ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ MASTERY IN TOEFL STRUCTURE-WRITTEN EXPRESSION (A Case Study at IAIN Antasari, UNLAM, UNISKA and STKIP PGRI in South Kalimantan) Hj. Nida Mufidah A Lecturer at English department at State Institute for Islamic Studies Antasari Banjarmasin ABSTRACT This research is conducted to find out the mastery of English students department in TOEFL in Structure and written Expression in South Kalimantan of IAIN Antasari Banjarmasin, UNLAM, STKIP PGRI, and UNISKA and to know types of questions in TOEFL which are very difficult and difficult for students to answer. The researcher tested 80 fifth semester students of English Department at IAIN ANTASARI, UNLAM, STKIP PGRI and UNISKA in South Kalimantan on the academic year 2011/2012 , used test distributed to 80 students in the fifth semester The TOEFL prediction test was used to gather the data. The result showed the mean score of TOEFL of academic year 2011/2012 classified in beginner category with the mean score 418. The results of TOEFL prediction shows that the mean score of UNLAM’s students is 469, folllowed by IAIN’s which is 454, UNISKA’s is 384, while STKIP PGRI’s is 367. Structure and Writen Expression is the most difficult type of questions are relative pronoun, possessive pronoun, personal pronoun and passive voice. INTRODUCTION Background of Study TOEFL, Test of English as a Foreign Language is probably the most often used Examination in the admission process of foreign students to college and university in the United States. TOEFL examines someone’s abilities in mastering English; the abilities are Listening Comprehension, Structure and Written Expression, Reading Comprehension and Writing. This test evaluates the potential success of an individual to use and understand standard American English at a college level. The TOEFL test gives students the opportunity to prove they can communicate ideas effectively by simulating university classroom and student life communication. The language used in the test reflects real-life English language usage in university lecturers, classes, and laboratories. It is the same language professors’ use when they discuss coursework or concepts with students. It is the language students’ use in study group and everyday university situations, such as buying books at the bookstore, the reading passages from real textbooks and course materials. People take TOEFL test for many reasons; for example someone who wants to study abroad where TOEFL test is a main requirement for non-native applicants at many US and other English-speaking colleges and universities. Another reason is because someone who wants to continue his or her study to Master and Doctoral degree at some universities in Indonesia where TOEFL is a main requirement. In addition, The TOEFL test is also taken by someone who wants to take short course program held by an overseas institution, organization or Foundation in some certain fields. Nowadays, TOEFL is more widespread. TOEFL is taken not only by students in graduate and post - graduate around the world, but also undergraduate students and Secondary school students. Students who are about to finish their undergraduate degree in some universities, institutes or academic are required to take TOEFL and pass certain score. English Department in Indonesia generally requires undergraduate to take TOEFL to the requirement for the bachelor of English Education degree. In English department, the fifth semester students mostly get all the English skills and its component. They are now taking the last grammar lesson, speaking, writing and reading and have finished vocabulary course. Based on these facts, the researchers assumed that the students are ready to take TOEFL test. Furthermore, the researchers also believe it is very important to know the mastery of English Department students in TOEFL in IAIN Antasari, Teacher Training and education of UNLAM, Teacher Training and Education of UNISKA (Islamic Kalimantan University), Teacher Training and Education of STKIP PGRI Banjarmasin, and also to know the type of questions which considered difficult by the students of four institutions joined in this research. Statement of Problems Based on the description above, the researchers formulate the problems of the research as followed: 1. How are the students’ mastery of TOEFL (Structure-Writen Expression) at English department of IAIN ANTASARI, UNLAM, STKIP PGRI and UNISKA in South Kalimantan? 