An Analysis of Students’ Error in Writing Interpersonal Text

An Analysis of Students’ Error in Writing Interpersonal Text in The Eighth Graders of

SMPN 2 Lamongan

Aunur Rahman Rinata

English Education Department, Language and Art Faculty, Surabaya State University
aunurrinata@mhs.unesa.ac.id

Abstrak
Dalam penelitian ini, peneliti bertujuan untuk menemukan error yang terjadi di teks
interpersonalnya siswa dan juga penyebab yang mendasari terjadinya error.
Penelitian ini menggunakan penelitian kualitatif dalam mengumpulkan data yang
menjawab pertanyaan penelitian. Dan hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa
siswa masih memiliki masalah serius dalam menulis teks interpersonal dalam kasus
struktur gramatikal. Empat jenis kesalahan yang terlibat, yaitu omission, addition,
mis-formation, dan mis-ordering. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa siswa sering
melakukan mis-formation. Selain itu, penyebab kesalahan yang dilakukan juga
diperoleh dari tiga faktor yang mendasari kesalahan ini yaitu carelessness, first
language interference, dan translation. Maka, itu dapat disimpulkan bahwa kesalahan
yang paling sering terjadi dalam rancangan teks interpersonal siswa adalah mis-
formation. Sementara itu, carelessness menjadi faktor yang sering dilakukan oleh
siswa ketika melakukan error.

Kata Kunci: Analisis Kesalahan, Kesalahan Siswa, Menulis, Naskah, Teks

Interpersonal

Abstract
In this study, the researcher aims to find out the errors occurred in the students’
interpersonal text and also the causes which underlie the errors committed. This study
used qualitative research in collecting the data answering the research questions. And
the result of this study shows that the students still have a serious problem in writing
an interpersonal text in the case of grammatical structure. Four types of error were
involved, those were omission, addition, mis-formation, and mis-ordering. The result
shows that students high frequently committed mis-formation. Moreover, the causes
of errors committed were also obtained from three factors which underlie these errors
which are carelessness, first language interference, and translation. Furthermore, it
can be concluded that the most frequent error in the students’ interpersonal text drafts
is mis-formation. While, carelessness becomes the most frequent caused by the
students when committing errors.

Keywords: Error Analysis, Students’ Error, Writing, Draft, Interpersonal text.

that mostly basic competences of English are using a

INTRODUCTION model of communicative competence.
One of the important things in learning is Based on the government decree number 24
language, by learning a language people may enable to (2016), the objective of learning of English in school is to
communicate with others. It means that people are able to develop students’ communicative competence in oral and
communicate with each other using the language since it written form. It means that the students have to able to
can express everything that they want to say, such as their communicate using English as the target language.
messages, information, passions, feelings, opinions, Furthermore, Indonesian national curriculum as a
impressions, and etc. (Apriliyani, 2012). According to foundation has decided that English as foreign language
Raimes (1983), when people learn a second language, students have to have ability conducting interpersonal
they learn how to communicate with other people by and transactional communication. It is known that most
understanding and talking to them, and also reading what basic competences apply interpersonal and transactional
they have written. Fauzianto and Ariatmi (n.d) propose communication as a material. Interpersonal

