“STUDENTS’ ABILITY AND DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING

DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH”

THESIS

Presented to:
Universitas PGRI Kanjuruhan Malang
In partial fulfillment of requirement
For the degree of strata 1 in the English Education Department

By:

ATIK ILAH ALIS KANDARI

NPM: 190402090034

ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
UNIVERSITAS PGRI KANJURUHAN MALANG
2024

i
 APPROVAL SHEET OF ADVISOR

This is to certify that the thesis of Atik Ilah Alis Kandari has been approved

by the advisors for the further approval by the Board of Examiners.

Malang, ……..., 2024

Advisor I,

Umi Tursini, S.Pd., M.Pd., Ph.D.

Advisor II,

Riza Weganofa. S. Pd., M. Pd.

ii
 THESIS EXAMINATION APPROVAL

This is to certify that thesis Atik Ilah Alis Kandari approved by the board of

Examiners on ……………………………….

Main Examiner,

…………………………

Examiner I,

…………………………

Examiner II.

…………………………

Acknowledge by Head of English Approved by Dean of Faculty of

Education Department Language and Literature

Dr. Lasim Muzammil, M.Pd. Dr. Teguh Sulistyo, M.Pd.

NIK. 291301267 NIK. 291101232

iii
 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

Nama : Atik Ilah Alis Kandari

NPM : 190402090034

Department : English Department

Adress :Jl. Masjid No 04

Declare that :

1. The thesis is done by pouring the thoughts and energy of the author. There

is no third-party interference or other people's assistance in the process.

2. If at a later it is found that this thesis is a product of plagiarism, I declare to

accept any legal consequences that be imposed to me.

Malang, ………./………/ 2024

Atik Ilah Alis Kandari

NPM: 190402090034

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 MOTTO AND DEDICATION

“It doesn’t matter if you’re late as long as you don’t stop and keep going”
“Long story short, I (am still) survived”

This thesis is dedicated to:

1. Allah SWT

2. Me, myself and I for not giving up and believe that the red light will always

turn to green

3. The one and only big investor in my live, my parents who always by my

side and always trust me. Thank you very much and I am very grateful to

have a family that has supported me this far.

4. Classmate friends Hasan, Lila, Fara, and Anisa, who are always become my

partners in crime.

5. To my advisor 1 and 2 and All of my teacher who were giving me

knowledge and experiences.

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 ABSTRACT

Kandari, Atik Ilah Alis. 2024. Students’ Ability And Difficulties In Writing
Descriptive Paragraph Thesis, English Education Department,
Faculty of Language and Literature, Universitas PGRI Kanjuruhan
Malang.
Advisors 1) Umi Tursini, S.Pd., M.Pd., Ph.D. 2) Riza Weganofa. S. Pd., M. Pd.

Keywords: Students' Abilities and Difficulties, Descriptive Paragraph

One of the skills that must be mastered in a language is writing. Writing is
a process where someone expresses their thoughts, ideas, opinions and even
feelings through writing. Writing is the most difficult skill to learn and master,
because writing is an active or productive skill so students who learn to write
must learn how to find ideas and put them into writing. This is because writing
skills are not skills that are acquired naturally or can be done autodidactically,
but are skills that require continuous process, time and practice.
This research focuses on students' abilities and difficulties in writing
descriptive text. This is because there are still many students who cannot write
descriptive paragraphs properly and correctly. In writing descriptive
paragraphs, students are required to have good vocabulary mastery in order to
be able to describe something or someone clearly. The aim of the research is to
determine students' abilities in writing descriptive texts, determine students'
difficulties in writing descriptive texts, and determine the factors of difficulties
experienced by students in writing descriptive paragraphs. This research is a
qualitative research. In collecting data, researcher used documentation and
interview techniques.
The aspects analyzed are title suitability by theme, suitability series of
sentences with the theme, spell writing, latter writing capital, choice of words or
diction, structure of writing sentences, and neatness of writing. The results of
this research show that students in writing descriptive paragraphs as a whole are
in the good category. The average score for students' ability to write descriptive
paragraphs is 88.2%, which is included in the good category. However, from
the results of assessments and interviews, there are still difficulties experienced
by students in writing descriptive paragraphs. From these results it is known
that students' difficulties in writing descriptive paragraphs include difficulty in
developing sentences into paragraphs, difficulty in using correct sentence
structures, errors in writing capital letters, and lack of vocabulary and
knowledge of grammar in English.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I would like to express my thanks to the presence of God

Almighty, Allah SWT, who always gives me health, strength, confidence, and the

opportunity to write a thesis entitled "Students’ Ability and Difficulties In Writing

Descriptive Paragraph" and I don't forget to express my gratitude to the Prophet

Muhammad SAW who has bestowed his blessings. In writing this thesis, I received

guidance and support from various parties who cannot be mentioned one by one.

Some are, first advisor Umi Tursini, S.Pd., M.Pd., Ph.D.and second Advisor Riza

Weganofa.S.Pd.,M.Pd. Thank you very much for your thoughts, insights,

kindness, and suggestions for being ready to read carefully and correctly to help me

complete this thesis. Also, to all my lecturers at Universitas PGRI Kanjuruhan

Malang who have allowed me to do important things and experiences that have

been very useful for me throughout my life. Thank you, my parents for endlessly

praying and sacrificing everything for their child's success, achievement, and

comfort. Thank you also to my classmates at the English Education Department and

all the friends I met while I was studying at UNIKAMA, thank you for the support

and memories we have made. Lastly, the fact that I have finished this thesis, I am

thanking for myself.

vii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER
APPROVAL SHEET OF ADVISOR
THESIS EXAMINATION APPROVAL
DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP
MOTTO AND DEDICATION
ABSTRACT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
TABLES OF FIGURES
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study
1.2 Questions of the Study
1.3 Objective of the Study
1.4 Significant of the Study
1.5 Scope and limitation of the Study
1.6 Definition of the Key Terms
CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY
2.1 Design of the Study
2.2 Subject and Object
2.3 Instruments of the Study
2.4 Data Collection
2.5 Data Analysis
2.6 Triangulaion
CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDING
3.1 The Ability of Students in Writing Descriptive Paragraph
3.2 The Causes of Students Difficulties in Writing Descriptive Paragraph

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CHAPTER IV DISCUSSION
4.1 The Students Ability in Writing descriptive Paragraph
4.2 The Causes of Students Difficulties in Writing descriptive Paragraph

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

5.1 Conclusion
5.2 Suggestion
5.2.1 Students
5.2.2 Lecturers
5.2.3 Next Researcher
REFERENCES
APPENDIX

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LIST OF TABLE

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 TABLES OF FIGURES

Figure 3. 1 The Histogram of normality test..........Error! Bookmark not defined.

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the researcher presents the background of the study,

problems of the study, objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope and

limitation, and definition of the key terms.

