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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Problem
Language is a way that people use to interact and communicate. Although people are actually able to use gestures, using language is considerably more effective in communication. However, it is still difficult for the people to communicate when they have different languages. That is why people need to have a universal language as a connector or facilitator and English is regarded for it. Today, many people in the world are connected by using English. English has been taught as a foreign language and it becomes one of the essential lessons that are taught at schools or educational institutions in Indonesia. It has been taught in elementary schools, junior high schools, senior high schools, and vocational high schools. schools . The teaching and learning of English is aimed at the mastery of the language components (spelling, pronunciation, and structure) and language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). The English teaching emphasizes the four language skills taught while the language components are taught to support the language skills. The objective of English teaching and learning is to enable students to do English communication in both oral and written forms. The students should learn and master English in a good pattern to understand many materials that are published in English to face the globalization and information era.
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In those four language skills, writing is the most difficult skill than the others and it is an important skill. Writing is the most difficult skill because if the writer wants to be a good writer, he/ she should have high cognitive capability, broader knowledge, and sensitivity; so that the writer is able to arrange meaningful letters or characters that constitute readable matter for the reader because once again writing is one of the communication ways. Writing is an important skill because today the act of writing is embedded in almost every aspect of life. The ability to write regularly gives one the power and opportunity to share and influence thoughts, ideas, and opinions with others, not only in day-to-day situations, but across time and space. Writing is a lifelong skill that every student needs to communicate effectively. The students need to be able to produce a text in regard to content, organization, vocabulary, grammatical, and mechanical considerations such as spelling and punctuation because writing is not just a product but it is a process as well. Writing sounds simple, students start with an attention-grabbing first sentence, then they move on to some interesting stuff in the middle, and then they bring it all together at the end, but actually, there are some problems for ESL learners to write. First, it is hard for students to learn English because this is not their mother tongue or their first language. Second, the students are lack of vocabulary. Third, they find difficulties when they have to make sentences. Fourth, there are still many grammatical errors. Fifth, they have difficulties to put their ideas in written or any other forms in English.
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Based on the observation and interview with the English teacher, there are five similar problems that can be found in English learning process between SMA 1 Patuk students and most of other ESL learners. Meanwhile, the researcher also found another problem coming from the teacher herself. The teacher does not use various media yet. She uses lecturing method using textbook and course book as the main media while in fact the use of various or alternative interactive and attractive media is needed in English teaching and learning. It does not mean that the teacher‟s teaching method is wrong or even just unacceptable because in fact, she is a great teacher and of course that she has her own teaching method, but the use of various or alternative interactive and attractive media in the teaching and learning process enables the teacher to accelerate the achievement of learning objectives. This research tries to proof the effect of using short English article as a teaching and learning media. The effectiveness of article as a teaching and learning media needs to be proofed whether it can be use or not. The reason of the researcher use article as a media is because there are relations between reading and writing. Pinto in Rijlaarsdam, Bergh, and Couzijn (2005: 31) says that although writing has its own set of characteristics and its psycholinguistic processing follows different patterns, it cannot be seen in isolation from oral language or reading. Indeed, it can be said that oral and written language nourish each other, and this interaction should be borne in mind when they are practiced. Through reading material such as article, the researcher thought that maybe it is easier for the teachers to teach or help their students especially in writing. An
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article is structured written form or text on magazine, newspaper, or internet that consisted of information and detail of things or events. For every single reading material especially article as an informative text, obviously it has words and grammar on it that enable to help students in developing or improving their writing skill. Tenses and vocabulary are essential things that Indonesian students as the second language learners need to be filled to facilitate their English learning. An article is chosen because a lot of articles are consisted with interesting topics that are appropriate with students and the researcher believes that it can attract students‟ enthusiasms in learning English. Based on the explanation above, the researcher chooses “The “The Effect of Using Short English Newspaper Article in Improving the Students‟ Writing Skill of Tenth Grade Students in SMA 1 Patuk in the Academic Year of 2011/ 2012” 2012 ” as the title of the thesis.
B. Identification of Problem
The English writing teaching and learning process is not a simple thing and there are five factors that influence the success of the writing teaching and learning process. Those factors are teacher, students, method or technique, material, and media. If those factors are neglected, it may takes possibility or risk that the goals of writing teaching and learning cannot be reached. Based on the researcher‟s observation, there are some factors related to the problems of writing teaching and learning process in the first grade of SMA 1 Patuk.
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1. The teacher, material, and method
Particularly in writing teaching and learning, it needs special treatment from the teacher. A creative and innovative teacher is really n eeded to make the interesting writing teaching and learning process. Based on Harmer (2001: 57), one of the teacher‟s roles is as an organizer. It means that the teacher has to organize students to do various writing learning activities. In existing „various writing learning activities „, it can be firmed that it is on occasion with various and interesting material, and also excellent and attractive teaching method; but in fact, although the English teacher of the tenth grade students in SMA 1 Patuk has great knowledge in English and also always uses dictionary to help her students in learning English, but she uses textbook and course book as the main
materials
which
opposite
with
„various writing
learning
activities‟.
Unfortunately, the efforts that the teacher makes take an effect for the students that they are not too exited in learning English and its skills including writing. 2. The students
The second factors come from the students. Base d on the researcher‟s observation in tenth grade students in SMA 1 Patuk, there are some difficulties that students have in learning English. First common problem is English is not their first language, it means that no matter how long they learnt this subject, it is quite hard for them to be fitted with this. The second problem is they have less learning motivation. The students thought that they are already had opinion that English writing is a difficult subject cause it. It also the effect from the teacher‟s teaching method and
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media. Third, most students are lack in grammar and vocabulary. It affected to their English learning including writing; when they have to write something (paragraph or sentence) in English, they found difficulties to spread their ideas on paper no matter how great their concepts. 3. Media
In teaching and learning English, media have an important role in creating interesting teaching and learning process. The fact of the using of the media in teaching and learning process in tenth grade students of SMA 1 Patuk is that the teacher is rarely use media but her main materials (textbook, course book, and dictionary). These created less attractive situation for the students to learn.
