UIN SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree
Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) in Teaching English
By:
Mimid Anggi Apriliya
NIM D75211070
ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING
SUNAN AMPEL STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
SURABAYA
THE STUDENTS’ ABILITY OF BUILDING COHERENCE
AND UNITY IN ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING
AT ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF
UIN SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree
Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) in Teaching English
By:
Mimid Anggi Apriliya
NIM D75211070
ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING
SUNAN AMPEL STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
SURABAYA
ABSTRACT
Apriliya, Mimid Anggi. (2016). Students’ ability of building coherence and unity in argumentative writing at English education department of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya. English Department, Faculty of Education and Training, State Islamic University Sunan Ampel Surabaya. Advisor: (I) Prof. Arief Furchan, MA., Ph.D. (II) Auliya Ridwan, M.Pd.I., MS.
Key words: Ability, argumentative writing, coherence, unity
Argumentative writing is a great topic in learning and becoming a priority for some reasons. However, building a good writing is not simple enough. Still, many students face the difficulties in organizing ideas and connecting the sentences when build paragraph or essay. This research was focused on analyzing the students’ ability of building unity and coherence in argumentative writing. Based on the purpose, the researcher intents to answer the research question: how is the students’ ability of building unity and coherence in argumentative writing at English education department of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya. The subject of this research was the students of argumentative writing class at fourth semester of English education department. In descriptive quantitative method, the researcher collected the data from students’ writing task of composing argumentative essay. There were 51 students’ samples taken from five classes that had been analyzed in this research.
Surabaya. Prodi pendidikan bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Ilmu Tarbiyah dan Keguruan, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya. Pembimbing: (I) Prof. Arief Furchan, MA., Ph.D. (II) Auliya Ridwan, M.Pd.I., MS.
Kata kunci: ability, argumentative writing, coherence, unity
Teks argumentasi merupakan topik yang besar dalam pembelajaran dan menjadi prioritas dalam beberapa hal. Namun, membangun tulisan yang bagus ialah hal yang tidak cukup mudah. Masih banyak mahasiswa yang menghadapi kesulitan dalam mengorganisir ide-ide dan menghubungkan kalimat ketika membangun paragraf atau essai. Penelitian ini fokus pada analisa kemampuan mahasiswa dalam membangun coherence (keeratan) dan unity (kesatuan) pada teks argumentatif. Berdasarkan tujuannya, penulis bermaksud untuk menjawab rumusan masalah: bagaimana kemampuan mahasiswa dalam membangun coherence (keeratan) dan unity (kesatuan) pada teks argumentasi di prodi pendidikan bahasa Inggris UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya. Subjek dari studi ini ialah mahasiswa dari kelas argumentasi semester empat, prodi pendidikan bahasa Inggris. Pada metode deskriptif kuantitatif, penulis mengumpulkan data dari tugas menulis mahasiswa dalam membangun teks argumentasi. Terdiri dari 51 sampel mahasiswa yang diperoleh dari lima kelas yang telah dianalisa dalam studi ini.
LIST OF CONTENT
TITLE ...ii
ADVISOR APPROVAL SHEET ...iii
EXAMINER APPROVAL SHEET ...iv
PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN TULISAN ...v
DEDICATION SHEET...vi
MOTTO ...vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...viii
ABSTRACT ...x
LIST OF CONTENT ...xi
LIST OF TABLES……….xiii
LIST OF CHART AND FIGURES…...……….xiv
LIST OF APPENDIXES ...xv
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Background of the research ...1
B. Research Question ...7
C. Objective of the research ...8
D. Scope and limitation of the research...8
E. Significance of the research ...9
F. Definition of key terms ...9
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Related Literature ...11
1. The nature of writing ...11
B. Previous research ...21
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHOD A. Research design ...23
B. Research Subject...24
C. Data collection technique...26
D. Research instrument...26
E. Data analysis technique ...31
CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION A. Presentation of data...33
B. Research finding ...36
1. Students ability of building coherence...36
2. Students ability of building unity...50
C. Discussion ...63
1. Students ability of building coherence ...63
2. Students ability of building unity...65
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION A. Summary of study ...67
B. Conclusion ...68
C. Suggestion ...69
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on the background of the study, and highlights on the
statement of problem. This chapter also states the objective of the study. Based on the
statement of problem, the researcher identifies the research question. This chapter
also discusses the research scope and limitation of the study as well as the
significance of the study conducted. The final part of this chapter discusses some key
terms which are related with the study.
A. Background
Writing skill is more and more important nowadays. Becoming a
proficient writer is a major objective for many students such as those who want
to become members of international business, administrative or academic
communities.1 Most business professionals need excellent writing skills to
properly convey ideas and concepts. For instance, when the bosses write emails
to employees, those written messages should be concise and self-explanatory, it
makes the workers can be productive and not waste time asking for further
instructions. Additionally, a company’s advertising materials have to be written
effectively in order to get the costumer’s attention and get them to read the
company’s offers. Secondly, an administrative assistant needs skills in standard
written English and in business English. She or he will assist with typing and
formatting her/his boss' presentations, reports, newsletters, website content and
other administrative publications. Lastly, academic community needs academic
writing skill to communicate the ideas and information effectively. Academic
writing must be objective, can express ideas precisely and have the right level of
formality. For example, organization should be able to write a letter, memos,
reports, or composing proposal for some purposes. Those are obvious that
writing skills are very needed at these days. Therefore, the students are insisted to
have ability and proficiency in written language.
Writing has significant purpose as the main tool for learning.
Encouraging critical thinking and exploring thoughts are the valuable one.
Writing is to encourage active thinking and learning. Writing exercises have a
place in every university classroom. Student will write assignment that may be
one paragraph or several paragraphs, or they will answers for test and exams that
may be a few sentences, a paragraph or two, or a complete essay. This clearly
illustrates how writing can build the critical thinking. Furthermore, exploring
ideas throughwriting becomes a great way in learning. Writing tasks are a must
for every student in college, even in composing thesis writing as the final project.
