the mastery of simple past tense and its correlation …

i

THE MASTERY OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE AND ITS

CORRELATION WITH THE ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING

RECOUNT TEXTS BY EIGHTH GRADERS OF SMPN 2

MLATI

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Sri Ekawati

Student Number: 121214169

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2017

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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ABSTRACT

Ekawati, Sri. (2017). Students’ Mastery of Simple Past Tense and Their

Achievement in Writing Recount Texts of Eight Grader of SMPN 2 Mlati

(Academic Year of 2015/2016) . English Language Education Study Program,

Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and

Education, Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

In order to be able to write a good recount text, students need supporting

competences. Simple past tense is a crucial thing for students who learn to write

recount text.

This research is aimed to find whether there is a correlation between

students’ mastery and their achievement in writing recount text and to know the

extent of their mastery of simple past tense.

To achieve the aims of this research the researcher conducted a research in

the form of a simple past tense test and writing test. The subjects of this research

are the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Mlati academic year of 2015/2016.

There are 128 students from which 43 students were taken as the sample.

A statistical computation was done to find the correlation between both

variables. The formula used is Pearson Product Moment. The obtained r value was

0, 6533, while the critical value with α= 5% and df=41 is 0, 2542. Since the r

value is higher than critical value, the correlation between both variables is said to

be significant. Meanwhile, for the students’ mastery of simple past tense, it was

found that the students’ average score of simple past tense mastery was 73 which

can be categorized as good. For detail, from the sample of 43 students, 9 students

got excellent score, 6 students got very good, 8 students got good score, 7 students

got fair score, 8 students got poor score, and 5 students got very poor score.

It is suggested for the future researchers who conduct the same topic as

this research, should take other factors that affect the students’ ability in writing

recount text.

.

Keywords: correlation, recount text, writing, simple past tense


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ABSTRAK

Ekawati, Sri. (2017). Correlation Between Students’ Mastery of Simple Past

Tense and Their Achievement in Writing Recount Text (The Case of Eight Grade

of SMPN 2 Mlati Academic Year of 2015/2016). English Language Education

Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers

Training and Education, Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

Untuk dapat menulis sebuah teks recount yang baik, siswa membutuhkan

kompetensi-kompetensi pendukung. Simple past tense merupakan hal yang sangat

penting bagi siswa yang sedang belajar teks recount.

Penelitian ini ditujukan untuk mencari ada tidaknya korelasi antara

penguasaan siswa akan simple past tense dan kemampuannya dalam menulis teks

recount, serta untuk mengetahui seberapa jauh penguasaan siswa akan simple past

tense.

Subjek penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas Delapan SMP N 2 Mlati tahun

ajaran 2015/2016. Ada 128 siswa dan 43 diambil sebagai sampel.

Perhitungan statistik telah dilakukan untuk menemukan korelasi pada

kedua variabel. Rumus yang digunakan yaitu Pearson Product Moment.Dari

penelitian, r value yang didapatkan yaitu 0,6533, sementara krtitikal value untuk

α= 5% dan df=41 adalah 0,2542. Berhubung nilai r lebih tinggi dari critical value,

maka korelasi kedua variabel dikatan signifikan.

Sementara itu, untuk penguasaan siswa akan simple past tense, ditemukan

bahwa nilai rata-rata siswa yaitu 73 yang termasuk dalam kategori baik. Untuk

detailnya, dari 43 sample, 9 siswa mendapat nilai sempurna, 6siswa mendapat

nilai sangat baik, 8 siswa mendapat nilai baik, 7 siswa mendapat nilai sedang, 8

siswa mendapat nilai buruk dan 5 siswa mendapat nilai sangat buruk.

Disarankan untuk peneliti selanjutnya yang akan meneliti topik yang sama untuk

meneliti faktor lain yang mempengaruhi siswa dalam menulis recount teks.

Kata Kunci: korelasi, teks recount, menulis, simple past tense


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to devote my deepest gratitude to Allah the Almighty,

intended for the blessing, health, and also inspiration provided to the writer for the

completion of this research. Therefore, I would like to thank everyone who

supports me until I accomplish this research.

I dedicate my gratitude to my mom and dad who always pray for my study

and support me. I also thank my sister, Annis Hanifah who always supports me

too. I also would like to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Retno Muljani,

M.Pd who has given invaluable help of great supervision, guidance and advices

during finishing this thesis. My special gratitude also goes to my academic

advisor Laurentia Sumarni, S.Pd, M.Trans, and every lecturer from whom I have

learnt during my study.

I also deeply grateful to the headmistress of SMP N 2 Mlati Rini Trimurti

M, S.Pd, M.Hum and the English teacher of the eight grade of SMPN 2 Mlati Y.

Mei Setyanta, S.Pd, M.Hum for giving me the opportunity to conduct this

research and to the students for their cooperative work and report. Then, I would

like to thank Pongiyems: Annis, Maria, Tasia, and Tessa who keep supporting me

in finishing this research and also Vania and Cesa who helped me checking this

report. I also thank the people who helped me finishing this thesis.

Sri Ekawati


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................. i

APPROVAL PAGE ....................................................................................... ii

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ............................................ iv

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ............................................ v

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... vi

ABSTRAK ...................................................................................................... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................... ix

LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................... xi

LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................... xii

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1

A. Research Background.............................................................. 1

B. Research Questions ................................................................. 2

C. Problem Limitation ................................................................. 2

D. Research Objectives ................................................................ 3

E. Research Benefits .................................................................... 3

F. Definition of Terms ................................................................. 4

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ......................... 6

A. Theoretical Description ........................................................... 6

1. Grammar ........................................................................... 6

2. English Tenses .................................................................. 7

3. Simple Past Tense ............................................................. 8

4. Definition of writing.......................................................... 10

5. Stages of Writing .............................................................. 10

6. Writing Demanded by English Curriculum 2006 ............. 11

7. Definition and Construction of Recount Text ................... 13


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8. Correlation between Grammar and Writing........................ 14

B. Theoretical Framework .............................................................. 14

C. Statement of Hypotesis .............................................................. 15

CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...................................... 16

A. Research Method ..................................................................... 16

B. Research Setting ...................................................................... 17

C. Research Participants .............................................................. 17

D. Population ............................................................................... 18

E. Sample and Sampling Technique ............................................ 18

F. Variables of the Research........................................................ 19

G. Research Instrument and Data Gathering Technique .............. 19

H. Data Analysis Technique ........................................................ 29

I. Research Procedure ................................................................. 31

CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................. 32

A. Data Presentation ................................................................... 32

B. Data Interpretation .................................................................. 36

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ............................ 38

