THE EFFECT OF USING FOUR SQUARE WRITING METHOD ON STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT.

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THE EFFECT OF USING FOUR SQUARE WRITING METHOD

ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

A THESIS

Submitted to English Department, Faculty of Language and Arts State University of Medan, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the

Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

By:

RIZKY ATIKA SARI

Registration Number: 2101121038

ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS

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ABSTRACT

Sari, Rizky Atika, 2101121038. The Effect of Using Four Square Writing Method on Students’ Achievement in Writing Descriptive Text. A Thesis. Faculty of Languages and Arts (FBS), State University of Medan (UNIMED). 2015.

This study was focused on the effect of Using Four Square Writing Method on

students’ achievement in writing descriptive text. The objective of this study was

to find out if there was a significant effect of using Four Square Writing Method

on Students’ Achievement in Writing Descriptive text. It was conducted by using experimental research design. The population of this study was the second year students of SMP Negeri 3 Binjai, which consisted of 10 parallel classes. Two classes were taken as the sample of the research. The class VIII-1 was as experimental group and class VIII-2 was as control group. The experimental group was taught by using Four Square Writing Method. While control group was taught by using conventional Method. The instrument for collecting data was writing test. The data were analyzed by using t-test formula. The result shows that the value of t-observed is higher than the value of t-table. (2.230 > 1.669 ( = 0.05)) with the degree of freedom (df) = 68. Based on the data analysis of the study, the result indicates that the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. It means that there is a significant effect of using Four Square Writing Method on

Students’ Achievement in Writing Descriptive Text.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All praise to Allah SWT who always gives me blessing, power, strength and love in my entire life and in terms of my study, especially in completing this thesis entitled “The Effect of Using Four Square Writing Method on Students’

Achievement in Writing Descriptive Text” as one of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan (S1) at English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.

During the process of writing and conducting the research, the writer was assisted and supported by many people. This Thesis could have not been accomplished without guidance, suggestion, and comment from them, for which the writer would like to express her sincere appreciation which directed to:

 Prof. Dr. Ibnu Hajar Damanik, M.Si., the Rector of State University of Medan.

 Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Language and Arts Faculty, Vice Dean I, II, III, and all the administrative staff.

 Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., the Head of English and Literature Department.

 Dra. Meisuri, M.A., the Secretary of English Department and her Academic Consultant.

 Dra. Masitowarni Siregar, M.Ed., the Head of English Education Study Program.

 Prof.Amrin Saragih, M.A.,Ph.D, her Thesis Advisor I

 Neni Afrida Sari, S.Pd, M.Hum, her Thesis Advisor II.

 Dr. I Wayan Dirgeyasa, M.Hum, and Dr. Sri Minda Murni, MS, her Thesis Reviewers.

 All Lecturers of English Education and Literature Department, Mam Euis, the Academic Staff and Administrative Staff.

 Drs. Sofyan, M.Pd the Headmaster of SMP Negeri 3 Binjai and Bu Yenni, the English Teacher of Grade VIII-1 and VIII-2 of SMP Negeri 3 Binjai.

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support. The writer’s special gratitude also goes to her dearest sisters,

Wella Vivi Arifidyati and Dhea Ranti Puspita.

 Her best friends, Dian, Melda, Vivi and Ingrid S.Pd,. Thanks K’Ledi,

K’Bintang S.Pd, Ayu and B’Randy. Thanks to students of English Department, especially ReAction, PPLT SMP NEGERI 1 KUALA 2013, and all people that can not be mentioned one by one for their care, support and prayer.

 Her also special thanks for her beloved one, Pranoto Rizky, for sharing, support, helped and love.

In writing this paper, the researcher realized that this thesis is far from being perfect though the researcher has done her best, so the researcher hopes suggestion for this thesis. Without any helps and support from all parties, this thesis would not be completed. Finally, the researcher expects this thesis would be useful for the readers in future

