CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the writer will discuss about background of the research, problem formulation, reason for choosing the title, purpose of the research, significance of the research, and organization of the writing.
A. Background of the Research
Since the proclamation of Indonesia on August, 17th 1945, English has been taught in our country as a first foreign language. It is taught in elementary school, first grade of SMP or MTs (Junior High School) up to the grade of SMA (Senior High School) and even at the University for some semesters. However, in senior high school English is taught as main subject in which the government has changed the curriculum from Curriculum Based on Competence 2004 to be KTSP in 2008. Departemen Pendidikan Nasional stated that the competence-basing language curriculum was a systematic draft and strategy which built the communicative competence or the contextual competence. [1]
From the statement above, it is clear that Curriculum Based on Competence 2004-2009 tries to develop and to achieve the communicative competence or discourse competence and has perspective that is comprehensive to the discourse. Thus, the learners must be able to master the four skills: listening speaking, reading, and writing; also English components such as grammar, vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation. They are to support the development of those basic competences. In addition, the students are expected to be able to communicate in English using correct structure. Structure or grammar is one of the basic components of language that must be learnt by students. It is very useful and important for any language.
Besides that English is also used as an International language has an important role to develop science and technology. Most of people which in the world also use English as a medium of communication; many kinds of books which spread in different spread in different countries are written in English too. In Indonesia there are many kinds of foreign books written in English, whether they are Medical, Economical, Botanical, or other books. Thus, Indonesian students are supposed to be able to use English in schools or in society in order that the books they read can be applied in various fields to develop science and technology in Indonesia.
In relation to that, Allah says in the Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Hujuraat: 13 as follows;
$pkš‰r'¯»tƒ â¨$¨Z9$# $¯RÎ) /ä3»oYø)n=yz `ÏiB 9x.sŒ 4Ós\Ré&ur öNä3»oYù=yèy_ur $\/qãèä© Ÿ@ͬ!$t7s%ur (#þqèùu‘$yètGÏ9 4 ¨bÎ) ö/ä3tBtò2r& y‰YÏã «!$# öNä39s)ø?r& 4 ¨bÎ) ©!$# îLìÎ=tã ׎Î7yz ÇÊÌÈ[2]
The verse explains that human being are created in nations and tribes, so they can recognize and know each other. One of the ways for recognizing each other is through communication by using language, including English.
Although English is taught as a first foreign language at school, it does not mean that the result of teaching it is satisfying. Many people complain about the poor English mastery of SMA graduates in spite of they have studied the language for so many years. The great majority of them cannot speak in English, even about their daily life, let alone about a more formal subject matter. They also have poor in writing skill, because they have hardly been given practice in writing English sentences or compositions. Grammar plays important role to practice writing English, but usually Indonesian students find difficulties in learning it. This is caused by the rules of English which are different from those of Indonesian and one of the problems in learning English in Indonesia is that their mother tongue rules still influence them in using English. Since having differences between their mother tongue from English languages, the students often find problems with grammar, vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation. Nevertheless, the students usually face difficulty in English grammar that is in arranging words into correct utterances or sentences, which is one of the most important parts of English in communication.
Grammar is partly the study of what forms or structures are possible in a language. Traditionally, grammar has been concerned almost exclusively with analysis at the level of the sentence. Thus, grammar is a description of the rules that govern how a language’s sentences are formed. English sentences consist of predications something is said, or predicated about a subject. The main grammatical divisions of a sentence are therefore the subject and the predicate. The sentence may be further divided according to the function each word has in the subject-predicate relationship.
Therefore, without grammar, it is hard for people to understand what they say or write because grammar makes a string of words or utterances meaningful. There are many rules in grammar that cannot be ignored. They are articles, parts of speech, sentence pattern and tense. Part of the grammar that is considered to be most difficult to learn for Indonesian students is tense. Simple present tense is the example. Puad states that simple present tense is used to express a habitual action with adverbs like usually, always, or often, sometimes, seldom. [3]
Different languages have different constraints on the way chains are ordered and slots are filled. Many second language learners errors result from over generalizing rules from their own language. For example, in the sentence: he walk to school every day, instead of he walks to school every day. The third singular persons such as he, she, and it need suffix –s or –es for the verb. It shows that Indonesian students do not consider that in English there are verbs formed in singular or plural. In Indonesian language, singular or plural forms does not affect the verb form.
It is necessary for English teachers to analyze the student’s problems, because by understanding the problems, students are ready to anticipate the coming sentence problem. The writer is interested in conducting a research about the problems of using in English in simple present tense, because it is the basic English grammar, one tense that is often used in language skill, and subject-predicate are the main grammatical divisions of a sentence in simple present tense.
For that reason the writer intends to put this case in the research entitled “THE STUDENT’S PROBLEMS IN USING SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE AT SMKN 1 PUGAAN TABALONG REGENCY”.
