CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of study

As a human being, language is one of the important and inseparable

things in human life. Language is used by humans to speak, share information,
express their feelings and respond to ideas. Without language, people or
everyone can't join interaction with each other in daily life or in learning
something and also the human activities could not run without language.
There are many different languages in the world. According to Herder, as
quoted by Riley, Each country has its language. Each language describes the
world literally in its terms by constructing a unique way of thinking and
expression so that its meaning can only be understood by native speakers born
in the community (Riley, 2008:9).

Every country has a different language, we need an international

language for communication. One of them is English which is used almost all
over the world. According to Kachru, English has spread all over the world.
The distribution is divided into three circles, namely the first circle/inner
circle, where English is used as the native language and becomes the mother
tongue. The outer circle, namely English is used as a second language. The
expanding circle is that English is used as a foreign language and only for
certain purposes (Kachru, 2006:89). In these three distribution circles,
Indonesia is included in the expanding circle.

Indonesian people do not use English as language of daily

communication, but they only use it for specific and specific purposes.
According to Wark, quoted in Ratminingsih that English is often referred to as
a world language or lingua franca, because it can build and maintain
relationships between people around the world (Wark, quoted in
Ratminingsih, 2017:4). In other words, learning English can get various
information and knowledge about the world. Therefore, mastery of English is

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a must. In Indonesia, English is an important subject in the curriculum. The
development of education in Indonesia is inseparable from the renewal of the
curriculum, in each particular period the curriculum always undergoes an
evaluation process. Wiki & Sigit stated “As a country that continues to
innovate in curriculum development, Indonesia has at least experienced more
than ten changes since the beginning of independence (Wiki and Sigit, 2021).
According to Alaika Minister Nadien Makarim in his independent learning
policy gave the meaning implied in his message that students are given the
freedom to determine their future by their competencies, not based on the
pressure that causes students to stress and lose themself -confidence, as was
the case due to the implementation of the national exam (Alaika, 2020).
Education is very important, one of which is English education. Apart from
being a means of communication with foreign nationals, learning English can
also provide other benefits, one of which is increasing one’s competitiveness
because they are considered more competent and knowledgeable.

Students must have four key skills in order to master English. Speaking,
reading, listening, and writing are examples of these abilities. Writing is the
most important of the four abilities to learn. According to Fitria, the four
fundamental language talents are typically viewed as speaking, listening,
reading, and writing. Because they are the four pillars of language learning.
Listening and reading are receptive skills because students do not need to
produce language; instead, they receive and comprehend it. These abilities are
commonly referred to as passive abilities. Speaking and writing are productive
abilities because learners use them when they need to produce language.
Active talents are another name for them (Fitria, 2018:240).

The important thing in writing that should be considered by the students

is grammar. According to Taogo et al, grammar is the main component of
every skill in English particularly in writing skill (Taogo et al, 2013). Thus,
grammar is the main part that the students should pay attention to more to
make them able to write the sentence correctly. Language use (grammar) is
considered the primary problem in students’ writing. Writing without a good
grammar, meanings and ideas might not deliver directly and misunderstanding
might exist to the reader. However, grammar is not only about the form but
also the meaning of it. Moreover, grammar is highly required to be learned by
the students, because when they write the sentences by using wrong grammar,
the reader will find the errors easily. Therefore, the learners need to
understand how to arrange the language in the correct structure to deliver the
correct meaning to the reader. Swan says that tense plays a role in determining
an event to occur in the present, past, or future (Swan, 2005:140). Given the
significance of comprehending tense patterns for students and the numerous
challenges they face, it is vital to evaluate their learning challenges while
utilizing the simple present tense. For teachers to reduce the mistakes
produced by students when working on the issue of tenses, especially in the
simple present tense, it is necessary to recognize where the student’s issues lie
with the mastery of pattern and formula.