Medan, Januari 2015 The Researcher

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

2.1 Example of descriptive text ……….………... 19

2.2 Jacob’s Scoring Test for Writing ... 31

2.3 Criteria of Students’ Achievement ………. 33

3.1 The Research Design... 36

3.2 Teaching Procedure of Experimental Group ... 38

3.3 Teaching Procedure of Control Group ………..………. 40

4.1 Score Pre-Test and Post-Test of Control Group ...………. 44

4.2 Score Pre-Test and Post-Test of Experimental Group ... 45

4.3 Testing Normality of Pre- Test in Experimental Group... 47

4.4 Testing Normality of Pre- Test in Experimental Group... 48

4.5 Testing Normality of Pre- Test in Control Group ... 49

4.6 Testing Normality of Post- Test in Control Group ... 50

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Page

APPENDIX A. Lesson Plan Experimental Group………..……….…60

APPENDIX B. Lesson Plan Control Group……….…93

APPENDIX C. Pre-Test and Post-Test for Control Experimental Group.…….122

APPENDIX D. Pre-Test and Post-Test for Control ……….….123

APPENDIX E. The Calculation of t-test in Experimental Group………...124

APPENDIX F. The Calculation of t-test in Control Group….………...126

APPENDIX G. The Calculation of T-Test ...……128

APPENDIX H.. Percentage Points of The T Distribution ...……129

APPENDIX I. The Reliability of the test ... 130

APPENDIX J. Test for Homogeniety of Pre-Test ...132

APPENDIX K. Test fo Homogeniety of Post-Test ...……134

APPENDIX L. Test for Distribution Pretest and Postest Experimental Group..136

APPENDIX M. Test for Distribution Pretest and Postest Control Group ……140

APPENDIX N. Testing Normality of Experimental Group ...……144

APPENDIX O. Testing Normality of Control Group ...……148

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. The Background of the Study

Nowadays English has been taught to the students of kindergarten, primary

school, junior high school, senior high school and university students. The teachi

ng of English to students is intended to master the four language skills, such as list

ening, speaking, reading and writing. Writing is one of important skills besides sp

eaking, listening and reading. There are many definitions of writing but basically,

they have basic element that is a process of transforms the idea into words.

Writing gets a process of putting ideas down on paper to transform thought

s into words, to sharpen main ideas, and to give structure and coherent organizatio

n into its work. Writing look as the evidence our personal experience can be evalu

ated by reading our own writing. Through writing, we can share our knowledge, g

ood idea or thought in written text to ever one to read it. There are many types of

genre of writing such as explanation, spoof, recount, report, news item, narrative,

procedure, description, argumentation, etc.

Teaching writing feels not simply of putting words together to be a sentenc

e, but it also teaches how to apply any components of writing and the sentences th

at have meaning or can be understood by reader. Based on the researcher’s teachin

g experience in an English course for several years, she also finds that her students

face the same obstacles in writing proficiency. When someone wants to write for

a specific purpose, they have to think about who will be their audience and how t

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re, applying various techniques, strategies, or methods in writing is very crucial. T

hose ways will lead the students to feel free to express their ideas and thoughts in

written form. Nevertheless, students practically still have a hard time to establish t

heir ideas that would write into a sentence.

Descriptive writing as a type of text which describes something in details i

n order to enable the reader to see, feel, hear and touch it directly or involved the

mselves in the event. In this case a writer must able to describe an object based on

its specific characterization. The writer of description creates a word picture of pe

ople, place, object, and emotion, using a careful selection of details to make an im

pression on the reader. Students who are going to write this type of text should be

able to express what they see, hear, feel vividly, so the reader can get the same vie

ws as what the writer means.

Because of the problems mentioned above, the writer chooses to conduct t

his study by using Four Square Writing Method. Four Square Writing Method see

ms a method of teaching basic writing skills that is applicable across grade levels

and curriculum areas and can be applied for writing narrative, descriptive, exposit

ory, and persuasive text. The Four Square Writing Method is an organizational too

l to help students to write clear, organized paragraphs and essays, so they will be a

ble to write systematically. Prewriting and organizational skills in Four Square are

taught through the use of a box. The box helps students to conceptualize, understa

nd, and structure a piece of written discourse successfully.

The Four Square Writing Method is able to solve the difficulties in

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discussion group so that students are able to produce a sentence to be a paragraph

(Tijani:2013). It is also appropriate to solve the problem of having no idea of what

to write because these methods coach one another when a partner has difficulty.

The Four Square Writing Method seems able to facilitate students to reduc

e their inability to write. Four Square Writing Method also can manage to provide

an implementation in the ability to write at the level of education is still low (Dew

i:2013). The steps are (1) Categorizing; (2) Brainstorming three ideas with a sum

mary sentence; (3) Placing a thesis statement in the center of the four-square; (4)

Writing three ideas;(5)Adding more details; (6)Writing a wrap-up Sentence; and (

7) Adding transition words. Through these steps, the students will be guided to us

e specific instructions to write and organize their ideas before finally writing the d

raft (Gould: 1999).

Many researchers was conducted in different contexts about teaching writi

ng through Four Square Writing Method have reached the same result. Luban, Lut

ke, Powell, & Wilson (2006) was conducted the classroom action research that sh

owed the significant growth was observed in the students’ writings. The strengths

of this method seem to help the students to organize their thoughts in a logical wa

y and improve the use of adding detail to their writings. However, the students stil

l had difficulties in varied vivid word choice and the concluding sentence.

