A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Bernadeta Diah Ratih Angguratami Student Number: 081214039
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
IMPROVING SMAN 1 DEPOK STUDENTS’ ACCURACY OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE IN NARRATIVE THROUGH TEACHER’S FEEDBACK
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Bernadeta Diah Ratih Angguratami Student Number: 081214039
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2012
As long as you have got passion, faith and are willing to work
hard, you can do anything you want in this life. (Anonymous)
No matter how good or bad you think life is, wake up each day
and be thankful for life. Someone somewhere else is fighting to
survive. (Anonymous)
Wherever you are going, God has already been there and paved
the way for you. (Matt 6: 27-30)
Your worst day with Jesus is better than your best day without
Him. (Joyce Meyer)
This thesis is dedicated to my beloved parents, Yohanes
Marjono, S.Pd. and Victoria Sri Handayani, S.Pd.
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain
the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations
and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, October 9, 2012
The Writer
Bernadeta Diah Ratih Angguratami
081214039
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas sanata Dharma:
Nama : Bernadeta Diah Ratih Angguratami
NIM : 081214039
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
IMPROVING SMAN 1 DEPOK STUDENTS’ ACCURACY OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE IN NARRATIVE THROUGH TEACHER’S FEEDBACK
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian, saya memberikan
kepada perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan,
mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan
data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau
media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya
maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya
ABSTRACT
Angguratami, Bernadeta Diah Ratih. 2012. Improving the SMAN 1 Depok
Students’ Accuracy of Simple Past Tense in Narrative through Teacher’s
Feedback. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University discovered a problem. The problem was that the writing product of tenth graders of SMAN 1 Depok was not good enough in narrative writing. The students were good in speaking and reading narrative but when they were asked to write narrative texts, they obtained bad scores. They made a lot of grammatical errors especially while using past tense in narrative writing.
The research was intended to improve the tenth grade students‟ grammar accuracy of simple past tense in narrative writing. The researcher chose teacher‟s feedback as the best strategy to solve the problem faced by the students. This research attempted to answer one research problem. The research problem is: how can the tenth grade students‟ grammar accuracy of simple past tense in narrative writing be improved in SMAN 1 Depok?
The researcher conducted Classroom Action Research (CAR) to improve the tenth graders‟ grammar accuracy of simple past tense in narrative. The researcher conducted two cycles. Each cycle consisted of one meeting. The participants of the research were 36 students from XD class SMAN 1 Depok 2011/2012 academic year. The data were gathered from the analysis of the
students‟ drafts, observation sheets, field notes, questionnaires and interviews. The result showed that the students‟ error percentage of simple past tense decreased. In the preliminary study, the average was 56%. Meanwhile, the average of error percentage in the first cycle and in the second cycle became 27% and 21%. Besides, the teacher‟s feedback helped the students to know and understand their mistakes, they also got new knowledge from the feedback such as grammar, vocabulary and simple past tense forms. Furthermore, the students felt motivated after receiving the teacher‟s feedback. It could be concluded that the motivated to make a better writing product.
Keywords: Classroom Action Research, writing, narrative, teacher‟s feedback
ABSTRAK
Angguratami, Bernadeta Diah Ratih. 2012. Improving the SMAN 1 Depok
Students’ Accuracy of Simple Past Tense in Narrative through Teacher’s
Feedback. Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma Bahasa Inggris merupakan mata pelajaran yang penting di Indonesia. Saat ini, banyak sekolah-sekolah di Indonesia menggunakan bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa pengantar utama. Ada empat keterampilan dalam berbahasa Inggris. Keterampilan tersebut adalah keterampilan berbicara, mendengarkan, membaca dan menulis. Keterampilan menulis merupakan salah satu keterampilan yang penting dalam berbahasa Inggris. Pada saat praktek mengajar di SMAN 1 Depok, peneliti menemukan permasalahan. Masalah yang ditemukan adalah nilai karangan murid-murid SMA 1 Depok kurang memuaskan. Murid-murid mendapatkan nilai bagus pada keterampilan berbicara dan membaca tetapi ketika mereka diminta untuk menulis teks naratif, mereka mendapat nilai buruk. Murid- murid banyak membuat kesalahan ketika menggunakan past tense saat menulis teks naratif.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan keakuratan penggunaan past tense murid-murid kelas sepuluh pada saat menulis naratif. Peneliti memilih koreksi guru sebagai strategi terbaik untuk menyelesaikan masalah yang dihadapi para murid. Penelitian ini mencoba untuk menjawab satu rumusan masalah. Rumusan masalah tersebut adalah bagaimana cara meningkatkan keakuratan penggunaan past tense murid-murid kelas sepuluh pada saat menulis naratif?
Penelitian ini menggunakan metode Penelitian Tindakan Kelas untuk meningkatkan keakuratan penggunaan past tense murid-murid kelas sepuluh pada saat menulis naratif. Peneliti melaksanakan dua siklus. Masing-masing siklus terdiri dari satu pertemuan. Peserta penelitian ini berjumlah 36 murid dari kelas XD SMAN 1 Depok tahun ajaran 2011/2012. Data penelirian dikumpulkan dari hasil analisa dari karangan murid, lembar observasi, pengamatan di lapangan, kuesioner dan sesi tanya jawab.
Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa presentase kesalahan murid saat menggunakan past tense berkurang. Pada saat studi awal, rata-rata presentase 56%. Sementara itu, presentase kesalahan pada siklus satu dan dua menjadi 27% dan21%. Disamping itu, koreksi guru membantu murid untuk mengetahui dan mengerti kesalahan mereka, mereka juga mendapat ilmu baru dari koreksi guru seperti grammar, perbendaharaan kata dan bentuk past tense. Terlebih, para murid merasa termotivasi setelah mendapat koreksi dari guru. Hal ini dapat disimpulkan bahwa koreksi guru dapat meningkatkan keakuratan penggunaan past tense
murid-murid kelas sepuluh pada saat menulis naratif.
