4.

FINDINGS
To answer the research questions, 17 essays of participants were collected and analyzed
based on Ellis and Larsen’s theories about errors and mistakes. Grammatical deviations which
were categorized as errors later were analyzed and further classified using error categorization
proposed by Betty Schampfer Azar. There are three sub-sections that subsequently present the
result of error-mistake classification, grammatical errors, grammatical mistakes, and causes of
errors and mistakes.

4.1. Classification of grammatical deviations into errors and mistakes

76 grammatical deviations were found in essays written by Essay Writing students of
English Department, Universitas Negeri Malang cohort 2021. Those grammatical deviations can
be classified into errors or mistakes, which depends on the knowledge of the writers about the
grammar rules. All participants’ essays were first analyzed to find all grammatical deviations.
All grammatical deviations found were used to compose questions for the interview guides. First,
participants were presented a sentence with grammatical deviations taken from participants’
essays, followed by questions to test whether participants were aware of the grammatical
deviations. The next set of questions aimed to test participants’ knowledge about grammar rules
related to the grammatical deviations and their ability to reconstruct the sentences. The data
gathered through this set of questions were used to classify grammatical deviations into errors
and mistakes. The analysis was based on theories proposed by Ellis, which means participants’
knowledge of grammar rules and the ability to reconstruct the sentence would be factors that
determine whether a grammatical deviation was an error or a mistake. After analyzing the data
acquired through participants’ essays and interviews, grammatical deviations committed by
participants were classified into errors and mistakes. The result of the analysis is shown in Table
2

Table 2. Results of Errors and Mistakes Analysis

Participants Grammatical Errors Percentage Mistakes Percentage
Deviations of Errors of Mistakes
Participant 1 6 3 6.25% 3 11.54%
Participant 2 2 1 2.08% 1 3.85%
Participant 3 10 4 8.33% 5 23.08%
Participant 4 5 1 4.17% 4 7.69%
 Participant 5 6 5 10.42% 1 3.85%
Participant 6 3 2 4.17% 1 3.85%
Participant 7 6 6 12.50% 0 0.00%
Participant 8 5 2 4.17% 3 11.54%
Participant 9 2 2 4.17% 0 0.00%
Participant 10 3 2 4.17% 1 3.85%
Participant 11 4 3 6.25% 1 3.85%
Participant 12 6 5 10.42% 1 0.00%
Participant 13 4 2 4.17% 2 7.69%
Participant 14 2 1 2.08% 1 3.85%
Participant 15 5 3 6.25% 2 7.69%
Participant 16 4 3 6.25% 1 3.85%
Participant 17 3 2 4.17% 1 3.85%
TOTAL 76 48 100% 28 100%

Table 2 showed that out of 76 grammatical deviations found in the essays, 48 were
classified as errors and 28 were classified as mistakes. The result of error-mistake classification
showed that most participants committed more errors than mistakes. There were 10 participants
that committed more errors than mistakes, 5 participants committed errors and mistakes equally,
and 2 participants committed more mistakes than errors. It means that grammatical deviations
found in the essays were mostly due to the lack of knowledge rather than performance slip.
Grammatical deviations were classified as errors because of participants’ inability to identify the
grammatical deviations, lack of the knowledge of the grammar rules, or inability to reconstruct
the sentences correctly. All of those factors were concluded through participants’ answers in the
interviews. For example, if participants could not identify the grammatical deviation in a
sentence when they were presented one, it means that they were not aware that the sentences
were grammatically incorrect. If participants could not answer questions related to grammar
rules used in the sentences, it means they did not have enough knowledge about the grammar
rules. If participants could not reconstruct their own sentences that contained grammatical
deviations, it also means they did not have the knowledge about the grammar rules and how to
write the sentences properly. The list of factors why grammatical deviations found in the
participants’ essays were classified as errors is shown in the following table
 Table 3. Factors of Why Grammatical Deviations were Classified as Errors
Factors Frequenc Percentage
y
Participants could not identify the grammatical deviations 37 77%
found in the sentences
Participants could not explain grammar rules used in the 8 16%
sentences (lack of knowledge about the rules)
Participants understood the rules, but are unable to 3 7%
reconstruct the sentences
Total Errors 48

