Analysis of Language Errors in Essay Writing of Non-Native Students of Interracial Secondary Schools in Selangor

In this 21st century, it is crucial for students to become fluent in a foreign language, whether it be either written or spoken. However, in the context of this research, it was discovered that non-native speakers of the language encounter difficulties when attempting to hone the skill of writing Malay language essays. A qualitative study using the document analysis method was conducted to analyse the aspects of linguistic mistakes that happen most frequently. For the essay writing review method of non-native speakers to be highly content-reliable, the student essay script data must adhere to the syllabus. The essay script has been reviewed to be equivalent to the IELTS Junior® and TOEFL Junior essay evaluation criteria as well as the scoring rubric used by the Malaysian Examinations Council for the Malay Language Examination in national-type schools (SJK). Purposive sampling was used to select 50 essay scripts from non-native speaking students from five interracial secondary schools in Selangor. The research findings indicated that the majority of participants (53.3%) scored at the lowest level for language proficiency, while 26.6% are at a fair level. According to the analysis of the script data, the most significant linguistic mistakes were morphological, including spelling, affixes, and vocabulary selection errors, followed by semantic, grammatical, and syntactic mistakes. Based on the results of the diagnostic test and the frequency of errors in the language aspect, which is quite important, the researchers suggest a specific study related to the process of writing in Malay subject to develop a simple but systematic step-by-step writing module, student-friendly, fun, informative, meaningful, effective, and even the understanding of learning to write will last a long time.


Introduction
In this modern era, learning a foreign language is very advantageous in both education level and daily life.Nowadays a person's added value can be developed by becoming proficient in one or more foreign languages (Azian, 2020;Aisyah et.al., 2018;Marpuah, 2018).Learning a second language has many benefits, including assisting students fulfill the requirements for studying at universities abroad as well as fulfilling the demands of almost every business, education, tourism, administrative affairs, and global socialization.According to Rahayu (2019), a person learns a foreign language as a second language (B2) due to family mobility, family migration, or relocation to a more developed country.Thus, life in the modern world is connected and dependent upon one another.Therefore, being fluent in a language other than one's native language is crucial because it enables one to interact with others faster and more efficiently.In the context of teaching Malay to non-native speakers who reside in Malaysia as a second language (B2), this situation can help the language become more globalised.
The process of accepting the Malay language as a second language is not happening by itself since it needs to be learned, especially for writing abilities.According to the research of Ain et. al (2021), a student must be competent in reading before they can write because reading is a dynamic process that is complex that includes the ability to quickly comprehend, construct interpretations, and analyze the reading material.Being competent in reading helps a person to write essays in the appropriate context to allow new knowledge or information to be shared with the readers.This finding is in line with the findings of research by Shah et.al. in 2021.Furthermore, writing is a skill of someone with expertise and requires diligent practice, particularly for students who are not native Malay speakers (Zeckqualine et al., 2020).

Problem Statement
The achievement of non-native speakers of the Malay language is often discussed in terms of language proficiency, particularly if exam results have declined.According to Azian (2020), one of the causes of the decline in Malay language performance among non-native speaking students in Malaysia is due to the exam-oriented schooling system and poor language formation habits among the students.Meanwhile, Zeckqualine et al (2020) stated that code mixing and switching practices from multicultural societies also lead to language skill proficiency issues among non-native speaking students.Based on the findings from Habsah (2018), the use of learning strategies in the classroom still shows the implications in the academic achievement of non-native speaker students as it remains at a moderate level.Zanariah et al (2021) explained that this happened because the teachers frequently put a strong emphasis on memorization, giving information, and recall for the sole purpose of passing the exam.Alhaadi et al (2018) also stated that most students will memorize grammar formulas or sample essays and then use the same language in other contexts.This method sometimes helps but in many cases, it resulted in writing that is inappropriate for the situation.

Research Objective
1. To determine the level of language skills of research participants for essay writing in diagnostic test based on scoring rubrics adapted from DSKP BM SJK, IELTS Junior® and TOEFL Junior.

2.
To analyze the mistakes of the language aspect in the essay writing of non-native speaker students in five interracial junior high schools in Selangor.

