USING MIND-MAPPING STRATEGY TO IMPROVE
THE ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS IN WRITING RECOUNT TEXT
(AN ACTION RESEARCH DONE AT SMPN I KENCONG).
Oleh: Siti Munifah
Guru Bahasa Inggris SMP Negeri 1 Kencong e-mail: ifa150171@gmail.com
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menjabarkan bagaimana penggunaan Mind-mapping dapat meningkatkan kemampuan siswa dalam menulis teks recount dan bagaimana penggunaan mind-mapping dapat meningkatkan partisipasi aktif siswa dalam kemampuan menulis. Penelitian ini diadakan selama dua siklus yang terdiri dari tiga pertemuan. Tiap-tiap siklus meliputi tahap-tahap yaitu perencanaan, implemantasi pelaksanaan, pengamatan dan penilaian, dan refleksi pelaksanaan. Kegiatan ini dilaksanakan dalam tiap-tiap siklus. Data tentang ketercapain kemampuan menulis siswa dalam teks recount dikumpulkan melalui tes writing, sedangkan pengamatan digunakan untuk mengamati proses belajar mengajar menulis dengan cara menggunakan checklist dan field notes.Hasil kemampuan menulis siswa pada siklus pertama menunjukkan bahwa prosentase siswa yang mendapat nilai 70 atau lebih adalah 57,89%, dan hasil pengamatan dinyatakan hanya 63,5% dari 38 siswa yang berpartisipasi aktif dalam proses belajar mengajar. Hasil kemampuan siswa pada siklus kedua menunjukkan bahwa 78,95 % dari 38 siswa yang mendapat nilai 70 atau lebih. Dalam hal ini ada peningkatan dari 57,89% menjadi 78,95%. Disamping itu, ada peningkatan juga pada prosentase partisipasi siswa aktif dari 63,5% pada silkus I menjadi 76,5% pada siklus II. Berdasarkan hasil diatas, dapat disimpulkan bahwa penggunaan mind-mapping dalam proses belajar mengajar menulis teks recount dapat meningkatkan kemampuan menulis siswa dalam dua siklus. Sedangkan langkah-langkah mind-mapping terdiri dari pengelompokan dan pengaturan atau penyusunan ide-ide kedalam peta konsep, penyusunan itu untuk mendukung topik dalam menyajikan /memvisualisaskani ide-ide sebagai sebagai langkah terakhir.
Kata Kunci : Kemampuan Menulis, Strategi Mind-Mapping.
INTRODUCTION Background of the Study
However, writing is not simple thing, Scott and Yteberg (2001), say that writing is a complicated skill because it is not just about having something to say. Mastering some aspects of writing such as structure, vocabulary, mechanics, content, and the organization is important in order to have a good writing.
The students of eight grade at SMP N I Kencong were divided into seventh classes, they are VIIIA, VIIIB, VIIIC, VIIID, VIIIE, VIIIF, and VIIIG. The researcher found that most of the eight grade students especially VIIIF had low ability in writing. The students had difficulties in generating ideas, grammatical structure, and expanding their vocabulary. Besides, the writing abilityof Year 2011-2012 students in class VIIIF is still unsatisfactory.From the result the students’writing, the average score was 62. There were only 12 students who got score above 70. It means they could pass the passing grade of the writing skill. There were 26 students were categorized fail. It means that they got score below the passing grade.
ideas are not clearly stated, the ideas and the sentences are not well organized. The second problem is that there are many errors in vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. Another problem is the students have low motivation during the writing class and many students wrote without any good idea. The students just remembered their past experiences and wrote them. Almost all of the students did not know how to start. They often wasted their time by thinking what they had to write. As a result, they only concerned on how to finish their writing instead of making a good writing.
In addition, Faye (1985), states that a writer should consider some aspects, such as grammar, mechanics, content, vocabulary and organization when they are writing. From Faye’s statement it is important for the students to think, plan, and arrange carefully on the ideas that will be written because the ideas are difficult to find as Richard (1990), says that the process of moving from concepts, thoughts, and ideas to written text is complex.