A. Conclusions ............................................................................. 38

B. Recommendation..................................................................... 39

REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 40

APPENDICES ................................................................................................ 43


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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

2.1 Example of irregular verbs ......................................................................... 9

3.1 Propotion of the Objectives ........................................................................ 21

3.2Propotion of the Content ............................................................................. 22

3.3 Propotion of the form of the Questions ...................................................... 22

3.4 Blue Print .................................................................................................. 23

3.5 Criteria of Difficulty Level ........................................................................ 24

3.6 Criteria of Students’ Score ......................................................................... 26

4.1 Homogeneity of the Test ............................................................................ 33

4.2 Correlations of Simple Past Tense Score and Writing Score .................... 34

4.3 Past Tense Score ........................................................................................ 35

4.4 Writing Score ............................................................................................ 35


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LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix Page

APPENDIX 1 Letters ..................................................................................... 43

APPENDIX 2 Simple Past Tense Test .......................................................... 45

APPENDIX 3 Scoring Guidance of Writing Test ......................................... 47

APPENDIX 4 Result of the Instrument Analysis .......................................... 50

APPENDIX 5 Students’ Score on Simple Past Tense and Writing Tests ..... 53

APPENDIX 6 Sample of Students’ Works of Recount Text ........................ 55

APPENDIX 7 Critical Value table of r Product Moment .............................. 60


1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of the research background, research problem,

problem limitation, objectives of the study, and benefits of the study. The

background of the study discusses the significance of the topic and reasons

supporting the choice of the topic. The research problem discusses two questions

of this thesis. The research objectives part describes the expected outcomes from

this research. The part of benefits of the research states the contribution for the

students, the English teachers and the readers of the thesis.

A. Research Background

Learning language means learning four skills: speaking, listening, writing

and reading. People have to master those skills if they want to communicate well

by using the language. The mastery of those skills is influenced by the mastery of

language components such as grammar and vocabulary. According to Andrews

(2006, p.42), grammar covers word order, clause and phrase structure, and the

classification of part of speech (e.g. noun, verb, predicate, clause, etc.). The

minimum mastery of the grammar will make students difficult to express their

ideas by using the language including writing skill. This limitation may also

influence the students’ writing skill.

One of the materials that have been taught in the eight grade of Junior

High School is recount text. Based on the curriculum 2006, recount texts are new

materials for the eighth grade students. Thus, teaching recount text may expose


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the students to some problems such as the difficulties in making gramatical

elements to write the text.

Teaching recount texts cannot be separated from teaching the use of

simple past tense past tense is used in recount texts (Anderson, 2003). In the

researcher’s observation conducted while doing PPL, the eight grade students of a

public junior high school in Sleman regency who have learned the simple past

tense and other tenses still experienced difficulties in implementing the simple

past tense in writing recount texts. Therefore, the researcher is interested in

studying whether the mastery of simple past tense correlacts with the students’

achievement to write recount texts despite of the other requirements of being able

to write good recount texts.

B. Research Questions

In this research the writer intends to find out the problems below:

1. To what extent do the eighth grade students of SMP N 2 Mlati in the

academic year of 2015/2016 master simple past tense?

2. Is there any correlation between the students’ mastery of simple past tense

and their achievement in writing recount texts?

C. Problem Limitation

This study is limited only to analyze the correlation between students’

mastery of simple past tense and their achievement in writing recount texts of

eight grade students of SMPN 2 Mlati in the academic year of 2015/2016. The


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recount texts here refer to recount texts taught in the curriculum of 2006 during

the first semester.

D. Research Objectives

The research aims at discovery:

1. To what extent the eight grade students of SMPN 2 Mlati in the academic year

of 2015/2016 master the simple past tense.

2. The correlation between students’ mastery of simple past tense and their

achievement in writing recount text.

E. Research Benefits

The study about the correlation between students’ mastery of simple past

tense and their achievement in writing recount text hopefully will give some

contribution to English language teaching and learning.

For teachers, the findings will give them information about grammatical

component in recount text that they need to give more to the students. For the PBI

students the findings hopefully will give them information about how the eight

graders of Junior High School master simple past tense and their achievement in

writing skill, so that they may continue with other related research. For the readers

of this thesis, it can give them information about the correlation between students’

mastery of simple past tense and their achievement in writing recount text.


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F. Definition of Terms

1. Simple Past Tense

According to Uchiyama (2006, p.56) the simple past tense means that the

action ended in the past. Simple past can be used for most past actions; we can use

it for actions that happened quickly, actions that happened over time, or actions

that were habits in the past. Moreover, Cowan (2008, p.359) states that the simple

past tense is used for activities or situations that began and ended in the past.

Generally, simple past tense is a tense that expresses the event is ended in the past

and has nothing to do in the present.

2. Recount Text

According to Anderson & Anderson (1997), a recount text is a piece of

text retelling past events, usually in the order in which they happened. Since

recount text tells us about past events the tense that is used is past tense. Recount

text is one of topics that is taught both in Junior High School and Senior High

School. In Junior High School recount is taught in the eighth grade.

3. Writing

Kellog (1999) stated that writing is a remarkably rich task from a

methodological and empirical viewpoint. Writing invokes typical elements of

thinking. Consider each category in turn. Meanwhile, Brown (2007), states that

simplistic view of writing would assume that written language is simply the

graphic representation of spoken language. Writing in this research is an activity

of expressing the students’ idea in a form of texts especially recount texts.


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4. Achievement in writing recount text

As the part of objectives of the study states, this research is aimed to

discover the correlation between students’ mastery of simple past tense and their

achievement in writing recount text. One of the important points that is analyzed

in this research is the students’ achhievement in writing recount text. There may

be some assumptions about the students’ achievement in writing recount text.

However, in this research, achivement in writing recount texts refers to the level

of understanding the simple past tense the students have successfully completed in

implementing it in a form of recount texts.


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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the writer reviews some theories related to this research.

There are two parts in this chapter. The first part contains the theoretical

description related to the research topic. The second part is the theoretical

framework that describesthe theoretical framework to answer the research

problem.

A. Theoretical Description

This part contains some related theories about the topic of this research.

There will be some theories about the concept of grammar, writing, and also

recount text.

