COMPARING THE ABILITY OF 2
ndAND 4
thSEMESTER
STUDENTS IN GIVING FEEDBACK
TO THEIR FRIENDS’ WRITING
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Ardhita Meilina Student Number: 081214016
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
i
IN GIVING FEEDBACK
TO THEIR FRIENDS’ WRITING
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Ardhita Meilina Student Number: 081214016
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
vii
ABSTRACT
Meilina, Ardhita. 2012. Meilina, Ardhita. 2012. Comparing 2nd and 4th Semester Students’ Ability in Giving Feedback to Their Friends’ Writing.
Peer feedback has an essential role in improving students’ writing skill. Through peer feedback activity, the students will have opportunities to work collaboratively with their peers and improve their writing abilities individually. This role encourages them to be critical readers and critical thinkers at once. However, the students’ ability in giving feedback to their peers’ writing is different.
This study aimed at investigating to what extent 2nd semester students and 4th semester students give feedback to their friend’s writing. The research was conducted using document analysis. The participants of the study were the second semester students who were taking Paragraph Writing II in the Academic Year of 2011/2012 and the fourth semester students who were taking Critical Reading and Writing in the Academic Year of 2010/2011 at the English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. The instrument was adapted from Hughey et al. (1983). with some modification from the writer so that it would be relevance to this research.
From this study, it was found that the second semester students and the fourth semester students had different ability in giving feedback to their peers’ writing. The fourth semester students were more detailed in giving comment; they focused not only on the language accuracy and the mechanic of the writings but also on the content and organization of the writing. They did not only concern on the surface errors but they also concern on the writing’s content. On the contrary, the second semester students less pay attention to the writing’s content. The Second semester students’ feedback focused more on the writing’s form.
viii
ABSTRAK
Meilina, Ardhita. 2012. Comparing 2nd and 4th Semester Students’ Ability in Giving Feedback to Their Friends’ Writing.
Dalam meningkatkan kemampuan menulis siswa, saling memberikan umpan balik antar siswa memiliki peranan yang penting. Melalui aktivitas ini,para siswa memiliki kesempatan untuk bekerjasama dengan temannya dan meningkatkan kemampuan menulis mereka secara individual. Akan tetapi kemampuan masing-masing siswa dalam memberikan umpan balik terhadap karangan teman-temannya berbeda-beda.
Studi ini meneliti seberapa jauh kemampuan siswa semester dua dan siswa semester empat dalam memberikan umpan balik terhadap karangan temannya. Studi ini menggunakan metode dokumen analisis. Peserta studi ini adalah siswa semester dua di kelas Paragraph Writing II pada tahun angkatan 20011/2012 serta siswa semerter empat di kelas Critical Reading and Writing pada tahun angkatan 2010/2011 di Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Kampus Sanata Dharma. Instrument penelitian yang digunakan di adapatasi dari Hughey et al.(1983). dengan sedikit perubahan dari penulis agar tetap sesuai dengan studi ini.
Dari hasil studi ini, ditemukan bahwa para siswa semester dua memiliki kemampuan memberikan umpan balik yang berbeda dengan para siswa di semester empat. Para siswa semester empat lebih rinci dalam memberikan komentar, mereka tidak hanya fokus pada tata bahasa maupun tanda baca namun juga memperhatikan isi serta organisasi dalam karangan temannya. Mereka tidak hanya fokus pada kesalahan yang tampak di permukaan tapi juga focus pada isi karangan. Sebaliknya, para siswa semester dua kurang fokus dalam memberikan umpan balik yang berkaitan dengan isi karangan, mereka lebih fokus memberikan umpan balik pada tata bahasa dan tanda baca.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I dedicate my greatest and deepest gratitude Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala for his blessing, love, and strength so I could finish the thesis and reach one of my dreams.
My sincere appreciation also goes to my major sponsor C. Tutyandari, S.Pd.,M.Pd. for her time, patience, and support to the completion of the thesis. I also would like to sincerely thank Christina Kristiyani, S.Pd.,M.Pd., for sharing me her time, critical thoughts and helpful suggestions.
My deepest gratitude goes to my beloved parents, Bapak Saifudin and Ibu Sri Haryani for their endless love, prayer, and encouragement all my life. My deepest thanks also go to my dearest little sister, Aulia Luthfiana for all of the supports which she gives to me especially in conducting this thesis.
My best thanks are also delivered to all of my friends. I thank Niar and Ratna, thanks the friendship. I deeply grateful for my friends, Azizah, Dina, who really have the spirit to get the best think for our life in this world and later in heaven, insya Allah. Thanks my friend, Nita, for her patience and willingness in giving criticism, corrections, and suggestions to improve my thesis. Latest, I would like to give my appreciation to those whose names I cannot mention all. I thank for their contributions in helping me in writing this thesis.