In relation to the reason above, the researcher applied Mind Mapping Technique in teaching writing to improve the students’ writing achievement. Mind Mapping Technique is a strategy which is used pre-writing activity, It helps the students to expand their ideas by making a note, organizing ideas and concept in writing. In relation to this, Steele (2004), says that mind mapping is a structured strategy for making a note which shows the relationship of ideas. Thompson (1994), describes mind mapping as various symbols such as circles, squares and triangles used to organize the topic and related ideas.
By using mind mapping technique, the students can organize their writing easily because they can see the pattern, Cooper (1992), states that mind mapping is a technique in organizing ideas by using symbols so that the relationship among the various sub-topic can be displayed visually. In addition, Buzan (2003), says that mind mapping is a system of planning and note-taking that makes schoolwork fun.
Besides, Mind Mapping Strategy is the way to classify the parts of the paragraph related to the topic. The other reason, this strategy is also a kind of way to get certain information related to the content of paragraph which can be formed into several maps. This way can make the students easier to solve their problem in finding certain ideas or information based on the text they got or the text they want to write.
The finding above support that mind- mapping is an effective technique to help students generate ideas, the researcher conducts a study in the form of Classroom Action Research CAR with the title Improving the students’ writing Achievement on Recount text by using Mind Mapping Strategy at Eight grade of SMP Negeri I Kencong Jember.
Research Problem
Based on the background of the research, the problems can be formulated Follows: 1. How can the mind mapping strategy improve the students’ writing achievement on
recount textof eighth grade of SMP Negeri I Kencong Jember?
2. How can the mind mapping strategy improve the students’ activeness especially in the eights grade(VIIIF) of SMP Negeri I Kencong Jember?
Significance of the Study
The result of this research is expected to give contributions:. ●English Teacher
The result of this research can be used as an input for the English teacher in the process of teaching writing through mind mapping strategy as an alternative way in teaching English to improve the quality of teaching writing.
●Students
students would have an alternative way in doing writing which was done through generating ideas from the topic and representing it in some sort of visual display such as circles and connecting lines.
●Other researchers
This research might be useful information for future researchers as a reference in conducting using Mind Mapping strategy to improve students’ writing achievement. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Mind Mapping Technique
The Concept of Mind Mapping Technique
Mind mapping is one of pre-writing technique which is used to generate and organize ideas into word map. Kanar (1998), says that mind mapping is one of pre-writing strategies that can help students gather and organize evidence to support a topic and provide a visual representation of ideas. According to Steel (2004), a mind map is a strategy for making notes on a topic, prior to writing. It is a structured strategy, which shows the (hierarchical) relationship of ideas, as opposed to an unstructured strategy, such as brainstorming, in which students produce notes at random on paper. It can be stated that mind mapping is a strategy to develop ideas and show the pattern visually. Moreover, Boss and Vaughn (1991), confirm that semantic mapping or mind mapping is one of techniques that can be used to asses and activate students’ background knowledge related to the key concept. In this way, the students might contribute any and all words or ideas that come to their mind in relation to the central topic. In short, mind mapping is a technique which can lead the students to show what they already know about the topic and draw it in the form of mapping.
Form of Mind Mapping
Mind mapping can be presented in different forms. According to Wood (1991), there are six formats of mapping based on the organizational pattern of the ideas. They are typical, chronological, descriptive, cause-effect, comparison-contrast, and problem solution. Meanwhile, Thompson (1994), develops mind mapping by discussing the topic, main idea, and details of the topic. He suggests using various symbols, such as circles, squares, and triangles to categorize the points before organizing them into map. He also suggests using arrows, lines, and numerical order to show the relationship between the ideas. For example, there are four themes to the ideas of a topic. We can place a circle around all the ideas relatedto the theme one, a triangle to the theme two, etc.
The Application of Mind mapping technique in the Teaching of Writing
Mind mapping can be used as a technique in teaching writing because it can easily used by the teacher. Hudelson (1995), states that mind mapping is a techniques to motivate thinking, activate prior knowledge, and develop enthusiasm. This technique facilitates the students to expand their idea and raise their enthusiasm in writing.
According to Buzan (2003), there are four steps to create a concept mapping as follows:
1. Take a sheet of paper and put in the middle of the central concept of your topic.
2. Starting from that central concept, draw lines to the sides to represent the main related sub categories for your mind map topic. Take one main keyword that you associate with each sub topic and print it in capital over one of those lines.
