Microsoft Word - 11. JASL-JUN 2020 (106-114).docx Journal of Applied Studies in Language, Volume 4 Issue 1 (Jun 2020), p. 106-114 p-issn 2598-4101 e-issn 2615-4706 © Politeknik Negeri Bali http://ojs.pnb.ac.id/index.php/JASL 106 The incorrect use on tenses in job advertisements Reny Juliana1 Asti Purbarini2 Ifan Iskandar3 Universitas Negeri Jakarta1,2,3 email: renyjuliana_pb15s2@mahasiswa.unj.ac.id1 email: astipurbarini@unj.ac.id2 email: ifaniskandar@unj.ac.id3 Abstract - The research aimed at identifying the types of errors and the frequency of types of errors in using simple present tense, simple past tense, and simple future tense in job advertisements. The research was qualitative research. The qualitative method used was content analysis. The data of the research were taken from the errors of simple present tense, simple past tense, simple future tense usage in job advertisement. While the source of data was taken from job advertisements in www.jobstreet.com. There were twenty texts taken as samples. The data analysis used the theory from Ellis that there were several steps in analyzing errors which include collecting data samples, identifying data, describing errors, explaining errors and evaluating error (Ellis, 1994). The result showed that the errors in using simple present tense was higher than in using simple future tense. In the use of simple present tense, there were two errors of auxiliary omission (66,67%), and one (33,33%) error of verb misinformation. In the use of simple past tense, there was zero (0%) error. In the use of simple future tense, there were one (50%) error of verb + ing omission, and one error (50%) of verb + ing misinformation. The result of the study can be used as input to avoid further errors. Keywords: error analysis; the use of tenses; job advertisement Journal of Applied Studies in Language, Volume 4 Issue 1 (Jun 2020), p. 106-114 p-issn 2598-4101 e-issn 2615-4706 © Politeknik Negeri Bali http://ojs.pnb.ac.id/index.php/JASL 107 1. Introduction Job advertisements can be found in many media such as magazines, newspapers, televisions, radios, and internets. Based on Hornby (2010), an advertisement is a notice, picture, or film telling people about a product, job or service. While Bex (1996) explains an advertisement is a text that functions to draw goods and services to offer the attention of as wide an audience as possible. In summary, job advertisements are used by institutions to persuade people who seek jobs to apply there. Many job advertisements are written in English. It indicates that English is popular among the media and people. As English is popular, readers should understand the information in job advertisements that include the profile of corporations or institutions, the requirements and job descriptions that are explained. Also, to make the job advertisement understandable, the job advertisement writers should convey the correct messages to readers by using the correct grammar. English grammar includes many aspects. One aspect is tense. To express times in job advertisement correctly, tenses are used as tools to keep effective communication. In doing that, various aspects of verbs should be decided such as stating facts, future actions and expressing completed actions. Then, the structures of verbs should be matched with the time. In summary, the need for the skills of specific grammar namely simple present tense, simple past tense, simple future tense is needed to support writing job advertisements. This research focuses on the error analysis of using tenses that are simple present tense, simple past tense, and simple future tense in job advertisements. While the purposes are to identify the error analysis on simple present tense, simple past tense and simple future tense, the types of errors and the frequency of types of errors in the job advertisements. The benefit of this study is that it is suggested that job advertisement writers pay more attention to the use of tenses so that the causes of errors can be avoided. Besides, the proofreading should be done to minimize the errors. Job advertisements as a type of advertisement have been described by experts. According to Bex (1996), advertisements have different purposes based on potential costumers. The measurement of a successful advertisement is that customers are interested in buying goods or services. In the case of job advertisements, applicants are interested to apply and join the corporations. Therefore, one indication of successful advertisements is that readers understand the message of advertisements. It can be reached through the correct use of tenses in job advertisements. Tenses are fundamental forms to arrange sentences. As the research is about the analysis of simple present tense, simple past tense, and simple future tense, the discussion will be restricted about the three terms. Berk (1999) explains that a simple present tense has some functions. They are habitual action, state, universal truth, planned future event, commentary, performative, and history. While the simple past tense is used to express the actions that are over and with. The simple present tense has a standard form. Greenbaum and Nelson (2003) explain the rule of the form is as follows. Present tense Singular Plural 1st person am 2nd person are are 3rd person is Journal of Applied Studies in Language, Volume 4 Issue 1 (Jun 2020), p. 106-114 p-issn 2598-4101 e-issn 2615-4706 © Politeknik Negeri Bali http://ojs.pnb.ac.id/index.php/JASL 108 Forming simple sentences using verb requires -s inflection for the third person and no inflection elsewhere such as John says, and I say. Simple past tense also has some rules. Greenbaum and Nelson (2003) explain as follows. Past tense Singular Plural 1st person was 2nd person were were 3rd person was The rules of forming sentences using verbs are regular verbs have the rules of adding suffix -d/ed, while the irregular verbs have different