Erina Andriani
LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 2 2022
LET: Linguistics, Literature and English Teaching Journal
||Volume||12||Issue||2||Pages||307-326||2022||
|P-ISSN: 20869606; E-ISSN: 25492454|
Available online at: http://jurnal.uin-antasari.ac.id/index.php
Scrutinizing Grammatical Challenges
within Indonesian-developed Mobile Game: ‘Code Atma’
Erina Andriani
erinaelisabet@gmail.com
Sanata Dharma University of Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Article History:
Received: 6 June 2022
Accepted: 2 December 2022
The use of another language can cause barriers to
transferring ideas from one language to another, such
as grammatical challenges. It happens when the
structures for delivering information are different
within languages. Grammatical challenges can also
occur for Indonesian EFL users. To combat this,
various media are continuously developed to assist
with language learning and give exposure to the
English language in use. Games are an example of
excellent learning sources that provide texts,
descriptions, and stories. However, games might not
be developed by natives and could potentially
contain errors. Yet, previous research rarely
conducted grammatical error analysis on games.
Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the
grammatical challenges within the Code Atma game.
This study used document analysis to evaluate the
grammatical accuracy of the passages in Code Atma.
The findings showed that there were 630
grammatical errors, with verb errors accounting for
the highest percentage and incomplete sentences for
the lowest. is-selection was the type with the highest
number of errors, while blends were the lowest. The
implications of this study are the improvement of the
game’s grammatical aspect, the use of games as EFL
learning sources, and the identification of
grammatical errors using error analysis.
Keywords:
code atma game; error
analysis; grammatical
challenges; mobile game
http://jurnal.uin-antasari.ac.id/index.php
mailto:erinaelisabet@gmail.com
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INTRODUCTION
Grammar is essential in a language as it regulates the components of
language to achieve effectiveness in communication. Different language possesses
different grammar. Some grammar rules from different languages can be very
similar in certain aspects, but very different in the others (Rana, Owaidh, & Harbi,
2019). This may lead to confusions and challenges in transferring the message from
one language to another (Catford, 1965). Non-native speakers sometimes do literal
translation to the target language, which may cause grammatical errors (Aini, 2018;
Heryanti, Sucipto, & Makmur, 2017). Previous studies have revealed the influence
of L1 grammatical rules on the grammatical errors in L2 through grammatical error
analysis (Khumphee & Yodkamlue, 2017; Heryanti et al., 2017; Rana et al., 2019).
The study on linguistics also often covers the study on grammar use,
including grammatical challenges. Khumphee and Yodkamlue (2017) argue that
grammatical challenges in form of errors cannot be avoided, at least at the early
stages of target language use. In Indonesian context, this case of grammatical error
towards English language may be more common than other countries with English
as their second language, as English is not often as often. As the Indonesian people
are not used to using English, their grammatical accuracy in English may be lower
than in Indonesian. It is even more challenging as the root of English language and
Indonesian language are different (Aini, 2018), leading to significant grammatical
differences. The English as Foreign Language (EFL) users may face difficulties and
make more grammatical errors as they lack the grammatical fluency, which lets the
language users to adjust their grammatical knowledge based on the context of use
(Sakaguchi, Napoles, Post, & Tetreault, 2016). Therefore, transferring information
to the target language can still be difficult, that even a big platform that relies heavily
on the texts in English such as games can make grammatical errors.
