Analyzing Errors: An Examination of Simple Present Tense Usage in Descriptive Texts

This study investigates the common errors made by students when using the simple present tense in writing descriptive texts. The aim of the study is to identify the specific types of errors that occur and to explore the factors contributing to these mistakes. The research adopts a descriptive qualitative method to gather data, employing a written test as the data collection tool. To categorize the errors, a surface strategy taxonomy is utilized, which includes four categories: omission, addition, misformation, and misorder. By analyzing the collected data, a total of 214 errors were identified, with 95 instances of omission errors, 22 addition errors, 75 formation errors, and 22 ordering errors. The findings highlight that the most prevalent type of error made by students is omission, while misformation, misorder, and addition errors are relatively less frequent. In addition to error analysis, the study explores the reasons underlying these errors, particularly focusing on interlingual and intralingual transfer. Interlingual transfer refers to the influence of a student's first language on their second language usage, while intralingual transfer refers to the influence of existing knowledge and patterns within the second language itself. These factors contribute to the occurrence of errors in the simple present tense usage within descriptive texts.


INTRODUCTION
English is incredibly significant because it is one of the most important languages nowadays.English holds significance in our lives during this era of globalization (Astri, Noer, et al., 2022;Astri, Nur, et al., 2022;Syamsir et al., 2021).Aside from our mother tongues, Indonesian, Makassarese, and Buginese, we also learn English as a foreign language, and our government recognizes the importance of English as a topic that is taught from elementary school through university.In other words, mastering English allows us to understand half of the globe, not just in education but also in politics and commerce.
The four components of English language study are speaking, reading, and writing.The four language abilities that makeup English should all be mastered by the students.Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving, and processing information.Reading is a process that involves word recognition and leads to the development of comprehension.Writing is the activity or skill of marking coherent words on paper and composing text.Listening is the active process of responding to spoken and unspoken messages.The teacher must give the students the best possible instruction in them.
Indonesians used to make errors in their English learning process as foreign language learners.It is common for anyone who learns a foreign language other than his/her mother tongue.Error is systematic, and various grades produce different kinds of mistakes.English teachers are well aware that English is a tough subject since the construction of sentences in English differs greatly from that of the Indonesian language.
Writing is regarded as the most challenging skill of the three, owing to the differences in regulations between native learners and the language being acquired.
Indonesian structure differs from English in that there is no distinct tense like in English.These situations can lead to issues that result in errors in their writing products.Widiati and Cahyono (2006) stated that writing is the most complex talent compared to the other three skills, which means that writing is the most difficult skill for students to learn, particularly for foreign language learners because they must master not only the vocabulary but also the grammar structure.
When students attempt to express their thoughts and emotions in the form of a sentence or even a paragraph, writing is not a simple task.
Writing is a mental work of investing thought, and it is about how to convey and organize ideas into paragraphs that the readers can read (Wahab & Astri, 2022).An excellent piece of writing requires careful thought.Additionally, when students produce sentences to create quality writing, they must consider how to apply proper grammar.Since good writing involves extra work to reduce students' errors in this writing talent, students' writing skills should be improved periodically.The students should be thought of as the most crucial aspect of writing is proper grammar.
According to Toago et al. (2013), grammar is the primary elemental skill in English, particularly in writing.As a result, students should pay more attention so that they can decently create good sentences, as grammar is the key to successful writing.A reader can easily comprehend well-written material.Grammar errors are the main cause of writing issues.
Writing without ideas, meanings, or proper grammar is very difficult to convey to the reader and can lead to misunderstandings.However, grammar places equal emphasis on meaning and form.Students must also master grammar since when they employ poor grammar in their writing, the reader can see mistakes quickly.
Therefore, students need to understand how to organize their language so that the reader receives the intended meaning.
According to Allsop (1989), tense is a form that reveals the verb's meaning and connects to the moment the action takes place as well as perspectives on it.One of the tenses that students have trouble learning is the simple present tense.Making sure that students in the first grade or junior high school can convey their everyday activities or repetitive behaviors in the present tense is a priority.The simple present tense, according to Azar (1989), is a tense used to represent things that typically occur and are done routinely.
One type of text that uses the present tense is descriptive text, because this tense is used to describe something that is still alive (Noprianto, 2017).The simple present tense is used not only for talking about basic truths but also for describing things or persons in a general When students do not learn anything continually, mistakes occur (Norrish, 1983).
Students should therefore continually master the lesson to minimize their faults, particularly while writing descriptive language.Additionally, mistakes were made when students were unable to utilize the language properly based on sound grammar, which is brought on by the structural grammar differences between Indonesian and the target language.The study aims to respond to the following research questions: 1. What are the common errors students tending to make when utilizing the simple present tense while writing descriptive texts? 2. What are the contributing factors to the occurrence of errors made by students when employing the simple present tense in writing descriptive texts?

