MA Khazanah Kebajikan Tangerang Selatan
Academic Year 2015/2016)
By
SYAMSUL KHOIR
109014000190
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH
AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING
SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
JAKARTA
ii
Academic Year 2015/2016. A Skripsi of Department of English Education at
Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic
University Jakarta, 2015. Advisor I: Dr. Alek, M.Pd.
Advisor II: Zaharil Anasy, M.Hum.
Keywords: Creativity, Writing Skill, Recount Text
The objective of this study was to know and describe the relationship
between students’ creative thinking ability and their writing recount text. The
population of this study encompassed all the eleventh grade students of MA Khazanah Kebajikan, the total of which was 40 students. From the population, only 26 students were taken as the sample of this study by using a purposive sampling technique. Data were collected through tests. The collected data were analyzed by usingPearson’sProduct Moment correlation. The findings arrive at a conclusion that statistically there is a significant relationship between creative thinking ability and writing recount text skill at value of r = 0.623. The significant relationship between the creative thinking ability and writing recount text skill is found at the 99% level of confidence (p <0.01). Similarly, the t-test reported that with the value of t = 3.899, the relationship between the creative thinking ability and writing recount text skill is significant at the 99% level of confidence (p <
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Academic Year 2015/2016. A Skripsi of Department of English Education at
Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic
University Jakarta, 2015. Advisor I: Dr. Alek, M.Pd.
Advisor II: Zaharil Anasy, M.Hum.
Keywords: Creativity, Writing Skill, Recount Text
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during completing this skripsi. Peace and salutation be upon the prophet Muhammad, his family and his followers.
In this occasion, the writer would like to address his greatest appreciation, honor, and gratitude to his beloved parents (H. Ramli, S.H. and Hj. Syarifah) for their precious supports and moral encouragement in sustaining him to finish his study. Also, he would like to thank his loving brothers (Akbar and Sarip), and his aunt and uncle (Sahaya and Dacang) for their supports to him while he was structuring thisskripsi.
In addition, the greatest gratitude is addressed to Dr. Alek, M.Pd. and Zaharil Anasy, M.Hum. for giving the writer advices, guidance, supports, and suggestions during thisskripsiwas structured.
Moreover, the writer would like to express his gratitude to:
1. Prof. Dr. Ahmad Thib Raya, M.A., the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiyah and
Teachers’ Training of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta
2. Dr. Alek, M.Pd., the head of Department of English Education.
3. Zaharil Anasy, M.Hum., the secretary of Department of English Education. 4. All the lecturers of Department of English Education who provided him the
priceless knowledge during his study at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. 5. Bambang Indarto, S.Ag., the principal of MA Khazanah Kebajikan who gave
the writer the consent to conduct a research in the school.
6. Syarifuddin, Lc., S.Pd., the English teacher of MA Khazanah Kebajikan who
helped the writer assess the students’ responses of the research instruments.
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to him during the finishing process of thisskripsi.
At last, the writer wishes, “May Allah provide them the best things as the
return.” Besides, he thinks that it will be pleasing to know any criticisms and
suggestions to make thisskripsibetter.
Tangerang, December 2015
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ABSTRACT... ii
ABSTRAK... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS... vi
LIST OF TABLES... viii
LIST OF FIGURES... x
LIST OF APPENDICES... xi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS... xii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION... 1
A. Background of the Study... 1
B. Identification of the Problem ... 4
C. Limitation of the Problem ... 5
D. Problem Formulation ... 5
E. Objective of the Study... 5
F. Significance of the Study ... 6
CHAPTER II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK... 7
A. The Concept of Creative Thinking Ability ... 7
1. Nature of Creativity ... 7
2. Assisting Techniques to Get Creativity ... 9
3. Cycles of Creativity ... 11
4. Assessing Creative Thinking Ability ... 13
B. The Concept of Writing Skill ... 15
1. Definition of Writing ... 15
2. Cycles of Writing ... 17
3. Purposes of Writing ... 19
4. Writing Recount Text ... 21
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D. Conceptual Framework ... 30
E. Theoretical Hypothesis ... 30
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY... 31
A. Place and Time of the Study ... 31
B. Research Design ... 31
C. Population and Sample ... 32
D. Research Instrument ... 32
F. Data Analysis Technique ... 34
G. Statistical Hypotheses ... 40
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION... 42
A. Research Finding ... 42
1. Data Description of Creative Thinking Ability ... 42
2. Data Description of Writing Recount Text Skill ... 62
3. Hypotheses Testing... 71
B. Discussions ... 76
C. Limitations ... 79
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION... 80
A. Conclusion ... 80
B. Suggestion ... 80
REFERENCES... 82
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Table 3.3 Creativity Performance Level ... 36
Table 3.4 Table of Correlation Coefficient Interpretation ... 40
Table 4.1 Descriptive Statistics of Creative Thinking (CT) Ability Data Section 1 of the Two Raters ... 43
Table 4.2 ANOVAbof CT Test Section 1 between the two Raters ... 47
Table 4.3 Shaphiro-Wilk Test of CT Test Section 1 of the Two Raters .... 49
Table 4.4 Inter-Rater Reliability between the Two Raters of CT Test Section 1... 49
Table 4.5 Descriptive Statistics of Final Score of CT Test Section 1 ... 50
Table 4.6 Shaphiro-Wilk Test of Final Score of CT Test Section 1 ... 52
Table 4.7 Descriptive Statistics of CT Test Section 2 ... 53
Table 4.8 Shapiro-Wilk Test of CT Test Section 2... 55
Table 4.9 Descriptive Statistics of CT Test Section 3... 57
Table 4.10 Shapiro-Wilk Test of CT Test Section 3... 59
Table 4.11 Descriptive Statistics of Final Score of CT Ability Data ... 60
Table 4.12 Shapiro-Wilk Test of CT Final Score of CT Test ... 62
Table 4.13 Descriptive Statistics of Students’ Writing Skill Rated by Two Raters ... 63
Table 4.14 ANOVAbof Writing Skill Data between the Two Raters ... 65
Table 4.15 Shaphiro-Wilk Test of Writing Skill from the Two Raters ... 67
Table 4.16 Spearman’s rho of Inter-rater Reliability between the Two Raters... 68
Table 4.17 Descriptive Statistics of Final Score of Writing Recount Text Skill... 69
Table 4.22 Shapiro-Wilk Test of Final Score of Writing Recount Text Skill Data... 71
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Table 4.22 Coefficientsaof Creative Thinking Ability and Writing