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communication is mostly done because they know how taught them in detail yet or they have limited chance to
important and often it is used in daily life by people. So, explore their ideas in writing, other words they only
it is stated in the basic competences on Curriculum 2013 practice based on their textbook. On the other hand,
number 24 (2016) mentions especially for K.D. 4.4 of students mostly translate the Indonesian language into
Eighth graders, as follows: English directly. In short, they are influenced by their
4.4 Menyusun teks interaksi interpersonal lisan first language, whereas the structure of writing English is
dan tulis sangat pendek dan sederhana yang melibatkan totally different from Indonesia structure. Therefore,
tindakan menyuruh, mengajak, meminta ijin, dan analyzing grammatical errors in students’ draft of the
menanggapinya dengan memperhatikan fungsi sosial, interpersonal text could be useful to help the students to
struktur teks, dan unsur kebahasaan yang benar dan be able to speak English accurately.
sesuai konteks Based on the background of the study, the
4.4 constructing oral and written interpersonal researcher formulates to conduct some research questions
text, short and simple, involving ordering, inviting, as follows:
asking permission and responding it, considering the 1. What types of errors are made by eighth-grade
social function, structure of the text, and correct students of SMPN 2 Lamongan which found in the
language features and in contexts. interpersonal draft?
From the government decree above, it is obvious 2. What causes of errors are made by eighth-grade
that students construct the interpersonal text not only in students of SMPN 2 Lamongan which found in the
the oral form but also in the written form. Constructing interpersonal draft?
the interpersonal text in written form means that students Related to research questions, it is necessary to
are allowed to write a dialogue as a draft before they limit the problem which focuses on analyzing types and
present it. It is hoped that students can present the causes of errors in the interpersonal draft about the
dialogue fluency and accuracy. invitation of the eighth-grade students because it is stated
In constructing a good dialogue, students have at 4.4 basic competence of government decree number 24
to concern appropriate grammar, clearer meaning, and (2016) and it is an interesting topic which is suitable for
organized text (Brown, 2000). Writing a good text also the eighth-grade students. This study uses data in one of
needs five general components of the writing process, the EFL classes in SMPN 2 Lamongan which contains
those are grammar, style, form, content, and mechanic thirty-two students which are sixteen groups.
(Yudha, 2015). It is meant that learners have to apply Inviting is an expression that how people invite
those components to make a good text. If the students can someone in a certain place. There are two kinds of
construct a good text with correct grammar or structures, invitation; formal and informal invitation. A formal
they will be more confident in practicing the dialogue. invitation is commonly done by people who have a long-
However, (Vooren, Casteleyn, & Mottart, 2012) distance relationship. It means that they have not a close
indicate that writing a text with correct grammatical relationship. Moreover, the formal invitation is conducted
structures are still difficult for the learners. In fact, EFL because of politeness or their age is a different level.
learners are still difficult to make a good text because While informal invitation is usually committed by people
they often make errors in writing composition, even a who are at the same level means that their age is similar.
simple text such as interpersonal conversation text. It can Sometimes, they have a close relationship.
be named a simple text because the learners high
frequently make a conversation in their daily activities. Table 1. The example of formal and informal invitation
So, it is hoped that the learners are capable to develop expression
communicative competence in oral and even in written
form. Formal invitation Informal invitation
Interpersonal conversation aims to keep social - Would you like to go to - Do you want to go to the
relationships, such as personal conversation or interview the mall Saturday night? zoo?
and conversation role play (Nuha, 2014). It is an - Will you see a movie - How about going to the
appropriate text that is useful for people in daily with me? mall together?
activities, such people socialize with others, and also it
- I would like to invite you - Let’s have dinner on
needs a topic to interact with others. In fact, the teachers
for dinner tonight. Sunday.
still found many grammatical errors in students’
interpersonal text. It likely happens because the students
have limited knowledge about grammar. Moreover, they
have lack of knowledge because their teacher has not