2. What types of questions in TOEFL in Structure and Written Expression are very difficult and difficult for students to answer? Objective of Study Based on the problems above, there are two purposes of this research: 1. To know the students’ mastery of TOEFL in Structure and Written Expression in South Kalimantan at English department of Tarbiyah faculty of ‘Antasari’ state institute for Islamic studies Banjarmasin, UNLAM, STKIP PGRI and UNISKA. 2. To know types of questions in Structure and Written Expression of TOEFL which are very difficult and difficult for students to answer. Significance of Study The result of this research is expected to have advantages, such as: 1. It will become an information, consideration, and input for educational environment in South Kalimantan in increasing and improving educational quality and it is important in establishing conditions, which enable the learners to acquire knowledge, skills, and attitude, so that the learning objectives are reached. 2. It is expected that the result of this research can give useful insight for institutions in South Kalimantan to focus more on the students’ weaknesses in TOEFL. Definition of Key terms To avoid misuderstanding of the terms, the researchers need to define these following key terms: 1. Students’ mastery is defined as the ability of students related to TOEFL which is showed by their TOEFL score. 2. Structure and Written Expression of TOEFL is defined as a test that assess students proficiency in the type of TOEFL used in an academic environment. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Definition of the TOEFL The definition of the TOEFL is stated by Pierce and Kinsell in their book. They said that the TOEFL is a test that assess students proficiency in the type of English used in an academic environment. ( Pierce, Douglas and Kinsell,. 2007: 4) . Moreover, The Test Of English as a Foreign Language (or TOEFL , pronounced "toe-full") evaluates the potential success of an individual to use and understand standard American English at a college level. It is required for non-native applicants at many US and other English- speaking colleges and universities. The TOEFL is the product of the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which is contracted by the private, non-profit firm, the College Board to administer the test in institutions in the US. . Kinds of the TOEFL test There are three kinds of the TOEFL test, they are: a. The Internet-based Test (IBT) The TOEFL IBT is a test that assesses students proficiency in the type of English in an academic environment. The test is administered on the internet. The exam takes about four hours to complete and integrates four essential skills – reading, listening, writing, and speaking. The TOEFL is broken down into four distinct sections. The structure of the test is as follows: 1. Reading Section, consisting of three to five passages that are roughly 550 to 700 words each. Each passage will be followed by 12 to 14 multiple choice questions about the content of the passage. Most of these questions will be worth one point each, though a few toward the end of the section may be worth more. The students will have 60 to 100 minutes to complete the entire section. 2. One listening section, consisting of six to nine audio selections, each of which is three to five minutes long. The selections will be either academic lectures or casual conversations. After each selection. There will be five to six multiple-choice questions about the content of the lecture or conversation. Students will have 60-90 minutes to complete the entire section. 3. One speaking section, consisting of approximately six speaking tasks. Most speaking tasks will also require some listening and some reading. Students will have 20 minutes to complete the entire section. 