Grammatical Errors in Using Tenses Made by ESP Students

Sometimes the students of ESP or Non-English majoring error in using tenses. The low level of students' understanding of tense is one of the factors that greatly influences errors in making sentences. The objective of this research was to describe the students’ errors and its causes in using tenses. In this research, the writers used a qualitative method in a form of descriptive analysis (percentage) that included observation, collecting the students’ test, analyzing, and interpreting the data. For collecting the data, the researcher used test as the instrument. This research was conducted to 35 ESP students of Pharmaceutical Study Program of Institute of Health Science of Siti Khadijah Palembang. The result of the research showed that the percentage of the error made by 35 students as the samples in using tenses was 75%, consisted of the error of selection was 30%, the error of omission was 24% and error of ordering 21%. It means that the students of Pharmaceutical Study Program of Institute of Health Science of Siti Khadijah Palembang made error in using tense, because more than 70 % of the students made error. The probable sources of the students’ error were interlanguage error and context in learning error, where 52% errors were caused by interlanguage. Tenses


INTRODUCTION
Learning the English language is not as easy as we once imagined since there is a set of rules called grammar that must be learned. Grammar is one of the English components that every language learner is taught. It plays a crucial part in comprehending the English language. Students will struggle to construct sentences and articulate their ideas for communication tasks if they do not have a good understanding of grammar. However, if they have good grammar, they will feel confident speaking and writing English, and they will be able to use it accurately and clearly. According to Subasini & Kokilavani (2013) defines the sound, structure, and meaning system of language is known as grammar. Grammar exists in all languages, and each language has its own grammar. People who speak the same language can communicate because they intuitively understand the grammar system, or standards of meaning, of that language (Nurbianta et al., 2019).
There are some differences between Indonesian and English, especially about tense, as follows: in Indonesian "saya pergi ke pasar setiap hari minggu'. It shows habitually. Then, "saya sedang pergi ke pasar sekarang", it shows in the progress events. And then "saya pergi ke pasar kemarin", it shows pass events. Based on three sentences, it can be concluded that Indonesian does not need to change the verb, although the sentences have different time indicators.

METHOD
Descriptive research is a type of study referring to investigations which utilize existing data or a non-experimental research with a preconceived hypothesis (Seliger, H. W., & Shohamy, 1989). The purpose of the study is to analyze the errors of present continuous tense (Dulay, H., Burt, M., 1982) et all's theory. This research belongs to descriptive because the objective of the research is to describe the phenomena from the data that are derived from observational situation (Merriam, 2002).The researcher describes the phenomena of the obtained data naturally and objectively. The researcher analyzed the research based on the surface strategy taxonomy and the comparative analysis to infer the source of the errors (Ekta & Natalia, 2020). The researcher was interested in error analysis of grammatical specific in tenses because grammar is believed to contain valuable information on the strategies that learners use to acquire a language (Mohammed et al., 2015).
The researcher described the student's grammatical errors specific in tenses, analyzed the data, and finally inferred the causes they committed those errors. The result of this research was presented in the form of words and percentage. In line with the statement, the study describes the condition of the students' ability in using tense in a sentence. The steps of completing this research cover: (1)Reading some relevant books; (2)Formulating the problem and the objectives of the research; (3)Making a written test for students; (4)Doing the try out test to students to estimate its validity and reliability; (5)Collecting the data; (6)Analyzing the data; (7)Drawing the conclusion; and (8)Writing the research report.
The population in this study was the first year students at pharmaceutical study program of institute of health science of Siti Khadijah Palembang. In this study, the writer took 35 students as the sample of this study from the population by using random sampling. The data were collected through grammar test and questionnaire. The test was analyzed to identify the kind of errors were made by the students in using tense and to find the causes of errors. Meanwhile, the questionnaire was used to find out which were caused by context learning. The data analysis is applied in this study are percentage analysis and analyzing the error. The percentage is used to find out the students' individual errors. The formula is as follow: S : The Students' score E : the number of error answers N : Number of item Analyzing the Errors There were three ways to analyze the errors. They are as follow: 1) Sorting the data: Checking the students' answer, 2) Identification: identify the errors made by the students in making present continuous tense, 3) Justification: after identifying the errors (Ellis, 1994) , so the writer will be able to make justification what of errors the students in making present continuous tense Meanwhile in analyzing the questionnaire the writer checked item by item of the questionnaire, the purpose is to find out the causes of errors. The formula is used: Where : SR : The Students' Response YA : Yes Answer N : The total of questionnaire According to Brown (1994) argued that error refer to the inter language competence of learner that noticeable deviation of an adult grammar and mistake refer to performance error that is a random guess.
Based on the definition above, the writer tended to determine the criteria of errors by herself. If one of item is not correct which made by at least 70% of the students, it is an error. If less than 70% means it is a mistake.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Finding of the study included the result of the test, the kinds of errors and the sources of errors in using present continuous tense. The writer found that 75% of the sample made error in using present continuous tense. The students made error in three kinds of error as selection 30%, error of omission 24% and error of ordering 21%. And the source of the students' error were interlanguage error 52% and context of learning error, 32% of the students said that the atmosphere of the class does not support the teaching and learning process.
The result of the test was students made error in using present continuous tense. Based the criteria of error which was made by at least 70% of the students, it was error. If less than 70%, it was mistake and the writer found that 76% of the students made error, it means that the students made error in using present continuous tense.

