AN ANALYSIS ON THE STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN WRITING ENGLISH PROCEDURE TEXT AT SMP NEGERI 1 SOLOK SELATAN

This research was attempted to know ability of the IX grade students of SMPN 1 Solok Selatan in writing procedure text. The design of this research was descriptive. The total members of population were 148 students. They were distributed into 6 classes. Then, the researcher took one class as sample with used cluster random sampling technique to select the sample. The data of this research were students’ score in writing procedure text. The data were collected by using writing test as instrument. The try out test was done before giving the real test to the sample. After that, she analyzed the data by calculating the Mean (M) and Standard deviation (SD). Based on the result of data analysis, the researcher found that the ability of IX grade students of SMPN 1 Solok Selatan in writing procedure text was moderate. It was indicated by the fact that there were 15 students (60%) having moderate ability. In detail, there were 18 students (72%) having moderate ability in writing generic structure, 16 students (64%) having moderate ability in using language feature, 15 students (60%) having moderate ability in choosing appropriate vocabulary, and 15 Students (60%) having moderate ability in using mechanics. Due to the finding of this study, The English teachers are suggested to review the materials about procedure text, to teach grammatical structure of procedure text, and giving more exercises to improve students’ ability to write procedure text. For students, they are suggested to study more about grammatical structure of procedure text, vocabulary and mechanics that should be used, and do more exercises to write procedure text. For further researcher, it is suggested to study the other relevant aspects in writing procedure text. Key words: Ability, Writing, Procedure text