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CHAPTER I

Introduction

Writing is one of productive skills in language learning. The writing activity is

different from other activities. It is less spontaneous but more permanent since

it takes much time and concentrated practice. In writing, there are a number of

language aspects involved such as model texts, grammar, spell-check,

punctuation and prepositions. Writing has a number of conventions which

separate it out from speaking. Apart from differences in grammar and

vocabulary, there are issues of letter, word, and text formation, manifested by

handwriting, spelling, and layout and punctuation. It means that writing offers

opportunities to increase student’s vocabulary, knowledge of grammar and

develops their understanding of how things are expressed and how well

students’ message is understood in the written form. ‘Writing is difficult to learn

because authors should utilize a process that includes planning, organizing,

and revising to present meaning in words form. English language learning is a

process where all skills of English (listening, reading, writing, speaking and

grammar) are interconnected. In developing learners writing proficiency, all

language skills must be involved. Aiming at mastering those skills, students

can learn quickly when they feel confident in expressing their ideas with one

another. In fact, they find English rules very complicated because some

language features such as sentence construction, grammar, vocabulary,

spelling and so forth in their mother tongue are different from those of the
target language. These make them difficult to express themselves in a clear,

correct and comprehensible manner of writing. Lado affirmed that ‘those

language features that are similar to the (learner’s) native language will be

simple for him, and those areas that are different will be difficult. Likewise, high

school students are often use the way of thinking and concept from their native

language to express their ideas in English as well. They need to learn how to

transfer their knowledge of rule/grammatical concepts of target language from

oral language to written language. The difficulties in applying the rules of the

language in writing cause students make errors. It states that ‘an error is a

noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker. It means that

learners make errors because they lack knowledge of the rules of the target

language. They may make the same errors at other times. Error is often

considered as student’s mistake in learning a language because the

comprehension of that rules related to the student’s ability. It points out that

‘when a student makes a mistake, it is not the fault of the teacher or the

materials or even the students, but it is a natural part of a learning process.

People cannot learn language without systematically committing errors first.

Errors which are made by learners contribute in understanding the process of

foreign language acquisition. By seeing students’ errors, the researcher tries to

collect information about student’s errors in writing. Further analysis is needed

in order to know in which language aspects they make errors and their

frequency.

Background of the study

English is considered as international language of the world. In Indonesia,

English is taught as a foreign language. Generally, English has been learned

by the students since they were in the basic level of education. When

students learn English, there are four skills they should master; writing,

speaking, reading, and listening. Aside from those four skills, the study of

English grammar is also considered as an important aspect in learning English.

These aspects are connected one another, especially grammar and writing.

Students cannot have a good writing skill if it is not supported with good

grammar.

The English writing skills is more difficult and complicated to be learned by

almost all of the students rather compared to other skills in every level of

education. It is because in doing writing, students need a good knowledge,

good thinking process, and good grammatical knowledge; they also have to

produce words, sentences and paragraphs with a good grammar at the same

time. The students have to integrate their knowledge of grammar in their

writing, if they want to write anything in order to make their writing is readable

and understood. When students have good ability in grammar, then it will be

easier for them to produce a good writing. Moreover, students should be able

to produce words in their writing, arrange them one by one to be sentences,

and then paragraph. Even the second language learners have learned

grammar well, but they are not still able to produce a good writing.

Sometimes grammatical and structural mistakes still can be found in the

students’ writing. And error analysis is advantageous for both student and

teachers or lectures. For students, error analysis is needed, to show them

what aspect in grammar which is difficult for them, to show the errors made

by students, to know the source or the cause of error and how the students

can learn from their mistakes in order to prevent them to make the same errors

repeatedly. And for teachers or lecturers, it is required to evaluate

themselves whether they are successful or not in teaching English. “If the

learner is inclined and able to correct a fault in his or her output, it is assumed

that the form he or she selected was not the one intended, and we shall say

the fault is a mistake. If, on the other hand, the learner is unable or in any

way disinclined to make the correction, we assume that the form the learner

used was the one intended, and that is an error.” Based on the explanations

above, the writer is going to analyze the students’ grammatical errors in

writing. The title of the paper is “An Analysis of the Common Grammatical

Errors in the English Writing”. And by knowing the students’ errors, which are

obtained from the writing task focused on their grammar, we will know the

kinds of grammar errors that commonly made by students. The research is

about finding grammatical errors in the English writing. This research

analyzes the grammatical errors. Most people do not know the difference

between errors and mistakes. In this research, the writer wants to clarify that

the analysis is about grammatical errors.

