A LINGUISTIC CATEGORY ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN THE SPEAKING OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN BONE REGENCY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70210/amrj.v3i2.135Keywords:
errors, grammar, morphology, speaking, syntaxAbstract
This study aimed to identify the types and causes of grammatical errors in students’ speaking performances, analyzed using the linguistic category framework. A qualitative descriptive method was employed, with data collected through a speaking test (in a question-and-answer format) and interviews. Participants were selected through judgmental sampling and consisted of one English teacher and ten second-year students from a senior high school in Bone Regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The grammatical errors were categorized into two main types: morphological and syntactical. Morphological errors included mistakes in the use of inflections, articles, prepositions, and pronouns, with pronoun and article misuse being the most frequent. Syntactical errors involved incorrect usage of copulas, subject-verb agreement, adjective order, and tenses, with tense-related errors occurring most commonly. The analysis also revealed several contributing factors to these errors, including students’ difficulty in understanding and internalizing grammar rules, limited exposure to correct grammatical forms, insufficient speaking practice, and low motivation to engage in grammar-based speaking activities. These findings underscore the importance of more targeted and engaging grammar instruction in speaking-focused English learning environments.
Downloads
References
Aini, N. (2018). The grammatical errors in the translational text: Indonesian-English structure. Tell: Teaching of English Language and Literature Journal, 6(55), 10–30651.
Aisyah, A., Hidayad, F., & Purwanto, M. B. (2024). Effect of grammar learning strategies (GLS) in language learning: case study on vocational high school students in determining proficiency levels. Wiralodra English Journal (WEJ), 8(1), 141–153. https://doi.org/10.31943/wej.v8i1.281
Al Hosni, S. (2014). Speaking difficulties encountered by young EFL learners. International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL), 2(6), 22–30.
Atapattu, T., Falkner, K., Thilakaratne, M., Sivaneasharajah, L., & Jayashanka, R. (2019). An identification of learners’ confusion through language and discourse analysis. ArXiv Preprint ArXiv:1903.03286. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1903.03286
Aybek, S., & Can, C. (2025). Comparative Analysis of Lexical Bundles in Academic Writings by Native English Speakers and Turkish EFL Learners. Sustainable Multilingualism/Darnioji Daugiakalbystė, 26, 114–158.
Behforouz, B., & Al Ghaithi, A. (2024). The Impact of Using Interactive Chatbots on Self-Directed Learning. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 15(3).
Bygate, M. (1987). Speaking. Oxford University Press.
Chania, S., & Amri, Z. (2019). An analysis of students’ grammatical errors on speaking at SEA debate at English Department of Faculty of Languages and Arts of Universitas Negeri Padang. Journal of English Language Teaching, 8(4), 515–521.
Dulay, H. C., Burt, M. K., & Krashen, S. D. (1982). Language Two. Oxford University Press.
Erlangga, I. P. B., Suarnajaya, I. W., & Juniarta, P. A. K. (2019). An analysis of grammatical errors made by the seventh grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Sukawati in writing descriptive texts in the academic year 2018/2019. Language and Education Journal Undiksha, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.23887/leju.v2i1.20276
First, E. (2022). EF English Proficiency Index 2022. https://www.ef.com/assetscdn/WIBIwq6RdJvcD9bc8RMd/cefcom-epi-site/reports/2022/ef-epi-2022-english.pdf
Gayo, H., & Widodo, P. (2018). An analysis of morphological and syntactical errors on the English writing of junior high school Indonesian students. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 17(4), 58–70.
Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Pearson Education.
Hikmah, D., & Wahyudi, I. (2023). Writing Error: Exploring the Language Interference in EFL Context. International Journal of English Education and Linguistics (IJoEEL), 5(1), 146–155.
Junaidi, E., & Zaim, M. (2022). Morphological errors found in Indonesian Students’ English compositions of application letter. Journal of English Language Teaching, 11(1), 50–64.
