Linguistic, English Education and Art (LEEA) Journal Volume 6 Nomor 2, Januari-Juni 2023 e-ISSN : 2597-3819 p-ISSN : 2597-9248 DOI : https://doi.org/10.31539/leea.v6i2.5639 384 FORM OF LANGUAGE ERRORS IN THE SYNTACTIC ORDER WHEN THE ESSAY WRITING PROCESS PERSONAL EXPERIENCE Vivi Novalia Sitinjak1 Universitas Methodist Indonesia Putri Yustika Tambunan2 Universitas Methodist Indonesia Septriyuni Rumondang Tamba3 Universitas Methodist Indonesia Ruth Friska Silitonga4 Universitas Methodist Indonesia vivisitinjak0@gmail.com4 Submit, 21-02-2023 Accepted, 29-06-2023 Publish, 30-06-2023 ABSTRACT This study aims to describe errors at the syntactic level, which include aspects of phrases and sentences in writing personal experiences. This study used a qualitative research design with a descriptive research type. The method used in this research is the descriptive qualitative method. These findings prove that students pay little attention to the use of grammar in writing, the lack of vocabulary that students have, the influence of the use of regional languages, and the teacher pays little attention to the use of grammar in writing. Based on the results of the research, the researchers found data on language errors in the syntactical aspect, including eight errors in the word aspect, one error in the phrase aspect, and 34 errors in the sentence aspect. From the findings of these data, researchers chose 3 data to be analyzed. These data are one-word aspect errors, one-phrase aspect errors, and one-sentence aspect errors. The results of this study indicate that students make many mistakes in sentence structure which includes ten aspects. Keywords; Language, Sentence, Syntastic https://doi.org/10.31539/leea.v6i2.5639 mailto:vivisitinjak0@gmail.com 385 INTRODUCTION Language errors are not only found in speech (oral language) but also in writing (written language). In written language, the elements of the language used must be complete. If the elements of the language used are incomplete, there is a possibility that the information conveyed cannot be understood properly or is referred to as a written language error. Language errors occur systematically due to the fact that the system of language rules in question has not been mastered. Meanwhile, language errors do not occur systematically due to the inability to implement the rules of the language system which have actually been mastered (Tamara et al. 2020: 24). Written language errors are found in aspects of Indonesian language skills, namely writing. Writing is a process of conveying the messages, ideas, and feelings of a person in the form of written symbols. This understanding is reinforced by several experts regarding the definition of writing as follows. Writing is an attempt to convey ideas, thoughts, feelings, and abilities using written language. Writing does not only make one sentence or several things that are not related but produces something that is regular and related to one another in a certain style (Byrne, 1988:1). Furthermore, writing is a creative process of transferring ideas into written symbols (Semi, 2007:14). Writing skills are inseparable from skills in using written language, meaning the use of all elements of language, namely the use of sentences, mastery of spelling, words, conjunctions, prepositions, sentence structure, vocabulary, and paragraph preparation (Semi, 2007:42). All of these language elements should be used appropriately and effectively which are always adapted to the purpose, content, and background of the reader. Writing language skills are the way to achieve success in writing. Achieving success in writing is inseparable from the learning process. Writing skills are inseparable from skills in using written language, meaning the use of all elements of language, namely the use of sentences, mastery of spelling, words, conjunctions, prepositions, sentence structure, vocabulary, and paragraph preparation (Semi, 2007:42). All of these language elements should be used appropriately and effectively which are always adapted to the purpose, content, and background of the reader. Writing language skills are the way to achieve success in writing. Learning to write about personal experiences at school gets less attention from the teacher. This is evidenced by the lack of competence in writing students' personal experiences in the KTSP curriculum at the high school level, even though learning to write has a positive function. The function is to sharpen the sharpness of thinking and 386 train creative thinking. The existence of errors in language learning by students is actually not a strange thing because learning and mistakes are inseparable. Tarigan (2009:10) reveals that "errors are characteristic of learning." Errors made by students need to be analyzed for language errors; this analysis aims to help students understand the material and reduce errors that occur. This is supported by Pateda (1989:37), stating that error analysis aims to find errors, classify them, and especially take corrective actions. Language errors made by students in the learning process can imply that the goals of language teaching have not been achieved optimally. One of the written language errors that students still make is syntax errors. The reason the researcher focuses on research at the syntactic level is that through the initial observations that have been made, the understanding and mastery of language structures, especially in the selection of