C. Delimitation of Problem
In reference to the identification of the problem above, it is impossible for the researcher to conduct the research on all factors influencing the teaching and learning process of writing. In this part, short English newspaper articles are media that will be investigated. This research is focused on analyzing students‟ ability in writing news item text for the tenth grade students of senior high school. Giving a short English newspaper article as one of writing teaching and learning was defined that it could help the students to create a good composition, since the rules and vocabulary of article can help and stimulate them to produce and expand their ideas.
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D. Formulation of Problem
The problems can be formulated into the following questions: 1. What are the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA 1 Patuk who are taught by using short English newspaper articles in English learning like? 2. What are the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA 1 Patuk who are taught without short English newspaper articles in English learning like? 3. Is there any significant difference in the writing ability between students who are taught by short English newspaper article and those who are taught without short English newspaper articles as media?
E. Objectives of the Research
In line with the formulation of the problem above, the objectives of the study can be described as follows: 1. To describe the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA 1 Patuk who are taught by using short English newspaper article in English learning. 2. To describe the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA 1 Patuk who are taught without short English newspaper article in English learning.
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3. To predict the difference in the writing ability between students who are taught by using picture series and those who are taught without using short English newspaper article as media.
F. Significance of the Research
The results of the study are expected to be useful for interested people from different points of view as follows: 1. For the teachers, the findings of the research are expected to give information about the use of short English newspaper article as media to increase students‟ writing ability. 2. For the students, the findings of the research are expected to motivate, interest, and increase the students in learning English writing. 3. For other researchers, the findings of the research are expected to provide reverences them to conduct further research in order to improve the quality of English teaching and learning.
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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
A. LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Writing Skills a.
Definition of Writing
Writing is a process that involves the work of one‟s mind and requires one‟s language skill in expressing his thoughts or ideas and feelings into the written form. It includes the organization of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences into coherent and cohesive paragraphs and texts. “The ability to express one‟s ideas in writing in a second or foreign language and to do so with reasonable coherence and accuracy is a major achievement” (Celce-Murcia, 2001:205). “Coherence means the sentences must hold together, that is the movement from one sentence to the next must be logical and smooth” (Oshima and Hogue, 2006: 94). It should be not only within paragraphs but also among the paragraphs. The sentences in a paragraph, which are related to each other, show the coherence of the paragraph. Coherence among the paragraph means that the paragraphs are related to the previous and the next ones. Cohesion is the use of techniques in order to make the relation among the sentences within the paragraphs and that among the paragraphs. The techniques can be in the form of transitional words, pronoun, repeated key words, and the parallel structure. The application of coherence and cohesion is useful as it can make the texts clear and easy to be understood.
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Every writing has a purpose. Writing purposes have to do with goals that are often referred to aims of writing or writing intentions. Parmer, Hafner and Sharp (1994:84) explain, “The goal of all writing is to construct the meaning for the writers and to communicate that mean ing to the readers.” When writers write, they generate ideas, thoughts and images. The writer and the readers are involved in the communication of the written text. . Essentially, writing is a means of expressing ideas, thoughts and feelings to others in written symbols. Therefore, writing ability is the ability to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings in written language. In order to have such an ability, first of all a writer should understand the graphic system of the language being used. Nevertheless, to express ideas, thoughts and the feelings clearly and effectively, the understanding of the graphic system is not enough, because good writing requires knowledge of grammar and the art of using rhetoric such as arranging words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs in such a way that attract the readers‟ attention. As the main function of writing is for communication, one as a writer should be able to make his readers understand the message he conveys. Writing is a continuous process of discovery. “As one is writing, he may think of ideas that may not be in his brainstorming list or outline” (Oshima and Hogue, 2006: 18).Whenever we write, first we consider our specific audience that is the people who will read what we have written. Second, we consider the tone of our writing, our style or manner of expressions. It is revealed by our choice of words and
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grammatical structures, even the length of our sentences. Finally, the purpose of a piece of writing determines its organizational pattern. Writing is a way to communicate with others (Langan, 2005: 14). To communicate effectively, people must constantly adjust their speech to suit their purpose and audience, this same idea with writing and the audience who will be reading our work. The ability to adjust our writing to suit our purpose and audience will serve us well not only in the classroom, but also in the workplace and beyond. Based on the statements above, it can be summarized that writing is the process of expressing one‟s ideas, thoughts, and feelings into written forms. The writing ability is the ability to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings in written language. Writing needs a well preparation and a lot of practices. It is a thinking process that also needs ability to organize the language into a good writing product.
b.
The Process of Writing
Grenville (2000: vii) states that short stories, essays, reports are seem verydifferent, and they are doing different jobs, but writer can go about themall in the same way using these same six steps: 1. Getting ideas (in no particular order). 2. Choosing (selecting the ideas people think will be most useful). 3. Outlining (putting these ideas into the best order-making a plan). 4. Drafting (doing a first draft from beginning to end, without goingback). 5. Revising (cutting, adding or moving parts of this draft where necessary).
