AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN USING CONJUNCTION IN WRITING COMPLEX SENTENCES OF ELEVENTH GRADE OF SMA NEGERI 3 TANJUNGPINANG

The purpose of this research was to determine students’ difficulties in using conjunctions in writing complex sentences of eleventh grade of SMA Negeri 3 Tanjungpinang and the most dominant problem in using conjunction in eleventh grade of SMA Negeri 3 Tanjungpinang. The population of the research was the eleventh grade of SMA Negeri 3 Tanjungpinang. The sample of the research was taken by using purposive sampling technique. Purposive sampling technique is a technique to determine a sample with the certain consideration. The sample of research were XI IPA which has 15 students consist of 9 males and 6 females and XI IPS which has 26 students consist of 10 males and 16 females. These classes have a low score with an average value of 35 in error analysis in determining the correct conjunction in a complex sentence. The total number of students was 53, but the test was done by 41 students. The researcher conducted a test to gather data. The instrument for collecting data in this research, the researcher used a multiple-choice test. In this case, students are asked to choose the correct conjunction to fill in the gap sentence in a complex sentence and allocate 90 minutes of time with 20 questions. After distributing the worksheets to 41 students and calculating the score, most of them got scores below ≤ 50, namely 24 students, and some of them got a score of ≥ 50, namely 17 students. To determine the value of student skills, calculations were carried out using the mean formula, and the mean score obtained was 48.2. The most dominant problem in using conjunction in writing complex sentences is the questions of coordinating conjunction in total number 151 wrong answer (18.40%). Keywords: Students’ Difficulties; Writing; Conjunction