1.1. Background of the Study

Language is very important for human life, because with language we can

communicate and interact well with others. In the Oxford Advance Learner's

Dictionary of Current English, Hornby (1995) states that "Language is a system of

communication in speech and writing that is used by people from certain

countries". Every country certainly has its own nationalist language. However, to

communicate between countries, all countries have determined that English is an

international language. English is widely taught in many countries around the

world. Mastery of English is very important because almost all sources of global

information in various aspects of life use this.

Crystal (2000) states that English is a global language. This statement

represents the meaning that English is used by various nations to communicate

with nations around the world. So, English is an international language as well as

a global language. Learning and understanding English is a necessity that cannot

be avoided. In learning English there are several skills that must be mastered, such

as listening, reading, writing, and speaking. According to Lestari (2018), these are

often divided into two types. Receptive skills is a term used for reading and

1
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listening, skills where meaning is extracted from discourse. Productive skills is

the term for speaking and writing, skills where students actually have to produce

language themselves. By learning English, someone will open their horizons and

knowledge international one of them is English. In learning English, students

must learn several English skills, such as listening, reading, writing, and speaking

(Fitriana, 2012).

One of the skills that must be mastered in a language is writing. Writing is

a process in which a person expresses thoughts, ideas, opinions and even feelings

through writing. Writing is also a means of communication through messages in

writing to others. According to Sharples, (1999), actually writing is an

opportunity; it allows students to express something about themselves, explore

and explain ideas. In addition, mastering vocabulary and tenses is the main key to

getting good writing. We have to choose the right vocabulary and arrange words

into sentences and develop them into paragraphs.

According to Tarigan (2008), writing skills are one of the productive and

expressive language skills that are used to communicate indirectly and not face to

face with other parties. Expressing thoughts in writing is not easy for most people,

and this plays an important role in the learning process because the writer is able

to explore his own knowledge and what he thinks of others. The close relationship

between writing and thinking makes writing an important part of any language

course. Through writing we can express our ideas and thoughts in our efforts to

make meaning. Writing itself is a complex skill because there are several aspects

that must be considered such as content, form, grammar, style and coherence.
 3

That means the writer must use good grammar and adequate vocabulary in

making good writing. If someone has the ability to express their ideas into

sentences grammatically and effectively, writing can be fun for them. Of course, it

is not only enjoyed by them, but also for readers because they can understand it

easily.

Alkautsar (2015) states that writing is a skill acquired through learning.

Writing is one of the English skills that must be taught in an integrated manner,

but it is considered the most difficult language skill for students to learn. This is

because it requires a higher level of productive language mastery than other skills.

Whereas in reality, students are not able to do good writing. The reason why they

can not write well is because of bad vocabulary, difficulty in generating ideas,

bad grammar, and so on. In fact, writing is considered to have a higher level of

difficulty than other skills.

Writing is the most difficult skill to learn and to master, because writing is

an active or productive skill so that students who learning to write must learn how

to find ideas, and put them into writing (Lestari, 2018). This is because writing

skills are not skills that are acquired naturally or can be done self-taught, but skills

that require continuous process, time, and practice (Setyaji, 2018). For students

who study English, writing is not only compiling sentences but they are also

required to implement ideas through writing that is arranged correctly and chooses

the right words. The student (learner) must be able to arrange ideas coherently and

master basic competencies in writing, such as using appropriate vocabulary and

mastering grammar, so that the written text can be easily understood by the reader
 4

and the message can be conveyed properly (Setyaji, 2018). Therefore, writing

becomes a creative process of expressing ideas in the form of written language for

the purpose of, for example, persuading or entertaining.

A collection of sentences of ideas or thoughts is called a paragraph.

Paragraph is formed from the Greek word that is from the word para which means

"before" and the word graphein which means "to write". Paragraphs are a

combination of several sentences that are interrelated and form an idea. The idea

is clearer if supplemented with additional descriptions each sentence. Every

sentence in a paragraph will always be related to one another to form an

interrelated part. Rooks (1999) said that paragraphs are a group of logical

sentences used to develop an object, because each sentence in a paragraph is about

the same general subject, each sentence must be closely connected with the

sentence before and the sentence after it. Meanwhile, Munirah (2015) reveals that

description is a form of writing related to the efforts of the writers to provide

details of the object being discussed.

According to Finoza (2004), paragraph is a unit of language form which is

usually the result of combining several sentences. In general, paragraphs are more

than two sentences, but a paragraph consists of at least two sentences. If the

paragraph consists of two sentences. The first sentence is the main sentence, and

the second sentence is the supporting sentence. A paragraph usually consists of a

thought, idea or main idea which is explained with supporting sentences. Making

paragraphs consists of facts and opinions, which contain explanations based on

facts that occur then are given explanatory thoughts in the form of the author's
 5

opinion. Paragraphs consist of several types, including: narrative paragraphs,

descriptive paragraphs, expository paragraphs, and argumentative paragraphs.

Dalman (2014) said that a good paragraph is a paragraph that has a

coherence between its elements, both between the main idea and the explanatory

idea or between the sentences. According to Keraf (2000), a good and effective

paragraph must meet three requirements, namely unity, coherence, and paragraph

development. The first requirement in making a good and effective paragraph is

unity. According to Wijayanti et al., (2013), paragraph unity means that there is

only one main idea or one topic discussed in the paragraph. Sentences in

paragraphs are arranged related (relevant) to the main idea in the topic sentence.

There are no conflicting explanations. To keep the sentence written does not save

from the main idea. Keraf (2000) states that the unity in a paragraph is a sentence

that builds the paragraph together to express a certain thing or theme. In this case

it should not be interpreted to contain only one thing. A paragraph has a main unit

that contains several things or details, but all of these elements must be driven

together to support a single purpose or single theme. That single intention is what

the author wants to convey in that paragraph.

The second requirement is the continuity of the paragraph. Paragraph

continuity is concerned with the existence of a tight connection between sentences

and transitions or movements from sentence to sentence that run logically and

smoothly. To achieve continuity, it is necessary to clearly develop ideas in a

logical sequence. Keraf (2000) states that coherence is the cohesiveness of the

relationship between a sentence and other sentences that make up that paragraph.
 6

The third requirement is the development of paragraphs. A good paragraph needs

to be developed with explanatory sentences that support the main idea or topic

sentence, do not develop or expand only by repeating the main idea of the

previous sentence. Therefore the writer should convey adequate and complete

information so that the reader really understands the author's intent (Wijayanti et

al., 2013).

Paragraphs themselves are divided into five types according to the content

and purpose of paragraphs divided into five, namely descriptive paragraphs,

narration, exposition, argumentation, and persuasion. A description paragraph is a

paragraph that describes an object so that the reader seems to be able to see, hear

or feel the object being described (Keraf, 2000). Furthermore, a description

paragraph according to Finoza (2004), is a paragraph that describes or provides

something based on the experience of all the five senses in clear and detailed

words. The purpose of this paragraph is to provide details or details about the

object so that the reader seems to see, hear, feel, or experience what is described.

