THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree
Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) in Teaching English
By:
Titik Ummu Sholikhah
NIM D75211072
ENGLISH EDUCATION TEACHER DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA
II
THESIS
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd.) in Teaching English
By:
Titik Ummu Sholikhah
NIM D75211072
ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING SUNAN AMPEL STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
Training, SunanAmpel Islamic University Surabaya. Advisor: :NurFitriatin, S.Ag, M.Ed and DwiAriantiFitriM.Pd
Key Words: Argumentative skill, Argumentative essay, Writing on media
at English Education Teacher Department of UINSA. Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Ilmu Tarbiyah dan Keguruan, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya. Pembimbing: :NurFitriatin, S.Ag, M.Ed and DwiAriantiFitriM.Pd Kata kunci: Argumentative skill, Argumentative essay, Writing on media
EXAMINER APPROVAL SHEET ... III PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN TULISAN ... IV DEDICATION SHEET ... V MOTTO ... VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...VII ABSTRACT ... VIII LIST OF CONTENT ... IX LIST OF TABLES ... X LIST OF APPENDIXES ... XI
CHAPTER I ... 1
INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. Background of the research ... 6
B. Research Question ... 6
C. Objective of the research ... 6
D. Significance of the research ... 6
E. Scope and limitation of the research ... 7
F. Definition of key terms ... 8
CHAPTER II ... 10
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 10
A. Theoretical Framework ... 10
B. Previous research ... 29
CHAPTER III ... 32
RESEARCH METHOD ... 32
E. Data collection technique ... 35
F. Research instrument ... 36
G. Data analysis technique ... 40
H. Checking validity of finding ... 42
I. Researcher stages ... 43
CHAPTER IV ... 47
FINDING AND DISCUSSION ... 47
A. Research finding... 47
1. Analyzing the argumentative writing skill of the students... 47
2. Students’ way to get achievement in writing an argument for newspaper ... 53
B. Discussion ... 61
1. The argumentative skill of the students who wrote on newspaper 61 2. Students’ way to get achievement in writing an argument for newspaper ... 63
CHAPTER V ... 67
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ... 67
A. Conclusion ... 67
1
This chapter discusses the area of the research that will be covered in some headings (1) background, (2) statements of the problems, (3) objective of the research
(4) significance of the research, (5) scope and limitation (6) definition of key terms. In addition, the background describes the reasons why the researcher intends to conduct the research. Then, the problem is formulated along with the objective of the
research. This is followed by the significance of the research to inform how the results will be useful. Some limitation about what is included or not in this research is given in the scope of the research. Finally, the last part is the definition of key term.
A. Background of the Research
In education, based on Bernhardt College students need to write across three
levels of cognitive processing, which are writing to inform, to convince, and writing to persuade the reader. College students’ writing may have the clear
content and purpose. There is some information in their writing which can
convince and persuade the reader.
Thus, products of the cognitive processing are argumentative essay,
editorial, article, and academic essay1. Based on this, the researcher will focus on one of the product of the cognitive processing, it is argumentative essay. The
reason is argumentative writing claims as the process of written which will do in
university2. It indicates that argumentative writing is closely related with students at university. Therefore, the researcher will analyze the argumentative writing
skill of students English Education Department of UINSA.
In addition, Aristotle identified three basic sources of appeal which is
combining into an effective argument. There are logos (claim, fact, belief, and value), ethos (arguer’s character), and pathos (audience for the argument)3
. It is similar with the criteria of writing for publication. In line with L.R. Baskoro that
to write an opinion on newspaper needs strength argument, and knowing the audience4. The writers need those considerations before they decide to publish
their writing. The clear argument and knowing audience will help the writer make a good opinion. Then, the researcher can conclude that argumentative writing is one of public writing. Both argumentative writing and public writing have same
criteria for some terms. Therefore, the researcher wants to know the argumentative writing of students who ever wrote on newspaper.
However, Muhammad Nuh stated, that the writing skills of Indonesian students are still low5. In line with Alvi Puspita stated, that writing skill of
2Online Writing Lab. Argumentative essay.
(http://www.aims.edu/student/online-writing-lab/assignments/argument accessed on May 4, 2015)
3
Fahnestock Jeanne and Secor Marie.A Rhetoric of Argument third edition.(New York: McGraw Hill, 2004), 19
4
BaskoroL.R.Jurnalis mecara menulis opini. https://catatanbaskoro.wordpress.com /2013/10/13/jurnalisme-cara-menulis-opini/ accessed on May 4, 2015)
5
Muhammad Nuh. Mendikbud: Publikasi jurnal ilmiah jalan terus.
Indonesian is needed to improve6. Thus, based on the research conducted by Ismawati stated that university students of English Education Department UIN
Surabaya 2013 are still low to produce readable argumentative writing. The next is research about writing conducted by Tuti Purwati. This research mainly
discusses about the problem in students’ writing and analyzes the writing with linguistic category taxonomy. Based on this, the researcher noted that mostly university students of Jenderal Soedirman University Purwokerto got error about
noun phrase. Then, the research comes from Columbia University concludes that underprepared university student is low in aspect cohesion of paragraph.
The previous studies above indicate that university students are still low to write argumentative writing. There are some weakness students got such us noun phrase, cohesion of paragraph, and readable sentence. In this case, students need
to know the way to increase their writing argumentative skill. One of the ways is students can learn from the other students who is better in argumentative writing.
Therefore, today the researcher conducts a research about argumentative writing of students who have written on newspaper. The purpose is extend previous research on argumentative writing, checking the way of college student to apply
their argumentative writing skill, and know the effect of argumentative writing skill for students’ writing on newspaper.
