AN ANALYSIS ON THE ENGLISH NATIONAL

EXAMINATION TEST ITEMS FOR JUNIOR HIGH

SCHOOL
Mid Term Assignment of SLA
By: TRI ASTUTI ARI WINARTI
NIM: 020514097
P. BAHASA INGGRIS KELAS KHUSUS
SEMESTER GASAL TP 2015/2016

An Analysis on the English National Examination

Test Item for Junior High School

A. Introduction
This paper aims to analyse the English National Examination (ENE) test items
especially for Junior High School in Indonesia. The analysis is based on the Graduate
Competence Standar for English subject compared with the existing test items. Although
ENE is not the only indicator to determine the graduation of the students, it still
considered as the most important matter at school. The students often try hard to
achieve the best score in order to register in the higher school level. However, for
English subject, students face some problems in the final examination.
The problem related to the difficulty in understanding the text. The topic of the
texts in the test items are too broad since they are not theme based tests. The limitation
is only on the text types not on the theme. Therefore the students cannot prepare
themselves in understanding the unlimited topic of the text.
In 2014, the result of the ENE shows that the highest score is 10,00 and the lowest
one is 0,80. It means that for the lowest score, there are only 4 out of 50 test items that
can be done by the student who got the score. In the data of the score distribution, the
number of the students in the highest persentage (26,55 %) are in the streches of score
4,00 5,49. There are only 44,18 % of the senior higher school students in Indonesia
who got the score more that 70,00. The average score is 6,51.
The condition of ENE result reflects that the English Learning for Junior High School
could not produce good output in the level of Junior High School. It can be caused by the
curriculum of English Teaching and Learning which can be applied to all of the
Indonesian students or it can also be caused by the quality of the national examination
items which has too broad materials.
In order to describe the cause of the condition, the focus of this paper is to identify
and analyse the ENE items especially the text types, whether or not it is suitable with
the Graduate Competence Standard and the cognitive level of the Junior High School
students. There will also be the example of the English final examination result in the
Central Jave Province for each test items along with the analysis on the result of each

test items. The data is taken from the recapitulation of final exam result published by
the Ministry of National Education for the National Examination in 2014.
B. English National Examination
English National Examination (ENE) in Indonesia is held from the level of Junior
High School since English is included in the national curriculum. However, English
teachers involved in this study have positive and negative perceptions on the ENE.
Overall they understand that the ENE is important for national standard, for measuring
the schools progress, improving the quality of education, and determining students
graduation. (Sukyadi & Mardiani:2011)
In one hand, the notion that ENE is important for the national standard can be true
because English is an international language that should be mastered by the Indonesian
students to catch up the condition of being fallen behind. In the other hand, it can also
be said that ENE for Junor High School has too high level compared with the
competence of Indonesian students, especially those who live in rural areas.
ENE in Indonesia can be categorized as standardized testing because it is held in
the national level for students all around Indonesia. Every 9 graders of Junior High
School must pass the national examination as one of the requirements to graduate from
the Junior High School.
C. Graduate Competence Standard
In the previous curriculum, which is 2006 curriculum, the graduation requirements
are stated in the Government Regulation No. 32 / 2013 about the

change of

Government Regulation No. 19 Tahun 2005 about Education National Standard. It

states that the requirements for the students to be graduate from junior high school are
among others: 1) finishing all of the learning program; 2) getting at least good scores at
the final assessment of all subjects; 3) passed the school examination; and 4) passed the
national examination.
As English is one of the compulsory subjects for the national examination, it should
be considered as one of the important subjects. In 2014, the Education Ministry had
published the table of specification for all subjects , including English. The following is
the table of specification of ENE.

NO
1.

COMPETENCE

INDICATORS

READING

Determining the general idea/main idea of

Understanding the meaning in short

parapgraps or specific information/detail

simple written text, functional or

information/implied information or reference or

essay, in the form of descriptive

words meaning or communicative purpose of

(descriptive, procedure, or report)

short functional texts including

and narrative (narrative and

caution/notice/warning, greeting card,

recount) in the daily context.

letter/e-mail, short message, advertisement,

announcement, invitation, schedule.
Determining the general idea/main idea of
parapgraps or specific information/detail
information/implied information or reference or
words meaning or communicative purpose of
short essay texts including procedure.
Determining the general idea/main idea of
parapgraps or specific information/detail
information/implied information or reference or
words meaning or communicative purpose of
short essay texts including descriptive.
Determining the general idea/main idea of
parapgraps or specific information/detail
information/implied information or reference or
words meaning or communicative purpose of
short essay texts including recount
Determining the general idea/main idea of
parapgraps or specific information/detail
information/implied information or reference or
words meaning or communicative purpose of
short essay texts including narrative
Determining the general idea/main idea of
parapgraps or specific information/detail
information/implied information or reference or
words meaning or communicative purpose of
short essay texts including report.