Oleh sebab itu, hal ini disarankan kepada guru bahasa Inggris untuk memberi koreksi pada karangan murid. Para guru sebaiknya memberi koreksi yang jelas untuk mencegah kesalahpahaman dan juga memberi motivasi supaya para murid merasa termotivasi untuk membuat karangan yang lebih baik.
Kata kunci: Penelitian Tindakan Kelas, menulis, naratif, koreksi guru.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I would like to give my deepest gratitude to my Lord, Jesus Christ for the blessing, love, and guidance during my life. He always helps and takes care of me, especially when I did my thesis. I realized that I am nothing and
I cannot finish my thesis without Him.
I would like to thank my supervisor, Caecilia Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd. for the suggestion, motivation, patience and guidance during the process of
writing the thesis. I would also like to thank Ari Priyanta, S.Pd. for the opportunity given to me to conduct the research on his class in XD class. My
thankfulness also goes to the students of XD SMAN 1 Depok Babarsari
2011/2012 academic year for their cooperation during the process of research.
This thesis is dedicated to my beloved parents, Yohanes Marjono, S.Pd.
and Victoria Sri Handayani, S.Pd., also my brothers Vincentius Bayu Seno Aji
and Gregorius Dhani Talentama. I thank my parents for their patience, support and their greatest love. I am truly blessed to have my parents. I also thank my
brothers for their support, care and jokes during the process of writing this thesis.
I am very grateful to have my family.
I would like to thank all my lecturers in PBI Sanata Dharma University, PBI Secretariat Staff Mbak Dhanniek and Mbak Tari and all librarians’ staff in Sanata Dharma University for their support and best services.
I would like to thank all my friends in PBI Sanata Dharma, especially my best friends Tiyen, Nican, Sily and Cepci for the laugh and wonderful experiences which we had shared together. They are the best friends I have ever
had. Next, my boarding house‟s friends, I thank Dedes, Mutia, Oliv, Mbak Ana, De Gustin, Mbak Yuni and Mia, for the support, jokes and crazy experiences during these 3 years. I am very happy to have all of my friends. May God always
bless them.
I would like to thank Yohannes Jatmiko Yuwono, S. Pd. and Mas
Somad, who were willing to be my proofreaders and also I thank for the correction, comments and suggestion for my thesis. I also would like to thank
Tiyen and Siwi for the experiences and suggestions about Classroom Action Research which we had shared together. May God bless them all.
Finally, my deepest thanks go to all people and all my friends who helped me in finishing my thesis but I could not mention here one by one. May God
always bless them.
Bernadeta Diah Ratih A.
a. The Nature of Writing... 8
b. Communicative Purposes of Narrative... 14
c. Types of Narrative... 15
d. Generic Structure of Narrative... 15
5. e. Grammatical Features of Narrative... Feedback...
6. Classroom Action Research... 21
a. Definition of Classroom Action Research... 21
b. Model of Classroom Action Research... 22
c. The Characteristics of Action Research... 23
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Research Process... 35
B. Research Result... 65
C. The Other Findings... 76
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A. Conclusions... 78
B. Recommendations... 79
REFERENCES... 81
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
Table 4.1. The Result of Students‟ Writing Product in the Preliminary
Study... 39
Table 4.2 The Result of Students‟ Writing Product in the First Cycle... 53
Table 4.3 The Result of Students‟ Writing Product in the Second
Cycle... 63
Table 4.4 The Students‟ Improvement Taken from Students‟ Writing
Product (score)... 66
Table 4.5 The Students‟ Error Percentage of Simple Past Tense... 68
LIST OF FIGURES
Figures Page
Figure Figure 3.1 The Planning-Reflection Cycle (Kemmis and
McTaggart, 1988)... 27
Figure 4.1 The Improvement of Students‟ Score (Class Average)... 67
Figure 4.2 The Students‟ Error Percentages of Simple Past Tense
(Class Average)... 70
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
Appendix 1. Letters of Permission... 84
Appendix 2. Accomplishment Letters from SMAN 1 Depok... 87
Appendix 3. Lesson Plan and Teaching Materials of Preliminary Study.... 89
Appendix 4. Observation Sheet of Preliminary Study... 96
Appendix 5. Field Notes of Preliminary Study... 101
Appendix 6. Lesson Plan and Teaching Materials of Cycle One... 106
Appendix 7. Observation Sheet of Cycle One... 112
Appendix 8. Field Notes of Cycle One... 115
Appendix 9. Lesson Plan and Teaching Materials of Cycle Two... 120
Appendix 10. Observation Sheet of Cycle Two... 126
Appendix 11. Field Notes of Cycle Two... 129
Appendix 12. The Raw Data of Questionnaire... 134
Appendix 13. The Interview Transcript... 141
Appendix 14. The Sample of Students‟ Writing Products in Preliminary Study... 150
Appendix 15. The Sample of Students‟ Writing Products in Cycle One... 153
Appendix 16. The Sample of Students‟ Writing Products in Cycle Two... 156
Appendix 17. The Documentation ... 159
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the researcher presents the research background, the
research problem, the problem limitation, the research objectives, the benefits of
this research and the definition of terms used in the thesis.
A. Research Background
English is one of the significant subjects in Indonesia. It is significant
because many schools in Indonesia use English as the first foreign language to
teach the students. English involves four skills in it. The skills are listening,
speaking, reading and writing. Writing is one of the skills in English that is mostly
discussed in this study. Zimmerman and Rodrigues (1992) reveal “Writing is a
way of thinking, a way of learning, a way of sharing ideas with others” (p. 4). It is
clear that someone can learn something, share the opinion of each other by the
writing process. Moreover, Ralmes (1983) states that writing can teach the
students to learn about grammar, idiom and vocabulary that have been taught by
the teacher (as cited in Hyland, K and Hyland, F, 2006, p.3). By writing some
sentences, students can practice how to make sentences with an appropriate
grammar. By understanding the grammar of a language, the students are able to
understand the meaning of the language.
