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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Problem

Language is a way that people use to interact and communicate. Although

people are actually able to use gestures, using language is considerably more

effective in communication. However, it is still difficult for the people to

communicate when they have different languages. That is why people need to have a

universal language as a connector or facilitator and English is regarded for it. Today,

many people in the world are connected by using English.

English has been taught as a foreign language and it becomes one of the

essential lessons that are taught at schools or educational institutions in Indonesia. It

has been taught in elementary schools, junior high schools, senior high schools, and

vocational high schools. The teaching and learning of English is aimed at the mastery

of the language components (spelling, pronunciation, and structure) and language

skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). The English teaching emphasizes

the four language skills taught while the language components are taught to support

the language skills.

The objective of English teaching and learning is to enable students to do

English communication in both oral and written forms. The students should learn and

master English in a good pattern to understand many materials that are published in

English to face the globalization and information era.

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In those four language skills, writing is the most difficult skill than the others

and it is an important skill. Writing is the most difficult skill because if the writer

wants to be a good writer, he/ she should have high cognitive capability, broader

knowledge, and sensitivity; so that the writer is able to arrange meaningful letters or

characters that constitute readable matter for the reader because once again writing is

one of the communication ways. Writing is an important skill because today the act

of writing is embedded in almost every aspect of life. The ability to write regularly

gives one the power and opportunity to share and influence thoughts, ideas, and

opinions with others, not only in day-to-day situations, but across time and space.

Writing is a lifelong skill that every student needs to communicate

effectively. The students need to be able to produce a text in regard to content,

organization, vocabulary, grammatical, and mechanical considerations such as

spelling and punctuation because writing is not just a product but it is a process as

well.

Writing sounds simple, students start with an attention-grabbing first

sentence, then they move on to some interesting stuff in the middle, and then they

bring it all together at the end, but actually, there are some problems for ESL learners

to write. First, it is hard for students to learn English because this is not their mother

tongue or their first language. Second, the students are lack of vocabulary. Third,

they find difficulties when they have to make sentences. Fourth, there are still many

grammatical errors. Fifth, they have difficulties to put their ideas in written or any

other forms in English.

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Based on the observation and interview with the English teacher, there are

five similar problems that can be found in English learning process between SMA 1

Patuk students and most of other ESL learners. Meanwhile, the researcher also found

another problem coming from the teacher herself. The teacher does not use various

media yet. She uses lecturing method using textbook and course book as the main

media while in fact the use of various or alternative interactive and attractive media

is needed in English teaching and learning. It does not mean that the teacher’s

teaching method is wrong or even just unacceptable because in fact, she is a great

teacher and of course that she has her own teaching method, but the use of various or

alternative interactive and attractive media in the teaching and learning process

enables the teacher to accelerate the achievement of learning objectives.

This research tries to proof the effect of using short English article as a

teaching and learning media. The effectiveness of article as a teaching and learning

media needs to be proofed whether it can be use or not. The reason of the researcher

use article as a media is because there are relations between reading and writing.

Pinto in Rijlaarsdam, Bergh, and Couzijn (2005: 31) says that although

writing has its own set of characteristics and its psycholinguistic processing follows

different patterns, it cannot be seen in isolation from oral language or reading.

Indeed, it can be said that oral and written language nourish each other, and this

interaction should be borne in mind when they are practiced.

Through reading material such as article, the researcher thought that maybe it

is easier for the teachers to teach or help their students especially in writing. An

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article is structured written form or text on magazine, newspaper, or internet that

consisted of information and detail of things or events. For every single reading

material especially article as an informative text, obviously it has words and grammar

on it that enable to help students in developing or improving their writing skill.

Tenses and vocabulary are essential things that Indonesian students as the second

language learners need to be filled to facilitate their English learning. An article is

chosen because a lot of articles are consisted with interesting topics that are

appropriate with students and the researcher believes that it can attract students’

enthusiasms in learning English. Based on the explanation above, the researcher

chooses “The Effect of Using Short English Newspaper Article in Improving the

Students’ Writing Skill of Tenth Grade Students in SMA 1 Patuk in the Academic

Year of 2011/ 2012” as the title of the thesis.

B. Identification of Problem

The English writing teaching and learning process is not a simple thing and

there are five factors that influence the success of the writing teaching and learning

process. Those factors are teacher, students, method or technique, material, and

media. If those factors are neglected, it may takes possibility or risk that the goals of

writing teaching and learning cannot be reached. Based on the researcher’s

observation, there are some factors related to the problems of writing teaching and

learning process in the first grade of SMA 1 Patuk.

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1. The teacher, material, and method

Particularly in writing teaching and learning, it needs special treatment from

the teacher. A creative and innovative teacher is really needed to make the interesting

writing teaching and learning process.

Based on Harmer (2001: 57), one of the teacher’s roles is as an organizer. It

means that the teacher has to organize students to do various writing learning

activities. In existing ‘various writing learning activities‘, it can be firmed that it is on

occasion with various and interesting material, and also excellent and attractive

teaching method; but in fact, although the English teacher of the tenth grade students

in SMA 1 Patuk has great knowledge in English and also always uses dictionary to

help her students in learning English, but she uses textbook and course book as the

main materials which opposite with ‘various writing learning activities’.

Unfortunately, the efforts that the teacher makes take an effect for the students that

they are not too exited in learning English and its skills including writing.

2. The students

The second factors come from the students. Based on the researcher’s

observation in tenth grade students in SMA 1 Patuk, there are some difficulties that

students have in learning English. First common problem is English is not their first

language, it means that no matter how long they learnt this subject, it is quite hard for

them to be fitted with this. The second problem is they have less learning motivation.

The students thought that they are already had opinion that English writing is a

difficult subject cause it. It also the effect from the teacher’s teaching method and

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media. Third, most students are lack in grammar and vocabulary. It affected to their

English learning including writing; when they have to write something (paragraph or

sentence) in English, they found difficulties to spread their ideas on paper no matter

how great their concepts.

