AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING RECOUNT TEXT FOR FOURTH SEMESTER STUDENTS AT ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

Writing is one of important skill that must be mastered in learning English.Fourth-semester students of the English education study program were required todemonstrate proficiency in writing a range of text types, including recount texts, aspart of the Advanced English Writing course. This study aims to examined thedifficulties faced by fourth-semester students in the English Education StudyProgram at Palangka Raya University when writing recount texts. The research wascarried out from June 26, 2024 to July 26, 2024. A questionnaire was disseminatedusing WhatsApp to collect data from 65 students, who accounted for 52% of thetotal population. The findings indicate that students encounter challenges in variouscrucial domains, such as creating relevant ideas, structuring text, employing past-tense verbs accurately, and utilizing acceptable terminology, punctuation, and capitalization.

The study highlights that 9.2% (6 students) struggle with generating relevantideas, 26.2% (17 students) struggle to express their ideas with clarity and logicalcoherence, 20% (13 students) struggle with composing a recount text thateffectively establishes individuals, location, and timing, 46.2% (30 students)struggle with the task of crafting a recount text that includes a fitting and noteworthyending, 58.5% (38 students) exhibit inaccuracies in past-tense verb usage, 38.5%(25 students) has difficulties in effectively utilizing adverbs of location and timeexpressions to connect events, 33.8% (22 students) lack proficiency in using actionverbs with a high level of accuracy, Additionally, 52.3% (34 students) lack anextensive vocabulary, 32.3% (21 students) exhibit a deficiency in their capacity toselect appropriate words with effectiveness, 49.2% (32 students) demonstrate poorspelling accuracy, 12.3% (8 students) exhibit incorrect capitalization, and 12.3% (8students) demonstrate inaccurate usage of punctuation. These problems highlightthe necessity for focused teaching strategies to target and rectify specificshortcomings in students' writing abilities. The study closes by suggesting thatteachers should utilize captivating teaching techniques and that students shouldactively participate in the process of learning and practicing English. Futureresearch should be conducted to go deeper into the challenges associated withauthoring recount texts in order to gain a more full grasp of the subject.