Narrative paragraph is a form of discourse whose main goal is actions that are

woven and strung together into an event that occurs in a single time unit

(Munirah, 2015). Narrative paragraph is a paragraph in the form of a story

consisting of collections arranged chronologically (in order of time) so that they

become a series. In a narrative paragraph, we must be able to present writing that

takes the reader on an adventure like the one we experienced. Thus, the readers

will feel the time sequence described in the writing.

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Expository paragraphs are one type of paragraph development in writing

whose contents are written with the aim of explaining or giving meaning in a

short, accurate and concise author's style. To clarify the presentation, exposition

essays or paragraphs are accompanied by data, such as graphs, pictures, statistical

data, examples, plans, diagrams, and maps (Finoza, 2004). Nasucha (2009)reveals

that exposition paragraphs aim to describe, explain, convey information, teach,

and explain something without being accompanied by an invitation or pressure for

the reader to accept or follow it. Expository paragraphs are usually used to present

knowledge/knowledge, definition, understanding, steps of an activity, method,

way and process of something happening.

An argumentative paragraph is an essay that aims to provide strong and

convincing reasons (Munirah, 2015). In the argumentation paragraph the author

conveys an opinion accompanied by strong explanations and reasons with the

intention that the reader can influence. An argumentative paragraph is a paragraph

that contains ideas followed by strong reasons to convince the reader. An

argumentative paragraph is an essay that proves the truth about something. To

strengthen the idea or opinion, the author of the argumentative essay must include

supporting data. The goal is for readers to be convinced of the truth of what the

author conveys.

According to Finoza (2004), persuasive paragraphs are paragraphs that

aim to make the reader believe, believe, and be persuaded of the things being

communicated in the form of facts or ideas or feelings of a person. Persuasive

paragraphs are paragraphs that invite, persuade, or influence the reader or listener
 8

to do something. More precisely, persuasion paragraphs are paragraphs made by

the author to make the recipient of the information interested in the content and

ideas or ideas in the information and then want to follow or be influenced by that

information.

In this case the researcher wants to conduct research on students' abilities

and difficulties in writing descriptive paragraphs. This is because there are still

many students who cannot write descriptive paragraphs properly and correctly. In

writing descriptive paragraphs, students are required to have good vocabulary

mastery in order to be able to describe something or someone clearly. Students

with poor vocabulary mastery often make mistakes in choosing the right words to

describe the characteristics of something they want to convey. Students also

complain that they can't think of anything important enough to write about. They

don't know how to organize their ideas and some don't even have any ideas at all.

With these problems, students consider writing descriptive paragraphs as a

difficult task.

In learning English as a second language or as a foreign language,

language mistakes are something that every student cannot avoid. Writing errors

can be analyzed to minimize language errors made by students. According to

Wahyumi (2019), there are 3 basic mistakes that students make in writing. The

first problem is the lack of mastery of students' vocabulary. In learning English

the first thing that is needed is vocabulary mastery, to be able to express ideas or

ideas and understand various kinds of reading (Wardah, 2022). If we do not

master vocabulary well, of course we will have difficulty writing a descriptive

 9

paragraph. Most students face this problem, because they do not master

vocabulary so they often write sentences that do not vary. When they want to

write something, sometimes they use the wrong word in the sentence.

The second problem, grammatical errors. Generally, most students learn

English as a second language, and most of them do not have good command of

English grammar. Grammar is an important component in language (Siwi, 2018).

Grammatical errors can cause differences in the meaning of a sentence. Those

who are just starting to learn English have less competence, especially in the area

of grammar. This is also an obstacle when they have to write descriptive

paragraphs that consist of several sentences.

The third problem is the difficulty of organizing ideas. This problem is

usually faced by students in writing descriptive paragraphs. Writing means

systematically organizing ideas or ideas and expressing them explicitly (Irmawati,

2020). The arrangement of ideas plays an important role in writing. In writing

descriptive paragraphs, the mistakes that are usually made by students are that

they write content that is not in accordance with the theme. This happens because

students have difficulty developing their ideas and sometimes do not know what

to write. We can write paragraphs well if we know the rules for writing

paragraphs. Before we write a paragraph, we start by choosing a theme. Then,

students can make theme boundaries that can help in compiling sentences in

paragraphs. In this way, we can avoid some mistakes in writing paragraphs and

also the contents of the paragraphs will be in accordance with the predetermined

theme.
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In this study, researchers also used several previous studies as a reference

in conducting research. The aim is to find comparisons of problems and research

methods as well as find new inspiration for further research. Previous research

helps researchers to be able to position research and show research originality. In

this section the researcher records several previous research results related to the

research to be conducted, then makes a summary, both published and unpublished

research. The following is previous research that is still related to the theme that

the author is researching

First, research conducted by Zein (2015) with the research title "Improving

Paragraph Writing Skills Through a Language Experience Approach in Class V

SD Negeri 1 Karanganyar Kebumen". This study aims to improve the process and

results of the paragraph writing skills of fifth grade students at SD Negeri 1

Karanganyar through a language experience approach. Data collection methods

used in this study were: 1) tests, 2) observation, and 3) documentation and data

analysis techniques used were descriptive statistics, namely by finding the average

and the results were described. The research results show that the language

experience approach can increase student activity and attention. Apart from that, it

can improve paragraph writing skills in class V students of SD Negeri 1

Karanganyar.

Second, research conducted by Inggriyani and Anisa Pebrianti (2021) with

the research title "Analysis of the Difficulty of Students' Descriptive Essay

Writing Skills in Elementary Schools". The results of this study indicate that the

average value of the ability to write descriptive essays is 54.6 with less
 11

qualifications. The percentage of conformity between the title and the theme of

the essay is 66% or the same as 20 students in the very good/good category, the

percentage of neatness of writing and accuracy of diction is 73.3% or the same as

22 people who are still not neat in their writing and choice of words/diction. the

percentage of essay writing structure is 56.7% or the same as 17 people in the

very good/good category, the percentage of suitability of ideas with the essay is

63.3% or the same as 19 people who are still lacking in suitability of ideas with

the essay, and the percentage of using common language spellings Indonesia is

87% or the same as 26 people who fall into the category of lacking in writing

capital letters and using punctuation in accordance with the general guidelines for

Indonesian spelling. The obstacle faced by students is that they find it difficult to

express their ideas into words/sentences, this is due to the lack of interest of

students in reading and the lack of students to get used to practicing seriously.

Factors that influence learning difficulties in writing descriptive essays are

intelligence, interest in learning, attitudes and behavior towards lessons,

motivation, lesson standards, factors from educators who use inappropriate

learning media, methods and tactics.

Third, research conducted by Nurhaliza et al., (2019) with the research

title "Analysis of Students' Difficulties in Determining the Main Idea of a

Paragraph in Class V Indonesian Language Lessons at Pondok Jagung 01 Serpong

Utara". The research approach used in this research is a qualitative approach with

the results of the research showing that there are two causes of students'

difficulties in determining the main idea of a paragraph, namely internal and

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external factors, internal factors include, 1) students do not understand what is

meant by the main idea of a paragraph; 2) students have not been able to

distinguish between main sentences and explanatory sentences; 3) students don't

like Indonesian language lessons; 4) lack of interest in reading in students.

