ii
ABSTRACT
EFL WRITING STRATEGIES OF THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF
SMP IT DAARUL ‘ILMI KEMILING BANDAR LAMPUNG
By
MUHAMMAD RUDY
Analysing students’ writing process is a need in teaching English and it gives
positive contribution to teaching English writing. Teacher can understand
students’ writing difficulties and how they tackle the problem during the writing
process by observing it. One of the writing processes that can be analyzed is
writing strategies. The research is highly needed due to writing in Indonesia’s
English curriculum is the most difficult skill.
By using Think-Aloud Protocol (TAP), the research data were obtained. The data
taken from six subjects, second grade students of SMP IT Daarul ‘Ilmi, were
analyzed. The researcher chose the six subjects out of 21 students randomly. He
drew the subjects through lottery. The 21 students were trained to use TAP in the
writing process but at the end of session each of them was asked to pick a piece of
paper. The 21 papers were differed into to two groups; the six numbered pieces
ii
ABSTRACT
EFL WRITING STRATEGIES OF THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF
By
MUHAMMAD RUDY
and it gives
positive contribution to teaching English writing. Teacher can understand
writing difficulties and how they tackle the problem during the writing
process by observing it. One of the writing processes that can be analyzed is
English curriculum is the most difficult skill.
By using
Think-Aloud Protocol
(TAP), the research data were obtained. The data
taken from six subjects, second grade students of
were
analyzed. The researcher chose the six subjects out of 21 students randomly. He
drew the subjects through lottery. The 21 students were trained to use TAP in the
writing process but at the end of session each of them was asked to pick a piece of
paper. The 21 papers were differed into to two groups; the six numbered pieces
and 15 unnumbered pieces. Both paper groups were put in one box. Whoever
iii
assigned to create descriptive writing based on the picture and verbalize what they
think. The recorded
Think-Aloud Protocol
(TAP) data were coded based on
Result shows that the strategies which occur are only thirteen out of fourteen.
There are three categories based on the occurrences; they are frequently used,
sometimes used and rarely used. In this research, nine strategies are in the rarely
used, and the teacher should work hard to activate those nine strategies. On the
other hand,
Planning, Monitoring, Evaluating, Resourcing, Repetition, Reduction
and Use of L1 Strategies
analysis can show the deeper information about the
research subject condition. Through this research
iv
CURRICULUM VITAE
Muhammad Rudy was born on July 19, 1988. He is the sixth child of nine
siblings. His parents, Nurjanah and Suratman, had their argumentations in giving
his name. His mother wanted to name him Muhammad. On the other hand, his
father named him Rudy Hartono. Finally, Rudy,
nickname, was
named Muhammad Rudy Hartono. Due to simplification, the researcher registered
his name as Muhammad Rudy on every administrative matter.
He entered SD N 5 Raja Basa (now SD N 2 Raja Basa) and graduated from the
elementary school in 2001 as the best student. He continued his study at SMP
Negeri 22 Bandar Lampung. He received his first rank at school in every semester
in that school until he graduated on 2004.
continued his study at SMA Negeri 2 Bandar Lampung. During his study at SMA
Negeri 2, he had some achievement. He was the finalist of National Youth
Research held by Brawijaya University on 2005. On 2006, he received his 3
rdposition when he joined Local Astronomy Olympic. He finished his study in
2007 from SMA Negeri 2 Bandar Lampung and in the same year he continued his
study to Lampung University.
During his study at Lampung University, he actively took a part in ESo (English
Society) Lampung University and MEC (Muslim English Club) FKIP Unila. In
both student organizations, he was the chief of Education Department who
organized training and education activity in the organization. He also represented
the organizations in some English competitions which made him won FKIP
Speech competition in 2009. He also helped several English competitions by
becoming the adjudicator of speech, debate and drama contest.
He
v
DEDICATION
To Emak and Abah , Nurjanah and Suratman,
for their pure love.
To my siblings; Neneng Suryati, Suherman, S.E.,
late-Hasbullah, Maria Ulfa, Sofyan, late-Muhammad, Aby
Firdaus and Nining Apriyanti,
our togetherness is our power.
To my advisors who activate my critical thinking and
show what dedication is.
To my almamater, a place of eternal friendship, challenging
destiny, unstoppable competition and the burning hope.
vi
Writers use what they have
and move on from there.
(Raimes, 1983)
vii
Praise be to Allah, for His gracious mercy and blessing that enables me to
accomplish this script
of the Second Year of
SMP IT Daarul Ilmi Kemiling Bandar Lampung.
I would like to express my special appreciation to my first advisor, Prof. Dr.
Patuan Raja, M.Pd. His advisory makes me understand and reveal the core of the
script. The best gratitude also to my second advisor and my academic advisor,
Dra. Rosita Simbolon, M.A. who has supported and activated my academic skill
to achieve better writing. I am also grateful to Drs. Basturi Hasan, M.Pd. as the
examiner of this thesis who gives many input and improvement. I acknowledge
my debt to them whose attitude and patience always make me positively
productive.
I also extend my gratitude to the
k Deni
Harnova, S.Si., and
i ,Roudatun Najihin class, in
which I elicited the data from them. Great thankfulness also goes to Peni Utami,
S.Pd., the English teacher of SMP IT D
my
teaching capability and took the data from her class.
I extend my appreciation to my wonderful fellows, English Department 2007
(NERD), Apparel Sheka Risdanti, Deri Herdawan, Umi Azizah, Dian Irawan,
Liliz Fauziah and Joko Setyo Puji Santoso whose attitudes color the meaning of
friendship. My sincere prayer is addressed to the late-Akhirman whose spirit
motivated me to finish the script soon. Special thankfulness to my seniors,
especially to Kristian Adi Putra S.Pd., who gave me a challenging thesis subject
and inspiration to finish the script.
