THE DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THE FIRST GRADE OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT AT SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 8 BATU
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1Background of the Study
English is one of the international languages in the world. In Indonesia, it is not the second language but it is the foreign language. English has been an important part of education system in most countries includes Indonesia. English is taught from elementary until university in Indonesia.The ministry of National Education has adopted English as the foreign language in Indonesia. It means English become a compulsory subject in the national curriculum. It is taught from elementary school up to university level. The final goal of the teaching English as a foreign language in Indonesia is that learners can use English to master and develop science, technology and arts, and contribute to strengthening the international relations which will help promote the national development. Huhta (2007) said that English is, fortunately, used as a lingua franca in business and industry and many other fields. This means that the English produced by a non-native cannot be expected to reach the level of a native speaker.
In learning English, the learners should master the four language skills.Learning English in the class includes the language skills which are divided into two kinds, namely receptive and productive skills. The receptive skills are listening and reading.
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Therefore, the productive skills are speaking and writing.Besides that, as both productive skills, the language speech is different from the written language. Writing is not easy to learn because the students need hard thinking and some knowledge if they want to write something because writing is a specific skill. It needs practices to make it good and students have to get interested in reading because both writing and reading are related to each other. Writing is a more complicated skill than reading, listening and speaking. In speaking they can ignore the grammatical aspects, but not in writing, they must select the appropriate grammar and vocabulary to arrange the words. According to Bailey (2004;12) “Understanding a text is not just a matter of vocabulary; to find out the writer’s intentions are the reader needs”. It means that when we write something we can make or give some adives or message for the reader in order to our writing is usefull for other people.
Meyers (2005: 2) stated that writing is a way to produce language you do naturally when you speak. Writing is speaking to other on paper – or on a computer screen. Writing is also an action – a process of discovering and organizing your ideas, putting them on a paper and reshaping and revising them. Writing skill is one of the important competences that must be mastered by students because we know that language is not only in spoken form, but also it can be used in written form. This skill does not merely focus on words, phrase, sentence pattern
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and grammar, but also focus on the idea of each paragraph in the text contextually.
Palmer (1994: 5) states that writing is recursive. It goes back and forth we plan a little, put words on paper, stop to plan when we want to say next, go back and change a sentence, or change our minds altogether. Process writing is a way of looking at what people do when they compose written text. Teaching of writing should focus on writing process that is the students’ attention was directed to the how of the text construction
“Descriptive text is a text which is intended to describe a particular person, lace or thing in detail (Kane, 2003 : 7)”. It means that in descriptive text, we have to describe people or things in deeply. Most commonly in visual perceptions. Besides schematic structure, descriptive text also has its own linguistic features.Linguistic features of descriptive text are: use specific participant, written in present tense, use linking verbs, use adjectives, use relational and material processes. Some of the problems faced by the students are that they are still confused in using the grammar because there is less systematic rule in Indonesian Language writing. For example, “She is name Eriza Humairo and I have twin sister” it should be “Her name is Eriza Humairo and I have twin sisters”. It happened because they did not understand the grammar well and Indonesian language does not have the structure.
Many students assume that writing is the most difficult subject among the other language skills because the process of writing not only
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writes what they fell but also convey a message to the readers. Therefore, the students have problems or some difficulties to make a good writing. Based on the previous reseach about problems faced by students in writing essay,Masyhud (2010), he found that there were six problems faced by students in writing (1) the limited ideas (70%), (2) the students difficulty to choose the appropriate ideas (7%), (3) no one to check the students writing (4%), (4) the students low motivation to write (2%) (5), inability to share ideas with the others (2%) (6), the students difficulty to understand the materials (2%). In this research, the researcher found that the first factor that can make the difficulty when the students write descriptive text is the students have the limited ideas. Meanwhile, Kurniastuti (2008), in her research about the problems faced by the teachers in teaching writing II of English Department of University of Muhammadiyah Malang, found five problems : (1) the teachers had a problems with students difficulties in writing or narrowing their ideas, (2) the teachers faced students problems with the difficulty to make concluding sentence, (3) the teachers faced the students who did not focus on one unity when they wrote a paragraph, (4) the teachers faced students who often used transition signals monotonously in writing paragraph cohence and (5) the teachers faced students who were not able to write good types of paragraph.