There were 37 grammatical deviations identified as errors because of participants’

inability to identify the grammatical deviations presented to them. It means, 77% of the errors
were identified by this factor alone. On the other hand, 8 grammatical deviations (16%) were
identified as errors due to participants’ inability to explain the grammar rules related to the
grammatical deviations. In most cases, the lack of knowledge about the grammar rule used in the
sentences also means that the participants didn’t have the ability to reconstruct or correct the
sentences. However, there were 3 cases (7%) in which the participants could explain the
grammar rules used in the sentences, but were unable to reconstruct the sentences correctly.
On the other hand, there were 28 grammatical deviations classified as mistakes. It means
that participants could identify the grammatical deviations, explain the grammar rules, and
reconstruct the sentences into the correct ones. By having those three abilities, it showed that
participants actually knew how to write the sentences correctly, but experienced performance
slip due to factors that will be explained in the next subsection of this article.

4.2. Grammatical Errors

The writer found 12 types of errors in essays written by Essay Writing students of
Universitas Negeri Malang cohort 2021. There were errors regarding singular-plural, word form,
word choice, verb tense, add a word, omit a word, word order, incomplete sentence, spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, article, meaning not clear, run-on sentence. It must be noted that
grammatical deviations that have been classified as mistakes in the previous analysis were not
included. There were 48 errors found in participants’ essays. It consisted of 4 errors in Singular-
plural, 2 errors in word form, 10 errors in word choice, 4 errors in verb tense, 3 errors in add a
word, 5 errors in omit a word, , 1 error in word order, 7 errors in punctuation, 1 error in article,
and 11 errors in run-on sentence. The list of the percentage of the errors in the participants’
essays is shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Types of Errors

Types of Errors Errors Percentage
Singular – Plural 4 8.33%
Word Form 2 4.17%
Word Choice 10 20.83%
Verb Tense 4 8.33%
Add a Word 3 6.25%
Omit a Word 5 10.42%
Word Order 1 2.08%
Incomplete Sentence 0 0.00%
Spelling 0 0.00%
Punctuation 7 14.58%
Capitalization 0 0.00%
Article 1 2.08%
Meaning not Clear 0 0.00%
Run-on Sentence 11 22.92%
Total 48 100.00%