1. Grammar

There are many definitions of grammar stated by experts. However, the

ideas of those definitions are almost the same. Cook and Sutter (1980:pp.1) state:

“Grammar is a set of rules by which people speak or write. These rules are

not always understood consciously, and if you asked people what the rules

of English grammar were, they would probably offer one or two or say they

did not know. The reason is that the rules we refer to are those that hardly

anyone ever thinks about but which allow people to use their language

easily and naturally most of the time”.

That statement explains that grammar is a set of rules from a language.

Grammar is an important component for language learners. In order to be able to

comunicate well using a language, language learners should learn the underlying

grammmatical rules to construct sentences. Besides, by mastering the grammatical


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rules, language learners can possibly comprehend texts more easily. As Veit

(1986) states that grammar enables people to understand every word they are

reading as well to speak or to write words or sentences of their own.

2. English Tenses

In learning English, tenses might be complicated. Moreover, in Bahasa

Indonesia there are no changing words that indicates the tenses. However, in

English, tenses are crucial element. Every sentence both spoken and written must

show its tense because it may change the meaning. This complexity sometimes

makes a presumption that English is a difficult subject.

Talking about tenses, it can be said that it is about time that can change the

meaning. Frank (1972) states that tense is a special verb ending or accompanying

auxiliary verb signaling the time an event take places. Meanwhile, Hornby (1995),

defines tense as any of the forms of the verb that may be used to indicate the time

of the action or state expressed by the verb.

Cook and Suter (1980) point out that present tense indicates that something

happens now and past tense indicates that something was done in the past. From

that statement, it can be concluded that there are two types of tenses namely past

tense and present tense. Meanwhile, other linguists might classify tense into three

namely present, past and future. The point is that tenses are categorized into

several kinds according to the time changing.

From those statements above, it can be concluded that verb indicates the

tense of a sentence in English. By knowing the tense of the sentence, students can


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know when the events happen because the different forms can show the difference

in time.

3. Simple Past Tense

There are several kinds of tenses in English. However, the writer will focus

on discussing the use of simple past tense. Simple past tense is used to show that

the event was done in the past. The subject has nothing to do in the present. In

simple past tense, duration is not important.

According to Cowan (2008), the simple past tense is used for activities or

situations that began and ended in the past. For example, I visited grandpa’s house

yesterday. Uchiyama (2006) explains that simple past tense usually means that

this action ended in the past. Simple past tense can be used for most past actions

such as actions that happened quickly, actions that happened overtime or actions

that were habits in the past.

There are two kinds of verb used in simple past tense namely regular verbs

and irregular verbs. Using regular verb is easier than using irregular verbs

because the difference is only in the end of the words that are added by –ed.

Meanwhile, irregular verbs are more complicated. Hughes (1998 pp.29-31) states:

“Irregular verbs are the bane of students whose mother tongue is not

English and who are trying to understand how these verbs are applied in

various tenses. They even trip up native English speakers who are not

always sure of the form of these verbs. It is not made any easier by the fact

that some verbs are regular in American English and irregular in British

English”.

However, there are some general classifications that make it a little easier

to remember how these verbs are formed and to remember them when applying

them into sentences.


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Hughes (1998) also mentions that irregular verbs fall into three categories:

1. GROUP 1: verbs where all three forms are the same - e.g. 'hit, hit, hit'

2. GROUP 2: verbs where two of the three forms are the same - e.g. 'become,

became, become'

3. GROUP 3: verbs where all three forms are different - e.g. 'choose, chose,

chosen'

Further, Hughes (1998, pp.29-31) gives examples of irregular verbs from

each group can be seen on the table below.

Table 2.1 Example of irregular verbs

Base Past Past Participle Group

cut

hit

let

quit

bid

feed

feel

come

buy

arise

begin

bite

break

cut

hit

let

quit

bid

fed

felt

came

bought

arose

begun

bit

broke

cut

hit

let

quit

bid

fed

felt

come

bought

arisen

began

bitten

broken

1

1

1

1

1

2

2

2

2

3

3

3

3


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4. Definition of Writing

Writing is one of the important parts in our life. Through writing, we can

share information effectively. Writing can be a tool for communication as well.

Ramelan (1994) states that writing is very important as a part of man’s culture

because it can be used to preserve thought, ideas, and also speech sounds.

Fellowes (2007) explains that writing is an expressive mode of communication

which involves the construction of texts that have a function to ensure that

specific purposes are realized and that clear messages are effectively conveyed to

the readers.

Writing as one tool of communication has been taught to students since the

very first time they joined the formal education. Students had been taught writing

in their mother language and foreign step by step. However, students might still

find difficulties in writing foreign language. Therefore, they need to master some

supportive elements. There are some supportive elements that might help students

in developing their writing skill such as grammar understanding, vocabulary

mastery and also their ability in improving their ideas.

5. Stages of Writing

Learning to create good writing needs a process. According to Boardman

(2001), there are five stages of constructing good written text. They are:

1) Establishing topics

2) Organizing ideas

3) Writing the first draft

4) Revising the draft


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5) Proofreading the final draft

Each stage has its purpose. The first stage is aimed to make clear what the

students will write. The organizing of the ideas step is needed to help the students

in improving their ideas while writing. Writing the first draft and doing revision

will help students to make their writing better. The last step is also important to

check the writing and make sure that their writing is good enough.

6. Writing Demanded by English Curriculum 2006

There are several curricula implemented in Indonesia. Those curricula

have been revised to improve the quality of education in Indonesia. Each

curriculum has their own character. The curriculum that is used by most of school

in Indonesia nowadays is School-based curriculum or we call it Kurikulum

Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP). Meanwhile, some schools already use the

newest curriculum namely Curriculum 2013. According to Kusnandar (2007), the

implementation of KTSP is a process of applying the idea, concept, and policy of

the curriculum in the learning activity so the students can master some

competences.

Meanwhile, Hartoyo (2011) states that curriculum 2006 has characteristic

as follows:

1) Emphasizing the attainment of the students’ competence individually and

classically;

2) Orienting toward learning outcomes, and diversity;

3) Using genre approaches in the learning process and greatly is influenced with

Systematic Functional Grammar;


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4) Accepting any other educative learning sources besides teachers;

5) Emphasizing its evaluation on the learning process and outcomes in acquiring

or attaining a certain competence;

6) Using special terms such as Standar Kompetensi (Standard of Competence)

refers to a minimum statement covering knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values

which are reflected in the way of thinking and acting after students learn and

finish one of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and

writing).

