1 THE LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH AND INDONESIAN ESSAYS MADE BY EFL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Abstract: Linguistic features of English and Indonesian essays made by EFL (English as Foreign Language) undergraduate students were ana-lyzed by using content analysis. The objective was to identify the simi-larities and differences in sentence complexity, grammar, and mechanics of the essays. Errors in the forms of incomplete sentences, run-on and stringy sentences were found as well as grammatical and mechanical er-rors. The results showed that in the area of grammar, the essays indicated that the students had more proficiency on their first language (L1), but relatively poor on their second language (L2). More grammatical errors were found in English essays, whereas more mechanical errors were found in Indonesian essays. The research showed that the students had not sufficient English mastery in performing a scholarly writing. Key words: linguistic features, sentence complexity, grammar, mechan-ics, academic writing. Linguistic features refer to the use of sentence construction, grammar, and mechanical aspects of writing. A text with good linguistic features uses characteristics of language of science. The text conveys statement that is ac-curate and exact, supporting the logic of the statement. The use of proper sentence structure and precise vocabulary help reader identify proposition in the text more readily. Linguistic features in this study are identified through the use of sentence complexity, that is, simple sentences, complex sentences, and compound sentences; the use of grammar and mechanics in English and Indonesian essays