3. When you are done with those sub categories, continue the process of branching out lower level sub concepts.
4. Draw lines from the end of each line from the previous stage and, as before, mark those lines with the main keywords that distinguish those concepts.
(2002), mind mapping can be constructed for different kinds of writing, and creating mapping should be based on the level of the students. For instance, for younger students, mind mapping can be constructed for paragraph in which main ideas and detail are integrated into map. On the other hands, older students may only construct mind mapping for longer writing by omitting the details and including the ideas that support the main ideas. It can be concluded that the steps to create mind mapping vary based on the purpose of writing.
Improving Writing Achievement through Mind mapping Technique
According to Kanar (1998), writing process covers three stages. They are pre-writing, pre-writing, and revising. He has out lined three steps of the writing process, namely pre-writing, writing, and revising. Pre-writing is used to discover and organize the ideas. The next is writing. It is used to develop a topic into a good paragraph. The last is revising which is used to revise the draft and to proofreading. By using each steps of the writing process, the writer will develop their ideas and arrange it into good words. The three steps of writing process will be explained in the following sections.
1. Pre-writing
The first step in the writing process is pre-writing. Before writing a topic, the writer needs to think about what he or she knows and wants to say. The main purpose of pre-writing is to produce as many ideas as possible and make a plan of what he or she wants to write. Richard (1999), explains that pre-writing can help the students develop their ideas, generate plans for writing, serve initial stimulus and provide motivation. According to Wingersky (1999), pre-writing is a way to generate ideas, arrow a topic, or find a direction. Meanwhile, Kanar (1998), explains that pre-writing is the stage in which the writer thinks about the topics and makes some decisions about what aspects of the topic he or she will cover, the purpose, and even how he or she will organize his or her writing.
2. Writing (Drafting)
After generating and organizing the ideas, the writer should write a first draft. Writing is the part of the writing process in which the writer composes sentences in the paragraph. Wingersky (1999), says that writing or drafting involves taking the information that the writer has generated and organized, and patiently writing a paragraph in which he or she consciously starts with the main idea and supporting ideas that flow smoothly. In short, drafting is writing a first version to be filled out and polished later.
In this stage, the writer does not need to worry about grammar, spelling, or other mechanical errors. It is supported by McWhorter (2001), who confirms that in writing the first draft, the writer should work from the list of ideas, and is not concerned with grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Instead, the writer should focus on expressing and developing each idea fully. It means that the writer should concentrate on the content and how to deliver the meaning of the writing to the reader.
3. Revising
The last step of the writing process is revising. Revising is making changes of word and organization on the first draft. In this stage, the writer has to decide which words and structures are best to express his or her ideas. In this stage, the writers can revise the errors in grammar and mechanic they made in drafting stage. According to Wingersky (1999:4), revising involves smoothing out the words, adding more detail, and making other changes that will help the writer say what he or she wants to say in the best way. McWhorter (2001), adds that revising means improve the draft by adding, deleting, or rearranging ideas into the most effective order.
4 The Advantages of Mind Mapping in Writing
evidences. It also helps the writer to see the visual relationships of his or her ideas. Steel (2004), says that mind maps work well as their visual design enables students to see the relationship between ideas, and encourages them to group certain ideas together as they proceed. Moreover, mind mapping can also help the writer in the revising stage. McWhorter (2001), confirms that at the stage of revision, mind mapping helps the writer two important features of writing. The first is the writer’s use of relevant and sufficient detail. The second feature is the logical organization of ideas. From those features, the writer can see whether his or her ideas connect with the details or not so that he or she can eliminate the inappropriate details and adding with the best details.
In addition, Chaffee et al (1999), state that generally, mind mapping for writing has four advantages. They are :
1. The organization of the ideas grows naturally 2. The organization can easily be revised.
3. The relationship among the various ideas can be seen visually.
4. It saves time and avoids students’ frustration during the writing process. 5 Modelling of Good Test of Mind-Mapping
According to Nur (2000b), there are fourkinds of concept mapping; namely: network tree, event chain, cycle map and spider concept map.
Main ideas were made in quadrangle, while some other words written in connecting line. This mode is comfortably used for visualizing the following items, namely:a) showing cause and effect, (b) hierarchy relation (c) the branched procedure (d) the related terms being able to be used for explaining the relation.
