The particular dialect or language that a person chooses to use on any occasion is called a code 1094 Copyright © 2022 The Author IDEAS is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 License Issued by English study program of IAIN Palopo IDEAS Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) Volume 10, Number 1, June 2022 pp.1094 - 1100 Lexical and Syntactical Errors Performed by Junior High School Student in Writing Descriptive Text Masruddin1, Nasriandi2 1 masruddin_asmid@iainpalopo.ac.id, 2 nasriandi@umpalopo.ac.id 1 Institut Agama Islam Negeri Palopo 2 Universitas Muhammadiyah Palopo Received: 2022-05-18 Accepted: 2022-06-03 DOI: 10.24256/ideas.v10i1.3024 Abstract This study analysis the junior high school student’s lexical and syntactical errors in writing descriptive. This research applied qualitative research method. The source of data taken from the students writing. Those descriptive text were analyzed by classifying the error from two types of errors namely Lexical errors and syntactical errors. From this study, the researcher found lexical errors such as wrong spelling, false friend, the use of Indonesian word (code switching). While the syntactical errors namely error in pronoun, plurals, the use verb tense. Key words: error analysis, lexical Error, syntactical Error, descriptive text. Introduction In this global era, one of the international languages used until now is English. English is widely used as a means of communication all over the world (Newton et al. 2009). English is designed to develop knowledge and ability through four basic skills namely are Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. This research focused on writing or learns writing. (Aryni 1966) Grammatical rules still becomes the difficult problem for the students or learners in learning English. Especially in writing skill when the students want to start write sentences or paragraph in English language Grammar is a fundamental aspect in writing. It reflects the meaning, genre, and the discourse of the writing product. Besides, it reflects the content and meaning of the writing product. Sometimes, it seems very hard for the second language learner. The rules of grammar and writing are developed so that readers understand the information. (Tarbiyah 2014) Writing is not simple as the other language skills. Writing is a combination http://u.lipi.go.id/1457703302 mailto:masruddin_asmid@iainpalopo.ac.id mailto:nasriandi@umpalopo.ac.id IDEAS, Vol. 10, No. 1, June 2022 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 1095 between process and product. The process of writing includes getting and combining ideas. Brown (2004: 335) states that writing is simply the graphic representation of the spoken language and its written performance, is much like oral performance, the only difference lying in graphic instead of auditory signals. Writing is a complicated job, more so, writing in a foreign language. In other words, writing is a complex activity involving some stages of composition task completion. The writing process includes cognitive processes. Thus, mastering writing skill needs longer time then the other language skills. (Choironi, Sukirlan, and Suparman 2017) Error analysis in students’ writing has conducted by some researchers. They found errors related to subfield of linguistics namely phonology, morphology, syntactic, and semantic. A study was conducted by Kusumawardhani (2013) which the purpose is to know morphological and syntactical errors in English narrative composition. Faisyal (2015) also conducted a study that analyzed morphological and syntactical errors found in English composition. The participants were the students of Daarut Taqwa Islamic Boarding School Klaten. The result of the study showed that the students created more errors in syntax rather than in morphology with different sources of errors, those are language transfer, strategies of second language learning, and overgeneralization. Errors are not only found in students‟ writing but also in speaking when the students produced utterances. There is a research conducted by Hidayati (2011). The topic of her study is Error Analysis on a Short Speech. The analysis comprised pronunciation, morphology, and syntactic analysis. The researcher used the theory proposed by Brown (2000), namely omission, addition, and substitution type of errors. The findings of the study showed that the most dominant errors produced by the learners are morphological errors, followed by phonological errors, and syntactic errors. . I also conduct the study on subfield of linguistics, However, the object of study is the students written descriptive texts. The reason why the researchers choose this topic is that English lexical and syntactical system are important parts of English grammar. It is mostly seen as a trivial aspect. Yet, it is very important to learn. Barret and Chen (2011:2) conclude that the use of lexical and syntactical supports an understanding between the writer and reader; enabling the reader to locate where a noun or noun phrase is as well as identify if it is already understood. Furthermore, they also mention that English article involves the integration of semantic, pragmatic, and grammatical functions, as no one-to-one form-function mapping exists for each article, creating a large number of rules for students to be mastered (Barret and Chen 2011:3). The problems of this research are briefly stated as follows: What are the Lexical and Syntactical Errors performed by students in their descriptive text. Masruddin & Nasriandi Lexical and Syntactical Errors Performed by Junior High School Students in Writing Descriptive Text 1096 Method This research is a qualitative using language error analysis approach. In this case the focus of the error analysis is given to the errors made by the students when writing descriptive text. Here, the error was analyzed by the error analysis theory in second language learning. This research deals with the junior high school students at SMPN 8 Palopo. Data collection in this study uses several stages, namely 1) Data search; at this stage the researcher reads the results of the student's writing. The researcher also collects various errors made by students in their descriptive text. 2) Data classification; Data on translation errors that have been collected are classified into several groups such as generalization, ignorance of rules, application of incomplete language rules, and hypothesizing incorrect language rules. 