Cucum Rohmawati [email protected]
English Teacher of SMKN 3 Kota Serang
Magister Program of English Education Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University Banten, Indonesia Abstract
The research was purposed to identify whether or not and to what extent email can icrease students’ writing application letter after taught by email. The Classroom Action Reseach was conducted at 12th grade students of SMKN 3 Kota Serang, banten. There were two cycles and each cycle consists of four steps, namely; (1) planning the action, (2) implementing the action, (3) observing the action, and (4) reflecting the result of the observation. The result of the research shows that email can improve students’ writing ability in writing application letter. It can be seen from the indicators: (a) students could arrange application letter with good arragement, (b) students could write an application letter with a good language and clear purposes, (c) students could write an application letter based on job vacancy and send it by using email. In line with the result,the writer suggest that email is one the effective technique in Rnglish teaching activities. It increases the studenrs’ enthusiasm and their achievement in learning and writing application letter. The result hopefully will motivate teachers to use email in teaching application letter for 12th grade students of vocational school.
Keywords : Effectiveness, Skill in Writing Application Letter, Electronic Mail (E-Mail)
Introduction Background of the Study
With the fast development of computer and digital information technology (including multi-media technology, internet technology, mobile telecommunication technology and wireless network technology), computer and internet are combined more and more with language teaching, on the basis of which e-learning environment has been constructed.
Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) has been widely used in many developed countries. For instance, as one of the most widely used and the most convenient means of communication, e-mail is seldom used in the vocational school English teaching and learning. It's estimated that there are more than 1 billion e-mail users all over the world (Mark W. 1995:5). So how to make good use of e-mail in vocational school English teaching has become one of the heated topics.
The use of sophisticated and new things as a tool in learning English becomes popular nowadays. It is because students are more actively engaged in a new and sophisticated gadget as well the applications which are supported by Internet connection. One of the applications that provide features to learn English is Email. The E-mail (electronic mail) means the exchange of computer-stored messages by telecommunication (Some publications spell it email; we prefer the currently more established spelling of e-mail).
Enriching Quality and Providing Affordable Education through New Academia | 102 Email is widely used as a form of business communication and overall it is a highly effective communication tool. Email is inexpensive, only requiring an Internet connection that is generally already present in the business. Although a printout of emails is possible, emails often stay as soft copies because archiving and retrieving email communications is easy to do.
Although it cannot and should not replace all face-to-face communication and others forms of communication, internal email usage can cover many areas within the business. It is a very powerful information tool that is simple to use and easy to understand. It’s hard to imagine any other form of computer-based communication that can be so intimate and yet so wide reaching (Ken W. White & Jason D. Baker 2004: 44).
Nowadays, email is often the first point of contact for job seekers and hiring managers, the subject line can make all the difference. It’s not only communicates who you are and what you want but also can be a marketing tool that shows off your qualifications and helps you stand out. At the time that this fast-paced and sophisticated, advances in technology increasingly allow a person to communicate with. Even in the world of work, almost all companies use the Internet as a medium that can help them run their business affairs more quickly. No exceptions in the case of applying for a job, many companies prefer email as the most efficient way for job seekers to submit their applications.
Based on those usage of email that can be used in the world of work, this study uses learner email to investigate each student’s improvement in writing application letter and teaching them to apply a job by using email as their preparation after graduating.
Reason for Choosing the Topic
A vocational school, sometimes called a trade school or vocational college, is a post-secondary educational institution designed to provide vocational education, or technical skills required to perform the tasks of a particular and specific job. Vocational schools are traditionally distinguished from four-year colleges by their focus on job-specific training to students who are typically bound for one of the skilled trades, rather than providing academic training for students pursuing careers in a professional discipline. And vocational school graduates are expected to become a personal talented and ready to work, but the other hand, many companies open up jobs for vocational school where job applications should be submitted by using email. The writer want to elaborate how email preparing students in the world work and improve students’ writing application letter.
Statements of the Problem
The writer will observe some problems related to the theme of the research. They are:
1. What are the problem faced by the students in the classroom?
2. How email improve students’ ability in writing application letter?
Objectives of Study
The objectives of Study are as follows:
1. To identify the problems of students in the classroom in studying English.
2. To identify the improvement of students’ ability in writing application letter after taught by email.
Theoretical Framework
Effective writing skills are central in both higher education and in the world of work that follows. One's ability to compose an extended text is the single best predictor of success in course work during the freshmen year (Geiser & Studley, 2001). Gains in informative and analytical writing ability are, moreover, taken as a good indicator of the value added by higher education (Benjamin & Chun, 2003). Finally, a large share of the value added by businesses in a knowledge-based economy is codified in written documents, placing a premium on a literate workforce (Brandt, 2005).
Enriching Quality and Providing Affordable Education through New Academia | 103 An application letter is a formally written one-page letter that accompanies a resume and other requested documentation in application for a job or academic program. Application letters are often synonymous with cover letters, and in addition to describing what materials are included in the application, an application letter should also take time to highlight the qualifications that prepare the writer for acceptance into the job or academic program.
Electronic mail was used generically for any electronic document transmission (Brown, 1972). It is a method of exchanging digital messages between computer users.
Research Method
The research design of the study was action research. The research was qualitative and quantitative since all the data collection was in the form of words, numbers and using pre test and post test. The reason of researcher uses qualitative and quantitative method to avoid bias and to enrich the data without depend in one design of research method.
Source of Data
The data are taken from syllabus, lesson plan, application letter samples, material, teaching learning and learning process in the 12th grade Students of SMKN 3 Kota Serang, Banten.
Subject of the Study
The subject of the Study is the 12th grade Students of SMKN 3 Kota Serang, Banten.
Total numbers of students are 40 students (35 females and 5 males).
Data Collection
Since the research used qualitative and quantitative research, the main instrument of this research was the researcher as teacher in the classroom and use formula to count the pre test and post test. The data was held withing 17th-29th October 2016.
Technique of Data Analysis
There are two ways to analyze the data, they are:
1. Descriptive technique: A descriptive technique is used to know the students’
behaviour during the teaching learning process.
2. Statistical technique: A statistical technique is used to know any influences to the students’ writing application letter or no from the result of pre test and post test.
Pre Research
Planning in pre research, the researcher observed the situation of the students in teaching learning process. Class observation: the researcher observed teaching learning process and made note. The teacher began the lesson with giving question to the students that had a frelation with the theme of the lesson. There are a few students who answer the teacher questions. Then, the researcher asked students to write application letter.
Analysis: based on the researcher’s note the researcher knew that most of students just keep silence in the teaching learning process although they were active students. However, the students were not confidence to say something in class. Then, some of the students kept on asking the vocabulary to the researcher when they wrote the application letter.
Reflection: the researcher decided to improve students’ writing ability. Thus, the researcher implemented email for teaching applicaton letter.
Enriching Quality and Providing Affordable Education through New Academia | 104 Teaching Implementation Data Analysis
In this research, the data consist of pre test and post test.
Cycle I