Research Question
1. What is the level of language skills of research participants for essay writing in diagnostic test based on scoring rubrics adapted from DSKP BM SJK, IELTS Junior® and TOEFL Junior? 2. What the language mistakes in the essay writing of non-native speaker students in five interracial junior high schools in Selangor?

Literature Review
Language researchers, particularly those working in the fields of linguistics and psycholinguistics, are interested in research that examines how non-native speaking students learn and master a second language (B2).However, research on the proficiency of B2 among interracial high school students who specialize in writing skills is still lacking and needs to be expanded.The continuous study is necessary since the need for a person to be fluent in a second or foreign language is increasing.Finding an efficient, well-organized, and simple method is necessary to increase the number of people who demand to learn a second language.At the primary and secondary education level and even at the beginning level of learning a language, the use of the basic writing module can certainly help the learning of B2 or a foreign language being studied.This is because, according to Roshidah (2017), studies on B2 competence indicate fact that learning a language requires not only cognitive factors but also physical, mental, and emotional aspects.In other words, or more precisely, the active involvement of interactive teaching-learning in the linguistic environment of the target language and speakers is very helpful.She explained that a student-centered approach is very important to obtain successful results and she also suggested interactive B2 learning.According to a study done by Saadah (2016) on 113 teachers in 13 regular high schools in the rural Kluang district, Johor, teaching strategies that are appropriate, understandable, and two-way or interactive are very helpful in assisting students who are not native speakers and are studying Malay as B2 to improve their comprehension of B2.By using this technique, the students can avoid making common language errors when speaking or writing an essay.
The past research on the analysis of linguistic errors in essay writing was primarily conducted among foreign students studying for the B2 level at various public universities in Malaysia.For example, Sulaiman et.al (2021) conducted research on the Arabic syntax errors in the writing of native Malay students' essays.Subsequently, there is research that was carried out by Puveneswari et.al (2021) related to the motivation of Indian students towards learning the Malay language as B2.While Hasmidar et al (2018) have studied the issue of morphological confusion in the writing of Malay language by foreign speakers.It is very minimal for the research that has been done on students in primary and secondary school.As an example of a study related to the analysis of language errors, Isabella (2021) investigated on the analysis of grammatical errors in writing for students at the Faculty of Education in Indonesia.Zeckqualine et.al (2020) analyzed the pattern of grammatical errors in the writing of essays by foreign students at a public university in Sarawak.In addition, Azian (2020); Ain et.al (2021) also conducted a study related to the analysis of grammatical errors in Malay language essay writing among non-native speaking students at public higher educational institutions in Malaysia for Chinese and Tamil national type schools.Elmy et al (2022) also conducted a study to identify language errors from the aspects of morphology, semantics, and orthography in writing essays by lower secondary students in Brunei Darussalam.The analytical approach he uses is the Taxonomy of Linguistic Categories (TKL) introduced by Burt et.al. (1982).Among the analyzes of language errors that have been focused on in past studies are mistakes that occur from morphological aspects, such as spelling, word selection and usage the use of affixes, and grammatical aspects.It is also found that the language is wrong from the syntactic aspect, which is the order of the sentence and the meaning of the sentence.Isabella (2021) indicated that language errors occur if there is a change or loss of utterances, such as sounds, morphemes, words, and phrases.This error occurred consistently either in writing or in speech.

Research Methodology
This qualitative study used a document analysis method that is based on the scripts written by students who sit for diagnostic tests.The analysis of document data utilizes error analysis technique, which focuses on linguistic mistakes, such as spelling, double words, compound words, affixes, and vocabulary errors, depending on the context of writing (Corder, 1981).Meanwhile for the syntactic aspect, it is related to grammatical errors in sentences, clauses, and phrases (DM Law).The semantic aspect is connected to the use of inappropriate words until the reader is unable to understand the true meaning of the sentence because it is not suitable for the situation.According to Corder (1981), language mistake happen when a person fails to use language appropriately, which means they are against the norms of native speakers.

