commit to user
i
THESIS
IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ ABILTY IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE
TEXTS THROUGH COLLABORATIVE WRITING TECHNIQUE
(A Classroom Action Research at Grade VIII A Students of SMP Negeri 1 Pelaihari, Tanah Laut Regency, South Kalimantan Province in
the Academic Year of 2010/2011)
By:
S U P I A N I NIM. S 890809027
Submitted to Graduate School Sebelas Maret University As a Partial Fulfillment for Getting the Graduate Degree in
English Education
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GRADUATE SCHOOL
SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY SURAKARTA
commit to user
ABSTRACTSupiani. 2011. S. 890809027. Improving the Students’ Ability in Writing Descriptive Texts through Collaborative Writing Technique (A Classroom Action Research at Grade VIII A Students of SMP Negeri 1 Pelaihari, Tanah Laut Regency, South Kalimantan Province in the Academic Year of 2010/2011). Thesis: English Education of Graduate Program. Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta. Consultants: (I) Dr. Abdul Asib, M.Pd, (II) Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd.
The main objectives of the research are (1) to improve the ability in writing descriptive texts of the grade VIII A students of SMPN 1 Pelaihari through collaborative writing technique; and (2) to know the strengths and weaknesses of the implementation of collaborative writing technique in improving students’ writing ability of descriptive texts in the grade VIII A students of SMPN 1 Pelaihari.
The classroom action research was employed in this research. The subject of the research is 28 of grade VIII A students of the SMP Negeri 1 Pelaihari in the Academic Year of 2010/2011. This action research was conducted in two cycles. Each consisted of planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting the action. In collecting the data, the researcher used quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data were taken from the writing tests scored by two scorers. The writing test was scored based on content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. The quantitative analysis that was used to analyze the students’ achievement before and after the cycle was implemented by using descriptive statistics, finding out the mean of the scores in the test and the improvement of the scores. Meanwhile, the qualitative data were taken from the questionnaire, interview, and observation which were done before and after the treatment. Those were analyzed by using Constant Comparative Method proposed by Strauss and Glasser consisting of the following steps: (1) comparing incidents applicable to each category; (2) integrating categories and their properties; (3) delimiting the theory; and (4) writing the theory.
The research findings are described in line with the problem statements as follows: first, by using collaborative writing technique the students’ ability in writing descriptive texts improves. This is proved by the significant increase of the mean score of the post-test cycle 1 and post-test cycle 2. Besides, they can also follow the writing process well which covers six steps in their activities namely idea generating/pre-writing, drafting, reading, editing, copying, and evaluating. Those steps help the students to produce their writing to be better. Second by implementing collaborative writing technique in teaching writing, the students’ behavior in learning writing changes and improves their motivation as well. Moreover, they are actively involved in pair work and the class situation becomes lively and also increases the students’ participation in writing class. In the teaching and learning process the students have interest and self-awareness in writing.
commit to user
iii
because they do in pair with his/her partner and every step of writing helps them to write better; (2) the students have become more motivated to study English; (3) the students have higher self-confidence and felt happy because the students were also actively involved in working in a pair; and (4) it builds the teacher or the collaborator’s awareness that there are many varied ways which can be used in teaching learning English. Besides, the weaknesses are: (1) the students have to spend a long time to complete every step of writing process in the classroom; (2) the condition of the class is noisy; and (3) sometimes the pair has different opinions or arguments in developing paragraphs so it can make a difficult working situation or poor finished product.
Based on the results of the research, it can be concluded that the use of the collaborative writing technique improves the students’ writing ability. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers apply collaborative writing technique in teaching writing.
commit to user
ABSTRAKSupiani. 2011. S.890809027. Meningkatkan Kemampuan Siswa dalam Menulis Teks Deskriptif melalui Teknik Menulis Kollaboratif (Sebuah Penelitian Tindakan Kelas yang Dilaksanakan pada Siswa Kelas VIII A SMP Negeri 1 Pelaihari, Kabupaten Tanah Laut, Provinsi Kalimantan Selatan di Tahun Pelajaran 2010/2011). Tesis: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Program Pascasarjana Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta. Pembimbing: (1) Dr. Abdul Asib, M.Pd, (II) Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd.
Tujuan utama dari penelitian ini adalah (1) untuk meningkatkan kemampuan menulis siswa dalam teks diskriptif di kelas VIII A SMP Negeri 1 Pelaihari melalui Teknik Menulis Kollaboratif; dan (2) untuk mengetahui kelebihan dan kelemahan pada implementasi dari teknik menulis kollaboratif dalam meningkatkan kemampuan menulis siswa dalam teks diskriptif di kelas VIII A SMP Negeri1 Pelaihari. Penelitian tindakan kelas diterapkan di penelitian ini. Subjek penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas VIII A yang berjumlah 28 siswa di SMP Negeri 1 Pelaihari tahun pelajaran 2010/2011. Peneltian tindakan kelas ini dilaksanakan dalam dua siklus yang terdiri dari perencanaan, pengimplementasian, pengamatan, dan refleksi tindakan. Dalam mngumpulkan data, peneliti menggunakan data kuantitatif dan data kualitatif. Kuatitatif data diperoleh dari tes menulis yang dinilai oleh dua penilai. Tes menulis dinilai berdasarkan pada isi, organisasi, kosakata, struktur kalimat, dan penulisannya (pengejaan dan tanda baca). Data analisa kuantitatif digunakan untuk menganalisa pencapaian siswa sebelum dan sesudah siklus yang diimplentasikan melalui statistik deskriptif, menemukan nilai rata-rata atau nilai mean di tes dan peningkatan pada setiap nilai-nilainya. Sementara itu, data kualitatif diperoleh dari kuesioner, interview, dan observasi yang dilakukan sebelum dan setelah perlakuan. Kemudian dianalisa dengan menggunakan Metode Komparatif Konstan yang ditulis oleh Strauss dan Glasser terdiri dari: (1) membandingkan kejadian yang dapat diterapkan pada tiap kategori; (2) memadukan kategori dan cirri-cirinya; (3) membatasi lingkup teori; dan (4) menulis teori.
commit to user
v
kelas menulis. Di proses belajar mengajarnya siswa tampak memiliki minat dan kesadaran diri dalam menulis.
