ISSN:2549-4287 Vol.2 No.

1 February 2018

GRAMMATICAL ERROS COMMITED BY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN

SPEAKING ENGLISH

Anggana, I.P.S.
English Language Education, Faculty of Language and Art
Ganesha University of Education
Singaraja, Indonesia
Email:

Abstract
The purposes of this study are to analyze the types of grammatical errors and to know the types of
grammatical error which are frequently made by the junior high school students in speaking English. The
research design in this study was descriptive qualitative design with the eighth grade students in second
semester of SMP Negeri 4 Singaraja as the population and 33 students were chosen to be the sample. The
instruments that were used to collect the data were researcher and video recorder. The result showed that
students made error in omission, addition, misinformation, and misordering. The total of errors reaches
61 times. The highest frequency of error is omission which is 62.30%. The second frequency of error is
misordering, 18,4%. The third frequency of error is addition which is 14,75%. The last frequency of error
is misformation that is 4,91%.

Keywords: Grammatical error, Speaking

INTRODUCTION
English is one of the important language all over the world. English becomes more important
because, nowadays, most of the countries in the world use English as foreign and the second language.
Indonesia uses English as the foreign language so English is taught in the school starts from Elementary
School, Junior High School until higher Education.
For many second languages or foreign language learners, the main priority of learning English is to
master the ability to speak in English (Richards, 2008). Cameron (2001) argued that Speaking is a way of
expressing meaning to others using an active language so that others can understand it. In simple way,
speaking skill is the most important skill that should be mastered by the student in learning English as
foreign language. By mastering speaking skill, students can express their feeling and ideas to other.
Moreover, Richard (2010) Students can convey their ideas and information to others, and maintain social
relationships by communicating with others by speaking. It can be said that by mastering speaking
students can have good relationship with their environment. In learning a second or foreign language,
speaking is the most important aspect. The success can be measured through students‟ or learners‟ skill in
carrying out a conversation and interacting orally in that language (Nunan, 1999). Therefore, the students
will use this skill if they want to express everything that they have in their mind. Human speak to tell
people about their wishes, intentions, or needs. Therefore, the correct way of speaking will make sure the
success of interaction among people.
Junior High School curriculum emphasizes the teaching of English integrated through the four
language skills. They are speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This curriculum also emphasis that
teaching English as foreign language should be based on the communication approach. This approach is
based on the teaching of the language as a means of communication. Based on the interview to the
student of SMP Negeri 4 Singaraja, students are not interesting in studying English because they think
that English is difficult, especially in speaking. Their lack of vocabulary, grammar rule knowledge, and
worry to make mistakes become the problems in their speaking. They tended to keep silent and even
avoided talking or being asked by the teacher. They said that English is difficult and very complicated
because the material used were not interesting and the material were also difficult to understand by the
students. So they felt difficult to create their idea to speak up. The students at SMP Negeri 4 Singaraja
were still unable to produce English during the English session, only few of them were able to do so.
Majority of students cannot speak the language because of satisfactory with language learning among the
students and their teachers. It can be concluded that, their knowledge were limited about vocabulary,
grammatical, pronunciation, and fluency.

