A STUDY ON THE STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN USING EXPRESSION OF SEVENTH GRADE MTs AL-RASYID TANJUNG SIANTAR

The main purpose of this study was to describe the students' ability to use expressions. This research was conducted at the seventh grade of MTs Al-Rasyid Tanjung Siantar from January to February 2021. It is descriptive research and uses total sampling technique in selecting the samples. There are 24 students to be the sample in this research. The data were collected by using a test. The researcher got the result that more than 50 % of the students could use expressions with a total mean score of 72 in the the good category. The total mean score is taken from 5 indicators, that were students' ability In using greeting expression with mean score 80.83 in the good category, leave taking expression with mean score 70.83 in the good category, thank you/ gratitude expression with mean score 75 in the good category, apology expression with mean score 64.16 in the good category, and the students' ability in using self-introduction expression with mean score 69.16 in the poor category. The researcher concluded that the students' ability to use expressions was good, a total score of 72. It means they have a good understanding of expressions, mainly greeting expressions.

between community members in the form of sound symbols produced by human speech tools. English is usually used in most human activities in and outside the country.
Therefore the higher the mastery of one's language, the better the use of language in communication. Indra and Hamzah (2018:98) said that language is primarily an instrument of communication among human beings in a community. Using language to communicate in our social environment. Each community has different languages in their daily lives, as well as English. It happens because the behavior or customs that apply in a community have much variety. The language between one region to another is also different. There are international language terms that can be made as world languages that can be used.
Then, the Curriculum 2013 expressions are included in the curriculum for English language subjects in junior high schools. One of the materials required by students is some material on expressing; students are demanded to comprehend the information or knowledge from several expressions. Expression is some conversation that we find in our environment. Saragih ( 2020:8) stated that speaking can articulate the expression and deliver thought, opinion, and wish. It means that the strength or ability of students in some material about expressions and abilities can be seen from how to use or apply the material that they have learned to learn in their daily lives, then from the several expression that students should be mastered by seventh grade of junior high school, namely: Expressing greeting, although it is very commonly used, such as Hello, Good Morning, Good Evening, Hi and others. This material is also very important because greeting is always used as an opening conversation, getting acquainted, meeting someone and others situations.
The English teacher of seventh grade at MTs Al-Rasyid Tanjung Siantar said that expressing learning is a lesson that students master quite quickly. However, from what she saw, apparently that the students have several problems in using expressions that they have known, such as sixty percent of students are still embarrassed to speak using expressions they have actually mastered, forty percent of students are also still doubtful about choosing the right expression sentence to use according to their conditions and more precisely they have a fear of being wrong feelings, it happens only based on their speaking skill class. Then, the English teacher also stated that if her J-SHELVES OF INDRAGIRI (JSI) VOL.3. NO.1. NOVEMBER 2021E-ISSN. 2721 24 statement was limited to her general vision, she had not yet tested her students' abilities in using these expressions specifically.

English Learning
In Indonesia, English learning at various levels of education ranging from primary education to higher education is a communication tool to build human resources that have competitiveness in the global era because English has a position as a global language, namely the language used as an international communication tool both written and oral communication. Amiri, Akhmad (2018:96) in Indonesia English is learned as a foreign language. This implies that English proficiency is a must to be mastered by all levels of Indonesian society.
Learning English language is a system of sound symbol used by humans to communicate. Huda (2018: 1) Said that language is system of sound symbol used by humans to communicate. It has an important rule for human life, by using language the people will express their ideas, emotion, and desires, and it is used as a medium in interacts between one another to fulfill their daily need. Language can be applied in many aspects, such as: education, society, politics, economics, and culture. One of the ways in communication is through speaking. It is very important to learning English and master English speaking well. Syllabus curriculum (2013) English learning materials for SMP / MTs, especially the 7th grade MTs, are arranged to improve students' ability in using several expressions.

Expressions
Amiri and Akhmad (2018:97) stated that expression is a matter that is often expressed in everyday conversation. It means the expression is a combination of words whose meanings are united and not interpreted by the meaning of the elements that make up it. In another sense, phrases are two or more words used in certain situations to define a thing. Then, to find out whether the combination of words includes phrases or not, there must be a context for the concurrent sentence.

a. Indicator of expressions
The English syllabus curriculum (2013) of seventh-grade students stated that there are several indicators of achievement that students will achieve, including identifying the expression being studied and determining the appropriate written / verbal expression from in various situations. Therefore, the achievement indicator is to identify and determine the appropriate expression in such a situation, namely in greeting expression, leave taking expression, thank you/gratitude expression, apology expression, and self-introduction expression.

b. Greeting expression
According to Dewix ( 2016:82), greeting has the function of opening a conversation with another person. Greetings expression are not new in the field of English. Basically greeting is the most important language element in conducting communication because greeting is very useful for starting a conversation in a communication activity, be it with friends, family, and so forth. In communication that occurs usually built by the use of appropriate greeting words.

