THE FACTOR OF STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN WRITING ACTIVITY
(A STUDY AT EIGHT GRADE STUDENTS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 23 PADANG) IN 2016/2017 ACADEMIC YEAR
Melanda1), Yendra, S.S., M.Hum2), Astuti Pratiwi, M.Pd3)
1)English department student, college of teaching training and education (PGRI) West Sumatera E-mail: [email protected]
2)English department lectures, college of teaching training and education (PGRI) West Sumatera E-mail: [email protected]
3)English department lectures, college of teaching training and education (PGRI) West Sumatera E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
The research aims to identify factors most affect the interest of students in writing. It aims to further enhance students' interest in writing activities. This research data obtained from SMPN 23 Padang. Data were collecting by conducting interviews and distributing questionnaires to students with question number 27, shared items from 9 indicators and sub-indicators, divided into sections so that it becomes 27 questions. Base on the data obtaine during the study, researcher were able to conclude that the factors that influence each student is attention to the total percentage (79%), willingness by the total percentage (51%), seeking information with the total percentage (19%), motivation to total percentage (25%), positive emotion (30%), knowledge with a percentage (27%), personal value with percentage (25%), with total percentage (35%), environment support with a total percentage (27%).
Key words: interest, writing activity
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi faktor apa yang paling mempengaruhi minat atau ketertarikan siswa dalam belajar menulis. Hal ini bertujuan untuk lebih meningkatkan lagi minat siswa dalam kegiatan menulis. Data penelitian ini didapatkan dari siswa SMPN 23 Padang. Data dikumpulkan dengan melakukan interview dan membagikan angket kepada siswa dengan jumlah pertanyaannya 27 butir yang dibagi dari 9 indikator dan sub-indikator yang dibagi menjadi beberapa bagian sehingga menjadi 27 pertanyaan. Berdasarkan data yang didapatkan selama penelitian, peneliti dapat menyimpulkan bahwa faktor yang sangat mempengaruhi tiap-tiap siswa adalah attention dengan total persentasi (79%), willingness dengan total persentasi (51%), seeking information dengan total persentasi (19%), motivation denagn total persentasi (25%), positive emotion (30%), knowledge denagn persentasi (27%), personal value dengan persenrasi (25%), goal dengan persentasi (35%), environment support dengan total persentasi (27%).
Kata kunci: ketertarikan, kegiatan menulis
INTRODUCTION
Writing is one of those skills in language learned. By writing, one can put the idea of the mind in the form of stories and writing. Writing is a skill that required a student's ability productived in produced
language to comunicated. By writing, students can pour its capabilities, as some people had more ability to write than talked or communicated directly with the skill of writing is a free pull out all the ideas his mind. The teaching of writing has start from the junior level, and writing is a skill that is also very
important for Junior, because students learn writing feel more able to put his ideas in writing activitied. In writing activity , students are expected to improved himself and to made learning to write an interested lesson. By writing activity students feel more able to convey what is on her mind, and the idea that they had can the best, because the act of writing this they only convey ideas in written and verbal.
Thus, the most important thing in writing activity is that students needed to know what factors that can supported them to be interested in writing activity. This has influenced the writings of the students, because the interest factor is something that came from the students themselves. If students know the factors that can made them interesting in writing activity, the students will take pleasure in writing activty. If students had an interest in the field of study, then he will follow the learning seriously
.
According to Nunan (2003: 88), writing is the work of inventing ideas, thinking about how to express them, and organizing them into statements and paragraphs that will be clear to a reader. It means that in order to express the author's ideas in writing, the author needs to adjust to the statement, that the statement or paragraph that make it easier to understand and interesting to read by the reader.
This phenomenon was caused by several reasons. The interview with some students showed that first, the students was lack vocabulary. It made the students hard to develop the idea while writing. The students also faced the difficulties to improve their vocabulary in learning. Second, the students argued that they did not know to write the expression in writing. The expression means the idea that could be told in writing. The students need long time to think what they should write.
Third, the students cannot use the good structure or grammar in writing. Grammar in writing is very important, while the students did not used to share their idea, feeling, their though, because the lack of grammar. Next, the students did not aware the good elements in writing, such as content or the idea to be develop, spelling, alphabet, and punctuation.
Thus, the most important thing in writing activity is that students needed to know what factors that can supported them to be interested in writing activity. This has influenced the writings of the students, because the interest factor is something that came from the students themselves. If students know the factors that can made them interesting in writing activity, the students will take pleasure in writing activty. If students had an interest in the field of study, then he will follow the learning seriously.