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6. Editing (proofreading for grammar, spelling and paragraphs). In contrast with Grenville, Oshima and Hogue (1999: 3) state that there are four main stages in the writing process: prewriting, planning, writing and revising drafts, and writing the final copy to hand in. Overall, although there are differences in determining the process of writing, these writing processes have the same purpose to get the best result of writing. Although these stages have been defined differently, researchers agree that the stages include some amount and type of prewriting, writing and revising drafts, and writing the final copy to hand in. 1. Prewriting Prewriting is the first step in the writing process. Brown (2001: 348) states that the prewriting stage encourages the generating of ideas, which can happen in numerous ways: a. Reading (extensively) a passage b. Skimming and/or scanning a passage c. Conducting some outside research d. Brainstorming e. Listing (in writing-individually) f. Clustering (begin with a key word, then add other words, using free association) g. Discussing a topic or question h. Instructor-initiated questions and probes i. Free writing
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2. Planning During planning, writers appear to engage in cognitive activities that allow them to select topics, consider purposes and goals for writing, identify their audience, decide upon voice, and generate provisional frameworks for their pieces. These provisional plans can be informal in that little is written to reflect the occurrence of these activities. For some writers and in some instances, however, the planning stage is relatively formalized by the use of written outlines or frames, lists of ideas, and themes or topic sentences. Instructional implications for this stage of the composing process include the importance of providing students time to plan, modeling the cognitive processes involved in planning, and establishing writing activities that have genuine purposes. 3. Drafting Grenville (2001:105) says that one of the occupational diseases of writers is putting off thedreaded moment of actually starting to write. It is natural to get it right first time, but that is a big question, so naturally students put it off some more.However, unless they are sitting for an exam, they can do asmany drafts as they need to get it right. First drafts are the ones writers burn so no one can ever know how bad they were. Drafting, however, does not preclude continued planning and revising of plans. Most expert writers engage in extensive revision of their plans as they write. During drafting, authors juggle numerous demands, including continued planning and constructing of meaning; selecting vocabulary to express meaning; using conventions of grammar, punctuation, and spelling; and executing motor tasks
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of writing or typing. Instructionally, teachers can assist writers by encouraging them during first drafts to focus on writing their ideas and reducing their attention to writing conventions. Teachers can also provide adequate time and support for students to revise and edit after drafting. 4. Revising, Editing, and Writing the Final Copy Langan (2005: 33) states that revising is much a stage in the writing process as prewriting, outlining, and doing the first draft. Revising means rewriting a paper, building on what has already done, in order to make it stronger. Emphasis should be placed first on revising the ideas to make the piece more coherent and clear. In the revision process, sharing the written piece with others is important because it assists the author in realizing the readers' understanding of the piece. Oshima and Hogue (1997: 11) state that when writers revise, they change what they have written in order to improve it. A writer checks it over for content and organization, including unity, coherence, and logic. Langan (2005: 33) states that there are three stages in the revising process: a. Revising content. To revise the content of essay, people can check our paper that it was unified, supported, and organized or not. b. Revising sentences. To revise sentences in the essay, people can check our paper that it used parallelism to balance the words and ideas, it had a consistent point of view, itused specific words, it used active verbs, it used words effectively by avoiding slang, clichés, pretentious language, and wordiness; and it was vary in the sentences.
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c. Editing. It checks for and corrects- errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. In conclusion, the processes of writing areprewriting, drafting, revising, editing and writing the final copy.Those processes are needed in creating a good, understandable, and communicative text.
c.
Types of Classroom Writing Performance
Brown (2001, 343-346) considers five major categories of classroom writing performance. They are imitative, intensive, self-writing, display writing, and real writing. 1.
Imitative, or writing down At the beginning level of learning to write, students will simply "write down"
English letters, words, and possibly sentences in order to learn the conventions of the orthographic code. Some forms of dictation fall into this category, although dictation can serve to teach and test higher-order processing as well. Dictations typically involve five steps. First, teacher reads a short paragraph once or twice at normal speed. Second, Teacher reads the paragraph in short phrase units of three or four words each and each unit is followed by a pause. Third, students write exactly what they hearduring the pause. Fourth, teacher then reads the whole paragraph once more at normal speed so students can check their writing, and the last is students' written work scoring can utilize a number of rubrics for assigning points. Usually spelling and punctuation errors are not considered as severe as grammatical errors.
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2.
Intensive, or controlled writing Writing is sometimes used as a production mode for learning, reinforcing, or
testing grammatical concepts. This intensive writing typically appears in controlled, written grammar exercises. This type of writing does not allow much, if any, creativity on the part of the writer. A common form of controlled writing is to present a paragraph to students in which they have to alter a given structure throughout. Therefore, for example, they may be asked to change all present tense verbs to past tense; in such a case, students may need to alter other time references in the paragraph. There are two forms in controlled writing (guided and dicto-comp writing). Guided writing loosens the teacher's control but still offers a series of stimulators. Another form of controlled writing is a dicto-comp. Here, a paragraph is read at normal speed, usually two or three times; then the teacher asks students to rewrite the paragraph to the best of their recollection of the reading. In one of several variations of the dicto-comp technique, the teacher, after reading the passage, puts key words from the paragraph, in sequence, on the chalkboard (or whiteboard) as cues for the students. 3.
Self-writing A significant proportion of classroom writing may be devoted to self-writing,
or writing with only the self in mind as an audience. The most salient instance of this category in classrooms is note-taking, where students take notes during a lecture for the purpose of later recall. Diary or journal writing also falls into this category.
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4.
Display writing Writing within the school curricular context is a way of life. For all language
students, short answer exercises, essay examinations, and even research reports will involve an element of display. For academically bound ESL students, one of the academic skills that they need to master is a whole array of display writing techniques. 5.