From table 4, it can be perceived that the most common type of errors is run-on sentence
(22.92%). A run-on sentence occurs when two or more independent clauses are connected
improperly (Azar, 2009). All run-on sentences found in the essays were comma splice. A comma
splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined with just a comma (Eastwood, 2002). The
example is in the sentence “When learning activities are carried out online what happens is
more of a learning process, there is no guarantee that students will get character education
from their parents as has been taught in school (P8)”. Both the first and second clauses are
independent clauses, so those two clauses cannot be separated by a comma. Those two
independent clauses must be separated by a full stop to make them two separate sentences or
joined by a conjunction/connector to make it a compound sentence. “When learning activities
are carried out online what happens is no more than a learning process. There is no guarantee
that students will get character education from their parents as has been taught in school” is
the right form. The second example is in the sentence “One example of Covid-19 effects on
education aspects is the way the students learn, the learning activity changed from face-to-face
learning to distance learning or what we often call online learning (P5)”The first and second
clause are both independent clauses, so it can’t be separated only by a comma. One of the option
that can be done to make the sentence correct is by separating them with a full stop. So, “One
example of Covid-19 effects on education aspects is the way the students learn. The learning
activity changed from face-to-face learning to distance learning or what we often call online
learning” is the correct form. Both sentences were classified as errors due to the participants’
inability to identify the errors. When they were presented those sentences, they thought that those
sentences were already grammatically correct.
The second most common errors committed by participants is word choice (20.27%).
Committing this type of errors/mistakes means that participants failed to use words that were
appropriate to the context of the sentences. The example is in the sentence “This reduced activity
causes children to be more limited (P12)”. In this sentence, the word “limited” is not really
suitable with the context. It is true that “limited” means “terbatas” in Bahasa Indonesia.
However, Limited tends to be used where the thing or person has its own limitations. Meanwhile,
the word “restricted” tends to be used where an exterior force, like an authority or rules. So, for
the context of the sentence, the word “restricted” is more suitable. “This reduced activity causes
children to be more restricted” is the correct form of the sentence. This grammatical deviation
was classified as error due to participant’s inability to explain why the sentence is grammatically
incorrect. Participant 12 could feel that something was wrong with the sentence, but unable to
give any further explanation. Another example is in the sentence. “So for those students with
this problem—bad social skills—will have to be given more attention, on their character
building, either from teacher nor parents (P9)” The word “either” is supposed to be paired with
“or” (Azar, 2009). “So for those students with this problem—bad social skills—will have to be
given more attention, on their character building, either from teacher or parents” is the correct
form. This grammatical deviation was classified as an error due to participant’s inability to
identify the error. Participant 9 stated that the sentence was already grammatically correct.
Punctuation error became the third most common errors found in participants’ essays. It
occurred 7 times (14.58%). The most common punctuation errors found in the essays were either
misplaced or missing comma. There were also some cases in which participants put a full stop
between a dependent clause and independent clause, where they were supposed to put a comma.
The example is in the sentence “Furthermore, online learning is considered a complicated
system for some students. Especially those from underprivileged families (P10)”. In this
sentence, there were a dependent clause and an independent clause that were supposed to be
separated with a comma. However, participant 11 put a full stop instead. So, “Furthermore,
online learning is considered a complicated system for some students, especially those from
underprivileged families” is the correct form of the sentence. Another example is the sentence
“Usually, when the class is offline there are some lecturers who do not let students find
answers through the internet (P12)”. There must be a comma after introductory phrase, clause,
or word (Eastwood, 2002). “Usually, when the class is offline” is an introductory phrase, so the
correct sentence would be “Usually, when the class is offline, there are some lecturers who do
not let students find answers through the internet”. Those sentences were classified as errors
because both participant 10 and participant 12 were unable to identify the errors in the sentences.
The fourth type of error, which occurred 5 times (10.42%), is omit a word. It means that a
word or more must be omitted in order to make the sentence grammatically correct. A word must
be omitted from a sentence due to various reasons, such as unnecessary repetition of words,
