A similar research entitled “A Descriptive Study of the Eighth Grade
Students’ Achievement in Writing a Recount Text Writing Ability at SMP Negeri 6 Jember in the 20122013 Academic Year
” was also conducted by Qorina in 2014. It was quite different from Oktarina, Qorina found that 58
of the students’ recount text writing achievement was categorized as fair. From the result of this
research, it was known that grammar, particularly in term of using Simple Past Tense, appeared as the aspect of writing that was poorly achieved.
Considering the above description, the researcher was interested in conducting a similar research. The researcher was eager to know whether or not
the result of this research would show the same result like the two previous researches done in term of
the students’ ability in writing recount text. Besides, the researcher also wanted to reveal whether the students would experience the
same difficulty in the aspect of vocabulary and grammar or there would be other new finding about the aspect that students struggle the most. Therefore, the
research conducted was in the form of descriptive since it was intended to describe the eighth grade
students’ recount text writing ability at SMP Negeri 1 Tempeh Lumajang related to the aspects of writing namely content, organization,
grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics. The researcher took the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Tempeh
Lumajang in the 20142015 academic year as the population of the research by considering that those students had learned about writing a recount text both in the
first and the second semester. Then, to determine the respondents of the research, the researcher applied proportional random sampling method. By using this
sampling method, it was expected that the data obtained could be more representative
to portray the eighth grade students’ recount text writing ability. Hence, the researcher conducted a research entitled
“The Eighth Grade Students’ Recount Text Writing Ability at SMP Negeri 1 Tempeh Lumajang
”.
1.2. The Problems of the Research
Based on the background described above, the problems of the research were formulated as follows:
a. How is the eighth grade students’ recount text writing ability at SMP
Negeri 1 Tempeh Lumajang? b.
How is the score distribution of the eighth grade students’ recount text writing at SMP Negeri 1 Tempeh Lumajang based on the classification of
score levels? c.
Which aspect of writing that is poorly achieved by the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Tempeh Lumajang in the test?
1.3. The Objectives of the Research
Based on the problems of the research, the objectives of the research were formulated as follows:
a. To describe the eighth grade students’ recount text writing ability at SMP
Negeri 1 Tempeh Lumajang; b.
To describe the score distribution of the eighth grade students’ recount text writing at SMP Negeri 1 Tempeh Lumajang based on the classification of
score levels; c.
To describe which aspect of writing that is poorly achieved by the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Tempeh Lumajang in the test.
1.4. The Significance of the Research
The results of the research are expected to give some beneficial contributions for the following people:
1.4.1. The Students
The results of this research are expected to be useful for the eighth grade students at SMP Negeri 1 Tempeh Lumajang to know about their ability in
writing, particularly in writing recount text. Hopefully, after knowing their ability, they will be more motivated to improve their writing skill by concerning more in
the aspect that they lack of.
1.4.2. The English Teacher
The results of this research are expected to give some feedback for the eighth grade English teacher dealing with the method applied in teaching writing.
From the feedback given, the English teacher is expected to figure out some new ways of teaching writing that can motivate the students to join the class and have
a better piece of writing. Further, the English teacher is also expected to be able to overcome any writing problems that the students have, especially in writing a
recount text by knowing which aspect of writing that the students poorly achieved.
1.4.3. The Future Researchers
The results of this research are expected to be useful information for future researchers who want to conduct a similar research in the form of classroom
action research, experimental research, or even descriptive research. For those who want to conduct class action research or experimental research, the results of
this research can be used as the background of study or even as a trigger to find a new way of teaching writing that may improve students’ ability in writing. Then,
for the future researchers who want to conduct a descriptive research, the result of the research can be used as a comparison.
1.5. The Scope of the Research
