An Analysis of the Second Year Students’ Ability in Writing Conditional Sentences Based on the Provided Cases at English Department of Bung Hatta University

Abstrak

As a terminology, a conditional form is structure of grammatical that shows conditional as a main goal (Cooper, Mukai and Perry, 1990:472). It is important to have an ability to write conditional sentences because every type of conditional sentences conveys different meaning. Conditional sentence is often used in daily life, whether in written or spoken form. Moreover, conditional sentences are also studied in Grammar subject at a university. Therefore, the students need to have the ability to use conditional sentences.

            The purpose of this research was to describe the second year students’ ability in writing conditional sentences based on the provided cases at English Department of Bung Hatta University. The researcher used descriptive design in the research. The population of the research was the second year students at English Department of Bung Hatta University. The number of the population members was 23 students. The researcher used total sampling technique. The instrument used in collecting data was writing sentence test. Its reliability index was 0.95.

            In general, the result of the data analysis showed that the second year students of English Department of Bung Hatta University had very good ability in writing conditional sentences based on the provided cases. Specifically, in writing conditional sentences type I (possible situation in the future) the students had very good ability, in writing conditional sentences type II (the hypothetical situation) the students had very good ability, in writing conditional sentences type III (unreal situation in the past) the students had moderate ability.

            Related to the findings, it could be concluded that the students’ ability in writing conditional sentences based on the provided cases at English Department of Bung Hatta University was good. Based on the conclusion, the researcher suggests the lecturer to give more various exercises in writing conditional sentences especially conditional sentences type III. To improve their ability in writing conditional sentences, the students should do more exercises and know the tenses used for each type of conditional sentences and meaning of the sentences. The next researcher can use the result of this research as a source to do the research related to this topic.

Keywords: Writing ability, conditional sentences, provided cases