6
Thus, this research will conduct in English Education Teacher Department (EETD) of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya. The researcher has two reasons for doing
this research. Firstly, this department has a big attention on English’s development in UINSA. This department has provided good facilities to support
student in learning English well especially library. They have a major library that helps students to access English book easily. Secondly, argumentative essay was taught at fourth semester in English Education Teacher Department (EETD). The
subjects are called argumentative writing class. The purpose is to equip the students mastering the technique of argumentative writing and being able to write
a well structured argumentative essay in English7. Knowing those facts, the researcher is interested to know the argumentative writing skill of the students as the product of this department.
In this research, the researcher focuses on students from seventh semester of EETD of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya 2015. Thus, based on preliminary research
in EETD, the researcher finds participants who got argumentative essay materials and has published their writing. There are some students of seventh semester. This fact can support the researcher to achieve the purpose of this research.
By conducting this research, the researcher expects that she can share the way to write on media supported argumentative writing skill of students that they
got in writing class. Thus, after the students know the result, they will be increasingly motivated to improve their argumentative skill.
7
B. Research Question
Based on the background of the study above, the problems of the research can be formulated as follow:
1. How does the argumentative writing skill of students who ever wrote argument in newspaper?
2. What factors which influence the students’ achievement in writing an argument for newspaper?
C. Objective of the research
According to the problem of the study, the researcher has some purposes. 1. To describe the argumentative writing skill of seventh semester students who
ever wrote in newspaper.
2. To know the factors that influence students’ achievement in writing an argument for newspaper.
D. Significance of the Research
In general, through this research, the writer expects that the result can share contribution for the following people:
1. For the Lecturer of English Education Teacher Department
The result of the research is expected to be able to provide information about the students’ skill in writing argumentative essay. It may also be
2. For the students of English Teacher Education Department of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya
The research can be able to give information about the role of argumentative writing skill to support their writing on media.
3. For the researcher
By conducting this research, the researcher can find out the argumentative skill of seventh semester students who wrote on newspaper.
4. For other researcher
To be the source of information for other researchers who are also
investigating about writing particularly argumentative writing.
E. Scope and Limitation of the Research This research focuses on:
1. This research involved the seventh semester of English Education Teacher Department of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya who wrote on media. It focuses on them because they have achievement in writing. Thus, the other students
need to get useful thing from those students.
2. Achievement for this research means the students have argument writing that
published in newspaper. The arguments are both Indonesia or English language.
3. To know the argumentative writing skill of seventh semester students in
elements. There are introduction, claim, and conclusion. It does not have correlation with the number of sentence, the number of words, and number of
syllables.
4. In this research, the researcher would not observe about the process of
teaching writing in classroom. In contrast, the researcher just focuses on the way of students to write on media using argumentative skill they got. To know about it, the researcher will focuses on some terms such as stuedents’
argumentative essay, students’ interest on writing, writing background, students’ opinion about their argumentative skill, and students’ opinion about
their writing on media.
F. Definition of Key Terms
Some terms would be defined to eliminate the doubt in comprehending the
title of the research, including the terms argumentative essay, argumentative skill, and writing on media. Thus, the following terminology is used in order to avoid misunderstanding and readers will have the same interpretation in understanding
the research.
1. Writing skill is one of language skills that used for medium of
communication, especially indirect communication8. For this research, writing skill related to the students strategy in writing introduction, claim, and conclusion of argumentative essay.
8
2. Argumentative essay is writing that seeks agreement about a point through the use of reasonable evidence9. In addition, the argumentative essay is students’
own writing about a topic that consists of their opinion to ask the reader agreement.
3. Argumentative skill
In addition argumentative is mature reasoning10. It means an opinion to convince someone with clear reasons. The reasons must be developed with
evidence like specific facts and examples. Then, skill is an attitude that it built on the idea11.
4. Writing on media
Writing on media means write to newspaper, for Web site and then for television or radio12. This writing will help the readers, listener, and viewer recognize culture trends. For this research, it means students’ writing
published on newspaper.
9
Katherine J Mayberry, Everyday Arguments third edition, (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2009), 5.
10
Timothy W. Crusius and Carolyn E. Channel. The Aims of Argument fifth edition. (New York: McGraw Hill, 2005), 3-4.
11
John Langan. College Writing Skll sixth Edition.. (New York: McGraw Hill, 2004), 12. 12
5. Achievement
Achievement is raising expectations for valuable, higher order skills like
critical thinking and innovation13. For this research, it means students capable to write for publication.
13
10
In this chapter, the researcher reviews some relevant theories and previous studies related to the main topics of this research. This part presents some theoretical
frameworks and previous studies.
A. Theoretical Frameworks
1. Writing in the Language Classroom
Writing (as one of the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing) has always formed part of the syllabus in the teaching of English.1 In addition, writing was divided into two categories; writing for learning and
writing for writing. a. Writing for learning
When writing, students frequently have more time to think than they
do in oral activities. They can go through what they know in their minds, and even check to dictionaries, grammar books, or other reference
material to help them. Writing encourages students to focus on accurate language use because they think as they write. It may provoke language
1
Jeremy Harmer, How to teach writing, (England: Longman, Pearson Education, 2004), 31
development well as they resolve problems which the writing puts into their minds. Writing will help them learn better.2
b. Writing for writing
Teaching „writing for writing’ is different, however, since our
objective here is to help students to become better writers and to learn how to write in various genres. General language improvement may occur but that is by-product of a „writing-for-writing’ activity, not necessarily its
main purpose. The kind of writing teaching is quite separate and distinct from the teaching of grammatical or lexical accuracy and range, even
though both may improve as a result of it3.
Those are clear explanation of the position of writing in this
research. This research is categorized students’ writing in classroom as
writing for learning. Then, students’ writing in public is categorized as
writing for writing. This research connects both of writing for learning and
for writing.
2. Paragraph Writing
In academic writing, a paragraph has a topic sentence that directly told
the reader the main idea. The other sentence in the paragraph, called supporting sentence, give more information about the topic4. Then, they state
there are three major structural parts in paragraph. The first is topic sentence.
2
Jeremy Harmer, How to teach writing, (England: Longman, Pearson Education, 2004), 31 3
Jeremy Harmer, How to teach writing, ………., 34 4
This part contains with a problem or issue that will be discussed in the paragraph. Next, the second part is supporting sentences or body. It is used to
develop and support the topic sentence. Usually, supporting sentences contain with reasons, facts, examples or statistics in explaining the topic. The last part
is concluding sentence which gives the sign to the readers about the end of the paragraph.
a. Topic Sentence
Every good paragraph has a topic sentence, which clearly states the topic and the controlling idea of the paragraph. Topic sentence told the
main idea of paragraph. It briefly indicates what the paragraph is going to discuss. For this reason, the topic sentence is a helpful guide to both the writer and the reader. The writer can see what information to include (and
what information to exclude). The reader can see what the paragraph is going to be about and is therefore better prepared to understand it. A good
topic sentence should include one clear topic and an opinion or idea about the topic5.
The topic is the foundation for the paragraph. It can be at the
beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the paragraph6. The topic sentence helps the reader understand what the paragraph is about. The
5
Dorothy E Zemach& Carlos Islam, Paragraph Writing, (Oxford: MacMillan, 2005) , 14 6
sentences in a paragraph are about one topic. They are connected to one sentence. There are no unrelated or extra sentences.
Writers should choose a topic they want to write. This list below an example of ideas in chooses a topic and makes the topic sentence.
Table: 2.1 A good topic sentence examples
A good topic sentence should guide the whole paragraph. It is not a general fact that everyone can accepts as true, and be specific but not too
specific. A good topic sentence has controlling ideas –words or phrases that help guide the flow of ideas in the paragraph.
b. Supporting Sentences
Supporting sentences explain or prove the topic sentence. One of a biggest problem in student writing is that student writers often fail to
Topic Topic Sentence Food The easiest food to prepare is …
The best meal I ever had was …
Color Each color in my country’s flag represents something special. Colors can affect the way you feel.
Sports __________ is an excellent _______ (name a sport) player. The rule for _________ (name a sport) are not (easy/difficult)
People ______ has taught me many things about life.
support their ideas adequately. They need to use specific details to be thorough and convincing. Lopez and Dequilla define that a paragraph has
unity when every sentences in the paragraph works toward developing a single idea7. Supporting ideas develop the paragraph by adding more
information8. In other words, if the paragraph connects the sentences each other to discuss only one topic, it will create and appear the unity naturally in the paragraph. Therefore, the writers should make the appropriate
supporting details to support the topic sentence in order to appear and get the unity in the paragraph.
Supporting sentences develop the topic sentence. They explain or prove the topic sentence by giving more information about it. Good supporting sentence are related to the topic sentence and its controlling
ideas. Supporting sentences are like the interior walls of a house. If a house does not have interior support, it will collapse. Likewise, if a
paragraph does not have good supporting sentences, its meaning will collapse, and readers will not be able to follow the ideas. The paragraph may be confusing or illogical. Good supporting sentence give information
that supports and explains the topic of the paragraph. They answer questions –who? what? where? when? why? and how? and give details.
7
Lopez, MernaG.Rico&Dequilla, Ma. Asuncion Christine.Learning to Write: Worktext in Writing for grade Six.(1st Edition). (Philippine: Rex Printing Company, 2000), 54
8
Good writers think of these questions when they provide support- that is, write supporting sentences– for the topic sentence.
c. Concluding Sentence
A paragraph does not always need a concluding sentence. For single
paragraphs, especially long ones, a concluding sentence is helpful to the reader because it is a reminder of the important points. However, a concluding sentence is not needed for every paragraph in a multi
paragraph essay. A good concluding sentence signals the end of the paragraph and summarizes the important points briefly or restates the
topic sentence in different words.
3. Writing an argument a. Definition of Argument
Argument is not simply dispute, as when people disagree with another. Argument is making a case to support of claim for everyday
affairs such as in science, in policy making, and in courtroom9.
An argument, whether written or oral, is different from an opinion. An opinion is not based so much on evidence but on belief, intuition, or
emotion. On the other hand, argument is a position supported by clear thinking and reasonable evidence, with a secure connection to solid facts.
While arguments rarely prove a conclusion to be absolutely true but
9
arguments demonstrate the probability of that conclusion. Opinions tend to be expressions of personal taste that have not been tested by the
application of reasonable principles. As the example your opinion claim that history is a more interesting subject than literature, or that yellow is
prettier than red. There are not thoughtfully and fully justified10.
It indicates when someone writes an argument, they should apply some principles in argumentative writing. Argumentative writing could
not be written freely without any consideration. b. The classes of argument
Once you start to pay attention to the writing you do for school and work, you will notice how frequently your assignments appropriate with the definition of argument. You may also notice that the claims, or
propositions, of these arguments tend to fall into certain patterns. In addition, papers in economics or history courses concentrate on
identifying the causes of certain events, whereas lab reports in biology or physics focus on describing a particular process and interpreting its results. In fact, argument can be divided into four classes: (1) factual
arguments, (2) causal arguments, (3) evaluations, and (4) recommendations. These classes are distinguished both by the type of
10
claim being argued and the degree of agreement expected from the reader11.
1) Factual arguments try to convince the audience that a certain condition or event actually exists or has existed.
2) Causal arguments often found in those economics or history papers-try to convince readers that one event or condition caused another in the future.
3) Evaluations, or evaluative arguments, make value judgments. The film critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper are in the business of oral
evaluations as they share their judgments about the quality of recent films with their television audience. Because evaluations are often influence in personal tastes and opinions, they are the hardest of all
arguments to make successfully; nevertheless, they can be reasonable and effective. That is the example of evaluative argument.
