Saturday, March 7, 2015

Improving Writing Ability by Using Pictures Series to the Seven Class of Mts Wahid Hasyim Malang

By Muhammad Yazid Bastoni
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents about background of the study, research problem,objective of research,significance of research, scope and limitation of research and definition  of key terms.

1.1 Background of the problem
Language is a means of communication. People, all over the world, use the language to convey their feelings, thought and ideas whether in spoken or in written forms. Now days, learning English as a foreign language is very importance, since English is the key to the international currencies of technology and commerce (Hutchinson and waters, 1989:6 ) . The ability of English will help the people to be easier and in better condition in their lives. And it shows that either spoken or writing forms should be mastered.
For Indonesia English is a Foreign language. Learning a foreign language is an integrated process tht the learner should study the four basic skill: listening, speaking, reading.We use it to understanding our world through listening and reading and to communicate our feeling, need, and desires through speaking and writing. By having more knowledge about language skill we have much better chance of understanding and being understood and getting what we want and need from these around us.
Writing is one of four basic skills. It is very important in teaching and learning English. Writing involves some language components (spelling, grammar, vocabulary,and punctuation). This is in line with what is stated by Braine and Claire May (1996: 60), writing clear sentences requires you to learn the rules of English grammar and mechanics such as the correct use of verbs and pronouns, as well as commas and other marks of punctuation.There are various ways to organize the sentences in a piece of writing. One of them is recount text. Recount text is the form of text that aims at retelling events for the purpose of informing or entertaining. In the recount text, the sentences are usually organized according to time order or chronological order. One thing happens and then another thing happens, and the events are told in the same order.
Based on my experiences, there are some problems found in the field when giving writing materials to the students of seven graduate in MTs Wahid Hasim Malang, especially the recount text. The first problem is that the students’ writing is not comprehensible, because the content of the composition is not relevant to the topic, the ideas are not clearly stated, the ideas and sentences are not well organized. The second problem is that there are many errors in vocabulary, grammar, and spelling.
Another problem is the students have low motivation and are not interested in doing the task since the writing activities are not interesting. Usually, the students are asked to write sentences and paragraphs without being given some clue so that it is difficult for them to express their ideas on a piece of paper.
Besides that, the students have difficulty at telling their experience. This is because writing is difficult for them since they have to master enough vocabulary, spelling, and grammar.
In reference to the explanations above and the strong desire of finding the solution of these problems, the writer has motivation to do the research in improving the teaching of writing in real class by using picture series as the instructional media. It is hoped that the media improve the students’ ability in writing, especially recount text.

1.2  Research Problem
In this research, the researcher tries to describe the students’ ability in writing the recount text through using picture series. So, the problem is formulated as follows:
How can picture series to improve the students’ ability in writing the recount text of seven graduate  of Mts Wahid Hasim academic ?

1.3 Objective of the study
Based on the problem formulation above, the objective of the research is to find the appropriate way in using picture series can improve the students’ ability in recount text at seven graduate of Mts Wahid Hasim academic year 2011-2012.

1.4 Significances of the research
The study is expected to have both academic and practical contributions.
A. Academically, to help teacher/researcher to find out the alternative way of teaching writing, especially recount and to produce the relevant and valid knowledge for their class to improve their teaching.
B. practically, it can be used as a model to improve the students’ ability in writing recount text, and it may guide, help and encourage students to express their ideas, opinion, and thought onto paper.

1.5 Scope and limitation of the research
The scope of the study is limited to the teaching of English on the eighth grade students of Mts Wahid Hasim using Picture series to improve their writing mastery. The subject of this study is 8 B that has problem in writing. 

1.6 Significant of the study
The result of this study will make students easier and confident to write English better by using Picture series as a media.
1.      Using Picture series as a media can improve their motivation to write English through pair work;
2.       To know about the creativity and activity of using Picture series as a media improves their ability to write English. The result of this study is expected to be useful information to: (a) increase the teachers’ knowledge of English and share experiences in improving the students’ mastery to write English by using Picture series as a media. (b) encourage the teachers’ colleagues in doing action research in improving their teaching as the professional practices;  (c) give any contribution to the general public in increasing knowledge concerning about classroom action research and get any reflection for being perfection.
1.7 Definition of key term
In order to avoid misunderstanding or get the same perception of the terms used in the study, the following definitions are given:
1.      Improve                                        
The term improve in this study is to increase the students’ score on reading comprehension. It means that the score should be rise up than before the technique given.
2.        Writing Ability    
The term refers to the understanding of a text as proved by the ability to correctly choose the right alternative provided for the answer of the question asked from the text, which is proved by the scores.
3.       Picture series
Using Picture series is one of the instructional media in the teaching and learning process to attract the students’ attention and deliver information

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter covers teaching English in junior high school, definition of writing, the role of writing mastery.  definition of teaching , classroom action research and previous study.