Real writing While virtually every classroom writing task will have an element of display
writing in it, some classroom writing aims at the genuine communication of messages to an audience in need of those messages. The two categories of real and display writing are actually two ends of a continuum, and in between the two extremes lay some combination of display and real writing. Three subcategories illustrate how reality can be injected; they are academic, vocational, and personal. a. Academic The language Experience Approach gives groups of students‟ opportunities to convey genuine information to each other. Content-based instruction encourages the exchange of useful information, and some of this learning uses the written word. Group problem-solving tasks, especially those that relate to current issues and other personally relevant topics, may have a writing component in which information is genuinely sought and conveyed. Peer-editing work adds to what would otherwise be an audience of one (the instructor) and provides real writing opportunity. b. Vocational/technical
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Quite a variety of real writing can take place in classes of students studying English for advancement in their occupation, real letters can be written, genuine directions for some operation or assembly might be given, and actual forms can be filled out. These possibilities are even greater in what has come to be called "English in the Workplace," where ESL is offered within companies and corporations. c. Personal In almost ESL class, diaries, letters, post cards, notes, personal messages, and other informal writing can take place, especially in the context of an interactive classroom. While certain tasks may be somewhat contrived, nevertheless the genuine exchange of information can happen. In conclusion, classroom writing performance covering five major categories, they are imitative or writing down, intensive or controlled, self-writing, display writing, and real writing. Each categories remains to developing students writing ability and also related to writing processes and/ or text types to train students to become good writers.
d.
The Teaching of Writing
Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learners to learn and setting the condition for learning (Brown, 2000: 7). Teaching is lifelong learning, a constant interplay between knowing and experimenting, reflection and change. It is imply that teaching cannot be separated from learning. Teaching is about the teacher‟s understanding of what teaching is and how the students will learn.
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Teaching also cannot be separated with the teacher‟s philosophy of education, teaching style, approaches, methods, and classroom technique. Teaching writing is aimed to guide and facilitate students in learning writing. The writing teaching and learning process is related with how to develop text. Richard and Renandya (2002: 303) state that writing is a process of generating and organizing ideas into readable texts. It means that in teaching writing, the teacher must facilitate the students to learn how to write and guide them to do process of writing so they can develop readable texts. In teaching writing, there are some principles that teachers should know in designing writing technique. Brown (2001: 346-348) states that there is a number of specific principles for designing writing techniques such as incorporate practices of good writers, balance process and product, account for cultural/ literary backgrounds, connect reading and writing, provide as much authentic writing as possible, and frame teachers‟ techniques in term of prewriting, drafting, and revising 1.
Incorporate practices of good writers. It considers in various things that efficient writers do. Focus on a goal or
main idea in writing, perceptively gauge their audience, spend some time (but not too much) planning to write, easily let their first ideas flow onto the paper, follow a general organizational plan as they write, and solicit and utilize feedback on their writing. The other things that efficient writers do are not wedded to certain surface structures, revise their work willingly and efficiently, and patiently make as many revisions as needed.
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2.
Balance process and product. Make sure that students are carefully led through appropriate stages in the
process of composing. At the same time, do not so hurry in the stages leading up to the final product that you lose sight of the ultimate attainment. Make sure that students see that everything leading up to this final creation was worth the effort. 3.
Account for cultural/ literary backgrounds. Make sure that teachers‟ techniques do not assume that the students know
English rhetorical convention. It means that if there are some apparent contras between students‟ native traditions and those that teachers trying to teach, try to help students to understand what it is. 4.
Connect reading and writing. Clearly, students learn to write in part by carefully observing what is ready
written. That is, they learn by observing or reading the written words. By reading and studying a variety of relevant types of text, students can get important insight both about how they should write and about subject matter that may become the topic of their writing. 5.
Provide as much authentic writing as possible. Whether writing is real writing or for display, it can be still authentic in that
the purposes for writing are clear to the students, the audience is specified overtly, and there is at least some intent to convey meaning. Share their writings with other students in class, write a resume, and write advertisements. All these can be seen as authentic writing.
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6.
Frame teachers‟ techniques in term of prewriting, drafting, and revising. Prewriting stage encourages the generation of ideas. It can be happened in
numerous ways, such reading, skimming and/ or scanning a passage, conducting some outside research, brainstorming, listing, clustering, discussing a topic, instructor initiated questions and probes, and free-writing. The drafting and revising stages are the core of writing process. The first option gives no opportunity for systematic drafting, and second assumes that if students did any drafting at all, they simply have to learn the tricks of the trade on their own. In a process approach, drafting is viewed as an important and complex set of strategies, the mastery of which takes time, patience, and trained instruction. Getting started or free-writing technique, optimal monitoring of one‟s writing, peer-reviewing for content, using the teacher‟s feedback, and editing for grammatical errors are some strategies and skills apply to the drafting or revising process in writing. Read aloud and proofreading can be included into the strategies of drafting or revising process. In conclusion, teaching writing is aimed in guiding and facilitating students in develop readable texts. Teaching writing deals with some teacher‟s philosophy of education, teaching style, approaches, methods, and classroom technique.
3. The Teaching of Writing at Senior High School
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Students will be most apt to make appropriate gains in their ability to write well when the focus of their writing is on those experiences and topics that immediately concern them. Students become more interested in writing and the quality of their writing improves when there are significant learning goals for writing assignments and a clear sense of purpose for writing (U.S. Department of Education, 1987: 43). Brown in Rodriguez and Fernando (2009: 336) said that textbooks in general claim to supply a wide range of reading on different topics. However, while the range of topics in some textbooks is reasonable, the variety of material is limited. Too many textbooks feature mostly magazine-style reading passages, while ignoring news reporting, prose fiction, poetry and other genres. Therefore, teachers need to supplement materials with extra material that is compatible with the particular situations found in language classrooms. Meanwhile, Dorn and Soffos (2001) said that in the teaching writing to young learners, teachers have to recognize the complexity of the process and also think a moment about what happens in the mind of their students as they create a written work. Teacher must be creative to prepare materials that feature real-life situations and authentic language in teaching. Teachers also must be conscious of the types of practice; they are mechanical, meaningful, and communicative. In the teaching of writing in SMA 1 Patuk, the teacher of the first grade used a Conventional Method to teach his students where the teacher was thecentre in the teaching and learning. This method prioritized rote-memorization, understanding,
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and emphasized a result rather than a process. Therefore, the main activity was the teacherexplained the material and students listened or record what the teacher said. Teacher
used
materials
from
the
textbooksin
his
teaching
and
learning
processes.Table 1 shows the Standard of Competency and Basic Competencies of School-Based Curriculum of Senior High School year X of the second semester of English Subject. Table 1: Standard of Competency and Basic Competencies of School-Based nd Curriculum of Junior High School year X of the 2 semester ofEnglish Subject Standard of Competency
Basic Competencies
11. Producing the meaning in the forms of short functional and texts and short essays, in the form of narrative, descriptive and news item in the daily life context.