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Yorkey (1990) explained like the other skill, speaking skill is a skill that must be practiced
continuously. So, speaking is skill that can make the students try to be a good speaker in order to make
the listener understand what they are talking about. To be a good speaker is not as simple as other skills,
students need to practice it continuously to make sure they can be a good speaker. Speaking is a
productive language skill and receptive comprehension skills that involves a two-way process between
the speaker and the listener (Byrne, 1997). Widdowson (1995) explained that Speaking involves both the
receptive process like the acceptance of the language codes that are conveyed for the recipient to be
understood, and participation. That means speaking skill is very important to be mastered by the students
in order to make the students easier to communicate with other.
Speaking is not simply expressing something orally. However, there are some speaking aspects that
students need to acquire to have a good speaking skill, namely: pronunciation, fluency, and accuracy
(Brown: 2001; Hughes: 1989). As one of aspects that should be considered in speaking, grammatical
competence becomes a part of the communicative competence (Lock, 1996). Grammar is one of the most
difficult part in a language use. The Indonesian and English grammar have different grammatical rules.
In learning English, the differences between the Indonesian and English grammar usually induce
problem. Hornby (1987) explained that grammatical study is the study of the structural rules governing
the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in a specific natural language. The term also refers to the
study of the rule, and this field includes phonology, morphology, and syntax, often with phonetics,
semantics, and pragmatics, aimed at assisting students in grammatical mastery is to make clear
communication.
There are some reasons why grammar is very important. The first, grammar is very important
because it may help enhancing accuracy. Marcel (1853) explains how grammar can help to develop
accuracy in communication as "shaping the mind into a habit of order and clarity, along with logic and
rhetoric, this accustoms the learner to the accuracy of the language, and hence the accuracy of thought".
It means the rules of grammar can help learners to develop a habit of thinking logically and clearly.
Therefore, after studying grammar, they will become more accurate when using the language. The second
is by using proper grammar, we can show the sign of respect, both for the listener and the speaker (Clark,
2010). For the speakers, speaking clearly means they will get a good impression from the listeners and
for the person with a poor grammar skill can form negative impression on the first time meeting and this
may last for a long time. For listeners, a proper use of grammar shows that their thought is concerned.
Speakers do not want them to waste time trying to figure out what they are saying.
Looking at the importance of grammar, especially in speaking English, the researcher was
interested in analyzing the grammar error in speaking. There are two studies about grammatical error in
speaking, the first research was done by Danurwindo (2014) showed that, students
made error in omission, addition, misinformation, and misordering.The total of errors reaches 36 times in
the students speaking consist of using simple present tense and simple past tense. The second research
was done by Abdul (2008) the result of his study shows that there is error on students‟ pronunciation at
segmental phonemes at final consonant due to the students‟ did not know the correct transcription and
lack of practice pronouncing words. In this research the purpose of this study is to know the error in
speaking that made by the student in eight grade use surface structure taxonomy by Dulay, Burt and
Krashen (1982).

METHODS
The research was a qualitative research the data were collected in the form of word rather than
numbers. In this study, descriptive data were presented to classify and investigate the grammatical errors
in English speaking eight grade students in SMP 4 Singaraja. The analysis of the study was basically
interpreting data obtained from English speaking of eight grade students in SMP 4 Singaraja. The object of
the research was the grammatical errors in English speaking. While the subject was students of eight grade students
of SMP 4 Singaraja academic year 2015/2016.
This research used 2 sources of data, primary and secondary data. Primary data is the data
obtained from recording the statement or utterances done by the students. The secondary data used in this
research are literature, library books, documents, archives, and descriptions other than grammatical error
in speaking. The instruments that were used in this study were video recorder and the researcher.
Descriptive analysis was used in this study where interpretation and conclusion were determind after

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collecting important information, fact and phenomena under study (Moleong, 2009). In this study after
collecting data the researcher analyzed and interpreted the data descriptively.
The process of data collection in this study employed some steps. Step 1 is collecting data, the data
were collected by recording the students‟ speaking to find there were some error or not, from the
beginning until the end. Step 2 is identifying data, Identification of error by underlying the error the
student‟s made. After recording the students‟ speaking, it would be continued by transcribing the record
into the written text in order to make easier in identifying the error. The written text would be checked to
find the error by underlying the error made by the students. Step 3 Classifying the error, after the error
made by the students had been identified, it procees to the next step by grouping them into the type of
error whether omission, addition, misordering or misformation. Step 4 is explaining the error, after
grouping the error, they will be explained by establishing the source of the error and calculating how
often the error appears. Step 5 is evaluating the error, evaluating error step involves putting the error in
table and drawing conclusion referring to steps of error analysis method above

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The data was taken from 33 students (12 male, 21 female) VIII A1 of SMP N 4 Singaraja in the
academic year 2015/2016. The data was recorded and transcribed into written text. After getting all the
statements from the students by recording, it was continued by describing them into written texts. It was
found that there were 115 statements made by the students. After transcribing the oral statements into the
written text, the next step is identifying the error that was done by the students. From the written text, the
next steps is identifying the error by underlying the error. From 115 statements produced by the students,
61 statements or 63% were categorized as error. After identifying them, the error were classified and
analyzed using the surface structure taxonomy by Dulay, et.al (1982). The error were classified into 4,
they are omission, assition, misordering, and misformation. The detail result can be seen in table 1.