Present Tense
The present tense alludes to the regular activity that takes place within this period.Furthermore, the present tense is utilized to communicate a broad fact or truth as well as a daily activity.Adverbs such as usually, generally, always, occasionally, and so on are used to indicate the temporal signal of the present tense (Baehaqi, 2005).According to Azar (2003), "simple present tense is used to state the usual activities."Based on the information provided above, the authors can conclude that the simple present tense is a tense used to describe general truths or facts as well as daily activities.
Moreover, according to Werner and Spaventa (2002), the simple present tense is commonly used to describe actions or situations that do not undergo frequent changes.It is employed to depict habits, and routines, express opinions, or make general statements of fact.This tense utilizes the main verb along with adverbs that indicate the present time, such as "every morning," "every day," "usually," "always," "generally," and so on.In another publication by Werner et al. (2002), it is also mentioned that the simple present tense is used to convey facts, opinions, or actions that occur repeatedly.Thus, based on the aforementioned definitions, it can be concluded that the simple present tense is a grammatical structure utilized to describe habits or everyday activities.

Descriptive Text a. The Definition of Descriptive Text.
As stated by Wishon and Burks (1980), descriptive writing aims to portray sensory details, encompassing the appearance, smell, taste, touch, or sound of things.Additionally, it can evoke various emotions, such as happiness, loneliness, or fear.Callaghan (1988)

b. The Generic Structure of Descriptive Text
A descriptive text's generic structure differs from those of other texts such as report, story, recount, method, and argumentation.
There must be two key elements in the description text.Husna et al. (2013) defined identification as identifying the entity or event mentioned in the text.Meanwhile, description is the process of describing or visualizing each part or feature of an object within a text (Rosa et al., 2008).
Furthermore, Sudarwati and Grace (2005) state that "the generic structure of the descriptive text has two components."They are identification, identification of the phenomenon to be described, and description of parts, attributes, and features."As a result of the preceding definition, the authors can deduce that identification usually occurs in the first paragraph, and the subsequent paragraph will detail the features of the object itself.

Error Analysis
In the process of learning English as a foreign language, one of the major obstacles faced by students is the fear of making mistakes.

Making errors indicates that students have not
yet mastered the rules of the target language.To address this issue, linguists employ a strategy called error analysis.According to Brown (2000), error analysis involves studying and analyzing students' errors to gain insights into the underlying system at work within the learners.
Brown asserts that error analysis is highly beneficial for teachers.
Error analysis helps teachers address certain problems encountered by students.One advantage of error analysis is that it allows teachers to identify and examine students' errors.As Johansson (1975) explains, "Analyzing the learner's errors provides the teacher with evidence of the learner's competence in the foreign language."The teacher can also gather valuable information about learners' difficulties at various levels, which is crucial for course planning and the development of teaching materials.
Furthermore, it is important to discuss error analysis in the context of teaching English as a foreign language.English teachers should be familiar with error analysis as it provides a valuable tool for understanding the process of foreign language learning.They should understand how the target language is acquired or learned and determine the most effective methods to help students master the language (Astri, 2018;Astri & Wahab, 2018, 2019).By conducting a systematic study of errors, teachers can enhance their teaching methods and seek solutions to address the challenges faced by their students.
In summary, error analysis can be defined as a methodology used to assess learners' proficiency in acquiring a second or foreign language.It involves examining learners' interlanguage and can assist teachers in identifying and addressing potential mistakes or errors made by students.

