Abstract:
Grammar is a basic knowledge of English language and an important
component for the students to be mastered. One of the grammar topics that should
be learnt is question tag. Question tag is a short question that is often used in a
daily conversation to clarify or to confirm information from others. Therefore, the
researcher is interested to conduct the research about the students’ ability in using
question tags.
The type of this research is a descriptive qualitative research. The subject is
the eleventh grade students of SMK YayasanPendidikan Pembangunan (YPP)
Purworejo in the academic year of 2016/2017 that consists of 46 students. The
objectives are to know the students’ ability in using question tags and to identify
the possible factors affecting their ability in using question tags. To collect the
data, the researcher uses test and questionnaire. The test aims to know the
students’ ability in using question tags, while the questionnaire aims to identify
the possible factors affecting the students’ ability in using question tags.
The test result shows that the mean of the students’ score is 67.82. It means
that the students’ ability in using question tags belongs to good category. From the
data, it can be known that there are 8 students (17.40%) categorized very good, 26
students (56.52%) categorized good, 10 students (21.74%) categorized sufficient,
and 2 students (4.34%) categorized poor. Moreover, the result of the questionnaire
shows that the students’ ability in using question tags is affected by some factors.
They are (1) teacher role in the class, (2) students’ attitude toward the material, (3)
students’ motivation, (4) process of learning and teaching in the classroom, and
(5) the English textbook used.