Basically, English Language Teaching in junior high school is aimed at

enabling students to reach functional level in a sense that they can communicate

in spoken and written way to solve daily problems. From the curriculum, it is

known that the purposes of English language teaching in junior high school are:

1) Developing communicative competence in spoken and written language to

reach functional literacy;

2) Generating awareness about the nature and importance of English to improve

nation’s competitiveness in global society;

3) Developing students’ understanding about the relationship between language

and culture.

Therefore, it is clear that communicative competence in spoken and

written become the base in English learning for Junior High School students. The

curriculum demanded students to be able to communicate in English both orally

and written. Since communication is achieved while people creating text, students


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are also demanded to be able to write communicative text that are used by English

native speakers.

7. Definition and Construction of Recount Text

Recount text becomes one topic that is taught both in Junior High School

and Senior High School in Indonesia. In Junior High School, recount is taught in

the eighth grade. In order to be able to create good recount text, the students have

to master simple past tense.

According to Anderson (2003), a recount text is a piece of text retelling past

events, usually in the order in which they happened. Since recount text tells us

about past events the tense that is used is past tense. Derewianka (1990) points out

that there are three types of recount text:

1) Personal recount

Personal recount is retelling of an activity that the writer was personally

involved in. (e.g. diary entry)

2) Factual recount

Factual recount is recording a particular incident. (e.g. news report, police

report, and a report of science experiment)

3) Imaginative recount

Imaginative recount is writing an imaginary role and giving details of events.

(e.g. A day in the life of aspirate; How I invented...)

According to Derewianka (1990), basically, recount text has three generic

structures, they are:


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1) Orientation - provides the reader with background information needed to

understand the text. e.g. who, when, where.

2) Sequence of events – series of events typically ordered in chronological order

3) Re-orientation – A summary statement/an evaluative comment/a return to the

starting point.

8. Correlation between Grammar and Writing

Since learning language includes writing skill, grammar also plays

important role in writing. In order to create good writing, students must master

grammar well. According to Graham and Perin (2007), some students who have

poor writing skill often write sentences incorrectly, their sentences in writing tend

to often follow a simple and stereotyped format. This happened because they have

minimum understanding of grammar, so they could not express their idea well

while they are writing. Grammar knowledge becomes the foundation in

someone’s ability in creating good writing. Therefore, the correlation between

grammar and writing is very close.

B. Theoretical Framework

As the topic of this study indicates, it attempts to find whether there is a

correlation or not between students’ mastery of simple past tense and their

achievement in writing recount text. Correlational statistic will be used to find the

relationship between the two variables. To answer the research questions, the

researcher employed four main theories from some experts. Those theories are


15

about grammar, simple past tense, writing and recount text. Further, those theories

become the foundation in working this research.

To answer the first research question, the researcher uses theories from

Cook and Sutter’s, Veit’s, Frank’s, Hornby, Cowan’s, Uchiyama’s, Ramelan’s,

and also Graham and Perin’s. Those thoeries explain the relationship between

grammar, especially simple past tense and writing ability.

To answer the second research question, the researcher will analyze the

students’ score of simple past tense test and then categorize it into six classes. The

researcher categorizes the students’ score based on Harris’s (1969) suggestion

about students’ class performance of achievement test.

C. Statement of Hypothesis

After presenting the theories, the writer intends to state the hypothesis in

this research. According to Cresswel (2005), hypotheses are statements in

quantitative research in which the investigator makes a prediction or a conjecture

about the outcome of a relationship among attributes or characteristics. Since

there is always a possibility that the result will show relationship between the

variables in a research, the hypothesis in this research is stated as the following

alternative hypothesis: “There is a significant correlation between students’

mastery of simple past tense and their achievement in writing recount text”.


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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter explains the research method, research setting, research

participant, instrument, and data gathering technique, data analysis technique and

also research procedure in conducting this research. First part explains the method

that is used in this research. The second part explains the time and place of

conducting this research. The next part describes about the participants who

joined this research. This chapter also explains the instruments used to get the data

in this research. Then, data gathering technique and data analysis technique

explain the technique in collecting the data and analyzing it.

A. Research Method

The research focuses on finding the correlation between students’ mastery

of simple past tense and their achievement in writing recount text. This research is

classified as a correlational study since it describes the correlation between the

score of simple past tense test and writing test. In this research a test method is

used. There are two kinds of test that are used, namely simple past tense mastery

test and writing test. Both tests are achievement test. These tests are aimed to

measure the participants’ achievement in mastering simple past tense and

expressing it in the form of recount text. As Best (1981) states that achievement

tests attempt to measure what individuals have learned – his or her present level of

performance.


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According to Gall and Brog (2003), correlational research refers to studies

in which the purpose is to discover relationship between variables through the use

of correlational statistics. There are two essential variables to find the correlation

in this research, namely the participants’ test result of simple mastery test and

writing test.

Correlational coefficient (r) indicates either negative or positive and

strength of the relationship between variables. The range of the coefficient is

between -1.00 - +1.00. Coefficient -1.00 indicates a perfect negative correlation,

coefficient +1.00 indicates perfect positive correlation, while 0 indicates that there

is no correlation at all between the variables.

B. Research Setting

The researcher conducted this research at the Eighth Grade of SMPN 2

Mlati located on Jalan Perkutut, Sinduadu, Mlati, Sleman. This research was

conducted from 27th April 2016 until 28th April 2016.

C. Research Participants

The research participants were the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Mlati

academic year of 2015/2016. The reason. The researcher chose this school

because recount text was taught in this school. The researcher also had experience

in teaching the students in this school during the teaching practice (PPL). This

school is also a good school. In academic year of 2014/2015 this school got the

seventh rank in Sleman regency for the national examination. It means that the

students in this school have good ability in academic mastery.


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D. Population

The population of this research was the students of eight grade in SMPN 2

Mlati academic year of 2015/2016. There were 128 students of the eighth grade in

SMPN 2 Mlati academic year of 2015/2016. They were divided into 4 classes.

Each class consists of 32 students.

These students were taught by the same teacher using the same curriculum

and the same books. However, based on the researcher’s experience, the condition

in every class is different. Therefore, a sampling technique will be applied in this

research.

E. Sample and Sampling Technique

The researcher took 43 students (more or less 33% from the whole

population) as the sample. Those students were the students from class VIII C and

VIII D.

Considering the same materials, curriculum, books and also the teacher in

the English learning for the population the researcher decided to use stratified

random sampling. Ary (2010) states that when the population consists of a

number of subgroups, or strata, that may differ in the characteristics being studied,

it is often desirable to use a form of probability sampling called stratified

sampling. The subgroups here were the classes of the eight grade in SMPN 2

Mlati. Another consideration was about the heterogeneous sample that should

represent the population. To choose the sample, the researcher raffled the four

classes and chose two classes as the sample. The two classes chosen were class

VIII C and VIII D.