In addition, when the writer in teaching practice II, in the writing class was described in several condition. The student’s attitude and motivation toward writing was still low. It appeared that students were no
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active and enthusiatic to ask questions about writing to the teacher. They were shy and afraid to present their writings in front of the class. It means that they did not want their writings being read or known by other friends at the class. Then the students did not pay attention to the teacher’s explanation: they loked bored or sometimes made noise. When the teacher gave the task to evaluate their understanding, many students got the low score. So, the writer interest to find out the difficulties of the students when they write the descriptive text that caused they got low score.
In this research, the writer concerns with discussing about the difficulties of writing descriptive text. The writer is interested in analyzing the difficulties of writing descriptive text faced by the first grade of junior high school students at SMP Muhammadiyah 8 Batu.
1.2Statement of the Problem
1. What are the difficulties faced by the first grade of junior high school students in writing descriptive text at Smp Muhammadiyah 8 Batu ?
2. What factors that cause the student’s difficulties in writing descriptive text?
1.3Purpose of the Study
1. To describe the difficulties faced by the first grade of junior high school students in writing descriptive text at SMP Muhammadiyah 8 Batu ?
2. To know the factors causing the difficulties faced by the first grade of junior high school students in writing descriptive text at SMP Muhammadiyah 8 Batu ?
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This study focus on identifying the difficulties are faced by students in writing descriptive text. Moreover, this research is limited at first grade students of junior high school at Smp Muhammadiyah 8 Batu.
1.5Significance of the Study 1. Theoretically
This research can give contribution toward the increasing of people’s understanding related to writing and descriptive text.
2. Practically
It is expected that the result of this study will be usefull for the English teachers to know the problems or the difficulties that faced by the students in writing descriptive text. The teacher will be able to choose and determine the best strategy how to teach writing to their students in order that the goal of teaching will be reached. Second, the result of this study is expected to give contribution to the students in order that they know their problem or difficulty in their process of learning writing and encourage them to improve their competence. Third, for furhter researcher, it is hoped that the result of this study will give additional important information to investigate and analyze the other aspects of the problems or difficulties in teaching writing.
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7 1.6Definition of Key Terms
1. Difficulty : a situation in which a person is motivated to reach a goal, but some obstacle or obstacles blocks the attainment of the goal (Klein, 2002 :354).
2. Writing : a complex sociocognitive process involving the construction of recorded messages on paper or on some other material, and, more recently, on a computer screen (Emilia,2010).
3. Descriptive text : a text which says what a person or a thing is like. Its purpose is to describe and reveal a particular person, place, or thing (Douglas,2003:1).
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THE DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THE FIRST GRADE OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT AT
SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 8 BATU
THESIS
By:
IKA ROSALINA 201110100311013
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
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THE DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THE FIRST GRADE OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT AT
SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 8 BATU
THESIS
By:
IKA ROSALINA
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
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THE DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THE FIRST GRADE OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT AT
SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 8 BATU
THESIS
This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education
By:
IKA ROSALINA 201110100311013
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
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This thesis written by Ika Rosalina was approved onOctober29, 2015
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This thesis was defended in front of the examiners of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of University of Muhammadiyah Malang
and accepted as one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education
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ORIGINALITY DECLARATION
The undersigned:
Name : Ika Rosalina
Student ID number : 201110100311013 Program of Study : English Department
Faculty : Faculty of Teacher Training and Education
I declare that the work presented in this thesis was carried out by myself and does not incorporate without acknowledgement any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge this thesis does not contain any materials previously publish or written by another person except where due reference is made in text.
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MOTTO AND DEDICATION
“In every difficulty, there is an easiness” (Q.S. 94:5)
“Allah SWT would not change the one’s condition unless they change themselves” (Q.S. 13: 11)
“Science without religion is blind, religion without science is lame”
(Albert Einstein)
I dedicated this thesis to: My father and mother (M.Saleh and Rokhana) My beloved sister and brother (Suci Cahyati and Imam Setiawan) My bestfriend (Muhajirin,Nurhayati Nufus and Setiawati Rahayu, Ana Mulyana) My Big family in Bima-Dompu,NTB And all of my friends
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillahirobbil’ alamin. First of all, I would like to express gratitude to the Almighty Allah S.W.T for the great wonderful blessing and so many chances in my whole life. Because of Allah’s permission, I can finish the thesis well. Shalawat and salam are always for our prophetMuhammad S.A.W.