4) Finally, it is recommendations. It tries to get readers to do something, to follow a suggested course of action. While the other three classes of arguments aim for armchair agreement, most recommendations want
the reader’s agreement to be translated into action12.
11
Katherine J. Mayberry, Everyday Arguments a guide to Writing and Reading Effective Argument third edition, (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2009), 5-6
12
Almost the essays, reports and articles have the same basic pattern of organizations. There are introduction, main body and conclusion13. Thus, here
are the parts of argumentative essay: a. The introduction
This part is the opening one. The opening should support with some following requirements:
1) Opening with a strong statement
2) Opening with a Statistic or Fact
3) Opening with a Quotation: (Elbert Hubbard once said, "Truth is
stronger than fiction.")
4) Opening with a Question. For example, have you ever considered how
many books we'd read if it were not for television?14 .
In order to make an effective introduction, there are some strategies, the following:
1) Introduction by narrative
This kind of opening engages readers in two ways: first, in its narrative approach, it satisfies our delight in being told a story,
and second, it gains our interest by its particularity. The detail
13
Stephen Bailey, Academic writing a handbook for academic writing, (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), 10
14
is about people, places, and events that give readers a firm footing as they enter an unknown text.
2) Introduction by generalization
This kind of opening begins with a strong, unambiguous
generalization related to the readers’ experiences.
3) Introduction by quotation
Some introductions begin with quotations that are eventually
connected to the topic of the essay. While perhaps overused and over taught, this technique does work if practiced
thoughtfully. The writer using an opening quotation must be sure that it can be made to apply to the subject in an interesting way, and that the quotation is interesting, provocative, or well
written (preferably all three)15. b. The body
This part are consists of both negative and positive side of the topic. Thus, make your position be clear, where you actually stand. The writer can give the fact as the evidence to strength the sentence16. In another
words, the body consists of claim17. In addition, there are four types as the following:
15
Katherine J. Mayberry, Everyday Arguments, ……, 204 16
Stephen Bailey, Academic writing……, 10
17
1) Factual claim is to convince an audience by giving condition or phenomenon exists or has existed.
2) Causal claim is to assert that one event or condition produces or helps to produce another event.
3) Evaluation claim is to make a value judgment of a person, activity or object.
4) Recommendation claim is to argue for a particular course of
action in order to change existing circumstances18. c. Conclusion
The content of this part are summary of main points or reasons, restate thesis statement and Personal comment19. In addition, argument can have three basic types of conclusions:
1) Findings
The findings or results conclusion usually ends an argument of
fact, such as the reporting of a scientific experiment or a case study. Some causal arguments, such as certain historical studies, may also end with findings or results. Actually, these
findings are the argument’s claim, which may be given in
general form early in the argument and then with more detail at
the end, or they may be given only at the end.
18
Katherine J. Mayberry, Everyday Arguments, ……, 31 19
2) Recommendation
Not surprisingly, recommendations typically conclude
arguments of recommendation. Their purpose is to tell readers exactly what the argument expects of them. If the findings
conclusion tells readers what they should know, the recommendation conclusion tells them what they should do. 3) General closing
The general closing is what we usually think of when we think of conclusions. This type of conclusion can work in several
ways: it can move from the specific argument to a statement of
the argument’s broader significance, it can suggest future
directions for research, or it can raise related issues. The
general closing suggests a movement onward (where we go from here) or a movement outward (how this specific
argument relates to other arguments), though the emphasis in any case will vary between these two elements20.
4. Writing Argument for Publication
The first key consideration in deciding whether to publish or not is whether you have anything useful to say at this point. Premature publication is
frustrating, messy and really to be avoided. Therefore do not waste your energies and efforts and those of journal editors and peer reviewers or try the
20
patience of readers. Conversely, don’t be shy about your writing that you
constantly delay submitting anything for publication because it is not perfect
yet. Perfection is a chimera – it could not be achieved and you can waste a lot of time and energy seeking of the perfect publishable paper21.
Here is a list of the sorts of papers that you might be interested in writing for publication:
a. A paper describing and analyzing your empirical or archival data from a
research project. This can be written at various stages in the research process – you don’t have to wait until the project is completed to write
about it. Often researchers find it useful to publish „along the way’ once
they have appropriate data to comment on. Of course, you should publish articles (and/or books) on completed research projects too.
b. Most argumentative essay has special issues around particular themes from time to time. The themes are generally broad and, with imagination,
you may be able to craft your research into a paper that fits them.
c. A review essay, which takes a critical look at a range of literature in your field, synthesizing it and building on it to develop new insights. This can
be a good one if you are doing a doctorate and therefore having to really
master a whole field of literature. A „think piece’ which develops
theoretical insights and ideas within your field of enquiry. A response to
someone else’s work. You are more likely to do this when you disagree
21
with someone, but sometimes journals invite specific individuals to respond to a particular piece of work.
d. A methodological reflection in which you explore problems and dilemmas that may have arisen in the course of your writing.
e. Some canny people planning their doctoral theses do so in such a way that they can develop papers for publication in parallel with their dissertation chapters. In this way, they give themselves confidence that their work
passes muster; polish, through the refereeing process; and a significant career advantage when they start applying for jobs. Keep in mind, though,
that some of the sorts of pieces listed above may not be peer-reviewed. Whilst you will need to make clear the level of scrutiny to which your paper was subjected, even non-refereed pieces can help to build careers
and reputations, especially in the early stages.
In addition, the explanation above is used to know the criteria of writing
for publication.
