2009/Mr.Ahmad

has lived in

Ciputat since

2009.

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 9 errors in total. He

made errors in the omission (22.22%), addition (11.11%), misselection (66.66%) and

misordering (0%). He made most errors in the misselection because he did not know the

past participle of the verb so he overgeneralized the verb either in past tense or present

perfect tense. Here are the examples of the errors:

*The teacher thought us with patient. It should be; The teacher taught us patiently.

*You have not cuted the paper. It should be; You have not cut the paper.

Table 4.20

Errors of Student 20 (M.YP)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering

Causes of

Error

*When exactly

she went out?/When

exactly did

she go out?

Interlingual

*My

grandmother

was died before I was

born. My

grandmother

died

Interlingual

*My uncle

lived in

Jakarta for

ten years/My

uncle has

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

67

lived *She has

finished her

homework

just now/

She finished

*He worked

in this firm

for 20 years/

He has

worked

*My sister has

been read a

book/ My

sister has

been a

doctor.

*The boys

have not

play soccer/

The boys

have not

played

soccer.

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 7 errors in total. He

made errors in omission (14.28%), addition (14.28%), misselection (71.42%) and

misordering (0%). He made most errors in the misselection. He confused to choose the

correct tense either simple past tense or present perfect tense. Here are the examples of

the errors he made:

*My uncle lived in Jakarta for ten years. It should be; my uncle has lived in Jakarta for

ten years.

*She has finished her homework just now. She finished her homework just now.

68

Table 4.21

Errors of Student 21 (VL)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When exactly

she went out?/When

exactly did

she go out?

*Mila has open

the door/ Mila

has not

opened the

door.

Interlingual

Intralingual

*I never saw that

movie/I have

never seen that

movie

*She has

finished her

homework just

now/ She

finished *Mr, Herman

baugh new car

last week/ Mr.

Herman bought

new car.

*The man have

not built a mall/

The man has not

built a mall

*Have the

teacher taught

the student?/Has

the teacher

taught the

student?

*Mr. Ahmad live

in Ciputat in

2009/Mr.Ahmad

has lived in

Ciputat since

2009.

*Do you watch

TV

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

69

tonight?/Did

you watch TV

last night?

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 9 errors in total. She

made errors in omission (22.22%), addition (0%), misselection (77.78%) and

misordering (0%). She made most errors in the misselection. She confused to choose the

correct verb and auxiliary “have/has” in present perfect tense. The causes of the errors

are mostly intralingual but she also made the errors because of interlingual because she

translated the word one by one from Indonesian. Here are the examples of the errors she

made:

*The man have not built a mall. It should be; The man has not built a mall.

*Do you watch TV tonight? It should be; Did you watch TV last night?

Table 4.22

Errors of Student 22 (M.FA)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When exactly

she went out?/When

exactly did

she go out?

Interlingual

*My

grandmot

her was

died

before I

was born/

My

grandmot

her died.

Interlingual

*My best friend

and I have

know each

other/My best

friend and I

Intralingual

Intralingual

70

have known

*She has

finished her

homework just

now/ She

finished

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 4 errors in total. He

made errors in omission (25%), addition (25%), misselection (50%) and misordering

(0%). He made most errors in the misselection. He confused to choose the tense should

he use either simple past tense or present perfect tense because he did not know the

usage of both tenses. Here is the example of the error he made:

*She has finished her homework just now. It should be; She finished her homework

just now.

Table 4.23

Errors of Student 23 (PJ)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*I never seen

that movie/ I

have never

seen

*When exactly

she went out?When

exactly did

she go out?

*He move to

London/He

moved to

London

Intralingual

Interlingual

Intralingual

*Mr.

Ahmad

was lived in Ciputat

since

2009/Mr.

Ahmad

Interlingual

71

lived

*She has

finished her

homework just

now/She

finished her

homework just

now.

Intralingual

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 5 errors in total. She

made errors in omission (60%), addition (20%), misselection (20%) and misordering

(0%). She made most errors in the omission. She omitted auxiliary “have” in the present

perfect tense and she also omitted auxiliary “did” in interrogative form of past tense.