Table 1. Errors Commited by Students

No Type of Error Total Error Percentage

1 Ommition 38 62,30%
2 Addition 9 14,75%
3 Misformation 3 4,91%
4 Misordering 11 18,04%
Total 61 100%

Omission error
Students tend to omit function words rather than content words. It is characterized by the absence
of an item that must appear in the well-formed utterance. The researcher found that from 61 statements
made by the student, there were 38 statements that were categorized as omission error. The result showed
that the student have problems in the use of „to be‟ and the use of article „a and an‟. Here are several
examples of the error made by the students. The error omission are symbolized by giving underlying the
errors.
1. I think physical exercise _ difficult because I hate that
2. What _ you think about Agung dika?
3. I think Gung dika is _ handsome boy
4. We can understand _ easily
5. He can drink _ glass of milk
From the sentences above, it can be seen clearly that those sentences are incorrect. In the first
sentence “I think physical exercise_difficult because I hate that” there is an error commited because the
student did not put „is‟ after mentioning adjective (exercise). The next sentence is “What you think about
Agung dika?”. This sentence is incorrect because there is a missing word, the student did not put ‟do‟
when asking a question.“I think gung dika is handsome boy” is the third example. This sentence is
incorrect because there is a missing part in the sentence, the student forgot the use of article „a‟. The next
sentence is “We can understand easily”. This sentence is incorrect because there is a missing part in the

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sentence, the student did not put the subject „it‟ in the sentence. The last sentence is “He can drink glass
of milk”. This sentence is incorrect because there is a missing part in the sentence. The student forgot the
use of article „a‟.
The sentence above should be like this following sentences. The bold words are correction of the
error.
1. I think physical exercise is difficult because I hate that
2. What do you think about Agung dika?
3. I think gung dika is a handsome boy
4. We can understand it easily
5. He can drink a glass of milk

Addition
From 61 error made by the student, 7 error are categorized as addition error. The addition errors are
divide into three subcategories; regularization, double marking, and simple addition.
a. Regularization
Regularization is the first subtype of addition error that typically apply to the class of linguistic
items, such as the class of main verb or the class of noun. Here are several examples of the error that
were made by the students.
1). Do you understanding?
2). What do you think it science easier or difficult?
The first sentence is “do you understanding?”. This sentence is incorrect because the student put –
ing in the word understand, the sentence should be “Do you understand?”. The next sentence made by
the student is “What do you think it science easier or difficult?”. This sentence is incorrect because the
student put –er in the word easy, the sentence should be “What do you think is science easy or difficult?”
b. Double Marking
Double marking is the second subtype of addition errors. It is defined as the failure to delete certain
items which are required in some linguistic construction but not in others.
Here are several examples of the error that were made by the students.
1). Attention please, are we are ready to learn English?
2). Do you do understand of about what the teacher ask to do?
The first sentence is “Attention please, are we are ready to learn English?”. This sentence is
incorrect, because in this sentence the student used double “are” in the sentence. This sentence should be
“Attention please, are we ready to learn English?”. The second sentence is “Do you do understand of
about what the teacher ask to do?”. This sentence is incorrect, because in this sentence the student used
double “do” in the sentence. This sentence should be “Do you understand of about what the teacher ask
to do?”
c. Simple addition
Simple addition is the last subtype of addition errors. If addition error is not a double marking or
regularization, it is called simple addition.
1) Noval, what a do you think about febri?
2) Fatimah can a sing very loudly
3) He can a wash clothes
For the first sentence is “Noval, what a do you think about Febri?”. This sentence is incorrect
because the student put article „a‟, in the front of the verb: „do‟. In this context the article „a‟ has no
meaning. This sentence should be “Noval, what do you think about Febri?”. The second sentence is
“Fatimah can a sing very loudly”. This sentence is incorrect because the students put article „a‟ in front of
a verb. This sentence should be “Fatimah can sing very loudly”. The last sentence is “He can a wash
clothes”. This sentence is incorrect because the students put article „a‟ in front of a verb. This sentence
should be “He can wash clothes”. For the simple addition the students made the same errors by the using
of article “a”, the students adds extra article “a” in sentence.