Last but not least my great indebtless is dedicated to my parents, Suratman and
Nurjanah, who help me understand about life, love and values. My love and
thankfulness are also due to my amazing brothers and sisters, Neneng Suryati,
Suherman, late Hasbullah, Maria Ulfa, Sofyan, late Muhammad, Aby Firdaus and
viii
Bandar Lampung, December 2011
Muhammad Rudy
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ix
DEDICATION ...
v
MOTTO ...
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...
viii
TABLE OF CONTENT ...
x
LIST OF TABLE ...
xi
LIST OF FIGURE...
xii
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Problem ...
1
1.2. Research Problem ...
7
1.3. Objectives of the Research...
7
1.4. Uses of the Research ...
7
1.5. Scope...
8
1.6. Definition of Terms...
9
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Concept of Writing ...
10
2.1.1. Concept of Learning Writing in English...
13
2.2. Strategy ...
14
2.3. Writing Strategies ...
16
2.4. Method of Studying Writing Strategies ...
18
III. RESEARCH METHOD
3.1. Research Design...
25
3.2. Subjects of the Research ...
26
3.3. Research Procedure...
27
3.4. Data of the Research ...
30
3.5. Data Collection Strategy ...
30
3.6. Instruments of the Research...
31
3.7. Data Analysis ...
31
3.8. The Procedure of Thinking-Aloud Training ...
35
IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Result ...
40
4.1.1 Strategies Used by the Subjects ...
40
4.1.1.1 Planning Strategies...
45
4.1.1.2 Monitoring Strategies...
49
4.1.1.3 Evaluating Strategies...
52
4.1.1.4 Resourcing Strategies...
57
4.1.1.5 Repeating Strategies...
58
4.1.1.6 Reduction Strategies...
59
4.1.1.7 Use of L1 Strategies ...
61
4.1.2 Length of Writing...
62
4.1.3 Additional Description ...
65
x
4.2.1 Strategies in Writing ...
66
4.2.2 Active Writer...
73
4.2.3 TAP and Composing ...
74
4.2.4 Writing Object...
75
V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Conclusions ...
76
5.2 Suggestions ...
78
REFERENCES
...
80
APPENDICES
...
84
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 2.1. Table of
...
22
Table 2.2 Table of
Coding Classification ...
23
Table 3.1 Table of Specification of Data Analysis ...
29
...
35
xi
Table 3.4 Research Schedule ...
37
Table 4.1
Writing Strategies ...
43
Table 4.2 Table of Planning Content and Ideas ...
46
Table 4.3 Table of Planning Procedures ...
48
Table 4.4 Table of Planning Organization ...
49
Table 4.5 Table of Planning Linguistic Text ...
50
Table 4.6. Table of Task Monitoring Strategies ...
51
Table 4.7 Table of Self Monitoring Strategies...
52
Table 4.8 Table of Evaluating Strategies ...
53
Table 4.9 Table of Reviewing Strategies ...
55
Table 4.10 Table of Revising Strategies ...
56
Table 4.11 Table of Editing Strategies...
57
Table 4.12 Table of Resourcing Strategies ...
58
Table 4.13 Table of Repeating Strategies ...
60
Table 4.14 Table of Redution Strategies...
61
Table 4.15 Table of Use of L1 ...
62
Table 4.16 Table of Writing Length ...
65
Table 4.17 Table
...
75
LIST OF FIGURE
Page
Picture 4.1 Composing Strategies Graphic ...
63
1
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Problem
Writing is the top productive skill in language learning process; it comes after
listening, speaking, and reading. It is believed as the most complicated activity. In
this skill, the students must integrate their previous knowledge in order to create a
good composition. Their background knowledge which is acquired through
listening, speaking, and reading should support their writing ability. They must
master the vocabulary and structure before composing. It is supported by Meyers
(2005:2). He states that writing skill requires the skill of organizing ideas, putting
the right vocabularies and using grammar as the structure of the composition.
As the researcher
students had
difficulty in
difficulty in descriptive text writing. The sample was cited from one of SMP IT
D
The faforite Cartoon
he is always make me laugh.
2
There are some problems that the researcher found based on the above sample,
among them are listed as follow:
1. The student found difficulties on using the appropriate grammar when
writing the text. She wrote the text in her native language structure
(
. He work in the restaurant as
ceff
In this sentence, we can see that the student cannot use simple
present tense which is the main tense in the descriptive text.
2. The student got difficulties on using the suitable generic structure of the
text. She wrote the generic structure of the text in random, unarranged
order, and it was not suitable with the rules of the text.
3. The student had lack of vocabularies. She did not have enough
vocabularies in at hands; therefore, it took too much time in finding the
words by dictionary. If there was no dictionary, she wrote the word based
on her guessing which could lead to error, for example the word
chef
was
written as
ceff
in the fifth sentence.
4. She made an error in the use of subject and pronoun, it could create
confusion when the text was read; the use of
him
should be replaced by
he
.
He is so cute because him always make all person laugh.
Sari (2010: 58-59)
writing weaknesses, they are:
organization
and
vocabulary. In the organization aspect,
compositions were not fluent since their ideas in composition were confusing and
disconnected one another. Frequent errors were found in their word choice and
vocabulary. The student could not create write the correct form of chef. She used
3
she wrote inappropriate words to express her ideas. This problem exists because
some factors which are explained on the following paragraphs.
Three problems facing a student on making good writing are informed by Byrne
(1991: 3-4) in Qomarudin (2010: 31) are:
1. Psychological problem: there is no benefit of feedback from others
directly. The problem happens because the student rarely gets writing
training. It possibly happens because the limited learning writing English
period. Consequently, the teacher teaches writing only some minutes in the
class which causes the student evaluates his writing. He does not know
whether his writing is correct or not.
2. Linguistic problem: we need to choose sentences and structure in such a
way that can be understood by the reader. The student must explain about
what they intended to mean on their writing by using good words order
and structure. It is going to be big obstacle when the student does not
know a specifically needed word which reflects what she meant. The
problem can be seen in the previous sample.
