A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN WRITING NARRATIVE TEXT AT XI GRADE OF SMK N 2 PEKANBARU

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the students’ ability in writing narrative text at the XI grade of SMK N 2 Pekanbaru. Writing is a complex skill that requires learners to express ideas coherently while applying accurate linguistic features, and narrative text is one of the key genres taught in senior high school. A descriptive quantitative design was employed in this research. The population consisted of 856 students from all XI grade classes, and one class comprising 39 students was selected as the sample through purposive sampling. The instrument used was a writing test in which students were required to compose a narrative text based on a given topic. The students’ writing products were assessed by three raters using five components of writing: content, organization, grammatical function, language use, and generic structure. To ensure scoring consistency, inter-rater reliability was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha, resulting in a very high coefficient. The result revealed that the overall writing ability of the students fell into the average to good category. Specifically, five students were categorized as good to excellent, eighteen students were categorized as average to good, fourteen students were categorized as poor to average, and two students were categorized as poor. The findings indicate that while some students are capable of producing well-structured narrative texts, many still face difficulties in grammar accuracy, vocabulary range, and organizing ideas coherently. Based on these outcomes, the study suggests the need for more guided writing practice, explicit instruction, and continuous feedback to help students improve their narrative writing performance.