TABLE OF CONTENT

PAGE
1.0.
2.0.
3.0.

INTRODUCTION
SAMPLE ESSAYS
IDENTIFICATION OF ERROR
- Student A
- Student B
4.0.
INTERVIEW
5.0 EXPLANATION OF ERRORS
6.0 CONCLUSION
REFERENCES

Description of error
(student B)

Types of Errors
1. Subject-verb
agreement
2. Tenses

Examples
1.
2.
3.
1.

I were so happy to read it. (was)

The teachers had a cheerful faces. (face)
The games is music chair. (game)
My mother sended me to school about 7.15 am every

day. (send)
2. When the pupil enter school hall, En. Madi gave some

3. Prepositions

4. Lexical semantics
5. Word order

3.
4.
5.
1.

speech about the teachers day. ( entered)

They take it happily. (took)
Next, the traditional dances held on a stage.(was)
The games is music chair. ( Add was)
I write this letter because I want _ answer your letter

2.
1.
2.
1.

that I received last Saturday. ( Add to )

They praised on the show. (delete on)
The dances dance gracefully on the stage. (dancers)
Send my regart to your family. (regard)
It showed that you remember me still. ( It showed that

you still remember me)

2. So happy the teachers were. ( The teachers were so
happy)

Description of error
(student A)
Types of Errors
1. Subject-verb agreement

Examples
1. Here we go, on that day everyone were
informed to go to the hall for a special

2. Tenses

assembly. (was)
1. Then we were ordered to stand in long
and endless line of students where we
are supposed to shake every teachers

3. Prepositions

hand. (were)
1. In your letter, you wanted to know
about the teachers day celebration in
my school, right? (at)

4. Lexical semantics
5. Word order

Interview
Student A
Interviewer : Hello Akmal, are you ready to be interviewed?
Student A : Yes I am.
Interviewer : Firstly, you were asked to write an essay. After I have collected the essay, I have
identified several errors that you made.
Student A : I have several errors?
Interviewer : Yes. Let us start with a subject verb agreement. Instead of using was in Here we
go, on that day everyone were informed to go to the hall for a special assembly,
why did you used were?
Student A : I am a bit confused with the correct usage of the verb when I encounter pronoun like
everyone. Sometimes I refer to many and sometimes it refers to one. According to my
understanding, it refers to many.
Interviewer :You also make an error in determining the tenses in this sentence, Then we were
ordered to stand in long and endless line of students where we are supposed to
shake every teachers hand. Why is it so?
Student A: Really? It is just my plain careless. I did not notice it.
Interviewer : Besides that, you also make an error in determining the right preposition. In your
essay, you used preposition in as in In your letter, you wanted to know about the
teachers day celebration in my school, right?

Student A: I used it as like that because I forgot just the exact word and I also translate it from
Malay language first.
Interviewer : That is it. Thank you Akmal for helping and spending me your time.
Student A: You are welcome. Thanks to you too for telling me my errors. I am sure it would not
be around again next time. Bye.

Interview
Student B
Interviewer : Hello Hazim, are you ready to be interviewed?
Student B : Yes I am.
Interviewer : Firstly, I asked to write an essay. After I have collected the essay, I have
identified several errors that you made. Do you understand me?
Student B : Yes.Please continue.
Interviewer : Okay. Let us start with a subject verb agreement. You are having a problem in
using the right verb for your subject. Why?
Student B : I do not know how and where to use it. My teacher teach me that singular subject
with singular verb. I just use what my teacher teach me.
Interviewer :You also make an error in determining the tenses in this essay and it is quite a lot.
Why is it so?
Student B: I confused. I am not sure where to use simple and where to use past. It looks like the
same. I have some knowledge, the basic one. When the sentences are hard, I cannot do it.
Interviewer : I see. I can say you also have a problem in using prepositions. Is it true?
Student B: It is. Although my teacher always asked me to read a lot of preposition from grammar
book, I still get confused when it comes to practices.
Interviewer : But why? You and Akmal are from the same class. Why she can do it better than
you?
Student B: I do not read English book as much as her. I do not like English much.
Interviewer : Can we still continue this interview?

Student B: Yes.
Interviewer : why did you get wronged on word order and lexical semantic?
Student B: I use to write the sentences in Malay language first. Then I will translate it into
English. According to my opinion, it is correct. The meaning is the same.
Interviewer : Very well. Thank you for cooperate with me.
Student B: You are welcome.

INTRODUCTION

English is learnt as a second language institutionally. Second language is defined in the Longman
Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (Richards, Platt, &Platt, 1992) as a
language that is not a native language in a country. A second language is usually studied either
for communication ,reading printed materials in the language and many more. Learning a
different language is somehow quite difficult since the L2 has different elements compared to the
L1 language. These differences are sometimes caused the students to make such errors while
using it either directly or non-direct. In learning English as L2, definitely students are not free in
making the errors. Even in L1, the errors happened not to mention in L2. Among the four skills
that being emphasized which are writing, reading, speaking and listening in English, writing is
the most complex aspect but it is a crucial skill for students to learn. Students who have the
ability and competency in writing English very well will be able to express themselves
effectively and creatively. In addition, they will have more eminence when it comes to the jobs
applying compared to other students that are not so good in English.
The ability to write effectively in English is becoming increasingly important in our daily
life as now communication across language becomes ever more essential. However, writing is
not a piece of cake thing. It is a complex process which requires the usage of cognitive ability
and linguistic knowledge. It is even harder to learn to write in an L2 language, and it takes
considerable time and effort to become an expert writer. The errors that come from the learning
process is accepted as a guide in helping students becoming more successful. Hence, it is very
necessary to study the errors in improving the performance of students in English learning.