3. Cognitive problems: to be able to write is not an instant process, but
or strategy
how to learn certain structures, organize ideas etc. In this way, the student
uses their cognitive strategy as the process center in writing. The problem
would be complicated if the student did not use cognitive strategy well.
The third problem above, cognitive problem, takes big role in the process of
writing. It is the process that happens before the writing itself. The student tended
4
s thought
sometimes create intelligence of their mistakes. What he thought was transferred
in the wrong linguistic form if he had wrong writing strategy. He would use
wrong vocabulary when he could not evaluate the appropriate vocabulary on his
writing.
The other researchers also support the important role of cognitive strategy in
writing. Raimes (1983:3) states that writing involves systematic way of thinking.
What the students write reflect what they think. Through writing the students can
share what they have in their mind to other people. In addition, Bell and Burnady
in Nunan (1991:36) point out that writing is a complex cognitive activity in which
the writer is required to demonstrate simultaneously such as control of content
which cover the way of integrating information, coherent, paragraph unity, using
sentence structure and the right vocabulary.
The importance of cognitive strategy in writing leads many researches done. Chen
and Hu (2005: 1) state that since the early 1980s, second language (L2) writing
teachers need to understand the process of L2 writing and take them into account
language writing.
One of the ways to analyze
Protocol (TAP). TAP is a method that allows researchers to understand, at least in
5
Ericsson and Simon state (1996). The researcher observed the user while
attempting to complete a defined task.
Scardamalia (1984) states that teacher can use the think aloud protocol as an
available from the finished product alone. Through thinking aloud protocol,
teacher can define what happen in their mind because the students verbalize their
thinking. Students will say anything in their mind during their writing processes.
By using Think Aloud Protocol the researcher analyze the
strategies in their writing. The researcher could reveal the dominant and less
strategies used by the students in the writing process after transcribing and coding
their verbalization. The strategies which were revealed in the research can be used
to develop better writing instruction as the following information.
Wilhelm (2006) states that thinking aloud protocol helps teachers to develop
strategic instructional techniques and how students take benefit of think aloud.
Through thinking aloud, students are able to learn how to recognize problems
when they occur, how to isolate problems and name the source of confusion, and
how to use strategies to overcome their confusion. It means thinking aloud
protocol not only gives benefit for the teacher but also gives advantages for the
students.
After analyzing the
how
the students utilized their strategies in the writing process. The researcher can
6
strategies which influenced the writing and tried to create good writing
instruction.
Beaton (2002) suggests that the researcher should specify a definite task which
must be accomplished by the subject to get better thinking aloud protocol. To
enable this, researcher used the guided writing task; that is descriptive writing
based on the picture given. The students were required to verbalize their thinking
in the descriptive writing process. They were not taught about the descriptive
writing since it had been studied in the previous meeting with the teacher. To
make the verbalization in descriptive writing was familiar with them, the
researcher created training.
In this research, picture was used as the writing object to stimulate the students to
write
Joyce,
2009:131). It can make students try to focus on one object because it collects
. Students always try to find the words which are suitable so
that they can start writing.
The whole background above affected the researcher to conduct a research
EFL Writing Strategies at the Second Year Students of SMP IT
7
Based on the background above researcher focused on a problem; that is what are
writing strategies engaged in writing process at the second year students of SMP
?
1.3. Objectives of the Research
The objective in doing this research was formulated from the research problem;
the objective is to know the writing strategies at the second year students of SMP
.
1.4. Uses of the Research
Practical Uses
1. This research will be a reference for English teacher to know
strategies in writing descriptive paragraph. So, the teacher can consider
what treatment that can be given to the learners.
2. This research also gives an opportunity to create future investigation
which relates to Thinking Aloud Protocol and writing; either qualitative or
quantitative research.
Theoretical Uses
1. This study can give a contribution to EFL writing strategies research at
students of Junir High School in Indonesia.
2. This study can be used to support previous theories related to Thinking
8
1.5. Scope of the Research
The research was a qualitative one. The research dealt with
process.
riting strategies was the
researcher.
Roudatun Najihin Class consists of twenty one students. All of them were trained
to practice Think Aloud Protocol (TAP) during their writing process. The subjects
were asked to compose their descriptive writing which had been studied
previously. From twenty one students, the researcher took six students as his
subjects. The six students were taken from the lottery. Every student, from twenty
one students, was asked to pick one paper out of twenty one papers. The twenty
one papers were divided by two; six numbered pieces and fifteen blank pieces.
The student, who got the numbered paper, automatically became the subject of the
research.
While the subjects were doing the writing and thinking aloud, researcher recorded
their verbalization. The research used one rater. The rater was the researcher
himself, who concentrated on recording and transcribing. The data analysis was
one. Finally, the subjects were interviewed to find deeper observation about their
L2 writing strategies.
1.6. Definition of Terms
To avoid misunderstanding in the context of research, the following key terms are
9
1. Writing is the skill of organizing words into sentences and sentences into
paragraphs, which involves language capacity and thinking.
2. L2 writing strategy is a technique and procedures to conceptualize and
fulfil second language task which consists of seven elements; they are
planning, monitoring, evaluating, resourcing, reduction, repetition, and
use of L1 strategies.
3. Descriptive Text is a text that can be used to describe someone or
something which is characterized by the generic structure (identification
and description) and some language features (using present tense, focusing
on specific object, using attributive and identifying process).
4. Descriptive Writing Process is a complete activity of the subject to
English proficiency, and difficulty.
5. Thinking aloud protocol is a method to gather data in which the users
(subjects) are asked to say whatever they are seeing at, thinking, feeling,
and doing. In this research, TAP is used as the data elicitation.
6. Verbalization is an activity of the subjects to tell everything they have on
0
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents literature review related to the research problem. Therefore,
a number of relevant topics are reviewed here; they are concept of writing,
concept of learning writing, strategies, writing strategies, and concept of
Thinking-Aloud.
2.1 Concept of Writing
Walters (1999:90) states that writing is a complex process since it is made of a
large number of skills, not only one element that is used but also all of language
elements need to be considered such as: spelling, grammar, diction, punctuation,
etc. certainly, without all of these elements, it is difficult to write in a good
composition of this language skill.
