A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS’ WRITING ACHIEVEMENT AND THEIR DIFFICULTIES IN DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH AT SMPN 3 JEMBER

Abstract

This research was a descriptive study about the seventh grade students’ writing achievement and their difficulties in descriptive paragraph at SMPN 3 Jember in 2014/2015 academic year. It was designed to answer the research problem on the seventh grade students’ writing achievement. This results from the fact that the result of the preliminary study in 2015 showed that the seventh grade students of SMPN 3 Jember experienced difficulties in their writing. Eventhough the average score was relatively good, they still experienced difficulties in writing descriptive paragraph related to mechanics, vocabulary and mostly grammar. The students’ writing achievement was classified into five aspects. They were mechanics, content, grammar, vocabulary and organization. The students’ writing descriptive paragraph was assessed by using an analytical scoring rubric. All those scores were analyzed by using the percentage formula to get the students’ percentage in writing descriptive paragraph. The percentage will be used to classify the students’ ability in writing descriptive paragraph whether it was A, A-, B+, B, B- and so forth. The result of the analyses of 31 students’ writing scores in class 7B at SMPN 3 Jember it was found that 4 students or (13%) got A, 13 students or (42%) got A-, 7 students or ( 23%) got B+, 5 students or (16%) got B and 2 students or (6%) got B-. There were no students got below B-. It means that nearly half of the students got the score between 87,75 to 96 (3,51 – 3,84). Meanwhile, in the aspect of mechanics, 5 students or (3%) got A, 9 students or (6%) got A-, 7 students or (5%) got B+, 1 student or (0,6%) got B, 7 students or (5%) got B-, 1 student or (0,6%) got C+ and 1 student or (0,6%) got C. In the aspect of content, 24 students or (15%) got A, 6 students or (4%) got A- and 1 student or (0,6%) got below B+. In the aspect of grammar, 3 students or (2%) got A, 7 students or (5%) got A-, 9 students or (6%) got B+, 2 students or (1%) got B, 4 students or (3%) got B-, 3 students or (2%) got C+, 2 students or (1%) got C and 1 student or (0,6%) got D+. In the aspect of vocabulary, 9 students or (6%) got A, 6 students or (4%) got A-, 8 students or (5%) got B+, 3 students or (2%) got B, 1 student or (0,6%) got B-, 3 students or (2%) got C+ and only 1 student or (0,6%) got D+. The last, in the aspect of organization, 20 students or (13%) got A, 9 students or (6%) got A-, 1 Student or (0,6%) got B+ and 1 student or (0,6%) got B. Based on those data, it can be concluded that the seventh grade students’ writing achievement in descriptive paragraph at SMPN 3 Jember in the 2014/2015 was classified as “B+” category or 87,24. Meanwhile, the students difficulties mostly occured in grammar, which was classified as “B” category with the average score 78,6.