Ketiga, berdasarkan hasil penelitian ini ada kelebihan dan kelemahan teknik menulis kollaboratif. Kelebihanny: (1) teknik menulis kollaboratif dapat meningkatkan kemampuan siswa menulis karena mereka melakukannya secara berpasangan dengan teman sebangku dan setiap langkah penulisan membantu mereka untuk menulis lebih baik; (2) siswa telah termotivasi untuk belajar bahasa Inggris; (3) siswa memiliki percaya diri yang tinggi dan merasa senang karena mereka juga aktif terlibat dalam menulis berpasangan; dan (4) ini membangun kesadaran guru bahwa cara-cara yang bervariasi dapat digunakan dalam belajar mengajar bahasa Inggris. Disisi lain, kelemahannya yaitu: (1) siswa menghabiskan waktu lama untuk menyelesaikan setiap langkah proses penulisan di kelas; (2) kondisi kelas lebih ramai; dan (3) kadang-kadang salah satu pasangan memiliki pendapat atau argument yang berbeda dalam mengembangkan paragraph sehingga membuat situasi kerja lebih sulit dan produk penulisan jadi tidak baik. Berdasarkan pada hasil penelitian dapat disimpulkan bahwa penggunaan teknik menulis kollaboratif dapat meningkatkan kemampuan siswa menulis. Oleh karena itu, ini dapat direkomendasikan bahwa para guru dapat menerapkan teknik menulis kollaboratif di dalam pengajaran menulis.
commit to user
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERARURE ... 10
A. The Nature of Writing ... 10
B. Concept of Collaborative Writing Technique ... 19
1. The Nature of Collaborative Writing Technique ... 19
2. The Implementation of Collaborative Writing Technique. 21 3. The Strengths and Weaknesses of Collaborative Writing Technique ... 25
C. Descriptive Writing ... 26
D. Rationale ... 29
commit to user
vii
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY... 32
A.The Setting and Time of the Research ... 32
B.Research Method ... 33
C.Subject of the Research ... 37
D.Technique of Collecting Data ... 38
E.Technique of Analyzing Data ... 39
CHAPATER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 42
A.Introduction ... 42
b. The students’ learning progress ... 60
4. Reflecting the Action ... 65
a. The result of implementation of CWT in cycle 1 ... 65
1) The improvement of the students’ writing ability 66 2) The improvement of class situation ... 68
3) The improvement of the students’ behavior and motivation ... 68
4) The improvement of the students’ interest and self-awareness ... 69
b. The strengths and weaknesses of CWT in cycle 1 .... 69
c. Revised plan ... 71
commit to user
b. The teaching learning progress ... 86
4. Reflecting the Action ... 90
a. The result of implementation of CWT ... 90
1) The improvement of the students’ writing ability . 91 2) The improvement of the class condition ... 93
3) The improvement of the students’ behavior and motivation ... 94
4) The improvement of the students’ interest and self-awareness ... 95
b. The strengths and weaknesses in cycle 2 ... 95
D.Discussion ... 99
1. The improvement of the students’ writing ability ... 99
2. The improvement of the students’ behavior ... 103
3. The improvement of the students’ motivation ... 104
4. The improvement of the class situation ... 105
5. The strengths and weaknesses of CWT ... 106
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTION ... 107
A.Conclusion ... 107
B. Implication ... 111
C. Suggestion ... 112
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 114
commit to user
commit to user
4.2. The Students’ Post-test Average Score of Cycle 1 from the First Scorer 62 4.3. The Students’ Post-test Average Scores Based on the Writing Aspects of Cycle 1 from the First Scorer ... 63
4.4. The Students’ Post-Test Average Scores of Cycle 1 from the Second Scorer... 63
4.5. The Students’ Post-Test Scores Based on the Writing Aspects of Cycle 1 from the Second Scorer ... 63
4.6. The Students’ Post-Test Average Scores of Cycle 1 from the Two Scorers ... 64
4.7.The Students’ Post-Test Scores Based on the Writing Aspects of Cycle 1 from Two Scorers ... 64
4.8. The Result of the Statistical Account of Points Score in Cycle 1 ... 67
4.9. The Result of Statistical Account of Aspects of Writing from Pre-Test to Post-Test in Cycle 1 ... 68
4.10. The Students’ Post-Test Average Score of Cycle 2 from the First Scorer 88 4.11. The Students’ Post-Test Average Score Based on the Writing Aspects of Cycle 2 from the First Scorer ... 89
4.12. The Students’ Post-Test Average Score of Cycle 2 from the Second Scorer ... 89
4.13. The Students’ Post-Test Average Scorers Based on the Writing Aspects of cycle 2 from the Second Scorer ... 89
4.14. The Students’ Post-Test Average Scores of Cycle 2 from Two Scorers 90
commit to user
xi
4.15. The Students’ Post-Test Average Scores Based on the Writing Aspects
of cycle 2 ... 90
4.16. The Result of the Statistical Account of Points Score in Cycle 2 ... 92
4.17. The Summary of the Result of the Pre-Test, Post-Test of Cycle 1 and 2 93
commit to user
LISTS OF FIGUREFigure
commit to user
xiii
LISTS OF APPENDICES
Appendix
1. The Questionnaire in the Preliminary Research... 118
2. Results of the Questionnaire in the Preliminary Research ... 120
3. Pre-Interview for the Teacher before Research and Pre-Test 122-123 4. Transkrip Hasil Wawancara Dengan Guru Sebelum Treatment ... 124
5. Pedoman Wawancara Dengan Siswa ... 127
6. Transkrip Hasil Wawancara Dengan Siswa Sebelum Treatment ... 128
7. Lesson Plan for Cycle 1 ... 134
8. Worksheet of Cycle 1 Meeting 1 ... 141
9. Worksheet of Cycle 1 Meeting 2 ... 142
10.Worksheet of Cycle 1 Meeting 3 ... 144
11.The Post-Test of the Research in Cycle 1 ... 146
12.Self-Assessment Checklist for the Post-Test in Cycle 1 ... 148
13.Lesson Plan for Cycle 2 ... 149
14.Worksheet of Cycle 2 Meeting 1 ... 156
15.Worksheet of Cycle 2 Meeting 2 ... 165
16.Worksheet of Cycle 2 Meeting 3 ... 167
17.The Post-Test of the Research in Cycle 2 ... 169
18.Self-Assessment Checklist for the Post-Test in Cycle 2 ... 171
19.Analytic Scoring Rubric for Writing Product ... 172
20.The Questionnaire after the Implementation of CWT ... 174
21.Results of the Questionnaire after the Implementation of CWT ... 177
22.Pedoman Wawancara Dengan Siswa Setelah Treatment ... 180
23.Panduan Wawancara Dengan Guru Setelah Treatment ... 182
24.Transkrip Wawancara Dengan Guru Setelah Treatment ... 184
25.Transkrip Wawancara Dengan Siswa Setelah Treatment ... 187
26.Sample Observation of Field Note ... 196
commit to user
28.Sample of Students Writing on the Cycle 1 Post-Test ... 201
29.Sample of Students Writing on the Cycle 2 Post-Test ... 204
30.The Students’ Score of Pre-Test ... 207
31.The Teacher’s Scoring for Pre-Test ... 208
32.The Collaborator’s Scoring for Pre-Test ... 209
33.The Students’ Score of Post-Test in Cycle 1 ... 210
34.The Teacher’s Scoring for Post-Test in Cycle 1 ... 211
35.The Collaborator’s Scoring for Post-Test in Cycle 1 ... 212
36.The Students’ Score of Post-Test in Cycle 2 ... 213
37.The Teacher’s Scoring for Post-Test in Cycle 2 ... 214
38.The Collaborator’s Scoring for Post-Test in Cycle 2 ... 215
commit to user
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Research
Writing is one of the four skills- listening, speaking, reading, and writing-
that plays an important role in a daily international communication. It is estimated
that 75% of all international communication is in writing, 80% of all international
information is the world’s computers, and 90% of internet contents are in English
(Schutz, 2005: 1). This can be seen in the development of email, facsimile, short
message service (SMS) via a mobile phone as increasingly popular forms of
communication. Most developed and developing countries use them as a medium
for transferring information and technology from one to another. Moreover, there
are many books, magazines, and newspaper written in English. Since English has
great importance in daily interpersonal communication, Indonesia, as a developing
country, does not have much choice other than to teach students to be able to write
in English. The mastery of writing is used for preparing students to acquire
knowledge and technology in the globalization era.
It is stated in the 2006 School Based Curriculum (KTSP) that writing is
one of the language skills that must be taught at Junior High Schools. The
teaching of writing is aimed at enabling students to master the functional texts and
monologue texts or paragraphs in the form of descriptive, narrative, recount,
form of text types, usually known as genres, which are closely related to the
purpose of each type. For especially the eighth grade, it is limited on descriptive,
recount, and narrative. In writing descriptive text, the eight grade students are
expected to be able to write a simple descriptive text correctly. They should be
able to make sentences in the form of present tense and develop main idea into
short descriptive text.
In the teaching and learning process, Ur (1996: 162) states that writing can
be used as a means, as an end, and as means to an end. As a means, writing is
widely used in foreign language courses as a tool for involving aspects of
language other than writing itself. The objective of writing itself is used as a
means of getting students to attend and to practice a specific language point or
more frequently as a method of testing it. As an end, the writing itself is the main
objective of the activities. At the micro-level, the students practice specific written
forms at the level of word or sentence. At macro-level, they practice writing by
focusing on content and organization. In this category, the writing tasks invite
learners to express themselves using their own words, state a purpose for writing,
and specify an audience. As both a means and an end, the students combine the
original writing with the learning or practice of some other skills. In this case,
writing is integrated with other skills such as listening, speaking, and reading.
This view is supported by Harmer (2004: 33), who points out that writing is also
frequently useful to help students perform different kinds of activities in listening,
speaking, and reading. The teacher can use writing such as a free-writing related
such as a dictation in listening and a composition in post-reading. Harmer (2004:
126) further states that writing can also be used as an integral part of a larger
activity where the focus is on something else such as language practice, acting
out, and speaking. The teacher often asks students to write short dialogues which
they will then act out.
Even though writing is an important skill, most English foreign language
students are not interested in writing and the performance on writing is
unsatisfactory (Mukminatien, 1991: 130). The students regard that writing is the
most difficult language skill to master (Richard and Renandya, 2002: 303;
Widodo, 2007: 116). The difficulty in writing also happens among Indonesian
students, especially at a Junior High School.
There are many reasons why writing is regarded difficult. According to
Simpson (1998: 34), the difficulty is due to the fact that a writer needs to have
enough language and general intellectual skills to generate and organize ideas and
put those ideas into coherent, logically ordered, intelligible sentences, paragraphs
and essays. Besides, Richard and Renandya (2002: 303) state that the difficulty
lies on how to generate and organize ideas using an appropriate choice of
vocabulary, sentence and paragraph organization, and translate these ideas into a
readable text.
Related to the difficulty in writing, the students of grade VIII A of SMPN
1 Pelaihari have similar problems. Based on the preliminary research of the
the pre-test were unsatisfactory. This distribution score of each aspect of writing
can be seen in the table below:
Table 1.1
The Average Score of Each Aspect of Writing
No Writing Aspects Average Score
1 Content 61.43
2 Organization 57.86
3 Vocabulary 54.64
4 Grammar 43.21
5 Mechanics 49.64
Average score of writing aspects 53.36
The result showed that the students had low ability in writing. The low
ability in writing a descriptive text could be seen from the low achievement of
writing test. The mean of writing scores in preliminary test was low, namely
53.36. It is still far from the minimum requirement criterion or Kriteria
Ketuntasan Minimal (KKM). For English writing score is set up by the teacher is
64. The consideration of score 64 is based on the minimum standard of writing
success as stated in the minimum requirement criterion or Kriteria Ketuntasan
Minimal (KKM) at the school. The unsatisfactory students’ achievement in writing
is a definite indicator of the problems.
In line with the statement above, the researcher also conducted
questionnaire and gave interview to the students in order to find out the students
perception toward writing ability. From the results of the questionnaire
instruments, the researcher found the students’ difficulties in writing. They stated
64.28%. They often got difficulty in choosing and using appropriate words or
vocabulary 46.42 %. So they did not know the meaning of words, it makes them
difficult to explore their ideas. Moreover, their sentences were influenced by their
mother tongue. They always got a difficulty in grammar to make sentences into
paragraph 57.14 %. And the last, they always had a difficulty in determining
mechanics (punctuation and spelling) 42.86 %. Therefore, it could be concluded
that writing is regarded difficult.
In addition, the writing class before the research was also described in
several conditions. The students’ attitude and motivation toward writing was still
low. It appeared that the students were not active and enthusiastic to ask questions
about writing to the teacher. They were shy and afraid to present their writings in
front of the class. It means that they did not want their writings being read or
known by other friends at the class. As said by their teacher in interview that:
“Tampaknya kalau writing mereka kurang antusias ketimbang speaking. Mereka tidak aktif dan malas untuk bertanya. Kalau kelas writing juga
ramai dikelas. Tekadang mereka malu dan takut kalau disuruh untuk
menulis beberapa kalimat dipapan tulis.”
Then, the students did not pay attention to the teacher’s explanation; they looked
bored or sometimes made noise. When the teacher was explaining, the students
tended to do their own activities. And the last, they needed a long time to write a
composition.