4. One writing section, consisting of two writing assignments. As with the speaking section, the writing section also requires listening and reading. Students will have 50 minutes to complete the entire section (Pierce, Douglas and Kinsell, Sean. 2007:4). b. The Computer-Based Tests (CBT) In July 1998, ETS introduced the computer-based version of the TOEFL test (TOEFL cBT) in many areas of the world. This move was the first critical step toward a long-term goal of enhancing assessments by using electronic technology to test more complex skills. A primary goal of the TOEFL program is to provide more extensive information than it has in the past about candidates’ English proficiency. In response to institutions’ requests to include a productive measure of writing, the program added a Writing section (essay) as part of each TOEFL CBT test administration. This addition was one step toward a more communicative test. New types of questions were added to the Listening and Reading sections; these new question types moved beyond multiple-choice questions. Visuals were also added to the Listening section, providing a significant enhancement to that portion of the test. Two sections of the test — Listening and Structure — were computer adaptive, meaning the test was tailored to each examinee’s performance level. The test started with questions of moderate difficulty. As an examinee answered each question, the computer scored the question and used that information, as well as the responses to previous questions, to determine the question it would resent next. As long as examinees responded correctly, the computer typically selected questions of greater or equal difficulty. In contrast, if examinees answered questions incorrectly, the computer typically selected questions of lesser or equal difficulty. The computer was programmed to continuously find questions of an appropriate difficulty for test takers of all performance levels. (ETS team,Princeton, 2007:8) c. The Paper-Based Tests (PBT) In PBT, there are three parts; Listening, Structure and Written Expression and Reading Comprehension. We are going to discuss only Structure and Written Expression. 1) Structure and Written Expression In this section, there are 40 questions in two types; completing sentences for 15 questions and the rest 25 questions for error analysis. Testees have 25 minutes to work on those questions. There are many patterns and various style problems in the TOEFL test and they are changed year to year as the emphasis that is placed on various patterns and style problems changes from year to year on the TOEFL (Sharpe, Pamela J. 2005 : 107). RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Participants The population of this research are English Department students of the fifth semester of IAIN Antasari, UNLAM, UNISKA, and STKIP PGRI Banjarmasin academic year 2011-2012. The researchers took 20 students from each institution to be tested. Overall, there were 80 students joined the test. The students were randomly chosen.The researchers contacted the head of English Department of each institution and asked them send 20 participants. The head of English Department, then, anounced it to the fifth semester students and asked any students who liked to join the test registered to the department. The test was held in English language laboratory of IAIN Antasari Banjamasin on 1st, 8th and 15th of October 2011 Techniques of Data Collection The data was collected through test. The students were asked to do a TOEFL prediction test. TOEFL test consists of one ection; Structure and Written Expression (40 questions for 25 minutes) Data Analysis After all of the data was collected and processed, the researcher analyzed the data by using descriptive quantitative, it is a tool for analysis that allows the researcher to give information on how the research was done and gives the data and statistics to back up. It is a purely numerical description. This analysis helps the researchers to highlight some important conclusion from this research. The conclusion is met by inductive method (make conclusion from specific fact to general. To know w the students’ mastery in TOEFL, The data was intrepeted using the following formula M = Σ x N M = Mean Σ = Accumulative (Epsilon) x = Total score N = Number of respondents1 They were classified into 3 categories (taken from Baron’s TOEFL) Score Category 550-670 Advance 500-549 Intermediate < 500 Beginner To know the types of difficult questions, this formula was used the researchers uses Du Bois theory to determine the difficulty index, as follows: p = B Js p = Proportion (difficulty Index) B = Number of correspondents