form such as He laughed loudly and I did my homework. To refer future time, Greenbaum and Nelson (2003) adds there are three ways to express it. Using simple present tense, present progressive, and combining will and the base form can be used to refer future time. The classification of errors is needed to describe the error. Describing these errors is useful for getting conclusions and can be utilized in the development of further writing. Dulay et al., (1982) explain that they are grouped into errors based on linguistic categories, surface strategies, comparative analysis, and communicative effects. The purpose of error description is to describe the error categories based on the categories that can be seen and report the results of research. So, the classification of errors is based on the taxonomy of surface strategies, namely omission, addition, misinformation, and mis ordering. This taxonomy shows how the surface arrangement changes or deviates. The possibility of making errors is seen from this taxonomy, namely omission, addition, misinformation (wrong formation), and mis-ordering (wrong order) (Dulay et al., 1982). (a) Omission Omission is marked by omitting elements that should be put in a sentence. This omission can result in non-grammatical sentences and not in accordance with existing rules (Dulay et al., 1982). An example of omission is in the following sentence. He a student The sentence above is a sentence that is not accepted in English grammar, because auxiliary (am) is omitted. The correct sentence is: He is a student (b) Addition Addition is the opposite of omission. Additions are marked with the addition of elements that should not be present in the sentence. Addition occurs because there writers who are too careful in using certain language rules (Dulay et al., 1982). There are three types of errors that are: - Double marking Double addition is a failure in removing certain items (Dulay et al., 1982). The example is as the following example. She doesn't cooks the food. The sentence above is a sentence that uses simple present. In negative sentence, the main verb eats should be in the basic verb eat. - Regulation Regulations are rules where they are not needed (Dulay et al., 1982). Journal of Applied Studies in Language, Volume 4 Issue 1 (Jun 2020), p. 106-114 p-issn 2598-4101 e-issn 2615-4706 © Politeknik Negeri Bali http://ojs.pnb.ac.id/index.php/JASL 109 The example of regulatory errors can be seen from the word fishs which should be without the addition of the suffix -s. The word fish in the plural form is the same as the singular. - Simple Addition Simple additions are additions that cannot be explained as double marking or regulation (Dulay et al., 1982). The example is the use of the preposition 'in over here' which should not appear simultaneously. (c) Misinformation Misinformation is an error in using certain structures or morphemes in a sentence. One formation is also called a mis selection error (Dulay et al., 1982). The example is in the following sentence: He met me. The misuse of the word ‘meeted’ does not agree with the simple past rules. The past tense of the verb meet is met. (d) Mis-ordering This error is marked by the placement of an incorrect morpheme in the sentence (Dulay et al., 1982). The example is in the following sentence What you are talking about? The sentence has an incorrect arrangement. The subject you should be placed after the auxiliary are. Research on language errors can be done by analyzing errors produced by writers. Those errors are needed to be evaluated as they can be a gap of communication between the writers and readers in job advertisements. Errors can be an input for the writers for the next improvement of job advertisement writing. There are some researches on language errors that have been done. First, the research that was done by Seitova in 2016. The purpose of the research is to identify common errors in compositions and translations written by students. The result showed that there were seven common errors that were committed by students namely pluralization, subject-verb agreement, articles misuse, preposition misuse, spelling, and misuse like+ing form. Next, the research of errors that were committed by Atmaca in 2016. The purpose of the study was to identify students’ error writing that was found in the examination. The result showed that the error writing included preposition, articles, verbs, sentence structure, punctuation, gerund, pluralism, and word choice. The error categories were then divided into omission, overuse, and misuse. The participants were also asked to give insight into the interview session. The interview session promoted various perspectives for teachers to treat learners’ errors. Third, the research that was done by Xia in 2015. The purpose of the research was to investigate the errors of word classes made by university students in their writings. The result showed that students tend to misuse adjectives as nouns. The researcher also gave some suggestions that included all inflected forms of the same word class in the textbook. Exercises would be given as the practices to reduce the students’ errors. Last, the research that was done by Parvizi, Shafipour & Mashayekh in 2016. The purpose was to identify the nature of translating advertisement from English to Persian and vice versa. Most errors in Persian translation were about grammatical and lexical interferences, while in English translation, it was related to misunderstanding Journal of Applied Studies in Language, Volume 4 Issue 1 (Jun 2020), p. 106-114 p-issn 2598-4101 e-issn 2615-4706 © Politeknik Negeri Bali http://ojs.pnb.ac.id/index.php/JASL 110 misinterpretation of semantic and pragmatic aspects of the slogans. There are similarities and differences among the researches. The similarity is that the purposes of the studies are to find out language errors. While the difference is that the texts used include academic and non-academic texts. The first and second researches focus on any error found in students’ writings. The third research focuses on analyzing word-class errors. While the last research focuses on the students’ errors in translation. The four researchers write some suggestions. Teachers and lecturers should give more exercises and writing assignments. They also have to provide feedback so that students know their weaknesses so that improvement in teaching and writing can be done. Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that it is needed to do the research on errors about non-academic texts as there are a few types of research of error analysis about non-academic texts. The research of error analysis in students’ writings that had been done was about grammatical features in general and word class, so that the research about error analysis on specific grammatical features namely simple present tense, simple past tense, and simple future tense in job advertisements can be done. 2. Method The research was qualitative research. The qualitative method used was content analysis technique. Content analysis is a research technique to make replicable and valid inferences from the text (or other meaningful matters) to the context of use (Krippendorf, 2004). The data of the research were taken from the errors of simple present tense, simple past tense, simple future tense usage in job advertisements. While the source of data was job advertisements taken from www.jobstreet.co.id. There were twenty texts of job advertisements. While the data collection used in the research was documentation. The data analysis used the theory from (Ellis, 1994) that there were several steps in analyzing errors which include collecting data samples, identifying data, describing errors, explaining errors and evaluating errors. Errors made repeatedly need to be reviewed and acted upon to improve further writing by analyzing these errors. According to Corder in Ellis (1994), there are several steps in analyzing errors which include collecting data samples, identifying data, describing errors, explaining errors and evaluating errors. The explanation is as follows. (a) Collection of data samples At the data collection stage, researchers collect language errors for example essays, test papers, or utterances Corder in Ellis (1994). (b) Identification of errors Identifying data includes the stage of distinguishing between errors and mistakes. Errors occur because of a lack of knowledge while mistakes occur when someone fails to carry out his competence Corder in Ellis (1994). (c) Description of errors This stage is the stage of classifying errors in the field of morphology, syntax, or vocabulary. The classification is then operated again into smaller subcategories. The classification of errors in question is to use the surface taxonomy of omission, addition, Journal of Applied Studies in Language, Volume 4 Issue 1 (Jun 2020), p. 106-114 p-issn 2598-4101 e-issn 2615-4706 © Politeknik Negeri Bali http://ojs.pnb.ac.id/index.php/JASL 111 misinformation, and mis-ordering (Corder in Ellis, 1994). So, the stages of describing errors will be the basis for researchers to reveal errors in specific groups. (d) Explanation of errors This stage is an explanation of the cause of the error. The source is divided into three namely: (1) A transfer is an error caused by the use of first language habits in second language learning. (2) Intralingual is the errors that are caused by the second language itself. (3) Unique, namely errors that are not included in the transfer or interlingual (Corder in Ellis, 1994). (e) Evaluation of Errors Error evaluation includes consideration of the effects of errors. The effect of the errors can be measured by understanding the meaning of the text. In the process of evaluating errors, there are a number of things to consider: (1) Who will judge? Those who judge mistakes can be made by native speakers or non- native speakers. (2) What errors are scored which include lexical, grammatical, and pronunciation errors? The instrument used was a collection of text that contained errors. (3) How errors are assessed In this process, the assessor is asked to correct the errors of the writer (Corder, in Ellis 1994). From the explanation above, it can be concluded that the analysis of errors consists of collecting data samples, identifying data, describing errors, explaining errors and evaluating errors. These steps will give input to improve further writing. 3. Results and Discussion The source of the data was taken from twenty job advertisements from www.jobstreet.co.id. The advertisements were then analysed by referring to the simple present tense, simple past tense, and simple future tense. The findings of the research are as follows. 3.1 Errors in Using Simple Present Tense Based on the findings, errors made by the writers in using simple present tense were omission of auxiliary be, and misinformation of verbs in simple present tense. The result of analysis can be seen in the following table: Table 1 Errors in Using Simple Present Tense Characteristics of errors Types Frequency Auxiliary omission 2 (%) of be Verb misinformation 1 (%) Based on Table 1, it can be seen that there are two (66,67%) errors of auxiliary (be) omission and one (33,33%) errors of verb misinformation. This implies that the use of simple present tense is good but needs to be checked and proof read before the Journal of Applied Studies in Language, Volume 4 Issue 1 (Jun 2020), p. 106-114 p-issn 2598-4101 e-issn 2615-4706 © Politeknik Negeri Bali http://ojs.pnb.ac.id/index.php/JASL 112 advertisements are released in the job advertisement website. The example of misinformation error can be seen from the following sentence. If you succeeded, you will be involved in direct marketing campaign, approaching potential customers through event sales, alternatives outdoor activities, airport promotion, and road shows (Job ads 10, October 2019). From the sentence above, the error happens because the misinformation of the use of the word succeeded in the context of present activity. The correct sentence is If you succeed, you will be involved in direct marketing campaign, approaching potential customers through event sales, alternatives outdoor activities, airport promotion, and road shows (Job ads 10, October 2019). The other verb omission errors are also found in the text. It is the omission of be as the sign of simple present tense. The example of error is as the following example. This position for January 2020 (Job ads 14, October 2019). The correct sentence is This position is for January 2020 (Job ads 14, October 2019). 