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Generic Features (syllabus of Kemendikbud, 2016) Addition error is a type of error which is caused
 The expression “let’s ..., can you ..., would you like by the presence of an item that must disappear in a
to ..., please….” correct sentence. In short, this is the contrary of omission
 Singular and plural determiner using or without a, error.
the, this, those, my, their, etc. Mis-formation error is characterized by the use
 Expression, word stress, intonation, spelling, of an inappropriate form of the morpheme or structure.
punctuation, and handwriting. The learners likely alter the spelling morpheme whether
Those are main points in writing interpersonal it is added or omitted, whereas it is not correct.
text about invitation expression, unless word stress and Mis-ordering error is a kind of errors which
intonation are applying orally in interpersonal relates to the inappropriate placement of morpheme or
communication. However, the researcher only focuses group of morphemes in an utterance.
on analyzing the grammar of students’ draft about an The errors that appear in students’ writing are
invitation. It is caused by the research questions of this caused by some factors. Some experts argue that it can be
study which related to grammar in invitation text. organized by some points, however those have a little bit
Discussing a productive skill whether writing or of difference. For instance, James (1998) states there are
speaking skill, it surely deals with errors. In the process four causes that affect errors and Norrish (1983) claims
of learning a language, the learners hardly avoid the that there are three factors that cause errors.
errors. They often commit errors in mastering the Norrish (1983). He classified the cause of errors
language (Utami, 2016). into three types that is carelessness, first language
An inappropriate form that is caused by the lack interference, and translation”. Those causes of error
of knowledge and weaknesses of the learners in would be discussed briefly below.
understanding a rule of the language is called by errors Carelessness is often closely related to lack of
(Pratama, 2016). Another expert, Promsupa et al. (2017) motivation. Many teachers will admit that it is not always
provide more information that the learners have limited the students’ fault if they lose interest; perhaps, the
knowledge, so when they made an error, they are not able materials and/or the style of presentation do not suit
to correct it. Even they cannot identify whether it is them.
correct or not. Norrish (1983) states that learning a language (a
The EFL students often commit errors and mother tongue or foreign language) is a habit formation.
mistakes while learning English, especially constructing a When someone learns new language, the old language
sentence or phrase in writing (Muhsin, 2016). In order to will interfere the new language. This cause of the error is
know how to overcome the problem. According to Brown called first language interference.
(1987), it can be identified, analyzed, and classified to Translation happens when a student translates
appear something of the system operating toward the his first language sentence or idiomatic expression into
students. Other experts, like Gass, S. M. and Selinker, the target language word by word. This is probably the
Larry (2008) say that there are six steps which are most common cause of the error.
analyzing grammatical error committed by the learners. Those classifications actually have resemblance
Those are collecting data, identifying errors, classify in classifying causes of errors, such as error caused by
errors, quantifying errors, analyzing errors and teacher or learning process, translation of word by word,
remediating, but the quantifying errors and last step are and first language interference. However, every expert
not appropriate with this study because this study focuses has different terms. In this research, the researcher only
on qualitative research design. focuses on the classification of error causes by Norrish
Ellis (1997) claims that he is able to classify the (1983). It becomes the basic theory in order to help this
errors to get the learners’ ability in writing. This research to find out the causes of the students’ error.
categorization can be exemplified as follows; omission, The errors that appear in students’ writing are
addition, mis-formation, mis-ordering. caused by some factors. Some experts argue that it can be
Omission error is a type of error which is caused organized by some points, however those have a little bit
by the absence of a morpheme that must appear in a of difference. For instance, James (1998) states there are
correct sentence. The error can be happened because of four causes that affect errors and Norrish (1983) claims
content or grammatical morpheme that carry the bulk of that there are three factors that cause errors.
the referential meaning of a sentence; Nouns, verbs, The first is carelessness that is often closely
adjectives, adverbs. The learners more frequently omit a related to lack of motivation. Many teachers will admit
grammatical morpheme than a content morpheme. that it is not always the students’ fault if they lose