External factors include, 1) lack of support and motivation from students' parents;

2) the teacher's lack of methods and strategies in the main idea material so that

students don't like the main idea material; 3) the influence of mobile phones and

television makes students' interest in reading switch to watching. The types of

difficulties faced by students are, 1) the lack of psychological readiness of

students in learning the main idea material; 2) students' negative thoughts that the

main idea material is boring material; 3) indifferent attitude of students in the

learning process, 4) lack of interest in reading and writing in students, 5) lack of

direction and motivation from students' parents so that students do not have

enthusiasm in the teaching and learning process; 6) provision of cell phone

facilities without any restrictions on their use, so that students are more interested

in playing with their cell phones than practicing studying at home; 7) lack of

restrictions on watching television at home; 8) parents do not give children a

culture of reading from an early age.

Based on the previous study about the research that has been carried out,

this research has differences and similarities with previous research. This research

has similarities with the three previous studies, namely that they both focus

research on paragraph writing. However, there are also differences in research

design, data collection process, and data analysis process. All researchers have
 13

their own way of conducting research. There are several similarities in the factors

that make it difficult for students to write good and correct paragraphs. In this

study the researcher tried to focus more on students' abilities and difficulties in

writing descriptive texts, both in terms of suitability of the title with the theme,

sentences with the theme, writing spelling, writing capital letters, choice of words

or diction, writing sentence structure, and writing neatness. Based on students'

difficulties in writing descriptive texts, the researcher wanted to conduct a study

entitled "Students' Abilities and Difficulties in Writing Descriptive Paragraph".

1.2. Questions of the Study

Based on the background of the study, the researcher formulates the

research questions as follows:

1. How is the ability of students in writing descriptive paragraph?

2. What are the causes of students’ difficulties in writing descriptive paragraph?

1.3. Objective of the Study

The objectives of this study are:

1. to investigate the ability of students in writing descriptive paragraph

2. to know the causes of students’ difficulties in writing descriptive paragraph

1.4. Significances of the Study

The significance of this research is expected as follows: Theoretically, this

research is expected to provide a direct description of students’ abilities and

difficulties in writing descriptive paragraph. In addition, they are expected to have

 14

new knowledge through real conditions in the learning process so that it makes it

easier for students to write descriptive paragraph. Practically, this research is

expected to provide a lot of information about difficulties in writing descriptive

paragraph, so students will be careful in writing descriptive paragraph and make it

easier for English teachers to help students overcome the difficulties they face in

the learning process. In addition, it is hoped that it will make it easier for other

researchers to find information in conducting research on various understanding

for descriptive paragraph in different contexts.

1.5. Scope and Limitation of the Study

This research focuses on determining students' abilities and difficulties in

writing descriptive paragraphs for beginner level students in paragraph writing

courses. The aspects that will be analyzed in this study include the suitability of

the title with the theme, sentences with the theme, writing spelling, writing capital

letters, choice of words or diction, writing sentence structure, and writing

neatness.

1.6. Definition of the Key Terms

1. Writing

Writing is a language skill that is used to communicate indirectly,

not face to face with other people writing is an activity of conveying

messages (communication) using written language as a medium or tool. In

short, writing skills are language skills in written form that aim to

communicate with others. Writing skill is the ability to express ideas,

 15

opinions, and feelings to other parties through written language (Djuanda,

2006).

2. Descriptive Paragraph

Paragraphs are a group of sentences that logically develop one

subject (Munirah, 2015). According to Finoza (2004) Argues that an Alenia

or paragraph is a unit of language form which is usually the result of

combining several sentences. In general, paragraphs are more than two

sentences, but a paragraph consists of at least two sentences. If the

paragraph consists of two sentences. The first sentence is the main

sentence, and the second sentence is the supporting sentence. In general,

paragraphs are more than two sentences. Paragraph usually consists of a

thought, idea or main idea which is explained with supporting sentences.

Making paragraphs consists of facts and opinions, which contain

explanations based on facts that occur then are given explanatory thoughts

in the form of the author's opinion. Paragraphs consist of several types,

including: narrative paragraphs, descriptive paragraphs, expository

paragraphs, and argumentative paragraphs. Descriptive paragraph is a

paragraph that describes an object so that the reader can see, hear, or feel

the object being described (Keraf, 2000). Furthermore, the descriptive

paragraph according to Finoza (2004) is: "paragraphs that describe or

provide something based on the experience of all the five senses in clear

and detailed words". The purpose of this paragraph is to provide details or

 16

details about the object so that the reader seems to see, hear, feel, or

experience what is described. Paragraph description is a paragraph that

aims to give the reader an impression of the object, idea, place, event, and

the like that the author wants to convey. In short, descriptive paragraphs are

interpreted as paragraphs whose contents describe an object so that it seems

as if the reader can see and feel what is written in the paragraph.
 CHAPTER II

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methods of conducting this study, including the

design of the study, subject and object of the study, instrument of the study, data

collection, and data analysis.

1.1. Design of the Study

In this study, research design used is a qualitative descriptive approach.

Qualitative research is a research that explores research phenomena (Novita,

2017). Qualitative research is carried out under natural conditions and in normal

situations, where these conditions are not engineered by the researcher. The

researcher utilizes the qualitative data obtained and then analyzes the data which

will later be described as a conclusion. This type of qualitative descriptive

research is often used to analyze events, phenomena, or situations socially

(Sendari, 2019). In qualitative research, the main instrument in data collection is

human, that is, the researcher himself or other people who help the researcher

(Alhamid & Anufia, 2019) . In this study, the researcher focuses on analysis

students' abilities and difficulties in writing descriptive paragraph in semester 3

students of the English Education Study Program, PGRI University Kanjuruhan

Malang.

17
 18

1.2. Subject and Object

In a study, the researcher needs data to analyze in order to get answers and

be able to draw conclusion. Therefore, researcher must have certain subjects and

objects to be targeted. The subjects to be used are 3rd semester students of the

English Language Education Study Program class of 2021 at PGRI Kanjuruhan

University Malang in the subject of paragraph writing. The object of this research

is the students' abilities and difficulties in writing descriptive paragraph.

1.3. Instruments of the Study

The research instrument is an important thing in a research. Research

instruments are the tools needed or used to collect data. That means, the

researcher uses certain tools or methods to collect data (Alhamid & Anufia, 2019).

In qualitative research, the researcher herself collects data by asking, listening,

and taking the information needed. In this case, each study uses several research

instruments in the data collection process to test the hypotheses that have been set

in the study. The instruments to be used in this research are documentation and

interview.

