205 AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ GRAMMATICAL ERROR IN WRITING PERSONAL LETTER Inka Sundari * , Dewi Sartika b , Ratna Nery c a English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Islamic University of Ogan Komering Ilir Kayuagung, Indonesia b English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Islamic University of Ogan Komering Ilir Kayuagung, Indonesia c English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Islamic University of Ogan Komering Ilir Kayuagung, Indonesia * Corresponding author: Indonesia. E-mail address: dewisartika@uniski.ac.id. a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history Received: 15 September 2021 Received in revised form: 30 December 2021 Accepted: 30 December 2021 Available online: 31 December 2021 Keywords: Error analysis Grammatical error Personal letter Writing skill This study aimed to find out grammatical errors in writing personal letters and the most grammatical errors made by the eleventh graders of SMA Negeri 5 Ogan Komering Ilir. This study used descriptive qualitative research method. The subject of the study was the eleventh social one students of SMA Negeri 5 Ogan Komering Ilir in the academic year of 2020/2021. The technique of collecting the data was a writing test using google form. To check the validity and reliability of the test, a triangulation method was applied. The information was presented in a descriptive manner and assessed using a percentage calculation. The calculations presented that the students made 12.5% sentence pattern errors, 24.1% tense errors, 9.17% pronoun errors, 2.5% preposition errors, 20% punctuation errors, and 31.66% spelling errors.The most dominant grammatical errors made by students was error of spelling (31.66%). INTRODUCTION To have good English communication in writing, someone needs to master writing skills. As supported by Herlinawati (2011, p. 14), writing is an important skill to express an idea without sound. Writing is one of the English abilities taught in school, according to Wulandari (2015, p. 2), and the school should pay more attention to it. In other words, writing is one way of communication used by someone in written form so that the information stated in the written form can be shared with other persons. The ability to write is a key aspect of English language instruction. Writing is also significant, according to Hamdani, Kristiawan, and Ramadhani (2017, p. 137), since it is a productive skill that demands students to produce a language in order to communicate and is able to enhance other language skills like listening, speaking, and reading. In short, writing is crucial in English language teaching for several reasons such as it aids students’ academic and future employment success, is a productive skill that needs students to communicate, and improves listening, speaking, and reading abilities. Writing, despite its importance in our lives, is regarded as the most difficult talent for students to master. Writing in English is challenging, according to Sahara (2017, p.2), and some students will struggle with it. Students struggle to write because they lack the necessary ELT Echo : The Journal of English Language Teaching in Foreign Language Context (2021), Vol 6(2) DOI: 10.24235/eltecho.v%vi%i.9346 Published by English Language Teaching Department, IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon, Indonesia. p-ISSN: 2579-8170, e-ISSN: 2549-5089 ELT Echo : The Journal of English Language Teaching in Foreign Language Context journal homepage: https://syekhnurjati.ac.id/jurnal/index.php/eltecho