Errors in the use of Simple Present Tense found in Writing III Students' Analytical Essays

This study was conducted in order to identify students’ ability of using Simple Present Tense in composing Analytical Essays. The writer identified the errors in the essays of Writing III students of the English Department of Faculty of Teacher Training and Education in the Academic Year of 2015. Based on the purpose of the thesis, the writer identified the types of errors and predicted the possible causes of the errors. \n This study was a descriptive-qualitative. The writer obtained the data from three classes of Writing III. There were 41 essays which used by the writer to conduct the study. After obtaining the data, the writer analyzed the data to answer the research questions. The writer found that the total errors in types of errors were 39 errors and they were divided into: (1) Omission as much as 25 (64.10%) errors, (2) Addition (Double Markings and Simple Addition) as much as 6 (15.38%) occurances of errors, (3) Misformation (Regularization Errors) as much as 7 (17.96%) occurances of errors, and (4) Misordering as much as 1 (2.56%) occurances of errors. Moreover, the total causes of errors were 39 causes and they were divided into: (1) Interlingual Errors as much as 19 (48.72%) causes, (2) Intralingual Errors as much as 20 (51.28%) causes. Interlingual errors were divided into: (1) Overextention of Analogy as much as 13 (33.33%) causes, (2) Transfer of Structure as much as 4 (10.26%) causes, (3) Interlingual/ Intralingual as much as 2 (5.13%) causes. Intralingual errors were divided into: (1) Overgeneralization as much as 1 (2.56%) causes (2) Ignorance of Rule Restriction as much as 13 (33.33%) causes, Incomplete Application of Rules as much as 4 (10.26%) causes, and False Concepts Hypothesized as much as 2 (5.13%) causes. Therefore, the Omission was the most erroneous as the type of errors. Moreover, Ignorance of Rule Restriction in Intralingual Errors was the most erroneous as the possible cause of errors. \n According to the findings, the writer gave some suggestions to lecturers, Writing III students, and future researchers. The suggestions for lecturers was giving more emphasize, explanation, and exercises to students about the rules in using Simple Present Tense. In addition, the suggestion for Writing III students was using some media provided around them and doing some exercises. Moreover, the writer hoped to the next researchers could conduct the study by using another theory to be able to measure both surface and deepness comprehension of students, so that the real causes of errors would be revealed.