THE ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES ON WRITING
ENGLISH TEXT SUMMARY
IneEfriliantiE-mail:Tola’[email protected]
English Education Study Program Language and Arts Department ofSTKIP Siliwangi Bandung
ABSTRACT
The objectivities of this research entitled“the students’ difficulties on writing English text summary”were to findout kind of students’ difficulties, factors that cause the difficulties and the solutions to cope with their difficultiesin writing summary. The subjects of this study were five students who were taking writing V subject in Englishdepartment of STKIP Siliwangi Bandung. For gaining the data, the writer used observation, interview anddocument analysis as instrument. All of the data were categorized, analyzed, and finally interpreted usingMaxwell (1996) theory. The finding showed that the writing the summary of English text was difficult for thestudents. Kind of difficulties faced by the students were: to comprehend the text, determine main idea, use ownwords, make sentences, determine key supporting details, and to omit unimportant words or information’s.Therewere four factors that caused the students’ difficulties on writing summary they were: language aspect,procedure,time for summarizing text and last intentions. Due to the difficulties, the students proposed somesolutions such as reading discussion, and learning vocabulary that was be gained through translating.
Key word: Analysis, Difficulty, Writing, summary
A. BackgroundIn the English curriculum, the government hasregulated how to treat English as a foreign languagethey must be mastered well by all students learning it.The students are expected to learn and to practiceEnglish fluently, good at listening; speaking readingand writing. Writing skill is one of those four basicskills in English that plays a bid part in masteringlanguage. Reading is also the most important of thefour skills I English as foreign language. Reading andwriting are two skills that can be taught incomplementary process. By reading text, the studentsobtain comprehensible language input a chance tolearn new vocabulary in context and to see the syntaxof the language. Writing allows learners opportunitiesto experiment with the language and try differentconstructions to them understands (Rabideau inJohari, 2003, cited in kareviati, 2004)Summarizing needs skill both reading and writing,because reading ability will influence the product ofsummary writing. S Palmer(1996) in Juan and Silveira (1998) pointed out; itimplies both to complete comprehension of their textto be abridged and the necessary writing ability tocreate a new version of source text. Related to that,Sarig (1988) in Juan and Silveira (1998) consideredsummarizing task as junctions where reading andwriting taking place. Most of the students, throughtheir academic life, have to condense information
from lectures, journals, textbook, etc, in theirdisciplines in order to fulfill certain assignment intheir own field of the study. So, the students need tobe able to summarize before they can be successful atmost of the other kind of writing that will bedemanded in collegeThe writer found some cases that most of the studentshave difficulties in writing a summary. Because ofthat and concerning with the explanation above, thewriter wants to investigate the students’ difficultieson writing English text summary.
B.Theoretical Foundation1. WritingWriting is a prime means of developing the thinkingand emotions, and of defining our selves. Writing canhelp us to consider our thoughts, to analyze feelingbecause it gives us time to do so. Writing regarded byHartog cited in Wilkinson (1986) in Kusdihani(2003) is primarily as a means of developingthinking. The purpose or writing is to think, to learn.Murray describes the process of this way: “I uselanguage as a tool for seeing and understanding,” andagain: “we do not write what we know so much as wewrite to know. Writing is exploration”. (Murray,1984:228 cited in Calkin, 1986).
2. Reading
Reading is viewed as an interaction between the textand the readers, with comprehension varyingaccording to a number of text features and readercharacteristics (see Barnet [1989], Bernhardt [1991],and Swaffar, Arens, & Byrnes [1991] cited in Cohen,1994). Text includes features of discourse andgrammar, while readers’ characteristics include notonly language proficiency, attitudes, and motivation,but also background knowledge.
3. Summary WritingA summary is condensed version of the essence of atext (Turk &Kirkman, 1998). The goal ofsummarizing material is to pass along the ideasbelonging to another.
C. Research Methodology1. Research DesignThe methodology used in the research is a qualitative,because everything observe is based on fact.According to Taylor &Bogdan (1984) cited inHazanah (2003), “refers in the broadest sense toresearch that produces descriptive data: people’s ownwritten or spoken words and observable behavior”In this research, the writer used study case. Casestudy detailed to investigations of individual, groups,institutions or other social units. The researcherconducted a case study attempts to analyze thevariable relevant to the subject under study(Polit&Hungler, 1983). The differences between casestudies and other research is that the focus ofattention is the individual case and not the wholepopulation of cases. In the case study, the focus maynot be on generalization but on understanding theparticulars of that case in its complexity. A casestudy focuses on bounded system, usually undernatural conditions, so that the system can beunderstood in its own habitat (stake, 1988).2. Research Participant
The participant of this research is the second gradestudent of English Department at STKIP SiliwangiBandung who took writing V subject. The reasonwhy the writer chose them because they were giventhe skill in writing a summary. They would help herto understand the difficulties on writing summary.
D. Finding and DiscussionResearch categoryI1. Kind of difficultiesFinding #1
All students have difficulties on summary writingprocedure, i.e. comprehending the text, determiningmain idea, using own words, making sentences,
determining key supporting details, and omittingunimportant words or information in the source text.
The students have problems in summary writingprocedure, whereas the procedure is very importanton summary writing. The students could not leaveone step more over some steps on summary writingprocedure because it is interrelated with each other.In other words, the procedure is important inproducing a summary. As stated by Edge (1983) thatthe procedures give the students practice in therecognitions, productions, and evaluations ofparagraph summarize in note form.
Research category II1. Factors the difficulties
Finding #2All students admitted that their difficulties on writingsummary of English text are caused by languageaspect
The students faced the difficulties in summarizing thetext because of the problem in vocabulary andgrammar. The problem in vocabulary and grammarmakes them difficult to understand the content of thesource text. Grabe&Stoller (1997) cited in Koren(1997) stated that students are faced with anunfamiliar text in the foreign language; the firstchallenge seems to be it vocabulary.
