TEACHING WRITING SKILLS THROUGH

TELECOLLABORATION

By Safiatur Rokhmah, M. Pd.

Abstract

Writing is neither a simple nor a joyful activity. Most of the students find that

writing is difficult and confuse to do. To make the students interested and love to write,

this study use telecollaboration through social media especially Facebook and whatsapp

to motivate students to write.

This study investigated how writing through collaboration can develop students’

writing skills, to investigate how students telecollaborate and respond to writing through

social media, facebook and whatsapp group. The researcher focused on observing,

identifying potential problems, modifying teaching practices, evaluating the results,

reflecting and analysing the teaching writing skills through telecollaboration. The

participants of the research were the students of MA Al Jauharotun Naqiyyah Cibeber

grade XII with the total number of 15 students. The students were selected based on the

pre-observation writing result which was conducted at the beginning of new term. The

selected participants were being taught writing through telecollaboration then observed

their progress in learning English especially writing.

The results of the study found that the use of ICT and digital media such as

Facebook and whatsapp application help students telecollaborate in making learning

outside school hours because the students could communicate using social media. ICT

applications used in learning English could help students to increase vocabulary and

improve English. It also motivate students to use English to chat, give comments and

make status on social media. Tellecollaboration activity is beneficial for students under

certain condition such as good internet connection, computer facilities at school and good

knowledge of ICT for the teacher.

Introduction

Based on the national curriculum, the English language teaching in Senior High

School in Indonesia is given to the students in order to get communication in reading,

listening, speaking and writing. English is used as a tool of communication to improve

the knowledge, science technology, information and art. So, it is hoped that students can

improve the knowledge and use the language as a communication.

From the above four skills, writing is the skill which students mostly do not get

impressed and interested in. Likewise, most of the students’ writing focus is on grammar,

spelling and structure, but not on meaning, significance and pleasure. Writing ‘correct’

sentences make students forget what they are writing about. Otherwise the students

become less motivated and not interested in writing activities because the students find

the activities are difficult to do.

Moreover, it is very important for students who learn second language to be able

to write effectively for education, business and personal reasons. And the main goal for

most students in learning to write is to be able to participate in many aspects of society

beyond school such as writing a blog, an email, a journal, a narrative report or a letter for

job application.

Looking at many aspects of society beyond school to the real world, writing

activity in class needs an activity which is more ‘natural’ and ‘authentic’. Activities

which encourage and motivate the students to write since it relates to the real world.

As the English teacher of grade XII of MA Aljauharotun Naqiyyah, researcher

found that there are many problems that students face in learning English at school. MA

Al jauharotun naqiyyah is an Islamic Senior High School which is based on Islamic

traditional education background ( pesantren ). Concerning about the students’ problems

and since most of the students in MA Al jauharotun Naqiyyah are reluctant to write in

English, the researcher assigned students to write a narrative essay to figure out the

particular problems in the class. As a result, the researcher finds most of the students can

express better idea through writing but poor in vocabulary, sentences and paragragraph

construction. Therefore, the researcher is trying to give motivation to students by

creating an activity which motivate students to learn English especially in writing.

Students feel unmotivated and hesitated to write a long paragraph or essay, especially if

students’ writing sheets are given feedback with many remarks. It can be seen from the

average score of students’ achievements at the end of semester is only 55.60. This score

is very poor and less than the minimum criteria of standard score ( KKM ). The

minimum criteria of standard score ( KKM ) of the students of grade XII of MA Al

jauharotun Naqiyyah at academic year 2015/ 2016 is 7.50. Based on the data, the

researcher summarizes that there are problems on the students’s achievements.

Some research revealed that one of the activities which motivates students to

write is through telecollaboration. The reason why researcher choose writing skill

through telecollaboration because for some students, especially students of MA Al

jauharotun Naqiyyah, need some time to think to understand the lesson being discussed,

to learn and produce language slower than others. And writing is suitable to students for

such learners. The main reasons of why the researcher chooses telecollaboration are

because based on some previous research, telecollaboration can increase students

motivation and be meaningful to students’ future real life. In addition, writing needs a

careful thought, mental and process activity which students have to go through in order

to produce written texts as part of the continuing learning experience. Above all, in

producing a text, students need to know how to write letters, write using electronic

media, write some of writing’s special agreement as students need to know how to

pronounce spoken English properly.

Based on the information above, the researcher is trying to choose common

writing daily activities which are useful and interesting to do by students. Information

and Communication Technology (ICT) reported by many researchers have the

advantages to motivate students to write, such as attracting students’ attention,

facilitating students’ language learning process, increasing students’ vocabulary and

facilitating meaningful learning.1 The research reported2 that ICT gives motivation and

positive impacts on students’ work and attitudes in class. Because the students’ writings

are edited more neatly and profesionally by the teacher. In short, the behaviour is better

when ICT is used. ICT promotes the quality of students’ work.

In short, from the above discussion, the researcher concludes that using

telecollaboration can increase students’ motivation to write and come up with new ideas.

And this research investigated, how teaching writing through telecollaboration in

Islamic Senior High School in Cilegon can motivate the students and improve student’s

writing skills. Although there are many research projects overseas, (Yunus et al: 2013,

Grönlund: 2013, Ling and Goh: 2004, Ozuruoke, et. al, and Alonso: 2012 ),

investigating about teaching writing through telecollaboration, researcher could hardly

find this kind of research in Indonesia especially in English Education. Researcher would

1Melor Md Yunus1, Norazah Nordin1, Hadi Salehi1, 2, Mohamed Amin Embi1 & Zeinab Salehi2,

2013, The Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Teaching ESL Writing Skills, English

Language Teaching; Vol. 6, No. 7, p. 1 2 Don Passey, Colin Rogers, Joan Machell, Gilly McHugh and Dave Allaway, 2003, The Motivational

Effect of ICT on Pupils, Department of Educational Research Lancaster University. P.1

like to prove that writing through telecollaboration can motivate students, and the use of

the internet enable students to do something that students could not do before. Therefore,

researcher is interested in investigating on how telecollaboration can motivate and

promote students’ learning through writing.

This research is expected to give more insight on telecollaboration as an activity

which is not only a meaningful activity but also applicable in teaching writing for

English second language classroom. This research findings also hopefully will be

beneficial to support the previous theory in teaching writing through telecollaboration,

will be useful for the teacher to enrich the strategy in teaching writing through

telecollaboration, will also be beneficial to increase the student’s motivation and

awareness in writing through telecollaboration. In addition, the reseach findings will be

beneficial for other teachers to implement teaching writing through telecollaboration as a

more effective teaching and learning activity.

A. Review of the previous studies

There are several studies that have been conducted in relation to the topic under

discussion on teaching writing through telecollaboration; (Yunus et al: 2013, Grönlund:

2013, Ling and Goh: 2004, Ozuruoke, et. al, and Alonso: 2012 )

Firstly, the study related to the teaching writing through ICT conducted by Yunus

et. al., in the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600

Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia, and Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Najafabad

Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran.

In the study, The Ministry of Education in Malaysia developed three major plans

for using ICT in education (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2003). The first plan

emphasized that ICT should be for all students. This meant that ICT was used to close

the existing digital gap between the schools. The second plan referred to the function of

ICT in education as a teaching and learning tool. This plan also emphasized on the use of

ICT as an educational tool for accomplishing communication information. The third

plan stressed on the ICT utility to increase productivity, effectiveness and efficiency of

the management system. In this plan, ICT could be greatly utilized to equip and update

work processes such as financial management, lesson planning and management of

information systems. The main goal of this study was to investigate the perceptions of

Malaysian secondary school English teachers about the use of ICT in teaching English as

a Second Language (ESL) writing skill.

From the study, it was found that the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing

was very low. The study reported that the use of ICT was attracting students’ attention,

facilitating students’ learning process, helping to improve students’ vocabulary and

promoting meaningful learning. However, some disadvantages were also found in the

study such as the difficulty of the teacher in controlling class, the students’ tendency of

distraction to use short forms in students’ writing, and the teachers’ lack in managing

problems and planning activities while involving the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL

writing.

From the above description, the researcher summarizes that the minimum use of

ICT because of some problems. First is the teachers’ weaknesses in planning the

activities. Second, the teacher’s lack of knowledge in managing problems related with

ICT causes the class difficult to be controlled although the students are interested in

using the ICT.

Secondly, the study investigated by Grönlund 3 who emphasized on the use of

ICT in literacy development in Primary School. This study was about to promote better

methods for learning to read and write in early years.

The study shown that the social process also improved students’ motivation and

understanding of how other people received their text. In the study, students had not just

been assigned a task which the teacher would be checked and corrected later but all the

text had been used to communicate with peers. The study applied the class website in

which texts could be accesed, commented upon writing, revised and improved. And this

was made writing more practical. In addition, this activity gave students opportunity to

read their peer’s comments as feedback so that students could gain self-confidence.

In line with the second study, the researcher finds that the study is suitable with

the research that the researcher is going to be conducted. This study engages the students

with social process to give feedback in the web that can be accessed by all students. It

means that the students telecollaborate their writing to each other through ICT so that

their text is revised and improved.

Another study was carried by Ling and Goh 4 from Educational Technology

Division Ministry of Education, Singapore. The Educational Technology Division of

Ministry of education Singapore did a research on “Telecollaboration in the Singapore

Language Classroom: Its Effect on Pupils’ Writing”. The study was conducted under the

Masterplan for IT in Education, an initiative launched by the Singapore Ministry of

Education, the Educational Technology Division’s (ETD) English Cluster which had

been working with teachers to explore new ways to involve students in language

learning and promote students to be fluent speakers and competent writers of English.

The objective of the study was to examine the impact of telecollaboration on students’

language learning. In the study, the researcher focused on how telecollaboration,

specifically sequential creation, could gives influence on students’ writing.

In the study, the researcher gathered the data through a survey and students’

writing. Extra additional data was collected from teachers’ and students’ reflection

journals and interviews. After gathering the data, the first step in the project study was

meeting to determine the roles of each participant in the team of the project. In this study,

the roles of the ETD officer conducted training workshops on telecollaborative activities

and observation, source for the email platform, handhold teachers in the activity design

and project implementation and facilitated the process. Meanwhile, the teachers would

design the telecollaborative activities after examining their classroom practices,

implementing the telecollaborative activities and documenting their learning experiences

using the research process. Both parties shared the role of defining the research questions,

designing the instruments to collect data, and analysing the data.

The researchers in the study designed two telecollaborative activities using the

activity structure, Sequential Creation. For each activity, students worked together to

create a piece of writing. The first person in each group would write at least a paragraph

introducing the story and then sent the story to the next person. Each successive person

would be responsible for correcting any mistakes in the text and adding at least one more

paragraph before sending the text. Each person in the group would try to come up with

creative ideas based on the preceding paragraphs.

3Annika Agélii Genlottand Åke Grönlund,2013, the ICT-based Write to Read method: learning to read

by writing. in 'Computers & Eductaion', Published in Computers & Education, Volume 67, September 2013,

Pages 98-104

4 Ban Pei Ling and Belinda Goh, 2004, Telecollaboration in the Singapore Language Classroom: Its

Effect on Pupils’ Writing, Educational Technology Division Ministry of Education, Singapore, P. 1

In the study, students wrote their reflections on journals after each

telecollaborative activity. Meanwhile, the teacher participants and ETD researchers

reflected throughout the whole project, beginning with the identification of problem to

the report writing. Learning points from the project and the impact of the whole

processes on the teachers’ classroom practice, belief system and teaching methodology

were also recorded.

The findings of the research shown that there were benefits of students using

telecollaboration in their writing , these benefits divided into into 3 main themes:5 (1)

Idea Exchange /Discussion, (2) Motivation, (3) Different Perspectives: Learning from

others.

It can be seen in the findings that telecollaboration not only can increase ideas but

also the kinds and quality of the ideas. The students’ reflection on the journal revealed

that telecollaborative activity with students from another class during the writing process

helped the students develop more creative ideas.

In addition, the students also saw telecollaboration as a mean of improving their

work. The students felt peer-editing, as the other students reviewed their paragraphs,

improved the quality of their writing. Telecollaboration connected the classroom to the

real world in a new and exciting way. The students felt that they not only had the

opportunity to have a real audience but at the same time, learning and writing became an

interesting experience. This fun interaction was important as a base foundation for the

co-operative processes of negotiation that occurred during collaboration. Groups that

communicated well with one another tended to perform better. It can be proved in the

study that one of students liked the chatting part where the students worked as a team

even though faced some problems.

In the study, it was also found that working telecollaboratively offered the

students an opportunity to learn from others. Students were also quick to recognize the

value of alternative view and evaluated ideas against of each other. It was admitted by

one of the students who wrote that other students’ ideas were better than his. As group

members contributed to the interaction, students were able to get assisstance on the

weaknesses and provided help to the strength parts. It was admitted by one of the

students who wrote whenever the student was in doubt, the other students helped to think

up some ideas.

From the above discussion, the researcher summarizes that there are benefits for

students in using telecollaboration in writing such as developing more creative ideas,

improving the quality of students’ writing, and having opportunity to have real

communication / audience and interesting learning and writing experience.

Next study was conducted by Ozuruoke, et. al6. The study emphasized the idea

of the educational objective accomplishment with certain skill such as ‘Technical and

Scientific writing for all students in Colleges of Education.’ The study was about

technical and scientific writing as a compulsory course to all students of teachers

training programmes especially in Colleges of education in Nigeria. Generally, it was

important to see an essential component for a successful ICT skill application across

societal technological acquisition. Based on the study, it could be suggested that

Keyboarding for ICT was a tool for improving education and training of students,

5 Ibid, P. 12 6 Ozuruoke, A.A et. al. Fitting ICT and Technical Writing Skill into Teachers’ Production Program for

Quality Achievement of the Millenium Goal. School of Bussiness Education. Federal College of Education

( Technical ) Omoku, River State. Nigeria. Department of Vocational Education. University of Uyo. Uyo. Akwa

Ibom State. Nigeria. www.hrmars.com/admin/pics/281.pdf. P. 726

teachers and others as well as a tool that teachers could use to improve teachers

development and job at hand.7

The study mentioned that technical writing was also providing the technical

knowledge and vocational skills necessary for individuals improvement. In addition,

technical and scientific writing also gave training and quality on the necessary skills to

self reliant individual economically. So, the technical writing consisted of highly

maintained of ideas, audience intelligence levels of expression and explanation of new

concepts used which had the quality of clarity, logically, accuracy and brevity. 8

To sum up the fourth study, the researcher sees technical and scientific writing

skill in ICT as a compulsory task for any professional teacher in individual development.

ICT keyboarding also can be seen as skills which students must prepare in order to face

the future career requirements.

The final study was done by Alonso 9 who highlighted “ Promoting Basic

Competences in EFL Instruction by Means of E-mail Tandem”. This study focused on

the way communication in the mother tongue, communication in a foreign language,

intercultural, learning to learn, and digital competences which were integrated in the

English curriculum within a Diversificación Curricular Programme.A Diversificación

Curricular Programme is a project programm for 3rd and 4th Grade of Secondary

Education based on e-mail-tandem and adjusted to the context of Principado de Asturias,

an area located in the north of Spain..The study objectives were making students with

different kind of mother tongues collaborated using different tasks by promoting basic

competences in EFL and E-mail tandem.

By promoting basic competences in EFL and E-mail tandem and also

implementing different kind of tasks, the study expected the students could improved

linguistics competence in the foreign language, get to know each partner better, and

benefit from partner’s knowledge and experience. The study elaborated that key

competence communication in a foreign language was a communication competence

which was based on the ability to understand, express and interpret thoughts, feelings

and facts in written form in the contexts of education and leisure. Meanwhile, E-mail

tandem was an activity which was based on two main principles of reciprocity and

autonomy. Reciprocity referred to each partner brought certain skills and abilities as each

partner tried to get. And this meant that both partners supported each other in learning so

that both could be benefitted from cooperating together .

The study mentioned that partner’s model implemented learning method from a

partner’s clarification, explanation and information including dialog. Partner’s model

also learnt forms of utterances, behaviour and feedback from each partner. So, this type

of leraning required self-reflection and mutual collaboration between tandem partners

which were related to the principle of autonomous learning. This meant that both

partners had responsibility for their own learning. And the study pointed out that both

partners who decided what to learn, how, when and what sort of help needed from each.

The findings of the study proved that the e-mail tandem was a useful method to

promote the development of the digital competence, develop and acquire key

competences, and promote communication in the mother and foreign language. And

7 Ibid., P. 730 8 Ibid., P. 722 9 Andres Canga Alonso. 2012. Promoting Basic Competences in EFL Instruction by Means of E-mail

Tandem. Journal of Language Teaching and Research. Vol. 3, No. 2, P. 232-238.

despite of all learning difficulties, most of the students involved in the study were able to

learn digital competences in the EFL classroom.

However, the implementation of this approach to language learning with this

group of students did not seem to imply that intercultural competence could be acquired.

Therefore, further research should be carried out with a larger group of students with and

without learning difficulties with a double-fold objective: to test if the development of

intercultural competence had to do with learning abilities, and to determine if students

performance was similar on the rest of the key competences analysed in the study or

whether students without learning difficulties outperform belong to Diversificación

Curricular. 10

Based on the study discussed above, the researcher considers that

telecollaborative technique can be used to motivate students to learn English. Through

ICT – emails tandem, students are connected to the real world so that the students can

share and develop their ideas, communicate to each other through peer-feedback to

improve their work, and get opportunity to learn from others. Hence, telecollaborative

activity let students become autonomous learner.

Related with the discussion of the previous studies, the researcher iinterested in

carrying out a project to explore how the use of an activity structure together with

communication technology could impact language learning. And this study investigated

how telecollaborative activities through email can be used to motivate and promote

students’ learning through writing for English second language learner in Indonesia,

especially for the students of Senior Islamic high School of Al jauharotun Naqiyyah

Cibeber. How the use of telecollaborative activities through email help student develop

writing?. What are the problems of teaching writing skills through telecollaboration?.

And what are the benefits of students using telecollaboration through email in their

writing (E.g., motivate my students to write more?)

Discussion

1. Writing skill

According to Power and Hubbard 11 writing is used by people as a tool for

communicating among themselves and others at certain places and times, and for this

occasion whether a permanent or semipermanent, record is required. In the former of

language teaching, writing is used primarily to support and reinforce patterns of oral

language use, grammar and vocabulary. It also has a function as practice tools to help

students practise and work with the language they have been studying.12

However, as the role of writing raised in the second language teaching, there is a

great demand for valid and reliable ways to test writing ability both for classroom use

and academic purpose.13 The ability to write effectively is becoming expand in our

global community. And as the growth of transportation and technology extended, allow

people to communicate across country and cultures throughout the world to get in touch

to each other. Although most People in different countries or cities communicate with

each other by telephone, there are certain types of communication that would be suitable

in written form, such as postcard greetings or family invitation and so on. And today,

communication through writing is broadly used. The advancement of technology and

globalization especially internet use, have made written communication accross

languages and cultures is important in business transaction, pursue academic degree or

10 Ibid., P. 237 11 Brenda Miller Power and Ruth Hubbard. 1991. Literacy in Proces. New Hampshire. Heinamann

Educational Books. P. 68 12 Jeremy Harmer. 2013. How to Teach English. Essex. Pearson Education Limited. p. 112 13 Sara Cushing Weigle. 2002. Assessing Writing. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. p. 1

education, and social- networking interaction, and many other fields 14 . Newspaper,

websites, emails, text messages and social media exchange information without voice,

expression or body language. It means that writing as speaking considers feelings,

thought and ideas as written communication.

Writing according to Richards and Renandya15 are highly complicated skills. L2

writer have to give special care to higher level skills of spelling, punctuation, word

choice and so on. The difficulty becomes more obvious if the learners are lack of

language proficency.

Another supporting evidence also explain by Nunan that in terms of skills,

producing a coherent, fluent, extended piece of writing is probably the most difficult

thing there is to do in language. It is something most native speakers never master. For

second language learners the challenges are very large, especially for students who study

in a university in which English is not language at their own.16

In addition, White 17 claims that writing requires thought, discipline, and

concentration.It also involves commitment to a relative permanent form and recorded by

which written texts are judged by the readers.

However, Silvia18 and Langan19 confirm that writing is a skill which is not an

innante gift or a special talent. Writing is like any skill which must be developed through

a systematic instruction and practice. Writing can be learned trough strong determination

and extensive practices to improve writing skills20. Likewise, White 21supports the idea

that writing is not a natural activity. Normal people have to be taught how to write as

learn to speak a language all physically and mentally. Langan 22also adds that writing is

not an automatic process. Similarly with the above theories, the spalding method23 argues

that to become competent writers of English language, children need a series of clear,

detailed, and progress teaching of structure of language (grammar) and daily

opportunities to practice what they learned by writing sentences and composition. In

conclusion, competent writing comes from ordinary hard work and firmness of purpose.

Writing skills can be mastered through a process of continuous learning, as the more one

practice, the better one will write.

Based on the theories above, it can be summarized that writing is a medium of

communication accross country and cultures for business, education and social

networking interaction. Although it is not easy to express something clearly and

accurately in written communication especially in L2 because of the difficulty to find

appropriate language of different language and culture. Writing is an important skill

which can be acquired by students who have strong determination to learn and practice to

write in a systematic instuction through the implication of teaching writing for L2

14 Sara Cushing Weigle. 2014. Considerations for Teaching Second Language writing. Teaching

English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston. National Geographic Learning. P. 223 15 Jack C. Richards And Willy A. Renandya Loc.Cit., 16David Nunan, 1999, Second Language Teaching & Learning, USA, Heinle Cengange Learning ., P.

271 17Ronald, V. White,1987, Approaches to Writing, Methodology in TESOL: A book of Readings,Boston,

Heinle Cengange Learning, P. 260 18Paul J. Silvia, PhD, 2008, How to Write a Lot: A practical Guide to Productive Academic

Writing,,Washington D.C., APA Life Tools, P.5-6 19 John Langan, 2001, College Writing Skills with Readings, New York, McGraw-Hill Companies, p.

12-13 20 Ibid., P.13 21Ronald, V. White,. Ibid 22 John Langan ., Op.Cit., P.14 23Romalda Bishop Spalding, 2003, The Writing Road to Reading: The Spalding Method for Teaching

Speech, Spelling, Writing and Reading,New York,Harper Collins Publisher, P. 73

students that students need more practice in writing, more opportunity to explore and

develop writing strategies, get more exposure to different types of writing, more practice

in vocabulary and grammar, and also get more feedback from the teacher.

2. The nature of writing process

There are two major terms of the nature of writing process which is discussed by

Nunan ( 1999 ) and Harmer ( 2007 ).

According to Nunan24, there are two aspects of writing pedagogy in the teaching

of writing: the first is product –oriented approaches which focuses on the final product,

the coherent, error-free text. And the second is process approaches which focuses on the

steps involved in drafting and redrafting a piece of work. Product Oriented approaches

emphasize writing on tasks in which learner imitates, copies, and transform models

provided by teacher or textbook. The focus was also very much on the sentence level

grammar, the belief being that sentences were the building blocks of discourse, and the

discourse was created by fitting one building blocks on to the next. Such an approach

was consistent with sentence-level structuralist linguistics and bottom- up processing.

In contrast to process approaches which proponents of process writing recognize

and accept the reality that there will never be the perfect text, but that one can get closer

to perfection through producing, reflecting on, discussing, and reworking successive

draft of a text. The focus of such approaches is on quantity rather than quality, and

writers are encouraged to get their ideas onto paper without worrying too much about

formal correctnes in the initial stages. Then they share their work with others, getting

feedback on their ideas and how they are expressed, before revising.25

Another term also suggest by Harmer 26 that there are two types of writing; the

first is writing- for- learning and writing- for- writing. Writing for learning is writing

used as practice tool to help students practice and work with language they have been

studying.Writing activities are designed to give reinforcement to students and the

language itself is the main focus of attention. On the other hands, Writing –for- writing

is directed at developing the students’ skills as writers. The main purpose for activities

of this type is that students should become better at writing, whatever kind of writing

that might be. There are good ‘real-life’ reasons for getting students to write such things

as emails, letters and reports.this type of activities give attention to the whole text, not

only just appropriate language use, but also construction, layout, style and effectiveness.

Furthermore, Nunan 27believes that in the process approach a major impetus to

writing pedagogy has come in recent years with the rapid growth of word processors, as

well as the use of the internet as a means of communication 28 . Writing also need

structure, models to practice and need to improve mechanical skills and time to think of

ideas, to revise them, and to write to real purpose and audiences29. This relates with the

authenticity in writing which is not only what kinds of texts learners are exposed to as

models of writing but also types of the texts that learners are required to produce. One

reason for using authentic material according to Day30 that authentic texts are considered

24 David Nunan, Op. Cit., P. 272 25 Ibid 26 Jeremy harmer. Loc. Cit., 27David Nunan Loc.cit. 28Ibid 29David Nunan. Op.cit., p. 273 30 Richard R. Day, 2003, Authenticity in the Design and Development of Materials, Methodology and

materials Design in Language Teaching: Current Perceptions and Practices and their Implications, SEAMEO

regional language Centre, P. 2-3

interesting, engaging, culturally enlighting, relevant, motivating and above all is

genuine discourse.

Harmer31 also argues that most students think that they cannot and do not want

to write because of lack of confidence, boring and have ‘nothing to say’. However,

Harmer elaborates that teachers need to involve the students with activities which are

easy and enjoyable to take part in, so that writing activities not only become a normal

part of classroom life but also present opportunities for students to accomplish almost

instant success. It is when students have acquired this writing habit that they are able to

look at written types and involve themselves in the writing process with enthusiasm.32

Furthermore, Tinse33 adds that process writing helps native English Speaking children

as well as EFL or ESL young learners develop English language writing skills.

In relation with the theories above, the researcher thinks about a systematic

approach that can be applied in the study. How to create an activity for writing which

has a combination of the product oriented and the process approach. An authentic

writing activity which can be used as a tool of practice to give reinforment and focus on

the sentence level or discourse too. Likewise, a writing activity which can develop

students skill as writers through a process of producing, drafting, sharing and revising

ideas. And one of the real life activity is that one has reason and purpose to write such

as writing such as emails, texts and so on.

3. Types of Writing

White34 explains that text types can be classified into two main groups; personal

and institusional. White35 also illustrates personal text types such as notes, telegrams,

postcards, personal message, diaries and letters. Likewise, institutional text types

includes advertisements, instructions, public notices, business letters, catalogues, forms,

abstracts and summaries, report, and essays. As a result, the teaching writing will

involve students to get familiar with the convention of those texts types which are

appropriate to their needs.

In addition, Langan36 says that an excellent way to learn how to write clearly

and logically is to practice the traditional college essay. Essay is a paper of about five

hundred words that typically consists of an introductory paragraph, two to four

supporting paragraph and a concluding paragraph.37 Moreover, Langan 38confirms that

writing traditional essay have three advantages; help someone become a better writer;

the discipline of writing essay will strengthen skills as a reader and listener; and essay

writing will make someone a stronger thinker since it requires mental discipline and

close attention to a set of logical rules.

4. The Goals of Writing As discussed above that a piece of writing has the goal of interaction to a

meaningful communication. A person can communicate a variety of messages to

audience reader via writing. And within a discourse-based approach to language

teaching, view writing as an act of communication which takes place between the

31 Ibid 32 Ibid 33 Caroline T. Linse, 2006, Practical English Language Teaching : Young Learners Series Editor :

David Nunan, Mc Graw Hill ESL/ELT. New York, p. 101 34Ronald, V. White., Ibid., p. 261 35 Ibid. 36 John Langan ., Op.Cit., P.6 37 Ibid. 38 Ibid., P. 12

writer and reader via text interaction process39. According to Nunan40 to produce

coherent discourse, writers must exploit what they already know about the subject at

hand and integrate it with information from other sources; they must draw on

knowledge of the way that grammar and discourse function together; they are required

to use cohesion appropriately they must; sort out form / function; and they have to

decide on the topic to form the point of departure of each succeeding sentence in the

text. Nunan 41also says that sentences which make up a text need to be grammatical,

but grammatical sentences alone will not ensure that the text itself makes sense

otherwise the sentences have relation to one another. Again Harmer42 confirms that in

order for communication to be successful we have to structure our discourse in such a

way that it will be understood by our listeners or readers. Therefore, writing in

particular has to be both coherent and cohesive. Coherent writing makes sense

because you can follow the sequence of ideas and points. Cohesion is a more technical

matter since it is here that we concentrate on the various linguistics ways of

connecting ideas accros phrases and sentences.43

In conclusion Nunan44 elaborates that user’s knowledge of language and also

of content are needed for the interpretation of discourse. Most of all, discourse

comprehension not only requires more than a knowledge of the words and

grammatical structures used by the writer or speaker, but also the reader and listener

to relate the content of the text to their knowledge of the world, that is, to entities,

states of affairs, and so on that exist in the world outside the text. Thus interaction

between the world within the text and the world outside the text is exploited by

writers in many different ways; such as humorist and satirist often create fictional

world that parallel the real world, and they get their humorous or satirical effect by

put things side by side the real and imaginary worlds.

5. Writing Scoring

In relation with the discussion in chapter one that the goal of learning to write is

to be able to participate fully in many aspects of society beyond school such as to

pursue careers that involve extensive writing. It is also a fact that writing is an

important part of the curriculum in schools from the earliest grades onward and that

most students have a formal education system will learn to write, at least at a basic

level.45

And one reason why writing have the qualification to get a place in the language

curriculum because students’ ability to write may be associated with evidence of

having learned the language. Writing can be used as a testing device not only to score

the students, but also to provide a feedback on what the students have learned. It

provides useful evidence of successes and failures in learning, of confusions and errors,

and the teacher can diagnose individual as well as general problems on the basis of

some aspects of writing work.46

Weigle47 offers five aspects of writing which was created by Jacobs et al. that

best known and widely used as analytic scales in ESL; content, organization,

39 Elite Olshtain. 2014. Practical Tasks for Mastering The Mechanics of Writing and Going Just

Beyond. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston. National Geograhic Learning. P. 208-209 40David Nunan.,Op.Cit., P. 290 41 Ibid, P.115 42Jeremy Harmer, Op.Cit., P. 246 43 Ibid. 44David Nunan, Op.Cit., P.131-132 45Sara Cushing Weigle., Op.Cit., p.4-5 46 Ronald, V. White., Op.Cit., p. 259 47Sara Cushing Weigle., Op.Cit., p .115 - 116

vocabulary, language use and mechanics. The five aspects illustrates by jacobs et al

(1981) as in Table 2.