A writer must achieve good spelling, grammar, vocabularies and mechanics in
order to organize a good composition. He must have known how to arrange some
letters to create a word. If he has bad spelling he will make a disorder word which
cannot be found in the list of vocabulary. For example a writer wrote
ceff
when he
wanted to tell about
chef
. Of course, the reader got a confusion reading the
✁✁
The above problem also probably happens if the writer does not master the
grammar, diction and punctuation. The reader will be confused when a
composition has bad grammar. The reader can think different time event when a
story is created without considering the time signal. For example, a writer created
a past event story but he wrote it in the future form. The reader would think the
story have not happened yet.
In the diction aspect, a reader will be bored easily when reading a composition
which has similar word used for many times. For instance, a writer created a
paragraph about shopping.
I hate shopping. My mother always asks me to shop. She asks me to carry all of heavy bags. I ask her to stop asking me to accompany her but she does not want to. I do not know why mother love to ask me.
From the paragraph above we can observe that the use of
ask
is repeated for five
times. The word which is used frequently in a paragraph does not give impression
to the reader. The word
ask
should be change by using
request
,
demand
and
command.
The reader also will get difficulty in reading a composition if the author put
inappropriate punctuation in his writing. Takes for example the reader must take
long breath if the writer did not put a
comma
in a long sentence as you can see on
the following sample.
✂ ✄
The reader will be easier to read a paragraph which is given an appropriate
punctuation. As follow:
A reference book is really important for college student. If students do not have book they will not study effectively. They will come to the class with the empty head while the lecturer telling many things. The students will only be a passive learner who always listen what the lecturer said rather than trying to find the proof of the lecture.
Writing enables the students to describe their ideas in sequence and in
communicative way. Raimes (1983:3) states that writing also involves a
systematic way of thinking. In addition, the close relationship between thinking
and writing makes writing a valuable part of any language course.
Ellis (1990:93) asserts that people generally write either to communicate
something to other people (writing is a meant to be read by others), for example:
when a person writes a letter and sends it to the others, or to be used for their own
personal use (the writing is not usually meant to be read by other), for example:
when a person writes his experience in his diary.
Writing is an instrument of both communication and self expression. In other
words, writing can be used to deliver messages from the writer to the reader.
Writing is also used as a media to express our thought or mind.
Writing is a continuing process of discovering how to find the most effective
language acquisition as learners experiment with words, sentences and larger
chunks of writing to communicate their ideas effectively and to reinforce the
☎ ✆
From the statements by experts above, it can be inferred that writing is a way of
searching for an effective way
Furthermore, in writing the students are also required to use their ability in
combining words, sentences and grammar, so that, they can communicate their
ideas effectively. In this way, when writing the students involve parts of speech
including the use of adjectives correctly.
2.1.1 Concept of Learning Writing in English
Rivers (1983:249) comments that writing in a simple form, may be just a
narration, copying in its conventional graphic form, something already written or
reproducing in written form, something which has been read or heard. In its most
highly developed form, writing refers to conveying of information or expression
of the original ideas in a conclusive way in the new language. We call this
expressive writing or composition. Therefore, writing is a productive and
expressive skill. In the process of writing the students should use language
structure and diction. Besides that, in writing we need much exercise and practice
regularly.
From the explanation above, the writer would like to assert that writing is a
process of rendering information by using a conventional graphic system to
express idea, thought, and feeling which are arranged in the words, sentences, and
paragraphs correctly based on English grammatical arrangement. Here, the student
✝ ✞
In the teaching learning process, language consists of four skills, they are
listening, speaking, reading, and writing (Tarigan, 1981:1). The position of
writing skill is in the last skill. It means that writing is a part of thesubject which
is difficult because in writing we need special aspects of language, for instance:
diction, structure, mechanics, and rhetoric.
In order to choose and use the suitable words that can be used in writing, the
students should master many words and know how the words are used in writing.
This statement means that by mastering how to use it, the result of writing made
by students will be understandable to the readers.
According to Schult (1976:58), by mastering the structure in relation to writing
skill, the students know the words that should be used and how to correlate them.
This is aimed at understanding and comprehending the writing made by the
students easily. By learning these skills in writing, the students must practice it in
writing.
2.2. Strategy
Strategy is deliberate action or set of procedures that learners select, implement
and control to achieve desired goals and objectives in the completion of learning
or performance tasks (Manchon, 2001: 48). It can be stated that strategy is a
personal trick in facing a problem. A learner has various tricks in solving a
problem while they are studying. He can consult their book or friend when he got
a difficulty in calculating in one subject. In learning English, he can consult his
✟ ✠
In the Second Language Acquisition (SLA), strategies are categorized into two
types, they are learning strategy and communication strategy. There are some
aspects which differ one to another. Learning strategy has its character which
distinguishes it from communication strategy. However, both strategies facilitate
language learning as the following explanations indicate it.
Learning strategy is a procedure undertaken by the learner in order to make their
own language learning as effective as possible (Yufrizal, 2007). It is tru that
language learners have their own strategies in solving problem they face. They
create their solution in learning language.
learning strategy. The learners can find the strategies after getting an experience in
their previous problem. Realizing the suitable strategies, students use it for several
times for overcoming the next problem. For example a student who understood
the meaning of
punishment
by creating derivation. He chunked the word into
punish and ment. This strategy is used to solve other vocabulary difficulties such
as
agreement
or
statement
created a list of vocabulary which is added by the picture while the trick he got
from the teacher is making list.
While learning strategies are the means adopted by the learners to maximize the
effectiveness of the overall learning process, communication strategies are tactics
used by the non-fluent learner during L2 interaction, in order to overcome specific
✡
6
Communication strategy can occur both in spoken or written language. In the
spoken, it possibly happens when the speaker wants to make the listener
understand what he means while the listener gets difficulty to understand. They
can negotiate the meaning during the conversation to achieve same perception. On
the other hand, a writer does communication strategy during the process of
writing. He tried to implement any strategies in order to make the reader
understand what he intended in his composition.