3.2 Errors in Using Simple Past Tense Based on the findings, there were zero (0%) error in using simple past tense. From the information above, it implies that the use of simple past tense in the job advertisements is perfect. 3.3 Errors in Using Simple Future Tense Based on the findings, errors made by the writers in using future tense were omission of verb infinitive, and misinformation of verbs in simple future tense. The result of analysis can be seen in the following table. Table 2 Errors in Using Simple Future Tense Characteristics of errors Types Frequency Verb omission 1 (50%) (verb + ing) Verb misinformation 1 (50%) (verb+ing) Based on Table 2, it can be seen that there are one (50%) error of verb + ing omission, and one (33,33%) error of verb + ing misinformation. This implies that the use of simple is good but needs to be checked and proof read before the advertisements are released in the job advertisement website. The example of omission error of verb +ing can be seen from the following sentence. Journal of Applied Studies in Language, Volume 4 Issue 1 (Jun 2020), p. 106-114 p-issn 2598-4101 e-issn 2615-4706 © Politeknik Negeri Bali http://ojs.pnb.ac.id/index.php/JASL 113 You will be the go to the person in the Telesales Team and to assist the Call Center Manager in the setup of Telemarketing campaign (Job ads 10, October 2019). From the sentence above, the error happens because the omission of the use of the verb + ing. The correct sentence is: You will be going to the person in the Telesales Team and to assist the Call Center Manager in the setup of Telemarketing campaign (Job ads 10, October 2019). The verb misinformation error is also found in the text. The example of error is as the following example. He/she will be reported directly to Head of TM and Human Capital Director (Job ads 6, October 2019). The correct sentence is: He/she will be reporting directly to Head of TM and Human Capital Director (Job ads 6, October 2019). Based on the findings, it can be concluded that - From Table 1, the writers need to pay more attention to the use of simple present tense, especially the use of be in simple present tense and the choice of verb of simple present tense. - From Table 2, the use of simple past tense is perfect. The writers should be careful about the use of verb + ing after auxiliaries will be. Even though the analysis of research is about non-academic texts, the result of the research is that errors still exist in non-academic texts. This is due to the fact that writing needs process and effort. To make cohesive sentences in a paragraph, tenses are required. It is correlated to Harmer (2004) that claims writers use tense agreement to make cohesiveness. If the writers do not use the correct tenses, the paragraphs will not hold together. To sum up, tenses are used to make sentences hold together. If the errors of using the simple present tense, simple past tense, simple future tense still exist, the message of the text cannot be understood clearly by the readers. If this research is compared to other researches that are mentioned in the previous explanation, the result is different. This research explains the errors of using simple present and simple future tense is very low. The use of simple past tense is perfect. Seitova (2016) explains that grammatical errors have the biggest percentage. The cause of errors is mainly because of the interference of the first language. Next, Atmaca (2016) adds the errors of using prepositions are the biggest. The errors are caused by interference (interlingual) and intralingual factors in the area of syntax. Also, in the third research, Xia (2015) describes the errors of using adjective has the biggest number. She also explains that the causes of errors in word classes are because of the interlingual and intralingual factors. Parvizi et al., (2016) Journal of Applied Studies in Language, Volume 4 Issue 1 (Jun 2020), p. 106-114 p-issn 2598-4101 e-issn 2615-4706 © Politeknik Negeri Bali http://ojs.pnb.ac.id/index.php/JASL 114 added the grammatical and lexical errors had the biggest percentage in Persian and English translation. So, the result of research on the errors of using tenses in non- academic texts is lower than the research in academic texts. 4. Conclusion Based on the discussion above, there are some conclusions. First, the result shows that the errors in using simple present tense are higher than in using simple future tense. In using simple present tense, there are two errors of auxiliary omission (66,67%), one (33,33%) error of verb misinformation. In using the simple past tense, there is zero (0%) error. In using the simple future tense, there is one (50%) error of verb + ing omission and one error (50%) verb + ing misinformation. Second, the writers tend to commit errors in using simple present tense and simple future tense. The frequency of errors in using simple future tense is lower than the simple present tense. Third, the types of errors found in using simple present tense include omission and misinformation. While the types of errors found in using simple future tense include omission and misinformation. 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