ANALYZING SYNTACTIC AND GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN EFL LEARNERS’ SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION: AN INTERLANGUAGE PERSPECTIVE FROM INDONESIAN TERTIARY STUDENTS

Abstract

This study examines syntactic, grammatical, and conjunction-related errors made by Indonesian EFL learners in constructing English sentences during a Sentence Building mid-semester examination. Employing an error analysis framework and an extended IMRaD structure, the research analyzes the performance of 18 third-semester students enrolled in the Tadris English Department at STAI RAKHA Amuntai. Ten sentence-construction items—comprising five simple sentences, three compound sentences, and two complex sentences—were used to assess structural competence. A total of 90 errors were identified from 180 student responses. The findings show that simple sentences yielded the highest error frequency (48.89%), followed by compound sentences (32.22%) and complex sentences (18.89%). Syntax errors constituted the largest proportion (42.2%), followed by grammar errors (34.4%) and conjunction errors (23.4%). The study reveals that fundamental sentence-level difficulties persist among learners, despite their university-level status, and that interlanguage development and L1 interference are significant contributing factors. The findings underscore the need for pedagogical strategies that emphasize explicit, contextualized grammar instruction and targeted error-based feedback. Implications for teaching, curriculum design, and future research are also discussed.