Morphological Error Analysis in Narrative Writing Made by the Second Year Students of SMA Negeri 2 Jember in the 2004/2005 Academic Year

Abstract

The objectives o f this research were to describe the types and the sources of morphological errors and to describe the percentage o f each type of • morphological errors made by the second year students o f SMAN 2 Jember in the 2004/2005 academic year in their narrative writing. The problems were (1) what types of morphological errors in narrative writing made by the first year students of SMAN 2 Jember in the 2004/2005 academic year, (2) what is the percentage of each type o f morphological errors in narrative writing made by the first year students of SMAN 2 Jember in the 2004/2005 academic year, and (3) what sources of morphological errors in narrative writing made by the first year students of SMAN 2 Jember in the 2004/2005 academic year. The samples of this research were 48 students which were taken by proportional random sampling by lottery (15 % of the population). The methods of collecting data were test, interview, and documentation. Narrative writing test was used to get the main data about the students’ morphological errors in writing. The collected main data were analyzed by applying descriptive quantitative method. Interview and documentation were used to get the supporting data. By analyzing the students’ data and Consulting the results o f the data analysis, it was found that the students ability in the use o f the tliird person singular inflection in the sentences was categorized as “good” (errors made were 7,74%); the students’ ability in the use of past tense inflection in the sentences was categorized as “feir” (errors made were 39,03%); the students’ ability in the use of plural inflection in the sentences was categorized as “fair” (errors made were 41,29%); and the students’ ability in the use of possessive (‘s) inflection in the sentences was categorized as “good” (errors made were 11,94%). The students’ morphological errors were caused by Incomplete Application of Rules (86,45%), False Concept Hypothesis (6,13%), Over-generalization (5,81%), and Ignorance of Rule of Restriction (1,61%). The results suggest that the English teacher should give the students more practice in writing to develop their writing skill by applying the structure that has been leamt and give feedback to the students’ writing dealing with grammatical errors and morphological errors, so that the students will not make the same errors in writing English in the future.