Research Instrument (i) Test Determination Table (JPU) for Diagnostic Test
Before producing the test questions to be administered to the students, the teacher initially creates a table called the Test Determination Table (JPU).According to Yuznaili (2021), the JPU is a two-way chart that links teaching objectives to teaching content.The column of the table lists the learning objectives and the row lists the main topic to be measured.Thus, JPU can be a guide to teachers about the syllabus that needs to be taught and the teaching objectives that need to be achieved.Therefore, the constructed test questions can measure the extent to which the objective goals of the curriculum are achieved.The formation of JPU can help teachers to determine the type of questions that need to be constructed based on the skills to be tested.Yuznaili (2021) added that JPU is a test blueprint that has high integrity and validity.Therefore, several criteria need to be considered in the process of preparing the table.Every test prepared by the teacher requires meticulous planning.The construction of JPU in this study can help researchers to determine the problems experienced by non-native speaker students in writing Malay language essays.The researchers can create questions using JPU guidelines to help them evaluate the students fairly.

(ii) Question Construction and Validity of Diagnostic Test Instruments Validity of Research Instruments
The validity of this research instrument has been conducted to ensure that students' achievement levels and skills are given equivalent to their marks or grades.High level benchmark of test results can measure the true abilities of students who sit for the test (Majid, 2009).For face validity and content validity of the research instrument, it was reviewed by an appointed panel of assessors.The selection of the panel is made based on the field of expertise in the field of education to validate the test questions as follows.(iii) Diagnostic Test To help the researchers to collect data from the student essay scripts, diagnostic tests are carried out.The essay writing test has been conducted by considering the skills to be examined, which are the writing skills that students have learned in usual class session.The test has been meticulously prepared so it can be administered fairly to the students and the researchers can analyze the essay script data which truly demonstrates the students' level of competency.Teachers can precisely identify the root causes and problem areas of students language weakness by using this evaluation technique.The primary data to be observed in the context of this study is the tendency pattern of the frequency of grammatical mistakes in essays written by non-native speakers.A total of 50 scripts written by students were collected for analysis.Marking and description of language marks are shown in Table 3 below.The vocabulary is extremely limited, and grammatical errors are very obvious.

(iv). Data Analysis of Essay Scripts
The following steps will be used to manually analyze script data.There will be three processing stages for the information and data extracted from each student written script: reduction, coding, and verification.Based on the research questions, the verified codes will be analyzed by specific themes (Meriam, 2009).At the reduction stage, data that is not related and not significant will be removed so the data is more focused on the selection of codes that describe specific themes related to language errors in the writing of essays by non-native speakers.Wellington (2000), suggested that the coding process should include the following steps, which are (a) give a code to each data unit (b) verify the code (c) give a specific category to each code (d) build themes and subthemes for each category (e) revision (f) finding connections, comparisons, similarities, differences between themes and subthemes (See Table 6).

(v) Validity and Reliability of Information
Validity in qualitative research is not only focused on the results of the study but the entire research process.Miles et al. (1994) explained that there are no specific rules in the construction of validity in qualitative research.However, Mc Call et.al (1969) asserted, qualitative research through the collection of data from interviews or observation or document analysis requires the validity of the data.Thus, Bailey (1978) suggested the use of the 'independent rating' technique through 'cross-checking' to validate qualitative data.Fraenkel, et al (1996) stated that the purpose of researchers to validate this method is to guarantee the validity of the data so (1) it can be defended (Defensibility) because the results of the study are accurate and useful.
(2) Accuracy in answering research questions.
(3) Appropriateness which is relevant to the purpose of the study.(4) Meaningfulness, that is giving meaning to data through scores.(5) Usefulness, i.e., being able to make decisions in relation to what is being sought or produced because the results from the evaluation can provide meaningful information about the topic and the variables to be measured to infer research data.While reliability is a concept that refers to the consistency and stability of a research measuring tool across time for an idea.Reliability is used to find out whether the measurement tool can give the same answer when used to measure the same concept to the same participant (Sabitha, 2005).Respondent Demographics The respondents consisted of non-native speaker students at the junior high school level in five interracial schools in Selangor.The sample selection (Table 5) was done by systematic random sampling using the stratified sampling calculation method.The number of female and male study participants is the same, i.e. 25 (50%) female students and 25 (50%) male students.The researchers believe that from this amount, the required data is able to help in getting answers based on the research question.