11.2. Responding meaning and rhetoric steps in short essay accurately, fluent, and acceptable in the context of daily life in the form of narrative, descriptive, andnews item.
Indicators
Using reported speech in news item text. Using simple present tense in descriptive text. Using adverbial clause in narrative text. Developing text in the form of news item. Developing text in the form of narrative. Developing text in the form of descriptive.
4. Text types
According to Anderson (1997: 1), a piece of text is created when words are put together to communicate a meaning. Meanwhile, Feez (2002: 4) states that texts are any stretch of language which is held together cohesively through meaning.
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Creating a text requires making choices about the words that are used and how it can be put together. The School-Based Curriculum implies that senior high school students should be able to understand many genres in English. It means that students should know the genre of the text to develop English texts. There some types of texts taught in the School-Based Curriculum of senior high schools. They are procedure, descriptive, recount, narrative, and news item. In the second semester of tenth grade, there are three genres that are taught to the students, they are narrative, descriptive, and news item. 1.
Descriptive Text
a.
Definition of descriptive text According to Anderson (1998: 26), a description text describes a particular
person, place or thing. Its purpose is to tell about the subject by describing its features without including personal opinions. Description differs from an information report because it describes a specific subject rather than a general group. The example of descriptions texts include descriptions of a particular building, description of a specific animal, descriptions of a particular places, and descriptions of a specific person.
b.
Description Scaffold
The description scaffold is a guide for constructing a piece of text description. Anderson (1998: 26-27) says that the description text has three main parts.
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1.
A general opening statement in the first paragraph
In this part, the teacher introduces the subject of the description to the students. The teacher can give the students brief details about the when, or what of the subject. 2.
A series of paragraphs about the subject
The teacher introduces that each paragraph usually begins with a topic sentence. The topic sentence previews the details that will be contained in the remainders of the paragraph. Each paragraph should describe one feature of the subject and these paragraphs build description of the subject. 3.
A concluding paragraph (optional)
In this part, the teacher asks the students to conclude paragraph signals the end of the text.
c.
Language Features of Descriptive Text
The language features of descriptive text are: 1.
Using attributive and identifying process.
2.
Using adjective and classifiers in nominal group.
3.
Using simple present tense.
2.
Narrative Text
a.
Definition of Narrative Text
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According to Anderson (1997: 8), a narrative is a piece of text that tells a story and, in doing so entertains or informs the reader or listener. Narrative is to amuse, entertain and to deal with an actual or vicarious experience in different ways. Narratives deal with problematic events that lead to a crisis or turning points of some kind, which in turn find a resolution. Narratives can be in the form of a legend, fables, fairy tales, etc. Furthermore Anderson (1997: 14) states that a good narrative uses words to paint a picture in our minds of what the characters look like (their appearance), where the action is taking place (the setting), how things are happening (the action).
b.
Narrative Scaffold The narrative scaffold is a guide for constructing piece of text narrative.
According to Anderson (1997: 12), there are the activities to teach narrative text. He says that narrative text have five main pats. They are: 1.
Orientation
In this paragraph, the teacher tells the students about who, when, where, and what is going on. 2.
Complication
This is the part of the story where the teacher tells about something that will begin a chain of events. These events will affect one or more of the characters. The complication is the trigger. 3.
Sequence of events
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This is where the teacher tells how the characters react to the complication. It includes their feelings and what they do. The events can be told in chronological order (the order in which they happen) or with flashbacks. The students are given the teacher “point of view”. 4.
Resolution
In this part of the narrative where the complication is sorted out or the problem is solved. 5.
Coda
The teacher includes a coda if there is to be a moral or message to be learned from the story.
c.
Language Features of Narrative Text
The language features of narrative texts are: 1.
Using specific characters.
2.
Using time words that connect events to tell when they occur.
3.
Using Verbs to show the actions that occur in the story.
4.
Using descriptive words to portray the characters and setting.
3.
News item
a.
Definition of news item According to Kholidin (2010), news item text is News item is a text that
informs readers about events of the day. The events are considered newsworthy or
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important. A news item text tries to answer the5Ws and 1H questions; What, Who, When, Where, Why, and How relating to the newsworthy. b.
Generic Structures of News Items
1.
Main event/ Newsworthy events (tells the event in a summary form)
2.
Elaboration/ Background events (elaborates what happened, explains what caused the incident). It can be a background, participant, time, and place relating to the accident. It is the detail information for the accident which informs on how the accident happen and who are the victims.
3.
Sources/ Resource of Information (comments by participants, witnesses, authorities, and experts involved in the event). It can be a witness or statement/treatment of the authority.
c.
Language Feature of News Item
1.
Information on the use of headlines
2.
Use action verb
3.
Use saying verb
4.
Use passive sentences and use adverbs In conclusion, there are the genres that are taught in the tenth grade of senior
high school: descriptive text, narrative text and news item text. Students of senior high school are expected to be able to understand the pattern of each type of text and develop or write a proper text in many types.
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4.
Short English article as media
a.