METHOD 1. Research Design
The research was conducted using a descriptive qualitative approach, which is a type of research method that does not involve statistical procedures.Maleong (2004) defines descriptive qualitative research as a method that does not involve calculations or numbers.
Gunawan (2013) in Astri & Fian (2020) stated that qualitative research is a kind of research without statistical procedures or other forms of calculation.
The descriptive qualitative method involves the technique of seeking, collecting, and analyzing data.According to Bodgan and Taylor in Maleong (2004), qualitative methodology is a research method that focuses on descriptive data, such as spoken or written words from individuals or observable activities.
In this study, the author provided materials for descriptive text and collected data by having students write a descriptive text.The author then identified and classified the students' writing errors.These errors were described based on linguistic categories such as grammar, including verbs, nouns, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunction, and others (James, 1998) In summary, qualitative research is a study that primarily focuses on collecting qualitative data to describe, decode, and derive meaning from naturally occurring phenomena that cannot be understood through numerical analysis.Therefore, the authors aimed to assess the writing ability of 34 of tenth-grade students in the descriptive text at one of public school in Maros.

Instrument of The Research
In descriptive qualitative research, the primary tool utilized by the researchers themselves.The researchers play an active role in conducting the study as they are responsible for gathering the necessary data.The method employed by the authors to collect data namely administering a written test.
The researchers employed a written test as a means of data collection.In this test, students were instructed to write a descriptive text about a specific topic provided by the researchers.Subsequently, the researchers analyzed the gathered data using a Surface Strategy Taxonomy.This taxonomy focuses on identifying and categorizing alterations in surface structures, such as the omission or addition of necessary or unnecessary elements, as well as the misformation and misordering of items.This brief explanation provides an overview of the Surface Strategy Taxonomy.Furthermore, the students tend to make the omitted "s/-es" that must appear in the sentences.

b. Analyzing Types of Error
In the following analysis, the authors presented the error analysis that has been conducted, focusing on providing one example for each identified error.During the error analysis process, various types of errors were identified and categorized.This analysis aims to highlight the most common errors made by the participants.For each error, a representative example will be provided to illustrate the nature of the mistake.By presenting these examples, the author aims to shed light on the specific areas where participants tend to make errors and provide a deeper understanding of the challenges, they face in language learning.

I want to be ____ astronaut (S1)
Related to the sentence above is incorrect, because, in the blank space, there should be an article.The word "astronaut" in the sentence acts as a singular noun.It occurs because the speaker neglected to include the appropriate article.

The cat has a sharp claw__ and soft fur. (S11)
The sentence above is incorrect.The students failed to recognize that when a noun is plural, it should be followed by the plural inflection "-s" or "-es".In this case, the noun "claw" should be in its plural form.Additionally, the noun "fur" remains the same in both singular and plural forms.
From the incorrect sentence above, the correct one is The cat has sharp claws and soft fur.

She bought three__ (S6)
The error made by the student is the omission of an object/complement in the sentence.The correct sentence should be "She bought three books."The word "three" acts as an adjective describing the noun "books" and requires an object/complement to complete the sentence.

She___ tired after a long day at work (S15)
The sentence above is incorrect.It requires a linking verb to connect the subject "She" with the complement "tired".This error occurs when the speaker forgets to include the appropriate linking verb in the sentence.
From the incorrect sentence above, it can be suggested that the correct one is She is tired after a long day at work.

The car looks shiny with___ new paint job (S7)
The sentence above is incorrect.The error occurs because the student fails to use the appropriate possessive form.In this case, the possessive form "its" is needed to indicate that the car's new paint job is responsible for its shiny appearance.
From the incorrect sentence above, it can be suggested that the correct one is The car looks shiny with its new paint job.

Yesterday, __was a beautiful day. (S18)
In this case, the omission occurs with the subject of the sentence.The student fails to include a noun or pronoun as the subject.To correct the sentence, it should be: "

He usually go__ to the gym after work. (S4)
The sentence above is incorrect.The error lies in the omission of the suffix "-es" after the verb "go" in order to match the singular subject "he".The correct sentence should be "He usually goes to the gym after work."