3. Media

In teaching and learning English, media have an important role in creating

interesting teaching and learning process. The fact of the using of the media in

teaching and learning process in tenth grade students of SMA 1 Patuk is that the

teacher is rarely use media but her main materials (textbook, course book, and

dictionary). These created less attractive situation for the students to learn.

C. Delimitation of Problem

In reference to the identification of the problem above, it is impossible for the

researcher to conduct the research on all factors influencing the teaching and learning

process of writing. In this part, short English newspaper articles are media that will

be investigated. This research is focused on analyzing students’ ability in writing

news item text for the tenth grade students of senior high school. Giving a short

English newspaper article as one of writing teaching and learning was defined that it

could help the students to create a good composition, since the rules and vocabulary

of article can help and stimulate them to produce and expand their ideas.

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D. Formulation of Problem

The problems can be formulated into the following questions:

1. What are the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA 1

Patuk who are taught by using short English newspaper articles in English

learning like?

2. What are the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA 1

Patuk who are taught without short English newspaper articles in English learning

like?

3. Is there any significant difference in the writing ability between students who are

taught by short English newspaper article and those who are taught without short

English newspaper articles as media?

E. Objectives of the Research

In line with the formulation of the problem above, the objectives of the study can be

described as follows:

1. To describe the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA

1 Patuk who are taught by using short English newspaper article in English

learning.

2. To describe the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA

1 Patuk who are taught without short English newspaper article in English

learning.

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3. To predict the difference in the writing ability between students who are taught by

using picture series and those who are taught without using short English

newspaper article as media.

F. Significance of the Research

The results of the study are expected to be useful for interested people from different

points of view as follows:

1. For the teachers, the findings of the research are expected to give information

about the use of short English newspaper article as media to increase students’

writing ability.

2. For the students, the findings of the research are expected to motivate, interest,

and increase the students in learning English writing.

3. For other researchers, the findings of the research are expected to provide

reverences them to conduct further research in order to improve the quality of

English teaching and learning.

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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

A. LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Writing Skills

a. Definition of Writing

Writing is a process that involves the work of one’s mind and requires one’s

language skill in expressing his thoughts or ideas and feelings into the written form.

It includes the organization of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences into coherent

and cohesive paragraphs and texts. “The ability to express one’s ideas in writing in a

second or foreign language and to do so with reasonable coherence and accuracy is a

major achievement” (Celce-Murcia, 2001:205). “Coherence means the sentences

must hold together, that is the movement from one sentence to the next must be

logical and smooth” (Oshima and Hogue, 2006: 94). It should be not only within

paragraphs but also among the paragraphs. The sentences in a paragraph, which are

related to each other, show the coherence of the paragraph. Coherence among the

paragraph means that the paragraphs are related to the previous and the next ones.

Cohesion is the use of techniques in order to make the relation among the sentences

within the paragraphs and that among the paragraphs. The techniques can be in the

form of transitional words, pronoun, repeated key words, and the parallel structure.

The application of coherence and cohesion is useful as it can make the texts clear and

easy to be understood.

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Every writing has a purpose. Writing purposes have to do with goals that are

often referred to aims of writing or writing intentions. Parmer, Hafner and Sharp

(1994:84) explain, “The goal of all writing is to construct the meaning for the writers

and to communicate that meaning to the readers.” When writers write, they generate

ideas, thoughts and images. The writer and the readers are involved in the

communication of the written text. .

Essentially, writing is a means of expressing ideas, thoughts and feelings to

others in written symbols. Therefore, writing ability is the ability to express ideas,

thoughts, and feelings in written language. In order to have such an ability, first of all

a writer should understand the graphic system of the language being used.

Nevertheless, to express ideas, thoughts and the feelings clearly and

effectively, the understanding of the graphic system is not enough, because good

writing requires knowledge of grammar and the art of using rhetoric such as

arranging words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs in such a way that attract the

readers’ attention. As the main function of writing is for communication, one as a

writer should be able to make his readers understand the message he conveys.

Writing is a continuous process of discovery. “As one is writing, he may

think of ideas that may not be in his brainstorming list or outline” (Oshima and

Hogue, 2006: 18).Whenever we write, first we consider our specific audience that is

the people who will read what we have written. Second, we consider the tone of our

writing, our style or manner of expressions. It is revealed by our choice of words and

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grammatical structures, even the length of our sentences. Finally, the purpose of a

piece of writing determines its organizational pattern.

Writing is a way to communicate with others (Langan, 2005: 14). To

communicate effectively, people must constantly adjust their speech to suit their

purpose and audience, this same idea with writing and the audience who will be

reading our work. The ability to adjust our writing to suit our purpose and audience

will serve us well not only in the classroom, but also in the workplace and beyond.

Based on the statements above, it can be summarized that writing is the

process of expressing one’s ideas, thoughts, and feelings into written forms. The

writing ability is the ability to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings in written

language. Writing needs a well preparation and a lot of practices. It is a thinking

process that also needs ability to organize the language into a good writing product.

b. The Process of Writing

Grenville (2000: vii) states that short stories, essays, reports are seem

verydifferent, and they are doing different jobs, but writer can go about themall in the

same way using these same six steps:

1. Getting ideas (in no particular order).

2. Choosing (selecting the ideas people think will be most useful).

3. Outlining (putting these ideas into the best order-making a plan).

4. Drafting (doing a first draft from beginning to end, without goingback).

5. Revising (cutting, adding or moving parts of this draft where necessary).

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6. Editing (proofreading for grammar, spelling and paragraphs).

In contrast with Grenville, Oshima and Hogue (1999: 3) state that there are

four main stages in the writing process: prewriting, planning, writing and revising

drafts, and writing the final copy to hand in. Overall, although there are differences in

determining the process of writing, these writing processes have the same purpose to

get the best result of writing.

Although these stages have been defined differently, researchers agree that

the stages include some amount and type of prewriting, writing and revising drafts,

and writing the final copy to hand in.