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Figure 3.1 Research Paradigm... 31
Figure 4.1 Scatter Plot of CT Test Section 1 between Rater 1 and Rater 2 ... 45
Figure 4.2 Detrended Normal Q-Q Plot of CT Test Section 1 Rater 1 ... 47
Figure 4.3 Detrended Normal Q-Q Plot of CT Test Section 1 Rater 2 ... 47
Figure 4.4 Detrended Normal Q-Q Plot of Final Score CT Test Section 1... 52
Figure 4.5 Detrended Normal Q-Q Plot of CT Test Section 2 ... 54
Figure 4.6 Detrended Normal Q-Q Plot of CT Test Section 3 ... 58
Figure 4.7 Detrended Normal Q-Q Plot of Final Score of CT ... 61
Figure 4.8 Scatter Plot of Writing Skill between the Two Raters ... 64
Figure 4.9 Detrended Normal Q-Q Plot of Writing Skill of Rater 1 ... 66
Figure 4.10 Detrended Normal Q-Q Plot of Writing Skill of Rater 2 ... 66
Figure 4.11 Detrended Normal Q-Q Plot of Final Score of Writing Skill ... 70
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xi
Appendix 3 Creative Thinking Value Rubric ... 92
Appendix 4 Answer Key of Creative Thinking Test Part 3 (Analogy) ... 94
Appendix 5 Item Analysis of Creative Thinking Test: Part 3 (Analogy) ... 98
Appendix 6 Reliability of Creative Thinking Test: Analogy (Using KR-20 Equation) ... 99
Appendix 7 Validity of Certain Alternatives of Creative Thinking Test: Part 3 (Particularly for the Items that are needed revision) ... 100
Appendix 8 Reliability of Creative Thinking Test: Analogy (Using KR-20 Equation)* ... 101
Appendix 9 Tes Analogi(Post-Try-out) ...102
Appendix 10 List of Participants’ Responses of CT TestPart 2 ... 106
Appendix 11 Raw Data of Creative Thinking Test Part 1 ... 114
Appendix 12 Frequency Table of Creative Thinking Test Section 1 between the Two Raters ... 115
Appendix 13 Raw Data of Creative Thinking Test Part 2 ... 117
Appendix 14 Raw Data of Creative Thinking Test Part 3 ... 118
Appendix 15 Raw Data of Final Score of Students' CT Test ... 119
Appendix 16 Frequency Table of Final Score of CT Test... 120
Appendix 17 Raw Data of Writing Recount Text Skill... 121
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leading this study to be conducted. These are discussed vividly in background of the study, respectively followed with identification of the problem, problem formulation, objective of the study, and significance of the study.
A. Background of the Study
Writing is one of the important language skills. Through writing, students can convey and utter ideas, feelings, or opinions about people or things in the written form. However, to communicate ideas, feelings, or opinions in the written form well, instead of acquiring naturally, students are required to attend a number
of learning processes. In terms of the English learning process, the students’
creative thinking ability is considered to have several effects and play important roles as they are learning English, and it, thus, particularly influences to the way they learn to write as well.
Firstly, writing constitutes an activity which involves and utilizes some imagination and creativity.1It is due to the fact that writing is not only the activity in which one holds a pen/pencil and writes a series of words down onto a piece of paper, but it is also deemed as a cognitive activity in which creativity is required; in this case, one is also required to creatively discover and communicate ideas through providing specific reasons and details for readers in the written form.2
Providing specific reasons and details or spices supporting the writing ideas is not an easy matter. It is because there are a number of conditions that deserve the writers’ attention as they attempt to support their writing ideas with the spices. In this case, the spices should be reasonable and meaningful.3 Without the writers’presence, the details manifested into written words are supposed to be
1
Kate Grenville, Writing from Start to Finish: A Six-Step Guide, (Crows Nest: Allen & Uwin, 2001), p. 1.
2
John Langan, English Skills, (New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2001), Seventh Edition, p. 4.
3
able to tell and express the meaning of their writing. As a result, they are insisted on thinking outside the box. In this case, they should have some anticipation
toward their readers’ reactions as the readers are reading their writing. They are
required to think creatively in order that the readers cannot only understand about what being read but also can enjoy their writing. As a consequence, the ability to think creatively is important for writers because it can assist them to create good writing, like Heaton points out that one of the necessary components that lead to good writing is treatment of content which relates to the use of creative thinking ability as well as the way ideas are developed so that all unrelated information can be eliminated or sorted out.4
Moreover, through thinking creatively, writers may have more benefit from the writing that they write. For instance, as their writing is published, it may have more competitive value in the light of readers. In this case, the readers can find something that is not provided by other written-products, or there is something different, new, or unique (e.g., the bizarre and attractive writing plots or characters, etc.) that is not available in other authors’ products. It is due to the fact that creativity is associated with the mental process through which unique or novel solutions, ideas, concepts, artistic forms, theories or products can be created.5
Due to the important roles and effects of creative thinking ability in terms of the craft of writing, a number of researchers have attempted to investigate creative thinking ability with respect to the craft of writing. For instance, Wang reports that a significant association is found between creative thinking and reading and writing skills.6 Likewise, Soleimani and Najafgholian reveal that
4
J. B. Heaton,Writing English Language Tests, (New York: Longman, 1995), p. 135. 5
Philip Carter, Test and Assess Your Brain Quotient, (London: Kogan Page, 2009), p. 155.
6
creativity in thinking is found to have a significant relationship with writing performance in comparison-and-contrast type of writing.7
Although theoretically the ability to think creatively is deemed important and associated with writing skill, based on the writers’ observation ata school and interviews with one of the English teachers and some students there, a number of
problems related to the students’ writing skill, particularly on writing recount text,
and their creative thinking ability were found.
Firstly, most of the students still were not used to writing or they still lacked practicing their writing skill. This led many of them to not know what to do and how to develop their ideas into a written form. This becomes problematic since Langan points out that writing is a skill which requires practices in order that this skill can be learnt.8 Therefore, the students are supposed to have more practices if they are willing to learn the writing skill well. The more frequent they practice, the better their writing will be.
