1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of The Research
An activity of conveying and expressing a thought that can convey a purpose and objective in a written text is the meaning of writing. According to Javed (2013), mentioned that Writing skills are skills that are more difficult and complicated than other language skills. An important skill to develop for students is writing skill, because writing is not a natural skill, this ability cannot be obtained easily and automatically. There are many communication media that use written language, such as: magazines, newspapers, websites, blogs, even social media. For this reason, to maintain good communication with others, writing skills are important to master.
According to Sukma & Gusparia (2018), Text that describes objects, animals, places, plants or whatever is called descriptive text. To describe something in more clearly and detail about an object is the most basic purpose of descriptive text. The descriptive text in English grammar used is simple present tense. In the descriptive text explains a truth or fact contained in a thing. Writing in junior high school is generally not good. Students still experience difficulties in writing.
Students must have good mastery in writing activities such as grammar, vocabulary, content, mechanics, and organization. Students find it difficult to write to express their ideas. Students also find it difficult to think of what to write as the first sentence in their paragraph. So as a result of these difficulties the resulting writing
is very short. In compiling ideas into paragraphs, students made many mistakes in compiling them. Writing that is not sequential makes the reader confused.
It was concluded that students experienced difficulties in writing activities, especially in finding themes or titles, using grammar, mastering vocabulary, and combining words into good paragraphs. In addition, students experienced difficulties on how to organize ideas and there were also students who did not have an idea in written form at all. So to solve the problems stated above, the teacher has an important role to use effective technique in teaching writing. Researcher use a technique to solve a problem. The technique is mind mapping which aims to improve a skill, one of which is writing skills. Techniques to help and make it easier for someone to remember ideas written down are a function of mind mapping, then look for relationships between these ideas. (Mukmin & Afriyanti, 2020). From the explanation above, the researcher conducted a study entitled "The Effect of Using Mind Mapping on Students' Descriptive Text Writing at SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang"
1.2 Identification of the Problem
From the research background, the research problems are as follows:
1. Students experience difficulties in writing a descriptive text
2. Students have difficulty remembering vocabulary and having difficulty in constructing sentences
3. Students have difficulty finding an idea in writing activities
1.3 Limitation of the Problem
In this research, the limitation of the problem is the effect of using mind mapping in writing descriptive texts for students of SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang.
1.4 Research Question
From the limitation of the problem, the researcher has the following research questions:
Does the use of mind mapping have a significant effect on students' skills in writing descriptive texts at SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang?
1.5 Research Objective
From the research questions above, the objective of this research is to find out whether mind mapping has a significant effect on students' writing skills at SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang.
1.6 The Significances of the Research
The results of this study can contribute and benefit the process of teaching and learning English. Expected contributions are:
1. Theoretical
Theoretically, research makes a significant contribution to English Language Teaching by augmenting existing theories for teaching writing skills.
2. Practical
Practically, the research results made a significant contribution to teachers, students, and other researchers:
a. For Students
For students in class, this research made learning English, especially writing descriptive texts fun and not boring. Thus increased student motivation in class.
b. For English Teachers
For English teachers as classroom educators, this research provides many benefits for teaching as a valuable reference and source of information. In addition, English teachers can use mind mapping to teach writing.
c. For other researchers
For other researchers, this researcher provides information about an effect of using mind mapping techniques on students' writing skills. for other researchers can also be used as a reference to add insight.
1.7 Definition of key term 1. Writing
Writing is the activity of producing text to convey something through written words.
2. Mind mapping
Mind mapping is grouping several ideas in the form of a structured or interrelated framework.
3. Descriptive text
Descriptive text is a text that explains more clearly and in detail about people, animals and objects.