In analysing problems of writing in English, the researchers aims were to identify errors
that occurred, analyze the errors to find out the cause and worked out possible solution to
overcome the problems. Lim (1990) analyses grammatical errors made by Mandarin speaking
students from a private year two community college in Kuala Lumpur. According to Dulay and
Burt (1974b), the classified of error that have been collected can be divided into three categories
namely development, interference and unique.
The developmental error refers to the error that are similar to L1 acquisition. It is an
error in learner language that does not come fully from the L1 influence but it is a reflection of
the learners discovery learning of L2 system. These errors are often corresponding to those
errors made by the children learning the language of their mother tongue. In learning L2,
students usually have a tendency to make mistakes in the learning process as a guide in
understanding the concept. From the sample essay, student B who is a low proficiency level in
English made several errors that correspond to developmental error. Instead of using sent to
assert the past tense, he used sended. After they begin marking past tense on verbs, learners
may still make errors such as overgeneralization of the regular -ed ending. The application of
regular past tense inflection to an irregular verb is not mastered by him. During the interview, he
stated that the reason he chose sended because he thought that every single verb word that
indicate past tense should be added ed. It can be considered as a regular type or error when
starting off in the present tense, flow into the past, then turning back to the present. Shifting verb
tenses will make him confused about the usage of the verb word as it is not similar to the present
verb. It has been revealed that the respondents know the rules of tense but when they are
supposed to apply the rules they just jumble it. Students basically think in L1 first then translate
into English.At the time of translating into English they feel confused about the tenses that
should be used like whether the sentences should be in the present or past form. Limited
knowledge of form of verbs and lacking in the usage of auxiliary verbs also develop the
tendency errors in tense. Thus, the developmental error occurred causing him to just use the
knowledge that he knows rather that putting accuracy into consideration. On the other hand,
student A who is a high proficiency level in English undoubtedly also making an error. In her
essay, she wrote Then we were ordered to stand in long and endless line of students where we

are supposed to shake every teachers hand. She claimed that the error was made because of her
carelessness instead of lack of knowledge. Next is the agreement between subject and verb is
influenced by the subject form whether it is singular or plural. To construct a correct sentence
structurally, the verb must agree with the subject. Sometimes, both of these students fail to
recognize it. That means they failed to construct the correct sentence structure. Student A become
confused with the usage of everyone. She thought that it is plural. The same goes to student B.
He just uses whatever that comes to his mind that time. It means that the students have made
errors in making the agreement between subject and verb. Therefore, the developmental error
occurred to all students in learning English as a part of the development.
Next, Duray and Burt also proposed interference error. Interference error occurred due to
the reflection of L1. These two students are a Malay student which means they speak Malay
language almost all the time. It is not surprising that they jumble up the L1 to L2. This error can
be seen through word order. Word order is the arrangement of words in a phrase, clause, or
sentences (Collin Cobbuild Dictionary). It plays an important role as each word has its own
meaning. If the arrangement of the word is wrong, the whole sentence will be wrong too or gives
different meaning than it supposed to be. Student B admits that the reasons he used It showed
that you remember me still is because he directly translate it from L1 to L2. It is the result of
the easing of element in L1. Apart from that, student B stated that , he always writes the
sentences in Malay first. Student A seems to have no problem dealing with word order as she
keeps on doing exercises on English. Students B also has difficulties with the choosing of the
right word to be used in a sentence. For example The dances dance gracefully on the stage. He
chose the word dances as s usually indicated many. Consciously, these students may sometimes
guess when they are producing a speech or a text in a second language because they have not
learned or have forgotten its proper usage. Unconsciously, they may not realize that the
structures and internal rules of the languages in question are different. They could also be aware
that b the structures and internal rules, yet be insufficiently skilled to put them into practice, and
consequently often turn back on their first language.student B misused the concept and result in
choosing the wrong suffixes to be added at the back of word dance. That is why interference
error occurred. Students A on the other hand, having no difficulties in dealing with L2. The usage
of L2 does not interference with L1 though she is not the native speaker.

Last but not least is unique error. It is an error that is neither developmental nor
interference errors. Instruction may constitute one source of what Dulay and Burt call unique
errors. Though both students received the same input from the same source, they still make an
error definitely from themselves. The instruction of activity carried out in the class somehow
does not come into student B brain. It may be because of the dislike toward English. Student A
encounter this error also when she does not pay attention in the class. Unique error is something
that is not being put into consideration by other researchers. Stenson argues thi sort of errors are
not systematic and therefore do not reflect competence.

CONCLUSION

Error analysis of L2 acquisition is carried out to discover more about the process. Dulay
and Burts analysis of errors has been used to know the reasons those errors are made. Possible
reasons for the low achievement in writing was possibly the fact that writing is a very complex
process due to the many skills involved and the many activities to be carried out.

REFERENCES

Abdul Halim Ibrahim, Dr Mariam Mohamad Nor. (2010). Sociolinguistic In Language Teaching.
Selangor: Meteor Doc Sdn Bhd.
Ellis, R. (1995) Understanding Second Language Acquisition.(10th ed.) Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Krashen, S. D. (2002 (Internet Editon)). Second Language Acquisition and Second Language
Learning. Retrieved from
http://sdkrashen.com/SL_Acquisition_and_Learning/SL_Acquisition_and_Learning.pdf
Mahmud, M. N. (n.d.). Investigation into error committed by the Secondary student in Writing
English as Second Language. Retrieved from Academia.edu:
http://www.academia.edu/1024437/Investigation_into_Errors_Committed_by_the_Secon
dary_Students_grade_VIII_in_Writing_English_as_a_Foreign_Language