words (diction), phrases, clauses, and sentences in written language, the average student has very true this research also aims to future students can better understand incorrect writing. LITERATURE REVIEW Good and correct Indonesian is the Indonesian language that is used in accordance with applicable societal norms and in accordance with applicable Indonesian language rules. This is in line with Sudiara (Sartika, 2014: 2), who says that the use of Indonesian properly and correctly is the use that is in accordance with the function and situation. Meanwhile, Effendi (Sartika, 2014: 2) emphasizes that good Indonesian is Indonesian that is polite and does not mix with foreign words or dialects. In addition, according to him, the correct Indonesian language is Indonesian, whose usage complies with the rules or rules of Indonesian grammar and official Indonesian spelling. So, good and correct Indonesian is Indonesian, which is used in accordance with the situation of use and fulfills the rules of the language. The technique of a writer in concocting words and connecting one word with another into an effective sentence is the most basic thing. The accuracy of diction, cohesion, and coherence of writing is very important to note. However, it is very unfortunate that, in reality, there are still some errors seen from the syntactic level. Diction is the choice of words that are appropriate and aligned (in their use) to express ideas so that certain effects are obtained (as expected). Cohesion is an attachment between elements in a syntactic structure or discourse structure which is marked by conjunctions, repetition, substitution, and omission. Coherence is a logical relationship between parts of an essay or between sentences in one paragraph. Setyawati, in her book entitled "Analysis of Errors in 387 Indonesian, Theory and Practice" (2010: 68), says that errors at the syntactic level include; errors in the field of phrases and errors in the fields of sentences. Errors in the phrase field can be caused by many things; for example, there is the influence of regional languages, the use of inappropriate prepositions, word order errors, the use of excessive or redundant elements, the excessive use of superlative forms, double pluralization, and the use of inappropriate reciprocal forms. On the other side, errors in the field of sentences include sentences without a subject, sentences without a predicate, sentences without a subject and without a predicate (blurred sentences), doubling of the subject between the predicate and the inserted object, sentences that are not logical, sentences with ambiguity, omission of conjunctions, excessive use of conjunctions, sequences that are not parallel, the use of foreign terms, and the use of unnecessary question words, Setyawati (2010: 76- 91). RESEARCH METHODS This study uses a qualitative approach. The study in this study was carried out in-depth and in detail in order to obtain a clear description of mistakes in using phrases and mistakes in using sentences at the syntactic level in writing students' personal experiences. The data in this study are language errors, especially errors in the use of sentences consisting of ten aspects of errors at the syntactic level in writing personal experience. This research is classified as qualitative research using the descriptive method. Qualitative research using descriptive methods is research that produces descriptive data in the form of written or spoken words that aim to make descriptions, make descriptions draw pictures systematically based on factual and accurate data, the characteristics and relationships of phenomena researched. It is said to be descriptive because this study describes data on language errors which include personal experience essays, and the majority are used for this. The data in this study are language errors, especially errors in the use of sentences which consist of ten aspects of errors at the syntactic level in writing personal experiences that the writer collects randomly. In this study, data were obtained by means of a test, namely a description test. In this study, data were obtained by means of a test, namely a description test. Therefore, there are three kinds of instruments used in this study, namely the researcher himself, who acts as a key instrument, an instrument in the form of a description test, namely instructions and instructions to write personal experiences; and an instrument in the form of a corpus table for data analysis. The data analysis technique in this study used four stages, namely 388 1. identification, carrying out activities to identify language errors in writing students' personal experiences according to the problem formulation and then coding the data that had been found, 2. categorization, carrying out data grouping activities in accordance with the special categories that have been found from errors in the use of sentences, 3. presentation of data, namely displaying data in a simpler form in tables to be broken down into explanations in accordance with various concepts related to the results of the analysis, and 4. drawing conclusions, namely, activity concludes the data that has been identified and categorized according to the formulation of the problem. The validity of the data is used to obtain valid data and conclusions as a scientific work. The validity of the data was obtained through two techniques, namely expert checking and theoretical checking. FINDINGS