unnecessary pronouns, and unnecessary conjunctions. The example is in the sentence
“Nowadays, online learning is very popular in this whole entire world (P5)”. The word whole
and entire have the same meaning (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, 1994), so
one of them must be omitted to correct the sentence. “Nowadays, online learning is very popular
in this entire world” is the correct form. Another example is “However, because students have
to study at home, character education during this pandemic period, it feels a little neglected
(P7)”. In this sentence, pronoun “it” is unnecessary. So, the correct form is “However, because
students have to study at home, character education during this pandemic period feels a little
neglected”. Both participant 5 and participant 7 were unable to identify the grammatical
deviations, hence the deviations were classified as errors.
Verb tense errors occur when there are inappropriateness in verb tense uses that affect
meaning and clarity (Azar, 2009) Understanding the context of the sentence or even the context
of the whole passage is a must to analyze verb tense. The example is in the sentence “Although
the concept of online learning existed even in pre-pandemic times, the phenomenon has certainly
reached a completely different level and intensity in these difficult times (P2). The use of simple
past here is not correct. Simple past is used to tell an event that began and ended in the past
(Azar, 2009). Meanwhile, from the context of the sentence, it can be concluded that what the
writer wanted to say was “Pembelajaran daring sudah ada sejak sebelum pandemi”, which
means it exists until now. So, the most suitable tense is present perfect tense. Hence, the correct
form is “Although the concept of online learning has been existed even in pre-pandemic times,
the phenomenon has certainly reached a completely different level and intensity in these difficult
times”. This grammatical deviation was classified as an error because participant 2 was unable to
explain why the sentence was incorrect.
The next error is add a word. It happens when writers eliminate the important word
sentence in their sentences (Azar, 2009). There were 3 add a word errors in participant’s essays
(6.25%). The example is in the sentence “However, many people think it is not a big issue, but
the reality is not (P5)”. Participant 5 was not aware that this sentence contained grammatical
deviations, hence it was classified as an error. The second clause does not have any subject. So,
adding pronoun “it” is required to correct the sentence. “However, many people think it is not a
big issue, but the reality it is not” is the correct form. The same problem occurred in the sentence
“With the activeness of the students, makes the learning process happen well and perfectly
(P12)”. The second clause doesn’t have any subject. “With the activeness of the students, it
makes the learning process happen well and perfectly” is the correct form. Participant 12 was
aware that this sentence was grammatically incorrect, but she failed to give any explanation
about the grammar rule related to the deviation. So, it was classified as an error.
Word form error occurs when there is an incorrect form of the word in the sentence. 2
errors related to word form were found in participants’ essay (4.17%). The example is in the
sentence “Kids who are usually active to play or doing something will feel very uncomfortable
and bored (P16)”. In this sentence, the word “doing” is not supposed to be in the –ing form. It is
supposed to be parallel with the word “play” because it is connected with coordinate conjunction
“and”. So, it must be changed into an infinitive form. “Kids who are usually active to play or do
something will feel very uncomfortable and bored” is the correct form. Participant 16 was unable
to explain the grammar rule related to the deviation, hence, grammatical deviation in this
sentence was classified as an error.
Article errors occur when there is a misuse of articles or missing articles (a, an, or the).
There was 1 article error found in the essays (2.08%). It was found in the sentence “Thanks to
the development of technology, online learning provides students with access to a time and place
for education (P9)”. Article “a” and “an” cannot be used before an uncountable noun (Azar,
2009). Time is an uncountable noun, so it cannot be preceded by article “a”. “Thanks to the
development of technology, online learning provides students with access to time and place for
education” is the correct form. This grammatical deviation was classified as an error because
participant 9 was not aware that the sentence was grammatically incorrect.
The next type of error is word order with 1 error (2.08%). It was found in the sentence
“A new habit that requires a life that is completely limited will cause boredom, not even a few
high school students are stressed due to piled up boredom (P15)”. The word “not” and “even”
are not in the correct order, which makes the sentence meaningless. “A new habit that requires a
life that is completely limited will cause boredom, even not a few high school students are
stressed due to piled up boredom” is the correct form. Participant 15 thought that the sentence
was grammatically correct. So, grammatical deviation in this sentence was classified as an error.