This thesis discusses students‟ grammar accuracy of simple past tense in
narrative writing of the tenth grade in SMAN 1 Depok. The researcher is the one
of the practice teachers in SMAN 1 Depok. While practicing teaching in SMAN 1
Depok, the researcher discovered a problem. The problem was the writing
products of tenth graders in SMAN 1 Depok were not good enough in narrative
writing. The students were good in speaking and reading narrative. The students
could obtain high scores in speaking and reading exercises. They could obtain the
scores of 80-90 for reading exercises but when they were asked to write narrative
texts, they obtained bad scores. Some students obtained scores below KKM
(Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal=6, 5). They made a lot of grammatical errors
especially when using past tense. These are the examples:
1. Based on document analysis from students‟ writing product, the researcher
found some grammatical errors. These are the examples:
a. Sometimes the students used two verbs or double verbs.
e.g. -was come -was go -was fall
They wrote double verbs because they did not know when they should use
was/were and the past tense. They were confused when they used was/were and
the past tense.
b. Some students did not understand regular and irregular verbs.e.g.
Students’ writing Correct answers
Cryed cried
Buyed bought
They wrote the wrong form of simple past because they did not know the
2. Based on informal interview given to the students, the researcher found
some problems:
a. They forgot the teacher‟s explanation and did not give attention to the
teacher. The students also hesitated to write the simple past tense in their writing
because they did not have sufficient knowledge about simple past tense.
b. Some students were also confused about regular and irregular verbs. Based
on the informal interview, the researcher found that actually the students had been
taught by their teacher in Junior High School about regular and irregular verbs but
they did not understand and did not listen to the teacher so they were still
confused with the form of simple past tense.
The researcher intended to improve the tenth graders‟ grammar accuracy
of simple past tense in narrative writing by giving feedback. The kind of feedback
which had been given was teacher‟s feedback. The form of teacher‟s feedback
was direct and indirect feedback. Fatham & Whalley et al. (1990) reveal that there
were some studies which showed that “students who receive error feedback over a
period of time can improve their language accuracy” (as cited in Hyland, K and
Hyland, F, 2006, p.4). Besides, Chandler (2003) stated that underlining and direct
correction in the students‟ writing products could decrease grammatical and
lexical errors in their next writing (as cited in Hyland, K and Hyland, F, 2006,
p.4).
The feedback also helped the students to improve their writing abilities.
Williams (2002) describes that the feedback could develop both texts and the
the students paid more attention into teachers‟ feedback rather than other
feedback. Leki et al. (1991) notes “ESL students greatly value teacher written
feedback and consistently rate it more highly than alternative forms, such as peer
feedback and oral feedback in writing conferences” (as cited in Hyland, K and
Hyland, F, 2006, p.3).
B. Research Problem
In relation to the background mentioned before, the problem is formulated
as follows.
How can teacher‟s feedback improve the tenth graders‟ grammar accuracy
of simple past tense in narrative writing?
C. Problem Limitation
The study tries to find the teaching strategy which can improve the tenth
graders‟ accuracy of simple past tense in narrative writing in SMAN 1 Depok.
The research focuses on improving students‟ grammar accuracy of simple past
tense in narrative writing. This research is limited for the tenth graders of SMAN
1 Depok 2011/2012 academic year.
D. Research Objective
Considering the formulation of the problem, the objective of the research
is to propose how teacher‟s feedback can improve the tenth graders‟ grammar
E. Research Benefits
improve the students‟ grammar accuracy of simple past tense in narrative writing.
2. The teacher
The teacher can use the method to improve other students‟ grammar
accuracy of simple past in narrative writing. It is expected that the teacher can
help the students to solve their problems by applying the teaching strategy.
3. The students
The students can improve their grammar accuracy and master more about
simple past tense. It is expected that the students can understand well about
grammar especially simple past tense. The students can apply the knowledge for
the next grade in eleventh grade.
F. Definition of Terms
1. Grammatical Accuracy
According to Larsen and Freeman (2000), grammatical accuracy in writing
is essential to ensure the writer‟s intended and to avoid misunderstanding (p.2). It
means that grammatical accuracy refers to the ability of writing without making
grammar accurately, for example word order, verb endings and pronouns.
Besides, accuracy also means spelling and using punctuation accurately (p.284).
In this study, the accuracy refers to produce the simple past tense verb accurately.
2. Simple Past Tense
Simple past tense is one of tenses in English grammar. According to Azar
(1993),“The simple past tense indicates that an activity or situation began and
ended at a particular time in the past” (p. 24). It is clear that simple past tense is
used to describe actions or situation happened in the past. In this study, the simple
past tense refers to simple past tense verbs used by the students.
3. Writing
According to Nunan (2003), writing is the way of finding ideas and then
expressing those ideas by organizing into statements and paragraphs in order (p.
88). Nunan (2003) also adds that writing is the way to express and impress
feelings, idea or thought in a written form of English (p. 88). In this study, writing
refers to an activity which expresses students‟ feeling, idea and thought in a
written form.
4. Feedback
Feedback is a way for teachers to describe their learners‟ language;
feedback is an ongoing form of assessment which is more focused than marks or
grades (Lewis, 2002, p.3). Thus, in this research, feedback is a technique to give
information such as advices, suggestions, comments and corrections which are
5. Tenth grade
Senior High School (SMA) is the next level of Junior High School (SMP).
The students entering Senior High School are those who have passed Junior High
School. Senior High School is divided into three grades. The tenth grade is the
first grade in Senior High School. In this research, the participants were 36
students from XD of SMAN 1 Depok Babarsari in the 2011/2012 academic year,
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter, the researcher presents a discussion on some theories
which become the basis of the research. This chapter is divided into two major
parts which are theoretical description and theoretical framework.
A. Theoretical Description
This part discusses the nature of writing, the teaching writing and the
approaches of writing.