3) Categorizing data; at the categorization stage of data, researcher categorizes data into various categories in each data classification such as errors in grammar and errors in meaning. Analysis of this research data is carried out through the following stages: 1. The recognition stage includes identifying activities lexical and syntactical errors made by students. 2. The description phase includes characterizing activities on lexical and syntactical students’ errors that have been identified previously. 3. The stage of explanation includes the activity of an explanation of the students’ writing. 4. The evaluation phase includes evaluation of lexical and syntactical errors in students’ writing. 5. The correction stage includes the activity of correcting lexical and syntactical errors in student descriptive text.(Merris & Sari, 2019) . Results The result of data analysis shows the examples of lexical and syntactical errors performed by the junior high school students as follows: 1. Types of Lexical Error The language that produced by students of foreign language almost inevitably contains errors of various types. This is the process of learning, especially in learning foreign language. The evidence shows that lexical errors are the most frequently occurring category of errors in written English. This is occurred because lexical selection consists mainly of content words, which explain the intended message that written by the students. a. Wrong Spelling Spelling is forming words with the correct letters in the correct order. Spelling error or misspelling is the misselection of a grapheme to represent a syllable or morpheme in forming part of a word (James, 1998:133). In wrong spelling the IDEAS, Vol. 10, No. 1, June 2022 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 1097 researcher finds 61errors. For example: *The student very beatifuel and handsome. In this case, the students were using a letter to represent a sound which identical to the sound of name of that letter. It occurs caused the students apply Indonesian language into English language and/or the students do not understand about what they heard. The correct sentence is beautiful. b. False Friend (Similar in Form) False friends are the words that are similar in spelling and/or pronunciations in two languages but have different meanings. The researcher finds 1 error. For example: *There is a black boat in class. From the sentence, the word boat has meaning for the name of vehicle in the sea, but the students think that boat is think that is used for teaching media. The correct word is board for teaching media. c. The Use Indonesian Word/ Code Switching The students have used Indonesian word to switch cultural bound words which untranslatable. The students are difficult to find equivalent words to switch them. For example: *In school I am study many pengetahuan. The sentence clearly shows that the students used Indonesian word in their sentences. It is student’s error because the target language that they produce still uses Indonesian word. The correct word is knowledge. 2. Type of Syntactical Errors a. Pronoun A pronoun is a part of speech based on grammar. A pronoun can replace a noun or another pronoun. The researcher finds 12 errors. The researcher classifies into two types. The first is subjective for possessive adjective For example: *I school is in SMP AL-Islam Kartasura. From the sentence above, the pronoun I has function for subject in the sentence, so it is become error as wrong choice of pronoun. The correct is using my for possessive adjective in the sentences above. The second is subjective for objective. For example: *Me have many kind teacher. It is not appropriate, because me indicates of subject. So it should be subjective, so the correct pronoun is using I. b. BE A good sentence always needs verb in the composition. If there is no full verb, it can be given linking verb in the composition. BE can be used as linking verb. The types of error categorized as Addition of BE in Subject, Omission of BE in Subject and Omission of BE as Predicate. In addition of BE in subject, the researcher finds 6 errors. For example: *I am study in SMP AL-Islam Kartasura. From sentence, the Masruddin & Nasriandi Lexical and Syntactical Errors Performed by Junior High School Students in Writing Descriptive Text 1098 incorrect sentence is being added to be am. The correct sentence is without to be am. In omission of BE in subject, the researcher finds 3 errors. c. Plural In English, plurals of nouns are normally indicated by the ending –s or –es. Plural is containing, involving or composing of more than one person or thing. The third is plural. In English, plurals of nouns are normally indicated by the ending –s or –es. Plural is containing, involving or composing of more than one person or thing. The researcher finds 20 errors. For example: *Many room in SMP AL-Islam Kartasura. From the sentence the students made error in omitting word (-S) as plural marker in their sentence. The correct sentence is many rooms in SMP AL-Islam Kartasura. d. The Use of Verb Tense Students often made errors when they write sentences, especially when they use word have. It is happened because the words have similar in the meaning. There are two types error of the use of verb tense, the first is misuse of have for example: *My school have a porwotaman. From the sentence, subject my school should be followed has. The correct sentence is my school has a porwataman. The second is misuse of has for example: *I has many kind friend and kind teacher. From the sentence, subject I should be followed have. The