AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN READING DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS

A Research Proposal

Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment for Completing Course: Critical Academic Writing

Name : Tika Febriyani

NPM : 2011040453
Semester/Class : 5D

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING FACULTY
UIN RADEN INTAN LAMPUNG
2022

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

COVER……………………………………………………………………………….......
TABLE OF CONTENT………………………………………………………………… 2

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1. Title Confirmation……………………………………………………………....... 3
1.2. Background of the Problem……………………………………………………… 4
1.3. Problem Limitation ……………………………………………………………… 5
1.4. Problem Formulation…………………………………………………………….. 5
1.5. Objective(s) of the Research……………………………………………………... 5
1.6. Significance of the Research…………………………………………………….. 5
1.7. Relevant Previous Research……………………………………………………... 5
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1. Theory(ies)……………………………………………………………………….
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
3.1. Research Design……………………………………………………………... 7
3.2. Population, Sampel and Sampling Technique……………………………….. 7
3.3. Data Collection Technique ………………………………………………….. 7
3.4. Instrument……………………………………………………………………. 7
3.5. Validity and Reliability………………………………………………………. 8
3.6. Data Analysis………………………………………………………………… 8

References………………………………………………………………………………... 13

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 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN READING DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS

1.1. Title Confirmation

The title is a reflection of the entire content of self-explanatory, interesting scientific
work so that people immediately suspect what material and problems and materials are
being studied. In confirming this title, the author will explain some of the significant
meanings of the words found in the study's title to avoid misunderstanding and to make
the question more directed.

a. Analysis
Analysis is the process of observing something by sorting, parsing, distinguishing
and grouping it according to certain criteria to determine the actual information.

b. Ability
Ability is defined as having the innate capacity to learn a skill from birth or
developing it via practice and application in order to accomplish goals
through actions.

c. Reading
Reading is the process of understanding a writing to obtain a message or meaning
from it.

d. Descriptive Text
Descriptive Text is a story about something or someone special that brings about a
change in the perception of the reader and the widespread spread of the reader's
knowledge.

So, what the author intends from the title of the proposal about AN ANALYSIS OF
STUDENTS' ABILITY IN READING DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS is to carry out an
analysis ability to students by reading descriptive text.

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1.2. Background of the Problem
The demands of modern times are increasing rapidly in any field as well as with
humans. are required to be able to have the ability to be able to keep up with the
development of the all-modern era, this is what is currently a challenge for the world
of education.

Education is the principle component this is an increasing number of being paid

attention to by all levels of society. human beings are more and more figuring out the
significance of education for a better existence. education isn't simplest required to get
instructional achievements. greater widely than that, college students are required to
be higher prepared to live life with capabilities that guide college students in growing
themselves and being able to cope with changes that occur through all subjects taught
consisting of English.

English is a part of linguistics which focuses on learning to concentrate, talk, write and
read. analyzing is one of the language talents that have to be mastered through students.
Dalman (2014.five) states "reading is an pastime or cognitive process that seeks to
discover numerous facts contained in writing.5 which means that studying is a idea
technique to recognize the contents of the text examine. by means of analyzing, one
could reap a number of facts. coaching analyzing is very crucial , because it facilitates
students to have more skills in information the content of English texts.

Text is a chain of words and arranged into sentences that are used to provide facts,
provide an explanation for meaning and so on. Texts are made from path with different
functions, but texts are made to provide statistics to readers in numerous paperwork.
We already recognize of path there are many types of text including the following.
Explanation text, recount text, narrative text, report text, news item text, procedure
text, exposition text, discussion text, review text, announcement text, anecdote text,
and descriptive text.

Of the various types of text, this time i'm able to speak descriptive text. Why am I
interested by descriptive text, because it has the uniqueness of descriptive text
explaining in detail the physical characteristics of objects such as shape, size and color.
With this, people can feel and imagine what the author describes.

Descriptive text is text that gives records approximately a particular location, element
or individual with the goal of supplying facts to the reader. Descriptive text is a type
of text that can appear as stand-alone text. It is often part of a longer text, such as a
character description or setting in a story or biography (Adam, 2017).6 That is,
descriptive text is to describe characters or backgrounds and text.

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 To have the ability to read need a learning process and school is wrong a place where
the learning process takes place the. At school students get a variety one of the subjects
English Education. Through process learning English education students are educated
to have the ability and skills in English good and right. Furthermore, it is hoped that
there is an increase in the ability of students in speak English both orally and in English
writing. Therefore, learning efforts English needs to be continuously improved in
order achieve good results.