19

There were 64 students from class VIII C and VIII D. However, some

students were not in the class because they had to join a competition outside

classroom. Therefore, there were only 43 students who could do the tests. There

were 20 students from class VIII C and 23 students from class VIII D.

F. Variables of the research

Basically, the correlation research is a research that tries to find the

relationship between the variables. Both variables in this research are independent

variables. They are the students’ score of simple past tense test and writing test. In

this research, the researcher intends to find the correlation between students’

mastery of simple past tense and their achievement in writing recount text. The

researcher assumes that the students’ mastery of simple past tense has a

correlation with their achievement in writing recount text. There are some factors

that might affect the students’ achievement in writing recount text such as their

vocabulary mastery, their motivation, and also their frequency of practice.

However, in this research the researcher only investigates on the two variables

mentioned above.

G. Research Instrument and Data Gathering Technique

In a research, instrument is the tool to collect the data. Instrument can be the

form of test, interview protocol, questionnaire, etc. The researcher used tests as

the instrument in this research. Mardapi (2008) defines test as a set of questions

that need answers, or a set of questions that should be responded in order to

measure someone’s ability or reveal certain aspect from the subject of the test.


20

There are two tests in this research. Both of the tests are achievement tests.

According to Lyman (1963), achievement tests are used in measuring level of

knowledge, skill, competence, etc. The first test in this research was a test of

students’ mastery of simple past tense. The second test was writing test.

1. Simple Past Tense Test

In order to measure the students’ mastery of simple past tense, a test of

simple past tense was given. The test consisted of 15 items of multiple choices

and 10 items of short answer.

In constructing the simple past tense test, the researcher considered some

elements. First consideration was based on Madsen’s (1983) statement. Madsen

(1983) states that a grammar test should be easy to prepare and easy to score,

provides sensitive measure of achievement and there is no exposure to incorrect

grammatical forms. The second consideration was about the students’ ability. For

this point, the researcher had done the consultation to the English teacher about

the test. The researcher also made sure that the test really reflects the students’

mastery in simple past tense. The test demanded the students to complete the

sentence with the correct form. There were some short dialogues, short letters and

simple sentences which had blanks part to be completed.

a. Construction of Simple Past Tense Test

There are some steps that were done by the researcher in constructing the

simple past tense test. In constructing the simple past tense test, the researcher

used the theory suggested by Kalanilayam (2009). According to him, there are six

steps in constructing an achievement test. Those steps are:


21

1. Planning the test

2. Preparing the design of the test

3. Preparing the blue print

4. Writing the items

5. Preparing the scoring key and marking scheme

6. Preparing the question-wise analysis.

In planning the test, there are two crucial elements needed namely the

objective of the test and the maximum marks. Important factors to consider in

designing the test are the proportions of the objectives, content and also the form

of questions.

Proportion of the objectives:

This indicates the objectives of the test and what proportion has to give in

each objective.

Table 3.1 Composition of the Objectives

No Objectives Score Percentage

1 Knowledge 3 12

2 Understanding 2 8

3 Application 6 24

4 Analysis 8 32

5 Synthesis 4 16

6 Evaluation 2 8

Total 25 100

Composition of the content:

This indicates the various aspects of the content to be tested and the

proportion in these different aspects.


22

Table 3.2 The Composition of the Content

No Content Marks Percentage

1 Sub-Topic 1 15 60

2 Sub Topic 2 10 40

Total 25 100

Composition of the form of the questions:

This indicates the form of the questions in the test and the proportion of

each form.

Table 3.3 Composition of the Form of the Questions

No Form of question Number of

Questions

Score Percentage

1 Objective type 15 15 60

2 Short answer type 10 10 40

Total 25 25 100

The next step in constructing the test was preparing the blue print.

Kalanilayam (2009) also explains that blue print is a three-dimensional chart

giving the placement of the objectives, content and form of question. The blue

print of the test is presented as follows.

Table 3.4 Blue Print

Objectives

Kn

U

Ap An

S

E

Grand

Total

O SA O SA O SA O SA O SA O SA

Sub Topic

1 1 2

4

4 2 2

15

Sub Topic

2 2 0 2

4

2

0 10

Total Score 1 2 2 0 4 2 4 4 2 2 2 0

25

Grand

Total 3

2 6 8 4 0


23

In which:

Kn : Knowledge

U : Understanding

Ap : Application

An : Analyze

S : Synthesis

E : Evaluation

SA : Short Answer

O : Objective

b. Difficulty Level

A good test should not be too easy or too difficult. Therefore, the

researcher designed the test in such a way so the test would not be either too easy

or too difficult for the students. An easy test will not motivate and stimulate the

students, while a difficult test will make students desperate.

To find out the difficulty level of the simple past tense, a difficulty test has

done. The researcher used a formula suggested by Arikunto (2002). The formula

is:

P= B

JS

in which:

P : level of difficulty

B : number of students who answer the item correctly

JS : the total number of students who joined the test

The criteria of difficulty level are presented in table 3.2.

Table 3.5 Criteria of Difficulty Level

Interval Criteria

0.0 < P ≤ 0.30 Difficult

0.30 < P ≤ 0.70 Medium

0.70 < P ≤ 1.00 Easy


24

From the test, it was found that there were 4 difficult items, 15 medium

items and 6 easy items.

2. Writing Test

After finishing the simple past tense test, the students were demanded to

do the writing test. This test was aimed to measure their ability in expressing

simple past tense in the form of recount text. In this test, students had to write a

short recount text based on their own experiences in the past. They might write

short story about their vacation or their interesting experience. This was aimed to

make the students feel free in creating recount text.

3. Scoring Technique

Having finished gathering the data in the form of the students’ result of the

both test the researcher started analyzing the data by giving the assessment to the

students’ work. There were two kinds of assessment for the tests. For simple past

tense, there were 25 items of completion test. Each item was scored 1 for true

answer and 0 for wrong answer. To get the total score the researcher used the

formula that created by Lado (1961):

S =R

N SM

In which:

S = total score

R = the raw score

N = the maximum raw score

SM = the maximum score


25

Meanwhile, in assessing writing the researcher used the scoring technique

suggested by Brown & Bailey (1984). There were five elements to be considered

in this assessment. The first was organization of the writing. The second was the

logical development of ideas. Then the grammar, punctuation and spelling and

also the style and quality of expression (see appendix 3). In addition, there was a

classification used in the students’ achievement assessment suggested by Harris

(1969). Based on two resources, the researcher prepared a table of criteria of

students’ score which was then consultated with the teacher. The table is provided

as table 3.6 as follow.

