Objective of the Study Research Method

8 Therefore, the writer believes that the teacher should be able to help the students. A teacher should be a facilitator, a motivator and also a feedback provider for the students. It also supported by Brown 2001: 340 that teacher should be a facilitator and responder to students. As a facilitator, he offers guidance for students to write. As a responder, he should ensure students, respond to, and use varieties of materials and techniques. Material, techniques, and media have to be combined in a balance without forgetting the goals. In relation to teachers’ roles in the process of writing, Harmer 2004 also proposes some tasks that the teachers must perform before, during, and after the process of writing. They are 1 demonstrating, 2 motivating and provoking, 3 supporting, 4 responding and 5 evaluating p. 41. The first task, according to Harmer 2004 that must be done by the teacher in the process of writing is demonstrating p. 41. It is a need for the students to be able to understand writing conventions and genre constraints of particular types of writing. As a result, the teacher has to be able to draw the two features to their attentions. Furthermore, Harmer 2004 also proposes the second task for the teacher in the process of writing is motivating and provoking the students p. 42. It is difficult for some of the students to write in English. Besides, they sometimes have no idea of the words used to write their messages. This is the situation where teachers can help them by provoking them to get the ideas and then persuading them to work on their writings. 9 Supporting the students is the third task that Harmer 2004 proposes for the teachers to do p. 42. In the process of writing, teachers become the main supporters for the students when they are writing in classroom, especially when the students face difficulties. They must be available and well-prepared to help them solve the difficulties. Thus, the students will be motivated in doing their writings. Then, the next task proposes by Harmer 2004 is responding to the students’ writing works p. 42. The responding task refers to how the teachers react the students’ writing works. Content and construction are the focus of this task. After looking at the writing works produced by the students, the teachers can give feedbacks or suggestions for the students’ improvement in writing. Harmer 2004 also proposes the last task to do by the teacher in the process of writing is evaluating the s tudents’ works p. 42. This task refers to how the teachers will evaluate the students’ writing works and then grade them. The task is done by the teachers to see the students’ progress in writing. As conclusion, the teachers are required to be able to perform those tasks in the process of writing so that the student can develop their writing skill better. According to Brown 2001, there are some aspects that need to be considered by the teacher in the teaching writing process, especially at the tenth grade of SMA which belongs to teenagers p. 92. Brown 2001 suggests that there should be a special set of considerations applies to teaching them p. 92. As the result, the teaching and learning writing for the tenth grade of SMA students 10 must be designed also to help them develop their writing strategies so that they will be able to improve their writing skill.

B. Teaching Writing News Item Text to Tenth Grade SMA

According to the curriculum by BSNP 2006, the English teaching of Senior High School in Indonesia is to develop students’ competencies. They are 1 developing students’ oral and written competence to achieve the informational competence which makes it possible for the students to access various knowledge, 2 developing students’ awareness of the importance of English in improving Indone sia’s competence at the world’s level, and 3 developing students’ understanding on the relationship between cultures and language. Moreover, according to the Regulation of Ministry of National Education no.22 year 2002 about the standard of competencies and basic competencies for the tenth grade students of SMA Semester 2 is that they have to perform several writing competencies as shown in the Table 2.1. Table 2.1: Standard Competence and Basic Competence of Writing Skill for Senior High School Students Grade X Semester 2. Standard Competence Basic Competence 12. Expressing meaning in short functional texts in the forms of narrative, descriptive and news item in daily contexts. 12.1 Expressing meaning of short functional written texts such as, announcements, advertisements, invitations, etc. accurately, fluently, and acceptable by using written language in daily contexts. 12.2 Expressing meaning and rhetoric stages accurately, fluently, and acceptable by using written language in daily contexts in the form of: narrative, descriptive, and news item.