The unity of the descriptive composition of the third semester students of the English Department of Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya - Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya Repository
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
CE{PTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Backgroundofthe StudY
that
in this world' Englishis oneof thoselanguages
Amongthe languages
language'
is spokenall overthe world. In otherwords,Englishis an international
M o s t p e o pl e co mmu n i ca te w i th other sfr omother countr iesinEnglish.M any
in English' Thus'
books, such as text books and referencebooks are written
suchas in educationand
to be importantin communication,
Englishis considered
technology.
progtess'
In lndonesia,many people,especiallythoseu'ho want to make
will get more
leam English as a foreign ianguage'They realize that they
of themjoin
informationand knowledgeby masteringEnglish.Therefore,some
EnglishOoursesandsometakeprivatelesson.Engiishisalsotaughtatschooland
i t b e c o m e so n e o fth e l mp o rta n ts ubjects' lngener al,thestudentsbegintolear n
speakandto write
Englishat secondaryschool.They learnto read,to listento' to
involvesleaming
in Englishas the four languageskills sincemasteringEngiish
reading,iistening,speaking,andwriting'
have to
At the English Department,the studentsas teachercandidates
m a s t e r t ho se fo u rl a n g u a g e ski llsasstatedinthecur r iculum.Theyhavetoleam
ReadingforfiveSemesters.ltmeansthateachstudentmusttakeReadingluntil
ReadingV.ListeningrsleamedforthreesemesterswhileSpeakingisleamedfor
fivesemestersasReading.Finally,thestudentshavetotakeWritingluntil
writing v that is continuedwith Paperwriting andSeminaron Thesiswriting. In
this case,the studentsmay take Paperwriting and Seminaron Thesiswriting if
they have taken and graduatedfrom writing I until writing v. It meansthat
writing is quite importantto be masteredby the EnglishDepartmentstudents.
Having similar a view, Luo Yilrur ( 1939:26) statesthat the ability to rvrite is a
papersand
necessityfor the studentssincethey will be askedto write, such as
eachstudenthasto
book reportsat university.Besidesthat, in the last semester,
jobs
work on their thesisfor their degree.Further,Lorch ( 1984:4) says" many
today require a college degree;a college degreerequireseffective writing'"
Therefore.eachstudentshoulddevelophis writing skill by taking writing I until
writing v, Paperwriting andSeminaron Thesiswriting. in takingthoselectures,
exhibit
the studentsleam how to write goodcompositions; compositionswhich
thequalitiesofcoherenceandunity,asstatedbyLorch(1986:136)'Both
qualitiesare neededin good compositionsincethe writer can communicatehis
will
ideasto the readerswhenhis composilionis unifiedandcoherent.coherence
from one
make the writer's ideasflow smoothlyso that the readerscan move
so that the
sentenceto the next easilywhile unity will controlthe rwiter's ideas
confusedto
whole compositionhasonly onefocusandit doesn'tmakethe readers
catchhis ideas.
holding
Kiefer ( 1983:23) saysthat " coherence" means" sticking or
t o g e t h e r." so ,a co mp o si ti o n willbecoher enlifever ypar tinitsticksor holds
whole as
together and as a result, it will give the readersa senseof a smooth
statedbvLorch(1984:28).ToWillis(1964:98)'inthewholecomposition'
is achievedrvhenthereis a clearfransitionor link betweenits major
coherence
parts,the parasraphs.
Similarly,a paragraphis coherentwhenits majorparts,the
sentences,are all closeiy joined to each other. It meansthat there must be
of thecomposition.
coherencewrthin andbetweenthe paragraphs
Anotherquaiity of goodcompositionthat shouldn'tbe forgottenis unity.
Vivian and Jackson( 1961'.32) claimsthat a good compositioncreatesa clear
impressionof unity or oneness.lt presentsa singlecentrdlidea to the reader's
inteliectand a singledominanteffectto their emotion.So,the wholecomposition
developsone idea or one effectand every'thingin the compositioncontributesto
mustbe unifiedon
Lorch( i984:i36 ) saysthata composition
that deveiopment.
two levels-First, it must have an " overall unity ". It meansthat each middle
paragraphofthe compositionprovidesa point ofsupport for the thesisstatement
ofeach paragraph
that is in the first paragraph.In otherwords,the topic sentence
must supportthe thesisstatement.The second,the individualsupportparagraphs
must also exhibit " intemalunity ". It meansthat everysupportsentencein the
ofthe paragraphsmust supportthetopic sentence
supportparagraphs
Good composition must be unified and coherent,and every English
Departmentstudentis expectedto be ableto producesuchcomposition.ln fact,it
is difficult for many studentsto write it. Even,the writer herselfand thosewho
work on their thesisstill find difficultiesto makeit. Concemingthis problem,it is
interestingfor the writer to analyzethe quality of unity and coherencein the
As far asthe vi.riterknows,therearesomethesispreviouslywritten
compositions.
