BAHTRA: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasan dan Sastra Vol. 03 No.

01, Mei 2022

https://jurnal.habi.ac.id/index.php/Bahtra p-ISSN: 2775-7633 e-ISSN: 2775-7625

AN ANALYSIS OF SENTENCE STRUCTURE IN THE STUDENTS’ WRITING:

A CASE STUDY AT THIRD CLASS OF SMA AL-IKHWAN
KOTA BIMA

Abdur Rahman1*, Feriyadin2

1)
Dosen Prodi S1 Pariwisata Sekolah Tinggi Pariwisata (STIPAR) Soromandi Bima
2)
Dosen Prodi S1 Pariwisata Sekolah Tinggi Pariwisata (STIPAR) Soromandi Bima
E-mail: abdurrahmankhanudin@gmail.com
E-mail: feriyadin@gmail.com

Abstract
The title of the research is An Analysis of Sentence Structure in the Student Writing. This study is aimed at
finding out errors of sentence or to know the factor that caused the students have problem in writing. The
population of this study was SMA AL-Ikhwan Kota Bima that is school have 1 (one) class for third class, the
number of students of that class is consists of 30 (thirty) students as sampling. The method used in this study
was descriptive. The method of collecting data was the students write their experience or their story. The
method of analyzing data used in this study was tabulate of errors, classify the errors, and identify the
errors. In study found kinds of error such as interference, omission, addition, substitution, and ordering. The
conclusion of this study was that there are 14 (fourteen) students get poor, 14 (fourteen) students get
satisfaction, and 2 students get excellent, and the accumulation of errors found 4.43 or 41% the average of
incorrect sentences and 7 or 58% of correct sentences from average of 11 (eleven) sentences in expository
writing skill made by 30 (thirty) students. The suggestion in this study was for the students should be
learning more seriously, to overcome the errors the students should do self-correction for their errors or
mistake in writing skill, the students have to get more motivation, study hard, and practice always every time
or every day, and the students should each other to correct their friends’ errors in writing skill. For the
English teachers should not ignore the teaching of tenses, grammar or sentence structures. Because it is very
important to be learnt without grammar or structure it is impossible to writing well, the English teachers
should give better chances for their students to find out and to overcome the errors they commit, the English
teacher should more emphasize on teaching programs by using the effective methods, and the English
teachers should active and control the students’ lazy to study in English lesson
Keywords: Analysis, Structure, Writing

INTRODUCTION difficulty their study. However, in fact it found

English language is one of the mastering English, this occurs because English
international languages, where everyone uses linguistic system and Indonesia linguistic
English if they go to other countries. system are different.
Nowadays English is one of foreign Writing in English should not be a
language learned in Indonesia. It is one of the difficult thing anymore for elementary school
compulsory subjects learned since elementary or university. It becomes a crucial thing when
school until university. Government has also they decided to join a language department
created the educational curriculum in order to such as English Education Lesson or Writing,
teach English as a foreign language in Listening, Reading, and Speaking skill subject.
Indonesia. Therefore, the students are expected Writing is a part of language skills. That
to be able to produce that language graduating drives to Writing is part of communication,
that the Indonesia students face various since language is used to communicate to
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BAHTRA: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasan dan Sastra Vol. 03 No. 01, Mei 2022
https://jurnal.habi.ac.id/index.php/Bahtra p-ISSN: 2775-7633 e-ISSN: 2775-7625
other. Some people express their feeling, idea, paragraph has no choppy sentences; the
invention, and belief into written. Some people paragraph has no stringy sentences, the
even picture every event, deed, speculations, paragraph has no sentence fragment, the
or even a mere thing into writing. However, paragraph has no run-on sentences/comma
the way of expressing them, as stated on Biber, splices.
et al. (2012), will influence the choice of what Writing a text with such components of
to express and how to express the idea. It grammar and sentence structure should be
means that different kind of texts needs a done by the students in every meeting. They
specific writing grammar. It is because a have to create one text in every meeting, with
particular written text has its own unique peer’s and lecturer’s review. It is expected that
structure. For example, we use Simple Present there will be a final writing project in which it
Tense to talk about our daily activities; will be considered as the masterpiece of their
however we have to use Simple Past Tense to portfolio in Paragraph Writing Class.
retell a story and past event. Different rule Analyzing those masterpieces will be a very
apply for other types of writing. interesting thing to know how they follow the
Many kinds of texts are used in writing rules of components of grammar and sentence
English. It is known as Genres of Written structure and whether they make a successful
Language. Many experts have different writing project or not. They are expected to
classification in breaking the genre of writing. learn to recognize and correct some common
One of the experts called Brown and errors in sentence structure (Oshima and
Abeywickrama (2010) divided the genre of Hogue, 1998: 172).
written into Academic Writing, Job-related The main point in writing a sentence is the
writing, and Personal Writing. The Academic completeness of it. This is also considering the
Writing includes papers and general subject context and the structure if the sentence to be
reports, essays, compositions, academically counted as a complete sentence. However, the
focus journals, short-answer test responds, and grammar itself is more essential than the
technical reports, theses, and dissertations. context in the sentence. It drives to concern
Moreover, phone massages, letters and emails, only the grammar of the sentence.
memos, job evaluations, job reports, Furthermore, a complete sentence must have at
schedules, labels, signs, argumentation, least a subject and a verb, both of them will be
advertisements, announcements, description, the main part of this study. Therefore this
narration, recount, anecdote, and manuals are study concerns about the subject-verb
counted as Job related writing. agreement through the appropriate tense in the
Grammar is often defined as the rule sentence. This leads to talk about the issue of
system of a language, but it is also useful to the students’ ability in writing. It is also show
think of it as a resource for expressing how English educations implement to the
meaning, Lynch and Anderson (2013:4). The students writing skill.
components of grammar and sentence In learning English, according to Nourish
structure in writing a good paragraph can be (1999:22) everyone have to know of the
described as follows: the paragraph has correct grammar or sentence structures roles because
verb tenses; the paragraph has the correct use without understanding the role of grammar or
of subject- verb agreement, the paragraph has sentence structures it will get undergo difficult
a correct use of articles (a, the); the paragraph in writing a sentence pattern well.
has the correct use of pronoun agreement, the