Misformation

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The researcher found from 61 error that made by the student, 4 error that made by the student are
categorized as misformation. There are two types of misformation errors; Archi-form, and Alternating
a. Archi form
Archi form, which is also known as „misselection‟, is the selection of one number of a class of form
to represent others in the class. Here are several examples of the error that was made by the students.
1). what a amazing boy
2). Rani is an beautiful girl
The first sentence is „what a amazing girl‟. This sentence is incorrect because in this sentence the
student made the error by misselection of article „a‟, „What a amazing boy‟ this sentence is incorrect, and
this sentence should be „What an amazing boy‟. The second sentence is „Rani is an beautiful girl‟ This
sentence is incorrect because in this sentence the student made the error in the use of article „an‟. This
sentence should be “Rani is a beautiful girl”.
b. Alternating Form
Another of subtypes in the category of misformation is called as alternating forms, which they
define as fairly free alternation of various members of class with each other. Here is the example of the
error that was made by the students.
1). I think he is a smart
The sentence is “I think he is a smart”. This sentence is incorrect because in this the sentence the
subject “he” should be “she” because the subject in this sentence is a girl and the sentence should be “I
think she is a smart”

Misordering
Misordering errors are the incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morpheme in utterances.
The researcher found from 61 error that made by the students, 11 error made by the students are
categorized as Misordering. Here are the examples of the error made by the students.
1. “What expensive your bag”
2. “What a expensive your bag”
3. “What a expensive bag these”
4. “What are you think this expensive bag”
5. “What it is bag expensive?”
6. “What a expensive this bag”
7. “What expensive it bag”
8. “What expensive this bag”
9. “What a expensive bag”
10. “What a expensive bag or not”
In the sentences number 1–10, the teacher told the student to make sentence about showing
appreciation, the teacher told the students to showing appreciation to the bag. All the sentences that
made by the students are wrong, after giving chance to the student the teacher told the correct sentence
to the student. The correct sentence is “what an expensive bag”.
From the research data, it was found that omission was the highest percentage of students errors
made in speaking. Omission is the error which is characterized by the absence of an item that must
appear in a well-formed utterance. The errors made by the students mostly about deletion of correct
linguistic words, morphemes, and phrase. In this research the errors of omission can be caused by the
minimum knowledge about the right structure in English. Because of the lack of knowledge about the
structure, the students may lose the structure, as they are able without paying attention to the right role.
The students committed 38 errors or 62, 30% out of the whole errors. That result is in line with Alfiyani
(2013) and Safrida (2016) who found that the error of omission was the most error that committed by the
students. It is quite ddifferent compared with the result of study conducted by Danurwindo (2014). In his
research, omission was in the second highest percentage which reaches 42% from the total of errors.
It also found that those error are caused by the absence of a suffix –ed of a past participle, an article
and a singular and plural marker –s/es of a noun and verb. The students often make error in the use of “to
be” to make sentence in simple present tense and many of them still omit “to be” to compose the
sentence in explaining nominal sentence. It may be caused by the lack of knowledge or bad memorizing