Some kinds of writing such as analytical writing or descriptive writing need lots
3
are demanded to come out their ideas, argumentation, and premise or opinion. As
a result, writing becomes main device to takes essential function in learning.
Academic writing such argumentative, hortatory or single paragraph
writing is a major challenge for students of English education department. They
should have lots of vocabulary, much information, and logic writing. To begin
with, student needs an essential tool to build good writing. When they have a
writing assignment, a good vocabulary is a necessary tool. Students will be able
to choose the best word among the several synonyms with similar meaning. It
makes the readers find a good sense of the writer’s meaning. Indeed, use strong
vocabulary will give the reader good information. Secondly, writing is a kind of
productive skill. Writers should have much information to pour out the ideas.
Any writing assignment requires writers to gather information. They need to do
some readings to develop their thinking, and then hone the ideas through their
writing. Lastly, building a logic and structure writing is also the main challenge.
Writers should focus through their ideas and be able to translate these ideas into
readable text for their intended readers. For example, when writers want to
convey their purpose in English, they rely heavily on a translation dictionary.
However it is not always accurate because they usually translate a sentence
word-for-word without considering the meaning of the whole sentence. Writing
should make sense through transitions, signal phrases, and verbs. Hence, students
Argumentative writing is a great topic in learning and becoming a priority
for some reasons. First of all, evidence and clear analysis becomes a focus of
argument. A well-written argumentative essay has quality evidence and a clear
thesis that is supported by each subsequent paragraph. Even, students need to
comprehend the logical process of gathering evidence, and then linking evidence
to their argument. Furthermore, Argumentative writing prepares students for the
real world beyond the school walls. Argument is important in all disciplines. It is
the main skill to our success as citizens, students and workers. It can help the
students to evaluate products and services for themselves.
The certain structures of argumentative essay include of three formats;
introduction, background information, and body paragraph. In the first place,
introduction should be interesting enough to catch the readers to read more.
Argumentative essays can start with facts, statistics, or quotes that reference the
topic of the essay. Then, an introduction must consist a thesis statement. It
explains the writer’s proves, and also provides an overview of the arguments into
body paragraph. Next, a background paragraph is not always required in an
argumentative essay. However it may be essential in writing since the
information can make the readers be aware to understand the writer’s topic. Last,
body paragraphs have significant function to prove the author’s argument of the
thesis statement. The body paragraphs should start with a topic sentence written
in own words of the writer. Hence, critical thinking is needed to explain the
5
or idea is, it will not work if the students cannot logically outline their research
and make a coherent analysis.
The students of fourth semester of English education department have
argumentative writing course. In this study, the researcher analyzes coherence
and unity of argumentative essay. In the first place, the students have
experienced in some lectures in the previous. They have learned in paragraph
writing and essay writing courses. That is a good provision to persist in
producing a good writing of argumentative essay. However, building a good
writing is not simple enough. Still, many students face the difficulties in
organizing ideas and connecting the sentences when build paragraph. In other
words, their writing is lack of coherence and unity.
In composing a good writing, coherence and unity play a crucial role.
Accoding to Oshima’s and Hague’s, a paragraph is a basic unit of organization in
writing in which a group of related sentences develops one main idea.2 The
paragraph should be long enough to develop the main idea clearly. It is supported
by Bram’s theory; he said the word ‘unity’ is synonymous with ‘oneness’.3 All
sentences in a paragraph should focus on the one thing expressed in the topic
sentence. The problem stated in the sentences has to be settled. Unity can be
achieved as long as the paragraph has good and clear topic sentence. Even,
Artkinson and Curtis cited in Paltridge and Starfield4 that composing an academic
2
Oshima, Alice and Hogue Ann. Academic Writing Skill : the Third Edition. (New York: Longman 1999). p. 17
writing is more than just getting ideas down on paper and being sure that they are in
good English, but it is a fundamental ways in explaining our thoughts to develop our
understanding.
An essay and a paragraph should have good relation to the thesis statement
and topic sentence. All the sentences should flow smoothly from one to another
and the relations between ideas are clear. Coherent writing informs that the
relevant supporting ideas explain previous statements. Despite that, some
writings have not clear meaning or difficult to be understood. One instance that
shows how the paragraph may confusing to be understood is when the students
discuss more than one topic in a single paragraph; also they cannot use the
appropriate pronouns or transition signals in the paragraph. It is because the
paragraph writing does not have unity, and the supporting details do not support
the topic anymore, and it is caused of inappropriate words in connecting the
sentences in the paragraph. Consequently, the condition automatically made the
readers confused with the paragraph and they will not get the information from
the paragraph.
The previous study titled Students’ Problems with Cohesion and Coherence in EFL Essay Writing in Egypt: Different Perspectives by Abdel Hamid Ahmed, Helwan Faculty of Education, Egypt. The study focuses on the
organizational problems that Egyptian student teachers of English encounter
7
when they write an English essay. In particular, the study aims at investigating
students’ cohesion and coherence problems in EFL essay writing. The second
research was conducted by Yulia Fitri Astuti titled The Analysis of Coherence In The Background of Skripsi Written by English Education Department Students of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Muria Kudus University. This research was to analyze the coherence in the background section of skripsi
written by English Education Department students of Teacher Training and
Education Faculty of Muria Kudus University 2010.
Some studies have been conducted to analyze about the essay or
paragraph, however the difficulties of making a good writing cannot be just
disregarded. Writing is a skill that cannot be said “simple”. The author needs to
unite the main skills they have, including grammar, vocabulary, and structure
paragraph. One of the significance problems is focusing on analyzing the
coherence and unity of a paragraph.
B. Statement of the Problem
This study attempts to find answer to the research question: How is the
students’ ability of building coherence and unity in argumentative writing at
English department of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya?
Considering the statements of the problem questioned on this study, this
study is intended to observe whether the students’ ability in writing an
argumentative essay has good quality. In order to explain the case, it is necessary
to know the students’ ability of building coherence and unity in argumentative
writing at English department of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya.