Sincerely,
x
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE... i
APPROVAL PAGES………. ii
STATEMENTS OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY………. iv
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ……… v
DEDICATION PAGES ………. vi
ABSTRACT ……….. vii
ABSTRAK ……….. viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………. ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………. x
LIST OF TABLES………. xiii
LIST OF FIGURES………... xiv
LIST OF APPENDICES ………... xv
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ………. 1
A. Research Background ……….. 1
B. Research Problems ………. 3
C. Problem Limitation ……… 3
D. Research Objectives……… 4
E. Research Benefits……… 4
F. Definition of Terms………. 5
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE………. 7
xi
1. Theories of Writing……….. 7
a. Concept of Writing……….. 7
b. Writing Product Versus Writing Approach…………. 10
c. Writing as both a Product and Approach ……… 13
2. Theories of Feedback……… 13
a. Definition of Feedback……… 13
b. Purpose of Feedback ……… 14
c. Focus on Feedback ……….. 15
d. Source of Feedback ……… 16
3. Theories of Peer Feedback……….. 18
a. Benefits of Peer Feedback ……… 18
B. Theoretical Framework………. 19
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ……….. 21
A. Research Method………... 21
B. Research Setting ………... 22
C. Research Participants ……… 22
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ……… 23
E. Data Analysis Technique ……… 24
F. Research Procedure ………. 25
CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ……… 26
A. Research Result and Discussion……….. 26
1. Data Presentations and Discussions on the Results of 4th 2. Semesters Students’ Feedback to Their Peers’ Writing…. 27
xii
b. Organization ……… 41
c. Language Accuracy……… 48
d. Mechanic ……… 54
2. Data Presentations and Discussions on the Results of 2nd Semesters Students’ Feedback to Their Peers’ Writing ……… 56
a. Content……….. 56
b. Organization……….. 61
c. Language Accuracy ……….. 63
d. Mechanic……… 66
3. The Comparison between 2nd and 4th Semester Students Ability in Giving Feedback to Their Peers’ Writing……… 69
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS …….. 71
A. Conclusions ……….. 71
B. Recommendations ……… 72
REFERENCES ………. 74
xiii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1. Spelling ……… 55
Table 4 2. Tenses ……….. 66
xiv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4. 1. The Clarity of Writing Purpose ………. 28
Figure 4.2. The Clarity of Thesis Statement ……… 31
Figure 4.3. Unclear Thesis Statement ……… 32
Figure 4.4. Topic ………. 35
Figure 4.5. The Clarity of Discussion/Arguments………. 37
Figure 4. 6. The Relevance Information to the Topic ……….. 39
Figure 4.7. The Information was Related to the Topic ……… 39
Figure 4. 8. Tenses ……….. 48
Figure 4.9. Incorrect Tenses ……….. 49
Figure 4.10. Passive Voice ………. 52
Figure 4. 11. Punctuation Marks ……….. 54
xv
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
Appendix A ………. 77
Letters of Permission……… 78
Appendix B……….. 83
The Results Checklist of 2nd Semester Students in Giving Feedback to Their Peers ‘Writing………. 84
Appendix C ……… 110
The Results Checklist of 4th Semester Students in Giving Feedback to Their Peers’ Writing……… 111
Appendix D……… 198
Examples of Feedbacks Given by 2nd Semester Students ……….. 199
Appendix E……….. 205
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides background of study, problem formulation, problem limitation, benefits of the study, and definition of terms that are going to be discussed.
A. Research Background
Writing becomes one of the English skills that have to be mastered. Through writing, we can express our thoughts, ideas, and also feeling. According to Walvoord (1985), “Writing is a useful tool for discovering and thinking. It is also the vital connection on which education, culture, and commerce in our society depend (p.1).”
Considering that writing is very important not only in an educational sector but also in a real world when we work later, from now a student should be able to produce a good piece of writing. A good piece of writing should present the content, organization, sentence structure, and word choice well so it can be appropriate for the writer’s audience and propose (Zimmerman and Rodrigues, 1992; p.9)
the English skills which require students to experience trials and error process in obtaining a qualified writing product.
Lewis (2002) explains that, feedback is a way for teachers to describe their learners’ language. It gives teachers information about individual and collective class progress. It also can be an evaluation on their own teaching feedback is fun and useful activity that becomes one of the many ways students can learn to improve their writing (p.3).
Based on researcher’s experiences, when the researcher was in the 2nd semester, she could not give feedback to their friends’ writing well. The researcher only paid attention to the grammar mistakes on their friends’ writing and less pay attention to the writings’ content. Unfortunately, the researcher was also not sure whether the feedback which she gave on their friends’ grammar mistakes was correct or not. However, when the researcher was in the 4th semester, her ability in giving feedback on her friends’ writing was better. The researcher did not only pay attention to the surface errors but also on the content of writing. In giving feedback, the researcher could also provide some explanations to her friends why researcher argued that the content and diction used in the text were not appropriate. The researcher could also provide and explain the correction for grammar errors that existed in her friend’s writing.
In particular, feedback from low-ability students is considered most problematic: instructors question whether low-ability students have something to offer high-ability students, and whether low-ability students helping other low-ability students would be too much like the blind leading the blind. In terms of skills, instructors worry whether low-ability students are capable of detecting problems in the text, whether they understand which problems have the largest negative impact, and whether they are able to accurately describe the problem and offer useful solutions that would fix the major problems.
Another recent study examined how high-ability sources and low-ability sources differed in their commenting style (Patchan, Charney, & Schunn, 2009), interestingly, when provided with specific feedback rubrics, there were very few differences between the two types of sources. For example, both high-ability and low-ability peers produced an equal number of high-level writing comments. The one critical feature that differed was localization: high-ability sources provided more localized comments than low-ability sources
Considering the researcher’s experience and the experts’ explanations above, the researcher is determined to compare the ability of 2nd semester students and 4th semester students can give feedback to their friend’s writing. The researcher chooses the 2nd and 4th semester students as the participants because the writing which they take has almost similar characteristic while the writing of 6th semester is more complicated.
B. Research Problem
C. Problem Limitation
Since peer feedback has an essential role in improving students' skills in writing process. Thus, the researcher intends to focus on a document analysis about peer feedback which was conducted by 2nd and 4th semester students at English Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta. The researcher takes the respondents from the PBI students of Academic Year 2011/2012 and 2010/2011 who are taking Paragraph writing and critical reading and writing II.
D. Research Objective
The objective of the research is stated as to find out to what extent 2nd semester students and 4th semester students can give feedback to their friend’s writing.
E. Research Benefits
This study is expected to give contribution to
1. The English teacher
2. Students of English Study Program
Through peer feedback activity, it is expected to increase students’ ability in giving feedback to their friends’ writing. Besides that, students are expected to have opportunities to work collaboratively with peers and to improve their writing abilities individually. This role encourages them to be critical readers and critical thinkers at once.
F. Definition of Terms
The researcher provides some definitions of the terms used in this study. They are stated as follows:
1.Document Analysis
Content or Document Analysis according to Aryet al (2002) is “A study which focuses on analyzing and interpreting recorded materials within their contexts, such as public records, textbooks, letters, films, diaries, and so on (p.27).” Krippendorff (2004) also argues that, “ As a research technique, content analysis provides new insights, increases a researcher’s understanding of a particular phenomena, or informs practical actions (p.18).”
2. Feedback
Johnson and Johnson (1994) define feedback as “Information that allows individuals to compare their actual performance with the standard of performance (p.277).” According to Keh (1990), “Feedback is fundamental element of process approach trough writing. It can be define is input from a reader to the writer for revision (p.294).”
From those definitions, the researcher concludes that peer feedback refers to the process of constructing approach to give information as a revision for students’ writing which is conducted by students to another student.
3. Writing
7
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Chapter two is aimed at discussing the theories underlying this study. This chapter covers theoretical description and theoretical review. The theoretical description focuses on the theories that underline the topic of the research. Since the objective of this study is to find out to what extent the second and fourth semester students give feedback to their friends’ writing, the theories that will be presented cover the issue of the theory of writing, and the presence of feedback in writing and peer feedback. The implementation of the theories in this study is discussed in the theoretical framework.
A. Theoretical Description
This part consists of an explanation about three theories which underline this study. The first theory is about theory of writing, the second theory is the presence of feedback in writing, and the last is peer feedback.
1. Theories of Writing
a. Concept of writing
ways of thinking, learning, and sharing ideas with others. Writing also plays often integral role in an individual’s personal as well as professional life (Zimmerman and Rodrigues, 1992: 4).
In English learning, there are four skills which have to be learned. They are reading, writing, speaking, and listening. For English as Foreign Language learners including the students of English Education Study Program, writing becomes one of the English skills that have to be mastered. Through writing, we can express our thoughts, ideas, and also feeling. Considering that writing is very important not only in an educational sector but also in a real world when we work later, from now a student should produce a good piece of writing.
A good piece of writing should present the content, organization, sentence structure, and word choice well so it can be appropriate for the writer’s, audience, and propose (Zimmerman and Rodrigues, 1992; p.9). Besides producing a good piece of writing; the students also have to improve their writing skill because it is crucial for them as students and as a professional later (Walvoord, 1992; 1). Walvoord (1992) explains to improve students’ writing; they have to know two things: what effective writing looks like, and how to plan and carry out a writing task. Walvoord (1992) also states that, “Writing is effective when it accomplishes its purpose for its audience and it can help the writers discover their ideas and deepen their insights” (p.3).
M: MAIN IDEA : Effective public writing focuses on a main idea appropriate to its audience and purpose.
O: ORGANIZATION : Effective public writing has a well organized pattern of sub points with the evidence.
S: SUPPORT : Effective public writing supports its points with the evidence, illustration, and detail needed to accomplish its purpose for its audience.
S: SENTENCE AND : Effective public writing has sentences and paragraphs PARAGRAPHS that are clear and readable and that serve the writer’s
purpose for the audience.
C: CONVENTION : Effective public writing follows the conventions of grammar, punctuation, and documentation that its audience expects.
From those characteristics, we can conclude that to have a good piece of writing is important because it means that through a good writing, we can really share our thoughts and ideas so that the readers will understand clearly and easily.
There are three processes of writing that have to be followed by the writers so that they can produce a good piece of writing. Those three processes according to Gerson and Gerson (2003; p.12) are:
1) Prewriting
data. Finally, the writers must consider the audiences or the readers of their writing. By prewriting, it means that the writers plan their correspondence.
2) Writing
After conducting prewriting, the writers should make a draft of their writing. The writer should organize their draft according to some logical sequence. Then, the writers must format the content so that the readers can understand it clearly and easily.
3) Rewriting
The final process of writing is rewriting the drafts. Rewriting allows the writers to perfect their writing. Revision is the most important stage in the writing process. Rewriting is the stage in which the writers make sure that everything is just right.
The process approach to writing including prewriting, writing and rewriting can help the writers to write successfully and effectively in any environment or writing situation.
b. Writing Product versus Writing Process
(1992) explains that “Product approach means that the focus is on the ability to produce correct texts or “products” (p.106).”
Furthermore, Nunan (1992) argues that “Product oriented approach focus on task in which the learners imitate copy and transform models provided by the teacher or the textbook (p.272).” According to Brown (2007), the compositions of product-oriented approach are supposed to meet certain standards of prescribed English rhetorical style, reflect accurate grammar and be organized in conformity with what the audience would consider to be conventional (p.391).
In evaluating, usually the teacher will give a list of criteria that included content, organization, vocabulary use, grammatical use, and mechanical consideration such as spelling and punctuation (Brown, 2007; p. 391).Based on those explanations, we can conclude that writing product approach emphasis on the quality of the writing without noticing the steps and efforts taken by the students in producing their writings. Thus, the major focus of this approach is on the finished product writing and the grade of writing.
In writing process approach, students will be more aware of the importance process of writing. Students have the opportunity to develop their ability in writing skill it through a set of steps. This process more emphasis on the steps and efforts taken by the students in producing their writings rather than just focus on the final result. The students are encouraged to put their ideas onto paper without worrying too much about correctness in the initial steps. They then share their work with others, getting feedback on their ideas, and how they are expressed, before revising (p.272). Thus, it can be said that students can practice to produce a goof piece of writing through a cooperation process between teachers and students or students with students to develop the ability of writing skill in the form of feedback process.
c. Writing as both a Product and Process
Instead of saying that the process approach is better than the product approach or vice versa, it is best to say that writing is a form of both process and product. As stated by Brown (2001) that every process of writing activity should lead to the final product (p. 335. Furthermore, Brown (2001) explains that:
The current emphasis on process writing must of course be seen as a perspective of a balance between process and product. As in most language teaching approaches, it is quite possible for you to go to an extreme in emphasizing process to the extent that the final products diminish in importance …. This product is, after all, the ultimate goal; it is the reason that we go through the process of pre writing, drafting, revising, and editing…. Process is not the end; it is the means to the end (p.337). This idea implies that the process of writing is as important as the product
of writing. Thus, the process in producing a piece of writing and the final product of that writing of cannot be separated. In other word, the students must first experience the process of writing (of pre writing, drafting, revising, and editing) in order to produce a good piece of writing.
2. Theories of Feedback
a. Definition of Feedback
(p.2). From those two definitions, we can conclude that feedback is an important part of teaching and learning activity so that the learners can improve their performance on what they have learned.
b. Purpose of Feedback
Lewis (2002; p. 3-4) provides several purposes of feedback for both teachers and students. First, feedback provides information for teachers and students. Teachers can collect about individual and collective progress that can be one of the forms of evaluations on their own teaching. For students, feedback is an ongoing form of assessment which is more focused than mark or grades.
The second is to give students advice in learning. Through feedback, the teachers can give some comment about students’ learning processes that the students can understand their strength which can be developed and their weaknesses that have to be evaluated.
Feedback can also be a motivation for the students. Feedback can encourage the students to study and use language to the best of their ability by taking into account whatever the teacher knows about the learners’ attitude.
The last purpose of feedback is to lead students toward autonomy. Feedback can lead students to the point where they can find their own mistakes. By knowing their strengths and weaknesses, the students are encouraged to be autonomous students.
In the process of writing, students often do not realize their mistakes; therefore as also stated by Lewis (2002) feedback is needed to revise those writings which are ultimately expected to improve the quality of their writings. Williams (2003) also states that, “The goal of feedback is to teach skills that help students improve their writing proficiency to the point where they are cognizant of what is expected of them as writers and are able to produce it with minimal errors and maximum clarity.”
c. Focus on Feedback
(William, 2003). Based on Park (2006), form feedback is one of the most commonly used methods. It focuses on students’ grammatical knowledge.
According to William (2003), content feedback focus on comments on organization, ideas, and amount of detail. In feedback on content, the corrector points out problems and offers suggestions to improve the future revision. Using this feedback, the students are expected to incorporate information from the comment into the version of their writing.
d. Source of Feedback
Lewis (2002; p. 15-23) explains that there are three sources of feedback, namely teacher feedback, peer feedback, and self correction.
1) Teacher Feedback
In many sources, teachers are the main sources of feedback on both oral and written language. One of the ways of teacher feedback is traditional marking. In traditional marking, it means that teachers make marks on the students’ writing. The marks can be in form of words as the comments or some symbols such as underlining.
One of the weaknesses of this method is that some teachers spend more time correcting students’ writing than their students spend looking at the corrections. In a result the students less understand how to revise the writing.
conference between writer and teacher is the chance to discuss the students’ work in a combination of commenting and questioning. One of problem of this technique is the time management. In a large class individual time can be difficult to organize.
Another variation of teacher feedback is through collective feedback. In this collective feedback, the teacher looks at everyone’s work, noting the points that need feedback, but to present the comment collectively, either orally, or on the paper or on the board. The teacher notes silently the points as they are made by individuals but comment on the comment on them to the whole class. Through this kind of feedback, the students will not be ashamed with their friends because the teacher does not directly point the students who make the errors. Therefore, the students need to be active in looking at their own work to find the reason for their mark.
2) Peer Feedback
The students usually will get bore if they just get feedback only from their teacher. The students should have another variety of suggestion and comment on their writing. The idea of peer feedback will be great to be implemented in the writing class as one of ways to improve students’ writing and keep the writing class always interesting.
discuss their texts and discover other’s interpretations of them (Hyland and Hyland, 2006: 6)
3) Self Correction
Self correction means that the students can correct and evaluate their own work. It can increase the students’ independence from the teacher as the students have to find their own mistakes in their writing by themselves. By finding their own mistakes independently, the students are expected to remember better that hopefully the will not do the same mistakes again.
3. Peer Feedback
a. Benefits of Peer Feedback
Peer Feedback is believed to provide some advantages. Hyland (2003) argues that peer feedback both improve writers’ drafts and develop readers’ understanding of good writing. Moreover, peer feedback not only can improve students’ critical reading skill but also gain the skills necessary to critically analyze and revise their own writing (Zhang, 1995, as cited in Hyland, 2003: 198). Therefore the advantages of peer feedback can be felt by both the readers and the writers.
writing gives opportunity to the students to act as resources to each other, thus assuming more active role in their learning (p.3). This statement is supported by Mittan (1989) as cited in Hyland (2003), peer feedback can create authentic social context for interaction and learning (p.3). In other word, peer feedback will create a cooperative learning in which the will be forced to be active in teaching learning activities.
B. Theoretical Framework
Considering that writing is very important not only in an educational sector but also in a real world when we work later, from now a student should produce a good piece of writing. There are three processes on producing a good writing which are prewriting, writing, and revising. In this study, the researcher concerns with the prewriting process. On the prewriting process, the students determine the objectives of their writing and generate the ideas. On prewriting process, the students write the writing’s draft which can be revised to improve the writing’s result. Writing’s feedback is one of some ways that can help the students to revise their first draft so that they can have a better final draft.
expected to help the students to improve their writing’s skill and keep the writing class interesting.
The students have different ability in giving feedback to their friends’ writing. Some of them just focus on the surface error of the writing and other focus on the information that they can get from the writing.Theory of feedback proposed by Fathman and Whalley (1990), William (2003) and Park (2006) can help to identify the feedback focus given by the students. Based on Park (2006), there are two categories of writing feedback focus, they are form and content. Feedback on forms concern on grammar and mechanic errors while feedback on content concerns on organization, ideas, and amount of detail.
21
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents detailed information about the method used to accomplish this study. Thus, in this chapter the researcher explains every part of the methodology including what research method was used, research participants, where the research took place, research instrument, how the data were gathered during the research, and data analysis as well as research procedure.
A. Research Method
This study belonged to a qualitative research. According to Ary et al (2002) qualitative study is, “A study which aims to understand a phenomenon by focusing on the total picture (p.25)”. Ary (2002) et al also state that “The goal of qualitative study is to get a holistic picture and depth understanding of a social phenomena, rather than a numeric analysis of data” (p.25). They (2002) also add that a qualitative study inquirer deals with data that are in the form of words, rather than numbers and statistics. The data collected are the subject’s experiences and perspectives. In this study, the researcher tried to describe a social phenomena related to the ability of the 2nd semester students and the 4th semester students in giving feedback to their friends’ writings.
diaries, and so on” (p.27). Krippendorff (2004) also argues that, “As a research technique, content analysis provides new insights, increases a researcher’s understanding of a particular phenomena, or informs practical actions” (p.18). In this study, the researcher analyzed the feedback checklist that had been fulfilled by the students to get new insights and better understanding about to what extent the students can give feedback to their friends’ writings.
B. Research Setting
This research is conducted at the English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University which is located at Mrican, Yogyakarta.
C. Research Participants
The participants of this research were the second semester students who were taking Paragraph Writing in the Academic Year of 2011/2012 and the fourth semester students who were taking critical reading and writing II in the Academic Year of 2010/2011 at the English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University.
2012 There were 75 participants from second semester students who filled out the instruments which had been distributed. The participants consisted of the students of Class A, Class C, and Class D. The researcher analyzed 35 which were chosen randomly from all of the participants.
D. Research instruments and Data Gathering Technique
To collect the data, the researcher used the feedback checklist as the research instrument. The researcher analyzed the feedback checklist that had been filled by the students to get the data for this study. The researcher wanted to know to what extent the second semester students and forth semester students can give feedback to their friends’ writings. Besides that, the researcher analyzed how the students gave feedback for every aspect of their friends’ writings. The researcher also wanted to compare to what extent the second semester students and the fourth semester students can give feedback to their friends’ writing that she could see which one performed better.
1. Feedback Checklist
The feedback checklist was used to help the researcher to answer the problem of this study. According to Hopkins (1976), checklist is “an aid to direct observation which list items to be given attention (p. 276).”
and mechanic. The researcher gave some modifications in the feedback checklist in order to be relevance to this research.
The researcher asked the students to work in pair in order to give feedback to their friend’s writing. After that, the researcher distributed feedback checklists that had to be filled by the students based on their friend’s first writing. The feedback checklist consisted of four categories, they were content, organization, language use or language accuracy, and mechanic. In each category, there were some points that had to be considered by the participants as the guideline in giving feedback to their friends’ writing.
After a week, the researcher collected the feedback checklist that had been filled to be analyzed. The researcher compared the second and fourth semester students’ ability in giving feedback based on the feedback checklist that had been fulfilled. The research would like to find out to what extent 2nd semester students and 4th semester students give feedback to their friend’s writing.
E. Data Analysis Technique
The first step was to analyze the feedback checklists that had been filled by the student based on the students’ first writing. The feedback checklist would be reread carefully. Through analyzing this format of feedback checklist, the researcher intended to find out to what extent second semester students and fourth semester students can give feedback to their friend’s writing.
Through this grouping, it was expected to help the researcher to analyze how the students gave feedback to their friends’ writing on each aspect on the feedback checklist. What aspects of the feedback checklist that could be the strengths of the second and fourth semester students in giving feedback and what aspects of the feedback checklist that could be the weaknesses of the second and fourth semester students in giving feedback.
Afterward, the researcher compared the ability between second semester students and the fourth students in giving feedback to their friend’s writing. Finally, some conclusions were drawn.
F. Research Procedure
Conducting this study, the writer did several steps. The steps were:
1. Identifying the problems
2. Identifying research participants
3. Preparing research instrument
4. Consulting research instrument
5. Asking permission to conduct the study
6. Colleting the students’ draft and feedback sheet
8. Analyzing the data
26
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
This chapter presents the results which answer the question previously formulated in research formulation. The researcher analyzed the data and gave reasons to reach conclusion.
The sources of data in this research were the second semester students who were taking Paragraph Writing in the Academic Year of 2011/2012 and the fourth semester students who were taking Critical Reading and Writing II in the Academic Year of 2010/2011 at the English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. To collect the data from participants, the researcher employed an instrument which was writing feedback checklist. This data were collected in May 2012 until June 2012.
A. Data Presentations and Discussions on the Results of 4th Semester
Students’ Feedback to Their Peers’ Writing
The Researcher obtained the data from the first draft of the forth semester students who were taking Critical Reading Writing II with their friends’ feedback on it, based on the writing feedback checklist which had been provided by the researcher. The researcher distributed the instrument to class A and D of Critical Reading and Writing Class. There are forty copies which were distributed to Class A and forty three copies distributed to Class D. The total checklists which were returned to the researcher were sixty nine. Some of the checklists had not been completed. Therefore, the researcher took the data randomly from Class A and D. There were thirty nine data results from Class A and D which had been analyzed by the researcher. There were four categories in feedback checklist and in each category there were some points which had to be considered by the proofreaders.
1. Content
Providing feedback on the content of the students’ writing is very important. It helps the students to know whether their content of writing is really in line with the topic of their writing or not. Besides that, the students will know whether the content has had good supporting ideas so that the writing has developed well or not.
were some points feedback on the content of their friends’ writing
rity of the Writing’s Purpose
the researcher wanted to know the participants rpose of the writing that they read. The resea the participants provided arguments about th friends’ writing.
Figure 4.1 The Clarity of Writing’s Purpose
e data, there were 37 proofreaders who stated hich they read were clear and the rest proofread at the writings’ purpose were unclear. There w freaders gave comments on their friends’ writin iting’s purpose. The first was the proofreaders
Clear =95%
d that the purpose aders or two proof e were three ways iting related to the ers could state the 95%
purpose of their friends’ writings but they did not give argument why they stated that the writings’ purpose was clear. Second, the proofreaders could state the purpose of their friends’ writing and gave the arguments why they said that the purpose was clear. The last was the proofreader stated that the writing had a clear purpose but they did not restate what the writing’s purpose was.