5. Sending writing to a publisher
Surveys conducted by both the Workers’ Educational Association and
publication. Unfortunately, the harsh realities of the publishing world can, for some, come as a terribly cruel shock22.
a. Meeting the publisher’s requirements
Creativity is a vital ingredient but even the most gifted writer will
fail to publish their writing if they are unable to fulfill certain criteria. For example, the majority of mainstream newspaper and magazine editors expect to be able to contact you via both fax and email and the non-fiction
articles and features you write for them to:
1) be computer-produced in double-line spacing
2) be written to the specified length 3) cover previously-agreed subject matter 4) have a beginning, middle and an end
5) Arrive by an agreed deadline23. b. Entering competitions
Competitions offer big opportunities for writers in every field of
writing but perhaps most particularly in the women’s magazine market.
Thus, for many winners, they can be the first step towards a career as a
novelist. Competitions are regularly listed in the writing press and often
22
charge a legitimate entry fee of up to £10, but be aware that some advertisements, particularly in national newspapers, can be misleading24.
According to Editor Richard Bell, competition winners should expect to receive a complimentary copy of any anthology containing their
work or if this is not possible, it should at least be available in the library25.
There are, however, plenty of reputable bodies running competitions
which, depending on the rules, conditions and the prize on offer, may open useful doors for the winning author26.
6. Achievement in writing
As developed nation move out of the industrial age into the information/conceptual age, there is an ongoing debate how to best
prepare children and youth for adult success27. In addition, it believes that
school play major role for this process. Some beliefs that students’
achievement is needed to prepare28.
Achievement is raising expectations for valuable, higher order skills like critical thinking, communication, innovation, creativity, collaboration,
24
Adele Ramet, ….., 149 25
Adele Ramet, Creative Writing ……., 150 26
Adele Ramet, Creative Writing….., 150
27
William G. Huitt. A system-based synthesis of research related to improving students’ avademic performance (http://www.edpscinteractive.org/papers/improving-school-achievement,pdf accessed on December 3rd 2015)
28
and entrepreneurship29. In this case critical thinking is related to the writing activity. Therefore, this research focuses on achievement in
writing. For this term, there are four considerations to get achievement in writing30.
a. The writing habit
Some students are extremely unconfident and unenthusiastic writers. There are may be many reasons for this: perhaps they have
never written. Perhaps they think that they do not have anything to say come up with ideas31. Even, writing habit is needed for student to
develop their critical thinking.
Building the writing habit can be done with a range of activity. In the classroom, the teacher can promote instant writing by dictating
half a sentence which the students have to complete. Teacher can get students to respond to music by writing what words or scenes a piece
of music suggest. The students also can write about how a piece of music makes them feel. Besides, they can write a diary book at home32.
29Minister’ Students Advisory Council Representatives
. Achieving excellence. McKinsey & Company
30
Frank Pajares, self efficacy beliefs, motivation, and achievement in writing.Taylor & Francis 19: 139-158
31
Jeremy Harmer, The practice of English Language Teaching, (England: Longman, Pearson Education, 2004), 329
32
b. Writing with confidence
Sometimes writing can express your personality. But when
someone can command over writing, they can be confident that they are presenting their self as intend to in college, in graduate school, and
beyond33. In addition, the confidence depends upon individual learner. There are young children, adolescents, and adult learners34.
For young learners, they are confident to respond to meaning
even if they do not understand individual words. Adolescent learner is confidence to respond to text and situations with their own thought
and experience rather than by answering question and doing abstract learning activities. Thus, adult learners can engage with abstract thought. They are confidence with their abstract thought35. Therefore,
writing with confidence usually appears in adolescent learner.
c. Motivation
Motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something36. In addition, there are two types of motivation extrinsic and intrinsic motivation
that is motivation which comes from outside and inside.
33
St. Edward’d University OWL. Writing with confidence (http://think.stewards.edu/acadeic success/owl) accessed on December2nd, 2015)
34
Jeremy Harmer, The practice of English Language Teaching,….. 81
35
Jeremy Harmer, The practice of English Language Teaching,……. 81
36
Extrinsic motivation is the result of any number of outside factors, for example the need to pass exam, the hope of parents, the
hope of financial rewards. Intrinsic motivation comes from within the individual. Thus, a person might be motivated by the enjoyment of the
learning process itself37. Most researchers and methodologist have come to the view that intrinsic motivation produces better result than extrinsic motivation.
d. Environment
Children’s sense of futility versus control over their
environment, in addition to other attitudes about school, appears to be one of the important predictors of achievement. In addition, Steven and Lee (1990) investigated achievement differences in Japanese,
Taiwanese, and American children and found evidence for several factors that explained these differences: emphasis on group
participation in the classroom, (b) realistic evaluation of children by both parents and teachers, (c) a strong emphasis on achievement in the home and classroom, and the underlying assumption that effort rather
than ability controls test score. These results suggest that positive
37
environment from parental, child, teacher attitudes may all be important for achievement38.
B. Previous Research
Some decades ago, some researchers have studied about argumentative
essay. Firstly, Tuti Purwati has focused on error analysis on students’ writing.
This study paper mainly discusses about the problem in students’ writing and analyzes it with linguistic category taxonomy. Based on this study, she noted that
mostly college students of Jenderal Soedirman University Purwokerto got error about noun phrase. However, they are good enough to arrange their idea39. This
study give information to the researcher that college student are not difficult to produce an essay.
Thus, the study come from Ismawati entitled “Analyzing readability levels
of students writing argumentative essay in the fourth semester of English
education department IAIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya 2013”40
. This study showed
that total of unreadable text is more than the readable text as equivalent with their
education level. Ismawati’s study supports the researcher to analyze
argumentative skill in the same place. After 2013, today needs to know the
improvement that happened on this department.
38
Hillary Coon. Influence of environment on the academic achievement score adopted and nonadopted children, 79-104
39
Tuti Purwati. Error analysis on students’ writing. (http://download.portalgaruda.org/article.php? article=9838&val =6312 accesed on September, 3rd 2015 )
40
Thus, the research is conducted by Beth Jillian Chase entitled “An analysis
of the argumentative writing skills of academically underprepared college
students”41
. The result of this research show that underprepared college student are low in aspect cohesion of paragraph. The objects of this research are new
students. They are 112 of students. They have not got material about argumentative essay explicitly. In addition, the researcher used cohesion concept to analyze the argumentative skill of the students.
