Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
1
The Use of Contextual Teaching and Learning in Writing Subjects: A Case Study of the Second Year Students at SDN 3 Bareng Lor Klaten in 2013/2014 Iisrohli Irawati SD N 2 Barenglor Klaten Jl Veteran no 86 Klaten [email protected]
Abstract
In Globalization era, English becomes one of the crucial subjects to be
taught. Generally, it is taught from the Elementary schools level to university
levels. To be a creative and innovative teacher are important things to
develop students’ ability because English is a foreign language. One of the
method is to use CTL in teaching and Learning. The objective of this study is
to find out about teaching and learning writing using contextual teaching and
Learning (CTL) in the second year at SD N 3 Barenglor.
The writer observed and made interview to the teacher and students to get
data and the process of teaching and Learning using CTL. The object of this
study involved 30 students; consist of 13 male students (boys) and 17 female
17 students (girls). The results show that CTL is used in teaching and
Learning in SD N 3 Barenglor and CTL had succesfully improved the
motivation of the students to study English.
Keywords: CTL, Teaching and Learning, English
Abstrak
Dalam era Globalisasi, bahasa Inggris menjadi salah satu mata pelajaran
penting yang harus diajarkan. Umumnya, bahasa inggris diajarkan dari
tingkat sekolah dasar sampai tingkat universitas. Menjadi guru yang kreatif
dan inovatif adalah hal yang penting untuk mengembangkan kemampuan
siswa karena bahasa Inggris adalah bahasa asing. Salah satu metode yang
digunakan untuk mencapai tujuan tersebut adalah dengan menggunakan CTL
dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk
mengetahui tentang pengajaran dan pembelajaran writing dengan
2
menggunakan CTL (pengajaran dan pembelajaran secara kontekstual dan)
pada siswa kelas dua SD N 3 Barenglor.
Penulis mengamati dan melakukan wawancara kepada guru dan siswa untuk
mendapatkan data tentang proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran menggunakan
CTL. Objek penelitian ini melibatkan 30 siswa; terdiri dari 13 siswa laki-laki
dan 17 siswa perempuan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa CTL
digunakan dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran di SD N 3 Barenglor dan CTL
telah berhasil meningkatkan motivasi siswa untuk belajar bahasa Inggris.
Kata Kunci: CTL, Kegiatan Belajar Mengajar, Bahasa Inggris
Introduction
In Indonesian schools recently, English is one of the crucial subjects
to be taught. Generally, it is taught from the Elementary schools level to
university levels, but now, it has been introduced since the kindergarten level.
It also becomes the subject in which students have to pass in the national
final examination. Thisefore, it is important for the English teachers to pay
more attention to the English teaching and learning process considering that
English is a foreign language in Indonesia.
The Indonesian ministry of education department recommends that
English be taught to children as a local content subject. The instruction has
two main purposes. First, teaching English can make the children familiar
with English at an earlier age for their preparation to take the next formal
education, and second, it can make them aware of the foreign language.
In achieving those purposes, teachers need to apply various teaching
strategies based on the principles of teaching children. According to
Hudelson (1991), thise are four principles in children language teaching and
learning. First, children learn by doing because they are in the concrete
operational stage; they think deductively to form concepts and categorize
objects. Second, they learn in the social context so that they need to use the
3
new language each othis. Third, language acquisition occurs by means
student efforts to find out how the language works. Fourth, language
acquisition occurs by means of social interaction and the use of the language
with othiss in authentic communication setting.
In English teaching and learning thise are four skills. They are
reading, writing, speaking and listening. The teacher must be creative and
develop the technique of teaching and learning includes the teaching of
writing. It makes the students know the material easier. The teacher gives
modeling and evaluation to move the students towards knowledge
transforming practices by reworking their ideas during writing. The students
can spell the animal or object in a picture or write something about it.
The teacher may use media in teaching and learning process. He or
she can use the object in the class or students’ experience to connect
theirselves towards the material. This method is appropriate by the use of
Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL). Teacher teaches English to
connect the lesson towards the real things or the experience of students.
Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) is a learning system that enables
students to catch and understand the meaning of the material. It is a learning
system which based on philosophy that the students will be able to
understand the material and the meaning of their assignments if they are able
to connect new information with their knowledge and experiences.
Johnson (2002: 25) in Alwasilah (2007: 19) states that Contextual
Teaching and Learning (CTL) is an educational process that aims to help
students see meaning in the academic material they are studying by
connecting academic subjects with the context of their daily lives, that is,
with context of their personal, social, and cultural circumstance. The teacher
helps students to get the meaning of the lesson. To achieve this aim, the
system encompasses the eight components.
4
Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) is given to the students to
help them to achieve academic superiority. In Contextual Teaching and
Learning (CTL), the teacher is a ceaseless facilitator. He helps the students to
find the meaning of the academic material. The students are able to improve
and update new information in accordance with their knowledge and their
experiences. So, they can develop their knowledge, because they have given
potential response.
Based on the statement above, the writer has an interest to describe
the process of teaching and learning of writing subjects in elementary school.
So, this study is entitled: The Use of Contextual Teaching and Learning in
Writing Subjects: A Case Study of the Second Year Students at SDN 3
Bareng Lor Klaten in 2013/2014.
Teaching Strategies
Before discussing teaching strategies, we need to know about the basic
concept of developing strategies. Cole & Chan (1990) proposes a hierarchical
conceptual schema to describe the relationship between theory, principles,
methods, strategies, procedures and techniques. The highis levels of the
schema depict the more abstract and theoretical elements while at the lower
levels are the more practical and applied ones (Cole & Chan, 1990: 3).
Figure 1.A diagrammatical representation of the relationship between
theory and practice.
Theoretical Models
Principles
Methods
Strategies, procedures, and techniques
5
In this figure, Cole & Chan (1990: 4) explain that a theory can generate
principles as guidelines to methods. Then, methods are establihed teaching
plans derived from principles and theories used to organize classroom. At the
lowest level are the strategies, procedures and techniques. Strategies are
minor method. They are highly specific teaching operations that are used to
guide the activities of the classroom teacher. Basically, strategies are small-
scale plans used to enhance and facilitate the attainment of specific
objectives. They are more narrowly focused than methods. Next, procedures
and techniques are at the lowest level of the hierarchy and the most concrete
of all the elements described in the schema.
Strategy can be defined as a plan or method devised for solving a
problem (Rieke, et. al, 1977: 113). Richard & Schmidt (2002: 515) define
strategy as procedures used in learning, thinking, etc, which serve as a way of
reaching a goal. Klinghammer in Richards (2001: 203) also define strategies
as the methods and activities that will be used to attain a goal.
Which regard to language learning, strategies are especially important
because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential
in developing communicative competence (Oxford, 1990: 1).
Concerning teaching, it cannot be defined apart from learning.
Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn,
setting the conditions for learning (Brown, 2008: 8). In the teaching process it
deals with some problems. Consequently, the teacher needs models to solve
the teaching problem.
Although Levis & Hill (2002:8) assume that teaching is not the final
objective of what happens in the classroom. The teacher has important roles
as a catalyst whise he / he helped to make things happen. His / his purpose is
activating the students through many models.
6
So teaching model is a plan or method devised for solving a problem in
teaching. Teaching model may be defined as tools to design teaching models
to be implemented in achieving the objective of learning.
(http://www.aea267.k12.ia.us/cia/framework/strategies/#intro).
Teaching English to Young Learners
1. Characteristics of Young Learners
Children list a number of characteristics of young learners of
language. First, children know the context of language. It is supported by
Halliwel (1993: 3) who suggests that young children are able to
understand what is being said to them even before they understand the
individual words. They can guess the meaning of unknown words from
intonation, gesture, facial expressions, actions and circumstances.
The second characteristic is that children learn everything
indirectly rather than directly (Harmer, 2002: 37). They are unconsciously
acquiring the language. In relation to the process of learning, Halliwell
(1993: 5) believes that children will understand easily through indirect
learning because the mind is not engaged on the language.
The third characteristic is that young learners can understand the
language not just from explanation, but also from what they see and
listen, and when they can touch or interact with (Harmer, 2002: 37).
Furthismore, they like to talk. Halliwell (1993: 7) support this by saying
that young learners need to talk with the othis, for example they can do
pair work and discussion. In addition, Bruner in Cameron (2001: 8) said
that talk can support a child in carrying out an activity, as a kind of verbal
version of the fine-tuned help. However, the teacher should adjust the talk
to the students’ level (Abe, 1991).
7
In relation to talk, Williams proposes a kind of a collaborative
conversation. Wells in Williams ([email protected]) believes that
collaborative conversation can help children to shape and arrive at shared
meanings and understandings. Fihis (in [email protected]) also
comments the importance of conversation in the development of thinking,
appearing to echo Vygotsky’s view that the process of transferring ideas
into language plays an important part in stimulating overall development.
All learners need to be working with ideas and opinions not merely facts,
for the talk to be meaningful and motivating.
The fourth characteristic is that children are more accepting and
tending not to analyze; children’s ability to mimic is extremely good
(Abe, 1991). Thisefore, it is important for the teacher to use learning
media. The fifth characteristic is related to the children’s curiosity. They
are very curious about many things around them (Harmer, 2002: 38).
They have high enthusiasm with many things ([email protected]).
Thisefore, the teacher can motivate the students easily.
Next, the children like to ask for teacher’s attention and have
approval from him/his (Harmer, 2002: 38). Meanwhile, praise can be
given whise and when it is due and discipline is form, consistent, and fair
Seventh, young learners like to talk about themselves, and respond
well to learning that uses themselves and their own lives as main topics in
the classroom (Harmer, 2002: 38). Eighth, children have a limited
attention span; unless activities are extremely engaging they can easily
get bored, losing interest after ten minutes or so (Harmer, 2002: 38).
Similarly Cameron (2001: 15) comments that children are more easily
diverted and distracted by othis learners. In relation to the students’
interest, Halliwell believes that children have instinct for play and fun
8
(Halliwell, 1993: 6). Thisefore, they should have enormous activities with
games and moving around. Ninth, children are creative with grammatical
forms and concepts (Halliwell, 1993: 4). They will try to communicate by
actively recombining and constructing sentences. They understand the
concepts by giving reasons after producing sentences.
Finally, children have imaginative thinking. They test out their
versions of the world through fantasy and confirm how the world actually
is by imagining now it might be happened (Halliwell, 1993: 7).
a. Theories of Teaching English to Young Learners
Learning and teaching are related each other. The processes of
teaching are all efforts to construct opportunities for learning and to
help learners take advantage of learning (Cameron, 2001: 242).
Brown (2000: 7) said that teaching is showing or helping someone to
learn how to do something, giving instructions, guiding in the study of
something, providing with knowledge, causing to know or
understand.
In addition, Brown (2000: 7) states that teaching cannot be
defined apart from learning. Teaching is guiding and facilitating
learning, enabling the learner to learn, setting that condition for
learning. In the othis hand, teaching is the process to make someone
know and understand about something. Brown (2000: 8) also said that
an extended definition of teaching will produce governing principles
for choosing certain methods and techniques.
In the teaching and learning process, each child can learn better
than othiss in different ways. They have their own profile of meta-
cognitive ability. In relation to meta-cognitive ability, Gardner (2003)
proposes nine multiple intelligences which include linguistic, logical-
9
mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal,
intrapersonal, naturalist and existential.
Naturally, young learners still depend on the teacher in the
classroom. The teacher’s role is a source of guidance and help.
However, if learners become active participants, they need to be
independent and autonomous in doing the tasks
([email protected]). So, it is possible for the teacher to
develop pair and group works in the classroom. Students can develop
their own ability by themselves.
Cameron (2001: 20) said that children learn in social context.
Learning to do things and learning to think are both helped by
interacting with an adult. It is strengthened by Bruner that interaction
between children and adults can help them to solve problems in
learning (Cameron, 2001: 8). Similarly, Piaget in Abe (1991) also said
that active interaction of the learner with the physical and social
environment is also significant factors especially between student-
student and also student-teacher.
Furthismore, Hudelson (1991) comments that language
acquisition occurs through social interaction and through having to
use the language with othiss in authentic communication settings. He
adds that Acquisition occurs through learners conclude how the
language works. So, learner needs opportunities to use and to
experiment with the new language through talk with each othis and
will get language input from othiss.
Adult can help children in communication. Cameron (2001: 19)
said that children will try to find and construct meaning and purpose
for what adults say to them and ask them to do. They can guess the
10
meaning from their background knowledge which is limited and
partial.
Meanwhile, Zone of Proximal Development of Vygotsky
(1990) also explains that children to learn in social context. Cameron
(2001: 20) supports this by saying that in both language and cognitive
development, the ZPD or immediate potential of the child is of central
importance for effective learning. Thisefore, he describes that routines
and scaffolding are two types of language–using strategies that seem
to be especially helpful in making space for children’s growth. New
language need to be used by student-student or student-teacher. In
addition, Krahen (1982) said that using English should be related
directly to activities in which children are engaged.
Children’s foreign language learning depends on what they
experience (Cameron, 2001: 20). He adds that activities in the
classrooms will create a kind of ‘environment’ for learning. It is
supported by Hudelson (1991) who said that children generally learn
by doing. They need to engage with language in every activity and
task; they need to be working on meaningful tasks and use language
to accomplish those tasks. Thisefore, teachers can develop tasks and
activities based on familiarity of topics into learning experiences. In
addition, the teacher should prepare the tasks and activities based on
the learner’s perspective ([email protected]). Sometimes
however, the teacher needs to simplify the tasks by breaking it down
into smaller steps.
11
2. The Meaning of Writing
As one of the four language skills, writing has always occupied a
place in most English language course. One of the reasons is that more
and more people need to learn to write in English for occupational or
academic purpose. Thus, in term of students needs, writing occupies an
equal role with the othis language skills (Endang Fauziati, 2008: 141).
We need to learn writing to support the othis language skills. By learning
to write, we develop our vocabulary while learning grammar correctly.
Murcia (2001: 207) states that writing as a communicative activity needs
to be encouraged and nurtured during the language learners’ course of
study. The psycholinguist Eric Lenneberg (1997) in Brown (2001: 334)
said that writing islike swimming. It relates to the discussion of “species
of specific” human behaviour, that human being universally learn to walk
and to talk, but that swimming and writing are culturally specific; they
both are learned behaviors. The process of writing needs an interaction
between the writer and the reader via text. So, the writer must try to write
a clear, relevant, truthful, informative, interesting, and memorable text.
In the early stage, reading and writing can be learned at a similar pace,
usually in reading slightly ahead of writing. If the children are writing
ability falls too far behind, we may need to spend extra time on giving
writing exercise. However, if we need to do this, it is much better to
integrate longer writing sessions into almost all of our lessons, rathis than
have special lessons for writing and then stop writing for a while. The
children need to practice writing regularly in order to make good
progress.
12
When helping the students to become better writer, teacher has a number
of crucial tasks to perform. This is true when the students are doing
writing activities. The teacher has to perform before, during and after
students writing (Jeremy Harmer, 2004: 41-42) are the following:
1. Demonstrating
The students need to be aware of writing conventions and genre
constraints in specific types of writing. The teacher has to be able to
draw the features to the students’ attention.
2. Motivating and provoking
The teacher can help the students into having ideas, entrusting them
with the value of the task, and persuading them what fun it can be.
3. Supporting
Teacher needs to be extremely supportive when students are
practicing writing in the class, except during the exam. The teacher’s
role are the motivator and provoker.
4. Responding
In responding, we react to the content and contractions of a piece
supportively and make suggestions for its improvement.
5. Evaluating
When we do want to evaluate students’ work, telling both them and us
how well they have done.
The process of writing indeed is greatly affected by the content
(subject matter) of the writing. The types of writing, they are shopping
lists, letter, essaid, reports, or novels. And the medium, it is written in pen
and paper, computer word files, live chat, etc. But in all of these cases it
is suggested that the process has four main elements (Jeremy Harmer,
2004: 4-5):
13
1. Planning
The writers plan what they are going to write. Before starting to write,
they try and decide what the things they are going to say are. In
planning, the writers have to think three main issues. They are the
purpose, the audience, and the content structure.
2. Drafting
Draft is refers to the first version of a piece of writing. This first ‘Go'
towards a text is often done on the assumption that it will be amended
later.
3. Editing (reflecting and revising)
The writers may use a different form of words for particular sentence
if the writers’ way of writing the text is ambiguous or confusing. They
may move the paragraph or write new sentence. Reflecting and
revising can help the reader to give comment and make suggestions.
4. Forming Final Version
The writers produce their final version when they have edited their
draft and make the changes they consider to be necessary.
The most basic form of parallel writing is the kind of sentence writing
that is often used for grammar reinforcement. Students are given model
sentences and then have to write similar sentence based on information given
by their teacher. That is given in elementary school. The fifth year students
are taught dealing with the material of describing objects. The teacher teaches
vocabulary to help the students make sentence in their writing. In the lesson
of describing objects, the teacher gives a picture and then the students make
simple sentences about the picture.
14
Teaching and Learning of Writing subjects in Elementary School
Children in primary or elementary school settings generally learn by
doing (Piaget, 1995 in Endang Fauziati, 2008: 164). The children need to be
active rathis than passive. They will enjoy their activities and they can catch
and understand what they learn as good experiences.
We may give the children a basic a model sentence such as, Fish can
swim. The second sentence we give them might be just a prompt such as, …
can …. We can write this prompts on the board or dictate them and have the
children fill in the sentence with their own ideas. Then we may give the
children a few more samples sentences and reduce the prompts even more,
such as, Birds …, You …, and My little sister …. Afterwards, the children can
write three or five more sentences using the same patterns.
The children can spell the animal or object in a picture, or write
something about using the target language or othis patterns learned
previously. For example, a picture of a cat could lead to sentences such as, It
is a cat. It is a big cat. It is a black and white cat. I think it likes having fun. I
think it can climb trees, and, It is bigger than my cat. As a course progresses,
the children learn to express themselves more. In a multiple skills course,
they will be able to understand, say, read, and write these kinds of sentences
(David Paul, 2003: 98). Harmer gives examples to children in elementary
school in writing write sentences. In this example, students are given
information about particular character. They then see how this information
can be combined in sentences with and and but. Such as:
He likes pop but he does not like classical music.
He likes football and tennis.
He like watching films and going out to parks.
15
He likes spicy food but he does not like raw fish.
After the teacher gives examples, then the students write similar
sentences saying what music, sport, entertainment, and food they like. They
must use and and but. By this example, the students learn to write in making
sentences, increase vocabulary and practice to use grammar correctly.
Brown has other ways to teach the children 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 highis-order processing as well. Dictations typically
involve the following steps (Brown, 2000: 343-344):
1. Teacher reads a short paragraph once or twice at normal speed.
2. Teacher reads the paragraph in short phrase units of three or each four
words , and each unit is followed by a pause.
3. During the pause, students write exactly what they hear.
4. Teacher then reads the whole paragraph once more at normal speed so
students can check their writing.
5. Scoring of students’ written work can utilize a number of rubrics for
assigning points. Usually spelling and punctuation errors are not
considered as serve as grammatical errors.
In this ways, the students must be concentration with their material.
So, they can practice their skills in listening, vocabulary, and writing.
The last example is writing games (Silvers, 1988 in Fauziati, 2008:
169-170). It is called jumbled words. The games can be used effectively as
eithis individual or team competitions. The students are given a list of words
about something, such as fruits, transportation, colors, professions, animals,
etc. But the letters in each word are jumbled, so the students must rewrite the
16
jumble word correctly. The winner is students or team with the most correct
words within the allotted time. The following examples are jumbled words
from the category colour.