The causes of the problems above were: (1) the teacher did not give
adequate time, models, and practices for the students to write because the teacher
thought that for revising the students’ compositions needed a long time while the
(2) Writing got less attention from the teacher. This was because the teacher
tended to underestimate writing rather than reading. She argued that writing was
less important to help the students in National Examination (UN) which was
usually dominated by reading items. (3) There were no creative or varied
techniques used by the teacher in exploring the students’ ability in writing. The
techniques used were monotonous. Monotonous writing activity caused the
students’ motivation in writing to be low and not interested in learning English
especially writing. It was seen in the interview with the teacher who said that:
“Ya, tidak ada yang special lah. Yang saya lakukan hanya dengan cara memberi pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang mana jawaban-jawaban mereka kemudian dirangkai sendiri oleh mereka menjadi paragraph. Dan lagian menurut saya, writing belum begitu penting bagi mereka, yang lebih penting itu saya pikir adalah reading karena kita dituntut untuk bisa
meluluskan siswa di UN yang soal-soalnya lebih dominan teks bacaan.”
As the result, the students did not have any strategies about how to find ideas or
explore them. Consequently, the students could not revise their drafts because
they thought that it was a final writing. In fact, the students’ drafts still had
numerous errors.
Referring to the case above, the researcher takes one of techniques for
solving the problem of writing that is collaborative writing technique. According
to Alwasilah (2004: 108) collaborative writing is the ways in which students work
in a community of readers and writers and negotiate meaning and symbols used in
the text. Students are required to jointly discuss a topic, plan an outline, and
contribute elements of the text (paragraphs, sentences, phrases, words) in a
provide less anxiety- producing context in which learners are likely to feel free to
try out new ideas. Harmer (2002: 261) adds that generation of ideas is lively with
two or more students involved than it is when the writers work on their own. In
addition, Lyons and Heasley (1987: 2) state that collaborative writing provides a
co-operative relationship between writer and reader and makes the writing task
more realistic and interactive.
In this research, the researcher will apply the collaborative writing
technique at the grade VIII A students of SMPN 1 Pelaihari to improve the
students’ ability in writing a descriptive text. Hopefully, this technique can give a
positive impact on students’ behavior and motivation in studying English as well
as in developing their writing skill. In addition, the process of collaborative
writing can encourage students to write a descriptive text in which they may
initially be afraid to make errors. Furthermore, this technique can also be set to
increase the students’ self-confidence in writing.
B. Problem Statement
Based on the description of the background above, the problems are:
1. Can collaborative writing technique improve the students’ ability in writing
descriptive texts?
2. What are the strengths and weaknesses when collaborative writing technique
C. Objectives of the Research
Based on the problems above, this research is directed to:
1. Improve the ability in writing descriptive texts of the grade VIII A students of
SMPN 1 Pelaihari through collaborative writing technique.
2. Know the strengths and weaknesses of the implementation of collaborative
writing technique in improving students’ writing ability of descriptive texts in
the grade VIII A students of SMPN 1 Pelaihari.
D. Benefits of the Research
The result of the study can give some benefits as follows:
1. For the English teachers
This research can provide contribution for the English teachers to apply
another technique dealing with the teaching learning process especially in
teaching writing. And it will help English teachers not to use monotonous
technique in teaching and learning process.
2. For students
The result of the research will help them to write better. By implementing
collaborative writing technique, the students are able to write according the
steps suggested. As a result, their writing will be much better. It means that
this technique will improve the students’ writing ability, especially in writing
3. For the researcher
This research gives the researcher understanding toward the implementation of
collaborative writing technique in teaching writing directly. By implementing
collaborative writing technique to improve students’ writing ability in a
descriptive text especially, it will provide useful practical experience for the
researcher himself.
4. For the other researchers
The other researchers can develop the research based on the result and use it
as one of references to study about writing skill in the next research and its
commit to user
CHAPTER IIREVIEW OF RELATED LITERATUE
A. The Nature of Writing
1. Definition of Writing
Writing is a complex process consisting of many constituent parts which
have to be considered. According to White and Arndt (1997: 1) the writers are
able to express ideas and feelings to persuade and convince other people. Heaton
(1975: 127) states that in writing the writers manipulate words in grammatically
correct sentences and link those sentences to form a piece of writing which
successfully communicates the writers’ thoughts and ideas on a certain topic. In
other words, the writers try to express their ideas in written form using
grammatically correct sentences for the purpose of communication.
Ghaith (2002: 1) asserts that the writer has to explore thought and ideas
and make them visible and concrete. The writer has to try to communicate his/her
ideas in the form of a written text from which the reader will eventually
understand the ideas and their meaning. The production of the written word that
results in the text must be read and comprehended so that the reader can
understand the message intended by the writer easily. Thus, the writer is
demanded to pay attention to some aspects of the production of the written text
which involves the content, organization, vocabularies use, grammatical use,
In supporting definitions of writing, Sutanto, et al; (2007: 1) says that
writing is a process of expressing ideas or thoughts in words which should be
done at our leisure. He says that we cannot do something or express the ideas or
feeling in words or in sentences while we are getting some interventions. The
conditions of writer which is relaxing and enjoyable will be explorer of a long
visible of ideas or feelings and the result of this, the writer can write well, it
means he is able to move a pen, or find key words, remember rules of grammar
and syntax, place the brain in order to make sense, and think a head to what to
write next (Nathan, et al. 2002: 1), (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misuderstood
mind/writing basics.html, accessed: July, 5th 2010).
a. Micro and Macro Skills in Writing
In order to be able to do such things in writing, learners need to acquire
micro-skills and macro-skills of writing. Ur (1996: 162) states that writing should
maintain between micro aspect and macro aspect. In micro aspect, the students
practice specific written forms at the level of word or sentence (handwriting or
typing, spelling, punctuation). On the other hand, in macro aspect, the students
emphasize on content and organization. In this case, they express themselves
using their own words, state a purpose for writing, and specify an audience. More
detail description is given by Brown (2004: 220). He states that micro-skills are
related to imitative and intensive types of writing task whereas macro-skills are
related to responsive and extensive writing. The descriptions are as follows:
1) Micro-skills
a) Produce graphemes and orthographic patterns of English;
b) Produce writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose;
d) Use acceptable grammatical systems (e.g. tense, agreement, pluralization), patterns and rules;
e) Express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms; and f) Use cohesive devices in written discourse.
2) Macro-skills
a) Use the rhetorical forms and conventions of written discourse;
b) Appropriately accomplish the communicative functions of written texts according to form and purpose;
c) Convey links and connections between events, and communicate such
relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and exemplification;
d) Distinguish between literal and implied meanings when writing;
e) Correctly convey culturally specific references in the context of the written text; and
f) Develop and use a battery of writing strategies, such as accurately assessing the audience’s interpretation, using pre-writing devices, writing with fluency in the first draft, using paraphrases and synonyms, soliciting peer and instructor feedback, and using feedback for revising and editing.