Thus, the content, purposes and the result of research study will be different from those previous studies. This research focuses to analyze students who ever
got argumentative essay material and published their writing on newspaper. The researcher will analyze their argumentative skill not readability, or error analysis. This research will analyze use some element of argumentative essay such as
introduction, main pints, conclusion, organization, work cited and mechanics.
Certainly, it is different with Beth Jillian Chase’s study which focuses on
cohesion. Therefore, the researcher decides to continue this research because it
has not observed yet. Finally, the researcher conducts this thesis entitled “An
analysis the argumentative writing skill of students at English Education Teacher
Department of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya.”
41
Beth Jillian Chase. An analysis of the argumentative writing skills of academically underprepared college
students(https://www.google.com/search?q=An+analysis+of+the+argumentative+writing+skills+of+ac
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The description of the research methodology is employed in this research. This chapter discusses approach and research design, research presence, research
location, data and source of data, research instrument, data analysis technique, research validity of findings, and research stages.
A. Approach and Research Design
This research is using qualitative approach. Qualitative research is best
suited to address a research problem in which you do not know the variables and need to explore1. Besides, qualitative approach is general way of thinking about conducting qualitative research which three major categories of data, such as
in-depth interviews, direct observation and written document2.In qualitative research typically you gather a text data base, the data analysis of text consists of dividing
it into groups of sentences, called text segment, and determining the meaning of each group of sentences3.The goal is a analyze picture and depth of understanding rather than a numeric analysis of data4.
Qualitative research consists of eight types: basic interpretative studies, case studies, document or content analysis, ethnography, grounded theory, historical
1
John W Cresswell, Educational Research, ( university of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2012), 16 2
Trochim, William M.K., The research Method Knowledge Base 2nd Edition (Cornell University: Custom Publishing, 1999), 159
3
John W Cresswell, Educational Research, ..….. 18 4
Donald Ary, Introduction to Research in Education, (Canada: Nelson Education, 2010), 29
studies, narratives inquiry, and descriptive study5. One of them will be used as
research design for this study. The research design is the overall plan or structure used to answer the research question6. This step is important for the researcher to
choose the suitable research design for her research. In addition, the researcher uses case study research.
Case study research is a qualitative approach in which the investigator explores a bounded system. It involves the study of an issue explored through one or more cases within a bounded system. Thus, the focus of case study is
developing an in dept description and analysis of a case or multiple cases7.
In conclusion, this research uses qualitative as the method for colleting the
data. The result of the research is presented in form of descriptive. Therefore, it is appropriate for this research since the research will analyze students’ skill in writing argumentative essay and describe the students' way in producing public
writing.
B. Researcher Presence
In qualitative research, the researcher is the instrument itself. The
researchers can be everything in the whole research process. They acted as draftsman and collector. Besides, they also must analyze, interpret and report the
5
Donald Ary, Introduction…., 31 6
Phyllis Tharenou, Ross Donohue, Brian Cooper, Management Research Methods,
(Newyork:Cambridge University Press, 2007), 16
7
data. Contribution of the researchers actually determines the success of the
research. If they leave one process, it will decrease the validity of the data8. Thus, one of researchers’ roles here is as interviewer. The researcher interviewed three
students who wrote argumentative essay in newspaper.
C. Site of the Research
This research will conduct in English teacher education department of UIN
Sunan Ampel Surabaya. Based on the preliminary research 30th of July, 2015 the researcher found six students of English Education Teacher Department (EETD) who produce their writing on publish. Additionally, argumentative writing was
taught in third semester for students in academic year 2011 of EETD. The subject was called writing two. The purposes of writing two is students be able to write a
variety of essays in English coherently9. In current time, the subject is called argumentative writing. It was taught in fourth semester for students in academic year 2012 until 2015. Therefore the location can support this research.
D. The Subject of Research
The subject of research is seventh semester students of EETD UIN Sunan
Ampel Surabaya 2015. The researcher focuses to them because they have got material about argumentative essay in the previous semester and some of them
have published their writing. In addition, the researcher will observe the students who published their writing at newspaper. Then, based on preliminary research
8
Trochim, William M.K., The research,….., 159 9
30th of July, 2015 the researcher found them at seventh semester students. This
fact can support the researcher to achieve the purpose of this research.
E. Methods of data collection
To obtain the valid data, the researcher use kinds of data collection. For
conducting the research, the researcher used some methods of data collection as follow:
1. Documentation
Documentation usually involves analysis of verbal text, but can include quantitative data in the form of archival records. Documentation is
unobtrusive and non-reactive. It can also be used for triangulation of data, helping to counteract the biases of other methods and supplements source of
information. Besides, documentation may be used as a preliminary to a study using primary data (e,g., interviews) or as a research data in their own right10.
In this research, documentation is used in preliminary research. The
researcher gets the information about the background of the respondents through documentation. The researcher record communication with the
respondent when gather the data. Thus, researcher also collects the result of students’ writing. Students’ writing acted as documents which represent the
important information about the research.
2. Interview
Interview is which is done by the interviewer to get the information from the interviewee11. The writer uses the interview as an instrument, because the writer wants to know the teacher’s strategies to overcome the students’ grammatical errors in adjective clause. For efficiency of the time,
the writer interviews the teacher orally face to face to get the information about the teacher’s strategies.
F. Research Instrument
Research instrument is tools or facilities that are used by the researcher in
order to collect data. By using this instrument it help the researcher can make the job easier, complete, and systematic12. The instrument that use in this research
are:
1. The assessment checklist of argumentative essay
The assessment checklist of argumentative essay will be used to
analyze the argumentative skill of students.