Media
Based on Celce and Murcia (2001: 460), media are technological innovations in language teaching, of mechanical paraphernalia, and of glossy, polished audiovisual aids. Definition of educational media have been proposed by many experts, Kemp (1977: 73), for example, says that educational media are supporting materials that can motivate students and can effectively explain and illustrate subject content. In addition, the media can facilitate the interaction between teachers and students so that learning activities more effectively and efficiently. It is the cause or the tools that interfere with the functions of the two parties and the role of an effective governing relation between the two m ain parties in the students‟ learning process and content (Fleming in Arsyad, 2003: 3). The use of media in the teaching learning process must be established by the requirement of the process. If media are to be used to facilitate teaching and learning, they must be selected and used in appropriate necessity. According to Gerlach and Ely (1980: 240), a medium of instruction must be selected on the basis on its potential for implementing a stated objective. Kemp (1980: 7) adds requirement of objectives, content, and instructional methods. According to Goodwyn (1992: 48), teachers should think about five things in selecting media. The first is the media agencies. Media should help students understand that the production of all texts involve many things and circumstances. The second thing is media categories. Media categories involve the form of the
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media and its genres. The third thing is media technologies. Technologies create and improve meanings. The fourth thing is the languages of the media. Media have their own codes and rules. The fifth thing is media representation. Media should represent the real condition, so that they can support the teaching and learning process. The following are factors that should be considered when incorporating instructional media into language teaching goals: a.
Type of skill/ concept to be presented
b.
Student preference: the age, interest, experiences, and learning styles of the students concerned.
c.
Teacher preference: facility with equipment, familiarity/adroitness with the given medium, teaching style.
d.
Availability of software and hardware
e.
Physical circumstances of the classroom/ lab Undoubtedly, as an alternative tool for language learning/ teaching, media
have always facilitated the task of language learning for both instructed and no instructed learners. Media can be anything, material and non-material, physical and non-physical, and those are useful to support the communication and interaction in teaching learning process. It can be for explaining, motivating, or making clear thing being discussed or talked about. The teacher uses media to involve students more integrally in the learning process and to facilitate language learning by making it a more authentic, meaningful process.
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b.
Short English Newspaper Article
Tribble, White, and Arndt (1991: 5) state that writing is re-writing that revision, seeing with new eyes, has a central role to play in the act of creating text. It means that writing process, teacher need to give exemplary materials that can be seen, learnt, and used by the students as guides for their writing, and reading material can be one of the materials which is enable to cover those aspects. Article is a structured written form or text on magazine, newspaper, or internet that consisted of information and detail of things or events. The researcher use article as a media because there are relations between reading and writing. Graça in Rijlaarsdam & Bergh (2005: 31) states that although writing has its own set of characteristics and its psycholinguistic processing follows different patterns; it cannot be seen in isolation from oral language or reading. Indeed, it can be said that oral orreading and written language nourish each other, and this interaction should be borne in mind when they are practiced. Mallett (2002: xi) argues helping children or students both to benefit from and enjoy informational reading and writing is a considerable challenge for any practicing teacher. People do not want children or students trapped in tightly structured and essentially sterile learning processes. Rather people want them to become avid and curious readers, intent on finding out, and confident writers, practiced in communicating understanding and meaning. Children or students also need to be taught library and study skills but people must remember these are only tools that serve bigger purposes and intentions. They will then be in the driving seat when it comes to their own writing, not merely
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mechanical reproducers of other people‟s words but writing powerfully from within themselves, using the knowledge that they have obtained and assimilated.
B. Relevant Research Study
A research by Alber (2003) found success with a classroom newspaper because it allowed students to direct their writing to a specific audience and increased their motivation. Using various topics of English newspaper articles as writing teaching-learning media will open possibilities in giving suitable and attractive teaching-learning media that enable to fulfill students‟ anxieties. Another researcher is Simpson (2007). She said that newspaper articles are written in various topics and a particular topic will considerably affect knowledge and vocabulary, therefore, the more topics to fulfill students‟ anxieties mean the more knowledge and vocabulary. By having more knowledge and vocabulary, it is easier for students to develop their abilities to organize information and construct it into a text, revise the text, and redraft.
C. Conceptual Framework
Writing is the latest language skill that is mastered by the students because it is the hardest skill among the others.It is true when people say that the more practice gain the better writing, but first, it is important for students to have guides or lessons before they start to do their practice. When teachers givelesson, automatically it is
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related to learning media. Media is one of the important elements that can help teachers and students in teaching and learning processes. Therefore, the media used by teachers in English language learning process should be appropriate to the needs and learning objectives to be achieved. Students writing activities are related to several text types and of course it needs a representative text for each text types to be given as teaching and learning media. One of the text type that tenth grade senior high school students need to learnt is news item text and newspaper article is one of the text that counted into. In news item writing, it is important for students to understand about what and how before they start to write and newspaper article is able to give clear explanation and example about the what and how of news item writing. The peculiaritiesof newspaper article are in various interesting topics that enable to attract students in learning process by giving an appropriate student-age topics and it has various unfamiliar words that of course will enrich students‟ vocabularies. News item texts also provide many knowledge that obviously needed by students.
D. Research Hypothesis
As mentioned in the introduction, the aim of this research is to investigate whether there is a significant difference or not in the SMA 1 Patukstudents‟ writing abilities between those who are taught by using short English newspaper articles as writing teaching-learning media andthose who are not. Based on the literature review
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and the conceptual framework above, the researcher formulates the hypothesis of the research as follows: “There is a significant difference in the writing ability between the students who are taught by using a diary and those who are not.”
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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Design
This study is classified into a quasi-experimental study. The research design is an intact group pre-test and post test design which involves a group of students in the experimental group and a group of students in the control group. Bell (1999: 15) states that the principle of this experiment is that if two identical groups are selected, one of which (the experimental group) is given special treatment and the other (the control group) is not; then any differences between the two groups at the end of the experimental period may be attributed to the difference in treatment. Table 1: Design of the Study Sample
Class
Pre-test
Treatment
Post-test
S
E
O1
X
O2
S
C
O2
Conventional method
O2
Where: S
: Sample
E
: Experiment
C
: Control
O1
: Students Pre – test Score
O2
: Students Post – test Score
X
: Treatment
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The treatment, in this case using various type of short english newspaper articles that applied in the experimental group. Meanwhile, the control group did not used short english newspaper articles in the teaching and learning process. The following table presents the distribution of the treatment. Table 3
Distribution of the Treatment No.