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interest; perhaps, the materials and/or the style of researcher takes students’ draft of interpersonal text which
presentation do not suit them. is gained from one of the classes in the eighth-grade.
The second is first language interference, he This study is conducted in SMPN 2 Lamongan. The
states that learning a language (a mother tongue or school is located at Jalan Veteran 3, Lamongan. The
foreign language) is a habit formation. When someone researcher chooses it because he knows that the school is
learns new language, the old language will interfere the one of favorite Junior High schools in Lamongan and the
new language. This cause of the error is called first numerous achievements of this school are in great
language interference. quantities. The school is also selected because most
The last is translation that happens when a teachers have already implemented 2013 Curriculum,
student translates his first language sentence or idiomatic including English teachers. However, the researcher only
expression into the target language word by word. This is needs an eighth class to obtain the data of students’ draft.
probably the most common cause of the error. Data is one of the most important things in research. If
Those classifications actually have resemblance the researchers cannot get the data, they exactly cannot
in classifying causes of errors, such as error caused by continue their research. There is much data that the
teacher or learning process, translation of word by word, researcher can be got from, such as from the phenomena
and first language interference. However, every expert occurs, the students’ draft, etc. Meanwhile, the researcher
has different terms. In this research, the researcher only only takes the source of the data from students’ draft of
focuses on the classification of error causes by Norrish the interpersonal text.
(1983). It becomes the basic theory in order to help this In this study, there are two research questions that the
research to find out the causes of the students’ error. researcher constructed in the first chapter. In order to
answer those research questions, the researcher attempts
METHODOLOGY to gather data. The first research question deals with the
The purposes of this study are to inspect the analysis of the types of errors in students’ draft of the
grammatical errors and the causes of students’ draft of interpersonal text. The data for this research question is
the interpersonal text. To fulfill the aims of this research, students’ words, phrases, and sentences which provided
the researcher uses qualitative research as a research deviations or errors. The second research question
design. According to Ary et al. (2010), qualitative involves the causes why the errors were committed by
research is a plan that is used by the researcher how to students in the draft of the interpersonal text. It can be got
explore deeply a phenomenon by analyzing the situation from the analysis of types of errors.
rather than creating the variable. This study will employ a The researcher needs some instruments to collect the
descriptive analysis to convey the result of the research. data in order to capable of answering the research
The object of this study is the result of eighth EFL questions, there will be some research instruments that
students’ draft of interpersonal text which is needed in can help the researcher. In qualitative research, commonly
this research to gain the data. The researcher obtains the there are some instruments that can assist the researcher’
data from one of the classes in SMPN 2 Lamongan. As study such as, field notes, questionnaire, documents, etc.
the reason that the researcher has stated in the Ary et al. (2010) argued that one of the important tasks of
background of the study, students mostly commit errors the researcher is determining an instrument. So, it will
in writing because of the difficulty. The students’ draft of make the research easier to analyze the data because of the
their class can be the representative of the other classes appropriate instrument.
because students are mostly commit errors in writing. It This study will use two instruments. One of them is
means that the learners mostly commit errors in writing. students’ draft (document analysis) that is used to help the
In a qualitative study, only taking a sample class can researcher to collect the data. According to Strauss and
represent the whole case to be an object of the study Corbin (2008), document analysis is a procedure to collect
(Santi, 2017). the data by reviewing and evaluating the document in
Based on the objectives of the study, the researcher order to get understanding and develop knowledge.
struggles to find out the errors committed to students’ Another instrument is table of students’ errors which helps
draft of the interpersonal text. It is expected that the the researcher to classify and briefly explain the errors
students have better writing skill and when the students committed by students in their drafts. It is employed to
present the dialogue, they can perform fluently and answer the research questions and classify the error in
accurately because they are allowed to write a dialogue each sentence to type of errors. It not only provides the
before the performance as the researcher has claimed identification and the classification of errors, but also
before in the background of the study. Therefore, the explanation the error and correction of the sentence.
Moreover, cause of the errors is also added to complement

