Identifying Grammar Errors in Recount Texts at SMA
Negeri 02 Ngabang, Kabupaten Landak. Faculty of Teacher Training and
Education, Universitas Katolik Santo Agustinus Hippo.
Many students at SMA Negeri 02 Ngabang encounter significant challenges
with grammatical errors when writing recount texts, particularly in their use of the
past tense. Despite the implementation of the Merdeka Curriculum, which
emphasizes contextual learning, these difficulties often result in unclear sentence
structures and misunderstandings of intended meanings. This study aims to identify
the grammatical errors made by class X4 students at SMA Negeri 02 Ngabang in
their recount text writing.
Using a qualitative descriptive approach, this research is based on Dulay’s
linguistic error framework, which categorizes errors into morphological, syntactic,
and other grammar-related mistakes. Data were collected from students' written
assignments, with six students selected through purposive sampling to represent
varying levels of English proficiency. The data were validated using source
triangulation.
The findings indicate that students in class X4 at SMA Negeri 02 Ngabang
still make many grammatical errors when constructing sentences in English, with a
total of 58 identified errors. These errors are categorized into several types:
morphological errors (12 errors, 10%), syntactic errors (11 errors, 9%), verb phrase
errors (18 errors, 16%), word order errors (15 errors, 13%), and transformation
errors (2 errors, 2%). The analysis reveals that students in the high category made
fewer errors, particularly in syntactic, verb phrase, and word order errors. In
contrast, students in the medium and low categories exhibited more errors,
especially in morphology, syntax, and verb phrases. The total percentage of errors
reached 100%, indicating that students' mastery of grammar in recount texts is still
inadequate and requires further improvement. Unlike previous research, this study
emphasizes the need for students at SMA Negeri 02 Ngabang to focus more on verb
phrase usage, as they continue to struggle significantly in this area. These findings
provide important insights for English language teaching and highlight areas that
need enhancement in students' grammar skills.