Table 2.1. ESL Composition Profile

Student: ______________ Date: _____________ Topic : _____________

Score

Level

Criteria

Comments

Content 30 – 37 EXCELLENT

TO VERY

GOOD

Knowledgeable

Substantive

Thorough development of

thesis

Relevant to assigned topic

26 – 22 GOOD TO

AVERAGE Some knowledge of subjects

Adequate range

Limited development of

thesis

Mostly relevant to topic, but

lack detail

21 – 17 FAIR TO

POOR Limited knowledge of

subject

Little substance

Inadequate development of

topic

16 – 13 VERY POOR Does not show knowledge

of subject

Non substantive

Not pertinent

Not enough to evaluate

Organization

20 – 18 EXCELLENT

TO VERY

GOOD

Fluent Expression

Ideas clearly stated /

supported

Succinct

Well organized

Logical sequencing

Cohesive

17 – 14 GOOD TO

AVERAGE Somewhat choppy

Loosely organized but main

ideas stand out

Limited support

Logical but incomplete

sequencing

13 – 10 FAIR TO

POOR Non-fluent

Ideas confused or disconnect

Lacks logical sequencing

and development

9 -7 VERY POOR Does not communicate

No organization

Or not enough to evaluate

Vocabulary 20 – 18 EXCELLENT

TO VERY

GOOD

Sophisticated range

Effective word / idiom

choice and usage

Word form mastery

Appropriate register

17 – 14 GOOD TO

AVERAGE

Adequate range

Occasional errors of word /

idiom form, choice, usage

but meaning not obscured

13 – 10 FAIR TO

POOR Limited range

Frequent errors of word /

idiom form, choice, usage,

Meaning confused /

obscured

9 – 7 VERY POOR Essentially translation

Liitle knowledge of

vocabulary, idiom word

form

Or not enough to evaluate

Language

Use

25 – 22 EXCELLENT

TO GOOD Effective complex

constructions

Few errors of agreement,

tense, number, word order /

function, articles, promouns,

prepositions

21 – 18 GOOD TO

AVERAGE Effective but simple

constructions

Minor problems in complex

constructions

Several errors of agreement,

tense, number, word order /

function, articles, pronouns,

preposition but meaning

seldom obscured

17 – 11

FAIR TO

POOR

Major problems in simple /

complex constructions

Frequent errors of negation,

agreement, tense, number,

word order / function

articles, pronouns,

prepositions, and / or

fragments, run- ons,

deletion.

Meaning confused or

obscured

10 – 5 VERY POOR Virtually no mastery of

sentence construction rules

Dominated by errors

Does not communicate

Or not enough to evaluate

Mechanics 5 EXCELLENT

TO GOOD Demonstrates mastery of

conventions

Few errors of spelling,

punctuation, capitalization,

paragraphing,

4 GOOD TO

AVERAGE Occasional errors of

spelling, punctuation,

capitalization, paragraphing

but meaning not obscured

3 FAIR TO

POOR Frequent errors of spelling,

punctuation, capitalization,

paragraphing

Poor handwriting

Meaning confused or

obscured

2 VERY POOR No mastery of convention

Dominated by errors of

spelling, punctuation,

capitalization, paragraphing

Handwriting illegible

Or not enough to evaluate

Total Score: Reader: Comments:

Jacobs et al.’s (1981) scoring profile48

The Jacob’s et al. ESL composition profile above will be used as a writing

rubric in this study. The reasons why the researcher using Jacob’s et al analytic score as

an explicit and detailed scoring rubric because it provides reliability, more useful

diagnostic information about students’ writing ability, more useful in rater training as

easily can be understood and applied the criteria in separate scales, and particularly, it is

useful for second-language learner who are likely to show a marked or uneven profile

accros different aspect of writing49

6. ICT Connected to the discussion before that writing through ICT and peer feedback

or group work can be implemented to create a learning activity which motivates and

real life to do. Hartoyo50 defines ICT in education perspectives as Information and

Communication Technology ( ICT) such as computers, communications facilities, and

features that support teaching, learning and different kinds of activities in education.

48Ibid. 49Ibid. p. 120 50 Hartoyo. 2012. ICT Information & Communication Technology in Language Learning. Semarang.

Pelita Insani . P.3

Hartoyo51 defines ICT as media or technology to store, regain, control, send or

accept digital data or information. It is also concerned with the way these different uses

can collaborate each other. In addition, the use of ICT is to support education especially

in language learning for individualized computer-based drill and practice activities to

help learners in mastering grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation52.

Ware, et. al 53 explain that computer-based activities have the purpose to trigger

authentic communication and support a newer approach of technology in education, but

once in a while, the computer was still seen as a tool of global intercation and literacy to

foster learning rather than as an integrated medium of language and literacy.

In addition, Merril, et. al. 54 argue that technology, especially computer world

processing, can help teachers increase students’ capabilities in writing skills. The use of

computer word processing as a tool to enhance students learning, give personal benefits

and motivate students to develop writing skills. Furthermore, Ware, et. al 55 confirm that

mastery of language, new technologies, and the ability to blend language and

technology to read and write the world, become integrated goals of the international

English language classroom. Students utilize a variety of autonomous learning tools,

such as agreement and automated scoring engines, and even vast variety of

communication tools, from skype and podcast to blogging and microblogging, to

sharpen their language and literacy skills as they use English to interact with others,

publish their work, and leave their mark on society56

From the above theories the researcher sees that ICT from education of view is

the technology such as computer which has function to support teaching learning in

education. It has the purpose to stimulate authentic communication tool of global

interaction. It also can be used to save, search, control, send and accept information in

education. In addition, it stimulates autonomous learning since the students has the

ability to combine language and technology to read and write as an integrated goals in

education. Therefore, the researcher is going to implement ICT in teaching writing as a

written communication through technology media such emails with peer work or

telecollaborative activities. Hopefully, this kind of activity will motivate the students

since it is meaningful and has a purpose to communicate.

7. ICT and writing

Related with the theories about ICT and writing before, it is a fact that

numerous changes in writing have been developed by the vast expansion of

technology.57 The use of social media network such as facebook and online discussion

boards, blogs and wikis provide opportunities for genuine interaction with the real

audience reader which can be explored in the writing classroom. Ware, et. al 58 believe

that for encouraging writing, digital media provide various alternatives to help

writing when the focus is mainly on formal features of written language in traditiponal

classrooms. More over, the researchers in this study explain that the use of digital

media can replace the purposes of classroom direction to point not at mastery of a

51 Ibid. p. 3-4 52 Paige Ware, Meei- Ling Liaw, and Mark Warschauer edited by Lubna Alsagoff, Sandra Lee McKay,

Guangwei Hu, Willy A. Renandya., 2012, The use of Digital Media in Teaching English as an International

Languager in Principles and Practices for Teaching English as an International Language, New York,

Routledge, P. 67 53 Ibid. 54 Paul F. Merril et. al. 1996. Computers in Education. Boston. Allyn & Bacon. P. 278- 279 55 Paige Ware. Loc.Cit. 56Ibid. 57 Sara Cushing Weigle., Op.Cit.,p. 234 58 Paige Ware. Loc.Cit.

separate set of English-language skills, due to the use of those skills within more

meaningful, enhancing contexts by presenting local control of materials, separated

feedback, and personalization of learning. In addition, Weigle 59confirms that electronic

media can be a big asset to writing courses since it provides more acces to authentic

communication and big opportunity to understand and use a wider range of language

use and structure than direct interaction. The classroom then becomes a place in which

students are exposed to a various set of autonomous learning instruments for English

progress indoor and outdoor of the class60. Again, the researchers expose that digital

media are assisting formation the position of English as an international language, so

the reseachers rearrange EIL classrooms from a focus on mastery skills to highlight on

using English to communicate and involve with speakers of differences of English

utilizing a vast media.61

It is reported that English learners are now seen as global communicators, a

jointly of local cultures, arbiters of misunderstandings, and good contributors to

expanding a global community. In 2010, an approximated 2.7 % of global total Internet

usage was in English. Internet provides a social environment that students enter with

expand frequency outside the classroom.62 Writers involved in an email correspondence

adjust future communications on the basis of the response of the people they are

communicating with.

On the one hand, the curiculum at schools requires teacher to teach students to

produce various types of written work such as narrative essay, expository and so on.

One computer program which support teachers teaching composition through process

writing is composing system. This types of software supports teachers as revision tools

as spell-checkers and grammar-checkers. In short, by using composing system, students

can develop writing skills and become autonomous learner with computer assistance.63

Similarly, Ware, et. al 64 say that automated writing evaluation software

programs suggest alternatives for individualized, prompt feedback to students as they

learn to edit their essays; such programs are created to stimulate formal writing within a

type of text and organizing structures, which may be more or less suitable in different

context and will noticeable depending on the extent of combination into instruction.