From the research findings from Luban, et al., the research will be

conducted by using an experimental research to discover the effectiveness of

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descriptive text in Elementary school of Allendale Public Schools. It is expected

that the problems Luban, found during their research will be covered in this study.

In the end of the study, the students will be able to organize their ideas

systematically, add detail to their writings, use various vivid word choices and

write concluding sentence well by using Four Square Writing Method while

writing a descriptive text.

Dewi (2013) also conducted a study for the eleventh grade of MAN

Keboan Jombang. It was found that Four Square Writing Method have been

facilitated the students to overcome their difficulties in writing, supported by the improvement of the students’ writing performance after the implementation of the

Four Square Writing Method.

In research for teachers of older secondary level and adult ESL students in

SMA PLUS PGRI CIBINONG that has been conducted by Juitania, Pujiati, and

Suryanti (2013) using Four Square Writing Method has a positive effect on students’ writing skill to write a text. The Four Square Writing Method has been

successfully enough implemented as an interesting method to teach writing.

Through Four Square Writing Method the students feel fun and their can more

attractive because before start to write, the teacher gave brainstorming to lead

their mind to the topic which wanted to learn.

Teaching writing is categorized more difficult than teaching on other skill.

This is cause by limited grammatical, limited vocabulary and background

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teacher when teaching. Because of that, to minimize those problems, the writer

purposes Four Square Writing Method to be used in the class.

Four Square Writing Method is a suitable method for writing descriptive

text in Junior High School level. Students can write a descriptive text easily

through this method cause this method consist of 4 squares that will be filled by

the topic sentence and students can develop the topic sentence in the square that

has been available. So the students are more interested in writing a descriptive text

in a way that is more fun.

B. The Problem of the Study

Based on the background research of this study, the problem of this study i

s formulated as follows:

“Is there any significant effect of using the Four Square Writing Method o

n students’ achievement in writing descriptive text?”

C. The Objective of the Study

Based on the question formulated in the problem of this study, the objectiv

e of the study is to find out the significant effect of using Four Square Writing Me thod on students’ achievement in writing descriptive text.

D. The Scope of the Study

There are several kinds of writing genre taught in Junior High School, i.e.

descriptive, recount, procedure, report and narrative. This research is only focused

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ucted in many ways. To teach writing achievement successfully to the students, th

e teacher can use many methods of writing, i.e. number head together, round robin

writing, round table, clustering and etc. This research only focused on the applica

tion of using Four Square Writing Method in writing descriptive text to Grade VII

I SMP Negeri 3 Binjai.

E. The Significance of the Study

The findings of the study are expected to bring up useful, such as:

1. For teachers: indeed to improve their ability in teaching writing by paying

more attention to the method of teaching writing.

2. For students: the results can be used to encourage and stimulate them in

improving their writing achievement.

3. For readers: the result can give knowledge, data and information of writing

by using four square writing method.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions

After analyzing the data, it was concluded that there is a significant effect

of teaching by Four Square Writing Method on students’ achievement in writing

descriptive text. Teaching writing by using Four Square Writing Method gives

better result than using Conventional Method. The conclusion can be drawn as

follows:

1. The total scores of experimental group in pre-test (X1) = 1987 and the total scores of experimental group in post-test (X2) = 2633. It means the

score of experimental group is increased 646 point. The total scores of control group in pre-test (Y1) = 1894 and the total scores of control

group in post-test (Y2) = 2388. It means the score of control group is

increased 494 point.

2. From the data statistically that the result of calculation of test that

t-observed value 2.230 is higher than t-table value 1669 at the level of

significant of 0.05, which implies that the alternative Hypothesis (Ha) is

accepted.

Therefore, it can be concluded that teaching writing descriptive text by

using Four Square Writing Method has more significant effect than teaching

writing by using Conventional Method.

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B. Suggestions

Based on the conclusion above, the researcher gives suggestion as

following:

1. English teachers using Four Square Writing Method in their teaching

learning process so that they can improve their students’ achievement in

writing descriptive text because this method is designed to let students

sharing their ideas to write in good text. So it is expected for the

students to write a text especially descriptive well.

2. Teaching by using Four Square Writing Method is difficult for students

who have no any interest in writing. That is why teacher should

stimulate and motivate students to suppose the activity of writing as a

pleasure.

3. The readers who are interested in further study related to this research

should explore the knowledge to enlarge their understanding about how

to improve students’ achievement in writing and search another

THE EFFECT OF USING FOUR SQUARE WRITING METHOD ON STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT.