ABSTRACT
IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT THROUGH WORD CLUSTER AT THE SECOND
YEAR STUDENTS OF SMA NEGERI 3 METRO
Eka Dewi Sosilawati
Writing is one of the language skill which expresses ideas, feelings, and thought
arranged in words, sentences and paragraph. Based on the researcher’s
experiences when doing PPL, although the students have been given a topic to write, they cannot automatically start their writing assignment. The problems always arise because the teachers have no specific technique to guide the students in developing their ideas and put them in written form. Finding the fact above, the researcher seeks to find a way on how to make students enjoy writing classes and assignment. The researcher applied word cluster to develop their descriptive text writing ability because it can help them generalize the ideas to be put in their paragraph writing.
The objective of this research was to find out whether there is improvement of
students’ descriptive text writing ability in the second year students after being taught through word cluster. This research was conducted based on experimental method. It applied one group pre test post test design because there was only one class in this research and the class was chosen by using purposive sampling. The data were in the form of score which was taken from pre-test and post-test and analyzed by using t-test.
By comparing the result of pre-test and post-test, it can be found that there is an increase of the students ability in writing descriptive text. The total score of pre-test was 2006.50 and the total score of post-pre-test was 2431.50. It meant that the total score of pre-test to post-test had increased 425 points. The aspect with the highest increase was content (4.14). The second was grammar (2.66) then vocabulary (2.31), organization (1.99), and mechanic (1.39). The result of the computation shows that the value of two tailed significance is 0.00. It means that H1 is accepted and H0 is rejected since 0.00 < 0.05. It proves that the treatments
which was given by the researcher had better effect to the students’ achievement
Research Tittle : IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN
WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT THROUGH : WORD CLUSTER AT THE SECOND YEAR : STUDENTS OF SMA NEGERI 3 METRO Student’s Name : EKA DEWI SOSILAWATI
Student’s Number : 0813042028
Department : Language and Arts Education
Study Program : English Education
Faculty : Teacher Training and Education
APPROVED BY
Advisory Committee
Advisor Co-Advisor
Prof. Dr. Patuan Raja, M.Pd. Drs. Ramlan Ginting Suka
NIP 19620804 198905 1 001 NIP 19570721 198603 1 003
The Chairperson of
Language and Education Department
Drs. Imam Rejana, M.Si.
ADMITTED BY
1. Examination Committee
Chairperson : Prof. Dr. Patuan Raja, M.Pd. ...
Examiner : Dr. Muhammad Sukirlan, M.A. ...
Secretary : Drs. Ramlan Ginting Suka ...
2. The Dean of Teacher Training and Education Faculty
Dr. Hi. Bujang Rahman, M.Si. NIP 19600315 198503 1 003
CURRICULUM VITAE
The writer’s name is Eka Dewi Sosilawati. She was born in Metro, June 10th, 1990. She is the second child of Sukarno and Marliah. She has a sister, Ida Yanti, S.T.
She entered TK Pertiwi Metro in 1994 and then continued her study in SD Negeri 6 Metro Barat in 1996. Having graduated from the elementary school in 2002, she entered SMP Negeri 1 Metro and graduated in 2005. After that, she finished her high school at SMA Negeri 3 Metro in 2008.
DEDICATION
This script is fully dedicated to:
My beloved parents: Sukarno and Marliah
(Thank you so much for your pray, love, and support, you’ve given) My beloved sister: Ida Yanti, S.T.
(Thank you so much for your support)
My beloved Ta: Ramadhita Gumilar
(Thank you so much for giving a wonderful color in my life and especially for cheering me up )
My great English 08: Anugerah, Devina, Milah, Siska, Epi, Nisa, Ica,
Mb’ Hesti, and Diah (Who make my spririt carried on)
MOTTO
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Praise is for Allah SWT, The Almighty God, for Blessing the writer with health and determination to finish this script. Then, sholawat is for our Prophet Muhammad SAW, with his family, followers, and all Moslems. This script,
entitled “Improving Students’ Ability in Writing Descriptive Text through Word Cluster at the Second Year Students of SMA Negeri 3 Metro”, is presented to the Language and Arts of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Lampung University as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for S-1 degree.
Among many individuals who gave generously suggestion for improving this script, first of all the writer would like to express her sincere gratitude and respect to her first advisor, Prof. Dr. Patuan Raja, M.Pd. and also to her second advisor, Drs. Ramlan Ginting Suka, who had contributed and given their evaluations, comments, suggestion during the completion of this script. The writer also would like to express her deepest gratitude and respect to Dr. Muhammad Sukirlan, M.A., for his encouragement and contribution during the seminar until the accomplishment of this script. The writer also wants to express her gratitude and respect to Prof. Dr. Ag. Bambang Setiyadi, M.A.,Ph.D. as her academic advisor along the writer’s college time.
Besides, the writers wants to extend her deep appreciation to Drs. Hi. Jumadi, M.Pd. as the headmaster of SMA Negeri 3 Metro, Sungatiyan Warsih, S.Pd. as the English Teacher of SMA Negeri 3 Metro, and to the students of SMA Negeri 3 Metro for their nice cooperation during the research.
Most importantly her special gratitude should go to her beloved father, Sukarno and her beloved mother, Marliah, who always give their prayer and support for every path the writer chose. Her thankfulness is due to her sister, Ida Yanti, S.T. for her encouragement. Her special thankfulness is also due to her beloved Ta for his great support. The writer also would like to thank for supports to her beloved friends: Anugerah, Devina, Milah, Siska, Epi, Nisa, Ica, Mb’ Hesti, and Diah. Hopefully, this script would give a positive contribution to the educational development or to those who want to carry out further research.