D. Scope and Limitations
Writing is one of the most difficult skills to master in both the first
language and second language.5 Furthermore, writing a paragraph cannot be
separated by the certainty of its own characteristic, one of them is coherence and
unity. Then, the scope of this research will focus on the coherence and unity essay
analysis.
This research limits to the students of argumentative writing course at
fourth semester in UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya’s English Teacher Education
Department because they have experienced in writing paragraph course and
writing essay course in the previous semesters.
E. Significances of the Study
9
This study is expected to give insight that coherence and unity is the
crucial requirement in writing an argumentative essay. It is also expected to be
useful for:
1. Lecturer: it can inform the lecturer about the ability of fourth semester
students in building coherence and unity writing of argumentative essay.
2. Students: it can inform students about their ability in building coherence
and unity writing of argumentative essay. In addition, it can inform them
the characteristics of good essay, so that they can improve their ability in
writing.
3. Readers: it can give information about fourth semester students’ ability in
building coherence and unity writing of argumentative essay and inform
the importance of building coherence and unity.
F. Definition of Key Terms
1. Ability is the quality of being able to do something, especially the physical, mental, financial, or legal power to accomplish something.6 In this research,
the students need to be able to build coherence and unity well in writing
argumentative essay.
2. Argumentative essay is a genre of writing that requires the student to investigate a topic; collect, generate, and evaluate evidence; and establish a
position on the topic in a concise manner.7 The researcher chooses the essay
by fourth semester of English education department that had a task of writing
an academic writing, which is argumentative writing. It contains certain
structure; they are introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
3. Coherence essay is the combination of semantic configurations of two different kinds: register and cohesion.8 Coherence in this case means that
each paragraph and sentences connects together. They must be tied to the one
before and after it.
4. Unity in essay involves two related but distinct concepts: coherence and flow.9
Unity means developing one single main idea. The students’ writing should
be able to compose clear ideas and give logical evidence. A paragraph and
essay should discuss only one topic.
7https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/05/ retrieved on June 20, 2015
8 Halliday, M., & Hasan, R. Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a social semiotic
perspective. (Deakin: Deakin University, 1985), p.29
11
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. RELATED LITERATURE
1. The Nature of Writing
Paragraph is a form of writing result that is composed by the writers
when they write something. It is a group of sentences that work together to
develop the topic sentence. A writer should know the important or essentials
elements of paragraph in order to make or produce a good paragraph in their
writings. When the writers start to write, their drafts are definitely arranged in
a paragraph or passage. A good writer spends more time planning and
revising their work that novice writers, and tend to edit their writing for
content and organization rather than simply making surface changes to the
text.1
2. Paragraph Writing
In academic writing, a paragraph has a topic sentence that directly
tells the reader the main idea. The other sentence in the paragraph, called
supporting sentence, give more information about the topic.2 Then, they state
there are three major structural parts in paragraph. The first is topic sentence.
This part contains with a problem or issue that will be discussed in the
paragraph. Next, the second part is supporting sentences or body. It is used to
develop and support the topic sentence. Usually, supporting sentences contain
with reasons, facts, examples or statistics in explaining the topic. The last part
is concluding sentencewhich gives the sign to the readers about the end of the
paragraph.
a. Topic Sentence
Every good paragraph has a topic sentence, which clearly states the
topic and the controlling idea of the paragraph. Topic sentence tells the
main idea of paragraph. It briefly indicates what the paragraph is going to
discuss. For this reason, the topic sentence is a helpful guide to both the
writer and the reader. The writer can see what information to include (and
what information to exclude). The reader can see what the paragraph is
going to be about and is therefore better prepared to understand it. A good
topic sentence should include one clear topic and an opinion or idea about
the topic.3
The topic is the foundation for the paragraph. It can be at the
beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the paragraph.4 The topic
sentence helps the reader understand what the paragraph is about. All of
3 Dorothy E Zemach & Carlos Islam, Paragraph Writing, (Oxford: MacMillan, 2005) p. 14
4 Keith S, April M, Elena V.S, Great Writing 2: Great paragraph (Third Paragraph), (United State:
13
the sentences in a paragraph are about one topic. They are connected to
one sentence. There are no unrelated or extra sentences.
Writers should choose a topic they want to write. This list below an
example of ideas in chooses a topic and makes the topic sentence.
Table: 2.1
A good topic sentence examples
Topic Topic Sentence
Food The easiest food to prepare is …
The best meal I ever had was …
Color Each color in my country’s flag represents something special.
Colors can affect the way you feel.
Sports __________ is an excellent _______ (name a sport) player.
The rule for _________ (name a sport) are not (easy/difficult)
People ______ has taught me many things about life.
A good topic sentence should guide the whole paragraph. It is not a
general fact that everyone can accepts as true, and be specific but not too
specific. A good topic sentence has controlling ideas –words or phrases
that help guide the flow of ideas in the paragraph.
b. Supporting Sentences
Supporting sentences explain or prove the topic sentence. One of a
biggest problem in student writing is that student writers often fail to
support their ideas adequately. They need to use specific details to be
thorough and convincing. Lopez and Dequilla define that a paragraph has
unity when every sentences in the paragraph works toward developing a
single idea.5 Supporting ideas develop the paragraph by adding more
information.6 In other words, if the paragraph connects the sentences each
other to discuss only one topic, it will create and appear the unity naturally
in the paragraph. So, the writers should make the appropriate supporting
details to support the topic sentence in order to appear and get the unity in
the paragraph.
5 Lopez, Merna G.Rico & Dequilla, Ma. Asuncion Christine. Learning to Write: Worktext in Writing
for grade Six. (1st Edition). (Philippine: Rex Printing Company, 2000). p. 54
15
Supporting sentences develop the topic sentence. That is, they
explain or prove the topic sentence by giving more information about it.