who have correct answer Js = Number of correspondents1 Then, the interpretation of data is needed to describe the significant meaning of data. To interpret the difficulty level of the question type in TOEFL, the researchers modified the theory of Robert L. Thorndike and Elizabeth Hagen who originally divided the category into three; difficult category, fair category and easy category. Here, the the researcherss made some modifications of the category with a consideration that the range of the intepretation is too wide in order to fit with the condition of the result of this study as followed: The Number of P Interpretation < 0,30 Very difficult < 0,50 Difficult 0,50-0,70 Fair > 0,70 easy FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION This research attempted to answer two problem statements about the students’ mastery of TOEFL in structure and written expression and the type of difficult questions of each section in TOEFL test. Students’ Mastery in TOEFL Prediction Test The researchers tested 80 fifth semester students of English Department at IAIN ANTASARI, UNLAM, STKIP PGRI and UNISKA in South Kalimantan on the academic year 2011/2012 , team of this researcher used test distributed to 80 students in the fifth semester. This following data shows their mastery in Structure and Written expression. Table 3.1 TOEFL Prediction in Structure and Written Expression Score of students of English Department of IAIN Antasari Banjarmasin, UNLAM,STKIP PGRI and UNISKA No Institution Section Structure and Written Expression Category 1. IAIN ANTASARI 452 Beginner 2. UNLAM 469 Beginner 3. STKIP PGRI 367 Beginner 4. UNISKA 382 Beginner MEAN 418 Beginner Based on the result of TOEFL prediction, the table above shows that the Mean score of English Department Students of IAIN Antasari,Unlam, STIKIP PGRI and UNISKA in TOEFL in Structure and Written Expression 418 which is in beginner category. In general, this research finds out that the English students’ mastery of TOEFL IN Structure and Written Expression in South Kalimantan is 418 and it is categorized as beginner. Type of difficult questions in TOEFL Test Index of Difficulty and Type of Difficult Question in Structure and Written expression across institutions This section presents the data of Index of Difficulty and Type of Difficult Question in structure and Written Expression. The study found that each institution has similar items question which are in very difficult, difficuly, fair and easy category. This research did not show that structures is the most difficult section as the mean score of structures and written expression. (IAIN: 45,20; UNLAM: 46,95, UNISKA: 38,20 and STKIP: 36,75). This study found that the Structure and Written Expression score’s mean of the students from 4 university joined the test was not high if it were seen from how many correct answers they got out of 40 questions , see the following table:. Table 3.2 Structure and Written Expression and number of correct items out of 40 questions No . Name of Instituti on IA IN UNL AM UNIS KA ST KIP 1. Mean of Score 45 2 469 384 367 2. Number of correct items 22 24 15 14 From the table above, it can be seen that the students from UNLAM could get 60 % of the answers correctly, IAIN is about 55%, UNISKA is about 37,5 % and STKIP 35 %. There are 40 questions in Structure ad Written Expression section. There are two types of items in this section. One type involves a sentence that is missing a word or phrases. The students must choose the one that best completes. The numbers of correct items in each institution are different. Unlam gets 24 correct items, followed by IAIN 22 items, STKIP 14 items, and UNISKA 15 items. The data of difficulty of Structure and Written Expresion across the institusions can be seen below: Table 3.3 Index of difficulty of Structure and Written Expression Items across Institutions (IAIN, UNLAM, UNISKA, STKIP) No NP Number of participant with incorrect answer T I A NCA ID Category Of items IAIN UNLAM UNISKA STKIP 1 80 8 2 6 9 25 55 0,70 Easy 2 80 2 7 16 12 37 43 0,53 Fair 3 80 4 6 11 13 34 45 0,56 Fair 4 80 6 7 14 10 37 43 0,53 Fair 5 80 11 6 19 16 42 28 0,35 Difficult 6 80 13 7 17 14 51 29 0,36 difficult 7 80 8 9 10 11 38 42 0,52 Fair 8 80 2 0 5 8 25 65 0,81 Easy 9 80 7 2 12 14 35 45 0,56 Fair 10 80 12 9 10 15 46 34 0,42 Difficult 