1. Prewriting

Prewriting is the first step in the writing process. Brown (2001: 348) states

that the prewriting stage encourages the generating of ideas, which can happen in

numerous ways:

a. Reading (extensively) a passage

b. Skimming and/or scanning a passage

c. Conducting some outside research

d. Brainstorming

e. Listing (in writing-individually)

f. Clustering (begin with a key word, then add other words, using free association)

g. Discussing a topic or question

h. Instructor-initiated questions and probes

i. Free writing

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2. Planning

During planning, writers appear to engage in cognitive activities that allow

them to select topics, consider purposes and goals for writing, identify their audience,

decide upon voice, and generate provisional frameworks for their pieces. These

provisional plans can be informal in that little is written to reflect the occurrence of

these activities. For some writers and in some instances, however, the planning stage

is relatively formalized by the use of written outlines or frames, lists of ideas, and

themes or topic sentences. Instructional implications for this stage of the composing

process include the importance of providing students time to plan, modeling the

cognitive processes involved in planning, and establishing writing activities that have

genuine purposes.

3. Drafting

Grenville (2001:105) says that one of the occupational diseases of writers is

putting off thedreaded moment of actually starting to write. It is natural to get it right

first time, but that is a big question, so naturally students put it off some

more.However, unless they are sitting for an exam, they can do asmany drafts as they

need to get it right. First drafts are the ones writers burn so no one can ever know

how bad they were. Drafting, however, does not preclude continued planning and

revising of plans. Most expert writers engage in extensive revision of their plans as

they write. During drafting, authors juggle numerous demands, including continued

planning and constructing of meaning; selecting vocabulary to express meaning;

using conventions of grammar, punctuation, and spelling; and executing motor tasks

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of writing or typing. Instructionally, teachers can assist writers by encouraging them

during first drafts to focus on writing their ideas and reducing their attention to

writing conventions. Teachers can also provide adequate time and support for

students to revise and edit after drafting.

4. Revising, Editing, and Writing the Final Copy

Langan (2005: 33) states that revising is much a stage in the writing process

as prewriting, outlining, and doing the first draft. Revising means rewriting a paper,

building on what has already done, in order to make it stronger. Emphasis should be

placed first on revising the ideas to make the piece more coherent and clear. In the

revision process, sharing the written piece with others is important because it assists

the author in realizing the readers' understanding of the piece. Oshima and Hogue

(1997: 11) state that when writers revise, they change what they have written in order

to improve it. A writer checks it over for content and organization, including unity,

coherence, and logic. Langan (2005: 33) states that there are three stages in the

revising process:

a. Revising content. To revise the content of essay, people can check our paper that

it was unified, supported, and organized or not.

b. Revising sentences. To revise sentences in the essay, people can check our paper

that it used parallelism to balance the words and ideas, it had a consistent point of

view, itused specific words, it used active verbs, it used words effectively by

avoiding slang, clichés, pretentious language, and wordiness; and it was vary in

the sentences.

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c. Editing. It checks for and corrects- errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

In conclusion, the processes of writing areprewriting, drafting, revising,

editing and writing the final copy.Those processes are needed in creating a good,

understandable, and communicative text.

c. Types of Classroom Writing Performance

Brown (2001, 343-346) considers five major categories of classroom writing

performance. They are imitative, intensive, self-writing, display writing, and real

writing.

1. Imitative, or writing down

At the beginning level of learning to write, students will simply "write down"

English letters, words, and possibly sentences in order to learn the conventions of the

orthographic code. Some forms of dictation fall into this category, although dictation

can serve to teach and test higher-order processing as well.

Dictations typically involve five steps. First, teacher reads a short paragraph

once or twice at normal speed. Second, Teacher reads the paragraph in short phrase

units of three or four words each and each unit is followed by a pause. Third,

students write exactly what they hearduring the pause. Fourth, teacher then reads the

whole paragraph once more at normal speed so students can check their writing, and

the last is students' written work scoring can utilize a number of rubrics for assigning

points. Usually spelling and punctuation errors are not considered as severe as

grammatical errors.

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2. Intensive, or controlled writing

Writing is sometimes used as a production mode for learning, reinforcing, or

testing grammatical concepts. This intensive writing typically appears in controlled,

written grammar exercises. This type of writing does not allow much, if any,

creativity on the part of the writer.

A common form of controlled writing is to present a paragraph to students in

which they have to alter a given structure throughout. Therefore, for example, they

may be asked to change all present tense verbs to past tense; in such a case, students

may need to alter other time references in the paragraph.

There are two forms in controlled writing (guided and dicto-comp writing).

Guided writing loosens the teacher's control but still offers a series of stimulators.

Another form of controlled writing is a dicto-comp. Here, a paragraph is read at

normal speed, usually two or three times; then the teacher asks students to rewrite the

paragraph to the best of their recollection of the reading. In one of several variations

of the dicto-comp technique, the teacher, after reading the passage, puts key words

from the paragraph, in sequence, on the chalkboard (or whiteboard) as cues for the

students.

3. Self-writing

A significant proportion of classroom writing may be devoted to self-writing,

or writing with only the self in mind as an audience. The most salient instance of this

category in classrooms is note-taking, where students take notes during a lecture for

the purpose of later recall. Diary or journal writing also falls into this category.

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4. Display writing

Writing within the school curricular context is a way of life. For all language

students, short answer exercises, essay examinations, and even research reports will

involve an element of display. For academically bound ESL students, one of the

academic skills that they need to master is a whole array of display writing

techniques.

5. Real writing

While virtually every classroom writing task will have an element of display

writing in it, some classroom writing aims at the genuine communication of

messages to an audience in need of those messages. The two categories of real and

display writing are actually two ends of a continuum, and in between the two

extremes lay some combination of display and real writing. Three subcategories

illustrate how reality can be injected; they are academic, vocational, and personal.

a. Academic

The language Experience Approach gives groups of students’ opportunities to

convey genuine information to each other. Content-based instruction encourages the

exchange of useful information, and some of this learning uses the written word.

Group problem-solving tasks, especially those that relate to current issues and other

personally relevant topics, may have a writing component in which information is

genuinely sought and conveyed. Peer-editing work adds to what would otherwise be

an audience of one (the instructor) and provides real writing opportunity.

b. Vocational/technical

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Quite a variety of real writing can take place in classes of students studying

English for advancement in their occupation, real letters can be written, genuine

directions for some operation or assembly might be given, and actual forms can be

filled out. These possibilities are even greater in what has come to be called "English

in the Workplace," where ESL is offered within companies and corporations.

c. Personal

In almost ESL class, diaries, letters, post cards, notes, personal messages, and

other informal writing can take place, especially in the context of an interactive

classroom. While certain tasks may be somewhat contrived, nevertheless the genuine

exchange of information can happen.

In conclusion, classroom writing performance covering five major categories,

they are imitative or writing down, intensive or controlled, self-writing, display

writing, and real writing. Each categories remains to developing students writing

ability and also related to writing processes and/ or text types to train students to

become good writers.

d. The Teaching of Writing

Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learners to learn

and setting the condition for learning (Brown, 2000: 7). Teaching is lifelong learning,

a constant interplay between knowing and experimenting, reflection and change. It is

imply that teaching cannot be separated from learning. Teaching is about the

teacher’s understanding of what teaching is and how the students will learn. Teaching

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also cannot be separated with the teacher’s philosophy of education, teaching style,

approaches, methods, and classroom technique.

Teaching writing is aimed to guide and facilitate students in learning writing.

The writing teaching and learning process is related with how to develop text.

Richard and Renandya (2002: 303) state that writing is a process of generating and

organizing ideas into readable texts. It means that in teaching writing, the teacher

must facilitate the students to learn how to write and guide them to do process of

writing so they can develop readable texts.

In teaching writing, there are some principles that teachers should know in

designing writing technique. Brown (2001: 346-348) states that there is a number of

specific principles for designing writing techniques such as incorporate practices of

good writers, balance process and product, account for cultural/ literary backgrounds,

connect reading and writing, provide as much authentic writing as possible, and

frame teachers’ techniques in term of prewriting, drafting, and revising

1. Incorporate practices of good writers.

It considers in various things that efficient writers do. Focus on a goal or

main idea in writing, perceptively gauge their audience, spend some time (but not too

much) planning to write, easily let their first ideas flow onto the paper, follow a

general organizational plan as they write, and solicit and utilize feedback on their

writing. The other things that efficient writers do are not wedded to certain surface

structures, revise their work willingly and efficiently, and patiently make as many

revisions as needed.

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2. Balance process and product.

Make sure that students are carefully led through appropriate stages in the

process of composing. At the same time, do not so hurry in the stages leading up to

the final product that you lose sight of the ultimate attainment. Make sure that

students see that everything leading up to this final creation was worth the effort.

3. Account for cultural/ literary backgrounds.

Make sure that teachers’ techniques do not assume that the students know

English rhetorical convention. It means that if there are some apparent contras

between students’ native traditions and those that teachers trying to teach, try to help

students to understand what it is.

4. Connect reading and writing.

Clearly, students learn to write in part by carefully observing what is ready

written. That is, they learn by observing or reading the written words. By reading and

studying a variety of relevant types of text, students can get important insight both

about how they should write and about subject matter that may become the topic of

their writing.

5. Provide as much authentic writing as possible.

Whether writing is real writing or for display, it can be still authentic in that

the purposes for writing are clear to the students, the audience is specified overtly,

and there is at least some intent to convey meaning. Share their writings with other

students in class, write a resume, and write advertisements. All these can be seen as

authentic writing.

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6. Frame teachers’ techniques in term of prewriting, drafting, and revising.

Prewriting stage encourages the generation of ideas. It can be happened in

numerous ways, such reading, skimming and/ or scanning a passage, conducting

some outside research, brainstorming, listing, clustering, discussing a topic,

instructor initiated questions and probes, and free-writing.

The drafting and revising stages are the core of writing process. The first

option gives no opportunity for systematic drafting, and second assumes that if

students did any drafting at all, they simply have to learn the tricks of the trade on

their own. In a process approach, drafting is viewed as an important and complex set

of strategies, the mastery of which takes time, patience, and trained instruction.

Getting started or free-writing technique, optimal monitoring of one’s writing,

peer-reviewing for content, using the teacher’s feedback, and editing for grammatical

errors are some strategies and skills apply to the drafting or revising process in

writing. Read aloud and proofreading can be included into the strategies of drafting

or revising process.

In conclusion, teaching writing is aimed in guiding and facilitating students in

develop readable texts. Teaching writing deals with some teacher’s philosophy of

education, teaching style, approaches, methods, and classroom technique.

3. The Teaching of Writing at Senior High School

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Students will be most apt to make appropriate gains in their ability to write

well when the focus of their writing is on those experiences and topics that

immediately concern them. Students become more interested in writing and the

quality of their writing improves when there are significant learning goals for writing

assignments and a clear sense of purpose for writing (U.S. Department of Education,

1987: 43).

Brown in Rodriguez and Fernando (2009: 336) said that textbooks in general

claim to supply a wide range of reading on different topics. However, while the range

of topics in some textbooks is reasonable, the variety of material is limited. Too

many textbooks feature mostly magazine-style reading passages, while ignoring

news reporting, prose fiction, poetry and other genres. Therefore, teachers need to

supplement materials with extra material that is compatible with the particular

situations found in language classrooms.

Meanwhile, Dorn and Soffos (2001) said that in the teaching writing to young

learners, teachers have to recognize the complexity of the process and also think a

moment about what happens in the mind of their students as they create a written

work. Teacher must be creative to prepare materials that feature real-life situations

and authentic language in teaching. Teachers also must be conscious of the types of

practice; they are mechanical, meaningful, and communicative.

In the teaching of writing in SMA 1 Patuk, the teacher of the first grade used

a Conventional Method to teach his students where the teacher was thecentre in the

teaching and learning. This method prioritized rote-memorization, understanding,

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and emphasized a result rather than a process. Therefore, the main activity was the

teacherexplained the material and students listened or record what the teacher said.

