AN ANALYSIS ON THE THIRD GRADE STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN COMPREHENDING RECOUNT TEXT AT SMPN 12 PADANG

Abstrak

This study was designed to describe the third grade students’ ability in comprehending recount text at SMPN 12 Padang. To be more specific it was aimed to describe the students’ ability to comprehend the contents or messages in the generic structure of recount text. This research used descriptive method. The population of this research was the third grade students at SMPN 12 Padang. The members of the population were 227 students. Twenty eight of them are taken as the sample by using cluster random sampling. The instrument used to collect the data in this research was reading test. The total number of test items was thirty questions. The test consisted of 6 short recount texts. The result of the data analysis showed  that the ability of the third grade students to comprehend the generic structure of recount text at SMPN 12 Padang was moderate. It was proved by the fact that 60,71 % of the students had moderate ability. Specifically, 39,29 % of the students had high ability in comprehending orientation, 60,72% of the students had moderate ability in comprehending events, and 75% of the students had moderate ability in comprehending re- orientation. Based on the findings above, the researcher concluded that the third grade students’ ability to comprehend the generic structure of recount text was moderate. Based on this conclusion it is suggested that the English teacher should find and employ the more effective techniques of teaching reading and give more exercises to the students.  Besides, the students are suggested to improve their ability by doing more exercises relating to the generic structure of recount text.

Key words: Ability, Reading, Recount text