DISCUSSION In this section, data from research findings are presented, including data on errors in the use of sentences consisting of ten aspects of errors at the syntactic level in writing personal experience. The following is the result of syntax error data exposure. Sentence Errors at the Syntactic Level in Personal Experience Writing. Errors in the use of sentences found in personal experience writing include ten aspects, namely (1) the use of sentences without a subject, for example, 'Dan (....) sings a song for me', (2) the use of sentences without a predicate, for example, 'I am the (got) a poor scholarship,' (3) the use of sentences without a subject and without a predicate, for example, 'A year ago. When I come home from school. I don't see any dorm mates', (4) the use of inappropriate question words or the use of interrogative words in news sentences, for example, 'My experience which I can't forget,' (5) the influence of regional language structures, for example, ' If you want to go to Timor Plaza, get a bemo 08', (6) double subject, for example, 'I and my friends, fellow Kuneru children, we experienced an event that is hard to forget,' (7) use of illogical sentences, for example 'To celebrate Christmas our family went to the beach,' (8) ambiguous sentences, for example 'When we arrived at the new sea we all bought fish to eat together,' (9) excessive use of conjunctions, for example 'To celebrate the birth of God, we took pictures to the beach,' and (10) the use of sentences that are not coherent, for example, 'We helped the older sister by carrying her to the side of the road.' Sentence Errors at the Syntactic Level in Personal Experience Writing. The findings of this study are sentence errors in writing personal experiences, including the 389 use of sentences that are not subject, the use of sentences that are not predicated, the use of sentences that are not subject and predicated (ubuntu), the use of unnecessary question marks, the influence of local language structures, the use of multiple subjects, the use of illogical sentences, the use of ambiguous sentences, the use of excessive conjunctions, and the use of sentences that are not coherent. Sentences are declared good if they can be accepted by listeners or readers without negative judgment and are correct if they are arranged based on the system, rules, or rules of the Indonesian language (Putrayasa, 2009: 131). Errors in the use of non-subject sentences are errors found in writing personal experiences as many as 19 errors. Sentences where the subject is not clear occur due to a preposition or preposition that is in front of the subject of the sentence. Prepositions are words or combinations of words that function to connect words or phrases so that an exocentric phrase is formed, namely a phrase that occupies an adverb function in a sentence (Chaer, 1987:23). The existence of the subject in the sentence is needed so that the idea of the sentence becomes complete. The subject is the part of the sentence that is explained by the predicate. Therefore, the subject in the sentence can be stated by asking using the predicate. This statement is in line with the opinion of Arifin & Tasai (2010:69) and Sumadi (2009:57), which states that the subject of a sentence can be searched by the statement "Who is or what is +... the predicate?". For example, a sentencing error; 'And (....) sing a song for me" should be 'They sing a song for me.' The findings of errors in the use of sentences that are not predicated on personal experience writing are ten errors. A good sentence consists of subject and predicate elements, except imperative sentences or utterances, which are answers to questions. If one of the two elements is absent, then it cannot be called a sentence. This statement is in accordance with the opinion of Suyitno (2012: 119), which states that complete sentences are sentences in which all elements or parts are present. In this sentence, no other elements are missing. Sample data; 'I am the one who (got) the poor scholarship' should be 'I got the poor scholarship.' The word in the sentence seems ineffective because it can affect the function of the predicate to become blurred so that the word must be removed. Errors in the use of sentences that are not subject and predicate (bunting) are found in personal experience writing as many as ten errors. This error is caused by the sentence does not meet a good sentence structure. This kind of sentence structure is a sentence that is broken up as it is in spoken language (Arifin & Hadi, 2009: 123). Symptoms like this are in accordance with the opinion of Setyawati (2010: 80), which states that the sentence "bunting" actually still has a 390 hanging relationship with other (previous) sentences. Sample data; 'A year ago. When I come home from school. I don't see any dorm mates'. Sentence One year ago is a sentence that occupies the adverb function of time, so it doesn't have a subject and also a predicate. To correct this sentence, it is necessary to look at the context of the sentence that follows it or the previous sentence, namely, when I come home from school. It should have been, 'A year ago, I came home from school and didn't see any dorm mates, or I didn't see any dorm mates.' This finding proves that many students pay less attention to good sentence patterns. This also happens because students do not understand the provisions of writing sentences. Errors in using unnecessary question