The researcher are interested of this topic because grammar skills are

useful in every aspect of life from education to leadership, and social life to
 employment opportunities. They are equally important at home where

children learn their grammatical patterns from their parents and family. We

can say it because we have a basis which are Grade 10 students which are

also our friends, classmates, and etc. that we encountered.

Scope and Limitations

As stated in the identification of the problem, errors may occur in reading,

listening, speaking and writing. This research studied errors analysis focusing

on grammatical structure in writing due to it is one of important skills for

Students. The researcher conduct a research on errors because errors in

writing are recorded/written and grammar is an essential requirement for

successful result of learning English, thus error analysis should not be

neglected in foreign language learning and it is easier to record errors in

writing. As students to be of English as a foreign language, they should

improve the way of understanding to reduce the errors which are always made

by the learners. The researcher conduct this error analysis focusing on

grammar due to error analysis plays an important role in language learning

and understanding. Regarding a learner may produce an incorrect form as a

result of exposure to faulty language input. A learner errors...are significant in

that they provide the researcher with evidence of how language is learned or

acquired, what strategies or procedures the learner is employing in the

discovery of the language’. It can inform teaching methods and bring them

closer to the learning process, thus making for a leaner-centered technique of

language instruction. Errors analysis can bridge the gap between language

learning and teaching and communication strategies. This error analysis will

determine students' ability on understanding grammar of writing. Grammar is

an important component of communication.

We know that communication should not be fluent, but also linguistically

144) correct and appropriate to the condition. The knowledge of grammar

underlying our ability to produce and understand sentences in a language. We

call upon grammatical competence to express meanings in ways that are

native-like in the target language’. Learners have to pay more attention to both

what they say and how they are going to express their ideas in language skills.

The ability to produce and understand the sentences with a good grammar

shows their level of proficiency. Supporting the importance of grammar. If

grammar rules are too carelessly violated, communication may suffer, although

creating a “good” grammar rules is extremely difficult. If grammatical

competence is ignored, it is certain that the learners will become grammatically

inaccurate communicators. It is not a simple case since one grammar skill

interacts with other language skills and together determine what learners can

do at any given level of proficiency and how well they can do it. Thus, having

knowledge of grammar is very important for learners to have communicative

ability. For further classification, this research used surface strategy taxonomy.

The errors were limited to four classifications based on the surface taxonomy.

This includes omission, addition, misinformation and misordering. The study

was also analyzed the causes or sources of the errors. To infer the sources of

errors, this research used comparative taxonomy which classifies errors into

interlingual/developmental, intralingual, ambiguous, and unique error. The

subjects of this research are limited to the students who take Writing at the

English Education Department. The researcher chose the second semester

students due to the fact that they are still in the early phase of learning so they

will be more enthusiastic to learn English and be more open to correction. The

grammatical errors they commit will assist them to greater learning and

understanding of the English language.

Statement of the Problem

• What kinds of grammatical errors that students tend to make?

Subject- Verb Agreement

Incorrect: The efforts of the cat to reach the cookie jar was in vain.

Correct: The efforts of the cat to reach the cookie jar were in vain.

• What are the most common grammatical errors in students’ English writing?

Your/you’re

We covered this one before in our post on homophones, but it’s such a
widespread problem that there’s no harm in covering it again.

The rules:
“Your” indicates possession – something belonging to you.
“You’re” is short for “you are”.

How not to do it:

Your beautiful
Do you know when your coming over?
Can I have one of you’re biscuits?