Findings and Discussion
The essay scripts was reviewed and analyzed by the researcher to identify the performance of language skills among non-native speaker students in five inter-racial junior high schools in Selangor.It was found that the majority of research participants, 27 students (53.3%), reached the minimum level of achievement for language skills.The evidence for this minimum achievement is the language errors are very significant and vocabulary is very limited.Then followed by a fair achievement of 13 people (26.6%), who were found to write using less efficient language.While sentence construction at this level lacks grammar and many spelling and punctuation errors.A total of 7 people (13.3%) showed good achievement in writing their respective essays because the use of language in writing essays is still good, sentence structure is still grammatical but there are also spelling mistakes and punctuation at a minimal level.Only 3 participants (6.6%) achieved very good level.The writing of the study participants' essays at this level shows that the use of language is still good and still fluent.
The sentences are still grammatical and there are minimal language errors.None of the research participants achieved excellent level.Table 6 shows the distribution of language skill levels of all 50 research participants.It explained that writing skills are the most critical skills for students who are not native speakers.In the context of this diagnostic test, 53.3% of students who are non native speakers still do not competent with the language skills in writing Malay language essays.

Language Error Analysis in Essay Writing
Language errors can occur in terms of spelling, word usage, sentence order, and sentence meaning.Corder (1981) considers that language errors can occur if there is a change or loss of utterances, such as sounds, morphemes, words, and phrases.This error is often found, not only in essay writing but also in other writing, such as in newspaper reports and business signs (Ain et.al., 2021).According to the study of Puveneswari et.al ( 2021), among the factors in the occurrence of this error include the disruption of the difference between the student's first language (B1) and the language being learned (B2).Every nation, race, and ethnicity use a different mother tongue in their daily lives.This diversity of languages reflects Malay language as a second language for the non-Malays.Thus, the difference in language owned by each race forms a different culture and thought.
Table 7 shows the findings of the analysis of language errors seen from several aspects based on the review of 50 student writing scripts.

Spelling Errors
Based on the list of linguistic errors in Table 6 under themes (a) to (c), the main issue with writing skills for non-native speaking students in interracial schools is that they find it difficult to spell words in Malay correctly because they cannot distinguish the letters with almost the same sound or form.They are very confused by almost identical letter forms such as (n-m), (g-n), and (i-e).It also happened for words that are spelled with one 'g' or 'gg'.Additionally, students frequently use English spelling that is spelled in the Malay language.Due to their poor spelling, the meaning of the sentence will be grammatically incorrect.Spelling errors in writing became even more obvious when a total of 53.3%, or 27 out of 50 students, were discovered to have difficulty spelling words that have consonant sounds like /ng/ and /ny/.Besides, students misspell words taken from loan words.They were found to be unable to pronounce letter sounds correctly and fluently.At times the students struggled to pronounce letters such as r, b, and d because these letters are not found in their native tongue.According to Hasmidar et al (2018), misspellings happened due to students' inability to stop on meaningful syllables.Students do not understand anything that is said but they can only sound out the words.When writing, non-native students frequently change the order of letters, add, or remove letters, and combine or space the spelling of two words.They frequently spell words based on how they pronounced them.The spelling of a language will be incorrect if the pronunciation is wrong.Isabella (2021) also claimed that many spelling errors in B2 writing occur because of the mother tongue's influence or the impact of the language they hear among the speakers in their environment of living.

Mistakes in Affixes
Based on Table 6, under the theme (b), students who are non native speakers also often make mistakes in the use of affixes in sentences.The use of the suffix meN-and peN-in Malay spelling depends on the first letter of the root word.It was found that students who are not native speakers often make mistakes in suffixes on words that start with letters (s, p, b, c, l,).This spelling error is also obvious, especially when writing compound words when the base word ends with the letter k or g.The investigation of Ain et al (2020) also discovered that affix errors frequently lead to misunderstandings regarding the meaning and grammatical structure of sentences when non-native speakers write essays.Moreover, the Malay language is rarely used by non-native speakers and it is only used in school settings when studying Malay-related subjects.Students who are not native speakers also find it difficult to pronounce words in the Malay language because their articulation tools have been familiar with their mother tongue since childhood.