Bandar Lampung, 2012
CONTENTS
2.4 Teaching Descriptive Writing ... 14
2.5 Word Cluster ... 16
2.6 Procedures of Teaching Descriptive Text Writing through Word Cluster ... 19
2.7 Teaching Descriptive Text Writing through Word Cluster ... 21
2.8 Advantages and Disadvantages of Word Cluster ... 22
2.8.1 Advantages of Word Cluster ... 23
2.8.2 Disadvantages of Word Cluster ... 23
2.9 Theoretical Assumptions ... 24
III. RESEARCH METHODS ... 26
3.1 Research Design ... 26
3.2 Population and Sample ... 27
3.2.1 Population ... 27
3.2.2 Sample ... 27
3.3 Data Collecting Technique ... 28
3.4 Instrument of the Research... 29
3.4.1 Scoring System ... 29
V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 91
5.1 Conclusions ... 91
5.2 Suggestions ... 91
REFERENCES ... 94
LIST OF TABLES
Table page
3.1. Result of Reliability Test of Pre-test and Post-test ... 36
3.2. Table of Specification in Writing Test ... 40
4.1. The Distribution of Students’ Content Score in Pre-test ... 43
4.2. The Distribution of Students’ Grammar Score in Pre-test ... 44
4.3. The Distribution of Students’ Organization Score in Pre-test ... 46
4.4. The Distribution of Students’ Vocabulary Score in Pre-test ... 48
4.5. The Distribution of Students’ Mechanic Score in Pre-test... 49
4.6. The Distribution of Students’ Pre-test Scores ... 51
4.7. The Distribution of Students’ Content Score in Post-test ... 55
4.8. The Distribution of Students’ Grammar Score in Post-test ... 56
4.9. The Distribution of Students’ Organization Score in Post-test ... 58
4.10. The Distribution of Students’ Vocabulary Score in Post-test ... 59
4.11. The Distribution of Students’ Mechanic Score in Post-test ... 61
4.12. The Distribution of Students’ Post-test Scores ... 63
4.13. The Increase of Students’ Score in the Five Aspects of Writing ... 66
4.14. The Increase of Students’ Score ... 69
4.15. t-test Result of Pre-test and Post-test ... 78
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure page
2.1. Word Cluster ... 17
4.1. The Average Score of Pre-test ... 51
4.2. The Student’s Pre-test Score ... 54
4.3. The Average Score of Post-test ... 63
4.4. The Student’s Post-test Score ... 66
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix page
1. Schedule of the Research ... 99
2. Lesson Plan ... 100
3. Pre-test ... 104
4. Post-test ... 105
5. Scoring System ... 106
6. Result of Students’ Pre-test in Experimental Class ... 107
7. Result of Students’ Post-test in Experimental Class ... 108
8. The Score of Each Aspect in Pre-test ... 109
9. The Score of Each Aspect in Post-test ... 111
10. Reliability of the Pre-test ... 113
11. Reliability of the Post-test ... 115
12. Normality Test ... 117
13. Paired Sample t-test... 119
14. Students’ Pre-test 1 ... 120
15. Students’ Pre-test 2 ... 121
16. Students’ Pre-test 3 ... 122
17. Students’ Post-test 1 ... 123
18. Students’ Post-test 2 ... 125
19. Students’ Post-test 3 ... 127
20. Surat Izin Penelitian ... 129
I. INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses certain points; introduction that deals with background of
the problem, research problem, objective of the research, uses of the research,
scope of the research, and definition of terms clarified like the following.
1.1Background of the Problem
English teaching is intended to develop students’ ability to use English as a means
of communication. Students should practice intensively so that they will be able to
use English communicatively both in oral and written form. Writing in a foreign
language is a complex process involving the ability to communicate in foreign
language and the ability to construct a text in order to express one’s ideas
effectively. It requires a combination of clear set of rules and communicative
application that serves effective communication. Classroom writing instruction,
therefore, should give students the opportunity to participate in writing as a
holistic process of composition not just controlled exercises in sentence structure,
grammar, or bits of paragraph development if the main goal of the instruction is to
enable the students to write effective communication.
Based on School – based Curriculum (Depdiknas: 2006) the students are required to communicate oral and written text, mainly in the descriptive, narrative, recount,
complex meaning and variety textual meaning. Raimes (1983: 76) said that
writing is an ability in which we express the ideas, feelings, and thought arranged
in words, sentences and paragraph using eyes, brain, and hand. But, this objective
is very hard to achieve. The students often get the difficulties during the learning
process, especially to express their ideas into words or sentences. Almost of the
students are still confused about what will they write and how to write it.
Accordingly, most of students still experience difficulties in writing. Diharyono
(1990: 1) said that students know or have the ideas what they were going to write
but they did not know how to put them into words. The students often get
difficulties to express their ideas into words or sentences. When their teacher asks
them to make a composition, they get confused about expressing themselves in
written form. This might be caused by the following facts: firstly, the students do
not know the specific technique that can guide them in developing their ideas.
Secondly, they almost never get writing exercise (Juwitasari, 2005: 2), and
thirdly, many English teachers still teach writing in conventional way and
technique in teaching text.
The students may have writing classes but they sometimes feel confused of what
will be done after finding a topic. Based on the researcher’s experiences when
doing PPL in SMP Negeri 1 Adiluwih, Pringsewu, it was found out that although
the students had been given a topic to write, they could not automatically start
their writing assignment. This fact supports Marini’s statement (1995: 7) who states that the students still need a long time to figure out how to organize the idea
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They still have problems to relate all sentences in the paragraph to the main idea.
Another problem faced by the students was that because they have no specific
technique to guide them in developing their ideas and put them in written form.
Referring to the description above, it was assumed that word cluster was an
appropriate technique to solve the problem and improve the students’ writing
ability. Theoretically, word cluster could facilitate the students to plan their ideas
in systematical way (Oshima, 1997: 155). Word cluster provided students a frame
of ideas that guide the students to write. Therefore, word cluster could help the
students to focus on the idea that they intend to write in relation to the content and
to link sentences into coherent ideas in the target language. In addition, making
word cluster was an active process that also gave the students opportunities to
monitor their writing in order to minimize grammar errors and inaccuracy of
selection of words. Hence, it it assumed that word cluster can improve students’ writing ability.
In relation to word cluster, it was necessary to choose related text which would be
used as media to measure students’ writing ability. Due to its similar structure
with the essential paragraph, descriptive text was choosen. The use of descriptive
text was reasonable since the recent curriculum stated that descriptive text was the
one of the texts that should be learnt by the second year students of Senior High
School. It pointed out that the students should be able to understand and create a
descriptive text coherently and accurately based on the social function and the
generic structure of the text. Besides that, the students feel confuse how to
started writing, they naturally found difficulties on how continue their writing.