Many types of games provide stories, whether in form of plots of the game
or character introduction, to engage the players. Some game types, such as visual
novels, even rely mainly on the playable stories. These types of game can be learning
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sources for language learners (Hidayat, Imani, & Ma'arif, 2021), as they provide
engagement and entertainment for the students. In addition, they are great sources
of actual use of language examples for the students but in an attractive form (Jabali,
Supriyono, & Nugraheni, 2020; Kurniawan, Jamaludin, & Heryana, 2020). As a
platform that relies heavily on texts, it is crucial for the games to reduce grammatical
errors in the stories and descriptions. Even if those games are not intended for
language learning, reducing grammatical errors can help avoiding possible
confusions for the players (Heryanti et al., 2017). Though previous studies have
revealed the use of game as the source of target language and investigated the
grammatical errors in texts (Amalo, Agusalim, & Murdaningtyas, 2017; Atashian &
Al-Bahri, 2018; Hidayat et al., 2021; Kumala, Aimah, & Ifadah, 2018; Kusumawati,
2020; Qamariah, Sri Wahyuni, & Meliana, 2020), to the best of the researchers’
knowledge, they rarely conducted grammatical error analysis on games, especially
those made by non-native developers. Therefore, this study intended to conduct
grammatical error analysis on an Indonesian-developed game, Code Atma. The
research question for this study is “What are the common types of grammatical
errors in the texts from Code Atma Game?” This study may promote the
improvement of English language usages within games, whether for entertainment
or language learning media and the use of games to provide actual examples of
English language in use.
Languages have sets of rules to govern their use and delivery. Different
languages often have different grammatical rules, and they sometimes are affected
by different roots of the languages (Aini, 2018). Therefore, the grammar of one
language may be different from the grammar for another language. The grammatical
rules are the framework of a language that rule the form, meaning, and usage (Hsu,
2013). They also regulate the structures, punctuations, word choices, and spellings,
among other aspects (Din & Ghani, 2019). They are important for communication,
especially in order to avoid ambiguity and misunderstanding. People use grammar
in spoken and writing contexts to communicate with others and it helps the users to
adjust based on the messages and occasions (Erlina et al., 2019). The use of grammar
in spoken language may not be as emphasized as in writing, as in writing, people
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need to carefully mind the grammar use and syntactic accuracy (Fithriani, 2020;
Marzulina et al., 2019; Mukminin et al., 2019).
The differences in grammatical rules from one language to another may
contribute to the challenges in mastering the grammar of the target language. For
example, Bahasa Indonesia and English have different sets of sounds and spelling
rules. This difference causes the users from each language to have the difficulties in
pronouncing and spelling the words (Fadda, 2012). Another example, in Bahasa
Indonesia, the plurality of words does not influence the forms of the verbs or
predicates, unlike in English. This concord or subject-verb agreement may be
another challenge for EFL learners, especially if they do not have this type of rule
in their native language (Fadda, 2012). Aside from the plurality and verb form,
another example related to the verb form is tenses. Some languages may not change
the verb from due to the temporal influence, like Bahasa Indonesia. This may be a
challenge, as the absence of temporal influence may cause confusions in
distinguishing different tenses and therefore cause grammatical inaccuracy
(Atashian & Al-Bahri, 2018). Not only the form and structure, the grammatical
changes also influence the meaning of sounds or words, so target language users
need to be wary of the word choices and use the proper vocabulary (Olsen, 1994).
Indeed, their native language may influence the use EFL users, and may be one of
the factors (Watcharapunyawong & Usaha, 2013) that causes challenges in learning
and applying a new language.
The challenges in transferring the grammar to one language to another may
lead to grammatical errors. The error in this case is the alteration from the proper
grammar (Najla & Fatimah, 2020), that shows the EFL learners’ language
proficiencies. Experts make distinctions between grammatical errors and mistakes,
where mistakes refer to the ‘slips’ that are not systematic (Brown, 2000). Even
native speakers can make grammatical mistakes. However, errors refer to the use of
incorrect grammatical forms, meanings, and usages (Hsu, 2013), which can be
systematic or repeated. The differences in the grammar from the native language can
make foreign language learner to make grammatical errors (Derrick, Paquot, &
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Plonsky, 2018; Khumphee & Yodkamlue, 2017), such as the forms of noun,
omissions, or sentence structures. In addition to the interference of the native
language, there are several other sources of grammatical errors. Iamsiu (2014) shares
four factors of grammatical errors, including overgeneralization, rule restriction
ignorance, incomplete rule application, and false concepts. Brown (2000) argues that
there are two sources of errors, including interlingual the native language
interference (interlingual error) and the lack of target language proficiencies as
influenced by the difficulty of the grammar (intralingual transfer). To improve
grammar use, language learners need to know the sources of their grammatical errors
and evaluate their grammatical errors.