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it. Therefore, the reader would know where the error is RESULT AND DISCUSSION
committed. Result
Since document analysis is employed in this research, In this research, two points which were analyzed
the researcher will analyze the types and causes of error of by the researcher to answer two research questions. The
the students’ draft which is classified into tables. The first point is the types of errors which were made by
topic of writing task is based on the 4.4 basic competence eighth-grade students that were found in interpersonal text
of eighth grade that is inviting conversation. draft. The second point is causes of errors are committed
Classification purposes to find out why type of error in interpersonal text drafts.
that students made which is categorized into four;
omission, addition, formation, and order. It is also used to Table 3. The result of analysis
find out the causes of errors which have three types; Type(s) of
Group Cause(s) of Error
carelessness, first language interference, and translation. Error
This instrument is the main process of the study in Group 1 Omission, Carelessness, first
analyzing the students’ writing. addition, mis- language interference
formation
To answer the research questions, the researcher will
Group 2 Omission, Carelessness
collect and analyze the data that have been done. addition, mis-
According to Ary et al. (2010), qualitative research data formation
will be written by the researcher in form of words rather Group 3 Omission, mis- Carelessness, first
than in terms of number. Some experts have defined formation, mis- language interference,
qualitative data analysis which is similar thought. They ordering translation
are Brown (1987), Ellis (1997), Cohen et al. (2007), Group 4 Mis-formation Carelessness, first
language interference
Bhattacherjee (2012), Strauss and Corbin (2008). The
Group 5 Addition, mis- Carelessness, first
most common that the researcher used is Brown’s thought
formation, language interference
in terms of the steps of qualitative data analysis. Group 6 Omission, Carelessness, first
According to Brown (1987) also propose that analyzing addition, mis- language interference,
qualitative data needs three steps to be done; Organizing, formation translation
Classifying, and interpreting. Meanwhile, the steps of Group 7 Mis-formation, Carelessness, translation
Ellis (1997) are committed in analyzing qualitative data. mis-ordering
Therefore, this research adapts his steps: Group 8 Omission, Carelessness, first
addition, mis- language interference
The first step is that the researcher commits organizing
formation
the data that he got. In this step, the researcher will
Group 9 Addition, mis- Carelessness, first
identify the deviation by analyzing the students’ writing of formation language interference
interpersonal draft. Group 10 Omission, Carelessness, first
After the first step is committed, the researcher addition, mis- language interference,
classifies the errors of writing the interpersonal draft formation, mis- translation
based on the types and causes of errors. Explanation and ordering
correction are added to make the classification clearer. Group 11 Mis-ordering Translation
Group 12 Omission, mis- Carelessness
formation
The table 2. Error analysis Group 13 Omission, mis- Carelessness, first
Descriptio formation, mis- language interference,
Identifica Cause
n Error Explan Correcti ordering translation
tion of of
Classificat ation on Group 14 Omission, Carelessness, first
Errors Error
ion addition, mis- language interference,
formation, mis- translation
ordering
Group 15 Mis-formation Carelessness, first
After classifying is committed, the researcher language interference
evaluates the deviations. He continues to calculate the Group 16 Omission, mis- Carelessness, translation
total of errors based on the types of errors. Then, the formation, mis-
researcher represents a total of errors result in the form of ordering
diagram and percentage to clarify it.
Since the research design is descriptive qualitative, the The data shows that all groups committed errors. It
researcher will interpret all of the data descriptively. means that every group made errors in writing
interpersonal text. Since the great number of errors, the

