Structure and Written Expression Section on Paper-Based TOEFL: Perceived Difficulties by Managements' Students of Universitas Muhadi Setiabudi

Abstract

English language ability is one of the skills that must be possessed by college students, including Management’s students. Having good English skills will open broad opportunities for increasing the competency and expertise of Management’s students. One form of recognition of good English skills is to have a high TOEFL score. However, getting a high TOEFL score is still a challenge for Management’s students. Facts in the field show that many Managements’ students find it difficult to achieve high scores on the TOEFL test. The most common form of difficulty is the problem in answering questions related to the structure and written expression section in the Paper-Based TOEFL test. The purpose of this research is to investigate management’s students’ difficulties in the structure and written expressions section tested in the Paper-Based TOEFL. The population of this study is 80 Management’s students of Universitas Muhadi Setiabudi, and the sample is selected by using cluster random sampling. Data of the research are collected through tests and interviews. The result of the research finds that that there are 8 items considered as the most difficult elements met by Management’s students in the TOEFL test. These items are word order, parallel structure, singular and plural nouns, missing and extra words, articles, comparative and superlative, word choice, and word form. In addition, the findings also show that several factors influence Management’s students' difficulties in the structure and written expression section. The factors are unfamiliarity with the TOEFL test, lack of practice, and lack of grammatical competence.