I would like to express blissfulness to Dra. Erly Wahyuni, M. Si asmy first advisor and Rahmawati Khadijah. Maro, M.Pedasmy second advisor, for their invaluable advice, suggestions, patience, and guidance during the consulting period
.
My special gratitude goes to all of English Department lectures who had given a lot of knowledge, both knowledge related to education and social life. Without their guidance, I could not finish this thesis because the knowledge given is very beneficial.The great regard and gratitude are given to my fatherM. Saleh, my motherRokhana, my beloved sister Suci Cahyati, my beloved brother Imam Setiawan, Muhajirin as boyfriend and my big family in Bima. They always give support, love, affection, attention, guidance, prayer. Without love, advice and motivation from them, I would not finish this thesis successfully.
Finally, a special thank goes to my friends Nurhayati Nufus, Ana Mulyana, Ismar Dian Arini, Setiawati Rahayu, for love, care, pray and help in finishing this thesis. May Allah Swt always bless them all and write their kindness as worship. Never been in this present form. May Allah S.W.T bless us.
Malang, October 29, 2015 Ika Rosalina
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROVAL ... i
LEGALIZATION ... ii
ORIGINALITY DECLARATION ... iii
MOTTO AND DEDICATION ... iv
ABSTRACT ... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1 Background of the Study ... 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ... 4
1.3 Purpose of the Study ... 4
1.4 Scope and limitation ... 4
1.5 Significance of the study ... 5
1.6 Definition of KeyTerms ... 6
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 7
2.1 Definition of Writing ... 7
2.2 Types of Writing Text ... 7
2.2.1 Narrative Writing ... 7
2.2.2 Descriptive Writing ... 8
2.2.3 Process Analysis Writing ... 9
2.2.4 Causes and Effect Analysis ... 9
2.2.5 Classification ... 11
2.2.6 Comparison and Contrast ... 11
2.3 Descriptive Text ... 11
2.3.1 Description of Person ... 12
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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 14
3.1 Research Design ... 14
3.2 Population and Sample ... 14
3.3 Research Instrument ... 15
3.3.1 Test ... 15
3.3.2 Questionnaire ... 15
3.4 Data Collection ... 16
3.5 Data Analysis ... 17
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION ... 19
4.1 Findings ... 16
4.1.1 The difficulties faced by the first grade of junior high school students in writing descriptive text ... 19
4.1.1.1 Using of tenses ... 20
4.1.2 Arranging the sentence into a paragraph descriptive text ... 21
4.1.3 The factor that causes the students’ difficulties faced by the first grade of junior high school students in writing descriptive text 23 4.2 Discussion ... 24
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 27
5.1. Conclusions ... 27
5.2. Suggestions ... 27
5.2.1 The English Teacher ... 28
5.2.2 The Students ... 28
5.2.3 The Next Researcher ... 28
REFERENCES ... 29
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REFERENCES
Alice Oshima, Ann Hogue. 2007. Introduction to Academic English. Pearson Longman.
Arikunto, S. 2010. Prosedur penelitian suatu pendekatan praktek. Rineka Cipta. Jakarta.
Ary, Donald. 2002. Introduction to Research in Education. 6th Edition.
Ary, Donald. 2010. Introduction to Research in Education. 8th Edition.Wadsworth. USA
Ary,Donald.2002. Introduction to Research in Education.USA: Wadsworth Group A Division Of Thompson Learning Inc, 2002)
Brown, H. Douglas. 2003. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching Fourth Edition. New York: San Francisco state university.
Emilia, Emi. (2010). Teaching Writing, Developing Critical Learners. Bandung: Rizqi Press
Gillet, J. W and Temple, Charles. 1990. Understanding Reading Problems: Assesment and Instruction 3rd ed. Virginia: HarperCollins Publishers. Glass, Kathy Tuchman.2005.Curriculum Design for Writing Instruction.
California: Corwin Press.