Finding #3
Lack of knowledge about the steps on writing asummary was procedural factors that cause thedifficulties for all students.
The students lack of knowledge about the steps insummarizing. They did not understandthe steps ordirections on writing a summary whereas the steps insummary writing are very important. According toTomitch (2000), procedural knowledge is knowing“how to” or being able to extract the main ideas inthe text and write a coherent summary.
Finding #4
Time for summarizing the text was one of factor thatcauses the difficulties for all students.
The student needs time about two hours tosummarize the text, more over until one day. In otherwords, the student needs a long time to finish asummary. Ithappens because they have difficulties insummarizing. Edge (1983) state that timing willnaturally vary, but time limits should be kept tight.
Actually, the students have difficulties incomprehending the text. Because of that, they had thedifficulties in summarizing the text. Most of thestudents spent more time in comprehending thesource the text. They need more then two times forcomprehending the text.
Finding #5
All students were also influenced by their intentionsuch as forgetfulness in the process OF summarywriting.
The students realize that their mistakes are caused bytheir intention such as forgetfulness in the process ofsummary writing. They did not careful in writing asummary.Just & Carpenter (1992) and Tomitch (1995; 1996)cited in Tomitch (2000) also emphasizes that onereason is for memory constraints: we cannot processevery lines in the text in the same fashion, if ourworking memory is over loaded with too muchinformation, part of the information which is beingheld is displaced or ‘forgotten’.Research category III3. Solution
Finding #6Reading, discussion and translating were the waysthat were used by the students to over come theirdifficulties in writing summary.
The solutions that emerged from the students arereading, discussion, abs translating. Those ways canhelp the students to cope with their difficulties inwriting a summary of English text.
Finding #7
All students used dictionary as one of readingsolutions to cope with their difficulties in writing asummary.
The students have problem in vocabulary. In otherwords, they did not master vocabulary yet. So, toovercome their difficulties, they used dictionary tofind one the meanings of vocabularies that they didnot know.According to Grade and Stoller (1997) cited in Koren(1997), the dictionary did not only help the learnersget the accurate meaning for words: “the consciousthought involved in deciding whether or not to lookup a word was useful for vocabulary retention”.Finding #8
Asking friend is one of discussion solutions that areuse by some students to overcome the problem onwriting a summary.
The student admitted that asking their friends couldhelp them to solve the problem. According toEbnother, Franklin, sngFrauenfeldeer;s (1999) that toask a friend in the large sense of the word is often thesimplest thing in the word. It is often easier to solveproblems together and the peer can ask back, if she isor he is confronted to problem she pr he can notsolve.
Finding #9
Translating is one of the solutions that are used bysome students to overcome their difficulties onwriting summary
Making English sentences is a problem for somestudents. So, if they want to make sentences. Theywrite the sentences in Indonesian, and then theytranslate it into English.
E. Conclusion and Suggestionsa. Conclusions
1) The students have different problems in writing asummary of English text. However all studentsconsider that the procedure in writing a summaryis crucial problem for them.
2) Language aspect, procedure, and time are majorthat cause the students difficulties on writingsummary.
3) Procedure factor especially knowledge of steps onwriting summary and it use are the prime causes.
4) The student’s intention is also the factor thatinfluences the process of summarizing and thecauses the problems to the students.
5) Each student has different ways to solve theproblem on writing a summary. They proposedreading, translating and discussion as the solutionsof their difficulties.
b. Suggestions
1) The students should try to eliminate the problemon writing a summary by trying to learnvocabulary and grammar, reading the directions ofsummarizing, and asking lecturer and peers.
2) The student should apply an effective readingstrategy to enable them to comprehend the texteasily.
3) The students apply all the steps or produces onwriting a summary to make a good summary.
4) The students need to have a lot of practice inmaking the summary. If they have more practicesin making the summary, they will make a bettersummary
F.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Calkins, L.M. (1996). The Art of Teaching Writing.New York: Heinemann Educational Book, Inc.
Cohen, A.D (1994). Assessing Language Ability in theclassroom (2nd editions).Massachusetts: Heinleand Heinle Publisher.http://www.okstate/edu/aged cmah/academi…
Edge, Julian. (1983). Reading in Foreign Languange.Avaliable at:http://nflrc.jawaii.edu/rfl/april2012)/re.. (April,2012)
Hazanah, C.Y. (2003). The difficulties in RenderingComplex Sentences in Interpreting IndonesianDiscourse into English.Unpublished AcademicPaper.Bandung: IndonesiaUniversity ofEducation.
Juan, E.U and Silveira, J.C.P. (1990).A ProductFocused Approach to Text Summarization.Available athttp://iteslj.org/articles/Juan-TextSummary.html-29-K- (March, 2012)
Kareviati, E. (2004).Exploring Students’ Difficultiesin Writing Academic Paper.Unpublishedacademic Paper. Bandung: Indonesia Universityof Education.Tomitch, L.M.B. 2000. TeachingMain Ideas: Are We Really teaching?. Availableathttp://rle.ucpel.tch.br/php/edicoes/v3in1...(march,2012)
Koren, Shira. (1997). Vocabulary instruction throughHypertext: Are There Advantages overConventional Method of Teaching?. Available athttp://tesl-ej.org/ej13/a2.html-46K.
Turk, C, and Kirman, J. (1998).Effective Writing:Improving Scientific, Technical and Business
Community(2nd edition). New York: E and FNSpon, an imprint of rout ledge.
Tomitch, L.M.B. (2000). Teaching Main Ideas: AreWe Really teaching?. Available at
http://rle.ucpel.tch.br/php/edicoes/v3in1 (April,2012)
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