AN ANALYSIS OF THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS` ABILITY IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH AT SMK N 10 PADANG

The purpose of this research is to describe the eleventh grade students’ ability in writing descriptive paragraph at SMK N 10 Padang. The researcher wanted to describe the students’ ability in convey content, organizing ideas, the appropriate grammar, appropriate vocabulary, and the correct mechanics. The design of this research was descriptive research. The population of this research was the eleventh grade students at SMK N 10 Padang. A convenience sampling was used in this research and the number of samples was 20 students. The instrument for collecting the data in this research was writing test. The researcher used the specific topic for stimulus to write a descriptive paragraph. The researcher also used inter-rater technique to know the reliability of the test. The reliability coefficient of the test is (0,94).
The result of this research in general showed that the eleventh grade students’ ability in writing descriptive paragraph. In detail, the students’ ability in writing the content was high. It was proved that 75 % of students had high ability in writing the contents. The students’ ability in organizing ideas was high. It was proved that 75 % of students had high ability in writing the organizing ideas. The students’ ability in using appropriate grammar was high. It was proved that 85 % of students had high ability in writing the appropriate grammar . The students’ ability to use aprropriate vocabulary was high. It was proved that 70% of students had high ability to use aprropriate vocabulary. The students’ ability to use appropriate mechanics was high. It was proved that 65% of students had high ability to use appropriate mechanics.
Based on the result of this research, it can be concluded that eleventh grade students’ ability in writing descriptive paragraph at SMK N 10 Padang was high. Related to this finding, the researcher suggests that the teachers to provide regular assignments and exercises to the students so that they can maintain their ability to write descriptive paragraph. In addition, teachers are also suggested to give more explanation about how to write the appropriate mechanics for the students had low ability in writing descriptive paragraph. For the students, the researcher suggests that they can still maintain their ability in writing descriptive paragraph. For the students with low category are expected to learn more about a descriptive paragraph and do some exercises to improve their ability. For the next researchers, the researcher suggests the next researchers to investigate students’ ability in writing the other type of paragraph.