In this research, the researcher tried to analyze the communication strategy
engaged in the writing process. For the further elaboration about strategy,
especially writing strategies, can be seen on the following part.
2.3. Writing Strategies
Regarding writing and strategies, the research which exists is about writing
process. The research tries to capture the insight processes of mental in the
composing process. Manchon (2001: 48) states that the characters of of writing
correspond to the actions and procedures employed by the writer to control the
on-line management of goals, compensate for the limited capacity of human
pose to
themselves.
The process of L2 writing has been a major focus of L2 writing research since the
early 1980s (Chen and Hu, 2005). Chen and Hu (2005) add that early studies of
☛ ☞
Many researchers tried to find whether the strategies which are used in the L1
writing and L2 writing are same or not.
Into the 1990s, research on the L2 writing process increasingly focused on the
processes of L2 writing, for example, reviewing and revising. While research
looking closely at specific aspects of L2 composing process is valuable and allows
us to develop an in-depth understanding of these aspects, there is a potential
danger of losing sight of the big picture because of a narrow focus. Consequently,
studies of specific aspects or sub-process of L2 writing need to be complemented
by investigations that take a more holistic approach.
As an attempt to achieve holistic approach, Thinking-Aloud Protocol (TAP) is
used as a data elicitation instrument. One of the reasons why TAP is appropriate
to know writing process and strategy is stated by Weijen et.al (2009). They said
that TAP is one of the best methods for observing the occurrence of conceptual
activities such as
planning, generating ideas
, and
evaluating
, during the writing
process.
The situation above inspired the researcher to investigate the research problem
which is reported through this thesis.
2.4. Method of Studying Writing Strategies
✌
8
writing and strategies. The reason occurs after a fair consideration. The research
on writing cannot be seen from the achievement only; the process also affects the
result of writing. The process orientation also enables the writing teachers see
composing as the complex activity which needs more attention.
Chen (2005) lists at least ten researchers did writing process. The demand of
examining writing process is getting higher because writing process research can
give positive effect on the writing instruction in teaching writing. Hopefully, after
knowing the insight of writing, the writing achievement can be improved.
Studying writing process is not easy. There is an aspect which should be
considered during the research. It is needed to use a qualified method to get
representative data. Bowles (2010) states that one of the method to get complete
writing process data is by using Think Aloud protocol (TAP).
Both in L1 and L2 writing research, there are many researchers used TAP as the
data elicitation; both at writing strategies research and writing process research.
Bowles (2010) informs that at least 13 researches done such as comparing L1 and
L2 strategies, L1 role in L2 writing strategies, composition feedback on L2
writing and thought process. She added that this method can give wider picture of
writing process which is more than the writing result itself.
Thinking aloud protocol is a method that allows researchers to understand, at least
in part, the thought process of the subject as they use a product, device or manual.
✍
9
In addition to categorize verbal reports in terms of temporal space, Ericsson and
Simon (1993) distinguish between reports become two types. The first type is
non-metacognitive, reports that require the subject to verbalize their thoughts per
se. The second type is metacognitive, reports that require subjects to verbalize
additional information, such as explanations and justification.
The think aloud is one of the most commonly used methods for collecting data
about the composing process. Using this method, writers are asked to verbalize
everything that comes to their minds while performing the writing task; these
verbalizations are recorded, then trancribed and analysed in a later stage. The data
balizations as well as the texts produced by
them are think aloud protocols.
By analysing protocols, researchers infer the strategies or behaviours used by
writers while performing a specific writing task. Abdel Latif (2009) states that
since the early 1980s, some works have been published on using think-aloud
method in investigating the composing process. He adds that there are many
published works on this such as Cooper and Holzman (1983), Flower and hayes
(1985), Dobrin (1986) and Ransdell (1995).
The samples above have either discussed how to administer the think aloud
method and analyze the protocols writers generate or debated its validity and
reliability in investigating the composing process. These published works,
however, have dealt with the schemes that have been used by researchers to
✎
0
protocols. Abdel Latif reviewed thirty one coding schemes developed by writing
researchers since the mid 1980 for analyzing the think aloud protocols generated
by L2/FL writers performing hadwritten tasks, e.g. narrative, argumentative,
expository, descriptive writing a picture prompt, letter writing etc. there are five
types of identified schemes:
a.
b. Categorical schemes
c. Attention to aspects of writing schemes
d. Problem-solving schemes
e. Language-switching schemes
While the first three schemes can be described as general ones used for analyzing
the composing process as a whole, the last two schemes are regarded as specific
ones describing a particular aspect of it.
aloud protocols is using a
categorical coding scheme that includes a small number of categories representing
the main components of the composing process with their subcategories, the
researcher used coding scheme for the composing process developed by Wenden
(1991) who divides her scheme into three categories:
Planning
,
Evaluation
, and
Monitoring
.
Planning
strategies can be seen from two aspects; metacognitive and cognitive
strategies. The metacognitive strategies relate to writer ability to directly use the
language in their writing without giving any reason or explanation about the
✏ ✑
writer to clarify the writing they made in the process of composing. The complete
information about the classification of the strategies can be seen as follow.
at Congjun (2004)
Planning Metacognitive strategies
a. Knowledge retrieval
b. Decision making (related to world knowledge, rethorical knowledge and linguistic knowledge)
Cognitive strategies used in planning
a. Clarification strategies (self-questioning, hypothesizing, defining terms and comparing)
b. World knowledge retrieval strategies (reading what has been written, writing in a lead-word or expression, rereading the assigned
question, self-questioning, writing till the idea would come up,
c. Linguistic knowledge retrieval strategies (circumlocution and written rehearsing)
d. Resourcing (asking the researcher and using a dictionary) e. Deferral
f. Avoidance
Evaluation Metacognitive strategies
a. Reviewing or rereading what has been written
b. Identifying the criteria used for assessing the text (usually by questioning)
c. Applying the criteria to the text or verbalizing the assessment Cognitive strategies used in evaluation
a. Verification: checking dictionary or asking the researcher when not
Monitoring Metacognitive strategies
a. Problem recognition or identification
b. Problem assessment
The table shows that the identified strategy, especially
Monitoring
, is not divided
into two categories.