In writing, students will rely on at least four types of knowledge:
knowledge of the content, procedural knowledge to organize the content,
knowledge of conventions of writing, and procedural knowledge required to apply
the three other types of knowledge in composing a written product (Hillocks in
O’Malley, 1996: 136). It is also supported by Tribble (1996: 43) that in order to
understand a specific task in writing, a writer requires the range of knowledge
which can be summarized as follows:
1) Content knowledge : knowledge of the concepts involved in the
subject area.
2) Context knowledge : knowledge of the context in which the text
will be read.
3) Language system knowledge : knowledge of those aspects of the language
system necessary for the completion of the
Therefore, in order to be able to produce a good written text, a writer
should require the range of knowledge. Besides, the writer also focuses on the
macro and micro skills of writing. In addition, Nunan (1998: 37) states successful
writing involves:
1) Mastering the mechanics of letter formation;
2) Mastering and obeying conventions of spelling punctuations;
3) Using the grammatical system to convey one’s intended meaning;
4) Organizing content at the level of the paragraph and the complete text to reflect given/ new information and topic/ comment structures; 5) Polishing and revising one’s initial efforts; and
6) Selecting an appropriate style for one’s audience.
Based on the definition above, the researcher concludes that writing is a
process in which the writer uses some aspects of the production of writing that
consists of the content, organization, vocabularies use, grammatical use, and
mechanics in order to demonstrate knowledge and express the ideas, feelings, and
thought in the written form so that other people can understand. It is very
important to be considered by the teacher that writing is a complex process. The
students need to explore or express their ideas, feeling, and thought in the form of
texts that enable them to have a better writing and give them opportunities to see
their own progress in writing, that is whether their writings are able to
communicate their ideas and can be easily understood by the other people or not.
b. Teaching Writing
1) The Meaning of Teaching Writing
Teaching writing is like swimming; if we learn to swim, we need water in
(Brown, 2001: 334). Like swimming, writing is taught if we are a member of a
part of language society and there is someone teaching us.
Not everyone can be an excellent writer; writing needs a long time and
hard work to create words, sentences, and arrange them in a good composition or
paragraph. Then, writing as communicative language is not only taught fluently
but also accurately and uses contextual and authentic materials in the classroom.
Furthermore, motivate the students to learn to write so that the students study
writing successfully.
2) Material in Teaching Writing
Teaching materials of the descriptive text in the class of Junior High
School spread on three levels of classroom. They are presented in themes or
topics. The themes or topics in the first grade are family life, school life, and
plants, animals or things. In the second grade, the themes or topics are flora and
fauna, travelling, recreation, and seasons. And in the third grade, the themes or
topics are nature, art, and public service (Depdiknas 2005: 179-190).
3) Writing Assessment
Experience has shown testing practices in English are not static but
dynamic and changing. One controversial area in testing writing requires that test
construction and evaluation criteria be based on course objectives and teaching
methodologies. In the English language classroom, especially at the junior high
schools, teachers are always challenged by how to reliably and validly evaluate
students’ writing skills, so that the students will be better prepared for internal and
There are many reasons for testing writing in the English language
classroom, including to meet diagnostic, proficiency, placement, achievement, and
performance. Each purpose requires different test construction. Referring to this,
there are two kinds of assessment, which can be used in assessing students’
writing. They are process assessment and product assessment. Thus, a teacher will
indicate that it is not only the product that is assessable, but that commitment to
the process is also expected (Brookes and Grundy, 1950: 54).
Process assessment is a kind of on going assessment used to keep tract of
students’ progress in writing or to monitor the students’ progress in writing in
which counting the number (score) of the composition is not regarded (Brookes &
Grundy, 1950: 54). The process assessment is designed to probe how the students
write, the decision they make as they write, and the strategies they use. Therefore,
the aim of process assessment is to give information about the students’
performance such as how far the students’ progress in writing is and whether any
change is needed in the way of teaching strategy or not.
Brown (2001: 335) says product assessment focuses on assessing the
students’ final composition, while Hyland (2003: 226) states that writing product
can be assessed through employing some methods of scoring. There are three
types of rating scales generally used in scoring writing. They are holistic, analytic,
and trait-based scoring.
Hyland (2003: 227) states that a holistic scale is based on single,
integrated score of writing behavior. A holistic judgment may be built into an
approach is that overlap between the criteria that is set for the holistic judgment
and the other evaluated factors cannot be avoided. When one of the purposes of
the evaluation is to assign a grade, this overlap should be carefully considered and
controlled. Holistic scoring would appear to be more subjective as it depends on
the impressions formed by the markers. It is obviously to be preferred where the
primary concern is with evaluating the communicative effectiveness of candidates
in writing. The evaluator should determine whether the overlap resulting in certain
criteria is being weighted more than what is originally intended. In other words,
the evaluator needs to be careful that the student is not unintentionally severely
penalized for a given mistake.
An analytic scoring rubric, much like the checklist, allows for the separate
evaluation of each of these factors. Each criterion is scored on a different
descriptive scale and assigned a numerical value. Analytic marking schemes are
devised in an attempt to make the testing more objective, insofar as they
encourage examiners to be more explicit about their impressions. It uses criteria of
the items measured. The items measured are: relevance and adequacy of content,
compositional organization, cohesion, adequacy of vocabulary for purpose,
accuracy of grammar, and mechanical accuracy for spelling and punctuation.
Different from holistic and analytic scoring, trait-based scoring focuses on
whether or not each paper shows evidence of the particular trait or feature you
want students to demonstrate in writing. Trait-based instruments are designed to
clearly define the specific topic and genre features of the task being judged
specific aspects of instruction that most reflect the objectives being covered when
the writing assignment is given.