After all, Kamra et al (2000) as cited in Ware, et. al 65 explain that digital media are

used to support integration of language skills within a larger communicative purpose,

then other aspects of language use come to fore : agency, identity, authenticity and

authorship.

8. Telecollaboration In the discussion below, the researcher divides the topic of telecollaboration into

three parts; definition of telecollaboration, advantages of telecollaboration, and the

procedures of telecollaborative activities in teaching writing.

9. Definition of Telecollaboration As explained by William, telecollaboration is the uses of internet tools such as

email, chat, web conferencing, web page building as well as audio and web

conferencing in an educational scheme which usually conducted by a classroom

59 Sara Cushing Weigle., Loc. Cit. p. 234 60Paige Ware.Op.Cit. P. 70-71

61Ibid., P. 72 62 Ibid. 63 Paul F. Merril. Op. Cit. P. 280 64 Ibid.P. 69 65 Ibid.P. 72

teacher and bring together language learners of different locations to meet and interact

with each other66. And these interaction take place through class to class, teacher to

teacher, teacher or expert to class, and students to students partnerships among distally

located students, are commonly referred as types of telecollaboration.67

As well as William, O’ dowd and Ritter68 argue that telecollaboration refers to

the use of online communication tools to bring together language learners in different

countries for the development of collaborative project work and intercultural exchange.

This type of network-based language teaching (NBLT) covers a wide range of activities

and exploits a variety of online communication tools, including email, web-based

message boards, and videoconferencing

Meanwhile Dooly69 demonstrates Collaborative learning objectives are getting

the students to take almost full responsibility for working together, building knowledge

together, changing and evolving together and of course, improving together.

Incorporating network-based learning into the process of collaborative learning can also

be very beneficial in terms of knowledge and experience.

In line with the explanation about the definition of telecollaboration and

consider the activity involves in writing through ICT, the researcher choose

telecollaboration as peer work to the students.

10. Advantages of Telecollaboration

Williams70 elaborates that there are many advantages of telecollaboration. It

offers students opportunity to go together to “ visit” many places around the world and

get real life activity through internet, allows students to interact and correspond to the

learners from other cultures or countries to practice language, provide feedback, and

share personal and cultural information. Furthermore, telecollaboration model followed

together with learning principles that depend on learner autonomy and help and

motivate reluctant students to participate, share personal ideas and increase intercultural

proficience, may be more significant in such exchanges than improve second language

accuracy. In addition, telecollaborative also gives opportunity for students to

correspond with learners from other cultures and countries and expanding their global

awareness. Telecollaborative broaden the thinking of both students and teachers by

exposing them to different perspectives. It provides an opportunity for teachers to

“ piggy-back” on the rich online opportunities that have been created by colleagues

from all over the world. It helps link students and teachers to various resources that

normally wouldn’t be available to them in the classroom.

Another evidence was reported about positive results of telecollaboration which

was found at the elementary and secondary levels in a project called Interantional

Virtual Elementary Classroom Activities (IVECA). The study showed that the students,

especially the more problematic ones, increased their intercultural competence, their

66 Lynn Williams., http://www.briarcrest.com/teleprojects.asp 67 Ibid. 68 Robert O. Dowd and Markus Ritter. 2006. Understanding and Working with ‘Failed Communication’

in Telecollaborative Exchanges CALICO Journal, Vol. 23, No. 3 P. 623-624 69 Melinda Dooly, 2008, Constructing Knowledge together, Extract from Telecollaborative Language

Learning; A guidebook to moderating Intercultural collaboration online,

http;//pagines.uat.cat/melindadooly/sites/pagines.uat.cat.melindadooly/files/chpt1.pdf. retrieved on April 26 at

21:45

70 Lynn Williams., Op.Cit

motivation to learn at school, and their writing skills.71 In short, telecollaboration can

support EIL learner engagement, intercultural learning, and communicative fluency.72

Dooly73 adds some advantages in telecollaboration activity such as students are

actively getting involve in exchanging, debating and negotiating ideas within their

groups. As a result, telecollaboration activity increases students’ interest in learning. So,

by engaging in discussion and taking responsibility for their learning, students are

encouraged to become critical thinkers. Dooly 74 also explains that a collaborative

learning task would allow for each member to be responsible for some concept

necessary to complete the task. This implies that every group member will learn their

assigned concept and will be responsible for explaining the concept to other members of

the group. Through online collaboration, students may come to see the importance of

taking responsibility for their own learning and feel empowered to do so while learning

to respect the opinions and work of their online partners. In addition, through online

collaboration, students also has a feeling of confidence to participate and contribute in

online interaction.

In contrast to the findings above, the evidence also recognize the huge effort

made by instructor to create and maintain collaboration, due to various levels of their

students in language proficiency and computer skills as well as frequent barriers in

accessing computer and internet. The nature of collaboration has been less than

satisfactory since it has two dimension; time and place75

From the discussion above, it can be summarized that telecollaboration

techniques through internet can be used as a tool for communication within the schools

around the world. And it is recommended for a teacher as an education leader to be

familiar with information and communication technology or digital media to be used in

teaching learning process which cover the school’s curriculum.

The Procedures of Telecollaborative activities in Teaching Writing

Dooly divides 76 the procedures of telecollaboration in teaching learning

activities into three stages; Preliminary stage, implementation stage, and final stage.

At the preliminary stage, a teacher plans each stage carefully. Whenever a

teacher is interested in implementing cooperative learning, the first step is to consider

each stage involved in the group work so that the teacher is ready to give support

whenever needed. This means keeping in mind the topics, activities or projects which

are part of the regular curriculum and deciding which ones would best adapt to the

collaborative work the teacher would like to implement. This also means considering

how the students will be organised in groups during the collaboration, Let your students

know what you are doing, Train the students to work together, Have an alternative plan,

Double-check the objectives, Be self-critical, Match tasks with skills and abilities.

At the implementation stage, a teacher should Clarify what everyone is going to

do, set up the groups different ways, aware of group size as well, Making changes to the

groups should be avoided, Get the students to set up/understand their plan of action,

Don’t expect students to be outgoing and friendly on cue, Make sure the students

71 Ibid 72 Ibid., P.76 73 Melinda Dooly, Op. cit 74 Ibid. 75Stephen Heppell. 1995. Teacher Education and Communication and Information Technologies: A

Reflection on Emerging Possibilities for Collaborative Projects. Information Technologies in teacher Education.

Paris. UNESCO. P. 106 76 Ibid.

understand their responsibilities and possible consequences, and Groups should

regularly report on their progress.

At the final stage, One of the aspects of closure is, of course, assessment. How

to assess collaborative learning can be challenging because the teachers are assessing

the learning process and not just the end product. Involving the students in the process,

through group evaluation, peer evaluation and self-assessment, is one alternative. The

teachers involved in the online collaborative project can ask their students to assess

their group’s work, for instance, but the students should give reasons for their

evaluation, not simply “give marks”. This can be done as a team report (written

collaboratively) and/or an individual report. Different ICT formats can be incorporated

into the assessment process: e-portfolios, online voting systems, news articles, etc. The

teachers involved should also self-assess the project and ask for student feedback. So,

Have the students collect examples of their own work such as Journal entries, Emails,

Chat transcriptions, Interview transcriptions, Reflective texts, WebPage, Collaborative

WikiPages. Provide guidelines for students to self and peer assess such as Participation

(quality and quantity), Preparation (collaboration) , Punctuality (interpersonal skills),

Respect (interpersonal skills), Contribution of ideas (collaboration), Creativity

(problem-solving), Commitment (collaboration). Consider using rubrics for measuring

achievement. Allow yourself and your partner time to reflect on the experience. Plan a

“Wrap-up”. A “wrap-up” allows them the chance to review and reflect upon the things

they learnt, what they enjoyed, what they would change for improvements and to savour

the personal aspect of having made contact with partners outside their usual circle of

acquaintances. A “wrap-up” is good for the teachers involved as well as it can be a

means of celebrating a positive experience or can help diminish negative aspects of the

experience if things did not go as well as expected.

