12
Jurnal Bahasa Inggris STKIP YPUP
APPLYING BLOCK ORGANIZATION METHOD TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING ABILITY AT THE SECOND GRADE OF SMP
NEGERI 1 MAKASSAR
Angel Florida Dinasty Paseng1, Rita Roswita Duyo2, Andi Haeriati Alimuddin3
1STKIP YPUP Makassar, Email: [email protected]
2STKIP YPUP Makassar, Email: [email protected]
3STKIP YPUP Makassar, Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The objective of the research was to improve students' writing ability after using Block Organization in comparison paragraph. The researcher used pre- experimental with pre-test and post-test design. The population was the second- grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Makassar. The sample was 20 students by using purposive sampling technique. The result showed that the pre-test mean score was lower than post-test mean score (62.5<83.4). The result of t-test value was greater than t-table value (14.9>2.093). It indicates that the null hypothesis (H0) was rejected and the alternative hypothesis (H1) was accepted. Based on findings and discussion, it can be concluded that the use of Block Organization method can improve students' writing ability at the second grade of SMP Negeri 1 Makassar.
KEYWORDS: Block Organization method, writing ability.
INTRODUCTION
English facilitates us to adapt and communicate with other people in this world. In education, English helps us to write scientific papers. In this era 4.0, English helps us to understand technology well. Besides technology, English helps us to vanquish the Internet, because more than half the content on the internet is written in English.
In English, there are four main skills; Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing. These are called the “Macro-skills”. Some elements of English are called “Micro-skills”, such as Grammar, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, and Spelling. In this case, the researcher would like to analyze writing.
Dalman (2012), ”Writing is an activity of stringing letters into words or sentences to be conveyed by other people, so that other people can understand this, good communication between writers and readers can occur.”
But nowadays, writing interest in Indonesia is still lacking. According to Kepala Balai Bahasa Bandung, Abdul Khak in Tradisi Menulis lebih Rendah dari Minat Baca (2011) “The quality and writing ability of today's students tend to be low. This also proves that even students' reading interest is low.”
Also Aziz in Analisis Faktor Penyebab Rendahnya Minat Mahasiswa dalam Menulis (2016) says that, “Actually, to grow interested in writing among students of university, it is not only with the lure of good value. But it should be given special appreciation from the university. So the new writers get aroused to improve their creativity in writing, and old writers will feel appreciated for their work.
With such an interpretation the students of the university will be moved to grow their interest for writing.”
13 Based on previous research from Indah (2013) in his research entitled “The Effect of Using Block Method toward Students’ Writing Descriptive Paragraph of the First Year at Islamic Senior Boarding School Islamic Centre Al-Hidayah”. The similarity between the research above and this research is both of them use block organization as a method to improve students' writing ability. And the difference between the research above and this research is the research above focuses on descriptive paragraph but in this research focuses on comparison paragraph.
The researcher offers to apply Block Organization method in this research. The Block Organization is a good method on short papers about simple topics. According to Feng, et al (2010),
“The block method presents information about one item first, then uses this information for comparison or contrast when presenting information about the second item in the second half of the paragraph.”
Based on the explanation above, the problem statement of this research was ”Can the Block Organization method improve students’ writing in comparison paragraph at the second grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Makassar?” Moreover, the objective of this research was to find out the improvement of the students’ writing after using Block Organization method at the second grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Makassar.
METHOD
The method that used in this research was pre-experimental method. It was aimed to know whether or not block organization method improve the students’ writing. There were two variables of this research. Those were independent and dependent variables. The independent variable was Block Organization as method, and the dependent variable was the students' writing, especially the Comparison Paragraph.
The research was conducted at SMP Negeri 1 Makassar. The population was the second grade students consists one class and there were 40 students in this class. In this research the researcher used purposive sampling technique. The researcher took VIII.3 consists of 20 students as an experimental class.
The instrument of this research was writing test used in both pre-test and post-test. The pre-test was used to check the prior ability of the students to write comparison paragraph before treatment was given. After giving the pre-test, the students were treated by using comparison paragraph. There were four meetings for treatment and it was about 80 minutes (2x40 minutes) for each meeting. The post- test was used to find out the students’ improvement after the treatment was given.
To analyze the data, the researcher used statistical analysis.
1. Get the score based on five components of writing, they are content, vocabulary, organization, language use, and mechanics.
a) Content
30-27 : Excellent to very good: knowledgeable-substantive-etc.
26-22 : Good to average: some knowledge of subject-adequate range-etc.
21-17 : Fair to poor: limited knowledge of subject-little substance-etc.
16-13 : Very poor: does not show knowledge of subject-non substantive-etc.
Table 3.1 Content Component
b) Organization
20-18 : Excellent to very good: fluent expression-ideas clearly stated-etc.
17-14 : Good to average: somewhat choppy-loosely organized but main ideas stand out-etc.
13-10 : Fair to poor: non-fluent-ideas confused or disconnected-etc.
9-7 : Very poor: does not communicate-no organization-etc.
Table 3.2 Organization Component
c) Vocabulary
14 20-18 : Excellent to very good: sophisticated range-effective word/idiom choice and
usage-etc.
17-14 : Good to average: adequate range-occasional errors of word/idiom form, choice, usage but meaning not obscured.
13-10 : Fair to poor: limited range-frequent errors of word/idiom form, choice, usage- etc.
9-7 : Very poor: essentially translation-little knowledge of English vocabulary.
Table 3.3 Vocabulary Component
d) Language Use
25-22 : Excellent to very good: effective complex constructions-etc.
21-19 : Good to average: effective but simple construction-etc.
17-11 : Fair to poor: major problems in simple/complex constructions-etc.
10-5 : Very poor: virtually no mastery of sentence construction rules-etc.
Table 3.4 Language Use Component
e) Mechanics
5 : Excellent to very good: demonstrates mastery of conventions-etc.
4 : Good to average: occasional errors of spelling, punctuation-etc.
3 : Fair to poor: frequent errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization- etc.
2 : Very poor: no mastery of conventions-dominated by errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing-etc.
Table 3.5 Mechanics Component
(Heaton in Rusni 2010) 2. Classifying students’ score from pre-test and post-test.
Level A : Score 100-88 is classified as very good writing ability Level B : Score 85-76 is classified as good writing ability Level C : Score 75-64 is classified as average writing ability Level D : Score 63-45 is classified as poor writing ability Level E : Score 44-34 is classified as very poor writing ability
(Jacobs in Syafirah 2021) 3. Computing students’ frequency and rate percentage
P =𝐹
𝑁X 100%
Notes :
P : Percentage F : Frequency
N : Total number of sample
4. Calculating the mean score by using the formula :
=∑𝑋
𝑁 Notes :
: Mean score, or arithmetic average of the scores
X : Total row of score 𝑁 : The number of sample
5. Finding the mean score of the difference score D =∑𝐷
𝑁
Notes :
D : The mean score
∑D : The sum of difference score
15 N
N ( N
−1)
N : The total number of sample
6. Finding the significance different between the score of pre-test and post-test t = D
Notes :
t : Test of the significance
D : The mean of difference between the pair score
D2 : The difference between two pairs score (D)2 : The difference between two pairs score N : The number of the subjects
(Gay in Syafirah 2021)
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Results
To collect the data, the researcher used writing test. The writing test had a pre-test and a post- test. Before using the Block method, a pre-test was given to know the students' prior knowledge, and post-test was given to know the students' improvement after giving treatment. The researcher got the students’ score based on five components of writing including content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanic.
Table 4.1 Score of Students’ Pre-Test include Content, Organization, Vocabulary, Language Use and Mechanic
No. Name
Component
Total Score Content Organiz
ation
Vocab ulary
Language Use
Mecha nic
1. A.N.K 20 15 17 15 4 71
2. A.T.R 25 17 17 22 5 86
3. D.K.S 17 14 13 17 3 64
4. F.I.P 18 9 11 10 2 50
5. J.M.Z 13 10 10 11 3 47
6. M.A.D 20 13 13 11 2 59
7. M.A.H 15 13 13 17 4 62
8. M.A.N 17 10 13 17 4 61
9. M.F.A 25 17 18 22 5 87
10. M.F.A.F 21 10 13 11 2 57
11. M.R 15 9 10 15 4 53
12. M.V 22 14 13 15 3 67
13. N.A.Z 22 15 17 15 4 73
14. N.M 15 9 10 15 4 53
15. N.N 13 10 10 10 2 45
16. R.R 15 9 13 15 4 56
17. S.A.Y 18 17 17 17 4 73
18. S.S 16 13 10 12 2 53
19. T.H 15 18 17 19 4 73
20. Z.T.D 16 13 10 17 4 60
The five components above showed that the students were understanding in the content component and lack in the organization component. There was one student who got the highest score in pre-test was 87 (eighty seven) and there was one student who got the lowest score in pre-test was 45 (fourty five).