Good supporting sentence are related to the topic sentence and its
controlling ideas. Supporting sentences are like the interior walls of a
house. If a house does not have interior support, it will collapse. Likewise,
if a paragraph does not have good supporting sentences, its meaning will
collapse, and readers will not be able to follow the ideas. The paragraph
may be confusing or illogical. Good supporting sentence give information
that supports and explains the topic of the paragraph. They answer
questions –who? what? where? when? why? and how? and give details.
Good writers think of these questions when they provide support- that is,
write supporting sentences– for the topic sentence.
c. Concluding Sentence
A paragraph does not always need a concluding sentence. For single
paragraphs, especially long ones, a concluding sentence is helpful to the
reader because it is a reminder of the important points. However, a
concluding sentence is not needed for every paragraph in a multi
paragraph essay. A good concluding sentence signals the end of the
paragraph and summarizes the important points briefly or restates the
3. Structure of an Essay
The creation of a professional essay requires a lot of knowledge form
the writer, but the first thing to know and to remember is the peculiarity of the
essay’s structure. Each and every essay is written according to a basic
structure that does not change: introduction and the body followed by a
conclusion. The structure is the core of each paper that helps the writer to
make a very well founded written construct. In order to compose an essay
accurately the way it should be it is necessary to keep in mind the main hints
concerning the contents of the essay structure elements.
Table: 2.2
1. Give brief background to the topic
2. Address definition of key words and issues
3. State your thesis
4. Outline your main points
5. Delineate your argument showing what your stance is and
how you will develop your ideas, and
6. Provide transition into body paragraphs.
Body
paragraphs
1. Provide a topic sentence which says what the main point
of each paragraph is
2. Provide supporting details for your topic sentence (based
on your research)
3. Synthesize what you have read; that is, show what
17
4. Coherence and Unity in Writing
In composing a good paragraph, coherence and unity are two main
parts that should be there inside it. Unity means the paragraph has one topic to
be discussed and then it is developed by good supporting details. It means that
unity in a paragraph will be showed when the paragraph only talks about one
single idea. Coherence means all of the sentences are connected each other in
the paragraph. They are connected by the writers by using some parts of it,
like transition signal, pronouns or repetition of key nouns.
a. Coherence in Writing
Lepionka states that coherence is the quality of sequence and
integrity or togetherness. It determines that the sentences connect in a
logical order and they work together to develop the main idea is the
paragraph.8 Thus, the researcher concludes that coherence is a logical
8 Lepionka, Mary Ellen. Writing and Developing Your College Textbook: A Comprehension Guide to
4. Show some critical thinking; that is, tell the readers what
you think of what you have read
5. Present some counterarguments, if you think they are
strong ones, and
6. Provide in-text citations for your information.
Conclusion 1. Recap your main points 2. Reiterate your thesis, and
arrangement of the sentences in making a paragraph. The sentences must
be connected each other to build the coherence in the paragraph. Each
sentence should flow smoothly into the next one.9
It shows that the connection of the sentences in a paragraph should
be connected logically in order to avoid the jumping of ideas. A good
transition words or conjunctions should support between one sentence
and the next. So, the coherence of the paragraph can be achieved.
Meanwhile, coherence is to bring several related ideas together around a
central theme and in an organized manner.10 It means that a coherence in
a paragraph or text only develop the topic by connecting the sentences
each other. The writers should make the idea related to the topic by
making relations in the sentences logically in the paragraph. So, the
coherence can be achieved in the paragraph or text.
1) Transition
Transitions are phrases or words used to connect one idea to
the next. They are used by the authors to help the reader progress
from one significant idea to the next. Transitions also show the
relationship within a paragraph (or within a sentence) between the
main idea and the support the author gives for those ideas. Transitions
Textbook Authorship and Higher Education Publishing. (2nd Edition). (New York: Atlantic Path Publishing, 2008) p.118
9 Oshima, Alice & Hogue, Ann. Writing Academic English. (2nd Edition). (New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1991). p.39
19
show the relationship within a paragraph (or within a sentence)
between the main idea and the support the author gives for those
ideas.11 Transitions may be additive, adversative, causal, or
sequential. Here are the types of transition signals.
Table 2.3
Transition signal for general use
TRANSITION SIGNAL FOR GENERAL USE
To Show Addition and, also, besides, further, furthermore, in
addition, moreover, next, too, first, second
To Give Examples for example, for instance, to illustrate, in fact,
specifically
To Compare also, in the same manner, similarly, likewise
To Contrast but, however, on the other hand, in contrast,
nevertheless, still, even though, on the contrary,
yet, although
To Summarize Or
Conclude
in other words, in short, in summary, in
conclusion, to sum up, that is, therefore
To Show Time after, as, before, next, during, later, finally,
meanwhile, then, when, while, immediately
To Show Place Or
Direction
above, below, beyond, farther on, nearby,
opposite, close, to the left
To Indicate Logical
Relationship
if, so, therefore, consequently, thus, as a result,
for this reason, since
b. Unity in Writing
Shewan et al, explains that all elements of a paragraph must be
relevant to the central thought if unity is to be achieved.12 They point out
that to make a paragraph unity; the writers definitely should think one
central idea or topic. Then, the supporting sentences of the paragraph
should support the topic sentence directly.
There is no another topic to think if the idea have been decided or
discussed. They should arrange it well in order to create the paragraph
unity by adding the appropriate supporting sentences. Besides
maintaining the unity in the text, the writers also should pay attention
about how to build the coherence. It is important because a good
paragraph must have good connection between the sentences and
naturally it can appear the unity at the end.
Unity means that writers discuss only one main (central) topic area
in a paragraph. The area that writer is going to cover is usually
introduced in the topic sentence, and the supporting sentences should only
be used to develop that. According to Oshima and Hogue, every good
paragraph has unity, which means that in each paragraph; only one main
topic is discussed.13
12 Shewan et al. Applications of Grammar, Book 4: Analysis for Communicating Effectively. (New York: Christian Liberty Press, 2003). p. 21
Addison-21
For the topic sentence, writer could discuss only two benefits of
studying abroad. It could not discuss three benefits, or start discussing the
disadvantages of studying abroad. If writer did it, the paragraph would not
have unity. Even if there is no specific topic sentence (more advanced writers
do not always have an obvious topic sentence), the paragraph should still have
one central topic area so it retains unity. You achieve unity by discussing only
one idea in a paragraph and always staying on the topic in your supporting
sentences.