Here are the examples of the errors she made:

*I never seen that movie. It should be; I have never seen that movie.

*When exactly she went out? It should be; when exactly did she go out?

Table 4.24

Errors of Student 24 (R.AP)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When exactly

gone out?

When exactly

did she go out?

*I lunch/ I have

had lunch.

Intralingual

Interlingual

*Dina

was

study English

yesterday/

Dina

studied English

yesterday.

*He had

waited

Interlingual

Interlingual

72

you for 2

hours/ He

has

waited for you

for 2

hours.

*Who finded our

city over four

hundred years

ago/ Who found

*My best friend

and I knew each

other for over

fifteen years/My

best friend and I

have known

*My uncle lived

in Jakarta for ten

years/My uncle

has lived

*She finishing

her homework

just now/She

finished her

homework just

now.

*He worked in

this firm for 20

years/He has

worked

*Did he got a

candy?/Did he

get a candy?

*Did dina took a

cake?Did dina

take a cake?

*Did anto came

here?/Did anto

come here?

*Did you swaap

the floor?Did

you sweep the

floor?

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 13 errors in total. He

made errors in omission (15.38%), addition (15.38%), misselection (69.23%) and

73

misordering (0%). He made most errors in the misselection. He did misselection in past

tense and present perfect tense. Besides, he also failed to use past tense in interrogative

form. He used past participle instead of present participle. He also overgeneralized the

verb, especially in irregular verb. Here are the examples of the errors he made:

*Did he got a candy? It should be; Did he get a candy?

*Did you swaap the floor? It should be; Did you sweep the floor?

Table 4.25

Errors of Student 25 (TN)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*I had lunch/I

have had lunch

*My sister be

angry to me/

My sister has

been angry

with me.

Interlingual

Interlingual

*She has

finished her

homework just

now/She

finished her

homework just

now

*Mr. Budi tought

Math lesson

yesterday/ Mr.

Budi taught

Math lesson

yesterday.

*Did you got the

last

newspaper?/Did

you get the last

newspaper?

*Did you toke

the broom?/Did

you take the

broom?

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

74

*Didn‟t you

came

late?Didn‟t you

come late?

*Did shela

sweept the

room?/Did shela

sweep the

room?

*Did your father

worked hard?/Did your

father work

hard?

*Are you

watching TV

last night?/Did

you watch TV

last night?

*When

exactly she

did went out?/When

exactly did

she go out?

Intralingual

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 11 errors in total. She

made errors in omission (18.18%), addition (0%), misselection (72.72%) and

misordering (9.09%). She made most errors in the misselection. She did misselection in

the interrogative form of past tense. Besides, she also made errors of misselection the

correct verb and tense. She used present continuous tense instead of past tense. Here are

the examples of the errors he made:

*Did you got the last newspaper? It should be; Did you get the last newspaper?

*Are you watching TV last night? It should be; Did you watch TV last night?

75

Table 4.26

Errors of Student 26 (SL)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*Mr. Ahmad

live in Ciputat

since year

2009.

*Mr. Ahmad

has lived in

Ciputat since

2009.

Interlingual

Interlingual

*My

grandmot

her was

died/ My

grandmot

her died.

Interlingual

*My best friend

and I knew each

other/ My best

friend and I

have known each other.

*When exactly

does she go

out?/When

exactly did she

go out?

*My uncle lived

in Jakarta for ten

years/My uncle

has lived

*He worked in

this firm for 20

years/ He has

worked

*My sister has be

a nurse/ My

sister has been a

nurse.

*They have

maked cookies

since 2010/They

have made

*You have not

cuted a paper/

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

76

You have not

cut a paper.

*The boys has

not played x

box/The boys

have not *Have the

teacher teached

English?/Has

the teacher

taught English?

* Have the

teacher teached

English?/Has

the teacher

taught English?

*Has the police

catched the

thief?/Has the

police caught

the thief?