According to Nur (2000b), event chain can be used for giving the chronological events, the steps in procedure or the steps in process. This model is used for visualizing the following items namely: a) giving the steps of the process (b) the steps in linier procedure (c) chronological events.
6 Previous of Study
Based on several review of the studies, it can be concluded that writing ability by using mind mapping strategy can be improve in a certain treatment are applied. The studies reviewed are concerned with different subject, technique and finding research in improving the students’ writing ability in writing teaching learning.
While this study is the develoment of previous research, such as “Improving the students’ achievement in Speaking ability using mind mapping” and “The Effect of Clustering technique on writing Achievement of the Second year Students of SMA Negeri I Arjasa”.They stated that older students constructed mind-mapping for longer writing by omitting the details and including the ideas that support the mind ideas. It could be concluded that mind-mapping could create the purpose of writing.
RESEARCH METHODS Research Design
In this research, the researcher applied Classroom Action Research (CAR) with cycle model. This research was conducted in two cycles for three meetings; each cycle covers four stages of activities. They are : planning the action, implementing the action, observing, andreflecting the action. If the first cycle could not achieve the target score, that was 70, this research would be continued to the second cycle.Meanwhile, if the result in the first cycle reachedthe target score, the second cycle would be continued as reinforcement. This research was conducted collaboratively with the others English Teachers of SMP Negeri I Kencong.
Setting and Subject
classes. This research was conducted in one class of eighth grade classes, which was VIII F. The number of students in the classroom was 38.
The consideration of choosing VIII F to be the research subject is because of some reasons. First, the students in the classroom were the researcher’s students. Therefore, the researcher, who was at the same time the English teacher, knew exactly the problem faced by students. Second, SMP Negeri Kencong Jember is a national-standard school based on the quality of students’ intakes. Even, this year the school is starting its international-standard school program. The fact that this school keeps on progressing enables and supports teachers in the school to conduct research for improving teaching strategies. Third, the result of the preliminary study showed that the students in VIII F had a problem in their writing activities, which was less contextualized writings. They perceived writing as a difficult activity. Besides, the students’ active participation was low and only a few students who participated actively in teaching and learning activity.
Research Procedures
This classroom action research was implemented in four stages of activities in each cycle, namely (1) planning of the action, (2) implementating of the action, (3) observating and evaluating, (4) reflecting of the action.
Planning
Planning of the action is the activities done before the implementation of the action. The activities are choosing the topic based on the institutional level curriculum for the eighth grade students of junior high school. Then, constructing the lesson plans for the first cycle and preparing the materials and the instrument used in this research. Completed with preparing the observation guide in each meeting in form of checklist containing the indicators to be observed and field notes. Continuing the activity of research by constructing the writing test by using mind mapping technique and determining the criteria of success of the research.
The Criterion of Success
The research was considered successful if it already met the criteria of success. The criteria of success were seen from two angels, the teacher and the students. The teacher was considered success if she had good performance which could be seen from indicators of success in implementing mind mapping technique in writing recount text.
Implementation of the Action
Implementation means the realization of the action having been planned in the planning of the action. In this research, the implementation of the action was teaching writing by using mind mapping technique. This classroom action research was conducted to teach in two cycles. Each cycle consisted of two meetings and in the third meeting the students had the writing test to measure their writing achievement. Each cycle had four activities covering: preparation of the action, class observation, evaluation, and reflection of the action.
Observation and Evaluation
Observation aimed to observe the students’ activities during the teaching and learning process of writing by using mind mapping technique. The researcher used the observation checklist as the instrument. The teacher’s activity had been observed in a form of field note.
Research Instrument a. Observation
In this classroom action research the observation was conducted twice in each cycle. This observation was intended to know the students’ participation when they are taught writing by using mind mapping technique. The observation checklist was used as the instrument to record students’ active participation during the teaching learning process. The indicators of the active students can be seen in asking questions and answering questions, paying attention during the lesson, using mind mapping in their writing, proofread their partner’s draft, and writing recount text. This research is successful if about 75% of the students are active in teaching and learning process of writing by using mind mapping. a. Writing Test
In this research, the test applied was achievement test since it was intended to measure the VIIIF students’ writing achievement after they were taught writng by using mind mapping technique. The test is about writing recount text with mind mapping. In this research, the researcher used the scoring criteria to assess the students’ writing ability.
