An Analysis of Errors in The Use of Article in The Narrative and Descriptive Writing Students

Abstract

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Article system was difficult to acquire. In spite of its difficulties in learning, the article system was also too complicated to teach in a way that is completely comprehensible and appropriate. Based on those facts, a study to find out the sources of errors in the use of article was important. This study examined the sources of errors in the use of article by 15 Narrative and Descriptive Writing Students. The participants were randomly selected from all Narrative and Descriptive writing classes at English Department Satya Wacana Christian University. Their works were collected and then examined by a native speaker teacher to find out errors in the use of articles. To get valid information about the sources of errors in the use of article, personal interview was conducted. The analysis of participants’ errors would use the steps suggested by by Corder (1974) in Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005). The steps included: (1) collection of a sample of learner language, (2) identification of errors, (3) description of errors, and (4) explanation of errors. Whereas the analysis of this study would be done by classifying the errors based on two different sources: interlingual (the participants mother tongue) and intralingual (their learning strategies) (Husada, 2007). The finding of this study showed that both interlingual and intralingual errors contributed to the acquisition of the article system.