Effective online collabotaive learning activity will vary in the way in which the

students concentrate on, process and retain information as well as cultural differences

which exist between online partners. However, this study will implement online

collaboration between classroom which focus on the students.

The following are the Salmon’s Model of Online Learning 77 which can be

implemented in telecollaborative dynamics classroom activity;

77Gilly Salmon, 2005, http://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html

Figure 2.1 The Salmon’s Model of Online Learning

Stage one is access and motivation. Students have to start become familiar with

the online tools that are going to be used and explore possiblity of problems and

solutions.

The second stage is online socialization. At this stage the member of group work

should get o know to each other to make them feel comfortable. This step is a good

mooment to build group dynamics and emphaty.

The next stage is information exchage. In this stage students start collaboration

by negotiating tasks, sharing information and designing how to deal with the online

collaboration such as agenda, deadlines and so forth. It is important for studentsto

understand how to use the learning materials and the online tools as constructively as

possible.

After information exchange is knowledge construction. This time students

should be challenged to construct knowledge together. Not only exchange information

but also share personal knowledge and opinion in order to contribute to more

knowledge. This tasks could be in the form of summaries, debates and discussions.

The final stage is construction. In this part students feel responsible to complete

the tasks and the roles in the work group. The students have learnt about online

collaboration and can be reflected on the targeted knowledge.

Pedagogical implications : Instructors and Learners Using Digital Media

(ICT) Above all the discussion about the theories and previous research on teaching

writing through ICT and telecollaboration. The researcher also focuses on the

pedagogical implication of ICT in teaching and learning .

As discussed in the research by Ware, et. al, 78 that in using digital media,

whether use one and only within the classroom context or as part of a collaborative

project, teachers can promote all three of these goals as they show learners how to

involve with, evaluate, and self-sufficient use new technologies to support autonomous

learning, and as they help learners interpret, analyze, and maintain interaction across

linguistic, cultural, geographic, and technological lines.

On the other hand, Cornu 79highlights the effect of ICT not only on teacher

education but also on society, on the disciplines, on content and curricula education, on

teaching and learning as a pedagogical tools which has fundamental knowledge. Ware,

et. al 80 elaborate that the instructor plays a key role in deciding how digital media are

used. When using any of the new technologies discussed above, instructors must

sometimes dedicate time to learn to use the new technologies involved. Materials

development of any kind takes time, and weaving in new content or activities into

existing syllabi requires creativity and conviction. In addition, Cornu 81supports Ware et.

al. that the role of a teacher is changing, more diverse and a influenced by technologies.

Teachers must use different pedagogical styles and evolve to combine both the new

technology and knowledge about teaching and learning in order to be competent

teachers.

78 Ibid. P.77 79 Bernard Cornu. 1995. Teacher Education and Communication and Information Technologies: A

Reflection on Emerging Possibilities for Collaborative Projects. Information Technologies in teacher Education.

Paris. UNESCO. P. 94 80Paige Ware.Op.Cit. P. 70-71 81 Bernard Cornu. Op. Cit. P. 94-95

Inspite of that, Helm ( 2009 ) in Ware, et. al 82 suggests when designing online

interaction projects, intensive coordination is often required, including the allignment of

partner class syllabi around shared information and the choice of media to support

collaborative interpretive and investigative activities

In addition, it is recommended to have an expert knowledge of culturally

specific discourse patterns for the successful negotiation of learning in telecollaboration,

instructors may also need to overcome shortages in media resources and to ensure

student readiness for online learning.83

Moreover, the power of digital media in the classroom stems in part from its

potential to bridge in-class activities with out-of-class use, to blur the lines between

formal instruction and informal learning, and to validate the wide range of registers and

uses of English on the global.

Here are several challenges and barriers the option of digital media in teaching

English as International Language;84

1. Access to technological tools and support differs accross contexts in terms of ratio of

computers to students, access to technology outside the classroom, and availability of

broadband Internet Connectivity.

2. There si a continuum of professional development that influences how teachers can

integrate digital media, including the allocation of time for instructors to gain

exposure to and expertise with particularvtools through in-service training, the

avalability of technologial and pedagogical support, and existence of collegial support

for sharing ideas and for eveloping collective expertise.

3. The degree to which instructors have control over their curriculum and their

classroom logistics influences how and why digital media might become part of the

classroom; some instructors, for example, might be assigned a focus on supporting the

development of one or more discrete skills with an emphasis on preparation for high-

stakes formal assessment, whereas others might teach an elective, integrated skills

course focused on intercultural communication.

4. The needs and the backgrounds of students differ widely both accross and within

contexts, so instructors must situate their choices with an understanding of how much

differentiation might be required.

Discussion

The researcher conducts the research using qualitative case study since researcher

observes and describes characteristics of a class in MA al jauharotun Naqiyyah. The

researcher observes students with particular problems. The observation has the purpose

to look for a systematic connection among the behaviours being observed, its

characteristics, problems and treatments.

In line with research design, Nunan85 Supports that the case study is a method of

research in which a case can be seen as a single class of objects that can be investigated

in the context in which it occurs.

Nunan86 identifies that single case research represent a special type of case study.

In regard to the research design, the researcher will do something to the subject being

investigated and evaluate what will happen as a result.

82Paige Ware.Loc. Cit. 83 Ibid 84Ibid., P.78-79

85 David Nunan. 1992. Research Method in Language Learning. Cambridge. Cambridge University

press. P. 79

Based on the ideas of Nunan,87 there are four stages in the basic single study

which are known as ABAB designs as can be seen in figure 3.1

No of observation

100 -

50 -

0 -

Baseline ( A) Intervention (B) Base (A) Intervention (B)

Figure 3.1 88The four Stages in an ABAB single case research design

Figure 3.1 describes four steps of single case study, The A steps starts the

research with observation which is conducted to establish a baseline against which

behaviour can be evaluated. The second steps the researcher will intervene some kind of

treatment to the subject being investigated. In the third steps the researcher withdrawns

treatment to know wether the behaviour still remains at the lower level predicted by the

second steps. And in the final steps, the intervention is evaluated, and the individual

behaviour as observed once more.

So based on the reason above, this study emphasizes on the look for a systematic

connection among the behaviours being observed, its characteristics, problems and

treatments in the process of teaching writing through telecollaboration in Islamic Senior

High School in Cilegon and is going to investigate students’ motivation in writing

through telecollaboration, to investigate the process on how writing through

collaboration can develop students’ writing skills, to investigate how students

telecollaborate and respond to writing through ICT ( digital media ). The researcher

focuses on observing, identifying potential problems, modify teaching practices,

evaluating the results, reflecting and analysing the teaching writing skills through

telecollaboration.

The participants of the research are the students of MA Al Jauharotun Naqiyyah

Cibeber grade XII with the total number of 15 students. The students are selected based

on the pre-observation writing result which are conducted at the beginning of new term.

The research implements purposeful sampling data collection which represents an

important decision point in qualitative research.89 The selected participants are being

taught writing through telecollaboration then observed their progress in learning

English especially writing.

86 Ibid. P. 82 87 Ibid. 88 Ibid.

89Ujang suparman, 2009, Qualitative Research for Language Teaching and Learning; Qualitative

Inquiry and Research Design, Bandung, Arfino Raya. P. 67

This study uses observation in collecting the data since the study is to see the

process of teaching learning activities on writing through telecollaboration in one

school and a group of students. The researcher explores the problem under

investigation and determine a number of possibilities and rational to choose an

approach that should be presented90 to find the solution for the research question how

the use of telecollaboration activities can improve and develop students’ writing skills.

The researcher also took part in the study as participant observation. The

researcher observed the students of grade XII and implement the teaching writing

through telecollaboration during out of class time. The researcher saw the process of the

activity and used field notes as one type of data collection. The researcher wanted to

know whether the students have motivation and enhance the progress in English by

implementing writing through telecollaboration.