As one of the main materials in English learning, Text Descriptive is of course an

important reference to be mastered by students. Descriptive text has priority so placed
in the junior high school 7th grade curriculum as a start junior high school level
material. Through descriptive text, students are accustomed to being sensitive to every
thing that happens and that appears on around it for later illustration. This descriptive
text trains students to be more easy to convey a situation or object by detailing which
means students required to think objectively and factually.

Based on direct observation by researcher, it is known that students of class VII there
are still students who are still lacking understand how to specify or describe the
atmosphere. They just knowing that which can be described is an object or an object
that can be accessible to the senses of sight and touchable. Some students are still not
able to describe an event and detailed atmosphere.

Therefore, researchers are interested conduct a research as an effort make

improvements to learning English on the aspect of reading text descriptive with the
title “An Analysis of Students’ in Reading Ability Text Descriptive”.
Based on the background that has been stated, then the formulation of the problem is
will be examined is "How ability to read class descriptive text VII SMPN 20 Bandar
Lampung?”. Based on the formulation of the problem, then the goal This research is
"describing” ability to read class description text VII SMPN 20 Bandar Lampung.

Based on the explanation above, the researcher is interested in conducting quantitative

research with the title ― An Analysis of Students’ Ability in Reading Descriptive
Text.

1.3. Problem Limitation

Based on the above, researchers found several problems related to students at SMPN
20 Bandar Lampung, the crucial problems affecting students' reading skills were: low
student reading achievements, passive students in class, lack of motivation in reading
and low intensity students to communicate with their peersa. Of the third problem, this
study only dealt with solving students' reading achievements through students' ability
to read descriptive texts.

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 1.4. Problem Formulation
Based on the background that has been stated, the formulation of the research problem
these are as follows:
a. What can affect a person's reading comprehension ability?
b. How does reading ability occur?

1.5. Objective(s) of the Research

Based on the formulation of the problem above, this study aims to find out students'
ability to read descriptive texts in class VII students of SMPN 20 Bandar Lampung.

1.6. Significance of the Research (Theoretical Contribution and Practical

Contribution)
a. Theoretically, this study is to enrich the theory of reading, especially in learning
reading descriptive text.

b. Practically, the significances of this study are as follow:

• For the students of SMPN 20 Bandar Lampung as the information to know
the student's ability to read descriptive
• For other researchers it is a reference to conducting further research with
the same subject on a variety of topics in different contexts.

1.7. Relevant Previous Research

Relevant research is some of the previous studies that investigated the same problems
as this study. All of these studies provide a lot of information,

1.Reading Descriptive Text Comprehension Improvement by Jigsaw Teaching

Technique
This research uses a type of quantitative research and examines how effectively using
the jigsaw teaching technique can improve reading skills. This study uses a theoretical
basis (Gladstine, 2013)1 Jigsaw technique is a cooperative learning strategy that directs
students to be competent in understanding and mastering various subjects which
ultimately transfers the knowledge they have acquired by teaching it to other students.
The sample in this study was the control group 29 and the experimental group 31. The
instrument used in this study was a descriptive text reading test, then the data were
presented in tabular form, with an average control group of 60.17. Meanwhile, the
average of the experimental group was 70.32. The results of this study state that
improving reading skills, understanding using descriptive text can be achieved
effectively by using the Jigsaw technique.

1
Nur Rini, Puspa; Ekaningsih, “Reading Descriptive Text Comprehension Improvement by Jigsaw Teaching
Technique,” POMINENT Journal 3, no. 1 (2020): 244–53,
https://jurnal.umk.ac.id/index.php/Pro/article/view/4671.

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 2. Students’ Reading Comprehension in Descriptive Text
This research uses quantitative research. This study uses the type of reading
comprehension. Using theory (Nurbamidah, et al., 2018)2 reading, is a process to
understand a text because there are transactions between the text and the reader. The
sample in this study was 30 students who participated. The instrument used in this study
was a multiple choice test. Then the data is presented in tabular form, the percentage
value of the average score obtained by students is 56.76. The results of research on
students' ability to read text comprehension.

3. A Study on Students’ Ability in Reading Descriptive Text; A Case Study at SMAN 1

SIKUR
Just like the previous research, this research uses quantitative research. The purpose of
this study was to determine students' ability to read descriptive texts. Using theory
(Nerim, 2020) one of the English language skills that can improve other skills is
reading. The sample in this study were 40 students who participated. The instrument
used in this research is ability test. Then the data is presented in tabular form. there
were 21 (52.5%) students in high positions and 19 (47.5%) students in low positions.
The results of this study showed that the ability of grade 2 students of SMAN 1 Sikur
was not yet in a high position which was categorized from very good to
good score levels.

