INFLUENCE OF MOTHER TONGUE ON STUDENTS’ ENGLISH WRITING  
                                                                                  Y.Qomariana, IAM. Puspani, and NKS. Rahayuni 
                                                                                                          Udayana University 
                                                                                                       yqomariana@gmail.com 
                                                                                                                        
              Introduction 
              English  language  acquisition  is  influenced  by  several  factors,  including  the  ability  in                   Error Type                              Ill Sentences  
              comprehending  the  language,  learning  motivation,  age,  learning  purpose,  time  invested  for 
              practicing English and whether English is practiced with enjoyment (Latu, 1994). English learning             Tense                      Three years ago I go there 
              is also influenced by basic ability in learning language such as mother tongue.  
              The re are errors made by learners of English, specially ones whose mother tongue has different               Word Order                 We must paid fifty thousand rupiah. 
              grammar system compared to English. It is possible to trace the errors back to mother tongue’s 
              grammar causing the errors. Breadsmore (1982) mentions that mother tongue’s influence may                     Passive Construction      We were cleaned home together. 
              appears in the field of phonology, vocabulary, and grammar. Influence of mother tongue may be 
              observed through learners’ English production skill, namely speaking and writing.                             Subject-Verb Agreement    The website is a multimedia entertainment portal that 
              This research is conducted to find out  the influence of mother tongue onto the production skill of                                     collect users all over the word. 
              students in English Department in Udayana University, specially the influence on the students’                Artcles                   It was an best experience that cannot be forgotten. 
              writing skill. 
               Research Methods                                                                                             Pronoun forms             So we family prayed there. 
               The research applied descriptive qualitative method. The data were taken from 40 descriptive                 Plural nous                I saw many kind of animal. 
               essay written by the second semester students of English Department, Udayana University. 
               The students were asked to write essay of 250 words within 60 minutes. 
               Grammatical errors were listed from the essay. The errors were analysed based on errors                                            Table 1. Errors in Students’ Essay 
               analysis approach which is one way to identify areas of difficulties of learners by comparing 
               formal  differences  between  the  learners’  first  language  (L1)  and  L2  which  is  the  target 
               language. (Corder and Dulay in Usha dan Kader, 2016). The errors were classified based on                   Conclusion 
               types of grammatical errors. The error types were compared with grammar of the mother                       The finding shows that are interference of mother tongue in the students’ essays. 
               tongue to find out the influence of L1 onto L2.                                                             The interference is shown by errors found within the essays. The interference is 
               It  is  assumed that L1 of the students whose essay were used as data were Balinese and                     caused by different system of the mother tongue/L1 and English as the L2. The 
               Bahasa Indonesia, as both of these languages were learnt by the students in the early age.                  difference include specific rule related the absent of markers to reflect tense and 
               This meets the requirement of L1 while the L2 is English.                                                   numbers, use of verbs and modal verbs, absent of marker in plural nouns, the 
                                                                                                                           usage of article ‘the’, three forms of verbs in L1,  use of article, and also different 
               Results and Discussion                                                                                      pronoun forms. 
                                                                                                                           . 
               Research data show errors in students’ essay. The errors were categorised into seven 
               types  of  error,  they  are:  (1)  tenses;  (2)  subject-verb  agreement;  (3)  word  order;  (4)          Thank You Note. 
               pronouns, (5) singular/plural; (6) active-passive construction and (7) articles. The errors                 The writer would like to thank Universitas Udayana for the fund given for this 
               demonstrate influence of mother tongue.                                                                     research. Thanks also go to all colleagues in English Department Udayana 
                                                                                                                           University for all valuable comments and insights for this research 
               Mother tongue’s influence in students’ essay is dominated by errors in tenses as shown by 
               153 errors. The second most found errors is word-order of 132 errors. The next errors were                  Bibliography 
               about the use of Singular/Plural nouns of about 9 errors. Active and passive construction                  Bhela, Baljit. 1999. Native language interference in lerning  second language: 
               comes next of 7 errors. The next is errors on Subject-verb agreement of 6 errors, followed                 Exploratory case studies of native language interference with target language usage in 
               by article with 4 errors and pronoun usage of 3 errors.                                                    International Education Journal Vo 1, no 1, 1999. Retrieved from https: 
                                                                                                                          //ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/I ej/articles/v1n1/bhela/bhela.pdf 
               In terms of tense. The errors show disagreement between tense and verb. In English as the                   
               target language or L2 tense is reflected on verbs; in comparison with mother tongue  as the                Breadsmore, H.B. 1982. Bilingualism: Basic Principles. Tieto, Avon 
               L1, verbs in L1 are not reflected for tense. On top of this, two tenses in L2 is realised by                 
               using different suffixes, and one tense of future time is expressed by adding one word                     Crystal, David. 1971. Linguistics. Great Britain: Penguin Books. 
               known as modal. For problem of word order, error was found in the use of verb after                          
               preposition  to,  which  should  be  followed  by  verb  in  the  basic  form,  this  constitutes  to      Denizer, Elif Nur, 2017. Does Mother Tongue Interfere in Second Language Learning?, 
               infinitive. Passive construction also becomes problematic as there are errors on passive                   Journal of Foreign Language Education and Technology, 2 (1), 39-54 
               construction found in students’ essay. The passive construction in L2 is based on pattern:                  
               Subject + to be + V3. In comparison with L1, there is no to be as well as changes on verbs                 Derakhsan, Ali. 2015. The Interference of First Language and Second Language 
               to construct passives. Errors were also found on the Subject-Verb agreement, especially for                Acquisition in Theory and Practce in Language Studies. Vol 5, o 10, pp. 2112-2117, 
               sentences with third singular subject in present context which should be used with suffix -s/-             October 2015 
               es. Another different grammar system that causes problem is different form of pronouns in                   
               L2 which are based on nominative, objective or possessive use. Article a/an and the for                    Dulay, Heidi, Burt, Marina, Krashen, Stephen. 1982. Language Two. Oxford: OUP 
               nouns in L2 does not exist in L2 is another field of errors in students’ writing which shows                
               interference from L1.                                                                                      Fauzati, Endang, Interferensi Gramatikal Bahasa Indonesia dalam Bahasa Inggris: 
                                                                                                                          Kasus pada Buku LKS Bahasa Inggris untuk SLTP di Surakarta, Jurnal Penelitian 
                              Article 
                               Sg/Pl                                                                                      Humaniora, Vol. 17, August (2), 96-109 
                            Act/Pass                                                                                       
                      S-V agreement                                                                                       Jack. C. Richards. 1974. Error Analysis: Perspective on Second Language Acquition. 
                            Pronoun                                                                                       Longman 
                                                                                                                           
                         Word Order                                                                                       Luo, Jianping. 2014. A study of mother tongue interference in pronunciation of college 
                               Tense                                                                                      English learning in China in Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol 4, No 8, pp 
                                      0            50           100           150          200                            1702-1706, August 2014. Retrieved from 
                                                                                                                          http://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol04/08/24.pdf 
                                      Figure 1. Types of Errors in Students’ Essay