Monitoring
is only classified into one category, that is
metacognitive strategies which focus on identifying whether the writing has
✒✒
different with the second strategies;
Evaluation
which is divided into two classes,
metacognitive and cognitive strategies.
(1991) coding scheme as Victori (1997)
ed and
classified in the table 2.2 below.
Victori classifies the strategies which is used in the writing process into seven
groups. They are planning strategies, Monitoring Strategies, Evaluating Strategies,
Resourcing Strategies, Repeating Strategies, Reduction Strategies, and Use of L1
Strategies. Basically, she classifies th
Taxonomy (table 2.1). She elaborates the strategies deeper on the following table.
Table 2.2:
Coding Classification
I. Planning Strategies
Strategies by which the writer plans and talks out what ideas will come next, and explicitly states his or her objectives for content organization and writing procedures. Under this type, there were included strategies for:
Planning overall content and ideas(PLid), such as retrieving ideas, relating new information to old information, making connections among existing ideas and setting general content goals either in the form of notes or verbalizations.
Planning procedures(PLpr), such as planning subsequent actions (procedures or strategies to be adopted) or planning delayed actions (postponing an action deliberately).
Planning organization(PLor), such as grouping ideas; deciding on the overall organization of the text (e.g. organizing according to rhetorical plan); deciding how to sequence ideas and how to structure the text as a whole or parts of it.
Planning linguistic text(PLtx), such as rehearsing or verbalizing several versions of the text to be produced.
II. Monitoring Strategies
Include strategies undertaken when checking and verifying progress in the
composing process and when identifying oncoming problems. They might involve:
Task-Monitoring strategies(TM), such as assessing how the task is progressing; how successfully the intended meaning is conveyed; tracking the use of how well a strategy is working or whether there is a need fr adopting new ones.
✓ ✔
task, becoming aware that one is having problems. III. Evaluating Strategies
Strategies undertaken when reconsidering the written text, previous goals, planned thoughts, as well as changes undertaken on the text.
Evaluating strategies(EV), such as questioning or evaluating the written text or planned thoughts.
Reviewing strategies(REW), such as reconsidering goals previously set (g), or reading the text, either the entire text (gl), the previous sentence (st) or paragraph (p).
Revising strategies(REV), making changes to the text in order to clarify meaning (the changes may involve problems with ideas, word choices, cohesion, coherence, and organization).
Editing strategies(ED), making changes to the text to correct the grammar, vocabulary (when the purpose is not clarifying meaning), spelling, and punctuation.
IV. Resourcing Strategies (RES)
Using available external reference sources of information about the target language, such as consulting the dictionary to look up or confirm doubts
(grammatical, semantic or spelling doubts), or to look for alternatives (synonyms). V. Repeating Strategies (RP)
Repeating chunks of language in the course of composing, either when reviewing the text or when transcribing new ideas.
VI. Reduction Strategies (RD)
Strategies to do away with a problem, either by removing it from the text, giving up any attempts to solve it, or paraphrasing with the aim of avoiding a problem. VII. Use of L1 Strategies (L1)
Using the mother tongue with different purposes: to generate new ideas, to evaluate and make sense of the ideas written in the L2 or to transcribe the right idea/word in the L1.
The above classification was used in this research as a way to categorize the
✕ ✖
III. RESEARCH METHODS
3.1. Research Design
In this research, the researcher used descriptive method. Descriptive research is
concerned with providing descriptions of phenomena that occur naturally, without
the intervention of an experiment or an artificially contrived treatment (Seliger
and Shohamy, 1989:116) the method is intended to describe a phenomenon or
problem in learning English.
In addition, Leedy (1974:79) implies descriptive method is a method of research
that simply looks with intense accuracy at the phenomena of the moment and
describes exactly what this research has observed. In this way, the data, which had
been gathered from students, were analyzed in order to come to a conclusion. The
description in this research discussed
writing process
writing strategy.
Seliger and Shohamy (1989:117) add that descriptive research enables the
researcher to focus on one aspect of language learning. The investigation did not
go to the general material because the researcher limited the study by providing a
specific aim, which is to find the EFL composing strategy used during the writing
✗
6
To achieve the research goal, the researcher used one instrument, it is the
researcher himself. The researcher combined both Think Aloud Protocol (TAP)
and interview to reach a complete picture of subjects writing strategy, in which
the result of TAP and interview were analyzed. In addition, the researcher acted as
a participant observer who can observe and train the subject.
3.2. Subject of the Research
As Trulock (2005) suggests about participant number, the minimum number of
participants are 4 subjects. In this research, six subjects were chosen by the
researcher to find the answer of a research problem and get more comprehensive
data.
The research subjects were
Bandar Lampung which consists of 21 students who had studied about descriptive
writing. The researcher took six students as the subjects through lottery.
First of all, the twenty one students were trained how to practice Think Aloud
Protocol (TAP) during their writing process. The 21 students were asked to pick a
piece of paper one by one. The pieces of papers were divided into two groups; the
six numbered pieces and 15 unnumbered pieces. Whoever took the numbered
pieces became the subjects of the research.
3.3. Research Procedure
✘ ✙
By thinking aloud while attempting to complete the task, the subjects can explain
their method to complete the task, and illuminate any difficulties they encounter
in the process. The researcher asked the subject to think aloud during doing the
descriptive writing. Both writing and thinking aloud protocol were administrated
for fifteen minutes.
To create the secure situation for the subjects, the research subjects were asked to
verbalize their thought during the writing activity in the place they chose. The
s were recorded. The activity that must be done by the
student was writing the descriptive model. The students were asked to verbalize
their thought either in their L1, Bahasa Indonesia or second language/ English
(L2), even the combination of both, as Bowles (2010:98) suggests.