1. L-B-E-U : BLUE
2. G-E-E-R-N : GREEN
3. D-R-E : RED
In this activities can give good atmosphise in teaching learning. If the
students are difficult to answer, the teacher can give pictures to help the
students.
All of the examples above are effectively perform in teaching writing
subjects in elementary school. The students can begin to write, it will be
easier for them to write in making paragraph in junior or senior high school.
Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL)
Brain works to look for meaning. When brain gets the meaning, it
learns and remembers. So, brain works appropriately along with one’s
experience. The ability of brain is to find the meaning, which motivated the
students to join their assignments with their daily life or their experiences.
So, the students can remember what they learn. This is appropriate with the
aim of Contextual Teaching and Learning.
Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) helps us relate subject
matter content to real world situations and motivate students to make
connections between knowledge and its applications to their lives as family
members, citizens, and workers and engage in the hard work that learning
requires. Contextual teaching and learning strategies
(http://www.cew.wisc.edu/teachnet/ctl/):
17
1. Problem based
Contextual Teaching and Learning can be started with a simulated or real
problem. Students use critical thinking skills and draw upon multiple
content areas to solve the problems. Worthwhile problems that are
relevant to students’ families, school experiences, workplaces, and
communities hold greater personal meaning for students.
2. Using multiple context
Contextual Teaching Learning experiences are enriched when students
learn skills in multiple contexts (i.e. school, community, workplace,
family).
3. Drawing upon student diversity
On the whole, our student population is becoming more diverse, and with
increased diversity comes differences in values, social mores, and
perspectives. Team collaboration and group learning activities respect
students’ diverse histories, broaden perspectives, and build inter-personal
skill.
4. Supporting self-regulated learning
Students must become more aware how they process information, employ
problem-solving strategies, and use background knowledge. CTL
experiences should allow for trial and error; provide time and structure
for reflection; and provide adequate support to assist students to move
from dependent to independent learning.
5. Using interdependent learning groups
Learning groups, or learning communities, are establihed in workplaces
and schools in an effort to share knowledge, focus on goals, and allow all
to teach and learn from each othis. When learning communities are
establihed in schools, educators act as coaches, facilitators, and mentors.
6. Employing authentic assessment
18
Authentic assessment is used to monitor student progress and inform
teaching practices.
According to contextual learning theory, learning occurs only when
students process new information or knowledge in such a way that it makes
sense to them in their own frames of reference (their own inner worlds of
memory, experience, and response). Contextual Teaching and Learning
theory be success because this system asks the students to act naturally.
According to Alwasilah in Johnson (2009: 65-66), to achieve the aim, the
system of Contextual Teaching and Learning has components, they are:
1. Making meaningful connections
2. Doing significant work
3. Self-regulated learning
4. Collaborating
5. Critical and creative thinking
6. Nurturing the individual
7. Reaching high standards
8. Using authentic assessment
Thise are seven components of contextual teaching and learning in
http://bandono.web.id.2008/03/07menyusun-model-pembelajaran-contextual-
teaching-and-learning-ctl.php, these are:
1. Inquiry
Inquiry is cyclical process in arranging knowledge or concept from doing
observation, ask, investigation, analysis, and then arranging theory or
concept.
2. Questioning
This concept is questioning activities which are done by teacher and
students. The questions which are addressed by the teacher are done to
19
give opportunity for students to think critically and creatively. The
questions of the students are caused by curiosity.
3. Contructivism
This concept demands the students to arrange the meaning of new
experiences which based on certain knowledge.
4. Learning Community
Community or groupwork who have function as communication to shred
out the experience and idea.the students can make little or big group, do
with the same level of class, or do with society.
5. Authentic Assessment
It is a procedure of value to show the ability of the students (knowledge
and attitude skill).
6. Reflection
To give response to events, activities, and experiences which have a
purpose of identifying in order to conduct of improvement and reaching a
state of perfection.
7. Modeling
The students learn or do something appropriate with model which is given by
the teacher. The teacher gives model about how to learn. The model can be
taken from students, magazine, internet, etc
According to Alwasilah in Johnson (2009: 62) in Contextual Teaching
and Learning have 3 natural of principles, they are:
1. Interdependent
This principle asks the teacher to know the connection with othis teacher,
students, society, and earth. Interdependent principle supports to
cooperation. With cooperation, the students can find the problems, make
program, and solve the problem.
2. Differentiation
20
Differentiation supports the universe to get unlimited of variety. The
teacher will teach with creativity, uniqueness, variety, and cooperation.
3. Self Arrangement
This principle asks the teacher to supports every student to develop their
ability. Contextual Teaching and Learning helps the students to obtain
academic superiority, skill, and develop their character with relate among
the assignments, experiences, and knowledge.
Contextual Teaching and Learning offers new things for innovative
teacher. It is refers to the components and principles of Contextual Teaching
and Learning. Many teachers say that their children change to move forward
rapidly when they connect the lesson with experience or real things. Also, the
disobedient and lazy students are more focus to learn and their achievement
developed. So, Contextual Teaching and Learning can help the teacher to
teach and help the students to catch and understand and understand the
material easier. Because, when the students connect the lesson with their
experiences, the students find the meaning, and the meaning gives a reason to
learn.
Research Method
The strategy of the research which is used in this study is descriptive
qualitative. According to Moleong (2009: 5) qualitative research tells about
attitudes, opinions, feels, and behavior of individual or group. The data of
qualitative research gets from interview. Bogdan and Taylor in Moleong
(2009: 4) states that qualitative research as research procedure who is get
descriptive data of word from someone in oral or written. This research needs
someone to get the data. The research is done by interview or observation.
21
In this research, the writer took the students in second year of SDN 3
Bareng Lor Klaten and English teacher as the subject of the study. They are
30 students, 13 are male students (boys) and 17 are female students (girls).
The English teacher is Mr Samingan S.Pd He taught in SDN 3 Bareng Lor
Klaten as English teacher during thirteen years.
Finding
In collecting the data, the writer used observation, interview, and the
documentation. The data were classified based on the matters discussed in
this study of contextual teaching and learning in teaching and learning
writing to the second class students of SDN 3 Bareng Lor Klaten as follows:
1. Preparation
The writer analyzed lesson plans gained from the teacher after
the interview was done. The preparations were includes competence
standard, basic competence, indicator, the objective of teaching
activity and the material, etc. The furthis explanations are as follows:
a. Standard Competence
The standard competence in the lesson plan was “colour”.
b. Basic Competence
Basic competence must be explained clearly. Basic
competence will be orientation by the teacher to establish the
material. The basic competence in the lesson plan was “colour”.
c. Indicator
Indicator spells out about basic competence. The teacher
writes the indicator on his lesson plan about colour.
d. The purposes of the Teaching and Learning
1. To write colour correctly
22
2. To mention colour with pronunciation correctly
3. To answer the questions with pronunciation correctly
e. Material
The material of colour: Red, yellow, Green, Blue, White, Black,
Brown
f. Teaching and Learning Activity
The teaching and learning activities are about:
1. Opening
a. The students make questions and answer about
information which is got from the teacher.
b. The students understand the aims of the teaching and
learning.
2. Main Activity
a. Exploration
1) The students pay attention to the explanation of the
teacher.
2) The students write the main of explanation of the
teacher.
3) The students hear and do the instruction of the teacher.
b. Elaboration
1) The students see and try to do the explanation of the
teacher.
2) The students practice to give question to othis students.
3) Othis students answer the question to use expression of
pronunciation correctly.
4) The students practice in group.
23
c. Confirmation
1) The teacher gives motivation to students in writing
about the assignment.
2) The teacher gives reflection of the result of the study.
3. Closing
a. The students tell about the problems of the study.
b. The students connect between the material and the daily
life.
c. Teaching and Learning Method
Teaching and Learning Method is a way to deliver the
material from the teacher to students. The teaching and learning
process used contextual teaching and learning method. The
teacher made talkative, question answer, discussion, giving
evaluation, and presentation.
d. Media
Media is real thing that help the teacher to deliver the
information from source of message to the receiver. In this study,
the source of message or information was the teacher and the
receiver was the students. This lesson plan told that the teaching
and learning process uses colourful ballons as a media.
The source of teaching and learning is something that can
be used to get information. The examples of the source of
teaching and learning are lecturer, teacher, text book, internet, etc.
In this lesson plan told that the teaching and learning process used
pictures with colour and short video about colour.
e. Time Allocation
24
Time allocation is sum of the time which is needed of the
teacher to deliver the material. By the lesson plan, we knew that
the teacher needed 2 x 35 minutes.
Related with preparation above, the writer triangulates it by
having a document and interview. It can be seen in (appendix), and
(appendix) as follows:
According to the document and interview above, the teacher
made a lesson plan before teaching and learning process. The teacher
claimed that he made the lesson plan appropriate with EEC
(Exploration, Elaboration and Confirmation). The lesson plan consists
of the identity of the school, the name of the school, the semester,
competence standard, indicator, basic competence, the time
allocation, teaching and learning activity (opening, main activity, and
closing), the method, the source of learning, and evaluation. The
lesson plan was signed by the English teacher and approved by the
headmaster of SDN 3 Bareng Lor Klaten. It was written in Indonesian
language.
2. The Contextual Teaching and Learning Process of Teaching and
Learning Writing
Based on the writer’s observation, the writer can report the
information related to the process of contextual teaching and learning
in teaching and learning writing to the second class at SDN 3 Bareng
Lor Klaten. The observation was carried out during the teaching and
learning process. Observation did for twice in different material.
These were two topics in this observation. First, it was concluded in
on 8 January, 2014. In this activity had part of body as the topic and
25
the last it was held on January 15, 2014. The topic of this activity was
about daily activities. The teaching and learning process, it was
concluded in 2 x 35 minutes each day. From this observation the
writer got the information about the process of contextual teaching
and learning in teaching and learning writing.
a. Opening
The situation of the classroom when contextual teaching
and learning in teaching and learning writing held is: first, when
the teacher came to the classroom, the students were busy in their
activities. Then, the teacher greeted:
Teacher : Good morning, how are you today?
Students : Good morning, I am fine. Thank, and you?
Teacher : I am fine too. Did you ever see rainbow?
Students : Yes
Teacher : Do you know what colour is rainbow? Mention it.
Students : Yes. It is red, yellow, green
Related with apperception above, this activity is
triangulated by having an observation. According to the
observation above, the teacher’s activities were started by greeting
the class. The teacher’s purpose by greeting the class is to create
English atmosphise in the class.
b. The Main Activity
The main activity in this study consists of two activities,
they are as follows:
26
1) Teacher’s Activities
a) The teacher asked the students to collect their assignment,
which was colourful ballon with the name. Then the teacher
asked a student to come in front of the class. Teacher point
toward the ballon and ask what colour is it? Then the students
answered the name of its. Based on the interview, the writer
triangulates the observation data below:
The writer : Did you use media to teach your students?
The teacher : Yes, I used pictures.
Based on the data above, the teacher used picture in
teaching and learning to create motivation of students.
b) Then, Mr. Samingan asked his students to prepare a paper. He
took one by one the colourful ballon and the students wrote
the colour of the ballon in English.
The writer : According to you, what do colourful ballon
influence the motivation of your students?
The teacher : Yes.
According to the observation and interview above, the
teacher used colourful ballon in teaching and learning to create
motivation of students.
c) Then the teacher was random the characters of word and the
students arranged into true word. It is called jumbled words.
1. g – e – r—e--n : green
2. b-c-l-a-k : black
3. e-w-i-h-t : white
27
4. r-d-e : red
5. e-b-l-u : blue
The students could answer the questions correctly.
After that, the teacher asked students to stand up in face to
face. They sang a song about rainbow and this song was
suitable with the material of colour .The situation was very
crowded.
From the observation above, the teacher was
successful to create the nice learning atmosphere in the class.
2) Students’ Activities
a) The students collected their assignments .Those were
colourful ballons. Based on the interview the writer
triangulates the observation data below:
The writer : I saw that you collected colourful ballons. Did
you feel it is difficult to do it?
The students : No, we did not.
According to the observation and interview above, the
students studied about colouful ballon. They claimed that they
did not get difficulty to do the assignments.
b) The students came in the front of the class. Based on the
interview , the writer triangulates the observation data below:
The writer : Mr. Sam asked you to come in front of the
class, what did you do?
The student : Mr.Sam asked me to point to the colourful
ballon and answered the questions in the white board.
28
According to the observation and interview above, the
teaching and learning process used student as media of
teaching and learning. It was done to help the students catch
and understand and understand the material well.
c) The students prepared a paper. They answered the questions
from the teacher. The result was good.
d) The students to stand up in face to face. They sang a song
about rainbow
The writer : I saw that Mrs. Sam asked all of you stand up
and then touch the colourful ballon and sing to get this. How
about this teaching and learning process? Did you feel happy
or get bored?
The students : We did not feel bored. We feel happy.
According to the observation and interview above, the
teacher used singing a song to create the atmosphise in the
class. That was successful, the students felt happy.
c. Closing Activity
Closing activity was an activity to close the teaching
activity. Closing activity which was done by the teacher in this
study is: the teacher gave opportunity for the students to ask about
the material if they were not clear, but no questions addressed to
him. Then the teacher gave homework to the students. After that,
the students get ready to go home. The leader of the class led the
the students to pray. After finishing it, all of students performed
handshaking to the teacher. Based on the observation above, the
29
teacher closed the lesson and gave opportunity to the students to
ask and he gave homework to the students.
3. The Methods
Methods are sets of procedures that are considered as the means or the
way in which a specific instructional activity is done, such as
contextual teaching and learning.
a. The teacher asked students to collect their homework. They were
the colorful ballon students to tell the name of the picture about
the part of the body.
b. The teacher asked a student to come in front of the class, he was
Ani. Then the teacher asks to Ani to point to the whiteboard and
asked the students to tell the colour.
c. After that, the teacher asked students to stand up in face to face.
They sang a song about rainbow.
Based on observation above, the teacher used colourful ballon,
and sang a song in teaching and learning process. Media helps the
teacher to deliver material. Using media in teaching and learning
is appropriate with contextual teaching and earning method.
4. Evaluation of Teaching Activity
Evaluation was very important to measure the students’
understanding about the material of teaching activity. The data about
the evaluation of teaching activity in this study are as follows: the
teacher gave ten questions.
Based on the observation above, in this teaching and learning
process, the teacher gave an evaluation by asking ten questions
spontaneously and then the students answered it in a written form.
30
Based on the observation above, in this teaching and learning process,
the teacher gave an evaluation by asking five questions spontaneously
and then the students answered it orally.
5. The Material
The data concerning with the material in this study as follows:
the teacher ask the students to bring colourful ballon. And then, the
writer asked to the students “What is the theme your English lesson
today?”. The students answered “the colour”. Then, the writer asked
“Mr Sam asked you to come in front of the class, what did you do?”,
and the student answered “Mr. Sam asked me to point to colour of the
picture and answered the questions in the whiteboard”.
From observation the writer can conclude:
a) The role of the teacher is important in teaching and learning
process. The teacher must be active to make the students
interested and understand the subject. He tries to make the lesson
easy by using pictures, experiences or the othis thing. It can help
the students understand the subject easily and memorize the
material. From explanation above can be seen that the teacher is
subject of the study. The role of the teacher as motivator, and
facilitator. Motivator means that the teacher can motivate their
students to improve their skills especially in learning writing.
Facilitator means that the teacher be a ceaseless facilitator to the
students.
b) The instructional material is interest. It can give enthusiasm for
the students to enjoy in the class. So, the role of the instructional
material is important in teaching and learning successfully.
31
c) All of the students are active and enthusiasm in teaching and
learning process. The students always pay attention to their
teacher. Most of them understand the subject because of follow
the teaching and learning well. When the teacher asks them to
answer the questions or come in front of the class, they are not
afraid. They can answer the questions correctly. The students as
the object of the study. The role of the students is important in
teaching and learning. The students are one of important elements
in teaching and learning successfully.
d) Media is one of the teaching aids. It is suitable with the contextual
teaching and learning method. One of the important elements in
teaching and learning successfully is by using good teaching aids.
From the explanation above, it can be seen that by using media
(for example colourful ballon) can make the students more active
and catch and understand the material well.
Conclusion
From the data, the writer can find that with CTL the students got
more interest in the teaching and learning process and did not easily get
bored. The classroom situation also becomes alive. The students are attention
the teacher and do what the teacher said.
Based on this research, the writer would like to give the suggestion.
For the students to continuously practice English at school and at home,
become more active and regular in learning English ask to their teacher if
they have difficulties, it is is not advised to be ashamed to practice English.
The teacher must be able to create classroom situation more interestingly by
using this media, give more attention to the students who sit on behind line.
32
References
Alwasilah, Chaedar. 2009. Contextual Teaching and Learning. Bandung:
MLC.
Arikunto, Suharsimi. 1998. Prosedure Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktek.
Jakarta: Bina Aksara.
Brown, Douglas. 2000. Teaching by Principles. New York: Pearson
Education.
Brown, Douglas. 2000. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New
York: Pearson Education.
Bungin, Burhan. 2007. Penelitian Kualitatif. Jakarta: Prenada Media Group
Elaine.2009. Contextual Teaching & Learning. (Terjemahan). Bandung :
Mizan
Fauziati, Endang. 2008. Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL).
Surakarta: Muhammadiyah University Press.
Harmer, Jeremy. 2004. How to Teach Writing. England: Pearson Education.
Hisgenhahn and Matthew. 2008. Theories of Learning. Jakarta: Prenada
Media Group.
Hornby, A. S. 1995. Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary. New York: Oxford
University Press.
http://bandono.web.id.2008/03/07menyusun-model-pembelajaran-contextual-
teaching-and-learning-ctl.php
http://www.cew.wisc.edu/teachnet/ctl/
Hyland, Ken. 2002. Teaching and Researching Writing. England: Pearson
Education.
McCrimmon, James. M. 1984. Writing with a Purpose. USA: Houghton
Mifflin Company.
Miles, M. B and Huberman, A. M. 2009. Analisis Data Kualitatif. Jakarta:
Penerbit Universitas Indonesia.
Moleong, Lexy J. 1989. Metodologi Penelitian Kuliatitatif. Bandung:
Remadja Rosdakarya.
Murcia, Celce Marianne. 2001. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign
Language. USA: Heinle & Heinle.
Paul, David. 2003. Teaching English to Children in Asia. Hong Kong:
Pearson Education.
33
Rahma, Arika. 2009. Teaching Vocabulary by Using Picture ( A Case Study
of The first year Students of SDIT An Najjah Jatinom Klaten in 2009).
Unpublihed: Widya Dharma University.
Seliger, Hisbert. W and Elana Shohamy. 1989. Second Language Research
Methods. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sharma, Kadambari and Tripat Tuteja. 2005. Principles and Practices of
Language Teaching. Delhi: Roshan Offset Printers.
Sutopo, H. B. 2006. Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif I. Surakarta: Sebelas
Maret University Press.
Yin, Robert. 1996. Studi Kasus Desain dan Metode. Jakarta: Raja Grafindo
Persada.
34
Enhancing Students’ Speaking Through the Process of
Performing Drama
Dian Anggraini English Department of Education Faculty State Institute for Islamic Studies (STAIN) Salatiga [email protected]
Abstract
An action research has always been interesting thing for teacher because the
root of it is taken from their own problems. This study is a self reflection of a
problem that is faced by the researcher. It focuses on a certain activity in a
certain class and at a certain period of time. Questionnaires, interview sheet,
observation sheet, students’ worksheets, and teacher’s lesson plans serve as
data resources. The result shows a significant increase in the students score.
However, there is variation on the general result.