1. Documentation

Documentation comes from the word document, which means written

goods. In short, the documentation method is a procedure for collecting data by

recording existing data (Iryana & Kawasati, 2019). The documentation method is

a data collection method used to trace historical data. Documents about people or

groups of people, events, or incidents in social situations which are very useful in
 19

qualitative research (Yusuf, 2014). In a broad sense, documentation is a way of

collecting data through archives and includes books on opinions, theories,

arguments or laws and others related to research. Because the researcher acts as

data collectors, data collection skills are needed in this study. Therefore, the

researcher will use documentation as a way to obtain the data needed to analyze

the suitability of the title to the theme, sentences to the theme, writing spelling,

capitalization, word choice or diction, written sentence structure, and writing

neatness. The researcher collects data in the form of descriptive paragraph from

third semester students of the English Language Education Study Program at

PGRI Kanjuruhan Malang University will then be assisted by one of the lecturers

from the English Language Education Study Program at PGRI Kanjuruhan

University Malang to assess the results of the descriptive paragraph using a

scoring rubic as a reference.

2. Interview

According to Sugiyono (2014), interview is a conversation between two

people who share information and ideas. One person asks a question and the other

answers it. The goal is for them to construct meaning in a particular topic. The

researcher applies this technique to get more information about students'

difficulties in writing descriptive text. Interviews were divided into three types,

namely structured interviews, semi-structured interviews, and unstructured

interviews (Sugiyono, 2014). First, structured interviews are interviews that have

a series of questions and all participants will be asked the same questions. Second,

semi-structured interviews are interviews that have closed and open questions.
 20

Questions will be asked based on the context of the participants' responses. Third,

unstructured interviews are natural interviews, meaning the interviewer carries on

a conversation with the participants and asks them general questions or

spontaneous questions, based on their situation. In this study, researchers uses

structured interview techniques. The researcher choose the type of interview to

make it easier for the researcher to classify the variables obtained when

conducting the interview. The researcher conductes interviews to third semester

students of the English Education Study Program, PGRI Kanjuruhan University,

Malang. This research will be carried out for approximately 2 weeks starting from

14 November 2023 to 28 November 2023. Questions will be asked to all

participants so that the data obtained from interviews could be more complex. The

researcher gave 10 basic questions related to students' difficulties in writing

descriptive text. All students will be given the same questions as other students. In

the interview process, researchers will use the help of a voice recording device to

make it easier to store information from respondents. The researcher used

Indonesian in the interviews and translated the interview results into English

1.4. Data Collection

Data collection is very important to require the process to collecting and

measuring information to answers her research problem. The form of data will be

collected from students’ writing about the descriptive text of semester 3 students

of the English Education Study Program, PGRI Kanjuruhan University, Malang.

The following are the steps used by researcher in researching the data:
 21

Describe or interpret
Read and analyze the
Collect student’s the abilities and
results of writing
work difficulties in writing
descriptive text
descriptive text.

Transcribe the data Analyze the results of

Conduct interviews
into data sheets the interview

Draw conclusions
from the interview
results

Chart 2.1 Flow chart of procedure of data collection

Based on the chart above, the first step in data collection is to collect

student work. The researcher will take the results of assignments given by

lecturers in making descriptive texts. From all the results of descriptive texts,

several texts will be taken as samples in the study. The second step is reading and

analyzing the results of students' descriptive texts. In this study, researcher will

use a scoring rubic to analze the results of writing descriptive texts. Assessment is

obtained through several language component criteria contained in the descriptive

text results. The language components that are the suitability of the title with the

theme, sentences with the theme, writing spelling, writing capital letters, choice of

words or diction, writing sentence structure, and writing. The next step is to

conduct interviews with students. First, the researcher determines the place and

time to conduct the interview. The researcher then conducted an interview by

asking questions regarding the things the researcher needed to collect data. During

the interview process, the researcher also prepared the necessary tools such as a
 22

voice recorder to store interview data with the participants. Ideally, the researcher

and participant sit facing each other with the recording between them, so that both

voices can be recorded well. After the interview was completed, the researcher

collected the data obtained from the interview process and classified the results

into several specific points. After the results of the two data collection processes

have accumulated, the final step is for the researcher to make conclusions from

the data that has been obtained.

N Rated Aspect score

o

1 2 3 4

1 Title suitability by theme

2 Suitability series of sentences with the theme

3 Spell writing

4 Letter writing capital

5 Choice of words or diction

6 Structure writing sentence

7 Neatness of writing

Value = number of problem scores X 100%

maximum score
Score 4: Very Good Category
Score 3: Good Category
Score 2: Poor category
Score 1: Very Poor Category
Source: Nurgiyantoro (2021) which has been adapted by the author according to
needs.

Table 2.1 Guidelines for assessing students' ability to write descriptive

paragraph
 23

1.5. Data Analysis

The analysis technique in this research is qualitative analysis. Descriptive

analysis functions as a technique used to describe something in detail. The steps in

analyzing the data in this study are as follows:

Read the text carefully

Categorize the type of error

Analyze the results of the

interview

Draw conclusions from the results

of text analysis and interview

Chart 2.2 Flow chart of procedure data Analysis

After the collected data is obtained, then data analysis will be carried out.

In this research, researcher will use descriptive qualitative research. In this study

there are several stages that will be carried out by researcher. First, the researcher

reads the results text carefully to find out whether the text can be included as an

English text in accordance with the applicable rules. Second, categorize the type

of errors accordance to the assessment criteria guidelines. Then in this study,

researcher will also conduct interviews with third semester students of the English

Education Study Program, PGRI Kanjuruhan University Malang. After

conducting the interviews, data analysis will begin by transcribing the results of
 24

the interviews by re-reading the results of the interviews carefully. After that, the

researcher will write down the words according to what is needed in the research.

Then write down the results of the interview into a transcript, which is then

followed by data reduction. Researcher carry out data reduction by making

abstractions, namely taking and recording useful information according to the

research context or ignoring unnecessary words so that only the gist of the

sentence is obtained, but the discussion is in accordance with the informant's

discussion. After the required data has been collected, the researcher then

classifies the existing information, then the researcher can draw conclusions from

the interview results and the results of text analysis by going through the average

score obtained to determine students' abilities in writing descriptive paragraph.

1.6. Triangulation

Validity is an instrument or tool to measure the truth in the research

process. Data validation can ensure that use a triangulation. According to Denzin

(1970), identified four basic types of triangulation those are, first, data

triangulation is involves time, space, and person. Second, investigator

triangulation is involves multiple researchers in an investigation. Third, theory

triangulation is involves using more than one theoretical scheme in the

interpretation of the phenomenon. And the last, methodological triangulation is

involves using more than one method to gather data, such as interviews,

observations, questionnaires, and documents. Researcher use researcher

triangulation to ensure the validity of the data. Researcher will use different
 25

methods.The observer is one of the English Language Education Study Program

lecturers, PGRI Kanjuruhan University Malang is an expert in writing to assess

the results of student description paragraphs.

 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH FINDINGS

This chapter presents findings based on the results of data analysis.

Researchers used documentation and interviews as data collection techniques to

answer problems related to students' ability to write descriptive paragraphs and

determine the causes of students' difficulties in writing descriptive paragraphs.