Teacher used materials from the textbooksin his teaching and learning

processes.Table 1 shows the Standard of Competency and Basic Competencies of

School-Based Curriculum of Senior High School year X of the second semester of

English Subject.

Table 1: Standard of Competency and Basic Competencies of School-Based Curriculum of Junior High School year X of the 2nd semester ofEnglish Subject

Standard of Competency Basic Competencies Indicators

11. Producing the meaning in the forms of short functional and texts and short essays, in the form of narrative, descriptive and news item in the daily life context.

11.2. Responding meaning and rhetoric steps in short essay accurately, fluent, and acceptable in the context of daily life in the form of narrative, descriptive, andnews item.

Using reported speech in news item text.

Using simple present tense in descriptive text.

Using adverbial clause in narrative text.

Developing text in the form of news item.

Developing text in the form of narrative.

Developing text in the form of descriptive.

4. Text types

According to Anderson (1997: 1), a piece of text is created when words are

put together to communicate a meaning. Meanwhile, Feez (2002: 4) states that texts

are any stretch of language which is held together cohesively through meaning.

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Creating a text requires making choices about the words that are used and how it can

be put together.

The School-Based Curriculum implies that senior high school students should

be able to understand many genres in English. It means that students should know the

genre of the text to develop English texts. There some types of texts taught in the

School-Based Curriculum of senior high schools. They are procedure, descriptive,

recount, narrative, and news item. In the second semester of tenth grade, there are

three genres that are taught to the students, they are narrative, descriptive, and news

item.

1. Descriptive Text

a. Definition of descriptive text

According to Anderson (1998: 26), a description text describes a particular

person, place or thing. Its purpose is to tell about the subject by describing its

features without including personal opinions. Description differs from an information

report because it describes a specific subject rather than a general group. The

example of descriptions texts include descriptions of a particular building,

description of a specific animal, descriptions of a particular places, and descriptions

of a specific person.

b. Description Scaffold

The description scaffold is a guide for constructing a piece of text description.

Anderson (1998: 26-27) says that the description text has three main parts.

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1. A general opening statement in the first paragraph

In this part, the teacher introduces the subject of the description to the students. The

teacher can give the students brief details about the when, or what of the subject.

2. A series of paragraphs about the subject

The teacher introduces that each paragraph usually begins with a topic sentence. The

topic sentence previews the details that will be contained in the remainders of the

paragraph. Each paragraph should describe one feature of the subject and these

paragraphs build description of the subject.

3. A concluding paragraph (optional)

In this part, the teacher asks the students to conclude paragraph signals the end of the

text.

c. Language Features of Descriptive Text

The language features of descriptive text are:

1. Using attributive and identifying process.

2. Using adjective and classifiers in nominal group.

3. Using simple present tense.

2. Narrative Text

a. Definition of Narrative Text

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According to Anderson (1997: 8), a narrative is a piece of text that tells a

story and, in doing so entertains or informs the reader or listener. Narrative is to

amuse, entertain and to deal with an actual or vicarious experience in different ways.

Narratives deal with problematic events that lead to a crisis or turning points of some

kind, which in turn find a resolution. Narratives can be in the form of a legend,

fables, fairy tales, etc.

Furthermore Anderson (1997: 14) states that a good narrative uses words to

paint a picture in our minds of what the characters look like (their appearance), where

the action is taking place (the setting), how things are happening (the action).

b. Narrative Scaffold

The narrative scaffold is a guide for constructing piece of text narrative.

According to Anderson (1997: 12), there are the activities to teach narrative text. He

says that narrative text have five main pats. They are:

1. Orientation

In this paragraph, the teacher tells the students about who, when, where, and what is

going on.

2. Complication

This is the part of the story where the teacher tells about something that will begin a

chain of events. These events will affect one or more of the characters. The

complication is the trigger.

3. Sequence of events

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This is where the teacher tells how the characters react to the complication. It

includes their feelings and what they do. The events can be told in chronological

order (the order in which they happen) or with flashbacks. The students are given the

teacher “point of view”.

4. Resolution

In this part of the narrative where the complication is sorted out or the problem is

solved.

5. Coda

The teacher includes a coda if there is to be a moral or message to be learned from

the story.

c. Language Features of Narrative Text

The language features of narrative texts are:

1. Using specific characters.

2. Using time words that connect events to tell when they occur.

3. Using Verbs to show the actions that occur in the story.

4. Using descriptive words to portray the characters and setting.

3. News item

a. Definition of news item

According to Kholidin (2010), news item text is News item is a text that

informs readers about events of the day. The events are considered newsworthy or

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important. A news item text tries to answer the5Ws and 1H questions; What, Who,

When, Where, Why, and How relating to the newsworthy.

b. Generic Structures of News Items

1. Main event/ Newsworthy events (tells the event in a summary form)

2. Elaboration/ Background events (elaborates what happened, explains what

caused the incident). It can be a background, participant, time, and place relating

to the accident. It is the detail information for the accident which informs on how

the accident happen and who are the victims.

3. Sources/ Resource of Information (comments by participants, witnesses,

authorities, and experts involved in the event). It can be a witness or

statement/treatment of the authority.

c. Language Feature of News Item

1. Information on the use of headlines

2. Use action verb

3. Use saying verb

4. Use passive sentences and use adverbs

In conclusion, there are the genres that are taught in the tenth grade of senior

high school: descriptive text, narrative text and news item text. Students of senior

high school are expected to be able to understand the pattern of each type of text and

develop or write a proper text in many types.

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4. Short English article as media

a. Media

Based on Celce and Murcia (2001: 460), media are technological innovations

in language teaching, of mechanical paraphernalia, and of glossy, polished

audiovisual aids. Definition of educational media have been proposed by many

experts, Kemp (1977: 73), for example, says that educational media are supporting

materials that can motivate students and can effectively explain and illustrate subject

content. In addition, the media can facilitate the interaction between teachers and

students so that learning activities more effectively and efficiently. It is the cause or

the tools that interfere with the functions of the two parties and the role of an

effective governing relation between the two main parties in the students’ learning

process and content (Fleming in Arsyad, 2003: 3).