The English teacher was interviewed to gain some data for the
preliminary study. From the interview with the English teacher of the school,
it was found that the most problematic case in the class was writing. Making
sentences using simple present tense is not easy for the students of junior high
school level. The students often write “She go to the Prambanan temple”
instead of writing “She goes to the Prambanan temple”. Nowadays, most
students still have errors on use the simple present tense. One of them is
descriptive text, many of them still have errors in either grammar or describing
something. In English learning, especially writing, the teacher just gave the
material in textbooks or manuals used as a reference in teaching. While
students are sometimes busy in class and pay less attention to the material
being taught. The example above shows that some junior high school students
often experience difficulties in using verbs in the use of the simple present
tense. Tense is the form a verb takes to show the time that happened. There are
three main tenses. They are present tense, past tense, and future tense. But in
this research, the writer focuses on one of the kinds of tenses which is the
simple present tense.
 The researcher chooses simple present tense to analyze because
nowadays students still have problems and difficulties using simple present
tense. Most of the students never consider the complexity of simple present
tense. They confuse to use plural and singular when they write simple present
tense. They found difficulties to understand the sentence in simple present
tense, the formula of the simple present tense, and the rule of the verb in
simple present tense. Furthermore, simple present tense is an important part of
learning the English language. The simple present tense is part of grammar
that is stated in tenses. It uses to express daily activities. According to Hinkle
in Fadila, simple present tense is an important part to be mastered for students
to learn basic grammar (Hinkle in Fadila, 2016:148). According to Jeremy
Harmer, students will not understand the English rules without making errors
first (Jeremy Hermer, 2007). Besides that students also still have errors in
making sentences.

In making sentences, surely the students will produce errors since they
are in the process of learning. Brown in Obbe, stated that “when we talk or
write something quickly, our minds are focused on the content of our message
that we might pay less attention to our language and inadvertently make a
grammatical error” (Brown in Obbe, 2010). In this case, the writer used
descriptive text to find out students’ errors in writing. The researcher chooses
descriptive text as a type text because descriptive text is a type of text that
describes or explains a certain thing object or situation. According to
Noprianto, one of the text types which uses simple present tense is descriptive
text because the writer describes something still live, and this tense is also one
of the language characteristics in writing descriptive text (Noprianto, 2017).
Thus, there is a connection between simple present tense and descriptive text.
Due to the function of the simple present tense is not only used for talking
about the general truth but also for commonly describing people or things. As
we know, the descriptive text that includes in the Indonesian curriculum. It is
used to describe something such as a place, person, house, etc and also as the
text that includes the specific description of the thing or human being.
Descriptions can also be interpreted as rules for processing data into
 something that can be stated clearly and precisely so that it is easy for others
to understand. The tense used in this descriptive text is the simple present
tense which is often used in everyday conversation. The problem was that the
students still made mistakes in using simple present tense moreover when they
were asked to write it down in the form of text.

There are several previous researchers whose topic is error analysis. the
first research was written by Bunga Ash Falinta with the title “An Error
Analysis of Simple Present Tense in Descriptive Text Written by The Eighth
Grade Students. This study used a mix of qualitative and quantitative research
design because the researcher wanted to describe the errors and the frequency
of errors found in descriptive text. the second research, was written by M
Masruddin with the title omission: Common Simple Present Tense Errors in
Student’s Writing of Descriptive Text. Design this research in a quantitative to
analyze the data. In this research, he analyzes errors made by students and
then he calculates where are the common error.

According to the researcher, students still need more practice using the
simple present tense in their writing, especially as it is more likely to contain
errors when written as descriptive text. Due to the aforementioned factors, the
researcher is motivated to carry out the study "Error Analysis on the Use of
Simple Present Tense in Writing Descriptive Text in Kurikulum Merdeka
English Class." English writing classes are not particularly popular with junior
high school students. Because they are unfamiliar with grammar norms and
unable to directly read sentences or paragraphs, among other factors, they
frequently make mistakes. To determine whether the student is competent at
creating descriptive prose in the simple present tense, the writer then examines
their error. The issues students encounter can be shown by error analysis.

1.2 Research Questions

Based on the background of the study above, the problems of the study
can be identified as follow:
 1. What kinds of errors do the student make in implementing Simple
Present Tense in descriptive text based on Ellis theory?
2. What factors do contribute the students’ error in implementing simple
present tense in descriptive text?