Based on the theories above the scoring rubric applied in this thesis is as
Table 2.1
Scoring Rubric for Aspects of Writing
Component Of Writing
Scale Indicator Qualification
5 Main ideas stated clearly and accurately, change of opinion very clear
Excellent
4 Main ideas stated fairly clearly and accurately, change of opinion relatively clear
Good
Content 3 Main ideas stated somewhat unclear or
inaccurate, change of opinion statement somewhat weak
Average
2 Main ideas stated not clear or accurate, change of opinion statement weak
Poor
1 Main ideas stated not at all clear or accurate, change of opinion statement very weak
Very poor
5 Well organized and perfectly coherent Excellent
4 Fairly well organized and generally coherent
Good
Organization 3 Loosely organized but main ideas clear,
logical, but incomplete sequencing
Average
2 Ideas disconnected, lacks logical
sequencing
Poor
1 No organization, incoherent Very poor
5 Very effective choice of words and use of idioms and word forms
Excellent
4 Effective choice of words and use of idioms and word forms
Good
Vocabulary 3 Adequate choice of words but some
misuse of vocabulary, idioms and word forms
Average
2 Limited range, confused use of words, idioms and word forms
Poor
1 Very limited range, very poor knowledge of words, idioms and word forms
Very poor
5 No errors, full control of complex structure
Excellent
4 Almost no errors, good control of structure
Good
Grammar 3 Some errors, fair control of structure Average
2 Many errors, poor control of structure Poor
1 Dominated by errors, no control of structure
Very poor
5 Mastery of spelling and punctuation Excellent
4 Few errors in spelling and punctuation Good
Mechanics 3 Fair number of spelling and punctuation
errors
Average
2 Frequent errors in spelling and punctuation
Poor
1 No control over spelling and punctuation Very poor
B. Concept of Collaborative Writing Technique
1. The Nature of Collaborative Writing Technique
Collaborative writing technique has been a trend in composition research
and pedagogy since the 1970s. A great deal of attention began being focused on
collaborative writing in early 1970’s when English and composition professor,
Kenneth Bruffee, began arguing that by having students write essays and fiction in
groups, students produced better work than when they worked alone. He argued
that students learned more through group work than when they interacted only
with their teacher (Spring, 1997: 2). It is also inspirited by psychologist,
Vygotsky, (1896-1934 citied by Kellough and Kellough, 1999: 302) studying the
importance of a learner’s social interactions in learning situations. Vygotsky
argued that learning is most effective when learners cooperate with one another in
a supportive learning environment under careful guidance of a teacher.
Murray (1992: 100) states that collaborative writing is essentially a social
process through which writers looked for areas of shared understanding. To reach
such an understanding, participants function according to several social and
interactional rules as follows: First, the participants discuss the goals which they
are going to write. They place the goals in rank order from high to low, and then
they share a higher order goal. From the sharing, they set a common goal for the
group. Meanwhile, specification of the goal is negotiated during the process.
Secondly, the participants must have different knowledge and there must be a gap
information between them. Because of this information gap, they (group
the participants interact as a group. They exchange thought, feeling, ideas between
them, and result in reciprocal effect on each other. Fourthly, the participants
distanced themselves from the text. To see their collaborative text, they produce
many written drafts during one session and they move away from the text in time
and space. Setting the text aside for a time will make them have a new perspective
to find their mistakes in the text. In addition, Chin (1996: 5) asserts that
collaborative writing is an area where group ware may provide significant benefit.
It allows students to simultaneously work on different portions of the same
document and/or to review and critique the written work of others.
It is clear that collaborative refers to a writing group but there are as many
ways to write in group as there are combinations of individual. Accordingly,
Frakas (1991 citied by Spring, 1997: 1) offers four possible definitions useful in
approaching collaboration through an analysis of process, they are:
1. Two or more people jointly composing the complete text of a
document;
2. Two or more people contributing components to a document;
3. One or more person modifying, by editing and/or reviewing, the
document of one or more persons;
4. One person working interactively with one or more person and drafting a document based on their ideas of the person or persons.
By breaking the common-sensical concept of group-based writing into a four
distinct types of work, Farkas’s definitions paint a picture of what is, and what is
not collaboration.
From the points of view above, it can be concluded that collaborative
contributed to the content, style, and even the goal of writing and also the
decisions how the group will function.
2. The Implementation of Collaborative Writing Technique
In response to the need for structured guidelines to make collaborative
more effective, the researcher makes different roles of the students. One of them
plays a role as a helper and the other as a writer. Specific tasks need to be done by
the helper and the writer when they write collaboratively. These steps are
described as follows:
Step 1 is idea generation. In this step, the students are hoped to understand
important components of the descriptive text such as identification and
description. The identification means the writer of the descriptive text identifies
phenomenon to be described and the description means the writer of the
descriptive text describes parts, qualities, and characteristics. To help the writer
stimulate ideas their helper raise questions which mostly use wh-words as
follows:
a. What tree/animal do you like? b. What does it look like? c. Where does it live? etc.
As the writers respond verbally to the questions, they jot down key words and are
encouraged to add any relevant information they might want to write about. Then,
the pair reviews the keywords in the notes and determines if the order or
organization should be changed. This could be indicated by numbering the ideas.
Alternatively, the ideas may seem to fall into obvious sections, which can be dealt
underlined or highlighted with a marker. Pairs may also choose to draw lines
linking or around related ideas, so that a "semantic map" is constructed.
In generating the students’ ideas is intended to motivate and brainstorm
the students to get ideas or to generate ideas for the topic. The teacher leads the
helper to raise questions about descriptive texts in order to stimulate the writer
ideas such as “What is your favorite animal/tree?”, “What does it look like?”,
“Where does it live?” etc. Then, the writer takes those three questions and makes
a list to answer each one. He/she then assigns the helper to review the writer’s key
words, to develop the ideas into paragraph, and to organize the ideas in order.
Step 2 is drafting. In this step, the teacher emphasizes that writers do not
have to worry much about spelling as they write their drafts. Rather, the stress
should be on allowing ideas to flow.
This step aims to give the writer chances to begin writing a rough draft
based on the discovered ideas to review from the helper. To write the drafts, the
writer is advised not care much more about the language, spelling or punctuation
or neatness. During the activity, the teacher goes around the class to provide
assistance, guidance, and comments if they are necessary.
Step 3 is reading. In this step, the writer reads the draft. If he/she reads a
word incorrectly, the helper provides support and gives some corrections.
This step gives the student chances to read the rough draft. The researcher
asks the student (helper) to correct the draft. The helper may comment on the
comment or in orals to the writer. The writer reorganizes what has been written in
the first rough draft and to refine ideas based on the feedback from the helper.
Step 4 is editing. In this step, the helper and the writer look at the draft
together and consider what improvement might be made. Error of words, phrases,
or sentences could be marked. The writer and the helper inspect the draft more
than once, check the five editing criteria:
1. Meaning
2. Order (organization of the separate ideas in the text, organization
within a phrase or sentence, and organization of order of sentences) 3. Spelling
4. Punctuation
5. Style (word choice and sentence structure)
While editing, the writer and helper consider the following question:
1. Does the helper understand what the writer wants to say? (idea and
meaning)
2. Does the writing have a clear beginning, middle, and end? (style) 3. Are the words spelled correctly?
4. Is the punctuation correct and the right place?
The order of question shows its relative important in writing. With the
question in mind, the helper marks area the writer has missed, the helper can also
suggest other changes.
In this step, the teacher asks the pair to look at closely the draft and edits
them by using the five editing criteria which refer to aspects of writing such as
content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanic. The pair is advised to
check they used appropriate and varied linking devices and their work is cohesive
and logical. Then they may add new ideas; delete irrelevant sentences and
information and rearrange ideas to improve the organization. After that they look
they check content, organization, grammar, spelling and punctuation. The teacher
provides editing guidelines for check list. After editing, they rewrite it for the final
writing version.