Class
Group
1.
XE
Experimental
2.
XG
Control
Treatment Short english newspaper article The teacher‟s method
Number of students 36 34
The implementation of the short english newspaper article was done in the experimental group for five meetings. There were three sections in each meeting: warming up, main teaching, and closing. In warming up, the researcher started the lesson with greeting and directed the students‟ attention toward the topics by asking some questions about the students‟ experience which was related to the topic. In the main teaching, the researcher asked students to work in a group of students and introduced the examples of each text type; news item text. Then, the researcher gave the whole explanations about article and gave them the examples, and then the researcher gave some exercises based on the topic. Last, in closing, the researcher reviewed the lesson given and asked the students to write articles related to the topic.
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In opposite with the experimental group, the students in the control group were still taught by using the teacher‟s methods, materials, and medias. Basically the process of the teaching learning in the control group was almost the same as that in the experimental group. In the control group, the teacher did not use short english newspaper article in the teaching writing.
B. Research Variables
The research involved two variables. The independent and the dependent variables. The independent variable was the short english newspaper articles to teach writing, namely X. Meanwhile, the dependent variable wa s the students‟ writing achievements, namely Y.
C. Population and Sample
The population of this study included the first year students of SMA 1 Patuk in the academic year 2011/2012. There were eight classes of the tenth grade as the population of the research: XA, XB, XC, XD, XE, XF, XG, and XH. Each class consisted of thirty eight to forty students. The following table shows the specification of the population of the study. Table 2: Research Population by Class No 1 2 3 4
Classes XA XB XC XD
Number of students 40 40 38 39
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5 6 7 8
XE XF XG XH Total
36 40 34 38 315
In this research, two classes were selected from the population, as the experimental group and the control group. A random assignment was applied by: 1.
Writing each class name on a piece of paper
2.
Putting the papers into a box
3.
Shaking the box
4.
Taking one slip from the container as the experimental group and one slip as the control group. The random assignment resulted class XE as the experimental group and
class XG as the control group. The teaching and learning process of writing in the experimental group (XE) used short English newspaper article; meanwhile in the control group (XG), the teaching and learning process of writing was taught by using the teacher‟s method and material.
D. Research Instrument
In this research, the instrument used to collect the data was a test of writing ability, focused on one text type (news item). The researcher used two tests, pre-test and post-test, that used to get scores to find the students‟ writing abilities. The pre-
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test was given before the treatment applied and the post-test was given after the treatment. The test was in the form of essays. Each student had to write a composition about the determined topic. The time allocation is 45 minutes for the news item text and for the each composition is at least consist 50 words. The tests were given twice. The first test is used to gain the score of pretest, and the second test is used to gain the score of posttest after the treatment.
E. The Validity and Reliability of The Instrument 1. Validity of the Writing Tests
Validity refers to the degree to which a method , a test or a research tool actually measures what it is supposed to measure (Wellington 2000 : 30). Validity of the writing test covered content and constructs validity. a.
Content Validity
Furlong, Lovelace, and Lovelace (2000: 72) state that a test is said to have content validity when the items of the test accurately represent the concept being measured. The writing test is developed in reference to standard of competency and basic competencies stated in of Senior High School Year X of the second semester of the English subject. It means that the whole materials which were covered in the test reflect the materials which were given to the tenth grade students. Table 4 shows the Blueprint of the writing ability test. Table 4: The Blueprint of the writing ability tests
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No.
1.
Indicators
Aspects of Writing
Writing a news item text.
2.
Writing a news item text.
Total
b.
Ideas and Development Organization Vocabulary Sentence Structure Capitalization and Punctuation Spelling Ideas and Development Organization Vocabulary Sentence Structure Capitalization and Punctuation Spelling
The Item Number
1
1
2
Construct Validity
In assessing the writing tests, there are some aspects that should be considered. In this study, there were six aspects or characteristics that were assessed in students‟ writing, namely ideas and development, organizations, vocabulary, sentence sructure, capitalization and punctuation, and spelling Anderson (2003: 92). The scoring of students‟ writing tests was done by the researcher and the English teacher.
2. Reliability of the Writing Test
The reliability of a research instrument is the degree of consistency and dependence with which the instrument measures the attribute. Wellington (2000:
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200) state that reliability is also used in connection with research methods in order to estimate the degree of confidence in the data. Reliability refers to the extent to which a test or technique functions consistently and accurately by yielding the same results at different times or when used by different researchers. In this research, inter-rater reliability was used. Inter-rater reliability is established when the results of the writing test are assessed using subjective judgment. It is applied to know whether or not the data of the writing score that are given by two raters are reliable. The researcher was the first rater and the teacher as the second rater in gaining students‟ score. After the raters gained the results, they were compared. When there was a high degree of agreement, the procedure could be considered reliable. In order to determine the level of the instrument reliability, the norm of categorizing the reliability coefficient was employed. The following table is the norm of adopted categorizing the reliability coefficient. Table 6 shows the value of the reliability coefficient. Table 5: Value of the Reliability Coefficient Reliability Coefficient
Reliability Category
0.800 - 1.000
Very High
0.600 - 0.799
High
0.400 - 0.599
Fair
0.200 - 0.399
Low
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0.000 - 0.199
Very Low
3. Scoring Rubric
Urquhart and Mc Iver (2005:31) argue that rubric is very effective assessment tool because it describes specific levels of performance. Besides, rubric also explains the students‟ performances clearly. Research also supports using rubric because it clearly communicates expectations for both teaching and learning. In this study, researcher presents only one of four types of rubric, which is analytic rubric. Analytic rubric provides more detailed information about students‟ writing abilities. Researcher used this type of rubric because it facilitated the different writing aspects such as content, organization, mechanic, and/or language and vocabulary that used in assessing writing. Table 6. Rubric for writing assessment CATEGORY
CONTENT ______ / 1.5
LANGUAGE AND VOCABULARY ______ / 1.5
1.5 marks All requested sections are complete and information is kept in a logical sequence. There is one clear, well-focused topic. Main idea stands out and is supported by detailed information.
