AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT (A Case Study at Tenth Grade Student of SMAN 9 Banda Aceh)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31000/r00prm37Keywords:
Error Analysis, Descriptive Text, Surface Strategy TaxonomyAbstract
This study is aimed at analyzing and classifying the types of errors made by tenth-grade students of SMAN 9 Banda Aceh in writing descriptive texts and identifying the most dominant type of error. Writing descriptive texts remains a challenge for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students because it requires mastery of grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure. This study employed a descriptive qualitative research design. The participants of this study were 26 tenth-grade students from class X-3 at SMAN 9 Banda Aceh. The data were collected through descriptive writing tasks and analyzed using the Surface Strategy Taxonomy proposed by Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982), which consists of omission, addition, misformation, and misordering errors. The findings revealed that the students made a total of 421 errors. The errors were categorized into 246 misformation errors (58.43%), 115 omission errors (27.32%), 38 addition errors (9.03%), and 22 misordering errors (5.23%). The results indicated that misformation was the most dominant type of error made by the students. These errors were primarily related to incorrect tense usage, verb forms, subject-verb agreement, and spelling. The findings suggest that tenth-grade students of SMAN 9 Banda Aceh still experience considerable difficulties in grammar and writing mechanics when composing descriptive texts. Therefore, teachers are recommended to provide more focused instruction on grammar, particularly simple present tense, subject-verb agreement, and writing mechanics, as well as intensive proofreading activities to improve students’ writing accuracy.
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References
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