Moreover, some of students still had low understanding of writing English text learnt, i.e., recount text. Some of them still did not know what a recount text meant and its function as well as what the generic structure of this kind of text was. This is crucial if they did not have adequate understanding of certain kind of writing text they learnt because Dean asserts that one of the good writers’ characteristics is the ability to frame writing into a recognizable text-types or genres.9
In addition, writing, in the light of the students, was considered as a difficult subject to learn. It was because in terms of writing recount text there are some components or aspects that should be followed, e.g., structure and grammar that mostly employed. It was found that they frequently made errors in terms of the structure and grammar as well as the word choice used (i.e. mostly in terms of
7
Hassan Soleimani and Sara Najafgholian, The Relationship between Creativity in Thinking and Writing Performance of Iranian EFL Learners on Comparison/Contrast,
International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, 3, 2014, pp. 223—233. 8
John Langan, Exploring Writing: Paragraphs and Essays, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008), p. 8.
9
using the verb II in past tense which became one of the essential features in a recount text) as they were writing.
Moreover, the English teachers’ method in teaching English seemed monotonous. In this case, they were used to delivering the English instructions through giving many lectures, whereas few interactions between teachers and students almost frequently happened. This made the students felt uninterested in learning English, and especially in learning writing as well.
Furthermore, the English teachers were less creative as well as lacked to give the students exercises in terms of learning recount text. They only facilitated their students’ learning by presenting and discussing the materials as well as
providing the tasks or assignments which are commonly taken from students’
worksheet; also, the English teacher often asked them to translate an English passage into Indonesian language. The passage usually is taken from the students’ handbook. Due to this condition, some students did not have much opportunity to increase their creative thinking ability, and as a result many of them still had low ability to think creatively as they were writing. These are indicated by most of them who were still confused of what to write and how to generate, organize, and develop ideas into a good writing.
To sum up, the creative thinking ability that belongs to students has some influences toward their English learning, and particularly their writing skill. By identifying their creative thinking ability, they may figure the solutions out of the problems found in learning writing, particularly on a recount text.
Based on the rationale above, this study was conducted to investigate
students’ creative thinking ability with respect to their writing recount text skill.
Specifically, this study sought to investigate the empirical evidence about whether or not there is any significant relationship between students’ creative thinking ability and their writing recount text skill.
B. Identification of the Problem
1. Students still had lack of practicing their writing skill.
2. Many students still had low understanding in terms of recount text learning. 3. Many students considered that writing recount text is a difficult subject to
learn.
4. The method employed by the teachers in teaching and learning process seemed monotonous and was not interesting.
5. English teachers were less creative to give the students exercises in terms of learning recount text.
6. Many students still had low ability to think creatively as they were writing. 7. It was assumed that students with a high creative thinking ability will be more
successful to write a recount text than those who had a low creative thinking ability.
C. Limitation of the Problem
Based on the problems that were identified above, the problems of this research were limited on:
1. Students’ writing recount text skill
2. Students’ creative thinking ability.
3. Students’ creative thinking ability associated with their writing recount text
skill.
D. Problem Formulation
In line with the limitation of the problem above, the problem of this study was formulated as follows: Was there a significant relationship betweenstudents’ creative thinking ability and their writing recount text skill?
E. Objective of the Study
By considering the problems that were formulated above, the objective of this study was to investigate whether or not there was a significant relationship
F. Significance of the Study
The results of this study were expected to give significances not only theoretically but also practically that went to:
1. Students
Theoretically, it can provide students of the school in which this research was conducted more understanding about the importance of creative thinking ability in recount text learning. Meanwhile, practically, identifying the role
and effect of students’creative thinking ability in relation to their writing skill
gives a great chance to learn writing recount text successfully, i.e., they can figure out problems encountered as they are learning writing recount text. 2. English teachers
Theoretically, it can provide the English teachers of the school where this research was conducted more understanding about the importance of creative thinking ability in recount text learning. Also, it can serve as the information about their attainment related to the teaching and learning process of recount text. Meanwhile, practically, based on the information gathered as a result of this research, the creative thinking ability can be considered as a gateway
through which teachers can enhance the students’ writingskill, particularly on
recount text; besides, it can provide them better directions in designing the
students’ curriculum or lesson planassociated with recount text learning.
3. Other researchers
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respect to this study, i.e. creative thinking ability in relation to writing skill. Besides, this chapter presents the relevant studies investigating creative thinking ability and writing skill. Moreover, it reveals the synthesized concepts elaborated in a conceptual framework leading to the research hypotheses.
A. The Concept of Creative Thinking Ability 1. Nature of Creativity
Creativity is believed important for people in dealing with matters encountered in daily life. A number of new inventions have been produced through creativity. However, before discussing more about the importance of creativity, this section tries to uncover the nature as well as definitions in the light of several experts.
Adair points out that creativity refers to the ability associated with using mind and spirit that leads to things exist and have some use, beauty and significance.1 From this notion, creativity is deemed as the craft (as a result of employing mind and spirit) through which something unique and new appears. Also, through creativity something can be made to be useful, and have aesthetics, and significance. In daily life, there are numerous discoveries as a result of creativity, and one of the instances is mobile phones that continuously develop. In terms of usefulness and significance, the mobile phones provide a number of benefits, for instance, making information be easily accessed because each mobile phone now is equipped with the internet access; in addition, in terms of aesthetics, the recent mobile phones have several unique and nice forms, such as a slim form and even in the form of watch.
Similarly, Carter and Russel asserts, “Creativity refers to mental process
that lead to solutions, ideas, concepts, artistic expression, theories or products that
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are unique and novel.”2 From Carter and Russel’s definition above, creativity is
important in life because there are a number of benefits that can be obtained through the implementation of creativity, that is, novel and unique things comprising solutions, ideas, concepts, artistic expression, theories or products. For instance, as creativity is employed by English teachers in classroom, the teachers may have a new insight related to a new way that facilitates the learning and teaching process (e.g. attractive games as the learning apparatus).
In addition, Monahan reveals that creativity has an association with problem solving, and a problem is, therefore, the essential part of creative achievement.3 Based on Monahan’s view above, it can be considered that a
problem is the thing that can trigger people to be creative. It is because as they encounter a problem, their mind works and prods to solve the problem. For instance, as people lose their only job or being fired by their company in which they work for, they will work hard to find a way to earn money. In this case, to survive in life, they may open their own business as entrepreneurs (e.g. cookies sellers). The act to solve the financial problem according to the instance above can be considered as an endeavor which constitutes the manifestation of creativity.
