A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENT ABILITY IN WRITING NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH BY USING A PICTURE SERIES AT SMUN I KALISAT IN THE 2004 / 2005 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

This study was intended to describe the students' ability in writing narrative paragraph by using a picture series. The research was conducted at SMAN I Kalisat. The respondents were 52 students of the first year students. They were taken by proportional random sampling by lottery. The primary data were collected by using writing test while the interview, documentation and questionnaire were used to collect the secondary data. The collected primary data were analyzed by using the percentage formula, then they were classified based on the classification of the score level. The results showed that, on the average, the students' ability in writing narrative paragraph by using a picture series was excellent (M=84.65%). Meanwhile, the results of each indicator showed that the average of the students' ability in writing narrative paragraph by using a picture series on the aspect of simple present tense was in the fair category (M = 65.55 %). Next, on the average, the students' ability in writing narrative paragraph by using a picture series in the aspect of organization was in the good category (M 80.75 %). In addition, based on the frequencies of the students' scores, it was found that 82.69 % of the students got scores on the excellent category, 6.74 % of the students got scores in the good category, 2.88 % of the students got scores in the fair category. 5.77 % of the students got scores in the poor category, and 1.92 % of the students got scores in the fail category in writing narrative paragraph by using a picture series. Based on the research results, the English teacher should improve the students' ability in applying simple present tense by giving feedback to the students so that they will learn from their mistakes and do not make the same mistakes in the future.