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BAHTRA: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasan dan Sastra Vol. 03 No. 01, Mei 2022
https://jurnal.habi.ac.id/index.php/Bahtra p-ISSN: 2775-7633 e-ISSN: 2775-7625
When the writer went to practice to be of the study to be generalization referred to as
English teacher, the writer found there are the target population.
many students get errors or made mistake in 1. Population
writing sentence structure. Therefore, the The population of this research is third
writer tries to do the research to know the class of SMA AL-Ikhwan Kota Bima in
factor that caused the students have problem in academic year 2021/2022 who is supposed to
writing. have been learning some basic grammatical
Based on background of the problem arrangements of English to writing sentence
above, the writer tries to do research with the structures.
title is “An Analysis of Sentence Structure in 2. Sampling Technique
the Students’ Writing: A Case Study At Third The sampling technique is used in this
Class Of SMA AL-IKHWAN Kota Bima”. investigation is the population of third class of
SMA AL-Ikhwan Kota Bima. At the school of
RESEARCH METHOD SMA AL-Ikhwan Kota Bima just have 1 (one)
A. Method of Research class for third class, the number of students of
In this study, the writer is going to present this class is consists of 30 (thirty) students.
how to investigate the method of research. The The writer tries to take all of population of that
method is applied in this research is school because the number of population and
descriptive qualitative. This method is sample that same. Therefore, the kind of
expected to be investigating to analysis of research will investigate is research
sentence structures in the students’ writing population.
skill. It is because even though the result
reveals how many percentage of sentence error C. Method of collecting Data
that is made by students however the result is In collecting data, the writer will
described in-depth. The percentage of the data command to the students or the population. In
becomes the helper to read the data. order to get a good result in collecting data the
Furthermore, the research has natural setting students to write their experiences or stories.
as the direct source of the data, descriptive Therefore, to get the result from the student’
research, concern to the process, and also writing skill. The writer will account the
analyze the data inductively. Those number of students’ errors or error sentences
characteristics are equal to the description of that made by the students.
qualitative research based on Bogdan and
Biklen as stated on Sugiyono (2015). Some D. Method of Analyzing Data
expert such as Sugiyono (2016) describes it In analyzing data, the writer will try to
as rating-scale. It is because the data is analysis from the result of the students’
collected in numbers, then the result is writing skill whether the students are still
described. Therefore this research is concluded make error or mistake of sentence structures in
as descriptive qualitative research. writing skill. To analyze the students’ writing
skill, the writer will analyze in certain ways
B. Population and Sampling Technique namely:
Gay (1987: 120) stated the population is 1.Tabulate the errors that made by the
the group of interest to the researcher, the students,
group to which he or she would like the result 2. Classify the errors, and
3. Identify the errors.