Likewise, Lau points out that creativity is not only associated with scientific discoveries or works of art, and therefore it relates to scientists and artists, but the terms creativity also refers to the faculty that is needed to solve problems encountered in workplace or daily life; besides, he also states that better results of certain tasks can be obtained if creativity is employed.4
To sum up, creativity can be considered as the faculty or the ability associated with using mind and spirit that can trigger or prod people to work better in solving problems encountered in daily life. The work of creativity is
2
Philip Carter and Ken Rusell, More Psychometric Testing: 1000 New Ways to Assess Your Personality, Creativity, Intelligence, and Lateral Thinking, (Chicester: John Wiley & Sons, 2003), p. 147.
3
Tom Monahan, The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy: Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002), p. 49.
4
signed with something (such as a solution, idea, concept, artistic expression, theory or product) new and unique.
2. Assisting Techniques to Get Creativity
Creativity is really helpful and useful in daily life. However, it is not an easy craft that one can obtain. A number of experts have tried to figure out the ways to reach creativity. This section aims to discuss several ways that can be helpful to reach creativity.
Shively points out that in language arts, creative thinking ability can be facilitated through a number of ways associated with the FFOE (Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, and Elaboration) model advocated by Guilford as follows: a. Fluency or the ability in which lots of ideas which loosen up the creative
wheels is generated. It is facilitated through make a list of word choice options, or alternatives.
b. Flexibility or the ability through which question or topic can be viewed from a different angle. It is facilitated through retelling tales from a different
character’s point of view, debating/advocating from a position that is
disagreed, or make a guess of the key word behind a set of images or terms. c. Originality or the ability through which unique or unusual products as well as
unexpected ideas are produced. It is facilitated through visualizing poem about any controversial or problematic topic, such as racism, pollution, or cruelty to animals.
d. Elaboration or the ability in which details, filling in the gaps, embellishing, and completing a creative idea are involved. It is facilitated through creating a pass-along story or paragraph based on the list of words given, or giving figures of speech for a passage given.5
Moreover, Monahan advocates some aids or stimulus that are used to gain creativity summarized as follows:
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a. Observation
Through observing things or problems encountered, people can find out the solutions of the problems, and even when they have done a good thing, through observation they might think of a new way to get the better thing than the good thing obtained.
b. Listening
This is an activity in which people engage with speakers. This activity can help them obtain the ideas that they do not know or have beforehand. In this case, after they have listened and gotten the ideas, it had better to jot them. Jotting is considered useful because it can make them observe and write down the gist of ideas that come into their mind.
c. Taking Notes
This is the subsequent activity after observation and listening. It is the same as jotting in which every idea coming into mind is recorded.6
In addition, Lau reveals that creativity can be obtained through several habits summarized as follows:
a. SCAMPER
SCAMPER constitutes a mnemonic for a list of ways that are used to get new ideas. It consists of substitute something, combine it with something else, adapt something to it, modify or magnify it, put it to some other use, eliminate something, and reverse or rearrange it. The instances of scamper are as follows:
1. Substitute: substitute the typical material for making table with unusual material, such as recycled paper.
2. Combine: a table top that is a computer touch-screen or an aquarium. 3. Adapt: Use an antique door as a table, or the stump of tree as the leg. 4. Modify/magnify: modify it into a table with lots of very thin legs
5. Put to some other use: a table with adjustable height that can double as a bed.
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6. Eliminate: a table with no legs in this case it can be supported by an extended arm attached to the wall.
7. Reverse: Change how people sit. Make a big ring-like table with a hole in the middle so people can sit inside as well.
b. Analogy
The intent of analogy is to make people easy in solving problems encountered; in this case, it can be done through comparing the problems to similar problems that the people can solve beforehand.
c. Brute Search
It is an activity done through making a long list of possible solutions of certain problems found, and then these were tried out one by one until the appropriate solutions of the problems are obtained.
d. Perspective Shift
It is an activity to solve problems encountered. It is done through contrasting the problems with some perspectives, for instance, positive versus negative, fact versus value, people (e.g. teachers versus students), and so on.7
To sum up, creativity is not an easy matter to obtain. It can be obtained through a number of techniques. The techniques employed may vary due to the condition or the problems encountered.
3. Cycles of Creativity
To think creatively, there are a number of stages or cycles that must be followed by a creative thinker. This section aims to uncover the cycles of creativity based on some experts in details.
The stages of creativity consist of four stages which are briefly described as follows:
a. Preparation, i.e. a stage in which people try to deal with and solve the problems encountered through normal means.
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b. Incubation, i.e. the period when people perceive some frustration because the methods used in the preparation stage have not worked and then these eventually lead them to move away to other things.
c. Illumination, i.e. a stage in which people suddenly find the answer in their subconscious mind.
d. Verification, i.e. a stage where people’s reasoning powers take over when they analyze the answer of problems, and they assess its feasibility.8
Moreover, Lau reveals some other additional explanations related to the four stages or cycles of creativity above as follows:
a. Preparation
This stage is started with the process of gathering information about the problems encountered. This is conducted through a number of ways, such as going to the library, searching the web, talking to people, or collecting data or other items. Then, after the information had been collected, these are kept in some places that may be easily accessed, such as in a notebook, a box, or a computer. This stage constitutes merely collecting things that might be relevant without too much have some filtering or analyses. This is not an easy matter for people because many of them may feel impatient while they do not have adequate knowledge so that sometimes they meet some failure. Therefore, broadening mind and thinking about all possible sources that might help in doing tasks should be considered in this stage.
b. Exploration
This stage cover a number of activities comprising classifying the material, reorganizing them, looking at them from different perspectives, and trying to make a connections of the ideas and drawing conclusions. The aim of this stage is to create and find new and useful ideas. To succeed in this stage, a lot of concentration, analysis, and patience as well as avoiding distractions and devoting the attention fully to the task are required.
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c. Incubation
This stage constitutes the time on which people get some rest or put aside their task, relax, and forget for a while what they have been doing, and just wait the answer. In this case, a period of inactivity after intensive thinking may be believed to promote creativity. It is believed that this stage gives a chance for the unconscious mind work on the problem. In this case, it can be considered that the answers of the problems are found because some break time assist people to see the problems with a fresh eye.
d. Verification
It is a stage in which people have found the answers or ideas related to the problems; they recheck their work and see whether the answers or ideas can be improved further. It is done to avoid some mistakes that lead to the failure.9
In conclusion, to obtain some creative works, people are required to follow a number of stages comprising preparation, exploration, incubation, and verification. Furthermore, one thing that can be drawn from all the stages or cycles of creativity above is that one stage to other stages connect as well as is hierarchical one another. For instance, after the data gathered in the preparation stage, then these are continued to be classified and categorized in the exploration stage, which then is followed with incubation to get some ideas through putting aside the problem for a while, and these were rechecked in the verification stage.