This will frustate the students and as the effect, they tend to stop practicing their
writing. In this case, word cluster is considered as an alternative technique that
can be used to develop students’ descriptive text writing.
Based on the facts above, the researcher tries to find a way on how to make
students enjoy their writing classes and assignment. The researcher will try to
apply word cluster to develop their descriptive text writing ability because it can
help them generalize the ideas to be put in their paragraph writing. Hopefully, it
can help the students become easier to write a descriptive text clearly and
communicatively.
1.2 Research Problem
In relation to the background, this research focuses on the following problem,
namely:
Is there any improvement of students’ descriptive text writing ability after being taught through word cluster?
1.3Objective of the Research
Concerning with the problem above, the objective of this research is:
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1.4Uses of the Research
This research aims at having the following uses:
1. Theoretically, the results of this study are expected to give contribution to the
theories in which word cluster could be applied to improve students’ text writing.
2. Practically, to inform readers, English teacher, language researcher, and other
practitioners the improvement of the students’ writing ability by using word cluster in order to develop English teaching method further. Hopefully, this
study can activate the students in learning process so that the ability in writing
text will increase.
1.5Scope of the Research
This research was conducted at SMA Negeri 3 Metro. The sample of the research
was XI IPA 2 students in academic year 2012/2013 in second semesters which
consists of 34 students was chosen as the sample of the research. This sample was
chosen because in accordance to the SMA curriculum, the students had already
studied about structure, vocabulary, and reading comprehension in the previous
semesters.
This study was focused on teaching descriptive text through word cluster. In this
research there were two topics of descriptive text, they were describing person and
place. The students’ achievement of descriptive text was evaluated in relation to content, grammar, organization, vocabulary, and mechanic. The test was given
twice; pre-test and post-test. The materials was adopted from the School Based
1.6Definition of Terms
In relation to the use of this study, there are some definitions clarified in order to
have similar understanding. The terms can be described as follows:
Writing
Writing is one of language skill in which the students learn how to get ideas and
expresses the ideas in written form by applying content, grammar, vocabulary,
mechanics, and organization.
Text
Text is any meaningful stretch of language either oral or written in the form of
word, cluse, and sentence.
Descriptive Text
Descriptive text is a composition that consists of sentences that develops the main
idea that makes the readers see or paint a verbal picture. It also conveys the
physical or abstract image of persons, events, ideas, and objects.
Word Cluster
Word cluster is a type of free associated listing. It begins with a core-word, a word
that acts as a metal stimulus to make the writer come up with related terms that
branch out from the center term. One term leads to another and another to create a
complex network of diverse ideas, all related back in the same way to the core
II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter discusses about theories underlying the research that covers: writing,
descriptive text, teaching writing, teaching descriptive writing, word cluster,
procedure of teaching descriptive text writing through word cluster, teaching
descriptive text writing through word cluster, advantages and disadvantages of
word cluster, theoretical assumptions, and hypothesis.
2.1 Writing
According to Raimes (1983: 76), writing is a skill in which we express the ideas,
feelings, and thoughts arranged in words, sentences, and paragraph using eyes,
brain, and hand. Thus, writing is the process of expressing the ideas and thoughts
of the writer using knowledge of the structure and vocabulary to combine the
writer’s ideas as a means of communication.
Writing is productive skill in the written form. Writing is a language skill that is
used for indirect communication. The students can communicate their ideas and
thought to others through a written form such as letter, message, or invitation for
communication. Furthermore, Linderman (1983) said that writing is a process of
communicating using conventional graphic system to convey a message to the
reader. Writing skill deals with the ability to arrange graphic system such as letter,
word, and sentences of a certain language being used in writing communication in
In the process of writing, the writer can be concluded successful if his/her writing
contains some aspects of writing. According to Jacobs et al (1981: 90) there are
five aspects of writing as follows:
1. Content refers to the subatance of writing, the experience of the main idea
(unity), i.e., groups of related statements that a writer presents as unit in
developing a subject. Content paragraph do the work of conveying ideas
rather than fulfilling special function of transition, restatement, and
emphasis.
2. Organization refers to the logical organization of the content (coherence).
It contains sentences that are logically arranged and flow smoothly.
Logical arrangement refers to the order of the sentences and ideas.
3. Vocabulary refers to the selection of words those are suitable with the
content. It begins with the assumption that the writer want to express the
ideas as clearly and directly as he or she can. As general rule, clarity
should be his or her primary objective. The selection of words that express
his or her meaning precisely is considered much rather than skew it or blur
it.
4. Language use refers to the use of correct grammatical and syntactic pattern
or separating, combining, and grouping ideas in words phrases, clauses,
and sentences to bring out logical relationship in paragraph.
5. Mechanic refers to the use graphic conventional of the language. For
instance, the steps of arranging letters, words, sentences, paragraphs,
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In summary, it is obvious that fundamental aspects writing skills are the content
(the substance of what the writer wants to say), the organization of ideas (in order
to achieve unity and coherence aspects), grammar (the system of rules governing
the conventional arrangement and relationship of words in a sentence), vocabulary
(the selection of words those are suitable with the content), and mechanics (the
use of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, hyphenation and abbreviation). All of
these aspects should be covered so the intended readers can understand the
message or information shared by the writer effectively.
Here is the example of descriptive text:
An elephant is the largest and strongest of all animals. It is a strange looking animals with it thick legs, huge sides and backs, large hanging ears, a small tile, little eyes, long white tusks and above all it has a long nose named the trunk.
The trunks is the elephant’s peculiar, and it has various uses. The elephant draws up water by its trunk and can squirt it all over its body like a shower bath. It can also lift leaves and puts them into its mouth. In fact the trunk servers the elephant as a long arm and hand. And elephant is very clumsy and heavy and it can move very quickly.
The elephant is a very intelligent animal. Its intelligence combined with its great strength makes it very useful servant to man and it can be trained to serve in various ways such as carry heavy loads, hunt for tigers and even fight.
(Adopted from English Book for Junior High School)
2.2 Descriptive Text
Descriptive text is one of the texts taught in KTSP besides narrative, spoof,
procedure, report, news item, anecdote, exposition, explanation, discussion,
commentary, and review. Descriptive text is a text that is used to give the readers
description about a particular person, place, or thing (DEPDIKNAS 2006: 81). It
focuses on the characteristic features of a person, an animal, or a particular thing.
When reading, a reader is expected to be able to visualize how the person, the
Social function of communicative approach of descriptive text is to describe a
particular person, place, or thing in detail or clearly. To achieve its purpose, the
descriptive text will move through a different set of stages:
1. Identification: identifies phenomenon to be described.
2. Description: provides details of the topic such as parts, qualities,
characteristics, etc.
The stages above are the generic structure/ text organization of the descriptive
text. The generic structure of this text has two parts, which are identification and
description. Identification is used to identify the phenomenon to be described. It is
usually begun with the statement responding to the questions of what or who:
what is going to be described or who is going to be described in the following
sentences. For examples, when a writer wants to describe about a person, he or
she will start his identification by mentioning the name of the person and the
general identification about who he is. And if we will describe about a room, he or
she can start by mentioning what room he will describe and the general
information or identification about the room. Therefore, in description, the writer
focuses on the description of the parts, the qualities and the characteristics of a
place, person or thing to be described. After a person is identified, for instance,
the writer describes characteristics of the person from his personal information,
personality traits and physical appearance. But when a writer a writer describes
about a room, he can describes about the furniture, the function of the room and
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Besides generic structure, descriptive text also has language features (lexica
grammatical features). The following are the language features of descriptive text:
1. Focus on specific participants: a particular class or thing, person, or place
(e.g. Queen Elizabeth, Radar Lampung, and Train) rather than generalized
participants (e.g. the royal family, newspaper, public transportation).
2. Use of attributive and identifying process: additional adverbs of the subject
mentioned (e.g. adjective clause, adjective phrase, and linking verbs such
as taste, smell, appear, look, is am, are, etc.).
3. Use of simple present tense.
4. Frequent use of classifier in nominal group (e.g. one of…, many of…, et.)
The significant lexicon grammar features of descriptive text include the use of
specific participants, attributive, process identification, epithets and classifiers in
nominal groups, simple present tense and sometimes past tense. The present tense
is mostly used in descriptive texts. The past tense is also used to describe an
object that does not exist anymore. Beside that, descriptive text also often uses
neutral and objective language. As in this research, students are expected to write
a short descriptive text, about 100-150 words, they will only be asked to write a
text of descriptive text. In a longer text, the first text is usually used to identify
what or who will be described. Then, the following text is used to describe the
specific characteristics of the phenomenon described. But as its short length, the
first to the third sentences will be used for identification and the following
The following is the example of descriptive text taken from School-Based
Curriculum (2006:149):
1) Identification
Natural bridge national park is a luscious tropical rainforest.
Identification is used to identify the phenomenon to be described. It is usually
begun with the statement responding to the questions of what or who: what is
going to be described or who is going to described in the following sentences. For
examples, when a writer wants to describe about a place, he will start his
identification by mentioning the name of the place and the general identification
about the place.
2) Description
It is located 110 kilometers south of Brisbane and is reached by following the pacific highway to Nerang and then by traveling through the Numinbah valley. The scenic roadway lies in the shadow of the Lamington National park.
The phenomenon of the rock formed into natural ‘arch’ and the cave through
which a waterfall cascades is a short 1 kilometers walk below a dense rainforest canopy from the main picnic area. Swimming is permitted in the rock pool. Night-time visitors to the cave will discover the unique feature, of the glow worms.
Picnic areas offer toilets, barbecues, shelter shed, water and fireplaces; however, overnight camping is not permitted.
In description, the writer will focus on the description of the parts, the qualities
and the characteristics of a place to be described. After a place is identified, for
instance, the writer will describe characteristics of the place from the location, the
scenery of the Lamington National Park and many others.
From the example of the descriptive text above, it can be seen that the
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descriptions. Identification identifies phenomenon to be described (Natural Bridge
National Park). In other hand, descriptions tell the Natural Bridge National Park
more clearly.
2.3 Teaching Writing
According to Brown (1980:7), teaching is showing or helping someone to learn
how to do something providing with knowledge, causing to know or to
understand. It means that in teaching, teachers helps the students and guides them
to learn the material easily. In relation in teaching writing, Reid (1993:27) said
that teaching writing is a unique way to reinforce learning. It means teaching
writing is very important in order to built students’ language ability. Therefore,
teachers should know the problems faced by the students during teaching learning
process in order to know the appropriate way to overcome the writing problem in
writing class.
Meanwhile, Lado (1959:125) states that the goal of teaching foreign language is
the ability to use it, to understand the speech and of its native and target culture in
terms of their meaning as well as their great ideas in achievement. Raimes (1983)
also states that learning to write is not only learning how to use orthographic
symbol, but primarily how to select and organize experience according to certain
purpose. It follows that teaching to write is different in every important way from
teaching to speak to teaching active thought.
Yuwono (1994:16) states that in order to be successful in writing, an English
teacher should guide his students in writing, in which the material presented are
composition with few or even no error. Since teaching writing is to teach the
students how to express the idea or the imagination in writing form, it is very
important for the teacher to provide the materials which are relevant to the
students’ interests and needs. Besides, the students’ capacities and age are crucial
aspects to be taken into account in guiding the students it make a composition.
Since both writing and speaking are productive and active ability, teaching writing
is not similar to teaching speaking because both of the activities are different. In
speaking, the speaker can express their mind orally and the results can be
evaluated directly by the reader. While in writing, the writer might have enough
time to express the idea in written form. There are some elements of writing skill
that are needed in teaching writing such as content, grammar, organization,
vocabulary, and mechanic. These elements can not be separated each other.
Teacher needs it take account into them while teaching writing. In other words,
teaching writing guides the students not only to write sentence in text but also to
organize the ideas in written form.
2.4 Teaching Descriptive Writing
Smalley and Ruetten (1986) says that descriptive writing is referring to passage
intended to describe the reader about something. In relation to teaching
descriptive text writing, teacher should help students express anything in their
mind about certain object into words and sentences. They should describe an
object clearly in order to make the readers able to see the object in their mind as
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To achieve this goal, the students need teacher’s helps. Teacher can start to help the students by asking them to describe a topic. They can start to describe the
topic by explaining its habits, parts, characteristics, quantities, and qualities. If the
students are able to describe them clearly, the purpose of descriptive text
automatically can be achieved easily.
To sum up, when the teacher teaches the descriptive text writing, he/she focuses
on three important things. The first is how to express and develop students’ ideas into the text. Students should know how to choose and write the main idea and
then develop it with the generic structure of the text. The second is the three steps
of writing process. They are planning, drafting, and revising. And the last, the
teacher should think of interesting activities that can help students to express their
ideas. Interesting activities can motivate the students and make them enjoy the
learning process. Here is the example of descriptive writing:
Niagara Falls is a famous area of waterfalls. It is one of the most beautiful natural wonders of North America. It is on the Niagara River, about halfway between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The Niagara River forms part of the border between Canada and the United States. At Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada is on one side of the river, and the U.S. state of New York is on the other side.
Niagara Falls really has two waterfalls. The Horseshoe Falls are in Canada, and the American Falls are in the United States.
The Niagara River drops into a steep gorge or canyon, at the falls. Most of the water flows over the Horseshoe Falls. They are not as high as the American Falls, but they are 2,600 feet (792 metres) wide–about 0.5 mile (0.8 kilometre). The American Falls are about 1,000 feet (305 metres) wide.
Beyond the falls are the Whirlpool Rapids. There, the powerful swirling water has carved a bowl out of the rock.
2.5 Word Cluster
Macdonald and Macdonald (1996: 34) say that word cluster is a type of free
associated listing. It begins with a core-word, a word that acts as a mental
stimulus to make the writer come up with related terms that branch out from the
center term. One term leads to another and another to create a complex network of
diverse ideas, all related back in the same way to the core stimulus word.
Meanwhile, Manser (1991: 73) states that cluster means a group of things close
together or forms a close group. It means that cluster is a group of specific words
that are related to a general word.
Macdonald and Macdonald (1996: 34) also state that word cluster is a good way
to generate general unifying categories (abstractions) as well as a way to come up
with specific support (details). This is true because the word clue is developed
from the most general (the core) until the most specific (the branch). The students’
task is only to develop sentences from the clues that are already made before. It
will be much easier because they already know what they are going to write in
their paragraph.
Hogue (1996: 91) states that word cluster like listing is another way to get ideas to
write about something and write them in circle or bubbles, around the topic. Based
on this statement, word cluster is the writing technique to develop their ideas
(learners) and write the words or phrases in circles or bubbles. Seow (2002: 316)
defines that clustering is a simple yet powerful strategy. Its visual character seems
to stimulate the flow of association and particularly good for students who know
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Word cluster is a type of prewriting that allows the learners to explore many ideas
as soon as they occur to the learners. Like brainstorming or free associating, word
cluster allows learners to begin without clear ideas. So, it can be concluded that
word cluster can explore many ideas from mind. It is a good way to develop idea
before starting the writing activity. The learners can do it on their own or with
friends or classmates to try to find inspiration or ideas.
Word cluster is a nonlinear activity that generates ideas, images and feelings
around a stimulus word as follows:
Figure 2.1 Word Cluster
Based on this statement, word cluster is an activities that generate idea by using
circles and it starts from a stimulus word or the words expectation, then develop
them into several groups.
Reid (1993: 6) mentions that the invention of word cluster helps writers to
generate, develop, and arrange their ideas. It can be said that word cluster helps
the learners in developing their idea. The goal of word cluster is to determine the
intrinsic grouping a set of unlabeled data. It can be shown that there is no absolute
Consequently, it is used to supply this criterion, in such way that the result of the
clustering will suit their needs.
To begin to cluster, choose a word that is central to your assignment. For
example, the core-word is “expectations”, write that word in the middle of your
sheet of paper. Circle “expectations,” then write words all around it—words that
occur to you as you think of “expectations.” Write down all words that you
associate with “expectations,” words that at first may seem to be random. Write
quickly, circling each word, grouping words around your the central word.
Connect your new words to previous ones with lines; when you feel you have
exhausted a particular avenue of associations, go back to your central word and
begin again.
Based on the statement, it can be concluded that in clustering technique, there are
some steps: (1) Choosing a word or phrases; (2) Putting the word or phrases in
central; (3) Circling the word or phrases; (4) Writing words all around the word or
phrases that associate with the word in central; and (5) Connecting the new word
or phrases to previous ones with lines. Moreover, word cluster technique helps the
writer or learners to start the writing activity from the new expectation words and
develop them in a bubbles or circles form. Word cluster involves writing down a
word or phrase and engaging in free association. Each association is written down
and connected to the original stimulus by an arrow or line. If association generates
further associations, chains of associated words are produced. Furthermore word
cluster is related to words or phrases. The learners start to write down the ideas
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the difficulty in developing ideas. It is effective in reading activity and developing
writing skill. It is also effective if the learners are rich in vocabulary.
2.6 Procedures of Teaching Descriptive Text Writing through Word Cluster
The material is presented like the followings:
AGNES MONICA
Agnes Monica is famous actress in Indonesia. She was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 1, 1986. Her full name is Agnes Monica Sukma, but she is well known as Agnes Monica. Her parents are Ricky Muljoto and Jenny Siswono and they are 100% behind her in everything she does. Agnes Monica has only one sibling. His name is Steve Muljoto. He is about nine years older than Agnes. Despite her young age, Agnes has already released three albums, Si Meong, Yess, and Bala-Bala. She also became a TV presenter. When she was 15,she played a significant role in a TV series called Pernikahan Dini. She received several awards for her role as Dini. Agnes Monica continues producing more albums and acting. She becomes more famous everyday. Thousand of her fans attend her concerts.
The procedure of Teaching Descriptive Text Writing through word cluster is
presented as follows:
Pre-writing activity:
a. The students are asked to mention the most famous actress or actors in
Indonesia, e.g.
T: Students, who is the most famous actress or actors in Indonesia?
S: The most famous actress is Agnes Monica.
b. The students are asked what they know about descriptive text, e.g.
T: Students, do you know what descriptive text is?
S: Descriptive text is a text that describes about something.
T: Good, Descriptive text tells about person, place, or thing.
T: Students, we can conclude that descriptive text is describing
person, place, or thing.
d. The students are explained about the generic structure, language features,
and social function of the text, e.g.
T: Students, let me explain about the generic structure, language
features, and social function of descriptive text.
e. The students are explained about word cluster and given an example of
word cluster, e.g.
T: Students, let me explain about word cluster.
Writing activity:
a. The students are asked to make a group consists of five students, e.g.
T: Students, make a group consists of five students.
b. The students in groups are given a topic, e.g.
T: (Give the topic to the students in groups).
c. The students write a short list of associated key words for the topic given,
e.g.
T: Firstly, you write a short list of associated key words based on
the topic.
S: Yes, Mom. We will write a short list of associated key words
based on the topic.
d. The students discuss the key words and delete any unrelated word or add
some more words related to the topic based on the discussion, e.g.
T: Secondly, you discuss with your friends to delete any unrelated
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S: Yes, Mom.
e. The students write a descriptive text based on the clues they have made,
e.g.
T: Next, you develop your key words.
f. The students’ writing are checked by the teacher, e.g.
T: After you finish your writing, I will check it.
S: Yes, Mom.
Post-writing activity:
a. The students rewrite or revise their writing, e.g.
T: After that, revise your work may involve additions and deletions;
changes in syntax, sentence structure, and organization; and in some
cases.
S: Yes, Mom. We will revise our work may involve additions and deletions;
changes in syntax, sentence structure, and organization; and in some
cases.
b. The students submit their descriptive text writing, e.g.
S: (the students submit their writing).
2.7 Teaching Descriptive Text Writing through Word Cluster
When using word cluster, teachers should be aware of the following three general
guidelines. First, because writing is difficult, the teacher should adopt the role of
assistant and guide the work closely with the students to encourage them, offering
helpful feedback and suggestions. It is crucial for teachers to offer positive and
efforts to arrouse curiosity and self-confidence by matching student interest to the
writing topic, and they should be sensitive to any individual differences that arise
in the word cluster.
Second, teacher should directly train students about writing strategies. If teachers
demonstrate how prewriting activates the schemata and outline strategies for the
drafting and revision processes, students will be more successful in writing
compositions. You (2004) states writing performance is as much a result of
students’ use of strategies in various processes of writing as it is of their handling
of the language.
Third, teacher should include the listening, speaking, and reading skills in the
writing class. Integrating the four language skills promotes the expansion of the
students’ overall language competence (Goodman, 1986). The word cluster makes
this feasible, as background material is read during prewriting activities, and
speaking and listening occur during lectures and when giving or receiving
feedback. Descriptive text is one of famous text in Senior High School. It describe
about particular person, place, or thing. Everyone likes to write about the thing
that is exist and the thing that does not exist, something that can not be seen, felt,
smelt, or even touched. This topic makes the students interested in writing class. It
is hoped the teacher can use word cluster to teach descriptive text to the students.
2.8 Advantages and Disadvantages of Word Cluster
As a matter of fact, every strategy bears some advantages and disadvantages.
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order to make the implementation of the strategy in teaching process more
effective.
2.8.1 Advantages of Word Cluster
Word Cluster is considered as an alternative technique to teach writing because it
has many advantages. The advantages of using word cluster technique can be
described as follows:
1. It helps students to generate and develop their ideas (Reid, 1993: 6).
2. It allows the students to focus to the topic when they are writing.
3. Word cluster makes their writing flow coherently because they write the
paragraph by following the plan.
4. Word Cluster can help students arrange their ideas in the sense that they will
not include any irrelevant thought or unimportant points.
From the advantages above, we can see that the first and the second points mean
content aspect. The third and the last points mean organization aspects. So we can
conclude that teaching using word cluster will help the students to improve their
content and organization aspects in writing.
2.8.2 Disadvantages of Word Cluster
The disadvantages of using word cluster technique can be described as follows:
1. Word cluster is not a good technique when it is used to write an essay writing
which has long paragraph.
Since word cluster is one of the brainstorming techniques, it is called as the
natural way in developing the writing. Word cluster is the surface of technique in
teaching writing that is consisted of word or phrase so word cluster also have the
disadvantages that have been mentioned above.
2.9 Theoretical Assumptions
In teaching writing, there are many techniques that can be used by the teachers to
reach the goal of teaching learning process. As has already been stated that
writing is counted as the most difficult skill, students need to consider the five
aspects of writing namely content, grammar, organization, vocabulary, and
mechanic. Besides some cases showed that it is hard to students are facilitated to
plan their ideas in systematical way.
Word cluster is a technique that can be used to teach descriptive text writing. It is
also a tool that helps the students to express their ideas in writing descriptive text.
In the teaching process, the teacher guided the students to organize and write
descriptive text including the five aspects of writing; content, grammar,
organization, vocabulary, and mechanic.
The researcher assumed that word cluster enables the students to write descriptive
text writing more easily because it helps them to develop the ideas that they will
put in their descriptive text writing. In other words, it will help the students to
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2.10 Hypothesis
Based on the theoretical assumption above, the writer formulated the hypothesis:
“There is improvement of students’ descriptive text writing ability after being
III. RESEARCH METHODS
In research methods, research design, population and sample, data collecting
technique, instrument of the research, research procedure, data analysis, and table
of specification in writing test are presented. It is presented to clarify research
question “is there any improvement of students’ descriptive text writing ability
after being taught through word cluster?”.
3.1 Research Design
This research was a quantitative research. It applied an experimental method. It
aimed to find out whether there is any improvement of students’ descriptive text writing ability taught by using word cluster. This research would involve one
group of students with pre-test and post-test design.
The design of this research could be represented as follows:
T1 X T2
Hence, it could be said that the illustration above classifies that it was a true
experimental design. The experimental class was selected purposively. To add,
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Where:
T1 : Pre-test. This test is a preliminary test administered to determine a
student's baseline knowledge or preparedness for an educational experience or
course of study. The pretest would be administered to find out the students’ initial ability in writing descriptive text before the treatments.