that analyzethe quality of coherencein the students'compositionswhile thereis
no thesis that analyzeunity in their compositionsbefore.Therefore,the writer
Throughthis study,
specifiedherstudyon the uniry in the students'compositions.
she wantsto revealhorv far the studentscan apply their knorvledgein writing
EnglishDepartmentstudentsof
Shetook the tturd semester
unified compositions.
Widya Mandala Catholic University as the subjectsof this study u'ith the
assumptionthat they havetakenand graduatedfrom " IC " ( lntegratedCourse)'
It meansthat they havegrammaticalknowledgeand enoughvocabularyto write
to be ableto writeurufiedcomposition
In addition,theyareassumed
composition.
since they have completedWriting I. As the third semesterstudentsleam
descriptive writing, the writer analyzesthe unity as encounteredin their
descriptivewriting. In brief, the writer decidedto carryout a studyon the unity as
in the descriptivewriting of the third semesterEnglishDepartrnent
encountered
studentsof WidyaMandaiaCatholicUniversity.
1.2 Statementof the Problem
Basedonthebackgroundofthestudy,theproblemsofthisstudyareas
follorvs:
1. How is the unity in each paragraphof the students'
under
study?
understudy?
2. How is the unity in the wholecompositionof the students
13 Objectivesof the StudY
Derivedfrom the statementof the probiemsabove,this studyis intended
to describe:
understudy.
compositions
paragraph
ofthe students'
l. theunityin ea-ch
understudy.
of thestudents
2. theunityin thewholecomposition
of the Study
1,.4Significance
to revealhow far thethird semester
Throughthisstudy,the $'riterintended
can apply
EnglishDepartmentstudentsof Widya MandalaCatholic'University
in writingunifiedcompositions.
theirknowledge
this studywill give a contributionto the teachingof
The writer expected
of WidyaMandalaCathqlicUniversity,Based
writingat the EnglishDepartment
on the resultof this study,the teachersrvhoteachWriting might makeeffortsto
whenthe resultis not so
ableto produceunifiedcompositions
maketheirstudents
usingthe
theirstudents
mightkeepteaching
good.on the otherhand,theteachers
rhatis beingusedwhenthisstudyshowsgood result.
technique
1.5 TheoreticalFramework
The underlyingtheoriessupportingthis studyarethe theoryof writing, the
rvnting,and the theoryof unity.Briefly,thesetheoriesrvill
theoryof descriptive
below.
be nresented
in
andparagraphs
writing is the skill of arrangingwordsto form senlences
a larger unit so that those ideas, facts, and impression may be communicated to
others or readers-(Crirnson, 1983:3 ). It meansthat the purposeof writing is
communication.Thereforea writer shouldmake good compositionso that his
clearlyto his readers.
ideascanbe communicated
Accordingto Vivian ( 1961:4), writing is classifiedinto five categories.
and persuasion.As
They are narration,description,exposition,argumentation,
statedpreviously,this studydealswith descriptivewriting that is a wnting which
describesthe aspectof person,place,scene,thing, etc. ( Ifuodt, 1991.27)' In
addition,Fawcettand Sandberg( 1984:60) saysthat to describesomething a
person,a place,or an object- is to captureit in wordsso otherscanimagtneit or
seeit in theirminds'eye.
However,a writer should make good compositionto communicatehis
ideas. ln their book, vivian and Jackson( 196l.32 ) claim that a good
compositioncreatesa clearimpressionof unity. Moreover,a good composifion
mustbe unifiedon two levels.First,it musthavean overallunify that meanseach
paragraphof the compositionmust be relatedto the thesisstatementas the central
Second, the individualsupportparagraphs
idea which is in the first paragraph.
( paragraph2,paragraPh3, and so on ) must alsoexhibit internalunity' It means
that the supportingsentencesof each paragraphmust be relatedto its topic
sentence.
1.6 Scopeand Limitation
The scope of this study is the unity in the descriptivewriting, The
students'work includedin this studycoversthedescriptionof placeandprocess'
I
The subjectsof this study is limited to the third semesterEnglish
Departmentstudentsof Widya MandalaCathoiicUniversitywith the assumption
that they have grammatical knorvledgeand enough vocabulary to write
composition as they have completed " IC " ( lntegfatedCourse). Moreover,
they are assumedto be able to write unified compositionsince they have
graduated
from WritingI.