4. Assessing Creative Thinking Ability
Some kinds of instruments gauging creative thinking ability have been proposed by a number of experts. The instruments are various due to the various notions associated with the nature or definition of creative thinking ability proposed by the experts. In this section, some of the explanations related to the instruments that are employed to assess creative thinking ability are discussed.
Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) developed a value rubric that is intended to assess creative thinking ability. This rubric follows the nature or creative thinking ability which constitute as the capacity through
9
which existing ideas, images, or expertise are combined or synthesized in original ways as well as the ability in which one is employed his/her thought, reaction, and work imaginatively, and these are indicated by a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking. The rubric consists of six dimensions such as acquiring competencies, taking risks, solving problems, embracing contradictions, innovative thinking, connecting, synthesizing, and transforming (the detail of creative thinking value rubric, see Appendix III).10
Creative thinking ability encompasses a number of dimensions or components. These components are commonly used as the indicators to assess the divergent thinking ability or creative thinking ability. The dimensions comprise: a. Fluency constitutes the ability to produce the number of different ideas. b. Flexibility constitutes the ability to produce the various ideas.
c. Originality constitutes the ability to produce unusual ideas. d. Elaboration constitutes the ability to produce details of ideas.11
Baer and Kaufman points out that the four dimensions above are assessed through making lists of things as many as possible of in a particular time constraint, for instance listing uses of bricks, boxes or tin cans.12
In addition, Treffinger et al asserts the four dimensions above work together with metaphorical thinking ability constituting the personal creativity characteristics.13In this case, the explanations and descriptions of the dimensions above are provided in detail as follows:
a. Fluency refers to the ability in which a large number of ideas in response to an open-ended question or in reference to one’s thinking process is generated. It
is the stimulus that can create both novel and useful ideas.
b. Flexibility constitutes the ability in which the direction of one’s thinking is
shifted or the ability to make point of view changed. It is indicated through
10
Association of American Colleges and Universities, Creative Thinking Value Rubric, http;//www.accu.org, 2015.
11
John Baer and James C. Kaufman,Being Creative Inside and Outside the Classroom:
How to Boost Your Students’ Creativity—and Your Own, (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2012), p.
21. 12
Ibid., p. 16. 13
ideas or experiences in unexpected or varied ways are involved that lead to the discovery of surprising and promising possibilities.
c. Originality constitutes the ability in which new and unusual ideas are generated. It involves the ability to generate unusual or statistically infrequent options or the ideas that might be offered by only few people.
d. Elaboration constitutes the ability in which details are added and expanded. It deals with the ability to make ideas richer and more interesting or more complete.
e. Metaphorical thinking refers to ability through which new connections are made through employing comparisons or analogies.14
Moreover, Treffinger et al also assert that the dimensions of creative thinking above can be observed through several things as follows:
a. Making a prediction, speculation, and forecast through a question: "What will happen if . . .?" and so forth.
b. Making new possibilities through combining or changing parts. c. Considering the metaphors or analogies of things.
d. Looking over ideas produced first before making a judgment or criticism about them.15
B. The Concept of Writing Skill 1. Definition of Writing
Like other language skills, writing is considered as the important language skill. It is the skill that can give a space for people to express ideas, feelings, and opinions, particularly in the written form. Due to its importance, a number of experts propose some definitions related to writing. The definitions are discussed and unraveled in details here.
Ploeger points out that writing is the activity in which one tries to discover things that he/she knows and feels, and it is the activity to have a communication
14
Ibid, p. 12. 15
to readers about the things.16 Based on Ploeger’s view above, writing can be
considered as an activity which covers two steps, i.e. discovering things, may be in the form of ideas, feelings, etc., and communicate them to the readers in the written form. For instance, as one wants to write about the Javanese culture, he/she must recall anything that he/she knows or feels about Javanese culture, for instance from its language or the way the Javanese people behave; then when he/she writes those knowledge related to Javanese culture down into a piece of paper to be read by his/her readers.
In addition, Broughton et al reveal that writing is considered as an activity which is both private and public.17 This notion can be interpreted that writing is private due to the fact that it is done by the writer alone, whereas it is considered public activity because it involves others or audience/readers, i.e. the writers try to communicate their ideas to readers, and sometimes the piece of writing is
determined by the readers’ needs.
Moreover, Langan states that writing is a skill that can be learned as well as it is a process of discovery entailing a number of steps.18This definition gives a description of writing that writing is a skill that can be learnt by anyone, certainly through continuous practices, whereas it is considered as a process of discovery due to the fact that to have a good final draft of writing, one should follow a number of steps through editing or revising until he/she finds that the writing has served its needs.
To sum up, based on the definitions of writing above, writing can be considered as a complex activity which is done alone by the writer through a number of steps started from searching the existing knowledge to publicizing the composition to readers. The more people practice to write the more skillful they create a composition.
16
Katherine Ploeger,Simplified Paragraph Skills, (Lincolnwood: NTC Publishing Group, 2000), p. 5.
17
Geoffrey Broughton et al.,Teaching English as a Foreign Language Second Edition, (New York: Routledge, 2003), p. 116.
18
2. Cycles of Writing
To obtain a good composition, there are a number of steps or cycles that must be followed by any writers. A number of experts have their own views related to the cycles of the writing. This section discusses the cycles of writing based on some experts in details.
Ruetten and Pavlik reveal that there are some processes of writing which consist of:
a. Prewriting
The process where one considers audience or the readers, discovers ideas, narrows the topic through brainstorming, determines a controlling idea, selects the supporting ideas, and organizes the idea in a logical way.
b. Drafting
This is the process where one starts to write the ideas down into a piece of paper to form a paragraph.
c. Revising
This is the process where one revises the composition in order that the ideas are conveyed logically and can be understood by readers.
d. Editing
This is the process where one checks the composition again whether it has used correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.19
Besides, Seow reveals that the writing process consists of four basic stages as what Ruetten and Pavlik mention above (i.e. planning/prewriting, drafting/writing, revising/redrafting, and editing), but in the classroom context he adds three additional stages which derive from teachers’ forces to students as follows:
a. Responding
It is the stage in which teachers have some interventions or reactions to
students’ first draft. It is commonly conducted by the teachers as the students
19
are between the process drafting and revising. It can be in the form of oral or written response/comments.
b. Evaluating
It is the stage in which teachers evaluate students’ writing. The students’
writing are evaluated through analytical scoring (i.e. the scoring conducted based on the specific aspect of writing) or holistic scoring (i.e. the scoring conducted based on the global interpretation of the aspect of writing). The aspect of writing encompasses grammar and structure, relevance, development and organization of ideas, spelling and punctuation, the word choice, and so on. Moreover, this stage can be conducted by the students themselves as well; in this case, they are encouraged to evaluate their (peers’)writing based on the scoring criteria above.
c. Post writing
It is the stage referring to any kinds of activity in which students and teachers
can do to the students’ final writing. This is conducted as a reward or
motivation that the students’ writings are important and worthwhile.