Analytic methods was used in this research as scoring methods to assess the students’ writing test. Hughes (2003), states that analytic methods a method of scoring which requires a separate score for each aspect of writing skill.
c. Field Notes
Field notes was used to note the facts dealing with the implementation of the action that could not be put in observation list. This note was focused on the interaction between teacher and students as well as with students. The interaction related to teacher is the one suitable with the steps described on the planning.The note related to the students were the appropriateness between students’ bahavior stated in the criteria ofstudents’ successes stated before. From the result, the researcher made reflection involved her framework and opinion that could be used as a basic of forming the following planning. Data Analysis Method
The data were collected from writing achievement test score, and the result of observing during the teaching and learning process. The data were analyzed by getting the average score of the students’ writing test obtained from the total score of the students’ writing test divided by the number of the students. ( Hadi, 1989).
Reflection of the Action
In this stage, the researcher evaluated the result of action in order to know whether it reaches the criteria of success or not. In this research, the researcher evaluated the implementation of mind mapping in helping the students to improve the writing ability. If the action has reached the criteria of success, the researcher stops the action. But if the criteria of success has not yet reached, the study should be continued to the next cycle by revising and improving the plan first.
RESEARCH FINDINGS Cycle1
Beside process evaluation, the product evaluation was also done at the end of the cycle. The writing test was intended to get the students’ writing achievement after they were taught writing by using Mind Mapping technique.
Students’ Participation in Cycle I
In the first meeting, it was revealed that there were 18 or 47.37 % of 38 students who were not actively involved in the teaching and learning process of writing through mind mapping technique. They tend to talk to their friends while doing the exercise so that they could not finish their work on time. It could be said that they did not give positive responses during the teaching and lerning process of writing through mind mapping technique. Based on the field note that had been done by the researcher, it was found the strengths and weaknesses of the researcher during the action. The strength sof the researcher were making the students interested in the opening stage and also managing the class well. The researcher also had clear voice so that the students could hear very clearly. On the contrary, the researcher’s weaknesses were not able to manage the time. The researcher spent the time in explanation because she found that the students still had difficulties in recount text, they never learnt it before. Meanwhile, 20 or 52.63% of the students had fulfilled the indicators of being active in the class; those were asking question and answering the question, participation in creating Mind Mapping, writing the first drft based on their mind mapping, re-writng the final draft of their writing. They also looked enthusiasm in teaching and learning activity by using mind mapping technique.
The second meeting was done by continuing of the activitiesin the first meeting because the activities could not be done in one meeting. In opening the lesson, the researcher stated the objectives of the lesson. Next, the researcher reviewed the materials that had been explained in the previous meeting. The researcher asked some questions to the students. It was intended to know the students’ comprehension and students’ enthusaism about the materials having been explained. In the first meeting, the students had done their first draft and proofreading their partner’s draft, so in the second meeting, the researcher distributed students’ first draft. She asked the students to see what their did on their first draft. The researcher asked them to recheck whether their own draft was correct or not. Then, the researcher asked them to write the final draft of recount text based on their mind mapping. Finally,all students wrote their final draft based on the feedback from other students.
The classroom observation in the second meeting showed that there were 10 of 38 students or 26.32% who were categorized as passive students. They still talked with their friends while writing the exercise. It made them work very slowly and write out of the mind mapping they had made. Moreover, some students did other assignment such as mathematic and science. It showed that the students did not give positive response in the main stage. There were 28 or 73.68% of the students who had fulfilled the indicators of being active in the class. They were actively involved in the teaching and learning process of writing by using mind mapping technique.
Based on the results of observation in meeting I and meeting 2, it could be conscluded that the percentage of the students’ active participation in cycle I was 63.5%. This fact showed that the students’ active participation had not reached s the target requirement yet, that was at least 75% of the research subjects actively participated in teaching and learning process of writing by using mind mapping technique.
Writing Achievement Test in Cycle I
more. In other words, the action given in the first cycle had not been successful yet.
Considering the result above, it was necessary to conduct the second cycle since the percentage of the students had not fulfilled the target: at least 75% of the students had achieved the target score that was 70 or more. Then, the second cycle was done by revising some actions and lesson plan in the first cycle .
The Result of the Reflection in Cycle I
The first cycle had not been successful yet. The result was necessary to conduct the second cycle by revising the method.