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BAHTRA: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasan dan Sastra Vol. 03 No. 01, Mei 2022
https://jurnal.habi.ac.id/index.php/Bahtra p-ISSN: 2775-7633 e-ISSN: 2775-7625
After the writer was analyzed result of the related to those errors and what extent those
students’ writing skill, the writer will make errors appear. Those are as following below:
tabulate the errors that made by the students,
classification the errors in three categories A. Research Finding
there are excellent, satisfaction and poor, and 1. Identify of the Errors
identification the errors. From result of the In this investigate, the data of students’
analyzing, the writer will give the score to the errors in writing sentence structures made by
students. the students of SMA AL-Ikhwan Kota Bima
Table 1. Description students’ writing skill of there is still less understand about grammar or
sentence structures structure of tense, adverbial, gerund, and
No Category Frequency adjective clause in expository writing skill.
1 Excellent 80-100 There are many factors that caused errors
2 Satisfaction 60-79
in writing sentence by the students namely:
3 Poor 0-59
a. The students are still interference the
Table 2. Component of grammar or sentence first language,
structures test b. The students are not seriously to study
No Component Percent hard and practice in writing skill,
1 Tense 25% c. The students less motivation to study
2 Adverbial 25% and practice, and
3 Gerund 25% d. They do not understand how to use of
4 Adjective Clause 25% tense, adverbial, gerund, and adjective
clause etc., so that make them confuse
According to Dulay (1974: 120), the
and difficult for writing well in English
process in analyzing of students’ writing skill
sentence structures.
uses the following formula:
2. Classify of the Errors
The data of the students’ errors that had
been identified are classified into; interference,
FSe = Frequency of Students Error omission, substitution, addition, and ordering
Ns = Number of Student that are following the rules of interpretation.
The errors are said interference because
RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION almost these types of error are related to the
The writer would like to set up the sample first language structure of Indonesia. Almost
of errors made by the students of SMA AL- these types of error are the result of the student
Ikhwan Kota Bima in academic year creativities to improve their sentence by trying
2021/2022 in expository writing skill. The to competence brought those making
first, the writer would like to identify the ambiguous errors. The other are said the
errors. The second classify the errors into unique errors are caused by the creativities of
interference, omission, addition, substitution, the students exposed in their utterances and try
and ordering. Third, the writer would like to to make sentence and then paused due to the
describe of the Students’ Errors what kinds of unknown the structure which reflecting they
those errors and then make frequencies or made errors. Those errors are reflected to
percentage. Finally, the writer explained them neither the first nor the target language. More
by giving some examples and the theory kinds of those errors can be shown the
following table below:

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BAHTRA: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasan dan Sastra Vol. 03 No. 01, Mei 2022
https://jurnal.habi.ac.id/index.php/Bahtra p-ISSN: 2775-7633 e-ISSN: 2775-7625
Table 3. More kinds of those errors
No Students’ Errors Sentences’ Correct
1 I had see + Past tense of verb III
2 You not tired + verb (omission of “are”)
3 After I return for go to school + gerund
4 We very happy + Omission of “are”
5 In order the bicause real Moslem + Omission – spelling
6 Everyone has some kind of hobby + S plurality
7 After I was finished exams + verb + ing (past continuous)
8 When I phoned you + substitution of “verb”
9 Very-very surprise + first language interference
10 I looking friend playing + infinitive + my + Present Continuous
11 Today I happy + Nominal sentence, To be before adjective
12 When we come there + Past tense
13 They can be spoke all of language + Verb, auxiliary + preposition – “S”
14 I have many experience + S plurality
When on holiday I with my friend plane go + Substitution – Past + preposition – gerund
15
to Grandangan beach for contents go to …
16 Must be go to + Auxiliary verb
17 ........ Abdur say! + Past tense of verb II (said)
18 They ask by + Verb II (asked), inflect
19 If we can’t to be diligent + Verb agreement after modal
20 We never can finish this problem + Past future perfect – Ord
21 When will we go home + Ordering
22 Play are the best + gerund
23 I have meni book + Spelling – S plural
24 My father give me mony + subject He + V-es/s, spelling
25 Wen he see + spelling of “when”- Verb II (past tense)

3. Description of the Students’ Errors Before seeing the frequent of the errors, the
After the errors had been classified further writer would like to set up how many of the
the writer would like to describe the errors students are incorrect and correct sentences on
about how many frequencies of the students each of them and their category the following
made errors or mistake such as interference, below:
omission, addition, substitution, and ordering.
Table 4. The Students Are Incorrect And Correct Sentences
Students Number of Incorrect Sentences Correct Sentences Category of
No
Code Sentences Freq. % Freq. % Student
1 760 8 2 25 6 75 Satisfaction
2 763 9 7 77.77 2 22.22 Poor
3 767 8 2 25 6 75 Satisfaction
4 768 10 3 30 7 70 Satisfaction
5 772 7 4 57.14 3 42.85 Poor
6 774 5 3 60 2 40 Poor
7 775 8 4 50 4 50 Poor
8 777 12 5 41.66 7 58.33 Poor
9 779 7 3 42.85 4 57.14 Poor
10 780 9 3 33.33 6 66.66 Satisfaction

