An Analysis of the Second Year Students’ Ability to Write Simple Sentences Using Present Progressive Tense at SMPN 2 Rambatan Kabupaten Tanah Datar

Abstrak

The purpose of this research is to describe the second year students’ ability to write simple sentences using present progressive tense at SMPN 2 Rambatan Kabupaten Tanah Datar. This research was limited in three sentence forms; students’ ability to write affirmative form of simple sentences using present progressive tense, students’ ability to write negative form of simple sentences using present progressive tense, and students’ ability to write interrogative (yes/no question) form of simple sentences using present progressive tense. The design of this research was descriptive in nature. The population of this research was the second year students of SMPN 2 Rambatan Kabupaten Tanah Datar. The total number of the population was 74 students. There are four classes; VIII.1, VIII.2, VIII.3, and VIII.4. The researcher used cluster random sampling to select the sample. To make the test reliable, the researcher used inter-rater technique by using two scorers. Then, the test was valid in term of content validity. Before did the real test, the researcher gave try out test the students out of the sample. The researcher chose class VIII.1 to do try out test. The total number of sample was 18 students. The researcher got the result 0.99 (High Correlation). It means that the test was reliable. Generally, the result of analyzing data showed that the ability of the second year students of SMPN 2 Rambatan Kabupaten Tanah Datar to write simple sentences using present progressive tense was moderate. It could be seen that 18.75% students have high ability, 62.50% have moderate ability and 18.75% have low ability. In detail the percentages of each of form sentence were; 62.50% have moderate ability to write affirmative sentences in present progressive tense, 93.75% have moderate ability to write negative sentences in present progressive tense, and 68.75% have moderate ability to write yes/no question sentences in present progressive tense.

Key Words: Ability, Simple Sentences, Present Progressive