words are caused by students' lack of accuracy in using conjunctions. Students seem confused about using the right conjunctions to assemble the elements of a written sentence. This is in line with the opinion of Setyawati (2010: 92), which states that the use of these forms is most likely influenced by foreign languages, especially English. Example data 'My experience which I cannot forget' should be 'My experience which I cannot forget. ’ Findings of errors in the use of unnecessary question words in writing personal experiences were 16 errors. The influence of local language dialects is still very strong; this is due to the use of regional languages, which dominate the use of Indonesian. The influence of the student's use of the local language cannot be separated from mistakes in writing where students' writing is still influenced by local language dialects. For example, the data is 'If you want to go to Timor Plaza, take a bemo 08', it should be 'If you want to go to Timor Plaza, take a bemo 08'. Errors caused by the structure of the local language in the writing of personal experiences that the writer randomly collected as many as 25 errors. The findings of errors in the use of multiple subjects in writing personal experience were 28 errors. Subject and predicate are the most important forming elements in constructing sentences according to standard rules. However, the exaggerated action by presenting two subjects, as if it is not clear which part gets the emphasis. This is in accordance with the opinion of Arifin & Hadi (2009: 126), which states that if there is a doubling of the subject or the subject occurs twice, then the sentence seems to be less assertive, so it is not clear which part gets the emphasis. Sample data; ‘I and my friends, our Kuneru children experienced an unforgettable event’ should be ‘We experienced an unforgettable event’ The error in using illogical sentences was the most common error found in personal experience writing. 391 This finding proves that students do not understand the rules of writing sentences. This is in accordance with the opinion of Setyawati (2010: 83), which states that illogical sentences occur because the speaker or writer is not careful in choosing words. Example data; 'To celebrate Christmas, our family went to the beach' should be 'To celebrate Christmas, our family went to the beach.' This finding is also inconsistent with the opinion of Martuti and Rani (2013: 114) that the accuracy of a sentence is seen in terms of syntactic structure, word form, and accuracy of diction because there are still many errors that cause a sentence to be incorrect. Errors in the use of ambiguous sentences are a few errors found in personal experience writing, namely, as many as eight errors. This ambiguous sentence error is caused by sentences that tend to have multiple meanings. Therefore, ambiguous sentences should be avoided because, according to Martuti and Rani (2013: 122), ambiguous sentences can cause misunderstandings among readers. Sample data; 'When we arrive at the new sea, we all buy fish to eat together,' it should be 'We buy grilled fish to eat together.' Errors in using excessive conjunctions are errors that are often found in personal experience writing, namely as many as 40 errors. Sample data; 'To celebrate the birth of God, we took pictures at the beach' should be 'To celebrate the birth of God, we took pictures at the beach.' The use of excessive conjunctions in sentences is an equivalent that is not equivalent or does not match. This happens because the two language rules cross and join in a sentence (Arifin & Hadi, 2009:133). In addition, the use of excessive conjunctions makes the relationship between the two clauses unclear between coordinating or subordinating. Errors in using unparallel sentences occur because students do not understand how to write coherent sentences. This can result in messages or information in written sentences being unclear, even though sentences are the most important component in an essay because in sentences there is a unity of thought (Putrayasa, 2009:149). Example data; 'We helped the older brother by carrying him to the side of the road' should be 'We helped the older brother by carrying him to the side of the road.' The findings of errors in the use of sentences that are not integrated into the writing of personal experience. CONCLUSION Based on the results of the analysis and discussion, the following research conclusions are obtained. Errors in the use of sentences in personal experience are classified into ten aspects which are described as follows. First, the use of sentences that are not the subject. Second, the use of sentences that are not predicated. Third, the use of sentences that are not subject and predicate (bunting). Fourth, the use of 392 unnecessary question marks. Fifth, the influence of regional language structures. Sixth, the use of several subjects. Seventh, the use of illogical sentences. Eighth, the use of ambiguous sentences. Ninth, excessive use of conjunctions. The tenth is the use of sentences that are not parallel. Based on the conclusions described above, this suggestion is solely aimed at improving Indonesian language learning and improving students' writing skills so that there are not many more mistakes in writing. The researchers' suggestions were addressed to Indonesian language subject teachers and the education office. 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