3. 1 The Ability of Students in Writing Descriptive Paragraph

As explained in the previous chapter, this research uses documentation and

interviews as data collection instruments. Researcher took data from 13 students

of the 2021 English Language Education study program at PGRI Kanjuruhan

University, Malang in the paragraph writing class. The data collection process was

carried out for four weeks in November 2023 starting from an assessment of the

results of students' descriptive paragraph writing by one of the PGRI Kanjuruhan

University lecturers who is an expert in writing. Then, researcher conducted three-

stage interviews with 13 students on November 16 2023 until the end of the

month. The list of students' difficulties is explained through several questions in

the interview. Likewise, researchers re-examined students' difficulties in writing

descriptive paragraphs based on interviews with students. To determine students'

abilities in writing descriptive paragraphs, researchers analyzed the results of 13

students' assessments in writing descriptive paragraphs and then transcribed them

into tables and diagrams. The following is a percentage diagram of the overall

results of the student description paragraph assessment:

26
 27

SCORE 1 2 3 4
ASPECT % F % F % F % F
Title Suitability By Theme 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 13

Suitability Series of Sentences With the Theme 0 0 0 0 84.6 11 15. 2

4

Spell Writing 0 0 0 0 23.1 3 76. 10

9
Letter Writing Capital 0 0 7.7 1 46.2 6 46. 6
2
Choice of Words or Diction 0 0 0 0 76.9 10 23. 3
1
Structure Writing Sentence 0 0 7.7 1 76.9 10 15. 2
9
Neatness of Writing 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 13

Table 3.1 Table of Percentage Results for Paragraph Writing Scores

Description:
Point 1-4 : Score point
% : Percentage
F : Frequency of student points

Based on table 3.1, there are seven aspects assessed and the results are as

follow, first is aspect of suitability of the title to the theme. From a total of 13

students studied, the data obtained for all students or 100% were in the very good

category. One example is the student's writing entitled "My Close Friend". This

title is in accordance with the theme which explains that the writer has a close

friend and in the writing several characteristics of his friend are mentioned. The

next aspect is the suitability of a series of sentences with themes. From a total of

13 students studied, two students or 15.4% of students were in the very good

category, while 11 students or 84.6% of students were in the good category. An

example of very good category is in the text entitled "Deflorino Yoris, My Crush".

In this text, the writer has used sentences that match with the specified theme. For
 28

example, in the following sentence "He has wavy hair, brown skin, and brown

eyes”. The writer mentions the characteristics of someone who becomes his lover.

In this paragraph, the writer states the sentences sequentially starting from the

characteristics and behavior. So the writer has written sentences that suit the

theme.

The third aspect is spelling. From a total of 13 students studied, 10

students or 76.9% of students in the very good category, while three students or

23.1% of students were in the good category. Even though some students got

good grades, there were still some who were considered inaccurate in spelling.

For example, in one of the articles entitled "Bromo" in the sentence "Three

important points that must be known before going to Bromo" the sentence should

have been added with "there are" before the word "three". In the aspects of writing

capital letters, from a total of 13 students studied, six students or 46.2% of

students were in the very good category, six students or 46.2% of students were in

the good category, and there was one student or 7.7% which is classified as poor

category. In the title "Defloriono Yolis, My Crush" there were many capital letters

that are still wrong. For example, in the sentence "Deflorino Yolis of all the men

in the world, I like my crush deflorino yolis the best". The word "deflorino yolis"

should be capitalized when mentioning a name and the word "i" should be

capitalized.

Then, in terms of word choice or diction, from a total of 13 students

studied, three students or 23.1% of students were in the very good category, and

10 students or 76.9% of students were in the good category. An example of a

 29

good category is in the text entitled "Banyu Anjlok". For example, the sentence

"Unlike other beaches, this beach offers a quite beautiful waterfall, which flows

directly on the beach." The choice of words in the sentence uses words that are

easy to understand. Apart from those that have been categorized as very good,

there are still some that are still lacking in terms of word choice or diction. For

example, in the paragraph entitled "My favorite cat Meow" in the sentence "That's

why he grew quickly". This sentence can be replaced with the sentence "Meow

really likes to eat, that's why is grew up so fast” to make it easier for readers to

understand the story.

In the aspects of writing sentence structure, from a total of 13 students

studied, two students or 15.9% of students were in the very good category, 10

students or 76.9% of students were in the good category, and there was one

student or 7.7% of students classified not enough. An example of a good category

can be found in a text entitled "My close friend." For example, "Now he is a

teacher and I am even more proud of him." There were two main sentences in this

sentence. Both are also complete and correct, there were subjects, verbs and

objects. Then in the paragraph entitled "Best Place for Vacation" the weakness

was only in writing the sentence structure. As in the sentence "Three reasons why

Malang is the right city for a holiday for people who come from busy cities like

Jakarta and Surabaya. This sentence looks inadequate because the writer seems to

use words that were less effective by using the word "for". In two words that

coincide, apart from that there are also errors in word choice, such as in the

sentence "people after work in Malang always want to come back because of their
 30

nature". The error in the sentence lies in the word "they" which should use the

word "them". The last aspects of neatness of writing, from a total of 13 students

studied, all students or 100% of students were in the very good category.

100% 100%

77% 79%

81%
94%

85%

TST SSSWT SW LWC CWD SWS NW

Figure 3.1 Presentation Diagram of the Assessment Results for Each Aspect

Description:

TST : Title suitability by theme

SSSWT : Suitability series of sentences with the theme
SW : Spell writing
LWC : Latter writing capital
CWD : Choice of word or diction
SWS : Structure writing sentence
NW : Neatness of writing

Based on the percentage scores presented in figure 3.1, it can be concluded

that the students' ability to write descriptive paragraphs in the paragraph writing

course is in the very good category. Because out of 13 students, 12 of them got a

score above average. Apart from that, of the 7 (seven) aspects of writing

descriptive paragraphs that were assessed, there were 2 (two) aspects where the
 31

scores obtained by all students received maximum or very good marks, namely in

the aspects of suitability of the title and neatness of the writing. For 5 (five) other

aspects, such as the suitability of sentence sequences and themes, writing spelling,

writing capital letters, choice of words or diction and writing sentence structures,

most students have shown a good category. Even though many got the good

category, there was still one student in 2 (two) aspects of the assessment who fell

into the poor category, namely in the aspect of writing capital letters and writing

sentence structures. This of course has factors that make it difficult for students to

write paragraphs.

3. 2 The Causes of Students’ Difficulties in Writing Descriptive

Paragraph

From the results of the students' scores, it seems that they no longer

experience difficulties in writing descriptive paragraphs. However, there are still

several things that become obstacles for some students in writing descriptive

paragraphs. For example, aspects of writing capital letters and aspects of writing

sentence structures. To answer this, the researcher also conducted semi-structured

interviews with 13 students to find out the causes of difficulties in writing

descriptive paragraphs. Based on the results of research conducted by the author,

there are several factors that cause students' difficulties in writing descriptive

paragraphs

The first is the lack of student practice in writing descriptive paragraphs.