Kinds of Students' Error in Using Present Continuous Tense
In this study, the writer found that there were three kinds of error made by the sample. They were error of selection, error of omission, error of ordering (Corder, 1981).

Error of Selection
The most common error made by students was selection error (Wirawan, 2019).Error of selection is the wrong form of the structure that made by the students. The writer found that 30% of the students made error selection, several examples of error of selection made by the students can be seen in the following table:

Incorrect item
Description of error Correct item My mother are cutting onion and chili in the kitchen Are has been wrongly used, because the singular subject must be followed by to be "is" Was has been wrongly used, because the singular subject must be followed by to be "is" My mother are cutting onion and chili in the kitchen You tekeing a rose in grandmother's garden Tekeing hase been wrongly used because based on the rules in spelling of -ing, if a consonant if followed by "e" drop "e" and adding -ing, and after the subject must You are take rosing grandmother's garden You is taking a rose in grandmother's garden You take a rose in grandmother's garden be followed to be "are" Form -ing has been wrongly used.
Is has been wrongly used, because the subject of you must be followed by to be "are" The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense. She doesnot sitting on the floor She was not sitting on the floor She not sit on the floor She has sitting on the floor Does has wrongly used because in present continuous tense after the subject "she" must be followed by "is". A baby has criying in the house. sentence in changing into present continuous tense.

The wrong form of verb -ing
Hendri and Handi is playing the kite in the field.
Hendri and Handi are play the kite in the field.
Hendri and Handi was playing the kite in the field.
Hendri and Handi playing the kite in the field.
Is has bee wrongly used, because the plural subject must be folowed by to be "are".

The wrong form of verb -ing
The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.
The wrong form of verb -ing .
Hendri and Handi are playing the kite in the field.
Aisyah and Khadijah do their homework.
Aisyah and Khadijah do their homework.

The wrong form of verb -ing
The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.
Aisyah and Khadijah are doing their homework.
We eatting a plate of fried rice.
We was eating a plate of fried rice.
We eats a plate of fried rice.
We are eat a plate of fried rice.

The wrong form of verb -ing
The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.
The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.
The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.
We are eating a plate of fried rice.
My sister watchesing a The wrong form of verb -ing My sister is watching a My sister are watching a film in her bedroom.
My sister is watchhing a film in her bedroom.

The wrong use do auxiliary
The wrong form of verb -ing film in her bedroom.
I am listening to the radio.
Do I am listening to the radio?
The wrong form of changing into negative sentence.
The wrong form of changing into interrogative sentence.
I am not listening to the radio.
She is not geting a new English book.
Is she not geting a new English book.

The wrong form of verb -ing
The wrong form of changing into interrogative sentence.

Is she getting a new English book?
My friend does not cutting her nail herself.
My friend is not cuting her nail herself.
My friend was not cutting her nail herself.
The wrong form of changing into present continuous tense.
The wrong form of verb -ing.
The wrong form of changing into interrogative sentence.
My friend is not cutting her nail herself

Error of Omission
The most common mistakes committed by students were omission errors (Masruddin, 2019).Error of omission in the absence of an item that must be wrote in a well form utterance. There were 23% of the students made error of omission. The several examples of error of omission are showed in the table below. Sleping has been wrongly used because in present continuous tense the word of sleep be sleeping the auxiliary of "am" was omitted the preposition of "on" was omitted A vegetable seller not selling her vegetable to my neighbour.
A vegetable seller is not selling her vegetable to neighbour.
the form-ing of selling, the letter "L" was Omitted. the auxiliary of "is" was omitted the possessive pronoun of "my" was omitted A vegetable seller is not selling her vegetable to my neighbour.

