AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN USING

REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS

By:

Rahmi Yuniarti

108014000016

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TARBIYA AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING

SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

JAKARTA

2014 / 1435 H

i

ABSTRACT

AN ERROR ANALYSIS Of STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN USING REGULAR

AND IRREGULAR VERBS A Case Study at the Second Grade of SMP YPN

Bojong Gede. Skripsi of English Education Department at Faculty of Tarbiyah

and Teachers‟ Training of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatulloh Jakarta,

2014

Keywords: Error Analysis, Types, Source, Regular and Irregular Verbs

This study was carried out to analyze students‟ error made by the Second

Grade students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede in using regular and irregular verbs.

Specifically, it aimed at obtaining the types of error in identifying regular and

irregular verbs in the past form and finding out the sources why the students make

such errors.

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

applied in this study was case study. This study was conducted by following the

procedures of error analysis: collecting sample of learner language, identifying of

errors,describing of errros, explaining of errors and evaluating of errors. The data

sources of this study was the Second Grade students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede

which consisted of 25 students. Furthermore, the data are collected through

observation, test, andquestionnaire to the students.

The results of the error analysis process showed that students committed error

into three types: omission, addition, and misselection/misformation. From the

frequency of each error types, there are 10.25% errors fell into addition and

18.70% errors fell into omission. Moreover, 71.05% fell into error of

misselection/misformation which was the most frequently produced by the

students. Based on Hubbard et al.‟ theory, it was interpreted that the existence of

errors was due to mother tongue interference, overeneralization, and errors

encourages by teaching material or method.

ii

ABSTRAK

AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN USING REGULAR

AND IRREGULAR VERBS A Case Study at the Second Grade Students of

SMP YPN Bojong Gede. Skripsi of English Education Department at Faculty of

Tarbiyah and Teachers‟ Training of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatulloh

Jakarta, 2014

Keywords: Error Analysis, Types, Source, Regular and Irregular Verbs

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis kesalahan siswa yang dilakukan

oleh siswa kelas dua SMP YPN Bojong Gede dalam menggunakan regular dan

irregular verbs. Secara khusus, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memperoleh jenis

kesalahan dalam mengidentifikasi regular dan irregular verbs dalam bentuk past

serta mencari tahu penyebab mengapa siswa melakukan kesalahan.

Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kualitatif,

sedangkan pola umum penelitian yang digunakan peneliti adalah studi kasus (case

study). Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan mengikuti prosedur-prosedur error

analysis yaitu dimulai dengan pemilihan sampel, pengidentifikasian, penjabaran,

penjelasan dan penilaian terhadap kesalahan-kesalahan. Sumber data pada

penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas 2 SMP YPN Bojong Gede yang terdiri dari 25

siswa. Data dalam penelitiaan ini diperoleh dengan cara melakukan observasi,

memberikan test dan memberikan kuesioner kepada para siswa.

Dari proses error analysis diperoleh hasil bahwa peserta didik melakukan tiga

jenis kesalahan yaitu ommision, addition, misformation/misselection. Dilihat dari

persentase setiap jenis kesalahan, ada 10.25% kesalahan pada addition dan

71.05% kesalahan pada omission. Selanjutnya, 71.05% kesalahan pada

misselection/misformation yang merupakan jenis kesalahan yang paling sering

dilakukan oleh peserta didik. Berdasarkan teori Hubbard dkk, hal ini ditafsirkan

bahwa adanya kesalahan disebabkan oleh mother tongue interference,

overeneralization, and errors encourages by teaching material or method.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

الرحيمبسم اهلل الرحمن

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the world who has blessed the writer in

completing this “skripsi” entitled An Error Analysis of Students’ Ability in Using

Regular and Irregular Verbs (A Case Study at the Second Grade of SMP YPN

Bojong Gede). Peace and Blessing beupon the Prophet Muhammad SAW, his

family, his companion, and 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 great gratitude to her beloved parents, D. Mawardi A.S and Sakilah; her two

borthers, Lutfi Budiman and Fadhli Darmawan who have given the greatest love,

prayer, moral and support in every part of her life especially in finishing this

skripsi.

The writer also would like toaddress her greatest thanks to her advisors Dr.

M. Farkhan, M.Pd and Yenny Rahmawati, M.Ed who have spent their time,

guidance, valuable helps, correction and suggestion during completing this study.

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

1. All lecturers of English Education Department who have taught and give

their motivation during her studyat „Syarif Hidayatullah‟ State Islamic

University Jakarta.

2. The chairman of English Education Department, Drs. Syauki, M.Pd and

Zaharil Anasy, M. Hum; the Academic Advisor and the Secretary of English

Education Department.

3. Dra. Nurlena Rifa‟i, MA., Ph. D as the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiya and

Teacher‟s Trainingof „Syarif Hidayatullah‟ State Islamic University Jakarta.

iv

4. Nurdin S. Sos; the headmaster of SMP YPN Bojong Gede who had allowed

the writer to do the research, and Zikriyah Ekarina, S. Pd; the English

teacher of the second grade who had guided the writer in doing the research.

5. Her beloved friends Dewi Purwanti, Dyah P.U, Musonah, Shofa S.H, Rizki

Juwitasari, Maylani, Wiwi Wardianti and all of English Education

Department students Class A for academic year 2008 who have always been

in the writer side in facing all laughter and tears during her study.

6. To all of people whose name cannot be mentioned for their contribution to

the writer during finishing her skripsi.

For the last, she realizes that her research paper is far from being perfect. It is

a pleasure for her to receive constructive critic and suggestion from anyone who

reads her skripsi for valuable improvement.

Jakarta, December 13th

2013

The Writer

NIM. 108014000016

v

TABLE OF CONTENT

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

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................ii

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

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

LIST OF SCHEMA...........................................................................................viii

LIST OF APPENDICES...................................................................................ix

CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ...................................................................1

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

B. Identification of the Problem ..................................................................6

C. Limitation of the Study ...........................................................................6

D. Formulation of the Study ........................................................................6

E. Objective of the Study ............................................................................7

F. Significance of the Study ........................................................................7

CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .......................................8

A. Error Analysis ..........................................................................................8

1. Understanding of Error Analysis......................................................8

2. Types of Error .................................................................................9

3. Sources of Error ..............................................................................15

4. Procedures of Error Analysis ..........................................................18

B. Verbs .........................................................................................................19

1. Understanding of Verbs ..................................................................19

2. Kinds of Verb ...................................................................................21

a. Regular Verb .............................................................................22

b. Irregular Verb ............................................................................23

3. Forms of Verb ..................................................................................24

a. Regular Verb ............................................................................24

b. Irregular Verb ............................................................................26

vi

CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................30

A. Place and Time of the Study ...................................................................30

B. Research Design ......................................................................................30

C. Research Participant ...............................................................................31

D. Technique of Data Collecting .................................................................31

E. Technique of Data Analysis ....................................................................32

CHAPTER IV : RESEARCH FINDINGS ......................................................34

A. Data Description......................................................................................34

1. The Result Observation ...................................................................34

2. The Result of Tests .........................................................................35

3. The Result of Questionnaire ............................................................38

B. Data Interpretation ..................................................................................39

1. Description of Errors ......................................................................39

2. Explanation of Errors ......................................................................63

3. Evaluation of Errors ......................................................................71

CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ..................................76

A. Conclusion .................................................................................................76

B. Suggestion .................................................................................................77

BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................78

APPENDICES

vii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 (The Example of Verbs Purposes in the Semantic) ..........................21

Table 2.2 (The Example of Regular Verbs) .....................................................23

Table 2.3 (The Example of Irregular Verbs) ....................................................24

Table 2.4 (The Four Principal Parts of Verb) ...................................................24

Table 2.5 (The Regular Verbs Form) ...............................................................25

Table 2.6 (The Irregular Verbs Form V1 = V2 = V3) ........................................26

Table 2.7 (The Irregular Verbs Form V1 ≠ V2 = V3) .......................................27

Table 2.8 (The Irregular Verbs Form V1 ≠ V2 ≠ V3) ........................................28

Table 3.1 (Number of Items of Regular & Irregular Verbs) ............................31

Table 4.1 (Students‟ Score of First Test Result) ..............................................36

Table 4.2 (Students‟ Score of Second Test Result) ..........................................37

Table 4.3 (The Description Error of Omission) ...............................................40

Table 4.4. (The Description Error of Addition) ................................................43

Table 4.5. (The Description Error of Misselection/Misformation) ...................46

Table 4.6 (Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Regular & Irregular Verbs) ...57

Table 4.7 (Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Regular Verbs) ......................59

Table 4.7 (Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Irregular Verbs) ....................61

Table 4.8 (The Frequency of Each Error Type) ...............................................62

Table 4.9 (Examples of Global Error ) .............................................................71

Table 4.10 (Examples of local Error) .................................................................73

viii

LIST OF DIAGRAMS

4.1 The Percentage of Sources of Errors ............................................................63

ix

LIST OF APPENDICES

1a Classroom Observation Form .................................................................... 80

2a Research Questionnaire Form ..................................................................... 82

2b The Percentage of Students‟ Questionnaire .............................................. 84

Instrument of the Research (Test)

Surat Pengesahan Proposal Skripsi

Surat Bimbingan Skripsi

Surat Permohonan Izin Penelitian

1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

“A language is a complex system of symbols, or sign, that are shared by

members of community. It will be useful to consider other sign that we know and

how we react to them”.1 Every language has its own symbols or sign that usually

used by the member of particular community who have their own words,

pronunciation and also their own structure.

According to Julie S. Amberg and Deborah J. Vause, language is foremost

a means of communication, and communication almost always takes place within

some sort of social context. Language is a rule-based system of sign spoken by a

particular community.2 When people use language, and communicate individual

thoughts, as well as the cultural beliefs and practices of the communication of

which they are a part of their families, social groups, and other associations.

A particular group of language users who share the use of a specific

language adopted to fit their needs is called a language community.3 When people

use a specific language in the particular society means that they are a part of

language community.

English is a foreign language for Indonesian students. Most of them learn

English because English is a part of Indonesian curriculum at the primary or

secondary level. According to Jeremy Harmer, The others learn English for

several reasons.

a. Some students only learn English because it is on the curriculum at

primary or secondary level.

b. Some people learn English because they have moved into a target

language community.

1 Charles W. Kreidler, Introducing English Semantics, (New York: British Library, 1998), p. 20

2 Julie S. Amberg and Deborah J. Vause, American English (History, Structure, and Usage),

(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 210

3 Ibid., p. 4

2

c. Some students learn English for specific purposes such as for tourism,

banking, nursing, etc.

d. Many people learn English because they think it will be useful in some

way for international communication and travel.4

Gebhard in Butlet-Pascoe and Winburg suggests that many minority

language learners may have an especially hard time in learning English. It is not

because they are offered limited instruction in English, but because they may exist

in a painful sort of cultural limbo.5 Learning English is not easy because English

is a foreign language for Indonesian students. They also have to master two

aspects of English. They are language skills and language component.

As in the curriculum, students are expected to master four skills such as

listening, speaking, reading and writing. In this aspect, speaking and writing are

the production skills, and listening and reading are the receptive skills. Besides, to

support those skills, they also expected to master the language component such as

grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, spelling, semantic, etc.

Tom McArthur said in his book that grammar is the rules people use when

speaking or writing.6 Grammar also deals with the form of sentences and smaller

units: clauses, phrases and words.7 Learning a language is impossible without

learning the grammar of that language, because grammar is one of the language

components which has an important role in the process of mastering language.

Actually, grammar consists of many elements such as part of speech

(noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction and interjection),

tenses, modal auxiliaries, comparison degree, etc. in this study, the writer focuses

on verbs that consist of regular and irregular verbs.

4 Jeremy Harmer, How to teach, (England: Longman, 2007), p. 11

5 Mary Ellen Butler-Pascoe and Karin M. Wiburg, Technology and Teaching English Language

Learners, (New York: A and B, 2003), p. 189

6 Tom McArthur, A Foundation Course for Language Teachers, (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1984), p. 75

7 Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar,

(United Kingdom: Cambridge, 2010), p. 1

3

In English language, verb forms are divided into two kinds. They are

regular and irregular verbs, but the regular verbs more than the irregular verbs.

The way to change the verbs between regular and irregular are different. To

change the regular verbs into past form generally by adding –ed or –d. For the

irregular verbs, there are not specific ways to change them into past form because

the students have to memorize all of unpredictable change.

For example to make a past form of walk students just add –ed at the end

of words become walked because walk is a regular verb. Then, to make the past

form in the irregular verbs such as say, we cannot only add –ed or -d to make the

verb say into the past form, but we have to memorize the change of verbs say that

is say-said-said.

Charles W. Kreidler said that every language has a grammatical system

and different languages have somewhat grammatical system.8 For Indonesian

students, mastering English grammar is not easy because English and Indonesian

language have different rule of grammar.