2.1  Teaching English in Junior High School
In general, learner are said to be in a golden period in acquiring language. They usually find it easy to master pronunciation and accent language. English as a foreign language should be taught to learner of junior high school considering with their golden period. In this case, learners can learn English by doing activities, making thing, demonstrating role plays, also playing games (Ratri, 2003:6)
Teaching a foreign language to children is different from teaching English for adolescent. Teaching a foreign language for junior high school could be interesting and easy since they  are curious about new thing, while teaching a foreign language to adolescent could be a bit more serious and theoretical.
Teaching English in junior high school also needs skillful teacher who are willing to always improve their teaching skills as they face complex problems with subtle attitude, unique characteristics, and other things which are different from those characteristic of adolescent and adult. The main problem that is faced students is difficult to speak English in spontaneous face-to-face because they are shy or unconfined and frequently, too, there is a worry about speaking badly and personal information or opinion. Especially, teaching English in Mts Wahid Hasyim Malang and how to improve their mastery in English. 

2.2  Definition of writing
Writing is a method of representing language in visual or tactile form. Writing systems use sets of symbols to represent the sounds of speech, and may also have symbols for such things as punctuation and numerals.
The act or art of forming letters and characters on paper, wood, stone, or other material, for the purpose of recording the ideas which characters and words express, or of communicating them to others by visible signs.
Writing most likely began as a consequence of political expansion in ancient cultures, which needed reliable means for transmitting information, maintaining financial accounts, keeping historical records, and similar activities
All writing systems use visible signs with the exception of the raised notation systems used by blind and visually impaired people, such as Braille and Moon. Hence the need to include tactile signs in the above definition.
In A History of Writing, Steven Roger Fischer argues that no one definition of writing can cover all the writing systems that exist and have ever existed. Instead he states that a 'complete writing' system should fulfill all the following criteria:
  • it must have as its purpose communication;
  • it must consist of artificial graphic marks on a durable or electronic surface;
  • it must use marks that relate conventionally to articulate speech (the systematic arrangement of significant vocal sounds) or electronic programing in such a way that communication is achieved.
Writing systems are both functional, providing a visual way to represent language, and also symbolic, in that they represent cultures and peoples. In The writing systems of the world, Florian Coulmas describes them as follows:
As the most visible items of a language, scripts and orthographies are 'emotionally loaded', indicating as they do group loyalties and identities. Rather than being mere instruments of a practical nature, they are symbolic systems of great social significance which may, moreover, have profound effect on the social structure of a speech community. 

2.3  The Nature of Writing
According to J.D Angelo (1989:5), writing is a form of thinking. It means that writing is an activity to express ideas, issues, events, feeling or thinking to the others through written form. Cohen and Reil in Kusumaningsih(2001:1) say that writing can be defined as communicate act, a way of sharing observation, thought, or ideas with ourselves and others. It is a tool of thinking. By writing we can tell about people, remember the facts and ideas.
Based on the statement above, it can be concluded that writing is expressing ideas, facts, feeling, experience, and thought in written form.
In writing, the aspects include the use of vocabulary, structure of the sentence, composition of the sentence, spelling, and punctuation. These aspects are important to master in order to be able to produce good writing.
Writing, one of the productive skills, is considered difficult, especially writing in a foreign language. According to Axelord and cooper in Ma’mun (2004:5), writing is a complex process and such contains element of mastery and surprise. When students want to write something they should have a lot of information, ideas, and thought in their mind so that they will be able to express them into sentences, paragraphs, and an essay.
The writing ability is the main activity of composition. The writing should be systematic and detail. A knowledge or study about good writing or how to write composition is much needed.


2.4  The Teaching of Writing for Mts Students
According to English Syllabus of School Unit Level Curriculum (KTSP), the teaching of writing for SMP students involves the teaching of paragraphs or text. The texts advocated are: recount, narrative, descriptive, procedure and report.
Recount text is a kind of text that is usually found or presented in journals, diary, personal letter, biography, travel report, police report, sport report, history, etc. The main elements of recount are orientation, list of events, and reorientation. In the orientation step the writer mentions people and things that are involved, time of the event, the place, and the situation. In the list of events, the writer tells the events happen chronologically. In the reorientation, the writer concludes the story by giving comments.
Narrative text is a kind of text that tells a story. It is developed in some steps: orientation, complication, resolution, evaluation, and reorientation. In the step of orientation, the writer tells the characters in the story, their names and the place they live, their ages, their condition, and their willing. In the complication step, the writer presents the unexpected event that happens to the characters. In the resolution step, the writer tells how the complication is solved. In the evaluation step, the writer invites the reader to think what meaning or values that are taken from the story. In the reorientation step, the writer concludes the story by giving comments.
Descriptive text is a kind of text to describe something, people, or objects. Procedure text is a kind of text that tells a procedure of making something. Meanwhile, report text is a kind of text to report an event, things in the world, animals, and flora.
In this study, the focus is only to recount text, since this kind of text becomes problems for the students and it needs to be solved immediately. The strategy applied to improve the students ability in writing recount text is pyramid planning strategy. 