One way to identify the errors in a written or spoken text is to conduct a
grammatical error analysis. An error analysis (EA) is a way that helps students or
researchers in identifying, grouping, and elaborating the errors within certain
sources (Corder, 1967; Khumphee & Yodkamlue, 2017; Heryanti et al., 2017). In
case of grammatical error analysis. In case of grammatical error analysis, it collects
the improper use of language forms and classify them (Crystal, 2018). This
grammatical error analysis can be a helpful tool to show the language learners’
knowledge of their target language, so they can evaluate their language learning
process (Corder, 1967; Fithriani, 2020; Promsupa, Varasarin, & Brudhiprabha,
2017). For example, if the language learners have higher error in their verb use
compared to their preposition use, the lesson can focus more in improving their verb
use for a more effective learning process. The grammatical error analysis may focus
on several language aspects, including in form of the wrong language forms,
meanings, and uses (Hsu, 2013; Kumala et al., 2018; Qamariah et al., 2020).
There are several perspectives regarding the target aspects of grammatical
error analysis. For instance, James (1998) shared five types of errors, including
omission (the absence of certain needed items), over-inclusion (the addition of
unnecessary items), misselection (the wrong used item), misordering (the wrong
order of morphemes), and blends (the use of two grammatical forms which resulting
in something ungrammatical). Atashian and Al-Bahri (2018) shared seven
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grammatical errors, including tenses, concords, apostrophes, adverbs, passive voice,
pronouns, and punctuations. Taşçi and Aksu Ataç (2018) shared the errors regarding
the incorrect use of parts of speech. Others argued more error components, including
11 (Qamariah et al., 2020), 12 (Heryanti et al., 2017), 26 (Khumphee & Yodkamlue,
2017), to 32 (Promsupa et al., 2017) components of grammatical errors for English
language. They revolve in similar categories, including the use of parts of speech,
punctuations, proper words to convey certain meanings, tenses, inclusion or
omission or certain morphemes or verbs, concord, and noun plurality among many
other varieties.
Previous studies have conducted grammatical error analysis to reveal and
evaluate the use or English as foreign language (EFL). Fithriani (2020) shared the
grammatical error analysis conducted on social study and mathematics and natural
science students’ writing, and showed that MNS students created more errors than
SS students, and that omission was the highest type of error done by the students.
similarly, Kumala et al. (2018) revealed the results of grammatical error analysis
and found that omission was the highest type of grammatical error. Khumphee and
Yodkamlue (2017) found 4.909 errors and shared 26 found types of grammatical
errors, with punctuation as the overall highest type of error found and noun
plurality as the highest type of grammatical error caused by L1 influence.
Similarly, Promsupa et al. (2017) found 32 sub-types of grammatical errors under
morphological and syntactical error types and found that noun plurality was the
highest sub-type of grammatical error. To improve grammar accuracy, a game can
be an engaging media to provide exposure for English grammar in use. Amalo et
al. (2017) shared that games, especially visual novel games can be used to enhance
language knowledge and even developed the game for English learners.
Kusumawati (2020) shared that a game could help the students’ understanding on
provided stories within the game, but found that subtitles were ineffective in
improving their vocabulary. Games can be an effective tool to introduce language
use of the target language while engaging them; however, the grammatical error
analysis on games had not been greatly explored yet, perhaps as they were expected
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to minimize the grammatical errors. Due to the possible prospective of games as
one of learning media sources, the researcher intended the exploration of
grammatical errors within an Indonesian-developed game Code Atma.