To avoid misinterpretation and make this study clear, the writer quotes some definitions that related the topic:
1. Problem is a thing that is difficult to deal with or understand. [4]
2. Tense is a grammatical category that located a situation in time, that indicates when the situation takes place. [5]
3. Simple present tense is one of the form of tenses that used to express an action or a state of being in the present and also used to express the idea and action which repeated or usual.
4. Student is a learner or someone who attends an educational institution namely they are in ninth grade students at SMKN 1 Pugaan Tabalong Regency that will discuss in this study.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on description above, the writer wants to identify the general problem of this research that students have low ability in grammatical to develop their skills. From general problem the writer formulates that specific problem as follows:
1. What are the dominant problems made by the tenth grade students of SMKN 1 Pugaan Tabalong Regency in using simple present tense of writing.
2. What are the possible causes of the problem.
C. Reason for Choosing the title
Tense is one of the most important parts of English. Tense is needed to speak in English correctly and fluently. It can be said that tense can change in a different time or situation. But, the writer thinks there are many English students who are worried too much about tense.
Problem in tense is to decide which is tense to use in a given situation. In order to choose tenses correctly and easily, the students should understand the meaning of the tense itself. It is about the time picture that is given in a situation, or condition. The students should know what kind of activities and states can be described by certain verbs especially in using simple present tense. If the students have already known about the tense, so they would make a sentence easily and correctly.
Based on descriptions above, the writer takes some reasons for choosing the title, they are:
1. Tense is one of the most important components in English, it is needed in an English grammar correctly.
2. Tense is grammatical skill that should be improved continuously since on elementary school.
3. Tense can help to improve our speaking and also our writing.
4. Most of students at SMKN 1 Pugaan assumed to have problem in learning English especially their ability in using tense correctly in writing.
D. Purpose of the Research
In this research, the writer have two purposes, they are :
1. To know the dominant problems made by the tenth grade students of SMKN 1 Pugaan in using simple present tense of writing.
2. To know the possible causes of the problem.
E. Significance of the Research
The writer would like to investigate the student’s problems in using simple present tense at SMKN 1 Pugaan. The result will be going to be achieved in this research would be useful to provide input to:
1. For the School
The result of the writer will be valuable to know the student’s problems in using the tense are like and what the level of the student’s problems. This can be used to anticipate whether it is necessary to plan a remedial teaching for some slow learners or not.
2. For the English Teachers of Senior High School
The result of this research is to give a guideline for the teachers of English to improve students’ knowledge of simple present tense. The teacher can anticipate specific problems when they teach common cases of the sentence pattern of simple present tense for the eighth year students of junior high school.
3. For the students of Senior High School
It is important for the students to realize their mistakes after they have been given an explanation and then tested with simple tests. The answers will be discussed together with the students; therefore, they will not make the second mistakes. By the end of the study, the students will have used simple present tense correctly by writing a short descriptive text about things, places, and people.
4. For the Next Researchers
This finding can be used as a reference and other consideration to investigate the problem in a writer field and further research and also can be used as information and input for the next researchers to observe in different point of view.
5. For the library of Islamic College of Rayidiyah Khalidiyah (STAI RAKHA ) English Faculty Amuntai, so that the thesis can give a new contribution, especially for those who want to improve their English knowledge.
F. Organization of the Writing
To enable the writing of this research, the writer makes the writing organization consists of five chapters as follows:
Chapter I : Introduction
The first chapter consists of a number of sub-chapters they are about background of the research, problems formulation, reason for choosing the title, purpose of the research, significance of the research, and organization of the writing.
Chapter II : Theoretical Review About the Student’s Problems In Using Simple Present Tense
The second chapter consists of a number of sub-chapters. They are about student’s problems and simple present tense, form of simple present tense, uses of simple present tense, method that used in learning simple present tense, possible causes of the student’s problems in using simple present tense.
Chapter III : Methodology of the Research
The third chapter consists of a number of sub-chapters. They are subject and object of research, data, source of data, and technique of data collection , basic framework of the research, technique of data processing and analyzing, design of measurement, and research procedure.
Chapter IV : Report of Research Result
The fourth chapter contains report of research result which consists of general description of research location, data presentation and data analysis.
Chapter V : Closure
This is the last chapter, which consists of conclusion and suggestion.
THE LIST OF QUOTATION CHAPTER I
[1] Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi: Garis-Garis Besar Program Pengajaran Bahasa Inggris, (Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Direktorat Jendral Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah, 2003), p. 36
[2] Departemen Agama RI, Al-Qur’an dan Terjemahnya, (Surabaya: Mekar Surabaya, 2004), p. 743.
[3] Fuad Mas’ud. Essentials of English Grammar a Practice Guide, (Semarang: Fakultas Ekonomi UGM, 2002), Third Edition, p. 19
[4] A.S Hornby, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 921
[5] Oxford University, Oxford learner’s pocket dictionary, New York, Oxford University Press, 2000. p.1
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