How to do it properly:
You’re beautiful
Do you know when you’re coming over?
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Can I have one of your biscuits?

Significance of the study

Grammar skills are important to be an effective leader. Communication skills

are indispensable to effectively give direction and provide assurance of

leading ability.In addition, if continuing education will desire, grammatically

correct papers will be expected from college professors. Everyone will benefit

from it.

Definition of Terms

Communication- a process by which information is exchanged between

individuals through a common system of symbols,signs, or behavior

• The function of pheromones in insect communication

; also : exchange of information.

Conversation- oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions, or

ideas.

Difficult- hard to do, make, or carry out.

Grammar- the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in

general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology (including

inflections) and sometimes also phonology

and semantics.

Grammatical Error- a term used in prescriptive grammar to describe an

instance of faulty, unconventional, or controversial usage, such as a

misplaced modifier or an inappropriate verb tense. Also called a usage error.

Compare grammatical error with correctness.

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Language- the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining

them used and understood by a community.

Listening- to hear something with thoughtful attention : give

consideration

Reading- an indication of a certain state of affairs, a study to get some

reading of shoppers' preferences.

Sentence Structure- is the way a sentence is arranged, grammatically. The

sentence structure of your writing includes where the noun and verb fall

within an individual sentence.

Speaking- having a population that speaks a specified language.

Spelling- the forming of words from letters according to accepted usage.

Student- SCHOLAR , LEARNER ; especially : one who attends a school.

Subject- Verb Agreement- Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one

another in number (singular or plural). Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb

must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural. In

present tenses, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite ways:

Useful- capable of being put to use; especially : serviceable for an end

or purpose

Writing- the act or art of forming visible letters or characters;

specifically : handwriting

CHAPTER II

Review of Related Literature

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Writing is an outward expression of what is going on in the writer’s mind.

Writing is the visual medium through which graphical and grammatical system

of a language is manifested. Another statement writing is a “complex process

which demands cognitive analysis and linguistic synthesis” “The definition of

writing ability can be formed depending as teachers and philosophy of writing,

taken into consideration characteristic of learners and aims in a given context.”

“Writing is an intricate and complex task; it is the most difficult of all

the language to acquire”. However, writing also can improve the grammatical

and lexical accuracy in writing English. Students were given extensive

practice in reading and writing in a genre and about content they were familiar

with in order to focus on improving both their reading and writing fluency and

the grammatical and lexical accuracy of their self-expression in writing

English.”

CHAPTER III

Methods/ Procedure

They combined every ideas that They learned about grammar. They also

work together to make this study well and can be understood. They don’t just

do it by our own Idea but we also did it by the help of social media. This study

attempts to investigate the ways in which some language learners make

conscious efforts to learn English grammar more efficiently, which strategies

they use in language learning, whether a particular learning strategies favors

certain strategies or not, if it does, what those strategies are and

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relationships between strategy use and learner achievement in grammar

learning.

Formulation of the Problem

Based on the problem limitation, this study will attempt to answer the

following:
1. What are grammatical errors in writing made by high school students

of Luis Palad Integrated High School in the academic year of 2017/2018?

2. What are the possible causes or sources of those errors?

Calculating Percentages using Decimals

Results: Amount:
30 % percent
Equals:
0.3 decimal #
3/10 decimal #

Research Design

Given the rules and the multiple exceptions to every rule that characterizes the
English language, there are many sites on the web that discuss how to avoid
mistakes in grammar and word usage. Here are a few that I have found
particularly helpful:

English Grammar

Guide to Grammar and Writing

Lingua Franca Column, Chronicle of Higher Education

Online Course Lady Writing Laboratory Blog

Plain Language.gov

Listed below are the most common mistakes made and, thus, the ones you
should focus on locating and removing while proofreading your research
paper.

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1. Affect / effect -- welcome to what I consider to be the most confusing

aspect in the English language. "Effect" is most often a noun and generally
means “a result.” However, "effect" can be used as a verb that essentially
means "to bring about," or "to accomplish." The word "affect" is almost always
a verb and generally means "to influence." However, affect can be used as a

noun when you're talking about the mood that someone appears to have.
[Ugh!]