Publishing, sharing, reading aloud, transforming text for stage performance, or adhering them to the notice-board are the instances of any activities that they can do.20
In addition, Brown and Hood assert that the writing process theoretically encompasses some activities such as preparing, drafting, and revising, but in fact the writing process practically may run flexibly among one process and the others as represented in Figure 2.1 as follows:
Figure 2.1 Writing Process21
Based on Figure 2.2 represented above, the writing process consists of a number of steps. The steps are interdependent and interrelated. In this case, preparing, drafting, and revising connect one another. As people make a preparation to write, they can continue to have some draft and revise the composition. Also, the drafting process can be followed revising and so does the revising. Besides, having a preparing process can be preceded by revising or drafting process.
In conclusion, the cycles or processes of writing consist of some activities, and these are unpredictable and flexible. These are unpredictable and flexible because the completed piece of writings depend and are in accordance with the
writers’ conditions and view whether or not their final draft of writings have met
the writingpurpose and the readers’ needs.
3. Purposes of Writing
Writing is not merely an activity in which writers holds pen/pencil and communicate their ideas, feelings, or opinions to a piece of paper but there a number of reasons or purposes which underlie the writers to do it. This section will try to discuss and elaborate the reasons or purposes of writing in the light of several experts.
21
Kristine Brown and Susan Hood, Writing Matters: Writing Skills and Strategies for Students of English, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 6.
preparing
drafting
revising revising
drafting
Grenville points out that there a number of writing purposes that are summarized as follows:
a. Writing to entertain
The intent of this kind of writing is to engage the readers’ feeling through the
writing’s plot or the emotion conveyed in the writing. The writing to entertain
can be in the forms of writing novels, stories, poems, song lyrics, plays, and screenplays;
b. Writing to inform
This kind of writing aims to inform or tell readers about something. The writing to inform can be in the forms of writing newspaper, articles, scientific or business reports, instructions or procedures, and essay for school and university;
c. Writing to persuade
This kind of writing is intended to convince readers about something. Providing relevant and logical evidence is considered important and entailed in this kind of writing. The writing to persuade can be in the forms of writing for advertisements, articles, newspaper, and magazine.22
Similarly, Browne reveals the same thing as Grenville that the purposes of writing consist of writing to entertain, writing to inform, and writing to persuade, but she also mentions several other notions related to the writing purposes comprising writing to express feeling, to request, to instruct, to record, and to express opinions and ideas.23
To sum up, the kinds of writing purposes constitute the grounds that
underlie the writers do the writing activity that fit together with the readers’ needs.
Besides, the product of the writing will depend on the purpose of the writing itself.
22
Kate Grenville,op. cit., pp. 1—2. 23
4. Writing Recount Text
a. Definition of Recount Text
Many kinds of writing text are learnt by students at school, and a recount text is one of the texts that are importantly learnt by them. This section tries to discuss the definition related to recount text. First, Grenville reveals that recount constitutes a text of which purpose is to tell a series of events that occur in order.24 Based on this definition, a recount text can be considered as the text in which a series of events become the essential part of a recount text; in this case, the events are told chronologically to readers.
In addition, recount constitutes a text that is intended to relate experiences or retell events for a number of purposes, such as giving information, entertainment, or reflection.25Moreover, a recount text can take several forms summarized as follows:
1) Personal recount, i.e. a kind of recount text in which writers retells a personal activity as well as it may have an intention to build the relationship between the writers and readers. This kind of recount can take several forms, such as anecdote, diary journal, and personal letter. 2) Factual recount, i.e. a kind of recount text which aims to report a
particular incident through some factual information reconstructed. The instances of this kind of recount text can be police reconstruction of an accident, historical recount, biographical and autobiographical recounts. 3) Imaginative recount, i.e. a kind of recount text in which a factual
knowledge to an imaginary role is applied to interpret and recount events.A Day in the Life of Roman SlaveandHow I Discovered Radium are some of the writing works that constitute the instances of imaginative recount.
4) Procedural recount, i.e. a kind of recount text in which the steps in an investigation or experiment are recorded as well as it is used as the basis
24
Kate Grenville,op. cit., p. 194. 25
for reported results or findings. The instances of this recount text may take in the form of retelling data collecting in a research.
5) Literary recount, i.e. a kind of recount text which is intended to retell a series of events for entertaining the readers. The instances of this recount type may be similar to imaginative recount or personal recount texts above.26
In conclusion, a recount text is a text retells a number of past events or experiences chronologically based on time and place. Besides, it can be in several forms, such as personal, factual, imaginative, procedural, and literary recounts.
b. Structural Features of Recount Text
Knapp and Watkins reveal that a recount text has structural features comprising orientation in which characters are set up in a particular time and place, followed with sequence of events, and evaluation (optional)
discussing the writer’s interpretation of the events told.27
Similarly, the structural features or generic structures of a recount text are described as follows:
1) Orientation, i.e. a part in which the background information needed to understand the text is provided. It compriseswhowere involved in the story (the characters), when did the event happen (time), and wheredid the event happen (place).
2) Sequence of events, i.e. a part which describes the events happened and it is commonly ordered chronologically.
3) Re-orientation, i.e. a part which provides a summary statement/an evaluative comment/a return to the starting point.28.
26
Ibid.
27
Peter Knapp and Megan Watkins,Genre, Text, Grammar: Technologies for Teaching and Assessing Writing, (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press Ltd, 2005), p. 234.
28
The three structural features of a recount text above can be described in the following example:
Title : My Vacation
Orientation : Last month, my friends and I went to Pari Island. We stayed in a hotel there.
Sequence of Events
: During the vacation, we went to a marvelous beach of which name was Pasir Perawan beach. In fact, there were many foreigners who also visited the beach. It was so nice then. We decided to rent a banana boat there. After trying the banana boat, we came to other spots near the beach to go snorkeling. Numerous panoramic and dazzling views, such as the clown fish as well as beautiful rocks, can be seen under the water.