METHOD
This research employed qualitative research with document analysis.
Document analysis allowed the use texts as the data source (Creswell, 2012; Reger
& Kincaid, 2021). The data were gathered from the passages within Code Atma
game. Code Atma is a turn-based RPG game that provides stories as the context
while the players progressing in the game. In this research, the passages are limited
to: the chapter stories, the compendium (Atma/character) stories, the skill
descriptions, the lore, and the announcements. Therefore, this study used purposive
sampling to gather the data (Ary, Jacobs, Sorensen, & Razavieh, 2010) to select the
sources from those categories. There were seven chapters, two compendium stories,
Atma lore and skill descriptions from 27 Atma, and 22 announcement and notice
texts used in this study. The study was conducted on January to February 2022.
This research used a structured observation sheet as the instrument to gather
the data. The instrument was based on the theories by Fithriani (2020), James
(1998), Taşçi and Aksu Ataç, (2018); Promsupa et al. (2017), Rana et al. (2019)
resulting in 11 items, including: parts of speech, incomplete sentence, and
punctuation, and 5 types of error, including omission, over inclusion, miss-
selection, miss-ordering, and blends. To analyze the data, the researcher first read
through the story chapters, compendiums, skill descriptions, and announcements.
During reading the texts, the researcher reviewed the sentences to assess the
grammatical accuracy for each sentence and the components based on the
instrument. As the texts were still in form of digital corpus within the game, the
researcher transcribed the passages and highlighted the found grammatical errors
to code them and record the grammatical inaccuracies into the instrument. Then,
the researcher used the items in the instrument (rubric) to group the data into their
respective grammatical error categories. To provide further validity, the researcher
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used Grammarly application and assigned a proof-reader. The results then were
presented in groups based on the categories using percentages.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
This study tried to evaluate the grammatical challenges experienced by an
Indonesian-made RPG mobile game: Code Atma. The grammatical challenges
might occur within its stories, instructions, descriptions, and announcements.
Previous studies have evaluated grammatical challenges by conducting grammatical
error analysis (EA), resulting in errors in parts of speech, capitalizations, syntactic
constructions, or punctuations (Khumphee & Yodkamlue, 2017; Promsupa et al.,
2017; Rana et al., 2019). In addition, James (1998) grouped those errors into five
categories, including omission, over-inclusion, blend, incorrect selection, and
incorrect order.
After conducting the study, the researcher found total 630 grammatical
errors from the texts available in Code Atma game. The distribution of those errors
is as follows: 38 errors in 27 Atma’s lore texts, 35 errors in 22 announcement texts,
33 errors in 27 skill descriptions, 234 errors in compendium from three Atmas, and
290 errors from seven story chapters (Table 1). The number of errors might seem to
be gradually larger, but the lengths of the text from each category also got longer.
Among those text sources, the verb form had the highest number of errors.
The number of errors might seem to be gradually larger, but the lengths of
the text from each category also got longer. Though, it is worth to note that the errors
in the main stories were significantly lower than in Compendium stories, with
exception in main story’s Chapter 7. Among those text sources, the verb form was
the element with the highest number of errors, with more than half number of errors
(>50%) from each text category. This is in line with Fithriani (2020), Heryanti et al.
(2017), Khumphee and Yodkamlue (2017), and Qamariah et al. (2020). The second
highest number of errors belonged to punctuation for Compendium (12.4%) and
main story (29.3%) chapters, in line with Heryanti et al. (2017) and Khumphee and
Yodkamlue (2017), that punctuation errors often occur. Other text categories had
different elements with the second highest number of errors, including determiner
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in skill descriptions (14.7%), noun in announcement (20%), and conjunction errors
in Atma lore (13.2%). This finding regarding the determiner is in line with Fithriani
(2020), Heryanti et al. (2017), Hikmah (2020), and Rana et al. (2019). The findings
regarding the noun is in accordance with Fithriani (2020), Khumphee and
Yodkamlue (2017), and Promsupa et al. (2017), that noun errors occur quite several
times. The results regarding conjunction errors are in line with Fithriani (2020), but
in contrast to Khumphee and Yodkamlue (2017). Other elements had very low errors
(<10%) and some elements, such as pronoun, preposition, adjective, adverb, word
choice, and dependent clause, did not even have any error in several text sources.
