A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH WRITING ABILITY BY USING REALIA OF THE SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SMP NEGERI 10 JEMBER

Abstract

This research was conducted to describe the seventh grade students' ability in writing a descriptive paragraph by using realia at SMP Negeri 10 Jember in the 2014/2015 academic year. The research problem of this research was “How was the seventh grade students' ability in writing a descriptive paragraph by using realia at SMP Negeri 10 Jember in the 2014/2015 academic year?” There were eight classes of the seventh grade in the school. It consisted of class VII A, VII B, VII C, VII D, VII E, VII F, VII G and VII H. The total population of those eight classes is 290 students. In this research, the research participants were determined by using proportional random sampling with lottery from 10% of the students from each class. The primary data of this research were collected from the students’ descriptive paragraph writing test and it was scored by two scorers (inter-rater) and by using analytical scoring method which required the scorers to give score for each writing aspect. Moreover, interview and documentation were collected to support the primary data. The result of the calculation showed that the mean score of the students' ability in writing a descriptive paragraph by using realia was 66.7. Based on the classification of the score levels, the students' mean score was classified as "fair" because it was in the range of 60-69. From the data analysis result, it was found that there were 7 students or 22% of the seventh grade students were categorized as "poor". There were 17 students (53%) got “fair” category. There were 4 students (12.5%) got “good” category and there were also 4 students (12.5%) got “excellent” category. In addition, the students’ ability in the aspect of grammar was categorized as "fair" because the mean score was 68.12. The students’ ability in the aspect of vocabulary was also categorized as "fair" since the mean score was 66.62. Next, the students’ ability in the aspect of mechanics was categorized as "poor" since the mean score was 57.8. Meanwhile, the students’ ability in the aspect of content xiv was categorized as "fair" because the mean score was 67.3. On the contrary, the students' ability in the aspect of organization was categorized as "good" since the mean score was 75.5. Based on the result above, it could be concluded that the seventh grade students of SMP Negeri 10 Jember in the 2014/2015 academic year are suggested to increase their ability in writing since their mean score in writing descriptive paragraph was classified as "fair". It is suggested for the English teacher to give the students more practices relating to the writing aspect such as mechanics, vocabulary, grammar, and content in order to improve the students ability in writing.