The Use of Deixis in Students’ Writing of Descriptive Texts

Students are able to convey their ideas, emotions, and feelings to the reader through their piece of writing. One area of pragmatics called deixis is also one of the writing aspects that students must be aware of in ordertoprovide meaning in writing. The aims of this studyareto identify the types of deixis,andthe deixis used, and to analyzethe reasondeixis used inthe students’ writing descriptive text at the tenth grade MIA 2 high school Kemala Bhayangkari Medan. The data in the study is analyzed through descriptive qualitative. Three methods used include document analysis, observation, and interviews by the researcher. The result of this research showed five types of deixis, how the deixisisused, and the reason deixisisused in their writing usingLevinson'stheory (1983). Five types of deixis are spatial deixis,temporal deixis, person deixis, social deixis, and discourse deixis. Therefore, the researcher found that thereasonsstudents used deixis are: to indicate a specific location,orchronologyofevents, toconveya personal point of view, to incorporate cultural and social signifiers, and to create a strong and coherent connection. This study's results should help students learn more about how language works in real life and how words point to things. This will especially help them use the right words to improve their writing skills.