4.3. Grammatical Mistakes

Grammatical deviations can be classified as mistakes due to participants’ ability to spot
the deviations, explain the grammar rules, and reconstruct the sentences. There were 26
grammatical mistakes found in the participants’ essays. Those 26 mistakes were further
classified into classification made by Azar. The list of the percentage of the mistakes in the
participants’ essays is shown in the following table

Table 5. Types of Mistakes

Types of Errors Mistakes Percentage
Singular – Plural 3 10.71%
Word Form 0 0.00%
Word Choice 4 0.20%
Verb Tense 6 21.43%
Add a Word 0 0.00%
Omit a Word 0 0.00%
Word Order 0 0.00%
Incomplete Sentence 0 0.00%
Spelling 3 10.71%
Punctuation 4 3.57%
Capitalization 5 0.18%
Article 2 2.00%
Meaning not Clear 1 3.57%
Run-on Sentence 0
Total 28 100.00%
 The most frequent type of mistake found in the essays was capitalization with 5 mistakes.
It was found in the sentence “So, What does actually the cause behind early grade student’s bad
social skills? (P9)”. The word “what” is not supposed to be written in capital letter, because it is
not the first word of the sentence, nor a proper name such as the name of a person, place, or
institution. “So, what does actually the cause behind early grade student’s bad social skills?” is
the correct form. Participant 9, who committed this deviation, was aware that this sentence
contained a grammatical deviation. She explained “capital letter should be used after a period,
not a comma”. She also was able to reconstruct the sentence into its correct form. That is why
grammatical deviation in this sentence was classified as a mistake
The second most frequent mistake was word choice with 5 errors. The example is in the
sentence “After a long time of online learning, there are many effects that I feel like a university
students that you may also experience (P11)”. The meaning of the sentence is not clear at first,
but Participant 1, the writer of the sentence, has confirmed what she intended to write. When
shown the sentence, participant 11 was able to spot the mistake immediately. Participant 11 said
that the word “as” is more suitable rather than “like”, because she wanted to say “sebagai”, not
“seperti”. She later was able to reconstruct the sentence into the correct form. By those factors,
grammatical deviation in this sentence was classified as a mistake. After a long time of online
learning, there are many effects that I feel as a university students that you may also experience”
is the correct form.
The next most frequent mistake is spelling with 3 mistakes. The example is in the
sentence “With the new way of teaching and learning using apps like Zoom, Google Meet, and
online messaging platfrom, it is so hard to teach character building to the students (P8)” In this
sentence, the word “platform” was misspelled. However, participant 8 was able to spot this
mistake and give the correction. He mentioned that he already know how the word “platform”
since he was in Junior High School. He misspelled the word due to lack of concentration. He
gave the correct form of the sentence, which was “With the new way of teaching and learning
using apps like Zoom, Google Meet, and online messaging platform, it is so hard to teach
character building to the students”.
The next type of mistake is singular-plural, which occurred 2 times. The example is in the
sentence “Everyone are forced to stayed at home and lessen their outdoor interaction (P8).
“Everyone” is a singular word, which means it should be followed by a singular verb (Azar,
2009). Participant 8 was able to spot this mistake and explained that the word “everyone” should
be followed by verb “is”. He also briefly explained subject-verb agreement rules that he claimed
he has learnt since Senior High School. The correct form of the sentence that participant 8 gave
was “Everyone is forced to stay at home and lessen their outdoor interaction”
Mistakes related to punctuation was found 2 times in participants’ essays. The example is
in the sentence “The pandemic is damaging all aspects, not only the country’s economy but also
the education, too (P4)” The comma before the word “too” is unnecessary because it is not one
of the eight basic uses commas, which are used to separate independent clauses, put after an
introductory clause, between all items in a series, set off nonrestrictive clauses, set off
appositives, indicate direct address, set off quotations, or used with dates, addresses, and
numbers (Eastwood, 2002). Participant 4 was able to spot the mistake and explain that the
comma should be deleted. He also mentioned some of the uses of commas correctly. Participant
4 reconstructed the sentence into “The pandemic is damaging all aspects, not only the country’s
economy but also the education too”
The next type of mistake is article. There were 2 mistakes related to article found in
participants’ essays. One of the example is in the sentence “Students have very limited activities
due to the fact that even playing is limited by a space (P7)” The word space is uncountable, so
article “a” is unnecessary (Azar, 2009). Participant 7 was able to spot the mistake and explained
the basic rules of articles briefly. He was able to reconstruct the sentence into the correct form,
which was “Students have very limited activities due to the fact that even playing is limited by
space “
There were 2 mistakes related to verb tense that were found in the participants’ essays.
The example is in the sentence “The pandemic damaging all aspects of our lives (P4)”. This
sentence uses present participle “damaging”, which was written to form continuous verb tense. It
means that this sentence needs a “be verb” to make it grammatically correct (Azar, 2009). This
sentence was classified as mistake because participant 4 was able to identify the mistake in this
sentence. Participant 4 was also able to explain the rule of present continuous tense briefly by
mentioning “be verb + present participle” formula. He reconstructed the sentence correctly into
“The pandemic is damaging all aspects of our lives”
4.4. Causes of Errors and Mistakes
Through a questionnaire, participants gave their answers about the causes why they
committed all errors and mistakes in the essays. The causes of errors committed by participants
are shown in table 5

Table 5. Cause of Errors

Cause of Error Frequency Percentage
Lack of knowledge about the grammar rules 48 100%

Participants used different wording in answering the questions about the causes of their errors,
such as “I did not know that my sentence was wrong” (P3), “I thought it was correct” (P7), or “I
did not realize that I did not apply the grammar rules correctly” (P11). All of those answers can
be summed up into one cause: lack of knowledge about the grammar rules. So, it can be
concluded that all errors found in the participants’ essays were committed due to participants’
lack of knowledge about the grammar rules. This conclusion was also derived from the fact that
participants was not aware of the grammatical deviations in their own sentences and their
inability to explain the grammar rules as well as reconstruct the sentences. In the questionnaires,
participants were also asked specifically about the causes why the made ungrammatical
sentences. This finding fits to the theory proposed by Ellis (1994), Corder (1991), Richard &
Schmidt (2002), and Larsen-Freeman & Long (2014) that defines errors as grammatical
deviations committed because the writers have not mastered the grammar rules.
Meanwhile, participants gave different answers about the causes of grammatical
deviations that were classified as mistakes. The causes of mistakes committed by participants are
shown in table 6.