1. Writing
a. The Nature of Writing
According to Tiedt (1989), writing is the way to express people‟s ideas in
a written form (p. 1). It is clear that writing is a process of delivering people
with others” (p. 4). It is clear that someone can learn something, share the opinion
to each other by writing process. Moreover, Ralmes (1983) states that writing can
teach the students to learn about grammar, idiom and vocabulary that have been
taught by the teacher (p. 3). Zimmerman and Rodrigues (1992) also point out
“Good writing is writing that is appropriate to the specific writing situation for
which it was produced” (p. 8). It means that writing should have a characteristic
or criteria which make it suitable to be said a good writing.
b. Teaching Writing
According to Tiedt (1989), there are six basic understandings about the
writing process (p. 3-7). They are 1) students learn to write by writing, 2) writing
expresses thinking, 3) students learn to write by reading, 4) writing is not easy, 5)
writing can be taught and 6) writing is a way of learning in classrooms. The
explanation of basic understanding about the writing process as follows:
1) Students learn to write by writing
Tiedt (1989) points out that the students have to experience the writing
process by themselves. They should write and apply the writing process in order
to have the real situation so they can learn and understand it (p. 3-4).
2) Writing expresses thinking
Tiedt (1989) says that thinking and writing have a close relationship.
Children in an early age are easy to absorb many things. They can speak and think
easier because they are in a growth period. They should express their ideas and
thoughts in a written form in order to make them aware with their abilities (p. 4).
3) Students learn to write by reading
Tiedt (1989) states that students need imagination to start writing. By
reading books, students can gather their ideas and find their topics. It will be
4) Writing is not easy
Tiedt (1989) argues that writing is the most difficult skill. It happens
because when people start writing, they should gather and generate their ideas.
They should think what they want to write about and compose the sentence
grammatically correct. It makes writing become the most difficult skill (p. 6).
5) Writing can be taught
subject but also in Biology and History subjects (p. 7).
c. The Approaches to Writing
According to Hyland (2002), there are three main approaches to writing (p.
5). The approaches are:
1) Hyland (2002) states that “The first approach focuses on the products of
writing by examining texts in various ways” (p.5). It means that the writer learn to
write by analyzing the text for example analyzing the language features or generic
structure of the text. In this approach, there is specific way to implement the
teaching learning activity. It is called genre-based approach. Genre-based
the specific feature. There are three phases in genre-based approach. They are
modeling, negotiation and constructing. In modeling, the students learn by
analyzing the generic structure of text, the language feature and etc. In
negotiation, the students and the teacher discuss the text together. In constructing,
the students try to construct or write their own text by their knowledge that they
get in the modeling and negotiation phases.
2) Hyland (2002) points out, “The second approach focuses on the writer and
describes writing in terms of the processes used to create texts” (p. 5). The second
approach concerns on the process of the writing and the writer itself.
3) Hyland (2002) reveals, “The third approach focuses on the role that
readers play in writing and how writers engage with an audience in creating
coherent texts” (p. 5). The last approach concerns on the readers‟ opinions. The
writer writes a text based on the readers‟ background and culture.
2. Grammatical Accuracy
According to Larsen and Freeman (2000), grammatical accuracy in writing
is essential to ensure the writer‟s intention and to avoid misunderstanding (p.2). It
means that grammatical accuracy refers to the ability of writing without making
mistakes. Nunan (1999) notes that in the writing criteria, accuracy means using
grammar accurately, for example word order, verb endings and pronouns.
Besides, accuracy also means spelling and using punctuation accurately (p.284). It
means that accuracy in writing is being accurate in using all grammar aspects.
Moreover, accuracy in writing refers to being correct or exact in using grammar
Brumfit (1984) describes that accuracy has some requirements as follows
(p. 52-53).
a. Accuracy has its own characteristics and the characteristics are decided by
the user. Brumfit (1984) notes “fluent language may not also be accurate
language; it simply refers to a focus by the user” (p. 52). It means that fluency and
accuracy in language is different. The difference and the characteristics are
decided by the user. For example in school, the teacher and the students are the
user of the language so the teacher can decide the characteristics of the accuracy
based on the students‟ abilities.
b. Accuracy and fluency are different. Brumfit (1984) points out “it will be
argued that there is a definite role of accuracy work in language teaching, but its
function is quite different from that fluency work” (p. 52). It means that the
characteristics in accuracy cannot work well in fluency. On the other hand, the
characteristics of accuracy and fluency are different.
c. Brumfit (1984) reveals
Since accuracy here refers to a focus of the user, it can refer just as much to listening and reading as to speaking and writing; any language activity which is not being carried on with the learners apparently operating in the same way as they do in natural, mother-tongue use is an accuracy. (p.52- 53)
d. The accuracy or inaccuracy of the language depend on the criteria of the
user language. Brumfit (1984) shows “language work focused predominantly on
language is always accuracy work, however fluently it may be performed” (p. 53).
It means that the work of accuracy and fluency refers to the criteria of the
e. Both accuracy and fluency can be taught in teaching learning process by
the teacher in order to teach language. The students should not be concerned on
their accuracy while they practice their fluency.
3. Simple Past Tense
Gerot and Wignell (1994) note that “Grammar is a theory of language, of
how language is put together and how it works” (p. 2). It means that grammar is
the basic theory to learn language. According to Gerot and Wignell (1994), in
educational background, the teacher needs to understand grammar in order to help
the students understand how texts work (p.3). It means that teacher needs to know
how texts work so teachers can help the students to understand and produce texts.
Simple past tense is one of tenses in English grammar. According to Azar
Swan (1995) notes that “the simple past tense is common in story-telling
and when we are telling people about past events”(p. 417). It means that people
use simple past tense to tell other people about the past experience or to explain
about story telling. Simple past tense explains about the events happen in the past.
Swan (1995) also reveals “in general, the simple past tense is the normal one for
talking about the past” (p. 417). It means that simple past tense always show the
events happen in the past. People tend to use simple past tense to tell the story
because simple past tense is tenses to explain the past events.
4. Narrative
a. Definition of Narrative
Doyle et al. (2004) point out that narrative is a story of a sequence of
events, “narratives have more complex structures, although they share many of the
basic features we have identified in recounts” (p.60). It means that narrative tells a
story rather than exploring the past experience. Narrative and recount are different
because narrative has a more complex generic structure than recount.
b. Communicative Purposes of Narrative
According to Knapp and Watkins (2005), the purposes of narratives are
(p.220):
To entertain the reader
To be a powerful social role beyond entertainment
Doyle et al (2004) also describe that narrative have didactic and satirical
not only tells a story for the students but also become educational text. Narrative
can educate the students through its content for example from folk tales, the
students can learn about the value of life in that story.
c. Types of Narrative
There are five types of narrative according to Doyle et al (2004, p.60).
They are folk tales, children‟s stories and fairy tales, novels, crime thrillers,
narrative poems.
d. Generic Structure of Narrative
According to Hyland (2002, p.16), the generic structure of narrative is:
- Orientation
It introduces the participants and informs the time and the place. (Where,
when). In the orientation the writer introduces the characters, the time and the
place for the events. In narrative, the orientation often shows imaginary time for
example once upon a time, long time ago and etc.
- Complication
It describes the rising problems happen within the story. In complication,
there are some problems faced by the characters. It can be more than one problem
for example situation of war, conflict or love.
- Resolution
Showing the way the problems are solved. In resolution, the writer shows
the problem solving and the end of the story. The complication may be resolved
e. Grammatical Features of Narrative
The grammatical features of narrative according to Doyle et al (2004: 62):
Using Past Tense to describe the events
suggestion, comment, recommendation, correction or advice. The information can
help the students to evaluate the teaching learning process in the class.
Lewis (2002) argues that feedback is a way for teachers to describe their
learners‟ language; feedback is an ongoing form of assessment which is more
focused than marks or grades (p. 3). Feedback is a technique to give information
such as advice, suggestions, comments and corrections which are usually made by
the teacher to observe the students‟ writing products.
There are two forms of feedback (Hendrickson et al., 1978):
2. Indirect feedback occurs when the teacher indicates in some way that an error has been made – by mean of an underline, circle, code or other mark – but does not provide the correct form, leaving the student to solve the problem that has been called to his or her attention.
(as cited in Hyland, K and Hyland, F ,2006, p.83)
b. Sources of Feedback
1) Teacher feedback
The teacher has an important rule in a classroom. The teacher can give the
students feedback in written or spoken form. Leki et al. (1991) notes “ESL
students greatly value teacher‟s written feedback and consistently rate it more
highly than alternative forms, such as peer and oral feedback in writing
conferences” (as cited in Hyland, K and Hyland, F, 2006, p.3). It means that the
students still need feedback from the teacher as their instructor. The students need
more information from the teacher in the written form.
2) Peer feedback
Peer feedback is given by the partner or other participants in the
classroom. According to Hyland, K and Hyland, F (2006), “Peer review can be
seen as a formative developmental process that gives writers the opportunities to
c. Purposes of Feedback
According to Lewis (2002), there are five purposes of feedback (p. 3-4).
The purposes are:
1) Feedback provides information for teachers and students
Lewis (2002) states that feedback provides some teacher‟s comments for
the students such as the weaknesses, strengths, progress and direct information
about language (p. 3). It means that feedback can help the students to improve
their performance or writing products because they can learn from the feedback.
2) Feedback provides students with advice about learning
Lewis (2002) points out that by giving feedback, students can learn the
description of the use of language. While learning process, teacher can make a
comment for the students about their learning processes (p. 4). The feedback can
give the students information about their learning processes progress in the
classroom.
3) Feedback provides students with language input
Lewis (2002) says that the teacher can give the feedback in written or
spoken form. The feedback provides some meaningful and individual language
input which can enrich the students‟ vocabulary. Besides, the feedback can
improve students‟ understanding about grammar (p. 4).
4) Feedback is a form of motivation
According to Lewis (2002), by receiving feedback, students become more
enthusiastic to study and use language in learning process. Besides, feedback can
that the students feel happy to know their strengths or weaknesses so they intend
to gain better scores than before.
5) Feedback can lead students towards autonomy
Lewis (2002) argues that feedback can help the students to find their own
mistakes. By giving feedback or some clues, the students can recognize their
mistakes by themselves and try to revise them (p. 4). It means that the feedback
help the students to improve their abilities by learning from the mistakes. The
students learn from their mistakes and try to revise them.
d. Types of Feedback
According to Lewis (2002), there are three types of teacher feedback (p.
15-19). The types are:
1) Traditional marking
Lewis (2002) states that in the feedback; the teacher makes a sign on the
students‟ drafts using pen, pencil or stabile. The sign can be a line, highlight or
words (p. 15).
2) Conferencing
Lewis (2002) points out that this feedback provides some comments and
questions for the students. The teachers and the students will have some
3) Collective feedback
Lewis (2002) states that the collective feedback means the teacher presents
the feedback collectively. It means that the teacher summarizes the feedback for a
whole class (p. 18). There four types of collective feedback:
a. Comment orally one by one
b. Feedback sheet
c. Summarize feedback on the board
d. Checklist
e. The Advantages of Feedback
Fatham & Whalley et al. (1990) reveal that there were some studies
showed that “students who receive error feedback over a period of time can
improve their language accuracy” (as cited in Hyland, K and Hyland, F, 2006,
p.4). It means that feedback could improve the students‟ language accuracy.
Besides, Chandler (2003) states that underlining and direct corrections in the
students‟ writing products could decrease grammatical and lexical errors in their
next writing (as cited in Hyland, K and Hyland, F, 2006, p.4).
Williams (2002) describes that the feedback could develop both texts and
the students‟ writing skills (as cited in Hyland, K and Hyland, F, 2006, p.5).
Besides, the students paid more attention into teachers‟ feedback rather than other
feedback. Leki et al. (1991) notes “ESL students greatly value teacher written
feedback and oral feedback in writing conferences” (as cited in Hyland, K and
Hyland, F, 2006, p.3).