I bought apples, oranges, bananas.
The sentence above is incorrect.The student omits the conjunction that should connect the items in the list.To correct the sentence, it should be: "I bought apples, oranges, and bananas." ▪ ADDITION ERROR

Additional of Articles
The sky is filled with a stars.(S9) The error made by the person is the addition of the article "a" before "stars".In this case, the article is unnecessary and should be omitted.The correct sentence would be: "The sky is filled with stars."

They are went to the park. (S13)
The error made by the student is the incorrect use of the auxiliary verb "are" before the past tense verb "went".The correct form should be the simple past tense without the auxiliary verb.The revised sentence would be: "They went to the park."

On the morning, I like to drink coffee (S25)
The error made by the person is the addition of the preposition "on" before "the morning".
In English, we generally say "in the morning" to refer to a specific time period.The correct sentence would be: "In the morning, I like to drink coffee.

They are became best friends in elementary school (S23)
The error made by the student is the addition of the linking verb "are" before the past tense verb "became".In this case, the linking verb is unnecessary and should be omitted.The correct sentence would be: "They became best friends in elementary school."

The book's cover is beautifully designed (S1)
The error made by the student is the addition of the apostrophe's after "book".In this case, the possessive pronoun "its" should be used instead.The correct sentence would be: "Its cover is beautifully designed.

We had a delicious dinner meal___ at the restaurant. (S9)
The error made by the student is the addition of the noun "meal" after "dinner".The repetition of the noun is unnecessary and should be omitted.The correct sentence would be: "We had a delicious dinner at the restaurant."

We need one tickets___ for the concert. (Student 6)
The error made by the person is the addition of the plural form "tickets".In this case, the noun should be singular because we are referring to one ticket.The correct sentence would be: "We need one ticket for the concert." ▪ MISFORMATION ERROR

The boy has a cat with an long tail. (S17)
The error made by the student is the use of the article "an" before "long tail".In this case, the article "an" should be omitted because "long" does not begin with a vowel sound.
The correct sentence would be: "The boy has a cat with a long tail."

Misformation of Tense
The bird is fly in the sky.( S3) The error made by the student is the use of the verb "is fly" instead of the correct form "is flying".In this case, the student does not understand the correct usage of the present tense.The correct sentence would be: "The bird flies in the sky."

She are happy with her new job. (S12)
The error made by the student is the use of "are" instead of the correct form "is".In this case, the student does not understand the correct conjugation of the verb "to be" with the subject "she".The correct sentence would be: "She is happy with her new job."

We like to plays soccer in the park. (S7)
The error made by the student is the use of "to plays" instead of the correct form "to play".In this case, the student does not understand that after "to" should come the base form of the verb (infinitive form).The correct sentence would be: "We like to play soccer in the park."

She write a letter every day. '(S13)
The error made by the student is the use of "write" instead of the correct form "writes".
In this case, the student does not understand the correct subject-verb agreement.The subject "she" is singular and requires the verb form "writes" to match.The correct sentence would be: "She writes a letter every day."

She have long hair and green eyes. (S23)
The error made by the student is the use of "have" instead of the correct form "has".In this case, the student does not use the correct form of the verb "have" for the thirdperson singular subject "she".The correct sentence would be: "She has long hair and green eyes." ▪ MISORDERING

They have a house big. (S4)
The error made by the student is the incorrect placement of the adjective "big".In English, the adjective should come before the noun it qualifies.The correct sentence would be: "They have a big house."

She wants to buy a car expensive (S1)
The error made by the student is the incorrect placement of the adjective clause "expensive".In English, the adjective clause should come after the noun it modifies.The correct sentence would be: "She wants to buy an expensive car." Upon examining the data, it is evident that omission errors are the most prevalent, followed by misformation, misordering, and the least common addition errors.A total of 214 errors were identified, with 95 cases of omission, 22 cases of addition, 75 cases of misformation, and 22 cases of misordering.

c. The Source of Error
According to Brown (2000), learner errors can come from a variety of general sources, including interlingual errors, intralingual errors, context learning, and communicative strategy.
The authors discover two causes of mistakes based on the data analysis.These are interlingual and intralingual mistakes, respectively.