1.7 Definitionof KeYTerms.
To avoid any misinterpretationand to help the readersunderstandthe
for the writer to definethe importantkey terms
studyunderreport,it is necessary
usedin this study.
in a
and paragraphs
a. writing is the skill of arrangingwordsto form sentences
to
largerunit so that thoseideas,factsand impressionmay be communicated
others( Crimsor;1983:3)'
b. Descriptivecompositionis a wriring which describesthe aspectof persor;
place,scene,thing,etc.( Knodt, 1991:27).
Paragraphis a seriesof sentencesthat developone idea ( Reid, 1988:8)'
d. paragraphUnity is evident when eachof its sentencepertainsto its one central
idea( Willis, 1966:94).
e. Compositionis unifiedif the whole composition develops one idea or one
effect,then everYthingin the composition contributesto that development
( Vivian,1961:32).
f.ThesisStatementisthestatementthatgivesthepurposeoftheessay.This
( Reid,1988:48
)'
is usuallyonesentence
statement
(t
( Tibbetts'1969:148
)'
is the controliingideaofa paragraph
Topic Sentence
L
rl .
sentence
Supportrngsentencesarethe sentenceswhich supportthe topic
( Levin,Gerald,1972:8).
1.8 Organizationof the Thesis
of
This thesisconsistsof five chapters'ChapterI coversthe lntroduction
of the
this thesis which deals with the backgroundof the study, statement
problem, the objective of the study, significanceof the study' theoretical
terms' and
framework, scope and iimitation of the study definition of key
u'ith Reviewof RelatedLiterature'
ofthe thesis.Chapter[I concerns
organization
Inthischapter,thewriterdealswiththetheoreticalbackgroundwhichsupportthis
study.ResearchMethodologywhichincludesresearchdesign,thesubjectsofthe
s t u d y , r e se a rch i n stru me n t,sour ceofdata,techniqueofdataanalysis' and
Findingswill be
triangulationis speltout in chapterIII while DataAnaiysisand
in
the wholediscussion
in chapterIV. Finally,chapterv will conclude
discussed
andsuggestion'
conclusiontermsof summary,
INTRODUCTION
CE{PTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Backgroundofthe StudY
that
in this world' Englishis oneof thoselanguages
Amongthe languages
language'
is spokenall overthe world. In otherwords,Englishis an international
M o s t p e o pl e co mmu n i ca te w i th other sfr omother countr iesinEnglish.M any
in English' Thus'
books, such as text books and referencebooks are written
suchas in educationand
to be importantin communication,
Englishis considered
technology.
progtess'
In lndonesia,many people,especiallythoseu'ho want to make
will get more
leam English as a foreign ianguage'They realize that they
of themjoin
informationand knowledgeby masteringEnglish.Therefore,some
EnglishOoursesandsometakeprivatelesson.Engiishisalsotaughtatschooland
i t b e c o m e so n e o fth e l mp o rta n ts ubjects' lngener al,thestudentsbegintolear n
speakandto write
Englishat secondaryschool.They learnto read,to listento' to
involvesleaming
in Englishas the four languageskills sincemasteringEngiish
reading,iistening,speaking,andwriting'
have to
At the English Department,the studentsas teachercandidates
m a s t e r t ho se fo u rl a n g u a g e ski llsasstatedinthecur r iculum.Theyhavetoleam
ReadingforfiveSemesters.ltmeansthateachstudentmusttakeReadingluntil
ReadingV.ListeningrsleamedforthreesemesterswhileSpeakingisleamedfor
fivesemestersasReading.Finally,thestudentshavetotakeWritingluntil
writing v that is continuedwith Paperwriting andSeminaron Thesiswriting. In
this case,the studentsmay take Paperwriting and Seminaron Thesiswriting if
they have taken and graduatedfrom writing I until writing v. It meansthat
writing is quite importantto be masteredby the EnglishDepartmentstudents.
