INVESTIGATING GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDENTS' ABSTRACT WRITING: A QUALITATIVE STUDY AT UNIVERSITAS MAHASARASWATI DENPASAR

Abstract

Scientific writing requires several compulsory elements and writing an abstract is one of them. Writing an English
abstract has become a requirement in various both national and international journals. Writing an abstract becomes
vital as it grasps the content of the scientific writing general. Thus, an abstract should be accurate, clear, brief, and
specific. In the process of writing an abstract, errors could possibly occur due to differences in the language system
between the learners’ first and second language. This qualitative study aimed to investigate types of grammatical
errors made by English Literature students in writing abstracts for their theses at Universitas Mahasaraswati
Denpasar. It involved 26 abstracts taken from the students’ theses. The data were collected by both observation
and documentation method. This study applied the theory of surface strategy taxonomy by Dulay, et al. (1982) in
analyzing the data. From the results of the analysis, four types of grammatical errors were found with a percentage
of omission of 60%, addition of 19%, mis-formation of 13%, and mis-ordering of 8%. The results signified the
persistence of grammatical errors among seventh-semester students, highlighting the need for further attention
and improvement in the abstract-writing skills of English Literature students at Universitas Mahasaraswati
Denpasar