She is geting a new ring
She is getting a new ring the form-ing of getting, the letter "T" was Omitted the auxiliary of "is" was omitted She is not getting a new ring My brother is not cuting hair by himself.
My brother is cutting hair.
the form-ing of cutting, the letter "T" was Omitted the reflexive pronoun of "himself" was omitted.
My brother is not cutting himsefl.
We eating a plate of fried rice .
We are a eating fried rice.
We are eat a plate of fried rice .
We are eating a plate fried rice .
the auxiliary of "are" was omitted.
The word of "a plate of "was omitted The form -ing in the word "eat" was omitted.
The preposition "of" was omitted.
We are eating a plate of fried rice.

David is writing a novel
David is writing a new novel David writing a new novel

David is write a new novel
The word of "new" omitted The article of "a" was omitted.
The auxiliary of "is" was omitted The form-ing in the word "writing" was omitted David is writing a new novel.
We taking the course this The auxiliary of "is" was We are taking the sourse We are taking course this month.
We taking the course month.
omitted The article of "the" was omitted The word of "this" was omitted this month My sister boiling a pan of water My sister boiling a water The auxiliary of "is" was omitted The word of "a pan of" was omitted My sister is boiling a pan of water.

Error of Ordering
The elements that are not inserted in the right location are called ordering errors. Errors of Ordering are when a morpheme or a set of morphems is placed incorrectly in an utterance Corder (1971) in (Ginting et al., 2019). Error of ordering is the incorrect placement of a group of words in an utterance. There were 23% of the students made error of ordering. The several examples can be seen in the following table: The incorrect placement of the word "not" comes after the working The incorrect placement of the word "this" comes after the working The incorrect placement of the word "is" comes after the working The incorrect placement of the word "well" comes in the first sentence This machine is not working well

In the bank my brother is working
My brother is in the bank working My brother is a working in a bank

My brother working is in a bank
The incorrect placement of the word "in the bank my brother" that written in front of The incorrect placement of the word "working" comes after the "bank" The incorrect placement of the word "a" comes after the auxiliary The incorrect placement of possessive "my" comes after the "brother" The incorrect placement of auxiliary verb "is" comes after the "working"

My brother is working in a Bank
My aunt is boiling a water of pan The incorrect placement of the word "water" comes after article "a" The incorrect placement of auxiliary "is" comes after the "boiling" The incorrect placement of possessive "my" comes after the "aunt" He is French teaching this semester He is teaching this French semester He is teaching French semester this The incorrect placement of the word "French" comes after auxiliary The incorrect placement of the word "this" comes after the "teaching" The incorrect placement of the word "not" comes after the "teaching" He is teaching French this semester She is copying lesson her in that room She is copying her lesson in room that Copying is she lesson her in that room The incorrect placement of the possessive pronoun "her" comes after the "lesson" The incorrect placement of the word "that" comes after the "room" The incorrect placement of all the word, did not based on form of present continuous tense She is copying her lesson in that room Mr. Budi is singing old an song Mr. Budi is song an old singing Mr. Budi singing is an old song The incorrect placement of the word "old" comes after the "singing" The incorrect placement of the word "singing" comes after the last sentence The incorrect placement of the auxiliary "is" comes Mr. Budi is singing an old song

The percentage students' error in using present continuous
The percentage of each kind of the students' error in using present continuous tense can be seen in the following table: Based on the table above the percentage of the kinds of students' error, included error of selection was 30%, error of omission 24%, and error of ordering was 21%. The graph 1 below shows the percentage of each kind of error which was made by the students:

The Source of Error 3.3.1 Interlanguage Error
Based on the given test, the writer found that, one of source of students' error in using present continuous tense is interlanguage error (Frith, 1978). The writer found the students' error caused by interlanguage in grammar test (question type one and type three), interlanguage error is type of error caused by interference coming from students' language mother tongue. The following table shows the students' errors were caused by interlanguage error:

Incorrect item
Description of error Correct item My mother are cutting onion and chili in the kitchen My mother are cutting onion and chili in the kitchen Are has been wrongly used, because the singular subject must be followed by to be "is" Was has been wrongly used, because the singular subject must be followed by to be "is" My mother are cutting onion and chili in the kitchen You tekeing a rose in grandmother's garden Tekeing has been wrongly used because based on the rules in spelling of -ing, if a consonant if followed by "e" drop "e" and adding -ing, and after the subject must You are taking a rose in grandmother's garden 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Error of Selection Error of Omission Error of Ordering
You are take rosing grandmother's garden You is taking a rose in grandmother's garden You take a rose in grandmother's garden be followed to be "are" Form -ing has been wrongly used.
Is has been wrongly used, because the subject of you must be followed by to be "are" The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense. She doest not sitting on the floor She was not sitting on the floor She not sit on the floor She has sitting on the floor Does has wrongly used because in present continuous tense after the subject "she" must be followed by "is".
The wrong form of the sentence changing into present continuous tense The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.
The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.