Gunning, Thomas G. 1992. Creating Reading Instruction for All Children. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Jeremy Harmer. 2004. How to Teach Writing. Longman
Jeremy Harmer. The Practice of English Language Teaching. 270
John langan. 1990. The MacMillan reader. New york: MacMillan Publisher John Langan. 2009. Exploring Writing Sentence and Paragraph. Connect learn
succed.
Kane Thomas. 2003. The Oxford Essential Guide to writing. Berlkey Boks. New York
Kementrian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia .2014.When English Rings a Bell.
Kurniastuti. 2008. The problems faced by the teachers in teaching writing II to the fourth semester students of English Dep UMMLipson, Marjorie Y and
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Wixson, Karen K. 1991. Assessment and Instruction of Reading Disability: An Interactive approach. 1991. New York: HaperColllins Publisher. MacMillan, Janes H. 1992. Educational research fundamental for the costumer.
New york : Harper Collins Publishers.
Marjatta Huhta. 2007. Challenges of writing these in English at UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES. (2)
Masyhud. 2010. The problem faced by students in writing essay both in individual work and in group work.
Meyers, Allan. 2005. Gateways to Academic Writing: Effective Sentences Paragraph and Essay. New York: Longman.
Mia Husnudin. 2012. The difficulties faced by the second grade of junior students in comprehending recount texts at SMPN 1 Prambon-Sidoarjo.
Norman E. Gronlund. 1977. Constructing achievement test.
Palmer, Barbara. C. 1994. Developing Cultural Literacy through the Writing Process.USA: Longwood Professional Book.
R.R Jordan. 1999. Academic Writing Course-Student Skill in English. Longman. Sandra Scarry, John Scarry. 2010. The Writer’s Workplace with Readings-Building
College Writing Skill. Cengage Learning.
Stephen Bailey. 2004. Academic Writing-A Practical Guide for the Students. Routledge.
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vii
MOTTO AND DEDICATION
“In every difficulty, there is an easiness” (Q.S. 94:5)
“Allah SWT would not change the one’s condition unless they change themselves” (Q.S. 13: 11)
“Science without religion is blind, religion without science is lame” (Albert Einstein)
I dedicated this thesis to: My father and mother (M.Saleh and Rokhana) My beloved sister and brother (Suci Cahyati and Imam Setiawan) My bestfriend (Muhajirin,Nurhayati Nufus and Setiawati Rahayu, Ana Mulyana) My Big family in Bima-Dompu,NTB And all of my friends
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillahirobbil’ alamin. First of all, I would like to express gratitude to the Almighty Allah S.W.T for the great wonderful blessing and so many chances in my whole life. Because of Allah’s permission, I can finish the thesis well. Shalawat and salam are always for our prophetMuhammad S.A.W.
I would like to express blissfulness to Dra. Erly Wahyuni, M. Si asmy first advisor and Rahmawati Khadijah. Maro, M.Pedasmy second advisor, for their invaluable advice, suggestions, patience, and guidance during the consulting period. My special gratitude goes to all of English Department lectures who had given a lot of knowledge, both knowledge related to education and social life. Without their guidance, I could not finish this thesis because the knowledge given is very beneficial.
The great regard and gratitude are given to my fatherM. Saleh, my motherRokhana, my beloved sister Suci Cahyati, my beloved brother Imam Setiawan, Muhajirin as boyfriend and my big family in Bima. They always give support, love, affection, attention, guidance, prayer. Without love, advice and motivation from them, I would not finish this thesis successfully.
Finally, a special thank goes to my friends Nurhayati Nufus, Ana Mulyana, Ismar Dian Arini, Setiawati Rahayu, for love, care, pray and help in finishing this thesis. May Allah Swt always bless them all and write their kindness as worship. Never been in this present form. May Allah S.W.T bless us.