In the process of learning English, students sometimes do some mistakes

and errors. Mistakes and errors are different. Brown said that a mistake is a

performance error that is either a random guess or a “slip”, in that it is a failure to

utilize a known system correctly.9 Then, according to Jeremy Harmer, errors are

mistakes which they can’t correct themselves and which need explanation.10

So,

mistakes can cause by the students who can’t memorize well, slip of fingers or

slip of tongue. Whereas errors are caused by lack of knowledge about the target

language that makes the students can’t correct themselves.

Here the writer would like to show some common errors that students

often do when they use regular and irregular verbs.

a. They goed to Bali last Sunday.

b. She buyed a new bag two days ago.

8 Charles W. Kreidler, op. cit., p. 50

9 H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (Forth Edition), (New

York: Pearson Education, 2006), p. 257

10

Jeremy Harmer, op. cit., p. 96

4

The above sentences are definitely wrong because the students use the

wrong form of verbs. Go and buy are the irregular verbs, but the students just add

–ed/d to the verb that they know as the way to make the past form. Actually, the

verb Go will be changed into go-went-gone and the verb Buy will be changed into

buy-bought-bought. The correct sentences are:

They went to Bali last Sunday.

She bought a new bag two days ago.

In this case, students think that to change the verbs into past form, they

have to add –ed/d to all kinds of verbs. It means they did not understand that verbs

are divided into two kinds (regular and irregular) and both of them have different

way to be the past form.

The writer also found the other errors in using regular and irregular verbs,

as follows:

c. We studyied English yesterday.

d. He moveed to Solo last Wednesday.

Those sentences are wrong, because the students cannot apply the past

form of verb study and move perfectly. They give the addition one letter to the

past form of study and move. They make the past form of study becomes studyied

by adding “y” and move becomes moveed by adding “e”.

The correct sentences are:

We studied English yesterday.

He moved to Solo last Wednesday.

In this case, the students have to change the verb into past form

appropriately. Such as, study become studied not studyied, and move become

moved not moveed. Actually, in using the regular verbs with ending “y” as in

study, students should omit the “y” letter and change it become “i” and then add –

ed to show the past form. For the regular verbs with ending “e” as in move, they

way that student have to do in changing the verbs into past form just by adding –d

not –ed.

5

There are also other errors in using regular and irregular verbs, such as:

e. He admited his mistakes last night.

f. My family picniced to Puncak last holiday.

Those sentences are incorrect because both of them have imperfect writing

of verbs. The past forms of verbs admit and picnic should become admitted and

picnicked. For the verb admit, the students should add a letter “t” before –ed, and

for the verb picnic, the students should add a letter “k” before –ed.

The correct sentences are:

He admitted his mistakes last night.

My family picnicked to Puncak last holiday.

In this case the students omit a letter that should be admitted they just

wrote admited, and the past verb of picnic that should be picnicked, they just

wrote picniced.

All of those errors are some cases that happened in the process of learning

regular and irregular verbs. Those cases commonly because of several reasons,

such as the influence of their native language, lack of knowledge about the target

language or other reasons.

Actually, there are many types of error based on the different area.

According to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen, errors are classified into four categories

plus a fifth by James based on the surface structure taxonomy. They are omission,

addition, misformation, misordering and blends.11

The source of errors are various

in the process of learning foreign language, especially in learning English. Peter

Hubbart divided a source of error into three parts. They are mother-tongue

interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged by teaching material or

method.12

11 Carl James, Errors in Language Learning and Use, (New York: Longman, 1998), p. 106-111

12

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

1983), p. 140

6

So, in this study the writer would like to analyze common error that

happen in the process of learning regular and irregular verbs. Then, the writer also

would like to analyze the sources of error that happen in the process of learning

both verbs.

Based on the background of the study above, the writer would like to

discuss about: “AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN USING

REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS (A Case Study at the Second Grade of

SMP YPN Bojong Gede)”.

B. Identification of The Problem

Based the background study above, there are some problems which can be

identified, such as:

1. The students’ ability to differentiate regular and irregular verbs.

2. The students’ ability in using verbs in the simple past tense.

3. The kinds of errors which students made in using regular and irregular

verbs.

4. The sources of student’s errors in using regular and irregular verbs.

C. Limitation of the Study

Based the identification above, the writer only focuses the problem on

regular and irregular verbs in simple past form.

D. Formulation of the Problem

Based on the description above, the writer would like to formulate the

problem as follows:

1. What types of errors do students make in using regular and irregular

verbs?

2. What sources of errors do students make in using regular and irregular

verbs?

7

E. Objectives of The Study

According to the statement of the problem above, the objective of the

study are as follows:

a. To classify the types of errors which students made in using regular and

irregular verbs.

b. To classify the sources of errors which students made in using regular and

irregular verbs.

F. Significance of the Study

The significances of this study are expected to provide useful information

for students, the English teacher, and the further researcher.

1. The Students

The result of this study is expected to give an input to them to improve

their knowledge.

2. The English Teacher

The result of this study is expected to give useful information to the

English teacher about the student’s mastery in regular and irregular verbs

to improve their quality in teaching English.

3. The Further Researcher

This study is expected can be used by other researcher to do better

research of teaching and learning cases.

8

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. Error Analysis

1. Understanding of Error Analysis

English is a foreign language for Indonesian students. In the process

of learning English, they sometimes do some mistakes or errors. As H.

Douglas Brown said in his book that learning is fundamentally a process that

involves the making of mistakes. Mistakes, misjudgments, miscalculations

and erroneous assumption form an important aspect of learning virtually any

skill or acquiring information.1

Sometimes researchers distinguish between errors are caused by

factors such as fatigue and inattention that Chomsky called “performance”

factors, and errors resulting from lack of knowledge that Chomsky called

“competence”. In some of the second language literature, performance errors

have been called “mistakes” while the term “errors” was reserved for

systematic deviations due to the learner‟s still-developing knowledge of the

L2 rule system.2

Peter Hubbard et al. differentiate between error and mistakes as

follows: errors are caused by lack of knowledge about the target language

(English) or by incorrect hypotheses about it and mistakes caused by

temporary lapses of memory, confusion, slips of the tongue and so on.3 Errors

and mistakes are different. Errors are caused by lack of knowledge of the

learners or incorrect hypotheses, and mistakes are caused by some factors

such as slips of tongue, confusion etc.

1 H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (Forth Edition), (New

York: Pearson Education, 2006), p. 257

2 Heidy Dulay et al., Language Two, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 139

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

1983), p. 130

9

Heidi Dulay said that errors are the flawed side of learner speech or

writing. They are those parts of conversation or composition that deviate from

some selected norm of mature language performance.4 We use “error” to refer

to any deviation from a selected norm of language performance, no matter

what the characteristics or causes of the deviation might be. According to

Peter Hubbard et al, so far all incorrect forms produced by the student we

have called “errors”. 5

Carl James defines Error Analysis as the process of determining the

incidence, nature, causes and also the consequences of unsuccessful

language.6 According to H. Douglas 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.7 So, in this study the writer

would like to observe, analyze and classify learner‟s error in mastering

regular and irregular verbs.

2. Types of Error

Basically, there are many classifications about types of errors in

learning English that classify by Corder and Heidi Dulay et, al.

According to Corder, errors are classified into four basic such as

errors of omission, errors of addition, errors of selection, and errors of

ordering. If some element is omitted which should be present, it is called

errors of omission. If some element is present which should not be there, it is

called errors of addition. Next, if the wrong item has been chosen in place of

the right one, it is called errors of selection. And the last, where the elements

presented are correct but wrongly sequenced, it called errors of ordering.8

4 Dulay, et al., op. cit., p. 138

5 Hubbard et al., op. cit., p. 136

6 Carl James, op. cit., p. 1

7 Brown, op. cit., p.259

8 S. P. Corder. Error Analysis and Interlanguage. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981),

p. 36

10

This types of error would be explained more in the next explanation about

error based on the surface strategy taxonomy according to Dulay et al.

Dulay et al. claim that errors are divided into four types. They are

error based on the linguistic category, error based on the surface strategy

taxonomy, error based on the comparative taxonomy, and error based on the

communicative effect taxonomy.9 Here, the writer would like to explain more

to make them clearer.

a. Error based on the linguistic taxonomy

This category carries out specification of errors of linguistic categories

in terms of where the error is located in the overall system of the Target

Language (TL), based on the linguistic item that is affected by the error.

First, this taxonomy shows on what level of language the error is

located, such as in phonology, grammar, graphology, lexis, text, or discourse.

Next, it indicates the specification of the category of linguistic unit where the

error occurs. Finally, we need to specify the grammatical system that affected

by the error (tense, voice, countability, etc)10

For example:

Rani *study math last night.

This sentence above is incorrect, the learner used “study” in term of

the verb in the past form. This error is located in the grammar level of the

simple past tense, which is specified into morphological category that shows

omission of –ed as the past form of verb. So, the correct sentence is:

Rani studied math last night.

b. Error based on the surface strategy taxonomy

This second type of descriptive taxonomy proposed by Dulay, Burt

and Krashen, it divided into four categories. They are omission, addition,

misformation, and misordering. Besides, that four categories, James adds one

categories blends that complements the Target Modification Taxonomy.

9 Dulay, et al., op. cit., p. 140

10

James, op. cit., p. 104-105

11

1. Omission (Ø)

Omission errors mean the learner omits an item that must appear in

a well-formed utterance.11

James stated that omission is different from

ellipsis and zero elements which are allowed by the grammar, because

omission makes a structure ungrammatical.12

Here, the writer would like

to shows the example of omission:

He *call me two days ago.

The sentence above is incorrect, because the learner omits –ed in

the past form of verb put that should be putted. So, here is the correct

sentence:

He called me two days ago.

2. Addition

Addition errors are the opposite of omission errors, which presence an

item that must not appear in a well-formed utterance. It usually occur in

the L2 acquisition process, when learners has already acquired some rules

in the TL. Dulay et al, divide it into three sub-categories.13

a) Double Marking

This sub categories is defined as a failure to delete certain items which

are required in some linguistics construction but not in others.14

For

example:

She did not *studied last night.

Above is an incorrect sentence, because added –ed on the main verb

study. It make the sentence is redundant because the auxiliary did

already carries the marker of the past tense. Below is the correct

sentence:

She did not study last night.

11 Dulay, op. cit., p. 155

12

James, op. cit., p. 106

13

Dulay, loc. cit., p. 156

14

james, loc. cit., p. 107

12

b) Regularization

Regularization error involves overlooking exceptions to domain where

they do not apply.15

It usually applies in the liguistic items, such as the

class of main verbs or the class of nouns.16

For example:

Incorrect sentence: Yusuf *putted the bag there just now

Correct sentence: Yusuf put the bag there just now.

Here, the learner apply the incorrect rule to the irregular verb by added

–ed to the verb of put that must become put in the past form.

c) Simple addition

In simple addition errors, there are no particular features characteristic

other than caracterize in all additional errors, that is the use of

unnecessary item in a well-formed utterance. Here is the example:

Incorrect sentence: Shana *workeded in this company last year

Correct sentence: Shana worked in this company last year

3. Misformation

Misformation errors are the use of wrong form of the morpheme or

structure.17 Furthermore, misformation is classified into three subtypes,

they are:18

a) Regularization error is misformation category which a regular marker

that used in a place of an irregular one. For example: eated for ate,

falled for fell, maked for made, and so fort.

b) Archi-form occurs when the learner select one member of class of

forms to represent others. For example: *Me hungry for I am hungry.

c) Alternating form

Alternating form is the way to the apparently fairly free alternation of

various members of a class with each other. For example: *I seen him

yesterday for I saw him yesterday.

15 James, op. cit., p. 107

16

Dulay, op. cit., p. 157

17

Ibid., p. 158

18

Ibid., p. 158

13

d) Misordering

Misordering error that characterized by the incorrect placement of a

morpheme or group of morpheme in an utterance.19

For example:

Incorrect sentence: *he is all the time late

Correct sentence: he is late all the time.

e) Blends

Blends is typical of situations where there are two well-defined target

and the learner is undecided which of those two target that he would like

to use. For example:

Incorrect sentence: *According to Tina’s opinion

Correct sentence: according to or Tina’s opinion.

c. Error based on the comparative taxonomy

In the comparative taxonomy, the classification of errors is based on

the comparisons between the structure of L2 errors and certain other types of

construction. For example, if someone uses comparative taxonomy to classify

the errors of Indonesian students in learning English, one might compare the

structure of the student‟s errors to that of errors reported for children

acquiring English as the first language.