Practice is important for doing something, including writing descriptive

paragraphs. Lack of practice can be one of the factors that students want in writing
 32

descriptive paragraphs. The second is difficulty in developing sentences into

descriptive paragraphs. Sentence development is also a difficult factor for students

in writing descriptive paragraphs. Students are asked to convey something in

detail into a descriptive paragraph. This problem is caused by students' lack of

knowledge about what they want to visualize. Apart from that, students also

sometimes feel confused when they want to express the appropriate words to

explain what they want to convey in a descriptive paragraph.

Third, the students are lack vocabulary in English. Lack of vocabulary in

English also contributes to students' difficulties in writing descriptive paragraphs.

This is because English is a second language for students. They are also in the

learning stage which requires them to be diligent in memorizing and reading to

enrich their vocabulary. These factors were obtained after the researcher analyzed

them based on the results of interviews conducted with 13 students. In the first

factor, the researcher found that from semi-structured interviews, most students

rarely practiced writing descriptive paragraphs as stated below.

“...kadang-kadang, ketika saya mendapat tugas untuk membuat paragraf deskripsi. Baru
saya menyisihkan waktu untuk menulis paragraf deskripsi”. (Melati. Interview 2)

“...sometimes, when I get an assignment to make a descriptive paragraph. Then I set

aside time to write a descriptive paragraph."(Melati, interview 2)

From this statement it can be seen that students will only write descriptive

paragraphs only when they receive assignments. Lack of practice makes them

difficult when creating descriptive paragraphs.

“...jarang, mungkin hanya ketika ada hal yang diperlukan”. (Doni, interview 1)
 33

“...rarely, maybe only when something is necessary.”(Doni, interview 1)

Just like the previous statement, students do not have much interest in writing

descriptive paragraphs. This can be seen because they rarely set aside time to

write descriptive paragraphs. Of course we will have difficulty doing things that

we rarely do.

Another studetnts’ statement about their lack of practice in writing

descriptive paragraph is found below.

“...kalau saya pribadi untuk menulis paragraf deskripsi jarang kalau bukan karena adanya
tugas atau kewajiban dari dosen”. (Rina, interview 2)

"...personally, I rarely write descriptive paragraphs if it is not because of a task or

obligation from the lecturer."(Rina, interview 2)

The statement above implies that most students rarely set aside time to write

descriptive paragraphs. They will only do it when it becomes an obligation. This

is what causes them to experience difficulties when writing descriptive

paragraphs. Whether it is in the aspect of developing sentences or when they want

to use the right words to present the meaning they want to convey.

The second factor that causes students’ difficulties in writing descriptive

paragraph is difficulty in developing sentences into descriptive paragraph from the

results of interviews showed that some students also found it difficult to develop

sentences in writing descriptive paragraphs as found in the examples of students

below.

“... saya agak kesulitan dalam memilih kata-kata untuk menyampaikan maksud ataupun
gambaran terkait kesinambungan antara kalimat-kalimat untuk membentuk paragraf
deskripsi yang baik”. (Maya, interview 1)
 34

"I have a bit of difficulty in choosing words to convey the meaning or description
regarding the continuity between sentences to form a good descriptive
paragraph."(Maya, interview 1)

From the statement above, it can be seen that students still experience difficulties

in developing sentences to become correct paragraphs. They have difficulty

presenting what they want to convey into a paragraph.

Another difficulty stated by the students was developing ideas as stated in

the interview transcription below:

“...kita harus punya ide untuk menulisnya lalu mencari kosakata yang sesuai untuk
menulisnya”. (Intan, interview 1)
"we must to have an idea for writing it and then look for appropriate vocabulary to
write it”. (Intan, interview 1)

The statement above shows that the students difficulty developing the ideas. The

students also had difficulty in choosing the right words to use to visualize what

they wanted to convey. Moreover, they still had to convert it into English.

Developing sentences is also one of the difficulty factors for students in writing

descriptive paragraphs. This is because they may feel confused about describing

what has been specified in their title. For example, students were assigned to write

a descriptive paragraph about a rocket. Most of them had difficulty to write about

it because they had never seen it directly. Most of them just wrote down their

imaginations, such as the shape, how it works, or anything related to rockets. This

is due to their lack of knowledge about things they have never heard of or things

they rarely know about.

 35

In the third factor, most students also mentioned that they had difficulties

with their vocabulary and grammar, especially in English. Most of them found it

difficult to explain what they want to convey. As in the example of the results of

the interviews conducted, they stated that:

“...kurangnya kosakata atau variasi kata dapat menjadi kendala dalam menulis paragraf
deskripsi yang bervariasi agar menarik bagi pembaca”. (Intan, interview 1)

“Lack of vocabulary or word variety can be an obstacle in writing varied descriptive

paragraphs to make them interesting to readers”. (Intan, interview 1)

From the statement above, it can be seen that students had difficulty in writing

descriptive paragraphs because of the lack of vocabulary they had. Most students

were still lack of vocabulary. This happens because English itself is a second

language for students. Of course they have to actively read or memorize new

vocabulary to increase the vocabulary they have.

Another statements about the students’ lack of vocabulary is stated below.

“...…saya merasa kesulitan menulis paragraf deskripsi karena mungkin kosakata saya
masih kurang”. (Dian, interview 3)

“I find it difficult to write descriptive paragraphs because maybe my vocabulary is still

lacking."(Dian, interview3)

“...…grammar juga saya kurang memahami”. (Dian, interview 3)

“ I also don't understand the grammar”(Dian, interview 3)

Apart from vocabulary, English grammar is also a factor in the difficulties

students face in writing a descriptive paragraph. This is also because English is

the second language in our country. Unlike Indonesian which is the main

language, the structure of English grammar is of course also different from

Indonesian grammar, or perhaps more complicated than Indonesian grammar.

 36

Students need to do a lot of practice and memorize each English grammar

structure so they can write good paragraphs.

 CHAPTER IV

DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the researcher discusses the results of the analysis of

students' abilities in writing descriptive paragraphs by English language education

students in the paragraph writing class and what factors of difficulty students

experience in writing descriptive paragraphs based on the data obtained in the

previous chapter.

4.1 The Students Ability in Writing Descriptive Paragraph

Based on the findings in the previous chapter, the researcher found seven

aspects of assessment in writing descriptive paragraphs, namely aspects of

suitability of the title to the theme, aspects of suitability of a series of sentences to

the theme, aspects of writing spelling, aspects of writing capital letters, aspects of

word choice or diction, aspects of writing sentence structure, and aspects of

neatness of writing as stated by Nurgiyanto (2021). After carrying out analysis

and assessment, data was obtained that there were two aspects that were assessed

as students' difficulties in writing descriptive paragraphs. The first aspect is the

aspect of writing sentence structure. In the assessment results, there were still

students who used the sentence structure incorrectly and did not comply with the

sentence structure. This is in line with the statement made by Siwi (2018) that

grammar is an important component of language. Grammatical errors can cause

differences in the meaning of a sentence. Then the second aspect is the aspect of

writing capital letters. After carrying out analysis and assessment, there are still

37
 38

students who when writing names of people or places and the first letter at the

beginning of a sentence or paragraph still use lowercase letters, not capital letters.

