USING PICTURES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL
AT SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 06 DAU MALANG
THESIS
By:
NUZUL FEBRYANTO 07360133
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
USING PICTURES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL
AT SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 06 DAU MALANG
THESIS
This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve
Sarjana Degree in English Department
By:
NUZUL FEBRYANTO 07360133
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
This thesis written by Nuzul Febryanto was approved on April 10, 2012
Advisor I Advisor II
This thesis was defended in front of the examiners of Faculty of Teacher
Training of Education of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang
and accepted as one of requirement achieve
Sarjana Degree in English Education
on April 10, 2012
Approved by:
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education
University of Muhammadiyah Malang
Dean,
(Drs. H. Fauzan, M.Pd)
Examiners: Signatures:
1. Drs. Jarum, M.Ed 1...
2. Riza Elfana, M.A 2...
3. Drs. Mas’udi, M.Ed 3...
M OT T O
“T ugas kita bukanlah untuk berhasil. T ugas kita
adalah untuk mencoba, karena didalam mencoba
itulah kita menemukan dan belajar membangun
kesempatan untuk berhasil”
(M ario T eguh)
“Success is the good for tune that comes fr om
aspir ation, despir ation, and inspir ation”
( Evan Esar )
D E D I CA T I ON
I dedIc a t ed t hIs t hesIs t o:
My Bel oved Pa r ent s
My SiSt er S
My Eby
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Alhamdulillah, all praise to ALLAH, the Merciful and Charitable. Because of
his guidance, blessing, and affection, the researcher can finish this study. Besides,
peace and blessing are devoted for Prophet Muhammad who has guided us from
darkness into lightness.
The writer would like to express his great appreciation to many persons who
had helped him in finishing this thesis. The writer thanks to:
1. His beloved parents “ Zulhairi and Nurhairi” who always pray, support, and
give the affection during writing thesis.
2. His first advisor “Drs. Mas’udi, M.Ed” and his second advisor “Dra. Dian
Inayati, M.Ed ” for their guidance, suggestion, correction, and comment on
this thesis. Moreover, without their real understanding and strong motivation,
this thesis would have never found its completion.
3. His beloved Eby “Ariani” who always be patient accompany the writer to
consult this thesis to the advisor.
4. His lovely sisters “Riza and Atik” who always give spirit and motivation.
5. His great friends such as: Nay (Nanang) , Ireh, Amri, Imam, Kaka (Mamad),
Alay, Budi, Amok, Amin, Widi, Mardex, I’in, and others that could not be
mentioned one by one.
Malang, 10 April 2012
The Writer
USING PICTURES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL AT SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 6 DAU MALANG
ABSTRACT
As one of the English skills, writing has an important role in teaching and learning process. Writing is a student’s way to express their feeling through words or symbols that will be conveyed to others. Unfortunately, many problems are still found by teachers when they teach writing in the class. They found their students often use incorrect grammar, had lack of vocabularies, and faced difficulties to write a good paragraph. It is the task of teachers to solve these problems by selecting suitable techniques in teaching writing. However selecting a suitable technique is not easy because not all techniques are applicable and suitable for their class. Such problems also happened at SMP muhammadiyah 06 Dau Malang. So, the researcher offers the solution by using picture to improve students’ writing skill at SMP Muhammadiyah 06 Dau Malang.
Based on the statement above, the statement of the problem is whether the used of picture improve students’ skill in writing at SMP Muhammadiyah 06 Dau, Malang. The data obtained from this study are expected to be useful for the teachers, schools and other researchers. The scope of this study is using Picture to improve students’ skill in writing, while the limitation of this study is on the use of pictures to improve students’ skill of writing descriptive texts.
The design of this research was classroom action research. The design of classroom utilized in this study involved the spiral of planning, action and observing, reflecting and revised plan.
The study showed that “Technique in Using Pictures” was success in improving students’ skill in writing. This technique made all of the students easy to write. It was caused by the used of such technique. Pictures provided not only shared experience for students, but also helped them to focus on the picture. Besides, pictures provided a lot of varieties of task.
Key words: Writing, Techniques, Pictures, Descriptive text
Malang, 10 April 2012
The Advisor I, The Writer,
TABLE OF CONTENT
APPROVAL ... i
LEGALIZATION ... ii
MOTTO AND DEDICATION ... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... iv
ABSTRACT ... v
TABLE OF CONTENT ... vi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study ... 1
1.2 Statement of the Problems ... 4
1.3 Purposes of the Study ... 5
1.4 Significance of the Study ... 5
1.5 Scope and Limitation ... 5
1.6 Definition of the Key Terms ... 6
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Teaching Writing ... 7
2.2 Paragraph Writing ... 8
2.3 Descriptive Paragraph ... 10
2.4 Teaching Media ... 13
2.5 Teaching Writing Using Picture ... 15
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research design ... 23
3.2Setting and Subject of the Study ... 25
3.3 Preliminary Observation... 25
3.4 The Procedure of Classroom Action Research ... 25
3.5 Research Instrument ... 28
3.6 Data Collection ... 31
3.7 Data Analysis ... 32
CHAPTER IV RESULT FINDINGS AND DISCUSIONS 4.1 The Preliminary Observation ... 33
4.2 The Result of CAR ... 35
4.3 Discussion ... 41
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 Conclusion ... 43
5.2 Suggestions ... 44
REFFERENCES
REFFERENCES
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Board of Studies NSW. 2001. English K-6 Modules. Board of Studies NSW: Australia
Brindley, Susan. 1994. Teaching English. Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Brown, H. Douglas. 2000. Principle by Language Learning and Teaching 4th Edition. United State: San Francisco State University.
Burns, A. 1999. Collaborative action research for English language teachers.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Byrne, Donn. 1984. Teaching Writing Skill.Burnt Mill: Longmans
Callahan, J. Fand and Clark, L. H. 1982. Teaching in the Middle and Secondary School. New York: Mac Millan Publishing co, Inc.
Harmer, Jeremy. 2004. How to Teach Writing. Pearson Education Limited: England.
Jacob, Holly. L. 1995. Writing Development. USA: McGraw Hill, Inc
Jarum. 2004. Problem of Teaching Writing at Smu Hassanuddin Wajak, Malang: A Case on the Preparation for Writing Task in Final Examination. Unpublish Thesis. Malang: University of Muhammadiyah Malang.
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Kasbolah, Kasihani E. 1999.Teaching English to Young learners. Unpublished material. Malang: UM Press.
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Muthmainnah. 2010. Using Pictures to Improve Seventh Grade Students Ability in Writing Procedure Text at SMP Muhammadiyah 03 Bangsri Jepara. Unpublish Thesis. Malang: University of Muhammadiyah Malang.
Oshima, Alice and Hogue, Ann. 1999. Writing Academic English. Addison Wesley Longman, 10 Bank Street, White Plains, NY 10606.
Ploger, K. M. 2000. Simplified Paragraph Skill. Lincolnwood: NTC. Publishing Group
Rahmadina, P. 2009. The Implementation of Brainstorming Strategy to Improve Seventh Year Students of SMP Negeri 8 Malang Ability in Writing Descriptive Paragraph. Unpublish Thesis. Malang: University of Muhammadiyah Malang.
Raimes, Ann. (1983). Techniques in Teaching Writing. Oxford University Press. New York, N.Y 10016 USA.
Sadiman et al, 2008. Media Pendidikan. Jakarta: PT RajaGrafindoPersada.
Sulistiowati. 2010. Improving the Ability of Second Year Students of SMPN 1 Dau in Writing Recount Paragraph by Using Picture Series. Unpublish Thesis. Malang: University of Muhammadiyah Malang.
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Wright, Andrew. 1989. Pictures for language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents background of the study, statement of the problem,
purpose of the study, significances of the study, scope and limitation, and definition
of key terms.
1.1 Background of the Study
English is very important to be mastered. By English, people can easily enter
international world in every part of societies. It is supported by Trask (1999: 128) that
English is beyond dispute the premier international language throughout the world. In
everywhere, English is regarded as the first language such as dominant as business,
science, technology, communication and popular culture.
Teachers play an important role in helping students master English. Teachers
have the role to transfer their knowledge of English to the students and guide them to
practice what they have got from the classroom. It is supported by Brindley (1994:3)
that teaching English sets out to support teachers in the part of becoming a ‘good’
English teacher – ‘knowing the subject’ by bringing together some of the thinking on
key areas in English, and relating that thinking to effective classroom practice.
There are four skills in English that students need to master: reading,
speaking, listening, and writing. Among the four skills, writing is considered as the
2
make a good writing. As stated by Byrne, writing is translating thought into language
that requires some components like grammar, vocabulary, mechanic, and rhetoric.
The combination of these components makes the skill of writing complex (1984). It
can be said that writing is a difficult task because it requires special skills in the
production. Some of the special skills are in the choice of words, the use of structure,
the mechanic, and rhetoric.
Writing is an act or art of forming letters to record ideas which characters and
words express or to communicate the ideas by visible signs. It is different from
speaking because writing needs a process. Oshima and Hogue (1999:3) explain that:
It is important to note that writing is a process, not a “product”. This means that a piece of writing, whether it is a composition for your English class or a lab report for your chemistry class is never complete; that is, it is always possible to review and revise, and review and revise again.