▪ Interlingual Error
The interlingual error happens as a result of the learner's mother tongue.The errors made by the students are caused by inferences from the student's home language.The mother tongue may interfere with a sentence in the target language.
Because of interlingual errors, almost all students produce incorrect sentences.

Indonesian students simply translate
Indonesian into English without first comprehending the grammatical structure.
The author discovers that the students merely transfer from Indonesian to English grammar.Students typically translate the grammatical form of the phrase or sentence into the first language to determine if there are any parallels.
Interlingual errors occur as a result of translation from the native language into the target language.Students frequently transfer their mother tongue's system to the target language.
Based on the data, the authors found errors in sentences below: TL : Yesterday I go to market.L1 : Kemarin saya pergi ke pasar.
Correction: Yesterday, I went to the market.

Explanation:
The interlingual error in this sentence is the incorrect use of the present tense verb "go" instead of the past tense "went" in English.The student translated the Indonesian sentence without adjusting the verb tense to match the target language.
Correction: She has three brothers.

Explanation:
The interlingual error in this sentence is the use of the base form "have" instead of the third-person singular form "has" in English.The student directly translated the Indonesian verb "memiliki" without considering the grammatical agreement required in English.

▪ Intralingual Errors
Intralingual errors are forms of errors caused by the structure of the target language itself.Intralingual errors are caused by the speaker who does not reflect the structure of the mother tongue.According to Ellis (1994), Richard (1984)  Correction: She is singing a beautiful song.

Explanation:
In this example, the learner overgeneralizes the verb structure from their native language.In Indonesian, the verb "menyanyi" (to sing) is used as a standalone verb without the auxiliary verb "is."However, in English, the continuous form of the verb requires the auxiliary verb "is" before the main verb.
The learner mistakenly applies the structure from their native language, resulting in an overgeneralization error.

Discussions
The purpose of written language is to convey information in an appropriate, accurate, and efficient manner.In order to produce quality writing, grammar accuracy is required.The sense.As a result, the authors wish to know what kind of errors students make and what factors contribute to their mistakes in descriptive writing.
further explains that descriptive writing strives to create a distinct and lively depiction of a person, place, or object.Considering these statements, it can be inferred that descriptive writing is characterized by its tangible and comprehensive nature, enabling readers to fully grasp and understand the author's intended message to recognize and comprehend what the authors are saying.
as a means to assess their comprehension of descriptive text.The analysis of the student's test results was focused on descriptive text.Ultimately, the researcher aimed to categorize the errors made by the students, employing the surface taxonomy theory which includes omission, addition, misformation, misordering, and combination errors.Upon completion of the analysis, the researcher evaluated the students' descriptive text worksheets, thereby gaining insights into the students' grasp of descriptive text and identifying any challenges or weaknesses they encountered in writing such texts.In analyzing the composition, each type of error was cycled and marked.After finishing this step, the errors were tabulated.Then, the frequency of each type and the total number of errors were counted.FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 1. Findings By using surface strategy taxonomy, kinds of errors are classified into four major categories, namely, omission errors, addition errors, misformation errors, and misordering errors.Each category is divided into several types of errors.Omission errors are divided into eight types of errors, addition errors are divided into six types of errors, and misformation errors are divided into three types of errors.Therefore, the total of errors is twenty-six types of errors.a.Identifying the ErrorsAfter collecting the data, the authors recognized all written errors from the student.The most prevalent students' errors in expressing present tense are the errors in expressing both plural and singular, misuse of articles, inappropriate word choice, and incorrect form of subject-verb agreement.It is in line withDulay's (1982) four types of common errors, i.e.: addition, omission, misformation, and misordering.From the students' writing results, the authors could be seen that the students made four types of errors.