Table 3.6 Criteria of Students’ Score

Test score Class

Performance

91-100

81-90

71-80

61-70

51-60

Less than 50

Excellent

Very good

Good

Fair

Poor

Very poor

4. Try Out

Before giving the test to the students who became the sample in this

research the researcher tried out the test to different students from the same level.

The try out was done in 14 April 2016. The researcher took 5 students from a

different class to do the test. The try out was done to check the difficulty level and

the effectiveness of the test.


26

5. Validity of the Test

Another criterion to measure quality of the instrument, which in the form

of test is validity. Validity in a test is needed to make sure that the result of the

test really shows what we want to assess. As Gronlund (1998) states, the extent to

which inferences made from assessment results are appropriate, meaningful and

useful in terms of the purpose of the assessment. Meanwhile, Mardapi (2008) also

states that validity is an evidence and theory support into an interpretation of a

score test. Therefore, validity is a crucial fundamental in developing and

evaluating a test.

According to Lyman (1963), validity is divided into three types, namely

face validity, content validity and empirical validity. A test is to be said has face

validity if the test looks clear for the test maker and also for the students. So, the

test looks like that it can measure what is intended to measure.

The second is content validity. A test is said to be valid if the content

reflects the materials of the course that had been taught in the school. To make

sure that the test has content validity, the researcher designed the test based on the

materials from the students’ book and by having consultation with the English

teacher before giving the test to the students.

The last is empirical validity. Evidence for this type of validity is gained

through a validity coefficient, a coefficient of correlation between the test and a

criterion. To check this kind of validity a computation has done. The formula that

was used was Pearson Product Moment Formula. The formula is:


27

in which:

rxy = correlation of the score each item

N = number of the subject

∑X = the sum of the total score each item

∑Y = the sum of the total score of each subject

∑X2 = the square of the sum of the score each item

∑Y2 = the sum of the total score of each subject

∑XY = the sum of the multiple of the score of each subject with the total

score

The same formula was also used for writing test. Since the writing

assessment has five criteria as mentioned above, the total score of each criteria is

the same as the total score from each item in simple past tense test. In this

research there was 30 items that had been tried out to the students. However there

were only 25 valid items that was valid and can be used as instruments in this

research.

6. Reliability of The Test

Beside validity, reliability test is also important in an instrument which in

the form of test. A test is said to be reliable if it is consistent. For example, if the

test was given to a subject in different time and condition the subject tends to get


28

the same result. According to Kusaeri (2012), reliability referenced to the

consistency of a measurement.

A try out has done to some students at the same level to check the

reliability of the test. Besides that, the statistical computation has also done. As

Azwar (2012) states that although the instrument had been estimated its reliability

to other subject, it still needs to compute its correlation coefficient.

To calculate the reliability of simple past tense, the following Spearman-

Brown Formula was used:

r11= 2(r1/21/2)

with r1/21/2 =

𝑟𝑥𝑦 =𝑁 ∑ 𝑋𝑌 − (∑ 𝑋 ∑ 𝑌)

√[𝑁 ∑ 𝑥2 − (∑ 𝑋)2

][𝑁 ∑ 𝑌2 − (∑ 𝑌)2

]

in which:

r11 = reliability of the instrument

r1/21/2 = Pearson correlation of odd and even value

While to check the reliability of the writing test, the following formula

was used:

r11= k 1-∑σb2

in which:

r11 = reliability index

(1+r1/21/2)

with r1/21/2 =

k-1 σt2


29

k = number of item

σt2

= total variance

σb2 = item variance

After finding the r11 then it was compared to r table. The test is to be said

reliable if r11 is higher than r table. The tests used in this research had been

checked and those are said to be reliable.

H. Data Analysis Technique

Before analyzing the data, the researcher intends to present the statement

of hypothesis. According to Cresswel (2005), hypotheses are statements in

quantitative research in which the investigator makes a prediction or a conjecture

about the outcome of a relationship among attributes or characteristics. Since

there is always a possibility that the result will show relationship between the

variables in a research, the hypothesis is stated as the following alternative

hypothesis:

“There is a significant correlation between students’ mastery of simple

past tense and their achievement in writing recount text”

To find out whether there is a correlation between students’ mastery of

simple past tense and their achievement in writing a recount text or not the

researcher used the product-moment formula.

𝑟𝑥𝑦 =𝑁 ∑ 𝑋𝑌 − (∑ 𝑋 ∑ 𝑌)

√[𝑁 ∑ 𝑥2 − (∑ 𝑋)2

][𝑁 ∑ 𝑌2 − (∑ 𝑌)2

]

In which:


30

rxy = correlation coefficient

N = the number of students/subject who participated in the test

∑x = the sum of score in simple past tense test

∑x2 = the sum of the square score in simple past tense test

∑y = the sum of score in writing test

∑y2 = the sum of square score in writing test

∑xy = the sum of multiple of score from simple past tense test and

writing test in each number

After getting the rxy, the next step is comparing it to the r value with the

significant level of 0,05. The correlation between the variables are said to be

significant if the rxy is higher than the r value. The researcher used SPSS 20

software to interpret the data result.

I. Research Procedure

There was a procedure followed in conducting this research. The

researcher started to conduct this research by asking for permission to the

headmistress of SMPN 2 Mlati on April 7, 2016. After getting the permission

from the headmistress of SMPN 2 Mlati the researcher came to the English

teacher of the eighth grade. The researcher had consultation about the students,

the research plan and also about the instrument that would be used. The researcher

chose the classes that could be used randomly after having consultation with the

teacher. Having finished about the permission, consulting the instrument and

choosing the classes, the researcher consulted the advisor.


31

The next step was trying out the instrument to some students. The try out

was done in April 14, 2016. There were 5 students from other classes who tried

the test. After analyzing the result of the try out, the researcher gave the test to the

sample of students in April 28, 2016. The last steps in this research were

analyzing the data and then writing the report.


32

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the writer presents the research results and discussion. The

research results and discussion in this research was in the form of explanation

about the findings of the research based on the data that was gained. This chapter

answers the research questions.

A. Data Presentation

The data presentation is presented to answer the research questions.