Re-orientation : On the last day of vacation, we did not forget to buy some typical souvenirs of Pari island sold by some of the local inhabitants. Although we seemed tired, but we all still looked happy then.
c. Language Features of Recount Text
Like other kinds of texts, the recount text has a particular language features used. This section attempts to reveals the particular language features of a recount text in details. First, Knapp and Watkins point out that the language features of a recount text consist of action verbs (commonly used in past tense verbs, e.g. held, did, performed), and temporal connectives (e.g. first, then, and so on).29
In addition, the language features of a recount text may use present tense, for instance in informal anecdotal storytelling (e.g. Just imagine—I’m
in the park and I suddenly see a giant bat flying towards me!), the subject of a recount text has a tendency to focus on individual or group participants (e.g.
29
third person:Theyall ate it;Sheran away), and the first person (e.g.Iwas on my way to your house; We went to school together) in terms of personal recount text.30
To sum up, language features of recount text consist of using past tense action verb (e.g. performed, did, etc.), temporal connectives (e.g. first, then, next, and so on), the subject focusing on individual or group participants (e.g. third person: They, She, and so on), and the first person (e.g. I and we).
5. Assessing the Writing Skill
Assessing the writing skill is not an easy matter. There are several
considerations as raters would like to assess one’s composition. A number of
experts have revealed that there are some kinds of scoring method that can be used to assess the writing skill. This section tries to discuss those kinds of scoring methods in detail.
Hughes asserts that there are two kinds of scoring to assess the writing skill summarized as follows:
a. Holistic Scoring
This is sometimes called as the impressionistic scoring. It is a kind of scoring in which a piece of writing is assessed with a single score based on a general impression of the piece of writing.
b. Analytic Scoring
This is a method in which a piece of writing is assessed analytically, i.e. the aspects of writing are scored separately.31
Likewise, Heaton also reveals similar methods of scoring with one additional kind of scoring as follows:
a. Impression method
30
South Gloucestershire Council,Revised Framework for Literacy, Support for Writing: Text Types Guidance and Progression Papers, 2015.
31
This is a scoring method, in which a single mark is valued as multiple marking; also, it is conducted through noticing the impression of composition in general. The procedure of this method is the raters are supposed to read a piece of writing rapidly and then giving a mark on it. This is supposed to be done based on only impression. This method is considered to be as the faster method in comparison with other scoring method.
b. Analytic method
It is a method which depends upon a marking scheme (e.g. vocabulary, mechanics, fluency, and relevance, etc.) that the raters ponder. Also, it is regarded as a method in which the various features of a composition is separated.
c. Mechanical Accuracy or Error-Count Method
It is pondered as the most objective of all methods, yet it has less validity and considered not be used. The procedure is by counting the number of errors of a piece of composition then deciding the scores based on the number of errors made. It is not recommended because it actually omits the real purpose of
writing, that is, communication; it simply concentrates on the students’
negative aspects of writing as well as position the students to the place in which they must simply write by minimizing mistakes.32
In addition, Weigle also points out three kinds of scoring procedures in
which two of them are similar to Hughes and Heaton’s notions above:
a. Primary Trait Scoring
This scoring is initially advocated by Lloyd-Jones through their work for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in US. In this case, this scoring method emphasizes on the success of students in writing a kind of discourse (for instance, persuasion or explanation). Also, the rating scale is has an association with the specific writing assignment. Besides, several categories may be included in the scoring guide. The scoring rubric of primary trait scoring comprises the following things:
32
1) The writing task
2) A statement of the primary of rhetorical trait (e.g. persuasive essay, congratulation letter, etc.)
3) A hypothesis about the expected performance on the task
4) A statement of the relationship between the task and the primary trait 5) A rating scale which articulates levels of performance
6) Sample scripts at each level
7) Explanation of the causes of each script was scored as it is. b. Holistic Scoring
It is a method in which a single score that is given to a piece of writing based on the overall impression of the script. The procedures comprise reading quickly the piece of writing and then evaluating it based on a rating scale or scoring rubric. Weigle, in this case, asserts that it is different from the its earlier scoring, i.e., general impression marking which is considered less reliable because there are no criteria that is explicitly stated.
c. Analytic Scoring
This is a scoring method in which several aspects of writing or criteria are used to assess a piece of writing separately. The features of criteria being rated depends on the purpose of the assessment, for instance it may include content, organization, cohesion, register, vocabulary, grammar, or mechanics.33
In conclusion, there are several methods of scoring in writing assessment. Each method of scoring has its own criteria and characteristics. Also, each scoring method has its own strength and weakness.
C. Relevant Studies
A number of studies investigating the creative thinking ability and writing skill had been conducted by several researchers. All the studies had been carried out in the context English as a foreign language. This section attempts to discuss the relevant studies associated with the present study in details.
33
A study which entitles Exploring the Relationship of Creative Thinking to Reading and Writing was conducted by Wang. This study investigates whether there is any significant relationship between personal creative thinking and reading and writing. The sample of this study covered 196 students who studied in a university in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the instruments used were questionnaire which measured the personal attitudes toward reading and writing, estimated
hours spent on different reading and writing, and the participants’ background
information, and creativity test (i.e. Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults). This study arrived at a conclusion that the students spending more time on reading/writing had a significant better performance on the creativity test. Therefore, creativity is considered to have a significant association with attitudes toward reading/writing and the amount of time spent on reading/writing.34
Next, a study under the title The Level of Creativity in English Writing among Jordanian Secondary School Students was conducted by Rababah et al. This study aimed to investigate the level of creativity in English writing. The sample of this study encompassed 100 secondary school students in Irbid and Amman cities in Jordan. The instrument employed was Torrance Test of Creative Thinking which was adapted and translated into the Arabic language. The findings indicated that 65% of the participants had moderate level in terms of their creativity in English writing, 19% participants were in the low level, and 16% participants were in the high level. As a result, this study arrived at a conclusion that most of the students had moderate level of creativity in English writing.35
In addition, Pishghadam conducted a study of which title is Learner Creativity and Performance in Written Narrative Tasks. This study intended to investigate the relationship between learner creativity and performance in written narrative tasks in the context of Iranian EFL students. The sample of this study covered 222 students of four universities in Mashad, Iran. The instruments used consisted of a narrative written task and a questionnaire which gauge the
participants’ creativity in terms of fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration
34
Amber Yayin Wang,loc. cit. 35
(FFOE). At last, a significant relationship were found between learners’
performance in written narrative tasks and their total creativity and also with some sub constructs of creativity, i.e. fluency, originality, and flexibility were found.36
Moreover, The Relationship between Creativity in Thinking and Writing Performance of Iranian EFL Learners on Comparison/Contrast was the next relevant study which was conducted by Soleimani and Najafgholian. This study intended to investigate the relationship between creativity in thinking and writing performance in comparison-and-contrast type of writing. The sample of this study encompassed 107 students from three universities in Tehran. The instruments used were the questionnaire and Torrance Test of Creative Thinking and Abedi Test of Creativity test to measure the participants’ creativity, and writing essay
test. This study arrived at a conclusion that there was a significant positive relationship between creativity in thinking and writing performance in comparison-and-contrast.37
Furthermore, another study of which title is Relationship of Creative Thinking with the Academic Achievements of Secondary School Students was conducted by Anwar et al. The intent of this study was to investigate whether there was a significant relationship between creative thinking and academic achievement of secondary school students. The sample of this study covered 256 students who had passed the Secondary School Examination from Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, in Gujranwala city. The instruments used
were Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) and documentation of students’
results on school examination. The study reached a conclusion that there is any
significant relationship between creative thinking and students’ academic
achievements.38
Based on the relevant studies discussed above, the present study has some positions, including similarities and differences, in comparison with the relevant
36
Reza Pishghadam, Learners Creativity and Performance in Written Narrative Tasks,
World Journal of Education, 1, 2011, pp. 115—125. 37
Hassan Soleimani and Sara Najafgholian,loc. cit. 38
studies above. This section attempts to describe those similarities and differences in details.