Table 6. Causes of Mistakes

Causes of Mistakes Frequency Percentage
Lack of concentration / fatigue 18 66.67%
Carelessness due to deadline rush 6 22.22%
Forgot the rules during writing 3 11.11%
There were three causes mentioned by the participants why they made ungrammatical sentences
which were classified as mistakes. The most common one was lack of concentration. There were
18 mistakes that were the caused by participants’ lack of concentration. Fatigue is factor that was
mentioned the most as the cause of the participants’ declining concentration. The second one
cause was carelessness. There were 6 mistakes that were caused by this factor. Participants that
claimed carelessness as the factors of their grammatical mistakes said they could not write
sentences accurately because they were too rushed to finish the essays due to the deadline. The
third one was because participants just forgot completely about the rules at the moment they
wrote the essays. There were 3 mistakes that were caused by this factor. One of the participant
mentioned that this happened because of fatigue.

4. DISCUSSION
This section explores the discussion of findings that have been presented in the previous
section. There are four aspects of the findings that are discussed in this section: (1) finding
concerning the most frequent errors; (2) errors and mistakes classification; (3) participants’
inability to analyze their own errors; and (4) causes of errors and mistakes.

4.1. Finding Concerning the Most Frequent Types of Errors

The finding of this study concerning the most frequent errors confirms the results of
previous studies by Cholipah (2014) and Hamzah (2012). Cholipah also used Azar’s errors
classification to classify grammatical errors found in second grade students of SMP Trimulia
Jakarta. From 30 recount texts that were analyzed, it was found that three most frequent errors
were run-on sentence (23%), word choice (13.14%), and punctuation (12.54%). The similar
result happened in Hamzah’s study (2012). Unlike this study, He used error categories proposed
by Etherton (1977), which classified errors into punctuation, article, preposition, pronoun
agreement, word choice, relative clauses, pronoun deletion, word order, verb group - productions
of verb, distribution of verb and tense, plurality, mechanics, possessive and copula omission
Despite using different kind of error classification with this study, the result was very similar
with word choice (23.2%) and punctuation (15.8%) became the most frequent errors found in
students’ writing.
 In contrast with the finding of this study, the study conducted by Shujairi to Iraqi pre-
university students showed that articles errors were seen to be the most frequent. Out of 112
compositions collected from pre-university students, there were 725 errors. The errors of article
(29%), tenses (19.3%), prepositions (16.1%) were the most frequent errors in students’
compositions. Taher (2011) also had different results in his study conducted in a Junior High
School in Uppland, Sweden. Verb related errors were seen to be the most frequent errors,
occurring 71 times out of 158 errors. On the other hand, tenses errors were the most frequent
errors committed by senior high school students in Central Region of Ghana, occurring 441
times (32%).
Errors related run-on sentences being the most frequent implies that participants, who
were 2nd semester students of English Language Education program, still had not mastered the
rule related to run-on sentences. The clear indication that they lack of knowledge about run-on
sentence is the fact that from 17 participants in total, 11 participants committed run-on sentences
errors. 10 participants committed one run-on sentence each. There is even 1 participant that made
the same type of error related to run-on sentences multiple times. Their errors are the same,
which was adjoining two independent sentences with a comma and without a conjunction. In
interview, only 1 participant who could answer questions related to run-on sentences and
reconstruct his incorrect sentence into the correct one. Those findings indicate that run-on
sentence is a grammar rule that had not been mastered by participants.
The second most frequent errors were word choice. Errors related to word choice
committed by participants show their ability to choose the most suitable dictions for their
sentences. Based on essays written by participants, common words like “limited”, “force”, and
“yet” were still misused by participants. Based on data gathered through interview, all
participants who committed word choice errors have already known the meaning of the words
they misused. It implies that it was still possible to use words in the wrong context even though
they already knew the meaning of the words. Wrong contexts also became the most frequent
word choice errors in the study conducted in China by Severino (2015). From students’ draft
submitted to online writing center’s online tutoring program, Severino found that wrong context
errors were the most frequent, mostly because students choosing the words that has similar
meaning with the target expressions, but did not fit the context.
4.2. Finding Concerning the Most Frequent Types of Mistakes
 From 76 grammatical deviations found in participants’ essays, 28 of them were
categorized as mistakes. Those mistakes were further classified into 14 types of mistakes. It was
found that the most frequent mistakes were capitalization with 5 mistakes, and punctuation with
5 mistakes, and verbs tense with 5 mistakes
Capitalization mistakes committed by participants were the use of a lowercase letter in
the beginning of a sentence, which occurred 3 times. The second type of capitalization errors
found in this study, which occurred 2 times, was the use of a lowercase letter for a proper noun.
There were 2 participants who did not use capital letters for names of software, like Zoom and
Google Meet. However, all participants committed grammatical deviations related to
capitalization were able to recognize their mistakes, answer questions about capitalization rules,
and reconstruct their sentences. It implies that participants actually had mastered basic
capitalization rules but committed mistakes which, based on interviews, caused by lack of
concentration and typo. The claim that participants had mastered capitalization rules was also
strengthen by the fact that all grammatical deviations related to capitalization were classified as
