REPRESENTASI PEMAHAMAN FUNGSI SINTAKSIS PADA MAHASISWA UPH TAHUN PERTAMA

Abstract

This study aims to examine the level of understanding of Indonesian syntactic functions among first-year students at Pelita Harapan University (UPH). Understanding syntactic functions within sentences is an essential aspect for university students as a foundation of language competence, particularly in writing and speaking skills. The rapid development of digital technology, which encourages the widespread use of informal or ineffective language on social media, often poses challenges for students in mastering proper syntactic structures. The research employed a quantitative approach by administering a test to first-year UPH students that measured their ability to recognize and apply syntactic functions in Indonesian sentences. The findings indicate that students’ levels of understanding vary considerably. A portion of students obtained low scores within the 10–40 range, while the majority fell into the moderate category. Only a small number of students achieved a very high level of understanding with scores above 80. This variation suggests that students’ syntactic competence is not evenly distributed. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the overall understanding of syntactic functions among first-year students is at a moderate level. Therefore, Indonesian language instruction at the university level needs to be designed using more focused and systematic strategies to improve students’ syntactic understanding optimally and evenly.