6. Classroom Action Research
a. Definition of Classroom Action Research
Mills (2007), as cited by Mertler (2009: 4) points out that
Action research is defined as any systematic inquiry conducted by teachers, administrators, counselors, or others with a vested interest in the teaching and learning process or environment for the purpose of gathering information about how their particular school operate, how they teach and how their students learn.
From the definition above, action research is a research which is done by
people in order to find the solution of the problem by gathering and analyzing the
data. Further more, action research is an activity undertaken by teachers to
improve their performances and teaching skills in the classroom. Mertler (2009)
also reveals that action research allows the teacher to conduct a research in the
classroom in order to make improvement or better understanding in some areas
subject (p. 4). It means that action research is conducted to solve the students‟
problems after the teacher implements some actions in the classroom. There are
three main things in Classroom Action Research. The things are problem, solving
and improvement. In Classroom Action Research it should be a problem, then the
researcher should try to overcome the problem by choosing the best strategy.
After implementation, it is expected that the students can make improvement or
b. Model of Classroom Action Research
According to Kemmis and McTaggart (1988), as cited by Burns (1999),
there are four steps to do Action Research (p. 32). Those steps are planning,
action, observation and reflection. The steps are presented as follows.
Figure 2.1. The Planning-Reflection Cycle (Kemmis and McTaggart, 1988)
1) Planning
The researcher starts to make plans after knowing the problem. The
researcher looks for an appropriate strategy that can overcome the problem. The
researcher considers the objects‟ strengths and weaknesses so that the strategy can
overcome the problem happen.
2) Action
In this step, the researcher applies the strategy in order to overcome the
3) Observation
The researcher observes the situation of the environment and tries to
analyze the data. The researcher analyzes the data by doing analysis which is
appropriate.
4) Reflection
After having the result from data analysis, the researcher tries to reflect
what have done by the objects and prepare the next action for the next cycle.
c. The Characteristics of Action Research
Hinchey (2008) states that there are four essential characteristics of action
research (p. 4). The characteristics of action research are:
1) The research is conducted by people who belong to the community rather
than by the outsider, for examples the school members or the teachers.
2) The research focuses on the improvement or better understanding in a
certain level or material depends on the researcher.
3) The research involves some processes to solve the problem. The processes
are information gathering, analysis and reflection.
4) The research consists of some cycles in the process of finding the result.
It means that action research has some processes and cycles in order to
find the result. It is conducted by the insider in the community and focuses on the
improvement in a certain level or material. The researcher can decide the area of
B. Theoretical Framework
In theoretical framework, the researcher tried to relate the theory and this
research. Ralmes (1983) states, writing can teach the students to learn about
grammar, idiom and vocabulary that have been taught by the teacher (as cited in
Hyland, K and Hyland, F, 2006, p.3). By writing some sentences, students can
practice how to make sentences with an appropriate grammar. By understanding
grammar of the language, the students are able to understand the meaning of the
language. This is the important thing why the students should learn to write.
The researcher chose two processes of writing according to Tiedt (1989).
The first process is students learn to write by reading and the second is writing can
be taught. In those processes the students and the teacher analyzed the text and
discussed the text together. This research used genre-based approach as the
approach to write. The students learn from the model of the text, discuss the text
with the teacher and try to construct their own text by writing different text.
The XD students of SMAN 1 Depok had difficulties in writing narrative
can improve their language accuracy” (as cited in Hyland, K and Hyland, F, 2006,
p.4). The kind of feedback which will be given is teacher‟s feedback. The forms
The researcher conducted Classroom Action Research (CAR) in order to
implement the use of feedback in narrative writing. According to Kemmis and
McTaggart (1988), as cited by Burns (1999: 32), there are four steps to do Action
Research. Those steps are planning, action, observation and reflection.
The researcher referred some theories while conducting the research. The
researcher asked the students to write narrative texts after that the researcher
examined the students‟ drafts. The researcher focused on the simple past tense
form used by the students. The researcher gave feedback in a form of comments,
error analysis and suggestions. Then, the researcher returned the drafts and asked
the students to write new narrative texts.
The students‟ accuracy of simple past tense would improve because
according to Lewis (2002: 3-4), there are five purposes of feedback. They are 1)
feedback provides information for teachers and students, 2) feedback provides
students with advice about learning, 3) feedback provides students with language
input, 4) feedback is a form of motivation and 5) feedback can lead students
towards autonomy. Therefore, the researcher used feedback to improve the
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the researcher would like to present a description of
research method. They are research method, research setting and participants,
research instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis technique and
research procedure.
A. Research Method
The study employed Classroom Action Research (CAR) as the method.
This method was used in order to answer the research problem which was how
can the tenth graders‟ grammar accuracy of simple past tense in narrative writing
be improved in SMAN 1 Depok.
Mills (2007), as cited by Mertler (2009, p.4) points out that
Action research is defined as any systematic inquiry conducted by teachers, administrators, counselors, or others with a vested interest in the teaching and learning process or environment for the purpose of gathering information about how their particular school operate, how they teach and how their students learn.
From the definition above, action research is a research which is done by
people in order to find the solution of the problem by gathering and analyzing the
data. According to Kemmis and McTaggart (1988), as cited by Burns (1999,
p.32), there are four steps to do Action Research. Those steps are planning, action,
observation and reflection. The steps were used and they formed cycles as
presented as follows.
Figure 3.1 The Planning-Reflection Cycle (Kemmis and McTaggart, 1988)
1. Planning
The researcher found the problem when she did Internship Program
(Program Pengalaman Lapangan) in SMAN 1 Depok. Then, the researcher did
preliminary study to make sure the problem faced by the students. The researcher
started making plan after knowing the students‟ problems. The plan was giving
feedback on the students‟ drafts. The researcher planned to give feedback in order
to remind and correct students‟ errors while using the simple past tense in the
narrative writing.
2. Action
The researcher taught the students in the class about the generic structure
of narrative texts. After that, the researcher asked them to write one paragraph of
narrative texts. The paragraph consisted of ten sentences. They were given 50
their works and corrected the students‟ drafts at home. The researcher gave
feedback on the students‟ drafts by giving some comments and corrections at
home. In the next meeting, the researcher asked the students to revise their
students‟ drafts which had been given feedback by the researcher and submitted it.
