Students’ Errors on Using Simple Past Tense in Translating Narrative Text From Indonesian to English ( A Qualitative Research in X.5 Students of SMAN 1 Kedungwuni )

Abstract

English grammar is still something difficult to be mastered. Indonesia has now abandoned the 2013 curriculum and switched to using the “Merdeka Belajar” Curriculum as a reference for formal education. In this sense, English subjects have seen a reduction in lesson time to 2 hours per week, while the need for English teaching is very necessary for students, especially in terms of understanding grammar and vocabulary. Several students gain struggles in writing using simple past tense. In this case, quite hard for Indonesian students to use the simple past properly. So as to solve the problem in students’ errors, the researchers did the analysis about the errors, with the purpose of students be able to understand and know their struggles on usage of simple past tense. The qualitative method is used by researchers in conducting the research. The data came from 34 narrative texts written by students X.5 of SMAN 1 KEDUNGWUNI on May, 3rd 2023. The students were required to translate narrative text from Indonesian to English. The findings show that students made 741 errors in total. Those errors are categorized into four types namely omission (17.4%), addition (15%), misformation (64%), and misordering (3.6 %). As the most dominant errors have been discovered, students and teachers should pay attention to minimize their occurrence.