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 13 errors in total. She

made errors in omission (7.69%), addition (7.69%), misselection (84.61%) and

misordering (0%). She made most errors in the misselection. She did misselection in the

irregular verb of past tense. She overgeneralized the verb because she does not know the

past participle of certain a verb. Here are the examples of the errors she made:

*You have not cuted a paper. It should be; you have not cut a paper.

*They have maked cookies since 2010. It should be; they have made cookies since

2010.

Table 4.27

Errors of Student 27 (SS)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*When exactly

she went out?/When

Interlingual

77

exactly did

she go out?

*My best friend

and I knew each

other for over

fifteen years/My

best friend and I

have known *My brother

drunk a milk

last night/ My

brother drank

milk

*You have not

cutted your

hair/You have

not cut your

hair.

*Has the police

catched a

thief?/Has the

police caught a

thief?

*Has the teacher

teached the

student?/Has the

teacher taught

the student?

*Dina has

studied English

yesterday/ Dina

studied English

yesterday.

*Have you

watched TV

last night?/Did

you watch TV

last night?

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 8 errors in total. He

made errors in omission (12.5%), addition (0%), misselection (87.5%) and misordering

(0%). He made most errors in the misselection. He did misselection in choosing simple

past tense and present perfect tense. Like the other students before, he failed to choose

78

the correct verb in either past tense or present perfect tense. Here are the examples of

the errors:

*My brother drunk milk last night. It should be; My brother drank milk last night.

*You have not cutted your hair it should be; You have not cut your hair.

Table 4.28

Errors of Student 28 (SD)

Types of Error Omission Addition Misselection Misordering Causes of

Error

*My

grandmot

her was

died

before I

was

born/My

grand

mother

died.

Interlingual

*She has

finished her

homework just

now/She

finished

*We have

waitted you in

warnet/We have

waited you

*The man has

not build a

building/ The

man has not

built

*The boys has

not played

football/The

boys have not

played

*Has the police

cought a

thief?/Has the

police caught

the thief?

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Intralingual

Interlingual

Interlingual

79

*Has the teacher

teached the

student?Has the

student taught

the student?

*I already eat

lunch/I have

had lunch.

*Do you watch

TV last

night?/Did you

watch TV last

night?

From the table above, the writer can see the student made 9 errors in total. He

made errors in omission (0%), addition (11.11%), misselection (88.89%) and

misordering (0%). He made most errors in the misselection. He did misselection of

irregular verb. He also used another tense such as present tense instead of past tense.

Here are the examples of the errors:

*Has the police cought a thief? It should be; Has the police caught the thief?

*Do you watch TV last night? It should be; Did you watch TV last night?

B. Description of Errors

The next step is description of errors. The writer described the total and the

percentage of errors in Omission, addition, misselection, and misordering. Here is the

table:

Table 4.29

Frequency of the Modification of Error and Its Percentage

Types of Error Frequency Percentage (%)

Omission 48 15.94%

Addition 34 11.30%

Misselection 214 71.09%

Misordering 5 1.67%

Total 301 100%

80

From the table above, it could be known that the total of the type of errors was

301 errors. And the table described that the errors in missselection was the most

frequent errors in understanding simple past tense and present perfect tense which is

committed by the students 214 errors or 71.09%, and it was followed by omission

which consists of 48 errors or 15.94%. Then, errors in addition consisted of 34 errors or

11.30%. Last is errors in misordering, there are 5 errors or 1.67%.

From the table above the writer can conclude that the most type of errors made

by the students in understanding simple past tense and present perfect tense was

misselection, which consists of 214 errors or 71.09%.

Here, the writer interpreted the errors based on its types:

1. Percentage of students„ errors based on the frequency of the types of errors

(P =

100%):

A. Omission: 48 x 100% = 15.94 %

301

B. Addition: 34 x 100% = 11.30%

301

C. Misselection: 214 x 100% = 71.09%

301

D. Misordering: 5 x 100% = 1.67%

301

81

Here is the figure of students‟ errors based on its modification type of error:

Figure 4.1

From the data it could be interpreted that the errors in missselection was the

most frequent errors in which the students committed 214 errors or 71.09%, and it was

followed by omission that consists of 48 errors or 15.94%. Then, errors in addition

consisted of 34 errors or 11.30%. Last is errors in misordering, there are 5 errors or

1.67%.