Example 1:
Teen pregnancy is one of risk of having sex which can give great harm on
teenagers’ future. If a girl has pregnant, she would loss her future. They can reach their dreams because they do not
continue go to school or college. They will be teen family which has lack of knowledge. In this essay, I will explain some reasons why we should prevent teen pregnancy. (Sample no.12)
The proofreader stated that the writing’s purpose was clear which was the writer would like to persuade the readers to prevent teen pregnancy. The proofreader also stated that writer had put the thesis statement clearly in the beginning of the article so it made the reader could understand the writing’s purpose well. The proofreader also said that the writer put clear explanations that the reader could understand the purpose of the writer clearly.
Example 2
In the feedback checklist, the proofreader stated that the writing purpose was clear in which the writer wanted to persuade the teenagers not to listen Hip Hop because it gave some bad effects. However, the proofreader did not give the reasons why she stated that the purpose of the writing was clear.
Example 3
Society has created people nowadays to value the beauty in appearance than inner beauty. Because of it, people tent to look for an instant way to get the attractive appearance like undergoing the cosmetic surgery. But actually, they don’t really know what the cosmetic surgery might bring aftermath. There are some reasons why people should not take the cosmetic surgery, like spend lot of money, bring physical risk, give the patient psychological impact and there is no guarantee that surgery will work well. (Sample no.32)
The proofreader said that the purpose of this writing was clear. She stated that the purpose of the writing was the author wanted the readers to realize the danger of the cosmetic surgery. Further, the proofreader explained that the purpose of the writing could be understood clearly from the explanation in the last part of the first paragraph which was the thesis statement.
which was read by what actually the p
b. The Clar
In this part, t analyzed the thesi explanation related e purpose of that writing was.
larity of the Thesis Statement
t, the researcher would like to analyze how esis statement of their friends’ writings. It ted to the participants’ understanding about wh o tell in their writings.
Figure 4.2 The Clarity of Thesis Statement
e data, there were thirty two proofreaders who y read had clear thesis statement and seven pro hich they read had unclear thesis statement.
hirty two proofreaders who stated that the thes iting was clear could mention what the thesis s
e of them also could give some suggestions to Clear :82 %
ho stated that the roofreaders stated
hesis statement of is statement on the to make the thesis 82 %
Four proofread they read had unc unclear thesis state stated the thesis sta
Consider the followin
Example 1
Since childhood, we h is very useful for our as what we think. Wh day regularly, you ar this world. (Sample no
Figure 4.3 Unclear Thesis Statements
eaders from seven proofreaders who stated tha nclear gave reasons why they thought that th tatement while three proofreaders said that the
statement yet.
ing examples
e have been told that milk is the perfect drink f ur body. Unfortunately, facts show that milk i When you are starting to drink two or thee glas
are unintentionally starting to endanger your
In this writing, the proofreader stated that the thesis statement of this writing was in the last part of the paragraph. Besides that, the proofreader also gave further explanations that the writer made clear and good thesis statement.
Example 2
Society has created people nowadays to value the beauty in appearance than the inner beauty. Because of it, people tend to look for an instant way to get the attractive appearance like undergoing the cosmetic surgery. But actually, they don’t really know what cosmetic surgery might bring aftermath. There are some reasons why people should not take cosmetic surgery, like spend a lot of money, bring physical risks, give the patient psychological impact and there is no guarantee that surgery will work well.(Sample no.32)
The proofreader of this essay stated that the thesis statement of this essay was the last sentence of the first paragraph. Furthermore, she gave some suggestions to the writer to make the thesis statement briefer so it would be clearer. The proofreader’s suggestion was very useful to improve the writing
Example 3
Pamanukan is a district which is located in Subang, West Java. As a district, Pamanukan is one of cities which is good to be visited to spend your holiday. The reasons are Pamanukan has two beaches which are beautiful enough, some food courts which sell delicious food from another cities, strategic location, and the air is still fresh. Because of that reasons, I am going to persuade you to visit Pamanukan. (Sample no.30)
In the third example, proofreader stated that this writing did not have a clear thesis statement. She argued that the writer did not elaborate the thesis statement clearly and it was still raw. However, she assumed that the thesis statement of this writing was “the reasons are Pamanukan has two beaches
which are beautiful enough, some food courts which sell delicious food from
another cities, strategic location, and the air is still fresh.” In this case, the
researcher concluded that actually the proofreader hesitated in deciding thesis statement of the writing because the proofreader also stated that the writing had an unclear thesis statement.
Example 4
Once I heard a proverb saying, “Health was quiet expensive to cure so we must
be healthy over time.” What do you think about this? Have you ever noticed
this? Well, if we think deeper, we will say that that proverb is true since nowadays, there are lots of diseases such as cholesterol, obese, and even many more. These infect not only those belonging to aging people, but also the young ones. How could it be? It is simply answered, “…because they do not like move their body very often. There are several reasons below why you should do sport instead of being lazy. (Sample no.7)
In the fourth example, the proofreader said that the writing had an unclear thesis statement. The proofreader considered that the writer did not mention the thesis statement yet.
c. Topic
There were th stated that the wri proofreaders or fiv uninteresting topic.
five proofreaders stated that the writing that ic. Four proofreaders from thirty four proofrea that they read had interesting topic did not g tatement.
mple, the essay entitled Don’t Burn Your Mo
disadvantages of smoking. In this essay, the w eaders to avoid and stop smoking behavior by p f a cigarette. According to the proofreader of interesting topic; she argued that the writers ent in this essay that the readers could be bore proofreader considered that almost all people igarette. The proofreader suggested the writer in this essay that the readers could be curious to
case, the proofreaders considered whether the writing was interesting or not based on the arguments which were provided by the writer.
Some others considered that the essay had an interesting or meaningful topic if the essay could enrich the readers’ knowledge. It gave the readers additional information about something. For the example, the essay entitled
Love Keeps You Healthy, this essay explained that love also could give positive effects on physical health. Thus, the writers tried to persuade the readers to love each other and reduce anger in ourselves. Based on the proofreader, this essay had interesting topic because she as the reader also could get some additional knowledge that love had some positive effects on health.
For the essay entitled Stay Away from Dairy Milk and The Ring Change Your Life. The proofreader argued that the topic of these writings were interesting because the writers explained new topics which were rarely explained by others so that the readers could get some knowledge related to the topic. As explaining in the essay entitled Stay Away from Dairy Milk, the writer told some information which many people did not know yet that milk also could gave bad effects for health which were cancer if we drank three glasses of milk or more per day regularly.
that cosmetic surge up a debatable topi
d. The Clarity of D
Based on the da participants stated tha Besides that, they als those essays had clea writers could provide clarity of their writin explanations in every strengthen the thesis s
rgery now became a trend for many people. Th pic, the readers would be more curious to read
of Discussions/Arguments
Figure 4.5 The Clarity of Discussions/Arguments
data, there were twenty seven proofreaders f that the essays which were read by them had cl also could give more explanations why they lear discussions. They almost had the same r ide some facts and evidences clearly which co iting’s discussions. Besides that, the writers c ry argument by providing logical reasons on t is statement.
Clea Unc
Through bringing ad the essay.
from thirty nine clear discussions. ey considered that e reasons that the could support the s could give clear n their writings to Clear:69%
Twelve proofreaders from thirty nine or 30.7% proofreaders stated that the essays which were read by them had unclear discussions. All of them could give comments or suggestions to improve the discussion of their friends’ writing.
Example 1, the writing entitled Tying the Knots and Its Advantages for a Man
The proofreader of this essay stated that this writing did not have clear discussions/argumentation because some arguments were confusing and needed more explanations and examples in a real life or implementations in a real life. Based on this comments, the writer could revise and improve her argumentation in her writing.
Example 2, the writing entitled Don’t Burn Your Money
The proofreader of this essay stated that most of the writer’s arguments were not strong enough to persuade people. The proofreader also gave suggestions to the writer to give some more evidences and reasons. Think about the language you use.
Example 3, the writing entitled People should Aware of Their children Obesity
e. The Relevance Inf
F
F
Based on the participants stated support the topic s who stated that the give any reason w participants stated not relevant to the t
Information to the Topic
Figure 4.6 The Relevance Information to The Topic
Figure 4.7 The Information is Related to the Topic
the data gathered, thirty five proofreaders fr ed that the information related to the thesis c sentence. Thirteen proofreaders from thirty fi the information of the writing was relevant to t why they said like that. Four proofreaders f d that the information of the writing which the e topic.
Relevance Unrelevanc
Giving Reasons :6 Did not give reaso
from thirty nine sis statement and five proofreaders o the topic did not s from thirty nine they corrected was
nce :89% vance :11%
For the example, the essay entitled Lets’ visit Pamanukan, the proofreader argued that this essay gave detailed explanations and information about Pamanukan so that the reader interested in visiting Pamanukan. The writer could persuade the readers to visit Pamanukan because she gave relevance information in her writing’s composition. Another example is the essay entitled Stay Away from Dairy Milk, the proofreader of this essay stated that this essay had relevance information to the topic because the writer provided some data, evidences, and from different sources which supported the idea of this essay.
2. Organization
a. The Clarity of the Introduction, Body, and Conclusion
In this part, the researcher would like to find out how the participants gave some comments related to the introduction, body, and the conclusion of their friends’ writings. The first example is the essay entitled Stay Away from Dairy Milk. In this essay, the writer told about that milk was not as healthy as what we thought. The proofreader of this essay stated that this essay had a simple and clear introduction and body. However, the conclusion of this essay was too simple so that it could not convince the reader. Besides that, the proofreader also gave suggestion to the writer to write more convincing conclusion with a clear summary. The proofreader’s comments were really useful to develop the writing so it could be more interesting. Here, we could see that the proofreader not only could decide whether the essay had clear introduction, body, and conclusion or not but also the proofreader could state their reasons even the proofreaders also could give suggestions to the writer how to improve her writing.
could get some feedback or recommendations to add more data and evidence so that the composition of his essay would be better.
The next example is the essay entitled Why People Should not Take Cosmetic Surgery which told that cosmetic surgery could cause bad impacts not only on the physical but also on psychological. The proofreader stated that the introduction, body, and conclusion of this essay were unclear. Further, she explained that it was caused by some errors on grammar and dictions which could make the readers could not really understand about the idea of this essay
b. Topic Sentence
In this part, the researcher wanted to know how the participants analyzed which sentences that became the topic sentences of their friend’s writing. The data revealed that 38 proofreaders from 39 participants 97.4% of participants stated that each paragraph had a clear topic sentence. They also could analyze and gave comments on the sentence which became the topic sentence of their friend’s writing. One proofreader stated that not all of the paragraphs on the writing which she read had a clear topic sentence.
On the essay entitled Why We Should Prevent Teen Pregnancy, the proofreader said that the topic sentence in each paragraph of this essay was clear. The proofreader also could state the sentence which become its topic sentence and gave some comments about them. Based on her comment, she said that the topic sentence of the first paragraph isteen pregnancy can be get
harm on teenagers’ future. The topic sentence of second paragraph is teen
pregnancy can be a bad effect on infant. And the topic sentence for third
paragraph is teen pregnancy will affect on family condition. The proofreader said that the writer had explained and given some examples related to the topic sentence clearly.
our body. The second is a taking a nap can decrease our stress. And the last
topic sentence is taking a nap can decrease the risk of heart attack.
c. The Connectives
In this part, the researcher wanted to find out how the participants gave feedback to their friend’s writing related to the connectives which they used in their writing composition. The researcher would like to find out how the participants who were the fourth semester students corrected their friends’ writing related to the connective words that they used in their composition. Thirty two proofreaders from thirty nine participants stated that all of the connective word on the writings which they read used appropriately. The rest of the participants or seven proofreaders stated that there were some connectives word on the writing which they corrected used inappropriately.
