An Analysis of Errors in EFL Learners: The Use of Yes/No Questions by Senior High School Students in West Nusa Tenggara

Abstract

This study investigates the type of errors made by students in forming yes/no questions within English as a foreign language, focusing on one senior high school in Lombok. The study adopts a qualitative design with analysis of written samples from tenth-grade students, who were given a structured written transformation task, in which students were asked to convert seven declarative sentences into yes/no questions. This study classified errors as inter-lingual and intra-lingual errors, with each having further sub-classifications based upon whether errors were of the type that substituted, omitted, or inserted elements within the question. The findings reveal that errors of the type of substitution were most common, particularly in the incorrect selection of auxiliary verbs or failure to revert conjugated verbs to base form following insertion of the auxiliary verb. These errors were attributed to both L1 transfer from Sasak and English, and to overgeneralization of L2 grammatical rules. The study concludes that targeted pedagogical interventions focusing on subject-verb agreement and auxiliary inversion are essential for improving learners' grammatical accuracy in yes/no question formation.