Investigating Error in Written English Sentences: A case study Indonesia EFL Students

Introduction: This research was conducted to find out the students’ grammatical errors in writing and focused on the types of errors found in 20 written sheets of students’ descriptive text given as a part of the assignment of the second semester of Polytechnic Indonusa Surakarta majoring in Medical Records Program Study.Method: This research used qualitative research to collect empirical data from the students’ written works. Results: In this research, it was found that 1) in investigating types of grammatical errors in students’ written works, it can be inferred that there are 417 errors that occurred in students’ written works. It was found 40 types of grammatical errors in this study. 2) In figuring out how mother tongue interference effects on students’ written works. It was found 66 or 15.83% was caused by mother tongue interference or interlingual errors. Errors due to mother tongue interference were categorized into three: (i) word-by-word translation, it was found 14 or 21% errors, (ii) using Indonesian construction in English, it was counted 21 or 32%, (iii) using adjectives as main verbs, 31 or 47% errors were found. 3) In revealing why such errors occur in students’ written works. We found two general causes of errors in students’ written works. Conclusions: The total grammatical errors found in students’ written works were 417 errors, 351 (84.17%) errors were caused by intralingual errors, and 66 (15.83%) errors were caused by interlingual errors.

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