An Analysison Seniorhighschool Students’ Abilityto Use Simple Past Tense: Acasestudyonthe Tenthyear Studentsofsman21 Medan

CHAPTERI
INTRODUCTION

1.1

Backgroundof theStudy
Languageisthebestmeansofcommunicationtointeractamongpeopleand

tocreateagoodrelationshipbetweentheminsociety.Withoutlanguage,theywill
expressand

share

theirideas,

notableto

thoughts,feelings,stories,experiences,etc

that

isreallyneeded to build agood relationship in life.
Inthisworld,everycountry

hasitsownlanguageorlanguages.But,they

cannotusetheirownlanguagesiftheyareincountrywheretheirlanguageisnot

understood.

For example, generally Indonesian people cannot use Indonesian languagewhenthey
areinGermanorothercountriesthatdonotunderstand
Indonesianlanguage.Theyshouldusealanguagethatisunderstoodbyeach.Itis
English

is

an

internationallanguagethatis

used

as

astandard

English.
languagein

internationallevel.Therefore,inordertocreatearelationshipinternationally,they have to
use English.
InIndonesia,EnglishhasbeenlearntfromKindergarten,Primary School, Junior
HighSchool,

Senior

High

School,

until

University.

However,

stillmany

peoplewhohavenotbeen able touseEnglishbecauseEnglishissodifficult to be learnt
andunderstood.Oneofthedifficultpartstobelearntisgrammarbecauseit

creates

somewordsto becomeagood sentence, paragraph, etc.
If we talk aboutgrammar, we can notbeseparate itfrom tenses. In thisthesis,
thewriterfocusesontheuseofsimplepasttense.Basedontheobservationat

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SMAN21Medan,Thewriterwantstomakesurestudents’ability

tousesimplepast

tense.That’swhythewriterwantstodescribeandanalyzethestudents’abilityin
simplepasttenseatSMAN21Medan.Thestudentshavestudiedsimplepast
Englishsubjectwhich
minutesforonemeeting

istwiceaweekfor

each

classand

wasallotted.Furthermore,

the

using
tensein

time2x

thewriterneedsfurther

40
some

evaluation of thegravityfrom each typeof abilityin a communicativeor pedagogical
pointofview.Thewriterchoosesthisschoolaslocationof theresearch becausethe termsof
accessibilityand thesameresearchsarenever conducted there.
1.2

Problem of theAnalysis
Basedonthedescription above,theproblemsofthisresearcharestated in the

formof questions:
a.TowhatextentthetenthyearstudentsinSMAN21Medanareabletouse
simplepasttense?
b.Whatarethecausesforstudentswhoobtainedlowestscorefornotbeen able to

usesimplepast tense?
1.3

Objectiveof theAnalysis
Theobjectiveof thisresearchare:
a. To find outto what extentthetenth year studentsof SMAN21 Medan able to

usesimplepast tensein sentencesthatincludestheir score.
b.Tofindoutthecausesforstudentswhoobtainedlowestscorefornotbeen able to
usesimplepast tense.

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1.4

Scopeof theAnalysis
ThescopeofthisanalysisisontheabilityofthestudentsofSMAN21

Medan in usingsimplepast tense.In aresearch, it isveryimportant to limit thescope
ofanalysistogettherelevantdata.Itwillbebetterby

limitingtheanalysisintothe

ofusingtenses.TensesareoneoftheimportantpartswhenweuseEnglish

abillity

languageorallyor

in writing.
1.5

Significanceof theAnalysis
Thisresearchisastudy

onstudents’ability

inusingsimplepasttense.Ithas

muchpositivesignificancenotonlyforthestudents,but alsoforthe Englishteachers intheir

attemptstoimprovetheirteaching andlearning techniquesofEnglish grammar,especially
simplepasttense.Specifically,thesignificanceofthisresearch arestated asfollow:
a.Itis expected thattheresultof this research canprovidesomevaluableand
usefulinformationaboutthestudents’ability

inusingsimplepasttenseforthe

English

teachers so thattheteachers can motivatetheirstudents to improvetheir abilityin
usingsimplepast tense.
b.Itisalsoexpectedthatthethesis canbeareferenceforotherresearchers who are
interestedin analyzingsimplepast tense much deeper.

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