X : Treatment. Treatment is something that researcher administer to
experimental units. Subsequently, the students’ in the experimental class would be given two treatments by using word cluster.
T2 : Post-test. This test is a test given after a lesson or a period of
instruction to determine what the students have learned. A post test would be
administered to find out the students’ ability in writing descriptive text after the treatments.
(Hatch and Farhady, 1982)
3.2 Population and Sample 3.2.1 Population
The subject of this research was conducted at the second year student of SMAN 3
Metro in academic year 2012/2013.
3.2.2 Sample
This reaserach was conducted in SMAN 3 Metro. There were three XI IPA
classes; IPA 1, IPA 2, and IPA 3. Based on the the scores that they got in English
writing test, XI IPA 1 was the best class, but XI IPA 2 was the worst class. The
sample of this research was XI IPA 2 students in academic year 2012/2013 in
second semester which consists of 34 students was chosen as sample of the
research. These students are selected purposively. The selection of the subject was
that was conducted by their teacher, the lowest, middle, and the highest score are
in class XI IPA 2. It meant that XI IPA 2 was heterogeneous students’ level. The researcher chooses that class because hopefully word cluster can help the students
to improve descriptive text writing ability in all level. It means that by using word
cluster, not only the cleverest students that can increase their descriptive text
writing ability but also the students who are not clever be able to increase their
descriptive text writing ability. So, words cluster can improve students’ writing
ability in writing descriptive text in all students’ level (lowest, middle, and highest).
3.3 Data Collecting Technique
In collecting the data, the researcher used the following technique:
1. Administering the Pre-test
The pre-test was given before the treatment in order to know how far the
competence of students in writing descriptive text. By giving the pre-test, we
would know some problems of students in writing. The test was in written form
and the materials that would be tested based on the curriculum that was used in
the school.
2. Treatment
The researcher used word cluster as a treatment that would be applied in this
research. Word cluster began with a core-word, a word that acted as a mental
stimulus to make the writer come up with related terms that branch out from
the center term. One term leaded to another and another to create a complex
network of diverse ideas, all related back in the same way to the core stimulus
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3. Administering the Post-test
The post-test was given after the treatment in order to know whether there is
any improvement of students’ descriptive text writing that is taught by word cluster. The test was written form and the materials that would be tested, relate
to curriculum that was used in the school and suitable with their level. The
result of the post-test would be compared with the pre-test in order to make
sure whether word cluster improves students’ ability in writing descriptive text or not.
3.4 Instrument of the Research
There was only one instrument of the research going to be employed in this
research. The instrument of the research was essay test. The researcher gave the
written test to the students related to the descriptive text. The students must
choose only topic from the topics that was given. It would be person or place. And
the evaluation criteria were content, grammar, organization, vocabulary, and
mechanics.
3.4.1 Scoring System
The researcher used impression method; a method of scoring that used multiple
marking (Heaton, 1991: 147) in order to minimize the subjectivity. The researcher
used two raters in scoring students’ writing test. The first rater was the English teacher of SMA Negeri 3 Metro and the second rater was the researcher. The
formula is:
Where:
FS = Students’ final score
C = Score from content
G = Score from grammar
O = Score from organization
V = Score from vocabulary
M = Score from mechanic
3.4.1.1 Scoring Writing Test
To gain the data in this research, the researcher considered based on the following
(adopted from Haris, 1979: 68-89):
1. Content : the sentence of the writing, the idea expressed (unity).
2. Grammar : the employment of grammatical forms and syntactic patterns.
3. Form : the organization of the content (coherence).
4. Vocabulary : the selection of word that suitable with the content.
5. Mechanic : the conventional devices used to clarify the meaning.
The score of the test in writing descriptive would be derived as follows:
Content : 20%
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Organization : 20%
Vocabulary : 20%
Mechanic : 20%
Based on the content above, the writer evaluated the aspects of descriptive text
writing based on content, grammar, organization, vocabulary, and mechanics. The
lowest score was 35 and the highest score was 100.
3.4.1.2 Calculating of Mean
The researcher listed the scores and calculated the means through mean formula
as follows:
Where:
X = mean
∑x = total score
N = number of students
Mean can show whether the test was easy or difficult. If the mean score was too
high, it means the test was very easy for the students. And there was an error in
giving the score for the students. A mean of 90 means that the test was easy while
an average of 40 means the test was difficult. According to Heaton (1991, p.175),
scores divided by the total number of students. It was not the most efficient
measure of central tendency, but it was not always appropriate.
3.4.1.3 Standard Deviation
Standard deviation (s.d) was another way of showing the spread of scores. It
measured the degree to which the group of scores deviates from the mean in other
words, it showed how all the scores were spread out and thus degree to which the
group of scores deviated from the mean; in other words, it showed how all the
scores were spread out and thus gave as a fuller description of test scores than the
range, which simply described the gap between the highest and lowest marks and
ignores the information provided by all the remaining scores. To see the
calculating of s.d researcher used following formula:
. � =
√∑��Where:
s.d = find out the amount by which each score deviates from the mean
d2 = square each result
∑d2 = total all the result
N = numbers of testees
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In order to know the students get any progress, the following formula would be
used:
I = M2 – M1
Where:
I = the improve of students’ ability
M2 = the average score of post test
M1 = the average score of the pre test
(Arikunto 1997: 68)
3.4.2 Validity of the Test
A test can be considered valid if the test measures the objectives to be measured
and suitable with the criteria (Hatch and Farhady, 1982: 250). According to Hatch
and Farhady (1982: 281) there are two basic types of validity; content validity and
construct validity. In order to measure whether the test has a good validity, those
two types of validity will be analyzed.
Content validity is concerned with whether the test is sufficiently representative
and comprehensive for the test. In the content validity, the material given was
suitable with the curriculum. Content validity is the extent to which a test
measures a representative sample of subject matter content, the focus of content
validity is adequacy of the sample and simply on the appearance of the test (Hatch
and Farhady, 1982: 251). This study used descriptive writing test that was
supposed to be comprehended by the second year of junior high school students.
constitutes a representatives sample of the language skill and structure and also
the material used were chosen based on 2006 English Curriculum of KTSP for
second year junior high school.