Del Favero et al, (2007: 130). State that interest combines both affect and cognition and is shown to have the energizing function for deeper learning, a desired goal in many educational contex. It means that the interest is very affecting to students in learning, interest is also an energy in the learning process. With the interest, students will be more motivated to learn. In the context of education, affective and cognitive can be constructed of excellent students to study subjects in learning.
According to Krapp (2000: 112) interest is the outcome of an interaction between a person and a particular content. It means that the basis for interests appeared to be new, curiosity, or content of information is important because students are not attractive in classroom activities. It may refer to anything interesting or countries like want and care, and the use of this term is unclear. In addition it is a different personality as several sources to make the students mature and confident about the subject to the front of the class.
Wigfield & Eccles (2000: 143) mention that’s interest research is a highly productive yet also somewhat complex and fragmented field with several different, albeit overlapping, lines of theorizing. It means that, interest is a product that can help students to become more comfortable and interested in learning the English in writing activity.
There are some factors that affect student’s interest in witing activity. Acording to Ainley (2002: 412) some factors that influence student’s interest. Its factors are task value, goals, self-regulation and attention. First, task value means student will interest to subject that have value for them. Especially in writing activity, when student’s learn topic that
valuable for them such as material that relate with writing, it makes them become interested to learn. It is because what students learn have a value that useful for them. Second, goal is often become a reason someone interest in learning something. In this case, students who want to be English Teacher have a goal to make English as a way to reach their dream. By having goal, student will learn anything that makes them to be interested to learn something English more.
Third, Attention is when students give focus to object or activity while writing activity.
Moreover, Harackiewicz (2010: 43) mentions three factors contribute to the development of interest is knowledge, positive emotion, information-seeking (cognition), and personal value. An individual interest learn more about a topic, they become more skilled and knowledgeable. An increase in konowledge can bring about positive effect as individual feel more competence and skilled through task engagement. In addition, as they spend more time with the activity, they may find personal meaning and relevance in the activity. Students want to improve their knowledge about English.
Students really want to know all about writing.
It is caused students are interested in writing activity. An individual’s goal can also contribute to the development of interest by leading him/her to become more engaged in his/her learning, develop competence, and to further explore the topic.
Dewey (2010:1) states that there are elements of interest. They are attention, feeling and object. First is attention. Attention is due to interest and that is a sufficient condition of attention, and every interest is manisfested attention. Interest is something that can take as to support at interest is necessarily active and all activities. Next, mood such as happiness, depression, frivolity, sentimentality are commonly called feeling. Students who are interested with something will show their happiness meanwhile students who do not have interest will show depressionor sentimentality to something or activities. Third is object.
Interest is a feeling which was integrated with object that arouse it. Interest is said to be the connection between attention and have positive feeling toward the object.
Based on the fact above, the researcher wanted to conduct a research about the factors of students’ interest in writing activity at SMP N 23 Padang. The main purposed of this research are, the first is that to analyze the affect factor of student’s in writing activity at SMP N 23 Padang.
RESEARCH METHOD
This research used descriptive design in quantitative approach. It described the ability of students in writing recount text. According to Gay and Airasian (2000:275) a descriptive study determines and describes the way things are. In this research described phenomenon has been become in SMP Negeri 23 Padang.
The participant in this research is Eight grade students of SMP Negeri 23 Padang. The total numbers of this participant were 43 students. In this research, the researcher used cluster sampling technique to select the sample of the research. As states by Gay and Airasian (2000:129), cluster sampling is the process of selecting groups randomly. So, there is one class looking for participants who process certain traits or qualities. After that, the researcher calculated the percentage the factor of students’ interest in writing activity.
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
Based on data calculation from the scorer it could be concluded that affect factor of students interest in writing activity based on nine indicator. ( Willingness, Attention, Seeking Information, Motivation, Positive Emotion, Knowledge, Personal value, Goal, Environment Support.
Based on data calculation, it could be seen that were affect factor of students’ interest in writing activity. The higher percentage the factor of students interest in writing activity are willingness 51%, attention 80%, seeking Information 19%, Motivation 25,5%, Positive Emotion 29,5%, Knowledge 27,3%, Personal Value 25%, Goal 35%, Environment Support 28,3%.