Then, they were asked to write new narrative texts.
3. Observation
The researcher did the observation and the action in the same time. She
observed the students in the class especially when they wrote narrative texts. The
researcher was helped by the two observers. They helped the researcher to observe
the students and the class situation during the implementation.
4. Reflection
In this step, the researcher tried to analyze data. The researcher analyzed
the data by checking the students‟ writing products. The researcher examined their
works one by one. By doing that, the researcher could know the students‟ errors
especially in simple past tense. After having the results from the students‟ drafts,
the researcher tried to reflect whether the implementation worked well or not.
After that, the researcher prepared the next action for the next cycle.
B. Research Setting
The research was conducted in XD class SMAN 1 Depok. The researcher
gave a material about narrative texts and asked the students to write narrative
writing products in a form of corrections, comments or suggestion. After that, the
students were asked to revise their writing products and wrote new narrative texts.
C. Research Participants
The subjects were the students of XD of SMAN 1 Depok in the 2011/2012
academic year. There were thirty six students in the class. There were 28 girls and
8 boys in XD class. Some students had difficulties in understanding grammar and
writing narrative texts using simple past tense. As mentioned in the research
objective, the researcher intended to improve the tenth graders‟ grammar accuracy
of simple past tense in narrative writing. Besides, the researcher asked two
persons as observers to help the researcher observing the research in the
classroom.
D. Research Instruments
There were five kinds of instruments used in this research. Those
instruments were observation sheet, questionnaire, interview, students‟ draft and
field note.
1. Students‟ draft
This was the main source of the data. The researcher analyzed the data by
checking the students‟ drafts. The researcher examined their works one by one.
Besides, the researcher counted the grammatical errors (simple past tense errors)
2. Observation Sheet
Observation sheet in this study was assigned to gather some data when the
researcher conducted the implementation. By using observation sheet, the
researcher could identify the students‟ behavior in the class. Besides, the
researcher could gather data and explain descriptively and systematically by using
the observation sheet.
3. Field Note
Field note helped the researcher to figure out the detail situation and
students‟ behavior during the classroom. The researcher was helped by two
observers who observed the situation in the classroom during the implementation.
4. Questionnaire
The researcher used questionnaire to gather the data. The aim of this
instrument was to know students‟ opinions about the function of feedback. From
the questionnaire, the researcher could obtain information whether the feedback
helped the students or not in improving the students‟ grammar accuracy of simple
past tense in narrative writing. The questions were in the form of closed-ended
questions and open-ended questions.
5. Interview
The researcher took six students randomly to be interviewed. The
researcher asked some questions about the use of feedback. From the interview
result, the researcher could obtain the deeper information whether the feedback
past tense in narrative writing. The interview was held outside the class after the
implementation.
E. Data Gathering Technique
The researcher obtained the data by evaluating the students‟ writing
products from the preliminary study until the second cycle. The researcher
counted the students‟ errors of simple past tense in each sentence and gave scores
for their writing products. It aimed to figure out whether the teacher‟s feedback
could improve the students‟ accuracy of simple past tense in narrative writing or
not.
The second instrument was observation sheet. The researcher was helped
by two observers to observe the situation in the classroom during the
implementation. From the observation sheet, the researcher could figure out what
happened in the teaching learning process.
The next instrument was field note. The field note described the real
situation and students‟ behavior in detail during the implementation. From field
note, the researcher could figure out what things the researcher did not see during
the implementation.
The researcher also used questionnaire as the instrument. The
questionnaire was distributed to the students in the end of the second cycle. It
aimed to obtain the students‟ opinions about the use of teacher‟s feedback to
The last instrument was interview. The researcher did the interview
outside the class after the implementation. The researcher took six students
randomly to be interviewed. The researcher did interview to gain deeper
information about the students‟ feelings, suggestions or opinions during the
implementation. Besides, the researcher intended to figure out the students‟
opinions whether the teacher‟s feedback could help them improving their
accuracy of simple past tense in narrative writing or not.
F. Data Analysis Technique
The researcher asked the students to submit their writing products in each
cycle and analyzed them at home. The researcher used scoring criteria from LKS
researcher could gain the information whether the feedback helped the students or
not in improving students‟ grammar accuracy of simple past tense. The researcher
would analyze the data in percentage, and score description.
There were 2 criteria of successful in this research:
1. The students‟ error percentage of simple past tense decreased from
preliminary study until second cycle.
2. More than half of the students in the class could pass the KKM (Kriteria
Ketuntasan Minimal) which was 6.5.
G. Research Procedure
The researcher conducted Classroom Action Research. The research was
conducted in XD class SMAN 1 Depok. There were 36 students in XD and all of
them joined the research from the preliminary study until the second cycle. There
were two cycles in the research. The first cycle was conducted on May 9, 2012
and the second cycle was conducted on May 16, 2012. Before implementation, the
researcher conducted preliminary study on May 2, 2012.
The researcher found the problem when she did Internship Program
(Program Pengalaman Lapangan) in SMAN 1 Depok after that she did
preliminary study on May 2, 2012 to make sure the problem faced by the students.
After that, the researcher started making plan to solve the students‟ problems.
The researcher conducted the first cycle on May 9, 2012. The researcher
returned the students‟ writing products which had been given feedback by the
students to submit their revisions. After that, the researcher asked the students to
write new narrative texts and they had to submit them in the end of the class. The
researcher checked and analyzed the students‟ writing products at home. The
researcher also gave feedback in a form of corrections, comments, suggestions by
circling and marking the students‟ writing products.