She is not sitting on the floor
A baby is Criesing in the house A baby was crysing in the house A baby is crising in the house.
A baby has crying in the house.
Criesing has been wrongly used because based on the rules in spelling of -ing the word of cries been crying The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense. sentence in changing into present continuous tense.

The wrong form of verb -ing
Hendri and Handi is playing the kite in the field.
Hendri and Handi are play the kite in the field.
Hendri and Handi was playing the kite in the field.
Hendri and Handi playing the kite in the field.
Is has bee wrongly used, because the plural subject must be followed by to be "are".

The wrong form of verb -ing
The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.

The wrong form of verb -ing
Hendri and Handi are playing the kite in the field.
Aisyah and Khadijah do their homework.
Aisyah and Khadijah do their homework.
The wrong form of verb -ing .
The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.
Aisyah and Khadijah are doing their homework.
We eatting a plate of fried rice.
We was eating a plate of fried rice.
We eats a plate of fried rice.
We are eat a plate of fried rice.
The wrong form of verb -ing .
The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.
The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.
The wrong form of the sentence in changing into present continuous tense.
We are eating a plate of fried rice.
My sister watchesing a film in herbedroom.
The wrong form of verb -ing My sister is watching a film in her bedroom.

The wrong use do auxiliary
The wrong form of verb -ing .
I am listening to the radio.
Do I am listening to the radio?
The wrong form of changing into negative sentence.
The wrong form of changing into interrogative sentence.
I am not listening to the radio.
She is not geting a new English book.
Is she not geting a new English book.
The wrong form of verb -ing The wrong form of changing into interrogative sentence.
Is she getting a new English book.?
My friend does not cutting her nail herself.
My friend is not cuting her nail herself.
My friend was not cutting her nail herself.
The wrong form of changing into present continuous tense.

The wrong form of verb -ing
The wrong form of changing into interrogative sentence.
My friend is not cutting her nail herself I am ot sleping on the bed.
I not sleeping on the bed.
I am not sleeping the bed.
Sleping has been wrongly used because in present continuous tense the word of sleep be sleeping the auxiliary of "am" was omitted the preposition of "on" was omitted I am sleeping on the bed A vegetable seller is not seling her vegetable to my neighbour.
A vegetable seller not selling her vegetable to my neighbour.
A vegetable seller is not selling the form-ing of selling, the letter "L" was Omitted. the auxiliary of "is" was omitted the possessive pronoun of A vegetable seller is not selling her vegetable to my neighbor. her vegetable to neighbour.
"my" was omitted She is geting a new ring She is getting a new ring the form-ing of getting, the letter "T" was Omitted the auxiliary iof "is" was omitted She is not getting a new ring My brother is not cuting hair by himself.
My brother is cutting hair.
the form-ing of cutting, the letter "T" was Omitted the reflexive pronoun of "himself" was omitted.
My brother is not cutting himself.
Mr. David is a novel writing.

Writing a novel is Mr. David
Novel is a writing Mr. David

Mr. David is a writng novel
The incorrect placement of the word "a novel" comes after the auxiliary The incorrect placement of the word "writing a novel" that written in the first sentence The incorrect placement of all the words because did not write based on form of present continuous tense The incorrect of placement of the article "a" comes after the auxiliary Mr. David is writing a novel I am living until with my friend I can fine a house Until I can fine a house with my friend I living The incorrect placement of the word "until" comes after the "living" The incorrect placement of all the words because did not write based on form of present continuous tense I am living with my friend until I can find a house This machine is working not well Machine is not working this well The incorrect placement of the word "not" comes after the working The incorrect placement of the word "this" comes after the working This machine is not working well The incorrect placement of the word "is" comes after the working The incorrect placement of the word "well" comes in the first sentence In the bank my brother is working My brother is in the bank working

My brother working is in a bank
The incorrect placement of the word "in the bank my brother" that written in front of The incorrect placement of the word "working" comes after the "bank" The incorrect placement of the word "a" comes after the auxiliary The incorrect placement of possessive "my" comes after the "brother" The incorrect placement of auxiliary verb "is" comes after the "working"

My brother is working in a Bank
My aunt is boiling a water of pan My aunt boiling is a pan of water Aunt my is boiling a pan of water The incorrect placement of the word "water" comes after article "a" The incorrect placement of auxiliary "is" comes after the "boiling" The incorrect placement of possessive "my" comes after the "aunt"