The use of media in the teaching learning process must be established by the

requirement of the process. If media are to be used to facilitate teaching and learning,

they must be selected and used in appropriate necessity. According to Gerlach and

Ely (1980: 240), a medium of instruction must be selected on the basis on its

potential for implementing a stated objective. Kemp (1980: 7) adds requirement of

objectives, content, and instructional methods.

According to Goodwyn (1992: 48), teachers should think about five things in

selecting media. The first is the media agencies. Media should help students

understand that the production of all texts involve many things and circumstances.

The second thing is media categories. Media categories involve the form of the

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media and its genres. The third thing is media technologies. Technologies create and

improve meanings. The fourth thing is the languages of the media. Media have their

own codes and rules. The fifth thing is media representation. Media should represent

the real condition, so that they can support the teaching and learning process.

The following are factors that should be considered when incorporating

instructional media into language teaching goals:

a. Type of skill/ concept to be presented

b. Student preference: the age, interest, experiences, and learning styles of the

students concerned.

c. Teacher preference: facility with equipment, familiarity/adroitness with the

given medium, teaching style.

d. Availability of software and hardware

e. Physical circumstances of the classroom/ lab

Undoubtedly, as an alternative tool for language learning/ teaching, media

have always facilitated the task of language learning for both instructed and no

instructed learners. Media can be anything, material and non-material, physical and

non-physical, and those are useful to support the communication and interaction in

teaching learning process. It can be for explaining, motivating, or making clear thing

being discussed or talked about. The teacher uses media to involve students more

integrally in the learning process and to facilitate language learning by making it a

more authentic, meaningful process.

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b. Short English Newspaper Article

Tribble, White, and Arndt (1991: 5) state that writing is re-writing that

revision, seeing with new eyes, has a central role to play in the act of creating text. It

means that writing process, teacher need to give exemplary materials that can be

seen, learnt, and used by the students as guides for their writing, and reading material

can be one of the materials which is enable to cover those aspects. Article is a

structured written form or text on magazine, newspaper, or internet that consisted of

information and detail of things or events. The researcher use article as a media

because there are relations between reading and writing. Graça in Rijlaarsdam &

Bergh (2005: 31) states that although writing has its own set of characteristics and its

psycholinguistic processing follows different patterns; it cannot be seen in isolation

from oral language or reading. Indeed, it can be said that oral orreading and written

language nourish each other, and this interaction should be borne in mind when they

are practiced. Mallett (2002: xi) argues helping children or students both to benefit

from and enjoy informational reading and writing is a considerable challenge for any

practicing teacher. People do not want children or students trapped in tightly

structured and essentially sterile learning processes. Rather people want them to

become avid and curious readers, intent on finding out, and confident writers,

practiced in communicating understanding and meaning.

Children or students also need to be taught library and study skills but people

must remember these are only tools that serve bigger purposes and intentions. They

will then be in the driving seat when it comes to their own writing, not merely

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mechanical reproducers of other people’s words but writing powerfully from within

themselves, using the knowledge that they have obtained and assimilated.

B. Relevant Research Study

A research by Alber (2003) found success with a classroom newspaper

because it allowed students to direct their writing to a specific audience and increased

their motivation. Using various topics of English newspaper articles as writing

teaching-learning media will open possibilities in giving suitable and attractive

teaching-learning media that enable to fulfill students’ anxieties.

Another researcher is Simpson (2007). She said that newspaper articles are

written in various topics and a particular topic will considerably affect knowledge

and vocabulary, therefore, the more topics to fulfill students’ anxieties mean the

more knowledge and vocabulary. By having more knowledge and vocabulary, it is

easier for students to develop their abilities to organize information and construct it

into a text, revise the text, and redraft.

C. Conceptual Framework

Writing is the latest language skill that is mastered by the students because it

is the hardest skill among the others.It is true when people say that the more practice

gain the better writing, but first, it is important for students to have guides or lessons

before they start to do their practice. When teachers givelesson, automatically it is

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related to learning media. Media is one of the important elements that can help

teachers and students in teaching and learning processes. Therefore, the media used

by teachers in English language learning process should be appropriate to the needs

and learning objectives to be achieved.

Students writing activities are related to several text types and of course it

needs a representative text for each text types to be given as teaching and learning

media. One of the text type that tenth grade senior high school students need to learnt

is news item text and newspaper article is one of the text that counted into. In news

item writing, it is important for students to understand about what and how before

they start to write and newspaper article is able to give clear explanation and example

about the what and how of news item writing. The peculiaritiesof newspaper article

are in various interesting topics that enable to attract students in learning process by

giving an appropriate student-age topics and it has various unfamiliar words that of

course will enrich students’ vocabularies. News item texts also provide many

knowledge that obviously needed by students.

D. Research Hypothesis

As mentioned in the introduction, the aim of this research is to investigate

whether there is a significant difference or not in the SMA 1 Patukstudents’ writing

abilities between those who are taught by using short English newspaper articles as

writing teaching-learning media andthose who are not. Based on the literature review

34

and the conceptual framework above, the researcher formulates the hypothesis of the

research as follows:

“There is a significant difference in the writing ability between the students who are

taught by using a diary and those who are not.”

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

A. Research Design

This study is classified into a quasi-experimental study. The research design

is an intact group pre-test and post test design which involves a group of students in

the experimental group and a group of students in the control group. Bell (1999: 15)

states that the principle of this experiment is that if two identical groups are selected,

one of which (the experimental group) is given special treatment and the other (the

control group) is not; then any differences between the two groups at the end of the

experimental period may be attributed to the difference in treatment.

Table 1: Design of the Study

Sample Class Pre-test Treatment Post-test

S E O1 X O2

S C O2Conventional

method O2

Where:

S : Sample

E : Experiment

C : Control

O1 : Students Pre – test Score

O2 : Students Post – test Score

X : Treatment

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The treatment, in this case using various type of short english newspaper

articles that applied in the experimental group. Meanwhile, the control group did not

used short english newspaper articles in the teaching and learning process.

