THE ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ PARAGRAPH CONSTRUCTION OF THE ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT STUDENTS IN MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF PONOROGO ACADEMIC YEAR 2016/2017

Keyword: Writing, Paragraph Construction Writing is one of the most important basic skill in language learning. The activity involved there is not only to write a graphic symbol of writing but also to convey message from writer to the reader. Therefore, the ability to write should always be develop to make reader understand about the message given by the writer. This ability can be started from the smaller unit of writing, like one of them is paragraph writing. This research was aimed to analyzed the students’ paragraph construction made by students who had already taken paragraph writing subject. This research was a qualitative research with type of case study. This research was conducted in Muhammadiyah University of Ponorogo. The subjects of this research were students of English Education Department, sixteen students. The technique of the data collection which used by the researcher were interview and documentation. Meanwhile, the research instruments were interview guideline and form of the data analysis. The researcher used triangulation of source technique to check the validity of the data. After the data had obtained, then it was being analyzed with the technique of descriptive qualitative analysis. Therefore, the result indicated that paragraph construction made by students were categorized as good. Nevertheles, students also made errors in each element of writing, such as did not use transition signal (organization), presenting extraneous materials and not complete ideas (content), did not use correct quantifiers, tenses, presenting sentence fragment, error in using preposition, and run-on sentences (grammar), error in using comma, error in spelling, misused in capital letter, and paragraph did not indent (writing convention), and not appropriate in determining vocabulary or diction and presenting wordy (vocabulary). Finally, the researcher proposed some suggestions for the students, lucturer, and the next researcher. The suggestion for students such as to increase the knowledge and learn more about the element of a good writing. Meanwhile for the lecturer, the suggestion such as to select, use, and develop the precise strategy to improve students’ ability in constructing paragraph and to evaluate and develop the teaching materials which suitable with the need of the students. Then for the next researcher, they should conduct more in-depth research toward the students’ paragraph construction based on the element of writing. Also, this research can be a source for further research