Morphological and Syntactic Deficiencies in EFL Narrative Writing: A Surface Strategy Taxonomy Analysis of Past Tense Errors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59211/mjpjetl.v3i1.128Keywords:
EFL writing, Error analysis, Narrative text, Simple past tense, Surface strategy taxonomyAbstract
Mastering the simple past tense in narrative writing remains a significant grammatical hurdle for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners due to the complexities of verb inflection. This study investigates the specific morphological and syntactic errors in using the simple past tense among tenth-grade students, aiming to identify the types and dominant categories of these deficiencies. Utilizing a descriptive qualitative design, data were collected through a 90-minute narrative writing test from a random sample of 20 students at SMA Negeri 1 Popayato. The identified grammatical deviations were analyzed and categorized using Dulay’s Surface Strategy Taxonomy. The results revealed a total of 374 grammatical errors. Misformation was the overwhelmingly dominant error, accounting for 62% (231 errors), primarily driven by the misconjugation of irregular verbs and incorrect 'to be' usage. This was followed by errors of omission at 24% (90 errors), addition at 13% (48 errors), and misordering at 1% (5 errors). In conclusion, the high frequency of misformation and omission indicates a fundamental gap in students' understanding of past tense morpho-syntax, strongly influenced by first language (L1) interference where tense markers do not exist. This necessitates targeted pedagogical interventions, such as intensive verb-drilling and contextual grammar exercises, to improve EFL narrative writing accuracy.
Downloads
References
K. Hyland, "Second Language Writing: The Manufacture of a Social Fact," Journal of Second Language Writing, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 426-427, 2013.
P. Knapp and M. Watkins, Genre, Text, Grammar: Technologies for Teaching and Assessing Writing. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2005.
A. Syakur and A. Supraba, "An Error Analysis on the Use of Simple Past Tense," Journal Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 45-56, 2022.
F. Fadillah, "An Analysis of Error on the Use of Simple Past Tense in Writing Narrative Text of 42 State SMK in Jakarta," Journal of English Language Teaching, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 15-24, 2019.
K. Aminah, "Error Analysis on the Use of Simple Past Tense in English Academic Year of 2016/2017," State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga, 2016.
D. R. Anjani and R. Indahwati, "An Analysis of the Students’ Errors in Using Simple Past Tense in Translating Narrative Text," Journal Ilmu Bahasa dan Sastra, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 112-120, 2019.
F. W. Julia, "Errors in Second/Foreign Language Learning and Their Interpretations," International Journal of Education and Linguistic Research, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 23-35, 2017.
A. A. Khansir, "Error Analysis and Second Language Acquisition," Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 2, no. 5, pp. 1027-1032, 2012.
J. Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication, 2012.
F. Chaudary and M. R. Moya, "An Examination and Analysis of a Learner’s Errors from the Perspective of a Pedagogical Grammar," in Proceedings of the 1st Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching (ALLT) Conference, University of East London, 2017.
M. Swan, Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
N. Asi, "The Analysis of Difficulties in Writing Narrative Text," LET: Linguistics, Literature and English Teaching Journal, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 112-132, 2019.
Y. Apsari, "Snowball Throwing in Teaching Grammar," Lingual, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 52-59, 2021.
L. Cam and T. M. T. Tran, "An Evaluation of Using Games in Teaching English Grammar for First Year English Majored Students," International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, vol. 16, no. 7, pp. 55-71, 2017.
Masriani, "The Correlation between Students’ Simple Past Tense Mastery and Their Ability in Translating Narrative Text," IAIN Parepare, 2018.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Pratiwi Ayu Lestari Mohamad
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors grant the journal the right of first publication. which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited. Authors are responsible for ensuring that any third-party materials included in their work have proper permissions.
Comments
Comments are checked by the editorial team before they appear. Keep to the article's content; personal attacks, advertising and spam are removed.
Write a comment
Please log in to comment. Log in