AN ANALYSIS ON THE ABILITY OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF SMA SEMEN PADANG IN WRITING A NEWS ITEM TEXT

Abstrak

Abstract

This research was aimed to describe the ability of the first year students of SMA Semen Padang in writing a news item text. The design of this research was descriptive research. The population of this research was the first year students of SMA Semen Padang. The number of population was 203. Thirty four students were selected as sample by using cluster random sampling technique. In collecting the data, the researcher used writing test. Before giving the test, the researcher tried out the test to the student out of sample. The researcher used inter-rater technique to find out the reliability of the test. Based on the result of data analysis, the researcher found that the ability of the first year students of SMA Semen Padang in writing a news item text was moderate. In details, their ability in writing the generic structures was moderate, their ability in using language feature was moderate and their ability in applying mechanics was moderate. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the ability of the first year students of SMA Semen Padang was moderate. It means that there were some students still got difficulties in writing generic structure, using language features, and applying mechanics.

Key words: Analysis, Writing, News Item Text.