The data were analyzed by using the formula P= F/n x 100%. This formula used to represent the number of students’ interest in writing activity. The students’ percentages students interest in writing activity from the sudents the questionnaire. Based on data calculation from the scorer it could be concluded that affect factor of students’ interest in writing activity by students could be describes in the following tables:
Table 4. 1 the result all of questionnaire constructed with indicator the factor of students’ interest in writing activity:
No Indicator Students’ Interest
1 Willingness 51%
2 Attention 80%
3 Seeking- information
19%
4 Motivation 25,5%
5 Positive Emotion
29,5%
6 Knowledge 27,3%
7 Personal Value
25%
8 Goal 35%
9 Environment Support
28,3%
Based on the analysis above, it could be concluded that there are nine factor of students’
interest in writing activity is willingness total percentage 51%. attention with total percentage is 80%. Seeking information total percentage 19%. Motivation total percentage 25,5%.
Positive Emotion total percentage 29,5%.
Knowledge total percentage 27,3%. Personal value total percentage 25%. Goal total percentage 35%. Environment support 28,3%.
Based on the explanation above, it could be concluded the affect factor of students interest in writing activity is attention with total percentage 80%.
DISCUSSION
There are so many information the researcher get from questionnaire and interview.
The quesionainnare that had been done by the researcher is aim to get answer and information
about the research questions. Most of the information can be interprete that the VIII 2 class at SMPN 23 Padang. Actually have some factor interest in writing activity, such as the students used willingness, attention, seeking- information, motivation, personal emotion, knowledge, personal value, goal, and environment support. According to Harackiewicz (2010: 43) three factors contribute to the development of interest is knowledge, positive emotion, information- seeking (cognition), and personal value. An individual interest learn more about a topic, they become more skilled and knowledgeable.
An increase in konowledge can bring about positive effect as individual feel more competence and skilled through task engagement. But, The researcher only interprete mostly the affect factor of students’ interest in writing activity.
Based on the questionnaire and interview with students, research find the affect factor of students interest, it is very importance help the students in lesson writing and help them to focus on the subject that they interesting. The researcher interpreted mostly the students’
interest use answer “attention” because help the students to study in writing activity to focus on the subject that they interesting. It was happend because some factors. It can be interprete that they less motivation and less personal value in wriitng activity.
CONCLUSION
This research describe about the factor of studenst Interest in writing activity in SMPN 23 Padang. Students interest is persisiting tendency of students to pay attention and enjoy some activity or content in this case writing activity of VIII 2 class. Interest has big affect in learning because in the learning material is not suitable with students’ interest, studenst will not learn well.
Based on the reserach finding, there are the factor of students interest in writing activity such as 1. willingness, 2. attention, 3. seeking information, 4. motivation, 5. personal emotion, 6. knowledge, 7. personal value, 8. goal, 9.
environment support.. There were nine indicators that can help the affect factors of
students’ interest in wriitng activity. In this research, the researcher wants to find the research question is “ what are the affect factors of students interest in writing activity?”.
Answering the questionnaire and interview all of indicators that used by students’ interest in wriitng activity at Junior High School 23 Padang in VIII 2 class.
Besides that, the researcher used cluster sampling in selecting sample. The total of participant was 34 participants, and the researcher chosen class VIII 2 as participants. In getting the data the researcher used questionnaire and interview. From the data, the researcher concluded that factors influence student’s individual interest used willingness, attantion, seeking-information, motivation, personal emotion, knowledge, personal value, goal, and environment support. The affect in answering the questionnaire indicators used by students is attention. So, the factors student’s interest in writing activity which can see to all of answering the questionnaire and interview.
SUGGESTION
This research is a kind of qualitative research which had the purpose to find out the answering the questionnaire used by the factors of student’s interest in writing activity. Based on the result of this research, affect answering the questionnaire used by the students’ interest in writing activity is attention. By knowing it, the researcher hopes that the result of this research can give contribution for the teacher to apply a good indicator on the questionnaire. The best indicator are attention and willingness because this indicator can make the student’s to interest in learn writing. This is very important to the students know every question with they feel about the correct interest. Think of the interest before students study the subject. The students are required to study the interest, because this is very influence to study that the factor of students’ interest in writing activity.
This study aimed to know interesting used by the factors students’ interest in writing activity. However, for future studies, it is recommend to investigate the student’s interest in writing activity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
to complete this thesis, the researcher has obtained a plentiful guidance, help, advices, and contructive critics from many people. In the this occasion, the researcher would have to extend his special gratitude and very special thanks and appreciation are given from the deepest of his heart to the advisors, Yendra, S.S., M.Hum and Astuti Pratiwi, M. Pd who have been kinds and willing to give their times, opinions, and supports in completing this thesis.
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