There were some corrections which were given by the proofreader related to the connective words that their friend’s used in their writings.
Example 1
…. Those lyrics accumulated in their mind. The result is the teenagers become more aggressive. (Sample no. 29)
Example 2
You are definitely loved by your family and love someone especially for someone special like your boyfriend or girlfriend. When you are in love you will feel happier and healthier. (Sample no.28)
As a result
Example 3
From the last data, in 2010, the number of organ donor decrease from 2009, from 285 donors to be 242 donors. Exactly, the number of ill patients waiting for organs increases.
On the essay entitled We Need a Printed Media, proofreader suggested the writer to use therefore as a connective word to substituted so. The proofreader argued that the writer had used the word so as the connective word too much and it could cause repetition which made the readers bored. Another example is essay entitled Lets Visit Pamanukan, the proofreader said that there was no inappropriate connectives which was used by the writer. However, the proofreader suggested the writer to vary the connectives words that she used. It would make her essay was not monotonous.
d. The Conclusion
In this part, the researcher wanted to find out how the participants gave feedbacks to their friend’s writing related to the conclusion of the essay, whether the conclusion wrapped up the writer’s idea and leaved the readers feeling satisfied or not.
Based on the data, there were thirty two proofreaders from thirty nine participants who stated that the conclusion wrapped up the writer’s idea and leaved the readers feeling satisfied. Four proofreaders from them did not give any reason why they gave that statement. Seven proofreaders stated that the
conclusion of the essay which they read did not wrap up the writers’ idea and leave the readers feeling satisfied. One of them did not give further reasons.
For the example the essay entitled Finding the Benefits of Taking a Nap, the proofreader said that the conclusion of this essay wrapped up the writer’s idea. However, it should be better if the writer gave recommendation without this kind of sentence “I hope you agree with me and start to take a nap with no
doubt.” The words “I hope” did not persuade the readers well. Another
example which almost the same as the first example was on the essay entitled
Against Death Penalty, the proofreader of this essay said that the conclusion of this essay wrapped up the writer’s idea. However, it should be better if the writer did not use the word “ in my opinion” because it was not strong enough to persuade people. “In my opinion, the state and citizen must respect and
uphold the basic human right.”
For the essays entitled, Smoking Area should be Banned, Let’s Us Do Abstinence, They are not you’re Little Baby Dolls, Students Should have their Deluxe Breakfast before School Everyday, and Cloud Computing to Improve Effectiveness in Work had same comments from the proofreaders. The proofreaders stated that the conclusion of the essays were clear. However, it would be better if the reader put some recommendation to convince the readers.
also leaved the reader feeling satisfied. However they did not give any explanation or comment about that. Eleventh proofreaders from thirty nine participants stated that the essays which had been read by them wrapped up the writer’s idea and also leave the reader feeling satisfied.
For the example the essays entitled, Breathe Healthy, Live happily, the proofreaders said that the conclusion of this essay wrapped up the writer’s idea and had good conclusion, “Keep in mind that smoking has harmful effects that can end up claiming life”. Another example is an essay entitled A Handkerchief can Help Saving the World, according the proofreader, this essay had an interesting conclusion which was “What are you waiting for? Change now and move now.”
There were seven proofreaders from thirty nine participants who stated that the conclusion of the essays did not wrap up the writer’s idea and did not leave the reader feeling satisfied. One of those seven proofreaders did not give any explanation
proofreader also st clear and reliable a
Another exam proofreader argued conclusion; she al reader.
3. Language Accur
a. Tenses
Based on the proofreaders stated they corrected. Th thirty nine particip corrected were corr
stated that he could not be persuaded since he e arguments in the body.
Two proofread some incorrect ten correction on the which part the inc participants who
Coffee, just stated 1, the last sentence the writing which incorrect. For the e is a family whic proofreader, the t
Figure 4.9Incorrect Tenses
eaders from eighteen participants who stated tenses on the essays which they corrected di
e essays so that it could make the writers we incorrect tenses. One of the proofreaders fro o corrected the essay entitled, Life Health
ed that the incorrect tenses on the essay were i ce, in the paragraph 3, the first sentence and i he last sentence. However, the proofreader did ses were, she also did not give any correction.
proofreaders who read the essay entitled W
egnancy, she gave some corrections on the ten
ht that the tenses were wrong. However, actual ich she corrected were correct and her co e example, “As in real story which I can find a hich is in bad condition. (incorrect)”. Acc
e in the paragraph d in the paragraph id not point which
Why We Should
correction which was, “…which I was found around me…(correct).” Another example was, “A girl will do an abortion (incorrect)”, according to the proofreader, the tenses on that sentence was wrong and her correction was, “A girl will doing an abortion (correct).” However, actually the tenses of the writer was correct and the correction given by the proofreader was incorrect because after modal (will) is followed by verb 1 so that the sentence “A girl will do an abortion” is correct.
Fourteen proofreaders of the eighteen participants who stated that there were some incorrect tenses of the essay which they read gave good correction on their friends’ essays. For the example, the essay entitled, “Don’t Burn Your Money”, the corrections given by the proofreader was correct and clear. She stated that the tenses of this sentence “…milk is also improve the risk of
prostate...” was wrong. She corrected that sentence became “milk also
improves the risk….” Another example is the essay entitled “People should
Aware of Their children Obesity”, the proofreader stated that, in this essay, there was a sentence which the tenses ware incorrect which was “I think,
parents should read and understood…” Besides that, the proofreader also
