Iswahyuni, Santi. 2014. Error Analysis on The Use of Simple Past Tense in Recount Texts Written by The 8th Grade Students of SMPN 3 Probolinggo. Study Program of English, Department of Languages and Literature, Faculty of Cultural Studies, Universitas Brawijaya. Supervisor: Fatimah; Co-supervisor: Ida Puji Lestari.Keywords : error analysis, surface strategy taxonomy, source of error, recount textThis research is about errors occured in the students’ writing in using simple past tense in recount text by the eighth grade students of SMPN 3 Probolinggo. Learning a second language is difficult for students because they have to learn about the grammar of the second language. In learning a second language, making errors cannot be avoided because the students borrow the rules of their first language to a second language. Most students assume that writing is the most difficult skill. Thus, students often make errors. This study was conducted based on the consideration that simple past tense has an important role in writing recount text. There are two problems in this study; what types of errors found and the sources of errors found in the recount text. The purposes of this study are to identify and classify the types of errors found and to investigate the sources of the errors found. The research method used is qualitative approach. This research was conducted at SMPN 3 Probolinggo. The population in this study were the eighth graders of SMPN 3 Probolinggo. The classes used as the sample were seven classes taught by the same teacher. The total population was 191 students of which 19 students were selected as the sample based on the best English score from each class. The steps of data analysis consist of identifying errors, describing the error, explaining the error, and drawing conclusions. To analyze the data, this study used types of error based on Dulay’s theory and source of error based on Lott’s theory. The results showed that based on surface strategy taxonomy, there were omissions (24%), additions (7%), misformations (65%) and misordering (4%). Misformation was the highest type of error occurred. The sources of those errors were overextention of analogy error (1%), transfer of structure errors (94%), and interlingual/intralingual errors (5%). Eventhough the students have good score in their English, they still make a lot of errors and tend to apply the rules of their first language when they do not know the rules of the second language. This study is useful for students and teachers. It is expected that the English teachers give more pratices to improve the English ability of the students. It is required for eighth grade students to improve their English grammar especially in writing.