16 Table 4.2 Score of Students’ Post-Test include Content, Organization, Vocabulary,
Language Use and Mechanic No. Name
Component
Total Score Content Organiza
tion
Vocab ulary
Language Use
Mecha nic
1. A.N.K 29 20 20 23 5 97
2. A.T.R 28 19 20 24 5 96
3. D.K.S 23 15 17 21 4 80
4. F.I.P 23 15 17 21 4 80
5. J.M.Z 20 14 14 19 3 70
6. M.A.D 24 18 17 21 4 84
7. M.A.H 22 16 17 19 4 78
8. M.A.N 22 18 18 20 4 82
9. M.F.A 30 20 20 23 5 98
10. M.F.A.F 22 16 17 19 4 78
11. M.R 22 15 17 19 5 78
12. M.V 18 17 17 19 4 75
13. N.A.Z 27 18 18 22 5 90
14. N.M 23 15 17 21 4 80
15. N.N 20 14 14 19 3 70
16. R.R 25 18 18 20 4 85
17. S.A.Y 27 18 19 22 5 91
18. S.S 23 15 17 21 4 80
19. T.H 26 18 18 21 4 87
20. Z.T.D 26 18 19 22 4 89
The five components above showed that the students were understanding in the content component and fair in the vocabulary component. There was one student who got the highest score in post-test was 98 (ninety eight) and there were two students who got the lowest score in post-test was 70 (seventy).
Chart 4.1 The Graphic of the Comparison between the Students’ Mean Score
The graphic above showed that the mean score of students in the post-test was greater than the mean score of students in the pre-test. It means that there was a significant difference between before and after using Block Organization as a teaching material in teaching writing.
Table 4.3 Table of Significance
Df Level of Significant (P) T-test score T-table score
19 0.05 14.9 2.093
0 50 100
Pre-Test Post-Test
62.5 83.4
Series 1
17 For the level of significance (P) was 0.05, the degree of freedom (df) was 19, and the t-table was 2.093. When compared to the t-test value, it can be concluded that the t-test value (14.9) was greater than the t-table value (2.093). In other words, it can be said that 14.9>2.093. It indicates that the null hypothesis (H0) of this research was rejected, but the alternative hypothesis (H1) was accepted, because there was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test by using Block Organization.
Discussion
Based on the data above, there was an improvement in the students' writing after the researcher gave treatments through Block Organization as a method. The researcher collected the result from pre-test and post-test. It was supported by the result of frequency and the rate percentage of students' pre-test and post-test. The researcher used Block Organization as the method to improve students' writing at the second grade of SMP Negeri 1 Makassar where the sample was 20 students.
The results of this research were in line with what the researcher found in the students' learning results in the classroom. After pre-test, the researcher gave students knowledge of the use of Block Organization method in comparison paragraph. There were four meetings and it was about 2×40 minutes for each meeting. During treatment, the researcher could see the improvement in students' writing ability in the third meeting. Most students knew the use of Block Organization method, they could develop their paragraph and fewer mistake about punctuation. After that, the researcher gave students post-test. Finally, it was clear that there was a significant between the students' results in pre- test and post-test. In other words, using Block Organization in teaching and learning writing was effective to improve the students' writing ability.
CONCLUSION
Based on the result of the data analysis it can be concluded that the result of the students' post- test was greater than result of the students' pre-test. The total score in pre-test was 1250, and the total score in post-test was 1668. The mean score of the students' pre-test was 62.5 while in post-test was 83.4, for the level of significance (P) was 0.05 and the degree of freedom (df) = 19 and t-test value was greater than t-table value (14.9>2.093). Therefore, the alternative hypothesis (H1) was accepted and the null hypothesis (H0) was rejected. It means that there were significant differences between the results of pre-test and post-test which indicated that using Block Organization method can improve students' writing ability.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Alhamdullilah Robbil 'Alamin, the grateful from the researcher to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'aala the creator, for the strengths, blessings, compassion, allowing the researcher to complete this thesis. Shalawat and salam are addressed to the final chosen religious messenger, the prophet Muhammad Shallallahu 'Alaihi wa Sallam who has changed human life.