2. Interview
After thinking aloud process, the researcher organized an interview. During the
interview, the conversations were recorded. The researcher used some questions
which were adjusted after transcription analysis. It was done to find the deeper
analysis of their mind and clarify their composing strategies. Setiyadi (2006:243)
states that the interview enables the researcher to go into more depth and better
understanding of the individuals thinking process.
3. Transcribing the record
The students
recorded verbalizations were
utterances were transferred into written material. Both L1 and L2 transcription
✚
8
4. Coding the transcription
The verbalization transcription was coded. To know the writing strategy during
writing process, the transcription was coded based on two classes, they are
number of written product (word, phrase or sentence) and type of strategy
.
The
coding was arranged into underlined numbered and parenthesis.
The written
product on the paper were signed by number, for example
good girl
2, it means the
subject was writing the second phrase on their paper. Strategies which were
verbalized by the subjects were signed by underline, such as Dora dora dora. At
last, type of strategies which was used was identified by the parenthesis e.g. Dora
dora dora (RP).
The following table of specification gives the complete
[image:39.595.108.519.423.753.2]description of the coding system.
Table 3.1. Table of Specification of Data Analysis
No Strategy and Code
Description Sample
1 Planning overall content and ideas (PLid)
Retrieving ideas, relating new information to old information, making connections among existing ideas and setting general content goals either in the form of notes or verbalizations.
And....they. . . .
2. Planning procedures (PLpr)
Planning subsequent actions (procedures or strategies to be adopted) or planning delayed actions (postponing an action deliberately).
Saya akan
mendeskripsikan gambar yg diberi mr rudy 3. Planning
organization (PL or)
Grouping ideas; deciding on the overall organization of the text (organizing according to rhetorical plan); deciding how to sequence ideas and how to structure the text as a whole or parts of it.
Selanjutnya . . . saya akan . .
4. Planning linguistic text (PLtx)
Rehearsing or verbalizing several versions of the text to be produced.
dia memegang memegang membawa
5. Task Monitoring (TM)
Assessing how the task is progressing; how successfully the intended meaning is conveyed; tracking the use of how well a strategy is working or whether there is a need for adopting new ones.
Dah selesai
6. Self-Monitoring (SM)
becoming aware that one is having problems
ga make h lagi aduh.
7. Evaluating (EV)
Questioning or evaluating the written text or planned thoughts
Em... apa lagi ya?
✛
9
(REW) text, either the entire, the previous sentence, or paragraph
in many plant flower and tree. Dora is use t-shirt pink and orange short. Dora have ransel and peta. Boot while bring a key color is blue 9. Revising
(REV)
Making changes to the text in order to clarify meaning (that changes may involve problems with ideas, word choice, cohesion, coherence and organization)
in beside oooo salah in front of
10. Editing (ED) Making changes to the text to correct the grammar, vocabulary (when the purpose is not clarifying meaning), spelling, and punctuation.
traveling eh salah ding. Dora still adventure5
adventure
11. Resourcing (RES)
Using available external reference sources of information about the target language, such as consulting the dictionary to look up or confirm doubts (grammatical, semantic or spelling doubts), or to look for alternatives (synonyms)
.. . .bahasa inggrisnya
12. Repeating (RP)
Repeating chunks of language in the course of composing, either when reviewing the text or when transcribing new ideas.
Name..namanya.. name
13. Reduction (RD)
To do away with a problem, either by removing it from the text, giving up any attempts to solve it, or paraphrasing with the aim of avoiding a problem
Celana itu short kali. Ga tau (deleting)
14. Use of L1(L1) Using the mother tongue with different purposes: to generate ideas, to evaluate and make sense of the ideas written in the L2 or to transcribe the right idea/word in the L1
Boot sedang membawa
In order to get complete data, the researcher combined coded transcription with
their writing results. As explained previously, the researcher used some codes for
both. The sample can be seen as follows:
Dora is
2Dora dora dora (RP)
. the
From the
sample we can know that to write
Dora is
, the subject used one Repeating
Strategy (
RP
).
3.4. Data of the Research
✜
0
verbalization happened because the subject practiced Think-Aloud Protocol
(TAP). Researcher transcribed and coded the verbalization to identify the
strategies.
3.5. Data Collection Strategy
In collecting the data, guided writing task (one topic writing) was given to the
students. The students were asked to create descriptive writing. They were asked
to describe a picture on their writing task. The writing process and verbalization
took 15
es were recorded.
They were asked to think aloud during their writing. The researcher collected the
students work and processed it to achieve the aim.
In order to get deeper analysis, the interview was held after transcribing. The
questions helped the students to tell everything which happened in their mind
while they were writing. Besides that, interview enabled the students to tell
everything which was left in the verbalization process.
3.6. Instruments
The instrument in this research was the researcher. The researcher gave
information to the subjects about TAP and trained them to use it. After
determining the six subjects, the researcher took the data.
The subjects were given a task to make them think aloud. The task was
✢ ✣
described into descriptive model. They also were given a clear instruction to make
them understand what they should do in the test.
The researcher used percentage in distributing the data. He counted the percentage
of composing strategy types to consider which one was prominent and which one
was less than others. The percentage can be drawn after coding.
To gain complete data, an interview was carried out. Students could tell the data
which were left in the verbalization. The interview data were combined to
to get comprehensive analysis.
3.7. Data Analysis
Bowles (2010:123) states that there are three important aspects in analyzing the
Think Aloud Protocol data, they are: transcription, representativeness and coding.
Therefore the researcher took account on those aspects in order to get accurate
analysis. The researcher added one other important aspect that is strategy
categories. Here are the further explanations on analyzing the data:
1. Transcription
Transcription which was used by the researcher is the common transcription that
is used in the socio-cultural theory and cognitivist approaches to SLA, which do
not tend to use detail transcription. The transcription captured their spoken
arguments while writing. The students who were studied were allowed to use their
L1 (Bahasa Indonesia), L2 or combination of them, during the think aloud
✤ ✥
was regarded. They could say anything came to their
mind about the object. All words that appeared from their mouths were recorded
and transcribed. Each word they made was important because the research
question was intended to analyze their thinking aloud to find their writing
strategies.