In the Comparative taxonomy, errors are divided into developmental

errors, interlingual errors, ambiguous errors, and other errors.20

1) Developmental errors

Developmental errors are errors similar to those made by children learning

the target language as their first language. For example:

Incorrect sentece: *Dog it is black

Correct sentence: This dog is black

19 Dulay, op. cit., p. 162

20

Ibid., p. 163

14

2) Interlingual errors

Interlingual errors are similar to a semantically equivalent phrase or

sentence in the learner‟s native language. For example:

Incorrect sentence: *The boy handsome

Correct sentence: The boy is handsome

3) Ambiguous errors

Ambiguous errors are the errors that reflect the learner‟s native language

structure and at the same time they found in the speech of children

acquiring a first language. For example:

Incorrect sentence: *I no have a car

Correct sentence: I don’t have a car

4) Other errors

Few taxonomies are complete without grab bag for items that don‟t fit into

any other category. For example:

Incorrect sentence: *She do hungry

Correct sentence: She is hungry

d. Error based on the communicative effect taxonomy

Communicative effect taxonomy deals with errors from the

perspective of their effect on the listener or reader. It is divided into two parts;

global and local errors.

1) Global errors are errors that affect overall sentence organization

significantly hinder communication. Here is the example:

Incorrect sentence: *English language use many people

Correct sentence: English language is used by many people.

2) Local errors are the errors that affect single elements (constituents) in a

sentence that do not hinder communication significantly.

Incorrect sentence: * Why like we each other?

Correct sentence: Why we like each other?

15

Researchers have found that like L1 learners‟ error, most of the errors

L2 learners make indicate they are gradually building an L2 rule system

among the most common errors are:

a. Omitting grammatical morphemes

b. Double marking

c. Regularizing rules

d. Using two or more forms in random alternation

e. Misordering21

3. Sources of Error

Naturally, teachers can be blamed for causing errors by sloppy or careless

teaching or planning. On the other hand, if teachers blame the students, their

accusations are usually directed at lack of motivation, self-discipline or general

intelligence. However, much truth may be on the other side, we must agree that

even the most intelligent, conscientious and motivated students do make errors

even when learning under the best possible conditions.22

By trying to identify the sources of error the writer can take another step

forward to understand student‟s cognitive and affective processes in learning

foreign language. Actually, students do some errors caused by several factors that

called sources of error.

Pit Corder in Hubbard claims that there are three major sources of error,

which he labels as follows:

a. Transfer errors

In the transfer errors, before the system of second language is familiar, the

native language is the only linguistic system in previous experiences upon

which the learner can draw.

21 Dulay et al., op. cit., p. 138-139

22

Hubbard et al., op. cit., p. 131

16

b. Analogical errors

Eventhough the learners have discovered a correct rule of the target

language, they may still make some error in the process of learning languge by

analogy something because the students have not yet discovered the rule

applies.

c. Teaching-induced errors.

In the process of learning error may appear. Thus error may caused by the

method and the material that delivered by the teacher.23

However, a Training Course for TEFL book uses the same categories but

give them different names such as mother-tongue interference, overgeneralization,

and errors encouraged by teaching material or method.

a. Mother-tongue interference

Even though young children appear to be able to learn a foreign language

easily and to reproduce new sounds effectively, most of older learners

experience considerable difficulty. The sounds system (phonology) and the

grammar of the first language impose themselves on the new language and this

leads to a „foreign‟ pronunciation, faulty grammatical patterns and occasionally

to the wrong choice of vocabulary.

b. Overgeneralization

The mentalist theory claims that errors are inevitable because they reflect

various stages in the language development of the learner. It claims that the

learner processes new language data in his mind and produces rules for its

production, based on the evidence.

c. Errors encouraged by teaching material or method.

Error is evidence of failure of ineffective teaching or lack of control. If

material is well chosen, graded and presented with meticulous care, there

should never be any error.24

23 Hubbard, op. cit., p. 140

24

ibid., p. 140

17

According to H. Douglas Brown, sources of error are divided into four

parts. They are interlingual transfer, intralingual transfer, context of learning and

communication strategies.25

a. Interlingual transfer

Interlingual transfer is a significant source of error for all learners. The

beginning stages of learning a foreign language are especially vulnerable to

interlingual transfer from the native language, or interference. In the

interlingual transfer, before the system of the second language is familiar, the

native language is the only previous linguistic system upon which the learner

can draw.

b. Intralingual transfer

Intralingual transfer is a major factor in the second language learning.

Researchers have found that the early stages of language learning are

characterized by a predominance of interference, but the learners have begun to

acquire parts of the new system.

c. Context of learning

The third major source of error is context of learning. “Context” refers

to the classroom with its teacher and its materials in the case of school learning

or the social situation in the case of untutored second language learning.

Students often make errors because of a misleading explanation from the

teacher, faulty presentation of a structure or word in a textbook, or even

because a pattern that was rarely memorized in a drill but improperly

contextualized.

d. Communication strategies

Learners obviously use production strategies in order to enhance

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

become a source of error.26

25 Brown, op. cit., p. 263

26

Hubbard et al., op. cit., p. 131

18

4. Procedures of Error Analysis

According to Muriel Saville said that there are several steps in the

procedure for analyzing learner errors. They are collection of a sample of

learner language, identification of errors, description of errors, explanation of

errors, and evaluation of errors.

a. Collection of a sample of learner language

In this step, the data are collected from some learners who answer

the task or test that is suitable to the objective of the study.

b. Identification of errors

In the identification of errors the researchers are determinate the

sample of the learner which deviate from the target language in some way.

c. Description of errors

In this step, the errors are usually classified according to language

level (whether an error is phonological, morphological, syntactic, etc),

general linguistic category (auxiliary system, passive sentence, etc), or

more specific linguistic elements (e.g. articles, preposition, etc).

d. Explanation of errors

In the explanation of errors, the researchers have to analyze why an

error was made by the learners. The researchers also have to find the

causes or sources of error that made by the learners.

e. Evaluation of errors

This step involves analysis of what effect the error has on whoever

is being addressed.27

In another theory, Penny Ur said there are four stages to analyze the

learner errors. They are gathering samples, classifying, ordering, and

reordering.

27 Muriel Saville Troike, Introducing Second Language Acquisition, (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2008), p. 39

19

a. Gathering samples

In this step, the researcher has to gather several learners‟ writing

sample to analyze.

b. Classifying

In the second step, the researcher has to classify or categorize the

students mistake or errors that the most common.

c. Ordering

Then, the researcher makes a list of the most common mistakes or

error that learners made.

d. Reordering

In the last step rearrange the list of student‟s error to make sure and

it is very necessary for the error correction.28

B. General Concept of Verb

1. Understanding of Verbs

The verb is indispensable: without it no sentence can be made. A

verb is needed to express the thought, and the verb is the only part of

speech that can by itself express a thought. So, because of their prime

importance, verbs must be thoroughly studied and mastered. 29

Verb has

an important role in a sentence to express our thought, because of it the

learners have to study and master it.

The basic building blocks of English sentences are subject and

verbs. Mastering both of them is an important step toward mastering a

number of sentences. All sentences consist of a subject and a verb. Subject

means who or what the sentence speaks about, and verb means what the

sentence says about the subject.30

When people just write or speak the

28 Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, (London: Cambridge

University Press, 1996), p.86

29

James C. Fernald, English Grammar Simplified, (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1979)

p. 79

30

John Langan, English skills (Seventh Addition), (New York: Mc Graw Hill, 2001), p. 411

20

subject in his/her writing or speaking, it means that he/she doesn‟t speak a

sentence.

Silvia Robertson said that a verb in general is the key to the

meaning of the sentence.31

The verb is the most important thing in a

sentence because a verb is a keyword to express the meaning in a sentence.

So, without verb, it cannot be called as a sentence.

Verb is one of part of speech that consists of noun, pronoun, verb,

adverb, preposition, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. In the book

“how to teach” by Jeremy Harmer, verb is a word or group of words which

is used in describing an action experience or state.32

So, verbs have the

functions in a sentence to express an action, experience, state, etc.

The verb is the chief determinant of what kind of situation it is: an

action (I opened the window), some other event (the building collapsed), a

state (They know the rules), and so on.33

This definition is almost similar

with the definition from Penny Ur and James C. Fernald as follows:

Penny Ur said that verbs are often called words of doing, such as

walk, write, read etc. they also indicate a state of being (such as

seems) , state of feeling (such as regret), and a state of being in

relationship to.34

According to James C. Fernald, verb is a word that expresses action or

state of being. Among verbs expressing action are walk, run, ride, go,

come, look, see, call, etc. Among verbs expressing emotion and state

of being are be, exist, seem, appear, remain, etc.35

Actually the three of them give a definition that verbs express an

action, event, state of being, feeling or emotion etc. So, verb has many

functions to express our thought in a sentence.

31 Hodder & Stoughton, Parken Verboten (Teach Yourself : German Verbs), (German: Hodder

Headline, 2003), p. 2

32

Jeremy Harmer, op cit., p. 65

33

Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar,

(Cambridge: Cambridge, 2010), p. 17

34

Penny Ur, op. cit., p. 80

35

James C. Fernald, op. cit., p. 79

21

From a semantic standpoint, verbs serve several purposes, such as

to equate X with Y, to indicate state or condition and to indicate the

performance of action.36

For example:

Table 2.5

The example of verbs purposes in the semantic

1. To equate X with Y Nasya is a nurse

2. To indicate state or condition Talitha seems sick today

3. To indicate the performance of action Salsa read a book.

2. Kinds of Verb

The term main verb refers to the word that expresses action or

helps to make a statement complete. Even though the main verb consists

of one word, it may have helping verbs in front of it.37

Without verb, a

statement or sentence cannot be a complete statement or complete

sentence.

Verbs are variable lexemes. They have a number of different

inflectional forms that are required or permitted in various grammatical

contexts.38

The most distinctive grammatical property of verbs is their

inflection.39

Inflectional is variation in the form of a lexeme determined by

syntactic properties like singular and plural number in nouns, preterite and

present tense in verbs.40

Actually, the preterite form is similar to the past

form of verb, such as watch – watched – watched.

36 Richard V. Teschner and Eston Evans, Analyzing the Grammar of English (A Brief

Undergradate Textbook, Second Edition), ( Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2000), p.

11

37

Barbara Hansen and Rebecca McDaniel, Simplifed Sentence Skills, (Chicago: NTC

Publishing Group, 1998), p. 4

38

Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, op. cit., p. 29

39

Ibid., p. 17

40

Ibid., p. 301

22

Eugene J. Hall said that there are only two tenses in English which

are marked by inflection. These are the simple present and simple past

tenses.41

Most modern grammarians also consider that there are only two

tenses in English which have inflected endings; the simple present and the

simple past. In this study, the writer will focus on the verbs inflection in

the simple past tense. The simple past tense indicates past actions that

occur at a definite time in the past, whether the time is stated or not.

According to their changes of form (inflection) verbs are divided

into regular and irregular verbs.42

a. Regular Verb

Most English verbs are regular in the form of the past and the past

participle. According to Silvia Robertson, regular verbs are verbs which

conform to a certain pattern. She also said that the regular verbs have certain

patterns to change such the word walk that changes into walk-walked-walked, but

to be cannot change regularly as the word walk.43

The simple past and past participle of regular verbs is –ed, such as

clean–cleaned, live–lived, paint–painted, etc. For example:

Simple past:

I cleaned my room yesterday.

Past participle:

Present perfect : have/has + past participle

For example:

Candy has lived in Miami for ten years.

Passive : be + past participle

For example:

These rooms are cleaned every day.44

41 Eugene J. Hall. Grammar for Use. (New York: Voluntad Publishers, Inc, 1992), p. 153

42

James C. Fernald, op.cit p. 82

43

Hodder & Stoughton, op. cit p. 4

44

Raymond Murphy with William R. Smalzer, Basic Grammar in Use (second edition),

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 50

23

With regular verbs we can also predict that the past tense form and

past participle forms are identical and formed with the –ed ending added to

the base:

Table 2.6

The example of regular verb

The base past form past participle

Walk walked walked45

b. Irregular Verb

Irregular verbs is a small number of verbs, among the some of the

most commonly used verbs in the language, which have forms that differ

from the regular tense form.46

Irregular verbs form the past tense and the

past participle which are different with the regular verbs that adding –ed.

Actually, there are only about 200 irregular verbs, including all the

auxiliaries, in the English language.47

Besides, regular and irregular verbs are different in the number of

verbs, irregular verbs also different in the way to make it. Different with

regular verbs, however, in the irregular verbs we cannot predict their past

and past participle forms from the base. For example:

Table 2.7

The example of irregular verbs

The base past form past participle

Break Broke Broken

45Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svantvik, A Communicative Grammar of English (Third Edition),

(Boston: Pearson Education, 2002), p.300

46

Marcella Fank. Modern English: a Practical Reference Guide. (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,

INC, 1972), p. 61

47

James C. Fernald. Op. cit., p. 82

24

Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svantvik said that there are three main types of

irregular verbs divided as in the bellow:

1) Verbs in which all the three principal part (the base, the past form,

the past participle) are identical, for example:

Cut ~ cut ~ cut let ~ let ~ let

2) Verbs in which two parts are identical, for example:

Spend ~ spent ~ spent come ~ came ~ come

3) Verbs in which all three parts are different, for example:

Blow ~ blew ~ blown speak ~ spoke ~ spoken48

3. Forms of Verb

Verbs indicate the time of an action by their form. The form tells

whether the action is in the past, the present, or the future. The English

language has six tenses to indicate three of them, and all of the tenses are

based on the four principal parts of verb. As follows:

Table 2.8

The four principal parts of verb

Present Past Past participle Present participle

Walk Walked (have) walked (is) walking

a. Regular Verb

There are two types of main verbs, they are regular and irregular.