B. PREVIOUS STUDIES
1. Students’ Problems with Cohesion and Coherence in EFL Essay Writing in
Egypt: Different Perspectives
This study was conducted by Abdel Hamid Ahmed, Helwan Faculty of
Education, Egypt. Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal
(LICEJ), Volume 1, Issue 4, December 2010. The study focuses on the
organizational problems that Egyptian student teachers of English encounter
when they write an English essay. In particular, the study aims at investigating
students’ cohesion and coherence problems in EFL essay writing.
2. The Analysis of Coherence In The Background of Skripsi Written by English
Education Department Students of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of
Muria Kudus University
This research was done by Yulia Fitri Astuti, Fitri Budi Suryani, Diah
Kurniati (ISSN: 1979-6889). This research is conducted to analyze the
coherence in the background section of skripsi written by English Education
Department students of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Muria
Kudus University 2010. The purpose of this research is to find out the
coherence in the background section of skripsi. This research design belongs
to qualitative that is discourse analysis. It can be concluded that all of the
backgrounds of skripsi lack coherence.
3. Improving Coherence in Paragraph Writing Among ESL Learners: A Case
Study
This thesis has been finished by Malini Karuppiah - Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia April 2008. This study sets out to examine the problems
faced by ESL learners of the Faculty of Education, UTM in relation to
coherence in writing. The objectives of this study are to assess the coherence
of ESL learners’ writing as well as to present ideas and suggestions to help
23
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH
▼ ✁ ✂✄ ☎✄ ✆✄ ✝ ✞Research method is a way collected by the writer to answer a research
question. In this chapter, the researcher will present in details the method of the research used in this study. It is divided into several sub chapters. They are research
design, research subject, data collection technique, instrument of the research, and
data analysis technique.
A. ❘✟✠ ✟✡ ☛☞✌❉✟✠ ✍✎✏
Research design is the plan of the research that will be conducted.1 In this
research, the researcher used descriptive research. According to Burns and Grove,
descriptive research is designed to provide a picture of a situation as it naturally
happens. The researcher argued that this research was categorized as descriptive
research because it described and analyzed the elements of coherence and unity
that were arranged by the students when they wrote or composed paragraph.
In conducting the research, the writer uses quantitative approach.
◗✑ ✒✓✔✕✔ ✒✔✕✖ ✗ data is a numerical record that results from a process of measurement
and on which basic mathematical operations can be done.2Therefore, in this study
1 Suharismi Arikunto, Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktek
✭✘✙✚ ✙✛✜ ✙✢ PT. Rineka Cipta,
2006), p. 51
2 Mark Balvaves and Peter Caputi,
✣✤ ✥✦✧ ★✧ ✥✧★ ✩✪ ✫✬ ✦✧ ✮✯ ✰✤ ✱✧ ★ ✯ ✦ to ✣✤✥✦✧★ ✧ ✥✧ ★ ✩✪ ✲ ✪✳✪ ✥✮ ✱✴ ✵✪✧ ✴✯ ✰✶✷
the author analyzes two of features of argumentative paragraph written by the
students.
Considering the purpose of the research and the nature of the problem, the
writer attempts to gather the data from the students’ task. The students’ quality of
writing in the Final-test becomes one important attention in this study.
B. Research Subject
Sample is a portion of population. Accessible population is the population of
subjects accessible to the researcher for drawing a sample. There are three steps of
sampling, they are: population, accessible population, and sample.
1. Population
Population is a group of object that will be the target of the research.3
In this research, the population is the students of argumentative writing class
at fourth semester of English teaching and education department (ETED) of
UIN SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA Academic year 2014-2015 and they
divided into 5 classes, they were A, B, C, D, and E class. Each class had about
20 students and the total number of the students is 100 students.
2. Accessible population
3 Bungin Burhan, Metodologi Penelitian Kuantitatif, (Jakarta: Kencana Prenada Group,
25
The accessible population of this research is the students of UIN
Sunan Ampel Surabaya. This university is located in Jl. Ahmad Yani No. 117,
Surabaya, and East Java.
3. Sample
Arikunto states that the data resource is the subject from which the
data can be found.4 Sample is group of people that will be respondent.5 For
the sample, the researcher took two techniques of sampling because this
research needed it to finish and complete the research. The first is stratified
sampling. Stratified random sampling involves dividing the population into
mutually exclusive and mutually exhaustive subgroups, then taking a simple
random sample in each subgroup.6 It is used to take the sum of sample that
would be analyzed of the research. In this case, the researcher will take the
samples ✽✾ ✿ of each class of argumentative writing. Then, purposive
sampling is used after the researcher analyzed the product of writing. It will
show how many writing results of students that had been analyzed as
representation of the data analysis.
C. Data Collection Technique
4 Suharsimi Arikunto, Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktik,
❀❁❂❃ ❂❄❅ ❂❆ Rineka Cipta, 2006),
6th Ed., p. 129.
5 Sugiyono, Metode penelitian kuantitatif kualitatif
❇ ❈❊, (Bandung: Alfabeta, 2010), p. ❋● 6 Singh, Kultar,
Data collection has function to gather the information used by
researcher. The emphasis in data collection is to develop research evidence
analytically, searching for a broad arrangement of evidence which search both
confirming and disconfirming data.
The first data is gained from Final-test of argumentative writing class,
where in this test, students are asked by their lecturer to make a good essay that
consists of some paragraphs.
The researcher will gather the students’ task of write an argumentative essay
from 5 (five) classes that have explained above. She will investigate the essay
considered by the coherence and unity analysis. Hence, the researcher has
documentation from students of argumentative paragraph writing class, since
documentation is a technique of data collection by gathering and analyzing
documents.7
D. Instrument of the Research
To get the empirical data and draw the conclusion or the result of research,
the writer will use some instruments. Instrument here is a tool to measure which
potentially make the researcher easier in collecting data and analysis.