The researcher did some observation in order to gain authentic information on

writing activities on the field. The study was conducted on December to February for

several meetings.The study was divided into two parts, the first part is pre-observation,

and the second part is main observation. Pre-observation conducted on the first week of

December in order to gain some factual information in the field, to find out the situation

and condition of teaching learning activities in the class. It was conducted in the form of

giving questionnaires to students to gain some real information of the problem students

have in learning English. The main observation conducted from the middle of

December to the end of January. At this stage, the researcher jotts down any kind of

information related with the study which occured and found in the field.

In the study, the researcher used students writing tassk since the students writing

is easy to be analyzed to what extent the changes have been implemented91. And the

developpment of students writing tasks can be seen in the proforma92 as the stages of

the action research process to see the impact of the teaching writing through

telecollaboration by involving the students in the learning process through group

evaluation and peer feedback and self assessment. Threre are various proforma to track

the task which are developed and reflect to the results.

The following proforma is taken by Carew in Burns which can be used as a

quick way of tracking the questions or issues to deal with on a daily basis and so as

reflection, some of the stages of the action research to identify the day to day daily

issues that arouse, the action taken by teachers and the teacher’s reflection and

evaluation of the issues or actions93.

Table 3.3

Proformas data94

Date Issues / Question Action Reflection /

comment

90Ibid 91 Anne Burns. Op. Cit. P. 140 92Ibid. P. 90-92 93 Ibid. P. 90 94 Ibid. P. 91

Proforma also can be used to track the students’ writing tasks development 95 so

that can answer the research question on how teaching writing through telecollaboration

can be used to motivate and develop English as communication especially writing skills.

The researcher asks students to work in group and sets up online partnership to

telecollaborate to do some tasks in writing. And it is important to assign them different

roles in the group so that they can work together and help each other to construct

knowledge.96

The final stage in the collecting data was interview. Interview is used to support

the document and the finding of observation. The purpose of the interview in this

research is to gain accurate data and information to find the answer for the research

question on how the use of telecollaborative activities improve and develop students’

writing skills and how the students’ respond to telecollaboration. As a result, the data

collected is reliable and the biases in the research can be solved. By implementing

interview to the participants, the researcher can get authentic information and the

partipants do not feel hesitate to speak and share ideas on the teaching learning process.

The Instruments of the Research in this study were Observation Guide , Students’

Writing Tasks and Interview Guide. The purpose of the observation guide is to see real

situation and condition in English teaching learning process especially writing. students

writing tasks are used at the first stage of the research to see the students’ writing

abilities. The researcher asks the students to write a narrative writing tasks of 200 - 500

words in order to analyze the content and the construction of paragraph whether the

students writing tasks have a good construction of sentences, a central idea, two to four

supporting details and a conclusion.97

The next stages in the study, the researcher asks the students to work in group

of 3 to collaborate use internet as a network-based learning to the process of learning in

writing through telecollaborative activities. The research describes that network-based

collaboration may provide opportunity for students who shy to speak their opinion so

that they can equal in the field and express themselves as expected98. It is also important

that activities and tasks are adapted to the students’ skills and abilities beginning from

the easy tasks to the increase of difficult level as students progress in their knowledge in

both the topic and ability to collaborate so that the activities could be scaled.

95 Ibid. P. 92 96Melinda Dooly., 2008.,Constructing Knowledge Together in Telellecollaborative Language Learning;

A guidedbook to Moderating Intercultural Collaboration

Online.,pagines.uat.cat/melindadooly/sites/pagines.uat.cat.melindadooly/files/chpt1.pdf,.retrieved on April 26th,

2015 at 21:45 pm. 97John Langan ., Op.Cit., P.6 98Melinda Dooly., 2008.,Op.Cit.

The following is the example of student’s Pre- test writing ( student 2)

I have a pet, my pet is a cat. My cat is very cute and handsome. I

named is Jacky. Jacky a cat obedient. Every morning he’s always eat

rice with kinds side dish, like fish, noodle, meatballs, etc. He’s a smart

cat. Every night he’s always sleep in the cardboard.

One night, he’s sleeping outside. I’m looking for him, I Feel worried. I

continue to look For him. Finally, I Found him in bushes. He’s very

cooled. I bring him to home. Since. I Very Fearful iF he’s getting out

from house. My mother always says “ let him go! iF he’s always in the

house, he will to be figt with other cat.” But, I Feelings him. Thats all

story about My cat.

Based bon Jacobs ESL composing profile score the result for students 2 are:

The content is good to average. It is mostly relevant to topic but lack in detail which

score is 22.The organization is good to average. Limited support which score is 15. The

vocabulary is fair to poor.freaquent errors of word with 13 score. The language use is

fair to poor. Frequent errors of negation and pronouns. The mechanics are fair to poor,

and poor handwriting with 3 score. And the total number of score is70.

The following is the example of Post-test writing (student 2)

Rushayati, born July 25, 1997 in Cilegon she often called Ati for taking the name of

her last name. she is the only child. She lived in Cibeber. She lived with her mother

because her father was dead. Her father’s named Rusydi and her mother’s named

Ratu Faizatul Ma’azah. Her mother’s a housewife.

She is a student in Islamic Senior High School. She started her education from the

age of 7 years. 6 years of primary school SDN CIBEBER 1 and in the Madrasah

Diniyah Cibeber. 3 years in MTs Cibeber. She likes match from elementary school,

because their teaching is easy to understand, clear, nice, and she’s pretty.

She loved cleaning the house, washing clothes, making the bed and sweep. She liked

watch to show stand up comedy, cause’ funny and making laugh. Her favourite drink

is Orange Juice. She doesn’t have a pet. She is vacationing with her family. After she

graduated from Islamic high school, she wanted to study in UNTIRTA majored in

mathematics or worked in order to her parent proud and happy. She loved to travel

with her family to the Villa Sambolo. She want to have a tea plantation and worked

together with her mother.

Based bon Jacobs ESL composing profile score the result for students 2 are:

The content is fair to poor, inadequate development of topic which score is 21.

The organization is good to average. It is logical but incomplete sequencing which

score is 17. The vocabulary is fair to poor. The meaning is confusing and has score 13.

The language use is good to average with several errors of number, word order,

pronouns and preposition and has score 20. The mechanics are fair to poor, frequent

errors of punctuation with 3 score. The total number of score is 74.

And here is the result finding for Pre- test and post-test writing scoring for all

the number of students:

And below is the sample of students’ interaction on facebook and what’s app

group:

No of

students Pre test Post test

1 70 74

2 70 74

3 68 75

4 70 80

5 67 75

6 70 71

7 69 71

8 68 71

9 67 71

10 70 74

11 68 79

12 68 71

13 67 81

14 67 82

15 70 79

16 67 77

Conclusion

From the study above rhe researcher could say that The use of telecollaboration

activities can improve students’ writing skills as can be seen in the pre-test and post-test

writing scoring result. The students were motivated in writing through telecollaboration

since the students could post the writing texts on facebook and got some feedback or

comments. The use of ICT and digital media such as Facebook and whatsapp application

help students telecollaborate in making learning outside school hours because the

students could communicate using social media. ICT applications used in learning

English can help students to increase vocabulary and improve English. It also motivate

students to use English to chat, give comments and make status on social media.

Tellecollaboration activity is beneficial for students under certain condition such as good

internet connection, computer facilities at school and good knowledge of ICT for the teacher.

Unfortunately there were some problems such as bad internet connection and computer

facilities at school so that students use laptop and gadget for the learning activity. Teacher

should be someone who has a good skill in ICT since there will be hackers who will

hijack the group account in social media and posting some inappropriate content

materials as the researcher experienced during the research.

Suggestions

Tellecollaboration should be implemented carefully and well-planned since some

students can surf another subject on the internet. Since ICT is a major supporter for English

study, so the teacher should be someone who has good skill in ICT in order students can

browse, surf the internet without any constraints with the existing resources on the

internet indefinitely. Teacher should give more assisstance since many students do not

focus on learning and sometimes use the opportunity to surf the other subject. Beside there

are some postings that are not related or appropriate with the lessons. The school should

have a good internet connection and the computer laboratory should be available so that

students do not face any constrains in using the facility study.

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