AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF DESCRIPTIVE WRITING OF THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMA N 23 JAKARTA IN THE 2013/2014 ACADEMIC YEAR

kemas musyaffa iasa; drs. bahrul hasibuan, m. ed.; roihatul milah, m. pd.;

AYU KURNIASIH.1001065032. An Error Analysis of Descriptive Writing of the
Tenth Grade Students of SMA N 23 Jakarta in the 2013/2014 Academic Year. The
Paper, Jakarta: The Study Programme of English Education, The School of
Teacher Training and Education, The University of Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr.
Hamka, Jakarta 2015.
This research was conducted at the tenth grade students of SMA N 23
Jakarta in the 2013/2014 academic year. The purpose of this study was to find the
typical errors and the causes of error which were made by the students in writing.
The samples of this study were 33 students. In the first meeting, the writer asked
the students to make descriptive writing based on the instruction that had been
given in the writing task. The topic is “My House”. After that, the writer collected
the students’ writing to be analyzed by underlining the mistake. In the second
meeting, the writer gave back the writing to the students. Next, the writer asked
the students to re-correct their mistake that had been underlined by the writer.
Then the writer collected again the students’ writing. After that, the writer
analyzed the types of error by using Azar’s theory and the sources of error by
Brown’s theory in the students’ writing.
In this research, the writer used descriptive analytical method. In
collecting the data, the writer administered a kind of writing task to students. Then
the writer analyzed the errors that were made by the students in their writing.
The result of the research revealed that common errors on the students’
writing were errors in the singular-plural (3.3%), spelling (7%), capitalization
(27.5%), punctuation (10.5%), run-on-sentence (1.4%), word choice (11.5%),
verb tense (1.2%), article (0.6%), incomplete sentence (0.1%), omit a word
(9.2%), add a word (23.1%), meaning not clear (0.9%), word order (2.6%), and
word form (1.1%). Besides that, the common errors on the sources of error were
in the interlingual transfer (35%), intralingual transfer (18.5%), context of
learning (41.6%), and communication strategies (5%). After seeing the result of
the study, it indicated that some students need more treatment and remedial
teaching from the teacher toward their errors in English writings.