2.5  Pictures Series
Students can construct their knowledge during learning recount text easily by using media. One of the media is picture series which draws a story. This medium fulfills the principles of using media issued by Nyoman S.Degeng (2001). Media which can be used to make the students learn more easily and the teacher teaches easily is the main part of the learning process. The media must be used in integrated way in teaching and learning and not only as ice breaker of teaching and learning.
To understand the way of the picture series, the students need to appreciate it in abstract way. In the same way, when they express their ideas to construct the story in a good coherence as well as unity, they have to think it in abstract way too. Both of them will be easier for them in learning process if the teacher can use picture series. It can not only help the students to get ideas more realistic in understanding the recount text but also in constructing ideas to create it.
During the students are writing the text, they can use top-down technique in predicting the content of the text based on understanding of picture series (Brown, 2004:217). They can predict the content of the text easily based on their understanding about the picture series. The pictures give the schemata to the students to construct ideas from their background knowledge and experience.

CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the method, which consists of three parts namely; Research Design, Setting and Subject of the study, the research procedure including the steps of the real action research such as (planning, action, observation and reflection).
3.1 Research Design
The design of the research is classroom action research (CAR). The researcher together with English teacher will conduct the research (CAR) collaboratively at the teaching writing skill during the lecture hours. The objective of this design is to solve the students’ problem in writing using picture series as a media to improve the student’s speaking mastery. According to Latief (2003:104) Classroom action research for English subject is to develop a strategy or English learning technique in the learning and teaching process in order to solve the problem that the teacher and students get in the classroom.
CAR is reflective process which helps a teacher to explore and examine aspects of teaching and learning and to take action to change and improve his teaching practice. In conducting this research, the researcher made collaboration with one of English teacher at Mts Wahid Hasyim Malang. The students are involved in this research are the students of eighth grade. The researcher will use Kemmis and Mc Taggart’s model (Mc Niff, 1998:27)


Analysis and Reflection
Ø  Analyzing the result of teaching and learning process referring to the criteria of success.
Ø  Reflecting the result of action and the cycle. If the result reaches the criteria of success then the CAR stop. If it does not reach, the researcher will revise the plan, go to the next cycle, and do the same orders until the action reach the criteria of success.

Preliminary Study
Ø Identifying the problems of writing mastery at Mts Wahid Hasyim Malang and the students’ having difficulty in writing
Ø  Analyzing the problems.

Planning of the Action
Ø  Designing lesson plan
Ø  Preparing instructional material
Ø  Preparing criteria of success

Implementation of Action
Ø  Researcher teachers English by picture series as a media
Ø  Teacher collaborator using observation checklist and filed note in the teaching and learning process.

Observation
Ø  Teaching English using by picture series as a media
Ø  At the end of cycle a set of test is administering of the students.


Revised plan

Stop and make a report
Figure 3.1 The classroom Action Research Model Adapted from Kemmis
and Taggart (in Taufi)
In line with McNiff, the researcher will conduct the research started from planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. However before making plan the researcher has found the initial idea based on the preliminary study. Some problems to be solved were found as in figure.
  
A. Setting and Subject of the Study
This classroom action research is focused on the students of class VIIIC Mts Wahid Hasyim Malang  in the first semester of  2011/2012.which located in Jl. Mt Haryono. This School has 9 classes consisting 3 class of grade seven, 3 class of grade eight and 3 class of grade nine The number of the students in this class is 36 students As part of curriculum, English is schedule for two meeting per week on Thursday and Saturday. The time allotment for each meeting is 2 x 45 minutes.
The students are taken as the subject of the study 30 students of clases IIV C The nain grade is chosen because this class has a problem in speaking mastery. recount text.

3.2 Research Procedure
Based on the research design of the study, action research, the procedure to conduct are, start from preliminary study, planning the actions (preparing the lesson plan, preparing the instructional media, preparing the instruments, and preparing the criteria of success), implementing the action research, observations and data analysis, and the last is reflection.