c. Leave Taking Expression
Expression of goodbye is an expression that shows that one of the speakers will leave the conversation even though it does not mean leaving forever and of course there are different phrases or expressions when you want to say good night, Atika and Wilian (2020:61) it is uttered at night while someone is going to bed. For this separation also depends on the situation and person involved and social status and personal relationships. Parting is used to end the conversation, usually called a closing greeting.

d. Thank You/Gratitude Expression
Gratitude is the feeling of being grateful of desiring to express one's thanks.
While according to Saragih (2020:7), gratitude is the general expression used to express thanking to people who gave us something. This expression is often heard in our daily life. All of us also often use it a very time when we got something from people. Appreciation is the feeling or showing gratitude to appreciate gift from people. VOL.3. NO.1. NOVEMBER 2021E-ISSN. 2721 e. Apology Expression Nabilah and Aliah, ( 2017:3) said that apology is an act of asking forgiveness performed by speaker to hearer for the mistake or offence that has been made, such as hurting or making someone injured, offending someone's feeling, or forgetting an appointment. This expression is one of the most important expressions in social life.

f. Self-Introduction Expression
Fayogi et al (2016:2) said that self-introduction is a crucial part in daily life. It uses everyday as a first step to start a conversation with a new person and in a new environment. Then, the key questions for a successful and effective self-introduction speech are how much information you want the audience to know about you and what information you want the audience to know about you. That is mean introduction is an expression used for introduction or introducing yourself in English.

The advantages of expression
There are many advantages in mastering the material for expressing expressions, therefore the researcher will describe only a few of the advantages, namely: communication between speakers will be smoother in chatting according to the conditions and situations, such as the advantages in mastering expressions of gratitude, the students will be able to use expressing gratitude after receiving help and given something they like. Then, the advantage of mastering apology expressions is that the students will be able to express apology after making a big or small mistake.

RESEARCH METHOD
In order to make the research goes in the right way, a research design is needed.
The design of this research is descriptive quantitative method because the data is presented in numerical and descriptive forms about how the students' abilities in using several expressions. According to Arikunto(2010:3), descriptive research is the research intended to investigate the situation, conditions, or other things mentioned that its results are described in the form of research report. Sugiyono supports this (2014:7) this J-SHELVES OF INDRAGIRI (JSI) VOL.3. NO.1. NOVEMBER 2021E-ISSN. 2721 27 quantitative method is called quantitative method because the research data is in the form of numbers and the analysis uses statistics.
The research was conducted at MTs Al-Rasyid Tajung Siantar. The school is located on JI Pendidikan, Tanjung Siantar. MTs Al-Rasyid is the branch of PP Al-Rasyid Simpang. The population was chosen from the seventh grade students at MTs Al-Rasyid. According to Arikunto (2010:173) population is totality of subject of research. Therefore the sample of this research is total sampling techniques, because there are 24 students in the seventh grade at MTs Al-Rasyid Tanjung Siantar. According to Sugiyono (2014:120), total sampling takes all of member of the population as the sample of the research.
According to Arikunto (2010:266), instrument in the form of this test can measure basic abilities and achievements. It means the researcher used test as an instrument because the purpose of this research is to describe the students' ability to use  The results of the test were collected by giving test to 24 students of MTs Al-Rasyid Tanjung Siantar. The total mean score of the students' ability in greeting expression was 80.83 as the highest mean score, the students' ability in using thank you/gratitude expression was 75, the students' ability in using leave taking expression using was 70.83, the students' ability in using self-introduction expression was 69.16, and then, the students' ability in using apology expression was 64.16 as the lowest mean score.

J-SHELVES OF INDRAGIRI (JSI)
VOL.3. NO.1. NOVEMBER 2021E-ISSN. 2721 The finding of the research on the students' ability in using expressions, she presents based on the result of the test, the data showed that the students' ability in using expression was good. It was indicated by the fact of the mean score of students which is on 72. It means that more than 50% students are able to use expressions. It can be seen in the following table: The table above shows that four students got very good, 16 students got good, four students got enough, 0 students got poor, and 0 students got very poor. Then the researcher already knows how much the students' ability in using expressions of seventh grade at MTs Al-Rasyid Tanjung Siantar that their ability can be categorized as good, because from 24 students there were 16 students got good categorized, four students got very good categorized, and four students got enough categorized in used expressions, then this is their ability to used expressions in doing the tes that gave by the researcher.

CONCLUSION
Based on the test result above, the researcher concluded that the Students' ability to use seventh-grade expressions at MTs Al-Rasyid Tanjung Siatar was good with the total mean score of 72. It means they have good understanding of expressions mainly greeting expressions.