According to Harmer (2004: 41), teaching writing is the way where a teacher
has to give writing direction to the students, stimulate them to get ideas, help students
when they lose their words, and always give support. Besides, a teacher has to give
reaction to the content and construction, gives suggestion to improve students’
writing, and evaluates their writing by showing where they write well and where they
make mistakes.
There are several problems that are faced by students at SMP Muhammadiyah
06 Dau Malang. They have lack of vocabularies and they often forget easily new
vocabularies after they get the meaning from dictionary. Even though, they have
3
constructing the sentences. They find difficulties in choosing and using the appropriate
vocabularies.
It is supported by Zulfainah finding (2007) found that first year students faced
several problems in writing, especially in writing narrative. The first problem was
that the students’ writing was not comprehensible because the content of the
composition was not relevant to the topic, the ideas were not clearly stated, the ideas
and sentences were not well organized. The second problem was that the students had
low motivation and were not interested in doing the tasks. The students were only
asked to write sentences and paragraph without being given some clues, so that it was
difficult for them to express their ideas into paper.
To solve the problems, some researchers have applied a particular technique
to help improve students’ writing. Rizka (2005), for instance, used diaries to guide
and encourage students to express their ideas, feelings, or experiences freely and
spontaneously.
Another study done by Prilia (2007) introduced brainstorming technique to
help improve the students’ ability in writing descriptive paragraph. It has found that
students’ ability in writing a descriptive paragraph has improved by implementing
brainstorming strategy in the classroom. The students can be active and enthusiastic
in learning English.
Sulistiowati (2010) found that the use of picture series is very effective for
students in guiding and encouraging students to express their ideas in their writing
4 and enthusiastic in learning English.
Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that all techniques used
by previous researchers were good, but some problem occurred. On technique using
diary, for example, the students could not create a good writing because the teachers
did not check the students’ writing, such as the content, unity, and coherence.
Besides, in Prilia’s (2007) study, using brainstorming made students not focus in
creating their writing because the teachers gave too general topics, which led to the
students’ lack of coherence and unity in writing. For the use of picture, teachers had
to work harder to find appropriate picture series with the material. In addition, not all
picture series can be used for expressing ideas in writing.
It is not easy to teach writing due to the problems that may appear. For
example, teachers find their students often use incorrect grammar, have lack of
vocabulary, and face difficulties to write a good paragraph. It is the task of teachers to
solve these problems by selecting suitable techniques in teaching writing. However
selecting a suitable technique is not easy because not all techniques are applicable and
suitable for their class. One effective technique is by using picture, because pictures
provide not only shared experience for students, but also help them to focus on the
picture. Besides, pictures provide a lot of varieties of tasks. Therefore, the writer is
interested in conducting research by the title “using pictures to improve students’ skill
in writing at SMP Muhammadiyah 06 Dau, Malang”.
1.2 Statement of Problem
5
“Can the use of pictures improve students’ skill in writing?”
1.3 Purposes of Study
The aim of conducting this research is to find out whether a technique of using
pictures is able to improve students’ skill in writing.
1.4 Significance of Study
The study is expected to be useful for English teachers especially in teaching
writing. By using pictures, the teachers can get new ideas about the technique and
apply it in teaching writing, particularly in writing descriptive texts. Teachers can
also use pictures as the media to teach other texts such as narrative, procedure,
recount, and report. Moreover, it can encourage students to write and improve their
skill in writing a descriptive text. Hopefully, the use of pictures will make the class
more interesting and bring a new atmosphere.
1.5 Scope and Limitation
This research is focused on the study of improving students’ skill in writing
using pictures. The limitation of this study is on the use of pictures to improve the
skill of writing descriptive texts, because writing descriptive texts is one of the
indicators that students in junior high school have to be reached in order to fulfill
6
SMP Muhammadiyah 06 Dau, Malang, because the descriptive text forms are
introduced in that period.
1.6 Definition of Key Terms
To avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation, the writer presents some
terms used in this study:
Writing : the way people communicate with others using words or symbols
written on paper or other solid medium.
Technique : a specific method applied when teaching process is going on to
help students understand the material given.
Pictures : photographic representation of people, places, or things that can
translate abstract concepts into a more realistic or concrete items
(Kasbolah 1999: 21).
Skill in writing : the ability to write ideas, knowledge, or experience in such away that it
can be understood by the reader (Byrne, 1978).
Descriptive text : a kind of text to convey a writer’s dominant impression at a person,
or place, to readers in order that is able to use their sense about