„Regular‟ means that we can state all the verb forms of an English verb

once we know its base form. The base is the basic, uninflected form which

is given as the entry from in dictionaries. A regular English verb, such as

call, has the following four forms:

48 Leech and Jan Svantvik, op. cit., p.300

25

1. The base : call

2. The –s form :calls

3. The –ing form : calling

4. The –ed form : called

In the regular verb, the verb is formed by adding –ed to the base to

change into two forms, past and past participle.49

For example:

Table 2.9

The regular verbs form

-ed form

Base Past form Past participle

Help Helped Helped

Play Played Played

Regular verbs form the past tense and the past participle by adding

–ed to the simple form of the verb. When the simple form end in mute e,

the e is put before adding -ed.

Eugene J. Hall said that regular verbs in the past tense are formed

by adding –d or –ed in written usage. In speech the –d ending has three

different pronunciations. Those different pronunciations have no

significance in meaning.50

49 Leech and Svantvik, op. cit., p.316-317

50

Eugene J. Hall, Grammar for Use, (New York: Voluntad Publishers, Inc, 1992), p. 153

26

b. Irregular Verb

According to Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svantvik, there are three main

types of irregular verbs, they are verbs in which all the three principal parts,

verbs in which two parts are identical, and verbs in which all three parts

are different.51

In other words, the first type is verbs whose forms in the

present, past, and past participle are similar (V1 = V2 = V3). The next type

is the verbs whose forms in the present is different with the past and past

participle (V1 ≠ V2 & V3). In the last type, the form in the present, past and

past participle are different (V1 ≠ V2 ≠ V3).

In the list below, the verbs are grouped according to how three past

from and past participle forms differ from the base form. 52

1) All three verb parts are identical (V1 = V2 = V3)

Table 2.10

The irregular verbs form (V1 = V2 = V3)

Verb I Verb II Verb III

Cut cut cut

Hurt Hurt Hurt

Put Put Put

Hit Hit Hit

Quit Quit Quit

Read Read Read

Set Set Set

Let Let let

51 Leech and Jan Svantvik, op. cit., p. 300

52

Ibid., p. 301-309

27

Cost Cost cost

Thrust thrust thrust

Spread Spread spread

Upset Upset upset

Wed Wed wed

2) Two verb parts are identical (V1 ≠ V2 & V3)

Table 2.11

The irregular verbs form (V1 ≠ V2 & V3)

Verb I Verb II Verb III

Say Said said

Pay Paid paid

Dig Dug dug

Feel Felt felt

Feed Fed fed

Stand Stood stood

Bring Brought brought

Buy Bought bought

Teach Taught taught

Think Thought thought

Catch Caught caught

Pay Paid paid

Dig Dug dug

28

Feel Felt felt

Feed Fed fed

Stand Stood stood

Find Found found

Hang Hung hung

Hear Heard heard

Hold Held held

Keep Kept kept

Lay Laid laid

Lie Lay lay

Lead Led led

Lose Lost lost

3) All three verb forms are different (V1 ≠ V2 ≠ V3)

Table 2.12

The irregular verbs form (V1 ≠ V2 ≠ V3)

Verb I Verb II Verb III

Go went gone

Write wrote written

Speak spoke spoken

Hide hid hidden

Become became become

Begin began begun

Break broke broken

29

Choose chose chosen

Do did done

draw drew drawn

Drive drove driven

drink drank drunk

Fall fell fallen

Forgive forgave forgiven

Get got gotten

Give gave given

Know knew known

Ring rang rung

See saw seen

Sing sang sung

Swim swam swum

Take took taken

Wake woke woken

Undo undid undone

Wear wore worn

30

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Place and Time of The Study

1. Place of The Study

This study was held at SMP YPN Bojong Gede which is located in

Bambu Kuning Rt 02/06, Desa Bojong Baru, Kecamatan Bojong Gede,

Kabupaten Bogor.

2. Time of The Study

The writer conducted the study at that school from December 2012 up to

January 2013.

B. Research Design

This research is a qualitative research in a form case study. Qualitative

research is a research that involves data collection procedures that gave result in

open-ended and non-numerical data which is then analyzed primarily by non-

statistical methods.1 According to Gall et al. in the Patricia A. Duff’s book, case

study is the dept study of instances of phenomenon in its natural context and from

the perspective of the participants involved in the phenomenon.2

To compile this paper, the writer also did library research. The writer did

library research in order to broaden the theoretical framework such as looking for

ideas from experts, some definitions. The writer also reads many reference books

which related to the topic. She also visited some libraries such as FITK library,

UIN library and Atmajaya University.

1 Zoltan Dornyei, Research Methods in Applied Linguistics (Quantitative, Qualitative, and

Mixed Methodologies), (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 24

2 Patricia A. Duff, Case Study Reseacrh in Applied Linguistics, (New York: Taylor & Francis

Group, 2008), p. 22

31

C. Research Participants

The research participants of this study were 25 students as the total

population at second grade of SMP YPN Bojong Gede which were taken by

purposive random sampling.

D. Techniques of Data Collecting

To collect data, the writer uses three kinds of data collecting techniques, they

are:

1. Observation

In this research, this technique is used to get the accurate information about

the school where the writer does her research, such as the location, the students,

and the student’s material. The writer also did classroom observation in order to

get the supporting data about the sources of error in second grade of SMP YPN

Bojong Gede.

2. Test

In this study, the writer gave written tests to get data about the student’s

errors in mastering regular and irregular verbs in simple past tense as the material

in the second grade in the junior high school.

The test is divided into three parts. The first part asked the students to

complete the text by using the past form of the verbs in the bracket. The second

part asked the students fill the right verbs than change it into the past form. The

last part asked the students to change the verbs in the bracket into the past form.

Table 3.1

Number of items of regular and irregular verbs

No. Regular and irregular verbs Number of items

1 Task A

Regular verbs 2, 4, 8, 10

Irregular verbs 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9

32

2 Task B

Regular verbs 1, 4, 5, 7, 9

Irregular verbs 2, 3, 6, 8, 10

3 Task C

Regular verbs 2, 5, 6, 8, 9

Irregular verbs 1, 3, 4, 7, 10

3. Questionnaires

The writer gave questioner as the supporting data to the second grade

students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede in order to find out the sources of errors

which consist of fifteen questions. The questions are talking about the

students’ motivation in learning English, students’ knowledge about Regular

and Irregular Verbs, students’ view about Indonesian and English verbs, and

the teacher performance in teaching Regular and Irregular Verbs.

E. Techniques of Data Interpretation

After collecting the data, she interprets it by presenting data from class

observation, questionnaire, and identifying the error from the tests.

In identifying error, the writer determines the types of errors and the

source of errors. The writer used the Surface Strategy Taxonomy theory of James

which consists of omission, addition, misformation/misselection, misordering and

blends to classify the types of errors. She also used table in presenting the types of

error. Then, she used theory from Hubbard et al. about sources of error which

consist of mother tongue interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged

by teaching material or method.

In data interpretation, the writer used the procedures from Murriel Saville

Troike that claims that there are five steps in analyzing data. They are collection

of sample of learner language, identification of errors, description of errors,

explanation of errors, and evaluation of errors.3

3 Muriel Saville Troike, op. cit., p. 39

33

The first step, the writer collected the data by doing classroom

observation, giving questioner to the students and also giving tests to the second

grade students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede about regular and irregular verbs in the

simple past tense.

Next, after collected the data, the writer identified the data which she got

from the observation, tests and questioner. She also determinate the sample of the

learners which were deviated from the target language by giving a circle to the

incorrect answer to the student’s answer.

Then, the writer classified the errors based on the surface strategy

taxonomy according to James. They are omission, addition,

misformation/misselection, misordering and blends. She also classified the errors

into several tables according to types of errors.

After classifying the errors based on the surface strategy taxonomy, the

writer made a percentage of the errors from the students answer. It will be

describe as the formula below:

P = Percentage

F = frequency of wrong answer

N = Number of sample

In the explanation of errors, the writer tried to analyze the sources of error

after making a percentage of students’ error and giving questioner to the students.

In this part, the writer used the source of error by Hubbard et al. that consists of

mother-tongue interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged by

teaching material or method.

In the last step the writer evaluated the effects of errors which made by

second grade students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede in mastering regular and

irregular verbs in the simple past form. Then, the writer classified the effects into

two kinds, global and local error. Finally, to sum up the result, she gives some

conclusions.

34

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDINGS

A. Data Description

Having done class observation (see appendix 1a), the writer gave the tests

to the second grade students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede. The writer gave the tests

which covered by Regular and Irregular Verbs areas that consist of 30 questions.

Then, the writer analyzed the students‟ errors in mastering Regular and

Irregular Verbs by classifying the students‟ error. After that, the writer makes a

percentage of the types of errors. In addition, the writer also gave questioner to the

students to find the source of error (see appendix 2a& 2b).

1. The Result of Observation

According to Patricia A. Duff, observation can help researcher understand

many aspects, such as the social/cultural, linguistic contexts in which the language

is used and also collect relevant linguistic and interactional data.1In this study the

writer did the observation as the supporting data in order to get the sources of

error

The writer did the class observation by observing the students and teacher

activity in teaching-learning process in the classroom. It was held at second grade

students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede which consist of 25 students. This

observation was conducted on 6th

of December 2012 at 07.30 – 09.00 a.m. In this

observation, the writer was as an observer which did not involve in teaching

learning process.

1Patricia A. Duff, Case study Research in Applied Linguistics, (New York, Taylor & Francis

Group, 2008), p. 138

35

From the class observation, the writer observed the teaching material or

method that used by the English teacher in the teaching learning activity. The

teacher used Grammar Translation Methodin delivering Regular and Irregular

verbs in the Simple Past tense. The English teacher explained the

materialgenerally. Then, she also gave few examples of regular and irregular

verbs. The last, she gave the students some exercise from the textbook.

From the beginning, many students seem did not really interested in learning

English, just some of them who paid attention to the teacher‟s explanation.

However, when the teacher gave them some exercise, many of them were cheated

each other.When the teacher asked the students to discuss the exercise, not all of

them involved in this discussion. Many of them were sleeping, drawing, and

talking to their friends.

From the observation, the writer thought teaching learning activity in this

classroom may lead students do some errors in applying regular and irregular

verbs.

2. The Result of Test

After observing the classroom activity, the writer gave tests about regular

and irregular verbs to twenty five students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede. The writer

gave the tests twice to get the real data which show errors in the students answer

sheet. The first test was held on 8th

of January 2013, and the second test was

conducted on 15th

of January 2013.

The test consists of 30 items which divided into three parts. The first part

asked the students to complete the recount text by filling the blank with the right

verbs whether regular or irregular verbs. Then, the second part asked the students

to fill the right verbs with the sentences then change it into the past form. The last

part asked the students to change the verbs in the brackets to the past form.

After collecting data from the second grade students of SMP YPN Bojong

Gede, the writer identified the students‟ error by giving a circle to the erroneous

item. The result of this identification can be seen at the following table.

36

Table 4.1

Students’ Score of First Test Result

No. Student Part A Part B Part C Score

(A+B+C)/3

1 Student 1 60 40 30 44

2 Student 2 20 10 10 14

3 Student 3 40 20 40 34

4 Student 4 60 50 60 57

5 Student 5 50 30 30 37

6 Student 6 60 30 30 40

7 Student 7 60 30 60 50

8 Student 8 20 20 50 30

9 Student 9 40 30 30 34

10 Student 10 40 30 30 34

11 Student 11 20 20 30 24

12 Student 12 30 10 20 20

13 Student 13 30 10 40 27

14 Student 14 20 20 40 27

15 Student 15 40 50 40 44

16 Student 16 40 20 30 30

17 Student 17 30 10 40 27

18 Student 18 50 20 70 47

19 Student 19 50 30 60 47

20 Student 20 50 40 40 44

21 Student 21 40 50 30 40

22 Student 22 40 50 40 44

23 Student 23 40 20 30 30

24 Student 24 40 30 30 34

25 Student 25 50 50 70 57

37

Total score 916

Average 36.64

The table 4.1 above is the first test result about regular and irregular verb.

From the first test the writer got total score 916 with the average 36.64.