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BAHTRA: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasan dan Sastra Vol. 03 No. 01, Mei 2022
https://jurnal.habi.ac.id/index.php/Bahtra p-ISSN: 2775-7633 e-ISSN: 2775-7625
11 782 9 3 33.33 6 66.66 Satisfaction
12 783 8 7 87.50 1 12.50 Poor
13 784 11 3 27.27 8 72.72 Satisfaction
14 785 19 5 26.31 14 73.68 Satisfaction
15 786 22 4 18.18 18 81.81 Excellent
16 787 14 2 14.28 12 85.71 Excellent
17 788 11 6 54.54 5 45.45 Poor
18 789 14 6 42.86 8 57.14 Poor
19 790 14 3 21.43 11 78.57 Satisfaction
20 791 15 6 40 9 60 Satisfaction
21 792 18 4 22.22 14 77.77 Satisfaction
22 793 17 11 64.70 6 35.29 Poor
23 794 11 7 63.63 4 36.36 Poor
24 795 5 3 60 2 40 Poor
25 796 8 3 37.50 5 62.50 Satisfaction
26 797 21 5 23.81 16 76.19 Satisfaction
27 801 10 3 30 7 70 Satisfaction
28 829 10 6 60 4 40 Poor
29 830 13 4 30.76 9 69.23 Satisfaction
30 875 14 6 42.86 8 57.14 Poor
E30 Total 347 133 1243.93 214 1755.92
Poor
Average 11 4.43 41 7 58

B. Discussion The average of those errors sentences

From the table draws into the average all above is calculated as following formulation
of sample made 11 number of sentences made below:
by the students in expository writing skill Average =
shown that there are 14 students get poor, 14
students get satisfaction, and 2 students get .
excellent, and the accumulation of errors
found 4.43 or 41% the average of incorrect CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
sentences and 7 or 58% of correct sentences A. Conclusion
made by the students. Based on the result of the study, the writer
Therefore, the percentages of those errors found 4.43 or the average 41% incorrect
are calculated as following below: sentences, and 7 or the average 58% correct
sentences in writing skill made by 30 of the
1. students from average of 11 sentences in
expository writing made by the third class of
SMA AL-Ikhwan Kota Bima in academic year
2. 2021/2022. It meant that the students are still
poor to write well in English sentence
3. structures.
The preceding chapter has already shown
4. that in general the students at the third class of
SMA AL-Ikhwan Kota Bima really make
errors or mistake in expository writing skill.

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BAHTRA: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasan dan Sastra Vol. 03 No. 01, Mei 2022
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Grammar is one of the essential subjects 1. To the Students
in learning English language. This is the main a. The students should be learning more
part that rules the language itself. Therefore in seriously
learning English, the students have to handle b. To overcome the errors, the students
the grammar or structure itself. However, should do self-correction for their errors
many students are still lack using the grammar or mistake in writing skill
or structure when they write their experience c. The students have to get more
or story. The main problem of the grammar motivation, study hard, and practice
usage is the subject-verb agreement. Many of always every time or every day
them make a fuss to the verb while making the d. The students should each other to correct
written sentences their friends’ errors in writing skill
Most of the students make errors or
mistake in writing skill, especially in the types 2. To the English Teachers
of errors or mistake such as interference, a. The English teachers should not ignore
omission, addition, substitution, and ordering. the teaching of tenses, grammar or
In order to know the percentage of errors that sentence structures. Because it is very
emerge among of them who is commit by the important to be learnt without grammar
students. The students’ errors in specific, it is or structure it is impossible to writing
caused by the lack of their knowledge and well
caused by less motivation to learning, they are b. The English teachers should give better
not seriously to study and practice when the chances for their students to find out and
teacher gave explaining about the material of to overcome the errors they commit
English lesson, they too most playing so that c. The English teacher should more
ignore to learning, and they do not like to emphasize on teaching programs by
study English lesson because consider difficult using the effective methods
to understand so that make them lazy to d. The English teachers should active and
learning. Therefore, most of the students are control the students’ lazy to study in
not able to mastery in writing skill and to English lesson.
understand English sentence structure well.
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https://jurnal.habi.ac.id/index.php/Bahtra p-ISSN: 2775-7633 e-ISSN: 2775-7625
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