Grammatical Errors in EFL Students’ Final Project Writings

Zewitra, Poppy Fauziah

English Department, Politeknik Negeri Bandung, Indonesia
Email: [email protected] , [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Making errors is an unavoidable aspect of acquiring a new language, especially for those who do not use
the new language as their first medium of communication. Writing in a foreign language can be a
considerably tough challenge for EFL learners, one of the problems is regarding the grammatical rules.
This present study attempts to discover and analyze the grammatical errors found in EFL students’ final
project writing. It employed a descriptive qualitative method using a textual analysis process by adopting
the theory of Dulay et al. regarding grammatical error analysis. Dulay et al. classify grammatical errors into
four; omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. Five students’ final projects with a total number
of 2884 sentences became the object of this research. The final projects were taken from Politeknik Negeri
Bandung (Polban) English Department students of 2018 and they were limited to the project of ‘Travel
Writing’. Travel Writing was chosen since it contains more various types of sentences, more complicated
sentence structure, and a higher level of language modification. The results of this study claim that all types
of grammatical errors presented by Dulay et al are found in those five students’ final projects. Misformation
is the most frequent error by 74% (380 out of 516 errors) while misordering is the least one by 1% (7 out
of 516 errors). Theoretically, the findings can be a base for the next researchers to further analyze the cause
of this error production. Meanwhile, practically the results can be used by curriculum designers as a guide
to evaluate and develop new curriculum, syllabus, materials, and teaching methods that are more suitable
for EFL students in order to communicate effectively and write skillfully.

Keywords: error analysis, grammatical error, writing, travel writing

INTRODUCTION

English is one of the foreign languages for Indonesians. Thus, Indonesian English
learners are considered EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. People in
Indonesia do not usually use English in their daily communication, but still, they learn it
at schools, universities, or even courses since it is the global language people use to
communicate. It becomes a compulsory subject for high school and higher education
students in order to prepare themselves to communicate in the global context.
Bahasa Indonesia and English are two totally different languages. They come from
two different roots which have two different systems and rules. Bahasa Indonesia belongs
to the Austronesian language family while English comes from the Indo-European family
(Lanehart, 1998). Because of these different origins, it is very understandable for

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Indonesians to accidentally make mistakes and errors in their process of acquiring

English. Dulay et al. (1982) even claim that people cannot learn a language without first
systematically committing errors as it is an inevitable part of learning. Besides, Kafipour
& Khojasteh (2012) justify that today, errors that one produces when trying to learn a new
language are not seen as a negative aspect but rather a natural phase in his development
of language skills. It is also in line with Brown, Gass, and Slinker (in Muhsin, 2016) who
agree that language learners experience a trial and error nature in their process of learning.
Thus, the discussion leads to a conclusion that making mistakes or errors is a natural
phase someone will experience in his process of learning a second language.
Among four English skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), scholars
agree that writing is seen to be the most difficult one to master by students, the EFL
learners particularly (Sermsook et al., 2017). In fact, a native speaker even still
experiences obstacles to produce a good piece of writing (Zhao, 2017). Hourani (2008)
in his dissertation reports that composing a text, especially an essay, in a new language
often results in the greatest challenge to the students at all levels because essay writing is
extended and more demanding than just a short paragraph. Despite its difficulty, scholars
still highlight the importance of writing. Bjork and Raisanen (1997) and Ulijn and
Strother (1995) in Tahaineh (2010) argue that writing is a tool for language development,
critical thinking, and learning. Together with speaking, it is also seen as an active or
productive skill of language use.
The analysis of learners’ errors will deeply explain their language learning process;
besides, it helps teachers and curriculum planners focus on teaching materials that best
suit the needs of language learners, Dulay et al. (1982) claim. Therefore, the study of
errors toward students’ writing becomes a growing research interest and has been
observed for decades. Tahaineh (2010) conducted a research on EFL students of Arab
universities. He observed the kinds of errors the students make in using English
prepositions. He found out that involvement of mother tongue and transferring strategies
to target language are the main reasons for the errors. Kafipour & Khojasteh (2012)
observed the writing of Iranian undergraduate students, analyzing the kinds of errors seen
from the sources. The research shows that the majority of the errors are caused by
developmental, ambiguous, and interlingual factors. In line with this, Sermsook et al.
(2017)’s study on Thai EFL students found that punctuation, spelling, capitalization,