1.3 Objective of the research

Based on the formulation of the problem, the objective of the research

as follow :

1. To find out the common errors in implementing simple present tense in

descriptive text of seventh grade students
2. To find out the factors do contribute the students’ error in implementing
simple present tense in descriptive text

1.4 Significance of the study

The researcher’s finding was expected to be useful from both

theoretical and practical perspectives :

1. Theoretical perspectives
a. The findings of the study could be useful for teaching simple
present tense in descriptive
b. The finding of this study could be useful as a reference for those
who are interested in doing the related study
2. Practical perspectives
a. To the teachers
The finding of this study expects to become a reference and
input for them, also showing that more exercises and corrections
about simple present tense are needed to improve students’ ability
in writing and the teacher could rearrange the way to share material
effectively based on the curriculum and students difficulties.
b. To the students
The students need to realize their mistakes after they have been
given an explanation and then tested with simple tests of writing a
 descriptive text by using the simple present tense. The answers will
be discussed together with the students; therefore, they will not
make the second mistakes. By the end of the study, the students
will have used simple present tense correctly by writing a short
descriptive text about things, places, and people.

1.5 Limitation of the Problem

This study only focuses on finding out common errors and factors do
contribute to the students’ error in implementing simple present tense in
descriptive text written by seventh-grade students. The researcher limits the
object of study only to simple present tense errors produced by students
writing. Then, the writer discusses only simple present tense based on Ellis
(2003).

1.6 Operational Definition of Key terms

a. Error Analysis
Error analysis is a technique used to track errors in learner
language, ascertain whether they are systematic, and (if possible) explain
why they occurred. Error analysis can be useful and sometimes very
helpful in ensuring that a teaching program is implemented smoothly.
Teachers can therefore get around the challenges that pupils confront by
using mistake analysis. Error is defined as the failure to apply the proper
grammar rules due to the student's incompetence.
Furthermore, an error called a failure in using the incorrect rules in
grammar is caused by a lack of the student’s competence. In this study, the
error made by the seventh-grade students of junior high school in using
simple present tense in writing descriptive text would be analyzed.

b. Writing
Writing is an activity to create a note or information on a media
using a script. Writing is a language skill that is indirectly used to
communicate, not through face to face using language symbols or others
so that all readers or writers can understand it. Writing skills are more
 complex and difficult to teach requiring mastery of not only grammatical
and rhetorical devices but also conceptual and judgement. Writing skill is
one aspect that must be owned by every language learner. These skills are
trained from simple to complex sentence levels.
However, writing that would be explored in this research is a
writing skill that students in the seventh grade of junior high school should
be mastered. The learners should be able to write the proper sentences in
the text to convey a clear message to the reader. Additionally, writing in
this research meant the students’ writing products about descriptive text.

c. Simple Present Tense

Present in Simple Present Tense means “present”, then Simple
means “simple”, and Tense is the form of the verb according to the period
used. So, the simple present tense is a form of tense that is used to express
events that occur regularly, routinely, or are usually done in the present.
The simple present tense is generally used to describe events that have
become a habit. The verb used in the simple present tense is the first form
of the verb (verb 1). In this research, the simple present tense is the
student’s ability to express their ideas by using this basic tense. Since this
is the first tense that should be learned and mastered by seventh-grade
students of junior high school.

d. Descriptive Text
There are many kinds of text learned by students. One of them is
descriptive. Descriptive text is text that aims to explain, describe, or
describe something. This something can take any form, be it an animal,
object, location, and so on. Usually, descriptive text is characterized by the
use of the easy tense and focuses on one specific object. The object is then
discussed again in more detail in the descriptive text.
In writing a descriptive text, students have to write the text by
using the structure and grammar precisely and making the reader able to
imagine what the writer described. In brief, descriptive text in this thesis is
the text which shows the student’s ability to describe the people or things
in detail by using the simple present tense. So, the students must be able to
describe something or someone in the written product.
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