Step 5 is best copy. The writer then copies out a neat or best version of the
corrected draft. The helper provides help when necessary, depending on the skill
of the writer. In this case, the teacher asks the student (writer) to write the best
version of the product. The best copy is a joint product of the pair and is then hand
in to the teacher.
Step 6 is the teacher evaluation. Teacher evaluation is the final step. In this
step, students will have an opportunity to receive comments and instructive
feedback directly from the teacher. When the writer and helper submit in their
best copy, the teacher will meet them and provide them with explicit writing and
grammatical instruction as well as corrective feedback. The teacher's comments
focus on meaning/idea, order, style, spelling, and punctuation, which are the five editing criteria stated in Step 4. The writers are then expected to review the
correction and feedback together as a pair.
In evaluating, the teacher holds a conference by assigning the pair to
exchange their composition to be proofread by other pairs. After that, the pair
discusses the corrections, feedback or comments from other pairs. If they still
have problems with the corrections, feedback or comments from other pairs. At
the end of conference the teacher and students discuss remaining problems
together. Next he asks the student (writer) to revise the composition based on the
Finally he asks the student (writer) to write the final composition and submit to
the teacher or researcher.
After the students know steps of writing, the researcher provides
opportunities to the students to write a short essay of a descriptive text. The
students are required to apply the technique in writing task to write a short essay
about certain topic of descriptive texts.
So, in this research the researcher asks the students to make a pair and the
student who plays as a helper or as a writer may have the more or less same
writing level and the role of them may be interchangeable. Besides, there are
additional activities in step 1, 4, and step 6. The researcher adds the activities for
step 1, in which the students do the activities to generate the ideas for topic, then,
the students elaborate the components of the text. In step 4, the five editing
criteria- meaning, order, spelling, punctuation, and style are changed into content,
organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanic since the components of
writing which the teacher is going to score are the content, organization,
vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. In step 6, in giving some corrections and
feedback, it is better for the teacher to hold a conference. In the conference,
students have a chance to negotiate the meaning by describing what they to
accomplish in the piece of writing and noticeable problems in doing this.
3. The Strengths and Weaknesses of Collaborative Writing Technique
Every technique has strengths and weaknesses. There is no technique
process of writing descriptive texts, the teacher should be smarter to choose the
technique used in the teaching learning process of writing descriptive texts.
There are some strengths of collaborative writing technique, they are as
follows:
a) More than one student has more ideas, more works are done and thus the goals
are achieved more efficiently and collaborative writing technique stimulates
students to creative new ideas and new directions.
b) It gives fun and happiness for the students to write a descriptive text.
c) The finished product may be better, etc.
In spite of the fact that there are some strengths of collaborative writing in
the teaching learning process, collaborative writing technique has weaknesses as
follows:
a) Pair work is likely noisy.
b) Sometimes between the helper and the writer have different opinions or
arguments in developing paragraph. So it can make a conflict between them.
c) Not all the students got the chance to consult and performed their writing to
the teacher because the time is limited in the class sessions, etc.
C. Descriptive Writing
One of the text types that should be learnt by the students in junior high
schools level is descriptive writing. Descriptive writing is a skill that needs extra
attention (Soejatmiko and Taloko, 2003: 62). A descriptive writing is used to
merely the visual. Its purpose is to enable the reader to share the writer’s sensory
experience of the subject. Descriptive writing portrays people, places, things,
moments, and theories with enough vivid detail to help the reader create a mental
picture of what is being written about (Abisamra, 2001: 6).
Tompkins (1994: 111) points out that descriptive writing is painting
pictures with words, meaning that in writing a descriptive paragraph, a writer
should try to visualize something or someone using vivid words in order to show a
clear picture of what he or she is describing. Good description then should begin
with close observation. The observation should be recorded with specific details
to touch the reader’s senses, to picture out clearly of what is being described.
In addition, Smalley, et al., (2001: 66) support that descriptive writing uses
sensory details to paint a picture of a place, a person, or an object. The details in
descriptive writing should not only be logically arranged but also vivid. As a
painter with words, we want to give the reader as precise a picture as possible;
otherwise, the reader will have only a vague sense of what we are describing. To
make the details more vivid, we need to modify them (Modify means to restrict or narrow down the meaning). According to Anderson and Anderson (1998: 26) a
factual description describes a particular person, place or thing. Its purpose is to
tell about the subject by describing its features without including personal
opinions. A factual description differs from an information report because it
describes a specific subject rather than a general group.
The general characteristics of descriptive writing include: elaborate use of
lively details; figurative language such as simile, hyperbole, metaphor,
symbolism, and personification; showing, rather than telling the reader what something/someone is like through the use of active verbs and precise modifiers.
According to Doddy, et al., (2008: 119) the structure of descriptive text is divided
into two parts: identification and description. The identification part is the part
where the writer of descriptive text identifies phenomenon to be described. The
description part describes parts, qualities, and characteristics. Description text
focuses on specific participants. It normally uses simple present tense.
From the opinions above, it can be concluded that descriptive writing is
used in all forms of writing to create a vivid impression of a person, place, object
or event e.g. to describe a special place and explain why it is special, describe the
most important person in our life, and describe the animal’s habitat in our report.
Descriptive writing is usually used to help a reader and writer develop an aspect
of their work, e.g. to create a particular mood, atmosphere, or describe a place so
that the reader can create vivid pictures of characters, places, objects etc.
Descriptive writing can be used in the following ways: to make scenes
realistic and memorable, to help readers experience an emotion, to share your
feelings more clearly, to bring characters to life, to convey key ideas, especially
complex ones, and to help readers feel like they are on the scene. Therefore, these
guidelines can be followed when we write descriptive pieces: (1) start by deciding
on a method of organization, spatial organization, for example, works especially
well if your details are mainly visual. If we are describing an animal, consider
will relate details; (3) clearly identify the subject; (4) use details to create a strong
mood or feeling about the subject; (5) as we write, draw on all five senses: sight,
touch, hearing, taste, and smell; and (6) consider including figures of speech, those imaginative comparisons that evoke feelings in our readers.
D. Rationale
A descriptive text is a text in which the writer draws his/her ideas and
thought vividly based on his/her sense on the object he/she sees. The writer paints
pictures with words or re-creates a scene or experience for the reader. A
description must appeal to the reader’s senses and imagination. The writer’s goal
is to make the reader see, hear, smell, or experience what is described. In a
descriptive text, all parts of the paper work together to present a particular person,
place, or thing. The organizations of descriptive texts are identification and
description. In identification the writer mentions the name, occupation, a
profession, and a career, and in description the writer mentions the physical
features, the way he/she dresses, and his personality.