1. The Research Setting

The population of this research were the students of the eighth grade of

SMP N 2 Mlati academic year of 2015/2016. However, a sampling technique was

used in this research. The researcher chose the sample randomly. As the English

teacher of the school suggested, the researcher took two classes randomly as the

sample of this research. The samples were the students of class VIII C and VIII D.

There were 64 students from the two classes totally. However, there were only 43

students who could join the test. The researcher conducted the research on 27th

April 2016 until 28th April 2016. There were 25 items in the simple past tense test

and all of the students answered the total items. The students also wrote down the

recount text in the paper given.


33

2. Reliability and Validity of the Test

A test had been done to check the validity of the items. From the test it

was known that the items were valid. Another computation was also done to

check the reliability of the test. From the computation both tests are said as

reliable.

3. Correlation Analysis

Before conducting correlation analysis, a test that should be done is

normality test. The following table shows the result of normality test.

Table 4.1 One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

Simple Past

Tense Score

Wrinting

Score

N 43 43

Normal Parametersa,,b Mean 73.2093 77.8837

Std. Deviation 16.96012 9.07170

Most Extreme

Differences

Absolute .102 .156

Positive .102 .117

Negative -.087 -.156

Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z .667 1.021

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .765 .248

a. Test distribution is Normal.

b. Calculated from data.

Table 4.1 shows the result of normality test using Kolmogorov Smirnov.

The result above shows the value of Kolomogorov Smirnov for each variable at

0.667 and 1.021 with significant level of 0.765 and 0.248. Therefore, the

significant level is higher than alpha (5%). It shows that the data fulfills the

assumtion that it has normal distribution, so it can be done the next computation.


34

After collecting the students’ score of both tests, the data was statictically

computed using the Pearson Product Moment formula. The following table shows

the computation of the r-value.

4.2 Correlations of Simple Past Tense Score and Writing score

Simple Past

Tense Score

Wrinting

Score

Simple Past Tense

Score

Pearson Correlation 1 .653**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 43 43

Wrinting Score Pearson Correlation .653** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 43 43

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

The result shows that there is a significant correlation between students’

mastery of simple past tense and their ability in expressing simple past tense in the

form of recount text. From the statistical analysis, it is found that there is a

positive correlation between students’ mastery of simple past tense and their

ability in writing recount text. It means that students’ mastery of simple past tense

gave contribution to their ability in writing recount text.

Table 4.2 shows the result of partial correlation test of students’ mastery of

simple past tense and their achievement in writing a recount text. According to the

result of the analysis it is gained r-value at 0.653 with significant level at 0.000.

Since the significant level is lower than the alpha (0,000< 0,05) it can be

concluded that there is a correlation between both variables. The correlation


35

valueis 0.653, which means that the percentage of the correlation between both

varible is 65.3%. this correlation is catagorized as strong.

4. Students’ Mastery of Simple Past Tense

The students’ mastery of simple past tense in this research is measured

with their score of the simple past tense test. The result of the test is presented in

the diagram as follows.

4.3 Past Tense Score

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid Excellent 9 20.9 20.9 20.9

Very Good 6 14.0 14.0 34.9

Good 9 20.9 20.9 55.8

Fair 6 14.0 14.0 69.8

Poor 8 18.6 18.6 88.4

Very Poor 5 11.6 11.6 100.0

Total 43 100.0 100.0

4.4 Writing Score

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid Very Good 19 44.2 44.2 44.2

Good 11 25.6 25.6 69.8

Fair 13 30.2 30.2 100.0

Total 43 100.0 100.0

As seen on the data above the students’ average score of simple past tense

mastery was 73 which can be categorized as good. For detail, from the sample of

43 students, 9 students got excellent score, 6 students got very good, 8 students

got good score, 7 students got fair score, 8 students got poor score, and 5 students

got very poor score. While the average score in writing test from 43 students as


36

the sample is 77 which is also categorized as good. Different from simple past

tense mastery test, in this writing test there are no students who got excellent and

very poor score. In detail, 19 students got very good score, 11 students got good

score, and 13 students got fair score.

Students’ mastery of simple past tense affect their ability in writing

recount text. It is proved by their score in both test. There are 3 students who got

excellent score in simple past tense and also in writing test. They are student

number 17, 20 and 22. Student number 20 and 22 got 100 in simple past tense test

and 90 in writing test. While student number 17 got 90, 60 in simple past tense

test and 90 in writing test. Then, there are 4 students who got excellent score in

simple past tense mastery test and very good score in writing test. They are

student numbers 12, 14, 15 and 19. Student number 12 got 92 in simple past tense

test and 87 in writing test. Student number 14 got 96 in simple past tense test and

85 in writing test. Student number 15 got 96 in simple past tense test and 89 in

writing test. Meanwhile, student number 19 got 92 in simple past tense test and 86

in writing test.

B. Data Interpretation

The data above shows that there are some students who got excellent and

good score. Some of those who got excellent and good score in simple past tense

test also got good score in writing test. In contrast, some students who got fair,

poor and very poor score in simple past tense test had fair score in writing test..

While, according to curriculum 2006 that is used in SMPN 2 Mlati, students will

be considered as successful if they got at least 75 for maximum score 100 in


37

English subject. Considering that policy 22 students (51.16%) failed and 21

students are successful in simple past tense mastery test. While in writing test 15

students (35%) failed and 28 students (65%) are successful. The results of the

tests indicates that the students’ mastery of simple past tense and their

achievement in writing recount text is not spread evenly yet.

The computation above shows that there is a positive correlation between

students’ mastery of simple past tense and their ability in expressing simple past

tense in the form of recount text. It means that the better students’ mastery of

simple past tense the better their ability in writing recount text.

After finding out the correlation coefficient, the writer concluded that the

correlation of the two variables is significant. In other words there is a positive

correlation between students’ mastery of simple past tense and their achievement

in writing recount text. It means the higher the students’ score in simple past tense

test the better their score in writing test. However, this research did not analyze

the students’ cause and effect in doing the writing test. It means that students who

had poor level of simple past tense mastery will always had poor ability in writing

recount text. In this research, however, there are some students who had good

level in simple past tense but did not get same score level in writing test. There

are also some students who had minimum level of simple past tense mastery but

able to create a good recount text. There are some other factors that might

influence their result in the two tests such as their concentration, vocabulary

mastery, experience, habit in writing, etc. However, those factors are not included

in this research.


38

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

In this chapter, the researcher explains the conclusions and

recommendations from this research. In the conclusions part, the researcher will

explain the brief content of this research. In the recommendations part, the

researcher presents some recommendations for the teachers and the future

researchers who will conduct the similar research.