C. Explanation of Errors

This part is the explanation of the causes why the students made errors in

understanding simple past tense and present perfect tense. The results come from the

instrument which has been mentioned in the previous chapter. The writer found some

evidences. Here are two main sources of errors which considered by the students.

a. Interlingual

Interlingual defined as errors which is the result of language transfer/translation

that caused by the influence of students‟ first language. Interlingual error can be called

Percentage of Students' Errors

Omission

Addition

Misselection

Misordering

82

mother tongue interference because interlingual errors happen when the mother tongue

contaminates the foreign language.

Based on error identification, the writer found that all of the students made

errors in interlingual. Most of student made errors in misselection. The student failed to

choose the correct verb in translation test. For example, she wrote *Mr. Ahmad was

lived in Ciputat since 2009 (Table 4.23). It should be; Mr. Ahmad has lived in Ciputat

since 2009. Another example is: *I was eat lunch (Table 4.13). It should be; I have had

lunch. The other examples are made by the students in addition *Dina was studied

English yesterday (Table 4.2 and 4.15). It should be; Dina studied English yesterday.

The students add auxiliary “was” because they translated it means “sudah” in

Indonesian. It could be a negative transfer of L1. These are literal translation into L2 of

the L1. In these cases, the knowledge of learners‟ language background helps

understanding what they mean. The students translated the word one by one from their

mother tongue into English.

The student also made error that caused by interlingual error in misordering. For

example, the student wrote *Why she has closed the door? (Table 4.3) It should be;

why has she closed the door? That error might occur because the student was

influenced by her mother tongue. The total of students errors caused by interlingual is

72 or 23.92%.

b. Intralingual

Intralingual error reflects the general characteristic of rule learning such as

faulty generalization, incomplete application of rules and failure to learn conditions

under which rules apply.

Intralingual refers to errors caused by the lack competence of the language being

learnt, so the students will produce incomplete rule application. Then, there are items

produced by the learner that does not reflect the structure of the mother tongue, but

generalizations based on partial exposure to the target language.

The writer found that all of the students; 28 students made errors caused by

intralingual error. Most of students made errors in misselection. In some cases, students

failed to choose the correct tense either past tense or present perfect tense. Here is the

example:

83

*She has finished her homework just now.

It should be; She finished her homework just now.

Besides, most of the students overgeneralized the verb because they do not know

the past participle of a certain verb, especially in irregular verb. Here are the examples:

*you have not cuted the paper (Table 4.19).

It should be; you have not cut the paper yet.

*Raihan writed a note yesterday (Table 4.18).

It should be; Raihan wrote a note yesterday.

The student also did misselection in the auxiliary “have/has” in the present

perfect tense. Here is the example of the error:

*The man have not built a house (Table 4.5).

It should be; the man has not built a house.

The student also made error that caused by intralingual in addition at verb tense.

For example, the student wrote:

*I did not watched television (Table 4.4).

*I did not drinked water (Table 4.4).

From the examples above, the writer can see that student used past participle of

the verb in the negative form of past tense, the student add –ed which should be omitted.

It occurred might be caused by intralingual error, because student does not understand

the negative form of simple past tense. Those sentences should be;

- I did not watch television.

- I did not drink water.

The writer found that the total errors made by the students caused by

intralingual is 229 or 76.07%.

c. Context of Learning and Communication Strategies

In this research the writer did not find the errors caused by context of learning

and Communication strategies. This case may be caused by the limited skill and

knowledge of the writer. It needs a deeper and longer time to explore this case to be a

perfect research.

84

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A. CONCLUSION

As it has been stated in the background of the study, the writer limited this

study into the analysis on the errors made by the first grade students of SMK Dua

Mei Ciputat at XAK class academic year 2012/2013 in understanding simple past

tense and present perfect tense.