The first similarities and differences are seen in the light of the research variables investigated. In this case, the present study can be considered as a more specific study than the study conducted by Wang because the present study only focuses on creative thinking ability in association with writing ability whereas Wang employed Reading and Writing as the independent variable which is associated with creative thinking. Meanwhile, although Rababah et al,
Pishghadam, and Soleimani and Najafgholian’s studies applied the same
independent variable, i.e. writing, the present study is considered different from their studies because it more specifically focuses on investigating writing recount text. Moreover, the present study quite different in terms of the independent variable employed from the study conducted by Anwar et al who investigated academic achievement as the independent variable which was correlated with creative thinking.
The next similarities and differences are seen in terms of the research methods. In this case, the present study is similar to the studies conducted by Wang, Pishghadam, Soleimani and Najafgholian, and Anwar et al who employed a correlational research method. However, it is different from the method used by a study conducted by Rababah et al who applied descriptive method.
D. Conceptual Framework
Writing is the important language skill to be learned. Through writing, people can communicate, particularly in the written form, their ideas, feelings, or opinions about things to others. However, to learn this language skill is not easy because there a number of things that deserve some attention from the writers.
To master and to be proficient in writing is not easy because the writers are required to generate and organize the ideas as well as make them into a readable text.39 The readable text can be interpreted as the product of writing which is considered meaningful as well as entertaining as the readers read it. To attain the quality of readable text, one of the apparatus that may be useful and facilitating is the ability to think creatively. Through thinking creatively, more new and unique ideas and other solutions to figure out the problems as the writers are writing can be obtained.
As a result, although learning writing is not an easy matter, through creative thinking ability the writers may have a number of advantages as they are
writing. Therefore, as one is writing, one’s creative thinking ability should be
surely entailed. Consequently, it is supposed that creative thinking ability has a significant relationship with writing skill. In this case, the better the writer’
creative thinking ability, the better their writing skill will be.
E. Theoretical Hypothesis
Based on the theories discussed and elaborated above, a theoretical hypothesis is proposed. In this case, it is supposed that there is a significant
relationship between creative thinking ability and students’ writing recount text
skill. Consequently, if the students have poor creative thinking ability, they might not be able to write a recount text well; in contrast, if they have good creative thinking ability, they might be able to write a recount text well. Therefore, the more creative the students are, the more skillful they write a recount text.
39
31
Y X
conducted. In addition, it provides the explanation of the research design and instruments employed as well as the description of the way the data was collected and analyzed. Also, the synthesized hypotheses of this study are discussed here.
A. Place and Time of the Study
1. Place
This study was carried out at the eleventh grade of MA Khazanah Kebajikan Tangerang Selatan.
2. Time
This study was conducted in October 2015. This was conducted to investigate the relationship betweenstudents’ creative thinking ability and their writing recount text skill.
B. Research Design
The design employed in this study was a correlational research which is included as a quantitative research. It was used to find out the relationship between two variables encompassed a dependent variable and an independent variable. Next, the research paradigm—the model depicting the relationship between the research variables—is presented in Figure 3.1 as follows:
r
Figure 3.1 Research Paradigm1
Notes:
X: independent variable (i.e. creative thinking ability) Y: dependent variable (i.e. writing recount text skill) r: relationship
1
Based on the Figure 3.1 represented above, this study seeks to find out the relationship between the independent variable (i.e. creative thinking ability) indicated by X and the dependent variable (i.e. writing recount text skill) indicated by Y.
C. Population and Sample
The population of this study encompasses all the students in the eleventh grade of MA Khazanah Kebajikan Cirendeu, Tangerang Selatan academic year 2015/2016. There were two classes in the eleventh grade, i.e. XI IPA and XI IPS. Class XI IPA consisted of 18 students, whereas class XI IPS consisted of 22 students. So the total population of this study was 40 students. From the 40 students, only 26 students were taken as the sample of this study. The 26 students were determined through a purposive sampling technique. In this case, the 26 students were those who did not participate in the instrument try-out (i.e. test of creative thinking ability, section 3 about making analogies).
D. Research Instrument
The research instruments used in this study were tests. The explanations of the tests employed are discussed in details as follows:
1. Test of Creative Thinking Ability
flexibility, originality, and elaboration; in this case, the participants are asked to use their creative thinking verbally; they are asked to name as many as possible of new uses (i.e. maximum of 10 uses) for an everyday object given along the time constraint available. The third section specifically focuses on metaphorical thinking; in this case they are asked to answer a multiple choice questions associated with analogy. To facilitate the participants answer the creative thinking
test, the participants’ native language, i.e.Bahasa Indonesia, are employed. Next,
the creative thinking test used is explained and summarized into the test matrix presented in Table 3.1 below:
Table 3.1
Test Matrix of Creative Thinking Ability
Research
Metaphorical thinking 16 16% 3 16%
Total 100% 3 100%
2. Test of Writing Recount Text Skill