Kachakeche, Z., & Scontras, G. (2020). Adjective ordering in Arabic: Post-nominal structure and subjectivity-based preferences. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, 5(1), 419–430. https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v5i1.4726
Khan, A. (2022). The effect of writing exercises in classroom on the production of written sentences at undergraduate level by Saudi EFL learners: A case study of error analysis. Cogent Education, 9(1), 2122259. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2122259
Ko, C.-J. (2024). Online individualized corrective feedback on EFL learners’ grammatical error correction. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 37(7), 1449–1477. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2022.2118783
Lingard, L., Cristancho, S., Hennel, E. K., St-Onge, C., & van Braak, M. (2021). When English clashes with other languages: Insights and cautions from the Writer’s Craft series. Perspectives on Medical Education, 10(6), 347–351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40037-021-00689-2
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Grammar. http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/grammar
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. Sage Publications.
Mufidah, P. N., & Islam, S. (2022). An Analysis of Grammatical Error on Student’s Writing. International Journal of English Education and Linguistics, 4(2).
Muftah, M. (2023). Error analysis in second language acquisition (SLA): types and frequencies of grammatical errors of simple present and past tense in the elicited written production task of Arab EFL undergraduate learners. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 25(1), 42–56. https://doi.org/10.14483/22487085.19202
Najla, N., & Fatimah, S. (2020). Common grammatical errors in oral communication made by Indonesian EFL learners. Journal of English Language Teaching, 9(4), 740–749.
Nordquist, R. (2022). What is Grammatical Error? http://www.thoughtco.com/grammatical-error-usage=1690911
Paputungan, F. M., Helingo, A., & Rahmah, I. Y. (2022). An analysis on students’ difficulties in Intermediate English Grammar course. Journal of English Teaching and Linguistic Issues (JETLI), 1(1), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.58194/jetli.v1i1.59
Pelawi, R. (2025). Analysing Oral Fossilisation in a Pre-Intermediate Business English Class: A Case Study. Foremost Journal, 6(1), 34–39. https://doi.org/10.33592/foremost.v6i1.6800
Rahim, N. N. E. A., Suhaimi, S., Suhaimi, S. N. Y. S., Bakar, S. F. M. A., Zaki, N. A. M., & Majid, A. A. (2024). Exploring strategies in language learning. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 14(5), 354–366. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v14-i5/21343
Sari, R. M. (2019). The causes of grammatical errors made by EFL students in writing essay. Linguists: Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching, 5(2), 86–93.
Silalahi, R. M. (2014). ERROR ANALYSIS ON INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS’SENTENCE WRITING ASSIGNMENTS. IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 1(2), 151–166. https://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v1i2.1342
Søby, K. F., Ishkhanyan, B., & Kristensen, L. B. (2023). Not all grammar errors are equally noticed: error detection of naturally occurring errors and implications for eye-tracking models of everyday texts. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1124227. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1124227
Syaputri, W. (2019). First language morphological interference of English language learners (EFL). Seventh International Conference on Languages and Arts (ICLA 2018), 617–619. https://doi.org/10.2991/icla-18.2019.101
Tarone, E., Gass, S. M., & Cohen, A. D. (Eds.). (1994). Research Methodology in Second-Language Acquisition. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315044774
Titilola, O. O., & Sunday, A. (2024). A Contrastive Analysis of Adjectives in English and Idọma Sentence Structures: Implications for Language Education. Interdisciplinary Journal of Education, 7(1), 14–31. https://doi.org/10.53449/ije.v7i1.35
Trainin, N., & and Shetreet, E. (2021). It’s a dotted blue big star: on adjective ordering in a post-nominal language. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 36(3), 320–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2020.1839664
Zakaria, N. A. I. (2024). Am I good at this?’Connecting ESL learners’ interest and perceived competence in grammar learning. https://doi.org/10.17977/um043v6i2p171-186
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 LD. Dian Hidayat
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
