SYINTACTICAL ERROR ANALYSIS OF DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH WRITING MADE BY THE SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SMP 4 GENTENG IN THE 2011/2012 ACADEMIC YEARS

Abstract

SUMMARY Syntactical Error Analysis of Descriptive Paragraph Writing Made by the Seventh Grade Students at SMP 4 Genteng in the 2011/2012 Academis Year. Ana Rahmayanti, 060210491032; 2012; English Education Program of Language and Arts Education department, the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Jember University. In Indonesia, English is considered as a foreign language because it is learnt after the first language is acquired. That is why, in the process of learning English, the students usually face many problem. Students usually make a number of errors. The errors arise because of the different system between students’ native language and the foreign language they learn. It is realized that each language has its own system that is different from one another, so it is possible for the students to make errors and find difficulties in learning a foreign language, or English. This research deals with syntactical error analysis. It describes the syntactical errors on descriptive paragraph writing made by the seventh grade students of SMPN 4 Genteng in the 2011/2012 academic year. The objective of this research was to describe the syntactical errors are made by the seventh grade students at SMP 4 Genteng in the 2011/2012 academic year and to describes the most syntactical error are made by the seventh grade students at SMP 4 Genteng in the 2011/2012 academic year. I use the descriptive study of which the data were obtained from the students’ descriptive paragraph writing. Then, these writings were analyzed by the researcher based on the syntactical errors. The syntactical errors were classified into 4 groups. They were errors in the use of simple present tense, errors in the use of prepositions, errors in the use of articles, errors in the use of word order. Proportional random sampling was used in this research and the total number of the research respondents was 42 students of the seventh grade at SMPN 4 Genteng in the 2011/2012 academic year. This sample represented the research population, which were 219 seventh grade students at SMPN 4 Genteng. The data resources were also the English teacher of the seventh grade students and the documentation that consisted of the list of the names of the seventh grade ix students and the school facilities in SMP 4 Genteng. The supporting data were collected by interview, documentation, and the main data was collected by writing tests. From the results of data analysis, it could be concluded that the students made 94 syntactical errors which were classified into 36 errors in producing simple present tense, 12 errors in the use of prepositions, 29 errors in the use of articles, 17 errors in the use of word order. The results on the analysis showed that the highest number of syntactical errors occurred in the descriptive paragraph writing in the research was the simple present tense errors with 38.29% in medium classification level, The other types was the misuse of articles with 30.85% in the medium classification level. The following errors were the misuse of word order with 18.08% in the very low classification level, the misuse of prepositions with the 12.76% in the very low classification level. From the results of the data analysis, it could be seen that the syntactical error type predominating the other types was the misuse of simple present tense errors with 38.29% in the medium classification level, Dealing with the results of interview with the English teacher of the seventh year students of SMP 4 Genteng, it was known that the misuse of simple present tense was the main problem faced by the students in writing a descriptive paragraph. The finding in this research was supported by the fact stated by the teacher in the interview.