My aunt is boiling a pan of water
He is French teaching this semester The incorrect placement of the word "French" comes He is teaching French this semester The incorrect placement of the word "this" comes after the "teaching" The incorrect placement of the word "not" comes after the "teaching" She is copying lesson her in that room

She is copying her lesson in room that
Copying is she lesson her in that room The incorrect placement of the possessive pronoun "her" comes after the "lesson" The incorrect placement of the word "that" comes after the "room" The incorrect placement of all the wod, did not based on form of present continuous tense She is copying her lesson in that room Mr. Budi is singing old an song Mr. Budi is song an old singing Mr. Budi singing is an old song The incorrect placement of the word "old" comes after the "singing" The incorrect placement of the word "singing" comes after the last sentence The incorrect placement of the auxiliary "is" comes after the "singing" Mr. Budi is singing an old song Based on the table above, it was found that students make error in using present continuous tense cause by using their mother tongue language. They made error because they do not understand how to make grammatical sentence. They do not understand how to form-ing in sentence and using to be in sentence. The students' errors caused by the interlanguage error were 53%. The percentage of the students' error caused by the interlanguage error shows in following table: Vol. 05 No. 01, July 2022, p 13-35

Content of Learning Error
In this study, the writer also gave the questionnaire test to find out the source of students' error which is caused by context of learning. The questionnaire consisted of 10 questions. From the questionnaire given, the writer found that 20% of the students enjoy learning English and 15% do not enjoy learning English, 30% said that English is difficult to be learned and 10% said that English is not difficult, 18% enjoys in grammar and 17% do not enjoy, 10% have a grammar book except the text book from the lecturer and 17% satisfied and glad with the lecturer performance and 10% do not satisfy, 13% said that their teacher explanation make them easy to understand the material and 22% said that it does not help, 28% said that the media is important and 7% said it is not important, 26% often bring their dictionary when learning English and 9% do not often bring it, and 3 said that the atmosphere of the class support teaching and learning process and 32% said that the atmosphere of the class does not support. To make clear the result of the questionnaire, it can be seen in the following table: In this section, the writer interprets the finding that had been discussed before. The percentage of the error made by 35 students as the samples in using present continuous tense was 75%, consisted of the error of selection was 30%, the error of omission was 24% and error of ordering 21%. It means that the first year students of Pharmaceutical Study Program of Institute of Health Science of Siti Khadijah Palembang made error in using present continuous tense, because more than 70% of the students made error. The probable sources of the students' error were interlanguage error and context in learning error, where 52% errors were caused by interlanguage error and from the questionnaire was given, the writer found that 57%of the students enjoy learning English and 43% do not enjoy learning English, 86% said that English was difficult to be learned and 14% said that English was not difficult, 51% enjoys in grammar and 49% do not enjoy, 29% have a grammar book except text book and 71% do not have, 14% often read related book of material and 86% do not often read, 49% satisfied and glad with the lecturer performance and 51% do not satisfy, 37% said that their lecturer's explanation make them to be easy to understand the material and 63% it does not help, 80% said that the media is important and 20% said it is not important, 74% often bring their dictionary when learning English and 26% do not often bring it, and 9% said that the atmosphere of the class support the teaching and learning process and 91% said that the atmosphere of the class does not support.

CONCLUSION
Based on the result of the study, it could be concluded that the percentage of the error made by 35 students as the sample in using present continuous tense was 76%, consisted of the error of selection was 30%, the error of omission was 24%, the error of ordering 21%. It means that the first year students' at pharmaceutical study program of Institute of Health Science of Siti Khadijah Palembang made error in using present continuous tense because more than 70% of the students made error. And the probable source of the students' error were interlanguage error and context in learning error, where 53% errors were caused by interlanguage error and from the questionnaire was given, the writer found that 57%of the students enjoy learning English and 43% do not enjoy learning English, 86% said that English was difficult to be learned and 14% said that English was not difficult, 51% enjoys in grammar and 49% do not enjoy, 29% have a grammar book except text book and 71% do not have, 14% often read related book of material and 86% do not often read, 49% satisfied and glad with the lecturer performance and 51% do not satisfy, 37% said that their lecturer's explanation make them to be easy to understand the material and 63% it does not help, 80% said that the media is important and 20% said it is not important, 74% often bring their dictionary when learning English and 26% do not often bring it, and 9% said that the atmosphere of the class support the teaching and learning process and 91% said that the atmosphere of the class does not support.