The reflection was done after the result of writing test and the result of observation were known. Based on the observation as process evaluation it was revealed that 63.5% of 38 students were actively participated during the teaching and learning process of writing by using mind mapping technique. The rest of the research subjects (36.5%) were categorized as passive students in joining the lesson. Some students did not pay much attention because they tend to talk to their frinds during the explanation. It made them work slowlyin making a map and writing their first draft. Even some student to proofread their partner’s draft. Based on the observation results bu using field note, it was found some strengths and weaknesses when the researcher implemented the action. The strengths of the researcher could manage the class well. However, the weaknesses of the researcher were not able to the time well that made the researcher could not give conclusion in the first meeting.
Based on result of writing test, it was known that the students’ writing achievement still could not be improved by using mind mapping technique. They wer afraid to make mistake in making mind mapping. They did not write the text based on the generic structure, so the ideas were not well-organized. The results showed that there were only 57.89% or 22 students who achieved the target score of 70 or more. This could be concluded that the students’ writing achievement had not achieved the criteria of success in this research. There were some factors that influenced the result. It was really new for the students to use mind mapping technique in writing. Besides, they were new in learning recount text. They still confused in finding ideas because they were lack of vocabulary. They also found the difficulties in organization; they often put the events in the orientation.
The steps in the cycle 1 consists of conducting to measure the students’ writing achievement after applying the mind-mapping technique in teaching writing. Then, the students were asked to choose one of the topics provided, then made mind-mapping technique based on the topic they had choosen. They wrote recount text consisting sentences based on their mind-mapping.
Cycle 2
The implementation of the actions was based on the Lesson Plan III. It was made based on the revised Lesson plan in cycle I. It was hoped that by revising some aspects in the first cycle, the students could do the exercises given in the cycle 2 better than in the cycle I and could improve their writing achievement by using mind mapping technique. The aspects having been revised were time management. In the cycle I, the students’ activities were making mind mapping, writing their first draft, proofreading their partner’s draft, and making their final draft. All the activities were done in one meeting. In the cycle II, making mind mapping and writing their first draft were done in the first meeting, and proofreading activity and writing their final draft were done in the second meeting. Besides, in cycle I the students did all the activities invidually, in cycle 2 the students made mind mapping in pair. The explanation in the cycle I was done by using English, in the cycle 2, the explanation was done in English then it was translated into Indonesian.
Students’ participation in Cycle 2
researcher’s observation. The instrument that was used to observe the students’ active participation was in the form of checklist, whereas field note was used to observe the researcher.
The students’ active participation in cyle 2 improved. It was proved by the students’ interest in the teaching and learning process of writing through mind mapping technique. Besides, from the observation in the second meeting of the cycle 2, most of the students (28 students or 73.68% of 38 students) actively participated during the lesson by asking some questions related to the researcher’s explanation or answering the researcher’s oral questions, enthusiasm during the teaching and learning process, making mind mapping technique, proofreading their partner’s draft, and writing recount text based on their mind mapping. The rest (10 students or 26.32% of 38 students) were still passive in joining the lesson.
In the fourth meeting of cycle 2, the researcher opened the lesson by distributing their first draft and reviewing recount text. In this meeting, the researcher asked the students to proofread their partner’s work. Then, the researcher explained how to revise the draft and what they should revise. In revising session, the researcher asked the students to circle the errors of the other students’ grammar and vocabulary so that they could recognize their mistakes. Here, the students could give feedback to other students. Beside that, the researcher also gave feedback based on their errors to clarify the feedback from the other students. Having received the feedback from their friend and the researcher, the students were ready to write their final draft in a better form. All students (38 students) wrote their final draft after their draft had been revised and edited.
The observation in the fourth meeting showed that the students’ active participation increased during the lesson. The result showed that there were 30 students or 78.95% who were actively involved in the teaching and learning process of writing through mind mapping technique. The rest (8 students or 21.05% of 38 students) were still categorized as passive students.
Based on the results of observation in meeting 3 and meeting 4, it could be concluded that the percentage of the students’ active participation in cycle 2 was 76.5%. This fact showed that most of the students gave better responses toward mind mapping technique than in cycle I. In other words, the students’ active participation in joining the lesson had reached the target requirement of process evaluation that was at least 75% of the students who actively participated in the teaching and learning process of writing by using mind mapping technique.