Keywords: collaborative learning, drama, motivation
Abstrak
Penelitian tindakan selalu mengundang ketertarikan bagi guru karena akarnya
diambil dari masalah mereka sendiri. Meskipun tidak selalu mudah untuk
mengakui dan mendefinisikan hal seperti itu. Penelitian ini merupakan
refleksi dari masalah yang dihadapi peneliti. Ini berfokus pada aktivitas
tertentu di kelas tertentu dan pada waktu periode tertentu. Kuesioner, lembar
wawancara, lembar observasi, lembar kerja siswa, dan RPP guru berfungsi
sebagai sumber data. Hasilnya menunjukkan peningkatan yang signifikan
pada nilai siswa. Namun, ada variasi pada hasil secara general.
Kata Kunci: Pembelajaran Kolaboratif, Drama, Motivasi
Introduction
Speaking activity is practically abandoned in junior high school level.
Teachers are concerned with national examination. That is the reason the
35
research is taken the interest for choosing this topic also lies in the
development of teaching and learning in the researcher’s environment, such
as the schools’ atmosphere, students’ interests and teachers’ attraction.
The researcher prefers to choose this topic because she finds that a
classroom consists of a number of students at least 25 percent of it is still
having trouble speaking in English. Their reason is mostly shy but some of
them admitted to have very little understanding about English lesson.
The speaking activity chosen for this research is drama because it can
promote interaction. Richard and Lockhart (2000: 138) point out that a
common theme underlying different methods of language teaching is that
second language learning is a highly interactive process. The Interaction
Hypothesis argues that it is in the interaction process that acquisition occurs,
that learning is acquired through talking with others (Johnson, 2002: 95).
Furthermore, Ellis (1986: 127) states classroom teaching should be treated as
interaction. It can be assumed that the language used in the classroom affects
the nature of the interaction, which in turn affects the opportunities available
for learning. Therefore, the study of interaction is critical to the study of
language classroom learning.
Drama
The use of drama as a method to improve students’ speaking relates
with the genre used for the VIII grade as it is stated in the curriculum that is
narrative, and it concerns with the need of the problem.
Zalta (2006) describes using drama in the young learner classroom
gives children who are shy when speaking a foreign language a character to
36
“hide behind”. It also helps children to activate language and have fun. Using
drama activities has clear advantages for language learning. It encourages
them to speak and gives them the chance to communicate, even only through
learned dialogues. Drama in education was first brought by Winifred Ward, a
teacher of Northwestern University's School of Oratory, who introduced
Creative Drama for language learner for the first time. Although it has rather
different objectives, when it is used for second language learner, the main
point lies in the using of the method.
Liu (2002: 6) believes that in second or foreign-language classrooms,
there are generally two options in teaching. One option is Focus on Forms,
and the other is Focus on Meaning. Liu also states Process Drama requires
language to be used in meaningful, authentic situations, where the focus is on
posing questions and seeking answers to those questions. In drama, learners
study with other learners through asking and answering and then if they
really can understand the meaning of it, expressing them in their own way. It
is stated that when a lesson focuses on meaning, they are often interesting,
because it is relevant to their social life.
According to Lewis and Rainer (2005: 10) in order to be practitioner in
drama, here are several things their students should have, they are:
1. Personal and social abilities
2. Performance skills
3. Knowledge and understanding of theatrical ideas and concepts
They also emphasize that every element is so important for a drama to
succeed.
Lewis and Rainer (2005:13) summarize the concept of drama into
seven broad categories. They are role, form, structure, stage, text, audience,
37
and content. Those categories are not the main concern here but the actual
performance and how the students conduct it using narrative stories. The
writer would like to investigate the students’ ability to relate the language
into their performance. The use of narrative as the story represents part of the
curriculum that is used today. The drama will be performed in a group, so the
researcher will also use a collaborative method.
Natural-Conversation Speech
Conversation according to Zaida (2008) can be defined as the informal
interchange of thoughts and information. A natural–conversation flows on
itself. If we look closer, we can infer that it covers (1) question –and answer–
play, a major role in general conversation dynamics; (2) the building of one
comment on another.; (3) it has specific feature of the English used such as:
the use of contraction (I’ll, I’m, you’re, etc), the occasional use of
colloquialism, the use of exclamation, and the use of transition expression,
such as by the way, incidentally, that reminds me, as a matter of fact, in other
words, in any case, any way, etc.
Creating a natural-conversation based on narrative story is autonomy.
To make it as natural as possible, we need to include the above elements into
the script of the drama.
The preceding activity before drama for students can be, for example,
miming activity. Children use gesture or actions to indicate a thing or
situation. Here teacher can establish the activity by doing other variation.
Watching video can be a language learning also. There are many variations to
use the video. Here are a few: (1) Students watch a fragment, a video
38
sequence with no sound, and guess what happens. Students then create a
dramatic scene based on what they have watched. By the end of the activity,
the video is replayed again this time with sound so students can compare their
version with the video. (2) Students do not watch, but only listen and try to
guess what happens and where the events take place. Students then create
dramatic sequence based on what they have heard. Students then watch the
video again and compare their version with the video. (3) Students watch
only a very short fragment and then predict its continuation. Students then act
it out. When they watch the continuation from the video, they can compare
their version.
Transforming stories into mini plays requires several things, such as:
(1) choose simple stories for students; (2) create scripts for the stories, adjust
them to the situation in your class; (3) if necessary, have students prepare
costumes and supporting aids; (4) put on play for other classes and/or parents.
Brown (2001: 184) explains that drama is a pre-planned form of role-
play or simulation. The use of story line or script is essential. Writing the
story line or script and rehearsing was part of the activity. With large classes,
the activity can be done in groups. Furthermore, each group can create their
own interpretation to the story.
Collaborative Learning
Gunawan (2003: 198) stresses that Collaborative Learning is not just a
learning process collaboratively but also it involves a fair communication
process in the class. He believes there are five important elements in a
collaborative learning, they are:
39
a. Positive Interdependent
b. Supportive face to face interaction
c. Personal and group responsibility
d. Personnel communication ability and communication in a small
group (developing trust, leadership, decision making, good
management and conflict resolution)
e. Learning process in groups (reflecting a function, forming ability to
cooperate in a group, and developing better achievement together)
It is believed that a group work would not succeed if members of the
group do not realize the important of those elements. In order to achieve that,
teachers need to supervise and facilitate. Grouping should be arranged
carefully and it needs good planning, consistent and systemic.
The negative side of collaborative learning needs to be considered.
There are possibilities that might arise, such as:
a. Smart students might feel at disadvantage, if they do not fully
comprehend the real goals
b. Those students would also object because the assessment would be
based on group’ work achievement.
c. There is a possibility that the group would not work well, only some
students are busy while others only play around and later rely on
them.
On the other hand, socially it is good to have collaborative learning.
Gunawan (2003: 203) states the positive sides of collaborative learning are:
a. extend interpersonal ability,
b. extend social communication among students,
c. increase empathy for others,
40
d. learn leadership and management,
e. learn organization, working as a team
Motivation
Learning a second language needs motivation. For children in junior
high school age, it is needed and teachers should provide it. Brown (2001:
72-73) offers definition of motivation; that is the extent to which you make
choices about (a) goals to pursue and (b) the effort you will devote to that
pursuit. In view of that, teachers need to mention their learning goals to
students.
It is important for students to understand what is expected of them. It
becomes their intrinsic motivation. If a student has understood, the teaching
and learning process would succeed by itself.
Brown (2001: 81) also reminds teachers to think not so much as a
teacher who must constantly “deliver” information but more as a “facilitator”.
Teachers should set the stage for learning, start the wheels turning inside the
heads of their students, turn them on to their own abilities, and help to
develop their ability.
Number of students in a class is also an important factor. As Long
(2000: 76) states that each child is an individual with a unique ability and
characteristic style. Children’s personality can also affect the learning process
since this shapes the way in which they relate with others. Based on this
assumption, the writer will take some consideration throughout the research.
41
Action research
In investigating the effectiveness of a teaching and learning process,
using an Action Research is the most appropriate methods to work with. As
stated by Glanz (1982: xii) that action research is devoted to specific
strategies and techniques.
Teaching English in junior high school should integrate four skills of
competence, speaking, listening, reading and writing. In simple way, English
teacher says written cycle and spoken cycle. The focus of this research will
be on the spoken cycle.
Furthermore, Harmer’s (1998:4) says that students are the people who
need the practice, in other words not the teacher. In general terms, therefore,
a good teacher maximizes STT (Student Talking Time) and minimizes TTT
(Teacher Talking Time). Thornbury (1998: iv) states that speaking is
interactive and requires the ability to co-operate with others.
Therefore it is necessary to have speaking class conducted for students.
Not only it will give them the opportunity to practice how much English
knowledge they have but also learn from other. It is also quite important for
English teacher to speak English in the class.
In order to maximize speaking opportunity and increase students’
experiences in language used in a speaking classes, teachers should also
provide feedback. It is best given when the activity has ended.
Thornbury (1998: 89) also states that drama is one of speaking class
activities. Therefore in this research, drama is the main activity being
investigated.
42
Drama activity chosen for this speaking class has gone through many
considerations. Time allotment, school environment, teaching situation, and
mainly students’ interest come to mind. The VIII A of Pius Junior high
School students as the subjects of the research are chosen because of their
lowest average score among other classes. The class consists of 15 female
and 16 male students. For the drama activity in the first cycle, the class is
divided into 5/6 group members mix gender. Later based on reflection from
the first cycle, there is regrouping for drama in the second cycle.
In the third cycle, the researcher is getting more confident. The drama is
great. Finally, it can be inferred that drama is good for speaking class.
Research Method
Here is the scheme of the research; it showed how the action research
ran. There were 3 cycles involved.
43
Figure 1 Research Scheme
Plan 3: The
teacher planned
another cycle.
Students would
perform drama
with friends
they chose
Act 3: teacher
divided students
in 3 categories.
Good score
students, fair and
poor. The good
groups chose
Observe 3:
97% passed the
Passing Grade
score and 3%
did not pass the
PG score
Reflect 3:
- Drama’s
performances
were better
- VIII A Students
practiced
VIII A students tended to speak Indonesian in
English class. The reasons were:
- Shy
- Not confidence
- Unsupportive environment
- no reward (no score for speaking)
Plan 1: The teacher asked the students to
retell a story by the end of narrative
Act 1: teacher conducted retelling story
activity
Observe 1: 55% got above Passing Grade (PG)
score and 45% got below PG score
Reflect 1:
- Teacher should think of other speaking activity
- Teacher should motivate students better - Low student felt more frightened - Even fast students felt not confidence
Plan 2:
- Teacher used drama in the speaking class
- Students would do drama collaboratively
Act 2: Teacher conducted drama in speaking
class. Students worked in groups. The groups were arranged by teacher based on students
score in previous cycle.
Observe 2: 68% got above PG score and 32% got below PG score.
Reflect 2:
- A certain group had communication problem among members.
- Students performance did not
maximal.
44
The research subject was chosen based on pre-cycle activity. The
result was VIII A class of PIUS Junior High School in the 2009/2010 school
year.
The data analysis was based on questionnaires, interview sheet,
observation sheet, students’ worksheets, and teacher’s lesson plans.
Result
Based on observation, in spoken cycle students of Junior high school
faced such problems:
themselves friends from the
poor group, then
from the fair
group until there
was no student
left.
When the groups
were arranged,
they performed
drama with the
new group.
speaking
English in
English class.
- There was one
student who did
not passed the
Passing grade.
He would get
further assistant.
45
Table 1 List of Weaknesses
Weakness
1. Slow learners had problem with technical term.
2. Slow learners had trouble in determining the technical term.
1. Slow learners had problem with understanding the story.
2. Slow learners were confused in determining the concept.
1. They did not have enough vocabulary.
2. They were too confused even to start their own story.
3. They did not know how the concept of sentence worked.
1. Slow learners were shy with their works.
2. In a group, slow learner depended a lot on the fast learner.
3. Because students were not confidence with their works as a results, they
were shy their performance.
4. Only fast learners excelled both in writing and speaking.
5. Sharing could be hard for those who had never done it.
6. The atmosphere of the English class was not conducive because the gap
and the competition reflected.
Then later after the action research was taken the result could be seen
from the figure below:
46
Figure 2 Student’s Recapitulation
After conducting the classroom action research, I as the English teacher
of PIUS Pekalongan Junior High School got better understanding of my
teaching. From the result of my research, I found the weakness of my
teaching. They can be elaborated as follows:
(1) I did not approach my student in person. I only told them things and
expected them to follow. I should have listened and paid attention
better to all students.
(2) I was lacking in instructional approach in conducting speaking class. I
should have consulted teaching method text book more.
(3) I did not talked English in class. I think that was one of the reasons
that my students were lacking in pronunciation. I found that it was the
most question asked to me. “How to say this word?” etc.
97%
3%
68%
32%
55%
45%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Passed
Failed
Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3
47
I found that students who thought English was difficult, they tended to
ignore the lesson. They tried to do the assignment without understanding
what it was. They just copied from others. By doing creative drama, they
became involve in the teaching and learning process. The most important
thing was they had an English environment.
Conclusions and Suggestions
The conclusions that can be taken from the research are:
(1) In order to absorb the lesson in a classroom students need to build up
their motivation. The role of a teacher is very important in creating
such motivation.
(2) Learning second language needs a supportive environment. A teacher
needs to be able to create a good atmosphere in a classroom.
(3) With an appropriate activity students can explore their competence
actively.
Based on the result of the research, the following are some suggestions
for readers, including students and teachers:
(1) Students
Speaking class is done in order to provide students with English
setting; all students should not feel terrified because of it. A lot of
practice would make perfect. Students of junior high school are
capable of having conversation in English in daily life. That is why
they should not feel shy.
48
(2) Teachers
Teachers should understand their students’ need and problems so they
can give the best treatment to overcome the problem. Teachers should
be able to motivate their students in various ways.
(3) Schools
The English teaching and learning process in SMP PIUS Pekalongan
get better quality and to motivate other teachers to do their analysis on
their teaching and learning process.
References
Brown, H. Doughlas. 2001. Teaching by Principles: An interactive Approach
to Language Pedagogy 2nd
Edition. New York: Pearson Education
Company.
Ellis, Rod. 1983. Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Glanz, Jeffrey. 1982. Action Research: An Educational Leader’s Guide to
School Improvement. Norwood: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.
Gunawan, Adi W. 2003. Genius learning Strategy. Jakarta: PT. Gramedia
Pustaka Utama
Harmer, Jeremy. 1998. How to Teach English. Malaysia: Pearson Education
Limited
Lewis and Rainer, Martin and John. 2005. Teaching Classroom Drama and
Theater. USA Rutledge.
Liu, Jun. 2002. Body and Language. Intercultural Learning Through Drama.
Process Drama in Second – and Foreign – Language Classrooms.
49
European Medi@Culture-Online http://www.european-
mediaculture.org (accessed on 15 April 2010)
Long, Martyn. 2000. The Psychology of Education. London: Routledge
Falmer
Thornbury, Scott. 2005. How to teach Speaking. Malaysia: Longman
Richard, J.C and Lockhart. 1994. Reflective Teaching in Second Language
Classroom. United States of America; Cambridge: CUP
Zaida, Nur. 2008. Using Dramatization in Encouraging EFL Students
Engage in Natural-Conversation Speech. A paper. The 5th
national
JETA Seminar Sanata Dharma University 30 June – 1 July 2008.
Zalta, Galina. 2006. Using Drama with Children. English Teaching Forum, p.
24-27, 46.
50
Improving Descriptive Writing Skill through Mind Mapping Technique (a Classroom Action Research in 8th Years Students in MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan in the Academic Year of 2013/2014) Adi Purnomo SMP Muhammadiyah 15 Kemusu Jl. Wonoharjo – Bulu, Kemusu, Boyolali [email protected]
Abstract
This is a classroom action research. It is aimed to find out the improvement
of descriptive writing skill of 8th
years students of MTs Muhammadiyah 1
Cekelan in the academic year of 2013/2014 through mind mapping. Besides
that, it is also to describe the process of teaching writing using mind mapping
to 8th
years students of MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan. The data is obtained
by giving pre-test and post-test in each cycle. The result shows that there are
improvements in students’ writing skill. It can be seen at the mean of pre-test
and post-test. In the cycle I, the mean pre-test and post-test are 57,03 and
65,15. The mean of the pre-test and post-test in cycle II are 64,05 and 73,00.
The process of research took place for two weeks, precisely it is four
meetings. Students followed the teaching-learning process well. They showed
their interest in the lesson. Based on the analysis the writer concludes that the
8th
years students of MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan can improve their
writing skill through mind mapping technique.
Keywords: Mind Mapping, Writing Skill, Classroom Action Research
Abstrak
Penelitian ini adalah penelitian tindakan kelas. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk
menemukan peningkatan kemampuan menulis teks descriptive siswa kelas
VIII MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan tahun pelajaran 2013/2014 melalui
teknik mind mapping (peta konsep). Selain itu, penelitian ini juga bertujuan
untuk menjelaskan proses mengajar writing menggunakan teknik mind
mapping pada siswa kelas VIII MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan. Data
diperoleh dengan memberikan pre-test dan post-test di setiap siklus.
Hassilnya menunjukkan bahwa terdapat peningkatan pada kemampuan
menulis siswa. Ini dapat ditunjukkan dari rata-rata nilai pre-test dan post-test.
51
Di siklus pertama, diperoleh rata-rata pre-test dan post-test sebesar 57,03 dan
65,15. Sedang rata-rata pre-test dan post-test di siklus kedua adalah 64,05 dan
73,00. Proses penelitian dilaksanakan dalam empat kali pertemuan dengan
rentang waktu total dua minggu. Para siswa dapat mengikuti proses belajar
mengajar dengan baik. Mereka dapat menunjukkan minat mereka pada
pelajaran. Berdasarkan hasil analisa, penulis menyimpulkanbahwa siswa
kelas VIII MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan dapat meningkatkan kemampuan
menulis mereka melalui teknik mind mapping (peta konsep).
Kata Kunci: Mind Mapping (Peta Konsep), Kemampuan Menulis, Penelitian
Tindakan Kelas
Introduction
Writing is the most difficult language skill. It is also considered as the
most complicated language skill to be learned, compared to other language
skills. In writing process, students always involve creative thinking skill. It is
also supported by tight rules. Endang (2005: 147) claims that “Writing as one
of four language skill, writing has always occupied a place in most English
language course, and one of the reasons is that more and more people need to
learn to write in English for occupational or academic purposes and the most
difficult skill to master for foreign language learners.” Mastering
vocabularies and tenses become the main key to get a good writing. Students
have to choose appropriate vocabularies to arrange words to be a sentence
and develop it to be paragraph. Besides that, students also have to use a
compatible tense to express an event in certain time. Writing skill is the one
which has to be mastered by students.
Since writing is the most difficult language skill, students face a lot of
problem. In this research, the writer will focus on descriptive texts. The
students could not describe things, places, and a person in detail because they
do not have any ideas when they are asked to describe them. They were lazy
52
and bored if the teachers asked them to write something even it just writes a
descriptive text. There were many students that lack of motivation in writing,
so there are many of them got bad score in writing. Besides that, some of
them did not know what they should write. The other problems which also
emerged are choosing the topic, arranging paragraph and using of
vocabulary.
The problems above are also faced by students of MTs Muhammadiyah
1 Cekelan in second years. Based on the interview with Mrs. Asri Pamungkas
as the English teacher, the writer concluded that the students of MTs
Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan faced serious problem in constructing and
arranging sentences as well. They were still confused to determine words to
describe something. They used to do mistake when they used simple present
tense. Sometimes, they forgot to add “-s / -es” on the verb when they used
third personal pronoun as a subject. They usually used pattern of past tense to
make a paragraph of descriptive text. Besides that, they were in difficult to
express their memory about things which they wanted to describe. In the
other case, they wrote similar description with their chair mate. They did not
have enough self-confident to make their own sentences.
MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan has been decided 70 for their students’
score of minimal passing grade criteria. Though all of them had to pass the
minimum score, they were still in low range in 50 to 65. In order to solve the
problems, the researcher tries to apply a teaching model named mind
mapping technique. “Mind Mapping merupakan alat paling hebat yang
membantu otak berpikir secara teratur.” (Mind Mapping is the most
excellent tool which helping mind to think regularly.) (Buzan, 2006: 4). This
strategy can make students easily to remember things which they want to
described. It can be supported with several things such as color pencil, paper,
53
picture, etc. the, it can be connected with lines in order to make their
imagination colorful and more interesting toward writing skill.
This research is focusing on the ability in writing descriptive text
especially in describing people and animal. The subject of the research is the
second years students of MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan. The researcher
concerned on the students’ improvement of grammar and vocabulary mastery
in writing descriptive texts. It will be known by pre-test and post-test phases.
Mind Mapping
Buzan (2005: 6) claims that a mind map is a powerful graphic
technique which provides a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain.
It harnesses the full range of cortical skills – word, image, number, logic,
rhythm, color, and spatial awareness – in a single, uniquely powerful manner.
In so doing, it gives you the freedom to roam the infinite expanses of your
brain. The Mind Map can be applied to every aspect of life where improved
learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance. The human
brain works to process information through observation, reading or hearing
about something organized as functional relationship between concept and
keyword. It is not partially separated from each other and is not in narrative
form complete sentences.
The mind mapping strategy can be used to explore almost topics in
writing such as narrative, descriptive, recount, persuasive, argumentative,
essay, and etc. Students can improve their ideas and lend themselves to
discussing ideas in groups. According to Buzan (2006: 31), mind mapping
can be used in many activities, such as mind mapping to communicate and do
presentation, to plan family activities.
54
Writing Skill
The term of skill is defined as ability. Concisely, writing ability is the
skill to express idea, thought, and feeling to other in writing symbol to make
other people or readers understand the idea conveyed. Larry (2003: 121)
states that writing is the process of transferring thoughts from mind onto
paper to share with readers while readily admitting that composing text to
communicate their ideas is tough sledding.
On the other hand, Gelb (1962) explains that writing is clearly a
system of human intercommunication by mean of conventional visible mark.
Writing began at the time when man learned how to communicate his thought
and feeling by means of visible signs, understandable not only to himself but
also to all other people more or less initiated into the particular system.
Research Methodology
The research was conducted at MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan,
Boyolali. It was located on small village that rounded by four villages. The
subject of this research was the students of class VIII that consisted of 34
students in the academic year of 2013/2014. They were chosen by the
researcher based on the purpose of the research. There are 14 students who
graduated from Madrasah Ibtida’yah (Islamic elementary school) and 20
students graduated from Elementary School. Most of their parents are farmer,
and some of them work in Jakarta. The students had a less motivation to
study. It was supported by the parents’ education. Most of them who just
stopped in Junior High School, could not take higher education especially in
formal education.
This research has been done from September 2013 to October 2013.
The researcher acted as the teacher and the learning process was observed by
55
the English teacher of MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan. The writer arranged
it in two cycles, each cycles consist of planning, action, observation and
reflection. The classroom action research was applied in VIII class of MTs
Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan.
Discussion
The data was obtained from the teaching learning process and evaluation.
The analysis is to measure students writing skill improvement in teaching
learning process. It was consisted of two cycles, as follow:
Cycle I
1. Planning
The writer made lesson plans for cycle 1. He planned two topics.
The topics were Person and Animal. In deciding them He had discussion
with English teacher in MTs Muhammadiyah 1 Cekelan. He planned two
meetings in each cycle because of the limitation of time and it was
consisted of two cycles. He made one lesson plan for each cycle. He
planned little different activities of each cycle. He planned pre-test and
post-test to know their writing improvement after the action. Students
were asked to produce descriptive text. It was given in every meeting. In
this step, the writer prepared some other preparation. He also prepared
materials, students’ attendance, teaching aid, sheet for classroom
observation sheet and process observation sheet.
2. Action
a. First Meeting
The first activity was conducted on Friday, September 20th
2013. Before the writer began the class, he gave pre-test to obtain the
data before the students got the treatment. Then, the writer led them
56
to the lesson, he focused on introducing mind mapping and re-
teaching descriptive text. He took topic “Describing Person”. The
students were still confused about materials and the method. In order
to the writer/teacher should teach more in next meeting.
b. Second Meeting
The second meeting in cycle 1, on Wednesday, September 25th
2013, the writer continued the lesson in first meeting. In this meeting
the writer focused to combine descriptive text and mind mapping. He
led the students to practice to make their hand writing using mind
mapping. The students could practice well, it was better than first
meeting. Before closing the meeting, the writer who took place as the
teacher gave post-test to know the students’ difference before and
after got treatment. The data was gotten as follows:
Table 1
The Students’ Scores
No Name
Pre-test Post-
test D
D2
1 AdiSaputra 63 72 9 81
2 AjiPrasetyo 61 64 3 9
3 Anita 62 64 2 4
4 Ari Awan 52 57 5 25
5 AyuNovita S 65 72 7 49
6 ErmanPrasetyo 54 56 2 4
7 Erna Sari 53 61 8 64
8 Erna Yulianti 59 70 11 121
9 Indri Mulyani 54 59 5 25
57
10 IrwanGunawan 48 58 10 100
11 Iswanto 63 70 7 49
12 LailaNovita Sari 72 81 9 81
13 M. Dandi S 60 72 12 144
14 M. Sholeh F 49 71 22 484
15 M. Ali Mahfud 70 72 2 4
16 MuhFahmi 47 53 6 36
17 MuhMuhajir 43 61 18 324
18 M. Sholeh 45 54 9 81
19 NunungAriyani 64 71 7 49
20 NurLaila 64 72 8 64
21 Reza Aditya PM 66 72 6 36
22 RieinWijayanti 60 70 10 100
23 Rudi Ardiyanto 49 61 12 144
24 SaprilWiji A 75 82 7 49
25 SellyRahayu 60 67 7 49
26 SitiNurHaniah 52 62 10 100
27 Sofimgi 64 70 6 36
28 Sri Wulandari 54 59 5 25
29 Tri Utami 47 58 11 121
30 Tri Wahyuningsih 42 55 13 169
31 Wahyu Anton W 51 61 10 100
32 Wahyu Rio A 47 55 8 64
33 WahyuSusenoAji 54 60 6 36
58
34 Widiyanti 70 73 3 9
∑ 1939 2215 276 2836
3. Observation
In the process of observation in cycle 1, the writer got the data
presentation from the English teacher (Mrs. Asri) as collaborator. She
made the observation more objective and easier. By monitoring the
students’ activity in this action, we could see that they were enthusiastic
although in the fact there were some students who were confused about
the material given. It was caused by the first time for them in English
class using mind mapping technique. Although, they were confused, they
were interested in this lesson. It could be seen in their effort to
understand the lesson by asking their friend.
4. Reflection
After analyzing the result of action in cycle 1, the writer and the
observer (Mrs. Asri Pamungkas) can conclude that the researcher should
give brief explanation about the function of mind mapping to improve
writing skill because there were some students cannot practice well.
Some students did not understand yet about descriptive well, so that they
made mistakes in constructing sentences.
Cycle I also has shown that there were little improvements from
students. It can be seen from the average of post-test that shows 65,15. It
increased from the test before. Although it was not big improvement but
it is better from the pre-test, because the average of pre-test just gets
57,03. Based on the passing grade criteria (KKM) which decided at
59
70,00, the post-test shows there were 13 students who could pass from
KKM, it is twofold bigger then pre-test with the result 4 students.
Therefore in the next cycle the researcher should give more
motivation to the students in order to they can improve their
achievement.
Cycle II
1. Planning
In cycle II, the writer made similar preparations like in cycle I.
2. Action
a. First Meeting
As cycle I, the writer gave students pretest to obtain the second
data. In this cycle the writer focused on practice to produce text using
mind mapping method.
b. Second Meeting
It was last meeting; the students could show good
improvement. They could practice the method well. Although, they
could show good improvement, but there were three students who
cannot pass the passing grade criteria. In order to close meeting, the
writer gave last test, it was post-test. It was obtained data as follows:
Table 2
The Students’ Score
No Name
Pre-test Post-test D D
2
1 AdiSaputra 66 74 8 64
2 AjiPrasetyo 64 71 7 49
3 Anita 64 73 9 81
60
4 Ari Awan 58 71 13 169
5 AyuNovita S 64 75 11 121
6 ErmanPrasetyo 52 71 19 361
7 Erna Sari 63 71 8 64
8 Erna Yulianti 69 76 7 49
9 Indri Mulyani 65 71 6 36
10 IrwanGunawan 61 70 9 81
11 Iswanto 66 77 11 121
12 LailaNovita Sari 75 86 11 121
13 M. Dandi S 59 75 16 256
14 M. Sholeh F 56 63 7 49
15 M. Ali Mahfud 70 80 10 100
16 MuhFahmi 58 65 7 49
17 MuhMuhajir 50 70 20 400
18 M. Sholeh 59 70 11 121
19 NunungAriyani 71 73 2 4
20 NurLaila 67 72 5 25
21 Reza Aditya PM 71 73 2 4
22 RieinWijayanti 71 74 3 9
23 Rudi Ardiyanto 53 72 19 361
24 SaprilWiji A 80 88 8 64
25 SellyRahayu 71 72 1 1
26 SitiNurHaniah 62 72 10 100
27 Sofimgi 71 76 5 25
61
28 Sri Wulandari 63 74 11 121
29 Tri Utami 64 71 7 49
30 Tri Wahyuningsih 59 60 1 1
31 Wahyu Anton W 63 70 7 49
32 Wahyu Rio A 57 72 15 225
33 WahyuSusenoAji 58 71 13 169
34 Widiyanti 78 83 5 25
∑ 2178 2482 304 3524
3. Observation
In the end of the meeting, the teacher asked the students about
what they had learned. Some students answered, “Descriptive text using
mind mapping”, but there were students that just kept silent. Then, the
writer concluded what they learned. He also asked whether they were
happy with all learning activity today. Almost all students said that they
were happy, but some others just kept silent. Then, he closed the
teaching learning process by saying good bye to them.
4. Reflection
Cycle II showed the significant differences than cycle I. Almost of
the students can pass the Passing Grade Criteria (KKM). There are 31
students have passed KKM and 3 students have not passed yet.
After analyzing the result of cycle I and cycle II it can be
concluded that the research got good result from activities of teaching
descriptive text using mind mapping. It can make students easier in
62
understanding the lesson. They also become more active to answer
teacher’s questions.
Table 3
Observation Sheet
No Activity
Distribution
Excellent Good Fair
1. Pre-teaching
a. Opening
Greeting
T : “Assalamu’alaikumWr.Wb”
S : “Wa’alaikumsamWr.Wb”
T : “Good morning”
S : “Morning sir”
Asking Condition
T : “How are you today?”
S : “I am fine, and you?”
T : “Very well, Thanks”
Attendance
T : “How is absent today”
S : “None sir”
b. Motivation
T : “Now day, English is very important,
everything use English. So it is
important for you to learn it”
c. Apperceptions
T : “Anybody knows what is this picture?”
63
S : “Pasha Ungu Sir,”
T : “Can you tell me who is he and what
does he look like?”
S : “He is singer, Vocalist of Ungu Band
and he has white skin….”
2. Whit Teaching
a. Explanation
Teaching Descriptive Text
T : “Now, we will learn about descriptive
text. . .”
Introducing Mind Mapping
T : “is there who ever heard mind
mapping. . .”
Combining Descriptive Text and Mind
Mapping
T : “We have learned about descriptive
text and mind mapping. Now let’s
combine them.”
S : “does it make descriptive text with
mind mapping sir?”
T : “Yupp, I will explain, so please pay
attention”
b. Practice
Dividing into some groups
T : “to practice it. I will divide you into
6 groups. Please count 1 until 6
started from front of left corner and
ended in back right corner”
Describing the topic
T : “I have given a topic to each group,
please describe your topic using
method which have been learned”
S : “Yes sir”
64
Writing on the whiteboard
T : “Please write your result on the
whiteboard. ….”
3. Post-teaching
a. Concluding
T : “Mind mapping makes us easier to
describe something in particularly.
You can develop it again. Any question
before I close our meeting?”
S : “No sir”
b. Post-test
T : “I will give you post test to check your
understanding, there is improvement or
not. . . .”
c. Closing
T : “if you have cleared I will close this
meeting. If there are mistakes please
forgive me. Thank for your attention.
Wassalamu’alaikumWr. Wb.”
S :”Wassalamu’alaikumWr.Wb”
T : “See you”
S : “See you too”
Table 4
Process Observation Sheet
No Process Distribution
Excellent Good Fair
1. Teacher prepares the material
2. Students describe picture which shown by
teacher
65
3. Teacher clarifies the students’ answers
4. Students pay attention teacher’s
explanation
5. Teacher explains about descriptive text
6. Teacher introduces mind mapping to
students
7. Teacher combines descriptive text and
mind mapping
8. Teacher asks the students’ difficulties
9. Students understand the teacher’s
explanation
10. Students practice to make descriptive text
using mind mapping
11. Students write their result on the
whiteboard
12. The students become active in the class
13. Teacher corrects the students’ answer
14. Students are brave to ask and answer
15. Students feel happy and enjoy during the
lesson
Analysis
Most of students have good attitude and understanding. They can
follow the teaching learning process well. It can be concluded that they are
interested in this method.
The researcher analyzed the students’ improvement based on the
result of analyzing in cycle I and cycle II. The improvement as follow:
1. The mean of the pre-test in cycle I is 57,03 and increase to be 65.15 in the
post-test.
2. The mean of pre-test in cycle II is 64,05 and increase to be 73,00 in the
post-test.
From the explanation above shows that by applying mind mapping
method students can improve their writing skill. Moreover the result of t-test
shows that there is significant influence between pre-test and post-test mean.
The results of post-tests (cycle I and cycle II) are greater than pre-tests (cycle
66
I and cycle II). It means that students’ achievement in English has improved.
It can be concluded that most of students of MTs Muh 1 Cekelan were enjoy
to study with something that can express their creativity.
Table 5
The Scores Percentage of Cycle I and Cycle II
No Graduation
Cycle I Cycle II
Percentage Students Percentage Students
1. Passing Grade 38% 13 92% 31
2. Un-passing
Grade 62% 21 8%
3
Based on table above, we can see that in cycle I the students who can
pass criteria minimum grade (KKM) just 38% or 13 students. Mostly the
students cannot pass the KKM , it is about 62% or 21 students cannot get the
goal. However, in cycle II there are improvements of the students. 31
students or 31% can pass the KKM. Although, there are 3 students in cycle I
who cannot get KKM yet.
Conclusion
Based on the data above, the writer explains the conclusion of this research as
the follow:
1. Based on the data of research, the students’ writing skill can improve
through mind mapping method. The data shows that improvement of
students’ writing skill is significant after the students got writing practice
using mind mapping. The mean of pre-test and post-test in cycle I are
57,03 and 65,15 and the mean of pre-test and post-test in cycle II are
67
64,05 and 73,00. Besides that, It can be seen the comparison between T-
calculation of all the score of cycle T and cycle II. In the cycle I the T-
calculation is 11,11 and cycle II is 10,51. In addition, the Mean improves
I every cycle. The mean of post-test in cycle I is 65,15 that is different
from the mean of pre-test in cycle I is 57,03. The mean of pre-test cycle
II is 64,05 which improves in the post-test becomes 73,00.
2. The process of teaching and learning descriptive writing using mind
mapping method is going smoothly. Most of the students are enthusiastic
to make hand writing in mind mapping that collaborated with colors pen.
It can be seen on the result of observation in the class that is most of the
students feel enjoy and happy in the teaching and learning process. It
also can be proven of the students are active to answer some questions
and create their own hand writing using mind mapping. The
implementation of mind mapping method in writing descriptive of the
second year students of MTs Muh 1 Cekelan can be done effectively.
The students can make their own writing project using their creativity.
References
Buzan, Tony. 2005. Mind Map untuk Meningkatkan Kreativitas. Jakarta:
Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
__________ . 2006. Mind Map untuk Meningkatkan Kreativitas. Jakarta:
Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
Fauziati, Endang. 2005. Teaching of English as A Foreign Language.
Surakarta: Muhammadiyah University Press.
Gelb I.J. 1952. A Study of Writing. Chicago: The University of Chicago.
Lewin, Larry. 2003. Paving the Way in Reading and Writing (Strategies and
Activities to Support Struggling Students in Grade 6 – 12). San
Fransiso: Jossey Bass.
68
The Use of a Write-Pair-Square Strategy to Improve The Students’ Active Participation in Writing Descriptive Text
Dwi Arni Siti Margiyanti Kesatrian 2 Semarang Senior High School, Indonesia e-mail: [email protected])
Abstract
Many problems faced by students in participating in the classroom and writing a
text. This study discussed the use of write-pair-square strategy to improve the
students’ active participation in writing descriptive text. The objectives of the study
are to find out the implementation of write-pair-square in teaching descriptive text
and to investigate the improvement of students’ participation and writing achievement
after being taught by using write-pair-square strategy. The research focused on
teaching of descriptive text by using write-pair-square as the strategy. The subjects
are SMA Kesatrian 2 Semarang students. This study used Classroom Action Research
that was carried out through a pre-test, first and second cycle activities. The result
showed that the students’ progress of participation improved. The average score of
pre-test was 11.27, post-test 1 was 20.13, and post-test 2 was 30.24. It also showed
that students’ mastering descriptive improved. The average achievement of students’
pretest was63.27, First cycle test was70.23and post test was 77.66. According to this
study, I conclude that teaching descriptive text by using write-pair-square as the
strategy is helpful for students. It is recommended for English teachers to use Write-
pair-square as the strategy for students’ improvement of their writing skill.
Keywords: Teaching Descriptive Text, Write Pair Square, Active
Participation
Abstrak
Banyak masalah yang dihadapi oleh siswa dalam mengikuti pembelajaran
dan menulis teks. Penelitian ini membahas tetang penggunaan strategi write-
pair-square untuk meningkatkan partisipasi aktif dari siswa dalam menulis
teks.Objek dari studi ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan penerapan write-pair-
square dalam mengajar teks deskriptif dan untuk menyelidiki peningkatan
partisipasi siswa dan prestasi menulis setelah diajar dengan menggunakan
strategi write-pair-square. Penelitian ini berfokus pada pengajaran teks
deskriptif dengan menggunakan strategi write-pair-square. Sedangkan subjek
penelitian ini adalah siswa SMA Kesatrian 2 Semarang. Dengan menerapkan
69
penelitian tindakan kelas, penelitian dilakukan melalui pre-test, serta aktivitas
siklus pertama dan kedua. Penelitian menunjukkan terdapat peningkatan
partisipasi siswa. Skor rata dari pre-test adalah 11, 27, post-test 1 sebanyak
20,13, dan post-test 2 sebanyak 30,24. Ini menunjukkan bahwa kemampuan
siswa dalam menguasai teks deskriptif meningkat. Rata-rata prestasi siswa
pada pre-test adalah 63, 27. Sedangkan pada siklus pertama adalah 70, 23 dan
pada post-test sebanyak 77, 66. Berdasarkan studi ini, penulis menyimpulkan
bahwa pengajaran teks deskriptif dengan menggunakan strategi write-pair-
square dapat membantu siswa dalam pembelajaran. Sehingga, disarankan
kepada guru bahasa Inggris untuk menggunakan strategi tersebut guna
peningkatan kemampuan menulis siswa.