The dependent clause category (incomplete sentence) even only occurred once. The
results regarding the low occurrences of preposition and word choice are in contrast
to Heryanti et al. (2017), Promsupa et al. (2017), and Rana et al. (2019), while the
findings regarding the low occurrences of pronoun and adverb are in contrast to
(Atashian and Al-Bahri (2018). The low adjective and incomplete sentence errors
are in line with Khumphee and Yodkamlue (2017).
Table 1. Errors within Code Atma Game
Errors Atma
Lore
Announcemen
t
Skill
descriptio
n
Compendiu
m chapters
Main
story
chapters
n % n % n % n % n %
Noun 3 7.9 7 20 3 8,8 6 2.6 5 1.7
Verb 2
5
65.
8
20 57 23
67.6
160
68.4
15
7
54.
1
Pronoun 1 2.6 1 2.9 2 6 6 2.6 5 1.7
Determiner - - 1 2.9 5 14.7 2 0.8 - -
Conjunctio
n
5 13.
2
1 2.9 -
-
17
7.3
21
7.2
Preposition 1 2.6 - - - - 5 2.1 10 3.5
Adjective - - - - - - 4 1.7 3 1
Adverb - - - - 1 2.9 2 0.8 2 0.7
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Punctuation 2 5.3 2 5.7 -
-
29
12.4
85 29.
3
Word
choice
1 2.6 3 8.6 -
-
3
13
1
0.4
Dependent
clause
- - - - - - - - 1 0.4
Total 3
8
100 35 100 34 100 234 100 29
0
100
The results in Table 1 show the grammatical challenges within the passages
found in Code Atma game. The errors within the found eleven elements could be
categorized into five types of errors, in accordance to Hikmah (2020), James (1998),
and Kumala et al. (2018). Those types are: omission, over-inclusion, blend,
incorrect selection, and inaccurate placement. The 630 errors were categorized into
those five categories, as presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Types of Errors within Code Atma Game
Errors Atma
Lore
Announcement Skill
description
Compendium
chapters
Main
story
chapters
n % n % n % n % n %
Omission 13 34.2 21 60.1 26 76.5 54 23.1 84 29
Over-
inclusion
1 2.6 6 17.1 2 5.9 14 6 15 5.2
Mis-
selection
18 47.4 6 17.1 5
14.7
155
66.2
186
64.1
Mis-
ordering
6 15.8 2 5.7 1
2.9
11
4.7
4
1.4
blends - - - - - - - - 1 0.3
Total 38 100 35 100 34 100 234 100 290 100
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When the researcher identified the errors in the text, the researcher also
recorded in what way the grammatical errors were considered inaccurate. The
errors then were grouped into five categories, as presented in Table 2. The
categories with the highest number of errors are mis-selection for main story
(64.1%), Compendium (66.2%), and Atma Lore (47.4%) text sources and omission
for announcements (60.1%) and skill descriptions (76.5%). The high occurrences
of omission are in line with Kumala et al. (2018), while the high occurrences of
mis-selection category are in line with Fithriani (2020). The categories with the
second highest number of errors are omission for Atma Lore (34.2%),
Compendium (23.1%), and main story (29%)) texts; mis-selection for
announcements (17.1%) and skill descriptions (14.7%); and over-inclusion for
announcements (17.1%). Mis-ordering type of error got especially high in Atma
lore texts (15.8%). Other than those, over-inclusion and mis-ordering had low
occurrences (<10%), while blends only appeared once, in the main story. The low
occurrences of over-inclusion category contradict the results from Fithriani (2020)
and Kumala et al. (2018) that share over-inclusion appeared quite often. However,
the low appearances of mis-ordering and blends are in line with Fithriani (2020).