1. Writing ❵❛ ❜ ❝
27
The instrument of this research is writing task from Final-test held by
the lecturers. It referrers to one of the components of performance assessment,
that is performance task. It shows that this task find out the ability of the
students in composing every single paragraph or connecting the sentence to
other become a paragraph. According to Brown, the writing task that was
given to the students was a writing based on the topic development within a
paragraph.8 It is a task where there is only a topic sentence of paragraph that
was given to the students. Here, the students are asked to compose supporting
details in order to complete paragraph.
2. Rubric
Coherence is about between the one sentence and the next should be
supported by good transition words or conjunctions. Unity is every sentence
in the paragraph works toward developing a single idea. In other words, if the
paragraph connects the sentences each other to discuss only one topic, it will
create and appear the unity naturally in the paragraph.
Table 3.1
Argumentative Essay ❞❡ ❢❣ ❤✐❥ ❦ Coherence
Categories of
Performance Advance (4) Intermediate (3) Basic (2) Beginner (1)
29
Performance Advance (4) Intermediate (3) Basic (2) Beginner (1)
(related to the
organization. In applying ❷❸ ❹❺ ❻❼ to essay writing, it is important to be more
specific about the kind of smooth movement and clear connections the writer
31
E. Data Analysis Technique
Data analysis is the process of systematically searching and compiling the
data obtained from interviews, field notes, and other materials, so it can be
understood easily, and its findings can inform others.9 After collecting the data,
the next step was analyzing the data. The researcher used the data analysis from
Gay and Airasian who claimed that the analysis of descriptive research data
required four iterative steps: reading, describing, classifying and interpreting.10
1. ❽❾❿➀➁➂❾➃ ➄ Competence
In analyzing students’ individual competence, the author went to use the
formula:
P ➅ F ×➆ ➈ ➈➉
N
P = the percentage of the correct point.
F = the frequency of the correct point.
N = total number of item.
The table was used in measuring the students individual ability is as follows:
Students F N ➊➋ Category
According to Arikunto, students’ competence can be recognized into: 11
9 Sugiyono, Metode Penelitian Pendidikan, (Bandung: Alfabeta, 2011), p.334. 10 Gay, L.R and Airasian, Peter. Educational
➌➍ ➎➍ ➏➐➑ ➒➓ Competencies for Analysis and Application.
Very good = ➛ ➜ – ➜➝ ➝➞
Good = 61 – ➛ ➝ ➞
Fair = 41 – ➟ ➝ ➞
Bad = 21 – ➠➝ ➞
Very bad = 0 – ➡ ➝➞
2. ➢➤➥ ➦ ➧➨➩➫➭ the ➢➤➥➫ of ➯➲ ➧➳➤ ➫➲ ➦➵➸➺➩➻➩➲ ➼
The mean represents a whole data set of scores with one single number.12
To obtain the mean, adding up all of the scores (x) and divide by the total
number of scores. The following formula is used in this research:
x̄
= Mean (the score)Ʃx
= the total scoreN = the number of students
11 Arikunto, Suharsimi, Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktek,
➽➾➚➪ ➚➶➹ ➚➘ Rineka ➴➷ ➬➹ ➚➮➱ ✃ ✃❐❒➮ ➬❮❰ ❐
12 Supranto,
➾❮ Ekonometrik Buku Dua., ➽➾➚➪➚ ➶➹ ➚➘ Lembaga Penerbit Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas
33
CHAPTER
IV
Ï ÐÑÒÐÑ Ó
AND DISCUSSION
In this chapter, the researcher presents the finding and result. The data was
conducted to know the students’ ability of building the coherence and unity in
argumentative writing. The presentation of the findings is organized according to the
research questions posted for this study.
A. ÔÕÖ ØÖÙÚ ÛÚÜÝÙ of Data
The research had been conducted from July - September 2015. Here, the
researcher has obtained the data of the students’ writing task of argumentative
essay. The data collected were used to answer the research question of how is the
students’ ability of building coherence and unity in argumentative writing. The
students’ writing was analyzed using the rubric of coherence and unity. There are
five classes of argumentative writing course: class A, B, C, D, and E with total
number of 108 students. The samples taken were Þß à of each class. Therefore,
total samples obtained in this research were 51 (fifty one) students. Here is table
Table 4.1
Students’ total number and samples taken of every class
Class Total Number Samples taken
A 19 9
B 19 9
C 35 18
D 13 7
E 22 8
Total 108 51
The next step was assessing the students’ ability of building coherence
and unity through calculating their scores based on this calculation:
P ã F äå æ æç
N
P = the percentage of the correct point.
F = the frequency of the correct point.
N = total number of item.
Besides, in this research there are two kinds of assessment, they are
coherence and unity. The researcher also categorizes their scores in each criterion
of five levels to ease the researcher in identifying their ability. The categorization
è é
Table 4.2
Categorization of students’ score and scale ability of building coherence
Scale
Point Score Category
10 - 12 81 - 100 Very good
8 - 9 61 – 80 Good
5 - 7 41 – 60 Fair
3 - 4 21 - 40 Bad
1 - 2 0 - 20 Very bad
From the table above, it could be seen that the highest point is gained by
scale 10 - 12 with category of very good. In addition, the good category is in
scale 8 – 9, whereas the scale 3 – 4 is in category of fair. In the other hand, scale
1 - 2 is the lowest category of building coherence.
Table 4.3
Categorization of students’ score and scale ability of building unity
Scale
Point Score Category
7 – 8 81 – 100 Very good
5 – 6 61 - 80 Good
4 41 – 60 Fair
3 – 2 21 – 40 Bad
From the table above, it could be seen that the highest point is gained by
scale 7 - 8. The good category is in scale 5 – 6. Then, the scale 4 is in category of
fair. In the other hand, scale 2 - 3 is in bad category. Moreover, the scale 1 is the
lowest category of building unity, which is very bad.