NO
2

COMPETENCE

INDICATORS

WRITING

Determining the correct words to complete the

Expressing the meaning of short

missing words of simple recount/narrative texts.

functional and simple essay texts in

Determining the correct words to complete the

the written form, in the form of

missing words of simple descriptive/procedure

descriptive (descriptive, procedure,

texts.

or report) and narrative (narrative

Determining the correct words order to create a

and recount) in the daily context.

meaningful sentence
Determining the correct sentences order to create
a meaningful and coherent paragraph

Reviewing the table of sepcification above, there are several things that we can
conclude about the ENE in Indonesia using the KTSP (School Based Curriculum), i.e.:
1.

All of the test items are in the form of objective test. The students only have to
choose one of the correct answer from the four options provided.

2.

Most of the indicators reflect the reading skill of the students. In fact, only five items
which test the writing skill of them.

3.

The themes of each texts are not mentioned, so the topic is unlimited. It is very
difficult for the students to prepare themselves for the ENE since they do not know
the theme. In the previous curriculum, the themes are limited and the students can
prepare themselves with certain vocabularies for certain text types.

4.

There are various kinds of texts in the ENE and the students have to understand all
of them with unclear limitation.

5.

The focus is only about the meaning of the texts without considering the language
features of the texts which are easier to be identified.

6.

The simple essay texts, especially report texts, have no correlation with their daily
life because it talks about academic report of something. It is not suitable with the
cognitive level of Junior High School Students.

D. The example of the test items

There are 50 items in the final examination of English that should be finished in 120
minutes. For each room consists of 20 students, there are 20 types/packages of
question sheets with different texts.
4

Those test items consist of eight kinds of functional texts and 5 kind of essay texts.
The functional texts are caution/notice/warning, greeting card, letter/e-mail, short
message, advertisement, announcement, invitation, schedule.
These are the example of the texts in the problem sheets of the first package. It was
tested in the ENE academic year 2013/2014.
1.

Caution/notice/warning

The context of the warning is suitable with the students daily life, however for the
students who live far from the beach, it can be difficult. Moreover the students of
isolated area which is far from communication and information sources. The warning
should be more general considering the conditon of the students.
2.

Greeting card

The text is quite simple and familiar with the students. The words are also easy to
understand. This kind of greeting card can be found in the students daily life.
3.

Letter/e-mail

This letter still uses many familiar words so the students will easily understand the
text and answer the questions. Unfortunately, the physical form of the letter which is
supposed to be like an e mail, fails to show the authenticity of the text. It is better if the
appearance is like the real email in the internet.
4.

Short message

This text is confusing because the situation seems to be between the teachers but it
can be between the OSIS commitee. The short message is not like the real one because
the diction is rather formal.
5.

Advertisement

The diction is rather difficult for the level of Junior High School students because
the words are not easy to understand.
6.

Announcement

The text can be found in the students daily life but it is not the real announcement
because the sentences seem to be awkward. It consits of several grammatical and
complete sentences that are unusual in an announcement. It is better if the
announcement only in the form of some pointers about some important topics.
7.

Invitation

The text is easily understood although it does not fill the requirement of an
invitation good structure. It is lack of invitee and confirmation which becomes the
special characteristic of English invitation.
8.

Schedule

It seems to be not an authentic text because it has an Indonesian language sense. It

is just an Indonesian schedule which is translated in to English without considering the
context and grammar of English language.

From the example of the functional text above, it can be concluded that most of
them are not the authentic text. It is dangerous because the students learn English
language to be able to communicate with the English speaking people. If they are not
provided with the real context of situation and culture, their English will be useless and
cannot be applied in their real life. Therefore, it is better for the students to be familiar
with the authentic texts even in the national examination.
The following texts are the example of the simple essay texts existing in the
problem sheets of ENE from the same source of the above functional text.
1.

Procedure

This text has some unfamiliar words with the students and it will make them
difficult to understand and answer the questions.
2.