Table 4.2

Students’ Score of Second Test Result

No. Student Part A Part B Part C Score

(A+B+C)/3

1 Student 1 60 40 30 44

2 Student 2 20 10 30 20

3 Student 3 50 50 40 47

4 Student 4 60 60 60 60

5 Student 5 50 30 30 37

6 Student 6 60 30 30 40

7 Student 7 60 40 60 54

8 Student 8 60 70 50 60

9 Student 9 60 20 60 47

10 Student 10 60 20 60 47

11 Student 11 30 10 30 24

12 Student 12 30 20 30 27

13 Student 13 30 10 40 27

14 Student 14 20 20 40 27

15 Student 15 40 50 40 44

16 Student 16 40 30 30 34

17 Student 17 40 10 50 34

18 Student 18 50 40 70 54

19 Student 19 50 30 70 50

38

20 Student 20 40 50 50 47

21 Student 21 40 60 30 44

22 Student 22 50 50 40 47

23 Student 23 40 30 30 34

24 Student 24 40 30 30 34

25 Student 25 50 60 70 60

Total score 1043

Average 41.72

The table 4.2 above is the students‟ score from the second test about

regular and irregular verb. From the second test, the total score of students are

increasing became 1043 with the average 41.72 from 36.64. Then, the incorrect

answer would be explained more and also would be presented in the percentage in

the data analysis.

3. The Result of Questionnaire

Based on the Patricia A. Duff, Data collection often includes a number of

instruments or techniques. Many studies focus on documents, observation, and

interview data. In addition, test, verbal reports and questionnaires are the possible

data sources for surveying whom cases are selected.2

In this study, the writer gave questionnaire to the second grade students of

SMP YPN Bojong Gede to get supporting data about sources of error. She gave

questionnaire to the twenty five students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede on 8th

of

January 2013. The questioner asked the students to chose between two alternative

answers which proper with themselves whichis consist of fifteen questions

In the questionnaire, the writer asked about student and teacher‟s activities

in learning regular and irregular verbs in the simple pat tense.Based on the data,

100 % students said that they have learned simple past tense as their material in

the second grade of Junior high school. They also said that their English teacher

has explained about regular and irregular verbs and give some examples of it.

2 Patricia A. Duff, op. cit., p. 128

39

However, the writer got 88% students are less motivation in learning English

because only 12 % students who like English from the result of questionnaire.

Besides, 52% students thought Indonesian and English verbs have the similar

pattern. In fact, Indonesian and English have different pattern of verbs. Then, 40%

students thought that regular and irregular verbs are similar. It may lead

overgeneralization in applying regular and irregular verbs.

Many studentsadmitted that they did some errors in doing some exercise about

simple past tense and also regular and irregular verbs. Students‟ motivation in

learning English gave influence to their activities in the English lesson. It also can

be seen from only 28% students who usually bring dictionary to the class. Some

of those factors may be lead students do some errors in mastering regular and

irregular verbs.

B. Data Interpretation

In the data interpretation, the writer use procedure of error by Muriel Saville

which has been explained clearly in the preceding chapter and some of those

procedures have been done such as collecting data by gave tests to the students

and identifying students errors by circling students‟ answer sheet. Next, the other

procedures would be described clearly as follows:

1. Description of Errors

In describing the errors, the writer classified the types of errors based on the

Surface Taxonomy Categories using theory of James that classified the errors into

five parts.They are omission, addition, misformation/misselection, misordering

and blends. The aim of this step is to know whether these errors involve in

omission, addition, misformation/misselection, misordering or blend.

Based on the identified data from the student‟s answer sheet in using regular

and irregular verbs, the errors are falls into three types. They are omission,

addition and mis-selection or mis-formation, and the writer did not find error of

mis-ordering and blends in the student answer sheet. This classification will be

presented below.

40

a. Omission

Some students made errors in using regular and irregular verbs by omit some

crucial component in forming past form of verbs. Many of them made this error

because they did not write the verb correctly. Some of them omit several letters of

the verb such as –e, -d, -ed, for example borrowd (borrowed), slam (slammed),

studi(studied) etc. The errors are presented in the following table:

Table 4.3

The Description Error of Omission

Item’s

Number

Error Identification Error Correction

1.

In the holidays a few years ago we

wen to Hawks Nest. (students 11, 12,

13)

In the holidays a few years

ago we went to Hawks Nest.

3.

My brother Chris and I went walking

on the beach one sunny day, and we

foud a little cubby out of overgrown

bushes. (Students 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11,

12)

My brother Chris and I went

walking on the beach one

sunny day, and we found a

little cubby out of overgrown

bushes.

8.

I loked at Chris and he made a

rustling sound of wind in the bushes.

(Student 2 )

I looked at Chris and he made

a rustling sound of wind in

the bushes.

10.

Then Chris dived down, but slam

into my head as I was stuck half way

down. (Student: 2)

Then Chris dived down, but

slammed into my head as I

was stuck half way down.

Then Chris dived down, but slamed

into my head as I was stuck half way

down. (Students: 17, 23, 24)

41

11.

Dava borrowd my pen yesterday.

(Students: 4, 7)

Dava borrowed my pen

yesterday.

Dava brrowed my pen yesterday.

(Student: 16)

Dava borow my pen yesterday.

(Students: 2, 5, 6)

14. The accident happend last Sunday

afternoon. (Students: 1, 8, 13, 14)

The accident happened last

Sunday afternoon.

17.

It‟s a nice day today, but yesterday it

rain all day. (Students: 7, 11, 12, 13,

20)

It‟s a nice day today, but

yesterday it rained all day.

It‟s a nice day today, but yesterday it

raind all day. (Students: 5, 6, 9, 10,

12, 23)

19.

Andy‟s grandfather die when he was

85 years old. (Students: 2, 13, 17, 18)

Andy‟s grandfather died

when he was 85 years old.

22.

The students studi those lessons last

week. (Student: 8)

The students studied those

lessons last week.

23.

Last holiday, I and my family

picniced in Cibodas. (Students: 1, 3,

7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 24 )

Last holiday, I and my family

picnicked in Cibodas.

Last holiday, I and my family

picnicd in Cibodas. (Student: 23)

Last holiday, I and my family picnic

in Cibodas. (Student: 14)

42

25.

The driver stoped the bus very

quickly five minutes ago. (Students:

1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17,

18, 19, 21, 22, 24)

The driver stopped the bus

very quickly five minutes

ago.

The driver stoppd the bus very

quickly five minutes ago. (Student:

2)

The driver stop the bus very quickly

five minutes ago. (Student: 14)

26.

She lved in Bandung for two years,

but now she lives in Jakarta.

(Student: 17)

She lived in Bandung for two

years, but now she lives in

Jakarta.

From the table above, most students were omitting a letter which must exist

within a morpheme. From the table above, the students omitted –n of the past

form of “find” that should be “found”. The students also omitted –m which must

exist in the “slammed” as the past form of “slam”. They also omitted –e in the

verb “borrowed” and –d in the verb “died”. Next, they omitted –k which must

exist in the “picnicked”, and –p in the “stopped”.

b. Addition

These errors occur if the students add some letters or elements which are not

suitable to the rule of the past form of regular and irregular verbs. Many students

did not use the right rule in changing the verbs into past form. From the data,

some of them did not understand well how to transform the verb into the past

form in regular and irregular verbs. They also seem confused in using –d or –ed to

the verbs. The Errors are illustrated as follows:

43

Table 4.4

The Description Error of Addition

Item’s

Number

Error Identification Error Correction

5.

First, Christ tried it out and he

slideed down and soon came back up

saying that it was safe, and that it was

great fun. (Student: 13)

First, Christ tried it out and

he slid down and soon came

back up saying that it was

safe, and that it was great

fun. (Student: 4)

First, Christ tried it out and he slide

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Student: 4)

First, Christ triedit out and he sliden

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Student: 8)

First, Christ triedit out and he slaid

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Student: 14)

First, Christ tried it out and he slided

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Students: 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12,

16, 20, 22, 23, 24)

12. I madee a rainbow cake yesterday.

(Student: 2)

I made a rainbow cake

yesterday.

15.

Last night, the baby crieed in his

room. (Student: 19)

Last night, the baby cried in

his room.

44

16.

Fauzi Bowo lead Jakarta last year.

(Students: 1, 2, 3, 25)

Fauzi Bowo led Jakarta last

year.

17.

It‟s a nice day today, but yesterday it

rainied all day. (Students: 15, 21 )

It‟s a nice day today, but

yesterday it rained all day.

It‟s a nice day today, but yesterday it

rainyed all day. (Student: 22)

18.

I mett my old friend in the restaurant

yesterday. (Student: 2)

I met my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday.

I meet my old friend in the restaurant

yesterday. (Students: 13, 16, 17, 20,

21, 22, 25)

19.

Andy‟s grandfather diied when he

was 85 years old. (Student: 14)

Andy‟s grandfather diedwhen

he was 85 years old.

Andy‟s grandfather dieed when he

was 85 years old. (Student: 23)

Andy‟s grandfather diednt when he

was 85 years old. (Students: 9, 10)

Andy‟s grandfather dieded when he

was 85 years old. (Student: 16)

20.

I reads this novel five days ago.

(Students: 7, 14)

I read this novel five days

ago.

I readed this novel five days ago.

(Students 10, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24)

45

I readth this novel five days ago.

(Students: 11, 12)

22.

The students studyied those lessons

last week. (Students: 21)

The students studied those

lessons last week.

29.

Rita brought a new car three days

ago. (Students: 5, 6, 9, 10)

Rita bought a new car three

days ago.

30.

Zamzami satd in the chair because he

was tired. (Student: 12)

Zamzami sat in the chair

because he was tired.

In this research, the writer found that the most error is in formulating the

regular verbs. For examples:

* Last night, the baby crieed in his room.

* Andy‟s grandfather dieed when he was 85 years old.

* Andy‟s grandfather dieded when he was 85 years old.

Error correction

a) Last night, the baby cried in his room.

b) Andy‟s grandfather died when he was 85 years old.

The examples above showed that students failed added certain item which

should not exist in their answer. Besides false in formulating regular verbs, the

students also committed errors by adding unnecessary element which is not

applied in the target language, such as in the following examples:

* I mett my old friend in the restaurant yesterday.

* Zamzami satd in the chair because he was tired.

Thus, the suggested corrections are:

c) I met my old friend in the restaurant yesterday.

d) Zamzami sat in the chair because he was tired.

46

c. Mis-selection/ Mis- formation

This type of error occurs if there students used the wrong item of the

regular and irregular verbs. From the data, many students did this errors by

transformed the verb into other words which have similar pronunciation with the

verbs. Many of them also did not use the right form of the verbs, because they

simplified the irregular verbs only by adding –d/ -ed like in regular verbs. The

errors are illustrated as follows:

Table 4.5

The Description Error of Mis-selection/ Mis-formation

Item’s

Number

Error Identification Error Correction

1.

In the holidays a few years ago we

wend to Hawks Nest. (Students: 11,

12, 13)

In the holidays a few years

ago we went to Hawks Nest.

2.

We steyed in a house that was

opposite a long, white beach with a

lot of sand dunes. (Students: 2, 3)

We stayed in a house that was

opposite a long, white beach

with a lot of sand dunes.

We statdid in a house that was

opposite a long, white beach with a

lot of sand dunes. (Students: 11, 12)

We staied in a house that was

opposite a long, white beach with a

lot of sand dunes. (Students: 5, 14)

We study in a house that was

opposite a long, white beach with a

lot of sand dunes. (Students: 5, 14)

47

3.

My brother Chris and I went walking

on the beach one sunny day, and we

feud a little cubby out of overgrown

bushes. (Students: 5, 6)

My brother Chris and I went

walking on the beach one

sunny day, and we found a

little cubby out of overgrown

bushes.

My brother Chris and I went walking

on the beach one sunny day, and we

fine a little cubby out of overgrown

bushes. (Students: 13, 14)

My brother Chris and I went walking

on the beach one sunny day, and we

finded a little cubby out of

overgrown bushes. (Students: 15, 16,

17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)

4.

First, Christ trayed it out and he slid

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Students: 1, 3, 4, 8)

First, Christ tried it out and

he slid down and soon came

back up saying that it was

safe, and that it was great fun.

First, Christ tried it out and he slid

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Students: 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14,

23, 24)

First, Christ tlied it out and he slid

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Student: 17)

First, Christ try it out and he slid

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Student: 2)

48

First, Christ cry it out and he slid

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Students: 11, 12)

5.

First, Christ tried it out and he slade

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Students: 2, 15, 17, 18, 19, 25)

First, Christ tried it out and he

slid down and soon came

back up saying that it was

safe, and that it was great fun.

(Students: 2)

First, Christ tried it out and he slood

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Students: 11, 12)

First, Christ tried it out and he slad

down and soon came back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Student: 21)

6.

First, Christ tried it out and he slid

down and soon comed back up

saying that it was safe, and that it

was great fun. (Students: 16, 20, 23,

25)

First, Christ tried it out and he

slid down and soon came

back up saying that it was

safe, and that it was great fun.

First, Christ tried it out and he slid

down and soon come back up saying

that it was safe, and that it was great

fun. (Student: 17)

7.