mistakes. There was not a single case in this study in which participants broke capitalization
rules due to their lack of knowledge. This finding is different with many studies related to
capitalization errors which did not differentiate errors from mistakes. For example, a study
conducted by Pathan (2021) investigated capitalization errors of undergraduate level EFL
students of Bangladesh Agricultural University. All types of capitalization rules broken by
students, such as the first word of a complete sentence, proper nouns, people’s tittles, etc were
classified as capitalization errors. The same kind of study was also conducted by Salamin et.al
(2016), who found that capitalization and punctuation errors were the most frequent errors
committed by English Department students of Hebron University. Both studies did not consider
whether the capitalization rules deviation were caused by lack of knowledge or performance slip.
Mistakes related to verb tense found participants essays were the lack of auxiliary verb
be in a sentence that was supposed to be a passive voice (3 occurrences), the lack of auxiliary
verb be in a present continuous tense sentence (1 occurrence), and the lack of a verb in the
second clause of a complex sentence (1 occurrence).Studies about grammatical errors related to
primary auxiliary verbs (be, do, have) have been conducted before. Sembiring, et.al. (2021)
conducted a study to first semester students of English Literature program in Jakarta. From 31
descriptive texts written by students, there were 166 primary auxiliary errors found.
4.3. Comparing Errors and Mistakes
The most crucial finding in this study is classifying grammatical deviations into errors
and mistakes. Unlike many previous studies, this study specifically differentiate between errors
and mistakes by conducting interviews in order to understand students’ grammatical
understanding. The result showed that grammatical deviations committed by students were
mostly errors (63.16%) rather than mistakes (36.84%). It means that most grammatical
deviations found in the essays were caused by students’ lack of understanding towards grammar
rules used in their sentences. Grammar theories incorrectly used by participants were learning
materials that have been taught in high school, such as using simple tenses (simple present, past,
future), articles, subject-verb agreement in simple present tense, and punctuation. Moreover,
participants were in 2nd semester of English Language Education program, which means they
have passed Basic Grammar course. It implies that even though participants have learned about
grammar rules intensively, it does not guarantee that they can apply it perfectly in their writing.
There were 28 grammatical deviations that were classified as mistakes, showing that not
all ungrammatical sentences found in students’ essays were caused by purely students’
incomprehension of grammar rules, but also can be caused by performance slip. Performance
slip means that participants failed to perform on their true levels of writing due to non-lingual
factors, such as lack of concentration/fatigue (66.67%) and carelessness (22.22%). It is in line
with Richard and Schmidt’s statement about errors and mistakes (2002). They stated that a
mistake is made when the learner is writing or speaking and it is caused by lack of attention,
carelessness, fatigue, or other aspects of performance. This finding is important because other
studies did not consider these factors by not differentiating errors from mistakes. It gives more
understanding towards the reasons why students wrote ungrammatical sentences even though
they have learned about the grammar rules intensively before
From 14 types of errors and mistakes, there were 7 types in which more deviations were
classified as errors. Participants committed more grammatical errors in singular-plural, word
choice, add a word, omit a word, word order, punctuation, run-on sentence. It implies that most
participants did not have enough knowledge in those sectors. Then most distinct one was run-on
sentence. All 16 grammatical deviations related to run-on sentences were classified as errors.
Participants did not consider their run-on sentences to be grammatically incorrect when they got
interviewed. The fact that run-on sentences were found 16 times and committed by of 15
participants out of 17 participants in total clearly shows that they haven’t mastered the rules of
run-on sentences. On the other hand, there were 4 types of grammatical deviations in which
more types were classified as mistakes; spelling, capitalization, article, and meaning not clear. It
means that despite having enough knowledge in spelling, capitalization rules, articles rules, and
writing sentences with clear meaning, it was still possible to make mistakes due to non-lingual
factors.
4.4. Participants’ Ability to Recognize Grammatical Deviations and Reconstruct the
Sentences
The finding of this study shows that most participants did not recognize grammatical
deviations in their sentences, which means they thought that their sentences were correct despite
containing grammatical deviations (77%). It shows that participants haven’t mastered the
grammar rules, because of their inability to recognize the wrong uses of grammar in their own
sentences. It also shows that even though participants have been given chances to look at their
writing again, they still failed to recognize and correct grammatical deviations that they made. It
is in line with Wornyo’s study in University of Winneba, Ghana (2016). It was found that
students had difficulty in correcting their own sentences because they were rarely involved in
correcting the errors. It is in accordance with the finding of this study regarding participants’
ability to correct their sentences. There were some participants that failed to reconstruct their
sentences even though they understand the grammar rules (7%). It can be assumed that it also
was because they did not actively analyze their own writings. That is why in his study, Wornyo
tried to apply constructive teaching and learning which involved students in analyzing,
journaling, and correcting their own grammatical errors, individually and in peer group activity.
In result, students had better ability to analyze and correct their own sentences. This finding can
be something that teachers and lecturers consider if they want to improve students’ grammar
accuracy in writing or improve students’ ability to analyze and correct errors in their own
writing.