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subject-verb agreement, articles, and fragment to be the most often committed errors
made by the students. They also discovered that both interlingual and intralingual
interferences along with limited knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary as well
as carelessness of the students are the major sources of the errors. Further, Salehi &
Bahrami (2018) in their research on journal papers written by Persian authors found that
the most common error is regarding the word usage while the least common one is the
subject-verb agreement. They also concluded that L1 influences the production of writing
and causes errors. Karim et al. (2018) discovered slightly different results. Their
observation towards EFL learners in Bangladesh resulted in some types of errors the
learners often made. The common errors identified are related to grammar usage,
misformation, misordering, and overgeneralization.
The error analysis study in the Indonesian context is also favorable. Limengka, P.E.,
Kuntjara (2000) conducted research on English Department students of Petra Christian
University. Misformation of verbs and nouns was found to be the most commonly made
by students, even though other types of errors were also found. In line with this, Muhsin
(2016) found a slightly similar result. His observation towards Junior High School
students in Makassar, Indonesia said that missed formation, especially in applying simple
present tense, is the most frequent error made with the percentage of 75,18%. Similarly,
Ma’mun (2016) in her study on UIN Walisongo English Department students identified
that misformation of adverb, verb formation, subject-verb agreement, article, modal, and
passive voice to be the frequent error the students made. Next, an impressive study was
conducted by Furtina et al. (2016). They observed the comparison between grammatical
errors made by male versus female students. The results show that out of ten subcategories
of error, seven were found to be made by male students while only six were found in
female students. They concluded that female students are more careful than males in
writing.
Based on the literature review, it can be seen that the analysis of grammatical errors
produced by Indonesian diploma students while composing their final project products
has never been done. The final project is compulsory for vocational school students to
make in order to finish their diploma education, including those who study in the English
Department of Politeknik Negeri Bandung. It aims to implement the knowledge and skills
the students have gotten during the study. However, an observation prior to this research

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found that the students still make numerous grammatical errors in their final project
products despite having learned English for almost three years in the department.
Therefore, this present study attempts to discover and analyze the grammatical errors
found in those students’ final project writing. The final project is limited to ‘Travel
Writing’ since it contains more various types of sentences, more complicated sentence
structure, and a higher level of language modification.

LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Error Analysis
Both errors and mistakes exist when one attempts to acquire a new language. These
two terms are often interpreted differently. Performance error, caused by fatigue and
intention, is often referred to as “mistake” while the term “errors” itself refers to what is
caused by lack of comprehension of language law (Corder in Dulay et al., (1982)). Ellis
(2010), then, adds that error occurs since a learner does not acknowledge what is correct,
while mistake occurs because he fails to apply what he knows. However, Dulay et al.
refuse to restrict the terms. Dulay et al use “error” to refer to any deviation from a chosen
norm of language, regardless of the characteristics or causes of the deviation (Dulay et
al., 1982).
Previously, the error was often regarded negatively; it was seen as a failure of the
teaching process. However, today it is no longer seen as a negative aspect but more like
a natural step that a learner faces to develop his language ability. Corder even claims that
error is essential in three aspects. First, it tells teachers about the progress the learners
have achieved. Second, it provides evidence for researchers of how language is learned
and acquired. Third, it is indispensable to the learner himself because making errors is a
natural step to learn a language (Corder in Muhsin (2016)). Dulay et al. (1982) also
emphasize that there are two major goals of analyzing error: (1) it gives data to identify
the obstruction of the nature of language process and (2) it shows teachers and curriculum
developers about parts that are considered to be the most difficult for students to produce
correctly and error types that most hamper learners to communicate effectively.

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Error analysis can be divided into two categories; mechanical error analysis and
grammatical error analysis. Mechanical error is related to the use of capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling while grammatical error is regarding the inappropriate use of
grammar rules (Mubarak, 2013). Since this present study only focuses on grammatical
error analysis, it will be further explained in the next part.