2.
Ignorance of Rule Restriction a.He does not likes chocolate.b.I eats noodle c.Monkey like jumping These errors happen because the students do not understand the English grammar rules for the simple present tense.The term "like and eats" frequently has a "-s" added by the kids.Simple present tense takes the form S + V1 + -S/ -ES + O. Depending on the topic of a phrase, the suffix -S or -ES is employed.The words "They, We, I, You" should not be followed by the -S or -ES in this situation.Because of this, they are unable to use the basic present tense rule.
process of teaching and learning cannot be error-free.The phenomenon indicates that there are some issues with kids' writing abilities, particularly in composition.Although all students must take a writing course, many still struggle with composition writing.Errors are divided into four types.They are the linguistic category taxonomy, the surface strategy taxonomy, the comparison taxonomy, and the communicative effect taxonomy(Dulay,   Burt, Krasen 1982).To characterize errors in this study, the author employs surface strategy taxonomy.This is one of four error categories based on the linguistic item that has been affected by an error.According toDulay, Burt, and  Krashen, surface strategy errors are classified into four types: misformation, misordering, omission, and addition.This taxonomy of error surface strategies emphasizes the surface parts of the language that are altered in precise and systematic ways where the error always occurs.Some of the reasons why students continue to make mistakes.First, they are not well-versed in English sentence construction.Second, they have not grasped the use of English sentence patterns, which differ significantly from Indonesian patterns.The results demonstrate that some compositional errors are still made by pupils.There are 214 errors in all.It comes from 22 different sorts of mistakes.The majority of errors-95 out of the total-are omission errors, according to the authors.Additionally, the omission of a be or linking verb, which accounts for 27, is the most common omission error.They show that the kids still struggle in these areas.Knowing these occurrences will help identify some subject areas that pupils are likely to find challenging.In order to prepare students, it is important to emphasize these areas of difficulty in the classroom.The most common error made by students was the omission of a linking verb.After reviewing the data, the authors discover two sources of error that contribute to the errors of the students.There are two types of errors: interlingual and intralingual.The interlingual inference from the mother tongue causes interlingual error, as in "My cat frequently follows competition pet."While the intralingual error is produced by pupils who do not reflect the structure of the mother tongue, an example is "She will be running and climbing the tree."Inconclusion, the analysis of errors in students' descriptive writing reveals various types of errors based on the surface strategy taxonomy, including omission, addition, misformation, and misordering.Upon examining the data, it is evident that omission errors are the most prevalent, followed by misformation, misordering, and the least common addition errors.A total of 214 errors were identified, with 95 cases of omission, 22 cases of addition, 75 cases of misformation, and 22 cases of misordering.Further analysis of the types of errors in descriptive text writing uncovers two main causes: interlingual transfer and intralingual transfer.Interlingual transfer occurs when the users' native language interferes with their English writing, leading to errors influenced by the structures and patterns of their first language.On the other hand, intralingual transfer arises from difficulties in learning the second or target language.It encompasses errors caused by overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restrictions, and incomplete application of rules.Among the identified errors, 14 were attributed to interlingual transfer, while 61 were associated with intralingual transfer.This analysis sheds light on the common errors made by students in their descriptive writing and the underlying causes contributing to these mistakes.Understanding the patterns and sources of these errors can inform teaching strategies and interventions to address them effectively.By addressing both interlingual and intralingual transfer issues through targeted instruction and rule awareness, educators can assist students in improving their accuracy and proficiency in using the simple present tense in descriptive text writing.2. Suggestions English teachers should pay closer attention to the teaching and learning process of writing and emphasize the areas where students struggle the most.It may be necessary to incorporate new teaching methods to facilitate a better understanding of the simple present tense.By using innovative approaches, teachers can enhance the student's learning experience and improve their usage of the simple present tense in descriptive writing.To address the persistent errors, students need to actively engage with their teachers.They should place a greater emphasis on their learning, dedicating more effort to practicing and honing their skills in using the simple present tense in descriptive text.Students must recognize their errors and actively seek ways to correct them.By being aware of their mistakes, they can avoid repeating similar errors in the future.Furthermore, the authors encourage other researchers to delve deeper into the analysis of students' errors.This research should serve as a foundation for further discussions and investigations.It is essential to conduct more comprehensive studies that explore the complexities of error analysis and provide sharper insights.By expanding upon this research, future studies can contribute to a deeper understanding of the challenges students face in using the simple present tense in descriptive writing.In conclusion, English teachers should focus on targeted instruction, while students should actively participate in their learning process.Additionally, researchers should build upon this study, striving for more thorough analyses.By implementing these suggestions, the use of the simple present tense in descriptive writing can be improved, benefiting both students and educators.