The second cycle was held on May 16, 2012. The researcher returned the
students‟ writing products which they have written in the first cycle. The
researcher had given feedback in the students‟ writing products such as
corrections, comments or suggestions. Then, the researcher asked them to revise
and submit their writing products. After that, the researcher asked the students to
write new narrative texts and submit them in the end of the class. In the end of
second cycle, the researcher also asked the students to fill questionnaire to obtain
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents the research process, the research results and other
findings. The findings were taken from the students‟ writing drafts analysis,
questionnaire analysis and interview analysis. The researcher conducted two cycles
and each cycle consisted of planning, action, observation and reflection.
The researcher conducted Classroom Action Research. There were two cycles
in the research. The first cycle was conducted on May 9, 2012 and the second cycle
was conducted on May 16, 2012. Before the implementation, the researcher
conducted preliminary study on May 2, 2012. The research was conducted in XD
class SMAN 1 Depok Babarsari. There were 36 students in XD and all of them joined
the research from the preliminary study until the second cycle.
A. Research Process
In this step, the researcher would like to answer the research problem of this
study. The research problem of this study is how teacher‟s feedback can improve the
tenth grade students‟ grammar accuracy of simple past tense in narrative writing. In
order to answer the research problem, the researcher provided the improvement of the
students‟ accuracy of simple past tense in a percentage form. The researcher asked the
students to write narrative texts from preliminary study until the second cycle and
analyzed their writing products by giving feedback and score.
The researcher improved the students‟ accuracy of simple past in narrative
writing by giving teacher‟ feedback on the students‟ drafts over period of time. The
researcher gave written feedback regularly on the students‟ drafts from preliminary
study until second cycle. There was good improvement of students‟ accuracy of
simple past tense. The students‟ errors of simple past tense decreased and they
obtained better score.
The researcher did preliminary study in order to make sure the problem faced
by the students. In the preliminary study, the researcher asked the students to write
one paragraph of narrative text which consisted of ten sentences. After that, the
researcher analyzed the students‟ writing products at home. The researcher checked
the students‟ writing products by giving feedback. The researcher gave feedback in a
form of corrections, comments, suggestions by circling and marking on the students‟
writing products.
The researcher conducted the first cycle on May 9, 2012. The researcher
returned the students‟ writing products which had been given feedback by the
researcher and asked them to revise it. Then, the researcher asked the students to
submit their revisions. After that, the researcher asked the students to write new
narrative texts and they had to submit them in the end of the class. The researcher
checked and analyzed the students‟ writing products at home. The researcher gave
feedback in a form of corrections, comments, suggestions by circling and marking the
The second cycle was held on May 16, 2012. The researcher returned the
students‟ writing products which they had written in the first cycle. The researcher
had given feedback in the students‟ writing products such as corrections, comments
or suggestions. Then, the researcher asked them to revise and submit their writing
products. After that, the researcher asked the students to write new narrative texts and
submit them in the end of the class. The complete explanation about the research
process would be explained in the next part.
1. Preliminary Study
The researcher did preliminary study on May 2, 2012 in XD class SMAN 1
Depok, Babarsari. There were 36 students who joined the class. The researcher taught
them as a teacher. In the beginning, the researcher greeted them and checked the
attendance list. The students were happy to meet the researcher because the
researcher was the practice teacher in that class when she did Internship Program
(Program Pengalaman Lapangan).
The time allocation was 90 minutes. For warming up, the researcher asked the
students to make sentences randomly. They wrote whatever came to their mind at that
time in 3 minutes. After that, together they counted the sentences they had written.
Students who wrote the most sentences won a reward from the researcher. There were
3 students who wrote 8 sentences in 3 minutes and they obtained some snacks from
the researcher as a reward. The purpose of this activity was to make the students feel
The next activity was recalling the students‟ memories about the generic
structure of narrative text. The researcher intended to make sure whether the students
still remember the generic structure of narrative text or not because they had the same
material in the first semester. The researcher asked the students to make a group of 3
or 4. After that, they were given jumbled paragraphs. They were asked to arrange the
paragraphs into good texts. In this activity the students were very active. After that,
the students were asked to discuss the generic structure of the texts and decide what
type of text it was. Here, some groups could answer the question but some groups
were passive.
Observer A wrote:
“The students were very active and everybody took a part in arranging the jumbled paragraph. Everybody wanted to arrange the text as soon as possible. However, when the teacher asked them to discuss the generic structure of the text and decide what type of text, some groups could answer and some of them could not answer the question.” (The field notes of preliminary study, see appendix 5)
After that, the researcher and the students discussed the question together. The
researcher also provided some slides about narrative texts such as the definition of
narrative text, the purposes of narrative text and the language features of narrative
text. The researcher did that activity because she wanted to match the students‟
knowledge of narrative text.
Having some understanding about narrative text, the researcher asked the
employed picture series as the media to help the students to find the idea of their
writing. The researcher gave 50 minutes to the students to finish their writing. In this
activity, the students were very serious in writing narrative texts. They had great
enthusiasm to write narrative texts. Sometimes, the students asked the researcher
some vocabularies and the researcher helped them. At the end of the class, the
researcher asked the students to submit their writing products then the students could
go home.
The percentage of error in the students‟ writing draft was counted using the
formula below:
X= N x 100% 10
Note: X= the error percentage in the students‟ writing
N= the number of wrong sentences that the students had made
10= the maximal sentences that the students had mad (the requirement)
The researcher analyzed the students‟ writing products outside the class and
returned them in the next cycle. The table below was the result of their writing
products.
Table 4.1 The Result of Students’ Writing Product in the Preliminary Study
It could be seen from the table 4.1 the students made a lot of errors in writing
narrative especially the use of simple past tense. From the table 4.1, the average of the
students‟ errors in simple past tense was 56%. The average of their score was 6. 65.
The KKM (Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal) in SMAN 1 Depok Babarsari is 6.5. There
were 18 students from 36 students who failed to pass the KKM (Kriteria Ketuntasan
Minimal) in preliminary study. It means that half of the class got low scores in
writing narrative.
There were many errors of simple past tense in the students‟ writing products.
These are the examples of students‟ errors of simple past tense from their writing
The fourth and fifth sentences were inappropriate sentences. The students
should use irregular verb because not all of the verbs can be added by –ed. The verbs