2. Grammatical Error
Every language has its own grammar rules which may be a lot different from the
other languages. Languages from different roots especially, such as Bahasa Indonesia and
English, will not rely on many things in common regarding their grammar and language
structure. Therefore, it is very understandable for Indonesian English learners to produce
errors in their process of learning, including in their English writing activity.
Since this topic has run for decades, many scholars have offered various categories
of grammatical error. However, this present study will use the one proposed by Dulay et
al in their book Language Two. Dulay et al. (1982) classify grammatical error into four;
omission, addition, misformation, and misordering.
a. Omission
Omission is an error in which there is a missing item that has to exist in a sentence.
It is marked by the absence of a certain feature that has to appear in a grammatically-
correct sentence (Muhsin, 2016).
Example:
• James the new director.
There is an omission found in the sentence above. The to be is omitted. A to be
functions as a predicate in a nominal sentence. The sentence will be grammatically correct
if it is completed with “is”.
However, Dulay et al. (1982) claim that even though any items might be omitted,
there are such things which have important roles: nouns, verbs, adjective, and adverbs.
Those are called content morphemes. When a content morpheme is omitted, the sentence
will be meaningless or the meaning will change.
Example:
• James is the new director.

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The words James, new, and director are the content morphemes that hold important
roles in the sentence. People will still get the meaning although it is only James new
director. However, if people only hear or read is and the, they will not get any idea of it.
Therefore, the words is and the are called grammatical morphemes. They exist to make
sentences grammatically correct but they have a minor role in delivering meaning.

b. Addition
Addition is the opposite of omission. In the error of addition, some items must not
appear in a sentence.
Example:
• Claire doesn’t understands the rules.
The “-s” ending in the verb “understand” is the addition error. The above example
is a negative sentence formed by an auxiliary “does”. When a sentence is negative and
uses auxiliary do, does, or did, the verb must be written in the infinitive form. Thus, the
correct verb form to use is “understand”.

c. Misformation
The wrong form of the morpheme or structure is called misformation (Dulay et al
in Muhsin, 2016). It can be recognized by the incorrect use of grammatical rules, such as
tenses, subject-verb agreements, comparative-superlative patterns, prepositions, and so
on. Muhsin (2016) claims that this kind of error occurs because students do not really
master and understand the rules and patterns of English grammar.
Example:

• Give me that. Me hungry.

There is a misformation of pronoun functioned as a subject of the sentence. Pronoun
“me” is an object pronoun. For subject position, the correct pronoun to use is “I”.

d. Misordering
Misordering occurs when there is an error placement of morpheme(s) in a
sentence.
Example:

• I never know what is that.

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Morphemes “what is that” is misplaced. The morphemes form a noun clause

functioned as the complement of an active affirmative sentence. Since it is an affirmative
sentence, the correct arrangement of the clause is “what that is”.

3. Travel Writing
Travel writing is simply explained as writing about visiting different places, talking
about a journey or place. It is different from a travel blog since the writing is more detailed
and less informal (Travel Writing, n.d.). Delfino (2019) claims that travel writing has a
way to get the reader to new places. It can encourage people to explore, try new things,
and develop an understanding of various cultures when it is written well. In line with this,
Mary Baine Campbell says that ‘with loud metaphorical resonance, you can hear the
whispers of the people on the far side of the glass world as if they were speaking in your
own ears’ (Campbell in Youngs, 2018).
Writing a travel article involves the language of sensory as it aims to make readers
feel the experience that the author describes. Delfino (2019) mentions some rules of travel
writing; (1) be written in first-person, (2) tell the past event, (3) tone conversational –
dialog is allowed, (4) explore sensory details, (5) be valuable in some way, either
providing useful tips or insight into a culture, and (6) be relatable to the audience.
Lindstead (2020) adds that travel articles can be started in any way, but they should grab
readers’ attention. Thus, travel writing contains more various types of sentences, more
complicated sentence structure, and a higher level of language modification as it aims to
make readers feel that they are in the place described. Due to this complexity of language,
travel writing was chosen to be the object of this current research.

METHOD

This present study employed a descriptive qualitative method. Nassaji (2015) states
that descriptive qualitative research aims to evaluate language learning and teaching in
the natural environment without any other variables to intervene or manipulate. In short,
the data are described as they are. To reach the purpose of the research, the descriptive
qualitative method involved a textual analysis process. It involves observing language,
symbols, and/or pictures in texts to obtain insight into how people make sense of and

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express their life experiences (Allen, 2017). Besides, this research also applied a simple
calculation method in order to discover the numbers and percentages of errors found in
the objects of observation.