B. Research Findings
After gathering the data, researcher attempted to analyze the students’
writing based on the aspect of coherence and unity using rubric assessment.
Below was the detail explanation about the analysis of building coherence and
unity.
1. ìíîïðñíò ó Ability of ôîõöïõñ÷ Coherence
Coherence is the most important requirements in writing. Especially in
argumentative writing, from one paragraph to another should connect
together, and also each sentence of every paragraph must be tied before and
after it. Then, in this research, some of variant categories were found with
different scores that students got. Below is the frequency of students in getting
ø ù
Table 4.4
Frequency of student in point of Coherence
Points Frequency
4 5 students
5 18 students
6 14 students
7 5 students
8 3 student
9 1 students
10 2 student
11 3 students
From the data above, it clearly states that the highest point student got
is 11 (eleven) which only acquired by three students. Whereas the most
frequency (18 students) got point 5, and following by 14 students who got
point 6. Moreover, researcher will explain how student can get each those
point and category.
a) Very good
Based on the table 4.2, there are three kinds of point who get
category of very good. They are those who get point 12, 11, and 10.
However, this research found only two kinds of them; point 11 and 10.
(See appendix 3.1: Advantages of Providing English for Children as
soon as they Start School)
The writer stated a clear and complete thesis
statement:“Learning English for children who will start school gives some
advantages to them. So children should begin learning English as soon as
they start school.”
Moreover, there are three main points following with well
developed–supporting details. The main points are better change, do
not have any pressure, and prepare to face the globalization era.
The refutation paragraph acknowledges the opposing view
and summarizes the main point. It is shown in the third paragraph.
Counter argument said that learning English for children is a bad
thing. Then, the writer can refuse it with providing her good
arguments. Furthermore, the essay has good grammar and transition,
such as thus, in addition, in fact, because of that, in contrast and
others.
2) A sample of student who get score of coherence: 10
(See appendix 3.2: The Sooner The Better)
The essay stated a clear thesis statement of the paper:
“Children should begin learning a foreign language as soon as they
ü ý
Moreover, she explained three main points clearly, but one of
them lacks details. The main points are Increase their bilingual and
multilingual ability, compete to find job, and achieve better scores.
The writer acknowledged the opposing view with good refutation.
We can see in paragraph 4.
Some people argue that when children start to learn a foreign
language as soon as they start school, it can make children do
not ready to learn it because each student has different ability
to accept the knowledge. Besides, Krashen argues that the
readiness is the important thing for children to learn
language especially a foreign language. In contrast, the
golden age of children is around 2 – 7 years old. If children
can start their learning foreign language early, they can
produce the information quickly and they can master foreign
language around their golden age. Moreover, they can
achieve their skill in speaking, listening, reading and writing
quickly.
b) Good
In this research, there are two kinds of point who get category of
þÿ➇➇ ✁✂ They are those who get point 9 and ✽✂ Both of those points are
explained below.
1) A sample of student who get score of coherence: 9
(See appendix 3.3: The Advantages of Learning a Foreign Language
In introduction, writer explained the definition of the
problem. Then, she stated a clear thesis statement. “The Children
should begin learning a foreign language as soon as they start
school.” Then, writer mentioned three main points appropriately,
they are: Success in future, not getting the difficulty, and give good
contribution. However, it lacks details and development in second
main point. She said that children will not get difficulty to use
language outside their first language, but it does not follow by good
supporting details.
In this essay, there are two counter-arguments and the
writer can refuse them with acknowledging the opposing view, as
written in paragraph 3.
Many people say that children will make a lot of grammatical
errors when they learn a foreign language in the early age.
But in fact, the will correct their mistakes faster than people
who learn a foreign language in older age because they do
not feel embarrassed when they do mistakes. They will
practice again until they can pronounce the language
correctly.
Some transitions are used in her writing, such as In
addition, therefore, however, but. Some of them are appropriate or
41
2) A sample of student who get score of coherence: 8
(See appendix 3.4: The benefit of Facebook for Children User)
Writer described the problem in introduction. Then, she stated
a clear thesis of paper. “Facebook can be really useful for school
children.” In addition, there are three good main points and details,
but one of them is lack of development, we can see in paragraph 7,
there is a counter argument claimed that facebook has affected the
lives of many children. Then, the writer argued that facebook helps
children in developing the social ability, but she did not explain how
to do that.
In the last paragraph she did not summarize the main topic,
but some suggestion for change are evident.
In conclude, parents should allow their children to join in
social media because of the variety advantage above that I
have already mentioned. However, they still have to monitor
what their children do in there. So, it will create good
condition to children and it does not cause any harm for
children.
c) Fair
In this case, there are three kinds of point who get category of
✄☎✆✝✞✟✠ They are those who get point ✼ ✡ 6, and 5. The details are
1) A sample of student who get score of coherence: 7
(See appendix 3.5: Mass Media between Federal State and Unitary
State)
Writer stated a clear thesis statement of the paper. “Indonesia
should be better using federal system than unitary system.” Then, there
are three main points in this essay. The reasons why it is better to use
federal state are: the state can be more responsible (stated in paragraph
three), federal system tends to show the real facts about the media
owner without feel scared (stated in paragraph 7), and in federalism
state, mass media can be balance between private and nation mass
media (stated in paragraph 8). Moreover, writer provided good reason
and refutation, but sometimes, one or two of the reason are lack details
or development.
2) A sample of student who get score of coherence: 6
(See appendix 3.6: E-book is not beneficial for student)
State a clear thesis statement: E-book is not beneficial for
student in teaching learning process.” There are three main topics:
getting boring, health problem, and disturbing learning process.
However, two of them are lack development. There is refutation of
paragraph that cause vague. As stated in paragraph 4, the writer put the
43
print out. However, to deny it, writer only argue about the student’s
focus. There is no relation between cost saving and student’s focus.
Conclusion summarizes main topics, but it is repetitive, and
the suggestion does not sync with the thesis statement.