Based on the writer’s research, there are four types of error made by the

students. The types of error which the students made the most in understanding

simple past tenses and present perfect tense is misselection errors with the total

number of error 214 errors (71.09%). The second error made the most by the

students is omission error with the total of errors 48 (15.94%). Then, addition type

of error is the third with the total of errors 34 errors (11.30%). The least error

which is made by the students is misordering type with the total of errors 5 errors

(1.67%). Regarding the source of the students’ errors, the writer found that the

errors that students made were caused by interlingual transfer and intralingual

transfer. The source of errors affecting the students most in understanding simple

past tense and present perfect tense is intralingual transfer with the total of error

229 errors (76.07%). Here is the example of the error that made by the student

which is caused by intralingual. *You have not cuted the paper. It should be;

you have not cut the paper. The student overgeneralized the verb because they

do not know the past participle of a certain verb, especially in irregular verb. The

next cause of errors affecting the student is interlingual transfer with the total of

error 72 errors (23.92%). Here is the example of the error that made by the student

caused by interlingual:*Dina was studied English yesterday. It should be; Dina

studied English yesterday. The students add auxiliary “was” because they

translate it means “sudah” in Indonesian. It can be concluded that the most errors

caused by the lack competence of the language being learnt; so the students

produced incomplete rule application, faulty generalization, and failure to learn

conditions under which rules apply.

85

B. SUGGESTION

After presenting the result of the research, the writer would like to propose

some suggestions which will be useful for both the students and the English

teachers. As for the students, they should learn more about past tenses and present

perfect tense to avoid or comitting error in both two tenses. For the teachers, they

should improve their teaching techniques by preparing systematic materials and

more practices in order to make the students understand the materials more and

also help the students to reduce the errors which are often made by them.

86

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APPENDICES

Name:

Class:

Simple past tense/ Present perfect tense

Complete the text below with the appropriate tenses !

1. Anang: Do you like the movie of “Star Wars?”

Firman: I don’t know. I (see, never) ……. that movie.

2. Sam (arrive) ……. In San Diego a week ago.

3. This tree (be) …..planted by the settlers who (find)…..our city over four hundred years

ago.

4. Stinson is a fantastic writer. He (write)……. ten creative short stories in the last year.

One day, he will be as famous as Hemingway.

5. My grandmother (die)…….before I was born. I (never, meet)…….her.

6. My best friend and I (know)……each other for over fifteen years. We still get together

once a week.

7. Anita: Is vena here?

Sonia: No, she went out

Andi: When exactly …...(she/go) out?

Sonia: about ten minutes ago.

8. My uncle (live)…….in Jakarta for ten years and after that he (move)…..to London.

9. She (finish)…….her homework just now.

10. He (work) ….. in this firm for 20 years. He still works here.

Simple Past Tense

Write 5 sentences using simple past tense in positive, negative and interrogative form!

a. Positive Form (+)

1. (Visit) =

2. (Write) =

3. (Teach) =

4. (Study) =

5. (Buy) =

b. Negative Form (-)

1. (Watch) =

2. (Finish) =

3. (Drink) =

4. (Sleep) =

5. (Call) =

c. Interrogative Form (?)

1. (Get) =

2. (Take) =

3. (Come) =

4. (Sweep) =

5. (Work) =

Present Perfect Tense

Write 5 sentences using present perfect tense in positive, negative and interrogative form!

a. Positive Form (+)

1. (I, find) =

2. (She, take a bath) =

3. (My sister, be) =

4. (We, wait) =

5. (They, make) =

b. Negative Form (-)

1. (You, cut) =

2. (He, know) =

3. (The man, build) =

4. (The boys, play) =

5. (Mila, open) =

c. Interrogative Form (?)

1. (You, study) =

2. (She, close) =

3. (The police, catch)=

4. (They, send) =

5. (The teacher, teach)=

Please, translate the sentences below into English!

1. Saya sudah makan siang.

2. Pak Ahmad sudah tinggal di Ciputat sejak tahun 2009.

3. Dia (laki-laki) sudah menunggumu selama 2 jam.

4. Dina sudah belajar bahasa inggris kemarin.

5. Apakah kamu nonton tv tadi malam?