Purpose of Writing Writing

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4. Problems of Writing

There are many problems of teaching learning writing skill. The problems appear not only from the students, but also from the teacher. The problems come from the students’ side because writing is a complex process which requires number of things, such as in using grammar correctly. This problem usually can cause some difficulties for the students in learning writing. According to Rozakis, the most common writing errors are: 20 a Grammar and Usage such as wrong verb tense, and subject-verb agreement b Sentences fragments and run-ons, c Spelling, d Punctuation, e Capitalization, and f Proofreading missing words. The six common errors of writing above usually make some problems for the students . The first problem area is the students’ difficulties in using subject-verb agreement. Warriner states that some of the most common mistakes in speaking and writing are made when verb and subject do not agree. 21 One of the mistakes in subject-verb agreement is sometimes made in the situations when a singular subject takes a plural verb or a plural subject takes a singular verb. For example, ―There is wild dogs in our neighborhood,” a verb in this sentence doesn’t agree with its subject in number. So, the right sentence is, ―There are wild dogs in our neighborhood.” Next, the second errors in student writing are the sentence fragment and the run-on sentence. A sentence fragment is a group of words that do not express a complete thought. Most times, a fragment is missing a subject, a verb, or both. 22 One types of fragments is a sentence that begin with a dependent-word. For exa mple, ―I won’t leave the house. Until I hear 20 Laurie Rozakis, English Grammar for the Utterly Confused, New York: McGraw Hill, 2003, p. 78-79 21 John E. Warriner, English Grammar and Composition, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publisher, 1982, p. 117 22 Laurie Rozakis, English Grammar …p. 122 14 from you ,” the italic sentence is a fragment. It doesn’t make sense standing by itself. Another common writing fault is run-on sentence. A run-on sentence is two complete thoughts that are run together with no punctuation at all to mark the break between the thoughts. 23 For example, ―Mario told everyone in the room to be q uiet his favorite show was on.” The third problem in writing is spelling. Students often misspell words because they mispronounce them. One of the common mistakes is dropping a letter or syllable when we say a word. For example, a word ―asked” gets mangled as ―ast” or even ―axed.” 24 Most common punctuation errors are missing commas or extra commas, missing or misused apostrophes, misused exclamation marks, and misused semicolons. For exa mple, ―You will need a pencil, and plenty of pa per,” this sentence is incorrect. When the items in the series are separated by conjunctions, there is no need for commas. 25 Two types of capitalization errors are proper nouns not capitalized, and errors in titles. For example, incorrect capitalization of ―louisa adams,” it should be written ―Louisa Adams.” 26 The last problem regarding ability in writing is the missing words proofreading errors. This is a simple rule, but many students run out of time before they can proofread their writing. Based on the explanation above, it can be said that writing is the most difficult and complicated language skill to be learned compared to other language skills. The other problems appear from the teacher. The problems of the writing teacher are related to the problems faced by the students above. The teacher should find appropriate approach, and learning strategy of teaching learning practice in the classroom in order to overcome the problems. 23 John Langan, College Writing Skills with Readings 5 th ed, New York: McGraw Hill, 2001, p. 432 24 Laurie Rozakis, English Grammar …p. 83-84 25 John E. Warriner, English Grammar …p. 200 26 Laurie Rozakis, English Grammar …p. 93 15 The students should be challenged and stimulated by interesting and fun activities during the teaching and learning process. Teaching writing is not just opening the book, giving assignments, and grading paper. The students are not just writing based on the topic given and collecting the product at the end of a lesson. According to Brown, one of the challenges of becoming an effective writing teacher is by facilitating the students in learning writing. As the facilitator, the teacher must offer guidance in helping students to engage in the process of writing. 27

B. Narrative Text

1. Definition of Narrative Text

A narrative is a piece of text which tells a story and, in doing so, entertains or informs the reader or listener. 28 While Woodson states narrating is when you tell a story, when you describe actual or fictional events. 29 Also, narrative whose purpose is mainly to inform often contain large passages arranging the events in a story strictly in chronological order. Narrative can be imaginary or factual fairy tales, mysteries, fables, romances and adventures stories, myths and legends. Anderson and Anderson describe many different types of narrative namely humor, romance, crime, real –life fiction, historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, diary-novel, and adventure. 30

2. Purpose of Narrative Text

People write narrative text might be basically for pleasure, to gain and hold the rea der’s interest in a story. It means that they like to write any kinds of stories to entertain or even to teach the readers a bout the writer’s reflections on experience. This is equal to Anderson’s explanation that 27 H. Douglas Brown, Teaching by Principles …p. 340 28 Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, Text Types in English 2, South Yarra: Mcmillan, 1997, p. 8 29 Linda Woodson, From Cases to Composition, Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1982, p. 145 30 Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, Text Types …p. 18