GENDER AND GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN ENGLISH ACADEMIC PAPERS: A STUDY AT ENGLISH GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF MATARAM UNIVERSITY

The  study  aimed  at  identifying  and  analyzing  students stylistic  errors  in  the  form  of grammatical  errors  made  by male  and  female  students  of  English  Graduate Department of Mataram University. This research is focused on finding the significant differences between male and female students in terms of the percentages of grammatical errors in their academic papers and factors contributing the errors. The sample of this research was 20 papers of 10 male and 10 female students of English Graduate Department of Mataram University. The data were interpreted and analyzed by quantitative descriptive analysis using Pearson chi-square to investigate if there  were  any  significant  differences among the  percentage of grammatical  errors in each category and then the types of grammatical errors in the two groups of male and female students were compared by use of descriptive analysis and statistical analysis.  The  research  findings  show: The  result  of  Pearson  Chi-square  test  of  students grammatical-related  stylistic  error  subcategory,  χ2count=  5.43  and  χ2table=  11.07.It  means  that  the χ2 Count < χ2 table and the null hypothesis H0 was failed to be rejected.  It means there was no difference between  male  and  female  students  in  terms  of  percentage  of  grammatical-related  stylistic  errors sub-category in their academic papers at the level of significance a = 5%. (2) Based on the data analysis, retrospective interview, both cognitive and social factors are affected the students’ ability in writing an academic paper.  The  cognitive  factor  was  the  lack  knowledge  of  male  and  female students about academic writing style and register. This is caused by the lack information they got in their previous study. Therefore, the male and female students still have weaknesses for writing in academic context.