PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE PRODUCTION ERROR IN THE ACADEMIC WRITING OF SPORTS SCIENCE STUDENTS

Abstrak

This study investigated the errors made in the production of Present Continuous Tense (PCT) in the academic writing of first-semester Sports Science students at Universitas Muhammadiyah Gorontalo. Unlike previous studies that mostly focused on English major students, school learners, or general grammatical errors, this research examined PCT production among students from a non-English academic program. A qualitative descriptive error-analysis design was applied to analyze the students’ written performance through three tasks: Sentence Completion Task, Picture Description Task, and Free Writing Task. The participants consisted of 20 first-semester Sports Science students. The collected data were analyzed using Dulay et al.’s (1982) Surface Strategy Taxonomy and interpreted based on Selinker’s (1972) Interlanguage Theory. The results showed that misformation was the most frequent type of error, accounting for 56.16% (41 errors), followed by omission with 31.51% (23 errors), and addition with 12.33% (9 errors). The analysis indicated that students’ main difficulties were related to the inconsistent use of the auxiliary verb BE rather than the formation of the -ing participle. Students frequently omitted BE in progressive sentences, selected incorrect auxiliaries due to interference from Simple Present structures, or added unnecessary forms in habitual expressions. Furthermore, error frequency differed across writing tasks. Controlled tasks produced more grammatical errors because students had to focus on specific structures, while free writing encouraged avoidance strategies due to higher cognitive demands. These findings suggest that task complexity and interlanguage interference significantly influence students’ mastery of PCT. This study provides evidence for the importance of targeted grammar instruction, particularly for students in non-English academic programs, to improve their accuracy in using Present Continuous Tense in academic writing.