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of “to be” in simple present tense. In the other hand, sometimes, in simple present uses s/es; unless the
students omit “s/es” to construct verbal sentence particularly in the third singular person or singular noun.
The second highest percentage of student‟s errors was misordering. The student committed 11
errors or 18,04%. This error comprised the incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morpheme.
That result is different compared with Alfiyani (2013), Danurwindo (2014), and Safrida (2016)who
founded that misordering is the lowest percentage error commited by students in their studies.
The third percentage of students‟ error was Addition. The students committed 9 error or 14,75%,
on their speaking. The errors were characterized by the presence of new structure of morpheme or
phrases in a correct linguistic form. The addition errors are divided into three subcategories;
regularization, double marking, and simple addition. The highest percentage of addition errors were
found in the research data was double marking. The students committed this error as 4 times. This error is
caused by the failure to delete certain items which are required in some linguistic construction. The
second biggest percentage that the students made in addition errors was Simple addition. The students
committed this error as 3 times. Simple addition errors characterize all addition errors. It is the use of an
item which should not be appeared in a well-formed utterances. The lowest percentage of addition errors
that is found in the research data was Regularization errors. The students committed this error 2 times.
This error is caused by the failure to delete certain items which are required in some linguistic
construction.
The lowest percentage of student‟s errors was misformation. The student committed 3 errors or
4,91% Misformation errors comprised the use of the wrong form of the morphemes or structure. It occurs
when the learner supplies something although it is incorrect. There are two types of misformation errors;
Archi-form, and Alternating. From the research data, it was found the Archi-form as the biggest errors
the students made in the category of Misformation. Archi-forms errors are the selection of one number of
a class of forms to represent others in the class is common characteristic of all stages of second language
acquisition. The errors of misformation can be caused by the minimum knowledge about the pattern of
such structure in language. That result is different compared with Alfiyani (2013) and Sfrida (2016) who
founded that misforamation was the second highest percentage with 31.76% and 29% out of the total
number of the grammatical errors. Even Danurwindo (2014) in his research founded that misformation
was the highest percentage which reaches 47% from the total errors.
From the frequencies of all type of those errors, it was concluded that the students were still
committed errors on omission, misformation, addition, and misordering errors. The result of the
classification shows that the errors occur in all of the classification of error based on the theory from
Dulay, at.al (1982).

CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that: There are some grammatical errors of the eight
grade students of SMP Negeri 4 Singaraja in the academic year 2015/2016. The data ware presented in
ommition, addition, misformatin and misordering. From 115 sentences that students made there are 61
error that made by the students. The highest frequency of error that made by the student is omission with
percentage 62,30%, the second is incorrect structure with percentage 19,67%, the third is addition with
percentage 9,84 % and the last is incorrect choice with percentage 8,19%. From the frequencies of the
type of those errors above, it was concluded that the students were still committed errors on omission,
misformation, addition, and misordering errors.
From the result of this study, some suggestions will hopefully provide more insight into the
learning of speaking and give a new idea for better teaching and learning process. The first suggestion is
intended for the teachers who are competent to create good atmosphere to facilitate teaching and learning
process. It can be suggested that the teachers should be aware on grammatical errors in speaking, thus
they can recognize their students‟ difficulties in speaking so they will pay more attention to the errors
made by the students and the causes of the errors in speaking. It is also expected that the teacher can
enhance the method in teaching grammar so that the students are motivated to improve their speaking.
The second is for the English students who are interested in improving their speaking skill, thus they can
be aware to their speaking. The result of this study will show the learners in what aspect of grammar
which was difficult for them. By paying more attention, the learners are expected to increase their
knowledge on English grammar, thus they will be aware of the errors they made and sources of the

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errors. The learners are expected to develop their speaking` proficiency to eliminate or at least reduce
those errors. The last is for further researchers who will conduct a research related to this research study.
It is expected that the result of the study can give an informative input about grammatical error analysis
or other topics related to errors. The researcher believes that there are still many phenomena that can be
revealed in this research study. The researcher expects that this result of study can inspire other
researchers to conduct the research related to grammatical errors analysis to enrich the existing study.

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