The following table presents the distribution of the treatment.

Table 3

Distribution of the Treatment

No. Class Group Treatment Number of students

1. XE ExperimentalShort english

newspaper article36

2. XG ControlThe teacher’s

method34

The implementation of the short english newspaper article was done in the

experimental group for five meetings. There were three sections in each meeting:

warming up, main teaching, and closing. In warming up, the researcher started the

lesson with greeting and directed the students’ attention toward the topics by asking

some questions about the students’ experience which was related to the topic.

In the main teaching, the researcher asked students to work in a group of

students and introduced the examples of each text type; news item text. Then, the

researcher gave the whole explanations about article and gave them the examples,

and then the researcher gave some exercises based on the topic. Last, in closing, the

researcher reviewed the lesson given and asked the students to write articles related

to the topic.

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In opposite with the experimental group, the students in the control group

were still taught by using the teacher’s methods, materials, and medias. Basically the

process of the teaching learning in the control group was almost the same as that in

the experimental group. In the control group, the teacher did not use short english

newspaper article in the teaching writing.

B. Research Variables

The research involved two variables. The independent and the dependent

variables. The independent variable was the short english newspaper articles to teach

writing, namely X. Meanwhile, the dependent variable was the students’ writing

achievements, namely Y.

C. Population and Sample

The population of this study included the first year students of SMA 1 Patuk

in the academic year 2011/2012. There were eight classes of the tenth grade as the

population of the research: XA, XB, XC, XD, XE, XF, XG, and XH. Each class

consisted of thirty eight to forty students. The following table shows the specification

of the population of the study.

Table 2: Research Population by Class

No Classes Number of students1 XA 402 XB 403 XC 384 XD 39

38

5 XE 366 XF 407 XG 348 XH 38

Total 315

In this research, two classes were selected from the population, as the

experimental group and the control group. A random assignment was applied by:

1. Writing each class name on a piece of paper

2. Putting the papers into a box

3. Shaking the box

4. Taking one slip from the container as the experimental group and one slip as the

control group.

The random assignment resulted class XE as the experimental group and

class XG as the control group. The teaching and learning process of writing in the

experimental group (XE) used short English newspaper article; meanwhile in the

control group (XG), the teaching and learning process of writing was taught by using

the teacher’s method and material.

D. Research Instrument

In this research, the instrument used to collect the data was a test of writing

ability, focused on one text type (news item). The researcher used two tests, pre-test

and post-test, that used to get scores to find the students’ writing abilities. The pre-

39

test was given before the treatment applied and the post-test was given after the

treatment.

The test was in the form of essays. Each student had to write a composition

about the determined topic. The time allocation is 45 minutes for the news item text

and for the each composition is at least consist 50 words. The tests were given twice.

The first test is used to gain the score of pretest, and the second test is used to gain

the score of posttest after the treatment.

E. The Validity and Reliability of The Instrument

1. Validity of the Writing Tests

Validity refers to the degree to which a method , a test or a research tool

actually measures what it is supposed to measure (Wellington 2000 : 30). Validity of

the writing test covered content and constructs validity.

a. Content Validity

Furlong, Lovelace, and Lovelace (2000: 72) state that a test is said to have

content validity when the items of the test accurately represent the concept being

measured. The writing test is developed in reference to standard of competency and

basic competencies stated in of Senior High School Year X of the second semester of

the English subject. It means that the whole materials which were covered in the test

reflect the materials which were given to the tenth grade students. Table 4 shows the

Blueprint of the writing ability test.

Table 4: The Blueprint of the writing ability tests

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No. Indicators Aspects of Writing The Item Number

1.  Writing a news item text. Ideas and Development

Organization Vocabulary Sentence Structure Capitalization and

Punctuation Spelling

1

2.  Writing a news item text. Ideas and Development

Organization Vocabulary Sentence Structure Capitalization and

Punctuation Spelling

1

   Total   2

b. Construct Validity

In assessing the writing tests, there are some aspects that should be

considered. In this study, there were six aspects or characteristics that were assessed

in students’ writing, namely ideas and development, organizations, vocabulary,

sentence sructure, capitalization and punctuation, and spelling Anderson (2003: 92).

The scoring of students’ writing tests was done by the researcher and the English

teacher.

2. Reliability of the Writing Test

The reliability of a research instrument is the degree of consistency and

dependence with which the instrument measures the attribute. Wellington (2000:

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200) state that reliability is also used in connection with research methods in order to

estimate the degree of confidence in the data. Reliability refers to the extent to which

a test or technique functions consistently and accurately by yielding the same results

at different times or when used by different researchers.

In this research, inter-rater reliability was used. Inter-rater reliability is

established when the results of the writing test are assessed using subjective

judgment. It is applied to know whether or not the data of the writing score that are

given by two raters are reliable. The researcher was the first rater and the teacher as

the second rater in gaining students’ score. After the raters gained the results, they

were compared. When there was a high degree of agreement, the procedure could be

considered reliable.

In order to determine the level of the instrument reliability, the norm of

categorizing the reliability coefficient was employed. The following table is the norm

of adopted categorizing the reliability coefficient. Table 6 shows the value of the

reliability coefficient.

Table 5: Value of the Reliability Coefficient

Reliability Coefficient Reliability Category

0.800 - 1.000 Very High

0.600 - 0.799 High

0.400 - 0.599 Fair

0.200 - 0.399 Low

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0.000 - 0.199 Very Low

3. Scoring Rubric

Urquhart and Mc Iver (2005:31) argue that rubric is very effective assessment

tool because it describes specific levels of performance. Besides, rubric also explains

the students’ performances clearly. Research also supports using rubric because it

clearly communicates expectations for both teaching and learning. In this study,

researcher presents only one of four types of rubric, which is analytic rubric.

Analytic rubric provides more detailed information about students’ writing

abilities. Researcher used this type of rubric because it facilitated the different

writing aspects such as content, organization, mechanic, and/or language and

vocabulary that used in assessing writing.