Descriptive

The text is not difficult to understand but there are two other descriptive texts that
are about a school activity and the Songkran festival from Thailand. The former uses
common and familiar words, while the latter has more difficult words. The number of
the descriptive texts is not balanced with the other texts. It is better if there are only two
descriptive texts in the problem sheets.

3.

Recount
The recount text is not available in the first package of the ENE. It is not suitable

with the table of specification where this text type should be provided in the rading
section. It is different with the descriptive texts which are provided three times.
Recount text appears in the writing section in the form of cloze test.

This recount text is easy to understand but it is too short. Therefore it is difficult for
the students to have more understanding about the text meaning to ease them complete
the missing words.
4.

Narrative

The text is quite illogical because it wont happen in the real life. It will lead the
illogical thinking of the students. Although it is common for the narrative text is to be
illogical but the one provided to the students should be not really illogical.
5.

Report
The report text is also not available in the first package of the ENE. It is not suitable

with the table of specification where this text type should be provided. In fact, the
report text is difficult for the students to understand so it will decrease the students
burden in the
9

After observing the simple essay texts above, we can see that the essay texts in the
first package of the problem sheet are not complete. It only consists of procedure,
descriptive and narrative text. The three of them actually has no correlaton with the
students daily life except the procedure text. The recount text that should be appear in
the reading section, only exists in the writing section.
The writing section itself has been compatible with the table of specification
because it consists of two cloze tests, three jumbled words and one jumbled sentences.
Unfortunately the jumbled words are not in the form of meaningful text but
independent sentences. It is not suitable with the table of specification which states that
writing competence is to express the meaning in functional and essay texts, not
independent sentences.
E. The analysis on the result
The following is the result of the national examination in the academic year
2013/2014 published by the National Education Ministry for all of the tested subjects.

The result of English shows that English Learning Process should be improved
because the output is still low in the average although it is not the lowest average. The
problems may be caused by several things, i.e:
1.

English is taught as foreign language at school. Therefore the students only use the
English language when they have English class. In fact, the existence of internet can
help the students to learn English outside the classroom but not all the students can

10

access the internet easily and use the information from the internet wisely to
support the English learning in the classroom.
2.

For the students in the remote or isolated rural area, English learning becomes a big
problem because the lack of supporting materila or media and also the qualified
teachers for them. When the national examination is not considering the condition
of every students in Indonesia from Sabang to Merauke, the the result will not be
improved.
The following is the analysis on the test items, the case of Central Java students in

the academic year 2013/2014 published by the National Education Ministry.

1.

Number 1-13 (Warning, Greeting Card, Letter, Short message, Advertisement,

Announcement, schedule)

NO
1

COMPETENCE/INDICATOR
Menentukan isi peringatan teks warning di tempat wisata
dengan tepat (specific information in a warning)

NAS

PROV

58,41

61,45

66,58

67,02

49,26

51,55

66,27

70,54

50,58

58,42

66,19

67,46

70,64

73,85

75,43

73,72

Menentukan tujuan komunikatif dr teks greeting card atas

2

keberhasilan menjadi juara pertandingan (communicative

purpose in a greeting card)
Menentukan jawaban pertanyaan tentang tindakan memuji di

dalam teks greeting card yang sama (complimenting

expression in a greeting card)

Menentukan gambaran umum isi teks personal letter/e-mail

tentang pengalaman berlibur (general idea in a letter)
Menentukan informasi tersirat ttg alat transportasi yg

digunakan di dlm teks personal letter/e-mail (implied

information in a letter)
Menentukan alasan memilih tempat liburan di dalam teks

personal letter/e-mail yang sama dengan tepat (detailed

information in a letter)

7
8

Menentukan rujukan kata pd kalimat yg memuat kata ganti

tertentu dari teks letter/e-mail (reference in a letter)
Menentukan informasi rinci ttg kegiatan seseorang dlm teks
short message tentang kegiatan sekolah (detailed

11

NO

COMPETENCE/INDICATOR

NAS

PROV

information in a short message)

Menentukan tujuan komunkatif dari teks short message
9

tentang kegiatan sekolah (communicative purpose in a

56,02

63,01

72,32

75,56

62,20

68,75

54,70

59,81

55,50

63,10

70,25

68,83

59,54

63,83

64,41

66,14

66,48

69,86

71,59

71,37

58,16

65,92

short message)
Menentukan tujuan komunikatif dari teks iklan pelatihan
10

membuat blog bagi siswa (communicative purpose in a

advertisement)
Menentukan informasi rinci tentang orang yang terkait di

11

dalam teks iklan (detailed information in a

advertisement)