Writing Achievement Test in cycle 2
In the writing test, all the students (38 students) joined the test. Based on the Table 4 above, it was found that there were 30 students or 78.95% of 38 students who got score of 70 or more. The rest (8 students or 21.05% of 38 students) got score under 70. It could be concluded that the results had achieved the research objective because there was more than 75% of the research subjects achieved the target score of 70 or more.
The Results of the Reflection in Cycle 2
In the second cycle, the reflection was done after the results of writing test cycle 2 and the result of observation were known. The results of observation in second cycle showed significant improvement of the students’ involvement whether they were active or passive in joining lesson by using mind mapping technique. Most of the students (78.95%) actively participated in the teaching and learning process of writing by using mind mapping technique.
The steps in this cycle consists of distributing their first draft and reviewing recount text.The students were asked to proofread their partner’s work. Then, they were explained how to revise the draft and what they should revise. Later, the students were asked to circle the errors of the other students’ grammar and vocabulary so that they could recognize their mistakes. The students could give feedback to other students.
In conlusion, the result of students’ mean score of recount writing test in cycle 2 increased from 62 to 70. The result of writing test in cycle 2 had fulfilled the percentage targeted that was 75% of the students who got ≥ 70 in cycle 2, there were 78.95% of the students who got score ≥ 70. It was followed by the improvement of the observation result. In cycle I there were 63.5% students who were actively involved in teaching learning process. While in cycle 2, it was about 76.5% students who were actively involved to take part of teaching learning process. Then, the result of observation also had fufilled the percentage targeted that was 75% of the students who actively participated in teaching learning process. It showed that this research had successfully achieved the research criteria. Therefore, the action were stopped because the research was considered it has been successful and achieved the target.
DISCUSSION
Based on the reflection done in cycle, it showed that the students’ writing achievement had incerased from cycle I to cycle 2. Based on the results of observation by using checklist, it could be seen that the students’ active participation in cycle 2 was higher than in cycle I. It inceased from 63.5% in first cycle to 76.5% in the second cycle.The improvement was 13% between cycle I and cycle 2. The improvement of the students’ active participation in cycle I and cycle 2 is shown in the following table:
Table 1. The Improvement of the Students’ Active Participation in Cycle I and Cycle 2 CYCLE I CYCLE 2 students’ active participationThe improvement of the The percentage of the
students’ active participation in cycle I
The percentage of the students’ active participation in cycle 2
13%
63.5% 76.5%
In addition, the result of writing test showed that there was also significant improvement from cycle 1 to cycle 2. In the first cycle, the percentage of the students who got score of 70 or more was only 57.89%, or there were only 22 students who got score of 70 or more. It could be concluded that it had not acgieved the success criteria of the research that was at least 75% of the research subjects who got score of 70 or more.
In the second cycle, it showed that 78.95% of the students got score of 70 or more. In other words, there were 30 of 38 students who got score 70 or more. It showed that the result had achieved the target percentage that was 75%. The improvement was 21.06% between cycle 1 and cycle 2. The improvement of the students’ writing score in cycle 1 and cycle 2 is shown in the table below:
Table 2. The Improvement of the Students’ Writing Score in Cycle I and Cycle 2 CYCLE I CYCLE 2 students’ active participationThe improvement of the The percentage of the
students who got scrore 70 or more in cycle I
The percentage of the students’ who got score 70 or more in cycle 2
21,06%
57.89% 78.95%
in writing recount text. Meanwhile, the weakness was on the aspect of grammar. Some students still got difficulties in creating sentence correctly.
From the explanation above, the use of mind mapping technique could improve the students’ writing achievement. The mind mapping is one of effective technique to generate and organize ideas for writing and help the students achieve higher level of creativity, clearer organization of thoughts, increase concentration and more concise communication. Mind mapping could be used as an alternative technique in teaching writing by the researcher. It was due to the fact that mind mapping technique could improve the students’ writing achievement.
Furthermore, Boss and Vaughn (1991), confirm that semantic mapping or mind mapping is one of the effective techniques that can be used to asses and activate students’ background knowledge related to the key concept. Mind mapping technique could help the students to overcome their problems in writing that dealt with generating and organizing the ideas. Dealing with the previous research that was conducted by Yuliatin (2007), mind mapping gave significant effect on the students’ speaking achievement with the degree of effectiveness 75.33%.