Table 6. Rubric for writing assessment

CATEGORY 1.5 marks 1 mark 0.5 mark

CONTENT

______ / 1.5

All requested sections are complete and information is kept in a logical sequence.There is one clear, well-focused topic. Main idea stands out and is supported by detailed information.

One or two sections are missing.One or two pieces of information are not kept in a logical sequence.Main idea is clear but the supporting information is general or not enough.

Three or more sections are missing. Information is not kept in a logical sequence.The main idea is not clear. There is a seemingly random collection of information.

LANGUAGE AND VOCABULARY

______ / 1.5

Correct use of structures and a good range of vocabulary according to the level.

Some grammar problems don’t influence communication although the reader is aware of themAppropriate use of vocabulary

Numerous grammar problems don’t influence communication although the reader is aware of themLittle use of vocabulary for the level

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MECHANICS AND LENGTH

______ / 1.0

One or two spelling or punctuation errors. Good use of connectors.The student has written the number of words requested

Three or more spelling or punctuation errors. Basic or no use of connectors (and, but, also).The student has written slightly more or less than the number of words requested.

ORGANISATION

______ / 1.0

Correct register used throughout.Appropriate format and layout based on the specifications.

Inconsistent register.Inappropriate format/layout based on the specifications.

TOTAL

_____ / 5

COMMENTS

F. Data Collecting Technique

The data were collected from the pretest and posttest of the control group (XG Class)

and experimental group (XE Class). The research instrument for collecting data was done by

using a test. In this research, the test method was intended to reveal pretest and posttest data.

Pretest was given to two groups, namely experimental group (XG Class) and control group

(XE Class). It aimed to measure the students’ writing ability of the groups before they were

given a treatment. Then, the researcher gave the short news paper articles to the experimental

group and the teacher gave her own teaching methods, material, and media to the control

group. Posttest was given to the experiment group (XG Class) and control group (XE Class)

to measure the students’ writing ability after the treatments were given. The researcher then

compared the results of the experimental and control group to find out the achievement of

their writing ability.

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Before the treatment was applied to the experimental group, the researcher

gave the teacher the information about the characteristic of the study. Next, the

researcher taught XG Class by using various topics of short English newspaper

articles. The lesson plans for the teaching and learning in both classes are presented

as follows:

1. The experimental group

a. The teacher comes to the class, greets the students and checks the students’

attendance list.

b. The teacher begins the lesson by asking the students some questions related to

news item text.

c. The teacher gives a brief explanation about news item text by using a short

English newspaper article with a particular topic.

d. The teacher asks groups of the students to write two paragraphs of news item

that consists eight sentences in minimum and related to a particular topic.

e. The teacher asks students to do the tasks individually in a particular topic.

f. The teacher and the students discuss the tasks.

g. The teacher gives a reflection and conclusion of the lesson.

h. The teacher gives the students an assignment.

i. The teacher closes the lesson.

2. The control group

a. The teacher comes to the class, greets the students and also checks the

attendance list of the students.

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b. The teacher begins the lesson by asking the students some questions related to

the topic.

c. The teacher gives a brief explanation about topics without using a short

English newspaper article.

d. The teacher asks students to do some tasks in groups.

e. The teacher asks students to do the tasks individually.

f. The teacher and the students discuss the tasks.

g. The teacher gives a reflection and conclusion of the lesson.

h. The teacher gives the students an assignment.

i. The teacher closes the lesson.

G. Data Analysis technique

There were two techniques that the researcher employed to analyze the data in

this research. They were the descriptive and inferential statistics.

1. Descriptive Analysis

The descriptive analysis are aimed at providing answers to the research

questions about the effect of using short english newspaper article to improve

students’ writing ability. The statistics used in computation are the mean, which is

the average score attained by the subjects of the research, and standard deviation,

which is the average variability of all scores around the mean.

2. Score Categorization

46

The categorization of scores gained by students was made to find out the level

of students’ writing ability. The scores categorization of students’ writing ability was

based on the ideal score. The ideal mean score (Mi) and ideal standard deviation

(SDi) could be calculating using the formula as follows:

Mi = ½ (highest score + lowest score)

SDi = 1/6 (highest score - lowest score)

The frequency distribution of the scores of the students’ writing ability can be

categorized into five levels, namely,excellent, very good, good, fair, poor, and very

poor. The distribution was calculated based on the Mi score and SDi as follows:

Table 7

Scale Category of Reliability

Interval Reliability category

84 - 94 Excellent

72 - 83 Very good

60 - 71 Good

48 - 59 Fair

36 - 47 Poor

24 - 35 Very poor

3. Inferential Statistics

The inferential statistics was focused to answer the question of the

formulation of the problem, which was whether there is a significant difference in

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English learning between the junior high school students in eighth grade who are

taught by using short english newspaper article as media and those of students who

are taught without. The statistics used in this computation were test of normality, test

of homogeneity, and test of hypothesis.

a. Test of Normality

This test is aimed at knowing whether or not the collected data show a normal

distribution. For this, the Chi-Square formula is applied. Borg and Gall (1983:559)

stated that Chi Square is a nonparametric statistical test that is used when the

research data are in the form of frequency counts. This test was done by using the

SPSS version 15.00 for windows computer program.

b. Test of Homogeneity

This test is used to find out whether or not the sample variance is

homogeneous, is the scores of one group have homogeneous variance with the scores

of the other groups or not. For this, the Levene-test was applied. This test was done

by using the SPSS version 15.00 for windows computer program.

c. Hypothesis Testing

Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) is used in determining whether the

increase in the students’ writing ability by using short English newspaper articles and

without using short English newspaper articles is significant or not. To know the

effect of using the short English newspaper articles on the students’ writing ability,

the researcher put another variable that might have effect on it. Another variable that

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used in this research is called the covariate. The covariate is the pretest scores of the

students. The pretest scores are considered to reflect the students’ writing ability

before the treatment. The covariance is used to control the effect of using the short

english newspaper articles on the students’ writing ability. The computation uses

SPSS (Statistic Package for Social Science) version 15.00 for windows computer

program.