11 80 10 9 17 20 56 24 0,30 Difficult 12 80 8 6 9 10 33 47 0,58 Fair 13 80 14 13 15 17 59 21 0,26 Very diff 14 80 12 9 16 15 52 28 0,35 Difficult 15 80 7 6 12 10 35 45 0,56 Fair 16 80 10 2 19 10 41 39 0,48 Difficult 17 80 13 18 17 20 68 12 0,15 Very diff 18 80 6 16 17 13 52 28 0,35 Difficult 19 80 14 6 18 18 56 24 0,30 Difficult 20 80 3 7 13 14 37 43 0,53 Fair 21 80 12 8 16 14 50 30 0,37 Difficult 22 80 11 13 12 13 49 31 0,38 Difficult 23 80 19 20 20 16 75 5 0,06 Very diff 24 80 12 5 12 18 47 33 0,41 Difficult 25 80 14 17 18 18 67 13 0,16 Very diff 26 80 10 7 11 17 45 35 0,43 Difficult 27 80 4 4 5 11 24 56 0,70 Easy 28 80 3 11 10 13 37 43 0,53 Fair 29 80 5 5 9 17 36 44 0,55 Fair 30 80 4 2 9 11 26 54 0,67 Fair 31 80 10 13 16 11 50 30 0,37 Difficult 32 80 4 4 12 15 35 45 0,56 Fair 33 80 11 18 13 15 57 23 0,28 Very diff 34 80 10 7 13 14 44 36 0,45 Difficult 35 80 8 5 15 14 42 38 0,47 Difficult 36 80 10 10 17 18 55 25 0,31 Difficult 37 80 6 5 10 11 42 38 0,47 Difficult 38 80 1 7 10 14 32 48 0,60 Fair 39 80 8 12 13 11 44 36 0,45 Difficult 40 80 13 1 9 15 38 42 0,52 Fair Notes: NP is total number of participants, TIA is total number of incorrect answer, NCA is total number of correct answer, ID is index of difficulty From table 3.3, it can be described that the questions are considered difficult if the index of difficulty less than 0,30. Therefore questions number 13, 17, 23, 25, and 33 are in difficult category. It could be figured out that students from the four institution shared almost the same difficulties for questions numbers 5, 6, 10, 11, 14, 16,18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 27, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, and 39. While the questions number 13, 17, 23, 25 and 33 are very difficult items. As for structure the most difficult type of questions are relative pronoun, possessive pronoun, personal pronoun and passive voice Most students gave incorrect answer when it came to these questions more than 50 % of the students of each institution got it wrong. Here is the description about the types of difficult questions based on the index of difficulty in table 3.4: Table 3.4.Item Number and Type of difficult questions of Structure and Written Expression No. Item Numbers Type of Questions B. 1 Expression of Quantity 2. 7,27, 30,31 Subject-Verb Agreement 3. 8, 9, 22, 28, 37 Preposition 4. 16, 19, 20, 39, 40 Noun 5. 4, 5 Article ‘a’ 6. 29, 34 Parallel 7. 10, 12, 18, 21, Reduced Clause 8. 26 An Appositives 9. 23, 33 Passive 10. 13 Possessive Pronoun 11. 20 ,25 Personal Pronoun 12. 11 Adverb of Place 13. 15, 35 Noun Phrase 14. 3 Superlative Adjective 15. 2, 14, 24, 32 Adjective 16. 36 Adverb 17. 17 Relative Pronoun 18. 6, 38 Showing Relation between Ideas Table 3.4 describes the type of questions which are categorized difficult or very difficult. It is found that questions about Preposition and Noun in general is considered the most difficult type of questions by the participant based on the test followed by question about Reduced Clause, adjective (as+ adjective Noun Phrase), Preposition (through, although, despite), Noun Phrase, Subject + verb Agreement, Passive, and Parallel. The previous section has described the more general findings across institutions in this study. This section would bring up more specific findings found in each institution. Type of question, Item number and Index of difficulty of Structure and Written Expression of each Institution IAIN Antasari There are some items which are categorized as difficult and very difficult questions based on the result of IAIN students’ Structure and Written Expression of TOEFL test. See the following table for clear description Table 3.5 Type of question, Item number and Index of difficulty of Structure and Written Expression of IAIN Antasari Type Item NP NIC NCA ID Category Of Questions Numbers 1. Adjective 5 20 11 9 0,45 Difficult 2. Verb-Conjunction 6 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult 3. Reduced Subject 10 20 12 8 0,40 Difficult 4. Possessive Pronoun 13 20 14 6 0,30 Difficult 5. Place of Enough after Adjective 14 20 12 8 0,40 Difficult 6.Relative Pronoun 17 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult 7.Noun 19 20 14 6 0,30 Difficult 8. A Reduced Adverb Clause 21 20 12 8 0,40 Difficult 9.Preposition 22 20 11 9 0,45 Difficult 