The research was conducted by adopting Dulay et al (1982) theory of grammatical

error analysis. This theory classifies grammatical errors into four big groups; omission,
addition, misformation, and misordering. Indonesian diploma student writings were taken
as the object of this study. The data analysis steps consist of the collection of samples,
identification of errors, classification of errors, description of errors, and evaluation of
errors (Corder in Salehi and Bahrami, 2018).
The first step is collecting samples. Five students’ final project products with a total
number of 2884 sentences were collected from Politeknik Negeri Bandung (Polban)
English Department students of 2018. The products were limited to the project of ‘Travel
Writing’. This type of final project was chosen since it contains more various types of
sentences, more complicated sentence structure, and a higher level of language
modification. The samples were read several times to identify the grammatical errors.
When the errors were found, the data were transcribed to Microsoft Excel and marked
bold. Using Microsoft Excel eased the researchers to perform the calculation at the end.
After being identified, the errors were then categorized based on the classification
of grammatical errors by Dulay et al. In this step, the data were also numbered by using
capital letters (indicating the type of error), Roman numerals (indicating the number of
the book), and numbers (indicating the order of error found in the certain book). For
example, datum numbered (A.I.1) means it contains omission error, it is from the book I,
and it is the first omission error discovered. Next, the errors were described from the
grammatical point of view. It ranged from the use of prepositions, articles, suffixes, to
tenses and so on. After that, the possible corrections of the errors were given in the
evaluation step. Finally, the number and the percentages of errors were calculated to
discover the most frequent error made by EFL students in writing their Travel Writing
products.

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RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Five Travel Writing books produced by Polban English Department students were
used as the object of this study. They were inspected to discover grammatical errors and
classified into four groups; omission, addition, misordering, and misformation. Table 1
presents each book (title and author were hidden) and the number of sentences it has,
while Table 2 gives the results of the study.
Table 1. Five Students’ Travel Writing Products
No. Books Number of sentences
1 Book I: about trip to Kepulauan Seribu 174
2 Book II: about trip to Labuan Bajo 1022
3 Book III: about trip to Belinyu 540
4 Book IV: about staycation in Bandung 729
5 Book V: about trip to Kabupaten Bandung Barat 419
TOTAL NUMBER OF SENTENCES 2884

Table 2. Types of Errors in Five Students’ Travel Writing Products

Number of Errors Total
Number of number of
Books
Sentences Omission Addition Misformation Misordering errors (per
book)
Book I 174 13 18 77 2 110
Book II 1022 4 10 14 1 29
Book III 540 29 41 191 3 264
Book IV 729 4 4 33 0 41
Book V 419 1 5 65 1 72
Total number of
51 78 380 7 516
errors (per type)

TOTAL PERCENTAGE OF ERRORS

Misordering Omission
1% 10%
Addition
15%

Misformation
74%

Figure 1. Total Percentage of Errors

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Table 2 and Figure 1 show that all kinds of grammatical errors suggested by Dulay
et al are found in the five students’ Travel Writing products. It can be seen that
misformation is the most frequent error made by 74%, followed by addition by 15%, and
omission by 10%. Meanwhile, the least frequent error is misordering by only 1 %. The
analysis is explained below, arranged from the most to the least frequent error found.

1. Misformation
The wrong form of the morpheme or structure is called misformation (Dulay et al
in Muhsin, 2016). It can be recognized by the incorrect use of grammatical rules, such as
tenses, subject-verb agreements, comparative-superlative patterns, prepositions, and so
on. Muhsin (2016) claims that this kind of error occurs because students do not really
master and understand the rules and patterns of English grammar. This analysis found
that misformation is the most frequent error made by diploma students in their Travel
Writing products. The examples are presented below:

Table 3. Misformation Errors

Data Erroneous Sentence Correction
C.I.1
The islands are located around 45 km The islands are located around 45 km north
north of Jakarta, the capital city of of Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, so
Indonesia, so that the islands is an that the islands are administrative regency
administrative regency which belongs which belongs to Jakarta.
to Jakarta.
C.II.6 Most of them (the food stalls) served Most of them (the food stalls) served fresh
fresh seafood that smell delicious. seafood that smelled delicious.
C.III.6 In here, somehow it feels more cool In here, somehow it feels cooler than the
than the first area. first area.
C.IV.7 On February, I got a chance to go to In February, I got a chance to go to Saung
Saung Angklung Udjo. Angklung Udjo.
C.V.14 The sapphire-blue water welcoming The sapphire-blue water welcomed my
my arrival. arrival.