Mind mapping technique as a prewriting technique not only helped the students generate and organize their ideas, but also improved their other aspects of writing susch as grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics. Before the students were asked to write, they should make a mind mapping that consisted of topic, circles, arrows, boxes, and related ideas as supporting details. From here, the students produced as many words possibly increase their vocabulary. Then, they were asked to eliminate and organize the appropriate words related to the topic. It made them improve their vocabulary. In organization, the students should arrange the ideas into a good order to form grammatically correct sentence. It could be stated that the application of mind mapping technique in the teaching and learning process of writing was not only focused on the students’ ability in generating and organizing the ideas, but also could improve their ability in grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics.
Based on the above findings and the previous research finding, it could be concluded that the use of mind mapping technique could help the students improve students’ writing achievement and students’ active participation in writing at SMPN I Kencong jember.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Conclusion
1. Based on the results of writing test after the actions were given in two cycles, it can be concluded that the use of mind mapping technique can improve the eight year students’ writing achievement at SMPN I Kencong. The improvement can be seen from the mean score of the students’ writing test increased from 69,5 in cycle 1 to 72,4 in cycle 2. The percentage of the students’ writing test score in cycle 1 was 57,89% of the total students who got the score ≥ 70. In the second cycle the result increased to 78,95%. Therefore, the targeted criteria, 75% of the students who got the score ≥ 70 was fulfilled. Besides, the result of the observation increased from 63,5% in cycle 1 to 76,5% in cyle 2 of the total students were actively participated in the teaching writing process. Then, the result of observation also had fulfilled the targeted percentage. There was 75% of the students who were actively involved in teaching learning process. From the explanation above, it could be derived that the result of this he research could reach the target to improve the students’ writing achievement through Mind Mapping technique as well as the students’ active participation in joining the teaching and learning process of writing..
Suggestions
Based on the findings, the following suggestions are intended to the following people.
The English Teachers. Based on the result, it is suggested that the English teachers use the mind mapping technique as alternative in teaching writing to improve the students’ writing achievement, increase the quality of teaching reading and make the process of teaching writing run more interesting. The english teacher should ask the students to write the topic in the middle, then let the students to think as many as words related to the topic. Next, the teacher should ask the students to elimanate the inappropriate words. Besides, the English teacher should guide the students in making mind mapping, so when there is a mistake, the English teacher can directly give feedback.
The Students. The students should be more active in joining writing class and suggested to use mind mapping technique to help them in generating and organizing their ideas in prewriting activity. By applying mind mapping technique in their prewriting activities, the students will have an interesting way in creating their first draft which is done by adding as many as they can think related to the topic in some sorts of visual display such as circles, connecting lines, or arrows.
Future Researchers. The future researchers who have the similar problem in teaching writing are encouraged to use this research result as information and a reference for future researchers to conduct further research in the similar area of the study, for example: improving students’ writing achievement of different genre using mind mapping technique. The future researcher can use descriptive or narrative genre.
REFERENCES
Arikunto, Suharsimi. 2006. Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Prakti. Jakarta: PT Asdi Mahasatya Bram, B. 1995.Write Well: Improving Writing Skill. Yogyakarta: Kanisius
Cohen, M. and Riel, M. 1989.The effect of Distance of Students’ Writing.American Education Research Journal
Cooper, J. M. 1999. Classroom Teaching Skill. 6th Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company Hadi, S. 1989. Methodology Research. Yogyakarta: Andi Offset
Hughes, A. 2003.Testing for Language Teachers. 2nd Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
McWhorter, K. 2001. The Writer’s Express: A Paragraph with Essay text with Reading, 3rd Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company
Morrel, J. P. 2002. “Mind Mapping: Basic Rules.”[Online]. http://www.writing-life.com/news/html. [October 2009]
Smith, R. J. and Dale D. J. 1980. Teaching Children to Read.2nd Ed. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
Steele, V. 2004. “Using Mind maps to Develop Writing,” [Online]. http://www. Teachingenglish.org.uk/think/write/mind-map.shtml. [October 2009]
Wingersky, B & Balaqh, H. 1999.Integrating reading, Writing and Grammar Skill:ThirdEdition. Toronto: Wadsworth Publishing Company