10.Passive 23 20 19 1 0,05 Very Difficult 11.Comparative Adjective 24 20 12 8 0,40 Difficult 12. Personal Pronoun 25 20 14 6 0,30 Difficult 13.Noun Clause 33 20 11 9 0,45 Difficult 14. Passive 40 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult Notes: NP is total number of participants, TIA is total number of incorrect answer, NCA is total number of correct answer, ID is index of difficulty. Based on the table above, it can be identified 13 items questions are the items question which are difficult.. They are number 5, 6, 10, 13,14,17,19,21, 22, 24, 25, 33 and 40. The items questions are about: Possessive Pronoun, Relative Pronoun. Noun Clause, Or, Passive, Personal Pronoun, Adjective, and Passive Sentence. verb conjunction , Their Possessive, Place of Enough after adjective, Noun , A reduced Adverb Clause, comparative adjective, Noun Clause while number 23 is the most difficult question, Passive sentence, only 1 student who could answer this number. From those items, more than 32,5 % students of IAIN Antasari could not answer these questions. UNLAM (Lambung Mangkurat University) There are some items which are categorized as difficult and very difficult questions based on the result of UNLAM students’ Structure and Written Expression of TOEFL test. See table below for obvious result. Table 3.6 Type of question, Item number and Index of difficulty Structure and Written Expression (20 participants) UNLAM Type Item NP NIC NCA ID Category of Questions Numbers 1. Relative Pronoun 17 20 18 2 0,10 Very Difficult 2. Noun Clause as Subject 18 20 16 4 0,20 Very Difficult 3. Preposition 22 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult 4. Passive 23 20 20 0 0 Very Difficult 5. Personal Pronoun 25 20 17 3 0,15 Very Difficult 6. Preposition 28 20 11 9 0,45 Difficult 7. Subject +Verb Agreement 31 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult 8. Passive 33 20 18 2 0,10 Very Difficult 9. Noun 39 20 12 8 0,40 Difficult Notes: NP is total number of participants, TIA is total number of incorrect answer, NCA is total number of correct answer, ID is index of difficulty Based on the table above, it can be identified number 17, 18, 23, 25, and,33 are the items question which are very difficult. There are 22,5 % students of English Department of UNLAM can not answer correctly. The items questions are about: Relative Pronoun, Noun Clause as Subject, Passive, Personal Pronoun, and Noun. While number 22, 28, 31 and 39 are in difficult category, the question of grammar in Noun, Preposition, and Subject + Verb agreement. UNISKA (THE UNIVERSITY OF ISLAM KALIMANTAN) There are some items which are categorized as difficult and very difficult questions (<30) based on the result of UNISKA students’ Structure and Written Expression of TOEFL test. See this table below for obvious result: Table 3.7 Type of question, Item number and Index of difficulty of Structure and Written Expression (20 participants) UNISKA Type Item NP NIC NCA ID Category of Questions Numbers 1. Comparative Adjective 2 20 16 4 0,20 Very Difficult 2. Superlative Adjective 3 20 11 9 0,45 Difficult 3. Article ‘a’ 4 20 14 6 0,30 Difficult 4. Adjective 5 20 19 1 0,05 Very Difficult 5. Verb Conjunction Noun Noun 6 20 17 3 0,15 Very Difficult 6. Preposition 8 20 5 5 0,25 Very Difficult 7.Preposition 9 20 12 8 0,40 Difficult 8. Adverb of Place 11 20 17 3 0,15 Very Difficult 9.Possessive Pronoun 13 20 15 5 0,25 Very Difficult 10. Place of’ ‘enough’ after Adjective 14 20 16 4 0,20 Very Difficult 11.Showing relation between Ideas 15 20 12 8 0,40 Difficult 12. Noun-ability 16 20 19 1 0,05 Very Difficult 13. Relative Pronoun 17 20 17 3 0,15 Very Difficult 14. Noun Clause as Subject 18 20 17 3 0,15 Very difficult 15. Noun 19 20 18 2 0,10 Very Difficult 16. Plural 20 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult 17.A Reduced Adverb Clause 21 20 16 4 0,20 Very Difficult 18. Preposition 22 20 12 8 0,40 Difficult 19. Passive 23 20 20 0 0 Very Difficult 20.Comparative 24 20 12 8 0,40 Difficult 21.Personal Pronoun 25 20 18 2 0,10 Very Difficult 22. An appositives 26 20 11 9 0,45 Difficult 23. Subject Verb Agreement 31 20 16 4 0,20 Difficult 24.Comparison Adjective 32 20 12 8 0,40 Very Difficult 25. Passive 33 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult 26. Parallel 34 