A. Conclusions

This research is aimed to answer whether or not there is a correlation

between students’ mastery of simple past tense and their achievement in writing

recount text. Based on the research conducted, it can be concluded as follows:

1. The obtained correlation value in this research was 0.6533 while the critical

value of product moment with α=0.05 or 5% and df=N-2=43-2=41 is 0.2542.

Since the r value is higher than critical value of product moment it indicates

that the correlation between the both variables is significant. In other words,

the null hypothesis in this research was rejected and the alternative hypothesis

was accepted. This means that the better the students master the simple past

tense, the better the students write recount text.

2. The average score of students’ mastery of simple past tense is 73. Nine students

(21%) got excellent level, six students (14%) got very good level, eight

students (18.6%) get good level, seven students (16.3%) got fair level, 8

students (18.6%) got poor level, and 5 students (11.5%) got very poor level.


39

B. Recommendations

Based on the research conducted, the writer intends to give some

recommendations to improve students’ achievement in writing recount text. This

research shows the students’ mastery of simple past tense is correlated to their

achievement in writing recount text. Therefore, there should be an improvement

in teaching simple past tense. One of the media that is related to simple past tense

and recount text is diary. The researcher recommends the teachers to use diary as

the material to help the students in improving their ability in writing especially

using past tense. Since writing ability requires other elements besides grammar,

the researcher also recommends the students to read as much as possible to enrich

their knowledge.

Furthermore, the result of the research shows that grammar is not the only

factor that influences the students’ achievement in writing. Therefore, the

researcher recommends the future researchers to investigate those factors such as

the students’ motivation and their vocabulary mastery.


40

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Ilmu.

Veit, Richard. (1986). Discovering English grammar. New York: Houghton

Mifflin (Academic).


43

APPENDICES


44

APPENDIX 1

Letters

1. Permission Letter From BAPPEDA SLEMAN

2. Permission Letter From ELESP Sanata Dharma

University


45

APPENDIX 1


46


47

APPENDIX 2

Simple Past Tense Test


48

A. Circle the correct answer!

1. I ……………………… my drawing book two days ago

a. loss

b. lost

c. was losing

d. losses

2. I was listening to music when my teacher ……………………… my class.

a. has entered

b.entering

c. entered

d. will enter

Complete the following letter with a correct form!

Dear, Sarah

I am writing to you just to memorize

about our holiday in your city last year.

I (3).... so happy being there with you. We (4)....

many tourism objects like Parangtritis Beach, Prambanan

Temple, and Malioboro. I really (5)......the places. We (6)...

many foods and souvenirs there. We also (7)... the pictures

scenery. We (8)... so happy spending time together.

I hope we can visit there again next time.

Sincerely,

Ratna


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3. a. is

b. was

c. are

d. were

4. a. visited

b. visiting

c. visits

d. visit

5. a. is

b. am

c.are

d. was

6. a. buy

b. buying

c. bought

d. buyed

7. a. take

b. takes

c. taked

d. Took

8. a. were

b. was

c. are

d. Is

9. ……………………… she read novel last morning?

a. Do

b. Does

c. Did

d. was


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10. The Doctor gives the prescription

a. Did the doctor not given the prescription?

b. Didn’t the doctor give the prescription?

c. Did not the doctor gave the prescription?

d. Didn’t the doctor gave the prescription?

11. She … a book last night

a. buys

b. buyed

c. bought

d. will buy

12. Dina … her report

a. didn’t finished

b. do not finished

c. did not finish

d. will finish

13. He … a diligent student

a. wasn’t

b. weren’t

c. aren’t

d. will not

14. Did You … me a message?

a. sent

b. send

c. sended

d. will send


51

15. … they an architect?

a. Were

b. Was

c. Is

d. Do

B. Fill the blank with the correct form!

Example: My father drinks coffee every morning. This morning he drank

coffee too.

1. He always goes to work by car. Yesterday he ………… to work by bus.

2. They always get up early. This morning they ……………..up late.

3. Bill often loses his key. He …………….one last Saturday.

4. I write a letter to Jane every week. Last week I ……………two letters.

5. She meets her friends every evening. She ………………them yesterday

evening, too.

6. I usually read two newspapers every day. I only ……………..a newspaper

yesterday.

7. They come to my house every Friday. Last Friday they…………….. , too.

8. We usually go to the cinema on Sunday. We ……….to the cinema last

Sunday, too.

9. Tom always has a shower in the morning. Tom ……………….a shower

this morning too.

10. They buy a new car every year. Last year they ………………a new car

too.


52

APPENDIX 3

Scoring Guidance of Writing Test


53


54

APPENDIX 3

Result of the Instrument Analysis

1. Validity of The Try Out of Simple Past Tense Test


55

Number

Validity

Coeficient Validity

1 .004 Not Valid

2 .613 Valid

3 ,298 Valid

4 .655 Valid

5 .665 Valid

6 .396 Valid

7 .426 Valid

8 .753 Valid

9 .630 Valid

10 .347 Valid

11 .393 Valid

12 .485 Valid

13 .091 Not Valid

14 .316 Valid

15 .140 Not Valid

16 .545 Valid

17 .378 Valid

18 .593 Valid

19 .525 Valid

20 .532 Valid

21 .547 Valid

22 .381 Valid

23 .095 Not Valid

24 .441 Valid

25 .528 Valid


56

APPENDIX 5

Students’ Score on Simple Past Tense and Writing

Tests


57

Students' Number Simple Past Tense

Score

Writing

Score

1 76 75

2 84 88

3 88 86

4 76 90

5 88 85

6 72 84

7 100 75

8 88 82

9 100 70

10 76 79

11 68 78

12 92 87

13 84 87

14 96 85

15 96 89

16 76 87

17 96 90

18 72 86

19 92 86

20 100 90

21 68 88

22 100 90

23 80 66

24 64 78

25 60 66

26 56 74

27 64 83

28 60 69

29 60 66

30 68 65

31 52 79

32 48 71

33 64 76

34 56 67

35 64 65

36 76 79


58

Students' Number Simple Past Tense

Score

Writing

Score

37 84 85

38 44 74

39 48 64

40 48 69

41 60 65

42 48 66

43 56 65


59

APPENDIX 6

Sample of Students’ Works of Recount Text


60


61


62

APPENDIX 7

Critical Value table of r Product Moment


63


the mastery of simple past tense and its correlation …

Documents