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researcher found one hundred and six errors in Example of addition committed group 2:
interpersonal text drafts. Those errors consisted of four Tegar : “So am I. What will you do on in this
types of errors, thus all types of errors were committed by weekend”
the students. Types of errors included omission, addition, Nabil : “I will not do anything special. I guess,
mis-formation, and mis-ordering errors. These errors whats going on Tegar?”
provided grammar, word choice, and mechanics (spelling Tegar : “Well. I would like to invite you for
and punctuation). dinner. Would you like Nabil?”
Nabil : “Yes, I will come. By the way what time
Types of errors and where?
1. Omission Tegar : “ It will be held at 7 p.m. The location will
This kind of errors was mostly committed by the be in KFC Restaurant.”
students. It happened when the students wrote a sentence
which is not in a well-formed utterance. It indicates that
an item, like the content or grammatical morpheme, does From the bold sentence above, group 2 made an
not appear in a well-formed utterance, but actually, it must addition error. It shows that adding a word on is an
be constructed content and grammatical morpheme to unnecessary word because it has been written appropriate
carry obvious meaning. According to Ellis (1997), the preposition in. So, the students should omit inappropriate
students frequently disappear grammatical morpheme than preposition that is on. Thus, the correct sentence is “What
content morpheme. It can be proven by this research that will you do this weekend?”
the students frequently omitted grammatical morpheme
3. Mis-formation
than content morpheme.
Due to having the greatest quantities committed
in students’ draft, mis-formation error becomes the most
Example of omission committed group 1:
frequent error happened by the students. On the other
Dona: “I want invited you go to my in birt day party” words, students mostly made this error in their drafts.
Tiara: “Really” They committed this error because they did not write an
Dona: “Ya!” appropriate form of morpheme or structure.
Tiara: “Oh... thank you! where you birt day party”
Dona: “in my house” Example of mis-formation committed group 9:
Ani: “May I go to your birthday party with my
From the bold sentence above, group 1 made an mom?”
omission error. This kind of errors happened because the Firda: “Of course. Don’t forget to wear tidu clothes!”
students did not appear as a grammatical morpheme, so Ani: “Okay. That would be fun...”
it should be added by is after where. Moreover, if the Firda: “I nearly forget, that I will hold thank the
beginning of the sentence is a question word, so the last getting the first.”
sentence should be added by question mark ?. Thus, the rank..”
correct sentence should be “Oh… thank you! Where is Ani: “Wow... congratulation to your first rank.”
your birthday party?” which means the writer asks the Firda: “Ooh thank you. See you tomorrow...
place of birthday party.
From the example above, group 9 committed a
2. Addition mis-formation error that happened twice in the sentence.
This kind of errors low frequently appeared Those occurred in words thank and the. As the first
than others. Based on the error types table stated in sample in mis-formation error, this error also was
appendix 4, the data shows that addition error is the occurred because of an inappropriate word. The first error
lowest among the others happened in students writing. A in word thank should be modified to thanksgiving party
half of all groups committed addition error, they did it because it was a verb that should be changed to the noun.
because they wrote a word which not must appear in a While the word the should not be needed, but it was
well-formed utterance. It means that the presence of an greatly needed using preposition for. Because of the
unnecessary item which appeared in a well-formed existence of gerund, it would be appropriate using for as
sentence. preposition. Therefore, the correct sentence should be “I
will hold thanksgiving party for getting the first rank.”

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4. Mis-ordering Thus, the future tense is appropriate to be applied in this

This error becomes the second rank in the sentence. Therefore, the sentence should be “The event
fewest number of errors. This error is low frequently will be held at my house tomorrow at 8 pm.”
happened by the learners in students’ draft of the
interpersonal text. This kind of errors occurred when the 2. First language interference
students did not place a morpheme or group of First language interference is the second highest
morphemes correctly in an utterance. frequent cause of error committed by students. It mostly
occurred in the students who learn the target language. It
Example of mis-ordering committed group 13: was caused when they were still influenced by the first
Safinah: “Fine, tomorrow I held a birthday party, language. It is also commonly committed in the learning
will you come into the party me? process of foreign learners while they are learning a
Valya : “Yes, I will come to the your pary.” foreign language, they are still engaging their first
Safinah: “Where’s party held?” language to foreign language.
Valya : “In the hall Mahkota Hotel.”
Example of first language interference of group 5:
Kayyisa: “Well I help you, I think the clothes that
From the bold sentence above, it shows that group suits you in accordance with your body shape is a
13 committed mis-ordering which is party me. This error Wednesday Addams.”
occurred because of misplacing possession, moreover the Nisya: “Can you explain about the “Wednesday
writer incorrectly wrote possession me, it should use my. Addam” clothes?”
However, it is appropriate if the possession my is placed Kayyisa: “... The character has also appeared in
before the noun party. Hence, the sentence should be television and film, in both the live action and
“Fine, tomorrow I will hold a birthday party, will you animated formats. Wednesday’s most notable
come to my party?” features are her pale skin and long, dark twin
brainds. She seldom shows emotion and is
Causes of errors generally bitter...”
Nisya: “Thanks for the explanation. You explained it
1. Carelessness
very detail to me.”
The highest frequent cause of the students’ error
is carelessness. It shows that the students mostly made
errors in carelessness. Factor that caused carelessness in
“She seldom shows emotion and is generally
student’s errors is lack of students’ motivation or interest.
bitter” the students’ error was influenced by the first
It might be caused by the material that the teacher gave to
language which in Indonesian language and English have
the students was not appropriate. Not only the material
different use of conjunction and. The sentence will be
but also the style of teaching did not suit the students.
fine in the Indonesian language, however it will be a fault
in English because of the ungrammatical sentence. The
Example of carelessness of group 3:
conjunction should be replaced by the word which to add
Duwenty: “I just want to invite you to thank for the information about emotion. In short, the sentence should
success in the contest dancing yesterday.” be “She seldom shows emotion which is generally bitter.”
Khaisa : “Yes, I am. Thanks for inviting me.”
Duwenty: “Of course. The event held on 3. Translation
tomorrow at 8 pm at home I.” Translation becomes the lowest frequent cause
Khaisa : “Ok. I will try to come” of error committed by the students. This cause is like first
language interference because it mostly happened in new
foreign learners. It means that when they start to learn
“The event held on tomorrow at 8 pm at home I.”
foreign language, they translate a foreign language word
Inappropriate form that was written by the students
by word in the learning process.
indicates that the students did not understand the material
yet. However, it was caused by the style of the teacher
was not appropriate to the students. Hence, the students
totally misunderstood the teachers’ material. Based on this
example, the time signal is the key to apply what kind of
tenses will be used. This case, the writer used tomorrow.