12

Menentukan informasi tersirat tujuan yang dicapai di dalam

teks iklan (communicative purpose in a advertisement)
Menentukan synonym dari kata sifat di dalam sebuah kalimat

13

dari teks iklan yang sama dengan tepat (synonym in a

advertisement)
Menentukan informasi tersurat ttg waktu pelaksanaan

14

kegiatan dlm teks announcement kegiatan sekolah (explicit

information in an announcement)
Melengkapi informasi tersirat ttg tindakan mengingatkan

15

kembali di dlm teks announcement (implied information in

an announcement)
Menentukan rujukan kata di dalam sebuah kalimat yg memuat

16

kata ganti tertentu dari teks announcement (reference in an

announcement)
Menentukan tujuan komunikatif dari teks schedule kegiatan

17

tour/camping dengan tepat (communicative purpose of a

schedule)
Menentukan informasi rinci tentang kegiatan di dalam teks

18

schedule kegiatan tour/camping (detailed information of a

schedule)

19

Menentukan sinonim dari kata kerja dalam sebuah kalimat

12

NO

COMPETENCE/INDICATOR

NAS

PROV

dari teks schedule kegiatan tour/camping (synonym in a

schedule)
Based on the table, the test items related with the functional texts appear in 19 test
items. The lowest percentage is in number 3 that is determining the respond of
complimenting expression in a greeting card. It may be caused by the students lack of
understanding in the culture of English speaking people when giving and responding
the complement. The highest percentage is in number 8 that is determining the detailed
information in a short message.
2.

Number 20-39 (procedure, descriptive, recount, narrative, report)

NO

COMPETENCE/INDICATOR

NAS

PROV

Menentukan gambaran umum isi teks procedure tentang

20

mengoperasikan/melakukan sesuatu dengan tepat (general

56,90

61,64

58,97

64,42

46,04

57,02

memuat kata ganti tertentu dari teks procedure (reference in 70,07

70,62

idea of a procedure)
21

Menentukan informasi tertentu ttg tindakan kegiatan di dalam

teks procedure (specific information in a procedure)
Menentukansinonim dari kata dalam sebuah kalimat dari teks

22

procedure yang sama dengan tepat (synonym in a

procedure)
Menentukan rujukan kata di dalam sebuah kalimat yang

23

a procedure)
Menentukan informasi tersurat ttg waktu pelaksanaan pd teks
24

descriptive kegiatan pentas seni/bazar (explicit information

80,20

75,68

54,23

63,92

73,75

72,41

in a procedure)
Melengkapi pernyataan yang belum lengkap dg tujuan
25

komunikatif di dlm teks descriptive (communicative

purpose of a procedure)

26

Menentukan informasi tertentu ttg jenis kegiatan yg

dipentaskan di dlm teks descriptive (specific information in

13

NO

COMPETENCE/INDICATOR

NAS

PROV

52,09

59,27

65,10

67,99

55,49

61,75

52,28

56,78

66,33

69,41

72,77

69,01

61,41

61,33

73,93

75,31

74,28

73,16

62,94

68,65

71,66

69,22

61,13

62,36

a descriptive)
Menentukan gambaran umum isi bacaan teks recount ttg
27

pengalaman menarik bersama binatang peliharaan (general

idea of a descriptive)

28

Menentukan pikiran utama paragraf tertentu di dalam teks

recount (main idea of a paragraph in a recount)
Menentukan jawaban pertanyaan tentang tempat kegiatan di

29

dalam teks recount yang sama dengan tepat (specific

information in a recount)
menentukan jawaban pertanyaan tentang tindakan kegiatan

30

di dalam teks recount yang sama dengan tepat (specific

information in a recount)

31

Menentukan gambaran umum isi teks narrative tentang

legenda tertentu (general idea of a narrative)
Menentukan informasi tertentu ttg permasalahan yang

32

dialami oleh tokoh di dalam teks narrative (specific

information in a narrative)
Menentukan pikiran utama salah satu paragraf di dalam teks

33

narrative dengan tepat (main idea of a paragraph in a

narrative)

