An Analysis of the Eighth Grade Students’ Problems in Using Preposition of Place in Writing Simple Sentence at SMPN 4 Dumai.

Abstrak

To study English, the students are expected to master language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and language components (structure/grammar, vocabulary, etc). Structure is one of the aspects of language that should be learned by the students in order to be able to use English for communication. Based on curriculum 13, structure is taught by an integrated teaching approach at SMPN 4 Dumai. The students should have knowledge on the use of prepositions in order to be able to write the correct sentences. The researcher was interested in conducting the research about the students’ problem in using preposition of place in writing simple sentences

The purpose of this research was to analyze the eighth grade students’ problem in using preposition of place in writing simple sentence at SMPN 4 Dumai. The population of this research was the eighth grade students’ of SMPN 4 Dumai in academic year 2017/2018. The number of the population was 300 students. They were divided into nine classes. The researcher using cluster random sampling as the technique to get the sample of this study. The researcher took one class. The number of sample members was 33 students. The data  of this study was the scores of the students’ problems in use preposition of place.

 From the result of the study, the researcher found 27 students (80,82%) have problems in using preposition of place in writing simple sentence and 6 students (18,19%) have no problems. Specifically, there were 25 students (75.76%) who have problems in using preposition “in” in witing simple sentence and 8 students (24.24%),  have no problems. Then, there were 24 students (72.72%)  who have problems in using preposition of place “on” in writing simple sentence and 9 students (27.27%),   have no problems. Next, there were 19 students (57.58%)  who have problems in using preposition “at” in writing simple sentence and 14 students (42.42%). have no problems.

Based on the result of this research, the researcher concluded that in general, the eight grade students at SMPN 4 Dumai had Problem in Using Preposition of Place in writing Simple Sentence. Related to the result, the researcher suggested English teachers to overcome the students’ problems in using preposition of place in writing simple sentence by giving more explanations and examples related to the teaching materials. The researcher also suggests the students to review preposition of place in writing simple sentece.

Keyword : Writing, Simple Sentence, Preposition of Place