Kata Kunci: Pengajaran Teks Deskriptif, Write-Pair-Square, Partisipasi
Aktif
Introduction
Teaching writing in traditional way is still can be found in many
schools. Harmer (2004) pointed out in his book that in some teaching,
particularly in teaching writing, students write a composition in the classroom
which the teacher corrects and hands back the next day covered in red ink.
The students put the corrected pieces of work in their folder and rarely look
at them again. This situation can be found in some schools in Indonesia.
That kind of activity in teaching Language teaching is considered as
Traditional Teaching (TL) method. Dealing with student’s improvement in
learning language, especially in writing skill, there is shifting happen in
Educational field. The shifting here is from TL method into Cooperative
Learning (CL) method. There are several definitions of CL suggested by
some researchers. One of the definitions is pointed out by Felder and Brent
(2007). They suggested that CL refers to students working in teams on
anassignment or project under conditions in which certain criteria are
70
satisfied,including that the team members be held individually accountable
for the completecontent of the assignment or project. From this definition,
students are not working alone, individually. They work within a group
which has the same goal.
Another definition of CL is suggested by Slavin in Syafini and Rizan
(2010). He describes CL as students working in small groups and are given
rewards and recognition based on the group’s performance. Compare to the
CL, TL has less advantage in the process of learning. It is in line with the
statement suggested by Felder and Brent. They say:
“ relative to students taught traditionally-i.e with instructor-centered
lecture, individual assignments, and competitive grading-
cooperatively taught students tend to exhibit higher academic
achievement, greater persistence through graduation, better high-level
reasoning critical thinking skills, deeper understanding of learned
material, greater intrinsic motivation to learn and achieve, greater
ability to view situations from others’ perspectives, more positive and
supportive relationships with peers, more positive attitudes toward
subject areas, and higher self-esteem” (Felder and Brent, 2007).
When the teachers are using Traditional Learning, the students are asked to
accomplish the task individually. There will be competition among them. The
fastest learners will get more success than the slow ones.
Writing plays its big role in expressing students’ idea. Hence, writing
is still considered as the important skilled that should be taught to the
students. The skill of expressing oneself in the form of writing has been the
aim of many teachers to cultivate in their students (Krause 1994).
In traditional learning, writing is assessed merely by evaluating the
product of students’ writing. They submit their writing to the teacher and the
71
teacher will correct them and give it back. The only aspect which is evaluated
is only the text produced by the students.
In cooperative learning, the students are not depending on the teacher.
They are not merely listening to the teachers’ lecture. They actively
participate in the classroom activity. Syafini and Rizan (2010) mentions that
in group works sometimes the participation of the group members is not
equal and there are group members who indulge on a free ride without
contributing the group work and objective. in one group there are different
students with different characteristic. This characteristic that defines the
different participation of the students.
There are some techniques under the umbrella of Cooperative Learning.
They are Group-Investigation, Student Teams Achievement Division
(STAD), Learning Together, Jigsaw, Murder and Write-pair-square (Jacobs
et al, 1999). All of them are suitable to be implemented in the Language
Teaching. I am interested in Write-pair-square in teaching writing to my
students. The reason is because it covers both group and pair work.
Moreover, it seems like it is preferable in improving their writing skill.
Working in groups not only increases students’ active participation but also
build their social skill development, improves communication, enhance the
independence and accountability. Hence, using Cooperative Learning through
Write-pair-square is likely useful to be implemented in my classroom.
However, in the real education field in Indonesia in which we can see
it from the existing schools whether they are public or private, general or
vocational, and primary or secondary schools, we can still easily find that
traditional learning activity is still used in teaching learning process. We
cannot simply say that traditional teaching is not good. However, many
72
researchers have conducted and find that traditional learning is not adequate
enough to meet the students’ need. Campbell in Syafini and Rizan (2010)
suggested that rote learning has been a common practice in today’s
educational scene in Language Learning. Hence, in this study, I pick a
Cooperative Learning implementation to prove the previous study about the
effectiveness of using CL in Language Teaching.
Students supposed to involve in every activity in the classroom
actively. The fact happens in the field yet is different from the theory. Some
students are open to the teachers and the rests are not. Syafini and Rizan
(2010) suggested that xtroverts generally produce more action with fewer
thoughts whereas introverts produce numerous thoughts with little action.
The theories above are the ideal situations that actually should happen in
education field. However, the facts in the real field are sometimes still far
from the ideal ones. They are still many problems happen in making the
harmony between theories and facts. Considering the facts that different from
the ideal situation, I think it is needed to conduct a study about how to
overcome this problem. Therefore, I need to give it a try on using
Cooperative Learning to improve students’ active participation and writing
skill.
Related to the background above, the researcher formulated the
research problem as follows: (1) What problems are faced by the Tenth
Graders of SMA Kesatrian 2 in participating and writing a descriptive
text? (2) How is a write-pair-square strategy implemented in the classroom
activity? (3) How is the students’ participation improvement when they
are taught by using a write-pair-square strategy? (4) How is the learners’
achievement in writing descriptive text improved by using a write-pair-
square strategy?
73
General concept of cooperative learning
Many people see the description of a classroom that there is one teacher
standing in front of the students. They will explain the students about the
subject that he masters. While the students are sitting nicely in front of the
teachers, and listening carefully what the teacher explains. The teacher asks
the students not to make any noise. It is a good method when it is needed.
Moreover, the assessment of only focuses on the product without any careful
attention on the process.
From the ideas above, it can be concluded that in Cooperative Learning,
the world of education is not only about giving the material to the students. It
also covers the knowledge about socializing with the world. If people only
care about themselves they cannot live in social world. It also happens in the
classroom. If students merely focus on themselves, they will not interact with
their friends. They even l compete each other to be the best. Sometimes they
need to do something individually to learn how to survive if there is nobody
they can depend on. However, if it happens all the time, they will be
individualistic student. It will be difficult for them to interact since they used
to work individually.
Element of cooperative learning
There is a difference between simply having students work in group
and structuring groups of students to work cooperatively. This is supported
by Roger and David (2009). They suggest that a group of students sitting at
the same table doing their own work, but free to talk to each others as they
work, is not structured to be a cooperative group, as there is no positive
interdependence. It means that not all group work is cooperative learning.
There are some elements of Cooperative Learning suggested by Roger and
74
David (2009), they are; positive interdependence; individual accountability;
face-to-face promotive interaction; appropriate use of collaborative skills; and
group processing. In this part the elements of cooperative learning will be
discussed further.
1. Positive Interdependence
Every student gets involved in any activity. In their book, Roger and
David (2009) suggest that within cooperative learning situations, students
have two responsibilities: 1) learn the assigned material, and 2) ensure that all
members of the group learn the assigned material. From this characteristic, it
is clear that the material still something important to be learned.
2. Individual Accountability
Individual accountability occurs within the interdependence. The
students must feel that they are each accountable for helping to complete a
task for mastering material (Joyce: 2010). Each student is responsible for a
specific portion of a task. If there is a ‘hitchhike’, there will be no productive
work.
3. Face-to-face Promotive Interaction
Cooperative learning is conducted by asking the students to work in
groups. This activity results in promotive interaction. It can be defined as
individual encouraging and facilitating each others’ efforts to achieve,
complete tasks, and produce in order to reach the group’s goals. In the
positive interdependence, students will feel that they need each others. In the
process of helping each others, they will interact. Roger and David suggest
that by using face-to-face promotive interaction, learning becomes active
rather than passive (Roger and David: 2009). Discussion of the ideas happens
in each group. The discussion will make the students interact each other.
75
More over Cooperative team helps students learn to value individual
differences and promote more elaborate thinking. The heterogeneous in the
groups make the students think differently. However, they have to make one
goal so they will negotiate and draw a conclusion. This activity need good
interaction to get one deal of the theme discussed within the group.
4. Appropriate use of Collaborative Skills
Cooperative learning makes the student master the skills for working
together effectively. They are able to stay on task, summarizing, and
recording the ideas. They also can maintain the skills by encouraging each
others. Therefore, the teachers need to do something in order the students can
learn effectively. These efforts can be done by giving them the appropriate
treatment. Roger and David (2009) suggest that ways to foster skill
development include teaching modeling, brainstorming characteristic of
‘good’ skills, direct practice, process observing, and reflection. These
activities will support the students to develop and maintain their skills.
Being good in socialization is not an easy job. Students have different
characteristic. Making them work and interact in the same time is not that
easy. Roger and David (2009) state that in order to coordinate effort to
achieve mutual goals, students must; 1) get to know and trust each other; 2)
communicate accurately and unambiguously; and 3) accept and support each
other; 4) resolve conflict constructively. When we place the unskilled
students in a group and simply ask them to cooperate, there is no guarantee
that they will do it. We are not burn with automatically have the instinct to
socialize. All we are doing is learning as well as the students. We must teach
them how to do that step by step.
76
5. Group Processing
The main activity in cooperative learning when the students have a
discussion. In this process, they will learn whether they do effectively or not.
They will find out who is involved and which one is not. Roger and David
(2009) suggested that an effective group work is influenced by whether or not
groups reflect on how well they are functioning. The function of group will
run effectively if they share their idea and interact within the groups.
This group processing is an identifiable sequence of events taking place
overtime, and process goals refer to the sequence of events instrumental in
achieving outcome goals (Johnson & Johnson: 1991). Therefore, this kind of
learning method needs time to be investigated and the concern is not the
product. Though the product is expected to prove the improvement of the
students that is not the main point. The point is students can learn something
in the process of cooperative learning for their betterment.
Based on the situation above, I conduct the study to apply the
Cooperative Learning in my class in order the students are able to work not
only individually but also in group.
Write-pair-square
Cooperative learning aims at leading the students to work in groups. It
can be loosely categorized by the skill that each enhances (Barkley, Cross
and Major: 2005). It means that it can be done by conducting several
strategies under the umbrella of Cooperative learning. Each of them includes
the number of potential structures to guide the development of a cooperative
learning exercise. It is in line with the statement about the technique of
cooperative learning. Each strategy can be developed to fit within multiple
categories by considering the needs of the student.
77
One of the strategies is Write-Pair-Square. This is a four-step
discussion strategy that incorporates with time and aspects of cooperative
learning. Students and teachers learn to listen while a question is posed
(Joyce: 2010). The students need time in doing the activity. It requires the
skill of listening and gives more attention to teacher’s instruction.
Write-pair-square is developed byKagan (1994). This strategy consists
of three steps:
1. Write
The teacher asks question on the certain issues related to the
learningmaterial. After that, the students are required to think about the
issues individually. In this step students should work individually. They
write their opinion about the given issue by the teacher.
2. Pair
The students are grouped in pair to discuss what they have been
thinkingon the first step. In this step, students share their answer on the
proposed question, or share theidea on the identified problem. Teacher
usually allocates 4 or 5 minutes to work in pair. The students share their
idea with the partner and make pair work. The discussion is needed
after sharing. They complete their opinion each other. They take the
good idea and construct a pair work.
3. Square
To share what they have learnt, in this step, teacher asks one student
ofthe pairs to form a bigger group. In this way, all the students within
the group are expected to be ableto share the idea. They share their idea
and finally make a group work. They have to compose the final draft
after sharing and discussing the topic. Each pair presents its pair work
78
and by discussing they will find which idea is good and complete with
another good idea.
The response is something that becomes the key of this learning
process. This strategy provides students with the opportunity to reflect on the
question posed and then practice sharing and receiving potential solutions. By
doing this step, students are supposed to be critical and creative to respond a
question dealing with the theme given by the teachers.
Research Method
In this research, the writer applied qualitative approach to identify the
use of writing-pair-square in improving students’ active participation in
writing descriptive text. In completing this research, the writer collected data
and information from the main source, namely field research. This term
referred to the efforts in obtaining the empirical data from the subject of the
research. The writer also conducted the activity of gathering information
from library facilities such as references and books which supported the
efforts in conducting this research. The writer decided to carry out an action
research in SMA Kesatrian 2 Semarang as the writer had been teaching there
and wanted to know how is the effective way in using a write-pair-square to
improve students’ active participation and their writing ability.
The research design of this study was Action Research. It took two
cycles. Each cycle consisted of three meetings excluded the pre and post-test.
Each cycle had four steps; they were planning, acting, observing, and
reflecting. The place of this research was at a private school. It is SMA
Kesatrian 2 Semarang at Gajah Raya Street number 58, Semarang. The
79
research was conducted in the second semester of the academic year of
2012/2013. The pre-cycle test was conducted on April, 24 2013. The second
cycle was conducted on April, 30 2013 – May, 8 2013. Second cycle was
conducted on 14-21 May 2013 and post test 2 was conducted on May, 22
2013.
The study of action research was involving a group of students as the
subject of investigation. This action research was done at SMA KESATRIAN
2 SEMARANG. This school is located at Jalan Gajah Raya Number 58,
Semarang. I conducted this action research in classX.3. There were 13 males
and 17 females.
In this action research, some instruments were used in form of
observation sheet, outsider observer, field notes, rubric of students’ active
participation, students’ observation sheet, and test. Observation sheet was
used to describe the exact situation during the research was conducted. It
was be used by the outsider observer. He filled the observation sheet while
doing the observation. I collaborated with one of the teachers in my school
to do the observation during this research was conducted. The data analysis
in this study consisted of observation sheet, students’ participation scoring,
students’ observation sheet, and writing test.
Findings and discussion
The preliminary research was conducted before the research was
undertaken. I observed the students while I was teaching them. I had taught
them for almost two semesters. According to the teaching experience and two
semesters activities, I could identify the problems are faced by the students in
80
learning English. Some of the problems are; (1) lack of learning sources; (2)
lack of motivation; (3) family background; (4) lack of interest; (5) lack of
motivation; (6) lack of practice; (7) no support from the environment; (8)
lack of participation and (9) low competence.
Those problems make the students’ ability in writing skill is
unsatisfying. In this study I concerned with the problems dealing with lack of
participation and writing problems. The following paragraphs are the
discussion about those two problems.
The pre-test was conducted in order to know the students’ prior
achievement in writing description text. Moreover, it was given to dig
students’ weaknesses in writing. The pre-test was given to the students on
Wednesday, 24th
April 2013, before the research was conducted. The students
were asked to produce a description text after given a short explanation and
sample about descriptive text. The results of the students’ writing were
analyzed based on the rubric of scoring writing test. The time allotment given
was 90 minutes. The result of this pre-test would be compared with the result
of the test after students were given treatments. The aim of this comparison
was to determine the improvement of students’ writing skill of descriptive
text.
After administering the pre-test, the result was analyzed to get the
students’ score. The result of this pre-test analysis would underline the
process of planning for the first cycle. The result of the pretest was attached
in the following table 1 (appendix 11). The following table was the
summary of the pre-test result.
81
Table 1. The Summary of Pre-test Result
Category Organization Content Grammar Punctuation Style Total
Mean 13.17 19.80 14.83 3.70 11.70 63.27
% 65.83 66 59.33 74 58.83 13.33
Based on the data presented in appendix 11, the mean score was calculated as
follows.
According to the pre-test analysis, the average of the students’ result
was 63.27. The passing grade of writing test was 75. The percentage of the
student that achieved the passing grade was 13% (4 students). Using the
same formula, the mean of each category was calculated. The result
showed that the mean of organization was 13.17, content was 19.80,
grammar was 14.83, punctuation was 3.70, and style was 11.77. This score
then would be analyzed to get the description of their competence in writing
descriptive text.
The first Post-test was conducted after the third meeting of cycle 1. The
students were given an answer sheet and asked to write a descriptive text
about animal. The time allotment was 45 minutes. After giving the material,
worksheet and exercise using write pair square strategy, the students were
expected to produce a good descriptive text. The students’ results of writing
82
were evaluated and it was constructed into a result table. It was attached in
the appendix 12. The following table 2 was the summary of Post-test 1 result
Table 2. The Summary of Post-test 1 Result
Category Organization Content Grammar Punctuation Style Total
Mean 15.17 22.07 17.60 3.90 11.60 70.23
% 75.83 73.56 70.4 78 57.5 70.23
Based on the students’ writing result table, it was found that the
average score of students’ writing in the first post-test was 70.23. The
students that achieved the passing grade of writing test were 18 students
(70.23%). The same formula was applied to analyze each category in writing
rubric. From the calculation, it was found that the mean of organization
was15.17. In other words the students’ organization competence achieved by
them was 75% if it was compared to the maximum score. The result of mean
score and achievement percentage of content, grammar, punctuation, and
style was respectively 22, 07 (73.55%); 17.60 (70.4%); 3.90 (78%); and
11.50 (57.5%). Generally, there were improvement found based on average
score and each rubric category except in style category.
The reflection was constructed based on the process during the actions
and observation was undertaken. The reflections were as follows.
1. Students’ participation result showed that the students’ participation
was still in poor category.
2. Based on the result of students’ writing, it was found that they were
still poor in category style. It was because when they were composing
83
a descriptive text, almost all of the students were confused in
choosing the vocabulary. Sometimes they did not know the English
word of the word that they wanted to write. Sometimes they misused
the English word. For example they used ‘see’ instead of ‘watch’ in ‘I
see television with my brother’ while actually he meant ‘I watch
television with my brother’.
3. They found difficulty in making a group in the process of ‘square’. It
was because the instruction was not clear enough for them. Before
they did the ‘write pair square’ I only informed them that they were
going to work individually, in pairs and in group. However, I did not
give instruction how to make a group after they shared with their
partner. This lack of information made them took quite long time to
make a group.
4. In ‘pair’ step, they find difficulties about how to make the result of
sharing. Some of them wrote the point and others wrote in form of
paragraph. It made the students confused since there was no clear
instruction about the form of ‘pair’ discussion result.
5. In doing the individual work, they still look at their friends’ result. It
could be found when the students were doing worksheet and in the
process of ‘write’ in write pair square strategy. When they were still
having discussion in writing their opinion, it was useless since after
they did ‘write’ process they would have ‘pair’ work where they
would discuss their own work to their pair.
6. In doing the ‘square’ process, it was expected that all of the students
would participate actively in sharing and discussing the topic.
However, in fact there were only some students who controlled the
discussion while other members were only kept silent without giving
84
any idea. Some of them did not contribute because they did not know
what to say but the others seemed not too enthusiastic in taking a part.
7. By having some worksheet in each material, they complained that
they were bored of doing the written exercise.
Based on those reflections, I decided to conduct the second cycle. The
planning would be based on the problems in the reflection of this cycle. I
expected by having the second cycle there would be improvement.
The second Post-test was conducted after the third meeting of cycle 2.
The students were given an answer sheet and asked to write a descriptive text
about person. The time allotment was 45 minutes. After giving the material,
worksheet and exercise using write pair square strategy, the students were
expected to produce a good descriptive text. The students’ results of writing
were evaluated and it was constructed into a result table. It was attached in
the appendix 13. The following table was the summary of Post-test 2 result.
Table 3. The Summary of Post-test 2 Result
Category Organization Content Grammar Punctuation Style Total
Mean 18.17 23.00 19.00 4.07 12.85 77.07
% 90.83 76.67 76 81.33 51.33 76.67
Based on the students’ writing result table, it was found that the
average score of students’ writing in the second post-test was 77.07. This
number was higher if compared to the average score in cycle 1. It showed
that the students’ writing competence was improved. The students that
85
achieved the passing grade of writing test were 23 students (76.67%). The
number of students that achieved the passing grade was also increased.
In the beginning, most of them were passively participate in classroom.
However, by applying write pair square strategy they got opportunity to
willingly participate and involved themselves in classroom activity. To make
it clear in understanding the research result, the observation result of the
activity was pictured in the following (Figure 1):
The figure above showed that the observation done by the observer was
in line with what students thought. It meant that there was a balance between
the observer’s opinions with students’ point of view. The observer observed
started before and during the research was done. Then the result was derived
from the calculation of the average score derived from each meeting. It was
done to find the changes of each meeting. In the end of the research the
students were given an observation sheet to make sure that the data was taken
from both sides, from observer’s and students’ opinion.