correct sentence is I have many kind friend and kind teacher. Based on the data, the researcher tries to find out the sources of lexical and the syntactical errors. In order to find the sources of errors itself, he should identify the sources of errors. The researcher classified the sources of errors into two errors. Those errors are interlingual transfer and intralingual transfer that explain and discuss below. In interlingual transfer, the students usually transfer the system of mother tongue into second language that they learn. According to Brown (1993:213) “the beginnings stages of learning a second language are characterized by a goal deal of inter lingual transfer from native language or interference”. The intralingual transfer is the source of errors that is produced by the learners who do not reflect the structure of mother tongue but a generation based on the partial exposure to the target language. (Effendy 2014). Conclusion The result of this study shows that from junior high school made many errors in their writing descriptive text. The result of analysis was the error student’s writing grouped into three main categories, namely: lexical errors, syntactical errors and source errors. After conducting the research and measuring the students‟ capability on using English lexical and syntactical system in writing descriptive texts, It is IDEAS, Vol. 10, No. 1, June 2022 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 1099 suggested that they pay more attention to the teaching and learning activities especially regarding to grammar. It is also best for them to increase their study towards English lexical and syntactical system. (Case and Mia 2016) The teacher should do the remedial teaching for the students which have some problem especially lexical and syntactical in their writing composition descriptive text by an Error analysis. The remedial teaching can be held as bellow (Choironi, Sukirlan, and Suparman 2017) 1. The teachers should use Error analysis to know the most error source and type made by the students. Using Error Analysis they know which problems faced by the students. The teacher select which student’s will get a remedial teaching 2. The teachers provides methods to treat the problem faced by the students. After understanding the problem, the teachers should analyze and provides some methods to treat the problem. 3. The teachers hold remedial teaching. This is a main step of the remedial teaching. The teachers hold remedial teaching according the rule. References Aryni, Yen. 1966. “Analysis Students’ Errors Writing Descriptive Text Using Present Tense.” The British Journal of Psychiatry 112 (483): 211–12. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.112.483.211-a. Case, A, and Class X Mia. 2016. AN ERROR ANALYSIS ON THE USE OF ENGLISH ARTICLES IN STUDENTS’ WRITTEN DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS A Case of Class X MIA 1 of SMA N 1 Binangun, Cilacap in the Academic Year 2014/2015. Elt Forum - Journal of English Language Teaching. Vol. 5. Choironi, Nur, Muhammad Sukirlan, and Ujang Suparman. 2017. “Error Analysis of Students Writing Descriptive Text Based on Surface Starategy Taxonomy.” U-Jet 6 (3): 368. Effendy, E. 2014. “An Error Analysis in Writing Descriptive Text.” Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, 1–15. Masruddin, Masruddin. The Importance of Using Technology in English Teaching and Learning. IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature, [S.l.], v. 2, n. 2, aug. 2018. ISSN 2548-4192. Available at: https://ejournal.iainpalopo.ac.id/index.php/ideas/article/view/36 Masruddin & Nasriandi Lexical and Syntactical Errors Performed by Junior High School Students in Writing Descriptive Text 1100 doi:https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v2i2.36. Masruddin, Masruddin, The Efficacy of Using Short Video Through Group Work in Teaching Speaking to Indonesian English As Foreign Language (EFL) Students (September 1, 2018). Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 9. Number 3. September 2018 . Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3258815 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3258815 Masruddin, M. (2016). The Efficacy of Using Language Experience Approach in Teaching Reading Fluency to Indonesian EFL Students . Arab World English Journal,7 (4). DOI: dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol7no4.21 Masruddin, Masruddin, The Efficacy of Using Language Experience Approach in Teaching Reading Fluency to Indonesian EFL Students (December 2016). Arab World English Journal (AWEJ), Volume 7, Number 4, December 2016 . Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2898635 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2898635 Musthoriah, Siti. 2017. “An Error Analysis of Descriptive Writing Made.” Newton, Adrian C., Ross A. Hill, Cristian Echeverrí a, Duncan Golicher, Jose M. Benayas, Luis Cayuela, and Shelley A. Hinsley. 2009. “Remote Sensing and the Future of Landscape Ecology.” Progress in Physical Geography 33 (4): 528–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133309346882. Pratama, Rizky Edo. 2015. “An Error Analysis in Writing Descriptive Text Made by Eight Grade Students of SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Masran in 2014/2015 Academic Year,” 1–18. http://eprints.ums.ac.id/35255/1/PUBLICATION ARTICLE.pdf. Sholihatun. 2017. “An Error Analysis on the Use of English Article in Descriptive Texts Written By the Eighth Grade Students of Smp Nurul Iman Palembang.” Tarbiyah, Faculty O F. 2014. Error Analysis on the Students. Wahyuningsih, Sungkawati Kardi. 2016. “Grammatical Errors Analysis in the Descriptive Writing of the Semester 3 Students of English Education Department of STAIN Gajah Putih.” Journal of Education 1 (1): 60–65. https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v2i2.36 https://ssrn.com/abstract=3258815 https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3258815 https://ssrn.com/abstract=2898635 https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2898635