So of the seven aspects of assessment, there are only two aspects that are still in

the inadequate category.

4.2 The Causes of Students’ Difficulties in Writing Descriptive Paragraph

Based on the results of the analysis of students' difficulties in writing

descriptive paragraphs through assessments and interviews, the factors causing

these difficulties can be identified. First, lack of practice in writing descriptive

paragraphs. Most of them only write descriptive text when there is an assignment,

apart from that they rarely or almost never write descriptive text at all. This is

what makes them difficult when writing descriptive paragraphs. Second, difficulty

developing sentences into descriptive paragraphs. This is also a factor in students'

difficulties in writing descriptive paragraphs. Students feel confused when they

want to explain in detail what they want to convey. The cause is also due to their

lack of knowledge of what they want to convey. For example, when they are

assigned to write a descriptive paragraph about an object, but they rarely or have

never seen the object. Of course they have difficulty explaining this in descriptive

paragraphs. Third, in line with Wahyumi (2019), there are 3 basic mistakes that

students make in writing. The first problem is students' lack of vocabulary

mastery. Lack of vocabulary owned by students. This is also one of the factors in

the difficulties faced by students in writing descriptive texts. They have difficulty

explaining something they want to explain, especially when using English.

 39

Students have difficulty determining what words are appropriate to describe what

they want to convey.

Differences in research results in this research, researcher also added

several results from previous research, such as research conducted by Zein (2015).

This research was divided into two cycles. In the first cycle, research was

conducted in class V of SD Negeri 1 Karanganyar. The initial condition of

students’ paragraph writing skills is still low. The test results on pre-action

activities obtained a class average score of 62.50. There are five students who

have fulfilled the KKM or completed it or 20.83%. The actions in this research

were carried out using a language experience approach in paragraph writing

learning activities. After the first cycle of action, the average score of students’

skills in writing paragraphs reached 66.13. However, there are still 11 students

who have not met the KKM. After implementing the actions in cycle two,

students’ paragraph writing skills improved. The success of the actions in cycle

two can be seen in the results of the cycle two tests. An increase occurred in the

average class score and the percentage of students who met the KKM. The class

average score in paragraph writing skills reached 70.92. There are 22 students

who have fulfilled the KKM out of 24 students.

In another research conducted by Inggriyani and Anisa Pebrianti (2021),

the results of this research were that the average ability to write descriptive essays

was 54.6 with poor category. There are several criteria that students have not been

able to achieve, especially in word processing and the use of punctuation marks.

Students are poor able to use standard words or according to the General
 40

Guidelines for Indonesian spelling in their writing and pay poor attention to

punctuation to make it easier for readers to understand their written work.

Apart from the results of this research, there are results of other research

conducted by Nurhaliza et al. (2019). From the results of observations and

documents in the form of test results taken by 33 students, they were classified

into three types of difficulties. First is analysis of students’ learning difficulties

understanding the meaning of the main idea of a paragraph. Second is analysis of

students’ learning difficulties in distinguishing between main sentences and

explanatory sentences. Third is analysis of students’ difficulties in understanding

the differences between deductive and inductive paragraphs. Of these three

aspects, two aspects are still in the poor category. Because in this two aspects the

students’ difficulty figure is still at 80%, namely in the aspect of distinguishing

between main sentences and explanatory sentences and the aspect of

understanding the differences between deductive and inductive paragraphs.

In the results of this research, the results obtained have differences, namely

that the overall level of students’ ability to write descriptive paragraphs is in the

good category. The average score for students’ ability to write descriptive

paragraph is 88.2%, which is included in the good category. In this study the

results were better than the results of previous studies.

 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

This chapter provides conclusions and suggestions in accordance with

research findings regarding students' abilities and difficulties in writing

descriptive paragraphs in English language education students in paragraph

writing classes.

5.1 Conclusion

Based on the results and discussion in this research, the researcher can

conclude that the overall ability of class students in writing descriptive paragraphs

is in the good category. The average score of students' descriptive paragraph

writing ability was 88.2%, which was included in the good category. Percentages

for each of the first aspects, the aspect of suitability of the title to the theme, from

a total of 13 students studied, data obtained for all students or 100% were in the

very good category. Second, the aspect of suitability of a series of sentences with

the theme, from a total of 13 students studied, data was obtained for two students

or 15.38% in the very good category, while for 11 students or 84.62% they were

in the good category. Third, the spelling aspect, from a total of 13 students

studied, data was obtained for 10 students or 76.92% in the very good category,

while 3 students or 23.08% of students were in the good category. Fourth, the

aspect of writing capital letters, from a total of 13 students studied, data was

obtained for six students or 46.15% of students who were in the very good

41
 42

category, six students or 46.15% of students were in the good category, and there

was one student or 7.69 % is considered low.

Fifth, the aspect of word choice or diction, from a total of 13 students

studied, data was obtained for three students or 23.08% of students were in the

very good category, and 10 students or 76.92% of students were in the good

category. Sixth, aspects of the structure of writing sentences, from a total of 13

students studied, data was obtained for two students or 15.38% of students were in

the very good category, 10 students or 23.81% of students were in the good

category, and there was one student or 23 .81% is included in the good category.

7.69% is considered insufficient. Finally, regarding the neatness of writing aspect,

from a total of 13 students studied, data was obtained for all students or 100% of

students were in the very good category.

Even though the average student has a good category, there are still some

students' difficulties in writing descriptive paragraphs, including difficulties in

developing sentences into paragraphs, difficulties in using correct sentence

structures, errors in writing capital letters, and lack of vocabulary and knowledge

of grammar in the language English. Of course, there are factors that cause

students' difficulties in writing descriptive paragraphs, namely students' lack of

practice or interest in writing descriptive paragraphs, students' lack of knowledge

of vocabulary and grammar in English, and also students' lack of accuracy in

writing good and correct capital letters.

 43

5.2 Suggestions

The researcher would like to give suggestions for the lecturers, students,

and further research.

5.2.1 Lecturers

As a lecturer, the things that can do to improve students' ability to write

paragraphs are to develop material on the ability to write descriptive

paragraphs, provide motivation to students so that learning activities are fun

and always give students practice to develop ideas into good and correct

descriptive paragraphs

5.2.2 Students

To improve their ability to write descriptive paragraphs, students should

be more active in studying, especially in studying English grammar structures

and enriching vocabulary as a provision for developing ideas in writing. Apart

from that, set aside lots of time to practice writing descriptive paragraphs.

5.2.3 Next researcher

The researcher hopes that the findings of this research can be used as a

reference for future researchers who want to conduct similar research that

focuses on students' abilities and difficulty factors in writing descriptive

paragraphs. Future researchers may use other instruments to obtain more in-

depth information.
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