3.3.1 Preliminary Study
In this step, before researcher doing the research, the researcher will observation to the object of the research.that one done by interview to the teacher’s English writing and ask the writing score.Based on the preliminary study researcher got the information that there are two classes in second grade students, that are class A and B that has problem in writing ability
This class has difficulty in writing especial in articulate text because they are confuse about text and spelling. Writing ability is uncommon  model in our strategies of study and commonly models of study in now is teacher-centered, and there is no creativity to write down what they say in free writing or others. so that the student’s activeness in writing mastery is low. In addition, this situation made the students not creative to write and get bored in teaching English class. Therefore, they were less motivated on the learning and teaching process and this condition influence their score. The average of students get score 5,5 and the mean score is 60.

3.3.2 Planning of the Action
Based on the data in preliminary study this step researcher will be construct the general plan to conduct the action. That are preparing design of the lesson plan to design teaching in the class, than preparing interaction material and the last preparing the criteria of success.

3.3.2.1 Preparing Design of the Lesson Plan
In designing the lesson plan, the researcher will use the communicative materials such as, discussion, role play, picture series story and situation, language games, and authentic materials. The lesson plan consists of standard competence, materials, practice, indicator, scores and media.

3.3.2.2 Preparing Instructional Material
In preparing instructional material, the researcher is adjusting with the material that designed in lesson plan. Preparing of the instruction of the materials, media, and learning-teaching strategy.

3.3.2.3  Preparing the Criteria of Success
The target of the success in this study is the first the students improve their English achievement especially writing. And the second is the students improve and creative in writing ability such us write habitual activity. And as indicators that the criteria are complete as follows:
1.  More than 50% of the students get the score ≤ 55. The target of the researcher is the students can improve their English achievement to be 60 or at least 65 - it is the standard score based on Junior High School curriculum that must be got. 

 3.3.2.4 Implementing the Action Research
This step is implementing all of the planning of the action. The research teaches the subject by using picture series teaching for second grade students at Mts Wahid Hasyim Malang. In the first circle will be there are four meeting that conduct by researcher.
First meeting the researcher is implementing the authentic and discussion materials, the second meeting will implement the strip picture story and narrating, the third meeting will implement the role play and language games, and the last meeting the researcher will give tests to the subject. If in this circle the target of success is not complete, the researcher will be continued to second circle of action research and make revision. But if in the first circle the target of success is complete the researcher will stop.

3.3.2.4.1 First Meeting
For the first meeting will implement the authentic and discussion materials. The researcher teaches the subject and the first will explain about the materials, after that the researcher gives the topic that relevant between the authentic material and discussion, and the topic that will be given is Media Massa. After giving topic the researcher asks the subject what that can the subject image related with the topic, after that the researcher let the subject discuss about them. While the subject discussing the researcher observe how the subject speak and write it down into field note to preparing the strategy next meeting.

3.3.2.4.1   Second Meeting
For the second meeting the first will make little review the researcher about the last materials meeting. After that the researcher will give new material, and the material in second meeting is picture strip story and narrating. The researcher explain about the material and give the topic, the topic of this material is free. The researcher bring some of picture such, a mountain and resort, and the researcher ask to the subject to telling story relevant with the picture, before one student finish his / her story the researcher ask to stop and ask another student to continue. After that the researcher asks to the subject to share story with their friend while the researcher observe and write it down into field note.

3.3.2.4.2          Third Meeting
Third meeting is the last meeting to give the material, the material of the third meeting is game language and role play. The researcher explains about the material, and the first activity that will be done is language games, the researcher telling the story, but the researcher did not finish the story, the researcher ask to the students to guess what the ending of story. And next, the researcher asks to student to playing role play, and they will be the presenters of news. While the student playing role plays the researcher observe and write down to field note.

3.3.2.4.3          Fourth Meeting
In the fourth meeting the researcher will give test to the object. Before giving the tests the researcher will review all of the materials that learned. The tests will given are speaking test. Such as, telling story in front of the class.

3.3.2.5       Observations
The researcher is using observation to collect the data. With observation the researcher can observe directly the action process. Observation is the most desirable measurement method to collect data directly. The researcher will use the observations technique to collect data during the teaching and learning process in the classroom.

3.3.2.6       Field Notes 
Field notes focused on the student’s activities during in the classroom and used to observe the process of teaching and learning. The researcher is making a record of written students’ activities in order to make improvement in taking next steps.
 
3.3.2.7       Test
The researcher will give test to the students in the last steps. The test is speaking in front of the class in telling story. The test given to measure ability students after given the action Communicative Language Teaching, and the criteria of the test including fluency, grammar, and vocabulary.

3.3.2.8  Reflection
Reflection is needed for the enhancement of the second cycle if the criteria of success the action are not complete. The result of the first cycle is indicating the progress and the weakness of the action. Reflection will give progress for the researcher to take plan and revise to go second circle.
In reflection the researcher is going to know everything have to change to make progress in doing the second circle. The circle of action will do until third circle by researcher. The researcher is making progress of plan and revise until the last action and get the criteria of success are complete.








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