1 mark One or two sections are missing. One or two pieces of information are not kept in a logical sequence. Main idea is clear but the supporting information is general or not enough.
Correct use of structures and a good range of vocabulary according to the level.
Some grammar problems don‟t influence communication although the reader is aware of them Appropriate use of vocabulary
0.5 mark Three or more sections are missing. Information is not kept in a logical sequence. The main idea is not clear. There is a seemingly random collection of information. Numerous grammar problems don‟t influence communication although the reader is aware of them Little use of vocabulary for the level
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MECHANICS AND LENGTH ______ / 1.0
ORGANISATION ______ / 1.0 TOTAL
One or two spelling or punctuation errors. Good use of connectors. The student has written the number of words requested
Three or more spelling or punctuation errors. Basic or no use of connectors (and, but, also). The student has written slightly more or less than the number of words requested.
Correct register used throughout. Appropriate format and layout based on the specifications.
Inconsistent register. Inappropriate format/layout based on the specifications.
COMMENTS
_____ / 5
F.
Data Collecting Technique The data were collected from the pretest and posttest of the control group (XG
Class) and experimental group (XE Class). The research instrument for collecting data was done by using a test. In this research, the test method was intended to reveal pretest and posttest data. Pretest was given to two groups, namely experimental group (XG Class) and
control group (XE Class). It aimed to measure the students‟ writing ability of the groups before they were given a treatment. Then, the researcher gave the short news paper articles to the experimental group and the teacher gave her own teaching methods, material, and media to the control group. Posttest was given to the experiment group (XG Class) and control
group (XE Class) to measure the students‟ writing ability after the treatments were given. The researcher then compared the results of the experimental and control group to find out the achievement of their writing ability.
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Before the treatment was applied to the experimental group, the researcher gave the teacher the information about the characteristic of the study. Next, the researcher taught XG Class by using various topics of short English newspaper articles. The lesson plans for the teaching and learning in both classes are presented as follows: 1. The experimental group a. The teacher comes to the class, greets the students and checks the students‟ attendance list. b. The teacher begins the lesson by asking the students some questions related to news item text. c. The teacher gives a brief explanation about news item text by using a short English newspaper article with a particular topic. d. The teacher asks groups of the students to write two paragraphs of news item that consists eight sentences in minimum and related to a particular topic. e. The teacher asks students to do the tasks individually in a particular topic. f.
The teacher and the students discuss the tasks.
g. The teacher gives a reflection and conclusion of the lesson. h. The teacher gives the students an assignment. i.
The teacher closes the lesson.
2. The control group a. The teacher comes to the class, greets the students and also checks the attendance list of the students.
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b. The teacher begins the lesson by asking the students some questions related to the topic. c. The teacher gives a brief explanation about topics without using a short English newspaper article. d. The teacher asks students to do some tasks in groups. e. The teacher asks students to do the tasks individually. f.
The teacher and the students discuss the tasks.
g. The teacher gives a reflection and conclusion of the lesson. h. The teacher gives the students an assignment. i.
The teacher closes the lesson.
G. Data Analysis technique
There were two techniques that the researcher employed to analyze the data in this research. They were the descriptive and inferential statistics. 1.
Descriptive Analysis
The descriptive analysis are aimed at providing answers to the research questions about the effect of using short english newspaper article to improve students‟ writing ability. The statistics used in computation are the mean, which is the average score attained by the subjects of the research, and standard deviation, which is the average variability of all scores around the mean. 2.
Score Categorization
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The categorization of scores gained by students was made to find out the level of students‟ writing ability. The scores categorization of students‟ writing ability was based on the ideal score. The ideal mean score (Mi) and ideal standard deviation (SDi) could be calculating using the formula as follows: Mi
= ½ (highest score + lowest score)
SDi
= 1/6 (highest score - lowest score) The frequency distribution of the scores of the students‟ writing ability can be
categorized into five levels, namely, excellent , very good, good, fair, poor , and very poor . The distribution was calculated based on the Mi score and SDi as follows:
Table 7
Scale Category of Reliability
3.
Interval
Reliability category
84 - 94
Excellent
72 - 83
Very good
60 - 71
Good
48 - 59
Fair
36 - 47
Poor
24 - 35
Very poor
Inferential Statistics
The inferential statistics was focused to answer the question of the formulation of the problem, which was whether there is a significant difference in
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English learning between the junior high school students in eighth grade who are taught by using short english newspaper article as media and those of students who are taught without. The statistics used in this computation were test of normality, test of homogeneity, and test of hypothesis. a. Test of Normality
This test is aimed at knowing whether or not the collected data show a normal distribution. For this, the Chi-Square formula is applied. Borg and Gall (1983:559) stated that Chi Square is a nonparametric statistical test that is used when the research data are in the form of frequency counts. This test was done by using the SPSS version 15.00 for windows computer program.
b. Test of Homogeneity
This test is used to find out whether or not the sample variance is homogeneous, is the scores of one group have homogeneous variance with the scores of the other groups or not. For this, the Levene-test was applied. This test was done by using the SPSS version 15.00 for windows computer program. c. Hypothesis Testing
Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) is used in determining whether the increase in the students‟ writing ability by using short English newspaper articles and without using short English newspaper articles is significant or not. To know the effect of using the short English newspaper articles on the students‟ writing ability, the researcher put another variable that might have effect on it. Another variable that