2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
Preparation Presentation methods personal characteristic
teacher-student interaction
MEA
N
observer student
Figure 1 The result of Research observation by Observer and students.
86
Another issue in this research was students’ active participation. The
following was students’ development of participation that had been observed
before and during the research.
Table 4. The Classification of Students’ Achievement
Percentage Level of Achievement
67-100
34-66
0-3
Excellent
Good
Poor
Based on the diagram above, it was showed that students’ participation
in pre-cycle was 15.03%; first cycle was 26.84% and second cycle was
40.33%. Based on the classification of achievement table (Table 4), the level
15.03
26.84
40.33
Pre-Cycle Cycle 1 Cycle 2
Students' Participation in
Percentage
students participation in percentage
Figure 2 The result of Research observation by Observer and students.
87
of achievement of students’ active participation was poor in Pre-cycle and
Cycle 1 and improved to Good in cycle 2.
Besides participation, another concern in this research was students;
competence in writing descriptive text. In the beginning, students were
expected showed change during the research or in other words they were
expected to improve their competence after being taught using write Pair
Square strategy. The following diagram showed clearly the development of
students’ writing competence from pre-cycle to the end of cycle 2.
The Figure above showed that students’ writing competence in pre-test
was improved both the average score and the number of students that
achieved the writing passing grade. The mean score in pre-test was 63.27 and
the number of students that achieved the passing grade was 13.33% from the
total number of the student. The average score of post-test 1 was 70.23 and
there were 70.23 % students achieved the passing grade. The last post-test’s
average score was 77.66 and there were 76.67% students achieved the
passing grade.
63.27 70.23
77.66
13.33
70.23 76.66
Pre-test Post-test 1 Post-test 2
average score students' passing grade in %
Figure 3 The development of students’ writing descriptive competence
88
The development of students writing competence had some category
that could be seen their improvement. Each category had different
achievement but generally they were improved. The following diagram
showed the development of students’ each category competence in writing
descriptive text.
From the diagram above it showed that students’ competence in each
assessment category was generally improved. The organization’s average
score in pre-cycle was 13.17; cycle 1 was 15.17; and cycle 2 was 18.17. The
content’s average score in pre-cycle was 19.80; cycle 1 was 22.07; and cycle
2 was 23. The average score of grammar competence in pre-cycle was 14.83;
cycle 1 was 17.6; and cycle 2 was 4.07. The average score of style in pre-
cycle was 11.77; cycle 1 was 11.50; and cycle 2 was 12.83.
13.17
19.8
14.83
3.7
11.77 15.17
22.07 17.6
3.9
11.5
18.17 23.00
19.00
4.07
12.83
pre-cycle cycle 1 cycle 2
Figure 4 The development of students’ writing descriptive competence in each
assessment category
89
Conclusion
Based on data analysis which was discussed, the researcher concluded
that:
This study concerns with the use of write-pair-square strategy to
improve students’ active participation in writing descriptive text. Based on
the results of the study, the conclusions are as follows.
Firstly, the main problems faced by the students in the preliminary
research were the lack of participation in classroom activity and writing a text
especially in grammar and vocabulary.
Secondly, the Write-pair-square was implemented through action
research. It consisted of pre-cycle, cycle 1 and cycle 2. In Cycle 1 and Cycle
2 there were four steps they were planning, acting, observation and reflection.
Write-pair-square was done in the acting step. It consisted of three activities;
write, pair, and square. There was a pre-test and post-test in each cycle.
Thirdly, the implementation of Write-pair-square strategy in the
classroom
activities had developed students’ active participation. The percentage
of students’ participation had developed from 15.33% into 40.33 % and based
on category they are developed from poor into good category.
Fourthly, the implementation of Write-pair-square strategy during the
research had developed students’ writing descriptive competence. This
strategy had also improved the percentage of the students that gain the
passing grade.
90
References
Abu, R. B. 2008. The Effects of Cooperative Learning Methods on
Achievement, Retention, and Attitudes, of Home Economics
Students in North Carolina.Teaching Language Journal.Vol 12, 3.
Available online at:
scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JVTE/v13n2/Abu.html [accessed on 13-
13-12]
Anderson, M., and Anderson, K. 2003.Text Type in English 1. South Yarra:
Macmillan Education.
Anderson, Text Type 2. South Yarra: Macmillan Education.
Arikunto, S. 2002. ProsedurPenelitianSuatuPendekatanPraktek. Jakarta:
RinekaCipta.
Bonner, M. 1994.Step into Writing. A Basic Writing Text. London: Edison
Wesley Longman.
Brown, H. D. 2001. Teaching Principles: An Interactive Approach to
Language Pedagogy, Second Edition. London: Addison-Wesley
Longman
Brown,H.D.2004.LanguageAssesmentPrinciplesandClassroomPractices.
New York: Pearson Education.
Brown, J D. 1988. Understanding Researchin Second Language
Learning.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
Burns, A. 2010.Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching.A
Guide for Practitioners. New York: Routledge.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., and Morrison, K. 2007. Research Methods in
education.New York: Routledge.
Duin, A. H. 2007. Implementing Cooperative Learning Groups in The
Writing Curriculum. Journals of iupui Education.Vol. 3,
12.Available online
journals.iupui.edu/index.php/teachingwriting/.../778 - United States
[accessed on 12-11- 2012 at 2 pm]
91
Felder, R. M., and Brent, R. 2007.Cooperative Learning. Active
participation: Models from analytical science , ACS Symposium
Series 970, Chapter 4, pp. 34-53. Washington DC: America
Shemical Society. Available online at:
http://www.ydae.purdue.edu/lct/hbcu/documents/Activelearningengi
neering.pdf [accessed on 13-12-12]
Harmer, J. 2002.The Practice of English Language Teaching 3rd
Edition .
London: Longman.
Harmer, J. 1998.How to Teach English.7th
impression 2001. Edinburg:
Pearson Education Limited.
Harmer, J. 2004.How to Teach Writing. Edinburg: Pearson Education
Limited.
Jacobs et al. 1997. Learning Cooperative Learning Via Cooperative
Learning: A Sourcebook of Lesson Plans for Teacher Education on
Cooperative Learning. Singapore: SEAMEO.
Jacobs, G.M., and Yong, S. h. 2004. Using Cooperative Learning To Teach
Via Text Types. The Reading Matrix.Vol. 4, No. 2, September.
Available online at:
http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/jacobs_yong/article-part1.pdf
[accessed on 1-12-13]
Joyce, B. 2010.A guide to Cooperative Learning. The Electronic Learning
Community: Prince George’s Country Public School. Available
online at:
http://www.google.co.id/search?hl=en&tbo=d&noj=1&spell=1&q=
A+guide+to+Cooperative+Learning.+The+Electronic+Learning+Co
mmunity:+Prince+George%E2%80%99s+County+Public+School&s
a=X&ei=lHwXUeP4M4XXrQfsuYDoCw&ved=0CCsQvwUoAA&
biw=1024&bih=559 [accessed on 22-12-12]
Lee, P. 2005. Students’ Personality Type and Attitudes Toward Classroom
Participation. Los Angeles: CATESOL State Conference. Available
online at: http://www.catesol.org/Lee1.pdf [accessed on1-12-13]
Lorna, K. J. 2010. Active participation.Article at School of Education,
Indiana University Bloomington page 1-4. Available online at:
92
www.texascollaborative.org/activelearning.htm [accessed on 23-11-
12 at 3 p.m]
Martin, C. 1985. Exploring American English. New York: Macmillan
Publishing Company.
Murray, D. M. 1972. Teach Writing as a Process Not Product. The
Leaflet.November page 11-14. Available online at:
www.english.ohiou.edu/.../teach_writing_as_a_process_not_product
/ [accessed on 11-12-12]
Nakamol, Nudee et al. 2010. Cooperative Learning and Writing ability
Improvement.IJES Journal.The 2nd
International Conference on
Humanities and Social Sciences. Available online at:
http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/IJES/IJES-03-0-000-11-
Web/IJES-03-2-000-11-ABST-PDF/IJES-03-2-103-11-124-Ofodu-
G-O/IJES-03-2-103-11-124-Ofodu-G-O-Tt.pdf [accessed on 22-12-
12]
NBSA (National Board of School Accreditation). 2006. Content Standard for
Senior High School. Jakarta: IntanPariwara.
Nunan, D. 2003.Practical English Language Teaching, First Edition.
Singapore: McGraw-Hill.
Richard, J. R.2002. Methodology in Language Teaching.An anthology of
Current Practice.New York: Cambridge University Press.
Roger, T and David, W.J. 1998. Cooperative Learning: Two Heads Learns
better than One. Transforming Education.Page 34. Available online
at: www.context.org › About In Context › Transforming Education
[accessed on 23-11-12 at 3:12 pm]
Roger, T and David, W.J . 1994. An Overview of Cooperative Learning:
Creativity and Colaborative Learning. Baltimore: Brooke Press.
Schunk, D. H. 2008. Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective, Sixth
Edition. Boston: Pearson Education.
Syafini and Rizan, T. N. 2010.The Effects of Cooperative Learning in
Enhancing Writing Performance. Available online at:
93
http://www.ukm.my/solls09/Proceeding/PDF/Shafini.pdf [accessed
on 11-12-12]
Yoder, J.D., and Hochevar, C.M. 2005. Encouraging Active participation can
Improve Students’ Performance on Examinations.Vol.32,
No.2.available online at:
http://www.vcu.edu/cte/workshops/workshop_list/references/Yoder_
%26_Hochevar.pdf [accessed on 11-12-12 ]
94
Using Realia to Teach Physically Disabled Students in Writing Descriptive Texts Noorma Fitriana M. Zain Postgraduate Program of Semarang State University, Indonesia 2013 [email protected]
Abstract
This case study is focused on teaching descriptive texts by using realia. The
writer took the 8th grade students of SMPLB Negeri Ungaran as the subjects
of the study. The aim of this research is to know the implementation of
teaching descriptive texts that cover parts, qualities, and characteristics of the
objects. This study was carried out around four meetings. In each meeting,
the researcher observed the situation of the class and the setudents’ activities
in that classroom. The data collection method used in the research was
observation, interview, and documentation. In implementating the research,
the researcher found several problems and difficulties in teaching learning
processes. One of them is that, the teaching physically disabled students are
not easy. It has to be slowly because the students’ ability in writing the lesson
is limited. The other problem comes from the teacher him/herself that never
uses media or tools to teach physically disabled students. It is a matter of fact
that teaching physically disabled students needs media to make them easily
understand the learning materials. One of the media that could be used is
realia. From this research it is expected that the problems could be solved and
a new paradigm in teaching descriptive texts for disabled students could be
considered.
Keywords: Descriptive Texts; Physically Disabled Students; Realia
Abstrak
Studi kasus ini difokuskan pada pengajaran teks deskriptif dengan
menggunakan realia. Penulis mengambil siswa kelas 8 dari SMPLB Negeri
Ungaran sebagai subyek penelitian. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk
mengetahui pelaksanaan pengajaran teks deskriptif yang meliputi bagian,
kualitas, dan karakteristik objek. Penelitian ini dilakukan sekitar empat
pertemuan. Dalam setiap pertemuan, peneliti mengamati situasi kelas dan
kegiatan siswa di kelas itu. Metode pengumpulan data yang digunakan dalam
95
penelitian ini adalah observasi, wawancara, dan dokumentasi. Dalam
mengimplementasikan penelitian, peneliti menemukan beberapa masalah dan
kesulitan dalam proses belajar mengajar. Salah satunya adalah bahwa
mengajar siswa dengan cacat fisik tidak mudah. Hal tersebut harus dilakukan
secara perlahan karena kemampuan siswa dalam menyerap pelajaran terbatas.
Masalah lainnya berasal dari guru itu sendiri yang tidak pernah menggunakan
media atau alat untuk mengajar siswa cacat fisik. Ini adalah fakta bahwa
mengajar siswa cacat fisik membutuhkan media untuk membuat mereka
mudah memahami materi pembelajaran. Salah satu media yang dapat
digunakan adalah realia. Dari penelitian ini diharapkan bahwa masalah dapat
diselesaikan dan paradigma baru dalam mengajar teks deskriptif untuk siswa
cacat dapat dipertimbangkan.
Kata Kunci: Teks Deskriptif; Siswa Cacat Fisik; Realia
Introduction
In accordance with UNESCO (2004), education is the basis of any
serious policy for the personal and social development of children and
youths; and human rights are the path that makes it possible for all to have a
dignified life within a democratic order. Psychologicily, education is termed
as the process or activity which is directed at producing desirable changes of
human behaviors. Based upon the Act number 20 year 2003 about National
Educational System, education is defined as the conscious and planned
efforts to create learning situations and processes which are able to develop
actively self-potential to make students have spiritual power, self-restrain,
personal and positive behaviors, intelligence, and skills that they need in their
society, nation, and state (The Republic Indonesian Act/Undang-Undang RI,
2003: 4).
Woolfolk (2009: 166) says that education is very important in this life,
so all people need to be aware with no exception to children with special
needs. They are the children who have a sophisticated problem, thus they
96
need special educations to improve their potencials. One of the examples is
physical disability. The Division of Student Support Services (1996) explains
that a student with a physical disability may have any one of the followings:
orthopaedic impairment (acquired or congenital physical motor impairment),
cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, arthritis, congenital
anomalies, osteogenesis imperfect, arthrogryposis.
The physically disabled students in “SMPLB Negeri” Ungaran are
those who cannot speak clearly because they have imperfect functions of
their mouths. Besides that, they have problems with their legs because of
problematic bones within, so they make them get little bit difficult to walk.
However, they are still able to play football in their school particularly in
physical exercises. They are also able to write. Even though their writing is
not good enough but it still could be understood by others.
Writing is one of the four language skills that can be measured by the
literacy development in a country; it also has not become entrenched yet,
especially in Indonesia. The writing skill is regarded as the most difficult and
complicated language skill because it requires the extent of perception and
extensively involves thinking process. Disabilities in writing are convinced
by almost people because of the failure in teaching writing. A large number
of researches show that so far, the teaching of writing only focuses on the
theory of grammar or writing concept, but does not support students to write
as many as possible. As a result, although the students get studied writing,
but they only master the theory, proposition, or the principle how to write.
The major success of a writing teacher may stem from his or her ability
to make and develop writing material, medium of learning, and appropriate
strategy which suit with the students’ need and interest. It means that writing
teachers to be, must be taught well in making material, using appropriate
97
media, and selecting the strategy which are used in the teaching learning
process and motivate students to learn more.
Learning to write is not as the same as learning to speak which can be
acquired subconsciously. Thus learning to write is considered to be more
difficult than learning to speak. Therefore, students need to get something
interesting when studying writing which makes them become more interested
in the study of writing.
One of the writing genres taught to junior high school students is
descriptive text. This is taught in order to make students know how to
describe themselves and their surroundings although the description is still
simple. The 8th
graders of “SMPLB Negeri” Ungaran Kabupaten Semarang
have difficulties in writing descriptive text because their teacher only
explains about the definition of descriptive text without offering any
strategies that are useful to master it. The teacher had better use the
conventional method rather than using the other alternatives for the
betterment of writing skill mastery. Secondly, students too depend upon their
imagination and do not have sufficient ideas to fully create complete
description. Besides that, they are not able to recall and describe somethings
in a systematic order beside incapability in describing parts, qualities, and
characteristics of the things completely.
There are several alternatives to solve the previous problems. One of
them is the use of realia in teaching writing in general and in teaching
descriptive text in particular. The use of the realia plays an important role
because students are able observe the real objects they are going to describe
directly, so they can more accurately describe the objects in terms of their
parts, qualities, and characteristics of these objects. Besides, this makes the
study of writing more interesting.
98
Based on the research background above, the researcher is interested to
do a research with a title: ‘’Using Realia to Teach Students with Physically
Disabled in Writing Descriptive Texts at the Eight Graders of “SMPLB
Negeri” Ungaran in the Academic Year of 2012/2013 in the very basic skill.
The researcher thinks that by doing this research, it can be referential and
evaluation in teaching writing for the teachers and it can be a suggestion for
the Educational Department to increase the quality of education system
especially for physically disabled students.
Research Methodology
This is a qualitative research. Qualitative research is an approach to the
study of social phenomena; its various genres are naturalistic and interpretive,
and they draw on multiple methods of inquiry. Some characteristics of
qualitative research are: take places in the natural world, uses multiple
methods that are interactive and humanistic; it is emergent rather than
prefigured and fundamentally interpretive. Qualitative research has some
purposes namely describing and reporting the creation of key concepts,
theory of generation and testing. The focus of this research is to know the
implementation of teaching descriptive texts by using realia for students in
SMPLB Negeri Ungaran.
To explain such a kind of phenomena, the writer chooses a case study.
Case study is the comprehensive explanation about some aspects of
individual, group, organization (community), program, or social situation. In
this study, the researcher wants to know directly the implementation of
teaching descriptive text by using realia, the difficulties in teaching
descriptive texts by using the realia, and the alternative solution for the
coming problems faced by the eighth grade students of SMPLB Negeri
Ungaran in the Academic Year of 2012/ 2013.
99
Discussion
Implementation of Teaching Descriptive Text by Using Realia
First Meeting
The first meeting was conducted on Friday-Saturday, April 27th
, 2013. The
teacher and researcher worked together to run on that meeting. The steps of
the first meeting were:
1) Making a lesson plan
2) Preparing the teaching aids (the classroom; the form and content of the
class used as the aids in teaching writing of descriptive text); the realia
the teacher used was pen.
3) Preparing the observation sheet.
4) Explaining the material that would be taught. The purpose is: in order that
the students understand the material exactly, focus on their attention on
the learning situation, master the material, and enjoy the class.
5) Explaining the material. In this activity the teacher explained about
descriptive text covering the definition and the example of the simple or
basic descriptive text.
6) Showing the example of descriptive text and explaining the generic
structure of the text using Indonesian language to make them comprehend
the explanation because the students’ ability is not as the same as the
common students.
7) Asking students to describe the pen used at the first meeting.
8) Asking them to submit their work.
9) Explaining the purpose of the teaching.
10) Students conversed among others when the teacher extended material.
11) Students still did not pay attention and the teacher could not manage them
when she explained the material.
100
12) Asking students to describe the realia without stimulating them to do so.
13) Students were confused to describe the realia (the pen) because she did
not explain it before.
14) The teaching activity was ineffective and inefficient because the students
were less interested in and did not comprehend the material given and
there was no clear guidance how to so doing.
15) The learning activity was ineffective and inefficient because students did
not pay attention in teaching learning processes and misunderstood with
the teaching instructions given.
16) The students’ activity was ineffective and inefficient because they were
less interested in using realia.
17) The students’ writing result was still poor. There were many missing
words because they did not know some vocabulary items.
18) The teacher wrote the descriptive text and showed it to the students.
Then, she asked them to rewrite the example to make them understand the
descriptive text.
The Second Meeting
The second meeting was conducted on Friday, May 3rd
, 2013. The steps of
the second meeting were as follows:
1) Arranging the lesson plan based on the teaching material
2) Preparing the teaching strategy
3) Preparing the teaching aids, the book used in teaching descriptive text.
4) Preparing observation sheets.
The teaching activities in meeting II was the same with the teaching activities
in the meeting I, but there were improvements activities which were
incomplete in the meeting I.
The activities were as follows:
101
1) Explaining materials, although they had been explained a day before.