Here is the sample of transcription which shows the participants are studying the
L2 (Spanish) text.
Um, Ok. Uh, preventative medicine. How to live a healthy life. First, you have to eat well. Um,cada dia toma fruta y verduras. [each day eat fruit and vegetables] each day eat fruit and vegetables, meat, and uh, pescado[fish]
Haga y ponga,[do and put] hmm.
In this research the transcription was done on the English Foreign Learners (EFL)
in SMP IT Daarul Ilmi at VIII Grade who verbalize their thinking during making
their descriptive writing/ EFL writing. They wrote the task based on the picture
they saw.
2. Representativeness
Ensuring the representativeness was started from writing instruction. All
participants may not verbalize according to the initial instructions they received.
They should verbalize after getting the complete instruction.
Here is the instruction sample:
In this experiment, I am interested in what you think about when you complete the task. In order to find out I am going to ask you to THINK ALOUD as you work through the task.
✦✦
Coding, in this research, was done to ease the process of analyzing data. Coding
enabled the researcher to quantify the verbalization. He coded each think aloud
into some categories
modified by Victori (1997). If the participant uttered sentences which show their
Planning Strategies, it was coded as (
PL
). Next, Planning Strategies were divided
into some categories, they are: Planning overall content and ideas (
PLid
),
Planning procedure (
PLpr
), Planning organization (
Plor
), and Planning linguistic
text (
PLtx
)
Protocol were found using Monitoring Strategies,
which is devided into two types, they were coded as (
TM
) and (
SM
).
TM
refers to
Task-Monitoring strategy and
SM
refers to Self-Monitoring Strategy.
The third part of the protocol analysis code is Evaluating Strategies. In this part,
there are four categories of coding scheme. The first one is Evaluating strategy
which is coded as (
EV
). The second is Reviewing strategy (
REW
). The third
category is Revising strategy (
REV
) and the last is Editing strategy (
ED
).
The last four-aspects of coding are Repeating, Resourcing, Reduction and Use of
L1. Each of them has their own code, they are (
RP
) for Repeating, (
RES
) for
Resourcing, (
RD
) as Reduction and (
L1
) for Use of L1.
4. Strategy Categories
After coding, the researcher put the strategies into the table to enable him
categorize the strategies. The strategy category was based on the occurrences. The
occurrence was got from the tally. One strategy occurred in one sentence was
✧ ★
Dora
1dora(
RP
) (
PLid
) is adventurer girl
2. Adventurer girl adventurer girl
ad-ven-turer (
RP
) gimana tulisannya? (
EV
) Adven-turer girl (
RP
). From the sample
we can create a table of occurrence as follow:
Occurrence
Strategy Occurrence
PLpr
1RP
3PLid
1EV
1From the table 3.2 we can get the data that, PLpr only occurred once which is
same like two other strategies, PLid and EV. On the other hand, RP has higher
frequency for its occurrence. It occurs three times.
As the last step of the analysis, the researcher created a rank. The rank is based on
[image:45.595.198.354.522.589.2]the occurrence. The rank can be seen as follow:
Table 3.3 Rank Category
Rank Frequency
Frequently Used
Sometimes Used
3 - 4Rarely Used
The table 3.3 shows that if a strategy occurred five times or more, it would be
categorized as
frequently used
by the subjects. The second category is
sometimes
used
, it means that the RP strategy which is shown by table 3.2 is included in the
✩ ✪
twice or less than twice. The strategies in table 3.2;
PLpr
,
PLid
and
EV
, are put in
the third rank.
3.8. Procedure of Thinking-Aloud Data Collection
Sanz et al (2009:53) suggest that the procedures to ask the subject to think aloud
are:
1.
2. The language(s) participants are allowed to use to verbalize their thoughts
3. The level of detail and reflection required in the think aloud.
Based on the above criteria, the researcher arranged Thinking-Aloud Training for
the subjects. So that they were able to produce verbalization easily during the
study. The first step before giving Think-Aloud Training, the researcher was
started from arranging good instrument (writing task). In this part, researcher
started by making clear writing instruction. Here is the sample of good
instruction:
Instruction: I ask you to talk aloud as you go through the writing task.
everything that you would say to yourself silently when you are seeing the picture. Just act as if you were alone in the room, speaking to yourself. The time limitation is only 15 minutes. Speak as clear as possible.
As recognition of Thinking Aloud Protocol that it is rarely used in the class,
especially in writing, the researcher guided the student in order to familiarize with
the procedure. The activity were done on two days. The first day was the training
✫
6
In this study, two days were used as the research day. The researcher assigned
different activity for each day. The information about data collection activity can
be seen in the following research schedule.
Table 3. 4. Research Schedule
No Date Activity Time
1 2
July 26, 2011 July 29, 2011
Think-Aloud training Data Collection day
09.00 10.30 09.00 10.30
The more elaboration about data collection can be seen in the next explanation.
1.
Day One
On the first day, the researcher introduced the using of Thinking Aloud
Protocol among the students. This activity is important since the Thinking
Aloud Protocol is not a common way in EFL writing for them. The students
rarely verbalize their thoughts in the writing process.
In the Thinking Aloud Protocol introduction, the students were guided by
giving the sample. The researcher pretended he would be writing a
descriptive text based on the prepared material (picture). The students were
asked to notice every activity conducted by the researcher. Then, the students
were asked to write the descriptive text based on the picture.
Brain storming was used to train Thinking Aloud Protocol (TAP). Firstly, the
researcher projected the picture on the white board by using LCD projector.
He asked the students by using WH questions (What, Where, When, Who,
✬ ✭
The students were guided to verbalize their thinking naturally without
realizing the type of verbalization.
