Students’ Difficulties in Answering the Written Expression Section of the TOEFL Test at English Study Program of State Islamic University of SUSKA Riau

Abstract

TOEFL test is one of the requirements for the students of English Study Program of State Islamic University of Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau (UIN Suska Riau) to finish their study at S1 Degree.  Based on the researcher’s observation, most of the students did not pass the TOEFL Test.  The students followed the test for several times till they reached the passing grade. It seemed that the students got difficulties in answering the TOEFL Test. So, in this research the researcher focused on analyzing the students’ difficulties in answering the Written Expression section of the TOEFL test.  The aims of this research were to identify the categories of items in the Written Expression section of the TOEFL test which were difficult for the fourth semester students of English Study Program UIN Suska Riau, and to identify which categories of items that were easy for the students. This research was a quantitative research. The researcher analyzed the categories of items tested in TOEFL test, especially in the Written Expression section. There were 12 categories of items tested in the Written Expression section of the TOEFL test based on Longman Preparation Course for the TOEFL Test by Deborah Phillips (2000: 144-221). The categories consisted of subject-verb agreement, parallel structure, comparative and superlative, the use of the verbs, the forms of the verbs, passive verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs, articles, prepositions and usages   The result of the research showed that all of the categories of items were difficult for the students. None of the categories of items were easy for the students. The most difficult category for the students was usages. So, in general, the students extremely got difficulties in answering the Written Expression section of the TOEFL test.