2) Asking problems faced by students at previous meeting
3) Explaining and solving the problems
4) Helping students to translate the Indonesian difficult words into English
5) Asking students about their understanding realia given a day before
6) Showing realia (the book) which would be described
7) Asking students to observe the book
8) Asking students to write a descriptive text according to realia given
9) Guiding students in writing
10) Asking students to collect their assignment after finishing the task
11) Explaining the aims of teaching and motivating students
12) Showing the new materials which will be given
13) Explaining the materials clearly and more interestingly to the students.
14) Stimulating students by asking questions about things surroundings and
then asking them to write
15) Searching students having difficulties in writing.
16) Encouraging students to self-confident to write.
17) The students’ enthusiasm was developed indicated by their question on
realia. If there were components that the students did not know, they
asked the teacher about the meaning of them in Indonesian language.
18) The students understood the realia which would be described, because
they observed more enthusiasticly though they were difficult in knowing
vocabularies
19) Students said that realia had helped them to know the vocabulary,
because they did not need a long time to imagine and think the words
which would be written.
20) The teaching was conducted effectively. The teacher showed the realia
in front of them.
102
21) The students’ activity in learning process was effective and efficient.
They weremore interested in observing the realia. They liked to know the
elements or components of realia showed. A few students, however, still
played with their friends and talked each other, because they thought that
writing was very difficult and boring
22) Students asked the teacher about the meaning of difficult words. For
example: Susilo asked the teacher “Bu, bahasa Inggrisnya persegi
panjang apa?.” “Rectangular”, the teacher said. However, a few students
still got difficulties to write it and the teacher helped them to write on the
board.
The Third Meeting
The third meeting was conducted on Friday, May 10th
, 2013. The steps of the
third meeting were as follows:
1) Arranging the lesson plan based on the teaching material
2) Preparing the teaching material
3) Preparing realia (oranges)
4) Preparing the sheets for observation
The teacher and her students accomplished the same activities with the
second meeting. The activities in teaching learning process were as the
followings:
1) The teacher explained about the material, although it had been explained
on the day before.
2) The teacher asked the students about their problems on the previous
lesson
3) The teacher explained the problem
4) The teacher helped the students to translate the Indonesia difficult words
into English.
103
5) The teacher asked the students about their understanding of realia which
had been given the day before.
6) The teacher showed realia (the oranges) which would be described
7) The teacher asked the students to observe them
8) The teacher asked the students to write a descriptive text according to the
quality and all about its characteristics.
9) The teacher guided the students in writing
10) After the students finished their writing, they were asked to collect their
writing to the teacher
11) The teacher conveyed the teaching purpose very well, and motivated to
the students also very well.
12) The teacher’s ability in transferring material was good enough.
13) The teacher explained the material clearly and more interestingly to the
students.
14) Before the teacher asked the students to write, she stimulated the
students by giving the question to them about the color and the shape of
the oranges.
15) The teacher more paid attention to the students having difficulties in
writing.
16) The students’ responded the use of relia interestedly. Students said that
realia was interesting.
17) The students understood the realia which would be described, because
they observed more enthusiasticly.
18) Students were sure that realia had helped them to comprehend
vocabularies, because they did not need a long time to imagine and think
the words which would be written.
104
19) The teaching was conducted effectively. The teacher motivated the
students before she showed the realia in front of them. The teacher was
more creative in showing the realia.
20) The students’ activity in learning process was effective and efficient.
They were more interested in observing the realia. They liked to know
what the elemenst of realia showed. In this meeting, the students paid
more attention to the teacher and they could write well though there were
difficult words.
21) In this meeting, students asked the teacher about the meaning of difficult
words. For example: Bayu asked his teacher “Bu, bahasa inggrisnya
bulat apa?.” “Circle’’, the teacher said. The students were enthusiastic
in the teaching-learning process, because the teacher more paid attention
and gave motivation to the students having difficulties in transferring
their ideas.
The Fourth Meeting
The fourth meeting was conducted on Saturday, May 11th
, 2013. The
procedures in this meeting were the same as that of the third ones. In that
meeting, the teacher used the real things arround the classroom.
The Difficulties and Problems Found in the Research
There were many problems found in this research. The first is the
problems from the students; physically disabled students in SMPLB Negeri
Ungaran have variation of characteristics. In the learning process, the
students showed different unique actions. There was a student who ran, slept,
talked with others, was lazy to follow the lesson, played hand phone, etc.
These activities were considered normal by teacher, because those are the
natural part of their characteristics. In this situation, teacher got difficulties to
105
control the class. The teacher sometimes had to stop the lesson to make them
concentrate, or if they were very boredom with the material. Another problem
in teaching writing of descriptive text for physically disabled students was
about the ability to write. The physically disabled students are the students
with problem on their physics; it means that the could not write fast, so the
teacher had to teach them slowly. Their limited ability made the process of
teaching learning run slowly.
Besides coming from the students, the problems also come from
teacher. Quantitatively, the number of teachers SMPLB Negeri Ungaran is
still limited so this institution still needs a lot of teachers to help students in
the learning process. Even though limited, the educators in SMPLB Negeri
Ungaran are skillful to control physically disabled students and other abled
students because they have been long experienced in this world.
The other reality is there is only a class teacher who is responsible to
teach all subjects in SMPLB Negeri Ungaran. Ideally, there must be a subject
teacher in SMPLB Negeri Ungaran who teaches a subject based upon his/her
discipline, for example: Indonesian department graduate should just teach
Indonesian lesson, and the like.
Because the education process in the school is limited, the teacher
expects the students to review the learning materials at home. To make the
students more active in English, parents can apply habitual activities to their
children to speak in English, although just short expression. It is more ideal if
the parents also provide video to help students to listen through audio visual
media. It will be very helpful for teacher.
The next problems found are about the components of infrastructure
tools such as learning media and classroom. The classroom size in SMPLB
Negeri Ungaran is also limited; it is because there is a limitation of the
quality of the students. Ideally, one classroom only consists of eight students,
106
and besides that, there are no pictures as learning media. Learning media is
one of the tools which can be used as the tool for transfering knowledge and
value to the students so the learning process will run more effective. Teacher
may use visual aids as pictures or audio visual as television, tape, video or
learning tools. But in SMPLB Negeri Ungaran, the infrastructure tools are
limited. There are only teacher-made pictures; while LCD and note book
must be brought by teachers from home. For example: if teacher teaches the
materials by using realia, he/she has to bring the realia from home because
they are not avalaible at the classroom.
However, the writer found one student who was enthusiastic to write. It
can be seen from his questions related to the realia. The student asked the
teacher about the meaning of words he did not know. He was Bayu. He liked
asking the teacher about the difficult words. Conversely, Susilo looked very
lazy to write, not because he could not write descriptive text but because of
his problem with his leg in one hand and his right hand on the other hand so
he got difficulties to write well. Beside thats, Susilo also had less motivation
to write. Bayu and Susilo were physically disabled students but intellectually
they are the same as the common students. Their writing results were
unorganized and there were also some missing words inside.
After the teacher assigned the students to write, the students were asked
to collect the results. Then, she asked them the difficult words they found
and translated into English.
From the problems found in each meeting, the writer concluded that the
students had difficulties in exploring their ablity in writing descriptive text,
and in translating the Indonesia words into English. Thus, they still miss the
words in their writing. Because of the problems found in this research, there
should be an alternative solution to solve, namely the use of realia which will
be explored in the next sub chapter.
107
The Alternative Solution to Solve the Problems in Teaching Descriptive
Text by Using Realia
In this sub-chapter, the writer would like to discribe and give the
solutions from all problems found during the reseach in every meeting in the
teaching learning. There are many problems found in this research. The main
problem in this class is about the students that have limitation in their ability
in writing because of their physically disabled, their background of their
family, the teacher and learning media limited in the classroom; not many
vocabularies showed so they were not able to translate Indonesia into
English. The solution of these problems is that the teacher has to change their
teaching, the students with physically disabled have to be tought slowly, the
teacher has to repeat the lesson more than once, the teacher hase to habituate
them to open the dictionary in order to rich their English vocabularies. These
will make them easily describe the things or realia in writing descriptive
texts. By knowing many vocabularies, the students would not find out the
difficulties in learning English lesson.
Besides opening dictionary regularly, memorizing the vocabulary is
importance. The teacher should ask the students to memorize at least two new
vocabularies every day. This practice will help the students to easily write,
not only descriptive text but also others and by practising this solution, the
students will be easy to speak in English language.
The alternative solution to the teacher is that he/she should teach
subject based upon his/her discipline. For example: English teacher should
only teach English, mathematics should be tought by mathematics teacher,
etc. In addition, the teacher should add the teaching media to teach the
physically disabled students, because it is better to teach them in real
108
situation; so that is why the realia is suitable as teaching media for physically
disabled students.
Even though, the tools which can be used in teaching writing are not
only realia but also the other things inside the classroom; for intance: the
pictures sticked on the wall, the audio visual, etc. Teaching physically
disabled students is different from teaching normal students. It should be
more slowly in order to make students anderstand. Repeatation is also
important for students. By repeatation, the students will more understand
about the material.
Besides that, physically disabled students need more exercises; so in
this case, parents’ action is needed. The parents have to ask their children to
study at home. Monitoring by parents as a proponent of their children at
home is needed. Through the parents’ help the students could comprehend
the materials given at the school. It could also be the alternative solution for
many problems found at that school.
Conclusion
Based on the research result, the researcher could draw the conclusion
that in the beginning implementation of realia, there were some problems
faced by students such as difficulties to write the words because they did not
know the vocabulary, are noisy during the class and afraid of asking the
teacher.
References
Depdiknas. 2005. Kegiatan Belajar Mengajar di Sekolah Inklusif. Direktorat
Jenderal Manajemen Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah Direktorat
Pembinaan Sekolah Luar Biasa
109
Depdiknas. 2006. Standar Kompetensi dan Kompetensi Dasar Sekolah
Menengah Pertama Luar Biasa Tunadaksa Ringan (SMPLB-D),
Direktorat Jenderal Manajemen Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah
Direktorat Pembinaan Sekolah Luar Biasa
Undang-Undang RI Nomor 20 tahun 2003 tentang Sistem Pendidikan
Nasional. 2003. Yogyakarta: Media Wacana
UNESCO. 2004. Education for Human Development: An Concepts
Underlying The Ayrton Senna Institute. Brasília: Ayrton Senna
Institute
Woolfolk, Anita. 2009. Educational Psychology. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar
110
The Interlanguage Interference on the Difficulties of Building Question Sentences by the Second Year Students of MA As Soorkaty Salatiga Sari Famularsih English Department of Educational Faculty State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga Jl. Tentara Pelajar No. 2 Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia [email protected]
Abstract
This study is aimed to elaborate the interlanguage interference of the
difficulties which are faced by 40 second year students of MA As Soorkaty
Salatiga in academic year of 2004-2005 in building question sentences and
the sources of difficulties. The research is conducted by such kind of test. The
total number of test are 20 items, consist of 5 yes-no questions, 5 W-H
questions, and 10 tag questions which is done in a written essay form. Based
on the analysis, the result shows some conclusions. Firstly, the researcher
finds the types of difficulties problems are faced by the students in building
question mastery, such as: (1) building yes-no question sentences in
translation the word “apakah”, that is related with the use of to be. (2)
Building interrogative word question sentences in translation the words
“apa”, “kapan”, “milik siapa”, etc. That are related with the use of “what”,
“when”, “whose”, etc. (3) Completing the tag question sentences with the
proper auxiliary based on tense of the sentences. The most difficulties in
building question sentences are especially in yes-no question form by using
the word “apakah”. In the term of interlanguage, the students’ errors are
mostly included in expressing meaning by the words and grammar of the first
language. The source of difficulties which have been analyzed are mostly
caused by inter lingual and intra lingual transfer.
Keywords: Interlanguage, Question Sentence, Interlingual Transfer,
Intralingual Transfer
Abstrak
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguraikan interferensi interlanguage dari
kesulitan yang dihadapi 40 siswa kelas dua MA As Soorkaty Salatiga tahun
111
ajaran 2004-2005 dalam menyusun kalimat tanya dan akar-akar kesulitannya.
Penelitian ini dilakukan melalui tes dengan total 20 butir soal, terdiri dari 5
soal yes-no questions, 5 soal W-H questions, dan 10 soal tag questions yang
dikerjakan dalam bentuk tes tertulis. Berdasarkan analisis, hasilnya
menunjukkan beberapa kesimpulan. Pertama, peneliti menemukan kesulitan
yang dihadapi siswa dalam menyusun kalimat tanya, seperti: (1) menyusun
kalimat yes-no questions dalam terjemahan kata "apakah", yang berhubungan
dengan penggunaan to be. (2) Menyusun kalimat tanya dalam terjemahan
kata "apa", "kapan", "milik siapa", dll yang berkaitan dengan penggunaan
“what”, “when”, “whose”, dll (3 ) Melengkapi tag questions dengan
tambahan auxiliary yang sesuai berdasarkan tense kalimat. Kesulitan yang
paling sering dijumpai dalam menyusun kalimat tanya terutama pada yes-no
questions dengan menggunakan kata "apakah". Berkaitan dengan tema
interlanguage, sebagian besar kesalahan siswa adalah dalam mengungkapkan
makna dengan kata-kata dan tata bahasa dari bahasa pertama. Akar kesulitan
yang telah dianalisis sebagian besar disebabkan oleh interlingual transfer dan
intralingual transfer.
Kata kunci: Interlanguage, Kalimat Tanya, Interlingual Transfer,
Intralingual Transfer
Introduction
Teaching English in any grades of institutions cannot leave one
element, which support the students’ mastery that is grammar. It plays
important roles to control students in using sentences or phrases. Their
mastery in English grammar will make their sentences comprehensible and
acceptable. The students are able to fit the words in sentences with others.
In syntactical construction the students have to know the appropriate
form suits with meaning and context. The students understand that learning
English needs to understand the rules of grammar. The grammar is integral
part of learner’s knowledge. It is related with other subject. Grammar is a
body of empirical rules which explain and regulate the structure of English
112
sentences. Structure serves as a guide for students in building English
sentences correctly (Mahani and Siswantoro, 1987: 53).
The systematical rules of English grammar have become integral part
of the students’ knowledge. It will enhance them to provide English
sentences that are grammatically acceptable and therefore comprehensible.
Some rules are extremely complex, including question sentences. It is one of
the subject matter that the students learn in school. There are three kinds of
question sentences of English; they are yes-no question, interrogative words,
and tag questions (Nuryanto, 1986: 118-123). Seeing the kinds of question
sentences above, it is understood that most of students find the difficulties in
mastery of building and construction question sentences. It can be seen in the
phenomenon such as: “Where we eat?” It should be: “Where do we eat?”, or
they may write “Who book own?” It should be: “Whose is it?”
Based on their English proficiency level, the students have learned
about question sentences from junior up to senior high school. The students
find many problems in building question sentence. Here the writer wants to
elaborate the difficulties faced by the students in building questions and the
sources of difficulties in building sentences.
Interlanguage of Second and Foreign Language Learners
The term interlanguage (IL) was introduced by the American linguist
Larry Selinker to refer to the linguistic system evidenced when an adult
second language learner attempts to express meanings in the language being
learned. The interlanguage is viewed as a separate linguistic system, clearly
different from both the learner’s ‘native language’ (NL) and the ‘target
language’ (TL) being learned, but linked to both NL and TL by interlingual
113
identifications in the perception of the learner. A central characteristic of any
interlanguage is that it fossilizes – that is, it ceases to develop at some point
short of full identity with the target language. Thus, the adult second-
language learner never achieves a level of facility in the use of the target
comparable to that achievable by any child acquiring the target as a native
language. There is thus a crucial and central psycholinguistic difference
between child NL acquisition and adult second language (L2) acquisition:
children always succeed in completely acquiring their native language, but
adults only very rarely succeed in completely acquiring a second language.
The central object of interlanguage research is to explain this difference –
essentially, to describe and explain the development of interlanguages and
also to explain the ultimate failure of interlanguages to reach a state of
identity with the target language (Tarone, 2006: 747).
According to Richards (1992: 186), interlanguage is the type of
language produced by second and foreign language learners who are in the
process of learning a language. In language learning, learner’s errors are
caused by several different processes. These include: (1) borrowing patterns
from the mother tongue; (2) extending patterns from the target language; and
(3) expressing meanings using the words and grammar which are already
known.
Foreign Language Learner Difficulties
In learning foreign language, learner will encounter some problems in
mastering the rule of language. They often produce erroneous utterances
whether in their speech or their writing. Exactly those problems are caused of
differences between the rule of the mother tongue and the foreign language.
So, this matter makes difficulties to them in learning the target language. One
of the difficult terms related with this research is building question sentences.
114
There are two sources of difficulties in building question sentences namely
inter lingual transfer and intra lingual transfer. Inter lingual transfer is caused
by the interference of the learners’ mother tongue. Interference from the
mother tongue is clearly a major source of difficulties in second language
learning. In consequence, a lot of mistake in studying foreign language is
caused by mother tongue. While intralingual is the negative transfer of item
within the target language. Ricard states the intra lingual errors consist of
four categories, namely (1) over generation, (2) ignorance, (3) incomplete
application of the rules, and (4) semantic error (Richards, 1976: 35). Fourth
of this big enough matter is influence in studying foreign language. In
consequence, studying foreign language is very important to be emphasized
on this matter.
English Question Sentence
Question can be divided into three major classes according to the
types of answer that expect (Qirk, 1973: 191), they are yes-no question (that
expect only affirmation or rejection), W-H question (that expect a reply
supplying an item of information), and tag question (that invite the listener to
respond the question).
1. Yes-no question
These are the simple questions elicit the answer yes or no only (Frank,
1972: 88). Usually all of these questions begin with an auxiliary or a
single form of be that has been reversed with the subject.
2. Tag question
These are also yes-no question, but the special form into which they are
put, shows of these two answers is actually expected. If the statement
part of the question is positive, the question part is negative. If the
statement part is negative, the question part is positive.
115
3. W-H question
These are questions that elicit specific information of a person, place,
time, etc. As in negation, the verb in each of these questions is handled
differently depending on whether the verb is or is not accompanied by an
auxiliary in the declarative sentences. W-H questions are formed with the
aid of the following interrogative words (question words), who for
persons, whom for object, whose for possessive, which for things or
subject or object (Thomson and Martinet, 1986: 71). Some experts also
mention W-H question as interrogative word question, as Frank stated
(1972: 88).
The Rules of Building Question
Yes-no Question
The pattern of an interrogative sentences as follows: auxiliary +
subject adverb + verb + C / Adjunct + modal.
Verbal Pattern
Examples: 1) Does your friend study hard?
Yes, he does. / No, he doesn’t.
2) Shall she give us the book?
Yes, she shall. / No, she shan’t.
Non-verbal Pattern
Examples: 1) Are the nurses always busy?
Yes, they are. / No, they aren’t.
2) Is one of the students sick?
Yes, he is. / No, he isn’t.
116
For the verbal pattern, there must be an agreement between subject
and auxiliary used. When the subject is singular, it uses auxiliary does and
verb with s is omitted. For instance, there is a statement “She runs alone
every morning.”, its interrogative sentence will be “Does she run alone every
morning?”. The do auxiliary is accompanied with the simple present which
follows its verb with s. For example, there is a statement “I have much
money.”. In interrogative sentence form will be “Do you have much money?”
Then, modal auxiliary generally has no s suffix for third person and no
infinitive there is used for singular and plural subject. For example the
statement “They can climb the mountain carefully.”. It will be “Can they
climb the mountain carefully?”
In addition to personal pronoun, the expletives there and it may also
appear in a short answer to yes-no question.
Is there my father? Yes, there is.