2. Apostrophes -- the position of an apostrophe depends upon whether the

noun is singular or plural. For singluar words, add an "s" to the end, even if the
final letter is an "s." For contractions, replace missing letters with an
apostrophe; but remember that it is where the letters no longer are, which is
not always where the words are joined [e.g., "is not" and "isn't"]. Note that
contractions are rarely used in scholarly writing.

3. Capitalization -- a person’s title is capitalized when it precedes the name

and, thus, is seen as part of the name [e.g., President Zachary Taylor]; once
the title occurs, further references to the person holding the title appear in
lowercase [e.g., the president]. For groups or organizations, the name is

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capitalized when it is the full name [e.g., the United States Department of
Justice]; further references should be written in lowercase [e.g., the
department]. In general, the use of capital letters should be minimized as much
as possible.

4. Colorless verbs and bland adjectives –- passive voice, use of the to be

verb, is a lost opportunity to use a more interesting and accurate verb when
you can. Adjectives can also be used very specifically to add to the sentence.
Try to avoid generic or bland adjectives and be specific. Use adjectives that
add to the meaning of the sentence.

5. Comma splices -- a comma splice is the incorrect use of a comma to

connect two independent clauses (an independent clause is a phrase that is
grammatically and conceptually complete: that is, it can stand on its own as a
sentence). To correct the comma splice, you can: replace the comma with a
period, forming two sentences; replace the comma with a semicolon; or, join
the two clauses with a conjunction such as "and," "because," "but," etc

Population and Sample Size

30 students at Luis Palad Integrated High School are chose if the researcher

can give them instruction about the topic.

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Sampling Technique

The researcher chose grade 10 students who are not that busy and they first

ask them if it is okay if we could give an instruction and some topics to make a

paragraph for their research and they just followed them

Description of the Respondents

The respondents are Grade 10 students. The researcher cannot tell

the names because It is really confidential for them, because most of them are

not that good at grammar.

Instrumentation

We also gave them a questionnaire about grammar which includes their age,

sex, a question if they would say they know how to use grammar correctly,

do they feel using it correctly is important, why do they feel this, do they think

think ‘ text speak’ is acceptable in other context and why do they think this.

Data Gathering Procedure

This chapter focuses on grammar gathering techniques. By “grammar” we

mean the morphology and syntax of a language. Phonology and phonetics

data gathering techniques. In this chapter, The researcher present

preliminary questions about grammar gathering techniques and then

discuss issues of terminology and classification regarding grammar gathering

tasks. Then, we divide the discussion into morphosyntax ,morphology, and

syntax. Morphosyntax gathering techniques at those that can be applied

equally well to morphology and to syntax; morphology gathering techniques

 15

apply to morphology only; and syntax gathering techniques apply to syntax

only.

Statistical Treatment of Data

The response made by students describing their knowledge. Preference of

doing a paragraph and answering the questionnaire were presented. For

instance, most of the students chose answering the questionnaire that we

gave. Only three confidently chose doing a paragraph. But the three students

who chose doing a paragraph got a right grammar which are really suitable

for them. The remaining 27 students chose the questionnaire, where 23

students answered that they know how to use grammar correctly which they

prove themselves right. 4 students honestly answered no. Summary

presentations will also presented.

Sex

9- Male

21- Female

Age

16- 17 years old

Educational Attainment

30- Secondary

Bibliography
Corder, S. P. (1967). The Significance of Learners’ Errors. International

Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 5, 161-170.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/iral.1967.5.1-4.161

AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN WRITING AMONG THE

FOURTH QUARTER STUDENTS OF LUIS PALAD INTEGRATED HIGH

SCHOOL IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2017/2018

Kristine Karmel V. Nacion

Angelica Mae S. Padilla

Jon Jerrick R. Puertes

John Remus C. Marasigan

Luis Palad Integrated High School