As can be seen in Table 3, misformation errors made by diploma students in writing

their Travel Writing products range from various types of grammatical errors. The error
in datum (C.I.1), for instance, is regarding the subject-verb agreement. The verb “is” does
not agree with the subject “islands”. The “-s” ending in the subject “islands” indicates a
plural noun; thus, the verb should be in the plural form as well. The correction for this
error is using “are” instead of “is”. Datum (C.II.6) contains an error in using the correct
tense. Since travel writing talks about the author’s experience, the condition described in

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the sentence is in a past context. Therefore, the verb should be in the past form as well.
The correction for this error is “smelled”. The same case also happens in datum (C.V.14)
in which the author used “welcoming” instead of “welcomed” to indicate a past event.
Besides, the verb “welcoming” still cannot be used because there is no auxiliary verb or
verb be to accompany this progressive form. Next, datum (C.III.6) contains an error in
the use of a comparative degree. An adjective with one syllable as “cool” uses “-er”
ending instead of “more” to indicate a comparative degree. Thus, the correction for this
error is “cooler”. The error in datum (C.IV.7) is about the use of prepositions. The author
used “on” to precede the name of a month, whereas the name of month should use “in”
as the preposition.

2. Addition
In the addition error, there is an incorrect additional item in a sentence. Dulay et al
in Muhsin (2016) state that this error is marked by the presence of a feature that must not
appear in a grammatically-correct sentence. The error includes double marking,
regularization, and simple addition. Addition error is the second most-produced errors
made by diploma students in composing their Travel Writing products. The examples are
as follow:
Table 4. Addition Errors
Data Erroneous Sentence Correction
… but in this trip, I will not visit those
B.I.6 … but in this trip, I will not visit those
islands since they have been become islands since they have been popular.
popular.
B.II.1 … I wished there were trees here, on the … I wished there were trees here, on the
top of the hill, so they could protect my top of the hill, so they could protect my
heads from the sun. head from the sun.
B.III.3 The smell of sea that I was missed so The smell of the sea that I missed so
much started to fill my mind. much started to fill my mind.
B.IV.4 In Sundanese culture, if a little boy has In Sundanese culture, if a little boy has
got circumcised, his family will held a got circumcised, his family will hold a
celebration where the friends of the child celebration in which his friends will cheer
will cheer him to make him forget of his him to make him forget his pain.
pain.
B.V.3 It was as clear as crystal clear. It was as clear as crystal.

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Table 4 presents the various kinds of grammatical errors in relation to addition

found in students’ Travel Writing products. It lies from the addition of a single morpheme
to the addition of word(s). In datum (B.I.6), for example, there is an addition of one
unnecessary word. The word “become” does not need to be used in the sentence since it
has a similar function with the word “been”, which is also in the sentence. Further, datum
(B.II.1) contains an error in the addition of the “-s” ending to indicate a plural noun. The
addition of “-s” in the sentence is incorrect since the noun to modify is “head”. It talks
about the head of a person which must be singular. Next, datum (B.III.3) contains an error
in the addition of the verb be. An active simple sentence, either present or past simple,
cannot contain both verb be (such as “was”) and verb (such as “missed”) together. They
both function as the predicate. The sentence in datum (B.III.3) is a verbal sentence,
therefore, the correct form of a verb to use is “missed”. In datum (B.IV.4), the error lies
in the addition of incorrect preposition. Certain verbs must be followed by certain
prepositions or certain adverbs, but the verb “forget” does not belong to this classification.
Therefore, the addition of “of” after the verb “forget” is classified into error in addition.
Last, datum (B.V.3) contains an unnecessary word. The adjective “clear” has been
mentioned previously. The addition of the later “clear” would be unnecessary.

3. Omission
Dulay et al say that omission error is marked by the absence of an important feature
that has to appear in a grammatically-correct sentence (Muhsin, 2016). However, Dulay
et al (1982) also claim that even though any items might be omitted, there are such things
which have important roles: nouns, verbs, adjective, and adverbs. Those are called content
morphemes. When a content morpheme is omitted, the sentence will be meaningless or
the meaning will change. The examples of omission made by diploma students in their
Travel Writing products are presented in Table 5 below:

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Table 5. Omission Errors

Data Erroneous Sentence Correction
A.I.2 … so if you guys expecting to find a … so if you guys expect to find a group of
group of dolphins here you will dolphins here you will be disappointed …
disappointed …
A.II.1 The trip consisted two flights. The trip consisted of two flights.
A.III.9 It makes the water there sometimes It makes the water there sometimes smells
smell fishy and does not good to fishy and does not good to be a place for
become place to swim. swimming.
A.IV.3 The puppeteers were focused doing The puppeteers focused on doing their
their task. tasks.