11
Sugiyono, Metode Penelitian Pendidikan, Pendekatan Kuantitatif, Kualitatif, dan R&D
(Bandung:ALFABETA, cv., 2010), 155 12
Table 3.1 Assessment Rubric
Element
Analyzing the argumentative
essay Checklist Indicator
Introduction
1. Introduction by narrative
Opening with a specific anecdote or short narrative.
2. Introduction by generalization
Begin with a strong, unambiguous generalization related to the readers’ experiences.
3. Introduction by
quotation
The essay begins with quotations
that are eventually connected to the topic of the essay.
Claim
1. Factual claim To convince an audience by
giving condition or phenomenon exists or has existed.
2. Causal claim Assert that one event or condition
2. Interview Guide
The interview guide will be provided to interview the students who
write argumentative essay in public to gather the information needed. It will be used to answer the second question of this research. It used to verify and
support the other data and to find out additional and relevant information. 3. Evaluation Make a value judgment of a
person, activity, or object.
4. recommendation Argue for a particular course of action in order to change existing
circumtances.
Conclusion
1. Finding Ends an argument of fact, such as the reporting of a scientific
experiment or a case study.
2. Recommendation Conclude arguments of recommendation.
3. General closing Suggest a movement orward
(where we go from here) or out ward (how this spesific argument
Table 3.2 Indicator of interview
No. OBJECT QUESTIONS INDICATOR
1
Students
Would you please to tell me about your experience in their confidence and effort to share their writing on
4 What is your particular ways
G. Data Analysis Technique
Data analysis is the most complex and mysterious phase of qualitative research. Data analysis in qualitative research is a time-consuming and difficult process because typically the researcher faces massive amounts of field notes,
interview transcripts, audio recordings, video data, reflections, or information from documents which must be examined and interpret13. Qualitative analysis
involves attempts to comprehend the phenomenon under study, synthesize information and explain relationships, theorize about how and why the relationships appear as they do, and reconnect the new knowledge with what is
already known14. Therefore, after the data is gathered from the result of collecting data, they must be managed and organized. The data must be described,
classified, and interpreted. Thus, the researcher represents the data for others. In this case, there are three stages in analysis qualitative data15.
1. Familiarizing and organizing
In this stage, the researcher must be immersed in the data. Field notes, audio tapes, video tapes, observer comments, and other data must be put into a
form ready for analysis. The researcher can write notes or memo to capture the information from the data. It will help researcher be familiar with the data.
13
Donald Ary, Introduction to Research in Education, (Canada: Nelson Education, 2010), 481 14
Donald Ary, Introduction to Research in Education,….,.481 15
After that, Files can be organized in a variety of ways, for example, by
interview, by questions, by people, or by places.
In addition, the researcher will collect all of data she or he got. The
researcher will collect the result of preliminary research, field note, interaction with the subject, etc. After that all of the data will be ready to process and
analyze for the next step. 2. Coding and reducing
This is the process to generate categories and themes the data that gotten
in writing form (script). In this stage, the researcher will change the result of documentation into script analysis of document. Thus, she or he will change
the recording of interview in a writing form without decreasing or adding any words.
After that the researcher will analyze the result of interview and
documentation. The researcher will make a theme table to categorize the respondents’ statement. The statement that explains the theme will put on the
theme table. Thus, the next step is giving code for the statement. Giving code is to show the identity and explain the subject. Thus the result of documentation will analyze with the rubric of argumentative essay.
3. Interpreting and representing
Interpretation is about bringing out the meaning, telling the story,
interpreting qualitative data, the researchers confirm what they already know
is supported by the data, you question what they think they know and eliminate misconceptions, and they illuminate new insights and important
things that they did not know but should have known. Then Representation involves how the data are presented. It can use graphs, pictures, diagrams,
figures, or frameworks. In this stage, the researcher interprets the finding and stating conclusions.
H. Checking Validity of Findings
The researcher use some techniques to check the validity of findings, they
are:
1. Triangulation
Triangulation is the most common way used to increase the validity of data in qualitative research. Triangulation is a technique to check the validity of the data which utilized something besides the data. It used to check or to
compare the validity of the data16.
Triangulation compares the observed data with the results of interviews
and results of documentation. Thus it will be evidence when compared to similar data which obtained from other different sources17.
16
Lexy J, Moleong, MetodologiPenelitianKualitatif, (Bandung: PT. RemajaRosdakarya, 2004), 178
2. Peer Debriefed
Peer debriefed is a technique that is done by exposing the interim results or final results obtained in the form of an analytical discussion with
colleagues. Based on the information that was gathered, dissent is something which is expected, because it can establish result of the research18.
3. Criterion-related validity
Criterion-related validity means that the measure predicts a relevant criterion. In other words, it attempts to answer the question, ‘Does it matter?’
Criterion-related validity is practical and pragmatic. However, the choice of the criterion variable is critical. Smithson (2005) notes that the criterion
measure should be known to be reliable and valid already19.
In this case, the researcher employ criterion of writing argumentative to measure the validity of the data. The researcher gets two criterions. First criterion uses to analyze whether students’ writing is argument or not. Then, the second one is to evaluate students’ writing through criterion of assessment
made by lecturer.
I. Research Stages
In qualitative approach, there are some stages done by the researcher. There
are three research stages; they are preliminary research, research activity, and
18Lexy J, Moleong,……., 178
19
Phyllis Tharenou, Ross Donohue, Brian Cooper, Management Research Methods,
intensive analysis20. The researcher also writes the research report as the last
stage21. In this study, the research uses some stages, they are: 1. Research design
In this stage, the researcher formulated research title and research questions, examined related literatures, choose the research location based on
the suitability of research question, determine research subjects, and choose collecting data instruments.