The researcher realized that this thesis would not have been completed without support and help of many people.
Therefore, the researcher would like to express special thanks to Ir. H. Asrul Rahim, M.Si. as the Head of Yayasan Pendidikan Ujung Pandang (YPUP), Dr. Rina Asrini Bakri, S.Pd., M.Pd. as the Head of STKIP YPUP Makassar, Rita Roswita Duyo, SS., M.Pd. as the Head of English Department of STKIP YPUP Makassar and all of lecturers for their encouragement a motivation during the researcher study in teaching and learning process.
The researcher would like to thank to the Secretary of English Department of STKIP YPUP Makassar, Adriani Jihad, S.Pd., M.Pd. who always encourage and support her when the researcher feels down, and being her support system in this process of thesis.
The researcher would like to thank to my first consultant, Rita Roswita Duyo, SS., M.Pd. and my second consultant Andi Haeriati Alimuddin, S.Pd. M.Pd. for the guidance, assistance, and encourage her in finishing this thesis, through their suggestion, motivation, support, and corrections since the primary steps of the draft untill the complection of this thesis.
The researcher would like to thank for the big family of SMP Negeri 1 Makassar, the Head Master Suaib Ramli, S.Pd., M.Pd. for granted the permission to conduct the research there; the English
18 teacher Musdalifah, S.Pd. for her cooperation, help, suggestion and guidance during the research, as well as the students of class VIII.3 for their participation.
The researcher would be very grateful to her beloved persons, her father Arman Kamajaya and her mother Pipih Suminar who always love, support and pray her. Thank to the researcher's grandfather Anwar Paseng, and the researcher's grandmother Martini Linggu who never give up facing her and always guides her in every situation. And thank to the researcher's brother Caezar Dicaprio Armando Paseng and the researcher's sister Vanesha Della Felia Paseng who always there for her and always hear her complaint.
The researcher would like to thank to her Wings "Ludic" from their support and sharing happiness during finishing this thesis. Thank to the researcher's lovely friends Mentari Ananta Amin, Aryuni Adinda Okta and Fauziah who always ask her condition, and always give attention to her mental and physical health during finishing this thesis. And thank to the researcher's senior in STKIP YPUP Luciana Margareth Pendong be a part of process in her thesis.
Last but not least, the researcher really thank to all of you who can't be mentioned one by one.
Thanks for all your pray and help, may Allah reward with the kindness.
Finally the researcher hopes this thesis would be useful for the readers. However, the researcher realizes that this thesis is far from being perfect, so any criticism and suggestion for improvement of this thesis would be appreciated. The researcher hopes this thesis will give contributions to the improvement of the English teaching and learning.
REFERENCES
Blogspot. (2016). Analisis Faktor Penyebab Rendahnya Minat Mahasiswa dalam Menulis.
https://elykhusmarini.blogspot.com/2016/05/analisis-faktor-penyebab-rendahnya.html?m=1.
Dalman, H. (2012). Keterampilan Menulis. Jakarta
Feng-Checkettt, G., & Checkett, L. (2010). The Write Start Sentences to Paragraphs. libgen.is
Indah, Rudi. (2013). The Effect of Using Block Method toward Students’ Writing Descriptive Paragraph of the First Year at Islamic Senior Boarding School Islamic Centre Al-Hidayah.
Kompas. (2011). Tradisi Menulis lebih Rendah dari Minat Baca.
https://travel.kompas.com/read/2011/11/23/10491011/tradisi.menulis.lebih.rendah.daripada.minat .baca.
Rusni. (2010). Improving the Fourth Sememster Students' Ability in Writing Essay through Comparison Contrast Essay in English Education Department of UIN Alauddin Makassar.
Syafirah, Vira. (2021). Using Canvas as a Media in Improving Writing Ability at the Fourth Semester Students of English Department at STKIP YPUP Makassar.