4.5. Discussing the Causes of Errors and Mistakes

The finding concerning the causes of errors and mistakes is in line with theories of errors
and mistakes proposed by Ellis (1994), Corder (1991), Richard & Schmidt (2002), and Larsen-
Freeman & Long (2014). Based on their theories, grammatical errors are caused by the users’
lack of competence. The finding of this study shows that in all grammatical deviations classified
as errors, participants said that the errors were caused by their partial or limited understanding
towards the grammar rules, inability to apply the grammar rules correctly, and
misunderstanding towards the grammar rules. All of these causes can be summed up into one:
lack of understanding of the grammar rules. The finding of this study also shows that in all
grammatical deviations classified as mistakes, participants said that the mistakes were caused by
lack of concentration, carelessness, and forgetting the rules with no particular reasons. It also
confirms the error-mistake distinction proposed by Ellis (1994), Corder (1991), Richard &
Schmidt (2002), and Larsen-Freeman & Long (2014) which stated that mistake is a performance
slip caused by fatigue, miss-concentration, and other non-lingual factors.

Conclusion
The result of this research revealed that second semester students of English Department
who took Essay Writing course still made grammatical deviations in their writings. Grammatical
deviations committed by participants were classified into errors and mistakes by using theory
proposed by Ellis (1994). The participants’ errors and mistakes were categorized into
categorization proposed by Azar (1999), namely singular-plural, word form, word choice, verb
tense, add a word, omit a word, word order, incomplete sentence, spelling, punctuation,
capitalization, article, meaning not clear, run-on sentence. It was found that the most frequent
error category was run-on sentence (13 occurrences, %) and the most frequent mistake category
was capitalization (5 occurrences, %) and punctuation (5 occurrences, %). By conducting
interviews, it was found that the causes why participants committed errors were not
understanding/misunderstanding the grammar rules and lack of ability to use grammar rules
correctly, which can be summed up into lack of knowledge of the grammar rules. Meanwhile, the
causes of mistakes committed by participants were lack of concentration caused by fatigue,
carelessness due to deadline rush, and forgetting the rules during writing