4. Students’ Ability Reading English Descriptive Text: A Case Study at the Second
Grade Student of SMPN 1 KURIPAN in Academic Year 2018/2019
The problem that occurs in this study is the difficulty of students reading English texts,
due to their lack of mastery of vocabulary skills so they find it difficult to understand
reading the text. The purpose of this study was to determine students' ability to read
descriptive texts and the causes that contributed to students' difficulties in reading
English descriptive texts. Using theory (Taylor, 1995)3 states that there are 3 kinds of
difficulties in reading namely comprehension, retention, and decoding. The sample in
this study were 43 students who participated. The instruments used in this study were
descriptive reading texts and questionnaires. Then the data is presented in tabular form.
the average score of the ability of class VIII students of SMPN 1 KURIPAN in reading
English descriptive texts is classified as moderate. there were 27 (62.8%) students in
high positions who received answers and 16 (47.5%) students classified as low. Results
Data analysis of the average score of the ability of class VIII students of SMPN 1
KURIPAN in reading English descriptive texts was classified as sufficient.

From previous studies above. Most of it focuses on the ability to read descriptive text.
However, from previous research, no research has been interested in examining what

2
Walidah Sofyan Siregar, “Students ’ Reading Comprehension in Descriptive Text,” English Journal for Teaching
and Learning 09, no. 01 (2021): 77–86.
3
Lalu Wiradisma, “Study At the Second Grade Student of Smpn 1 Kuripan in Academic,” 2019, 1–10.

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 can affect a person's reading comprehension ability. Therefore, the researcher tried to
examine class VII SMPN 20 Bandar Lampung.

2.1. Theory(ies)
1) Ability of Students
Ability is the capacity, both before and after training, to carry out a specific action
in bot a physical and mental manner4. While A Merriam Webster claimed that the
capacity is a mental, physical, or legal to do (he has ability accomplish whatever
he sets his mind to). Therefore, capacity is the mental or physical strength, power,
or aptitude needed to perform a task.

As a result, both pupils' and their abilities, derive from words. According to Oxford
Dictionaries, a student is somebody interested in a particular subject who is
enrolled in a secondary school, a college, or a university. In addition, the term
"student" refers to someone who is pursuing education in order to pursue a specific
career. Then, a person involved in study, one who is committed to learning, a
learner, a pupil, a scholar, particularly, one who attends a school, or who seeks
knowledge from professionals as the students of an academy, a collage or a
university, a medical student, and a hard student's.

The student is a learner, according to the Indonesian definition, particularly in the

grades of elementary, junior, and senior high school. Therefore, based on those
definitions, the research comes to the conclusion that a student is a person who
lives with others and pursues formal education, as well as how they relate to one
another as members of society in the process of raising educational levels.

Additionally, according to A.S. Hornby, aptitude is the capacity to perform tasks

requiring intelligence or skill. The term "ability" then refers to the attribute or
capacity of being able to do an action successfully. Ability is the capability or
ability to perform a physical or mental action. That means to accomplish something
by either physical or mental effort. Therefore, one might define ability as a set of
abilities, expertise, or talents.

The researcher comes to the conclusion that students who are enrolled in school
through university or college are performing something based on the definitions
provided above. Therefore, a student's skill is their talent or unique capacity to
perform something successfully. The ability of a student is their comprehension,
strength, or knowledge, and it contributes to their success in the classroom.

4
Geoffery Broughton, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, 2002.

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2) Definition of Reading
Reading requires a variety of smaller skills, making it a difficult skill. When
reading, readers combine information from a text with their own prior knowledge
to create meaning. For those learning English as a second language, reading is a
vital ability. Many linguists have stated that reading is a key strategy for enhancing
general English language proficiency, including Beatrice S. and Linda. Finding out
about novel concepts, information, and experiences can be done well by reading.
Readers can learn new things through reading. Great learning materials that
demand the ability to read and comprehend what is written include books,
magazines, and even the internet. An someone who can read can educate
themselves in any area of life they are interested in. so, reading activity is the main
way to take many information.

According to the definition given above, reading is an interactive action for

interpreting or understanding the meaning or message of the text. Obtaining
meaning from print is the process of reading. Of course, reading is done for the
sole aim of understanding the information in the book. Or reading is a set of
abilities that entails getting meaning from written words and making sense of it.
Before the reader begins to read the text, it serves as a phase to introduce or
familiarize the reader with the topic or idea of the text. During reading as the
second phase, when the reader starts to read the text, it can be the activities during
reading the text. After reading as the third phase, it is the final phase to come to the
conclusion of what we have read based on our reading objective.