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult 27. No + Noun Phrase 35 20 15 5 0,25 Very Difficult 28. Adverb 36 20 17 3 0,15 Very Difficult 29. Prepositions 37 20 10 10 0,10 Very Difficult 30. Showing relation between ideas 38 20 10 10 0,10 Very Difficult 31. Noun 39 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult Notes: NP is total number of participants, TIA is total number of incorrect answer, NCA is total number of correct answer, ID is index of difficulty Based on the table above, it can be identified that 31 questions are the question which are in very difficult and difficult category according to UNISKA’s students. It tells that 77,5 % students did not do questions well.. The item questions could be seen on the table above. While the rest of the numbers, 9 items only could be answered in fair and easy category. While 31 items of Structure and Written Expression are very difficult and difficult. The items questions are about: Possessive Pronoun, Relative Pronoun. Noun Clause, Or, Passive, Personal Pronoun, Object Pronoun, Present Tense, and Passive Sentence. Comparative Adjective, Superlative adjective, Article a Adjective, verb conjunction , to be, Introduction Preposition Phrase, Where state to place, Without both, Their Possessive, Place of Enough after adjective, So + Adjective + NP, Noun ability, Relative Pronoun, Noun Clause as a Subject, Noun, Plural, A reduced Adverb Clause, Passive, the more X the more Y, Personal Pronoun, An opposite, TO be IS, Present Tense, Parallelism, No + Noun Phrase, Introduction Preposition Phrase, Despite Noun Phrase, and Passive Interpretation. Subject Verb Agreement, and Showing relation between ideas. STKIP PGRI (INSTITUTE OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION PGRI) Some items which are categorized as difficult and very difficult questions (<30) based on the result of STKIP students’ Structure and Written Expression of TOEFL test. See this table below for obvious result. Table 3.8 Type of question, Item number and Index of difficulty of of Structure and Written Expression (20 participants) STKIP PGRI Type Item NP NIC NCA ID Category of Questions Numbers 1.Comparative Adjective 2 20 12 8 0,40 Difficult 2. Superlative Adjective 3 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult 3. Article ‘a’ 4 20 10 10 0,50 Difficult 4. Adjective 5 20 16 4 0,20 Very Difficult 5. Verb Conjunction 6 20 14 6 0,30 Difficult 6. Subject Verb Agreement 7 20 11 9 0,45 Difficult 7. Preposition 9 20 14 6 0,30 Difficult 8. Reduced Subject 10 20 15 5 0,25 Very Difficult 9. Adverb of Place 11 20 20 0 0 Very Difficult 10. Possessive Pronoun 13 20 17 3 0,15 Very Difficult 11. Place of’ enough’ after Adjective 14 20 15 5 0,25 Very difficult 12.Relative Pronoun 17 20 20 0 0 Very Difficult 13. Noun Clause as Subject 18 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult 14. Noun 19 20 18 2 0,10 Very Difficult 15. Plural 20 20 14 6 0,30 Difficult 16.A Reduced Adverb Clause 21 20 14 6 0,30 Difficult 17. Preposition 22 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult 18. Passive 23 20 16 4 0,20 Very Difficult 19.Comparative 24 20 18 2 0,10 Very Difficult 20. Personal Pronoun 25 20 18 2 0,10 Very Difficult 21. An appositives 26 20 17 3 0,15 Very Difficult 22. Subject Verb Agreement 27 20 11 8 0,40 Difficult 23. Reduced Subject 28 20 13 7 0,35 Difficult 24. Parallel 29 20 17 3 0,15 Very Difficult 25. Subject Verb Agreement 30 20 11 9 0,45 Difficult 26.Subject Verb Agreement 31 20 11 9 0,45 Difficult 27.As + Adjective+ As Phrase 32 20 15 5 0,25 Very Difficult 28. Passive 33 20 15 5 0,25 Very Difficult 29. Parallel 34 20 14 6 0,30 Difficult 30. NO + Noun Phrase 35 20 14 6 0,30 Difficult 31. Adverb 36 20 18 2 0,10 Very Difficult 32. Showing relation between Ideas 37 20 11 9 0,45 Difficult 33. Showing relation between Ideas 38 20 14 6 0,30 Difficult 34. Noun 39 20 11 9 0,45 Difficult 35. Noun 40 20 15 5 0,25 Very Difficult Notes: NP is total number of participants, TIA is total number of incorrect answer, NCA is total number of correct answer, ID is index of difficulty This table shows that there are 35 items questions which are in very difficult and difficult category. It explains that 87,5 % students are not able to answer correctly. The rest of those numbers above, namely number 1, 8, 12, 15 and 16 are in fair and easy