Then I went for another slide, but I

freeze too because I saw what he has

seen. It was a long snake and it was

heading for me. (Student: 2)

Then I went for another slide,

but I froze too because I saw

Then I went for another slide, but I

frezed too because I saw what he has

49

seen. It was a long snake and it was

heading for me. (Students: 3, 11, 12)

what he has seen. It was a

long snake and it was heading

for me.

Then I went for another slide, but I

fercesed too because I saw what he

has seen. It was a long snake and it

was heading for me. (Student: 4)

Then I went for another slide, but I

freezen too because I saw what he

has seen. It was a long snake and it

was heading for me. (Student: 13)

Then I went for another slide, but I

freezed too because I saw what he

has seen. It was a long snake and it

was heading for me. (Students: 1, 5,

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,

20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)

8.

I locked at Chris and he made a

rustling sound of wind in the bushes.

(Student: 2)

I looked at Chris and he made

a rustling sound of wind in

the bushes.

9.

I looked at Chris and he maked a

rustling sound of wind in the bushes.

(Students: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,

20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)

I looked at Chris and he made

a rustling sound of wind in

the bushes.

10.

As soon as I did, the snake headed

straight back to the bushes. Then

Chris dived down, but slem into my

head as I was stuck half way down.

(Students: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

As soon as I did, the snake

headed straight back to the

bushes. Then Chris dived

down, but slammed into my

head as I was stuck half way

down.

As soon as I did, the snake headed

straight back to the bushes. Then

Chris dived down, but slem into my

head as I was stuck half way down.

50

As soon as I did, the snake headed

straight back to the bushes. Then

Chris dived down, but selem into my

head as I was stuck half way down.

(Student: 4)

As soon as I did, the snake headed

straight back to the bushes. Then

Chris dived down, but slum into my

head as I was stuck half way down.

(Students: 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,

25)

11.

Dava borrown my pen yesterday.

(Student: 9)

Dava borrowed my pen

yesterday.

Dava borrowent my pen yesterday.

(Student: 10)

Dava boroght my pen yesterday.

(Students: 11, 12)

Dava barrow my pen yesterday.

(Student: 13)

12.

I make a rainbow cake yesterday.

(Students: 5, 14)

I made a rainbow cake

yesterday.

I maked a rainbow cake yesterday.

(Students: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22,

23, 24, 25)

13.

Mr. Agus teach us about the

narrative text last week. (Students: 1,

2, 11, 13, 17)

Mr. Agus taught us about the

narrative text last week.

Mr. Agus teached us about the

51

narrative text last week. (Students: 7,

14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24,

25)

Mr. Agus teachd us about the

narrative text last week. (Student:

12)

14.

The accident happent last Sunday

afternoon. (Students: 3, 5, 6, 9, 10,

11)

The accident happened last

Sunday afternoon.

15.

Last night, the baby cryed in his

room. (Students: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9,

10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 23, 24)

Last night, the baby cried in

his room.

Last night, the baby cryd in his

room. (Student: 2)

Last night, the baby try in his room.

(Students: 11, 12)

16.

Fauzi Bowo leand Jakarta last year.

(Students: 5, 6, 9, 10)

Fauzi Bowoled Jakarta last

year.

Fauzi Bowo leads Jakarta last year.

(Student: 7)

Fauzi Bowo leaded Jakarta last year.

(Students: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,

21, 22, 23, 24, 25)

17.

It‟s a nice day today, but yesterday it

ran all day. (Student: 2)

It‟s a nice day today, but

yesterday it rained all day.

It‟s a nice day today, but yesterday it

rainy all day. (Students: 17, 19)

52

18.

I meed my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday. (Students: 1, 3,

14)

I met my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday.

I meent my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday. (Students: 6, 9,

10)

I meedn’t my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday. (Student: 11)

I meednt my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday. (Student: 12)

I meeted my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday. (Students: 16,

18, 19, 23, 24)

19.

Andy‟s grandfather day when he was

85 years old. (Students: 4, 7)

Andy‟s grandfather died

when he was 85 years old.

Andy‟s grandfather dident when he

was 85 years old. (Students: 5, 6)

20.

I reed this novel five days ago.

(Student: 8)

I read this novel five days

ago.

I red this novel five days ago.

(Student: 9)

21.

All tickets for the concert were sall

very quickly. (Students: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7,

9, 10)

All tickets for the concert

were sold very quickly.

All tickets for the concert were salld

very quickly. (Student: 14)

53

All tickets for the concert were selld

very quickly. (Students: 2, 11, 12)

All tickets for the concert were selled

very quickly. (Students: 13, 15, 16,

17, 18, 19, 23, 25)

All tickets for the concert were sell

very quickly. (Students: 20, 21, 22,

24)

22.

The students studyed those lessons

last week. (Students: 1, 5, 6, 16, 23,

24)

The students studied those

lessons last week.

The students studyd those lessons

last week. (Students: 2, 11, 12)

The students stayed those lessons

last week. (Student: 13)

The students studiet those lessons

last week. (Student: 17)

The students stay those lessons last

week. (Students: 1, 5, 6, 16, 23, 24)

23.

Last holiday, I and my family

piciniced in Cibodas. (Student: 2)

Last holiday, I and my family

picnicked in Cibodas.

Last holiday, I and my family picnid

in Cibodas. (Student: 4)

Last holiday, I and my family pacnic

in Cibodas. (Students: 6, 9, 10)

54

Last holiday, I and my family picned

in Cibodas. (Student: 14)

Last holiday, I and my family

picning in Cibodas. (Student: 19)

Last holiday, I and my family panic

in Cibodas. (Student: 25)

Last holiday, I and my family went

in Cibodas. (Student: 5)

Last holiday, I and my family

picininc in Cibodas. (Student: 21)

24.

I good to bed early because I was

tired. (Student: 2)

I went to bed early because I

was tired.

I god to bed early because I was

tired. (Student: 11)

I goed to bed early because I was

tired. (Student: 2)

25.

The driver steped the bus very

quickly five minutes ago. (Students:

5, 6)

The driver stopped the bus

very quickly five minutes

ago.

26.

She lave in Bandung for two years,

but now she lives in Jakarta.

(Students: 1, 4, 5, 6)

She lived in Bandung for two

years, but now she lives in

Jakarta.

She love in Bandung for two years,

but now she lives in Jakarta.

(Student: 3)

55

She lave in Bandung for two years,

but now she lives in Jakarta.

(Students: 1, 4, 5, 6)

27.

Last night, David drever his car very

fast. (Students: 5, 6)

Last night, David drove his

car very fast.

Last night, David drank his car very

fast. (Student: 8)

Last night, David dlove his car very

fast. (Student: 17)

Last night, David drived his car very

fast. (Students: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12,

13, 115, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)

Last night, David drives his car very

fast. (student: 14)

28.

Andri lived football yesterday.

(Student: 2)

Andri played football

yesterday.

Andri playt football yesterday.

(Student: 14)

Andri plaied football yesterday.

(Students: 15, 20, 21, 22)

29.

Rita bay a new car three days ago.

(Students: 1, 3)

Rita bought a new car three

days ago.

Rita booght a new car three days

ago. (Student: 2)

56

Rita baught a new car three days

ago. (Student: 8)

Rita bun a new car three days ago.

(Student: 13)

Rita buied a new car three days ago.

(Students: 15, 20, 21, 22)

30.

Zamzami sitd in the chair because he

was tired. (Student: 2)

Zamzami sat in the chair

because he was tired.

Zamzami sited in the chair because

he was tired. (Students: 16, 23, 24)

From the data above, misformation/misselection is the most errors which

occur in students‟ answer sheets. Students did some errors because they did not

really understand the transformation of the verbs whether regular or irregular

verbs. Many of them did misformation by added –d/-ed to the irregular verbs.

They also sometime used other words which have similar pronunciation to the

verb.

d. Misorder and Blend

In this research, the writer did not find any misorder and blend errors.

From the table of error description above, it could be seen that there are

many errors from student‟s answer sheet. The students committed the errors in

the substance level concerned on the spelling, graphology, punctuation and so

forth. The writer found that some students omitted, added some letters and mis-

selected/ mis-formation the past form of the verb.

57

After classified students‟ errors based on the Surface Taxonomy

Categories, the writer calculated the number of each error types to know the

frequency of occurrence of each error types. This calculation used the formulae

of descriptive analysis technique as can be seen as below:

P =

x 100%

Explanation: P = Percentage

f = frequency of each error type (frequency of wrong answer)

n = sum of the errors

From the formula above, the writer make a percentage of the errors on the

table below:

Table 4.6

Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Regular and Irregular Verbs

Number

of items

Frequency of Error Total

Frequency

of Error

of Each

Number

Percentage

Om

issi

on

Ad

dit

ion

Mis

sele

cion

/

mis

form

ati

on

Mis

-ord

erin

g

Ble

nd

s

1. 1 0 3 0 0 4 0.89%

2. 0 0 10 0 0 10 2.23%

3. 8 0 15 0 0 23 5.13%

4. 0 0 18 0 0 18 4.02%

5. 0 5 2 0 0 13 2.90%

6. 0 0 5 0 0 5 1.12%

7. 0 0 25 0 0 25 5.58%

8. 1 0 1 0 0 2 0.45%

58

9. 0 0 13 0 0 13 2.90%

10. 4 0 21 0 0 25 5.58%

11. 12 0 5 0 0 17 3.79%

12. 0 1 12 0 0 13 2.90%

13. 0 0 18 0 0 18 4.02%

14. 5 0 7 0 0 12 2.67%

15. 0 1 17 0 0 18 4.02%

16. 0 5 18 0 0 23 5.13%

17. 9 3 4 0 0 16 3.57%

18. 0 8 15 0 0 23 5.13%

19. 4 7 4 0 0 15 3.35%

20. 0 10 2 0 0 12 2.67%

21. 0 0 23 0 0 23 5.13%

22. 1 1 12 0 0 14 3.12%

23. 15 0 10 0 0 25 5.58%

24. 0 0 3 0 0 3 0.67%

25. 21 0 2 0 0 23 5.13%

26. 1 0 5 0 0 6 1.33%

27. 0 0 20 0 0 20 4.46%

28. 2 0 6 0 0 8 1.78%

29. 0 4 12 0 0 16 3.57%

30. 0 1 4 0 0 5 1.12%

Total 84 46 319 0 0 449 100.00%

59

From the table above, the number of errors that made by 25 students in

YPN Bojong Gede are 449 incorrect answer with different number of each types.

In this case, the students did 84 omission, 46 additions, and 319 mis-selection/

mis-formation in using regular and irregular verbs.

The writer did not find the error of misorder and blends in the students

answer. From the table above, error of mis-formation/mis-formation is the most

common occur in the students‟ answer sheets with319 errors.

After the writer calculated all students‟ error, she would like to analyze the

errors in each Regular and Irregular Verbs. Then, she changed the result into

percentage that can be seen in the table below:

Table 4.7

Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Regular Verbs

Number

of item

Frequency of Error

Total

Frequency

of Error

of Each

Number

Percentage

Om

issi

on

Ad

dit

ion

Mis

sele

cion

/

mis

form

ati

on

mis

ord

erin

g

Ble

nd

s

Part A

2. 0 0 10 0 0 10 4.50%

4. 0 0 18 0 0 18 8.11%

5. 1 1 11 0 0 13 5.86%

8. 1 0 1 0 0 2 0.90%

10. 4 0 21 0 0 25 11.26%

Part B

1. 12 0 5 0 0 17 7.66%

4. 5 0 7 0 0 12 5.41%

60

5. 0 1 17 0 0 18 8.11%

7. 9 3 4 0 0 16 7.21%

9. 4 7 5 0 0 15 6.76%

Part C

2. 1 1 12 0 0 14 6.31%

3. 15 0 10 0 0 25 11.26%

5. 21 0 2 0 0 23 10.36%

6. 1 0 5 0 0 6 2.70%

8. 2 0 6 0 0 8 3.60%

Total 75 13 133 0 0 221 100.00%

The table above shows the students‟ error in mastering past tense of

Regular verb. The part consists of 15 regular verb questions. From the table, there

are 75 errors of omission, 13 error of addition, and 133 error of mis-selection or

mis-formation.

The lowest error frequency in the regular verbs in the question number 8

in the part A, it is 0.90% that made by 2 students. For the highest error percentage

in regular verb is in the question number 10 in the part A & 3 in the part C, with

100% percentage of error answer.