Having similar a view, Luo Yilrur ( 1939:26) statesthat the ability to rvrite is a
papersand
necessityfor the studentssincethey will be askedto write, such as
eachstudenthasto
book reportsat university.Besidesthat, in the last semester,
jobs
work on their thesisfor their degree.Further,Lorch ( 1984:4) says" many
today require a college degree;a college degreerequireseffective writing'"
Therefore.eachstudentshoulddevelophis writing skill by taking writing I until
writing v, Paperwriting andSeminaron Thesiswriting. in takingthoselectures,
exhibit
the studentsleam how to write goodcompositions; compositionswhich
thequalitiesofcoherenceandunity,asstatedbyLorch(1986:136)'Both
qualitiesare neededin good compositionsincethe writer can communicatehis
will
ideasto the readerswhenhis composilionis unifiedandcoherent.coherence
from one
make the writer's ideasflow smoothlyso that the readerscan move
so that the
sentenceto the next easilywhile unity will controlthe rwiter's ideas
confusedto
whole compositionhasonly onefocusandit doesn'tmakethe readers
catchhis ideas.
holding
Kiefer ( 1983:23) saysthat " coherence" means" sticking or
t o g e t h e r." so ,a co mp o si ti o n willbecoher enlifever ypar tinitsticksor holds
whole as
together and as a result, it will give the readersa senseof a smooth
statedbvLorch(1984:28).ToWillis(1964:98)'inthewholecomposition'
is achievedrvhenthereis a clearfransitionor link betweenits major
coherence
parts,the parasraphs.
Similarly,a paragraphis coherentwhenits majorparts,the
sentences,are all closeiy joined to each other. It meansthat there must be
of thecomposition.
coherencewrthin andbetweenthe paragraphs
Anotherquaiity of goodcompositionthat shouldn'tbe forgottenis unity.
Vivian and Jackson( 1961'.32) claimsthat a good compositioncreatesa clear
impressionof unity or oneness.lt presentsa singlecentrdlidea to the reader's
inteliectand a singledominanteffectto their emotion.So,the wholecomposition
developsone idea or one effectand every'thingin the compositioncontributesto
mustbe unifiedon
Lorch( i984:i36 ) saysthata composition
that deveiopment.
two levels-First, it must have an " overall unity ". It meansthat each middle
paragraphofthe compositionprovidesa point ofsupport for the thesisstatement
ofeach paragraph
that is in the first paragraph.In otherwords,the topic sentence
must supportthe thesisstatement.The second,the individualsupportparagraphs
must also exhibit " intemalunity ". It meansthat everysupportsentencein the
ofthe paragraphsmust supportthetopic sentence
supportparagraphs
Good composition must be unified and coherent,and every English
Departmentstudentis expectedto be ableto producesuchcomposition.ln fact,it
is difficult for many studentsto write it. Even,the writer herselfand thosewho
work on their thesisstill find difficultiesto makeit. Concemingthis problem,it is
interestingfor the writer to analyzethe quality of unity and coherencein the
As far asthe vi.riterknows,therearesomethesispreviouslywritten
compositions.
that analyzethe quality of coherencein the students'compositionswhile thereis
no thesis that analyzeunity in their compositionsbefore.Therefore,the writer
Throughthis study,
specifiedherstudyon the uniry in the students'compositions.
she wantsto revealhorv far the studentscan apply their knorvledgein writing
EnglishDepartmentstudentsof
Shetook the tturd semester
unified compositions.
Widya Mandala Catholic University as the subjectsof this study u'ith the
assumptionthat they havetakenand graduatedfrom " IC " ( lntegratedCourse)'
It meansthat they havegrammaticalknowledgeand enoughvocabularyto write
to be ableto writeurufiedcomposition
In addition,theyareassumed
composition.
since they have completedWriting I. As the third semesterstudentsleam
descriptive writing, the writer analyzesthe unity as encounteredin their
descriptivewriting. In brief, the writer decidedto carryout a studyon the unity as
in the descriptivewriting of the third semesterEnglishDepartrnent
encountered
studentsof WidyaMandaiaCatholicUniversity.
1.2 Statementof the Problem
Basedonthebackgroundofthestudy,theproblemsofthisstudyareas
follorvs:
1. How is the unity in each paragraphof the students'
under
study?
understudy?
2. How is the unity in the wholecompositionof the students
13 Objectivesof the StudY
Derivedfrom the statementof the probiemsabove,this studyis intended
to describe:
understudy.
compositions
paragraph
ofthe students'
l. theunityin ea-ch
understudy.
of thestudents
2. theunityin thewholecomposition
of the Study
1,.4Significance
to revealhow far thethird semester
Throughthisstudy,the $'riterintended
can apply
EnglishDepartmentstudentsof Widya MandalaCatholic'University
in writingunifiedcompositions.