Figure 1. Noun and Verb Errors (announcement)
In most cases, the errors occurred within one sentence. In Figure 1, the errors
regarding the concord in one sentence occurred, and it included the errors for verb
and noun elements. The determiner every is followed by a singular form of noun
(Azar & Hagen, 2016), so the floors that follows it is wrong. The error occurred
from the extra ‘s’ that indicated plural, so the error was categorized into over-
inclusion of the suffix -s. As for the verb, it should be a singular verb because the
subject is singular (Azar & Hagen, 2016; Khumphee & Yodkamlue, 2017; Rana et
al., 2019), with added -s in the end, so the verb form have is incorrect. The verb was
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mis-selected, so the error got into mis-selection category, in line with Fithriani
(2020).
Figure 2. Pronoun Error (Compendium-Drona)
Figure 2 is an example for pronoun errors found in Code Atma game. There
are several categories of pronoun; one of them is possessive pronoun (Azar &
Hagen, 2016; Khumphee & Yodkamlue, 2017). To indicate possessive, one can alter
the pronoun forms or add ‘s after the subject (Khumphee & Yodkamlue, 2017).
However, in Figure 2., in the noun phrase Drona heart, it lacks possessive pronoun
(‘s) that indicates the heart belongs to Drona. As the error is caused by the lack of
pronoun, it is categorized into omission (Kumala et al., 2018).
Figure 3. Determiner Error (skill description)
All determiner errors in Code Atma game fell into omission category. An
example for determiner error is presented in Figure 3. To indicate singular noun,
article a/an is often precedes the phrase (Heryanti et al., 2017; Qamariah et al., 2020;
Rana et al., 2019). In this case, the first phrase extra turn lacks the article an, as it is
an indefinite noun phrase, and the second extra turn phrase in the parentheses lacks
the article the as the readers know now what extra turn is being talked about, based
on Azar & Hagen (2016), Hikmah (2020), and Khumphee and Yodkamlue (2017).
This sentence lacks determiners, thus the type of error is omission, in line with
Fithriani (2020).
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Figure 4. Conjunction and Punctuation Errors (main story-Chapter 1)
Figure 4. shows an example of conjunction and punctuation errors. This
sentence has an error due to the lack of conjunction and to connect the noun phrases
(Fithriani, 2020). There should be a conjunction after the comma and before the
pitch black eyes phrase. In addition, the pre-modifier for eyes, pitch black needs a
hyphen to connect ‘pitch’ and ‘black’ (Azar & Hagen, 2016). As this sentence lacks
conjunction and and a hyphen, the errors are included in omission category, in
accordance to Kumala et al. (2018).
Figure 5. Preposition Error (main story-Chapter 7)
The occurrences of preposition error were rather low in all text sources.
Figure 5 shows an example of preposition error from the main story. The chunk
they’re still prison does not make sense, as it lacks a preposition in to indicate
location (Azar & Hagen, 2016), so it becomes ‘they’re still in prison’. As the
sentence lacks the preposition, the error is categorized as omission (James, 1998).
Figure 6. Adjective Error (skill description)
Figure 6 shows another error found in Code Atma game, specifically the
adjective element. The phrase the foe targeted is supposed to be a noun phrase, in
accordance to Wright and Hope (1996). However, the placement of the adjective
targeted is mis-located, as it needs to precede the noun foe (Andriani, Noviani, &
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Bram, 2021). Therefore, that phrase is considered as an error and the type of error is
mis-location (Fithriani, 2020) due to the misplacement of the adjective.
