Introduction

English is an international language used by many people in many countries in the world as a
purpose of communication. It is generally a goal of either oral or written communication.
People use English in order to make relationship among people in different countries in the
world.

As an international language which is used by most of people around the world, English plays
an important role. It can be said that English is usually used as medium in the scientific and
technology research as well as international trade. And also more than a half of magazine,
newspaper, scientific books, formation, and other information are printed in English. Beside
English is also as an international language which is used almost all nation in the world as
mean of communication.

While in Indonesia, English has been taught and introduced as second language lesson. It was
not only as a subject but also used as the medium of instruction. In teaching learning English,
the learners are demanded to master the four skills in language, those are listening, speaking,
reading and writing.

Speaking is very significant because by mastering speaking skill, people can carry out
conversation with others, give ideas and exchange information with others. Hence, in
speaking classroom,learners should work as much as possible on their own.

Learning English as a foreign language is different thing to do for the most of Indonesian
students, because it cannot be learnt naturally as their mother tongue. In other word, learning
foreign language means learning the dictionary, grammar and the sound of system in that
language. After that, focusing on language form is important in foreign language learning, but
developing the ability to really communicate in English is the main goals of an English
language course. At the end of course we should be able to communicate effectively in
English in or outside the classroom for study, works or leisure.

This is where viewpoints begin to diverge. Notice that we‘ve not used the term of the‖
grammar of English. Instead, there are a number of grammars which differ in how they
characterize language, depending on the purpose of the user. How people have characterized
wording, which is, devised theories of grammar, depends on the kinds of questions they have
asked about language, on what they want to find out about it.
The grammatical rules of English is different from the rules Indonesian grammar. The
differences between them usually induce problem in learning English. Grammar is as state
that a science that teaches learner how to read, speak, and write English well and properly
(Suryadi Junaida, 2007: p.55-67). In English for business students, grammar is the name
given to system of rules underlying the use of language (Mac. Donald and Evan,1984, p7).

One of the essential purposes of grammar mastery is to make obvious communication. Its
rule is no more than a summary of what experienced writers and speakers have found to be
the best insurance against obscure and expression. Same rules are more essential than others.
Disregarding the importance of them often creates doubt about meaning and therefore
seriously interferes the effectiveness and communication.

In this studied, we investigated the errors in communication especially in grammar “tenses”

by L1 Indonesian student of EFL. This phenomenon is interested to be described. Thus, this
study focuses on errors grammatical on tenses.
Purpose of the study

The present study examines the grammatical errors in spoken English of university students
who are less proficient in English. The specific objectives of the study are to determine the
types of grammatical errors ”tenses” on oral communication. This paper maintains the use of
the term “error” as we did not set out to differentiate whether the errors are systematic or
merely mistakes.
Materials and Methods

The oral interaction data for this study are derived from an interview with a student of BP21P
Barombong. The study was located at schools namely, BP21P Barombong in Makassar.

The questions that is given to stimulate the student’s utterances. During this session, the
subject’ utterances were taped. The subject’s responses were then transcribed and categorized
according to the type of errors used.

The transcribed oral interaction data were analysed for grammatical errors using the surface
structure taxonomy of Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982, p.50) which is based on “the ways
surface structures are altered in erroneous utterances/sentences” (Ellis and Barkhuizen, 1995,
p.61). Based on this taxonomy, the four principal ways in which learners modify target form
are omission, addition, misinformation and misordering. In this study, we also categorised the
grammatical errors into verb form and tenses.

Subjects

Subjects were selected based on three criteria. Firstly, their first language is not English.
Secondly, the subjects are to be in the age group of eighteen to twenty. This was because the
student of this age group was anticipated to be able to respond adequately to the questions
presented. English proficiency level was another criterion for the selection. The student was
recommended by his teacher as student generally having a high competency in speaking
English. This was to ensure that there was a reasonable ability to convey their responses in
English.

References
Dulay, H., Burt, M., & Krashen, S. D. 1982. Language Two. New York: Oxford University
Press.

Ellis, R., & Barkhuizen, G. (2005). Analysing learner language. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.

Suryadi Junaidi.2007. Complete English Grammar. Celebon Timur UH III/548.Yogya. 55/67.

Puataka Pelajar.

Mac Donald And Evans. 1984. English for Business Studies (practical course for use in
secondary school and college). Jakarta Barat. Bina rupa Aksara.