Malang, October 29, 2015 Ika Rosalina
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ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROVAL ... i
LEGALIZATION ... ii
ORIGINALITY DECLARATION ... iii
MOTTO AND DEDICATION ... iv
ABSTRACT ... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1 Background of the Study ... 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ... 4
1.3 Purpose of the Study ... 4
1.4 Scope and limitation ... 4
1.5 Significance of the study ... 5
1.6 Definition of KeyTerms ... 6
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 7
2.1 Definition of Writing ... 7
2.2 Types of Writing Text ... 7
2.2.1 Narrative Writing ... 7
2.2.2 Descriptive Writing ... 8
2.2.3 Process Analysis Writing ... 9
2.2.4 Causes and Effect Analysis ... 9
2.2.5 Classification ... 11
2.2.6 Comparison and Contrast ... 11
2.3 Descriptive Text ... 11
2.3.1 Description of Person ... 12
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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 14
3.1 Research Design ... 14
3.2 Population and Sample ... 14
3.3 Research Instrument ... 15
3.3.1 Test ... 15
3.3.2 Questionnaire ... 15
3.4 Data Collection ... 16
3.5 Data Analysis ... 17
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION ... 19
4.1 Findings ... 16
4.1.1 The difficulties faced by the first grade of junior high school students in writing descriptive text ... 19
4.1.1.1 Using of tenses ... 20
4.1.2 Arranging the sentence into a paragraph descriptive text ... 21
4.1.3 The factor that causes the students’ difficulties faced by the first grade of junior high school students in writing descriptive text 23 4.2 Discussion ... 24
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 27
5.1. Conclusions ... 27
5.2. Suggestions ... 27
5.2.1 The English Teacher ... 28
5.2.2 The Students ... 28
5.2.3 The Next Researcher ... 28
REFERENCES ... 29
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xi
REFERENCES
Alice Oshima, Ann Hogue. 2007. Introduction to Academic English. Pearson Longman.
Arikunto, S. 2010. Prosedur penelitian suatu pendekatan praktek. Rineka Cipta. Jakarta.
Ary, Donald. 2002. Introduction to Research in Education. 6th Edition.
Ary, Donald. 2010. Introduction to Research in Education. 8th Edition.Wadsworth. USA
Ary,Donald.2002. Introduction to Research in Education.USA: Wadsworth Group A Division Of Thompson Learning Inc, 2002)
Brown, H. Douglas. 2003. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching Fourth
Edition. New York: San Francisco state university.
Emilia, Emi. (2010). Teaching Writing, Developing Critical Learners. Bandung: Rizqi Press
Gillet, J. W and Temple, Charles. 1990. Understanding Reading Problems: Assesment and Instruction 3rd ed. Virginia: HarperCollins Publishers. Glass, Kathy Tuchman.2005.Curriculum Design for Writing Instruction.
California: Corwin Press.
Gunning, Thomas G. 1992. Creating Reading Instruction for All Children.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Jeremy Harmer. 2004. How to Teach Writing. Longman
Jeremy Harmer. The Practice of English Language Teaching. 270
John langan. 1990. The MacMillan reader. New york: MacMillan Publisher John Langan. 2009. Exploring Writing Sentence and Paragraph. Connect learn
succed.
Kane Thomas. 2003. The Oxford Essential Guide to writing. Berlkey Boks. New York
Kementrian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia .2014.When English Rings a Bell.
Kurniastuti. 2008. The problems faced by the teachers in teaching writing II to the
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xii
Wixson, Karen K. 1991. Assessment and Instruction of Reading Disability:
An Interactive approach. 1991. New York: HaperColllins Publisher.
MacMillan, Janes H. 1992. Educational research fundamental for the costumer. New york : Harper Collins Publishers.
Marjatta Huhta. 2007. Challenges of writing these in English at UNIVERSITIES OF
APPLIED SCIENCES. (2)
Masyhud. 2010. The problem faced by students in writing essay both in individual work and in group work.
Meyers, Allan. 2005. Gateways to Academic Writing: Effective Sentences
Paragraph and Essay. New York: Longman.
Mia Husnudin. 2012. The difficulties faced by the second grade of junior students
in comprehending recount texts at SMPN 1 Prambon-Sidoarjo.
Norman E. Gronlund. 1977. Constructing achievement test.
Palmer, Barbara. C. 1994. Developing Cultural Literacy through the Writing
Process.USA: Longwood Professional Book.
R.R Jordan. 1999. Academic Writing Course-Student Skill in English. Longman. Sandra Scarry, John Scarry. 2010. The Writer’s Workplace with Readings-Building
College Writing Skill. Cengage Learning.
Stephen Bailey. 2004. Academic Writing-A Practical Guide for the Students. Routledge.