An Analysis of Grammatical Errors in Writing Recount Text Made by Eighth Grade Students

Abstract

Errors arise from student` incomplete learning and understanding of the target language system. The objectives of this research were; (1) finding the types of grammatical errors made by the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 12 Palembang when they write recount text; and (2) finding the dominant type of grammatical errors made by the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 12 Palembang when they write recount text. This study was design as descriptive quantitative research. The sample of this research consisted of 63 students selected by using the convenience sampling technique. The data of this study were collected by employing written task.  The data analysis was used the surface strategy taxonomy. The result of the research indicated that there were 4 categories of error which were misformation, omission, misordering and addition. The result showed that there were, 530 errors (64.5%) in misformation, 237 errors (28.85%) in omission, 39 errors (4.75%) in misordering, and 15 errors (1.83%) in addition. In this case misformation was the most dominant type of errors that students made in writing recount text. In conclusion from the finding shows that students need more support in understanding and using correct grammatical forms in their writing.