An Error Analysis on the Use of Tenses in Writing Personal Letter of Eighth Grade Students of SMP N 1 Puring, Kebumen in the Academic Year of 2012/2013

Abstract

English is an international language which is the most commonly used to communicate by the people among the different countries. Writing is not an e y ly our ideas into written symbol, but also as subject because it is transcribing not on thinking process. Writing is the most difficult activity for many students in Junior High School. Many students assume that writing is more difficult than other skills. As a kind of short functional text, personal letter can be a simple material for the students to produce their ability in writing. Many students make especially in the use of tenses. In English, tenses are the most important thing. There are structures and rules which should be used in arranging a sentence. This thesis has a purpose, it is to to give description what kind of errors the students’ have in using tenses in writing personal letter. Then the researcher classifies each error and identifies the causes of the students’ errors in using tenses in writing personal letter. In this research, the researcher uses descriptive qualitative method. The subject of this study is the eighth grade of SMP N 1 Puring in the academic year 2012/2013. She takes 33 students as the sample of this study. She uses test and interview w instrument. The test is made by the students spontaneously without looking up their ote or dictionary. Then, the researcher analyzes the students’ personal letters. fter analyzing the student’s personal letter, the researcher gets the result that the tudents’ error belongs to fair category. There are four kinds of errors that are ade by the students. There are omission (41.98%), addition (8.98%), isformation (36.79%), and misordering (12.26). Omission error was the most equent error that the students produced. It shows that the students get difficulties in using tenses in writing personal letter. They do not master grammar and most f them are lack of vocabulary. There are some causes of errors found in this research. They are interlingual error and intralingual error. Interlingual error is caused by the tendency of using their mother tongue structures and intralingual error is caused by the lack of grammar mastery of the learners. Besides, the students are lack of vocabulary, and they also don’t have enough willingness to open their dictionary