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Example of translation of group 3: The result shows that students high frequently
Duwenty : “Of course. The event held on committed errors in mis-formation with sixty-two errors.
tomorrow at 8 pm at home I.” Then, it is followed by omission, mis-ordering, and
Khaisa : “Ok. I will try to come” addition. It can be interpreted that they still have a serious
Duwenty : “And do not forget to wear clothes problem in writing the second language, especially in
muslim white tomorrow” determining a suitable form of the word and spelling
Khaisa : “Yes, but I do not have her” word. For example, writing inappropriate word will
confuse and misunderstand the reader. Furthermore, it can
make an incorrect grammatical rule in the target language.
“And do not forget to wear clothes muslim white
In short, mis-formation error is the most frequent error
tomorrow.” The students’ error is caused by translating
which happens in writing students’ interpersonal texts.
word by word. It can be seen that muslim and white are
Moreover, it has an equal result of a study by Muhsin
not placed in an appropriate place, whereas those should
(2016) which found that mis-formation error is the most
modify the clothes. Thus, the placement of clothes muslim
frequent error that appears in their subject of the study.
white should be rearranged based on the English rule.
Therefore, it should be “And do not forget to wear white
Cause of Errors
muslim clothes tomorrow.”
Causes of error were obtained from the error analysis
of students’ draft. In the error analysis of students’ draft,
Discussion
the researcher used the thought of Norrish (1983) to
Based on the result of the data, there are two points
analyze the causes of error which are carelessness, first
that will be discussed in this section related to error
language interference, and translation.
analysis. Those are errors which are made by the students
In the error analysis, the researcher shows that
in writing an interpersonal text. The first is the result of
carelessness is the most frequent caused by the students
kinds of errors committed by the eighth students of SMPN
when committing errors. Then, it is followed by first
2 Lamongan. The second is the result of causes that affect
language interference. According to Norrish (1983),
errors committed by them.
carelessness is likely related to lack of motivation of the
students. Yet, it is not totally the students’ fault.
Type of Errors
Sometimes, the materials and the style of presentation
The result of students’ drafts was classified using
provided by the teachers are able to be a problem of the
Ellis’ categorization (1997). It showed that all types of
students. Moreover, a study by Alfiyani (2013),
errors were committed by the students in writing an
carelessness is also caused by improper generalization and
interpersonal text. The types of errors consisted of
incomplete grammatical rule.
omission, addition, mis-formation, and mis-ordering.
Norrish (1983) states that first language interference
happens when the students learn a new language. In other
Table 4. Total of error types committed by the students
words, they will be interfered with their first language
Rank Types of Error The Number
when producing a new language. Therefore, the error will
1. Mis-formation 62 appear when students apply the correct grammatical rules.
2. Omission 22 Thus, they have a difficulty to obey the grammatical rules.

