International Journal of Research & Review (www.ijrrjournal.com) 47 Vol.5; Issue: 11; November 2018 International Journal of Research and Review www.ijrrjournal.com E-ISSN: 2349-9788; P-ISSN: 2454-2237 Research Paper German Grammatical Errors in Students’ Monologues in Indonesia Tanti Kurnia Sari, Ahmad Sahat Perdamean, Siti Kudriyah Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Negeri Medan, Medan, Indonesia Corresponding Author: Tanti Kurnia Sari ABSTRACT The paper is aimed at describing both the errors made by 3rd semester students in the Department of German in UNIMED Medan (Indonesia) when they were practicing monologues in the class as well as the causes of such errors. The research of the paper used qualitative technique and involved speaking test instruments. The students as the research subjects took part in a lecture on German‟s Sprechfertigkeit für weitere Fortgeschrittene. The results show that the subjects made errors in their monologues in general, such as in the grammatical errors which were mainly caused by less practices they made in the class and in the choices of certain themes as well as in the nervous standing positions. Some of them were aware of their errors and could immediately correct them. It is recommended that the subjects enrich German vocabulary (deutsche Vokabeln) before doing monologues and improve their mastery in German grammar (deutsche Grammatik). Keywords: Error analysis, monologue, German grammar INTRODUCTION Based on observations at German study program in UNIMED, students experienced difficulties in speaking (Sprechfertigkeit), especially in pronunciation (Klässner, 2017: 381). Such difficulties affected their fluency in using German and were caused by several personal factors, such as age, gender, educational background, language skills, and life experience (Titaley, 2016: 22). The low level in German skills produced low level of passing grade in the language test (ZiDS national level) or 68.25% of 63 students achieved low grade (German Language Education Study Program, 2017). Everyone learning a foreign language certainly makes errors (Lahti, 2018: 32), therefore, such errors must be analyzed first (Prediger and Wittmann, 2018: 1). To find out the errors students make while speaking, a theme (monologue) must be analyzed by using error analysis (Fehleranalyse). By error analysis, students learn how to know, to comprehend, and to correct their errors. This is relevant to what Nababan (1994: 106) argued that ... students learning target language may be asked to improve their own work (self-correction), or to improve their peer-correction work. Analyzing students‟ errors is directed: i) to obtain data about the language learning process, and ii) to provide guidance for teachers and curriculum makers, to know the most difficult parts in the target language, and to pay attention to the types of errors which reduce students‟ abilities in effective communication (Tarigan, 1988: 273). Correction results from students‟ written assignments become assistance to teachers (Kleppin, 2002: 53). The research questions are i) what errors do students make on the basis of German grammar?, and ii) what are the causes of the errors?