Next, the writer would like to present the percentage of error in irregular

verbs as the following table:

61

Table 4.8

Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Irregular Verbs

Number

of item

Frequency of Error

Total

Frequency

of Error of

Each

Number

Percentage

Om

issi

on

Ad

dit

ion

Mis

sele

cio

n/

mis

form

ati

on

mis

ord

erin

g

Ble

nd

s

Part A

1. 1 0 3 0 0 4 1.77%

3. 8 0 15 0 0 23 10.18%

6. 0 0 5 0 0 5 2.21%

7. 0 0 25 0 0 25 11.06%

9. 0 0 13 0 0 13 5.75%

Part B

2. 0 1 12 0 0 13

5.75%

3. 0 0 18 0 0 18 7.96%

6. 0 5 18 0 0 23 10.18%

8. 0 8 15 0 0 23 10.18%

10. 0 10 2 0 0 12 5.31%

Part C

1. 0 0 23 0 0 23

10.18%

4. 0 0 3 0 0 3 1.33%

7. 0 0 20 0 0 20 8.85%

9. 0 4 12 0 0 16 7.08%

10. 0 1 4 0 0 5 2.21%

Total 9 33 186 0 0 228 100.00%

62

The table above shows the different frequency in each types of error. They

are 9 errors of omission, 33 error of addition, and also 186 error of mis-selection

or mis-formation the irregular verb in the past tense.

The writer got the number 7 in the part A is the highest frequency of

students‟ error. It is 100% of error in the part A. it means all student cannot

answer the question number 7 in the part A with the correct answer. For the

lowest error percentage is in the number 4 in the part C with 3 students who made

errors. The percentage of error in the number 4 in the part C is (1.33%).

Next, the writer would like to describe the students‟ errors in mastering

Regular and Irregular Verbs. As the result in the table 4.6, the students do some

errors in using Regular and Irregular Verbs such as omission, addition, and

misselection/ misformation. In this case, the writer did not find error of

misordering and blends.

Furthermore, to make it easier to read, the writer presents it in the following

table below:

Table 4.9

The Frequency of Each Error Type

No Error Types The Number of Error

Type

Frequency of Each

Error Type

1 Addition 46 10.25%

2 Omission 84 18.70%

3 Mis-selection/

Mis-formation

319 71.05 %

4 Misorder 0 0 %

5 Blend 0 0 %

Total Number of

Errors

449 100 %

63

From the table above, it could be seen that there are many errors from

students‟ answer sheet. Error of mis-selection/mis-formation is the highest

number of all with 319 errors or 71.05%. Then, error of omission is 18.70% or 84

number of errors. The lowest percentage is error of addition with 10.25% or 46

errors.

2. Explanation of Errors

In this step, the writer interpreted the sources of error after doing

observation, giving questioner and making a percentage of students‟ error to the

students. The writer used the source of error by Hubbard et al. They are mother-

tongue interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged by teaching

material or method.3

From the students‟ answer sheet, there are 36% errors are caused by mother-

tongue interference, 46% errors are caused by overgeneralization, and 18% errors

encouraged by teaching material and method. The writer made percentage of

sources of error in using regular and irregular as follow:

3Peter Hubbard et al., A Training course for TEFL, (New York: Oxford University Press,

1983), p. 140

36%

46%

18%

The Sources of Error

mother tongueinterference

overgeneralization

error encouraged byteaching material andmethod

64

a. Mother-tongue interference

This source of error is caused by the different sounds system

(phonology) and the grammar of the first language which lead to a

„foreign‟ pronunciation, faulty grammatical patterns and occasionally to

the wrong choice of vocabulary.4

Many Indonesian students do some errors in learning regular and

irregular verbs, because in Indonesian there are no regular and irregular

verbs. From students‟ answer sheet, there are some errors that may

caused by foreign language pronunciation, faulty grammatical patterns,

and also wrong choose the vocabulary.

From the data, the writer got 36 % errors are caused by mother

tongue interference from 449 total errors. According to Brown, an error

is the result of transfer from the native language. Before the system of

the system of the second language is familiar, the native language is the

only previous linguistic system upon which the learner can draw.5

From the observation, the writer saw that the teacher used

Indonesian language in delivering the material. Besides, the English

teacher explained the material generally and the teacher only gave few

examples of each regular and irregular verb.

From the result of questionnaire, there are 52 % of 25 students

thought that Indonesian has the similar verb form/ pattern with English.

This percentage reflected students do some errors are caused by mother-

tongue interference, because the Indonesian language has no verbs

transformation when used in the different time.

Therefore, the students did false concept hypothesis, because they

did not familiar to the system of foreign language (English Language)

and they still influenced by the native linguistics system (Indonesian

language).

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

1983), p. 140

5H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, (New York: Pearson

Education, 2006), p. 263

65

The examples bellow are the errors which caused by the foreign

language pronunciation as the first aspect of mother-tongue interference

based on the Hubbard‟s theory:

I locked at Chris and he made a rustling sound of wind in the

bushes. (Student: 2)

Last night, the baby try in his room. (Students: 11, 12)

I meed my old friend in the restaurant yesterday. (Students: 1, 3,

14)

Andy‟s grandfather day when he was 85 years old. (Students: 4, 7)

I reed this novel five days ago. (Student: 8)

Rita bay a new car three days ago. (Students: 1, 3)

In English language there are some verbs or words which have

almost similar in pronunciation. From the examples above, they thought

the verbs “reed” has similar pronunciation with “read”. It also occurs in

the words try for “cry” that should be “cried” in the past form. Then, the

word “meed” for “meet” should be “met” in the past form. Next, the

word locked for looked. And then, the word “day” for “die” that should

be “died” in the past form.

Some students also did errors which influenced by different

grammatical pattern in Indonesian language and English as the second

aspect of mother-tongue interference. Here are some examples of faulty

grammatical pattern:

Fauzi Bowo leads Jakarta last year. (Student: 7)

Last night, David drives his car very fast. (student: 14)

I reads this novel five days ago. (Students: 7, 14)

The sentences above show that the students used incorrect

grammatical pattern. They transformed the verb “lead” become “leads”,

“drive” become “drives”, and “read” become “reads” as the past form of

those verbs. However, the correct answer are led, drove and read.

66

Mother- tongue interference also lead students choose the wrong

vocabulary as the third aspect of mother-tongue interference. For example:

She love (live) in Bandung for two years, but now she lives in

Jakarta. (Student: 3)

She lave (live) in Bandung for two years, but now she lives in

Jakarta. (Students: 1, 4, 5, 6)

I meed (meet) my old friend in the restaurant yesterday. (students

3, 14)

Andy‟s grandfather day when he was 85 years old. (students 4, 7)

Those examples used incorrect vocabulary, such as the students

used “love” and “lave” as the past form of “live”. The others students

used “meed” as the past form of “meet”, and “day” as the past form of

“die”.

b. Overgeneralization

This source of error occurs when a learner applies a grammar rule

to forms that do not take it.6 In this research, overgeneralization is the

dominant error. There is 46 % error which is caused by

overgeneralization.

From the observation, the writer saw that the English teacher only

gave few examples of regular and irregular verbs. So, the students did not

get more examples in forming regular and irregular verbs in the past form.

Most of errors of this study are caused by overgeneralization, especially in

irregular verbs that the change of the verbs should be remember by them.

Few examples of irregular verbs that given by the teacher lead the students

simplified the change of irregular verbs by adding –d and –ed.

6 Ron Cowan, The teacher‟s grammar of English (a cource book and reference guide), (New

York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 44

67

From the result of questionnaire, the writer also get data that 40%

of students thought both regular and irregular verbs have similar form or

pattern. So, it may lead false hypothesis for them which made some errors

in applying the regular and irregular verbs in the past form. The writer also

get data from the questionnaire that 56% of students admit that they did

not memorize more than 10 verbs of regular and irregular verbs.

According to Brown, learners have begun to acquire parts of the

new language system, but generalization within the target language is

manifested.7 Many students did some errors in transforming the irregular

verbs by adding –d or –ed. They simplified the way in forming the past

form of irregular verbs. For example:

I maked a rainbow cake yesterday. (students 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,

22, 23, 24, 25)

Mr. Agus teached us about the narrative text last week. (students

7, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)

Fauzi Bowo leaded Jakarta last year. (students 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,

19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)

I readed this novel five days ago. (Students 10, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24)

My brother Chris and I went walking on the beach one sunny day,

and we finded a little cubby out of overgrown bushes. (Students:

15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)

First, Christ tried it out and he slid down and soon comed back up

saying that it was safe, and that it was great fun. (Students: 16, 20,

23, 25)

Then I went for another slide, but I frezed too because I saw what

he has seen. It was a long snake and it was heading for me.

(Students: 3, 11, 12)

Then I went for another slide, but I freezed too because I saw what

he has seen. It was a long snake and it was heading for me.

7 Brown, op. cit., p. 264

68

(Students: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,

24, 25)

I looked at Chris and he maked a rustling sound of wind in the

bushes. (Students: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)

I maked a rainbow cake yesterday. (Students: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,

20, 22, 23, 24, 25)

Mr. Agus teached us about the narrative text last week. (Students:

7, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)

Fauzi Bowo leaded Jakarta last year. (Students: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,

19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)

I meeted my old friend in the restaurant yesterday. (Students: 16,

18, 19, 23, 24)

All tickets for the concert were selled very quickly. (Students: 13,

15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 25)

I goed to bed early because I was tired. (Student: 2)

Last night, David drived his car very fast. (Students: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7,

11, 12, 13, 115, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)

Zamzami sitd in the chair because he was tired. (Student: 2)

Zamzami sited in the chair because he was tired. (Students: 16, 23,

24)

Some examples above are caused by overgeneralization. Students

made a simplify in transforming irregular verbs into the past verb just by

adding -d or –ed. This source of error is the dominant errors in the

students‟ answer sheet of SMP YPN Bojong Gede.

69

c. Errors encouraged by teaching material or method

Error is evidence of failure/ineffective teaching or lack of cotrol. If

the material is well chosen, graded and presented with meticulous care,

there should be any error.8

According to Brown, in a classroom context the teacher or the

textbook can lead the learner make faulty hypotheses about the language.9

Based on the class observation, the teacher delivered material generally by

explaining the meaning of regular and irregular verbs and giving only few

examples of regular and irregular verbs in the simple past form. In this

observation, the writer as the observer saw the situation of the class is not

really good, because many students seem did not give attention to the

teacher‟s explanation.

From the questionnaire 100% of 25 students said that their English

teacher had explained the material about regular and irregular verbs with

the examples. However, the teacher did not give students many examples

of regular and irregular verbs as in the observation. So, their memorization

of regular and irregular verbs is limited.

Another result of questionnaire, 88% of students admitted that they

did not interesting in learning English. There are only 12 % of the students

who interest in learning English. This situation leads some errors in

applying regular and irregular verbs because the students did not pay

attention to the teacher‟s explanation.

Some student did errors in applying the regular verbs by omitting

several elements that should be present. For example:

Then Chris dived down, but slamed into my head as I was stuck

half way down. (Students: 17, 23, 24)

Dava borrowd my pen yesterday. (Students: 4, 7)

8 Peter Hubbard et al., A Training Course for TEFL, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983),

p.142 9 Brown, op.cit., p. 265

70

The accident happend last Sunday afternoon. (Students: 1, 8, 13,

14)

The driver stoped the bus very quickly five minutes ago. (Students:

1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24)

From the example above, some students omitted some letters in the

regular verb such as omitted –m in the “slammed”, -k in the “picnicked”,

-p in the “stopped” and –e in the “borrowed” and “happened”. The other

errors occur because the students added some unnecessary element. For

example:

Last night, the baby crieed in his room. (Student: 19)

Andy‟s grandfather dieed when he was 85 years old. (Student: 23)

The students studyied those lessons last week. (Students: 21)

First, Christ tryedit out and he slid down and soon came back up

saying that it was safe, and that it was great fun. (Students: 5, 6, 7,

9, 10, 13, 14, 23, 24)

Last night, the baby cryed in his room. (Students: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9,

10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 23, 24)

The examples above show that many students did not understand

well in forming the past verbs of cry, die, study, try, etc. In the student‟s

answer sheet, they added some unnecessary element that should be omitted

in those verbs. for example they added –e for “crieed” and “dieed”, and –

y in the “studyied”. They also did not change –y in some verbs that should

be –i such as “tryed” and “cryed” that the right answers are “tried” and

“cried”.

71

4. Evaluation of Errors

In the evaluation of error, the writer tried to analyze the effect of the error

based on the communicative effect taxonomy by Dulay et al. It divided into global

and local errors. Global error is the errors that affect overall sentence

organization, and it can hinder the message of the communication. Local error is

the errors that do not hinder communication significantly.10

From the data, the percentage error of mis-selection/ mis-formation which

made by students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede is the highest of all. It can be

considered more serious than others because they could hinder the message of the

communication. From the answer sheet, many students mis-select the vocabulary

in transforming the verbs. It may cause by mother-tongue interference, because in

Indonesian language there are no verbs transformation in making sentences. Here

are some examples of global errors taken from students‟ answer sheet in using

regular and irregular verbs:

4. 10 Examples of Global Error

No.

Error Identification Error Correction

1.

Rita brought a new car three

days ago. (Students: 5, 6, 9, 10)

Rita bought a new car three

days ago.

Rita bun a new car three days

ago. (Student: 13)

2.

We study in a house that was

opposite a long, white beach with

a lot of sand dunes. (Students: 5,

14)

We stayed in a house that

was opposite a long, white

beach with a lot of sand

dunes.