2. Preliminary research
In this stage, the researcher collects the information to write research proposal, decide research instruments, organize preliminary research,
construct research instruments, and prepare for research activity. 3. Proposal seminar
In addition, the researcher presents her research proposal to the
examiner of proposal. Thus, the researcher will get some suggestions to repair the proposal.
4. Research activity
In this study, the researchers do some activities dealing with the description of research activity in the field. The description itself is divided
into four parts, they are:
20
Lexy J, Moleong, MetodologiPenelitianKualitatif, (Bandung: PT. RemajaRosdakarya, 2004), 84 21
a. Recognizing research background and self preparation
In this step, the researcher did preliminary research to get needed information dealing with this research. First, the researcher asked basic
course outline and rubric of assessment to the lecturer of argumentative essay. It will help the researcher to know the material that students got on
argumentative essay class. Second, the researcher asked EETD’s office to get the list of students who wrote on public. Thus, the researcher knew that they are three students from seventh semester. Then, the researcher
met them and asked them to tell their experience in writing. Based on their story, the researcher got some information to complete the data and
determine the focus this research. As a result, the researcher decided that she would analyze the students’ argumentative skill in writing opinion
which published on newspaper.
b. Planning
In relation to the application of action research, the researcher made a
prior preparation to the implementation of action based on preliminary research. In this case the researcher collected the argumentative essay of the students and their opinion which published on newspaper. Thus, the
c. Implementing
The researcher did this part after completing the planning step. In this step, the researcher analyzes students’ argumentative essay using
rubric assessment from the lecturer. Then, to answer research question number two, the researcher analyze the result of interview with students. The result of interview will match with their opinion which published on
newspaper.
d. Concluding
In this part, the researcher reflected the data that will have been found out through the related theory. Then, the researcher discusses all
information concerning the research to find out the data. Finally, the researcher concluded the result and finding to answer the research
question.
5. Writing the research report
In the study, the researcher consider some aspects related to the writing
46
This chapter presents findings and discussion of the research. In finding, the writer describes the result of data analysis and presents the answer of the research
questions.
A. Research Findings
The findings of this research analysis based on the problems are stated
in the statements of the problems which include how the argumentative writing skill of seventh semester student who ever wrote on newspaper and
how students get achievement in writing an argument for newspaper. In another, to answer of first research question, the researcher analyzed documentation. Furthermore to answer the second research question, the
researcher interviews the students. There are five questions in this interview. In other to find the detail of finding, the researcher has categorized as below:
1. Analyzing the argumentative writing skill of the students
In analyzing students’ argumentative essay, the researcher use
checklist assessment. In addition, the researcher focused on the element
of essay in analyzing the students’ writing. As what has been mention by the researcher before that the researcher would analyze three
Table 4.1 analyzing the argumentative essay
Element
Analyzing the argumentative essay Student A Student B Student C Introduction
1. Introduction by narrative
2. Introduction by
generalization
3. Introduction by quotation
Claim
1. Factual claim
2. Causal claim
3. Evaluation
4. recommendation
Conclusion 1. Finding
2. Recommendation
3. General closing
a. Student A with the essay entitled “Create the developed country”
This argument uses introduction by generalization. It is
breathtaking generalization that captures readers’ experience as
in the opening paragraph. In addition, the words “we see,
listen, and notice” in the introduction indicates the readers’
experience.
“Watching news program on TV, we see, listen, and noticevarious issue of problems in Indonesia.Those issue derived from many aspects and seem to be complicated. Indonesia, especially the government, needs to have a deep thinking for three aspects that must be solved first.(Par. 1)”
Thus, the second element is the claim. The claim of the
essay is an evaluation. It is included subject to be judge and an evaluative term that is applied to the subject. The evaluation
claims of the essay are look like this:
1) Peoples’ character in Indonesia is unkind because of inappropriate mindset. (Par. 2) 2) Education of Indonesia has not gotten
appropriate facilities and has not applied the best curriculum.(Par. 3)
3) Economy in Indonesia needs to increase national income. (Par. 4)
Those three points called evaluation claim. It was strengthened by the judgment and evaluation in the second
such as unkind, has not gotten appropriate facilities and has not
applied the best curriculum, and needs to increase national income. Those words are used to explain the condition of
Indonesia.
The last is about the conclusion. This essay applies general closing because the essay suggests a movement how to go
from the situation as the following paragraph:
“Finally, as a students and next generation we should change our mindset and keep studying hard tough we have minimal facilities. Hopefully, we can get a job, create job field and enlarge the scope of job by our own skill that we get from school without waiting government policy. Better, indonesia comes from the generation, not from the others. “ (Par.5)
According to the paragraph above the suggestion to move
can be seen from the sentence “we should change our mindset
and keep studying hard tough we have minimal facilities.”
This sentence gives suggestion to the reader to change their
mindset. From the suggestion, this paragraph indicates that it is general closing.
b. Student B with the essay entitled “how important English
for us”
“The developing world is the cause for people to
open your success.” It is nearer to talk about English. Almost people who can speak English well their job easily. Therefore, people judge that English will become very important because of the position, the function, and the participant. “
The opening paragraph of this essay uses introduction by generalization. The organization of the sentence is
chronological. Sentences 1-5 provide numerous the important of English. It begins with the developing world,
English as one language, language to open the success, and talking English to get job easily. Finally on the last
sentence, English judges as the important language. It show that the generalization made in the introduction of this essay.
Thus, the claim of the essay is combination factual and causal claim. As the factual claim, supporting fact must be
recent. In addition, the researcher find numerous of fact to support the claim in this essay as in the following:
1) English is the international language that had been chosen by all people for communication with other countries like tourist. (Par. 2)
The fact that support is “Therefore, English is the best language for communication. It has pushed that the world is most widely used language about English that has over 1.8 billion
users’ worldwide……….” (Par.2 in line 8)