My suggestion to the student is they have to manage their
time more when they use e-book because there are many
things which can change student focus. They must be able to
use their time to study and play games. So, e-book will be
more effective if the student can manage their time and their
attention while using e-book.
3) A sample of student who get score of coherence: 5
(See appendix 3.7: Learning a Foreign Language)
The writer stated a thesis of the paper but lack of strength.
“There are many benefits they can take from learning this foreign
language.” Then, first main point in second paragraph, she argued
that foreign language is important to learn, but she did not explain
why it is important in the next sentences.
The writing is less than three main points with poor
development of ideas. She mentioned the main reason in first main
point, but there are no clear supporting details in her writing. In
addition, at the third and fourth paragraph, she did not mention other
main points with some supporting sentences. Moreover, she only put
Moreover, the sentences using in writing are simple and still
need more transitions such the first of all, moreover, in addition and
others. Then, the conclusion did not adequately summarize the main
point. She only repeated sentence from the introduction.
d) Bad
Based on categorization of students’ score, there are four kinds
of point who get category of ☛☞ ✌✍ ✎✏ They are point 4, 3, 2, and 1.
However, this research only found point 4. So, there is no point 3, 2 and
1. The details are explained below.
1) A sample of student who get score of coherence: 4
(See appendix 3.8: The Foreign Language Development in
Indonesia)
In introduction, the writer stated the problem, but it lacks
detail. Moreover, there is no clear thesis statement. Moreover, at the
second paragraph, he stated the opponent by Timothy Wibowo, but
he did not argue his refutation well. It lacks of proof. It can be seen in
last sentence of paragraph two; the writer stated his argument but did
not explain the reason why.
In fact, actually opinion from Timoty Wibowo does not
45
must be balance to learn foreign language and
Indonesian language.
There are only two simple transitions in his essay, they are
even, and so. Moreover, some sentences are difficult to understand.
As we see in paragraph two, sentence 2:
The negative impacts could be caused if since childhood has been
introduced and given foreign language.
Perhaps he tended to say “If the children are introduced about
the foreign language since early, it will give negative impacts to
them. Other examples is in paragraph 3, sentence 4:
I think if the children do it will be a problem, because
when the children 0 – 3 years old usually often do what
they like and what they want.
It will be better if he said like this: “In my opinion, the
children should not memorize some words of foreign language
because it causes some problems such as…..”
From the analysis above, it was found that there are only four levels of
students’ category in building coherence. To make more clearly, below is the
students’ ability of building coherence that include scores, percentage, and
Table 4.5
Students result of building coherence
Point Scores Frequency Percentage Category
10 – 12 ✑✒ – 100 5 10 ✪ Very good
✑ – 9 61 – ✑✓ 4 ✑ ✪ Good
5 – ✔ 41 – 60 ✸✔ ✔ ✕ ✪ Fair
3 – 4 21 – 40 5 ✒✓✪ Bad
1 – 2 0 – 20 0 ✓✪ Very Bad
As shown in table 4.5, we can see that the highest point is only
obtained by five students ✭✒✓✪✖ with the category of very good. This shows
that only few students who can build coherence very well. Whereas, most of
students tend to get Fair grade, it can be seen that there are ✸✔ students or ✔✕✪
who get scores 41 – 60. The following chart is the representation of that
47
very good good fair bad very bad 0
20 40
frequency of s ✗✘✙✚✛✗s ability in building
coherence
Chart 4.1
Frequency of students’ ability in building coherence
The next step was calculating students’ ability into percentages. Then,
it is showed in the chart below:
10% 8%
73% 10%
Very good
Good
Fair
Bad
Percentage of students' ability in building
coherence
Chart 4.2
Percentage of students’ ability in building coherence
Based on the chart, it could be seen that most of students with ✜ ✢✣
percentage, which is ✶ ✤✥ ✦ Then, the good grade acquired only ✧✥ from
the total number of samples.
In composing an argumentative essay, the writers have to consider
the coherence in part of argumentative writing. To more make specific
findings, the results in composing argumentative writing were presented
below. Here is the chart of students’ ability in building coherence of
introduction of argumentative essay.
10%
25%
31% 33%
Very good
Good Fair
Bad
Students' ability in building coherence in
introduction
Chart 4.3
The students’ ability of building coherence in introduction
There were 51 samples students in composing an introduction of
essay, but there were only 5 (five) students or ✶ ✤✥ that can build very
well. They can develop well an introductory paragraph contains detail
49
10%
37% 43%
10%
Very Good
Good
Fair
Bad
Students' ability in building coherence in
main points
and thesis statement. Then, there were 13 samples ★ ✩✫ ✬✮ that can
compose good introductory paragraph, but they only do not explain using
details. The others 16 samples ★ ✯ ✰ ✬✮ stated the thesis but do not
adequately explain the background of the problem. Also, the problem
stated is lacks detail. Lastly, the students who have unclear thesis and
vague background details were about ✰✱ samples or ✯✯✬✲ Then, the main
part for students in composing a good argumentative writing is in the
body paragraph that consists of some main points. Below is the chart of
students’ ability in building coherence in main points.
Chart 4.4
The students’ ability of building coherence in main points
In building main points, there were 5 students ★✰✳ ✬✮ who
composed the body paragraph very well. They have three or more main
points that well-developed with supporting details. Similarly, 19 students
22 students or ✹ ✴✵ had three main points but all lack detail and
development. Meanwhile, there were 5 students or ✷ ✺✵ who had less than
three main points with poor development or ideas.
2. ❙✻✾✿❀❁✻❂ ❃ Ability of ❇✾❄❅✿❄❁❆ Unity
Unity is very necessary in composing an essay. It has to control the
ideas in order to make the topic still stay on one thought. Yet, many students
still lack comprehension about this. However, some of variant categories were
found with different scores that students got. Below is the frequency of
students in getting different point of unity.
Table 4.6
Frequency of student in point of unity
Points Number of student
3 14 students
4 19 students
5 10 students
6 3 students
❈ 5 student
From the data above, there are 19 students who got score 4 (four) of
building unity. It indicates that most of students still need to compose their