theirknowledge
this studywill give a contributionto the teachingof
The writer expected
of WidyaMandalaCathqlicUniversity,Based
writingat the EnglishDepartment
on the resultof this study,the teachersrvhoteachWriting might makeeffortsto
whenthe resultis not so
ableto produceunifiedcompositions
maketheirstudents
usingthe
theirstudents
mightkeepteaching
good.on the otherhand,theteachers
rhatis beingusedwhenthisstudyshowsgood result.
technique
1.5 TheoreticalFramework
The underlyingtheoriessupportingthis studyarethe theoryof writing, the
rvnting,and the theoryof unity.Briefly,thesetheoriesrvill
theoryof descriptive
below.
be nresented
in
andparagraphs
writing is the skill of arrangingwordsto form senlences
a larger unit so that those ideas, facts, and impression may be communicated to
others or readers-(Crirnson, 1983:3 ). It meansthat the purposeof writing is
communication.Thereforea writer shouldmake good compositionso that his
clearlyto his readers.
ideascanbe communicated
Accordingto Vivian ( 1961:4), writing is classifiedinto five categories.
and persuasion.As
They are narration,description,exposition,argumentation,
statedpreviously,this studydealswith descriptivewriting that is a wnting which
describesthe aspectof person,place,scene,thing, etc. ( Ifuodt, 1991.27)' In
addition,Fawcettand Sandberg( 1984:60) saysthat to describesomething a
person,a place,or an object- is to captureit in wordsso otherscanimagtneit or
seeit in theirminds'eye.
However,a writer should make good compositionto communicatehis
ideas. ln their book, vivian and Jackson( 196l.32 ) claim that a good
compositioncreatesa clearimpressionof unity. Moreover,a good composifion
mustbe unifiedon two levels.First,it musthavean overallunify that meanseach
paragraphof the compositionmust be relatedto the thesisstatementas the central
Second, the individualsupportparagraphs
idea which is in the first paragraph.
( paragraph2,paragraPh3, and so on ) must alsoexhibit internalunity' It means
that the supportingsentencesof each paragraphmust be relatedto its topic
sentence.
1.6 Scopeand Limitation
The scope of this study is the unity in the descriptivewriting, The
students'work includedin this studycoversthedescriptionof placeandprocess'
I
The subjectsof this study is limited to the third semesterEnglish
Departmentstudentsof Widya MandalaCathoiicUniversitywith the assumption
that they have grammatical knorvledgeand enough vocabulary to write
composition as they have completed " IC " ( lntegfatedCourse). Moreover,
they are assumedto be able to write unified compositionsince they have
graduated
from WritingI.
1.7 Definitionof KeYTerms.
To avoid any misinterpretationand to help the readersunderstandthe
for the writer to definethe importantkey terms
studyunderreport,it is necessary
usedin this study.
in a
and paragraphs
a. writing is the skill of arrangingwordsto form sentences
to
largerunit so that thoseideas,factsand impressionmay be communicated
others( Crimsor;1983:3)'
b. Descriptivecompositionis a wriring which describesthe aspectof persor;
place,scene,thing,etc.( Knodt, 1991:27).
Paragraphis a seriesof sentencesthat developone idea ( Reid, 1988:8)'
d. paragraphUnity is evident when eachof its sentencepertainsto its one central
idea( Willis, 1966:94).
e. Compositionis unifiedif the whole composition develops one idea or one
effect,then everYthingin the composition contributesto that development
( Vivian,1961:32).
f.ThesisStatementisthestatementthatgivesthepurposeoftheessay.This
( Reid,1988:48
)'
is usuallyonesentence
statement
(t
( Tibbetts'1969:148
)'
is the controliingideaofa paragraph
Topic Sentence
L
rl .
sentence
Supportrngsentencesarethe sentenceswhich supportthe topic
( Levin,Gerald,1972:8).
1.8 Organizationof the Thesis
of
This thesisconsistsof five chapters'ChapterI coversthe lntroduction
of the
this thesis which deals with the backgroundof the study, statement
problem, the objective of the study, significanceof the study' theoretical
terms' and
framework, scope and iimitation of the study definition of key
u'ith Reviewof RelatedLiterature'
ofthe thesis.Chapter[I concerns
organization
Inthischapter,thewriterdealswiththetheoreticalbackgroundwhichsupportthis
study.ResearchMethodologywhichincludesresearchdesign,thesubjectsofthe
s t u d y , r e se a rch i n stru me n t,sour ceofdata,techniqueofdataanalysis' and
Findingswill be
triangulationis speltout in chapterIII while DataAnaiysisand
in
the wholediscussion
in chapterIV. Finally,chapterv will conclude
discussed
andsuggestion'
conclusiontermsof summary,