3. Mis-ordering 13
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
4. Addition 9 Conclusion
Based on the objectives of the study, this study
Based on the result of the data, there were one hundred was conducted among the eighth graders of SMP Negeri
and six errors committed because of omission, addition, 2 Lamongan, especially VIII-B students. The researcher
mis-formation, and mis-ordering. It means that the analyzed the data to find out the types of error based on
students still have major problem in writing in the case of the classification by Ellis (1997) and the causes of error
grammatical structure. It represents what Herlinawati based on the classification by Norrish (1983). The results
(2011) claimed that EFL students often make errors when and discussion of the data in the previous chapter show
they produce English to be written or spoken because they that the students still have a serious problem in writing an
get a new rule of language, vocabulary, grammatical interpersonal text in the case of grammatical structure.
structure, and pronunciation. The result of this data exhibits that the students made
errors which involved four types of error. Those were
omission, addition, mis-formation, and mis-ordering

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 An Analysis of Students’ Error in Writing Interpersonal Text

which had different frequency of error committed. The Ellis, Rod. 1997. Second language acquisition. New
result shows that students high frequently committed York: Oxford University Press.
errors in mis-formation because it has the highest number Fauzianto, A. & Ariatmi, S. Z. n.d. Interpersonal text.
Gass, S. M. and Selinker, Larry. 2008. Second language
of errors committed in the students’ drafts. Afterward, it
acquisation: An introductory course. London:
is followed by omission that has two kinds of omission; Routledge.
content and grammatical morpheme. While mis-ordering Herlinawati. 2011. Error analysis in the students writing
and addition are low frequent committed by the students. narrative text paragraph at MTsN Pajajaran
Furthermore, the researcher can conclude that the most Pamulang.
frequent error in the students’ interpersonal text drafts is James, C. (1998). Errors in Language Learning and Use:
mis-formation. Exploring Error Analysis (Applied Linguistics &
Language Study). London: Longman.
Meanwhile, based on the result, there were three
Kemendikbud. 2016. Silabus mata pelajaran sekolah
causes that could be assumed to affect the students menengah pertama/madrasah tsanawiyah (smp/mts):
committing errors. Those were carelessness, first Mata pelajaran bahasa Inggris. Jakarta
language interference, and translation. The result shows Muhsin, Muh. Arief. 2016. Analyzing the students’ errors
that the errors were high frequently affected by in using simple present (A case study at Junior High
carelessness and first language interference. School in Makassar). Pacific science review b:
humanities and social sciences, 81-87.
doi.org/10.1016/j.psrb.2016.09.006
Suggestion Norrish, John. 1983. Language learners and their errors.
Based on the result of this study, the researcher London: MacMillan Press.
would like to present some suggestions that will Nuha, Ulin. 2014. Transactional and interpersonal
hopefully give benefit or insight for the students, conversation texts in English textbook. 7(2), 205–
teachers, and researchers. The first, because many errors 224.
were committed by the students, it is important to be Permendikbud. 2016. Kompetensi inti dan kompetensi
dasar bahasa Inggris smp/mts kurikulum 2013
aware and careful when they are writing, especially in
Pratama, Viky K. 2016. The analysis of word order in
writing interpersonal text. So, in order to minimize noun phrase used by the eighth graders of smp
committing errors while writing, they should pay more muhammadiyah 6 Krian in writing descriptive text.
attention grammatical rules in every next performance. Retain Unesa.
The second, because errors are high frequently Promsupa et al. 2017. An analysis of grammatical errors
affected by carelessness, the researcher suggests that the in English writing of Thai University students. HRD
teachers should consider whether the material or style of Journal, 8(1).
Raimes, Ann. 1983. Techniques in teaching writing.
presentation is already suitable for the students or not. So,
USA: Oxford University Press.
the teachers often keep the enthusiasm of students in Santi, Silvi Savira. 2017. Lexical errors analysis in
learning English. Giving feedback in students’ writing is English department students’ expository writing
also important to be committed in order to overcome the essay.
students’ errors. Strauss, Anselm L.& Corbin, Juliet M. 2008. Basics of
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Publications.
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Hopefully, they are able to give solutions in minimizing linguistic components in the writing Composition.
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Vooren, Valerie V. et al. 2012. The impact of teachers’
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