Construct Validity is concerned with whether the test is actually in line with the
theory of what it means to know the language that is being measured, it would be
examined whether the test given actually reflect what it means to know a
language. In this research, scoring criteria was based on the five aspects of
writing; content, grammar, organization, vocabulary and mechanics that were
suggested by the notion suggested by Jacobs et al (1981: 90).
3.4.3 Reliability of the Test
Hatch and Farhady (1982: 243) established that the reliability of a test can be
defined as the extent to which a test produces consistent result when it
administered under similar conditions. In order to ensure the reliability of scores
and to avoid the subjectivity of the research, there will be inter-rater reliability.
Inter-rater reliability was used when score on the test is independently estimated
by two or more judges or raters. In this case, the first rater was English teacher of
SMA Negeri 3 Metro, Sungatiyan Warsih, S.Pd. and the second rater was
researcher. Before scoring the students descriptive text writing, it is important to
make sure that both raters used the same criteria of scoring. Hereby, the first and
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To measure how reliable the scoring was, this tudy used Spearman Rank
Correlation with the formula that can be described as follows:
= − � � −�. ∑�
Where:
r = Coefficient of rank correlation
d = Difference of rank correlation
N = Number of students
(Sugiyono, 2006: 228)
In this case the researcher also uses the standard of reliability (Arikunto, 1997:
260) below:
1. 0.80 – 1.0 = very high reliability
2. 0.60 – 0.79 = high reliability
3. 0.40 – 0.59 = medium reliability
4. 0.20 – 0.39 = low reliability
5. 0.0 – 0.19 = very low reliability
Based on the standard of the reliability above, the result of the calculation showed
that the reliability coefficient of the pre test and post test was very high. It meant
that the test produce consistent result when it administered under similar
It can be seen from the table below:
Table 3.1 Result of Reliability Test of Pre-test and Post-test
(r-value)
Pre Test 0.934988541 Post Test 0.81
According to the table above, it is found that the reliability coefficient of pre-test
were 0.934988541 respectively (see Appendix 10). Meanwhile, the reliability
coefficient of post-test were 0.81 respectively (see Appendix 11). Based on the
standard criteria list, both of the tests were considered as very highly reliable and,
therefore could be used in this research.
3.5 Research Procedure
There were three steps that would be done in research procedure, they were:
a. Planning
1. Preparing the pre-test
This test was prepared by providing the topic and materials that would be
tested. The test was in written form.
2. Preparing the materials
The materials that was prepared to the students relate to the curriculum
that were used in the school and also suitable to introduce word cluster in
teaching writing of descriptive text to the students in the class.
3. Preparing the post-test
This test was prepared by providing the topic and materials that would be
tested in the post-test. The topic that was given in this test was based on
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b. Application
After making planning, the planning that had been prepared could be
applied. There were some steps that must be applied, they were:
- In the first meeting, the pre-test was given. The test was given in
written form. The test papers administered to the students for
experimental class. The students were asked to do the test based on the
instruction that had been given.
- After the pre-test, the treatment was conducted, the class was taught by
word cluster. The researcher taught the students for two times.
- Post-test was given in the last meeting. This test was given in written
form. The papers administered to the students for experimental class.
Then, they would be asked to do the test and for last ask them to hand
in their test.
c. Reporting
The last point that should be done in the research procedure was reporting.
There were two steps that were done in reporting:
- Analyzing the data from pre-test and post-test whether word cluster
can improve students’ ability in writing descriptive text or not.
- Making a report on the findings.
3.6 Data Analysis
To analyze the data, the writer analyzed the result of pre-test and post-test of the
progress on the students’ achievement. If the pre-test is better then post-test, it
means that there is no progress on the students’ achievement. And then the
reseracher analyzed the probability result by using SPSS.
3.6.1 Data Analysis on Pre-test and Post-test 3.6.1.1 Normal Distribution Test
The normality test was used to determine whether the data in experimental class
are normally distributed. The writer used One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov
Formula (SPSS 17) to test the normality of the data. In this research, the
significant level of 0.05 was used. The hypothesis of normal distribution were:
H0: The distribution of the data is normal
H1: The distribution of the data in not normal
The hypothesis was accepted if the result of normality test is higher than 0.05
(sign > α). In this case, the researcher used level significance of 0.05.
The result of normality test of pre test in experimental class showed that the value
of two tailed significance was 0.200 (see Appendix 12). It means that H0 was
accepted and H1 was rejected since 0.200 > 0.05. It implied that the distribution
of the test was normal. The result of normality test of post test showed that the
value of two tailed significance was 0.200 (see Appendix 12). Since 0.200 > 0.05,
it could be stated that the data of post test was normally distributed.
From the result of normality test above, it can be concluded that the hypothesis
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3.6.1.2 Paired Sample t-test
After revealing the result of normality, the next statistical computation was
analyzing paired sample t-test. Paired sample t-test compares the means of two
variables. It computes the difference between the two variable for each case, and
test to see if the average difference is significantly different from zero. These are
the procedures to follow in calculating paired sample t-test of pre-test and
post-test data:
1. Setting the level of significance (p) at 0.05 and establishing the alternative
hypothesis for pre-test and post-test data analysis. The hypotheses were stated
as below:
Ha : there is significant difference between the means in pre-test and post-test.
H0 : there is no significant difference between the means in pre-test and post-
test.
2. Analyzing paired sample T-test by using SPSS 17.
3. Comparing t and t table with the level of significance at 0.05 for testing
hypothesis and reporting the findings: “Ha is accepted if t < -t table with the
level of significance at 0.05.
From the data in appendix 16, it could be known that t was -9.631. It is negative.
It means that the score in pre test was lower than in post test. It also can be seen
that t table was 2.034515. It could be known that t < -t table or -9.631 < -2.034515
and 0.00 < 0.05. Therefore, for the hypothesis, the null hypothesis was rejected
and the reaserach hypothesis was accepted. It meant that there is significant