category. The items questions are about: Pronoun, Relative Pronoun. Noun Clause, Or, Passive, Personal Pronoun, Object Pronoun, Present Tense, and Passive Sentence. Comparative Adjective, Superlative adjective, Article a Adjective, verb conjunction , to be, Introduction Preposition Phrase, Where state to place, Without both, Their Possessive, Place of Enough after adjective, So + Adjective + NP, Noun ability, Relative Pronoun, Noun Clause as a Subject, Noun, Plural, A reduced Adverb Clause, Passive, the more X the more Y, Personal Pronoun, An opposite, TO be IS, Present Tense, Parallelism, Noun + Noun Phrase, Introduction Preposition Phrase, Despite Noun Phrase, and Passive Interpretation. CONCLUSION After conducting the research and analyzing all the data, the writers would like to conclude as follows: 1. The students’ mastery of TOEFL in Structure and Written Expression at English Department of Tarbiyah Faculty of ‘Antasari’, UNLAM, STIKIP PGRI, UNISKA in South Kalimantan on the academic year 2011/2012 classified in beginner category with the mean score 418. The results of TOEFL prediction shows that the mean score of UNLAM’s students is 469, folllowed by IAIN’s which is 454, UNISKA’s is 384, while STKIP PGRI’s is 367. Structure and Writen Expression is the most difficult type of questions are relative pronoun, possessive pronoun, personal pronoun and passive voice, while in reading comprehension the most difficult types are Inference items, followed by vocabulary and reference items, details items and overview items. SUGGESTION Based on the result of this study, the writers give the following suggestion: 1. Students at English Department of Tarbiyah Faculty of ‘Antasari’ State Institute for Islamic Studies Banjarmasin, UNLAM, STKIP PGRI, UNISKA are expected to study hard in English subjects, and do a lot of listening practice, improve grammar, read a various topics, and enrich vocabularies. 2. Students should know and learn better about all sections in TOEFL and strategies for answering the TOEFL. 3. Lecturers of Structure and Written Expression should involve TOEFL materials, tests in their teaching since advanced students should be introduced and practiced TOEFL to get good chance for their future. 4. English Department in each university can hold TOEFL test continuously REFERENCES https://secure.vec.bc.ca/whatistoefl.cfm? Retrieved on July 11, 2011 at 12.07 Joelle Brummitt-Yale. Reading Comprehension. http://www.k12reader.com/what-is- reading-comprehension/, Retrieved on July 11, 2011 at 13.30. Matthiesen, Steven Essential Words for the TOEFL (Test of English as a foreign Language). New York:Barron’s. Michael Pyle and Mary Ellen Munoz. (1985). Test of English as a Foreign Language Preparation Guide, Lincoln: Cliffs Notes. Inc Riyanto, Slamet. (2007). The 1st Student’s choice TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar R.J Stiggins.(2001).Student-involved classroom assessment, Ohio: Merril Prentice Sharpe, Pamela J. 2003. Barron’s How to Prepare for the TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language.10 ed . Indonesia: Binarupa Aksara Tarigan, Henry Guntur. (1984). Membaca Sebagai Suatu keterampilan Bahasa. Bandung: Angkasa. Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), http://www.mytoeflsuccess.com/toefl-test/, Retrieved on June 12, 2011 at 10.12. TOEFL Tips, “How to prepare to the TOEFL iBT”. http//TOEFL_tips.How to Prepare for the TOEFL iBT.Pdf., p.4 Retrieved on July 11, 2011 at 10.00 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. TOEFL. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEFL. Retrieved on May 24, 2011 at 17:22. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Reading Comprehension. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading Comprehension., Retrieved on July 11, 2011 at 12.07. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Reading Comprehension. http://en.wikipedia.org/ https://secure.vec.bc.ca/whatistoefl.cfm http://www.k12reader.com/author/joelle/ http://www.k12reader.com/what-is-reading-comprehension/ http://www.k12reader.com/what-is-reading-comprehension/ http://www.mytoeflsuccess.com/toefl-test/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEFL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading Wiki/Reading_Comprehension, Retrieved on July 11, 2011 at 12.07