In conclusion, reading is a fluid process in which readers construct meaning from

printed or visual content such as books, magazines, and even the internet by fusing
information from a text with their own prior knowledge. It enables the reader to
get fresh insights, knowledge, and experiences.

a. Strategies for Reading

According to Nunan, there are a few key reading strategies. As follows:

• Decide why you are reading the text.
• Use spelling conventions and guidelines for bottom-up decoding.
• Ascertain meaning by using lexical analysis
• Assume the meaning of words
• Skim the text to get precise details.
• For quick processing, employ quiet reading strategies.
• Use outliners, semantic maps, or marginal notes to help you comprehend
and remember information.

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 b. Process of Reading
The process of reading may be broadly classified into three stages, they are:
• The first stage is known as "the recognition stage." At this point, the learner
can only identify the phonological items' pictorial equivalents. For instance,
he can read spoken words and recognize them. The difference between the
learner's native language's script and English, as well as between the two
languages' spelling norms, determines the level of difficulty at this stage.
• The learner recognizes the syntactic relationships between the items and
comprehends the structural significance of the syntactical units in the
second stage, known as the "structuring stage."
• The "interpretation stage" is the third phase. The process of reading is at its
maximum degree at this point. The student is able to understand a word's,
phrase's, or sentence's importance in relation to the discards' broader
context. He recognizes the difference between a declaration of truth and a
statement of opinion, for example, and understands the serious and
humorous uses of language. At this point, reading is primarily done for
information or enjoyment.

3) Definition of Descriptive Text

Descriptive text is one kind of text that English language learners need to
understand. According to the first-grade curriculum in senior high school, one of
the things that should be taught by the instructor in the teaching learning process
is descriptive text. Descriptive writing is also referred to as a descriptive
paragraph. According to Pardiyono (2007: 34), who is cited by Sumarsih and
Sanjaya (2013: 108), a description paragraph is a specific type of written text
paragraph that has the explicit goal of describing about an object (life or non-
living), with the idea of clearly describing the object to the reader. As a result,
descriptive text is a kind of text that provides a precise and detailed description of
a person, place, thing, or animal. Additionally, the objective of descriptive text is
to describe something in a specific way.

a. Generic Structure of Descriptive Text

The following are the general structures of descriptive texts, according
Harmenita and Tiarina (2013: 4).
• Identification
Identification clarifies a subject or identifies what or person is
desired to be described.
• Description

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 A description provides information about the topic's specifics by
explaining its components, attributes, and features. When anything
is explained or defined, description occurs.

b. Language Features of Descriptive Text

According to Kemendikbud (2013), simple present tense is one of the
language characteristics of descriptive texts.
In a descriptive paragraph, this idea will be the key linguistic element. To
write well, especially when composing descriptive texts, students should
become proficient in the use of the simple present tense. We communicate
about things in general using the present simple, according to Murphy
(1994: 4). We are not merely considering the present. When something
occurs frequently or consistently, or when something is true in general, we
use this expression.
• Using nouns that are related to persons, places, or renowned
historical structures.
• Using adverbs that relate to places, individuals, or notable historical
structures.
• Using legible handwriting and clean spelling.
• When pupils are speaking, emphasising words and using intonation
asked to present their work.
• Word citation
Students are asked to create three paragraphs of descriptive language
about a place for this study.

c. Kinds of Descriptive Text

As we all know, descriptive text is writing that focuses on describing things
like people, places, or objects. Therefore, it typically manifests in one of
three ways:
• People's profiles
People vary, and describing them in writing is no different. Because
you have likely already been asked, "What's so and like?" you are
probably already aware of some of the difficulties. Depending on the
circumstance, your response may involve identification, an
impression, or a character sketch.
• Information about an object
It is also important to show the physical attributes of a thing well
while describing it. You should be able to explain the product's
shape, size, color, size, and price, among other crucial details.

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• Geographic description
When speaking of a location, The author frequently goes beyond
outward looks because a place can also reflect a person's character.
There are some significant locations from both our past and present
lives, possibly one particular room.

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 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD

In this study, researchers used descriptive designs with quantitative approaches. A

quantitative study was used to measure the extent to which students' ability to read
descriptive texts.

3.1. Research Design

In this study, descriptive research techniques were used with quantitative research.
Descriptive research, according to L.R. Gay Peter Airasi, is a study that employs
quantitative techniques focused on the gathering and interpretation of data with
numbers, typically derived from issues, tests, checklists, and other formal papers.
Investigating many education-related issues via descriptive research is helpful.
Research that has a descriptive perspective on a circumstance or occurrence is called
descriptive research. Descriptive quantitative research seeks to characterize conditions
or happenings.