10Heidy Dulayet al., Language Two,(New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 191

72

3.

My brother Chris and I went

walking on the beach one sunny

day, and we fine a little cubby

out of overgrown bushes.

(Students: 13, 14)

My brother Chris and I went

walking on the beach one

sunny day, and we found a

little cubby out of

overgrown bushes.

4.

I locked at Chris and he made a

rustling sound of wind in the

bushes. (Student: 2)

I looked at Chris and he

made a rustling sound of

wind in the bushes.

5.

Dava barrow my pen yesterday.

(Student: 13)

Dava borrowed my pen

yesterday.

6.

Andy‟s grandfather day when he

was 85 years old. (Students: 4, 7)

Andy‟s grandfather died

when he was 85 years old.

7.

The students stayed those

lessons last week. (Student: 13)

The students studied those

lessons last week.

The students stay those lessons

last week. (Students: 1, 5, 6, 16,

23, 24)

8.

I good to bed early because I was

tired. (Student: 2)

I went to bed early because I

was tired.

I god to bed early because I was

tired. (Student: 11)

9.

She love in Bandung for two

years, but now she lives in

Jakarta. (Student: 3)

She lived in Bandung for

two years, but now she lives

in Jakarta.

10.

Last night, David drank his car

very fast. (Student: 8)

Last night, David drove his

car very fast.

73

From the table above, it can be seen that many students transfer the verbs

into another words. For example, there was a student use “bun” as the past form

of “buy” to complete the sentence “Rita .........(buy) a new car three days ago”. In

the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 3rd Edition, “bun” is woman‟s

hairstyle where the hair is brought together into a round shape at the back of the

head. So, the right past form of buy is bought.

Another example is student filling the word “day” to the sentence

“Andy‟s grandfather .......... (die) when he was 85 years old”. The verb “die” and

the word “day” almost similar in pronunciation, but it have different meaning and

the right answer is died. Next, student used the word “barrow” that should be

borrowed in completing the sentence “Dava .......... (borrow) my pen yesterday”.

Actually, the meaning of “barrow” is a vehicle moved by a person which

especially fruits and vegetables are sold at the side of a road.

Those examples shows that mis-select the wordsin a sentence can hinder

the message to the listener or reader. However, the other errors that caused by

overgeneralization and errors encouraged by teaching material or method are less

serious, because the message still can be understood even thought there are some

errors in spelling. for example:

4. 11 Examples of local Error

No.

Error Identification Error Correction

1.

In the holidays a few years ago

we wen to Hawks Nest. (students

11, 12, 13)

In the holidays a few years

ago we went to Hawks Nest.

2.

Dava borrowd my pen

yesterday. (Students: 4, 7)

Dava borrowed my pen

yesterday.

74

3.

Last holiday, I and my family

picniced in Cibodas. (Students:

1, 3, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18,

24 )

Last holiday, I and my

family picnicked in

Cibodas.

4.

The driver stoped the bus very

quickly five minutes ago.

(Students: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,

12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24)

The driver stopped the bus

very quickly five minutes

ago.

5.

I madee a rainbow cake

yesterday. (Student: 2)

I made a rainbow cake

yesterday.

6.

Last night, the baby crieed in his

room. (Student: 19)

Last night, the baby cried in

his room.

7.

I mett my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday. (Student: 2)

I met my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday.

8.

Zamzami satd in the chair

because he was tired. (Student:

12)

Zamzami sat in the chair

because he was tired.

9.

Andy‟s grandfather diied when

he was 85 years old. (Student:

14)

Andy‟s grandfather died

when he was 85 years old.

10.

The students studyied those

lessons last week. (Students: 21)

The students studied those

lessons last week.

The table above shows some local errors which made by the students in

using regular and irregular verbs. Many of them did error in graphology like

incorrect spelling, but the sentences still can be understood. For example, students

used “wen” for the past of “go”. The student omitted one letter (-t) that should be

“went” to fill the sentence “In the holidays a few years ago we .......... (go) to

Hawks Nest”.

75

The other incorrect verbs which made by students are the verb “borrowd”

for “borrowed”, “stoped” for “stopped”, “mett” for “met”, “studyied” for

“studied”, “tryed” for “tried”, “cryd” for “cried”, “madee” for “made”,

“picniced” for “picnicked”, and “diied” for “died”. All of them are incorrect,

but those incorrect verbs did not hinder the message of the sentences to the

listener. They have problem when they used in the written text, but in the

conversation it still can be understood by the listener.

76

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion

The differences between Indonesian and English in using verbs in the

sentences encourage the writer to conduct this research. This research has been

carried out to recognize the errors that were made by second grade students of

SMP YPN Bojong Gede in using regular and irregular verbs in the past form.

The writer did the research in some procedures of error analysis by Muriel

Saville began with collecting data, identifying errors, describing errors, explaining

errors and evaluating errors. To collect the data, she used some techniques such as

observation, questionnaire and test. However, she only used test as the primary

data. She classified the test based on surface taxonomy strategy to know the types

of students’ errors in using regular and irregular verbs. In addition, she adapted

theory of Hubbard et al to classify the source of errors, such as mother- tongue

interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged by teaching material or

method.

According to the description in the previous chapter, the writer found that

the students committed the errors in three categories; they are omission, addition,

and misselection or misformation. Based on the data, from 449 totals of errors,

there are 46 errors or 10.25% fell into addition categories. Next, there are 84

errors or 18.70% error of omission. Then, there are 319 errors or 71.05% error of

misformation or misselection categories. Therefore, it can be concluded that the

highest percentage of errors produced by student is misselection or misformation

errors.

Based on the high percentage of the errors, it can also concluded that the

existence of errors caused some factors, such as mother-tongue interference,

overgeneralization and encouraged by teaching material or method. The writer

also found that the most sources of errors is overgeneralization, where the

students used the same pattern in transform regular and irregular verbs into past

form by added –d or –ed.

77

B. Suggestion

Even though error is an inevitable part of learning process, it still needs

much effort to seek the proper way in teaching learning process in order to reduce

students’ error occurrence in using regular and irregular verbs. The writer would

like to suggest as follows:

1. The teacher must increase students’ motivation in learning English.

2. The teacher must provide more examples and exercises to improve

students’ mastery in using regular and irregular verbs in the Simple Past;

3. Students must pay attention to the rules or forms of regular and irregular

verbs when it used in the Simple Past tense; and

4. Students must do more exercises in using regular and irregular verbs.

78

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Brown, H. Douglas. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 5th

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Butler-Pascoe, Mary Elen and M. Wiburg, Karin, Technology and Teaching

English Language Learners, New York: A and B, 2003.

Celce-Murcia, Marianne & Diane Larsen-Freeman. The Grammar Book: An

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1999.

Corder, S. P, Error Analysis and Interlanguage, New York: Oxford University

Press, 1981.

Cowan, Ron. The Teacher’s Grammar of English: A Course Book and Reference

Guide, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

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Qualitative, and Mixed Methodologies), Oxford: Oxford University Press,

2007.

Duff, Patricia A. Case Study Research in Applied linguistics, New York: Taylor &

Francis Group, 2008.

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Books, 1979.

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Prentice-Hall INC, 1972.

Hansen, Barbara and Mc Daniel, Rebecca, Simplified Sentence Skills, Chicago:

NTC Publishing Group, 1998.

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79

Huddleston, Rodney and Pullum, Geoffrey. K, A Student’s Introduction to English

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80

Appendix 1a: Classroom Observation Form

Teacher : Zikriyah Ekarina, S. Pd

Date : Thursday, 6th

December 2012

Place :SMP YPN Bojong Gede

Number of students present: 25 students

A. Teacher Activities

No. Indicator *1 2 3 Explanation

1. Teacher attracts students

interest in learning English √

The teacher seems obey

students who did not pay

attention to her

2. Teacher raises students’

motivation √

The teacher did not give

motivation in the

beginning of the study

3.

Teacher explains the

material clearly to the

students.

√

The teacher explained

about regular and

irregular in the past tense

clearly

4. Teacher explains the

material systematically √

The teacher

sistematically explained

about the simple past

tense, then she explained

about regular and

irregular verbs

5. Teacher uses an easy

language to be understood √

The teacher used

language which can be

understood by the

students

6. Teacher gives some

example about the material √

The teacher also gave

some example to the

students about regular

and irregular verbs

7. Teacher gives some

exercise to the students √

After delivering the

material, teacher gave

some exercise to the

student

8. Make a discussion talking

about the material √

The teacher discussed

the exercise with the

students

81

9. Teacher involves all

students in the discussion √

Not all students involved

in the discussion, many

of them were sleeping,

drawing, and talking to

their friend

10. Giving conclusion at the

end of the study √

The teacher concluded

the material at the end of

the study

B. Students Activities

No. Indicator *1 2 3 Explanation

1. Students shows interest in

learning English √

Not all students seems

interest in learning

english, just view of

them who like english

lesson

2. Students give attention to

the teacher’s explanation √

When teacher delivering

the material, not all of

students gave attenion to

her

3. Students do some exercise

from the teacher √

All of the students did

the exercise, but some of

them are cheated to their

friend

4. Students involves in the

discussion √

Only few of them who

involved in the

discussion

5.

Students gives some

questions to the teacher

about the material

√

There are two students

who gave question to the

teacher

*1 = good enough 2 = good 3 =very good

82

Appendix 2a: Research Questionnaire Form

KUESIONER PENELITIAN

Responden : Siswa kelas 2 SMP YPN Bojong Gede

Penjelasan :

Penelitian ini untuk kepentingan ilmiah. Oleh karena itu, kami mohon

bantuan untuk mengisi kuesioner ini dengan sejujurnya. Jawaban anda

merupakan partisipasi anda bagi kami, maka jawablah seluruh pertanyaan sesuai

dengan kondisi yang sebenarnya dan penuh rasa tanggung jawab.

Petunjuk pengisian :

Berilah tanda check (√) pada kolom yang tersedia dan jawaban yang

paling sesuai dengan kondisi dan persepsi anda.

NO PERTANYAAN YA TIDAK

1. Apakah anda senang dengan pelajaran

bahasa Inggris?

2. 2. Ketika guru mengajarkan bahasa Inggris di

kelas, apakah anda memperhatikannya?

3. 3. Apakah materi “Simple Past Tense” sudah

diajarkan di kelas oleh guru anda?

4. 4. Apakah guru anda memberikan latihan

setelah mempelajari “Simple Past Tense”?

5. 5. Apakah anda melakukan kesalahan dalam

mengerjakan latihan yang berkaitan dengan

“Simple Past Tense”?

6. 6. Apakah guru anda juga menjelaskan

perubahan Verb (regular and irregular)

dalam “Simple Past Tense”?

83

7. 7. Menurut anda, apakah penggunaan kata kerja

(Verb) dalam Bahasa Indonesia dan Bahasa

Inggris itu sama?

8. 8. Apakah perubahan dalam Regular &

Irregular Verbs dalam bentuk past itu sama?

9. 9. Ketika mengajar, apakah guru anda

memberikan beberapa contoh perubahan

Verb baik itu Regular ataupun Irregular?

10. 10. Pada setiap jam pelajaran Bahasa Inggris,

Apakah anda selalu membawa kamus?

11. 11. Ketika mengerjakan latihan mengenai

“Simple Past Tense”, apakah anda mencari

perubahan Verb dalam bentuk past di dalam

kamus?

12. 12. Apakah anda pernah menghafal perubahan

V1-V2-V3?

13. 13. Apakah anda telah menghafal lebih dari 10

Regular & Irregular Verbs?

14. 14. Ketika mempelajari Regular & Irregular

Verbs, apakah anda sering melakukan

kesalahan?

15. 15. Apakah guru anda selalu memberikan

feedback dari latihan-latihan yang telah

diberikan?

84

Appendix 2b: The Percentage of Students’ Questionnaire

No. Questions Frequency of Each answer

Yes No

1. Do you like English? 12% 88%

2. Did you give attention to the teacher’s

explanation in the class? 88% 12%

3. Have you ever learned about Simple

Past Tense? 100% 0%

4.

Did you English teacher give some

exercise after explained the Simple

Past tense?

100% 0%

5. Did you make some errors in doing

the exercise? 72% 28%

6. Did your english teacher explain

about regular and irregular verbs? 100% 0%

7. Do you think Indonesian and English

verbs have the similar pattern/form? 52% 48%

8. Do the change forms of regular and

irregular verbs are similar? 40% 60%

9.

Did your English teacher give some

examples of regular and irregular

verbs?

100% 0%

10. Do you usually bring dictionary in

English lesson? 28% 72%

11.

Did you looking to the dictionary to

see the change of regular or irregular

verbs?

60% 40%

12. Have you ever memorize some

regular and irregular verbs? 44% 56%

13.

Did you have memorized more than

10 verbs of regular and irregular

verbs?

44% 56%

14. Did you do some errors in applying

regular or irregular verbs? 84% 16%

15. Does you English teacher always give

feedback to your exercise? 64% 36%