Vocabulary Mistakes
Vocabulary mistakes can also be seen in the writing of students' essays since students are influenced using their mother tongue, which they use daily.Based on Table 6 under the theme (c), students will convert words in common language they hear into their native language's direct spellings.Language transfer can be seen in mistakes that are made when trying to use B1 in B2.According to Zaliza (2017), students are more likely to replace or transfer lexicosemantic and sound system rules when they use B2 during learning than when they use B1.Language errors are unintentionally caused by these negative transfers.
(b) Language Errors in Semantic Aspects Semantics in language generally refers to the study of meaning.The meaning of words can be examined from various angles.Hence, semantics in the Malay language can be studied by analyzing elements like dictionary meaning, general meaning, written meaning, implied meaning, and related to it.Non-native speakers often struggle to convey meaning in the context of a sentence that is truly meaningful to the reader.Students frequently use the same word to demonstrate the meaning of 'all' or 'plural' in the context of this study.This generalization makes it more difficult to understand the meaning of words because the reader does not receive the actual message of the phrase (Refer to Table 6, theme (d)).
(c) Language Errors in Grammatical Aspects Grammatical errors in the context of this study are quite noticeable in the use of the word task in the sentence.The use of prepositions, negations, and conjunctions is often used interchangeably and inconsistently.Students who are non-native speakers are more concerned with sentences that can convey meaning to the reader, so for them, grammar mistakes are considered minor mistakes only.This is supported by the findings of Jaafar's research (2020); Zaliza's research (2017), which pointed to the environmental factor in the classroom and the surroundings where students live do not encourage to speak the Malay language, causing students to experience difficulties when learning the Malay language.The statement is supported by ? that indicated that learning a second language is complicated when the first language disorder cannot be effectively overcome.Students' achievement in speaking, reading, and writing skills is impacted by the mother tongue's influence in B2 learning.This is in accordance with the research by Hasmidar et al (2018), which discovered that mother tongue interference is one of the reasons non-native speaking students for the Malay subject performance is less encouraging.

(d) Language Errors in Syntactic Aspects
The speech or conversation of the speakers in their environment, including the guidance of teachers at school, greatly influences how non-native speakers construct sentences when writing essays (Rasid, 2021).The results from the diagnostic test revealed that most of the research participant was unable to understand the Malay language sentence structure.As a result, they structured it as they wanted to do regardless of subject or predicate.The students struggle with the Malay language, which is their second language, due to their lack of understanding of sentence patterns and structure.This situation becomes more challenging when the teacher's guidance solely focuses on remembering and transferring the information for the exam.Most of the students will memorize grammatical rules or sample essays and then use them in their writing in the context of their target language.As a result of not being familiar with the Malay language throughout their lives, their lack of ability to master the skills of a particular language will make it challenging for them to master other language skills such as reading, listening, speaking, and writing.The results of this test were discovered to be consistent with research conducted by several language researchers, including Rizky (2020), Rozita et. al. (2021), andAin et al (2021).They believed that intralingual errors, which are present in B2 teaching and learning, and interlingual errors, are both closely related to mother tongue disorders.

Conclusion
The research on language errors in essay writing among non-native students in interracial high schools can indirectly contribute to the knowledge of teachers to teach and students to learn and improve writing, especially for essay writing.This can also be used as a guide and improvement in the teaching of essays for Malay subjects in interracial schools to achieve standards in writing proficiency, including spelling, grammar, semantics, and syntax in the target language being studied.A specific module on how to compose in Malay subjects should be developed to facilitate student learning in a gradual, systematic, step-by-step, studentfriendly, fun, informative, meaningful, and effective manner, based on the expectations from the analysis of language errors in this diagnostic test.Additionally, teachers may create easier and more efficient strategies to deal with the issue of linguistic errors that students frequently make when writing their essays.

Table 2
Question Construction and Validity of Writing Tests

Table 3
Marking and description for language marks

Table 4
Strategies to Determine Validity and Reliability

Table 6
Summary of Language Skill Level Results for Respondents (N=50)

Table 7
Table of Language Error Analysis Results Language Errors in Morphological Aspects Morphological language errors in the context of this research refer to spelling errors, affixes, and word choice.