Data that characterizes events must be gathered, regulated, tabulated, and described in
descriptive research. This means that class VII students at SMPN 20 Bandar Lampung
will be assessed using the descriptive approach to determine their level of proficiency
in reading descriptive texts.

3.2. Population, Sampel and Sampling Technique

The population as the source of this research data is all class VII students of SMPN 20
school years 2018/2019. This sample of researchers is class VII of SMPN 20 Bandar
Lampung, which is about 88 students.
To select the students to participate as samples of this study; purposive sampling was
applied. Purposive sampling is one of the non-random techniques in which sampling
is determined based on specific characteristics that match the purpose of the study
except for answering research problems.

3.3. Data Collection Technique

Reading tests were employed by the researchers to gather data for this study. In this
study, students read the text aloud in front of the class as part of the descriptive text
reading examinations. Students in grade VII of SMPN 20 Bandar Lampung took the
test one by one. The researcher determined the student's reading of the descriptive text
based on the student's reading proficiency, and author then calculated the score to
ascertain the student's comprehension of the descriptive text.

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Rubric's Judgment of Reading
SCORE TOTAL
ASPECTS
50 60 70 80

1.Fluency

2.Accuracy

3.Pronunciation

4.Intonation

Description for:
1. Fluency 50 : In the event of hesitation
60: Smooth, but there is still hesitation
70: Nice
80: Very smooth
2. Accuracy 50: All words cannot be understood
60: A few words can be understood
70: Most of the speech is understandable
80: All speech can be understood

3. Pronunciation 50: Almost all words are incorrect

60: Some of the words are true
70: Most of the words are true
80: All right.

4. Intonation 50: Pressure/rhythm all wrong words

60: Pressure/rhythm A small number of words are true
70: Pressure/rhythm Most of the words are true
80: Pressure/rhythm all words, phrases, sentences are
correct
Where:
1. Students score 80 when everything above is done very well
2. Students scored 70 when all of the above were well done
3. Students score 60 when everything above is in the table is done fairly well
4. Students scored 50 when all of the above were done poorly

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3.4. Instruments
One definition of research instruments is "tools or media used by researchers to acquire
data." The reading test that was utilized in this study by the researchers to gauge the
extent of the respondents' reading comprehension of descriptive material. In this
instance, the teacher gives the pupil a sheet of paper and directs them to read.

3.5. Validity and Reliability

A test is said to be valid if it measures what it intends to do measured, emphasized is
the test result or the score. Test instrument in this study will be conducted with validity
tests. Valid measurement, in the words of Sugiyono (2017: 173), "means the measuring
tool used to acquire data is valid." High validity characterizes a valid instrument, while
low validity characterizes less valid instruments.

To establish instrument validity in this study, content validity was used. By breaking
down variables into subvariables and using variable indicators, logical validity is
accomplished. In actuality, a test's content validity refers to how well it measures the
subject matter. Researchers established the test's validity as a result.

The purpose of reliability testing is to determine whether or not the instrument can
provide a constant size. Reliable instruments can reveal data that can be used to trust
me. To determine the requirements or levels of precision of a measure or measuring
instrument, reliability tests are required. A measuring instrument has a high degree of
reability if it is reliable in its sense of measurement and is reliable because repeated
use of the measuring instrument yields a similar result.

3.6. Data Analysis

a. Categorizing
The author categorizes text in this activity based on the student's ability to read
descriptive text. Following the reading test phase, the author categorizes the
students' ability to read descriptive texts in order to determine the extent to which
students understand descriptive texts.

b. Percentage
To determine the percentage, the following formula is used:
P. F/N x 100%

Where :
P = the percentage
F = frequency of the percentage is being calculated
N = number of cases
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Test Score Category

80-100 Excellent

70-79 Good

60-69 Enough

50-59 Not good

0-45 Poor

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 REFERENCES

Broughton, Geoffery. Teaching English as a Foreign Language, 2002.

Rini, Puspa; Ekaningsih, Nur. “Reading Descriptive Text Comprehension Improvement by
Jigsaw Teaching Technique.” POMINENT Journal 3, no. 1 (2020): 244–53.
https://jurnal.umk.ac.id/index.php/Pro/article/view/4671.
Siregar, Walidah Sofyan. “Students ’ Reading Comprehension in Descriptive Text.” English
Journal for Teaching and Learning 09, no. 01 (2021): 77–86.
Wiradisma, Lalu. “Study At the Second Grade Student of Smpn 1 Kuripan in Academic,”
2019, 1–10.

17