34
35
36

Menentukan pesan moral yang didapat dari cerita dalam teks

narrative dengan tepat (moral value in a narrative)
Menentukan gambaran umum isi bacaan sebuah teks report
tentang kegiatan budaya tertentu (general idea of a report)
Menentukan pikiran utama paragraf tertentu di dalam teks
report dengan tepat (main idea of a paragraph in a report)
Menentukan jawaban pertanyaan tentang daerah asal di

37

dalam teks report yang sama dengan tepat (specific

information in a report)

38

Menentukan informasi tertentu ttg alasan tindakan kegiatan

pd teks report dengan tepat (specific information in a

14

NO

COMPETENCE/INDICATOR

NAS

PROV

55,59

61,35

report)
Menentukan tujuan komunikatif kegiatan budaya di dalam
39

teks report yang sama dengan tepat (communicative

purpose of a report)

Based on the table, the test items related with the essay texts appear in 20 test
items. The number is balanced with the functional text. The most difficult items is about
synonym. The lowest percentage is in number 22 that is synonym in a procedure. It is
related with the lack of vocabulary of the students. The highest percentage is in number
24 that is explicit information in a procedure.
3.

Number 40-50 (cloze text, jumbled words, jumbled sentences)

NO

COMPETENCE/INDICATOR

NAS

PROV

41,45

54,82

41,37

57,49

53,44

62,10

56,96

61,71

46,56

61,38

63,91

72,79

Menentukan kata kerja yang tepat untuk melengkapi teks

40

recount dengan 3 rumpang (correct verb of missing words

in a recount )
Menentukan kata benda yang tepat untuk melengkapi teks

41

recount yang sama (correct noun of missing words in a

recount )
Menentukan adverb of manner yang tepat untuk melengkapi

42

teks recount yang sama (correct adverb of manner of

missing words in a recount )
Menentukan kata ganti untuk melengkapi teks descriptive

43

binatang darat/laut/udara dengan 3 rumpang (correct

pronoun of missing words in a descriptive)
Menentukan kata sifat yang tepat untuk melengkapi teks

44

descriptive yang sama (correct adjective of missing words

in a descriptive)
Menentukan kata keterangan frekuensi yang tepat untuk

45

melengkapi teks descriptive yang sama (correct adverb of

frequency of missing words in a descriptive)

15

NO

COMPETENCE/INDICATOR

NAS

PROV

67,44

70,34

47,80

58,32

52,53

61,99

56,20

63,05

44,69

56,17

Menyusun kata-kata yang membuat kalimat majemuk dg kata

46

penghubung but/and/or dr kata-kata acak (arranging

jumbled words)

47
48

Menyusun kata-kata yang membuat kalimat adjective clause

dr kata-kata acak (arranging jumbled words)
Menyusun kata-kata yang membuat kalimat past continuous
tense dari kata-kata acak (arranging jumbled words)
Menyusun kalimat yg padu/bermakna membentuk teks

49

procedure membuat makanan/minuman dlm kalimat acak

(arranging jumbled sentences)
Menyusun kalimat yang padu/bermakna membentuk teks

50

procedure pengoperasian sesuatu dlm kalimat acak

(arranging jumbled sentences)

Based on the table, the test items related of writing section appear in 9 test items in
the form of cloze test, jumbled word and jumbled sentence. The most difficult items is in
the form of cloze test of recount text. The lowest percentage is in number 40 and 41 that
is determining the correct verb and noun of missing words in a recount. It is related
with the lack of vocabulary of the students. The highest percentage is in number 46 that
is arranging jumbled words.
F.

Conclusion
There are several inconsistency between the table of specification, the real problem

sheet and the analysis of the test items. They are as the following.
1.

In the table of specification there should be an invitation text which appear in the
problem sheet (first package) but the in the analysis, the invitation is considered as
the advertisement. It shows that there is a different interpretation of the text type
between the one who arranged the problem sheets and the one who analyzed the
test items.
The case in the first point is also happen in the recount and report text in the
reading section. It seem that the recount and report text is replaced by descriptive

16

texts that appeared three times. The text about a school activity that should be a
descriptive text is considered as the recount text and the text about an festival in
Thailand that should also be a descriptive text is considerend as the report one.
G. Reference
https://matematohir.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/kumpulan-soal-un-smp-tahun2014/
Sukyadi, Didi. Ridha Mardiani. 2011. The Washback Effect of the English National
Examination (ENE) on English Teachers Classroom Teaching and Students
Learning K@TA JOURNAL.VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1 Juni 2011: 96-111

17

APPENDIXES

18