A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ DESCRIPTIVE TEXT WRITING ABILITY AT MTsN TLASIH IN THE 2010/2011 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

In Indonesia, English is taught as a compulsory subject especially for Junior and Senior High School students. There are four skills that must be mastered by the students in English teaching learning process namely speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Many learners regard writing as the most difficult and complicated skill. To compose a good writing, the students should consider some aspects such as grammar, mechanics, content, vocabulary, and organization when they write (Harthfiel, 1985:89). This research was Descriptive Research. It was intended to describe the eighth grade students’ descriptive text writing ability and the students’ ability in each aspect of writing. It was conducted at MTsN Tlasih chosen by purposive method. The sample of this research was taken through proportional random sampling by lottery as many as 50% from the population. Thus, the number of the sample taken was 50 students. The problems of the research was “How is the eighth grade students’ descriptive text writing ability at MTsN Tlasih?” and “What are the categories of the eighth grade students’ ability in writing descriptive text at MTsN Tlasih?” The data of this research were collected by conducting descriptive text writing test. The test was in the form of essay. The students were asked to write a descriptive text based on the picture chosen consisting of 2-3 short paragraphs. The result of the students’ descriptive text writing test showed that the eighth grade students’ descriptive text writing ability at MTsN Tlasih in general was 67. 22 which achieved the students’ standard score (SKM). It meant that their ability categorized as good. Based on the Studentd’ Standard Score (SKM), it can be known that the categories of the eighth grade students’ ability in writing descriptive text at MTsN Tlasih are 64% of students categorized as good and 36% of students categorized as fair Based on the students’ classification score in each aspect of writing, it can be concluded that the most serious problem of the eighth grade students’ descriptive text writing ability at MTsN Tlasih was grammar because most of the students categorized as fair. Most of the students not mastered well and still got difficulties in making grammatically correct and meaningful sentences especially simple present tense. It was supported by 39 students (78%) gained fair score in this aspect. The results also showed that the students are good in the aspect of organization supported by 39 of students (78%) gained good score in this aspect which meant that the students’ writing was well-organized although the supporting ideas sometimes did not fit with the main idea, and also lack of coherence. While the The students’ problem in vocabulary is most of the students’ lack of vocabularies. They also made some errors of word choice and usage that sometimes make the meaning of the sentences obscured and difficult to understand. While the students’ problem in the aspect of content is most of their writing is relevant with the topic they have chosen but lack details. It might be caused the students did not have much information about the topic. The students’ problem in mechanic is their writing did not show their mastery in using capital letter, punctuation devices, and word spelling well.