Figure 7. Adverb Error (main story-Chapter 6)
Over-inclusion was one of the types of error with low appearances in most of
the text sources, along with mis-location. One example of over-inclusion is an
adverb error, as shown in Figure 7. In this case, the adverb back followed the verb
come, and it was a proper placement (Azar & Hagen, 2016). However, the adverb
back was repeated, which was abundant (Heryanti et al., 2017). Therefore, it was
classified as an error, and it went to over-inclusion category (James, 1998), as the
adverb was repeated.
Figure 8. Word Choice Error (main story-Chapter 0)
The next error is regarding the word choices. This error only occurred less
than ten times in the observed text sources. Figure 8 is an example of word choice
error. In this case, the word yonders is an error, as its placement and meaning in the
sentence do not link with the rest of the words in the sentence. According to Oxford
Learner’s Dictionaries, the word yonder is defined as ‘over there’
(www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com, accessed in February 2022). It is
grammatically and semantically inaccurate to be placed in this sentence after the
subject to replace the predicate. The writer might want to use the word wanders,
which could make sense. Therefore, this sentence has a word choice error (Heryanti
et al., 2017), and the error belongs to the mis-selection category (Fithriani, 2020), as
the writer incorrectly choose the word yonder in place of something else.
http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/
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Figure 9. Dependent Clause Error (main story-Chapter 3)
The last error is dependent clause or incomplete sentence error. This type of
error occurred once in the game. As presented in Figure 9, the clause ‘just when she
was finally feeling free and happy’ is not a complete sentence, yet, because the
conjunction just when is a subordinating conjunction that requires an independent
clause to complete it, in line with Khumphee and Yodkamlue (2017). As this
sentence lacks an independent clause, the error is categorized as omission error, as
stated by James (1998).
The researcher evaluated the grammatical challenges within an Indonesian-
developed game, Code Atma. This game is an excellent example for promoting
Indonesian culture and folklore into an entertaining format using English language,
which allows broader target users. The researcher found 630 grammatical errors
within the game text sources, including the announcements, Lore, skill descriptions,
Compendium, and main stories. The errors mostly were in form of verb errors, along
with other errors in a smaller number of occurrences regarding the noun,
conjunction, adverb, punctuation, determiner, pronoun, preposition, adjective, word
choice, and dependent clause (Heryanti et al., 2017; Khumphee & Yodkamlue,
2017; Promsupa et al., 2017; Rana et al., 2019). Those errors were categorized into
omission and mis-selection, as the types with the most errors, along with mis-
odering, over-inclusion, and blend (Fithriani, 2020; James, 1998; Kumala et al.,
2018). Though the game might have quite some errors, it is a good start to take
revolutionize Indonesian tales and stories into an entertaining platform with English
language, which can be enjoyed by international users. In addition, it can also be a
fun learning media for English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners to be exposed
with English language from which they can learn (Amalo et al., 2017; Hidayat et al.,
2021; Kusumawati, 2020).
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CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This study investigated the grammatical challenges within an Indonesian-
developed idle game, Code Atma. 630 grammatical errors were found within the
text sources in the game, including in the announcement, Lore, skill description,
Compendium, and main story texts. The verb errors occurred the most, more than
half of the number of errors, and followed by the errors regarding the noun,
conjunction, adverb, punctuation, determiner, pronoun, preposition, adjective, word
choice, and incomplete sentence. Those errors were categorized into five types of
errors, with omission and mis-selection as the types with the most errors, along with
mis-odering, over-inclusion, and blend with the least number of errors. This game
is an excellent example for promoting Indonesian culture into an entertaining game
using English language, which can be enjoyed by international users. The
implications of this study are for the improvements of the game’s grammatical
aspect in their texts, for the EFL students and teachers to utilize games, such as Code
Atma, as a learning media to get English language in use exposure from which they
can learn, and for them to observe and identify the grammatical errors using error
analysis. This study is still limited from the data source and validity perspectives.
Further researchers are suggested to find more convincing ways to validate the
results and expand the data sources.
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