In writing a descriptive text, the students of the second grade are still
getting difficulties in mastering it and the results of the test are unsatisfactory.
Most of them found difficulties in organizing the ideas to become the paragraphs;
they made a lot of grammatical mistakes. Moreover, their sentences were
influenced by their mother tongue. They also found difficulties to choose the
them difficult to explore their ideas. They did not know the correct capital and
spelling of some certain words.
In addition, the writing class before the research was also described in
several conditions. The students’ attitude and motivation toward writing was still
low. It appeared that the students were not active and enthusiastic to ask questions
about writing to the teacher. They were shy and afraid to present their writings in
front of the class. It means that they did not want their writings being read or
known by other friends at the class. And the last, the students did not pay attention
to the teacher’s explanation; they looked bored or sometimes made noise. When
the teacher was explaining, the students tended to do their own activities.
The causes of the problems above were: (1) the teacher did not give
adequate time, models, and practices for the students to write; (2) writing got less
attention from the teacher. This was because the teacher tended to underestimate
writing rather than reading. She argued that writing was less important to help the
students in National Examination (UN) which was usually dominated by reading
items; (3) there were no creative or varied techniques used by the teacher in
exploring the students’ ability in writing. The techniques used were monotonous.
Monotonous writing activity caused the students’ motivation in writing to be low
and not interested in learning English especially writing. As the result, the
students did not have any strategies about how to find ideas or explore them.
Consequently, the students could not revise their drafts because they thought that
Therefore, it is important for the teacher to use an appropriate technique in
teaching and learning process especially in writing a descriptive text. This
technique is expected to arise the students’ motivation in writing. Motivated
students will easily learn in class and lead them to reach the goal of the teaching
and learning. Motivated students will also easily improve their writing ability.
Collaborative writing technique refers to a project where a composition is
created by the pair together rather than individually. Collaborative writing
technique is a pair or group of students working together on a piece of writing
who can respond to each other’s ideas (both in terms language and content),
making suggestions for changes and so contributing to the success of the finished
product. This technique gives extra opportunity to write more by exchanging other
ideas, giving suggestions and contributing the success of the final product. The
chance to write in group or in pairs will motivate students and make students
joyful to learn how to write well. Therefore, it is assumed that collaborative
writing technique can be able to improve the students’ English writing ability.
E. Hypothesis
Based on the rationale of the research, the hypothesis is formulated as
follows: collaborative writing technique can improve students’ ability in writing
descriptive texts of the second grade students of SMPN 1 Pelaihari in the
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Setting and Time of the Research
This action research is about improving the students’ ability in
writing a descriptive text through collaborative writing technique. This
research was conducted in the students of grade VIII A of SMPN 1 Pelaihari,
South Kalimantan, in the academic year of 2010/2011. SMPN Negeri 1
Pelaihari is one of famous junior high schools which is located in the heart
of Pelaihari town. Pelaihari is a town of Tanah Laut Regency in South
Kalimantan province. It is exactly at Jl. Gembira No.04 Pelaihari 70811,
phone number (0512) 22853. The location is very strategic and very good
for learning area. It is easy to get the location by foot, bikes or motorcycles
SMPN 1 Pelaihari is a good and comfortable school. It has sixteen
classrooms. It has been equipped with complete learning facilities such as
language laboratory, computer laboratory, LCD, multimedia room, natural
science laboratory, office administration laboratory, internet class and also
comfortable classroom, library, a large office for teachers, some teachers’
and students’ bathroom, a mosque, a large parking, and some other
facilities.
In addition, SMPN 1 Pelaihari is a small government school which has
males and females students. In mixed classroom, the female students are
sitting in front of rows of the male students.
The research was conducted from July 2010 to January, 2011. The
following is the schedule for conducting the action research at SMPN 1
Pelaihari.
Table 3.1
Time Schedule of the Research in the Academic Year of 2010/2011
ACTIVITIES JULY AUGUS
The research method used in this research is a classroom action research.
In this case, the researcher wants to improve the students’ ability in writing a
descriptive text through collaborative writing technique. Here, there are some
portrayed as a cyclical or spiral process involving steps of planning, acting,
observing, and reflecting. Action research methodology offers a systematic
approach to introduce innovations in teaching and learning. It is normal for a
project to go through two or more cycles. Improvement is brought about by a
series of cycles, each incorporating lesson from the previous ones. The cycle of
Kember is the simplest and tidiest form.
Elliot (1991: 69) states that action research might be defined as the study
of a social situation with a view to improve the quality of action within it. It aims
at feeding practical judgment in concrete situation and the validity of theories or
hypothesis. It depends not so much on scientific test of truth, as on their
usefulness in helping people to act more intelligently and skillfully. In action
research theories are not validated independently and then applied to practice.
They are validated through practice. Furthermore, Ebbut (in Hopkin, 1993: 45)
argues that action research is the systematic study of attempts to improve
educational practice by groups of participants by means of their own practical
actions and by means of their own reflection upon the effects of those actions.
Besides, classroom action research has characteristics that meet the need
of the researcher. They are, according to Dick (in Nurkamto, 2002: 7) as follows:
1) Classroom action research is designed and applied in a certain classroom
setting; therefore, the research findings are applicable only to that classroom.
The extent to which the findings may be applicable elsewhere depends on the
2) Classroom action research is aimed at finding the solution for local and
practical problems. Therefore, the researcher does not apply methodology as
rigidly as that in other formal researches in developing universal theories.
3) Classroom action research tends to be cyclical, meaning that certain steps
(planning, acting, observing, and reflecting) tend to recur in a more or less
similar sequence at different phases of an action research study.
4) Classroom action research tends to be participative. It means that the clients
and informants are involved as partner, or at least active participants, in the
researcher process.
5) Classroom action research tends to be reflective. Critical reflection upon the
process and outcomes are important parts of each cycle.
From the definitions above, it can be concluded that a classroom action
research in this study means the systematic study of attempts to improve
educational practices in order that the students’ achievement is very satisfying. It
tends to be cyclical, participative and reflective.
In addition, the design of classroom action research used in this research is
a cyclical process adapted from the model proposed by Kemmis and McTaggart
(1992: 11). It consists of four main steps namely: planning, acting, observing, and
Figure 3.1
The Model of Classroom Action Research
In each cycle, the procedures are:
1. Planning
The activities in planning are:
a. Conducting the diagnostic test, interviewing, and observing to identify the
real problem of the students in writing.
b. Planning the action program which will be conducted and preparing
everything dealing with the action research requirements such as:
preparing the material which consists of students’ worksheet, making
lesson plans, students’ questionnaires, preparing the sheets for classroom
observation, preparing test instrument, etc.
2. Action
The activities in action are:
a. Carrying out activities step by step based on the lesson plan.