In negative yes-no question, not is contracted with the auxiliary that starts the
question. In formal usage, not is placed in adverbial position right after the
reversed auxiliary and subject.
Isn’t Sari reading? Didn’t Sari read newspaper?
Is Sari not reading? Did Sari not read newspaper?
In highly informal conversation, the auxiliary and the subject of a yes-no
question are frequently omitted.
Get lunch? for Do you get lunch?
Thinking serious problem? for Are you thinking serious
problem?
Tag Question
The tag question consists of operator plus pronoun, without a negative
partite, if the super ordinate clause is positive, the tag is negative, and vice
versa (Frank, 1972: 88-91). For example, “He likes his job, doesn’t he?”, the
117
meaning of this sentence, like its form, involve a statement and question,
each of them asserts something then invites the listeners response to it. Azar
said that a tag question added at the end of a sentence (1993: 16). Speaker
uses tag question chiefly to make sure their information is correct or seek
agreement. Tag question may be spoken:
With a rising intonation if the speaker as truly speaking to ascertain
information, idea, believe, is correct. Example: Ann is in apartment,
doesn’t she?
With a falling intonation if the speaker is expressing an idea which is
almost certain listener will agree. Example: It’s nice day today, isn’t it?
Tag question expects agreement with the statement (Frank, 1972: 89).
It’s containing the regular question auxiliary plus the personal pronoun that
stand the subject. For example, “It’s not raining, is it? No, it isn’t.”
Krohn writes his pattern (1984: 21) as follow:
Table 1. Non Verbal Tag Question
Statement Negative Tag
There are birds,
They are clever,
Tuti is diligent,
aren’t there?
aren’t they?
isn’t she?
Table 2. Non Verbal Tag Question (negative statement)
Negative Statement Affirmative Tag
You aren’t sick,
It is not your book,
Hari is not in the home,
are you?
is it?
is he?
118
Table 3. Verbal Tag Question
Statement Negative Tag
He went to school,
She runs alone,
We write a letter,
didn’t he?
doesn’t she?
don’t we?
Table 4. Verbal Tag Question (negative statement)
Negative Statement Affirmative Tag
Annie didn’t read well,
Toni doesn’t go to school,
They don’t bring my book,
did she?
does he?
do they?
Interrogative Word Question
Interrogative word question is question begin with either interrogative
adverb (why, when, where, how) or pronoun (who, whom, what, which)
(Frank, 1972: 91). This type of question begins with a question word (such as
who, what, when, or where), the rest of word order pattern is auxiliary is
placed before the subject (Krohn, 1984: 67). Below is the usage spread:
Who substitutes for a noun phrase which refers to a person.
Who substitutes for a noun phrase which refers to thing.
When substitutes for an adverbial which refers to time.
When substitutes for an adverbial which refers to place.
Why substitutes for part of the predicate phrase.
The question words as substitutes for the subject.
(Note: Who in this pattern is informal standard English. It is used in
conversation also in notes or letters to friends and relatives. Whom is
119
formal standard English. It is used in speech and formal writing, such
as papers which students write in college.)
Nuryanto notes that the question word question may function as the
interrogative pronoun (1986: 21). The interrogative adverbs consist of when
(adverb of time), where (adverb of time), how (adverb of manner) may be
combined with preposition. For instance, the interrogative pronoun of who,
what, whom, and whose are normally used for person. What is used for
things, which is used for thing and person when a choice involved.
The Use of Word Questions
Azar gives some explanations about the use of word question (1981: 1-
3) as in the table below:
Table 5. Kinds of Word Question and its Function
Word Question Function Example
When It is used to ask question about time. When will you come?
Where It is used to ask question about place. Where I get ticket for the
show?
Why It is used to ask question about reason. Why do you go?
How It is generally ask about manner, but
has many idiomatic uses.
How does he drive?
It is used with many and much. How much money does it cost?
It also used with adjective and adverb. How old are you?
How fast were you driving?
How long asks about length of time. How long have you been in
this city?
How often asks about frequency. How often do you write in
home?
120
How far asks about distance. How far is to Miami from
here?
Who It is used ask the subject of a question. Who wants to come with me?
Whom It is used ask the object of a verb or
preposition.
Whom did you see?
Whose It is used ask the question about
possession.
Whose book did you borrow?
What It is used at the subject of a question. It
refers to things.
What made you are angry?
It is also used as an object. What do you need?
It sometimes accompanied a noun. What classes are you talking?
The Interrogative Sentence with Auxiliaries
There are three types of auxiliaries, each of them serve different
purpose:
Tense Auxiliary
It consist of be, have, will, and shall. The tense auxiliaries perform a
structural function only. Be occur with the –ing present participle in the
progressive forms on the tenses and with –ed in the passive tenses. Have is
used for the perfect tense. Will and shall are used for the future tense.
Do Auxiliary
The do auxiliary is accompanied with the simple form of the verb (infinitive
without to). It is used only in simple present tense (do or does offer) and
simple past tense (did offer). It provides an auxiliary less verbs to enable then
to function in the following grammatical patterns.
a. Question
Do you like a new hat?
121
b. Negative statement
I don’t like your new hat.
c. Abridgment-omission or substation
I don’t like your coffee and neither does my wife.
d. Emphasis
My teacher thinks I didn’t study for my test, but I did study.
e. Entreaty
Do come to the party tonight.
Modal Auxiliary
Frank said that modal auxiliaries are added to the verb as special semantic
component such as ability, obligation, and possibility (1981: 94). Some of
them express the same kinds of semantic coloring of verbs in the subjective
mood. In general, they have no –s suffix for third person and no infinitive of
participle form. They have only two formal tenses, the present and the past,
which are used with the simple form of the lexical verb. Modal auxiliary does
not change their form for person or number, that is, there is ni –s form for the
third person singular. The modal position in the sentence is after the subject
and before the rest of the sentence (Krohn, 1974: 109).
Research Methodology
The data of the research was taken from the students’ sentences about
yes-no questions, W-H questions, and tag questions which were made by the
students in building question sentences through translation and complete the
sentence according to each type of question. Their sentence was done through
examination in the classroom of 40 second year students of MA As Soorkaty
Salatiga along the research. The research was conducted on 1-12 June 2004
in the effective learning time from 07.00 a.m. to 01.00 p.m. The sources of
data were taken based on the result of the test.
122
The research was conducted by quantitative and qualitative study
respectively. A quantitative was used to calculate the number of errors of
each kind of sentences. Than qualitative one was used to analyze the source
of difficulties and its cause of errors. In this research, the writer used a test as
the instrument in collecting the data. By giving the test, she wanted to know
the difficulties that faced by the students in building question sentences
construction. The total number of test were 20 items, consist of 5 yes-no
questions, 5 W-H questions, and 10 tag questions. The test was done by the
students in a written essay form in the piece of paper prepared.
To make easier in classification of the test, the writer classified the
data based on the kinds of English questions. She wrote and calculated the
total number of errors of each kind of question sentences. Then, she tried to
conclude the difficulties in building question sentences construction which
are related to the question sentences element. At last, the writer analyzed the
source of difficulties based on the final test result which were presented in
percentage formula:
P =
x 100 % P = Percentage
F = Number of individual
N = Frequency (Anas, 1994: 40)
Discussion and Finding
Based on the analysis, the writer found that the students mostly done
the errors on translating the meaning from native language to target language.
They were remain used the words and grammar from the mother tongue. In
the term of interlanguage, it was included in the third type of error that was
expressing meaning using the words and grammar which are already known.
123
The writer separated the difficult points into three points of description result,
they were:
The Difficulties in Building Yes-no Question Sentence
In this type of question, the learners built yes-no question through translation.
Based on the data involved, it can be analyzed that they have difficulties in
building yes-no question through translation from Indonesia into English
sentence, namely (1) apakah / what and (2) choosing to be.
Apakah / what
In translation the word “apakah”, the students have made error repeatedly. It
is influenced by their mother tongue to translate “apakah”. The learners tend
to make addition, it is an error which characterized by the presence of an item
which is not appear in a well form utterance. They tend to translate “apakah”
in yes-no question sentences with the word “what”. Such kind of error is
categorized include into addition because the students rise an item which not
appear in correct form of English contraction.
Examples : 1) Apakah mereka siswa MA As Soorkaty Salatiga?
2) Apakah kamu kemarin makan di restoran itu?
The students’ translation : a) What are they student MA As Soorkaty
Salatiga?
b) What are you eat in restaurant yesterday?
Seeing the students’ translation above, the learners are very poor in
translation mastery from Indonesia into English sentence. It is not similar to
translate from Indonesia into English. The students prefer to use word “what”
to translate Indonesian word of “apakah”. It is not appear in well form
utterance. The students should put auxiliary verb for the target language
“apakah”, so the correct forms are as follow:
1) Are they students MA As Soorkaty Salatiga?
2) Did you eat in restaurant yesterday?
124
Choosing to be
The second difficulties in building yes-no question sentences through
translation is choosing to be on auxiliary verb with the subject used in the
sentences. The learners are still obvious in using was, were, is, are, do, does,
etc.
Examples : 1) Apakah mereka siswa MA As Soorkaty Salatiga?
2) Apakah dia seorang perawat?
The students’ translation : a) What are they student MA As Soorkaty
Salatiga?
b) What does she a nurse?
The learners do not pay attention in using to be from the example (a) the
students made errors in choosing to be which must be related with the time or
action happened. They should not put “are” for the example above, because
the adverb of time which is used is past tense. In the example (b) the students
also made error in choosing to be. They should not put “does” in the
sentence, because the students above are not verbal pattern. They should put
to be according to the subject used, so the correct sentence are:
1) Are they students MA As Soorkaty Salatiga?
2) Is she a nurse?
Table 6. The Result of Yes-no Question Translation from Indonesia to
English
No. Test Item
The Sum and
Percentage of
Correct Answer
The Sum and
Percentage of
Wrong Answer
1.
2.
3.
Apakah dia seorang perawat?
Apakah kita datang ke kantor kemarin?
Apakah kamu kemarin makan di restoran itu?
15
10
12
37,5 %
25 %
30 %
25
30
28
62,5 %
75 %
70 %
125
4.
5.
Apakah mereka siswa MA As Soorkaty
Salatiga?
Apakah kita akan belajar bersama di rumahku
besok?
17
11
42,5 %
27,5 %
23
29
57,5 %
72,5 %
The Difficulties in Building W-H Question Sentence
In this type of question, the learners built W-H question through translation.
Based on the data involved, it can be analyzed that they have difficulties in
building W-H question through translation from Indonesia into English
sentence, namely (1) choosing word question and (2) choosing to be.
Choosing word question
The learners of MA As Soorkaty Salatiga are still bad to translate from
Indonesia into English. In this type of question, the word questions which are
used should suit and relate with an adverb of time and place. There are some
words question in English such as who, whose, whom, where, when, etc.
each of them has function according to the right person. It is not correct to
use “who belong” to transfer the meaning of “milik siapa”.
Examples : 1) Milik siapa buku ini?
2) Milik siapa buku-buku di sana?
The students’ translation : a) Who belong book is this?
b) Who belong books is there?
The students have mistakes in using the word question “whose”. Many
students use “who belong” to translate Indonesian words “milik siapa”. It is
influenced by their mother tongue to transfer from L-1 to L-2. They think to
everything in L-1“milik siapa” consist of two words, then they translate it
126
word by word “who belong”. The students tend to presence the items which
are not appear in correct pattern, so the correct form will be:
1) Whose book is this?
2) Whose books are there?
Choosing to be
The second difficulties in building question sentences through translation is
refer to choosing to be. Besides the learners have difficulties to use “who”,
they also make an error in choosing to be.
Example : Milik siapa buku-buku di sana?
The students’ translation : Who belong books is there?
The learners’ translation is still far from perfect. The learners should not put
“is” in the form of plural noun. Such kind of error is made because they have
not paying attention with “-s” added at the end of the word “books”. They
should put “are” for its to be, so the correct sentence will be:
Whose books are there?
Table 7. The Result of W-H Question Translation from Indonesia to English
No. Test Item
The Sum and
Percentage of
Correct Answer
The Sum and
Percentage of
Wrong Answer
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Apa yang dia makan?
Milik siapa buku ini?
Milik siapa buku-buku di sana?
Kapan kamu mengerjakan PR ini?
Berapa jam kamu belajar dalam sehari?
14
8
14
20
18
35 %
20 %
35 %
50 %
45 %
26
32
36
20
22
65 %
80 %
65 %
50 %
55 %
The Difficulties in Completing Tag Question Sentence
In this type of question, the learners completed the tag question follow the
sentences. Based on the data involved, it can be analyzed that they have
127
difficulties in completing the tag question follow the sentences, namely
choosing auxiliary verb.
Choosing auxiliary verb
The learners are still obvious and confuse in using suitable auxiliary verb
based time form in the sentences, such as is, am, are, do, does (present), was,
were, did (past), will, shall, should, etc. (future), etc.
Examples : 1) You like coffee, . . . ?
2) They arrived yesterday, . . . ?
The student’s translation : a) You like coffee, doesn’t you?
b) They arrived yesterday, don’t they?
The learners do not pay attention in using auxiliary verb. From the example
(a) the students made error in choosing auxiliary verb which must be related
with the time or action happened. They should not put “does” for the example
above though the adverb of time indicates of present tense form. They did not
consider that the subject is “you”. It is a plural subject, so the proper auxiliary
is “do”. In the example (b) the students also made error in choosing auxiliary
verb. They should not put “do” in the negative tag, because the adverb of
time which is used is in past tense, so the correct sentences are:
1) You like coffee, don’t you?
2) They arrived yesterday, didn’t they?
Table 8. The Result of Completing Tag Question Based on Sentences
No. Test Item
The Sum and
Percentage of
Correct Answer
The Sum and
Percentage of
Wrong Answer
1.
2.
3.
They arrived yesterday, . . . ?
You have heard about that, . . . ?
You like coffee, . . . ?
20
25
18
50 %
62,5 %
45 %
20
15
22
50 %
37,5 %
55 %
128
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
I may speak to him, . . . ?
You’d rather I didn’t say anything, . . . ?
He didn’t have to speak to me, . . . ?
I have to buy some matches, . . . ?
He was not fall down, . . . ?
You will come, . . . ?
You would like the window to open, . . . ?
16
17
25
14
27
21
20
40 %
42,5 %
62,5 %
35 %
67,5 %
52,5 %
50 %
24
23
15
26
13
19
20
60 %
57,5 %
37,5 %
65 %
32,5 %
47,5 %
50 %
From the finding result above, it can be conclude that there are two sources of
difficulties in building question sentences namely interlingual transfer and
intralingual transfer.
Interlingual Transfer
The learners have made interlingual error because of the mother
tongue interference. They usually transfer the system of their mother tongue
into foreign language in placing what for the each want “apakah”.
Examples :
1. False : What is she a nurse?
True : Is she a nurse?
2. False : What we will study together in my house?
True : Do we will study together in my house tomorrow?
From the examples, these are transfer from L-1 (first language / mother
tongue). The errors are such kind of interlingual transfer, because the students
admit one of the element of the correct sentences in building yes-no question.
Intralingual Transfer
It is the negative transfer of items within the tongue language or put another
way the incorrect generalization of the rule within the target language. It has
been found that the early stages of language are characterized by a
129
predominance of interlingual transfer is manifested. Negative intralingual
transfer can be illustrated in utterance.
Examples :
1. False : Who belong books is this?
True : Whose book is this?
2. False : When you do homework?
True : When do you do this homework?
According to Dulay, the constructive diction where the structure in the first
language would be product (1982: 97). It is influenced by the first language
habit. In other word, the students’ difficulty is by an interference of the
learners that are used to think himself by using their mother tongue. The
sentences above are errors in the use of grammar because the students still
cannot recognized the subject and put “are” for its to be.
Conclusion
Based on the analysis, the result shows some conclusions. Firstly, the
researcher finds the types of difficulties problems are faced by the students in
building question mastery, such as: (1) building yes-no question sentences in
translation the word “apakah”, that is related with the use of to be. (2)
Building interrogative word question sentences in translation the words
“apa”, “kapan”, “milik siapa”, etc. That are related with the use of “what”,
“when”, “whose”, etc. (3) Completing the tag question sentences with the
proper auxiliary based on tense of the sentences. Those are related with
choosing suitable to be or auxiliary. The most difficulties in building question
sentences are especially in yes-no question form by using the word
“apakah”. The source of difficulties which have been analyzed are mostly
caused by inter lingual and intra lingual transfer. The errors of inter lingual
transfer is affected by the students’ mother tongue interference. It is a major
130
source of difficulty in second language learning. While the errors of intra
lingual transfer is caused by the students’ lack of knowledge about grammar.
In the term of interlanguage, the students’ errors are mostly included in
expressing meaning by the words and grammar of their mother tongue.
131
References
Azar, Betty Schrampfer. 1993. Understanding and Using English Grammar.
Prentice Hall Regent: New Jersey.
Dulay. 1982. Language Two. Oxford University Press. New York.
Frank, Marcella. 1972. Modern English: a Practical Reference Guide.
Englewood Cliffs: New Jersey.
_____________ . 1981. Modern English: a Practical Reference Guide.
Englewood Cliffs: New Jersey.
Krohn, Robert. 1984. English Sentence Structure. The University of
Michigan Press: New York.
Mahani, Setyo and Siswantoro. 1987. Pengkajian Kurikulum SMA.
Universitas Sebeles Maret: Surakarta.
Murphy, Raymond. 1985. English Grammar in Usage. Cambridge University
Press: Cambridge.
Nuryanto. 1986. Essential of English Sentence Structure. Yayasan IKK:
Yogyakarta.
Qirk. 1973. A University Grammar of English. Longman: England.
Richards, Jack C. 1976. Error Analysis. Columbia University Press: New
York.
_______ et.al. 1992. Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied
Linguistics. Longman: UK.
Sudjiono, Anas. 1994. Pengantar Statistik Pendidikan. Raja Grafindo:
Jakarta.
Tarone, E. 2006. Interlanguage. University of Cartenbury: New Zealand.
Thomson, A. J. and A.V. Martinet. 1986. A Practical English Grammar.
Oxford University Press: Hongkong.
132
INDEX
A
Active participation, 68
Adi Purnomo, 50
C
Classroom action research, 50, 68
Collaborative learning, 34, 39, 40
Cooperative learning, 71, 73, 74, 76, 77
CTL, 1, 2, 3, 4, 16, 17, 31
D
Dian Anggraini, 34
Drama, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 42, 43, 47
Drama, 34, 36, 42, 43, 48, 49
Dwi Arni Siti Margiyanti, 68
E
English, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, 15, 21, 24,
25, 26, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 37, 41, 43,
45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 55, 58, 62,
66, 67, 68, 80, 83, 90, 91, 92, 101, 103,
105, 106, 107
I
Iisrohli Irawati, 1
Interlanguage, 110
K
Kemampuan Menulis, 51
M
Mind Mapping, 50
Motivasi, 34
Motivation, 1, 23, 26, 34, 40, 47, 52, 54,
59, 70, 80, 104, 106
N
Natural-conversation speech, 37, 49
Noorma Fitriana M. Zain, 94
P
Partisipasi aktif, 69
Pembelajaran kolaboratif, 34
Penelitian tindakan kelas, 51
Pengajaran teks deskriptif, 69
Peta konsep, 51
Q
Question Sentence, 114
R
Realia, 69, 94, 98, 99, 107
S
Sari Famularsih, 110
133
T
Teaching and learning, 1, 3, 4, 14, 16, 17,
18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 32
Teaching descriptive text, 63, 68, 99, 107
Teaching strategies, 4
W
Write pair square, 68
Writing, 1
Writing skill, 50, 54
Writing skill, classroom action research,
50
Y
Young learners, 6, 8