Omission is the second least frequent errors made by Polban English Department
students in producing their Travel Writing products. It can be seen from the data that
students were able to maintain the content morphemes in their sentences. The sentences
are understandable; however, the omission of several insignificant morphemes still ruins
the grammatical rules. In datum (A.I.1), for instance, the author omitted the verb be in his
sentence. The word “disappointed” is an adjective that needs the verb be. Since the
sentence use a modal (“will”) that should be followed by an infinitive form of a verb, the
correct word to make the sentence grammatically correct is “be”. Further, in datum
(A.II.1), the author used the verb “consisted”. There is an omission of a preposition since
the verb “consist” should be followed by “of”. A similar case also happens in datum
(A.IV.3) in which the verb “focused” loses its preposition “on”. Last, datum (A.III.9)
misses an article. An indefinite article “a” is needed before the word “place”.

4. Misordering
Misordering, or improper ordering according to Muhsin (2016), occurs when there
is an error placement of morpheme(s) in a sentence (Dulay et al, 1982). It is the least
frequent error, by only 1% of the whole errors English Department students made in
composing their Travel Writing products. It means that the students have already
understood the correct order of certain morpheme to make a correct complete utterance.
Below explained several misordering errors found in those five students’ Travel Writing
projects:

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Table 6. Misordering Errors

Data Erroneous Sentence Correction
D.I.1 If you adventurous enough you and If you are adventurous enough and you
wanted to make it cheaper you can go want to make it cheaper, you can go
backpacking and save some of your backpacking and save some of your
money. money.
D.II.1 Two hours drive from Taka Makassar, I spent two hours drive from Taka
I spent for reading magazines, talking Makassar on reading magazines, talking
with my friends, and sitting on the deck, with my friends, and sitting on the deck,
enjoying the view. enjoying the view.
D.III.3 I and my cousin decided to visit a small My cousin and I decided to visit a small
stall across Goa Maria. stall across Goa Maria.

In datum (D.I.1), the error occurs when the second “you” was put in the wrong
place. Instead of going before, the word “you” should be placed after the conjunction
“and” to function as the subject for the second clause. In datum (D.II.1), the error occurs
in the placement of the adverbial phrase. It is better to place the phrase after “spent” since
this adverb is used to explain the verb. Finally, the misformation error in datum (D.III.3)
occurs in the arrangement of the subjects. When the pronoun “I” comes with another
pronoun in a sentence, “I” should be written last.

CONCLUSION

Learners naturally produce errors in their process of learning a new language,

especially if the new language they learn has a different structure and pattern from their
mother tongue. Indonesian diploma students of Polban English Department also
experience the same case. In their process of composing their final project products in
order to graduate from the institution, they still made numerous grammatical mistakes.
They still faced difficulties in understanding and applying their grammar knowledge into
their writings. Therefore, all four types of grammatical errors proposed by Dulay et al
were found in their final projects. Misformation is the most frequent error found by 74%
or 380 cases from the total 516 errors, continued with addition by 15% (78 cases), and
omission by 10% (51 cases). Meanwhile, misordering places the last since only 1% (7
cases) was found. It can be concluded that students are still confused in applying the
correct form of verbs and distinguishing tenses in proper situations. However, they have
been able to understand the correct position of morphemes in a sentence structure.

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The results of this research are expected to benefits some parties. Practically, they
can be a base for the next researchers to further analyze the cause of this error production.
It can also be a guide to evaluate and develop the new curriculum, syllabus, materials,
and teaching methods which are more suitable for EFL students to communicate
effectively and write skillfully.
This current study is limited in some areas. First, the number and source of samples
are still limited to Polban English Department students only. To get a broader view of
error analysis made by diploma students, it is suggested for next researchers to explore a
broader scope of population. Second, this study is only limited to the types of grammatical
errors. Next researchers are expected to see it from other points of view, such as
mechanical error. Third, next researchers are also hoped to explore the reasons behind the
production of errors made by diploma students in order to discover the sources of the
problems.

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